PERIODS OF DEVELOPMENT 135 



like a story better if in answer to his question 

 we can insist that it is true. ' ' The wise teacher 

 will discard imaginative illustrations and use 

 those drawn from history, biography, science, and 

 his own experience." Doing rather than dream- 

 ing is his ideal. 



Now, if not before, he spends much time out 

 of doors. This tends to independence and spon- 

 taneity of movement as compared with the former 

 imitativeness. This is attributable partly to the 

 accidents of parental direction rather than to the 

 disappearance of the tendency to imitate. There 

 is plenty of action still, but it is not now the 

 mere release of nervous energy ; it is guided more 

 by purpose and aim. The brain now attains its 

 full human size, which may well suggest the en- 

 trance upon a new stage of life. Yet it is a pe- 

 riod comparatively uninteresting to investigators 

 and perhaps to people generally. Less is written 

 about it than concerning Early Childhood on the 

 one hand, and Adolescence on the other. The 

 naivete and "innocence" of childhood have 

 passed; the earnestness of Adolescence has not 

 arrived. The child from seven to twelve must for 

 a time be content to be rather uninteresting and 

 sit in the shadows little observed. This is prob- 

 ably less trying than at some other periods; for 

 he does not readily express himself publicly. He 

 is observing rather than being observed ; often he 

 prefers to do this from some seclusion where his 

 presence is not noticed. An effort to make him 



