ABSTRACT
It would be an interesting task for a literary expert to trace the stages of ethical thought marked by the uses, within living memory, of the word responsibility. Parental responsibility is, no doubt, the educational note of the day. We become worried, restless, anxious; and in the transition stage between the development of this new power and the adjustment which comes with time and experience, the fuller life, which is certainly the educationalists, fails to make them either happier or more useful. It is by way of an effort towards this adjustment of power that the author wish to bring before parents and teachers the subject of 'masterly inactivity'. The next element in the attitude of masterly inactivity is good humour—frank, cordial, natural, good humour. Leisure for themselves and a sense of leisure in those about them is as necessary to children's well being, as it is to the strong and benign parental attitude of which author is speaking.
