mistake to thrust upon the child ideals ready made and imported for
the purpose. A hero thrust upon the young imagination may do service
for a while, but is likely to be discarded later when that particular
hero's virtues really need to be kept before the child much more than
they did in the earlier period. George Washington and his hatchet have
furnished us a legend that is a good illustration of this. The hero is
dressed up to be attractive to children of nursery age, and endowed
with nursery virtues. When the children grow up and so outgrow their
nursery ideals, they discard interest in and admiration for George
Washington: this is a serious loss to our national idealism.

The results of the studies also indicate how significant is suitable
literature in the formation of ideals. A comparison of returns from
girls with those from boys throws an important side light on this
problem. In nearly every group of answers received it was evident
that most girls, when they get to a certain age, adopt ideals that
are decidedly masculine. The explanation of this seems to lie in the
fact that the characters of history and of literature with whom they
become most familiar are those showing distinctly masculine
qualities. There are real differences between the mind of a girl and
the mind of a boy, and these should be taken into consideration in
their training. There is great need for the clearer recognition and
sharper definition of distinctly feminine ideals. It is not enough
to transfer some imitation masculine ideals to the minds of our
girls.

We should make a special effort to discover our children's ideals,
for several reasons. First of all, by knowing what the girl or boy
has nearest the heart we shall be able to enter into closer sympathy
with the child, we shall be able to understand much of the conduct