The story of my life ; or, The sunshine and shadow of seventy years / by Mary A. Livermore ... with hitherto unrecorded incidents and recollections of three years' experience as an army nurse in the great Civil War, and reminiscences of twenty-five years' experiences on the lecture platform ... to which is added six of her most popular lectures ... with portraits and one hundred and twenty engravings from designs by eminent artists ...

244

244 THE STORY OF MY LIFE,

I was dumb. How could I make it as clear to these
children as it was to myself, that this code of morals was
wrong, without, at the same time, arraigning their charming
father, for whom they had unbounded love and admiration?
After a moment or two of helpless silence, I returned again
to the discussion.
"11Dick, do you remember what you read about Jesus
Christ in the Testament a week or two ago? How he was
insulted by a cruel mob that finally put him to death?" He
nodded assent; still standing and intensely interested.
" Do you remember how they smote him with the palms
of their hands, or, as we should say, slapped him in the face,
spat in his face, crowned him with thorns that pierced his
temples, and insulted and ridiculed him?"
"I1 never heard such impudence in my life! " said Dick,
much moved. They had all wept when reading the story.
"11Think of treating Jesus Christ in that way! Why didn't
he strike 'em dead for their badness? I blieve he'd
oughter done it. That's the most dreadful story I ever
read."
"Do you remember how he received this insulting and
wicked treatment, Dick? He did not curse those men of
the mob, nor call names, nor strike back, nor fight; but,
when dying, prayed for them, -'I Father forgive them, for
they know not what they do!' - You think he did right,
don't you, Dick?" All the children were listening for
Dick's answer
"Yes, right for him; but you don't expect we can do
like Christ did,, do you? 'Cause we can't, nohow."
"We can try to do as he did, can't we?1 And by con-@
stanly tyin, weshal beome oreand orelikehim