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diff --git a/old/69896-h/69896-h.htm b/old/69896-h/69896-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 3ed46bf..0000000 --- a/old/69896-h/69896-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5911 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html> -<html lang="en"> -<head> - <meta charset="UTF-8"> - <title> - The Book of the Child, by Frederick Douglas How—A Project Gutenberg eBook - </title> - <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> - <style> - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - - h1,h2,h3 { - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - clear: both; -} - -p { - margin-top: .51em; - text-align: justify; - text-indent: 1em; - margin-bottom: .49em; -} - -.p0 {margin-top: -.5em;} - -.wsp {word-spacing: 0.3em;} - -hr { - width: 33%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: 33.5%; - margin-right: 33.5%; - clear: both; -} - -hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;} -hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} - -div.chapter {page-break-before: always;} -h2.nobreak {page-break-before: avoid;} - -.fs80 {font-size: 80%} -.fs120 {font-size: 120%} -.fs150 {font-size: 150%} - -table { - margin-left: auto; - margin-right: auto; -} -table.autotable { border-collapse: collapse; } -.tdl {text-align: left;} -.tdr {text-align: right;} -.tdlx {text-align: left; padding-left: 2em;} - -.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ - /* visibility: hidden; */ - position: absolute; - left: 92%; - font-size: small; - text-align: right; - font-style: normal; - font-weight: normal; - font-variant: normal; - text-indent: 0; - color: #A9A9A9; -} /* page numbers */ - -.blockquot { - margin-left: 5%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - -.sidenote { - width: 12%; - padding-bottom: .4em; - padding-top: .4em; - padding-left: .4em; - padding-right: .4em; - margin-left: 1em; - margin-right: 1em; - float: left; - clear: left; - margin-top: .5em; - font-size: small; - color: black; - line-height: 1.1em; -} - -.center {text-align: center;} - -.right {text-align: right;} - -.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} - -.allsmcap {font-variant: small-caps; text-transform: lowercase;} - -/* Images */ - -img { - max-width: 100%; - height: auto; -} - - -.figcenter { - margin: auto; - text-align: center; - page-break-inside: avoid; - max-width: 100%; -} - -/* Footnotes */ -.footnotes {border: 1px dashed; margin-top: 2em;} - -.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} - -.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} - -.fnanchor { - vertical-align: super; - font-size: .8em; - text-decoration: - none; -} - -/* Poetry */ -/* uncomment the next line for centered poetry */ -.poetry-container2 {display: flex; justify-content: center;} -.poetry {text-align: left; margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%;} -.poetry .stanza {margin: 1em auto;} -.poetry .verse {text-indent: -3em; padding-left: 3em;} - -/* Poetry indents */ -.poetry .indent0 {text-indent: -3em;} - -/* Transcriber's notes */ -.transnote {background-color: #E6E6FA; - color: black; - font-size:small; - padding:0.5em; - margin-bottom:5em; - font-family:sans-serif, serif; -} - -x-ebookmaker-drop, .x-ebookmaker-drop {} - -/* Poetry indents */ -.poetry .indent0 {text-indent: -3em;} -.poetry .indent2 {text-indent: -2em;} -.poetry .indent8 {text-indent: 1em;} - -.no-indent {text-indent: 0em;} -.indent {text-align: left; padding-left: 1.5em; text-indent: -1.75em;} - - </style> -</head> -<body> -<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The book of the child, by Frederick Douglas How</p> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. 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. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The book of the child</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em;'>An attempt to set down what is in the mind of children</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Frederick Douglas How</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: January 29, 2023 [eBook #69896]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>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)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOOK OF THE CHILD ***</div> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 35%"> -<img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="Cover"> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</span></p> - -<h1>The Book of the Child</h1> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</span></p> -<div class="chapter"> -<p class="center">The</p> -<p class="center fs150 wsp">Book of the Child</p> -<br> -<p class="center wsp">An Attempt to set down what<br> -is in the mind of Children</p> -<br> -<br> -<p class="center fs80">By</p> -<p class="center fs120 wsp">Frederick Douglas How</p> -<br> -<br> -<p class="center fs120 wsp">E. P. DUTTON AND COMPANY</p> -<p class="p0 center fs120">31 WEST <span class="allsmcap">23RD</span> STREET, NEW YORK<br> -1907</p> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</span></p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - - -<div class="chapter"> -<p class="center fs80"> -<span class="smcap" style="margin-left: -1em;">Printed by<br> -Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, Ltd.,<br> -Bath, England.</span><br> -(2319)<br> -</p> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Preface">Preface</h2> -</div> - - -<p>I am rather shy about this little book.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p class="right"> -<span class="smcap">F. D. How.</span><br> -</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p class="fs80"><span style="margin-left: -2em;"><em>May, 1907.</em></span></p> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Contents">Contents</h2> -</div> - -<table class="autotable"> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">CHAP.</td> -<td class="tdl"></td> -<td class="tdr">PAGE</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">I.</td> -<td class="tdlx">THE CHILD—ITS ARRIVAL</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_9">9</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">II.</td> -<td class="tdlx">THE CHILD—ITS MEMORY</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_24">24</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">III.</td> -<td class="tdlx">THE CHILD—ITS IMAGINATION</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_37">37</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">IV.</td> -<td class="tdlx">THE CHILD—ITS RELIGION</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_66">66</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">V.</td> -<td class="tdlx">THE CHILD—ITS IMITATION</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_96">96</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">VI.