Instead, she accomplished not the dainty, refined model she set her
unwise hands to, but an anomaly, an unwieldy statue with the helmeted
head of Athene and the dancing body of Terpsichore. The mother can do
much for her child, but she cannot put her soul into the other body. The
child’s soul is its own. Inspirations and energies can be directed, that
is all. The soul must grow; it must develop, and for this it must have a
wide space. Do not bind the growth with a too compelling hand. Let
cooperation, not coercion, be the stimulus between you.
The whole world is yours and your child’s, dear mother, therefore do not
cramp his mental or spiritual gymnastics. There are a thousand outlets,
a hundred thousand modes of expression. Find your child’s height and
depth; sound him, measure his capacity for learning, pleasure, pain,
work, and let him grow in beauty, wisdom and peace ever unfolding into
the Infinite.