Beyond this there is no natural satisfaction to equal the inner consciousness of having done one's best, a very intimate prize distribution in which we ourselves make the discourse, and deliver the certificate to ourselves.

This is the culminating point at which educators aim; they are all agreed that prizes in the end are meant to lead up to it, but the way is long between them.

And both one and the other are good in so far as they lead us on to the highest judgment that is day by day passed on our work.

When prizes, and even the honour of well-deserved praise, fail to attract, the thought of God the witness of our efforts, and of the value in His sight of striving which is never destined to meet with success, is a support that keeps up endurance, and seals with an evident mark of privilege the lives of many who have made those dutiful efforts not for themselves but in the sight of God.
The subject of play has to be considered from two points of view, that of the children and ours.

Theirs is concerned chiefly with the present and ours with the future, far although we do not want every play-hour to be haunted with a spectral presence that speaks of improvement and advancement, yet we cannot lose sight of the fact that every hour of play is telling on the future, deepening the mark of the character, strengthening the habits, and guiding the lines of after life into this or that channel.
Looking at it from this point of view of the future, there seems to be something radically wrong at present with the play provided for children of nursery age.