rt" on a thing, or who
harbors an alluring temptation too long, until it overpowers him. This
is the explanation of most cases of obstinacy and strong will, as is
proven by the disappearance of the "will" when the mind is diverted.

One of the deepest desires of every parent and teacher is that there
shall in truth be a strong will as the life matures, and so its training
is sought. But just what is meant by it? We know there is no separate
faculty to be strengthened as the arm is strengthened. What can be
trained? The only training possible is in helping the soul to form the
habit of choosing to do the right thing, or, analyzing still more
closely, of following the promptings of the noblest feelings of the
heart.

The inseparable relation between feeling and action has been noted. If
the noblest feelings can be made the strongest, they will be followed.
The previous discussion shows that their strength is increased every
time they are aroused and acted upon, and this leads to habit in both
feeling and action. The nurture of the will or executive power of the
soul is seen, therefore, to be most intimately connected with the
nurture of the feelings, and its work will consist in making the right
course of action so appealing that the child will desire and choose it
for himself, until it becomes habitual, and consequently, undebatable.
Forcing him to follow it, secures the action; it does not arouse the
feelings that would lead him to choose to do the act himself.

An act compelled is like an apple tied to a fruit tree; it did not grow
there and has no connection with the life of the tree. A fruit tree that
can not bear its own fruit is worthless, and a life that does not reach
the point of producing its own right actions, independent of human
coercion, is a failure. The comparison may be pressed still further. No
quantity of apples tied upon a tree will ever make it produce apples,
and even so, no number of right acts imposed upon a child will, in
itself, make him do right things voluntarily. This can only come through
strengthening in his own soul the processes that lead to right action.
The truth of this is proven in the case of thousands of boys who did the
right things at home because they were compelled to do so, but when they
left home they went wrong. The one who should have nurtured was too
busy, or too thoughtless, to take the time to lead into strength and
uprightness the thinking and feeling and choosing of t