May we not question whether we are not frequently too exacting with
children,--too much given to fault-finding? Were it not that the
business of play is so engrossing to them, and life so fascinating a
matter on the whole,--were it not for these qualifying circumstances,
we should harass many of them into dark cynicism and misanthropy at
a very early age. I marvel at the scrupulous exactness in regard to
truth, the fine sense of distinction between right and wrong, which we
require of an unfledged human being who would be puzzled to explain
to us the difference between a "hawk and a handsaw," who lives in the
realm of the imagination, and whose view of the world is that of a
great play-house furnished for his benefit. If we were one half as
punctilious and as hypercritical in our judgment of ourselves, we
should be found guilty in short order, and sentenced to hard labor on
a vast number of counts.
There are many comparatively small faults in children which it is wise
not to see at all.
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