Part 2
Just think, girls and boys, of the instinct of a well-trained dog--so deeply set on helping, that failure, even when he was not to blame for it, made him ashamed and sad!
Surely we will at least be equal to a trained St. Bernard.
Surely we should far surpass him, by voluntarily, of our own loving choice, seeking to help in a life of shining unselfishness.
I do not know any one who should be better able than a girl or boy to put into their lives the spirit of this little poem, whose author I do not know, but which I give to you:
LITTLE THINGS THAT CHEER
Just to bring to those who need The little word of cheer; Just to lift the drooping head And check the falling tear; Just to smooth a furrow from A tired brow a while; Just to help dispel a cloud, Just to bring a smile--
Oh, the kindly little deeds, As on through life we go, How they bring the sunshine, Only those who do them know.
Just to do the best we can, As o'er life's path each day, With other pilgrims homeward bound, We take our steady way; Just to give a helping hand Some weary weight to bear, And lend a heart of sympathy Some neighbour's grief to share--
Oh, those kindly little deeds, Our dear Lord notes each one, And sheds His blessings o'er our way Toward life's setting sun.
*VI*
*IMPURITY*
Once in California I visited the beautiful gardens of San Francisco and saw a very lovely flower.
Its petals were white, and when you opened up the heart, away down at the very centre was a shape made by the base of the pistil that looked exactly like a dove. It was a flower with a white dove at its heart. They called it the Holy Ghost plant of South America.
It is a fine thing when a girl or boy carries within them a white heart!
There is no sin that leaves a worse stain than the sin of impurity.
It comes by unclean thoughts and words and deeds; and when it comes, it is next to impossible to wash it out.
A man once looked at a dirty picture, and years after he had not forgotten it! It made for him a lifelong fight!
It is almost like putting nails in a post. You may draw them out, but you can never quite fill out the holes left. A growing tree may fill them and a growing life may, but there is always a scar left where the nail entered.
Some boys like to tell nasty stories, and if the boys to whom I talk want to have white souls they should turn from nasty story-tellers the way they would from drinking poison.
It is awful the way a dirty story sticks. It is so hard to get rid of its memory. It is like indelible ink that you use when you want some writing not to wear out.
The great General Grant, the United States hero of the Civil War, was once at a party where one of those men were who think it smart to tell such stories. Looking around, the man said, "I have a story to tell you. There are no ladies present, are there?" "No," said Grant, "but there are some gentlemen."
That story was never told.
Dear girls and boys, when any evil breath like that is around, think of your dear mother or your beautiful sister, and tell your heart you must be true to them.
"I must be true, for there are those who love me, I must be pure, for there are those who care."
A newspaper published these verses that I think are so good. I would like you to learn them.
While walking through a crowded down-town street the other day, I heard a little urchin to his comrade turn and say: "Say, Jimmy, let me tell youse, I'd be happy as a clam If I only was de feller dat me mudder t'inks I am.
She just t'inks dat I'm a wonder, and she knows her little lad Could never mix wid nothin' dat was ugly, mean or bad. Lots er times I sits and t'inks how nice 'twould be, gee whiz, If a feller was de feller dat his mudder t'inks he is!"
My friends, be yours a life of toil or undiluted joy, You still can learn a lesson from this small unlettered boy. Don't aim to be an earthly saint with eyes fixed on a star; Just try to be the fellow that your mother thinks you are.
And how can we keep the life straight, and in a true direction?
You remember the story of Ulysses and the Sirens--how he kept himself and his sailors from the influence of the enticing music when the sirens played on the dangerous rocks, by filling their ears with wax; and having himself tied to the mast till they passed in safety.
That is one way--the way of stiff stern duty and obedience to law. But there is a better way!
A boy once was trying to make a straight track in the snow. And he did. While the other boys left wriggling marks, his pressed straight on. When they asked him how he did it, he said he fixed his eye on a tree on the other side of the field and walked to the tree without looking to right or left. That is the way always to make a straight trail. Look at something ahead and go to it.
And we have that chance, for this is a splendid text for a girl or boy, or man or woman--"Run with patience the race set before us, looking unto Jesus."
The eye fixed on Him and the feet moving toward Him will help make a straight life.
*VII*
*"I CAN'T"*
No girl or boy ever says this about anything they love to do!
