it is quite probable that some of them would run part of
the way. Others would walk in twos and threes, and these would change
about. They would halt to look at things that attracted their attention.
The leader would halt them to observe some interesting point which they
might otherwise miss. Should any of them wander from the right path the
leader would call them back, and any frail child would be helped over the
hard places. Yet with all this freedom the group might move steadily
forward and reach the hilltop in due time.

All progress up the hill of knowledge should follow a similar plan. The
teacher should have a very definite idea of the end to be attained. The
children should work with a purpose, and that purpose should be of such
immediate interest to them that they would be anxious to attain it. They
would then work earnestly, and discipline would settle itself. Handwork
projects should be sufficiently simple to allow each worker to see his way
through, or at least find his way without waiting for directions at each
step. Instead of a blind following of such directions the worker should at
all times feel himself the master of his tools and materials and be able
to make them obey his impulse and express his idea. This attitude toward
work can be secured only when the work is kept quite down to the level of
the child's ability and appreciation. Only by this means can we hope to
establish the inspiring and strengthening "habit of success."

=Introduction of New Methods.=--The question arises, How shall work of
this sort be adapted to a course of study which is already full and does
not provide time for handwork? Handwork takes more time than bookwork, and
children evolve plans but slowly. If the teacher waits for the children to
evolve plans and then carry them out on their own responsibility, the
quantity of work produced will be small and the quality poor compared with
the results gained by other methods.

The freer method must be justified, not by its tangible results, but by
its value as a means of individual development. If it is true that

"One good idea known to be thine own
Is worth a thousand gleaned from fields by others sown,"

then it follows that a small quantity of crude work may often represent
greater genuine growth than a larger quantity of nicely finished work, if
the latter has been accomplished by such careful dictation that individual
thought on the part of the pupils was unnecessary.