etween its tenets, and what human learning shows us to be an
indisputable fact."

"Do we?" smiled the minister.

"Don't we?" answered Donald.

Rose sat looking first at one, then at the other, with a puzzled look in
her eyes, for it was all Greek to her.

Noticing this, Mr. Talmadge said, "I guess that we've started a bit too
strongly for our little listener, but we want her to accompany us from
the start," and he briefly, in simple words, outlined the Darwinian
theory, which brought an outraged grunt from Big Jerry. Then he turned
back to Donald, and said, "Take the story of ... well, say the prodigal
son, for an example. Was that the account of real happenings, think
you?"

"Of course not. Merely a parable." The other's mind reverted to the one
which he himself had preached by letter to little "Smiles."

"The Bible is filled with parables," said Mr. Talmadge, simply. "Why
should we regard certain stories as allegories merely, and others as
historically accurate statements of fact when they are difficult to
credit as such? Especially why should we do so in the face of the
obvious fact that the earlier part of the Old Testament is simply
tradition, handed down, orally at first, by an intensely patriotic and
rather vain race? _Sacred_ tradition it is, to be sure; but that should
not deter us from endeavoring to analyze it in the light of reason.
Besides, hasn't it ever occurred to you that in a translation from the
original Hebrew, some of the finer meanings of the old words are sure to
have been lost or distorted?"

"Yes, I suppose that is so."

"As a matter of fact, the Hebrew word '_Yom_,' which, in the story of
the Creation, has been translated 'day,' also means 'period.' And it is
a rather interesting thing, in this connection, that the biblical
account mentions an evening to each of the first six 'days,' but not to
the seventh, which shows that _it_ isn't finished yet. Science tells us
that this last period, since the creation of mankind, has already
lasted many thousands of years--although the length of time ascribed to
it varies greatly--and this gives us some idea of how long those other
'days' might have been. Besides, in this case, we do not have to be
'finicky' about the meaning of the ancient word, for in the Psalms there
is a verse which says that a thousand years in _His_ sight are ..."

"Are but as yesterday," Rose completed the quotation in her gentle
voice. "You see, those were God's days, no