MADONNA AND CHILD 
 
 By Courtesy of J. W. Hughes, Detroit. 
 
STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 A MANUAL FOR 
 MOTHERS AND MOTHERS' CLUBS 
 
 BT 
 
 JULIA CLAKK HALLAM 
 
 CHICAGO NEW YOEK 
 
 ROW, PETERSON AND COMPANY 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1913 
 ROW, PETERSON & COMPANY 
 
DEDICATION 
 
 To Mrs. Florence Russell and each and every member of 
 the Mothers' Child Study Club of Sioux City, Iowa, whose 
 love and patience in cooperative study, made this book pos- 
 sible, it is affectionately dedicated. 
 
 JULIA CLARK HALLAM. 
 
 601395 
 
PREFACE 
 
 During the past twelve years, in connection with the 
 work of Mothers' Child Study clubs, I have spoken many 
 times to audiences composed of mothers. Among the 
 things which have impressed me most strongly in this 
 work is the fact that there are hundreds of mothers, espe- 
 cially young mothers, who appreciate the importance of 
 securing a broader knowledge of their children, but do 
 not know where to look for it. They know in a general 
 way that experiments and investigations are being made 
 along the line of child study and that books are being 
 written upon the subject, but this material is slow in 
 making its way into the public libraries and even there 
 it is often not in a form as to be really available. Per- 
 haps the first question asked when a mothers' club has 
 been organized is, "What book shall we use as a basis for 
 our study ?" For a number of years I searched for such 
 a book but failed to find it. Most of the volumes on child 
 study contain valuable material, but either present it in 
 too technical a form for the average mother, or present 
 too much of the theoretical and too little of the practical 
 to adapt the work to everyday conditions. At last I deter- 
 mined to prepare a book which should contain such mate- 
 rial as seemed to be most needed and most often called 
 for, a book which should answer the questions that have 
 been asked me most frequently by mothers. 
 
 The first question which the mother asks concerning 
 
 5 
 
6 PREFACE 
 
 child study is usually, What use shall I make of it? The 
 mere scientific statement of the results of investigations 
 or experiments is not enough for her. Her standpoint 
 is always practical. It is not the purpose of the present 
 volume to offer anything original, but simply to present 
 certain material from the best and most reliable sources, 
 in such a form as to be immediately helpful to the busy 
 mother. In other words, it is not offered as a contribution 
 to the psychology of child development, but rather as a 
 popularization of physiological and pedagogical principles 
 already familiar to students in this field. 
 
 The arrangement of the material is, from the view- 
 point of the scientists, open to criticism for to classify 
 children by age is not a strictly scientific procedure. The 
 age classification, however, was adopted in the belief that 
 it is the more practical for the present purpose. The fact 
 which every mother knows about her child is his age. 
 Under the present arrangement, she will be directed with- 
 out loss of time to the chapters which contain what she 
 is seeking. 
 
 It may be noted that, in view of the many sources 
 from which the material of this book has been drawn, 
 there are comparatively few quotation marks. The reason 
 for this is that, in most cases, it has seemed necessary to 
 adapt the material in a greater or less degree to the pur- 
 pose of the book. I trust, however, that there has been 
 no failure to give full credit to each and every author 
 from whom the ideas or data have been drawn. For 
 the most part the references will be found at the foot of 
 the page. In some chapters, however, the entire discus- 
 sion has been based upon the work of one or more authors. 
 
PREFACE 7 
 
 The Beginnings (with tables) is thus based upon the work 
 of Dr. J. P. C. Griffith; Language Development upon 
 that of Dr. M. V. O'Shea; Physical Development upon 
 that of Francis Warner, Stuart H. Rowe, and Professor 
 J. M. Tyler; Foods and Feeding, Professor R. H. Chit- 
 tenden; Psychology, Professors J. R. Angell, William 
 James, and C. H. Judd; Imitation, Professor J. M. Bald- 
 win; Adolescence, Dr. G. Stanley Hall, Professor E. G. 
 Lancaster, Mary Wood Allen, Professor J. M. Tyler, and 
 Dr. W. B. Forbush. JULIA CLARK HALLAM. 
 
 University of Chicago, 1913. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER I. WHERE CHILD STUDY BEGINS n 
 
 Sec. i. Earliest Conditions and Their Requirements n 
 
 Sec. 2. Food for the Baby 16 
 
 Sec. 3. Every Day Problems 21 
 
 Sec. 4. The Baby's Teeth 27 
 
 Sec. 5. Important Data 29 
 
 Sec. 6. The Baby's Mind 34 
 
 CHAPTER II. THE PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHILD FROM 
 
 Two TO SEVEN YEARS 39 
 
 . Sec. I. Introductory 39 
 
 Sec. 2. Nutrition 41 
 
 ^^ Sec. 3. Signs of Good and Bad Nourishment 55 
 
 Sec. 4. Eyes, Ear and Throat 58 
 
 Sec. 5. The Nervous Child 61 
 
 Sec. 6. Fatigue 66 
 
 CHAPTER III. THE MENTAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHILD FROM 
 
 Two TO SEVEN YEARS 68 
 
 Sec. i. How the Mind Grows 68 
 
 Sec. 2. Some Things Which Prevent Normal Development 74 
 
 Sec. 3. Avenues of Approach to the Child's Mind 76 
 
 x Sec. 4. Language as a Sign of Brain Development 79 
 
 Sec. 5. Play as a Factor in Mental Development 90 
 
 Sec. 6. Instincts 07 
 
 Sec. 7. School Life 109 
 
 CHAPTER IV. THE PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHILD "FROM 
 
 SEVEN TO TWELVE YEARS 116 
 
 Sec. i. General Physical Condition 116 
 
 Sec. 2. The Muscular System 121 
 
 Sec. 3. The Eyes ,.,,.. 124 
 
I0 CONTENTS PAGE 
 
 Sec. 4. The Ears 125 
 
 Sec. 5. The Nose and Throat 126 
 
 Sec. 6. The Teeth 128 
 
 Sec. 7. Interaction of Mind and Body 131 
 
 Sec. 8. Parent and Teacher 142 
 
 CHAPTER V. THE MENTAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHILD FROM 
 
 SEVEN TO TWELVE YEARS 150 
 
 Sec. i. Points of Contact Between Mother and Child 150 
 
 Sec. 2. Some Prominent Mental Traits of this Period 157 
 
 Sec. 3. Memory 166 
 
 Sec. 4. Children's Faults 170 
 
 Sec. 5. Truth and Untruth 182 
 
 CHAPTER VI. CHILD TRAINING 190 
 
 Sec. i. The Parents' Equipment for Training 190 
 
 Sec. 2. Imitation, the First Training 192 
 
 Sec. 3. Training Through Habit Formation 196 
 
 Sec. 4. The Will 201 
 
 Sec. 5. Discipline 206 
 
 Sec. 6. Religious Training 215 
 
 CHAPTER VII. THE ADOLESCENT BOY 225 
 
 Sec. i. The Approach of Adolescence 225 
 
 Sec. 2. The Parents' Duty to the Adolescent Boy 231 
 
 Sec. 3. General Characteristics of the Period 233 
 
 Sec. 4. Later Physical Changes 236 
 
 Sec. 5. The Boy's Greatest Danger 239 
 
 Sec. 6. How to Conquer this Disastrous Habit 242 
 
 Sec. 7. Mental Phases of Adolescence 246 
 
 Sec. 8. Later Spiritual Changes 251 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. THE ADOLESCENT GIRL 255 
 
 Sec. i. The Development of Sex 255 
 
 Sec. 2. The Mother's Duty to the Adolescent Girl 258 
 
 Sec. 3. The Health of the Adolescent Girl 263 
 
 Sec. 4. Mental Changes During Adolescence 269 
 
 Sec. 5. Spiritual Development at Adolescence 273 
 
 Sec. 6. The Education of Girls 276 
 
 Sec. 7. General Summary 278 
 
Studies in Child Development 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 WHERE CHILD STUDY BEGINS 
 i. EARLIEST CONDITIONS AND THEIR REQUIREMENTS 
 
 Child study is full of meaning. It affects the life of 
 the individual, the family, the state. It has special sig- 
 nificance for the mother, since not one single fact con- 
 nected with the child from either the physical, mental, 
 or spiritual standpoint is unimportant. Child study deals 
 with these facts, from the beginning to the end of the 
 child's life. "Carry him to his mother," said the Shu- 
 namite of old. Many people are saying the same thing 
 today. Believing as we do that child study by mothers 
 is one of the fundamental needs of the present time, we 
 may properly begin our study with the most fundamental 
 personage connected with the study, namely, the baby. 
 Let us then take him as soon as he has announced his 
 arrival by a hoarse little squeal which is not really a cry, 
 but simply the reaction of the atmosphere upon his lungs. 
 
 First Needs. The first needs of the baby are entirely 
 physical. There is no need to worry about him, for 
 everything that can be done will be better done, if the 
 mother will keep herself calm and quiet. The first thing 
 to do for the baby is to anoint him thoroughly with 
 sweet oil. After this, wrap him carefully in a soft, warm- 
 
 11 
 
12 StUblES*' IN' CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 cover, and lay him in a warm corner to experience that 
 first long quiet sleep, which means much in many ways. 
 Now, while the baby is resting, let us take just a moment 
 to consider what we may look for in him when he 
 wakes up. 
 
 Points to be Noted. The points to be particularly noted 
 in the child's body are as follows : l The size and shape 
 of the head; the diamond-shaped soft spot on the top of 
 the head and the smaller one at the back; the girth of 
 the chest and the breadth across the shoulders; the size 
 and shape of the trunk; the length and shape of the 
 limbs ; the length and shape of the entire body. Finally, 
 the scales will have to be resorted to, to see how much 
 the body weighs. Let us consider these points in order. 
 
 The Head. The head will be large in proportion to the 
 rest of the body, and will usually exhibit a gradual slope 
 from just above the eyes to the extreme point of the 
 crown. When it assumes its normal shape, as it will in 
 a few days, it will measure about thirteen and one-half 
 inches, just above the ears. The contour of the head will 
 be round or oval. The brain is relatively large at birth. 
 It forms over twelve per cent of the weight of the body at 
 this time, as against about two per cent in the adult. 2 
 
 The Soft Spots. The soft spots on the top and back 
 of the head are known as the anterior and posterior fon- 
 tanelles. In these places, only the skin and a thin mem- 
 brane covers the brain which can be seen pulsating through 
 them. The larger one of the two areas is the only one 
 which needs to concern the mother. This should measure 
 
 1 Dr. J. P. C. Griffith, Care of the Baby, Chapter n. 
 3 Prof. J. M. Tyler, Growth and Education, p. 71, 
 
WHERE CHILD STUDY BEGINS 13 
 
 about one inch from edge to edge, and must always be > 
 protected with the greatest care. It should neither be 
 depressed nor bulging; a depression indicates weakness 
 or lack of development, while a bulging is sometimes a 
 sign of water on the brain. If either of these conditions 
 occurs it is best to seek the advice of a physician as soon 
 as the discovery is made. 
 
 The Skin. The baby's skin is delicate and covered * 
 with a soft down. Its normal color is a reddish pink. If * 
 the skin is mottled or bluish, the baby is either cold or 
 ill. During the first two weeks, the outside skin with its 
 down is shed, leaving the under skin soft and rose-colored* 
 Dr. Griffith suggests that if a faint yellowish tinge comes 
 over the flesh at about the end of the first week, it may 
 indicate a touch of jaundice, but need occasion no alarm. 
 Eyebrows and eyelashes are not present. 
 
 The Chest. The girth of the chest, which should be 
 taken just above the nipples, will be practically the same 
 as the size of the head. Dr. Griffith's table shows the 
 chest to be a trifle smaller than the head at first. The* 
 girth of the head and of the chest remains about equal for 
 the first two years. 1 The breadth across the shoulders - 
 should be about one- fourth the height. The chest girth * 
 is nearly two-thirds the height at birth. 2 
 
 Lower Trunk. We next come to the lower part of 
 the trunk. It goes without saying that this is a very 
 important part of the outfit of the little traveler, con- 
 taining things which are more vital to him than the 
 conventional contents of a traveler's luggage. In this 
 
 1 Prof. J. M. Tyler, Growth and Education, p. 115. 
 
 2 Prof. J. M. Tyler, Growth and Education, p. 82. 
 
I 4 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 trunk, which is nearly cylindrical, the baby carries his 
 intestines, his lungs, kidneys, liver and heart. These 
 organs all have important work to do from the very 
 start, and must not on any account be interfered with. 
 
 The intestines and liver are relatively large. * This is 
 
 what makes the new baby's stomach protrude. The heart 
 is heavy as compared with the weight of the body. 
 
 The Limbs. The limbs are relatively short in propor- 
 tion to the trunk, the legs measuring slightly more than 
 the trunk in length. These little legs are always crooked 
 at first, and have the power of bending so that the soles 
 of the feet easily come together. The length of the body 
 is from seventeen to twenty inches. Dr. Griffith's table 
 makes the average length nineteen inches. 
 4 Weight. As to weight, if the child is a boy, it will 
 
 weigh at birth from seven to ten pounds; if a girl, from 
 six to nine pounds. Dr. Griffith places the average weight 
 at seven pounds and eight ounces, including both boys 
 and girls. 
 
 Special Senses at Birth. Among the special senses, 
 'the taste is the first to be established after birth; then 
 'comes the power to smell. Every new-born child is com- 
 
 pletely deaf, and is wholly incapable of seeing. There is 
 in some cases a response of the organization to the vibra- 
 tions caused by a loud noise. This is often interpreted 
 as ability to hear. Also, there is a sensitiveness in the 
 
 ' eye to a strong light, which is taken by some to indicate 
 the power of sight. The sensation which comes first 
 to the new-born infant through his ears and eyes is all 
 exceedingly vague and confused. 
 
 1 W. Preyor, Mental Developments of the Child, pp. 2, 3, 5, 7, 8. 
 
WHERE CHILD STUDY BEGINS 15 
 
 It will also be of interest to the mother to know that, 
 in the case of a baby born from four to six weeks too 
 soon, the special senses, particularly those of sight and 
 hearing, develop much more slowly than in the case of a 
 normal infant. However, sight and hearing develop 
 rapidly. The vision is nearly perfect at two months.. 
 
 Keep Baby Clean. For the new-born baby the first 
 bath should be a gentle rubbing with olive or sweet oil. 
 Continue this treatment until the cord comes off. The 
 oil is better for the skin than water, and also serves as 
 nourishment for the baby's system. Wash only the head 
 and genital parts with soap and water, using lukewarm 
 water and castile soap. After bathing the parts, anoint 
 them carefully with a mild solution of boric acid. Great 
 care is needed in cleansing the eyes, ears, nose and mouth. 
 For this purpose, use the boric solution just mentioned, 
 applied with an absolutely clean and sterilized piece of 
 raw cotton. The cotton can be sterilized by placing it in 
 a hot oven for a few minutes. Use a fresh piece of cotton 
 for each eye. Rub the body carefully about the navel 
 cord. Lay the cord to one side and dress it with boracic 
 acid powder and antiseptic cotton. If there is a tendency 
 on the part of the cord to become dry and hard, apply a 
 bit of vaseline to the dry portions. The cord should slip 
 off about the fifth or sixth day. If there is a slight dis- 
 charge from the navel after the cord has come off, keep 
 it carefully cleansed and dressed as above. If the first 
 rectal movements cause soreness, as is often the case, this 
 may easily be overcome by the application of a soft linen 
 cloth covered with aristol powder. 
 
 Clothing. After the bath wrap the little body, not too. 
 
16 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 tightly, with an unhemmed flannel band, six or eight 
 inches wide and long enough to reach around the stomach 
 at least twice. The diaper of bird's eye, not too bulky, 
 and a shirt of soft woolen material come next to the 
 band. A petticoat of outing flannel, sleeveless but high- 
 necked and extending five or six inches below the feet, 
 and a gown of the same material and length, but having 
 sleeves, will complete .this first costume. It is always 
 well to keep the body wrapped in a soft comforter for 
 the first few days, even though the weather is not cold. 
 
 2. FOOD FOR BABY 
 
 We come now to the feeding of the baby. Mothers 
 who are able to supply the natural nourishment which 
 the child needs are most fortunate. Regularity of feed- 
 ing with frequent drinks of water between times is always 
 important. 
 
 Substitutes for Mother's Milk. If artificial food is 
 required, either wholly, or in part, each mother must 
 make a careful study of her own baby with reference to 
 his particular condition and needs. There are many ex- 
 cellent baby foods available, and it is not possible to select 
 any one as best adapted to all cases. But do not let the 
 baby fret himself thin because he is hungry. Something 
 is wrong if he is not gaining in weight. But even if he 
 is gaining in weight, the mother must be on her guard, 
 for some of the artificial foods tend to produce fat rather 
 than solid flesh and bone, and the baby may not be thriv- 
 ing as well as he seems to be. 
 
 Again, some of the most popular substitutes for 
 mother's milk abound in starch, for the digestion of 
 
WHERE CHILD STUDY BEGINS 17 
 
 which there is, in early infancy, only imperfect provision. 
 Foods which are entirely free from starch are more desir- 
 able than those containing it. The mother may satisfy 
 herself as to whether or not starch is present in any par- 
 ticular food by dissolving a portion of the food in hot 
 water and adding a few drops of tincture of iodine in a 
 tablespoon of water. If starch is present a blue color 
 will appear. 1 An experienced nurse or physician must 
 be relied upon ultimately to decide which food is best. 
 
 Dr. Griffith thinks that, in spite of the many infants' 
 foods now upon the market, the safest substitute for 
 mother's milk can be prepared at home. Below is given 
 the formula which he recommends. This, of course, 
 requires the best of everything in the way of ingredients, 
 and can be made of varying strength to suit the demands 
 of the child. 
 
 GRIFFITH'S FORMULA FOR MILK MIXTURE 2 
 
 Milk ., 2 ounces 
 
 Cream, skimmed (16 per cent fat) iy 2 ounces 
 
 Lime water y 2 ounce 
 
 Milk sugar y 2 ounce 
 
 Water $y 2 ounces 
 
 (One ounce equals two tablespoon fuls) 
 
 Care of Food. Too much emphasis cannot be laid upon 
 the necessity of keeping the baby's food free from infec- 
 tion. Even sterilized milk will not remain sterilized under 
 exposure, and if it has once become contaminated, steriliz- 
 ing will not always free it from bacterial poisons. The 
 intestine of the baby is peculiarly sensitive to the pres- 
 
 1 Griffith, Care of the Baby, p. 160. 
 
 2 Same, p. 143. 
 
!8 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 ence of bacteria, and the rapidity with which babies suc- 
 cyrnb to intestinal diseases is a matter of record. Con- 
 firmation of this is found in the tremendous death rates 
 of babies in the crowded districts of our large cities. 
 Specialists who have made a study of the subject declare 
 that the large death rate among babies is due principally 
 to impure milk. 
 
 Since the matter of perfectly pure milk is of such 
 supreme importance to the well-being of the baby, the 
 mother, when she is uncertain as to the quality of the 
 milk which she must use, should sterilize it. The prin- 
 ciple of sterilizing is the early killing of germs present 
 in the milk and the preventing of other germs from enter- 
 ing or developing. Milk properly sterilized and protected 
 will retain its purity for months. Boiling the milk de- 
 stroys germs, but it also changes the taste of it and affects 
 the chemical character in such a way as to make it less 
 digestible. Sterilizing can be done most thoroughly with 
 the regular apparatus made for the purpose. However, 
 in the absence of a sterilizer, the following method is 
 suggested : Place the milk mixture, the formula for which 
 has already been given, in bottles tightly corked with raw 
 cotton which shall not come in contact with the milk 
 itself. Heat a kettle of water to the boiling point, remove 
 it from the stove, place the bottles of milk in the kettle, 
 cover all closely, and allow it to remain forty-five minutes. 
 At the end of this time cool the bottles as rapidly as 
 possible and keep them on ice until used. It is well, also, 
 to boil and cool the water which the baby drinks. The 
 water should be kept covered after it is boiled, just as 
 the milk is. 
 
WHERE CHILD STUDY BEGINS 19 
 
 Times of Feeding. All physicians advocate regularity * 
 of feeding, whether the baby is nursed or fed from the 
 bottle. 1 Once in three hours is sufficient for the first two* 
 or three months. After this, the interval may gradually 
 be increased to four hours. The longer periods between 
 feeding conduce to the health of both mother and child. 
 The baby will have less colic and less tendency to throw - 
 up his food; the mother's milk will last longer. It is also 
 best to skip one night feeding from the first, say the one 
 about three in the morning. It is advisable to awaken 
 the baby if asleep when his time for feeding comes. As 
 to the amount of food a baby should be given at one time, 
 the mother should remember that at birth the stomach 
 holds two tablespoonfuls. The stomach could hardly 
 increase in size at such a rate as to comfortably dispose of 
 the great bottles of milk which are often given to the 
 baby during the first few months. Estimating two table- 
 spoons as an ounce, the following program is advised: * 
 2 For the first two weeks from two to four tablespoons at 
 a meal ; from one to three months, from four to eight 
 tablespoonfuls; from three to five months, eight to six- 
 teen tablespoonfuls. These amounts should be modified 
 in the case of an unusually large or small baby. 
 
 Discontinue Night Feeding. When the baby is about - 
 four months old some nurses suggest an earlier date 
 it is wise to stop feeding him at night. There is usually 
 quite a struggle before the question of night feeding is 
 settled, and if the child is persistent and "spunky/' the 
 mother may find it necessary to exhibit similar qualities 
 
 1 Griffith, Care of the Baby, p. 153. 
 
 2 Same, p. 134. 
 
20 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 in order to carry her point. But those mothers who have 
 succeeded in establishing this habit find themselves more 
 than repaid for the effort. Of course, each mother will 
 have her own way of doing this, but the experience of 
 one mother may be suggestive, especially as it was tried 
 successfully with several different members of a numerous 
 family. Feed the baby when you retire yourself, even 
 though you waken him to do so. Then lay him down 
 in his crib and prepare yourself for a siege. Have your 
 slippers and kimono ready and be sure, if the weather is 
 cold, that there is one room into which you can take the 
 baby when he wakes up for his usual nightly meal. Be 
 prepared to heat some water. It may be wise to sweeten 
 the water a little if the baby refuses to take it without its 
 being sweetened. When he wakes up to be fed, offer him 
 only warm water and hold him until he falls asleep again. 
 This sounds simple enough, but there have been cases 
 where the cold gray dawn of the morning crept in at the 
 window before the baby gave up. Some babies will cry 
 as long and loud as their strength admits and will slap 
 away the cup or bottle of water when they find it does 
 'not contain the accustomed food. Two or possibly three 
 nights may be needed before everything goes smoothly. 
 Let the morning meal come about six or seven o'clock. 
 
 Gradual Changes in Method and Diet. Do not let the 
 baby use the bottle after he is a year old. With a little 
 patient effort he can be taught to drink from a cup, which 
 is much more hygienic and satisfactory. Begin by plac- 
 ing the food in the baby's mouth with a teaspoon. Most 
 of it will run out at first, and for a day or two the little 
 one may not seem to get enough to eat. But it will not 
 
WHERE CHILD STUDY BEGINS 21 
 
 be long before he not only learns how to take the food 
 from the spoon but to drink directly from the cup. 
 Towards the end of the first year a little fat is a desirable 
 addition to the baby's diet. This may come in the way 
 of an occasional piece of bacon to suck. He will also 
 profit by the use of bread and butter with his meals. 
 
 Second Year. The diet of the baby during his second 
 year will probably include a goodly portion of milk. But 
 he will also enjoy bread in the milk and some of the 
 numerous good breakfast foods which are now on the 
 market. Soft boiled eggs, rice, tapioca, and sago are* 
 excellent. Dish gravy and beef juice are recommended. 
 Towards the end of the second year, a little. meat and fish 
 may be added to the child's dietary. 1 
 
 3. EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 
 
 Keeping Baby Warm. As the days of the baby's life / 
 stretch out into weeks and months many problems arise. 
 Perhaps none of these is more perplexing than that of 
 keeping the baby warm. The little body contains a large 
 amount of water. This is nature's provision for the dif- 
 fusion of nourishment to the tissues. It increases growth 
 but decreases the power of resistance to cold. The sur- t 
 face of the body is large in proportion to the size and 
 efficiency of the circulatory system, and it is difficult to 
 get heat to the extremities. This is practically a vegeta- 
 tive period of life and the most important processes are 
 those of digestion, assimilation, and the removal of waste. 
 Very little of the food which the baby takes is used for 
 
 1 J. P. C. Griffith, Care of the Baby, p. 164. 
 
22 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 fuel. 1 When the temperature is warm for an adult, the 
 baby will be cold. External heat must constantly be 
 provided. 
 
 Some babies show that they are cold by looking blue, 
 but many babies suffer from cold even when they are 
 sufficiently well-nourished not to look blue. Any indica- 
 tion of this condition should receive the prompt attention 
 of the mother. Sometimes there is not sufficient clothing, 
 or the clothing is too tight. This can easily be remedied 
 by putting more on and exercising care in its adjustment, 
 especially in the case of the band. But often the baby 
 needs more warmth than can be supplied even by an abun- 
 dance of well-placed clothing. When this is the case, a 
 hot water bottle is a safe and reliable resource. 
 
 N Hot Water Bottle. No pre-natal outfit is complete 
 which does not contain a small-sized rubber bottle. This 
 should be encased in a cover of soft texture. When thus 
 protected on the outside, and partially filled with warm 
 (not hot) water and placed upon the baby's stomach and 
 bowels, it will bring untold hours of comfort and rest. A* 
 
 bag at the soles of the feet will often prove helpful. This 
 use of hot water bottles is especially urged upon the 
 mother during the night. The bedroom grows cold and 
 the circulation of the sleeping infant is not vigorous. By 
 the use of the bottles, the baby is kept comfortable and 
 quiet. Put the bottles in the cab when you take the baby 
 out of doors in cold weather. Fresh air is a real need 
 to the child before the physical organism is adapted to 
 resist the cold. You may safely take him out for his 
 airing in all but the coldest days, if you have the bottles 
 
 1 J. M. Tyler, Growth and Education, p. 86. 
 
WHERE CHILD STUDY BEGINS 23 
 
 at his stomach and feet. Also, if thus equipped, baby will 
 have a good chance of escaping the paroxysm of pain 
 and crying which so often follows the delight of the 
 outing. 
 
 Warmth While Bathing. When bathing the baby, too, 
 the question of warmth is an important one. Some babies 
 are so sensitive to cold that the removal of the clothing 
 brings on a chill which causes pain, with the result that 
 the little one shrieks during the entire bath and until he 
 is dressed, warmed, and fed. Eighty degrees is not too * 
 warm for the room where the baby is being bathed. Keep - 
 the baby naked for the shortest possible time and bathe 
 and wipe portions of the body consecutively. 
 
 Vomiting. Mothers are sometimes alarmed by baby's 
 vomiting. There is no cause to worry unless the vomiting 
 is excessive, and the expelled food smells sour. 1 The 
 muscles closing the stomach are weak and if too large a 
 supply of food is taken the vomiting is the natural way of 
 restoring proper balance. 
 
 Constipation. Watch the baby's bowels from the first. 
 There seems to be more tendency to constipation when* 
 the food is artificial than when it is natural. However, 
 I know one baby whose tendency to constipation during 
 the nursing period was entirely overcome by the gradual 
 use of artificial food. In this case, the mother had suf- 
 fered for weeks before the baby's birth with obstinate 
 constipation. Some of the remedies for colic are consti- 
 pating, but not all of them. Peppermint is often found 
 to be so, but not catnip. An enema of warm water con- 
 taining a little calendula is often effective. Incidentally, 
 
 1 J. P. C. Griffith, Care of the Baby, p. 120. 
 
24 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 let me say the latter treatment is good to relieve colic. Do 
 not let more than twenty- four hours pass without a move- 
 ment. The use of mild physic is better than the dangers 
 which attend constipation. If the baby continues to have 
 this tendency, secure from your family physician some 
 mild cathartic and use it when necessary. A small dose 
 of castor oil will always be safe and helpful. 
 * Chafing. If the baby chafes, apply talcum powder and 
 r sweet oil. Mild boracic acid is very healing, as is also 
 bismuth powder. All of the things suggested here are 
 very simple and can do no harm. 
 
 Nursery Chair. Regularity in the use of the nursery 
 chair is one of the things which all mothers seek. When 
 the baby is strong enough to sit up (he may be held up 
 even earlier than that), place him upon the chair after 
 the morning bath and feeding. If his bowels are likely 
 to move at other times, for example as soon as he awakens 
 in the morning, place him upon the chair at that time. 
 Be careful not to let the child sit too long. Toys and 
 simple eatables, which are allowed only at this time, have 
 helped to secure the desired results. As the baby grows 
 older, especially when he begins to walk and talk, the 
 mother's own ingenuity will suggest proper expedients 
 to secure those habits of cleanliness and regularity, the 
 establishment of which is simple justice to the child. 
 % First Tears. The baby's first crying is not attended 
 with tears. The tear ducts are not in working order at 
 first. Even when the tears do appear they are not a sign 
 of grief. When the tear ducts are developing and becom- 
 ing adjusted, there is an overflow quite unconnected with 
 
WHERE CHILD STUDY BEGINS 25 
 
 emotion. The combination of real tears, prompted by real 
 grief, comes a little later. 
 
 Breathing. The establishment of proper breathing is 
 an important factor in the child's well-being. It is likely 
 to be regular during sleep, but irregular during the waking 
 hours. The same rule holds good of the pulse and will 
 probably continue as the child grows older. Some chil- 
 dren have a way of holding the breath for an appreciable 
 length of time. This is likely to startle the mother, but 
 it is done unconsciously, and is attended with no danger. 
 Breathing, besides its function of respiration, constitutes 
 much of the child's first exercise. 
 
 Locomotion. Locomotion will be attempted soon after* 
 the first half year, but do not be discouraged if many 
 months pass before success is achieved. Watch the cloth- 
 ing with special care at this time, and be sure that no part 
 of the body is impeded. It will be noticed that when 
 the baby falls he is likely to fall into a sitting position 
 rather than upon his face. This is because the muscles 
 in the back of his legs are stronger than those in front, 
 and so tend to draw him down. 
 
 The impulse to grasp and climb has been developing 
 all this time, because strength comes to the arms first. 
 Many babies begin their locomotive process by creeping 
 backwards, and for this reason learn to go down stairs 
 more easily than to mount them. An unfortunate result 
 of this tendency to creep backwards was shown in the 
 case of one child which I knew. He invariably succeeded 
 in getting himself under the bed and usually into the ex- 
 treme corner. He did not know enough to turn around 
 after he had reached the wall, neither could he make a 
 
26 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 single forward movement. Not knowing what else to 
 do, he would proceed to exhibit his discomfort by setting 
 up a howl which continued until such time as his mother 
 or some other interested adult would assume the prostrate 
 position which was necessary to extricate him. 
 
 Clothing. The character of the garments which com- 
 pose the baby's wardrobe will depend to a large extent 
 upon the individual taste of the mother. Let us hope for 
 the baby's sake that the clothing will be sufficient and 
 suitable. Consider for yourself what will best protect 
 but not impede the tiny soft body. The clothing should 
 be evenly distributed and the number and weight of the 
 garments necessary will depend upon the time of the year 
 and the climate in which the baby is born. There should 
 be an entirely different set of garments for night and day 
 wear. Woolen materials give the most warmth with the 
 least weight. If the baby's skin is so sensitive as to be 
 irritated by even very soft wool, then let an outing flannel 
 or stockinet garment come first, and the woolen garment 
 outside of that. Even the first clothing should be only 
 a few inches longer than the baby. The small limbs 
 ought to begin to move very soon, and to move a great 
 deal. Long heavy garments will retard development. 
 Cover the little feet with socks or stockings of such 
 thickness as the season demands. 
 
 Night skirts of cotton flannel, low neck and sleeveless, 
 and gowns of heavy, outing flannel will be found very 
 serviceable, as the constant wetting to which night gar- 
 ments are subjected discolors flannel and causes it to 
 become stiff and hard. 
 
WHERE CHILD STUDY BEGINS 27 
 
 4. THE BABY'S TEETH 
 
 If we examine the baby's mouth when he is nearing his 
 fourth month we shall find that the anterior edges of the 
 gums have grown slightly broader and more prominent. 
 The gums may possibly be a little red and inflamed. Per- 
 haps not until two or three months later will first one and 
 then a second tiny tooth be noted in the middle of the 
 lower jaw. Teeth come in groups and these two lower 
 central incisors are the first group to appear. You will 
 have to wait from three to eight weeks before seeing any 
 more teeth. 
 
 Second Group. When the next group appears, it will 
 consist of four teeth instead of two, and they will be in 
 the middle of the upper jaw. They are the four upper 
 incisors. Of course, these four teeth do not all come 
 through the gums in a day or in a night. They simply 
 come near enough together to be considered as one group, 
 their coming sometimes being separated by only a few 
 days. 
 
 Third Group. After this, the period of waiting will be , 
 from one to three months and the next group of teeth 
 will number six. But these six teeth do not stand to- 
 gether in the mouth. Appearing, as they do, at intervals 
 of several days or even weeks, the mother hardly associ- 
 ates them. Two of the number of this third group are - 
 the lower lateral incisors. You will be glad to see them 
 come, for they will help to fill up the mouth and greatly 
 improve the appearance of the child. The other four are 
 known as the anterior molars. These are what we call 
 double teeth and one stands a little way from each lateral 
 
28 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 incisor. Then there is another rest of from two to three 
 months. 
 
 ' Fourth Group. The child will have passed his eight- 
 eenth month, and perhaps several more, before the fourth 
 group makes its appearance. The group consists of four 
 
 i sharp pointed canines which fill the little gaps left between 
 
 I the incisors and the first molars. 
 
 Fifth Group. Then, after another rest of from two 
 to four months, the careful mother, who makes it a point 
 to know what is taking place in the child's mouth, will 
 find that he has four new double teeth, two in each jaw, 
 directly back of the first molar. I speak of the careful 
 mother in this way because it often happens that these 
 second molars, being so completely out of sight and the 
 time of their arrival being so often unknown, appear in 
 the mouth and sometimes decay before the mother knows 
 they have come. Then they have a way of forcing atten- 
 tion upon themselves most disagreeably by beginning to 
 ache. 
 By this time the child has passed his second birthday 
 
 ''and has twenty teeth. Each jaw contains two central 
 incisors, two lateral incisors, two canines and four molars. 
 The canine teeth of the upper jaw are called the eye teeth, 
 those of the lower jaw are called the stomach teeth. These 
 twenty teeth are known as the temporary, or milk teeth, 
 and in time come out to make room for the permanent 
 teeth. The permanent teeth will be spoken of in a later 
 chapter. 
 
 Importance of Care of the Teeth. The importance of 
 taking the utmost care of these first teeth need hardly be 
 emphasized. In the first place nothing is more distressing 
 
WHERE CHILD STUDY BEGINS 29 
 
 than to see a child with unclean or discolored teeth. But 
 the most pathetic part of the neglect of the teeth is that 
 the child is tormented by a toothache which the careful 
 forethought of the mother might have spared him. It is 
 so easy to forget about the regular visits to the dentist 
 which one fully intended to make. Also, these visits are 
 sometimes postponed because the child rebels and dreads 
 them. 
 
 Nails. Besides the teeth, there are in the same class 
 the finger nails and toe nails which require attention. The 
 finger nails should not be trimmed very closely at the 
 corners, and if the toe nails are cut straight across there 
 will be less danger of their ingrowing. 
 
 5. IMPORTANT DATA 
 
 In the early part of the chapter there were given the 
 general measurements of the body at birth. It is of the 
 utmost importance that these measurements continue to be 
 carefully taken during the weeks and months which fol- 
 low. The mother can provide herself with nothing which 
 will result in greater ultimate good for the baby than an 
 adequate equipment for taking these measurements. 
 Many a baby has elaborate and expensive garments in 
 his wardrobe, which could very profitably be exchanged 
 for a good measuring outfit. 
 
 Equipment for Taking Measurements. Let a tape 
 measure be part of the furnishing of baby's basket, and 
 do not allow it to stray away. A grocer's scales in one 
 of the smaller sizes, but provided with an ample basin, 
 will meet the requirements of weighing the little one. 
 There are all kinds of devices for the almost impossible 
 
3 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 task of accurately finding the baby's length. The best, I 
 believe, is a measure similar to that which a shoemaker 
 uses in measuring the foot. 1 It is something like a rule 
 with an upright piece that will slide back and forth. By 
 placing the stationary end-piece above the baby's head as 
 he lies on the bed or, better still, on a flat solid like a 
 table and moving the sliding gauge until the feet touch 
 it, you can be practically sure that your measurements are 
 accurate. The measure should be about forty-six inches 
 long with uprights eight inches long. A carpenter will 
 make such a measure at a small expense, and, after having 
 once used it, you will find it indispensable. Details of 
 measurements and weight may seem unimportant and 
 hence uninteresting. But I trust you will realize why 
 these things are emphasized when I give you an incident, 
 which is typical of many other similar cases. 
 
 Illustration from Experience. There was born into the 
 home of a friend of mine, a beautiful baby boy. His 
 head was unusually large. His parents were very ambi- 
 tious for his advancement and very proud of the mentality 
 which he rapidly developed. They were absolutely unin- 
 formed as to the possible dangers of such a condition 
 and the relation which the size of the head should prop- 
 erly bear to the other parts of the body. No measure- 
 ments were taken. Everything possible was done to 
 stimulate the baby's mind. He was taken into exciting 
 environments and frequently urged to "show off." At 
 six months of age this child with his immense forehead 
 and wise look had the appearance of many children sev- 
 eral times that age. As he approached the end of his 
 
 1 J. P. C. Griffith, Care of the Baby, p. 58. 
 
WHERE CHILD STUDY BEGINS 31 
 
 first year, it became evident that all was not right with 
 him. His mind continued to develop, but his body became 
 feeble and nervous. The advice of a physician was sought 
 and all possible care given, but the little fellow hardly 
 lived to pass his first birthday. 
 
 How Child Study Helps. Child study would have 
 shown the parents that an infant of this type should have 
 been kept absolutely quiet and free from mental excite- 
 ment; that his physical development should have been 
 ministered to with more than the usual care ; and that the 
 open air should have been his constant abiding place. 
 With such precautions, the body would at least have had 
 a chance to develop sufficient strength to sustain what 
 seemed to have been an unusually strong mentality. 
 Everyone realizes how absolutely fascinating a baby is in 
 these first days of his dawning intelligence. The tempta- 
 tion to hover over him and make him "do things" is 
 almost irresistible. In many cases this method may be 
 the best thing for the little one. I trust that the results 
 of investigation upon this subject which have been col- 
 lected here will help you to know what is best in the case 
 of your baby. 
 
 The Head. The weight of the brain probably doubles * 
 during the first year, and there are some changes in the 
 exterior of the head which go along with this increase. 1 
 As shown by the table below, the circumference of the 
 head becomes proportionately larger during the first six 
 months than at any later period. The anterior fontanelle ' 
 increases slightly in size up to the ninth month. After / 
 
 1 J. M. Tyler, Growth and Education, p. 118. 
 
32 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 that, the bones begin gradually to grow over it. At seven- 
 'teen or eighteen months it should be entirely closed. 
 
 Dr. Griffith's table for head and chest will be found 
 useful here. 1 
 
 CIRCUMFERENCE OF HEAD AND CHEST 
 
 Age Head Chest 
 
 Birth 1^/2 inches 13 inches 
 
 6 months 17 inches 16^2 inches 
 
 1 year i8j4 inches 18 inches 
 
 2 years 19 inches 18^2 inches 
 
 Baby Must Grow. Too much emphasis cannot be laid 
 upon the importance of a consistent increase in weight on 
 the part of the body. While a standstill of a week may 
 not prove serious, it should serve to put the mother on 
 her guard. But do not let a second week go by without 
 increase in weight. Investigate the food and general 
 processes. If nothing can be done there, look for some 
 organic trouble. Right here I am reminded of a mother 
 whom child study would have helped. This mother ex- 
 claimed to me a short time ago, "I wish I had known 
 enough to weigh my baby every week! Had I realized 
 that he was not gaining, but gradually losing in weight, 
 I would have changed his food, and not let him undergo 
 a process of slow starvation, as he has been doing for 
 some time/' This mother is typical of many other mothers. 
 On the other hand, one cannot fail to rejoice over 
 those cases where the careful knowledge of the mother, in 
 regard to the matter under discussion here, has served to 
 bring the baby through these periods of serious lack of 
 vitality. 
 
 1 J. P. C. Griffith, Care of the Baby, p. 60. 
 
WHERE CHILD STUDY BEGINS 33 
 
 'Another Illustration. A definite illustration of this is 
 at hand. A mother, whose six-months-old baby boy to 
 all outward appearances was well, found that he had 
 failed to gain in weight at the end of a certain week; 
 then the second and third and even fourth week passed 
 without gain. By this time the baby began to look pale. 
 The mother, from the first sign of danger, was up and 
 doing. Baby's food was changed, the doctor was con- 
 sulted, the food was still more carefully studied, the baby 
 spent days and almost nights in the open air, the scales 
 were faithfully resorted to. Time was slipping into the 
 second month, bringing anxiety to parents and friends, 
 when a combination of foods was found upon which the 
 child began to increase in weight. The boy is a sturdy 
 yearling now and is growing normally, but a knowledge 
 of conditions makes it seem reasonable to infer that his 
 mother's care in the matter of measurements had much 
 to do with the happy outcome. Dr. Griffith's table of 
 height and weight is given here. 
 
 DR. GRIFFITH'S TABLE OF HEIGHT AND WEIGHT 
 
 Age Height Weight 
 
 Birth 19 inches 7 Ibs. 8 oz. 
 
 1 week 19 'inches 7 Ibs. 7^ oz. 
 
 2 weeks 19 inches 7 Ibs. 10^2 oz. 
 
 3 weeks 19 inches 8 Ibs. 2 oz. 
 
 1 month 20^2 inches 8#J pounds 
 
 2 months 21 inches io$4 pounds 
 
 3 months 22 inches I2J4 pounds 
 
 4 months 23 inches 13^4 pounds 
 
 5 months 23^ inches 15 pounds 
 
 6 months 24 inches i6j pounds 
 
 7 months 24^ inches 17^ pounds 
 
 8 months 25 inches i8K pounds 
 
34 
 
 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 Age Height Weight 
 
 9 months 25^ inches 18^ pounds 
 
 10 months 26 inches 19^ pounds 
 
 11 months 26^ inches 20^ pounds 
 
 1 year 27 inches 21^2 pounds 
 
 2 years 31 inches 27 pounds 
 
 Generalizations. We see from the first table that the 
 baby loses weight during the first week, but more than 
 regains during the second week. 
 
 The table shows several things. 1 During the last three 
 weeks of the first month and the entire second month the 
 gain is about an ounce a day; in the third and fourth 
 months about three- fourths of an ounce a day. In the 
 fifth and sixth months it increases two-thirds of an ounce 
 a day, and from the seventh to the twelfth month the 
 gain is at the rate of about a pound a month, or a trifle 
 more than half an ounce a day, except in the ninth and 
 eleventh months when the increase is somewhat less. 
 
 In length, we note that from the second to the fourth 
 month the increase is one inch a month, and after this 
 up to one year it is half an inch a month. After the first 
 year there is a proportional decrease in the number of 
 pounds as well as in the number of inches gained, five 
 pounds being gained in weight and four inches in height 
 in the second year. 
 
 6. THE BABY'S MIND 
 
 So far our entire attention has been absorbed by the 
 physical part of the baby's life, and emphasis has been 
 laid upon the fact that at birth mental traits were strictly 
 lacking. Mothers often resent what seems to them dis- 
 
 1 J. P. C Griffith, Care of the Baby, p. 53. 
 
WHERE CHILD STUDY BEGINS 35 
 
 paragement of their baby's equipment along mental lines. 
 But the joy of watching the mind develop from nothing 
 will more than compensate for the disappointment of 
 knowing that the baby is born without active mentality. 
 
 Cortex the Seat of Consciousness. The part of the 
 human brain where it is known that all acts of conscious- 
 ness are carried on is the outer covering called the cortex. 
 This outer covering is made up of many overlapping 
 folds, thus affording wonderfully large areas for mental 
 processes. An important fact is that, according to the * 
 testimony of scientific investigations, the greater part of 
 the cortex is positively inactive during the first three 
 months of the child's life. 1 It is said that nearly every- 
 thing which the child does at this time is done better when 
 he is asleep. In fact a child born without brains has very 
 nearly the same movements at first as the normal child. 
 Therefore, the behavior of the infant during these months, 
 while often having the appearance of being rational and 
 while extremely interesting for many reasons, cannot be 
 looked upon as being rational or as prompted by mental 
 activity. 
 
 Special Senses Imperfect? But whether the cortex is 
 active or inactive, during these first months makes but 
 little difference to the baby's mental state because the 
 senses through which impressions must come to the brain 
 are so very imperfect. At best, the world presents itself 
 to the eyes of the new-born baby as a general blur of 
 light and shadow ; to the ears it comes as dull vibrations. 
 
 It is not many days before the baby will follow an 
 
 1 Francis Warner, The Nervous System, p. 24. 
 
 2 Irving King, Psychology of Child Development, p. 21. 
 
36 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 object with his eyes and even turn his head to do so. The 
 head also turns in response to sounds very early. But for 
 the first few weeks even these manifestations cannot be 
 construed as mental processes. 
 
 Real Development. As the weeks go by during which 
 real mentality is becoming established the baby has many 
 ways of showing it. For example, the first real smile, 
 which comes almost any time after the third week, can 
 easily be distinguished from the former unconscious con- 
 tractions of the small mouth; there is the dawning look 
 of pleasure at sight of the mother's face or the sound of 
 her voice, or the voice of the father, the first reaching 
 out of the arms and similar demonstrations. 
 
 The instinct to tear things, which may come as early 
 as the fifth month, indicates a stage -of development, and, 
 tedious as it is to pick up the scraps, the mother may help 
 the advancement of the child by supplying newspapers 
 or similar valueless things. Keep books away from the 
 baby until he is old enough to discriminate between what 
 may and what may not be torn. Close upon the develop- 
 ing consciousness of the little one comes the responsibility 
 of the parents for his behavior. This chapter will close 
 with a few words in regard to discipline, for even very 
 little folks are likely to require it. 
 
 Discipline. When the child, even the very young one, 
 does those things which are disturbing to the peace and 
 order of the home he should be corrected. The method 
 to be used must be determined by the individual parent. 
 Bodily punishment is more effective than moral suasion 
 at this period, since the undeveloped mental life of the 
 child makes it almost necessary to appeal to him on the 
 
WHERE CHILD STUDY BEGINS 37 
 
 physical side. A slapping of the hands has the advan- 
 tage of being prompt and definite, two very necessary 
 attributes of successful punishment, especially for young 
 children. Tying the little hands which stray from the 
 way of obedience is often effective in securing it. There 
 are many children who can be more immediately reached 
 by being deprived of something of which they are very 
 fond. This may be a cherished toy, an article of clothing, 
 a favorite pleasure, or even temporarily the society of 
 the mother. 
 
 It is easier to establish relations of obedience now than 
 it will be later. The individuality of each child should 
 be noted, and a study should be made of what is the most 
 effective way of discipline. But some method must be 
 adopted. 
 
 Self -Control. The rules of society demand self-con- 
 trol, and this self-control should be taught as early as 
 possible. It has been claimed that self-control in the 
 parents will beget self-control in the child. I have not 
 observed it to work that way. Self-control in the parent 
 is no doubt one of the conditions for a self -controlled 
 child, but it is not the only condition. Where the child 
 is wisely but surely taught obedience to home discipline 
 he is under better self-control and much more amenable 
 to the demands of school and society than when the law 
 of imitation is entirely relied upon. Moral suasion with 
 children under two years of age is more than likely to 
 render parenthood a farce and society pandemonium. Im- 
 pose obedience in whatever way you think best upon your 
 little folks, and they, as well as society, will rise up and 
 call you blessed, 
 
38 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 QUESTIONS FOR USE IN CLUB STUDY 
 
 1. Tell why child study is important. 
 
 2. What is the baby's first need? 
 
 3. Name the first points to be noted, and tell which you think is 
 
 the most important. 
 
 4. Discuss each topic referred to in question three. 
 
 5. How do these measurements compare with those of your baby? 
 
 6. Describe the condition of the special senses at birth. 
 
 7. Explain the proper conditions for the baby's first bath and first 
 
 costume. 
 
 8. Discuss the presence of starch in baby's food. 
 
 9. Give Dr. Griffith's formula for milk mixture. 
 
 10. Explain proper care of the milk. 
 
 11. Discuss times of feeding. 
 
 12. Suggest diet for baby during his second year. 
 
 13. Make suggestions about keeping the baby warm. 
 
 14. Give your experience with reference to the "everyday problems." 
 
 15. Describe the different groups of teeth. 
 
 16. Describe a good equipment for measuring the baby; tell why 
 
 the mothers should have it. 
 
 17. Describe the cortex and its condition in the new baby. 
 
 18. When do you think discipline should begin? Why? 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THE CHILD FROM TWO TO SEVEN YEARS 
 i. INTRODUCTORY 
 
 Physical Life Our Basis. Physical and mental growth 
 are closely allied. Modern physiology and psychology 
 are laying much emphasis upon the fact of the oneness 
 of the human organism. Just what the nature of this 
 mysterious intimacy which links our bodies and our minds 
 is, we do not know, but the fact of the unity is beyond 
 question. It was Montaigne who said very wisely, "It 
 is not the mind, it is not the body, we are training; it is 
 the man, and we must not divide him into parts; one 
 should not be fashioned without the other." It will, how- 
 ever, be a matter of convenience for us to continue to 
 study the next five years along the same lines which have 
 been followed, almost from necessity during the first two 
 years, considering the external or physical development 
 of the organism first, and the mental development as 
 largely conditioned by the physical development. 
 
 Every mother desires that her child shall be normal and 
 healthy in the best and broadest sense. But, judging 
 from the testimony of those who have investigated widely, 
 it is far from safe to assume that all children are normal 
 or in normal health. Hence we are justified in making 
 it our serious purpose to consider how we may best judge 
 as to the physical condition of our children, and how we 
 may most surely make and keep them well. 
 
 39 
 
40 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 In watching for possible defects, the mother must not 
 allow herself to fall into a state of nervous apprehen- 
 sion in which she sees and dreads imaginary diseases ; but 
 she should intelligently apply the knowledge which she, 
 in common with all good mothers, ought to possess. Thus 
 she will be able thoroughly to enjoy the health of her 
 child as well as to forestall and correct any evidences 
 of the opposite condition. We have spoken of the normal 
 child. It may be well to inquire just what that means. 
 
 A Normal Child. A normal child may be defined as 
 one that does not present any visible defects in develop- 
 ment, nutrition, or physical condition; one with no ab- 
 normal nerve signs, or not dull or backward mentally. 
 The normal child is not the perfect child, for we do not 
 expect to find human perfection among our children. Yet 
 it may be interesting to mothers to know what a perfect 
 child would look like and be like, if he existed. He has 
 been thus defined by Warner : 
 
 A Perfect Child. "The body of the perfect child must 
 be well proportioned, the head of good size and well- 
 shaped, with each feature well made. The nutrition of 
 the body must be normal. Sight and hearing should be 
 perfect. The signs of brain action must be good, as indi- 
 cated by the movements. Expression lively, speech clear 
 and distinct. He must show intelligent appreciation, 
 judgment and a proper use of language. He must have 
 the faculty of expressing himself, of thinking and of 
 remembering. His ancestry and inheritance must be of 
 the best. His habits in social life, and his tastes and 
 enjoyments must be of a high order." 1 
 
 1 Francis Warner, A Study of Children, p. 156. 
 
FROM TWO TO SEVEN YEARS 41 
 
 2. NUTRITION 
 
 One of the first problems of the mother, from the 
 physical standpoint, is the problem of nutrition. Atwater 
 has truly observed, "The health and strength of all are 
 intimately dependent upon their diet. Yet most people 
 understand very little about what their food contains and 
 whether or not it is rightly fitted to the demands of their 
 bodies." 
 
