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Development Through the Lifespan 7th

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CHAPTER 6
EMOTIONAL AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
IN INFANCY AND TODDLERHOOD

CHAPTER-AT-A-GLANCE

Chapter Outline Instruction Ideas Supplements


Erikson’s Theory of Infant and Toddler Learning Objective 6.1 Test Bank Items 1–6
Personality p. 184
Basic Trust versus Mistrust • Autonomy versus (Please contact your Pearson sales
Shame and Doubt representative for a wide range of video
offerings available to adopters.)
Emotional Development pp. 184–190 Learning Objectives 6.2–6.3 Test Bank Items 7–49, 126
Basic Emotions • Understanding and Responding Learning Activities 6.1, 6.2
to the Emotions of Others • Emergence of Ask Yourself p. 190
Self-Conscious Emotions • Beginnings of
Emotional Self-Regulation
Temperament and Development pp. 190–195 Learning Objectives 6.4–6.5 Test Bank Items 50–74, 127–128
The Structure of Temperament • Measuring Lecture Enhancement 6.1
Temperament • Stability of Temperament • Genetic Learning Activity 6.3
and Environmental Influences • Temperament and Ask Yourself p. 195
Child Rearing: The Goodness-of-Fit Model
Development of Attachment pp. 196–206 Learning Objectives 6.6–6.8 Test Bank Items 75–118, 129–130
Bowlby’s Ethological Theory • Measuring the Lecture Enhancement 6.2
Security of Attachment • Stability of Attachment • Learning Activities 6.4–6.6
Cultural Variations • Factors That Affect Ask Yourself p. 206
Attachment Security • Multiple Attachments •
Attachment and Later Development
Self-Development pp. 206–209 Learning Objective 6.9 Test Bank Items 118–125, 131
Self-Awareness • Categorizing the Self • Learning Activity 6.7, 6.8
Self-Control Ask Yourself p. 209

BRIEF CHAPTER SUMMARY

Erik Erikson believed that the psychological conflict of the first year is basic trust versus mistrust, which is resolved on the
positive side when the balance of care is sympathetic and loving. The conflict of toddlerhood, autonomy versus shame and
doubt, is resolved favorably when parents provide suitable guidance and reasonable choices.
Emotions play powerful roles in social relationships, exploration of the environment, and discovery of the self. Basic
emotions—happiness, interest, surprise, fear, anger, sadness, and disgust—are universal in humans and other primates and have
a long evolutionary history of promoting survival.
Infants’ emotional expressions begin as global arousal states of attraction and withdrawal, which gradually become clear,
well-organized signals. Beginning at 8 to 10 months, infants engage in social referencing. During toddlerhood, self-awareness
and adult instruction provide the foundation for self-conscious emotions—guilt, shame, embarrassment, envy, and pride. The
capacity for effortful control improves rapidly as a result of development of the prefrontal cortex and support from caregivers.
Infants vary widely in temperament, including both reactivity and self-regulation. Research on temperament examines its
stability, biological roots, and interaction with child-rearing experiences. According to the goodness-of-fit model, parenting
practices that fit well with the child’s temperament help children achieve more adaptive functioning.
John Bowlby’s ethological theory of attachment recognizes the baby’s emotional tie to the caregiver as an evolved
response that promotes survival. By the end of the second year, children have formed an enduring affectionate tie to the
caregiver that serves as an internal working model, guiding future close relationships. Factors that affect attachment security
include early availability of a consistent caregiver, quality of caregiving, the fit between the baby’s temperament and parenting

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Instructor’s Resource Manual for Berk / Development Through the Lifespan, 7e

practices, family circumstances, and parents’ internal working models. Mounting evidence indicates that continuity of
caregiving determines whether attachment security early in life is linked to later development.
Around age 2, self-recognition is well under way. Self-awareness is associated with the beginnings of empathy, the ability
to feel with another person. Self-awareness also contributes to effortful control, evident in toddlers’ strengthening capacity to
inhibit impulses, manage negative emotion, and behave in socially acceptable ways.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After reading this chapter, you should be able to answer the following:
6.1 What personality changes take place during Erikson’s stages of basic trust versus mistrust and autonomy versus shame
and doubt? (p. 184)
6.2 Describe the development of basic emotions over the first year, noting the adaptive function of each. (pp. 185–186)
6.3 Summarize changes during the first two years in understanding others’ emotions, expression of self-conscious emotions,
and emotional self-regulation. (pp. 188–190)
6.4 What is temperament, and how is it measured? (pp. 190–193)
6.5 Discuss the roles of heredity and environment in the stability of temperament, including the goodness-of-fit model.
(pp. 193–195)
6.6 Describe the development of attachment during the first two years. (pp. 196–197)
6.7 How do researchers measure attachment security, what factors affect it, and what are its implications for later
development? (pp. 197–203)
6.8 Describe infants’ capacity for multiple attachments. (pp. 203–205)
6.9 Describe the development of self-awareness in infancy and toddlerhood, along with the emotional and social capacities it
supports. (pp. 206–209)

LECTURE OUTLINE

I. ERIKSON’S THEORY OF INFANT AND TODDLER PERSONALITY (p. 184)


• Erik Erikson’s psychosocial theory identifies the psychological conflict of the first year as basic trust versus
mistrust. When the balance of care is sympathetic and loving, the baby will develop basic trust.
• Erikson viewed the conflict of toddlerhood as autonomy versus shame and doubt. It is resolved favorably when
parents provide young children with suitable guidance and reasonable choices.
II. EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT (pp. 184–190)
• Basic emotions—happiness, interest, surprise, fear, anger, sadness, and disgust—are universal in humans and other
primates and have a long evolutionary history of promoting survival.
• Babies’ earliest emotional life consists of two global arousal states—attraction and withdrawal. Emotions gradually
become clear, well-organized signals, providing more precise information about the baby’s internal state.
• Happiness binds parent and baby into a warm, supportive relationship that fosters the infant’s motor, cognitive, and
social competencies.
• Between 6 and 10 weeks, the parents’ communication evokes the social smile, followed at around 3 to 4 months by
laughter in response to active stimuli.
• From 4 to 6 months into the second year, angry expressions increase in frequency and intensity, as infants become
capable of intentional behavior and want to control their own actions and the effects they produce.
• Infant sadness is common when infant–caregiver communication is seriously disrupted—for example, in the case of
parental depression.
• Fear, most frequently expressed as stranger anxiety, rises from the second half of the first year into the second year,
keeping newly mobile babies’ enthusiasm for exploration in check.
• Once wariness develops, infants use the familiar caregiver as a secure base from which to explore the environment.

