In all this I do not neglect the physical side.  They can ride and swim.  They go out in all weathers and get wholesomely wet, dirty, and tired.  Games are a difficulty, but I want them to be able, if necessary, to do without games.  We botanise, we look for nests, we geologise, we study birds through glasses, we garden.  It is all very unscientific, but they observe, they perceive, they love the country.  Moreover, Maud has a passion for knowing all the village people, and takes the children with her, so that they really know the village-folk all round; they are certainly tremendously happy and interested in everything.  Of course they are volatile in their tastes, but I rather encourage that.  I know that in the little old moral books the idea was that nothing should be taken up by children, unless it was done thoroughly and perseveringly; but I had rather that they had a wide experience; the time to select and settle down upon a pursuit is not yet, and I had rather that they found out for themselves what they care about, than practise them in a premature patience.  The only thing I object to is their taking up something which they have tried and dropped; then I do require a pledge that they shall stick to it.  I say to them, “I don’t mind how many things you try, and if you find you don’t care about one, you may give it up when you have given it a trial; but it is a bad thing to be always changing, and everybody can’t do everything; so don’t take up this particular thing again, unless you can give a good reason for thinking you will keep to it.”

One of the things I insist upon their doing, whether they like it or not, is learning to play the piano.  There are innumerable people, I find, who regret not having been made to overcome the initial difficulties of music; and the only condition I make is, that they shall be allowed to stop when they can play a simple piece of music at sight correctly, and when they have learnt the simple rules of harmony.

For teaching them geography, I have a simple plan; my own early geography lessons were to my recollection singularly dismal.  I used, as far as I can remember, to learn lists of towns, rivers, capes, and mountains.  Then there were horrible lists of exports and imports, such as hides, jute, and hardware.  I did not know what any of the things were, and no one explained them to me.  What we do now is this.  I read up a book of travels, and then we travel in a country by means of atlases, while I describe the sort of landscape we should see, the inhabitants, their occupations, their religion, and show the children pictures.  I can only say that it seems to be a success.  They learn arithmetic with their governess, and what is aimed at is rapid and accurate calculations.  As for religious instruction, we read portions of the Bible, striking scenes and stories, carefully selected, and the Gospel story, with plenty of pictures.  But here I own I find a difficulty.  With regard to the Old Testament, I have frankly told them that