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diff --git a/14188-0.txt b/14188-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1d2d946 --- /dev/null +++ b/14188-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2487 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14188 *** + +Fifty-Two Story Talks + +TO BOYS AND GIRLS + + +BY + +REV. HOWARD J. CHIDLEY, B.D. + +PASTOR TRINITY CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, + +EAST ORANGE, NEW JERSEY + + + +GARDEN CITY, NEW YORK + +DOUBLEDAY, DORAN & COMPANY, INC. + + + +Copyright, 1914 by + +GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY + + + +PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA + + + + +TO + +MY DAUGHTER + +Elizabeth + + + + +FOREWORD + + +No department of Christian literature is of more importance for the +future of the Church than that which seeks to enlist the children in the +service of Christ. Mr. Chidley, by his gifts and experience as a pastor +and a teacher of the young, is eminently fitted to contribute towards +this most vital phase of Christian activity. His successful career in +the Central Congregational Church of Brooklyn, where I shared the +privilege of his valuable co-operation, and in the Trinity Church of +East Orange, New Jersey, of which he is now the beloved and honored +pastor, bespeak the merits of this series of addresses to Boys and +Girls. They are at once an efficient protest against the Protestant +neglect of the young and a remedy for that neglect. Parents, +instructors, and guardians of the juvenile members of our Churches will +be wise to read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest the teachings and +exhortations presented here. It is a book of absorbing interest, and +the little folks and those of older years can not fail to be both +profited and delighted by it. The revolution in Christian thought +concerning the relation of children to the Church and the Kingdom of God +is apparent on every page. Dr. Martineau averred that children do not +require to be led so much as not to be misled, and in these "Fifty-two +Stories" we have a model application of his weighty aphorism. The +receptive and expansive hours of child nature are admirably considered, +and what is here written has a direct bearing upon its spiritual +development and welfare. + +S. PARKES CADMAN. + + _The Parish House,_ +_Central Congregational Church,_ + _Brooklyn, N.Y., March 2, 1914._ + + + + +CONTENTS + + PAGE +INTRODUCTION xiii +A BIBLE RIDDLE 3 +CLOSED GATES 6 +HIRING A COACHMAN 9 +THE FIERCEST THING IN THE BIBLE 11 +SACRIFICE HITS 13 +THE LIBERTY OF OBEDIENCE 15 +CUTTING CORNERS 18 +HABITS 20 +A LESSON IN COURTESY 23 +LITTLE FOXES 25 +A TRICKY OX 28 +"SHINE INSIDE" 30 +THE STORM KING EAGLE 33 +A DOG WHICH ATE THE BIBLE 35 +STEAM AND SAILS 37 +A FISH-STORY 39 +OPPORTUNITY 41 +GOD IS NOW HERE 43 +DAVID LIVINGSTONE'S FAITH 45 +THE HAPPY MAN 47 +A SERMON FOR THE BOYS 49 +TIRE-TROUBLE 51 +WATCHING FOR IDLE BOYS 53 +CHRIST AND THE DOG 55 +THE BOY WHO WAS TO BE MANAGER 58 +A TALE ABOUT WORDS 61 +SUFFOCATED TREES 64 +ULYSSES AND THE SIRENS 66 +POISON-LABELS 68 +LIES THAT WALK 71 +WELLINGTON AND THE SOLDIER 73 +ABRAHAM'S GUEST 75 +ABOUT GENEROSITY 78 +SUN AND WIND 80 +THE BOY AND THE TURTLE 82 +THE BOY AND THE NICKEL 84 +THE THREE FATES 86 +THE INCH-WORM AND THE MOUNTAIN 88 +THE FRENCH DRUMMER-BOY 91 +A KING IN THE STUFF 93 +BREAD AND WINE 96 +THE FIRST CHRISTMAS CAROL 98 +A HINT FROM A CARIBOU 100 +THE REPENTANCE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON 103 +EASTER 105 +THE WHISPERING GALLERY 108 +THE HE-SAID GIRL 111 +ON DECK 113 +THE TERROR BY NIGHT 116 +THE BRAMBLE BUSH KING 119 +WHERE IS HEAVEN? 122 +THE CHRISTIAN ARMY 124 + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +In a certain Western university the president receives a salary of ten +thousand dollars a year for training young men and young women, while +not many miles distant from that university is a stock-farm the +superintendent of which receives a salary of twelve thousand dollars for +training high-bred colts. That colt-trainer is at hand when the colt is +foaled, and before it rises to its feet has rubbed down its head and put +a halter upon it, so that from birth it shall be accustomed to the +feeling of the halter. + +From that time the training of the colt is not suspended for a moment. +If in training it to travel in harness a piece of paper should blow +across the training-course, causing the colt to shy, an assistant holds +the paper on the opposite side of the road, so that the animal shall +have the kink taken out of its nervous system and its tendency to shy +again in the same direction be at once corrected. + +The old method was to allow a colt to run wild until two or three years +of age, then "break it in." The result was apt to be either a "cowed" +animal or a nervous horse. + +Would that we were manifesting as much wisdom in the religious training +of our children as that horse-trainer. But unfortunately we are pursuing +largely the old method, allowing our children to get full of all sorts +of mental kinks up through those first plastic three or four years, and +then handing them over to the church kindergarten-teacher for one hour a +week, expecting her to straighten out all these aberrations and give +back to the parents a normally religious child. + +Many parents seem to assume that the child's brain is lying dormant +during those first few years, when, as a matter of fact, the child's +mind during these years is most receptive, and expanding at a rate never +after equalled. The nervous system is receiving impressions which, +though in after-years the child has no _conscious_ memory of it, are yet +indelibly chiselled there for good or ill. + +It is high time that parents and religious teachers took more +cognizance than they do of this fact. + +There are other parents who deliberately refuse to give their children +any religious training during this period for fear of "unduly +influencing" them from the religious standpoint. This point of view is +stated, whether seriously or not, in the following quotation from a +recent writer: "I think it is a bad thing to be what is known as +'brought up,' don't you? Why should we--poor, helpless little children, +all soft and resistless--be squeezed and jammed into the iron bands of +parental points of view? Why should we have points of view at all? Why +not for those few divine years when we are still so near God, leave us +just to wonder? We are not given a chance. On our pulpy little minds our +parents carve their opinions, and the mass slowly hardens, and all those +deep, narrow, up-and-down strokes harden with it, and the first thing +the best of us have to do on growing up is to waste precious time +beating at the things, to try to get them out. Surely the child of the +most admirable and wise parents is richer with his own faulty but +original point of view than he would be fitted out with the choicest +selections of maxims and conclusions that he did not have to think out +for himself. I could never be a schoolmistress. I should be afraid to +teach the children. They know more than I do. They know how to be happy, +how to live from day to day, in godlike indifference to what may come +next. And is not trying to be happy the secret we spend our lives trying +to guess? Why, then, should I, by forcing them to look through my stale +eyes, show them, as through a dreadful magnifying-glass, the terrific +possibilities, the cruel explosiveness of what they had been lightly +tossing across the daisies, and thinking they were only toys?" + +All of which sounds very pretty, but when simmered down, the wisdom, if +wisdom it be, of a statement like that can be compressed into the old +adage, "Where ignorance is bliss 'tis folly to be wise." But the point +is that the world has pretty generally come to the conclusion that +bliss is not necessarily the most healthful thing, either for adults or +children. "Soft and resistless!" Precisely, there is the crux. If these +"soft and resistless" minds do not receive good impressions they will +receive bad ones, and it is the part of wisdom to get the good in first. +Where a mind is "to let," some sort of tenant is sure to occupy. + +Coleridge put the case in a nutshell when an English deist inveighed +bitterly against the rigid instruction of Christian homes. The deist +said: "Consider the helplessness of a little child. Before it has wisdom +or judgment to decide for itself, it is prejudiced in favour of +Christianity. How selfish is the parent who stamps his religious ideas +into a child's receptive nature, as a moulder stamps the hot iron with +his model! I shall prejudice my children neither for Christianity nor +for Buddhism, nor for Atheism, but allow them to wait for their mature +years. Then they can open the question and decide for themselves." Later +Coleridge led his friend into the garden, and then whimsically +exclaimed: "How selfish is the gardener to ruthlessly stamp his +prejudice in favour of roses, violets and strawberries into a receptive +garden-bed. The time was when in April I pulled up the young weeds,--the +parsley, the thistles,--and planted the garden-beds out with vegetables +and flowers. Now I have decided to permit the garden to go until +September. Then the black clods can choose for themselves between +cockleburrs, currants and strawberries." The deist saw the point. + +Another weakness in our system of religious training for children is +manifest at the adolescence-period of the child. We have been in the +habit of allowing the child to consider the Bible-school as his church. +We send him to the Bible-school in his very early years, but make no +demands upon him as far as specific church-attendance is concerned. And +at the kindergarten-period we are probably wise in this; for after the +child has attended kindergarten for an hour, it is too great a tax upon +him to require him to sit through an hour's church-service. But after +the kindergarten-period it seems to me the plain duty of parents to +encourage the child to attend church, though not necessarily for the +entire service; for if the child does not establish a church-going +_habit_ during these plastic years, the probability is that he will +never form it. This partially explains why there is such a leakage +between the Bible-school and the church. When the child gets "too old +for Bible-school," not having formed the church-going habit, he is +stranded + + "Between two worlds, + One dead, the other powerless to be born." + +And the result is he drifts away from the Church. + +In the endeavour to remedy this situation in his own Church it has been +the custom of the writer to have all children from seven to twelve years +of age in the Bible-school, which meets on Sunday morning before church, +attend the morning worship for the first fifteen minutes. During this +time they hear the Call to Worship, the Invocation, the Lord's Prayer, +the Children's Sermon, and the Anthem by the choir. At the close of the +anthem the children file out with their teachers as the adult +congregation rises for the Responsive Lesson. In this way the children +are establishing a church-going habit, with the result that they early +begin to feel that something is wrong on Sunday if they have not been to +church. + +A word as to the content of the sermons preached. I believe that a +child's religion ought to be largely of the motor type. That is, it +should be concerned with getting religion into the child's hands and +feet. In other words, it should seek to establish in him a habit of +right-doing. For this reason his religion should be of the most +practical sort, leaving the theory to come later. He should have +sufficient theological pegs to hang his morality on, but he should be +troubled little with dogma. For this reason his religion will probably +have largely to do with the here and now. He cannot be much interested +in an other-worldly religion. The normal child at this period will not +sing with any great enthusiasm "I want to be an angel." For this world +is to him just then a very interesting and fascinating place. He is for +that reason ready also to admire men of action, and is wide open for +the influences of hero-worship. And while he cannot be argued into being +a Christian, for he is not sufficiently awake to logic; and while he +cannot be coerced, for he possesses the dynamic of a locomotive combined +with the resistance of a mule, he can be magnetized into being a +Christian if there is set as his teacher and example a virile, magnetic +man. The boy will open his soul to him as he does his windows to welcome +the breath of May. Such considerations as these have determined the +content of these sermons. + +The author makes no claim to originality for much of the material +presented, but he has given a new setting to old truths, a setting which +experience has proved to be interesting to the children of his own +congregation. + +It may seem that the wording of some of these sermons is beyond the +grasp of the children for whom it was intended. Two things are to be +noted in this connection. First, a child resents being talked down to. +He soon detects a condescending smile and mock affability in a speaker. +And when he detects these he closes the door of his heart against the +message. Second, it is better to give the child something to grow to, +provided it is not too far beyond his grasp. But here again experience +is the best criterion. The children who have heard these sermons have +enjoyed them, and have carried their substance and lessons home with +them to repeat to older ears. + +They are offered to the public, therefore, in the hope that they may +suggest a method, add a little to the scant supply of material for +children's sermons, and serve to interest other children as well. + +H.J.C. + +_Orange, New Jersey._ + + + + +A BIBLE-RIDDLE + + +Boys and girls are all fond of riddles, and I am sure you will be +surprised to know that there is one of the best riddles of all in the +Bible, one that is very hard to guess, and yet one that has a fine +lesson in it when I tell you the answer. + +This riddle was told by Samson on his wedding-day, and nobody would ever +have guessed it if his wife had not let the secret out. + +But first I must tell where Samson got his riddle. Well, one day with +his father and mother he was walking down the road to the land where the +Philistines lived. And according to the story, a young lion rushed out +at him from behind some bushes, and Samson, being a very strong man, +broke