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Life in the making: 335 total pages.

with gravel, and again the question comes, "Who put the gravel on the front porch?" So he begins to ask his questions. Mother considers it perfectly reasonable for anyone to want to know how holes come in stockings; and how gravel gets on the porch, but when it comes to wanting to know how the stars are held in the sky she thinks it rather foolish. Perhaps the reason why she thinks Thomas's question unimportant is because she long ago satisfied her curiosity about the stars. When the child is four and five years old, then, is the time EARLY CHILDHOOD 31 that he gets a simple philosophy which forms the basis of all his later thinking. Recall the situation he is facing. He has suddenly wakened up in a per­fectly amazing universe. Everything is new and strange. He has just realized, too, his ability to take his place in that universe. Just as quickly as pos­sible he wishes to share in the new order of things. So he asks his never-ending questions. He has problems which be must have solved. Pretty soon he will have what is, for him, a fairly

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