wth. The worst shadow of all is to find, as one goes
on, a certain indifference creeping over one. One accepts a fault as a
part of one's nature; one ceases to care about what appears
unattainable.

It may be said that this is a fatalistic theory, and leads to a mild
inactivity; but the question rather is whether it is true, whether it
is attested by experience. One improves, not by overlooking facts, in
however generous and enthusiastic a spirit, but by facing facts, and
making the best use one can of them. One must resolutely try to submit
oneself to favourable conditions, fertilising influences. And much more
must one do that in the case of those for whom one is responsible. In
the case of my own two children, for instance, my one desire is to
surround them with the best influences I can. Even there one makes
mistakes, no doubt, because one cannot test the expansive power of
their qualities; but one can observe the conditions under which they
seem to develop best, and apply them. To lavish love and tenderness on
some children serves to concentrate their thoughts upon themselves, and
makes them expect to find all difficulties smoothed away; on other more
generous natures, it produces a glow of responsive gratitude and
affection, a desire to fulfil the hopes formed of them by those who
love them. The most difficult cases of all are the cases of
temperaments without loyal affection, but with much natural charm.
Those are the people who get what is called 'spoilt,' because it is so
much easier to believe in the existence of qualities which are
superficially displayed than in qualities which lie too deep for facile
expression. One comes across cases of children of intense emotional
natures, and very little power of expressing their feelings, or of
showing their affection. Of course, too, example is far more potent
than precept, and it is very difficult for parents to simulate a
high-mindedness and an affectionateness that they do not themselves
possess, even if they are sincerely anxious that their children should
grow up high-minded and affectionate. One of the darkest shadows of my
present condition is the fear that any revelation of my own weakness
and emptiness may discourage and distort my children's characters; and
the watchfulness which this requires increases the strain under which I
suffer, because it is a hard fact that an example set for a noble and
an unselfish motive is not nearly so potent as an example set