No matter how hard it is, if they like it, they try at least to do it. In fact, the harder it is, the more they try.
Who ever cares how many bumps he gets when learning to skate?
I saw a fellow once who was trying to vault over a pole. His chums laughed and jeered. "You can't!" they called out. Do you suppose he stopped? No! He kept right at it until he did.
Edison, the wizard of electricity, wanted to get a jewel point hard enough to be the right kind of an end for a phonograph needle. When it was suggested he could not get one, he just looked at the one who said it, and went right on and found it!
Every girl and boy should be like the man who refused to let that word appear in his dictionary.
When I was a little boy, I was brought up in a church where they would not sing anything but psalms. They called all others "man-made hymns" and one member of the church had sewed up all the paraphrases at the back for fear he might open them by mistake. That was a very foolish, narrow way to act; but if you have anywhere in your book of life the words, "I can't!" just sew those leaves together so you will never see them!
For you can--if you will, and if you want to!
And if you can't, it is only because you won't!
I do not know who wrote these verses and will apologize for using them, but would like to pass them on to girls and boys:
IT CAN BE DONE
"Somebody said that it couldn't be done; But he, with a chuckle, replied That maybe it couldn't, but he would be one Who wouldn't say so till he'd tried. So he buckled right in, with the trace of a grin On his face; if he worried, he hid it. He started to sing as he tackled the thing That couldn't be done--and he did it.
"Somebody scoffed: 'Oh, you'll never do that; At least, no one has ever done it.' But he took off his coat, and he took off his hat, And the first thing we knew he'd begun it. With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin; Without any doubting or quiddit, He started to sing as he tackled the thing That couldn't be done--and he did it.
"There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done; There are thousands to prophesy failure; There are thousands to point out to you, one by one, The dangers that wait to assail you. But just buckle in with a bit of a grin, Then take off your coat and go to it. Just start in to sing, as you tackle the thing That 'cannot be done'--and you'll do it."
*VIII*
*"I FORGOT"*
Oh, how much trouble this little fox causes!
Out West near Fort William, once occurred a serious collision--all because an engineer forgot to watch the safety signals! A great train was wrecked and a whole railway district held up for hours; and some lives were lost--because a brakeman forgot to guard an open switch!
It's a bad fox, girls and boys!
It makes your character ragged and slovenly. It wastes people's time. It causes endless confusion. It holds up plans. Somebody forgets to do his duty and that upsets all some one else has to do; and so it goes on and around, until things become a regular mix-up.
There is a place for a good forgetter!
It is just to forget your worries and to forget yourself; and to forget the nasty things people do to you; and to forget your mistakes, if you are sorry for them; and to forget that you were not invited to somebody's party; and to forget that you fell down yesterday, if you got up again and are still on your feet!
But it is important to have a good memory too.
A little girl forgot to post her mother's letter, and it stopped the chance of a pleasant holiday for her grandmother, who was waiting for directions.
A little boy forgot to close the door of the nursery when he was told, and the baby nearly died of pneumonia.
In the days of the great war so recently closed, they had to spend millions of dollars on making shells. They had to be very carefully made. If a shell was more than 3/1000 of an inch more in diameter than was called for, it was sent back. It was important not to forget this. In fact, they had to watch against fuzz getting on the shell from the gloves worn by the workers.
One day an inspector found a shell that would not fit. Some one forgot to watch against the fine lint and sent in the shell which was at once sent back.
And surely if it was so important to remember all these fine points about a death-dealing shell, it is just as important not to forget the little things of life, that may spoil the whole day.
A bridge-builder made out all his plans and set the men to work, and when it was put together it was seventeen feet too short, because the plan-maker forgot one little measure that knocked the whole work out.
I read a rather strange thing that occurred across the line among our Southern neighbours.
A bill was passed, allowing certain goods to come in free of paying duty. Among them were what was called foreign fruit-plants. You know what that stroke between the two words is. It is a hyphen that joins the words and makes them one. A clerk was copying the bill and forgot all about the hyphen, and made the bill read "fruit, plants," etc., and for a whole year, until their parliament met, all foreign fruit came in free; and they say the government lost nearly $2,500,000, all because a clerk forgot a hyphen and put in a comma instead.
But it is not only the mistake that costs, but if we will just think that it is the memories that store up our thoughts. It is the things marked in memory that we use for all our mind's growth.
A girl or boy who is always forgetting will some day find the life grown up and full of emptiness; for it is what you remember that makes the furniture in your soul's living-rooms; and if you keep on forgetting, your soul will have bare walls, and bare floors, and all you will hear will be echoes.
Be alert. Keep your eyes open. Attend to business. Put your mind on things. Do not say, "I forgot!" Be ashamed to! You have no right to forget!
You can pardon an old man whose teeth are all out and whose hair is all off, and who is bent with age, but you have no excuse.
Your forgetter has no right to be working at all.
Stop forgetting!--Remember!
*IX*
*"BY-AND-BY"*
"Oh, dear me! What a child that is! Johnny, will you please do that errand for me?"
"Yes, Mother, by-and-by!"'
"Mary, will you pick up your things and tidy your room? It looks as though a storm had struck it!"
"Oh, yes, I will, by-and-by!"
When are you going to do your home work? By-and-by!
When are you going to start that job you wanted to do? By-and-by!
When are you going to be useful? By-and-by!
When are you going to bed? By-and-by!
When are you going to get up? By-and-by!
When? When? When?--By-and-by! By-and-by! By-and-by!
"By-and-by is a very bad boy, Shun him at once and forever; For he that goes with By-and-by Soon comes to the town of Never!"
They say that Rothschild, one of the wealthiest men of the world, made the beginning of his fortune by acting at the moment. He was in Brussels and heard the report of the battle, and spurred his horse and paid a large sum to be ferried across a river; and got to London early in the morning before the news was abroad; and laid the foundations of his wealth in a few hours.
That is one of the roads to success--being prompt.
The dilly-dallying, shirking, waiting girl or boy will always be at the tail-end of things, and will never catch up enough to catch on.
Do you want to catch on?
Then do it now--not by-and-by!
There is a little poem printed in _Messenger for the Children_. I want to repeat it to you:
PUT-OFF TOWN
Did you ever go to Put-Off town, Where the houses are old and tumble-down, And everything tarries and everything drags, With dirty streets and people in rags?
On the street of Slow lives Old Man Wait, And his two little boys named Linger and Late; With unclean hands and tousled hair, And a naughty little sister named Don't Care.
Grandmother Growl lives in this town, With her two little daughters called Fret and Frown; And Old Man Lazy lives all alone Around the corner on Street Postpone.
Did you ever go to Put-Off town To play with the little girls, Fret and Frown, Or to the home of Old Man Wait, And whistle for his boys to come to the gate?
To play all day in Tarry Street, Leaving your errands for other feet? To stop or shirk, or linger, or frown, Is the nearest way to this old town.
*X*
*BOLDNESS*
There is a splendid kind of boldness.
One day, years ago, sometime after the death of Jesus, two of His disciples, Peter and John, were arrested and brought before their bitter enemies who were ready and able to kill them. And Peter, the noble soul, stood up without a pang of fear and just told them face to face what he thought; and then the New Testament story says: "When they saw the boldness of Peter and John they marvelled."
It is a fine thing to see men and women and girls and boys who are not afraid to do and stand for the right.
Listen to this story which I will give you just as I got it:
He was small for his age, worked in a signal box, and booked the trains. One day the men were chaffing him about being so small. One of them said:
"You will never amount to much. You will never be able to pull these levers; you are too small."
The little fellow looked at them.
"Well," said he, "as small as I am, I can do something which none of you can do."
"Ah! what is that?" they all said.
"I don't know that I ought to tell you," he replied.
But they were anxious to know, and urged him to tell what he could do that none of them were able to do. Said one of the men:
"What is it, boy?"
"I can keep from swearing and drinking!" replied the little fellow.
There were blushes on the men's faces, and they didn't seem anxious for any further information on the subject.
Was not he the right kind of a bold boy?
Or what do you think of a lot of officers at a dinner, drinking and telling unclean tales.
Everybody had to tell a story or sing a song.
One young, shy fellow said, "I cannot sing but I will give a toast in water." And the toast he gave was "Our Mothers."
The rest were so touched by his splendid courage that they shook his hand and thanked him, and the Colonel said it was one of the bravest acts he ever saw.
A great Scotch preacher was so brave that it was said, "he never feared the face of man."
