A little clock in a jeweler’s window in a certain Western town
stopt one day for half an hour, at fifteen minutes of nine.
School-children, noticing the time, stopt to play; people
hurrying to the train, looking at the clock, began to walk
leisurely; professional men, after a look at the clock, stopt to
chat a minute with one another; working men and women noted the
time and lingered a little longer in the sunshine, and all were
half an hour late because one small clock stopt. Never had these
people known how much they had depended upon that clock till it
had led them astray.
Many are thus unconsciously depending upon the influence of
Christians; you may think you have no influence, but you
can not go wrong in one little act without leading others
astray.--Seattle _Churchman_.
(1604)
See INDIVIDUAL INFLUENCE; MOTHER’S INFLUENCE.