d of some crime, and figuring out how he
could establish an alibi or otherwise prove his innocence. But fear
daydreams also include _worry_, which seems at first to be an
altogether unpleasant state of mind, forced upon us and not indulged
in as most daydreams are. Yet, as the worry is often entirely
needless, it cannot be said to be forced upon a person, but must have
some motive. There must be some satisfaction in it, in spite of all
appearance.

Some abnormal cases of worry suggest the theory that the fear is but a
cloak for unacknowledged desire. Take this extreme case. A young man,
"tied to the apron-strings" of a too affectionate and too domineering
mother, has a strong desire to break loose and be an independent unit
in the world; but at the same time, being much attached to his mother,
he is horrified by this desire. She goes on a railroad journey without
him--just an ordinary journey with no special danger--but all the time
she is away he is in an agony of suspense lest the train may be
wrecked. Such an abnormal degree of worry calls for explanation.
Well--did not the worry perhaps conceal a wish, a wish that the train
_might_ be wrecked? So he would be set free without any painful effort
on his part; and he {498} was a young man who shrank from all effort.
The psychopathologist who studied the case concluded that this was
really the explanation of the worry.

If, however, we take such extreme cases as typical and cynically apply
this conception to all worries, we shall make many mistakes. A student
worries unnecessarily about an examination; therefore, he desires to
fail. A mother worries because her child is late in getting home;
therefore, she wants to be rid of that child. Thus, by being too
psychopathological, we reach many absurd conclusions in everyday life;
for it is the child that is loved that is worried over, and it is the
examination that the student specially wishes to pass that he fears he
has flunked.

Worry is a sort of substitute reaction, taking the place of real
action when no real action is possible. The student has done all he
can do; he has prepared for the examination, and he has taken the
examination; now there is nothing to do except wait; so that the
rational course would be to dismiss the matter from his mind; if he
cannot accomplish that, but must do something, then the only thing he
can do is to speculate and worry. So also the mother, in her
uncertainty regarding her child, is