</td> -<td class="tdlx">THE CHILD—ITS PLEASURES</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_112">112</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">VII.</td> -<td class="tdlx">THE CHILD—ITS PATHOS</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_136">136</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">VIII.</td> -<td class="tdlx">WAYSIDE CHILDREN</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_162">162</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">IX.</td> -<td class="tdlx">CHILDREN’S MEETINGS</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_176">176</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">X.</td> -<td class="tdlx">APPENDIX</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_187">187</a></td> -</tr> -</table> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</span></p> - -<p class="center fs150">The Book of the Child</p> -</div> - - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I</h2> - - -<h3>THE CHILD—ITS ARRIVAL</h3> - - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">The Cause -of the -Children.</div> - -<div class="sidenote">Legislation -for Children.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</span> -legislation on the subject during the last -twenty years.<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> 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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">The Better -Position of -Children.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Old-fashioned -Discipline.</div> - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Children -of the Poor.</div> - -<div class="sidenote">Metropolitan -Working -Classes’ -Association.</div> - -<p>Among the working classes, until the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Literature -Concerning -Children.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">The Office of -Christian -Parents.</div> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Personal Care -of the -Mother.</div> - -<div class="sidenote">Possible Extinction of Boarding Schools.</div> - -<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Interference -of the -Grandmother.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>When the child is a little older -he still thinks that its committal to -the care of a servant should be -avoided.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<div class="sidenote">The Spoiling -of Children.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</span> -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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</span> -stayed up, and watered, are made upright, -faire, and fruitfull.”</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Parents to -Superintend -their -Children’s -Upbringing.</div> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</span> -made careles, being absent through -pleasure.”</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Old-fashioned -Severity -Leads to -Dissimulation.</div> - -<p>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.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</span> -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.”</p> - -<div class="sidenote">A Phase -of Lying.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Children -Susceptible -of Fear.</div> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Again, “As to Dread of Punishment -which I have observed to be the lowest -and most grovelling kind of Fear, you<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</span> -must by gentle usage remove it from the -apprehension of such as have imbibed it -from harsh Parents or tyrannical Nurses.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Literature of -the last Half -Century.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Books About -Children.</div> - -<p>To mention only two or three. Which -of us has not been the wiser and the better<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</span> -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”?</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</span></p> - - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">[1]</a> See <a href="#Page_187">Appendix.</a></p> - -</div> -</div> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II</h2> -</div> - -<h3>THE CHILD—ITS MEMORY</h3> - - -<div class="sidenote">A Baby’s -Earliest -Impressions.</div> - -<div class="sidenote">Bishop -Berkeley on -Blind Boys.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Memory -Markings.</div> - -<p>In newborn babies the circumstances<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Precocious -Infants.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Case of Very -Early Memory.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Memory at a -Later Age.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</span> -old, but from about that time it is -common to find a remarkably clear -recollection of certain scattered events -or experiences.</p> - -<p>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 <em>fewer</em> -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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Emotions of -Surprise, -Pleasure, -or Pain.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Joys Better -Remembered -than Griefs.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Summer Days -at a Country -Rectory.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">The Old -Nursery.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>It is a vast mistake to measure the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</span> -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.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III</h2> -</div> - -<h3>THE CHILD—ITS IMAGINATION</h3> - - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">The Riotous -Imagination -of Children.</div> - -<div class="sidenote">Unimaginative -Parents.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Arrangement -of the -Numerals.</div> - -<div class="sidenote">The Circle of -the Months.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</span> -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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Effects of -Colour.</div> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Colour of -the Days.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">The Imaginary -Child-Friend.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</span> -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 <em>both</em> the children.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Imaginary -Terrors.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Untruthfulness -and -Imagination.