SPONTANEOUS EFFORTS WITH COLORS, 1894 TO 1898. *>"' OF THE ' f r UNIVERSITY A STUDY OF A CHILD BY Z) LOUISE E. HOGAN { I ILLUSTRATED WITH OVER 500 ORIGINAL DRAWINGS BY THE CHILD NEW YORK AND LONDON HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS 1898 vn Copyright, 1898, by HARPER & BROTHERS. All rig/it* retcrved. THE interest awakened in America and Europe by the child-study movement, the fascination that lies in the sayings and the doings of children, and especially the expressed desire of psychologists, physicians, and teachers for opportunity to study individual child records, both normal and abnormal, have led to the preparation of this book, with the hope of entertain- ing the general reader and of stimulating interest in practical methods for mental, moral, and physical de- velopment of the child in the nursery. Professor Ladd, of Yale, says in a recent work (Out- lines of Descriptive Psychology), that of six sources of psychology, one is " observation of the mental processes of infants and children. ... as necessary to a better analysis of the mature mental processes of man and to the detection of hitherto concealed factors within them." Such understanding, he says, is indispensable to the understanding of human men- tal life as being, what it undoubtedly is, a develop- ment. Dr. Arnold, of Rugby, whose stand for the principles of humanity in education is known throughout the world, declared boyhood to be an inferior state, a dangerous iii PREFACE time, when temptation is great and resistance exceed- ingly small ; and be said that the change from boyhood to manhood should be hastened, for the growth of his character and for the development of the love of un- selfishness and fear of God. More in keeping, how- ever, with accepted educational theories of to-day, John Corbin says, in this connection, in his study of School- boy Life in England that since Arnold's day many experiments have been made in bringing up boys, and many thoughtful men have written on the subject, and in consequence we are more likely to respect the state of boyhood and sympathize with it, to regard it as necessary and beautiful rather than dangerous, and to believe that the more fully a boy learns to be a boy, the more thoroughly he will be a man when the time comes. He adds, forcibly : " In its way, boyhood is as little to be avoided as old age. Both were ordained by the Power that no one has ever understood ; they are equally necessary for the fulness of life, and * equally beautiful." The history of the child Harold is given exactly as it was originally written, with but few additional ex- planatory remarks concerning the course taken to pro- duce the results recorded. This plan has been followed as most likely to attract the attention of the general reader whose aid in furnishing child-diaries is asked for by scientists ; yet the record, though unclassified, will be of no less value to the student. As the re- sults are obvious, the reader may draw his own con- clusions. A portion of the record and the introductory chapter were sent to Dr. Preyer, and annotations to the manu- script, which are duly noted, were received in reply, iv PREFACE with several letters of singular charm, in one of which he says : " Since fifteen years, when the first German edition of my book on The Mind of the Infant was published, I have wished that a lady, after having studied the work done, would let a child develop itself naturally and without continually interfering with mother - nature. I actually brought my boy up in this way, and he is always happy. The boy you have observed seems to have been educated in a similar way. I feel nearly sure we are sailing carefully, but with energy, in exactly the same direction. I think the wish I mentioned will soon be fulfilled by you to my heart's content. Mind you do not go too deep into psychology controversies would spoil the effect of your observations, which in many cases may serve as a practical guide, without any commentary. When some years ago I was often asked to write a popu- lar nursery psychology with my pedagogical rules, I always answered that such a manual must be written by a mother who has not intrusted her baby to nurses, but brought it up and thoroughly studied it lov- ingly herself, and I added that I would help any lady who would undertake the lengthy but very pleasant work." The recent and much lamented death of Dr. Preyer adds special significance to these words, which illus- trate so clearly the comprehensive character of the work to which his life was given. While the gradual development of an infant during its first year may be of great interest to both scientist and mother, the quaint and fanciful tangents of a child's self - activity during the years following closely upon infancy are the most absorbing to the general reader, PREFACE and for this reason the following selections have been made as illustrative of various stages of unconscious growth, and as not altogether of simply scientific interest. LOUISE E. HOG AN. NEW YORK, June, CONTENTS INTRODUCTION PAGE Reasons for Child-Study in the Home 1 CHAPTER I Fragmentary First- Year Notes : 15 CHAPTER II Second Year Covering Development, of Language, and, Inci- dentally, the Cultivation of Obedience and Trust 22 CHAPTER III Third Year Language and Other Incidental Development Con- tinued 76 CHAPTER IV Fourth Year Record of Spontaneous Development After the Child was Three Years Old, with Selections of Drawings and Cuttings, all Mental Pictures, Done as a Result of Self- Activity, and Accompanied by the Child's Explanations 140 CHAPTER V Fifth Year Record Continued Nature Stories Training Butterflies and White Mice The Child's First Effort at Relating a Story 149 vii CONTENTS CHAPTER VI PAGE Sixth Year Number-Work Composition Fancy The Story of Kitty The Adventures of a Lady-Bug 167 CHAPTER VII Seventh Year Learning German, Writing, and Spelling through Play A Bedtime Question Talk Comparison Questions and Answers The Child's Song to His Colors Two Stories Told by the Child 181 CHAPTER VIII Eighth Year Efforts at Arithmetic "A Story all Upsidedown" and "A Wonderful Dream" Told by the Child Memory- Work Conception of Fractions Development in Drawing and Designing 215 ILLFSTKATIONS SPONTANEOUS EFFORTS WITH COLORS, 1894 TO 1898. . Frontispiece NO DATE DRAWINGS Faxing p. 94 NO DATE DRAWINGS 108 NO DATE DRAWINGS 120 1892 AND 1893 DRAWINGS AND CUTTINGS THE CHILD'S EARLIEST EFFORTS 132 1893 DRAWINGS THREE YEARS OLD 134 1893 AND 1894 DRAWINGS 136 1894 CUTTINGS " 138 1893 DRAWINGS ENGINES " 140 1893 DRAWINGS BOATS, TROLLEYS, ETC " 142 1893 DRAWINGS ENGINES THREE YEARS OLD ... " 144 1893 DRAWINGS THREE YEARS OLD " 144 1893 DRAWINGS " 146 1893 DRAWINGS THREE YEARS OLD " 148 1894 CUTTINGS AND 1893 AND 1894 PRINTED LETTER WORK " 150 1894 CUTTINGS FOUR YEARS OLD " 150 1894 CUTTINGS OF ENGINES " 152 1894 ENGINE AND CAR CUTTINGS FOUR YEARS OLD . " 152 1894 DRAWINGS FOUR YEARS OLD " 154 1894 DRAWINGS FOUR YEARS OLD " 154 1894 DRAWINGS " 156 1894 DRAWINGS FOUR YEARS OLD " 156 1894 DRAWINGS FOUR YEARS OLD " 158 1894 DRAWINGS FOUR YEARS OLD " 158 DINNER FOR TWO " 160 THE BUTTERFLY'S BATH " 162 x ILLUSTRATIONS THE BUTTEKPLY ON THE CURTAIN Facing p. 164 1895 AND 1896 DRAWINGS " 166 1895 DRAWINGS " 168 1895 ENGINE DRAWINGS FIVE YEARS OLD .... " 170 1895 DRAWINGS FIVE YEARS OLD " 172 1895 DRAWINGS FIVE YEARS OLD " 172 1895 DRAWINGS FIVE YEARS OLD " 174 1895 DRAWINGS FIVE YEARS OLD " 174 1895 BOAT DRAWINGS FIVE YEARS OLD " 176 1895 DRAWINGS FIVE YEARS OLD " 176 1895 DRAWINGS FIVE YEARS OLD " 178 1895 CUTTINGS FIVE YEARS OLD . . " 180 1896 DRAWINGS " 182 1896 DRAWINGS SIX YEARS OLD " 184 1896 DRAWINGS SIX YEARS OLD " 186 1896 DRAWINGS SIX YEARS OLD " 188 1896 DRAWINGS " 190 GRADED EFFORT AT WRITING COMPOSITION AND EARLY EFFORTS AT NUMBERS " 192 1896 DRAWINGS SIX YEARS OLD " 196 1896 CUTTINGS AND DRAWINGS SIX YEARS OLD ... " 200 1896 CUTTINGS SIX YEARS OLD " 204 EARLY CUTTINGS AND WRITINGS " 208 1896 CUTTINGS AND DRAWINGS " 212 A LESSON IN ADDITION Page 215 A LESSON AND ITS RESULT : EARLY ATTEMPTS AT SUB- TRACTION, DIVISION, AND MULTIPLICATION ... " 2*6 1897 DRAWINGS SEVEN YEARS OLD Facing p. 216 1897 DRAWINGS SEVEN YEARS OLD " 216 1897 DRAWINGS " 218 1897 DRAWINGS SEVEN YEARS OLD " 218 1897 AND 1898 DRAWINGS . "218 A STUDY OF A CHILD A STUDY OF A CHILD INTRODUCTION REASONS FOR CHILD- STUDY IN THE HOME PKOFESSOE COMPAYEE says : " If childhood is the cradle of humanity, the study of childhood is the natural and necessary introduction to all future psychology." Lowell says : " We were designed in the cradle, per- haps earlier, and it is in finding out this design and shaping ourselves to it that our years are spent wisely. It is the vain endeavor to make ourselves what we are not that has strewn history with so many broken pur- poses and lives left in the rough." Dr. Harris, United States Commissioner of Education, says parents and teachers are directly concerned with the aggregation of facts of value gathered by child- students, and from which is being evolved a new edu- cation, which deals in explanations which are the key- note to infant development. Perez says, in The First Three Years of Childhood: " The business of psychological educators is much more concerned with the habits that children may acquire, and with their wills, which are also developed by habitual A STUDY OF A CHILD practice, than with the development of their moral conscience. The latter is the blossom which will be followed by fruit, but the former are the roots and branches." Professor Sully says in his introduction to this work that the cardinal principle of modern educational the- ory is that systematic training should watch the spon- taneous movements of the child's mind and adapt its processes to these. It is in the first three or four years of life that we have the key to the emotional and moral nature of the young. He says, " if the study be deferred to school-life, it will never be full or exact. The arti- ficial character of even the brightest school surroundings offers too serious an obstacle to the free play of childish likings." He says, further, that nothing, perhaps, has been more misunderstood than childhood ; that few have the disposition to seriously endeavor to think themselves into the situation and circumstances of the child, casting aside their own adult habits of mind and trying to become themselves for the moment as little children, and that the man to whom children will reveal themselves is not he who is wont to look on them as a nuisance or a bore, but he who finds them an amuse- ment and a delight, who likes nothing better than to cast aside now and again the heavy armor of serious business and indulge in a good childish romp. He sug- gests the father as an observer, because his masculine intelligence will be less exposed to the risk of taking too sentimental and eulogistic a view of the baby mind ; but he says the father cannot, however, hope to accomplish the task alone. His restricted leisure compels him to call in the mother as collaborates, and " the mother's enthusiasm and patient, brooding watchfulness are need- CHILD-STUDY IN THE HOME ed quite as much as the father's keen, analytic vision. The mother should note under the guidance of the father, he taking due care to test and verify. In this way we may look for something like a complete record of infant life." In his recent work, Studies of Childhood, he says that the greatest desideratum to-day for practical re- sults in child-study is the study of individual children as they may be approached in the nursery; that en- vironment, heredity, and methods of education should all be noted in relation to the child in question if the record is to be of the greatest value. In view of the fact that children as well as their environments differ very widely, he says we need to know much more about these variations ; that there is no substitute for the careful, methodical, study of the individual child, and that the co-operation of the mother is indispensable, as the knowledge of others never equals that of the mother. He predicts that women will become valuable laborers in this new field of investigation if they will only acquire a genuine scientific interest in babyhood and a fair amount of scientific training. He indicates the necessity of careful training in observation, because a child is very quick to see whether he is being ob- served, and as soon as he suspects that you are specially interested in his talk he is apt to try to produce an effect. This wish to say something startling or won- derful will, it is obvious, detract from the value of the utterance. Stanley Hall also points out that child-study is espe- cially the woman's province of work, that all teaching, especially of the very young, must always be a work of love to be really effective, and that child-study should 3 A STUDY OF A CHILD be so directed as to instruct concerning child-nature and awaken, child-love. He also says the love of childhood and youth has always been one of the strongest in- centives to high thoughts and noble deeds, and, quite apart from its results, the study of children is good in itself, enriches parenthood, and brings the adult and the child nearer together. To sum up authorities, the late Dr. Preyer, whose work in child-study is known all over the world, says, in Infant Mind : " But, after all, the observation in mental development in the earliest years naturally falls to the mother more than to any other person ; that other per- sons also, teachers, both male and female, fathers, older brothers and sisters, are to be induced to consider the importance of the facts in this field, which has, indeed, been lying open for hundreds of years, but has been little trodden, and is therefore a new field." He continues : " Although the little child shows him- self to the observer always without the least dissimula- tion, still there is great danger with the anthropomor- phic tendency of most people in their way of looking at things, that more will be attributed to the child than actually belongs to him." He says, " new comprehen- sive diaries concerning the actions of children are urgently to be desired, and they should contain noth- ing but well-established facts, no hypotheses, and no repetition of the statements of others." Following such suggestions as these, I began seven years ago to observe systematically a healthy, happy, and intelligent child, endeavoring to keep constantly in view the fact that he was but one of many, and taking no liberty of expression whatever beyond recording facts. The record was taken at intervals under exceptionally 4 CHILD-STUDY IN THE HOME favorable circumstances, for he was trained under what might be called the Pestalozzian principle of letting alone, with unconscious supervision in a carefully guarded en- vironment which supplied a great number of centres of interest that were full of indirect suggestion. Preyer says in one of his works : " The more numerous the sounds of interest imitated, the quicker the child will learn to talk ;" he noted later, however, in one of the letters, be- fore mentioned, " but their then mental development may thus be disturbed." It was for fear of such disturb- ance that no formal teaching of any kind was allowed until the end of the sixth year, but all questions were carefully answered, and effort was made to see that the answers were clearly understood. Servants were in- structed to refer the child to his parents for answers to all questions they did not themselves comprehend, and sufficient supervision was given to see that these direc- tions were followed. All baby-talk was forbidden, and great care was taken to enunciate distinctly. Surround- ings were carefully planned to meet growing needs from the moment he began to notice things. The record is therefore one of spontaneous development of self-activ- ity produced as a result : (1) of suggestion, based upon a carefully considered environment ; (2) of accurate and sympathetic explanation, given only when asked for ; and (3) of carefully graded steps that were taken one at a time. (Dr. Preyer's annotation here was " Quite true.") Edward Gardiner Howe says : "Kestraint upon the part of the parent or teacher is a necessity to prevent giving more information than can be absorbed." He also says : " There is no subject so profound but its central truth can be taught to very small children, and a child can be led to any height if the steps are made short 5 A STUDY OF A CHILD enough." (Dr. Preyer here added, " This is not the case.") The results recorded illustrate, however, very clearly the practicability of Froebel's theory of inducing and guiding in the nursery a self-activity which eventually will develop power, cultivate observation and memory, produce accuracy, teach a child to think in short, de- velop every faculty a child may possess, and enable it to educate itself easily by giving it a technic, so to speak, and a desire for study which will continue through a lifetime if it is not dulled by routine method during the period following nursery life, after which time only must instruction become formal. This method of train- ing also affords the parent an opportunity of discovering inherent weaknesses and removing them by encouraging and sympathetic influences; for, as Mrs. Felix Adler sympathetically says : " In the case of children, they are sure to distress and discourage us, but we must not make the mistake of overlooking the light parts that balance the dark shadows. We must expect to find inconsisten- cies, curious incongruities, paradoxes in the character. If we study both good and evil traits, the good ones will enable us to eradicate the evil ones." It is a well-estab- lished fact that a child learns through playing and by having opportunity to let nature assert itself spontane- ously and without restraint, under watchful supervision of which, however, it must be unconscious yet how commonly we see nurses, and even parents, endeavoring to attract the attention of an infant, perhaps with the | idea of amusing, when most probably its only require- ; ment at the time is to be let alone to do what pleases it. \ (Dr. Preyer here added " Yes," and underscored the \ phrase). Instead of being quietly placed where the child 6 CHILD. STUDY IN THE HOME may reach it, a ball will be shaken to and fro, or up and down so rapidly that the babe's eyes are unable to fol- low it ; hands will be clapped so loud that the child be- comes frightened 5 the nurse will keep up an eternal jogging on the knee of the body of the child, with some curious notion of the necessity for constant movement as a pacifier. Some persons go so far even as to toss baby up and down as if he were a ball, while the poor little atom of humanity wants only to be let alone to find out for himself what all the curious things mean with which he finds himself surrounded. If the persons whose business it is to take care of infants would, instead of amusing themselves at the expense of the child's nerves, practise sufficient self-restraint to watch the efforts of a four-months' -old child when it is trying to touch a ball or any object within its reach and line of vision, as the one observed did when three and one-half months' old, the immense possibility would be evident at once of training a child to self-entertainment by simply letting him alone to find out about things and do for himself. (Dr. Preyer wrote in this connection : " Yes, this is quite true. Need not be verified. Even the shaking ot the cradle, of the baby in the nurse's arms, I strictly forbid, on account of the disturbance of the blood circulation of the brain.") A study of the record of the child observed should be sufficient to convince the most incredulous mother of the fact that she may save herself much care and worry and do much better for her child by shaping with a compelling hand the en- vironment of her nursery from the very beginning of its life, for it is at this time that a correct habit of body may be laid with very little effort, and it is also the time when many a child's life develops an impulse in 7 A STUDY OF A CHILD the opposite direction difficult to overcome in later years. If during the first six months a regular regime has been established in regard to hours of feeding, sleep, bathing, and letting alone, the mother will, by this time, have leisure to consider the needs of the awakening mind. Regularity in nursery routine, with its result showing in the serenity of the child, will give opportu- nity for study as to how best to meet the new require- ments, and also to take records of daily development for reference as to future guidance and study. Compayre says the better the child's health and the better he is fed, the more activity he has to dispense and the more active will be his motor faculty ; and inasmuch as physical care favors intellectual growth from the very first, that mothers shall provide intelligently for physical needs and beware of restraining this motor faculty, if it is not too great. Nervous children must be restrained, Preyer added. This restraint, however, must be wisely exercised, or not at all. Children are proverbially good when they are busy, but constant diversion is necessary to keep them so, because the child-mind is not capable of fixed attention for more than a few minutes at a time. Herein lies the value of the principle of suggestion in environment. It is possible and very easy for a mother who has any com- prehension of Froebel's inner meaning to prepare each day in a very few minutes, after her child has gone to sleep, a suggestive environment that will relieve her almost entirely during the following hours of any care beyond the physical, and even this may, if necessary, under proper direction and supervision, be delegated to a faithful servant. It is in the constant supervision 8 CHILD-STUDY IN THE HOME with wise and gentle guidance that the necessary work for the mother lies, not in the actual labor involved, which may be regulated according to circumstances. The usual attitude of the parent not versed in child- study is sceptical and antagonistic to reform. A very frequent excuse offered by such a parent for the careless training of children, and the consequent arrest of their physical, mental, and moral development, is that there are too many other duties pressing upon them to al- low of sufficient attention to these things. I have fre- quently heard mothers and teachers say, in a tone of scepticism, that child-study is productive of no practical good ; that children -have done well enough heretofore, and that they will do so again. One of the greatest results to be hoped from child -study is to show just such parents and teachers how much easier it is to de- velop good than evil in all children, and that letting " well enough " alone will never yield the greatest de- velopment of character, the true aim of education. The practical application of child-study must begin in the nur- sery and continue through the kindergarten and prima- ry school, which must all be in touch one with the other. Susan Blow says, pertinently, that notwithstanding all that has been said and written about conforming to the different stages of natural development, we still make knowledge an idol, and continue to fill the child's mind with foreign material, under the gratui- tous assumption that at a later age he will be able, through some magic transubstantiation, to make it a vital part of his own thought. But glaring as are our sins of commission, they pale before our sins of omis- sion, for while we are forcing upon the child's mind knowledge which has no roots in his experience, or call- 9 A STUDY OF A CHILD ing upon him to exercise still dormant powers, we refuse any aid to his spontaneous struggle to do and learn and be that which his stage of development demands. Thus we kill the creative activity, the absence of which in later life we deplore and endeavor again to recreate. It is true that it is the exceptional mother and teacher to-day who take up this question in any but a superficial manner, but it is not too much to hope that the day will come, and that very soon, when the practical results of the science cf child-study will have permeated every home of intelligence, kindergarten, and school, and when moth- er, nurse, kinder gartner, and primary -school teacher will work hand in hand, without stepping over the line for- bidden for normal physical development. From a foun- dation like this should arise a nation of people possessing such marked individuality and productive capability as would conclusively demonstrate the value of the work that has been done by men like Comenius, Pestalozzi, Rousseau, Froebel, Herbart, Preyer, and Horace Mann, and is now being done by Sully, Harris, Baldwin, Stan- ley Hall, and many others. A great impetus has already been given by these psychologists to those young parents, kindergartners, and primary-school teachers who have been alive to the true meaning of child -study; and Froebel's love for children and his desire for their happiness is understood more clearly to-day than ever before. Much of the physical restraint formerly in vogue among kinder- gartners and teachers, and the too close attention to method and the letter of his philosophy instead of the spirit, have disappeared, and the freedom of spontaneous play and self-activity have taken their place, to the mani- fest improvement of the child. 10 CHILD-STUDY IN THE HOME When we remember that Froebel did not expect his philosophy to be thoroughly understood for two hun- dred years, we can easily see how, after fifty years of imperfect elucidation, there still remains a great work for the kindergartner, and a still greater one for the mother in the nursery, to produce the necessary adjust- ment to educational methods which is required for spon- taneous development. Sympathy and suggestion must go hand in hand with trained method one is as necessary as the other but the mother's work must come first, for she has the first opportunity. She can prepare herself for this work by studying the philosophy of Froebel not necessarily his methods and then, by putting his principles into practice, she will find that the child's development in the nursery will be a sympathetic reflection of her own, and will unconsciously follow her own plan of study, which should lead directly into the hands of the kindergart- ner. It is evident to the careful observer of children in kindergartens and the primary schools that to-day parents need direct teaching more than the child, to be given in such a way as to influence children in the nursery before the most impressionable period of their lives has been passed. " This is very true," wrote Dr. Preyer, who lamented, with reason, in Infant Mind, that in cultivated families the children should be left alone so much with uneducated nurses, maids, ~bonnes, and that no counterpoise, as a rule, is supplied by a close personal contact with the child of the educated parents ; that the fathers have other claims upon them; the mothers, in too many cases, are hindered by so-called " duties " of society or by needless journeys. He says, 11 A STUDY OF A CHILD forcibly, that when a child grows up from the beginning under the influence of the suggestions of cultivated people, he must of necessity take with him into the period in which the nursery is left behind forever a considerably less number of naughty ways and a great many more excellences, with the natural result of being better fitted for progress than if undesirable ways must be first forgotten, and excellences, such as obedience, be bred in him after leaving the nursery. He says the direction of attention through suggestion never fails when used systematically. It is evident, therefore, that the mother who will interest herself in child -study and its results must find, by following this course of sympathetic supervision and intelligent suggestion, that she can easily and unobtrusively pre- pare her child for satisfactory work in both kinder- garten and primary school. The aid of a trained kin- dergartner of inspiring personality, or of at least a refined and educated nursery-maid, may be secured, if possible, very early in the life of a child. One, how- ever, should be selected who has learned the value of repose in handling children, and who can subordinate method as a means for the development of mental and moral growth. Undoubtedly one of the greatest dan- gers to be found to-day in the average kindergarten lies in the absorption of method and the aggressiveness of the teacher's personality to the exclusion of sponta- neity, and the self-effacement necessary upon the teach- er's part for the promotion of unconscious development in the child. "We can all, no doubt, as Rousseau says, " sit rever- ently at the feet of infancy, watching and learning." Sully speaks of Rousseau's belief that the infant comes l OF 1 UNIVERSITY CHILD-STUDY IN THE HOME unspoiled from the hands of its Maker, and is not born morally depraved, to be made good by miraculous appli- ances. The accepted belief of many psychologists of to-day is that every child comes into the world loaded down with inherited tendencies to evil, from which it will eventually suffer unless they are counteracted by opposing influences. The child is certainly unformed at this period, hence may be moulded for good or evil, and in consequence man's methods in training must be care- fully adjusted so as not to brush away the bloom of the "lovely grace of childhood." There is an instinctive goodness and gladness in every child that, in spite of evil heredity and depraved surroundings, will respond to sympathetic treatment. But to treat children sympa- thetically in order that we may obtain a clearer insight into their mental processes and know better how to guide them, we must certainly absorb the spirit of Froebel, who begs us to live with our children, not only for them, as so many do, and keep them happy. I have never seen a child who was not happy and in- clined to be good when well occupied. The letter of Froebel's philosophy was simply meant by him to be an aid in establishing a suitable environment to fit the com- prehension of the children in question, and it is invalu- able when properly used to keep them happily em- ployed. But if a mother happens to be placed beyond the reach of a kindergarten, or the aid of a kindergart- ner, she need not despair of attempting the work unaid- ed, for by studying Froebel's philosophy and reading his meaning with the eyes of love, she will clearly see how she may prepare for her child an environment of suggest- ion, and formulate for herself a method that will grasp the entire meaning of his play and occupations, with A STUDY OF A CHILD their wonderful results. Then, when she sends her child away to begin his life-work, she may feel that she has given him power with which he can easily handle the problems that will confront him daily, and that she has not only given him power, but has done it in a manner that has not hindered his physical development, the soundness of which will determine largely his whole future intellectual and moral life. Dr. Preyer here added : " Therefore, the controlling supervision of the physical development in childhood is the most important task of all young mothers." Fathers may assist in such work if they will but realize the importance of surround- ing young mothers with the serene, happy conditions in their daily lives that will impel them by their great con- tent to live with their children, as Froebel begs them to do, and watch over them with that brooding mother- love which should be the natural outcome of affection and consideration not denied them in their own relations of life. CHAPTER I FRAGMENTARY FIRST- YEAR NOTES THE dated record of the spontaneous development of the child in question began when he was fourteen months old, and comparatively few notes were made during the period covering the first year. The few facts that were noted may be of greater interest, pos- sibly, to psychologists than to the general reader. For instance, the child's first sign of early adaptation to surroundings, of which Compayre speaks, was possibly given when he was found contentedly sucking his thumb, after the fashion of many other infants, about half an hour after he was born. Both nurse and phy- sician dwelt frequently upon the importance of the fact that when the child received his first bath he lifted his head unaided from .the lap in which he was lying, thus showing to the popular mind^'an early inclination to know what was going on about him, again following the fashion of many other mortals, and to the psychologist great promise of brain power. He showed on the second and third days a decided disinclination to sleep in the nurse's arms, but he would invariably fall asleep easily when removed to his mother's arms. Eeceptiveness to sympathy may probably here be traced, for the nurse was unsympathetic. The child noticed color when he was a little over three months old. He was lying on a bed, near a hat 15 A STUDY OF A CHILD trimmed with stiff yellow flowers. He put out his hand and touched them. The rattling noise of the flowers must have pleased him, for when the hat was moved a little farther away from him, he stretched his body after it so he could reach and rattle them again. Dr. Preyer added an interrogation point to this incident, evidently questioning the date, for it was at that part of the manu- script that he pointed his question. When I wrote to him the last time I explained how I knew the date to be a fact, but his death intervened before I could receive a reply. The child had noticed some colored balls of red and white a few days before the hat incident. His nurse hung them near him, and he played with them while lying on a couch and kicking up his heels. He seemed happiest always when he was let alone and treated like a machine, and at even this early age he was fully able to amuse himself, as nearly all well children are when a wholesome regime has once been established. He objected to a Raff concerto for violin and piano, but tolerated Handel's Largo, although with a quiver of his lip. This was before he was four months old. The Raff music began just as he was going to sleep ; he cried bitterly on hearing it, and he was taken to the music- room to see if it would quiet him to see the performers. He cried continuously, however, as if he suffered. Then, as an experiment, the