In Mr. Leland's collection, as in the later volume of Dr. Band, there are many other delicate touches of childhood that show that these aborigines have a large measure of that love for children which is present with all races of mankind.
In the legends of the saints and heroes of the Christian Church we meet with numberless instances of the wisdom and instruction that came to them from the mouths of little children.
Among the stories in the life of St. Augustine is the following: "While St. Augustine was composing his book On the Trinity, and was at Cività Vecchia, he saw a little child making a hole in the seashore, and asked him what he was doing. The child replied: 'I am making a hole to contain the water of the sea.' The doctor smiled, telling the child it would not be possible to do so; but the child made answer: 'Not so, Augustine. It would be far easier to drain off the waters of the great deep than for the finite to grasp the Infinite'; and so he vanished. Augustine then knew that the child was an angel of God, sent to warn him, and he diligently set to work to revise what he had written" (191. 355).
The best of mankind can still sit at the feet of childhood and learn of its wisdom. But of many a one must it be said:—
"He hath grown so foolish-wise
He cannot see with childhood's eyes;
He hath forgot that purity
And lowliness which are the key
Of Nature's mysteries."
CHAPTER XIX.
THE CHILD AS JUDGE.
So, Holy Writ in Babes hath judgment shown,
Where Judges have been babes.—Shakespeare.
O wise young judge I—Shakespeare.
The Child as Judge