One must look then for the cause of
this, not in the fact that one's awkwardness and inefficiency is
likely to be blamed by those of one's own circle, but simply in the
terror of the unknown and the unfamiliar. It is probably therefore
an old inherited instinct, coming from a time when the sight of a
stranger might contain in it a menace of some hostile usage. If one
questions a shy boy or girl as to what it is they are afraid of in
the presence of strangers, they are quite unable to answer. They are
not afraid of anything that will be said or done; and yet they will
have become intensely conscious of their own appearance and
movements and dress, and will be quite unable to command themselves.
That it is a thing which can be easily cured is obvious from the
fact which I often observed when I was a schoolmaster, that as a
rule the boys who came from houses where there was much
entertaining, and a constant coming and going of guests, very rarely
suffered from such shyness. They had got used to the fact that
strangers could be depended upon to be kind and friendly, and
instead of looking upon a new person as a possible foe, they
regarded him as a probable friend.
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