The Southern herald., 1885-12-05
HEsITATINe.


A Helpful Lesson By which : Habit Of
Indeclslon wss Corrected.
If you once begin. Harry, you must
60 every day." said Mrs Baxter. look
ing at her little boy. who stood at the
front door turning his wandering gaze
first up the street. then down. ''If you
60 to school at all. you must go regu-
larly; we can't have any more of this
doing things by halves Remember. it
is to be your own choice. " she contin-
ued. Il do not care whether you 60 or
not this term, but | do care TO have you
Inow your own mind. Harry"
"Well, l guess l would rather 60"
answered the boy, as his eye caught a
group of his companions far down the
street. going in the direction Of the
school-house.
A moment more and be 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 jolly time-lO! there was
not one 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 not? 1t was a great
deal pleasanter outdoors in the bright
September sunshine than it could posi-
bly, be in those closed walls. Why
should he deliberately make himself
prisoner for all the days to Gomez II
he entered to-day he must 60 regularly,
His mother had said there must be no
excuses. Fiye-ten minutes-he hesi-
tated, then slowly turned away.
Down to the brook he went, where
he often had pleasant times; he found
messy seat and threw himself down for
a morning of pleasure. How still every
thing was? The water was flowing
quietly over the stones, and even the
birds were silent Had they all gone
awayP They had no work to do, no
school, no study.
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
unsuspecting squirrels, but ali to no
purpose. Had be but known the words
of the wise King, he would doubtless
have said with him: "All is vanity and
vexation of spirit. "
He was glad when noon came and il
was time to return home; and there was
quite an air Of business about him as be
sailed forth to meet the boys and walk
with them down the street
why didn't you come to school,
Harry? Itell you what, you missed it!
We've got splendid teacher, and he
makes everything SO interesting, I'd
rather go to school than play called
Dan Holmes.
81 guess I'll 60 this afternoon, said
Harry. sheepishly. Il didn't get of
quite in time this morning" -.
IAN right then; I'll call in for yoV
after dinner, for you want to be there
in time. The new teacher is awful
particular about thatg' and with hop
skip-and-jump Dan hurried on.
"You see I'm on time" he called
putting his head in the dining-roon
door half an hour later. 81 told Harry
he would have better time at school
ard he had better come along" he con.
tinued turning to Mrs. Baxter. "Don't
! you think sop
i Ibid you not go to school this morn
} ing Harry?" his mother asked in sur
/ prise.
Harry blLshed in silent shame.
7 Harry understood that he was Il
! decide this morning she went on
J speaking to Dan. "He has decided By
! staying away, and he can not go now.
E In vain did Harry plead. His moth
3 er felt that staying home one tern
i would not be too dear price to pa,
8 for correcting this habit Of indecision
r elf you can only learn to know you
s own mind and to work with purpose,
y she said, "it will be worth more to yol
y than all you could learn from book
Q these many weeks"
8 And even SO it proved. Slowl
q enough the days dragged on. Tn
q boys Of his own age were all at schoo
! and even when he met them the
Q seemed to have little in common. The,
I were always talking of some good tim
! that he knew nothing about But tn
t lesson was a helpful one to him, fo
I whenever he was tempted to half do
i thing, or to turn back after once max
ing up his mind in the right way, b
i remembered that September day, an
d what he had lost through his indecil
q ion. ..-Truth Seekers