l soon acquire the dexterity he desires. He may overturn
objects at first, or let them fall, but this he regards as failure,
which he soon overcomes. A child of twenty months, whose development
in this particular way has not been impeded by unwise repression, will
pick out the object on which he has set his heart, play with it,
finger it, and replace it, and he will do it deliberately and
carefully, with a clear desire to avoid mishap. Dr. Montessori, who
has developed into a system the art of teaching young children to
learn precision of movement and to develop the nerve centres which
control movement, tells in her book a story which well illustrates
this point.[1]

[Footnote 1: _The Montessori Method_, pp. 84, 85.]

"The directress of the Casa del Bambini at Milan constructed under one
of the windows a long, narrow shelf, upon which she placed the little
tables containing the metal geometric forms used in the first lesson
in design. But the shelf was too narrow, and it often happened that
the children in selecting the pieces which they wished to use would
allow one of the little tables to fall to the floor, thus upsetting
with great noise all the metal pieces which it held. The directress
intended to have the shelf changed, but the carpenter was slow in
coming, and while waiting for him she discovered that the children had
learned to handle these materials so carefully that in spite of the
narrow and sloping shelf, the little tables no longer fell to the
ground. The children, by carefully directing their movements, had
overcome the defect in this piece of furniture."

By slow degrees the child learns to command his movements. If his
efforts are aided and not thwarted, before he is two years old he will
have become capable of conducting himself correctly, yet with perfect
freedom. The worst result of the continual repression which may be
constantly practised in the mistaken belief that the grasping phase is
a bad habit which persistent opposition will eradicate, is the nervous
unrest and irritation which it produces in the child. A passionate fit
of crying is too often the result of the thwarting of his nature, and
the same process repeated over and over again, day by day, almost hour
by hour, is apt to leave its mark in unsatisfied longing,
irritability, and unrest. Above all, the child requires liberty of
action.

We have here an admirable example of the effect of environment in
developing the child's powers. A