248 MORE POT-POURRI 



itself, and it is only now and then that a chance glimpse 

 into the working of their minds makes us realise the gulf 

 that separates us. They can come to us, but we cannot 

 go to them ; nor are they, indeed, without that touch of 

 contempt for us and our affairs which might naturally 

 be considered the exclusive privilege of the elder and 

 stronger beings. " Don't disturb poor father ; he is read- 

 ing his papers," is a sort of counterpart to " Oh, let them 

 play ; they are doing no harm." When we cast a remin- 

 iscent glance over our own childhood we realise how 

 solitary were its hopes and its occupations, shared at 

 most by one of our own age a sister, a brother, or a 

 friend. The elders appear from time to time as the di ex 

 machind of our existence, for redress or for deliverance. 

 We remember them as teachers, as purveyors of pleasure, 

 often as separators of companions and terminators of 

 delights, but rarely as sharers in our most exquisite 

 amusements. "What will mother say?" had about it a 

 half-gleeful anticipation of disapproval, seldom destined 

 to be unfulfilled ; and that not because of any severity 

 on the part of the parent, but from a radical want of sym- 

 pathy with the first principles of enjoyment. Wet, dirt, 

 fatigue, a very little danger, late hours all were in them- 

 selves positive pleasures, and with some this flavour lingers 

 till far on in life ; but as a rule you cannot depend upon 

 a grown-up person not really preferring to be warm and 

 dull and dry, to any discomforts you can offer him. 



'Then what a strange twilight reigns in children's 

 minds ! What dim mysterious associations of words and 

 phrases lost to us through the garish light of grammar 

 or of a clear and positive orthography ! Now and then 

 across the years comes a memory of difficulties never 

 guessed at by anyone but ourselves. How surprising it 

 was to hear of people with broken arms or legs, which 

 members nevertheless were not visibly severed from 