68 Copyright © 2018 Laura E. Berk. All Rights Reserved.


Chapter 6 Emotional and Social Development in Infancy and Toddlerhood

• Beginning at 8 to 10 months, babies engage in social referencing, using others’ emotional messages to evaluate the
safety and security of their surroundings, to guide their own actions, and to gather information about others’ intentions
and preferences.
• Self-conscious emotions—guilt, shame, embarrassment, envy, and pride—appear in the middle of the second year, as
18- to 24-month-olds become firmly aware of the self as a separate, unique individual.
• Emotional self-regulation—the strategies we use to adjust our emotional state to a comfortable level of intensity so
we can accomplish our goals—requires voluntary, effortful management of emotions.
• The capacity for effortful control improves gradually as more effective functioning of the prefrontal cortex increases
the baby’s tolerance for stimulation and as caregivers provide lessons in socially approved ways of expressing
feelings.
• Toward the end of the second year, toddlers rapidly develop a vocabulary for talking about feelings, but they are not
yet good at using language to manage their emotions.
III. TEMPERAMENT AND DEVELOPMENT (pp. 190–195)
• Temperament refers to early-appearing, stable individual differences in reactivity and self-regulation.
• In 1956, Alexander Thomas and Stella Chess developed a model of temperament that yielded three types of children:
the easy child, the difficult child, and the slow-to-warm-up child.
• Mary Rothbart’s influential model of temperament combines related traits to yield a list of just six dimensions,
identifying differences in reactivity and also in effortful control, which predicts favorable development and
adjustment in diverse cultures.
• Temperament is often assessed through parent interviews and questionnaires, behavior ratings by pediatricians or
teachers, and laboratory observations by researchers.
• Neurobiological measures can be used to help identify biological bases of temperament, especially for children who
fall at opposite extremes: inhibited, or shy, children, and uninhibited, or sociable, children.
• Because the overall stability of temperament is low in infancy and toddlerhood, long-term prediction from early
temperament is best achieved after age 3.
• About half of individual differences in temperament and personality have been attributed to differences in genetic
makeup, but environment is also powerful, especially in children exposed to severe malnutrition or emotional
deprivation.
• Ethnic and gender variations in infant temperament may have genetic roots, but they are supported by cultural beliefs
and practices, yielding gene–environment correlations.
• Researchers are using molecular genetic analyses to investigate gene–environment interactions—temperamental
differences in children’s susceptibility (or responsiveness) to environmental influences.
• Parents’ tendency to emphasize each child’s unique qualities affects their parenting practices, and siblings’ distinct
experiences with teachers, peers, and others also affect personality development.
• The goodness-of-fit model describes how an effective match between child-rearing practices and a child’s
temperament can produce favorable outcomes.
IV. DEVELOPMENT OF ATTACHMENT (pp. 196–206)
• Attachment is the strong affectionate tie we have with special people in our lives that leads us to feel pleasure when
we interact with them and to be comforted by their nearness in times of stress.
• Although the parent–infant bond is vitally important, later development is also influenced by the continuing quality of
the parent–child relationship.
• In John Bowlby’s ethological theory of attachment, attachment develops in four phases: (1) preattachment phase
(birth to 6 weeks), (2) “attachment-in-the-making” phase (6 weeks to 6–8 months), (3) “clear-cut” attachment phase
(6–8 months to 18 months–2 years), and (4) formation of a reciprocal relationship (18 months to 2 years and on).
• In the clear-cut attachment phase, attachment to the familiar caregiver is evident, and babies display separation
anxiety when the trusted caregiver leaves.
• Out of their early experiences, children develop an internal working model that guides all future close relationships.
• Using the Strange Situation, a laboratory procedure for assessing the quality of attachment between 1 and 2 years of
age, researchers have identified a secure attachment pattern and three patterns of insecurity: insecure–avoidant
attachment, insecure–resistant attachment, and disorganized/disoriented attachment.
• The Attachment Q-Sort uses home observation to measure attachment in children between ages 1 and 5.
• Quality of attachment is usually secure and stable for middle-SES babies experiencing favorable life conditions.
• Despite cultural variations in attachment patterns, the secure pattern is still the most common in all societies studied.

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• Factors that affect attachment security include early availability of a consistent caregiver and quality of caregiving.
• Sensitive caregiving is moderately related to attachment security; highly inadequate caregiving is a powerful predictor
of disruptions in attachment.
• In Western societies, interactional synchrony separates the experiences of secure from insecure babies. However,
studies of non-Western communities and Asian cultures suggest that security depends on attentive caregiving, not
necessarily contingent interaction.
• Babies with genotypes associated with emotional reactivity are more susceptible than others to the effects of both
negative and positive parenting.
• Family stressors and parents’ internal working models also play a role in attachment security.
• Bowlby’s theory allows for multiple attachments, including attachment to fathers and to siblings.
• Mounting evidence exists that continuity of caregiving is the factor that determines whether attachment security is
linked to later development.
V. SELF-DEVELOPMENT (pp. 206–209)
• Newborns’ capacity for intermodal perception supports the beginnings of self-awareness, as babies experience
intermodal matches that differentiate their own body from surrounding bodies and objects.
• Over the first few months, infants distinguish their own visual image from other stimuli, but their self-awareness is
limited.
• Implicit self-awareness serves as the foundation for development of explicit self-awareness—understanding that the
self is a unique object.
• During the second year, toddlers become consciously aware of the self’s physical features. Around age 2, self-
recognition is well under way, although toddlers still make scale errors.
• Cultural variations in early self-development may reflect a society’s emphasis on autonomous versus relational child-
rearing goals.
• As self-awareness becomes a central part of children’s emotional and social lives, older toddlers who have
experienced sensitive caregiving express the first signs of empathy.
• Between 18 and 30 months, children develop a categorical self, based on age, sex, physical characteristics, and
goodness versus badness, which they use to organize their own behavior.
• As effortful control—the ability to inhibit impulses, manage negative emotion, and behave in socially acceptable
ways—emerges between 12 and 18 months, toddlers first become capable of compliance.
• To study self-control, researchers often give children tasks that require delay of gratification—a capacity that is
influenced by both temperament and quality of caregiving.

70 Copyright © 2018 Laura E. Berk. All Rights Reserved.


Chapter 6 Emotional and Social Development in Infancy and Toddlerhood

LECTURE ENHANCEMENTS

LECTURE ENHANCEMENT 6.1


Temperament Research: A Review of Major Findings of the Past Quarter Century (pp. 190–195)
Objective: To review the most significant advances in research on temperament over the past quarter century and consider the
major questions that remain to be addressed.
“What Is Temperament Now?” by Shiner et al. (2012) presents an overview of major advances in temperament research since
the publication twenty-five years earlier of Goldsmith et al.’s (1987) “What Is Temperament? Four Approaches.” That paper,
now viewed as classic, brought together the originators of four prominent temperament models—Goldsmith, Thomas and
Chess, Rothbart, and Buss and Plomin—to address fundamental questions about the nature of temperament.
The current authors note that Goldsmith et al. were prescient in identifying issues that would remain central to the field—
for example, the relationship between temperament and later life outcomes. Today’s researchers, however, have a more
complex understanding of interactions between biological factors and experience. For example, Shiner et al. describe how
recent research has led to an expanded view of Thomas and Chess’s concept of goodness of fit. Whereas Thomas and Chess
encouraged parents to modify the environment so as to achieve a better fit with their child’s temperament, more recent studies
suggest an alternative approach using temperament-based strategies to help children modify their capacity for self-regulation.
Shiner et al. pose several key questions that remain to be investigated. These include relationships between temperament
and personality traits, how temperament interacts with context and with the environment, and how changes in temperament are
related to biological and psychological processes. In connection with class discussion of temperament and development (pp.
190–195), this paper provides a valuable historical perspective on what researchers have learned since 1987 and what questions
are still to be explored.
Shiner, R. L., et al. (2012). What is temperament now? Assessing progress in temperament research on the twenty-fifth
anniversary of Goldsmith et al. Child Development Perspectives, 6, 436-444. doi: 10.1111/j.1750-8606.2012.00254.x

LECTURE ENHANCEMENT 6.2


Young Children in Foster Care: Promoting the Capacity for Secure Attachment (pp. 199–203)
Objective: To consider the developmental needs of young children in foster care and the effectiveness of interventions
designed for these children and their caregivers.
Because “fully normal emotional development,” as described in the text (p. 200), “depends on establishing a close tie with a
caregiver early in life,” it is not surprising that infants and toddlers in foster care, who have experienced maltreatment and
disruptions in relationships with their primary caregivers, are at risk for attachment difficulties and for persisting emotional and
social problems.
In this paper, Dozier et al. (2013) identify key caregiving variables for these vulnerable children on four dimensions:
synchrony, nurturance, stability of care, and commitment. They present two approaches to intervention—Attachment and
Biobehavioral Catch-up (ABC) and the New Orleans Intervention—that are designed to address children’s needs on these four
dimensions and thereby promote the development of secure attachment. The authors cite positive outcomes for children in both
interventions as evidence that such programs “can protect children at a critical time during development.”
Dozier et al. also consider ways of enhancing the foster care system to better meet children’s developmental needs. They
conclude that foster parents ideally must be able to “commit to the child as if he or she were their own child” while still
supporting the child’s relationship with birth parents and valuing efforts to reunite the child with the birth family. Their
findings and recommendations provide the basis for class discussion of the policy implications of research into the key factors
that affect attachment security.
Dozier, M., Zeanah, C. H., & Bernard, K. (2013). Infants and toddlers in foster care. Child Development Perspectives, 7,
166–171. doi: 10.1111/cdep.12033

