THE CHILD OF TUMULT


A poppy bud, packed into tight bundles by so hard and resolute a hand
that the petals of the flower never afterwards lose the creases, is a
type of the child. Nothing but the unfolding, which is as yet in the non-
existing future, can explain the manner of the close folding of
character. In both flower and child it looks much as though the process
had been the reverse of what it was--as though a finished and open thing
had been folded up into the bud--so plainly and certainly is the future
implied, and the intention of compressing and folding-close made
manifest.

With the other incidents of childish character, the crowd of impulses
called "naughtiness" is perfectly perceptible--it would seem heartless to
say how soon. The naughty child (who is often an angel of tenderness and
charm, affectionate beyond the capacity of his fellows, and a very
ascetic of penitence when the time comes) opens early his brief campaigns
and raises the standard of revolt as soon as he is capable of the
desperate joys of disobedience.

But even the naughty child is an individual, and must not be treated in
the mass. He is numerous indeed, but not general, and to describe him
you must take the unit, with all his incidents and his organic qualities
as they are. Take then, for instance, one naughty child in the reality
of his life. He is but six years old, slender and masculine, and not