“Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our
Lord!” Romans 7:24-25
The Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle
stories are favorites on our boys’ bookshelves.
They are set in a pleasant suburb in the mid-fifties, the sort of place
where mothers have always just taken sugar cookies out of the oven and daddies
are headed out after work to finish the new treehouse ladder. The stories are populated with
children—accomplished, good natured, obedient children—who just happen to be
passing through unfortunate phases.
Take Nicholas Semicolon,
subject of the story Philip read to all of us as we made our way across Maine
last week. Nicholas is ten, large and
strong for his age, the apple of his mother’s eye. But he also happens to have become a
thoroughly rotten bully. He hits girls
and pulls dog’s tails, upsets baby carriages and speaks rudely to everyone he
meets. His parents have been blissfully
ignorant about all of this until they receive a call from Mrs. Eager, whose
son’s legs are covered in bandages after little Nicky’s latest attack.
