At the same time there is every probability that infants observe and think more accurately than would be generally allowed by their casual male acquaintances. The present writer can vouch for at least one case where a permanent impression was made upon the mind of a very young child, and memory markings were indented which certainly lasted for several years. The facts are these: A man who shall be called A. B. was invalided and ordered to spend a winter at the seaside. While there a young married couple with their first baby shared his lodgings. The child, a boy, was just six months old, and for some eighteen weeks he was the frequent companion of A. B., especially when the weather prevented either from going out. During many an hour the baby boy lay on the cushions of a low basket chair kicking and crowing with delight while his man friend talked or sang to him, and so a firm friendship grew up between the two, though its verbal expression was entirely confined to the elder of them. When the baby was ten months old the inevitable parting came, and for about two years they saw nothing of one another. At last, however, it became possible for the child’s mother to bring him to a house where his old friend was staying. During the journey she said to the little chap, “Do you know who you are going to see? You are going to see A. B.” Without a moment’s hesitation the boy said, “A. B. with beard?” showing that he remembered what was no doubt to him the most striking item in his friend’s appearance, though at the time that the memory mark was made on his mind he was too young to pronounce the word describing the thing that made the impression. But further evidence of the child’s memory was forthcoming, for as soon as he was set down on arrival at the front door of the house he ran straight to A. B. with every mark of affectionate joy at seeing him again. Here is an instance of infant memory that is absolutely true, and, as the boy was in no way precocious or unnatural, it is fair to assume that there must be plenty of cases where the impressions made upon an infant’s mind during the period when its age is marked by months and not by years are of a far more permanent nature than is generally assumed. [Sidenote: Memory at a Later Age.] But for most illustrations of children’s memory we are compelled to begin at a later age. Few people remember much that happened before they were three years old, but from about that time it is common to find a remarkably clear recollection of certain scattered events or experiences. It is a usual thing to hear it said by those who have passed middle age, that their remembrance of their childhood grows clearer as time goes on. This is accounted for by the fact that _fewer_ impressions were made upon their minds during their earliest years, whereas in later life the memory tablets get crowded with all sorts and kinds of markings which become confused and partially unintelligible in a very short time.