The delightful part of it was that as the song was sung the children marched about the room wearing paper caps of red, white and blue, and each, as he marched, was presented by his teacher with a flag to be proudly borne over the right shoulder. Who could fail to be patriotic and generous under such stimulating conditions! One day Elmer spied a toy boat on the desk of one of his classmates, Freddie Buzzell. Elmer immediately appropriated it. “Don’t take my boat,” said Freddie. “’Tain’t yours. It’s mine,” was the reply. Naturally, Freddie sprang to the defense of his property rights. Elmer insisted upon the principle of possession as proof of ownership. Thus the battle was raging when Miss Melborne entered the room. Knowing Elmer’s individualistic tendencies, she was not long in getting at the cause of the quarrel. “Come here, Elmer,” she called from the desk. Elmer came reluctantly, still holding the toy boat. Miss Melborne picked up one of the red, white, and blue caps on the table. “Who are the boys these caps were made for, Elmer?” “Sojer boys.” “And what sort of boys are they?” “Those ‘whose hearts are brave and twue.’” “Now, Elmer, soldiers who are ‘brave and true’ have to fight sometimes but do they fight in order to get something they want themselves, or do they fight to take care of other people?” This was a pretty hard question for Elmer to think out fully. He looked thoughtful but did not answer. Miss Melborne tried a more concrete form of question. “We would not like to have any one march with the ‘soldier boys’ this afternoon who takes things away from other children, _would_ we?” Elmer looked very sober, but he shook his head. Miss Melborne followed up the advantage she had gained by adding, “What would a soldier boy ‘whose heart is brave and true’ do, if he had in his hands something that belonged to another boy?” Elmer looked hard at the toy boat for a full minute, then slowly walked over to Freddie’s desk and carefully placed the boat on it. “That’s my brave soldier boy!” said Miss Melborne, enthusiastically. “That’s the kind of boy to wear the soldier cap!” and she placed it on his head, adding, as she did so, “You may wear it, dear, till the school bell rings.” The idea of protection of the rights of others had been substituted for that of selfish possession. Approval had crystallized the experience into an attitude of mind. Many reminders of the soldier boy, “whose heart was brave and true” and who lived for others instead of self, were necessary before the most selfish child in the class became one of the most unselfish, but each application on the teacher’s part of the principles of substitution and approval made the meaning of the words more explicit to Elmer and the habit of self-sacrifice more firmly fixed. CASE 125 (RURAL SCHOOL) Not infrequently it happens that the selfish child has a continual example of selfishness before him in his own parents. [Sidenote: Parental Example]