its jaws and killed it, and left its carcass behind some bushes by +the roadside. + +Some time afterward he was going down that road again, and he turned +aside to see what had become of the carcass. And what do you think he +found there? This: a swarm of wild bees had made their nest in that +carcass. Now, Samson was fond of honey, and he took the comb of honey +with him and ate it as he walked along the road. And as he walked he +made up this riddle: "Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the +strong came forth sweetness." That means that out of this lion which +would have eaten him up he got something to eat, and out of this strong +beast he got something sweet. + +I suppose you will wonder what sort of lesson for boys and girls anyone +can draw from that. You say you will never meet a lion on the roadside. + +I am not so sure of that. I think boys and girls meet things every day +that are very much like lions. Of course, in these days we call them +temptations. But, then, they jump out at you very suddenly and +unexpectedly sometimes. And they would devour your souls just as this +lion would have eaten up Samson had he not killed it. And when you kill +a temptation by not giving way to it you can make a riddle just like +Samson, and you can say, too, "Out of the eater came forth meat, and out +of the strong came forth sweetness." For just like Samson, every time +you come to the place where you have overcome a temptation,--it may be +to say unkind things, or to be quick-tempered, or to be hateful,--you +will find that you will be stronger to overcome it next time. And the +remembrance of how you were able to overcome your feelings will be +sweet, just as that honey was to Samson. God says that if we trust Him, +"the young lion shall ye trample under foot." + + + + +CLOSED GATES + + +If any of you boys and girls, while riding through a great city on an +express train, ever chance to put your head out of the car-window and +look forward along the tracks, you will see several blocks ahead of the +train people in carriages, on foot, and in street-cars crossing the +railway-tracks in great numbers, and it seems as if the train would have +to stop, or else it would run over somebody. But the train never +slackens speed. The engineer keeps on blowing the whistle, and the train +thunders along at the usual rate. + +Then you will notice when you get near those crossings that all the +gates are down and the railway-tracks are perfectly clear. + +That is the way with many of the difficulties we face in life. We set +out to do the thing our conscience tells us to do, and it seems as if +the road were full of obstructions. But you just go straight ahead, +determined to do your duty, and lo, the hindrances disappear. When an +earnest man goes right ahead, the crowd usually opens up to let him +through. + +As you get older and face the world you will find it looks like a great, +fierce giant. But really its fierce look is caused by a false-face that +it wears to frighten faint-hearted people. You go boldly up and take +hold of his beard, as David faced the giant, and you will be surprised +to find that not only the beard but the whole mask comes off in your +hands, and there is a kindly countenance behind. For the world would +rather see you succeed than fail. + +I heard of a young man the other day who went into an office in Chicago +to sell a bill of goods. The man behind the desk was very brusque and +fierce-looking, and snapped out, "Well, what do you want here?" + +The young man promptly replied, "I want first to be treated as a +gentleman, and then I may talk business to you." + +The other man dropped his fierce manner at once, and the young man sold +him a large bill of goods. The man behind the desk told him when he was +leaving that he greeted strangers fiercely to try their mettle, and if +they ran away he concluded they weren't worth troubling with anyhow. + +And so I say to you, boys and girls, be sure in your own minds that you +are doing right, then go boldly ahead, and you will find the gates down +and the tracks clear. Let this be your motto: + + "Silken-handed stroke a nettle, + And it stings you for your pains. + Grasp it like a man of mettle, + And it soft as silk remains." + + + + +HIRING A COACHMAN + + +There is a story that tells of a man who advertised for a coachman, and +three men answered the advertisement. They all made a good appearance, +and the man was at a loss to know which one to choose. + +Finally he hit upon this scheme. There was a road near his house that +ran along the edge of a precipice. The man asked each one of these +coachmen in turn how close he could drive to the cliff without going +over. The first said he could drive within six inches of it; the second +said he could drive within two inches of it. When the third man was +asked he said, "I should keep away from it as far as possible." + +The man said, "You are the coachman I want." + +The way that last coachman felt about the precipice is the way for boys +and girls to feel about temptation. Some things that are wrong are like +thin ice: they tempt you to see how far you can go, and the first thing +you know you are in. A boy, especially, is tempted to be what is known +as a "daredevil;" that is, one who is not afraid of anything. But there +is nothing in it, boys. That sort of thing is not courage: it is +rashness, which is just another name for foolishness. + +Shakespeare once said: + + "I dare do all that may become a man, + Who dares do more is none." + +The really brave boy is not the one that blusters and brags: the brave +boy is usually quiet, but, as we say, "all there" when the pinch really +comes. + +Christ was one of the bravest men the world ever knew, and yet He told +us to be afraid, actually afraid, of things that hurt our souls. + +Do not see how near the fire you can go without getting scorched; don't +see how near sin you can go without getting caught. It is poor business. +Take this as your motto when you are inclined to tamper with wrong: "Who +eats with the devil needs a long-handled spoon." The farther you keep +away from him, the better. + + + + +THE FIERCEST THING IN THE BIBLE + + +I suppose if I should ask you which is the fiercest animal mentioned in +the Bible, I should get many different answers. Some of you would say +the lion; some, the bear; some the panther; some, the wolf; and so on. +But none of these is right, and I will tell you why. All of these +animals can be tamed, more or less; but there is one fiercer thing than +all these, and it cannot be tamed, so one of the apostles says. + +It is kept behind two red doors and more than twenty white bars, and its +name is spelled as follows: T-O-N-G-U-E. Yes, that is it, the tongue. +James says, "The tongue can no man tame." + +It is not only one of the fiercest things mentioned in the Bible, but it +is also one of the crudest. I suppose you never thought that you could +kill a person with your tongue, did you? And yet I have known some +people say such mean things about others that those people were killed +as far as living in their town was concerned, and had to move away, for +all their influence was dead. + +A pretty safe way when you are tempted to say anything unkind about +another boy or girl, who is not present, is to ask yourself if it is +fair play, since the other cannot defend himself; for I know that you +all want to play fair. That is the basis of all true sport. + +And then remember also that when once you have said an unkind thing you +cannot take it back, for it lives on in spite of you. + +Perhaps you recollect the interesting idea which the old Hebrews had of +the separate existence of words as soon as they were spoken. A curse +once uttered could not be recalled because it now existed independently +of the speaker. You remember the story of the blessing of Jacob by +Isaac. Isaac could not give it to Esau, because it had passed beyond his +control. + + "Boys flying kites, haul in their white-winged birds; + You can't do that way when you're flying words, + Things that we think may sometimes fall back dead, + But God Himself can't kill them when they're said." + + + + +SACRIFICE HITS + + +I hope that all you boys play baseball, and that many of you are on +baseball teams. If you are, I suppose you know what is meant by a +sacrifice hit. + +It is called a "sacrifice hit" when the score is close and a player +comes to the bat, and, although he would like to make a run, +nevertheless, for the sake of the man on the base, he makes a "bunt," so +that, while the pitcher or shortstop runs up to get the ball and put him +out on first base, the man on the bases may make another base. + +You see, then, that instead of making what is called a "grand-stand +play" he just gives up his own glory for the sake of his team. + +Did you ever think that your parents are constantly making "sacrifice +hits" for you? Whenever your mother goes without a new dress in order +that you may have a better suit of clothes; whenever your father gives +up some pleasure to keep you in school, they are making a sacrifice hit +for you. + +And after all, boys and girls, that is about the only way the world has +ever moved very far ahead. Socrates, an old Greek, made a sacrifice hit +when he was put to death in prison with poison, because he wanted to +make the young men of Athens wiser. Martin Luther made a sacrifice hit +when he went to Worms, although he feared the Pope would kill him. But +he was determined to get liberty for the people. + +But the biggest sacrifice hit that was ever made was made by Christ when +He was crucified on Calvary, in order that the world might know that God +was a Father and loved His children. + +And every boy and girl who would follow in the footsteps of Christ, and +would be strong and noble, must be prepared to make sacrifice hits,--to +forget themselves and do things for the sake of others. Jesus said, "I +came not to be ministered unto, but to minister." And a minister is one +who serves, one who makes sacrifice hits. + + + + +THE LIBERTY OF OBEDIENCE + + +I know it would seem strange if I told you that every boy and girl has +to be tied to something in order that he may be free. And yet that is +the exact truth. + +The majority of you no doubt know what the multiplication-table is, and +I am sure you have thought it a pretty disagreeable thing. Perhaps you +have wondered why seven times eight is always fifty-six, and why your +teacher insists that it shall be that every time. You don't see why it +can't be fifty-five just once, or possibly fifty-seven. But, no, sir; it +is _always_ fifty-six. + +When you get farther along in life I believe you will be glad to know +that seven times eight is _always_ fifty-six, whether you meet it in the +grocery-store, or in the bank, or in New York, or in Philadelphia, or in +China; for it will be a comfort to know that the multiplication-table +does not change, like many other things, as you go from place to place. +Whenever or wherever you meet it, it is always the same. Now, because +you were tied to that table as a boy or girl, you will be free to go +where you like with it in after-life. + +The same is true about riding a bicycle. You know that in order to be +free to ride a bicycle you must obey the rules of riding it; that is, +when you are in danger of falling to the right you must turn the front +wheel to the right. If you do not, you will fall off. + +Here again, you see, you must be tied in order to be free. + +You will find that a rule all through life. That is why your parents and +teachers lay down so many rules for you. It is not because they want to +hedge you in and torment you, but that you may be free men and women +later. + +Boys and girls who are never tied up, sooner or later find that as men +and women they are not free. Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, would +not be tied up to any rules as a girl. She was wilful and wild, so in +later life she caused the death of her husband and herself. + +That same rule is even true of stars. Comets are tramp stars. They +refuse to be tied up, and they ramble about all over the sky. So they +never have trees and flowers on them. Our earth, on the other hand, is +tied up to the sun and goes round it like a horse round a racetrack, and +so it is bound by seasons and brings forth beautiful trees and flowers. + +Among other disadvantages of being a comet is that comets are in danger +of losing a great part of their substance every time they approach the +sun. Halley's comet, which used to be such a wonderful sight, has +dwindled away to a very great extent. When it came a few years ago +scarcely any one saw it. + +So it is always: to be really free and to grow you must be tied; and I +hope that none of you children will ever be fretful when your parents +and teachers make rules that you do not see the meaning of, but which +are for your good. + + + + +CUTTING CORNERS + + +Have you boys and girls ever noticed how all the curbings at the corners +of the streets in the city are worn smooth by drivers of carts and +wagons trying to cut the corners as closely as possible? + +But the principal thing to notice about those curbs is that you will +often find on them the paint, sometimes red and sometimes black or +yellow, scratched off the wheels of these carriages that are so anxious +to cut corners. And the wheels that cut corners soon get to looking +shabby from lack of paint. + +That is the way it nearly always happens with people who try to cut +corners. I know boys and girls who try it in school. + +They try to skim through by doing just as little work as possible. They +cut the corners as closely as possible with their lessons, so that they +can have time for play. They do that with the work in subtraction, and +then, when they get into multiplication or division, they have all +sorts of trouble. And soon their arithmetic looks very shabby indeed. + +Other boys and girls try to cut corners with the truth. They see just +how near a lie they can come, and yet keep within the bounds of truth. +Something inside tells them it is not quite fair. And again, when that +happens, they have rubbed some of the bright, beautiful paint, so to +speak, off their consciences. And before long their consciences get to +be quite shabby, and not at all new, and people begin to say that they +don't quite trust that boy or girl. + +And so I say to you, boys and girls, it does not pay to cut corners. +Give yourselves plenty of room. Be open and fair and industrious. For +one who cuts close corners as a boy or