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Instructor’s Resource Manual for Berk / Development Through the Lifespan, 7e

LEARNING ACTIVITIES

LEARNING ACTIVITY 6.1


Classroom Demonstration: Development of Emotional Expression (pp. 185–186, 188–189)
Arrange for a group of babies, ranging in age from several weeks to 18 months, to visit your classroom for a demonstration of
emotional expression during infancy. You can see if any students have babies of their own in that age range, or you may have
friends or colleagues who are willing to participate. Include some or all of the following activities:
(1) Ask students to carefully observe the infants’ facial, body, and vocal expressions and to record any examples of basic
emotions, noting the events that may have elicited each emotion. For example, if a baby smiles, is it in response to the
parent’s facial expression or voice?
(2) Ask students to interview parents about their babies’ expression of the basic emotions (happiness, interest, surprise,
fear, anger, sadness, and disgust). Are their answers consistent with research presented in the text, which suggests that
infants’ precise emotions are difficult to detect in the early months but, with age, gradually develop into clear, well-
organized signals?
(3) If the group includes a baby between 2 and 4 months of age, try to evoke the social smile by nodding, smiling, and
talking softly to the infant. To underscore the adaptive role of the smile in promoting positive parent–child
interactions, ask students to observe the baby’s response to this stimulation and to note how the parents, in turn,
respond to the infant’s smile,
(4) For babies 3 months of age and older, ask parents to describe and, if possible, demonstrate stimuli that elicit laughter.
Ask students to note the dynamic quality of these stimuli—for example, kissing the baby’s tummy.
(5) If the group includes any infants over 7 months of age, investigate the rise in fear reactions by approaching the baby
and asking students to note the infant’s response. Does the baby show wariness of a strange adult?
(6) If there are any babies over 10 months of age, ask students to look for instances of social referencing and to note
whether the baby uses the parent as a secure base.
For each activity, ask students to compare their observations with research presented in the text.

LEARNING ACTIVITY 6.2


Supporting Emotional Self-Regulation in Infants and Toddlers (pp. 189–190)
Ask students to imagine they have been asked to speak to a group of parents on the importance of helping young children
manage their emotional experiences. Using research presented in the text as a guide, have students list the points they would
include in their presentation—for example:
(1) Why is emotional self-regulation important?
(2) What infant and toddler behaviors reflect the beginnings of effortful control and emotional self-regulation?
(3) How can parents help their infants and toddlers regulate emotion?
(4) What are some cultural differences in the emphasis placed on socially appropriate emotional behavior?
(5) What caregiving behaviors are likely to foster self-regulation? What caregiving behaviors should parents avoid. Why?

72 Copyright © 2018 Laura E. Berk. All Rights Reserved.


Chapter 6 Emotional and Social Development in Infancy and Toddlerhood

LEARNING ACTIVITY 6.3


Matching: The Rothbart Model of Temperament (pp. 190–191)
Present the following exercise as an in-class activity or quiz.
Directions: Match each of the following terms with its correct description.
_____ 1. Activity level
_____ 2. Attention span/persistence
_____ 3. Fearful distress
_____ 4. Irritable distress
_____ 5. Positive affect
_____ 6. Effortful control
Descriptions:
A. Wariness and distress in response to intense or novel stimuli, including time to adjust to new situations
B. Extent of fussing, crying, and distress when desires are frustrated
C. Frequency of expression of happiness and pleasure
D. Level of gross-motor activity
E. Capacity to voluntarily suppress a dominant, reactive response in order to plan and execute a more adaptive response
F. Duration of orienting or interest
Answers:
1. D 4. B
2. F 5. C
3. A 6. E

LEARNING ACTIVITY 6.4


Temperament: Improving Goodness of Fit (p. 195)
Goodness of fit involves creating child-rearing environments that recognize each child’s temperament while simultaneously
encouraging more adaptive functioning. Ask students to consider the following scenarios:
(1) A difficult 2-year-old whose parents both work long hours for low pay and do not have reliable child-care
arrangements. They sometimes use angry, punitive discipline, and their child reacts with defiance and disobedience.
(2) A shy child who was born in a rural village in China, but whose family has recently moved to a large city. Although
this child was considered well-adjusted in her native village, her shyness is not regarded positively in her urban
preschool.
For each scenario, ask students to identify some changes that might improve goodness of fit for these parents and children.

Copyright © 2018 Laura E. Berk. All Rights Reserved. 73


Instructor’s Resource Manual for Berk / Development Through the Lifespan, 7e

LEARNING ACTIVITY 6.5


Observing the Attachment Relationship During the First Two Years (pp. 196–198)
This activity can be included as an extension of Learning Activity 6.1. Arrange for several babies and their parents (students,
colleagues, or friends) to visit your class. If possible, one child should be a baby 6 weeks of age or younger, one should be
between 6 weeks and 6 to 8 months old, one between 8 and 18 months, and one between 18 and 24 months of age.
(1) Ask students to observe the youngest baby and to describe the built-in signals of the preattachment phase—grasping,
smiling, crying, and gazing into the adult’s eyes.
(2) Ask students to observe how the infant between 6 weeks and 6 to 8 months of age responds to a familiar caregiver and
then to a stranger. Does the baby smile, laugh, and babble more freely with the familiar caregiver? Does he or she
quiet more readily when picked up?
(3) To demonstrate the development of “clear-cut” attachment, ask the parent of a baby between 8 and 18 months old to
leave the room briefly, as in Ainsworth’s Strange Situation.* Does the baby become distressed at the parent’s
departure? Is he or she quickly comforted by physical proximity when the parent returns?
(4) After the babies have had sufficient time to become comfortable in the classroom, ask the parent of the 18- to 24-
month-old to explain to the child that he or she is going to leave the room for a moment but will be back shortly. Then
ask students to note the child’s reaction. How does it compare to the reactions of the younger children?
For each example, ask students to compare their observations with research on development of attachment that is presented in
the text.
*Make sure the parent is able to return immediately if the child becomes distressed.

LEARNING ACTIVITY 6.6


Attachment, Parental Employment, and Child Care (pp. 202–203)
In small groups, ask students to respond to the following scenario:
Paul and Ava are parents to 3-month-old Kevin. After giving birth, Ava decided to spend several months at home caring
for Kevin, but she plans to return to her full-time job as soon as her 12-week maternity leave ends. Some of Ava’s friends
have expressed concerns about her returning to work so soon, and Paul’s parents are worried that Kevin may experience
learning and behavioral problems if he begins attending child care at such a young age. Ava enjoys being a stay-at-home
mother, but she and Paul could really use the income Ava’s job will provide.
Using research in the text as a guide, what advice would you give Paul and Ava? Do their friends and family have valid
concerns? Why or why not? What types of support can Paul provide after Ava returns to work? When qualities should Paul and
Ava look for when choosing a child-care center?
*To supplement the activity, direct students to MyDevelopmentLab and the Playful Learning in Early Childhood video, which
illustrates characteristics of high-quality child care.

