Collected works > Edinburgh edition, 1894-98 - Works of Robert Louis Stevenson > Volume 11, 1895 - Miscellanies, Volume III

CHILD'S PLAY
sideways by the inexorable nurse as by a sort of
destiny, but still staring at the bright object in their
wake. It may be some minutes before another such
moving spectacle reawakens them to the world in
which they dwell. For other children, they almost
invariably show some intelligent sympathy. ' There
is a fine fellow making mud pies,' they seem to say ;
'that I can understand, there is some sense in mud
pies.' But the doings of their elders, unless where
they are speakingly picturesque or recommend them-
selves by the quality of being easily imitable, they
let them go over their heads (as we say) without the
least regard. If it were not for this perpetual
imitation, we should be tempted to fancy they de-
spised us outright, or only considered us in the Hght
of creatures brutally strong and brutally silly ; among
whom they condescended to dwell in obedience
like a philosopher at a barbarous court. At times,
indeed, they display an arrogance of disregard that is
truly staggering. Once, when I was groaning aloud
with physical pain, a young gentleman came into
the room and nonchalantly inquired if I had seen his
bow and arrow. He made no account of my groans,
which he accepted, as he had to accept so much else,
as a piece of the inexplicable conduct of his elders ;
and like a wise young gentleman, he would waste no
wonder on the subject. Those elders, who care so
little for rational enjoyment, and are even the enemies
of rational enjoyment for others, he had accepted
without understanding and without complaint, as the
rest of us accept the scheme of the universe.
II— L i6i