Christian life -- Juvenile fiction; Conduct of life -- Juvenile fiction; Honesty -- Juvenile fiction; Sin -- Juvenile fiction
The same evening, when it was dark and cold, another little boy left his
home. It was no nice cheerful home, like Robert’s, with warm fires, and
bright lights. It was one small room, and in the grate only a few
cinders. On a bed of straw in a corner his mother lay very ill. As he
went out, he said, “Mother, try to sleep; I will not be late coming
back.” He worked in a factory not far off, and it being Saturday night,
he knew he would not be kept late. As he was coming home, weary and
cold, thinking of his poor mother, and how he would like to take
something that would do her good, his eye rested on some beautiful fruit
at a shop-door outside the shop. He saw that no one was near; he could
touch them in passing. The temptation was too great--the little fellow
quickly put three lovely apples into his pocket, and ran down the
street. When he got to the lamp-post at the corner, he took out the
apples and looked at them. “They will make my mother well, perhaps; but
then, are they mine to give her? I could easily make her think a lady
gave them to me; but God would know.” Then, looking at them again, he
said aloud, “_Thou God seest me!_ That is my Sabbath-school ticket for
to-morrow. No, mother must not have them. I cannot sin against God.”
He then ran back, and had just returned the apples into the basket, when
the shopman seeing him, thought he was stealing, seized him by the arm,
and dragged him in. The poor child, with tears, told the whole story,
and asked pardon for what he had done. The man had a feeling heart, and
children of his own; he was just at a loss to know whether to believe
him or not, when a kind old gentleman, who had seen all that passed, had
followed the boy, and heard what he said at the lamp-post, came in, and
told him that the story was true. He then bought the apples, and many
other nice things, and gave them to Harry, to take home to his mother,
saying as he did so, “Never forget what has happened this evening; and
let your ticket for to-morrow be your motto through life--‘_Thou God
seest me!_’ and you are sure to prosper.”
These two boys both lived to become men. Harry Brown grew up a decided
and consistent Christian. He was trusted and respected by all who knew
him; he got into good employment, married a pious wife, and saw his poor
mother end her days in his happy home. Robert Wright became a prosperous
man. He had a fine house, a carriage, and servants, and all that money
could buy. And yet often he did not look happy after all. And at last,
one morning, the town rang with the news of a dreadful event: Mr.
Wright, the rich merchant, had been found dead in his bed, with a bottle
of poison beside him. On looking at his papers, it was discovered that
his business was going wrong--that he had forged bills to a great
amount; and now, seeing he must be found out, the _fear of punishment_
was more than he could stand, and, by his own hands, he rushed into an
eternal world.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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