The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1883-01-04
BOYS AS WHEELS.

v
would not have been surprised at this,
as he was so often taking things apart
and putting them together again; max
ing the clocks which went too fast go
slower, and the slow clocks go faster;
! making them all keep good time.
Uncle Richard was never better
,,le, sed than when there was some real
work for his pineers and pliers. and
| 'cute Ii, tie screw-drivers. and all the
polished and unpublished little tools,
which he /. ept so snugly tucked away
| in his hoy The truth was, he knew a
GREAT deal aboL wheels and cogs and
1ivots: I shall no pretend to tell you
how much he knew. but will tell you
that he usually succe> aded IN getung the
| clocks and watches to run just as ne
wished them to do.
But to-day Uncle RicharG nao worked
great while, and seemed ' cry mucn
in earnest, without accomplish. Ag just
what he wished; worked with bis funny
| little glass to his eye. squirting INTO
every speck of thing which seemed 10
have to do with the trouble about the
watch, and was yet puzzling himself
over the tiniest wheel among the tiny
works. Certainly something very grave
was the matter with the wheel
$50 you cannot think how the whole
world is like a great watch?" said Uncle
Richard, suddenly, as he laid down his
pincers, and looked up at Rufus, who
stood by his side
8 1t is such funny notion, uncle.
How can people be like wheels and
springs, and all those queer things?''
Easily enough. | wonder what
kind of wheel you are going to be in
the great watch?''
Boys are not wheels, uncle; how
can they beP''
they have their own work to do in the
great world, just as these wheels have
their work to do in the watch. =
Rufus understood this better He
seemed amused. He seemed disposed
to twist around like the wheels of a
watch.
do the wheels of the world have
to keep twisting all the timeg' inquired
Rufus: "a / would get tired of it.
Every wheel in the great world,
and every scrap Of part Of the world,
has its own work to do, but it would be
quite pity 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
watch. am just boy"
But what did He make the boy
forP''
Rufus was as much perplexed as
ever.
81 never thought about His making
me for anything special, Uncle Richard;
boys never do anything but learn their
lessons, and play, and ~
Boys grow to be men," said une,e
Richard, ''both boys and men have their
own work to do in the world, Just as
the little wheels and the big wheels of
watch have their work to do.n
lit does not seem as if | had any,
does it, Uncle Richard?' inquired Ru-
fus, little earnestly He had never
thought about this before.
Every good wheel or piece of ma
chinery in the watch stands still or
turns around, as it has been appointed
to do; every boy and girl. and man, and
woman, who is q good part of Gods
piece of machinery-the world-does
Just what he or she is placed here to
do.''
do they, really, unclep''
"Io be sure they do. Now there is q
great deal going wrong, all the time.
in this world; can you tell me the rea-
son?"
Rufus thought he knew what his un-
Gle meant, but he hesitated minute
before replying.
us it because there are so many bad
wheels, uncleP" he inquired, smiling up
brightly in his uncle's face II think
it must be-
Wheels like this said Uncle Rich.
ard, holding up on his pinehers the
mischievous little wheel of the watch
he was trying to fix; wheels that are
not quite true, that have flaw in them
somewhere"
''And they spoil everl thingP''
almost everything
And Gods big world does not 90
right on this account? / wonder which
are the bad wheels?n
None of us are quite a. we should
be: we are all little flawed.'
:" How does the big watch go then,
uncle? should not think it would 60
at all
''lt 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"
But just one man or boy does not
count much.''
Rufus evidently was beginning to feel
uncertain as to his own help in God J
work.
- If this little wheel could speak. it
might say: i am such scrap of a
thing; it can make no difference about
me; all the rest of the parts are good
enough. Nothing SO little as | am /
could disturb anything yet you see be- |
cause OF that little wheel the whole