I SHOULD think Charley Patterson was a likely Christian! He is the stingiest, greediest boy I ever knew.”
“This is rather a severe assertion, Willy,” said his mother. “I think you are not practicing charity that thinketh no evil.”
“Well, mother, the Bible says, ‘By their fruits ye shall know them.’ Just as we were passing Mr. Swett’s store, Charley came out with two bouncing red apples; and we (Johnny and Dickey Rea and I) called him, and asked for just one bite all round; and all he said was, ‘I can’t. A stingy thing!”
“Stop, stop, my son! hear me! And, because he refused you for reasons that he had a perfect right to keep to himself, you call him names,” said his mother. “I am grieved that my Willy should so far forget himself as to speak of a little companion so unkindly, and for such a trifle as a bite of an apple.”
Willy was sullen. He was displeased with his mother for reproving him, and displeased with himself for being so hasty in accusing Charley; but he was not yet humble enough to confess the wrong.
In the afternoon, Mrs. Merriam, Willy’s mother, called upon a sick boy who had been confined to his bed for a month on account of a fall from a horse, that had so injured his back as to render it doubtful if he would be able to walk for many weeks.
As she entered the room, the first object that met her eye was a large red apple upon the mantel.
She sat down by the boy; and after asking poor Johnny Lee how he was, and giving him some fine grapes, she spoke of the beautiful apple.
“O, yes’m!” said Johnny. “Charley Patterson brought me that, and another one just like it; and I do believe he saves every penny he gets, and spends for me. I don’t believe he has spent a cent for himself since I have been sick. If he is a Christian, as they say he is, then I should like to be one too, and just like him; for he is always doing good to everybody.”
In the evening, just before Willy went to bed, his mother said, “How about Charley, my son?”
To tell the truth, mother, I am sorry I called him names; but still I think he was stingy.
“I have been to see Johnny Lee this afternoon,” said Mrs. Merriam; “and, while there, I saw a red apple on the shelf; and Johnny said that Charley Patterson brought him that, and another just like it, yesterday afternoon.”
“Then why didn’t he tell a fellow,” said Willy in an excited tone.
“Because the Lord Jesus has told him when he did good not to let his left hand know what his right hand did,” said Mrs. Merriam.
Willy sat looking at the fire for a moment, and then said, with tears in his eyes, —
“Mother, I did wrong Charley; and I do believe, after all, he is the best boy in the school. But I did feel cross today because he had a perfect lesson, and I failed; and it made me feel better to call him names. But I am sorry for it; I will ask Jesus to help me to be a better boy, and never do such a mean thing as call anybody names again.”
ML 01/27/1918