The Abbeville banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1847-1869, 1859-01-13
" IN A MINUTE"

present WAS n whcelbarrow. lie wa,
sixteen years old. And how rich lie felt
Now | can wheel mothers dinner hom,
from Market he said, and can hel,
father, and do ever so many things TIra
Is right. IL is so pleasant to do little ser
vices for others, especially for our parents
For two days he often asked, "Molhcr
what can | wheel for you" But she hat
nothing to Ee whcel.d and so she said
"Iha"k You, johnny; by and-by I sha
have something for you to do JOHNNY
wished it Was now, and not by-and by.
About four Gays after, johnny and his
barrow and some boys were down by The
frog pond "tplay. And what do YOU tl;nk
;hey We're wheeling? Four mud.urlles
which one of the boys found in tho swamp
do not know how mHch pleasure it cave
the turtles, for The" cr;iI not laugh and
tax "bont ii, but the hoys had coed fun.
In little while Johnny's mother called
lilm. llo heard hor call the irst time, and
the second, but he was too busy TO mind it.
His sister :hen ca,ae 70 find him. "Johu-
ny, mother wants you to go down street
aud bring home somo fish, Don't want
to, answered he. "Yes, but mother wants
YOU to" said his sister. I'm taking my
turtles to ride, and can't cried JOHNNY.
~ don't wait to-" "Comc," cried his Sis
tpY Tp ,,;n,,tn T.
How long do you suppose that minute
was F! 1t WAS nearly half an hour, and
might have been great deal longer, only
that Ii" pitched into the mud over went
Johnny, whee!barrow :nI ALL go dear !!
dear = he cried, picking himself up, and
looking at his dirty clothes. iNow he
thought Of mother. lie could run to her
fast enough, now that he had need of her
help but he conll not 20 when she needed
MS. 0 the selfish little boy! His con
science sno,e him. ITo was Ioath to show
himself; but 60 home he must, for who
would take care of such Il pi!iful-lookinr
| child but mother.
Home he trud dgcd, leaving the boys to
fetch his barrow. 1t WAS IL sober walk
80 dear he cried, coming into the kitchen :;
indeed he was almost ready to cry, partly
for the mud, but most for fear of what his
mother would say. She heard him. and
turned round. "You dirty boy, 90 away"
cried the aunt. "Cone here, my child,
cried his mother. ALI! that il mother :.
she is always ready to receive her child.
however SAL his plight. The mother took
her hoy. washed him, undrrssed him, and
dressed him again in clean sweet clothes
She did not talk much, but she was very
kind and very sad too. All !! she did not
begrudge serving him. Johnny felt her
kindness, and more II. cit his own disobe-
dience and dlsohligingness.
"Molher," at last he said, at am going
to kill my tmtles." why 2" she asked.
BECAUSE" cried johnny, because they
wouldn't let me 80 down street for you."-
Did the poor little turtles beg you not to
mind mother }" she asked. mot in so
many words" answered johnny, slowly
"but they seemed to say, "Stay, stay a
minute"
And do you think it was the poor lit
| tie turtles that said that z" asked his moth.
| or, seriously.
Johnny hung down his head, as well he
mIDhf tn fhrDyy t1,o
disobedicncc on the turtles, and not where
it properly belonged, on his own naughty
will. Adam and Eve did just so, when
they did not mind God in the garden of
Eden. Eve said it was the serpent who
made her do wrong. Adam said it was
Eve that made him do wrong. You see
wrong doing is always cowarlly, trying
to make excuses, and throwing the lame
upon somebody else. Is it not mean ,
Do YOU really Think" asked Johnny's
mother again, that the poor little turtles
are to blame for your not coming when
mother called you2 DO they deserve to be
punished ~ "No," cried Johnny, finding
1t hard to stand his moehcr's look "no :;
it was 1, only, naughty 7. It was l that
said, Stay, stay ; and, mother, God punish.
ed me !; he pitched me into the mud and
you made me feel bad, you were so kind :"
and tears streamcd down Johnny's checks.
"Do let me go down street now for you,
mother, do" But his mother no longer
needed the little service which he had be-
grudged her. The fish had come up
"send mic on some other errand," pleaded
johnny. But she had now nothing for him
to do. And all that day, and for many
days after, a sorrowful shadow rested upon
the child's heart, for that lost opportunity
of serving his dear, dear mother.-Amcri-
can Presbyterian.
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THE Human System.-The human sys-