Largo was played. This seemed to soothe him somewhat, but his parents concluded that the violin was the trouble and laid it aside. (It is inter- esting to note that a year later he developed a great fondness for violin music, begging for it whenever op- portunity offered.) At this time a single voice singing would not quiet him, if for any of the numerous reasons of early baby- FRAGMENTARY FIRST-YEAR NOTES land he was not inclined to sleep ; but two voices, sing- ing in parts, would invariably have the desired soothing effect. (The record shows, later on, great susceptibility to rhythm and harmony.) The music of hand-organs always seemed to attract him, even before he was four months old. This he showed, at this early date, by pushing towards the window and jumping in his nurse's arms whenever the organs appeared. His eyes followed his aunt across the room at this same age (three and a half months), and he also looked at himself attentively in the glass several times, leaning over and putting his lips to his little reflection. When four months old he was taken to the shore. (His first tooth had appeared before this, and soon after his arrival several others made their appearance. He had sixteen teeth when he was a year old, the result, the physician said, of careful feeding and attention to hygiene). During his shore experience he was noth- ing more nor less than a little automaton, for by this time he had become habituated to his nursery routine, which was kept up undeviatingly. This automatic way of living was so marked that for a week a person in a neighboring room did not know there was a baby near, nor would she believe it at first when told. This serenity was undoubtedly caused by the thoroughly regular life of the mother, the nurse, and the child. He frequently took his morning nap within hearing of the hotel musicians, one of whom was the proud possessor of a trumpet ; even this could not conquer the child's regular habit of sleep. I mention this as being of prob- able interest to parents as well as to psychologists, al- though it is far from wise to put a child to sleep irre- spective of noise and light. B 17 A STUDY OF A CHILD The child's early sense of humor, which is a marked characteristic throughout the record, was shown by his manner of receiving the visits of a very jolly-looking physician who was an image of Santa Glaus, and at whom he would always laugh inordinately, even when he was only five months old, whether he was ailing or not. It grew to be so noticeable that once even the physician, seeing him laughing, without knowing the cause, shook his linger at him and said to the mother : u You must make that child stop laughing," when the child laughed more than ever, and the mother pleaded her inability to control what seemed perfectly natural and spontaneous. In the same spontaneous way he reached out his arms for the first colored servant he ever saw (a chambermaid with a fresh white cap and apron on), and promptly kissed her. (The record shows throughout a great lik- ing for what he called " lovely white.") This won the hearts of the entire hotel staff, for it was duly retailed by the favored recipient, and after that both the child and nurse were in no need of willing service at all hours and places, and under all circumstances. At this time the telegraph ticking and the washing of the waves were his two absorbing amusements during the few hours he was awake. Sailing had no terrors for him. The yacht captains called him " our baby." His nurse held him over the side of the boat, where he would contentedly watch the water dash against it, even when out on the ocean where the waves were high. (He always showed the same content when watching the splashing of his bath, and would look intently with much pleasure at the water running swiftly from the faucets.) Once, during a passing shower of rain, he settled down contentedly in 18 FRAGMENTARY FIRST-YEAR NOTES the stuffy Httle cabin of a sail-boat, where he apparently took in all his surroundings very quietly, just as he had done on the train when travelling to the shore, with never a murmur nor a cry, but always eager to see or do something. His wants were usually anticipated, which, with his regular life, may probably have had some influence in promoting this unlooked-for serenity. The only time he was known to be guilty of putting anything in his mouth after the fashion of children who are continually doing so when they should not, was when sailing one day he was discovered chewing a tarry bit of rope by a family friend who declared the child was only half fed and was hungry, this innuendo being directed at the mother for her well-known insistence upon regularity in feeding the child. The rope was replaced by something that seemed equally desirable to him, which method of removal may also contain a sug- gestion for that parent who believes in early discipline. When, after returning from the shore, the child was taken to the mountain, he showed a fancy for throwing pebbles and green grapes, which he picked for the pur- pose, while in his nurse's arms ; and all this was done, presumably, from imitation of some boys who played with him in this manner. He began to walk very early, stood up alone when nine months old, and attempted to sing when placed on a music-stool before the piano. He sang the music of two lines of "Annie Eooney " correctly, from imitation, when nine months old. His nurse-maid sang this song daily. At this time he showed a shrinking sort of fear when he heard a noise like a hammer striking something in the next room, and also when he heard a coal fall from the 19 A STUDY OF A CHILD grate. During an unavoidable absence of a day and a night upon the part of his mother, he cried, and appar- ently missed her. After her return, he would cry when- ever she approached the door by which she had left when she went away. One evening, when he heard his father and mother singing a duet, he joined in, in the most na'ive way, singing up and down to the very end, as if he couldn't help it. Every one about him was careful not to laugh at anything he did - f consequently his spontaneity was deliciously entertaining. He would at this time recognize the voice of a favorite servant when she passed the door on the outside, and he would call loudly for her. He began to try to say a few words at this period, as related in the dated record, and succeeded in walking a few steps. He crept very little. He seemed to give great attention to everything he did, so no doubt he soon learned that he could do better than creep, so far as locomotion was concerned. Compayre says the child's consciousness flashes forth at first in gestures, later in his babbling. Hence the particular interest which the observation of his outward movement offers as the sincere expression of his mental activity. (Compare an idiotic with a normal child the first quiet, the latter all motion.) Besides, these motions which we can follow and note with exactness, however slight may be the attention we may give them, are in themselves ps3 7 chic facts, and only to have described them would be psychology in itself. M. Anthomie speaks of the power of penetration that the mother's eye acquires, fixed with a sweet determination upon one she loves. The force of the tenderness creates between the parent and the child relations so close, a moral inti- 20 FRAGMENTARY FIRST-YEAR NOTES macy so deep, that the faintest heart-beats of the child re-echo in the ears of those that love him. Paternal and maternal love carry with them a sort of divination. Compayre says that the best psychologists of child- hood are those who have followed carefully, from hour to hour, the moral development of their own children. He says if the journals kept by a mother or a father, in which a careful hand registers from day to day the smallest incidents of the child's existence, are really the most precious sources of observation, all information, wherever it comes from, is welcome. Mme. ISTecker de Saussure recommended these records fifty years ago, saying: "I strongly urge young mothers to keep an accurate record of the development of their children." Much of the following dated record of the little life which rolled along so serenely and pleasantly may seem of slight value to the general reader, who is simply charmed with the fascination of children's ways, yet for reasons like the above none may be omitted, for we are told that the key-note of the whole psychologi- cal value of the work might prove to be found in those facts that might be omitted by one who does not know, yet hopes that herein is faithfully pictured the inner life of a child. CHAPTER II SECOND YEAR, COVERING DEVELOPMENT OF LANGUAGE, AND, INCIDENTALLY, THE CULTIVATION OF OBEDI- ENCE AND TRUST APRIL 11, 1891. Fourteen months old. I was reading aloud from Punch and Judy, which is fully illustrated. When I came to the place where Punch says, " Oh, my nose ! my best Sunday nose !" Harold touched his nose, then bent over and touched mine, and, placing his head against my shoulder, he screwed up his face in a grin and laughed loud twice in succession. The book was given to him when he was a year old, and ever since receiving it he has shown great delight when he sees the picture where Punch and Judy are turning their faces to each other, and Judy says, " Punchy, wunchy, dear old Punchy!" Harold always laughs aloud when he -sees this, and at any time of the day or night I need but say the words to make him laugh. Once I whis- pered them to him in the middle of the night, when he was restless, and he laughed loud, was diverted for the moment, turned over, and fell asleep. (The record shows to present date that he is keenly alive to fun, and ad- vantage of the fact was often taken for diverting him from what might otherwise have proved a source of trouble.) April 12th. "When putting away some of his blocks to-day I inadvertently put some in a basket with other 22 SECOND YEAR toys, but he reached for the little wagon in which they belonged, intimated that he wanted them all, and put them, one by one, in the basket, sometimes, however, stopping to build. I attempted to make a note of this with a pencil, which he took from me, tried to write with it, discovered that he had the wrong end of the pencil, and turned it about. The same day he saw a dog across the street. He looked intently at him and said something that sounded like "wow! wow!" He frequently says it upon seeing a little boy. He did it to-day, his manner showing distinctly that he meant it for the boy. One day this week, while in his coach on the street, coming home, he began to throw kisses just before falling asleep. He often does this when going out or when going to bed, and, according to Dr. Preyer, some association with farewell causes him to do it. He occasionally has an egg for breakfast, of which he is very fond. They are served to him in cups similar to those used at table. On Sunday he was in the dining- room, and as soon as he saw the egg-cups on the table he cried, apparently for an egg, and could with diffi- culty be diverted. One morning last week, when watching some one dress, he brought the shoes needed, one by one, from a closet near by, and took the bath slippers back in the same way. One day recently he voluntarily went to a couch, under which stood a pair of shoes, and car- ried them one by one to the shoe-case, set them down before the curtain, and then turned and seated himself on the floor before us, looking up as though he wanted to be praised. He often begs to be taken up into some one's arms to 23 A STUDY OF A CHILD watch the brushing of teeth. This suggested buying a brush for him, which he gravely puts in water now and brushes his own teeth daily. This morning, when watch- ing his mother brush her teeth, he picked up a brush lying near him and took it to his father, saying, ques- tioningly, "hab 'em?" He has said "hab 'em?" and "gib 'em," and "ups-a-dada" for over a month. He says the latter when lifting anything, or when jumping up and down. He often pretends to drop something from his hand, and pulls it up quickly, saying "ups-a- dada !" I think he learned this expression from his nurse. When he says " hab 'em ?" he hands you some- thing. He often picks up something from the floor a thread or a pin and brings it to you, saying "hab 'em ?" If he wants anything he reaches for it and says "hab 'em?" or "gib 'em." He often comes with his hand closed, looking very mischievous, and says "hab 'em ?" and on opening it you find nothing. About this time he learned what " no, no" meant. A cover that was used for a water-pail in the room next to his seemed to attract him very much on account of a hole in its centre, through which we would occasionally find him poking his fists. One day he was found there pretending to wash his hands. We then began to take him away from it and say " no, no," doing it quietly but persistently. One day nurse and I followed him at intervals no less than twenty times to do this, as a mat- ter of experiment, to find out whether he could learn what "inevitable" meant. Frequently he seemed to understand what we were trying to do, for he would often run away from us and go directly there, as if in a spirit of mischief, look at us and laugh as he stood there, while at other times he would walk up to it gravely, SECOND YEAR stand there, shake his head, and say " No, no." "We had the same experience with a linen-closet, the lower shelf of which had a little door which he could pull open very easily, and the lock of which we often found him examining very intently. (The record shows a keen interest in mechanics.) "We would find him sitting before the closet, door open, and all the clean towels scattered about him. He seemed to take a special delight in rum- pling them. We took him away every time, saying: "No, no; they belong to mamma." He soon under- stood that this too was forbidden ground. From this date we began systematically to teach him to consider the rights of others, and to touch nothing that did not belong strictly to himself. (The record shows that this was carried out unfail- ingly, but without severity, in order to keep the child fearless, and results recorded show complete success in the effort.) About this time we noticed how fretf ulness would disappear upon sight of his hat and coat, appar- ently in the hope of being taken out. A few days after the first experience with " no, no," he ran away from us through two rooms, going directly to the water-pail, crowing all the way as though he thought he would get there first before we could catch him. He did get there, and laughing as if he had done it for fun, stood waiting for nurse to take him away, and went without a struggle. One morning this week he found a bunch of keys at- tached to a chain. He seized them instantly, took them to an iron bedstead, and pushed the bunch between the spring and the frame of the bed, holding on to the chain and letting the keys move up and down as he pulled the chain, saying " ups-a-dada !" taking great delight evi- 25 A STUDY OF A CHILD dently in the clinking of the keys against the iron frame. He has been going repeatedly during the last few weeks to a chiff onnier, where he would stand looking up intently at the door of a little closet in it, which held a slender- necked claret-glass, of which he is very fond. He some- times would say " hab 'em ?" when looking at the door. We regularly opened the closet and gave him the glass to carry for a while, which he did with the greatest care and pride. He would then return it, apparently satis- fied, and we would replace the glass in the closet. One morning this week he broke it accidentally, but for two days he still went to the closet each morning in the same way that he did before he broke the glass. We opened the door each time to show him that it was not there, and at last he seemed to understand, and never went again. He has shown for some time a desire to fit things together, or to drop things into holes. To-day he was playing in one room with part of a broken toy a pointed stick with a hole at one end, through which he could put his finger. He did this a number of times, examining it intently where his finger came through the hole, when he seemed to be suddenly struck with some idea and started for the next room, going as fast as he could walk. As we never interfered with him unless we saw danger ahead, I followed quietly and saw him go directly to the water-pail before men- tioned and poke the piece of wood up and down in the hole in the lid of the pail, saying " ups-a-dada !" He came away without a murmur when I took his hand and said, " No, no," dropped the piece of wood at once, and took up another toy. We gave him some kitchen things to play with to-day, 26 SECOND YEAR as he seems to take especial delight in them, especially the contents of the bottom part of the dresser pots, pans, etc. Among those given to him was a new salt- box that looked like silver. Shortly after we gave him the lid, and although it was gilt and the box silver, he instantly fitted the lid where it belonged, selecting the box from several things on the table. He was sitting upon the table himself at the time. We then tried him with a quart and a pint jar of glass, each having covers to fit, which we gave to him at different times. He fitted them correctly without a moment's hesitation. He has begun dancing now when he hears street- organs, but only when there is a suitable rhythm. If he hears the music at a distance he drops his toys, runs to the window, and cries to be lifted up to see. The organ- grinders know him so well that he has them here daily. (When seven years old he showed a marked sense of rhythm, and although he had received very little musical instruction, he then picked out very pretty harmonies.) He is beginning to imitate the rag-and-slop man, giving a very fair imitation, as he runs through the rooms, gen- erally carrying under his arm, in imitation of the rag- man's bag, a journal full of mechanical illustrations, which is his pet book. He comes to my bed in the morning after having been dressed by his nurse, hands me my shoes and gown, say- ing "hab ? em?" and then hands me all the clothes he can find that he knows belong to me. When at last, after much of this sort of persuasion, I get up, he can hardly wait to call his father, which he does by going to his bedside and saying " ba " ; sometimes " baba." He has had a great fashion lately of kissing me at odd mo- ments, often on each eye successively, especially when 27 A STUDY OF A CHILD I am lying down face upward. This evening he kissed his father in the middle of a song, while he was holding him in his arms and singing. If we say " Sing, Harold," he will hum a few notes. He did it this afternoon when out in his coach, and also this evening when his father was playing a song. April 16th. Harold picked up my thimble to-day and brought it to me, took up my hand, and fitted it on my finger. April 18th. Since the 16th inst. he has himself used the bottle of lotion that was given by the physician to ease his gums during teething. He takes the bottle in one hand, puts his finger on its mouth, turns it enough to wet his finger, and rubs his gums. His coach parasol was used to-day for the first time since last summer, and he showed fear when placed under it. He looked up at the cover as if afraid to sit under it, and cried bitterly. I soothed and diverted him until he reached the street, when he seemed to forget it. To-day I took a dime from him to put in his bank, and when he saw it about to disappear he cried. April 17th. We tried to use an atomizer to-day, but he showed fear as soon as he saw it, although he had never seen one before, and he cried bitterly when I in- sisted upon using it in accordance with the physician's directions. He seems to show fear of some things that work in any way that he cannot understand, or where he cannot find the motive power. April 18th. I brought out the atomizer again, in- tending to use it. As soon as he saw it he left my knee, where he was standing, and walked very quickly into the other room, as fast and as far as he could go, and stood there and cried. I gave up all attempt to use 28 SECOND YEAR it from that time for fear of making him nervous, and because force was never used if it could be avoided. When his teeth seemed to hurt him I gave him the bottle of the lotion we used and told him to apply it himself, which he did in what seemed to me to be a very grateful way. (The record shows that when he was five years old his mother felt that something should be done to habitu- ate him to the use of the spray, if only as a precautionary measure for probable need during illness. It took her longer than a year, making the effort at intervals of probably a month, to teach him gently and without bribing or straining his nerves by using force, to use both atomizer and vaporizer. At seven it is still very evident that he dislikes them, yet he uses them bravely, showing how a victory of mind over matter may be brought about by patience and gentle treatment, and also how moral courage may incidentally be cultivated in a very young child.) About a week ago he walked to the wash -stand, and pointed to the pitcher and cried. I gave him some water to drink, and he took a great deal, apparently being very thirsty. "When offering him his bottle of milk this morning, he shook his head, said " No, no," and walked away. He seems to be strong-willed and self-reliant, but not capricious, perhaps because he trusts us. Last night he had two bottles in his crib. One con- tained sterilized water for use during the night; the other was a small, empty bottle, with an unpunctured nipple tied on securely. We gave him the latter to bite on during teething. He was very fond of it, was rarely without it, and took it to bed with him every night for a long time, where he would hold it tight in his hand until he fell asleep. About midnight he was restless, 29 A STUDY OF A CHILD and I gave him the water-bottle. He took a long drink, and when he had enough, compared the bottles in the dim light, shook the water-bottle, held it up, and looked first at it, then at the little one. At last, after doing this several times, he lifted up the little one, shook it, looked at it very closely, laid away the water-bottle, turned over, and fell asleep with the little bottle in his hand. Quite recently, when visiting his grandparents, they had an amusing experience with the little bottle. It was mislaid during the excitement of his arrival, and when bedtime came it could not be found. He refused to sleep. The entire household took part in the search, and at last it was found under the bed, given to him, and he soon fell asleep. It may not seem wise to be so de- pendent upon accidental circumstances, but his mother cannot quite make up her mind to deprive him of the comfort he takes in his " bot," as he calls it. (The record shows how he gradually dropped the habit himself as other interests developed.) Since January, when he was eleven months old, he has shown fear whenever he sees a wire dress-form that is in the sewing-room, and all our efforts to familiarize him with it seem to be useless. April 16th. He began to build with blocks to-day, placing five or six on top of each other with great care and precision. The words he has learned since November, when he was nine months old, are as follows, given in the order of acquirement: "Oh, mammam," "hab 'em," "gib 'em," " ups-a-dada," " wow wow," " bow wow," " ba " and "baba" for papa (he generally says "ba"), "by- bye." 30 UNIVERSITY SECOND YEAR I UNIVERSI V ^AUFQPH April 27. " Ssss " (which he says to dogs, cats, etc., pointing his finger). The first week in April he said "button" and "dollar." April 30th he said " cock " for clock, on seeing a very large clock at his grandfather's. He said, the same week, d ga" for cat, " rub-a-dub-dub," "eene, eene, mine mo," and " oo-oory-oooo " to a rooster in the immediate vicinity, which answered every time he did it. He was behind a fence, where he could not see the rooster. He had never seen or heard one, but on hearing this one crow he imitated him so accurately that the two kept it up for some time, and it was his favorite amusement during his week's visit. Said " dere " for there. May 8th. Said " tick-tick-tick " and " cock " for clock for the second time, upon seeing a large picture of a clock similar to the one he saw April 30th at his grandfather's. After he was dressed this morning he ran just as fast as he could toddle to his father, who was still asleep. He stood by him for a few minutes and said " up, up " several times, and looked very much disappointed be- cause this did not waken him. He stood quietly for a moment looking at him, and no doubt puzzling what to do, when he went to the other side of the room to the shoe-closet and very deliberately took out a bath-slipper, which he carried to his father, saying, as he put it on the bed, " up, up." Then he returned to the closet for the other one, and repeated " up, up " as he was bringing it* He had to make two trips, for it took both hands to carry each slipper. By this time his father was awake, and Harold seemed very eager to begin his morning romp without more delay. On May 10th (fifteen months old) he said " hark " ; also, " boo " for book, and the word " up." 31 A STUDY OF A CHILD On May 15th he said " goo " for good. He frequently repeats the following words to himself, as if trying them: "hark," "dere," "rub-a-dub-dub," "bow wow," "by -bye," "ups-a-dada," "up," "hab 'em," "ssss." He said " now" for the first time. On June 14th (sixteen months old) he called a boy by name (Paul), and on June 15th said "Bidyet" for Bridget. At this date he gabbles a great deal, making all sorts of sounds, and seems to understand when he is told to shut the door, kiss the cheek, bring mamma's shoes, bring Harold's shoes. He points to his eyes and his nose, or to mine, when asked where they are. On July 16th he said "Judy," and kissed the wire form of which he was afraid in January. Since July 1st he has seemed to grow accustomed to, and even be- come fond of it, saying " Lovely Judy." When we speak to him of it we say " Lovely Judy," etc., and pat it kindly, and in various ways we have tried to get him over his fear of it, with the above result. July 18th. To-day he said "bavy" for baby, and repeated it upon looking at a picture of one. He also pronounces " 1 " in clock now. July 19th. He walked up to the baby picture which hung on the wall, and repeated "baby" in a loving tone. He also said "out" distinctly to-day. He has said " outs " for a long time, but we could not discover what he meant until this month, when we heard him say it when he pricked himself with a pin. We then traced the connection between his expression and a word used by one of the servants " ouch" and had a practical demonstration of the influence of an unedu- cated servant upon a child learning to talk, for it took 32 SECOND YEAR a long time and much patient effort to teach him to drop this word. He opens his mouth and shows his tongue now when asked where it is, but he makes no attempt to say the word. He calls pussy "psss," drawing out the sound of s. Later in this month he called pussy "putty," and said "braw" for "broth." The words acquired from July 1st to 12th are " light," "bye," "how do," "coat," "cap," "stove," "door," and "shoes." He said "fire" one day recently, when he saw a lot of stoves at a hardware store. July 23d. To-day he tried to say, "Peep, Bidyet," peeping around the wire form. He now says, distinctly, " rock-a-bye " as he rocks himself to and fro. July 24th. To-day he tried to say " potato," and he said "go away" when some one was teasing him. He frequently says " no, no," shaking his head as he says it. He understands when we tell him to " sit on the floor," or to shut or open the door. He sings himself to sleep very often. He has one favorite that I play (one of Heller's Studies on Rhythm), which he tries to sing whenever he hears it. New words on July 26th and 27th are "bread," " blow," and " door," which he says very distinctly. Since July 1st he has said something that sounds like ^a-a-a-h," drawing it out between ah and oh, and mak- ing it slightly nasal. He says it very lovingly to his pussy, or anything in the way of pets that are alive. He will take his pussy in his arms, smooth her fur affec- tionately, and say it in the most loving manner possible. He has always shown great love for kittens or any live pet. c 33 A STUDY OF A CHILD To-day, during the visit of a friend, he tried to occupy my entire attention. Hardly thinking he would do so, I told him very suggestively to go to the piano and play and sing. He went at once, put his fingers on the keys, and tried to sing for about a minute, which served to divert him for the moment and gave me the freedom I wanted. A servant said to him to-day, " Peep, Harold !" when playing " peek-a-boo " with him. He instantly replied, "Peep, Bidyet!" although he had never said "peep" before. He always says " y " for " g " in her name. He imitates words very quickly and correctly for a child of seventeen months, and seems to understand the meaning of many more words than he says. July 20th. When building with blocks, pennies, or anything that he can place one above the other, he lifts both hands and exclaims, " o-o-o-o-o-o-o-e !" drawing out the long " e " indefinitely, as if very much pleased with his building. We let him amuse himself in this way for a long time, changing his materials as he seems to need them. We never change until he begins to show a little restlessness, for so long as a child is content it is folly to disturb it. In time this policy secures serenity for the child and peace for those about him. He now helps undress himself for his bath every even- ing, lifts each arm or foot when told to help remove each garment, and he evidently takes great delight in the whole process and is always eager for it. For a long time he has given an expression of distaste (sounds like " ugh !") when obliged to take medicine that he does not like, and he follows the sound with a shake of his head. When finished taking his bottle of milk, no matter 34 SECOND YEAR where he is, whether just about going to sleep or if reacty for play, he first hands the empty bottle to some convenient person, saying, "hab 'em." He does this every time, and we encourage the habit in the hope of inducing method in his actions. (The record shows that at seven he gives evidence of the results of this plan of action, for he invariably shuts doors when passing through them, replaces articles he may have used to where they belong, and in many ways shows a methodi- cal manner of action, even in his play.) He often leaves an ounce or more in the bottle. Noth- ing can induce him to take this when he reaches the point which to him seems final. July 28th. He said " baba " for papa to-day, for the first time for a long while. He has said " ba " only, with one or two exceptions, before this time. He now says " door " frequently, and says " bruh " for brush. Since August 2d he has said "birdie" distinctly, "bre" for bread, "bat" for bath, and " wa" for water on seeing a tub filled with it. A week ago he saw it rain very fast, and said " wat." When he sees a glass he says "wat," and will take a drink if we will offer water in the glass. He also says " wat" when thirsty, without seeing a glass to suggest it. On August 13th he pointed to the gas-fixture and said "li" for light. The next day he went to two gates in the yard, one after the other, and said " ga " at each one. The same day he saw a bird from a window in the nursery, and he went from one window to the other to see it as long as he could, saying "birdie," showing clearly how he reason- ed about seeing farther from one window than the other. 