238 Shadowings 



ii 



WHEN about five years old I was condemned to 

 sleep by myself in a certain isolated room, there- 

 after always called the Child's Room. (At that 

 time I was scarcely ever mentioned by name, but 

 only referred to as " the Child.") The room was 

 narrow, but very high, and, in spite of one tall 

 window, very gloomy. It contained a fire-place 

 wherein no fire was ever kindled ; and the Child 

 suspected that the chimney was haunted. 



A law was made that no light should be left 

 in the Child's Room at night, simply because 

 the Child was afraid of the dark. His fear of 

 the dark was judged to be a mental disorder 

 requiring severe treatment. But the treatment 

 aggravated the disorder. Previously I had been 

 accustomed to sleep in a well-lighted room, with 

 a nurse to take care of me. I thought that I 

 should die of fright when sentenced to lie alone in 

 the dark, and what seemed to me then abom- 

 inably cruel actually locked into my room, 

 the most dismal room of the house. Night after 

 night when I had been warmly tucked into bed, 

 the lamp was removed ; the key clicked in the 



