MENTAL DEVELOPMENT 479 



should not be so suppressed as to injure the natural spontaneous- 

 ness of the child. The natural expression of the emotions is 

 motor reaction, and when emotions or passions are pent up by 

 voluntary restraint they are apt to lead to exhaustion of mind 

 and body. 



The suppression of the manifestation of tears and anger 

 from fear of punishment, especially if the punishment does not 

 fit the crime, may produce a sulky habit in the child ; and this 

 pent-up anger and fear may in later life tend to the formation 

 of a character in which hatred and revenge find a suitable soil 

 for development. By suppressing the manifestation of an 

 emotion or passion it becomes continuous and contemplative. 

 For as Shakespeare says : 



Give sorrow words : the grief that does not speak 

 Whispers the o'er-fraught heart and bids it break. 



A child in earliest infancy manifests by characteristic ex- 

 pression the emotion of disgust ; this emotion and its instinctive 

 rejection of bitter, acrid, and nauseous substances by spitting 

 out and vomiting is protective in the highest degree ; thus it is 

 natural for a child to show signs of disgust and anger when 

 nasty medicines or unpalatable food are given to it. But 

 a child may acquire a habit of screaming and rejecting with 

 tears and signs of anger wholesome food when it sees other food 

 intended for adults. Here the child owing to the initiation of 

 a bad habit is behaving contrary to the instinct of preservation, 

 and the only course to adopt is to give it no food until its 

 natural food is accepted. Too often, however, an indulgent or 

 ignorant parent yields to the child, and very soon a bad habit is 

 firmly installed, which may later be a determining cause of 

 bodily ailments and weakened self-control. 



Children are, like many animals, naturally curious, and this 

 instinct of curiosity is closely associated with the emotions of 

 surprise and wonder. Curiosity in children manifests itself by 

 inquisitiveness regarding the natural phenomena they observe 

 and their causation ; too often this instinct in which science has 

 its roots is repressed by " don't ask questions," or some foolish 

 commonplace answer is given to their inquiry, which upon 

 reflection the child knows to be untrue. Every child is a 

 natural philosopher, and all natural phenomena, the result of 

 perception, that the child is fit and capable of understanding, 



