The most vital educational problem will always be how to make the bestuse of the child's earlier years, not only for the reason that in themmany receive their entire school training, but also because, while thepower of the child to learn increases with age, his susceptibility toformative influences diminishes, and so rapid is the working of thislaw that President Eliot thinks that "the temperament, physical constitution, mental aptitudes, and moral quality of a boy are all well determined by the time he is 18 years old."Great waste of the child's time and mental energy in the preciousearly years is caused by disregard of the way in which his mindunfolds. Not only are children set at work for which they are not yetfitted, but frequently they are kept at occupations which are farbelow what they might profitably engage in. The child should beguided, not driven; to force his mind is an educational crime. Longcontinued attention and concentration are injurious, but by using tacta great deal may be accomplished without strain.At first the aim should be not so much to fill the mind with knowledgeas to develop the powers as they are ready for it, and to cultivatethe ability to use them. The plasticity of the child's mind is suchthat a new impression may be erased quickly by a newer one; hischaracter receives a decided bent only through repeated impressions ofthe same kind. The imaginative faculty is one of the earliest toappear, and a weakness of our educational systems is the failure torealize its importance and to pay sufficient attention to itsdevelopment. It is well known that imagination is the creative powerof the mind which gives life to all work, so that without it Newtonwould never have found the law of gravitation, nor Columbus havediscovered America. The world of make-believe is filled with delightfor the small child. He loves stories of imaginary adventure that hecan act out in his play, "Now with my little gun I crawl All in the dark along the wall, And follow round the forest track Away behind the sofa back. I see the others far away, As if in fire-lit camp they lay; And I, like to an Indian scout, Around their party prowled about." --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.