ith mental soundness as a basis, the
ego, once formed, in spite of all the transitions through which it may
pass, still remains the same."

There is then a natural _tendency_ of the mind _to unify_ all its
ideas, feelings, incentives. On the other hand the knowledge and
experiences of life are so varied and seemingly contradictory that a
young person, if left to himself or if subjected to a wrong schooling,
will seldom work his way to harmony and unity. In spite of the fact
that the soul is a simple unit and tends naturally to unify all its
contents, the common experience of life discovers in it unconnected and
even antagonistic thought and knowledge-centers. People are sometimes
painfully surprised to see how the same mind may be lifted by exalted
sentiments and depressed by the opposite. The frequent examples that
come to notice of men of superiority and virtue along certain lines,
who give way to weakness and wrong in other directions, are sufficient
evidence that good and evil may be systematically cultivated in the
same character, and that instead of unity and harmony education may
collect in the soul heterogeneous and warring elements which make it a
battle ground for life. All such disharmony and contradiction lend
inconsistency and weakness to character. Not only can incompatible
lines of thought and of moral action become established in the same
person, but even those studies which could be properly harmonized and
unified by education may lie in the mind so disjointed and unrelated as
to render the person awkward and helpless in spite of much knowledge.
In unifying the various parts of school education, and in bringing them
into close connection with children's other experiences, the school
life fulfills one of its chief duties.

Among other things tending toward consistency of character there must
be _harmony between the school and home_ life of a child. At home or
among companions, perhaps unknown to the teacher, a boy or girl may be
forming an habitual tendency and desire, more powerful than any other
force in his life, and yet at variance with the best influence of the
school. If possible the teacher should draw the home and school into a
closer bond so as to get a better grasp of the situation and of its
remedy. The school will fail to leave an effective impress upon such a
child unless it can get a closer hold upon the sympathies and thus
neutralize an evil tendency. It must league itself with