only solution. And all this turmoil is kept within
the heart of the sufferer. To the outsider the boy, the girl, is merely
"cranky" or "contrary." If not constantly nagged at and reproved for his
awkwardness at home, he is sure to have it ridiculed by his schoolmates,
particularly by those of the opposite sex. He cannot help being
round-shouldered and loose-jointed, with protruding shoulder-blades and
awkward motions; and the pathos of it is, he thinks he must always
remain so, an ugly failure and a laughing-stock to the community. The
effect this has upon him will depend upon his temperament. Very
sensitive and fine natures often instinctively seek to cover the real
trouble by exaggerating the defects in every way possible,--making
believe they do it all on purpose, and acting the clown and the ruffian,
giving way to the irritability natural to the condition with a sort of
reckless despair which is sure to be misunderstood and censured by
those he loves best. When this stage is reached, it is easy for him to
imagine himself a social outcast, a useless encumbrance that nobody
loves, a clumsy dolt that nobody likes to have about. Again he may
become sullen, morose, resentful, and suspicious toward all about him.
Or, a timid nature may become more timid, shrinking, weak of will, and
despondent concerning life in general; or the subject may show an
exaggerated egotism which seeks by sheer intrusion of self to force
everything else aside.

In the course of a few years he grows out of these difficulties, but the
suffering he underwent may have made such an impression upon his
excessively sensitive nerve centres that he never entirely recovers from
it, and may be controlled by it in ways he does not suspect all the rest
of his life.

It is needless to say that a large part of this suffering could be
averted by knowledge on the part of the parents and of other adults with
whom the youth comes in contact, as well as on the part of the youth
himself. What he most needs in his "awkward age" is sympathy, patience,
firmness, and instruction, and his physical defects should never be
ridiculed. Perhaps nothing is more helpful to youth at this stage than
to have its vagaries treated seriously. Wonderful dreams of future glory
and accomplishment, remarkable theories of the universe, astounding
schemes for impossible inventions, new Utopias, wild adventures, and at
times even questionable escapades are the natural and luxurious growth