girl, usually grows up into a +very small sort of man or woman. + + + + +HABITS + + +I wonder if I can make plain to you what a habit is. Have you ever seen +men laying concrete sidewalks here in the city, and they put boards +across to keep people from walking on the pavements before they were +thoroughly dry? I am sure you have. These men keep people off the walk +while it is soft because, if any one steps on it, then his footprints +harden into the walk as it dries, and will always remain there. + +Now, boys' and girls' minds are just like those cement walks when they +are wet and soft; and if you do a thing over and over again as a boy or +girl, you will make such a deep mark in your brains that when you grow +up you cannot get the mark out, and you just keep on doing it, whether +you want to or not. + +When once you do a thing, it is easier to do it again. Even cloth and +paper find it easier to do a thing a second time than the first. The +sleeves of your dresses and coats fall into the same wrinkles and +creases every time you put them on. That is what we call the "hang" of a +dress or coat. And if you fold a piece of paper once, it quickly gets +the habit of folding along the same crease again. + +And so you see that it is very important for you to get good habits as +boys and girls, for first you make the habits, and then the habits make +you. + +You have often seen a little brook running along between its banks and +over its pebbly bed. Well, once there was no brook-bed there, but +gradually, years ago, a little stream began to trickle through, and +finally it wore out a bed for itself. Now it cannot leave the bed if it +wishes to. That is just what you do when you make a habit: you make a +course which you will follow later in life. + +First you take the train, then the train takes you. First the stream +makes the bed, then the bed guides the stream. + +They tell us that after we are thirty years of age we are little more +than a bundle of habits. I suppose thirty years seems a long way off +for you boys and girls, but you will reach it if you live. And there +will be men living somewhere who will hear the name that you boys now +have, and you are deciding now by the habits you make what sort of man +he is going to be. If you want him to be a good, honorable, strong man, +be sure you form good habits now. + + + + +A LESSON IN COURTESY + + +I read a story recently of how a young man got his start in life through +being courteous. This young man was an assistant doorkeeper in the +capitol at Washington. His work was to direct people where they wanted +to go in that great building. + +One day he overheard a stranger ask one of the other doorkeepers for +help in finding one of the senators from California. The doorkeeper +answered in a very discourteous way that it was none of his business +where the senators were. + +"But can't you help me?" the stranger said. "I was sent over here +because he was seen to come this way." + +"No, I can't," the doorkeeper answered. "I have trouble enough looking +after the representatives." + +The stranger was about to turn away when an assistant, who had overheard +the conversation, said: "If you are from California, you have come a +long way, I will try to help you." Then he asked him to take a seat, and +hurried off in search of the senator. + +He soon brought him to the stranger, who then gave his card to the +doorkeeper and asked him to call at his hotel that evening. + +That stranger was Collis P. Huntington, who was a great railroad +official in those days. + +When the doorkeeper called upon him that night, Mr. Huntington offered +him a position at nearly twice the salary he was then receiving. He +accepted the new position and was rapidly promoted from that time on. + +The lesson I would have you learn from this is that you never know when +a good deed is going to return to you. I don't mean that you should be +courteous, expecting that you are going to be paid for it each time, for +the greatest pay for kindness is just the feeling that you have helped +someone. As the old saying goes, "Civility costs nothing," and on the +other hand, you never gain anything by getting the ill-will of anybody +or anything, even of a dog. Be courteous: it is the mark of a gentleman, +of a lady, and it is often the passport to success. + + + + +LITTLE FOXES + + +In far-off Syria, a country lying northeast of Palestine, the land in +which Jesus was born, the farmers who keep vineyards are very much +troubled with foxes and bears, which destroy their crops at night. And +so, to protect their vineyards, they build high stone-walls about them, +and put broken bottles on the top to keep these animals out, much as +some people in this country who have orchards do, in order to keep out +small boys. + +These fences keep out the bears, because they cut themselves on the +glass in trying to climb over, and they also keep out some of the foxes. +But after all, when the grapes are nearly ripe, the owners of the +vineyards and their men are obliged to build platforms up above the +trellises, and stay there all night, in order to guard their crops. +These watchers manage very well with all the other wild animals +excepting the little foxes. They can see the big foxes and drive them +off, but the little ones they cannot see, and so these destroy the +vines. I suppose that it was an experience something like that which led +one of the Bible-writers to say that the little foxes destroy the vines. + +It seems to me that this is very true with sins, too; it is the little +sins that destroy us. When a big sin like stealing, lying or cheating +comes along we can see that easily enough, and we will not let it over +the fence into our lives. We drive it away, and are soon rid of it. But +when the little sins come, like little foxes, we do not see them, and so +they get in and destroy our character. + +What are some of these little foxes? I think one is pride, which makes +you so conceited, because you live in a big house or have an automobile +or fine clothes, that you will not speak to or play with other boys and +girls who have not quite such fine things, although they may be just as +bright and just as good as you. Pride is a little fox that kills the +vine of brotherliness which Christ planted in our hearts. + +Then another little fox is sulkiness. Sulkiness makes you frown and go +away in a corner. It sucks up all the sunlight there is, and makes the +world very gray and dull, like a day in November. This fox kills the +vine called "peace" which Christ planted. + +One more little fox is jealousy. This makes boys and girls dislike +others who get higher marks than they in school, or who have more +friends, or better toys. It is one of the most destructive little foxes +there is, for it kills the best vine of all that Christ planted: that +is, love. + +Be careful, then, boys and girls, of these little foxes, for they are +worse than bears and big foxes, because they look so small and harmless, +and slip by when you are not paying attention, but which destroy your +character as readily as the others. + + + + +A TRICKY OX + + +I want to tell you to-day about a tricky ox I once read about. I suppose +you will at once think that this ox was in a circus. But he wasn't. Far +from it! It would have been better for some other cattle if he had been. + +This ox is kept in the stockyards at Chicago. In those stockyards they +kill thousands of cattle every year to give us beef to eat. When the +cattle come to these stockyards they are not tame cattle like the cows +we see out in our pastures, but they are cattle that have pastured out +on the great broad prairies, and they have seen very few people. And for +that reason they are very timid and hard to get close to. So it is +difficult to get them near the pens where they want them. + +Here is where the tricky ox comes in. In one of those yards they keep a +black, short-tailed ox known as "Bob," and he just walks along in an +unconcerned way toward the pens, and he looks so calm and unafraid that +the other cattle just take confidence and follow along after him. And +then, before they know it, they are in a trap and can never get out. But +in the meanwhile Bob has slipped away, to play the same trick on other +cattle. + +There are some boys and girls just like that ox. They are always urging +other boys and girls on to do wrong things, telling them that they are +cowards if they don't take the "dare" and do it, and showing how brave +they are. But when they have got you into a scrape, and the real +business of punishment begins, they can't be found anywhere: they have +slipped out like old Bob. + +You must be on the lookout for boys like that. Don't be afraid to be +called a coward by them. Don't let them "dare" you to do things which +your conscience tells you are foolish or wrong. You will be a bigger +coward if you do these things because you are ashamed not to take the +dare. + + + + +"SHINE INSIDE" + + +As I was passing along the street the other day I saw on the window of a +bootblack's parlour the words, "Shine Inside." + +I want to turn these words around and make a motto of them for you boys +and girls. For I think that if every boy and girl would shine inside, +our homes, and the world in general, would be a much happier place. + +Of course there are some boys and girls who shine only on the _outside_. +A little while ago I read a story about Byron, a great poet, of whom you +will learn later in school. A man said to Sir Walter Scott that he +wished he might have seen Byron when he was alive. He said he had only +seen a photograph of him. Scott said, "Yes, the luster is there [in the +photograph], but it is not lighted up." Now, there are some boys' and +girls' faces that have a luster, but it is not lighted up. + +Or their faces are like a mirror that shines brightly only when there +is sunlight or some other light falling upon it. The mirror only shines +outside. The luster is not always lighted up. I know boys and girls who +shine outside only when other boys and girls play the game which they +want them to play, or when they get the clothes they want to wear or the +food they want to eat, or when they are out in pleasant company. But +when they don't have their own way, then their faces are very cloudy. + +But the boy or girl who shines _inside_ is one who "irons out his +wrinkles with a smile" even though things do not exactly please him, and +he thinks of other people instead of himself. + +Now, how can boys and girls shine inside so that they will always shine +outside whether they have their own way or not? Well, you remember that +the Bible says that when Moses came down from the mountain his face +shone, because he had been talking with God. That is the secret, boys +and girls. When a man or a woman or a boy or a girl talks often enough +with God in prayer and asks to be made like Christ, then a light is +lighted within him which causes his face to shine. You remember Christ +said, "I am the Light." Let Him into your heart, and you will shine +inside. + + "The man worth while is the man with a smile + When everything goes dead wrong." + + + + +THE STORM-KING EAGLE + + +If you have been up the Hudson River from New York to Albany by the +day-boat, you will probably have noticed a high mountain on the +right-hand side of the river by the name of Storm King. + +I want to tell you about an eagle that used to live there. He could be +seen there almost any day soaring high above the mountain-peak. And many +a hunter had tried to shoot him. But he avoided them all. And how do you +think he did it? Did he hide from them? No. Just by flying so high that +the bullets could not reach him, or, if some chance bullet did reach +him, he was so far away that it just kissed his plumage and fell back to +earth without doing him any harm. + +I wish that every boy and girl were as wise as that old eagle. That is +always the way to avoid being wounded by sins: just keep high up above +them. I mean by that, when you are tempted to do anything that is +wrong, not to stop and argue with yourself whether you will get caught +if you do it, or whether you will be happier if you do not do it, or any +of these things by which you lose time. But just get right away from it: +put it out of your mind. + +I suppose you will wonder how you can do that. I will tell you. You have +often heard about "wishing-caps," and how the people in fairy-stories +put them on and just wish themselves wherever they want to be, and quick +as a flash they are there. Well, there is a wishing-cap that every boy +and girl can put on when he is tempted; it is this prayer, "O God, help +me not to do this thing which is wrong!" And if you say that prayer, and +believe God will help you, it will take you high out of reach of the +sin, just as that old eagle flew high above reach of the bullets. For +God says that they who ask Him for help shall "mount up on wings as +eagles." + + + + +A DOG WHICH ATE THE BIBLE + + +I heard an amusing story sometime ago about a savage in Africa who came +to a missionary very much excited and told him that his dog had been +completely spoiled as a watch-dog because he had chewed up and eaten a +small New Testament he had happened to get hold of. He said that the dog +would never be of any more use because the New Testament which he had +swallowed would take all the fight out of him, and he could no longer +keep wild animals away from the sheep. + +That seems a strange notion for a grown-up man to get into his head, +doesn't it? And yet, boys and girls, I run across some young people even +here in America that think if they let Christ into their hearts it will +make them sort of "wishy-washy" and "goody-goody," and not strong and +rugged people. + +It is true that to be a Christian does take some of the fight out of a +person, but it is the quarrelsome kind of fighting that has neither +beauty nor strength in it which it takes out of one. But when you come +to read history you will find that some of our bravest soldiers were +Christians. John Havelock, a British general who fought in India for the +sake of his country, was called "The Christian Warrior." Sir Oliver +Cromwell, who had to lead an army in England against the king, who was +ill-treating the people, had a body of soldiers under him who were +Christians, and they were such good soldiers and so hard to defeat that +they were called "Cromwell's Ironsides." Sometimes just before battle +these soldiers used to sing hymns and then pray on the battlefields. And +because they were Christians it made