74 Copyright © 2018 Laura E. Berk. All Rights Reserved.


Chapter 6 Emotional and Social Development in Infancy and Toddlerhood

LEARNING ACTIVITY 6.7


True or False: Self-Development During the First Two Years (pp. 206–209)
Present the following exercise as an in-class activity or quiz.
Directions: Read each of the following statements and determine if it is True (T) or False (F).
_____ 1. Not until the second half of the first year do infants sense that they are physically distinct from their
surroundings.
_____ 2. Around age 2, children refer to themselves by name or with a personal pronoun.
_____ 3. Toddlers who are frequently punished for misbehavior tend to demonstrate high levels of empathy.
_____ 4. Contrary to popular belief, language skills have little influence on self-development.
_____ 5. Toddlers use their understanding of the categorical self to organize their own behavior.
_____ 6. To behave in a self-controlled fashion, children must think of themselves as separate, autonomous beings who
can direct their own actions.
_____ 7. For most toddlers, opposition is far more common than compliance.
_____ 8. Overall, girls tend to exhibit more self-control than boys.
_____ 9. Toddlers can obey simple commands from an adult but do not yet show any signs of consciencelike
understanding.
_____ 10. Strict parenting with little tolerance for misbehavior is especially effective for helping toddlers develop
compliance and self-control.
Answers:
1. F 6. T
2. T 7. F
3. F 8. T
4. F 9. F
5. T 10. F

LEARNING ACTIVITY 6.8


Observing Toddlers for Compliance and Self-Control (pp. 208–209)
Invite two or three parents to bring their toddlers (ranging in age from 12 months to 2 years) to your classroom for a
demonstration of compliance and self-control. Prior to the demonstration, gather several age-appropriate toys and several boxes
of raisins, or you can ask parents to bring toys and/or raisins from home. Present the following activities:
(1) Ask the child (or have the parent ask the child) not to touch an interesting toy that is within arm’s reach.
(2) Hide some raisins under cups and instruct the child to wait until you (or the parent) say it is all right to pick up a cup
and eat a raisin.
(3) Give the children several directions—for example, to bring you an object or to put away a toy.
In each case, note how well children follow the instructions. Do older children exhibit more compliance and self-control than
younger children? How do parents respond to their child’s behavior?

Copyright © 2018 Laura E. Berk. All Rights Reserved. 75


Instructor’s Resource Manual for Berk / Development Through the Lifespan, 7e

ASK YOURSELF . . .

CONNECT: Why do children of depressed parents have difficulty regulating emotion (see page 187)? What
implications do their weak self-regulatory skills have for their response to cognitive and social challenges? (pp. 187, 189)
Depressed parents rarely smile at, comfort, or talk to their babies, who respond to the parent’s sad, vacant gaze by turning
away, crying, and often looking sad or angry themselves. Depressed parents also view their infants negatively, which
contributes to their inept caregiving. As their children get older, these parents’ lack of warmth and involvement is often
accompanied by inconsistent discipline—sometimes lax, at other times too forceful.
In the early months, infants have only a limited capacity to regulate their emotional states. When their feelings get too
intense, they are easily overwhelmed and depend on the soothing interventions of caregivers for distraction and reorienting of
attention. But when parents are depressed, they are less likely to provide these interventions. Children who experience these
maladaptive parenting practices often have serious adjustment problems. To avoid their parents’ insensitivity, some withdraw
into a depressed mood themselves; others become impulsive and aggressive. Over time, children subjected to parental
negativity develop a pessimistic world view—one in which they lack self-confidence and perceive their parents and other
people as threatening. Children who constantly feel in danger are likely to become overly aroused in stressful situations, easily
losing control in the face of cognitive and social challenges.

APPLY: At age 14 months, Reggie built a block tower and gleefully knocked it down. At age 2, he called to his mother
and pointed proudly at his tall block tower. What explains this change in Reggie’s emotional behavior? (pp. 188–189)
As 18- to 24-month-olds become firmly aware of the self as a separate, unique individual, self-conscious emotions appear.
These emotions, which involve injury to or enhancement of our sense of self, include guilt, shame, embarrassment, envy, and
pride. At 14 months, Reggie had not yet developed a clear sense of himself as a separate person, so he simply enjoyed the
experience of building the block tower and then knocking it down. But by the time he was 2, he experienced pride in his
achievement at stacking the blocks into a tower, and wanted to share his accomplishment with his mother.
Besides self-awareness, self-conscious emotions require an additional ingredient: adult instruction in when to feel proud,
ashamed, or guilty. The situations in which adults encourage these feelings vary from culture to culture. In Western nations,
most children are taught to feel pride in personal achievement, as Reggie is expressing.

REFLECT: Describe several recent instances illustrating how you typically manage negative emotion. How might your
early experiences, gender, and cultural background have influenced your style of emotional self-regulation?
(pp. 189–190)
This is an open-ended question with no right or wrong answer.

CONNECT: Explain how findings on ethnic and gender differences in temperament illustrate gene–environment
correlation, discussed on pages 68–69 in Chapter 2. (pp. 193–194)
According to the concept of gene–environment correlation, our genes influence the environments to which we are exposed.
This helps to explain ethnic and gender differences in temperament, because children of different sexes and different ethnic
groups will be exposed to different experiences. For instance, Japanese mothers tend to view their infants as independent beings
who must learn to rely on their parents through close physical contact. European-American mothers, in contrast, typically
believe that they must wean the baby away from dependency toward autonomy. Consistent with these beliefs, Asian mothers
interact gently, soothingly, and gesturally with their babies, whereas European-American mothers use a more active,
stimulating, verbal approach. Also, Chinese and Japanese adults discourage babies from expressing strong emotion, which
contributes further to their infants’ tranquility. These differences in parenting practices help explain why Chinese and Japanese
babies tend to be less active, irritable, and vocal; more easily soothed when upset; and better at quieting themselves.
Similarly, gender differences in temperament are evident as early as infancy, suggesting a genetic foundation. Boys tend to
be more active and daring, less fearful, more irritable when frustrated, more likely to express high-intensity pleasure in play,
and more impulsive than girls. And girls’ large advantage in effortful control undoubtedly contributes to their greater
compliance and cooperativeness, better school performance, and lower incidence of behavior problems. At the same time,
parents more often encourage their young sons to be physically active and their daughters to seek help and physical closeness—
through the activities they encourage and through more positive reactions when their child exhibits temperamental traits
consistent with gender stereotypes.

76 Copyright © 2018 Laura E. Berk. All Rights Reserved.


Chapter 6 Emotional and Social Development in Infancy and Toddlerhood

APPLY: Mandy and Jeff are parents of 2-year-old inhibited Sam and 3-year-old difficult Maria. Explain the
importance of effortful control to Mandy and Jeff, and suggest ways they can strengthen it in each of their children.
(pp. 191, 192, 195)
The self-regulatory dimension of temperament, effortful control, is the capacity to voluntarily suppress a dominant
response in order to plan and execute a more adaptive response. The capacity for effortful control in early childhood predicts
favorable development and adjustment in diverse cultures. Mandy and Jeff should be aware that if a child’s disposition
interferes with learning or getting along with others, adults must gently but consistently counteract the child’s maladaptive
style. The concept of goodness of fit describes how Mandy and Jeff can create a child-rearing environment that recognizes each
child’s distinct temperament while simultaneously encouraging more adaptive functioning. Mandy and Jeff can help Sam
develop strategies for regulating fear by offering warm, supportive parenting while also making appropriate demands for him to
approach new experiences. With Maria, they should remain positive and sensitive and should be careful not to resort to angry,
punitive discipline, which will undermine the development of effortful control.

REFLECT: How would you describe your temperament as a young child? Do you think your temperament has
remained stable, or has it changed? What factors might be involved? (pp. 190–195)
This is an open-ended question with no right or wrong answer.

CONNECT: Review research on emotional self-regulation on page 189. How do the caregiving experiences of securely
attached infants promote emotional self-regulation? (pp. 199–200)
Sensitive caregiving—responding promptly, consistently, and appropriately to infants and holding them tenderly and
carefully—is moderately related to attachment security and also helps infants regulate emotion. In Western cultures, a special
form of communication called interactional synchrony, in which infant and adult match emotional states, especially positive
ones, characterizes the experiences of securely attached babies. Sensitive face-to-face play, in which interactional synchrony
occurs, increases babies’ responsiveness to others’ emotional messages and also helps them regulate emotion. Infants whose
parents “read” and respond contingently and sympathetically to their emotional cues tend to be less fussy, to express more
pleasurable emotion, to be more interested in exploration, and to be easier to soothe.

