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If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: The book of the child - An attempt to set down what is in the mind of children - -Author: Frederick Douglas How - -Release Date: January 29, 2023 [eBook #69896] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Bob Taylor and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at - https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images - generously made available by The Internet Archive) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOOK OF THE CHILD *** - - - - - -Transcriber’s Note -Italic text displayed as: _italic_ - - - - - The Book of the Child - - - - - The - - Book of the Child - - An Attempt to set down what - is in the mind of Children - - - By Frederick Douglas How - - - E. P. DUTTON AND COMPANY - 31 WEST 23RD STREET, NEW YORK - 1907 - - - - - PRINTED BY - SIR ISAAC PITMAN & SONS, LTD., - BATH, ENGLAND. - (2319) - - - - - Preface - - -I am rather shy about this little book. - -If it were not for the kindness of some few friends whose knowledge -of children far exceeds my own, it would never have seen the light. - -For their encouragement and for the gift of their experiences and -advice I am deeply grateful. I know that they would rather I did not -mention them by name. - -The thoughts which I have tried to put together have been growing in -my mind for years. Some, in fact, I have quoted from articles I wrote -some time ago for a magazine no longer in existence. - -Perhaps my best excuse for letting this book appear is that, though I -have no children of my own, other people’s children have always been -very good to me. - - F. D. HOW. - -_May, 1907._ - - - - - Contents - - - CHAP. PAGE - I. THE CHILD—ITS ARRIVAL 9 - - II. THE CHILD—ITS MEMORY 24 - - III. THE CHILD—ITS IMAGINATION 37 - - IV. THE CHILD—ITS RELIGION 66 - - V. THE CHILD—ITS IMITATION 96 - - VI. THE CHILD—ITS PLEASURES 112 - - VII. THE CHILD—ITS PATHOS 136 - - VIII. WAYSIDE CHILDREN 162 - - IX. CHILDREN’S MEETINGS 176 - - X. APPENDIX 187 - - - - - The Book of the Child - - - - - CHAPTER I - - THE CHILD—ITS ARRIVAL - - -Children have come into greater prominence during the last quarter -of a century than ever before in the history of this country. Many -things have been written about them, many things have been done -for them,—some foolish and some wise, but all suggested by a newly -aroused sense of the vital importance attached to their proper -upbringing. - -[Sidenote: The Cause of the Children.] - -[Sidenote: Legislation for Children.] - -It is, of course, true that the Cause of the Children has been used -by both political parties for their own purposes, but, for all -that, there has been a large amount of most valuable legislation -on the subject during the last twenty years.[1] The helplessness -of children and their rights as citizens of this country have been -better understood and provided for, while their impressionable nature -has been realised, and the rigour of their training and discipline -considerably modified. - -[Sidenote: The Better Position of Children.] - -It may be that there has been too great a change in some directions. -There may be a freedom of intercourse between children and their -parents or teachers that borders on disrespect. But taking one thing -with another the position of children has altered for the better, -and it is no bad thing that few subjects have greater interest at -the present day than that of Children. It is an interest, too, that -has come to stay. Of a distinctly softening and refining nature like -the taste for gardening, which has brought into the world so many -books during the last few years, it is only now beginning to reveal -its true importance, and it will increase as from year to year more -people perceive its fascination and trace its results. - -[Sidenote: Old-fashioned Discipline.] - -Sixty or seventy years ago the chief interest in children shown by -parents and teachers was of an extremely disciplinary nature. Many -children were not allowed to sit down without permission when in -their parents’ presence, and it was in many families the rule that -the father and mother should be addressed as “Sir” and “Ma’am.” -Teachers of both sexes ruled mainly by fear, and allowed no intimacy -between themselves and their pupils. The rigour of such upbringing -and education must have withered many a tender-natured child as a -cold black wind in spring will shrivel the opening blossoms of the -fruit trees. - -[Sidenote: Children of the Poor.] - -[Sidenote: Metropolitan Working Classes’ Association.] - -Among the working classes, until the Church began to establish its -schools, the children grew up anyhow, and could in few cases read or -write. Infant mortality and unhealthy conditions of childhood were -prevalent. So much was this the case that in 1847, while little was -yet being thought or written about Children, the Metropolitan Working -Classes’ Association for Improving the Public Health actually put -out a pamphlet on their proper rearing and training. This document -had some considerable circulation, but its usefulness must have been -greatly curtailed by the inability of so many people in those days to -read. - -[Sidenote: Literature Concerning Children.] - -Before this publication the literature on the subject of children was -extremely scanty. Not only was this the case but those people who did -from time to time write on the subject seem to have been ashamed -of doing so, and their works, appearing once or twice in a century, -are for the most part anonymous. - -[Sidenote: The Office of Christian Parents.] - -There exists a treatise printed by Cantrell Legge, printer to -the University of Cambridge, in the year 1616, with the title -“The Office of Christian Parents, showing how Children are to be -governed throughout all ages and times of their life. With a brief -Admonitorie addition unto children to answer in dutie to their -Parents’ office.” - -[Sidenote: Personal Care of the Mother.] - -[Sidenote: Possible Extinction of Boarding Schools.] - -The writer, whoever he may have been, appears to have at that very -early date grasped the importance of his subject, for he says, “The -Parent is put in trust to governe the chiefest creature under heaven, -to train up that which is called the Generation of God.” Being thus -impressed with the value of children, it is natural to find the -author of the treatise giving advice that is being more and more -strongly urged upon parents at the present day. Eminent doctors -insist upon the advantage to infants of being personally cared for -by the mother, and not handed over wholesale to a nurse. Educational -experts are more and more inclined to take the view that children -should be kept at home as long as possible. So far, indeed, has this -theory advanced that there is a suggestion of the ultimate extinction -of our great public boarding schools in favour of a larger number of -schools so situated that children may attend them as day scholars -while still living at home under parental care and influence. - -[Sidenote: Interference of the Grandmother.] - -The old writer of 1616 made a strong point of the child being cared -for by its parents from birth onwards. He (possibly from personal -experience) did not even approve of the interference of the -grandmother, for he quaintly observes, “In some places there comes in -the child-wive’s mother. She will not have her daughter troubled with -the noursing: and the Father cannot abide the crying of the child: -therefore a nurse is sent for in all hast”—a course of action of -which he entirely disapproves. - -When the child is a little older he still thinks that its committal -to the care of a servant should be avoided. - -“When a child beginneth to know his mother from another, there -groweth two absurdities, either the mother’s fondness maketh it a -crying child and restless, or els her careless committing it to a -servant spills it.” - -[Sidenote: The Spoiling of Children.] - -Here comes in also his first advice as to the disciplining of a -child. He appears to have held strong views as to the necessity of -firmness, but not to have been in favour of the great severity which -often obtained in those days. His observations are too valuable even -now to be passed over. What could be better than the following? “Here -cometh in the cockling of the parents to give the child the sway of -his owne desires to have whatsoever it pointeth to, and so it maketh -the parents and all the house slaves, and there is no end of noyse, -of crying, and wraling; or els there is such severitie as the heart -of the child is utterly broken.” Or again, “When parents do either -too much cockle their children, or by home example do draw them to -worser things, or els neglect the due discipline and good order, what -I pray you can come to passe? but as we see in trees which beeing -neglected at the first are crooked and unfruitful; contrarily, they -which by the hand and art of the husbandman are proined, stayed up, -and watered, are made upright, faire, and fruitfull.” - -[Sidenote: Parents to Superintend their Children’s Upbringing.] - -It will be observed that this writer implies in all the advice he -gives that the parent is the proper person to bring up a child, not -a servant at home or a teacher at a distance. “Parents,” he says, -“should watch and attend upon their children for the avoiding of evil -occasions and to see all duties rightly performed.” - -How far have we got nowadays from this ideal! How greatly modern -habits of life have interfered with any such possibility! What the -ancient moralist quoted above would have said to the upbringing of -most children at the present day it is difficult to imagine. He sums -up his own point of view very pithily in the words, “The egges are -badly hatched when the bird is away; and the children are unluckily -nurtured whose parents are made careles, being absent through -pleasure.” - -[Sidenote: Old-fashioned Severity Leads to Dissimulation.] - -More than a century later, in 1748, there appeared another anonymous -publication on the subject. This had for its title “Dialogues on the -Passions, Habits, and Affections peculiar to Children.” The writer -was imbued with ideas so far in advance of his time that fear of -ridicule may have caused him to conceal his name. His sentiments -about the proper treatment of children are very much those at which -most people have arrived to-day, when the subject has received much -prominent attention for a quarter of a century. He combats the -prevailing opinion of that date that the right way to deal with -children is by a system of formal repression and severity. Thus he -makes one of his characters say, “I think it necessary that Children -should be kept at some distance. They are apt to grow pert, sawcy, -and ungovernable if we make too free with them, or permit them the -full liberty of speech in our Company.” To this the reply is made: -“To discover the Diseases of the mind ought to be and must be your -principal study. But in this you will never be successful if you set -out with a practice which teaches them to conceal every bad symptom.” - -[Sidenote: A Phase of Lying.] - -The truth contained in these words is very generally recognised -nowadays. If a parent wants to make a child untruthful it can be -done at once by causing fear, under the guise perhaps of respect, -to be the ruling sentiment. Children are only too ready to learn! -“As soon as they are born they go astray and speak lies.” It is a -tendency of childhood in every class. A gentleman whose work consists -in preparing little boys for the great public schools once said that -almost every small boy passes through a phase of lying. The mistress -of a little village school declared not long ago that there was only -one child there upon whose word she could absolutely rely. - -It follows then that those in charge of children, and especially the -parents, should note the advice of the writer of the Dialogues. He -insists again and again upon the evil effects of fear. - -[Sidenote: Children Susceptible of Fear.] - -“Fear,” he says, “I think is the first Passion which we can -distinctly trace in the Mind of a Child. They are susceptible of it -almost sooner than they can conceive the Nature of Danger; and it -is the Misfortune of Numbers that the Nurses find this so easily -improved to their purposes that Children find the effects of this -passion as long as they live.” - -Again, “As to Dread of Punishment which I have observed to be the -lowest and most grovelling kind of Fear, you must by gentle usage -remove it from the apprehension of such as have imbibed it from harsh -Parents or tyrannical Nurses.” - -It is exceedingly remarkable to find a writer in the middle of the -eighteenth century who had studied children to such purpose, and who -ventured to advance opinions such as those quoted above. - -[Sidenote: Literature of the last Half Century.] - -The latter part of the nineteenth century saw a rush of literature -concerning children. It is possible that the great public efforts -made by the various agencies for bettering the lot of homeless, -starving, and ill-treated children began to call special attention to -the treatment of all children. It may be that the general tendency -of the age to level all distinctions between one and another helped -to gain greater consideration for the younger members of the -community. It may even be that a more general appreciation of the -Gospel teaching helped forward this result. Or, as some will say, -it may be simply that a wave of sentiment swept over the country and -brought with it a tenderer regard for little children. It does not -much matter what was the cause. The fact remains that a new interest -was awakened, the people of England wanted to understand childhood -better, and books and magazine articles on the subject appeared in -considerable numbers. - -This result, even though some people have thought the supply -excessive, has been of great service. The future of a country largely -depends upon the proper upbringing of its children. This in its turn -depends upon a proper knowledge of the nature of childhood. This -knowledge has been stimulated and increased to an unprecedented -degree by the works of the best of the writers who have recently -dealt with the subject of children. - -[Sidenote: Books About Children.] - -To mention only two or three. Which of us has not been the wiser and -the better for the books of Kenneth Graham, for such an inimitable -character study as the Rebecca of Kate Douglas Wiggin, and for the -marvellously tender insight into the mystery of the mind of a little -child which has been shown by William Canton in the “Invisible -Playmate” and “W. V. her Book”? - -It may be hoped that what is practically a new science may be studied -with even greater diligence in the future, and may be given its -proper position as of paramount importance. - -Up to the present date more time and pains have been expended and -more literature published on the rearing and training of horses and -dogs than of the little children upon whom the future destiny of the -world depends. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] See Appendix. - - - - - CHAPTER II - - THE CHILD—ITS MEMORY - - -[Sidenote: A Baby’s Earliest Impressions.] - -[Sidenote: Bishop Berkeley on Blind Boys.] - -It is just this—the memory of a child—that makes it so important to -begin the process of training at once. The waxen tablets of a baby’s -mind are very soft. It is impossible to say how soon impressions -are made upon them, or how deep those impressions may be. It is -not impossible that with the very beginning of separate existence -some vague markings are made upon these unsullied tablets. It is -exceedingly interesting to try to imagine what the very earliest -impressions are like. Are they first produced by the sense of sight -or the sense of touch? It has been conclusively proved that the -senses aid one another to a large extent in the early stages of their -use. Bishop Berkeley in an appendix to one of his treatises gives -the reports of two cases of boys born blind with what is called -congenital cataract. Both cases were cured, one at the age of nine, -the other at thirteen or fourteen. Neither of these boys when first -able to see had the least idea what he was looking at. They both -thought that all objects touched their eyes, and neither had any -conception of the shape or distance of an object. They were perfectly -familiar with differences in shape and material by the process of -touch, but when they first obtained sight the appearance of things -meant nothing to them until they had handled them. - -But in these cases the sense of touch had existed for years and been -greatly cultivated. It was, therefore, natural that the familiar -sense should come to the aid of the unfamiliar. - -[Sidenote: Memory Markings.] - -In newborn babies the circumstances are altogether different. All -senses alike are novel, and it would be of great interest, if such a -thing were possible, to determine whether the earlier memory markings -are caused by the vision of light, the sound of voices, or the touch -of the hands that first come in contact with the infant form. - -[Sidenote: Precocious Infants.] - -But it seems altogether out of our power to determine this question -with any sort of certainty. None of us is able to remember the -impressions of early infancy, and insufficient observation of the -results of ocular, aural, or other contact with external things on -the part of babies has resulted in an absence of data upon which to -argue. Mothers, nurses, and maiden aunts are often ridiculed for -declaring that “baby” has shown some astoundingly precocious power -of observation or recognition, and no doubt these manifestations are -in a large number of cases accounted for by a desire on the part of -the narrator to be able to claim a special share of the infantile -affection, or a special power of imparting infantile accomplishments. - -[Sidenote: Case of Very Early Memory.] - -At the same time there is every probability that infants observe and -think more accurately than would be generally allowed by their casual -male acquaintances. The present writer can vouch for at least one -case where a permanent impression was made upon the mind of a very -young child, and memory markings were indented which certainly lasted -for several years. The facts are these: A man who shall be called -A. B. was invalided and ordered to spend a winter at the seaside. -While there a young married couple with their first baby shared his -lodgings. The child, a boy, was just six months old, and for some -eighteen weeks he was the frequent companion of A. B., especially -when the weather prevented either from going out. During many an -hour the baby boy lay on the cushions of a low basket chair kicking -and crowing with delight while his man friend talked or sang to him, -and so a firm friendship grew up between the two, though its verbal -expression was entirely confined to the elder of them. - -When the baby was ten months old the inevitable parting came, and for -about two years they saw nothing of one another. At last, however, it -became possible for the child’s mother to bring him to a house where -his old friend was staying. During the journey she said to the little -chap, “Do you know who you are going to see? You are going to see A. -B.” Without a moment’s hesitation the boy said, “A. B. with beard?” -showing that he remembered what was no doubt to him the most striking -item in his friend’s appearance, though at the time that the memory -mark was made on his mind he was too young to pronounce the word -describing the thing that made the impression. But further evidence -of the child’s memory was forthcoming, for as soon as he was set down -on arrival at the front door of the house he ran straight to A. B. -with every mark of affectionate joy at seeing him again. - -Here is an instance of infant memory that is absolutely true, and, as -the boy was in no way precocious or unnatural, it is fair to assume -that there must be plenty of cases where the impressions made upon -an infant’s mind during