The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1872-05-05
JUVENILE COLUMN
TOM ENr's KNIFE.

ana had taen aarir en ven brought NJ
piety and good actions. Toms great cat am
bitten was to be manly. At tie asa :
eight be had, by dint Of perssaasion o 81,
tanned high-top boots. A year later he ba'
a asParea to vest, and with success. III
o o",o' . ae;..e noI was to procure (from hi
knife, to replace the dull, harmless WSo~
knife" Of infancy. To that end h. U%US
been boarding up his pennies for over al,
months, and. at the commencement Of an
story story he actually possessed one dollar snt
rooT;-s cssnss sy ten cents short of tLt
knife picked out at the drug store a ~;
nearly every day he stopped there to loot
at IL: The druggist was kind To cb;Idran
ana ne had promised Tom he wonld keaI
that identical knife for him until he conItI
pay !or IL. Tom counted his cash everV
h a inn oei1t re- ne went to bed, and oh how
Snree hfty-cent stamps in hand, he could
proudly ransom his ivory handled trea snra
One fine, clear Sunday Afternoon. What
!se money was yet short, Tom was stand
sHng by his mother, dressed to 60 to Sunday
ocnooi. Mhen he had put on his little fur
and gave him some pennies. "Tommv.n
sald sne, as sue kissed him good bye, but
these in the poor box. It is a blesse9 thino
to help the needyw Tom tripDei ont nf
the front door and marched manfuiIv mn
the street. On his way he had to pass the
aruggist's. 1t was Sunday, as have said,
must have medicine even on Gods hoIv
aay. Tom thought Of bis knife, and jingled
Gne pennies for the poor box in his hand.
Ihea he stopped and counted the pennies.
and he had just ten! Then sometLinp-
seemed to whisper in his ear that these
y; zen pennies added to what he already had
IN 6ls pocket book, made exactly the dollar
ana nifty cents he so much wanted. What
a temptation for poor little boy! Tom
strove manfully to shut out the whisper
and go on-but, somehow or other. he
could not pass the drug store! He loitered
at the window and looked in. Through
the glass and the bottles of colored fluid he
saw the knlfe-his knife-in the show case
should get tired of waiting and sell It to
some other moro fortunate boy7 The |
thought was dreadful, and Tom again lin
sled the pennies and considered the dan
gers OF losing his treasure that were crowd |
ID IN the ten days he must yet wait before
10 coald possibly get money enough of his
'wn to secure it. Surely the poor box
night wait ten days for him who had al
eaay waited such a weary time, again
uggested the tempting whisper! Poor
rom was in torture, and just at that mo-
nent, too, great rough man went into the
tore and stopped before the knife show
ase. Tom could not hear what the man
sked for, but he thought his lips shaped
ut the word knife!. A second more and
ne druggist spread before his customer his
took OF knives, end, among the rest, poor
'om's! This was too much, and, forget
ing everything but his long trea-
ure, the little boy, all in tremble, ran
ITO At. the place, laid down the dollar and
fly cents, and bore away his knife in tri-
mph Tom hurried to Sunday School
nd arrived just in time. He has his knife
yes, there it was safe in his pocket, and 9
great, rough man could get it now-but !
le little fellow was uneasy-he had done I
rong! All through the session the poor =,
Ok haunted him. He listened to the words l
his teacher, but they could not cheer
i'm. All he could think of was that be :
i'd stolen Gods money. Once or twice ::
nearly burst out crying. He saw y
l the scholars but himself give in their +
'ntrlbutions, and when the good Sister :
me to him he stood abashed and empty
lnded; The Sister saw something was :
rofg, but she passed him and waited for 6
ne to do its work. AS she came back <
tile hand pulled her gently by the sleeve.
be little hand was Toms. cob, Sister N
bbed he, am very wicked And he
"a her the whole story of his temptation .
d fall. At the close he put his knife into
r hands and said sadly bat manfully,
W.. ~ Sho CIV o tttt CN0 money
the poor" Tom went home with red
es and sorrowful heart. He had sinned
d he had paid the penalty! AS he pass q,
the drnggist's he thought Of his lost CD
ife-but his only wish now was that he -
d let the great, rough man buy it. That A.
yht Tom slept the heavy sleep of inno- A
1t childhood, and the smile on his ROSY
. told of happy dreams. In the morning, Co
awakening, the first thing he saw was a
all table at the side of his bed. On the =
lie was an open prayer book and on the I
yer book was-yes, indeed it was-hts r
fe! Tom rubbed his eyes, doubling
ether he was awake, and took up his
@ lost but now regained treasure. Pro-
ding from among the shut blades was Co
lie note-it was from the good Sister, and
as follows: "You have sinned-you
9 repented-and now you have your re- m,
d" Tom ran to his mother and showed wi
the knife and the paper, aud L can tell ~
that morning the Nugents were happy. -
nd now, children, one word at parting IT.
y chance, you should do a wrong act
ich God grant you never may) remem-
the story of Tom Nugent's Knife, and
mt and make amends. The reward NAV Cho
always come in this world, but in the =