 While every mother, in arranging the diet of her family, 
 is in a measure limited to the foods which she finds in 
 her local market, it is self-evident that a knowledge of 
 the composition of the various foods and of the effect 
 which their component elements have upon the body will 
 give her a much wider range than she would otherwise 
 have in the work of planning this diet. 
 
 How Food Nourishes. ' We learn in our study of phys- 
 iology that the various organs of the body are made 
 up of tiny cells, joined compactly together by means of 
 a delicate tissue into which penetrates the blood in a 
 most wonderful fashion of its own. These cells may 
 be strong and well-nourished or they may be weak and 
 ill- fed. Growth can only be normal, and energy and 
 vitality great when the cells are strong and perfect. There 
 is not a great difference between the number of these cells 
 in the child and in the adult. Development comes from 
 their enlargement. 1 
 
 Nourishment is carried to all parts of the body by 
 means of the blood. The nourishment contained in the 
 blood is absorbed by the cells as it is needed, and they 
 are thus built up. The source whence the blood secures 
 
 1 Francis Warner, A Study of Children, p. 156, 
 
42 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 this nourishment for the enrichment of the tissues through 
 which it flows is the food which is taken into the stomach. 
 It will be worth while to recall briefly the manner in 
 which food is converted into nourishment and distrib- 
 uted throughout the body. After having been duly 
 treated in the mouth, the food passes into the stomach. 
 Here it is acted upon by the gastric juice and subjected 
 to a series of wavelike motions which at once knead it 
 and carry it onward through the pylorus into the small 
 intestine. When it passes into the small intestine it is 
 known as chyme and consists of minute solid masses 
 suspended in a liquid, the consistency of the whole being 
 that of moderately thick pea soup. 1 In the small intestine 
 this fluid is acted upon by still other juices and the nour- 
 ishment extracted from it through the myriads of thread- 
 like villi which form the lining of this important organ. 
 The villi send it on through other tubes into the blood 
 and it is distributed throughout the whole organism. If 
 the blood does not secure the nourishment which is needed 
 it becomes impoverished and, as a matter of course, can- 
 not build up the cells which are constantly breaking down 
 and which depend upon the blood for their renewal. This 
 means either that growth must stop altogether or at the 
 best be slow and uncertain. In other words, every act 
 of growth is provisional; when nutritive material fails to 
 be supplied growth must cease. 2 Professor Chittenden, 
 in discussing this fact, says, "Development, growth, and 
 vital activity all depend upon the availability of food in 
 proper amounts and of the proper quality. " 
 
 1 Hough and Sedgwick. The Human Mechanism, p. 1 12. 
 
 2 R. H. Chittenden, Nutrition of Man, Chapter I. 
 
FROM TWO TO SEVEN YEARS 43 
 
 Cause for Watchfulness. We are sometimes deceived 
 because the child does not show at once the effects of a 
 lack of nourishment. What the blood does not find fur- 
 nished it in the normal and proper way, it will try to 
 secure in other ways. The stronger organs may thus 
 become a drain upon the weaker ones, and serious harm 
 be done which will show itself in adult life. The mother 
 of the growing child must be very sure that he has nour- 
 ishing food, even though she detect no signs of ill-nour- 
 ishment. It is simply the fact that the child's body 
 requires a daily supply of material adapted to its nature, 
 if it is to live, grow, and perform work. 1 Professor 
 Tyler says, in this connection, that for the young child 
 the table and the meal are more important than the school 
 and the book. Since the digestive system is the founda- 
 tion of all life and activity, the growing child must have 
 material for ( i ) growth, both for the organic tissue and 
 the inorganic bones, (2) energy, (3) heat. The bulk 
 of the food will be organic matter, but the inorganic ele- 
 ments are not to be overlooked. Professor Chittenden 
 says: "The inorganic substances are an integral part of 
 the essential tissues and organs of the body, being com- 
 bined with the organic constituents of the living cells. 
 Perhaps these inorganic substances in certain forms are 
 what put life and fundamental power into certain very 
 important forms of organic matter." 
 
 Classes of Foods. Foods are divided into three classes : 
 proteids, carbohydrates, and fats. This division is not 
 based strictly upon the dominant element which each class 
 contains, but rather upon the effect which the food has 
 
 1 J. M. Tyler, Growth and Education, p. 87. 
 
44 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 upon the body. Each class is very important in its own 
 peculiar way. 
 
 Proteids. The proteids, or albuminous foods, are usu- 
 ally considered first, because they are the most funda- 
 mental. It is in the proteids, and only in them, that 
 nitrogen is found. Although nitrogen is not the pre- 
 dominating element in the proteids, since it forms only 
 sixteen per cent of them, yet so important a factor is it 
 that the proteids are sometimes known as the nitrogenous 
 foods. Nitrogen is such a quiet sort of element that we 
 would never realize without critical study how dependent 
 we are upon it in a physical way. Nitrogen may be called 
 "the power behind the throne," because, while so much 
 depends upon it, it always seems to keep in the back- 
 ground and practically out of sight. Nitrogen, in its 
 elemental form, is a gas, tasteless, odorless, and colorless. 
 It forms four-fifths of the air which we breathe. As it 
 is a component part of all animal substances, we easily 
 infer that it is found to a large extent in the tissue of the 
 living body, and such is the case. As a matter of fact, 
 we are ourselves fundamentally proteids. 
 
 To quote again from Professor Chittenden: "The 
 organic substance of all organs and tissues is made up 
 principally of proteid matter. Proteids constitute the 
 class of essential food stuffs, without which life is im- 
 possible. For tissue building, and for the renewal of 
 tissues and organs, proteids are an absolute requirement. 
 The vital part of all tissue is proteid, and only proteid 
 food can serve for its growth or renewal. Hence, no 
 matter how generous the supply of carbohydrates and 
 fats, without some mixture of proteid foods, the body 
 
FROM TWO TO SEVEN YEARS 45 
 
 will weaken and undergo nitrogen starvation. Every 
 living cell, whether of heart, muscle, brain or nerve, re- 
 quires its due allowance of proteid material to maintain 
 its physiological rhythm. No other food stuff stands in 
 such intimate relationship to the vital processes." 1 
 
 But there must be a grouping of the nitrogen, or pro- 
 teid element, with other elements, and this grouping must 
 be of a certain definite nature in order that the waste 
 proteid tissues may be made good. The largest element 
 in proteid is carbon. This amounts to fifty-two per cent. 
 Next comes oxygen, of which there is twenty-three per 
 cent. Besides these, and the sixteen per cent of nitrogen 
 already referred to, there is seven per cent of hydrogen, 
 with a little sulphur and, in some forms, a small amount 
 of phosphorus. 
 
 Carbohydrates. Food stuffs of the second class are 
 the carbohydrates, or the starches and sugars. These 
 foods contain no nitrogen but are made up of oxygen 
 (49.4 per cent), carbon (44.4 per cent), and hydrogen 
 (6.2 per cent). They are called the fuel food stuffs. 
 The word fuel, in connection with the carbohydrates, is 
 not used in its generally accepted sense; i. e., as a heat 
 producer. It is used more as it would be in connection 
 with the running of a steam engine. In other words, 
 the carbohydrates are used to supply energy. They can- 
 not build tissue. When they seem to be doing so, it is 
 because they are being taken into the body in excess of 
 need, and are transformed into fat, which is only tem- 
 porary. The reason why carbohydrates serve to produce 
 energy is that they oxidize easily and quickly. 
 
 1 Prof. R. H. Chittenden, The Nutrition of Man, pp. 3 and 4. 
 
46 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 Fats. The third class of foods consists of the fats. 
 They are made up of three- fourths carbon and a little 
 more than eleven per cent each of oxygen and hydrogen. 
 It is evident that the fats, with their large proportion 
 of carbon, are preeminently the heat-makers. The carbo- 
 hydrates produce some heat, as does anything which will 
 oxidize or partly oxidize in the body, but the fats, be- 
 cause they contain a larger percentage of carbon, yield 
 more heat per pound than any other food. 
 
 It has already been mentioned that all three classes of 
 organic foods contain their quota of the inorganic salts 
 which are needed for the bones and teeth, and possibly 
 for other purposes. Foods which have the larger pro- 
 portion of inorganic matter will be mentioned later. 
 
 Grouping of Food Stuffs. While a knowledge of the 
 composition of our food stuffs is important and interest- 
 ing, it will avail but little for the mother, in a practical 
 way, unless she can learn how these three classes of foods 
 are grouped in the ordinary articles of diet. Hence an 
 effort will be made here to group the different kinds of 
 food stuffs according as they abound in one or the other 
 of the different food principles. The mother must always 
 bear in mind that the growing child needs all three of 
 the so-called typical groups of food. But his predomi- 
 nating needs change as he grows and develops, and cer- 
 tain elements are needed in relatively larger proportions 
 at one time than at another. Moreover, any child may 
 show abnormal physical signs which indicate unusual 
 needs in the way of food. 
 
 In many of our natural products, all three of the food 
 
FROM TWO TO SEVEN YEARS 47 
 
 principles appear. But 1 Professor Chittenden points out 
 that by physiological analysis there is shown to be a 
 difference in the availability of these different elements. 
 I have tried to group the foods not only with reference 
 to their actual content, but also with reference to the 
 availability of nutritive elements. We will begin with a 
 consideration of the first class of foods; namely, the 
 proteids. 
 
 Proteid Foods. All kinds of lean meats are concen- 
 trated proteid food. Round steak, canned dried beef, 
 and roast turkey stand at the head of the list as given in 
 the revised data of the United States Department of 
 Agriculture. 2 Any kind of fish is essentially proteid. 
 Bluefish and codfish head the list. Both meat and fish 
 are peculiar in that they contain no carbohydrates. Other 
 strongly proteid foods are eggs and cheese. The former 
 contains no carbohydrates and the latter very little. This 
 short list by no means embraces the only foods which 
 contain much proteid matter. They are, however, the typ- 
 ical proteid foods. Some of the vegetables are very rich in 
 proteids, and form a fine diet for children, because they 
 contain a better balance of all the elements than do these 
 almost purely proteid foods. 
 
 Carbohydrate Foods. In the second, or carbohydrate, 
 class, are the vegetables. As has just been said, many 
 of these contain a considerable proportion of the proteid 
 element, but as this proteid is not so available as in foods 
 of the animal type it is not taken so largely into consid- 
 eration. At the head of the list of carbohydrates stands 
 
 1 R. H. Chittenden, The Nutrition of Man, Chapter I. 
 
 2 Bulletin 28, United States Department of Agriculture. 
 
48 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 shredded wheat. Then come macaroni, cornmeal, prunes, 
 soda crackers, whole wheat, oatmeal, dried beans and 
 peas, white bread, brown bread, tapioca, boiled rice, pea- 
 nuts, bananas, potatoes, green corn, almonds, apples, 
 oranges, cranberries, peaches, and strawberries. The list 
 given here is in the order of the relative amount of the 
 carbohydrates which the different articles contain, rang- 
 ing 77.9 per cent in shredded wheat to 7.4 per cent in 
 strawberries. Boiled rice and peanuts, which stand near 
 the middle of list, each contain the same amount, namely, 
 24 per cent. A consideration of the entire list of foods 
 shows that the article having the largest amount of carbo- 
 hydrates is raw rice. This contains 79 per cent. But, 
 as raw rice could hardly be considered a suitable diet for 
 our children, even though it be so rich in carbohydrates, 
 it does not seem a suitable article with which to head 
 the list. Note that when the rice is cooked the carbo- 
 hydrates decrease to 24 per cent. This does not mean, 
 however, that cooking always decreases the carbohydrates 
 which an article contains. The statistics show that raw 
 potatoes do not contain so large a proportion of carbo- 
 hydrates as do boiled potatoes. The vegetables which 
 were referred to a moment ago as containing, with the 
 carbohydrates, the greatest amount of available proteid 
 are beans, peas, oats, and wheat. 
 
 Fat Foods. Let us now see what part of our ordi- 
 nary table diet contains the largest portion of the third 
 kind of foods, the fats. We find butter in the lead, with 
 eighty-five per cent of fat. Next come the common 
 nuts in the following order : Brazil nuts, soft shell wal- 
 nuts, almonds, and peanuts. It should be noted that all 
 
FROM TWO TO SEVEN YEARS 49 
 
 of these nuts contain, together with the great amount of 
 fat, a good proportion of proteid, while peanuts, almonds, 
 and walnuts have a noticeable proportion of carbohy- 
 drates. Brazil nuts have very little of the carbohydrates. 
 It must be evident from this analysis of nuts that they 
 are exceedingly valuable food stuff. In fact, they have 
 not until quite recently been estimated at their full food 
 value. After nuts, cheese takes its place as an important 
 fatty food. Among meats which are rich in fat, smoked 
 ham has more than fifty per cent of this substance; corned 
 beef and lamb more than twenty-five per cent; mutton, 
 turkey, porterhouse and tenderloin steaks, roast beef and 
 mackerel more than twenty per cent; and sweetbreads, 
 chicken, salmon, and eggs more than ten per cent. Most 
 of the other common articles of food contain a small 
 amount of fat, the smallest being found in vegetables. 
 The only article in the revised list from the United States 
 bulletin which contains absolutely no fat is dried prunes; 
 while potatoes, cooked beets, peaches, and boiled rice 
 contain but one-tenth of one per cent. 
 
 Milk. Milk is mostly water. Good, standard milk is 
 eighty-seven per cent water, and poor milk no one can 
 tell about that. Of the thirteen per cent of solid matter 
 found in standard milk, five per cent consists of carbo- 
 hydrates, four per cent fat, three and three-tenths per 
 cent proteids, and seven-tenths of one per cent mineral 
 matter. 
 
 Mineral Matter in Foods. It still remains to mention 
 the foods which are richest in mineral matter. Codfish 
 contains nearly twenty-five per cent and mackerel thir- 
 teen and two-tenths per cent mineral matter. After these 
 
So STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 come sardines, corned beef, dried beans, cheese, smoked 
 ham, butter, apples and nuts, with from five to three 
 per cent. Next come salmon, shredded wheat, brown 
 bread, soda crackers, peas, prunes, peanuts, and almonds 
 with from three to two per cent of mineral matter. 
 
 Selection of Foods. After obtaining an idea of the 
 elements contained in our foods, and the purposes which 
 they serve in the human body, the most important thing 
 for the mother is to learn how these different foods may 
 be made to minister to the growth and development of 
 her child. When should proteid foods be emphasized? 
 When should most attention be given to the carbohy- 
 drates ? When are the fats of most importance ? Should 
 special attention be given to the foods containing mineral 
 matter? The laying down of definite rules is difficult, 
 and in a sense impossible, but there are certain general 
 principles which may be wisely considered. As has been 
 said before, all children require a daily portion of the 
 three organic food principles as well as some of the in- 
 organic salts. Much can be done for the nutrition of the 
 child by seeing that his diet includes a variety of food 
 and that this variety contains some of all the essential 
 elements. It is not well to offer many kinds of food at 
 the same meal, but it is important to see that during each 
 day some portion of each element enters into the food 
 which is consumed. 
 
 As to the amount of food to be eaten at any one time, 
 there is probably little danger that it will be too great if 
 anything like a proper proportion is maintained. Tyler 
 says that the young child may properly eat twice as much 
 food per pound of weight as the adult, because growth 
 
FROM TWO TO SEVEN YEARS 51 
 
 consumes more nutriment than exercise. Proteids will 
 supply the material for the new tissue, and for building 
 up the loss from wear and tear; the carbohydrates will 
 supply the energy for activity and work, with some heat ; 
 and the fats will yield a large supply of heat. Attention 
 is called by Mendal in his Childhood and Growth, to the 
 fact that the increase in weight of the growing child 
 bears a very small proportion to the weight of the food 
 which he takes into the body. The portion of the food 
 which actually goes to build up the tissue is only about 
 one one-hundredth of the intake. The greater part is 
 excreted as waste material. The tremendous food re- 
 quirements of children are caused by the heightened 
 chemical activities of the growing organism. 
 
 Adaptation of Foods. Again, the uses of foods differ 
 at different ages. In the earliest stages of infancy the 
 growth is comparatively slow, and much material is needed 
 for warmth. We find that the mother's milk, while con- 
 taining all the elements, has the largest proportion of car- 
 bohydrates and fats. In the rapidly growing periods of 
 childhood there is a definite call for proteid food, but the 
 muscular activity also makes a large demand for the car- 
 bohydrates. The craving for sugar, which is so common 
 among children, is entirely normal. Sugar yields readily 
 to combustion and supplies abundant energy. Much stress 
 is now being laid upon the value to the growing body of 
 the natural sugars and starches. The reason why the 
 excessive use of candy is to be discouraged is that in candy 
 the sugar is too concentrated. The sweet fruits are 
 especially commended for young children. Professor 
 Chittenden names the fruits as desirable in about the fol- 
 
52 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 lowing order : Oranges, grapes, prunes, dates, plums, and 
 bananas. In the second class are placed peaches, apricots, 
 pears, apples, figs, strawberries, raspberries, and blue- 
 berries. 
 
 "In all of these fruits, it is the sugar which gives them 
 their value, while the mild acid and the water they contain 
 help in other ways to maintain health. Apples are above 
 reproach if properly masticated/' 1 This same writer 
 thinks that the acid fermentation from which some chil- 
 dren suffer when using foods abounding in sugar and 
 starch may be avoided by a more moderate use of proteid 
 foods. 
 
 So much for food stuffs for the healthy child. But if 
 the child, instead of being active is listless and tired, it 
 will be well to arrange a bill o.f fare for him which shall 
 include stewed prunes, shredded wheat and macaroni. 
 Have, also, plenty of baked beans, whole- wheat bread, and 
 butter. Dried peas contain more of all the substantial ele- 
 ments than canned peas, for they are more condensed. 
 Tapioca is good and may be made most attractive. Soda 
 crackers have usually been considered poor diet, but they 
 contain seventy-three per cent of carbohydrates, and hence 
 are valuable as producers of energy. 
 
 A child who is inclined to be too warm-blooded will do 
 well to avoid the fats, that is butter, cheese, and nuts. A 
 better diet will be lean meats, codfish and mackerel, with 
 rice, macaroni, whole wheat bread, potatoes and apples. 
 
 For the thin, nervous child, with cold hands and feet, 
 a diet which includes some fat meat is desirable. If this 
 is not palatable, as is often the case, encourage the use of 
 
 1 R. H. Chittenden, The Nutrition of Man, p. 291. 
 
FROM TWO TO SEVEN YEARS 53 
 
 cheese, nuts, and plenty of butter on the bread. Porter- 
 house and tenderloin steaks, turkey, chicken, mutton, 
 sweetbreads, salmon, and eggs, will surely offer a variety 
 from which to choose. 
 
 All children should drink much water. The moisture 
 which is thus taken into the body aids the diffusion of 
 nutriment and the removal of waste. Most children have 
 an almost unlimited craving for water, which the parent 
 may safely allow to be satisfied. If the child is not natur- 
 ally thirsty, it will be wise to find some way of stimulat- 
 ing his thirst, for reasons which have just been mentioned. 
 
 A Danger. The need of the system for a certain quan- 
 tity of mineral matter was mentioned a moment ago, and 
 there are doubtless cases where it is best to encourage the 
 eating of such things as mackerel, codfish, and dried beef, 
 which are quite rich in mineral matter. But the mother 
 should notice that these salty things affect the kidneys, 
 for the salt is not entirely changed in the body, and too 
 much of it will burden sensitive kidneys. This is also 
 true of an excess of proteids for, while they are the tissue 
 builders and hence absolutely necessary for growth, an 
 immoderate use of them should be avoided. The danger 
 to the child from too large a proportion of proteids is 
 shown not only in its effect upon the kidneys, but also 
 upon the liver. That nutritious portion of the proteids 
 which is taken from the small intestine through the villi 
 is never completely assimilated as are the soluble por- 
 tions of the carbohydrates and fats. Held in suspension 
 with the soluble portion is what has been called, "a solid 
 ash which must be raked down by the liver and thrown 
 out by the kidneys/' If these most useful organs become 
 
54 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 impaired from overwork there will be sure to ensue the 
 dread evils of indigestion, liver troubles, bilious attacks, 
 and rheumatism. The harm which comes from overload- 
 ing the kidneys is not felt until it is too late to fully avoid 
 the consequences. Professor Chittenden has shown that 
 the excess of the child's food, in proportion to body 
 weight, may more safely be in carbohydrates and fats. 
 The only exception to this rule would be in the case of the 
 hot, flabby child, when the fats should be used sparingly 
 or omitted entirely. 
 
 How to Eat. We have discussed what to eat, but the 
 subject of eating should not be passed over without a few 
 words upon how to eat. The process by which the food is 
 transformed into tissue is, as has been already said, a 
 chemical process, and has been compared to the burning 
 of fuel in an engine. The first change comes about 
 through the action of the saliva. Food should be eaten 
 slowly and thoroughly masticated in order to obtain the 
 full value of this process. Especially is this true in the 
 case of the starchy foods. If the saliva has a chance to 
 do its work the burden upon the other organs will be less. 
 Remember that all carbohydrates contain starch. If you 
 have found that your child cannot digest starchy food, it 
 is probable that he has acquired the habit of eating too 
 rapidly, and of not chewing his food thoroughly. The 
 food should be kept in the mouth as long as possible in 
 order that it may mingle with the saliva, and because the 
 finer the mastication the more easily it will be acted upon 
 by the other digestive juices. Thorough mastication, 
 especially in the case of starchy foods, has been referred 
 to as "physiological good sense." 
 
FROM TWO TO SEVEN YEARS 55 
 
 Milk should be sipped, not taken in large swallows. 
 The reason for this is that when the milk reaches the 
 stomach it is turned into solid curd. If it enters the 
 stomach in small quantities it is curdled in small masses 
 which are easily digested. If it enters in large quantities 
 at a time, it is curdled in large masses, which are acted 
 upon more slowly by the juices of the stomach, and which 
 frequently become very sour during the process. 
 
 Last but not least, the mother should always arrange 
 to secure pleasant and restful conditions at the home meal 
 time. It has been proved by experiments upon both 
 human beings and animals that the process of assimilation 
 is more rapid and more thorough when one is happy and 
 contented. Anger, worry, and excitement all check diges- 
 tion. 
 
 3. SIGNS OF GOOD AND BAD NUTRITION 
 
 It will be worth while to consider next the signs of 
 good or bad nourishment in the child. What are some 
 of the forms of behavior which will serve as an index to 
 the physical conditions? It is a matter upon which a 
 mother cannot afford to relax her watchfulness. There 
 have been instances without number when the very famil- 
 iarity of daily intercourse has rendered the mother unable 
 to see signs of bad nutrition until it was too late to remove 
 the cause of it. 
 
 There are four simple ways by which the mother may 
 discover if her child is being well-nourished. First, by his 
 color; second, by his attitude; third, by his movements; 
 fourth by his growth. 
 
56 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 Color. The color of a healthy, well-nourished child, 
 is pinkish. The lips are pink and the flesh under the finger 
 nails is pink. If you press the flesh at almost any point 
 the white spot which results will disappear at once. The 
 color of a badly nourished child is bluish or sallow. The 
 lips have a tinge of blue; so has the flesh under the finger 
 nails. The white spot resulting from pressure remains 
 several seconds. 
 
 Attitude and Movements. The attitude of a well- 
 nourished child is erect and suggestive of energy, while 
 that of an ill-nourished child is listless and limp. The 
 movements of a well-nourished child, while in some cases 
 almost constant, are always under control of the will. 
 Those of a badly nourished child are automatic, uncon- 
 scious and jerky. Among the latter movements are 
 twitching of the muscles, especially those of the face and 
 shoulders, biting the nails and chewing the tongue. 
 Nature puts out no more sure and inevitable danger sign 
 than these unconscious movements, and the wise mother 
 will not neglect them. 
 
 Growth. The growth should be continuous. It is 
 necessary for a child to increase in size and weight. 1 Ces- 
 sation of growth may be produced by lack of nutrition, but 
 if, after all possible care has been taken with the child's 
 diet as well as with his general habits of living, he still 
 fails to grow, then there may be some organic disease 
 which demands the advice of a careful physician. Dr. 
 Griffith's tables of normal weight and height, already 
 quoted, will prove useful in this connection : 
 
 1 E, A. Kirkpatrick, Fundamentals of Child Study, p. 22. 
 
FROM TWO TO SEVEN YEARS 57 
 
 GROWTH IN HEIGHT AND WEIGHT BETWEEN THE AGES OF TWO AND 
 SEVEN YEARS 1 
 
 Age Height Weight 
 
 2 years 31 inches 27 pounds 
 
 3 years .35 inches 32 pounds 
 
 4 years 37^2 inches 36 pounds 
 
 5 years 40 inches 40 pounds 
 
 6 years 43 inches 44 pounds 
 
 7 years 45 inches 48 pounds 
 
 The noticeable fact about this table is that, while there 
 is a constant increase during the entire period, the gain in 
 both height and weight are greater during the earlier part 
 of the period than during the latter part; also, that the 
 difference in height is proportionately greater than in 
 weight. Of course there will be variations from this gen- 
 eral average, but the normal, healthy child will not fall 
 much below the standard except perhaps in cases where 
 the parents are small, and on this account the child's 
 expectancy of size is less than the average. 
 
 Dr. Griffith's table showing the average size of the 
 child's head and chest, up to the fifth year, will also be 
 interesting and useful. 
 
 Age Size of Head Size of Chest 
 
 2 years 19 inches 18^ inches 
 
 3 years 19^2 inches 20 inches 
 
 5 years 21 inches 22 inches 
 
 Coordination. The muscles of the normal child will 
 at this time be for the most part under the control of the 
 will. The control of the larger freer movements come 
 first, while special control of the smaller and more delicate 
 manipulations, notably those of the fingers, will not come 
 
 1 J. P. C. Griffith, Care of the Baby, p. 53. 
 
58 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 until after the close of this period. The earlier ability to 
 control the larger muscles does not come because the 
 larger muscles develop sooner than the smaller ones, for 
 even in a very young infant, it is noticeable how much 
 strength there is in the tiny fingers. Probably there is 
 more strength in a baby's fingers, in proportion to their 
 size, than there is in his arms. But the nerves which con- 
 trol the larger muscles are the first ones to coordinate or 
 become organized in the brain, and this is the condition 
 of voluntary control. 1 
 
 4. EYES, EARS, AND THROAT 
 
 We may now pass to a consideration of the eyes and 
 ears, the importance of which it is not necessary to empha- 
 size. From the time when the baby first begins to use his 
 eyes the mother can learn much about their condition by 
 the unconscious use which he makes of them. The ex- 
 pression "eye-minded" is used to indicate that the child 
 receives the larger share of his impressions through the 
 eyes. "Ear-minded" indicates the same with reference 
 to the ears. There is a third type known as the "motor- 
 minded" child. This kind of child does not seem to 
 receive his impressions more through one sense than an- 
 other, but develops by means of his general contact with 
 the activities of life. In all probability, the eye-minded 
 child does not hear quite as well as does the average child, 
 while the ear-minded child does not see quite as well. 
 Watch carefully for incipient deafness or imperfect 
 vision, as they are often suggested by the above mani- 
 festations. 
 
 1 Dr. C. H. Judd, Class Lecture, University of Chicago, Feb., 1910. 
 
FROM TWO TO SEVEN YEARS 59 
 
 Eye Troubles. There are three common eye troubles, 
 besides ordinary weak eyes. Weak eyes are often de- 
 pendent upon general physical conditions, and the eye 
 may give the first positive indication that your child is 
 not well. Bathe weak eyes in warm water and witch 
 hazel or a solution of boracic acid. Either will bring 
 relief. 
 
 The three common eye troubles referred to are near- 
 sightedness ( myopia ) , farsightedness ( hypermetropia ) , 
 and the imperfect focusing of the eyes (astigmatism). 1 
 Every home where there are children should have a copy 
 of the card known as "Snellen's Vision Test." It can 
 be obtained for a few cents from F. A. Hardy & Com- 
 pany, 131 Wabash Avenue, Chicago. This should be 
 used at least once a month during the growing years of 
 the child's life. The card will explain itself. In using 
 the card test, try one eye at a time. The radiating lines 
 upon the card should look alike. Otherwise there is 
 astigmatism. If the test is not satisfactory, and if there 
 are marked unfavorable conditions, which you cannot 
 affect by diet and the general care of the child, he should 
 be taken to an oculist. 
 
 Ear Troubles. As to the ears, the mother will be able 
 to discover incipient deafness both by eye-mindness, as 
 mentioned above, and by the slowness with which the 
 child responds to the voice. If, however, these tests are 
 not enough, take a watch and note how far from the ear 
 1 a person with perfect hearing can detect its ticking in a 
 quiet room. If there is much difference between this 
 and the distance at which the child can hear the ticking, 
 
 1 Francis Warner, Study of Children, p. 29. 
 
60 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 take the child to an aurist and have a thorough test made. 
 It will sometimes be discovered that the tonsils have be- 
 come enlarged and hard and that their removal is neces- 
 sary in order that the ear may be properly treated. 
 Adenoids and growths of a similar nature should be re- 
 moved as soon as discovered. Any investigation of the 
 condition of the ear leads usually by a direct route into 
 the mouth and throat. 1 
 
 Breathing. It is almost impossible to overcome mouth- 
 breathing, when once the habit has become fixed. It is 
 both the cause and the effect of an abnormal condition of 
 the nose or throat. This condition may be the result of 
 catarrh, polypi, or adenoids. Watch carefully and see 
 if your mouth-breathing child is not slightly deaf. See 
 if he detects odors quickly. Find if there is a dull pain 
 between his eyes. Any one of these symptoms indicates 
 a condition which requires the advice of a physician. If 
 mouth-breathing is not the result of improper conditions, 
 it is sure to be the cause of them. The nose is the proper 
 entrance and exit for the air which is taken into the lungs. 
 If the air is habitually taken in through the mouth, it is 
 inevitable that obstructions should occur in the passage 
 through which it ought to go and does not. In nasal- 
 breathing the air entering the lungs is warmed, moistened 
 and purified. Nasal-breathing is an important factor in 
 the nutrition of the brain, and without it decreased mental 
 ability is frequently observed. 2 
 
 There are a few simple methods of treatment which 
 
 1 Francis Warner, Study of Children, p. 22. 
 
 2 W. H Burnham, Hygiene of the Nose, Pedagogical Seminary, 
 1900. 
 
FROM TWO TO SEVEN YEARS 6l 
 
 experience has shown to be helpful in the breaking up of 
 mouth-breathing. If taken in the first stages, closing 
 the child's mouth as often as you see it open will often 
 correct the difficulty. Or the child may be placed in such 
 a position that the head inclines toward the chest. As 
 soon as the child is old enough to appreciate for himself 
 the bad effects of the habit, you may accomplish much 
 by talking with him about it and securing his cooperation 
 in overcoming it. 
 
 5. THE NERVOUS CHILD 
 
 We must now consider a type of child which is becom- 
 ing more and more common. I refer to the nervous 
 child. The nervous system is the connecting link between 
 the body and the mind. It has been called the coordinat- 
 ing organ of the entire mechanism. So closely is the 
 nervous system linked with the consciousness that modern 
 psychological works begin their discussion with a careful 
 description and analysis of the nervous system. We who 
 live our lives from day to day, hardly giving a thought 
 to the question of how we happen to be able to feel and 
 think and act, do not realize the wonderful complexity 
 of this most wonderful part of the human system, nor 
 how serious may be the consequences of any interference 
 with its normal functioning. 
 
 The Nerves. Running throughout the body and prac- 
 tically touching every part of it are what might be called 
 innumerable little paths. 1 These paths lead from the 
 surface of the body to its center and back again. They 
 consist of bundles of tiny fibers wrapped in tissue. These 
 
 1 Dr. C. H. Judd Psychology, Chapter III. 
 
62 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 fibers know how to speed a message from the outside 
 straight to headquarters and never pause until an answer 
 has been hurried on to some other portion of the body. 
 The whole process requires less time than it takes to tell 
 it. Exactly how this transit back and forth is accom- 
 plished no one has yet been able to discover. When an 
 impression is received through any of the senses, it darts 
 like a flash to the spinal cord. From here it may carry 
 a message of motion to some particular muscle. Or, if 
 its mission is a more complex one, it may speed to the 
 brain, where in an instant, either alone or joined with 
 another impulse from some other part of the body, it 
 passes back again along the established channels until it 
 reaches the muscle which it is to move. Everywhere there 
 are paths for the reception, continuation and discharge of 
 these impulses. 
 
 The outer tissue of the brain, which is known as the 
 cortex, is the signal station where impulses are received. 1 
 It is thought that upon this cortical area can be localized 
 the different centers which control sensory impulses and 
 motor responses. There are also areas where it is likely 
 that these impulses coordinate or work together. These 
 latter are called association areas. Conscious processes 
 depend upon the organized activity of these areas. It is 
 interesting to note that while the paths for the simple 
 sensory impulses and motor responses are well developed 
 from the first, those parts of the cortex known as the 
 association areas are left unfinished in order that they 
 may receive the development which comes through indi- 
 vidual experience. These association areas continue to 
 
 1 J. M. Tyler, Growth and Education, pp. 34, 35, 36. 
 
FROM TWO TO SEVEN YEARS 63 
 
 be subject to the impressions which come from individual 
 experience well on into life. 1 
 
 The Nervous Child. Any interference with the normal 
 functioning of the nervous system is known as nervous- 
 ness. The nervous child is one whose nervous system is 
 not doing its full duty in one or more of a countless 
 number of ways. It may be the inability to control the 
 output of nervous energy. This may be shown in excita- 
 bility, irritability, restlessness, and impatience. Or on the 
 other hand, the nervous system may show its derange- 
 ment by a lack of the normal amount of activity. In this 
 case the child will appear listless and tired. Nervousness 
 may pass beyond the symptomatic stage into actual dis- 
 ease, as in chorea or St. Vitus' dance, and in a nervous 
 breakdown. In chorea there are convulsive twitchings of 
 the muscles or limbs. 2 Among the signs of a nervous 
 breakdown are depression of the angles of the mouth, 
 horizontal furrows across the forehead. The eyes are 
 fixed or wandering. The pupils may be dilated. There 
 may be a blue coloration under the eyes and a broad white 
 line about the mouth with red spots on the cheeks. The 
 pulse will be either too fast or too slow. The head may 
 be bent forward and the shoulders carried at different 
 heights. What movements there are will be jerky and 
 unnatural. It is impossible for one suffering in this way 
 to concentrate his attention upon anything for long. In- 
 vestigations have shown that large numbers of nervous 
 breakdowns of this kind are due to poor nutrition and 
 
 1 Warner, Study of Children, p. 70 ; Swift, Mind in the Making, 
 p. 148. 
 
 2 S. H. Rowe, Physical Nature of the Child, p. 70. 
 
64 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 bad air. Contributing causes are lack of sleep, irregu- 
 larity in eating, excitement, shocks, the use of tobacco, 
 and heredity. Of course, all children are full of nerves 
 which may declare themselves at times, but the watchful 
 mother will notice and improve unfavorable conditions 
 before the extreme point is reached. 
 
 The Outward Signs. Ask your child to extend his 
 hands in front of him in as nearly a horizontal position 
 as possible, with the palms down. Notice if the arms 
 droop, if the fingers quiver and twitch, if the thumbs sag. 
 Notice also if at the small of the back there is a definite 
 curvature inward. 1 These are all signs of a nervous tem- 
 perament and may be accompanied by further and per- 
 haps less well-defined indications, as an impulsive man- 
 ner, strong social instinct, a tendency to wake fulness at 
 night, especially when over-tired or excited, a grinding 
 of the teeth during sleep, and a twitching of the muscles. 
 The hand of a nervous child will droop at the wrist with 
 the thumb more or less widely separated. 
 
 Stammering. The stammering child is always of the 
 nervous type. The child stammers because, when he 
 attempts to speak, the muscles required in articulation 
 become rigid and are not under the control of the will. 
 This rigidity may spread to other parts of the face, and in 
 some instances affects the expression. Stammering is 
 purely a nervous trouble, and the best remedy is to im- 
 prove as far as possible the general nervous condition. 
 Regular physical exercises with repeated full breathing 
 will be helpful. Strive to have the child speak slowly, 
 especially when beginning to speak. 
 
 1 Francis Warner, Study of Children, p. in. 
 
FROM TWO TO SEVEN YEARS 65 
 
 Preventives. What are some of the things which may 
 be done for the nervous child at the very outset, before 
 his condition becomes serious? He should have plenty 
 of sleep, plenty of good, nourishing food, and plenty of 
 fresh air. I am inclined to believe that no American 
 child has enough sleep. The child who needs the most 
 sleep is the very one who will not take it. It is much 
 the same in eating. No parent, however anxious, can 
 force food down a child's throat, and this would not be 
 a wise procedure even if the nourishment were neces- 
 sary. As for fresh air, it is often difficult for a family 
 living in the city to so arrange its habits that the child 
 can be out of doors as much as he should be. Sending 
 him into the country to live apart from his parents is a 
 heroic remedy and has many obvious disadvantages. But 
 much can be done under the ordinary conditions of home 
 life to assist the child in strengthening his nerves. To 
 provide enough sleep, the mother may take advantage of 
 every opportunity that is presented. She will set the 
 regular bedtime at an early hour and not deviate from it. 
 If the child, when put to bed at seven o'clock, tosses about 
 and gets wider and wider awake, she will try half past 
 seven. Every child under seven years of age should be 
 in bed at half past seven, except perhaps in the longest 
 days of summer. 
 
 The mother can also arrange the food in new and at- 
 tractive ways. When one kind of nourishing food is 
 rejected, she may try another kind that is equally nour- 
 ishing but more palatable. It is worth much care and 
 effort to establish the habit of eating plain and nourishing 
 foods. 
 
66 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 For fresh air, secure just as many bare-headed, bare- 
 footed, tree-climbing, romping summers as you possibly 
 can for both the boy and the girl. In later life, every 
 such summer will prove to be one of the most precious 
 gifts which the child could have received at your hands. 
 Also, do not fail to provide every possible facility for 
 fresh air at night. Care in this respect during the grow- 
 ing years will prove an invaluable aid to sound health. 
 Frequent rubbings of the spinal column, and especially 
 the small of the back, are always beneficial to the nervous 
 child. Make the palm of your hand as flat as possible. 
 While doing this, press the different vertebrae in turn 
 with the tips of your fingers. Any growing child will 
 like this rubbing, whether he is nervous or not. 
 
 6. FATIGUE 
 
 The subject of fatigue is also much under discussion 
 at the present time. This is undoubtedly a more impor- 
 tant item in the schoolroom than in the home. General 
 physical weariness need cause no anxiety unless in your 
 judgment it comes with too little exertion or remains too 
 long. Ordinary children will give up to physical fatigue 
 long before it injures them. Nature has wisely provided 
 this condition. It is even doubtful if the unstimulated 
 child will tire his eyes to a dangerous extent, especially 
 if they are normally strong. In the case of mental fatigue, 
 also, it is seldom that the ordinary healthy, unstimulated 
 child will be injured by it. He yields easily to mental 
 fatigue, as he does to physical, even under the stimulus of 
 the schoolroom. I do not mean that the child will not 
 become tired, but that the average child will not become 
 
FROM TWO TO SEVEN YEARS 67 
 
 too tired. With the nervous child it is different. Here 
 the action, both physical and mental, is spasmodic and 
 it is impossible to be certain just how much work can be 
 done before the danger point is reached. This danger 
 point may be reached before you are conscious of it. 
 
 QUESTIONS FOR USE IN CLUB STUDY 
 
 1. Give an outline of the previous chapter. 
 
 2. What is said of the connection between the mind and body? 
 
 3. How does Warner define the normal child ? The perfect child ? 
 
 4. What is said of the problem of the child's diet? 
 
 5. Describe briefly the process of digestion. 
 
 6. What three specific needs of the growing child does the food 
 
 fulfil? 
 
 7. What are the three main classes of foods? 
 
 8. Describe the proteids; the carbohydrates; the fats. Give 
 
 examples of each. 
 
 9. Name the foods containing the most mineral matter. 
 
 10. What do you know about different foods for different ages of 
 
 the child? 
 
 11. What would you feed the listless child? the warm-blooded 
 
 child? the thin; nervous child? 
 
 12. What precaution is needed in the case of salty foods? 
 
 13. What is the danger in too much proteid? 
 
 14. How should milk be taken? Why? 
 
 15. Explain four ways to discover if the child is well nourished. 
 
 16. Explain the development of the muscles and nerves. 
 
 17. What is meant by the expressions "eye-mindedness," "ear- 
 
 mindedness," "motor-mindedness" ? 
 
 18. What is said about eye troubles ? Ear troubles ? 
 
 19. Explain the bad effects of mouth breathing. 
 
 20. What is the work of the nerves? 
 
 21. What are the signs of nervousness? 
 
 22. What can be done for the nervous child? 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THE CHILD FROM TWO TO SEVEN YEARS 
 i. How THE MIND GROWS 
 
 We now proceed to a more exclusive consideration of 
 the child's mental life during this same period. The 
 child has, almost imperceptibly to the mother during the 
 second twelve months of his life, begun to build up 'his 
 own little individual existence. Of course, he is yet de- 
 pendent upon the mother for almost everything, but he 
 does not seem to be altogether conscious of the fact. He 
 performs all kinds of acts directed by his own will. It 
 is a delight to him to find how much control he has over 
 his own body and over the things with which he comes 
 in contact. The study of his development now becomes 
 more interesting because more things are happening. 
 
 Let us see how this baby mind receives material for 
 its growth. The mind is connected with the outside world 
 by means of the bodily senses. Through the data which 
 is brought to the mind by way of impressions upon the 
 senses of sight, sound, touch, taste and smell, the mind 
 gradually becomes able to interpret the meaning of the 
 experiences which the body is undergoing each day. On 
 the other hand the states or processes of the mind can 
 be expressed and interpreted through the behavior of 
 the body. A study of the body then, as pursued in the 
 preceding chapter, and necessarily to some extent in the 
 present chapter, will reveal much more than mere facts 
 
 68 
 
FROM TWO TO SEVEN YEARS 69 
 
 about the body. As was said above, the senses are chan- 
 nels along which impressions from without are crowding 
 in upon the brain. If as the child passes his second mile 
 post on the journey of life, these senses, especially the 
 eyes and ears, are on duty, the little mind is having all 
 it can do to handle the experiences which every day and 
 hour are bringing to it. It is of intense interest to the 
 mother to watch and see how rapidly her two-year-old is 
 becoming sensible of the outside world. 
 
 The development of the infant mind from a condition 
 which is practically one of vacancy or nothingness to a 
 state where all the normal mental processes are carried on, 
 follows regular laws. 
 
 Sensations. The very earliest impressions are called 
 sensations. These sensations include not only a con- 
 sciousness of the existence of things in general, but also 
 the consciousness that these things have the fundamental 
 qualities which appeal to the different senses. For exam- 
 ple, the eyes note the color and shape of things. The 
 ear discovers whether the object makes any sound. The 
 taste finds that they are sweet, sour or bitter. The touch 
 tells whether they are hard, soft, hot or cold, smooth or> 
 rough, while the nose is conscious of a pleasant or 
 offensive odor. 
 
 Perception. During the first weeks of the infant's 
 life these simple unassociated sensations become associ- 
 ated with other elements; namely, time and place. In 
 other words, there is not only a consciousness of things 
 with color, shape, hardness, sweetness, etc., but there is 
 a consciousness of when and where these sensations were 
 experienced. This association of sensation with time and 
 
70 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 place forms a mental process of a different character from 
 the first, and is now called a perception. 
 
 Idea. After the first dawning of perception there fol- 
 lows a period when this is the highest process of which 
 the mind is capable. Gradually another element creeps 
 in, the presence of which indicates that the mind has 
 reached the third stage in its enlargement. This next 
 element is a thought of a cause for what has been per- 
 ceived. The perception to which the thought of a cause 
 has been joined is called an idea. 
 
 The mind, equipped with the idea, even though very 
 simple at first, is on the high road to fullest mentality. 
 But it must not be forgotten at any time that the impres- 
 sions which the child is absorbing through his senses and 
 the use which he is making of the impressions are becom- 
 ing the basis of his future ideas and future habits. 
 
 The Special Senses. The question then, as to whether 
 the child's senses are perfect, becomes one of vital im- 
 portance. The eyes and ears play the largest part here. 
 If any trouble is suspected in these important organs 
 during infancy, it will be well to consult a specialist. In 
 the case of older children, simple home tests will often 
 yield the desired information. 
 
 Eyes. One of the most familiar manifestations of 
 imperfect eyes is nearsightedness. This is shown by hold- 
 ing the book too near the eyes in reading or looking at 
 pictures. Squinting and wrinkling the forehead are 
 symptoms of the same defect. Notice if your child rec- 
 ognizes easily people whom you are sure he knows, or 
 if he seems indifferent to manifest beauty either in nature 
 or art. Satisfy yourself whether he looks at things as 
 
FROM TWO TO SEVEN YEARS 71 
 
 other children do. Any redness in the eyeball or lid 
 indicates some abnormal condition. Probably simple 
 treatment by a specialist will remove the difficulty if taken 
 in time. If the defect is organic and can only be reached 
 by the fitting of glasses, this should not be delayed. Re- 
 member that early treatment of imperfect eyes may save 
 your child from a difficult and dangerous operation in 
 after life. Let me illustrate by an actual experience. 
 
 An Illustration. Several years ago, when I was visit- 
 ing one of the rooms in a public school, I noticed two 
 boys sitting at a table in the front part of the room. The 
 teacher observed my look of inquiry and hastened to 
 explain : "These are my two nearsighted boys/' she said. 
 "They have been failing in their lessons ever since they 
 came into this room. It was only the other day I dis- 
 covered that they could not see what was written on the 
 board. Now, I have them right up in front where they 
 can see everything I do, and they are doing finely. They 
 are going to be fitted with glasses soon, and then every- 
 thing will be all right." These boys were ten or twelve 
 years of age, members of representative families of the 
 city. This incident shows how serious eye defects may 
 be overlooked even by careful parents. Both of these 
 boys have suffered great handicaps in their life work on 
 account of their defective eyes, and one of them is still 
 threatened with permanent blindness. 
 
 Ears. Indications of ear defects are perhaps not so 
 numerous, but the watchful mother will detect them. A 
 child often seems disobedient because he does not hear 
 your voice or that of a teacher when he is spoken to. A 
 child who has ever suffered from earache cannot be too 
 
72 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 closely watched for signs of deafness. Do not wait long 
 before consulting a specialist after you have satisfied your- 
 self that your child's ears are not absolutely perfect. 
 
 The Nervous System. The nervous system and the 
 importance of its proper functioning have been spoken 
 of in the previous chapter, but I will illustrate a little 
 further here. Many things, which in the growing child 
 pass simply for disagreeable habits, are manifestations 
 of nervousness. Among these are standing on one foot 
 and changing quickly to the other, jerking of hands and 
 arms, inattention when spoken to, quick glancing about 
 of the eyes when evidently no particular object is being 
 looked at, thoughtless and foolish questioning, failure in 
 obedience, unconscious fumbling with any article within 
 reach or paroxysms of uncontrollable crying. 
 
 Illustrations. Let me give you an illustration of the 
 last tendency, and of the part which was thoughtlessly 
 taken by the parents. A nervous boy of eleven brought 
 home from school a very unsatisfactory report card. His 
 mother glanced at it and without premeditation issued a 
 forcible and extended reprimand. The boy passed out 
 of the room and the incident passed from the mother's 
 mind. After the child had retired for the night, his 
 mother heard him crying as if his heart would break. 
 Upon going to him and asking him the cause of his grief, 
 he sobbed out, "Oh, that awful card, that awful card. I 
 wish I was dead. I can never do anything right." The 
 mother, realizing too late the danger of the boy's condi- 
 tion, at once set about trying to repair the mischief she 
 had done. She found it impossible to get him quiet in 
 Jess than an hour. Any reference to the card brought 
 
FROM TWO TO SEVEN YEARS 73 
 
 fresh signs of grief. Finally, his mind was led entirely 
 away from the painful subject and centered upon an 
 excursion into the country which had been planned for 
 the next day. Then he fell asleep. 
 
 There is another word upon this point. A nervous 
 child asked his father for a dime to buy what the father 
 considered an unnecessary article. Finally, the father 
 grudgingly threw the dime upon the table, saying, "What 
 is the use of giving you money? You don't know how 
 to take care of it." Later, the child was heard sobbing 
 in the next room. Upon being questioned, he declared 
 through his tears, "Oh, papa thinks I am so bad! I 
 don't know what to do." 
 
 Of course, children must be told of their faults and 
 corrected for them. That is a manifest part of the par- 
 ent's duty. But there should always be the object in view 
 of helping the child to overcome his faults. No parent 
 has ever, or ever can, justify himself in flinging ouf 
 miserable little derogatory references to the weakness of 
 the child with no other object in view than to relieve his 
 or her own irritability. In the case of a nervous child, 
 it is impossible to estimate the harm which may result 
 from such action. The normal development of the mind 
 cannot take place under abnormal nervous conditions. A 
 child should receive attention for any manifestation of 
 nervous disturbances such as have just been mentioned, 
 as promptly as he would if he should begin to limp or put 
 his hand to his side. 
 
 Environment. As it is of supreme importance that 
 the senses of the child be in good condition, it is also 
 imperative that the environment of the child, out of which 
 
74 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 comes the 'material whence the senses draw their impres- 
 sions, be both physically and mentally wholesome. The 
 responsibility of the mother for this environment is mani- 
 festly great. The question often arises in this connec- 
 tion whether the environment of the child should be made 
 more stimulating than it naturally is. In answering a 
 question of this kind, the disposition and the original 
 physical and mental equipment of the child must be the 
 controlling factor. The average normal child needs no 
 stimulus except that which is supplied to him by whole- 
 some surroundings. Great rapidity of development is 
 neither necessary nor desirable. If, on the other hand, 
 the mother, by means of observation or comparison, dis- 
 covers that her child is not developing with the normal 
 rapidity, it may be the wisest thing for her to cultivate 
 a more stimulating environment. She should find out if 
 possible, what is the cause of the delay in development. 
 
 2. SOME THINGS WHICH RETARD NORMAL DEVELOPMENT 
 
 Shyness. There is one peculiar trait of character 
 which, in the growing child, often tends to retard normal 
 development. We will call it shyness here, and will only 
 refer to it briefly by way of illustration, as it is treated 
 at some length in a later chapter. The mother may do 
 much at a very early age towards preventing abnormal 
 shyness from becoming a handicap to her child's mental 
 development. Take unusual pains to have him express 
 himself freely when in the company of those with whom 
 he feels perfectly at home, and do not urge him to do 
 so in the presence of strangers until he is old enough to 
 
FROM TWO TO SEVEN YEARS 75 
 
 be reasoned with beforehand. Above all things, strive 
 not to let the child know that he is shy. 
 
 Self-Consciousness. In studying the child's mental 
 growth we cannot be too careful to preserve in him lack 
 of self -consciousness. He must not consider himself an 
 object of special or unusual interest. Self-consciousness 
 comes altogether too soon, at the best. With some chil- 
 dren it seems to be present inherently regardless of any 
 outside influence. It has often been shown to interfere 
 with normal growth. We shall be greatly helped in our 
 effort to obtain natural conditions if we remember that 
 the most intimate personal matters may be discussed by 
 mother and child, personal questions may be asked and 
 answered frankly and truthfully without the slightest 
 embarrassment to either, since there is probably nothing 
 in the mind of the child to prompt the discussion or the 
 asking of the questions except the simplest motives. 
 