the period when its age is marked by months -and not by years are of a far more permanent nature than is generally -assumed. - -[Sidenote: Memory at a Later Age.] - -But for most illustrations of children’s memory we are compelled to -begin at a later age. Few people remember much that happened before -they were three years old, but from about that time it is common to -find a remarkably clear recollection of certain scattered events or -experiences. - -It is a usual thing to hear it said by those who have passed middle -age, that their remembrance of their childhood grows clearer as time -goes on. This is accounted for by the fact that _fewer_ impressions -were made upon their minds during their earliest years, whereas in -later life the memory tablets get crowded with all sorts and kinds of -markings which become confused and partially unintelligible in a very -short time. - -[Sidenote: Emotions of Surprise, Pleasure, or Pain.] - -Besides being fewer in number it is also probable that in early -childhood the memory markings that endure are those of such -experiences as caused strong emotions of surprise, pleasure, or pain. -One of the very earliest recollections of the writer is of attending -a wedding when he was three years old. But none of the usual -incidents impressed him at all. The dresses of the bridesmaids, the -appearance of the bride, the bouquets, bells and other accompaniments -of a wedding have been completely forgotten. No remembrance of any -single person or circumstance remains excepting two things which -struck him with astonishment. First of all, he, in common with others -attending the service, was taken across a wide river in a boat, and, -secondly, he was put to stand close against the back of a harmonium, -the noise of which at such close quarters was to him extraordinary -and rather disagreeable. - -[Sidenote: Joys Better Remembered than Griefs.] - -The complete obliteration of everything connected with this visit—for -the ceremony took place a day’s journey from his home—seems to point -clearly to the fact that the unusual is not by itself enough to -permanently impress a child’s mind, but it must be coupled with -sensations of peculiar surprise, or special pleasure or pain. With -regard to the two latter it is a beneficent provision that the joys -of early life are remembered long after its sadnesses have been -forgotten. - -[Sidenote: Summer Days at a Country Rectory.] - -A man looks back on the summers he spent as a child in a country -rectory. It appears to him that the days were ever sunny: he recalls -the sharp hiss of the whetstone on the scythe, which told him as -he lay in his little bed that the parson’s man was mowing the -lawn before the dew was off the grass; he can remember the wild -strawberries in the less conventional part of the garden; he can -in fancy take his way to the cowhouse, mug in hand, to get a drink -of new and frothy milk; he can climb about the lower branches of a -favourite tree; he can rake and water his little square of garden; -he can come home atop of the last load of hay from the glebe fields; -but it is always in the dancing sunlight that he moves; it would seem -to him that there could never have been any single day in all his -childhood when rain came down and skies were grey and cold. - -[Sidenote: The Old Nursery.] - -And so, too, of the life indoors. He remembers much of this in -comparison with the later years. He remembers exactly where each -piece of furniture stood in the old nursery. He can tell you with -what colour the ottoman was covered in which his brothers’ and -sisters’ outdoor things were kept, and he vividly remembers standing -upon it to look out of the window and watch the gardener at work. He -can recall exactly how much of the spout was broken belonging to the -old grey teapot in which was brewed the senna tea, but he cannot tell -you what the stuff tasted of—though he is sure that it was nasty. -The nursery, the stairs, and the passages are in his memory so many -playgrounds; he forgets the many childish tears that he shed, and the -childish tragedies that befell him, while the games and the laughter -and the pleasantness of his early surroundings are easily recalled. - -But if he examines carefully into his early impressions he will find -that the events which older persons might be expected to remember are -forgotten, while the little matters that brought to his babyhood’s -experience sensations of pain or pleasure—but especially the -latter—are clear. That is to say, the memory markings made in early -childhood do not include the greater number of things which came in -contact with the various senses of the child, but are really few in -number and connected invariably with special sensations. - -It is a vast mistake to measure the importance of a child’s -interests by those of a grown-up person. It is easy for the latter to -forget every detail of a house in which he has passed some months or -even years of middle age, but he will remember a shallow step leading -down from one of his nurseries to the other. - -How small a thing! Yes, but it was productive of great sensations. -It was the first step he had ever known—by it was revealed to him -the entirely new idea that one room could be on a different level -from another. Then he found that it was a splendid place to sit -upon—just the right height for him—and a still better place upon -which to set up bricks and toys in order to knock them down and hear -the crash of their fall. But, best of all, it was the place where -his first deed of daring was performed. There came a day when he -ventured to jump down! It was the first time that he had really cared -for spectators: it was the first time that he had looked round for -applause. For all these reasons—all connected with new sensations of -pleasure—that little shallow wooden step made a deeper memory mark -upon his mind than many subsequent places or events that have perhaps -helped to turn the current of his life. But, after all is said, it is -impossible not to feel that the unknown is so largely in excess of -the known, in this as in many other subjects, that the only thing to -be done is to try to induce those who have to do with little children -to remember that much is possible and even probable—to act, that is, -as if the youngest child may possibly remember for its good or ill -any smallest fact or object with which its senses are brought into -contact. - - - - - CHAPTER III - - THE CHILD—ITS IMAGINATION - - -The imagination of the poet, of the novelist, of the advertiser of a -patent medicine, is as nothing compared with that of a little child. -No one who is unable to realise this will understand children or be -really successful in their upbringing. - -[Sidenote: The Riotous Imagination of Children.] - -[Sidenote: Unimaginative Parents.] - -Whence come all the marvellous ideas that people the brain of a -mere baby of two or three years? Is it that it has descended but a -step or two down the staircase and still has a mind to some extent -untrammelled by human limitations and the hard dry facts of earth? -Or is it that, possessed of a keenly receptive power, it has not -learnt to control or arrange the multitudes of facts that present -themselves daily to its senses? This wonderful imagination is no -doubt closely allied with the early powers of memory of which mention -has been made, and may also have something at least to do with the -early propensity to untruthfulness. Many a child has suffered at the -hands of an unimaginative parent for words which have been ruthlessly -called lies though they have been so strongly prompted by a vivid -imagination that they have seemed as true to the utterer as much that -is unintelligible but has to be accepted. - -[Sidenote: Arrangement of the Numerals.] - -[Sidenote: The Circle of the Months.] - -A moment’s thought will show at what an early age imagination came -into play with most people. By far the greater number have by its aid -clothed certain abstract ideas in definite concrete forms, and have -done this when so young that it is impossible for them to remember -the time when these things first took shape. For instance, most -people have a definite arrangement of the numerals. A common form for -this to take is that of the numbers one to twelve appearing to run -slightly upwards and towards the right, those from twelve to twenty -taking a downward turn in the same direction. At the number twenty a -sharp turn is taken to the left, and from that point to one hundred -they run uphill with an increasing steepness. Many other directions -and shapes are discovered by questioning people on this subject, but -it is very rare to find an example of the numerals being nothing but -an abstract idea. The same thing occurs with the months. To most -people they appear in a circle, winter being in some cases at the -top, and summer in others. In one case a person imagines them in a -semicircle, and in another (the strangest yet met with) they are in -a zig-zag, three months running up, and three down, and so on, the -form being like that of a rather straggling M. - -[Sidenote: Effects of Colour.] - -Colour also is occasionally imagined, and there is no doubt that -children are specially susceptible to its influence at a very early -age. A writer in the eighteenth century to whom allusion has been -made in Chapter I makes the following observation: “There are some -children so tenderly organised that many kinds of sounds are harsh -to their Infant Ears and apt to fright them, and some colours strike -them with too great and quick a Glare and have the same Effect till -by Custom they are made familiar to their Organs.” - -[Sidenote: Colour of the Days.] - -It is certain at all events that colour has played an important part -in the imagination of many people from their earliest years. A lady -declares that all her life long the days of the week have appeared -to her to be of certain definite colours. Thus, Sunday is brick red, -Monday the same, Tuesday lilac, Wednesday white, Thursday dark brown, -Friday grey, and Saturday mauve and yellow. All this imagining took -place so near the start of her life that the colour, form, etc., of -the days appear to this lady to be facts dating from the beginning -of time itself. It should be noted that in these and all similar -instances the imagination is apparently independent of outside -influences such as pictures or descriptions which might be supposed -to have affected a little child. - -[Sidenote: The Imaginary Child-Friend.] - -It is possible to go further than this and to say that the most vivid -imaginings are as a rule those which a child produces absolutely -and apart from the suggestion of others. Under this head comes the -imaginary child-friend called into existence in most cases by one -who has no playmate of similar age. The grown-up people in the -house know nothing of this imaginary friend until the real child is -overheard talking to it and calling it by name. It is remarkable to -notice how nothing seems to disturb the commonplace reality of the -whole thing in the mind of the child. When the imaginary friend is -in the room his or her presence is never for a moment forgotten, and -plans are gravely made to suit the convenience not of one only but of -_both_ the children. - -Next in importance to the unsuggested imaginings are those to which -a sensitive child gives way on the slightest hint. This is a very -practical matter, and one to which those who have to do with children -should take heed. - -[Sidenote: Imaginary Terrors.] - -It is impossible to say at how early an age a suggestion of any kind -may bear fruit. A lady once said that her childhood was one long -misery owing to a vivid imagination of the terrors that awaited her -for having committed a certain fault when a baby in the nursery. It -was not, she said, that much had been made of it at the time, but -there was some suggestion of an awful unknown punishment, which her -childish brain worked upon and developed until she dared not be left -alone and became a thoroughly morbid and wretched little being. - -It is obvious that too great care cannot possibly be taken by those -to whom children are entrusted, inasmuch as a chance word may set a -child’s imagination working and affect the tendency of its thoughts -and actions for years. - -[Sidenote: Untruthfulness and Imagination.] - -It was suggested at the beginning of this chapter that there is -probably some relation between this power of imagination and the -tendency to untruthfulness which is found in so many children. It is -one of the most difficult things possible to define exactly where -the knowledge of untruthfulness comes in. Probably no two children -are alike in this, and it requires the utmost tact and a close -knowledge of a particular child’s character to determine the point -where the one thing ends and the other begins. - -Here is an example. A short time ago a little boy still in the -nursery was taken out by his father in the carriage for a drive. When -they arrived at the farther end of the town the little chap was sent -home in the carriage by himself, his father having been deposited at -his place of business. When the carriage arrived back at the door of -the house the parlourmaid came out and carried the child indoors, -being surprised to find him in tears. Struggling out of her arms he -set off upstairs to the nursery, sobbing bitterly all the way. “What -is the matter, dear?” said the nurse. “I’se had to walk by mine own -self all froo the town, and I was dreffly frightened,” was the reply. -“How ever did you get across the High Street, my poor darling?” -“There was lots of cabs and cawwiages and things, and I knewed I -would be runned over!” All this with many sobs and much burying -of his head in nurse’s lap. Hearing the wailing in the nursery up -came the parlourmaid, to whom the nurse poured out her indignation. -“Just fancy! Making this poor lamb walk home all through the town -by himself! It’s a mercy he was not killed again and again!” “Walk -through the town! Why, whatever do you mean? Why, I lifted him out of -the carriage at this very door not ten minutes ago!” - -Well, the temptation to punish the little fellow must have been -great. One hopes it was resisted. There can be small doubt that a -vivid imagination had mastered him as he drove home alone. It was -all “what might have been,” and it became so real to him that it -seemed to be “what was.” - -[Sidenote: Confession of an Imaginary Sin.] - -Again, a case recurs to the recollection of the writer where a small -child was summoned into the presence of an angry parent who listened -to no excuses, but insisted so strongly and so often on the guilt -of the small boy, that at last he actually seemed convinced by the -reiterated accusation and, imagining that his parent must know best, -actually confessed to a sin which subsequent events proved the -impossibility of his having committed. - -Now for an example where it is probable that the imagination of the -child is used for ulterior purposes and the borderland between fancy -and untruthfulness is likely to be crossed. - -[Sidenote: Jinks.] - -There is a little girl who a few years ago was possessed of many -dolls, but the supreme favourite was an old monkey-doll by name -“Jinks.” He was so much hugged and cuddled from the first that he -soon became shabby. He quickly lost all his hair except a tuft on -each side of his face, and his clothes were reduced to a pair of dark -blue trousers and a sort of shabby white jersey. But the shabbier he -became the more she loved him, and in time, being an ingenious little -person, she began to make use of him, as is often the case among -grown-up people. The first instance on record is of the simplest -kind, but showed much insight into human nature. The little girl had -been disobedient and was being duly lectured on her fault. She stood -there looking very serious with “Jinks” tightly clasped in her arms. -All of a sudden the length of the lecture became more than she could -bear. Something must be done. Suddenly she held up the ugly old doll -and with a pleasant smile upon her face remarked, “Look at Jinks! ’ow -’e’s laughing!” It was an ingenious and effective ruse, but a ruse it -was and not mere play of imagination. - -On another more recent occasion she made use of “Jinks” in a rather -more elaborate fashion. Her everyday gloves were knitted woollen -ones and these she disliked intensely. One day she was seen starting -out in a pair which were properly kept for Sundays. She was stopped -and asked why she had put on her best gloves. “Why,” she answered at -once, “You see when I was getting ready I thought p’raps I should -meet Jinks on the stairs—and he can’t _bear_ to see me in those -woolly gloves!” - -Most people who have little children among their friends can remember -similar instances, and these are just the cases where firm but -sympathetic interference is necessary to prevent confusion between -imagination and want of truth. - -[Sidenote: The Idea of Death.] - -[Sidenote: Desire for a Legacy.] - -Possessed as they are of such great powers of imagination in many -directions it is curious to notice how often children seem unable -to realise or picture to themselves matters with which they will be -familiar enough in after life. Take, for instance, the subject of -death. A child will imagine the death of a doll. This is a fancy that -occurs rarely, and the imagination goes as a rule no further. A child -does not picture to itself the sorrow and loss commonly caused by the -death of a real person. A little girl of three years old was sitting -on her godfather’s knee. There was an immense affection between the -two, and either would have missed the other sadly. An old man in -the village known by sight to the little girl had lately died, and -she had just remarked to her godfather quite as a bit of cheerful -gossip, “Old John is dead.” The conversation then turned upon a -certain gold watch which the little maiden desired more than anything -in the world. Once more she was told, “No, I really can’t give it -to you; I want it so badly myself.” Then followed these apparently -callous words. “Your hair is _rather_ white like old John’s. I s’pect -you will be dead soon. Then can I have the watch?” - -At first sight this sounds heartless and calculating, but as a matter -of fact it was certainly not the former. The subject of death was too -big for her imagination, that was all. - -[Sidenote: Small Imagination of Suffering.] - -In this same connection it is found that pain as affecting others -is often very slightly realised by children, and they seem to be -unable to imagine suffering such as has not come within their own -experience. It is for this reason that little children often inflict -tortures on animals, especially on flies and other small creatures -which are at their mercy. It is not from a love of cruelty as some -people have said, but simply because their imagination falls short in -this direction, and they do not realise the effects of their actions. - -But, with certain exceptions, a child has invariably an immense -capability for imagining. As has been stated, the most vivid fancies -seem to spring up unbidden, but it is equally true that it is -possible in a large degree to influence the _kind_ of imagination. -Happiness is an essential atmosphere for the upbringing of a child, -and happiness is to a large extent dependent in childhood upon -imagination. By supplying this atmosphere the best kind of imaginings -can be ensured. - -[Sidenote: Parental Sympathy.] - -A child whose parents are occupied entirely with themselves and their -own affairs and have no sympathy with childish fancies will shrink -up into itself and have a stunted mental and spiritual growth: the -terrified child will grow up amid horrible imaginings; it is only the -child to whom gentleness and sympathy are as the very air it breathes -who will imagine happy and beautiful things, and live to enjoy the -fulfilment of them here and hereafter. - -[Sidenote: Poetic Imaginings.] - -This leads naturally to the poetic imaginings of many children who -have outgrown their babyhood, but have not yet had their fancies -blurred and obscured by the tasks and troubles of the world. They -possess a gift which all may envy—the gift of endowing all manner -of things, both those which are beautiful in themselves and those -which are not, with a glory not their own. This gift comes from the -power of connecting one thought with another, or perhaps of allowing -one idea unconsciously to suggest another, which is the root of all -imagination. It is a gift that has brought sunshine and happiness to -thousands of children, and is preserved by some in after life. All -our great poets and painters have kept hold of this power, and many -persons share vicariously in its delights as they read the glorious -thoughts or gaze on the exquisite pictures that have been thus -inspired. - -And yet there are some who scoff. They have forgotten their -childhood’s gift, and are too self-satisfied to regret it. Not so the -old poet Wordsworth. He felt the power leaving him. The brightness of -his poetic imagination was on the wane, and he thus lamented it:— - - There was a time when meadow, grove and stream, - The earth and every common sight, - To me did seem - Apparell’d in celestial light, - The glory and the freshness of a dream. - It is not now as it hath been of yore; - Turn wheresoe’er I may - By night or day, - The things which I have seen I now can see no more. - -There are many people who have never troubled to understand children -and who are mightily sceptical as to the powers and the charm that is -claimed for them. It is hardly possible to do better here than to ask -such persons to read the example given below of a child’s poetical -imaginings. - -The story is told in the first person, and is in the main literally -true. It is called - - “I WONDERS” - -[Sidenote: “I Wonders”] - -“It was a lovely September day. I had any number of duties to fulfil -at home. There was a pile of letters waiting to be answered, there -was a magazine article hardly begun for which I had received an -urgent demand from the publishers only that morning, and there was a -meeting of school managers which my conscience told me I ought on no -account to miss. But, as I said before, it was a simply lovely day -and nature (human and the other) cried shame on staying indoors. -Whether I should have had sufficient strength of mind to have -resisted the temptation had I been left to fight it out with nature -I shall never know, for the enemy received a sudden reinforcement -before which I yielded ignominiously and at once. I had gone so far -as to clear my blotting-pad of loose letters and to open my ink -bottle when there came a tiny tap at the study door. ‘Come in!’ I -called, and there ensued a curious twisting at the handle of the -door, productive of no result. ‘Come in!’ I called again, and this -time there was no further delay. - -“With a little burst the door flew open and revealed that my visitor -was no less and no greater a person than Helen. - -[Sidenote: Helen.] - -“Now Helen needs some description, and no better time for giving it -could be found than as she stood there at the top of the three or -four steps which lead up to my sanctum, her face flushed with her -struggle with the door handle. - -“Helen was a town-bred child of five years old, and the colour gave -her usually pale face an added charm. Charm is the right word to use, -for, though she did not possess any very great beauty (excepting her -large dark eyes and lashes), it was impossible not to fall under her -charm. She fascinated by her various moods, often serious almost -to melancholy, but suddenly bursting out into utter and abandoned -joyousness. She fascinated again by her vivid imagination, by the -sensitiveness with which she shrank from an unresponsive look or -word, and by the gradual unfolding of her nature to anyone who -_understood_. She had come to stay with us in our completely country -house, and was entranced with the mystery and delight of all she saw. - -“On that particular morning she had come to demand that I should -fulfil a promise to go out and pick blackberries, for had not I said -that I had passed quantities of big ones, all ripe and ready, only -the day before? There she stood in her white sun bonnet and her short -red flannel jacket, beneath which came the bottom of her white frock -and a little pair of legs which country sun and air were already -beginning to assimilate to those of our village bairns in colour -though not in thickness. - -“‘Well?’ I said, to which her only reply was to hold up and shake at -me an empty basket with which she had provided herself. ‘What’s that -for?’ said I. ‘I wonders!’ she answered, using an expression with -which we had already become familiar. ‘Well,’ I said, ‘you had better -tell me.’ ‘Can’t you guess?’—with some scorn—and then triumphantly, -‘Backberwies, o’ course!’ - -“There was very little more to be said. Nature might have been -resisted alone, but nature _and_ Helen would have proved too much for -a stronger and more reluctant man than I. And so it was arranged. -Helen was to meet me in the hall in a quarter of an hour, which would -give me time to scribble a couple of notes, one (by the way) to the -publishers to say that great pressure prevented my finishing the -article that day, which was true—in a sense! - -“I have been many walks with many people, but none that I can compare -with the one upon which Helen and I started that sunny September -morning. I have walked as an undergraduate with learned dons who -discoursed of matters beyond my ken. I have walked with ladies of -sentiment, who vainly appealed to my sympathy and imagination. But -never till that morning did I walk with a companion who carried me -with her into another world and who obtained complete sway over my -every thought and action. This did not begin all at once. - -[Sidenote: Through the Village.] - -“There was a little bit of the village through which we must pass, -and here there were sundry dangers. Old Sawyer’s black and white -sow had got loose and certainly looked formidably large and fierce -as she shoved her snout with deep grunts into the ditch beside the -road. Then a farmer’s collie-dog—a particular friend of mine, but a -stranger and therefore a possible foe to my companion—came prancing -up. These and other sources of terror, such as the village flock of -geese, made it essential that we should proceed with caution and with -such strength as a union of hands might afford. However, it did not -take long to bring us to the end of the cottages and out on to the -road beside which I had seen the blackberries hanging all ready to -be picked. It was a good wide road with a broad strip of grass on -either side, along one of which was a row of telegraph posts which -brought the single wire by which we were connected with the busy -world. The hedges were high and bushy—full of honeysuckle, now out of -bloom, wild roses by this time showing only their scarlet fruit, wild -hops climbing everywhere with rapid eager growth, clematis giving -promise of a hoary show of old man’s beard, and in and out and over -and through it all the long thorny brambles with their many-coloured -leaves and their shiny black and red and green berries. - -[Sidenote: The Backberwy People.] - -“With just one look round to assure herself that nobody and nothing -was about, Helen let go my hand and rushed off like a mad thing along -the grass, just recovering herself with a gasp from a bad stumble -over a dried and hidden heap of road scrapings. All of a sudden -she stopped. She had caught sight of the ‘backberwies’ and of the -numberless other brilliant and tempting objects in the hedge. In a -moment her imagination had caught fire. ‘I wonders!’ she said as I -came up. Then, when her breath was quite recovered, she added very -earnestly, ‘Can us get them backberwy people? It’s vewy dangewous, -isn’t it? Look at them nettles and fistles! Is them the backberwies’ -policemen—I wonders?’ - -“If they were, they proved very useful as far as warding off attacks -on the part of a little bare-legged maiden went. However, by dint of -_very_ careful steering she managed to get close up to a splendid -cluster of fruit and had picked some four or five when one of the -sharp hooky thorns tore her finger and brought tears into her eyes. -Even so, the play went on. ‘Oh! the backberwies’ dog has bit me!’ she -cried, as she held up the poor little finger for me to see. It was -really a nasty prick, and I could see that it hurt her a good deal, -so I tied her handkerchief round it, and said we would try to find a -place further on where the dogs were not so savage. - -[Sidenote: The Backberwy Ball.] - -“We went on a yard or two and passed close to one of the telegraph -posts through which a light breeze was humming. Helen stopped short -with eyes dilated and open mouth. ‘Oh! I _wonders_!’ she cried. -‘What is it?’ I asked her. She whispered to me to keep quite still -while she went to see, and proceeded to put her ear against the -post, holding up one finger of the injured hand in warning to me not -to stir. ‘There’s beautiful music,’ she said at last very softly, -‘there’s a ball, and all the little backberwies is dancing!’ I said -that if the old blackberries let the young ones go to a ball without -them it served them right if they got picked themselves. I then -suggested that we should go on to the next post and see what was -going on there. As we went Helen noticed that near each one there was -a heap of stones and a bare gravelly patch of ground. ‘Them is the -backberwy houses,’ she said, ‘and all the backberwies are out, and -the children are gone to a dancing class, so the old backberwies send -them by theirselves.’ So the little difficulty which I had mentioned -was explained away, though to the vividness of her imagination it had -evidently presented a real difficulty and had not been forgotten. - -“Presently, after listening to the music in several telegraph posts, -saying that there was an organ in one and fiddles in another, while -in a third she declared that the blackberries were singing, she -returned to the hedge and the more serious duty of filling her little -basket. All the time, however, she kept up a comment upon what she -saw. The red hips and haws were ‘the backberwies’ soldiers,’ the -elderberries were their clergymen, and the sloes were guards. Every -few minutes she stopped in a sort of ecstasy at all that was around -her, and gazing in one direction and another would softly say, ‘Oh! I -wonders!’ It was evidently a revelation of beauty to her, and at the -same time a scene of mystery, a sort of fairyland where everything -thought and lived and breathed. - -[Sidenote: The Wicked Soldiers.] - -“At last the basket was getting nearly full, and in stretching up -for some specially fine berries a dog-rose thorn tore the back of my -hand, leaving a long scratch. Helen’s anger knew no bounds. - -“‘The wicked, wicked soldiers,’ she said, and then taking several of -the bright red hips she tore them into fragments and threw them away. -And now we had wandered backwards and forwards along that special -bit of hedge until all the blackberries within reach were picked, and -only the baby green ones were left. ‘Will they die if we leaves them -all alone?’ she said, and then she gathered as many as possible, and -carrying them in her two hands placed them in little heaps near each -telegraph post that they might be noticed when the balls and concerts -were over. - -“I said that I wondered what the young blackberries would do when -they came out and found all their fathers and mothers gone, and only -the little babies left. And Helen said ‘I wonders.’” - - - - - CHAPTER IV - - THE CHILD—ITS RELIGION - - -[Sidenote: Three Kinds of Parents.] - -[Sidenote: A French Work on Children.] - -Probably one of the earliest perplexities that presents itself to -a parent is the question of the child’s religion. And yet it is -doubtful whether in the generality of cases the matter is considered -early enough. There are, evidently, three kinds of parents taking -three separate views of the question. There are those who hold -distinctly materialistic opinions, and who therefore deliberately -decline to enter into the subject at all. They agree with the -sentiments expressed in a French work on children published some -quarter of a century ago in which the following passages occur: -“We may boldly assert that the sense of religion exists no more in -the intelligence of a little child than does the supernatural in -nature.” And again: “In our opinion parents are very much mistaken in -thinking it their duty to instruct their little ones in such things, -which have no real interest for them—as who made them, who created -the world, what is the soul, what is its present and future destiny, -and so forth.” - -It is a happiness to believe that few English parents endorse these -views. The extraordinary stir made by an Education Bill, the chief -concern of which was to affect the religious teaching of children, is -evidence of a widespread belief in the necessity of such teaching. - -[Sidenote: Careless Parents.] - -But, in the second place, there are some parents who are simply -careless. They would be rather shocked at being told that they -themselves were irreligious, but, when they forget all about their -children’s religion, it cannot be supposed that their own is of much -real concern to them. - -[Sidenote: Anxious Parents.] - -[Sidenote: Early Impressions of Good and Evil.] - -Thirdly, there are the parents who desire beyond all things that -their children shall lead religious lives, and are anxious to do -their utmost to start the little feet on the right path. It is this -class of parent who is often perplexed to know what is best. The -difficulties are certainly great. Children differ so widely that what -is good for one child may be harmful for another. But in almost all -cases the tendency is to put off religious teaching too long. The -mind of a very young child—one who would be commonly described as a -baby—has been proved again and again to be remarkably receptive of -evil as well as of good influences and impressions, and the earlier -a baby’s mind can be filled with the very simplest religious truths -the less room there will be for evil, and the greater the likelihood -of a firm belief in truths that have been absorbed almost with the -mother’s milk. - -This leads to the question of how far a very young child has -any direct personal religion; any feeling, that is, of a direct -communication even of the most elementary kind between itself and its -GOD without the intervention of any human being. - -[Sidenote: A Child’s Direct Personal Religion.] - -[Sidenote: Religion through the Mother.] - -It would probably be true to say that _at first_ this is impossible, -but that at a very early age the sense can be imparted. To quote the -words of a mother who has brought up a number of children in the fear -and love of GOD, personal religion in children “of course begins by -being mixed up with _Mother_, who, if she is a real mother, is to her -babies the representative of warmth, comfort, love, and everything -that they want.” When, in addition to this a child has depended for -months upon its mother for food, and has constantly slept in her -arms, the influence of that mother is so great that her religion -naturally becomes the religion of the child, who accepts every word -she says absolutely. Thus, the “GOD bless you” and the words of -loving prayer which come so often and so naturally to a mother’s lips -are absorbed by the child until its faith in some unconscious way -grows into its life and becomes a real thing between itself and its -GOD. - -Thus, it will be seen that there is a certain truth underlying a -statement made by the French author quoted above when he says: -“Children’s reverence and love attaches itself to the human beings -who are kind to them, but to nothing which is invisible or distinct -from their species. Their instinct of finality is wholly objective -and utilitarian.” It is true that in the first instance a baby’s -reverence and love attaches itself to the mother, but to assert -that afterwards it rejects anything invisible or apart from its own -species is to deny the influence of a religious feeling flowing -through the mother to the child, and to limit the power of the Spirit -of GOD who can surely dwell in the heart of a very little child. - -An example of the way in which children of very tender years can and -often do grasp the great truths of the religion which they inherit -from their parents has lately been told to the writer by the mother -of the child in question. - -[Sidenote: Where She was Heavened.] - -She was a little girl of three and a half years old, and was taken -one day by her father into the church in which she had been baptized. -Pointing to the font, he said, “Do you know what happened to you -there?” For a moment the child looked perplexed, and nestling up to -her father said, “_You_ tell me, daddy.” “No,” he replied, “I want -you to tell me.” There was another moment’s hesitation, and then she -looked up at him and very solemnly said, “I was _heavened_ there!” - -Probably no answer that she could have made would have been so -comprehensive and so convincing of the real grasp of the truth as -this word her baby intelligence had coined. - -Examples can easily be found to show at how early an age a child may -be influenced for good or evil. “I have seen,” says a parent, “a baby -trained to habits of cleanliness in six weeks of life,” and it is -doubtless true that the difference between good and evil first of all -means to a child what is allowed or what is forbidden. But together -with this it must always be remembered that there is the sense of -safety and of love which, originally connected with “Mother,” is (in -the case of a religious parent) speedily carried onwards and upwards -to the love and care of GOD. - -[Sidenote: Olive Schreiner.] - -In this connection a passage in Olive Schreiner’s “Story of an -African Farm” can hardly be omitted. It runs thus: “The souls of -little children are marvellously delicate and tender things, and -keep for ever the shadow that first falls on them, and that is the -mother’s, or, at best, a woman’s. There never was a great man who -had not a great mother: it is hardly an exaggeration. The first six -years of our life make us: all that is added later is veneer. And yet -some say, if a woman can cook a dinner or dress herself well, she has -culture enough.” - -All that has been so far written in this chapter on Children’s -Religion is of necessity vague and rather difficult. To arrive at -_facts_ is almost impossible. The best that can be done is to speak -of probabilities in the light of that faith which has been handed -down. The religion of children of less tender years presents fewer -difficulties, and to the consideration of this it is proposed now to -turn. - -But while the difficulties are fewer, they do not altogether -disappear. It is often, for instance, extraordinarily difficult to -determine in the case of a child of six or seven years how far his -or her religion has even at that age become directly personal, or -whether GOD is not often a Being to whom access is only possible -through someone else. - -[Sidenote: Religion of Rather Older Children.] - -[Sidenote: A Child’s Faith.] - -The evidence obtainable on this point is most contradictory. A mother -writes, “Children’s faith soon becomes a real thing between them -and their GOD. My little boy of five is perfectly delightful in the -fulness of his faith. Only to-night when I had gone up, as I always -do, to tell him a Bible story or sing some hymns before he went off -to sleep, he suddenly said, ‘Mother, don’t you wish Jesus was on -earth now?’ When I said, ‘Why do you wish it?’ he answered without -the least hesitation, ‘Because I should go to Him and ask Him to make -me good for always.’ And then, a little time afterwards, he suddenly -started up, when I thought he was asleep, and said, ‘Oh! mother, -wouldn’t it be _dreadful_ if we had not got a GOD!’” - -[Sidenote: A Doubting Thomas.] - -Another mother tells of a little daughter who has been “a doubting -Thomas from her babyhood.” To her the personality of GOD was very -real, but she refused to accept anything at first through the medium -of another—even of her mother. A good many of her quaint sayings -have been preserved—and her mother still remembers how disconcerting -these often were in the course of a Bible lesson. She would suddenly -break in with “_Why_ was GOD so cruel? I hate Him. Can’t you explain? -I don’t think much of Him if He doesn’t let fathers and mothers -know everything!” At the same time she was seldom willing to accept -much on anyone’s judgment but her own. A little brother shared her -lessons, and often sighed with impatience at her interruptions. -“Oh, R——,” he would say, “I do wish you could get some trust!” When -learning the Catechism this little girl refused to say, “Yes, verily, -so I will.” “No,” she said, “I shan’t say that. I haven’t made up my -mind whether I want to be good or not, and I _certainly_ shan’t say -that.” So for about six months that question was never put to her, -and at last one day she remarked, “I could say that now if you like!” - -[Sidenote: Relative Importance of Authorities.] - -In both these instances there can be little doubt that no one came in -any way between the child and the Creator, but, on the other hand, a -good many parents consider that there is for some years a difficulty -in the minds of children as to the intervention of human beings -between them and GOD, arising either from their habit of connecting -their prayers and religious experiences mainly with their mother or -nurse, or from a curious inability to realise the supremacy of the -Almighty. An example of this latter difficulty may be given in the -words of a little child in Yorkshire who was overheard to say to a -companion, “Don’t do that or perhaps GOD will see you, and He’ll tell -the Vicar.” - -[Sidenote: Children’s Prayers.] - -Much has been written by others about children’s prayers, but it is -impossible to ignore what is to them the most real and important part -of their religion. A lady living in Cheltenham says: “I think that -children get a belief in prayer very early. My youngest girl the -other day looked tired, so I said that she had better not come to the -evening service. ‘Oh, but I must,’ she said, ‘I want to pray for Miss -Beale.’” This was at the beginning of that well-known lady’s fatal -illness. - -[Sidenote: Implicit Faith in Prayer.] - -Another example of belief in prayer on the part of a child was -brought to the notice of the present writer by a sister of the boy -of whom the story is told. When a very little chap his brothers and -sisters were all invited to a children’s party at a neighbouring -house, but he had not been included. Much to his grief it was decided -that he had better be put to bed when the others started for the -party. When saying his prayers he earnestly asked that even yet he -might go to the party. He had hardly been tucked up in bed before -a messenger came to say that the omission of his name had been an -accident and that it was hoped he might still come. He was hurriedly -dressed, and in a few minutes had joined the others in their -festivity. The impression made upon the boy’s mind was never erased. -From that day forward he never failed to pray about every smallest -event. If he went to a shop to buy a knife he would pray to be guided -in his choice. If he went out to dinner he would silently pray as he -took off his coat in the hall that the evening might be enjoyable. -Nothing ever again shook him in his belief in the power of prayer. - -[Sidenote: Children’s Quaint Petitions.] - -Some of the original petitions in children’s prayers are often -exceedingly quaint, but they go to prove their belief in their words -being heard, and it would be cruel to laugh at them or snub the -expression of their desires. Some friends of the writer when they -were little used to be very fond of interpolating their special -wishes into their prayers. One of them when a tiny girl kneeling -at her mother’s side after praying for her father and mother and -brothers and sisters, said, “And please GOD make mother less strict.” - -Another child in the same family had been shown a coloured picture of -Noah’s sacrifice and the rainbow, which impressed her so much that -she added to her evening prayers, “And oh! GOD, please show me a -rainbow very soon!” - -From the same source comes a charming story of a small boy who had -taken a dislike to a cousin of his own age called Malcolm. It so -happened that each of them had a baby brother, and the little boy -in question broke off in the middle of his prayers one evening to -ejaculate, “Please GOD make me and my baby brother stronger and -stronger, and Malcolm and his little brother weaker and weaker, so -that when we fight we may conquer!” - -[Sidenote: Children’s Churchgoing.] - -[Sidenote: Danger of Too Much.] - -The next point to be noticed in dealing with the religion of children -is the vexed question as to the wisdom of enforcing attendance at -public worship. There can be no doubt at all that, if overdone, -compulsory churchgoing may lead to disastrous results. A man to -whom frequent attendance at services has all his life been irksome, -looks back to his childhood when he was expected to be present at -Sunday services, week-day services, Sunday School, choir practices, -missionary and other meetings, until he became weary of the very -name of such things. Rather nervous of blame, he never ventured to -express a wish to absent himself, and to those early days and their -discipline he ascribes his present reluctance. - -[Sidenote: Danger of Too Little.] - -On the other hand, it is no doubt true that it is dangerous to use no -compulsion, and to allow the formation of a habit of staying away -from church on the smallest excuse. The real difficulty is to steer -a course between making Sunday the dull, cold, miserable day that it -too frequently became in the earlier part of the last century and -allowing it to be as secular as it so often is at present. - -A lady who has been specially successful in bringing up her children -to love Sunday and its observances, says, “I make a point of extra -nice clothes and nice food on Sundays (it sounds horribly material!) -but I want to make _everything_ connected with goodness and religion -attractive, and, however much we may wish they were not so, our souls -and bodies affect each other in an extraordinary way. My youngest -child of five and a half, having begun Churchgoing regularly six -months ago, begs to stay on through the whole service, only saying -at the end, ‘What a lot of kneeling! But I like it; can I stay -again?’ Of course, there were two reasons for his wish: his love of -being near me, and the music which he also loves.” - -[Sidenote: A Service Held by Children.] - -Another instance may be quoted here, taken, as was the last, from -the family of lay people. Here again everything was done to make -Sundays bright and happy and to bring up the children to consider -Churchgoing a treat. So fond did they become of the services that -the two youngest—a girl of seven and a boy of five—were accustomed -to hold a special service of their own when with their mother in -the drawing-room after tea on Sundays. Their mother describes these -functions as follows, and, though they may seem to some people to -have a spice of “play acting,” yet the children were extremely in -earnest in all they did. Here is her account: “They used to put -on pinafores, the opening to come in front, and wore sashes for -stoles. My duty was to sit at the piano as organist. I had to play -a voluntary as they came in. They chose the hymns, and each chose a -chapter in the Bible to read. They stood on a chair to read their -chapters. One day I remember that the little boy, who could not yet -read very fluently, chose the one in St. Luke with seventy-two verses -and went straight on with it to the end! They took it in turns to -preach, again standing on the chair. The elder child always wrote -her sermon, but the little boy’s was extempore. After the sermon -the missionary box was handed round and we each put something in. -The service ended by their kneeling down side by side and singing -‘Jesu, tender Shepherd, hear me.’ One evening the younger child stood -up on his chair to preach, and began to get redder and redder and -looked very much worried, but I did not dare to move from my seat as -organist. At last his sister whispered, ‘What’s the matter, darling?’ -on which he said, ‘Every word of the sermon has gone out of my head.’ -So she promptly stood on her chair and said, ‘The congregation will -excuse the sermon this evening. Hymn No. 348.’ I have come across one -of the little girl’s written sermons, and give it here:— - -“‘LITTLE CHILDREN LOVE ONE ANOTHER.’ - -[Sidenote: A Child’s Sermon.] - -“‘You love your brother and sister very much indeed though you do -fight with them. Yes, that noutty, noutty Sayten gets inside us, and -then we can’t fight without Jesus’ help. Yes, if we ask Him to help -us I know He will. He is so kind. He will do almost anything you ask -Him to do for you, if it is not wrong. Yes, we all go wrong sometimes -and feel very cross with ourselfs. Little children sometimes think -that all big people are very good indeed, but they all go wrong, too, -as well as you or I might, but GOD knows all our ways and what we do -and sees and hears what we say. Oh! then, little children, love one -another, and so we must love Him.’” - -[Sidenote: Simplicity in Speaking to Children.] - -As to the number and kind of services to which children should be -taken it is impossible to lay down a general rule. Where “Children’s -Services” are held by a man who has the gift of attracting and -interesting children, the difficulty is partially solved. But these -are not much use when they are conducted by persons who cannot -sufficiently simplify their language, or by those who are so far out -of sympathy with their audience as to appear to be condescending or -in the smallest degree pompous—characteristics which are readily -observed and resented by all children. - -But probably many people will agree that “Children’s Services” alone -cannot supply all that is required, in so far as they do not accustom -children to the ordinary Church services, as to which it is not too -much to say that a certain amount of familiarity breeds affection -rather than contempt. - -[Sidenote: Differences in Children’s Temperament.] - -But in considering the advisability of taking little children to -Church, due regard must be had to the individual child. As has -been said, it is absolutely impossible to lay down a general rule. -Even the members of the same family are frequently so different in -disposition as to make it unwise to treat them all alike. Some may be -so sensitive to the awe-inspiring atmosphere of religious services as -to cause a fear lest their mind should become morbid on the subject. -Very probably such children would express a strong wish to attend -on every possible occasion, but their pleasure is akin to that -which is sometimes felt by people of unhealthy mind who delight in -torturing themselves by picturing nameless horrors. Other children, -and these are the most frequently found, look upon Churchgoing as an -entertainment enjoyed by grown-up people and therefore much to be -desired, though they themselves soon grow weary of the whole thing. - -[Sidenote: Two Children at Church.] - -An example of what is meant came to the notice of the writer a short -time ago when staying in the same house with two little children, -a brother and sister, who were taken to an afternoon service for -almost the first time in their lives. The boy, a year or two the -elder, was a rather nervous, highly-strung little chap, and he spent -nearly the whole time in saying in a very low voice, “O GOD, help -me! I _will_ be good!” He seemed unable to think of anything but -the fact that he was in GOD’s house, and unable to get relief from -the overpowering sensation of awe. His little sister, on the other -hand—a fat, merry, matter-of-fact child—evidently considered the -whole thing to be a kind of social function interfered with by most -unnecessary restrictions. She turned herself about from side to side -and nodded and smiled at her numerous acquaintances, paying especial -attention to the seats occupied by the servants from the house where -she was staying. After a time she yawned audibly and gave obvious -signs of getting bored, finally nestling against her mother’s side -and falling sound asleep. It is obvious to everyone that two children -such as these would need very different treatment in the matter of -Churchgoing and religious education generally. - -[Sidenote: Children’s Unintentional Irreverence.] - -Such a child as the little girl described above may be said to -possess the normal feelings of her age. Most very young children are -entirely unable to grasp the greatness of GOD and the seriousness -of religion. If they appear to older people to be irreverent, it -must not be counted to them for a sin. It is simply caused by the -limitations of their understanding. Thus, a small child was heard -to call out during the baptism of a baby, “Why _doesn’t_ he use a -sponge?” No irreverence was meant, but the remark showed that the -child’s mind was further developed in practical than in spiritual -matters. So, again, the absurd questions so often put by little -children when told that GOD is everywhere. It is very common for them -at once to suggest all kinds of ridiculous places without meaning in -any way to be irreverent. - -[Sidenote: Great Patience Necessary.] - -Such things of course add to the difficulties of teaching religion to -those who are very young, but it is certain that great patience and -tenderness is necessary for those who attempt the task. Forgetfulness -of the point of view of the child often leads to expressions of -horror and even of anger at apparently profane remarks, but such -expressions are unjust and may not seldom give the child a permanent -dislike to what ought to be the happiest of all its lessons. - -[Sidenote: Little Children have Long Ears.] - -One other caution may be given here. It is a fatal mistake for those -who are bringing up little children to speak in their presence of -religious matters in a way which they do not desire the children to -absorb and do not fancy that they understand. A child may be building -a house of bricks in a far corner of the room and yet be listening -with all its ears to the talk going on between its elders. A very -little boy was once taken to Church when a sermon was preached -about the Will of GOD. No one thought it possible that he understood -a word of it, but at tea that afternoon he was, being slightly out -of sorts, allowed no jam, on which he promptly said, “Well, if it’s -GOD’s Will that I should have nothing but bread and butter, it’s no -good fighting against it!”—a practical and excellent comment upon the -morning’s sermon. - - * * * * * - -Lest anything that has been written in this chapter should seem to be -discouraging as to the religious training of children, two things may -be set down here as full of hope. - -[Sidenote: Influence of Women.] - -The first may be disposed of in a few words. There is little doubt -that women are naturally more religious than men, or at least that -they more easily give expression to their feelings and beliefs. What -a great matter it is, then, that the earliest training of children -is in the hands of women! It is quite possible that the reason for -the greater religious expression on the part of women lies to some -extent in the fact that girls remain so much longer under the direct -influence of their mother. But that is by the way; what is important -is that there are multitudes of truly religious women who may best of -all be trusted to impart their own faith to little children. - -[Sidenote: Children’s Delight in the Unseen.] - -The other matter for hopefulness lies in the fact that the very -things that often present difficulties to grown-up people are -specially attractive to children. Anything connected with the unseen -world, anything quite impossible according to the laws of nature as -we know them, interests and takes hold of children at once. This is -plain from the often-repeated request, “Do tell us a fairy story.” - -[Sidenote: Impression made by Beauties of Nature.] - -When to this is added the impression made on a child’s mind by the -vision of a gorgeous sunset, or of a great wide-spreading view, there -seems to be a good deal upon which it is possible to work. A man -friend of the writer has told him that his first real impressions -of the greatness and goodness of GOD came to him as a child when -contemplating beautiful scenery; and an aunt of the late Bishop -Walsham How used to say that when he was a very little boy, and was -looking from a window at the sunset, he was heard to say, “Oh! GOD!” - -[Sidenote: The Higher Criticism.] - -How easy it would be to kill these beginnings of faith! How easy for -a teacher who had studied the Higher Criticism to wither the growth -of a belief in the unseen and incomprehensible! Is it worth while to -risk this by scrupulously teaching that Elijah’s chariot of fire -and Jonah’s whale had better be taken as allegories? A teacher with -great experience of little children has said, and said most truly, -“Religion attracts greatly because of the mystery which surrounds the -unseen. Besides this, the beauty and the wonderful fitness of all -things in nature strengthen more than anything a child’s belief in a -Divine Creator.” - - * * * * * - -Perhaps, as one last word, it may be said that that mother will -succeed best in the religious training of her children who feels that -it is the chief and highest work she has to do. - - - - - CHAPTER V - - THE CHILD—ITS IMITATION - - -[Sidenote: Selection of those about the Path of a Child.] - -No one who has to do with children can fail to be struck by their -almost universal habit of imitation. This begins at a very early age, -and, while some imitative expressions and gestures are partly the -result of heredity, others are obviously copied from the persons with -whom the child is most familiar. This makes it, of course, extremely -important that the servants and even the friends who are brought -most closely into contact with a child should be selected with the -greatest care. - -[Sidenote: Meals in the Servants’ Hall.] - -How often a bad accent or “twang” is picked up as soon as a -child begins to speak, and with what difficulty it is eradicated -afterwards! The habit, too, which obtains with some parents (who do -not want to be bothered with their children) of letting them have -their meals with the servants is greatly to be deprecated. It saves -the trouble of a special nursery dinner, and it often happens that -the servants in a house are fonder of the company of the children -than are their parents, but for all that the tendency to imitate is -so strong that habits are pretty sure to be learnt which it will be -very troublesome to get rid of afterwards. Here is an example: - -A little girl, whom circumstances had relegated to the entire charge -of servants, was taken out to a children’s tea-party, when she was -scarcely four years old. It was a splendid tea, and she was a fine -healthy little girl with an equally fine healthy appetite. Bread and -butter, cake, jam sandwiches, and buns all disappeared with equal -ease, and there came a time when the rest had finished and she had -just one mouthful left.... There was a slight pause in the general -chatter, and at that unlucky moment the little girl in question gave -an unmistakable hiccough. Many of the children there would have -blushed with distress at such an incident, but this little maiden, -accustomed to the manners of the servants’ hall, looked round with an -ingratiating smile and merely remarked—“Copplyments!” - -[Sidenote: Swear Words.] - -Everyone has heard of children who have occasionally used “swear -words” in imitation of their elders, and some may possibly have heard -the true story of a little girl who was given a cup of tea to hand to -a visitor. As she crossed the short space with careful footsteps and -eyes fixed anxiously on her burden she was heard to mutter