told that the people were rioting for want of bread, exclaimed,
"Why, let them eat cake instead!" Brought up in luxury, she could
not realize what absolute want means. She had no imagination.

The world has progressed, but we still have among us the same type
of unfortunate persons who are unable to put themselves in the place
of others. I recently heard of a woman who, on being told of a
family so poor that they had had nothing but cold potatoes for
supper the night before, replied:

"They may be poor, but the mother must be a very bad housekeeper,
anyway. For, even if they had nothing but potatoes to eat, she might
at least have fried them."

Like her royal prototype, this modern woman had not the imagination
to realize that a family could be so poor as to be in want of fuel.

But being able to put yourself in the place of another is of
importance not only from the strictly moral point of view. You can
easily see how it will affect one's everyday relations, how it will
be of great help in avoiding misunderstandings of all kinds--as
between mother and child, between mistress and maid, etc.

If parents would only realize this importance of imagination, and
not look upon it as a "vain thing," they would not merely
_allow_ the child's imagination to take its own course; they
would actually make efforts to cultivate and encourage it. In this
way they would not only aid the child in becoming a better and more
sympathetic man or woman, but would also add much to the happiness
of the child.