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</span> -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!”</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</span> -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.”</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Confession -of an -Imaginary Sin.</div> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</span></p> -<div class="sidenote">Jinks.</div> - -<p>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.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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 <em>bear</em> to see me in those woolly -gloves!”</p> - -<p>Most people who have little children -among their friends can remember similar -instances, and these are just the cases -where firm but sympathetic interference<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</span> -is necessary to prevent confusion between -imagination and want of truth.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">The Idea -of Death.</div> - -<div class="sidenote">Desire for -a Legacy.</div> - -<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</span> -“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 <em>rather</em> white -like old John’s. I s’pect you -will be dead soon. Then can -I have the watch?”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Small -Imagination -of Suffering.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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 <em>kind</em> 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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Parental -Sympathy.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Poetic -Imaginings.</div> - -<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container2 fs80"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">There was a time when meadow, grove and stream,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The earth and every common sight,</div> - <div class="verse indent8">To me did seem</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Apparell’d in celestial light,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The glory and the freshness of a dream.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It is not now as it hath been of yore;</div> - <div class="verse indent8">Turn wheresoe’er I may</div> - <div class="verse indent8">By night or day,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The things which I have seen I now can see no more.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</span></p> -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The story is told in the first person, and -is in the main literally true. It is called</p> - -<p class="p0 center">“I Wonders”</p> - -<div class="sidenote">“I Wonders”</div> - -<p class="p0">“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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>“With a little burst the door flew -open and revealed that my visitor was -no less and no greater a person than -Helen.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Helen.</div> - -<p>“Now Helen needs some description, -and no better time for giving it could be -found than as she stood there at the top<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</span> -of the three or four steps which lead -up to my sanctum, her face flushed -with her struggle with the -door handle.</p> - -<p>“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 <em>understood</em>. She had come to -stay with us in our completely country -house, and was entranced with the mystery -and delight of all she saw.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</span></p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“‘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!’</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</span></p> - -<p>“There was very little more to be said. -Nature might have been resisted alone, -but nature <em>and</em> 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!</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</span> -another world and who obtained complete -sway over my every thought and action. -This did not begin all at once.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Through the -Village.</div> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">The -Backberwy -People.</div> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</span> -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?’</p> - -<p>“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 <em>very</em> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">The -Backberwy -Ball.</div> - -<p>“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 -<em>wonders</em>!’ 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">The Wicked -Soldiers.</div> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“‘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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>“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.’”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV</h2> -</div> - -<h3>THE CHILD—ITS RELIGION</h3> - - -<div class="sidenote">Three Kinds -of Parents.</div> - -<div class="sidenote">A -French Work -on Children.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</span> -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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Careless -Parents.</div> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</span></p> - -<div class="sidenote">Anxious -Parents.</div> - -<div class="sidenote">Early -Impressions -of Good -and Evil.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</span> -a firm belief in truths that have been -absorbed almost with the mother’s milk.</p> - -<p>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 <span class="smcap">God</span> -without the intervention of any human -being.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">A Child’s -Direct -Personal -Religion.</div> - -<div class="sidenote">Religion -through the Mother.</div> - -<p>It would probably be true to say that -<em>at first</em> 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 <span class="smcap">God</span>, personal religion in children “of -course begins by being mixed up with -<em>Mother</em>, 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</span> -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 -“<span class="smcap">God</span> 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 <span class="smcap">God</span>.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</span> -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 <span class="smcap">God</span> who can surely dwell -in the heart of a very little child.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Where She -was -Heavened.