Non-Fiction > Books > London, 1887 - Virginibus Puerisque, and other papers

Child's Play 233
same people and these same thoughts, that
not long hence, when they are on the theatre
of life, will make you weep and tremble.
For children think very much the same
thoughts and dream the same dreams, as
bearded men and marriageable women. No
one is more romantic. Fame and honour,
the love of young men and the love of
mothers, the business man's pleasure in
method, all these and others they anticipate
and rehearse in their play hours. Upon us,
who are further advanced and fairly dealing
with the threads of destiny, they only glance
from time to time to glean a hint for their
own mimetic reproduction. Two children
playing at soldiers are far more interesting
to each other than one of the scarlet beings
whom both are busy imitating. This is
perhaps the greatest oddity of all. " Art for
art " is their motto ; and the doings of grown
folk are only interesting as the raw material
for play. Not Theophile Gautier, not Flau-
bert, can look more callously upon life, or
rate the reproduction more highly over the