Article January 20, 1923 Issue

Little Teachers

ANNIE JESSEN

"And a little child shall lead them," Isaiah tells us. When our thought is receptive, how many lessons the children teach us! On page 9 of "Pulpit and Press" Mrs. Eddy says, "Ah, children, you are the bulwarks of freedom, the cement of society, the hope of our race!" Not only after the present generation of children have grown to be men and women will their helpfulness as here propheside be seen, but even through their childhood they are teaching valuable and beautiful lessons it would be well to learn.

Two incidents come to my thought. The first occurred several years ago, while I was living in a town in a middle western state where it is customary in the summer for families to spend their evenings on the porch or lawn, with neighbors and friends dropping in. In one such friendly group was a little girl about three years old, who, in her childlike desire to please, was accustomed to pick flowers—"Boks," she called them. Sometimes it would be only a wisp of grass or a potato blossom from the vegetable garden. These, with a loving smile, she would give to each one present. One member of the party had, for some unexplained and unexplainable reason, taken a violent dislike to this pretty child; and when in her innocence she offered him a little flower, he, in extreme rudeness, refused to look at it or at her. But did the little girl feel hurt or abused or misused? Not at all. She just sweetly and lovingly continued to offer him her little gifts, utterly regardless of his seeming unkindness. To me this was a wonderful lesson in knowing no evil. I saw more clearly than ever before why Jesus so loved the little children, and that to a consciousness filled with good, evil is unknown. Evil is nothing—having neither place, presence, nor power. Although it may seem to be a long and rough road to a consciousness of good that knows no evil, this is the spiritual goal to which we all must attain.

Another incident presents itself, reminding me that "the kingdom of God is within." I had occasion to make a trip into the older, lower part of the city in which I was living, where a great many railroads and street-car tracks cross one another,—an undesirable locality in which to live, squalor and neglect and disorder seeming to be everywhere. Amid these unattractive surroundings, however, was one neat, well-kept house, surrounded by comfortable, cool-looking porches and a small but well-kept lawn. While I was thinking of this, out of the house came a child—a young girl, clean and neat and tastefully dressed—who perched herself on the balustrade of the porch and began to sing in the clear, joyous, lilting voice of a happy child, absolutely unconscious of surroundings. No trace of discontent or ingratitude; but just as a flower blooms in the barren desert, so she was reflecting her heavenly Father's love! And mentally I paid my tribute to the wise mother who, amid such surroundings, had kept her child so sweet and loving and lovable. "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God," good. In gratitude and love my heart goes out to these dear little teachers, who all unconsciously are making the world brighter and better and happier.

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