to herself -“By George, baby, you must be ’teady!” - -Examples such as these show the readiness with which children pick -up the phraseology of their seniors, and it is a mistake to suppose -that, because a child does not exactly understand what is said, -therefore no impression is made upon its mind. - -[Sidenote: Desire to be Like Father.] - -The greater the admiration of a child for an older person the greater -the desire to imitate it. A small boy usually considers his father -the most wonderful man he knows, and consequently spends a good deal -of time and effort in trying to be like him. A little chap of four -or five years old will throw himself into a chair and cross his legs -in absurd imitation of his father, and nothing seems too small for -children to notice and copy. The manner of carrying a stick, the -attitude of standing on the hearthrug, the little trick of clearing -the throat, will all be reproduced to the life, and it has sometimes -been a matter of surprise to an onlooker that the mimicry of some -small but absurd trick has not been the means of breaking the older -person of the habit. - -An excellent example of the desire of a little boy to become like his -father was brought to the writer’s notice a year or two ago. A small -girl, the daughter of very “horsey” parents, was trying to entertain -a boy cousin a little younger than herself. After taking him into -the stables and showing him the horses, she turned to him and said, -“I daresay, if you are _very_ good, you might be a groom some day.” -To which came the reply, “No, I shan’t! When I grows up I shall be -exactly like father—skin showing through my hair and all!” - -[Sidenote: Individuality to be Encouraged.] - -There will often be a great desire on the part of one parent that -a child shall imitate and resemble the other. If this natural wish -be carried too far there is a danger lest the individuality of the -child be interfered with. It must never be forgotten that no two -people can be or were meant to be exactly alike, and that in every -child that is born there are seeds of good qualities and faculties -belonging specially to that child. A slavish copy of anyone else, -however worthy, will assuredly tend to choke the growth of these. -It would be impossible to compute how many artists with the seeds -of greatness within them have been condemned to mediocrity by a -life-long endeavour to reproduce the master from whom they have -learned, instead of making an endeavour to work out their own -salvation. - -[Sidenote: An Affected Child.] - -So it is with children. Nothing is more sad than to see a child, at -an age when his or her natural freshness and simplicity should be -most clearly in evidence, already cramped and artificial through -an effort to copy some older person. A gentleman once took shelter -in a house during a heavy storm. The master and mistress were both -out, but their little daughter was summoned from her A B C to talk -to the unexpected guest. He told her he was sorry to have brought -her downstairs, to which came the simpering reply, “Oh! pray don’t -mention it!” _Imitatio ad nauseam!_ - -[Sidenote: Dressing Up.] - -[Sidenote: Dumb Crambo.] - -One way in which the love of imitation comes out is in the delight -all children take in “dressing up,” and in any form of charades -or dumb crambo. This is probably a very useful way of developing -originality and of setting children’s wits to work. Where it is not -coupled with the putting on of gorgeous raiment, and is not merely -an excuse for “showing off,” the very variety of character assumed -ensures its being a wholesome exercise. Dumb crambo is especially -helpful, for in that pastime there is practically no opportunity -for self-glorification, while it tends directly to stimulate the -children’s ingenuity and to kill their self-consciousness. - -[Sidenote: Tricks of Posturing.] - -All observers of child life have noticed in some little ones an -unhealthy trick of making faces, posturing, or otherwise trying to -attract attention. This is unnatural and should be carefully watched -and eradicated. But it should be remembered that in most cases of -that kind the _cause_ is physical—generally a weakness in the nervous -system—and the child must be dealt with most tenderly though firmly. - -On the other hand, many people can recall instances where what may -be described as a true theatrical tendency has shown itself in a -perfectly healthy and charming manner in very young children. No -better example of this can be found than is contained in a little -paper lying under the writer’s hand. To transpose it would be to -spoil the vividness of the story, so it is given here just in its -original form. - -[Sidenote: Tea at the Vicarage.] - -“I was more or less of a newcomer in our village when I one day -received a pressing invitation to tea at the Vicarage. When I arrived -I found my hostess, a charming white-haired and white-shawled old -lady, in her usual arm-chair by the drawing-room fire, and, seeing -the chair on the other side of the hearth empty, I dropped into it -with a delicious feeling of comfort after my walk through the chill -and gloom of a foggy evening. I had not been many minutes installed -when tea was brought in, and the hot cakes which my soul loved were -deposited on the little brass stand inside the fender at my feet. - -“Following fast on the arrival of the tea came the two daughters of -the house, who had been busy in various parts of the parish, and -were eager to compare notes and exchange the gossip they had gleaned -between the gulps of hot tea with which they refreshed the inner -woman. - -“Meantime, I confess to wondering why I had been honoured with an -invitation which was almost as pressing as a three-line whip. My -curiosity was quickened by the fact that no sooner had we finished -our meal than the tea-table was carried off to a distant part of -the room, and a smile and look of enquiry went round, followed by a -nod on the part of my hostess, the signal for one of the daughters -to run away for a minute or two from the room. There was just that -little silence which precedes an ‘event,’ and then she returned to be -greeted by ‘Well?’ ‘All right,’ she replied, and silence fell on us -again, to be broken almost immediately by a tap at the door, a tap -that would never have been heard had it not been for our stillness -of expectation. The elder and more impetuous of the daughters made a -rush from her chair but was called back, and then in a moment I knew -why I had been asked. From behind the high screen just inside the -door there peeped a baby face! And such a baby face! Roguishness, -bashfulness, mirth, and indecision were mingled in the little -dimpling face and twinkling blue eyes. - -[Sidenote: The Entry of Baby.] - -“There was a shake of golden curls—no, not quite curls, and yet -nothing else expresses the tangle of light that formed a background -to that beauty of two summers—and then the vision disappeared. -Shyness had won a momentary victory, but was routed on a friendly -hand being held out round the screen to encourage the merry mischief -that was never far to seek in her to assert itself. - -“A little shriek of pleasure, and she had run into the middle of the -room towards granny’s chair, but stopped short just where the circle -of light from a reading lamp fell upon her. I shall not soon forget -the picture. I had never seen her before, and, coming upon me in this -unexpected way with her brightness and her beauty and her marvellous -expression, she made an impression out of all proportion to her years. - -“It was, I fear, the sight of me that caused her to stop so suddenly -in her run to the loving arms that were stretched out for her. - -“Neither she nor I had been prepared for the sight of the other, and -a strange and bearded man may well alarm a little lady of two. - -[Sidenote: A Baby Actress.] - -“There _was_, no doubt, at first a distinct look of alarm, but she -rose to the occasion. It might no doubt be possible to overawe this -new and ferocious-looking being: at all events it would be well to -try, or he might perhaps be open to a joke and be propitiated in that -way! Some such thoughts were evidently in her mind, for first of all -she stared at me with a frown, then made a deliciously dignified bow -towards me, and then, almost before the bow was finished, stooped -down, and drew her frock round her feet, saying, ‘Baby dot no legs!’ -going off into a fit of decidedly forced laughter by way of carrying -off her joke, should I prove too dense to see it. - -“Well, it served her purpose: it was a kind of introduction, and it -enabled her to get over the awkward moments of her first shyness -and to reach the haven of granny’s chair. We were soon firm friends -after that. I happened to have a watch ‘like daddy’s,’ which was an -assurance of my respectability, and I openly and fervently admired -a certain pair of little red shoes, and what lady can resist a -well-timed compliment on her turn-out? - -“After a short time spent in such polite conversation, it suddenly -occurred to the little fairy that she was not doing her proper share -towards entertaining the company. A little wriggle freed her from -any restraining hands or inconvenient people, and she ran to the far -end of the room. From this vantage ground she ran forward from time -to time into the better-lit part at our end with all the anxiety -to be well received of a born actress. The first ‘act’ consisted -in her picking up her tiny skirts and walking on her toes, saying -‘Muddy, muddy! Baby’s feet wet!’ Then with a shriek of delight she -rushed off, to come back the next minute waving her hands over her -head and gazing solemnly upwards, saying, ‘Wind b’owing! Clouds and -wind! Baby’s f’ightened!’ But this only lasted for a minute before -she dashed off and returned declaring that she was another child, a -little girl she had not seen more than once or twice, but whom she -evidently desired to imitate. - -“It is impossible to describe the effect produced upon me by this -extraordinary performance by so young a child. Her rapid change of -mood bewildered me: the mischievous laughter of one moment was so -quickly followed by a look of wonder or terror or sadness, to be -succeeded in its turn by a sudden scream of delight, that I felt as -if I were watching something not altogether canny. It was really -almost a relief when at last she buried her face in a friendly lap -and cried for bed and ‘nanna.’ - -[Sidenote: Baby’s Exit.] - -“Even then the rapid change of mood was not all over, for in the -midst of her tears she was gathered into nurse’s comfortable arms, -and as she left the room a decidedly pert little voice was heard to -say, ‘Baby _did_ c’y!’ - -“So I found out why my friends at the Vicarage, who knew my weakness -for children, had asked me to tea, but I have never been able to -analyse the exact impression left on my mind beyond that of a lovely -and excited baby.” - - - - - CHAPTER VI - - THE CHILD—ITS PLEASURES - - -[Sidenote: Love and Happiness.] - -What a happiness it is that in the memories of most people the joys -of childhood so far exceed its griefs. Two of the most powerful -agents for good in the life of a child are love and happiness, and it -may be confidently assumed that where there is an abundance of the -former the existence of the latter is assured. - -It may happily be asserted that it has been the sad lot of few of -those who read these lines to have known an unloved childhood. To -this may be ascribed the happy recollections of most who look back -upon their earliest years. - -But in this chapter some attempt will be made to examine certain -special pleasures rather than to generalise as to the atmosphere of -happiness in which alone a child will really thrive. - -[Sidenote: No Stereotyped Rule.] - -While happiness is necessary for all children, those who have most -closely studied child life will agree that the old saying “_Quot -homines tot sententiæ_” may well be applied to the great variety of -ways in which this happiness is sought. It is impossible to treat all -children alike, or to lay down any general rule. A little girl will -find her chief delight in dogs and horses, while her brother steals -away to play with dolls. Two small boys will go out into the garden, -and, while one is keen to learn any sort of manly game, the other -stands about cold and listless, bored to death by the mere sight of -bat or ball. - -[Sidenote: Failure of Compulsory Pleasures.] - -Nothing is less likely to produce happiness than to attempt to -_force_ little children to amuse themselves in any set way. How many -people have been disappointed by their efforts in this direction! -A “recreation” ground has perhaps been provided by some charitable -person at great expense. Ten to one it will be deserted by the little -ones for whom it was primarily intended and given over to the tender -mercies of lads and lasses in their “teens.” The _small_ children -find nothing left to their imagination, and infinitely prefer some -dirty, and, to adult eyes, disadvantageous corner. - -There was just such a case in a large northern town. The recreation -ground was opened with pomp, and was elaborately fitted with swings, -parallel bars, etc. For a week or two a few children made efforts to -amuse themselves there, but it was quickly deserted. In the immediate -neighbourhood were sundry patches of ground where no houses had as -yet been built, and on which lay fascinating heaps of brick bats -and refuse. Needless to say these offered far greater attractions -than the new and orderly playground. Small children do not care to -play “to order.” They have enough of that during school hours. When -they get a bit older they will be willing enough to join in games on -specified grounds and governed by codes of rules, but while they are -little they like to find their own playgrounds and invent their own -games. - -[Sidenote: A Game in a Stackyard.] - -Memory brings a vision of two children, one a little girl with soft -dark hair and big black eyes, who is dressed in a blue and white -cotton frock, and a big white straw hat; the other a sturdy, but -commonplace boy, in grey knickerbockers, a holland blouse, with a -broad black leather belt, and a flannel cap. They are about the -same age, neither of them being yet seven, and they are playing in -a stack-yard. It is not the stacks that are the attraction, for -just now there are none there, but for all that it is a glorious -playground. In the first place, it is well out of the way of the -grown-up people, and in the next place, though there are no stacks, -there are the stone supports on which they once stood. What excellent -tables they make, these old grey upright blocks, of which the flat -round tops project like real tables, and are practically useful in -preventing rats and mice from climbing up. But there is something -else which has drawn the children to that spot, for all about in the -yard there is to be found a tall plant with a quantity of red seed, -which must, I fancy, be some kind of sorrel. It is delicious to draw -your hand up the stalk and bring it away full of this seed, and that -is what these children are busy doing. - -Next they put it in a heap on a slate which they have discovered, and -then search for pieces of brick and flat stone, which are piled on -the top. In this way a certain quantity of the seed is compressed, -and called a cheese, which is deposited with ceremony upon one of the -stone tables. - -The little girl has been the leader throughout; she has decided which -plants were ripe enough to be stripped, how much seed was necessary -to form a cheese, and upon which of the stones the feast should be -spread. The boy has been her obedient servant, a position of things -which reaches its climax when the little lady suddenly states that -she doesn’t like cheese, and orders him to eat it all up! - -This is a vision that has come from time to time for more than forty -years, and few playgrounds have seemed so attractive. - -[Sidenote: The Old Tree in the Garden.] - -Then there is the old tree of the garden. Who does not love the -memory of the games played beneath it, and the seats it afforded -among its boughs? Maybe it was a mulberry, or merely an ancient -laurel. Playgrounds may be found in and under both. In another case -it was a mighty yew, noted in the annals of the county. A few feet up -upon its massive stem, the children had special seats, and woe betide -intruders caught trespassing! Beneath it was a long bench, of which -the supports were obviously at one time a part of one of the great -boughs, while the seat had in the distant ages been green. - -[Sidenote: Playing at Shop.] - -What feasts were spread upon this seat—what shops were kept with this -for the counter! There is a dust that forms beneath old yews, and -consists of the dead and crumbled petals. What splendid stuff it is -to play with! It can be sold as snuff, or almost anything, and it -pours out of a teapot as easily as water. But there is no need to say -more; everyone can remember the invented games, and the best-loved -haunts of their childhood. - -[Sidenote: A Whitby Playground.] - -One more playground of a thoroughly unconventional character may well -be mentioned here. It is just where the base of one of the Whitby -piers starts from the end of a narrow street or passage. The huge -stones worn and rounded at their edge make a couple of steps down to -the water’s edge, but steps so big that, if you are still a small -boy, they compel you to sit down and slide and scramble, holding on -as best you may, till you have reached the bottom. It is great fun -to watch the children descending by their various methods. Big boys -(and girls too) manage it easily, laughing and shouting as they bump -their way down. But with the little ones it is different. A girl -arrives, with a baby wrapped up in a shawl; this requires management: -baby is set down on the top step, and told to stay quite still, then -away slides the small nurse on to the intermediate resting-place some -three or four feet below; then a pair of arms are stretched up, and -baby struggles into them with a chuckle of satisfaction, and is once -more deposited, while the elder sister springs down on to the soft -wet sand, and next minute baby, too, is safe in the desired corner. -This is what it practically is, this desirable playground, just a -corner in the harbour laid bare at low tide, and having the pier on -its one side, and the walls of the old town on the other. How lovely -those old walls were! Looking right up one sees the ends projecting -above the gables of red-tiled roofs, while below are the grey -walls—no, not grey, though many seem so at first sight, but yellow, -blue, red, green—every colour, in fact, that stones will take, when -long exposed to sea and weather. Then at the bottom just above the -sand runs a long wide course of stones that are covered by every -tide, and have in consequence become clothed with a fringe of brown -and green and golden seaweed. - -There are small windows here and there, high up in the walls, and -now and again a sheet or a towel is hung out to dry, a picturesque -object enough against a mass of building; and from above the wall of -a yard a number of poles, leaning in the corner, project and break -the monotony of the surface. - -It lies right inside the harbour, and every time the tide goes down -it leaves a certain quantity of semi-decomposed objects to scent the -atmosphere of this special spot. - -Then again, what is far worse, there are small square openings here -and there in the wall and from these there trickle continuously the -contents of many washtubs and slop-pails. Yet here it is that a -group of children come whenever the tide allows, to play their quiet -games—quiet, for they never run about or make much noise, but seem -happiest crawling on hands and knees, or squatting in a circle and -playing with the garbage and refuse which has stranded there. - -[Sidenote: Treasure Trove.] - -This is doubtless the attraction; the beauties of the scene evidently -never occur to them at all, the evil smells affect them not. But -there are new playthings there continually. As the