Page:The Chinese Boy and Girl.djvu/120

Rh {| They are all exactly proportional, having their sides either half-inch, inch, inch and a half, or two inches in length.
 * In the inside of
 * The Chinese Boy and Girl page 116a.png
 * the cover there
 * was a depression
 * three inches
 * square in which
 * was kept a piece
 * of lead, wood
 * or pasteboard,
 * divided into fifteen
 * pieces as in
 * the following
 * illustration.
 * These blocks
 * are all in pairs
 * except one,
 * which is a rhomboid.
 * }
 * These blocks
 * are all in pairs
 * except one,
 * which is a rhomboid.
 * }
 * which is a rhomboid.
 * }

They are not used as are the blocks in our kindergarten simply to make geometrical figures, but rather to illustrate such facts of history as will have a moral influence, or be an intellectual stimulus to the child.

He may build houses with them, or make such ancient or modern ornaments, or household utensils, as may suit his fancy; but the primary object of the blocks and the books, is to impress upon the child's mind, in the most forcible way possible, the leading facts of history, poetry, mythology or morals; while the houses, boats and other things are simply side issues.

The first illustration the child constructed for me, for I desired him to teach me how it was done, was a dragon horse, and when I asked him to explain it, he said that it represented the animal seen by Fu Hsi, the original ancestor