oom in which the fair one has slept, who
kiss the carpet where her foot has pressed, to whom she is the most
wonderful creature in the universe. And when a young woman allows a boy
to sit on the ground beside her, resting his head on her knee, when her
fingers play lightly among his curls, how rarely does she know that his
heart is beating furiously under her caressing touch; when he throws
back his curly head, and she sees that his face is reddened, she does
not know that this is not simply on account of the heat of the fire, but
that he is glowing from the effect of an internal fire whose nature is a
mystery even to himself--the fire of Love."[36]

Children have also ample experience of jealousy. A boy is tortured by
its pangs when he sees his much-loved friend conversing with another. A
girl of ten may suffer from sleepless nights when the governess she
loves has spoken affectionately to another girl. A child may wait for
hours before the door or in the neighbourhood of the beloved person,
simply to snatch a glance in passing. Speaking generally, it appears to
me that children are jealous of adults to a less extent than they are
jealous of children of their own age.

Very frequently even in childhood sexuality gives rise to enduring
imaginative sexual activity. There results that which Hufeland in his
_Makrobiotik_ terms psychical onanism, viz., the imaginative
contemplation of a train of lascivious and voluptuous ideas. In many
instances there even results a poetical treatment of the sexual topic.

Among children, love-letters also play their part. Sometimes, indeed,
their contents is so harmless that the sexual motive remains
unsuspected; but in other cases, the child's sentiments are clearly
displayed, even when the whole character of the letter is extremely
naive. Sometimes the letter appears out of harmony with the child's
conduct in other respects. For example, I have seen cases in which,
though in conversation children spoke to one another in an impassioned
manner as "darling" and "my dear love," no such expressions were used
by them in their letters. Verses are also composed by comparatively
youthful lovers. As we should expect, such verses are commonly deficient
in the matter of artistic technique. A lady who, when twelve years of
age, had been enamoured of her governess, copied for me from her album
the following verses:--

"Es gibt nichts schoeneres auf der Welt,
Als wenn einem ein Wesen besonde