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</span> -said, “<em>You</em> 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 <em>heavened</em> there!”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</span> -carried onwards and upwards to the love -and care of <span class="smcap">God</span>.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Olive -Schreiner.</div> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>All that has been so far written in this -chapter on Children’s Religion is of -necessity vague and rather difficult. To -arrive at <em>facts</em> is almost impossible. The -best that can be done is to speak of -probabilities in the light of that faith<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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 <span class="smcap">God</span> is not often a -Being to whom access is only possible -through someone else.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Religion of -Rather Older -Children.</div> - -<div class="sidenote">A Child’s -Faith.</div> - -<p>The evidence obtainable on this point -is most contradictory. A mother writes, -“Children’s faith soon becomes -a real thing between -them and their <span class="smcap">God</span>. 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</span> -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 -<em>dreadful</em> if we had not got a <span class="smcap">God</span>!’”</p> - -<div class="sidenote">A Doubting -Thomas.</div> - -<p>Another mother tells of a little daughter -who has been “a doubting Thomas from -her babyhood.” To her the -personality of <span class="smcap">God</span> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</span> -would suddenly break in with “<em>Why</em> was -<span class="smcap">God</span> 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 <em>certainly</em> 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!”</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Relative -Importance of -Authorities.</div> - -<p>In both these instances there can be -little doubt that no one came in any way -between the child and the Creator, but,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</span> -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 <span class="smcap">God</span>, -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 <span class="smcap">God</span> will see -you, and He’ll tell the Vicar.”</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Children’s -Prayers.</div> - -<p>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.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Implicit Faith -in Prayer.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Children’s -Quaint -Petitions.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</span> -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 <span class="smcap">God</span> make mother less -strict.”</p> - -<p>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! <span class="smcap">God</span>, please show -me a rainbow very soon!”</p> - -<p>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 <span class="smcap">God</span> 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!”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</span></p> - -<div class="sidenote">Children’s -Churchgoing.</div> - -<div class="sidenote">Danger of -Too Much.</div> - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Danger of -Too Little.</div> - -<p>On the other hand, it is no doubt true -that it is dangerous to use no compulsion,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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 <em>everything</em> -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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</span> -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.”</p> - -<div class="sidenote">A Service -Held by -Children.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</span> -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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</span> -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:—</p> - -<p class="p0 center">“‘<span class="smcap">Little Children Love one Another.</span>’</p> - -<div class="sidenote">A Child’s -Sermon.</div> - -<p class="p0">“‘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.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</span> -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 <span class="smcap">God</span> 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.’”</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Simplicity -in Speaking to -Children.</div> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Differences -in Children’s -Temperament.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Two Children -at Church.</div> - -<p>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 <span class="smcap">God</span>, help me! -I <em>will</em> be good!” He seemed unable to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</span> -think of anything but the fact that he -was in <span class="smcap">God</span>’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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Children’s -Unintentional -Irreverence.</div> - -<p>Such a child as the little girl described -above may be said to possess the normal<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</span> -feelings of her age. Most very young -children are entirely unable to grasp the -greatness of <span class="smcap">God</span> 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 <em>doesn’t</em> 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 <span class="smcap">God</span> 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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Great -Patience -Necessary.</div> - -<p>Such things of course add to the -difficulties of teaching religion to those -who are very young, but it is certain<span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Little Children -have Long -Ears.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</span> -to Church when a sermon was preached -about the Will of <span class="smcap">God</span>. 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 -<span class="smcap">God</span>’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.</p> - -<hr class="tb"> - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Influence -of Women.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Children’s -Delight in the -Unseen.</div> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</span></p> - -<div class="sidenote">Impression -made by -Beauties -of Nature.</div> - -<p>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 <span class="smcap">God</span> 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! -<span class="smcap">God</span>!”</p> - -<div class="sidenote">The Higher -Criticism.