nd to place the two
members of each pair next to one another.

Then the couples will be increased to four or five, and little
children of three years old end by pairing of their own accord ten or
a dozen couples of mixed tablets.

[Illustration: COLOR SPOOLS]

When the child has given his eye sufficient practise in recognizing
the identity of the pairs of colors, he is offered the shades of one
color only, and he exercises himself in the perception of the
slightest differences of shade in every color. Take, for example, the
blue series. There are eight tablets in graduated shades. The teacher
places them one beside another, beginning with the darkest, with the
sole object of making the child understand "what is to be done."

She then leaves him alone to the interesting attempts which he
spontaneously makes. It often happens that the child makes a mistake.
If he has understood the idea and makes a mistake, it is a sign that
_he has not yet reached the stage_ of perceiving the differences
between the graduations of one color. It is practise which perfects in
the child that capacity for distinguishing the fine differences, and
so we leave him alone to his attempts!

There are two suggestions that we can make to help him. The first is
that he should always select the darkest color from the pile. This
suggestion greatly facilitates his choice by giving it a constant
direction.

Secondly, we can lead him to observe from time to time any two colors
that stand next to each other in order to compare them directly and
apart from the others. In this way the child does not place a tablet
without a particular and careful comparison with its neighbor.

Finally, the child himself will love to mix the sixty-four colors and
then to arrange them in eight rows of pretty shades of color with
really surprising skill. In this exercise also the child's hand is
educated to perform fine and delicate movements and his mind is
afforded special training in attention. He must not take hold of the
tablets anyhow, he must avoid touching the colored silk, and must
handle the tablets instead by the pieces of wood at the top and
bottom. To arrange the tablets next to one another in a straight line
at exactly the same level, so that the series looks like a beautiful
shaded ribbon, is an act which demands a manual skill only obtained
after considerable practise.

* * * * *

These exercises of the chrom