ABSTRACT
The play spirit is not a definable thing; it is an attitude of mind. In other words, when we write of the play spirit, we are writing of play viewed from a subjective standpoint. We can never know exactly what play means to the child, any more than one person can tell another exactly what is in his mind, yet at one time we were ourselves the possessors of that inheritance which has now passed to other hands. In the nursery the same toys are still doing duty, but for us the rocking-horse has become a creaking absurdity in painted wood, and the toy soldiers are but lifeless lead.
