The Republican journal., 1912-12-26
CHILDREN AND THEIR SAYINGS.
From the January Strand.1
CHILDISH HUMOR.

the humor is always distinguished by its
quaintness. A small girl, espying dead
cat lying on the dust-heap, remarked
ooh, mamma, what waste! They've
thrown away quite good cat"
WHAT SOCRATES REALLY DIED OF.
The misunderstanding of words fire.
quently causes strange answers. A chile
who had been taught that Socrates had {
wife who was unpleasant to him, ant
that the great philosopher drank hem
lock, when asked the cause of his death
replied:
Socrates died from an overdose OF
wedlock."
DR.. HOLMES AND THE FORK
care you hungry, little girl" said DR..
Wendell Holmes to one whom he saw
looking with longing eyes at the good
things before her.
Eyes, sir, was the reply.
"lhen why don't you take sand.
wich?"
Because haven't any fork"
FINGERS were made before forks, -
said the Doctor, smiling.
The little girl looked, then said: "Not
my fingers.
A CHILD's REPLY LIKE WoMAN'S MIND.
1t has been said that the reply of a
child is very much akin to woman s
mind; you never quite know what turn it
is going to take. 1t is frequently dog
matte. A small girl was drawing pic
ture "out of her head" "What are
you drawing?" asked her mother.
God" replied the child, simply.
"But you can't draw God," protested
the mother, because you have never
seen Him, and no one has ever seen Him,
and no one knows what He is like
The small child licked her pencil and
put on another touch.
They will know when I've finished
it,, she said.
THOUGHT SAMUEL WAS A THIEF.
1t was the Scripture lesson. The sub
ject was the call of Samuel. The chill
dren had sung, flushed was the even
ing hymn which describes the call.
The teacher then asked few questions,
one being, ''What did Samuel do while
Eli was asleep?"
"Stole his watch" was the prompt re-
ply from one of the girls.
The teacher, somewhat annoyed at
SuSll al dppdL Slltly SSHSeleSS answer,
called for the second verse:
His watch the Temple child,
The little Levite, kept,
Now came the child's turn.
please, teacher, doesn't that mean
that Samuel kept the old mans watch
for HIMSELF"
CHILDREN ARE FULL OF UNCONSCIOUS
POETRY.
Children are born with a taste for
knowledge They want to know, and
they want to know the right things.
They ask questions, and are not easily
satisfied. They are fond of initiating
what they see around them. They are
highly imaginative. They clothe their
ideals in concrete forms. There was a
time when they were regarded as imma-
ture adults; we have learned that the
main aim of a teacher must be to give
the right tone to the feelings goodness
in the abstract is of little avail the
Imagination must be stirred.
We are accustomed to believe that
there is little reflection on the part of
children, and yet one cannot but see
now and again CLEANS of thought which
suggest hidden mental power working
almost unconsciously. The little girl
who gathered sunlight in her hands
and put it on her face knew something
of the effects of heat. And how full of
humor are some OF the sayings of chill
dren. 1t was Punch, we believe, who
depicted Tommy, after he had been
severely corrected, as exclaiming. 81
fink III go back to heaven, where l
came from" And what fund of sug-
gestion was conveyed by the little girl
who, on hearing running tap, said that
''the water was coughing ~
The poetry of life is frequently seen
in childhood. We have this illustrated
in the description of butterflies as
"pansies flying" "a star is a cinder
from Gods great star" has a wealth of
unconscious meaning. But perhaps the
finest approach to poetry was made by a
tiny tot who defined dew as "the grass
crying" ooh. auntien' said little
girl, "pve just seen a pencil walking. !"
The nurse, who had grown out of fairy
land, explained that it was only an ordi-
nary worm.
CHILDREN AND RELIGION.
Children have curious notions of
religion sometimes.
Mamma, | want some water to
christen my doll, " exclaimed a little girl
mo, dear, replied her mother; you
should not make fun of such things"
''Well, then, want some way to wax
mate her. She's old enough to have
something DONE"
Yet, as Professor Muirhead has said,
The study of the child showed that
religion was the natural product of the
human soul, and the interest in religion
was shown by such questions as, who
made God?' Does God make some good
and others bad?' We are SO accus-
toned to regard the child of a past age
as abnormally pious that we feel inclined
to be shocked with the modern little girl
who, after month spent with her
mother in remote country cottage,
walking through the fields one evening,
suddenly exclaimed, -
~ do wish God was with me now,
mummy"
why, darling?" replied her mother.
The child heaved sigh. I'm getting
little bit tired of you, mummy"
There is a straightforwardnes about
child which, unfortunately he loses as
he grows older. The story of the boy,
who was heroically trying to save his
pennies, put into concrete form the
petition in the Lords Prayer when one
night he began, 20 Lord, help me to
save my money" Along with this trait
there is an element of reasoning in the
following story, told by Mr.. H. K. Lew