CHAPTER IV
DESTRUCTIVE MANIA
We are going to think to-day about a Passion which is neither innocent nor quiet. It is known by many names. It occurs in nearly all small children, and is then called “love of mischief.” In boys between the ages of seven and twelve it is called either “cruelty and spite” or “fine manly spirit,” according to the religious and moral point of view of the speaker.
In quite commonplace persons it begins at about twelve years old to die down or be absorbed, recurring afterwards only in occasional gentle oscillations. When one of these mild fits comes on, the individual, if wealthy, takes a few days or weeks of shooting at birds or beasts reared on purpose. If poor, he flings stones at sparrows, or goes rat-hunting; or teases his mother or sister; or punches the head of his little brother. But in individuals who are more “out of the common” the dip of the stick is deeper and more serious.
If one of these larger oscillations seizes a Malay, he is said to “run amok” and is hanged by the English. In a regiment of English soldiers, it is called “martial ardour,” and rewarded with medals and public receptions. If it seizes a wealthy Englishman, he provides himself with elaborate killing apparatus and goes off to shoot
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