APPLY: What attachment pattern did Timmy display when Vanessa arrived home from work, and what factors
probably contributed to it? (pp. 198, 201–203)
When Vanessa came to pick him up from child care, Timmy ignored her—behavior typical of an insecure–avoidant
attachment. After going through a divorce, Vanessa was anxious and distracted. Because she needed to work long hours to
make ends meet, she placed 2-month-old Timmy in child care and often had a babysitter pick him up at the end of the day, give
him dinner, and put him to bed. Timmy’s response to Vanessa reflects a repeated finding—that serious stressors such as job
loss, a failing marriage, financial difficulties, or parental psychological problems (such as anxiety or depression) can undermine
attachment. These stressors can affect babies’ sense of security directly, by exposing children to angry adult interactions or
disrupting familiar daily routines. Or, as in the case of Vanessa and Timmy, they may undermine attachment security indirectly
by interfering with parental sensitivity.

REFLECT: How would you characterize your internal working model? What factors, in addition to your relationship
with your parents, might have influenced it? (pp. 197, 202–203)
This is an open-ended question with no right or wrong answer.

CONNECT: What type of early parenting fosters the development of emotional self-regulation, secure attachment, and
self-control? Why, in each instance, is it effective? (pp. 189–190, 200–201, 209)
Between 2 and 4 months, caregivers can build on the baby’s increasing tolerance for stimulation by initiating face-to-face
play and attention to objects, arousing pleasure in the baby while adjusting the pace of their behavior so the infant does not
become overwhelmed and distressed. As a result, the baby’s tolerance for stimulation increases further.
From 3 months on, the ability to shift attention away from unpleasant events or engage in self-soothing helps infants
control emotion. Infants whose parents “read” and respond contingently and sympathetically to their emotional cues tend to be
less fussy and fearful, to express more pleasurable emotion, to be more interested in exploration, and to be easier to soothe.
Similarly, sensitive caregiving is moderately related to attachment security in diverse cultures and SES groups. Mothers of
securely attached babies tend to exhibit maternal mind-mindedness, frequently referring to their infants’ mental states and
motives. This tendency to treat the baby as a person with inner thoughts and feelings seems to promote sensitive caregiving.

Copyright © 2018 Laura E. Berk. All Rights Reserved. 77


Instructor’s Resource Manual for Berk / Development Through the Lifespan, 7e

In studies of Western babies, a special form of communication called interactional synchrony, in which the caregiver
responds to infant signals in a well-timed, rhythmic, appropriate fashion and both partners match emotional states, separates the
experiences of secure from insecure babies. Interactional synchrony occurs during sensitive face-to-face play, which increases
babies’ responsiveness to others’ emotional messages and also helps infants regular emotion.
Between 12 and 18 months, as the capacities necessary for self-control begins to emerge, toddlers first become capable of
compliance. They show clear awareness of caregivers’ wishes and expectations and can obey simple requests and commands.
They can also decide to do just the opposite, but for most, assertiveness and opposition occur alongside compliance with an
eager, willing spirit, suggesting that the child is beginning to adopt the adult’s directives as his own.

APPLY: Len, a caregiver of 1- and 2-year-olds, wonders whether toddlers recognize themselves. List signs of
self-recognition in the second year that Len can observe. (p. 207)
1. Toddlers older than 18 to 20 months, when placed in front of a mirror, respond to unique features of their mirror
image. For example, if red dye is rubbed on the child’s nose or forehead, toddlers will touch or rub their own nose or
forehead, indicating awareness of their unique appearance.
2. Around age 2, children show self-recognition when they point to themselves in photos and refer to themselves by
name or with a personal pronoun (“I” or “me”).
3. Around age 2½, most children reach for a sticker surreptitiously placed on top of their heads when shown themselves
in a live video.
4. Around age 3, most children recognize their own shadow.

REFLECT: In view of research on toddlers’ compliance, active resistance, and budding capacity to delay gratification,
do you think that the expression “the terrible twos”—commonly used to characterize toddler behavior—is an apt
description? Explain. (pp. 208–209)
This is an open-ended question with no right or wrong answer.

78 Copyright © 2018 Laura E. Berk. All Rights Reserved.


Chapter 6 Emotional and Social Development in Infancy and Toddlerhood

MEDIA MATERIALS

For details on individual video segments that accompany the DVD for Development Through the Lifespan, Seventh Edition,
please see the DVD Guide for Explorations in Lifespan Development. The DVD and DVD Guide are available through your
Pearson sales representative.
Additional DVDs and streaming videos that may be useful in your class are listed below. They are not available through
your Pearson sales representative, but you can order them directly from the distributors. (See contact information at the end of
this manual.)
Attachment Relationships: Nurturing Healthy Bonds (2010, Insight Media, 28 min.). The development of attachment from birth
to toddlerhood.
Attachment Theory (2013, Films Media Group, 27 min.). Current and historical models of attachment, including the work of
Bowlby and others. A viewable/printable worksheet is available online.
Fathering: What It Means to Be a Dad (2009, Films Media Group, 21 min.). Fathering expert Steve Onell and young fathers
discuss the importance of a father in a child’s life.
Flesh and Blood: Sibling Rivalry (2006, Films Media Group/BBC–Open University, 60 min.).The significance of sibling
rivalry and bonding. Part of the series Child of Our Time.
History of Parenting Practices: Child Development Theories (2006, Films Media Group, 19 min.). The events, policies, and
theories that shaped child rearing in the twentieth century. Online resources are available.
Infants: Social & Emotional Development (2010, Learning Seed, 26 min.). The range of emotions that infants express in the
first year of life, the stages of emotional development, and how children form attachments.
John Bowlby: Attachment Theory Across Generations (2007, Insight Media, 35 min.). The impact of attachment relationships
on adult behavior, including the findings of recent neuroscientific research.
Mary Ainsworth: Attachment and the Growth of Love (2005, Davidson Films, 38 min.). Mary Ainsworth’s research on human
attachment, including footage of the Strange Situation. Narrated by Robert Marvin, PhD.
Toddlers: Social and Emotional Development (2009, Insight Media, 26 min.). Emotional expression among toddlers, including
the roles of gender and temperament.

Copyright © 2018 Laura E. Berk. All Rights Reserved. 79


Copyright © 2018 Laura E. Berk. All Rights Reserved. 80
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
John's flushed face turned very pale; this was the only
sign of emotion which he gave. He let not a word escape
that might betray his secret to Dick, who, having told his
tale, soon afterwards took his leave.

When Widow Carey came home, full of thankful joy,


with the money, she only thought her son unusually silent
and grave—she believed that this was because he was
weary, but she did wonder not a little that his appetite
should have so suddenly left him.

When Mrs. Carey heard afterwards from the baker of


Dick's engagement to Dinah, the mother guessed what it
had been that had cast a gloom over her son. She never
mentioned the girl's name to John, and it never once
passed his lips. The young man felt that his prayer for
guidance had been answered in wisdom and goodness, but
he could not feel thankful then for the blighting of earthly
hopes.

But a time was coming when John Carey could not only
submit, but rejoice that he had been kept from the path
that he had wished to pursue; when he could be grateful
from the bottom of his heart for the blows which had nearly
cost him his life, for the sickness which had wasted his
strength, the disappointment which had wounded his heart.

This was when, about a year afterwards, he brought a


bright, happy young bride to his home, and saw his
mother's eyes beaming with pleasure almost as great as his
own; for Jane was the girl of all others whom the pious
widow would have chosen to dwell with her as the wife of
her son.

"You'll give us your blessing, mother, won't you?" asked


John.
The widow took the strong hand which was held out to
her, joined it to Jane's, and pressed both to her happy
heart.

