And some flowers of the family are not beautiful but charming, those of tact and graciousness and understanding of others and consideration and unselfish behavior. These are they of whom one has said, "The charm of her presence was felt when she went, and men at her side grew nobler, girls purer, as all through the town the children were gladder who pulled at her gown." Some flowers of the family bloom late and come to their beauty only when some disaster threatens destruction of the home or some sorrow wrecks its happiness. Simple, plain, unassuming, neither very wise nor very strong in other matters, they have a heart that can love with such intensity that it warms the coldest spot and is the refuge most sought when misfortune appears. And sometimes the flower of the family is but a memory of one who early passes on. Emerson sang in his beautiful "Threnody": "The gracious boy, who did adorn The world whereinto he was born, And by his countenance repay The favor of the loving Day,-- Has disappeared from the Day's eye; Far and wide she cannot find him; My hopes pursue, they cannot bind him. ...................................... Nature, who lost, cannot remake him; Fate let him fall, Fate can't retake him; ........................................ the feet Of the most beautiful and sweet Of human youth had left the hill And garden,--they were bound and still." It is of such that affection speaks most tenderly. QUESTIONS ON THE FLOWER OF THE FAMILY 1. How far should the general family life be burdened for special development of the genius, the near-genius, and the specially talented member? 2. What added social provisions should we seek to secure to aid in the self-training of the specially gifted? 3. What type of education may lead more surely to the discovery of talent and special faculty in the mass of children? 4. Should the chief aim be to bring the subnormal or backward up to grade or to give a free and helpful range of opportunity to natural qualities of leadership? If both should be aimed at equally, how can the public school aid in the double task? 5. A suggestive list of Books for Parents, issued by the Federation for Child Study, headquarters at 2 West Sixty-fourth Street, New York City, includes several of special value in determining the mental powers and special requirements of children diverging from the average quality and capacity. Read at least one of the books indicated and compare local provisions for examination of children with those advocated as desirable. FOOTNOTES: [11] See _American Journal of Sociology_ for November, 1913. [12] See _American Journal of Sociology_ for May, 1913. [13] See chapter on "Democracy and Distinction," in _Social Organization_, by C.H. Cooley. CHAPTER X THE CHILDREN THAT NEVER GROW UP