MORE CHANCES.
Perhaps, if you had seen Johnny starting for school on a certain Thursday
of which I mean to tell you, you would have thought that somebody was
imposing on his good nature, for he carried in his book-strap a very
large bundle, so large, that there was scarcely room enough left in the
strap for his geography and arithmetic. But a glance at his face would
have told you that he did not feel in the least “put upon,” for he looked
very well satisfied, and ran back, when he reached the gate, to give his
mother an extra kiss.
The bundle contained a great deal of sewing for a woman in whom Mrs.
Leslie was interested, and it meant that Johnny was to be trusted to go
quite alone to this woman’s home, which was a long way from his own,
and near the park. He was to go after school, and when he had done his
errand, he was to be allowed to go to the park, and watch a base-ball
match which was to take place that afternoon, until it should be time to
come home to tea. And this was not all. By way of saving precious time,
he was to take his dinner to school with him, and eat it at the noon
recess, and there it was in Tiny’s new straw basket—three sandwiches,
two hard-boiled eggs, with a little paper of salt, a very large and a
middling-sized piece of gingerbread, and a slice of yesterday’s “queen of
puddings.”
[Illustration]
“You’d better save a sandwich and the gingerbread to eat at the park,”
said Mrs. Leslie, as she packed this delightful dinner, “you can wrap
them in this nice piece of paper—see, it is that large brown envelope in
which my handkerchiefs came—for it will not be best to take Tiny’s basket
with you, you might so easily lose it. You can leave it in your desk, and
bring it home to-morrow. And be sure to ask somebody what time it is, as
soon as the sun is down to the tops of the trees in the park—you can see
them quite well from the base-ball ground, you know—and don’t stay later
than half past five, dear.
“All right, mamma,” said Johnny, cheerfully, “what a jolly dinner! I hope
I shan’t be too hungry at twelve to save the cake and sandwich, but I
don’t know!”
Mrs. Leslie laughed, but she made another sandwich, and cut another slice
of cake, and perhaps it was the recollection of this generous deed which
sent Johnny back for one more kiss.
He had hard work to keep his thoughts where they belonged during school
hours, but he succeeded pretty well, for he thought it would be “mean”
not to behave at least as well as usual, with such a treat in prospect.
He also succeeded in saving the cake and sandwich. “But I couldn’t have
done it,” he thought, as he wrapped them in the nice brown envelope,
ready for an immediate start, when school should be out, “if mamma hadn’t
put in that last sandwich and piece of cake!”
Some proverb maker has said that “chosen burdens are light,” and Johnny
certainly did not seem weighed down by his burden, as he hailed a horse
car, and stepped gayly on board. When they came to the “up-grade” he felt
like shaking hands with the patient extra horse, and telling him how
many good thoughts he had caused. And then he resolved to be more on the
lookout for chances to help the heavily-laden; perhaps he had kept too
near home with his efforts; he would try to do more.
He did not put into words, in his mind, the feeling that he had so many
things to make him happy, that he ought to hand some of his happiness
on to less favored people, but it was some such feeling as this which
prompted his resolve, and made him shyly offer his envelope-full of lunch
to a very ragged and dirty little newsboy, who was being hustled out of
the car by the conductor. It was accepted without the least shyness,
and also without any very special thanks; but Johnny, craning his neck
backward as the car moved on, saw the delighted face of the little
fellow, as he opened the envelope, and was more than satisfied. It set
him thinking of Taffy, and that was a thought which always filled his
heart with a sort of quiet Sunday happiness.
He found the house where he was to leave the bundle, without any trouble,
and his knock was answered by the woman for whom it was intended. She
was a gentle-faced, tired-looking little woman, and she held on one arm
a sturdy baby-boy, who seemed trying to make himself heavier by kicking
and struggling. She attempted to take the bundle with her free hand, but
Johnny held it fast, saying pleasantly,—
[Illustration]
“If you’ll tell me where you want it put, Mrs. Waring, I’ll take it in
for you.”
“Oh, thank you,” she answered, “you’re very kind—right in here, please,”
and she led the way to a room which would have been quite pretty and
attractive, if it had been in order, but it was evident that Master Baby
had had everything his own way, at least for the past few hours.
[Illustration]
“I can’t keep things straight five minutes,” said his mother, wearily,
“as fast as I get settled with my work at the machine, he’s into
something, and I have to jump up and take it away from him. Some of the
kind ladies I sew for have given him nice playthings, but no—he just
wants everything he can’t have, and he’s got so heavy, lately, that I
can’t take him about with me as I did. There’s a parcel of work that
I promised to take home this afternoon, and I don’t see how I’m going
to do it, for the neighbor that offered to mind him had to leave home
unexpectedly, and it isn’t safe to trust him for five minutes, let alone
two hours!”
“Maybe I could leave it on my way home,” said Johnny, “where’s it to go?”
“You’re very kind,”—she said, gratefully, “but it’s quite the other way
from your house, and besides, I’ve forgotten the number, though I know
the house when I come to it. No, I’ll just have to wait till to-morrow,
but I did want the money to-night.”
Johnny stood irresolute for a minute or two; could he give up his chance
to watch that game of base-ball? But was not this another chance? Yes, he
would do it!
