=The child supreme.=—­The teacher whose primary consideration is the child and who sees in the child the object and focus of all her activities, never makes a fetish of the book.  It has its use, to be sure, but it is subordinate in the scheme of education.  It is not a necessity, but a mere convenience.  She could dispense with it entirely and not do violence to the child’s interests.  No book is large enough to compass all that she teaches, for she forages in every field to obtain proper and palatable food for the child.  She teaches with the grain of the child and not against the grain.  If the book contains what she requires in her work, she uses it and is glad to have it; but, if it does not contain what she needs, she seeks it elsewhere and does not return empty-handed.

=Illustrations.=—­She places the truth she hopes to teach in the path of the child’s inclination, and this is taken into his life processes.  Life does not stop at way-stations to take on supplies, but absorbs the supplies that it encounters as it moves along.  This teacher does not stop the ball game to teach the right triangle, but manages to have the problem solved in connection with or as a part of the game.  She does not taboo the morning paper in order to have a lesson in history, but begins with the paper as a favorable starting point toward the lesson.  She does not confiscate the contents of the boy’s pocket as contraband, but is glad to avail herself of all these as indices of the boy’s interests, and, therefore, guides for her teaching.

=Attitude toward teaching materials.=—­When the boy carries a toad to school, she does not shudder, but rather rejoices, because she sees in him a possible Agassiz.  When he displays an interest in plant life, she sees in him another Burbank.  When she finds him drawing pictures at his desk, she smiles approval, for she sees in him another Raphael.  She does not disdain the lowliest insect, reptile, or plant when she finds it within the circle of the child’s interests.  She is willing, nay eager, to ransack the universe if only she may come upon elements of nutrition for her pupils.  From every flower that blooms she gathers honey that she may distill it into the life of the child.  She does not coddle the child; she gives him nourishment.

=History.=—­Her history is as wide as human thought and as high as human aspiration.  It includes the Rosetta stone and the morning paper.  It travels back from the clothing of the child to the cotton gin.  The stitch in the little girl’s dress is the index finger that points to the page that depicts the invention of the sewing machine.  Every engine leads her back to Watt, and she takes the children with her.  Every foreign message in the daily paper revives the story of Field and the laying of the Atlantic cable.  Every mention of the President’s cabinet gives occasion for reviewing the cabinets of other Presidents with comparisons and contrasts.  At her magic touch the libraries and galleries yield forth rich treasures for her classroom.  Life is the textbook of her study, and the life of the child is the goal of her endeavors.