ntly dissimilar things, strike
them immediately from their novelty. Children are often witty, without
knowing it, or rather without intending it; but as they grow older,
the same kind of wit does not please; the same objects do not appear
in the same point of view; and boys, who have been the delight of a
whole house at seven or eight years old, for the smart things they
could say, sink into stupidity and despondency at thirteen or
fourteen. "Un nom trop fameaux, est un fardeau tres pesant," said a
celebrated wit.

Plain, sober sense, does not entertain common visiters, and children
whose minds are occupied, and who are not ambitious of exhibiting
themselves for the entertainment of the company, will not in general
please. So much the better; they will escape many dangers; not only
the dangers of flattery, but also the dangers of nonsense. Few people
know how to converse with children; they talk to them of things that
are above, or below, their understandings; if they argue with them,
they do not reason fairly; they silence them with sentiment, or with
authority; or else they baffle them by wit, or by unintelligible
terms. They often attempt to try their capacities with quibbles and
silly puzzles. Children, who are expert at answering these, have
rarely been well educated: the extreme simplicity of sensible
children, will surprise those who have not been accustomed to it, and
many will be provoked by their inaptitude to understand the
common-place wit of conversation.

"How many sticks go to a rook's nest?" said a gentleman to a boy of
seven years old; he looked very grave, and having pondered upon the
question for some minutes, answered, "I do not know what you mean by
the word go." Fortunately for the boy, the gentleman who asked the
question, was not a captious querist; he perceived the good sense of
this answer; he perceived that the boy had exactly hit upon the
ambiguous word which was puzzling to the understanding, and he saw
that this showed more capacity than could have been shown by the
parrying of a thousand witticisms. We have seen S----, a remarkably
intelligent boy of nine years old, stand with the most puzzled face
imaginable, considering for a long half hour the common quibble of
"There was a carpenter who made a door; he made it too large; he cut
it and cut it, and he cut it _too little_; he cut it again, and it
fitted." S---- showed very little satisfaction, when he at length
discovered the double me