In realizing his part he virtually transforms his surroundings, since they take on the look and the meaning which the part assigns to them. This is prettily illustrated in one of Mr. R. L. Stevenson's child-songs. The Land of Counterpane, in which a sick child describes the various transformations of the bed scene:
"And sometimes for an hour or so
I watched my leaden soldiers go,
With different uniforms and drills,
Among the bedclothes through the hills.
"And sometimes sent my ships in fleets,
All up and down among the sheets;
Or brought my trees and houses out,
And planted cities all about."
Who can say to how many and what strangely play purposes that stolid, unyielding-looking object a sofa-head has been turned by the ingenuity of the childish brain?
The impulse to act a part meets us very early and grows out of the imitative instinct. The very infant, if it finds an empty cup to hand, will proceed to drink out of it.[1] Similarly, a boy of two will put the stem of his father's pipe into or, if more cautious, near his mouth, and make believe that he is smoking. A little boy not yet two years old would spend a whole wet afternoon "painting" the furniture with a dry end of a bit of rope. In such cases it is evident the playing may start from a suggestion supplied by the sight of an object. There is no need to suppose that in this simple imitative play the children consciously act a part. It is surely to misunderstand the essence of play to speak of it as a fully conscious process of imitative acting.[2] A child is one creature when it is truly at play, another when it is bent on astonishing or amusing you. It seems sufficient to say that when at play it is possessed of an idea and is working this out into visible action. Your notice, even your laughter, if kind enough, may bring in a new element of enjoyment, for, as we all know, children are disposed to be little actors in the full sense, and to aim at producing an impression. Yet your intrusion will be at least just as likely to destroy the pleasure in so far as it is that of pure childish pastime; for the play instinct comes out most distinctly, perhaps, when a child is alone, or at least self-absorbed, and this suggests that the instinct springs out of the deepest and least sophisticated part of its nature.
- ↑ Of course, as Preyer suggests, this drinking from an empty cup may at first be due to a want of discriminative perception.
- ↑ M. Compayré seems to go too far in this direction when he talks of the child's play with its doll as a charming comedy of maternity. (L'Evolution intellectuelle et morale de l'Enfant, p. 274.)
