You are on page 1of 350

A X

STUDY OF A CH I L D

LOUISE E . HOGAN

ILLUS TR A TE D WIT H O VE R 5 0 0 O R IG INA L DR A WING S


BY T HE C HILD

H A IR E R B L I S H E R S
Q
PR E F A C E

TH E i n terest awakened in A merica an d E urop e by


the child study movement the fascination that lies in
-

the sayings and the doings of children and especially ,

the expressed desire of psychologists physicians and , ,

teachers for o p portunity to stu dy individual child


records both normal and abnormal h ave led to the
, ,

preparation of this boo k wit h the hope of entertain


,

ing the general reader and of stimulating interest i n


practical methods for mental moral and physical de
, ,

v e l op m e nt of the child in the nursery .

Professor L add of Yale says in a recent W ork ( Ou t


, ,

l ines of D escr ip tive Psy chology) that of six sourc e s


,


of psychology one is ,
observation of the mental
processes of infants and children as necessary
.

to a better analysis of the mature mental processes


of man and to the det ection of hitherto concealed
factors W ithin them . S uch understanding he says , ,

is indispensable to the understanding of human men


: al life as being W hat it u ndoubtedly is a develop
} , ,

ment .

D r A rnold of R ugby W hose sta n d for the principles of


.
, ,

humanity in education is kno w n throughout the world ,

declared boyhood to be an inferior state a d ang erous ,

iii
PR E FA C E

time when temptation is great and res istance exceed


,

ingly small ; an d he said that the cha nge from boyhoo d


to manhood should be hastened for the growth of his ,

character and for the development of the love of u n


s e lfi sh n e ss and fear of G od More i n keeping how
.
,

ever with accepted ed uca t ional theories of t o d ay Joh n


, ,

C orbin says in this connection in his st udy of S c hool


, ,

b oy L ife i n E n gl a n d that since A rnold s day many


experiments have been made in bringing u p boys and ,

many tho ughtful men have written on the s u bject and ,

in consequ ence we are more likely to respect the state


of boyhood and sympathize with it to regard it as ,

necessary and beautif ul ra t her than dangerous and to ,

believe that the more fully a boy learns to be a boy ,

the more thoroughly he will be a man when the time



comes He adds forcibly : In its w ay boyhood is as
.
, ,

little to be avoided as old age Both were ordained by


.

the Power that no one has ever understood ; they are


e u a ll
q y necessary for the fulness of life and equally ,

beautiful .

The history of the child Harold is given exactly as


it was originally written with but few additional ex
,

l n t ory remarks concerni ng the course taken to pro


p a a

duce the results recorded This plan has been followed


.

as most likely to attract the attention of the g e ne ra l


reader whose aid in furn ishing child diaries is asked -

for by scientists ; yet the record tho ugh unclassified , ,

will be of no less value to the student A s the re .

s ul t s are obvious the reader may draw his own con


,

elusions .

A portion of the record and the introductory chapter


were sent to Dr Preyer and annotations to the manu
.
,

script which are duly noted were received i n reply


, , ,

iv
PR E FA CE

with several letters of singular charm in one of which ,

he says :
S ince fifteen years when the first G erman edition of
,

my book on Tim Min d of Me I nfa n t w as published I ,

have wished that a lady after having studied the work


,

done would let a child develop itself n aturally and


,

without continually interfering with mother nature -


.

I actually bro ught my boy up in this way and h e is ,

always happy The boy you have observed seems to


.

have been educated in a similar w ay I feel nearly sure .

w e are sailing carefully but with energy in exactly the


, ,

same direction I thi nk the wish I mentioned will soo n


.

be f ulfilled by you to my heart s content Mind y ou do



.

not go too deep into psychology — controversies would


spoil the effect of your observations which in many cases ,

may serve as a practical g u ide without any commentary


,
.

When some years ago I w as often asked to write a p op u


lar nursery psychology with my pedagogical rules I ,

always answered that such a man u al must be writte n


by a mother who has not intrusted her baby to nurses ,

but brought it up and thoroughly studied it lov


ing ly herself and I added that I would help any lady
,

w h o would undertake the lengthy but very pleasan t



work .

T he recent and much lamented death of D r Preyer .

adds special significance to these words which illus ,

trate so clearly the comprehensive character of the


work to which his life was given .

Wh ile the gradual development of an infant during


its first year may be of great interest to both scientist
and mother the q u aint and fancifu l tangents of a child s
,

self activity during the years following closely upon


-

infancy are the most absorbing to the ge n eral reader ,


PR E FA C E

and for this reason the following selectio n s have b een


made as illustrative of various st ages of unconscious
growth and as not altogether of simply scientific
,

i nterest
.

L O UI S E E H OG A N
. .

NE W Y O RK Ju ne 1 898
, , .
CO NT E NT S

I N T RO D U C T I O N
R eas on s for C h i l d S tu d y in th e H om e
-

C H A PT E R I

F ragm e n tary F i rs t Y ear N ote s


-

C H APT E R II

S e c ond Year —C ov erin g De v e l op me n t of L ang uag e ,


and , I nc i
d en tall y th e C u l ti vat i on of Ob e di e n c e and T rus t
,

C H APT E R I I I

T h i rd Ye ar—L an gu age an d O th e I n c id e n tal


r De vel op men t C on

C H A PT E R IV

F ourth Y ear—R ec ord of S p on tan eou s D ev el op m e n t A f te r th e


C h ild w as T h ree Years O ld w i th S e l ec ti on s of Draw in gs an d
,

C u tt in gs al l M e n tal P i c t u re s Don e a s a R e s u l t of S el f
, ,

Ac t i v i ty and A c c om p ani ed by th e C h ild s E x p l an ati on s


,

.
C O NT E NT S

C H A PT E R VI
PA G E

S i x th Y e ar — N umb er W ork —C om p os i ti o n —F an c y—T h e S tory


-

o f K i tty—T h e A d v e n t u re s of a L ad y B u g
-

C H A PT E R V II

S e v e n th Y ear—L e arnin g Ge rma n W ri tin g and S p ellin g t h rou g h


, ,

— e t m e u e t o a —
P lay A B d i Q s i n T lk C o m p a ri s on Q u e s ti on s and
An s w e rs—T h e C h ild s S on g to H i s C ol ors—T w o S tori e s T ol d

b y th e C h il d

C H A PT E R V I II

E i g h t h Y e ar— E ff orts a t Ari t h m e ti c A S tory all U p s id e d ow n


a n

d A W ond e rf u l D re am ”
T o ld b y t h e C h ild — M e mory
Work — C on c e p ti on of F rac ti on s —De v e l op m en t in D raw in g
a nd D es i g nin g
I LLU S T R A TI O N S

SPO N T A NE O US E FF O RT S WI T H C O L O R S 1 8 9 4 T O 1 8 9 8
,

N O D A T E D R A W I NG S

N O D A T E D R A WI NG S

N o D A T E D RA W I N G S

1 8 9 2 A ND 1 8 9 3 D R A W I N G S A ND C U TT IN G S —T H E C H IL D S

EARL IE S T E FF O R T S
1 8 9 3 D R AW IN G S— T H REE YEAR S O L D

1 8 9 3 A ND 1 8 9 4 D R A W I NG S

1 8 9 4 C UT T I N G S

1 8 9 3 D RA W I N G S —E N G IN E S

1 8 9 3 D R A WIN G S —B O A T S T R O L L EY S E T C
, ,
.

1 8 9 3 D RA WIN G S —E N G IN E S—T H REE YEAR S O L D

1 8 9 3 D RA WIN G S —T H REE YEAR S O L D

1 8 9 3 D R A W I NG S

1 8 9 3 D R A WIN G S— T H REE YEA RS O L D

1 8 9 4 C U T T I N GS AN D 1 8 9 3 A N D 1 8 9 4 PR IN T E D L E TTE R
WO R K
1 8 94 CU TT IN G S—F O U R YEA R S O L D
1 8 94 C UT T I NG S O F E N G IN E S
1 894 E N G IN E A ND C A R C U TT IN G S —F O U R YEAR S OLD

1894 D R A W I NG S — F O U R YEAR S O L D
1 89 4 D RA W I NG S—F O U R YEARS O L D

1 8 94 D R AWIN G S —F O UR YEAR S OL D

TH E
ILLUSTRATIONS
$

T HE B UT T E R F L Y O N TH E C UR TAIN
1 8 9 5 A ND 1 8 9 6 D RA WI NG S
1 89 5 D R A W I NG S
1 895 E NG I NE D R A WI NG S —F I VE Y E A R S O L D

1 8 95 D R A W I NG S—F I V E Y E A R S O L D
1895 D R A W I NG S — F I V E Y E A R S O L D
1895 D R A W I NG S — F I V E Y E A R S O L D
1 895 D R A W I NG S — F I V E Y E A R S O L D
1 895 B O A T D R A WING S — F I VE Y E A R S O L D

1 895 D R A WI NG S —F I V E YE A R S O L D
1 895 —
D R A WI NG S F I V E Y E A R S O L D .

1 895 C UT T I NG S —F I v E YE A R S OLD

1896 D R A WI NG S
1 8 9 6 D R A W I NG S — S IX Y E AR S O L D

1 8 9 6 D R A W I NG S —S I X Y E A R S O L D

1 8 9 6 D R AW I NG S —S IX Y E A R S O L D

1 8 9 6 D R A W I NG S

G RAD E D E FF O R T AT WR I T I N G C O MPO S I T I O N A ND

AR L Y E FF O RT S A T NUM B E R S
E .

1 8 9 6 D R A W I NG S —S I X Y E AR S O L D

1 8 9 6 C U T T I NG S A ND D R A WI N G S — S I X Y E A R S O L D

1 8 9 6 C U TT IN G S —S I x YE A R S O L D
-

E A R L Y C U T T I NG S A ND W R I T I NG S

1 8 9 6 C U TT I NG S A ND D R A WI NG S

A L E SS O N I N ADD I T I O N
A L E SS O N A N D I T S R E S U L T : E A R L Y A T T E M P T S AT S UE

T R A C T I O N D I VI S I O N A ND MU L T IPL I CAT I O N
, ,

1 8 9 7 D R A W I NG S—S E VE N Y E A R S O L D

1 8 9 7 D R A W I NG S —S E VE N YE A R S O L D

1 8 9 7 D R A W I NG S

1 8 9 7 D R AW I N G S —S E VE N Y E ARS O L D

1 8 9 7 A ND 1 898 D RAWINGS .
A ST U DY O F A C H I L D

practice than w ith the d evelopment of their m oral


,

conscience The latter is th e blosso m which w ill be


.

followed by fru it but the former are the roots and


,

branches .

Professor S ully says in his introduction to this work


that the cardinal principle of modern educational the
ory is that systematic training should watch the spon

t a n e ou s movements of the child s mind and adapt its
processes to these It is in the first three or four years
.

of life that w e have the key to the emotional an d moral



n ature of the young He says if the study be deferred
.
,

to school life it will never be full or exact The arti


-

,
.

fi c ial character of even the brightest school s u rroundi ngs


offers too serious an obstacle to the free play of childish

likings . He says f urther that nothing perhaps has
, , , ,

been more misunderstood than childhood ; that fe w


have the disposi tion to seriously endeavor to think
themselves into the situation and circumstances of the
child casting a side their o w n ad u lt habits of mind and
,

trying to become themselves for the moment as li t tle


children and that the man to W hom c hildren will reveal
,

themselves is not he w h o is wont to look on them as a


nuisance or a bore but he who fin d s them an amuse
,

ment and a delight w h o likes n othing better than to


,

cast aside n ow and again the heavy a rmor of serious


business and ind u lge in a good childish romp He sug .

gests the father as an observer because his masculine ,

i ntelligence will be less exposed to the risk of taki ng too


sentimental and eulogistic a view of the baby mind ; but
he says the father cannot however hope to accomplish , ,

the task alone His restricted leisure compels him to


.

“ ’
call in the mother as collaborateur and the mother s ,

enthusias m a nd p atie n t brooding watchfulness are n ee d


,

2
C H I L D S T U DY I N -
TH E H O ME

ed quite as m uch as the father s kee n analytic vision ,
.

The mother S ho uld note under the guidance of the


father he taking d ue care to test and verify I n this
,
.

way we may look for something like a complete record



of infant life .

In his recent w ork S tu d ies of Child hood he says


, ,

that the greatest desideratum to day for practical re -

sul t s in child study is the study of individual children


-

as they may be approached i n the nursery ; that e u


v iron m e n t heredity and methods of ed u cation S hould
, ,

all be noted in relation to th e child in question if the


record is to be of the greatest value I n vie w of the .

fact that children as well as their environments d iffer


very widely he says we need to kno w much more
,

about these variations ; that there is no substitute for :

the carefu l m ethodical study of the individual chil d


, , ,

and that the c c O peration of the mother is indispensable


-

as the kno w ledge of others never equals that of the


mother He predicts that women will become valuable
.

laborers in this new field O f investigation if they w ill


only acq u ire a genuine scienti fi c interest i n babyhood
and a fair a mOu nt of scientific training He indicates .

the necessity O f careful trai n ing i n observatio n because ,

a child is very quick to see whether he is being ob


served and as soon as h e suspects that y ou are specially
,

interested in his talk h e is apt to try to produce an


e ffect This wish to say something startling or won
.

d e rful will it is obvious detract from the value of the


, ,

utterance .

S tanley Hall also poi nts out that child study is espe -

c ial ly the woman s province of work that all teachi n g



, ,

especially of the very you n g must al w ays be a work of , ,

love to be really effective an d that chil d study should ,


-

3
A STUDY O F A CH ILD

be so directed as to instruct concer n ing and c hil d n a ture~

awake n child love He also says the love of childhood


-
.

and youth h a s al w ays been one of the stro ngest in


c e n t ive s to high thoughts and nob l e d ee d s and quite , ,

apart from its results the st udy of children is good in


,

i tself enriches parenthoo d and brings the adult and the


, ,

child nearer together .

To sum u p authorities th e late D r Preyer whose


, .
,

work i n child study is known all over the worl d says i n


-

, ,

I nfa n t Min d “
But after all the O bservation in mental
, ,

development i n the earliest years naturally falls to the


mother more tha n to any other person ; that other per
sons also teachers both male and female fathers ol d er
, , , ,

brothers and sisters are to be induced to consi d er th e


,

importance of the facts in this field which has indee d , , ,

been lying ope n for hundreds of years but h a s been ,



little trodden and is th erefore a n e w field
,
.


He continu e s : A lthough the little child shows him
self to the observer always without the leas t dissim u la
tion still there is great danger with the a nth rop om or
,

phi o tendency of most people i n their w ay of looki ng at


thi ngs that m ore will be attributed to th e chil d than
,

actually belongs to him He says n ew c omp reh e n

.
,

sive diaries concerning the actions of children are


urgently to be desire d and they should contai n noth
,

ing but well established facts no hypotheses and n o


-

, ,

repetition of the statements of others .

F ollowing suc h suggestio n s as these I began seve n ,

years ago to observe systematically a healthy happy , ,

and intelligent child endeavoring to keep constantly i n


,

v iew t h e fact that he was but one of ma ny and taki ng ,

n o liberty of expressio n w hatever beyon d recording facts .

The recor d was t ak e n at i ntervals u nd er exceptio n ally


4
C HILD STUDY IN
-

TH E HO ME

fa vorable c ircu mstances for h e w as traine d under W hat


,

might be called the Pestalozzian principle of letting alone ,

with unconscious supervision i n a carefully guarded e u


v ironm e nt which supplied a great number of centres of

interest that were full of indirect s uggestion Preyer .


says in one of his w orks The more numerous the sounds
O f interest imitated the quicker the child will learn to
,

talk he noted later ho w ever in one of the letters b e


, , ,

fore mentioned ,

b ut their then m ental development

may thus be disturbed It w as for fear of such disturb
.

ance that no formal teaching of any kind was allowed


until the end of the sixth year but all questions were ,

carefully ans w ered and effort w as made to see that the


,

ans w ers w ere clearly understood S ervants w ere in .

structed to refer the child to his parents for answers to


all qu estions they did not themselves comprehend an d ,

su ffi cient supervision was given to see that these d ire c


tions were followed A ll baby talk was forbidden and
.
-

great care was taken to enu nciate distinctly S urround .

ings were carefully planned to meet growing needs from


the m oment h e began to notice things The record is .

therefore one of spontaneous development of self ac t iv -

ity produced as a result : ( 1 ) of suggestion based upo n a ,

carefully considered environment ; (2) of accurate and


sympathetic explanation given only whe n asked for ; and
,

( )
3 of carefully graded steps that were taken one at a
time ( Dr Preyer s annotation here was Q uite tru e )
. .
’ ”


Edward G ardiner Howe says : R estraint upon the part
of the parent or teacher is a necessity to prevent giving

more information tha n can be absorbed He also .


says : There is no subject so profound but its central
tr uth can be taught to very small children and a child ,

ca n b e le d to any he ight if the steps are made S hort


5
A STUDY O F A CHILD

e n ough .

( D r. Preyer here added ,

This is n ot the

cas e )
The res u lts recorded illustrate however very clearly , ,

the practicability of Froe b el s theory of i nd uci ng and ’

g u iding in the n u rsery a self activity w hich eventually -

w ill develop power c ultivate observation and memory


, ,

prod ce acc racy teach a child to think in S hort de


u u ,

,

v e lo every faculty a child may possess and enable it to


p ,

ed uc ate itself easily by giving it a tec hn ic so to speak , ,

and a desire for study which will continue through a


lifetime if it is not dulled by ro u tine method during
the period following nursery life after which time only ,

must instructio n become formal This method of train .

ing also affords the parent an opportunity of discovering


inherent weaknesses and re moving them by encouraging
and sympathetic influences ; for as Mrs F elix Adler ,
.


sympathe t ically says : In the case of children they are ,

sure to distress and discourage us b u t we m u st not make ,

the mistake O f overlooking the light parts that balance


the dark sh adows We must expect to find inc onsiste n
.

cies c u rious inco ng ruities paradoxes in the character


, ,
.

If w e study both good and evil traits the good ones will ,

enable u s to eradicate the evil ones It is a well estab .
-

l ish e d fact that a child learns through playing and by


having opport unity to let nature assert itself sponta n e
ou sl
y and W itho u t restraint under watchful supervision
,

O f which however it must be unconscious — yet h o w


-

, ,

com m only we see n u rses and even parents endeavori ng


, ,

to attract the attentio n of an infa n t perhaps with t he ,

idea of amusing when most probably its only require


,

ment at the ti m e is to be let a l on e to d o w ha t p lea ses i t .

( D r Preyer here added


. Y es ”
and underscored the
,

phrase) Instead of being quietly place d where the child


.

6
C H ILD S TUDY I N -
THE HO ME

may reach it a ball will be shaken to and fro or u p and


, ,

down so rapidly that the babe s eyes are u nable to fol
l o w it ; hands w ill be clapped so loud that the child b e
comes frighten ed ; th e n u rse will keep up an eter n al
jogging o n t h e knee of the body of th e child with some ,

c urio u s notion of the necessi ty for constant movement


as a pacifier S ome persons go so far e ven as to toss
.

baby up and do w n as if he were a ball while the poor ,

little atom of humanity wants only to be let alone to


find ou t for himself what all the curious things mean
w ith which he finds himself surrounded If the persons .

whose business it is to take care of infa nts would instead ,

O f amusing themselves at the expense of the child s


nerves practise sufficient self restraint to watch the


,
-


efforts of a four months old child when it is trying to
- -

to u ch a ball or any object within i ts reach and line of


v ision as the one observed d id whe n th ree and one h a lf
,
-

months O l d the i mm ense possibility would be evident at



,

once of training a child to self entertain m ent by S imply -

letting him alone to find o ut abo u t things and do for


himself ( Dr Preyer wrote in this connection : Y es
. .

,

this is quite true Need not be verified E ve n th e


. .

shaking of the cradle of th e bab y in the n u rse s arms I


,

,

strictly forbid o n acco u nt of the distur b ance of the


,

blood circulatio n of the brain A study of the record .

of the child observed sho u ld be su fficient to convince


the most in c red ulous mother of the fact that she m ay
save herself much care and worry and do much better
for her child by shaping with a compelling hand the e m
v iron m e nt of her nursery from the very b egi n ning of its

life for it is at this time that a correct habit of body


,

m ay be laid with very little effort and it is also the ,



time w h en many a child s life develops an impulse i n
A S TUDY O F A C H I LD

the opposite d irectio n d iffi cult to overcome in later


years .

If during the first S ix months a regular regime has


b een established in regard to hours of feeding sleep , ,

bathing and letting alone the mother will by this time


, , , ,

have leis ure to consider the needs of the awakening


mind R egularity i n n ursery routine with its res u lt
.
,

showing i n the serenity of the child will give op p ortu ,

mity for study as to how best to meet the new require


ments and also to take record s of daily development for
,

reference as to futu re g uidance and study C om p ay ré .


says the better the child s health and the better he is
fed the more activity he has to dispense and t h e more
,

active will be his motor faculty ; and inasm uch as


physical care favors intellectual growth fro m the very
first that mothers shall provide i n telligen tly for physical
,

needs and beware of restra i n i n g this motor faculty if it ,

is not too great N ervous children m u st be restrained


.
,

Preyer added This restrai nt however must be W isely


.
, ,

exercised or n ot at all
,
.

C hildren are proverbially good when they are busy ,

but constant diversion is necessary to keep them so ,

becau se the child mind is not capable of fixed atten tio n


-

for more than a few minutes at a time Herei n lies the .

value of the principle of s uggestion in environment It .

is possible and very easy for a mother who has any com
prehension of Froeb e l s i nner meaning to prepare each

day i n a very fe w min u tes after her child has gone to ,

S leep a suggestive environment that will relieve her


,

almost entirely during the following hours of any care


beyond the physical and even this may if necessary
, , ,

under proper direction and s u pervision b e delegated to ,

a faithful servant It is in the constant supervisio n


.

8
A S TUDY OF A CH ILD

ing upo n h im to exercise still dormant powers w e refuse ,

any aid to his spontaneous struggle to do and learn and


be that which h is stage of development demands Thus .

we kill the creative activity the absence of which in ,

later life we deplore and endeavor again to recreate .

It is true that it is the exceptional mother and teacher


to day W ho take up t his question in any but a super ficial
-

manner but it is not too muc h to hope that the day w ill
,

come and that very soon whe n the p ra c tica l res u l ts of


, ,

the sc ien ce of c hi ld stu d y will have permeated every h om e


-

of i n tel ligen ce kin d er a rten a n d sch ool and when m oth


g , , ,

e r n u rse kin d er a r tn er and r im a r ch ool tea c her will


g p y s -

, , ,

work hand in hand W ithout stepping over the line for


,

h id d e n for normal physical development F ro m a foun .

dation like this should arise a nation of people possessi ng


suc h marked individ u ality and prod uctive capability as
wo uld conclusively demonstrate the value of the work
that has been done by men like C omenius Pestalozzi ,

R ousseau F roebel Herbart Preyer and Horace Mann


, , , ,

and is now being d o n e by S ully Harris Baldwin S tan , , ,

ley Hall and many others


,
.

A great impetus has alrea d y been given by these


psychologists to those young parents kindergartners , ,

and primary school teachers w h o have been a live to the


-

t ru e meaning of child study ; and Froe b e l s love for



-

children and his desi re for their happiness is understood


more clearly to day than ever before Much of the
-
.

physical restrai nt formerly in vogue among kinder


gartners and teachers and th e too close attention to
,

method and the l etter of his philosophy instead of the


s ir i t have disappeared and the freedom of spontaneo u s
p , ,

play and self activity have taken their place to the m ani
-

fest improvement of the child .

10
C HILD S TUDY I N
-
THE HO ME

Whe n we remember that F roebel did not expect his


philoso phy to be thoro ughly understood for two hun
dred years we can easily see h o w after fifty years of
, ,

imperfect elucidation there still remains a great work


,

for the kindergartner and a still greater one for the


,

mother in the nursery to produce the necessary adj us t


,

m ent to ed u cational methods which is required for spon


ta n e ou s development .

S ympathy and suggestion must go hand in hand with



trained method one is as necessary as the other but —

the mother s work must come first for she has the first ,

O pport u nity .

S he can prepare herself for this work by studying the



philosophy of F roebel not necessarily his methods
and then by putting his principles into practice she
, ,

will find that the child s development i n the n u rsery
will be a sympathetic reflectio n of her own and will ,

unconscio u sly follo w her own plan of study which ,

s h ould lead directly into th e hands of the kind e rg art


ner It is evident to the careful observer of children
.

in kindergartens and the primary schools that t o day


parents need direct teaching more than the child to be ,

given i n such a w ay as to influence children in the


nursery before th e most impressionable perio d of their
lives has been passed T his is very tr ue wrote Dr
.

,
.

Preyer w h o lamented with reason in I nfa n t Min d


, , , ,

that in cultivated families th e childre n sho u ld be left


alone so much with uneducated nurses maids b on n es , , ,

and that no counterpoise as a r ule is supplied b y a close


, ,

perso nal contact with the child of the ed u c ated pare nts
that t h e fathers have other claims upon them ; th e
mothers in too many cases are hindered b y so called
, ,
-

“ ”
duties of society or by needless j ourneys He says .
,

11
A S TUDY O F A C HI LD

forcibly that when a child grows up from the beginning


,

under the influence of the suggestions of cultivated


people he m u st of necessity take with him into the
,

period in which the nursery is left behi n d forever a


considerably less number O f n aughty ways and a gre at
many more excellences wi t h the n atural result of,

being better fitted for progress than if undesirable


wa y s must be first forgotten and excellences such as , ,

O bedience be bred i n him after leavi ng the n u rsery


, .

He says t h e direction of attentio n thro ugh s uggestion


never fails when used s y stematically It is evident .
,

therefore that the mother who will interest herself


,

i n child study and its results must find by following


-

this course of sympathetic supervision a nd intelligent


suggestion that she c a n easily and unobtr u sively pre
,

pare her child for satisfactory work in bot h kinder


garten and primary sc h ool T he aid of a trained kin .

d e rg a rtn e r of inspiring personality or of a t least a ,

refi n ed and educated nursery maid may be secured if -

, ,

possible very early i n the life of a ch ild O ne how


,
.
,

ever should be selected w h o has learned the value of


,

repose i n handling children and w h o can s u bord in a te ,

method as a m eans for the development of mental and


moral growth U ndo u btedly one of the greatest dan
.

gers to be found t o day in the average kindergarten lies


in the absorption of method and the aggressiveness of

the teacher s perso n ality to the exclusion of sp on ta
n e ity and the self effacement necessary upon the teach
,
-

er s part for the promotion of unconscious development


in the child .


We can all no doubt as R ousseau says sit rever
, , ,

e n tly at the feet of infancy watching and learning ,
.

S ul ly speaks of R ousseau s belief that the infant comes


12
CHILD S T UDY I N
-
TH E H O ME

unspoiled from the hands of its Maker and is not born ,

morally d epraved to be made good by miraculous appii


,

anc es .Th e accepted belief of many psychologists of


t o day is that every child comes into the world loaded
down with inherited tendencies to evil from which it ,

will event u ally suffer unless they are counteracted by


opposing influences T he child is certainly unformed at
.

this period hence may be moulded for good or evil and


, ,

in consequence man s methods in training must be care


f ully adjusted so as not to brush away th e bloom of the


“ ”
lovely grace of childhood There is an insti nctive
.

goodness and gladness in every child that i n spite of ,

evil heredity and depraved surro u ndi ngs will respo n d ,

to sympathetic treatment But to treat children sympa


.

thetically in order that w e may obtai n a clearer insigh t


into their mental processes and kno w better h o w to
guide them w e m u st certainly absorb the sp irit of
,

F roebel w h o begs us to live w ith our children not only


, ,

f o r them as so many do and keep them happy


, ,
.

I have never seen a child who was n ot happy and in


c l ine d to be good when w ell occupied The letter of .

Froe b e l s philosophy was S imply meant by him to be an


aid in establishing a suitable environment to fit the com


prehension of the children in question and it is inval u ,

able when properly u sed to keep them happily em


ployed But if a mother happens to be placed beyond
.

the reach of a kin d ergarten or the aid of a kind e rg art


,

n er she n eed not despair of attempting the work unaid


,

ed for by studying Froe b el s philosophy and reading his


,

meaning wit h the eyes of love she will clearly see h o w ,

sh e may prepare for her child a n e n vironment of suggest

io n and formulate for herself a method that will grasp


,

the e ntire meaning of his play and occupations with ,

13
A S TUDY O F A C HI LD

their w onderful results Then when she sends her chil d


.

a w ay to begin his life work she may feel that she has
-

given him power wi th which he can easil y handle the


pro b lems that w ill confront h im daily and that she has
,

not only give n h im power but has done it in a manner


,

that has not hindered his p h ysi ca l development the ,

so u ndness of which will determine largely his w hole


future intellectual and moral life D r Preyer here
. .


added : Therefore the controlling supervision of the
,

h
p y s ica l development in childhood is the most important

task of all young m others . F athers may assist i n such
work if they will but realize the importance of surro und
ing young m others with the sere n e happy conditions in
,

their daily lives that will impel the m by their great con
tent to live with their children as F roebel begs them to
,

do an d watch over the m wit h that broodi ng mother


,

love which S hould be the natural outcome of affectio n


and co n si d eration not d enie d them in their ow n relations
of life
.
C HAP T ER I

F RAGM E N T AR Y F I R ST YE A R NOTE S -

TE E dated record of the spontaneous devel opment of


the child in question began whe n he was fourteen
months old and comparatively fe w notes were made
,

d u ring the period covering the first year The few .

facts that were noted may be of greater i nterest pos ,

sib ly to psychologists than to the general reader


,
F or .

instance the child s first S ign of early a d aptation to


,

surroundings of which C om p ay ré speaks w a s possibly


, ,

given when he w as found contentedly s u cking his


thumb after the fashion of many other i nfants about
, ,

half an hour after he was born Both nurse and phy .

s ic ia n d welt frequen tly upon the importance of the fact

that when the child received his first bath he lif ted his
head u naided from the lap i n which he w as lying thus ,

sho w ing to the popular mind an early in c lination to


kno w what was going on about him agai n following the ,

fash ion of many other mortals and to the psychologist ,

great promise of brain power He showed o n the second


.

and third days a decided disinclination to sleep i n the



nurse s arms but he would invariably fall asleep easily
,

when removed to his mother s ar ms R eceptiveness to’


.

sympathy may probably here be traced for the n urse ,

w as unsympathetic .

Th e child noticed color w h en h e was a little over


three mo n ths old He was lyi n g on a b ed , n ear a h at
.

15
A ST UDY O F A C H I L D

trimmed with stiff yello w flo w ers He p u t ou t his han d .

and to u ched them T he rattli n g n oise of t h e flowers


.

must have pleased him for when the h at w a s moved a


,

little farther away from him b e stretched his body after,

i t so he co uld reach and rattle them again Dr Preyer . .

ad d ed an interrogatio n point to this incident evidently ,

questioning the d ate for it was at that part of the ma n u


,

script that h e pointed his question When I wrote to .

him the last time I explained h ow I kne w the date to be


a fact but h is death intervened before I could receive a
,

reply The child had noticed some colored balls of red


.

and white a few days before the hat incident His nurse .

h ung them near him and he played wi t h them while


,

lyi ng on a couch and kicking up his heel s He seemed .

happiest always whe n he w a s let alone and treated like


a machine and at even this early age he was fully able
,

to amuse himself as nearly all w ell children are when a


,

w holesome regime has once been established .

He objected to a R aff concerto for violin a nd piano ,



but tolerated Han d el s L argo althou gh wi t h a quiver of ,

his lip This was before he w a s fo u r months old The


. .

R a ffmusic began j ust as he was going to S leep he cried


bitterly on hearing it and he was taken to the music
,

room to see if it woul d quiet him to see the performers .

He crie d continuously ho w ever as if he suffered T hen


, ,
.
,

as an experi m ent the L argo w as played This seemed


,
.

to soothe him somewhat but his parents conclu d ed that


,

the violi n was the trouble and laid it aside (It is inter .

esting to note that a year later h e developed a great


fondness for violin music begging for it whe n ever op
,

rt u n ity offered )
p o .

A t this time a single voice si n ging wo uld not quiet


him , if for a ny of the numerous reasons of early baby
16
A S T UDY O F A C H I LD

The child s early sense of hu mor which is a marked



,

characteristic thro ughout the record w a s shown by his ,

manner of receiving th e visits of a very j olly loOking -

physician w h o w as a n image of S anta C lau s and at ,

w ho m he would al w ays la ugh ino rdinately even when ,

he was only five months old w hether he was ailing or ,

not It gre w to be so noti c ea b le that once even t h e


.

physician seeing h im la ughing withou t kno w ing th e


, ,

cause S hook his finger at h im a nd said to t h e m other


,

Yo u m u st make t hat child stop la ughing when the ,

child la ughed more than ever and the mother pleaded ,

her inability to control what see m ed perfectly natural


and spontaneous .

In t h e same spontaneous way he reached out his arms


for the first colored servant he ever saw (a chambermaid
with a fresh white cap and apron on) and promptly ,

kissed her ( The re c ord shows throughout a great lik


.

ing for w h at he called lovely



This won th e
hearts of the entire hotel sta ff for it was duly retailed ,

by the favored re c ipient and after that both the child


,

and nurse were in no need of willing service at all hours


and places and under all circ u mstances A t this time
,
.

the telegrap h ticking and the washing of the waves were


his t w o absorbing amuse m ents d u ring the few hours he
w as awake S ailing h a d no terrors for him The yacht
. .


cap tains called h im our baby His nurse held him .

over the side of the boat W here he wo uld contentedly


,

watch the water dash against it even when out on the ,

ocean where the waves were high ( H e always sho w ed .

the same content when watching the splashing of his


bath and wo uld look intently with much pleas u re at the
,

water running swif tly from the fa u cets ) O nce during .


,

a passi ng sho w er of rain he settled down con tentedly in


,

18
F R A G ME N T A R Y F I R S T Y E A R N O T E S -

the stuffy l ittle cabin of a sail boat where he apparently -

took in all his surroundings very quietly j ust as he had ,

done on the train when travelling to the shore with ,

never a m urmur nor a cry but always eager to see or ,

do something His wants were usually anticipated


.
,

which with his regular l ife may probably have had


, ,

some influence in promoting this unlo c ked for sere n ity -


.

The only time he was known to be g u ilty of putting


anything i n his mouth after the fashion of children wh o
are contin u ally doing so when they sho uld not w as ,

when sailing one day he w a s discovered chewi ng a tarry


bit of rope by a family friend w h o declared the child
w as only half fed and was hu ngry this innuendo being ,

d irected at the mother for her well known insistence -

upon regularity in feeding the child The rope w a s .

replaced by something that seemed equally desirable to


him whic h method of removal may also contain a sug
,

gestio n for that parent w h o believes in early discipline .

When after returning from the shore the child was


, ,

taken to the mountain he showed a fancy for thro w ing


,

pebbles and green grapes wh ich h e picked for the pur


,

pose while in his nurse s arms ; and all this w as done


,

,

presumably from imitatio n of some boys w h o played


,

w ith h im in this manner .

He began to walk very early stood u p a lon e whe n ,

nine months O l d and attempted to sing whe n placed on


,

a music stool before the piano He sang the music of


-

“ ”
two lines of A nnie R ooney correctly from imitation , ,

when nine months old His nurse maid sa ng this song


.
-

d aily .

A t this time he showed a shrinking sort of fear wh en


he heard a noise like a hammer striking something in the
next room and also w hen he hear d a coal fall from the
,

19
A S T UDY O F A C H ILD

grate D uring an unavoidable absence of a day and a


.

night upon the part of his mother he cried and appar , ,

ently missed her A fter her return he would cry when


.
,

ever sh e approached the door by which she had left


when S h e went away .

O n e evening when h e heard his father and mother


,

singi n g a duet h e j oined in in the m ost nai ve w ay


, , ,

singing up and down to the very end as if he couldn t ,


help it Every on e about him w a s careful not to lau gh


.

at anythi n g he did ; consequently his spontaneity w as


deliciously entertaining .

He would at this time r ecognize the voice of a favorite


servant wh en she passed the door on the outside and he ,

w ould call loudly for her He began to try to say a few


.

words at this period as related in the dated record and


, ,

succeeded i n w alki ng a few steps He crept very littl e . .

He seemed to give great attention to everything he did ,

so no doubt he soon learned that he could do better than


creep so far as loco m otion was concerned
,
.


C om p ay ré says the child s consciousness fl a shes forth
at first in gestures later i n his babbling Hence the
,
.

particu l ar interest w hich the observation of his outward


movement offers as the sincere expression of his mental
activity ( C ompare an idiotic with a normal child — the
.

first quie t the latter all motion ) Besides these motions


,
.
,

w hich we can follow and note with exactness however ,

slight may be the attention we may give them are i n ,

themselves psychic facts and only to have described ,

them wo u ld be psychology i n itself M A n t h om ie . .

speaks of the power of penetratio n that the mother s ’

eye acquires fixed with a sweet determination upon one


,

she loves T h e force of the tenderness creates between


.

the parent and the child relations so close a m oral inti ,

20
F R A G ME N T A R Y F I R S T Y E A R N O T E S
-

m acy so deep that the faintest heart beats of the child


,
-

re—echo i n the ears of those that love him Paternal an d .

maternal love carry wit h them a sort of divination .

C om p ayré says that the bes t psychologists of child


h ood are those w h o have fo llowed carefu lly from h our ,

to hour the moral development of their o w n children


,
.

He says if the j ournals kept by a mother or a father in ,

which a careful hand registers from day to day the



smallest incidents of the child s existence are really the ,

most precious sources of observation a ll information


, ,

wherever it comes from is welcome Mme N ecker d e


, . .

S aussure recommended these re c ords fifty years ago ,



sayi ng : I strongly urge you ng mothers to keep an

accurate record of the development of their children .

Much of th e following dated record of the little life


which rolled along so serenely and pleasantly may seem
of slight value to the general reader w h o is simp ly ,

charmed with the fascination of children s ways yet ,

for reasons like the above none may be omitted for ,

we are told that the key note of the whole p sy c h olog i


-

cal value of the work m ight prove to be found in those


facts that might be omitted by one w h o does not kno w ,

yet hopes that herei n is faithfully picture d the i n ner life


of a child .
CHAPT E R I I

S E CON D YE AR C OVE R IN G DE VE LO P M E N T O F LAN GUAGE


, ,

A ND I N C I DE N TA LL Y T H E C UL T I VAT I O N O F O B E DI
, ,

E N C E A ND T RU ST

A PR I L 1 1 1 89 1 — F ourteen months old I w as readi ng


,
. .

aloud from Pu n ch a n d Ju d y which is fully ill ustrated


,
.

When I came to the place where Punch says O h my , ,



n ose $ my best S unday nose $ Harold to u ched his nose ,

then bent over and touch ed mine and placing his h ead , ,

against my sho u lder he screwed up his face in a gri n


,

and laughed loud twice in succession The book w a s .

given to him when he w a s a year old a nd ever S i nce ,

r eceiving it h e has shown great delight when he sees the

picture where Punch and Judy are turning their faces



t o each other and Judy says ,
Punchy w a nchy dear , , ,

old Punchy $ Harold always l augh s aloud when h e
sees this and at any time of the day or night I need
,

but say the words to make him laugh O nce I w his .

pered them to him in the middle of the night when he ,

w as restless and he laughed loud was diverted for the


, ,

moment turned over and fell asleep ( The record shows


, ,
.

to present date that h e is keenly alive to fun and a d ,

vantage of the fact w as often taken for diverti ng him


from w h at might otherwise ha ve proved a source of
trouble )
.

