I immediately thought of the Mansfield Park incident also and the fact that I was sure JA had mentioned a knife in another letter/s (thanks for pointing out letter 42). I too wondered about children having knives and what the fascination was with them. I was in the kitchen using a little silver paring knife to cut tomatoes when it occurred to me that maybe JulieW had given us some information on this and that I would go hunting. This post just reminded me of it. So I am off. Report back if I find anything.