enthusiasm.
Nothing in childhood is too slight for the notice, too trivial for the
sympathy of those on whom the Father of all has bestowed the holy
dignity of motherhood or teacherhood; and to the kindergartner
belongs the added dignity of approaching nearer the former than the
latter, for hers indeed is a sort of vice-motherhood.

We must always be impressed with the knowledge which we ourselves gain
in studying these gifts and preparing the exercises with them. In
concentration of thought; careful, distinct, precise, and expressive
language; logical arrangement of ideas; new love of order, beauty,
symmetry, fitness, and proportion; added ingenuity in adapting
material to various uses, aesthetic and practical,--in all these ways
every practical student of Froebel must constantly feel a decided
advance in ability.

Then, too, the simple rudiments of geometry have been reviewed in a
new light; we have dealt with solid bodies and planes, and studied
them critically so that we might draw the child's attention to all
points of resemblance or difference; we have found some beautifully
simple illustrations of familiar philosophical truths, and, best of
all, have simplified and crystallized our knowledge of the relations
of numbers so that the child's impressions of them may be easily and
clearly gained.

Why we are required to study deeply and to know more than we teach.

We have been required to look at each gift in its broadest aspect, and
to observe it patiently and minutely in all its possibilities, for the
larger the amount of knowledge the kindergartner possesses, the more
free from error will be her practice.

Unless we know more than we expect to teach, we shall find that our
lessons will be stiff, formal affairs, lacking variety, elasticity,
and freshness, and marred continually by lack of illustration and
spontaneity.

Lack of interest in the teacher is as fatal as lack of interest in the
child; in fact, the one follows directly upon the heels of the other.
For this reason, continued study is vitally necessary that new phases
of truth may continually be seen.

Above all other people the teacher should go through life with eyes
and ears open. Unless she is constantly accumulating new information
her mind will not only become like a stagnant pool, but she will find
out that what she possesses is gradually evaporating. There is no
state of equilibrium here; she who does not progress retrogresses.

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