A pril 1 2th — Whe n putting away some of his blocks


.


to d ay I inadvertently put some in a basket with other
22
SE COND YE AR

toys but h e reached for the little wagon in which they


,

belonged inti m ated that h e wanted them all and p u t


, ,

them one by one in the basket sometimes however


, , , , ,

stopping to buil d I attempted to make a note of this


.

with a pencil which he took from me tried to write


, ,

with it discovered that he h a d the wrong end of the


,

pencil and turned it about The sam e d ay he sa w a


,
.

dog across the street He looked intently at him a nd .

“ ”
said something that sounded like wow $ wow $ He
frequently says it u pon seei ng a little boy He did it .

t o day his manner showing distinctly that he meant it


,

for the b oy .

O ne day this w eek while in h is coach on th e street , ,

coming home he began to throw kisses j ust before


,

falling asleep He often does this wh en going out or


.

w hen going to bed and accordi n g to D r Preyer some , ,


.
,

association with farewell ca u ses h im to do it .

He occasionally has an egg for breakfast of which h e ,

is very fond They are served to him in cups similar to


.

those used at table O n S unday he w as in the dini ng .

room and as soon as h e saw the egg cups on the table


,
-

h e cried apparently for an egg and co u ld with d iffi


, ,

culty be diverted .

O ne morni ng last week when watching some one ,

d ress h e brought the shoes neede d one by one fro m


, , ,

a closet near by and took the bath slippers back in ,

the same w ay O ne day recently he vol u ntarily went


.

to a couch under w hich stood a pair of shoes and c ar


, ,

ried them one by one to th e shoe case set the m do w n -

before the curtain and then turne d and seated himself ,

on the floor before u s looking up as though h e wanted ,

to be praised .

He often begs to b e taken up into some one s arms to ’

23
A S TU D Y OF A CHILD

watch the brushing of teeth This su ggested buying a .

brush for him which he gravely puts i n water now and


,

brushes his own teeth dail y T his morning when watch .


,

ing his mother brush her teeth he picked up a bru sh ,

lying n ear him and took it to his father saying ques , ,



t io n ing ly

,
hab em ? He h a s said hab em ? and
’ “ ” ’


gib em and up s a dada for over a month He

,
- -
.

say s the l atter w he n lifting anything or when jumping ,

up and down He often pretends to drop something


.


from his hand and pulls it up quickly sayi ng ups a
, ,
-


d ada $ I think he learned this expression from his

nurse When h e says hab em ? he hands you some
.

thi ng He often picks up something from th e fl oor— a


.


thread or a pin an d brings it to you saying h ab “
,


em 2 If he w ants anythi n g he reaches for it and says
” ”
“ ’ “
hab em ? or g ib em He often co m es with his

.


hand closed looking very mischievous and says hab
, ,

em and on opening it you find nothi ng .


A bout this time he learned what no no meant A ,
.

cover that was u sed for a water pail i n the room next to -

his seemed to attract him very much on account of a


hole in its centre through w hich w e would occasionally
,

find him poking his fists O ne d a y he w a s found there


.

pretending to wash his hands We then began to take .

“ ”
him away from it and say no no doi ng it quietly , ,

but persistently O ne day nurse and I followed him at


.

interval s no less than twenty times to do this as a mat ,

ter of experiment to find out whether h e could learn


,

what inevitable meant F requently he see m ed to

.

understand what w e w ere trying to do for he would ,

O ften run away from us and go directly there as if i n a ,

S pirit of mischief look at us and la u gh as h e stoo d there


, ,

while at other times he would walk up to it gravely ,

24
A S TUDY OF A CHILD

d ently i n the clinki ng of the keys agai nst th e iron frame .

He has been goi ng repeatedly during the last fe w weeks


to a chi ffonnier where he would stand looki ng up inte n tly
,

at the door of a little closet in it which held a slen d er ,

n ecked claret glass of which he is ver y fond


-

,
He so m e .


times would say hab em ? when l ooki ng at the d oor’
.

We regularly opened the closet and gave him the glass


to carry for a while which he d id wit h the greatest care
,

and pride He would then return it apparently satis


.
,

fi e d and w e would replace the glass in the closet


, O ne .

morning this week he broke it accidentally b u t for t w o ,

d ays he still went to the closet each morning in th e


same way that he did before h e broke the glass We .

ope ned the door each time to S ho w him that it w as n ot


there and at last h e seemed to u nderstand and n ever
, ,

went again .

He has shown for som e time a desire to fit thi ngs


together or to drop things into holes To day he was
,
.
-

playi ng in one roo m with par of a broken toy a


t —
pointed stick with a hole at one end thro ugh w hich ,

h e could put his fi nger He d id this a number of .

times examining it intently where his finger cam e


,

through the hole when he seemed to be suddenly


,

struck with some idea and started for the next room ,

goi ng as fast a s he could walk A s we never interfere d .

w ith him unless w e saw da nger ahead I follo w ed quietly ,

and saw him go directly to the water pail before m e n -

tion e d and poke the piece of wood u p and down i n t h e



h ole i n the lid of the pail sayi ng u p s a d ada $

,
He - -

came away without a murmur when I took his hand a nd



said N o no dropped the piece of wood at once a nd
, , , ,

took u p another toy .

We gave him some kitchen thi ngs to play w ith t o d ay ,

26
SE CO ND YE AR

as he seems to take especial delight in them especially ,

the con tents of the bottom part of th e dresser pots —


,

pans etc A mong those given to h im w as a n e w salt


,
.

box that looked like silver S h ortly after w e gave him


.

the lid and althoug h it was gilt and the box S ilver he
, ,

instantly fitted the lid where it belonged selecting th e ,

box from severa l things on the table He w as sitti ng .

upon the table himself at the time We then tried him .

wit h a q u art and a pint jar of glass each having covers ,

to fi t which we gave to him at different times He fitted


,
.


them correctly without a moment s hesitation .

He has begun dancing no w when h e hears street


organs but only when there is a suitable rhythm If he
,
.

hears the m u sic at a distance he drops his toys runs to ,

the window and cries to be lifted up to see The organ


,
.

grinders know him so well that he has them here daily .

( Whe n seven years O ld he s h o w ed a marked sense of


rhythm and alt h o ugh he had receive d very little musical
,

instruction he then picked o ut very pretty harmonies )


,
.

He is beginning to imitate the rag and slop man giving - -

a very fair imitation as he r uns through the rooms gen


, ,

e ral ly carrying under his arm in imitation of the rag


,

m an s bag a j ournal full of mechanical illustrations



, ,

which i s his pet book .

He comes to my bed in the morning after having bee n


dressed by his nurse hands me my shoes and go w n say
, ,
“ ”
ing hab em 2 and then hands me all the clothes h e

can find that he knows belong to me When at last .


,

after much of this sort of persuasion I get u p he can , ,

hardly wai t to call his father which he does by going to


,
“ ”
h is bedside an d saying b a “
sometimes baba He .

has had a great fashion lately of kissing m e at odd m o


me n ts , often on each eye successively es pecially when ,

27
A STUDY O F A CHILD

I am lying down face upward This evening h e kissed .

his father in the middle of a song while he w a s holding ,

him i n his arms and singing If w e say S ing Harold .


, ,

he will h u m a few notes He did it this afternoon when .

o u t in his coach and also this evening when his father


,

was playing a so ng .

A pril tl 6 h — Harold picked up my thi m ble to day and


.
-

bro u ght it to me took up my hand and fitted it on my


, ,

finger .

A pril 81 t h — S ince th e l 6th inst he has himself used


. .

the bottle of lotion that was given by the physician to


ease his gums d u ring teething He takes the bottle i n .

one hand p u ts his finger on its m outh turns it eno u gh


, ,

to wet his finger and rubs his gums ,


.

His coach para sol was u sed t o day for the first time
since last s u m mer and he showed fear w he n placed
,

under it He looked up at the cover as if afraid to sit


.

under it and cried bitterly I soothed and diverted him


,
.

until he reached the street when he seemed to forget it ,


.

T o day I took a dime from him to put i n his bank and ,

when he saw it about to disappear he cried .

A pril 1 7th —We tried to use an atomizer t o day but


.
,

he showed fear as soon as h e sa w it although he had ,

never seen one before and h e cried bitterly w hen I in ,


sisted upon using it in accordance with the physician s
directions He seems to S how fear of some thi ngs that
.

work in any w ay that he cannot understand or where ,

he cannot find the motive power .

A pril 1 8 th —I brought out the atomizer again in


.
,

tending to use it A s soon as he saw it he lef t my


.

knee where he w a s stan d ing and walked very quickly


, ,

i nto the other room as fast and as far as he could go , ,

an d stood there a nd cried I gave up all attempt to u se .

28
SE CO ND YE AR

it from that time for fear of making him n ervous a nd ,

becau s e force w as never used if it could be avoided .

When his teeth seemed to hurt him I gave him the bottle
of the lotion we used and told him to apply it himself ,

which he did i n what seemed to me to be a very gratefu l


way ( T he record shows that when he was five years old
.

his mo t her felt that something should be done to habitu


ate him to the u se of the spray if only as a precautio n ary ,

measure for probable need during illness It took her .

longer than a year making the e fl ort at intervals of


,

probably a month to teach him gently and without


,

bribi ng or straining his nerves by using force to use ,

both atomizer and v aporizer A t seven i t i s still very .

evident that he dislikes them yet he u ses them bravely , ,

showi ng how a victory of mind over m atter may be


brought about by patience and gentle treatment and ,

also how moral courage may incidentally be cultivated


i n a very young child ) .

A bout a week ago he walked to the wash stand an d -

pointed to the pitcher and cried I gave him some water .

to drink and h e took a great deal apparently being very


, ,

thirsty When ofl e ring h im his bottle of mil k this


.


morning he shook his head said N o no a nd walked
, , , ,

away He seems to be st rong wi lled and self reliant


.
- -

b u t not capricio u s perhaps because h e tr u sts us


,
.

L ast night he h a d two bottles i n his crib O n e con .

t ain e d sterilized water for use duri n g the n ight ; the


other was a small empty bottle with an u npunctured
, ,

nipple tied on securely We gave him the latter to bite


.

on during teething He was very fond of it was rarely


.
,

witho u t it and took it to bed with him every night for


,

a lo ng tim e where he would hold it tight in his han d


,

until h e fell asleep A bo u t midnight h e was restless


.
,

29
A S TU D Y OF A C H ILD

and I gave him the water bottle He took a long drink


-

.
,

and when h e had enough compare d the bottles in the,

dim light shook the water bottle held it up and looked


,
-

, ,

first at it the n at the little one A t last after doing


, .
,

this several times he lifted up the little one shook it


, , ,

looked at it very closely laid away the water bottle,


-

t u rned over and fell asleep with the little bottle in his
,

hand .

Q uite recently whe n visiting his grandparents they


, ,

had an am u sing experience with the little bottle It was .

mislaid duri n g the excitement of his arrival a nd when ,

bedtime came it could not be found He refused to .

sleep The e ntire ho u sehold took part in the search


.
,

and at last it w a s found under the bed given to him and , ,

he soon fell asleep It may not seem w ise to be so de


.

pende nt upon accidental circumstances but his mother ,

cannot q u ite make u p her mind to deprive h im of the



comfort he takes in his bot as h e calls it ( The record ,
.

sho w s h o w he gradually dropped the h abit himself as


other interests developed ) .

S ince Jan u ary when h e was eleven months O ld he


, ,

has S hown fear whenever he sees a wire dress form that -

is in the sewing room and all ou r efforts to familiarize


-

him with it seem to be useless .

A pril 1 6th — H e began to build with blocks to day


.
-

placing five or six on top of each other with great care


and precision .

The words he has learned since N ovember whe n he ,

w as nine m onths old are as follo w s given in the order


, ,

of acquirement : O h mamma m “
hab em
,
gib ,

,
” ” “ ” “

em ,
ups a dada
-

w o w w ow bow wow ba ,
“ ” “
and baba for papa ( b e generally says by
bye .

30
SE CO ND YE AR

A pril 27 S sss ( which he says to dogs cats etc


.
, ,
.
,

pointing his finger) The first week in A pril he said .

“ ”
b utton and dollar .


A pril 3 o th he said cock for clock on seeing a very ,

large clock at his grandfather s He said the same .
,
“ ” “ ”
week g a for cat rub a dub dub
,
eene eene mine ,
-
- -

, , ,
” ”
mo and oo oory oooo to a rooster in the immediate
,
- -

vicinity which answered every time he did it He was


,
.

behind a fence where he could not see the rooster He


, .

had ne ver seen or heard one but on hearing this on e ,

c ro w he imitated him so a c curately that the two kept

it u p for some time and i t w as his favorite amusement ,



d uring his week s visit S aid d ere for there ’
. .

May 8 th — S aid tick tick tick and cock for clock


.
- -

for the second time upon seei ng a large picture of a clock ,

si m ilar to the one he saw A pril 3o th at his grandfather s ’


.

A fter he w as dressed this morning he ran just as fast


as h e could toddle to his father w h o w a s still asleep , .

“ ”
He stood by him for a fe w minutes and said up up ,

several times and looked very much disappointed b e


,

cause this did not waken him He stood quietly for a .

moment looking at him and no doubt puzzling what to ,

do when he went to the other side of the roo m to the


,

shoe closet and very deliberately took out a bath slipper


- -

which he carried to his father saying as he put it on the , ,

“ ”
bed u p up,
Then he returned to th e closet for the
,
.

“ ”
other one and repeated up u p as he was bringing it
, , .

He had to make two trips for it took both hands to ,

carry each slipper By this ti m e his father w as awake .


,

fi nd Harold see m ed very eager to begi n his mornin


g
romp witho u t more delay .

O n May 1 0th (fifteen months old) he said “


hark
“ ” “ ”
also boo for book and the word up
, , .

31
A S TUDY OF A C HILD
“ ”
On May 1 5th he said goo for good He frequently .

repeats the following word s to himself as if tryi ng ,


“ ” “ ” “ ” “
them : hark dere ,
rub a dub dub , bow w ow - - -

, ,
“ ” “ ” “ ” “ ” “
b y bye
-

,
ups a dada up
-
hab em
-
ssss
, ,

, .

“ ”
He said now for the first time .

O n J u ne 1 4th ( sixteen months old) he called a boy



by n ame ( Paul ) a n d on J une 1 5t h said B id y e t
,

for Bridget A t this date he gabbles a great deal


.
,

making all sorts of so u nds and seems to u nderstand ,

when he is told to S hut th e d oor kiss the cheek bri ng , ,



mamma s shoes bri ng Harold s sh oes He points to
,

.

his eyes a n d his nose or to mine when asked where , ,

they are .


O n July l 6 th h e said Judy and kissed th e wire ,

for m of which h e was afraid in Ja n uary S ince J u ly .

1 st he has seemed to gro w accusto m ed to and even b e ,


“ ”
come fond of it saying L ovely Judy ,
When w e .


speak to h im of i t w e say L ovely Judy etc an d

,
.
,

pat it kindly and in vario u s ways we have tried to get


,

him over his fear of it with the above result ,


.


July 1 8 th TO day h e said
.
“ -

b a vy ”
for baby and ,

repeated it upon looking at a picture of one He also .


pronounces l i n clock no w .

Ju ly 1 9 th —H e walked up to the baby picture which


.

“ ”
hung on the wall and repeated baby i n a loving ,
“ ”
tone He al so said out distinctly t o day He has
. .

“ ”
said outs for a long time b u t w e could not discover ,

what he meant until this month w hen we heard him ,

say it when he pricked h imself w i t h a pin We then .

traced t h e connection between his expression and a


word u sed by one of th e servants o u c h ” —and had a
practical demonstration of the infl u en c e of an u n e d u
c a t e d servant upon a child learning to talk for it took ,

32
A STUDY OF A CHILD

T o day during the visit of a friend he tried to occupy


, ,

my entire attention Hardly t hinking he would do so .


,

I told him very suggestively to go to the piano and play


and sing He went at once put his fingers o n the keys
.
, ,

and tried to sing for about a minute which served to ,

divert h im for the moment and gave me the freedom I


w anted .

A servant said to him tod ay Peep Harold $ whe n


“ ”
, ,
“ ”
playing peek a boo with him He instantly replied
- -
.
,
“ ”
Peep B id y e t although h e had never said peep
,
“ y ” “ g ”
before He al w ays says
. for in her name He .

imitates words very quickly and correctly for a child of


seve nteen months and seems to u nderstand the meaning
,

of many more words than he says .

July 20t h — When building with blocks pennies or


.
, ,

anything that he can place one above the other he lifts ,



both hands a nd exclaims O O O O O O O e I drawing ou t ,
- - - - - - -

“ ”
the long e i nde fi nitely as if very much pleased with ,

his b uilding We let him am use himself in this way for


.

a long time changing his materials as he see ms to need


,

t h em We never change until he begins to S how a little


.

restlessness for so long as a child is content it is folly to


,

disturb it In time this policy secures serenity for the


.

child and peace for those abo u t him .

He n o w hel p s undress himself for his bath every even


ing lifts each arm or foot when told to help remove
,

each garment a n d h e evidently takes great delight in


,

the whole process and is al w ays eager for it .

F or a long time he has given an expression of distaste


“ ”
( so u nds like ugh I ) when obliged to take medici n e that
he does not like and he follows the sound with a shake
,

of his head .

When finishe d taking his bottle of milk , no matter


84
S E C O N D YE A R

where h e is whether just about going to S leep or if


,

ready for play he first hands the empty bottle to some


,

co nvenient person saying h a b em ,
He does this ,

.

e very time and we encourage the habi t in th e hope of


,

i nducing method in his actions ( The record shows that .

at seve n he gives eviden c e of the res ults of this pla n


of action for he invariably sh u ts doors whe n passing
,

thro ugh them replaces arti c les he may h ave u sed to


,

where they belong and in many ways sho w s a m e th od i


,

c al manner of action even in his play


) , .

He O ften leaves a n ounce or more in the bottle N oth .

ing can i nduce h im to take this whe n he reaches th e


point which to him seems final .

July 28 th —H e said baba for papa t o day for the


.
,

first time for a long while He has said b a only wit h .


,

one or t w o exceptions before this time ,


.

“ ” ”
He n o w say s door frequently and says bru h for ,

brush .


S ince A ugust 2d he has said birdie distinctl y ,
” “ ” ”
bre for bread bat for ba t h and w a for water
, ,

o n seeing a tub filled with it A week ago he sa w it .


rai n very fast and said wat
,
Wh e n h e sees a glass .

“ ”
he says wat and will take a drink if we will offer
,

water in the glass He also says wat whe n thirsty
.
,

without seeing a glass to suggest it .

O n A ug ust 1 3 th he pointed to the gas fi x ture and said -


li for light .

Th e next day he went to two gates in the yard one ,



after the other and said g a at eac h one Th e same
, .

day h e saw a bird from a window i n the nursery and he ,

went from one windo w to the other to see it a s long as



h e could saying birdie sh o w m g clearly h o w he reason
,

,

e d about seeing farther from one windo w than th e other .

35
A S T U DY OF A CHILD

I took up a clothes brush of his father s t o day as I
-

stoo d at the dressing case with him in my arms He


-


took it from me and said baba bruh I smiled and
, , .
,

he said it agai n and kissed it He is very affectionate .


,

and we all try to be as responsive as it is possible for


O lder persons to be C hildren are really made very nu
.

happy a t times by the chilling manner with which their


affectionate outbursts are sometimes met S nubbing .

and unkind criticism should have no place in a child s ’

education whe n spontaneity is desired .

O n the 7t h of this month ( Au gust) his father bro u ght


him a fox terrier called Jack that had just arrived
-

, ,

fro m England Harold w as delighted wit h him and


.
,

the dog seemed to be equally delighted with the child .

He cried the first time the dog licked h is face We .

co uld not punish nor train the dog to do anything in th e


child s presence by sho w ing severity for every time any

,

one spoke S harply to the dog Harold would cry ( T he , .

record shows this trai t througho ut Whe n only four .

months old he woul d cry if he sa w another baby cry .

Whe n seven years old he confided to his m other one ,

night before going to bed what a little girl had told h im


,

in the d a y about her intention of drowning a family O f


you ng ki t tens Wit h tears in his voice and eyes he
.
,

said : O h mamma I cannot bear to talk abo u t it $


, ,

Will sh e do it 2 His mother said no and f urther as ,


sured him she would not allo w it He then said : If .

she does I ll drown the mother kitty myself ; if she


,

wants to dro w n the babies she ought to drown the ,



mother too
,
Then he said : Mamma it n early m akes
.

,

me cry to even tell you S O she diverted him w ith
.

a f u nny remark, which he i s always quick to a p p re


ciate )
.

36
SE COND YEAR

He fol lows his dog all over the house plays with him ,

h appily and loves h im very much but h e tries to pre


, ,

vent him from touching him with his tongue He ofte n .

“ ”
says to him in the most loving tone o o o h , drawi ng ,
- - -

it out at great leng th .

He n ow goes to sleep regularly i n his crib Before .

this he was frequently held in arms w hile being s ung


to S leep after which he w ould be quietly placed in h is
,

bed and no trouble was experienced in making the


,

change He seems to trust us so entirely that he will


.

d o whatever we can make him understand is for his


good This trust is cultivated by never asking him to
.

do anythi ng simply for the amusement of others or to ,

sho w their authority and he alway s gets a reason that


,

h e can understand when he is directed to do anythi ng ,

unless instant obedience is requ ired as i n case of ,

d anger when the reason for the comma n d is caref ully


,

explai n ed after he has obeyed (This may acco unt to .

some extent for the reasonableness of his disposition as


it d evelops later on ) .


A ugust 1 4 t h To day when givi ng him his nap I for
-

,
.
,

got to pull do w n the mosquito netting that w a s h a nging-


over his crib He pulled at it saying h m whe t her
.
,

,

i n imitation of the hum of a mosquito or not I cannot


say He seems to understand all we say to him but w e
.
,

are care ful to use words that w e think he will u nder



sta n d I f I say
. Take this to papa please or Take , , ,

this to S arah please h e distinguishes and does it cheer
, , ,

f ully He is always willing to do things for us to ru n


.
,

little errands and if he sees anything drop from my lap


,

w hen I am reading or sewing he invariably stops his ,

play and comes to pick it u p for me In this w a y he .

shows all the time what seems like a loving wish t o


37
A S TU D Y OF A C H ILD

help which w e are encouraging for it is the key note of


, ,
-

self activity and promotes u nsel fish n ess


-

,
.

S ometimes I say : DO you want your bottle 2 He ”

“ ”
u nderstands and says ,
Y es When either the n urse .

or I must leave the room for a moment we say : Harold ,



will you please sit still on the chair until I come back 2
“ ”
He always says Yes and sits there m any a time , ,

singing to himself until we return This pl an was fol .

lowed so as to be sure he wo uld not get into mischief


from undue temptation for he is too young yet to resist , .

We al w ays found it more effective and more pleasant


“ ” “ ”
to say do this or do t h at please instead of say
, , ,

ing
Au gust 1 7th —When he awoke this m orning he said
.


door pointing to it Then he poi nted to the bell and
,
.


said : B rid ye t door bell ringing This w a s his first
,
-
.

attempt at connecting a sentence of a ny length He is .

n o w eighteen months old .

He n ow calls his dog by name a d ding a y to it , ,


“ ”
however saying Jacky
,
He also tries to make a .

sound with his lips to call the dog in imitation of his ,

father s m ethod O f calling the dog to him



.


A ugust 21 st When I was showing him his Piggy
.


Book t o day he p ut his finger on each picture and the n
,

put it in his mouth and looked very knowing Upo n .

looking into the matter w e found that yesterday h is


n urse w e t her finger to turn a leaf and h e imitated h e r
t o day but his action looked as if he thought h e w as
,

eati ng from the book He tasted his medicine to d ay .

by putting his finger i n it before he would take it He .

h ad t w o bottles of medicine that looked alike He liked .

one and objected decidedly to taking the other A fter


,
.

finding out by putting his finger i n it, that I was o ffer


,

38
SE COND YE AR

ing him the one he liked he took it without a word , .

When using vaseline for a h ead cold he always helps ,

put it on He will put his finger in the bottle very


.

d aintily and rub the bridge of his nose and forehead


thoro u ghly but h e often puts little dabs all over his
,

face too as if he enjoys it


,
.

He tried to help me pus h a piece of sewing through


the machine this morning when I w a s stitching He .

placed his han d s on the work as he sa w the seamstress


do yesterday He was on my lap at the time where I
.
,

O ften allow him to sit as I sew He enjoys watching .

the machine go so very m uc h that he will sit m otionless


so long as any one will hold him m aybe five minutes at ,

a time gazing at the same thing F or three months he .

has pulled t h e strap of the machine voluntarily look ,

ing up at the same time to see the needle move (This .

i nterest in m echanics w a s allowed to gro w spontane


o u sl y by providing the right environment for it and at ,

seven he shows remarkable ingenuity and mechanical


skill ).

A ugust 22d — S ome little girls who live next door came
.

hom e yesterday and n u rse asked Harold to call to one


,
“ ”
of them saying
,
C all Mamie wh ich he did distinctly
, , ,

and altho ugh he had never said Mamie before to our


, ,

knowledge he repeated it several times afterwards He


,
.

al w ays d oes th is with n e w words as if trying them , .

( The record shows that he did this without any acquire


ment of language up to seven years and does it still his , ,

favorite time for practice bei ng after he wakes in the


morning ) S he also told him to call Alice the sister
.
, .


He tried to do so b ut succeeded only i n saying Ell
, .

His father has been away for a fe w days and to d ay ,



he calle d papa after a man going b y, a nd crie d bit

39
.
A S TU D Y OF A CHILD

because the man did not stop I did not notic e


t e rly .

whether the man resembled his father or not The .

father of the little girls n ext door resembles him and ,

this afternoon when Harold saw h im he wanted to go to


him The gentleman took h im for a while and Harold
.
,

cried when he was taken away He evidently misses .

his father very much A bout a week after this he was


.

take n to the house of a friend where h e saw a cuckoo


“ ”
clock for the first time and learned to say cuckoo , .

A fterwards whe n asked what birdie said he replied ,



c u c koo fi

“ ”
He has said bi for bite for some time He h eard .

it in connection with some conversation about m osqu i



toes about the middle of Au gust He says b avy to .

me in t h e most loving tones He will lay his head .

against me in the morning and say it when he wants t o


wake m e His head just reaches my pillow as h e stands
.

by the bed He says it too i n the same loving w ay


.
, ,

when he thinks he has received a special favor When .


ever I do anything that pleases him very much smile to
him give him a kiss or give him a trifle to play with
, ,

that shows him that I thought of h im w hen he w asn t ’

there— I notice what seems to me to be an attempt to


S how his appreciation ( The record sho w s that later
. o n ,

when he could talk h e i nvariably said on similar occa


,
“ ” “
sions to his mother either L ovely mamma or G ood
, ,

mamma or Wh y are you so good 2 or he would kiss


,

her and fondle her and say nothing and at seven h e ,

still has the same habit ) .

S eptember 8th This morni ng I killed a mosquito o n


.
-

the wall by Slapping it wi t h my hand He promptly .

i mitate d me and also looked about the room and up at


,

the ceiling to see if there were more of them He .

40
A S TUDY OF A CHILD

g a and bi as he used to do pointing to the gas
, ,

fix t ure when he s a id gas and to some marks of mos ,

quito— “
bites when he said bites .

While driving with Mrs N this afternoon h e p u t .


his face to his mother s patted her cheek wi th his hand , ,

and said in a loving tone
,
mamma L ater in th e , .

“ ”
day some one said mani ma He im m ediately said -
.


ma m a which is the w ay he always accents the word
-

,
.

He l eaned over to Mrs N in the carriage to d ay and .


-

u t his hand up towards her cheek saying very a f f


p ec , ,

t io nat ely o o o h
,
This is a very usual expression for
- - -

h im when he wants to S ho w liking for any o ne He .

al w ays says it when he pets a dog or cat He shows no .

fear of any one and a liking for nearly everybody To


,
.


day I sho w ed h im a picture of a dog He said o o O h I .
- - -

kissed the picture and put it to my lips to be kissed


,
.

“ ” “ ”
When I said C all b o w w o w h e called Jacky -

,
.

When he hear d an engine go by t o day he said choo


choo for the first time .

This evening we were looking at some pictures when I


said pointing to one that only resembled a roos ter
,
Is

that an oo oory ooo 2 ( his name for one) He shook his
- -
.

head and said NO .


Y esterday Mrs N offered h im a piece of s w eet


.

chocolate Her little boy is fond of it Harol d tasted it


. .


and returned it showing by his manner that he didn t
,

like it I gave him a taste of something I had at the


.

ti m e and asked him if he liked it He made a face .


,
“ ”
shook his head and said N o O o ,
He always shows - -
.

likes and dislikes very plainly especially in connectio n ,

with food .

He s a w a roulette wheel to day for t he first time He - -


.

and N ( a boy of the same age ) were playing w ith it .

42
SE COND YE AR

N pushed it by the spokes ; Harold took hold of it


in the middle and twirled it w ith thumb and forefinger
i n the reg ular w ay .

O n e evening this week he w a s allowed to remai n up a


little longer than usual A fter his bath he w as placed .

in his cri b the gas was lighted and h e was given his
, ,

Mother G oose book and a copy of a weekly journal


-

O f me c hanical illustrations of which he is so fond that ,

whenever he sees one he recognizes it and tries to get it .

The next night when being p ut to bed at the same hour


, ,
“ ”
h e asked for the book poi nted to the gas said gas , , ,

and kept repeating book as he went to his crib He .

w a s agai n allo w ed to wait a nd to h ave the books The .

third evening he showed that he expected the same thi ng ,

so h e was p u t to bed as usual just as if he was expected ,



n ot to protest tucked in kissed
,
good night as usual ,
-

after having had his bottle of milk the netting was ,

pulled down the room was darkened and good night


, ,
-

w a s said
. He evidently accepted the intended suggestio n
“ ”
of no books or gas light t o night for he fell asleep
-

w itho u t a protest He is trustful and very do c ile an d


.
,

although nat urally self wille d he generall y does j u st as


-

w e direct It never seems to dawn upon him that he


.

sho uld oppose any one F or this reaso n care is taken


.

n ot to provoke O pposition in order to preserve this spirit ,


for f u t ure need when absol ute a n d i nstant obedience
might be required (The above portion of the recor d
.

shows very clearly h o w easily a bad habit might be


formed by u nwise indulgen ce Bad in the sense of .

being u nwise from a hygienic stand point for the n e c e s -

sity of freedom fro m mental excitemen t duri ng the last .


ho u rs of a child s day and also of a regular hour for its
,

bedtime must be fully realize d It is throug h little


,
.

43
A S TU D Y O F A C H I L D

things like this that one gains the control that later on , ,

wi ll bri ng lovin g obedience ) .

While w e were ou t driving to day Harold saw a la d y -

riding by ; h e opened his eyes wide and looked after her


until she disappeared for he ha d never seen a woman in
,

the saddle before .

I gave h im some sugar on the tip of m y finger at


luncheon He enj oyed pecking at it for some time and
.
,

then he tried to bite my finger laughing hear t ily each ,

time I snatched it away to escape being bitten .

L ast night I found that the key of my bedroom d oor


w a s missing and I felt certai n that he had taken it for
, ,

every morning he is in the habit of carrying it to another


room to open a door of which w e have lost the key .

T o day w e found it i n the corner of a dra w er in the


room to which he went daily with the key I h ave .

O ften wondered whether he i ntended to save himself the

daily trip for he is a sagacious little chap


,
.


T o day w he n making up his crib I said Harold
, , , ,

bri ng me the sheet He looked all about for somethi ng
.


to bring but didn t know what I meant I touched the .

sheet without saying anythi n g and he i nstantly pulled ,

it from the chair and brought it to m e ( A qui c k com .

prehension can easily be c ultivated i n children by self


restraint upon the part of the mother ) .

S eptember 1 4 th To day he is nineteen month s old


.
- -


I said moon to him pointing to it and he repeated the
, ,

w ord distinctly several times Afterwards I returned to .

the window and looked o ut He followed me and said .

t h e word again remembering it clearly after the S hort


,

interval Jus t before going to bed he saw some of his


.

“ ” “ ”
books He said book b ook and gas as I lighted
.
, ,

i t We then looke d at the pictures Every clock he


. .

44
SE CO ND YE AR

called by name and put down his ear to listen He


,
.

kissed all the pictures of cats and d ogs and said pud ,

d y to the pussy pi c tures and wow w o w to the dogs -

,
“ ”
also sayi n g o o o h affectionately to each one as he
- - -

always does to pet animals .

Whe n it w as time this morni ng he w as told to call


, ,

his father He went to his room as he always does and


.
, ,

w akened him in a very gentle loving way by going to ,



h is side and saying h m m

This morning he made -
.

a great romp of it alternately kissing and petting him


, ,

and then r u nning away He would then retur n agai n .


to the bed put his head on his father s pillo w then say
, ,

bye and run away again
,
.

He sleeps soundly and does not want to wake it a p


, ,

pears until his hour for rising for whenever he is dis


, ,

t urb e d h e seems annoyed and falls asleep agai n as ,

quickly as h e is let alone A t eleven last n ig h t I gave .

h im his milk for whic h he wakes voluntarily at the


,

exact time I placed him on my bed after turning up


.

the light shook up his pillows and rearra n ged his crib
, ,
.

I then placed him i n the crib kissed him said good , ,



n ight ,
and drew down the netting He looked at me .

S leepily ,
laughed turned over and w as asleep before I
, ,

had time to ope n the window and turn down the light .

When I go to m y room late at night he does not stir .

I have noticed that w hen he is well and eats a light ,



early s upper ( at five o clock) he sleeps soundly The ,
.

least i n discretio n at his supper time or too much ex -

c ite m e n t after five O clock



invariably causes restless ,

n ess
.
( The record shows the same result thro u ghout
) .

Every morning n o w he wakes about six p u lls away ,

the netting that is over him and calls me I ask h im , .


if he wants some milk He says yes invariably .
,
.

45
A S T UDY O F A C H I LD

When I giv e it to him he takes it himself in his usual


,

fashion holding up the bottle with both h a nds so that


, ,

the neck is full all the time When he h as had all h e .


wants he hands it back to me generally sayi ng h ab
, ,


em . He sometimes goes to sleep again without a
word but generally h e wants to get up ; if so h e calls
, ,

his n u rse w h o takes him to the n u rsery and dresses him


,
.

He seems to understand that for another hour I am not


to be disturbed for he re m ains w ith her c ontentedly
,

until it is time to call me when he is all eagerness first


, ,

to get m e u p and dressed and then to go to his father , ,

w h o u s u ally has a romp with him while h e d resses ( It .

is very interesti ng to note how he accepted the habits


of the household and a d apted himself to them as for , ,

instance he w a s q u iet for an ho u r after he was u p an d


, ,

then he evidently tho ught it was time for others to rise ,

for h e w a s heard eve rywhere Habit had a great deal .

to do with this and every one w a s caref ul not to dist u rb


,

it by irreg u larity in his life T he mother claimed that .

he w a s at any rate m u ch happier by bei n g taught to


consider others than he wo u ld h ave been b a d he been
allowed perhaps unwittingly to be a distu rber of th e
, ,

peace of every one around in the early morning ho u rs ) .

T his morning he discovered that he co uld slide his feet


o n the carpet an d sit do w n su d denly by holding to m e

as he leaned against me He did it repeatedly w it h .

great glee Y esterday he c limbed all alone u p an d


.

down the steps on the porch and he is beco m i ng quite ,


“ ”
vent u reso m e T his week h e said wagon qu ite dis
.

t inc t ly w hen he sa w one of his toy wagons He also .

“ ”
says ice now whenever he wants us to give him some ,
“ ”
and broadens the same so u nd for eyes He still says .

wat for water .

46
SE COND YE AR

He says mamma and papa correctly but he ,
” “ ” ”
still says b a vy for baby h ugar for sugar bo ok , ,

for block bot for bottle


,
.

F or a fe w days past he has shown te m per kicking and ,

screaming when not pleased I paid no attention to him .

“ ”
each time that h e did it beyond saying good bye and -

going towards the door as he lay on the floor kicking .

He got up at once and came after me every time evi ,

d e n tly forgetting all about the disturbance i n his fear


that I would leave him alo n e .

“ ”
He still says p u ddy for pussy He often says .


peep oh $ and plays it on the slightest provocation
,
.

He claps his hands and tries to clap on mine He puts .

his finger in his mouth and then O ffers it to me He di d .

the same thing once when eating s ugar with his fi nger .

He grows more affectionate every day runs up and —


touches us lays his head or hands against us saying
, ,

b av y ”—
meaning himself — in a lo ng drawn ou t loving - -

tone that is indescribable H e frequently kisses little.

Mamie next door He h as selected her as his favorite


.

o ut of a family of S ix children .

“ ”
S eptember 22d To day h e said p o book for pock
- -

“ ”
e t book
-

,
toes pins and also water instea d O f
, ,
” “ ”

w at
,
and Tottie for Topsy his new d og s name ,

.

” ”
T w o weeks later he said h a n then fan “
for fan , , .

O ctober 1 8 t h — H e wanted to sit on a chair that ha d


.

a to w el on it He evidently did not want to sit on the


.


towel so he bro ught it to me saying towel dis
,

,

t in c tly for the first time It is curious to hear him use


.

w ords as occasion suggests that w e never s u pposed he


knew .

F rom O ctober l st to the 21 st he has said goose “


,


cushy for cus h io n a n d neeze for sneeze (imitating
,

47
A S T UDY OF A C HILD

a sneeze he heard) ; baa baa when looking at a picture -

“ ”
of sheep ; c h O O choo walk carry papa all i n one sen
-

tence when his father went to town one morning and h e


,


seemed very anxious to go with h im ; scissors
“ ” “
fork , ,
” “ ” ”

poo n for spoon ; G acky for Jacky “
T ossy in ,
” ”
stead of Tottie as at first for Topsy an d B a h d e e
, , , ,

the name of a friend s cat whic h we were taking care ,

of at th e time .

“ ”
He also said h a t and cuckoo in one sentence on
seeing a picture of the child N who lived in the ho u s e
containing the cuckoo c lock N had his hat on i n
-
.

the picture which he noticed instantly He al so said


,
.

” ”
hanger for hammer and wet for the first time ,
.

O ctober 2otb — H e said win n ow


.

for windo w ,
“ ” “ “ ”
coach and horsey moo
,
said moo to a c o w
also. Whenever he hears the door bell ri ng now he -

“ ”
says bell O ne d ay recently the electrician w a s
.

here to repair the bell He was very much interested .


,

and watched him closely L ater in the d ay he said to .


Bridget Bis b y stairs bell wats ( meaning he wanted
, ,

to go down stairs and watch ) This morning he reached


-
.


for his tooth brush and said toot b roush
-

,
He now -

“ ” “ ”
says b roush instead of bruh as he did at first , .

” ”
S aid baksy for basket p it ty for pretty ,

When he gets cross and cri es w e say N o no pretty , , , ,



and he repeats p itty and clears his face at once many , ,

a time looking u p smiling with tears still in his eyes .


He pointed to the moon and said gas He also says .
,
“ ” “ ” “ ”
no w ,
b u ttony for button and knife and fork , .

He seems to e njoy saying knife l ately when he sees a ,

pict ure of a fork He waits for us to correct him and


.
,

then does it again w ith the next picture of a fork in his


pet book his eyes full of fun
,
.

48
A S TU D Y O F A CHILD

This month some one gave him a pack of cards with


a picture of a dog on the b ack of each one He will say .

“ ”
good night and kiss each dog as he puts the cards
-

aside when he is done playi ng with the m sometimes ,

kissi ng every d og in th e pack .

“ ”
He says pool for S pool and repeats m any word s ,

a ft er us very distinctly O ne morning he heard a clock .

“ ”
strike and said cuckoo recalling the c u c koo clo c k w e
, ,
-

s a w last summer We are still at his grandma s and he ’


.
,

says ganma for grandma .

N ovember l st —We are home again To day I told . .


-

him to come to the nursery window to see the s u nshine .

