1) General comments:
I have spent much of the past two days in the company of Humphrey Fernley. Some of my observations surprised me.

He is very naive, as one might expect of a child who has been immured, however benignly, in a tower for 28 years. However, he maintains a lively curiosity. He has read extensively from Sir Charles' library, and seems to have a good memory for what he has read.

His knowledge of chemistry and mathematics is very good, and he is conversant in Natural History and Natural Philosophy in areas that interest Sir Charles.

He speaks well on some topics, because he can quote from numerous books he has read. His handwriting is clear and precise.

He has very little exposure to History, Literature, the Arts. I found he knew Shakespeare's works fairly well, and seemed to have an almost guilty pleasure in "The Tempest" in particular and much of "Twelfth Night."
I was not surprised that Sir Charles had not allowed any copies of Mrs Shelley's novel to fall into his hands. This protection should continue for at least the next year, depending on Humphrey's reaction to other works of fiction.

He knows almost nothing of recent history, much less current news. I would recommend a course in Geography and recent history. He will probably absorb more details of this knowledge than other children of his apparent age.

Even though Humphrey is very naive and childlike, he is not normal, and will likely need to exert conscious effort to appear even mostly normal. For this reason, I counsel that Humphrey be made fully aware of the differences between himself and other children, and given the information he needs to pretend to be like other children when he wants or needs to do so.

If one wished to help him appear more like other children of his apparent age, he would need time to observe other children at play, and he would need to learn some of the common games and activities.

Because children of 8 years and older can be very cruel and are likely to single out any child who is much different, I would suggest that Humphrey be introduced first to playing with children quite a bit younger than himself

There may be limits to Humphrey's ability to blend in with other people. Some of his physical peculiarities become subtly unnerving to other people–such as the lack of blush response and the much slower rate of blinking.

I have noted a general lower tone of emotion in Humphrey, which is not surprising. He also lacks a certain amount of the drive and restlessness which would have made a normal growing child very unhappy to remain in such seclusion. Fortunately, Humphrey appears to have a gentle nature with indications of affection for his father, and an eagerness to please and to make friends.

The fact that he will never actually mature may limit his intellectual and social development; nevertheless, the opportunities for learning should be offered him in the interest of giving him as much enjoyment of life as he is capable of feeling.

2) Summary of Recommendations:

Recommended for Intellectual Development:
-History, especially Recent History and current events
-Geography
-Literature, starting with
-modern works for boys
-classical works such as Homer's "Iliad." Give him both a translated version and a Greek version and see what he makes of it.
(Note: It may be important to identify and emphasise the difference between fiction and non-fiction, as Humphrey lacks the experience to judge the likelihood of any given chain of events)
-avoid popular fiction such as dime novels for the present. These may be helpful later, but make sure the judgement of fiction and non-fiction has been reasonably well established.
-Arts:
a small dose of Theatre may be useful, but start with a puppet show, and graduate to a modest production by the local Theatrical club. When the understanding of Theatre as fiction is well established, he would very likely enjoy a quality production of one of the plays he enjoys reading.
A visit to an Art Museum will certainly be instructive for Humphrey.
-Drawing: always useful for the scientifically inclined

Recommended for Social Development:
-allow observation of 10-year-old children at play
-initiate practice of games played by children
-arrange for play with younger children to practice blending in
Continuing assessment will be needed in this area.

Submitted Tuesday, 17 January 1871
by Ruth E Frazer

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