St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1880-03-12
What I found in my Boys Pocket
BY FRANCES HILLWO0D.


BY FRANCES HILLwO0D.
The morning after Fred came home
from college for his holiday vacation,
he brought me his coat, pointing signlh-
cantly to certain rents in the lining and
to the worn binding on the sleeves and
front. The demand was not an unex-
pected one, aud l was soon seated IN
the little sewing chair, with wOrk-bas-
ket Oh one side and roll of pieces and
stick of braid in my lap, equipped for
the renewing process; quietly happy,
too, in having something to do tor my
bow. whose three months absence had
told upon my mending basket as well
as upon everything else in the house.
Fred, meantime, had donned his best
suit, given ME good-by kiss, and
sauntered out to greet "the boys"
Busily l stitched away for two hours,
mentally commenting the while on the
improved appearance of my boy, and
wondering if other eyes than those OF
his mother would note the change.
Then, as turned the coat over to see
if anything more were needed In the
way of repairs, two letters fell out OF
the breast pocket. The envelopes were
soiled and worn through on the edges,
but the face still showed Fred's name
in the delicate tracery of a woman's
hand. Of course | read the letters
what mother would not ?-then, with
tears of gratitude, thanked God for
having given my boy such friend.
They were notes Fred had received be-
fore leaving home from one who for
three years previous had been his Sun
day-schOol teacher, and he had carried
them with him and had read them Ovel
and over until the folds would scarcely
hang together. The longer one had
been written shortly before he left fol-
college, and was trimming with affec.
tionate solicitude in view of the temp
tations that would beset him in his new
life. Tenderly she plead with him tt
accept Jesus as his Saviour, to begir
| his life -.-.---i--i 4 - 4 III
cross. And in closing she commended
him most earnestly to the loving care
of his heavenly father. In short it was
lust such letter as /, his mother, had
longed to write him and dared not.
Why is it-can any one tell Y-that
so often between parent and child,
even the most tenderly attached, there
grows up such barrier to all inter
change of thought on religious sub
jects Day after day, all his life long,
| have prayed for my boy, often with
agOnizing cries as the years have rolled
by without witnessing his conservation
to the Master. And yet, when L have
longed to speak to him of these things,
my tongue has refused to articulate a
word.
But how thankful was | that from
one whom | knew he loved and revered
such words had come to him! Yet
more thankful that they had been aUrit-
ten words-words that he could read,
as evidently he had done, again and
again, and which must leave their i'm
press on his life. o, if teachers and
friends would do this would
embody their warnings aud entreaties
in some form more permanent than
fleeting seund-wOuld not more souls
be born into the kingdom ? Spoken
words, however EARNEST, ottentimes
make little impression and are soon
forgotten. But, with the young espe-
cially, few penciled lines from one
loved and respected are carefully treas
ured, many times re-read, and Otter
produce the happiest results.
Replacing the Letters in the pocket,
hung the coat away, resolved to sa!
nothing to Fred or to any one els'
about the matter, but anticipating will
sort of satisfaction, the warm grasl
of the hand with which | should gree
Miss B., when next we met, because o
her interest in my boy.-Christian I'm
ion.