a misery which all would avoid if they could. It is even better to
allow children considerable freedom of speech with strangers, than
to repress and silence them. Of course impertinence and unpleasant
comments, such as children will sometimes make on the appearance or
manners of strangers, must be checked, but it should be on the
grounds of the unpleasantness of such remarks, and not on the
ground of forwardness. On the other hand, all attempts on the part
of a child to be friendly and courteous to strangers should be
noted and praised; a child should be encouraged to look upon itself
as an integral part of a circle, and not as a silent and lumpish
auditor.

Probably too there are certain physical and psychological laws,
which we do not at all understand, which account for the curious
subjective effects which certain people have at close quarters;
there is something hypnotic and mesmeric about the glance of
certain eyes; and there is in all probability a curious blending of
mental currents in an assembly of people, which is not a mere
fancy, but a very real physical fact. Personalities radiate very
real and unmistakable influences, and probably the undercurrent of
thought which happens to be in one's mind when one is with others
has an effect, even if one says or does nothing to indicate one's
preoccupation. A certain amount of this comes from an unconscious
inference on the part of the recipients. We often augur, without
any very definite rational process, from the facial expressions,
gestures, movements, tones of others, what their frame of mind is.
But I believe that there is a great deal more than that. We must
all know that when we are with friends to whose moods and emotions
we are attuned, there takes place a singular degree of thought-
transference, quite apart from speech. I had once a great friend