Page:The Mothers of England.djvu/100

Rh tone of youthful minds; for as an hour now and then of absolute romping does infinite good to the bodily health, so an hour now and then of unrestrained and absolute merriment does equal good to the spirits and characters of children.

In a rude and ill-regulated family, it is to be feared that such seasons would be marked by turbulence and disaster, beyond what could be rendered conducive to much enjoyment, especially on the part of the older members; but I am supposing the case of a well-regulated family, so trained by the mother, and so under the influence of delicate, affectionate, and generous feelings, that their wildest play would not be rude, nor their loudest mirth offensive.

It seems to me one of the peculiarities of English character not to know how to manage enjoyment; while our neighbors on the continent sometimes manage it a little too much. Those elaborate or costly presents by which they are so fond of creating a beautiful surprise, those birthday scenes got up with so much machinery of contrivance, and those periodical displays of generosity and affection, though admirably adapted to figure in a book, have a little too much make-believe about them, to be exactly suited to the reality of English habits. Besides which, there always hangs about an English heart a certain dread of failure, a horror of being committed in an act of folly, and a shrinking from ridicule, which greatly lessen the number of our enjoyments, and often cast a shadow over the gayety which might otherwise be both harmless and refreshing. There is also, it must be confessed, a some thing desperate and extreme about the English character when strongly excited and destitute of restraint, which seems to render greater restriction necessary in a social point of view, than is required by people ox some other countries; yet I can not but think that much of this, and much that we see and grieve over in the conduct of our countrypeople abroad, arises from the want of better regulation in private families, of higher aims in the union of taste with feeling; but chiefly from the absence of all care that the happiness of children should be encouraged to the utmost extent which good order will allow, but at the same time blended with a little more nicety as to the choice of