Sentence-forming is still very imperfect: is smoke means "that is smoke" and "there is smoke"; and kommt Locomotiwe stands for "da kommt eine oder die Locomotive" (There comes a, or the, engine). At sight of the bath-tub, however, the child says six times in quick succession Da kommt kalt Wasser rein, Marie (Cold water is to go in here, Mary). He frequently makes remarks on matters of fact, e. g., warm out there. If he has broken a flower-pot, a bandbox, a glass, he says regularly, of his own accord, Frederick glue again, and he reports faithfully every little fault to his parents. But when a plaything or an object interesting to him vexes him, he says, peevishly, stupid thing, e. g., to the carpet, which he can not lift; and he does not linger long over one play. His occupation must be changed very often.
The imitations are now again becoming less frequent than in the past months, and expressions not understood are repeated rather for the amusement of the family than unconsciously; thus, Ach Gott (Oh God!) and wirklich grossartig (truly grand). Yet the child sometimes sings in his sleep, several seconds at a time, evidently dreaming.
The pronunciation of the "sch," even in the favorite succession of words, Ganzes Batalljohn marss (for "marsch") eins, zwei, is imperfect, and although no person of those about him pronounces the "st" in "Stall, stehen" otherwise than as "scht," the child keeps persistently to S-tall, s-tehen. The pronunciation "scht" began in the last six months of the fourth year of his life, and in the forty-sixth month it completely crowded out the "st," which seems the more remarkable as the child was taken care of by a Mecklenburg woman from the beginning of the fourth year.
In the thirty-second month the "I" began to displace his own name. Mir (gib mir) and mich (bitte heb mich herauf, please lift me up) had already appeared in the twenty-ninth to the thirty-first month; ich komme gleich, Geld möcht ich haben (I am coming directly, I should like money), are new acquirements. If he is asked "Who is I?" the answer is, der Axel. But he still speaks in the third person frequently; e. g., the child says, speaking of himself, da ist er wieder (here he is again), Axel auch haben (Axel have, too), and mag-ĕ nicht, thus designating himself at this period in fourfold fashion, by I, he, Axel, and by the omission of all pronouns and names. Although bitte setz mich auf den Stuhl (Please put me on the chair) is learned from hearing it said for him, yet the correct application of the sentence, which he makes of himself daily from this time on, must be regarded as an important advance. The same is true of the forming of clauses, which is now beginning to take place, as in Weiss nicht, wo es ist (Don't know where it is). New also is the separation of the particle in compound verbs, as in fällt immer um (keeps tumbling over).
Longer and longer names and sentences are spoken with perfect distinctness, but the influence of the dialect of the neighborhood is occasionally perceptible. His nurse is the one who talks most with him. She is from the Schwarzwald, and from her comes the omission of the "n" at the end of words, as in Kännche, trocke. Besides, the confounding of the surd, "p," with the sonant, "b" (putter), is so frequent that it may well be taken from the Thuringian dialect, like the confounding of "eu" and "ei" (heit). The only German sounds that still present great difficulties are "sch" and "chts" (in "nichts").
The memory of the child has indeed improved, but it has become somewhat fastidious. Only that which seems interesting and intelligible to the child impresses itself permanently; on the other hand, useless and unintelligible verses learned by rote, that persons have taught him, though seldom, for fun, are forgotten after a few days.
In the thirty-third month the strength of memory already mentioned for certain experiences shows itself in many characteristic remarks. Thus the child, again absent from home with his parents for some weeks, says almost every evening, gleich blasen die Soldaten (the soldiers, i. e., the band, will play directly), although no soldier is to be seen in the country far and wide. But at home the music was actually to be heard every evening.
At sight of a cock in his picture-book the child says, slowly, Das ist der Hahn—kommt immer—das ganze Stück fortnehmt—von der Hand—und laüft fort ("That is the cock—keeps coming—takes away the whole piece—out of the hand—and runs off"). This narrative—the longest yet given, by the way—has reference to the feeding of the fowls, on which occasion the cock had really carried off a piece of bread. The doings of animals in general excited the attention of the child greatly. He is capable even of forgetting to eat, in order to observe assiduously the movements of a fly. Jetzt geht in die Zeitung—geht in die Milch! Fort Thier! Geh fort! Unter den Kaffee! (Now he is going into the newspaper—going into the milk! Away, creature! go away! into the coffee!) His interest is very keen for other moving objects also, particularly locomotives.
How little clearness there is in his conceptions of animal and machine, however, appears from the fact that both are addressed in the same way. When his father's brother comes, the child says, turning to his father, neuer (new) Papa; he has not, therefore, the slightest idea of that which the word "father" signifies. Naturally he can have none. Yet selfhood (Ichheit) has come forth at this period in considerably sharper manifestation. He cries, Das Ding haben! das will ich, das will ich, das will ich, das Spiel möcht ich haben! (Have the thing! I want it, I should like the game.) To be sure, when one says "komm, ich knöpfs dir zu" (come, I will button it for you), the child comes, and says, as an echo, ich knöpfs dir zu (I will button it for you), evidently meaning, "Button it for me"! He also confounds zu viel (too much) with zu wenig (too little), nie (never) with immer (always), heute (to-day) with gestern (yesterday); on the contrary, the words und, sondern, noch, mehr, nur, bis, wo (and, but, still, more, only, till, where) are always used correctly. The most striking mistakes are those of conjugation, which is still quite erroneous (e. g., getrinkt and getrunkt along with getrunken), and of articulation, the "sch" (dsen for "schön") being only seldom pure, mostly given as "s" or "ts." "Toast" is called Toos and Dose.
After the first thousand days of his life had passed, the observation of him was continued daily, but not the record in writing. Some particulars belonging to the following months may be noted: