WHAT MAKES THE HAPPY TEACHER? 109

be relieved by Mr. Cole. Let a single step be made
into the field of impropriety or danger, and it becomes
our duty to check them. But why repress the genial
flow of a season which can never return? Even Paul
could say, without a word of disapproval, ‘When I
was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child,
I thought as a child” Dr. Newman often says to the
boys—and I agree with him—‘ Work while you work ;
play while you play, ”

“They are too merry, by half. Just think of the
troubles which await them in life! What a preparation
is this for them !”

“T might answer you in the words of Gray, written
in view of such a scene :—

‘To each his sufferings: all are men,
Condemned alike to groan;
The tender, for another’s pain, -
The unfeeling for his own.
Yet, ah! why should they know their fate,
Since sorrow never comes too late,
And happiness too swiftly flies ?
Thought would disturb their paradise.

No more; where ignorance is bliss,
’Tis folly to be -wise.*

But,” continued Barry, “I will not rest on the poet’s
answer, which is open to some exception. It is safer
to say, what is unquestionable, that high animal spirits,
and the indulgence in animated boyish sports, is in no
degree inconsistent with the most sober views of life
that are proper in boyhood. Surely you would not: