DICK'S PUNISHMENT.
ALL this time not a word had been said about his disobedience. When he
cried, his mother stooped over the bed and kissed him. Presently she
left the room to get some bandages, and as soon as he was alone his
tears burst forth afresh.
"Oh how sorry I am I was so naughty!" he said to himself. "How good
mother is. I do love her dearly. I'm glad I meant to tell her before I
got hurt."
"Will you please shut the door, mother," he said still sobbing. "I want
to tell you something."
She came and stood by his side, putting her hand on his damp forehead.
"I disobeyed you, mother," he began. "I went without my shoes. I
didn't feel happy because I knew how wicked it was to do it when you'd
forbidden me. Will you forgive me, mother?"
"Yes, my dear; with all my heart. But you know there is another whom
you have offended; One whose commands you have promised to obey."
"I know it, mother. I thought of it in school; and I couldn't study,
so I lost my place in my class. I thought of it, and prayed in my seat
that God would forgive me, and help me to be good. It was then, before
I was hurt, that I resolved to tell you. I hid my shoes under the front
steps, and I meant to put them on again before you saw me, my stockings
are in my pocket."
"I knew it all before you came home, my dear. A beggar came here and
when he went away he carried off your new shoes; but I scarcely thought
of that; so pained was I that my son should disobey me and displease
Cod."
"Oh mother! Mother! I never will do so again. I mean I'll try not to.
You knew best when you said it was dangerous to go barefoot. My foot
does ache, mother. Do you think it will have to be cut?"
"I hope not."
The night following, neither Dick nor his mother slept one moment.
As soon as it was light Mr. Stuart started off on horseback for the
Doctor, who lived a mile away.
When the physician came, he loosened the bandage, and found the whole
ball of the foot inflamed. He said there were small pieces of glass in
it, and that getting them out would be a bad business.
"Dick is a brave boy," said his mother. "I'm sure he'll try to be
quiet."
"If you will hold my hand, mother, I'll try not to move."
"You may scream as loud as you please," said the Doctor laughing, "if
you'll keep your foot still."
But Dick did not even groan. He shut his teeth firmly together
growing paler and paler every minute, until with a gasp, he lost his
consciousness.
Mrs. Stuart felt his hand loosen its grasp on hers; and motioned her
husband to run for the camphor bottle.
"Never mind," said the Doctor, "I've almost done. Let him be a minute.
These little pieces must be got out or they'll make mischief."
Richard looked so much like death, that his mother could not let him
be. She chafed his hands, and kissed his pale cheeks, murmuring words
of love; while the faithful physician probed and pressed about the
wound until he was quite sure he had removed all the glass.
Then he laid a towel under the foot to catch the blood when it began
to flow, and threw a handful of water in the face of the fainting boy,
which soon brought back the color to his cheeks.
"All right now, my brave fellow;" he said. "The glass is all out. Now,
Mrs. Stuart, if you will give me four spoonsful of real cream, I'll
make an ointment."
He poured some liquid from a bottle and gave the mixture a good stir,
making a thick, nice salve. This he spread over the soft linen the
mother had provided, and bound around the foot.
"You will have to give up farming for a week or two," said the Doctor
laughing. "Perfect rest and daily applications of the ointment are all
that will be necessary. Next time, Dick, I advise you to wear shoes."
It was a weary time for the poor fellow on many accounts. He worried
secretly about the work and about his lessons. He sent to school every
day by Eddy to find out who was at the head of the spelling and grammar
classes; but he confessed to himself that his punishment was a just one.
After a long conversation with his mother on the subject, he covered
his thee and thanked his kind Father in heaven for the chastisement
which he could now see was sent in love to remind him of the truth of
the words, "The way of transgressors is hard."
"You did just so, mother, when baby kept running to the stove, and you
were afraid he would be burned up if he did not learn; so you let him
burn his fingers a little mite. Oh, how he cried, and hid his face in
your neck! But he knew he mustn't touch the stove again. Don't you
remember how he would go toward it and then look at you and say so
cunning, 'No! No! Berty burn!' And then he'd blow as you did on his
poor fingers."
"Perhaps, mamma, God knew that if I went to school barefoot and
came back without hurting me I should go on growing more and more
disobedient, and so he let me hurt myself to save me a worse hurt as
you did Berty."
"Yes, Dick, that is the right view to take of it. That is what St. Paul
meant when he said: 'Now no chastening is for the present joyous, but
grievous; nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruits of
righteousness to them that are exercised thereby.'"