combine the right movements necessary to accomplish each task in the best
way and in the quickest time. In many instances, the output of the factory
has been increased from twenty-five to forty per cent, through this
sensible procedure.

Theoretically, good habits should be as easy to acquire as bad ones, but
practically this is not the case. Only a few bad habits are the result of
conscious choice and effort; for example, the acquiring of a liking for
tobacco and liquor, the taste of which for most children is disagreeable if
not nauseating at first, but this taste, through practice, often becomes an
uncontrollable craving. Most bad habits, however, come about unconsciously
and are the result of "just letting things happen." This, undoubtedly, is
what the proverb means which states, "Man is born to trouble as the sparks
are to fly upward."

Most good habits, on the other hand, are the result of conscious effort,
especially on the part of parents and teachers. A reason for this is that
the strongest instincts in children are those relating to self-preservation
and the gratification of personal desires, hence selfishness, greediness,
anger, and the fighting instinct are natural to the child, while
generosity, good manners, respect for the rights of others, and sympathy
require, in order to be properly developed, persistent effort and
education. Parents, therefore, must persevere in training up the child in
the way he should go if they would cultivate in him habits that bless his
whole life.

Imitation also plays a remarkable part in the formation of habits. The
child learns to walk, talk, use his hands in certain ways, and to eat,
sleep, and dress after the manner of his elders. He uses good language or
bad according to the examples heard; in fact, nearly everything a child