“ ”
He came saying t u ntin e and all d ay he said it at
, ,

intervals lif t ing the curtain and looki ng out at the same
,

time He also said it w h en h e saw some tin foil with


.
-

w hich he was playing ( F or many m onths he called .

tin foil s u nshine )


-
.

N ovember 2d H e counted three four five six .


-

, , , ,

nine to d ay voluntarily -
S ome time ago his nurse .

counted a fe w card s for him saying one two three , , , , ,

four ; he at once picked u p th ree and four sayi ng ,


“ ”
fee for three and ever since he has called his cards
,

fee fo u rs-
When w e cou nt them for him he says
.

six as soon as w e say five ; also ten a fter w e say nine .

N ovember 3d — Instead of repeati n g or counting with


.

u s he said the above n u m bers hi m self


, ( The recor d .

shows ex c eptional interest in n umbers later on ) .


When hearing a baby c ry he says poor b avy ,
.

Hearing the q uestion Have y ou u sed Pears soap ?



,


suggested to h im to say S ares so ap and d uring the ’
,
“ ”
day h e O ften c omes to m e saying good morning ,
-

“ ” ’
and S ares soap witho u t waiti ng for my answer or
question .

50
S E C O ND Y E A R
” ”
He says t sa in for chain wai n for rain
now , ,

c ac ke r for cracker O ne day h e tore his d ress and
.
,

pointi ng his fi nger at it said o O O h ,
- -
.


To day N ovember 4 t h h e said
- — “
seepy when ,
” ”
yawning ; also seepy boy and h ere it is ,
.


He said there it goes w hen eating somethi n g a n d ,

whe n holding up an envelope he said paper “
.

— .

N ovember 6 th S aid h ouse to d ay w hile b u ildi n g -

,

blocks He also called C arrie (a visitor) when h e
.

woke up and looked i n the next room for her It is


,
.

ve ry am u sing t o w atch h im runni ng to h er with open


” ”
a rms sayi ng
,
comes meani n g h ere h e comes

,
This .

“ ”
morning he s a id h ere h e comes when pushing his
foot through his clothes whe n dressing a n d he also said ,


here it goes when eating so m e stewed celery at dinner .

— “
N ovember 7t h H e said foot clock to d ay point
.
” -

ing to the feet of a clock ; apple butter and he said -

seepy agai n when ya w ning .


O n Monday when looking at th e pict u re of the pig
,

w h o had roast b eef



he said
-
d —
inner f u nny
, .

This week h e has acq uired the follo w i ng wor d s i n ,


“ ” “ ” “ ” “ ”
the order given say so ; rats ; cheek ; cake :

“ ” “ ”
cook for crook i n L ittle B O Peep
, ,
bucket ,


whistle blowed When he saw a gentleman s comb
.

” “ ” ’
t o day h e said papa He said papa s room on e n
.
,

tering it when returni ng home after a week s absence ; ’

“ ”
said crib w hen going i nto his own room ; and called


B ish y whe n he saw her S aid to Bri d get Bell “
.
,

b w oke fix i t,
When I told his nurse h e h ad ga ined
.


h alf a pou nd h e repeated half a pound
,
.


N ovember 1 2th To day he said stick through put
.
“ -

,

ting a stick through a h ole and he sai d shovel vol “
,

u ntaril When bathi ng him this morni ng in the large


y .

51
A S TUDY OF A CHILD

bath tub I took his head and nurse t ook his feet a nd
-

w e floated him He sho w ed no fear b u t let himself rise


.
,

to the top of the water N ext time he took his bath I .

t ook his head meaning to do it again b ut before n u rse


, ,

c o u ld help me h e said
“ — ”
hand foo t to her intimating ,

t ha t he was ready for it a gain .

— ”
N ove m ber 1 3th H e said fi nger t o day for th e first
.
,

ti m e taki n g mine in his hand and examining it while in


,

bed t his m orni n g He p u t his head on m y pillow also


.


and said p itt o w

L ater in th e day h e s aid wa t s
.


( w atch ) sand goes A s h e .said it h e picked u
p s ome
sand in a glass and po u red it in a basket I had j u st .

come in from a walk and after showing me the sand ,


“ ”
h e t u rned to the table a nd said table .

November i 4 t h — Ne w words to day w ere : Knock


.
-

” “ ”
B ish y ; S it do w n B ish y ,
He begged for c rook .


when going to sleep thinking of B o Peep ; also ,
“ -

” ” “
begged for m y hand a nd said find
“ “
,

get and ,

” “ ” ” “
skate ,
sho w it corn ,
beans and take , ,
.


N o vember 1 5th H e said sweetheart to d ay pro
.
- -

,
“ ”
n ou nc in g it s oo t h e a rt He says it to his m other
.

when goi ng to sleep ; for insta n ce h e w ill say m am , ,



ma s s ooth e art in a loving tone T O d ay h e said

-
.
,

play— sing to his father pulling him to the piano an d

, ,

h e lau ghed as if ple ased when he sa n g for him He is .

a lways eager to hear him sing .

— “
N ovem b er l 6th H e said p ittow agai n to day for
.
-

pillo w when reaching for one A fter breakfast he said .

Dear papa good l u c k wh en his father left for to w n


,

,
.


A fter w ards he said Dear papa good papa once and

, ,
“ ”
the next time when he came to good he hesitated a
“ ”
moment and then said l uck and h e has said it vol
, ,

u ntarily in th is w ay ever S ince when his father leaves in

52
SE COND YEAR

th e morni ng He always shakes his head up and dow n


.

“ ” “ ”
when he says luck He also said knock to day and
.
-


O h my I
,
“ ”
O n N ovember 1 7th he s aid tummer glass for
tumbler .


O n N ove m be r 1 9 th he sai d lad yl e for lady when ,

speaking to C laudia a visitor He has also said well ,
.
,

well ever since her arrival whi c h is a frequ ent expres ,
“ ”
sion of hers He said come to me after taking his
.

bottle of milk indicating at the same time that he w ant


,

e d to go to bed He awakene d in the evenin g a nd said


.
,

o n hearing his father play — ”


play papa instead of , ,
“ ”
s aying papa is playing .


N ovember 20 th His n e w words to day were m u .
-

” “ ” “ ” “ ” “ ” “ ”
sic,
yard nice boy
, ah ma am say what
, ,
-

, ,

what s that ’ ”
F or some time he has said nice good
.

— ah I whe n eating some t hing he likes He shakes his

.

head when h e does this .

T his m orning wh e n i n the dining room I handed him


,
-

a little c loisonn é plate that belonged in a certain place


o n the table in the next ro o m A s I handed it to him .

I said ,
T ake it and put it where it belongs w hich ,

h e did very carefully and then ret u rned to h is toys , .

He seems to understand many m ore wor d s than he says ,

a n d uses the m on ly a s occasion req u ires I often try .

him in this way to keep him i n the habit of obeying


,

c heerf ul ly not because I want the thing d one


,
.

N ovember 2 1 s t — T his morning he took his doll and


.

” “
hugged it saying all at once
,
seep (sleep) eye , ,
“ ”
( pointing to the eye ) hand ( taki n g it ,
u
p in his ) ,
” ” ”

foot (taking it up) ear (to u ching it) ,
m ou f ,

( d ( h d )

touching it ) h ea ,
layi n g his and on its hea .

The n I put a feather in its hair but he put it away an d ,

53
A STUDY OF A CHILD
“ ”
said no L ater on he put it in himself Y esterd ay
. .

he found this same feather among his toys and recog


.

, ,

n iz ing it as belonging to his stu f fed owl he lifted it up ,

and said i n a very l ug ubrious tone O h o w l


,
— ”
.
,

— “ ”
N ovember 22d H e said f w end twice to C laudia .


to d ay S he often says to him We are great friends
.
, ,

aren t w e Harold f He evidently appreciates her cour

,

tesy whic h she always shows delightfully to little chil


,

dren .

When he awakes i n the morning h e often lies still


and amuses himself by looking around the room and

repeating the names of all the things he knows as hut ,
” “ ” “ ” “ ” “ ” “
ter (shutter) gas door pi c ture,
bed ,
crib , , , ,

pointing to each one as he says the word His c apac .

ity for self amusement when h e has the right m aterials


-

is increasing every day and his physical development ,

is quite normal— a little beyond the average i n height


and weight .

O ne day he saw a picture of a chai r tumbling and ,

children falling from it He pointed to the chair w hich .


,
“ ”
stood o n one leg and said rock ro c k ,
He took , ,
.

hold of one of the leaves of a screen soo n after move d ,

it and said S wing g o — ”


.
, ,

— “ ”
November 23d H e said papa t o day for the first .


time having always said baba before He also sai d
,
.


fi x pence when he saw the song
-
S i n g a S o n g a S ix
” “ ” “ ”
pence ; he said tar to Twinkle twinkle little star ; , ,

seesa w w hen w e reached Margery Da w



,

Horner ,
” ”
pl um pie for L ittle Jack Ho m er ; and h e often says
-

“ ” ’
son only for Tom Tom the Piper s S on When
, ,

in looking over the book he comes to R ide a cock
horse to Banb u ry C ross he says Wo get up ; ri ngs

, , , ,

fingers toes cross ,



He always s ays girl— naughty
,

.

54
SECOND YEAR

for Dolly you re a n aughty girl as if that fact im


,

,

pressed him most .


F or L ittle B o Peep has lost her sheep he says
“ -

,

Peep crook an d he sings out Dolly wow w ow
,
“ — ” -


fo r I had a little doggy .

“ ”
He said lose for the first time recently when some ,

money w a s dropped a s if he wanted to say it wo u ld,

be lost S omething with which he w a s play ing rolled


.

u nder his toys and w hen he h u nted for it he said


,
“ ” “ ”
find . He also said mouthful for the first time .

When he heard a cornet and chorus singing one morn


ing fro m a mission S u nday school near by h e looke d -

up to me and said for the first time v ery distinctly,


, ,

moosic .

He found a S hoe button amo n g a lot of buttons with


-

which he was playing a nd he tried to put it on his shoe ,


“ ”
where the b u ttons are saying s h oe as he did it ,
.

Whe n later in the day he heard a child singing he ,

looked up and said moosic for the second time A n .

u nusual noise o u tside of his room caused him to stop his


“ ”
play and say What s that 2 as if startle d O ne day
,

.

“ ”
recently he repeated after me body busy when I said ,

Y ou keep a body busy .

This morning he said Ban gy boy B ish y dear , , ,



p op p e e kill kito N O doubt trying to S ho w Bridget
.

h o w his father had killed a mosquito with what he ,



called a ba n g ”
A t another time during the d ay he
.

“ ” “ ”
said Wel l well $ then Porch head hat pointing
, , , , ,

to m y head ; as if he wanted me to take h im on the


porch T his evening whe n he saw the button box he
.
-

“ ” ”
asked for it twice sayi n g buttony I said N o
,

.
,

and gave him a box of bottle tips He put these asi d e -


.

“ ”
a n d said N o buttony ,
He cried and stamped a lit.

55
A STUDY OF A C HILD

tle but I took no notice of it and presently he took his


, ,

little wagon and showed it to his nurse as placidly as if


nothing unusual had occu rred A fe w days ago he took .

up a small clock and looked a t me questioningly as h e


did it because he had been told not to touch it I said
, .


No no ; p u t it d own
,
He did so and as h e came away .
,
“ ”
he said N ice boy emphasizi ng boy I frequ ently tell
, .

him he is a good boy w h en he obeys pleasantly He is , .

evidently able to dra w his o w n conclusions .

F or the last few days he says T hank you mommy ,

- —
to his mother instead of Thank you as he u sed to , .

He looked at a pict u re of some children tumbling from


“ ”
a chair to day and said fall He has learned to drink
-
.

from a glass witho u t assistance and he does it very well , ,

b ut with great care He is acc u stomed to seei ng m e


.

po u r drinking w ater from a carafe into his glass This


-
.

morning I fo u nd him at the table with a glass before


him and the c arafe in his hands He had removed a .

temporary cover and had poured so m e water into his


,

glass and seemed very pro u d of th e achievement just


, ,

as in the instance above a n d he rarely comes to grief , .


N ovember 24 t h H e said chappie sh ob el when ”
.

asking his father for the grate shovel this evening to


play with his beloved buttons He delights in shovelli ng .

the m u p as if they were c oals When I took h im u p to .

day from his n a p and rocked h im a while h e said to me ,


” “ ”
R ock a bye baby on top - -
He also said Well , well I .

again .

When I came i n this m orning to see if he had finished


“ ”
his nap h e said wake as if to tell me that h e w a s
, ,

awake He had been lying there quietly waiting for


.

me He sho w s this serenity always when w ell Whe n


. .

he w as going to sleep to night he said in his usual retro ,

56
A S T UDY O F A C H ILD

tried to avoid forcing an issue when a dispositio n to O h


s t inac y S howed itself He went to the machine at once .
,

ut the scre w driver in the drawer and took out a knit


p
-

ting needle but as he did it he looked at me as if to ask


-

,

whether he might take it I said N O no and he in .
, ,

st a nt ly pushed it back shut the drawer q u ickly and ran , ,

away j ust as if he didn t trus t hi m self near temptation ’


.

I have noticed this trait frequently ( T he record shows .

t hat w hen he could talk and tell how he felt unde rS im i


lar circ umstances he thought it best to go away from
,

temptation ) .

S everal days ago h e discovered a door to a closet i n


a writing desk He o p ened it and saw ink bottles on a
-

.
-

shelf that he c ould rea c h He wan ted to take them but .


,

“ ”
I said N o no ; sh u t the door which he did This
, ,
.

morning he opened the door again and his father feared ,

he would take up the bottles a nd spill the ink I said .


,
“ ”
I think not J u st watch him . S o I said very quie t ly .
, ,
“ ”
but s uggestively S h u t the door dearie and go away
, , , .


He did it at once v ery much to his father s surprise , ,
“ ”
say ing as he we nt N ice boy
, ,
.

O ne day he picked up from the desk a closed box of


cigarettes A s he held it he accidentally let it fall
.
,

and the cigarettes fell out thus letting him see what ,

the box held He then took up another closed box of


.

the m and wanted to p u ll the cigarettes out one by one


, .

“ ”
I said N o no dear but he tried to get my consent
, , ,

t w o or three times by touching them as h e held th e


box looking inquiringly at me Each time I quietly
,
.

“ ”
said N o no as if I kne w he wouldn t do it an d
, ,

,
“ ”
the last time I said Put them on the desk which ,

h e did He obeys us at all times b u t we must give


.
,

him time to adjust himself to what he is to d o and ,

58
SE COND YE AR

we must speak very quietly as if w e expect obedi ,

ence to be the most natural thing to happen I had .

a li ttle trouble to teach h im not to touch things in the


dining room and for a time w e seriously considered
-

placing things ou t of his reach but eventu ally concluded ,

it wo uld be better to stand some loss of valued articles ,

if necessary than lose an opportu nity of showing him


,

i n every direc t ion i n his life that he must lear n to re


spec t the rights of others The servants and I therefore .


kept following h im u p saying N o no whe n ever he

, ,

touched anything and ofered som e p lea sa nt d iversion


,

e a ch tim e a s the n ext th in g for h im to d o when w e led

h im a w ay It was really very amusing T he shining


. .

glass and silver seemed to possess a great fascination for


him and we freq u en t ly fo u nd him standing before a tea
,

set of highly colored china each piece of which re p re ,

sented a piece of fru it The teapot was shaped like a n


.

apple the handle looked like the bra nch T his piece
,
.

seemed to attract h im in S pite of his evident e fi ort to


keep away fro m it He would stand before it and touch
.

the lid in a very cautio us manner lift it up gently and , ,

put it do w n again and then go a w ay I watched him


,
.

do this se veral times O nce I found him out after he


.

h ad been there alone for later in the day I discovere d


,

t h e lids interchanged E vent ually w e succeeded in


.

teaching h im to keep from touching anything that


didn t belong to him but the collisions of will were

,

sometimes diver t ing .

A n e ffort w as al w ays made to refrain from speaking


sharply to him nor w a s any one knowingly allo w ed to
,

do so consequently he trusted all w h o were about him


, .

( The record sho w s h o w when he was eight years


,
old he ,

attempted to conceal some of his actions that did not


59
A STUDY O F A CHILD

meet his own approval and when gently led to tell his
,

reasons he said with a b u rst of tears I a m afraid of


, ,

,

them all 1 meaning those who were about him at the
time and who noticed and criticised his actions — W ith
,

the nat u ral result of reaction on the c hild Before this .

he had usually confided even his smallest fau lts to h is


m other not fearing her ) His nurse is very gentle in
,
.

her manner a nd she succeeds wonderfully in d iverti ng


,

h im q uickly from what she anticipates will be likely to


give the little fellow trouble S he possesses faithf u lness.
,

intu ition and quick comprehension and altho ugh n o t


, ,

an ed u cated person she has many q u alities that are


,

valuable for assistance i n n u rsery traini n g S he is per -

fe c tly truthf ul mild in m anner al w ays cheerful tidy


, , , ,

and playful and understands perfectly h ow and is will


, ,

ing to carry out directions j ust as they are given which


, ,

q uality is absolutely necessary in a person to be tr u sted


w ith the care of children This morning she put him i n
.

his crib for his nap with an exact imitation of his


,

mother s manner of handling him gave him some milk



, ,

and then t u rned to do some thing else He drank th e .

milk and the n turned to watc h h er for a fe w minutes .

S he paid no attention to him but finished what she w a s ,

doing and left the roo m quietly He t u rned over and .


,

no more was heard O f h im until after nap time Ha d -


.

she spoke n to him he would have tried to keep awake ,

as he often does an d in all prob ability he wo uld have


,

missed his nap T his pla n was invariably followed the


.
,

mother intercha nging with the nurse i n order to keep ,

him equally acc ustomed to both Thus the mother c o uld .

be g iven the free d om required i n the evening at dinner


time witho u t disturbing the c hild i n the least and he
, ,

w as as w ell s a tisfied with the nurse when sleepy as , ,

60
SE CO ND YE AR

with th e mother (It may mean self sacrifice m any


.
,

times to reac h this end for it is very dear to any mother


, ,

to feel that h e r child prefers her ministrations to those


of any one else but for the child s sake this feeling should
, ,

,

not be ind ulged in to too great an extent When a nurse .

loves her charge S h e sho uld also have some of the hap
,

p in e ss incidental to the care of the child and be able to ,

w in its love that in case of illness of eithe r child or


, ,

mother h er assistance m ay be of value )


,
.


He said this morning Mo mmy B is hy lof m eaning
,

, , ,

h e loved her He h ugged her as he said it He shows


. .

d aily h o w m u ch he loves h e r ( I have al w ays found it .

safe to j udge a nurse s manner during the absence of ’

her mistress by the evidence of a fi e c tion given by the


child It will invariably b e a reflection of the s u rround
.

ings for a fearless child is al w ays a mirror of ot h ers )


,
.

To d ay whe n he sa w the illustration of the fat spider


,
“ ”
i n the S pider and the Fly song in his n u rsery book $ -

,
“ ”
he said S ider fatty h a h a He seems to enj oy i n
, ,
-
.

tensely anything that will provoke laughter and he is ,

usually a merry little soul .

R e c ently he took a number of things out of the draw



er of the kitchen table saying What s that ? What s
-

,
’ ’


that ? to everythi ng he di d n t know but said spoon ’
, ,
“ ” “ ”
fork ,
knife etc to those he did kno w A t last h e
,
.
,
.

found an old steel that was used some months ago to


crack ic e He remembered this at once a nd said w he n
.
, ,

he sa w it B ishy cack ice
, ,
.

This evening he did not feel very well and h e begge d ,

his mother to stay by h im S he re m ained lying dow n .


,

beside him and holding his hand while singing to him .

E ll i ott s

Mother Goose .

61
A S T UD Y O F A C H I L D

He kept asking for his pet songs one by one When she ,
.

tho ught he had had eno ugh to q uiet him she said good ,

n ight and stopped singing still lying q u ietly h owever
, , ,
.

“ ”
He soo n said to himself Mommy seep turned O ver , , ,

and fell asleep .


N ovem ber 27th His new connections of words to
.

“ ” “ ”
day w ere knock B ishy and piece of b u ttony (for
, ,

button ) This afternoo n h e knelt by his m other who


.


w a s lying on a couch and said A h mamma s s u te , , ,

heart in a very w inning w ay These vol u nt arv toke n s .

of love are q u ite us u al with him .

N ovember 28t h — A t midnight last night when rest


.
,

less h e said to his father Po p p ee stay carry boy


,

, ,
.

N ove m ber 29 th —A s h e put something in a hole to


.

“ ”
day he said S tick it in,
He constructs sentences very .


often n ow When his nurse came i n he said C arry
.
,

boy ” “ — ”
He said to me to d ay apple fork and S howed
.
, ,

the m to me When I asked him where h e got the


.

fork he said t app ie (chappie) table — ” —


meaning on a
, ,

table in his father s room where I remembered it had ,

been left last night .

N ovember 3 o th To d ay the ne w words were pretty


.

” “ ”
w ell ,
smart s h adow ,
.

D ecember l st — “
N ew words w ere pull u p sleeve an d
.
,

wing (of a bird) .

D ecember 1 1 t h C ome B ah d e e (to his pussy) ; B ishy


.
,

bri ng B a h d ee He said big ring n od e r one to some

.
, ,

one w h o w a s making smoke rings for him when sm ok


ing a cigar after dinner A t one O clock in the night .

“ ”
h e waked and said immediately big ring h oder one , , ,

as if there had been no interval .

He said t o day December 1 2th while pl ayi ng refer


, , ,


ring to one of his n ursery so ngs , T affy tief beef —
62
S E C O N D YE A R

home . He seems to think of these things while he is
doing other things .

“ ”
S aid o and d (from letter blocks) to d ay and also - -

,

said lap ” “
lappie b ang ie — boy
,
— We can t find out ’

what he means by h a ngie .


F rom D ecember 14 t h to end of the month he h as


” ”
“ “
said pencil ; g e ttie pencil “
find m ore ; ic e “

” “ ”
w agon a nd street car when seeing pictures of the ,
“ “ ”
same ; S anta C aus omitting the bottles for
, ,
“ ” “ “ ”
nine pins ; pick it u p ; put it away
-

picture ;
“ ”
pipes when he sees any one s m oking or if h e sees a
, ,
’“ ” “ ”
pipe in any one s mouth ; letter letter man whe n ,
-

,
“ ”
h e hears the door bell ri ng ; p ina g e for spinach ;
-


mas ala for celery ; teakettle coffee when he ”
,

sees a picture of a teakettle ; put it down ; G er “

” ”
m a n t o wn ; and my name is Harold

When I say .


You live at N o he instantly says the name of
.

the street He speaks of me as Mrs H


. and uses .

my name correctly We always teach him any change


.

of address by direct tea c hi ng that h e may if lost tell , , ,

where he belo ngs and we have always impressed u po n


,

him the fact that all policemen are his friends and are
meant to help people especially w h en they get lost I
, .

ofte n hear him try to persuade a little friend who is


afraid of policemen to like them .

To d ay he said T om Tom saw pig run eat beat how


, , , ,

li n g steet for (street) He was evidently thinking of .

T om , Tom , p i p er s
th e

son ,

S tol e a p i g a nd a w ay he ru n, e tc .

“ ” “
O ther words that are n e w are hello hello dear , ,
” “ ”
gamme boy screw ,
B ahd e e scatch ( when pussy,
” ”
scratches) ach himmel ,
, gesundheit He still says .

63
A S TUDY OF A CHILD
“ ” “
neeze for sneeze ; down t airs Bis b y says bot -

,

— ”
tle seepy whe n bedtime comes ”
get a coach w hen
, ,

he wants to go out o fdoors ; gamma choo choo ih


“ — ”- - -

t im a t ing that he wants to go to gamma s (grandma) on ’

the choo choo He remembers that he went on the train


-
.

some m ont h s ago on a visit to her .


January 1 4 t h 1 89 2 To day h e said Happy N ew “
.
-

,

year three times when looking at a holiday book He -
.

then turned to his mother kissed and h u gged her and , ,

“ ”
said l ufly mamma .

He says S anta C laus now pronouncing the He ,

takes his S anta C la u s book and explains all the pictu res
-

as for instance when h e reaches the one where S anta


, ,

is sitting readi ng the names of children with pen and ink ,

on the des k before him he says S anta C la u s reading , , ,



desk gif m e pencil ho lding out his hand to th e picture
, ,
.

He often a sks for pencil — write ( pencil to write)



,

and makes an 0 He calls a big 0 a fatty . He
knows W X H I 0 Q of his blo c k al phabet a nd he
, , , , ,
-

says X Y Z from repetition , but does not know the m


, ,

w h en he se es the m .

He sa w sle ighs to d ay for th e first time He hear d .

his n u rse say S leigh in the morning and when out i n ,

“ ”
his coach later in the day h e said sleigh n od e r one , ,

as they passed him S ince th e above date he has picke d .


out pictures of sleighs in his books saying sleigh nod er , ,

one w henever he fin d s one
, .


Jan uary 1 5th His n e w words to d ay were here tis
.
“ ” -

,


kitchen o utside ” ”
missee mor n ing (for misty morn
,
“ ” “ ”
ing) h o w d o sir ?
, shut e e eyes
,
When he stum .

“ ”
bled h e said fall .

January 1 8 th — Last night after he h a d waked and


.
,

taken his last bottle of milk he sai d Mommy s pwe , ,

64
A S T U DY OF A CHILD

ing He heard the puffing of the Bunsen burner when


.

he awakened from his nap and said S ee e e choo choo , ,


-


in ee kitchen and could hardly wait to get there He
, .

amused himself for a time to day by pushing his coach -

around the room but first he moved two chairs very


,

carefully out of his way i n order to have the entire


length of the room open for the coach .

Whe n he was asked if he wanted a piece of bread h e ,


“ ”
said Y es and voluntarily went to the pantry opened
, ,

the door and bread can took out a loaf and brought it
-

, ,

to the perso n w h o a ske d him w h o cut a piece from it , ,

and returned the loaf to him without a word He re .

t u rned it to the can closed both it and the door and, ,

returned when he w as given his piece of bread


,
.

January 1 9 th — To d ay he heard something fall w ith


.
-

“ ”
a loud noise He said Break e e house down
. Two , .

“ ”
n e w sentences were : Pull down e e sleeve mommy , ,

meaning his o w n ; and Please C arrie take ou t e e , ,
” “
key . When h e awoke this morning he said Kitch ,

e n gamme
,
meaning h e wanted to go there where he
, ,

was allowed perfect freedo m every morning .

He uses all sorts of expedients to get his mother up



mornings as soon as he wakes S ays G et up mom .
, ,


m y dess d ess Harold mommy ”
w ant e e dink ;
,
“ ”

momm y u p kitchen see gamme ; and then h e
,
“ ”
calls C arrie come as loud as he can for she generally
, , ,

comes in at this time and romps with and dresses him .

When a t last his mother does get up and dress he sits ,

contentedly awaiting his turn He says trying to do .


,

i t at the same time Put e e shoes on Harold put e e —


, ,
” “ ”
S hoes on . Then he say s petticoats when they are ,
“ ” “ ”
put on ; Put on dess next ; then Brush e e teeth , ,
” “ ”
Brush c c hair, W ash ee mouth and at last he turns ,

66
S E C O N D YE AR

up his face for a kiss saying C lean enough ? He takes ,

the greatest i nterest in every little thi ng relati n g to the


care given him .

Jan u ary 2o th — To day h e wanted to take the dust


.
-

pan to bed with him wh en he took his nap I took it .


away saying N o no
,
He kicked and scream ed b u t
,
.
,

I took no notice of it A t last he sai d T oo bad ; .


,
” —
shame l repeated it several t imes then took m y ha n d ,

and fell asleep q uietly with only one more cry for the ,

dust pan following it imme d iately with Too bad ;


-

,

shame $

January 2l st To day he said D ance a baby diddy
“ -

,
.

“ ”
( from nursery song) ; also said spider when he saw the ,

ins ide of a big clock an d then he said F atty clock see ,

clock ticking N o do u bt h e associated the big clock
.

“ ”
w ith the big spider he called fatty spider in the nurs
ery song book for h e calls a big 0 a fatty 0
-

,
.

January 22d —To day he picked up a tin bread can


.
- -

that was standing on the pantry floor carried it about , ,

and suddenly began to t u rn h is hand aro u nd as if turn ,



ing a ha n dle and say m u silay meaning music and that
, , ,

h e was imitating a hand organ -

Jan u ary 23d — We came to tow n for the w inter a


.

fe w days ago Harold and h is nurse came in on a later


.

train Ever since he has said repeate d ly S arah take


.
, , ,
” “
Harold lufl y c h O O choo ; bell ring choo choo -
and ,
-

every time he sees a possibl e ch ance of going out he



sa y s S ee a choo choo ?
,

He was given a very com
-

l t e toy locomotive last month because he has shown


p e ,

such great i nterest i n engi n es of all sorts He instantly .

detected various differences between his e ngines and


those he sa w about h im in his daily walks and he did ,

not hesitate to mention them H e asked q u estions about .

67
A STUDY OF A CHILD

every part h e observed after this wanting to know t h e ,

names of all of them In a very S hort time he w as heard .

“ ” “
saying to his nurse This is a piston rod or This is ,
-

,
” “ ”
a cy linder or This is an eccentric etc He was told
, ,
.

each name once only in ans wer to his questions .

He w a s ta ught in G ermantown when asked where he


, ,

lived to give his name and his street n umber Last even
,
-
.

ing w e began to teach h im his new address his name , ,

and street i n Philadelphia and he repeated it several ,

times This evening w e asked him where h e lived a n d


.

what was his n ame He said Harold — G im m in t o w n



.
, ,

and then as if a ne w idea had struck him he said in


, ,

one sentence F il a du th a L ocust S treet — c hoo choo



, ,
-


Fil ad ufli a .

A few days ago he began saying U se Pe ars soap “ ’


,

instead of j u st Pears soap as before We often ask ’
,
.
'

“ ”
him for fun Have you u sed Pears soap ?
, ,


To night he said Papa play play A nnie R ooney
-

, ,
-

He spe aks very distinctly for so young a child .

January 24th — TO day when playing with his toys


.
-

, ,

he voluntarily counted one two three four five six , , , , , ,

seven eight ,
.

L ater i n the day w hen taking off my street shoes I, ,

aske d him to please bring m y shoes w ithout specifyi ng ,

which pair h e should bring He went to my closet a n d .

selected a pair of l o w russet shoes that I frequently wear


when at home He certainly observes much that one
.

ordinarily considers un noticed b v a chil d .

This morni ng when I came I nto h l S room before he


w as ou t of bed I found him playing with a toy
,
choo

choo that could be wound up to run He had no .

st ri n g with which to W ind it up and he evidently ,

wanted one , for h e had untied t h e ribbon at the neck


68
SE COND YE AR

of his night gow n, and w as trying to win d it up wit h


-

that.


He has begun to say a few F rench w or d s : bon soir ,

bon u nit from imitation but he knows what they
, ,

mean and his pronunciation is very good


, .

January 25th To day he begged me to carry down


.
“ - -


cellar to kitchen to A nnie meaning the colored janitress ,

in the basement S he has a bird with which he is de


.

lighted and which he evidently wanted to see He


, .

O ften asks for somethi ng that w e find later on brings



him something else that he wants but doesn t ask for .

It seems hardly probable that he does it designedly yet ,

it is a curio u s coincidence at times .

Jan uary 26th — To d ay we were ou t walking A s we


.
-
.

neared Broad S treet the wind ble w hard direc tly in his ,

face I said
. Turn around Harold and walk back
, , ,

ward . He did it at once much t o the amusement of ,

so m e passers b y w h o stood still a n d watc h ed h im He


-

,
.

seems to comprehend v ery quickly that I h ave a good


reason for aski n g him to do certain things and even if ,

they may app e ar a little unus u al at the ti m e to another ,

to him they seem to appear to be natural .

January 29 th — TO day h e said to his n urse ( who i s


.
-

not the one to W hom h e has been accustomed but an ,


“ ”
old colored mammy) G ood bye honey O ther sen
,
-

,
.

ten oes were Mannie sit down S how e e schlissel book


, ,
“ “ “
S ee ee man nie Mommy good boy Harold ,
” “
good boy (say ing his whole name) ; C arry B ish y ( to) , ,
” “ ”
lovely choo choo He said G een ch oo choo tod ay
-
.
-

“ ” —
saying geen for green the first time for this word .

He was h u nti n g a little green engine at the time and



could n t find it O ther sentences were

. Where s e e ,

” “ ”
drum ? S ee 6 6 m use e man winnow -

, .

69
A STUDY O F A CHILD

January 30 th — T O
day when in the bath roo m he
.
-

,
-

said Baf p itty soon no doubt anticipating his even


, ,

ing bath A s w e passed the bath room door h e sai d


.
-

,

Baf y o om ; wash e e hands
-
He also said F raid e e .
,

doctor when h e sa w D r

,
w h o lives next door . .

He said it at intervals all day ( T he record shows that .

he never learned to like the physician mentioned cried ,

when he approached and could not be induced to even ,

talk to him He was a very stern m a n and cr u el to


.
,

children as later developments proved A curious thing


,
.

about the c hild shows clearly all through the record


that he knew instantly when meeti ng perso n s w hether
they liked him or not S erva nts coul d not be kept with .

comfort to the little fellow when h e had sho w n that h e


tho ught they didn t like him and it w a s always found

,

advisa b le whe n engaging a servant i n any capacity to


first have him see the person and watch his m anner ,

before engagi n g the m In this way some exceptionally .

faithful servants were sec u red His usual expression i n .


this connection as he gre w O lder w a s either I don t
, ,

” “ ”
like her fa c e or Has she a smiling face ?
,
O n e d ay
in a store h e begged me to ask a certain cash girl w ith -

,

S uch a lovely face to come home to him ( His O w n

.
,

words ) He couldn t understand at first w h y I couldn t


.
’ ’

do it for it w a s h is mother s habit at the time to regu


,

l arly eng ag e a child to play with him daily to keep ,

him fro m becoming selfi sh — a faul t easi ly acq uired by


an only child .

To day some one spoke very suddenly to him when


-

h e w a s playi n g to check him instantly in something he


,

w as j u st beginning to do He looked up wit h a start .


and said sc a irt , .
SE COND YE AR

ing I when speaking of his own actions He said to


,
.


himself to d ay as if trying to recall something What
, ,

nam e — Harold in G imm int o w n ” -

When out walking the other day w e passed some bill


boar d s ou Broad S treet that were covered with pict u res
of engines He w as delighted with them went up to
.
,

them touched them and admired them to h is heart s


, ,


content He didn t want to leave them but I induced
.
,

him to come o n to something else that appeared to a t


tract him H e kept on talking abo u t them however
.
, ,

after we had left them and tod ay when I took him out , ,

on th e balcony for an airing he obj ected at first and ,

“ ”
said O ut choo choo fence
,
This is the first time I
-
.


have heard him say fence .

” “ ” “
His n e w words to day were cellar kitchen Ba
-

, ,
” —
vinia (for L avinia a serva n t d own stai rs) clothes “ -

,

pins ; and this afternoon when his mother attempt e d ,
-

to feed him so m e ice cream he said Mommy way “ -

, , ,

G eorge feed ( G eorge was
. a servant ) .

F ebr u ary l s t H e u sed I for the first time tod ay


.
-


He is almost two years O ld He said I u se Pears .
,

” “ ” “
soap ; I see choo c hoo o ut Then he said H ug -
.
,

m amma oh ,
squeezi n g h e r hard as he said it He also
,
.

“ ”
said I want you baby in his play to d ay , ,
.

F ebruary 3 d — H e began making f u nny faces a fe w


.


weeks ago when h e said Hoop a loop wh o s in th e , ,

so u p ? ”
No w he makes the faces at m e and la u ghs He .

O ften looks laughi n gly at me a n d winks one eye He is .


always very jolly This morning h e begged me to go .


o ut and see man carry leg I co u ld n t think what h e .

meant but discovered later that he had seen a man on a


,

crutch yesterday and w as very much i nterested ,


.

He no w uses a great many words very intelligently


71
A STUDY O F A CHILD

as for instance whe n he says the words coming
, , , ,
” “ ” “ ”

won t come

here it goes
,
here it is There i s , .

al w ays a n intelligent appl icatio n T o day he found a .


-

“ ”
doll that he calls T ommy lying in a box of toy s
and covered with a cushion He said at on c e i n what .
,

seemed to be a tone of reproof Tom m y seep all d ay



,

in box .

This morning he said P p p ee get p eight o clock ;


o u —
, ,

and at breakfast h e t u rned to his father a nd said Papa



, ,

shame $ We co uld n t find out what he m eant b u t he

,
“ ”
very often says T oo bad shame $ when anythi n g goes
, ,

wrong I recognize the words as u sed occasionally by


.

his n u rse fro m whom he has no doubt learned them


,
.

L ate this evening when he woke for his milk he sai d


, , ,

TO O early evidently meaning it was not time to get
,

u
p,
for I sometimes say the same words to him if by ,

chance he wakes i n t h e morning before daylight It is .

probable that his first tho u ght on waking w a s that it


w as ti m e to get u p — and seei ng it w a s yet dark he con ,

“ ”
cl uded it w a s too early .

F ebruary 4 t h —H e said to day I love e e choo choo


.
-

,
-

while he w a s hunting in Pu ck for a picture of one


w hich he found eventually having seen i t there before , .

He w a s given recently a book co n taining pictures of


various kinds of locomotives A t first his comments were .

not noticed b ut gradually w e became impressed with the


,

fact that he w as saying as he turned from one page to


,
“ “ ’
the other This one hasn t any bell
,
This one has a
” “
bell ; This one h asn t any c o w catcher (it w as an

-

“ ”— ’
English e ngine) ; This one hasn t any bell noticing

the differences right through the book between the


A merican and the English e ngines pictured there A t .

last b e closed the book t u r n ed to his mother and said


, , ,

72
A S T UDY OF A CH ILD

He said I think so t o day when answering a ques ,

ti on.


F ebr u ary 7th To day h e sai d Mommy get the -

, ,

bottle ready wo n t come (meaning the milk won t ’

come T here was good reason for this for the bottle
.
,

was empty h e had taken it all) He then said N ever


,

.
,

min d and went about his play He always seems to
,
.

accept the inevitable i n a cheerful manner W V h e n h is .

father came in to day Harold said to him in an effort-

, ,

to ind uce him to play with him Pop p e e make chains , ,

( of paper rings with w hic h h e and,


the nurse often
a m use themselves) ; p op p e e sit down floor cushio n , ,

make big d u b b le u (W) ; p op p e e make big X-


.

F ebr uary 8 th — I heard him say to himself to day


.
-

,

C ry it o u t Behave yourself
. He has often h eard .

“ ”
m e t ell him to cry it out on my lap when he is ,

grieved and h e m u st have heard some on e tell him


,

to behave himself and he p u t the two together to d ay ,

when he thou ght he needed the admonition .

He also said to one of us this morning Pop p e e use ,


’ ”
Pears soap ? hear dat These little sentences pop out .

at us at all sorts of unexpected times and they am use ,

us very m u ch .

When going to Ne w York this week he said on the


train C hoo choo lovely choo—choo I love choo choo
,
-

,

.
-

r —
F ebr ua y 9 t h Y esterday for the first time he said
.

” ”
y ou instead of saying mommy as u sual w hen ,

speaking to her He said Mannie talk to you in

.
,

s t ead of s aying as he did formerly ,
Mannie talk to ,
” ”
mamma S o m etimes he calls himself m annie some
.
,

times m an

.

F ebru ary l 0th — A s his mother w as taking off h e r


st reet dress tod ay he pulled her to the closet and said ,

74
SE COND YEAR
“ ”
Put e e dess on When she puts an apron on he a l
.


ways O bjects and begs her to take off apron
,
A bout .

a month ago he cried because she put a jacket on over



her ho use dress on a cold morning He said Take e e .
,

sacque ofl mamma and persisted in it He must have

, , .

some idea for this but I have not found out yet what ,

it is .

