RUFUS TAYLOR
Children, obey your parents in all things; for this is well-pleasing unto the Lord. – Bible.
On an evening in July, 18–, as several youths, from twelve to eighteen years of age, were standing at the corner of a street in the little village of B – , Rufus Taylor, one of their companions, came up to them and said, “Come, boys, let’s go and take a cool bath – ’tis terribly warm.”
Rufus had been positively forbidden by his parents to go bathing without their consent; but, thinking they would never know anything about it, he came up to the group of boys and made the preceding proposition.
They all, with one consent, agreed to it, and soon were on their way to the bay.
Arriving at their famous bathing spot, and undressing in a few moments, they soon plunged into the cooling water, and swam to an island, a few hundred yards distant.
Rufus alone remained on the shore.
He was afraid to attempt swimming such a long distance, as he had but recently learned to swim. But, collecting all his courage, he followed his comrades, and cried out that he would overtake them or be damned! What an awful word to proceed from the lips of a boy twelve years old! He had not swum more than fifty yards, when his strength failed, and he sank beneath the blue waves of the roaring ocean. Every effort was made by his friends to save him, but they were all in vain.
Let his untimely end be a solemn warning to boys who are in the habit of disobeying their parents.
May it teach a lesson, also, to those who indulge in the use of profane language. Rufus did not think that his damnation was so near at hand, when he uttered that awful curse.
He was hurried into the presence of his Maker without one moment’s warning, and with the profane expression still lingering on his lips.
Who can tell the unutterable anguish of his parents when the intelligence of the death of their only son – their disobedient boy – reached their ears? His father, on being told that his son was drowned, exclaimed, “Oh, my disobedient son! I told him not to go bathing without my consent. Would to God I had died for him!”
OBEDIENCE TO PARENTS
“Let children that would fear the Lord,
Hear what their teachers say;
With reverence mark their parents’ word,
And with delight obey.
“Have you not heard what dreadful plagues
Are threaten’d by the Lord
To him that breaks his father’s laws,
Or mocks his mother’s word?
“What heavy guilt upon him lies!
How cursed is his name!
The ravens shall pick out his eyes,
And eagles eat the same.
“But those that worship God, and give
Their parents honor due,
Here on this earth they long shall live,
And live hereafter too.”
JAMES JONES;
OR, THE LITTLE GAMBLER
“Make us unguarded youth
The objects of Thy care;
Help us to choose the way of truth,
And fly from every snare.”
“What can be meant by ‘the little gambler?’ I never heard of a boy’s gambling in my life!” my little reader will, no doubt, exclaim. Though it may seem very strange, yet such things often occur. I will relate to you an incident that occurred in my school-boy days, which, perhaps, may bring to your recollection the fact that you have indulged in it yourself. Boys as well as men are frequently found to be gamblers, though, of course, on a much smaller scale.
At the corner of a street in the city of – was a gaming house, kept by a boy not more than twelve years old. It was one of the most beautiful and pleasant places I ever saw, well calculated to entice within its polluted walls the heedless and inconsiderate youth. Here, after school hours, quite a number of boys were accustomed to assemble and spend their evenings.
Passing near the above place one pleasant evening in May, I saw a youth, whom I shall call James Jones, who seemed to be intently engaged in the issue of a game. He was successful; and when he gathered up the “stakes,” a smile of exulting joy passed over his face. I saw nothing more of James till some eight years after the above occurrence. I was standing in the court-room one morning, when I heard the clerk read out a charge against James Jones for forcibly breaking into the trunk of a certain gentleman, and stealing therefrom the sum of $500.
On examining the appearance of the young man more closely, I found him to be the same youth whom I had seen in the “little gambling house.” A widowed mother sat by his side, weeping most bitterly. His appearance had altered very much. Long confinement had turned the healthy, robust man into a mere skeleton. His countenance was haggard, his cheek sunken, his eye dim, his step tremulous.
He was found guilty, and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment in the State Penitentiary. When he arose to receive the sentence the most perfect indifference was manifested by him, while his poor mother seemed as though she would die beneath the weight of such heavy affliction.
She informed me that James, at a very early age, became fond of bad company, and would often steal away at night, and spend the time allotted to rest in the most dissipated assemblies. He finally became involved in debt, and determined to get out at all hazards. He was thus almost forced to commit a deed which brought the grey hairs of his mother in sorrow to the grave, and ruined him for life.
Doubtless, you would like to know what was James’ first act in his downward career. It was betting at the “little gambling house.” There he learned to do evil rather than good.
I have neglected to explain to you what the gambling house was. It was a wide-spreading elm tree, beneath the hospitable shade of which the boys of the neighborhood were accustomed to meet and play marbles for have-ance; that is, each boy kept all the marbles he knocked out of the ring.
