|
"A
story! Uncle Frank, a story!" |
|
"A
true one about yourself, or someone you know," continued Willie standing
up "straight as a sailor" and preparing to listen and enjoy. |
|
Uncle
Frank seated himself on the sofa, and took little Elsie to stand at his knee,
his great, kind fingers making a warm, living girdle round her baby waist;
Mary and Nettle squatted before him on the rug. |
|
"Once
upon a time," he began, "a young man was thrown out of work,
unexpectedly, through a failure of the firm he was head clerk in. He was
eager and anxious to get work, for his dear old mother depended on him to pay
her rent and taxes, and the little bit of money he had saved would not go
very far. He tried hard every day, but times were bad, and clerks were cheap.
He was a Christian too, so there were some kinds of work he could not
do" |
|
"Why,
Uncle?" interrupted Willie eagerly, "what work -- real work, not stealing
-- is there that a Christian cannot do? Is there any?" |
|
"Indeed
there is," said Uncle Frank seriously. "A Christian who knows his
business with Jesus as intelligently as he knows his business with the public,
will never stand behind a whisky-bar, for instance, and that was just the
trouble; for there were plenty of wine merchants, and licensed firms of all
sorts, eager to give work and high pay to this young man, because his
character was good. That is a strange thing, isn't it? The whisky people are
eager to get hold of teetotallers! Well, he was getting tired and sad, this
young fellow, and he began to think of a very good offer made him by a big
brewer, of two hundred pounds a year, and a pretty cottage where he could
take his mother, and -- altogether he wanted to make out that he could do
this thing, and yet serve the Lord just as well! The brewer had urged him
after his first refusal, and asked him to come to his house, a great mansion
in the city-suburbs, and they would have a talk over it. He made up his mind
to go; it could do no harm to see the brewer and have a friendly chat. And
yet he was so uneasy about it that he said aloud, as he was brushing his hat
to go: 'Lord, don't let me take anything that would dishonour Thee!' Now, how
do you think Jesus answered that prayer? On his way to the brewer's that
young man was run over, knocked down by a runaway horse, and his leg broken!
He was taken to the hospital, and there he lay, in the accident ward,
helpless. He fretted a little at first, but he soon remembered that 'all
things work together for good to them that love God.' And, my babies!"
said Uncle, with sudden earnestness, "whenever we see that, we are very
near through all our troubles! On the next bed lay a poor man, dying; a
silent man that would tell no one who he was, or where his friends were to be
found. Through the night, when pain kept both awake, he talked to my friend,
and --" |
|
"What
was your friend's name, Uncle?" asked Willie. |
|
"It
was the same as my own -- Frank Wilson. They became quite fond of each other,
but as Frank got better, and looked forward to leaving the ward a hale man as
before, this poor fellow sank nearer to his death every day. The night before
he died he handed a sealed packet to Frank, and told him to deliver it with
his own hand to the man it was addressed to. Frank promised willingly, and
saw with surprise that it bore the name of a good man, the head of a great
firm in the city. Weeks after the silent man's death, Frank delivered the
packet to the gentleman in his own counting-house. He opened the packet,
looked it over, and then looked at Frank with some astonishment. He
questioned him, at first severely, then with growing kindness and favor. The
silent man had been his cashier. The packet contained a large sum of money,
which the poor guilty man thus restored, with a letter that told his former
employer of his deep sorrow and repentance, and his humble hope that he, like
the thief on the cross, had been forgiven much. Well -- that was Frank's
prayer answered, you see, for he is that gentleman's partner now." |
|
|
|
From:
THRILLING STORIES For Young And Old By Julia A. Shelhamer, God's Bible School
and College, Cincinnati, Ohio. No Date |