AMERICAN SCHOOL OF HOME ECONOMICS

CHICAGO

January 1, 1907.

My dear Madam:

In beginning this subject of the "Study of Child Life" there may
be lurking doubts in your mind as to whether any reliable rules can
really be laid down. They seem to arise mostly from the perception of
the great difference between children. What will do for one child will
not do for another. Some children are easily persuaded and gentle,
others willful, still others sullen unresponsive. How, then, is
it possible that a system of education and training can be devised
suitable for their various dispositions?

We must remember that children are much more alike than they are
different. One may have blue eyes, another gray, another black, but
they all have two. We are, therefore, in a position to make rules for
creatures having two eyes and these rules apply to eyes of all colors.
Children may be nervous, sanguine, bilious, or plethoric, but they all
have the same kind of internal organs end the same general rules of
health apply to them all.

In this series of lessons I have endeavored to set forth principles
briefly and to confirm them by instances within the experience of
every observer of childhood. The rules given are such as are held at
present by the best educators to be based upon sound philosophy, not