We are still in N ew Y ork arrived yesterday and the ,

long trip must have tired the little fello w for he said o n ,
”’
his arrival I m so glad to go to bed,
When half way .
-

over he said on t h e train Express man ta ke a w ay trunk ,


-


to day and wh en on our return he saw it brought
-

, , ,

back he said Express man brin g e e trunk
, ,
-

To d ay when sitting o n a bed h e intimated that he


-


had disturbed it I said O h no “ “
He said Y es nice
. .
,
” “
boy ? ( interrogatively ) I said N He said N ice .


b oy I sink (think) so
, ( The record shows how he o f .


ten said when a question of opinion would arise I ,

think so as if that settled it in his mind S uch a char


,
.

a c t e rist ic if properly g u ided should de velop into a sturdy


, ,

self respect and strength of individual opinion withou t


-

i n the least encroaching upon or a n tagonizing the opin


ions O f others ) .
C HAP T E R I II

T H I RD Y E A R . L A N GUAG E A ND O T H E R I N C I DE N TAL
DE VE L O P M E N T CON T I N UE D

F E B RU A RY 1 5t h (at home) Harold is two years O ld


.
— .

He j ust said S ee e e L ollie (meaning Mollie) sew dess ,



nice dess S he made a dress for him some time ago
.

that pleased him very m u ch and which he seems to



prize very highly He begged me to day to take
.
-


down t airs see big clock tick tick
-
He saw one in -

New Y ork and is confused about it for there is no


, ,


big clock here He called D elia several times to

.

day (a h ouse maid he sa w in N ew York) and he also


-

called for his aunt as if he could not q u ite reconcile


,

hi m self to the fact that he was no longer there O n the .

way home he saw a lady on the train w h o resembled


“ ”
his aunt s mother and he called her grandma several

times F or many days he has asked q u estions about


.

h o w there co u ld be another grandma for hitherto h e ,

has only kno w n of his maternal grandmother and he ,

could not understand for a long time that his aunt s ’

mother was his cousin s grandma and not his He is al



.

w ays very friendly with strangers when travelling and ,

appears to fear no one when their faces please him He .

i nvariably smiles or speaks to some stra nger wh en out


o f doors or when travelling
-
He said this m orning
.
,
“ ”
S ee ee L ollie take e e co ffee next y oom He had seen .

76
T H I R D YE A R
'

his aunt have c ofl e e in the room next to his when h e


w a s in Ne w Y ork and h e evidently thinks he is still
,

within reach of her .

F ebruary l 6 th — When he saw a picture of a coffee


.

” ”
m ill to day i n his sc hl ii sse l book
-
“ “
he said ganma ,
.

He had seen one for the first time at his G randma



S S He sometimes says gan m e and at other
.
,
” ”
ti m es gam m a
“ “
When he said ganme to the oof
.

fee m ill I asked Is it G anme H


-

,
all u ding to his

cousi n s grandma .

He repeated her name and looked doubtful then said ,


“ ”
again G anme ganme put e e coffee in
, ,
I then said .


G anme S questioningly He looked relieved .

and repeated it He is evidently still p u zzled over hear


.

ing of two grandmas His maternal grandmother only .

is living and u ntil he heard his cousi n s speak of their


,

grandmother he had heard of one grandmother only .

( H e was very curious w hen a little older about the


,
de ,

grees of relationship in one family and I had many ,

questions to answer ) .

Yesterday he said “ —
S ee a Mary g o winno w da —
,

da S haking his hand to her from the w indo w as sh e
,

w ent away .

A fter having ha d a crying spell to day h e said -


-


S hamed himself .

F ebruary 1 7t h —To day wh e n he saw a man fro m


.
-

,
“ ”
the windo w he said U ncle Hed ( meaning E d ) I
,
.

looked out and saw a ma n resembling his uncle very


greatly .

Yesterd ay I took him to see Dr A He ha d not .

been there for t wo months When w e reached th e .


s treet door of the physicia n s house his face c ha nged ,

a nd h e said , cryi n g Harol d frai d hurts me ,
He kept , .

77
A ST UDY O F A C H I LD

repeating fraid hurts all the time he w as there and
, ,

cried u ntil he reached the street again when he in ,

st an t ly became serene A bout thirteen months before


.

this date this physician lanced his gums and ten months ,

ago b e vaccinated him He remem b ers one or the other


.

occasion probab ly both


,
.

F e b ruary 8t
1 h — To day I showed him an illustration
.
-

“ ”
with the song Twinkle twinkle little star He in , , .


sta n t ly said

D r Tar meaning D r S tarr
.
,
. .

This morning he said to his father G ood morn ing ,


-

,

gl ad to see you He said to me yesterday immediately
.
,
“ ”
after his nap F eel tired rock a bit and snuggled up
, , ,

in my arms and l e t me rock him He is not very well .

t o d ay This may have had somethi ng to do with his


.

desire to be rocked yesterday for he rarely asks for it ,


.

He h as always S hown a great willi n gness to put away


m y shoes I never tho ught of it before but I remem
.
,

h e r n o w that he is always ready to put away m y stree t


shoes and to get my house shoes I h ave concluded .

this is because he knows I will stay at home w hen I


wear the latter for to day h e refused to p u t away my
,
-

ho u se shoes when he sa w me put on my street shoes .

When I came home he called me at once to the closet


and pointed to m y house shoes I took them out and .

placed them by the couch then turned to d o something ,

else forgetting to put them on He took m e by the


, .


hand led me to the couch and said S it ee do w n bed
, , , ,

put e e on shoes as if afraid I would go out again I
,
.

did so and before I had said a word he t ook away m y


,

street shoes and put them i n the closet He has evi .

d e n tly reasoned out for himself that when I wear street


shoes I am likely to go away from him .

F ebruary 1 9 th — This morning when he awoke he


.

78
THIRD YEAR

said immediately to me Wait for p op p ee last night ,
.

S o he had It seems to be his greatest pl easure To


. .

night w hen ready for bed and after ha ving taken n ear
, ,

ly all of his milk he handed m e the bottle and said , ,


“ ”
ver y i n s in u a tin gly Put away e e bottle see e e p op p e e
, ,
.

I paid no attention to this so he went to sleep L ast ,


.

evening when h e began taki n g the milk he said Put “


, ,

in hot water I thought the m ilk wasn t warm enough
.

,

probably a n d was about to do as he asked w hen he sat


,

“ ”
u
p and said S ee ee p pp
o e e I,
knew then that he was .

trying to get me to let him wait for his father so I ,

gave him the bottle told h im quietly to take it and go ,

to sleep a s if I exp ec ted obedien ce an d he did it con


, ,

t e n t e d ly .

F ebruary 2o th — He
said this morni ng when his father
.

lef t for town F raid e e papa take e e choo choo go to -

see A unt M This evening when h is mother was ,



lying by him as he went to S leep he said G et u p mom , , ,

my too busy
,
I s u ppose h e remembers hearing her
.

say at some time that she was too busy to lie down by
h im while he took hi s nap for he often asks her to do so ,
.

F ebruary 2l st — To day he wanted to go out and as


.
-

,

he said to see a mannie fro w a bricks away
,
.


T wo weeks ago he said G o e e out see e e choo ,

choos on e e fence This morning he said as he put a.
,

picture of a n engine on a cha ir before him S it on e e ,
” “
chair talk to choo choo
,
He also said t o day Tell -
.
, ,
” ’
m e what s it He says at times Mommy like e e boy
.
, ,
” “ ’
squeal when he makes the noise he calls squeal
,
.

He loves to hear his father play the violin He said .

to h im this evening Pop p ee play e e violin — please pop ,



pee play e e violin When his father took the instru .


me n t out of the case an d began h e said S hut e e box , , ,

79
A STUDY O F A CH ILD

popp e e , reached out and shut it with a ba ng sayi n g , ,

Harold shut e e box as if glad it w a s S hut It looked, .

very much as if he were afraid his father would put the


violin away too soon .


F ebruary 22d H e said t o day This is a knuckle
.
, ,

closing his hand and pointing to the knuckle Two .

days ago he pointed to a knuckle on his father s ha n d ’

“ ” ’
and said What s dat ?,
He w as told it w as a knuc kle ,

when he promptly made a fist and pointed to his own .


He asked me to go down stairs saying C arry Har -

, ,

old do w n to R avinia see ee bird cellar A nother


, .

n e w effort for to d a y was whe n he tried to h ang a


-


thermometer up above the mantel an d said Hang ee ,

u p mantel piece -
.

F ebru ary 23d — When he heard a neighbori ng fac


.


tory whistle this evening he sai d Hear it whistle six
-

,
’ ”
O clock .


When talki ng of a clock he said I go see it six ,

o clock (his usual bedtime) When h e was screaming

.

“ ”
to d ay he said Mannie make a noise
,
.

He w as trying to find a big ri ng carved i n the m antel


this morning The mantel was d raped recently so the
.
,

ring w as covered When hunting for it he said Fi nd
.
,

big O Harold find it Big 0 go to sleep and then
. .
,
“ ”
when h e had discovered it he said I find it Then .

he dropped the curtai n and said O gone to S leep ,


.

He is very fond of his new nurse A nnie — a n old ,



colored mammy To d ay he said to her O pen closet
.
, ,


build a house His blocks are in the closet A fe w
. .

days ago , when asking for a drink he said Drink fresh , ,

water .

He is very fond of Mrs A w ho is a n eighbor at .

present This morning when Sh e came in h e climbed


.

80
A S T U DY O F A C H I L D

he obj ected and he said ,
Mommy no use dat put , ,

a way on mantel piece mo mmy go away -



,
.


His n e w words and sentences to day were : N o I -

,
” “ ”
like piggy S lip pers ; S ee him p ut a bread out ;
H arold hold it— glass
” “

Mommy write ; I got it

w ater ,
w he n holding a glass of water of which he ,

seemed very pro ud .

F ebr uary 28 t h — This morning o n waking he sai d


.
,

What time is it mo m my ? ” “
shave
, p pp
o e e shave

, ,


is gone to s h ave L ater he said I m u s t fix it ; too
.

,

bad break t e ake lla (kettle) agai n (alluding to a toy
teakettle) .

When we say D o you like D r E



he says .

No ”
. D o y o u like D r A No He has . .

unpleasant recollections O f both of t he m that co uld not


have been avoided D o y o u like Dr F.

Y es ”
. .

He (Dr F . h as bee n ve ry pleasant with him during


a recent slight illness “
D O y o u want to see him ?
.

N ( Because he fears he may have to do something


unpleasa nt when h e comes If convinc e d th at nothing .

of this kind is to be asked of him he is al w ays rea d y ,

for a chat and a ro m p with him ) He sometimes say s .


,

as if to reass ure hi m self Mommy won t hurt you ,

,
’ ” ’
p pp
o e e won t h u rt you doctor won t hurt you ,
.

T o day he said while playing and p uzzling over some


,

thing h e did not understand O n O dder side What s ,


.



dat ? I can t find it ou odder side ; I think so ; D id
” ” “

” ”
y o u fix it ? “
D id you stick him ? Whack piggy , ,

w he n hitting his woode n pig He also said S hoot .
,

Tom my t o day to his doll S aid to me when going to .
,

bed T ake it O ff the shoes
,
— “
Take it off— the slip
pers Po p p e e p u t on shirt p u t on trousers an take a , ,

” “ ”
baf A nnie take it O ff , .

82
T H I R D YE A R

Before going asleep he said to me G la d to see you , ,

S w eet enough to kiss which I often say to him after ,

washing his face He also said G ood afternoon and
.
-

,
“ ”
this evening he said Just one light burning when he
saw the other lights lo w ered that he might sleep We .

asked him how many gaslights were b urning in the


“ ”
room He said correctly
. O ne t w o three gases
, , , ,
.

Whe n carried through the next room he said again cor ,


“ ”
rec tl y Just one gas burning
,
A fter w ards he noticed .

the light of the Bunsen burner and said O ne — two ,



gases . We asked h i m if there were any more He re .

” ’
plied I don t see it
,
There were none He is evi . .

d e ntly going to be cautious in reaching conclusions .

( The record S hows this is true ) .

When his father was ready to leave for the d ay wit h ,

coat hat etc he said G ood b y e papa go out steet


, ,
.
, ,
-

, , .

“ ”
He al w ays says steet for street T o day he said .
,
” “ ”

Bring o ut the cars He said the twice t o day in
.
,
“ ” “
stead of e e as usual He also said to himsel f Is .
,

dat funny ? Dat is f u nny .

He said to A nnie before she put him in his crib , ,

A nnie lie down on mo mmy s bed and hold Harold s


,
’ ’


hand . His mother often d oes this when he is falling
asleep and as she w a s not th ere at the time h e trie d to
, ,

induce A nnie to do it He said t o day S ee clock o n .


, ,
” ”
wall tick tock ticking
- -
L iste n to the gas as it
.
,

flared and to his father Popp ee smoke pipe make


, , , ,
” ’
rings . When on his father s lap watching him making
rings he discovered cigars in his waistcoat pocket He
,
-


gre w alarmed said I not near them and i nsisted on

, , ,


sitting on his mother s lap to see the smoke rings g l anc ,

ing from time to time as if afraid , at the pocket holdi ng ,

the cigars .

83
A STUDY O F A C HILD

TO day pointing as if with a gun he said
-

,
Bi ng , , ,

sh oot bird When L avinia s canary w as bro ught up t o
.

am u se him he said Pop p e e b uy new bir d ”


T hen h e
, , .

“ — — — —
asked m e to sing Moller G oose fol la three birds ”
,

m eaning the song of


T h re e c ro w s th e re w e re o c e n
Wh o sat on a t ree
Fa l l a l a l a l a l a ,
- - - - -

e tc .

I think I sang it ove r at least two dozen times He .

— ”
kept repeating More bir d ie listen s pointing to L a
, ,

v inia s bird and kept time w ith his finger sometimes
, ,

singing with me It had not oc c urred to me that he


.

wanted me to sing for the bird He was ill at the time .


,

and I sang beca u se I tho ught I was pleasing h im .


T o day he said O h mercy $ twice at inter vals He , ,
.

heard his colored nurse say it He also said to me when .


I w a s at the piano facing him ho w ever Turn a ro und
, , ,
” “
and play good m oosic He says Mommy s precio us .

” “ ” ’
boy ,
mommy s pettie boy ’
p pp
o e e s when ,

asked whose boy he is .

When he wants me to sing he specifies now saying , ,



S ing Jack and Jill

or S i ng L ittle Bo Peep ,

.


Whe n we go over Mother G oose together h e says ,

some of the words and I say the rest and wait for h im ,

to say his I n this w ay we go over the entire book


. .

He seems to know them all very well although he is j u st ,


t w o years O l d The following are his words for Jack
.


and Jill
Jac k—Jill —h iIl— Water ,

Dow n — c ro w n — a f te r
G ot—t ro t .

C a p e r—b e d—h ead —p ap er


I n — g rin —p l as t e r
V e xe d —n ex t—di s as ter .

84
A S TU DY O F A C H I LD

'

T o day h e called to his nurse My nice An nie , .

T his a fternoon he was busy playing with a little play


m ate . I tho ught I could steal a nap and thre w myself ,

do w n on the couch He said instantly O pen e e ey es ;


.

, ,

no shut eyes I was so sleepy that I closed them u n
.

consciously but every time he would call out plead


, ,

ing ly “
,
N O shut eyes .


T his evening h e said to his father Papa play vio lin , ,

Papa sit down eat e e supper To A nnie he has said .


for over a month A nnie b uild a ho use w i matches
, , .

( This is a favorite occupation of his with safety matches -

He will amuse himself a half hour at a time with them) -

Thi s evening we asked him if he loved Dr A He .

said L uf Dr A

. We asked h im again and h e ,

said N Then we asked him if he love d Dr T .

He said Y es love D r T

,
We are tryi ng to get
.

him to forget his unpleasant recollections of D r A .

but he seems to remember too vividly to forget easily .

T o day his mother wanted to dress a cut with antiseptic


-


lint and he said Mamma put c c cotton way
, ,
Whe n
,
.


S h e picked i t up agai n he said Put it o n A n n ie fi n ,

ger as if his finger was to be spared T hen he sai d


,
.
,
“ ’
as she took the salve Mamma won t hurt Harold w i ,
’ ’
grease ; papa won t hur t Harold doctor won t hurt
Harold ; do c tor put satchel way D octor come in see .
,

s oldier p icture which he thinks is a great pleasure (one
,

O f D e t a il le s)

.


A t dinner this evening h e said Papa gib some ,
“ ” “ ”
pease Papa gib Harold crust ; piece of cr ust ;
,
” “ ” “
good cr ust ; nice crust To night he said Put ee
.
-

,

stocki ngs on go see papa in next y oom whe n I took
, ,

them off to get him ready for bed He is full of little .

“ ”
ways of plea d ing to stay up at n ight with pap a .

86
THIRD YE AR

Whe n going to bed t o night he said in his us u al ,



pleading way S ee papa eat oysters next y o om

,
This .


afternoon he said I m u st find it emphasizing must ,
.

— .

March 2d H e said to d ay Harold sneeze ; also ”
,
-

,

TO O bad ; Harold broke it .

I gave him a small m u sic box that had a handle simi -

lar to a win d ing tape meas u re and at first he called it -

,

a tape measure -
.


March 3d His new sentences to day w ere Pu t
.
“ -

,

this o n the top and S tand u p and look at Bridget
, ,

to a picture he sa w in a fashion paper that he called


Bridget .

He made H X an d A with matches and tol d m e


, , ,

what letters they were We sometimes give him a box .

of safe ty matches to build letters wit h a nd it pleases


-

him very much A t times he asks for them but does


.
,

n ot get them This evening when h e received the box


.

h e took out all the matches shut th e box slide hit it to ,


-

make sure i t was sh u t and set it aside in a very decide d


,

w ay as if to say
,
No w I h a ve th e matches I shall do
,

as I please with them He then b uilt ho uses letters .
, ,

and engines and amused himself for a lo ng time


, .

A shor t time ago he saw a picture of a scre w top gl ue -

pot in a journal and said at once in an excited way


, , ,
“ ” ”
pointi ng to it What s dat ? I said A glue pot
,

He “ -

looked at it doubtingly for a while the n said very de , ,



c id e d ly That s t h e doctor s ; doctor won t hurt you
,
’ ’ ’


don t like bottle doctor

I then noticed that the bottle .

resemble d an ether bottle used once when etherizing him


-

Whe n I asked him w h e re he had seen a d octor s bot ’

tle h e looke d at the end of the mantel w h ere the on e


,

used ha d been standing He then said although it w as .


,
“ ” “
his belove d sc hl iisse l book Put the book away ; ,

87
A S T UD Y OF A CHILD
’ ’ ”
don t like the doctor s bottle He asked for it again .
,

however after a while as though it had a fascinatio n


, ,

for him yet he sho w ed apprehension whe n he saw the


,

picture .

When he heard some one moving i n the hall later on


in the day he started and said to me “
D octor won t ,


hurt you Had his mother tho ught he would notice
.

and remember so much she would have cautioned th e


physi c ians and have saved him much nerve strain It -
.

is a mistake no doubt O ften made for knowledge so ,

often comes too late and children suffer ( T he record ,


.

shows that it took more than a year for th e child to re


cover from the nerve strain which could all be traced to -

the fact that h e was allowed to be in th e room while


preparations were bei ng made to etherize him These .

facts may serve to illustrate where physicians and sur


geons may make a fe w practical deductions fro m child
study ) .

He said to day to h is m other ,


-

S ee birdie sleep , , ,
” “
mamma ; ha ng it up gas ; Tommy kiss O s kiss choo ,

,
” ’
choo putting the letters and engine to Tommy s mouth
,
.

'

( T ommy is a s t u fl e d rag doll ) He then said in a re fl e c t .


,

ive tone Tommy s face very dirty D r A
,
had said

. .

the same a fe w days before and Harold said it as if no w , ,

that he came to think of it D r A w a s right He ,


. .


then said Tommy sit up trying to make h im sit He

, ,
.


accomplished it and eagerly said to me Harold made , ,

Tommy sit up This eveni ng when he sa w a picture
.

of a tape measure he thought of the music box he h a d


- -


received recently for he asked at once Mamma gib , , ,

Harold musila box S he gave it to him turning over
-
.
,

another page of the book as she did so He turned the .

“ ”
ha ndle of the music box and said F ind tape measure -

,
-
.

88
A STUDY OF A CH ILD
“ ’
O ther sentences at this date were : Mommy s good
” ”
boy ; S tella ( a playmate) not here t o day ; B ri ng it
“ “

” ”
u p th e spoo n s S tella ; I love it the boy all u di n g to
, , ,

little Walter with whom he played occasionally
,
S hut

this window .


He p u t one of his father s bamboo canes in a hole i n
a chair this evening a nd amused himself for a long time ,

m aking it go up and d own and bend .

He said to A nnie t o day A nnie write to S usan gib , ,



e e dis one pencil write to S usan S he told him a few
,
.

days ago that she must write a letter to some one called

S u san He said to me t o day
. Thank y ou put away , ,

n ice little gas light returning to m e a gas burner I had
-

,
-

given him to play with The n h e said Mamma try to .


, ,

reach it mantel piece
,
-
.

A s soon as he hears a piano even if it is next d oor he , ,

asks for his toy pia n o and begins to play , .

March 6th A new sentence t o day was S tand up


.
-


an d wind the tick to ok U p -
.


O ne day recently whe n not well he said Just a , , ,

while lean on here (meaning my shoulder) An nie s ,


arms break S he must have complained in his hear
.

ing of h e r arms being tired or bei ng ready to b reak .

T o d ay he had spinach for dinner the first time for a ,



m onth He recognized it and called it p inag e
.
,
.


His n e w sentences to day were : Write Baby Mc -

” “ ” “ ”
Kee ; Where s it ? a nd N 0 got e nough when asked

, ,

if he wo u ld have more of something .

He also said agai n t o day “


D octor won t hurt you ,

,


table.

A n old servant called Bridget brought h im a balloon


to d ay He seemed afraid of it and said Don t e e like
.
, ,

” ’
e e Bri d get ball N eedn t go ne ar it Ha ng it up
. He . .

90
THIRD YEAR

has not seen her for six weeks A t first he looked shy .

and turned away but turned back again and looked at


, ,

her as if glad and surprised saying Bridget , .

He said to h is father t o n ight when h e went to be d ,



G ood b ye papa until t o morro w see you again
-

, , , .

This evening as I sa ng about G ood night to birds -

he sang G ood night R avinia s bird -

,

.

March 7th — To day he said G ot a pain in tumm a c h


.
-

, ,

mamma A t night he begge d to lie in mam m a s
.
“ ’


bed and w as ill all night He cried c o n stantly Take
,
.
,

him carry him in mamma s arms walk floor
,

, .

March 9 th — This even ing at dinner he picked u p a


.


piece of c rust lying by his father s plate tasted it sai d , , ,
” ’
D on t e e like e e papa s crust want a drink and sai d

, ,
” “
also G et a spoon and feed him ; Harold feed him

,


self ; Want some m eat ; Want som e juice (roast
” “ “ ”

“ ”
beef dish gravy) ; Want some tato a n d so on as , ,

each dish appeared A s h e grew sleepy h e said as if .


,

afraid sh e wouldn t do i t on account of di n ner Mam ,
~

ma take m e lie on mam ma s bed h old hand


,
” ’
, .

He began lately to say in a conscious way after m ak ,

“ ”
ing a remark Hear dat papa ? ,
Every one began at ,

once to be more careful and the servants were c au tio n e d , ,

for fear h e would lose his u nconsciousness and resu lts ,

justified this care He has n o w no thought as to how


.

his words appear to others .

He said t o day F raid e e mamma sew put ee down, ,



c c needle A lso F raid e e mamma go a w ay ; fraid e e
.
,

papa take a choo choo go to see A u nt M N ew


-

Y or
He goes ove r a pet journal of mechan ical illustrations
in a curious way He has some association with each
.

picture Wh en h e saw a poker th e name of w hich h e


. ,

91
A STUDY O F A C HILD
“ ”
did not know he said B isb y meaning a serva nt h e
, ,

h ad seen using a poker ; when he saw a stove lifter h e ,


“ ”
said hot (h e may have found that out by experience ,

for he sometimes gets i nto the kitchen) His favorite .

illustrations are a page of screws one of keys (after ,



which he calls t he book his sc h l iissel book for we told ,

him the G erman word for key ) and a very complete il ,

l ustration of a locomotive b u t he will sit contentedly , ,

turning over page after page and talk to himself abo u t ,

all the pictures He does t his a lso with Mother G oose


.
,

and seems to kno w nearly all of it sometimes h u mming ,

snatches of the m elody b ut h e prefers the schl i1ssel


,

book and finds something new i n it every time he looks
,

it over and is always eager to S ho w me his discoveries


,
.

It is astonishing to see h o w he amu ses hi m self from


morning to night when w e do not conf use him w ith too
many things O ne time w e give him blocks another
.
,

time take him to the kitchen and le t him reign u ntil nap
ti m e when cook gets a chance to tidy up again When
,
.

there he will go from one utensil t o another point to


, ,

them and say What s d at ?
,

Every evening n ow he says to his father as soon as



he is in the ho u se Papa play e e violin and while h e
, , ,

plays h e will rest quietly in his nurse s arm s W h en ’


.

his father stops playing to go to dinner he says Put,



, ,

c c v iolin seep He found somewhere a fan shaped
.

like a violin and a n egg beater t hat he u ses as a b ow


,
-
.

“ ”
He calls these my violin and goes about the house ,

playing and singing at the top of his voice .

Y esterday I held him up at the window to see a chute


coal wagon He looked at the men taking out the coal
-
.


for a while and then said Make ee wheel go round
,

,
.


I didn t kno w at first what he meant b ut after war d s I ,

92
A S T U DY O F A C H I L D

T his evening he sai d F eed childre n supper Poor , .

childre n cry ; I get it I get Moll er G oose running to



.
,

the next roo m to get the book to bring it to me I never .

looked to see to which so ng he alluded He broke his toy .

violin after dinner and said Popp e e fix it ”


When his , .


father ret u rned it to him h e sai d voluntarily T hank , ,

y o u papa
,
Harold l
p y
.a violin .

March 1 2th — This morning he said to his father wh e n


.

“ ”
he left G ood bye p op p ee ; see y ou soon again ; then
,
-

, ,

Mommy get violin (meaning his own) ; daden s bow


,


next y oo m ; fraid e e p opp e e put it seep next y oo m
( again meaning his own fearing his father had put his ,

away w it h his own) .

T o day when looking over a puzzle b l ock game that


,
-

had a large picture of an engine on the box c over he -

fo u nd a small piece of the engine inside which he ,



promptly called little choo choo poi nti ng to the h ell
“ -

on the piece at t h e same time and saying ting a ling ,


-
-


a li n g
-

He then said eight times i n s uccession b ig


.

, ,

choo choo l i ttle choo choo again noting difference
-

,
-

,
.

When dressed in the morning now h e goes to th e



door and calls A nnie come and talk a you
,
S he asked .

h im who gave him the e n gine He said Mamma bing .


,


it this mudi ng (morning) S ometimes he says words
, .

correctly and at other times he does as above


,
say
ing muding for morning He is not corrected for w e .
,

want him to find ou t for himself from O bservation the


correct way to pronounce w ords When he asks the .

n ames of things he is told carefully and we see that ,

h e says the w ord correctly but what he learns hi m self ,

we let alone We want to find out how mu c h he can


.

absorb from s u rroundings w ithout d irection S O far he .

h as learned a great deal through his own activity He .

94
NO DA T E DR A WI NG S
A, st n d p i p B f l d d p p
a -
e o e a er fra m f
e or d ra w m g b t
of oa C, m c h i n s t i t c h i ng
a e for fra me D,
s t ti n y w s h st nd ; E d g m F wh t u n i ng u n d
-

a o ar a a
,
a -

an ,
ee l r ro .
A STUDY O F A C H ILD
'

this meth od corrected his sophistical e fl orts to a great


extent S ome one may have said something in his hear
.

ing to i m press him with the fact that an inducement


m u st be O ffered to get certain things but I think h e has ,

reasoned it out for himself that he gets certain things


u nder c ertain conditions — as for instance the soda mint
, ,
-

sweetened when h e says he has a pain The only other .

times we have noticed this inclinatio n have been in the


morning when he tries to induce us to get him up very
,

early or at bedtime when he wants to stay u p longer


, ,

than his u sual hour We are generally deaf to his e n


.

treaties at each time but we are quite acc u stomed to


,

hear him say in the morni ng that he wants all sorts of


things each one calculated to make one rise — as for in
, ,

“ ”
stance Wan t a drink which he knows he will get or
, , ,

“ ”
H arold hungry etc He i s not allowed to get up
,
.

before seven for w e want h im to have the habit of


,

w aking a n d rising regularly and his hour of w aking ,

has grad u ally bee n regulated from five to half past six -

i n this w a y and w e will soon reach seve n by si m ply


, ,

chatting and playi ng with him and giving him a drink


of milk and his toy s but insisti n g on his remaining in
,

bed until seven S uch training is O f value especially


.
,

when travelling for he will sit contentedly and a m u se


,

himself witho u t d isturbi ng his neighbors .

T o day he had t w o pitchers to play with and poured ,

a little water from one to the other He said to me in .

“ ”
a tone of great delight Harold pour We risked his
,
.


getti g w e t to give him t h e pleasure and as in every
n ,

thing h e d oes he showed care


, .

T his morning w e went out for a walk Before w e .

started he asked to go to see the choo choos on 6 6 -


fence I promised to take him there but allo w ed m yself
.
,

96
T H I R D YE A R
to be diverted f rom doing so at once When we were sev .


eral blocks beyond the choc ch oc street he evident -

ly realized that w e had gone too far for he turned ,

about and said S ee choo choos When we returned


,
-

a n d reached th e place we found that the posters had ,

been covered with others much to his disappointment , ,

which I tempered by directi ng his attention to so m e


thing attractive beyond ; and as w e passed a provision
store h e w a s delighted to see some d ressed turkeys
“ ”
hanging there and called them roosters
,
.

This afternoon he crep t d own half a flight of stairs ,

unaide d when following his nurse to the bath room


,
-
.

A s h e did it he no doubt remembered that he had bee n


told not to do so for h e called in a very insinuating
, ,

w ay , G ood bye mamma as if he wanted very much
-

, ,

to go yet felt it was not quite right His mother hon


,
.

ored this feeli ng in him and let him alone .

This evening he asked for a piece of can dy I sup .

pose he calls flake ma n na candy becau se it tast es


“ ”

sweet ; yet I do not kno w h o w h e can have any con


c e p t ion of candy except from hearsay for he has n ever ,

eaten any I gave him a piece of the m anna and he ate


.


it then aske d for more I said N
,
He then took u p
.

a q uinine chocolate that he had refused to take before


-

,

and asked to lie on mamma s bed to eat it and ate it ,

all Then he came to me and asked again for more
.


piece of candy as if h e thought I would be so pleased
,

to see him eat the chocolate that he would get the man
na as a reward Hard as I found it to deny him he d id
.
,

not get it for he m ust do what is right witho u t bei n g


,

bribe d and he must learn that he must not attempt


,

to bribe (This is a great evil in training children bot h


.
,

at home an d in school Us ing bribes marks , honors or .


, ,

G 97
A S TUDY O F A C H ILD .

anything of the kind should not be allowed until a child,

has reached years that bring with them some judgment


as to the real value of things A child should learn to .

do a thing because it is right in itself to do it not b e ,

cause some one else wants him to do it and he should ,

see by example that those about him follo w the same


rule then doing right will become a life long habit )
,
-
.

March 1 3 t h — This morning when dressed he said


.
,

Mamma dra w the curtain las night S ix O clock ; Harold ’


go asleep Hear dat papa ? as if proud of going to
.
,

bed so early T o day it snowed and he said S ee
.
, ,

the snow falling down $ He put his finger on the re
fl e c tor of a speaking tube t o day moved it and called -

, ,

L avinia so that she heard it .

When his father w as dressing this morning he said ,



Papa put clothes on ; what coat trousers ? opening
, ,

the door of the closet and looking in as h e spoke as if ,

he wished to know whic h to get for h im s h ow ing as fi

usual his desire to help others


,
.

— “
March 1 4 th S aid F ool e e A nnie dat time to his
.

“ ”
nurse S he often says to him F ool Harold $ when she
.
,

plays with him .

O n e morning when he was trying to get his mother


to rise she showed a strong disposition to lie do w n again
,

after having risen He called out to his father in a


.
,

tone of great apprehensio n F raid e e mamma lie do w n , ,



papa . Poor little chap he seems to feel the responsi ,

b ility of getting us up in the morni ng and as every one , ,

but himself is up late at night it is pretty hard work ,


.

March 1 5th — This eveni ng at dinner his father said


.
,
“ ”
j okingly Will you have some of th e edibles ?
,
He
replied Don t like edibles

,
” ’
.

— “
March l 6th To day he said Mamma lift 6 6 in e e
.
-

, ,

98
A S T UDY O F A C H I LD
“ ’
copy of the journal begging me to F ind nodder lad y s
,

c lock I did so and he w as delighted repeati n g m a ny
, ,
” ’
times F ind nodder lady s clock The n he looked .

” ’
closely at them said Won t go then looked u p at the
, ,

clock on the wall and said G a n m a s clock ; don t ,


’ ’

to u ch ? ’

O n e morni n g before I had risen h e was very quiet ,

and we discovered h im on my desk p u lling at the pen



d ul um of a clock which he calls g a n m e s clock b e
“ ’

ca u se she gave it to me .


March 1 9 th When his father kissed him good bye
.
-


this morning he said S ee papa out er winno w on steet
,
.

I held him so he could see him for a moment as he passed


“ — ”
out of sig h t He said There he is gon e and turned , ,
.

away as if ready for something else He is a very .

philosophical little fellow .

“ ”
T his eveni ng he said to us S ee Mrs Pancer We ,
. .

“ ”
asked him where He said O n e e steet at e e corne r
.
,
.

“76 found out afterwards that he and hi s nurse had


passed a Mrs S pencer at the corner of a street in t h e
.

afte rnoon .

The other evening when in his o wn room h e lost a


peg of his violin one that came out very easily We
,
.

all went o u t to fi nd it for him S ince then he begs u s .

every evening to come out and find it leading each one ,

of us to the same place beca u se he still misses it We ,


.

really found it the first evening but put it away n u , ,

kno w n to him for w e thought he would soon be satis


,

fi e d without it and it w a s so loose that he w as constant


,

ly losing it I suppose it would have been kinder to


.

the little fello w to have fixed the peg i n so that it


would stay .


T o night he sai d at dinner Want some oysters
-

,
.

1 00
T H I R D YE A R

Papa want some water ? Harold pour it out He


al w ays wants to help wherever he is and he is still e n ,

c ou ra g e d in it altho ugh at times it is tryi n


,
to wait g

until he has done what he is aimi ng at .

He saw a bird go down a chimney t o day and said , ,



S ee little bird go down hole He n ever saw a chim .

ney from the top so he must have reasoned that there


,

w a s a hole because the bird disappeared When he sa w .

flowing water and sleet o n sno w t o day he said a p , ,

“ “
ro os of each subject S ee water run and S ee water
p , ,

on snow .

He w a s very sleepy w hen he was put down for his


nap and as soon as his head touched the pillow he said
, ,

very decidedly D raw curtain mamma

,
It sounded ,
.

as if he could hardly wait to go to sleep When h e .

saw her lying on a couch later in the day he said to


himself Mamma resting
,
.

When he went to see Mrs A t o day he asked for .


birdie S he has a stu ffed bird that she gives to h im
.

occasionally to amuse himself with while w e chat To .


d ay after receiving the bird he said
,
Put birdie on 6 6 , ,

tr unk . We did so Then he looked at it and sai d
.
,
“ ”
S ee birdie on e e trunk then took it u p and caressed ,

it asking me to kiss its eyes and its tail A s he said t a il


,
.

he pointed to the branch upon which the bird s feet were ’

resting I then showed him where the tail was


. .

When looki ng out of the windo w t o day he said ,




S ee e e bird in cage indicating that he wanted to ,

move so h e could get somethi ng in his line of vision I .

did as he wanted and fou n d that from a certain part of


,

the window ledge he could see a bird in a cage in a


-

house across the street He had evidently discovered .

this before but had said nothi ng about it for w e w ere


, ,

1 01
A S T UDY O F A C H I L D

not aware of its being the case He is constantly sur .

prising u s in this w ay .

A violinist and harpist played before th e hou se one


day recently and he insiste d on having his violin and
,

being put o n the window ledge where h e stood and -

played for a long time much to the amusement of the ,

m us icians outside .

TV h e n h e was being dressed t o day to go out with his


“ ”
n urse he said Take the chair away ,
It appears sh e .

has to remove a chair in the down stair s hall i n order -


to get the c oac h out of the door and he meant that she ,

sho u ld get it ready while I was dressi ng him .

He began running u p and down before his father this


evening saying Boom boom b u mp ety boom ; shoot

, , , ,

papa bing pointing his fi nger as h e did it


,
.


March 2otb To day h e said “
C all papa “
R ing -

,
.

” ” “ ”
bell Mamma resting ; Papa play big violin
°

,
°


C all papa ; p apa com e home play big violin ,
When ,
.

he came in fro m his airing he said Had good time on ,

s t ee t f

This mornin g to amuse him I suggested that h e go



to the door call Mrs A ,
and say G ood morning .
-


to her H e called Mrs A
. four times waiting .
,

until she ans w ered ; then h e said G ood morning -
.

T his occupied him for quite a little while and I had a ,

few m inutes freedom until he w as ready for something


else Y esterday whe n I heard Mrs A


. going down .

stairs I said to him to divert him for a moment C all , ,

good bye to Mrs A


-
He did so and added F row
.
, ,

a kiss to Mrs A He loves her very much and it


.
,

pleases h im to do these things at the same time it c ulti ,

vates a kindly feeling to others He appears now to .

love n early every person h e meets .

1 02
A STUDY OF A CHILD

On March 22d he said N ow Tommy S it u p ; no w , , , ,
” “
Tommy eat some breakfast ; ,
T ommy like boy

squeak Tommy is his p et rag doll and he talks to
.
,

him a great deal He also said that T o m my go in a



.


h ole .We couldn t find out what he m eant ’
.


March 23d A s I poured all th e water from a carafe
.


into a large basi n this morning he said Big water , ,

lit tle water ; little water gone out .


Marc h 24 th N ew sentences to day were L ots of
.
“ -

” “ ”
good times ; L ots of good fu n .

— “
March 25th H e asked me to S it on e e k nees This
.

.

is th e first time for the word knees .


March 26th H e said t o day to himself Papa says “
,
.


no no Harold ; papa says turn those pins around
, ,


( meaning pegs i n violin ) He said later to me Harold .
,

want to write He has never asked for this before
. .


He has a great n otion of comparing i e big vio . .
,

” “ “
lin little violin ; big cup little c u p
,
big pin little , ,

pin etc,
.

March 27th — H e w as delighted to sit up to early


.


di nner this evening and said Harold see papa eat , ,

supper Harold see mamma eat supper too Harold


. .


eat too L ots of fun L ots of good times
. . .

“ ”
March 28 th I washed Tommy t o day and whe n
.
-

h e sa w him he noticed it at once and said “


Ne w Tom ,

my nice n e w Tommy Tommy clean
,
B ut first he . .


rubbed h im w ith his hand and said Tommy w e t

Th e ,
.

doll was not yet dry .


Mar c h 29 th H e said to da “
F raid mommy lay
.
-

d ow n herself This is the first time he has said her “


self . When h e came in from his walk A nnie asked ,

him what the gentleman said to him He replied at .


once S hake ha nds
, .

