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

234 Child's Play
reality ; and they will parody an execution,
a deathbed, or the funeral of the young man
of Nain, with all the cheerfulness in the
world.
The true parallel for play is not to be
found, of course, in conscious art, which,
though it be derived from play, is itself an
abstract, impersonal thing, and depends
largely upon philosophical interests beyond
the scope of childhood. It is when we make
castles in the air and personate the leading
character in our own romances, that we
return to the spirit of our first years. Only,
there are several reasons why the spirit is no
longer so agreeable to indulge. Nowadays,
when we admit this personal element into
our divagations we are apt to stir up uncom-
fortable and sorrowful memories, and remind
ourselves sharply of old wounds. Our day-
dreams can no longer lie all in the air like a
story in the Arabian Nights ; they read to
us rather like the history of a period in which
we ourselves had taken part, where we come
across many unfortunate passages and find our