 Physical Weakness. In regard to physical weakness, 
 there are countless ways in which it affects a child's 
 mental development. It has been accepted as an almost 
 unfailing rule that mental defects, and in many cases 
 moral defects, may be traced back to a physical defect. 
 Very often the physical weakness shows itself in advance 
 of any mental sign. As has been suggested above, the 
 most common of these manifestations are weakness of 
 eyes, ears, nose, throat, and nervous system. But, on 
 the other hand, school children often show conspicuous 
 mental dullness when it is difficult to find any connection 
 with a physical cause. But the physical defect, although 
 it may keep itself hidden for years, will sooner or later 
 make itself prominent. 
 
76 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 An understanding of this close connection between the 
 mental and physical parts of the child is of vital impor- 
 tance to the mother. For example, suppose that a child 
 who has been considered normally healthy and on that 
 account has received no special attention, begins to do (or 
 has always done) poor work in school. The teacher 
 appeals to the home. Perhaps in the majority of cases 
 the child receives a reprimand or some other form of 
 discipline, and that is the end of it. Such procedure has 
 repeatedly been shown to be a great mistake. The mother 
 should search for the physical cause of the trouble and 
 continue to search until she finds it. In some cases she 
 will find causes which may be removed at once, surfi as 
 eye, ear, and throat troubles. In other cases, she will 
 find incipient nervous deterioration or organic diseases 
 which will require special and consistent attention to diet, 
 exercise, sleep, and fresh air. 
 
 3. AVENUES OF APPROACH TO THE CHILD'S MIND 
 
 Besides the general knowledge of conditions and be- 
 havior which we are all supposed to have of our children, 
 we find there are more technical avenues of approach, 
 which in many cases are of very great aid, in knowing 
 them mentally. Under this class come the head, the face, 
 the eyes, and the mouth. 
 
 Head. We will first take the head as a whole. It is 
 usually admitted that a well-shaped head is an indication 
 of mental ability, but there are so many exceptions to this 
 rule that one is hardly safe in relying upon it. The head 
 should not be too large. Warner mentions twenty-one 
 inches as a good head circumference for a child of eight 
 
FROM TWO TO SEVEN YEARS 77 
 
 years. As we are considering the child at a period slightly 
 younger than that, he may fall a trifle short of the twenty- 
 one inches, although the head varies but slightly during 
 these years, even through periods of many months. A 
 wide and high forehead is a fine characteristic. There 
 should not be lumps on the forehead either on the side or 
 down the middle. There will be a definite projection on 
 the back of the head, just above the nape of the neck. 
 
 Face. The method of studying the mind through the 
 face has become an important one among educators, and 
 has been known to artists for a long time. It is called 
 "physiognomy" and has been defined as "the art and 
 science of discovering the predominant temper and other 
 characteristic qualities of the mind by the outward ap- 
 pearance, especially by the features of the face." 1 Special 
 important features are noted below and the face makes 
 up the "toute ensemble" of these features. Their com- 
 bination in the face, together with certain muscular mani- 
 festations not connected with any particular feature, 
 brings out points not evident in any single feature. 
 
 Eyes. The eyes of the normal child will be wide open 
 and frank. The eyes should look out upon their own 
 level rather than up or down. They respond very quickly 
 to mental conditions and for that reason are great helps 
 in child study. The familiar figure of the eyes as the 
 windows of the soul is more than a mere fancy. There 
 is a condition of brain-exhaustion in which the expres- 
 sion of the eye changes. Not only that, but brain ex- 
 haustion is sometimes accompanied by an uncontrollable 
 twitching of the muscles around the eyes. Dilated pupils 
 
 1 Francis Warner, A Study of Children, p. 58. 
 
78 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 indicate excitement. Frequently repeated indications of 
 brain exhaustion and excitement refer us back again to 
 unsettled nervous conditions, just as did the irregularity 
 in mental development. Just a word here as to the 
 mother's duty when she has noted by the expression of 
 the child's face, especially dilated eyes, that he is under 
 unusual nervous excitement. If he is of a slow and slug- 
 gish temperament, such an experience may tend to wake 
 him up and make him see things not noticed before, and 
 so be an actual aid to development. But even in such 
 a case, it will be wise to watch him after the excitement 
 has subsided and see if there is any unfavorable reaction, 
 such as listlessness, sleeplessness, or lack of appetite. But 
 when your naturally high-strung child comes to you with 
 his eyes bulging and his nerves trembling, do not wait to 
 watch for after effects, for they are almost sure to be 
 serious. Get the child away from the exciting environ- 
 ment as quickly as possible and hasten to divert his atten- 
 tion from the cause of the excitement. If you take him 
 wisely in the beginning, you may save him from any 
 number of more or less permanent nervous troubles. 
 
 The Mouth. The mouth responds to mental states 
 nearly as promptly as do the eyes. When the mouth is 
 held open unconsciously, it may be a sign of dullness. 
 The nerve centers of the brain do not respond promptly 
 to what should be the normal call of the senses to close 
 the mouth. Hold your own mouth open for a few sec- 
 onds and see how stupid it makes you feel. Besides this, 
 the open mouth will encourage mouth-breathing, the evils 
 of which have already been discussed. If the child holds 
 his mouth open try to stimulate or even startle him by 
 
FROM TWO TO SEVEN YEARS 79 
 
 saying something to him unexpectedly that will greatly 
 interest him and see if he does not close his mouth. If 
 allowing the mouth to remain open is merely a habit into 
 which the child has fallen, simple expedients and appeals 
 will overcome it. But if the habit persists after careful 
 attention, there is strong likelihood that some physical 
 obstruction exists in the nose or throat such as adenoid 
 growths. A careful examination by a physician is then 
 indispensable. The habit of grinning when the child is 
 evidently not amused shows that the muscles are not under 
 the control of the brain as they should be. Do not let 
 this tendency become fixed. Ask the child gently what 
 he is smiling about and when he admits there is nothing 
 amusing in his mind, suggest that he only smile when 
 pleased. Draw his mind to something serious and see if 
 the muscles of his face do not respond by relaxing. There 
 is almost sure to be a reaction of the facial expression 
 upon the brain. The mother may know that she has 
 affected the brain favorably when she has secured the 
 desired facial expression. 
 
 4. LANGUAGE AS A SIGN OF BRAIN DEVELOPMENT 
 
 Words and Ideas. There is another manifestation at 
 this period which affords an index of the child's mental 
 development. This is his method and progress in acquir- 
 ing control of language. It is said that development along 
 this line helps to make thoughts and ideas clear. It is 
 even asserted that the number of words used during this 
 early period corresponds with the number of ideas which 
 are forming in the child's mind. But, while it is doubt- 
 less true that the ideas become clearer with the growing 
 
80 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 ability to express them, we may be sure that the child 
 has ideas or at least is able to connect some ideas with 
 words which are spoken to him before he is able to use 
 the words himself. However this may be, it has been 
 shown in many instances that the child's failure to begin 
 to talk at the proper age (any time after twelve or four- 
 teen months) has been the first indication of an abnormal 
 mentality of which later years have furnished more 
 conclusive proofs. 
 
 Records. It is particularly desirable to keep records of 
 the child's progress in language, noting the words which 
 he uses and even the ideas associated with words used 
 by yourself and directed to him. This is a much simpler 
 matter than it is to tabulate his mental advance in almost 
 any other respect. It will also be helpful to jot down 
 opposite the word (with the exact age at which it was 
 first used) something of the idea which you think this 
 word represented in the child's mind, as he himself used 
 it. Besides helping you to note your child's advance- 
 ment, this record will be useful in comparing the ad- 
 vancement of your different children, and should a 
 sufficiently large number of mothers be induced to keep 
 such records they would form valuable data for students 
 of psychology and child study. For example, Miss Shinn 
 says in regard to her little niece that at eleven months 
 of age there were eighty- four words which they felt sure 
 she understood, and with which she associated ideas. But 
 even during the last four days of the tenth month, all 
 they dared suspect in the way of actual language was "a 
 faint consistency in the use of several of the most common 
 
PROM TWO TO SEVEN YEARS 8l 
 
 sounds, da, ma, developing through a series like gang, 
 gong, a gon to 'gone/' 
 
 Why the Baby Learns to Talk. The use of language 
 is an evolutionary process, and, while the child begins at 
 the bottom of the scale, he is the heir of this linguistic 
 evolution in the sense that he comes into the world with 
 a predisposition to talk. The language develops as a 
 result of the child's wants, along the line of the greatest 
 service, after the manner of biological development. An 
 insidious social pressure and his own unanalyzed social 
 need urge the little fellow on to his task of conquering 
 these obstinate words. By many repetitions, joined with 
 the kindly assistance of interested adults, who imagine 
 they know what he means and hasten to tell him, the 
 child makes progress. Each word mastered and con- 
 nected with its object or experience helps to form a back- 
 ground upon which to group new, words. 
 
 Difficulties. Step by step the baby advances in his 
 struggle with the problem of learning to talk. Some- 
 times the advance is rapid. Sometimes it is very slow, 
 but every phase of it from first to last is of peculiar in- 
 terest to the mother. Perhaps few mothers realize the 
 difficulties which confront the child as he comes to the 
 time of adopting conventional symbols or words. Imag- 
 ine yourself trying to learn an entirely new and foreign 
 language and you will be able to sympathize with the 
 baby's trials and efforts. At first the baby has a language 
 of his own in intonation and gesture, and inherently the 
 symbols which he must acquire have no connection with 
 the objects and ideas with which he is expected to asso- 
 ciate them. 
 
82 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 General Laws. Carefully recorded observations indi- 
 cate that there are certain general lines along which the 
 language of all children may be expected to grow. 1 The 
 first few months of the baby's life are the pre-linguistic 
 period. This does not mean strictly that there is no lan- 
 guage, but no verbal language. The first language of 
 the baby, like his first movements, is unconscious. The 
 first language has been classically denominated "the pri- 
 mordial squall," which expresses all possible states of dis- 
 comfort that the baby can be imagined as having. In 
 the course of a few weeks these cries are differentiated 
 into expressions of hunger, cold, internal pain, pleading 
 and anger. This very new infant, when perfectly com- 
 fortable, utters no sound, or no awareness of an environ- 
 ing world. But very soon, out of the primordial squall 
 the "primordial babble" is developed, by means of which, 
 in innumerable ways of his own, the baby expresses 
 pleasurable feelings. The primordial squall still finds 
 work to do and the two proceed side by side. The first 
 vocal utterances will be some play upon the vowel a and 
 will soon be followed by prefixing to it the consonant 
 sound of b, p and m. The first attempt upon the part 
 of the baby to frame real words is probably only a mus- 
 cular reaction in imitation of the lips of the mother. 
 Somewhere about the second month, the child's utterances 
 become vaguely purposeful. 
 
 First Smile. Dr. O'Shea thinks that the baby's smile, 
 which probably does not become a conscious effort until 
 about the third month, is the baby's first effort of vocali- 
 zation. This same writer suggests that probably "this 
 
 1 Dr. M. V. O'Shea, Linguistic Development and Education, p. 20. 
 
FROM TWO TO SEVEN YEARS 83 
 
 first true smile" is the expression of a marked change 
 taking place in the child's adjustment to his environments. 
 
 Earliest Expressions. Standing out quite definitely 
 among the efforts of the baby to express himself in lan- 
 guage are the "call tones." These may often be heard 
 when the child is entirely alone. They seem to express 
 desire for and satisfaction in some form of muscular 
 achievement. These call tones are reproductions of the 
 auditory images received from the voices of those about 
 him. One or two will be taken up and repeated almost 
 ad infinitum. Perhaps when these have been thoroughly 
 mastered, the tiny linguist puts them aside and takes up 
 another pair. No definite words are uttered unless by 
 accident, but the vocal organs are being exercised and 
 adjusted. 
 
 First Word Formations. The process of actual word 
 formation begins not far from the eighth month and 
 proceeds with such rapidity that, in all probability, as the 
 little fellow passes his first annual mile post he is being 
 borne on in the struggle faster than either he or his mother 
 is aware. With the first mastery of words comes the 
 fascinating voice play, when words are uttered over and 
 over again with no evident object except the pleasure of 
 uttering them. This is associated but not identical with 
 the later linguistic invention where the child forms orig- 
 inal words adapted to his own experience. The extent to 
 which the latter process is carried on depends much upon 
 the character of the child's mind. An imaginative child 
 will go on for years inventing not only new terms but 
 new experiences to which the new terms shall apply. 
 
 Nouns. The first real words (or attempts at real 
 
84 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 words) are usually nouns such as mamma, papa, bye-bye, 
 milk, water, etc. These do duty for entire sentences. As 
 the months of the child's life multiply, he finds himself 
 possessed of ideas which require a larger vocabulary for 
 their expression. 
 
 Verb. He still makes one word suffice for a whole 
 sentence, but now it is likely to be a verb. The subject 
 modifiers are added by means of gestures, or the subject 
 or modifiers may be given and the verb supplied by ges- 
 tures. Thus, take may mean / want papa to take me. 
 Down stands for I want to get down. Innumerable ex- 
 pressions of similar import show clearly where the em- 
 phasis is falling in the enlarging mental processes. As 
 the time goes by and experience has created new wants 
 and new ways of 'expressing them, new words are added 
 to those already mastered. 
 
 The image is much more complete than the verbal ex- 
 pression. My little son, at the age of two years, used 
 to run to his father when he came home at night, extend 
 his arms and exclaim, "Go down fy, papa, go down fy." 
 What the child meant was, "I want you to carry me 
 down stairs with you when you go to fix the fire in the 
 furnace." Such expressions as hat on, go bye-bye are 
 familiar to mothers and can easily be interpreted. 
 
 Personal Pronoun. The use of the personal pronoun 
 is difficult and is often not attempted until after the third 
 year. When it is taken up, there is usually one form 
 used for all cases, and probably this first form will not 
 be I, but more often me. For example, Me hurt baby, 
 meaning I hurt myself. Other expressions, such as Me 
 cold, Me tired, are familiar to all mothers. 
 
FROM TWO TO SEVEN YEARS 85 
 
 Irregular Forms. When the inflected forms are needed, 
 the regular ones are chosen, but the irregular ones come 
 only by experience and practice. The following examples 
 illustrate this tendency : / see some mans. My foots are 
 cold. I oughted to have gone. I dag in the sand. It 
 is noticeably easier for the child to use the past tense of 
 the verb than to acquire the future tense. This is doubt- 
 less due to the psychological fact that it is more difficult 
 for the child to apprehend future time than either past or 
 present time. 
 
 The question as to how the child does eventually come 
 into recognition of either future or past time involves 
 some exceedingly delicate psychological theories. I won- 
 der if all mothers have noticed the puzzled look which 
 comes over the little face when either of these ideas first 
 presents itself to him. The phases of consciousness which 
 are passed through before the matter is satisfactorily 
 adjusted are surely too subtle to be followed by the most 
 discerning observer. 
 
 It is probably true that from the child's first conscious- 
 ness the struggle to interpret the meaning of past impres- 
 sions by the aid of memory helps to give him his notion of 
 the past time, while his experience of having to wait for 
 desired objects or results help him along in his grasp of 
 the idea of future time. 
 
 Later Forms. Other forms or expressions which are 
 slow in coming to the child are the possessive case, the 
 comparative degree, the relative pronoun, the use of the 
 negative, and the proper uses of may and can. In noting 
 these forms of the language which are the most difficult, 
 and hence the last to be acquired, it is entirely significant 
 
86 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 that they lie along the line of the lingual lapses of unedu- 
 cated or careless adults. 
 
 The meaning of abstract words is acquired slowly. 
 Probably the majority of children do not attempt the use 
 of such words until the seventh or eighth year, and their 
 first use is likely to be associated with visual imagery. 
 
 An illustration of this connection of visual imagery 
 with so-called abstract words came to me very recently. 
 I asked a bright little girl of nine years the meaning of 
 certain abstract nouns. The first one was pride. Her 
 answer was, "He thinks he is very smart." The next 
 word was right. "Things are done the way they ought 
 to be." Beauty. "It is awfully pretty." "What is 
 pretty?" I asked. "Why, my hair ribbon," was the 
 answer. Sweetness. "The flower smells so sweet." 
 There was probably some particular object in the child's 
 mind with each word as in the case of the hair ribbon. 
 
 There is much help here for both parent and teacher 
 touching the question of what kind of appeal to make to 
 a child. During this period of immaturity, enthusiasm 
 for any desired quality will be more quickly gained by 
 reference to a particular person, known and admired by 
 the child, who exhibits this quality in a marked degree, 
 than any amount of appeal to the abstract quality by 
 itself. 
 
 SUMMARY 
 
 Before leaving this subject, a brief summary of the 
 linguistic steps will be interesting. 
 
 i. The primordial squall. This lasts about two weeks 
 and expresses discomfort. 
 
FROM TWO TO SEVEN YEARS 87 
 
 \ 
 
 2. The modified primordial squall. This interesting 
 
 activity is differentiated into sounds expressing pain, 
 hunger, pleading, anger, etc. It continues anywhere from 
 the second to the twelfth week. 
 
 3. The primordial babble. This is the sound which 
 is used to express pleasure, and is a variation of one of 
 the sounds of the letter a, soon followed by prefixing the 
 consonants b, p, and m. These sounds are purposeful 
 and include the baby's first real smile. They prevail from 
 the third to the sixth month. 
 
 4. Motor imitation and word formation. This is pur- 
 poseful and is supplemented by gesture and intonation. 
 It begins about the eighth month. 
 
 5. Effort at conventional symbols. At one year there 
 will probably be more than twenty-five in use, and for 
 part of these the parent must supply the meaning. 
 
 6. Irregular voice play. Linguistic invention. 
 
 7. Sentence-word with gestures. Largely imitation. 
 
 8. One or two other words added to sentence, which 
 may be subject, modifier, or verb. All lack supplied by 
 gesture and grimace. 
 
 9. The personal pronoun. Me usually precedes /. 
 This is about the third year. 
 
 10. Inflected forms. Future tenses and irregular 
 forms are retarded. 
 
 11. Possessive case. Comparative. Relative pro- 
 noun. Negative properly used. May and can. 
 
 12. Abstract terms, accompanied by incomplete and 
 visual imagery, from seventh to tenth year. 
 
 There is a large individual difference in the age at 
 which children begin to talk, but the very early talker 
 
88 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 cannot be said to develop into a brighter child than the 
 one who acquires the use of language more slowly. 
 
 How to Help. The question as to what the mother 
 may do when her child does not advance normally in the 
 use of language is one which has come to me many times. 
 While it is probably. true, as was said above, that retarded 
 language indicates retarded mental processes, these mental 
 processes may not be retarded permanently. The child 
 who, up to the fourth, fifth, or sixth year, has not learned 
 to express himself clearly, will probably never become a 
 fluent talker, but he may develop into a clear, though 
 probably slow, thinker. Considering what an important 
 asset the ready use of language becomes in adult life, it 
 is worth while for the mother to make an effort in the 
 direction of assisting the development of the language 
 and with it the ideas. If, as time goes on, the child makes 
 marked mistakes in the pronunciation of words the mean- 
 ing of which he evidently knows, it may be possible that 
 there is some defect either in articulation or hearing. The 
 habit of mispronunciation, however, is often the result of 
 mental carelessness on the part of both the child and the 
 parent. Whatever its cause, it will be more easy to cor- 
 rect if taken before it becomes firmly established. Warner 
 says, "All children need cultivation of good speech and 
 pronunciation." 
 
 On an earlier page reference was made to the undesira- 
 bility of stimulating the child's mental processes. But 
 I think that in the case of a child who is retarded in his 
 mastery of language, it will be agreed by everyone that 
 any danger which might come from an attempt to stimu- 
 late him mentally will be negligible. When the child 
 
FROM TWO TO SEVEN YEARS 89 
 
 seems slow in getting control of language it will be well 
 for the mother to talk to him a good deal about things 
 which are within his range of thought. Read to him 
 from books which seem nearest his interests. Try to 
 stimulate his ideas by introducing things which will be 
 associated with pleasure. This will be slow work, and 
 there may be months before there will be any tangible 
 results. But by thus enlarging the child's interest and 
 increasing the number of his ideas, you will surely do 
 much toward better mental adjustment. The enlarge- 
 ment of his power of language will be a result and proof 
 of the success of your efforts. 
 
 Pointing. Do not allow the child to point to the things 
 which he wants instead of asking for them. Pointing as 
 a substitute for speaking inclines to mental laziness and 
 operates against the acquisition of language. 
 
 It has already been said that one fundamental cause 
 for learning to talk is the fact that language is impera- 
 tive in securing the necessities of life. The mother should 
 merely let this law have its perfect work by not respond- 
 ing to requests unless they are made in words and enun- 
 ciated distinctly. Clearness of expression as well as a 
 liberal vocabulary aids clearness of ideas. 
 
 Baby Talk. It is well to avoid baby talk for the rea- 
 sons that have just been mentioned. Also the; reaction 
 of mixed enunciation upon the child's clearness of ideas 
 will tend to confusion in mental processes. We owe it 
 to our children to pronounce our words distinctly and 
 correctly. A dear little girl of six has just been visiting 
 me. "I must dough home," she remarked. She blushed 
 and hung her head when I asked her if she could not say 
 
90 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 go. She had been allowed to use baby talk beyond all 
 reasonable limits (if there are any reasonable limits) and 
 as a result will be very fortunate if she does not exhibit 
 mental sloppiness in her early school life. 
 
 5. PLAY AS A FACTOR IN MENTAL DEVELOPMENT 
 
 Having dwelt somewhat at length upon the interesting 
 subject of how the child learns to talk, we pass naturally 
 to another subject of great importance to both mother 
 and child. I refer to the child's instinct for play. 1 This 
 instinct is a very fundamental one, and in any discussion 
 of children it must always find a prominent place. The 
 healthy child begins to play about as soon as he knows 
 himself, and perhaps even earlier. We cannot speak with 
 authority upon this point, since no one knows when the 
 child does know himself. In some senses perhaps he never 
 does. The mother's manifest duty is, so far as possible, 
 to allow the play to be natural by not interfering with it. 
 The child in his natural play imitates what he sees about 
 him. There will be building, planting, cooking, parties, 
 schools, clubs, dolls, buying and selling, and any number 
 of other things. The motions which are required to go 
 through with all of these things are simply legion. "A 
 normal child is necessarily active in a muscular way, and 
 much of his activity is not in accord with the demands of 
 his environment." 2 
 
 6. WHY A CHILD PLAYS 
 
 Dr. Judd, in speaking of the number of unnecessary 
 motions which a child makes before he finally finds his 
 
 1 W. B. Forbush, The Boy Problem, p. g ; Amy Tanner, The Child, 
 p. 29. 
 2 M. V. O'Shea, Dynamic Factors in Education, Chap. I. 
 
FROM TWO TO SEVEN YEARS 91 
 
 place in the universe, says that this possibility or rather 
 necessity for diffusion of effort is nature's way of giving 
 scope and opportunity for individual development. 1 These 
 diffuse and seemingly superfluous movements on the part 
 of the child come about because of the presence in the 
 brain of the unharmonized and uncombined nerve proc- 
 esses which were spoken of in the last chapter. When 
 there is complete harmony and combination between the 
 nerve centers of the brain, no motions will be made which 
 are not directed by the brain. It follows, then that all 
 motions will have a purpose, and no motions will be made 
 without a purpose. These unnecessary movements are 
 what differentiate the child from the lower animals. The 
 brain centers of a chicken are practically combined and 
 adjusted as soon as it leaves its shell and it makes no 
 unnecessary movements in picking up its food. All possi- 
 bility of further individual development is ended. The 
 child, through his life experiences, through his needs, his 
 desires and his ambitions, by repeated trial and failure, 
 comes in time to effect the harmony of the originally un- 
 harmonized activities and by so doing makes himself a 
 different being from any other member of the race. It is 
 this very possession of unlinked forces which makes it 
 possible for a child to be educated. In fact, education has 
 been defined as "the transition of the immature individual 
 from a state of diffuseness to a state of coordination or 
 organization." 2 
 
 Nervous Response. Anojther phase of the tendency of 
 the child to constant movement is the fact that it is in the 
 
 1 Dr. C. H. Judd, Class Lectures, Feb., 1910. 
 
 2 Dr. G. Stanley Hall, Youth, p. 17. 
 
9 2 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 nature of the nervous organism to respond to all forms 
 of sensation. As an example of this you will notice that 
 you yourself will turn your head on hearing an unusual 
 sound. The sight of an object inspires a desire to reach 
 for it. As an adult you have trained yourself not to reach 
 for things, but the child will follow his instinct and try to 
 get hold of all he sees. The basis of his tendency is the 
 inherent human instinct to add to one's experience in all 
 available ways. While, later on, the development of the 
 judgment suggests proper and improper ways of adding 
 to the experience, nature sees to it that the little fellow 
 records some experiences of permanent usefulness before 
 conventionality, laden with her burden of "consideration 
 for the rights of others," swoops down upon him with 
 resistless force. I believe there is no mother who has not 
 wondered and possibly grieved because her child seemed 
 so much more adept in scattering his playthings and break- 
 ing and pulling to pieces his belongings, and those of other 
 people than he was in picking them up and putting them 
 together. In other words, why does the small girl lose 
 interest in her doll as soon as she has succeeded in getting 
 its clothes off ? Why does the boy lose interest in his en- 
 gine when he has taken it all to pieces ? Scattering is dif- 
 fusion : restoring is coordination. We have tried to show 
 that diffusion must come first in order to make possible 
 individual development, and harmony and adaptation in 
 the brain. 
 
 ^Helps to Brain Building. To be sure, there may be a 
 question as to how greatly a knowledge of the facts briefly 
 indicated here will help the weary mother over some of the 
 almost impossible days when the child seems wound up to 
 
FROM TWO TO SEVEN YEARS 93 
 
 go indefinitely with arms, legs, voice or anything else that 
 will make motion and noise. But there are some ways by 
 which coordination may be assisted and the friction les- 
 sened. Things which demand construction will be likely 
 to attract the child's attention, if the construction is so- 
 simple as to make but little demand upon his ingenuity. 
 
 It is good to place thought-provoking games and toys 
 within the child's reach, where he will come upon them 
 himself. If he finds them and works them out himself he 
 will get more out of them than if you show him how to 
 handle them. He may reject the thought-provoking plays 
 for those which require no mental effort. This may be 
 because his mind is not yet sufficiently developed to under- 
 stand them. In a general way, however, the kinds of plays 
 which a child selects himself tend to forecast his future 
 tastes. 
 
 Among the simplest construction toys are blocks. Large 
 ones, such as will stay on top of each other without being 
 accurately placed, should come first, then the more com- 
 plicated sets, leading up eventually, as the mind of the 
 child expands, to the complete architectural puzzles which 
 toy markets offer. Cut-up pictures and maps; drawing, 
 painting and weaving, are all constructive plays. Out of 
 door plays include the sand-pile, with the sand wet enough 
 to allow of the construction of houses, fences and parks. 
 If you live near a stream of running water small enough 
 to permit of the child's building a dam in it, or a bridge 
 across it, such a procedure will be most beneficial for his 
 own brain construction. Electrical toys and steam-en- 
 gines ; batteries with appliances to be attached with bands, 
 are mind builders for older boys. Tools can be added as 
 
94 
 
 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 soon as the child develops the sense to use them safely. In 
 addition to the above occupations, some of which appeal 
 to both boys and girls, there are some plays which seem 
 to appeal more strictly to the feminine mind. For exam- 
 ple, at a certain age, playing with dolls, planning for their 
 supposed amusement and necessary costumes develop the 
 mind in certain directions. Later on, such games as au- 
 thors, checkers, and chess will contribute to normal devel- 
 opment. 
 
 Timeliness in Plays. There is another point of interest 
 in this connection. Educators are laying emphasis upon 
 the fact that all powers have a time for coming to perfec- 
 tion. If the proper conditions are not provided at this 
 time, the development may be retarded. On the other 
 hand, when the period for a certain kind of exercise is 
 past, the child will naturally turn to something else which 
 is needed for his development. Thus it is unwise to en- 
 courage a child to continue in childish plays after the time 
 when he follows them spontaneously. If kept engaged in 
 them too long there is a possibility that he may settle down 
 to the level of the plays, instead of moving on to some- 
 thing more complex. Most mothers dread to see their 
 little girls lay aside their dolls and are often tempted to 
 urge the continuation of the "little mother" attitude. But 
 there may be an unsuspected danger in doing so. 
 
 The little girl must experience very important mental 
 development before she enters the estate of the real 
 mother. If she lingers too long on the "play mother" 
 plane, she may never reach her highest capabilities. So 
 when your daughter drops her doll, and has evidently for- 
 gotten it, simply pick it up and put it away. It will be 
 
FROM TWO TO SEVEN YEARS 95 
 
 only human to drop a tear upon its battered face and well 
 worn clothing. But the face of the little girl is toward 
 the future. The wise mother will go before her, not lag 
 behind. 
 
 Companionship. The average child craves companion- 
 ship in play. This craving is the incipient social instinct, 
 one of nature's laws for the betterment of the race. In 
 early childhood bad companionship is not to be feared. A 
 child under seven years, although he may be extremely 
 naughty, is not bad. Moreover, if there are children in 
 your neighborhood who, you think, will not influence your 
 children for good, it may be you have a duty toward them. 
 The expression, "I do not allow my child to go to other 
 houses to play. I prefer to have other children come here 
 and play with him," is both selfish and absurd. The one- 
 sided sociability which is here inculcated will work harm 
 somewhere. It is taken for granted that you know the 
 mothers of your children's companions and that you visit 
 in all homes where your children visit. Under these condi- 
 tions and with due regard for times and seasons, a rather 
 free exchange of sociability will tend to the normal devel- 
 opment of all children concerned. 
 
 The Mother as Play Fellow. There is a word to be said 
 about the extent to which the mother should become the 
 companion and play fellow of her young child. Froebel 
 said, "Come, let us live with our children." But there is 
 a danger here which is not always apprehended. If the 
 mother adapts herself mentally to her young child for any 
 length of time, especially if she is somewhat shut off from 
 the companionship of adults, as mothers are likely to be at 
 this time, her mind may not react directly or completely 
 
96 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 to her own adult ideals and ways of thinking. The 
 healthy, growing child may outstrip the mother. This 
 state of things is to be deplored. It is pathetic to go into 
 a home where, as between mother and child, the child is 
 the master mind. The deliberate adaptation of the adult 
 mind of the mother to an undeveloped form of mind has 
 no connection with the almost inevitable period of mental 
 inactivity accompanying childbirth, from which the intel- 
 ligent mother emerges with a mental rebound. Again, if 
 the mother becomes the constant play fellow of her child 
 she is almost sure to interpolate her own ideas about how- 
 things should be done. This will detract from the spon- 
 taneity and independence of the child. 
 
 But let there be, by all means, a daily romp with the 
 child, by the father or mother or both. The daily romp is 
 a grand thing physically and mentally for all concerned 
 in it. Forbush declares truly that parents do not have 
 enough fun with their children. 
 
 Quarreling. Whenever children of strong wills and dif- 
 ferent tastes play together, there will be frequent quarrels. 
 The child is a young animal and a natural despot. The 
 instinct for quarreling does not spring from malice, but 
 it is like the appetite for food, a sort of undefined craving. 
 Much ordinary quarreling of children, disagreeable as it is 
 for the parents, is physically healthy for the children. It 
 is stimulating for both body and mind. So, while we agree 
 with the old song, 
 
 "Your little hands were never made 
 To scratch each other's eyes." 
 
 we still recognize the fact that in a family of energetic 
 children there will be lively tilts, and many of them. 
 
FROM TWO TO SEVEN YEARS 97 
 
 The quarreling of two children indicates strength of 
 character. When two children of the same age, and espe- 
 cially of the same sex, are together most of the time and 
 do not quarrel, the probability is that one of them is the 
 master. How much of this kind of companionship is the 
 best thing for either party is a subject to which the mother 
 should give her thoughtful attention. 
 
 Do not understand me to suggest that quarreling should 
 be encouraged by the parents. It is an animal character- 
 istic and should and will be left behind as soon as self- 
 control develops, and the manly and womanly qualities 
 assume their proper place in the character of the individ- 
 ual. Be sure that you are doing all in your power to keep 
 the home harmonious, but do not be unhappy over the 
 petty conflicts. 
 
 One Method. One successful method of dealing with 
 two children who insisted upon quarreling was to make 
 a good-natured agreement with them that when they quar- 
 reled, since they thus infringed upon the peace and har- 
 mony of the household, they should be considered in the 
 light of public offenders. The parent, in the capacity of 
 an officer, should, upon each offense, place them under 
 arrest, and fine them to the extent of five cents each, which 
 sum should Be paid from their own pocket money. It 
 required but a few days of strict adherence to this plan 
 to arouse the inhibitive powers in both of the children and 
 the quarreling ceased. 1 
 
 7. INSTINCTS. 
 
 We now pass to the consideration of certain manifesta- 
 tions of the child mind, which may perhaps be properly 
 
 1 Professor J. H. Tufts, Class Lectures, Feb., 1910. 
 
9 8 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 classed as instincts. Some of these instincts result in 
 forms of conduct with which the mother finds it difficult 
 to deal. 
 
 Fear. The first to be taken up will be fear. Kirkpat- 
 rick classifies fear as one of the most fundamental of the 
 instincts. 1 It is the animal instinct of self-preservation, 
 and still persists with little or no cause in both children 
 and adults. The period of greatest fear is about the third 
 or fourth year of age. Sounds more often than sights 
 occasion fear. The starting at sounds and the evident 
 fear of falling seen in the child of a few weeks is probably 
 largely reflex and never rises into the sphere of conscious- 
 ness. Under proper treatment, fear will be largely over- 
 come as the child goes on in years. Fear, in the sense 
 used here, is declared to be "injurious physically, stupefy- 
 ing mentally, and degenerative morally. It makes one's 
 life miserable, weak and unworthy. Every effort should 
 be made to eradicate it." 
 
 One difficulty in dealing with fear is its intangibility. 
 The word may apply to emotions varying from a slight 
 timidity or instinctive dread to an actual terror caused 
 by some real experience of physical or mental pain. -There 
 is little doubt that the presence of fear in the mind of the 
 child is affected by prenatal influences, id the mother 
 must take these influences into account in dealing with the 
 child. While each child must ultimately be dealt with as 
 a separate case, there are a few general rules which will 
 apply for all. 
 
 Some General Rules. Assume by your bearing that your 
 child has no fear. I do not mean by this to ignore the pos- 
 
 1 E. A. Kirkpatrick, Fundamentals of Child Study, pp. 99, 100, 103. 
 
FROM TWO TO SEVEN YEARS 99 
 
 sibility of fear, or to say there is nothing in the world for 
 the child to be afraid of. But I do mean to say that there 
 is a great deal more fear in the world than is necessary. 
 It is the duty and privilege of the wise mother, by begin- 
 ning in the right way and at the right time, to reduce this 
 fear to the minimum. Assume that your child has no 
 fear and, so far as possible, act upon that basis. 
 
 Never ask your child if he is afraid. If it is necessary 
 for you to send him into a dark room to bring you some- 
 thing, do not let the thought of fear enter your mind or 
 his. You know there is nothing that will hurt him and 
 you should take it for granted that he also knows it. You 
 may safely follow the same rule if you wish him to go to 
 the neighbor's after dark, provided that you yourself are 
 satisfied it is safe for him to go. I speak of these in- 
 stances because darkness has always been the prime in- 
 spirer of dread in children. The fear of the dark is the 
 instinctive fear of the unknown. But it can be controlled 
 by the reason in due time, if the child's nerves are in a 
 normal condition. 
 
 Never exhibit fear yourself in the presence of the child. 
 This may be a difficult feat for some mothers, but if any- 
 thing can make a timid mother brave it is the knowledge 
 that her action will make a life-long impression upon the 
 child. The appearance of storm clouds in the sky, a sud- 
 den rap at the door, a noise in the cellar, the fire alarm, a 
 telegram, will often cause the mother to lose her self- 
 control in the presence of the child. The life of a mother 
 with a family of little children is almost sure to be con- 
 fined within narrow limits, and, as has already been sug- 
 gested, there is a natural tendency to adapt herself to her 
 
100 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 child's range of thought in certain ways. As a result of 
 these things her normal power of reaction in the case of 
 emergencies may become weakened. But she should con- 
 trol her feelings at any cost, and not allow those keen little 
 eyes, which seem to see right through her, to discern any- 
 thing but calmness and equanimity. If the incipient fears 
 oi the child are thus reduced, and he is not allowed to be 
 frightened in any artificial way, much unnecessary dis- 
 comfort, not to speak of actual suffering, will be avoided. 
 
 Illustration. An actual illustration bearing upon this 
 point is at hand. A group of mothers were gathered at 
 the home of a friend for a social evening. The* son of the 
 family, twelve years of age, happened to be present. The 
 conversation drifted to the subject of fear. The following 
 were some of the sentiments expressed by different mem- 
 bers of the company: "No, indeed, I would not go out to 
 lock the back door after nine o'clock at night. I am afraid 
 to. I always make my husband do it." Another declared, 
 "I wouldn't stay alone in the house for anything." Still 
 another, "Neither would I. You could not hire me to." 
 Another, "Of course, I am not going home alone. I am 
 as afraid as death to be out after dark." 
 
 After the child had retired, the mother said, "I am sorry 
 my boy heard you talking of being afraid. So far as I 
 know this is the first time he has heard expressions of per- 
 sonal fear on the part of adults." "Hasn't he ever been 
 afraid?" asked one. "Several years ago," the mother an- 
 swered, "we found that he seemed to have a fear of dark- 
 ness. Since then we have been doing everything within 
 our power to eliminate that tendency, and we seemed to 
 have been successful, but I do not know what effect your 
 
FROM TWO TO SEVEN Y&ARS ioi 
 
 conversation will have upon him." The mother certainly 
 had reasonable grounds for her anxiety. Timidity in the 
 mother fastens itself upon the mind of the child at the 
 time when she represents to him so much of the outside 
 world. Even after the child comes to the age when he 
 sees the unreasonableness of this fear it clings to him with 
 marked tenacity. 
 
 Two Phases. But there are still two phases of the sub- 
 ject to be considered. The first one has reference to the 
 child who, after all of these things have been tried, still 
 remains an arrant little coward. When this happens, in- 
 sist that he tell you definitely what he is afraid of. Often 
 the object of his fear is imaginary, and when brought out 
 into the daylight will disappear. For example, the child 
 hears the water dripping in the bathroom and thinks it is 
 a person trying to get into the house. He hears a tree 
 branch sweeping against the house and thinks it is a bear. 
 Take the child in where he can see and hear the water 
 dripping at the same time. Show him the tree in the day- 
 light. One mother quieted her child's incipient dread of 
 "bears" by telling her that if there was a bear prowling 
 about the house or neighborhood, it must be a tame one, 
 which had escaped from a show, as the wild ones had been 
 driven away long ago. Of course, the owner would be 
 looking for it and would pay a large sum of money to any- 
 one who would catch it for him. "We will watch and see 
 if we can't get it to come into our shed and keep it for 
 the owner. Then the owner will like us, besides giving us 
 the money/' The fear of dogs which possesses many chil- 
 dren can often be alleviated by bringing a friendly dog 
 close to the fearful one and putting one's own hand or the 
 
102 ' 'STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 hand of the child into the dog's mouth. It is often wise 
 for parents to buy a dog in order to overcome this sort of 
 fear. 
 
 Sometimes, of course, the object of the child's fear is 
 a really dangerous thing, such as a street car track to be 
 crossed, speeding automobiles or a vicious dog. In that 
 case you will have made a great gain when you discover 
 just what it is. If you cannot explain it away, you can 
 show, perhaps, how to avoid it and thus dispel that haunt- 
 ing dread which surrounds some sensitive children. Occa- 
 sionally a child can be ridiculed out of his fears, but the 
 mother should go slowly along this line and watch the 
 effect. Ridicule, on the part of the mother, may result in 
 cutting off confidential relations with her child. A basis 
 of mutual confidence is the safest ground upon which to 
 proceed. 
 
 The other case is at the opposite extreme. It refers to 
 the child who has not enough of the element of fear, or 
 prudence, in his disposition to make him ordinarily cau- 
 tious. What shall the mother do then ? First of all, re- 
 joice. There are limitations and even dangers in such a 
 disposition, but there is also a freedom in it which means 
 much for the future of the child. It will be wise to ex- 
 plain to such a child the nature of any real danger which 
 cannot be romoved, and an acceptance of the conditions 
 without fear is generally safer than to be always trying to 
 avoid them. 
 
 Moral Dangers. It may also be said that these physical 
 dangers bear no comparison to the moral dangers which 
 will soon be found lying in wait for your children. I have 
 in mind the case of a boy for whose physical welfare his 
 
FROM TWO TO SEVEN YEARS 103 
 
 mother was frantically solicitous. If he went swimming 
 or engaged in any rough sport she was unhappy, and made 
 all her friends unhappy, until he had returned to her. But 
 perhaps her extreme solicitation for his physical welfare 
 rendered her moral insight less keen. Perhaps, also, this 
 foolish, over-carefulness destroyed her influence over her 
 boy. At all events, she was not successful in guarding him 
 from moral dangers, and as he grew older he fell into 
 gross dissipation. This brings me to say what has seemed 
 already to have said itself, namely, that there is just one 
 kind of fear we want to see in our children; that is, the 
 fear of wrong-doing, of sinking to a low level, of failure 
 to attain the highest possible. If a real fear of moral 
 dangers has once secured a firm grip upon the child's 
 mind he may be trusted to go hunting and swimming 
 without dread of the consequences. 
 
 Other Instincts. The remainder of this group of in- 
 stincts to which reference has been made seem to have 
 little in common except that their indulgence results in 
 bad manners and a general lack of harmony with conven- 
 tional environment. They are curiosity, ownership, boast- 
 fulness, cruelty, bad language and fighting. Under recog- 
 nized standards of polite society these instincts tend to 
 defeat the purpose for which they originally came into 
 existence. They are, in their primitive form, simply the 
 method by which the child is impelled to seek the control 
 of his environment, and this control must be secured by 
 everyone who is to make a success of life. 
 
 Curiosity. 1 Normal curiosity expresses intellectual hun- 
 ger. It is a yielding to the impulse to secure and test new 
 
 1 E. A. Kirkpatrick "Fundamentals of Child Study" pp. 59, 166. 
 
104 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 sensations. Reference has been made to the universal in- 
 stinct to reach for what one sees. Curiosity adds the 
 mental impulse to investigate these objects of sensation 
 and thereby build up new experiences. The instinct of 
 curiosity proves its owner to be alive. Rightly directed 
 and controlled it will eventuate in happiness and growth. 
 Curiosity will prove a detriment only if it is allowed to 
 remain upon the level of a mere animal instinct. Every 
 effort should be made to train it into a habit of painstak- 
 ing search for new truths and patient investigation of 
 them. These efforts can be made in countless ways. Al- 
 ways answer questions truthfully and clearly. If the 
 questions are foolish ones, explain that they are so, and 
 why. If they are good questions, commend them. Try 
 to keep the expression of curiosity open and frank and 
 make the child feel that you are the most satisfactory 
 source which he knows of for all information which he 
 craves. It will often "put you about" to keep up with 
 the questions, but if you are sincere in your desire to help 
 your child you will find yourself equal to the situation. 
 
 Ownership. The instinct of ownership comes next. 
 When successfully directed, it gives to the child essential 
 control of at least a portion of his surroundings. With- 
 out it the child will be at a disadvantage both in his earlier 
 and in his later life. This instinct of ownership has large 
 possibilities both for good and for ill. If a child has a 
 strong propensity in this direction, the mother should 
 wisely direct it so that his future may not be imperiled. 
 It is a help in the acquisition of such desirable traits as 
 industry, orderliness, proper pride, carefulness and pains- 
 taking. But, on the other hand, there is a pitfall of sel- 
 
FROM TWO TO SEVEN YEARS 105 
 
 fishness, and the more dreaded danger just at hand of a 
 weakened sense of the significance of "mine and thine." 
 It is needless to emphasize the mother's responsibility 
 there. 
 
 It is imperative that you know where the child secures 
 the articles which he has in his possession. His perfectly 
 laudable desire for ownership may lead him to take arti- 
 cles which are not his. This always comes as a shock to 
 the parent, and rightly should so come if a shock is neces- 
 sary to rouse you to action. Appeal to the child's sense 
 of justice and the "put yourself in his place" argument, 
 "his place" being the place of the person from whom the 
 article has been taken. Very often the child who has a 
 large bump of ownership will also have a strong sense of 
 justice. If milder methods fail to bring the child to a 
 realizing sense of the situation, severe punishment must be 
 resorted to, for every child has the right to be taught to 
 be honest. 
 
 Boastfulness. Boastfulness comes next in order. This 
 is not a pleasant characteristic, yet it has as its basis an 
 entirely proper desire for social recognition. When a 
 child indulges in boasting it is fair to suppose that he is 
 carrying in his mind a somewhat highly colored picture 
 of his own personality and achievements. The mother 
 may meet the case by asking for an exact statement of 
 the child's achievements and helping him form a correct 
 estimate of their worth. Care should be taken not to 
 discourage a child or minimize the importance of his 
 efforts, for praise is a strong incentive. He should sim- 
 ply be taught to leave to others the opportunity of praising 
 him, 
 
106 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 Cruelty. The instinct of cruelty shows the narrowness 
 of the child's mental range. 1 He knows little of the sense 
 of pain in others and he has an intense love of activity 
 and excitement. A child is in a sense the master of that 
 to which he is cruel. The possibility of cruelty, wherever 
 it occurs, involves a kind of mastery. The pleasure gained 
 by the child comes from the delight in mastery, not from 
 the delight in another's pain. It is the mother's task to 
 develop a recognition of the pain which has been inflicted, 
 and to implant a desire in the child to become master of 
 a situation in which happiness rather than pain and suf- 
 fering shall be the ruling element. 
 
 A practical instance of a cruel child came under my 
 observation. A little boy of five seemed to take delight 
 in hurting every living thing which came within his range. 
 He squeezed the cat, kicked the dog, and pinched and bit 
 his little sister. The family discipline was lax and con- 
 ventional, and the occasional scolding which he received 
 served in no way to abate his desire to inflict pain. I 
 found him unusually bright and intelligent and very re- 
 sourceful. He did not hate the animals which he tor- 
 tured, and he dearly loved his little sister, who was also 
 very devoted to him. Probably as this child grows older 
 social convention and popular opinion will enforce a meas- 
 ure of self-control, but it is regrettable that this tendency, 
 in reality a form of strength, could not be so directed as 
 to result in actual strength. 
 
 Does child study suggest any help in such a case ? The 
 mother knows the child's heredity and any circumstances 
 
 1 Irving King, Psychology of Child Development, p. 151 ; G. Stan- 
 ley Hall, Adolescence, Vol. 2, p. 359. 
 
FROM TWO TO SEVEN YEARS 
 
 107 
 
 which might accentuate or modify his tendency to cruelty. 
 She should make the strongest possible appeal to his sense 
 of justice, at the same time inflicting such bodily pain 
 upon him as he has inflicted upon others. But she should 
 not stop there. Let her appeal to his desire for mastery, 
 and develop his resourcefulness, by showing him how to 
 teach the cat and dog to "do things." He can teach the 
 cat to come at his call, even though he has hidden him- 
 self. The same is true of the dog, which can be taught 
 all manner of tricks. He can secure loyal devotion from 
 his sister, as well as from the other children of the neigh- 
 borhood, by inventing interesting games and showing them 
 how to play them. Be especially watchful that the child 
 does not resort to cruelty in enforcing his plans, as he will 
 be tempted to do. Remember that this is not the correct- 
 ing of a single fault, but the effort to change an inherent 
 tendency so that, instead of being a future handicap, it 
 shall be a help in attaining a splendid character. 
 
 Bad Language. Bad language appeals to the child, with 
 his limited vocabulary, as a forcible way of expressing 
 himself. 1 He has, at least in his earlier years, no ulterior 
 associations to suggest its undesirability. The mandates 
 of his parents as to what kind of language it is proper or 
 improper to use must have as little real meaning for him 
 as did the conventional symbols by means of which he 
 originally strove to master the language situation. But 
 in both cases the conventional methods must be enforced. 
 Fortunately, intellectual and moral reinforcements will 
 soon become available through the child's developing ob- 
 servation and moral sense. 
 
 1 Irving King, Psychology of Child Development, p. 146. 
 
108 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 Fighting. The last instinct to be mentioned, namely, 
 fighting, is considered hardly within the pale of respecta- 
 bility. In fact, it is relegated to the sphere of brute char- 
 acteristics. Curiously enough, it may be regarded, in a 
 way, as a survival of one of nature's means of developing 
 self-control. 1 A study of those primitive social conditions 
 where superiority in a hand-to-hand combat meant self- 
 preservation as against annihilation show that one could 
 not fight as well when angry as when all his powers were 
 under perfect control. Hence the survivor was the one 
 who, other things being equal, best controlled himself. In 
 our day the conditions are reversed, and one fights, not to 
 learn to keep his temper, but usually because he has al- 
 ready lost it. Even this unsocial instinct may be made to 
 minister to the highest good of its possessor, if the parent 
 but understands how to treat it. "If you crush the fight- 
 ing instinct, you have the coward; if you let it grow wild, 
 you have the bully; if you train it, you have the strong, 
 self -controlled man of will." 2 If you have a child with 
 a tendency to fight, make it your business to see what 
 kind of children he fights. Does he pick on boys smaller 
 than himself and so rouse them to resistance, or does he 
 resist by showing fight when larger boys try to impose on 
 him? If the former is the case, there may be some help- 
 ful suggestions under what Child Study says about cru- 
 elty. But in the latter case, my advice is that you let the 
 child work it out for himself if possible. 
 
 An Example. I will give one instance where this 
 method worked out for the best, and which may be sug- 
 
 1 E. A. Kirkpatrick, Fundamentals of Child Study, p. 105. 
 
 2 W. Forbush, The Boy Problem, p. 12, 
 
FROM TWO TO SEVEN YEARS 
 
 109 
 
 gestive even under different circumstances. Two boys of 
 about the same age lived from boyhood in adjacent houses. 
 They were warm friends and constant play fellows. When 
 they were about ten years of age one of them was larger 
 and stronger than the other. The larger one liked to dom- 
 ineer. The smaller one resented it, and frequent fights 
 ensued. The outcome was always against the smaller boy, 
 who, upon being vanquished, repaired to his mother in 
 muddy tears and soiled garments. This went on for some 
 time, during which time the smaller boy gained in strength. 
 One day the mother of the latter child discovered the two 
 boys fighting. She was about to follow the natural im- 
 pulse and separate them, when she noticed the smaller boy 
 was holding his own. So, instead of offering any re- 
 straint, she called out words of encouragement to her son, 
 who in a few minutes had his opponent down and 
 " whipped." That was the last fight the boys ever had, 
 although they were play fellows and friends for a score 
 or more of years after. 
 
 8. SCHOOL LIFE 
 
 We now come to the consideration of a phase of the 
 child's life that may come near the close of the period 
 which we are studying. He begins to go to school. This 
 very important experience comes to the majority of Amer- 
 ican children before the age of seven. When the child is 
 sent to kindergarten it comes earlier still. The real sig- 
 nificance of entering school is not appreciated by the child 
 himself. Perhaps only a small proportion of the mothers 
 appreciate it. When a child, in addition to being a mem- 
 ber of the family, has become a member of the school, his 
 
1 10 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 relation to society has changed. Little by little he comes 
 to show the effects of this change in his bearing. His 
 mental habits are undergoing transformation. 
 
