THE CALLOUSNESS OF CHILDREN.
This imperfect understanding of the results of what they are doing, and ignorance of the proportion which different acts of wrong bear in the eyes of other people, account every year for a number of cases of so-called " crime " by children. We say " so-called," because in grown-up persons these acts would be crimes ; but when committed by children, though done with the consciousness that they are wrong, there is no clear knowledge of how wrong they are. The motive in nearly every case is jealousy. The acts range from small injuries and efforts to make the objects of their jealousy uncomfortable, to deliberate and sometimes successful attempts at their removal, by killing or otherwise. The purpose is simple—to remove the object of jealousy—which they will carry out with as little scruple or thought of the consequences as a young cuckoo when throwing a hedge- sparrow out of the nest. The shock to sentiment caused by the occasional murders of children by children, or of attempts to do so, or to cause injury, is very great. The idea of one little innocent dropping another down a well, or setting it on fire, gains in horror by the contrast of the deed and the doer. But though the common view, this is not the sensible one. To put the object of jealousy, which has robbed the injured child of its share of esteem and affection, or interferes with its former happiness, out of the way, and somewhere whence it can never come back to give any trouble, is a perfectly natural desire to a very young mind. Children constantly put the wish into words, though they do not carry it out. " I don't like the new baby," said a small boy. " Have it killed ; or else throw it away." Another child, brought up on a farm, where economy in rearing is always carefully attended to, watching a usurping baby being fed from a bottle, suggested not only that it should be "knocked on the head," but added as an inducement that " they might bring up a calf with the milk." There are, as a rule, only two lights in which young children regard others. The spontaneously genial natures among them look on all others as natural playfellows and ready-made objects of love. That is the class of child whom Charles Kingsley made all his " water-babies " conform to. But in a very large number this geniality and ready affection for others is not a freely growing plant. The instinct of self- preservation is stronger; and when the interloper, however sweet and innocent, comes in their way, they decide to make it uncomfortable, and if that does not answer, will occasionally try to remove it. It may seem callous to reckon with this as among the possibilities of child society; but it is one which should not be forgotten. Instances of much the same kind occasionally occur in which a dog conceives the same feeling about a child. The young dog is fax older for its years than are children, and is usually too discreet or im- pressed with the discipline of life to attempt serious injury, though it will often snap at or bite the child of which it is jealous. But one instance has come under the writer's personal notice in which a large St. Bernard dog attempted to kill a child of which it was jealous. The injuries inflicted and the determined nature of the attack left little doubt that it wished to " remove " the child altogether. The sufferer was ten or eleven years old. Jealous children are less responsible even than jealous animals, not only because they have not yet been disciplined, discipline taking the place of reflection and conscience to some extent, but because they see their elders make other creatures uncom- fortable in order to get rid of them; and if they live in the country among many domestic animals, very soon learn, in the ordinary course of conversation, that creatures not wanted, or ill, or a nuisance to themselves or other people, are despatched from this world. They know that birds which steal fruit are shot, that superfluous kittens are drowned, and that diseased or disagreeable animals are destroyed. This they come to look on as the normal result of being incon- venient, one which often seems to them rather inconsiderate, but in which they acquiesce in quite a matter-of-fact way if they do not happen to be fond of the object removed. A httle child riding on a tram heard some one remark that soon there would be electric trams, and the horses would no longer be wanted. The child immediately asked, with some concern, " Would they all be killed ? "
The indifference of young children to the notion of " abolishing " persons or animals which are troublesome, or which they do not happen to be personally fond of, has nothing whatever in common with the concrete and positive cruelty of growing boys. That is altogether another story. It is very largely due to the desire to show power, by making other persons or things endure suffering which they are in a position to inflict without undergoing reprisal. No one ever heard of boys bullying another boy who hits them back, because the sense of power and position which makes them enjoy bullying goes when they have to defend themselves, nor do children usually torment any dog or cat which has bitten them, or which they suspect will retaliate. That would spoil all the sense of superiority. When very small children are cruel or unkind without an object it is usually due to the beginning of the desire to gratify this managing or domineering instinct in its early stages. They nearly all like to own a whip, and occasionally to use it, not on other people, but on animals, and then only as an emblem of authority. They deem a whip or a stick one of the necessary parts of the delightful performance of driving a cart- Mr. Watts puts into the hand of his Minotaur a dead, crushed bird, an emblem of the wanton cruelty personified in the creature's head. There is no English child, however young, who would not instantly recognise the cruelty personified in this, and resent it at once, though possibly the young children of the Latin races might not share this view. There is a story of a Neapoli- tan priest, who was scolded for not reproving a child seen killing a bird, and replied warmly that "the children must be amused." It is very doubtful if such a story could ever pass current in this country or in Germany. All didactic children's books, from " Struwwelpeter " downwards, though they mention cases of cruel children, agree in making their indulgences either the work of monsters of iniquity among their playmates, or temporary aberrations for which they en- dured remorse. But when, like " Struwwelpeter," other typical bad boys pulled off the flies' legs and wings, they probably did it, not for any particular pleasure it gave them, but for the reason given by industrial voters for turning out their M.P. who was also their employer, " because they chose."
Cruelty in the abstract is not an idea which many young children can conceive, though they have a general idea of what kindness means. All animals or people who look good- natured are classed as possessors of this quality, while un- pleasant-looking beings of all sorts, men or animals, are set down as being without it. Of some excellent photographs of a snarling wild-cat recently published it was at once remarked that " that kitty doesn't look very kind," which it certainly did not. They bear in mind that they ought to be " kind " generally, but the extent to which they think that this ought to apply varies with the individual. A few apply it all round indiscriminately to animals, though they have a strong con- viction that " people " are largely bad, or rather that there is a percentage of bad people whom it is quite a waste of feeling to trouble much about. These are the children who acquiesce with complacency in the destruction of Pharaoh's host in the Red Sea, but who burst into tears when they hear that the horses were drowned.
But it would be an injustice to our English children to dwell on what are instances, not, properly speaking, of unkindness of nature, but of imperfect sympathies, natural to their age. They are as a body intensely sensitive, and spontaneously affectionate and kind. In many of the finer natures affection and consideration become a conscience before they are out of the nursery. The instances to the contrary are sporadic, and in most cases due to want of thought and prevision in those around them. Children of all classes are as responsive to the tone of their sur- roundings as a sensitive plate to light. It is not the least happiness of modern England that the area of children's happiness and goodness is growing yearly. As comfort and content increase in the home, the kindlier feelings have more play among the elders, and the brightness lightens the children's hearts. In addition, the State keeps them good and happy for certain hours every day. The " infants " in all the schools are models of content and behaviour. The short hours spent there are among the happiest in their lives, though they have no more consciousness of the fact than the young ants whom the elders are bringing up in an anthill.
Previous page
