Among the stories in the life of St. Augustine is the following: "While St. Augustine was composing his book _On the Trinity_, and was at Cività Vecchia, he saw a little child making a hole in the seashore, and asked him what he was doing. The child replied: 'I am making a hole to contain the water of the sea.' The doctor smiled, telling the child it would not be possible to do so; but the child made answer: 'Not so, Augustine. It would be far easier to drain off the waters of the great deep than for the finite to grasp the Infinite'; and so he vanished. Augustine then knew that the child was an angel of God, sent to warn him, and he diligently set to work to revise what he had written" (191. 355). The best of mankind can still sit at the feet of childhood and learn of its wisdom. But of many a one must it be said:-- "He hath grown so foolish-wise He cannot see with childhood's eyes; He hath forgot that purity And lowliness which are the key Of Nature's mysteries." CHAPTER XIX. THE CHILD AS JUDGE. So, Holy Writ in Babes hath judgment shown, Where Judges have been babes.--_Shakespeare_. O wise young judge I--_Shakespeare_. _The Child as Judge_ Shakespeare in _All's Well that Ends Well_, makes Helen say to the King:-- "He that of greatest works is finisher, Oft does them by the weakest minister: So, Holy Writ in babes hath judgment shown, When judges have been babes." And in the history of the human race, appeal has often been made to the innocence and imputed discernment of the child. As one of the glories of God, David sang in Israel of old: "Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength, because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger." And the disciple Matthew reiterates the thought: "Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes"; and, again: "Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast thou perfected praise." _Solomon._ The stories told of Solomon--the judgments of the wise Hebrew monarch, when a child, were as remarkable as those which he made after attaining man's estate--have their counterparts in other lands. One of the most celebrated decisions was rendered by Solomon when he was but thirteen years of age. Well gives the story as follows (547.192):--