STUDIES OF CHILDHOOD. 195 



fairies, on the one hand, and cruel giants, witches, and the like, 

 on the other hand. 



We may now pass to some of children's characteristic ideas 

 about living things, more particularly human beings and the 

 familiar domestic animals. The most interesting of these, I think, 

 are those respecting growth and birth. 



As already mentioned, growth is one of the most stimulating 

 of childish puzzles. A child finds that things are in general 

 made bigger by additions from without, and his earliest concep- 

 tion of growth is, I think, that of such addition. Thus plants are 

 made to grow that is, swell out by the rain. The idea that the 

 growth or expansion of animals comes from eating is easily 

 reached by the childish intelligence, and, as we know, nurses and 

 parents have a way of recommending the less attractive sorts of 

 diet by telling children that they will make them grow. The 

 idea that the sun makes us grow, often suggested by parents (who 

 may be ignorant of the fact that growth is more rapid in the 

 summer than in the winter), is probably interpreted by the anal- 

 ogy of an infusion of something into the body. 



In carrying out my inquiries into this region of childish ideas 

 I lighted quite unexpectedly on the queer notion that toward the 

 end of life there is a reverse process of shrinkage. Old people 

 are supposed to become little again. The first instance of this 

 was supplied me by the Worcester collections of Thoughts. A 

 little girl of three once said to her mother, " When I am a big girl, 

 and you are a little girl, I shall whip you just as you whipped 

 me now." At first one is almost disposed to think that this child 

 must have heard of Mr. Anstey's amusing story Vice Versa. 

 Yet this idea seems too improbable, and I have since found that 

 she is not by any means the only one who has entertained this 

 idea. A little boy that I know, whan about three years and a 

 half old, used often to say to his mother with perfect seriousness 

 of manner, " When I am big then you will be little ; then I will 

 carry you about and dress you and put you to sleep." 



I happened to mention this fact at a meeting of mothers and 

 teachers, when I received further evidence of this tendency of 

 child-thought. One lady whom I know could recollect quite 

 clearly that when a little girl she was promised by her aunt some 

 valuables trinkets, I fancy when she grew up, and that she at 

 once turned to her aunt and promised her that she would then 

 give her in exchange all her dolls, as by that time she (the aunt) 

 would be a little girl. Another case narrated was that of a little 

 girl of three years and a half who, when her elder brother and 

 sister spoke to her about her getting big, rejoined, " What will 

 you do when you are little ? " A third case mentioned was that 

 of a child asking about some old person of her acquaintance, 



