s will still be so warm after you have
touched the snow.

_Children_.--They will be cold.

Yes, indeed. (Going out.) How beautiful it is! It fell down from
above. The sky has given the earth a beautiful dress, all ...

_Children_.--White.

At this juncture my children, accustomed to that principle of
healthful, ordered liberty which is the main factor in the formation
of character, touch and gather up the snow; some of them break the
pure surface with little drawings. I let them. I wait a minute, then I
make as it were a sudden assault upon their attention:

Children, I too will take a little snow, but together with all of you.
Stop. Stand up. Look well at me. Let us take away a little strip of
the great cloak. Let us put it in our boxes. That's right.
(Re-entering the schoolroom.) Oh! how cold it is! The children who are
not well wrapped up are the coldest. Poor little things! And those
who haven't that thing full of burning coal in their houses!

_Children_.--The stove.

How cold they will be! Come now, quickly; all to your places. Put the
boxes on the desk. How cold the snow is! Did you notice how cold it
made your hands, which were quite warm?

_Children_.--My hand is cold! Mine too! Etc.

In the courtyard, I saw Caroline take a little snow, and then suddenly
let it fall; she was not strong enough to bear such cold. But then she
tried again, and the second time she did not drop it.

_Child_.--I didn't. I putted it (correct) quickly into my box.

Children, when the cold is as great as the cold of the snow, it is
called _frost_. Say that, Guido. What is the word? Now you, Giannina.
And the snow which is so cold is ... what? Who can guess?

_A child_.--Frozen.

Say: the snow is _frozen_.

We came indoors, because it is frosty outside, and inside it is ...

_Children_.--Warm.

But we brought with us a frozen thing which is called ...

_Children_.--Snow.

What is it the stove gives us? _Do you remember?_ [4]

_Children_.--Heat.

I want Maria to tell me. And now, Peppino.

[Footnote 4: The children are expected to know that the stove gives
out heat, by an effort of _memory_.]

Do you know, our mouths also give out heat. Open yours. Not too much!
Hold up one hand in front of it, the right hand. Breathe on it as I
am doing. Let us breathe again; now let us send our breath outwards,
as I am doing. Again ... again ... again. That's right. Now feel. You
see your mouth too gives out a little ...