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figures. (Fig. 28.) The child is given a sheet of white paper and the
box of ten colored pencils. He will then choose one of the ten metal
insets, which are arranged in an attractive line at a certain distance
from him. The child is taught the following process:

[Illustration: FIG. 28.--SLOPING BOARDS TO DISPLAY SET OF METAL INSETS.]

He lays the frame of the iron inset on the sheet of paper, and,
holding it down firmly with one hand, he follows with a colored pencil
the interior outline which describes a geometrical figure. Then he
lifts the square frame, and finds drawn upon the paper an enclosed
geometrical form, a triangle, a circle, a hexagon, etc. The child has
not actually performed a new exercise, because he had already
performed all these movements when he _touched_ the wooden plane
insets. The only new feature of the exercise is that he follows the
outlines no longer directly with his finger, but through the medium
of a pencil. That is, he _draws, he leaves a trace_ of his movement.

The child finds this exercise easy and most interesting, and, as soon
as he has succeeded in making the first outline, he places above it
the piece of blue metal corresponding to it. This is an exercise
exactly similar to that which he performed when he placed the wooden
geometrical figures upon the cards of the third series, where the
figures are only contained by a simple line.

This time, however, when the action of placing the form upon the
outline is performed, the child takes _another colored pencil_ and
draws the outline of the blue metal figure.

When he raises it, if the drawing is well done, he finds upon the
paper a geometrical figure contained by two outlines in colors, and,
if the colors have been well chosen, the result is very attractive,
and the child, who has already had a considerable education of the
chromatic sense is keenly interested in it.

These may seem unnecessary details, but, as a matter of fact, they are
all-important. For instance, if, instead of arranging the ten metal
insets in a row, the teacher distributes them among the children
without thus exhibiting them, the child's exercises are much limited.
When, on the other hand, the insets are exhibited before his eyes, he
feels the desire to draw them _all_ one after the other, and the
number of exercises is increased.

The two _colored outlines_ rouse the desire of the child to see
another combination of colors and then to repeat the experi