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

240 ChilcVs Play
children. Surely they dwell in a mytho-
logical epoch, and are not the contemporaries
of their parents. What can they think of
them ? what can they make of these bearded
or petticoated giants who look down upon
their games? who move upon a cloudy
Olympus, following unknown designs apart
from rational enjoyment ? who profess the
tenderest solicitude for children, and yet
every now and again reach down out of their
altitude and terribly vindicate the preroga-
tives of age ? Off goes the child, corporally
smarting, but morally rebellious. Were there .
ever such unthinkable deities as parents ? I
would give a great deal to know what, in
nine cases out of ten, is the child's unvar-
nished feeling. A sense of past cajolery ; a
sense of personal attraction, at best very
feeble ; above all, I should imagine, a sense
of terror for the untried residue of mankind :
go to make up the attraction that he feels.
No wonder, poor little heart, with such a
weltering world in front of him, if he clings
to the hand he knows ! The dread irration-