their forms that number of the principal
geometrical figures, to which was added a shallow box with a broad lid,
perforated by ten holes, corresponding to the blocks in number, size and
shape, but large enough for the blocks to easily pass through into the
box.

"In these groupings my childish interest and delight was intensified by
my father's personification of the different families, such as: 'Mr.
Astronomy Blue,' 'Mrs. Geology Brown,' 'Mr. Chemistry Red,' etc. For
instance, the wonderful stories he told to me of the minerals, metals
and gases--the sons and daughters of Mr. Chemistry Red, as he termed
them--describing their loves and hates, the great variety of pranks they
played, the queer combinations they entered into, the good and the bad
work they performed, etc. These to me were fairy stories of the most
charming kind, while at the same time they gave me a correct idea of the
powers and properties of these unfamiliar things and served to identify
them more closely as members of the chemistry family. My mother was a
natural teacher, very proficient in botany, and in history, with its
flower and fruitage of classic prose and inspiring poetry. She entered
into my father's 'block-signal-system' of education with an enthusiasm
as zealous and childish as my own, therefore her contributions to the
rapidly increasing store of blocks were large and exceedingly
interesting. Her stories regarding the numerous members of the botany
and history families proved equally profitable and charming; those about
plants and trees especially so. These stories and plays of science
grouping, always associated with such pleasant emotions of my childish
heart, became permanently fixed and dominant in my mental growth,
forming separate brain structures around which the details of the
accumulated knowledge of future years could easily and naturally
classify and crystallize.

"Thus swiftly passed those happy years of my early girlhood. So
constantly was I associated with my dear father and mother that schools
I did not need. In my seventh year, under their supervision, I commenced
a systematic course of scientific reading which I kept up until after I
graduated from college. I commenced with the Science Primer Series,
reading aloud to my parents one half hour each morning and evening,
conversing and commenting on the different topics as we went along. This
proved to be a continuation of the game of blocks: just as interesting,
equally en