 The Mother's Relation to the School. How soon a child 
 shall be sent to school after having reached the minimum 
 age required by the laws of the state in which he lives 
 depends very much upon circumstances. If the school 
 conditions are good as regards sanitation, lighting and 
 heating; if the character and equipment of the teacher are 
 satisfactory, and if your child corresponds in age and de- 
 velopment with most of the other children in the class, it 
 is probable that he will develop normally if he is put into 
 school at the accepted school age. It ought to go without 
 saying that every mother should know her child's teacher. 
 But, unfortunately, it does not even go with saying. I 
 believe there is a wider interest in this direction at the pres- 
 ent time than ever before, but there is still room for im- 
 provement, not only in the number of mothers who take 
 an interest in the schools, but in the way in which they 
 manifest their interest. In other words, there should be 
 not only a quantitative but a qualitative improvement in 
 the matter. 
 
 Effect of School Life. It is, of course, the mother's 
 duty to watch carefully the effect of school life upon the 
 child in these first school days. It may be that the food 
 and clothing which sufficed at home will not be adequate 
 for the demands of the new conditions. It will be wise, 
 also, to follow sympathetically the effect of the formal 
 discipline of the school upon the child's mind. Even after 
 the child is well started, it is a good plan to visit the school 
 as often as possible, not to criticise, but to commune. It 
 
FROM TWO TO SEVEN YEARS m 
 
 may seem a strange condition, but I think it is true, that 
 when the mother sees her child in the schoolroom she 
 learns many things about him which were unknown to her 
 before. He appears in a new light, as a member of a 
 broader society. This subject of school-life will be dis- 
 cussed more fully in a later chapter. 
 
 Reading and Writing. When the child starts upon his 
 school life he will be set about learning to read and to 
 write. It is a very open question as to how much reading 
 and writing should be done by the child in these early 
 years. The motor brain centers of the finer muscles of the 
 fingers, which are used in writing, and in some kinder- 
 garten exercises, also, do not mature until the age of ten 
 years. 1 When the fingers are forced into work for which 
 they are not fitted ; that is, when the child cannot control 
 his motor expression, the result is painful and unsatisfac- 
 tory. The writing is strained and awkward and bad writ- 
 ing habits become fixed which are often never outgrown. 
 As to reading, one writer says, "The delicate eye move- 
 ments, which reading involves, require a finer degree of 
 motor adjustment, and consequently a more rapid disin- 
 tegration of nerve tissue than the adjustment involved in 
 listening. To require children who have but recently ac- 
 quired the art of reading to read for any great length of 
 time is certainly unhygienic." 2 
 
 Professor Angell says that while the muscles of the eye 
 and hand are developed at five years of age, they are not 
 developed for the fine, close work which is involved in 
 reading and writing. Professor Tyler, speaking of the 
 
 1 J. M. Tyler, Growth and Education, p. 155. 
 
 2 W. C. Bagley, The Educative Process, p. 269. 
 
112 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 first years of school life, says, "Make the exercise general, 
 stimulating all the areas and powers of the brain suc- 
 cessively. It would seem to be a time for much variety 
 of work rather than for close correlation, which quickly 
 fatigues." 
 
 Crowding. Therefore, do not crowd young children. 
 If they cannot do the work by going over it once, have 
 them go back and take it over again. 
 
 The fact must not be overlooked, however, that there is 
 an element of danger in having a child take his school 
 work a second time. There is likely to be a sense of 
 humiliation because of having to fall back into a lower 
 class. Then the work may lack interest on account of the 
 loss of novelty. I believe it is possible for the mother to 
 overcome both of these obstacles and bring about splendid 
 results from a repetition of the unsatisfactory work. But 
 it is better still that the child should be mature enough to 
 do the work well when he first comes to it. 
 
 Illustration. An actual case will illustrate the method 
 of one mother. At the end of the fourth grade her child 
 had failed in arithmetic. He had passed well in his other 
 studies and the problem arose as to what was the best 
 thing to be done. There was consultation with the teacher, 
 and she, fearing the above mentioned evils, expressed a 
 willingness to allow the child to try the advanced grade 
 for one month. The mother was not satisfied with this 
 plan, and decided to take the matter into her own hands. 
 She talked with her son about taking the work over with 
 the next class. (As the promotions were semi-annual, 
 this meant losing a half year.) At first the boy declared 
 he could not possibly stand it to go back; that he would 
 
FROM TWO TO SEVEN YEARS 113 
 
 rather die; he would stay out of school and work, or al- 
 most anything rather than go back. The mother persisted. 
 She finally succeeded in making the boy, who was very 
 loyal to his parents, understand that his parents wished 
 him to take the work over; that it could never be humil- 
 iating to do what is right; that he could make the work 
 interesting to himself if he chose to dp so. The boy 
 accepted the parent's viewpoint and entered into a repeti- 
 tion of his work with enthusiasm. The outcome was suc- 
 cessful in every way. The review of the studies, especially 
 arithmetic, brought a clear understanding of them. The 
 boy remarked repeatedly that he enjoyed his work now 
 "because he understood it," and was very glad that he had 
 taken it over. From being one of the poorest members 
 of the arithmetic class, this boy became one of the best, 
 and continued to be so throughout his school course. 
 
 The question is not how much the children can endure, 
 but what and how much will best promote growth. Do 
 not allow a child in the first year of school to study at 
 home unless he is conspicuously weak in some one study 
 and strong in the others. In such a case there may be 
 justification in giving home help in the difficult study. 
 Perhaps there is an unusual condition which the mother 
 can remove if she understands it. But under ordinary 
 circumstances the child needs all his hours out of school 
 for play, meals, and sleep. 
 
 The Parents' Duty. In all matters pertaining to school 
 life be patient, but not too patient. If at times your ulti- 
 mate judgment tells you that things are wrong, if you are 
 satisfied that they could and should be changed, have the 
 moral courage to do your part towards effecting the 
 
114 
 
 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 change. Perhaps it is true that the prevailing public 
 apathy towards public school matters is better for the 
 schools than an unwise and unconsidered interest. To the 
 school people the fault-finding parent is a grievous thorn 
 in the flesh, but the truly interested, sympathetic, cooper- 
 ating parent may perform a real part in the vital partner- 
 ship of home and school. What we all wish for the 
 schools, and no one more earnestly than the mother when 
 she first comes in touch with them through her own child, 
 is that wisely directed and intelligent interest on the part 
 of parents which will really be able to contribute some- 
 thing towards the ultimate solving of the many problems 
 which now confront us. 
 
 QUESTIONS FOR USE IN CHILD STUDY 
 
 1. Describe the process from the simple sensation to the idea. 
 
 2. Explain the need of perfect eyes and ears for normal brain 
 development. 
 
 3. Illustrate the effect of an imperfect nervous system. 
 
 4. Name three conditions which prevent normal brain develop- 
 ment. 
 
 5. What would you do to help remove those conditions? 
 
 6. Describe the normal head of a child as to size and shape. 
 
 7. How do the face, eyes, and mouth indicate mental conditions? 
 
 8. Why does the baby learn to talk? 
 
 9. Trace the different steps of language development. 
 
 10. What can be done to help a child who is slow in learning 
 to talk? 
 
 11. Why does a child play? 
 
 12. How does play help brain building? 
 
 13. Discuss the value of companionship in play. 
 
 14. Discuss the uses and abuses of the impulse to quarrel. 
 
FROM TWO TO SEVEN YEARS 115 
 
 15. What are the causes and preventives of fear? 
 
 16. How should the mother deal with the following instincts: 
 (i) Curiosity. (2) Ownership. (3) Boastfulness. (4) Cruelty. 
 (5) Bad language. (6) Fighting. 
 
 17. Give suggestions for the child's early school life. 
 
 18. What is the mother's duty in relation to the school? 
 
 19. What principles are laid down regarding the early learning 
 of reading and writing? 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 PHYSICAL CONDITIONS OF THE CHILD FROM SEVEN 
 TO TWELVE YEARS 
 
 i. GENERAL PHYSICAL CONDITIONS 
 
 In the present chapter we pass on to the next period of 
 the child's life. We find first that he is no longer a baby. 
 In many ways this is a relief. The worry about childish 
 diseases which is so likely to hover over the mother, espe- 
 cially if her child is inclined to be delicate, will soon cease 
 to trouble her greatly, since the period of contagious and 
 infectious ailments passes mostly with early childhood. 1 
 Again, since the child has become a pupil in school, he 
 has developed a self-reliance which was unknown to him 
 before. 
 
 In a general way, it has been said of the period which 
 we are now discussing that it is more free from storm 
 and stress than any other period in the entire life. The 
 long, helpless infancy, beset with its many dangers, is 
 past. Early childhood, when so many things had to be 
 learned and so many habits established, is safely over, 
 while adolescence, with its great physical changes and 
 its mental and moral upheavals, has not yet begun. It is 
 true that the approach of adolescence cannot be definitely 
 timed. It often gives warning of its approach earlier 
 than the twelfth year. But the period under discussion 
 
 1 J. M. Tyler, Growth and Education, p. 95. 
 
 116 
 
PHYSICAL CONDITIONS 117 
 
 is the pre-adolescent period, and will close for any par- 
 ticular child as soon as adolescence arrives. 
 
 The growth at this time is likely to be regular. Unless 
 there is some unusual happening, such as a severe fit of 
 sickness which is not likely or an accident, which, if 
 the child is a boy, is more common as said above, the 
 mother may rely with considerable confidence upon the 
 fact that Dame Nature will exercise care in making these 
 years safe and comfortable ones for the child of either 
 sex. I have referred to the fact that these are the years 
 when we may expect good things for our children on the 
 physical side at least. This is especially true of the latter 
 part of the period. Says Dr. Tanner: "The period 
 immediately preceding adolescence is the healthiest time 
 of life." 1 
 
 A Menace. But it is unfortunately true that, under 
 our present ways of living, children undergo some ex- 
 periences at this time which are so entirely artificial and 
 so abnormal from the standpoint of proper physical and 
 hygienic conditions that Mother Nature, although she 
 does her best, is in great danger of being defeated in the 
 very shadow of her own stronghold. I refer particu- 
 larly to the fact that the school-life of the children of 
 the present day, as shown by statistics, is not only a great 
 strain upon the physical organism, but that in many cases 
 it is proving a peril to present happiness and a menace 
 to future usefulness. The health record of children who 
 do not attend school is higher than that of children who 
 attend school. 2 The records also show a gradual dete- 
 
 1 Amy Tanner, The Child, p. 26, p. 280. 
 
 2 S. H. Rowe, Physical Nature of the Child, p. 147 ; Tyler, p. 101 
 
Il8 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 rioration in the health of children who have been in school 
 for a number of years. It is a condition that demands 
 thoughtful consideration, and one to which we shall return 
 later. 
 
 Prominent Manifestations. I have spoken of the regu- 
 larity and comparative routine of the physical life during 
 these years. On this account it should not be difficult to 
 maintain systematic habits of eating, sleeping and exer- 
 cise, and in most cases it is not so. Because of this very 
 regularity, and of a certain sameness in physical and 
 mental manifestations among children, the period has been 
 found by some to be less interesting than other periods. 
 Not only this, but nature shows a tendency at this point 
 to lead her children into a state of semi-savagery which 
 is most trying to their elders. It may be considered as 
 a reversion to a "state of nature," in which we often 
 describe their manner of behavior by saying that they 
 "act like little animals." This is literally true. Con- 
 ventional standards and ideals are ignored, and individual 
 preferences and inclinations insist upon having full play. 
 The result is that while in some children we meet with 
 a sameness and monotony which are uninteresting, in 
 others we find an uncouthness which is absolutely dis- 
 agreeable. Dr. G. Stanley Hall has well expressed this 
 condition in the following words: 
 
 "In spite of all that the theorist can say, I fear that 
 even the fond mother must put on her rose-colored glasses 
 to see much that is lovable in the boy or girl at this age. 
 There is less sentiment and more selfishness displayed. It 
 is not that the child is depraved or retrograding, but the 
 heavier animal type seems to predominate, as though the 
 
PHYSICAL CONDITIONS 1 19 
 
 higher and more spiritual qualities were resting in prep- 
 aration for their triumphant appearance during the next 
 period. 1 
 
 "During these years a child, especially a boy, should 
 fight and be fought, be in many scraps and have bad asso- 
 ciates, have many forms of ethical mumps and measles. 
 He is fortunate if he can have them in mild form now 
 and still be rendered immune from later and more dan- 
 gerous attacks. Something is amiss with a lad of ten 
 who is very good, studious, industrious, truthful, altru- 
 istic, polite, respectful, obedient, gentle, manly, orderly, 
 always in good toilet, always turns away from stories that 
 reek with gore, prefers adult companionship to that of 
 his mates, refuses all low associates, speaks standard 
 English, is pious and deeply in love with religious serv- 
 ices. Such a boy is either undervitalized and anaemic or 
 a repressed, over-trained manikin; a hypocrite, as one 
 can become under pressure even at this early age, or else 
 a genius of some kind." 
 
 Probably many mothers have experienced the truth in 
 the above sentiment. So clear a statement of facts is 
 helpful to everyone who is trying to deal with children in 
 an intelligent way. 
 
 Therefore, while we recognize the characteristics of 
 crude and incipient savagery in our children, we need 
 not accept them as final or permanent. We recognize 
 that these little half-animals have been given to us to be 
 trained. In other words, our duty is to train out the 
 animal and train in the man; to so foster self -develop- 
 ment and so teach self-control that the lower qualities 
 
 1 G. Stanley Hall, Adolescence, Vol. II, p. 452. 
 
120 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 shall be subordinated and the higher ones shall become 
 the masters. 
 
 Measurements. One of the first considerations in the 
 physical development of this period will be the child's 
 stature. Below are the tables compiled by Dr. G. Stanley 
 Hall, showing the average height, weight and chest girth 
 of American boys and girls between the ages of seven 
 and twelve years. 1 
 
 AGE HEIGHT WEIGHT 
 
 Years Inches Inches Pounds Pounds 
 
 Boys Girls Boys Girls 
 
 6^ 43-9 43-3 45-2 434 
 
 7*A 46 457 49-5 477 
 
 8K 48.8 477 54-5 52.5 
 
 9 1 /* 50 497 59-6 574 
 
 10^ 51.9 517 65.4 62.9 
 
 "54 53-6 53-8 707 69.5 
 
 i2*/ 2 554 56.1 76.9 787 
 
 AGE CHEST GIRTH 
 
 Average between expiration and 
 
 inspiration. 
 Boys Girls 
 
 6 years 23.24 inches 22.97 inches 
 
 7 years 23.87 inches 23.41 inches 
 
 8 years 24.48 inches 23.94 inches 
 
 9 years 25.16 inches 24.61 inches 
 
 10 years 25.80 inches 24.81 inches 
 
 1 1 years 26.47 inches 25.92 inches 
 
 12 years 27.07 inches 26.89 inches 
 
 Significance of This Data. These tables are suggestive 
 and helpful in showing what are the average dimensions 
 for normal boys and girls, but their greatest value is that 
 they show what increase should be expected from year to 
 year. As has already been said, the index of a child's 
 
 i S. H. Rowe, Physical Nature of the Child, p. 124, 
 
PHYSICAL CONDITIONS 121 
 
 good bodily condition is his normal growth. The growth 
 is more rapid in summer than in winter. Spring and 
 early summer show a greater increase in height; late 
 summer and fall show more increase in weight. 1 
 
 During the early part of this period, i. e., not far from 
 the seventh year, we find that the heart is at its minimum 
 in proportion to the size of the body. It has but little 
 more than one- fourth its adult weight, while the body 
 has two-thirds of its adult weight. The increase of the 
 body over the heart causes an increased drain upon this 
 organ and a drain that may be out of proportion to its 
 ability. On this account there are often what seem to be 
 signs of heart weakness at this period. But these are 
 only temporary and disappear when, a little later, the 
 relative sizes are again adjusted. The other organs of 
 the body seem, in a way, to be resting too. This seeming 
 rest is in possible anticipation of the unusually large in- 
 crease which comes to them during the approaching 
 adolescent years. 
 
 2. THE MUSCULAR SYSTEM 
 
 Relative Weight of Muscles. The muscles increase in 
 size and strength quite rapidly during this period. The 
 vital connection between the muscular and the nervous 
 systems has been dwelt upon in an earlier chapter. Dur- 
 ing the entire time from infancy to maturity the weight 
 of the muscular system increases thirty-seven to forty- 
 eight times its weight at birth. We realize what a large 
 increase this is when we learn that the fully developed 
 
 1 J. M. Tyler, Growth and Education, p. 66. 
 
122 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 t 
 
 lungs are but twenty times heavier than those of the new- 
 born baby, 1 while the liver and the kidneys of the adult 
 are only twelve or thirteen times heavier than they were 
 at birth, and the adult heart is twelve and one-half times 
 heavier than that of the infant. 2 
 
 The entire adult weight of the average person is from 
 eighteen to twenty times his baby weight. From this we 
 see that most of the .other parts of the body as a whole 
 have a better start when the child is born than the muscles 
 do. This large increase during youth in weight of the 
 muscles does not come for nothing. Nature sends a loud 
 call to the parents to cooperate with her in the important 
 work of muscle building. Given an adequate supply of 
 food, fresh air, exercise and sleep Nature will do the 
 rest, but she cannot work successfully unaided. 
 
 Location of Muscles. In a study of the different parts 
 of the muscular system we find that there are, first, the 
 large, heavy muscles of the trunk; second, those of the 
 lower limbs, which are involved in walking and running; 
 third, there are the muscles of the upper and fore arm, 
 which are used by the child in all kinds of climbing, tug- 
 ging and pulling; and fourth, last of all, there are the 
 more delicate muscles of the hand and fingers. All these 
 muscles have their regular time for developing as well as 
 their regular order of coordination with brain centers. 
 For, as we have already seen, the effectiveness of the 
 muscles depends not only upon their own health and 
 strength but upon the proper coordination of those brain 
 areas in which they center. 
 
 1 E. A. Kirkpatrick, Fundamentals of Child Study, p. 19. 
 
 2 Dr. G. Stanley Hall, Youth, p. 57. 
 
PHYSICAL CONDITIONS 123 
 
 Motor Ideals. On account of muscle development, the 
 ideals of the period are largely motor, and properly so, 
 for the chief business of the child is to grow and store 
 up strength and vitality. By the expression "motor 
 ideals" is meant the state of mind in the child when the 
 thing which seems to be the most desirable is great bodily 
 strength and the ability to do things by means of supe- 
 riority of the body. Motion of all kinds is attractive. 
 Pictures and stories involving movement best hold the 
 attention; activity in real life, such as performing animals 
 and human gymnastics, never fails to rouse enthusiasm. 
 Both boys and girls are affected by these ideals, but the 
 conventionalities of modern society place before the grow- 
 ing girl a quite different form of ideals, so that the normal 
 motor one seldom becomes as strong as in the boy, and 
 often fades away and practically disappears. The desira- 
 bility of encouraging these motor ideals, and of giving 
 them the freest possible scope of development is apparent. 
 
 Adequate Play. The best results along this line come 
 from simple play as an end in itself, distinguished from 
 work on the one hand, where there is an objective end, 
 and amusement, on the other, where the child is only a 
 passive factor. It is all too true that for our city-bred 
 children there is little or no place for the carrying out 
 of this normal instinct. But this very condition makes it 
 all the more imperative that the parents secure what shall 
 serve as reasonable substitutes for the large yards and 
 ample vacant lots of former days. The physical life of 
 this period demands such games as baseball, basket ball, 
 chalk chase, hare and hounds, hide and seek, jumping 
 rope, pull-away, bean bags, and many more. 
 
124 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 Then there are many plays of the children's own mak- 
 ing, into which they will enter when they are free from 
 critical supervision. We must always remember that 
 healthful play involves much noise, and provision must 
 be made for it. If the play space is small, and it is likely 
 to be in closely settled communities, see that it is equipped 
 with dry goods boxes, pieces of boards and old rugs. 
 These will suggest to the active mind of the child all man- 
 ner of interesting things to do. Tyler says, "Nature does 
 not ask for athletics, but for sufficient suitable exercise to 
 promote the healthy growth of the muscles and vital 
 organs, and through these, of the brain. She is now 
 intent upon producing a well-grown and healthy body, 
 the first essential step toward men and women of power 
 and efficiency." 
 
 3. THE EYES 
 
 Increase of Eye Troubles. Eye troubles develop quite 
 insidiously during these uninterrupted years of school 
 attendance. Griffith says that the ten-year-old child should 
 see and hear better than the adult. 
 
 Hence when we learn that eye troubles increase at the 
 rate of twenty per cent in some of the school grades, 1 
 we may feel certain that there is something wrong in the 
 conditions which surround the child. The probability is 
 that the trouble here, as in other cases which will be enu- 
 merated, is the joint product of carelessness in both home 
 and school. As far as the home is concerned, the mother 
 is surely the one to remedy the evils, and she as surely 
 will when she comes to understand them. According to 
 school tests which have been recently made, the larger 
 
 1 S. H. Rowe, Physical Development of the Child, Chap. II. 
 
PHYSICAL CONDITIONS 125 
 
 number of eye troubles are reported as simple "weakness" 
 and shortsightedness. 
 
 Signs and Causes of Eye Trouble. One of the first 
 indications of eye trouble, but one which is not usually 
 recognized as such, is headache. Other signs are watering 
 of the eyes, swollen lids, pus discharge and a strained 
 look. The eye tests mentioned in an earlier chapter will 
 be available here. 
 
 Among the causes of these bad conditions in the eyes 
 are using the eyes in a dim light, reading fine print, wear- 
 ing tight collars, smoking cigarettes, breathing impure air, 
 lack of nourishing food, and improper clothing. As to 
 these last two items, it has been found that the wealth or 
 poverty of the home is by no means a criterion. Children 
 in the homes of the rich are often allowed to eat food 
 which is poor in its nourishing qualities, while the clothing 
 of the children of the well-to-do, especially that of the 
 girls, is notably insufficient and unhygienic. As in the 
 case of many other ills, if the mother finds that her child's 
 eyes are not in the best condition, she must go back to 
 the fundamental requirements of food, clothing, and 
 sleep. An earlier chapter took up some specific points 
 in the treatment of the eyes. 
 
 4. THE EARS 
 
 Large Amount of Deafness. Taking up next the sub- 
 ject of hearing, we find that twenty-five per cent of the 
 school children from seven to twelve are somewhat deaf. 
 Marked deafness is of course easily noticed, but slight 
 deafness, which is only shown by what sometimes seems 
 to be inattention, is often overlooked. The ear tests re- 
 
126 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 ferred to in a previous chapter will be very useful here. 
 Causes of Deafness. Among the common causes of 
 deafness are the after effects of scarlet fever and measles, 
 nasal catarrh, enlarged tonsils, and adenoids. These are 
 all accentuated by an unwholesome home life. The last 
 three are removable as causes of deafness. Do not delay 
 in consulting a physician at the first signs of deafness. 
 Nasal catarrh in its early stages will yield to local treat- 
 ment. The operation for removing tonsils and adenoids 
 is comparatively simple. 
 
 5. THE NOSE 
 
 The nose is somewhat intimately connected with the 
 ears and is often the seat of ear difficulties. The en- 
 largement of the nasal pharynx is what has been referred 
 to as adenoid growths. The nasal pharynx is a tissue 
 lying between the eustachian tubes, which connect the ears 
 and the throat. This tissue is only temporary and should 
 be absorbed at about the sixteenth year. But if, as is 
 often the case, it becomes diseased, it enlarges. In its 
 enlarged state it has the appearance of half a walnut with 
 the shell removed, and is in the nature of enlarged tonsils. 
 The size diminishes in warm weather and increases when 
 the child takes cold. The clefts of the tissue become 
 inflamed and discharge muco-pus. These adenoid growths 
 are likely to be the culmination of repeated attacks of in- 
 flammation of the lining of the nose, or nasal catarrh. 
 Catarrhal colds are largely infections, and exposure to 
 dampness and drafts are favoring conditions for their 
 development. 1 Under these circumstances bacteria, which 
 
 1 Hough and Sedgwick, The Human Mechanism, p. 381. 
 
PHYSICAL CONDITIONS 127 
 
 are ordinarily inhaled without harm, gain a foothold, and 
 the result is an inflammation of the tissues with attendant 
 congestion. 
 
 Causes of Adenoid Growths. This diseased condition 
 of the tissues is very likely to occur with children who 
 spend part of each day in overheated, ill-ventilated rooms, 
 and the other part out of doors, dressed in insufficient 
 clothing. The early stages of the inflammation are shown 
 by constant or frequent running at the nose and repeated 
 sniffing. 
 
 Results. When it becomes chronic and adenoids de- 
 velop, mouth-breathing is quite a common symptom; a 
 dry deposit may appear about the teeth, and the tonsils 
 may become inflamed. This condition has been some- 
 times revealed in the school-room by bad enunciation. 
 Later the enlarged nasal pharynx, or adenoid growth, may 
 extend forward into the nose and close it as effectively as 
 a stopper closes a bottle. It is then impossible to breathe 
 through the nose, and the mouth breathing, which 
 necessarily ensues, draws greatly upon the vitality of 
 the child. 
 
 Further, this enlarged tissue presses against the eusta- 
 chian tubes and produces deafness. Statistics show that 
 a very large per cent of defective hearing among children 
 is caused by adenoids. Again, adenoids may affect the 
 brain, or may result in the child becoming what is known 
 as pigeon-breasted. In this case the sternum seems to 
 project on account of a slight depression or groove which 
 appears on each side of it. It is especially evident during 
 sleep. The proper treatment for such conditions is to 
 have the adenoids promptly removed. The child who goes 
 
128 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 through his second dentition with nasal obstructions will 
 bear the marks of it all his life. 1 
 
 Catarrhal Troubles. Catarrh is an inflammation of the 
 mucous membrane which lines the respiratory channels 
 of the throat and head. This inflammation results in too 
 large an amount of secretion from the membrane. This 
 abnormal condition is aggravated, and sometimes brought 
 on, by the breathing of impure air. 
 
 Nasal catarrh, as suggested by the name, affects the 
 lining of the nose. The interior mechanism of the ear is 
 closely connected with that of the nose, and the delicate 
 ear passages are affected and obstructed by this disease. 
 Hence, deafness is almost sure to follow an extreme case 
 of nasal catarrh. 
 
 In general it may be said that a tendency to catarrhal 
 troubles should be met by good domestic hygiene and 
 muscular exercise. Teach the child to take deep, slow 
 inspirations, and the nose will become clear. Use all the 
 ribs as well as the diaphragm in this process. A practice 
 of deep breathing with good muscular exercise, not car- 
 ried, however, to the point of weariness, may even cut 
 short the common cold. 
 
 6. THE TEETH 
 
 Since the range of this discussion is to include all parts 
 of the child's body, let us now turn to the consideration 
 of a portion of his anatomy which requires much atten- 
 tion. I refer to the teeth. 
 
 First Permanent Teeth. The permanent teeth are 
 
 1 Dr. Earnest B. Wiggett, Diseases of the Nose, p. 70. 
 
PHYSICAL CONDITIONS 129 
 
 likely to come in without any especially noisy announce- 
 ment. But their quiet arrival is no guarantee of their 
 subsequent good behavior. On the contrary they will 
 make it their business to decay as soon as they possibly 
 can, which may be very soon, unless the mother has been 
 upon the lookout for their coming and has taken all pos- 
 sible pains to keep them clean. The twenty teeth known 
 as the temporary or milk teeth have been previously spoken 
 of. When these begin to loosen and fall out, of course, 
 you know that the second group is near at hand. These 
 second teeth come in groups, just as the first did, but 
 here, as in the other case, it is hard to identify the groups 
 because the time of their appearance is so irregular. 
 
 First Group. The first permanent teeth come before 
 the beginning of this period; namely, in the sixth year. 1 
 They are known as the first four molars and come directly 
 behind the posterior molars of the first set. There is 
 almost sure to be some confusion about the teeth at this 
 stage, for there are temporary and permanent teeth in the 
 mouth at the same time, and it is sometimes quite impos- 
 sible to distinguish them by their appearance. The aver- 
 age child, too, is likely to object seriously to holding his 
 mouth open for any length of time while the anxious 
 mother gazes first below and then above in her desire to 
 locate and identify each one of these important factors 
 in her child's anatomy. 
 
 Second Group. After the first four molars, which come 
 at six years of age, we have the four central incisors, 
 two above and two below, which come at seven years. 
 Sometimes those in the upper jaw come first; sometimes 
 
 1 J. P. C. Griffith, Care of the Baby, p. 63. 
 
130 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 those in the lower, but they always seem remarkably slow 
 in coming, since they push their tiny predecessors out 
 some weeks in advance of their own advent, and all 
 mothers recognize that the toothless gums do not enhance 
 the beauty of the face. 
 
 Third Group. At eight years of age, four more teeth 
 appear, one on each side of the central group. These 
 are known as the four lateral incisors. It seems a long 
 time before these eight front teeth are all fairly settled 
 in their places. 
 
 Fourth Group. At nine or ten years of age come the 
 first four bicuspids. They take the places of the anterior 
 molars of the first set. 
 
 Fifth Group. At ten or eleven, the second four bicus- 
 pids take the places of the posterior molars of the first set. 
 
 Sixth Group. From eleven to thirteen, the canines 
 may be looked for. Watch these canines from the start, 
 for they are more often crooked than any of the other 
 teeth. If they are out of place do not wait long before 
 seeing a dentist. The pain and expense of straightening 
 teeth are less when the work is done early. 
 
 Seventh Group. From twelve to fifteen, the second 
 four molars come in, back of all the other teeth. This 
 makes fourteen permanent teeth in each jaw, all that will 
 appear until the seventeenth or eighteenth year. 
 
 Eighth Group. At this time the four wisdom teeth 
 come, two in each jaw, back of the second molars. 
 
 It is desirable not to have the first teeth drawn, but to 
 let them remain in the mouth until pushed out by the 
 second set, thus insuring to the second teeth the nourish- 
 ment supplied by the roots of the first. If the first teeth 
 
PHYSICAL CONDITIONS 131 
 
 decay in spite of all efforts, have them filled. It is not 
 expensive and it is well worth doing, even though the 
 teeth remain in the mouth but a short time. 
 
 Now that the teeth are in, let me advise every mother 
 to watch them as she would watch her rarest jewels. 
 They cannot be stolen away in a night, but before you 
 know it the subtle forces of decay will take possession of 
 them, and they can never be replaced. 
 
 Pyorrhea. There is also a disease which attacks the 
 gums, even of growing children. It is called pyorrhea. 
 The mother should be on the lookout for it. The symp- 
 toms are an unnatural redness and softness of the gums 
 and a drawing away of the gums from the teeth. The 
 accumulation of tartar on the teeth aggravates these symp- 
 toms. Consult the dentist if you discover any signs of 
 pyorrhea. 
 
 The modern treatment of this disease often involves 
 severe medicines, which it is hardly safe for the mother 
 to handle. But in the meantime secure a bottle of lavoris 
 from your druggist. Dilute it one-half for a child and 
 use it as a mouth wash. Also ask your dentist for a 
 bundle of orange wood sticks. These sticks are in such 
 a shape as to enable you to work close down to the gums 
 and polish away any substance which may be inclined to 
 accumulate upon the teeth. 
 
 7. THE INTERACTION OF MIND AND BODY 
 
 Posture. We find that during the period we are now 
 studying, a lack of nervous force, and a condition of im- 
 perfect nourishment, are often indicated by the posture 
 
132 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 and carriage of the body. Posture not only shows the 
 condition of the body, but the condition of mind as well. 
 Watch the child and see if there is a balance and symmetry 
 in his body. See if there is strength and force of move- 
 ment with energy and activity. 
 
 Carriage. The manner of a child's walking can be 
 made a very practical study. An awkward, shuffling gait 
 indicates a careless, irresponsible nature. Then, there is 
 a sneaking gait which shows uncertainty and lack of 
 frankness. The cowardly, over-submissive child walks 
 with head forward and shoulders drooping. The confi- 
 dent, frank child walks with head erect and shoulders 
 back. The mother has a duty here, for the mind can be 
 affected through the body. In other words, what is usu- 
 ally the effect may be made the cause. If right attitudes 
 of body are encouraged and accomplished, it will help 
 to establish right habits of mind. We have all heard of 
 the boy who whistled to keep up his courage. In like 
 manner, smile and you will feel like smiling. Encourage 
 the child to walk erect and forcefully and the very doing 
 so will conduce to rectitude and force of mind and char- 
 acter. The child who is naturally despondent can be 
 brought out of such a state if you can persuade him to 
 carry his head and chest up and his shoulders back. It 
 has been said that custom precedes morality. Let the 
 right physical habit be secured and it will go a long way 
 towards perfecting the mental attitude. 
 
 Behavior in Sleep. Beside the watchfulness over the 
 child when he is awake, the mother should watch him 
 while he is asleep. 1 See if he takes an easy posture in 
 
 *S. H. Rowe, Physical Nature of the Ch'.d, p. 103. 
 
PHYSICAL CONDITIONS 133 
 
 sleep, and especially see that he has good air. He will 
 rest more easily upon his side. Free heart action, as well 
 as relief for congested and enlarged liver, is secured by 
 sleeping on the right side. A flatulent stomach is relieved 
 by lying on the left side. Mouth-breathing is more easily 
 overcome if the child sleeps on the side. Dr. Griffith 
 suggests that the habit of sleeping on the side can be 
 secured by tying a spool securely to the small of the back. 1 
 
 Curvature of the Spine. Children of this period are 
 sometimes affected with a curvature of the spine. 2 Long 
 periods of sitting, without adequate change of posture, 
 in seats which do not fit the shape of the hips and back, 
 combine to induce this deformity. A large number of 
 statistics compiled from German schools show that prac- 
 tically all the cases of the curvature of the spine, and the 
 number was alarmingly large, were contracted between 
 the ages of five and fourteen. 3 
 
 Carrying heavy bundles always upon the same side, 
 such as sacks of newspapers, may also produce curvature 
 in the growing boy. The earliest symptoms are difficult 
 to discover. If the child seems to be listless, pale or in 
 any other way indicates deficiency in nerve force, it will 
 be wise to make frequent and careful inspections of his 
 back and hips. The more advanced stages will be shown 
 by a definite leaning to one side and an irregularity in 
 gait. The child with curvature of the spine should be 
 taken out of school, kept in the open air and encouraged 
 to engage in spontaneous active play. The usual nerve 
 
 1 Griffith, p. 351. 
 
 2 Tyler, p. 143. 
 
 3 S, H. Rowe, op. cit., p. 154. 
 
I 3 4 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 remedies of regular sleep, exercise, and food should, of 
 course, receive constant attention. It will be best to con- 
 sult a physician as soon as you detect any signs of 
 curvature. 
 
 Nervous System and Brain. The close connection be- 
 tween the nervous system and the brain has already been 
 referred to. Warner says that all expression of mental 
 action is but movement. We have already seen that the 
 brain centers at first act separately, but as the mind de- 
 velops the separate brain centers become capable of uniting 
 by the formation of nerve paths between them. Later 
 they become so connected as to act in unison or in a series 
 one after the other, in an established order. For example : 
 You have often noticed that a little child, even of con- 
 siderable muscular ability, cannot throw a ball to a desig- 
 nated point. As he grows older he finds that he can do 
 so, especially after practice. An idiot or a weak-minded 
 child does not learn to throw with accuracy. This is what 
 has already been referred to as coordinated brain action. 
 
 Illustration by Means of Telephone System. The in- 
 teraction of these different brain centers is sometimes 
 illustrated by the telephone system where all orders are 
 given through a central exchange. The whole city con- 
 taining the telephone system may be compared to the 
 entire brain. The individual telephones represent the so- 
 called brain centers. The order which is given to the 
 operator corresponds to the sense impression, such as the 
 sight of a red apple or the bite of a mosquito. At the 
 given order (the impression) certain telephones are tem- 
 porarily connected by the electric wires. These wires are 
 analogous to the nerve paths between the brain centers. 
 
PHYSICAL CONDITIONS 135 
 
 By means of these paths the brain centers act in unison 
 and in harmony with the impression. This illustration 
 is inadequate, however, because of the time required to 
 manipulate the telephone. The reaching for the red apple 
 before training has taught self-restraint follows instantly 
 upon the sight of it, as does the slapping of the mosquito 
 after the bite is felt. Different centers may connect tem- 
 porarily and then "ring off/' to be connected later with 
 other centers. 1 
 
 Warner refers to this process as the nerve muscular 
 mechanism indicating or expressing the thoughts arising 
 in the mind. Movements produced by the muscles are 
 thus indices of what goes on among the brain centers that 
 produce them. Of course the process of thinking can go 
 on without being expressed, just as the works of the clock 
 could keep on going even though there were no hands to 
 show what time they were making. But just as we need 
 the hands to know if the clock is working correctly, so 
 we need the movements of the body to tell us if the brain 
 is working correctly. We see again in order to under- 
 stand mental action in the brain we must study physio- 
 logical processes. Good coordination of movements of 
 the muscles indicates good coordination of brain centers 
 which control these movements. 
 
 A healthy body helps to make a healthy brain, and a 
 well-regulated brain helps to keep the rest of the body 
 in good health. Healthy lungs and good breathing afford 
 a supply of pure blood to the brain. Here, again, we 
 meet the fact that good food, well-digested, is necessary 
 for a good condition of both body and brain. And, vice 
 
 1 Warner, Nervous System, 42, 107. 
 
136 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 versa, a well-regulated brain promotes good digestion. 
 A clear understanding of this close connection between 
 the body and mind of the child gives the mother a fine 
 background for her work. She is able to see promptly 
 any manifestations of either physical or mental disturb- 
 ances by a sort of double vision which will hardly allow 
 her to go astray. That is to say, physical behavior indi- 
 cates both bodily and mental states. Mental behavior 
 indicates both mental and bodily states. 
 
 Constipation. There are still other phases of physical 
 life which greatly affect the development of the mind. 
 They pertain to this period of life and are of sufficient 
 importance to warrant mention. One very trying and 
 persistent ailment is constipation. It sometimes becomes 
 so fixed during these early years as to make it very diffi- 
 cult to cure in later life. Lack of exercise, wrong diet, 
 and insufficient sleep are again the causes. In this con- 
 nection Dr. F. M. Rankin has called attention to the 
 necessity of personal cleanliness. From one to two and 
 one-half pints of effete matter pass off through the skin 
 in twenty-four hours. Failure to bathe and change the 
 clothing throws a dangerous strain upon the kidneys and 
 the digestive organs. All but the most persistent cases 
 of constipation will be corrected by proper diet, exercise, 
 and care of the body. Fresh fruits and vegetables, oat- 
 meal, prunes, whole wheat or graham bread and crackers 
 in preference to those made from white flour, the avoid- 
 ance of rice, cheese and other foods known to have a 
 constipating tendency will all aid in establishing right 
 habits in this particular. 
 
 Clothing. Dr. Rankin says : "Strength of body at ma- 
 
PHYSICAL CONDITIONS 137 
 
 turity varies as the proper amount of guidance and atten- 
 tion to the laws of hygiene." He says, further, that one 
 great source of disease in children is the wearing of the 
 same weight of clothing in warm and cold weather. Some 
 parents think this is the proper way of hardening the 
 child. His opinion upon this subject is as follows i 1 "The 
 proper way to harden a child is by rigid adherence to the 
 laws of health, which will be done by providing a suffi- 
 cient amount of clothing, plenty of out-door exercise, pure 
 air to breathe, simple and good food, ample amount of 
 sleep." Some authorities even claim that inadequate 
 clothing has proved an obstruction to normal physical 
 and mental growth. Nature puts a warmer coat upon 
 her special children, the animals, as soon as the weather 
 becomes colder in the fall. In this respect the careful 
 mother will follow nature, and those who live where the 
 winter weather is extreme will cover the child from throat 
 to ankles in a union suit of warm material, after, or even 
 before, the genuine freeze-up comes. See that the head 
 and neck as well as the body are carefully protected when 
 the child is out of doors; but do not emulate those French 
 mothers who bundle up the faces and heads of the children 
 almost to suffocation, while they leave a portion of the 
 little legs below the knee entirely bare. Let the stockings 
 be especially warm and long, and the shoes thick and of 
 adequate size. 
 
 Cigarettes. We must now touch upon a habit which 
 has grown to alarming proportions among the children of 
 our country. Few mothers realize the extent to which it 
 exists; perhaps fewer realize the extent of the injury 
 
 1 F. M. Rankin, p. 186, 
 
138 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 which is being brought to those who indulge in it. I 
 refer to cigarette smoking. One authority declares that 
 in a single state 100,000 boys under twelve years of age 
 use cigarettes. 1 Investigation shows that this practice is 
 contracted in some cases as early as three years and usu- 
 ally as a result of being taught by older boys. When 
 the habit of cigarette smoking is once contracted, it is 
 seldom broken off. The best thing that can be done is 
 to substitute a pipe, which is somewhat less injurious, 
 though by no means desirable. The habit of cigarette 
 smoking shows itself in lustreless and often inflamed 
 eyes, drawn lips, trembling hands, weak heart, disordered 
 throat and stomach, hampered circulation and twisted 
 spine, dwarfed condition of the entire body. On the 
 intellectual side, cigarette smokers rank low in school, 
 are slovenly, unreliable, and untruthful. 2 The logical 
 person to save the boy from this habit, which threatens 
 his body, mind, and soul, is the mother. There surely is 
 a way to so watch, care for, and train every boy that he 
 will not fall a victim to the cigarette habit. 
 
 In the case of a child under twelve, and in many cases 
 with an older child, the mother is justified in keeping 
 close watch of his pockets both with eyes and nose, and 
 of all places where he keeps his personal belongings. 
 While many boys are told they must not smoke cigarettes, 
 very few of them have any real understanding of the 
 kind of injury they bring to themselves by so doing. 
 A discovery of the tobacco will often open the way for 
 
 1 W. A. McKeever, Kansas State Agricultural School, Education, 
 Vol. 29, p. 154. 
 
 2 Rowe, Physical Nature of the Child, p. 90. 
 
PHYSICAL CONDITIONS 139 
 
 a serious talk and an earnest appeal to the boy by the 
 mother, even though one has previously been made. The 
 maintenance of confidence between parent and child is 
 always the safest way. The habit of smoking is one 
 which may be practiced entirely away from home and 
 hence concealed from the parents for a long time. In 
 those unfortunate cases when the boy, refusing to accept 
 or understand the attitude of his parents, continues to 
 deceive and disobey them by the secret use of tobacco, 
 prompt confiscation of the injurious article at all times 
 and seasons, followed by drastic punishment, will be the 
 kindest thing you can do for him. 
 
 Society. While the danger just touched upon is con- 
 fined for the most part to the boy, I want to say a word 
 about an entirely different condition which pertains more 
 largely to the girl. The outcome in this case may not be 
 so serious, yet it is far from desirable. There is a tend- 
 ency for girls in this period, especially those who live in 
 cities, to despise their childhood and to join too early 
 in the social dissipations of their elders. 1 In a former 
 chapter reference was made to an unwise effort to keep 
 the child young after the normal time, with possible injury 
 to his development. Here we have the other extreme. 
 The general question of how much time should be given 
 to "society," in the ordinary acceptation of that term, has 
 become a real problem to every thoughtful woman of 
 today. When this problem comes to involve the young 
 and developing daughter it assumes an added seriousness 
 and cannot safely be ignored. When a child mingles 
 
 1 Fritz Koch, Elementary School Teacher, Vol. 9; Hall, Adoles- 
 cence, Vol. i, p. 382. 
 
140 
 
 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 much with adults, he or she comes to assume adult ways 
 and to become sophisticated. Frequent dancing parties, 
 theaters, and all sorts of artificial excitement rob the 
 growing school girl of health and of the simple girlish 
 charm which belongs to this period of life. Often she is 
 encouraged in foolish notions of dress and is allowed to 
 wear clothing which is entirely unsuitable to her years, 
 and, in fact, to any years, since much of the so-called 
 fashionable women's clothing is neither useful nor beau- 
 tiful. But surely the clothing of the growing girl should 
 be as simple and should offer as little restraint to the body 
 as possible. Many little girls are overdressed and it is 
 generally the vanity of the mother that is responsible for 
 it. To be fashionable means to them more than to be 
 refined. It is pitiable to see little girls robbed of the free 
 life and the simple plays of childhood and either forced 
 or allowed to force themselves into conditions for which 
 they are not prepared. 
 
 Real Dangers. In connection with this aping of 
 adults, which is always bad, there is more likely to be 
 a certain forcing of the attention of sexes, the over-stimu- 
 lation of thought and emotion, late hours, unwholesome 
 refreshments, and introduction of wrong ideals, and a 
 distraction from things of real value. Here, again, it is 
 the mother alone who can make and keep things right. 
 The girl herself has little experience from which to draw 
 lessons of modesty and simplicity. She cannot know the 
 dangers which attend the lack of these qualities. The 
 mother who does know of these dangers, and who still 
 allows or encourages her daughter to actions or habits 
 pot suitable to her age and perhaps not to any age, makes 
 
PHYSICAL CONDITIONS 141 
 
 a serious mistake. Many mothers have found it to be a 
 fatal mistake. You can control the clothing of the daugh- 
 ter by furnishing her with only such garments as you 
 know to be adequate for warmth and freedom, and (in 
 your judgment) appearance. Simplicity and suitableness 
 in dress will help greatly in keeping the manners and 
 thoughts simple and pure. 
 
 Summing Up. In summing up the duties of the mother 
 to her child during this period of his life, it will be useful 
 to consider a few questions selected from a long list which 
 Dr. Rankin has suggested as being applicable to all par- 
 ents. If any of these questions must be answered in 
 the negative it indicates the existence of conditions which 
 will operate against the child's development : 
 
 1. Is the food eaten by the child simple, varied, well- 
 cooked, eaten at regular times ? 
 
 2. Is the underwear always changed at night? 
 
 3. Is woolen material worn next the skin in winter, 
 and are the girl's clothes suspended from the shoulders? 
 
 4. Does the child always breathe through the nose ? 
 
 5. Does the child from six to eight get eleven hours 
 of sleep daily? Does the child from nine to eleven get 
 ten hours? From twelve to fourteen, nine hours? 
 
 6. Does he sleep in a cool, well-ventilated room ? 
 
 7. Does he always have the best possible light when 
 reading, and carefully avoid facing the light? 
 
 8. Is he encouraged to quickness and accuracy of 
 movement at home ? 
 
 9. Are games of various sorts played at home? 
 
 10. Does he always hear carefully enunciated English 
 at home? 
 
142 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 11. Is he generally kept from emotional excitement, 
 such as theaters, parties, etc. ? 
 
 12. Does he stand erect and take good posture when 
 walking ? 
 
 8. PARENT AND TEACHER 
 
 Thus far the effort has been made to lay emphasis upon 
 the duty of the mother in regard to the home life of the 
 child. Before closing the chapter it will be well to ask 
 to what extent the mother may hope to be of service in 
 bettering the conditions which surround the child at 
 school. There is a great shrinking on the part of most 
 mothers from anything like what may be termed inter- 
 ference in matters outside of their sphere. This feeling 
 is natural and is, I think, a sufficient guarantee that what- 
 ever is done in this line will be done carefully and tact- 
 fully. The relation of the home and school involves many 
 delicate points. 
 
 Parent-Teachers' Associations. On this account it has 
 occurred to many, including both parents and teachers, 
 that this relation would be made more helpful through 
 organization than if left to individual initiative and judg- 
 ment. In an increasingly large number of cities and towns 
 there exist what are known as Parent-Teachers' Associa- 
 tions. As the name suggests, such organizations include 
 the parents of any particular district and the teachers in 
 the school of the district. Regular meetings are held in 
 the schoolhouse. Questions of mutual interest to parent 
 and teacher concerning the good of the children are dis- 
 cussed. Such an organization has infinite possibilities for 
 good in a community. By means of such an organiza- 
 
PHYSICAL CONDITIONS 143 
 
 tion the schoolhouse may and in many cases has become 
 a social center, having a separate room for its use, 
 equipped with comfortable chairs, library, piano, stage 
 and curtains for school and neighborhood dramatics, con- 
 certs, and lectures, and offering adequate provision for 
 social gatherings. 1 
 
 Individual Parents. While a proposed cooperation be- 
 tween parents and schools can be accomplished more easily 
 through an organization than individually, yet, in the 
 absence of such an organization, individual mothers can 
 
 1 A brief account of the details of how one school house became 
 a social center may be helpful. A few ladies of the district called 
 upon the principal of the building and secured her cooperation in 
 the movement. Written invitations were sent put through the chil- 
 dren to each mother in the district for a meeting on a certain day. 
 Through the help of the city superintendent, school was dismissed 
 upon that day one-half hour earlier than usual. Talks were given 
 at this meeting by the superintendent, the principal and one or two 
 of the mothers. The object of the organization (to promote a closer 
 relation between home and school) was fully explained. A simple 
 constitution was presented and adopted. A small membership fee 
 was fixed upon. After this regular meetings were held once a 
 month. Topics of mutual interest to parents and teachers were dis- 
 cussed. Light refreshments were always served by a special com- 
 mittee. Through the instrumentality of the association money was 
 raised to place athletic equipments, such as swings, slides, etc., upon 
 the school grounds. Up to this point the place of meeting had been 
 in one of the schoolrooms. A request was sent to the school board 
 to allow the use of the third floor of the building for a neighbor- 
 hood hall and social center. This request was granted and the 
 school board shared with the Parent-Teachers' Association the 
 expense of adequately fitting and furnishing the hall. The room 
 has a seating capacity of about four hundred. It is also used 
 as an assembly room for the pupils of the school. It is equipped 
 with a stage large enough to hold fifty persons; also with comfort- 
 able chairs and tables, book cases, curtains, etc. A kitchen, with 
 gas stove, cupboard and tables, is attached to the main hall; also a 
 convenient cloak room. The work of the association is divided 
 among a large number of committees, thus saving any one group 
 from excessive labor and interesting a large number of mothers. 
 The new hall was opened with a general reception to the fathers and 
 mothers of the district. From time to time there are given here 
 concerts, school dramatics, lectures and social gatherings. 
 
144 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 help in many ways. The teachers in our schools are many 
 of them young, they are constantly changing, and they 
 have their hands full in looking after the general order 
 and instruction of their crowded classes. Besides this, 
 teachers are likely to be a little timid about suggesting 
 changes which involve the expenditure of time, care and 
 money by the school board, upon whom they depend for 
 the stability of their positions. Suggestions of needed 
 changes involve criticism upon the existing order of 
 things, and the teacher who ventures to make such sug- 
 gestions is in danger of being considered a bit trouble- 
 some, with the possibility of her resignation being asked 
 for. 
 
 School Boards. Shall we look, then, to the members 
 of our school boards to take care of our schoolhouses ? 
 It is a regrettable fact that our school boards are, for the 
 most part, composed of busy men who find it impossible 
 to give to the care of the school buildings the personal 
 supervision which is required in order to keep them in the 
 best hygienic condition. Is any stronger proof of the 
 truth of this statement needed than the figures already 
 given as to the deterioration in the health of our public 
 school children? 
 
 Let us consider then, very briefly, some of the hygienic 
 conditions of the ordinary schoolhouse in which the 
 mother may properly interest herself and which she may 
 hope to improve. 
 
 School Conditions. In the lighting of a schoolroom 
 the seats should be so arranged that the light shall fall 
 upon the pupils from the rear or the left side, or from 
 
PHYSICAL CONDITIONS 145 
 
 both, if possible. 1 But the children should never sit so 
 as to face the light, no matter how good other conditions 
 may be. If the lighting is badly arranged, the eyes will 
 suffer. Care of the eyes will involve a knowledge of the 
 size of the print of the various text-books which the 
 children use. If it is too fine the eyes will suffer from 
 this cause. 
 
