DRAWING
53
the thing he wanted to make. It also often happened, in the course of his scribbling, that he fancied he saw another figure in the scrawls, and this fancied figure instead of being looked upon as an intruder was often hailed with delight, showing that the original image, whatever it was like, did not exercise much, if any, influence over his hand-movements.
It is suggested by a number of writers that the child's poor showing in drawing is due to his rich endowment of imaging power which enables him to transform the most unpromising scrawls into likenesses of real objects; that when he makes an awkward looking circle, or scratches back and forth, or makes a number of detached marks that these are sufficient to call up in his mind vivid images of his model, just as in the adult a few notes from a familiar tune often revive an entire musical selection, or a few skilful strokes of a pencil are enough to call to mind a familiar face.
With reference to this theory it may be said that although children of the age we are now considering —one and a half to three— do have pretty active imaginations, it is well to remember that rich and varied imaging requires a wealth of perceptual material, clear and definite, not possessed by the average child under three years of age. For this reason, the writer is not disposed to attach great importance to the "vivid imagination" theory as an explanation of the defects usually found in young children's drawings. In this connection, may be mentioned a third consideration which must be taken into account in explaining the imperfections of the early drawings of children; the fact, namely, that what one may call the "observing power" of little children is weak. They do not see many things in a given situation, and the few they do see, they see very imperfectly. Their images must of necessity, therefore, be vague, indefinite, and crude in every way. This fact, together with the lack of technical skill mentioned above, ex-