on upon a more positive plane.

In the words "good" and "evil" we include the most varying ideas, and
we confuse them especially _in our practical dealings with little
children_.

The tendencies which we stigmatize as _evil_ in little children of
three to six years of age are often merely those which cause
_annoyance_ to us adults when, not understanding their needs, we try
to prevent their _every movement_, their every _attempt to gain
experience for themselves in the world_ (by touching everything,
etc.). The child, however, through this _natural tendency_, is led to
_coordinate his movements_ and to collect impressions, especially
sensations of touch, so that when prevented he _rebels_, and this
rebellion forms almost the whole of his "naughtiness."

What wonder is it that the evil disappears when, if we give the right
_means_ for development and leave full liberty to use them, rebellion
has no more reason for existence?

Further, by the substitution of a series of outbursts of _joy_ for the
old series of outbursts of _rage_, the moral physiognomy of the child
comes to assume a calm and gentleness which make him appear a
different being.

It is we who provoked the children to the violent manifestations of a
real _struggle for existence_. In order to exist _according to the
needs of their psychic development_ they were often obliged to snatch
from us the things which seemed necessary to them for the purpose.
They had to move contrary to our laws, or sometimes to struggle with
other children to wrest from them the objects of their desire.

On the other hand, if we give children the _means of existence_, the
struggle for it disappears, and a vigorous expansion of life takes its
place. This question involves a hygienic principle connected with the
nervous system during the difficult period when the brain is still
rapidly growing, and should be of great interest to specialists in
children's diseases and nervous derangements. The inner life of man
and the beginnings of his intellect are controlled by special laws and
vital necessities which cannot be forgotten if we are aiming at health
for mankind.

For this reason, an educational method, which cultivates and protects
the inner activities of the child, is not a question which concerns
merely the school or the teachers; it is a universal question which
concerns the family, and is of vital interest to mothers.

To go more deeply into a question is often the only m