s where the little waitresses serve
the hot soup.

Again, gardening and manual work are a great pleasure to our children.
Gardening is already well known as a feature of infant education, and
it is recognized by all that plants and animals attract the children's
care and attention. The ideal of the "Children's Houses" in this
respect is to imitate the best in the present usage of those schools
which owe their inspiration more or less to Mrs. Latter.

For manual instruction we have chosen clay work, consisting of the
construction of little tiles, vases and bricks. These may be made with
the help of simple instruments, such as molds. The completion of the
work should be the aim always kept in view, and, finally, all the
little objects made by the children should be glazed and baked in the
furnace. The children themselves learn to line a wall with shining
white or colored tiles wrought in various designs, or, with the help
of mortar and a trowel, to cover the floor with little bricks. They
also dig out foundations and then use their bricks to build division
walls, or entire little houses for the chickens.

Among the gymnastic exercises that which must be considered the most
important is that of the "line." A line is described in chalk or
paint upon a large space of floor. Instead of one line, there may also
be two concentric lines, elliptical in form. The children are taught
to walk upon these lines like tight-rope walkers, placing their feet
one in front of the other. To keep their balance they make efforts
exactly similar to those of real tight-rope walkers, except that they
have no danger with which to reckon, as the lines are only _drawn_
upon the floor. The teacher herself performs the exercise, showing
clearly how she sets her feet, and the children imitate her without
any necessity for her to speak. At first it is only certain children
who follow her, and when she has shown them how to do it, she
withdraws, leaving the phenomenon to develop of itself.

The children for the most part continue to walk, adapting their feet
with great care to the movement they have seen, and making efforts to
keep their balance so as not to fall. Gradually the other children
draw near and watch and also make an attempt. Very little time elapses
before the whole of the two ellipses or the one line is covered with
children balancing themselves, and continuing to walk round, watching
their feet with an expression of deep attention on t