water recedes -fresh treasures day by day are left upon the shiny floor—half sand, -half mud—of their playground. What opportunities for their invention -and imagination! Yesterday there were two small dead crabs, a broken -saucer, and an empty sardine box; to-day’s chief items are the wicker -end of a worn-out lobster-pot, a bit of rope, and a whole quantity -of mussel shells which have been thrown away after the baiting of a -long line. What endless games are played with these materials! First -of all the shells are pushed into the sand squares, making little -gardens, which are duly furnished with bits of green seaweed. To -them comes a small market woman carrying the fragment of wicker-work -in which she places the green stuff she purchases and pays for with -pebbles, the bit of rope being used to sling the laden basket on her -bent back, as she walks off to market under the heavy load. - -[Sidenote: Another Game of Shop.] - -Then the shells are hurriedly gathered up, and baby is established -with her back against the wall, and in front of her the total -accumulation of odds and ends is arranged in lots, each one marked -off by a line drawn in the sand, and then the children come to buy -at baby’s shop—a matter of huge delight to the shopkeeper, who -distributes her goods rashly and impulsively, and is evidently bored -at being made to receive payment! - -But an end comes at last: a voice is heard shouting, baby is lifted -up on to the first step again, and all the little bare legs and -ruddy feet go scampering off to tea! - -[Sidenote: Playing at Being Grown Up.] - -It would be easy enough to give many more examples than these two or -three, but they will be sufficient to illustrate the preference of -little children of all and every class for unconventional playgrounds -and games proceeding from their own vivid imaginations. Imagination -supplies the keynote to so many of the pleasures of children. How -greatly, for instance, they delight in playing at being grown up! -Nothing gives them keener pleasure than being treated like their -elders. It is partly the importance of it, but largely also the -exercise of imagination and an appreciation (duly suppressed) of the -fun of the situation. - -A few years ago it fell to the lot of the writer to witness the joys -of two very small people who came by themselves (oh! the importance -of it) upon a regular visit. - -[Sidenote: A Visit from Two Children.] - -They were some six and seven years old, and a most reserved and -old-fashioned little couple in their ways. The elder, Reggie, was -singularly quiet and thoughtful. His face, of considerable beauty -of feature, with large grey eyes, wore ordinarily an expression of -solemnity, if not of melancholy, and it required an intimacy of some -considerable standing to obtain more than monosyllabic replies in his -high but very gentle voice. - -His companion was a little sister properly called Marjorie, but who -had hardly yet outgrown “Baby.” Such an upright, delicate dimpled, -flower of a child, with the same big eyes and curling lashes as her -brother, but with a reserve far more easily overcome, and a much -greater readiness to break into smiles or even indulge in romps. She -completely “mothered” Reggie, and her anxiety that he should do the -right thing, and her little quick orders to him, were most amusing. - -Their hostess met them a few days before their visit, and their -excitement about it all was intense. - -“What luggage shall you bring?” - -“Oh! just a hat-box or two!” - -“It’s all arranged about our visit to you. I do so love arranging -things. Couldn’t we have some more arrangements?” - -This, of course, Baby. So every conceivable thing was “arranged,” and -every minute of the two days planned out. Their hostess told them she -should expect them to bring lots of things in their luggage. - -“Oh!” said Baby, “I shall bring my tea-gown. And what shall _you_ -wear?” - -The day arrived, and they were met at the station. - -“Well, what luggage have you brought?” - -“Twelve hat-boxes,” promptly replied Reggie with a flicker of humour -just lighting up his face. One turned up, and was found to contain -the entire clothing, etc., of the pair. This vast piece of luggage -was put in Baby’s room, and then came the request that they might be -allowed to unpack for themselves. Reggie was quickly hurried into his -own room with his tiny pile of belongings, and then Baby began to -unpack hers. She was shown a large wardrobe, as well as a good-sized -chest of drawers, and evidently felt that it would be _infra dig._ -not to use them both, so, after putting one wee garment in one drawer -and one in another till each held something, she gravely took the -little bag which held her shoes and hung it up in solitary grandeur -in the wardrobe! - -The extreme politeness and consideration of these little visitors -were continually coming out. Baby was asked whether she would like a -room to herself or a sofa in her hostess’s room. - -“You see, Aunt E., I don’t know what to say,” was the reply. On being -pressed further, she said, “Well, I was thinking about the beds! It -seems a good deal of trouble just for us. You see, they are big beds.” - -Reggie, too, was just as anxious to consider others. “If it isn’t too -much trouble,” he said, on being asked whether something should be -brought him. “I’m afraid when we are gone you will say ‘bother those -troublesome children’!” - -He was just as attentive, too, to his sister, buttoning her little -petticoat for her and anything she couldn’t manage for herself. - -The whole of the proceedings described so far were practically part -of a charade or play. The children were for these two days grown-up -people, and being endowed with an extra allowance of imagination, -played their part in every detail. - -Not that they could keep it up quite all the time! There were games -at hide-and-seek that entirely dispelled illusion for a while. Then -there were visits to the poultry yard and animals, when it was -impossible to put such restraint upon one’s feelings of surprise and -delight as to appear properly blasé and grown up. For instance, when -Baby suddenly discovered a large field-spider, there was a scream of -astonishment as she exclaimed, “Oh, Aunt E., here’s a thing with a -lot of legs and a dot in the miggle!” And again, in the poultry yard, -it was scarcely in keeping with the part of a lady who had arrived at -years of discretion to say, “How I should like to lay in those nice -lickle nests!” - -[Sidenote: The Children Leave.] - -But on the whole these two little people carried out their intention -of paying a real grown-up visit with perfect success up to the -very moment when they were once more in the train by themselves on -their return journey of some six miles, each one grasping firmly -their half-ticket, and the last glimpse we had was of Reggie gravely -lifting his little straw hat, as the train steamed out of the -station. There is all the difference in the world between this sort -of playing at being grown up, and the assumption of airs and graces -which some children display. The one is real pleasure, the other the -merest mockery. Children who are no sooner out of the nursery than -they ape their elders in an insatiable desire for a succession of -smart clothes and evening parties are seldom happy children. Those -who care for their little ones and want to fill their early years -with real pleasures will take care to avoid the causes which produce -children such as these. - -It may perhaps be said that the main factors are two. - -[Sidenote: Modern Defiance of Authority.] - -If children be allowed to absorb the spirit that is pervading the -world at the present day—the spirit of revolt against all authority, -the notion, that is, that everyone is to do exactly as he or she -chooses—that will of itself bring about a state of mind which is -destructive of real happiness. Notions such as these are quickly -picked up, and parents who themselves set all rules and authority at -defiance cannot expect their children to submit to control. - -[Sidenote: Self-Conscious Jealous Children.] - -Then there is a second cause which is too often at work, and which -does a great deal towards turning some children into disagreeable -and discontented young folk. When people are continually trying to -emulate if not excel their neighbours in appearance and in the -entertainments they provide, children are quick enough to take their -cue from what they see and overhear, with the result that they are -miserable if they think their frocks are less fashionable than their -neighbours’, and are rude and discontented if at one party they do -not get as handsome presents as at some other. - -This is all wrong, and distinctly diminishes the pleasure that these -children might otherwise enjoy. - -[Sidenote: Desirability of Simpler Children’s Parties.] - -It would without doubt add enormously to the real happiness of -children if a league could be formed of all parents who should be -bound to limit children’s parties within certain specified bounds of -simplicity and within certain reasonably early hours. - -But this is by the way. It is pleasanter to turn for another minute -or two to speak of the pleasures childlike children find in the -simple joys that lie around their path. - -[Sidenote: Natural Pleasures the Most Enjoyed.] - -There can be no doubt that the more natural the employment or -amusement the greater the pleasure. A little girl is given a tiny -dustpan and allowed to sweep the carpet, or she has a drawer full of -odds and ends and is asked to sort and arrange them. She will spend -an entire morning in such an occupation with the keenest pleasure, -and if anyone who has watched her should also see her when dressed up -at some “smart” party that same evening there would be no doubt in -the mind of the onlooker as to which brought most real happiness to -the child. - -[Sidenote: Story-telling.] - -One of the greatest delights that can be afforded to children must -come in for a word of mention. Who does not remember the story-teller -of his or her childhood? Perhaps it was “father,” who when he came -in at tea time would let the whole family swarm on and about his -arm-chair, and would tell another bit of the thrilling tale which -he always broke off each evening at the very most exciting point. -Or sometimes it would be one of the bigger children, gifted with an -extraordinary power of calling up robbers and demons, who enthralled -an audience by the narration of horrors which stimulated their -imagination and made them feel deliciously “creepy.” No such things -as “chestnuts” exist for children. The oftener the story has been -told the better they like it, and never hesitate to choose an old -favourite before a brand new tale. - -But this chapter is already becoming too long. It would be easy to -enumerate numberless simple amusements which bring real pleasure to -children. But the same moral can be drawn in every case. The simpler -and more natural the occupation the greater the pleasure. Do not -all children revel in playing with the earth and water that lie -about their feet? Whether they are the lucky ones who can build sand -castles and let the sea-water fill the moats, or whether they can -only play in the gutter by their door, they are ten times happier -in such pleasures as these than in any grander or more elaborate -amusements. To the recognition of this fact those who plan children’s -pleasures will owe their chief success. - - - - - CHAPTER VII - - THE CHILD—ITS PATHOS - - -Just as there is no summer without its cool grey days, so among the -sunny crowd of children about our path there is here and there a -child who seems to live beneath a shadow. - -[Sidenote: Quiet Children.] - -Just, too, as the tender colouring of the grey landscape has a -special charm which only needs the seeking, so these quiet little -ones amply repay the observation of those who do not let them steal -away and escape notice as they always wish to do. - -No one who cares for children can have failed to have come in contact -with some who are silent when their comrades shout, grave when the -rest are laughing, and look wistfully on when games are in progress. - -They are, possibly, well enough liked by the rest, but somehow they -are _different_, and because of this difference go their own way to -which the others have become accustomed. - -[Sidenote: Reasons for the Difference.] - -[Sidenote: Lonely Children.] - -There are, of course, sometimes obvious reasons. In the greater -number of cases the child’s health—or want of health—accounts for the -separateness of its life and pursuits. Sometimes, it may be feared -that harsh surroundings in its home have crushed the spirit out of -it and made it timid and suspicious. But sometimes it is a mere -question of temperament. The child has, perhaps, inherited some queer -strain of sentimental self-consciousness, or some nervous dread of -publicity, which causes it to be like the famous parrot which said -little but thought a lot—a condition of things exactly the reverse -of what may usually be found in a thoroughly healthy-minded child. -But, whatever the cause, it is for the most part true that it is -well worth while to lay siege to the affections of such a child, and -try to establish confidential relations. The result of a habit of -thoughtfulness and of a life a little lonelier than that of others -will generally tend to the laying up a store of quaint fancies and -imaginings about the objects of everyday life, as well as often -developing a sympathy which the lonely child has no wish and few -chances to exhibit. These things are well worth bringing to the light -by anyone who is sufficiently persevering to win the affection and -confidence of the little one. - -Such children are not averse to _all_ companionship, but are terribly -afraid of anyone who does not understand. They have often enough been -laughed at, and they keep their thoughts and interests carefully -hidden from all who cannot be absolutely trusted, and it is so very -few indeed whom they discover to belong to this category. Once, -however, they are perfectly sure of anyone, they will lead them to -their secret haunts in field or garden, will confide to them their -dread of certain places and people, and finally will allow their most -cherished wishes to escape them. In almost all cases the great desire -of such children is for something to love, or for somebody in whose -affections they may be first. - -[Sidenote: Early Natural Bents.] - -[Sidenote: Not a Mother Yet!] - -In this connection it is curious to notice how early the natural -bent of a child will show itself. This is especially the case with -girls whose mothering propensity comes out at a very tender age. A -wistful little maiden who always seemed to want something more than -satisfied her more boisterous companions had slid her hand into that -of a grown-up friend in whom she had learnt to confide, and who was -trying to amuse her by telling her about a litter of puppies which -had been born to a retriever called Topsy. Looking down, the lady saw -that the child’s face had grown serious even to sadness, which was -accounted for by the conversation that followed. “How old is Topsy?” -said the little girl. “I think she is four,” was the answer. At once -the child’s eyes filled with tears as she sighed, “And I am six and -I’m not a mother yet!” - -[Sidenote: A Boy’s Secrets.] - -[Sidenote: The Toad.] - -With boys it will generally be found that, if they have taken -to solitary ways, and belong to the class of children who are -pathetically different to the rest, they have some bent, some special -interest, which they keep carefully to themselves until a really -sympathetic friend wins their secret from them. Not infrequently it -is a hiding-place inside a bush or in some corner of the garden where -rubbish has been thrown and where the small boy has made himself a -“house” with pieces of an old packing case and any other oddments -that have come to hand. Sometimes it is an animal of which he has -found the home and with which he spends most of his spare time. A -toad in a hole in a wall was for a long time the secret joy of a very -small boy until his little sister confided to him that she had got a -toad in a hole close by, which on examination proved to be the same -animal which had two outlets to its abode! The boy’s secret being -thus discovered all his pleasure was gone, and he at once deserted -his pet. - -[Sidenote: The Very Dead Frogs!] - -The present writer happened once to pay a visit to some friends who -had a little son of about three or four years old. This little fellow -used often to disappear in the garden, and was evidently in enjoyment -of some secret which he was too shy to impart to anyone. After a few -days his confidence was gained, and he led off his new friend to a -spot where there was a muddy little pool about two feet in diameter. -On the edge of this were two frogs which he had found dead, and had -brought here hoping that they would revive. They had been dead for -some time and were anything but sweet, but he stroked them and looked -up in the most wistful way to see whether his pets were properly -appreciated. It was really pathetic to see his eyes fill with tears -when he was told that they were quite, _quite_ dead, and must be -buried without further delay. - -Sometimes, of course, the pathos in a child is accounted for by some -physical infirmity which separates him or her from the rest. Here is -an instance. - -[Sidenote: Children and the Painter Man.] - -A painter had one day set up his umbrella and easel close to a little -hamlet, and when school was over there was the usual rush of the -children to look at “the man” and see what he was doing. Hating -solitude and delighting in children, he faced quickly round upon his -stool and gave them a nod of welcome. “Come to see what sort of a -picture I’m making, eh?” was his greeting. “Yezzur,” was the reply in -the broad dialect of the district. “Well, now, what do you think of -it?” he asked, as he held it up for them to see. At first there is -only much drawing in of breath and many an “Oh!” as they look at what -seems to them at first sight a meaningless kaleidoscope of colours. -At last one makes out one thing and one another in the unfinished -drawing. “There’s the tree, look!” “See the blue sky!” “I can see -William Timms’s house, _I_ can!” And so on for some minutes until -almost every part of the picture had been properly identified. Just -then a shout from one or two women proclaimed the fact that those who -wanted any dinner had better make haste and get it while they had a -chance. This gave “the man” a few quiet minutes during which he ate -his own sandwiches, but before he had swallowed the last mouthful the -troop of children was back again to see all that might be seen before -the school bell rang. - -[Sidenote: Jacob.] - -It was during these last few minutes that the painter noticed a -boy whom he had not seen among the others before. He was a little -chap—not more than six or seven years old—with soft fair hair and a -pink and white complexion. Two things attracted his attention to the -boy. One was the extreme neatness and cleanness of his dress. His -clothes were not of better material than those of the other boys, -but they were so very _tidy_. His collar, too, was spotlessly white, -and his hair glossy and unruffled. The other thing about him which -seemed peculiar was the amount of deference and consideration that -was shown him by the rest. He was given a good place close behind -“the man’s” elbow, and once or twice, when there was some pushing, -one of the children called out, “Now, then, keep quiet, can’t you? -Don’t you see you’re shovin’ against Jacob Joyce?” - -Now and then, too, there would be a curious sort of appeal to the -little fellow: someone would say, “Isn’t it lovely, Jacob? There’s -red and blue and all manner of colours?” And Jacob would solemnly -answer “I likes yed!” Then a whisper would go round, “Hearken to him; -he likes red, Jacob does.” - -And all the while to the painter as he worked away there seemed -something odd about the boy, and something unusual if not uncanny in -the way