his arrow flew apace
Piercing my heart and cleaving it in twain;
I was as one who sees Death face to face;
No word I spake--so great my burning pain.

As through the window of the lordly tower
The missile hurtles, shattering all within,
So did the arrow enter through my eye;

Bereft of life and spirit in that hour
I stood there, to a man of brass akin,
That mocks with semblance of humanity.
(Guinizelli, 1300.)

If, then, the true basis of the imagination is reality, and its
perception is related to exactness of observation, it is necessary to
prepare children to perceive the things in their environment exactly,
in order to secure for them the material required by the imagination.
Further, the exercise of the intelligence, reasoning within sharply
defined limits, and distinguishing one thing from another, prepares a
cement for imaginative constructions; because these are the more
beautiful the more closely they are united to a form, and the more
logical they are in the association of individual images. The fancy
which exaggerates and invents coarsely does not put the child on the
right road.

A true preparation digs the beds where the waters which well up from
intellectual creation will flow in smiling or majestic rivers, without
overflowing and so destroying the beauty of internal order.

In the matter of causing the springing up of these rushing waters of
internal creation we are powerless. "Never to obstruct the spontaneous
outburst of an activity, even though it springs forth like the humble
trickle of some almost invisible source," and "to wait"--this is our
task. Why should we delude ourselves with the idea that we can "create
an intelligence," we who can do nothing but "observe and await" the
blade of grass which is sprouting, the microbe which is dividing
itself?

We must consider that creative imagination must rise like an
illuminated palace, on dark foundations deeply imbedded in the rock,
if it is to be anything but a house of cards, an illusion, an error;
and the salvation of the intelligence is "to be able to plant the feet
on firm ground."

* * * * *

=Imagination in children=.--It is a very common belief that the young
child is characterized by a vivid imagination, and therefore a special
education should be adopted to cultivate this special gift of nature.

His mentality differs from ours; he esc