things he must not touch or eat, and it is a perfectly unnecessary
source of trouble.

"My four children ate at such a low table till the oldest was eight
years old, when he was promoted to our table, and the others followed
in due order."




AIR CASTLES


"What a wonderful reader you were as a child! and certainly the books
you mention were far beyond you. Yet I can not quite agree that the
habit of air-castle building is pernicious. Indeed I believe in it.
It needs only to be balanced by practical effort, directed towards
furnishing an earthly foundation for the castle. Build, then, as high
and splendid as you like, and love them so hard that you are moved
to lay a few stones on the solid earth as a beginning of a more
substantial structure; and some day you may wake to find some of your
castles coming true. Those practical foundation stones underlying a
tremendous tower of idealism have a genuine magic power. Build all you
like about your baby, for instance. Think what things Mary pondered in
her heart.

"No, I'm never worried about idealism except when it is contented with
itself and makes but little effort at outward realization. But the
fact that you are taking this course proves that you will work to
realize your ideals.