They
spring up naturally and surely when we understand well the
circumstances under which an act was performed. The interest and
sympathy felt for the persons lends great vividness to the judgments
expressed. Each individual act stands out clearly and calls forth a
prompt and unerring approval or disapproval. (But later the judgment
must react upon our own conduct.) The examples are simple and
objective, free from selfish interest on the child's part, so that good
and bad acts are recognized in their true quality. These simple moral
judgments are only a beginning, only a sowing of the seed. But
harvests will not grow and ripen unless seed has been laid in the
ground. It is a long road to travel before these early moral
impressions develop into firm convictions which rule the conduct of an
adult. But education is necessarily a slow process, and it is likely
to be a perverted one unless the foundation is carefully laid in early
years. The fitting way then to cultivate moral judgments, that is, to
start just ideas of right and wrong, of virtues and vices, is by a
regular and systematic presentation of persons illustrating noble and
ignoble acts. A preference for the right and an aversion for the wrong
will be the sure result of careful teaching.
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