Have any of you ever been guilty of this? If so, then you were gambling, and, unless you stop it at once, the gallows or the penitentiary may be your end. Do not gamble with marbles; it may be your ruin. Truly, “The way of the transgressor is hard.”
“Placed on the verge of youth, my mind
Life’s opening scene surveyed;
I viewed its ills of various kinds,
Afflicted and afraid.
“Oh, how shall I, with heart prepar’d,
Those terrors learn to meet?
How from the thousand snares to guard
My inexperienced feet?
“Let faith suppress each rising fear,
Each anxious doubt exclude;
My Maker’s will has placed me here,
A Maker wise and good.
“He too, my every trial knows
Its just restraint to give,
Attentive to behold my woes,
And faithful to relieve.
“Though griefs unnumbered throng thee round,
Still in thy God confide,
Whose finger marks the seas their bound,
And curbs the rolling tide.”
TAKE HEED
“Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”
“Let him who thinks he stands secure,
And in self-confidence is sure
He shall unto the end endure,
‘Take heed.’
“Let him who fears not Satan’s art,
Nor dreads temptation’s fiery dart,
But says he’s safe in every part,
‘Take heed.’
“Let him who sees his neighbor wrong,
And makes those faults his daily song,
Blasting his fame with thoughtless tongue,
‘Take heed.’
“Let him whose heart is lifted high,
Who’ll pass an erring brother by,
Or bid him from his presence fly,
‘Take heed.’
“Who feels not his own strength is small,
Nor lifts to heaven an early call
For daily grace, lest he should fall,
‘Take heed.’
“By faith in ‘Christ our strength’ we stand,
He keeps by His almighty hand,
Those who obey His wise command:
‘Take heed.’”
GERTRUDE MASON
“Come, children, come!
God bids you come!
Come and learn to sing the story
Of the Lord of life and glory;
Come, children, come!”
Mrs. Brown.
Gertrude Mason was a sweet little girl of about ten summers, with rosy cheeks, and bright, sunny hair.
She did not live in the city, like a great many children, but she lived at a quiet little cottage in the country, which she called “Rose Neath.”
Gertrude was a good child.
She loved everybody, and everybody seemed to love her.
She was meek and gentle, and was always willing to do any thing she could to minister to the wants of the poor and needy.
Gertrude had a beautiful Newfoundland dog, named Rescue, and wherever she went, her friend Rescue was always at her side. She loved him very much, and used to give him part of her meals every day. One lovely Sabbath morning, when the sun was shining brightly, and the little birds singing sweetly from the boughs of the trees, Gertrude, dressed neatly and tidily, hymn-book and catechism in hand, started off for the Sabbath-school.
She had not gone very far, when she came to a creek.
Thrown across this creek was a log, on which persons were in the habit of crossing.
It had rained the night before, and the log was very slippery. Gertrude did not think of this, and was about crossing over, when her foot slipped, and she was thrown headlong into the swollen current.
She would have been drowned, had it not been for her faithful friend Rescue, who swam in and brought her safely to the shore.
Thus was the life of this lovely girl saved by her affectionate dog.
This little story should teach us two lessons.
First, if we wish persons to love us, we must be kind and attentive to them.
Secondly, the pathway of life is very slippery, and many of our companions fall into very great sins, and it is our duty, like Rescue, to save them from destruction.
“REMEMBER THY CREATOR IN THE DAYS OF THY YOUTH.”
While in the tender years of youth,
In nature’s smiling bloom,
Ere age arrive and trembling wait
Its summons to the tomb,
Remember thy creator, God,
For Him thy powers employ;
Make Him thy fear, thy love, thy hope,
Thy confidence, thy joy.
He shall defend and guide thy course
Through life’s uncertain sea,
Till thou art landed on the shore
Of blest eternity.
Then seek the Lord betimes, and choose
The path of heavenly truth:
The earth affords no lovlier sight
Than a religious youth.
Gibbons.
THE DEAF SHOEMAKER
Toiling – rejoicing – sorrowing,
Onward through life he goes,
Each morning sees some task begun,
Each evening sees its close;
Something attempted, something done,
Has earned a night’s repose.
Longfellow.
Beneath the scorching rays of a blistering summer’s sun, or chilled by the piercing blast of winter, a puny, sickly youth might have been seen daily ascending a ladder, bearing on his head a heavy weight of slate. There is nothing about his appearance but his feeble step and emaciated frame, calculated to attract the attention of the passer-by: a closer observation, however, will show that he possesses an eye which bespeaks an amount of patient perseverance but seldom known.
On one occasion, when about twelve years of age, while engaged in his accustomed labor, his foot misses the round of the ladder which he had so long ascended, and the infirm youth is thrown a distance of thirty-five feet on the hard stone pavement beneath. In a state of perfect insensibility he is taken up and borne to the arms of his afflicted friends. For two long weeks he remains in a state of unconsciousness, not knowing the nearest and dearest of his relatives.