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</span> -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.”</p> - -<hr class="tb"> - -<p>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.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V</h2> -</div> - -<h3>THE CHILD—ITS IMITATION</h3> - - -<div class="sidenote">Selection of -those about -the Path of -a Child.</div> - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Meals in the -Servants’ Hall.</div> - -<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</span> -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:</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</span> -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!”</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Swear Words.</div> - -<p>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!”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Desire to be -Like Father.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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 <em>very</em> 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!”</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Individuality -to be -Encouraged.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">An Affected -Child.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</span> -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!” -<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Imitatio ad nauseam!</i></p> - -<div class="sidenote">Dressing Up.</div> - -<div class="sidenote">Dumb -Crambo.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Tricks of -Posturing.</div> - -<p>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 <em>cause</em> -is physical—generally a weakness in the -nervous system—and the child must be -dealt with most tenderly though firmly.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Tea at the -Vicarage.</div> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“Following fast on the arrival of the -tea came the two daughters of the house,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>“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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">The Entry -of Baby.</div> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</span></p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">A Baby -Actress.</div> - -<p>“There <em>was</em>, 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:<span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</span> -little red shoes, and what lady can -resist a well-timed compliment on her -turn-out?</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>“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.’</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Baby’s Exit.</div> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</span> -pert little voice was heard to say, -‘Baby <em>did</em> c’y!’</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI</h2> -</div> - -<h3>THE CHILD—ITS PLEASURES</h3> - - -<div class="sidenote">Love and -Happiness.</div> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>But in this chapter some attempt will -be made to examine certain special<span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</span> -pleasures rather than to generalise as to -the atmosphere of happiness in which -alone a child will really thrive.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">No Stereotyped -Rule.</div> - -<p>While happiness is necessary for all -children, those who have most closely -studied child life will agree -that the old saying “<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Quot -homines tot sententiæ</i>” 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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Failure of -Compulsory -Pleasures.</div> - -<p>Nothing is less likely to produce happiness -than to attempt to <em>force</em> little children -to amuse themselves in any set way.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</span> -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 <em>small</em> children find -nothing left to their imagination, and -infinitely prefer some dirty, and, to adult -eyes, disadvantageous corner.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">A Game in a -Stackyard.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>Next they put it in a heap on a slate -which they have discovered, and then -search for pieces of brick and flat stone,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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!</p> - -<p>This is a vision that has come from time -to time for more than forty years, and -few playgrounds have seemed so attractive.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">The Old Tree -in the Garden.</div> - -<p>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.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Playing at -Shop.</div> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</span></p><div class="sidenote">A Whitby -Playground.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</span> -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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</span> -circle and playing with the garbage and -refuse which has stranded there.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Treasure -Trove.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Another Game -of Shop.</div> - -<p>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!</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</span> -legs and ruddy feet go scampering off to -tea!</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Playing at -Being -Grown Up.</div> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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!<span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</span> -the importance of it) upon a regular -visit.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">A Visit from -Two Children.</div> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</span> -“mothered” Reggie, and her anxiety -that he should do the right thing, and -her little quick orders to him, were most -amusing.</p> - -<p>Their hostess met them a few days -before their visit, and their excitement -about it all was intense.</p> - -<p>“What luggage shall you bring?”</p> - -<p>“Oh! just a hat-box or two!”</p> - -<p>“It’s all arranged about our visit to you. -I do so love arranging things. Couldn’t -we have some more arrangements?”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Oh!” said Baby, “I shall bring my -tea-gown. And what shall <em>you</em> -wear?”</p> - -<p>The day arrived, and they were met at -the station.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</span></p> - -<p>“Well, what luggage have you -brought?”