do not require to be told to associate with one another; but they do need to be told to choose the best of their companions to be their friends. And in this connection reference may also be made to that companionship with the best minds and hearts of the world, which we may enjoy in reading.
In all these and in many other ways the teacher may seek to select the elements in the child's environment which will be most beneficial to his character, and, by a study of the child's hereditary tendencies, direct those influences into the channels where they will be most potent for good. But before ending this chapter, two words of warning must be dropped. Human nature, and especially child nature, is, like the Mary of the nursery rhyme, "quite contrary." The child is very apt to want to do things precisely because he is told not to, and to be disinclined to do them precisely because he is bidden to do them. This fact has always to be borne in mind when giving moral instruction. It is one reason why with some children the indirect influences of suggestion and example are more effective than direct moral instruction. This is where the teacher's study of the individual child will be invaluable. The second point is this. It is right that the teacher should magnify his office. But he should beware of thinking that he is "making" or "building" the child's character for it. That he cannot do. The teacher may in a multitude of ways give advice, warning, and encouragement, and thus may exert a quite incalculable influence on the development of the child's character; but in the last resort
