When our University of Illinois, School of Information Sciences intern sorted and accessioned our documents, files, photos, drawings, and even pieces of leftover stained glass from the Rose Window rebuild, she set aside a few boxes of books. We had multiple copies of old hymnals, some early-to-mid 20th Century religious education books, denominational histories, and various pamphlets.

Jody Hanger, our librarian, and I went through the boxes and rescued the books that could be added to our library, or shared with other UU churches or organizations, or offered for sale through specialized re-sellers. 

Books that I listed for sale (no luck yet, by the way) include both bound and unbound copies of three volumes of the “Martin and Judy” stories. We have a variety of printings and editions, that range from 1940 to 1964. These stories were written for three-, four-, and five-year-old children. 

Each volume, and all the printings and editions we have, include an introduction by Sophia L. Fahs, generally called “A Word to Parents and Teachers.” Ms. Fahs was an editor, author, teacher, and a leader in liberal religious education. In her introductions, she reminds parents and teachers that commonplace experiences for them can be magical to very young children. A bug, a shadow, the reflection of clouds in a puddle can thrill a child. The littlest among us may not have language for our wonder, but we do communicate it with “a quivering, jumping body, gleaming eyes, or staring long at some particular spot.” Ms. Fahs quotes G.K. Chesterton saying that the awareness of the extraordinary is “the beginning of the praise of God.” 

Ms. Fahs says that such precious surprise defines the way the Martin and Judy books were planned and written. There are twelve types of experiences that “have in them this core of special significance. We may not designate them as religious experiences in the usual meaning of the term. We do think of them, however, as representative experiences holding within their framework an element from which spiritual values may possibly evolve. These first experiences can be appreciated by children too young to understand any theological terms.”

As she expounds on the twelve types of experiences, we can see how the short chapters in each volume follow the plan to bring awareness to the children hearing the stories. The experiences include: 1) forces of nature; 2) animate vs. inanimate things; 3) the essential nature of living things; 4) death; 5) sickness; 6) shadows; 7) reality vs. dreams and fancies; 8) social cooperation; 9) respect and love vs. jealousy and disrespect; 10) creative achievements; 11) present good vs. future good; and 12) overcoming difficulties. 

Two stories in Volume 2 illustrate a number of the types of experiences that form the themes Ms. Fahs describes. In the first story, called Judy and the Doctor Help Each Other, Judy has a sore throat and the doctor makes a house call. The doctor says he’ll help Judy feel better if Judy will help him. She agrees to hold the thermometer under her tongue and lie still. She promises to take her medicine and eat what her mother brings her, and she will stay in bed for another day. 

As the doctor is leaving, Judy asks if he’s going to help other boys and girls feel better, too. Yes, he says, he’s going to the hospital to help other children. Judy asks if she can go to the hospital some day and the doctor says that after she feels better, she can go to the hospital and “We might snip out those tonsils that have made your throat sore so often this winter.” Judy wants to know if it will hurt and the doctor says he’ll give her something to put her to sleep and she won’t feel the snipping but then it will hurt for a little while after that. 

In the following story, Judy and her mother are on their way to the hospital in the doctor’s car. She sees lots of buildings on the way and asks if they are the hospital. No, the doctor says, that one’s a mill and that one’s a office building and that one’s a schoolhouse. Judy decides the hospital is prettier than the mill, smaller than the office building and taller than the schoolhouse. Once at the hospital, there is a nurse with a pretty white cap and a comfortable bed in a sunny room. Judy asks again, “Are you sure it won’t hurt?” Her mother and the doctor tell her they’ve had their tonsils out and they didn’t remember the snipping at all. But their throats were sore for a few days afterwards. When the operation is over, Judy wakes up and sees her mother and remembers the nurse with the pretty cap and the doctor with the big, kind voice and is glad her tonsils had been snipped out.