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apologetically and provisionally； as doing the best it can on very uncertain
ground。
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A TREATISE ON PARENTS AND CHILDREN
Should Children Earn their Living？
Now comes the question how far children should be asked to
contribute to the support of the community。 In approaching it we must
put aside the considerations that now induce all humane and thoughtful
political students to agitate for the uncompromising abolition of child
labor under our capitalist system。 It is not the least of the curses of that
system that it will bequeath to future generations a mass of legislation to
prevent capitalists from 〃using up nine generations of men in one
generation；〃 as they began by doing until they were restrained by law at
the suggestion of Robert Owen； the founder of English Socialism。 Most
of this legislation will become an insufferable restraint upon freedom and
variety of action when Capitalism goes the way of Druidic human
sacrifice （a much less slaughterous institution）。 There is every reason
why a child should not be allowed to work for commercial profit or for the
support of its parents at the expense of its own future； but there is no
reason whatever why a child should not do some work for its own sake
and that of the community if it can be shewn that both it and the
community will be the better for it。
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A TREATISE ON PARENTS AND CHILDREN
Children's Happiness
Also it is important to put the happiness of the children rather carefully
in its place； which is really not a front place。 The unsympathetic； selfish；
hard people who regard happiness as a very exceptional indulgence to
which children are by no means entitled； though they may be allowed a
very little of it on their birthdays or at Christmas； are sometimes better
parents in effect than those who imagine that children are as capable of
happiness as adults。 Adults habitually exaggerate their own capacity in
that direction grossly； yet most adults can stand an allowance of happiness
that would be quite thrown away on children。 The secret of being
miserable is to have leisure to bother about whether you are happy or not。
The cure for it is occupation； because occupation means pre…occupation；
and the pre…occupied person is neither happy nor unhappy； but simply
alive and active； which is pleasanter than any happiness until you are tired
of it。 That is why it is necessary to happiness that one should be tired。
Music after dinner is pleasant： music before breakfast is so unpleasant as
to be clearly unnatural。 To people who are not overworked holidays are a
nuisance。 To people who are； and who can afford them； they are a
troublesome necessity。 A perpetual holiday is a good working definition
of hell。
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A TREATISE ON PARENTS AND CHILDREN
The Horror of the Perpetual
Holiday
It will be said here that； on the contrary； heaven is always conceived as
a perpetual holiday； and that whoever is not born to an independent
income is striving for one or longing for one because it gives holidays for
life。 To which I reply； first； that heaven； as conventionally conceived； is
a place so inane； so dull； so useless； so miserable； that nobody has ever
ventured to describe a whole day in heaven； though plenty of people have
described a day at the seaside； and that the genuine popular verdict on it is
expressed in the proverb 〃Heaven for holiness and Hell for company。〃
Second； I point out that the wretched people who have independent
incomes and no useful occupation； do the most amazingly disagreeable
and dangerous things to make themselves tired and hungry in the evening。
When they are not involved in what they call sport； they are doing
aimlessly what other people have to be paid to do： driving horses and
motor cars； trying on dresses and walking up and down to shew them off；
and acting as footmen and housemaids to royal personages。 The sole and
obvious cause of the notion that idleness is delightful and that heaven is a
place where there is nothing to be done； is our school system and our
industrial system。 The school is a prison in which work is a punishment
and a curse。 In avowed prisons； hard labor； the only alleviation of a
prisoner's lot； is treated as an aggravation of his punishment； and
everything possible is done to intensify the prisoner's inculcated and
unnatural notion that work is an evil。 In industry we are overworked and
underfed prisoners。 Under such absurd circumstances our judgment of
things becomes as perverted as our habits。 If we were habitually
underworked and overfed； our notion of heaven would be a place where
everybody worked strenuously for twenty…four hours a day and never got
anything to eat。
Once realize that a perpetual holiday is beyond human endurance； and
that 〃Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to do〃 and it will be
seen that we have no right to impose a perpetual holiday on children。 If
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A TREATISE ON PARENTS AND CHILDREN
we did； they would soon outdo the Labor Party in their claim for a Right to
Work Bill。
In any case no child should be brought up to suppose that its food and
clothes come down from heaven or are miraculously conjured from empty
space by papa。 Loathsome as we have made the idea of duty （like the
idea of work） we must habituate children to a sense of repayable
obligation to the community for what they consume and enjoy； and
inculcate the repayment as a point of honor。 If we did that todayand
nothing but flat dishonesty prevents us from doing itwe should have no
idle rich and indeed probably no rich； since there is no distinction in being
ric