Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1871-04-27
ONE STEP MORE.


Pilgrim. Read il, children, and take
into your hearts the good lesson it
teaches.
Had | better get IN and row across, I
wonder Nobody would ever know
anything about 1T, and there the new
boat hes rocking in the river, and
there are two oars in the bottom. It is
only mile down to the bridge, and l
could row down there and back in a
little while, and 1t would be such
splendid sail
OF course nothing could happen to
NE, for grandpa said TO mamma the
other evening. when we went to the
mil, "Why, Helen, Henry is natural
born sailor. He can manage the boat
as well as l.
"Oh dear / wish he had never seen
that boat, said mamma "I expect it
VIII be the death of him yet.n
Well, he did not inherit his natural
taste from you, that is certain"
laughed grandpa; "but women are al
ways perverse about the water
And that is all 1t is just mammals
nervousness: and l know nothing
would happen to me getting in there
and having little sail, and it would be
so nice this afternoon, and the river
looks, away up by the bridge, like a
ribbon among the oaks and poplars.
Nobody would ever know anything
about 1T, either, for of &C Grse should
get back safe, and | dc not believe
there would be any harm in it
But then there is my promise to moth
er; there's no getting around that, and
IT was the last thing she said to me be-
fore she left home ON Thursday
She called me TO the carriage and
bent over one side. and smoothed nv
hair as she always does when she talks
10 me.
Now, Harry, my boy" she said, 81
want you to promise that you will not
get inside of that boat until your faith
or and l get home again"
mo, mamma, viii not, certainly, I"
/ answered, though | hated to, bad
enough. that's a fact
And / think it is quite too bad that
such a big boy as i am cannot have his
own way in such things
Oh dear. dear, the longer l look
the more want TO go. 1t seems as if
] must 60.
One step more and | shall be in the
boat; but there, my promise to mann
ma
And how shall | feel when she
comes and looks in my face, and calls
me her darling boy, aud puts her arms
around my neck and kisses me over and
over again
She will not ask me whether L have
been In the boat, because / promised
her / would not, and / never told my
mother a lie in my life, and viii not
now.
Mamma came home last night Such
hugging as / had.
"Has my Harry been a good boy, =
she said, and not done a single thing
his mother would have disapproved
OFF,
"No. / guess not, mamma" 1 said
but-I was thinking about the boat and
did not speak very positively.
Mamma held me away and looked
into my eyes.
''You guess not! Are you not quite
certain, Harry Z" she asked
"weII, mamma, I have not done
anything, but 1 have thought about
It.
She drew her arms around me and
held me close to her.
l. Tell me about it, Harry" she said.
And then did [ told her about nv
going to the river Saturday afternoon,
and how near came to getting into the
boat and rowing down to the bridge,
and what terrible temptation il was,
and how IN one step should have been
in; but the memory of my promise to
her. and the thought that God saw me,
held me back when there was only one
step betwixt me and the boat.
Aud when l had done found mann
mas tears falling, just ike rain-irops,
IN my hair.
"0h, my child thank God. thank
God :" she said
And I, too, thanked Him, then, from
my heart, that 1 did not tahe that zone
step"