Then, as the pleasant sound of the lambs,
bleating after their mothers, comes to us from the fields, let us remember
there was a day when that sound, which you know so well, was heard for
the first time; and as we go for our walk and look around us at the green
fields and the trees with their leaves and blossoms, and then far away to
where the strong mountains lift their heads against the sky, let us say to
ourselves, "All these things, which seem as if they had been there always,
had a beginning; there was a time when there were none of them, and then
there came a time when they were there, for God had made them to be."
While we were talking about this, the elder children and I, the little boys
were very quiet; but I was afraid it was all rather difficult for them,
so I asked Leslie and Dick to tell me what we mean when we speak of the
beginning of anything.
I forget whether I got the answer from them or from one of the elder ones,
but I know I thought it a good answer when somebody said, "The beginning of
a thing is the first of it."
Then we spoke about the beginning of the table at which we were sitting--I
suppose we chose that to talk about because it was so close to us--how it
was made of wood, and the wood was once a tree; and if it was an oak, that
giant tree must have been long, long ago only a tiny acorn in its pretty
green cup. Each of those children, too, as they sat round the table, had
had a beginning.
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