3. Habit is the outcome of repeated imitation.

4. Life grows like what it imitates.

With these facts in view, the application to the work of nurture is too
obvious for discussion.


IMAGINATION

The child is not content alone to imitate activities. He likes to
transform objects and make over familiar situations. This he does
through that power of his soul called imagination.

The imagination of this period is "fancy-full," crude, and unbridled by
reason or will. The child lives in a world of make believe. He sees
whole menageries in the back yard, and performs exploits worthy of a
David or Samson. He gives soul to inanimate objects, and endows them
with feelings like his own. He plays with companions of his own
creation, and peoples the dark with weird forms. Things are changed at
will to suit his whims, the stick becoming the untamed steed and the
rocking chair the storm-tossed boat. The magic of his alchemy may extend
to himself, and make him for days another person, or even an animal.

This world of make believe is as real to him as the world which is seen
through his eyes, and often he can not distinguish between the two. Many
a little heart has quivered over the punishment inflicted for "lying",
when willful misrepresentation was not in his thoughts. However, harsh
treatment of a vivid imagination may result in real deception later on,
for the child can not help "seeing things," too wonderful to be enjoyed