124 MEMORY, HABIT, AND IMITATION 



street Arabs are markedly quick-witted. Imita- 

 tion governs imperiously the behaviour of children 

 and urges the young to acquire in a few years 

 the habits which represent long centuries of 

 endeavour on the part of their ancestors. 

 Memorizing apart, the process of education is in 

 fact a course of imitation : we carry out an 

 instruction by imitating in action the impressions 

 that we have acquired from it. In adult life imita- 

 tive activity is strongly bridled by the force of 

 habit. But it remains the chief stimulus to reform 

 the force which leads men from time to time to 

 alter their ideas and behaviour. We owe to 

 it, not only the transmission of our culture, from 

 generation to generation, but the halting steps 

 by which we have followed the lamp-bearers of 

 progress. 



A habit may be acquired by an original exercise 

 of will, but in the vast majority of cases it is 

 established by mimicking others. Imitation may, 

 then, generally be described as the origin of 

 habit. But a habit tends to become stronger than 

 the impulse to imitate : it checks us from imita- 

 ting things that are novel : it represents, in fact, 

 the conservative propensity which is so strong in 

 man's and especially in woman's nature. The 

 history of mankind, considered in its broadest 

 aspect, may be figured as a conflict between imita- 

 tion and habit. Since the beginning of time men 

 of original, or eccentric, disposition have been 

 offering to their fellow-men novelties for adoption. 

 Their ideas have generally been rejected. Habit 

 has been too strong to admit of a reform, unless 

 there have been circumstances to reinforce the 

 impulse to imitate. 



Amongst these reinforcing circumstances is 

 the frequency of the impressions we receive. 

 We rapidly pick up the accents or mannerisms 



