Page:Preparation of the Child for Science.djvu/66

62 with all the rest. The Linotype composing machine is admirable in all these respects; and the amount of work done for one movement of the compositor's finger might fairly be called miraculous.

There is at South Kensington a selection of machines well chosen for educational purposes. Some of the models are only set working hy special request made beforehand; but several work at stated hours daily. The most attractive to children are those which they can turn on themselves by touching an electric button. When you are at the Gallery, do not be in a hurry to explain; do not talk unless the children ask questions; and do not imaginethat the afternoon has been wasted because you have no proof that any special thing has been learned. The sensation of putting one's finger on a button and seeing a whole army of wheels, cogs, levers, and hammers respond, as if by enchantment, to one's touch, is a tremendous revelation to a child's sub-conscious mind: and, until the sensation is quite familiar, it ought to be undisturbed by any conscious teaching. The day when a child receives any great new revelation of his own relation to unseen forces should be treated as a Sabbath, a Holy-day, and no work of mental effort should be imposed on him that day.