35 A STUDY OF A CHILD I took up a clothes-brush of his father's to-day as I stood at the dressing-case with him in my arms. He took it from me and said, " baba, bruh." I smiled, and he said it again and kissed it. He is very affectionate, and we all try to be as responsive as it is possible for older persons to be. Children are really made very un- happy at times by the chilling manner with which their affectionate outbursts are sometimes met. Snubbing and unkind criticism should have no place in a child's education when spontaneity is desired. On the 7th of this month (August) his father brought him a fox-terrier, called Jack, that had just arrived from England. Harold was delighted with him, and the dog seemed to be equally delighted with the child. He cried the first time the dog licked his face. "We could not punish nor train the dog to do anything in the child's presence by showing severity, for every time any one spoke sharply to the dog, Harold would cry. (The record shows this trait throughout. When only four months old he would cry if he saw another baby cry. "When seven years old he confided to his mother, one night before going to bed, what a little girl had told him in the day about her intention of drowning a family of young kittens. With tears in his voice and eyes, he said: "Oh, mamma, I cannot bear to talk about it! Will she do it ?" His mother said no, and further as- sured him she would not allow it. He then said : " If she does, I'll drown the mother kitty myself; if she wants to drown the babies, she ought to drown the mother, too." Then he said : " Mamma, it nearly makes me cry to even tell you." So she diverted him with a funny remark, which he is always quick to appre- ciate.) SECOND YEAR He follows his dog all over the house, plays with him happily, and loves him very much, but he tries to pre- vent him from touching him with his tongue. He often says to him in the most loving tone, "o-o-o-h," drawing it out at great length. He now goes to sleep regularly in his crib. Before this he was frequently held in arms while being sung to sleep, after which he would be quietly placed in his bed, and no trouble was experienced in making the change. He seems to trust us so entirely that he will do whatever we can make him understand is for his good. This trust is cultivated by never asking him to do anything simply for the amusement of others, or to show their authority, and he always gets a reason that he can understand when he is directed to do anything, unless instant obedience is required, as in case of danger, when the reason for the command is carefully explained after he has obeyed. (This may account to some extent for the reasonableness of his disposition as it develops later on.) August 14th. To-day, when giving him his nap, I for- got to pull down the mosquito-netting that was hanging over his crib. He pulled at it, saying " h'm," whether in imitation of the hum of a mosquito or not I cannot say. He seems to understand all we say to him, but we are careful to use words that we think he will under- stand. If I say : " Take this to papa, please," or, " Take this to Sarah, please," he distinguishes, and does it cheer- fully. He is always willing to do things for us, to run little errands, and if he sees anything drop from my lap when I am reading or sewing, he invariably stops his play and comes to. pick it up for me. In this way he shows all the time what seems like a loving wish to 37 A STUDY OF A CHILD help, which we are encouraging, for it is the key-note of self -activity, and promotes unselfishness. Sometimes I say : " Do you want your bottle ?" He understands, and says " Yes." When either the nurse or I must leave the room for a moment we say : " Harold, will you please sit still on the chair until I come back 2" He always says " Yes," and sits there, many a time singing to himself until we return. This plan was fol- lowed so as to be sure he would not get into mischief from undue temptation, for he is too young yet to resist. We always found it more effective and more pleasant to say " do this," or " do that, please," instead of say- ing don't." August 17th. When he awoke this morning he said " door," pointing to it. Then he pointed to the bell and said : " Bridyet, door-bell ringing." This was his first attempt at connecting a sentence of any length. He is now eighteen months old. He now calls his dog by name, adding a "y" to it, however, saying " Jacky." He also tries to make a sound with his lips to call the dog, in imitation of his father's method of calling the dog to him. August 21st. When I was showing him his "Piggy Book " to-day, he put his finger on each picture and then put it in his mouth and looked very knowing. Upon looking into the matter we found that yesterday his nurse wet her finger to turn a leaf and he imitated her to-day, but his action looked as if he thought he was eating from the book. He tasted his medicine to-day by putting his finger in. it before he would take it. He had two bottles of medicine that looked alike. He liked one, and objected decidedly to taking the other. After finding out, by putting his finger in it, that I was oifer- 38 SECOND YEAR ing him the one he liked, he took it without a word. When using vaseline for a head cold, he always helps put it on. He will put his finger in the bottle very daintily and rub the bridge of his nose and forehead thoroughly, but he often puts little dabs all over his face too, as if he enjoys it. He tried to help me push a piece of sewing through the machine this morning when I was stitching. He placed his hands on the work as he saw the seamstress do yesterday. He was on my lap at the time, where I often allow him to sit as I sew. He enjoys watching the machine go so very much that he will sit motionless so long as any one will hold him, maybe five minutes at a time gazing at the same thing. For three months he has pulled the strap of the machine voluntarily, look- ing up at the same time to see the needle move. (This interest in mechanics was allowed to grow spontane- ously by providing the right environment for it, and at seven he shows remarkable ingenuity and mechanical skill.) August 22d. Some little girls who live next door came home yesterday, and nurse asked Harold to call to one of them, saying, " Call Mamie," which he did distinctly, and, although he had never said Mamie before, to our knowledge, he repeated it several times afterwards. He always does this with new words, as if trying them. (The record shows that he did this without any acquire- ment of language up to seven years, and does it still, his favorite time for practice being after he wakes in the morning.) She also told him to call Alice, the sister. He tried to do so, but succeeded only in saying " Ell." His father has been away for a few days, and to-day he called " papa " after a man going by, and cried bit- A STUDY OF A CHILD terly because the man did not stop. I did not notice whether the man resembled his father or not. The father of the little girls next door resembles him, and this afternoon when Harold saw him he wanted to go to him. The gentleman took him for a while, and Harold cried when he was taken away. He evidently misses his father very much. About a week after this he was taken to the house of a friend where he saw a cuckoo- clock for the first time, and learned to say " cuckoo." Afterwards when asked what birdie said, he replied, " cuckoo." He has said " bi " for bite for some time. He heard it in connection with some conversation about mosqui- toes about the middle of August. He says " bavy " to me in the most loving tones. He will lay his head against me in the morning and say it when he wants to wake me. His head just reaches my pillow as he stands by the bed. He says it too, in the same loving way, when he thinks he has received a special favor. When- ever I do anything that pleases him very much smile to him, give him a kiss, or give him a trifle to play with that shows him that I thought of him when he wasn't there I notice what seems to me to be an attempt to show his appreciation. (The record shows that later on, when he could talk, he invariably said on similar occa- sions to his mother, either " Lovely mamma," or " Good mamma," or " Why are you so good ?" or he would kiss her and fondle her and say nothing, and at seven he still has the same habit.) September 8th. This morning I killed a mosquito on the wall by slapping it with my hand. He promptly imitated me, and also looked about the room and up at the ceiling to see if there were more of them. He 40 SECOND YEAR walked about with his head back, imitating every move- ment of mine. September 8th. He tried to say "girl" to-day on seeing a picture of one in the nursery song-book. I read " Mistress Mary, quite contrary," to him this morning. When I said " Mary " he said " Mamie," evidently recog- nizing the similarity in Mary to the name " Mamie " that he had learned a few days before. When he wants to go anywhere or to get something, he now comes to one of us and says " hand," and tries to lead us to what he wants. A few minutes ago he said to his nurse, " hand stair," leading her to the stairs that go down. He heard a person on the street say " wait " yester- day, and he called " wait " after him. To-day he called " papa " after a man on the street who resembled his father. There were other men in the vicinity, and he singled out this one. On September 5th his father took the dog away and remained over Sunday. Harold missed the dog at once when he woke from his nap; he called and looked all over for both his father and the dog. A few days after, when I said to him : " Call the dog," he looked under the bed and called " Jacky " distinctly. He has said " pease " for please since the middle of August ; also " ang you " for thank you. From the be- ginning of August he has said " hot " when near any- thing warm as, for instance, a stove, a fire of any kind, a dish of hot food, etc. He also says " flies " distinctly, and " band," meaning the knit band he wears. On September llth he said " hugar " for sugar. He has said it several times lately, but we did not under- stand until to-day what he meant by it. He also said " gas " and " bites " distinctly to-day instead of saying 41 A STUDY OF A CHILD " ga " and " bi," as he used to do, pointing to the gas- fixture when he said " gas," and to some marks of mos- quito-bites when he said " bites." While driving with Mrs. N this afternoon he put his face to his mother's, patted her cheek with his hand, and said, in a loving tone, "mamma." Later in the day some one said "mam-ma." He immediately said " ma-ma," which is the way he always accents the word. He leaned over to Mrs. N in the carriage to-day and put his hand up towards her cheek, saying, very affec- tionately, " o-o-o-h !" This is a very usual expression for him when he wants to show liking for any one. He always says it when he pets a dog or cat. He shows no fear of any one, and a liking for nearly everybody. To- day I showed him a picture of a dog. He said " o-o-o-h !" kissed the picture, and put it to my lips to be kissed. When I said "Call bow-wow," he called "Jacky." When he heard an engine go by to-day he said " choo- choo " for the first time. This evening we were looking at some pictures when I said, pointing to one that only resembled a rooster : " Is that an oo-oory-ooo ?" (his name for one). He shook his head and said " No." Yesterday Mrs. !N" offered him a piece of sweet chocolate. Her little boy is fond of it. Harold tasted it and returned it, showing by his manner that he didn't like it. I gave him a taste of something I had at the time and asked him if he liked it. He made a face, shook his head, and said " No-o-o." He always shows likes and dislikes very plainly, especially in connection with food. He saw a roulette- wheel to-day for the first time. He and N (a boy of the same age) were playing with it. 42 SECOND YEAR 1ST pushed it by the spokes ; Harold took hold of it in the middle and twirled it with thumb and forefinger in the regular way. One evening this week he was allowed to remain up a little longer than usual. After his bath he was placed in his crib, the gas was lighted, and he was given his " Mother-Goose " book and a copy of a weekly journal of mechanical illustrations, of which he is so fond that whenever he sees one he recognizes it and tries to get it. The next night, when being put to bed at the same hour, he asked for the book, pointed to the gas, said " gas," and kept repeating " book " as he went to his crib. He was again allowed to wait and to have the books. The third evening he showed that he expected the same thing, so he was put to bed as usual, just as if he was expected not to protest, tucked in, kissed " good-night " as usual, after having had his bottle of milk, the netting was pulled down, the room was darkened, and " good-night " was said. He evidently accepted the intended suggestion of " no books or gas-light to-night," for he fell asleep without a protest. He is trustful and very docile, and although naturally self-willed, he generally does just as we direct. It never seems to dawn upon him that he should oppose any one. For this reason care is taken not to provoke opposition, in order to preserve this spirit for future need when absolute and instant obedience might be required. (The above portion of the record shows very clearly how easily a bad habit might be formed by unwise indulgence. Bad in the sense of being unwise from a hygienic stand-point, for the neces- sity of freedom from mental excitement during the last hours of a child's day, and also of a regular hour for its bedtime, must be fully realized. It is through little 43 A STUDY OF A CHILD things like this that one gains the control that, later on, will bring loving obedience.) While we were out driving to-day Harold saw a lady riding by ; he opened his eyes wide and looked after her until she disappeared, for he had never seen a woman in the saddle before. I gave him some sugar on the tip of my finger at luncheon. He enjoyed pecking at it for some time, and then he tried to bite my finger, laughing heartily each time I snatched it away to escape being bitten. Last night I found that the key of my bedroom door was missing, and I felt certain that he had taken it, for every morning he is in the habit of carrying it to another room to open a door of which we have lost the key. To-day we found it in the corner of a drawer in the room to which he went daily with the key. I have often wondered whether he intended to save himself the daily trip, for he is a sagacious little chap. To-day, when making up his crib, I said, " Harold, bring me the sheet." He looked all about for something to bring but didn't know what I meant. I touched the sheet without saying anything, and he instantly pulled it from the chair and brought it to me. (A quick com- prehension can easily be cultivated in children by self- restraint upon the part of the mother.) September 14th. To-day he is nineteen months old. I said "moon "to him, pointing to it, and he repeated the word distinctly several times. Afterwards I returned to the window and looked out. He followed me and said the word again, remembering it clearly after the short interval. Just before going to bed he saw some of his books. He said " book, book," and " gas " as I lighted it. We then looked at the pictures. Every clock he 44 SECOND YEAR called by name, and put down his ear to listen. He kissed all the pictures of cats and dogs, and said " pud- dy" to the pussy pictures and " wow-wow" to the dogs, also saying " o-o-o-h " affectionately to each one, as he always does to pet animals. When it was time, this morning, he was told to call his father. He went to his room, as he always does, and wakened him in a very gentle, loving way by going to his side and saying " hm-m." This morning he made a great romp of it, alternately kissing and petting him, and then running away. He would then return again to the bed, put his head on his father's pillow, then say " bye," and run away again. He sleeps soundly, and does not want to wake, it ap- pears, until his hour for rising, for whenever he is dis- turbed he seems annoyed, and falls asleep again as quickly as he is let alone. At eleven last night I gave him his milk, for which he wakes voluntarily at the exact time. I placed him on my bed after turning up the light, shook up his pillows, and rearranged his crib. I then placed him in the crib, kissed him, said "good- night," and drew down the netting. He looked at me sleepily, laughed, turned over, and was asleep before I had time to open the window and turn down the light. When I go to my room late at night he does not stir. I have noticed that when he is well, and eats a light, early supper (at five o'clock), he sleeps soundly. The least indiscretion at his supper -time, or too much ex- citement after five o'clock, invariably causes restless- ness. (The record shows the same result throughout.) Every morning now he wakes about six, pulls away the netting that is over him, and calls me. I ask him if he wants some milk. He says "yes," invariably. 45 A STUDY OF A CHILD When I give it to him, he takes it himself in his usual fashion, holding up the bottle with both hands, so that the neck is full all the time. When he has had all he wants, he hands it back to me, generally saying " hab 'em." He sometimes goes to sleep again without a word, but generally he wants to get up ; if so, he calls his nurse, who takes him to the nursery and dresses him. He seems to understand that for another hour I am not to be disturbed, for he remains with her contentedly until it is time to call me, when he is all eagerness, first to get me up and dressed, and then to go to his father, who usually has a romp with him while he dresses. (It is very interesting to note how he accepted the habits of the household and adapted himself to them, as, for instance, he was quiet for an hour after he was up, and then he evidently thought it was time for others to rise, for he was heard everywhere. Habit had a great deal to do with this, and every one was careful not to disturb it by irregularity in his life. The mother claimed that he was at any rate much happier by being taught to consider others than he would have been had he been allowed, perhaps unwittingly, to be a disturber of the peace of every one around in the early morning hours.) This morning he discovered that he could slide his feet on the carpet and sit down suddenly by holding to me as he leaned against me. He did it repeatedly with great glee. Yesterday he climbed all alone up and down the steps on the porch, and he is becoming quite venturesome. This week he said " wagon " quite dis- tinctly when he saw one of his toy wagons. He also says " ice " now whenever he wants us to give him some, and broadens the same sound for " eyes." He still says " wat " for water. 46 SECOND YEAR He says "mamma" and "papa" correctly, but he still says " bavy " for baby, " hugar " for sugar, " bock " for block, " bot " for bottle. For a few days past he has shown temper, kicking and screaming when not pleased. I paid no attention to him each time that he did it beyond saying " good-bye," and going towards the door as he lay on the floor kicking. He got up at once and came after me every time, evi- dently forgetting all about the disturbance in his fear that I would leave him alone. He still says "puddy" for pussy. He often says " peep, oh !" and plays it on the slightest provocation. He claps his hands and tries to clap on mine. He puts his finger in his mouth and then offers it to me. He did the same thing once when eating sugar with his finger. He grows more affectionate every day runs up and touches us, lays his head or hands against us, saying "bavy" meaning himself in a long-drawn-out, loving tone that is indescribable. He frequently kisses little Mamie next door. He has selected her as his favorite out of a family of six children. September 22d. To-day he said " po-book " for pock- et-book, "toes," "pins," and also "water" instead of " wat," and " Tottie " for Topsy, his new dog's name. Two weeks later he said "han," then "fan," for fan. October 18th. He wanted to sit on a chair that had a towel on it. He evidently did not want to sit on the towel, so he brought it to me, saying "towel" dis- tinctly for the first time. It is curious to hear him use words as occasion suggests that we never supposed he knew. From October 1st to the 21st he has said " goose," " cushy" for cushion, and " neeze" for sneeze (imitating 47 A STUDY OF A CHILD a sneeze lie heard) ; " baa-baa " when looking at a picture of sheep ; " choo-choo walk carry papa " all in one sen- tence, when his father went to town one morning and he seemed very anxious to go with him ; " scissors," " fork," "poon" for spoon; "Gacky" for Jacky, "Tossy" in- stead of " Tottie," as at first, for Topsy, and " Bahdee," the name of a friend's cat, which we were taking care of at the time. He also said " hat " and " cuckoo " in one sentence on seeing a picture of the child N , who lived in the house containing the cuckoo-clock. N had his hat on in the picture, which he noticed instantly. He also said " hanger " for hammer, and " wet " for the first time. October 20th. He said lt winnow" for window, " coach," and " horsey moo " ; said " moo " to a cow also. Whenever he hears the door-bell ring now he says "bell." One day recently the electrician was here to repair the bell. He was very much interested, and watched him closely. Later in the day he said to Bridget, " Bishy, stairs bell wats " (meaning he wanted to go down-stairs and watch). This morning he reached for his tooth-brush, and said " toot-broush." He now says " broush " instead of " bruh," as he did at first. Said "baksy" for basket, "pitty" for pretty. When he gets cross and cries, we say " No, no, pretty," and he repeats " pitty," and clears his face at once, many a time looking up smiling with tears still in his eyes. He pointed to the moon and said " gas." He also says, now, " buttony " for button, and "knife" and "fork." He seems to enjoy saying knife lately, when he sees a picture of a fork. He waits for us to correct him, and then does it again with the next picture of a fork in his pet book, his eyes full of fun. 48 SECOND YEAR He says " banket " for blanket, and " hummer " when he wants to open things. We cannot find out what word he wants to use. We thought it might be " under," as he says it when he tries to lift the lid of a jewel-case or of a box on the table. Recently he said "hair," brushing it at the same time ; also "table," lifting the lid of a side-table when saying it; and"Bishy," when he saw a picture of a coal-scuttle, associating her with the fires she tends. When he saw a picture of a stove-lifter he said "hot." One night lately, before going to sleep, when alone in the dark, he said " Popp^, popp^ I see you, poppee. Bishy, Bahdee, poppee, poppee." We were away from home at the time for a few days' visit, and he seemed to miss them all. He pronounced "1" to-day in clock for the first time, and then said it only once. Said " tree '' for the first time when out walking. He always says "thank you" when we give him anything. A short time ago I took something from a servant without thanking her, and he did it for me. He often does this when he notices the omission. He says " mell " for smell when he sees my smelling- salts. Says "pins" and "pail"; "wing" for ring; "dum" for drum, and " schlissel " and " key " whenever he sees one either in the door or in his beloved journal of mechanical illustrations. The latter has a page full of pictures of various sizes of keys. We told him a key was a "schliissel'' in German, and he has called the book his " schlissel book " ever since. He said "wide, Mamie," the other day, for "ride, Mamie," when he saw a girl on a tricycle. He is accus- tomed to seeing Mamie P on one when he is at home. D 49 A STUDY OF A CHILD This month some one gave him a pack of cards with a picture of a dog on the back of each one. He will say "good-night" and kiss each dog as he puts the cards aside when he is done playing with them, sometimes kissing every dog in the pack. He says " pool " for spool, and repeats many words after us very distinctly. One morning he heard a clock strike, and said " cuckoo," recalling the cuckoo-clock we saw last summer. We are still at his grandma's, and he says " ganma " for grandma. November 1st. We are home again. To-day I told him to come to the nursery window to see the sunshine. He came, saying " tuntine," and all day he said it at intervals, lifting the curtain and looking out at the same time. He also said it when he saw some tin-foil with which he was playing. (For many months he called tin-foil sunshine.) November 2d. He counted three, four, five, six, nine to-day voluntarily. Some time ago his nurse counted a few cards for him, saying, one, two, three, four; he at once picked up three and four, saying " fee " for three, and ever since he has called his cards "fee -fours." When we count them for him he says six as soon as we say five ; also ten after we say nine. November 3d. Instead of repeating or counting with us, he said the above numbers himself. (The record shows exceptional interest in numbers later on.) When hearing a baby cry, he says " poor bavy." Hearing the question, " Have you used Pears' soap ?" suggested to him to say " Sares' soap," and during the day he often comes to me, saying u good - morning " and " Sares' soap " without waiting for my answer or question. 50 SECOND YEAR He now says " tsain " for chain, " wain " for rain, "cacker" for cracker. One day he tore his dress, and pointing his finger at it, said " o o-o-h." To-day November 4th he said, "seepy" when yawning ; also " seepy boy," and " here it is." He said "there it goes" when eating something, and when holding up an envelope he said " paper." November 6th. Said "house" to-day, while building blocks. He also called " Carrie " (a visitor) when he woke up, and looked in the next room for her. It is very amusing to watch him running to her with open arms, saying " comes," meaning " here he comes." This morning he said "here he comes" when pushing his foot through his clothes when dressing, and he also said "here it goes" when eating some stewed celery at dinner. November 7th. He said " foot clock " to-day, point- ing to the feet of a clock ; " apple-butter "; and he sai4 " seepy " again when yawning. On Monday, when looking at the picture of the " pig who had roast-beef," he said "dinner funny." This week he has acquired the following words, in the order given : "say so"; "rats"; "cheek"; "cake"; "cook," for crook, in "Little Bo Peep"; "bucket"; " whistle " ; blowed. When he saw a gentleman's comb to-day he said " papa." He said " papa's room," on en- tering it when returning home after a week's absence ; said " crib " when going into his own room ; and called "Bishy" when he saw her. Said to Bridget, "Bell bwoke, fix it." When I told his nurse he had gained half a pound, he repeated " half a pound." November 12th. To-day he said " stick through," put- ting a stick through a hole, and he said "shovel" vol- untarily. When bathing him this morning in the large 51 * OF THB UNIVERSITY A STUDY OF A CHILD bath-tub, I took his head and nurse took his feet and we floated him. He showed no fear, but let himself rise to the top of the water. Next time he took his bath I took his head, meaning to do it again, but before nurse could help me he said " hand foot " to her, intimating that he was ready for it again. November 13th. He said "finger" to-day, for the first time, taking mine in his hand and examining it while in bed this morning. He put his head on my pillow also and said " pittow." Later in the day he said " wats (watch) sand goes." As he said it he picked up some sand in a glass and poured it in a basket. I had just come in from a walk, and after showing me the sand he turned to the table and said " table." November 14th. New words to-day were : " Knock, Bishy"; "Sit down, Bishy." He begged for "crook" when going to sleep, thinking of "Bo -Peep"; also begged for my " hand," and said " find," " get," and " skate," " show it," " corn," " beans," and " take." November 15th. He said "sweetheart" to-day, pro- nouncing it " sootheart." He says it to his mother when going to sleep ; for instance, he will say, " mam- ma's sootheart," in a loving tone. To-day he said "play sing" to his father, pulling him to the piano, and he laughed as if pleased when he sang for him. He is always eager to hear him sing. November 16th. He said "pittow" again to-day for pillow when reaching for one. After breakfast he said " Dear papa, good luck," when his father left for town. Afterwards he said "Dear papa, good papa" once, and the next time when he came to " good " he hesitated a moment, and then said " luck," and he has said it vol- untarily in this way ever since when his father leaves in SECOND YEAR the morning. He always shakes his head up and down when he says " luck." He also said " knock" to-day and "oh, my!" On November 17th he said " tummer - glass " for tumbler. On November 19th he said "ladyle" for lady, when speaking to Claudia, a visitor. He has also said " well, well" ever since her arrival, which is a frequent expres- sion of hers. He said " come " to me after taking his bottle of milk, indicating at the same time that he want- ed to go to bed. He awakened in the evening and said, on hearing his father play, "play papa," instead of saying " papa is playing." November 20th. His new words to-day were " mu- sic," "yard," "nice boy," "ah," "ma-am," "say what," " what's that." For some time he has said " nice good ah !" when eating something he likes. He shakes his head when he does this. This morning, when in the dining-room, I handed him a little cloisonne plate that belonged in a certain place on the table in the next room. As I handed it to him I said, " Take it and put it where it belongs," which he did very carefully, and then returned to his toys. He seems to understand many more words than he says, and uses them only as occasion requires. I often try him in this way, to keep him in the habit of obeying cheerfully, not because I want the thing done. November 21st. This morning he took his doll and hugged it, saying all at once, "seep" (sleep), "eye" (pointing to the eye), "hand" (taking it up in his), "foot" (taking it up), "ear" (touching it), "mouf" (touching it), "head" (laying his hand on its head). Then I put a feather in its hair, but he put it away and 53 A STUDY OF A CHILD k said " no." Later on he put it in himself. Yesterday he found this same feather among his toys, and, recog- nizing it as belonging to his stuffed owl, he lifted it up and said, in a very lugubrious tone, " oh owl." November 22d. He said "fwend" twice to Claudia to-day. She often says to him, "We are great friends, aren't we, Harold ?" He evidently appreciates her cour- tesy, which she always shows delightfully to little chil- dren. When he awakes in the morning he often lies still and amuses himself by looking around the room and repeating the names of all the things he knows, as "hut- ter" (shutter)," gas," "door," "picture," "bed," "crib," pointing to each one as he says the word. His capac- ity for self-amusement when he has the right materials is increasing every day, and his physical development is quite normal a little beyond the average in height and weight. One day he saw a picture of a chair tumbling, and children falling from it. He pointed to the chair, which stood on one leg, and said, "rock, rock." He took hold of one of the leaves of a screen soon after, moved it, and said, " Swing go." November 23d. He said " papa " to-day for the first time, having always said " baba " before. He also said "fix-pence" when he saw the song " Sing a Song a Six- pence" ; he said " tar" to " Twinkle, twinkle, little star" ; " seesaw," when we reached " Margery Daw " ; " Horner, plum-pie" for "Little Jack Horner"; and he often says " son" only for " Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son." When in looking over the book he comes to "Eide a cock- horse to Banbury Cross," he says, " Wo, get up ; rings, fingers, toes, cross." He always says "girl naughty " 54 SECOND YEAR for " Dolly, you're a naughty girl," as if that fact im- pressed him most. For " Little Bo - Peep has lost her sheep " he says "Peep, crook," and he sings out "Dolly wow- wow" for " I had a little doggy." He said "lose" for the first time recently, when some money was dropped, as if he wanted to say it would be lost. Something with which he was playing rolled under his toys, and when he hunted for it he said "find." He also said "mouthful" for the first time. When he heard a cornet and chorus singing one morn- ing from a mission Sunday - school near by, he looked up to me and said, for the first time, very distinctly, " moosic." He found a shoe-button among a lot of buttons with which he was playing, and he tried to put it on his shoe where the buttons are, saying "shoe" as he did it. When later in the day he heard a child singing, he looked up and said " moosic " for the second time. An unusual noise outside of his room caused him to stop his play and say, "What's that?" as if startled. One day recently he repeated after me " body busy," when I said " You keep a body busy." This morning he said, " Bangy boy, Bishy dear, poppee kill kito." No doubt trying to show Bridget how his father had killed a mosquito, with what he called a " bang." At another time during the day he said " Well, well !" then, " Porch, head, hat," pointing to my head; as if he wanted me to take him on the porch. This evening when he saw the button-box he asked for it twice, saying " buttony." I said " No," and gave him a box of bottle-tips. He put these aside and said " No, buttony." He cried and stamped a lit- 55 A STUDY OF A CHILD tie, but I took no notice of it, and presently he took his little wagon and showed it to his nurse as placidly as if nothing unusual had occurred. A few days ago he took up a small clock and looked at me questioningly as he did it, because he had been told not to touch it. I said " No, no ; put it down." He did so, and as he came away he said " Nice boy" emphasizing boy. I frequently tell him he is a good boy, when he obeys pleasantly. He is evidently able to draw his own conclusions. For the last few days he says " Thank you, mommy" to his mother instead of " Thank you," as he used to. He looked at a picture of some children tumbling from a chair to-day and said " fall." He has learned to drink from a glass without assistance, and he does it very well, but with great care. Pie is accustomed to seeing me pour drinking-water from a carafe into his glass. This morning I found him at the table with a glass before him and the carafe in his hands. He had removed a temporary cover, and had poured some water into his glass, and seemed very proud of the achievement, just as in the instance above, and he rarely comes to grief. November 24th. He said "chappie shobel" when asking his father for the grate shovel this evening to play with his beloved buttons. He delights in shovelling them up as if they were coals. When I took him up to- day from his nap and rocked him a while, he said to me " Rock-a-bye baby on top." He also said " Well, well !" again. When I came in this morning to see if he had finished his nap, he said " wake," as if to tell me that he was awake. He had been lying there quietly waiting for me. He shows this serenity always when well. When he was going to sleep to-night he said, in his usual retro- 56 SECOND YEAR spective manner, " I see you, poppee ; I see you, ladyle (meaning Claudia) ; I see you, gamme (grandma) ; I see you, Carrie ; I see you, mommy," etc. Then he asked for his milk, took it, and said " nice boy." Before com- ing up-stairs to go to bed he was at table with some one who amused himself by saying u Ach, himmel !" to the boy and hearing him repeat it. After a time he repeated it three times to himself, just as he always does with new words, and it was amusing to hear his efforts with "ach," which word he said correctly. To-day he said "N " when he saw some poker- chips for the first time since the summer, at which time he saw them at the house of N 's father. He heard me tell his father this evening that he had said " top " to-day. He instantly said " tree- top." He says to him- self sometimes " naughty boy," as if he thought he was doing, or being tempted to do, something forbidden. November 25th. To-day he said " all gone " when he reached the end of something he was eating. His new words were " piece of corn," " come, Harry," " did he P "hoop!" And to-night when going to sleep, he said, " I see you, poppee; I see you, toys; I see you, fee-fours (cards) ; I see you, Bahdee ; I see you, Bishy ; I see you, goose." It is very curious to hear him go over the day's amusements just before he falls asleep. November 26th. Twenty -one months old to-day, when some one said, "low high or low," he came