1 04
THIRD YE AR

He is very much interested i n clocks a nd i ns ists o n ,

stopping to see every clock he can find in the windows


as we go along He rarely misses one and keeps o n
.
,

the lookout for the m d uring th e enti re time we are out


walking In consequence we take quite a lo ng time to
.
,

walk a very short way for nearly every window has a ,

clock I fear it wi ll soo n be a question as to which one


.

of us is the more clever in selecting a route — whether it


be one mi nus clo c ks or almost so at any rate to suit
, , ,

me or full of them to suit him


, ,
.

Every evening when his father comes in it is still the


sa me O ld story PO p p e e play big violin ; Harold play
, ,

little violin ; and Pop p e e put rosi n on bow mam m a



, , ,


dance Harold play lift dress and dance mamma S he ”
.
, ,

has danced for him several times to S ho w him the mo ,

tion of her feet when w altzi ng .

H is m other was ready to take him out t h is afternoon ,

b u t had not yet taken u p her gloves He said Mam .


,

ma get gloves He seems to observe every l ittle thi n g
,
. .

We need make no effort to influence him to n otice


t hings He misses very li t tle and seems to remember
.
,

everything he once sees or hears .

( The record shows that when he w a s old e n o ugh to


ask questions a b out things that puzzled him he remem ,

bered every answer h e received with b ut one telling .

His usual form of questioning at th is age— two years


“ ’
was What s
IV h e n he had his bath this evening he soaped h is
hands washed them and dried them with a towel I gave
, ,

him Then he held the m out to m e and said as if a sk


.
,

“ ”
ing me if it were so Harold s han d s dry ? touching ,

each one as h e said it .

Y esterday he sa w a baby in the w indo w across the


1 05
A S TUDY O F A C H ILD
“ ”
street He said Baby has white d ress on
.
,
I asked .

h im if he wanted to have a white one on He said “


No ; .
,
” ’
Harold has Aunt Mollie s dress on This is the colored .

gingha m h e prefers to all his other dresses He is a .

sturdy little fello w It never makes him un h appy to .

see others have what h e has not ( T he recor d shows .

this to be the case right through and he w as always ,

content when told he would receive things he asked for


“ ”
some day because he was given reason to tr u st those
,

who promised him anything The record shows also .

that it was al w ays found to be the best plan to buy his


presents when h e was not along for he soon reasoned ,

o u t for himself that his part was only to select what h e

wanted to have some day and care was taken t o see ,

that b e frequently received the thi ngs he selected F or .

this reason he never gave any one trouble about buyi ng


when taken about to see things ) .

He has never mention ed color in this way before .

He notices when his mother has a black dress on say ,


“ ”
in g
,
Mamma has black dress on He also asks for .

“ ” “ ”
his red cap or whi te cap as the case may be
.

, .

March 3 l st — This morning wh en Mrs A


. and I ,
.


were engaged h e walked up to his father s violin with
,

his own in his hand and began to laugh aloud paying , ,

no attention to us A s he la u ghed he said i n a low


.
,

voice Papa come home play big violin
,
Papa w ill ,
.


com e home this evening play big violin followed by a , ,

long dra w n out O h and laughing to himself quietly
-
“ -

,
.

A t last he turned to us and repeated the whole perform


ance in a very comical manner His laughing was all .

pretence quite noiseless and not at all like his sp ont a


, ,

n e ou s laughter, but as if he were trying to prolong his

e njoyment .

1 06
A S TUDY OF A CHILD

He also said to a sleeping d og G et up d og and to , , ,

one he met H o w do dog ? , ,

A pril 1 5t h —Whe n at din n er t o day h e looked around


.
,

“ ”
and said I see no apple sauce
, He likes it very -
.

much and has i t nearly every day for dinner but this
, ,

d ay it had been overlooked .

This morni ng w hen he went to the window to see his


,

beloved choo choos pass by w e heard him say G ood


-

, ,

morni ng Mrs Y , sayi ng the name of a n eighbor


.

whom w e thought h e would not reme mber from his


previous visit ( he w a s away from home ) We then .

sa w that Mrs Y was at her windo w He knew


. .

her at once although he had not seen her for four


,

months .

L ast n ight his mother put him to bed after having


dressed to go in the rain to a concert He said to her .
,

F raid mamma go away Mamma got rubbers on . .

Mamma got shoes on Take hat O ff mamma ; tay with .


,


Harol d . A ll this was said i n a very pleading tone .

S he removed her hat and rubbers and h e fell asleep ,

contentedly A s h e invariably sleeps until eleven after


.
,

once getting asleep he can be left without trouble if ,

no S ign of goi ng is given whi l e he is awake .

( The record shows that when h e was old enough to


understand he w as told every time that his parents ex
,

p e c t e d to be away when he w a s asleep T his w a s done to .

keep him free from any knowledge of deception Minot .

S avage tells a story of a boy in Boston w h o said of h is


father and mother w h o promised him a ride d aily b u t
,

never took him There go two of the biggest liars in



,

Boston . I have a lso heard of a child w h o evidently
met deception somewhere who said that sin c e liars ,
’ ’
w ould n t go to heaven there wouldn t be many people
1 08
NO D T DR WI NG S
A E A

A, “ a d is pp i ng c n n n ; B
a ear a o

n

a m h v i ng h is h i
a a a r c ut—th e b oy i s pu l l i n g the l ongh a ir
o f th e w m n wh o S c u t t ing th m n s h i r
o a I
,

e a

a

; C, “
s t i ch
o r l oo k i ng b c k h
a as e ru ns ”
; D, te
v ers nb l ep ic t u re.
A S T U DY O F A C H I LD

on Frid a v He said Don t like F riday


. Then I said
,
“ ’
.

“ ”
S aturday He said
. Yes go to see papa S atu rday
, I , ,
.

“ ”
then said Papa will play the big violin
,
He smiled .


and said Harold play l ittle violin
,
.


A pril 1 7th This morni ng as he w as lyi n g in bed for
.
,

a moment with his mother h e said Mamma put h ead , , ,


’ ”
on Harold s dry pillo w S ome milk had just been spilled .

on the end of the pillo w towards her He shows quite a .

great deal of consideration for her in many ways T o e n .

courage h im in this h e is always given some kind word


or a kiss in return a n d care is taken to let him see that
,

it is appreciated He said afterwards I don t want to
.
, ,

go to sleep mamma G et up and dress Harold
,
.His .

sentences now are rapidly becomi ng fuller and he oft en ,

uses every word necessary to form a complete phrase .

S ince his min d is not so much occ upied with the big
word s — having acquired a considerable vocabulary — h e
is beginning to notice the connections more and also ,

the little niceties of accent and pronunciation yet his ,

attention is n ot directed to this He takes it all ver y .

naturally and easily without the least S ig n of physical


,

or mental strain By n urturi ng the physical he runs


.
,

along mentally so rapidly that no doubt he will soon


have to be repressed a little in suggestion i n order to
keep things even for uneve n developme n t is always a
,

ca u se for alarm .

When he looked out of the windo w this morning and



saw the snow h e said S nowing mamma pronouncing
, , , ,
“g ”
the distinctly He put his v iolin bet w ee n his knees
.


to d ay in quite a professional manner a nd said I want , ,

to wind it up the n turne d a peg and touche d a string
,
.

Then he took his b ow a nd dre w the rosin over it to the


“ ”
very e n d , sayi ng This is the way that papa d oes
,
.

1 10
T H IRD YE AR

Then he drew the bow across the viol i n a n d because it



made n o sound he said R osin no good ,
.


He asked me t o day to si n g Baby baby oh my , , ,

darling baby (Emmet s song which he heard for the ’
,

first time about a week ago whe n his father sa ng it for ,

him) .

When out walki ng with me this afternoon he saw a


clock on a steeple fully a quarter of a mile a w ay and ,
“ ” ’
said pointing to it There s another clock
, , ( He gives .

frequen t evidence of being far S ighted ) -


.

We called on some one to d ay w h o gave to him for


amusement a board of marbles used for solitaire Th e .

centre hole as u sual h ad no marble i n it The i n


, , .

“ ”
sta n t Harold saw the board he said Want a nod er one , ,

went to the closet from which the board w as take n


and said it again looking for the m arble he thought
,

was missing He observes very quickly Whe n w e


. .

returned from there we stopped in to see his metro


n o m e friend John S ,
w h o showed him a g ui
“ ’
tar. Harold said at once John s violin got n o ,

bri d ge on .


A pril 1 8th This morning when he waked he hugged
.

and kissed his mother sayi ng Mamma ,


very lovingly -

— have lots of good times w if mamma


“ ”
S he asked .

him if he wanted A nnie ( his n urse) He said No .


ma m ma d w elli ng on mamma and by his tone intimat
, ,

ing that he preferred to have her (He always seems .

so glad to h ave her instead of the servants that she


gives him much more time tha n w as originally plan n ed
for It is evident that it is better for him With even
. .

the most faith ful service there is constant need for in


t ell ig ent a nd sympathetic supervision at very short in
t ervals to watch the gradual u nfol d i ng of a c h il d s

,

1 11
A STUDY OF A CHILD

mind and to nurture to the best of one s ability its
,

physical development ) .


A pril 20th \V e have returned home again and t o
.
,

day when A nnie left the room for her coat and hat ,

while Harold was Waiting ready for her to take him ,



out he said F raid A nnie go out herself for she was
, , ,

rather slow i n returning Then h e said S ee an ah ah .
,
-


ah ah ah meaning a derrick imitati ng the noise of one
- -

, ,
.

F or a lo n g time afterwards h e calle d a derrick by this


sound I think his n u rse said it to h im the first time
.
,

but I do not kno w Probably he tried to imitate the .

sound of the c reaki ng His father protested at last .


,

thinki ng the child should always be told the correct


name of anything he noticed and he was then taught ,

the word d irec tly .

— “
A pril 21 st This morning he said Want to see Aunt
.
,

M e taking coffee in next yoom remembering his ,

visit to N ew Y ork two months ago .

T o day I cut some paper e ngines for him The m o .

“ ” ’
men t he sa w them he said Harold s choo choo L ast ,
-
.

C hristmas his cousin Harold sent him one cut out of


paper and the last week of our recent visit there he also
,

cut some for him .

A pril 22d — To day I had the little fello w with me all


.
-

day long He was very docile and loving a nd appeared


.
,

to be perfectly happy He came to me constantly in .

between his play to hug and kiss m e I gave h im a


,
.

scissors and paper for the first time He is twenty six .


-

months old n ow He took up the scissors to try to out


. .

He knew it had to be parted at the blades but he did not ,

kno w h ow to do it so I S howed him the place for his


,

thumb and fingers He di d n t n eed a second showing
. .

F or some time h e tried and tri ed to out without success


-

,
.

11 2
A S T UD Y O F A C H I L D

each part and said I do n t want to cut off whis t le ;
, ,

I don t want to cut off bell ; I don t want to cut off



.

’ ”
w heel ; I don t want to cut off cow catcher and he -

didn t do it either A ll this occurred without my say



.

ing a word He evidently did not want to see the e u


.

gine destroyed and although he wanted to have th e


,

pleasure of cutting he desisted that he might not de ,

stroy it ( F or a child t w o years and two months old


.
,

this appears to be an exhibition of the self control one -

should endeavor to cultivate in children ) .

I then gave him as a reward ( witho u t saying it w as


such) long strips of paper to snip in order that he migh t ,

enjoy the c u tti ng without feeling that he w as destroying


something H e also had t o day some large eyed b u ttons
.
-

and a lo ng string threaded i n a bodkin He found one .

button that stuck on the extreme end of the bodkin .

“ ”
He held it towards me and said I make a chimney ,
.

L ater i n the day we called on Mrs A his l ufly .


la d y
. He saw a c h imney from one of her windows ,
“ ”
and said instantly Harold make a chimney refer
, , ,

ri ng to the button .

He also had some large screws during the day (His .

mother keeps on hand a supply of the thi ngs likely to


am u se him for he appreciates eac h one very much and
, ,

is often diverted from crying by the production of a new


set of toys ) He played with the screws for a long time
.
,

comparing them to the pictures of the screws in his


“ ”
sc h liisse l book Then he put one in a nd out of his
.


mo uth as if it were a cigar sayi ng This is the w ay , ,

papa mokes .

He had beans next These he p u t one by one in his .


mo uth . I sa id N o no He b le w them out of his
, ,
.


mouth in a very funny w ay and sai d I don t want to , ,

1 14
T H I R D YE AR

eat bea n s His mother kissed him and said Mamma s
.
,


good boy for h e always expects this when h e obeys
, .

S everal times t o day he fretted for what w a s denied him .

Ea c h time his mother said to him as she often does , ,



Put your head on mam m a s lap and cry it out which ’
,

h e d id every time crying quietly for a moment when


, ,
“ ” ’
h e would say I don t see Harold,
The n she says .
,

Here he is when he looks u p smili ng ma n y a time
, ,

with tears still lying on his cheeks Th e storm is then .

o ver a n d he wi ll go on with his pl ay He is very per


,
.

sistent and strong willed but if care is taken not to


-

oppose him openly guiding him only by suggestion he


, ,

shows a willi ngness to do r ight at all times It a p .

pears as ii he mi g h t become obstinate if he were treated


harshly or wit h less regard for his feeli ng of individual
right of which he shows a stro ng sense (The record
,
.

sh ows all through that he has a kee n sense of injustice


and a strong belief i n his own rights but it shows a l so ,

that h e believes i n the rights of others as much as his


own for he tries very hard for a little fello w to S h o w
,

that h e respects them If any question ever does come.

to an issue which his parents try hard to prevent they


, ,

keep on patiently u n til he obeys This is us u ally very .

soon b ut before compelling obedience they satisfy them


,

selves that h e is perfectly well in order to avoid nerve ,

strain If ill or restless from causes for which h e is


.

not responsible they lay aside all rules u ntil h e is him


,

self again and e fi ort is ma d e to hold only sufli c ie nt


,

control to exact instant obedience in case of illness or


immediate d anger It would seem that this is all that
.

any parent or person in charge of a child has the right


to exact in a bsol u te obedience an d all so called discipline ,
-

breaki ng of the will etc is to be deprecate d as bree d i ng


,
.
, ,

115
A STUDY OF A CHILD

obstinacy deception nervous conditions and m any nu


, , ,

desirable qualities I have frequently found that even


.

bad children — m any times mistakenly called so — will


respond delightfully to treatment that is kind and sym
pathetic yet p erfec tly j u st The record also shows that
,
.

Harold had several playmates at times w h o were con


s id e re d almost u nma n ageable at home yet in h is nursery ,

the y were perfectly well behaved probably i n part owing


-

to the opportunities open for diversion by the surround


i ngs o ffere d but equally no doubt to the invariable rule
, , ,

of sending home a ll the children when on e quarrelled ,

no m atter whether it w a s Harold or one of his visitors .

D ecisions were absolutely impartial and the children ,

all felt as if there w a s an a ppeal made to their honor ,

for they saw that all su ffered when one disobeyed In .

this way they learned to play together for hours without


dissension A c u rious fact noted in connection with the
.
,

enti re record is that the children who were fed properly


,

and received proper hygienic care were t h e most d ocile .

Those who gave evidence of careless handli ng or of nag


gi n g by servants were invariably the m ost di ffi c ult to
impress with consideration for others S ocial reformers .

may find this of interest ) .

O ne day recently I cut some large paper engines an d


cars for him making them about a yard long by using
, ,

long pieces of n ewspaper I did n ot fold the paper .

d o uble as I did before but out each train separately He


, ,
.

took up t w o in the m ost critical style without saying a


word and looked first at the smoke stack of one then
,
-

the other and so on with each part of each train He


, .

seemed satisfied and p u t them down w ithout a word


,
.

F ortunately I had c u t them very nearly alike He is .

very quick to note differences .

1 16
A S T UD Y O F A C H I L D

soothed . It appeared as though he n eeded to be


soothed because h e h a d been under two opposing ih
fl ue nc e s — his love for the music and his feeling against ,

the performer When Mrs . had finishe d playi n g .

she spoke of his keen sense of rhythm He begged .

his mother to hold him for a long time which is unus u al , ,



and the n said Mamma sing a song of fi x p e nc e and
, , ,

seemed to be himself again .

( C ompare this experience with his different action at


fo u r months in C hapter I page 1 6 when Handel s L argo .
, ,

and R aff s co ncertos were played i n his hearing )



.

O ne day I gave one of my visiting cards to him He -

has had none S ince w e gave him one two month s ago
with D r T
.

s name on it which we read to him at the ,

time He kept D r T
. s card at that time among his
.

toys for several d ays always calli ng it by name T he


,
.

card I gave him to d ay was larger than th e original


size he first sa w yet he noted the resembla nce at once
, ,

for h e said D r T
“ — s card

.

When I gave him a n .

other of mine he said t h e same thing .


When he doesn t feel very well now he says Harold ,

has a pain poor dearie ; m a mma s dearie



,
Pain soon ,


all over i n the most compassionate tone He i s very
,
.

brave about bumps He always sympathizes with the .

thing bumped into instead of thinkin g of himself We .

have encouraged this i n order to get him into the habi t


of looking away from himself at the world about him
instead of b e coming i n trospective and self conscious -
.

He even goes so far as to kiss the pavement if he falls ,


“ ”
on the street and say Poor pavement $ We never
,

check h im in this even for fear of starting the tide ,

the wrong w a y It seems that it i s in j ust these tri


.

“ ”
fl ing thi ngs that the great value of the letting alone
1 18
TH IRD YE AR

with supervision system becomes apparent Evidently .

the nearer one ca n get a child to a reg ular habit of ao


tion u nder certain circumstances taking it for granted ,

that th e h abit aimed at is a d esirable one the easier ,

it is to take care of that child physically morally , ,

a nd mentally ( The record shows that


. th e effort of
trying to establish a regular habit of action for bo d y ,

mind and spirit resulted in a remarkable happy life


,

for the little fellow H e thinks everybody loves him .


,

and with rare exceptions he loves everybody ) .

L ast week after having let forbidden things alo n e for


,

a long time he touched the li ttle tea set i n the dining


,
-

room that had first attracted him His mother followed .


h im and said “
N o no doing just as w as done before
, , ,
.

He persisted however in taki ng off the lids that pleased


, ,

him so m u ch S he then said S hall mamma tie Harold s
.
,

ha n ds up ? He said Y es not really knowing w h at

,

she meant S he did this very lightly and gently w ith


.

her handkerchief but more in fu n than for discipline


,
.

He w as very much surprised He h ad n o idea what tie .


meant or else he thought it wouldn t be done for if it can
, ,

be avoided he is not punished in a way to make him feel


that h e is punished He is allowed to reason out cause .

and effect when he has done w rong and he is couse , ,

quently very reasonable when he u nderstands matters


,
.

When he sa w his hands tied he began to cry and said , ,



N o tie Harold s hands up He nearly always says

.


no at the beginning of a sentence instead of sayi ng , ,

for instance Do not tie etc His mother said Well


,

,
.
, ,

go to papa and tell him you are sorry and w ill n ot do


,

it again and ask him to take it off He did so saying I
,
.
,

sorry whe n his father with a kiss removed the hand
, , ,

kerchief I suppose h e didn t eve n k n o w what sorry


.

11 9
A S TUDY O F A C H ILD

meant but once begun eve n if i n play the affai r h a d to


, , , ,

be carried out to the end although his mother really did ,

not mean a t the time to teach him instantly and i n this


way that he must not touch the china It w a s her in .

tention when she saw him touch it to let him handle it


carefully in her presence and appeal to his love for her
to let it alone when she w as n ot there which he would ,

h ave done for he is alway s amenable to treatment of this


,

character U nwittingly however this lesso n w as learned


.
, ,

i n another w a y and probably no harm was done but


, ,

care is taken that even in play nothing is done to


make h im afraid He now walks to the china set .
,

looks at i t and says “


N o no m amma tie Harold s
, , , ,


hands up and it hurts her every time h e does it S he
,
.


of te n goes to him and kisses him a n d says N o no , , ,

Harold is mamma s good boy who d oesn t need to have


’ ’


his hands tied up .

( The record shows that about a year later she chas


t ise d him very lightly it is tr u e but still she laid her
, , ,

hand upon him in a moment of vexation evidently as ,

m uch to her o w n surprise as to his for she realized her ,

mistake and promised never to do it again The little


,
.

fello w seemed to love and trust h er more and more from


that d ay on and what appeare d to b e his proudest
,

boast afterwards to his playmates was Mamma never ,



whips me He never knew what whip meant until he
.

heard other boys use the word N or di d he ever hear .

“ ”
the word na u ghty to know what i t meant except in, ,

the one instance me n tioned ( page until he began


playing with outside children To control matters like .

these it w as a well understoo d thing that if servants-

spoke of forbid d e n subj ects i n the hearing of the little


fe llo w , it would be considered su fficient cause for d is
1 20
THIRD YE AR

c h arge .A s a counterpoise to the care and gentle n ess


required of t h e servants many unexpected privileges were
,

granted them through the medium of the child wi th ,

who m they n aturally associated these pleasures thus ,

keeping a kindly feeling for him i n spite of the extra


care re qu ired of them for his sake ) .

D iversio n is a great aid i n getting Harold out of


little tempers He is keenly alive to a nything that is
.

humorous or that possesses the least element of fun .

When any one succeeds in making him laugh he forgets


his anger I n otice that he laughs quicker at an attempt
.

to do something and missing it tha n at anything else .

When putting o n his overshoes for i nstance his nurse , ,

has a habit of pretending that she has pushed S O hard


that the rubber flies to the other end of t h e room This .

always brings a peal of laughter O nce in a great while .


,

when he is ailing or fretful and w e have a hard t i me to


,

bathe or dress him she will pretend to hang so m ethi ng


,

on a nail that is apparently just a little too hig h for her


to reach S he will j ump at it and miss it at the m ost
.

important period of my work and will do this possibly ,

two or three times while I am getting h im ready for


bed S he thus gives me the greatest possible amount
.

of comfort by her faithfulness and quick c om p reh e n


sion an d has given a bridge ma n y a time for getting
,

over troublesome places by her quick adaptation to th e


little needs constantly arising This is the tru e spirit .

of F roebel an d she lives w ith the chil d i n his play for


, ,

she has leisure an d aptitude and enjoys the fun as much


as h e does He is very quick to see when the spirit
.

is lacking and he will not suffer a n y attempt at a make


,

believe liking of play He w a n ts th e genui n e love for


.

it every time .

1 21
A S TU DY O F A C H I LD

We never let h im cry if we can help it A well .

trained and healthy baby does n ot wa n t to cry for he is ,

s ufficiently occupied in trying to find out the me ani n g of


the world about him Experience has shown what his
.

c ry means at different times When he is angry we keep .

away and then go to h im as if nothing had happened


,

w hen it is over He al w ay s wants us for lots of good
.


times as he calls them so he quic kly dries his angry
, ,

tears If he is hungry we give him his food if it is


.
,

n ear his regular time or if not quite near enough w e


, , ,

prepare it i n h is presence v ery d eli bera tely gaini ng all ,

the time we c an by the interest he shows in the work as


w e go along a n d which has a tendency to stop his cry
,

ing He rarely get s h u ngry however between meals


.
-

, , ,

for he i s accustomed to method as to time and quan


tity in the way of feeding When he is ill and cries we .
,

can always tell it at once and we find that this cry ,

mean s that instant relief of some kind is needed H e .

has a peculiar little cry almost a gasp it might be , ,

called when he is giving up the battle after he has been


,

crying from a nger It often comes just when we are seri


.

ou sl y considering w hether w e m ight not in that instance

give up to him and it al w ays brings relief It is certainly


,
.

true that a mother has as much occasion for sel fdisci -

pline as has her child He is very quick to see a chance


.

of gaining a victory and h e sometimes u ses it m erci


,

lessly w h en I leave hi m al one to keep myself stro ng


, ,

and he will then yield gracefully and very lovingly ,

coming after me at o n ce I notice that when I keep all .

sound of coercion out of my voice in giving him dirc o


tions he is willing to do as I say Were I to command
,
.

him he would become a n tagonistic at once and be hard


, ,

to control I foun d this out by a n experien ce that n eed


.

1 22
A S T UD Y OF A CHILD

He repeated it after me and some time after w ards said ,

it over t w ice very caref ully emphasizing h is


, ,
.

“ ”
He is beginning to say I much more frequently
than before Wh en he waked this morning he crept
.


over into his mother s bed as usual h ugged her and , ,

said Have lots of good times w if mamma
,

.

A pril 29 th — T o day when in Mrs A


. s room he , .

,

suddenly dropped his toys and came to me i n an excited


way begging to be held and rocked A s I rocked him he
, .

kept saying D on t like it ; go dow n ta irs D on t like




-

, .


it ; go do w n t airs We couldn t understand what the
-

.

trouble was until I saw a screw top bottle standing on -

the dressing table and then I understood it all The


-

, .

poor child cannot get over the recollection of the ether


bottle It took some time to pacify him and it could
.
,

n ot be done until I took him out of t h e room A S we .

left he looked excited his face was flushed and he said , ,

again D on t like the bottle


,
’ ”
.

E ver since every time he hears the door bell he puts


,
-

his hand to his face and says D octor wo n t hurt



,

you .

A pril 30th — T o day he told me w ithout crying or ,

S howing any disturbance whatever that he had hurt ,

himself at the door I discovere d that h e had done so


.

some time earlier in the day He often bears sufi e ring .

Without fi inc hing but yesterday when he rolled down a


,


fe w steps he came t o m e crying and said
,
Harold fall ,

do w n e e steps and hurt hisself L ater he told me this .


again I then said Harold shoul d have sat do wn b e
.
,

fore trying to creep down the steps He promptly sat .

do w n on the floor and looked u p at me evi d ently not ,

understanding my mean ing an d I do not won d er that ,

he d id not whe n I analyze my se n te n ce .

1 24
THIRD YE AR

May 4 th — To d ay as we p assed a toy store I let h im


.
-

,
-

go in and select a toy for himself He took a calliope .

o n wheels and pus h ed it all the way home a distance


, ,

of about fo u r blocks “( h e n we reached home he sat.

on the floor an d held the toy so that he could turn the


wheels to make the music He had evidently studied .

out for h imself on the way home by alternately mov ,

ing and sto p ping the toy that the moving wheels caused ,

the music for he had n ever seen one before He the n


, .

went to the machine dra w er for a scre w driver returned


- -

to his toy and tried to take out the nail that held the
,

handle which w a s in his way whe n turning the wheel


in his lap He asked me to do it w hen he found h e
.

couldn t manage it A curious thing I notice about h im



.

is that he does not care for toys S imply because they are
toys . He has freque ntly refused them one after the ,

other whe n o ffered any from a selection i n a toy S hop


,
-
.

When he finds one that to h im seems to have a purpose


he will gladly take it He has often surprised shop .

keepers by leavi ng without taking anything that h e


could have w ithin his limit He u sually has the amou n t .

— “
limited before he goes in as for instance Harold you , , ,

may have a quarter a half dollar or a dime to day ,
-

,
-

and he is content to keep withi n his limit (The record .

S hows that when he was older he would save until h e

h a d enough money to b uy something of importance — as ,

for i nstance a tool chest a tricycle or an express w agon


,
-

, ,
-

and it w a s always for something that he could make use


of He was never allowed to receive money from any
.

one but his parents ) .

He is allowed to choose for himself as ofte n as pos


sible in matters that relate to himself only as an
in d ividual but care I S taken to indicate to him the
,

1 25
A S T UDY O F A C H I LD
probable result if he should make a wrong selection .

T he greater part of his regular amusement comes


from finding out and playing with the thi ngs he finds
about the house clothes pins blocks pictures , , ,

kitche n utensils etc V ery fe w toys are purchased for


,
.

him that have no purpose and he never receives many ,

at a time .

L ast eve n ing I heard him sing Ding Doug Bell all
“ ”

the way through using the righ t words and singing the
,

melody correctly .

He heard u s speaking of a cat t o day He instantly .

said C rum p e ty and lame associating cat with Moth


, ,

er Tabby S kins in Mother G oose He O ften tells his .


mother to L ook (at) suns h ine mamma

He evidently ,
.

loves it very much .

~ —
May 8 th To d ay when he saw me take u p his gold
.
-

“ ’
link dress buttons he said Hadn t for a long time and, ,

repeated it to a little playmate He has not seen them .

for a long time He heard th e door bell ring T he ser


.
-
.

vant down stairs had forgotten to turn off the connec


-

tion and the bell outside of the n ursery d oor ra ng too


,
.

T his happens frequently and annoys u s very much He ,


.

said Did you hear dat bell ring ? Maggie turn dat
,

,

bell off .

His first greeting to any p laymates coming in is ,


C ome build a house taking their hands and leading
, ,

them to his toys .

May l oth —To d ay he found his little photograph


book which he h as not had for some time He seized
,
.

“ ”
it eagerly and sai d
,
Have it for a long time meaning , ,

“ ”
that he d idn t have it for a long time

.

May 14 th —T o day he w as out all the afternoon We


.
-
.

took a long ride on the street car to an extreme end of -

1 26
A STUDY OF A CHILD

another tick tack too L ater whe n we were looking
, ,
.
,

at a scrap book he sa w some cards with crosses like this


-

, ,
“ ”
and h e said Tick tack too again and said , , , , , ,
“ ”
Wan t to see more tick tack toos He picked o ut , ,
.

every picture that had a cross He also picked u p a .

half broken match that looked like this


-

and he ,
“ “
said Tick tack
, ,
The n h e stopped and said T hat s ,


a hammer I then n oticed his association w ith the
.

illustration of the nursery song


I s Joh n S mi th W i th in ?

Ye s, t h at h e i s .

C an h e n ai l a S h oe ?
A y e m arry tw o
, .

n il
H ere s a a , t h ere s
’ ’
a n ai l ,

T i c k tac k too , , .

H ere s a n a i l th ere s a n ai l

,

,

T i c k t ac k t oo , ,
.

The illustration to the song represents a man h olding a


ha m mer that is not u nlike a pict u re of a cross and he ,

noticed the resemblance to all the things he h ad just


“ ”
called tick tack too , ,
.

A ugust t4 h — To day while I w as reading I heard


-

, ,
.

him say to himself as we lay on the floor :


He b rus h e d h i s t e e th w th i c ar p et ta c ks ,

P olly , wo l ly d oodl e al l a d ay .

He heard it in June when in Ne w York two months , ,

ago .

Day before yesterday he said “


Dr come to see ,
.

Baby ( a little friend of his ); put him on table .

Baby see what in D r s satchel What did Dr .



. .

( mentioning another physician ) do with satchel ?


(mentioning the first one) has choo choo in -

1 28
TH IRD YE AR

satchel for Baby It was said to himself in a very


meditative manner with no apparent fear or excite
,

ment more than a year after the time he w a s so im


,

pressed with the ether bottle -

( F rom n o w o n all records other t h a n cuttings and


dra w ings w ere take n at longer i ntervals than before ,

yet they serve to show the growth made during th e


time no record w as taken It was during this period .

that the child was busy wit h scissors and pencil givi ng ,

co n crete results of a method of training that evidently


excite d self activity to a great degree )
-
.

S eptember 23d — This morning I directed Harold s


.

attention to half a doze n sparrows on a roof near by .

They fl e w away one by one an d left only t w o then one , , ,



then the last one went He turned to me and said He .
,

got too much alo n e he flew away recalling the song of
, ,

T h ree c row s th ere w e re o ce n w ho sat on a s ton e ,

Fal la , l a la l a l a ;
- -

,
-

B u t two fl e w a w ay a nd t h e n th e re w as one,

Fal l a, l a l a , l a l a
- - -
.

Th e oth er c row fel t so t m i id al on e ,

Fal la, l a l a , l a l a
- - -

T h at h e flew aw a y an d t h e n th ere w as n on e ,


Fal l a, l a la, l a l a
- - -
.

This morning he tol d his father he ha d cried last nigh t .

His father aske d him why He said he wanted to see .

him take doggie out walking which w as the true state ,

of affairs He has n ot the slightest fear of his father


.
,

an d looks upo n him i n the light of a delightful playmate .

He has often begge d his mother during the day to



promise to let h im have him all alone until his bed

time If she promises , and forgets to allow him his


.

father s u nd ivi d e d atte n tion h e i n variably remin d s her



,

I 1 29
A S T U DY O F A C H I L D

of it in a very much inj ured tone He seems to feel that .

he never has enough time with him and he counts S u n ,

days from the Monday previous saying H o w many



, ,

days m amma to S unday ?
, ,

T his morning he tripped over a newspaper and said ,

to his m other I didn t m ean to do that mamma



,

,
.

When being dressed he waved his foot with a long white



stocking partly on and said This is a boat with a , ,

sail
. He looked out of the window and saw a grocer
“ ”
boy coming in He called Hello G ordon $ then said
.
, , ,

Must go do w n to see G ordon This same boy dra w s .

pictures of some sort for him every morning He b e .

gan it voluntarily , and after that Harold insisted upon


having one daily He generally asks for an engine
. .

S eptember 2 4 t h —This morning wh en he showed me


.
,
’ “
his father s watch I said i n a tone of surprise I S it
, , ,

twenty minutes of nine ? He dangled the watch a
minute and then returning to his father he said in a
, , ,

“ ”
very sedate way This watch is slow papa
, ,
.

N ovember 6t h This morning when I was putting


.
-

him to sleep at nap time I placed him on the bed and -

left I returned a moment later when he evidently did


.
,

not expect me for he was creeping back to bed and say


,

ing to himself I promise you I won t creep off the bed
,

again ; that s right ; that s a good boy Y ou will for

.


give me He seems to kno w as well as we do when
.

he is doing wrong and if we give him half a chance he


,

rights matters himself .

( T he record shows t h at as he grew older he took


great pains to tell his m other several times that he
wanted to do righ t because it was right to do so O ne .

time he was found crying because he had transgressed .

S he sai d Never mind Harold you were a little bit care



, , ,

130
A STUDY OF A CHILD
G— e A venue S tation mentioning the two stations ,

between whic h we live He pointed in the right d irc o .

tion each time He also knows in which direction to


.

’ ”
look for papa s train from town .

D ecember 3d — T o d ay for the first time he d rew a


.
, ,

choo choo himself ( S ee illustration opposite ) A s
-
. .

he dre w it he explained each part as noted and handled , ,

his pencil very rapidly He is j ust two years and ten .

mo n ths old .

F ebr ary
u 1 1 8 9 3,
— This morning he sai d to me ,
” “ ”
May I walk over to call papa ? I said Y es He .

j umped out of b e d and carrying his pencils and his b e


, ,
“ ”
lov e d sc hliissel book under his arm he went through ,

the hall singi ng out at the top of his voice O ld rags
, , ,

O l d rags any old rags t o day ?
,
When he had called
his father he ran away fro m him all arou n d the room ,

as if i n mischief and wouldn t even allow him to lift


,

him upon the bed where he usually sits an d watches


,

him dress and keeps up a running fire of comments


,

and questions that are very amusing A s soo n as h e .

saw his mother come he let her place him on the bed
and cover h im He evidently looks to h e r for discipline
.

and to his father for pure fun which is as it S hould be ,


.

He loves her dearly but as h e sees her so much more


,

freque n tly than he sees his father it seems a pity to ,

spoil one minute of the time they are together by an


attempt to assert authority .

( The record shows that as he gre w older h e often


spoke of the good times he would have with mamma
and papa when he got big enough to take care of them .

He once told me after having heard fairy stories about


,
-

p rinces an d marriage that whe n he got married


,
he
woul d live w ith mamma as he would n ever want to ,

132
C H OO C H O O C U T
-

O UT O F PA P E R

A CA T

EA R LY C U TTI NG S

FI R ST C H O O C H O O
TH E -

1 8 9 2 A ND 1 89 3
DR A WI NG S A ND C U TT I NG S—TH E C H I L D S E R L I E ST E FF O RTS
'
A

ch w ~
A s m k st c k
oo ” as : B s n d C
st m d um
ea D b ; E E b i l ; F F F F wh ls ; o b e a a ox
-

r
,

ca l
-

f
on e ,
-

, , , i ne or o er
7
, ee .
A S T UDY -
OF A CHILD

of her When we reached home he said I w as sc airt
.
,

of Mrs . saying her name correctly enough to let


any one know O f whom he w a s speaking although it ,

w as a peculiar name a n d I hadn t the least idea that he
,

would remember it In the evening he told his father


.

all about it and mentioned the na m e several times In


, .

spite of his peculiar accent his father kne w whom h e


meant .

“ ’
He has been going around lately saying Im a ,


little girl I am six years old to d ay
. T his is clearly .

imitation A little girl said it to him a few weeks ago


.
,

and he himself is only three He gives consta n t evidence .

of a retentive memory He tells me constantly of little


.

things t h at occurred a year and a half ago personal ,

matters that he recollects clearly .

F ebruary 2d — H e said to d ay
.

D octor wo n t put ,


medicine on my face ; my c h ec ks are well referring to ,

the ether bottle again He asked the other day in ref


-
.
,

erence to this same event A nd did they all go away ? ,

and did Dr go ? and did Dr


. go ? and did Dr . .

take his satchel ? and did the on e d octor come back


” “ ”
next day ? Then What did h e do mamma ?
,
S he ,

always replies to this question He said G ood morn , ,
-

ing and tries to divert him The other d ay he asked


,

.

his father if he had been laid on the nursery table and -

if he had had a blanket and a pillow etc He evidently ,


.

realiz e s that h e can get no in formation from me and h e ,

is now trying to get his father to tell him He always .


says A sk mamma so eventually the chil d will have

,

to give the m atter up as he would have done long ago


,

had more care been take n in regard to his impressions


at the time ( Ignorance is responsible for many evils
.
,

but who is responsible for this ignora n ce ? Will wome n


1 34
1 893 DR
Y E A R S O LDA WI NG S —T H R EE

A b y fl y i ng
a o k i t ; m i n m n b s k y ; c k i t ; d b i g kn t i n st i n g ; h t ; f c u l y
a e a, an oo e o r 8, a r
h i ; g h u ld ; h f t t u n d v i w tch B b y i n f n t f ng i n — f ig h t n d
, , , , ,

a r S o er oo r e o er a a o ro o an e e r e e
C fi s t tt m pt t d w mg cl c k D h h h i s h nd i n h i s p c k t ; E b y c y i ng b c u s
, , , ,
“ ” “
r a e a ra a o e as a o e a o r e a e
h i s m th l m F i n v t d l tt s H k it c h n d ss I t l g ph p l
, , ,

o e r is a e ,
er e e er ,
e re er , e e ra o e .
A S T UDY O F A C H I LD

feared it was n t for good reason I went with him to
,
.

see where he had found it He led me to a d rawer .


devoted to his father s pipes which he had never ,

attempted to disturb before I did not want to d isap .

point the little fello w so I said he might have it , ,

altho ugh he has been taught not to dist u rb another s ’

belongings He the n amused himself by blowing bub


.


bles for a very long time blowing them along the floor
a n d stampi ng upon them .

T he other day when in a sleigh the driver touched one


, ,

of the horses with the whip and Harold said He has no , ,

business to whip the horse ( The record later on shows .

m —
how he al ays had great sy pathy for horses onc e w h e n
w ,

six years old going so far as to persuade a neighboring


,

green grocer to promise never to dock his horse s tail )
-
.

Y esterday he said to me about a little playmate whom


“ ”
h e loves Mamma isn t C hristine a lovely girl ?
, ,

He
saw some little girls on the street a fe w days ago and ,

he admired them very much A s he d irected my atten .


tion to them he said I like lit tle girls to come home to
,

me . Mary T an old playmate w h o used to come ,

reg ularly to play with him came to see him a few days ,

ago He w as so delighted to see her that he hovered


.

over her all the time she was with him H e paid no .


attention whatever to me He said to her once I love .
,

you Mary
,
He had not seen her for a year
. He .

remembers the names of three servants and a laundress


w h o were with us during the last year He calls his .


present nurse My Mary as some of the other inc um

,

bents possessed the name of Mary also He never for .

gets his first nurse and O ften asks for her When she
,
.

comes to see him at intervals of possibly six month s , he


,

always knows her .

