Object Lesson         The Horse. 
Phonetics             The Foal, oa sound. 
Number                Problems on the work of horses. 
Story                 The Bell of Atri [story of a horse ringing a bell]. 
Song                  Busy Blacksmith [shoeing a horse]. 
Game                  The Blacksmith’s Shop. 
Reading               On the Horse. 
Poetry                Kindness to Animals. 
Paper Cutting         The Bell of Atri. 
Paper Folding         A Trough. 
Free-arm Drawing      A Horseshoe. 
Clay Modelling        A Carrot for the Horse. 
Brushwork             A Turnip for the Horse. 
Brown Paper Drawing   A Stable.

Underneath it all the truth was growing, namely, the need of making associations and so unifying the children’s lines.  But the process of finding the truth was slow and cumbersome.

A fourth phase of the early Infant School was the strong belief of both teachers and inspectors in uniformity of work and of results.  It is difficult to disentangle this from the paralysing influences of payment by results and large classes:  it was probably the teachers’ unconscious expression of the instinct of self-preservation, when working against the heaviest odds.  But it was constantly evident to the teacher that any attempt on a child’s part to be an individual, either in work or in conduct, had to be arrested:  and the theory of individual development was regarded as so Utopian that the idea itself was lost.  Goodness was synonymous with uniform obedience and silence; naughtiness with individuality, spontaneity and desire to investigate.  A frequently-heard admonition on the part of the teacher was, “Teacher didn’t tell you to do it that way—­that’s a naughty way”; but such an attitude of mind was doubtless generated by the report of the inspector when he commended a class by saying:  “The work of the class showed a satisfactory uniformity.”

To obtain uniform results practice had to come before actual performance, and many weary hours were spent over drill in reading, drill in number, drill in handwork, drill in needlework.  The extreme point was reached when babies of three had thimble and needle drill long before they began needlework.  There were also conduct drills; Miss Grant, of Devons Road School, remembers a school where the babies “practised” their conduct before the visit of the “spectre,” as they called him, he being represented as a stick set up on a chair.  There is a curious symbolism in the whole occasion.

It is difficult to see the good underlying this phase, but it was there.  There is undoubtedly a place for practice, though not before performance, and uniformity was undoubtedly the germ of an ideal.

All these phases stand for both progress and arrest.  The average person is readier to accept methods than investigate principles; but we must recognise that all struggles and searchings after truth have made the road of progress shorter for us by many a mile.