The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1878-01-02

ing in Sunday School the life of the Apostle
Paul, was greatly interested in his account
of the visions and revelations which had been
granted to him. But when she came to the
expression, "There was given me thorn IN
the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet
ne, she stopped as though she would like to
find some explanation of the words. Grand
ma understood her silence and began accord
ingly:
"When l was little girl, there grew in
my fathers garden a large I'D beautiful
rOse-bush. It's flowers were exquisite in color
and in perfume, and We children used to
watch them from the time when they were
only promises in the shape of tiny buds until
they burst forth into full-blown roses. Yet,
however much we might admire them, we
were never permitted to pick single One.
That pleasure, for some reason, my father re-
served for himself. Any other flowers on
the premises were ours-thOse belonged to
him. But one unfortunate day was out in
the garden alone. My brothers and sisters
were in school; my father was off on a jour-
ney; my mother was in the house. Who
would ever know it, thought, if | should
pick Just one rose l stood at first some
distance from the bush, then drew nearer
to it, finally stood beneath it. Looking
quickly about to be sure was not observed,
put up my hand, drew down branch and
picked rose. But in my haste | ran a
sharp thorn far into my finger, and the pain
it gave me was SO great that dropped the
flower on the ground Just then imagined
that | heard footsteps, and accordingly ran
into the house and shut myself into my room,
having only the thorn as the fruit of my dis
obedience. Well, my finger hurt badly all
day, but did not dare to show it to any one,
and did not know how to extract the thorn
myself. The next day my hand was very
sore, but concealed the fact from the rest
of the family, and bore my suffering as well
as could. At evening my father returned
bringing to each of US some token of his at,
lection. The present he brought me was a
very pretty cup and saucer of fine china.
was delighted with it, Of course, and put out
my hand eagerly to take it from him. But
again was too hasty. had forgotten the
thorn, until the weight of the cup pressed on
it. Then uttered an exclamation of pain,
and dropped my beautiful gift on the floor
The truth came out quickly then-especially
as nv mother had found the rose which had
been dropped in my fight. Ever since thst
day, when have read this expression of St
Paul, I have recalled the story of my disc
bedience and its results-my own mortihcs
ton, my fathers surprise and grief. A
great deal of trouble has been taken by diff
ferent persons in the attempt to find ou
what Paul's thorn in the flesh was, but nc
one has been able to discover it. Some have
supposed it to have been an impediment in
his speech, others an affection of the eyes,
or of the nerves but all that we know GER
tainly is, it was some bodily inGrmity which
he greatly desired to have removed. But
God in his wisdom refused to grant his SER
wants prayer, promising, however, what was
better, that his grace should be sufficient for
the bearing of the trial. Then Paul said
that he would gladly glory in infrmities il
they could help him show forth the praise Of
Christ"
" Grandma" said Eunice, thOughtfully,
81 have a thorn in the flesh"
"You have, my desr?' and the old lady
looked inquiringly over the top of her spec
tscles.
"Yee. It's my red hair. It's the great
est trial have, and it seems to bring me
into trouble nearly every day. The boys in
school laugh about it, and then l get angry
and answer them back, and l don't want to-,
but can't help it.
Here the little girl fairly broke down and
cried. Grandma did not laugh at her,
though. She stroked gently the offending
hair, which she thought very soft and beau
tiful, until at length Eunice became quiet.
Then she said:
"Well, dear, you must do with your
trouble Just what Paul did with bis. You
must pray about it. Of course, you cannot
ask the Lord to change the color of your
hair, but you can ask him to help you not to
get angry when the boys tease you. He
will answer your prayer if it is an earnest
one, and thus the thing that is trial to you
now will prove to be blessing. Beside that,
if the children in school see that you are
really trying to control your temper, they
will understand better what you mean when
you say that you hope you are Christian,
and perhaps your example. will have good
influence upon them. We cannot always ex-
pect to be freed from our trials, but if we
pray for grace to bear them nObly and
braVely, they may be helps to US, rather
than hindrances in our journey to the better
land "-Mary j. Porter.
Home Melody.
How richly suggestive of thought is