"I have sometimes thought," she said earnestly, "that if the events which are related in the Bible should happen now, we would not credit them. An infant born of a virgin, a star leading three travelers, a man who raised the dead and claimed to be God—we would think the folks who believed these things were ignorant and superstitious. And because they happened so long ago, and are in the Book which we are told came from God, we believe. It is very strange! Sometimes my thoughts trouble me. I try hard not to leave such thoughts come to me."
"LET, Tillie, not 'leave.'"
"Will I ever learn not to get my 'leaves' and 'lets' mixed!" sighed Tillie, despairingly.
"Use 'let' whenever you find 'leave' on the end of your tongue, and vice versa," he advised, with a smile.
She looked at him doubtfully. "Are you joking?"
"Indeed, no! I couldn't give you a better rule."
"There's another thing I wish you would tell me, please," she said, her eyes downcast.
"Well?"
"I can't call you 'Mr.' Fairchilds, because such complimentary speech is forbidden to us New Mennonites. It would come natural to me to call you 'Teacher,' but you would think that what you call 'provincial.'"
"But you say 'Miss' Margaret."