"Send forth the child and childish man together, and blush for the pride that libels our own old happy state, and gives its title to an ugly and distorted image"

This quote by Charles Dickens is a call to decline the concept that being mature and serious methods leaving behind the playful innocence of youth. He suggests that society has actually mistakenly equated maturity with a loss of joy and happiness, and that this false notion has actually generated a distorted and negative image of their adult years. By sending forth the child and the childish male together, Dickens is advocating for the integration of pleasure and playfulness into grown-up life. Furthermore, he is prompting us to be pleased with our old pleased state and to turn down the societal pressure to abandon it in the name of maturity.