1 36
A N E FF O R T A T DR A W I NG A R UND FR NT
O O FO R A N
E NG I N E

H IS PE T BU TT R F LY F D I NG
E EE ON
H I S FI NG R E EA R LY P R I N T I NG

A N E FF O R T A T HO R I Z O N A PI G

AN E NG I N E A ND TE N D E R
1 893 A ND 1 8 94 DR A W I NG S
1 8 93 — P ti n dt d wl tt s ;
r e e er an ngin
e e a nd t nd
e er 1 8 9 4 —A h ef
for t at th e h i n pi
t und f nt ngi n or z o
; a
.

an ef
for a ra mg a ro ro fo r an e e
A S T UD Y O F A C H I L D

stairs severa l times This w as the first time he said
.


s everal .


F ebruary 5th To day when he said where he em
.
“ ”
-

h a siz e d the w h by blowing it out of his mouth very for


p
“ ”
c ib ly He told nurse that she must not say m e face but
.
,
“ ”
m y face He told some o n e else not to say
. but

isn t

He frequently asks me to tell him if it is correct
.

to say certain words in a certai n way and he evidently ,

thinks of it himself between times He told me to d ay .

that he would go to G od when He w a s ready for him .

He said G od wo u ld give him wings to fly to Him He .

has evidently dra w n these conclusions from answers that


h e has received from some one beyond our control I .

mentioned G od quite unintentionally in his presence


recently and ever since he has kept up asking q u estions
,

about Him whether He is a man has a gown a bath , ,



tub where He lives etc He w as told at this time of
, ,
.

G od being over all the world caring for it as his , ,

father and mother w ere over him and the family His .

love and power were spoke n of Harold n ow calls to .

Him in a very original way The other evening he .

walked to the window in his night dress p u lled down -

the slats of the S hutters and peeped through to the sky , ,



calling loudly G od G od come down and bless papa
, , , ,

and bless mamma and bless Harold $ He shut the
,

sh u tters then and w ent to his crib saying he heard G od ,

say He would come ( T o the present date he shows the


.

same belief in hearing an answer to any prayer h e


“ ”
offers He says his think tells him )
. .

F ebruary 7t h — H e said t o night in c onnection with


.
,

some kindergarten songs Mamma will you and I go , ,

to N ew Y ork and buy a n ew book of songs and I can ,

rea d and R E A D a n d R E A D ?

When we sang the kin
1 38
EA R LY C U TT I NG S EA R LY C U TT I NG S

A N EA R LY FFO R T I N
E

1893

L OCO M OT I V E S ,
A B GG G
A A E CA R
-

,
A ND A ST E A MB O A T
1 894 C U TT I NG S
A m n g th c u tt i n g s t d s i g n t d
o e no e a e th e on e ou th e
-
l w
o er h n d of th e g ou p i s
l e ft a r
i n t nd d t p s n t m u l l w i gh t h n d n o st i c h tu n i ng h i s h d
,

e e o re re e a d e, a n on t h e o er r a a r r ea .
C H AP T E R IV

F O UR T H YE AR R E C O RD O F S PO N TAN E O U S DE VE LOP
.

M E N T AF T E R T H E C H I L D WA S T H RE E Y E AR S O L D ,

W IT H S E L E CT I O N S O F DRA W I N G S A ND C U TT I N G S ,

ALL M E N TAL PI CT URE S DON E A S A RE S U LT O F,

S E LF A CT I V I T Y A ND A C C OM PAN IE D B Y T H E C H I LD S
-

,

E X P LA N A T I O N S

F E B R U A R Y 1 4 1 89 3 — T o day Harold is three years O ld


,
.

He awoke at seven asked for his books and to have the


,

blin d raised and sat up to amuse himself as he does


, ,

every morning if he wakes before it is time for h im to


,

be d ressed This is whe n he does mos t of his cutting


.

and drawing after having been fed It is a regular


,
.

habit to place his material at the foot of his bed every


n ight and i n th e morning w e have a serious time of it
,

picking up papers and throwing out what he allows us


to call trash .


This morning instead of cutting he read A F roggie
, ,

Would A wooing G o
-
He kno w s every word of it
.

from memory t u rns th e pages at the right time and


, ,

takes great delight in u sing various tones and gestures


to illustrate each phase of the story W h e n he had fi n .

ish e d reading it and I said it w a s time to rise he ,

called to his father in another room as he usually d oes , ,


“ ”
saying to me Is that loud ?
,
R eceivi ng no reply he ,
“ ” ’
shook his head said He won t hear and went on with
, ,

his p lay until the m aid came to dress him S hortly .

after his father had left for his regu lar train rather more ,

1 40
1 89 3I NG S —E NG I N E S
DR AW

A, “
T h i s—i m
s a an k i ng th
ra e fi m mm
re , a B u nd f n t t ng i n C
a ro ro ng i n
o e e “
e ou t a t
n i gh t t i m e a,is th m n ; D
e oo

,

n v l p d st m p ; E p i c t u s th w l l
e e o e an a
,

,

re on e
,

a
e
.

A S TU DY O F A CHILD

and take it home himself He picked out a black and .


wh ite one and wanted to come home at once to build
,

a house for it When w e reached a bri dge on our w ay
.


home on which he invariably stops to se e the cho o
,

choos , he wo ul dn t wait a moment although I sug ’
,

gested it He said he didn t want to he wanted to go
.
,

home and build a house in his nursery for his rabbit .

Home we went and built a house out of a store box -


.

He was happy for the whole day feeding and caring for ,

his pet He talked to it as if it could understand him


.
,

and at bedtime he be n t over the door of its house an d


” ’
said G ood night ; I ll call you in the morni ng
,
-
.

He was so S leepy he could hardly keep awake lo ng


e n ough to ask where his paper choo choos were When -

I told him he was content nestled up against me and


, , ,

fell asleep He hadn t quite forgotten them but it was
.
,

evident that his e ngines will have rivals in live pets .

( The record shows a love of nature and animals t h at


is fully equal to the evidence given further on of a
strong bent for mechanics He had at various times as .

pets — mice kittens dogs butterflies rabbits snails tad


, , , , , ,

poles spid ers frogs crabs etc and he seems to have


, , , ,
.
,

learned i n this w ay to be gentle with anythi ng alive ,



having been know n to lift eve n a worm out of harm s
w ay when digging i n his garde n ) .

He recei ve d his first locomotive a year ago when he ,

w as t w o years ol d T o day ( three years old ) w e d is


.

covere d him very busy with a string and one of his


present stock of locomotives He soon called to his .


mother to come and see what he had done S ee the .


co n necting rod mamma ; see h ow it works a n d so it
-

, ,

di d
. He had fastened the stri ng to th e centre of the
driving wheel , co n necte d it with the cyli nd er an d was
-

1 42
1 89 3 .
DR W I NG S—B O TS T R LL YS C
A A ,
O E ,
ET .

A st t
,
re e -

; B f
ca r , ngi n
i re -
e e -
n g i n g i ng v
e e o b d g ; 0 s t t i n y ng i n
o er a ri e a o ar e e ; D th e ch i l d
c gn i d l d P h i l d lph i t ct i n c u nt y l c t c d c ll d c bl
, ,

g om g
re o ze an o a e a ra o c a r on a o r e e ri roa a nd a e it a a e car
by l c t i c i t y t h n m d th d w mg
-
-

,
e e r ,
e a e e ra .
A S T UDY O F A C H I LD

s p oke of it He was n ever waited o n to the exclusion


.


of every o n e else s comfort al though al l his wants ,

were atte n ded to and ofte n even anticipated ; but this


,

w as done without his being conscious of it an d he was ,

allowed to help himself an d others so far as possible .

When he began at this date as he did to demand service , ,

from the servants as if it were his right— pol itely it is


true yet authoritatively as if he recognized their posi


, ,


tion h e was taught by examples that were pointed out ,

to him why a serva n t should b e treated gently and


,

courteously as well as any one else with whom he had


,

to do and h o w by not d emanding he would receive


, , ,

loving service ( The record S hows clearly later on


.
, ,

h ow he became uniformly gentle and kind with people


who were not harsh no matter i n what con d ition of life ,

he foun d them A nd one of the greatest problems no w


.

before his mother is how to fully explai n to him h o w


he shall kindly a d apt himself to the people about him
without losing h is own rights ) .

T o night he asked me if his rabbit had teeth a n d if it ,

would bite or kiss .

F ebruary 1 8th — Before going to sleep t o nigh t he


.


said Mamma I want to ta lk to Katie a fe w m om en ts
, ,
.


This is the first time he has sai d moments He is con .

sta ntly saying words that are unusual for so you n g a

child and his u nd erstand ing of their applicatio n is some


,

times ludicrous but generally surprisingly correct


,
.


F ebruary 2o th H e h eard the word peacocks tod ay
.
,

a n d sai d Mamma do p eac ouc ks c ouc k ? Do p e ac ouc ks


, ,

eat pease ?
F ebruary 21st — H e sai d t o d ay , after th e severe wind
.
,

storm bitter cold an d froste d windows of yesterday


, , ,
’ ” ’
Mamma , it isn t cold t o d ay the wi nd ows d on t rattle ,
.

1 44
189 3 DR A WI —
NG S E NG I N E S — T H R E E Y E A R S OL D

A , el e ph n t
a ,
a nd c h i l d n t k i ng
re a a r id e e ngi n s
e a nd t l ley
ro c s
ar
FOURTH YEAR

March A s we crosse d the ferry going to Ne w


22d .
-

York to d ay he said to h is m ot h e r as w e came in the


, ,

S lip
,
O h mamma w h y does it make soap water ? S ee
, ,
-

the water is all soapy .

A t the station he heard torpedoes on the track and


said Is that thunder ?
,

( T his is t h e ti m e that he first
O bserved the differences in boats and his constant ques ,

tions during a week s visit and much ferry crossing were -

,
“ ’ ” “ ”
What s that ? and Why is that ? E very questio n
w as answered so that he could understand by building ,

up from what he already kne w and he carried home ,

with him a vast increase to his fu n d of information


that is being acq uired by persistent questioning ) .

— “
November 23d H e said t o day L orenzo lea rn ed me
.
, ,
” “ ”
to cry I said N o h e ta u ght you
.
,
He then sai d ,
.
,


It is I that learns is n t it ? He is three and a half ,

years old now .

D ecember 25t h — His prayer as follows on C hristmas


.
, ,

evening was voluntary for w e let him pra y j ust as an d


, ,

when he feels like it He said G od bless pap a an d .


,

m amma and G od bless Harold and Katie (his m aid )


, ,

G od bless my C hristmas tree G od bless S anta C laus -

, ,

and everybody you can find in your house in the S ky .

— —
To day C hristmas h e said he felt so happy and
-

pleased with S anta C laus for giving h im such a nice


C hristmas tree He selected voluntarily eno ug h toys to
-
.

fill a large portmanteau — taki ng books O l d and new toys , ,


” “
fruit and candy to take out as he said to some poor , ,

little boy w h o hadn t any papa He has divined or ’
.

heard i n some way that S a n ta C laus comes where there



is a papa When he asked me i n such a w ay that I
.

coul d not escape answering I explained to him that ,

S anta C laus represente d the spirit of love abroa d for


1 45
A S T UDY O F A C H I L D

everybody at C hristmas time and like the Brownies -

, , ,

w e could n t see him I have not explained to h im yet
.

abo u t C hrist so I could not go on with the idea but he


, ,

accepted the s uggestion and seems to revel in the fa nc i


,

ful thought of S anta We w ent out to find the poor


.

little boy and w e had a d ifli c ult search after a long


, ,

walk during w hich he said to himself I w ill be the
, ,

little boy s S anta C laus I pity the poor little boy .


w ithout any papa .

We found a mother wit h three little tots in rags .


They had n o tree no toys in fact hardly enoug h to
, ,

eat Harold is very shy and I had to persuade him to


.
,

hand his toys himself I wanted him to taste the pleas


.

u re of giving He did it very shyly and it was a pretty


.
,

sight to see the ragged urchins crowd about him each ,

to take what he offered without any questio n as to


w hich would get the most When we returned he w as .

w ell content and happy all day through although he ,

had given away many treasured toys T he chief beauty .

of the act w as that no one would have fo u nd it out ,

not even his parents if it had depended u pon him for


,

the telling for he never spoke of it again and seemed to


, ,

have forgotten all about it n or did any one else ever ,

m ention it i n his presence .

Whe n he was nearly fo u r years old his uncle and


A unt C came to see us and while I was engage d ,

with his uncle he took up a ne w book t hat he had j ust


received and bro ught it to me begging me to read to ,

him a b out the pigs i n it T he book had a number of .

illustrations and nearly every one had the picture of a


,

pig in it To divert him his aunt called him to her


.
, ,

saying she would read to h im A S it was twilight she .

could not see to read so improvised the following verses


,

1 46
FOURTH YE AR

to catch his interest and keep him from disturbing our


on It w as the first time that Harol d had
.


of us use baby talk

A p i gg ie w ig g ie w ig g ie
, , ,

W e n t t o h eddi e h eddi e h eddi e , , .

O n h i s p ill ow w illi e w illi e , ,

H e l a id h i s h ea die h e ad ie h e ad ie , ,
.

B ut p i gg i e w ig g ie , w ig g ie ,
,

C ou ldn ’
t S l ee p ie , S l ee p ie , S l ee p ie,

So ou t his b ed d ie b igg i e ,

He c re e p i e , c ree p ie , c re e p ie d .

He ju m p e d , he h opp ed , h e t rot te d
Ac ross th e fl oor so b old ,

To reac h th e s h inin g f au c e t ,

W i th w ater, oh , so c o ld $

He S p lash ie , sp l ash ie , S p l a sh ied ,

H e d ash ie d ash ie , d a sh ie d ,
,

T h e w a te r, w at e r w at er, ,

On h i s f ac i e fa c i e f a c e , , .

H e w et h is e y e sie e yes ,

His c h e e kie , c h e ekie c h eek s , ,

H is h o sie , n osie , n os e ,

H is h ead ie , h e ad ie , h ead .

O h t h e w ate r, w a ter, w at er,


,

Was so c o ld ,
so c o ld ,
so c o ld ,

B u t h e l a ug h ie ,
l a u g h ie , l a u g h ied ,
F or it f el t so g ood , so g ood , so good .

T h e n b ac k t o h eddi e h eddi e , ,

W e n t p i gg i e w ig g ie w igg ie ; , ,

H e s l e p t y ou m ay b el i ev e it
, ,

L ike any p i gg i e w ig .

A S T U DY O F A C H I L D

He was very much amused and begged her to tell it


,

again Then he went for his engine book (one that w as


.
-

full of illustrations of English and A merican engines),



and said entreatingly A unt C
,
read the e n gine
book f unny— puffy, p uffy , puff.
C HAPT ER V

R E C ORD C O N T I NUE D N A T UR E S TOR IE S T R A I NI N G


B UTT E RF L I E S A ND W H I TE M I C E —T H E C H I L D S F I R S T ’

E FF O R T AT R E L A T I N G A ST O R Y W H E N H E WA S
F O UR Y E A R S O L D

F E B R U A R Y 1 4 1 894 T o day I was tryi ng to draw a


,
-

pussy for Harold a n d when I dre w the whiskers I sai d


, ,
” “
D oggies don t have whiskers

He said N o they , ,

have only fleas .


F ebruary 1 9 th H e was looking at a large picture
.

of a n aval revie w and pointed to a three mast vessel


,
-

“ ”
and said I never saw one like that before
,
Then .

pointi ng to two walking beams one at each e nd of -

,

t h e picture he said
,
There are two ferry boats like I
,
-

saw on the ri ber when I was at Baby N


b — s house

.

’ ’
There s a sail boat There is no tu g boat here What s
-
.
-

that ? pointi ng to a ca n non I said D on t you remem


” “
.
,

ber seeing a cannon over at th e square where there is a


” “ ”
statue ? He said Y es and asked what the wheel ,

under it meant an d the tracks His father then explained


,
.

about its being a carriage to wheel around the ca nnon .

He instantly asked whether there was a hinge there to


m ake it go around .

F ebruary 20th — H e told his mother the follo w ing


.

story very seriously tod ay W ithout a break from begin ,

ni ng to end .

A bout a m o n th ago I told him about Th e Brow n ies


1 49
A STUDY OF A C HI LD

and the R aind rops making it up for him as I w ent ,

along He was very fond of it and asked for it repeat


.
,

e d ly so I wrote it down
,
The one story may h ave sug .

gested the other but he has heard of the Brownies and


,

had their books for a long time an d he has also heard of ,



Jack and the Bean stalk independently of my story -

( A t seven he still begs to hear both stories from time to


time ) .

HARO L D S ST O R Y ’
TO H I S M O T HE R

Harold saw a house and what do you suppose he ,



saw right by it ?
His m other said I don t know
“ ’
.


He said Why a great big bean stork (stalk) and
, ,
“ -

Harold climbed up the steps to the top of the h ouse ;



and what do y o u thi nk he sa w there ?

I don t know .


Why a little B rownie He said Why how do you
,
.
, ,

d o Master Harold ? and Harold said How do you do ,



, ,

Ma ster Brownie ? ( He then said to me i n a n asi d e


,
.


His n ame w as Mu sta rd Bro w ni e ) ” ‘
Won t you com e ’

d ow n w ith me M ustard Bro w nie ? ,


T he n Mustard
Brownie climbed down on one side of the steps and ,

Harol d on the other and when they got down to the ,



g round Mustar d Brownie took Harold s hand and t h ey ,

w alked and walked an d walked until they came to



Harol d s house .


Harold said Wo n t you come in this beautif ul h o use
,
‘ ’


and live w it h me Mustard Brow n ie ? a n d h e sai d h e
,

w ould and w ent i n with Harold


,
A nd what do you .


su p pose Harold s n urse sai d to Mus tar d Brow n ie hop ,

p i n g o n the floor ?
” ’
I d o n t k n ow .

1 50
1 89 4 C U TT I NG S — F O UR Y E A R S OL D

A S li
B ce l
e e p h nt C
a a ra ng w it h l t s f fi h l s
e o o re -
o e D, “
a V ic b t
en e oa

he c al l e d i t
W i th v nti l t d wi nd w b ll
.
, , , ,
a e a or a n o E, e
A S TU D Y O F A C H I L D

asked another He said O h yes ; I will gladly go
.
, ,

I am so very warm We want the rain drops here But
.
-
.
,

alas $ he w a s too broa d Th e next was too thin the .

next too fa t A nother was so soft that the Brownies


.

feared that they wo uld go right through him The last .

one they tried was oh so hard $ His back w as as sharp


, ,

as the edge of a knife .


The butterflies couldn t take them yet wanted so ,

much to have the rain drops and the Brownies too -

, , ,

wanted very much to learn how and where the rai n


drops lived The poor flowers in the field also were
.
, ,

so very thirsty W h at could t hey all do ? .

Well the Brownies walked along wonde ring and


, ,

wondering when they chanced to see what looked like


,

large beautiful trees with steps running up the sides of


, ,

the trees NO W these wise little Brownies knew all about


.

the story of Jack and his Bean stalk and they though t -

that perhaps they had fo u nd a fairy bean stalk They -


.

picked out a tree that seemed higher to them than all



the others and then they began to climb high higher
, , ,

and yet higher for every time they tho ught they were
,

near the top up would seem to go another lot of steps .

T hey kept on however puffi ng and panting until at


, , ,

last what do you think they saw ? ( Here H arold a l


“ ”
ways says I don t know waiti ng expectantly ) A
,

,
.

beautiful white cloud floating very near the highest ,

step and sitting u pon the cloud was another little


,

Brownie How did he get there ? T hey looked and


.

looked but after so hard a climb th ey hadn t any breath


,

lef t to a sk him how he came V ery soon however .


, ,

after they had rested a little they turned to find out ,

a ll about it when what do you think they saw ?


, ( Har

old again says I don t T hey saw he was g O
,

1 52
c
1 894 C U TT I N GS OF E NG I N ES
RE CORD CO NTINUED

ing down down d own far away from them a nd the


, , ,

cloud What could it all mean ? They soon found out


. .

F irst they saw some rain drops like great big lovely -

, , ,

drops of dew all gathered toget h er i n this bea u tiful


,

white cloud on e close against the other They shon e


,
.

and glistened and were almost too beautiful to loo k at


,
.

The little Brownies were quite afraid to speak to


them but they did try to say in a whisper
,

The butterflies and flowers are very thirsty .

T he big drops heard them and answered saying , ,

Y es we know and w e all are ready to give t hem


, ,

a drink N ow sit very still and watch us
. A nd just .

think of it ; the big cloud opened very gently and th e ,

drops all rolled out on e by one at first b u t very soon , ,

tumbling one over the other just as fast as they c ould ,

go flashing and splashing and whisperi ng gently all


, ,

the w ay down to Mother Earth because they were so ,

very glad to give a drink to th e poor thirsty b u tterflies


and flowers A s they were tumbling out two of th e
.
,

last big drops turned very quickly to the Brownies and


said

Y our ladder is gone Jump upon our backs if you .


want to get home before d aylight comes .

N ow w e all know very well that Brownies are good


natured little things but they never let any one see ,

them so they knew very well th at ho m e they must go


, ,

and that very quickly Their ladder w as gone They . .

felt a little bit afrai d to ride dow n to the earth on the


rain drops yet what could they d o ? The big drops
-

promised them th ey would go very gently so each ,

Brownie j umped u p u pon the back of a beautiful shin


ing drop and sa iled away down down down in the
, , , , ,

most d elightful way , an d w h ere d o you think they found


1 53
A ST U D Y OF A CHILD

themselves when th ey reached the end of their journey ?


( H arold says I don t ,

Why one was upon the back of the fat b u tterfly and
, ,

th e other w a s upon the back of the thin b u tterfly and ,

they heard both butterflies m aking a quiet littl e noise


of pleasure because the rain had come T hey did not .

see the Brow nies tho ugh for the su n shin e too had c o m e
, , .

D ecember 25 t h — He said voluntarily t o night for h is


.
,

prayer I love you G od but I can t always d o what
, , ,


pleases you The last was not s uggested He had
.
.

been told that G od liked to kno w that little boys loved


Him so he folded his hands buried his face in his pil
, ,

low and whispered the words A fterwards he said he


, .

h ad something else to tell G od and repeated “


Please , , ,

G od tell mamma to bring next C hristmas for my kitty


,

, ,

( said kitty is a stuffed cotton print one a pair of



) -


cru tches and a bed He told me to d ay that S h e .

was lame A ll imagination He idealizes her— sh e is


. .

everything to him He takes her to bed with him .

every night .

D ecember 26t h — To day when I read to him S O


.
“ -

,

Tray put his fore feet in the milk h e as ked -

Do , ,


t w o and t w o make four ? thinki ng I m eant fou r feet .

Kno w ing there w ere two front and two hind feet h e ,

m ade h is first attempt at adding I s aid Y es just



.
, ,

” “
this w ay holding u p my fingers ; two fi ngers and
,

two fingers make four fingers He held u p his little .


h and separated the fi n gers i n twos and said
,
This , ,

w ay — ,

one t w o ; one two counting each group I sai d , , .
,

“ ”
Y es ; n ow h o w many altogether ? He counted O ne “
,


two three four and was satisfied which he is on ly
, , , ,

when he understands the replies he receives He never .

gives up questioning until he u nd erstands I have often .

154
F UR Y E A R S OL D1 89 4 DR A VV I NG S — O

A ngi n f mf c h p y F b u y 25 1 89 4 — H l d s i n t s t i n c s d i n ngin s h i f th
,
e e ro o ,
e r ar as a ro

e re re a e
ww u l d d w
o ra
b v p b b l y n c f t n i g h t — H l d l w ys m d dd i t i ns t h i s
o ne or i i i i , as a o e, ro
,

a o e a or a ro a a
e e s a er

o
c p B t d D ly p
n o y ff ts ; E
an
d C fi st
cai tt m pt s t
en e u nd f n t f ng i n s — l
or an r
a e a o o

s m d n v h v bs v d th i s f tu b f a e a a
.

, ro ro or e e ie
ee e e er o a e o er e ea re e o re .
A STUDY OF A CHILD

Hello Harold here you are agai n How do you spell


, , .

” “ ”
that ? I said a g a i n and he w as satisfied
,
- -
- -

,
.

He is very fond of S loven ly Peter When asked .

what kind of a book it was he said very emphatically , , ,



S loven ly P eter was made for naughty boys Y ou .

co uld read it to good boys to make them happy and ,



to na ughty boys to make them good ; that s w hat it s ’

made for (.A n incipient reviewer ) .

T he following story which I w rote for Harold whe n


,

h e was about four years old gives our experience w it h ,

some pet mice and S hows incidentally how he w a s


, , ,

taught to be gentle with live creatures He asks for it .

again a n d again :

T WO WH ITE M ICE

Whitey and S quealy This is w h at Harold calls .

them Whitey is the dearest little ball of flu ff when sit


.

ting ou her haunches clea n ing her coat with fists m ade
of the smallest pair of hands you ever saw for her front ,

feet looked like little hands that have only fo ur fingers


and no thumbs They are ever so much smaller than
.

the hind feet that have five toes that look like a thum b
,

and four fingers These hind feet are very strong and
.
,

Whitey O ften stands up on the m like a ka ngaroo lifti ng ,

her nose high up in t o the air to sniff at something



which she doesn t quite understand but knows is there ,
.

Harold says S h e has only four fingers for each front


foot with no thumb to get in the way because sh e can
, ,

roll th em up into fists more easily which mousie always ,

does when cleaning her fur maki ng them go so fast ,

that you can only see something pink that i s movi ng


but has no distinct form Harold also says mousie has .

156
1 89 4 DR
I NG S
AW

A c, p yo o f pictu
a re o fan o l d E ng l i s h ng i n — d n f m m m
e e o e y B h d w
ro m eb f or e re a, a an e ore
th e
ngin
e e
w h i ch s m
o e one e els d w h ls d w b
re -
e a o re ng i n t v th fi g u s i n f n t
an e e o ru n o
,

er e re ro
wAh i ch wt lfs d w n by s m l s ; C fi ngi n D n g i n p u s h i ng s i d
,
,
e re a o ra o e o ne e e re e e E h e e a c ar e a
nt h y u n ny s m i l i ng l i ttl b ys $ I th i n k I d th l k t th s th n ny th i n g ;
,
“ ’ ,
.
,
re e e o


ra er oo a o e a a .
RE CO RD CO N T I NUE D

five toes on her hind feet so she may spread them out to
'
stand on Whitey s sense of smell as is true of all
.
,

mice is wonderful We ofte n place a bit of cheese


,
.

within several feet of her j ust to see her drop every ,

thing instantly and run straight to th e tempting morsel ,

where the least little bit of a n ibble seems to satisfy her .

S he is a very dainty eater S he lives chiefly upon .

canary seed and to see her sitting beside us so fearlessly


-

, ,

holding a very little seed in her fore paws nibbling away -

,

to her heart s content with a most knowing expressio n
, ,

is a sight worth working for It takes only a little .

patience and kind treatment to secure this result .

S qu e aly was not so easy to teach as Whitey w a s an d ,

he gave us a great deal of trouble He squealed every .

ti m e w e touched him whic h gave h im his name ; h e,

w ould climb out of his box and run away O ne night .


he gave us a half hour s chase before w e caught him
-

He would nibble holes with his sharp little teeth through


the bottom of the box or in the cover on the d ressi ng
table where we tried to keep him for a while thinking he
, ,

wouldn t try to j ump off He would che w at th e edges



.

of any books or papers he could reach ; i n fact h e never ,

seem ed satisfied except when in mischief Whitey on .


,

th e contrary showed a genuinely sweet dispo sition never


, ,

squealing w hen we took her up an d never g iving trouble ,

of any kind .

We took them with us to the cou n try one day when


making a visit and had a most exciting h u nt for
,

S qu ealy the first night just about bedtime when w e , ,

discovered that Whitey w as alone in the box which ,

had been set very carefully in the middle of the floor ,

far eno ugh away so we supposed fro m anythi ng that


, ,

could be reached A s we knew the roving disposition


.

157
A STUDY O F A CHILD

of S qu e aly we took this precaution but we were not


, ,

s uffi ciently foresighted as events showed We hunted


, .

u nder beds bureaus , a n d chairs up stairs and down


, ,
-

with candles and without an d at last gave u p i n de ,

spair when we happened to spy him u pon the c u rtain


pole near the ceili ng his little white head with his pink
,

eyes almost invisible peering over the top of the equ al ly


,

w hite curtain His eyes were shining a s if h e enjoyed


.

our worry He sat still watching us and it t ook but a


.
, ,

moment to get him and place the box in a safer position ,

farther away from the curtain to which he had evident ,

ly jumped ; but we did not feel secure so long as w e had


h im visiting for we never kne w where we would find
,

him We did not m ind this very much w hen at home


.
,

as we were careful to keep doors closed and all articles ,

of val ue away from him .

When he began to fight ho w ever we thought it best , ,

to do without him T he scamperi ng and squeali ng that


.

w e heard at night w a s to say the least d isturbing e s


, , ,

e c ial ly t o those who wanted to sleep and were not a o


p
customed to noise of this sort We had grown so use d .

to little things of this kind i n our n ature studies that -

w e were entirely u nmindful of the fact that our little


family did not live very happily when together ; but one
n ight after a particu l arly n oisy time we surprised a
, ,

little dark mouse on a v isit to the white ones He .

disappeared very quickly but evidently returned again


, ,

for the racket was astounding F inally there w a s a .

terrific squeal and a big thump Upon spri ng i ng up .

and striking a light W e discovered poor Whi tey on the


floor with blood on her back where either S qu ealy or ,

the brow n mouse had evidently bitten h e r S he had .

fal len or bee n pushed from the top of a large trunk ,

1 58
I NG S — FO UR Y R S O D
18 9 4 D RA W EA L

A . c at B m . W i l l Wh
an l b w ; C m t W i nd cl c k I) N w Y k fi b t E h u s
i ee a rro an o o e or
h w g n b l l n 1 l i ttl l k i n g f t h Wi nd w c h t
.

p
re oa
d o e,
,
o rs e an
m
-

a o a, a oo ) e
.
,
t an oo ou o e “
o
o ut o r in o f h ch i m n
t e d f e y d F—
i ont h m st m b l tt b
oor c
a m
t l t th
t c
« i o
. ro e o e e ea

d d f h i l l W i th s m b dy l k i ng v i t
.
, e s on e e er ox or a r
b e l ls
.

a rr e r
-

,
6 oor o e o
,
, , oo o er .
A S T UD Y OF A CHILD
L ike some human beings she has a way of making ,

herself very comfortable O ne thing she does that is .

rather queer for a white mouse We often put her u p .

high in some place W here she feels uncomfortable or


,

not safe and she j umps at once al w ays towards me


, , ,

landing upon som e part of my body We found she .

would do this by one time placing both mice heads ,

down upon the straight back of a sofa d own which


, ,

S q ue aly would c ra w l every time ; but Whitey di d it only


once j umping every time after w ards
, .

Whe n running about S h e is very independent i n ,

her movements and uses her front feet exactly as a


,

ka ngaroo might I have O ften seen her hold on wi th


.

h er hind feet or stand up o n them a nd reach her head


,

and forefeet away out as if to reach something T he n ,


.

she will settle back again a n d scamper along Whe n .

wide awake and running her body is raised fully half ,

an i nc h from the floor ; but when lazy she drags her ,

body feet and tail along on the sa me plane in th e lazi


, , , ,

est possible way her body touching the surface over


,

w hich she is crawling .

Harold frequently gives Whitey a ride upon one of


h is toy engines or he will put her in a block ho u se as
-

,
-

he b u ilds it and in either case or for th at m atter w h e r


, , , ,

ever he p uts her if conte nted sh e will cuddle up into


, ,

a little ball and go to sleep S ometimes she will play .

peep with him in a very fascinating way We took .

Whitey with u s to our s ummer home where she lived ,

contentedly i n my study exploring every nook and ,

corner she could reach O ccasion ally we would let her .

go about the house O ne time we found her down .

stairs in the pantry possibly looking for cheese ,


.

A bout three weeks after our return she had a family


1 60
A srq OF A CHILD

w ho had as pets during S eptember and November of


,

last year four A rchippus butterflies and the illustra


, ,

tions to this article were taken from these real models .

The A rchipp u s is one of our largest butterflies meas ,

uring from three to four and a half inches across its


outspread wings It appears in the latter part of J u ly
.
,

and lives all through S eptember and sometimes into ,

the early part of O ctober if the weather is mild and ,

warm It loves the sunshine and has a very leisurely


.
,

and graceful manner of flying about from flower to


flower as if it were e njoying everything to the utmost
, .

H elen C onant tells us truly i n her charming little book ,

T he B u tterfly H u n ters that there is no butterfly that


,

takes such strong hold of one s fi ngers with its feet as the
A rchippus It is not so bright in color as some others
.
,

but the wings are tawny orange and are beautifully ,

bordered with black dotted with white F ine black


$

veins cross the wings and on t h e tip of the fore wing


,

are several yellow and white spots extending up on the


front border The under S ides of the w ings are a deep
.

yellow bordered and veined like the upper sides The


,
.

head and the thorax or chest part are black spotted


, , ,

with white and the slender feelers or antenn ae end in a


,

long knob .

The little boy referred to above whose name is Har ,

old w as out in the fields near Bayonne Ne w Jersey


, , ,

one sunny morning in S eptember playing with his usual ,

companion when they happened to meet two small


,

butterfly hunters who had caught three very large

A rchippus butterflies .

H arol d w as charmed with the pretty creatures an d ,

stood quite still gazing eager eyed an d wistful ; The


,
-

ol d er boy suggested that the boy who held the butter


162
A S T UD Y O F A C H I L D

very gently always closing the wings and holdi ng the


, ,

b u tterfly b y them near the head releasing the fee t very ,

carefully at the sa m e time with the other ha nd as the ,

A rchipp u s clings very tenaciously the feet h aving two ,

fork like cla w s which take a very strong hold of any


-

rough s u rface T h e butterflies slept on the lace cur


.

tains by the windows and therefore when lifted had to


, , ,

be moved very cautiously By putting a finger in front


.

of the b utt e rfly s antenn ae and touching one of them



,

very lightly ( as if to let the little creature know th e


finger w as there) the butterfly would in almost every
,

instance creep upon the extended fi nger where after , ,

one or two trials he would sit contentedly sippi ng h is


, ,

sugar water
-
.

O n e of Harold s pets used his front feet in a very im


patient way kicki ng out right and left as if hun t ing for
, ,

the finger which was usually there when he w as ready to


pay attention to clean ing his wings body and feet after , , ,

a meal of thick a nd sticky sugar water His washi ng -


.

w a s done very d ainti l y i n a basin or bo w l in w hich


,

there w a s about a gill of water A t the same time he .

alternately projected and drew in the tr u nk like probos -


cis with which he fed which is altogether a remark
able and very interesting feature When not in use .

this organ is coile d up very closely and when the but ,

t e rfl y is asleep the coil is so sm all that it can scarcely


be seen When feeding or taking h is bath the butterfly
.

frequently rolled his proboscis up half w ay and then -

opened it again and went on with what he was doing .

It w as very curious to note the degree of intelligence


s hown by t h is butterfly d uring the six weeks of his life

as a pet It was a very pretty sight to see him sit in


.

the bowl of water, n ow lapping then picking all over ,

1 64
TH E BU TT R F LY
E O N TH E C UR T A I N
A S T UD Y OF A CHILD

w as soon after this that the other butterfly fl e w through


the gas and the n w e had only one and the season w as
, ,

too far advanced to catch any more T his butterfly .

w as fed once a day with honey and was allowed to fly


,

about i n the s unshine whenever that w as possible He .

w a s also put away very carefully at night in a dark

closet where he liked to sleep resting upon some soft


,

m aterial If put down upon the shelf he would flutter


.
,

about in the dark until he found something soft A t .

one place during their travels the three butterflies sl ept


, ,

on the windo w behind the c u rtains and in the morning


, ,

they would begi n their fluttering as soo n as the sun


shine came The life of the last butterfly w as prolonged
.

for several weeks by great care but eventually he su c ,

c u m b e d to three d ays of rain while we were travelling


,

and he had no s u nny curtain upon w hich to bask .

Harold mo urned the loss of his pet for a lo n g time .


S PO N T N E O U S
A \V R I TI NG FR O M M E MOR Y

TWO TIME S T WO

MU S IC A F M I LY P O RT R A I T
A

TH E B G I NN I NG S
E OF A N VYA

1 89 5 A ND 1 89 6 DR A WI NG S
1 89 5— P i n t d w k f m m m y ; w k i ng t th t bl
fi e c
r e or io

h n d fl t ; t w v i w s f w b t 1 89 6—Th
a e

Oi s o e o
e
a
or
ai
or ou e tw o a e ; m u S ic fro m m m y;
e or
oa e l a l ley ) te .
A S TUDY O F A C H ILD

Tod ay we heard him say S ix and three are n ine ; six ,

and four are ten His aunt asked him how h e kne w
.


it He replied I kno w that six and three are n i ne
.
, ,

and four is one more than three and ten is next to nin e , ,

so it m u st be so Then he turned to his mother and
.

said Mamma whe n you get m e a rule again get me


, , ,

a fi ve inch or a ten inch rule (instead of the regu lar
- -


foot rule which puzzled him) because I ca n count
-

, ,

then 5 — 1 0— — —
1 5 20 25 .

T he follo w ing is an effort at compositio n

NE W Y O RK November 26 1 895
, ,
.

West S treet .

DE A R PA PA ,
-
I am in b ed , an d m amma i s w ri t in g t h i s for me b e c au s e

I w a n t to w ri te y ou a l et ter .I t ol d h e r to p ut th e d ate an d al l, th e
p l ac e w h ere we a re , an d to tell y ou all a b ou t w h a t am d oin g , so y ou I
c ankn ow j u s t w h at y our l i ttl e b oy i s d oin g all th e ti me .

G ood b ye d e ar p ap a w i th my l ov e
-

, , ,

You r d ear l i ttl e b oy ,

HAR OL D .

S ome ti me betwee n O ctober and December we fou nd


among his papers the accompanying e fforts at numbers
( see illustration facing p He is evidently work .

ing out the two table for himself .

He has learned to count to a thousand with very little


effort by simply asking questions
,
We taught him .

numbers by direct teaching from one to ten ; the rest he


reasoned out for himself by asking occasional questions .

A t first he tho u ght of numbers as meani ng only one to


n ine ; then he wanted to know what came next We .

counted w ith him to twenty and I explained that after ,

he reached ten it was the same thing over again only ,

he m u st say ten instead of one an d n au ght and eleven ,

instead of one and one and so on I did this because I ,


.

1 68
HIS EX PL A N A T I O N O F TH E P A R TS OF A N E NG IN E

H IS D V L P M N T DUR I NG H I S FIFT H Y R I N
E E O E EA

F R H N D DR W I NG —F R M C P Y
EE A A O A O

Fol . M) ,
area w s a

EA R LY P R I N T I NG — HOW H E A SK D E FO R A D RR IC
E K HIS PE T BU TT R FLYE

EA R LY P R I N T I NG
1 89 5 DR W I NG S A

P t s f n ng i n
ar o a e e F re e h nd d w m g f c l c k
- a ra o o a nd
'

d uc k s f m c p y
ro o H o w th e ch i l d
sk d f d ick c h i l d s d w i ng f h i s b u t t fly f d i ng y p i n t i ng
.

