For the sake of clearness I have put things first; but persons perhaps (if at this stage we have a right to make any such distinction) should have had the precedence. It is a fact which deserves more attention than it receives, that what satisfies a child’s first appetite is endeared in other ways beside, and is a permanent object. Mother and nurse satisfy a child’s recurring wants; but they are pleasant to him in other respects, and are always with him, so that he feels them as part of himself, and, when left alone, is uneasy and wants them.[1] We see the same thing, mixed with
- ↑ Whether the dread of being left alone is natural to a child, or not, matters nothing to the argument.