"Oh! My children," she cried, "may God—your father's


God—give you both grace to go on as you have begun,
walking hand in hand, as pilgrims to a better home—
cheering each other, and helping each other on the way!
Never forget that all earth can give is nothing without God's
blessing; that blessing gives peace and hope in this life, to
be followed by perfect bliss with Him in whose presence is
fulness of joy, and in whose right hand are pleasures for
evermore!"

AN HEIR OF HEAVEN
OR,

A CHRISTIAN IN PRIVILEGE.

CHAPTER I.
The Lonely Cot.

LONELY was the little cottage in which dwelt Silas


Mytton, the hewer and chopper of firewood. It stood in a
corner of a heath, with not another house near it, and all
the winds could sweep over it unchecked from every
quarter. It was a small patched-up place, with one little
window at the side of the door, and above it another
peeping from under the low thatched roof. The cottage had
been scarcely large enough to hold Silas, his wife, and their
five children; but now Mrs. Mytton was dead, and the eldest
boy had gone to sea.

The common looked pleasant enough in the summer,


when the blossoms on the flags showed like white feathers
round the patches of water, and the heather purpled the
ground, and yellow furze dotted it with gold, and geese fed
there, and donkeys browsed, and butterflies fluttered over
the honied wild-flowers.

But a very dreary place looked the common in winter,


when the heath was brown, and the blossoms dead, and the
patches of water grew broader and larger, and all around
them was swamp, till sharp frost turned the water into ice,
and the north wind rushed wildly across the waste, and
covered it with snow. Mytton's cottage was then a dreary
abode indeed, for seldom did any one care to go near it,
and the wind not only swept over but through it, at least so
it seemed to the dwellers therein.

There was a little thatched out-house or shed in front of


the cottage, and from thence, hour after hour, as long as
daylight lasted, might be heard the sound of chopping up
wood. It was by this, that Mytton gained his living; for,
except in harvest-time, and then rarely, he never worked as
a day-labourer for any of the farmers around. Wood-
chopping seemed to come as natural to the Mytton family
as flying does to birds, or swimming to fishes. Mrs. Mytton
had been chopping in the shed but the day before she died,
and on the evening after the poor woman's funeral, when
her sorrowing family returned from the churchyard, they set
to chopping again. Mytton might be seen constantly at
work, with his shirt-sleeves rolled up to his elbows, showing
his hairy freckled arms as he steadily plied the hatchet.

He was a hard-featured, stern-looking man, with rough


grizzled chin, and cheeks shaven but once a month, and his
appearance was that of one who had had a long struggle
with want and care. Mytton's trials, however, had rather
soured than subdued him; he was a prouder man in his
cottage than Sir Marmaduke in his castle. The wood-
chopper was wont to tell his children on winter evenings
how his grandfather's grandfather had been a gentleman,
and a mighty rich one too, who had owned more acres of
land in Shropshire than there were sedges round the pool;
who had kept twenty hunters in his stables, and had gone
up to London once every year in a family coach drawn by
six fine grey horses.

The little Myttons, shivering in their cold cottage, used


to listen to their father's accounts of such grandeur in
bygone days, much as they would have listened to fairy
stories. They knew that they neither fared better, nor
worked the less hard, because they bore the name of some
grand squire who had lived at a time which seemed to them
as far back as that of the Deluge. The fine family coach was
to the young wood-choppers much the same kind of thing
as that which Cinderella's fairy in the story made out of a
pumpkin. When the tale had been told, the cottage children
went to their beds, and thought very little more about the
grandeur of olden times.

All but Amy, the eldest girl, a shy and thoughtful child,
with large forehead and earnest brown eyes, which seemed
never to rest on the objects near her, but to be looking for
something beyond. As Amy's eyes, so was her mind; in her
secluded cottage home, the girl was living in a little world of
her own.

When scrubbing the tile-floor, or mending the linen, or


chopping wood (for girls as well as boys passed most of
their time at this work), Amy's thoughts were full of fancies
suggested by her father's winter tales. She was imagining
the grand times come again—her father living in a turreted
castle ten times as large as Sir Marmaduke's dwelling, and
her brothers—Silas, Ned, and Joe—each mounted on a
prancing white horse with trappings of gold; and her dear
mother dressed out in satin and gems, giving out loaves
every Sunday to hundreds and hundreds of the poor. These
were but foolish fancies, and Amy would have been
ashamed to have told them to any one but little May, her
youngest sister, who would open wide her blue eyes and
think how delightful it would be to ride in a carriage, and
eat roast meat every day in the week!

Amy's foolish day-dreams only lasted till the time when,


at a lady's request to her parents, she attended a village
school, which was nearly two miles from her home. Then
every day the little pale girl, with her bag on her arm, might
be seen crossing the common. Amy was the quickest and
most willing of scholars, her lessons were always well
learned, she was ever ready with her answers, and the
teacher regarded as her best pupil, the thin, stunted, sickly
child, who seemed to take in the meaning of everything
with her eyes.

These were very happy times for poor Amy, though the
walk to and from the school was almost too much for her
strength, and wearily she dragged her limbs along before
she reached her father's cottage. Amy was ill-clad and ill-
fed, her frame had never been hardy; with her nothing
seemed to grow but her mind. At the age of twelve, which
was hers when my story opens, Amy was little taller, and
scarcely as heavy, as her sister May, who was but half that
age.

Amy's happy school-days had not lasted for long. After


the sudden death of her mother, the eldest girl of Mytton
could no longer be spared from home. She must, young and
fragile as she was, do the cleaning and cooking, the
washing and mending, and help with the chopping besides.

Amy never complained, and seldom cried except at


night when every one else was sleeping, but she felt her
mother's loss keenly. She felt also her own weak health, for
her strength was ebbing away day by day. Still the poor
child went on with her labour as long as her small thin
fingers could work; till one day she almost fainted in the
shed, and never more was the chopper to be lifted by Amy
Mytton. She did what she could in the cottage, but that little
grew less and less; a terrible cough racked her frame; her
head drooped as if its weight were too much for her
strength to support, her appetite totally failed her, and Amy
could never keep herself warm.

Mytton did not appear to see the change in his


daughter, or, if he did, it aroused his impatience, not his
tenderness; indeed there was little of tenderness in the
nature of Silas Mytton.

"I wish that you would get rid of that trick of barking,
child!" would be the almost angry exclamation of the father,
when disturbed by the cough which had broken Amy's rest
half through the night.

If, when he drove his bundles of wood in a donkey-cart


to the town, any one who knew poor Amy inquired after her
health, "Oh! she's well enough," he would say. Or, if he
could not say that, Mytton's answer would be, "The child's a
bit pinched with the cold, but she'll be all right in the
spring."

But spring came, and Amy was not all right: the March
winds seemed to chill her slight frame, even more than the
hard frosts of winter. With a bitter spirit Mytton saw his
pale, patient little girl gradually fading away.

"If she'd common comforts, she would do well enough,"


he would mutter. "If she had a rich man for her father, she'd
not live in a cottage which lets the wind in like a sieve,
she'd be wrapped up in velvets and shawls, and have a
score of doctors, and they'd soon get the little one round."

Mytton fell into the common mistake of thinking that


money could do everything, and this had the effect of filling
his soul with malice and envy towards those better off in
the world than himself, as if what the rich possessed were
something taken from the poor.

Mytton had the savage feelings of a man who thinks


that he has been pushed out of a place which is his by right,
and Amy learned to dread anything recalling to her parent
what his grandfather's grandfather had been in the past, for
it always put him out of humour with everything in the
present. Mytton would growl at his hard fare, abuse every
one above him in social position, or, if he were in a silent
mood, hack savagely at his wood, looking as if it were by no
means the only thing which he would willingly chop into
pieces.

Amy's brothers and little sister were so much


accustomed to hear her cough, and see her feeble and
sickly, that it never entered their minds that her illness
might end in death. They had never known Amy strong, and
the change in her was so gradual, that the children who
were with her day after day scarcely noticed it at all.