 It is very difficult to keep the air of the schoolroom as 
 pure as it should be. Children who spend much time in 
 bad air are drowsy, stupid and tired. Schoolrooms are 
 sometimes contaminated by impure air from damp base- 
 ments and leaky water closets. Such conditions are 
 fraught with great danger to all children and especially 
 to those who may be delicate or whose nervous vitality 
 is low. 
 
 The room should always be ventilated during school 
 hours, and it is better to have the air come in from the 
 top of the windows; but at recess or when the room is 
 empty the windows should be freely opened both above 
 and below. The temperature should range between 65 
 and 70. The walls of the schoolroom, at least those 
 portions which are on a level with the eyes of the pupils, 
 are nearly always covered with blackboards. This is det- 
 rimental to the eyes. Professor Rowe suggests the ad- 
 visability of covering the large expanse of black wall with 
 white curtains, which may be pushed back when the boards 
 are in use. Such a service might be performed by the 
 mothers of the district, each one taking a portion to make 
 and keep clean. 
 
 The floor of the schoolroom is a problem not usually 
 
 1 S. H. Rowe, Physical Nature of the Child, p. n. 
 
146 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 to the janitor, to be sure, but to the teacher and superin- 
 tendent. Even if it is kept clean as a whole, there are 
 usually cracks where dirt accumulates. In one case where 
 the dirt from the cracks of a schoolroom floor was ana- 
 lyzed it was found to contain germs of twenty different 
 diseases. If the floor is carefully swept once each day 
 after having been strewn with chopped straw soaked in a 
 weak solution of chloride of lime (one pound to four or 
 five gallons of water), those germs will be destroyed. A 
 better plan is to have all cracks filled, and kept filled. 
 
 The matter of the water supply is very important. A 
 simple test, which any mother can apply, is to secure a 
 portion of the drinking water in a bottle, take it home 
 and drop a lump of loaf sugar into it. Let it stand by 
 the window for twenty- four hours. If at the end of that 
 time the water is not clear it should not be used. 1 Under 
 these circumstances you may be able to have the water 
 tested by a practical chemist and so trace the pollution to 
 its source. As to drinking cups and towels, hygienic 
 safety insists that they be individual. Many states have 
 already passed laws and others are following to abolish 
 the common drinking cup, in which lurk germs of colds, 
 fevers, and more serious diseases, which sometimes are 
 the cause of untold suffering and death. No mother 
 who understands the seriousness of the situation as I 
 hope all mothers are rapidly coming to do will consider 
 any inconvenience too great in securing and maintaining 
 consistent individuality in the school drinking cup. 
 
 These things and many others which are of a more 
 personal nature suggest the great desirability of a regular 
 
 1 S. H. Rowe, Physical Nature of the Child, p. 149. 
 
PHYSICAL CONDITIONS 147 
 
 school physician whose duty it shall be to inspect the build- 
 ings with the view to discovering general unhygienic con- 
 ditions and any signs of communicable disease. 
 
 The subject of play has already been spoken of. A 
 great desideratum for the school equipment of the present 
 day is a place for play, both outdoors and indoors. It is 
 to be hoped that in the near future and the mothers can 
 help to hasten the day our school playgrounds will be 
 fitted up with modern gymnastic apparatus, and there will 
 be at least one large room indoors for basket-ball and 
 other health-giving exercise. 
 
 Records. We have discussed in a former chapter the 
 importance of records as an aid to child study. It may 
 be useful here to take for comparison two specific records 
 of children at about the close of the period which has been 
 considered one of them a girl of twelve; the other, a 
 boy of eleven. The girl selected is somewhat less favored 
 than the boy, but her case may be none the less useful 
 for comparison. 
 
 REPORT ON DELICATE GIRL 1 
 
 Fidgety. Suffers from headaches. Needs spectacles. 
 Age twelve years. Sixth grade. Head small, well-shaped, 
 no ridges, circumference 19.5 inches. Face: Features 
 well formed, good proportion. Ears, good. Nose, good. 
 Palate, well-shaped. Size, slight, 57 inches tall. Bal- 
 ance, mobile, fidgety. Expression bright ; intelligent eye- 
 movements; good eyes, move well in looking. When 
 looking at a coin 18 inches from eyes, eyes converge 
 
 1 Frances Warner, The Nervous System, p. 181. 
 
148 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 slightly. Hands : Held out well and promptly. Physical 
 health : Pale, thin, weight 70 pounds. Otherwise healthy. 
 
 School report : Works well in school. Regular, except 
 when sick with headache. Complains of eyes aching. Is 
 fond of reading. 
 
 General report on child: Small head, bright mentally, 
 likely to remain so. Eyes should be examined. Prob- 
 ably needs convex glasses for hypermetropia (near-sight- 
 edness), the use of which may help to keep off headaches. 
 Requires much sleep. 
 
 REPORT ON A BOY 
 
 Age, eleven years. Place in school, seventh grade. 
 Circumference of head, twenty-two inches. No ridges 
 on head. Eye openings normal. Mouth and lips medium 
 in thickness. Ears medium, complete, slightly outstand- 
 ing. Nose symmetrical and shapely. Palate medium, 
 slightly pointed. Front teeth crowded. Height, 56^ 
 inches. Weight, 87^/2 pounds. Balance of body good. 
 Stands erect. Expression bright and cheerful. Eye in- 
 telligent and thoughtful. Good tone about eyelids. No 
 bagginess anywhere. Eyes follow object sharply. Head 
 moves with eyes. Head-balance perfect. Arms level 
 when extended. Left hand falls slightly after a pro- 
 longed extension. Sight and hearing good. Response 
 accurate and active. Good color in face and lips. School 
 standing nearly perfect in all branches. Especially good 
 in arithmetic. Reports in regard to application perfect. 
 Has practically never missed a day at school. Body and 
 mind under control. 
 
PHYSICAL CONDITIONS 149 
 
 QUESTIONS FOR USE IN CLUB STUDY 
 
 1. Summarize the characteristics of the period from seven to 
 twelve years. 
 
 2. From what sources do dangers to health seem to come? 
 
 3. What does Mr. Hall say about this period? 
 
 4. What use can you make of the tables of height, weight, and 
 chest measure for this period? 
 
 5. What is said about the increase in size of the different por- 
 tions of the body? 
 
 6. What is further said about the value of play? 
 
 7. What is said of eye-troubles at this time? Of the ears? Of 
 the nose? 
 
 8. What teeth may be expected at this time? 
 
 9. Prepare a report on the number and the condition of the teeth 
 of one child of this period. 
 
 10. What should the mother learn from the child's posture and 
 carriage ? 
 
 11. What may be learned about a child while he sleeps? 
 
 12. What other troubles may come at this time? 
 
 13. To what is the nervous system compared? 
 
 14. Quote Dr. Rankings thought on this point. 
 
 15. What is said of cigarette smoking? 
 
 16. Cite examples of children being injured by over dress, parties, 
 night entertainments, late hours and the like. 
 
 17. What are some of the things which the mother may do to 
 help in the child's school life? 
 
 18. How can you test the school water supply? 
 
 19. What are the questions which Dr. Rankin suggests asking of 
 parents ? 
 
 20. Describe a typically healthy child, (b) a nervous child. If pos- 
 sible take an actual child in each case. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THE MENTAL CONDITION OF THE CHILD FROM SEVEN 
 TO TWELVE YEARS 
 
 i. POINTS OF CONTACT BETWEEN MOTHER AND CHILD 
 
 In the present chapter we are to consider some phases 
 of the mental development of the child between the ages 
 of seven and twelve. In order to make the scope of the 
 study as broad as possible, and to touch upon the large 
 number of ways in which the influence of the mother can 
 be made effective, it will be necessary to group certain 
 forms of behavior which, on the surface, seem to have no 
 special connection. All the conditions treated, however, 
 have this feature in common; namely, they offer present 
 problems to the mother. In a gathering together of the 
 results of recent investigation and interpretation, it is 
 hoped there will be suggestions for the successful solving 
 of a few of these problems. 
 
 Attention has been called to the fact that, while the 
 general development during this period is likely to be slow, 
 it will, in the case of a normal child, be regular. 1 The 
 outer world brings its daily stores of material for sensa- 
 tion, and, little by little, as the mind learns to interpret 
 these sensations, they become the foundation for ideas, 
 judgments and reasoning. 
 
 1 Irving King, Psychology of Child Development, p. 181 ; Kirk- 
 patrick, Fundamentals of Child Study, p. 17. 
 
 150 
 
THE MENTAL CONDITION 15! 
 
 The Child's Questions. One very prominent role 
 played by the child is that of the questioner. 1 His ques- 
 tions are constant and varied, and the mother sometimes 
 comes to associate the very appearance of the child with a 
 big interrogation point. It is quite the proper thing to say 
 at this point that these youthful questions should be an- 
 swered carefully and sympathetically, and of course many 
 of the questions are of such a nature as to make such 
 advice practical. A large proportion of the child's knowl- 
 edge must come to him through the answers to questions, 
 and if he is laughed at or scolded for asking them, or if 
 the answers are indefinite or incorrect, the effect upon the 
 child's mind will be disastrous. But there is no doubt that, 
 through the original incentive of a desire for knowledge, 
 many children come to bombard their parents with use- 
 less and trivial questions, and it is often the duty of the 
 mother to attempt at least to secure some kind of dis- 
 crimination in questioning. Otherwise she may be tempted 
 to meet the stereotyped question with a stereotyped "I 
 don't know/' While such a reply is true in many cases, 
 the habit of using it indiscriminately weakens the child's 
 respect for his parent and he comes to suspect either her 
 veracity or her intelligence. It is far wiser for the mother 
 to point out how many cases there are in which, if he 
 stopped to think, he could answer his own question. 
 
 Influence of School Life. Many of these questions are 
 brought home from school, and are a pointed indication 
 of how strongly the work of the school is impressing the 
 child's mentality. His mental tastes and inclinations can 
 be discovered through his reaction to his various school 
 
 1 King, Psychology of Child Development, p. 173. 
 
152 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 studies. If the mother will note the various signs which 
 appear in this connection and carefully record them, they 
 will assist both her and the child as he grows older. There 
 is no way in which one may study the child's mental 
 development and the effect of his school work upon this 
 development so well as by visiting the school. A child 
 tells whole volumes about himself during one of those 
 class periods. Then the teacher often knows things about 
 the child which are unknown to the mother, and it is very 
 fortunate if mother and teacher stand to each other in 
 the relation of personal friendship. Through this per- 
 sonal friendship the teacher comes to know the child 
 better and is able to help the mother in many ways. Many 
 parents have found it a good rule never to allow a child 
 to pass through the hands of a teacher without enter- 
 taining that teacher in the home at least once. 
 
 Companions. In this connection it will be fitting to 
 say a few words upon the subject of companions. Dur- 
 ing the period under consideration, especially its latter 
 part, the social instinct has been developing. The child 
 has built up for himself a goodly constituency in the way 
 of companionship. It was said that the companionship 
 of the young child was not a serious problem. But when 
 he begins to go to school it is time to know who his 
 companions are. 
 
 He is really being educated by them now, for the in- 
 stinct of imitation is insistent, and his companions are 
 his models. Do not be deceived by surface indications, 
 and consider good manners as the all important thing. 
 The child whose manners seem rough may at heart be 
 manly and true or womanly and sincere, while the child 
 
THE MENTAL CONDITION 
 
 153 
 
 of social polish, either boy or girl, may have low ideals 
 and hypocritical tendencies. Your full quota of tactful- 
 ness is needed just at this point. 
 
 It seems commonplace to say that the mothers of a 
 given neighborhood are responsible for the morals of 
 the children, and yet it repeatedly happens that the 
 mothers, who themselves have high ideals, are ignorant 
 or careless of the moral tone which prevails among the 
 children in the very group of which their own children 
 form a part. The ultimate results of bad companion- 
 ship upon the character of a child can hardly be estimated. 
 The immediate results often fall most heavily upon the 
 public school. Many a teacher has been overcome with 
 anxiety and worn out in trying to cope with some phase 
 of immorality in school, which never could have ap- 
 peared if the mothers had been on duty. Every mother 
 should ask herself the question, "Do I know the moral 
 tone of the children with whom my own child associates?" 
 It is not possible to keep the child from meeting objec- 
 tionable children at school or on the street. We are so 
 much a part of our environment that we cannot separate 
 ourselves from it, even if we were inclined to do so; but 
 it is possible and vitally important to prevent our children 
 from becoming intimate with those who would corrupt 
 their morals. The mothers should hold themselves as 
 stewards of the moral tone of their neighborhood, and 
 be ready always to render strict account of their 
 stewardship. 
 
 Stories Told by the Mother. Another and very impor- 
 tant way in which the child is helped in his mental and 
 moral advancement during these years is through the 
 
154 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 stories which are told and read to him. "There is a 
 world into which children may enter and find noble com- 
 panionship. It is the world of books. Let your boy 
 escape for a time from the meanness of the boy across 
 the street, and let him roam the woods with Hiawatha, 
 sail the seas with Sinbad, build stockades with Crusoe, 
 fight dragons with Jason, joust with Galahad; let him 
 play at quoits with Odysseus, and at football with Tom 
 Brown. These are playmates who will never quarrel with 
 him nor bully him, but from whom he will learn to be 
 brave, self-reliant, manly." * The thoughtful mother 
 begins very early with the telling of stories, even before 
 the child can understand all she is trying to tell him. 
 The "story hour" is invaluable, not only for the impart- 
 ing of information, but for the mutual exchange of con- 
 fidences and the establishment of sympathetic relations 
 between mother and child. "The hour after sunset is the 
 Sabbath of the day." Bedtime is a good place for the 
 story, either told or read, and Sunday afternoon may be 
 made a period of happiness to the child instead of restraint 
 if he comes to associate it with an interesting story. 
 "Next to evenings, Sundays are the times of the greatest 
 opportunity in the home. I know how hard it is to 
 abbreviate the afternoon nap for the sake of the boy, but 
 it is better to be awake at some discomfort now than to 
 be kept awake by anxiety later." 2 
 
 I wonder how many mothers have tried serializing a 
 long story? Some narratives lend themselves beautifully 
 to this plan, especially the different books of the Old 
 
 1 Walter Taylor Field, Fingerposts to Children's Reading, p. 10. 
 
 2 W. B. Forbush, The Boy Problem, p. 133. 
 
THE MENTAL CONDITION 155 
 
 Testament. The lives of the Old Testament heroes can 
 be divided into chapters and given to the child upon 
 successive evenings. Such stories will prove both fasci- 
 nating and helpful. 
 
 The Child's Own Reading. Following closely upon 
 the subject of the mother reading to the child is that of 
 the child reading to himself, and the question as to when 
 he ought to begin doing so. It is probably true that 
 most children, when they first begin to read to themselves, 
 select the lighter kinds of reading. If the practice of 
 the mother reading to the child overlaps his beginning to 
 read to himself, as it should, it is a good plan for her to 
 read such books as would present difficulties to the child 
 if read alone, and to suggest other books of a lighter 
 character which may be read by the child, between the 
 mother's reading. 
 
 Mr. Walter Taylor Field, in his Fingerposts to Chil- 
 dren's Reading, suggests an excellent course of historical 
 reading covering about four years, in which one of the 
 parents reads aloud from a child's history, and the child 
 himself reads, during the intervals, light and interesting 
 stories referring to the period which is being covered. In 
 this way the stories come to have a new meaning because 
 the child understands them. "No college course in his- 
 tory can ever give one quite so clear and permanent an 
 impression as that gained in childhood by the boy or girl 
 who reads history in this way/' 1 When a child shows 
 no taste for books after he has reached the age when an 
 interest might reasonably be expected, the mother may 
 help to implant one. The reading aloud, already men- 
 
 1 Field, Fingerposts to Children's Reading, pp. 32, 37. 
 
156 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 tioned, will be one way of doing this. Each mother, 
 knowing the child's disposition, will find a different way. 
 I know of a case where a boy who had been read to a 
 good deal refused to read to himself when the time came 
 for him to do so. The mother pondered long and finally 
 decided upon an experiment. The next time the boy 
 committed a breach of family discipline, not a very un- 
 usual thing in his case, she required him to spend an hour 
 all by himself in the library. She had previously placed 
 several books which she felt sure he was capable of 
 reading, upon the library table. Nothing was said about 
 reading. At the end of the hour he was discovered deep 
 in one of the books. This experiment was repeated, and 
 it was not so very long before the boy was hunting for 
 new books to read on his own motion. Eventually he 
 developed a taste for good reading. 
 
 This plan would not succeed with all boys. Some 
 would come to regard the library as a prison and its con- 
 tents would seem distasteful to them. It only illustrates 
 the different treatment that is required by different dis- 
 positions. I believe that the mother should allow no 
 variation to the rule of always knowing what the child is 
 reading. It may often seem tedious to take the time for 
 even a rapid glance through the books or papers in which 
 he is interested, but it is worth while in many ways. You 
 will be very likely to secure good reading habits for your 
 children if you see that there is always good reading 
 matter, and such as is suited to their ages and interests, 
 available for them at home. 
 
 Music. There is another subject to which attention 
 may profitably be called in this connection. What use 
 
THE MENTAL CONDITION 157 
 
 can the mother make of music in the training of the 
 child ? It is claimed that there are no absolutely unmu- 
 sical children, although they vary greatly in this respect. 
 Music has an effect upon the emotional nature which is 
 distinctly uplifting. If this be granted, the mother surely 
 has a part to perform in bringing this influence to bear 
 in the right way. When the mother is musically edu- 
 cated herself she has unlimited resources, both through 
 her voice and her ability to select such instruments for 
 use in the home as shall best minister to and develop the 
 child's higher nature. Plato excluded from his ideal re- 
 public all music except that which stimulated courage and 
 nobler emotions. The kind of music which did this was 
 gladly welcomed as a definite factor in developing strong 
 character. At the present time it is recognized that music 
 has a refining influence which is particularly desirable 
 at this period in the child's life. This influence ministers 
 to the happiness of the home at all times. Music has 
 been used as an educational force in many ways through 
 all time. Those mothers who have neither talent nor 
 education in this important art must, of course, depend 
 upon others, but the musical training should not be 
 neglected. 1 
 
 2. SOME MENTAL TRAITS AND POWERS OP THIS PERIOD 
 
 Bashfulness. We are now ready to consider a few 
 mental traits which attract the mother's attention and 
 demand her thought. Bash fulness is a trait with which 
 some of us have to deal. Baldwin says that the bash- 
 fulness which comes to the child after the third year is 
 a reaction of race origin. It is not reflective but instinc- 
 
 1 Tanner, The Child, p. 349. 
 
158 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 tive, developing from fear up through hesitation to self- 
 consciousness. 1 If not so extreme as to cause the child 
 unhappiness, it may be safely ignored. It may, how- 
 ever, be so extreme as not only to cause unhappiness, but 
 to react in retarding development. It may even become 
 a handicap in later years, if not overcome. If its cause 
 can be discovered there will be found some way to con- 
 quer it. Is the child bashful only under certain circum- 
 stances and with certain people? Is his bashfulness 
 increased by the fact that he thinks he is not good-looking 
 or not well enough dressed, or not as bright and talented 
 as some other children ? Try to have him meet these awe- 
 inspiring persons and circumstances often, and under con- 
 ditions which are particularly favorable to him. While 
 looks and ability are hard to change, the matter of cloth- 
 ing is largely within the power of the parent, and the 
 bashful child will often be helped by feeling that he, or 
 she, is well-dressed. If the tendency is to have few 
 friends, as is often the case with the bashful child, make 
 an effort to help him in this respect. Here, as in other 
 cases, the result may be slow in coming, but will come 
 in time. 
 
 If bashfulness is persistent, a case cited by Baldwin, 
 with its suggested treatment, may be worth consideration. 
 He says : "The presence of other persons is trying to the 
 nerves, there is increased rapidity in the heart beat, some 
 slight setting of the blood to the head, more rapid breath- 
 ing, general toning up of the muscular system, a peculiar 
 static pressing in from the front of the abdominal muscles. 
 
 1 J. M. Baldwin, Social and Ethical Interpretations, p. 206. 
 
THE MENTAL CONDITION 159 
 
 To relieve this condition, expand the abdomen outward 
 by a strictly muscular effort and at the same time breathe 
 in as deeply as possible. It is probable that this action 
 allows the body to fall and relieves the heart from arti- 
 ficial pressure. The increased heart action requires all 
 the space it can get." * 
 
 Love of Praise. Another characteristic which affords 
 the mother great opportunities is the love of praise. If 
 parents are always honest in their praise, and do not 
 bestow it unless it is deserved, nothing but good can 
 come from it. Professor Angell tells a story which illus- 
 trates the influence of praise upon the actions of children. 
 I quote it partly by way of warning (for it is certainly 
 not a safe principle to adopt), and partly by way of sug- 
 gestion. A certain task was assigned to a group of chil- 
 dren. When it was finished the teacher said, "You have 
 done it very badly. You must do it all over again." 
 The same task was at a later time assigned to a second 
 group of children. They actually performed it less well 
 than the first group, but, for the sake of the experiment, 
 the teacher said, "You have done this splendidly, but now 
 just try and see if you cannot do it a little better." The 
 result was that the improvement in the second case was 
 infinitely greater than it was in the first. Mr. Forbush 
 also gives a bit of dialogue which carries with it the same 
 idea: "Your son Tom seems to have gotten over being 
 round shouldered. Every time I've seen him lately he's 
 been standing up like a man." "Yes; after years of 
 scolding him for his stooping, I tried a new plan. I said 
 
 1 J. M. Baldwin, Social and Ethical Interpretations, p. 214. 
 
160 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 to him one day, 'Tom, what a magnificent chest you 
 haveT" 1 
 
 Dominant Interests. The subject of the child's domi- 
 nant interests has been a fruitful one for discussion of 
 late. Much effort has been made to secure reliable data 
 with regard to what these interests are. The child's 
 interests interpret his personality and indicate along what 
 line his activities lie. 2 A knowledge of the origin and 
 nature of these interests and how they can be influenced 
 is of great importance to the mother. 
 
 The first interests of the child are to get control of his 
 environment. 3 This is shown while he is still in the cradle, 
 as he struggles to control his muscles and his speech fac- 
 ulty. Success in these directions incites him to still 
 greater efforts. In this way his control is broadened and 
 his personality enriched. During the years from two 
 until seven, the child is physically active and mentally 
 questioning. The interests are narrow. From seven to 
 nine, the physical development being slower, there is time 
 for more delicate motor adjustments. 4 Mentally the child 
 is more interested in details because more skillful and 
 more influenced by success or failure. Heretofore he has 
 been striving to control himself, which constituted his 
 environment. Now he wishes to control his external 
 environment. From nine to twelve there is usually in- 
 terest in puzzles and collections. In his games he tends 
 to the spirit of cooperation. What should be the attitude 
 
 1 The Boy Problem, p. 25. 
 
 2 J. M. Tyler, Growth and Education, p, 75. 
 
 3 M. V. O'Shea, Dynamic Factors in Education, p. 59. 
 
 4 Irving King, Psychology of Child Development. 
 
THE MENTAL CONDITION l6l 
 
 of the mother towards the interests which are here de- 
 veloping? If the child shows an interest in things which 
 are good, and especially if he is interested in some par- 
 ticular good thing, make it a cause of great rejoicing. 
 Do all you can to encourage it even though it should last 
 but a few years or even but a few months. It will not 
 only develop the positive side of his nature, but will tend 
 to preclude possible undesirable interests. 
 
 But suppose your child has no dominant interest in 
 anything, being rather inclined to take life as it comes 
 and giving heed to the passing moment alone! Suppose 
 that, as in the majority of cases, he shows nothing but 
 ordinary reactions to everyday surroundings. Under these 
 circumstances, first of all, find out whether he is culti- 
 vating any interest of which you are not aware. Such 
 interests sometimes attract the child on the passive side 
 of his nature and he may be indulging them without any 
 formulated intention to deceive. These things may be 
 kept a secret from you through an instinctive feeling of 
 parental disapproval. I know of one child of this age 
 who seemed to have no dominant interest but, upon inves- 
 tigation, was found to be secretly reading undesirable 
 literature. If the matter had been carefully watched, 
 and an abundance of good interesting reading matter 
 had been provided, this condition might have been fore- 
 stalled. 
 
 Find out, if you can, what the child cares for most of 
 all. It may not rise to the dignity of an interest, but it 
 will be a starting point. Place opportunities for doing 
 certain things in his way, thus using the principle of 
 suggestion. If one thing is passed by try another, for if 
 
162 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 the child is going to have any interest, now is the time for 
 him to be working at it. 
 
 The Instinct for Collecting. As has been said, this is 
 the age for collecting things. Many children have spas- 
 modic crazes in this line. Indeed, few escape the ten- 
 dency. No mother who understands the meaning of a 
 manifestation of this kind will look upon a collection of 
 any kind as unworthy. If the child does not begin to 
 make a collection for himself, suggest one to him along the 
 line of his fancy, if you can find what that is, and help 
 him to start it. It may be post cards, stamps, coins, 
 badges, fobs, banners, buttons, autographs, but not bird's 
 eggs or cigar tags. Collection in many of these lines are 
 often exceedingly valuable from both the standpoint of 
 art and of history. I know a young man who by the sale 
 of a valuable collection of stamps, put himself through 
 college. There may be a tendency to certain kinds of 
 motor activity. In that case working with tools may 
 arouse an interest. The child may be musical. If so, he 
 will probably want to take lessons upon the piano, man- 
 dolin, or violin. Lessons in drawing or painting may also 
 be helpful. If the interest is for something alive, pro- 
 vide different kinds of animals. Some one will be found 
 to take them off your hands after they have served their 
 purpose. Working in electricity has proved a most valu- 
 able and stimulating interest for many boys. When 
 manual training and domestic science are generally taught 
 in our public schools many problems of seeming lack of 
 interest will be solved. As has just been said, the par- 
 ticular interests may be dropped in a comparatively short 
 
THE MENTAL CONDITION 163 
 
 time, but their developing effect upon the character will 
 remain. 
 
 Bad Interests. The child who spontaneously develops 
 bad interests should be the mother's constant care. No 
 methods can be too searching to discover what form these 
 interests are taking. No time can be too early to break 
 them up. If any mother will read Swift's chapter on 
 Criminal Tendencies in Boys; Their Cause and Function* 
 she will be satisfied that while a good environment may 
 help, it cannot be relied upon to cure. Among these bad 
 interests may be bad reading, bad companions, cheap thea- 
 tres, secret use of tobacco, petty thieving, and others less 
 flagrant but destructive to the child's best development. 
 If the mother rs watchful these tendencies cannot go very 
 far without discovery. If the child transgresses family 
 regulations which are already well known, it ought not to 
 be hard to know what to do. But when the bad habit is 
 broken up, do not forget to rush in the good ones. 2 Or, 
 better yet, crowd out the bad by establishing new and bet- 
 ter ones. Do not stop with one, crowd in a half dozen if 
 possible, and do not rest satisfied until you are quite sure 
 that the new interests have become firmly established. 
 
 Caution. There is one general caution to be observed 
 in regard to children's interests. Beware of blocking out 
 in advance too definitely what you wish your child to be 
 interested in and what you wish him to be. There is a 
 wide difference between tentative suggestion and arbitrary 
 determination. Some children are so constructed that 
 they will yield themselves to the will of the parent almost 
 
 1 E. J. Swift, Mind in the Making, p. 38. 
 
 2 James, Talks to Teachers; S. H. Rowe, Habit Formation, p. 214. 
 
164 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 passively. This will do no harm for short-lived interests, 
 but be careful that the child chooses his own life work. 
 
 The Child's Idea of Money. The next problem, and 
 one which may lie along the line of the interests, is the 
 child's idea of money. How shall we teach our children 
 its real value ? How shall we make them understand that 
 the care and use of it is important and yet that it is not 
 the most important thing. All children like money. The 
 instinct of ownership and the wish to control environment 
 is sufficient to account for the liking, apart from the pleas- 
 ure derived from the things which it will procure. Chil- 
 dren differ greatly in their use of money. While a few 
 are inclined to be miserly, most are little spendthrifts. 
 There is danger in giving too much money to children. 
 There is also danger in withholding it too strictly. Much 
 may be said against paying children for doing the ordinary 
 home duties, and yet this has some advantage over giving 
 them a regular allowance, as it teaches them that money 
 does not come without effort. A better plan, where it is 
 possible, is to have a child earn his spending money by 
 doing odd jobs for others than members of the family, for 
 this puts him into the actual conditions that obtain in life. 
 By this is meant that there should be actual merit in the 
 service, as there often is not in the case of "home made" 
 employments. In other words, the child learns that there 
 must be "value received" or else he loses his position to a 
 competitor whose services are of greater value to the 
 employer. One of the parents should advise as to the 
 spending of such money as the child may earn; otherwise 
 extravagant habits are likely to be acquired. One of the 
 most fortunate conditions for a boy is that in which he is 
 
THE MENTAL CONDITION 165 
 
 able to help out the family income by means of his earn- 
 ings. The moral effect upon him is excellent; the spirit 
 of altruism is developed in him, and he ceases to regard 
 money simply as a means of gratifying selfish wants. 
 Harm is sure to result from a child's feeling that what he 
 earns is so much for extra indulgence and that he may 
 spend it upon himself in foolish and extravagant ways. 
 Even where the circumstances of the family may warrant 
 such expenditures, indulgence in them tends to encourage 
 an already dangerous tendency. 
 
 Where the child is too young or not fitted to earn any- 
 thing outside of the home, try one of the following ways : 
 Give him a regular sum each week out of which there are 
 certain things for which he must provide, such as school 
 supplies, the Sunday-school contribution, and possibly 
 some smaller items in his clothing. 1 This is done on the 
 ground that he is a part of the family and is rendering to 
 the family such general service as is within his power. 
 
 Another excellent plan is, while expecting the ordinary 
 duties of the home to be done without remuneration, to 
 pay for certain extraordinary duties, if well and patiently 
 done. As soon as the child is able to keep simple accounts 
 (which he will be able to do at about nine or ten years 
 perhaps younger) furnish him with his own private ex- 
 pense book in which he shall keep a careful account of all 
 his receipts and expenses. It is a mistake to bring up a 
 child from hand to mouth, on the subject of money, as is 
 done when he is obliged to make a separate request for 
 each portion of money he receives. 
 
 1 Earl Barnes, Studies in Education, p. 62. 
 
166 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 3. MEMORY 
 
 There is a mental process which will be considered here, 
 not because it is confined to this period, but because there 
 seem to be some ways in which it responds to external 
 stimuli during these years more readily than at any other 
 time. I refer to the memory. Observation shows that 
 this faculty is more retentive during the early school years 
 than at any other period of life, and the school courses are 
 usually arranged with this fact in view. While we may 
 never understand all that memory means in the develop- 
 ment of the child, we recognize the great importance of its 
 cultivation and are constantly looking for suggestions as 
 to how its effectiveness may be enlarged and its strength 
 increased. 
 
 Mrs. Cabot, in her chapter upon the ethical value of 
 memory, calls it the power which holds our lives together 
 and helps us to live with our whole selves. 1 We depend 
 upon it for our connection with the past and the future. 
 Through it we glean the largest harvest from our experi- 
 ence. As to our moral life, memory is the center of it. 
 
 Let us consider briefly the physiological side of memory 
 before considering its possibilities in the intellectual 
 sphere. The signs of memory during the first months of 
 the child's life, if they exist, are very uncertain. The 
 semi-conscious manifestations of it which the infant dis- 
 plays can hardly be classed with the conscious efforts of 
 an older child to fix words and ideas permanently in his 
 mind. Recent psychology rejects the idea of memory as 
 a general elementary faculty which can be exercised and 
 trained like the muscles of the arms or legs. 
 
 1 Ella Lyman Cabot, Every Day Ethics, p. 400, 
 
THE MENTAL CONDITION 167 
 
 The Functions of Memory. The value of the old 
 fashioned verbal memory work, intended to strengthen it, 
 is seriously questioned. The function of memory is really 
 two- fold : First, it is the storing away of impressions or 
 experiences, and second, it is the process of restoring to 
 consciousness some particular impression or group of im- 
 pressions. The number of impressions which can be put 
 into this storehouse of the mind depends upon the reten- 
 tiveness of the nervous tissues. All conscious experience 
 (that is, anything which we have ever known) brings 
 about some modification of the cortical tissues. The cor- 
 tical impression is a physical process, hence the conscious 
 and physical processes are intimately connected. 1 It is 
 thought that no impression once made upon the brain is 
 ever eradicated. Although it may be entirely forgotten as 
 an individual fact, it has an influence upon succeeding 
 brain processes. The second function of memory, that of 
 restoring to consciousness a particular impression, is also 
 made up of two different processes. The first process is 
 attention; i. e., the mind focalizes itself in the direction 
 in which the desired impression lies. If the act of com- 
 mitting to memory is in progress, the mind will be focal- 
 ized upon the impression already made. This impression 
 will be repeated until it becomes fixed. One writer refers 
 to this repetition in memorizing as the mind imitating 
 itself until the impression becomes fixed. The second 
 process is association. One never recalls an isolated fact. 2 
 When you want to remember something you do not pop 
 your mind down, now here, now there, like a boy spearing 
 
 1 J. R. Angell, Psychology, p. 237. 
 
 2 Baldwin, Social and Ethical Interpretations. 
 
168 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 fish. You feel your way along from one thing to another 
 until finally* you reach the thing which you are seeking. 
 
 How to Strengthen the Memory. The only way in 
 which the mother can help the child's memory in its first 
 function (if she Can help it at all) is by keeping him in 
 good physical condition. She may help the second func- 
 tion of the memory to just such an extent as she can 
 teach the child (a) to focalize his attention, and (b) to 
 utilize readily his power of association. A failure at either 
 of these points will affect the strength of the memory. It 
 follows from the above, that the memory will be best 
 along the line of the chief interests. But it will be good 
 psychology to teach the child to fix his attention upon 
 things in which he is not interested as well as upon those 
 in which he is interested. 1 In the case of the normal child, 
 the mother notices very early that the link of -memory is 
 being established and that the impressions of one day are 
 being carried over into the next. She also notices the 
 difference in the endowment of children as regards the 
 memory. 
 
 Whenever a child shows that he possesses an unusually 
 vigorous memory, there is generally a tendency to show 
 it off. The child is encouraged to commit long pieces, 
 both in and out of season, and to speak them upon all pos- 
 sible occasions. The parent who indulges this very nat- 
 ural impulse will live to regret it, if sufficiently intelligent 
 to see results. In the showing off process other less 
 desirable qualities are developed and the general mentality 
 is not improved. It is the child with the poor and weak 
 memory with whom we should work to secure the learn- 
 
 1 Rowe, Habit Formation, p. 218, 
 
THE MENTAL CONDITION 169 
 
 ing of the long pieces. But because most of us work 
 along the line of least resistance, we do the former instead 
 of the latter. If you are satisfied that your child has a 
 good memory, let him alone. His ordinary school work 
 will develop it normally. But if you have reason to think 
 that the child's memory is below the average, there are 
 ways in which you can help to gain for it greater efficiency. 
 Memory Drill. While memory drill, as such, is some- 
 what discredited, there is still a use to be made of facts 
 in memorizing, and repeated effort to focalize the atten- 
 tion and utilize the powers of association will have a tend- 
 ency to crystallize into habit just as any other often 
 repeated effort does. There is a stupendous array of 
 facts, an exact verbal hold upon which will be of incal- 
 culable value to any child in after life. The mother can 
 be of great help by simply drilling the child's verbal 
 memory upon groups of these, while he is at the retentive 
 age, as he is during these years. Use care in the selection 
 of the facts. Your own experience of what has been 
 most useful will help you to choose wisely. Explain the 
 meanings as you go along. Use names, dates, selections 
 of poetry and prose, and especially portions of the Bible. 
 Exercise both the visual and the auditory memory. To 
 strengthen the association of ideas, read a story to the 
 child, and have him repeat it in his own words. Memory 
 will come in time to do what we patiently insist upon its 
 doing. Remember, too, that there is a law of the mind 
 by which the things which are first learned take precedence 
 in the persistence of their hold. The mother who is will- 
 ing to do even a little of this sort of work will spare her 
 child the humiliation of coming to adult years with the 
 
I 7 o STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 possible acknowledgment that "the only date he can re- 
 member is the date of his own birth and he sometimes has 
 to stop and figure that out." It goes without saying that 
 in any effort to help the memory, the child must pay strict 
 attention. It has already been shown that the habit of 
 inattention is of itself the chief factor in a poor memory. 
 Mrs. Cabot's Definition. I have already referred to 
 Mrs. Cabot's excellent definition of memory as "the power 
 which holds our lives together." Before leaving the sub- 
 ject I must give you her answer to the question, "How 
 can one teach himself not to forget?" Although you will 
 find her suggestion more helpful when the child is a little 
 older, it will be useful even now. Mrs. Cabot says, 
 "Observe your own method of recalling or fixing in your 
 mind any important topic. Explain this to the child and 
 see how much of it he can utilize. Show him how to 
 classify what he naturally does remember. Teach him to 
 use the following : i. Forethought. 2. Resolute interest. 
 3. Careful, systematic recall. With all this there should 
 be the ability to put aside for the time all that will inter- 
 fere with the definite aim." 1 
 
 4. CHILDREN'S FAULTS 
 
 Under the influence of modern ideas and deductions, 
 many things which were formerly classed as faults in 
 children are now considered but the normal and reason- 
 able manifestations of the laws of nature. But, even after 
 due allowance has been made for the expected, there are 
 some manifestations which are persistent and puzzling. 
 These for want of a better name we will call faults. 
 
 1 Mrs. Cabot, Every Day Ethics, p. 400. 
 
THE MENTAL CONDITION 171 
 
 These may, for convenience, be divided into two classes; 
 first, those which will be outgrown; second, those which 
 if not dealt with definitely, will become worse and perma- 
 nently injure the character. While all will agree that 
 there are those two classes of faults, perhaps all will not 
 agree as to where to make the division. Again, it is some- 
 times difficult to tell just what permanent fault any certain 
 manifestations may crystallize into. 
 
 The first class of faults referred to, though not serious, 
 are often very disagreeable. Sometimes they require 
 great patience on the part of the mother, and sometimes 
 a definite absence of patience on the part of the mother 
 has a salutary effect. Among these so-called transient 
 faults I would place many phases of bad manners. Lazi- 
 ness, and one phase of untruth fulness, are faults which 
 will probably disappear with advancing years. Petty 
 meanness, unkindness and teasing, are things which will 
 probably be crowded out in the enlargement and enrich- 
 ing of the growing life. But disobedience, violent temper, 
 selfishness, and general untruth fulness cannot safely be 
 ignored by the parent. Each indulgence in these vices 
 makes it harder to overcome them, and the resulting effect 
 upon character is far-reaching. 
 
 Bad Manners. As to bad manners, at this age they 
 come as natural to many children as breathing. 1 It seems 
 to relieve the child, both mentally and physically, to be 
 rough and rude. The most careful training apparently 
 counts for nothing. This condition is an outcropping of 
 the natural savagery already referred to. Any child with 
 a reasonable amount of self-respect will outgrow this 
 
 1 Forbush, The Boy Problem, p. 10, 
 
172 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 phase of his life if he is living in an environment of good 
 manners. The good teaching, and more especially the 
 good example, will have its effect. 
 
 Laziness. The indisposition to exertion which passes 
 for laziness, is often more a matter of physical than of 
 mental temperament. If carried to excess, the mother 
 should find out if there is some physical condition which 
 causes it. I have already mentioned constipation as a 
 condition to be guarded against. Its existence, causing 
 backache, and various other aches, will account for much 
 apparent laziness. A low tone of the nervous system is 
 another frequent cause. When a child is growing rapidly, 
 more of his vitality is being used in tissue-building than 
 we sometimes realize. On this account the child, without 
 knowing why, finds himself without energy or initiative. 
 If no physical cause is to be found, possibly the laziness 
 is a habit into which the child has fallen. It has been 
 pointed out that every child is much better for the stimu- 
 lus which comes from activity. In fact, normal develop- 
 ment is hardly possible without it. If the mother is 
 satisfied that the child has no real reason for his lassitude 
 she may invent ways to stimulate him, especially if a clue 
 has been secured as to his interests, for the apparently lazy 
 child is usually the child with no dominant interest. The 
 mother should see to it that the child's ordinary duties are 
 not neglected during this so-called "lazy" period, even 
 though it should require much more effort on her part so 
 to do than to perform them herself. A yielding to this 
 inertia, even though there is a physical cause for it, will 
 induce bad habits, both physical and mental, which may 
 never be overcome in later life. 
 
THE MENTAL CONDITION 173 
 
 Apparent Untruthfulness Through Imagination. I 
 have spoken of a form of untruthfulness which need not 
 cause uneasiness to the parents. The form referred to 
 is that which grows out of a vivid imagination. Children 
 who possess such a power of mind are likely to give it full 
 play when describing things which they have seen, and 
 they often use it to describe things which they have not 
 seen. It is unfortunate that so few parents understand 
 this mental quality and its possibilities. Imagination has 
 been described as the power to make anything real. 1 It 
 gives foresight. We need it in whatever we undertake, 
 for it has the power of rounding into perfection what we 
 can only see in part with the other faculties. It has a 
 supreme moral value. The child whose imagination has 
 been rightly cultivated will never laugh at a deformed 
 person, neither will he injure property. His imagination 
 presents to him the object in its perfection and his mind 
 is satisfied with what he thus pictures. The imagination 
 lends itself readily to the aid of the other cognitive or 
 intellectual processes, notably the memory and the reason- 
 ing power. 2 An imaginative child is naturally a happy 
 child. A happy child, if not spoiled in the making, will 
 grow into a happy man or woman, and the world has 
 great need of happy people. But this imagination must 
 be controlled. 
 
 The Mother's Part. Listen to the stories of your imagi- 
 native child. Question him sympathetically. Do not 
 reprove or punish him unless you are sure that the ele- 
 ment of self-interest or ultimate personal advantage is 
 
 1 Mrs. Cabot, Every Day Ethics, p. 397. 
 
 2 J. R. Angell, Psychology, pp. 215, 216. 
 
174 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 entering into his statements. If such is the case some- 
 thing is wrong, and the condition will be best considered 
 under the head of general untruth fulness. But do not 
 confuse statements which come as the result of vivid 
 imagination, with inaccuracies which are the result of 
 inattention and mental laziness. The sluggish mind should 
 be stimulated to attention, but a vivid imagination is a 
 gift from God. 
 
 Petty Meanness and Teasing. Petty meanness was 
 mentioned as one of the traits which would probably dis- 
 appear with advancing years. If this characteristic, with 
 its accompanying faults, is carried to an extreme it may 
 become downright cruelty, and in this serious phase will 
 require careful attention. As has already been said, much 
 childish meanness is merely the struggle for control of the 
 environment, and will pass away as soon as better methods 
 for so doing are discovered. But, even admitting that the 
 outcome will be satisfactory for the given child himself, 
 attention should be called to the effect of the teasing upon 
 the child who is teased. I have in mind a case of two 
 brothers who differed in age about two years. The older 
 one was a persistent tease. No act of the younger boy 
 (who by the way was exceedingly sensitive) was allowed 
 to pass without ridicule. The mother was busy with other 
 things and took little notice of the situation unless things 
 culminated in an actual fight. The boys are young men 
 now, and the teaser is such no longer, but has become a 
 person of amiable disposition and fine manners. But the 
 younger boy is still hampered in word and action by an 
 insistent fear of ridicule. The inference is justifiable that 
 this sensitiveness if not actually implanted by the action of 
 
THE MENTAL CONDITION 175 
 
 his older brother, when both were little fellows, was at 
 least greatly strengthened by that early experience. If the 
 mother has reason to forecast any such outcome as this 
 just mentioned, she should not hesitate to terminate the 
 teasing, even though drastic measures are required. 
 
 Disobedience. Among the more serious faults, the 
 first is disobedience. Obedience to law is one of the 
 fundamentals of the universe, and parents make a great 
 mistake, which it will be difficult to rectify, if they do not 
 begin right at their own hearthstone to teach this law to 
 their children. The opinion has been expressed that the 
 enforcement of obedience endangers the individuality of 
 the child. The exact opposite is the case. Absence of 
 law always entails confusion, and individuality will not 
 be an outgrowth of such a condition. No child of the 
 age we are now considering is mentally equipped to make 
 laws for himself. He must accept the laws imposed by 
 those who have had more experience than he and more 
 opportunities for observing the operation of law. There 
 is no surer way to teach self-control than the enforcement 
 of obedience, for a child must have self-control in order 
 to obey and especially to obey promptly. To enforce 
 obedience is one of the ways we have of teaching self- 
 control to the child who is too young to be reasoned with. 
 A child who lives harmoniously under the laws of his own 
 home is in a fair way to live harmoniously under the laws 
 of society, when the time comes for him to leave the home. 
 Probably many parents, while admitting that obedience 
 is a most desirable thing in the home, have found it diffi- 
 cult to establish it with their own children. I believe the 
 question of how to enforce obedience in the home is one 
 
176 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 of the most personal and delicate of all subjects connected 
 with child study. 
 
 The suggestions given here are the result of a some- 
 what extended experience combined with observation of 
 cases where obedience was not enforced at all, or when 
 the wrong spirit was allowed to prevail in enforcing it. 
 It must not be overlooked that just in proportion as the 
 ultimate end of obedience is emphasized (as well as the 
 immediate end, which is the comfort and convenience of 
 society) in that same degree is the necessity of obedience 
 emphasized. Obedience may be secured in two ways: 
 First, by precept and appeal. Second, by punishment. It 
 goes without saying that when the first is successful, the 
 second is not necessary. It is almost apparent that the 
 very young child is more likely to respond to the second 
 incentive than to the first. Among the general principles 
 which have been found effective in the establishment of 
 obedience are the following: 
 
 1. Be consistent, firm and reasonable in your require- 
 ments of obedience. Do not demand one thing one day 
 and another thing the next day ; do not yield your position 
 if you know you are in the right, even though you find it 
 a difficult one. Above all, be sure that your standard of 
 conduct is reasonable. 
 
 2. Wherever natural punishments will follow the act 
 of disobedience, allow them to do so; in those cases where 
 the logical punishment does not follow of itself or is not 
 prompt enough, make your own punishments as nearly in 
 accord with the natural laws as possible. For example, 
 suppose that the growing boy or girl declines to go to bed 
 at the proper hour at night. Nature's punishment, namely, 
 
THE MENTAL CONDITION 177 
 
 a tired body, sluggish brain, poor recitations at school, and 
 possible ultimate loss of health, are evils so unconnected 
 with the child's range of experience as to lack immediate 
 moral force. The mother can supply the necessary and 
 timely moral force, and at the same time make the punish- 
 ment logical by requiring the child to spend several of his 
 active hours in bed the following day. The quarrelsome 
 child should be banished to the loneliness of his own room 
 on the ground that only those may mingle with the family 
 who help to keep the family peace. The natural punish- 
 ment for quarreling is rejection from one's social group. 
 Here the mother should act for the social group of the 
 child. 
 
 3. Always make the motives for obedience high. It 
 is true that in the case of the very young child obedience 
 must be enforced upon the ground that it is the parents' 
 wish. But little by little the reason why the parent wishes 
 it can be brought in, and what began as mere passive 
 obedience to the parent's wishes eventuates in active 
 cooperation with the parent's wishes. An example of this 
 kind of obedience is attendance at religious services such 
 as church and Sunday school. When the child is small 
 and unable to think and reason for himself he goes 
 because he is taken or compelled to do so. As the child 
 grows older and understands why his parents believe in 
 religious services, he assumes the responsibility of attend- 
 ance at such services by an independent mental and moral 
 process. The main requirement in a case of this kind is 
 that the parents themselves are thoroughly sincere in their 
 own religious beliefs; that their own doing of religious 
 duties is impelled by the highest ideals. Other things 
 
178 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 being equal, the normal child will respond to high moral 
 ideals when they are presented with absolute sincerity. 
 
 4. From the very start, and especially as the child 
 advances in years, keep in mind that all arbitrary enforce- 
 ment of obedience should look to the ultimate end of indi- 
 vidual self-control. For example, a child refrains from 
 stealing cookies for fear of punishment. But in so doing 
 he finds that he can control himself and is started upon 
 the road to self-control from higher motives. 
 
 The aim of the parent should be that the obedience 
 which he requires to his personal self and his own author- 
 ity lead out to obedience to the higher laws of nature and 
 of God. In other words, the inner laws in the child's 
 own soul should take the place of the outer laws imposed 
 upon him by his parents. Hence we see that obedience in 
 the home, although in a sense a temporary virtue, is 
 nevertheless a foundation stone upon which is built up the 
 character in which inheres obedience to and cooperation 
 with the eternal laws of the universe. 
 
 In the following chapter will be found a further refer- 
 ence to obedience somewhat along this same line but from 
 the standpoint of habit and the training of the will. 
 
 Anger. The next trait to be considered is one which 
 has puzzled and tried many parents. It is the tendency to 
 give way to outbursts of bad temper. Anger is both 
 physical and psychical. It undoubtedly dates back to an 
 earlier stage of development, when it arose as a substitute 
 for reflex responses of the organism to pain. 1 It is the 
 result of very sudden organic changes and is rightly con- 
 
 !Dr. G. Stanley Hall, Adolescence, Vol. I, p. 355; E. J. Swift, 
 Mind in the Making, p. 37. 
 
THE MENTAL CONDITION 179 
 
 sidered the most actively unsafe of any of the faults. In 
 its extreme manifestations it blinds the mind and incites to 
 action which is almost unconscious. Outbursts of ten occur 
 without much provocation. But even when there is prov- 
 ocation, it is only an injury to the child to allow these 
 outbursts to go unnoticed. The training to overcome a 
 bad temper must be constant, consistent, painstaking and 
 patient. One difficulty in such training is that the child 
 often inherits his temper from the parent, and like begets 
 like. It is always fortunate in the case of a quick temper, 
 if the parent from whom the trait was not inherited can 
 be the one to take the dominant hand in helping to over- 
 come it. 
 
 There are three ways of dealing with anger. The first, 
 and lowest in order, is to attract the attention to some- 
 thing else; the second is by imposing the idea of pun- 
 ishment; the third is by arousing the idea of duty or 
 responsibility. In the case of the young child, the best 
 way to deal with anger is in the first way mentioned, 
 namely, by diverting the attention into some other channel 
 as soon as there is a sign of the approaching outburst. 
 This requires a good supply of foresight and mental 
 quickness. If the anger gets into full swing before the 
 diversion takes effect, it will do no good to attempt diver- 
 sion. Such an attempt is then more likely to prove a 
 source of added irritation. Leave the child entirely alone 
 until the storm has passed. If things have been done 
 during the outburst which require attention, the age of 
 the child and other circumstances will help you decide 
 what to do. But this method of diversion is only tern- 
 
180 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 porary and in a sense a makeshift. The root of the matter 
 has not been touched. 
 
 In the second case, whatever punishment it is thought 
 best to inflict will, of course, have to be severe enough to 
 serve as a sharp reminder when the impulse to anger is 
 felt again. But the thing will never be settled until the 
 child takes it in hand himself. This can be brought about 
 only by the development of the child's sense of duty and 
 responsibility. When these feelings are aroused, the 
 child's own will begins to act. This is the one permanent 
 force which can act effectively upon a fundamental trait 
 like a violent temper. It is surely a task of great delicacy 
 to effect a proper adjustment between temper and the will 
 power to control it. The mother in her efforts to secure 
 this, must first arouse the desire in the child for self- 
 control. She should know best how to approach him, and 
 to what motives to appeal. She must stand by him in his 
 struggles, encourage him when he fails and help restore 
 confidence and courage for further effort. 
 
