Another kind of indirection that is very interesting is that of a boy who ostensibly is talking to one, but everything which he is saying is intended for another. This is sometimes extended into a sort of pleasant teasing and scuffling in which the very one whom he wants to touch is very carefully avoided. A further phase of the same thing is shown by the embrace or caress that is given to one while the emotional discharge goes out to some one else; as for example, a boy under the influence of a meeting with the girl whom he had begun to love but to whom he had made no confession, went home and walked up to his sister, put his arms about her neck and kissed her. The action was so unusual as both to surprise the sister and to arouse her intelligent suspicions. Goethe makes much use of this type of emotional discharge in his Elective Affinities, and Tennyson alludes to it in the lines,

Dear as remembered kisses after death, And sweet as those by hopeless fancy feigned On lips that are for others. Such manifestations are not far removed from those that are shown to pet animals and to persons of the same sex, reference to which has previously been made. Previous to the age of about nine the girl is more aggressive than the boy in love affairs. At this age her modesty, coyness and native love for being wooed, come to the surface and thereafter characterize her attitude toward the opposite sex. TYPICAL CASES.

Case 1. A boy of eight confessed through a girl's friends his love for the girl. Then on the playground he did little favors for her as though they were matters of course. If attention was in any way called to his acts of kindness he would lightly dismiss the affair with Oh, that's nothin', always showing embarrassment at the fact that his favoritism had been observed. In writing about it the girl says: I liked him very much and enjoyed being near him on the playground, but was very much embarrassed when he spoke to me; so about all the pleasure that I got out of this little romance was in watching him as he would try to gain my attention and good-will while we were all at play.

Case 2. In a case that continued from seven to thirteen the writer says: I wanted to stand by him in the game, but would never make the effort to get the situationalthough it always came about. He sent me very pretty valentines, but was very careful that I should not find out who sent them. When we met on the street we would both blush, and a strange feeling would possess me that I did not have on any other occasion. My bliss was complete when I was walking down the street and he overtook me although we could say nothing to each other.