in which the others treated him. - -At last the school bell rang, and all but three of the children -rushed off helter skelter to their lessons. The three who stayed -behind were a big girl of twelve who was looking after a baby sister, -and Jacob Joyce. - -The picture was nearing completion. That most absorbing half-hour -had arrived when just a little deepening of a shadow here, and the -wiping out of a curl of smoke there, made all the difference, and the -painter was wrapped up in his work, and scarcely noticed the three -children. - -[Sidenote: Jacob Sings.] - -The elder girl was busy plaiting grasses, and the baby had crawled -nearer and nearer to the easel until a paint brush suddenly shaken -out sprinkled her little face and she set up a dismal cry. In vain -the sister hushed and rocked her. Nothing seemed of any use until the -girl said, “Shall Jacob sing to baby?” Then the sobs were instantly -quieted, and from close behind him the painter heard a strangely -sweet voice begin clear and true “Once in ’oyal David’s City.” Right -through the dear old children’s hymn the singer went, and long before -the end each of the three listeners were enthralled by the melody. - -Leaning a little backwards the big grown man, whose thoughts had gone -back to the days when he, too, sang carols, stretched out a hand to -caress the little singer who edged himself along the grass till he -was able to rest his head against the painter’s knee. So they stayed -quietly for a time, a detail being now and then added to the picture, -while a little hand crept up every few minutes to touch the coat or -stroke the knee of the boy’s new-found friend. - -[Sidenote: Jacob was Blind.] - -So the other children found them when they came back from school. Now -the picture was more easily understood and far more to their liking, -but in all their anxiety to see, no one pushed in front of little -Jacob. “Bootiful picture,” he said, and all of them echoed his words. -“I can’t do a picture,” he added, and the other children said not a -word. “No,” said the painter, “but Jacob can make beautiful music,” -and stooping down he lifted the little fellow on to his knee. Then -for the first time he understood. Jacob Joyce was blind. - -[Sidenote: A Child’s Perception of Sorrow.] - -Although children frequently fail to realise the great shadows which -from time to time darken the lives of their elders, yet sometimes -a perception of a great sorrow will force its way to the mind of -a child, and nothing more pathetic can be witnessed than the dumb -perplexity with which a child faces such trouble. There is something -in it that reminds one of the wistful expression in the face of a -favourite dog when it is restlessly wandering about a house watching -the preparations for its master’s departure, or has incurred a -measure of chastisement for an offence that it does not understand. - -[Sidenote: Two Little Boys Blue.] - -Two little boys lived at a small farmhouse on the outskirts of a -Cotswold village. One evening the grey homestead with its deep -stone-slatted roof was all aglow in the sunset, the latticed -windows blazing like so many separate suns, while beneath them -chrysanthemums—yellow, red, and white—added their brilliance to the -picture. Close by an immense elm tree shone in the golden glory of -its autumn robe. Beneath it on an old dry wall the two little boys -were perched just where some of the stones had been knocked away. One -was sitting astride, the other faced the road with his two little -brown legs dangling side by side. - -The boys seemed much the same age, and to the eyes of a lady who was -passing by very much alike, but this was no doubt owing to the fact -that they were each dressed in a blue blouse and each had a little -blue flannel cap on the top of a cluster of fair curls. - -It was not long before the lady had made friends with the little -chaps, and she always kept an eye on the watch for the blue blouses -when she was walking in the fields or lanes near the farm. It was -soon obvious that one was not only decidedly the elder of the two, -but leader, protector, champion, and hero of his little brother. -The devotion of the younger child was touching. If he were asked -a question he mutely referred it to the other. If he were given -anything he never failed to see whether it would be acceptable in the -eyes of the superior being whom he worshipped. The two little boys -blue were inseparable, and were bound by the best of all ties in -which each needs something that the other has to give. - -[Sidenote: Where is Willie?] - -There came a day when the lady, who had taken the pair of them into -her affections, went away from home. She did not return for several -weeks, and when she did so she determined to walk the mile and a half -from the station to the village to enjoy the freshness of the country -air after that of a stuffy railway carriage. Her shortest way was by -a footpath which led through the fields at the back of the farmhouse. -Near the stack-yard was a bit of grass ground, once an orchard, -where a few old apple trees were still standing. Here the clothes -lines were accustomed to be stretched between two or three sloping -posts. Here she had often noticed the bit of colour against the greys -of the house and the old tree stems when the two blue blouses had -undergone the necessary wash, and were hanging out to dry.... On this -particular afternoon the lady was hurrying home, delighting in every -well-known sight and sound. She heard the geese in the yard, and saw -the smoke curling up against the great elm-tree. Then she reached -the orchard wall and looked across. The patch of blue caught her eye -at once: but there was something wrong: never before had she seen -only _one_ blouse on the line, just as she had never seen one of the -boys alone. What did it mean? In another moment she caught sight of -the younger child. “Why, where is Willie?” was the quick question. -But there was no answer. For a moment the boy looked at her with big -wondering eyes, then turned and was gone in an instant. She lost -sight of him behind the laurel bush near the farmhouse door. - -So long as she lived that lady will never forget the dumb pathos of -the child’s expression. Its explanation was one more little grave in -the children’s corner of the churchyard. - - * * * * * - -These examples that have been given are of cases where the cause of -the pathos discerned in children can be easily traced. It is not -infrequently the case that something unhappy—something appealing—is -noticed in a child, but that nothing can be discovered to account for -it. The observer feels sure that there is something wrong, but all -efforts to bring it to light or to be of any help are baffled. - -[Sidenote: The Deserted Cottage.] - -It was not so long ago that a man for whom children had a special -interest found himself compelled to pass along the same country lane -for many days in succession. At one point there stood a cottage which -presented a blank end to the road, its windows and door facing a -small garden and being in full view of passers-by for some distance. -It had at first a most melancholy appearance owing to its having been -for a long time unoccupied. The windows looked gloomy and black, the -scrap of garden was overgrown and bedraggled, the old pear tree on -the front had been blown loose and one branch hung in a dissipated -manner over the porch, while on the path lay a couple of broken stone -tiles which had fallen from the roof. - -[Sidenote: The Yellow Curtains.] - -One day, however, the passer-by noticed a great change. Evident signs -of habitation made their appearance, and signs of a most unusual kind -in a primitive country-place, for in every window in the house there -appeared bright fresh yellow muslin curtains. - -Needless to say, conjecture was rife as to the newcomers but no one -seemed to know who they were or whence they came. - -At last one day the above-mentioned pedestrian passed a child whom -he had not seen before, and by that time he knew the face of every -child who lived within a mile or two. - -She was about nine years old, and better dressed than most of the -cottage children. Her white pinafore was spotlessly clean, and of -fine material, and there was something dainty about the white linen -hat which shaded her from the June sunshine. But the most striking -things about her were her hair and her complexion. The former was of -a particularly beautiful shade of red, and fell thick and curling -beneath the white brim of her hat. The latter was pink and white, -and, though perfectly healthy, a strong contrast to the browns -and reds of the villagers’ bairns. She was pushing a perambulator -containing a thoroughly well-appointed baby, and seemed so absorbed -in the task that she gave no sort of response to the man’s greeting -as he passed by. - -[Sidenote: The Mysterious Child.] - -After this they met on most days, and more than once he saw her -entering or leaving the house with the yellow curtains. She never -seemed to speak to anybody, and never had anything to do with other -children who were playing in the lane. - -Do what he would the man could never get so much as an answering -smile from the child’s full and sensitive-looking lips. There was -a curious air of mystery about her, and a reserve and habitual -melancholy of expression that went to his heart. Added to this there -was an appearance of loneliness about her life, for no other member -of the family ever seemed to come to the door when she went or came, -and for all that could be seen she and the baby might have been -living all alone. - -To a child-lover this daily vision of an unnaturally solitary and -probably unhappy life was insupportable. He was continually on the -look out for a chance of breaking through the girl’s reserve, and -trying to brighten her life. - -At last one day it seemed as if the opportunity had come. - -[Sidenote: On the Low Stone Bridge.] - -A mile or so beyond the cottage the lane crossed a stream by a low -stone bridge. It was a cheerless spot in the dusk of evening, for -the water ran dark and stealthily between old grey willow-trees, but -here it was that he found her, by herself and leaning over the low -stone parapet. He went straight up to her and said “Good evening,” -before he noticed that she was crying quietly, as those people do -whose tears are frequent. Putting his hand over hers as it lay on -the wall he asked her what was amiss. For one second she looked up -in his face, and he made sure that he would learn her secret. The -next instant a look of terror passed over her, and she snatched her -hand away. Before he could say a word or recover from his surprise -she was gone. He saw the white flutter of her pinafore as she ran -homewards down the murky lane, and he never saw her again. By the -next evening the house was unoccupied once more, and he had nothing -but the memory of a child’s pathos which could never be explained. - - * * * * * - -[Sidenote: A Slighted Child.] - -There is just one other bit of pathos which crops up now and again in -children’s lives. It happens sometimes that their devotion to someone -who has shown them kindness or taken notice of them is accidentally -overlooked, and the consequent feeling of desertion is most pathetic. -Girls are more liable to this experience than boys, and when it is -borne in upon a small child for the first time that she is less -attractive than her fellows and must in consequence expect to receive -less notice even from those upon whom she has poured out her chief -store of affection, the suffering entailed is frequently acute. - -In selecting a teacher or companion for children it would be no bad -plan to observe those who on an occasion when many little ones are -gathered together take notice of the ugly children. They are the true -child-lovers. - -An example of the kind of pathos referred to came to the notice of -the writer some years ago at a children’s party, and he set down the -sensations of the little girl in question in some lines which she is -supposed to speak. - - - “MY BISSOP.” - - I went to the Bissop’s party - In my vi’let velveteen: - The others went last year, you know, - But I hadn’t never been. - - I was only four; and mother said - It was really _much_ too late! - But now I’m five—though all a year - Was a _’mendous_ time to wait! - - I knew the Bissop very well, - For didn’t I sit on his knee - When he came for Confummation, - And stopped at our house for tea? - - He’s a dear old man—our Bissop— - And he’ll hardly ever miss - Stroking the hair of a little girl - And giving her a kiss. - - So I _did_ look forward to going, - (And I whispered it all to my doll)— - Though Tom said he didn’t see the good - Of taking a mealy-faced Moll. - - But I didn’t know I was ugly, - And nothing about being shy, - So I couldn’t sit still with ’citement - All the whole way in the fly! - - We got there at last: there was numbers - Of boys and girls at their teas, - And oh!—in the corner—the Bissop!— - With two little girls on his knees. - - I knew they was much more pretty - Than me; but I thought perhaps - Their turn would be over bye and bye - And he’ld take _me_ up on his laps! - - So I went quite close, till Susie - Told me I mustn’t stare— - But I don’t b’lieve it mattered, - _He_ didn’t know I was there! - - Then the rest of the children got dancing, - And I was knocked down on the floor, - So I w’iggled my way to a corner, - And sat just close to the door. - - For I thought _he_’ld pass and see me, - And once he did really stand - Quite close to me—_my_ Bissop!— - And I touched his coat with my hand. - - But oh! he never noticed; - He didn’t seem to see: - And when he was kissing anyone - They was other children than me. - - I fink I _must_ be ugly. - It wasn’t the velveteen, - ’Cause when she had it on last year - Susie looked like a queen! - - Yes; I had some toys and a bootiful tea, - And my cracker had got a ring! - And I _fink_ I enjoyed the party - ’Cept p’raps for only one fing! - - And when I got home to dolly, - And she was in bed by my side, - I _twied_ to tell her about it— - But she was asleep—and I _cwied_. - - - - - CHAPTER VIII - - WAYSIDE CHILDREN - - -The study of some particular child is of great interest. If the child -be one with whom one is brought into daily contact the study may -become most exhaustive and may prove the means of imparting a new and -helpful knowledge of childhood generally. - -[Sidenote: The Study of Flowers and Children.] - -A noted botanist has devoted years to the study of the chickweed. He -has added to his own and to the general knowledge of botany a vast -store of information by his temporarily exclusive attention to this -one plant. But he would be the last to deny the charm of a stroll -through lanes or fields where multitudes of flowers claim passing -attention and admiration. To pause every few minutes to observe a -cluster of primroses, a bank of mercury, or even a pink-tipped -daisy—to halt suddenly as a whiff of sweet perfume tells us of a -hidden nest of violets—to gather two or three of the cowslips that -spangle the meadows—all this may belong to the lightest side of the -study of botany. But it has a charm that few can resist, and thus far -at least the veriest beginner can follow. - -So it is with the study of childhood. Almost everywhere we go on our -daily road of life there are children to be found, children differing -one from another as widely as the primrose from the violet, but each -one worth our notice and possessed of a special charm. - -[Sidenote: The Loss to those who Fail to Notice Children.] - -It is extraordinary to find on talking to one and another how few -people realise the pleasure that they lose by failing to observe the -little wayside children. There are many persons capable of passing -by without seeing the loveliest of wayside flowers, but there are -more who take no heed at all of our wayside children. And yet, if -the loss to the former is great, the loss to the latter is greater -far. A flower can charm the eye or delight the sense of smell: it can -interest the scientific observer who notes its construction and mode -of growth; but that is all. There is no reflected light, no joy felt -by the flower and flashed back in happy answering glance, be its eye -never so bright. For most people there is no increase of knowledge -from day to day, and certainly there is none of that increase of -understanding between observer and observed which lends such charm to -the chance meetings with the children who are about our path. - -[Sidenote: Self-important People.] - -Some people are too busy and rush along in too great a hurry. Some -people are too self-important. They are grown up, and fancy that the -fact that they are older has so greatly increased their value that -it would be lowering themselves to take notice of children. They will -assert that they cannot be bored with them. They will brush them -impatiently aside if they are too closely approached by children when -other people are present. There is a certain amount of insincerity in -all this, for when such people fancy that they are unobserved they -not infrequently yield to the natural temptation of noticing and even -playing with little children. - -[Sidenote: Keeping the Proper Balance.] - -Some people, again, fancy that to let children know that they are -observed is bad for their character, and, of course, it is possible -to make them self-conscious and conceited by taking too much notice -of them. On the other hand, there is a danger of children becoming -morbid, nervous, and secret if they find themselves ignored and -unappreciated. A child’s nature is essentially responsive. It -opens out and expands to a show of affection just as a flower to -the sunshine, and, as a bud will become withered and diseased when -continuously exposed to grey skies and rain, so the character of a -child will suffer irretrievable damage from a prolonged course of -neglect and cold looks. - -Taking it, then, for granted that nothing but good is likely to -follow from a habit of noticing the children whom we meet, it is -interesting to remember how greatly our days have been brightened and -our own enjoyment increased by this very thing. - -[Sidenote: The Children Under the Wall.] - -There is a long grey wall leading towards the centre of the village. -It is what is called a “dry” wall, that is to say, it is built -without mortar. There is, therefore, no great interest in it nor -any special beauty except where the tints of the little lichens -catch the eye of the close observer. The monotony is broken here and -there by a bulge in the stonework where an elm-tree in the field has -gradually pushed its roots against the foundations. - -[Sidenote: Two Nests of Children.] - -But the path beside the wall is seldom lacking in attractions. It -is the daily playground of the children from the cottages which lie -back from the road between where the wall ends and the big barn juts -out endways on to the footpath. These cottages are but two in number -and have all the picturesqueness of old gables and steep stone-slab -roofs. Hoary and bent and lined with the passage of years they seem -to speak of old age in every feature. But they echo to-day with the -sound of children’s voices, and their old stone flags speak from -morning to night with the patter of little footsteps. From these two -houses come the troop of children who play beneath the long grey -wall. As a matter of fact there are ten of them altogether—six from -one cottage, four from the other. Of these the two eldest boys of the -six are just getting too old to play, and are generally doing jobs -for mother, or even sometimes for the farmer for whom their father -works, on the days when they are free from school. Then there is in -each house a baby too small to be trusted anywhere except in its cot -or in its mother’s arms. This leaves six children for the wayside, -when the two little girls who are old enough to go to school have -returned to superintend the amusements of the rest, or four who may -be found there at any hour of the day when the weather is at all -propitious. - -[Sidenote: Good Marnin’.] - -What bits of sunshine they make! Let the