n
inventions and machines have come to the rescue of the laborer, and when
the hours of toil have been so materially shortened!

=The Larger Environment.=--There is no doubt that a large and varied
environment is conducive to the growth of a strong and active
personality. If one has to adjust himself at every turn to something
new, it will lead to self-activity and initiative, to ingenuity and
aggressiveness. If tadpoles are reared in jars of different sizes, the
growth and size of each will vary with the size of the vessel, the
smallest jar growing the smallest tadpole, and the largest jar the
largest tadpole. It is fighting against the laws of fate to attempt to
rear strong personalities in a "flat" or even in a fifty-foot lot. They
need the range of the prairies, the hills, and the woods. Shakespeare
was born and brought up in one of the richest and most stimulating
environments, natural and social, in the world; and this, no doubt, had
much to do with his matchless ability to express himself on all phases
of nature and of mind. Large and varied influences, while they do not
compel, at least _tend_ to produce, large minds; for they leave with us
infinite impressions and induce correspondingly varied reactions and
experiences. Under such conditions a child is reacting continually and
thus becoming active and efficient. He is challenged at every turn, and
if stumbling blocks become stepping stones, the process is the very best
kind of education.

=Games.=--There are excellent opportunities in the country for all kinds
of games, for there ample room and many incentives to activity present
themselves. In the city, children are often content with seeing experts
and professionals give performances or "stunts," while they, themselves,
remain passive. In the country there are not so many attractions and
distractions--so many dazzling and overwhelmingly "superior"
things--that children may not be easily induced to "get into the game"
themselves. I fear that in recent years owing to imitation of the city
and its life, play and games in the country have become somewhat
obsolete. There needs to be a renaissance in this field. We have been
offered everywhere in recent years so much of what might be called the
"finished product" that the children are content merely to sit around as
spectators and watch others give the performances.

As in the case of the rural school the play instincts of country
children must be awakened again