This wonderful book is not at all what you might think from the title. I thought it was about a boy named Teddy and a witch, but there is no boy named Teddy, no witch, and no witch's lamp. A little girl named Theodora Treyner (Teddy) is the main character.
Teddy is worried about her parents. They quarrel
frequently and Teddy is afraid they will separate. Teddy’s mother likes
to go out with her friends and frequently leaves Teddy home alone. Although she
does not know much about God, Teddy prays for God to keep her parents
together. Her father thinks moving to the country will help their
marriage. Teddy’s mother reluctantly agrees to the move. Although
Teddy’s mother is wrong in leaving her child alone to go out gambling and
playing cards, Teddy’s father has the idea that moving to the country will make
his wife more “domestic”.
Teddy meets Tommy Tucker who lives down the road from the
Treyners’ new country home. They become great friends, “Double Ts” as
Tommy calls himself and his new friend Teddy, as they both have the initials T.
T. Tommy explains the Golden Rule to Teddy, and he tells her about Jesus.
Teddy has never been to Sunday School and knows very little about God and has
never heard of Jesus. Tommy tells Teddy that Jesus is the Savior, but he
is not sure what that means.
On weekends the twosome hurry through their chores, pack
lunches and go to a place where weeping willows grow along a small creek.
They watch “polliwogs” as they are called in the story. Where I grew up,
they were called tadpoles, and I also loved to watch them and was fascinated at
the growing stages of a frog. Other entertainment for the children is
simple activities such as turning over rocks and watching the bugs scurry away,
and flying kites. The story paints a lovely picture of fifties children
entertaining themselves and having a great time. This is the kind of
childhood I had and loved.
The neighborhood children tell Teddy about a mysterious
lady who lives nearby. They tell Teddy that this lady is a witch. One day the “witch” lady calls from her doorway and
asks Teddy to come and help her with something. Teddy is frightened and
runs away. Later, Tommy tells Teddy that his Sunday School teacher told him
that to go to heaven, a person must obey the Golden Rule and do good deeds for
others. Because they want to go to heaven someday, Teddy and Tommy decide
to do a good deed and go visit the “witch” and see if they can help her.
What Teddy and Tommy find is a
complete surprise. This kindly neighbor lady, Mrs. King, whom they thought was
a witch, tells them things they did not know about Jesus. She tells them
they cannot get into heaven by doing good deeds, and she reads John 14:6 to
them from her Bible, “Jesus answered I am the way and the truth and the
life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (NIV) She explains
that the way to heaven is to ask Jesus into their hearts. Tommy and Teddy
eagerly pray to Jesus and receive His gift of salvation.
Teddy tries to tell her
parents about Jesus, but they want no part of it. In fact, they will not
allow Teddy to attend Sunday School with Tommy. Then Teddy is hit
by a car in a terrible accident and is seriously hurt, but she recovers. This incident deeply
affects Teddy’s mother who eventually accepts Jesus. It takes Teddy’s
father a little longer, but he also accepts Jesus.
Mrs. King has a beautiful hand painted lamp that her mother gave her when she
was very young. Her parents died while Mrs. King was still a child, and she and
her little sister were separated. They went to live with relatives, and the
sisters never saw each other again. Because Teddy and Tommy recognize
this lamp as exactly like one owned by a neighbor, Mrs. King and her sister are
reunited.
I recently read this story for the first time but have had this book on
my mind for many years and wanted to read it someday. It was in the
school library when I was in sixth grade, but I never got around to reading it
then. In previous blog entries I have mentioned that most of these “baby
boomer” books I write about were from the school library at Colchester Grade
School, Colchester, Illinois in McDonough County. During the summer
between fifth and sixth grade, my family moved to Schuyler County, and I
entered sixth grade at Huntsville Grade School, Huntsville, Illinois. The
change in schools was huge to me. At Colchester Grade School, there
were around fifty students in each grade. Huntsville Grade School was a
three-room school with grades 4, 5, and 6 all in the room I was in. There
were nine of us in sixth grade.
At the back of our room, there was a tiny library that did
not even fill up one wall, but it had many wonderful books. A small set
of new books was added that year from the Moody Bible Institute of
Chicago. I read one of these books and it warmed my heart. Teddy
and The Witch’s Lamp was right there on the shelf too, but I don’t remember why
I did not read it. Perhaps the school year ended too quickly for
me. I always regretted that I never got around to checking it out.
This was in the early sixties, and all these years later, I was able to find
this treasure and order it online for a small price. What a privilege to
be able to read this precious book after all these years!
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