The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1882-12-16
BOYS AS WHEELS.

Had You known Uncle Richard you
would not have been surprised at tn S.
as he was so often taking things apart
and putting them together again; max
ing the clocks which went too fast 90
| slower, and the $ ow clocks 90 faster;
making them all keep good time.
Uncle Richard was never better
pleased than when there was some real
work for his pncers and pliers, and
'cute little screw-drivers, and all the
pol shed and unpublished little tools
which he kept so snugly tucked away
i'll his box. The truth was. he knew y
great deal about wheels and cogS and
ivots; | shall not pretend to tell YOU
how much he knew, but will tell YOU
that he usually succeeded in getting the
CLOCKS and watches to run Just As he
wished them to do.
But to-day Uncle Richard had worked
n great while, and seemed very much
in earnest, without accomfl shiag lust
what he wished; worAed with his funny
lit lie glass to his eye, squirting into
e cry speck of a thing which seemed to
have to do with the trouble about he
watch, and was Vet pulling himself
over the tin;est wheel among the tiny
works Certainly somethiu ryerv grave
was the matter with the wheel
$50 you cannot think how the whole
world is like a great watch" sa d Uncle
Richard, suddenly, rs he laid down his
pncers, and looked up at Rufus, who
stood by his side.
1t IS such a funny not on. uncle.
How can people be like wheels and
springs, and all those queer thngs?'
Easily enough. ] wonder what
kind Of q wheel you are going to be in
the great watch?''
Boys are not wheels, uncle; how
can ;hey be?"
They cannot be really wheels, but
they have their own work to do in the
great wor d, just as these wheels have
their work to do in the watch.
Rufus understood tn 3 better. He
seemed amused. He seemed disposed
to twist around like the wheels of a
watch.
do the wheels % the world have
to keep twisting all the timer inquired
Rafu>: II would get tired of it.
Every wheel in the great world
and every scrap O part of the world,
has It's own work to do, but it would be
quite uity TO get tired of it, because
it is the work for which they were
made and put in Their places"
But God made us, Uncle Richard.
and surely He never thought about a
watch. am Just boy"
- But what did He make the boy
for?"
Rufus was as much perplexed as
ever.
Il never thought about His making
me for anything special, Uncle Richard;
boys never do anything but learn their
lessons, and pay, and ----"
$50 grow TO be men" said Unc'e
Richard. "'b til BOYS and men have their
own work to do in the world, Just as
the little whee's and the bio wheels of
watch have their work to dO.N
III does not seem as if I had any,
does it, nce Rich rd"' inquired ku-
Jus, a little earnestly. He had never
thought Il out this before.
Every good wheel or piece of ma
chinery in the watch stands still or
turns around, rs it has been 4 pointed
to do; every boy and g'r., and man and
woman, who is good part of God
Just what he or she is p aced here to
do"
DO they, really, uncle?"
"lo be sure they do. Now there is Il
great dea going wron&, all the time,
IN tn 5 void; can you tell me the rea-
SOM
Ru u- thought he knew what his UNI
Gle meant but he hes tated minute
before rep wing.
as il be ause there are so many bad
wheels male?' he inquired, smiling up
brightly in his unc.e's lace. II think
it must be-
Wheels lie this said Uncle Rich
ard, holding up on his pinchers the
m,sch evous lit G wheel OF the watch
he was trying TO fix; wheels that are
not quite true, that have a law in them
somewhere"
"And they spoil ever thing"
"Almost everything"
"And cd 3 big world does not 20
right on this account? wonder which
are the bad wheels?n
None o, us are quite a; we should
be; we are all a tie llawed."
:" How does the big watch 20 then.
unc,e? l should not think it would 90
at all" ...'0 ~''
at goes all wrong. and differently
from the proper way. The nearer we
each keep to the work which God in /
tended us to do, the nearer His world /
will be right" ~. .a,'' /
-" But Just one man Or boy does not
count much"
Rufus evidently was beginning to feel
uncertain az to his own he p in Gods
ID - II this little wheel could speak. II
might say: Il am such srrap of a
things it can make no difference about
me- all the rest of the paris are GOOD
enough. Nothing so little Az Il am
could disturb anything vet YOU see be-
cause OF that little wheel the whole
watch is in confusion"
"Bnt. uncle It is not quite the same