E a rl
.

a e or a e rr Th e ’
ra o pet er ee r
f m py
. .
,

ro Co .
A S T U DY OF A CHILD

above he had learned the appearance of numbers I


, .

said nothing more about the matter at the time but ,

from this o n I noticed that he al w ays knew numbers


when he saw them O ne day when on the trai n he
.

saw a passing car with the number 324 on its side He .

instantly aske d what three numbers together meant I .

told him then about hundreds explaining that after 9 9 ,

came 1 00 1 0 1 an d so on the same way up This satis


, , .
~

fi e d him for a long time ; but one day when on the ,

street he noticed a house numbered 21 05 and asked


, ,

me what four numbers together meant I then ex .

plained about a thousand coming after 99 9 and so on ,

u p to millions billions trillions


,
quadrillions etc and
, , , .
,

about adding three more naughts to each one These .

terms seeme d to take his fancy and he often asked ,

about their order ; and one day he came to me an d


exclaimed : I could count to quadrillions if I had time
’ ”
enough couldn t I ? A quadrillion has fifteen ciphers
, .

This was before he was six years O ld .

Dr Preyer thought the child w as mistaken in the


.


n umber of ciphers and wrote : If the child exclaims at
,

this age that A quadrillion has fifteen ciphers th is



,

wrong statement should not be mentioned If he .

h a d worked it out by threes then he would have found ,

twenty four ciphers ; a million having six a thousand


-

millions nine a billion twelve a thousand billions fifteen


, , ,

a trillion eighteen a thousand trillions twenty one a


,
-

quadrillion twenty four It would have been rather


-
.


remarkable if he had fou n d this by himself .

D r Harris explains however that the child w as right


.
, , ,

for Dr Preyer counted by the C ontinental method and


.
,

the C hild referred to in the record had his questions


answered accordi n g to A merican cou n ting ( The record .

1 70
1 895 E NG I N DR
E A W I NG S FI V E Y E R S
A OLD
A STUDY OF A CH ILD

ing up and down when going to sleep ; he describe d one


as round w ith two dots for eyes and a straight nose an d
, ,

m ont h that all changed to two marks across each other


,

like this i i illustrating by crossed fingers Miss B


, .

said to him to d ay in the basement of a toy store C ome


“ -

,

Harold let us go it is so close i n here
,
He replied
, .



C lose to what ?
He is full of fancy a n d he i n vests his st u ffed ki tty,

with every loving attribute he can think of To .

“ ”
day he said to her S tep over yourself kit ty Then
, ,
.


he went on There are t wo ways of walking ove r
°

yours elf I can step on myself step one foot on the


.
,
’ ”
other that s t ouching myself
,
Then he said that kitty .

“ ’
replied I can t u nless I put my feet over my head and
, , ,

that would hur t my nose and eyes Thi s same ki t ty .

“ ”
was his darling for nearly four years (until he w a s
seven years old) and at the end of that time she w as not
,

discarde d because of lack of love but becau se a b oy ,

visitor broke her neck and back and S h e had to go to


the h ospital He sent the boy h ome and w rote him a
.

note telling him to never come a gain O n kitty s back .


I found a handkerchief bandage with a slip of paper


pinned to it on which w as written the fact that kitty
had been hurt (see illustration facing p .

S he w a s taken to bed w ith h im every nigh t during


this entire period of devotion ; when i n trouble h e would
go to her clasp her i n his arms a n d say in h eart rend
, , ,
-


ing tones Oh my kitty $ ,
N o one w a s allowed to
,

speak sl i ghtingly to her and he even begged his mother ,

not to let the b oys laugh at her When the cotto n .

in her neck became displaced h e instantly seized upon


the idea that the limp condition allowed her to bend
her head and say good morning which he would cause -

1 72
DR W I NG S— FI V Y R S D
1 89 5 A E EA OL

st t i n y ngi n ; b W nd m i l l w k d by c y l i nd c n n ct i ng w i th
a a o ar e e i or e er o e a ; A, a d dg ; B
re er

s t t i n y ng i n tt ch d d dg ; C u p p p t f s w i ng m l lc h l ng i
. , ,


a o ar e e a a e to a re er

er ar o a e -

a c i i ne D, a o o e ne

w h l i ng b by i n c ch
,

E m ,
an ee a a oa .
FIFTH YE AR

h er to do every morning His conversations with her


.

at night and early morning were frequent and very


charmi ng He al w ays pretended that she w as a n
.

s w ering him in a squeaky voice S he grew very d im


.

about the face from much hugging an d her neck event ,


“ ”
u ally gave w ay from many good mornings ; so in -


numerable stitches had to be taken until at last even ,

Harold saw that no more could be taken Then for a .

long time he submitted to a great break i n her body


fro m the neck down about two inches in length ; but
,

eve n this w as for a purpose for he frequently showed


,
“ ”
me through this break how her heart would move .

( A piece of the cotton i n si d e did move every time he


made kitty move a certai n way ) A s the features faded
.

out he kept appealing to me to say whether I did not


,
“ ” ”
think she looked so gentle so sm i ling and when
, ,

ever any one of his numerous friends presented him with



a n ew stuf ed kitty n o doubt because the O ld one sug
f

gested the gift h e invariably re presented the ne w kitty
“ ”
to some one else and clung to his darling as he called ,

her A t last it seemed to d awn upon him that S h e was


.

failing a nd he suggested that I take him to see some


,

covers for stu ffed kitties and find out whether he could
,
“ ”
get a smiling one I remember he comforted him
.

self afterwards with the thought that if kitties had


n ine lives he could use ni n e covers We found a cover .

that to him seeme d smiling It was in a cou ntry store


.
,

where goods are likely to be shop worn and this kitty -

cover had see n its best days before he bought it I pre .

pared to cover the ol d kitty but I had to compromise


,

on closing the lower edges with a large s afety pin in -

“ ”
such a manner that he could u n cover his darling
whe n ever she wa n te d to talk to him F or several weeks .

1 73
A STUDY OF A CH ILD

he fancied that she co uld n t hear h im wh en h e talked ’

to her but I assured him she could ; so eventually he nu


,

covered her very seldom but the safety pin w a s a fixture


,
-

to the end of her existence as a comrade When w e .

were ready to travel anywhere kitty always went ,

along and if there was no room i n the travelling b ag


,
-

he would kiss her goo d bye and place her on top i n one
of the tr unks in order as he said that she could breathe
, , ,

and would not be squeezed O nce he carrie d her i n his .

arms on a long journey and S howed her everything he


thought of interest D uring the day while he was a t
.
,

play she w as propped up in his crib and told to wait


,

for him that he w ould come back agai n at night etc


, ,
.

When he wanted to fi nd her for consolation he kne w ,

j u st where to go every time and woe betide the perso n ,


“ ”
who couldn t fi nd my kitty ’
I well remember a trip .

by candle light to bring her in fro m the fence at the


-

extreme end of the gar d en where she had been placed ,



during the day to watch Harold dig at his reservoir ,

that occupied h im three years and amused not only him ,

b u t all his numerous playmates O nce it would be a res .

e rv oir another time a cellar to a house once a sand p ile


, ,
-

— for which he bought two loads of sand — agai n a gar


den once even a cemetery where a funeral over Dollie
, ,

w a s held in great state To us it al w ays seemed to be


.

a great big hole to be refilled i n time Kitty h a d to


,
.

superintend all these operations and indeed his entire ,

little life seemed d ivided i n its interests between kitty


and himself and no amount of badinage to which h e
, ,

w a s often subj ect from those wh o were beyond o ur con



trol would disturb this loyalty to his d arling kitty
, .

The following is a favorite story of h is that I told to


h im j ust before the electio n of Presi d e n t Mc K inl ey ,

1 74
1 89 5 DR AWI NG S — FI V E Y E A R S O LD
M k t St t
A ar e i n Ph i l d l p h i
re e c ar a e a B t l s d m s h t i ng C w
oo an a an oo el l t pp d w s h s t nd
ra e a a
c p l y t pp d w s h s t nd D l ti g ng i n f d
,

i ck
-
-
,
,
,
oor ra e a a i O is n -

e e or e rr
, .
A STUDY OF A C HILD
“ ’
heard some one say I d o n t see h ow w e c an, for w e
,

are going to the park an d what can we do with her , ,

dear little lady bug O h , I see ; I will tear off a corner


-
.

of the envelope of this letter I intende d to post and w e ,

can carry her nicely in this until we reac h home again .

S ee Harold she ca n get air through this corner even


, ,

when I hold it shut, this w ay S o that is how I .

kne w it .

What I thought to be rooms of a paper house w as


really the folded letter I do n ot think that I w as very .

foolish i n believing this Mrs F ly although you may ,


.
,

think so ; yet after all it w a s only a letter in a commo n


, ,

envelope What a queer worl d this is $ A nd then t h e


.

distance too that I supposed I w as bei ng carried whe n


, ,

I was lifte d from the pavement $ Instead of its being


very very great as I supposed it was only about half th e
, , ,

l engt h of one of those queer looking creatures I used to -

see walki ng along the streets every day an d that I heard ,



one day were calle d me n an d wome n That s w hat .

comes of being so little— everything seems so very big .

S ince I am to live here now I suppose I will never see , ,

many more of those queer creatures ; still I may have a


happier time of it tha n I have had lately I heard .

voices everywhere some time ago talking about silver


, ,

and gold and about har d times I m sure there must .
,

be some very queer reaso n for my trouble in fi n ding th e



little I need to eat a thing that has n ever happened b e
fore in my long life of almost a h u nd red days . .

When I w as carrie d to the park to d ay (I wonder


what park means I hear d th e little boy say to h is
mother a great ma n y curious thi n gs that I could n ot
u nderstand at all I have a pretty good m emory (that
.

is h o w I kn ow I have live d a h undre d days) and I ,

1 76
189 5 B O T DR
A A WI NG S — FI V Y R S
E EA O LD
F I F T H YE A R

think I can tell you some of the sentences he said .

Maybe y ou will know what they mean He bega n by say .

ing Mamma with a shriek —so he could be heard no ,

doubt as the noise of the trains and other things w as


,

terrible — “
Mamma w ill we go up i n the ele vated ?
,

H a ve you the lady bug ? I sn t it a dear little thing ?

-

( I understood that ) O h mamma here


. s F ifty eighth , ,

-

S treet ; w ill w e go to see the animals ? ( That m ade me


shudder for I knew what some animals do w h o like to


,

eat insects ) O h mamma there s the swan boat ; can t


.
, ,

-

w e take a ri d e ? L et me pay I have money C an t ’


. .


we mamma ?
, ( I wonder what a s w a n boat is ) I -
.


heard the mother say Yes dear and pretty soon I

, , ,

felt that w e were gliding al ong as gently as I have


often sailed on a leaf on a pond and it was really de ,

lightful I imagine this w as somewhere in the park


.

spoken of which the little boy (whose name seemed to


,

be Harold) once called C entral Park There must have .

been a baby sitting beside me for I heard Harold s ,


mother tell him to look at a kitten on the bank and ,



the mother of the baby said L ook at the kitty d augh , ,

ter an d Harold laughe d loud because the baby looked
,

straight u p to the sky I heard him say la ughing loud .


, ,
“ ’ ”
Kitty isn t up in the sky mamma The baby s mam ,
.

m a laughe d too but Harold s mamma said N ever mind


“ ’
, , ,

baby ? ’

Pretty soo n I heard somebody ask to be let off at the


upper en d of the lake as they called it (What is a , .

lake ?) S ome one said I f we can m ake a landing


“ ”
,
.

Then w e had a good shaking up and I w a s a little bit


frightened for I felt w e were getting out of the boa t
,

very cautiously I happen to know w hat it mean s to


.

be upset i n water O ne d ay w h en I w as sailin g on the


.
,

M 1 77
A ST U D Y O F A C H I L D

pond the W ind turned over the leaf I w as on and I


, ,

thought I w a s going to drown F ortunately I struck .

a stick of wood in m y strug g l es to save m yself and ,

crawled up on top of it and stayed there until a big ,

leaf came floating by near enough for me to fly to it ,

which I did very quickly When I reached the bank of .

the pond I m ade up my mind to stay away from the


water— for a while at any rate much as I like sailing
, ,


on a le a f for I n ow think it is dangerous .

S oon after we landed we heard terrible n oises and ,

Harold said O h mamma see the baby hippopotamus $


, , ,

Isn t it a dear little thing ? (I tho ught they were b ig

“ ’
I am l ittle ) . Isn t it too s weet for anything ? S ee its
feet and its eyes O h m amma see its mother helping
.
, ,
” ’
it get into the water $ Isn t she a good mother ? a nd so
he went on He w as talking all the time I couldn t
. .

understand what he meant half of the time and I wishe d ,

so much I could see it all O nce he said O h mamma



.
, , ,

see the baby t iger winking to me $ Isn t he beautiful ? ’

( I w onder what winking means ) .

I heard him talk of polar bears grizzly bears prairie -

,
-

dogs a n d hyenas camels and d romedaries and I really


, , , ,

can t remember what all I remember he said Mam

.
,

m a don t you think the ca m el is beautiful ? I do


,

S ee .


the w ay he moves He seemed to pity the animals
.

that w ere i n cages He couldn t understand w hy they


.

had to be brought a w ay from their homes just to l e t


people know what they look like I heard his mamma .

say that sh e didn t believe G od meant it to be so and



,

I believe she is right I felt s u re S h e would be good to


.

me and feed me after hearing that .

When w e came here S h e let me out very carefully ,

a n d I have had a lovely time for several days going ,

1 78
F I F T H YE A R
a bout the rooms Every day Sh e hunts me up and gives
.

m e something to eat and drink A t fi rst I felt afraid .

she would drown me with the water but she seeme d to ,

kno w I couldn t take much for she poured a fe w drops



,

u ite near to me on the windo w sill and I went close


q -

and sipped all I needed The water looked like a wall


.
,

almost as high as I was but it didn t come tumbling ,

over me as I expected it would I wonder W hy ? .

Whe n I was fed she put me on a plate of fruit I .

heard her tell Harold it w as fruit and I had the most ,

delicious dinner I found it inside of a grape skin I


.
-
.


kne w it was that for I heard her say to Harol d Y ou
, ,

should have seen the dear little la d y b ug eating her -

dinner .


He said Where did she get it ?

,

S he said “
I put her on a plate of fru it and I found
, ,

her eating inside of a skin of a grape that I put there



for her .

A little girl was here the other day who must have
been very wicked for she said she would kill me Harold
,
.

took me u p gently and ran away down stairs to his -

mamma and told her all about it S he took me from .

him caref ully and told the little girl h o w wi c ked it w as


to hurt any living thing The little girl see m ed to be
.

sorry and said S h e didn t mean it but I hope she will


,

,

n ever come here any more It isn t n ice to have per .

sons like that about one I t makes one frightened. .

Harold seems to like to watch me when I clean m y


feet and wings every morning T o d ay I showed him .

h ow I reached u p on my back with my foo t and r u bbed


O fi any specks of dust tha t might happen to be there .

I also cleaned my head with what he calls the forks on


the ends of my front feet He likes to w atch me get .

1 79
A S TUDY O F A C HILD

ready to fly too which I do sometimes just to please


, ,

him and to keep in practice I push my hind wings far


.

out at the back of my body , and he says they look like


a little pointed tail be fore they are spread ; then I
spread them at the same time that I spread the front
ones that make my shell cover and away I go I-

,
.

hear h im say every time O h see mamma $ Isn t th a t


, , ,

’ ”
pretty ? Isn t she sweet ? He often speaks of the
beautiful black spots that I have on the back of my
shell wings He says Two on each side and one where
.
, ,

the split is .
( I wonder what he m eans by
T o morrow I am going to fly u p on the window and
see the sunshine that I love so much Y esterday I .

saw the windo w was open and I might have flown ,

away but I d idn t want to d o it There is so much


,

.

to see and learn here that I like to stay Maybe to .

morro w I will go and ask Mrs G old bug what all the .
-

voices talki ng about silver a n d gold mea n S he ough t .

to kno w .
C HAP T ER V I I

S E VE N T H YE A R —L E A R NI NG G E R MAN WR I T I N G A ND , ,

S PE LL I N G T H ROUG H P L A Y — A B E DT I M E Q UE S T IO N
TAL K — C O M PAR I SON Q UE ST IO N S A ND AN S WE R S
T H E C H I L D S S ON G T O H I S C O L O R S —T WO ST O R IE S

T OLD B Y T H E C H I L D

,

JU L Y 29 1 89 6 His prayer : D ear G od I want you

,

to keep the good good and make t h e ba d good and I


, ,

thank y ou very much for bringing papa back safely ,

and I want you to take care of me in the night ti m e -

and I thank you very muc h for letti n g me pass all the

day so happily .

He was taught the L ord s Prayer by rote in order that ,

he migh t n ot feel chag rined if he ever ha d occasion to


j oin others i n saying it in kindergarten schools The .

third time of repetition he had to be helped once only


“ ”
by supplying on earth He insisted on havi ng each
.


phrase of the L ord s Prayer explained to him .

A ugust 1 st —T o day Harold said as is usual u n d er


.
,

“ ”
similar circumstances The step made me go up
, He in .

tended going around the s ide O f the house with a play


mate but from habit he stepped up o n the front porch as
,

he passed it He insta n tly stepped down again and w en t


.

with her but she teased him about it and he replied


, ,

in a usual fashio n that it made h im do it


“ ”
I never .

understood this remark before but n o w I see clearly ,

w hat he mea n t w h e n h e said as h e ofte n did , t h at some


,

1 81
A S TUDY OF A C HILD

thing m ade
him thus or do u su a l h a b it so — h e m eans his
leads him on e way when he w ills another w ay .

A ug ust 7th — To day he came in fretting abo u t hav


.
-

ing no one with who m to play It was intensely .

warm I had been reading about the H era ld Ice F und


.
,

and I read to h im about the sick babies in the sl ums ,

a n d said he should be happy by contrast with his happy

home I inadvertently roused a great stor m of sym


.

pathy He cried bitterly ran crying audibly to th e


.
,

other end of the house to the nursery and back again , , ,

when he handed me a penny saying bet w een his sobs , , ,



S end it to the babies It w as half of all he had at th e
.

time I tried to paci fy h im and told h im of all the


.
,

good people who helped take care of the poor children ;


b u t he cried for a long time a n d w o ndered pitifully ,

w h y G od let them s uffer .

He said to William a playmate You kno w G od , ,


who lives up in hea en ; well part of him is a spirit
v ,

called the Holy G host There is such a thi ng as a spiri t


.

that isn t a ghost ’


.


S eptember 9 th H e said to me just n o w
.

Plated ,


silver is n ickel washed in mel ted silver isn t it ? ,

S eptember 1 1 t h — Harold asked m e to d ay w h at


.


absorb meant and how frogs absorbed moisture I
,
.

had j ust been telling him that frogs came out on rainy
days for a drink whe n they would absorb the rai n
,

through little holes in their bodies He listened intent .

ly to my explanation the n S ai d , as he was eating some


,
“ ”
bread and milk S ee my bread absorbs the milk
, ,
.

S eptember 1 6t h —When going to Ne w Y ork to d ay


.

he said as he stood in the a isle Mamma the faster th e


, , ,

trai n goes the easier it is to stand ; it goes over the


bumps quicker ”
The n pointing to the S ign Drink i n g
.

,

1 82
SEVE NTH YEAR

water he said Don t they kno w it s d rinking water ?
, ,
“ ’ ’
-

S he sai d Ye s

,
” “
Then he said Why do they put the
.
,

sig n up ?
His questions t o day were chiefly about words He .

came to me at different times with the followi ng asking ,

“ ” “ ” “
what each meant : saliva materials natural his , ,
” ” “ ”
tory,
boast and indestructible ,
He cannot u nder .

stand why some O f his toy books are called ind e stru c -


tible w hen they can be destroyed He ofte n asks me .

about i t
O ctober 2d — H e said t o night when in bed “
I put
.
, ,

my hands over my eyes and I see the loveliest colors ; ,



an d I say colors please come back until I go to sleep
, ,
.

Then h e began to sing :



D ea r l s p l eas e c ome b ac k
c o or , ,

U n til I g o to S l ee p .

I w i ll n e v er se e y ou ag ain ,

U n til I eat a b i g b en .

D ear l s p l ease c ome b ac k


c o or ,

I ll n e v e r d i s tu rb y ou a g a in

,

U n ti l d ay d aw n b rin gs th e li g h t .

You d arl in g l ittl e c ol ors g ay ,

M ak e th e p rett i es t on es you e v er h ad .

Then he fell asleep .


The following is a song of Harold s when falling asleep
after a day of mental pressure in a primary school
before he w as seven— where he was placed against his

mother s better judgment but in deference to th e opinion ,

of an educational authority w h o saw and acknowledged ,



the error after two days experience w ith the child .

A t the e n d of each d ay he seemed intoxicated with the


charm of learning and was very much excited too —,

much so to fall asleep until several hours after his usual


1 83
A STUDY OF A CHILD

bedtime The seco nd night he began singing to himself


.

about his colors as he calls them as follows singing


, , ,

every word in a ve ry pretty manner :


R ed , ora n ge y ell ow gree n bl u e
, , , , a nd p urp l e ;

then ,
in a very unconscious sleepy , w ay

O h , y ou d arlin g l i ttle c ol ors , c ome b ac k , c ome b ac k ,

U n til I g o as l e e p ,

And mak e a n oth er p i c ture .

T ra l a, l a l a l a l a
- -

,
-

C ome re d c ome oran g e


, , c ome yellow , c ome g reen ,

C ome b l u e a nd p u rp l e , ,

O h , m ak e a n oth er di amond of p urp l e and of b l ue .

O h, l s c ome f rom y our l i ttl e c oac h e s


c o or , ,

You d arl in g l i ttl e c ol ors $ I a m s orry to say ,

You g et in y our c abs and d ri ve ri g h t h ome .

I h op e y ou w i ll h a v e h a p p y d ay s .

G ood b ye good b ye my c ol ors d ear d ear d ear d ear


-

,
-

, , , .

Between the last two sta n zas he sang


T ra la , l a la l a l a
- -

,
-

M y p u ss y -
c at l i es d ow n b y m e .

O h , y ou d e ar p u ss y c at I l ike y our
-

, h at $

T ra l a , l a l a la l a
- -

,
-
.

Then he fell asleep instantly .

A nother n ight apropos of the color song he sai d


, ,

Black turns to n avy blue ; then there came red a nd -


light blue a nd pink and now it is so many I can t tell
-

you all but it is beautiful ; now it is red and gree n a


, ,

red spot with gree n about it ; now it is gree n wit h red

dots i n it runni n g through the black ; then black ; no w


it is white a nd bro w n gray a nd W hite black wit h white , ,

dots ; now it s g reen, w it h blue i n it ; n ow all green The n

.

h e slept , b ut first h e said after ceasing his remarks ,

1 84
S E V E NT H YE A R
'


about the colors O h is n t it funny ? I saw lots of bub
, ,


bles when I opene d my eyes and I coul d n t see you ,

through them .


O ne of his rhymes at this time w a s S he gathers th e ,

trees as if they were bees and takes her ease so good , ,



so good .A n other rhyme I heard the other d ay
was Put the magical cor n o n your head an d that will
, ,

make you dead .

O ne night when si nging to himself D ies ist d ie Mu t


“ ’
,

ter l ieb u n d gu t he sang it i n G erman first then in Eng
, ,

lish ; then he tried to say th e words without the music ,

a n d succeeded with the G erman but whe n he reached ,

the third line of the English words he had to sing it to


get it ; then he repeated it again and again until he fe l t

sure of it In this w ay he goes over his day s acquire
.

me n ts while falling asleep — S ings talks and counts to , ,

himself— and occasionally tries to g e t me to answer a


question N ot m any days ago when I supposed he was
.
,

asleep we heard him call


,
much is t w ice
thirty four -
I told him He repeated my answer and
.
,

soon fell asleep I n ever knew W hat le d up to th e ques


.

tion but he O fte n asks discon n ecte d questions like the


,

above after a perio d of quiet during which his brai n is


, ,

apparently at work over something that puzzles him .

He has taken a fancy lately to have me spell wor d s that


are new to him without pronouncing them in order
, ,

that he may g uess at them by the sound of the let


ters.

O ne day I gave him s h o e a n d told him c c was pro ,

nou nc e d like 0 0 in too a nd to put the sound sh i n front


, .

He tried it several times before he got the word right ,

and was then very much please d to find he coul d spell



shoe We the n trie d p le a s e i n the same way , w hich
.

1 85
A STU D Y OF A CHILD

at first he got as place In this w ay he is learning .

h o w to spell many words while he plays and h e now ,

reads a number of short easy sente n ces He has a .

fashion now of spelling all the words he knows h ow to


spell when telling us something as for instance M a m
— “
, ,
- -


m a come t o d i n n e r
-

,
T hen she spells come
-
“ ”- - - - -
.

for him and he has one word more S ometimes I take


,
.

“ ”
up a word like gre w for insta n ce give him the , ,

sounds and ask him for the word


,
He first called .


gre w g a rew then tried it faster and eventually w as
-

, ,

delighted to find it was a word of whic h he knew the


meaning This knowledge he gains very easily with
.

play that he e nj oys .


O n ce he asked me what a p e n spelled I said it -
- -

“ ”
w as no word ; then he tried again and said a p r n ,
- - -
.

I said again it was no word although I knew what h e ,

w a s trying to spell Then he said i m patiently Well“


.
, , ,

how d o you spell apron ? Then I told him .


He will take a word like O l d or any S imple word h e ,

knows and beginning with the first letter of the alpha


, ,

bet h e will spell to himself and try to pronounce each


,

combination thus : a o l d b O l d c o l d d o l d e o l d
,
- - -

,
- -

,
- - -

,
- -

,
- - -

f-
o l d -

,
etc all
-
the way through to
. z ,
He tells m e this .

is h ow he is learning all by himself h owto spell n ew


words He often does this before falling asleep and
.
,

often asks me some such question as whether e o l d - - -

m akes a word not recognizing it as such from the soun d s


,

of the letters .

O ctober 4 th Mamma you wouldn t say a E che ’


,
.


but d a s ist ein E c he
,
I heard him saying to himself t o .

” ” “ ”
day b oa c onstric tor then h ug and bones as if he

, , , ,

w ere puzzling about them He is always inquiring a bout .

w ord s w h y they are calle d thus a nd so


,
He ask ed .

1 86
S E V E NTH Y E A R

t o d ay What d oes hemisphere mean — half round ?


,
“ ”

The circle of his engine track suggested it He set .

th e track upon the e dge of two chairs to m ake an


elevated railroad after having run it contentedly on ,

the table for a long time He is fertile i n invention .

and adaptation Tod ay he repeated the entire story


.


of The O ld Woman and her C rooked S ixpence
without a pause and when he reached the part ,
“ ”
where after the cat had d rinke n the milk (as h e
,

said) the cat began to kill the rat the rat began to
, ,

gnaw the rope etc etc h e gre w breathless and ex,


.
,
.
,

cited an d co u ld hardly say it fast eno ugh it seemed ,


.

“ ”
He called the pig a piggie w igg ie and omitted the ,
“ ”
word yonder explaining that he feared th e little chil
,

dren wouldn t understand what i t meant He always .

has so much trouble h imself to find stories that he can


understand from beginning to end that he sy m pathizes
wit h others i n this respect He has had no phonic .

lessons b u t has had his attentio n d irected to sounds of


,

letters Many words that are new to him he pronou n ces


.

correctly from the sound of the letters I tried him with .


so o n but it too k him some time to get it ; first h e
,

said sss oo e u then he tried it quickly and recognized
- -

, ,

the word He sometimes reads w hole sentences of n e w


.

word s by spelling them and following the so u nds fre ,

quently asking me the m eaning of the word he may be


pronouncing correctly .

In the A ndrew L ang F airy R eaders where the words ,

are divided in syllables all through the reading matter -

h e has very little d iflic ul ty with words even of three and


four syllables .

To d ay he spelle d saliva from sou n d asked its mean ing ,

first, then sai d of some water which he had j ust used to


1 87
A STUDY OF A CHILD

brush his teeth This water has saliva i n it I will
, ,

throw it away .

He a sked m e how to spell Willie



pronouncing
“ ” ”
it Will lee Whe n I said
-

. i ll ie he seemed - - - - -

cross and said I mea n Will lee then he said W i l l


,
“ ” -

, ,
- - -


spells Will n ow spell c c so I sai d ie and he was sat
, ,

isfi e d .

He then said P a p spells p ap ee I sai d No


,
-
He-
.
” “
.


s aid I thought it spelled pa for pa a n d the last p was
, ,

said pee so it would make p ap ee
,
He couldn t under .

sta n d why it should spell pap at first Then h e said .


,

H o w do boys spell poppy when they say it instead of ,



papa ?
O ctober 5th — I foun d out yesterday about his so
.

called A pril fool letter to me — sent a short time ago


-

by mail He really gave it to the postman on S atur


.

day to have it delivered o n Mo n d ay and didn t tell me ,


for two days It came i n the usual mail a n d he enj oyed


.
,

my surprise immensely He ad d ressed me as D ear “


.

Mrs H. will you please se nd me a copy of your


book at once ? an d signed it Yours truly DL O R A H
” “ ”
,
.

( Here he used his own n ame rever s ed which puzzled me ) ,


.

He is learni ng G erman in play This evening after .


,

his first lesson (give n yesterday) he gave m e a lesson in ,

play I encourage d it to fin d out what he remembered


.
, ,

with the following result : He told me that N o was


N e in “
Y es Ya h
” “ ”
Boy K n a be “
G irl Ma d chen ,


Brea d B rod ; A E in , I I ch ; With Mit , and
” “ ” “ ” “ ” ’ ‘

counted i n G erman up to fifteen .

O ctober 8 th — “
T o day he asked What is meant to
.
,
” “
die a painful death ? I said , A wago n r unning over

and killing you woul d be a painful death He the n .


said A nd if they d agged a sword i n you
,

1 88
SE VE NTH YE AR
He said to me t o day whe n I told him that after ,

being dresse d he might play i n the room in which I was


t rying to sleep Y ou tell G o d to keep me out of temp
,

t a tion (

all u ding to the L ord s Prayer ) but if y o u ,

dress me and let me play in there while y ou wa n t to



sleep it will tempt me to talk to you
,
.

O ctober 1 1 t h — When reading to Harold to d ay he in


.


sisted on having the book abo ut bones muscles a n d , ,

blood I explained to him with a long tube h ow water
.

seeks its level and he busied himself for a long ti m e


,

w ith the tube and his pump ( one that works satisfac
t orily ) He is very quick at co n trivances self reliant
.
,
-

and self helpful He rarely allows or asks us to do any


-
.

thing for hi m that he can do for himself .

O n our way to the park this afternoon he said What ,



does b u r n s spell ? He had caught but a glimpse of
- - - -

the word as we went by o n the elevated train This .

s u ggests C atharine A ike n s experiments in gla n ce ’


work .


He said a short time ago What does s f t p , o c t a
, , , , , , , ,

mean ? I aske d h im where he had heard it He re .

plied Maud sings it ; S h e says If they won t feed the


, ,

horse good food the s f t p O o t a will g e t after them , , , , , , , .


I told him then about the S ociety for the Prevention


of C r uelty to A nimals He is very much interested i n .


the docking of horses tails He says he will try to hel p .

prevent it because it is cruel He explained to me about


,
.

u sing a red hot iron wire to d o it -


I d o n ot kno w where .

he could have heard of this S ome playmate no doubt .

has told him .

He is n o w playing that he has a restaurant ; he wrote


to his father that he was happy because h e had one (see
illustration faci n g p He bro ught to a cha n ce vis
.

189
A S TU D Y O F A C H I L D

itor, on a tin box lid for a tray a little bucket from his
-

pump filled wit h water for a dri n k making believe th e


, ,

bucket was a glass a piece of bread and a round piece ,

of apple that w as very thi n and had skin on one side ;


it was the shape and size of a dollar We were puzzled .

as to h o w he c u t it in that shape and asked him abo u t ,

it He the n showed us what he called his knife I t


. .

was a circular piece of tin sharp on the e d ge that , ,

had covered a bottle and by turning it a c ertain w ay


,

he c u t a perfect circle of apple which gave him great ,

delight .

O ctober 1 2 t h — H e said t o d ay
. How w o u ld it feel if ,

I h ad eyes i n the back of my head ? I replied I “
,
’ ” “
don t kno w .T hen he said Well suppose I cut a
, ,

rat in t w o pieces and then cut one of the pieces in two


, ,

would that piece feel it ? I said N He wondered
why I said because it was separated from the head
. .

T hen he wondered why again I said there were nerves .


going to the brai n (his think as he calls it) telling

,

when anything hurt I told h im also about the sensi


.

t ive ne ss of the fi ng e r tips He ex p erimented then said


-
.
, ,

A re there nerves in the nails too ? I w a s not quite ,
“ ”
sure but I said Y es
,
He looked at them then said
.
, ,

H o w c an one see through the nails and not see any

nerves ? I was forced to divert him then and I mus t ,

study up physiology .

When w alking along the street some days later he



said to me I s uppose if w e had no nerves and w e
, ,
’ ”
sh u t ou r eyes we wouldn t kno w we are walking
,
.

O ctober 1 7t h — H e evidently puzzles abo u t two too


.
, ,

and to I j u st heard h im saying to himself as he is


.
,

lying i n bed trying to fall asleep I am going at tw o ,

o clock A re y o u going to town ? Y es I am going too

.
, , ,

190
SE VE NT H YE AR

accenting each one T hen he said O ne t— . w o ( spell , ,


-


i ng the w ords) one t o o and one t o turned over and
,
- -

,
-

, ,

began w histling a tune he heard a band play t o day .

A fter w ards he asked me w hat a hard 9 and soft 9 meant .

I explained ; then he asked for a hard at b c and I , , ,

explained that not all letters had hard sounds and soft
“ ”
sounds the n I said cake and cent for him to sho w ,

the difference in the o s H e said H ow about knife ? ’
.
,

I should think 71 stood for knife . I said “
N o it is 75 .
, , ,

but it i s a silent letter H e w as satisfied w i th this .
,

and asked next What is w h i ney or fretty — l ett i ng



,

your v o i ce drop do w n l i ke th i s ? g i ving an illustrat i on
of i t T hen he fell asleep
. .

“ ”
T o da y he said I sn t t w ice t w enty forty ?
,
I re ’
,
“ ”
plied Y es H o w much is t w ice nineteen ?
,
. H e sa i d ,

I don t kno w unless I go stra i ght up

I a sked .
,

H o w do you do i t ? ”
H e replied Wh y t w ice t w elve

, ,

i s t w enty four t w ice thirteen i s t w enty s i x t w ice four


- -

,
,

teen is t w enty e i ght and h e w ent on until he reached
-

t w ice nineteen is thirty eight evident l y hav i n g found -

out that the t w o table up to t w elve w as made by add


-

i ng t w o each time ; so he experimented u p to forty


and asked me as above T h i s is the w ay he has ex .

rim e n te d and found out much that he kno w s about


p e ,

numbers .

T he notes opposite p 1 9 2 sho w h o w he tried to lear n .

to w rite A v ertical w riting char t w as placed above h i s


.
-

l i ttle table and w e sa w that paper and penc i ls and h i s


,

chair w ere al w ays ready for h i m should h e w ant to try ,

i t H e w rote a letter to a favorite kindergartner the first


.

day he received it aski n g me h ow to spell th e w ords he


,

d i d not kno w but hunting out the letters for h imself by


,

repeat i ng th e alphabet as h e looked for t h e lette r he


1 91
A STUDY O F A CH ILD

w anted . B efore had passe d he kne w the


six w eek s
w hole chart from memory yet he never received direct ,

teaching from it nor did I tell him to join the letters


,

together w hen maki n g the w ords H e did this from .

the beginning for the char t h e used w as carefully pre


,

pared to meet this need One day I sa w him slip a cover .

over some of the letters on the upper ro w of the chart ,

by hanging an envelope by its flap on the upper edge


of the char t I asked him w h y h e did it ? H e replied
.
,

I w anted it so I can learn the letters w ithout seeing
— ”
them so illustrating by first covering a a nd b and
,

then w riting the letters and mo v ing the en v elope along ,

over a and d and so on ,


.

T o day he said in my heari ng V ertical w riting chart



, ,
-
.


I then said Y ou should w rite a letter to your papa
, .


H e replied Y ou w ouldn t have told me to if I had not
,

,

sa i d V ertical—
,

w r i ting chart w hich w a s true Whe n ,

.

speaking of th e chart he said Wh y do they make



, ,

the i r letters so decorate d ? T hey are more decorated in


” “
capitals than belo w (meaning the small letters) Y ou .

see they might make the 7 straight at the top this —


,

w ay : T hen looking at 7 on the chart he said I , ,

should think i t is vertical I kno w some people w h o .

make the 7 this w ay : 7 T his is the w ay it should


be : 7 Which w ay do y ou think is right ? I s this hori
.

z o nt al :

H e heard some one say p u rty for pretty t o day ; he


came to me and said , I v e al w ays hea rd of pretty soon ;


never heard of purty soon .


October 24th I said to h im w hen he heard his aunt
.

play Mendelssohn s R ondo C apriccioso


“ ” “ ’
I sn t that ,

” “
beautiful that your aunt is playing ? H e replied Y es , ,

I don t see h ow she can play s uch music

I said Sh e .
,

1 92
S E V E NT H Y E A R
” “
is studying it all the ti me T hen he replied I suppose .
,

it i sn t hard for her



.

— “
October 25th H e said at tea t o d ay I like th e , ,
.

raisins i n this cake I do n t l i ke them in most cakes I .



.

l i ke them in Mrs L s cakes too I w onder w h v


.

.

these are so good Don t you suppose mamma that the .



, ,

grapes w ere properly dried to make them so good ?


Maybe too th e baker used (then he w hispered and


spelled ) c l e a n hands - - - -
.

— “
October 28th H e sa w the w ord you upsidedo w n
.


thus noK H e said I w as puzz l ed w hat noK meant

.
,

then I sa w it w a s you upsi d edo w n H e has al w ays ‘ ’
.

been able to read letters from any side presented T o .

night he could not fall asleep eas i ly because he had too ,

muc h exc i tement j ust before bedt i me H e said I f “


.
,

anybody could see the pretty things I am see i ng— al l


sorts of pretty colors green red purple I close my , , ,
.

eyes and it gets dark — very dark— and all of a sudden


i t c heers up and gets b ea u tifu l c olor s I a m going to .


have one i n a minute I think w ere the last w ords I , ,

heard When I looked again he was asleep


. .

I asked him this w eek to tell me a G erman sentence ,

if he had learne d any H e promptly said w ei a u gen .


,

fl a b e ich .

When he sings morn i ng Merry Sun shine the


,

G ood -

, ,

kindergarten song w hich he learned after heari ng i t


t w ice he al w ays prefaces the last v erse w ith th e w ords
, ,


T h i s is w hat the sunshin e says n o w m amma that I , ,


am going to tell you .

A s w e n eared H ano v er S quare on the T hird A venue ,

Ele v ated after a n a bsen ce of a yea r he tu rn e d a t a cer


, ,
/

tai n place and said L e t m e see — this is the place w e



,

s a w the cannons and he sho w e d one to me H e then
, .

N 1 93
A STUDY O F A C HILD

amused himself all the w ay to T hirty fourth Street -

w i th mak i ng a n d pull i ng a slip knot — w i th a stri n g -

he found on the floor s aying a t l ast T his is ,

the w a y to h ang a m a n p u tti ng m y purse i n the ,

loop . Some one must have i n d i s creetl y t o ld h im


about it .

— “
.

October 29 t h A quest i on talk to d ay w i th pussy .

Did there be a long time ago an idol — a n u gly th i ng


, ,


m ade of stone that little boys prayed to d o they ? — ”

H e sa i d this as i f he tho u ght it co u ldn t be so H e then ’


.

told me he h eard i t i n a Sunday school he v i s i ted o n ce -


.

H e then began talk i n g a bou t the matter to h is stuffed


k i tty .Say i ng You w ouldn t pray t o i d ol s w ou l d

,

,

v ou ? T hen h e turned to me and said “
D id you hear ,

w hat pussy sa id ?

