The Lancaster ledger. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, 1853-06-08
A SroRY FOR CHILpREN.

viii tcarS ih MS " c., ne ran and laId his
head in his mothers lap and sobbed
aloud. She pushed the curls back from
his forehead, kissed him, and said: "What
is the matter, my scns"
10 ma" hc answered, "it's so hard to
be good"
What makes you think 50, Ton my?"
"Why, you know, mamma, Yesterday
was SABBATH, and you talked to me in the
evening about having a new heart, and
told me that must pray to God, and he
would give me one, and that then would
love everybody, and always feel happy,
and not be afraid to die. And | thought
that l would like to have such heart:
= and / prayed when went to bed, and
kept thinking about it until fell asleep.
and as soon rs | woke in the morning. !
remembered about it, and prayed again.
and it seemed to me as if l had a new
heart felt so happy; and when went
to school l tried to be kind to all the bows.
and learn my lessons well, and to be good.
But this noon George johnson snatched
my ball, and got .ngry and called him
thief. And when we were playing
Charley Smith struck me. and before
thought struck him back again. And
coming home this afternoon, James Lewis
called me coward, and l called him
liar. And so, ma, kept forgetting and
doing wrong, and no matter how hard l
try, cant be good. It's SO easy to get
angry, and lad words come out so quick.
What's the reason, ma, that we can't bc
good when we want to bcp
Mrs. Wilson thought minute, and
then said: ado you remember, Tommy,
riding down hill on your sled, last win
ter9'
20 yes, mama, the hill was covered
with snow, and it was beat down until it
was almost as smooth as ice; and we
went down so fast that it almost took
away my breath"
"Well, my son, but did you 60 up as
fasti"
20 no, ma! 1t was slow, hard work get
ting up. We would slip at almost every
step, and we couldn't get up at all in the
place where we slid down, but had TO 90
round to the other side where the snow
was not worn so smooth and slippery"
"Then it was easier to 60 down than to
60 up, was il"
80 yes, it's always so with hills"
"And the oftener you went down on
your sled, the smoother the snow got, and
the faster you could go''
"Yes, mamma"
"Well, Tommy, when God made Ad-
am and Eve, and put them in the craden,
it was as easy for them to do right as to
do wrong. 1t was like walking on level
ground; they could go one way as well as
the other. But they chose to do wrong
and ever since then the world has been
like the side of mountain. 1t is up hill
towards heaven and it is down hill to-
ward hell. l cannot tell you, my son,
why it is so, any more than I can tell you
why God made hill out there instead OF
a ievei piatn, but every body finds it so.-
And then by doing wrong, we make the
down-hill more and more slippery all the
time. Our evil habits are like your sleds:
they smooth the way, so that we 90
faster and faster and faster. It's hard
work even to stop doing wrong, just as
hard as for you to stop your sled when
half way down, and going like race horse
And it is still harder to go up. We are
oil the time slipping up. We are all the
time slipping back. We find our old |
habits tripping us up at every step!
Then, ma, we might as well give up
trying" said Tommy, in sad and bitter
tone.
"ihd my little boy say so last winter,
when he was climbing up the hill to ride
down on his sled! lie slipped great
many times, and once or twice fell quite
down in the snow; but he scrambled up
again and Kept on trying, because he
wanted to have the pleasure Of riding |
down so swiftly over the smooth snow
WIN Tommy case mare for few minutes
sport than for being 9o-.d and going to
heaven|
Tommy felt ashamed of what he had
said. de laid his head in his mothers
zap and what his thoughts were | cannot
tell. But after awhile he looked up, as
earnest as hero, and said:
ma, I've been foolish boy, thought
could be good right of, and without