“The question of honesty is, indeed, most difficult.  I do not think it would lower the standard of morality to assume honesty, as the thing you expected to find, to accept almost any other explanation, to agree with the whole body of children that dishonesty was so much the fault of dreadfully poor people who had nothing unless they stole it, that it could not be their fault, who had so much—­couldn’t be the fault of anyone who was well brought up as they were.  Emphasize, in story and side allusion, at all sorts of odd moments when no concrete desire called away the children’s minds, the fact that honesty is to be expected everywhere, except among terribly unfortunate people—­of course assuming that they with their good shelter and good schooling are among the fortunate ones.  Then you will give each child not only plenty of everything, but things individualized, easily distinguished, and a place to put them in.  I’ve often thought that the habit of buying things wholesale—­so many dolls, all exactly alike, so many yards of calico for dresses, all exactly alike, leads, in institutions like yours, to a vague conception of private property, and even of individuality itself.  If some room could be allowed for free choice—­the children be allowed to buy their own calicoes, within a given price, or to choose the trimmings or style, etc.  I feel sure the result would be a sturdier self-respect and a greater sense of that difference between individuals which needs emphasizing just as much as does the solidarity of individuals.”

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BOOKS FOR MOTHERS

Fundamental Books (Philosophy of Education—­Pedagogy)

    The Science of Rights ($5.00, postage 30c), J.G.  Fichte.

    Education of Man ($1.50, postage 12c), Friedrich Froebel.

    Mottoes and Commentaries of Froebel’s Mother Play ($1.50,
    postage 14c), translated by Susan E. Blow.

    The Part Played by Infancy in the Evolution of Man ($2.00,
    postage 15c), from “A Century of Science,” article by John
    Fiske.

    How Gertrude Teaches Her Children ($1.50, postage 14c),
    Pestalozzi.

    Levana, Bohn Library ($1.00, postage 12c), Jean Paul Richter.

    Education ($1.25, postage 12c), Herbert Spencer.

General Books on Education

    Household Education ($1.25, postage 10c), Harriet Martineau.

    Bits of Talk About Home Matters ($1.25, Postage 10c), H.H. 
    Jackson.

    Biography of a Baby ($1.50, postage 12c), Millicent Shinn.

    Study of Child Nature ($1.00, postage 10c), Elizabeth
    Harrison.

    Two Children of the Foot Hills ($1.25, postage 10c), Elizabeth
    Harrison.

    The Moral Instruction of Children ($1.50, postage 14c), Felix
    Adler.