The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1888-04-12
THE LITTLE FOLKS.
Bill Arp Tells Good Stories About Chill
dren.

THE LITTLE FOLKS.
Bill Arp Tells Good Stories About Chill
dren.
These little chaps do world of think.
ing. Our little three year old grandchild
told her mother she didn't want to 60 to
heaven. "Why not7" asked her mother.
"Why, because there's no floor up there
don't you see. I would fall down and
hurt myself. And I don't want to kiss
Miss God, either" 1 was sitting at the
breakfast table at hotel the other day
and opposite me was a good.looking
couple with their little girl between
them. The father seemed in a hurry
and left. The little girl said, Mamma,
you better hurry up, or you won't get to
kiss papa-he's going to slip oft from
you again." We all smiled, and the
mother blushed and took the little tell
tale away quick. They are watching
and thinking when we do not know it,
and so it behooves us to be careful and
do right.
"Papa, if you had to be an animal,
what animal would you rather be?"
These children ask world of ques.
tions, and it takes about half our time to
answer them. Sometimes it is very per-
picking and the subject is above their
comprehension, but still it won't do to
tell them 80. 1t is better to answer and
give them something to catch on to-.
The freside is better school than the
school room. The highest and holiest
duty of parent is to educate his chill.
dren at all times and in every way that
he can. Read aloud to them at night
when you find anything that will interest
or entertain them.
"Papa, if you had to be an animal,
what animal would you rather be 2"
Well, I don't know, and so we all dis.
cussed it, and they tried the canary and
the mocking bird and the elephant and
the lion and horse and COW and the pea.
fowl, and at last settled down on five
hundred dollar dog. The birds had to
be kept in cage, or if they were free
the boys would shoot at them or break
up their nests and catch their young.
The elephant was hunted down or had to
go round with the circus. The horse
had good time with good master, but
he couldent stay in the house and lie by
the fire and be caressed like the dog.
The dog has more sense than any animal,
and more affection, and comes nearer
being one of the family. The lion is
called the king of beasts, and maybe he
is the king of wild beasts, in majestic
appearance and in strength and voice,
but that is all. He has not half the
sense or sagacity of the elephant or the
horse. In scripture history the horse is
at the head of the list, and is the only
animal that has place in heaven, SO far
as We know. The dog has no character
at all. Gam I a dog" said Goliah to
David. "Cursed is the price of dog"
"Beware of dogs" "Without are dogs
and sorcerers." ."The dogs shall lick the
blood of Jezebel." There is not good
word in all scripture for the most faithful
and afectionate creature in the world,
and SO suppose they didn't have good
breed. There are so many mean trifing
kinds that we still say "as mean as q
dog" and the boys say "dogon you" and
"dog my cat" and ."I'll be dogged" but
the story books are full of pretty anec.
dotes of good dogs-noble dogs. Glove
me, love my dog" is an old proverb.
Alexander Stephens had dog that he
dearly loved, but nobody else loved him.
And when the great man was asked why
he was so attached to that cross, snarling
cur, he would say 81 love him because
he loves me-" Nobody loves other peo'
ple's dogs, but they will fight for their
own.
And so the children decided that it
was best to be good, intelligent, faithful
dog, and lie by the fire in winter and
play with the children in pleasant
weather. And all this talk brought up
the old belief in the transmigration of
souls. This was the faith of the Egyp.
tians, of Plato, and of that great and
good man, Origen, whose Christian piety
and learning gives him a prominent
place among the fathers of the church.
Plato and the Egyptians believed that
the soul was always changing its abode,
and when the flesh died there was some
other animal just born to receive it.
That it took ten thousand years for the
soul to go through all Of the lives of all
created things and after that it spent a
thousand years in hell among the wicked
spirits, and then was purified and subli.
mated, and became part of God. What
an idea Just think of the soul of man
living in fsh-bait, or June-bug, or a
tarantula, or an alligator But Origen
did not believe in that foolishness. He
believed in evolution. He was the first
great evolutor. he believed that the
soul began low down in animal life and
was climbing higher at every change
until it was enclosed in human body and
made in the image OF God and given free
will and q chance to attain heaven and
divinity. If it preferred sin and lust
and surrendered to the temptations of the
evil one, then it lost its chance, ano
became an evil spirit-a demon-anc
occupied the forms of serpents and swine
and other malicious animals. "And the
serpent was the most subtle of all the
beasts of the field and said to the woman
thou shalt not surely die." "And tht
evil spirit went into the herd of swine