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

Child's Play 235
own conduct smartly reprimanded. And then
the child, mind you, acts his parts. He does
not merely repeat them to himself; he leaps,
he runs, and sets the blood agog over all his
body. And so his play breathes him ; and
he no sooner assumes a passion than he gives
it vent. Alas ! when we betake ourselves
to our intellectual form of play, sitting quietly
by the fire or lying prone in bed, we rouse
many hot feelings for which we can find no
outlet. Substitutes are not acceptable to
the mature mind, which desires the thing
itself; and even to rehearse a triumphant
dialogue with one's enemy, although it is
perhaps the most satisfactory piece of play
still left within our reach, is not entirely
satisfying, and is even apt to lead to a visit
and an interview which may be the reverse
of triumphant after all.
In the child's world of dim sensation, play
is all in all. " Making believe " is the gist
of his whole life, and he cannot so much as
take a walk except in character. I could
not learn my alphabet without some suitable