</p> - -<p>“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 <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">infra dig.</i> 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!</p> - -<p>The extreme politeness and consideration -of these little visitors were continually<span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</span> -coming out. Baby was asked whether -she would like a room to herself or a sofa -in her hostess’s room.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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’!”</p> - -<p>He was just as attentive, too, to his -sister, buttoning her little petticoat for -her and anything she couldn’t manage -for herself.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</span> -endowed with an extra allowance of -imagination, played their part in every -detail.</p> - -<p>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!”</p> - -<div class="sidenote">The Children -Leave.</div> - -<p>But on the whole these two little people -carried out their intention of paying a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</span> -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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</span></p> - -<p>It may perhaps be said that the main -factors are two.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Modern -Defiance of -Authority.</div> - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Self-Conscious -Jealous -Children.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>This is all wrong, and distinctly diminishes -the pleasure that these children -might otherwise enjoy.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Desirability -of Simpler -Children’s -Parties.</div> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</span></p> - -<div class="sidenote">Natural -Pleasures -the Most -Enjoyed.</div> - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Story-telling.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</span> -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.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII</h2> -</div> - -<h3>THE CHILD—ITS PATHOS</h3> - - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Quiet -Children.</div> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</span></p> - -<p>They are, possibly, well enough liked -by the rest, but somehow they are -<em>different</em>, and because of this difference -go their own way to which the others have -become accustomed.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Reasons for -the Difference.</div> - -<div class="sidenote">Lonely -Children.</div> - -<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>Such children are not averse to <em>all</em> -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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Early Natural -Bents.</div> - -<div class="sidenote">Not a Mother -Yet!</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</span> -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!”</p> - -<div class="sidenote">A Boy’s -Secrets.</div> - -<div class="sidenote">The Toad.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">The Very Dead -Frogs!</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</span> -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, -<em>quite</em> dead, and must be buried without -further delay.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Children -and the -Painter Man.</div> - -<p>A painter had one day set up his -umbrella and easel close to a little hamlet, -and when school was over there was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</span> -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, <em>I</em> can!” And -so on for some minutes until almost every -part of the picture had been properly<span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Jacob.</div> - -<p>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 <em>tidy</em>. His -collar, too, was spotlessly white, and his<span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</span> -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?”</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Jacob Sings.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Jacob was -Blind.</div> - -<p>So the other children found them when -they came back from school. Now the -picture was more easily understood<span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">A Child’s -Perception -of Sorrow.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Two Little -Boys Blue.</div> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</span> -were bound by the best of all ties in which -each needs something that the other has -to give.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Where is -Willie?</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</span> -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 <em>one</em> 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.</p> - -<p>So long as she lived that lady will never -forget the dumb pathos of the child’s<span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</span> -expression. Its explanation was one -more little grave in the children’s corner -of the churchyard.</p> - -<hr class="tb"> - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">The Deserted -Cottage.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">The Yellow -Curtains.</div> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Needless to say, conjecture was rife as -to the newcomers but no one seemed to -know who they were or whence they came.</p> - -<p>At last one day the above-mentioned<span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</span></p> - -<div class="sidenote">The -Mysterious -Child.</div> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>To a child-lover this daily vision of -an unnaturally solitary and probably -unhappy life was insupportable. He was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</span> -continually on the look out for a chance -of breaking through the girl’s reserve, -and trying to brighten her life.</p> - -<p>At last one day it seemed as if the -opportunity had come.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">On the Low -Stone Bridge.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</span> -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.</p> - -<hr class="tb"> - -<div class="sidenote">A Slighted -Child.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</span> -whom she has poured out her chief store -of affection, the suffering entailed is -frequently acute.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p class="center fs80">“<span class="smcap">My Bissop.</span>”</p> -<div class="poetry-container2 fs80"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I went to the Bissop’s party</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In my vi’let velveteen:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The others went last year, you know,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But I hadn’t never been.