Page:First steps in mental growth (1906).djvu/74

 was not so much an imitation of the figure as of the hand-movements made in drawing the triangles: he took but little notice of the figure before him. On the twenty-first day of the thirty-first month, the child made an unmistakable effort to copy an O which had been drawn for him. Circular figures had been made to stand for O prior to that date, but they had not been made with the care and deliberation which marked the making of O on the day named. Instead of the round and round pencil movement which was made usually in drawing all sorts of figures, the motion, on the latter date, was slow and painstaking, and the result, for unpracticed fingers, was good. (See Fig. 5, p. 69.)

Seventh Stage.—The gradual differentiation of forms and the appearance of a particular kind of figure to represent each of the child's favorite drawing subjects. Beginning with R.'s thirty-second month the circular figure gradually came to be reserved to represent "O" and ball, while figures bearing some resemblance to one or more features of horses and men were drawn to represent those objects. For example, on the seventh day of the thirty-second month the child represented "Jack" (a horse) by first drawing a line more or less straight, then drawing a variable number of lines (representing