52 MORAL CONDITION OF THE CHILD 



fend himself against the slander, and has to re- 

 ceive, under adult promises of punishment if he 

 should talk back, many unpleasant conclusions. 

 A little girl one day in tears said to her mother, 

 "When you do that, it 's nervous; when I do it, 

 it 's naughty." In fact, this is just the reverse 

 of the truth. An adult with a developed con- 

 science and power of self-control can not do cer- 

 tain things without moral condemnation, which a 

 child might do as the reaction of a nervous or- 

 ganization against an unpleasant stimulus, with- 

 out feeling any sense of wrong. This little nerv- 

 ous organism, a full-blooded member of the ani- 

 mal kingdom, and only a candidate for the human 

 kingdom, can not commit a sinful act until there 

 is within him, given by some process profoundly 

 mysterious, a standard of righteousness and ap- 

 prehension of a Person whose rights are violated 

 by the action. As yet there is not in the child 

 the first gleam of such a standard, nor the re- 

 motest possibility of perceiving such a Person. 

 How meaningless, then, to speak of his sinfulness, 

 when he has not the most incipient power of sin ! 

 How can they be essentially sinful in origin 

 of whom one can so beautifully and truthfully 

 say: "The breath of God breathes in them and 

 through them upon our concerns. Motherhood 

 dawns when they appear, and the inexpressible 

 sanctity and tenderness and charm that wait upon 

 their arrival are the cardinal blessings of life in 

 its diviner aspects. Let nothing rob us of this 



