Such, for instance, as jumping men, and witches, and funny
little images. Children are very often deceived in buying their
playthings; for those things which please by their novelty only, usually
please them very much for a few minutes, while they are in the shop,
and see them for the first time; while those things which would last a
long time, do not give them much pleasure at first.
"There is another kind of playthings I want to tell you about a little,
and then my lecture will be done. I mean playthings which give _you_
pleasure, but give _other persons_ pain. A drum and a whistle, for
example, are disagreeable to other persons; and children, therefore,
ought not to choose them, unless they have a place to go to, to play
with them, which will be out of hearing. I have known boys to buy masks
to frighten other children with, and bows and arrows, which sometimes
are the means of putting out children's eyes. So you must consider, when
you are choosing playthings, first, whether the pleasure they will give
you will be from the _novelty_ or the _use_; and, secondly, whether, in
giving _you_ pleasure, they will give _any other persons_ pain.
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