we ourselves manufacture and which
weaken us, how much more essential must be the continual exercise of
the will as a vivifying means of psychical recuperation?

Our little children are constructing their own wills when, by a
process of self-education, they put in motion complex internal
activities of comparison and judgment, and in this wise make their
intellectual acquisitions with order and clarity; this is a kind of
"knowledge" capable of preparing children to form their own decisions,
and one which makes them independent of the suggestions of others;
they can then _decide_ in every act of their daily life; they decide
to take or not to take; they decide to accompany the rhythm of a song
with movement; they decide to check every motor impulse when they
desire silence. The _constant work_ which builds up their personality
is all set in motion by _decisions_; and this takes the place of the
primitive state of _chaos_, in which, on the other hand, _actions_
were the outcome of _impulses_. A voluntary life develops gradually
within them; and doubt and timidity disappear, together with the
darkness of the primitive mental confusion.

Such a development of the will would be impossible if, instead of
allowing order and clarity to mature in the mind, we should seek to
encumber it with chaotic ideas, or with stores of lessons learnt by
heart, and then prevent children from making decisions by deciding
everything for them. Teachers who adopt these methods are justified in
saying that "a child ought not to have a will of his own," and in
teaching him that "there is no such plant as 'I will.'" Indeed, they
prevent the infantine will from developing. Under such conditions
children are conscious of a power which inhibits all their actions;
they become timid, and have no courage to undertake anything without
the help and consent of the person on whom they depend entirely. "What
color are these cherries?" a lady once asked a child, who knew quite
well that they were red. But the timid, nervous child, doubtful as to
whether it would be right or wrong to answer, murmured: "I will ask my
teacher."

The volitive mechanism which prepares for decision is one of the most
important mechanisms of the will; it is valuable in itself, and should
be established and strengthened in itself. Pathology illustrates it
for us apart from the other factor of the will, and thus places it
before our eyes as a pillar of the great vault which supports