IN HIGHER PEOPLES 121 



tions which grow up in us along with the early 

 growth of our bodies; that is, our growth before 

 birth. An instinct is a tendency to act in a uni- 

 form way which was horn with us; sl liahit is a 

 uniform way of acting which we acquire after 

 birth. Our natural ways of acting may be modi- 

 fied by the habits which we acquire after we come 

 into the world. 



Habits are formed by repetition — by doing 

 things over and over and over. If we lived in a 

 world where things were never repeated, it would 

 be impossible to form habits. The oftener we 

 do a thing the greater the tendency to do it again. 

 Eepeat anything often enough, and it will become 

 a habit, and, in time, harden into a fixed part of 

 our nature. Life is filled with repetitions of all 

 kinds — walking, writing, eating, playing, working, 

 dressing and undressing, etc. After we walk, and 

 talk, and eat, and work, and dress, and dream, 

 and bathe, and write our names, hundreds of 

 thousands of times, we fall into certain fixed 

 styles of doing them. We come to walk in a cer- 

 tain way, and have a certain style of handwriting, 

 and a certain way of speaking, and a certain or- 

 der of putting on our clothes, and a certain set 

 of favorite drinks and dishes, and a certain look 

 and disposition. Some of these, of course, de- 

 pend a good deal on our original nature, as, for in- 

 tance, our looks and disposition. But even these 

 are largely the result of habit. The face is largely 

 the mirror of the soul. When we have a certain 



