"
"And whatever we do to them we will tell them it's for their own
good," Veronica chortled.
"Of course it will be for their own good," I answered. "That will be
our chief pleasure--making them good and happy. It won't be their
pleasure, but that will be owing to their ignorance."
"They will be grateful to us later on," gurgled Veronica.
"With that assurance we will comfort them from time to time," I
answered. "We will be good to them in all ways. We will let them
play games--not stupid games, golf and croquet, that do you no good
and lead only to language and dispute--but bears and wolves and
whales; educational sort of games that will aid them in acquiring
knowledge of natural history. We will show them how to play Pirates
and Red Indians and Ogres--sensible play that will help them to
develop their imaginative faculties. That is why grown-up people are
so dull; they are never made to think. But now and then," I
continued, "we will let them play their own games, say on Wednesday
and Saturday afternoons. We will invite other grown-ups to come to
tea with them, and let them flirt in the garden, or if wet make love
in the dining-room, till nurse comes for them. But we, of course,
must choose their friends for them--nice, well-behaved ladies and
gentlemen, the parents of respectable children; because left to
themselves--well, you know what they are! They would just as likely
fall in love with quite undesirable people--men and women we could
not think of having about the house.
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