A ROMANTIC ADVENTURE INTO RELIGION

Once upon a time there Was a little Girl. And she never read the Bible, and when her fond parents Decided that she ought to be Religiously educated, she Rebelled, and on Sundays developed Colds—and so forth. But— When anyone mentioned Saul or Rachel or Anything, she felt Uncomfortable And blushed And giggled And tried to Change the subject, which She couldn’t always do. And everyone accused her of not “Having religion” Until she fully Believed it. Bye and bye When she grew older she Began to wonder What this religion That everybody thought so much about— That preachers preached about— That revivalists ranted about— Is. And when she asked People Some carefully stroked their beards And thoughtfully cleaned their spectacles And said:—“It is The divine life in the human soul” whatever That is. And some Sat up straight And promptly answered “The natural gratitude to God for creating us which makes us want to obey his commands, in return,” which Was clearer, but sounded too much like a Bargain. And she asked some who had been Brought up on Catechisms and Things. And they Looked shocked at the Question. Perhaps because they Didn’t know. And there were many More answers But The girl thought That, as there Were so many and So many people had Bothered about it, It must be pretty Important and Useful. And so she looked Up in card indices and Read many Deep books And had many Deep discussions And things. Finally she decided That Religion is a very Personal thing, And so There couldn’t be a Single definition for Everyone. But as for herself, she Considered it One’s idea of perfection, The attempt to live up to this idea as an ideal, And One’s attitude toward the world in trying to do this. And as for the ways of “getting religion” She could not believe That this should be Thrust upon a poor defenseless Babe, or that a mean advantage should be Taken of his Youth By his parents, in biasing his Later saner judgment by Prejudicing him in favor of certain Opinions that They Happened to have. She did not mean That one should not read the Bible, or obey general morals or Know who Rachel was or Be as uneducated, as She. She meant that one should be Left to oneself, When it comes to thinking out What his Motive in life, And Conception of perfection, and Explanation of the big whys of Life, and Things Like that Are. For one must get an Understanding of such Things (If one is to have a real understanding of them) Either through Much theory, Or better, By the experience which only Living gives— If you get what I mean. But, Thought the girl, What is the use of Worrying About things like that Anyhow? And then she Realized how People always turn toward Religion When they are in Trouble; as the Religious revival in Europe now Shows. And she realized the Comfort that they Get From it. And after all It is only natural that when Material things And means toward the real end Go wrong, And one feels blue, That one should try to Look ahead And beyond At the real goal, And get Cheered up, By the confirmation that there is a goal. And that is one use of Religion. And besides People Are apt to be too Materialistic, nowadays. And the very presence of ideals, Or recognition of their presence, Will lead one Beyond Such narrowness And Such binding materialism, and so Will lead to Higher ideals— Hence Higher strivings— Hence A better world— Which is An asset in itself, If you get what I Mean. And this is the Real Use of religion. And with this off her mind she felt better.