THE tales that appeal most to a child are those which stir the imagination and, not being enclosed in definite lines of statement, allow a certain play of the fancy. Such stories, from their absence of detail and from their sketchy outline, will generally be found to be precisely those which admit of a wide interpretation; and, provided they are founded on some great, unchanging law of truth, the appreciation of the child for the large variety of interpretations as to conclusions, shadows forth to the adult the probability of the discovery of an equal number of metaphysical meanings.
When I was a little girl I was always considerably puzzled by the offering of the scapegoat as a means of atoning for the sins of the community. The thought of the animal wandering away, perhaps to die of hunger in the wilderness, seemed almost a worse fate than that of the fellow goat which was sacrificed on the altar. The goat that was killed and burnt gave no cause for wonderment as to its final end, but the one that was sent out was subject to all sorts of horrid possibilities or chances, and its career could be followed in thought with endless variations as to its ultimate fate. It was a tale that held the attention and excited both fear and pity in the childish mind.
So many explanations have been given of the meaning of the scapegoat that it might seem superfluous to say more; but like so many of the old ceremonies recorded in the Bible, the vital truth contained in its imagery makes it well worthy of further consideration. In their beginning most ceremonials were a concrete expression of an idea, a symbol of some truth. In time the ceremonial itself began to be regarded as the fact, while the truth which it sought to embody was lost sight of; and it is for this reason that all ceremonials are to be avoided, as they are liable to cloud the spiritual sense and so lose sight of the right idea. To the eastern mind, which delighted in imagery and metaphor, the ceremonial may have conveyed more meaning than can be easily estimated by western thought, but all the same the constant repetition of certain rites is ultimately bound to degenerate into a meaningless performance. Through the understanding gained from our text-book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, we are enabled in many instances to discern the meaning hidden away in some of the old ceremonials. The germ of truth contained in any observance or legend expands and grows with the progress of time and, rightly interpreted, is able to meet the demands of a higher civilization and a more highly developed sense of intelligence.
