No scheme of work then for schooldays must be so rigorous that it leaves no leisure for 'feast days.' Some days, some hours must come back to memory, bringing not only their past happiness, but ideas for present occupation. The happiest days of youth are generally the busiest, days when one had something one really wanted to be busy about for its own sake, not for the sake of marks or for the sake of outstripping one's fellow-pupils, or for the sake of one's future. These busy, happy, idle days are the feast days of youth, days one thinks of as the poet thought when he wrote:
And none will know the gleam there used to be
About the feast days freshly kept by me,
But men will call the golden hour of bliss
'About this time,' or 'shortly after this.'
This book on toy-making is not written to advocate the so-called 'primrose path in education,' the 'turn-work-into-play theory,' though undoubtedly the first chapters at least of this book will be attacked by those who fear that education is yielding or is going to yield to a popular clamour for ease.
For these people, too, Masefield has a message:
Best trust the happy moments. What they gave
Makes man less fearful of the certain grave,
And gives his work compassion and new eyes;
The days that make us happy make us wise.
Moreover, every teacher of handwork knows how little ease the busy children in her classes get—in these classes they are never passive listeners or passive learners by heart. They see the need of accuracy, the labour necessary to produce it, they suffer for every mistake they make, they realise some of the joy and pain of creating, and, best of all perhaps, they realise the joy of work—active, muscular work as distinguished from their ordinary scholarly work.
With regard to the question of work it has been ably said that "No one has yet preached in an adequate way the gospel of work—real hard work—as the most amusing of all occupations—not a noble duty."
It is somewhat unfortunate that directly one begins to like one's work one is accused of playing.
To return to toy-making (which is work or play, according to whether one dislikes or likes it)—whether toy-making be taken in the school or not, the teachers will find it a useful hobby. Through it they can amuse themselves and renew their youth; through it they will have an enduring bond of union with their children.
Our knowledge of history and geography often fails to impress our children; they probably think we are a little foolish to burden our heads with so many facts that seem to have no bearing on to-day; but when we can use our hands and make a toy they see us with other eyes, we are really clever people worth cultivating.