"
HISTORY III.--F.R., English, aged 50, Belongs on both sides to
healthy, normal families, of more than average ability. Father
was 35 at birth, and mother 27. He is the second of four
children. There was a considerable interval between the births of
the children, which were spread over twenty-one years. All are
normal, except F.R., two of them married and with families.
Owing to the difference of age between the children, F.R. (who
was three years younger than his elder brother, and more than
four years older than his sister, the third child) had no male
companionship and was constantly alone with his mother. "Being
naturally imitative," he remarks, "I think I acquired her tastes
and interests and habits of thought. However that may be, I feel
sure that my interests and amusements were more girlish than
boyish. By way of illustration, I may mention that I have often
been told by a friend of my mother's that, on one occasion, I was
wanting a new hat, and none being found of a size to fit me, I
congratulated myself that I should therefore be obliged to have a
_bonnet!_ As regards my feminine tastes and instincts, I have
always been conscious of taking interest in questions of family
relationships, etiquette, dress (women's as much as, or more
than, men's) and other things of that kind, which, as a rule,
were treated with indifference or contempt.
Pages:
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210