Every girl and boy should be bold in that way--fearless, heroic, full of courage and with a stiff, brave heart.
Some day you will read and study Shakespeare, and he will give you this message:
"What's brave, what's noble, let's do it, and make death proud to take us."
Another writer, whose name I do not know, is quoted as saying:
"We make way for the man who boldly pushes past us."
Dear girls and boys, was it not a great moment for Canada when a little handful of Canadians stood at Ypres, in the first poison gas attack and dare to face it, and stand fast? Their boldness helped to stem the tide, and that first stand was the beginning of the events that won the war for the Allies.
That sort of a bold person makes history, and makes the history of their country.
The poet Emerson puts it this way:
"Not gold, but only men can make A people great and strong. Men who for truth and honour's sake Stand fast and suffer long. Brave men who work while others sleep, Who dare while others fly-- They build a nation's pillars deep And lift them to the sky."
But there is a boldness that acts on life like foxes in a garden.
It is seen in the rude, rough, saucy, forward girl or boy.
The boy who becomes a "smart Alec." Sometimes other boys call him "Smarty."
Or the girl who does not know how to blush; with no sense of shame. You can always tell them. She dresses loud, and laughs loud, and makes a fool of herself on the street; and he stares at you and acts impudently, and thinks he is manly.
They like to be looked at, and stare back.
They lack gentle, quiet refinement, and if that spirit grows, it will ruin the character and make the girl or boy disliked by everybody who cares for a gentleman or a lady; and in later years they will be ashamed.
Take a dictionary if you have one, and see the two uses of the word.
Bold--heroic, brave, gallant, courageous, fearless. Bold--rude, without shame, impudent.
Which are you going to be?
*XI*
*REVENGE*
This is a fox whose bite brings blood.
It represents a very bad spirit.
It means, "I am going to pay him back." "I am going to get even." "You just see, I'll catch him and make him sorry!"
It does make him sorry, not in the sense of being penitent and wishing he had not done it, or longing to undo it; but sorry because of the blow he gets in return.
It is a bitter heart that takes revenge. It goes with a hard, unforgiving spirit.
It is an awful way for girls and boys to act, because they should be so bright and smiling. They are so fresh and sunny. They are so young they should not grow hard like an old shell.
They ought to be all mercy, forgiveness, kindness, because they have so much of it shown to them.
I hate to see a kiddie who is always looking for a chance to hit some one who happened to hit him.
Johnny Pay-him-back once was hurt when he was playing with a schoolmate, and instead of turning up a rosy face and laughing it off, the way the sun does when a piece of mud flies up in the face of the sky, he opened the door of his heart and this little fox began to chew away all his finer feelings. As the fox chewed, Johnny chewed on his hurt, just the way he was chewing a wad of gum in his mouth. The more he chewed the hotter he grew under his collar.
You see, in your heart there is a cooling plant called Love, but the pesky little fox chewed it all up, and he got so hot that he paid the boy back and sent him to bed for a whole month to suffer pain; simply because he wanted revenge.
I read of a man once who was injured by another man of high rank in society, and he said to a friend, "Would it not be manly to resent it?" The friend answered, "Yes, but it would be God-like to forgive!"
It is not easy to forgive. It takes a real man to do it, but it makes you very much like God, who forgives us so much day after day!
And the gentle, forgiving spirit does so much to make the world bright, while the revengeful spirit adds so much to its gloom. Put that in a house or a school, and you pull down all the blinds and stop all the music of life.
Part of the horrors of the war were bred of revenge.
Germany had piled up all she could on France in 1870. France could not forget it, and the terrible thing about revenge is it burns so long. It may be that even now after victory, sparks of that old fire are still burning in the heart of France. If it should blaze up nobody can tell how awful the results would be.
Brighten up your hearts by keeping them sweet with mercy.
Instead of making yourself dark with the desire to pay back--just shine up a little. Keep the air fresh, and polish off your windows and put the flowers of kindness on the sills and hand out mercy to those who pass by.
Jesus said, "Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy." And if you and I can't forgive, how can we hope to be forgiven?
Oh, there is nothing like the sunny life to cast out the shadows of hate.
It was the radiant sunshine of Pollyanna that changed a whole community and brought two people together who had not spoken for years; so
Smile, don't frown. Love, don't hate.