h him. If he has neglected his own work, he is not given the
joy of working for others. If he does not work in harmony with his
companions, a time is chosen when he will feel the sense of isolation
that comes from not living in unity with the prevailing spirit of good
will. He can have as much liberty as is consistent with the liberty
of other people, but no more. If we could infuse the _spirit_ of this
kind of discipline into family and school life, making it systematic
and continuous from the earliest years, there would be fewer morally
"slack-twisted" little creatures growing up into inefficient,
bloodless manhood and womanhood. It would be a good deal of trouble;
but then, life is a good deal of trouble anyway, if you come to that.
We cannot expect to swallow the universe like a pill, and travel on
through the world "like smiling images pushed from behind."

Blind obedience to authority is not in itself moral. It is necessary
as a part of government. It is necessary in order that we may save
children dangers of which they know nothing. It is valuable also as
a habit. But I should never try to teach it by the story of that
inspired idiot, the boy who "stood on the burning deck, whence all
but him had fled," and from whence he would have fled if his mental
endowment had been that of ordinary boys. For obedience must not
be allowed to destroy common sense and the feeling of personal
responsibility for one's own actions. Our task is to train
responsible, self-directing agents, not to make soldiers.

Virtue thrives in a bracing moral atmosphere, where good actions are
taken rather as a matter of course. The attempt to instill an idea of
self-government into the tiny slips of humanity that find their way
into the kindergarten is useful, and infinitely to be preferred to the
most implicit obedience to arbitrary command. In the one case, we may
hope to have, some time or other, an enlightened will and conscience
struggling after the right, failing often, but rising superior to
failure, because of an ever stronger joy in right and shame for wrong.
In the other, we have a "_good goose_" who does the right for the
picture card that is set before him,--a "trained dog" sort of child,
who will not leap through the hoop unless he sees the whip or the lump
of sugar. So much for the training of the sense of right and wrong!
Now for the provision which the kindergarten makes for the growth of
certain practical virtues, much needed i