Calpurnia worries about what others think as well. She is fanatical about Jem and Scout's cleanliness and attire when she takes them to church with her because "'I don't want anybody sayin' I don't look after my children.'" Cal really does think of the Finch children as her children, yet she is black and they are white. The children don't understand prejudice at its basest level, and Calpurnia seems to not possess it either. Consequently, the children are surprised when they ironically experience prejudice while attending Calpurnia's church. There, a churchgoer named Lula confronts Calpurnia with, "'I wants to know why you bringin' white chillun to nigger church.'" Prejudice appears to run from black toward white as much as from white toward black. In this instance, the children are like mockingbirds — they're just there to please Calpurnia and worship. This experience will give the children more compassion toward Tom's treatment from a white jury. However, just as every white resident of Maycomb isn't prejudiced, not every member of Calpurnia's church is, either. Both Reverend Skyes and Zeebo are quite glad to have them and tell them so.
The children are further surprised to hear Calpurnia talk like other black people. Scout comments "The idea that she had a separate existence outside our household was a novel one, to say nothing of her having command of two languages." Significantly, Scout sees the language of the two races as different, but more importantly, she is impressed by Calpurnia's mastery of both. If Scout were raised in a prejudiced household, she would find this other "language" inferior.
