CHAPTEE IX 



THE MORAL SENSE 



I THINK we must say that the religious nature of 

 the child is neutral until the dawning of the sense 

 of ought, or of the sense of right and wrong. 

 Even then it is premature to think of him as a 

 complete spiritual being. The time of the dawn- 

 ing of this moral sense is of very great interest 

 and importance. Our reproaches and punish- 

 ments must be adjusted to it. Stanley Hall says : 

 "For children all offenses are simply forbidden 

 things, and the distinction between what is wrong 

 or forbidden and what is criminal, and the per- 

 spective that differentiates between different 

 crimes, comes late, but moral comes even later 

 than intellectual maturity." (" Adolescence," I, 

 403.) 



I know a little fellow who is sometimes caught 

 doing what he has been forbidden to do. He is 

 seventeen months old. When thus detected he will 

 be found with his hands behind him, a picture of 

 innocence. This presents a curious problem. Has 

 he a conscience which he is disobeying? If not, 

 why does he hide his action? I am inclined to 

 answer: He has as yet no sense of right and 

 wrong. His action, which seems so much like 

 depravity, has in it no moral quality. The effort 



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