one is genuinely
interested, he will be zealous beyond belief. Certainly he had not
dreamed, until he became (in a manner of speaking) a parent, that he had
in him such capacity for detail.

This business of raising a family, though--had he any true aptitude
for it? or was he forcing himself to go through with it? Wasn't he,
moreover, incurring all the labours of parenthood without any of
its proper dignity and social esteem? Mrs. Chow down the street, for
instance, why did she look so sniffingly upon him when she heard the
children, in the harmless uproar of their play, cry him aloud as Daddy?
Uncle, he had intended they should call him; but that is, for beginning
speech, a hard saying, embracing both a palatal and a liquid. Whereas
Da-da--the syllables come almost unconsciously to the infant mouth.
So he had encouraged it, and even felt an irrational pride in the
honourable but unearned title.

A little word, Daddy, but one of the most potent, he was thinking.
More than a word, perhaps: a great social engine: an anchor which, cast
carelessly overboard, sinks deep and fast into the very bottom. The
vessel rides on her hawser, and where are your blue horizons then?

But come now, isn't one horizon as good as another? And do they really
remain blue when you reach them?

Unconsciously he stirred, stretching his legs deeply into the
comfortable nest of his couch. The springs twanged. Simultaneous
clamours! The puppies were awake.

They yelled to be let out from the cribs. This was the time of the
morning frolic. Gissing had learned that there is only one way to deal
with the almost inexhaustible energy of childhood. That is, not to
attempt to check it, but to encourage and draw it out. To start the day
with a rush, stimulating every possible outlet of zeal; meanwhile taking
things as calmly and quietly as possible himself, sitting often to take
the weight off his legs, and allowing the youngsters to wear themselves
down. This, after all, is Nature's own way with man; it is the wise
parent's tactic with children. Thus, by dusk, the puppies will have run
themselves almost into a stupor; and you, if you have shrewdly husbanded
your strength, may have still a little power in reserve for reading and
smoking.

The before-breakfast game was conducted on regular routine. Children
show their membership in the species by their love of strict habit.

Gissing let them yell for a few moments--as long as he thought the
neighbou