better and braver soldiers of them. + +And so the truest kind of courage that any boy or girl can have is the +kind that Christ gives. Paul tells all of us Christians to be "good +soldiers." The Bible takes the wrong kind of fight out of you and puts +the right kind of fight into you, the fight for noble things. + + + + +STEAM AND SAILS + + +All the vessels on the oceans can be divided into two classes: +steamships and sailing vessels. The sailing vessels, as you know, set +their broad white sails like wings to catch the favouring winds, and +then they go scudding across the seas like birds to their distant +harbours. But when there is no wind these vessels must sometimes lie +becalmed, and do not move for days or sometimes weeks. The steamships, +on the other hand, do not depend upon the wind to drive them ahead. +Their power comes from great engines away down in the heart of the +vessel. Even if the wind blows right in the face of the ship, it only +makes the boiler-fires burn faster and brighter, and she plunges ahead +in spite of wind or tide. + +Boys and girls also can be divided into two classes, like ships. Some +depend upon other boys and girls to make them go; others have the "go" +in themselves. These people with the "go" in themselves we call +"go-ahead" sort of people. They are the boys and girls who become +leaders. The others are followers. + +What the world most needs is these "go-ahead" people. There are plenty +of people who go like a sailing vessel when there is something from the +outside to send them along. I heard a man say the other day that another +man was like "a chip in a pan of milk;" that is, he went only where he +was pushed. + +If you want to have "go" in yourselves, try to think things out for +yourselves. Don't do things just because somebody else does them. Don't +wear things just because somebody else wears them. Don't say things just +because somebody else says them. Paul says that people who are blown +about by every wind do not amount to much. I am sure of this, at least, +that I should rather be a steamship than a sailing vessel, that only +goes when a wind blows. + + + + +A FISH-STORY + + +A recent writer tells in one of his books of an experience he had as a +boy when he went on a fishing-trip with his father. + +They were wading along in brooks with their rubber-boots on. But +sometimes the water was too deep for him, and he was in danger of +getting his feet wet by the water running in over the tops of his boots. +When, however, they came to places like these, his father would take him +pig-a-back and carry him along, and then the boy would fish with his rod +resting on his father's shoulder, and his line dangling in front. And +this writer says that he used to catch many fish in this way. Then he +adds, "How many of our best catches in life are made over someone's else +shoulder?" + +I think that fathers and mothers are always allowing their children to +fish over their shoulders, don't you? When they send you to school to +get an education, so that in later life you may enjoy good books, you +are catching fish over their shoulders. When they give you money to +travel, so that you may know what a big, beautiful place the world is, +you are fishing over their shoulders. When they give you beautiful +homes, so that you shall have good friends and grow up thoughtful, +well-mannered men and women, you are fishing over their shoulders. + +In fact, it seems to me that we should not catch many fish at all if it +were not for our loving, painstaking, unselfish parents. + +And don't you think we ought to be obedient and thoughtful of them when +they carry us along so uncomplainingly and rejoice in seeing us take in +such beautiful catches from life? + + + + +OPPORTUNITY + + +Have you ever heard of a picture that was called "Opportunity?" It +represents a person with a great deal of hair on her forehead, but none +on the back of her head. The meaning of the picture is this: When you +catch an opportunity as it _comes_, it is easy to hold; but once you let +it get by you, it is very difficult to catch it again. It is something +like trying to catch a train that has just pulled out of the station. + +I used to live near a boy in Canada who did not like to go to school, +and when the snow was deep and the weather was frosty he would find some +excuse by which he got his mother to let him stay at home. When he grew +up he found out what he had missed by not getting an education, and he +tried to make it up, but he could not. He was running after the train. +He soon got discouraged and gave up, and tried to get his living in some +other way than by hard work. The last I heard of him he had just been +arrested for stealing. + +I have known other boys and girls who thought of joining the Church, +but they just kept putting it off and putting it off, thinking that any +time would do well enough. And then, as they got older, they felt that +they weren't good enough, or that some of their friends might not +approve, and so they have grown up and have not yet joined, and each +year it keeps growing harder. + +The two opportunities that you boys and girls ought to take "by the +forelock," as we say, are, first: in getting all the schooling you can +while you have the chance. You will never have such a good opportunity +again, and if you let it slip you may never, never catch up. And second: +in making as fine a start as you can in your Christian life by learning +all you can about the Bible and by getting Christ's example into your +hearts. + + + + +GOD IS NOW HERE + + +In a sermon which Dean Stanley, an English minister, preached to +children in Westminster Abbey, he told the following story: "There was a +little girl living with her grandfather. She was a good child, but he +was not a very good man; and one day, when she came back from school, he +had put in writing over her bed, 'God is nowhere,' for he did not +believe in the good God, and he tried to make the little girl believe +the same as he. + +"What did the little girl do? She had no eyes to see, no ears to hear +what her grandfather tried to teach her. She was very small. She could +only read words of one syllable at a time; she rose above the bad +meaning which he had tried to put into her mind, because her little mind +could not do otherwise, and she read the words not 'God is nowhere,' but +'God is now here.'" + +And she was right. She was wiser than her gray-haired grandfather. For +God is now here. He is everywhere. And whenever even the smallest child +speaks to Him in the simplest prayer He hears the child's voice. God is +now here. That is a good motto for us to take with us to school, to keep +us honest; to play, to keep us sweet; to our homes, to keep us +unselfish. + + + + +DAVID LIVINGSTONE'S FAITH + + +No doubt you have all heard of David Livingstone, the great missionary +to Africa. I wish to tell you a story of his faith in Christ. + +He was trying to cross one of the rivers of Africa one day with his +little company of men, when the savages in that locality tried to +prevent him. They gathered in large numbers with their spears and +poisoned arrows and war-clubs, and blocked his way to the river. +Livingstone and his little company were no match for these hostile +warriors, and it looked as if he and his men would be killed. + +Then he thought of a scheme of waiting till nightfall and of crossing +over under cover of the darkness. But later that seemed to him a +cowardly thing to do, and he tells us how the verse in the Bible came +back to him in which Jesus says: "All power is given unto Me in heaven +and on earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations ... and lo! I am +with you alway, even unto the end of the world." + +The great missionary said of this verse: "It is the word of a Gentleman +of the most sacred and strictest honour, and there is an end on't. I +feel quite calm now, thank God." + +Next morning he crossed the river without any difficulty, although the +bank was lined with savages armed to the teeth. + +I think that is always the way when we trust in Christ. He has promised +never to leave us nor forsake us, and we can rely upon His word. + + + + +THE HAPPY MAN + + +Once upon a time there was a king who was very rich, but very unhappy. +He had a beautiful marble palace, with extensive parks and grounds, fine +horses and carriages, but he was not happy. + +So one day he called together his court-messengers, and sent them out +into the world, telling them to travel far and wide until they found a +man who was happy beyond all others, and when they found him, to take +off his shirt and bring it to him. For he thought that perhaps by +wearing this shirt he might gain the happiness he sought. + +The messengers went forth, and after a long search finally found a man +who seemed happier than all his fellows. And as he sat singing in the +sunshine the king's messengers pounced upon him to take away his shirt; +but lo, when they took his coat off they found he had no shirt! + +The story means this, that happiness does not depend upon what you have +or have not. It comes from within, and not from without. If you have the +right spirit you will have a song, riches or not. But if you have not +the right spirit you will not be happy, no matter what you have. + + + + +A SERMON FOR THE BOYS + + +A teacher said the other day that ninety boys out of every hundred who +fail in grammar schools and high-schools smoke tobacco. He says also +that boys who smoke are nearly all unruly and disobedient in school. And +he says again, that boys who get their lessons well and stand high in +grammar-schools take lower marks in high-school if they begin to smoke +in high-school. This ought to be enough to make any boy stop and think +before he begins to smoke, for it shows that it not only hurts a boy's +mind, but his morals also. + +I think the reason most boys take up smoking is not because they like +it, but because their schoolmates do it, and they want to be one of "the +crowd." When you boil that down it means either that a boy wants to be +smart, or else he has not courage enough to stand alone; that is, he is +a coward. + +You would not think much of a boy who was about to enter a race and, +just before he entered it, hurt his foot on purpose, so that he could +not run his best, would you? Well, that is just what every boy does who +smokes: it hinders him in the race of life. You ought not to smoke +before you are twenty-one years old, because your body is not strong +enough to stand it. The safest way is not to smoke at all, but at least +don't smoke until you get your growth. + + + + +TIRE-TROUBLE + + +People who own automobiles have a great deal to say about +"tire-trouble." There are a great many kinds of tire-trouble. In the +first place, a tire often gets punctured by a nail running into it. Then +there are "blow-outs" caused by the inner tube giving way. Then there +are leaky valves, by which the air slowly leaks out. There are also +sand-blisters, caused by little particles of sand getting into the tire +and making a swelling in it, which soon gives way. And finally tires may +get rim-cut, which means that the steel rim which fastens them on wears +them through by rubbing. The result of these things is what is known as +a flat tire with all the air gone out, and the automobile bumps on the +hard rim. + +Boys and girls have tire-troubles, too. I have seen boys and girls get +so vexed about things that they just exploded in a burst of temper like +a blow-out in a tire. I have known them to run up against something +sharp and difficult which took all the buoyancy out of them, just like a +nail causing a puncture in a tire. I have known them to tell a lie, +although nobody else knew it, and it bothered them so inside that it was +like sand on the inside of the tire causing a sand-blister. I have known +them to fret about things so that all their enthusiasm leaked away just +as the tire that had a leaky valve. And finally I have known them to be +rim-cut by associating with some sharp-tongued boy or girl. The result +of all this was a flat tire, and these boys and girls just went bumping +along without any happiness or lightness of heart. They couldn't get +anywhere with their work or their play. + +The only cure that I know of for a boy or girl with a flat tire is more +of God's uplifting strength. + +God says that they who trust in Him shall run, and not be weary. + + + + +WATCHING FOR IDLE BOYS + + +Probably all boys and girls whisper in school if they think the teacher +will not catch them. Some teachers set boys and girls to watch one +another and to tell on one another when they see anyone whispering. I do +not think that is a fair thing to do, for it makes tell-tales of boys +and girls. And tell-tales are never attractive. + +The story I am going to relate to you is about a teacher who set the +pupils in a room to watch each other, and to tell if they caught anyone +idle. One boy had a grudge against another, and he thought that now +would be the time to get even with him. So he watched carefully, and as +soon as he found the other boy idling he called the teacher's attention +to it. Of course every boy and girl waited anxiously to see what the +teacher would do. And then something unexpected happened. The teacher +said to the tell-tale: "So you saw this boy idling, did you?" + +"Yes, sir," quickly answered the boy. + +"Then," said the teacher, "what were you doing when you found him +idling?" The boy blushed, and hung his head. He not only had been caught +idling himself, but playing a mean trick. That was a lesson for him: he +never watched for idle boys again. And it ought to be a lesson for us, +too, when instead of attending to our own work, we neglect it, and try +to get other people into trouble. + + + + +CHRIST AND THE DOG + + +My children's sermon to-day has to do with a legend. A legend is a story +that has come down to us from the olden times, but which cannot be +proved to be true. This legend is about Christ. + +It tells of how one day He was walking down a street in Jerusalem and +saw a company of people gathered about a dead dog in the street. Now, +city dogs in the land where Christ lived are not petted as they are in +our own country. They act as scavengers, and live on whatever they can +pick up. They are shaggy and dirty and yellow. The people stone them and +kick them, and do not call them by kind names. + +So the people who had gathered about this dog were making unkind remarks +about it, saying how ugly it was, when Christ came up, and looking at +the dog, He