and social disapproval. The child forgets that he was ever curious on
sex-matters and lets his curiosity turn into other, more acceptable
channels.

=The Mating-Time.= We are familiar with the changes that take place at
puberty. We laugh at the girl who, throwing off her tom-boy ways,
suddenly wants her skirts let down and her hair done up. We laugh at
the boy who suddenly leaves off being a rowdy, and turns into a
would-be dandy. We scold because this same boy and girl who have
always been so "sweet and tractable" become, almost overnight, surly
and cantankerous, restive under authority and impatient of family
restraint. We should neither laugh nor scold, if we understood. Nature
is succeeding in her purpose. She has led the young life on from self
to parents, from parents to gang or chum, and now she is trying to
lead it away from all its earlier attachments, to set it free for its
final adventure in loving. The process is painful, so painful that it
sometimes fails of accomplishment. In any case, the strain is
tremendous, needing all the wisdom and understanding which the family
has to offer. It is no easy task for any person to free himself from
the sense of dependence and protection, and the shielding love that
have always been his; to weigh anchors that are holding him to the
past and to start out on the voyage alone.

At this time of change, the chemistry of the body plays an important
part in the development of the mental traits; all half-developed
tendencies are given power through the maturing of the sex-glands,
which bind them into an organization ready for their ultimate purpose.
The current is now turned on, and the machinery, which has been
furnished from the beginning, is ready for its task. After a few false
starts in the shape of "puppy love," the mature instinct, if it be