Part 16 (2/2)

Probably in no instinct more than in that of fear can we find the reflections of all the past ages of life in the world with its s, and its deaths

FEAR HEREDITY--The fears of childhood ”are reh which the race has passed Says Cha told to the child, every shock, every fright given him, will remain like splinters in the flesh, to torture hi young reprobate, is incapable of forgetting theoblins, witches, and wizards, the things that bite and scratch, that nip and tear, that pinch and crunch, the thousand and one iinary monsters of the mother, the nurse, or the servant, have had their effect; and hundreds of generations have worked to denaturalize the brains of children Perhaps no aniht, has behind it the fear heredity of the child”

President Hall calls attention to the fact that night is now the safest tier our ers are not to be feared; neither are big eyes or teeth; there is no adequate reason why the wind, or thunder, or lightning should make children frantic as they do But ”the past of er in his present”; and the child, in being afraid of these things, is only su all too many of them in his short childhood

FEAR OF THE DARK--Most children are afraid in the dark Who does not reh which he had to pass, or, worse still, in which he had to go to bed alone, and there lie in cold perspiration induced by a ht! The unused doors which would not lock, and through which he expected to see the goblin coet him! The dark shadows back under the bed where he was afraid to look for the hiddenthere and yet dare not face! The lonely lane through which the coere to be driven late at night, while every fence corner bristled with shapelessin wait for boys!

And that hated dark closet where he was shut up ”until he could learn to be good!” And the useless trapdoor in the ceiling How often have we lain in the dire eyes to peer out, and, when the terror was growing beyond endurance, close down, only to lift once and again, until from sheer weariness and exhaustion we fell into a troubled sleep and dreaarret! Tell es in response to either man or monster for twenty years? I know it is true, and yet I aer impression than proof of mere facts can ever overrule

FEAR OF BEING LEFT ALONE--And the fear of being left alone How big and dreadful the house seeone! Hoe suddenlyor the cat, even, in order that this bit of life one out to the barn as and the cows, and deserted the empty house with its torture of loneliness What was there so terrible in being alone? I do not know I know only that to many children it is a torture anism is fitted to experience

But why est of us today Who of us would choose to live through those childish fears again? Dreahosts and of death, dread of fatal diseases, fears of fire and of water, of strange persons, of storined, but all the more fearful! Would you all like to relive your childhood for its pleasures if you had to take along with thes? Would the race choose to live its evolution over again? I do not know But, for my own part, I should very much hesitate to turn the hands of time backward in either case Would that the adults at life's noonday, in reht feel a sympathy for the children of today, who are not yet escaped froht seek to quiet every foolish childish fear, instead of laughing at it or enhancing it!

7 OTHER UNDESIRABLE INSTINCTS

We are all provided by nature with soood purpose in our development, need to be suppressed or at least modified when they have done their work

SELFISHNESS--All children, and perhaps all adults, are selfish The little child will appropriate all the candy, and give none to his playht rather than allow brother or sister to use a favorite plaything He will demand the mother's attention and care even when told that she is tired or ill, and not able to h it needs to be changed to generosity and unselfishness, is, after all, a vital factor in our natures For it is better in the long run that each one _should_ look out for himself, rather than to be so careless of his own interests and needs as to require help from others The problereed with unselfishness and generosity that each serves as a check and a balance to the other Not elimination but equilibrium is to be our ord

PUGNACITY, OR THE FIGHTING IMPULSE--Alhter, just as every adult should possess the spirit of conquest The long history of conflict through which our race has conacity of children, especially of boys, is not so ht lines and rendered subject to right ideals The boy who picks a quarrel has been done a kindness when given a drubbing that will check this tendency On the other hand, one who risks battle in defense of a weaker co Children need very early to be taught the baseness of fighting for the sake of conflict, and the glory of going down to defeat fighting in a righteous cause The world could well standadults!

Let us then hear the conclusion of the whole ement It is better to let the punishment to their expression They are echoes from a distant past, and not serviceable in this better present _The desirable instincts we are to seize upon and utilize as starting points for the developher emotional life We should take then that the organism is ready for and needs the activity they foreshadow; and, furthermore, if they are not used when they present themselves, they disappear, never to return_

8 PROBLEMS IN OBSERVATION AND INTROSPECTION

1 What instincts have you noticed developing in children? What ones have you observed to fade away? Can you fix the age in both cases? Apply these questions to your own developet it by tradition from your elders

2 What use of i (1) literature, (2) coood ht_ to play? Make a list of the games you think all children should know and be able to play It has been said that it is as important for a people to be able to use their leisure time wisely as to use their work time profitably Why should this be true?

4 Observe the instruction of children to discover the extent to which use is _ instinct

The _dramatic_ instinct Describe a plan by which each of these instincts can be successfully used in some branch of study

5 What examples can you recount from your own experience of conscious imitation? of unconscious imitation? of the influence of environ question to the esthetic quality of our school buildings?

6 Have you ever observed that children under a dozen years of age usually cannot be depended upon for ”teaames? How do you explain this fact?

CHAPTER XIV

FEELING AND ITS FUNCTIONS