said, "But do you see what beautiful, even, white teeth he +has?" Then, it is said, the people knew this must be Christ, who could +find something to praise even in a dog like that. + +But that was the way Christ always dealt with people. He always saw +something good in them. And when people knew that Christ saw something +good in them, they tried to live up to what He saw, and to be good. + +You remember how Zaccheus, the little, short man who had been robbing +the people by collecting too much tax-money, climbed up into a sycamore +tree to see Christ pass by. Christ told him that He was going to take +dinner with him. And when Christ dined with him, Zaccheus felt that +Christ thought he was better than he was, and he became so ashamed of +what he had been doing that he went and gave the money back. + +And Christ's rule is a good rule for us to follow. If we wish people to +be good, we must look for the good things in them. If we _expect_ them +to be good, they will _try_ to be good. There is a jailer in Chicago +who, when a man has served his term in jail, gives him a letter of +recommendation so that he can get a job. And the men who get these +letters are ashamed to do wrong and to get into jail again, because of +the disappointment they will cause the jailer who believes in them. + +A girl once said to her mother, who was always finding something good +instead of bad to say of people, "Mother, I believe you would have +something good to say of the devil." + +"Well," said her mother, "we might all admire his perseverance." + +Try to see how many good things you can see in people. It's the best +game of all to play. + + + + +THE BOY WHO WAS TO BE MANAGER + + +A boy recently answered an advertisement of a certain firm in New York +which wanted an office-boy. He went to the office, and as he was a +bright, neat-looking boy, he made a good impression upon the manager. +The manager liked him and told him to report for work the following +morning. + +The boy was about to leave the office in great glee, when the manager +called him back and asked him to write his name, in order that he might +see whether or no he was a good writer. The boy wrote his name in such a +miserable scrawl that the manager could hardly read it, and he told the +boy that he was very sorry, but he would be obliged to cancel his +agreement, and could not take him on. + +He then advised the boy to take lessons in penmanship, in order to +improve his writing. + +"But," the boy said, "why do I need to be a good penman? I'm going to be +a manager some day, and I'll have a stenographer to do my writing for +me." + +"Yes," said the man, "that may be true. But before you get to be a +manager anywhere you will have to work up to it through a great many +years of lower positions, and you must learn to write." The boy could +not see why, and went to find work elsewhere, before improving his +writing. + +There are a great many people just like that boy. They expect to be +managers, superintendents, presidents, but they don't see that they must +work up to it, and every step must be faithfully and patiently taken. + +Some boys expect to be good at long division, and they do not take any +pains to learn subtraction thoroughly. Or they expect to be good in +English, and will not study grammar. They are like the boy in this +story. + +Some girls expect to appear like ladies, but they pay no attention to +what their mothers say about neatness,--such as keeping their hair in +order and their shoes clean. These girls are also like the boy of the +story. + +Most things worth while in life have to be worked for, and as you +cannot well get upstairs at one jump, but must take the steps between +one by one, so the good things of life come by patiently filling in each +task with care and faithfulness. Then the big things will take care of +themselves. + + + + +A TALE ABOUT WORDS + + +Boys and girls like fairy-tales. So my sermon to-day is to be in that +form. This fairy-tale comes from France, and it is told by Katherine +Pyle in her book, "Fairy-Tales from Many Lands." + +A widow had two daughters. One was coarse and slovenly, with an ugly +disposition, but because she resembled her mother the woman loved her +and thought her beautiful. The other daughter had hair like gold and a +complexion like a pink rose, while her eyes were as blue as the sky. She +was sweet-tempered and kind, but her mother hated her, and gave her all +the hardest work to do and the poorest food to eat. + +One day she gave her a heavy jug and sent her into the forest to bring +water for her sister. When the girl reached the spring she was tired and +sad, and sat weeping on the stone. Presently a voice behind her asked +for a drink, and she turned and saw a withered old woman sitting there. +So she gently raised the jug to the woman's lips, and then refilled it +and started home. + +But the old woman called her back and said: "Daughter, you have helped +one who is able to repay you for your kindness. Every word you speak +shall be a pearl or a rose." The girl hastened home. Her mother met her +with scolding words, asking her why she had been so long. And when her +daughter explained to her, lo! every word she spoke was a pearl or a +rose. The greedy old woman snatched up the pearls and left the roses. + +Then she called her other daughter,--the ugly one,--told her what had +happened, and said: "Hasten, daughter! Take the silver pitcher and run +to the fountain. If the fairy has given these for a drink from a jug, +what will she give for a drink from a silver pitcher!" + +The girl sulked off to the fountain swinging the pitcher and loitering +along the way. When she reached there no old woman was in sight, but +beside the spring was a tall, beautiful young woman who asked her for a +drink. The ugly one replied, "There is the pitcher, draw the water for +yourself." + +When she was about to go, the young woman said sharply: "Stop! the words +that fall from your lips are evil things, and they shall look like the +things they are. Every word you speak shall be a spider or a snake, +until you learn to speak kindly." + +The girl trudged off home scarcely thinking about what the woman said, +little knowing that it was the same fairy who had spoken to her sister. +But when she began to answer her mother, spiders and snakes dropped from +her lips, and she was very much frightened. + +I wonder whether our words would be pearls or spiders if we could see +them? Let us make them pearls. + + + + +SUFFOCATED TREES + + +We sometimes hear of people being suffocated by gas, but it is not often +we hear of trees being suffocated. + +But the other day I was walking down the street, and noticed that all +the trees on one side of the avenue for several blocks were dead. They +looked as if they had been fine, strong, healthy trees, and I could not +understand why they had all died, until I was told that a gas-pipe +beneath their roots had leaked, and that the escaping gas had killed the +trees. + +I am sure you and I know people who are like those dead trees: they have +become discouraged and wilted, and if you and I could dig down into +their lives we should probably find something like that poisonous gas +which has ruined them. + +Sin is the most poisonous thing that gets into one's life. + +If a boy or girl has done wrong and is hiding it from his father and +his mother, and his conscience is pricking him all the time, then he +cannot be sunny and healthy like a growing tree. He becomes cross and +easily provoked, and is sulky and wilted. + +If you have done something wrong, which you ought to tell your parents +about, do not go to sleep until you have told them. If you do, you will +wake in the morning with dread, and you will go around all day with a +dull ache which will spoil all the sunshine. Moreover, if you begin +keeping secrets from your parents in this way you will have no one to +check you in your misdeeds. Your parents may punish you, but they are +the best friends you have. And besides, there is no punishment like +hiding a feeling of guilt. The next best thing after keeping from doing +wrong is to own up to it in an honest way when you have done wrong. Many +a boy and girl would have been saved untold trouble if they had only +been frank with their parents. One of the saddest days in any boy's or +girl's life is when they first keep a guilty secret from their parents. + + + + +ULYSSES AND THE SIRENS + + +When you boys and girls get older and further along in school, you will +probably learn of a famous Greek whose name was Ulysses. He was noted as +a heroic seaman, who travelled over dangerous seas and into unknown +lands. + +In one of the seas where Ulysses sailed was an island known as the Isle +of the Sirens. The sirens would attract sailors to their shores by +beautiful music. But when the sailors drew near the land they would +irresistibly cast themselves into the sea, to their destruction. + +Now Ulysses had heard of the sirens through Circe, and he wanted to hear +the maidens sing, but he did not want to come within their power. So +this is the way he managed it. One day he put wax in the ears of all his +sailors, so that they could not hear the music, and then had himself +strapped to the mast. Then he ordered the sailors to row near enough to +the island for him to hear the music. In this way he heard the singing, +but did not get caught. + +That was a clever way of getting tempted, and yet not getting caught, +was it not? But someone has said in a joke it would have been better if +Ulysses had had an orchestra on board which would have made better music +than the sirens. Then neither Ulysses nor the sailors would have been +tempted to go too near the dangerous isle. + +That is a pretty good way of dealing with all kinds of temptation,--not +by trying to keep temptation out, but by putting something more +attractive in its place. If you are tempted to go to the moving +pictures, when you were told not to, do not simply stand around outside +the place with nothing else to do. Go off and play something which will +be more attractive than moving pictures. If you are told that you must +not go fishing, don't sulk around wishing that you could go. Just go at +baseball or something else, and soon you will have forgotten about the +other thing. + +Always put something else in the place of the thing you are not to do, +and it will help you to overcome temptation. + + + + +POISON-LABELS + + +You have all seen bottles of poison, and you know when your father or +mother buys poison from the druggist there is a label on the bottle +marked "POISON" in large letters, and on the label is a picture of a +skull and crossbones. This is done to warn people from drinking the +poison. + +Now, if a druggist were to put clear, pure water into a bottle, and put +a label marked "Poison" on it, no one would drink the water if he were +choking, for fear of being poisoned. + +And there are boys and girls just like that good, pure, fresh water with +the poison-label on it. They are good at heart. They are kind and +unselfish and obedient, but nobody will have anything to do with them +because they put such terrible poison-labels upon themselves. + +I will tell you what some of these poison-labels are which frighten +people away from boys and girls. One of them is slang. Now, of course, +some girls and boys who are inwardly little ladies and gentlemen use +slang, but usually slang is used by low-bred people who have not words +enough to say what they want to. And consequently when you use slang, if +people do not know that you are well-bred boys and girls, they think +that you are coarse and vulgar, and they will have nothing to do with +you. + +Another poison-label that boys sometimes stick on is swearing. And of +course that is always bad-mannered. Another is smoking. Another is bad +company. I knew a boy who was really good at heart, but who persisted in +going with bad boys, and no business man in town would take him into his +business because of that terrible label. + +Girls sometimes wear such poison-labels as forwardness; that is, they +are always making themselves heard and seen. Others are proud. Others +chew gum. + +I have not time to mention all of these different labels. You can think +of them for yourselves. What I want to say is that it is too bad for +such good, useful, well-intentioned and wholesome boys and girls to put +on labels which lead people to think less of them than they should +think. For by these things they spoil their chances of getting into the +company of well-bred people. + + + + +LIES THAT WALK + + +We usually think of a lie as a thing that is spoken. But there are other +kinds of lies. Some girls that I once knew went to an office in New York +and bought some labels with the pictures and names of hotels in Europe +printed on them. They pasted these on their suit-cases. + +Now, as you probably know, when people go to Europe some of the hotels +paste labels on your suit-cases and trunks when they take your baggage +to the station. Some people come home with their baggage quite covered +over with these slips of paper, and one can easily see by these labels +what a long distance the owners of the luggage have traveled. + +These girls who bought those labels in New York, but had never been to +Europe, were trying to make people believe that they, too, had traveled +in foreign countries. + +Of course you know what that sort of deception means: it is telling a +lie without speaking it. + +So you see these lies went with the suit-cases. And wherever those +girls carried their bags, the lies walked along with them, and said to +everyone who looked at them, "Our owners have been to Europe." + +Of course, no self-respecting boy or girl would do such a thing. But you +must also be careful not to act falsehoods by pretending things in +school, or acting at home as if you don't know about things when you do. +Don't try to fool _yourselves_, then you will not try to fool other +people. + + + + +WELLINGTON AND THE SOLDIER + + +No boy likes to be called a coward, and some boys do things that are +dangerous for fear that their friends will think they have no courage. +Sometimes it is more cowardly to do a dangerous thing like that than not +to do it. + +Do not think that you are a coward because you are afraid of dangerous +things. Some of the bravest men the world ever saw have been afraid, but +in spite of their fear they went firmly on. + +A story is told of Lord Wellington, a great English general, who saw a +young man in his army who was white with fear just before a battle, and +yet did not run away. Lord Wellington said: "There is a brave man. He +knows the danger, and yet he faces it." Another story is told of a +soldier who was making fun of a second who was badly frightened just +before battle. The frightened soldier said to the other one: "Yes, I am +afraid. And if you were half as much afraid as I am, you would run +away." + +The lesson I want to draw is this, that it is not cowardly to be afraid +of things which have danger in them. It is cowardly to run away if you +ought to face them. And if you ought not to face them it is cowardly to +go headlong into them, just because of some other boy's foolish dare. + +I remember a playmate who used to bite the heads off the fish he caught, +just because another boy dared him to. It used to make him terribly +sick, but he was too much of a coward not to do it. Some boys take up +smoking and drinking and swearing for the same reason. Any boy who does +that sort of thing is a coward. + + + + +ABRAHAM'S GUEST + + +You have all heard of Abraham, who went out from his home in Ur of the +Chaldees to find God. And you remember how he dwelt in tents, and had +hundreds of cattle. And you know how good he was to his nephew, Lot. + +There is a story told about Abraham which you will not find in the +Bible. Abraham received into his tent one day an aged traveler. After he +had invited the traveler to dine with him at his sunset meal, Abraham +went out to offer up his evening sacrifice to God. But the traveler +would not join him in prayer and thanksgiving. Abraham was angry because +of the old man's lack of religion, and drove him from his tent. + +Later in the evening the angel of the Lord appeared to Abraham and asked +him why he had driven out the old man. Abraham replied: + +"Lord, he refused to acknowledge Thee!" + +The Lord replied: "What! I have borne with this old man for eighty +years, and you could not bear with him for two days!" After that, so the +story goes, Abraham helped everyone who came along, no matter what his +religious belief might be. + +That is a good story for boys and girls to remember when they feel that +they cannot forgive someone who has done them a wrong. What would become +of you if God never forgave you when _you_ did wrong? It is this spirit +of forgiveness that Christ means to teach us when He says in the Lord's +Prayer, "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors." If, then, you +say that prayer and refuse to forgive anyone who has done you a wrong, +you mean that you want to have God act just as unforgiving with you as +you are with your enemies. That would be terrible,--to ask God not to +forgive you. None of us would dare pray like that. + +You remember Peter came to Christ once and asked how often we were to +forgive people. Peter thought seven times was enough. But Christ said, +"No, you must forgive until seventy times seven." That would be four +hundred and ninety times. Christ did not mean exactly that many times. +But He meant more times than you can think. That is, if you are a +follower of Christ you are to forgive a person as often as he is sorry +for having done you a wrong, and comes to you and asks your forgiveness. + + + + +ABOUT GENEROSITY + + +When we speak of a person as being generous we usually think of someone +who gives his money, or whatever belongs to him, freely to others. But +did you ever think that people can be generous with their thoughts, too? + +Let me show you what I mean by that. There were once two boys who went +to visit at a farm where they kept Shetland ponies, and of course both +boys wanted to ride them. So one day they persuaded the man in charge of +the ponies to put the saddle on a handsome black one and lead him out +into the yard for them to mount. But when it came to actually getting on +the pony's back, the younger boy was afraid. Although the older boy +urged him, he would not take a ride. Finally the other boy mounted and +rode gaily off, and came back beaming with delight. But instead of being +proud, and thinking the other boy cowardly, he went over to the younger +lad and said: "Now you get on. I know you can ride him." And when at +last the other did ride off, the older boy's eyes danced with delight, +and he clapped his hands to encourage the younger boy. That is one of +the best forms of generosity. + +Another illustration of it is when you are on a baseball or football +team, or in a contest of any sort, to be able to say when you are +honestly beaten that you were beaten by a better team. When you can say +that, it takes half the sting out of defeat and makes those who win +admire you more than ever. + +Don't be stingy with your thoughts about people. Always think the best +about others, and believe the best, and you will grow to be +open-hearted, friendly, lovable and big. + + + + +SUN AND WIND + + +Once upon a time, according to an old fable, the sun and the northwind +had a contest to see which could take a man's coat off the more quickly. + +The northwind tried first. It gathered together all its forces in its +own corner of the earth, and then rushed forth upon this man who was +walking along a country-road. The wind blew and blew, and it seemed as +if the traveller's coat would be blown from his back or torn to tatters. +But the harder the northwind blew the tighter the man drew his coat +about him, and the wind could not get it off his back. After it had +spent all its force it gave up in despair. + +Then the sun had its turn. It came out without noise or violence like +the northwind. It did not whistle in the treetops nor bluster through +the bushes. It did not buffet nor struggle with the man. It just went on +pouring forth its heat. And it seemed as if it could never win, any +more than the northwind. But soon the traveller took out his +handkerchief and wiped the perspiration from his face. Then, before +long, he took off his hat. Soon he unbuttoned his coat, and finally he +took it off of his own accord. The sun had won the contest against the +northwind! + +Now, a fable is meant to teach a lesson. The lesson of this fable is +that gentleness wins where only strength and rudeness fail. If some one +has done you a wrong, the way to deal with him is not to try to "get +even" with him, as we say. Nor is the best way to get angry with him and +scold him. The Bible tells us that the way to overcome your enemy is to +do good for evil, for it says by so doing you will "heap coals of fire +upon his head." + +Usually it is the weak people who bluster like the northwind, and storm +and brag. Strong people are usually quiet. There is an old saying that +"if you are right you can afford to keep your temper, and if you are +wrong you cannot afford to lose it." Be gentle. You will win more that +way than by getting angry. + + + + +THE BOY AND THE TURTLE + + +Theodore Parker was one of the greatest preachers America ever had, and +this story is told of him as a boy. One day, as he was going across the +fields, he came to a pond where he saw a small turtle sunning itself +upon a stone which rose out of the water. The boy picked up a stick, and +was about to strike the turtle, when a voice within him said, "Stop!" +His arm paused in midair and, startled, he ran home to ask his mother +what the voice meant. Tears came into his mother's eyes as she took the +boy in her arms and told him that it was his conscience which had cried +"Stop!" Then she told him that his conscience was the voice of God, and +that his moral safety depended upon his heeding that inner voice. + +The same thing is true of all boys and girls. If you obey that inner +voice in questions of right and wrong, it will speak to you clearly. + +But if you neglect it, it will grow silent, and you will be left in +darkness and in doubt as to what is right and wrong. + +Some people call this voice the "inner light," and that is a very good +name for it. Every time you walk by the light you put fresh oil in the +lamp, and the light grows stronger and the way clearer. + +Whenever that inner voice speaks to you and tells you that a thing is +wrong, don't argue with the voice and give reasons for doing the thing +that is wrong. Obey the voice at once, as Parker did, and it will save +you endless trouble. + + + + +THE BOY AND THE NICKEL + + +A man once found a boy crying on the street, and asked the little chap +what he was crying about. The child told him he had just lost a nickel. +The stranger gave him another, and then the boy began to cry again. This +greatly astonished the man, and he asked him why he was crying again. +The little chap said, "Because, if I hadn't lost that other nickel, I'd +have two now." + +That was, of course, a very foolish way to look at it, but that is the +way a great many people look at things. This is what is called +covetousness. Covetous people always want something they have not, and +so they are usually unhappy. + +The way to be happy is to think of the things you have, and not of the +things you have not. A man was once told that Cæsar was going to cause +him great unhappiness, and he replied that if Cæsar could blot out the +sun with a blanket he might make him unhappy. But if he had the sun to +shine upon him, he would still be happy. We all have the sun to shine +upon us, and other things a-plenty to be happy over, if we will just +count them up. Let us not be like the little boy crying about the nickel +he did not have. + + + + +THE THREE FATES + + +Boys and girls in ancient Greece believed that there were three fates, +in the form of three women seated above the clouds, who spun the thread +of everyone's life, and cut it off with shears when death came. + +We no longer believe in such things, but we still speak of fate. Boys +and girls sometimes say that they are fated to fail in examinations, and +so think they cannot help failing. But that is no more true than the +belief about the three women which the Grecian boys and girls held. As a +matter of fact, nothing outside of us makes evil things happen to us. We +make our own fates. Or shall I say, we _are_ our own fates? Someone has +said, "Our fates lie asleep along the roadside until we waken them." +That is very true, as I think I can show you by a story. + +Not long ago I was riding on a train up through Vermont. A boy came into +the car selling papers, books, candy, fruit, and other things. There +was a boy opposite me in the smoking-car who wanted to appear very smart +and manly. He was smoking a cigar and looking very much traveled. The +trainboy offered him a book which had a bad title and worse pictures in +it. But in front of this young chap sat two bright-faced, +innocent-looking boys who did not pretend to be anything but what they +were. The trainboy offered them salted peanuts. In front of those boys +sat a fine, clean-looking, well-bred man. The trainboy offered him a +good, wholesome book. + +Now, three fates were in that car in the form of that trainboy, and each +person invited his own kind of fate by what he was in himself. That is +true all through life. Be true, and you attract truth. Be evil, and you +attract evil. Your fate is what you are. + + + + +THE INCH-WORM AND THE MOUNTAIN + + +Out in the state of California there is a great valley known as the +Yosemite Valley, and here once lived a tribe of Indians who tried to +explain how the wonderful streams and trees and rocks came to be. + +The story of one of the highest peaks, El Capitan, is very interesting. +One day some Indian boys went fishing in a beautiful lake in the +Yosemite, and after they had grown tired they lay down in the sun upon a +rock beside the lake. They soon fell fast asleep. How long they slept +they did not know, but when they awoke they found that during their +sleep the rock on which they lay had been stood on end, so that they +were now nearly a mile high in the air and had no means of getting down. +They were in a bad plight. + +But the animals in the valley which were friendly to mountaineers saw +their misfortune and held a conference as to how to help the boys get +down. They decided that the only thing to do was to try to climb up the +face of the cliff. But the rock, was too steep, and so they tried to +jump up. First the raccoon tried it, then the bear, then the squirrel, +then the fox, and finally the mountain-goat. It was all to no avail, +however, and they gave up in discouragement, and were about to leave the +boys to perish, when the inch-worm came along and offered her services. +The animals laughed her to scorn. What could she do, with her +snail-pace, when they all, who were so fleet of foot, had to give it up! + +But she would not be laughed out of her purpose, and she began to climb +up the cliff. Slowly, inch by inch, she crawled up, so slowly that it +seemed as if she would take a thousand years to get there. But as she +passed crag after crag the animals below ceased making fun of her and +began to shout encouragement. At last she reached the top. And then the +Great Spirit turned her into a huge butterfly so strong that she flew +down, with the boys on her back, to safety. + +There is a verse in the Old Testament which says that the race is not +always to the swift, which means that it is not always the strongest who +win. It is the one who keeps at it. Many a bright boy fails in school +because the lessons come so easily he does not work. Many a dull boy +wins because he sticks to it and plods away. + +If you are tempted to trust too much to your brightness, remember the +animals who made fun of the inch-worm. If you are dull, remember the +inch-worm, take courage, and plod away. You will get there sometime. + + + + +THE FRENCH DRUMMER-BOY + + +I want to tell you to-day of one of the bravest deeds ever done by a +boy. + +It happened this way. Back in the year 1793, when the French people were +having trouble with their king and queen, and finally put them to death, +the rulers called in soldiers from other nations to help them against +their own people. The foreign soldiers met the French troops before a +town called Maubeuge, and there a fierce battle was fought. + +The fiercest part of the fighting was carried on against Hungarian +Grenadiers, who held the market-place of the town. During this charge a +drummer-boy in the French army saw that his countrymen were having a +hard time of it, so he slipped around back of these Hungarian soldiers +to the other side of the market-place, right in the thick of the enemy, +and there drummed the charge, in order to make his comrades think that +some of the French soldiers had already pushed through the enemy's +ranks, and