if nothing more heroic offers—but let it not fail to take place."[1] It is one of the great tasks of moral education to secure that emotions issue in valuable channels. Children should be encouraged to seek for themselves worthy outlets for their emotions. It is a wise moral economy to translate emotion into socially valuable action.
(3) Emotions are most valuable when they appear in an organised life. In every department of mental and moral activity aimlessness is both unpleasant and unprofitable. The child is never emotionally satisfied unless it is occupied in some way. The very young child's life is organised round such primary needs as eating and playing and sleeping. It wants toys to keep it amused, and when the old toys' possibilities become exhausted, the child's life becomes disorganised. It frets and fumes, and the emotions of jealousy and fear are developed. In the school, also, it is essential that the child should be kept fully occupied. Otherwise it becomes listless, and its emotional state, which was previously kept at a more or less high level of pleasurable activity, sinks to the depths of boredom and irritability. The unpleasantness of waiting for a train that is late is due to the absence of aim and occupation. We have time which we cannot organise in any way: the moments must simply be allowed to slip away in dull suspense. In order to escape the unpleasant emotional condition of boredom, we must organise our mental activities. And as we are most often bored during leisure hours, it follows that it is one of the great tasks of education to train children in the right
- ↑ James: Op. cit. i. pp . 125-126.