One March morning, however, little flaxen-haired May


came to her sister with a perplexed and rather troubled
expression on her round, chubby face.

"Amy," she said, laying her thick sun-browned fingers


on the wasted hand of her sister, "when Mrs. Gapp was here
about the wood, what do you think I heard her a-saying to
her husband 'bout you?"

"What was it, dear?" asked Amy.

"She looked at you sad-like and said, (she didn't know I


was a-hearing,) 'She's not long for this world,' says she,
and Gapp, he answered nothing, but he nodded his head so
gravely. Amy, what did she mean?"

A light delicate flush rose on the pale cheek of Amy, and


a strange brightness came into her eyes. She raised them
for a moment towards the blue sky, and then turned them
earnestly, not sadly, on her young sister.

"Did she say that?" asked Amy, softly.

"What did it mean?" repeated May.

"That I may soon go—where dear another has gone,"


murmured Amy, folding her thin little hands, and again
glancing up at the sky.

May, child as she was, was startled at the words and the
look; for the first time it flashed across her mind that her
sister must be very ill.
"You must not go—you shall not go—we can't spare you
—we can't do without you!" cried May, throwing her arms
around her sister, as though to imprison her in their tight,
loving embrace.

One thought possessed the mind of the little rustic for


all the rest of that day, how could she make Amy well? The
child was chidden by her father for being hours absent from
the wood-shed, "after some mischief," as he said, when
poor May had only been employing her clumsy fingers in
stitching up her own pinafore into a pillow-case, and tearing
up paper to stuff it, so that Amy's languid head—that head
which so often was aching—might have a cushion to rest
on. It was with great triumph that May carried her pillow to
Amy in the evening; to have made it all by herself was a
feat, to have invented it was an effort of genius, and the
child thought that her cushion must work a wonderful
charm on her suffering sister.

"Is it not nice—does it not make you feel so comfy?"


asked May, as she placed her somewhat flat and limp paper
cushion over the back of the wooden chair upon which Amy
was seated.

"It is very nice, very comfy, I shall prize it so dearly, for


it is stuffed with love," replied the sick girl, with a faint but
pleasant smile.

CHAPTER II.
Treasure Found.
ON a bright sunny morning in the beginning of April,
Silas Mytton harnessed his donkey to the cart, and led it to
the shed, where he and his two younger sons loaded the
cart with the bundles of wood on the sale of which their
livelihood depended. The air was mild; Amy's chair was
dragged by May to the doorway, where the sunbeams came
streaming in; and there the little invalid sat watching her
father and her brothers, Joe, the elder of the two boys,
standing in the cart to receive the bundles that were tossed
up to him, and pile the firewood in something like order. It
was always with goodwill that the boys helped to load the
wood-cart, for on the days when it went to the town, the
noise of chopping was silenced, and the axe and knife might
lie still on the block in the shed.

"Hard work they've cost us, and little enough they'll


bring us!" muttered Mytton, as the last bundle was put on
the top of the rest. He gave a blow with his stick to the
patient donkey to make it move on, and slowly the wood-
cart creaked along the rough road across the common, Silas
Mytton walking beside it.

May followed it awhile with her eyes, and then ran up to


her sister.

"Amy, you're better, much better!" cried the affectionate


child. "I know you'll soon be quite well."

"What makes you think so?" asked Amy.

"Oh your eyes are so bright, and you look so happy—


happier than you ever have looked since mother died, and
Silas went off to sea."
"I am happy, I was having such pleasant thoughts," said
Amy.

"I daresay you was telling yourself a nice story, such as


you used to tell me," observed May, "about our being very
rich and grand, and wearing—oh I such fine clothes! Very
different from this old thing!" added the child, laughing, as
she touched her father's fustian jacket, which lay across
Amy's knee.

The sick girl had been attempting to put a patch on one


of the sleeves, but the weight even of an old garment
wearied her wasted arms, and she had put it down on her
lap.

"I was thinking of royal robes—white and shining, like


those beautiful clouds up yonder," said Amy, softly, "and
crowns all glittering like the dew on the grass, when the sun
is shining upon it."

"For us to wear?" asked May.

"Yes, for us to wear," replied Amy; and again that


expression of peace and joy which, had struck her little
sister before, lighted up the sick girl's sunken features.

"Oh! Amy, I want you to tell me a story, like as you


used to do," cried May, with eager pleasure. "There's father
gone away with the cart, Joe and Davy are off to see if they
can't find a bird's nest in some hedge-row, there's no one
here but you and me, and won't we be cosy together! I'm
going to make another pillow, for that one's got a bit flat;"
(rather flat it had been from the first, notwithstanding being
often beaten up by the thick little fingers that had made it.)

"Look, I'll bring the three-legged stool and sit at your


feet," continued the child; "but first I'll run and get some
paper to tear up into bits—I know where I can find some,
quite enough for a tiny pillow."

Away ran the little cottager, cheerful and blithe as the


bee that was humming over the common on that sweet
morning in early spring. Her fears for her sister had quite
passed away—childhood is seldom long burdened with
cares. And the discovery of an old bag which might, with
very little trouble, be turned into a tiny pillow-case had
sufficed to make May quite happy.

The child soon returned to Amy, holding up with one


hand her print dress, so as to enable her to early in it a
supply of loose pieces of paper, which she intended to tear
into fragments for stuffing, while with the other hand she
dragged the three-legged stool which was to serve as her
seat.

"I must take care that the wind does not blow all my
paper away!" cried May, as the breeze which she met at the
cottage door sent some fragments fluttering behind her. "I'll
sit with my back to it—just here; or, stay—please hold my
papers for me, Amy, while I run for the bag to put the little
bits into as fast as I tear them up, or they'll be blown all
over the common."

When May returned with the bag, she found Amy


eagerly looking over the papers which had been left in her
charge.

"Oh! May, darling, where did you find these?" exclaimed


Amy, without raising her eyes from her occupation, as soon
as she heard the step of her little sister.

"In the boys' room," replied May; "them papers was all
turned out of the old box that Joe made into the hen-roost;
it was full of dirty old papers that warn't no use to nobody."
"No use!" exclaimed Amy, with unwonted energy. "Oh!
May, look—look—here are leaves from a Bible, from God's
own Word! I am so happy, so thankful to get them!" And
the sick girl pressed a fragment, yellow with age, to her
lips.

"I thought you'd a whole Bible of your own—what you


got at the school as a prize," said May, who did not share,
nor understand the pleasure of her sister on finding a few
torn leaves.

"I gave it to Silas, 'twas my parting present, and oh!


How I've longed for a sight of a Bible since!" exclaimed
Amy, whose affection for her brother had led her to make
what had been to her a sacrifice indeed. "And now God
sends me these precious papers! Let's gather out every
piece, May, that has any of the Word printed upon it."

"Not such a little scrap as this surely," said May, picking


up a small fragment that had fallen on the ground.

"Let us see what that little scrap holds," said Amy, and
taking it from May she read aloud, "'an inheritance
undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven
for'—" *

Here the paper was torn, it contained but a part of a


verse. But the gaze of Amy rested on it with joy as she
cried, "May, May, these few words describe what we look
for, long for, the Home prepared up above!"

* 1 Peter i. 4.

"I don't know what they mean," said May; "what is that
long word ''heritance?'"
"It has something to do with coming into property, I
think," replied Amy. "Don't you remember what father said
yesterday evening about the great inheritance in Shropshire
which some one of our name had a long long time ago?"

"Oh! That meant the great house, with all the hundreds
and thousands of acres about it that we hear about, but
never see!" laughed May.

"But we believe—we believe that there is such place,"


said Amy.

"I don't care much about it, for I know I shall never
have it!" cried May.

"But if you believed that you might have it, that you
certainly would have it one day, that it had been bought and
was reserved—that means kept for you, would you care
then?" asked Amy, with an eagerness which brought on a
violent fit of coughing.

