that the feeling of fear was quite foreign to him.

Many parents have a feeling of helplessness in the face of a trait
that is said to be "instinctive," as though there were some fatal
finality in that classification. But, while it is true that fear is
instinctive, it is equally true that it can often be successfully
fought by having recourse to other instinctive traits. Thus the
instinct of curiosity, which is more widespread even than the instinct
of fear, may be used to counteract the latter. Since fear rests so
largely on ignorance, curiosity is its enemy, because it dissipates
ignorance. A little boy who had a certain fear of the figures in the
mirror that were so vivid and yet so unreal used to try to come into a
room in which there was a large mirror, and steal upon the causes of
his curiosity unawares. His double was always there as soon as he, and
caught his eye; but the child lost his fear only after he became
familiar with the characters in the looking-glass. In the same way
curiosity will often compel the child to become gradually so well
acquainted with the source of his fears as to drive the latter quite
out of his experience.

We must be careful to avoid confusing fear and caution. Fear arises
from ignorance, and is not necessarily related to any real danger.
Caution, on the other hand, is a direct outcome of the knowledge of
danger. Two little boys were watching a young man shooting off
fire-crackers. Whenever a bunch was lit the older boy stepped away,
while the younger one held his ground. Someone taunted the older boy,
saying, "You see, Harry is not afraid, and you are." To which he very
sensibly replied, "I ain't afraid neither, but Harry doesn't know that
he might get hurt, and I do."