THE COASTING MATCH--WHO BEAT?
Miss Ruth found that Mrs. Keller was mistaken; that, instead of being
_torments_, her pupils were little _comforts_, and she loved them all
very dearly. The spring and summer days flew by, vacation came, and
again in the autumn she gathered the children about her.
Much to the annoyance of the little girls, and somewhat to Frankie’s,
Ben Field had gained admission. “Oh, dear!” sighed Kate Plummer, “that
Ben Field is just going to spoil our fun. I can’t endure him.”
“I do wish Miss Ruth had said he couldn’t come,” said Lou White, then,
tossing back her brown curls, “there’s one thing about it, _I_ shan’t
notice him.”
“Nor I,” “nor I,” said they all, excepting Millie Ray. Sweet Millie Ray!
“Poor Ben,” she said, “how lonely he’ll be. Don’t you think we _ought_
to be good to him, Frank,” turning to Frankie, who was just entering the
school-room. “Don’t you think we _ought_ to be good to Ben Field?”
“Of course, Millie,” said Frankie. “Why? Who isn’t?”
“Oh, nobody, only some of us are sorry he’s coming to school,” Millie
answered. “Ain’t you sorry?”
Frankie hesitated a moment, then said frankly, “No, Millie, I’m not
sorry when I think about it as I ought to. Ben needs to come as much as
any of us. I guess he’ll be pleasant enough if we are good to him.”
Frankie’s influence gave Ben a better reception from the girls than he
would otherwise have met with, and, for a time, he was quite a pleasant
playmate. But after a few weeks, when the novelty had worn off, his old
spirit of mischief manifested itself. He delighted in teasing the
younger boys and little girls.
One day, after the snow came, the boys had a race in coasting, to see
which of their sleds was the swiftest. They started at the very top of a
long hill. There was Willie Prime on his Reindeer, Joe West on his
Express, Ben Field on his Lightning, David Dwight on his Victor, and
Frankie on his Light.
They are ready to start. Frankie counts, “one--two--three--four”--and
away go Reindeer, Express, Lightning, Victor, and Light. Willie steers
too much toward the right, and Reindeer plunges head-foremost into a
drift; Joe looks around to see Willie, Express runs off from the track,
and both are landed in a ditch on the left. The race is now for
Lightning, Victor, and Light; Light being a little in advance, Lightning
next, then Victor. Ben is very anxious to win the race. By a push he may
turn Light from the track, and thus gain upon Frankie. He steers his
sled to the right, and comes down upon Light so suddenly that Frankie is
thrown off into the snow, and Victor and Lightning reach the foot of the
hill nearly at the same time.
“You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Ben Field. That was a mean trick.
I’d play fair if I didn’t beat.” All this Frankie said, as he brushed
the snow from his clothes, and his flashing eyes _looked_ every word of
it.
“Guess I ain’t ashamed to beat,” Ben said, sullenly.
“But it wasn’t fair,” said the girls, all in a breath. “You know Frank
was ahead till you steered your sled right into his.”
“You’d better keep still. I don’t want girls meddlin’ with my business,”
said Ben, rudely.
“We are the judges,” answered Lou White. “We aren’t meddling.”
By this time, Frankie had thought what he ought to do. It was hard, but
Jesus gave him strength to do it bravely. “Never mind,” he said. “Don’t
say any more about it. Forgive me, Ben, for being angry with you.”
Ben _did_ feel ashamed then, and the boys and girls looked very much
surprised.
“I’d rather not beat than be so mean,” Willie said.
“I’d give it to him,” said Joe, as he carefully examined Express to see
if it was marred by its tumble into the ditch.
“I beat anyhow,” Ben said, sullenly, kicking in the snow.
“I think Frank Western beat the best,” said little Millie Ray. “Let’s
judge that Frank beat, girls.” So Millie, and Kate, and Lou, and all the
girls said that Frankie beat.
“No,” said Frankie, “that isn’t fair. I _didn’t_ beat. Perhaps I
_might_, but I didn’t.”
“Just like girls,” muttered Ben. “Go for a fellow they like.” He walked
off, vexed with himself and his playmates, while the others went into
the school-room and told Miss Ruth all about it.
Miss Ruth opened the large Bible, and turning to Proverbs, read:
“A soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger.”
“Better is it to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide
the spoil with the proud.”
“He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth
his spirit, than he that taketh a city.” Then, turning to the New
Testament, she read:
“Love your enemies.”
“My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in
_deed_ and in truth.”
Miss Ruth closed the Bible, saying nothing, for she knew that the
children understood what she had read, and that God’s word would reach
their hearts better than anything she might say.
They took their seats quietly, and when Ben came in, he was much
surprised to meet none but pleasant looks.
When Frankie was on his way home after school, Ben came running to
overtake him, all out of breath.
“Hallo! Frank Western, stop a minute,” he shouted. Frank waited for him.
It was an awkward thing for Ben to do, something he had probably never
done before, but he went through with it quite well.
“I say, Frank, that was a mean trick I served you. You took it so cool I
was ashamed of myself, and I don’t blame the boys and girls for being
down on me.”
He had not asked forgiveness, but Frankie did not wait for that.
“Never mind, Ben,” he said, cordially. “We’ll have another race
to-morrow. Come home with me and see Aleck. Poor fellow! He gets
lonesome.” So they walked on together.
“What makes you so much better than the other boys?” asked Ben,
abruptly.
“O Ben, don’t speak in that way,” said Frankie, looking troubled. “I’m
not good, but, do you know, it is ever so much easier to keep from
getting angry if you think about Jesus.”
Ben looked astonished, but Frankie told him in his own childlike way of
the Saviour, and how he would help even little children to serve him.
It was in this way that Aleck and Frankie worked for Jesus, by obeying
him, and by telling others of him.
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