Practical Parables for Young People

Due to my growing interest in birding, this old hardback caught my eye as it lay in a stack of throw-away books where my mother was clearing out her church library. Likely a book long since out of print and forgotten, Bird Life in Wington is a collection of parables geared towards the children in the congregation yet also with definite lessons for the adults sitting within ear shot.

I was fascinated to learn that J. Calvin Reid had the outstanding idea of each Sunday morning calling up the children in his church to sit and listen to story created especially for them, while parents sat in the pews listening in. I’ve seen this sort of thing happen in more modern churches, of course, but didn’t think it would have flown in the up-tight years following World War II! But for whatever reason, this progressive Reverend had a heart to use his creative talents to reach the kids in his church, and this short book is the result.

Each week, the Rev. would introduce a new bird-citizen of his fanciful Wington to the children, and inevitably this bird would represent a key flaw in morals or ethics of his own patrons. One week, the issue might be church attendance, and another week it might be slander or complaining, but whatever the story, the good Rev. was sure to hit on some deficiency of his congregation.

The idea of birds in Wington initially feels a bit like Wind in the Willows, and yet the more one reads, the more he realizes that these stories really have nothing to do with birds or animals at all, even for the sake of creativity. Apart from the awesome 19040s-style art-work, there’s nothing birdy about these characters except their names and visages.

Also, the characters, stories and lessons, while ostensibly created for children, are so adult in nature that it’s clear what Reverend Reid’s motives really were. Rather than trying to teach the children a story about the principles of Christ, he was simply seeking to sneak in a second sermon-of-annoyance for the parents each week! C.S. Lewis or Tolkien he is not, and while I would have loved to have saved the illustrations, the throw-away pile is a great place for this lost book.

©2017 E.T.