tion and well placed, it is helpful to cut a piece of paper the
desired size and lay it on the cover, moving it about to see where it
looks best. Until the children have learned to do fairly neat work it is
often helpful to print the title on a separate piece and paste it in
place. It is discouraging to spoil an otherwise good cover by a bad
letter, and this process lessens that danger.

Before the children learn to print, a simple border or band across the
cover may take the place of the title. The border may be drawn in crayons
or be free-hand cuttings.

Too much emphasis cannot be laid upon the beauty of simplicity in
decoration. Children are inclined to think beauty means fanciness and that
beauty increases with the quantity of decoration. It is necessary to begin
early to develop a taste for good design.

CHAPTER IV

CRITICISM AND STANDARDS OF WORKMANSHIP

=Criticism.=--An important feature of all self-directed activity is the
ability to judge one's efforts and intelligently measure one's success.
This ability is a matter of slow growth and must be cultivated. It is not
enough for the teacher to pass judgment upon a piece of work and grade its
quality. The worker himself must learn to find his own mistakes and how to
correct them. Class criticism offers the best means of developing this
power, but must be tactfully conducted.

Little children are brutally frank in expressing their opinions and need
to be taught how to be truthful and yet not unkind. They need to be taught
what to look for and how to find it, and how to compare one thing with
another and discover why one pleases and another displeases. The first
essential in the training is emphasis on the good rather than the bad. It
is a gospel of "do" rather than of "don't." The earliest efforts of the
class may well be confined to comments upon the features they like and, if
possible, the reason for the liking. This will forestall any tendency to
call undue attention to the poor efforts of weak workers. At first many
children will scarcely discriminate between their admiration for a piece
of work and their love for the worker and will be apt to praise the work
of their special friends. This tendency will gradually disappear through
the development of a real basis of appreciation.

The second essential concerns the improvement of the things which are not
good. Criticism which merely points out what is bad is of little value.
Helpful criticism must