El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-09-07

of the Bureau Of Education, giving
results of Q unique study OF no lesi
than fifteen millions of school childrer
here and abroad.
A study of fear in the youthful sub.
jects was made by distributing hun
causes such rs might excite that emo
ton. Parents, teachers and other
persons-even the little ones them.
| selves marked off such items as IN q
| latter really feared. After reducing all
of the replies to q table 1t was found
that the highest mum Der fearei thunder
storms; the next highest, reptiles.
Then follow, in order, according to the
number fearing them, strangers, dark
ness, fire, death, domestic animals,
disease, wild animals, water, insects
and ghosts
| A comparison OF an equal number o.
boys and Rirls showed that the girls
feared /, 765 things on the list and the
boys JOG things. The girls exceeded
the boys in the fear Of everything ex-
cept water, high places and strangers.
The ratio OF girls to boys In the fear OF
rats and mice was seventy-hve to th1r-
teen; as might be expected. 1t was
also sscertained that fear In boys in
creases from she seventh to the fif-
teenth year and then declines, while In
girls il increases more steadily from
Ihefourth TO the eighteenth year before
diminishing. The fear thunder
aud lightning. reptiles, robbers and
machinery was found to increase with
age.
Another novel inquiry enlarged up
on the fear of ghosts in children. By
questioning the little ones and tabul-
atipR their answers IL was discovered
that the moss frequent source OF their
knowledge Of ghosts was in stories told
| by other children. Stories read by
them ranked second In frequency. or
all the other sources, servants bad
been the most active. Some had de-
rived their fret knowledge from pic-
lures, fewer number from games or
from their own imsginations.
The smallest number, less than one
per cent. had fret heard Of ghosts from
sheir parents. Il was discovered that
fesr almost universally accompanied
belief in such spectres. Osher reaottve
effects, in order of frequency, were
fascination, fear of something else in
addition to the ghost, lingering fear,
ment and desire to run away.
Almost third Of all the children
examined had the conception that
ghosts we're white, an eighth that they
were like the human figure, q ninth
that they were shadowy, an eleventh
that they were like dead persons, =
fourteenth that they had long arms or
hands, and less than q nineteenth that
shey were like skeletons. Additional
frequency, were that "spooks" have
sepulohrsl voices, are w-thOut sub
stance, luminous, blsck, like animals,
like fairies or spirits ana that they
hrve lurid hollow eyes.
The most popular conception a. to
the power of ghosts WAS that they
chase and eaton children, Other
notions, in she order of the number Of
believers, were that they glide swiftly,
appear ard disappear DO all sorts OF
mysterious things, foretell death and
injdre people. OF those questioned ss
to the time when ghosts appear, a
majority believed It to be in the dark,
when one Is alone. Stating the places
where ghosts may be expected, the
highest number of opinions was in
favor OF graveyards.
A study of ''only children'-those
without brother or sister-indicAted
health AID vitality. Mental and ply
steal defects of q grave nature were
found much more common among them
than among children generally. They
were found to enter school later than
other children and to be less regular
In attendance. Their success In school
work Was below the average. They did
not appear to join readily in games with
other childreo, but preferred quieter
number had imaginary companions. |
Their social relations were generally |
by friction.
Precocity and sel6shDess we're pre- |
dominant traits. Such defects seemed |
to result from the tendency Of parents |
to spoil ''only children" and from q |
tendency to sterility In the stock. A |
careful study of the circumstances OF
birth and childhood OF what we're con
TO be the fifty greatest men of
modern times disclosed the fact-in-
in comparison-that the ave.
"a ye great man was born n family OF
Blk children. not including half bro
theirs or half sisters. 1t was figured
from the data that the chances for
Rr eatness in q child are two to one in
favor OF the older half of The family.
That children sall for their age are
generally born in summer IL another
IRE concerned, those who first see lig BIT
during autumn aud winter are not so
AL as those born In spriug aud sum-
ner Those born Ia November are
he shortest: In July, the tsllest. Av-
srsges for girls chow that those born
winter and spring have less length
" body than those born in summer
md autumn. The tsllest girls are
BORN In August.
That growth In children degenerates
% We go lower In the social scale is
hown bv statistics OF 80. 900 indivt-
uals. There is found to be diff.
erence OF five inches in average
tatures between the best and woret
urtured classes. In a separate study
y boys slone the same results were |