ii] USK: MY EARLIEST MEMORIES 29 



So far as I can remember or have heard, I had no illness 

 of any kind at Usk, which was no doubt due to the free out- 

 door life we lived there, spending a great part of the day in 

 the large garden or by the riverside, or in the fields and 

 woods around us. As will be seen later on, this immunity 

 ceased as soon as we went to live in a town. I remember 

 only one childish accident The cook was taking away a 

 frying-pan with a good deal of boiling fat in it, which for 

 some reason I wanted to see, and, stretching out my arm over 

 it, I suppose to show that I wanted it lowered down, my fore 

 arm went into the fat and was badly scalded. I mention this 

 only for the purpose of calling attention to the fact that, 

 although I vividly remember the incident, I cannot recall 

 that I suffered the least pain, though I was told afterwards 

 that it was really a severe burn. This, and other facts of a 

 similar kind, make me think that young children suffer far 

 less pain than adults from the same injuries. And this is 

 quite in accordance with the purpose for which pain exists, 

 which is to guard the body against injuries dangerous to life, 

 and giving us the impulse to escape rapidly from any danger. 

 But as infants cannot escape from fatal dangers, and do not 

 even know what things are dangerous and what not, only very 

 slight sensations of pain are at first required, and such only 

 are therefore developed, and these increase in intensity just 

 in proportion as command over the muscles giving the power 

 of rapid automatic movements become possible. The sensa- 

 tion of pain does not, probably, reach its maximum till the 

 whole organism is fully developed in the adult individual. 

 This is rather a comforting conclusion in view of the suffer- 

 ings of so many infants needlessly massacred through the 

 terrible defects of our vicious social system. 



I may add here a note as to my personal appearance at 

 this age. I was exceedingly fair, and my long hair was of a 

 very light flaxen tint, so that I was generally spoken of 

 among the Welsh-speaking country people as the " little 

 Saxon." 