“See here, Mrs. Waring,” he said, earnestly, “if it’s only to watch the
little chap, and keep him out of mischief, I could do that, as well as
anybody. He doesn’t seem afraid of me, and he has lots of things here to
play with. You just go, and I’ll stay here till you come back—I suppose
you’ll be back by five?”
“Oh yes, easily,” she replied, “and I’d trust you with the baby quick
enough, for there’s not many boys would offer, but I’m afraid your mother
will worry about you if you stay so long. And besides, I’d hate to keep
you in the house such a nice, bright afternoon.”
“Mamma wouldn’t worry,” said Johnny. “She doesn’t expect me home till tea
time; and you needn’t mind keeping me in, just for once.”
There was a little more talk about it, and then Mrs. Waring consented
to go, and Johnny was left alone with the baby, whose name, as he had
ascertained, was Phil, and who seemed quite pleased with his new nurse.
He was a good-natured, rollicking baby, and he pulled Johnny about the
room, talking in his own fashion, and trying one sort of mischief after
another, looking up with roguish laughter as Johnny gently stopped him.
But at last his fat legs seemed to grow tired, and he subsided on the
floor, where he actually remained quiet for five minutes, trying to make
his wooden horse “eat” a large India-rubber ball. Johnny found he was
tired, too, and he sat down on the sofa, where, unfortunately, he had
thrown his school books. He picked up his mental arithmetic.
[Illustration]
“I’ll not study,” he said, as if he were answering some one, “but I just
want to see if to-morrow’s lesson is hard.”
[Illustration]
It began with,—
“If it takes four men three days to build five miles of stone wall, how
much can one man build in a day?”
What a question! Johnny’s forehead puckered, he grasped the book as if
he would pinch the answer out, and gradually slipped down on the sofa,
until he came near joining the baby on the floor. Meanwhile, Master Phil,
tired of feeding a horse who would not eat, began to wrestle with the
table-cover, and a large Bible, which lay near the edge of the table,
fell to the floor with a bang, narrowly missing the baby’s head.
[Illustration: MINDING THE BABY.]
Johnny sprang to his feet, thoroughly roused and frightened, for Phil,
startled by the crash, and also expecting the “Naughty baby!” and little
slap on his hands which always followed any unusual piece of mischief,
burst into a roar, although he was quite unable to squeeze out a single
tear.
But this Johnny was too much alarmed to notice, and, picking up the
offender as if he had been made of glass, the amateur nurse felt him very
carefully all over, to find out if any bones were broken!
When he came to the little sinner’s ribs, Phil made up his baby mind that
he was being tickled instead of scolded, and roared again, but this time
with laughter, in which Johnny could not help joining, though he was
provoked both with his interesting charge and himself.
“You little rascal!” he said, catching Phil up, and rolling him on the
sofa; “don’t you dare to wriggle off there till I straighten up the muss
you’ve made—do you hear me?”
“Phil vely good boy now!” saying which, the baby folded his fat hands
together, and actually sat still until the table was restored to order.
Johnny gave the whole of his mind to his business, after this, and when
Mrs. Waring came back, she paused outside the window to look and listen,
and she laughed as she had not laughed for many a day. For there was her
“troublesome comfort,” on Johnny’s back, shouting and shrieking with
laughter, while Johnny cantered up and down the room, rearing, bolting,
plunging, and whinnying.
“I don’t know how to thank you enough, dear,” she said, gratefully, when
she at last opened the door. “I’ve got my money, and bought all I shall
need for three or four days, and the walk’s done me good, and you’ve
given baby such a game of romps as he hasn’t had in a month of Sundays.
Poor little soul, it goes to my heart to pen him up so, but how am I to
help it? He’ll sleep like a top to-night, and so shall I. You tell your
dear mother that I say she has a son to be proud of.”
Johnny colored high with pleasure, and plans for missionary work among
unplayed-with babies began to flock into his mind. He said nothing of
them, however, remembering, just in time, one of his father’s rules,—
“Never promise the smallest thing which you are not sure of being able to
perform.”
So he only said, heartily,—
“I’m very glad if I’ve helped you, Mrs. Waring; he’s a jolly little chap,
and it has really been good fun for both of us. But I ought to tell you—I
began to study a little, when he seemed busy with his toys, and next
thing I knew, he pulled off the table-cover and that large Bible, and it
wasn’t my doings that it didn’t smash him!”
“Oh well, it didn’t! And a miss is as good as a mile,” said Mrs. Waring,
cheerfully. She was so used to Phil’s hair-breadth escapes, that this one
did not seem worth mentioning.
But Johnny went home, thinking at a great rate. Learning lessons was not
wrong, nobody could say that it was. But it seemed that a thing good in
itself could be made wrong, by being allowed to get out of place.
“It’s like what mamma said about ‘watching,’” he thought; “it isn’t that
we must not ever do anything besides, but we mustn’t let anything ‘come
between.’ If that little scamp had gone to sleep, now, it would have been
no harm at all to pull my chair up to the sofa, so that he couldn’t roll
off, and study till he woke. But he didn’t go to sleep!”
He had almost forgotten the base-ball match, and his brief, but very
sharp feeling of disappointment. The “reward” is sure; not praise and
petting, not the giving back to you that which you have foregone, but
“the answer of a good conscience,” the “peace which the world cannot
give,” the fresh strength which comes with every victory, however small,
and which may, by God’s grace, be wrested even from defeat, when defeat
is made the stepping-stone to conquest.