CHILDREN’S WISDOM

Waipa Post, Volume 36, Issue 2148, 24 April 1928, Page 6

CHILDREN’S WISDOM

It is commonly believed that you cannot plant an old head on young shoulders, and the saying seems to imply that the child is lacking in those things which an adult possesses. The assumption ,is not entirely corredt. Wisdom consists merely in the accumulation of facts which become incorporated in life, land we cannot, therefore, look for wisdom, from this point of view, in a child. To do so would be unnatural. But at times there are revelations that prove Nature's love to follow no pre-arranged plan, but to show her “ gross irregularity.” Yet, even under such circumstances, the child is still & child. Questioning is one of the forms in which a child indulges, in which he desides to show his quest for knowledge. He wants to know the why and the wherefore of those things he sees around him. Sometimes the questioning begins with a certain spice of superiority on the part of the questioner, who does not see the outcome of his questioning. This was the case of a certain minister in the country, who possessed a Jersey cow, which became the great pet of a little boy. One day, while talking to the boy about various things, the minister asked him if he believed in prayer. The little boy said he did, but wanted to know if God would give him a cow like the minister’s if he prajHed long enough. On receiving a favourable reply, there came the rejoinder: “Then you give me your cow, and pray foT another for yourself.” Surely a reply worthy of the fifth proposition of Euclid.

In children’s wisdom we observe scope for future development, which, if turned into the proper channel, will bring forth much fruit. We find worldly wisdom which may become an incentive for a higher morality. But though the material side of life is well exhibited in the child it is usually associated with the imaginative. Mr Canton tells the following story: Little Ronald, aged eight, was at the seaside, and, one day, exclaimed “Auntie, deaf, don’t you think the waves are funny?” “How, dear? What do you mean?” “ Why, the top part comes faster than the bottom part, and then it tumbles over, and goes sliding down the hill, all white.” Here we notice that the child dotes not merely express what he sees; he shows thought and feeling, neither of which should be checked.—J. C. Wright, Children’s Words and Ways.