run- ning to my room, and called " Lou ! Lou!" confusing low with Lou. He brought a screw -driver that he found in the sewing machine drawer in the nursery, and he did not want to give it up when I asked for it, so I simply said, quietly, but as if I expected him to do it, " Take it back, and put it where you found it," for we always 57 A STUDY OF A CHILD tried to avoid forcing an issue when a disposition to ob- stinacy showed itself. He went to the machine at once, put the screw-driver in the drawer, and took out a knit- ting-needle, but as he did it he looked at me as if to ask whether he might take it. I said " No, no," and he in- stantly pushed it back, shut the drawer quickly, and ran away just as if he didn't trust himself near temptation. I have noticed this trait frequently. (The record shows that when he could talk and tell how he felt under simi- lar circumstances, he thought it best to go away from temptation.) Several days ago he discovered a door to a closet in a writing-desk. He opened it and saw ink-bottles on a shelf that he could reach. He wanted to take them, but I said " No, no ; shut the door," which he did. This morning he opened the door again, and his father feared he would take up the bottles and spill the ink. I said, "I think not. Just watch him." So I said, very quietly, but suggestively, " Shut the door, dearie, and go away." He did it at once, very much to his father's surprise, saying, as he went, " Nice boy." One day he picked up from the desk a closed box of cigarettes. As he held it he accidentally let it fall, and the cigarettes fell out, thus letting him see what the box held. He then took up another closed box of them, and wanted to pull the cigarettes out one by one. I said "No, no, dear," but he tried to get my consent two or three times by touching them as he held the box, looking inquiringly at me. Each time I quietly said " No, no," as if I knew he wouldn't do it, and the last time I said "Put them on the desk," which he did. He obeys us at all times, but we must give him time to adjust himself to what he is to do, and 58 SECOND YEAR we must speak very quietly, as if we expect obedi- ence to be the most natural thing to happen. I had a little trouble to teach him not to touch things in the dining-room, and for a time we seriously considered placing things out of his reach, but eventually concluded it would be better to stand some loss of, valued articles, if necessary, than lose an opportunity of showing him in every direction in his life that he must learn to re- spect the rights of others. The servants and I therefore kept following him up, saying " No, no " whenever he touched anything, and offered some pleasant diversion each time as the next thing for him to do when we led him away. It was really very amusing. The shining glass and silver seemed to possess a great fascination for him, and we frequently found him standing before a tea- set of highly colored china, each piece of which repre- sented a piece of fruit. The teapot was shaped like an apple, the handle looked like the branch. This piece seemed to attract him in spite of his evident effort to keep away from it. He would stand before it and touch the lid in a very cautious manner, lift it up gently, and put it down again, and then go away. I watched him do this several times. Once I found him out after he had been there alone, for later in the day I discovered the lids interchanged. Eventually we succeeded in teaching him to keep from touching anything that didn't belong to him, but the collisions of will were sometimes diverting. An effort was always made to refrain from speaking sharply to him, nor was any one knowingly allowed to do so, consequently he trusted all who were about him. (The record shows how, when he was eight years old, he attempted to conceal some of his actions that did not 59 A STUDY OF A CHILD meet his own approval, and when gently led to tell his reasons, he said, with a burst of tears, " I am afraid of them all !" meaning those who were about him at the time, and who noticed and criticised his actions with the natural result of reaction on the child. Before this he had usually confided even his smallest faults to his mother, not fearing her.) His nurse is very gentle in her manner, and she succeeds wonderfully in diverting him quickly from what she anticipates will be likely to give the little fellow trouble. She possesses faithfulness, intuition, and quick comprehension, and although not an educated person, she has many qualities that are valuable for assistance in nursery-training. She is per- fectly truthful, mild in manner, always cheerful, tidy, and playful, and understands perfectly how, and is will- ing, to carry out directions just as they are given, which quality is absolutely necessary in a person to be trusted with the care of children. This morning she put him in his crib for his nap, with an exact imitation of his mother's manner of handling him, gave him some milk, and then turned to do something else. He drank the milk and then turned to watch her for a few minutes. She paid no attention to him, but finished what she was doing and left the room quietly. He turned over, and no more was heard of him until after nap -time. Had she spoken to him he would have tried to keep awake, as he often does, and in all probability he would have missed his nap. This plan was invariably followed, the mother interchanging with the nurse, in order to keep him equally accustomed to both. Thus the mother could be given the freedom required in the evening at dinner- time, without disturbing the child in the least, and he was as well satisfied with the nurse, when sleepy, as 60 SECOND YEAR with the mother. (It may mean, self - sacrifice, many times, to reach this end, for it is very dear to any mother to feel that her child prefers her ministrations to those of any one else, but, for the child's sake, this feeling should not be indulged in to too great an extent. "When a nurse loves her charge, she should also have some of the hap- piness incidental to the care of the child, and be able to win its love, that, in case of illness of either child or mother, her assistance may be of value.) He said, this morning, " Mommy, Bishy lof," meaning he loved her. He hugged her as he said it. He shows daily how much he loves her. (I have always found it safe to judge a nurse's manner during the absence of her mistress by the evidence of affection given by the child. It will invariably be a reflection of the surround- ings, for a fearless child is always a mirror of others.) To-day, when he saw the illustration of the fat spider in the " Spider and the Fly " song in his nursery-book,* he said " Sider, fatty, ha-ha." He seems to enjoy in- tensely anything that will provoke laughter, and he is usually a merry little soul. Recently he took a number of things out of the draw- er of the kitchen-table, saying "What's that? What's that?" to everything he didn't know, but said "spoon," " fork," " knife," etc., to those he did know. At last he found an old steel that was used some months ago to crack ice. He remembered this at once, and said, when he saw it, " Bishy, cack ice." This evening he did not feel very well, and he begged his mother to stay by him. She remained, lying down beside him and holding his hand while singing to him. * Elliott's Mother Goose. 61 A STUDY OF A CHILD He kept asking for his pet songs, one by one. When she thought he had had enough to quiet him, she said " good- night," and stopped singing, still lying quietly, however. He soon said to himself, "Mommy seep," turned over, and fell asleep. November 27th. His new connections of words to- day were " knock, Bishy," and " piece of buttony " (for button). This afternoon he knelt by his mother who was lying on a couch, and said, "Ah, mamma's sute- heart " in a very winning way. These voluntary tokens of love are quite usual with him. November 28th. At midnight last night, when rest- less, he said to his father, " Poppee stay, carry boy." November 29th. As. he put something in a hole to- day he said, " Stick it in." He constructs sentences very often now. When his nurse came in he said, " Carry boy." He said to me to-day, "apple fork," and showed them to me. When I asked him where he got the fork, he said, " tappie (chappie) table " meaning on a table in his father's room, where I remembered it had been left last night. November 30th. To-day the new words were " pretty well," " smart," " shadow." December 1st. New words were "pull up sleeve," and " wing " (of a bird). December llth. " Come, Bahdee (to his pussy) ; Bishy bring Bahdee." He said " big ring, noder one," to some one who was making smoke rings for him when smok- ing a cigar after dinner. At one o'clock in the night he waked and said immediately, " big ring, noder one," as if there had been no interval. He said to-day, December 12th, while playing, refer- ring to one of his nursery songs, " Taffy tief beef 62 SECOND YEAR home." He seems to think of these things while he is doing other things. Said " o" and " d " (from letter-blocks) to-day, and also said " lap," " lappie bangie boy." We can't find out what he means by " bangie." From December 14th to end of the month he has said "pencil"; "gettie pencil"; "find more"; "ice- wagon " and " street car," when seeing pictures of the same; "Santa Caus," omitting the "1"; "bottles," for nine-pins ; " pick it up " ; " put it away " ; " picture " ; "pipes," when he sees any one smoking, or if he sees a pipe in any one's mouth ; " letter," " letter-man," when he hears the door - bell ring ; " pinage " for spinach ; "masala" for celery; "teakettle coffee," when he sees a picture of a teakettle; "put it down"; "Ger- mantown"; and "my name is Harold." When I say " You live at No. ," he instantly says the name of the street. He speaks of me as Mrs. H , and uses my name correctly. We always teach him any change of address by direct teaching, that he may, if lost, tell where he belongs, and we have always impressed upon him the fact that all policemen are his friends and are meant to help people, especially when they get lost. I often hear him try to persuade a little friend who is afraid of policemen to like them. To-day he said, " Tom, Tom, saw pig run, eat beat how- ling steet" for (street). He was evidently thinking of "Tom, Tom, the piper's son, Stole a pig and away he run," etc. Other words that are new are " hello," " hello, dear," " gamme boy," " screw," " Bahdee scatch " (when pussy scratches), " ach himmel," " gesundheit." He still says 63 A STUDY OF A CHILD for sneeze; "down-tairs, Bishy "; says "bot- tle seepy," when bedtime conies ; " get a coach," when he wants to go out-of-doors; "gamma choo-choo," in- timating that he wants to go to gamma's (grandma) on the choo-choo. He remembers that he went on the train some months ago on a visit to her. January 14th, 1892. To-day he said " Happy New- year " three times when looking at a holiday-book. He then turned to his mother, kissed and hugged her, and said " lufly mamma." He says " Santa Glaus " now, pronouncing the "1." He takes his Santa-Glaus book and explains all the pictures as, for instance, when he reaches the one where Santa is sitting reading the names of children, with pen and ink on the desk before him, he says, " Santa Glaus reading, desk, gif me pencil," holding out his hand to the picture. He often asks for "pencil write" (pencil to write), and makes an O. He calls a big O a " fatty O." He knows W, X, II, I, O, Q of his block-alphabet, and he says X, Y, Z from repetition, but does not know them, when he sees them. He saw sleighs to-day for the first time. He heard his nurse say " sleigh " in the morning, and when out in his coach later in the day he said " sleigh, noder one," as they passed him. Since the above date he has picked out pictures of sleighs in his books, saying "sleigh, noder one," whenever he finds one. January 15th. His new words to-day were "here 'tis," " kitchen outside," " missee morning " (for misty morn- ing), "how do, sir?" "shut ee eyes." When he stum- bled he said " fall." January 18th. Last night, after he had waked and taken his last bottle of milk, he said, " Mommy's pwe- 64 SECOND YEAR cious boy," rolled over, and fell asleep. He is at his grandma's. He took her hand to-day, and pulled her into the next room, saying, "hand gamme's hand." Last evening, as he was finishing his six-o'clock meal of milk, he discovered letters on the bottle when he held it up between his eyes and the gaslight. One of the words had two o's in it. He pointed to one and said "o," then pointed to the next and said "noder one," then cried out in delight, "dubble u," meaning ,"w." He said it as if he was very much surprised. He then found D, S, K, and I, and repeated them over and over, as if glad to see them, first of all, however, pointing out each one to me with his little finger. As I am writing this he is in the kitchen, and I hear him at the knife- drawer saying "fee fee knife," meaning three. He always says "fee fee" when he means to say there are more than one. He often counts correctly from one to fourteen. I can hear him now as he is going around the rooms exploring, saying " window, parlor window," and no doubt he has met a rocking-chair, for I hear him say " rock-a-bye, rock." "When he reached the station he met his cousin and called him by name, although he had not seen him for four months. Later he said " gamme " when he met her, knew his cousin's father at once, calling him by his first name as he hears others do. After a little investigation he said " Carrie " to one member of the family, and after quite a while he said " Alus," for Alice, to another. He said " fraid dat," pointing to a rolling-top writing-desk. (Here following out indications given before of being afraid of some things that work with a motive power that is to him incomprehensible.) The plumbers were at work in the kitchen this morn- E 65 A STUDY OF A CHILD ing. He heard the puffing of the Bunsen burner when he awakened from his nap, and said, " See ee choo-choo in ee kitchen," and could hardly wait to get there. He amused himself for a time to-day by pushing his coach around the room, but first he moved two chairs very carefully out of his way in order to have the entire length of the room open for the coach. When he was asked if he wanted a piece of bread, he said " Yes," and voluntarily went to the pantry, opened the door and bread-can, took out a loaf, and brought it to the person who asked him, who cut a piece from it, and returned the loaf to him without a word. He re- turned it to the can, closed both it and the door, and returned, when he was given his piece of bread. January 19th. To-day he heard something fall with a loud noise. He said, " Break ee house down." Two new sentences were: "Pull down ee sleeve, mommy," meaning his own ; and " Please, Carrie, take out ee key." When he awoke this morning he said, " Kitch- en, gamme," meaning he wanted to go there, where he was allowed perfect freedom every morning. He uses all sorts of expedients to get his mother up mornings as soon as he wakes. Says, " Get up, mom- my dess, dess Harold, mommy"; "want ee dink"; " mommy up, kitchen "; " see gamme "; and then he calls " Carrie, come," as loud as he can, for she generally comes in at this time and romps with and dresses him. When at last his mother does get up and dress, he sits contentedly awaiting his turn. He sa} r s, trying to do it at the same time, " Put ee shoes on, Harold put ee shoes on." Then he says " petticoats," when they are put on ; "Put on dess" next; then, "Brush ee teeth," " Brush ee hair," "Wash ee mouth," and at last he turns 66 SECOND YEAR up his face for a kiss, saying " Clean enough ?" He takes the greatest interest in every little thing relating to the care given him. January 20th. To-day he wanted to take the dust- pan to bed with him when he took his nap. I took it away, saying " No, no." He kicked and screamed, but I took no notice of it. At last he said, " Too bad ; shame !" repeated it several times, then took my hand and fell asleep quietly, with only one more cry for the dust -pan, following it immediately with "Too bad; shame !" January 21st. To-day he said, "Dance a baby diddy" (from nursery song) ; also said "spider," when he saw the inside of a big clock ; and then he said " Fatty clock, see clock ticking." No doubt he associated the big clock with the big spider he called " fatty spider" in the nurs- ery song-book, for he calls a big O a fatty O. January 22d. To-day he picked up a tin bread -can that was standing on the pantry floor, carried it about, and suddenly began to turn his hand around, as if turn- ing a handle, and say " musilay," meaning music, and that he was imitating a hand-organ. January 23d. We came to town for the winter a few days ago. Harold and his nurse came in on a later train. Ever since he has said, repeatedly, " Sarah, take Harold lufly choo-choo"; "bell ring, choo-choo"; and every time he sees a possible chance of going out he says, " See a choo-choo 3" He was given a very com- plete toy locomotive last month, because he has shown such great interest in engines of all sorts. He instantly detected various differences between his engines and those he saw about him in his daily walks, and he did not hesitate to mention them. He asked questions about 67 A STUDY OF A CHILD every part he observed after this, wanting to know the names of all of them. In a very short time he was heard saying to his nurse, " This is a piston-rod," or " This is a cylinder," or " This is an eccentric," etc. He was told each name once only in answer to his questions. He was taught, in Germantown, when asked where he lived, to give his name and his street-number. Last even- ing we began to teach him his new address, his name, and street in Philadelphia, and he repeated it several times. This evening we asked him where he lived and what was his name. He said, "Harold Gimmintown," and then, as if a new idea had struck him, he said in one sentence, "Fil a duffia, Locust Street choo-choo- Filaduffia." A few days ago he began saying "Use Pears' soap," instead of just " Pears' soap," as before. We often ask him, for fun, " Have you used Pears' soap?" To-night he said, "Papa, play play 'Annie Rooney.'" He speaks very distinctly for so young a child. January 24th. To-day, when playing with his toys, he voluntarily counted one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Later in the day, when taking off my street shoes, I asked him to please bring my shoes, without specifying which pair he should bring. He went to my closet and selected a pair of low russet shoes that I frequently wear when at home. He certainly observes much that one ordinarily considers unnoticed by a child. This morning when I came into his room before he was out of bed, I found him playing with a toy " choo- choo" that could be wound up to run. He had no string with which to wind it up, and he evidently wanted one, for he had untied the ribbon at the neck 68 SECOND YEAR of his night-gown, and was trying to wind it up with that. He has begun to say a few French words : " bon soir, bon nuit," from imitation, but he knows what they mean, and his pronunciation is very good. January 25th. To-day he begged me to " carry down cellar to kitchen to Annie," meaning the colored janitress in the basement. She has a bird with which he is de- lighted, and which he evidently wanted to see. He often asks for something that we find later on brings him something else that he wants but doesn't ask for. It seems hardly probable that he does it designedly, yet it is a curious coincidence at times. January 26th. To-day we were out walking. As we neared Broad Street the wind blew hard, directly in his face. I said, " Turn around, Harold, and walk back- ward." He did it at once, much to the amusement of some passers-by, who stood still and watched him. He seems to comprehend very quickly that I have a good reason for asking him to do certain things, and even if they may appear a little unusual at the time to another, to him they seem to appear to be natural. January 29th. To-day he said to his nurse (who is not the one to whom he has been accustomed, but an old colored mammy), " Good-bye, honey." Other sen- tences were, " Mannie sit down, show ee schlissel book ;" " See ee mannie ;" "Mommy, good boy;" "Harold - good boy" (saying his whole name); "Carry, Bishy, (to) lovely choo-choo." He said "Geen choo-choo" to-day, saying "geen" for green the first time for this word. He was hunting a little green engine at the time and couldn't find it. Other sentences were, " Where's ee drum ?" " See ee musee-man, winnow." 69 A STUDY OF A CHILD January 30th. To -day, when in the bath-room, he said, " Baf pitty soon," no doubt anticipating his even- ing bath. As we passed the bath-room door he said, " Baf-yoom ; wash ee hands." He also said, " Fraid ee doctor," when he saw Dr. , who lives next door. He said it at intervals all day. (The record shows that he never learned to like the physician mentioned, cried when he approached, and could not be induced to even talk to him. He was a very stern man, and cruel to children, as later developments proved. A curious thing about the child shows clearly all through the record that he knew instantly when meeting persons whether they liked him or not. Servants could not be kept with comfort to the little fellow when he had shown that he thought they didn't like him, and it was always found advisable when engaging a servant in any capacity to first have him see the person, and watch his manner before engaging them. In this way some exceptionally faithful servants were secured. His usual expression in this connection, as he grew older, was either " I don't like her face," or " Has she a smiling face ?" One day in a store he begged me to ask a certain cash-girl, with " such a lovely face," to come home to him. (His own words.) He couldn't understand at first why I couldn't do it, for it was his mother's habit at the time to regu- larly engage a child to play with him daily, to keep him from becoming selfish a fault easily acquired by an only child. To-day some one spoke very suddenly to him when he was playing, to check him instantly in something he was just beginning to do. He looked up with a start and said, " scairt." January 31st. He still says his name instead of say- 70 SECOND YEAR ing I, when speaking of his own actions. He said to himself to-day, as if trying to recall something, " What name ? Harold in Gimmintown." When out walking the other day we passed some bill- boards on Broad Street that were covered with pictures of engines. He was delighted with them, went up to them, touched them, and admired them to his heart's content. He didn't want to leave them, but I induced him to come on to something else that appeared to at- tract him. He kept on talking about them, however, after we had left them, and to-day, when I took him out on the balcony for an airing, he objected at first and said, "Out choo-choo fence." This is the first time I have heard him say " fence." His new words to-day were " cellar," " kitchen," " Ba- vinia" (for Lavinia a servant down-stairs), "clothes- pins"; and this afternoon, when his mother attempted to feed him some ice-cream, he said, "Mommy way, George feed." (George was a servant.) February 1st. He used I for the first time to-day. He is almost two years old. He said, " I use Pears' soap"; "I see choo-choo out." Then he said, "Hug mamma, oh," squeezing her hard as he said it. He also said " I want you, baby," in his play to-day. February 3d. He began making funny faces a few weeks ago when he said, " Hoop a loop, who's in the soup ?" JSTow he makes the faces at me and laughs. He often looks laughingly at me and winks one eye. He is always very jolly. This morning he begged me to " go out and see man carry leg." I couldn't think what he meant, but discovered later that he had seen a man on a crutch yesterday, and was very much interested. He now uses a great many words very intelligently 71 A STUDY OF A CHILD as, for instance, when he says the words, " coming," " won't come," " here it goes," " here it is." There is always an intelligent application. To-day he found a doll that he calls u Tommy " lying in a box of toys and covered with a cushion. He said at once, in what seemed to be a tone of reproof, " Tommy seep all day in box." This morning he said, " Poppee, get up eight o'clock;" and at breakfast he turned to his father and said, " Papa, shame !" We couldn't find out what he meant, but he very often says, " Too bad, shame!" when anything goes wrong. I recognize the words as used occasionally by his nurse, from whom he has no doubt learned them. Late this evening, when he woke for his milk, he said, " Too early," evidently meaning it was not time to get up, for I sometimes say the same words to him, if by chance he wakes in the morning before daylight. It is probable that his first thought on waking was that it was time to get up and seeing it was yet dark, he con- cluded it was " too early." February 4th. He said to-day, " I love ee choo-choo," while he was hunting in Puck for a picture of one which he found eventually, having seen it there before. He was given recently a book containing pictures of various kinds of locomotives. At first his comments were not noticed, but gradually we became impressed with the fact that he was saying, as he turned from one page to the other, "This one hasn't any bell" ; " This one has a bell"; "This one hasn't any cow-catcher" (it was an English engine) ; " This one hasn't any bell " noticing the differences right through the book between the American and the English engines pictured there. At last he closed the book, turned to his mother, and said, SECOND YEAR "' Mamma, I want an engine without any book." He wanted the object instead of the picture. February 5th. He put a ribbon round his neck and said " necktie " to-day. He is constantly acquiring new words, with no teaching whatever. For about two weeks he has said, " Show me book," show me this, or that, as the case may be, instead of saying, as before, " book," etc. This morning he called to his father, " Poppee put on clothes poppee, please put on clothes." (The record shows that he was always eager to be up himself., and get every one else up, and later on he wished a number of times that there wouldn't be any night, because the days were not nearly long enough for what he wanted to do.) To-day I brought his coat and cap, and prepared to take him out. He ran away from me. I asked him if he wanted to go. Pie said "No," went to the sewing- machine, and said, " Want to see machine go." He had not seen it open for several weeks. He shows indica- tions now of preferring in-door play, which we are trying to counteract by finding inducements to keep him in the open, air a certain portion of the day. February 6th. This evening he was playing with his father when his bedtime came. He said, pleadingly, to his mother, who came to take him to bed, " Mommy, go away," but he said it as if he did not expect it, and went with very good grace, as he always does when accept- ing the inevitable. We always give him a little time to get over the disappointment of a refusal before exacting obedience. Last night he wanted his bottle of milk, to which he has been accustomed, but which for the last few nights we have withheld. He cried a little, saying " What's the matter ?" rolled over, and fell asleep. 73 A STUDY OF A CHILD He said " I think so " to-day, when answering a ques- tion. February 7th. To-day he said, "Mommy, get the bottle ready " ; " won't come " (meaning the milk won't come. There was good reason for this, for the bottle was empty, he had taken it all). He then said, " Never mind," and went about his play. He always seems to accept the inevitable in a cheerful manner. When his father came in to-day, Harold said to him, in an effort to induce him to play with him, " Poppee, make chains (of paper rings, with which he and the nurse often amuse themselves) ; poppee, sit down floor, cushion, make big dubble-u (W) ; poppee make big X." February 8th. I heard him say to himself to-day, " Cry it out. Behave yourself." He has often heard me tell him to " cry it out on my lap," when he is grieved, and he must have heard some one tell him to behave himself, and he put the two together to-day when he thought he needed the admonition. He also said to one of us this morning, " Poppee use Pears' soap ? hear dat." These little sentences pop out at us at all sorts of unexpected times, and they amuse us very much. When going to New York this week he said on the train, " Choo-choo, lovely choo-choo. I love choo-choo." February 9th. Yesterday for the first time he said " you " instead of saying " mommy," as usual when speaking to her. He said " Mannie talk to you," in- stead of saying, as he did formerly, " Mannie talk to mamma." Sometimes he calls himself " mannie," some- times " man." February 10th. As his mother was taking off her street dress to-day he pulled her to the closet and said, 74 SECOND YEAR " Put ee dess on." When she puts an apron on he al- ways objects, and begs her to " take off apron." About a month ago he cried because she put a jacket on over her house dress on a cold morning. He said, " Take ee sacque off, mamma," and persisted in it. He must have some idea for this, but I have not found out yet what it is. We are still in New York ; arrived yesterday, and the long trip must have tired the little fellow, for he said on his arrival, " I'm so glad to go to bed." When half-way over he said on the train, " Express-man take away trunk to-day," and when, on our return, he saw it brought back, he said, " Express-man bring ee trunk." To-day when sitting on a bed he intimated that he had disturbed it. I said " Oh no." He said " Yes, nice boy ?" (interrogatively). I said " No." He said " Nice boy, I sink (think) so." (The record shows how he of- ,ten said, when a question of opinion would arise, "I think so," as if that settled it in his mind. Such a char- acteristic, if properly guided, should develop into a sturdy self-respect and strength of individual opinion, without in the least encroaching upon or antagonizing the opin- ions of others.) CHAPTER III THIRD YEAR. LANGUAGE AND OTHER INCIDENTAL DEVELOPMENT CONTINUED FEBRUARY 15th (at home). Harold is two years old. He just said " See ee Lollie (meaning Mollie) sew dess, nice dess." She made a dress for him some time ago that pleased him very much and which he seems to prize very highly. He begged me to-day to "take down-tairs see big clock tick -tick." He saw one in New York, and is confused about it, for there is no " big clock" here. He called " Delia" several times to- day (a house-maid he saw in New York), and he also called for his aunt, as if he could not quite reconcile himself to the fact that he was no longer there. On the way home he saw a lady on the train who resembled his aunt's mother and he called her " grandma " several times. For many days he has asked questions about how there could be another grandma, for hitherto he has only known of his maternal grandmother, and he could not understand for a long time that his aunt's mother was his cousin's grandma and not his. He is al- ways very friendly with strangers when travelling, and appears to fear no one when their faces please him. He invariably smiles or speaks to some stranger when out- of-doors or when travelling. He said this morning, " See ee Lollie take ee coffee next yoom." He had seen 76 ' UNIYEBS: THIRD YEAR his aunt have coffee in the room next to his when he was in New York, and he evidently thinks he is still within reach of her. February 16th. When he saw a picture of a coffee- mill to-day in his "schliissel book," he said "ganma." He had seen one for the first time at his Grandma S 's. He sometimes says "ganm0," and at other times "gamma." When he said "ganme" to the cof- fee-mill, I asked " Is it Ganme H ?" alluding to his cousin's grandma. He repeated her name and looked doubtful, then said again, " Ganme, ganme put ee coffee in." I then said "Ganme S ?" questioningly. He looked relieved and repeated it. He is evidently still puzzled over hear- ing of two grandmas. His maternal grandmother only is living, and until he heard his cousins speak of their grandmother he had heard of one grandmother only. (He was very curious, when a little older, about the de- grees of relationship in one family, and I had many questions to answer.) Yesterday he said, "See a Mary go winnow da- da," shaking his hand to her from the window as she went away. After having had a crying -spell to-day he said " Shamed himself." February 17th. To-day, when he saw a man from the window, he said "Uncle Hed" (meaning Ed). I looked out and saw a man resembling his uncle very greatly. Yesterday I took him to see Dr. A . He had not been there for two months. When we reached the street door of the physician's house his face changed, and he said, crying, " Harold fraid, hurts me." He kept 77 A STUDY OF A CHILD repeating " f raid, hurts " all the time he was there, and cried until he reached the street again, when he in- stantly became serene. About thirteen months before this date this physician lanced his gums, and ten months ago he vaccinated him. He remembers one or the other occasion, probably both. February 18th. To-day I showed him an illustration with the song " Twinkle, twinkle, little star." He in- stantly said " Dr. Tar," meaning Dr. Starr. This morning he said to his father, " Good-morning, glad to see you." He said to me yesterday, immediately after his nap, " Feel tired, rock a bit," and snuggled up in my arms and let me rock him. He is not very well to-day. This may have had something to do with his desire to be rocked }^esterday, for he rarely asks for it. He has always shown a great willingness to put away my shoes. I never thought of it before, but I remem- ber now that he is always ready to put away my street shoes and to get my house shoes. I have concluded this is because he knows I will stay at home when I wear the latter, for to-day he refused to put away my house shoes when he saw me put on my street shoes. When I came home he called me at once to the closet and pointed to my house shoes. I took them out and placed them by the couch, then turned to do something else, forgetting to put them on. He took me by the hand, led me to the couch, and said, " Sit ee down bed, put ee on shoes," as