inequalities, discomforts, and chances of life, constitutes one
of the most important bases of joy of living and of strength of
temper. In this case too, the behaviour of the person who gives
the training, is the best means of teaching children to smile
at small contretemps, things which would throw a cloud over the
sun, if one got into the habit of treating them as if they were
of great importance. If the child sees the parent doing readily
an unpleasant duty, which he honestly recognises as unpleasant;
if he sees a parent endure trouble or an unexpected difficulty
easily, he will be in honour bound to do the like. Just as
children without many words learn to practice good deeds when
they see good deeds practiced about them; learn to enjoy the
beauty of nature and art when they see that adults enjoy them,
so by living more beautifully, more nobly, more moderately, we
speak best to children. They are just as receptive to
impressions of this kind as they are careless of those made by
force.

Since this is my alpha and omega in the art of education, I
repeat now what I said at the beginning of this book and half
way through it. Try to leave the child in peace; interfere
directly as seldom as possible; keep away all crude and impure
impressions; but give all your care and energy to see that
personality, life itself, reality in its simplicity and in its
nakedness, shall all be means of training the child.

Make demands on the powers of children and on their capacity
for self-control, proportionate to the special stage of their
development, neither greater nor lesser demands than on adults.
But respect the joys of the child, his tastes, work, and time,