Non-Fiction > Books > London, 1881 - Virginibus Puerisque, and other papers

256 Chilcrs Play.
himself up, whenever he came to play, with an
elaborate ston- of enchantment, and take the
missile as a sort of talisman bandied about in
conflict between two Arabian nations.
To think of such a frame of mind, is to
become disquieted about the bringing up of
children. Surely they dwell in a mythological
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 un-
known 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 unvarnished feel-