Every boy and girl should have this training to a greater or less degree.  It is a steady, regular process, and should be so taken.  We have come through too many generations of misused force to get back into a natural use of our powers in any rapid way; it must come step by step, as a man is trained to use a complicated machine.  It seems hardly fair to compare such training to the use. of a machine,—­it opens to us such extensive and unlimited power.  We can only make the comparison with regard to the first process of development.

A training for concentration of mind should begin with the muscles.  First, learn to withdraw the will from the muscles entirely.  Learn, next, to direct the will over the muscles of one arm while the rest of the body is perfectly free and relaxed,—­first, by stretching the arm slowly and steadily, and then allowing it to relax; next, by clinching the fist and drawing the arm up with all the force possible until the elbow is entirely bent.  There is not one person in ten, hardly one in a hundred, who can command his muscles to that slight extent.  At first some one must lift the arm that should be free, and drop it several times while the muscles of the other arm are contracting; that will make the unnecessary tension evident.  There are also ways by which the free arm can be tested without the help of a second person.

The power of directing the will over various muscles that should be independent, without the so-called sympathetic contraction of other muscles, should be gained all over the body.  This is the beginning of concentration in a true sense of the word.  The necessity for returning to an absolute freedom of body before directing the will to any new part cannot be too often impressed upon the mind.  Having once “sensed” a free body—­so to speak—­we are not masters until we gain the power to return to it at a moment’s notice.  In a second we can “erase previous impressions” for the time; and that is the foundation, the rock, upon which our house is built.

Then follows the process of learning to think and to speak in freedom.  First, as to useless muscular contractions.  Watch children work their hands when reciting in class.  Tell them to stop, and the poor things will, with great effort, hold their hands rigidly still, and suffer from the discomfort and strain of doing so.  Help them to freedom of body, then to the sense that the working of their hands is not really needed, and they will learn to recite with a feeling of freedom which is better than they can understand.  Sometimes a child must be put on the floor to learn to think quietly and directly, and to follow the same directions in this manner of answering.  It would be better if this could always be done with thoughtful care and watching; but as this would be inappropriate with large classes, there are quieting and relaxing exercises to be practised sitting and standing, which will bring children to a normal freedom, and help them to drop muscular contractions