Parker's Second Reader Part 12

6. "Nevertheless, industry, sobriety, and patience, are usually accompanied by the Divine blessing. Should you therefore, my little friend, ever experience disappointments of this kind, think of the bra.s.s knocker; _knock again_; be sober, be diligent, and your labors will be blessed.

7. "In the pursuit of philosophy many difficulties are encountered.

These the student must expect to meet; but he must not relinquish the investigation of truth, because it seems to elude his search. He may knock at the gate of science, and apparently without being heard. But let him _knock again_, and he will find an entrance."

LESSON XXVII.

_The same subject, concluded._

1. "Do you ever pray to G.o.d? I hope and trust you do. G.o.d commands and encourages us to pray to him. But he does not always answer our prayers at the time, or in the way, we expect.

2. "What then? We know that he hears them. We know that he is a gracious G.o.d, a reconciled Father in Christ. Let us _knock again_. Let us ask in faith, and, if what we ask be pleasing in his sight, he will grant it in his own good time.

3. "You know who it was that said, 'Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; _knock_, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that _knocketh_, it shall be opened.'

4. "Once more: our progress in the Divine life, even after we have wholly given ourselves to the Lord, does not always equal our wishes or expectations. We find much indwelling sin, much remaining corruption, to struggle with.

5. "But let us not despond. The grace of our Lord is sufficient for us, and his strength is made perfect in our weakness. Let us _knock again_.

6. "Let us continue, with humble confidence, to do what we know to be pleasing in our Master's sight. Let us work out our own salvation, with fear and trembling; for it is G.o.d that worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure."

7. We had now reached the gate of my father's garden; and the good old gentleman, taking me kindly by the hand, bid me try to remember what he had said. He then went his way, and I saw him no more.

8. I afterward endeavored to find out who he was; but I did not succeed.

His advice, however, sunk deep into my mind, and has often been of singular value to me since.

9. My disposition is naturally sanguine, and my disappointments proportionably acute. But, upon calling to mind the old mansion, the bra.s.s knocker, and my venerable counselor, I have frequently been led to _knock again_, when I might otherwise have sat down in despondency.

10. I hope that many of my readers will derive similar benefit from the perusal of this little history; for the sole end of its publication will be answered, if the young persons under whose eyes it may come be induced, at every season of doubt and perplexity, in the exercise of simple confidence in G.o.d, to _knock again_.

LESSON XXVIII

_Make Good Use of your Time._--EMMA C. EMBURY.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven."]

1. "My dear Anna," said Mrs. Elmore, as she bade her little girl farewell, "I shall be absent ten days; and as you have already had so many lessons from me respecting the manner of distributing your hours of amus.e.m.e.nt and study, I will only say to you, now, '_Make good use of your time_.'"

2. Anna's eyes filled with tears as the carriage drove off, and she felt very lonely when she returned to the parlor without her mother. She thought over her mother's parting words, until she felt quite proud of the confidence reposed in her, and resolved not to abuse it by neglect.

3. She accordingly took her books and sat down to her studies, as attentively as if her mother had been waiting to hear her recitation.

4. Anna was an affectionate, intelligent child. She would have made any sacrifices to please her mother, and she really loved her studies; but her one great fault was a disposition to loiter away time.

5. This her mother well knew; and after trying admonition, until she almost feared she was increasing the evil by allowing Anna to depend too much upon her guidance, she determined to test the effect of leaving her to her own responsibility.

6. For an hour after her mother's departure, Anna sat in close attention to her studies. All at once, she started up. "I am so hungry," said she, "I must go to Betty for some luncheon;--but stop--I will finish my exercise first."

7. She wrote a line or two; then throwing down her pen, petulantly exclaimed, "There! I have made two mistakes, because I was in such a hurry;--I will not finish it till I come back."

8. So away ran the little girl to her old nurse, and the next half-hour was spent in satisfying her hunger. As she was returning, with laggard step, she happened to spy, from the window, a beautiful b.u.t.terfly fluttering about the rose-bushes in the garden; and, quite forgetting her unfinished exercise, away she flew in chase of the b.u.t.terfly.

9. But, agile as were her movements, the insect was too nimble for her; and after an hour's race beneath the burning sun, she returned, flushed and overheated, without having succeeded in its capture.

10. Again she applied herself to her books; but study was not so easy now as it would have been a little earlier. Anna was too tired to apply her mind to her lessons; and after loitering a while over her desk, she threw herself on the sofa, and fell into a sound sleep, from which she was only awakened by a summons to dinner.

11. After dinner, Betty proposed taking her out to walk; and though conscious that she had not performed half her duties, she had not resolution enough to refuse to go. Tying on her bonnet, she took a little basket on her arm, and set out with Betty to gather wild-flowers.

12. When they reached the woods, Betty sought out a mossy seat under an old tree, and, taking her work from her pocket, began to sew as industriously as if she had been at home.

13. "O Betty!" exclaimed Anna, "how can you sit and sew, when there are so many pleasant sights and sounds around you?"

14. "I can hear the pleasant sounds, my child, without looking round to see where they come from," replied Betty; "and as for the pretty sights, though I can enjoy them as much as any one, I cannot neglect my work for them.

15. "I promised your mother to have these shirts finished when she came home, and I mean to do so."--"Dear me!" said the little girl, "I wish I had brought my book, and I might have studied my lesson here."

16. "No, no, Anna," said the old woman; "little girls can't study in the woods, with the birds singing and the gra.s.shoppers chirping around them.

Better attend to your books in-doors."

17. Betty continued her sewing; and towards sunset, when they arose to return, she had st.i.tched a collar and a pair of wristbands, while Anna had filled her basket with flowers.

18. As they approached the village, Betty called at a poor cottage, to inquire after a sick child, and Anna was shocked at the poverty and wretchedness of the inmates. The little children were only half clothed, their faces were covered with dirt, and their rough locks seemed to bid defiance to the comb.

19. Pitying the condition of the poor little girls, Anna determined to provide them with some better clothing; and she returned home full of benevolent projects.

20. The next morning, as soon as she rose, she began to look over her wardrobe; and selecting three frocks which she had outgrown, she carried them to Betty, to alter for Mrs. Wilson's children.

21. "I shall do no such thing," said Betty; "Mrs. Wilson's children are not suffering for clothes; the weather is warm, and they are as well clad as they will be the day after they are dressed up in your finery.

22. "Mrs. Wilson is an untidy, slovenly woman; and though your mother charged me to look after her sick baby, she did not tell me to furnish new clothes for the other dirty little brats!"

23. "Well, Betty, if you don't choose to do it, I'll try it myself."--"Pretty work you'll make of it, to be sure! you will just cut the frocks to pieces, and then they will fit n.o.body."

24. "Well, I am determined to fix them for those poor little ragged children," said Anna; "and if you will not help me, I will get Kitty the chambermaid to do it."

LESSON XXIX.

_The same subject, continued._