4. Let the teacher of such a class ponder and consider the characteristics of his precious charge. 1. _Activity._--Says Mr. Hassell, "A healthful child abhors quietude," and rightly so, as much as nature does a vacuum. Every mother knows that her little ones, if in health, "cannot bear to be still for a minute." 2. _Curiosity._--Archbishop Whately says: "Curiosity is the parent of attention." 3. _Inquisitiveness._--Happy is that child who is blest with a mother or teacher who will "bide patiently all the endless questionings of the little one, and will not rudely crush the rising spirit of free inquiry with an impatient nod or a frown." Rather see in their many questions but the untutored pleadings of the little ones for care and cultivation. Oh, how much they want and deserve to have their inquisitiveness satisfied by a kind, considerate answer to all their questions! 4. _Fear._--Oh, how much children suffer from this cause! Their natural timidity should be respected, and not cruelly wrought upon. 5. Then, too, children have _wonder_, and like to talk and hear of "wonderful things." 6. They have also a proper love of approbation, and they should be cheered and encouraged when they try to do well. Now let the teacher take up the first of these well-known characteristics, and act upon it. An excellent teacher of an infant class, some years ago, was accustomed to gain order by appealing to their _love of activity_. She would stand quietly at the desk and ask the children: "Children, will you please tell me what the gods of the heathen are like?" This was always a pleasing request to them, and every form would stand erect, with every hand by their sides, and they would together begin the part of the 115th Psalm which answers that question. They would repeat all together, "Eyes have they, but they see not," and every pair of little hands would go with the teacher's, pointing to, and resting upon, their eyes. In like manner, "mouths have they," "noses," "ears," "feet," "hands," etc., always suiting the action to the word. All are in perfect order, and the next step for the teacher would naturally be to talk a little about the gods of the heathen, and then sing a verse about "bowing down to gods of wood and stone." The transition is then natural and easy to "Our God" in heaven, where angels, saints, parents, and children too, are; and they sing the hymn to which all leads, viz.: "Around the throne of God in heaven, Thousands of children stand," etc., etc.