 All the laws of the child's being conspire to urge very 
 prompt attention to settling the matter of a quick temper. 
 If the discipline of the home does not accomplish the con- 
 trol which is demanded, the severer discipline of experi- 
 ence will have to do it. No mother who knows anything 
 about what that means will be willing to send her child out 
 into life, knowing that he must undergo it. 
 
 Selfishness. Selfishness is another fault that demands 
 attention. This appears contemporaneously with con- 
 sciousness. Children have already been spoken of as 
 little animals, and the selfishness which they exhibit is a 
 form of the primitive law of self-preservation springing 
 
THE MENTAL CONDITION l8l 
 
 up within them. Gross forms of physical selfishness will 
 soon disappear. The mother can hasten their disappear- 
 ance, and guard against a more refined and lasting form 
 of the same trait, if she will make it a point to show the 
 child upon every possible occasion that selfishness is not 
 only ugly but that it "does not pay." In other words, 
 show the child that what was necessary for the preserva- 
 tion of existence in a former primitive state of life will, 
 if indulged in at the present time, work against his high- 
 est good. If this is done, the natural law of adaptation to 
 environment will cooperate with the higher ethical law 
 of unselfishness. 
 
 It has been said that an unselfish mother makes a selfish 
 child. This is an aphorism which expresses a broad truth, 
 but it is true only if the mother is indulgent as well as 
 unselfish. Children must be taught very soon to think of 
 the rights of others. The home is preeminently the place 
 in which to teach this. The mother is preeminently the 
 one to do it. But before the mother can teach her children 
 what are their right relations in the home she must her- 
 self have the right idea of the home. She should teach 
 her child from the start that he is a part of the home and 
 that he owes it to the home to sacrifice his comfort and 
 pleasure for the comfort and pleasure of the home. Dr. 
 Bascom expresses this thought very pertinently when he 
 says, "The first lesson of all human life is concession to 
 the lives of others. The parent cannot advantageously 
 lift all burdens from the children. The law of sacrifice is 
 good for the child, as it is for the parent. Children have 
 interests to sacrifice to the household strength. Search- 
 ing and common responsibilities are the bracing atmos- 
 
182 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 phere of a healthy home. Let love sink into weakness and 
 it may appear in the children as intolerable selfishness." 
 
 Love and service should be inseparable terms. No child 
 was ever born with so sweet and unselfish a disposition 
 that he could not be made selfish by constant sacrifice for 
 his pleasure. But most children are not sweet and unself- 
 ish and the help of the parents is necessary in order to 
 develop a thought fulness of the rights and interests of 
 others. The sense of justice which often inheres strongly 
 in a selfish child can sometimes be called upon to prevent 
 a selfish act. If this sense of justice is absent, try to instill 
 it as early as possible. Teach the child unselfishness in 
 the home, and the spirit will remain with him outside of 
 the home and throughout life. 
 
 5. TRUTH AND UNTRUTH. 
 
 Untruth fulness is the next of the serious faults to claim 
 our attention. Mention has already been made of an 
 excusable form of uhtruthfulness, but we must now con- 
 sider that form which has no justification, but is a menace 
 to character. Truth, in the broad sense, is a subject which 
 should have the largest possible place in the consideration 
 of every parent. The mother should begin early to teach 
 it, and in doing this an important prerequisite is a clear 
 idea of truth on her own part. 
 
 What is Truth? Truth is the conscious act of making 
 a statement (whether made in words, actions, or thoughts) 
 correspond with the facts. Untruth is the conscious act 
 of making statements which do not correspond with the 
 facts. Truthfulness is the careful effort to convey the 
 right impression. It does not demand literal accuracy, 
 
THE MENTAL CONDITION 183 
 
 neither need it run into brutal frankness. The child's first 
 and untaught attitude towards truth is of the experimental 
 order. He may have some moral code of his own, but it 
 can hardly correspond to that of the adult. Most children 
 will at first tell lies to further their own projects and 
 interests. The child shows his moral standards very early. 
 With him things are right if they come out right. They 
 are wrong when they come out wrong. In other words, 
 the utilitarian standpoint is responded to first ; that is, the 
 idea that truth, like honesty, is "the best policy," will 
 appeal to the mind sooner than that truth is right and 
 must therefore be followed at all hazards. The normal 
 child will somewhat later respond to sincere appeals for 
 truthfulness; to the appeal to seek truth for truth's sake. 
 There is underneath all seeming self-interest, an instinct 
 for truth which can be counted upon as being present in 
 every child. 
 
 Causes of Untruthfulness. Cases of untruth fulness 
 can be traced back to some one of a definite group of 
 causes or conditions. If the mother can find out which 
 one of these causes, or which set of conditions, is the 
 impelling cause of the untruthfulness, she will be greatly 
 aided in securing the right attitude toward truth on the 
 part of the child. These causes can often be removed if 
 understood. Probably the most common cause of lying 
 is the fear of punishment in some form. Among other 
 causes are the following: illusions, mistaken ideas as to 
 facts, inaccuracies caused by mental laziness, forgetful- 
 ness, dullness of moral perception, desire for gain, desire 
 for notice or praise, desire for personal ease. These vari- 
 ous causes will have to be dealt with in entirely different 
 
184 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 ways, and much depends upon the natural disposition and 
 temper of the child. The age of the child must be taken 
 into account also, although, as all mothers know, children 
 of the same age often show a great difference in their 
 apprehension of moral truths. There are many ways in 
 which the mother may foster in her child the truth loving 
 spirit. 
 
 A Specific Case. Let us consider specifically for a 
 moment the untruth which is incited by fear of punish- 
 ment. For example, the child has done something which 
 he thinks will displease his parents, and result in punish- 
 ment humiliation, and pain. He conceals his act, either 
 passively by not telling about it when he would naturally 
 be expected to do so, or actively by positively denying it 
 when questioned. Under these circumstances the thought- 
 ful mother will act slowly. Possibly the offense was not 
 such as to involve punishment. Even so, the child has 
 done a wrong by telling the untruth. If in the early 
 stages of the tendency, that is, the first few times the 
 child is guilty of the untruth, moral ends can be sub- 
 served, and moral ideals remain unimpaired by advice 
 rather than direct punishment, the mother will probably 
 be safe in following such a course. One of the best ways 
 to proceed under these circumstances is to find out about 
 the child's fault in some other way than questioning him. 
 When this is done, the incentive for an untruth has been 
 removed from the child and the parent is free to admin- 
 ister punishment without fear of encouraging untruthful- 
 ness. There can be no doubt that persistent untruth fulness 
 is itself a cause for punishment. In the 'case of young 
 
THE MENTAL CONDITION 185 
 
 children, corporal punishment has often proved successful 
 in curing this fault. 
 
 As the child grows older, the patient bringing to his 
 mind both by example and precept of the fundamental 
 principles of life will bear fruit in truth-telling even when 
 the latter brings the dreaded punishment or ridicule. Fol- 
 lowing out this thought there are here given some of the 
 ways in which truthfulness has been established in the 
 home, and untruth fulness overcome. 
 
 General Principles. First : A high standard of truth in 
 the home will be one of the most efficient factors in form- 
 ing a high standard in character of the child. Live the 
 truth before your child. As parents, we are likely to for- 
 get how many little conventional lies we fall into the habit 
 of telling both in word and in deed. The child, with his 
 limited experience, does not realize the conditions which 
 seem to us to call for these things, and there is to hirxi a 
 discrepancy between precept and example. Society and 
 the home would be much better if there were fewer of 
 these conventional deceits. 
 
 Second : Always appreciate and praise the right course 
 in this respect, whether it be in your own home or outside 
 of it. Always condemn the wrong course, no matter who 
 may be the one who is following it. 
 
 Third: The mother can accomplish much good work 
 incidentally by seeing to it that the wrong action in her 
 own child does come out wrong. In other words, by 
 making the law breaker suffer the penalty of the broken 
 law on all possible occasions. 
 
 Fourth : A child who is inclined to untruthf ulness can 
 often be made truthful and dependable by being placed 
 
186 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 upon his honor. Arrange the circumstances so that he 
 can see definitely that he could do either the right or the 
 wrong, make him understand that you trust him to do the 
 right. If this seems to fail in one case, do not be dis- 
 couraged, but try it again. It has been said that truthful- 
 ness, where it has been found fundamentally lacking, is 
 the most difficult to teach of any of the virtues. Many 
 parents and teachers have found this to be the case. But 
 given time, all good and desirable qualities can be devel- 
 oped in children, and no quality is better or more desirable 
 than truthfulness. 
 
 Fifth : Sometimes an untruthful child can be impressed 
 by an appeal to him upon the ground of his duty to others. 
 A mind which is slow to develop a sense of duty towards 
 itself, will sometimes respond to the idea of unfairness in 
 his conduct towards his companions and friends. 
 
 Sixth: The truth-telling attitude can often be gained 
 by asking the child to think what would happen if all 
 people told lies. Show him how every lie poisons the 
 character of the one who tells it and eats into the struc- 
 ture of human society, just as a worm gnaws away at a 
 leaf until nothing is left. Where a child has been untruth- 
 ful the force of what has just been said will be impressed 
 upon him if the mother refuses to believe what he says 
 in regard to some other matters. She can place her action 
 upon the reasonable ground that since he has told a lie in 
 one instance he may tell one in other instances, and she 
 is not able to judge in what cases he may think it best to 
 be truthful, and in what cases untruthful. There may be 
 a limit of time set during which he is not trusted. After 
 
THE MENTAL CONDITION 
 
 that the child, if he has been perfectly truthful in the 
 meantime, will again be trusted as before. The situation 
 of finding himself not trusted when he knows he is telling 
 the truth, will awaken the child to a realization of what 
 society as a whole would be if distrust prevailed generally, 
 and will show, as perhaps nothing else can, the difference 
 between the solidity of truth and the rottenness of false- 
 hood. We should try to show him that truth is the reality 
 upon which all things rest. It is what gives meaning to 
 speech. 
 
 Seven: The negative side of truth may sometimes be 
 made very strong in its appeal. That is, what are the con- 
 sequences of untruth fulness? First, a person who is 
 detected in a lie is, as suggested above, distrusted by 
 others. He will be suspected even when telling the truth. 
 Second, the person who tells lies to others increases the 
 chances of others telling lies to him. Third, a lying habit 
 once started, develops with wonderful rapidity, and the 
 person who has such a habit finds himself lying when he 
 really does not mean to. Fourth, a person who lies him- 
 self will soon find it impossible to believe in the truthful- 
 ness of others. 
 
 But whatever is the cause of untruthfulness, there can 
 be found a way to reach and remove it ; when this is done, 
 there can be established an attitude toward truth which 
 will grow more and more firm with the advancing years. 
 Loyalty to truth is the keynote of character. Too much 
 stress cannot be laid upon the cultivation of it. 1 
 
 1 Frank Chapman Sharp, Moral Instruction for the High School, 
 P- 33- 
 
188 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 QUESTIONS FOR USE IN CLUB STUDY 
 
 1. What is the general nature of the period discussed in the 
 present chapter? 
 
 2. How should a child's questions be treated? 
 
 3. What should be the mother's attitude toward the child's 
 teacher ? 
 
 4. Do you know the character and home life of your child's 
 companions ? 
 
 5. What is said about the mother's reading to the child? What 
 of the child's reading to himself ? 
 
 6. What is said about the telling of stories? 
 
 7. What relation has music to the child's development? 
 
 8. How would you help a bashful child? 
 
 9. How would you treat the child's love of praise? What two 
 instances are given to illustrate this point? 
 
 10. What is said of a child's interests? Follow their develop- 
 ment. 
 
 11. What can be done when a child seems to have no dominant 
 interest? 
 
 12. What can be done for one who has developed bad interests? 
 What caution is given about interests? 
 
 13. What is said about the child's idea of money? What about 
 the use of money? 
 
 14. What specific suggestions are made in this line? 
 
 15. What is the two- fold function of memory? What two proc- 
 esses are mentioned under the second function? 
 
 16. At what period of life is the memory most retentive? What 
 does Mrs. Cabot call memory? 
 
 17. How can the mother help the child's memory? Give Mrs. 
 Cabot's suggestions. 
 
 18. Into what two general classes are the faults of children 
 divided here? 
 
 19. Speak of the faults of the first class. 
 
THE MENTAL CONDITION 189 
 
 20. Do you agree with the idea of laziness expressed here? 
 
 21. What faults are placed in the second class? 
 
 22. Describe the function of the imagination. 
 
 23. What is said of disobedience? Of bad temper? How would 
 you deal with these? 
 
 24. What is said about selfishness? 
 
 25. What are some of the causes of untruthfulness? 
 
 26. Mention some ways of inculcating truthfulness. 
 
 27. What are Professor Sharp's four points? 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 CHILD TRAINING 
 i. THE PARENTS' EQUIPMENT FOR TRAINING 
 
 We shall now take up the general subject of training, 
 from the period of infancy to the close of the pre-adoles- 
 cent period. This discussion covers much that has gone 
 before, and in some cases the thought expressed in pre- 
 vious chapters may seem to be repeated. When this is 
 the case, it is because certain phases of character are more 
 general in their nature than others, and their consideration 
 demands a broader treatment than has been yet given 
 them. 
 
 Are Parents Equipped for Child Training? A very 
 natural question to come at the outset of this discussion 
 is as to the parents' equipment for child training. Are the 
 majority of parents fitted to bring up their children? It 
 can hardly be denied that many parents lack adequate 
 equipment for this important duty. Of course it would 
 be impossible to enumerate all of the qualifications for 
 complete and perfect parenthood. No one parent could 
 hope to possess them all. The points mentioned here are 
 for the most part those which one would be expected to 
 possess, who wished to make a success of any calling 
 in life. 
 
 The True Significance of the Home. Have you ever 
 stopped to think why it is that things are so arranged that 
 
 190 
 
CHILD TRAINING 191 
 
 a child is in the home for practically a generation ? It has 
 taken many centuries to make a human being as he is 
 today. Parents and children must be many years in the 
 home together in order that the essential spiritual inherit- 
 ance of the ages may be passed on from one to the other. 
 Your child, in being born to you, and in being dependent 
 upon you during all these long years of his early experi- 
 ence, finds in you the most immediate and most important 
 link in the chain which binds him to his rightful inherit- 
 ance. Perhaps it is fortunate for us all that very much 
 of this splendid accumulation passes on to our children by 
 means of unseen forces over which we have but little con- 
 trol. But even so, there is much in the lives of our 
 children which we can and should control, if the relation 
 of parent and child means anything at all. The child 
 accepts absolutely and without question many things from 
 his parents. Among these unquestioned acceptances are 
 his language and his moral standards. It is a generally 
 admitted fact that the person who finds it necessary to 
 change his language later in life from the one he origin- 
 ally learned, does so with considerable difficulty and with 
 more or less loss in efficiency. It must be the same in the 
 case of moral standards. Aim to give your child during 
 these years of unquestioning acceptance the highest moral 
 standard which has been worked out for your generation 
 by previous generations. 
 
 Fundamental Qualities Needed for Child Training. 
 Among the fundamental qualities for which we look in 
 the successful parent is intelligence plain, everyday com- 
 mon sense. Thought, given liberally and when one is at 
 her best, is constantly demanded by the problems of child 
 
192 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 training. Continuity and consistency, both in training and 
 in general conduct, are necessary qualities. If unusual 
 expedients are sometimes required, they will be more 
 effective if they have consistency and continuity as a back- 
 ground. A further part of the parent's equipment is a 
 sense of responsibility for the lives and conduct of the 
 children. Again, the parent needs an understanding of 
 the child's character and individuality. Last, but by no 
 means least, we all need a clear conception of the object 
 or end in view in the training of the child. The child 
 reveals himself very slowly, and the parent has need to 
 be patient, and often to suspend judgment. Sometimes, 
 unfortunately, the mother finds that just when she has 
 learned how to train the child for any special thing he 
 has passed beyond the need of that particular kind of 
 training. In other words, the knowledge which would 
 have been of indefinite help to her often does not come 
 until the opportunity to use it has passed. A good general 
 is on the lookout for these strategic points in his cam- 
 paign, and will not allow himself to be overreached with- 
 out a struggle. The mother has need of all the qualities 
 of a good general in her struggle to establish firmness of 
 character and high ideals in the lives of her children. 
 
 2. IMITATION THE FIRST TRAINING 
 
 The earliest training of the child is the unconscious 
 training which comes through imitation. At first the 
 child's muscles and nerves respond automatically to any 
 stimulus from outside of itself, whether of eye, ear or 
 touch. As the brain develops, and its different parts begin 
 to work together, the child becomes at least partially con- 
 
CHILD TRAINING 193 
 
 scious that he is trying to reproduce what he sees and 
 hears. But for some time the unconscious response of 
 the senses to outward impressions continues to play a large 
 part in the movements. This training through imitation 
 never stops. No matter what we may plan to do for the 
 child in later life we will do well to remember that first 
 impressions take precedence of later ones in their per- 
 sistency. What the child sees and hears the first few 
 years of his life have a tremendous influence upon his 
 character. If these things were always what they should 
 be, the training of later years, which is often so hard, 
 would be far and away easier and more successful. 
 
 It has just been said that the child begins life by 
 imitating, and, if Professor Baldwin is right, 1 the instinct 
 never outlives its usefulness. It is characteristic of all 
 mental growth, and seems to have been carefully pro- 
 vided for in the instinctive equipment of the child. 2 The 
 child imitates because he must. It is one of the laws of 
 his being. 
 
 What is Imitation? Imitation seems to be the uncon- 
 scious effort on the part of the child to get himself into 
 harmony with his environment. It is something like the 
 case of water seeking its own level, or the chameleon 
 changing his color to harmonize with the object near him. 
 The child receives his own first experience in doing things 
 when he almost unconsciously proceeds to copy the action 
 of another person. So familiar are manifestations of 
 imitation that they often pass unnoticed. 
 
 1 J. M. Baldwin, Mental Development in the Child and in the Race, 
 Chapter XL 
 
 2 M. V. O'Shea, Dynamic Factors in Education, p. 105. 
 
194 
 
 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 The hand and voice respond readily to this early instinct 
 of imitation. When the child has once made a conscious 
 sound it imitates itself in long drawn out monotones. 
 The pursing of the lips in response to a similar action of 
 the mother is a familiar example of early imitation. 
 Speech is learned by direct imitation both auditory and 
 visual. Some one has called attention to the great advan- 
 tage which nature gives the child in this psychological 
 "short cut" to learning to talk. If the child learned only 
 one word at a time and that not until he knew the mean- 
 ing of it, he would hardly have a working vocabulary at 
 the end of his life. The imitation of the child in 
 other ways than speech also provides a direct method of 
 development. 
 
 Deliberate Imitation. But imitation soon passes out of 
 the unconscious stage and becomes a deliberate act. This 
 occurs probably about the sixth or seventh month. The 
 fundamental character of imitation is further emphasized 
 by the fact that repeated imitative acts crystallize into 
 habits. These voluntary, oft repeated acts, become or- 
 ganic and form the foundation of memory and associa- 
 tion. Thus we cannot fail to see how closely imitation is 
 bound up with the very fiber of mentality. Imitation is 
 not confined to the realm of the physical. It is a funda- 
 mental social instinct. There is the intellectual, the emo- 
 tional, the ethical, and especially the social imitation. 1 
 This latter is never outgrown. In fact, there are periods 
 in the child's life when it seems largely to control him. 
 Under its spell the peculiarities of his elders and of his 
 
 1 J. M. Baldwin, Mental Development in Child and Race, Chapter 
 XL 
 
CHILD TRAINING 195 
 
 companions are copied. Speech, actions and moral stand- 
 ards are copied. These often become fixed and affect the 
 entire life. Much that is supposed to be inherited come^ 
 through imitation. 1 
 
 Parents' Responsibility in View of Imitation. It is 
 often a comfort to a mother, who has but little time to 
 spend in instructing her children, to know that by her 
 example she can give them lessons in industry, fidelity, 
 cheerfulness, kindliness, reverence and honesty. The re- 
 verse side of the picture is the greatest possible stimulus 
 for right action in the mother's own life. From the stand- 
 point of the child, imitation is not a mere copying process. 
 For him it is attainment, pure and simple, but it often 
 seems as if in this matter the life of the child were sim- 
 ply going around in a circle. Professor King states the 
 condition graphically and hopefully when he says that the 
 child's life is really a spiral affair, each completed round 
 bringing him a little higher up through what he has added 
 of his own individuality. 
 
 Reference has been made to the mother's responsibility 
 in view of this instinct in the young child. But what shall 
 we say of the child's later imitation of the parent's char- 
 acter? Some have maintained that if the parents live 
 right before their children, they have fulfilled their duty 
 in the way of training. They contend that the training of 
 a character is so delicate a matter that the safe way is to 
 place a right model before the child and trust to nature 
 to do the rest. The theory is a good one and the method 
 has the advantage of being much easier than the more 
 generally accepted one. Most parents, however, while 
 
 1 J. M. Tyler, Growth and Education, p. 149. 
 
196 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 realizing how large a part their lives play in forming the 
 characters of their children, are not satisfied to rest with 
 that. For while imitation is always active, there are other 
 forces which have a part in building the character of the 
 child. The presentation of a worthy model may be called 
 the negative or subjective side of training, for the parent 
 only lives such a life as duty demands, after all, whether 
 the child is present to copy his behavior or not. 
 
 Training Through Imitation of Others. Another phase 
 of the influence of imitation which the mother learns to 
 recognize very early, is the child's imitation of others out- 
 side of the home. Sometimes this process results in very 
 great good and is of real help in the training of the child. 
 When the effect is undesirable, the mother can often 
 counteract it by arranging some unpleasant association in 
 connection with either the undesirable action, or with the 
 person imitated, or with both. Care is often necessary to 
 find the person who has been imitated as well as the reason 
 for the imitation. Investigation of this kind often reveals 
 unsuspected traits of character in one's own child. 
 
 3. TRAINING THROUGH HABIT FORMATION 
 
 Imitation is not nature's only way of carrying on her 
 part of the child's training during the period of infancy. 
 There is the law of habit. Habit may be defined in a 
 general way as an involuntary tendency or aptitude to per- 
 form certain actions, a tendency which is acquired by their 
 frequent repetition. It leads us to do easily what we do 
 often. There are good habits and bad habits. One dis- 
 couraging fact to mothers is that in order to secure good 
 habits there is need of constant and conscious effort, while 
 
CHILD TRAINING 197 
 
 in the case of bad habits the constant and conscious effort 
 is needed in order to avoid them. Also there is a constant 
 tendency for the bad habit to become a little more fixed 
 and for the good habit to become a little less so. But it is 
 not our purpose to enter into a discussion of the doctrine 
 of original sin or of "gravitation downward." We must 
 simply take the facts as we find them and make the best 
 use we can of them. In a certain sense the child begins 
 to form habits as soon as it is born. By taking note of 
 these so-called habits, the mother can adjust many things 
 in the life of the baby so as to minister to its health and 
 comfort, and to her own convenience. Care in regulating 
 these semi-unconscious habits will be a good beginning 
 towards the regulating of the conscious habits when their 
 time conies. 
 
 Obedience Necessary. The formation of such habits as 
 the mother may wish to establish in her child is dependent 
 to a large extent upon the child's obedience. Therefore, 
 one of the first habits which should be sought is the habit 
 of obedience. Obedience has been spoken of on its nega- 
 tive side in the previous chapter. For the purpose of this 
 discussion of habit let us assume that the child is naturally 
 obedient and wait until a little later to consider the posi- 
 tive part which obedience, in its broadest sense, plays in 
 his life. First, then, let us look at some things which are 
 necessary in the formation of habit and then consider the 
 importance of habit in the development of character. 
 
 The Power of Attention. Suppose that the mother 
 wishes to secure a certain good habit in her child. How 
 shall she go about it? The first step toward inculcating 
 a good habit in a child who has reached the thinking age 
 
198 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 is to get his attention directed to the act which we desire 
 to become habitual. Attention is involved in all processes 
 of training and its acquirement will help all other proc- 
 esses. It may be developed by practice, as other qualities 
 are developed. Although it is primarily mental, it has its 
 physical connection through the nervous system. The seat 
 of the attention is in the neurones, or nerve cells, with 
 their various filaments in the very front part of the brain. 
 Here we get the power to fix our minds upon any one 
 thing, instead of allowing it to wander aimlessly and to 
 no purpose. 
 
 Voluntary and Involuntary Attention. There are two 
 kinds of attention which are of interest here, voluntary 
 and involuntary attention. Voluntary attention requires 
 conscious effort. Involuntary attention is given with- 
 out conscious effort. Voluntary attention, or the ability 
 to focalize the mind upon one particular thing, is an es- 
 sential quality of a successful character. All mental prog- 
 ress depends upon this ability. By voluntary attention a 
 large and rich mentality is built up. In its highest develop- 
 ment it is able to hold the mind to the desired point in spite 
 of disturbing and distracting elements. Involuntary atten- 
 tion, too, is a valuable factor in mental development. It 
 is an outgrowth of successive acts of voluntary attention; 
 that is, after the attention has been fixed in a voluntary 
 way for a considerable number of times upon any one 
 process, the act becomes habitual and unconscious, and 
 voluntary attention passes over into involuntary. 
 
 The Economy of Habit. It should be possible then to 
 withdraw the conscious effort and the conscious purpose 
 
CHILD TRAINING 199 
 
 and still maintain the power of action whenever the cir- 
 cumstances call for it. A life which does not get beyond 
 purposeful attention is a life of chaos. In other words, 
 the person who requires a separate mental process for each 
 of the innumerable little routine acts of life is a nervously 
 ill-balanced person. The larger the number of acts which 
 can be transferred from the realm of the voluntary atten- 
 tion to that of the involuntary, the more free energy will 
 there be for other things. 1 Take, for example, the ordi- 
 nary processes of a child's early years. It is desirable to 
 form habits of dressing and undressing quickly instead of 
 dawdling, of cleaning the feet at the door, of using the 
 napkin at the table. The first step toward the acquire- 
 ment of these ends is through active voluntary attention. 
 If the mother sees to it that this is given it will in time pass 
 into the involuntary state ; that is, it will become a habit. 
 Not only is comfort and harmony secured in the home by 
 prompt action here, but the possibility of giving voluntary 
 attention to other, and perhaps more important things, is 
 enlarged. 
 
 Physiological Phase of Habit. Regarded from a 
 physiological standpoint each repetition of a conscious act 
 makes a definite impression upon the nerve tissues, or 
 wears a path between certain neurones, or nerve-cells, with 
 their attached fiber over which subsequent impressions 
 pass more easily. The result is that in time the act ceases 
 to require attention and becomes a habit. This funda- 
 mental characteristic of habit formation is most impor- 
 
 1 Rowe, Habit Formation, p. 22. J. R. Angell, Class Lectures, Feb- 
 ruary, 1909. 
 
200 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 tant in all training, for a habit once formed remains fixed 
 until outside circumstances render the person sensitive to 
 the need of readjustment. Our whole lives are groups 
 of habits, physical, emotional, intellectual. 
 
 Moral Phase of Habit. The moral phase of habit has 
 a vital bearing upon character formation. Some one has 
 said that morality is a habit before it is a principle. This 
 habit of morality, formed in childhood, may be looked at 
 from two sides. First, it makes right doing easy if not 
 natural to the child; second, owing to the antagonism 
 between right and wrong, it makes the formation of bad 
 habits difficult or impossible. Reference has already been 
 made to Professor Rowe's work upon Habit Formation. 
 In his chapter upon how to break up bad habits he refers 
 to the fact that all habit-breaking is at the same time 
 habit- forming. It is harder to break a habit than to form 
 one, because it is a negative process and seems like a step 
 backward. The joy of accomplishment that comes with 
 positive attainment is lacking. This makes it better to 
 crowd out bad habits by forming good ones. It is par- 
 ticularly hard to break habits which have crept into being 
 unconsciously, for the attention must first be centered 
 upon them, or upon the inhibiting stimulus. A bad habit 
 is usually formed because it is in the line of least resist- 
 ance. Hence, if it is to be broken, the new habit which 
 is substituted for it must have some decided advantage 
 over the old. It is evident that there is a wide opportunity 
 on the part of the mother to aid her child in the formation 
 of good habits, in preventing the formation of bad habits, 
 and in breaking up bad habits when they are once formed. 1 
 
 1 Rowe, Habit Formation, p. 232, 
 
CHILD TRAINING 2OI 
 
 4. THE WILL 
 
 From this brief discussion of attention and habit, the 
 transition to the consideration of the will is a natural one. 
 A satisfactory definition of the will is not easy to give. 
 The will is not a thing set off by itself or presiding over 
 the mind and pushing it hither and yon as the notion takes 
 it. The best definitions of the will are those which aim to 
 describe its functions rather than to accurately charac- 
 terize it. Professor Angell says, "The will is the whole 
 range of the mental life viewed from the standpoint of its 
 activity and control over movement/' 1 "The character/' 
 said J. S. Mill, "is a completely fashioned will." "The 
 original spring of the volitional faculty," says Professor 
 James, "is the moral law/' or, in other words, moral 
 sentiment arises around acts and attitudes of the will. 
 
 The Function of Will. Mrs. Cabot says, "Ethics is the 
 power of right choosing. If we were made to act the 
 right mechanically, we should not be ourselves, for it is 
 the moral life which makes us ourselves, and the moral 
 life is the life of choice." It is true that the immediate 
 motive for any act of willing may be a variety of things, 
 but it is the deciding which one of these things shall be the 
 impelling force which makes the act individual. We are 
 accustomed to think that it is only the will that makes us 
 act. As a matter of fact it is the tendency of all conscious 
 states to act, that is, to do something. Professor Judd 
 says, The action will be controlled by the total group of 
 interests which one has built up in his individual life as 
 representing the sum total of his personal relations to the 
 world. Hence, the function of the will is two- fold, i. On 
 
 1 J. R. Angell, Psychology, p. 437. 
 
202 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 the positive side, the will must see that the instinctive 
 action is the proper one. 2. On the negative side, the will 
 must be the restraining power to prevent acts of which the 
 intellect disapproves. The act of the will on the positive 
 side is called willing. The act on the negative side is 
 called inhibition or self-control. Hence we see that the 
 will is responsible both for what we do, and what we do 
 not do. We find that the tendency of all action is to fol- 
 low the line of least resistance. If, then, a higher action 
 is to be chosen instead of a lower one, this order must be 
 changed and the line of greater resistance followed. 1 
 Similarly, we found in the discussion of habit that, as the 
 propensity to do wrong in ordinary humanity is stronger 
 than the ideal to do right, if people are left to themselves, 
 the former will triumph. Professor James says that peo- 
 ple do not differ so much in their feelings and conceptions 
 as to what is right, but where wrong is followed it is 
 because moral knowledge does not act. The ego, the real 
 self, the will, does not take the helm. "One of the saddest 
 feelings which one can bear with him throughout this life 
 is to habitually see the better way and do the worse." 
 
 What Makes the Will Act? A very natural question 
 here is, "What makes the will act?" What influence im- 
 pels it? Professor Judd shows that the stimuli of the will 
 change as the race develops. It is probable that the funda- 
 mental incentive is individual interest. This interest, as 
 has been suggested before, may be resolved into a broadly 
 inclusive selfishness. But pleasure and pain, both in a 
 broad and a narrow sense, have always been large factors 
 
 1 James, Psychology, pp. 435, 442, 443. 
 
CHILD TRAINING 203 
 
 in the impelling and in the inhibiting work of the will. 1 
 How Does the Will Act? The next question is, "How 
 does the will act?" Every tendency to action is preceded 
 by a conscious process or an idea. The will is the con- 
 necting link between the idea and the action. It is the 
 function of the will to bring the idea before the mind. If 
 the will succeeds in getting the mind to accept the idea 
 wholly and without reserve, the consciousness is bound to 
 act upon it. The effort of the will, then, is to secure from 
 the mind this complete acceptance of the idea, even though 
 it may not be agreeable to the mind. "If reasonable ideas 
 could once get a quiet hearing, motor consequences would 
 ensue with the word now. The duty of the will is done 
 when the idea really prevails in the mind. The remaining 
 part is the physical act of doing the thing. 
 
 Strengthening the Will. The ability of the individual 
 to strengthen his will acts very slowly. It must be built 
 up by degrees as the physical body is built up. If, then, 
 the mother wishes to strengthen the child's volitional 
 power and at the same time influence him to right action, 
 she must first influence his motor images. By motor 
 images are meant the ideas or mental pictures of things 
 which fill the childs' mind and which usually form the 
 incentive for his actions. If she can place before him 
 motor ideas which interest him and are agreeable to him, 
 he will act upon them. As was shown above, things nat- 
 urally disagreeable may be accepted by bringing the child 
 to see that they are preferable. By a constant holding of 
 the right way before the mind, together with acceptable 
 reasons for following this right way, a quiet but irre- 
 
 1 James, Psychology, p. 445. 
 
204 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 sistible force will be brought to bear upon the strategic 
 point in the citadel of character. Try to secure complete 
 and unreserved acceptance of high ideals. If, as the intel- 
 ligence of the child develops, he fixes his mind consciously 
 upon high ideals, he will be likely to follow them. If the 
 will is exercised in small things, it will be ready for the 
 large ones. Professor James says that the whole of one's 
 training to moral and prudential conduct is in training the 
 will. Professor Angell declares that any purposeful men- 
 tal occupation affords the means of developing certain 
 powers of control. The best trained man is one who can 
 command his own knowledge, his own attention, and his 
 own action. Professor Tyler goes a step farther and says, 
 "Those who wish to develop a strong character must go 
 deeper than the intellect, must move the feelings to reach 
 the will." 1 
 
 Applying the Will. Having considered the psychology 
 of this wonderfully complex process of willing, we may 
 turn to some of the practical applications of right willing. 
 Earlier in the chapter we spoke of the necessity of obedi- 
 ence in securing results from any system of training. I 
 want to say a word here about the habit of obedience. 
 That is, we will not consider obedience as a series of iso- 
 lated acts but as a habit or attitude of the child. The 
 consensus of opinion among those who have expressed 
 themselves most frankly upon the subject is that the ideal 
 relation of the child to its parents up to the close of the 
 pre-adolescent period, is that of implicit obedience. In 
 this day of the discussion of children's rights the para- 
 doxical truth obtains that one of the child's paramount 
 
 1 Tyler, Growth and Education, p. 194. 
 
CHILD TRAINING 205 
 
 rights is to be taught to obey. 1 This does not mean obedi- 
 ence in a craven or slavish sense; but simply a habit of 
 willing and trustful obedience. The child who has such 
 a habit will be started in life with the largest measure of 
 self-control. Has it ever occurred to you that everybody 
 is obeying something in every act which he performs? If 
 the child, then, is not obeying his parents, whom or what 
 is he obeying? We can hardly think that his own judg- 
 ment is sufficiently developed to be a safe guide. He is 
 then following the dictates of his impulses and desires, 
 which are sure to be strong at this time and for the most 
 part untrained. While the mother, in exacting obedience, 
 must always recognize the personality of the child, she 
 must also remember that she is his first law-giver and as 
 such has much to do with establishing his future attitude 
 towards law in general. Obedience to parents is obedi- 
 ence to the child's wiser self. All right obedience is the 
 expression of the child's self in the best service he knows. 
 Obedience is a self-government without which there is no 
 moral life. Thus, as was said in the previous chapter, 
 harmony and order in the home are not the only outcome 
 of obedience on the part of the children. There is devel- 
 oped in the child himself, self-control and the power to 
 inhibit wrong and unworthy action. As he advances in 
 years his attitude is less that of obedience to the letter and 
 more that of obedience to the spirit of his parent's wishes. 
 His own conscience takes the place of external dictates. 
 There is no more supreme moment for the parent than 
 when he recognizes that the child is beginning to do from 
 his own choice what he formerly did under authority. 
 
 1 A. E. Coe, Education in Religion and Morals, p. 273. 
 
206 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 The relation of parent and child gradually changes as the 
 years pass, and the parent becomes the confidential adviser 
 and friend, rather than the law-giver. It has been well 
 said that obedience to authority is discipline. Obedience 
 to one's own higher nature is character. That parent 
 shows the greatest insight who knows when the issue is 
 not obedience to the parent by the child, but obedience of 
 the child to himself. 1 
 
 5. DISCIPLINE 
 
 The obedience of the child's early years, however, must, 
 as has already been said, be an obedience to authority, and 
 hence, discipline. Professor Garman has said that dis- 
 cipline is the price we pay for our manhood. If this be 
 true, it is neither safe nor honest to let the bill run up. 
 We should adopt the motto, "Pay as we go." 
 
 Discipline may be considered under three heads: 
 i. Punishment. 2. Appeal. 3. Reason. 
 
 Corporal Punishment. In taking up the subject of 
 punishment, we think first of corporal punishment. This 
 is usually taken to mean the infliction of some form of 
 bodily pain. There is some prejudice against corporal 
 punishment, especially in the form of spanking or whip- 
 ping. This much may be said for the latter form, how- 
 ever, when properly used: It has the advantage of 
 promptness and definiteness and of saving the time and 
 nervous energy of the parent. Nothing is so racking to 
 the nerves of a sensitive mother as a long drawn out 
 punishment to a child. It is also probably true that there 
 are some children who will never reach their highest pos- 
 
 1 Forbush, The Boy Problem, pp. 204, 206. 
 
CHILD TRAINING 2Q7 
 
 sibilities in life without being whipped. They seem to 
 need just this sort of external stimulus to get them 
 started right. But even though the ultimate results were 
 not affected by the whipping, the immediate relief to 
 both parent and child is worthy of being considered. It 
 is an accepted maxim that we go to war in order to 
 secure the benefits of a lasting and well-grounded peace. 
 For a somewhat similar reason a very mild and peaceful 
 parent will often find it necessary to apply sharp bodily 
 punishment, when other agencies have proved unavail- 
 ing. I know a child, and I think he is an example of a 
 class, to whom the sting of corporal punishment, and his 
 own resulting cry, seem to act as a nervous relief. After 
 the spanking, which was often deferred beyond reason, 
 there was always a reign of quiet and peace. Dr. Hall 
 speaks thus of bodily punishment: "Dermal pain is far 
 from being the evil that sentimental, nervous adults re- 
 gard it. To flog wisely should not become a lost art, 
 although of course it should be supplemented by different 
 influences." Evidence obtained from children shows that 
 they do not as a rule look upon corporal punishment with 
 the same horror that their elders do. There was a time 
 when much was said about natural punishments. Such 
 punishments have been spoken of in an earlier chapter. 
 They refer to such unpleasant results as come naturally 
 from the act. It has been said that, while nature is wise 
 in her larger aspects, when it comes to life's detailed 
 adjustments she is not altogether just. She often re- 
 wards us for our misdeeds, and punishes us for praise- 
 worthy toil. In other words, the measures of nature, 
 when ineffective, must be reinforced by artificial meas- 
 
208 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 ures. What the punishment shall be, in cases where there 
 is no natural penalty, must depend very largely upon the 
 nature of the child. It must be neither too severe nor 
 too light. If the child does not yield to mild punish- 
 ment, he lays himself open to more severe ones. The 
 main object in punishment is to establish unpleasant asso- 
 ciations with the doing of the wrong act. It should 
 serve as a moral vaccination in the case of mild sickness 
 to ward off a more dangerous one. 1 
 
 Threatening to Punish. Threatening to punish, when 
 the threat is sincere and full of meaning, will often serve 
 the purpose of the punishment itself. If the child abso- 
 lutely knows that the threat will be carried out as uttered, 
 that is usually enough, after one experience. But con- 
 stant threatening, with little or no idea of execution, 
 stultifies family discipline. As for scolding, it is usually 
 a bad procedure. Scolding which is simply the outlet 
 for the feelings of a nervous and irritable parent, with 
 small idea of really affecting the conduct of the child, 
 is always bad. Scolding which descends into nagging 
 is also bad. But Dr. Hall suggests that there is a kind 
 of scolding which has a place. He says, "Judicious and 
 incisive scolding is a moral tonic, and if rightly admin- 
 istered may be extremely effective." This is another 
 indication that the way in which you do a thing is quite 
 as important as the thing you do. Dr. O'Shea follows 
 the same line when he speaks of punishing in anger. He 
 declares that the element of anger should not be wholly 
 eliminated from discipline, but that the anger of the par- 
 ent is a part of the child's punishment, and a part which 
 
 1 Rowe, Habit Formation, p. 195. Tanner, The Child, p. 207. 
 
CHILD TRAINING ; 209 
 
 often proves more effective than anything else. Punish- 
 ments of this kind are not adapted to later years, but 
 between the ages of two and twelve, when, as Tyler says, 
 the child is under the Old Testament dispensation, 1 ' 
 authority should hold a large place in the family discipline. 
 
 The Personal Appeal. We are now ready to consider 
 the second kind of discipline or training, which is the 
 personal and social appeal. This may be wisely used 
 before the child is old enough to discriminate broadly in 
 an intellectual way. Perhaps it is well to use it also after 
 that time, but it should be used with caution,- for if obe- 
 dience is asked from a child on the ground of personal 
 feeling or affection after he has reached the stage of 
 rationality, the appeal is sure to detract in the mind of 
 the child from the dignity of these feelings as they exist 
 in the person of the parent. The personal appeal is the 
 appeal to the child's own feelings of love or sympathy 
 or thought fulness for the mother. With children of a 
 certain disposition it is very effective. With others it is 
 not. Where the child is indifferent or antagonistic to 
 the appeal it greatly weakens the position of the parent 
 to make it. Where he is affectionate but thoughtless, 
 the suggestion that he has hurt his mother's feelings will 
 probably influence him not to repeat the act. But if, 
 again, he does repeat the act it shows that the response 
 was only a superficial one. The nature of the mind is 
 such that whenever an appeal is made and unheeded the 
 next response is weaker, and eventually the force of the 
 appeal is entirely lost. 
 
 The Social Appeal. The social appeal is different in 
 
 1 Tyler, Growth and Education, p. 148. 
 
2io STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 character and calls upon the child's pride. When he has 
 misbehaved, the parent may call his attention to one or 
 more persons whom he respects and may suggest that he 
 or she would not have done such a thing. This method 
 has its limitations, and must not be used habitually, but 
 it sometimes proves helpful, especially in the case of a 
 child whose pride is more prominent than his affection. 
 
 Reasoning Used in Training. When we come to the 
 third kind of discipline, namely, the use of reason and 
 ideals, we find ourselves upon a different plane. Indeed, 
 the question might be asked whether reasoning with a 
 child is discipline at all. 1 But it is undoubtedly a means 
 of development and in that sense is discipline, although 
 differing in kind from either of the two kinds of training 
 mentioned. Appeals to the reason can be used effectively 
 where the child's reason and sense of right have been 
 developed, and probably, in many cases, help to develop 
 these qualities. In adopting the use of reason the idea 
 of authority on the part of the parent is presumably ex- 
 cluded. The thought is that the child, in accepting or 
 rejecting any course of conduct, is to follow his own 
 choice. While, of course, the feelings may influence an 
 act of reason, it is not, as in the former case, the feelings 
 which are appealed to. Whatever results come from 
 the choice shall be the ones which he freely accepted, in 
 so far as he was able to anticipate what the results would 
 be. There are here two elements with which to deal, 
 though they sometimes overlap. 
 
 The Appeal to the Intellect. The child must be shown 
 from the intellectual standpoint why it will be preferable 
 
 1 Rowe, Habit Formation, p. 124. 
 
CHILD TRAINING 211 
 
 to follow one course rather than another. The reasons 
 will probably be either immediately or remotely selfish, 
 but the appeal is to the intellectual ideals, not to the senses. 
 The situation may be illustrated by the following in- 
 stances: A boy who is inclined to be quarrelsome and 
 to fight with his schoolmates may be reasoned out of 
 this course of conduct by being made to see that he will 
 eventually meet some boy in combat who will be a better 
 fighter than he is, and he will be badly hurt. A girl 
 with a violent temper may be induced to control it if she 
 is made to see that by it she will lose social prestige. A 
 boy will sometimes refrain from the use of tobacco when 
 he is shown that it will stunt his growth and lessen his 
 chance of a successful manhood. 
 
 The Appeal to the Moral Sense. The second element 
 in the appeal to the reason is upon the moral side. The 
 reasons for doing or not doing a certain act are that it is 
 either right or wrong. Instances of this method are so 
 common and so numerous as not to require mention. The 
 appeal is to the moral ideals. The highest possible motive 
 to action is the doing of right for right's sake, without 
 reference to the consequences. But in the appeal to chil- 
 dren, or young people, one cannot get away, and one 
 does not wish to get away, from the feeling of satisfac- 
 tion which will follow the right action and the feeling 
 of unhappiness which will follow the wrong action. The 
 quickening of the conscience is a long step towards the 
 establishing of the higher ideals which can only come 
 with maturity and experience. It is right here, in con- 
 nection with the establishing of moral ideals as incentives 
 to conduct, that the mother finds the real test of her 
 
212 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 generalship. Can she, like Socrates, make what seems 
 to the child's mind the worse appear the better reason? 
 Here is the core of all child training. Can the mother 
 present right ideals to the child's mind in such a way 
 that they will appeal to him? Can she hold them there 
 so persistently that in a sense he will act upon them in 
 spite of himself? She has a splendid psychological basis 
 for her efforts. When coupled with her knowledge of 
 the child's heredity and environment there would seem 
 to be every opportunity for her to lead him up into a 
 life of strength and virtue. 
 
 The Aim of All Training. This is the point towards 
 which all her study has been aiming. It is really all of 
 life brought within the sphere of the home and within 
 the range of the mother's influence. In a sense, the world 
 was created in order that each individual might learn, 
 through its discipline, to choose from many possible ways 
 the right way. In teaching the child to do right for 
 right's sake, the mother has, then, reached the ultimate 
 goal of all training. She is dealing with the highest 
 phase of human thought. The reason and the ideals are 
 the child's real self, the permanent self, the only self 
 that is worth working for. It is evident, then, that when 
 once this reasonable and moral self is put in control of 
 the life processes, the whole question of character is set- 
 tled. In other words, when your child reaches the point 
 where, through his sense of reasonableness and right, he 
 will choose the course which under other impulses he 
 did not wish to choose, he has attained the "highest 
 good." From this point on, it is simply a question of 
 persistency in choosing the right until the doing of it 
 
CHILD TRAINING 
 
 213 
 
 falls into the realm of habit. Is this ideal higher than 
 the mother dares to look? It is higher than many do 
 look, but no mother should look any lower. 
 
 Reasons for Apparent Failure. But some will urge 
 that they have tried the appeal to reason and failed. Per- 
 haps it was because the child was not yet ready for it; 
 because the mind was not yet strong enough to be capable 
 of responding to it. These higher powers come by de- 
 velopment and experience and sometimes come very 
 slowly. I knew of a case where a mother spent some 
 time in reasoning with her boy, to get him to choose to 
 do a certain thing which he did not want to do. The 
 boy listened to her for a time with downcast eyes. When 
 the grand climax had been reached, and the mother was 
 waiting for his response, he slyly glanced up at her and 
 said, "Well, have I got to do it?" The mother asked, 
 "Won't you choose to do it?" "No," he said, "I won't 
 choose to, but you know I will do it if you say I must." 
 "Well, then, you must/' said the mother. Whereupon 
 the boy remarked, quietly, "All right, but you might have 
 saved yourself the trouble of talking so long." The 
 mother had, as she thought, hitched her wagon to a star, 
 only to find herself jogging along after the same old cob. 
 
 Confusion of Ideals. Again, we confuse and mingle 
 these highest appeals with other and lower motives. In 
 so doing we deceive ourselves and confuse the moral 
 sense of the child. This is especially likely to be the case 
 when the mother herself is not very thoroughly imbued 
 with the high ideals which she desires to have the child 
 accept. Surely no parent can successfully make this 
 appeal to the child if she does not order her own life in 
 
214 STUDIES IN CHILD- DEVELOPMENT 
 
 accordance with it. Yet many mothers flatter themselves 
 that they are "appealing to the child's reason" when, as 
 a matter of fact, they are appealing to something quite 
 remote from this splendid faculty perhaps it is to his 
 sense of self-interest, perhaps to his pride, perhaps to 
 other motives which have been discussed under some of 
 the foregoing heads. 
 
 Adolescence Brings Response to Higher Ideals. While 
 we started with the simplest methods of discipline and 
 training, we have gone on in our study beyond the limits 
 of the pre-adolescent period. The higher consciousness 
 of moral standards will not be fully awakened until ideals 
 are stirred through the transforming power of adoles- 
 cence. But, if the child has been held with reasonable 
 firmness during the first ten or twelve years of his life 
 to the standards of the home, if the atmosphere has been 
 one of absolute sincerity and high ideals, by the time he 
 reaches the period of mental adolescence he should be 
 ready to respond to the highest appeal. The years before 
 twelve are the years for the sowing of the good seed of 
 strong character. If this seed has not been sown in its 
 proper time, there will be no need to look for a harvest; 
 it will not come. That there may be partial responses 
 and stages of development in the growth towards this 
 ideal is, of course, true. The rapidity of the develop- 
 ment will depend much upon the original endowment of 
 the child. But, as will be shown in the next chapter, it 
 is not until adolescence has been reached that the moral 
 law can become an inward impulse. Whether or not it 
 does so depends upon the material with which it has to 
 work and the way in which this material has been pre- 
 
CHILD TRAINING 21$ 
 
 pared. It is during the adolescent period that the mental 
 and spiritual processes are developed which are capable 
 of responding to and making real within the soul these 
 highest ideals of the moral world. 
 
 6. RELIGIOUS TRAINING 
 
 There is still one phase of training to be discussed. 
 This is religious training. When we come to the con- 
 sideration of conscience and the Divine Being, our duty 
 lies along the nurture side of development rather than 
 the disciplinary side. Hence it might perhaps be nearer 
 the truth to speak of this as religious nurture than as 
 religious training. But we will for convenience use the 
 generally accepted term, giving it, however, the broadest 
 interpretation. We will take up the subject first on its 
 negative side. 
 
 Function of the Home. In what ways is religious 
 training being neglected in the home? While I do not 
 want to be understood as identifying religious training 
 with moral or ethical training, I am sure it will be ad- 
 mitted that they are associated in very definite ways. 
 With our miscellaneous population and our very proper 
 separation of church and state, there is no place in our 
 schools for religious training. So far, the introduction 
 of moral instruction, by itself, has resulted in a cold 
 formalism which has been far from satisfactory. 
 Whether or not moral training of the young can be made 
 effective without definite religious training, it is safe to 
 say that so far it has not been made so. Religious in- 
 struction and training must fundamentally be given in 
 the home. If not given there it will probably not be 
 
2i6 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 given at all. Whatever comes through church and Sun- 
 day school life will be supplementary, but cannot be de- 
 pended upon. If religion and its highest ideals are to 
 really mean anything in the future life and thought of 
 the child, these elements must be implanted in the home. 
 Herbert Spencer has declared that our education is a 
 failure in that it is not creating high ideals. What can 
 be done to arouse fathers and mothers to a sense of their 
 duty in the moral and religious training of their children? 
 Dr. Hall says that the family has an educational function 
 which cannot be transferred to the kindergarten, the public 
 school, or the church school. In proportion as parents 
 are doing or not doing their full duty there, they are 
 promoting or holding back the coming of God's kingdom 
 in the earth. 1 
 
 Idea of Right and Wrong. The ideas of right and 
 wrong which we identify with conscience are very vague 
 at first and, as was said in a former chapter, are closely 
 interwoven with self-interest. But the mother has great 
 influence in directing the conscience during these forma- 
 tive years. The kind of conscience which the child is 
 now developing will determine largely the conscience 
 of his mature years. As time passes, conscience becomes 
 embracing. Mrs. Cabot says, "It does not remain a mys- 
 terious and separate faculty, but it is the real person 
 himself when he is fully alive and thinking. Conscien- 
 tiousness is the timely and serviceable will to do what 
 is right." 
 