if afraid I would go out again. I did so, and before I had said a word he took away my street shoes and put them in the closet. He has evi- dently reasoned out for himself that when I wear street shoes I am likely to go away from him. February 19th. This morning when he awoke he 78 THIRD YEAR said immediately to me, " Wait for poppee last night." So he had. It seems to be his greatest pleasure. To- night, when ready for bed, and after having taken near- ly all of his milk, he handed me the bottle and said, very insinuatingly, " Put away ee bottle, see ee poppee." I paid no attention to this, so he went to sleep. Last evening when he began taking the milk, he said, " Put in hot water." I thought the milk wasn't warm enough, probably, and was about to do as he asked when he sat up and said, " See ee poppee." I knew then that he was trying to get me to let him wait for his father, so I gave him the bottle, told him quietly to take it and go to sleep, as if I expected obedience, and he did it con- tentedly. February 20th. He said this morning when his father left for town " Fraid ee papa take ee choo-choo go to see Aunt M ." This evening, when his mother was lying by him as he went to sleep, he said, " Get up, mom- my, too busy." I suppose he remembers hearing her say at some time that she was too busy to lie down by him while he took his nap, for he often asks her to do so. February 21st. To-day he wanted to go out and, as he said, to " see a mannie frow a bricks away." Two weeks ago he said, " Go ee out see ee choo- choos on ee fence." This morning he said, as he put a picture of an engine on a chair before him, " Sit on ee chair, talk to choo-choo." He also said, to-day, " Tell me what's it." He says, at times, " Mommy like ee boy squeal," when he makes the noise he calls " squeal." He loves to hear his father play the violin. He said to him this evening, " Poppee play ee violin please pop- pee play ee violin." When his father took the instru- ment out of the case and began, he said, " Shut ee box, 79 A STUDY OF A CHILD poppee," reached out and shut it with a bang, saying, " Harold shut ee box," as if glad it was shut. It looked very much as if he were afraid his father would put the violin away too soon. February 22d. He said to-day, " This is a knuckle," closing his hand and pointing to the knuckle. Two days ago he pointed to a knuckle on his father's hand and said, "What's dat?" He was told it was a knuckle, when he promptly made a fist and pointed to his own. He asked me to go down-stairs, saying, " Carry Har- old down to Bavinia, see ee bird cellar." Another new effort for to-day was when he tried to hang a thermometer up above the mantel and said, " Hang ee up mantel-piece." February 23d. When he heard a neighboring fac- tory-whistle this evening he said, " Hear it whistle six o'clock." When talking of a clock he said, "I go see it six o'clock " (his usual bedtime). When he was screaming to-day he said, " Mannie make a noise." He was trying to find a big ring carved in the mantel this morning. The mantel was draped recently, so the ring was covered. When hunting for it he said, " Find big O. Harold find it. Big O go to sleep," and then when he had discovered it he said "7 find it." Then he dropped the curtain and said, " O gone to sleep." He is very fond of his new nurse, Annie an old colored mammy. To-day he said to her, " Open closet, build a house." His blocks are in the closet. A fe\v r days ago, when asking for a drink, he said, " Drink fresh water." He is very fond of Mrs. A , who is a neighbor at present. This morning when she came in he climbed 80 THIRD YEAR on the chair before her, dangled his legs, and said, u Harold sit on chair, talk ee lady." She began to talk to him and asked him what he wanted to say. He looked at her very shyly and said, " Lof lady." He calls her "ee lady up-tairs," and often begs to go to see her. February 24th. To-day he said at various times, " Did she take 'em out ?" (alluding to some action of his nurse in regard to some toys) "lufly wheel," and " lof Dr. T ," meaning a physician who called re- cently to see him. He wanted a book of photographs this morning, which he called " Uncle Henery's book," because it con- tained a picture of his uncle. He said " Mamma, give Harold pictures," then said to himself, " Ask mamma gib Harold pictures," as if approving of his method for getting them. He said to Annie to-day about a broken toy, "I thought you fixed it." He also said, " Hang it up on a nail," pronouncing the " g " hard when saying hang. Another sentence was " Bring ee chair see ee mom- my sew." This afternoon he was very much interested in watch- ing a fox-terrier over the way while its owner was teach- ing it to jump over the fence. He said, " See mannie jumpit dog." When I directed his attention to the dog, I said, " What is his name 1" He said " Germantown dog," remembering his own fox - terrier which he had at Germantown six months ago. February 25th. He saw the reflection of the gas- light to-night on a dark-colored bottle, and he called out instantly, " Gas on bottle." His mother wanted to use something to-day to which F 81 A STUDY OF A CHILD he objected, and he said, "Mommy no use dat, put away on mantel-piece, mommy go away." His new words and sentences to-day were: "No, I like piggy slippers " ; " See him put a bread out " ; " Mommy write " ; "I got it " ; " Harold hold it glass- water," when holding a glass of water, of which he seemed very proud. February 28th. This morning on waking he said, "What time is it, mommy?" "shave," "poppee shave," "is gone to shave." Later he said, "I must fix it; too bad break teakella (kettle) again" (alluding to a toy teakettle). When we say "Do you like Dr. E ?" he says "No." "Do you like Dr. A ?" "No." He has unpleasant recollections of both of them that could not have been avoided. " Do you like Dr. F ?" " Yes." He (Dr. F ) has been very pleasant with him during a recent slight illness. " Do you want to see him ?" " No." (Because he fears he may have to do something unpleasant when he comes. If convinced that nothing of this kind is to be asked of him, he is always ready for a chat and a romp with him.) He sometimes says, as if to reassure himself, "Mommy won't hurt you, poppee won't hurt you, doctor won't hurt you." To-day he said, while playing and puzzling over some- thing he did not understand, " On odder side. What's dat? I can't find it on odder side" ; " I think so" ; " Did you fix it ?" " Did you stick him ?" " Whack, piggy," when hitting his wooden pig. He also said, "Shoot Tommy " to-day to his doll. "Said to me, when going to bed, "Take it off the shoes"; "Take it off the slip- pers " ; " Poppee put on shirt, put on trousers, an' take a baf " ; "Annie, take it off." 82 THIRD YEAR Before going asleep he said to me, " Glad to see you," " Sweet enough to kiss," which I often say to him after washing his face. He also said " Good-afternoon," and this evening he said " Just one light burning " when he saw the other lights lowered that he might sleep. We asked him how many gaslights were burning in the room. He said, correctly, " One, two, three gases." When carried through the next room he said, again cor- rectly, " Just one gas burning." Afterwards he noticed the light of the Bunsen burner and said, " One two gases." We asked him if there were any more. He re- plied, " I don't see it." There were none. He is evi- dently going to be cautious in reaching conclusions. (The record shows this is true.) When his father was ready to leave for the day, with coat, hat, etc., he said, " Good-bye, papa, go out steet." He always says " steet " for street. To-day he said, "Bring out the cars." He said "the" twice to-day, in- stead of " ee " as usual. He also said to himself, " Is dat funny ? Dat is funny." He said to Annie, before she put him in his crib, " Annie, lie down on mommy's bed and hold Harold's hand." His mother often does this when he is falling O asleep, and as she was not there at the time, he tried to induce Annie to do it. He said, to-day, " See clock on wall tick-tock-ticking." Also, " Listen to the gas," as it flared, and to his father, " Poppee, smoke pipe, make rings." When on his father's lap watching him making rings, he discovered cigars in his waistcoat-pocket. He grew alarmed, said, "/ not near them," and insisted on sitting on his mother's lap to see the smoke rings, glanc- ing from time to time, as if afraid, at the pocket holding the cigars. A STUDY OF A CHILD To-day, pointing as if with a gun, he said, " Bing, shoot bird." When Lavinia's canary was brought up to amuse him he said, " Poppee, buy new bird." Then he asked me to sing "Moller Goose fol la three birds," meaning the song of " Three crows there were once Who sat on a tree, Fal-la-la-la-la-la," etc. V I think I sang it over at least two dozen times. He kept repeating, " More birdie listens" pointing to La- vinia's bird, and kept time with his finger, sometimes singing with me. It had not occurred to me that he wanted me to sing for the bird. He was ill at the time, and I sang because I thought I was pleasing him. To-day he said " Oh, mercy !" twice, at intervals. He heard his colored nurse say it. He also said to me when I was at the piano, facing him, however, " Turn around and play good moosic.'' He says " Mommy's precious boy," "mommy's pettie boy," "poppee's darlin'," when asked whose boy he is. When he wants me to sing he specifies now, saying, " Sing < Jack and Jill,' " or " Sing ' Little Bo Peep.' " When we go over " Mother Goose " together, he says some of the words and I say the rest, and wait for him to say his. In this wa} r we go over the entire book. He seems to know them all very well, although he is just two years old. The following are his words for " Jack and Jill": " Jack Jill hill water, Down crown after Got trot. "Caper bed head paper In grin plaster Vexed next disaster. " 84 THIRD YEAR He waits for me to say some words, just as if he wanted me to have a turn not as if he didn't know them all. This evening he said, " Dink water, baf sim (swim) baf-yoom." When he hears the door-bell at breakfast - time he says, " letter-man," and u gib ee letter." He says to me, questioningly, " Want ee coffee ?" He also says " bread- and-butter." Once he asked for "nice bread-and-butter." When he has junket for dessert for dinner he says, " Junket, lufly junket." When he gets rice-pudding he says, " Rice-pudding day." He says " tomach " for stomach, " kib " for crib ; and says, distinctly, " medicine," " piano," " violin," " work- ing," " stocking " (although he often drops the s), " Santa Glaus," " tongs," " sugar-tongs," and " spoons." He says " pockee-book " now, instead of " po-book," as he used to. March 1st. To-day, while he was trying to go to sleep, he said to me, as I came into the room to get something, "Shut the door; Harold go asleep." I left quickly, and he was soon asleep. Later in the day his mother sat down to darn some stockings, when he said, *' Mamma, don't sew papa's stockings ; hang it up." To-day I let him look at a photograph of himself that was taken in July last with his dog in his arms. He looked at it intently, suddenly turned, and said, " Where's the bell 3" I remembered then that six months ago, in October, we had tried to get a good picture of him, but failed, and one only was finished, in which he held a bell. Harold saw this bell in the one finished pict- ure, which we sent away at the time it was taken. He hasn't seen it since, yet asked for the bell to-day, when looking at a different picture. 85 A STUDY OF A CHILD To-day he called to his nurse, " My nice Annie." This afternoon he was busy playing with a little play- mate. I thought I could steal a nap, and threw myself down on the couch. He said, instantly, " Open ee eyes ; no shut eyes." I was so sleepy that I closed them un- consciously, but every time he would call out, plead- ingly, " No shut eyes." This evening he said to his father, " Papa, play violin " ; " Papa sit down eat ee supper." To Annie he has said for over a month, " Annie, build a house wi matches." (This is a favorite occupation of his with safety-matches. He will amuse himself a half-hour at a time with them). This evening we asked him if he loved Dr. A . He said "Luf Dr. A ." We asked him again, and he said " No." Then we asked him if he loved Dr. T . He said " Yes, love Dr. T ." We are trying to get him to forget his unpleasant recollections of Dr. A , but he seems to remember too vividly to forget easily. To-day his mother wanted to dress a cut with antiseptic lint, and he said, " Mamma, put ee cotton way." When she picked it up again he said, " Put it on Annie fin- ger," as if his finger was to be spared. Then he said, as she took the salve, "Mamma won't hurt Harold wi grease ; papa won't hurt Harold ; doctor won't hurt Harold ; doctor put satchel way. Doctor come in, see soldier picture," which he thinks is a great pleasure (one of Detaille's). At dinner this evening he said "Papa, gib some pease"; "Papa, gib Harold crust"; "piece of crust"; " good crust" ; " nice crust." To-night he said, " Put ee stockings on, go see papa in next yoom," when I took them off to get him ready for bed. He is full of little ways of pleading to stay up at night with " papa." 86 THIRD YEAR When going to bed to-night he said, in his usual pleading way, " See papa eat oysters next yoom." This afternoon he said " I must find it," emphasizing must. March 2d. He said, to-day, "Harold sneeze"; also " Too bad ; Harold broke it." I gave him a small music-box that had a handle simi- lar to a winding tape-measure, and at first he called it a " tape-measure." March 3d. His new sentences to-day were, "Put this on the top," and " Stand up and look at Bridget," to a picture he saw in a fashion paper that he called Bridget. He made H, X, and A with matches, and told me what letters they were. We sometimes give him a box of safety-matches to build letters with, and it pleases him very much. At times he asks for them, but does not get them. This evening when he received the box he took out all the matches, shut the box-slide, hit it to make sure it was shut, and set it aside in a very decided way, as if to say, " Now I have the matches, I shall do as I please with them." He then built houses, letters, and engines, and amused himself for a long time. A short time ago he saw a picture of a screw-top glue- pot in a journal, and said at once, in an excited way, pointing to it, " What's dat ?" I said " A glue-pot." He looked at it doubtingly for a while, then said, very de- cidedly, "That's the doctor's; doctor won't hurt you; don't like bottle doctor." I then noticed that the bottle resembled an ether-bottle used once when etherizing him. When I asked him where he had seen a doctor's bot- tle, he looked at the end of the mantel where the one used had been standing. He then said, although it was his beloved "schliissel book," "Put the book away; 87 A STUDY OF A CHILD don't like the doctor's bottle." He asked for it again, however, after a while, as though it had a fascination for him, yet he showed apprehension when he saw the picture. When he heard some one moving in the hall later on in the day he started and said to me, " Doctor won't hurt you." Had his mother thought he would notice and remember so much she would have cautioned the physicians and have saved him much nerve-strain. It is a mistake no doubt often made, for knowledge so often comes too late, and children suffer. (The record shows that it took more than a year for the child to re- cover from the nerve-strain, which could all be traced to the fact that he was allowed to be in the room while preparations were being made to etherize him. These facts may serve to illustrate where physicians and sur- geons may make a few practical deductions from child- study.) He said, to-day, to his mother, "See birdie sleep, mamma; hang it up, gas"; "Tommy kiss O's, kiss choo- choo," putting the letters and engine to Tommy's mouth. (Tommy is a stuffed rag doll). He then said, in a reflect- ive tone, " Tommy's face very dirty." Dr. A had said the same a few days before, and Harold said it as if, now that he came to think of it, Dr. A - was right. He then said, " Tommy sit up," trying to make him sit. He accomplished it, and eagerly said to me, " Harold made Tommy sit up." This evening when he saw a picture of a tape-measure he thought of the music-box he had received recently, for he asked at once, " Mamma, gib Harold musila-box." She gave it to him, turning over another page of the book as she did so. He turned the handle of the music-box and said, " Find tape-measure." THIRD YEAR She turned back one page again to the tape-measure picture, and he looked for and saw that it had no handle, so he looked about the room and said, " Mamma, find other tape-measure," signifying he wanted the one we used that had a handle. He saw the points of resem- blance, yet knew each thing for what it was. He has said " sterilized " distinctly for several weeks. He said to-day, " Soldier picture ; sing to soldier pict- ure," the one of Detaille's alluded to before, of which he is very fond. He spoke of snow the other day when he saw it fall- ing. This evening he asked, " How many gases burning ?" "W hen we reached a picture in the Iron Age of a large stationary engine, he said " What's dat ?" I said, " Ma- chine." He repeated the word, looked at me, then said " machinery " twice. How he learned it I do not know. He must have heard some one say it in this connection. For several days he has said a number of times, " Mam- ma, take him arms." He does this when he does not feel very well, and it always makes her watch him closely that she may try to correct any disturbance before it goes too far. He wanted his "schliissel book" this evening, and when his mother gave it to him she said, " Tell mamma you are her darling boy." He hugged her, and said in a tone of great affection, " Mamma's darlin', precious boy." March 4th. He said to-day, " This is a knife to cut some bread," pointing to bread -knife. He also said, " Papa dress too" the first time he has said too. Said " bing " for bring. He said to Kate, a visitor, " Love Kate, sit down on Kate's lap, tired of sitting on Annie's lap." 89 A STUDY OF A CHILD Other sentences at this date were: "Mommy's good boy"; "Stella (a playmate) not here to-day"; "Bring it up the spoons, Stella ; " "I love it, the boy," alluding to little Walter, with whom he played occasionally ; " Shut this window." He put one of his father's bamboo canes in a hole in a chair this evening, and amused himself for a long time making it go up and down and bend. He said to Annie to-day, " Annie write to Susan, gib ee dis one pencil, write to Susan." She told him a few days ago that she must write a letter to some one called Susan. He said to me to-day, " Thank you, put away nice little gas-light," returning to me a gas-burner I had given him to play with. Then he said, " Mamma, try to reach it, mantel-piece." As soon as he hears a piano, even if it is next door, he asks for his toy piano, and begins to play. March 6th. A new sentence to-day was " Stand up and wind the tick-tock up." One day recently, when not well, he said, "Just a while lean on here" (meaning my shoulder), "Annie's arms break." She must have complained in his hear- ing of her arms being tired or being ready to break. To-day he had spinach for dinner, the first time for a month. He recognized it, and called it " pinage." His new sentences to-day were: "Write Baby Mc- Kee"; "Where's it?" and "No, got enough," when asked if he would have more of something. He also said again to-day, " Doctor won't hurt you, table." An old servant called Bridget brought him a balloon to-day. He seemed afraid of it, and said, " Don't ee like ee Bridget ball. Needn't go near it. Hang it up." He 90 THIRD YEAR has not seen her for six weeks. At first he looked shy and turned away, but turned back again, and looked at her as if glad and surprised, saying " Bridget." He said to his father to-night, when he went to bed, " Good-bye, papa, until to-morrow, see you again." This evening as I sang about " Good-night to birds," he sang " Good-night, Bavinia's bird." March 7th. To-day he said, " Got a pain in tummach, mamma." At night he begged to lie in " mamma's bed," and was ill all night. He cried constantly, " Take him, carry him in mamma's arms, walk floor." March 9th. This evening at dinner he picked up a piece of cr.ust lying by his father's plate, tasted it, said, " Don't ee like ee papa's crust, want a drink," and said, also, " Get a spoon and feed him " ; " Harold feed him- self "; "Want some meat"; "Want some juice" (roast- beef dish gravy) ; " Want some tato," and so on, as each dish appeared. As he grew sleepy he said, as if afraid she wouldn't do it on account of dinner, " Mam- ma, take me ; lie on mamma's bed, hold hand." He began lately to say, in a conscious way after mak- ing a remark, " Hear dat, papa?" Every one began at once to be more careful, and the servants were cautioned, for fear he would lose his unconsciousness, and results justified this care. He has now no thought as to how his words appear to others. He said to-day, " Fraid ee mamma sew, put ee down ee needle." Also, " Fraid ee mamma go away ; fraid ee papa take a choo - choo go to see Aunt M , New York." He goes over a pet journal of mechanical illustrations in a curious way. He has some association with each picture. When he saw a poker, the name of which he 91 A STUDY OF A CHILD did not know, he said " Bishy," meaning a servant he had seen using a poker ; when he saw a stove - lifter, he said " hot " (he may have found that out by experience, for he sometimes gets into the kitchen). His favorite illustrations are a page of screws, one of keys (after which he calls the book his " schliissel book," for we told him the German word for key), and a very complete il- lustration of a locomotive, but he will sit contentedly, turning over page after page, and talk to himself about all the pictures. He does this also with Mother Goose, and seems to know nearly all of it, sometimes humming snatches of the melody, but he prefers the " schliissel book," and finds something new in it every time he looks it over, and is always eager to show me his discoveries. It is astonishing to see how he amuses himself from morning to night when we do not confuse him with too many things. One time we give him blocks, another time take him to the kitchen and let him reign until nap- time, when cook gets a chance to tidy up again. When there, he will go from one utensil to another, point to them, and say " What's dat ?" Every evening now he says to his father as soon as he is in the house, " Papa, play ee violin," and while he plays he will rest quietly in his nurse's arms. When his father stops playing, to go to dinner, he says, " Put ee violin seep." He found somewhere a fan shaped like a violin, and an egg-beater that he uses as a bow. He calls these " my violin," and goes about the house playing and singing at the top of his voice. Yesterday I held him up at the window to see a chute coal-wagon. He looked at the men taking out the coal for a while, and then said, " Make ee wheel go round." I didn't know at first what he meant, but afterwards I 92 THIRD YEAR saw them lower the cart, and understood. I had not noticed the wheel before. This evening I gave him a bottle of milk that was a little bit warmer than he is accustomed to. He instant- ly handed back the bottle after touching it, and said, " Put his bottle in the cold." He often says " his " now for " ee." To-night, when giving him a mustard foot-bath, he protested, and lifting his feet out of the water said, ''Don't like ee mustard." He heard me tell nurse to put the mustard in. Probably if he had not heard this he would not have noticed the difference, especially if I had diverted his attention when doing it. March llth. This evening he said, in about one hour after receiving a toy violin, " Daden's bow ; poor bow fell!" (to his own when it fell). "Mommy sing 'A Maggie pet.' Poppee don't want to play violin." Then to his own, "Sweet violin, nice violin, lovely violin; mam- ma kiss violin, Harold kiss violin " (doing it). " Don't want Dr. A to play violin." (This doctor lanced his gums when he was teething.) "When told he was to go to bed, he said, " No ; Harold must play violin. Go clock " (meaning go see clock). " Harold go to bed ? I t'ought so. Pretty violin. Oh-h-h, is it broket again ? Where is the oder piece?" (when a peg fell out). His mother said, "Can't you find it ?" He said "No. Come find it, mommy ; come find it, mommy ; find tick to Harold's violin." Then he said, meditatively, " Poppee don't play piano. Mommy don't play violin" (noting difference, as usual). " Poppee's violin in big box." Then, after seeing something about the violin that made him point and exclaim " W " very eagerly, he went to bed as if he had to go but did not want to. 93 A STUDY OF A CHILD This evening he said, "Feed children supper. Poor children cry ; I get it. I get Moller Goose" running to the next room to get the book to bring it to me. I never looked to see to which song he alluded. He broke his toy violin after dinner and said, " Poppee fix it." When his father returned it to him he said, voluntarily, " Thank you, papa. Harold play violin." March 12th. This morning he said to his father when he left, " Good-bye, poppee ; see you soon again " ; then, " Mommy, get violin " (meaning his own) ; " daden's bow next yoom; fraid ee poppee put it seep next yoom" (again meaning his own, fearing his father had put his away with his own). To-day, when looking over a puzzle-block game that had a large picture of an engine on the box-cover, he found a small piece of the engine inside, which he promptly called " little choo-choo," pointing to the bell on the piece at the same time, and saying " ting-a-ling- a-ling." He then said, eight times in succession, " big choo-choo, little choo-choo," again noting difference. When dressed in the morning now he goes to the door and calls, " Annie come and talk a you." She asked him who gave him the engine. He said, " Mamma bing it this muding," (morning). Sometimes he says words correctly, and at other times he does as above i.e., say- ing " muding " for morning. He is not corrected, for we want him to find out for himself from observation the correct way to pronounce words. When he asks the names of things he is told carefully, and we see that he says the word correctly, but what he learns himself we let alone. We want to find out how much he can absorb from surroundings without direction. So far he has learned a great deal through his own activity. He 94 NO DATK DRAWINGS A, stand-pipe ; B. folded pnper frame for drawing of boot ; C, machine stitching for frame , D, Stationary wash -stnnd ; E, flagman ; F. wheel turning round. UNIVERSITY THIRD YEAR is never at rest, brain or body, and it keeps us busy to see that he has sufficient diversion without confusion to occupy him from morning to night. So far as is possi- ble, routine is depended on for all that must necessarily be done i.e., feeding, naps, going out, bathing, and bed- time and we find that he takes all of them as incidental to what appears to him to be his great occupation i.e., play. (The records show that he was never happy unless occupied alwa}^s asking, " What may I do ?" when he could find nothing himself, and but a few words of sug- gestion were necessary, as a rule, to send him at once to a new occupation.) When he awoke to-day from his nap he was fretful until he thought of his violin. Then he was happy, and wanted to stay home with it instead of going out in his coach. His mother let him take it down to the door with him, and diverted him sufficiently to take it away when he left. It might have been wiser to have openly taken it away, offering something in its place, for he cried as soon as he missed it. As soon as he came home he asked for it, and said, " Fraid a mommy take it way, violin." He then asked me to " play it and sing fiddle," meaning " Hey diddle-diddle, the cat and the fiddle." To-day he said he had a pain in his u tummack," and asked for his medicine (soda-mint). When he had fin- ished taking it he took the spoon and said " More ; Harold feed himself." He evidently likes the sugar in it, and I fear the pain is imaginary. He has shown an inclination several times to use sophistry in getting me to do something he wants very much, so hereafter I shall try to let him know that he can have things for the asking only, and trust that he will ask for what may reasonably be granted. (The record shows that 95 A STUDY OF A CHILD this method corrected his sophistical efforts to a great extent. Some one may have said something in his hear- ing to impress him with the fact that an inducement must be offered to get certain things, but I think he has reasoned it out for himself that he gets certain things under certain conditions as, for instance, the soda-mint sweetened when he says he has a pain. The only other times we have noticed this inclination have been in the morning, when he tries to induce us to get him up very early, or at bedtime, when he wants to stay up longer than his usual hour. We are generally deaf to his en- treaties at each time, but we are quite accustomed to hear him say in the morning that he wants all sorts of things, each one calculated to make one rise as, for in- stance, "Want a drink," which he knows he will get, or " Harold hungry," etc. He is not allowed to get up before seven, for we want him to have the habit of waking and rising regularly, and his hour of waking has gradually been regulated from five to half-past six in this way, and we will soon reach seven, by simply chatting and playing with him and giving him a drink of milk and his toys, but insisting on his remaining in bed until seven. Such training is of value, especially when travelling, for he will sit contentedly and amuse himself without disturbing his neighbors. To-day he had two pitchers to play with, and poured a little water from one to the other. He said to me in a tone of great delight, " Harold pour." We risked his getting wet to give him the pleasure and, as in every- thing he does, he showed care. This morning we went out for a walk. Before we started he asked to go to see the " choo - choos on ee fence." I promised to take him there, but allowed myself 96 OF THB UNIVERSI - THIRD YEAR to be diverted from doing so at once. When we were sev- eral blocks beyond the " choo-choo " street, he evident- ly realized that we had gone too far, for he turned about and said, " See choo-choos !" When we returned and reached the place, we found that the posters had been covered with others, much to his disappointment, which I tempered by directing his attention to some- thing attractive beyond ; and as we passed a provision- store he was delighted to see some dressed turkeys hanging there, and called them " roosters." This afternoon he crept down half a flight of stairs, unaided, when following his nurse to the bath-room. As he did it he no doubt remembered that he had been told not to do so, for he called, in a very insinuating way, " Good-bye, mamma," as if he wanted very much to go, yet felt it was not quite right. His mother hon- ored this feeling in him and let him alone. This evening he asked for a piece of candy. I sup- pose he calls " flake manna " candy because it tastes sweet ; yet I do not know how he can have any con- ception of candy except from hearsay, for he has never eaten any. I gave him a piece of the manna and he ate it, then asked for more. I said "No." He then took up a quinine-chocolate that he had refused to take before, and asked to lie on mamma's bed to eat it, and ate it all. Then he came to me and asked again for "more piece of candy," as if he thought I would be so pleased to see him eat the chocolate that he would get the man- na as a reward. Hard as I found it to deny him, he did not get it, for he must do what is right without being bribed, and he must learn that he must not attempt to bribe. (This is a great evil in training children, both at home and in school. Using bribes, marks, honors, or a 97 A STUDY OF A CHILD anything of the kind, should not be allowed until a child has reached years that bring with them some judgment as to the real value of things. A child should learn to do a thing because it is right in itself to do it, not be- cause some one else wants him to do it, and he should see by example that those about him follow the same rule, then doing right will become a life-long habit.) March 13th. This morning when dressed he said, " Mamma draw the curtain las night six o'clock ; Harold go asleep. Hear dat, papa?" as if proud of going to bed so early. To-day it snowed, and he said, " See the snow falling down !" He put his finger on the re- flector of a speaking-tube to-day, moved it, and called Lavinia so that she heard it. When his father was dressing this morning he said, " Papa, put clothes on ; what coat, trousers ?" opening the door of the closet and looking in as he spoke, as if he wished to know which to get for him showing, as usual, his desire to help others. March 14th. Said " Fool ee Annie dat time " to his nurse. She often says to him, " Fool Harold !" when she plays with him. One morning when he was trying to get his mother to rise, she showed a strong disposition to lie down again after having risen. He called out to his father, in a tone of great apprehension, " Fraid ee mamma lie down, papa." Poor little chap, he seems to feel the responsi- bility of getting us up in the morning, and, as every one but himself is up late at night, it is pretty hard work. March 15th. This evening at dinner his father said, jokingly, "Will you have some of the edibles?" He replied, " Don't like edibles." March 16th. To-day he said, " Mamma, lift ee in ee 98 THIRD YEAR arras see horsy, see bird-cage." Also, when his father left with a travelling-bag, "Papa, steet, New York, Aunt M y." He evidently thinks that every time his father goes oat of the house with a bag he goes to New York to see Aunt M y. March 18th. When his father came in this evening he ran to him and said, "Iss, papa," kissed him, brought his little violin and bow immediately, walked up to where the big one was, stood there, and said, repeated- ly, " Papa play big violin." When at last his father did play, he walked around the room as usual, playing his. It is a very quaint sight, for he holds both violin and bow correctly, for his father found it was just as easy to show him the right way as the wrong. It is on this principle that he is shown correctly how to do any- thing that he is likely to use in later life. One evening recently, when amusing each other with their violins, Harold's father used his bow on Harold's violin, nat- urally with increased sound. Harold instantly cried for "big bow" to use it himself on his violin, and it took a long time to restore his content with his own bow. (This shows how readily a child may be made unhappy by comparisons.) This evening at early dinner he was allowed to sit at table. He had bread-and-milk, and asked for a spoon to " feed himself." I spoke incidentally of Mary (a former servant). He said at once, " Did you see Mary ? Did you see George ?" (Mary's husband, of whom he was very fond). He had not seen nor heard of them for some time. This morning he found a picture of a clock in his pet journal which looked not unlike one in a friend's room. He called it "lady's clock," and handed me another 99 A STUDY OF A CHILD copy of the journal, begging me to " Find nodder lady's clock." I did so, and he was delighted, repeating many times " Find nodder lady's clock." Then he looked closely at them, said " Won't go," then looked up at the clock on the wall and said, "Ganma's clock; don't touch." One morning before I had risen he was very quiet, and we discovered him on my desk pulling at the pen- dulum of a clock which he calls "ganme's clock" be- cause she gave it to me. March 19th. When his father kissed him good-bye this morning he said, " See papa out er winnow on steet." I held him so he could see him for a moment as he passed out of sight. He said, " There he is gone" and turned away as if ready for something else. He is a very philosophical little fellow. This evening he said to us, " See Mrs. Pancer." We asked him where. He said, " On ee steet at ee corner." We found out afterwards that he and his nurse had passed a Mrs. Spencer at the corner of a street in the afternoon. The other evening when in his own room he lost a peg of his violin, one that came out very easily. We all went out to find it for him. Since then he begs us every evening to come out and find it, leading each one of us to the same place, because he still misses it. We really found it the first evening, but put it away, un- known to him, for we thought he would soon be satis- fied without it, and it was so loose that he was constant- ly losing it. I suppose it would have been kinder to the little fellow to have fixed the peg in so that it would stay. To - night he said at dinner, " Want some oysters. 