And the baby makes of his tiny hands a basket for flowers wherewith to celebrate the father’s birthday in orthodox German fashion. In Froebel’s own phrase, the “inner meaning” of the little finger play with its picture, is “to cherish thoughtfully the bond, which is invisible, yet which can be felt, whereby the life of humanity is bound together, the first opportunity for which is afforded by the life of the child and the family.” What is important here is that Froebel has pointed out the way in which this bond can be strengthened, that is by expression, by giving “outward form to what stirs feeling.” This idea of service as expression of feeling comes into Froebel’s description of the ideal child, “merry, happy, strong and busy,” when the mother: “Kissed upon his brow her blessing, Then, his love for her expressing, Off he starts his mother serving All he can do, she’s deserving.”--_M., p. 191._ Again, in connection with childish productions, the little baskets, napkin rings, etc., that they have made, Froebel wrote: “The use made of these little productions is very important to the civilizing and nourishing of the child’s being and mind, for I consider the fact that many children receive so much and can give hardly anything to be one of the most essential causes of the frequent retrogression of childish love and sensibility.” Froebel always emphasizes the essential importance of family bonds in the development of feeling, and he not only instructs the mother to see to it that the child recognizes the family circle, but he tells her that he will realize his “kinship” by service done for the family. “Family, family, you are more than School or Church … without you what are Altar and Church.…”--_M., p. 159._ “That many things are in a whole Soon dawns upon a childish soul. Then let the mother teach him carefully To know the circle of the family.”--_M., p. 46._ “Duties are not burdens, duty fulfilled leads to light, this is why every healthy child likes and enjoys doing duties, provided they speak to him clearly and simply, above all inexorably.… See how happy a child is feeling he has done his small duties. He already feels his kinship with you thereby. Cherish this feeling, and it will be salvation and blessing to him.”--_M., p. 174._ As the feeling of the adult is called out by the helplessness of a child, so, too: “the child’s sympathy is roused by the young creatures’ necessities more than by anything else, and among these chiefly by their nakedness and softness: ‘… Mother, the poor little birds are so lonely, I am so sorry for the poor little things.’”--_M., p. 150._ And in this connection too comes the warning that feeling must not be allowed to evaporate without action: