It is certain that a child ten years old would seem very large if he
were five feet high, whereas a man of that stature is considered a
dwarf.

Among Oriental races a woman is generally classed as a blonde whose hair
is not absolutely black.

Things only take their real appearance from a comparison with others of
the same kind.

For all his science, an ethnologist, placed in front of a man of an
unknown tribe, would be unable to say whether this man's stature were
normal or below the average in relation to others of his race, since no
information would be forthcoming as to this people's height or
characteristics. It is, therefore, no matter for surprize that the timid
man, shut in upon himself and having no other horizon than the limited
field of his own observations, is disposed to picture them in colors
whose truth he can not verify, since the terms of comparison, vital to
the accomplishment of his end, are not available to him.

It is, therefore, impossible for such a man not to become accustomed to
the idea as it presents itself to him, to such an extent that he is
quite unconscious of its successive changes in character.

Do we notice the growth of a child who is constantly with us until he
reaches man's estate?

Can we measure the development of a blossom into the perfect flower?

Assuredly not, if we have lived daily in the company of the child and