DIFFICULT BOYS 339 



ing may, and does often, bring forward rapidly one part of the mind 

 while another remains distinctly infantile. Conditions of bodily health, 

 not always obvious or even readily estimable, produce profound changes 

 in cerebral energizing, so that one day certain beliefs, capacities and 

 limitations may exist and to-morrow the balance of power be far other- 

 wise. Under certain conditions, not readily determinable by common 

 criteria, we may note and encourage in some the most bubbling spon- 

 taneity, and in others similar circumstances may check all this, inducing 

 introspection, discontent with self or surroundings, even a brooding 

 melancholy. Tastes and inclinations differ enormously, especially in 

 boys; also standards of excellence. Conceptions of objects worthy of 

 pursuit in sport, or study, or plans for life, are often widely at 

 variance, not only in different individuals, but in the same boys at 

 different times and under dissimilar conditions. 



Many boys are possessed of greater fixity of purpose than others. 

 This is usually assumed to be an altogether desirable quality. ISTot 

 always so, because one boy may possess a nature large with possi- 

 bilities and varied capacities, some of which are bad, revision being 

 most desirable. It would be a deplorable unfairness to compel such 

 a one to become molded into a definite form before time and cir- 

 cumstances have permitted a symmetric shaping of the best several 

 parts of a complex organism. It may be that such a boy will require 

 many years of opportunity and training to furnish scope to vast 

 inherent powers for good. Put him into a narrow line, and only 

 warping and possibly embitterment and deterioration follow. How- 

 ever, fixity of purpose is to be welcomed in the main, because direction 

 can be given to strong impulses ; but it is a hard task to steer a drifting 

 ship. 



The subject is so wide and capable of being treated under such a 

 variety of headings that my purpose here is only to offer from my 

 experience remarks upon two of the chief influences which either make 

 for corrective development, or emphasize the original bent and impair 

 usefulness and citizenship. The one is home training and early environ- 

 ment, the other is the school and the teacher. 



A long experience in the specialty of diseases of children has brought 

 me in contact with many children in their homes. A large and impor- 

 tant book could, indeed should^ be written on the subject of parenthood. 

 In a paper I wrote some years ago (' The Nervous Mother,' Univ. Med. 

 Mag., N. Y., 1895) I said: 



We all love to contemplate our eidos, or highest concept of the mother, 

 the unspeakable beauty of which has alternately lured and baffled thinkers 

 and poets throughout recorded history. Nothing is too good or can be claimed 

 as too lovely in description or praise for the ideal type of maternity. It is 

 then with regret we must admit that the average mother is often disappointing. 

 It has been permitted me to meet many superbly beautiful mothers. Yet this 