so encourage the others to push on. + +Many years after, in digging up the ground about the market-place, the +little bones of that drummer-boy were found buried alongside the bones +of the tall Hungarian men amongst whom he had fallen. The French people +have put up a statue to his memory in the town of Avesnes, and he is +shown still beating the charge on his drum, and looking out toward the +frontier whence the enemy of his people came. + + + + +A KING IN THE STUFF + + +In the early days of the history of the children of Israel the people +were ruled by judges, and it was not until they saw the nations round +about them under the leadership of kings that they desired a king of +their own. In spite of the warnings of the old prophet Samuel, they +demanded a king, and Samuel chose a young man, afterwards King Saul, to +be their ruler. + +But when the people came together to make Saul King they could not find +him. They searched a long while, and finally God told them that Saul had +hidden himself amongst the baggage. There they looked, and sure enough, +as the old story says, there was a king "hid in the stuff." + +That was many hundreds of years ago, and kings are no longer made in +that way. But the story has a meaning still for every boy. There is +still a king hid in the stuff that goes to make up every boy. A great +many things about a boy in which he hides his kingship seem no better +than the worthless stuff in which Saul hid. There are mistakes, +outbursts of temper, laziness, selfishness, impatience, deceit, and +cruelty. But hidden beneath all that, God would have you remember that +there is still a king hid in the stuff. + +A story is told of the son of Louis XVI of France, whose father and +mother were put to death by the people. He was thus left an orphan, and +was sent to live with a wicked man and woman who tried to teach him all +manner of wrongdoing. But when they tried to persuade him to do wrong, +he would refuse, and say that he was a king's son, and would some day be +king himself, therefore he could not stoop so low. + +I wish every boy, when he is tempted to do some unmanly thing, would +remember his kingship, too. You are not the son of an earthly king, but +you are each the son of a Heavenly King, and you, too, have the making +of a king in you. You are too great to do mean things. There is an old +hymn which runs like this: + +"My Father is rich in houses and lands, +He holdeth the wealth of the world in His hands; +Of rubies and diamonds, of silver and gold +He has gone to prepare us a mansion untold. +I'm the child of a King, the child of a King, +With Jesus my Saviour, I'm the child of a King." + +And when you would do a mean thing, ask yourself if that is worthy of +your kingship. Remember also that only those who live Kingly lives are +worthy to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. + + + + +BREAD AND WINE + + +This is Communion Sunday, when the Church celebrates what is known as +"the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper." You remember that on the night +before Christ was crucified He gathered His twelve disciples together +that He might have a quiet meal and talk with them. And it is that Last +Supper, as it is known, which we call to mind when we observe Communion +Sunday. + +The first Christians did not have communion on Sunday. They used to have +a common meal together on weekdays, and at a neighbour's house. At these +meals they would recall the sayings of Jesus and His loving deeds. + +But Christ not only had the Last Supper with His disciples, and taught +them to remember Him in the breaking of the bread: He also gave them the +lesson about the bread and the wine by which to remember Him. + +You know how bread is made. Grains of wheat are put in the ground by the +farmer, and these grains give up their lives in order that other grains +may grow on the stalk at harvest-time. Then these grains are gathered +in, and finally ground into flour. Christ also gave up His life just as +those first grains of wheat in the ground. And He meant to tell us by +the bread at communion that if we are to help other people we must be +willing to give up our own selfish desires for their sake. + +By the wine at communion Christ meant to teach us that just as the +branch of a grapevine must be attached to the stalk before there can be +grapes, so you and I must keep close to Christ in order to be able to +live the life of unselfishness which shows that we are His followers. He +says: "I am the vine, ye are the branches. Without me ye can do +nothing." + +After Christ's death, whenever the disciples took their meal together, +they would think of Christ, and they would forgive one another and +become more gentle and loving. Whenever we see the communion-table +prepared, we also must think of Christ, forgive those who have wronged +us, and try still harder to be unselfish and kind. + + + + +THE FIRST CHRISTMAS CAROL + + +In England on Christmas eve boys and girls and men and women go about +the streets singing Christmas carols, or songs, at the doors of people's +houses, and the people for whom they sing give them tokens of their +good-will. The first verse of one of the oldest and best Christmas +carols is as follows: + +"God rest you merry, gentlemen; + Let nothing you dismay, +For Christ was born of Mary + Upon a Christmas Day." + +That is a very beautiful carol, but there is one still more beautiful. +It is the one the angels sang the night that Christ was born: + +"Glory to God in the highest, +Peace on earth to men of good-will." + +This means that people who have good-will in their hearts toward other +people will have peace on earth. And how very true that is! People +generally act toward us the same way in which we act toward them. If we +are cross, others are cross; but if we are warmhearted and loving, then +people are warmhearted toward us. It is just like seeing your face in a +looking-glass. If you frown, the face in the mirror will frown. If your +face is smiling, the one in the mirror will be smiling. That is another +way of saying that you get what you give. + +Christ came into the world to teach us how to have good-will to men, and +from our good-will to get happiness. Any boy or girl who faithfully +tries to be like Christ, and to do as he believes Jesus would do if He +were in his place, will grow to have this good-will in his heart. Then +some day he will sing as the angels did, "Glory to God in the highest," +for he will know God's peace. Christ said, "Blessed are the +peace-makers." + +Here is a verse for you to take as a motto: + +"Where are you going? Never mind. +Just follow the road that says, 'Be kind,' +And do the duty that nearest you lies, +For that is the road to Paradise." + + + + +A HINT FROM A CARIBOU + + +This is an animal-story. It is about a caribou. A caribou is a kind of +reindeer, and lives in Canada. + +One day a man was out in a stumpy pasture-field beside a woods in +Canada, and he saw a mother caribou and her little calf feeding quietly +down in a valley nearby. + +He was on a little hill some distance away, but the wind was blowing in +the direction of the caribou. Presently the mother caribou raised her +head, sniffed the air, and looked in the direction where the man was +hidden behind a stump. She had caught the scent of a human being. That +meant danger to her calf. Soon the mother caribou, leaving her calf in +the valley, started in the direction of the man. He slipped from his +hiding-place to another stump. On came the caribou till she reached the +very stump behind which the man had first hidden. There she smelled the +ground, and then a strange thing happened. She called her calf to her, +had it smell the ground, too, so as to get the scent of the man. When +that was done, she got behind that little caribou and butted it down the +valley as fast as it could go. Why did she do that? It was to teach her +calf that whenever it got that scent on the air, there was danger, and +it must get away as quickly as possible. + +Ever after that, even before the calf knew that this scent belonged to a +man, or had seen a man, it would run away from it. + +Your parents are constantly doing for you what that mother caribou did +for her little one. When they tell you that such and such a thing is +wrong, and you must not do it; when again they tell you there is danger +in going to a certain place, or in chumming with a particular boy or +girl, they are again doing the same thing for you. And when they punish +you, as that mother caribou did her calf, it is because they know the +danger far better than you, and they know that your safety depends upon +keeping away from such things. + +Then, bye and bye, perhaps, as you grow older, you will begin to see +for yourself what the danger meant, just as the little caribou might +some day see a hunter for itself. And then you will no longer think your +parents cruel or strict; you will be thankful that they were so wise and +kind. + + + + +THE REPENTANCE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON + + +When you begin to study English literature you will hear a great deal +about Samuel Johnson, who wrote one of the first English dictionaries, +and was a great scholar. Johnson's father was a bookseller, who used to +have a little shop in the market-place, where he sold books on +market-days. One day, when Johnson was a boy, his father took sick and +asked Samuel to go to the market-place and sell books for him. Johnson +was ashamed of such work, and refused to go. + +But many years afterward, when he had become an old man and was back on +a visit to his native village, he was missed from breakfast one morning +by the friends with whom he was staying. On his return at supper-time he +told his friends how he had spent the day. It was fifty years ago that +day when he had refused to help his father. He says: "To do away with +the sin of this disobedience, I this day went in a post-chaise to +Uttoxeter, and going into the market at the time of high business, +uncovered my head and stood with it bare an hour before the stall which +my father had formerly used, exposed to the sneers of standers-by and +the inclemency of the weather; a penance by which I trust I have +propitiated Heaven for this only instance, I believe, of contumacy to my +father." + +That is a story worth remembering when you are ashamed of doing +something which your parents have asked you to do, perhaps to carry a +parcel on the street or to mow the lawn. You will see sometime, I hope, +that all honest work, if it is well done, is a thing to be proud of, +instead of to be ashamed of. But it may be too late then. Your parents +may have died, and you, like Johnson, will come back with deep sorrow to +think how you had disobeyed and forsaken them when they needed you. The +way to save yourselves such heartache is to be obedient to your parents +as long as they live. + + + + +EASTER + + +Once upon a time a Persian king was marching westward with a great army +to fight against Greece. In the evening, after the army had encamped for +the night, someone found the king looking over the host of people spread +out before him, and he was in tears. When he was asked the cause of his +sadness, he replied that he had been thinking that one hundred years +from that time not one of all these men in his army would be alive. + +That was long before Christ lived, and had risen from the dead on Easter +morning. These people had no Easter. They did not believe in the sort of +everlasting life in which we believe. And even long after the +resurrection of Christ there were many people in Greece and Rome who had +not heard the wonderful news. Here is a letter that someone wrote over a +hundred years after that first Easter to a mother whose son had just +died: + + "I was much grieved, and shed as many tears over your son as I did + over my own, and I did everything that was fitting, as so did my + whole family.... But still there is nothing one can do in the face + of such trouble. So I leave you to comfort yourselves. Good-bye." + +If these people had known about our Easter they would not have felt so +hopeless and sad. For since Christ has risen from the dead, we know that +all who love Him and try to be like Him shall also rise from the dead, +and be with Him in a life beyond the grave. + +He said to His disciples before He was crucified: "In my Father's house +are many mansions; if it were not so I would have told you; for I go to +prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you I will +come again and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be +also." When we know this, then to die is not so terrible as it was to +the Persians and Greeks. It is like going to sleep in our home, and +waking up in a place much more beautiful than we had ever dreamed of, +and being with Christ, the Friend of little children, forever. But we +must know Christ in this life if we are to enjoy His friendship in the +next. + + + + +THE WHISPERING GALLERY + + +If you ever go to London, one of the many buildings which will be +pointed out to you will be Saint Paul's Cathedral, which is capped by a +wonderful dome. And if you ask the guide, he will show you in that dome +a strange room known as the "Whispering Gallery." In this gallery your +lowest whisper can be heard on the other side of the room, a great +distance away. It would be hard to tell secrets in a room like that. + +But there is a still more wonderful whispering gallery than that. It is +the one which each one of us carries about in his own soul. In that +gallery even things we _think_, whether we say them or not, are heard by +God, our Creator. No thought escapes Him. "In Him we live, and move, and +have our being." If we "take the wings of the morning, and fly to the +uttermost parts of the earth," even there God is still. + +This would be a very terrible thing to realize if all our thoughts were +evil thoughts, unkind and unlovely. For then we should be like the man +who, when he was young, ill-treated his old father and mother. When he +grew up, this young man became very wealthy, and he used to carry candy +in his pocket as he walked in the parks to give to the children, because +he wanted their love. But the children would take his candy, then +scamper away like frightened squirrels, because something inside seemed +to tell them that the man was not really kind at heart. Older people +felt the same way about him, and a chill came over them when they were +with him. So they avoided him. It would be unbearable to think that only +our evil thoughts