Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1868-05-21
3fut the Autlte Girtle.
From The Christian Observer.
MY SCHOOL DAYS.

From the Christian Observer
/ - MY SCHOOL DAYS.
Allen s., was about twelve years OF
age. That was not his real name, but the
stories that I am writing are all true sto-
ries, and for fear of annoying the persons
that tell about, l shall always call them
by some made-up name. This boy, whom
we shall call Allen, was in the first or sec.
ond class at school. He studied faithfully
and kept near the head of his class. Very
rarely was he punished for breaking the
rules of the school, and never but once have
known him to quarrel with any Of his
schoolmates. .
But I will not call him really good boy.
True, he generally obeyed his parents and
teachers he went regularly to church and
Sabbath School he read his Bible, and Of
ten pretended to pray at night. But he
was not Christian. So the best name
that I can give him, ga well-behayed
boy" - ., ..... -... -.... !
One afternoon, about four o'clock, he was
sitting in the arithmetic class by the side
Of another "well-behaved boy" John Gil.
bert. Some one was at the blackboard
working out sum, and all the rest of us
ought to have been looking on. But John 8
thoughts got to wandering, and he leaned
over to Allen and whispered something or
other in his ear. Allen was tempted to
make saucy reply. So he took out a
scrap of paper, and wrote an answer, which
may have been witty, but which had in it
words not ft- to be used. =. He signed his
name and handed it to John, who read it
with q smile, crushed it in his, hand and
laid it on the bench beside him. There the
matter ended. Z q - -s'.f 2 -
But the teacher, whoswas walking up and
down the room, happened to see the paper,
and picked it up. Allen had never thought
of that: he wonld not for anything have
had any one else see it. The teacher read
it, tore it up and threw it away. Then
he turned to the class and said: "Allen, |
would never have believed that you could
have done that" That was all that he
said. He did not tell anybody what was
on the paper. There was switch in his
| hand but he did not offer to use it.. There
were other boys "kept il" after school, for
misconduct, but Allen was not among them.
He used no punishment toward the boy but
lust that one sentence: II would never have
believed that you could have done that -
In half an hour school was dismissed
Allen hurried home, passed right by his
mothers room, ran up to his chamber, and
throwing himself on the bed, cried as boys
do not often cry. He had disgraced him
self by the use of bad words-no wonder
that he cried. For a long time he lay there,
his face buried in the pillow while con-
science kept repeating over and over again,
"disgraced- -disgraced.'
Conscience was right: that filthy Ian
guage had disgraced him. Some boys
think it nothing to tell lie, but terrible
disgrace to be punished for it. They are
wrong. Allen had not been punished in
any way, and yet his own heart told him
that he was disgraced. 1t is sin, not pun
1ishment, that dishonors man.
Perhaps some one of my readers will say,
'sBut it is disgrace to be punished" Ii
any one says so, he is wrong. Think of a
story which was written for the "Obssrver, u
about year ago. Mary had whispered in
school, and the teacher had threatened te
whip those who whispered. One of the
boys, William by name, saw that Mary had
not really intended to break the rule, and
took pity on her. He came up to the desk
held out his own hand, and took the whip
ping in place Of Mary. Was that boy dis
graced by the whipping?
So we see that Allen, who had sinnec
but not been punished, felt that he ought tc
be ashamed, while William, who had beer
punished, felt no shame. 1t is vsekedness
that disgraces US.
Ihave another case in point to show that
the disgrace of wicked words may last lon
ger than we expect. About the time Of
Christ, the town of Pompeii stood at the
foot of volcano, called Mount Vesuvius
The boys who lived there were in the habit
of writing such words on the walls anc
fences. One day the volcano began t.
!. throw great clouds of ashes into the air
and these ashes fell upen the town and bu
) ried it. They covered even the tops of th'
highest houses, so that people walked ove1
the surface of them for seventeen hundred
) years years, and never thought of there be
ing town buried up beneath their feet
At length some workmen in digging vel
, discovered one of these old houses. They
pulled away the ashes from the walls, ant
there, after nearly two thousand years
those wicked words were found still on TN
walls. The boys that wrote them are al
) dead, (probably they were never punished
in this world for what they wrote, but still
those words are there, standing disgrace
! to the boys of Pompeii. KAMETs.
1 BEGINNING THE Vocabulary an un
e wise parent labors hard and lives sparingl..
/ for life, for the purpose of leaving enougl
to give his children start in the world, a.
it is called. Setting young man aaoa
with money left him by his relatives, is llk
tying bladders under the arms of one tina
cannot swim; ten chances to one he will
, lose his bladders and 60 to the BOTTOM
Teach him to swim and he will never nee!
Z tho hloddore Give your child sound ed