ss; her vanity becomes neatness; idleness is excused on the
ground that she has to attend to more important duties; and the boy
regards his interest in the girl as exclusively friendly in character,
and as justified by her superlative excellences. Sometimes, in children
no less than in adults, a sexual inclination masquerades as an
educational interest. Thus, under the influence of sexual attraction, a
girl becomes intimate with a boy endowed with various bad qualities and
impulses, and endeavours to utilise this intimacy for the boy's
advantage, in order that he may free himself of his faults as he grows
to manhood. Such a girl may succeed in persuading herself that this
motive is the exclusive cause of her interest in the boy. A similar
combination of educational and sexual motives is, moreover, often
encountered in the case of homosexual sentiments.

The child's sexual inclination may manifest itself in many different
ways. It seeks every opportunity of seeing, of being in close proximity
to, of touching, and of kissing the beloved person. Thus, many a boy
takes part in the common sports, solely because the girl whom he loves
is one of the players. Sanford Bell mentions numerous games in which
children find pleasure chiefly for the reason that kissing plays a
principal part in them. For kissing is one of the leading manifestations
of sexual desire; and another is the wish for close proximity to and for
embracing the beloved person. A mother who kept a close watch on her
eight-year-old daughter told me that when in play a boy of ten pressed
close up against the girl; they kissed one another somewhat
passionately, and the boy broke out in the naive utterance, "You don't
know how fond I am of you; I do love you so." Not infrequently, indeed,
children are really troublesome to adults in their desire for close
physical contact. I have known instances in which young women or girls
have been intolerably annoyed by boys eight or nine years of age, who
have continually followed them about and pressed up against them; this
has gone on for a long time without those concerned recognising the
sexual foundation of such conduct. Love on the part of children almost
invariably gives rise to the desire for physical contact of some kind.
Of course, other manifestations also occur. Besides the contemplation of
the beloved person, contemplation of his or her picture plays a notable
part. A sexual motive occasionally underlies the wrestlin