take a little time every day to perch on the top of a tree on his one leg and sing, triumphing over his trials and misfortunes. What heroic courage, what gratitude, what devotion, what love, what joy, can well up in the hearts of these blessed citizens of the woods!

I once took a course in nature study with Professor Hodge. I was working very hard on some psychological problems, and I wanted the spirit of enjoyment; I wanted a little guidance,—a better understanding of the way to study nature.

One day we would go straight ahead, looking neither to the right nor to the left, to gather mosquito eggs that we might watch them hatch out. Another day he would say, "Let us see what we may happen to find." Once we came to an old apple tree and found upon one of its limbs a lady bug. What was she doing? We gazed in admiration as we were made to realize her great service. We never interrupted nor disturbed her and I remember her with delight, in the tree she was serving.

Such a walk with Professor Hodge was an event in a lifetime. The simplest object became a subject of deep, serious study. He is a true teacher who can direct the attention of others to the deepest truths in the least things.

Keep the heart full of great literature, of beautiful pictures, and keep high ideals. Come to the right source of enjoyment. Read only good books, great books. Look only at great and beautiful pictures. Associate as far as possible with the best people, with those having high ideals, with those whose hearts are full of joy and love and sympathy. Avoid with all possible care the man who is sour, and above all live true to the heart of nature.

Light is thrown upon the proper development of smile and laughter and the correction of faults, by the distinction which has already been made between the three kinds of action,-gestures, attitudes, and bearings.

The smile of the young child is sudden and local at first, but the face becomes more and more responsive. That which was gesture becomes sympathetic attitude and modulation of the whole countenance. The smile becomes more reposeful and permanent. We see before us a revelation of the process of formation of character.

If expressions of pain or displeasure are cultivated, the growth of the smile is retarded, and the face may take on permanent perversions as bearings. If, on the other hand, joy and love and tenderness are made to fill the heart the face gradually takes on the bearing of the smile.

This development of right bearings in the little child is not even a question of health nor a question of intelligence, but simply one of love and freedom to express itself. It is chiefly a question of right co-ordinations with the kindly face of the mother or nurse. Self-indulgence, constant answering of every whim will quickly develop perversions.

These bearings in the face will become the bearings of the whole body, expressing and unfolding the being of the child. They color all expression and form character.

Two persons may act the same part, speak the same words, but how differently! What is the cause of the difference? Every man gives something of himself. The bearing, in spite of all a man can do, emanates with the words he speaks. "If I had said that," bitterly sneered a man of one who was moving a crowd, "nobody would

have listened to it." The sarcastic sneer unconsciously told the reason. Character fills the simplest words with life.

Speaking has a technique, but Cicero implied that speaking was something more, “it is a good man speaking well."

Every child begins to develop a smile or frown or scowl as a permanent bearing. Why leave all to chance? Why forget the importance of early impressions and experiences? Why overlook the fact that the formation of bearing is simply an expression of the formation of character?

Can the smile be so deepened as to become a bearing? This is exactly what takes place in the unfolding of lovely characters.

Under the perverted smile, the conventional set smile that seems to want to please you, you may feel the hate. It is more like a mere gesture, an assumed gesture at that. It is not an attitude; it is a kind of attitudinizing.

The deep, true, genuine smile that we enjoy is a gesture, an attitude and a bearing all at the same time. A bearing expressing habitual sympathy and joy, an attitude indicating a present specific experience.

For a time, a bearing expresses habitual emotions,-those which are the motives of character, which have become characteristic and show the type to which a man belongs.

Bearings are deeper than motions or attitudes. Men are less conscious of them. They are signs, not of present experience which emanates attitudes, but of the trend of all his experiences,emotions which he has most indulged, attitudes which express the moods and feelings, motives and conditions which he has most cherished.

It is interesting to note the difference between wit and humor. The smile which proceeds from wit is more of a gesture; the smile that results from humor is rather an attitude or bearing. Wit is brisk in action and brings quick response, while humor is more gradual,―it permeates the whole man and awakens a deeper pleasure.

Wit is sharp and cutting; humor is always sympathetic. Wit laughs; humor smiles. Everyone to become humorous must remain himself. Humor is a just sense of the interrelation of things and of one's own individuality to the world. Humor is one of the most sacred of emotions. brings a victory to the human being.

It

Irish wit, as is well known, though often sympathetic and at times having great humor, usually has a little sting to it. Observe this in the following characteristic Irish story:

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A lawyer named O'Hara was pleading a case before a judge, when a donkey outside began to bray. One at a time, brother O'Hara, one at a time," said the judge. A little later, when the judge was making his charge, the same donkey, now a little farther away, brayed again. The lawyer broke in and said, "Will your honor please to repeat that last remark? There is such an echo in this room that I was not able to hear what you said."

Thackeray had more wit, Dickens had more humor. Wit awakens a sudden, jerky laugh, and humor is the real source of the smile.

Dickens made the world smile sympathetically with the poorest boy or man on the streets of London. The greater education of people leads toward humor rather than toward wit, toward the smile rather than toward explosive laughter. Laughter

is almost like a gesture. There is little bearing in it, but the smile may become a part of the whole countenance, become one of the most characteristic bearings of a face.

We must never forget that all true education is the acquisition of bearings. Our sudden emotions become motives; our exalted visions which come at moments, may be so cherished as to become part of our character. Thus, expression is a mirror of educational processes.

Sudden transitory emotions become settled into the deep conditions of our lives. Hence, the importance of such little acts, as smiles and laughter. The choice we make adds to the dignity of our mirth. Boisterous laughter is softened. The smile is deepened and made a part of our innermost life.