Safed and Strange Birthplaces

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 60, 4 December 1926, Page 17

Safed and Strange Birthplaces

TIE little sister of the daughter of the daughter of Keturah held my Thand as we walked abroad. And she inquired of me, saying, Grandpa, are all people born? And I said, Yes, my dear, all people are born. And she inquired again, Are they all born in Taxis? I - heard Mother read in a Paper about a baby that was born in a Taxi. And I said, I have no doubt that some babies have been born in Taxis, but that is not the case with all of them. And with some difficulty she accepted the Limitation implied in my statement. And yet, the fact that she had heard of one child as having been Born in a Taxi had impressed her memory with the idea that Taxis are places where people are or may be born.

Now in this she was not alone. For the Art of Easy Generalisation is easily acquired and widely possessed. I have known Americans who say that All Japanese are Tricky, or that All Turks are cruel, or that All Negroes steal. There was once a Cretan, whom Saint Paul cited, aho affirmed that All Cretans are liars. But how could h have known that all Cretans weie liars till he knew whether each and every Cretan was a Liar, himself included? And if All Cretans were liars, then he was a liar. Ami if l' c was a liar, then he may have lied when lie said tha,. ■ Y.' were liars. I'or all generalisations are untrue, unless it may be this one, and this generalisation may be a Stray Taxi in which nothing whatever was born. Wherefore be not too ready to draw wide conclusions as to Birthplaces or as to the character of the sons of men wherever they be born. Dearly beloved, all men are not born in Taxis.