Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-11-20
+ H%EslTATlNa HARRY. 49,

-
e I HEslTATING HARRY. mr>
A Helpful Lesson by Which a Habit OF
Indecision Was Corrected.
IF you nee begin, Harry, you must
go every day." said Mrs. Baxter, look
ing at her little boy, who stood at the
front door turnlng his wandering gaze
first up the street, then down. .If YOU
go. to school at all, you must go regu-
larly; we ~en't-haua- any more of this
doing things by halves. Remenrper, Is
is to be your own choice" she contin-
ued. IL do not care whether YOU go or
not this term, but L do care to have YOU
xnow your own mind. Harry"
"Well, l guess I would rather co."
answered the boy, as his eye caught q
group Of his companions far down tho
street. going in the direction of the
school-house.
A moment more and he was trudging
along with his slate under his arm,
looking almost as important as he felt.
But when he reached the border OF the
playground, instead of finding the boys
out having a Jolly time-lo! there was
not n to be seen. The school-house
door was shut, and work had evidently
begun.
Then did the spirit of hesitating again
seize hold of him. Should he 90 in at
all, or should he notp 1t was a great
deal p%leasanter outdoors in the bright
September sunshine than it could posi-
bly, be in those closed walls. Why
should he deliberately make himself 4
prisoner for all the days to come? II
he entered to-day he must go regularly.
His mother had said there must be no
excuses. Five-ten minutes-he hesi-
tated, then slowly turned away.
Down to the brook he went, where
he often had pleasant times: he found u
messy seat and threw himself down for
q morning Of pleasure. How still every
thing was? The water was flowing
quietly over the stones, and even tho
birds were silent. Had they all gone
away? They had no work to do, no
school, no study.
Slowly the morning passed. He was
not enjoying himself as he had expected
TO de-, and he was vexed to think that
he was not. Harry had not yet learned
that tr11e enjoyment is never found in,
idleness. !
He wandered through the woods,
found a few late, wild ~blackberries,
and amused 'himself-or tried to do
so-by throwing stones at one or two
u%nsuspecting squirrels, but ali to no
purpose. Had he but known the words
Of the wise King, he would doubtless
have said with him: sAll is vanity and
vexation OF spirit" .
He was glad when noon came and it
was time to return home; and there was
quite al air of business about him as .ha
sailed forth to meet the boys and walk
with them down the street. !.
''Why didn't you come to school.
Harry? tell you what, you missed It'll
We've got a splendid teacher, and he
makes everything so interesting, I'd
rather go to school than play" called
Dan Holmes. n
81 guess I'll 90 this afternoon" said
Harry, sheepishly. 81 didn't get Oft
quite in time this morning"
'.All right then; I'll call in for you
after dinner, for you want to be there
in time. The new teacher is awful
particular about that!n' and with a hop
skip-and-jump, Dan hurried on.
"You see Pm on time" he called,
putting his head in the dining-room
door half an hour later. told Harry
he would have a better time at school,
and he had better come along" he con-
tinued, turning to Mrs. Baxter. "Don't
YOU think sop
"Did you not go to school this morn
ing, Harry" his mother asked in sur
prise. ....1.. =
Harry blushed in silent shame.
"Harry understood that he was to
decide this morning." she went on.
speaking to Dan. "He has decided by
staying away, and he can not gonow."
In vain did Harry plead. His moth
er felt that staying home one term
would not be too dear a price to pay
for correcting this habit Of indecision.
elf you can only learn to know your
own mind and to work with apurpose,"
she said, sit will be worth more to you
than all you could learn from books
these many weeks"
And even so it proved. Slowly
enough the days dragged on. The
boys of his own age were all at school,
and even when he met them they
seemed to have little in common. They
were always talking OF some good time
that he knew nothing about. But the
lesson was a helpful one to him. for
whenever he was tempted to half do a
thing, or to turn back after once maxi
ing up his mind in the right way, he
remembered that September day, and
what he had lost through his indecis-
ion.--ITuM Seekers.