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My father
had a grafted pear tree in his garden. It was a very choice graft, and he
watched it with great care. The second year it blossomed, but it bore only
one pear. As there would be no more that year, he was very anxious about it.
He hoped that no rough wind would blow it off. He looked at it every morning
and evening, and was glad to find it safe. |
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He told all
the children on no account to touch it, for the fruit was tender and must not
be handled The thought never occurred to him that one of his children would
wish to steal it. |
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Everyone
that came to see my father was taken into the garden to look at the pet pear;
and they all said that it was likely to ripen into a first-rate fruit, and
that next year the tree would bear many more. |
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I did not
touch the pear, but my eyes were often fixed upon it, and I longed to taste
it. Instead of resisting this temptation and praying for strength to overcome
it, I gave way to it, till I became a slave to it. The desire for that pear
got to be my master. |
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One night,
after we children were all in bed, the thought of that pear would not let me
sleep. I crept out of bed, and went to the window. My father and mother were
not at home, but the back door was left unlocked, for them to get in if they
came home late. |
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I put my
head out of the window and saw the tree; after a while I saw the pear. I said
to myself, "My mouth is parched and I must have something to moisten
it." |
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I put on
my clothes and crept down the stairs on my bare feet, went out at the back
door, and soon reached the pear tree. As I stood there, the thought came into
my mind, "What will father say?" But I answered the question by
saying to myself, "He will not know who took it." |
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So I had
made up my mind to take the pear and eat it. I stood there under the tree and
was looking up, with my hand outstretched to take the pear. But just then I
saw a star shining down upon me, through the leaves. All at once it seemed as
if I heard some one repeat these four words, "THOU GOD SEEST ME." |
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I put my
hands before my eyes, and ran as fast as I could to the open door, and up the
back stairs to bed. There I stood trembling. I knew that God had seen me, and
I thought my mother and father and the servants and neighbors must know of
it, and that everybody would call me a thief. |
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But I
crept into bed and thanked God for keeping me from stealing that pear. Then I
fell asleep, and slept sweetly. |
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The next
day my father came in from the garden and said the pear was ripe, and might
be taken down and eaten; but who was to have it? I cried out hardly knowing
what I did, "God ought to have it." |
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That was so
strange an answer that my father and mother wondered at it and father said,
"Pray, what put that into your mind?" |
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I felt my
cheeks getting red, tears came to my eyes, and I began to sob. Then I told
how near I had come to being a thief, and how God had made use of that star
to keep me from it. |
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My mother
cried aloud; father wiped the tears from his eyes and, taking me very
tenderly to his breast, said, "Then it shall be as you say; God shall
have the pear, and we will give it to Him through one of His dear
children." |
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"Suppose,"
said he to mother, "we give it to our neighbor's child, poor little
Annie, who has been so long on her sick bed. Her lips are often very much
parched, and she seldom has anything to moisten them with but cold
water." |
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Mother
consented willingly enough; she went with me herself to carry the pear to the
poor sick child. And how she did enjoy it, and how she thanked us for it. |
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It did me
more good than if I had had a dozen such pears given me to eat without any
fear or dread. |
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Here we
see how this boy got the victory over temptation by realizing God's presence.
-- Bible Models by |
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From:
THRILLING STORIES For Young And Old By Julia A. Shelhamer, God's Bible School
and College, Cincinnati, Ohio. No Date |