A friend with whom I was conversing a few weeks since, told me of a
beautiful example of this Christian grace, even in a little child. It
has often dwelt in my memory since, and perhaps some of my little
readers may be induced to cultivate the same spirit, if I repeat it to
them.
Little Sarah was a sweet child of six summers. Gentle and affectionate
in disposition, she soon won a large portion of that love which few
hearts can withhold from the happy spirit of infancy. It has been
said, "Childhood is ever lovely," and I would add, childhood is ever
loved. Sarah was an attentive and careful reader of the word of God, at
a very early age. There it was that she found the Divine promise,
"Forgive, and thou shalt be forgiven." And she not only read this
precept, but showed by her life of gentle forgiveness, that she had
engraven it upon her heart.
[Illustration]
She attended a small school which was kept near her home; and I am sorry
that all who were her schoolmates had not the same kind spirit. There
were some who were very rude and unkind and Sarah soon found many
trials to encounter. Often would the gentle child return to her sweet
home in tears to forget her sorrow in a mother's love. Yet every harsh
and ungentle tone was forgiven by her, for she knew that forgiveness was
of Heaven.
One day when her mother had given her some plums she observed that Sarah
did not eat them, but put them all into her little workbag to carry them
to school.
"Why do you do so?" said she; "you do not eat the plums which I have
given you."
"No, mother," said Sarah "I will carry them to the little children who
do not love me. Perhaps they will love me better if I am kind to them."
Here was the true secret of human love. The power of kindness--there is
none other that will reach every heart. There is none other that can
influence them for good. It can lead the sinner from his evil way, for
none are too sinful to love, and where love is, there is power. We are
all frail and erring beings, whose hourly prayer should be for pardon,
and shall we not forgive?