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I was only four; and mother said</div> - <div class="verse indent2">It was really <em>much</em> too late!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But now I’m five—though all a year</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Was a <em>’mendous</em> time to wait!</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I knew the Bissop very well,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For didn’t I sit on his knee</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When he came for Confummation,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And stopped at our house for tea?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">He’s a dear old man—our Bissop—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And he’ll hardly ever miss</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Stroking the hair of a little girl</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And giving her a kiss.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">So I <em>did</em> look forward to going,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">(And I whispered it all to my doll)—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Though Tom said he didn’t see the good</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of taking a mealy-faced Moll.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">But I didn’t know I was ugly,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And nothing about being shy,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So I couldn’t sit still with ’citement</div> - <div class="verse indent2">All the whole way in the fly!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">We got there at last: there was numbers</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of boys and girls at their teas,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And oh!—in the corner—the Bissop!—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With two little girls on his knees.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I knew they was much more pretty</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Than me; but I thought perhaps</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their turn would be over bye and bye</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And he’ld take <em>me</em> up on his laps!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">So I went quite close, till Susie</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Told me I mustn’t stare—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But I don’t b’lieve it mattered,</div> - <div class="verse indent2"><em>He</em> didn’t know I was there!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then the rest of the children got dancing,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And I was knocked down on the floor,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So I w’iggled my way to a corner,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And sat just close to the door.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">For I thought <em>he</em>’ld pass and see me,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And once he did really stand</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Quite close to me—<em>my</em> Bissop!—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And I touched his coat with my hand.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">But oh! he never noticed;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He didn’t seem to see:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And when he was kissing anyone</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They was other children than me.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I fink I <em>must</em> be ugly.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">It wasn’t the velveteen,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">’Cause when she had it on last year</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Susie looked like a queen!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Yes; I had some toys and a bootiful tea,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And my cracker had got a ring!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And I <em>fink</em> I enjoyed the party</div> - <div class="verse indent2">’Cept p’raps for only one fing!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And when I got home to dolly,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And she was in bed by my side,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I <em>twied</em> to tell her about it—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But she was asleep—and I <em>cwied</em>.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII</h2> -</div> - -<h3>WAYSIDE CHILDREN</h3> - - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">The Study of -Flowers -and -Children.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">The Loss to -those who -Fail to Notice -Children.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Self-important -People.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Keeping the -Proper -Balance.</div> - -<p>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.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">The Children -Under the -Wall.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Two Nests of -Children.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Good -Marnin’.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Friendly -Children.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</span> -afterthought to ask whether she may -bring some water-cresses to the house.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Over the -Garden Wall.</div> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>And so it would be possible to go on for -long enough.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</span></p> - -<div class="sidenote">In the -Country.</div> - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">And in -the Town.</div> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</span></p> - -<div class="sidenote">How a Child’s -Friendship -was Won.</div> - -<p>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.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX</h2> -</div> - -<h3>CHILDREN’S MEETINGS</h3> - - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">To Whom -will -Children -Listen?</div> - -<p>To whom, then, <em>will</em> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Children -Know their -Friends.</div> - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Children -must be -Understood.