Morning journal and courier., 1889-07-01
A Story and 8 Moral. From inc Christion TTp;or I

A few years ago an ambitious girl pradua ted from one of our foremost colleges. She
 had made fine record; she was possessed b1
 noble desire to serve humanity; she be. ! leved, as every one ought to believe, tha,
 life had some special work for her to do. and
 she was eager to find it. She expected this
 work to come to her in some impressive and recognizable form; but instead of the large opportunity for which she looked she found
 position as the mistress of little school
 in manufacturing village Nothing could
 nave been humber, and nothing more re-
 mote from any suggestion of great influence. The children were untrained socially, many
 of them were ragged and dirty, and the at- mosphere of the place was repellent to her delicate senses. No sooner had she settled down to her work than bitter sense of dis appointment and depression came over her Was It to teach the ragged children of fac.
 tory town the rudiments of knowledge that
 she had toiled all these yearss Was this the
 outcome of her fine training and her unusu.
 al opportunities? She felt as if she had been
 defrauded. But after little it occurred to
 her that possibly her attitude was wrono. and that even in the humble sphere in which she was placed she still might do some good,
 She turned to the children and resolved to
 become their personal friend, and to inau- ence them as friend influences a friend. She courted their society; walked to and fro from the school house with them, went into the fields with them, drew out their condolences, and established herself on terms of intimacy with them.
 It happened one day as she walked toward the school house. surrounded by a group of children, that the subject of strikes came up, and the young teacher explained in sim pie and forcible language the evils which often follow in the wake of strikes-the suf fering in the homes, the demoralization of the workmen, and all the other miseries that accompany serious disturbance Of the rela- tlons of employer and employed. Among the listeners was ragged Irish boy who seemed to be immensely interested, and at the close of the conversation requested the teacher to repeat what she had said. That afternoon. when school closed, the same rag ged boy went to the desk and asked permis- l sion to bring his father to hear what the teacher had to say about strikes. The younp girl was naturally timid, and it took all her courage to assent to the boys proposal. The l next day the father came-a rough, big. | dirty and eminently unattractive Irish facto- ry hand. Re evidently looked for no Few light, but, at his boys request, had come to | near what the slip of teacher had to say apoaG slriKes. trembling within, but with | bold exterior, the young girl repeated her conversation, elaborating her points to make | hem little clearer: and the man seemed l interested.
 Not long after that the teacher learned | hat the man to whom she had talked was he leader among the operatives of the town: nat ne had organized a strike, which WAS on | he point of being put into operation when | Ter talk with her children took place, and | hat she had impressed so deeply the leader hat the whole matter was postponed. A Il treat strike had been averted by the school mistress, who thought that little place of cred her no opportunity worth using! This incident might be multiplied thousand fold every field of labor. Opportunities which pen the widest doors to usefulness and in- uence are constantly coming to men in the umbiest possible guises. There is only one isy ity .. and makin0 4le Of o1s gfass 6ppoftd. 8 if that is to treat every opportunity
 lt were great.