100 THIRD YEAR Papa want some water ? Harold pour it out." He always wants to help wherever he is, and he is still en- couraged in it, although at times it is trying to wait until he has done what he is aiming at. He saw a bird go down a chimney to-day, and said, " See little bird go down hole." He never saw a chim- ney from the top, so he must have reasoned that there was a hole because the bird disappeared. When he saw flowing water and sleet on snow to - day, he said, ap- ropos of each subject, " See water run," and " See water on snow." He was very sleepy when he was put down for his nap, and as soon as his head touched the pillow he said, very decidedly, " Draw curtain, mamma." It sounded as if he could hardly wait to go to sleep. When he saw her lying on a couch later in the day he said to himself, " Mamma resting." When he went to see Mrs. A to-day he asked for " birdie." She has a stuffed bird that she gives to him occasionally to amuse himself with while we chat. To- day, after receiving the bird, he said, "Put birdie on ee trunk." We did so. Then he looked at it and said, " See birdie on ee trunk," then took it up and caressed it, asking me to kiss its eyes and its tail. As he said tail he pointed to the branch upon which the bird's feet were resting. I then showed him where the tail was. When looking out of the window to-day he said, " See ee bird in cage," indicating that he wanted to move so he could get something in his line of vision. I did as he wanted, and found that from a certain part of the window-ledge he could see a bird in a cage in a house across the street. He had evidently discovered this before, but had said nothing about it, for we were ioi A STUDY OF A CHILD not aware of its being the case. He is constantly sur- prising us in this way. A violinist and harpist played before the honse one day recently, and he insisted on having his violin and being put on the window-ledge, where he stood and played for a long time, much to the amusement of the musicians outside. When he was being dressed to-day to go out with his nurse he said, " Take the chair away." It appears she has to remove a chair in the down-stair's hall in order to get the coach out of the door, and he meant that she should get it ready while I was dressing him. He began running up and down before his father this evening, saying, " Boom, boom, bumpety boom ; shoot papa, bing !" pointing his finger as he did it. March 20th. To-day he said, "Call papa"; "King bell " ; " Mamma resting " ; " Papa, play big violin " ; " Call papa ; papa, come home, play big violin." When he came in from his airing he said, " Had good time on steet." This morning to amuse him I suggested that he go to the door, call Mrs. A , and say " Good-morning " to her. He called "Mrs. A " four times, waiting until she answered; then he said " Good - morning." This occupied him for quite a little while, and I had a few minutes' freedom until he was ready for something else. Yesterday when I heard Mrs. A going down- stairs I said to him, to divert him for a moment, " Call good-bye to Mrs. A ." He did so, and added, " Frow a kiss to Mrs. A ." He loves her very much, and it pleases him to do these things, at the same time it culti- vates a kindly feeling to others. He appears now to love nearly every person he meets. 102 THIRD YEAR To-day he said, " Mamma tore her dress. Too bad !" He heard us say alcohol, and said, instantly, " Don't like alcohol bottle on ee mantel." He is rubbed with it, and doesn't like the smell. He says the word very distinctly. For several months now he has said, when eating, " Put away, got enough," and he will take no more. To-day he said, " Make a tick-tock. Harold make a tiek-tock." He has stopped saying I, except occasion- ally, and uses his name (Harold) instead. He told me to-night to " Make lamp light again ; make gas - pipe light." He also asked to go out this afternoon by say- ing, " Mamma, get ee coat and cap and take Harold bye," following it up with " Annie no Harold bye " (meaning he preferred that his mother should take him out instead of his nurse). When his mother tried to cover his bare feet this evening with his night-coat, while holding him on her lap before placing him in bed, he said, " Mamma, coat no on feet." He always shows a desire to have them bare at this time, and it is curious to hear him say a no" for not. March 21st. "Hello, Alfred!" he said, to-day, looking in the next room to see if it was an errand-boy he knew, for he heard some one moving about. He saw it was his nurse, however, and then said, " Oh, that's Annie !" This evening he said to his father when he came in, " Take off gloves, poppee ; take off fingers." His mother had a headache and he said, "Annie's forehead, mamma's forehead poor mamma's forehead !" He said " Big pin, little pin " repeatedly to-day, to two safety-pins of different size. 103 A STUDY OF A CHILD On March 22d he said, " Now, Tommy, sit up ; now, Tommy, eat some breakfast"; "Tommy like boy squeak." Tommy is his pet rag doll, and he talks to him a great deal. He also said that " Tommy go in a hole." We couldn't find out what he meant. March 23d. As I poured all the water from a carafe into a large basin this morning he said, "Big water, little water ; little water gone out." March 24th. New sentences to-day were "Lots of good times " ; " Lots of good fun." March 25th. He asked me to " Sit on ee knees." This is the first time for the word knees. March 26th. He said to-da}^ to himself, " Papa says no, no, Harold; papa says turn those pins around" (meaning pegs in violin). He said later to me, " Harold want to write." He has never asked for this before. He has a great notion of comparing i.e., "big vio- lin, little violin " ; " big cup, little cup " ; " big pin, little pin," etc. March 27th. He was delighted to sit up to early dinner this evening, and said, "Harold see papa eat supper. Harold see mamma eat supper too. Harold eat too. Lots of fun. Lots of good times." March 28th. I washed "Tommy" to-day, and when he saw him he noticed it at once and said, " New Tom- my, nice new Tommy. Tommy clean." But first he rubbed him with his hand and said, " Tommy wet." The doll was not yet dry. March 29th. He said to-day, "Fraid momm}? 1 lay down herself." This is the first time he has said " her- self." When he came in from his walk, Annie asked him what the gentleman said to him. He replied at once, " Shake hands." 104 THIRD YEAR He is very much interested in clocks, and insists on stopping to see every clock he can find in the windows as we go along. He rarely misses one, and keeps on the lookout for them during the entire time we are out walking. In consequence, we take quite a long time to walk a very short way, for nearly every window has a clock. I fear it will soon be a question as to which one of us is the more clever in selecting a route whether it be one minus clocks, or almost so, at any rate, to suit me, or full of them, to suit him. Every evening when his father comes in it is still the same old story, " Poppee, play big violin ; Harold play little violin " ; and, " Poppee, put rosin on bow, mamma dance, Harold play lift dress and dance, mamma." She has danced for him several times, to show him the mo- tion of her feet when waltzing. His mother was ready to take him out this afternoon, but had not yet taken up her gloves. He said, " Mam- ma, get gloves." He seems to observe every little thing. We need make no effort to influence him to notice things. He misses very little, and seems to remember everything he once sees or hears. (The record shows that when he was old enough to ask questions about things that puzzled him, he remem- bered every answer he received with but one telling. His usual form of questioning at this age two years was " What's dat ?") When he had his bath this evening he soaped his hands, washed them, and dried them with a towel I gave him. Then he held them out to me and said, as if ask- ing me if it w r ere so, "Harold's hands dry?" touching each one as he said it. Yesterday he saw a baby in the window across the 105 A STUDY OF A CHILD street. He said, " Baby has white dress on." I asked him if he wanted to have a white one on. He said, " No ; Harold has Aunt Mollie's dress on." This is the colored gingham he prefers to all his other dresses. He is a sturdy little fellow. It never makes him unhappy to see others have what he has not. (The record shows this to be the case right through, and he was always content when told he would receive things he asked for " some day," because he was given reason to trust those who promised him anything. The record shows also that it was always found to be the best plan to buy his presents when he was not along, for he soon reasoned out for himself that his part was only to select what he wanted to have " some day," and care was taken to see that he frequently received the things he selected. For this reason he never gave any one trouble about buying when taken about to see things.) He has never mentioned color in this way before. He notices when his mother has a black dress on, say- ing, " Mamma has black dress on." He also asks for his "red cap" or " white cap," as the case may be. March 31st. This morning, when Mrs. A - and I were engaged, he walked up to his father's violin with his own in his hand, and began to laugh aloud, paying no attention to us. As he laughed he said, in a low voice, " Papa come home, play big violin. Papa will come home this evening, play big violin," followed by a long-drawn-out "Oh," and laughing to himself quietly. At last he turned to us and repeated the whole perform- ance in a very comical manner. His laughing was all pretence, quite noiseless, and not at all like his sponta- neous laughter, but as if he were trying to prolong his enjoyment. 106 THIRD YEAR April 3d. He wanted to go to sleep at once this evening when put to bed, and called out, " Papa, bet- ter shut the door." There was a slight delay, and he said, " Mamma, shut the door !" emphasizing shut in a marked manner. He saw Annie throw a kiss to him with her hand, and said, " Annie put a hand on a kiss." April 4th. To-day he stroked my face, kissed me, hugged me, and said, very lovingly, "My darlin' boy!" He also said to his nurse, "Annie, Harold's darlin'." April Tth. When we took a walk to-day, he saw a pussy in a yard across the way. He stopped, bowed his head, and said, "How do, pussy? Glad to see you, pussy. Pussy come and take a walk." To-day he said to himself the whole of the nursery song "Ding dong dell," without any assistance. I asked him this morning where his father was. He answered at once, " Gone to Filaduffia." April 10th. When out walking this morning with his mother it grew very windy, so they hurried home. As they went along he pulled at her hand and said, " Hurry up fast, mamma " ; then, " Walk hard, mamma, windy," running as he said it. To-day he said, " Sit hard, Aunt C ." I couldn't find out what he meant. He sat down on the floor then to try to button his shoes, and as he did it he leaned over them very closely and said, "This is the way Aunt C does." I recognized the position at once. He is very imitative. April 12thi He amused himself to-day by watching a sprinkling- wagon go up and down the street. I heard him say to himself several times "Here it comes again." 107 A STUDY OF A CHILD He also said to a sleeping dog, " Get up, dog," and to one he met, " How do, dog ?" April 15th. When at dinner to-day he looked around and, said, "I see no apple - sauce." He likes it very much, and has it nearly every day for dinner, but this day it had been overlooked. This morning, when he went to the window to see his beloved choo-choos pass by, we heard him say, " Good- morning, Mrs. Y ," saying the name of a neighbor whom we, thought he would not remember from his previous visit (he was away from home). We then saw that Mrs. Y was at her window. He knew her at once, although he had not seen her for four months. Last night his mother put him to bed after having dressed to go in the rain to a concert. He said to her, "Fraid mamma go away. Mamma got rubbers on. Mamma got shoes on. Take hat off, mamma ; tay with Harold." All this was said in a very pleading tone. She removed her hat and rubbers, and he fell asleep contentedly. As he invariably sleeps until eleven, after once getting asleep, he can be left without trouble if no sign of going is given while he is awake. (The record shows that when he was old enough to understand, he was told every time that his parents ex- pected to be away when he was asleep. This was done to keep him free from any knowledge of deception. Minot Savage tells a story of a boy in Boston who said of his father and mother, who promised him a ride daily but never took him, " There go two of the biggest liars in Boston." I have also heard of a child who evidently met deception somewhere, who said that since liars wouldn't go to heaven there wouldn't be many people 108 NO DATE DRAWINGS A, "a disappearing cannon"; B, "a man having his hair cut the boy is pulling the longhair of the woman who is cutting the man's hair"; C, "ostrich looking back as he runs"; D, re- versible picture. THIRD YEAR there ; maybe grandma, but she was sure there wouldn't be any men there.) To-day he saw one of his white dresses lying on the grass to bleach. He became very cross and said it would get dirty, not understanding the process. He saw his beloved colored gingham on the line and said, "Aunt Mollies dress get clean." He has been watching his cousin prepare a bed for planting tomatoes. He was allowed to dig in the ashes that were used. Next day he said, "Mamma, get shobel, dig powder," meaning the ashes, which to him seemed like powder, yet we do not know how he learned anything about powder. April 16th. This morning John S came in. Har- old knew him at once and went to him very soon. They were very friendly about four weeks ago, at which time Harold was very much pleased with my explanation of a metronome to John S and J 's cousin who called on us at the time. John S asked him where the clock was (Harold called the metronome a clock). He replied, " Clock asleep." We had put it out of sight after John S left, because we could not easily control Harold's desire to have it while he could see it, hence his own conclusion of " clock asleep." The engines pass and repass all day on the railroad back of his aunt's house, and he stands at the window at intervals all day long. He shows that he reasons, for as an engine passes out of sight at one window he crosses the room quickly and looks for it from another window, from which the engine may be seen as it turns a curve in the track. To-day I asked him if he wanted to go to see his father 109 A STUDY OF A CHILD on Friday. He said, " Don't like Friday." Then I said Saturday. He said, " Yes, go to see papa, Saturday." I then said, "Papa will play the big violin." He smiled and said, " Harold play little violin." April 17th. This morning, as he was lying in bed for a moment with his mother, he said, " Mamma, put head on Harold's dry pillow." Some milk had just been spilled on the end of the pillow towards her. He shows quite a great deal of consideration for her in many ways. To en- courage him in this he is always given some kind word or a kiss in return, and care is taken to let him see that it is appreciated. He said, afterwards, " I don't want to go to sleep, mamma. Get up and dress Harold." His sentences now are rapidly becoming fuller, and he often uses every word necessary to form a complete phrase. Since his mind is not so much occupied with the big words having acquired a considerable vocabulary he is beginning to notice the connections more, and also the little niceties of accent and pronunciation, yet his attention is not directed to this. He takes it all very naturally and easily, without the least sign of physical or mental strain. By nurturing the physical, he runs along mentally so rapidly that no doubt he will soon have to be repressed a little in suggestion in order to keep things even, for uneven development is always a cause for alarm. When he looked out of the window this morning and saw the snow, he said, " Snowing, mamma," pronouncing the "g" distinctly. He put his violin between his knees to-day in quite a professional manner, and said, " I want to wind it up," then turned a peg and touched a string. Then he took his bow and drew the rosin over it to the very end, saying, "This is the way that papa does." 110 1894 CUTTINGS FOUR YEARS OLD A, slice ; B, elephant ; C, a range with lots of fire -holes ; D, "a Venice boat," he called it, with a ventilator and window ; E, bell. THIRD YEAR Then he drew the bow across the violin, and because it made no sound he said, " Rosin no good." He asked me to-day to sing "Baby, baby, oh, my darling baby " (Emmet's song, which he heard for the first time about a week ago, when his father sang it for him). When out walking with me this afternoon he saw a clock on a steeple fully a quarter of a mile away, and said, pointing to it, " There's another clock." (He gives frequent evidence of being far-sighted.) "We called on some one to-day who gave to him for amusement a board of marbles used for solitaire. The centre hole, as usual, had no marble in it. The in- stant Harold saw the board he said, " Want anoder one," went to the closet from which the board was taken and said it again, looking for the marble he thought was missing. He observes very quickly. When we returned from there we stopped in to see his metro- nome friend, John S , who showed him a gui- tar. Harold said at once, "John's violin got no bridge on." April 18th. This morning when he waked he hugged and kissed his mother, saying " Mamma " very lovingly "have lots of good times wif mamma." She asked him if he wanted Annie (his nurse). He said " No mamma," dwelling on mamma, and by his tone intimat- ing that he preferred to have her. (He always seems so glad to have her instead of the servants that she gives him much more time than was originally planned for. It is evident that it is better for him. With even the most faithful service there is constant need for in- telligent and sympathetic supervision at very short in- tervals, to watch the gradual unfolding of a child's ill A STUDY OF A CHILD mind, and to nurture to the best of one's ability its physical development.) April 20th. "We have returned home again, and to- day when Annie left the room for her coat and hat, while Harold was waiting, ready for her to take him out, he said, " Fraid Annie go out herself," for she was rather slow in returning. Then he said, " See an ah-ah- ah-ah-ah," meaning a derrick, imitating the noise of one. For a long time afterwards he called a derrick by this sound. I think his nurse said it to him the first time, but I do not know. Probably he tried to imitate the sound of the creaking. His father protested at last, thinking the child should always be told the correct name of anything he noticed, and he was then taught the word directly. April 21st. This morning he said, "Want to see Aunt M e taking coffee in next yoom," remembering his visit to New York two months ago. To-day I cut some paper engines for him. The mo- ment he saw them he said, " Harold's choo-choo." Last Christmas his cousin Harold sent him one cut out of paper, and the last week of our recent visit there he also cut some for him. April 22d. To-day I had the little fellow with me all day long. He was very docile and loving, and appeared to be perfectly happy. He came to me constantly in between his play, to hug and kiss me. I gave him a scissors and paper for the first time. He is twenty-six months old now. He took up the scissors to try to cut. He knew it had to be parted at the blades, but he did not know how to do it, so I showed him the place for his thumb and fingers. He didn't need a second showing. For some time he tried and tried to cut, without success. 112 THIRD YEAR I let him alone, watching, however, to see that he did not stick or cut himself, for the scissors was a small, sharp - pointed one. The blunt scissors made are too heavy and too clumsy for the delicate work of a child. I therefore gave him a small embroidery scissors, wish- ing, however, I had a blunt yet equally delicate scissors. (It would no doubt be possible to have the regular em- broidery scissors blunted.) After he had struggled for a long time with the scis- sors and piece of paper, he announced in a tone of triumph, " Cut a piece !" and showed me a piece like this, ^=cd] that he had succeeded in cutting off. He was very much elated, and at last he started in to cut off all the projections on one of the paper engines I had cut for him. He cut one after the other, saying as he went along, " Harold cut off whistle ; Harold cut off bell ; Harold cut off wheel," etc. When he reached the pilot he looked up at me interrogatively, and I said, " Cow- catcher." He did not repeat the word after me. He went right on with his sentence, " Harold cut off cow- catcher." His memory seems to be very good. He often repeats a word of three syllables correctly after hearing it only once. After he had cut away all the parts, he held up the body of the engine and said to me in a tone of pity, " Harold cut off whistle ; engine all torn." I asked him if he wanted another. He said "Yes," so I gave him one similar to the one he had cut. I often folded paper fourfold before beginning to cut them out for him, because it pleased him very much to see me hand four engines to him instead of what appeared to be only one. He took up the paper engine I gave him, took his scissors in his other hand, looked at them both, looked at me, held the scissors to the whistle, and to H 113 A STUDY OF A CHILD each part, and said, " I don't want to cut off whistle ; I don't want to cut off bell; I don't want to cut off wheel ; I don't want to cut off cow-catcher," and he didn't do it either. All this occurred without my say- ing a word. He evidently did not want to see the en- gine destroyed, and although he wanted to have the pleasure of cutting, he desisted that he might not de- stroy it. (For a child two years and two months old, this appears to be an exhibition of the self-control one should endeavor to cultivate in children.) I then gave him as a reward (without saying it was such) long strips of paper to snip, in order that he might enjoy the cutting without feeling that he was destroying something. He also had to-day some large-eyed buttons and a long string threaded in a bodkin. He found one button that stuck on the extreme end of the bodkin. He held it towards me and said, " I make a chimney." Later in the day we called on Mrs. A , his " lufly lady." He saw a chimney from one of her windows, and said, instantly, "Harold make a chimney," refer- ring to the button. He also had some large screws during the day. (His mother keeps on hand a supply of the things likely to amuse him, for he appreciates each one very much, and is often diverted from crying by the production of a new set of toys.) He played with the screws for a long time, comparing them to the pictures of the screws in his " schliissel book." Then he put one in and out of his mouth as if it were a cigar, saying, " This is the way papa mokes." He had beans next. These he put one by one in his mouth. I said, " No, no." He blew them out of his mouth in a very funny way, and said, " I don't want to 114 THIRD YEAR eat beans." His mother kissed him and said, " Mamma's good boy," for he always expects this when he obeys. Several times to-day he fretted for what was denied him. Each time his mother said to him, as she often, does, " Put your head on mamma's lap and cry it out," which he did every time, crying quietly for a moment, when he would say, "I don't see Harold." Then she says, " Here he is," when he looks up smiling, many a time with tears still lying on his cheeks. The storm is then over, and he will go on with his play. He is very per- sistent and strong-willed, but if care is taken not to oppose him openly, guiding him only by suggestion, he shows a willingness to do right at all times. It ap- pears as if he might become obstinate if he were treated harshly or with less regard for his feeling of individual right, of which he shows a strong sense. (The record shows all through that he has a keen sense of injustice and a strong belief in his own rights, but it shows also that he believes in the rights of others as much as his own, for he tries very hard for a little fellow to show that he respects them. If any question ever does come to an issue, which his parents try hard to prevent, they keep on patiently until he obeys. This is usually very soon, but before compelling obedience they satisfy them- selves that he is perfectly well, in order to avoid nerve strain. If ill or restless from causes for which he is not responsible, they lay aside all rules until he is him- self again, and effort is made to hold only sufficient control to exact instant obedience in case of illness or immediate danger. It would seem that this is all that any parent or person in charge of a child has the right to exact in absolute obedience, and all so-called discipline, breaking of the will, etc., is to be deprecated, as breeding 115 A STUDY OF A CHILD obstinacy, deception, nervous conditions, and many un- desirable qualities. I have frequently found that even bad children many times mistakenly called so will respond delightfully to treatment that is kind and sym- pathetic, yet perfectly just. The record also shows that Harold had several playmates at times who were con- sidered almost unmanageable at home, yet in his nursery they were perfectly well-behaved, probably in part owing to the opportunities open for diversion by the surround- ings offered, but equally, no doubt, to the invariable rule of sending home all the children when one quarrelled, no matter whether it was Harold or one of his visitors. Decisions were absolutely impartial, and the children all felt as if there was an appeal made to their honor, for they saw that all suil'ered when one disobeyed. In this way they learned to play together for hours without dissension. A curious fact, noted in connection with the entire record, is that the children who were fed properly and received proper hygienic care were the most docile. Those who gave evidence of careless handling or of nag- ging by servants were invariably the most difficult to impress with consideration for others. Social reformers may find this of interest.) One day recently I cut some large paper engines and cars for him, making them about a yard long, by using long pieces of newspaper. I did not fold the paper double, as I did before, but cut each train separately. He took up two in the most critical style without saying a word, and looked first at the smoke-stack of one, then the other, and so on with each part of each train. He seemed satisfied, and put them down without a word. Fortunately I had cut them very nearly alike. He is very quick to note differences. 