CHILDREN'S PRAYERS, (To THE EDITOR Or THE" SPECIATOR."3
occupy only the humble place of an aunt, but I have. net forgotten my own childhood or • my position as eldest sister, and I am unable to suppress my surprise at the prayers some of your correspondents have selected as suitable for children. I remember one contained the words "my- either hand" and "cold as pud-. docks," but as-our Spectator goes on to a friend lean' refer only to your correspondent of November 23rd. It seems to-me, that her three selections bristle, with words and ideas that little children could not understand. I doubt whether an ordinary child would grant the meaning of any single' one of the twenty-two lines of Sir Thomas Browne's poem. The-evening hymn is an unpleasant memory of my own childhood. I was not afraid of the dark,. but I vividly remember the horror inspired by the comparison between my comfortable little white bed and a cold, damp grave! On the other heed, Vaughan's poem, next quoted, fascinated me—chiefly, I think, because of the number of incomprehensible words it con- tained. "Sentry," I remember, pleased me- much—it was not such a familiar word in those peaceful days—and "beauteous files" first took to be "beauteous dies "—dragon-flies perhaps. The personification of Peace is another puzzle. I do not see how a child's mind is to-be led to devotion either by the misunderstand- ing. of words, or by terror, or by frequent reference to great sinfulness and the need for atonement—quite a different thing from. being sorry for temporary natightinesses. My little brother un- consciously altered the- line of a. well-known hymn into " I ans both weak and simple-"! Lastly, I cannot understand why a. hymn, like
"Thou that once on mother's knee Waet a little one like m" should induce trivial or unworthy sentiment. Is it sentimentality
which brings that beautiful starry look into children's eyes when
; they hear "that sweet story of old" how Jesus took little children like themselves into His- arms ? Like- another of your corre- spondents, we learnt to pray in the simple words of "Jesus, tender Shepherd," with which three words my baby-nephew- now leads
of-nursery evening prayers.-1 am, Sir, &c., D. A. L.
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