At the expiration of this time his mind begins to revive, and his feeble eye wanders about the room with listless indifference. Recovering from his attack, he immediately inquires for a book in which he had been deeply interested previous to the accident which came so near terminating his earthly career.
No one seems to answer his inquiries. “Why do you not speak? Pray let me have my book!” Still no one replies. At last some one takes a slate and writes upon it that the book had been returned to its owner.
“Why do you write to me?” exclaimed the sufferer – “speak, speak! SPEAK!” Again was the pencil taken and the three words —you are deaf– written.
How severe the affliction! No more can that ear drink in the sweet melody of the little warblers; no more listen to those words of affection which make home the brightest and happiest spot in the world; no more hear the gentle notes of the “sweet singer of Israel,” or gather the soul-stirring anthems that echo and reëcho through the vaulted roof of God’s sanctuary.
As his father was very poor, he was placed in an almshouse to keep him from starvation.
He was soon removed, however, from his lonely prison home, and placed under a shoemaker, but was treated so unkindly that his friends found it necessary to have him again put in the poorhouse.
His studious habits and intellectual qualities soon attracted the notice of the officers of the almshouse, and he was treated with marked kindness and attention. While others were wasting the golden moments of youth, the deaf shoemaker was busy garnering his spare minutes, and storing his mind with information which was destined to exert an influence throughout the world.
In a short time he was removed to the London Missionary Society, whence he went to Malta as a printer.
Here he studied very closely, and, after returning to London, accompanied Mr. Groves in a tour through Russia, Georgia, Armenia, Kurdistan and Persia.
During this tour he gathered a vast amount of information relative to Eastern manners and customs, which rendered him one of the most instructive and interesting writers in the world.
He published, as the fruit of his arduous toil during this journey, quite a number of books, which have been greatly sought after both in Europe and America, and have made him a welcome guest at thousands of happy firesides.
His toilsome and unceasing labors for the cause of truth and religion were too severe for so feeble a frame, and at an early age, not fifty years old, John Kitto – the deaf shoemaker of Plymouth – gently fell asleep in the arms of his Saviour – beloved and respected by all who knew him, and honored by those who had become familiar with him from his deeply interesting and invaluable productions.
In speaking of Kitto, a clergyman of considerable distinction uses the following beautiful language: —
“Rarely have we read a more touching record of heroic struggle than the toilsome ascent of the deaf boy of Plymouth to the lofty position of the world-famed Editor of the Biblical Encyclopædia, the Pictorial Bible, the Daily Bible Illustrations. He reached, through incredible difficulties, a position that few attain under the most favorable circumstances, and has left behind him nearly fifty volumes, some of which take high rank as works of critical authority. Truly the heroic ages have not yet ceased, and there is a heroism of the solitary student that is a nobler thing than that of the warrior on the field of battle; and such heroism is seen in the life of Kitto.”
My young friends, how touchingly beautiful and highly instructive is the brief but brilliant life of John Kitto! Do not
“Lives of such men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of Time —
“Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again?”
THE CHILD OF POVERTY
Lord, I am poor, yet hear my call;
Afford me daily bread;
Give me at least the crumbs that fall
From tables richly spread.
Thou canst for all my wants provide,
And bless my homely crust;
The ravens cry, and are supplied,
And ought I not to trust?
Behold the lilies, how they grow,
Though they can nothing do;
And will not God who clothes them so,
Afford me raiment too?
O may I heavenly treasures find,
And choose the better part:
Give me an humble, pious mind,
A meek and lowly heart.
Jane Taylor.
NORMAN HALL;
OR, THE BOY AND THE ROCK
“Blessings, Lord, vouchsafe to give
On the teaching I receive.”
Norman Hall was what most of us would call a “dull boy;” that is, though he studied hard, yet he was never ahead in his classes, and could not master his lessons as easily as a great many other boys. He was respected and beloved not only by his teacher, but also by the scholars. His father and mother both felt very sad because their only boy did not rank among the first in his class, and knew not how to account for it.
One Friday, Norman missed nearly all of his lessons, and was so much discouraged that he almost determined to quit studying entirely and go to some honest trade. He left the school-room with tears in his eyes, thinking that he had entered it for the last time. As he was going home, he saw a large and deep hole in a rock, which a small stream, by continually falling in the same place, had worn. It was the very thing he needed, and suited him exactly. The thought at once arose in his mind, if a little stream, so soft in itself, can make such a deep and lasting impression on this hard and flinty rock, I am sure, by hard studying and close application, I can make an impression on my mind, which certainly is not as hard as this rock.
He returned to school on Monday, and studied more diligently than he had ever done before; and as he grew in years, he grew in understanding, and at length became a learned man.
Remember, “That a drop hollows out the stone not by force, but by falling often; so you will become learned, not by a violent effort, but by frequent reading.”