</div> - -<p>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.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">A Difficult -Art.</div> - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">An Honest -Saleswoman.</div> - -<p>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 <em>real</em>, you<span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</span> -know; they are <em>stuffed</em>!” 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Infection -Spreads -Rapidly.</div> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Platitudes -Useless.</div> - -<div class="sidenote">Simplicity -Essential.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">A Sermon in -Monosyllables.</div> - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Children -Resent -Feeble Talk.</div> - -<p>But, on the other hand, it is a serious -mistake to talk down to children. That<span class="pagenum" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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!</p> - -<div class="sidenote">The -Ingredients -of a Speech -to Children.</div> - -<p>But to speak more seriously: yet -another matter to bear in mind is that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Position of -Speaker -Important.</div> - -<p>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.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Meetings as -Informal -as Possible.</div> - -<p>That leads on to the desirability of -getting rid so far as possible -of <em>formality</em>. 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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">A Successful -Meeting.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</span> -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.</p> - -<div class="sidenote">Garden -Meetings.</div> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</span> -meetings more difficult than those held -indoors.</p> - -<p>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?”</p> - -<p>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.”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Appendix">Appendix</h2> -</div> - - -<p class="no-indent">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:—</p> - -<p class="indent">1883. 46 & 47 Vic., c. 53. Employment of Children<br> -in Factories and Workshops.</p> - -<p class="indent">1885. 48 & 49 Vic., c. 69. Criminal Law Amendment<br> -Act, relating to criminal assaults on<br> -children and to the finding of children in<br> -disorderly houses.</p> - -<p class="indent">1887. 50 & 51 Vic., c. 58. Employment in Coal<br> -Mines.</p> - -<p class="indent">1889. 52 & 53 Vic., c. 44. The Prevention of<br> -Cruelty to Children Act. This was the first<br> -of the three Acts, the others being passed in<br> -1894 and 1904 respectively. Sometimes called<br> -“The Children’s Charter.” It is very wide in<br> -application, making it an offence to assault,<br> -illtreat, neglect, abandon, or expose a child under<br> -sixteen years of age in a manner likely to cause<br> -such child unnecessary suffering or injury to<br> -its health.</p> - -<p class="indent">1891. 54 & 55 Vic., c. 3. The Custody of Children<br> -Act, dealing with the power of the Court to<br> -decline to issue a writ for the production of a<br> -child to an unfit parent, and with the power of<br> -the Court to order repayment of costs of bringing<br> -up a child.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</span></p> - -<p class="indent">1891. 54 & 55 Vic., c. 75 & 76. Further enactments<br> -concerning employment in Factories and<br> -Workshops.</p> - -<p class="indent">1892. 55 & 56 Vic., c. 4. Betting Act, whereby<br> -it became a misdemeanour for anyone for the<br> -purpose of earning commission to send circulars,<br> -etc., to invite an infant to make any bet or wager.</p> - -<p class="indent">1893. 56 & 57 Vic., c. 48. Reformatory Schools<br> -Act, giving power to a Court to remand a youthful<br> -offender to a prison or to any other place,<br> -which has in practice always been assumed to<br> -be a workhouse.</p> - -<p class="indent">1894. 57 & 58 Vic., c. 33. Industrial Schools Act.<br> -Education.</p> - -<p class="indent">1897. 60 & 61 Vic., c. 57. Infant Life Protection<br> -Act, concerning persons receiving infants for<br> -hire for the purpose of maintenance. An Act<br> -for the abolition of illicit baby-farming.</p> - -<p class="indent">1899. 62 & 63 Vic., c. 37. Poor Law Act, concerning<br> -the control of guardians over orphans and<br> -children of persons unfit to have control of them.</p> - -<p class="indent">1901. 1 Ed. VII, c. 20. Youthful Offenders Act,<br> -providing for (1) the removal of disqualifications<br> -attaching to felony, (2) the liability of parent<br> -or guardian in the case of youthful offenders,<br> -(3) the remand of youthful offenders to other<br> -places than prisons, (4) the recovery of expenses<br> -of maintenance from parent or person legally<br> -liable, etc., etc.</p> - -<p class="indent">1901. 1 Ed. VII, c. 27. Intoxicating Liquors (Sale<br> -to Children) Act, forbidding the sale or delivery<br> -save at the residence or working place of the<br> -purchaser of any description of intoxicating<br><span class="pagenum" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</span> -liquor to any person under the age of fourteen<br> -years, except in corked and sealed vessels, in<br> -quantities not less than one reputed pint. It<br> -should be noticed that the Licensing Act of 1872<br> -prohibited the sale of any description of spirits<br> -to any person apparently under the age of<br> -sixteen years.</p> - -<p class="indent">1903. 3 Ed. VII, c. 45. The Employment of<br> -Children Act, containing restrictions on the<br> -hours of employment, age of employees, nature<br> -of employment, etc., etc.</p> - -<p>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 <em>bonâ fide</em> -desire for the welfare of children. An honourable -exception is the Elementary Education (Defective -and Epileptic Children) Act of 1899.</p> -<br> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> -<p class="center"><em>Printed by Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, Ltd., Bath.</em></p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - - -<div class="transnote"> -<h2>Transcriber’s Notes</h2> - -<ul> -<li>pg 10 Changed The helpless ness to: helplessness</li> -<li>pg 58 Changed my finishing he to: the</li> -<li>pg 126 Added period after: our visit to you</li> -<li>The cover page was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.</li> -</ul> -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOOK OF THE CHILD ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -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. 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