were open to God in that way. + +But while God knows all the wickedness in our hearts, and we cannot hide +anything from Him, God also knows the good thoughts that are whispered +in the gallery of our soul. And when we wish ever so greatly that we +could do something to help somebody, but cannot do it; or when we would +like to be good, but are tripped up by some temptation, God knows then +how hard we try, and gives us credit for our effort, even though we fail +to do what we wanted to. + +Let us remember the Whispering Gallery of the soul, then, and when we +think evil thoughts, even though we never tell them to our nearest +friend, let us be sure God knows them. And when we try hard to be good +and to do good, but fail, let us also remember that God sees it, even +though none else knows. Our prayer each morning ought to be like the +psalmist's: "Let the words of my mouth, and the _meditations of my +heart_ be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer." + + + + +THE HE-SAID GIRL + + +Sometimes, when I am walking along the street, I catch snatches of +conversation as I pass by a group of little girls. And often I hear the +phrase "He said" this, or "He said" that. There are girls who do not +seem to talk about much else but what this boy or that boy has said, and +these girls I call "he-said" girls. + +Now, of course it is all right for girls to think about the boys. We +could not stop that if we would, and we would not stop it if we could. +The danger comes when a girl thinks of little else. The girl who begins +by devoting all her thought to boys is apt to end by being a very +unattractive and unpopular sort of woman. Every girl ought to get along +well with the girls of her own age as well as with the boys. There is +something wrong with the girl who cannot get along with her girl +friends. And so I say to you that if you do not want to be thoroughly +unhappy as a woman, try to win the friendship of girls as well as boys. + +A good plan for the "he-said" girl is to take her father as her ideal, +and hero and lover. Then, as she grows to womanhood, she will not be +satisfied with any man who is not in some measure as good as her father. +In the meanwhile beware of being a "he-said" girl. + + + + +ON DECK + + +When I was a boy I belonged to a baseball team in the village where I +lived, and when we played games with a team from another village we had +a scorer who not only kept tally of the runs, but also told us who was +to be the next at the bat. He would say, "So-and-so is at the bat, +So-and-so is on deck." And when he told a boy he was "on deck," that boy +knew he was to be the next one at the bat. + +Boys and girls are always on deck, whether they are playing ball or not, +for a boy or girl never knows when he is going to be called upon to play +some part in the game called Life. And the strange thing about it is, +there is no scorer who tells you that you are on deck. So you never get +any warning, and you may be on deck and not know it, and so miss your +chance. + +Samuel, for instance, was a boy who used to close the curtains and put +out the candles at night in the temple away back hundreds of years +before Christ was born. One evening he had put out the lights and closed +the curtains, just the same as he had a hundred times before, and then +lay down to sleep. He little thought that this particular day he was on +deck, and was to be called into the game by God. But that night God +called him, and sent him on a very important errand that was to change +his whole life and the history of his people. + +And things like that are happening in America to-day. I read a story the +other day of a young student who was overtaken by a rainstorm, and +borrowed an umbrella of a lawyer. He returned it a few days later with a +note of thanks. Not long afterward he received a letter from the lawyer +offering him a position in his office on account of his good +handwriting. The student took the position, kept on with his studies in +college, and after he graduated from college went right along in that +office till he became a man of influence. He didn't know what it meant +when he wrote that note. He was on deck. + +The lesson that I want to draw is this: That you must be on the lookout +and do well the things that come to you each day, for who knows but you +may be on deck that very day, and be called to play some important part? +For only those are called who are on deck; that is, ready to play. The +boy or girl who does not do his work well day by day may miss his chance +of being called to take some larger place in life when the times comes. +Take this motto from the Old Testament: "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to +do, do it with thy might." + + + + +THE TERROR BY NIGHT + + +In some parts of Canada, where the country is still thinly settled by +people, wild animals are quite numerous. In one of these communities +there once lived a boy who was in the village late one night. He had +been at the village-store, and had heard the men talking about a wildcat +that had been seen in that neighbourhood a short time before. + +The boy was not a coward, but when he started for his home, three miles +away, in the country, he was nervous. Nothing happened, however, until +he was climbing over a set of bars at the end of a lane leading through +a piece of woods near his home. Then he heard the bushes moving and +twigs crackling under the feet of some animal the other side of the +lane-fence. He thought of the wildcat. He jumped to the ground, picked +up a heavy stick he had seen under a tree on his way through that day +and listened. Nearer and nearer came the rustling of the bushes, and +every little while he could hear an animal sniff the air. Finally it +came to the fence, clambered up opposite him. The boy raised his club +and waited, and when the animal jumped down beside him, its eyes shining +in the darkness, he struck with all his might. Off the beast went into +the darkness. All was silence again, and the boy stood listening and +trembling. Then from the top of a nearby hill he heard a dog howl with +pain. He found, next morning, that it was only a neighbour's dog that +had frightened him so. + +That boy is not the only one who has seen things mistakenly, just +because he was afraid. If you are dreading something, you will think +that everything that happens brings the thing you dread. Usually nothing +happens at all. The trouble was only in the person's mind, just as that +wildcat was in the boy's mind, and so every noise he could not explain +was a wildcat. + +I am sure David must have known something about that fear when, as a +boy, he watched his sheep out on the lonely hills at night. But David +learned that there was One who was able to protect him by night as well +as by day. It was God. And so he wrote of God: "He that keepeth thee +will not slumber. God is thy keeper. God is thy shade upon thy right +hand. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, nor for the +arrow that flieth by day; for the pestilence that walketh in +darkness.... It shall not come nigh thee." + +Let us remember that no real harm can come to us unless it comes from +within ourselves. God is our protector. In His love we can trust by day, +and in His care we can lay us down to sleep at night without a fear. + + + + +THE BRAMBLE-BUSH KING + + +There is a story in the Old Testament which says that once upon a time +the trees gathered together to choose a king to rule over them. + +First they invited the olive-tree; but the olive-tree said it was too +busy bearing fruit. Then they asked the fig-tree to be king; but the +fig-tree had its work to do, and also declined. Next they waited upon +the vine with an invitation; but, like the others, it did not wish to be +their king. + +Finally the trees asked the bramble to accept the position, and the +bramble gladly agreed. The first order it gave was for all the trees to +take shelter under its branches or be burned with fire. That sounds just +like a prickly, thorny, little bramble, does it not? + +That is usually the way of people who like to lord it over other people +when they have no ability for it. There are some who want to do so when +they are at a party. They want to be the hitching-post to which all the +people are tied when they talk. If the bramble takes the form of a boy, +he wants to be captain of his team, or he will not play. If it happens +to be a girl, she insists upon everybody playing the game she wants, or +she will go home in a sulk. These people cannot agree long with anybody. +They are quarrelsome and peevish. + +Some boys and girls are like horses: they make good single-drivers, but +they will not work with anyone else. Some horses go well enough alone, +but when you hitch them with another horse they crowd, or bite, or kick +it. They cannot "go double," as we say. That is the bramble-nature +showing out in a horse. + +This is a bad trait, whether you find it in a horse, a man or woman, a +boy or girl. Christ says: "You know the rulers of the Gentiles lord it +over them. Not so shall it be among you; but whosoever would become +great among you shall be your minister; and whosoever would be first +among you shall be your servant." Jesus also said, "I am meek and lowly +in heart." So must all His followers be. + +If you are getting any of the bramble-nature, and want to lord it over +everybody, you had better give it up. Some of the unhappiest people in +the world are bramble-bush kings. + + + + +WHERE IS HEAVEN? + + +Our great-grandfathers and great-grandmothers used to talk much about +where heaven was. And some thought it was up above the clouds, and +others thought it would be here on earth, after all the wickedness and +selfishness were done away. Every one, however, used to think that the +New Jerusalem, with its pearly gates and golden streets, was a real +place like the cities of to-day. + +But we think of heaven more as the feeling in our hearts when we are +happy from being with our friends, or when we have done right and +unselfish things. We know what it is, then, to have heaven on earth. And +when we have heaven on earth, we know pretty nearly what the real heaven +is like. + +Let me show you what I mean. Not long ago a speaker in a rescue mission +asked the children if they could tell him where heaven was. Immediately +a boy from the poorest section of the city sprang up, raised his hand +and cried shrilly: "I know; I know." "Well, my boy, where is heaven?" +the astonished leader asked. "Back in our street since mother got +acquainted with Jesus," was the answer. + +That boy was on the right track. Whenever Christ comes into the heart +there comes with Him love and thoughtfulness of others. And when we do +kind things for others, we find happiness for ourselves, and that is +heaven. Christ says, "If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will +come in to him and sup with him and he with me." That means, when we do +things that we believe Christ would like to have us do, then He comes in +to sup with us. And when we feel Christ as our Companion, then it is +heaven. + +We may go to a beautiful place called heaven when we die, but it will be +Christ who will make the place full of joy and gladness. And if we are +to see Him in that land and enjoy that heaven, we must first make a +heaven here on earth for ourselves and others by trying to please Him +and to be like Him every day. + + + + +THE CHRISTIAN ARMY + + +Saint Paul, in writing to the Christians of his day, urges them to be +"good soldiers of the Lord Jesus Christ." If every Christian is a +soldier, then the Church ought to be called "the Christian Army." And +this makes plainer to us what it means to join the Church. + +Armies, as you know, are divided into regiments, and regiments into +companies. Every soldier in the army belongs to a certain company. If a +man said that he wanted to belong to the United States Army, but that he +did not want to join any particular regiment or company, but that he +intended to be a soldier "in general," people would laugh at him. He +would be like a man who took his gun and went out all alone to fight +against Spain when we were at war with her. Or it would be as if a man +in a city should say that he wanted to fight fire, but instead of +joining a fire company, he would snatch up his pail and run alone to put +out the fire every time there was an alarm. + +Now, in the Christian army there are also regiments and companies. The +different denominations, like the Presbyterians, the Methodists, the +Baptists, the Congregationalists, and so on, are the regiments. The +Churches like this and other Churches are the companies in the army. + +So, when anyone says he wants to make war on wickedness and to bring in +the reign of love and peace and good-will which Christ started His +Church to fight for, we ask him to join one of the companies of the +Christian army. That is, we ask him to join a Church. + +You may ask if one cannot be a Christian outside of the Church. I +answer, Yes, he can. But he is very much like the man with his pail +running to put out the fire, or the lone soldier. He can do better work +if he works with others. Furthermore, Christ said, "He that confesseth +me before men, him will I confess before my Father which is in heaven, +and he that denieth me before men, him will I deny before my Father +which is in heaven." In joining the Church you confess Christ. + +You may ask me too, how old one should be before he can join the +Christian army, known as the Church of God. I answer, there is no set +age. Some boys and girls are ready to join before others. One little +girl who was going to join the Church was told by some of the members of +her Sunday-school class that she wasn't old enough. She replied, "Anyone +who is old enough to know right from wrong is old enough to join the +Church." If you are trying honestly day by day to be like Christ and to +do His will, and you wish to be a better soldier of the cross, then you +are ready to join the Church. + +In the Christian army there are old and young, rich and poor, wise and +simple, all under the one flag,--the banner of the Cross; all under the +one Captain,--even Jesus Christ. And the best thing about our Captain +is, He has never lost a battle yet, and never will. All those who enlist +under His flag are sure to win, and to hear God's "Well done." + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Fifty-Two Story Talks To Boys And Girls +by Howard J. Chidley + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14188 *** |