It appears from Table 36 that thunderstorms are feared the most; then reptiles follow; then strangers and darkness very close; then fire, death, and domestic animals,

etc.

Selecting from the returns the 1,106 well-described fears of 500 boys and the 1,765 fears of 500 girls on the 28 topics, we have Table 37, which follows, showing the effect of sex:

It will be seen from the above table that out of 500 girls 230 report fear of thunder and lightning, while the same number of boys report this fear but 155 times. In fear of the end of the world, rats and mice, blood, and being buried alive girls lead boys; but boys excel girls only in fears of water, height, and shyness. Each of the boys has 2.21 fears; each of the girls has 3.55 fears.

From all the returns 516 boys, with 1,521 fears, and 671 girls, with 3,101 fears, were selected according to age as follows:

There are 36 boys in Table 38, 4 years of age, who report 1.76 fears each, while 74 girls of the same age average 4.89 fears each. All the boys record 2.94 and all the girls 4.62 fears each.

The fears of the boys increase from 7 to 15, and then decline, while those of the girls increase more steadily from 4 to 18.

The following fears show decline with advancing maturity in both sexes: Meteors, clouds, blood, end of world, being kidnaped, fairies, loss of orientation, shyness of strangers; but the following fears seem to increase: Thunder and lightning, reptiles, robbers, self-consciousness, machinery.

While many special fears decline and others increase with age, many infantile fears remain through life.

CLASS PUNISHMENT.

As a test of children's ideas of class punishment, the following story was given under direction of Caroline Frear1 to 1,914 children: "One day the teacher left the room and while she was gone several children in the room began to make a noise. The teacher heard the noise as she was coming back, but did not know which children were out of order, and none of the class would tell her. So she kept the whole class after school. Was the punishment just or unjust, and why?" There were 968 boys and 946 girls ranging in age from 7 to 16 years. Each age for each sex was collected separately. The papers were collected under the headings "just" and "unjust”, and subheadings for the reasons why just or unjust.

Eighty-two per cent of all the children considered the punishment just, 17 per cent unjust, and 1 per cent gave qualified answers.

The per cent of those regarding the punishment just decreases very slightly with age, as the following chart shows. The per cent of those regarding it unjust increases very slightly, but through all ages the proportion of those regarding it just exceeds the others very much.

The following figures show the age tendency in groupings:

This may show tendencies, decreasing with age, on the part of children to accept as just their accustomed experience.

The per cents for the reasons under "just" are made out on the number of “just” papers, not on the whole number of papers, and the same is true for the reasons under "unjust."

Forty-seven of those who considered the punishment just gave as the reason that the class would not tell or ought to tell who the guilty were. The statement "ought to tell" increases with years.

The table which follows shows the relative appealing power, with the reasons given, for the justice of the punishment powers at different years. Age tendencies are noticeable.

Following are the conclusions:

(a) Children accept in early years arbitrary punishment enforced by authority. They submit to such punishment less readily as age increases.

(b) Children have an increasing sense of their valne as individuals, and increasingly demand the protection of their individual rights.

(e) At the same time they have an increasing sense of social responsibility in the honest exposure of guilt.

The above conclusions seem to justify the following pedagogical application: Class punishment should be used less with older than with younger children. Its use, even with younger children, is questionable, since a considerable number of these react strongly against it.

The following additional conclusions bear on the general subject of punishment, and confirm what other studies have already asserted:

In early years the sense of justice is based on feeling and on faith in authority. As age increases it is based on reason and understanding.

Young children regard punishment as a means of balancing accounts with the offense. Its purpose as a social protective measure-a preventive of further troubleis understood better as age increases.

MORAL EDUCATION.

In order to study moral education from the side of introspection, a syllabus of twelve sections was sent out by President G. Stanley Hall. The returns from this syllabus have been worked out and presented by J. R. Street,' fellow in Clark University. The replies to the first five sections were of such a nature that only general results are given.

QUESTIONS.

