that, on his return, he sought to imitate what he had seen. Fearful
lest his heart might become hardened, and accustomed to the sights of
blood, she removed to another house which was in the neighborhood of a
cemetery. The relations of those who were buried there came often to
weep upon their graves, and make their customary libations. The lad
soon took pleasure in their ceremonies and amused himself by imitating
them. This was a new subject of uneasiness to his mother: she feared
her son might come to consider as a jest what is of all things the
most serious, and that he might acquire a habit of performing with
levity, and as a matter of routine merely, ceremonies which demand the
most exact attention and respect. Again, therefore, she anxiously
changed the dwelling, and went to live in the city, opposite a school,
where her son found examples the most worthy of imitation, and began
to profit by them. This anecdote has become incorporated by the
Chinese into a proverb, which they constantly quote: The mother of
Mentius seeks a neighborhood."

Another influence we have to counteract is that of newspaper headings
and placards which catch the eye of children in the streets and appeal
so powerfully to their imagination.

Shakespeare has said:


Tell me where is Fancy bred,
Or in the heart, or in the head?
How begot, how nourished?
It is engendered in the eyes
With gazing fed,
And Fancy dies in the cradle where it lies.