The record-union., 1898-10-17
CHILDREN AND THEIR WAYS.
illustrations of Their Curious
Methods of Reasoning.

illustrations of Their Curious
Methods Of Reasoning.
A continuation of the lecture of last
saturday on The Beginnings Of Life in
the Individual was given this morning
py Professor Josiah Royce as the fourth
or his series of Twentieth Century Club
lectures on ''The Social Factors in the
development of the Individual Mind. .
1t dealt with child life, and proved one
OF the most entertaining lectures of the
series so far, illustrated as it was by
interesting anecdotes of children TO
show the manifestation and develop
ment of limitation, self-consciousness
and social consciousness at various
periods of childhood. For this purpose
Tree use was made of the work OF Pro-
lessor Russell, the principal of the Girls,
Normal School of Worcester, entitled
Observations of Children"
Professor Royce said in beginning,
that the sight Of words calls up new
activities in children. The significance
of initiating deeds is that the child is
learning his own and other persons
activities. This is comparatively SIM
pie imitation. Professor Russell tells
of the. case of boy two years old who
was playing alone with his blocks. He
tried to build a monument, but 1t
would keep falling down. At last he
was partially successful and called his
mother to see what he had done. She
did not come at once, and his monu-
ment fell down. Then she heard him
say, THE way Of the transgressor is
hard" In this case" said Professor
Royce, "the formula that he had heard
was repeated by the child without re-
gard to the fact This is case
where imitation is accompanied by con-
sciousness.'
Another case quoted was that of a
child three years old, who, hearing an
older boy reading his lesson in a SOL
enn tone of voice, said, Amen" A
lady relates this incident: A child three
years old was in the habit of visiting
her. One day she prevailed on the child
to stay longer than it wished to. Fin
ally it offered this excuse for wishing
to be taken home: II must go home,
for my mamma is pining for me- At
another time the child said, when wish
ing the lady to take her home, Your
mamma is pining for you" A child
with love for sweet medicine, which
her mother was taking for a cough,
would begin to cough herself whenever
she saw her mother taking the medi-
cine
This whole series of devices, said Pro-
fessor Royce, comes from imitation for
the purpose of accomplishing ingenious
ends. It is the alter" acting on the
EGO" A child four years old who loves
to play on the piano was denied the
privilege by her aunt. She went out of
the room and in shutting the door pur-
posely, as it was believed. injured her
finger. She complained at first bitterly
of the injury, and then, as she felt bet
ter, asked her cousin, DO you suppose
your mamma would let me play on the
piano now, because hurt myself?' An
other case was that of a child four and
"a half years old, who was fond of hav-
ing people pay great deal of attention
TO her. She attempted to enter into con-
Versation with her uncle when he was
busy. He paid no attention to her but
she kept on asking questions Then
she said: You do not love me; no.
body loves me; I am going to die" She
threw herself on the floor and said Il
will die" He said to her, why don't
you die?" and paid no more attention
to her. Then she got up all right
Professor Royce said that If the child
finds the situation puzzling he will try
to find out what the act he is initiating
means. A child who, when asked,
How much do you love me?" would
always reply, More than tongue can
tell," evidently did not know the mean
ing of the words, for one day she asked
her mother, What does 'tuncan'
mean?" A child three years old called
for butter at the table and the butter
was placed before her on an individual
plate. She said, Now I am a wom-
an" This, said Professor Royce, was
associating the act with dignity A
child had found a dead hen. He built
up a pile of sticks, laid the hen on top
of it and set fire to the pile His moth
er asked him, What are you doing?'
He replied, Il am offering a sacrifice for
the sins of all the neighbors.' This
was an act of self-consciousness and
also exhibited a thoughtfulness for the
welfare of the neighbors said Professor
Royce. In such a case it is extremely
difficult TO find out whether the child
is really trying to initiate, or whether
the act has no meaning Two children,
one 6 years old and the other 8, had
shown great interest in the reading of
Psalm xiii. by their grandmother.
Soon after they were found together in
the bathtub, with the water turned on.
While one Of the children was being
dressed he was asked what they were
doing in the BATH he said, HE maketh
them to sit down in green waters
These acts, said the speaker, are a type
of self-consciousness and imitativeness
and are of great significance, however
trifling they may seem. In such cases
what one notices blends in some way
with the act performed.
"A child interprets the thing more or
less dimly and illustrates it with words
which he makes to fit the thing" con-
finued the lecturer. LAS a result, he