“That well by reason it men callen may The daïsie, or else the eye of day.” Let him feel that the common words we use without a thought are beautiful, full of story and interest. It is a great thing that the child should get the _ideas_ proper to the qualities inherent in him. An idea fitly put is taken in without effort, and, once in, ideas behave like living creatures--they feed, grow, and multiply. Next, provide him with some one delightful change of thought, that is, with work and ideas altogether apart from his bent for languages. Let him know, with friendly intimacy, every out-of-door object that comes in his way--the red-start, the rose-chaffer, the ways of the caddis-worm, forest trees, field flowers--all natural objects, common and curious, near his home. No other knowledge is so delightful; not natural science, but common acquaintance with natural objects. Or, again, some one remarks that all our great inventors have in their youth handled material--clay, wood, iron, brass, pigments. Let him work in material. To provide a child with delightful resources on lines opposed to his natural bent is the one way of keeping a quite sane mind in the presence of an absorbing pursuit. At the same time, change of occupation is not rest: if a man ply a machine, now with his foot, and now with his hand, the foot or the hand rests, but the man does not. A game of romps (better, so far as mere rest goes, than games with laws and competitions), nonsense talk, a fairy tale, or to lie on his back in the sunshine, should rest the child, and of such as these he should have his fill. This, speaking broadly, is the _rationale_ of the matter:--just as actually as we sew or write through the instrumentality of the hand, so the child learns, thinks, feels, by means of a material organ--the very delicate nervous tissue of the cerebrum. Now this tissue is constantly and rapidly wearing away. The more it is used, whether in the way of mental effort or emotional excitement, the more it wears away. Happily, rapid new growth replaces the waste, wherefore, work and consequent waste of tissue are necessary. But let the waste get ahead of the gain, and lasting mischief happens. Therefore never let the child’s brain-work exceed his chances of reparation, whether such work come in the way of too hard lessons, or of the excitement attending childish dissipations. Another plea for abundant rest:--one thing at a time, and that done well, appears to be Nature’s rule; and his hours of rest and play are the hours of the child’s physical growth--witness the stunted appearance of children who are allowed to live in a whirl of small excitements.