It was some time before she had recovered her


breathing sufficiently to enable her to go on with the
conversation. As soon, however, as Amy could speak, she
continued, but in a fainter tone, "Now, May, this is just what
I believe about the inheritance in Heaven, undefiled, and
that fadeth not away. I believe that there is a bright, happy,
glorious Home which the Lord Jesus bought for us, for me,
for you, with His own precious blood, and which He is
keeping for us, until He has made us ready to enter in, and
dwell there for ever."

"You mean when we die?" said May very gravely,


looking full into the pallid face of her sister; the fear which
she had dismissed was rising up again in the mind of the
child.
"Oh! What is dying to a Christian! It is going home—
getting possession," cried Amy, faintly but joyfully. "His
treasure is in Heaven, and he is going to enjoy it! You
should have heard, May, how our teacher used to speak of
the beautiful land above!

"'There fairer bowers than Eden bloom,


Nor sin nor sorrow see—'"

Again the cough interrupted the words of the young


invalid. Amy, after the fit was over, leaned back on her
pillow in a state of exhaustion.

May ran and brought her some water; Amy drank it,
and smiled.

"You must not speak, it makes you cough so," said May.

"I mayn't have much time left for speaking, darling,"


faltered Amy; "and I wish so much to tell you things that
may make you happy, as I am, when God has taken me up
to my Home. May, what does it matter now to that Mytton
who lived so long long ago that he was so rich and so great,
had servants and horses in plenty, and all else that money
could get! He had his inheritance, but he could not keep it,
he could not take anything with him into his grave."

"But he may have been a good man," observed May,


"some rich people are good, you know."

"If he was a real, true Christian, as I hope he was," said


Amy, "then he left his earthly inheritance for one ten million
times better! See, May, see, here is another description of it
in this leaf torn from the Bible; listen how beautiful it is:

"'The street of the city was pure gold, as it


were transparent glass. And I saw no temple
therein, for the Lord God Almighty and the
Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no
need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in
it; for the glory of God did lighten it, and the
Lamb is the light thereof.'" *

* Rev. xxi. 21, 22, 23.

"Who is the Lamb?" asked May, who had listened with a


kind of wondering awe.

"The Lord Jesus Christ," replied Amy, pronouncing the


sacred Name with reverence. "He is called the Lamb,
because as a lamb was killed by the Jews in the old-old
times as a sacrifice for sin, so the Blessed Saviour was
killed as a Sacrifice for the sins of all mankind. He is 'the
Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world.' † That
is the wonderful history which I used to read in my Bible.
May, the Lord suffered, willingly suffered all the pain that
cruel men could inflict, that He might wash away our sins,
and make us the heirs of Heaven. Was not that wonderful
love! He lay, as a Babe, in a manger, and died, as a Man, on
a cross, that we might dwell in glorious mansions and live
for ever and ever. Was not that love—oh! Such love!"

† John i. 29.
Amy closed her eyes, and May, glancing up at her sister,
could see that their lashes were moist with tears.

The little child laid her hand upon Amy's. "We will love
the Lord too," said she.

Amy opened her eyes, and, smiling on May, softly


murmured, "'We love Him because He first loved us.' * It is
so sweet to love the Lord Jesus, and rest on His love; to
serve Him now, and then see Him, as I hope to do—very
soon."

* 1 John iv. 19.

There was nothing more said on the subject at that


time. May busied herself in carefully separating every
fragment of the torn Bible from the rest of the papers which
she had brought, putting "the holy words," as she called
them, into her bag.

Amy intended to stitch them all carefully together, to


keep as a treasure, when she should have strength to sort
and arrange them. In the meantime, the few verses which
she had read to May were as manna for her soul to feed on.

In her coarse, faded black print dress, seated at the


door of her humble home, with deadly sickness upon her,
the cottager's child felt happy and rich; was she not,
through redeeming love, an heir of the kingdom of light and
glory? Yea, far firmer than the mountains stands the
promise of Christ to the lowly believer, "Blessed are the
poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." †

† Matt. v. 3.
CHAPTER III.
A Search.

"HOW late father is of coming back," cried Joe, as he


entered the cottage, flushed and heated, after a long
ramble with his brother. Sunburned little peasants were
they, clad in coarse garments which, with their rough wear,
gave plenty of work to Amy's thin fingers.

"You've been a-clamberin' and scrambling about,"


observed little May. "Joe, your smock is torn right down the
side, and, David, the brim is nigh off your straw hat—a bit
o' yer hair is sticking through."

"You'll give a stitch or two, and make the old thing hold
together!" cried David, tossing the hat to Amy. "It ain't fit
for a scarecrow. That rich old Mytton, as father talks on,
he'd ha' stared could he ha' seen what his grand-grand-
children would ha' come to!"

"Oh! That old Mytton, I think he was the man in the


moon!" laughed Joe. "I don't believe a word about that big
carriage and six grey horses. But I say, what's become of
father, I thought he'd ha' been back afore now."

"I hope father's sold the wood, or won't he be in a way,


and won't we catch it!" cried May.
"He was going not only to sell but to buy at the town,"
observed Amy. "Father promised to get a nice new bit of
print for you, May, for I told him I'd mended and patched
that frock of yours as long as I could, but that now it's all
coming to pieces, let me do what I will, it's so old."

"I don't think as how it ever was new!" cried Joe. "You
wore it at first yourself as long back as I can remember,
Amy."

"Ah! There's father coming! I can see him over the


common!" exclaimed May eagerly, for the purchase of a
new frock was a great event to the child.

"And there's no wood left in the cart, I'm glad of that,"


observed David. "But sure Dobbin must be lame, he's a-
going so slow. There's father a-whacking him well; but he
don't go much the faster."

The sound of Mytton's blows on the back of the patient,


plodding creature always gave pain to Amy's kindly heart.
She would never have willingly inflicted pain on any of
God's creatures, least of all upon one that had long and
faithfully served her.

The children went out to meet their father, all but Amy,
who was so feeble that to rise unaided from the chair upon
which she was seated was an effort almost beyond her
strength. The poor girl could tell from the tone of Mytton's
voice before he entered the cottage that he was out of
temper, and inclined to quarrel with all the world.

"Take the beast out of the cart, boys; he's not worth the
thistles that he crops! I don't believe I could get five
shillings for the lazy brute if I sold him to-morrow. And
there was Sir Marmaduke, with his two spanking bays,"
continued Mytton, as he crossed the threshold of his humble
little dwelling, "whirling along the highway, covering me
with his dust, and nigh driving over cart, donkey, and all; a
fellow whose grandfather was a manufacturer, and spun all
his money out of sheep's wool!" Mytton threw himself down
on a seat, pulled off his felt cap, and wiped his heated brow
with his hand; a handkerchief was a thing of which he did
not boast the possession.

"Did you buy the print for me, father?" cried May, who
had followed Mytton into the cottage.

"No," the man answered sharply.

"Oh! You forgot it!" exclaimed May, in a tone of


disappointment.

"I didn't forget it, I was in the shop, the fellow behind
the counter was just going to serve me, when a fine open
carriage pulls up at the door, and Sir Marmaduke flings the
horses' reins to his liveried lackey and gets out. Of course, I
had to stand back to let the fine gentleman pass, I whose
ancestor kept a coach-and-six, when he, maybe, was a-
running barefoot behind it!" Mytton looked unutterable
scorn as he spoke. "He'd come to ask after the yellow satin
he'd ordered for his drawing-room curtains; yellow satin,
forsooth! Every yard of it costing as much as I'd earn in a
week by my labour! I didn't choose to stand there waiting
till a sneak of a shopman had done bowing and fawning and
smiling to the great man, whose fortune had sprung up like
a mushroom, so I turned on my heel and went out. I'm as
good a man as Sir Marmaduke any day, for all his
swaggering pride!"

Any one who had seen the sneer on the lip of the
peasant might have guessed, and would have guessed truly,
that there was more of pride under his blue smock, than

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