PEEIODS OF DEVELOPMENT 131 



cised from childhood land by a generation of care- 

 ful and truthful teaching a teaching which must 

 not leave the darkness uninhabited to be peopled 

 by any mischance with the "bogey" spirits; but 

 which will instill the quiet confidence that "God 

 dwelleth in the darkness as in the light," and His 

 child may abide without fear or danger. 



The romancing tendency of the child should 

 be carefully discriminated in its moral character. 

 It does not have the moral character of lying, al- 

 though at times it may have that appearance. 

 The child makes an imaginary world out of words 

 as well as out of actions. It is not exceptional 

 that this imaginative falsification may come forth 

 in answer to questions, and the child seem in an 

 effort to deceive. It may be paradoxical that 

 there is such a normal activity as this in the child 

 whose nature receives a dreadful shock at dis- 

 honesty in others. The key to the solution is that 

 the two elements run side by side and are not to 

 him consciously opposed to each other. The 

 make-believe world is not a violation to truth in 

 his own feeling. If parents will carefully make 

 the distinction, it need not be so regarded by us, 

 even when that made-up world has such a vivid 

 possession of the mind that it is difficult to dis- 

 entangle the fact. Our romance to children need 

 not violate their nature; but a distinct misstate- 

 ment of fact to them will destroy our influence 

 over them. Sir Oliver Lodge holds that children 

 ' ' should be told the exact truth when they ask 



