But at this point we arrived at a question put by Wynnie, to
answer which aright I considered of the greatest importance. Wynnie said:
"That is just one of the things about Jesus that have always troubled me,
papa."
"What is, my dear?" I said; for although I thought I knew well enough what
she meant, I wished her to set it forth in her own words, both for her own
sake, and the sake of the others, who would probably understand the
difficulty much better if she presented it herself.
"I mean that he spoke to his mother--"
"Why don't you say _mamma_, Wynnie?" said Charlie. "She was his own mamma,
wasn't she, papa?"
"Yes, my dear; but don't you know that the shoemaker's children down in the
village always call their mamma _mother_?"
"Yes; but they are shoemaker's children."
"Well, Jesus was one of that class of people. He was the son of a
carpenter. He called his mamma, _mother_. But, Charlie, _mother_ is the
more beautiful word of the two, by a great deal, I think. _Lady_ is a very
pretty word; but _woman_ is a very beautiful word. Just so with _mamma_ and
_mother_. _Mamma_ is pretty, but _mother_ is beautiful."
"Why don't we always say _mother_ then?"
"Just because it is the most beautiful, and so we keep it for Sundays--that
is, for the more solemn times of life.
Pages:
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92