SOME poor families lived near a large wood-wharf. In one was a drunken father.
One night he called his boy and whispered something in his ear.
“Can’t do it, Father,” said John. “Can’t; why not?” asked the father angrily.
“Because I learned at Sunday-school, ‘Thou shalt not steal,’” answered John.
“And did you not learn, ‘Mind your parents, too?’”
“Yes”, answered the boy.
“Well, then, mind and do what I tell you.”
The boy did not know how to answer his father, so he said: “Father, I can PRAY tonight for some wood: it’s better than stealing.” When he crept up into his loft he did so.
The next day at noon there was a bundle of wood before the door—his door. Yes, there it was. His mother told him the overseers of the poor sent it; but he did not know them. He believed it was God, and so it was.
He was rewarded for his trust in God; and so,
“They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.” (Ps 34:19.)
ML 02/15/1903