Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1875-04-22
How Jamie Carried Whole Barrel of
Apples.

no" 1diiie SdTTIeu WnOfe 0dFTet OF
Apples.
| JAMIE, though only eleven years old,
is quite strong for his age, for with a
'isquare hold" he can lift 100 pounds
Still, with all his strength, he was quite
confounded the other day when his
mother said, Jamie, there is barrel of
| apples upstairs. and l want you to take
it down cellar; it is coming cold, and the
| apples will freeze if left there" "Whv,
mother, | can't do it." he answered.
"Oh, Pm sure you can if you try" was
the reply. But" he said, I" it will break
my back to try" His mother told him
that she would not ask him to do any
thing impossible, and that she hoped he
would never say " no" to anything but a
| temptation to do wrong or mean thing.
| Jamie went APP to where the barrel of APP
pies was and looked at it; then he moved
it a little way and then tried to lift it,
raise but try as he might he could not
| the edge of the barrel from the floor.
Then he sat down and thought over the
matter; here were the apples and they
must go down cellar, and he was to do
it, but h0ao to do it was what puzzled
him. just then a basket-a peck basket
caught his eye, and the puzzle was
solved. He took the basket, filled it with
apples, and carried it to the cellar; there
he took the apples out, laying them on
some boards, handling them so carefully
all the while as not to bruise any, and then
went back for another basketful. After
working industriously for while he had
| the great satisfaction of seeing the bot
tom of the barrel, and he thought
1T was the best-looking part of
| the barrel; then it was but short
work to take down the empty barrel and
place the apples back into it. =" I've
done it, mamma, I've done it; l have
taken the whole barrel of apples from
the garnet to the cellar" 81 knew YOU
could when l sent you to study this
lesson, said his mother Lesson! what
lesson?" But instead of telling him she
preferred to let him find out for himself.
Jamie at first thought his mother wishes
to teach him to contrive way out of
difficulties, or not to be scared at what
seemed an impossibility. These lessons,
though important, were not what his
mother had in mind You may be sure
that Jamie went to bed tired that night,
but after he was supposed to be sleeping
soundly he called out: mamma, I've
got it. l know why you set me at that
barrel of apples. I've got barrel full
of bad habits that have been carrying
around all this time. I've wanted to get
them out of the garnet of my head and
put them in the cellar under my feet,
and I've looked at it, but the job was too
big. Now am going to try carrying q
peck at q time. Tomorrow I'm going to
take that bad temper of mine and pitch
it into the cellar where it belongs. When
ever the anger comes I'll pitch it down
quick. If | do this every day guess in
this new yearI can put the barrelful of
bad temper, bad thoughts and angry feel
ings all down. Mamma, don't you think if
Ipray every time these bad feelings come
that God will help me and give me
strength to get rid of them?" eyes,
my dear child. He never turns away
any who ask Hin, and Jesus said,
Ask and it shall be given After while
you can take a little basket in each hand,
that is, two or three faults, found out and
taken down, bat begin with peck at a
time and you will soon grow stronger
and more able to contend against bad
habits and bad manners" Jamie went
to sleep feeling quite happy, and in The
morning when he got up he prayed earn
estly. He had not been up an hour be-
fore his, brother George did something
that disp]eased him and he began to get
angry. Instead of speaking cross to his
brother, he said to himself, Here is this
barrel already open, but God will help
me to conquer this fault; here goes down
one peck from my BARREL" and he turned
around and spoke SO kindly TO his brother
that he, expecting an angry reply, won
dered what it all meant. But we cannot
follow Jamie's attempts to get rid of his
barrel of faults-one peck al time. 1t
need only to be said that he kept trying,
and, " as soft answer turneth away
wrath" he SO treated George that his
temper was sOftened and his selfshness
abated, and he too began to put down his
faults one peck at time, and the two
brothers freIn quarreling became loving.
1t may be that some boy or girl who
reads this can see that the effect of
Jamie's example need not De limited to
his, brother George and may be encour-
aged to try to empty that barrelful of
bad habits, q peck at q 4snae.-AmerssM7,
Agrieu5sm5st.