 First Idea of God. The child's first ideas of God are 
 implicit and naive. There is very little wondering or 
 
 1 G. A. Coe, Education in Religion and Morals, p. 39. 
 
CHILD TRAINING 217 
 
 questioning. God seems very near and intimate. Fear 
 in this connection is seldom present. Religious services 
 are adopted unconsciously. These early years of recep- 
 tivity are of great significance to the mother, for there 
 is no doubt that the child's idea of God, wherever it 
 originated, will develop along whatever line it is trained. 
 The height to which the child rises as a moral and relig- 
 ious being will depend upon the moral and religious 
 environment in which he grows up. 1 
 
 To the young child, the mother stands in the place of 
 God, and the first religious training is the good care and 
 patient watchfulness with which she inspires and responds 
 to the implicit confidence of her little one. As the years 
 go by, the child's mind reaches out after a power which 
 shall be above and beyond the power of his parents. Then 
 is the time for teaching about God. There is a ready 
 response to the distinction between right and wrong. 
 Professor J. B. Pratt tells of several cases where parents 
 tried the experiment of bringing up their children, as far 
 as possible, with no idea of God. But in spite of all 
 efforts, the children were discovered to have a conception 
 of an all-powerful being outside of themselves and 
 stronger than their parents. The religious life of the 
 child is, of course, more or less external at this time, but 
 it is a period of preparation for the vital and internal 
 religious life which will be a part of the adult character. 
 Professor Starbuck speaks of the formal nature of the 
 child's religion during the early years, and says his ideas 
 of right and wrong are largely personal. 
 
 Daily Life of Parents. The first religious training 
 
 1 Earl Barnes, Studies in Education, Vol. I, p. 283. 
 
2i8 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 has been referred to as the mother's loving care. In 
 close connection with this is the daily life of the parents. 
 The child's instinct for imitation comes into play here. 
 He may not imitate all of the good things you do, but 
 he will probably imitate most of the bad ones. Yet per- 
 sons who themselves have strong faith in God and who 
 live their daily lives near to Him will in some manner 
 be able to draw their children to God. Moral precepts 
 count but little; in fact, they are likely to lead to moral 
 confusion, whether received in the home or in the church, 
 unless the life in the home corresponds with them. Only 
 those homes are safe and happy where God is openly 
 recognized and worshiped. Christian parents must live 
 more with their children, and so live their religion into 
 them. An undeveloped life is helped by mingling with 
 it the interests and occupations of a developed life. Some 
 one has said that children receive from their parents 
 the tone and temper of their souls. Nothing is a sub- 
 stitute to the child for the parent's self. A father was 
 once told by the tutor of his son that the boy had gone 
 wrong. "I do not understand that," said the father; "I 
 have given him everything that he could wish for." It 
 seemed that himself he had not given. The atmosphere 
 and environment of the home are potent factors in the 
 child's religious training. All good training is a prep- 
 aration for religious training. The learning that obedi- 
 ence brings pleasure, and disobedience brings pain, and 
 other things along this line, prepare the mind for 
 religious training. 
 
 Definite Time for Religious Training. But, besides 
 this, the mother must give definite training in religious 
 
CHILD TRAINING 219 
 
 matters. Every mother should have a definite period 
 some time during the week for religious instruction. In 
 those homes where the subject of how to make Sunday 
 afternoon a pleasant and profitable period for the children 
 is made prominent, the mother uses a portion of this 
 time for systematic religious instruction. Many portions 
 of the Bible are of untold value for accurate memory 
 drill. Many of our bible houses and Sunday school pub- 
 lishing companies issue scripture selections topically ar- 
 ranged. 1 Also, there are some good modern catechisms 
 in which religious history and precepts are collected and 
 adapted for personal home use. If exercises of this kind 
 appeal to the child as too tedious for enjoyment, the 
 mother can easily overcome this condition and make the 
 child look forward to the study time, by always following 
 the drill with an hour of interesting reading aloud to the 
 child. The reading can be varied by story telling, which 
 will often run on into a quiet chat and expressions of 
 personal opinion which bring great joy and help to both 
 mother and child. 
 
 The more carefully the child is trained in his religious 
 life now, the more ready he will be to meet the later 
 phases of it. The question is not so much, "When shall 
 religious training be begun?" but "Of what kind shall 
 it be?" In other words, what is to be your aim in the 
 religious training of your child? Professor Coe gives 
 his ideal for the ultimate aim of training as follows : 
 "The child shall ultimately, through choice and habit, be 
 controlled by the principle of love to God and love to 
 
 1 Dr. W. H. Day, 946 S. Union Ave., Los Angeles, California. 
 Dr. C H. Richards, cor. 4th Ave. & 22d St., New York, N. Y. 
 
220 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 his fellow men. He shall see and feel that this principle 
 gives to life its meaning and value." 
 
 Religious Services in the Home. We have spoken very 
 briefly of two ways of giving religious culture in the 
 home; viz., by personal example and by direct instruction. 
 There is a third very important way, which, although 
 indirect, has a deep significance in the child's develop- 
 ment. I refer to formal religious services in the home. 
 The child, while perhaps not directly conscious of it 
 himself, is very sensitive to these things. These services 
 include the daily blessing at meal time, family worship, 
 and the child's own daily prayer. 1 In the strenuous life 
 of the present day it often seems impossible, even in 
 Christian families, to get the family together for the 
 briefest possible prayer service. A few verses from the 
 Bible and the Lord's prayer or twenty-third Psalm at 
 the breakfast table is a splendid way to begin the day. 
 If the family are not all present, the service will surely 
 be of value to those who are there. These simple Chris- 
 tian services, which seem so unimportant and which are 
 so easily omitted, are of fundamental importance in the 
 child's future. They remind him of the constant pres- 
 ence of the Divine Being and develop an attitude of mind 
 which will prove an anchor in times of doubt and dis- 
 couragement. 
 
 Church Attendance. The question of religious serv- 
 ices in the home leads to the subject of attendance upon 
 religious services outside the home. In every Christian 
 family the question arises as to what extent the children 
 should attend church. In this respect I believe the child 
 
 1 Coe, Education in Religion and Morals, p. 284. 
 
CHILD TRAINING 221 
 
 should conform to the custom of the family. Professor 
 Coe says that the family as a whole, and not the indi- 
 vidual, should be the unit of church attendance. On 
 the part of the children there will often be remonstrance. 
 They declare they do not understand the sermon; they 
 get tired sitting so long, and many other things. The 
 great majority of parents allow themselves to be con- 
 vinced by the reasoning of the youngsters, with the result 
 that our church pews are too frequently childless. But 
 there is always a great deal in the service that they do 
 understand, and an excellent way for them to learn to 
 understand sermons is to keep hearing them. 1 Apart 
 from the religious phase of church attendance, it is prob- 
 ably the only opportunity which the child has, and often 
 the adult as well, of hearing during the week a connected 
 discourse in good form. 
 
 After all, the church is an excellent place in which to 
 be on Sunday. The child who is in church a great deal 
 will find it harder to get very far away from that for 
 which the church stands, than the one who enters it but 
 seldom. I do not mean to say that habits of church 
 attendance and of Sunday observance during these early 
 years fix a child's character. I only wish they did. The 
 way of the parent would then be comparatively easy. I 
 simply mean that the boy and the girl who have attended 
 church regularly with their parents are well started in 
 the right direction, and the chances are greatly in favor 
 of their keeping to it, or of ultimately returning to it 
 should they ever stray away. 
 
 The Sunday School. The Sunday school is one of the 
 
 1 Coe, Education in Religion and Morals, p. 217. 
 
222 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 church's chief agencies for the religious education of the 
 young. When manned with competent and sympathetic 
 teachers, it is a mighty force for good. But no one who 
 has not been engaged in Sunday school work knows how 
 hard it is to get good teachers. We have all seen Sunday 
 school classes in which there is no discipline, very little 
 real instruction, and in which the bad influence of mis- 
 chievous members of the class outweighs the negative 
 influence of a weak, inexperienced, or incompetent teacher. 
 The mother's first duty should be to find out what sort 
 of teacher her boy or girl is to have in Sunday school 
 not merely whether the teacher is a good man or woman, 
 bait whether he or she is a real teacher, competent and 
 able to influence the class for good. If these conditions 
 are met, the Sunday school will be a great help in the 
 religious training of your child; if they are not met, you 
 will do better to teach the child at home, regardless of 
 what your pastor, or Sunday school superintendent, or 
 church friends may say or think about it. 
 
 Conscience. In closing the chapter, I want to return 
 for a moment to the subject of conscience. Occasionally 
 a child is found who seems to be wilfully stifling his 
 conscience. He does not respond to the ordinary appeals 
 nor to the ordinary discipline of the home. He continues 
 to commit wrongs for which no suitable punishment lies 
 within the power of the parent. The pleasure received 
 from the wrong doing seems to be greater than the pain 
 from the punishment. Hence the punishment does not 
 serve as a deterrent. Such a child may sometimes be 
 roused to a sense of right by a stirring appeal to the 
 fundamental laws of the moral world. The following 
 
CHILD TRAINING 223 
 
 will suggest the line of approach : "What you have done 
 is wrong. That you say you do not care, does not affect 
 the wrongness of it. That you are indifferent to the 
 punishment given you by your parent or teacher does 
 not affect the wrongness. Whether or not you receive 
 any punishment at the present time does not affect the 
 wrongness of it. Wrong is wrong, no matter who does 
 it. The bad effect upon your character of this wrong 
 doing and wrong thinking is absolutely certain. This 
 bad effect upon your own life and character will be an 
 infinitely greater punishment than anything which could 
 be done to you here." If, by some such means as this, 
 the child can be impressed with the idea that the responsi- 
 bility for his wrong act rests upon and will react upon 
 himself he may be roused from a seeming indifference 
 to an active realization of moral values. Every child is 
 a living soul, a conscious activity, and our aim should be 
 so to train him that he will come to think of himself as 
 he ought to be, and to put himself in the attitude of 
 striving to become what he ought to be. 
 
 QUESTIONS FOR USE IN CLUB STUDY 
 
 1. What is the true significance of the home? 
 
 2. What are some of the fundamental qualities necessary in the 
 parent? 
 
 3. What is the child's first training? 
 
 4. Give an instance where you have known a child to be in- 
 fluenced through imitations of a person outside his own family. 
 
 5. How may the mother train through habit? 
 
 6. How is obedience required in training the attention? 
 
 7. Sum up the discussion on attention. 
 
 8. What is the moral phase of habit? 
 
224 
 
 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 9. What is the will? Give different ideas about it. 
 
 10. What are some of the forms of punishment mentioned here? 
 
 11. How may training in its narrower sense be classified? De- 
 scribe the personal and social appeal. 
 
 12. Mention a case where you have known this to be used, Was 
 it successful? 
 
 13. Explain the appeal to reason. Why does this sometimes fail? 
 
 14. What is the function of the home in the matter of religious 
 training? 
 
 15. What is said here about the child's first idea of God and of 
 right and wrong? 
 
 16. Show the value of regular time for religious instruction in 
 the home. 
 
 17. Why should there be religious services in the home? 
 
 18. Why should children attend church? 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE ADOLESCENT BOY 
 i. THE APPROACH OF ADOLESCENCE 
 
 As we follow the progress of the child in the present 
 chapter we find that he is growing large and strong in 
 body and is developing certain mental traits which are 
 new to us. In other words, he is coming to the all-im- 
 portant period of his life known as adolescence. If, as 
 Professor Lancaster says, the hygienic treatment of boys 
 at adolescence has been almost criminally neglected, it 
 is because the mothers have not known what to do and 
 how to do it. 
 
 Aim of the Discussion. Believing that the mother will 
 be able to do her part at this time more efficiently if she 
 has a broader knowledge of what is involved in it, both 
 for the child and for the race, an effort will be made in 
 the present chapter to gather together some of the re- 
 sults of recent investigation and study upon this period 
 in such a way as to make them easily available. In order 
 to discuss more fully and systematically certain problems 
 that apply to the sexes, we shall adopt a policy of segre- 
 gation at this point and devote a chapter to each sex in 
 turn. Much, however, that appears in these two chapters 
 applies with equal force to either the adolescent boy or 
 the adolescent girl. 
 
 What is Adolescence? What, then, is adolescence? 
 
 225 
 
226 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 and by what signs may we know of its coming? The 
 word adolescence means a "growing up to," and is applied 
 to the time in the child's life when he approaches matur- 
 ity. This period is somewhere between the eleventh and 
 the twentieth year. Adolescent symptoms will not be 
 expected to continue during all these years, at least not 
 continuous symptoms of the same nature, but the ado- 
 lescent years will be included broadly within these limits. 
 The child who becomes adolescent early will probably 
 reach maturity early, while the child who shows no ado- 
 lescent symptoms until later will be later in reaching his 
 final development. In a general way adolescence is de- 
 scribed as the boundary line, or better, boundary period, 
 between childhood and maturity. Adolescence is quite 
 the most critical and difficult age to deal with. Little 
 by little new forces have been creeping into the life of 
 the child. The changes may have come very gradually 
 or they may have come suddenly. When they come 
 gradually it is easier for both parent and child, but they 
 are none the less significant on that account. Some day 
 you look into the eyes of what you thought was your 
 little boy or girl and you see looking out of them the free 
 spirit of a new personality. But we can hardly help 
 being anxious, when we realize that this new individual, 
 who is filled with the spirit of independence, is still only 
 -a child in foresight and judgment. 1 All the child's pre- 
 vious life seems to have been a preparation for this period. 
 As it gradually leads up to and prepares to merge into 
 adolescence there is, as it were, a gathering together of 
 forces in preparation for the approaching expansion. 
 
 1 Forbush, The Boy Problem, p. 31. 
 
THE ADOLESCENT BOY 227 
 
 Professor Lancaster says, suggestively, ' 'However we 
 may look upon the origin of the human mind, it is easy 
 to conceive that mind first awoke to self -consciousness 
 at the adolescent period of the first man." * 
 
 Adolescence is a time of new and large possibilities, 
 but, unfortunately, while there is the possibility of better 
 things than ever before, there is also the possibility of 
 worse things. It is, therefore, a time of grave responsi- 
 bility for .the mother. Professor Carman, in his lecture 
 entitled Bringing Up a Boy, has said, "A crisis occurs 
 in a boy's life early in his teens. His destiny is deter- 
 mined by the discipline and instruction he receives at this 
 time." 
 
 The Mother's Preparation. It goes without saying that 
 every mother has an imperative duty towards her son as 
 he approaches this important period in his development. 
 Nature has done her part in preparing the boy's body, 
 the mother must be doing her part in preparing his mind 
 for all of these new experiences. There are many things 
 which the mother can do because she is the mother, and 
 because her mind is mature while the mind of the boy is 
 yet immature. The mother, through her study, comes 
 to see that the adolescent boy is about to acquire new 
 powers. Before, he was simply an individual. Now he 
 is becoming a part of the race, because he is acquiring 
 the power of conserving it. To the mother who has duly 
 prepared herself for her child's adolescence, its appear- 
 ance will bring the same mysterious thrill which she felt 
 when she first saw the child as a new-born babe. It has 
 
 1 E. C. Lancaster, Psychology and Pedology of Adolescence, Fed. 
 Seminary, Vol. I, p. 196. 
 
228 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 been said in this connection, "When a baby is to be born, 
 preparations for its advent are carefully made. But when, 
 in future years, the most critical time comes when the 
 child is to be re-born, a man or a woman, it is rare that 
 intelligent suggestions or wise words of counsel tell him 
 or her of the importance of this period." 
 
 The Theoretical Part. This preparation on the part 
 of the mother includes two things: i. The preparation 
 of the mother herself. 2. The preparation of her boy. 
 The preparation of the mother must be gained through 
 reading and study. This is the theoretical part of her 
 work. The skillful physician, before he goes out to prac- 
 tice, learns, as we say, "all that is in the books." For 
 the earnest student mother there will be need to gain a 
 clear understanding of many scientific facts from the 
 standpoint of biology, physiology, anatomy, and psychol- 
 ogy. A broad knowledge of general laws ought to make 
 any particular application of these laws a very simple and 
 easy matter. We often say of a teacher, that in order 
 to teach well he must know vastly more than he has to 
 teach. So, also, in the case of the mother, she must 
 know more of child-study than enough to meet the actual 
 questions that arise day by day. 
 
 Among other things the mother should have a knowl- 
 edge of the sexual physiological changes which come with 
 adolescence. The special organs of sex have existed in 
 an embryonic condition ever since birth. The mother's 
 responsibility at first was limited to the care of the ex- 
 ternal parts, to see that cleanliness and privacy were 
 maintained. Adolescence indicates by its very name that 
 the time is at hand when the sexual organs, which are 
 
THE ADOLESCENT BOY 229 
 
 hidden within the body, are to develop and assume a 
 definite place in the system. As will be pointed out a 
 little later, the influence of these organs is not limited to 
 the physical part of the individual. Their influence over 
 the mind is supreme. A careful explanation of what 
 these parts are, their growth and their uses, will be given 
 under the discussion of the physical manifestations of 
 adolescence. 
 
 Delayed Preparation. Much effort is wasted by the 
 mother during the time of actual adolescence, much that 
 is good and true and earnest, because she has not made 
 proper preparations for it at an earlier period. This 
 preparation is easily ignored and neglected. The signs 
 of the approaching change are sometimes so slight or so 
 hidden that the mother, if she thinks about it at all, per- 
 suades herself that there is no need of her thinking about 
 it yet. 
 
 Alas for those mothers who have, with their children, 
 sailed peacefully over the pre-adolescent years! thank 
 fortune, there are a few years of peaceful sailing but 
 have failed to equip themselves for the period of storm 
 and stress which is to follow; the period of troubled 
 waters, when whole days are passed with hearts aching 
 and anxious, and the tears are only just below the sur- 
 face ; the period when the boy who used to be affectionate, 
 kind, and confidential is rough and rude, and the girl 
 who used to be sweet, loving and patient, is irritable, 
 impudent, and troublesome. Alas, I say, for the mothers 
 who reach, unawares and unprepared, this difficult and 
 trying period! 
 
 The Boy's New Needs, The river of the boy's life is 
 
230 
 
 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 now widening out towards the ocean. While heretofore 
 he has been under the safe shelter of the home, he will 
 soon find himself his own pilot, steering an independent 
 craft. He has but little knowledge of himself just at a 
 time when there is so much to be known. He needs 
 careful teaching in regard to his own physical possibili- 
 ties. In addition to this instruction, there was never a 
 time when he was in greater need of love, patience, and 
 sympathy. He may seem at times to reject these offer- 
 ings in unexpected ways, unexpected as much to himself 
 as to you. But never cease on that account to bestow 
 them unsparingly. 
 
 Take the Boy Seriously. Do not allow yourself to 
 make fun of any of the evidences of adolescence. No 
 matter how much the boy eats, no matter how immense 
 are his hands and feet, take it all as a matter of course 
 and something to be proud of. There is at this time a 
 keen sensitiveness to anything like ridicule, and there is 
 danger that the boy will not show his full size unless 
 encouraged to do so, but will stoop and slouch in order 
 to appear smaller than he really is. The adolescent boy 
 should not only walk straight, but should always sit 
 erect. The bones of the pelvis, and even those of the 
 thorax, are still in a formative state and may be pressed 
 out of shape if a wrong position is habitually taken. 
 Make the boy as comfortable as you can, for comfort 
 increases height and weight. Foster and encourage all 
 tendencies to work with the hands, as carpentering, gar- 
 dening, and all kinds of gymnastics. Too much cannot 
 be said in favor of the life in the country at this time. 
 But be careful of the boy's companions, for a bad com- 
 
THE ADOLESCENT BOY 231 
 
 panion may effect more moral deterioration than the good 
 air and healthful occupation will accomplish for the 
 physical upbuilding. 
 
 2. THE PARENTS' DUTY TO THE ADOLESCENT BOY 
 
 Frankness. This is the time when one of the parents 
 should talk frankly with the boy about the significance 
 of the changes which are taking place in him, and warn 
 him against the temptations which will beset him. Some- 
 times the father can do this best, often it is best done by 
 the mother. Whether father or mother does it should 
 depend upon the degree of confidence and sympathy which 
 the boy feels toward each, and upon the ability of either 
 to put the case to him effectively. One of the parents 
 must surely do it if they have any regard for the boy's 
 highest interests. If they have been frank with him as a 
 young child and have told him something of the mystery 
 of life, it will be much easier to talk to him now. Then, 
 too, the child who has been told the truth in these matters 
 of physiology has not the same prying curiosity and tend- 
 ency to vulgar interpretation so often found in those who 
 have been taught to consider the question a forbidden 
 topic. 
 
 The Origin of Life. Let us assume for a moment that 
 your little boy, long before he was adolescent, learned 
 from your lips that the baby, before any one saw it here, 
 grew from a tiny speck, in a small nest under its mother's 
 heart. At the proper time it was born into the world. 
 This satisfies the child for the time. But as he grows 
 older he is likely to inquire as to the father's part in the 
 origin of the child. 
 
232 
 
 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 Danger of Evasion and Reticence. Here, again, the 
 rational interest is best satisfied by the truth. To tell a 
 lie is corrupting. To evade the question is to send the 
 eager child to some unfit teacher and to destroy confi- 
 dence between parent and child. There is nothing shame- 
 ful in the relation, and it should never be treated as a 
 mystery of doubtful significance. The child owes his 
 very being to the father as well as to the mother, and he 
 should be told this by father or mother when asked. 
 Perhaps this general statement will meet the demands 
 of the searching intellect for several years. After that 
 the whole truth must be told in season. The young 
 inquirer should be trained to seek this kind of informa- 
 tion only from parents. The time of this information 
 must depend upon the nature of the child and his ques- 
 tions. The reticence of children in speaking of these 
 things to their parents is not due to any sense of moral 
 wrong, but simply to an artificially induced fear of 
 offending elders for some mysterious and unknown reason. 
 
 Professor Coe says, "The facts and laws of nature, 
 particularly the mystery of generation and birth, are in- 
 cluded in the demand for information. What response 
 shall we make to this demand ? Just as f asjt as the child's 
 spontaneous interest calls for information a perfectly hon- 
 est and open response should be made. To evade or 
 deceive is not merely to put away a troublesome question ; 
 it is to put away the child's personality also. An honest, 
 painstaking answer to a question gives much more than 
 information; it gives a self. This requires a high type 
 of courage. To reveal one's self thus to a child is like 
 standing before the judgment bar of God, Blessed is 
 
THE ADOLESCENT BOY 233 
 
 the child who receives such answers to his questions that 
 he never ceases, during all his developing years, to bring 
 his problems directly to his parents. 
 
 3. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PERIOD 
 
 Having spoken of the nature of adolescence and the 
 necessary equipment of the parents in order to deal with 
 it adequately, we will now consider the general charac- 
 teristics of this period. The period, as a whole, may for 
 convenience be divided into three shorter and more or 
 less overlapping periods as follows : First Early adoles- 
 cence or puberty. This covers the period from the elev- 
 enth to the fourteenth year. The characteristics of this 
 period are largely but not wholly physical. There are 
 evidently beginnings of the great mental changes which 
 come later in the period. Second The middle adolescent 
 period. This may be from the fifteenth to the eighteenth 
 year. The adolescent characteristics of this period are 
 both mental and physical. Third Later adolescence. 
 This extends from the eighteenth year onward. Its mani- 
 festations are mental and spiritual. 
 
 The Physical Changes. While it cannot be definitely 
 known whether the first stirring of adolescence is physical 
 or mental, it is probable that the first visible signs will 
 be physical. Therefore we may call the general charac- 
 teristics of this period physical. Any time after your boy 
 is eleven or twelve (with some boys even earlier) look 
 for unusual physical manifestations; one of the earliest 
 of these is rapid growth, especially of the limbs. Pro- 
 fessor Lancaster calls our attention to the fact that some- 
 times this rapid growth occurs before the child is really 
 
 '\ 
 
234 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 adolescent. In this case it is likely to be accompanied 
 with ill-health. The rapid growth during adolescence, 
 however, is perfectly normal and to be expected. It 
 sometimes seems as if the size of hands and feet double 
 within a few months. 
 
 Height and Weight. Mention was just made of the 
 rapid growth of the limbs at this time. Hence the first 
 noticeable increase is usually in height, caused mainly by 
 this lengthening of the legs. In order to meet the added 
 length of the legs, the muscles, nerves, and arteries must 
 all be stretched. The boy is awkward. Through this 
 increase in height his weight has outgrown his strength. 
 The muscles grow large first and strong later. Hence 
 the boy of fifteen to seventeen lacks the strength which 
 he seems to have. He stumbles and shambles and thinks 
 he is somehow to blame for it all. It is probably true 
 that many adults share his opinion. More often than 
 not he knows that his mother thinks he is clumsy even 
 though she does not say so. 
 
 Internal Organs. The size of the internal organs does 
 not keep pace with the external growth. Less oxygen 
 is taken into the system and hence there is more unre- 
 moved waste. The ratio of the chest girth to the standing 
 height falls. Besides these changes in muscles and nerves, 
 there has already been mentioned the .very significant 
 growth and development of the organs of sex. 
 
 Organs of Sex. Besides the external parts, which in- 
 clude the organ for urinal excretion and the scrotum, 
 there is the more important internal organism. First of 
 all, incased in the tissues constituting the scrotum, are two 
 
THE ADOLESCENT BOY 235 
 
 small bodies known as the testicles. Each of these is 
 connected by the spermatic cords with the seminal vesicles, 
 or reservoirs, at the base of the bladder. Up to the 
 adolescent period these organisms seem to have had no 
 particular part in the life of the body. It would seem as 
 if they might as well not be there. But experience has 
 shown that if any harm comes to them or if their devel- 
 opment is checked, it will become evident at adolescence, 
 and both mind and body will fail to reach their normal 
 strength. At the adolescent period, the testicles develop 
 and begin to secrete a fluid, which, as fast as it is secreted, 
 is passed up through the spermatic cords into the reser- 
 voirs at the base of the bladder. Here it unites with 
 another fluid which has been secreted in these sacs. A 
 portion of this fluid is absorbed and enters the system, 
 where it exercises a profound influence upon mental and 
 physical development. When adolescence is thoroughly 
 established, emissions of this fluid occur at more or less 
 regular periods of from three to five weeks. They occur 
 at night and usually during sleep. This manifestation 
 may be omitted for several weeks, and then occur either 
 for one or for several successive nights. These facts 
 are purely normal and physiological, and may fairly be 
 treated as are other facts about the body. The rapid 
 growth of the external parts often results in an irritation 
 which is very annoying to the boy, and if not understood 
 will be the cause of bad habits. The application of any 
 simple salve, such as vaseline, or, better still, a bathing 
 of the parts in kerosene, will relieve the irritation and 
 save both mother and child from much anxiety. 
 
236 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 4. LATER PHYSICAL CHANGES 
 
 As the boy gets into what was noted as the second 
 period of adolescence, we find that the physical changes, 
 while not by any means completed, are less disturbing. 
 There is a large muscular power, enlarged heart and 
 lungs, well oxygenated blood, driven at high pressure. 
 There is rapid combustion in the muscles and especially 
 in the brain. The waste products are disposed of. 
 
 Changes in the Brain. The brain has now reached its 
 full size and weight. It would seem, from the usual 
 manifestations in the way of behavior, that there must 
 be decided changes taking place in the brain. There 
 surely are changes, but so far it has not been possible to 
 determine with any definiteness what organic changes 
 have taken place in it. During childhood there were 
 certain uncoordinated associative areas of the brain left 
 open for development, through individual experience. It 
 is thought by some that during adolescence there may 
 be an increase of these associative fibers with the result 
 of increasing the number of brain centers. It is agreed 
 that some changes must take place in the brain at this 
 time, to account for the changes in mental manifestations. 
 But it has taken years of serious study and investigation 
 to gain even an approximate idea of what may be taking 
 place in the adolescent brain. We know that there is an 
 intimate connection between mental and physical develop- 
 ment. There seems to be an especially delicate connec- 
 tion between the organs of reproduction and the brain, 
 although just what this is it has not been possible to 
 determine. 
 
 All Organs Stronger. It is to be kept in mind that, 
 
THE ADOLESCENT BOY 237 
 
 with the growth of the parts which are external and 
 visible, there is a corresponding growth of the general 
 internal organs. Every organ of the body seems to wake 
 up and vie with its fellows. The nutrition which is taken 
 into the body is in a sense contested for by the different 
 organs. If the nutrition is not sufficient, there is danger 
 that those parts which gain the ascendency will grow at 
 the expense of the slower ones, thus leaving some particu- 
 lar weak part. Growing pains are produced by the rapid 
 growth of the bones over the muscles. 
 
 Tobacco and Liquor. The increasing demand for nu- 
 trition throughout the entire body often gives rise to 
 cravings for extra and unnatural food. The habit of 
 using tobacco is often acquired at this time on account 
 of this unusual craving. Ask an adolescent boy how 
 he is affected by the smell of tobacco. In most cases, 
 if he is honest, he will tell you that it arouses a strong 
 craving to use it. In too many cases this craving is so 
 strong as to put into the background the reasons which 
 have been given to him for not using it. If the adoles- 
 cent period is passed without the tobacco habit being 
 contracted, it is by the exercise of greater self-control 
 than we as adults have been in the habit of giving the 
 boy credit for. In the case of liquor the craving may 
 not be so marked unless there is an inherited tendency 
 in that direction. But if the boy is exposed to repeated 
 temptations to the use of liquor, there is more danger 
 at this period than at any other. If he was normally 
 strong and well before adolescence his health will prob- 
 ably not be much affected by this change. If he shows 
 it at all it will be by becoming somewhat listless and at 
 
238 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 times displaying that "tired feeling" upon which patent 
 medicine venders thrive. But a boy who has previously 
 suffered from lack of nervous force may show his ado- 
 lescence by an excess of movement. Twitching of the 
 eyes, mouth, and hands; and the biting of the finger 
 nails may also be observed. Such symptoms are signifi- 
 cant and should not be passed over lightly. Plenty of 
 exercise in the open air, good food, plenty of sleep, and 
 plenty of play are the best possible restoratives for a 
 defective nervous system at this time. 
 
 Change in Face. While all these changes are taking 
 place in the boy's body, there is often a marked change 
 in the expression of the face. This comes about not 
 only by the new mental experiences which are taking 
 place, but because the bones of the face are enlarging, 
 thus changing the proportion of the features. The downy 
 fuzz on the boy's upper lip and below his ears is an 
 indication of normal adolescent development. 
 
 Behavior. The increase in growth is usually and 
 almost unavoidably accompanied by unpleasant manifes- 
 tations of behavior and manners. The behavior is not 
 now so much the crude roughness of the earlier semi- 
 animal stage; in fact, it is quite outside of the range of 
 language to describe it. It varies greatly with the indi- 
 vidual. In some boys it takes the form of a blunt and 
 impulsive roughness. There is, sometimes, undue assert- 
 iveness at this time, a probable reaction against the em- 
 barrassment of the awkward feeling. With others there 
 is a super-sensitive shyness. Mother Nature, who up 
 to this time has carried on her development with more 
 or less regularity, seems now to be using more unusual 
 
THE ADOLESCENT BOY 239 
 
 measures. There is a narrow social tendency; that is, 
 the boy prefers the society of those of his own sex and 
 age. He cannot tell why, he simply knows that he feels 
 more at home with them. As the adolescent period ad- 
 vances these social interests show a tendency to broaden. 
 Much of the uncomfortable shyness which burdened him 
 in the earlier stages seems gradually to disappear. There 
 often comes a growth of genuine sentiment, which its 
 owner is able to manage with considerable adroitness, and 
 which commands the respect of his adult friends. 
 
 5. THE BOY'S GREATEST DANGER 
 
 The greatest danger which threatens the boy at this 
 period and it is one which affects body, mind, and char- 
 acter is the habit of onanism or self -pollution. It is 
 reported by physicians and others who have the best 
 means of knowing, that the majority of boys during the 
 adolescent period practice this vile and injurious habit to 
 a greater or less extent. It can hardly be otherwise, if 
 they are allowed to reach the time of temptation with 
 little or no truthful information as to the results of the 
 practice. 1 Many young men lose their lives each year 
 by indulging in it to excess. Many more become idiotic 
 or insane. Many more, who escape these extremes, 
 shorten their lives and devitalize themselves, falling far 
 short of what they might otherwise have been, both phys- 
 ically and intellectually. The seminal fluid which is 
 thrown off artificially in the habit referred to is charged 
 
 1 Coe, Education in Religion and Morals, p. 237. 
 Kirkpatrick, Fundamentals of Child Study, p. 115. 
 Tanner, The Child, p. 62. Forbush, The Boy Problem, p. 160. 
 
240 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 with the vitality needed for the building up of the body. 
 Every one has seen an electric battery which has spent 
 its force. It is a dead thing. So the body, with its 
 splendid vital forces wasted not to speak of the moral 
 and spiritual degeneration which follows. It is one of 
 the tragedies of life. 
 
 Persistence of Habit. Although the ultimate results 
 of the habit are so serious, unfortunately there are gen- 
 erally no immediate and apparent effects. Therefore the 
 boy fancies that it is not hurting him, and continues it 
 until he has lost the power to stop. The difficulties of 
 stopping after the habit has once become fixed are great, 
 because it not only weakens the body but also enslaves 
 the will. Dr. Hall speaks of the physical effects as slug- 
 gishness of heart action and circulation, seen in cold ex- 
 tremities, purple and dry skin, lassitude, clammy hands, 
 anaemic complexion, dry cough t and many digestive trou- 
 bles. He refers to the habit as the scourge of the human 
 race. 
 
 Mental and Moral Effects. Besides its physical effects, 
 it induces a general mental and moral deterioration. Se- 
 cretiveness, untruth fulness, hypocrisy, timidity, cowardice, 
 all follow in its train. The power of self-control and of 
 sympathy are often extinguished. The resolution to 
 grapple with difficulties, to carry out work begun, is sure 
 to decline. There is a lack of high enthusiasms. "Per- 
 haps the most common psychological result," says Dr. 
 Hall, "is a sense of unworthiness, sin and pollution, and 
 the serious diminution of self-respect, often instinctively 
 hidden by boisterous self-assertion. Consciousness of a 
 vice so hated and despised takes away the joy of life. 
 
THE ADOLESCENT BOY 241 
 
 The struggle between what is felt to be right, pure, and 
 honorable and the lusts of the flesh is not infrequently 
 overwhelming. The influences which work against abso- 
 lute purity at this time seem to spring from the prince of 
 darkness and his abode." x This psychic struggle of the 
 worse against the better personality diverts energy which 
 would be otherwise available for study, exercise, and 
 normal growth. 
 
 Increase of Crime. We must view with alarm the 
 fact that juvenile crime is constantly on the increase, and 
 we cannot be indifferent when we learn that sex perver- 
 sion is the cause of much of it. 2 Dr. Hall has observed 
 that every society has just the kind and number of crim- 
 inals that it deserves. What is deserved by parents who 
 allow their boys to become slaves to this filthy and de- 
 basing habit without giving them a word of warning? 
 Dr. Forbush says, "I believe that sex perversions are the 
 most common, subtle, and dangerous foes that threaten 
 our American life. These perversions usually have their 
 root and acquire their dominion in adolescence, when 
 passion is most active, ignorance most great, and self- 
 control most weak. This temptation is to be met in the 
 home by stripping the subject of a mystery which it does 
 not possess, by revealing frankly and simply the facts of 
 sex as a part of general physiology. The effect of self- 
 abuse upon the nerves, endurance, and energy of the 
 growing boy should be explained and contempt expressed 
 for it as a nasty habit. The place for doing this work is 
 the home. It is strange that parents should be willing 
 
 1 Hall, Adolescence. 
 
 2 Hall, Adolescence, Vol. I, p. 325. 
 
242 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 that stable boys, quacks, and villains should become the 
 instructors and guides in those matters which have so 
 much to do with personal purity, the morality of the 
 commonwealth, and the future of the race." 1 
 
 Jane Addams says upon this subject, "We exalt the 
 love of the mother and the stability of the home, but in 
 regard to those difficult years between childhood and 
 maturity we beg the question and, unless we repress, we 
 do nothing. We are so timid and inconsistent that, al- 
 though we declare the home to be the foundation of 
 society, we do nothing to direct the force upon which the 
 continuity of the home depends. 2 
 
 6. How TO CONQUER THIS DISASTROUS HABIT 
 
 Wise Questioning. Either father or mother should 
 find out whether the boy has become addicted to the habit. 
 Usually, if the question is put to him in the right way, 
 with an assurance that you are trying to help him and not 
 to upbraid or scold him, he will tell the truth. Tell him 
 what the habit will do to him if persisted in. Encourage 
 him. Do not scare him, but make him see that it is for 
 him to decide whether he shall be a strong and useful 
 man, or a weakling or worse. It is a test of his will 
 power. He must overcome the habit or it will overcome 
 him. There is no compromise. If he conquers, he will 
 come out of the struggle stronger for the experience. 
 
 Cleanliness and Clothing. Suggest that he preserve 
 absolute cleanliness of the sex organs, to prevent irrita- 
 tion washing them every morning as regularly as he 
 
 1 Forbush, The Boy Problem, pp. 159, 160. 
 
 2 Jane Addams, Spirit of Youth and the City Streets, pp. 29, 31. 
 
THE ADOLESCENT BOY 243 
 
 washes his face, and pulling back the foreskin to remove 
 all accumulations. Aside from this he should leave them 
 absolutely alone, except that, when strongly tempted, he 
 may sometimes help himself to overcome the impulse by 
 plunging them into cold water. 1 A cold bath every morn- 
 ing immediately upon rising is an excellent tonic, not 
 only for the sex organs but for the entire body. If the 
 boy is not strong enough to endure it at once, begin with 
 a sitz-bath, also dashing the water on the chest and neck. 
 Avoid too warm clothing or too heavy bed clothing, also 
 hot baths and anything that tends to heat the sex organs. 
 The ganglion especially concerned in the sex instinct is 
 located in the lower part of the back. Hence sleeping 
 on the back, or with the back against anything which 
 induces heat, should be avoided. Dr. Griffith's plan of 
 tying an empty spool to the back, at the middle of the 
 spine, by a tape passing around the waist, has been men- 
 tioned in another connection. It will also prove useful 
 here. The period immediately after waking is one of 
 temptation. The boy who does not wish to be tempted 
 will make it a practice to get up as soon as he wakes. 
 
 Mental Suggestion. If there is a tendency for the 
 boy's thoughts to dwell upon his body more than is best 
 for him, suggest that he interest himself in something 
 else that will keep his mind busy. Making plans for 
 future effort and achievement is a splendid method of 
 keeping undesirable thoughts out of the mind. Any harm- 
 less occupation which will absorb the thoughts and 
 interests will be useful. 
 
 1 Dr. Wm. Lee Howard, Confidential Chats With Boys, p. 58. 
 
244 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 Testimony of a Physkian. A short time ago I had 
 occasion to give an address in a neighboring town upon 
 growth and education, with special reference to the ado- 
 lescent period. A few days after returning home I re- 
 ceived a letter from a prominent physician of the town 
 where the address was given, saying, among other things, 
 "I should like to have told the members of the conven- 
 tion how nearly you struck the keynote in regard to the 
 true way to solve the greatest medical and social question 
 which now confronts us. The great question for a num- 
 ber of years in the medical conventions has been how to 
 impart the necessary education along this line. The youth 
 of that period of life is being educated on these ques- 
 tions clandestinely. The new phase of the disease is, that 
 it is very doubtful if it is ever cured. This ought to set 
 every nerve of our social fabric to throbbing. From 
 the mother must come the true education to lead a pure 
 life and the warning of the great danger which follows 
 the transgression. The mother can reach the child, on 
 an average, better than the father/' 
 
 Companions. Question your boy also about his com- 
 panions and what their habits are. These companions 
 exercise a vital influence upon him at this time. If they 
 are older than he, they are especially to be watched. 
 Things pass between boys of this age of which the par- 
 ents never know. An older boy without principle or 
 conscience may teach to younger companions habits the 
 disastrous results of which in future years are incalculable. 
 Confidences in these matters must be considered sacred 
 and not told as ordinary tales. The boy who under- 
 
THE ADOLESCENT BOY 245 
 
 stands this and who trusts his parents will give them his 
 confidence. 
 
 Reading Matter. If you find it impossible to talk fully 
 enough or frankly enough to your boy upon this subject, 
 you may place in his hands one of the books which have 
 been written to teach boys the essential facts of sex at 
 this period. Confidential Chats with Boys, by Dr. Wm. 
 Lee Howard; Almost a Man, by Mary Wood Allen, and 
 What a Young Boy Ought to Know, by Sylvanus Stall, 
 are all excellent. The last named is intended for younger 
 boys than the first and would not appeal as strongly to 
 a boy of more than twelve or thirteen. Be sure to read 
 carefully each book yourself before giving it to the boy. 
 This is for two reasons : First, that you may satisfy 
 yourself that the subject is treated as you would wish it 
 to be treated. Second, that you may know just what the 
 boy has read in order to be able to answer any questions 
 which he may raise. 
 
 Another Frightful Evil. As to improper relations with 
 the opposite sex, the boy should be made to see that this 
 has all the evils of the solitary habit and the added danger 
 of giving him a venereal disease which is so frightful in 
 its effects that it should act as a check to any youth when 
 its results are known. This disease is now generally 
 understood to be incurable, and, though its outward mani- 
 festations may be removed, it remains in the system, 
 likely at any time to appear an effectual bar to marriage 
 or, if the man is selfish or cruel enough to marry, a 
 menace to his wife and an awful heritage to his 
 children. 
 
246 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 7. MENTAL PHASES OF ADOLESCENCE 
 
 In addition to all the manifestations which have taken 
 place in connection with the adolescent changes, there 
 is a group of characteristics which may properly be classed 
 as mental. These mental changes make themselves known 
 in a variety of ways. There is at this time a noticeable 
 change in the boy's general bearing. It has already been 
 said that there is a change in the features and expressions 
 of the face. This change in facial expression is almost 
 sure to be accompanied by a change in character. A 
 curious development which has been noted as taking place 
 at this time is the appearance of what is known as an- 
 cestral traits. In other words, there is a strong proba- 
 bility that during the adolescent changes the boy will 
 develop traits of character similar to those of his parents, 
 his grandparents, or even more remote ancestors. 1 
 
 Mental Confusion. One of the first normal mental 
 signs of adolescence is mental confusion. Some one has 
 said of this manifestation, "The bond between the mani- 
 fold factors of the ego is temporarily lost." The par- 
 ticular form in which the mental confusion appears differs 
 in different children. The manifestations are often un- 
 pleasant and often misunderstood. The boy does not 
 understand himself, and the outcome of his behavior is 
 often quite different from what he had planned it to be. 
 It is difficult for the adult to realize this condition, since 
 the boy's acts have all the appearance of being rational 
 and in a certain sense they are so. The processes of the 
 brain are dependent upon the quality of the blood sup- 
 plied to it. Just as sure as the quality of the light from 
 
 1 Lancaster, Pedagogical Seminary, Vol. I, p. 196. 
 
* THE ADOLESCENT BOY 247 
 
 your lamp depends upon the quality of the oil upon which 
 the wick burns, so surely does mental action, especially 
 in the growing child, depend upon the quality of the 
 blood which goes to the brain. Hence, at this period 
 especially, the supply of brain nourishment must be abun- 
 dant and of the best quality.. If this mental confusion 
 of the adolescent boy is understood and rightly treated, 
 it will disappear in good time. As the period of un- 
 usually rapid growth draws to a close, the new brain cor- 
 relations become adjusted and the normal supply of blood 
 to the brain is re-established. 
 
 Awakening of Individuality. Another mental charac- 
 teristic of adolescence is the awakening of individuality. 
 The boy really first becomes conscious of himself at this 
 time. He looks out upon the universe and sees it no 
 longer as a collection of unrelated things, but as a system 
 in which he occupies a place. The signs of this change 
 are so subtle and they creep into the boy's consciousness 
 so gradually that their coming may be unnoticed. But 
 observe the conversation of your adolescent boy and you 
 will find that, while before he talked about things as sep- 
 arate and unrelated objects, he is now making compari- 
 sons. Men, books, countries, achievements, are compared. 
 It is not an accident that your boy is thinking in this way, 
 but an indication that he, all unconscious to himself, is 
 following the natural law and acquiring the mental 
 breadth and power of manhood. 
 
 Introspection. Again, introspection is a marked char- 
 acteristic of adolescence. 1 All manner of new and un- 
 tried things crowd into the mind. Here, again, the boy 
 
 1 G. Stanley Hall, Adolescence, Vol. II, p. 84. 
 
248 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 does not understand himself, but this he does not admit, 
 least of all to his mother. This is a time when day 
 dreams are indulged in, air castles are built, splendid 
 imaginary feats of bravery and heroism are enacted, and 
 large audiences eloquently addressed. For years I won- 
 dered why it was that at adolescence something seemed 
 to come between the boy and his mother. The fact is 
 that the boy has passed through a period of mental trans- 
 formation and that his mother is in a certain sense a 
 stranger to him. His experience is something like that 
 described in Gilbert Parker's story, in which a man, after 
 having been struck upon the head and vitally injured, 
 went to sleep, and when he awoke his past was blotted out. 
 
 The Mother's Opportunity. The wise mother will 
 recognize this condition as a normal phase of adolescence 
 and will realize that if the happy relations of the later 
 adolescent period are to be established, she must be the 
 one to make the advances. She must find out what her 
 boy is interested in, and herself become interested in the 
 same things. In a sense, she must get acquainted with 
 him all over again and possibly upon a somewhat differ- 
 ent basis. She must not be discouraged if sometimes her 
 advances seem to be repelled. The apparent self-suffi- 
 ciency of the boy at this period often causes her to dis- 
 continue many of the means of amusement and tokens 
 of affection which have been customary until now. Often 
 the lad, who is hungry for love and sympathy, is held at 
 arm's length. This is the time when most parents are 
 found wanting. 1 
 
 How to Keep in Touch. The bonds which will hold 
 
 1 Wm. Forbush, The Boy Problem, p. 32, 
 
THE ADOLESCENT BOY 249 
 
 the boy to his mother now may have to be different from 
 those which held him as a child. If the mother has 
 made the mistake of allowing her intellectual life to re- 
 main at a standstill during the boy's childhood, if she 
 has allowed herself to become entirely absorbed in sewing 
 on his buttons, pressing his trousers and cooking his 
 meals, important and fundamental as these things are, 
 she must resign herself to parting company with him 
 at the adolescent period. If you want to know your boy's 
 real self, you must know and like what he likes. You 
 must bring to him qualities which he will find attractive. 
 Otherwise you may find yourself in the same relation to 
 him as was the teacher to the small daughter of a friend 
 of mine. It was the day for school promotions and the 
 little girl was sent to school as usual. In about half an 
 hour, the mother was surprised to see the child returning 
 home, books in hand. "Why, Dolly, dear/' she exclaimed, 
 "what is the matter? Are you sick?" "No," replied 
 Dolly, "only they put me into another room, and I don't 
 know the teacher, so of course I couldn't stay." Your 
 introduction to your son may not be so simple a matter 
 as was that of Dolly to her teacher. But knowledge and 
 patience, tact and mother love will not fail of their reward. 
 
 If you would preserve your intellectual life during the 
 years that your boy is growing up, teach him from the 
 start to sew on his own buttons, press his own trousers, 
 and help you with the heavy parts of the housework. 
 So you will have time and strength to put yourself in 
 touch with his peculiar interests. 
 
 Rebellion Against 'Authority. Another mental char- 
 acteristic of the adolescent is rebellion against established 
 
 4 
 
250 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 authority and conventional standards. Religious tenets 
 are likely to be questioned. Watch carefully to see what 
 direction this tendency is taking, but never blame the 
 boy for his questioning. It is as natural as breathing. 1 
 Frank and reasonable discussions with regard to God, 
 the universe, and the relation of the soul to them will do 
 much good and will make a great difference in the future 
 life of the boy. Experience has shown that the mind of 
 the boy, in spite of his seeming indifference, is very sen- 
 sitive to ethical influences. This will be spoken of more 
 fully a little later in the chapter. 
 
 Nature of Family Discipline. Allow the family disci- 
 pline, which up to this time has been firm and unyielding, 
 to be very elastic. Remember that it is a transition period 
 and the boy's relation to everything is changing. By this 
 I do not mean that your ideals should be lowered, but 
 that an effort should be made to let the boy see things 
 for himself, and do things because they appeal to him 
 as being right rather than because he has been told to 
 do them. 
 
 Polarity of the Sexes. One more characteristic of 
 the adolescent period has been called the "polarity of the 
 sexes." The boy becomes sensible of the existence of 
 the other sex. The mutual attraction of the sexes at this 
 time is a perfectly natural process, and involves, among 
 other things, the embodiment of certain ideals. For ex- 
 ample, if your boy seems to be interested in a certain 
 girl, it is because she corresponds to his ideals, either in 
 form and feature, dress, hair, voice, behavior, or men- 
 tality. There is a marked difference in individuals, both 
 
 1 Tanner, The Child, p. 59. Forbush, The Boy Problem, p. 19. 
 
THE ADOLESCENT BOY 251 
 
 as to the time and the degree of this manifestation of 
 polarity, but whenever or however it manifests itself it 
 should always receive consideration on the part of the 
 parents. All normal manifestations should be respected. 
 One important fact in this connection is that the presence 
 of the other sex serves to emphasize all adolescent char- 
 acteristics. The boy will either be a better boy or a worse 
 boy because of this attraction. If pure-minded, the com- 
 panionship of adolescent boys and girls, under proper 
 supervision, is distinctly refining and inspiring to both 
 sexes. But if there is, on either side, the taint of im- 
 purity, even in thought, it is far better to prevent as far 
 as possible the opportunities for meeting. 
 
 Training of Sex Emotions. The sex emotions should 
 be understood, educated, disciplined, and controlled. 
 They are not to be annihilated but converted into higher 
 forms of activity, as science has turned the destructive- 
 ness of the thunderbolt into steam and motive power and 
 so made it a blessing to our age. When we talk about 
 these things to our boy we may teach him to regard the 
 new emotion as a gift. As such it should be sacredly 
 guarded. 
 
 The emotional and religious characteristics of adoles- 
 cence belong almost equally to both sexes and therefore 
 a consideration of them will be reserved for the next 
 chapter. 
 
 8. LATER SPIRITUAL CHANGES 
 
 The later adolescent period has been called the period 
 of reflection. The physical growth is accomplished. 
 There is a settling down and adjusting of the new per- 
 sonality to the environment. The life has been broad- 
 
252 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 ened and deepened and wonderfully enriched by the 
 experiences of adolescence. Whatever of nobility and 
 manliness and largeness of soul have been gained by your 
 son, either through nature or training, now makes itself 
 felt. I have said that the period of adolescence is a trying 
 one for the mother. Let me also say that her rewards 
 come to her in the post-adolescent period. No mother has 
 known life's supremest happiness, who has not lived 
 through these years with a loyal son or daughter. The 
 surprises now are not the disappointing ones of the earlier 
 period, but are a constant succession of joy-giving revela- 
 tions. The child has found himself in the true sense and 
 is ready for the conflict and the connuests which are 
 before him. 
 
 Adolescence Complete. Professor Tyler has said of 
 the boy at this period: "The attainment of full 
 growth and large muscular power, the large heart 
 and lungs, the well oxygenated blood driven at high 
 pressure, the activity and young vitality of all the 
 tissues and organs, give a buoyancy and courage, a 
 sense of power and a longing for entire freedom. A 
 new world has opened before the boy as fresh and 
 fair as the morning of creation. The joy of mere liv- 
 ing dawns upon him. He looks out upon a fair new life 
 boundless in opportunity and endless in scope and time. 
 Surely no parent who realizes the splendid significance of 
 these adolescent years can fail to he filled with a high 
 resolve to do his or her share towards making them count 
 to the fullest possible extent, for a full grown, well- 
 rounded out life for the boy or girl. Let us do our part 
 to make the world really prove as fair as it seems to him 
 
THE ADOLESCENT BOY 253 
 
 now. Let us do our part towards helping him to hold to 
 his buoyancy, his courage and his sense of power. If 
 we, joining with the multitudes of other parents could 
 carry out such high resolves, the bright side of adolescence 
 would spread its radiance into many places where now 
 only the tragic side of it holds sway. 
 
