USK: MY EARLIEST MEMORIES 29 



door life we lived there, spending a great part of the day in 

 the large garden or by the riverside, or in the fields and 

 woods around us. As will be seen later on, this immunity 

 ceased as soon as we went to live in a town. I remember only 

 one childish accident. The cook was taking away a frying- 

 pan with a good deal of boiling fat in it, which for some reason 

 I wanted to see, and, stretching out my arm over it, I suppose 

 to show that I wanted it lowered down, my forearm went into 

 the fat and was badly scalded. I mention this only for the 

 purpose of calling attention to the fact that, although I vividly 

 remember the incident, I cannot recall that I suffered the least 

 pain, though I was told afterwards that it was really a severe 

 burn. This, and other facts of a similar kind, make me think 

 that young children suffer far less pain than adults from the 

 same injuries. And this is quite in accordance with the pur- 

 pose for which pain exists, which is to guard the body against 

 injuries dangerous to life, and giving us the impulse to escape 

 rapidly from any danger. But as infants cannot escape from 

 fatal dangers, and do not even know what things are danger- 

 ous and what not, only very slight sensations of pain are at 

 first required, and such only are therefore developed, and 

 these increase in intensity just in proportion as command over 

 the muscles giving the power of rapid automatic movements 

 become possible. The sensation of pain does not, probably, 

 reach its maximum till the whole organism is fully developed 

 in the adult individual. This is rather a comforting conclu- 

 sion in view of the sufferings of so many infants needlessly 

 massacred through the terrible defects of our vicious social 

 system. 



I may add here a note as to my personal appearance at 

 this age. I was exceedingly fair,. and my long hair was of a 

 very light flaxen tint, so that I was generally spoken of 

 among the Welsh-speaking country people as the " little 

 Saxon." 



