A STUDY OF CHILDREN'S IDEALS. 93 



Boy of fourteen : " Fitzzimmon. Because tliere is money in it." 



At seven years of age, tliree per cent of the children appreciate 

 intellectual ability, which they commonly find among their acquaint- 

 ances. As they grow older their favorite authors or artists are 

 prized, though quite as often for their goodness as for their accom- 

 plishments, as expressed in some of the following papers: 



Girl of seven: "Annie Dervine because she kin spell some 

 words." 



Girl of eight: " Olga, Becas she is a good reder." 



Boy of nine : " H. W. Longfellow. Because he knows how to 

 write poems, and knows many poems and he is called a poet and I 

 would like to be called a poet." 



Girl of nine : " Kate Douglas "Wiggins, because she is so f amouse 

 and every body likes to read her books and she think of so many 

 lovely things, because she was the first one that ever thought of 

 having a kindergarden." 



Boy of ten : " I would like to be William Shakespere because 

 he is the famous poet in the United States." 



Girl of eleven : " I would like to be like Kate D. Wiggins, be- 

 cause she was so kind to the poor little children in San Franceis. I 

 have read about her that she was so kind to everone." 



Boy of eleven : " I would like to resemble Lousia Alcott, she was 

 one of the first to go to the war to help the wounded and dicing, then 

 she wrote to some of her friends and told them to come." 



Boy of fourteen : " The person whom I would like to resemble 

 is John Greenleaf Whittier. The reason why is because he was a 

 smart man and could write poetry." 



Girl of sixteen : " I would like to resemble Shakespere, because 

 he was such a famous poet." 



The most significant increase is in those qualities which are ac- 

 companiments of an active life. To be brave, to be free, to have 

 adventures, to go to war — these become ideal characteristics to 

 nearly one fifth of the children of twelve. A mistaken youth of ten 

 writes : " I would like to be like my father. Because he can do 

 what he wants " ; and a carefully reared boy of eleven finds his ideal 

 in the neglected son of a Scandinavian washerwoman: "I would 

 like to be like John hansen because he can play all day and doesen 

 hafter saw wood." The pioneers of history and the heroes of fron- 

 tier life and romance usually furnish this type of inspiration, as in 

 the papers quoted below: 



Boy of nine : " I would like to be like Buf ullow Bill because he 

 lived in the wild West where he went shooting buffulows and In- 

 dians, I would like to be like him because he was such straight shot 

 in shooting." 



