Wherever this is forgotten, some evils will arise.

The orders which are given to any other power than those of sympathy and imitation, are not likely to be obeyed by the untrained babe; the fact is, that as yet it has no other means of obedience, and for this on higher principles we must wait till nature furnishes instruments and opportunities for their exercise.

When, however, success is gained thus far, the way is prepared for further development and culture, and the powers of observation and discrimination, then gradually tasked, will accomplish all that is desired.

Thus the infant sits or rises, repeats or is silent, at first, because those about him do so; afterwards he perceives a reason for doing so: for example, that, when in the gallery, he can see what he could not any where else, and, therefore, that he must march thither, and then he judges that one thing is wrong because the doing it was forbidden, and that another is right because it was commanded, or because the one makes him happy and the other the contrary.
Under the old system of education, I must candidly say, _moral_ treatment has been often altogether omitted, and still more frequently has it been erroneous, and consequently inefficient.

Let me ask,--would it promote a child's health to teach it to repeat certain maxims on the benefits resulting from exercise?
The answer is obvious.
Neither can it be of any service to the moral health of the child, to teach it to repeat the best maxims of virtue, unless we have taken care to urge the practical observance of those precepts.