When one regards the remarkable child, not from the viewpoint of any one-sided theory, but, as is proper, in a large, impartial way, one can boldly say—­and it is perhaps the best thing one could possibly say of her—­that for her years she is the cleverest person of her time.  And that is indeed saying a great deal; for how seldom do we find harmonious culture in people two years old?  The strongest of the many strong proofs of her inward perfection is her serene self-complacency.  After she has eaten she always spreads both her little arms out on the table, and resting her cunning head on them with amusing seriousness, she makes big eyes and casts cute glances at the family all around her.  Then she straightens up and with the most vivid expression of irony on her face, smiles at her own cuteness and our inferiority.  She is full of buffoonery and has a nice appreciation of it.  When I imitate her gestures, she immediately copies my imitation; thus we have created a mimic language of our own and make each other understand by means of pantomime hieroglyphics.

For poetry, I think, she has far more inclination than for philosophy; so also she likes to ride better than to walk, which last she does only in case of necessity.  The ugly cacophony of our mother-tongue here in the north melts on her tongue into the sweet and mellow euphony of Italian and Hindu speech.  She is especially fond of rhymes, as of everything else that is beautiful; she never grows tired of saying and singing over and over again to herself, one after the other, all her favorite little verses—­as it were, a classic selection of her little pleasures.  Poetry binds the blossoms of all things together into a light garland, and so little Wilhelmina talks in rhyme about regions, times, events, persons, toys and things to eat—­all mixed together in a romantic chaos, every word a picture.  And she does all that without any qualifications or artistic transitions, which after all only aid the understanding and impede the free flight of the fancy.

For her fancy everything in nature is alive and animate.  I often recall with pleasure the first time she ever saw and felt of a doll.  She was not more than a year old.  A divine smile lighted up her little face, as she pressed an affectionate kiss on the painted wooden lips.  Surely there lies deep in the nature of man an impulse to eat anything he loves, to lift to his mouth every new object and there, if possible, reduce it to its original, constituent parts.  A wholesome thirst for knowledge impels him to seize the object, penetrate into its interior and bite it to pieces.  On the other hand, touching stops at the surface, while grasping affords only imperfect, mediate knowledge.  Nevertheless it is a very interesting spectacle, when a bright child catches sight of another child, to watch her feel of it and strive to orient herself by means of those antennae of the reason.  The strange baby creeps quietly away and hides himself, while the little philosopher follows him up and goes busily on with her manual investigation.