Thirty years ago, in a poor schoolhouse in a back district, a
boy at the foot of the class unexpectedly spelled a word that
had passed down the entire class.
“Go up ahead,” said the master, “and see that you stay there.
You can if you work hard.”
The boy hung his head. But the next day he did not miss a word
in spelling. The brighter scholars knew every word in the
lesson, hoping there might be a chance to get ahead. But there
was not a single one. Dave stayed at the head. He had been an
indifferent speller before, but now he knew every word.
“Dave, how do you get your lessons so well now?” said the master.
“I learn every word in the lesson, and get my mother to hear me
at night; then I go over them in the morning before I come to
school. And I go over them at my seat before the class is called
up.”
“Good boy, Dave!” said the master. “That’s the way to have
success. Always work that way and you’ll do.”
Dave is to-day the manager of a big lumber company, and he
attributes his start to the words:
“Go up head, and see that you stay there. You can, if you work
hard.” (Text.)--_Genesee Courier._
(901)
* * * * *
The old should not dampen the high aspirations of the young. This is
Cale Young Rice’s thought in the following verse:
You who are old,
And have fought the fight,
And have won or lost or left the field,
Weigh us not down
With fears of the world, as we run!
With the wisdom that is too right,
The warning to which we can not yield--
The shadow that follows the sun
Follows forever--
And with all that desire must leave undone,
Tho as a god it endeavor,
Weigh, weigh us not down!
But gird our hope to believe
That all that is done
Is done by dream and daring--
Bid us dream on!
That earth was not born
Or heaven built of bewaring--
Yield us the dawn,
You dreamt your hour--and dared, but we
Would dream till all you despaired of be.
Would dare, till the world,
Won to a new wayfaring,
Be thence forever easier upward drawn!
(Text.)--_The American Magazine._
(902)
* * * * *
When the Duke of Wellington was arranging his forces at the
fateful battle of Waterloo his raw recruits outnumbered his
veteran troops, and so to encourage them by the example of
those skilled in war and tried in bravery, he put a veteran
between every two of the recent recruits. Thus strengthened,
they all withstood the fierce charges of the French cavalry and
helped win the day for the allies. So when the Christian hosts
go forth to battle it is well to have the tried and experienced
Christians intermingled with those yet young in the spiritual
life. It gives them courage and helps them to withstand
temptations and trials by which they would otherwise be swept
away.--S. PARKES CADMAN.
(903)
* * * * *
An old minister, the Rev. Richard Knill, once placed his hands
on the head of a little boy and lovingly predicted that he, too,
would become a preacher. That boy was C. H. Spurgeon. A boy was
standing on the steps leading to a platform on which a minister
wished to ascend. He patted the lad’s head and hoped he would
become a preacher of the gospel. That youth afterward went to
the university and there became the means of the conversion
of a young student. That student was J. Wilbur Chapman, the
evangelist.
(904)
See IMPROVEMENT; MONEY, EARNING.