day be as dull and the road -as monotonous as possible it cannot be altogether cheerless when a -couple of little chaps with sunny tousled hair and ruddy cheeks -stop pulling their soap box full of mud and stones to laugh up in -your face and say “Good marnin’, Sir,” though it be four o’clock in -the afternoon. Whereby hangs a tale. These two urchins are somewhere -between two and four years old, and it had been their habit to greet -a friend with a friendly pat and a shout of “Hey!” Thereupon one day, -the friend, thinking that their manners might now be taken in hand -and it being then shortly after breakfast, said “You must say ‘Good -morning, Sir,’” which after one or two tries they very creditably -did, and have continued at all hours from that day forward. - -[Sidenote: Friendly Children.] - -But further down the wall is a little group of three. One, a still -smaller boy, evidently the next in order of the fair-haired family. -He cannot yet keep up with his brothers, and so is taken in hand by -the two dark-haired little girls who look up shyly and smilingly from -beneath long-fringed lashes. The younger, “Nellie,” has been ill and -is a queer little figure pinned up in a shawl which reaches to the -ground; the elder is a fat roundabout lady of nearly four, with dark -beady eyes, and a trick of sliding a grubby little hand into that of -her special friends when they stop for a minute’s chat. She is full -of character and thoroughly appreciates the importance of being in -charge of the other two, looking up with an absurd apologetic smile -when the little invalid thrusts forward a few bits of dusty grass and -a much-mauled daisy as an offering to the powers that be. - -But, meantime, school has come out, and the number of wayside -children is rapidly increasing. A girl of ten or so is quietly -knitting as she strolls homewards, her busy fingers hardly stopping -as she smiles and curtseys, turning as an afterthought to ask -whether she may bring some water-cresses to the house. - -[Sidenote: Over the Garden Wall.] - -Leaning over a garden wall is a delightful little person. She has a -very short way to go home and knows that tea will not be ready yet. -So she stops as soon as she is inside the wicket to indulge in a -further look at the “busy world,” of the lane in which she lives, -and to seize any chance there may be of a gossip. The garden ground -inside the wall is considerably above the level of the road—a most -convenient thing for this sturdy little lady of five, for it enables -her to lean her arms upon the wall and her face upon her arms, and so -to survey the world in much comfort. - -Should any one approach whom she wishes to avoid, nothing is simpler -than to crouch down and hide until the undesirable passer-by is out -of sight. Should, however, a friend appear who is welcome, but whose -presence causes a sudden fit of shyness, the rosy cheeks are quickly -hidden in the dimpled arms and a cloud of dark curls tossed over all -until a finger judiciously inserted somewhere where the crease of the -fat little neck may be supposed to be causes a chuckle of delight, -and a crimson face and two great blue eyes are momentarily lifted to -be buried again in an instant beneath the mass of soft dark hair. -But this is a regulation bit of by-play which never lasts long. -Confidences are soon exchanged and news imparted about the sort of -day it has been in school and the health of a doll which fell to her -lot at the last treat. Then sometimes—when she is in her tenderest -humour—a pair of bright red lips are put up for a kiss, and she trots -off down the path to where mother is waiting under the porch of -clematis. - -And so it would be possible to go on for long enough. - -[Sidenote: In the Country.] - -By the roadside, in the field ways, by the pathway near the brook, at -many a cottage doorway, by many a wicket-gate, our country children, -in the beauty of healthfulness and youth, add a hundredfold to the -happiness of those who passing by have eyes to see and hearts to -understand. - -[Sidenote: And in the Town.] - -But there are others. It is impossible to pass along the side streets -of our many towns without finding the little wayside children. They -are mostly those who are of that specially attractive age which makes -them just too young to go to school and just too old to be kept in -the house, so they get somewhere between the two places, and are -generally playing in the gutter. - -They have not often the same beauty as the country children, and they -have not the same readiness to accept the approaches of “grown-ups.” -Their surroundings almost from their birth make them suspicious and -on their guard against possible dangers. But they are children for -all that. They will notice and respond to a friendly smile. It is -wonderful how a sharp and anxious little face is beautified by the -smile that after a moment of doubt will come in answer. - -Go down a long street of mean houses, each one the counterpart of -every other, and see if there be anything to brighten the way that -can compare with the laughter and the play of the wayside children. -It is more difficult perhaps to appreciate these little ones, but it -should be remembered that a friendly greeting is worth more to them -than to a country child who gets a dozen such on its way from school. -The reflected light, the responsive happiness is not so evident at -first sight as in the case of country children, but it is even more -real when once confidence has been established. - -[Sidenote: How a Child’s Friendship was Won.] - -A man whose daily walk led him down a certain dingy street saw a tiny -boy with grimy face and badly developed limbs playing with a banana -skin in the gutter. The man nodded to him—the boy shrank away in -terror. Next day the man nodded again. The boy had decided there was -nothing to be afraid of, and spat at the man. Next day the boy only -stared. The day after he shouted “Hi!” as the man went on. In time -the little fellow smiled back at the greeting which he now began to -expect. Finally the triumph was complete when the boy—a tiny chap—was -waiting at the corner and seized the man’s fingers in his dirty -little fist. It was a dismal street, but it became one of the very -brightest spots in all that man’s walk through life. - - - - - CHAPTER IX - - CHILDREN’S MEETINGS - - -In these days, when the teaching of any virtue necessitates a special -Society, and when no Society is complete without its Children’s -Branch, children’s meetings are matters of almost everyday occurrence. - -To say that these meetings are for the most part successful would -be scarcely accurate. They are too numerous, and speakers to whom -children will listen are too few. - -[Sidenote: To Whom will Children Listen?] - -To whom, then, _will_ they give a hearing? That is a difficult -question, almost as difficult to answer as if it were asked “Who -can whistle a tune?” At all events it is quite as difficult to tell -people how to gain the attention of children as it is to tell them -how to whistle a tune. If they can, they can; and if they can’t, it -isn’t much use telling them. However, it is just possible that anyone -who has looked through the pages of this little book may have been -stirred to think about children, and to try to understand them. In -that case a step has been taken on the road to being one of those -lucky people to whom children will listen. - -[Sidenote: Children Know their Friends.] - -Small boys and girls, like dogs, know by intuition the people who are -fond of them, and unless the would-be speaker belongs to this class -he need not hope to get their attention. Grown-up people listen to -someone whom they do not like on the chance of finding something to -criticize or ridicule. Children simply do not listen at all. - -[Sidenote: Children must be Understood.] - -But a love for children is not enough. There must be the effort to -understand them. Unless there be at least some comprehension of their -characters, there is bound to be a lack of that sympathy which is -the essential requisite. Somehow or other, children seem to feel at -once whether or not there exists that subtle link between themselves -and the speaker, and if they cannot discover it they will not—perhaps -even cannot—listen. - -[Sidenote: A Difficult Art.] - -The mistake so often made is to imagine that it is easy to understand -children. The exact opposite is the fact. It is far easier for anyone -to understand grown-up people whose minds work much in the same way -as his own than to comprehend and sympathise with the curiously -complex thoughts and reasonings of children. - -[Sidenote: An Honest Saleswoman.] - -It has been seen how strangely imaginative all children are, but at -the same time they are often most literal. There is a well-known -story of a little girl selling artificial flowers at a bazaar who -was so anxious that there should be no mistake on the part of the -purchasers that she said to each, “They are not _real_, you know; -they are _stuffed_!” No doubt this same child would have treated -these same flowers as absolutely real if she had had them to play -with, and would have let her imagination run riot with them. - -Again, children are often so tender-hearted that they cannot bear to -hear of the sufferings of other children, but will inflict intense -pain on some insect with complete callousness, the reason being that -the one comes within their comprehension while the other does not. - -These simple matters are mentioned here merely to show the complicity -of children’s characters, and to try to induce those who wish -to teach them to abandon the idea that it is perfectly easy to -understand children. - -[Sidenote: Infection Spreads Rapidly.] - -The next necessity for anyone who wants to gain the attention of a -group of little ones is to remember that they are extraordinarily -liable to infection. - -Just as chicken-pox introduced into a children’s party by one child -will spread to most of the others, so if one person at a meeting be -thoroughly interested and keen, the rest will be sure to catch the -infection. That person must, of course, be the speaker. - -[Sidenote: Platitudes Useless.] - -[Sidenote: Simplicity Essential.] - -It is no sort of use talking to children because the speaker has -got to say something. It is essential that he should have something -to say. Further, it is no use his having something to say unless -he is himself enthusiastically interested. Anyone who has tried to -speak to children will know how their attention is gone in a moment -so soon as he says half-a-dozen words of mere platitude. All this -points to the need of careful preparation and thorough knowledge -of what he has to say. Then he must say it simply. Children do not -understand long words, and cannot follow involved sentences. It is -not unusual to hear the chairman of a children’s meeting begin by -saying, “My dear young friends,—if I may be allowed so to designate -some whose acquaintance I have hitherto not been so fortunate as to -cultivate—the admirable society to which, as I understand, you have -given your adherence inculcates those principles of self-abnegation -which have long been designated as the true foundations of all -existence at once joyous and altruistic.” Can anything be more -hopeless? The succeeding speakers must be uncommonly vivacious -and interesting if the children are to recover from such a fatal -beginning. - -[Sidenote: A Sermon in Monosyllables.] - -It is no bad thing to try to speak in words of one syllable. If that -is thought hopeless it may be mentioned that the Bishop of Bristol -not long ago published a whole sermon in monosyllables, just to show -what can be done. - -[Sidenote: Children Resent Feeble Talk.] - -But, on the other hand, it is a serious mistake to talk down to -children. That is to say, the stuff must be good though the language -be simple. Children resent having washy sentiments served up to them -in baby language. They can understand great thoughts if properly -presented. - -It has been suggested that when very young indeed they dislike the -nonsensical manner in which they are addressed by many adoring -women. This has been given as one reason why a baby on being first -introduced to a strange man and a strange woman will generally prefer -to go to the man. The supposition is that the baby thinks he will -stand more chance of hearing rational language. It is certain that -most people have heard ladies speak to little children in a babble -which they would not use to a self-respecting dog for fear he should -bite them! - -[Sidenote: The Ingredients of a Speech to Children.] - -But to speak more seriously: yet another matter to bear in mind -is that monotony must at all costs be avoided. A speech which, -however good in other ways, is entirely pathetic, will fail to keep -children’s attention, while a speech that is entirely funny will -fail to rouse their interest in the object of the meeting. There may -be tears—a few—there must be laughter—now and then. There must be -stories and there must be morals: the art is to make the one almost -as interesting as the other. - -[Sidenote: Position of Speaker Important.] - -It may perhaps be allowed to insert here one or two practical hints. -For instance, it is absolutely essential that the children should -be able to see the face of the speaker clearly. It is well that he, -too, should be able to see the faces of his audience. But the former -is the more important. If a room, then, has windows so placed that -either the speaker or the children must face them, it is better that -the speaker should do so. Children find it almost impossible to -listen to anyone whom they cannot see, a fact which points to the -value of a sustained effort on the part of the speaker to catch the -eye of first one and then another of his audience. - -[Sidenote: Meetings as Informal as Possible.] - -That leads on to the desirability of getting rid so far as possible -of _formality_. There should be no barriers between the speaker and -the children. A high platform is fatal. It is even more fatal when -there is also a table and a water bottle. The speaker should be as -close to the children as he can, consistently with being able to see -and be seen. - -[Sidenote: A Successful Meeting.] - -Here is a description of a thoroughly successful children’s meeting. -A large low room with old oak beams and a dark polished floor. The -only light a blazing fire of logs. In the darker corners a few groups -of mothers and other “grown ups.” Near the centre of the floor, two -or three large Indian mats, and in front of them a big low easy chair -facing the fire light. In this chair is the speaker, and on his knees -and on the arms of the chair cluster three or four of the smallest -children. The rest are sitting just anyhow upon the coloured mats. -They are all perfectly quiet and well inclined for a rest, for they -have just had a succession of games—blind man’s buff and “Jacob, -where art thou?” the favourites. For half-an-hour or so they sit and -listen to the story of other children less happy than themselves, and -learn how best to help them. Then comes “Good-night,” and they go -away with impressions still vivid, and with new and brave resolutions. - -[Sidenote: Garden Meetings.] - -Some such happy informal talks as this may often be held in summer on -the grass beneath the trees, but the many distractions of the open -air—a butterfly may turn away all thoughts—make such meetings more -difficult than those held indoors. - -The hints given in these few pages seem utterly inadequate, and to -include only such matters as must occur to all. They have been set -down here as some reply to the frequent question “How can children’s -meetings be made successful?” - -There is but one more word to be said. Grown-up people are so greatly -distracted by the cares and occupations of their daily life that it -needs special preparation before they can understand little children. -To anyone who wishes to influence their simple yet imaginative minds -the task is almost hopeless unless he will try to fulfil that most -difficult command and himself “become as a little child.” - - - - - Appendix - - -It is of considerable interest, and may be in some cases of practical -value to those interested in the well-being of children to notice in -order some of the principal Acts of Parliament which have been passed -during the last twenty-five years on behalf of children:— - - 1883. 46 & 47 Vic., c. 53. Employment of Children in Factories and - Workshops. - - 1885. 48 & 49 Vic., c. 69. Criminal Law Amendment Act, relating to - criminal assaults on children and to the finding of children in - disorderly houses. - - 1887. 50 & 51 Vic., c. 58. Employment in Coal Mines. - - 1889. 52 & 53 Vic., c. 44. The Prevention of Cruelty to Children Act. - This was the first of the three Acts, the others being passed in - 1894 and 1904 respectively. Sometimes called “The Children’s - Charter.” It is very wide in application, making it an offence to - assault, illtreat, neglect, abandon, or expose a child under sixteen - years of age in a manner likely to cause such child unnecessary - suffering or injury to its health. - - 1891. 54 & 55 Vic., c. 3. The Custody of Children Act, dealing with - the power of the Court to decline to issue a writ for the production - of a child to an unfit parent, and with the power of the Court to - order repayment of costs of bringing up a child. - - 1891. 54 & 55 Vic., c. 75 & 76. Further enactments concerning - employment in Factories and Workshops. - - 1892. 55 & 56 Vic., c. 4. Betting Act, whereby it became a - misdemeanour for anyone for the purpose of earning commission to - send circulars, etc., to invite an infant to make any bet or wager. - - 1893. 56 & 57 Vic., c. 48. Reformatory Schools Act, giving power to - a Court to remand a youthful offender to a prison or to any other - place, which has in practice always been assumed to be a workhouse. - - 1894. 57 & 58 Vic., c. 33. Industrial Schools Act. Education. - - 1897. 60 & 61 Vic., c. 57. Infant Life Protection Act, concerning - persons receiving infants for hire for the purpose of maintenance. - An Act for the abolition of illicit baby-farming. - - 1899. 62 & 63 Vic., c. 37. Poor Law Act, concerning the control of - guardians over orphans and children of persons unfit to have control - of them. - - 1901. 1 Ed. VII, c. 20. Youthful Offenders Act, providing for (1) the - removal of disqualifications attaching to felony, (2) the liability - of parent or guardian in the case of youthful offenders, (3) the - remand of youthful offenders to other places than prisons, (4) the - recovery of expenses of maintenance from parent or person legally - liable, etc., etc. - - 1901. 1 Ed. VII, c. 27. Intoxicating Liquors (Sale to Children) Act, - forbidding the sale or delivery save at the residence or working - place of the purchaser of any description of intoxicating liquor - to any person under the age of fourteen years, except in corked and - sealed vessels, in quantities not less than one reputed pint. It - should be noticed that the Licensing Act of 1872 prohibited the sale - of any description of spirits to any person apparently under the age - of sixteen years. - - 1903. 3 Ed. VII, c. 45. The Employment of Children Act, containing - restrictions on the hours of employment, age of employees, nature of - employment, etc., etc. - -There have also been several Education Acts either passed or -proposed, but it is doubtful whether these have not usually had their -origin in the exigencies of party politics rather than in a _bonâ -fide_ desire for the welfare of children. An honourable exception is -the Elementary Education (Defective and Epileptic Children) Act of -1899. - - - _Printed by Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, Ltd., Bath._ - - - - - Transcriber’s Notes - - pg 10 Changed The helpless ness to: helplessness - pg 58 Changed my finishing he to: the - pg 126 Added period after: our visit to you - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOOK OF THE CHILD *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ -concept and trademark. 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