Madam How and Lady Why: Preface - A Narration

This is a narration of the Preface of Madam How and Lady Why by Charles Kingsley.

In the time the author wrote this book, it was easy to find beautiful books with lovely pictures to learn from, but it wasn't always that way. Books when the author was a child were much more dull. However, there was one book that he remembered learning from that had stuck with him and one story in particular from it that he wished to share with his children. It is about eyes and no eyes.

There was a school that was reopening after being closed for a holiday session. The teacher asked one student, Robert, where he had come from and what he had seen. Robert replied that he had walked through the woods, hadn't seen a soul, and that he had been so bored he wished he had walked by the turnpike. Another boy walked into the class, dressed in his school clothes but showing the signs of having been playing in the mud. The teacher asked this boy, William, where he had been and what he had seen. William replied, "Oh, I have had the most delightful walk!" He explained that he had walked through the woods and showed a handkerchief full of treasures he had found along the way. He saw a peewit that he chased into a swamp. He chatted with a man who was cutting sod and showed him how to cut sod himself. He found a piece of mistletoe that he was wanting to identify. He climbed a hill and saw a glorious view, and then remembering the name of the hill was something like Fort Mount, he looked to see if there was an old Roman fort, and sure enough, he found one and explored it. Then he found his way to the school.

The teacher wisely said to the children, "There are two kinds of people in this world, those who use their eyes to see all that is around them, and those who might as well not have eyes for they do not use them. William, continue to see all that is around you. Robert, learn to use the eyes you have."

So we must use our eyes to see the world God made. The Universe is God's Book and the reading of God's Book is Science. Of course there is much more truth in the world that cannot be seen and heard and touched, but we must start there. When we study the truths we find in Nature we will begin to know the One who made it all.