INTELLECTUAL ABILITY
There is a collection of many records showing H's reactions and opinions from infancy up to the age of 9 or 10. These contain apt comments, sage remarks, and discriminating judgments. They reveal a lively intellectual curiosity and a socialized attitude.
H's parents have preserved copies of poems and short plays that H has written. A collection of the "best ones," selections written between 5.5 and 8.5 years of age, covers seventeen typewritten pages. Among them are the following.
If I had Aladdin's lamp, you see,
I'd give one wish to you and me.
And then we'd wish for every toy,
That every child should have some joy.
Age 5 years 6 months
On the clover fields he roams,
In the mountains,
At the homes,
Makes the trees and flowers grow,
And manufactures pure, white snow.
—God—
Age 8 years 6 months
There was an old soldier
He was all dressed in brown
This soldier had an honor—
He was known all over town.
This old soldier had a misfortune,
That was known too.
His beard it covered his medal,
And people couldn't see through.
Age 8 years 6 months
There are in the collection brief stories, continued tales, short verses, longer poems, dialogues, and plays divided into scenes, with appropriate stage instructions.
From after the tenth year there is an undated poem, submitted to the examiner September 19, 1939, by the aunt of H. This poem, entitled "The Gospel of Intolerance," won a prize in a poetry contest. Of it the aunt writes:
It was fished out from the wastebasket by my sister. To the question why she had thrown away the "Gospel of Intolerance," H answered that she did not think it was worth keeping, that she had no particular idea in mind when writing it, and that she was just practicing on the typewriter and thought of the phrase "They said no," and then the rest just came by itself. Incidentally, H has never read the Bible.