all tugged on their skates instantaneously, as it
were by magic. Now they are in a confused cluster, now they sweep round
and round in a circle, now it is broken into fragments and as quickly
formed again; games are improvised and abandoned; there seems to be no
plan or leader, but all do as they please, and yet somehow act in
concert, and all chatter all the time. Now they have alighted, every
one, upon the bank of snow that edges the pond, each scraping a little
hollow in which to perch. Now every perch is vacant again, for they are
all in motion; each moment increases the jangle of shrill
voices,--since a boy's outdoor whisper to his nearest crony is as if he
was hailing a ship in the offing,--and what they are all saying can no
more be made out than if they were a flock of gulls or blackbirds. I
look away from the window once more, and when I glance out again there
is not a boy in sight. They have whirled away like snowbirds, and the
little pool sleeps motionless beneath the cheerful wintry sun. Who but
must see how gradually the joyous life of the animal rises through
childhood into man,--since the soaring gnats, the glancing fishes, the
sliding seals are all represented in this mob of half-grown boyhood
just released from school.

If I were to choose among all gifts and qualities that which, on the
whole, makes life pleasantest, I should select the love of children. No
circumstance can render this world wholly a solitude to one who has
that possession. It is a freemasonry. Wherever one goes, there are the
little brethren and sisters of the mystic tie. No diversity of race or
tongue makes much difference. A smile speaks the universal language.
"If I value myself on anything," said the lonely Hawthorne, "it is on
having a smile that children love." They are such prompt little beings;
they require so little prelude; hearts are won in two minutes, at that
frank period, and so long as you are true to them they will be true to
you. They need no argument, no bribery. They have a hearty appetite for
gifts, no doubt, but it is not for these that they love the giver. Take
the wealth of the world and lavish it with counterfeited affection: I
will win all the children's hearts away from you by empty-handed love.
The gorgeous toys will dazzle them for an hour; then their instincts
will revert to their natural friends. In visiting a house where there
are children I do not like to take them presents: it is better to
forego the