Freud_Burlingham_1943_War_and_Children_k_text

manner in which the London population on thewhole met the air raids is therefore responsiblein one way for the extremely rare occurrenceof "shocked" children.An instance of this is the experience a medicalcolleague had a few days after London firein the St. Pancras Dispensary. A motherappeared as out-patient with her little girl offive. When asked what was the matter withthe child she simply said: "I think she has acough and a bit of a cold".When asked about its beginnings, she said"Being taken out from the warmth into thecold might be responsible".When questioned further she gave the information,bit by bit, that she and the little girlhad been regular shelterers in a big basementshelter under a warehouse. The buildingabove them, like so many others, had caughtfire and been destroyed. The exits of the shelterwere blocked, but a rescue party had comeand dragged the shelterers out one by one.She said: "As a matter of fact, I have beenquite worried about the little one because fora while they could not find her".It was the transition from this blazing furnaceof the shelter to the cold December airwhich had given the child "the cough and abit of a cold". We can be certain that thisparticular child, protected and fortified by33