116 :TY THIRD YEAR When it was raining one day he looked out of the win- dow, and said, " I don't see the sunshine." Then he said to a servant in the room, " Maggie, look out and see the rain." Just before that he had said, " It's raining again" Yesterday he used " again " in the same way. First he said, " Here it comes" ; then a little later, "Here it comes again." He came to his mother to-day and said, " Sit on mamma's lap." She lifted him up. He then said, " Sing, mamma." She sang a song from Elliott's Mother Goose, which was always used, because the harmonies are sufficiently beautiful to cultivate a taste for good music. He then said, " Harold sing," and he joined in her song, piping up his little voice as high as he could get it, singing all the words of the song she was singing. He appears to know the words now of all these songs. She then sang a dance song, and he stood up on his bed, held his skirts with both hands, and swayed back and forth, saying, " See Harold dance." He did not move his feet, but kept perfect time with his body movement. He heard Mrs. A play a waltz later in the day, and he beat time correctly with his hands, never missing the rhythm as she changed from one part to another. Mrs. - , who plays exquisitely, was here the other day, and while she was playing something with marked rhythm he begged to go near to her. He had previous- ly refused to go to her, and no amount of persuasion would induce him even to look at her at first. He was carried, however, to the next room, and he showed inter- est in the music when he was placed by her side. He closed his eyes that he might not see her, but moved his body in his mother's arms in perfect accord with the music, and said, " Mamma, dance." At last he begged to go into the next room and be rocked and 117 A STUDY OF A CHILD soothed. It appeared as though he needed to be soothed because he had been under two opposing in- fluenceshis love for the music, and his feeling against the performer. When Mrs. had finished playing she spoke of his keen sense of rh} 7 thm. He begged his mother to hold him for a long time, which is unusual, and then said, " Mamma, sing a song of fixpence," and seemed to be himself again. (Compare this experience with his different action at four months in Chapter L, page 16, when Handel's Largo and Raff's concertos were played in his hearing.) One day I gave one of my visiting-cards to him. He has had none since we gave him one two months ago with Dr. T 's name on it, which we read to him at the time. He kept Dr. T 's card at that time among his toys for several days, always calling it by name. The card I gave him to-day was larger than the original size he first saw, yet he noted the resemblance at once, for he said " Dr. T 's card." When I gave him an- other of mine he said the same thing. When he doesn't feel very well now he says, " Harold has a pain, poor dearie; mamma's dearie. Pain soon all over," in the most compassionate tone. He is very brave about bumps. He always sympathizes with the thing bumped into instead of thinking of himself. We have encouraged this in order to get him into the habit of looking away from himself at the world about him instead of becoming introspective and self-conscious- He even goes so far as to kiss the pavement, if he falls on the street, and say " Poor pavement !" We never check him in this even, for fear of starting the tide the wrong way. It seems that it is in just these tri- fling things that the great value of the " letting alone " 118 THIRD YEAR with supervision system becomes apparent. Evidently the nearer one can get a child to a regular habit of ac- tion under certain circumstances, taking it for granted that the habit aimed at is a desirable one, the easier it is to take care of that child physically, morally, and mentally. (The record shows that the effort of trying to establish a regular habit of action for body, mind, and spirit resulted in a remarkable happy life for the little fellow. He thinks everybody loves him, and with rare exceptions he loves everybody.) Last week, after having let forbidden things alone for a long time, he touched the little tea-set in the dining- room that had first attracted him. His mother followed him and said, " No, no," doing just as was done before. He persisted, however, in taking off the lids that pleased him so much. She then said, " Shall mamma tie Harold's hands up ?" He said " Yes," not really knowing what she meant. She did this very lightly and gently with her handkerchief, but more in fun than for discipline. He was very much surprised. He had no idea what tie meant, or else he thought it wouldn't be done, for if it can be avoided he is not punished in a way to make him feel that he is punished. He is allowed to reason out cause and effect when he has done wrong, and he is, conse- quently, very reasonable when he understands matters. When he saw his hands tied he began to cry, and said, " No tie Harold's hands up." He nearly always says " no " at the beginning of a sentence, instead of saying, for instance, " Do not tie," etc. His mother said, " Well, go to papa, and tell him you are sorry and will not do it again, and ask him to take it off." He did so, saying " I sorry," when his father, with a kiss, removed the hand- kerchief. I suppose he didn't even know what sorry 119 A STUDY OF A CHILD meant, but, once begun, even if in play, the affair had to be carried out to the end, although his mother really did not mean at the time to teach him instantly and in this way that he must not touch the china. It was her in- tention when she saw him touch it to let him handle it carefully in her presence and appeal to his love for her to let it alone when she was not there, which he would have done, for he is always amenable to treatment of this character. Unwittingly, however, this lesson was learned in another way, and probably no harm was done, but care is taken that even in play nothing is done to make him afraid. He now walks to the china set, looks at it, and says, "No, no, mamma tie Harold's hands up," and it hurts her every time he does it. She often goes to him and kisses him and says, " No, no, Harold is mamma's good boy who doesn't need to have his hands tied up." (The record shows that about a year later she chas- tised him, very lightly, it is true, but still she laid her hand upon him in a moment of vexation, evidently as much to her own surprise as to his, for she realized her mistake, and promised never to do it again. The little fellow seemed to love and trust her more and more from that day on, and what appeared to be his proudest boast afterwards to his playmates was, "Mamma never whips me." He never knew what whip meant until he heard other boys use the word. Nor did he ever hear the word " naughty," to know what it meant, except in the one instance mentioned (page 54), until he began playing with outside children. To control matters like these it was a well -understood thing that if servants spoke of forbidden subjects in the hearing of the little fellow, it would be considered sufficient cause for dis- 120 G NO DATE DRAWINGS A. man looking through telescope; B, naptha launch; C, cannon a, explosion, b, ball; D a, Harold's copy of b ; E, hospital, doctor, nurse, patient, and visitor ; F. gun shooting a man ; G, '-boys sledding by moonlight a is hill they had to go over"; H, pussy's face ; I, figures for his toy theatre ; J, steamboat, and two negroes in a rowboat ; K a, gun with bayonet ; ^ham- mer of pistol ; L. his idea of a machine for generating electricity to run trolley-cars a, engine making it ; b, trolley ; c, c, wires from engine to switches and batteries ; d, d, conductor of power to car ; e, switches and batteries ; M, sea serpents after fish and boat. THIRD YEAR charge. As a counterpoise to the care and gentleness required of the servants, many unexpected privileges were granted them through the medium of the child, with whom they naturally associated these pleasures, thus keeping a kindly feeling for him in spite of the extra care required of them for his sake.) Diversion is a great aid in getting Harold out of little tempers. He is keenly alive to anything that is humorous or that possesses the least element of fun. When any one succeeds in making him laugh he forgets his anger. I notice that he laughs quicker at an attempt to do something and missing it than at anything else. When putting on his overshoes, for instance, his nurse has a habit of pretending that she has pushed so hard that the rubber flies to the other end of the room. This always brings a peal of laughter. Once in a great while, when he is ailing or fretful, and we have a hard time to bathe or dress him, she will pretend to hang something on a nail that is apparently just a little too high for her to reach. She will jump at it and miss it at the most important period of my work, and will do this possibly two or three times while I am getting him ready for bed. She thus gives me the greatest possible amount of comfort by her faithfulness and quick comprehen- sion, and has given a bridge many a time for getting over troublesome places by her quick adaptation to the little needs constantly arising. This is the true spirit of Froebel, and she lives with the child in his play, for she has leisure and aptitude and enjoys the fun as much as he does. He is very quick to see when the spirit is lacking, and he will not suffer any attempt at a make- believe liking of play. He wants the genuine love for it every time. 121 A STUDY OF A CHILD We never let him cry if we can help it. A well- trained and healthy baby does not want to cry, for he is sufficiently occupied in trying to find out the meaning of the world about him. Experience has shown what his cry means at different times. When he is angry we keep away, and then go to him as if nothing had happened when it is over. He always wants us for " lots of good times," as he calls them, so he quickly dries his angry tears. If he is hungry, we give him his food if it is near his regular time, or, if not quite near enough, we prepare it in his presence very deliberately, gaining all the time we can by the interest he shows in the work as we go along, and which has a tendency to stop his cry- ing. He rarely gets hungry, however, between meals, for he is accustomed to method as to time and quan- tity in the way of feeding. When he is ill and cries, we can always tell it at once, and we find that this cry means that instant relief of some kind is needed. He has a peculiar little cry, almost a gasp, it might be called, when he is giving up the battle after he has been crying from anger. It often comes just when we are seri- ously considering whether we might not in that instance give up to him, and it always brings relief. It is certainly true that a mother has as much occasion for self-disci- pline as has her child. He is very quick to see a chance of gaining a victory, and he sometimes uses it merci- lessly, when I leave him alone to keep myself strong, and he will then yield gracefully and very lovingly, coming after me at once. I notice that when I keep all sound of coercion out of my voice in giving him direc- tions, he is willing to do as I say. Were I to command him, he would become antagonistic at once, and be hard to control. I found this out by an experience that need 122 THIRD YEAR not be repeated if his rights to consideration will be respected as being equal to my own. Because any one happens to be in authority is no reason why it should be exercised unnecessarily. The strongest character is the one that does not take an unfair advantage of oppor- tunity. It is hard to comprehend why so many parents think it necessary to scold children when they are, as they suppose, training them. It inclines too much to the methods used when training animals to act in the circus-ring to appeal to wisdom. Intelligent and loving obedience to the wishes of considerate parents is a beautiful thing to witness, and it must be productive of great good in the development of character. Abject obedience, however, in response to commands that are given without rhyme or reason, by parents or servants, just as it may happen, is something to be banished completely from nursery training, if the moral de- velopment of the child is desired. Let mothers beware of giving absolute authority into the hands of any one. (The record shows that no one but the parents were allowed to use any authority over Harold, and even his father frequently sent the little chap to " ask mamma," in the mutual effort to keep authority in one direction only, for the purpose before stated of possible future use. There seemed to be very little occasion for the exercise of this authority in his ordinary life, for a suggestion or an expressed wish was usually sufficient. When that failed, an appeal to his reason or love in- variably ended the matter. He always seemed to feel that he was expected to do right.) April 23d. This morning at breakfast Harold said, " Papa, eat her egg." I said, " No, papa eat his egg." 123 A STUDY OF A CHILD He repeated it after me, and some time afterwards said it over twice, very carefully, emphasizing his. He is beginning to say "I" much more frequently than before. When he waked this morning he crept over into his mother's bed as usual, hugged her, and said, " Have lots of good times wif mamma." April 29th. To-day, when in Mrs. A 's room, he suddenly dropped his toys and came to me in an excited way, begging to be held and rocked. As I rocked him he kept saying, " Don't like it ; go down-tairs. Don't like it; go down-tairs." ~YVe couldn't understand what the trouble was until I saw a screw-top bottle standing on the dressing-table, and then I understood it all. The poor child cannot get over the recollection of the ether- bottle. It took some time to pacify him, and it could not be done until I took him out of the room. As we left he looked excited, his face was flushed, and he said again, " Don't like the bottle." Ever since, every time he hears the door-bell, he puts his hand to his face and says, "Doctor won't hurt you." April 30th. To-day he told me, without crying or showing any disturbance whatever, that he had hurt himself at the door. I discovered that he had done so some time earlier in the day. He often bears suffering without flinching, but yesterday when he rolled down a few steps, he came to me crying and said, " Harold fall down ee steps and hurt hisself." Later he told me this again. I then said, " Harold should have sat down be- fore trying to creep down the steps." He promptly sat down on the floor and looked up at me, evidently not understanding my meaning, and I do not wonder that he did not when I analyze my sentence. 124 THIRD YEAR May 4th. To-day, as we passed a toy-store, I let him go in and select a toy for himself. He took a calliope on wheels, and pushed it all the way home, a distance of about four blocks. When we reached home he sat on the floor and held the toy so that he could turn the wheels to make the music. He had evidently studied out for himself on the way home, by alternately mov- ing and stopping the toy, that the moving wheels caused the music, for he had never seen one before. He then went to the machine-drawer for a screw-driver, returned to his toy, and tried to take out the nail that held the handle which was in his way when turning the wheel in his lap. He asked me to do it when he found he couldn't manage it. A curious thing I notice about him is that he does not care for toys simply because they are toys. He has frequently refused them, one after the other, when offered any from a selection in a toy-shop. "When he finds one that to him seems to have a purpose he will gladly take it. He has often surprised shop- keepers by leaving without taking anything that he could have within his limit. He usually has the amount limited before he goes in as, for instance, " Harold, you may have a quarter, a half-dollar, or a dime to-day," and he is content to keep within his limit. (The record shows that when he was older he would save until he had enough money to buy something of importance as, for instance, a tool-chest, a tricycle, or an express-wagon, and it was always for something that he could make use of. He was never allowed to receive money from any one but his parents.) He is allowed to choose for himself as often as pos- sible in matters that relate to himself only as an individual, but care is taken to indicate to him the 125 A STUDY OF A CHILD probable result if he should make a wrong selection. The greater part of his regular amusement comes from finding out and playing with the things he finds about the house i.e., clothes - pins, blocks, pictures, kitchen utensils, etc. Very few toys are purchased for him that have no purpose, and he never receives many at a time. Last evening I heard him sing " Ding Dong Bell " all the way through, using the right words and singing the melody correctly. He heard us speaking of a cat to-day. He instantly said, " Crumpety and lame," associating cat with Moth- er Tabby Skins in Mother Goose. He often tells his mother to " Look (at) sunshine, mamma." He evidently loves it very much. May 8th. To-day when he saw me take up his gold- link dress buttons, he said " Hadn't for a long time," and repeated it to a little playmate. He has not seen them for a long time. He heard the door-bell ring. The ser- vant down-stairs had forgotten to turn off the connec- tion, and the bell outside of the nursery door rang too. This happens frequently, and annoys us very much. He said, "Did you hear dat bell ring? Maggie, turn dat bell off." His first greeting to any playmates coming in is, " Come, build a house," taking their hands and leading them to his toys. May 10th. To-day he found his little photograph- book, which he has not had for some time. He seized it eagerly, and said, " Have it for a long time," meaning that he didn't " have it for a long time." May 14th. To-day he was out all the afternoon. We took a long ride on the street-car, to an extreme end of 126 THIRD YEAR town. He gave a sigh of satisfaction and said, " Had a lovely ride on the treet-car." He now says " treet " sometimes, instead of "steet," as formerly. Evidently he cannot manage the r and s together. He then drew me in the right direction and said, " See the choo- choos." "We had been to this place about a week before, when he saw some large engines, and remembered it. May 15th. To-day he went to the sewing-machine and touched every moving part. He touched no part that was stationary. May 16th. We returned to the country to-day for the summer. As we crossed the bridge leading to our street he kept saying, " Want to see Bahdee, Bahdee, Bahdee." (The name of the cat he left behind when he went to town, four months before.) May 17th. He said to his father this morning, " I see a little baby in papa's eye," meaning his own reflection. I gave him some water to pour from cup to cup. He then asked for a little pitcher belonging to him, evi- dently preferring to pour from that. When I gave it to him he said," Dear little white pitcher." He still shows a great liking for white things. He now helps me put away one set of playthings be- fore bringing out another. If I help very little and loiter, to try him, he will do much more than his share of the work without seeming to notice that he has done nearly all himself. In June he took up a postal-card and said, " I want to write a postal -card. Write a postal -card to Annie." (The nurse we had in town, who has gone away.) When we were walking along the street to-day he picked up a stick shaped like this, ^^\, and called it a " tick, tack, too." He found another, and said, " Here's 127 A STUDY OF A CHILD another tick, tack, too." Later, when we were looking at a scrap-book, he saw some cards with crosses like this, 1 , and he said, " Tick, tack, too, again," and said, " "Want to see more tick, tack, toos." He picked out every picture that had a cross. He also picked up a half-broken match that looked like this, ^--^, and he said, " Tick, tack" Then he stopped and said, " That's a hammer." I then noticed his association with the illustration of the nursery song : "Is John Smith within? Yes, that he is. Can he nail a shoe ? Aye, marry two. Here's a nail, there's a nail, Tick, tack, too. Here's a nail, there's a nail, Tick, tack, too." The illustration to the song represents a man holding a hammer that is not unlike a picture of a cross, and he noticed the resemblance to all the things he had just called " tick, tack, too." August 4th. To-day, while I was reading, I heard him say to himself as we lay on the floor : "He brushed his teeth with carpet tacks, Polly, wolly doodle all a day." He heard it in June, when in New York, two months ago. Day before yesterday he said, " Dr. come to see Baby - - (a little friend of his) ; put him on table. Baby see what in Dr. 's satchel. What did Dr. (mentioning another physician) do with satchel? Dr. (mentioning the first one) has choo-choo in 128 THIRD YEAR satchel for Baby ." It was said to himself in a very meditative manner, with no apparent fear or excite- ment, more than a year after the time he was so im- pressed with the ether-bottle. (From now on all records other than cuttings and drawings were taken at longer intervals than before, yet they serve to show the growth made during the time no record was taken. It was during this period that the child was busy with scissors and pencil, giving concrete results of a method of training that evidently excited self-activity to a great degree.) September 23d. This morning I directed Harold's attention to half a dozen sparrows on a roof near by. They flew away one by one, and left only two, then one, then the last one went. He turned to me and said, "He got too much alone, he flew away," recalling the song of "Three crows there were once who sat on a stone, Fal-la, la-la, la-la ; But two flew away and then there was one, Fal-la, la-la, la-la. The other crow felt so timid alone, Fal-la, la-la, la-la, That he flew away and then there was none, Fal-la, la-la, la- la." This morning he told his father he had cried last night. His father asked him why. He said he wanted to see him take doggie out walking, which was the true state of affairs. He has not the slightest fear of his father, and looks upon him in the light of a delightful playmate. He has often begged his mother during the day to promise to let him have him " all alone " until his bed- time. If she promises, and forgets to allow him his father's undivided attention, he invariably reminds her i 129 A STUDY OF A CHILD of it in a very much injured tone. He seems to feel that he never has enough time with him, and he counts Sun- days from the Monday previous, saying, " How many days, mamma, to Sunday ?" This morning he tripped over a newspaper, and said to his mother, " I didn't mean to do that, mamma." When being dressed he waved his foot with a long white stocking partly on, and said, "This is a boat with a sail." He looked out of the window and saw a grocer boy coming in. He called, "Hello, Gordon!" then said, " Must go down to see Gordon." This same boy draws pictures of some sort for him every morning. He be- gan it voluntarily, and after that Harold insisted upon having one daily. He generally asks for an engine. September 24th. This morning, when he showed me his father's watch, I said, in a tone of surprise, " Is it twenty minutes of nine?" He dangled the watch a minute, and then returning to his father, he said, in a very sedate way, " This watch is slow, papa." November 6th. This morning when I was putting him to sleep at nap-time, I placed him on the bed and left. I returned a moment later, when he evidently did not expect me, for he was creeping back to bed and say- ing to himself, " I promise you I won't creep off the bed again; that's right; that's a good boy. You will for- give me." He seems to know as well as we do when he is doing wrong, and if we give him half a chance he rights matters himself. (The record shows that as he grew older he took great pains to tell his mother several times that he wanted to do right because it was right to do so. One time he was found crying because he had transgressed. She said, " Never mind, Harold, you were a little bit care- 130 THIRD YEAE less this time; do better next time." And he replied, between his sobs, " But I don't want to be careless" He could not be diverted until his sense of fun was aroused. Then he had a romp, and forgot all about it.) Yesterday he couldn't at first take upon his spoon some cranberry-sauce that he was eating. He carefully scraped it to the middle of the dish, and taking a crust of bread pushed it on the spoon. He shows himself equal to the occasion many times, and he always pre- fers to help himself if he can do it. We do not offer to do anything for him that we see he is equal to, for he is very ready to come to us for assistance when he wants it, for we never turn him away, and thus we gain leisure and he strength by letting him do for himself. He has shown a disposition lately to get out of his crib at nap -time, with the hope of inducing me to let him off, so I resort to pulling the crib away from every piece of furniture in the room upon which he can pos- sibly step as he tries to get out. To do this I pull it down into the middle of the room before putting him in, when he says, " Pull crib down the middle because Harold was bad boy to get out of bed." He howls sometimes when he sees me do it, but he always goes to sleep at once when it is done. It is really very amus- ing. I wonder if he thinks he can't get out. He climbs all over it in every way during the day. Maybe it is "moral suasion" that influences him, or he may realize that I intend that he shall go to sleep, and accommo- dates himself to circumstances. But I often wonder why he doesn't get out, for he could easily do it. Some time ago he saw two of his engines heading in opposite directions. He pointed to one and said, " This one is going to C n Avenue Station, and this one to 131 A STUDY OF A CHILD G e Avenue Station," mentioning the two stations between which we live. He pointed in the right direc- tion each time. He also knows in which direction to look for " papa's train from town." December 3d. To-day, for the first time, he drew a "choo-choo" himself. (See illustration opposite.) As he drew it he explained each part, as noted, and handled his pencil very rapid Jy. He is just two years and ten months old. February 1, 1893. This morning he said to me, " May I walk over to call papa ?" I said " Yes." He jumped out of bed, and, carrying his pencils and his be- loved "schliissel book" under his arm, he went through the hall, singing out at the top of his voice, " Old rags, old rags, any old rags to-day?'.' When he had called his father he ran away from him all around the room, as if in mischief, and wouldn't even allow him to lift him upon the bed, where he usually sits and watches him dress, and keeps up a running fire of comments and questions that are very amusing. As soon as he saw his mother come he let her place him on the bed and cover him. He evidently looks to her for discipline and to his father for pure fun, which is as it should be. He loves her dearly, but as he sees her so much more frequently than he sees his father, it seems a pity to spoil one minute of the time they are together by an attempt to assert authority. (The record shows that as he grew older he often spoke of the good times he would have with mamma and papa when he got big enough to take care of them. He once told me, after having heard fairy-stories about princes and marriage, that when he got married he would live with mamma, as he would never want to 132 THE FIRST CHOO-CHOO lf>92 AND 1893 DRAWINGS AND CUTTINGS THE CHILD'S EARLIEST EFFORTS His explanation of "the first choo-ohoo " was : A, smoke-stack; B, sand-box ; C, steam-drum ; D, cab; E E, one line for boiler; F F F F, wheels. THIRD YEAR leave her. One of his greatest anticipated delights was that when he would be ten years old he could go to " papa's office" and take the letters to the post-office. This wish on his part gave rise to a story that I told him " When H is ten years old, what will he do ?" and which he demanded repeatedly. It is worth not- ing that his greatest pleasure seemed to be that he could then help papa, just as he was now learning to help mamma. Who will dare to say that Froebel did not understand children when he urged mothers to let them make their hearts glad by allowing them to give pres- ents and by helping them to help others) To-day I sat down for a moment in the kitchen, and as I was giving directions I took up and looked into a cook-book that was lying on the table. He passed by, looked at me, and said, "Are you looking what Mrs. R r says ?" mentioning the author's name correctly. I do not know how he found out her name. He is constantly surprising us by knowledge of this sort. We go along blindly when we think that children do not see things. I have no doubt at all of the fact that children know us far better than we know them, and were they able to express themselves in terms that we in our self-assumed strength could understand, I think we would be glad to change some of the cruel methods of training children that prevail at present. The pity of it all impresses one when one thinks of the opportu- nities that are wasted. Child-study is a work for all, but parents have the first opportunity. Last Thursday, at the C n Avenue Station, Harold was properly introduced to a very good friend. He was very shy, would not speak to her when I told him to say "good-morning," and apparently took no notice 133 A STUDY OF A CHILD of her. When we reached home he said, " I was scairt of Mrs. ," saying her name correctly enough to let any one know of whom he was speaking, although it was a peculiar name, and I hadn't the least idea that he would remember it. In the evening he told his father all about it, and mentioned the name several times. In spite of his peculiar accent his father knew whom he meant. He has been going around lately saying, "I'm a little girl. I am six years old to-day." This is clearly imitation. A little girl said it to him a few weeks ago, and he himself is only three. He gives constant evidence of a retentive memory. He tells me constantly of little things that occurred a year and a half ago, personal matters that he recollects clearly. February 2d. He said to-day, " Doctor won't put medicine on my face ; my cheeks are well," referring to the ether-bottle again. He asked the other day, in ref- erence to this same event, " And did they all go away ? and did Dr. go ? and did Dr. - - go ? and did Dr. take his satchel ? and did the one doctor come back next day ?" Then, " What did he do, mamma ?" She always replies to this question, " He said, i Good-morn- ing,' " and tries to divert him. The other day he asked his father if he had been laid on the nursery-table, and if he had had a blanket and a pillow, etc. He evidently realizes that he can get no information from me, and he is now trying to get his father to tell him. He always says " Ask mamma," so eventually the child will have to give the matter up, as he would have done long ago had more care been taken in regard to his impressions at the time. (Ignorance is responsible for many evils, but who is responsible for this ignorance ? Will women 134 1893 DRAWINGS THREE YEARS OLD A, a boy flying a kite ; a, man in moon ; b, sky ; c, kite ; d, big knot in string , e, hat ; f, curly hair ; g, shoulder ; h, foot turned over ; i, watch ; B, a boy in front of an engine frightened ; C, first attempt at drawing a clock ; I), " he has his hand in his pocket " ; E, " a boy crying because his mother is lame "; F, inverted letters ; H, kitchen dresser ; I, telegraph pole. THIRD YEAR ever be taught in the future, that looks so promising, that which they should certainly know ? How few even understand the questions of hygiene or food, not to speak of their connection with the promotion of moral and mental development. Might it not be well for all reformers, educators, and philanthropists to follow the method adopted by some to-day i.e., beginning at the foundation and seeing that children are treated as they should be? and might they not better utilize hereafter the vast sums of money they now expend for the cure of much that might be prevented by helping to educate the mothers of the future as well as those of the present, taking up the work in a forceful manner in connection WITH existing schools as well as in a scattered, general way, as is now being done ? This is so truly a national question that even the various governmental powers might wisely concern themselves with its practical ap- plication, in which lies the key-note of social and politi- cal reform. February 3d. To-day Harold saw some photographs of two cousins, who are totally unlike in appearance, each representing a distinct type. He had not seen the girls for nine months, but he knew the pictures at once. After having designated them correctly once, he pre- tended ever after for mischief, evidently that one was the other. He knows ail the nursery songs now, words and tunes, and if we make mistakes when repeating them he always corrects us. He blew soap-bubbles successfully for the first time to-day. When he began he couldn't find his clay pipe, so he ran away, and soon returned with a beautiful one, and said, doubtingly, "Is this Harold's?" He 135 A STUDY OF A CHILD feared it wasn't, for good reason. I went with him to see where he had found it. He led me to a drawer devoted to his father's pipes, which he had never attempted to disturb before. I did not want to disap- point the little fellow, so I said he might have it, although he has been taught not to disturb another's belongings. He then amused himself by blowing bub- bles for a very long time blowing them along the floor and stamping upon them. The other day, when in a sleigh, the driver touched one of the horses with the whip, and Harold said, " He has no business to whip the horse." (The record later on shows how he always had great sympathy for horses once, when six years old, going so far as to persuade a neighboring green-grocer to promise never to dock his horse's tail.) Yesterday he said to me about a little playmate whom he loves, " Mamma, isn't Christine a lovely girl ?" He saw some little girls on the street a few days ago, and he admired them very much. As he directed my atten- tion to them he said, "I like little girls to come home to me." Mary T , an old playmate, who used to come regularly to play with him, came to see him a few days ago. He was so delighted to see her that he hovered over her all the time she was with him. He paid no attention whatever to me. He said to her once, " I love you, Mary." He had not seen her for a year. He remembers the names of three servants and a laundress who were with us during the last year. He calls his present nurse " My Mary," as some of the other incum- bents possessed the name of Mary also. He never for- gets his first nurse, and often asks for her. When she comes to see him, at intervals of possibly six months, he always knows her. 136 AN EFFORT AT DRAWING A ROUND FRONT FOR AN ENGINE HIS PET BUTTERFLY FEEDING ON HIS FINGER KARLY PRINTING AN ENGINE AND TENDER 1893 AND 1894 DRAWINGS 1,893 Printed letters ; an engine and tender. 