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grown more and more jealous of the child until finally she had come to hate her.
Mrs. Boscobel, first by implication and later by open avowal made her feelings
more and more plain to her husband so that he in turn, for the sake of peace and
because it was easiest, turned from Marjory and treated her as if she did not
exist. Poor Marjory was thus back where she had been the autumn before and
two autumns before that. She sought comfort from her teacher, who found her
a bright, willing child and an apt pupil.
About this time Marjory was taken to a psychiatrist. She was alleged by
her adopted mother to be having screaming fits; to have uncontrollable behaviour;
to be doing things to attract attention to herself; to be having an evil
influence on her older brother; she was said to be obstinate, disobedient and
always wanting her own way. Mrs. Boscobel stated that her husband considered
Marjory to be a certifiable insane child and that she was a nuisance in
school. This last statement about the school was known to be untrue.
The psychiatrist reported that Marjory was a timid child who appeared to
be fearful of arousing displeasure and in constant expectation of reproof and
rebuff. Nevertheless the child appeared well able to establish a good relationship
when encouraged. The psychiatrist could find no signs in the child of
emotional instability to account for the parents' allegations of violent attacks of
rage and fury and constant rigid obstinacy always directed to opposing their
wishes. It was evident that the parents hated the child and resented her
presence in their home. The child's reaction was to rebel and defy them
whenever she could. At school she was good and conformed well to the wishes
of her teachers. At home she was in danger of developing a warped character
which might in later life turn into delinquency. It was recommended that she
be sent to a residential school so as to get her out of her adopted parents' home.
I trust she will not be sent away in the autumn.
Emotional Steadiness.
Two years ago I wrote about personality; about how we can classify people
into types. We recognise varying amounts of intelligence in different people,
of assertiveness and submissiveness, of conscientiousness and unreliability and
so on. One of the most important traits is the ability to control the emotions.
I am inclined to think that this is the most important of all the aspects of personality.
It is like intelligence in that it grows from babyhood onwards through
the infant and junior school levels to adolescence and full maturity. The
person possessing little emotional control acts as if the stage of development had
been arrested at what would be the infant or junior school level for a normal
person. This is just like intelligence where the dull adult has had his mental
faculties arrested at the infant or junior school level for a normal person. A
baby expresses its emotions by smiling or laughing at trifles; by crying to
attract attention; by shrieking, 'creating' and temper tantrums when its wants
are not satisfied. The toddler or infant school child feels a longing for the
mother's love, care, sympathy, comfort and petting. Towards the junior
school stage the child feels the need for the security of the father who, to the
child is all-wise, all-powerful, wonderful, and dependable. In adolescence we
realise the world is not so perfect as we thought it was and we feel the need for
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