Elderly people are often struck by the fact that the modern child is not haunted by anything like the number of "don'ts" and "mustn'ts" that afflicted another generation. Nowadays the great idea is to give a child full scope for the development of his personality, and he is encouraged to reason for himself and not to be altogether dependent upon his elders' views as to what he should and should not do.
There are many children, however, whose conduct still is guided entirely by the rigid rules of grown-ups, and the other day I watched three of them as they stood hand-in-hand, and gazed at the fascinating things that were being done to the road near to O'Connell Bridge.
Every process was a joy to them, and they paid no heed to a sharp wind that swirled round the corner and must have gone right through the small, shabby jerseys they wore. It was the straw that attracted them most, where a quantity of it had been laid down on the roadway, and the little boys stood at the edge of the footpath and looked wistfully at the soft, bedraggled stuff.
"I wisht I could walk on it," said one longingly, but his small friend held him back. "You wouldn't be let," he said firmly. "How do you know you wouldn't be let ?" the first speaker demanded. "Because I done it meself," said the other simply.
The Irish Times, January 21st, 1930.