34o POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



crowning embellishment and glory of womanhood comes too often as a sur- 

 prise, nor is it always welcomed, and only rarely does it bring unalloyed joy. 



There are obviously some faults here which must be local or due to 

 remediable conditions. It is our duty to search out the defects and 

 correct them. This in my judgment is chiefly in negligences in teach- 

 ing mothers their duties. When it is realized that the most valuable 

 influential impressions upon the infantile organism (whereby standards 

 are acquired, moral impulses initiated), are made during the first year 

 of life, it is plain that no omission of maternal care can be otherwise 

 than hurtful. However much the mother may lack of perfect fitness 

 for her sphere, however blameworthy in her attitude toward her trust, 

 still she is a trustee for whom there can be no substitute comparable to 

 herself. The child who has failed to enjoy the tender all-enfolding 

 care and love of a mother, acting up to her best endeavors, is bereft of 

 the greatest gift obtainable. She may leave in her personality, in her 

 conduct, much to be desired. She may be a mass of minor faults, not 

 wise or strong of mind, yet if she be sincerely desirous of fulfilling her 

 instinctive obligations, no other being can replace her. 



The difficult boy stands clearly differentiated in my mind from the 

 backward-minded or irresponsible boy, although there are grounds on 

 which they may become merged. The difficult boy, as I conceive him, 

 is one endowed with normal impulses, usually overstrong, which, be- 

 cause of defects of early guidance, have become diffusive, unsymmet- 

 rical, lacking inhibition, one who is commingled of more bad than good, 

 yet often capable of great things under favorable conditions. There 

 are those in whom the ingredients vary in other directions, among the 

 w T orst of which are apathy, laziness, secretiveness, moral shortcomings. 

 These, however, will soon or late become classifiable differently. 



The difficult boy may appear to be a liar, a bully, selfish, unwilling 

 to exert himself in worthy directions, of even other and perhaps worse 

 characteristics. All this may be due to pressure of circumstances 

 obtunding a none too vigorous sense of right and wrong, distorting 

 conceptions, inducing acts and speech which belie inherent normal in- 

 stincts which are undeveloped or chronically impaired. In short the 

 seeds of wholesome manhood are present, in fair measure, capable at 

 times of splendid development, often to admirable citizenship, but not 

 strong enough unaided to nullify the blanketing effects of circumstance. 

 How are we to estimate what these counteracting forces are, or were, in 

 the instance? How should we have conducted ourselves under the same 

 baffling influences ? What would have been the effect of the same plainly 

 indicated disheartenments, evil influences, examples on one nature as 

 compared with another? If we examine our own personalities, we can 

 see evidences of effects springing from apparently trivial causes out of 