 An Appeal. In closing this chapter this chapter 
 towards which (together with the following one) all 
 the other chapters have been converging, I want to ask 
 some very earnest questions of every mother who has 
 read it. Do you really believe the facts which are set 
 down here? Are you convinced that the ignorance, indif- 
 ference and, possibly sometimes, the indolence of mothers 
 and fathers are responsible for a very large part of the 
 terrible evils which come to the world from the misuse and 
 abuse of the sexual powers? Do you now know that all 
 the splendid possibilities for good which adolescence 
 brings to every boy, may, through lack of proper care and 
 instruction, become so many open avenues to a misspent, 
 wretched, and even degrading career? If you do accept 
 these statements as truths, or even as approximate truths, 
 I ask you if there is, or can be anything too hard for you 
 to do in order that the coming generation, the generation 
 of which my boy and your boy are a part, may be saved 
 from sexual degradation and to physical purity and sound 
 moral living? Can there be anything more worth your 
 while than learning how best to bring these wonderful 
 facts of nature which you know to be absolutely true to 
 the knowledge of your children in a simple pure way and 
 with an emphasis that shall be effective and, moreover, 
 be productive of true personal purity in the lives of your 
 
254 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 sons? Will you not answer these questions for yourself 
 and bring them to other mothers? And the world then 
 will say, when your task you have done, "She has reaped 
 what she sowed. Lo, this is her son." 
 
 QUESTIONS FOR USE IN CLUB STUDY 
 
 1. What is the aim of the present discussion? 
 
 2. What is adolescence? 
 
 3. What is the nature of the mother's preparation for it? 
 
 4. What is the parents' duty to the adolescent boy? 
 
 5. How would you answer his questions as to the origin of life? 
 
 6. What are the dangers of evasion and reticence on this subject? 
 
 7. What are the divisions of the adolescent period? 
 
 8. What are the most prominent physical changes? 
 
 9. Describe the development of the sex mechanism. 
 
 10. How should the external parts be cared for? 
 
 11. Explain the craving for tobacco and liquor at this time. 
 
 12. What is the boy's greatest danger? 
 
 13. What are the physical effects of self-pollution? 
 
 14. What are its mental effects? 
 
 15. What are some ways of overcoming these habits? 
 
 16. Describe mental confusions. 
 
 17. What is meant by introspection? 
 
 18. How will the mother keep in touch with her boy at this time? 
 
 19. What should be the nature of the family discipline? 
 
 20. What is "polarity of the sexes"? 
 
 21. Describe the later spiritual changes of the adolescent period. 
 
 22. How will you answer the closing appeal of the author upon 
 the facts given in this chapter? 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE ADOLESCENT GIRL 
 i. THE DEVELOPMENT OF SEX 
 
 In the ordinary treatment of adolescence, the interest is 
 inclined to center about the boy more than about the girl. 
 Much that is said upon this subject seems to apply more 
 directly to boys than to girls, and it is often evident that 
 when neither sex is mentioned, the speaker or writer has 
 the boy in mind. Why is this so? Perhaps we are 
 inclined to think that the girl is being slighted and is not 
 receiving her just share of attention. But if we look into 
 the matter closely, we shall see that there are psychological 
 and biological reasons for the general attitude on this 
 question. Let us go back for a moment to the beginning 
 of all animal life. 
 
 How Sex Developed. The lowest form of life has 
 no sex at all, but reproduces itself, or rather, 
 multiplies itself, by what seems to us, who are so 
 highly organized, a very singular process. This process 
 is nothing less than the dividing of each individual 
 organism into smaller organisms which in their turn grow 
 larger and are divided again. Out of this simple being 
 there was evolved in process of time what is known as 
 a one-sexed organism, or, rather, both sexes were rep- 
 resented in one organism. Then, little by little, through a 
 process the details of which I will not take time to 
 
 255 
 
256 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 describe, it came about that there was a separation of the 
 sexes into two differing organisms. The point which I want 
 to emphasize, and which has been the reason for my speak- 
 ing of this biological development here, is that the original 
 one-sexed organism was the female. In the complex proc- 
 ess of evolution during which the male has been devel- 
 oped as a second sex and both sexes have become very 
 highly organized, there have always been two prominent 
 forces. First, the force which tends to preserve the char- 
 acteristics already developed, or, in other words, to pre- 
 vent the evolution from becoming retarded. This force 
 has been called by scientists the conservative force. Sec- 
 ond, the force which tends to introduce changes or new 
 elements. The particular province of this force is to 
 bring about variety and thus secure advance in the prog- 
 ress of evolution. This has been called the radical force. 
 The female sex represents the conservative force, the male 
 sex represents the radical and progressive force. 
 
 Relative Importance of Male and Female Organisms. 
 Neither force can be called more important than the 
 other. Neither can be called stronger than the other. 
 Each one in its own line is absolutely essential to our best 
 development. Each of these two different biological 
 organisms has its own way of manifesting itself, quite in 
 accordance with its sex nature. As has already been said, 
 the period of adolescence in human beings is the period 
 when the sex forces manifest themselves. There is in 
 both sexes the rapid growth, the great mental upheaval, 
 and the distinctive spiritual experiences, but the reaction 
 of these experiences has a different tendency in the differ- 
 ent sexes. 
 
THE ADOLESCENT GIRL 257 
 
 Difference in Adolescent Manifestations. The girl, 
 on account of her conservative organization, accepts 
 these changes more conservatively, more quietly, and 
 keeps her feelings within herself. The tendency of 
 the boy, on the other hand, especially of the boy with no 
 previous training or preparation for this period, is to show 
 his feelings in extreme forms of behavior. The dangers 
 of the adolescent period in relation both to the individual 
 and to the race, are ultimately as serious for girls as they 
 are for boys. But because the dangers to boys are more 
 immediate, more apparent, and more defiant, and because 
 people always respond more quickly to immediate dangers 
 than they do to remote ones, the adolescence of the boy 
 attracts the larger attention. Then there is another rea- 
 son why girls are less likely than boys to break through 
 restraint and call attention to themselves. Public senti- 
 ment demands a circumspection of conduct and character 
 in a girl which it does not demand in a boy. The reasons 
 for this I cannot stop to examine, but will only say in pass- 
 ing that many a mother of boys has fervently wished that 
 public sentiment would make the same demands upon the 
 male sex. Such a condition would make it vastly easier 
 for her to keep her boy pure in thought and action. In 
 the case of the girl, however, much as she may reBel 
 inwardly, however much she may be tempted to commit 
 social or even moral improprieties, the parent may always 
 count to a considerable extent upon the restraining in- 
 fluence of public sentiment. Society as a whole accepts 
 this state of affairs and hence the effort in behalf of girls 
 is less marked. But, althought this sentiment is strong, 
 we cannot afford to rely upon it implicitly. No social law 
 
258 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 can be trusted to take the place of moral principle. Some- 
 times there are girls who are not so sensitive to public 
 opinion, or are ignorant of the strength of it. When such 
 girls are left without personal influence and care, they are 
 in great danger of going wrong. 
 
 2. THE MOTHER'S DUTY TO THE ADOLESCENT GIRL 
 
 The adolescent period in the life of the girl follows in 
 the main the three overlapping periods which are expected 
 to show themselves in the life of the boy. They are: 
 First, early adolescence or puberty, when the changes 
 seem to be mainly physical; second, middle adolescence, 
 when mental development accompanies the physical 
 changes, and the physical manifestations are not so dis- 
 turbing as in the first period ; third, later adolescence, when 
 the physical changes have been completed and the mental 
 and spiritual forces are adjusting themselves to life with 
 an enthusiasm which is begotten of a sense of new powers 
 and possibilities. 
 
 General Physical Signs. It is difficult to say at just 
 what age adolescence is to be expected in the girl. The 
 tendency to an early or late adolescence often seems to 
 be hereditary. If the mother was adolescent at an early 
 age, she may look for her daughter to become so; if she 
 was late in coming to maturity, the daughter is likely 
 to be the same. It is possible that the first adolescent 
 signs may manifest themselves soon after the tenth year, 
 although probably several years will elapse before maturity 
 is accomplished. As has already been said, adolescence 
 usually comes earlier to the girl than to the boy, and as 
 in case of the boy, the first visible sign of its approach 
 is usually rapid physical growth. The growth in height 
 
THE ADOLESCENT GIRL 259 
 
 is as marked as the increase in weight. There is a round- 
 ing out of the bust, and a broadening across the hips at 
 this time. There is also a change in the features. This 
 definite growth of the body is almost sure to be preceded 
 and accompanied by numerous aches and pains. There 
 will be headache, backache, aching in the bones and across 
 the breast. These are, for the most part, what we call 
 normal signs. Abnormal and extreme manifestations, 
 together with their causes, and what it may be best for the 
 mother to do in those cases will be spoken of later. 
 
 Direct Information to Daughter. The mother's duty 
 at this point involves the imparting to her daughter of a 
 clear explanation of the physical processes and possibilities 
 of womanhood. She must learn through study how the 
 body is constructed and what the changes are which will 
 naturally occur at this time. If, as was suggested in the 
 case of the boy, the mother has the full confidence of the 
 daughter, if the daughter has been encouraged to ask 
 questions, and has always had them truthfully answered, 
 the situation will be simplified. When the little girl and 
 the little boy as well, asked where the baby came from, 
 perhaps the mother told that it grew from a tiny speck, 
 in a nest in the mother's body, and when it was large 
 enough and strong enough it was born into the world. It 
 must be explained that this act of the child of being born 
 gave the mother a great deal of pain and suffering and 
 made her ill for some time. The child accepts these things 
 simply. The frank explanation of facts draws her to her 
 mother in a close bond of sympathy. Hereafter she trusts 
 the mother implicitly in all the other mysteries of life. 
 So when the fulness of time has come, and the mother 
 
260 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 discovers the stirring of adolescence in the daughter, the 
 time has arrived for her to speak fully and frankly of 
 the changes which are taking place. This must be done 
 so carefully, so sympathetically, and yet so reasonably 
 that the daughter will understand the meaning and impor- 
 tance of it. If the daughter is clearly shown how critical 
 is the period through which she is passing she will be 
 forearmed against the dangers of the period. She will 
 see how imperative it is that she should take care of her 
 own health, and that she should guard herself from im- 
 purity even in thought. Not only should the nature of the 
 adolescent function be explained but the meaning of it as 
 well. Every girl should understand that not only is imper- 
 fect functioning a danger to her own personal health, but 
 that it is a danger to posterity as well. 
 
 Women Have a Grave Responsibility. It has been sug- 
 gested that if our race deteriorates, it will be through the 
 deterioration of the woman. No one individual can sepa- 
 rate herself from the life and welfare of the race. We 
 should be just as insistent that our daughters have an 
 exact knowledge of their own physical organization and 
 functions as we are that they learn their school lessons 
 and understand their social duties. There is no knowledge 
 which they will be called upon to use more often than 
 this physical knowledge of themselves. And especially, 
 too tnuch effort cannot be placed upon the dependence of 
 the girl's future health and happiness upon the successful 
 culmination of adolescence. Mistakes made here are fatal 
 and final. There is no appeal from nature's verdict, no 
 forgiveness for those who -even ignorantly have sinned 
 against her laws. 
 
THE ADOLESCENT GIRL 26 1 
 
 Mother the Proper Teacher. Do not allow your daugh- 
 ter to learn these things from any other person or to have 
 only such knowledge as may come to her by intuition. 
 One of the tragedies of adolescence is that girls should 
 learn the most sacred truths of life in a distorted and un- 
 truthful way. The emphasis is not rightly placed, and the 
 importance of the care of the body is not fully realized. 
 Sometimes it is difficult for mothers to talk with their 
 daughters on this subject, but there is generally a way. 
 It may be well to place in the hands of the girl a good 
 book treating of the physiology of sex, and when she has 
 read it discuss with her any question upon which she may 
 wish further light. Almost a Woman, by Mary Wood 
 Allen, will be helpful here. A simple physiological state- 
 ment of some of the functional processes of the body will 
 be helpful to both the mother and the daughter in this con- 
 nection. 
 
 Changes in Organs at Adolescence. When a girl is 
 small she has within her body certain organisms which are 
 necessary to keep her alive. The chief of these are the 
 heart, the stomach, the lungs, the intestines or bowels, 
 the liver, and the bladder. The part of the body known 
 as the hips is really the pelvis, and is a bony case with 
 nearly an open front, the function of which is to support 
 and protect certain of these vital organs of the body. 
 Down in the pelvis, between the bladder and the lower part 
 of the bowels, is a small object about the size and shape 
 of a pear. This little object is there at birth just as 
 the other objects are. On one side of this little pear- 
 shaped organ are tiny flat membranes, something like the 
 wings of a bat, only much smaller. On the surface of 
 
262 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 each of these membranes is a round spot which is harder 
 than the rest and is connected with the pear-shaped object 
 in the center by small tubes. This part of the child's 
 anatomy seems to have no connection with any of the 
 processes which are going on in the rest of the body, but 
 when the girl becomes older and larger and reaches her 
 eleventh, twelfth, or thirteenth year, the two small spots 
 in the membranes; grow a little larger and all of these 
 parts become important enough to be named. The central 
 shaped organ is the uterus, and the two little bodies in 
 the membranes at the sides are the ovaries. Soon after 
 the growth of these parts has begun, a minute substance 
 like a speck of the white of a raw egg, and called the ovum 
 forms in the ovaries. When, as weeks go by, the time 
 comes for this little ovum to ripen, it passes out of the 
 ovary through its own little tube and into the uterus. 
 A few days later, it passes on out of the body. But while 
 all this was going on, something else was happening. 
 The lining of the uterus is filled with very small blood 
 vessels. These become full of blood during the process 
 which has just been spoken of. At the proper time, as 
 there seems to be a proper time for everything, these deli- 
 cate blood vessels break and let out their contents, and it is 
 within a few days after this happens that the ovum fol- 
 lows. Four weeks from the time the first tiny ovum made 
 its escape from its ovary, an ovum leaves the other ovary. 
 The process is repeated thereafter regularly at intervals of 
 four weeks, with the same filling and breaking of the 
 blood vessels a few days before each ovum leaves the 
 body. 
 
 Relative Importance of These Organs in the Body. 
 
THE ADOLESCENT GIRL 263 
 
 While these parts do not help to support the life of the 
 girl in any way, yet, if anything happens to them, and 
 they are very sensitive and delicate, serious effects are 
 likely to follow. Sometimes the process which has been 
 described above and which is called menstruation, may 
 happen once or twice and then be suspended for a number 
 of months. In fact such a condition occurs very often, 
 and under ordinary circumstances need occasion no anx- 
 iety. If, however, the process is not established properly 
 and regularly in the course of time, it becomes a very 
 serious matter. Not only does the body then suffer, but 
 the mind may fail to develop as it should. It would seem 
 from a careful study of the situation that these organs are 
 not placed in the body to help the body, as its other parts 
 are, but in order that the other parts of the body may 
 help them to become strong and efficient. For the newly 
 adolescent girl, it will be a long time before these portions 
 of the body will be strong enough to be called upon to 
 bear their share of life's burdens, and perhaps they may 
 never be so called upon. Yet it is her imperative duty to 
 guard them sacredly. Their importance is as great in 
 relation to the other parts of the body, as the importance 
 of the race is great in relation to the individual. 
 
 3. THE HEALTH OF THE ADOLESCENT GIRL 
 
 We may now assume that the adolescent period has been 
 fairly entered upon and will consider certain characteris- 
 tics which will appear as the daughter advances in it. The 
 bodily growth has already been spoken of. This will con- 
 tinue through middle adolescence. The average twelve 
 year old girl will not be far from fifty-six inches tall, and 
 
264 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 will weigh about eighty pounds. Size and weight are of 
 course influenced largely by heredity. When the age of 
 fifteen has been reached, the girl will often be practically 
 full-grown, whatever her normal weight and height are 
 to be. Tables of height and weight which apply to both 
 girls and boys will be found in chapter three. There is 
 one very important phase of our subject which presses 
 upon us here. I refer to the health of the adolescent 
 girl. 
 
 Responsibility of Women. Professor Tyler calls our 
 attention to the fact that American women ought to be 
 healthy since the toughest, sturdiest and strongest Euro- 
 pean populations have been sifted to plant our country. 1 
 Yet there is plainly a possibility that we have by artificial 
 methods of life through several generations squandered 
 our heritage. We shall have to admit that the health of 
 girls at this period is more likely to be affected than that 
 of boys. This may be partly accounted for by the fact 
 that the nervous system of the girl is more highly orga- 
 nized than that of the boy. The organs of reproduction 
 are much more complex, and there is a close connection 
 between the nervous system and the organs of reproduc- 
 tion. Again, the present system of social life bears heavily 
 upon women and for this reason, our girls are inheriting 
 a tendency to nervous disorders. This tendency must be 
 overcome if our race is to maintain its commanding posi- 
 tion and influence. 
 
 Things Which Affect Health. When a girl comes to 
 adolescence in a good state of physical health and is prop- 
 erly taken care of, there is no reason to expect that her 
 
 1 Tyler, Growth and Education, p. 174. 
 
THE ADOLESCENT GIRL 265 
 
 health will be seriously affected by the change. As has 
 been said on another page, some pains are normal, and 
 when the child seems well-nourished, has a good color and 
 a good pose, she need cause the mother no uneasiness as 
 regards health. But care should be taken not to undergo 
 unusual fatigue or excitement and especially not to sit 
 with cold and damp feet, or in damp clothing. The sys- 
 tem is more sensitive to cold at this time, and inflammation 
 of the delicate organs may be brought about, which it will 
 be difficult to cure and which will cause great pain and 
 weakness in future years. 
 
 Some phases of ill health during adolescence are an 
 abnormal paleness and listlessness, sleeplessness, and con- 
 stipation. If the child has had some previous defect, either 
 developmental or nervous, more serious disturbances to 
 health are likely to occur. Anaemia and hysteria are the 
 most common. 1 Anaemia is a condition of thin and im- 
 poverished blood. The blood loses some of its red cor- 
 puscles. These red corpuscles are very important, since 
 they carry oxygen from the lungs to the brain and to all 
 other parts of the body where blood circulates. An anae- 
 mic person has little color in the face and lips, and becomes 
 breathless in going up stairs. Among the causes of anaemia 
 are living in hot, close rooms and wearing tight clothing. 2 
 Listlessness, and a general lack of strength are its symp- 
 toms. 
 
 Hysteria is a nervous trouble. Its symptoms are laugh- 
 ing and crying alternately with no real occasion for doing 
 either. There is often a choking sensation in the throat. 
 
 1 Francis Warner, A Study of Children, p. 195. 
 
 2 Warner, Study, of Children, p. 196, 
 
266 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 The eyes are not under control, and there are other signs 
 of nervousness, as the twitching of the muscles, and a 
 tendency to bite the nails. These symptoms should not be 
 neglected. If they do not yield to careful home treat- 
 ment, and especially if the monthly function fails to be- 
 come regularly established, as sometimes happens under 
 these circumstances, a physician should be consulted. Many 
 girls suffer from constipation during adolescence. This 
 induces a feeling of sluggishness in the whole body. The 
 brain also feels the effect of the stagnant physical proc- 
 esses and becomes dull and heavy. 
 
 Constipation can often be overcome by a proper diet, 
 and such a course is far better than the practice of using 
 drugs. The lighter meats, as poultry and lean pork, will 
 have a laxative tendency with some girls. Among veg- 
 etables, onions are excellent, and among fruits, apples, 
 pears, bananas, oranges, figs and prunes, particularly the 
 last two named, can be recommended. Graham bread and 
 crackers, oatmeal and any food made from coarse unbolted 
 flour or whole wheat, will usually be found helpful. If 
 these things do not accomplish the purpose, a mild drug 
 may be used, but do not allow the constipation to become 
 chronic. The matter of regulating the diet at this period 
 is not a simple one. The adolescent appetite is a "finicky" 
 thing and not likely to be amenable to the judgment of the 
 mother. 
 
 Exercise. The question of exercise offers another diffi- 
 cult problem. There can be little doubt that the tendency 
 of American girls to ill-health, especially in the line of 
 nervous and uterine disorders, is due not to over-study or 
 brain fatigue, but to the lack of sufficient regular and sys- 
 
THE ADOLESCENT GIRL 267 
 
 tematic exercise in the open air. It may be that in some 
 cases a too strenuous social life adds its quota of influ- 
 ence to the already established condition, but the number 
 of girls who suffer from social dissipations is much 
 smaller than those who suffer from nervous troubles. 
 When a girl's strength is depleted from lack of exercise 
 and the evils which follow in its train, she undoubtedly 
 does suffer from her study and from almost everything 
 else which she tries to do. This condition often begins 
 while she is in the lower grades at school, and becomes a 
 habit which is likely to last through life unless measures 
 are taken to correct it. If the girl, as she grows older, is 
 called upon to assist in the duties of the home she may 
 overcome the condition, although even then the problem 
 of fresh air is still to be solved. But for the daughters 
 of those homes where most, if not all, of the manual 
 work is done by servants, insufficient exercise is a very 
 real danger. 
 
 Clothing Often Injurious. It is to be hoped that in the 
 near future, the clothing of our girls will be universally 
 adapted to healthful exercise. In a parents' meeting in 
 one of our grade schools recently the subject of equiping 
 the playground with gymnastic apparatus was discussed. 
 It soon became evident that the apparatus which the girls 
 could use was very limited. Everything which involved 
 really vigorous exercise had to be eliminated on account 
 of the ill-adaptation of the clothing of the girls. The 
 pupils were from the first to the eighth grade, ranging 
 in age from five to fourteen years. 
 
 Perhaps we are discussing a very hopeless subject, since 
 it is quite generally admitted that the clothing of women 
 
268 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 as a whole, from the standpoint of health at least, is a 
 failure. Yet we must struggle with this problem, for the 
 clothing plays a large part in the health of the adolescent 
 girl. To preserve the physical strength the clothing should 
 not interfere with the three essential bodily functions, 
 namely, circulation, respiration, and digestion. There are 
 two arch enemies, for the adolescent girl, in the way 
 of dress. If they could be vanquished, the chances for 
 sturdy womanhood in the next generation would be 
 greatly increased. They are corsets and high heels. The 
 desire to wear corsets seizes the girl just at the time when 
 she least ought to wear them, that is when the body is ten- 
 der and soft, and when the most important vital organs 
 she possesses are struggling for enlargement and strength. 
 Nature's laws are blindly ignored and the dictates of fash- 
 ion as to which part of the body should be squeezed in 
 and which part padded out are cheerfully accepted. If 
 the pattern sheet says that the waist must be long, then, 
 the fatter the girl the harder she struggles to make her 
 waist long. One girl must do it because the others do, 
 and she cannot bear the humiliation of being "different/' 
 What a change in all this unreasonable, harmful proced- 
 ure could be brought about by a coterie of sensible moth- 
 ers ! High heels are a menace to the body, literally from 
 top to toe. The muscles of the neck, shoulders, back, hips 
 and ankles are strained, by supporting the weight of the 
 body in a position not intended for it; to say nothing 
 of the vital organs in the pelvic cavity which are tipped 
 out of their natural position, when high heels are worn. 
 There are other dangers to be sure, as heavy skirts, high 
 collars, thin waists with insufficient underclothing in cold 
 
THE ADOLESCENT GIRL 269 
 
 weather, but the two first named are the most persistent 
 and general. The only thing to do with them is to have 
 nothing to do with them. If the growing girl needs some 
 support for her figure there are several styles of waists 
 which will meet the needs and be free from the injurious 
 effects of the corsets. To secure proper heels will require 
 a struggle with the shoe man, but if you know what you 
 want you can generally get it. 
 
 Dr. Rankin, to whom reference was made in our dis- 
 cussion of the health of school children, lays special em- 
 phasis upon the matter of warm clothing in cold weather. 
 He insists that the child can never reach maturity in per- 
 fect health who does not wear a heavier grade of under- 
 clothing in cold weather than in warm weather. The cus- 
 tom which prevails among high school and college girls 
 of wearing gauze underwear, and thin white waists 
 through the coldest months of winter, will, according to 
 this authority, eventuate in the serious impairment of 
 adult health, even though no unfavorable results may be 
 noticed at the time. If every mother could see to it that 
 her daughter had plenty of exercise, plenty of nourishing 
 food, and good healthful clothing between the ages of 
 twelve and eighteen years, many things which are now 
 most perplexing in our school and social life would drop 
 into insignificance. 
 
 4. MENTAL CHANGES DURING ADOLESCENCE 
 
 During adolescence the mind as well as the body is un- 
 dergoing a great' upheaval. One writer says, "Changes in 
 the brain are so rapid, development of the faculties of the 
 mind are so remarkable, even in a few months, that the 
 
270 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 wisest care must constantly be accorded, to insure per- 
 fect and complete development." Professor Seerley, after 
 calling attention to the physical dangers, says, "There are 
 psychological results which are just as serious if neglected, 
 and just as promising in returns, if cared for at the proper 
 time." 
 
 Introspection. I spoke in the last chapter of introspec- 
 tion as a characteristic of the adolescent age. I am in- 
 clined to think that the girl, because social convention pre- 
 vents her from expressing herself in an open way, suffers 
 more from this mental condition than does the boy. There 
 is an abnormal desire to conceal herself from her elders. 
 She seems to withdraw into herself and to be living a 
 life of her own, apart from the family life about her. She 
 will perform her duties and answer questions, but often it 
 will be in a perfunctory way, which, coupled with a 
 dreamy expression of the eyes, suggests that her thoughts 
 are not upon her environment. 
 
 The Mother's Part. This condition requires all a lov- 
 ing mother's tact. The mother must decide when she may 
 safely enter the precincts of her daughter's thought-life, 
 and when she would better remain at a distance. The 
 ability to see the invisible is more than we can hope for. 
 There are certain intangible things which even thought 
 and instinct cannot discover. There is a subtle play of the 
 soul forces at this period of life which is beyond our ken. 
 We are at best only partners with the great Divine Intel- 
 ligence that knows and understands all; and there come 
 times when we recognize that we must leave our child in 
 the hands of the Unseen Power. 
 
 Desire for Respect. Another mental characteristic of 
 
THE ADOLESCENT GIRL 271 
 
 this period is the desire to be respected, and to be treated 
 as an older person would be treated. The girl's ideals 
 have suddenly changed from those of a child to those of 
 a woman, and she does not realize that her character and 
 conduct have not also taken this sudden leap. This also, 
 is a situation which requires tact. If the mother ridicules 
 her daughter, for what may seem like silly pretensions, 
 she will not only lose her confidence and sympathy but 
 there is danger that the girl will seek the companionship of 
 her inferiors, who will accord her the consideration which 
 she craves and which she feels that she deserves. 
 
 Emotional Sensitiveness. The emotional nature is pe- 
 culiarly sensitive. Anger is quickly shown. Lovej and 
 hate spring up suddenly and often unreasonably. Jeal- 
 ousy is one of the most marked characteristics of adoles- 
 cence. Together with these tendencies,, there is great 
 sensitiveness to fault-finding in any form. Where these 
 characteristics existed before, they are accentuated, and 
 where they did not exist before they usually appear. They 
 will in a proper environment, pass away during the quiet, 
 reasonable years which follow adolescence, yet it cannot 
 be denied that while they last they bring much unhappi- 
 ness to the one who is subject to them, an unhappiness 
 which the mother would gladly alleviate if it were in her 
 power to do so. Love and hate have! been mentioned as 
 likely to be strong at this time. It is an interesting fact 
 that the first of these emotions is not always or generally 
 displayed towards the opposite sex. The adolescent girl 
 often becomes passionately attached to an adult of her 
 own sex. It often^ happens that those about the child and 
 even the recipient of the adoration have little idea of the 
 
272 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 great happiness which comes to the life of the child through 
 this ardent love. The! emotion is often shown also in an 
 exaggerated form towards some favored girl companion. 
 
 Mental Suggestion. Mental suggestion has been re- 
 ferred to as an\ expedient in the case of young children. 
 This process may be most hopefully employed also with 
 the adolescent. Be with your daughter as much as you 
 can and make an effort to keep your own mind in the 
 state in which you wish her mind to be. Let your con- 
 versation be of good will, unselfishness, and self-control. If 
 you find that she is jealous of someone, take pains to find 
 out the circumstances so as to be able to show her that 
 no cause for jealousy exists. Constantly assume that 
 there is good- will towards your child on the/ part of her 
 classmates, especially on the part of those in whom she 
 suspects a different feeling. It will often require much 
 effort upon the part of the mother to gain these states of 
 mind, but in the case of the adolescent, whether boy or 
 girl, the establishing of right mental conditions is gener- 
 ally the only means of help. 
 
 Polarity. There is, to be sure, also in the adolescent 
 girl what was called in a former chapter "the polarity of 
 the sexes". Many girls are sensitive to its influence. The 
 recognition of the opposite sex may be shown either by 
 an unusual seeking for, or an unnatural avoidance of their 
 society. It is also shown by a greater thought fulness for 
 the clothing and the general personal appearance. 
 
 Social Life. This question of the "polarity of the 
 sexes," brings us to a consideration of the social life. 
 It is impossible here to lay down definite rules, because 
 each girl is different from every other in her disposition 
 
THE ADOLESCENT GIRL 273 
 
 and desires, and each mother has different ideals. I be- 
 lieve, however, that it is every mother's duty to see that 
 her daughter's social life does not deteriorate into social 
 dissipation. She should constantly use her judgment as 
 to the relation of the social life to her daughter's present 
 and future well-being. We all know how often "society" 
 interferes with the girl's best good, physically, intel- 
 lectually, and morally. The mother, not the child, is the 
 one to decide if this is happening, and the mother should 
 dictate the course of action for the daughter to pur- 
 sue. If the girl thinks too much of social life, 
 she should be restrained; if, on the other hand, she 
 thinks too little of it, there should be an effort 
 to introduce as much as will be good for her. The 
 attitude of the mother toward her daughter's boy friends 
 must also depend largely upon the daughter's disposition. 
 If the girl is inclined to have many boy friends, or, more 
 especially, if she has but one, and that one very friendly, 
 there should be a careful supervision. An eminent phy- 
 sician has declared that in his judgment adolescent boys 
 and girls should never be left in each other's company 
 without adult supervision. If, on the other hand, the girl 
 seems to care nothing for boys, the mother will be wise 
 to encourage such friendship. I realize that this is hard 
 to do under the present social conditions, but if one way 
 fails, another may be found, and I am convinced that the 
 result of the effort will be good. 
 
 5. SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT AT ADOLESCENCE 
 
 Turning from the physical and mental to the spiritual 
 nature of the adolescent girl, we find some quite dis- 
 
274 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 tinctive characteristics. We spoke earlier of adolescence 
 being a "new birth" in a physical way. It often seems to 
 be such in a religious way. Dr. G. Stanley Hall says that 
 from the psychological standpoint alone the church is jus- 
 tified in laying the emphasis which it does upon regenera- 
 tion. It is a well known fact that more enter the church 
 during adolescence, than during any other equal period of 
 time. The boy or girl seems to receive from nature what 
 has been called a "new capital" in energized spiritual feel- 
 ing. 1 
 
 The Religious Awakening. What is often called 
 "change of heart" may justly be considered as a growth 
 in spirituality, corresponding to the physical and mental 
 growth. There comes with more definiteness than ever 
 before a sense of the relation of right and wrong, purity 
 and impurity, truth and falsehood. Ideas of right appear 
 clothed with a new force, and are often exceedingly high. 
 Sometimes they are so high as to cause discouragement 
 at the impossibility of attainment. This personal realiza- 
 tion of right and wrong now takes the place of mere rules. 
 Conscience is hypersensitive. It has sometimes been called 
 the voice of the race speaking within the individual. 
 
 Conflicting Emotions. In speaking of the adolescence 
 of boys, reference was made to their tendency to rebellion 
 against authority and against all accepted standards and 
 beliefs. With many girls there is this same rebellion and 
 questioning, but for most girls the religious experiences, 
 especially those of the later adolescent years, bring great 
 happiness and peace. It is true that on account of the ab- 
 normal sensitiveness of conscience this newly found peace 
 
 1 Lancaster, Pedagogical Seminary, Vol. I, p. 196. 
 
THE ADOLESCENT GIRL 275 
 
 is sometimes interrupted by the fear that the girl has 
 committed some wrong. She sometimes spends unhappy 
 hours a prey to such feelings. But, on the whole, God 
 is never so real or duty so simple as to the newly awak- 
 ened conscience of the adolescent girl. 
 
 Dreams and Visions. Adolescence is the time for 
 dreams and visions. The curtain of the future seems 
 drawn back, and the girl lives much in the realm of the 
 imagination. If the dreams are built on high ideals and 
 pure desires they will prove a powerful uplift. Professor 
 Starbuck, in his book, The Psychology of Religious Ex- 
 perience, refers to the period of adolescence as the time 
 when religion changes from a purely formal thing to a 
 vital and living force. Five out of six young people pass 
 through unusual religious experiences at this time. These 
 experiences differ both in their nature and their intensity 
 but they have the common characteristic of being sudden 
 and self -revealing. There comes perhaps for the first 
 time a sense of incompleteness, of imperfection and of 
 sin. The feelings range from the highest exaltation to 
 the lowest depression. The adolescent lives now on the 
 "Delectable Mountains" and now in the "Valley of Hu- 
 miliation." 
 
 Spiritual Struggle. Some of the many young people 
 who have been questioned by Professor Starbuck express 
 themselves as having a sense of struggling with the au- 
 thority and majesty of the world which is bearing in upon 
 them from every side. "In this sudden budding of con- 
 science and perception, of the moral worth of things, we 
 are tracing one step further the ethical root of religion/' 
 Girls are found, as a rule, to suffer more from brooding 
 
276 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 depression and morbid introspection, while boys struggle 
 more with rebellion against their environment and are ex- 
 ercised in the effort to control their passions. If there is 
 no religious awakening there is usually a quickened ethi- 
 cal sense. Here the power of insight is often in advance 
 of activity. In other words, the girl sees what is right 
 before she has the power to make her behavior conform to 
 it. Her daily life falls below her ideals. 
 
 Mother in the Background. In the development of the 
 religious ideas the mother should not take too prominent 
 part. If she thinks her child's ideals are too high, she 
 should not humiliate her by telling her so. For, after all, 
 the girl may be more nearly right than the mother, and 
 the enthusiasm of youth may help both mother and daugh- 
 ter to a higher spiritual plane. Instead of allowing the 
 girl to lower her ideals it is better to help her to live up 
 to them. This is a time when she especially needs sym- 
 pathy. A blunder may prove fatal, but care and love will 
 reap a harvest in the coming years. 
 
 6. THE EDUCATION OF GIRLS 
 
 The majority of parents accept the public school as the 
 instrumentality through which their growing daughters 
 shall be educated. Hence it is not until the daughter has 
 finished the course offered by the common school and stands 
 looking out into the future, that her education assumes 
 the aspect of a problem. What shall we say of the higher 
 education of girls? Some one has called the effort of 
 women to gain the privileges of higher education a "holy 
 war/' one of the most important of the many struggles 
 that have been waged in modern times against ignorance 
 
THE ADOLESCENT GIRL 277 
 
 and custom. But the battle is now essentially won. The 
 question, whether the girl should receive a higher educa- 
 tion, is now looked upon as the same question in regard to 
 the boy. 
 
 Circumstances Not Sex the True Guide. That is, it 
 depends upon individual needs and tastes, with some re- 
 gard to the circumstances of the parents, and the probable 
 future circumstances of the boy or girl. It is probably 
 true that we have not yet found the best educational sys- 
 tem for either boy or girl. 
 
 The courses of our high schools and colleges will un- 
 doubtedly keep changing and improving in usefulness and 
 adaptability. It falls essentially within the province of 
 all intelligent mothers of today to inquire what college 
 courses of the present time are adapted to the needs of 
 their sons and daughters. The subject must not be con- 
 sidered in a narrow or technical sense, but from the stand- 
 point of the greatest usefulness and happiness of all. 
 United effort upon the part of college women will effect 
 a more perfect adaptation of college courses to the needs 
 of our girls especially. We rejoice in the equality of 
 educational opportunities which exist in the United States 
 today, and the question as to where you or I shall send our 
 daughters will be answered by the personal needs of the 
 daughters. In a general way, then, we may say that the 
 key to the education of an adolescent girl is the ideal which 
 we have for her future life. 
 
 The Mothers Ideal -for Her Daughter. Every mother 
 has her own ideals for her daughter's future. We must 
 have a care that we look first to the girl's best good, and 
 that we do not allow our personal desires or ambitions to 
 
278 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 stand in the way of it. The woman of the present day has 
 greater freedom than the woman of the last generation. 
 Progress demands this for her and she is better for it. 
 Keeping these new conditions in mind, the mother of to- 
 day should see to it that during the impressionable years 
 of adolescence her daughter receives such care as will fit 
 her to assume the responsibilities and to use the discretion 
 demanded by her larger freedom. 
 
 7. GENERAL SUMMARY 
 
 This very brief and incomplete discussion of adoles- 
 cence will perhaps be suggestive of the great number of 
 lines along which the care and interest of the parents must 
 extend in order to embrace all the opportunities which 
 present themselves. In closing it may be well to gather 
 together in condensed form, the chief suggestions for 
 parents which have been made in the two chapters treat- 
 ing of this period. 
 
 1. Be watchful and sympathetic. Consider no time 
 lost which is spent with your child. The mother who un- 
 derstands things which the child does not, must take the 
 initiative in many matters. Do not be discouraged or im- 
 patient if your efforts do not always seem to be appreci- 
 ated. If they are not appreciated now they will some day 
 be appreciated more than you can know. 
 
 2. Let the family discipline be elastic but not lax. 
 
 3. Encourage individuality. The development of the 
 child's idea of self is one of the marked characteristics of 
 the period, and interference with it will be disastrous. 
 Try to secure that kind of individuality which shall be 
 founded upon right and in harmony with the home life. 
 
THE ADOLESCENT GIRL 279 
 
 The child must learn that when he comes to be treated as 
 an adult, he must share the responsibilities of the home, 
 as do the other adult members of the household. No 
 parent who has had any experience will discredit the diffi- 
 culties and the delicacy of this transition period whether 
 the adolescent is a boy or a girl. 
 
 4. High ideals in the mind of the adolescent boy or 
 girl will prove a tower of strength. See that the ideals 
 are distinct and rightly applied. 
 
 5. Watch the social organizations which your children 
 form among themselves. Adolescents are naturally gre- 
 garious. They form little groups, remain together for a 
 time, separate and form other groups. Do not think that 
 they are fickle and unstable if this happens. It is nature's 
 way. However, it will be safer and better for all con- 
 cerned if these groups of young people can have as a 
 director and patron a sympathetic adult. Young people's 
 organizations are inevitable, but by themselves are unstable 
 and not always safe. 
 
 Besides these categories of "do" and "don't" there are 
 "remembers" which apply equally to the girl and boy : 
 
 Remember that the power to appreciate is far beyond 
 the power to express. Often we think that our efforts in 
 behalf of our children are thrown away. But could you 
 get close to their hearts as you sometimes do, in mo- 
 ments of confidence you would find that the measure of 
 appreciation is full and perhaps running over. Some in- 
 explicable but obstinate barrier seems to block the power 
 of expression and sometimes even impels the child to be- 
 havior which is the very opposite of that which he intends. 
 This lack of power to express oneself comes to every one 
 
280 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 at times, but during the adolescent period, with many ex- 
 periences new and strange, with the confusion of intellect 
 that is stranger still, the power of expression fails to keep 
 pace with the rest, and on this account the girl is often 
 thought unappreciative, and the boy is declared thought- 
 less and rude. 
 
 2. Remember, again, that in adolescence the soul is 
 being equipped for time and for eternity. We parents 
 who take such pains to have our homes beautifully fur- 
 nished homes which we and our children occupy but 
 for a few short years we who clothe our children's 
 bodies with care and taste, how are we furnishing their 
 souls? Souls are not like rooms. They will not stand 
 vacant even though we take no pains to furnish them. 
 Some one else will step in and furnish them if we have 
 left them barren, and this furniture may be neither useful 
 nor beautiful. 
 
 3. Remember that the home is a refuge and a resting 
 place. The present life is a life of action, and as we 
 strive to keep pace with it there should always be one 
 place where we can find an opportunity for the building 
 up of what has been torn down, one way in which we 
 may lessen the strain of the world about us. This place 
 is the home; this way is to make the atmosphere of the 
 home an atmosphere of repose. Let us make our homes 
 places where we and our children may rest and think and 
 plan and regain the harmony and clear-headedness which 
 we so often lose. If the homes of this generation are 
 not made centers of harmony and restfulness, the children 
 of this generation will not be equipped to go out into 
 the complex life which is already crowding upon them 
 
THE ADOLESCENT GIRL 281 
 
 and hold their own. They must do more than hold their 
 own, for it is to the children of educated parents that 
 society must look to raise the standard of manhood and 
 of womanhood and of Christian citizenship. 
 
 QUESTIONS FOR CHILD STUDY 
 
 1. What is the general aim of the present chapter? 
 
 2. What is the difference between adolescent manifestations in 
 the boy and the girl ? 
 
 3. Give the reasons for this. 
 
 4. What are the general physical signs of adolescence in the girl? 
 
 5. Why is the mother's part imperative? 
 
 6. Describe the change in the organs of reproduction at adoles- 
 cence. 
 
 7. Why is the health of the girl more likely to be affected at 
 this time than the health of the boy ? 
 
 8. Describe the dangers of imperfect development. 
 
 9. Name some prominent manifestations of ill-health often shown 
 by the adolescent girl. 
 
 10. What is said in this chapter in regard to Hysteria? Con- 
 stipation ? Exercise ? 
 
 11. Do you consider that the present mode of dress of the 
 American woman is adequate for health, comfort, and protection? 
 Why? 
 
 12. Describe the adolescent trait of introspection. 
 
 13. How does the adolescent girl show her emotional sensitive- 
 ness? 
 
 14. What do you consider the proper relation between the social 
 life on the one hand, and the home and school life on the other, 
 for the growing girl? 
 
 15. Describe the religious awakening of the adolescent. 
 
 16. What should be the mother's attitude towards her daughter 
 at this time? 
 
282 STUDIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT 
 
 17. What do you think should control the mother's plan for her 
 daughter's education? 
 
 18. What are the five points in summing up? 
 
 19. What are the three things to be remembered? 
 
 20. Do you think the home life of the average family is meeting 
 the social needs of the present time? Why? 
 
INDEX 
 
 Addams, Jane, 242. 
 
 Adenoids, 127. 
 
 Adolescence, 225; mother's prepa- 
 ration for, 227; boy's new needs, 
 229; general characteristics of 
 period, 223; later physical 
 changes, 236; greatest danger 
 during, 239; mental phases of, 
 246; changes during, 261; men- 
 tal changes during, 269. 
 
 Adolescent girl, health of, 263; 
 education of, 276. 
 
 Angell, J. R., 167, 173, 201. 
 
 Anger, 178. 
 
 Attention, power of, 197. 
 
 Authority, rebellion against, 249. 
 
 Baby, keeping warm, 21, 23. 
 Baldwin, J. M., 158, 159, 167, 193. 
 Barnes, Earl, 165, 217. 
 Bashfulness, 157. 
 Bathing the baby, 15. 
 Boastfulness, 105. 
 Bottle, hot-water, 22. 
 Brain, building, 92. 
 Breathing, 25, 60. 
 Burnham, W. H., 60. 
 
 Cabot, Ella Lyman, 166, 170, 173. 
 
 Carbohydrates, 45. 
 
 Catarrh, 128. 
 
 Chafing, 24. 
 
 Chair, nursery, 24. 
 
 Chest, at birth, 13. 
 
 Child, a normal, 40; a perfect, 40; 
 
 nervous, 61, 63. 
 Child-training, qualities needed 
 
 for, 191. 
 Chittenden, R. H., 42, 44, 45, 47, 
 
 52. 
 
 Church, attendance, 220. 
 Cigarettes, 137. 
 Clothing, first, 15; baby, 26; often 
 
 injurious, 267. 
 
 Coe, A. E., 205, 216, 220, 221. 
 Companionship, 95, 152, 244. 
 Conscience, 222. 
 Constipation, infant, 23, 136. 
 Cortex, 35. 
 
 Crime, increase of, 241. 
 Cruelty, 106. 
 Curiosity, 103. 
 
 Dangers, of forced social life, 140. 
 Day, Dr. W. H., 219. 
 
 Deafness, causes of, 126. 
 
 Diet, changes in, 20; second year, 
 
 Discipline, 36, 206; reasoning used 
 in appeal to Intellect, 210; aim 
 in all, 212; nature of family, 
 250. 
 
 Disobedience, 175. 
 
 Ears, 58, 71; troubles, 59, 125. 
 
 Eating, 54. 
 
 Environment, 73. 
 
 Exercise, 266. 
 
 Eyes, 58, 70, 77; troubles, 59; in- 
 crease of troubles, 124; signs 
 and causes of, 125. 
 
 Face, 77. 
 
 Fatigue, 66. 
 
 Fats, 46. 
 
 Faults, children's, 170. 
 
 Fear, how to overcome, 98; 
 moral dangers of, 102. 
 
 Feeding, times of, 19; night, 19. 
 
 Field, Walter Taylor, 154, 155. 
 
 Fighting, 108. 
 
 Food, for baby, 15; care of, 17; 
 how nourishes, 41; classes of, 
 43; grouping of, 46; proteid, 47; 
 carbohydrates, 47; fat, 48; min- 
 eral matter in, 49; selection of, 
 50; adaptation of, 51. 
 
 Forbush, W. B., 154, 171, 206, 226, 
 242, 248. 
 
 God, idea of, 216. 
 
 Griffith, J. P. C., 12, 17, 21, 23, 30, 
 
 32, 33, 57, 129, 133. 
 Growth, 56. 
 
 Habit, formation of, 196; economy 
 of, 198; physiological phase of, 
 199; moral phase of, 200. 
 
 Hall, G. Stanley, 119, 122, 139, 178, 
 241, 247. 
 
 Head, at birth, 12; of baby, 31, 
 76. 
 
 Health, effect of school life upon, 
 117. 
 
 Home, significance of, 190; func- 
 tion of in religious training, 215; 
 religious services in, 220. 
 
 Hough and Sedgwick, 42, 126. 
 
 Imagination, apparent untruthful- 
 ness through, 173. 
 
 283 
 
284 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Imitations, the first training, 192; 
 deliberate, 194; parents' respon- 
 sibility, 195. 
 
 Individuality, awakening of, 247. 
 
 Instincts, 97; for collecting, 162. 
 
 Interests, dominant, 160; bad, 
 163. 
 
 Introspection, 247. 
 
 James, William, 163, 202, 203. 
 Judd, Dr. C. H., 58, 61. 
 
 King, Irving, 35, 150, 151, 160. 
 Kirkpatrick, E. A., 56, 122. 
 Kock, Fritz, 139. 
 
 Lancaster, E. G'., 246, 274. 
 
 Language, a sign of brain devel- 
 opment, 79; general laws, 82; 
 help in, 88; baby talk, 89; bad, 
 107. 
 
 Laziness, 172. 
 
 Limbs, at birth, 14. 
 
 Liquor, 237. 
 
 Locomotion, 25. 
 
 Manners, bad, 171. 
 
 McKeever, W. A., 138. 
 
 Meanness, 174. 
 
 Measurements, abnormal, 30. 
 
 Measuring baby, 29. 
 
 Memory, 166; function of, 167; 
 
 how to strengthen, 168; drill, 
 
 169. 
 
 Milk, 49. 
 Milk mixture, 17. 
 Money, child's idea of, 164. 
 Motor-ideals, 123. 
 Mouth, 78. 
 
 Muscles, location of, 122. 
 Muscular system, 121. 
 Music, 156. 
 
 Nails, 29. 
 
 Needs, first, 11. 
 
 Nerves, 61. 
 
 Nervous, responses, 91. 
 
 Nervous system, 72; and brain, 
 
 134. 
 
 Nose, 126. 
 Nutrition, 41; good and bad, 55. 
 
 Obedience, 197. 
 
 O'Shea, Dr. M. V., 82, 160, 193. 
 
 Ownership, 104. 
 
 Parent-teachers' associations, 142. 
 
 Perception, 69. 
 
 Physical conditions, 116. 
 
 Physical life, 39. 
 
 Physical weakening, 75. 
 
 Play, a factor in mental develop- 
 ment, 90; timeliness in, 94; with 
 mother, 95; adequate, 123. 
 
 Posture, 131. 
 
 Praise, love of, 159. 
 
 Preyor, W., 14. 
 
 Proteids, 44. 
 
 Punishment, corporal, 206; threat- 
 ening, 208; personal appeal, 209; 
 social appeal, 209. 
 
 Pyorrhea, 131. 
 
 Quarreling, 96. 
 Questions, child's, 151. 
 
 Rankin, F. M., 137. 
 
 Reading, 111; the child's own, 155. 
 
 Records, 80; of health of a deli- 
 cate girl, 147; of a boy, 148. 
 
 Richards, Dr. C. H., 219. 
 
 Right, ideas of, 216. 
 
 Rowe, S. H., 63, 120, 124, 132, 133, 
 138, 145, 146, 163, 168, 199, 200, 
 208, 210. 
 
 School, mother's relation to, 110; 
 effect of, 110; crowding in, 112; 
 school boards, 144; conditions in, 
 144. 
 
 School-life, 109; influence of, 151. 
 
 Self-consciousness, 75. 
 
 Self-control, 37. 
 
 Self -pollution, danger in, 239; how 
 to conquer, 242. 
 
 Selfishness, 180. 
 
 Sensations, 69. 
 
 Senses, special at birth, 14; spe- 
 cial, 35, 70. 
 
 Sex, origin of, 255. 
 
 Sexes, polarity of, 250; differences 
 in manifestation, 257. 
 
 Sharp, Frank Chapman, 187. 
 
 Shyness, 74. 
 
 Skin, at birth, 13. 
 
 Smile, first, 82. 
 
 Social life, 272. 
 
 Society, 139. 
 
 Soft spots, 12. 
 
 Spine, curvature of, 133. 
 
 Stories, told by mother, 153. 
 
 Suggestion, 243; mental, 272. 
 
 Sunday School, 221. 
 
 Swift, E. J., 163. 
 
 Tables, for head and chest, 32; 
 height and weight, 33, 57, 120. 
 
 Talk, learning to, 81. 
 
 Tanner, Amy, 157. 
 
 Teasing, 174. 
 
 Teeth, first, 27; care of, 28; first 
 permanent, 128. 
 
 Throat, 58. 
 
 Tobacco, 237. 
 
 Training, reason for apparent 
 failure, 213; religious, 215; re- 
 ligions, time for, 218. 
 
 Trunk, lower, 13. 
 
 Truth and untruth, 182. 
 
 Tyler, J. M., 12, 13, 22, 31, 43, 62, 
 121, 133, 160, 195, 204, 209, 264. 
 
INDEX 285 
 
 Untruthfulness. causes of, 183. 
 
 Vnrnltine- 23 Will. the function of, 201; 
 
 strengthening of, 203; applying, 
 
 Warner, Francis, 35, 40, 60, 63, 64, 204 
 
 135 147 265. Words, first, 83. 
 
 Watchfulness,' cause for, 43. Writing, 111. 
 
 Weakness, physical, 75. Wrong, ideas of, 216. 
 
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