550 



JUVENILE GLEANIKGS. 



Oct. 



ly just, lie said he thought it was, and the 

 saloon-keepers who were there with him also 

 agreed that the best way to get on in this 

 world is to pay up all the bills one has con- 

 tracted, and then resolve to do better next 

 time, if the bills had been made foolishly. 



Perhaps I might mention that these same 

 saloon-keepers had declared that they would 

 listen to none of my teachings, and had 

 made plans to disturb me so much that I 

 could not talk to them at all. I had espe- 

 cially prayed, however, that ijiod would help 

 me reach their hearts, and to impart at least 

 one good moral lesson. The prayer was 

 answered in just the way I have described. 

 When I had got to pleading with Jillsworth, 

 so that I had forgotten that they were in an- 

 other part of the room — had even forgotten 

 the noise they made moving chairs, etc., 

 then they were attracted by our words, and 

 very soon came over to listen. I turned to 

 the one who seemed to be rather the leader 

 among them, saying, " Mr. 11., am 1 not 

 right in telling Ellsworth to consider this 

 whole matter a bad investment, and to pay 

 the bill honestly and squarely, whatever it 

 is, and then resolve to do better next timeV" 



" Of course, you are," said he at once. 



" And is it not true, my friends, that all of 

 you have made bad investments ? and will 

 It not be best for you to go to work cheerful- 

 ly, and make the best of a bad bargain V The 

 State of Ohio decides that you owe a debt 

 which is to be paid either in money or con- 

 tinement, or both. Now, without tinding 

 fault with the laws of our land, or cherish- 

 ing any bitter feeling toward the officers 

 who enforce the law, will it not be best to 

 meet the bill in a good-natured way, and see 

 that you do not make any more bad invest- 

 ments in the future V " 



They all good naturedly assented, unless it 

 was our young friend K. lie asked me if 1 

 thought it was going to make him a better 

 boy, to give him a year in the penitential y. 1 

 told him 1 hoped it would. But he made a 

 remark, something to the effect that, if they 

 sent him to the penitentiary hoping to make 

 him better, they would tind themselves very 

 much mistaken ; but that if they would let 

 him go he would do his best to live a dif- 

 ferent life, and do better. 1 had had a good 

 deal of talk with him since his continement, 

 much in this same direction, lie thought 

 the laws were wrong, and the punishment 

 too severe for a simple offense like his. He 

 seemed to have no comprehension of the of- 

 fense he had committed against God and 

 against his fellow-men. To quote the lan- 

 guage of the text, he did not propose to be a 

 servant in any sense ; he preferred rather 

 to be ministered unto than to minister, even 

 tliough the service that our country required 

 of him was to serve in payment of a just 

 debt. You see, friends, one who comes 

 through the world demanding justice, and 

 if his ideas of justice are human, to have it 

 just in his eyes he would probably want con- 

 siderable more than the strict line of justice. 

 Jesus calls upon us to give more than is just. 

 " And whosoever shall compel you to go 

 with him one mile, go with him twain." 

 Our young friend had doubtless come into 

 all this trouble by getting a sort of feeling 



that the world owed him something — owes 

 me a living," as you have doubtless heard 

 it expressed ; and when he got hold of that 

 boc>k about the life of Jesse James, Satan 

 had persuaded him to think it a line way of 

 doing to appropriate that for which he had 

 not labored, and to reap the results of others' 

 toil. What a sad, sad sight it is to see any 

 human being who has once got the idea into 

 his head that the world oiwes him something ! 



1 can think of three states of the human 

 heart. The one is a disposition to want to 

 get or receive more from the world than you 

 ever give the world. A better and more just 

 way is to want to pay for all you receive— to 

 give humanity the exact equivalent of all that 

 you ever receive from it. This is well, as I 

 Uave said ; but, dear friends, is there not a 

 far higher and better way than either of 

 these, in working to give more than you re- 

 ceive of every thing ? You see, in this lat- 

 ter case, even if you should be selfish (and 

 who is not?) you would probably be in no 

 danger of overstepping the line of strict 

 justice. How could we ever live and go on 

 if every one should insist on full justice for 

 every transaction i* If there were not any 

 Christians to bear and forbear, how would 

 the world ever be held in check V 



1 now want to tell you of another young 

 man 1 know of, who is only a little older 

 than the one 1 have just mentioned. Two 

 or three years ago my attention was first 

 called to him by pleasant letters he wrote 

 us. Like other ABC scholars, he used to 

 ask quite a number of questions ; but as he 

 sent us an order for goods occasionally, we 

 never thought of considering him trouble- 

 some at all. VV^ell, one day he wrote a 

 letter inclosing money to pay up his ac- 

 count, and at the same time said he would 

 send on the extra dollar to pay for the time 

 the clerks had occupied writing him so 

 many times. It attracted some attention, 

 because the course of proceeding was so 

 unusual ; and after that 1 began to consider 

 his letters a little more closely. By and by 

 he came to work for us, and 1 watched him 

 to see how he held out. It seemed to be a 

 natural trait with him to be willing to 

 render the world full pay for what he re- 

 ceived, and, to make matters safe, a little 

 more if any thing. As he was a new hand, 

 for some time he was changed about from 

 one kind of work to another ; and one day I 

 noticed that he was helping to unload plank 

 with two full-grown men. Boy as he was, 

 in some way they allowed him to lift almost 

 every plank from the ground, and then they 

 took it. 1 watched him much of the after- 

 noon, because 1 wanted to see how much he 

 would bear without complaining. He never 

 complained at all, but seemed to think it all 

 perfectly right, although he did look a little 

 tired at night. 1 changed him about from 

 one room to another, and afterward inquired 

 of the foreman what kind of a hand he 

 made. The invariable verdict was, " Tip- 

 top, Mr. Root ; can't you let us keep him 

 all the while V" May be you think, boys, it 

 was an easy thing for him to bear his share, 

 and a little more. Some of you may say it 

 came natural to him, and therefore no par- 

 ticular credit was due him. I tell you, 



