In developing the intelligence of the children the home may be made a
place of delightful occupation while they are becoming wiser. Every home
should be equipped with a little working library of reference books,
always accessible, including a Bible, a dictionary, an atlas and a good
encyclopedia, if possible. Then there is something to do with. Nothing
delights a child or a group of children more and nothing is more
profitable to them, than a search for information on some doubtful or
disputed point. Rightly used, these times of search, with the father or
mother as a guide and assistant, are of infinite value in developing a
spirit of investigation and, not only that, but one of comradeship
between parent and child. They are chums together in a common study,
looking for “the why and wherefore of things.”
The parent, however, as the head of the class, should endeavor to be
competent to lead. In fact, it is only by keeping abreast of what is
finest in the world’s advance can one become a companion really good
enough for one’s children. What a maker of all that is worth having the
home is in a thousand ways!