66o POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ing the strongest emotions of fear, curiosity, or excitement, and 

 thus draining the plastic, immature brain of its vitalities ! In 

 some homes it is quite the custom to allow a little babe to be freely 

 handled by strangers of whom it is afraid ; and then we wonder 

 why in later life our children are the victims of a vast brood of 

 fears which sap the energies and curtail the pleasures and useful- 

 ness of life in every direction. 



It is not alone the trials of meeting strangers that are extreme- 

 ly fatiguing to young children, but the experiences with parents 

 and other members of the family are often as exhausting. The 

 young child, with its fresh, innocent ways, is not infrequently re- 

 garded as a plaything for the entertainment of its elders, and so is 

 teased and tormented in all sorts of ways because its response is so 

 novel and interesting. Of course, parents would not call such treat- 

 ment teasing, but that is precisely what it amounts to from the 

 child's standpoint. Just recently the writer was witness to a scene 

 which is typical of much that may be observed in one's environ- 

 ment if he has an occasion to look for it. A little child disliked 

 very greatly to have anything touch its nose, and would make the 

 liveliest efforts to dispel whatever came in contact therewith. 

 The sweet baby movements were naturally enough very amusing 

 to an adult who did not see anything in them but fun for him- 

 self. Frequently some mature person who knew the child's char- 

 acteristic in this regard would place a finger or other object near 

 the delicate member to see the little one strive with arms, head, 

 and body to drive it away. On one occasion a grown woman, 

 whose years should have taught her better, was seen to tantalize 

 the child for two or three minutes, finally throwing it into a 

 state of fatigue. When it grew restless and began crying it was 

 grabbed up, tossed and thrown about, and talked to in a loud 

 voice. This violent stimulation overcame the child's impulse to 

 cry for the moment, but had the effect to further fatigue it, which 

 was shown later in continual crying until it fell asleep. If one 

 will think of such things going on day after day throughout the 

 early life of a child, the irritable, unbalanced, disagreeable chil- 

 dren of one's acquaintance may be accounted for at least in part. 



The writer has had opportunity to study with some care the 

 effect which a lady with high-pitched, nervous voice and intense 

 nervous face and manner, but otherwise of most estimable char- 

 acteristics, had upon a little child, H . Whenever she was 



near H she insisted upon taking her, and she thought the 



proper mode of entertainment was to shake and toss and pat her, 

 and to make a great amount of noise and fuss over her. As a 

 consequence, a half hour of such treatment was enough to fatigue 



H for a whole day, and her disposition at such times would 



be quite changed from a haj^py, good-natured child to one easily 



