On this page we have two pictures which present as marked a contrast
as may easily be conceived. "An Unexpected Meeting," by Paul Peel,
depicting the sturdy little fellow with the irresistible air of
manliness greeting the frog as a boon-companion, is as natural a study
of boy-life as is that of the little girl of the characteristics of the
opposite sex. "Little Caprice" stands before us in scanty attire which
is not the beginning of her morning toilet, but is merely the result
of her caprice. But what does it all mean? If she knew that, or you,
or I, it would be no longer what it is--an inexplicable freak of the
child's mind. She has been left unobserved for a moment whilst playing
in a corner and found it amusing to take off her clothes, till she came
to the critical point, which the painter has seized with so much humour
and truth to life. Suddenly it strikes her that it is not very amusing
to be without one's clothes, but she does not wish to put her things
on by herself, partly for the simple reason that she does not know
how to do it, and also because she does not know whether she really
wishes to be dressed again. Oh, misery! oh, aggravation! she wants to
do neither one thing nor the other. In fact, she does not know exactly
what she wants--a state of mind which, when she grows to womanhood,
will doubtless very often be repeated.
[Illustration: "LITTLE CAPRICE."
_From the Painting by Elisa Koch._