repetition is unnecessary, but the story holds a unique place in point
of influence. Since it comes with deepest significance to the child in
the next period of development, when imagination is less mixed with
fancy, its discussion will be reserved for that time.


MEMORY

The child has an unfortunate experience with a hot stove and tender
fingers bear the cruel scar. Must some one always watch him, year after
year, to save him from a succession of burns? He is taken to school by
his mother; must she forever accompany him to insure his safe arrival?
Is there no way of understanding a present experience except by passing
through it? Life would be an unsatisfactory thing indeed, if this were
true, but the soul has the power of retaining past experiences in order
that they may throw light upon the present. The business man does not
deliberately do again that which was disastrous before, for he remembers
the past misfortune. The child will not tomorrow press his little burned
hand against the heated iron, for he recalls the pain of yesterday. This
gracious gift of God to life, we call memory. Without it, there could be
no understanding, no reasoning, no imagination, no knowledge, no growth.

The physical side of memory is most interesting. On the covering of the
brain, each in its own place, the images or impression brought in by the
senses and the activity are registered. So sensitive and susceptible are
the brain cells during childhood, that these impressions are received as
clay receives the touch of the sculptor's finger, and under right
conditions, they are ineffaceable. When the soul acts upon these images,
they live again, and we say, "We remember."