I said N H e repl i ed Wh y

, , ,

she sa i d N o I w ouldn t do i t for the w orld
,

,
T hen h e .

w ent on Y ou prec i ous little pussy you precious pussy


, ,

darli ng you re th e s w eetest litt l e pussy i n the w orld ;


,

no you re not little you re big— only not so b ig a s m e


,

,

.

I w ish you d gro w — don t you



T h en h e cha nged his’

voice to represent k i tty speaking and sa i d Y es I , , ,



does I doe s I d oes turning to me at t h e sam e time
, , ,

and saying Do you hear her

,
? “
Y ou w ouldn t pray to ’


idols w ould you kitty ?
,
T hen the changed vo i ce came
,
“ ”
again i n reply N o I ll kill every one I get near
, ,

.


T hen H arold said in a very w ise w ay B ut pussy they , , ,

are not alive th ey are made of stone
,
T hen h e turned .

to his mother and said Mamma I kno w w hat d ragons



, ,

are ; the y are idols D on t you belie v e it ? Maybe a one


.


headed dragon is an idol i n A frica b u t i t cou ld n t brea the ’


a n d s it
p fi re T he above. is a fair sample of his con
ve rsa t ion s w ith pussy before he falls asleep H e is n o w .

singi ng to himself
1 94
A ST U D Y O F A C H I L D

T hen he repeated it in E nglish .

A noth er lesson w as as follo w s



Mamma h o w do you say soldiers i n G e rm an ?
,
“ ”
She repl i ed S old a ten ,
H e smiled and said “
Y es .
, ,
.


H o w d i d you kno w it ?
T hen h e count e d to one hundred in G erman correct
ly ; then sai d each hundred to a thousa nd calling that ,

z e/ m h m d er t first because h e d i dn t kno w the w ord
‘ ’
,

thousand in G erman T he only question he asked w hile .

do i ng it w as w hen he reached t w enty fi ve H e then -


.


asked if finf w as fi v e A t thirty h e said first .

“ ”
z ei m a n d z w a n z z

g then corrected himself


,
and said , ,

d r eiz ig .

When singing to himself to day in spite of a cold an d -

, ,

keeping time and sho w ing expression he sang first the ,

song G ood morning Merry S u nshine w hich is a



,
-

, ,

fa v orite ; then he began


G oo dm o r n i n g g oo d m o r n i n g k i nd t e ach er so d ear
-

,
-

, ,

H o w gl a d l y w e gree t y o u t i ll a ll d o t h a pp ear ; ,

O ur p l ay ma t e s we we l c o me ea c h o n e w i t h d e l i gh t ,

( H ere I asked him w hat delight m eant H e said .


,

Wit h
happiness— very T hen he w ent on
O ur h ea r t s are so h ap p y be c a u se we d o r i g h t
, .

( H ere he turned to m e and said ,



I t isn t ’
w rite , b ut b e
cause we do right — do the right thin g ) T hen he com ”

p le t e d the song
G oo d m o r n i n g g oo d m o r n i n g o u r d ea r l itt l e sc h ool
-

,
-

, ,

H o w h a pp y w e are in o bey i n g ea ch r u l e ;
For lov e is o u r m o tt o i n w o r k a nd i n p l a y ,

S o l e t u s be t h a nk f u l f o r ea ch h a pp y d a y .

We follow ed nat u re -
c ence stories w ith
w ork a nd s i

fairy sto r ies at six, instead of gi v i ng fairy stories first .

1 96
I NG S —S I X Y E A R S O L D
1 896 DR AW

A h a rp B s ta t o n a r y d r i ll n g an d s t o n e c r a c k i ng e n g i n e s an d a h o r s e w ith a s t e a m e n g i n e
i i

i n s i d e W t h a h and l e a t o m k e h i s l e g s wo r k C b r d s o n a t e l e g r a ph w i re D s i d e an d t o p
-

, , , , ,

i a i

o f a w a r b o a t ; E M F an c ry i n g ; F h e at er ; G Th i s i t h e w a y a fl y i n g s h p l ooks
, , , ,
” “ ” “
rs s i

m a m m a ; H a l i tt l e b y o n h s s l e d — h i s l os t an d so fa r a w ay fr o m h s ho u s e t h a t yo u
, , , ,
” “
o i e i c an
h a r d l y s ee t ; I s h e l l th w _ h ere s t h e e p l os o n —b h ere s t h e e n d o f t h e s h e l l ;
,
” “ ’ ” “ ’ ”
i -
ro er a, x i

J el ec t r c fi eng ne t h e w h ee l s a r e t u r n i n g so fa s t t h a t y c a n t s ee t h em ; K c a b l e c a r
, ,
’ ”
i re -

i ou
b r dg e
, ,
on i .
A S TUDY O F A C H ILD
B a d tem p er 2 ‘
H a l f d ea d .

C a re l e ssn e ss Ne a rl y d ea d .

S e l fish n e ss H al f d ea d .

L a z i n e ss 2 De a d

. .

D i so be d i e n c e De a d .

L i es Dea d .

U nt i d i n e ss 2 H al f d ea d

.

E x agger a t i o n 2 ‘
Pre tty n e a r l y d ead .

F ear H al f d e a d .

L ov e o f p r a i s e l l ef t t o k i ll

.

B o ast f u l n e ss De a d .

C o n c ea l me nt ( w h i ch h e c a ll e d
S nea kfu l n e ss) fin, t o k i ll n earl y d ea d .

B i tt er w o r d s r ob s t o k i ll .

Hat e Q u i te d ea d .

A n ger 2 ‘

T , t o k i ll
1
.

C r u e l ty De a d .

I ca n t t o k i ll

.

De lay n o t 1 ‘
Pre tty n e a r l y d e a d ; h a l f
t o be k i ll e d .

B a sh f u l n e ss N e a rl y d ea d .

Prou d fu l ness (h is o w n t erm) De a d .

H e said from memory t h at th e fa i ries to help you


, ,

kill th e giants w ere l o ve fulness courage self control , ,


-

obedience honesty patience good temper kindness


, , ,
-

, ,

diligence courtesy gratitude and perseverance w hich


, , , ,

he said meant T ry try again

,
.

N ovember 28th — H arold s prayer A fter saying th e .



.

L ord s Pra y er h e ad d ed as usual h l S voluntary prayer



, .
,


th i s time saying G od bless me all the animals in , , ,

sects b i rds and everyth i ng


, ,
B less me and m ake m e .
,

a good boy G ood n i ght A li men
. T hen he g ot up -
.
-
. ,

and as I began brush i ng h i s h a i r h e suddenly dropped


on his knees and sa i d D ear G od : I m going to bed

, ,

no w. Excuse me a minute until I see w hat time it is .

T hen he turne d his head looke d at a clock in the ,

1 98
SE VE NTH YE AR

hall put do w n his head again and sai d I t s j ust t en
, , ,

minutes past e i ght and I think I d better go to sleep ,



now . So good night dear G od A lt men A s he
-

,
.
-
.

started for his bed I said Wa i t let me brush your



, ,
” “
ha i r H e replied B ut I told G od I w ould go to sleep ,

r i ght a w ay ”
So I said Well run along then and h e

.

, , ,

w as asleep before I could w rite this do w n I t is curious .

to note that he has said a il men ever s i nce he heard it -

the first ti m e w hen visiting a kindergarten although h e ,

ori g i nal ly heard it prono unced amen I t must be from .


cho i ce for h e still says forg i ve us our trespasses as w e
,

forgive those w h o trespass against us although h e h eard ,


during the same visit forgive us our debts as w e forgive ,

our debtors and told me of it asking me w hich I liked best
, ,
.

I just discovered that h e has for some time thought


“ ”
the w ords Jesus Sa v iour Son of G od in a little prayer , , ,

“ ”
h e says meant Jesus save your Son of G od
,
H e said ,
.
,

Oh i t w a s the S on of G od s Jesus Saviour
,
First h e

,
.

asked w hat i t meant and that w a s h o w I disco v ere d ,

h is error .

N ovember 29 th — When going up th e Sixth A venue .

Elevated one day recently h e sa w the girders and w a s ,

very much excited as he w as once before w hen I told , ,

h im w hat they w ere H e told me that h e used to think .

they w ere derr i cks I asked him h o w he found out his .

mistake H e sa i d I think you told me girders w ere to


.
,

hold up th i ngs I kno w it by this time I don t kno w


. .


h o w I found i t out T hen he said See h o w the train .
,

curves slo w ly .

A B ED T I M E TAL K


D oesnt w o l d spell w orld ? (

- - -
H e w as thinking of

the sentence G od so loved the

, w orld w hich h e h ad
1 99
A S TUDY O F A C H ILD

learned that d ay from a calendar in his u sual question ,

i ng fashion of saying Mamma w hat does that read , ,


“ ” ’
I said I sn t there a sound of r in w orld ?
,

H “
Oh yes ; w o r l d w orld ; doesn t w o r d spell
.
- - - -

,

- - -

w ord ?
I said “
Y es and w o l d spells w old — a w ord not
, ,
- -
-

u sed very often a n d I am not quite certain of its exact ,



meaning .

C an t you tell m e w h at you thin k it means ?


“ ’
H .


Y es but I w i ll look it up and tell y o u t o morro w
,

nig h t See h o w easy it is to learn a w ord every day


.
,

and soon you w i l l kno w enoug h w ords to read “


H . I can read n o w a little I can tell you three .

w ay s to spell too — t w o t o o and t o


” - -

,

I said “
Ca n you tell me w hat they mean ?
,

H .

I don t kno w — oh yes t w o means one t w o ’
,
- -

three I don t kno w th e others


.

.

T hen I said “
Well if you go to bed w ill mamma go , , ,

too

H . Oh too m eans that ?

,


I said , Y es ”
H arold sai d then , No w w hat is t o ?

.


I sa i d , T o bed ?

H . Oh , i s th at it ? I can tell you someth i ng w ith

out the book .

T hen h e repeated A B C w ent out to tea D E F



, , , , , ,

didn t feel very w el l etc to the end of the nursery

,
.
,

rhyme T hen h e sa id I can tell you somethi ng e l se :
.
,

H ere s fun — a l i ttle fat piggy w ig trying to run



-
.

Does n t t i c spell something like tick ?



- -
” “
I said Y es , ,
” “
and t i O k spell s it also
' -
T hen he said I s t i c tic of
r .
,
- -


tic a toc ? I sa i d Y es ; and w hat sou nd makes t oo ?
-
-

,

What sound is i n G od and d og ? (w ords he kne w ) He



.

“ ”
said w ait ( w hisperi ng d o g t o c ) ; then he said - -

,
- -

200
SE VE NTH YE AR

(

no w as if he had it) and began to spell in great , ,

delight t i c tic a to o toc three tim es o v er T hen
,
- -

, , , .

I sa i d No w dear go to sleep for I must w rite to fin i sh


, , , ,

th i s book for the publisher ”


H e said Wh y ? at o nce
“ ”
.
, .

“ ”
I repl i ed I t must be fin i shed th i s w eek
,
H e sa i d .
,
” “
C an t he w rite it himself ?

I sa i d N o H e didn t ,
.


kno w h ow so that w as w h y I h ad to d o it
,

C an t .

” “
you tell him h ow ? I sai d T hat is w hat I am doing ,

by w riti n g i t .

H “
. What is it about ?
I replied A bout h o w to fix m i lk for babies — th i nk

,

ing to g i ve him a familiar subject for I w as w rit i ng ,

about Pasteurizat i on .

H (e xpectantly)
.

Mr ( ment i on i n g the pub
. .


l ish er) i s going to send one to every mamm a w h o has
a ster i lizer .


I sa i d “
Y es ; but h o w d i d you kno w it ?
,

H “
. Wh y I kno w they sell steril i zers and I kno w
, ,

b ab i es milk must be ster i lized and I k no w w hat you



,

a re w riting tells h o w to fix milk for bab i es and it i s for ,

Mr . so I th i nk i t m u st be the d irec ti on s ”
( T h e .

last w ord he said in tones of triumph ) .

I said Y ou have a busy l i ttle head


,
.

H . Yes and I told you this morn i ng the plate w as a


,


(

picture of a baby s stomach H e sa w a cut of one i n a .

medical book ) .


I said Y es ; go to sleep now dear
, ,
.


C ould n t the p i p es ( h al ays calls ntest nes

H “
. e w i i

pipes) go straight instead of being all arou nd ?

,

I said N o ; they are too long
,
.


H e then asked H o w could I measure yours ? ,
“ ’
I said Y ou could n t unle ss I w ere dead and you
,

w ould do like they do in hospitals w here they teach ,

201
A STUDY OF A CHILD

doctors h o w to help live people b y learn i ng the parts of ,

the body from dead bodies that mig h t as w ell be used ,



as go to dust ( I gave the suggestive
. ans w er for the
purpose of familiarizing h im w ith the idea of the impor
tance of th e soul and th e indifference to be felt for th e
l i feless body to w hich he has been carefully trai n ed
, ,

and also for the purpose of doing a w ay w i th any idea


of cruelty he might gai n in t h e f uture from indiscreet
remarks about h ospital w ork that might inadvertently -

reach him Many unnecessary things m u st be told to


.

a child to prepare him for w hat he w ill inevitably meet ,

or he w ill be unfi tte d for the w orld as h e w ill invari


ab l y find i t ) .

H . D o our bodies go to dust ? ”


I said Y es after the think
, ( his,
i d ea of soul‘
) has
gone to G od D on t you think they might as w ell ?
.


H . Y es ; and do crabs go to dust too w hen they
are dead ? ”
( Probably thinking of th eir hard shells ,

w it h w h ich h e often plays ) .


I repl i ed inad v ertently Y es dust gas etc “
.
, , , ,

H . IVh a t is ga s


Something that you can smell ( A poor ans w er .
,


but the best I could th i nk of at the time ) Everything .

goes i nto something else G od made the w orld so w he n .


h e made A dam and Eve out of dust .

H .Who s tha t ’

I repl i ed , A dam the first m a n and Eve the first


w oman G od made
. them out of d ust — you kno w he can
do anything if he sees fi t— and put life into them G od .


made the w orld and tried to keep it good .


H H o w can th e dust go i nto someth i ng else ?
.

I replied B y being the earth to help w heat gro w to


, ,

be made i nto flour to make bread etc ,
.

202
A STUDY O F A CHILD

goodness sent Jesus but h e often said af ter w ards w hen


, ,

revert i n g to the story that w hen ever h e thought of


,

Jesus i t made h im so sad

.

When I asked h im w hat he w a s doing to kitty , h e


said B ang i ng kitty
,
“ ”
T hen I said Poor kitty $ H e

.

,

replied Well w asn t Jesus ban ged by the w icked peo



, ,

ple T hen he suddenly changed and said Poor kitty l


“ ”
,

petted and kissed h er and took her to bed w ith him


, .

O ne day h e said Won t you tell me that story that


,

you told me last year about some one I don t kno w , ,



w hether it begins w ith a J or a G ( meaning Jesus )
-

,
“ ”
but h e is w ay up in heaven you kno w ? H e has al ,

w ays sho w n a great desire for any story a b out G od or


Je su s .

Professor B arnes of L eland Stanford U niversity di


rec t e d attention some time last year to the value of

records of different children s replies to the same set ’

of questions in regard to w hat certain w ords meant I


,
.

selected three boys of very di fferent temperament and


environment — playmates of H arold s — and asked each ’

one also H arold the meaning of the same set of w ords


, , ,


as follo w s I did it in such a w ay that none of the m
kne w w hat w as being done I t took me several d ays .

to divide and ask the questions in order not to aro use ,

consciousness

E —s L I S T ’

A boy w ith a kind step mother -


. w as a

over H arold s age
A m c h a ir Wood
r —-

H a t— Some are cloth .

G a rd en— V egetables .

Ma rt in a A person
— .

204
1 896 C U TT I NG S— S I X Y E A R S O LD
A a d oll an d d re ss ; B fa i r y g o d m o th e r i C i nd ere ll a t oy th e a t re 0 c a l e n da r m ad e t o s l i d e
n
and
,

d o w n t o s h o w dat e s D k nd er ga r t e n w e a v i ng —m a t e r a l s m ad e a n d c olo r e d b y th e c h l d
,
, ,

u i
p i i

E d e s i gn b y fo l d n g a n d c u t t i ng
,

,
i .
A S T U D Y or A C HILD

P ota toes— T o eat .

B ottle — T o put medicine , w ater, or anything in .

F o
l w er— It looks pretty .

S n a il I don t kno w — oh yes I kno w n o w — oh no I


— ’
, ,

don t ; oh don t I forget quick $ Oh I got it aga i n — to



,

,

cra w l u p things I got tha t


. .

Mou th T o eat w ith


— .

l a mp — T o light .


E a r th w orm T o cra w l .


S h oes T o w ear My $ these are easy lessons
. .


F in ger T o touch things w ith .


C l ock T o tell time .


H ou se S o people can live in i t .

l Volf— T o bite people .

O m n i u —
b s T o get a ride in .

P — m
i e c e
f g
o S u ar T o ake milk a n d everything s w eet .

T h r e a d — T o se w .

Ho s r e — T o take out riding w ith .


T a ble T o stand thi ngs on .

r —
B i d T o fly .


D og T o bark .


Ca rri age For people to get i n .


Pen c i l T o w rite w ith .


Ba lloon T o take people up in the air w ith .


Vi l la ge S o people can live in it .


L a m b T o give you nice w ool to w ear .


H a n d kerchief T o w ipe your nose on .

w

s LI S T
A year younger than H arol d — H is m othe r is d ea d
m h —
A r c a ir T o sit in .

H a t— T o put on .

a r —
G d en T o make things gr ow .

206
SEVE NTH YE AR

Ma nam a I d on t kn ow
— ’
.


Pota toes T o eat .


B ottle Put things in .


Flow er T o smell .


S n a il T o look at .

Mou th— T o eat out of .

L a mp — T o w alk along w ith .


E a rthw or m T o look at
S hoes—T o put on
.


F in ger T o get a hol d of things .


Clock T o hear of .


H ou se T o live in .

Wolf I don t kno w w hat that is I ve heard of story


— ’
.

ones but I ve forgot


,

.

O m n ib u s— T o get a ride in .

P i S —
ec e
of g u a r T o put in things .


Threa d T o se w w ith .

H orse— T o pull you w ith .

Ta ble— T o eat off of Didn t I tell yo u that o n ce ?


.

( Yes.
) T hen w h y d id you ask again ?
r —
Bi d T ell it w a s nice — to bite y o u ( H e h ad an id e a .

that a b i rd once tried to bite him ) .


D og T o look at .

a —
C rria ge T o sit in I tol d you once
. .


Pen c il T o w rite .


Ba lloon T o look at .


Vi lla ge T o look at .


B oa T o put things i n .

H a n dkerch ief— T o w ipe yo u r nose on .


HA RO L D S LIST
A rm cha ir— So m ething to sit in , chair w ith place to

207
A S TUDY O F A C HI LD

H at— T o put on your hea d .

G a r d e n — T o plant th i ngs in .

JI a mm a — Somebody to take care of you .

P ota toes Something to eat


— .

B ottle— Something to put things in .


F low er Something to look pretty smell nice and to , ,

p i ck
.

n i —
S a l T o dig up the garden .

Zlfou th — T o eat w i th talk w ith open w ith to get


, ,

things in to eat .

La p m — Something to make light .

E a rthw or m — T o dig u p the earth to make holes to , ,


“ ”
make fl o w ers gro w I asked H o w ? H e said K eeps
.

,

the earth soft for them by going thro ugh it .


S hoes T o w ear Why ? T o keep your feet from
.

treadi ng on tacks and ever y thing .

— —
F in ger Something to point w ith depends on w hich
finger it is — to help pick up th i ngs .


C l oc k T o tell you w hat time i t is .

H ou se T o live in Wh y ? So you can li ve C ouldn t


— ’
. .

you l i ve in air ? Y ou have houses to keep yo u fro m



all an i mals and things to live i n sleep in eat in .
, ,

Wolf— Something tries to eat you get after you ; kills ,

goa ts kills people


,
.

n u —
O m ib s Something to carry you in .

Piece of S g u a r — Someth ing to eat to put in your ,

co ffee Wh y ? T o make it taste s w eet


. .


Th rea d T o se w w ith ; to m ake cloth w ith .

H orse — T o pull carriages and to ride in — to pull old


w agons .


Ta ble Something to ea t from to lay things on .
,


B ird Something th at lays eggs and sings .


D og S om ething that chases cats b arks chases p eo , ,

208
SE VE NTH YE AR

ple a w ay from houses plays w ith you shakes h an d s and


, , ,


w hatever you train him to do does lots of things .

C ia e— Something to take rides ln


a rr
g .

P e n ci l — T o w rite .

Ba lloon — T o sail u p i n the air .

i l —
V l age A little place to li v e in , a little kin d of a
street up in the mountains .


B oa Something to put thi ngs in .

H a n dkerc hi ef Something to w ipe your nose w ith


and to do lots of things What ? T o keep in you r
.

pocket a nd I don t kno w all of them


,

.


T he H aunted C astle is a fairy story that h e told
me so that little children could as he said understand it
, , , .

H e w as six years ol d at the time H e selected the title .


,

printed it began to w rite then said to me You w rite


, , ,

the rest H e sat before me and told the story as fast
.

as I could w rite it I t w as just before his bedtime


.
,

w hen his brain seems al w ays to be unusually active


a n inhe r ite d characteristic that can be readily trace d .

H is idea in trying to tell fairy stories is al w ays to tell


the stories h e has heard in more simple language for his
“ ”
playmates remembering h ow I must read them d ow n
,

to him H e w ould beg me to say the m eaning quick


.


ly a s I read along so as not to inter rupt his enjoy
,

ment of listening to an unbroken story .

TH E H AU N T E D C A S T L E
PA R T I
Once the r e w as a king w h o h ad b ut one d au ghter ,

and there w as a ca stle w hich ghosts li v e d in , and th e


o 209
A ST UDY O F A C H I L D

king o ffered his only daughter in marriage to w hoever


w ould stay in the castle three n ights ; and there w as a
house i n the forest and there w a s a youth there that
,

w ished very much to learn w hat it w a s to be afraid .

One day he w a s w alking alon g th e street saying Oh“


, , ,

h ow I w ish I kne w w hat it w a s to be afraid $ A nd a
w agoner came by and he heard the bo y say i ng to him
,

self H o w I w ish I kne w w hat it w a s to be afra i d I
,

So the w agoner ( I suppose they might not kno w w hat a


w agoner is but they w ill ask their mamma and she w ill
, ,

tell the m it is a man w h o dri v es a w agon —isn t that ’

w hat it is ?) said to him Do you w ish to learn to be


,
” “
afraid ? A nd h e said I f you w ant to learn to be
,

afraid come w ith m e
,
So he took him a nd led him to a
.


gallo w s and said Stay here till mi d night and you ll soon
, , ,

lear n to be afraid T he rope maker h as married seven


.
-

men ; sit under this tree till midnight and w atch under ,

it You w ill soon learn to be afraid
. So the boy sa i d .
,


You come to me early to morro w morning and said -

, ,

You w ill get a fine c ow that gi v es golden milk a nd



gol d en butter and then the w agoner left the boy A n d
,
.

then he sat do w n under the tree and w aited till midnight ,

and he saw just at midnight six black dogs come runni ng


aroun d the tree barking and then each dog settled around
,

him and could speak our talk So then they had a goo d .

talk w ith him and then there came after w ards t w o ugly
,

black men w ith dirty eyes and crooked toes as crooked



as a spring and their ears w ent like cat s ears and they
, ,

had tails w ith points on them and the seven black dogs ,

j umped up at t h em one pulled out its tail on e pulled o u t ,

its eyes and one (h ow many black dogs did I say ?)


,

pulled out his teeth and one his tong u e and the othe r
, ,

to ok care of th e boy I n the m orning th e man came to


.

210
A S TU D Y OF A C H ILD

harm but come every eveni ng at ten o clock w h i le you


,


are h ere and keep everyth i ng a w ay
, A n d then h e rode .

around th e room s i x times on his black cat and th en


van ished B ut the little yello w d w arf w as telling
.

sto ries H e w asn t coming every n i ght So then he


.

.

fell a sleep on the floor and the n the ki ng came and , ,

then he w ent a w ay and came back to his old fire once


more and then seven little men came tumbling do w n
,

the ch i mney w it h leg bones in their hands and skulls


-

for balls T hey stood the leg bones up for tenp i ns and
.
-

began to play tenpins A nd then the boy said Ca n I


.
,

play w ith you and h e said Y es if you ve got any , ,

” “
money A n d h e said
. I ve got money enou gh but
,

,

your balls are not round enough So he took the skulls .

and put them i n his turning lathe unt i l they w ere quite -

round and Now he said they w ill roll better



,
” “
,

,
.

T hen he began to play w ith th e f unny little men ; so


then th e cock cre w and they all van i shed from his eyes .


T hen the k i ng came for t h e last time and sa i d I hope ,

you have learned w hat it is to be afraid n o w and h e ,


“ ”
said I haven t learned such a thing
,

T hen the king .


said Everybody that has come here has been killed by
,

the ghosts and you have lived and you shall have my
, ,

daughter in marriage So h e w a s not quite happy
.
,

because he did not kno w w hat it w a s to be afraid So .

h e r chambermaid said “
I w ill help you out in this m at
,

t er if you gi v e me a cup So sh e w ent to th e brook
.

and filled the cup w ith w ater w ith little minno w s in it


( first h e said gu d geon ) and then sh e brought
,
the cup up

to the house and gave i t to th e king s daughter and said ,

T o night w hen he is i n b e d you must thro w this over


-


him . So that n ight w hen the youth w as sleepi ng she
t hre w th e w ater o v e r him and th e little gudgeon w ig ,

21 2
1 896 C U TT I NG S A ND DR
I NG S AW

A c u t w o r k — c ir c u s a m ph t h e t re an d b
i a ffi ox o -
B —b b b p u ssy s so l d i er s e t
ce

C l i gh t h o s e u
D e i g h t d ffere n t k nd s f l t W t h p r i c e s fo r p l y i n g s t o re E me n ta l p i c tu re s o f k n d er g a r t e n
.
, , , ,

i i o ia s i a i
m o d e l s F f l a r g e an d s m a ll u m b re l l a h a l f cl os e d G t o ad s t oo l H h o u s e W t h s c ree d oo r s
, , ,

-
i n
I c a l e nda r J c o m p a ss K — k k k p a r t s o f fi g u re 2 fo r k i n e tos c o p e
, . .
, ,

, , , , ,
A S TUDY O F A C H ILD

it o v er to th e sailor and the sailor w o u ld unfasten th e


,

monkey from the organ a nd then the monkey w ould


,

jump u p on the sailor s sho ulder and he w ould go out
,

of the d ining room of the ship One d ay w hen the


-

sailor had finished playing on his organ they h eard a


— ”
loud noise bang $ ( he told me to use an exclamation


mark) right under the ship and w hat do you suppose
,


happened the ship shook like everythi ng So the sa i l.


or and his monkey heard another noise b ang $ so they
heard that same noise bang $ again three more times
, ,


and at th e last time the ship w ent crang l right over on
its side So the sailor got a tub put his monkey i n it
.
, ,

and got in himself— a w as h tub So he took t w o brooms


-
.

and stuck them throug h the holes i n the handles on the


w ash tub and began using the brooms like c a rs and the
-

monkey and the sailor w ent spin n i ng th rough the w ater ;


but at last the tub tipped over and they w ent p loom
right d o w n to the bottom of th e sea , and sai d, Oh “


dear me $
CHAPT ER V III

E I G H T H YE A R — E FFORTS AT AR I T H ME T I C A S TO RY
A L L U P S I DE DO W N AN D A WON DE RF U L DRE AM “ ”

T O L D B Y T H E C H I L D—M E M O R Y WOR K—CON C E P T IO N -

O F F RA CT I ON S — E I G H T H YE AR DE V E L O P ME N T I N
-

D RAWI N G AN D DE S I G N I N G

A PR I L 23 1 8 9 7 — H e said to his m other to d ay


,
-

Mamma I am like a little tree gro w ing : bad boys


,

pull me over crooked and you straighten me I f moth,


.


ers didn t do this the boys could n t gro w straight w he n


they get older but w ould be crooked ,
H e asked me .

repeated ly last night w hat I


w ante d so he m ight pray
,

for i t for m e When I told


'

4 s ? 3

.

h i m I intende d going to sleep



w hen he did h e said Oh , , ,
’ ”
w on t that be lo v ely $
A pril 24 th T o d ay h e .

w anted to kno w w hat adding


meant I w rote some num
.

bers (as sho w n i n the a c c om


panying illustrations a and b) ,

and explained to him h ow to A L E SO N N DD I T I ON S I A .

carry 1 by placing a figure 1 over th e nex t column to


,

the left w hen h e had counted beyond 1 0 and put do w n ,

the remaining n umber underneath the colum n he had


j ust a dd ed H e neede d but one telling and the fig u res
.
,

215
A S T UDY or A CHILD

underneath w ith the 1 s are his o wn T he illustratio n



.

marked b is his o w n altoget her .

Ju l y 21 st T he illustration 0 is one of his effo rts to


.
-

u nde rstand the p rinciple u n d erlying addition sub trac ,

I:
7 0
3

tion m ult i plication and d ivision after I h ad explaine d


, , ,

to him w ith the aid of the follo w ing fig u res :


234 4 68
234 234

4 68 a dd i t i o n . 234 s u b t ra c t i o n .

234
2

2) 468 m u l t i p l i c ati on .

234 d i v i si o n .

H e experimented then for himself for a long time,


using his ow n numbers ,
a nd u sing them correctly as ,

indicated

A L E S SON A ND I TS R E S U LT : E A R LY A TT E M PTS A T
S UB TR A CT I O N D I V I S I O N A ND MU LT IP L IC A TI O N
, ,
.

21 6
1 89 7 DR A VV I NG S — SE VE N YE A R S O LD
A F o r a th e a t re No t e s p e ll ng o f d re c t i o n s Th c h l d l e a r n e d ll h s s p e ll i n g fr o m o b s er v a
i

i e i a i

t i o n o r so u n d H w a s n e v e r t ol d w h e n h e s p e ll e d a wo r d w r o n g b u t f h e a sk e d h ow t o s p e ll a
.

e i
wo r d h e w a s t ol d co rre c t l y
, .
,
A S TU D Y or A CHILD

back to them and said Whoever gets that spea r first ,



shall have the ring So off w ent the little men at full
.

tilt and he picked up the ring w hile they w ere runni n g


, ,

and then called to the m and said N o w neither of you



,

have got the ring ; I have got it myself So he w ished .

himse l f up at the top of the mountain h e had come to ,

because he could not climb up it ; and w hen he w as u p


at the top of the mountain h e saw a man that had don


key s ears and a cat s tail and crooked toes as crooked , ,

as sprigs ; and so the funny man said to the sold i er w i th



the w ishing ring N ow I w ill kill you
-

, So they are .

fighting yet I suppose ,


.

T he follo w ing w as tol d by H arold w itho ut a pause ,


September 1 7, 1 8 9 7, w hen se v en and a half years old :

A WO N DE RF U L D RE A M

Once upon a time there w as a little girl and a little


boy w h o lived all alone in a tree and some b od v foun d ,

them and took them home to his house and gave them
a little room and they got in b ed and w ent to sleep and
, ,

at night time the m an came in and l ooked at them a nd


-

said Th e se children look as if they w ere going to sleep


,

nicely A n d they w ent asleep so c osey ly and slept so
.

snug and w arm that he didn t disturb them A nd one ’


.

night the children heard him saying in the other room ,



I f you are not out of this house by to morro w morn -


ing you w ill ha v e to go a w ay and li v e out in the w oods .

A n d they didn t hear him at first and so they got up



,

and got dressed a n d w ent d o w n stairs and took their -

fishing hook and line and w ent out to fish T hey foun d
,
.

218
1 89 7 DR A WI NG S
A Wa s h i n g t o n
c a r o n F o u r t ee n t h S t ree t ; B d s a p p e a r i n g c an n o n ; C c u r v e 1 t ra c k ; D
,

or i i i
i
d e s i g n s o f t ra c k f h s e n g n e E Ja l F pl an f fi r s t fl oo r f h o u s e
,

or
, (
,
d, or gi n l
i a
, , o a .
1 897 A ND 1 8 98 DR AW I NG S
A t e n t s an d w a r b o a t s B A m e r i c an fl g ; C S p a n g e tt n g l i c k e d th e c h l d s a i d —
a i i

i a,

U S
s h e l l s l t b S p a n s h e ll s h a v e n o fo r c e an d fa l l t o c ; D mem o ry w o r k E c o n c e p t f
, , , ,

” “ ” o
ii i

fr a c t i o n w o r k F w r t n g fr o m mem o r y G D s a pp e a r ng c an n o n H h g i an t nd t h e b e an s ta l k
, ,
,
i i i i , ,
a .

, ,
A S TU D Y O F A C H I L D

and w ent sai l ing up and do w n , and at night a great big


castle gre w up out of a hole and the naphtha launch and
,
-

everything burned up and the l ittle g i rl got a w ake and


,

found herself in b e d and it w a s only a d ream


,
.

T h e record above sho w s clearly h ow the child s spon ’

t ane ou sly developed self activity is enlarging the boun


-

d ari c s of his kno w ledge and the more he acquires the ,

greater is his desire for study H e is keen to observe


.
,

qu i ck to comprehend and h as an excellent memory


, ,

w hich w i th his i n d i cated selfcon trol w ill m ake a l l fut


,
-

u re w ork easy . H e sho w s no s i gn of physical strain ;


he is on l y a romping hearty obedient boy and full of
, , ,

fun w h en not repressed by unsympathetic surround


,

ings ; and instead of thinking of lessons as a task h e is ,

al w ays more eager to learn than his parents are w illi n g


t o have h im taugh t . H is mind is thus rapidly expand
ing w ithout en d ange r ing his ph y sical equ ilibrium .

TH E E ND
A N E X TR A O R DI NA R Y TE S T

M I SS A I K E N S m ethods for cultivati n g pow ers of


qu i ck perception attention and memory are summed, ,

u p by D r G S T A N L E Y H A L L President of Clark Un i
. .
,

v ersity as follo w s
,


Wi shing to test the exact extent to w hich attention
and memory could be cultivated in children , and also
i n older students I w rote a simple story containing ,

one hundred items and w hich could be read aloud i n ,

three m inutes T his story I caused to be read by a


.

stranger to the scholars in hundreds of schools — gram


mar and hig h schools college preparatory schools col ,
-


leges and universities in this country and in England
,
.

T he results ha v e been tested by psychological experts ,

and Miss A iken s school sta n d s six p er cen t better th a n



.


the best .

Th e i m p l e m e th o d s e m p l oye d b y Mi ss A i ke n a r e fully d e
s

s c r i b e d in t h e fo ll o wi n g r e c e n t p u b l i c a t i o n w h i c h h as al r ea dy,

e xc i t e d m u c h i n t e r e st in th e e d u c a t i o n a l w o rl d :

ME TH ODS OF MI ND T RA I N I NG C O NCE NTRAT E D ,

ATTE N TI O N A ND ME MO RY B y C AT H AR I NE A I K E N . .

pp . 110 . T e n Illu str a t io n s . 8 v o , Cl o t h , $1 00 .

H AR PE R B R O THE R S P UB L I S H E R S
,

NE W Y OR K AN D L ONDO N
B O O K S FOR TE A CH E R S

G E N T L E ME A S UR E S I N TH E M ANAG EME N T
A ND T R A I N I NG O F TH E Y O UNG ; or the Prin ,

c ip l e s on w hich a Fi rm Parental A uthority may be

Established and Maintained w i thout V iolence or A n


ger and the Righ t Development of the Moral and
,

Mental C apacitie s b e Promoted by Methods in H ar


mony w ith the Structure and the C haracteristics of
the Juvenile Mind B y J A C O B A BB O TT pp 3 30 II
. . . .

lustrate d 1 2mo Cloth $ 1 25


.
, ,
.

TH E TE AC HE R Moral I nfluences Employed in the


.

I nstructio n a n d G overnment of th e Y oung By .

J A C O B A BB O TT pp 3 54 I ll u strated 1 2mo, C loth ,


. . . .

$ 1 00 .

AN E X PE R IME N T I N E DUCA TI O N ; also th e ,

I deas w h i ch I nspired I t and w ere I nspired by I t .

B y M A R Y R A L L I Ne A B B R
. pp x 24 5 Post 8 vo
-
. . .
,
.
,

C loth $ 1 25 ; by mail $ 1 3 7
, ,
.

O u gh t t o be i n e v ery t ea c h e r s l i brar y a nd w i ll be v e ry soo n i n


t h e l i brar i e s o f m u l ti tud e s o f th e be st t e ach ers —B oston A d vertiser


,

. .

I am st r u c k w i t h t h e d i re c t s t ra i g h t f o r w ar d a nd f und a me nt a l
hol d w h i ch y o u h a v e u p o n e du c a t i o n a l p r i n c i p l e s —Pr o fe sso r JO H N
, ,

D E WE Y Un i versi ty o f Ch i c ag o
, .

C HI LDR E N T heir Mo d els and C ritics By A UR E TT A


. .

R O Y S A LD R I C H . pp v i 1 58 1 6mo C loth 75 cents


. .
,
.
, ,
.

C h a p t er s o n t h e n ee d s a nd be st i nt ere st s o f c h i l d re n A n aid to .

co n si ste nt a nd s u cc e ssf u l c h ara c t e r b ui l d i n g -


.
B ooks f
or Tea chers

H A M S M AN UAL T R A I N I NG Manual T raining



.
.

T he Solut i on of Social and I ndustrial Problems B y .

C H A R L E S H H A M pp x ii 4 04 I llustrated 1 2mo
. . . .
,
. .
,

C loth $ 1 50 ,
.

TH E E LEME N T AR Y S T UD Y O F E NGL I S H By .

W I LL I AM J R O LE E pp 86 Post 8 vo, C loth , 3 6


. . . .

cents ; by mail ,
42 cents .

T h e E l eme nt ar y S tudy o f E n g l i sh i s a l i ttl e ma nu a l o f si xty


p a ge s p re p a re d b y t h e a ut ho r f o r t h e u se o f t ea ch ers I t co nt a i n s
, .

p o r t i o n s o f a p a p er e nt i t l e d T h e G r a mm a r S chool C o u rs e i n E n g l i sh

,

rea d bef o re t h e Ma ssach u se tts S t a t e T e ach ers Assoc i a t i o n h i nts fo r ’

t ea ch ers o n th e u se o f E n g l i sh C la ssi c s f o r S chool R ea d i n g



H i nts ,
” “

o n T ea ch i n g H i st o r y a nd a br i ef e ssa y o n t h e E n gl i sh la n g u age
, .

T ea ch ers o f E n g l i sh w i ll fi nd m a ny v a l u a bl e h e l p s a nd su gge st i o n s in
t hi s l i tt l e ma nu a l .

O LD G R EEK E D UCA TI O N B y the R ev J P . . . .

M A H AFFY M A Fello w and Professor T rin i ty C ol


,
. .
, ,

lege Dublin ; K n i ght of th e Order of the Saviour ;


,
“ ” “
A uthor of Social L ife i n G reec e A H istory of ,

A Primer of G reek A ntiq u ities


” ”
G reek L iterature , ,

etc pp 1 4 4 1 6mo C loth 75 cents


. . .
, ,
.

F I R S T P R I NC IP LE S O F P O P ULAR E DUCA TI O N
A ND P U B L I C I N S T R U C TI O N B y S S R A NDA L L . . .
,

late Superinten d ent of Public Schools of the C ity of


Ne w Y ork 1 2mo C loth $ 1 50.
, ,
.

Sp ecia l Prices to Tea ch ers Ca ta logu e


.
f
o E d u ca tion a l
B ooks on A pp lica tion .

H AR PE R B R O THE R S P UBL I S H E R S ,

NE W YO R K A ND L O NDO N

You might also like