Of the Social Plays Groos says with feeling that, however advisable, it is wellnigh impossible to make a distinct class. He starts, however, with the “need of bodily association or the herding instinct.” He brings in the child’s eager desire to be with his fellows, and the importance in adult life of festivals, religious or otherwise. He mentions the child’s voluntary submission to a leader, and speaks of play as instrumental in teaching children submission to law. We have noticed Froebel speaking of the “combined games, which will train the child, by his very nature eager for companionship, in the habit of association with comrades, in good fellowship and all that this implies.” He also wants the child to take alternately some special part in the game and to be merely one of the crowd: “Each child should have a chance to lead, for it is especially developing to a child to recognize himself as independent as well as a member of the whole.” Among the older boys, the Bergwachts for instance were carefully organized under separate leaders and the captain of the first band was director of the whole. Froebel, too, made much of festivals at Keilhau, and this has always been a recognized feature of the Kindergarten. Enjoyment of the comic never, I think, makes its appearance at all. Froebel had many gifts, but the saving sense of humour does not appear to have been among them. FOOTNOTES [1] See Chapter IX. [2] See Chapter X. [3] “Froebel’s Educational Principles,” Elementary School Record, Vol. I, No. 5, or “The Dewey School,” published by the Froebel Society. [4] See Chapter VI, _p. 79_. [5] The Philosophy and Psychology of the Kindergarten.--“Teachers’ College Record,” Nov., 1903. [6] It is true that Froebel was pre-Darwinian, but see _p. 198_. [7] All this is said in connection with the infant’s play with a woollen ball, with quaint suggestions that the singing tone accompanying the swinging like a ball affects the feelings, while the recognition of a change of position is a thing of “dawning thought,” and that by tic-tac the movement is expressed. See _p. 176_. [8] Dies fesselt die Sinnen- und Geistesthätigkeit des Kindes und gibt _ihm_ mehrseitige Nahrung. [9] In der Mitte seiner wahrnehmenden (empfindenden) seiner wirkenden und schaffenden, seiner vergleichenden (denkenden) Thätigkeit. [10] Die Ausbildung der verschiedenen Richtungen der Geisteskraft des Kindes. [11] “Journal of Education.” Reprinted in “Child Life,” January, 1901. [12] “Analytic Psychology,” Vol. I, _p. 152_ _et seq._ [13] “Analytic Psychology,” Vol. I, _p. 153_. [14] It is true that Professor Stout complains of the loose way in which the word “activity” has been used, and that he is careful to define his own meaning, but Froebel too is careful. See Appendix I. [15] See also _p. 82_. [16] “Analytic Psychology,” Vol. II, _p. 82_. [17] “The Conception of Immortality,” _p. 58_.