_a._ The ball is one of the first means used in awakening and
developing the dawning consciousness and growing faculties of
the child.
_b._ The beginning must be well made, or no later step will
seem clear.
_c._ If the first opportunity which occurs of dealing with
the gift (or with any instrumentality of education) is
wasted, interest on the part of the child is permanently
lessened.
_d._ The mind retains clear impressions in proportion to the
degree of spontaneous interest and attention with which they
are received.
_e._ The law of diminishing interest decrees that each point
in a successful exercise shall be more interesting than the
previous one.
_f._ The lessons must not be confined to so narrow a channel
that they become monotonous, and they must leave room for the
child to develop and not attempt to prescribe his mental
action.
Tiedemann says: "Liberty of action even in imitated actions is one of
the conditions of a child's happiness; besides that, it has the effect
of exercising and developing all his faculties. Example is the first
tutor, and liberty the second, in the order of evolution; but the
second is the better one, for it has inclination for its assistant."