ablishing continuous
and permanent states of feeling that are favorable to work and
development.

Some people are permanently optimistic, others pessimistic. Some are
always joyful, others as constantly see only the dark side of life. Some
are always serious and solemn, others always gay, even giddy. These
permanent emotional attitudes constitute temperament, and are due to
fundamental differences within the body that are in some cases
hereditary. Crossness and moroseness, for example, may be due to a
dyspeptic condition and a chronically bad liver. The happy dispositions
belong to bodies whose organs are functioning properly, in which
assimilation is good--all the parts of the body doing their proper work.

Poor eyes which are under a constant strain, through the reflex effects
upon various organs of the body, are likely to develop a permanently
cross and irritable disposition. Through the close sympathetic relation
of the various organs, anything affecting one organ and interfering with
its proper action is likely to affect many other organs and profoundly
influence the emotional states of the body. In growing children
particularly, there are many influences which affect their emotions,
things of which we seldom think, such as the condition of vision and
hearing, the condition of the teeth, nose, and throat, and the condition
of all the important vital organs of the body. When a child's
disposition is not what we think it ought to be, we should try to find
out the causes.

=Training the Emotions.= The emotions are subject to training. The child
can be taught control. Moreover, he can be taught to appreciate and
enjoy higher things than mere animal pleasure; namely, art, literature,
nature, truth. The child thereby becomes a spiritual being instead of a
mere pig. The ideal of the school should be to develop men and women
whose baser passions are under control, who are calm, self-controlled,
and self-directed, and who get their greatest pleasure from the finer
and higher things of life, such as the various forms of music, the songs
of birds, the beauties and intricate workings of nature.

This is a wonderful world and a wonderful life, but the child may go
through the world without seeing it, and live his life without knowing
what it is to live. His eyes must be opened, he must be trained to see
and to feel. It is not the place here to tell how this is to be done.
This is not a book on methods of teaching. We can on