THE SLUGGARD
’Tis the voice of the sluggard; I heard him complain,
‘You have waked me too soon, I must slumber again.’
As the door on its hinges, so he on his bed,
Turns his sides and his shoulders, and his heavy head.
“A little more sleep, and a little more slumber;”
Thus he wastes half his days, and his hours without number;
And when he gets up, he sits folding his hands,
Or walks about sauntering, or trifling he stands.
I passed by his garden, and saw the wild brier,
The thorn and the thistle grow broader and higher:
The clothes that hang on him are turning to rags,
And his money still wastes, till he starves or he begs.
I made him a visit, still hoping to find
He had took better care for improving his mind;
He told me his dreams, talk’d of eating and drinking;
But he scarce reads his Bible, and never loves thinking.
Said I then to my heart, “Here’s a lesson for me,”
This man’s but a picture of what I might be;
But thanks to my friends for their care in my breeding,
Who taught me betimes to love working and reading.
Watts.
“DELAY NOT.”
“Delay not, delay not, O sinner, draw near;
The waters of life are now flowing for thee;
No price is demanded, the Saviour is here,
Salvation is purchased, redemption is free.”
The sun was hanging low in the West; dark and threatening banks of lead-colored clouds were moving slowly across the heavens; the distant muttering of thunder, and quick and piercing flashes of lightning, bade me prepare for the approaching storm. In circumstances like these, I was riding slowly along the banks of a canal, when my attention was attracted by the appearance of a small house, which sat just above my head, on a little eminence. Seeing the storm was rapidly approaching, I thought it would be a good shelter from the rain.
The unhinged shutters, the broken panes of glass whose places were supplied by dirty rags, the large cracks between the logs, all told too plainly that withering poverty had there an abode. After repeated knocks at the door, a woman made her appearance. Such a human being I had never seen. She looked more like a fiend from the regions of the damned, than a living and immortal soul. Her cheek was sunken; her eye dim and staring wildly about; her hair thrown loosely over her shoulders; her feet uncovered; and her person clad in the most filthy and disgusting manner.
She did not seem accustomed to seeing strange faces, and gave me such a wild stare that my very blood chilled in my veins. There we both stood. For some moments not a word was uttered by either. I was waiting to see if she would ask me to take a seat. This she did not do; and feeling that I had a matter of more importance than politeness to attend to —her soul’s welfare– I sat down on the remains of what was once a chair, and commenced the following conversation:
“Are you a Christian?” “No.” “Do you ever expect or hope to be a Christian?” “No.” “Have you ever felt the workings of God’s Spirit upon your heart?” “Never, since a child.” “Have you at any period in your past life ever read your Bible?” “Yes, I read it when a school-girl.” “Did you not see a peculiar beauty and simplicity in it?” “I did not.” “Do you believe in the Bible?” “Yes,” she angrily replied, “I believe it to be a lie from beginning to end.” “Have you ever read any other books besides the Bible?” “I have read Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, and believe that he was as complete a liar as ever lived, and never experienced one feeling described in that book, but wrote it only to deceive the foolish common people.” “Are you, in your present situation, willing to die?” “Yes, and willing to go to hell, and stay there forever and ever!”
Giving her several tracts on infidelity, which she contemptuously threw on the floor, I invoked a Father’s blessing on her, and departed – never to meet again till we stand around the judgment-seat of Christ.
The clouds which were wandering over the heavens when I entered the house, had collected in a mass, and produced one of the most awful storms I ever witnessed in my life. The wind blew most furiously; the rain poured in torrents; peal after peal of the most deafening thunder echoed and reëchoed among the mountain crags; and flash after flash of piercing lightning darted across the heavens. But, my dear young friends, this storm did not compare, in its madness and fury, with that still more awful storm of despair and hopeless agony which was raging in the breast of her from whom I had just parted.
Dear young friends, do not put off till to-morrow the eternal interests of your immortal souls. Remember – oh, remember the terrible condition of the woman about whom I have been telling you.
THE DANGER OF DELAY
Why should I say, “’Tis yet too soon
To seek for Heaven or think of death?”
A flower may fade before ’tis noon,
And I this day may lose my breath.
If this rebellious heart of mine
Despise the gracious calls of Heaven,
I may be harden’d in my sin,
And never have repentance given.
What if the Lord grow wroth and swear,
While I refuse to read and pray,
That He’ll refuse to lend an ear
To all my groans another day!
What if His dreadful anger burn,
While I refuse His offer’d grace,
And all His love to fury turn,
And strike me dead upon the place!
’Tis dangerous to provoke a God!
His power and vengeance none can tell:
One stroke of His almighty rod
Shall send young sinners quick to Hell!
Then ’twill forever be in vain
To cry for pardon and for grace;
To wish I had my time again,
Or hope to see my Maker’s face.
Watts.