Peter Sims, a deaf and dumb boy, was walking past a large shop one day
in winter, when he saw a beautiful pair of skates in the window. He had
often wished for skates that he might skate upon the ice, and when he
saw these he desired to have them. He looked; no one was watching; he
thought, "I can take these skates easily, and no one will know."
Before he had been sent to school this boy had been a very bad boy; he
had often stolen little articles, but now he was learning about God, and
he knew that God had said "Thou shalt not steal." As he stood looking at
the skates this commandment came into his mind, and there was a struggle
in his heart. His old bad nature said, "Take the skates;" his conscience
answered, "No, for it is wrong to steal." At last he made the signs,
"steal, bad, not" (he was seen, though he did not know it), and went on
without taking them. He had gained a great victory over the temptation
of the devil, and the next time he was so tempted the fight was not so
severe, as sin had less power over him.