1. What punishments or rewards have you ever had that did you good or harm? State the case and its results.

Of the 183 persons reporting 104 give instances of punishment, 66 speak of being benefited and 38 as being injured by the punishment.

Conscience cases.

SEC. III. State a few conscience cases in yourself or others, describing the circumstances that helped or confused them.

The following cases were presented:

Studying on Sunday, 7; dancing, 4; working on Sunday, 3; reading fiction on Sunday, 3; card playing, 2; theater going, 2; Sunday excursions, 2; waltzing with young men, 2; plagiarism, 2; Christian activity, 1; Sunday traveling, 1; betting, 1; confession of misdeeds, 1; boating on Sunday, 1; party going, 1; alcoholic drinking, 1; attending social entertainments, 1.

There was nothing to show that conscience plays any great factor in life before the age of 9, and very little mention was made of it before 13. The cases, however, are altogether too few to make any generalized conclusion concerning the age at which conscience becomes a potent element in the individual, yet it may be premised that it does not reveal its existence at as early an age as many would believe. The writer knows a child in whom it was abnormally developed at the age of 3. Impulse goverus most of the activities of early childhood.

Direct moral education.

SEC. IV. What has been the effect on yourself or others of direct moral inculcation, whether at home in the form of a plain talk, a good dressing down, or advice not sought, or preaching in and out of the pulpit, and school or college instruction in morals? What book, system, or idea in each have been morally helpful?

The returns are filled with such statements as "Preaching or advice unsought has never done me good; suggestion bas."

*

The boys were almost unanimous in commending the effects of a good plain talk, and none had a word to say against a good dressing down. Many spoke very gratefully for having had punishment in due season. It does seem that there comes a period in the existence of many a youth when he conceives the idea that he is lord of creation and his future usefulness as a member of society depends upon the thorough eradication of this disease of his system by the faithful and energetic administration of birch tonic.

1 Ped. Seminary, July, 1897.

Direct religious inculcation.

SEC. V. What has been the effect of direct religious inculcation and what changes of religious views have affected your moral conduct, your conscience, and sense of right? Have liberalizing theological opinions made you better or worse, and how? Sixty-eight returns were received to this section.

Of those reporting, 50 say they were benefited by direct religious inculcation, 5 that they were injured, while 3 say they were affected in no way; 10 mentioned example with some precept.

Proper books seem to play an important function in religious education.

Very few mentioned liberalizing theological opinions (8), and they put an interpretation on these words that is not usual. The returns clearly point to the important duty of parents and friends to give proper religious instruction at a very early age.

Influence of teacher.

SEC. VI. Reflect which teacher or teachers from kindergarten to college, or professional school, or in Sunday school you have liked best and been influenced most by, and then try to state wherein the influence was felt. What qualities impressed you most, and how? i. e., account, if you can, for the exceptional influence of that particular teacher. Was it generally felt, or peculiar to you and your set? Was it connected with dress, manner, voice, good looks, religious activity or piety, bearing, learning, etc., and how did each salient quality affect you?

This question was answered by 23 boys and 160 girls. As few gave the exact time of the influence, no table can be prepared which might go to show the age at which the young are most susceptible to impressions from the teacher.

An endeavor has also been made to discover whether male teachers exert a greater influence over boys than do female teachers, and vice versa for the girls, but with the exception of the general impression one gets from the returns the attempt has not been fruitful.

From the showing of the table and the testimony of the writers it is safe to conclude that there is an unconscious educative force einanating from the teacher's personality, and so operating upon the pupil as to become a powerful formative agent in the development of his character.

Second. This force, being unconscious in its origin and in its attracting and transforming effect upon the plastic nature of the young, has its origin in what the teacher is rather than in what he says.

Third. It is a significant fact that 149 out of a possible 183 mention the manner of the teacher as exerting such an influence over their natures. It has been said of more than one man-as of the Earl of Chatham-that "everybody felt there was something finer in the man than anything he ever said." It is this very something in the teacher that will go down deeper than his words and either purify or befoul the springs of action in his pupils.