1894 An effort at the horizon ; a pig ; an effort at drawing a round front for an engine. OF THB UNIVERSITY THIRD YEAR He has taken to winding string lately. To-day I was very much amused to see him place a small paper-box upon a chair, in which he dropped a spool of thread, letting the end dangle outside. He covered the box with a small drawing - slate, to keep the spool from jumping out as he wound the thread. I do not know how he discovered that the spool would jump out when winding briskly, but I suppose he must have tried it when I was not looking. He pulled his little chair up to the larger one holding the box with the thread, and began pulling out the thread hand over hand. This he did for a long time. Then he came to me and said, " I got myself stuck," meaning he had become entangled in the thread, which, although a natural sequence, was of no importance, when one considers that he had pro- vided for himself a satisfying occupation for the time being. He plays in this way by the hour, chatting with me all the time, but going on with his play as if it were a work to be finished with the end of day only. He comes to me occasionally for a suggestion, saying, " What may I do ?" But he usually finds occupation for him- self for the whole day when I provide sufficient mate- rial for diversion, telling him that it is all for his amuse- ment throughout the day. The kitchen-maid frequently lets him " clean the dresser," as he calls it. He takes out all the pots and pans, attempts to sweep the floor with a brush, and then he hangs the utensils up again where he thinks they belong. This amuses him im- mensely, and it occupies him long enough to give others a considerable time for rest from supervision. February 4th. To-day he said, "Cousin Eddie be a boy, mamma. Why doesn't papa be a boy ?" Last month he said, " I played fall up and down the 137 A STUDY OF A CHILD stairs several times." This was the first time he said " several." February 5th. To-day when he said" where," he em- phasized the wh by blowing it out of his mouth very for- cibly. He told nurse that she must not say "m* ff Kfr 1895 DRAWINGS FIVE YEARS OLD A, " the way to li;ing a bell on an engine" ; B. boat going over sand-bar ; C, boat going between two mountains ; D, boat with anchor (note size of anchor) ; E, "this is a pump, and the water pulls clown the weight to make the clapper hit the bell." FIFTH YEAR her to do every morning. His conversations with her at night and early morning were frequent and very charming. He always pretended that she was an- swering him in a squeaky voice. She grew very dim. about the face from much hugging, and her neck event- ually gave way from many "good-mornings;" so in- numerable " stitches " had to be taken, until at last even Harold saw that no more could be taken. Then for a long time he submitted to a great break in her body from the neck down, about two inches in length; but even this was for a purpose, for he frequently showed me through this break how her "heart" would move. (A piece of the cotton inside did move every time he made kitty move a certain way.) As the features faded out, he kept appealing to me to say whether I did not think she looked "so gentle," "so smiling," and when- ever any one of his numerous friends presented him with a new stuffed kitty no doubt because the old one sug- gested the gift he invariably ^-presented the new kitty to some one else and clung to his " darling," as he called her. At last it seemed to dawn upon him that she was failing, and he suggested that I take him to see some covers for stuffed kitties, and find out whether he could get a " smiling " one. I remember he comforted him- self afterwards with the thought that if kitties had nine lives he could use nine covers. We found a cover that to him seemed smiling. It was in a country store, where goods are likely to be shop- worn, and this kitty- cover had seen its best days before he bought it. I pre- pared to cover the old kitty, but I had to compromise on closing the lower edges with a large safety-pin in such a manner that he could uncover his "darling" whenever she wanted to talk to him. For several weeks 173 A STUDY OF A CHILD he fancied that she couldn't hear him when he talked to her, but I assured him she could ; so eventually he un- covered her very seldom, but the safety-pin was a fixture to the end of her existence as a comrade. When we were ready to travel anywhere, kitty always went along, and if there was no room in the travelling-bag, he would kiss her good-bye and place her. on top in one of the trunks, in order, as he said, that she could breathe and would not be squeezed. Once he carried her in his arms on a long journey and showed her everything he thought of interest. During the day, while he was at play, she was propped up in his crib and told to wait for him, that he would come back again at night, etc. When he wanted to find her for consolation, he knew just where to go every time, and woe betide the person who couldn't find " my kitty." I well remember a trip by candle-light to bring her in from the fence at the extreme end of the garden, where she had been placed during the day to watch Harold " dig at his reservoir," that occupied him three years, and amused not only him but all his numerous playmates. Once it would be a res- ervoir, another time a cellar to a house, once a sand-pile for which he bought two loads of sand again a gar- den, once even a cemetery, where a funeral over Dollie was held in great state. To us it always seemed to be a great big hole, to be refilled in time. Kitty had to superintend all these operations, and indeed his entire little life seemed divided in its interests between kitty and himself, and no amount of badinage, to which he was often subject from those who were beyond our con- trol, would disturb this loyalty to his " darling kitty." The following is a favorite story of his that I told to him just before the election of President McKinley, 174 1895 DRAWINGS FIVE YEARS OLD A, elevated railroad from South Ferry a. Grand Street ; b, Bleecker Street ; c. Eighth Street ; d, Fourteenth Street. Note curve between Eighth Street and Bleecker Street, as it should be. When four years old the child could tell ;ill the stations from South Ferry to Fifty-eighth Street jm memory ; B, windmill to work the pump from which the water, a, is pouring. from men 1895 DRAWINGS FIVE YEARS OLD A, Market Street car in Philadelphia ; B, tools, and a man shooting ; C, well-trapped wash-stand c. poorly trapped wash stand ; D, hoisting-engine for derrick. c, poor OF TH* UNIVERSITY FIFTH YEAR when he was very much interested in the remarks he heard so frequently about gold and silver. The story is based upon our experience, and is one of many that I used to interest him when I could not find printed stories that were simple enough to suit my purpose. His constant plea was to read to him stories that he could understand, and to read them understandingly, even if they were not printed thus ; but he begged me to do so quickly and not stop and explain. He wanted the simple words, but if compelled to choose, preferred to hear the difficult words without a break in his listen- ing, to hearing simple words with explanations. THE ADVENTURES OF A LADY-BUG [Told by fierself to Mrs. Fly, on the window-pane] I WAS creeping along the pavement last Friday after- noon, very quietly, and quite intent on my own business, on my way to see Mrs. Gold-bug and her little daugh- ter, when I felt myself lifted, carefully, it is true, but still lifted, away up into the air. It seemed to me as if it might be as high as up to the sky. But it couldn't have been, for after hearing myself admired I was put into a house of some sort that was made of paper, for I know what paper is, having heard it rustle many a time. This paper house had four corners, and one corner was torn off and folded crosswise so as to give me some air. I happen to know this, because while I was being admired I heard what must have been a little boy's voice say, " Oh, mamma, let us keep it and take care of it like we did the butterflies," and I suppose the person who picked me up must have been his mamma, for I 175 A STUDY OF A CHILD heard some one say, " I don't see how we can, for we are going to the park, and what can we do with her, dear little lady-bug. Oh, I see ; I will tear off a corner of the envelope of this letter I intended to post, and we can carry her nicely in this until we reach home again. See, Harold, she can get air through this corner even when I hold it shut, this way." So that is how I knew it. What I thought to be rooms of a paper house was really the folded letter. I do not think that I was very foolish in believing this, Mrs. Fly, although you may think so ; yet, after all, it was only a letter in a common envelope. What a queer world this is ! And then the distance, too, that I supposed I was being carried when I was lifted from the pavement ! Instead of its being very, very great, as I supposed, it was only about half the length of one of those queer-looking creatures I used to see walking along the streets every day, and that I heard one day were called men and women. That's what comes of being so little everything seems so very big. Since I am to live here, now, I suppose I will never see many more of those queer creatures; still I may have a happier time of it than I have had lately. I heard voices everywhere, some time ago, talking about silver and gold and about hard times. I'm sure there must be some very queer reason for my trouble in finding the little I need to eat a thing that has never happened be- fore in my long life of almost a hundred days. When I was carried to the park to - day (I wonder what park means?), I heard the little boy say to his mother a great many curious things that I could not understand at all. I have a pretty good memory (that is how I know I have lived a hundred days), and I 176 1895 BOAT DRAWINGS FIVE YEARS OLD ^ OF THB JR UNIVERSITY 1895 DRAWINGS FIVE YEARS OLD A, he said, was a picture of a playmate I can trace a resemblance in the face ; B, Satan ; C, well trapped wash-stand ; D, dominoes, which he frequently drew and cut out for use in play. FIFTH YEAR think I can tell you some of the sentences he said. Maybe you will know what they mean. He began by say- ing " Mamma !" with a shriek so he could be heard, no doubt, as the noise of the trains and other things was terrible "Mamma, will we go up in the elevated? Have you the lady-bug ? Isn't it a dear little thing ?" (I understood that.) " Oh, mamma, here's Fifty-eighth Street; will we go to see the animals?" (That made me shudder, for I knew what some animals do who like to eat insects.) " Oh, mamma, there's the swan-boat ; can't we take a ride ? Let me pay. I have money. Can't we, mamma?" (I wonder what a swan -boat is.) I heard the mother say, " Yes, dear," and pretty soon I felt that we were gliding along as gently as I have often sailed on a leaf on a pond, and it was really de- lightful. I imagine this was somewhere in the park spoken of, which the little boy (whose name seemed to be Harold) once called Central Park. There must have been a baby sitting beside me, for I heard Harold's mother tell him to look at a kitten on the bank, and the mother of the baby said, " Look at the kitty, daugh- ter," and Harold laughed loud because the baby looked straight up to the sky. I heard him say, laughing loud, " Kitty isn't up in the sky, mamma." The baby's mam- ma laughed too, but Harold's mamma said, " Never mind, baby." Pretty soon I heard somebody ask to be let off at the upper end of the lake, as they called it. (What is a lake ?) Some one said, "If we can make a landing." Then we had a good shaking up, and I was a little bit frightened, for I felt we were getting out of the boat very cautiously. I happen to know what it means to be upset in water. One day, when I was sailing on the M 177 A STUDY OF A CHILD pond, the wind turned over the leaf I was on, and I thought I was going to drown. Fortunately I struck a stick of wood in my struggles to save myself, and crawled up on top of it, and stayed there until a big leaf came floating by near enough for me to fly to it, which I did very quickly. When I reached the bank of the pond I made up my mind to stay away from the water for a while, at any rate, much as I like sailing on a leaf for I now think it is dangerous. Soon after we landed we heard terrible noises, and Harold said, "Oh, mamma, see the baby hippopotamus! Isn't it a dear little thing ?" (I thought they were Ug I am little.) " Isn't it too sweet for anything ? See its feet and its eyes. Oh, mamma, see its mother helping it get into the water ! Isn't she a good mother ?" and so he went on. He was talking all the time. I couldn't understand what he meant half of the time, and I wished so much I could see it all. Once he said, " Oh, mamma, -$ee the baby tiger winking to me ! Isn't he beautiful ?" (I wonder what winking means.) I heard him talk of polar-bears, grizzly-bears, prairie- dogs, and hyenas, camels, and dromedaries, and I really can't remember what all. I remember he said, " Mam- ma, don't you think the camel is beautiful ? I do. See the way he moves." He seemed to pity the animals that were in cages. He couldn't understand why they had to be brought away from their homes just to let people know what they look like. I heard his mamma say that she didn't believe God meant it to be so, and I believe she is right. I felt sure she would be good to me and feed me after hearing that. When we came here she let me out very carefully, and I have had a lovely time for several days, going 178 1895 DRAWINGS FIVE YEARS OLD A, policeman ; B, dining room, table, dishes, and picture on the wall ; C, inverted 9 in 1895 pictures of papa, mamma, and Harold ; D, inside of a house ; E, outside of a house ; F, weather- FIFTH YEAR about the rooms. Every day she hunts me up and gives me something to eat and drink. At first I felt afraid she would drown me with the water, but she seemed to know I couldn't take much, for she poured a few drops quite near to me on the window-sill, and I went close and sipped all I needed. The water looked like a wall, almost as high as I was, but it didn't come tumbling over me as I expected it would. I wonder why ? When I was fed she put me on a plate of fruit. I heard her tell Harold it was fruit, and I had the most delicious dinner. I found it inside of a grape-skin. I knew it was that, for I heard her say to Harold, " You should have seen the dear little lady-bug eating her dinner." He said, " Where did she get it?" She said, " I put her on a plate of fruit, and I found her eating inside of a skin of a grape that I put there for her." A little girl was here the other day who must have been very wicked, for she said she would kill me. Harold took me up gently and ran away down-stairs to his mamma and told her all about it. She took me from him carefully and told the little girl how wicked it was to hurt any living thing. The little girl seemed to be sorry, and said she didn't mean it, but I hope she will never come here any more. It isn't nice to have per- sons like that about one. It makes one frightened. Harold seems to like to watch me when I clean my feet and wings every morning. To-day I showed him how I reached up on my back with my foot and rubbed off any specks of dust that might happen to be there. I also cleaned my head with what he calls the forks on the ends of my front feet. He likes to watch me get 179 A STUDY OF A CHILD ready to fly, too, which I do sometimes just to please him and to keep in practice. I push my hind wings far out at the back of my body, and he says they look like a little pointed tail before they are spread ; then I spread them at the same time that I spread the front ones that make my shell -cover, and away I go. I hear him say every time, " Oh, see, mamma ! Isn't that pretty? Isn't she sweet?" He often speaks of the beautiful black spots that I have on the back of my shell wings. He says, " Two on each side, and one where the split is." (I wonder what he means by " split.") To-morrow I am going to fly up on the window and see the sunshine that I love so much. Yesterday I saw the window was open, and I might have flown away, but I didn't want to do it. There is so much to see and learn here that I like to stay. Maybe to- morrow I will go and ask Mrs. Gold-bug what all the voices talking about silver and gold mean. She ought to know. 1895 CUTTINGS FIVE YEARS OLD A, bottle in two parts ; B. violin case colored green in the original ; C, c, two sides of bell gilded in original ; D. d, parts of an engine cut work to fold and place. CHAPTER VII SEVENTH YEAR LEARNING GERMAN, WRITING, AND SPELLING THROUGH PLAY A BEDTIME QUESTION TALK COMPARISON QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS THE CHILD'S SONG TO HIS COLORS TWO STORIES TOLD BY THE CHILD JULY 29, 1896. His prayer : " Dear God, I want you to keep the good good, and make the bad good, and I thank you very much for bringing papa back safely, and I want you to take care of me in the night-time, and I thank you .very much for letting me pass all the day so happily." He was taught the Lord's Prayer by rote, in order that he might not feel chagrined if he ever had occasion to join others in saying it in kindergarten schools. The third time of repetition he had to be helped once only by supplying "on earth." He insisted on having each phrase of the Lord's Prayer explained to him. August 1st. To-day Harold said, as is usual under similar circumstances, " The step made me go up." He in- tended going around the side of the house with a play- mate, but from habit he stepped up on the front porch as he passed it. He instantly stepped down again and went with her, but she teased him about it, and he replied in a usual fashion that " it made him do it." I never understood this remark before, but now I see clearly what he meant when he said, as he often did, that some- 181 A STUDY OF A CHILD thing made him do thus or so he means his usual habit leads him one way when he wills another way. August Tth. To-day he came in fretting about hav- ing no one with whom to play. It was intensely warm. I had been reading about the Herald Ice Fund, and I read to him about the sick babies in the slums, and said he should be happy by contrast with his happy home. I inadvertently roused a great storm of sym- pathy. He cried bitterly, ran crying audibly to the other end of the house, to the nursery, and back again, when he handed me a penny, saying, between his sobs, " Send it to the babies." It was half of all he had at the time. I tried to pacify him, and told him of all the good people who helped take care of the poor children ; but he cried for a long time, and wondered pitifully why God let them suffer. He said to William, a playmate, "You know God, who lives up in heaven ; well part of him is a spirit, called the Holy Ghost. There is such a thing as a spirit that isn't a ghost." September 9th. He said to me just now, " Plated silver is nickel washed in melted silver, isn't it ?" September llth. Harold asked me to-day what " absorb " meant, and how frogs absorbed moisture. I had just been telling him that frogs came out on rainy days for a drink, when they would absorb the rain through little holes in their bodies. He listened intent- ly to my explanation, then said, as he was eating some bread and milk, " See, my bread absorbs the milk." September 16th. When going to New York to-day he said, as he stood in the aisle, " Mamma, the faster the train goes the easier it is to stand ; it goes over the bumps quicker." Then, pointing to the sign " Drinking- 182 1896 DRAWINGS A When telling me what this was, he said, "I don't like to say that out loud when I drew it, I used to read fairy stories it was drawn for a ghost "; B, b, pages of music-book ; C, horse-rar when drawing it, he asked me whether it wasn't the best horse he had ever drawn ; D, "a deaf man who is lame lie is supposed to be listening through ear-trumpets to a and b, and he is standing on c, which helps him move about by machinery inside." SEVENTH YEAR water," he said, "Don't they know it's drinking-water?" She said, " Yes." Then he said, " Why do they put the sign up?" His questions to-day were chiefly about words. He came to me at different times with the following, asking what each meant: "saliva," "materials," "natural his- tory," " boast," and " indestructible." He cannot under- stand why some of his toy-books are called " indestruc- tible " when they can be destroyed. He often asks me about it. October 2d. He said to-night, when in bed, " I put my hands over my eyes, and I see the loveliest colors ; and I say, colors, please come back until I go to sleep." Then he began to sing : "Dear colors, please come back, Until I go to sleep. I will never see you again, Until I eat a big ben. "Dear colors, please come back, I'll never disturb you again, Until day dawn briogs the light. "You darling little colors gay, Make the prettiest ones you ever had." Then he fell asleep. The following is a song of Harold's when falling asleep after a day of mental pressure in a primary school before he was seven where he was placed against his mother's better judgment, but in deference to the opinion of an educational authority, who saw and acknowledged the error after two days' experience with the child. At the end of each day he seemed intoxicated with the charm of learning, and was very much excited too much so to fall asleep until several hours after his usual 183 A STUDY OF A CHILD bedtime. The second night he began singing to himself about his colors, as he calls them, as follows, singing every word in a very pretty manner : "Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple;" then, in a very unconscious, sleepy way : " Oh, you darling little colors, come back, come back, Until I go asleep, And make another picture. Tra-la, la-la, la-la. "Come red, come orange, come yellow, come green, Come blue, and purple ; Oh, make another diamond of purple and of blue. "Oh, colors, come from your little coaches, You darling little colors ! I am sorry to say, You get in your cabs and drive right home. I hope you will have happy days. Good-bye, good-bye, my colors dear, dear, dear, dear." Between the last two stanzas he sang : "Tra-la, la-la, la-la, My pussy-cat lies down by me. Oh, you dear pussy-cat, I like your hat! Tra-la, la-la, la-la." Then he fell asleep instantly. Another night, apropos of the color song, he said : " Black turns to navy-blue ; then there came red and light-blue and pink, and now it is so many I can't tell you all, but it is beautiful ; now it is red and green, a red spot with green about it ; now it is green with red dots in it running through the black ; then black ; now it is white and brown, gray and white, black with white dots ; now it's green,with blue in it ; now all green." Then he slept, but first he said, after ceasing his remarks 184 1896 DRAWINGS SIX YEARS OLD A, filterrng-machine ; a, pump ; b, one of series of filters ; c, screws to open or shut off water; d, water-tank to heat and Pasteurize water by lamp e, below ; f, faucet to tap water ; B. parts of engine ; a, sliding of the cylinder ;- b, steam drum ; c: safety-valve ; C a, door ; b, hinges ; c, screws; d, lock ; e, key ; D, reversing lever on train ; a, "engine goes forward"; b, "engine stops"; c, "engine goes backward when this way"; E, plan for theatre stage ; F, parts for the theatre hose playing on house on fire. SEVENTH YEAR about the colors, "Oh, isn't it funny? I saw lots of bub- bles when I opened my eyes, and I couldn't see you through them." One of his rhymes at this time was, " She gathers the trees as if they were bees, and takes her ease so good, so good." Another rhyme I heard the other day was, " Put the magical corn on your head, and that will make you dead." One night, when singing to himself "Dies' ist die Mut- ter lieb und gut" he sang it in German first, then in Eng- lish ; then he tried to say the words without the music, and succeeded with the German, but when he reached the third line of the English words he had to sing it to get it ; then he repeated it again and again until he felt sure of it. In this way he goes over his day's acquire- ments while falling asleep sings, talks, and counts to himself and occasionally tries to get me to answer a question. Not many days ago, when I supposed he was asleep, we heard him call out, " How much is twice thirty-four ?" I told him. He repeated my answer, and soon fell asleep. I never knew what led up to the ques- tion, but he often asks disconnected questions like the above, after a period of quiet, during which his brain is apparently at work over something that puzzles him. He has taken a fancy lately to have me spell words that are new to him, without pronouncing them, in order that he may guess at them by the sound of the let- ters. One day I gave him " s-h-o-e," and told him oe was pro- nounced like oo in too, and to put the sound sh in front. He tried it several times before he got the word right, and was then very much pleased to find he could spell shoe. We then tried "p-1-e-a-s-e" in the same way, which 185 A STUDY OF A CHILD at first he got as " place." In this way he is learning how to spell many words while he plays, and he now reads a number of short easy sentences. He has a fashion now of spelling all the words he knows how to spell when telling us something as, for instance, "M-a-m- m-a, come t-o d-i-n-n-e-r." Then she spells "come" for him, and he has one word more. Sometimes I take up a word like "grew," for instance, give him the sounds, and ask him for the word. He first called grew " ga-rew," then tried it faster, and eventually was delighted to find it was a word of which he knew the meaning. This knowledge he gains very easily with play that he enjoys. Once he asked me what " a-p-e-n " spelled. I said it was no word; then he tried again, and said "a-p-r-n." I said again it was no word, although I knew what he was trying to spell. Then he said, impatiently, " Well, how do you spell apron ?" Then I told him. He will take a word like " old," or any simple word he knows, and, beginning with the first letter of the alpha- bet, he will spell to himself and try to pronounce each combination, thus : a-o-l-d, J-o-l-d, c-o-l-d, <#-o-l-d, e-o-l-d, y-o-l-d, etc., all the way through to z. He tells me this is how he is learning all by himself how to spell new words. He often does this before falling asleep, and often asks me some such question as whether " e-o-l-d " makes a word, not recognizing it as such from the sounds of the letters. October 4th. "Mamma, you wouldn't say a Ecke but, das ist ein Ecke" I heard him saying to himself to- day, " boa-constrictor," then " hug," and " bones," as if he were puzzling about them. He is always inquiring about words, why they are called thus and so. He asked 186 1896 DRAWINGS SIX TEARS OLD A, "an engine facing you on the track," with the child's explanations ; B, a key-stone. SEVENTH YEAR to-day, "What does hemisphere mean half round?" The circle of his engine track suggested it. He set the track upon the edge of two chairs to make an elevated railroad, after having run it contentedly on the table for a long time. He is fertile in invention and adaptation. To-day he repeated the entire story of "The Old Woman and her Crooked Sixpence" without a pause, and when he reached the part where, after the cat had "drinken" the milk (as he said), " the cat began to kill the rat, the rat began to gnaw the rope," etc., etc., he grew breathless and ex- cited and could hardly say it fast enough, it seemed. He called the pig a " piggie wiggie," and omitted the word*" yonder," explaining that he feared the little chil- dren wouldn't understand what it meant. He always has so much trouble himself to find stories that he can understand from beginning to end that he sympathizes with others in this respect. He has had no phonic lessons, but has had his attention directed to sounds of letters. Many words that are new to him he pronounces correctly from the sound of the letters. I tried him with "s-o-o-n," but it took him some time to get it; first he said " sss-oo-en," then he tried it quickly, and recognized the word. He sometimes reads whole sentences of new words by spelling them and following the sounds, fre- quently asking me the meaning of the word he may be pronouncing correctly. In the Andrew Lang Fairy Readers, where the words are divided in syllables all through the reading-matter, he has very little difficult} 7 " with words even of three and four syllables. To-day he spelled saliva from sound, asked its meaning first, then said of some water which he had just used to 187 A STUDY OF A CHILD brush his teeth, " This water has saliva in it, I will throw it away." He asked me how to spell "Willie" -pronouncing it "Will-lee." When I said " TF-a-Z-1-i-e," he seemed cross, and said " I mean Will-lee" then he said, " W-i-1-1 spells Will, now spell ee ;" so I said " ie," and he was sat- isfied. He then said, " P-a-p spells papee." I said " No." He said, " I thought it spelled pa for pa, and the last p was said pee, so it would make papee." He couldn't under- stand why it should spell pap at first. Then he said, " How do boys spell poppy, when they say it instead of papa ?" October 5th. I found out yesterday about his so- called April-fool letter to me sent a short time ago .by mail. He really gave it to the postman on Satur- day to have it delivered on Monday, and didn't tell me for two days. It came in the usual mail, and he enjoyed my surprise immensely. He addressed me as "Dear Mrs. H , will you please send me a copy of your book at once ?" and signed it " Yours truly, DLOKAH." (Here he used his own name reversed, which puzzled me.) He is learning German in play. This evening, after his first lesson (given yesterday), he gave me a lesson in play. I encouraged it, to find out what he remembered, with the following result : He told me that " No " was Nein; "Yes" Yah; "Boy" Knale ; "Girl" Madchen; "Brea.d"J3rod;"A."JB:w; "I" Ich; "With"Jf#; and counted in German up to fifteen. October 8th. To-day he asked, " What is meant to die a painful death ?" I said, " A wagon running over and killing you would be a painful death." He then said, " And if they dagged a sword in you ?" 188 1896 DRAWINGS SIX YEARS OLD A. parts for a Brownie ; B, parts of the moon, as it grows ; C, effort at perspective ; D, copy of the block engine he often built ; E a, cat from model ; b, "This," he said, " is how I used to draw a pussy ''; F, f, comparison drawings F, Harold's ; f, copy by a playmate a year younger than Harold ; G, a gate ; H, two sides to a walch. SEVENTH YEAR He said to me to-day, when I told him that after being dressed he might play in the room in which I was trying to sleep, " You tell God to keep me out of temp- tation " (alluding to the Lord's Prayer), " but if you dress me and let me play in there while you want to sleep, it will tempt me to talk to you." October llth. When reading to Harold to-day he in- sisted on having the book about " bones, muscles, and blood." I explained to him with a long tube how water seeks its level, and he busied himself for a long time with the tube and his pump (one that works satisfac- torily). He is very quick at contrivances, self-reliant, and self-helpful. He rarely allows or asks us to do any- thing for him that he can do for himself. On our way to the park this afternoon he said, " What does b-u-r-n-s spell?" He had caught but a glimpse of the word as we went by on the elevated train. This suggests Catharine Aiken's experiments in " glance- work." He said, a short time ago, " What does s, f, t, p, o, c, t, a mean?" I asked him where he had heard it. He re- plied, " Maud sings it ; she says, < If they won't feed the horse good food the s, f , t, p, o, c, t, a will get after them.' " I told him then about the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. He is very much interested in the docking of horses' tails. He says he will try to help prevent it, because it is cruel. He explained to me about using a red-hot iron wire to do it. I do not know where he could have heard of this. Some playmate no doubt has told him. He is now playing that he has a restaurant; he wrote to his father that he was happy because he had one (see illustration facing p. 208.) He brought to a chance vis- 189 A STUDY OF A CHILD itor, on a tin-box lid for a tray, a little bucket from his pump, filled with water for a drink, making believe the bucket was a glass ; a piece of bread, and a round piece of apple that was very thin and had skin on one side ; it was the shape and size of a dollar. We were puzzled as to how he cut it in that shape, and asked him about it. He then showed us what he called his knife. It was a circular piece of tin, sharp on the edge, that had covered a bottle, and by turning it a certain way he cut a perfect circle of apple, which gave him great delight. October 12th. He said to-day, " How would it feel if I had eyes in the back of my head?" I replied, "I don't know." Then he said, " Well, suppose I cut a rat in two pieces, and then cut one of the pieces in two, would that piece feel it ?" I said " No." He wondered why. I said because it was separated from the head. Then he wondered why again. I said there were nerves going to the brain (his "think," as he calls it) telling when anything hurt. I told him also about the sensi- tiveness of the finger-tips. He experimented, then said, "Are there nerves in the nails, too?" I was not quite sure, but I said " Yes." He looked at them, then said, " How can one see through the nails and not see any nerves ?" I was forced to divert him then, and I must study up physiology. When walking along the street some days later he said to me, " I suppose if we had no nerves, and we shut our eyes, we wouldn't know we are walking." October 17th. He evidently puzzles about two, too, and to. I just heard him saying to himself, as he is lying in bed trying to fall asleep, " I am going at two o'clock. Are you going to town ? Yes, I am going, too" 190 3 7 '/ 7 , 70" 7 7 7 5 7,Q 51? # / ^2 23 HOW MANY PENNIES HE NEEDED TO MAKE A DOLLAR n I J 7 G A GUNBOAT HORSE AND WAGON \t> n SPONTANEOUS WRITING FROM MEMORY 1896 DRAWINGS SEVENTH YEAR accenting each one. Then he said, " One, t-w-o " (spell- ing the words), " one t-o-o, and one t-o," turned over, and began whistling a tune he heard a band play to-day. Afterwards he asked me what a hard g and soft g meant. I explained ; then he asked for a hard #, 5, c, and I explained that not all letters had hard sounds and soft sounds ; then I said " cake " and " cent " for him, to show the difference in the ds. He said, " How about knife ? I should think n stood for knife." I said, " No, it is &, but it is a silent letter." He was satisfied with this, and asked next, "What is whiney or fretty letting your voice drop down like this ?" giving an illustration of it. Then he fell asleep. To-day he said, "Isn't twice twenty, forty?" I re- plied, "Yes. How much is twice nineteen?" He said, "I don't know unless I go straight up." I asked, " How do you do it ?" He replied, "Why, twice twelve is twenty-four, twice thirteen is twenty-six, twice four- teen is twenty-eight," and he went on until he reached twice nineteen is thirty -eight, evidently having found out that the two-table up to twelve was made by add- ing two each time ; so he experimented up to forty, and asked me as above. This is the way he has ex- perimented, and found out much that he knows about numbers. The notes opposite p. 192 show how he tried to learn to write. A vertical-writing chart was placed above his little table, and we saw that paper and pencils and his chair were always ready for him, should he want to try it. He wrote a letter to a favorite kindergartner the first day he received it, asking me how to spell the words he did not know, but hunting out the letters for himself by repeating the alphabet as he looked for the letter he 191 A STUDY OF A CHILD wanted. Before six weeks had passed he knew the whole chart from memory, yet he never received direct teaching from it, nor did I tell him to join the letters together when making the words. He did this from the beginning, for the chart he used was carefully pre- pared to meet this need. One day I saw him slip a cover over some of the letters on the upper row of the chart, by hanging an envelope by its flap on the upper edge of the chart. I asked him why he did it ? He replied, " I wanted it so I can learn the letters without seeing them so," illustrating by first covering a and 5 and then writing the letters, and moving the envelope along over c and d, and so on. To-day he said, in my hearing," Vertical- writing chart." I then said, " You should write a letter to your papa." He replied, " You wouldn't have told me to, if I had not said, 4 Vertical-writing chart,' " which was true. When speaking of the chart, he said, " Why do they make their letters so decorated ? They are more decorated in capitals than below" (meaning the small letters). "You see, they might make the 7 straight at the top this way : ~7" Then looking at 7 on the chart, he said, " I should think it is vertical. I know some people who make the 7 this way : ^^^ . This is the way it should be : 7- Which way do you think is right ? Is this hori- zontal: ^\J?" He heard some one say purty for pretty to-day ; he came to me and said, " I've always heard of pretty soon ; never heard of purty soon." October 24th. I said to him when he heard his aunt play Mendelssohn's u Rondo Capriccioso," " Isn't that beautiful that your aunt is playing ?" He replied, " Yes, I don't see how she can play such music." I said, " She 192 GRADED KFFORT AT WRITING COMPOSITION AND EARLY EFFORTS AT NUMBERS SEVENTH YEAR is studying it all the time." Then he replied, " I suppose it isn't hard for her." October 25th. He said at tea, to-day, " I like the raisins in this cake. I don't like them in most cakes. I like them in Mrs. L 's cakes too. I wonder why these are so good. Don't you suppose, mamma, that the grapes were properly dried to make them so good? Maybe too the baker used" (then he whispered and spelled) " c-1-e-a-n hands." October 28th. He saw the word "you" upsidedown, thus no^. He said, "I was puzzled what n