Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1890-05-01
THE FIRST LIE.

Il " LACllI anu kCl
me two spools Of thread, Nos. so and
100. / think 1t win be fifteen cents;
but here Is twenty, they may be ten
cents apiece.
Harry Cloud took the money and ran
on the errand, bright and happy as he
always was.
az always buy my thread by the box
or dozen, so do not know the price OF
a single spool or two,n Mrs. Cloud re-
marked to friend as she resumed her
sewing.
I'm short time Harry came In, threw
the thread into his mothers lap, and
turned to go ont.
''The money was right ?" questioned
Mrs. Cloud.
Harry gave a nod and went out to his
play.
What was the matter?
He could not strike the ball and
make good hit, and forgot when his
time came-the idea of boy forgetting
to watch ball-he was the champion
player Of the neighborhood, too.
His companions remarked his alb
sentmindedness, and wondered at it.
At the supper-table his cheerful voice
and bright sallies were sadly missed.
"What Is the matter, Harry? Any
thing gone wrong at school ?" his faith
er asked.
mo, sir" Harry replied, startled half
out of his chair.
care you sick?" inquired his mother,
who had been busy with the tea and
not noticed his melancholy face berore.
Harry's eyes dropped; those eyes
usually so frank and true.
"No'm," he replied, leaving the ia
BILE soon after.
The parents questioned each other
without light.
Harry tried to study. He grew more
and more uneasy. His mother watch
ed and grew more alarmed.
When faithful Chloe came in to re-
plenish the coal in the CRATE, she stood
moment, with her arms akimbo,
looking at Harry.
He knew her gaze was upon him and
he flushed and paled alternately.
"Dat chile has taken sebere coli,
dat's wot's de matter; he had better
hab his feet soked an flannel wet in
turpentine round his neck fore ever
he lays his head down, else you'll be
called up wild Group or 'tremens.n
Harry was favorite from baby,
and nothing was trouble that was done
for him.
II do need it, good Chloe; haven't
a cold or tremens, / hope" And Har-
ry smiled for the first time that even
ing.
Chloe muttered something about put
ting off sending for the doctor too long
as she went back to her kitchen.
Harry sat for some time with his
grammar wrong side up, and did not
know it; but his mother saw the back,
of it, and knew Harry must be out of
his usual self to do such thing as that.
After another restless half hour he
put his books together In his usual Or
derly manner.
Goodnight, papa" he said, trying
to assume his usual cheerfulness.
"Good-night; you are leaving US ear
ly." Mr.. Cloud resumed his paper.
Not so the mother.
She dropped her work i'm her lap;
her eyes followed her unhappy boy.
When he kissed her he whispered.
"Come to my ROOM"
She followed silently.
1Ao 5OOh DO blO uOOk was CIOSCu I1dIe
ry threw his arms around his mammals
neck and exclaimed:
"Oh, cannot live this way!n
Mrs Cloud looked alarmed.
II have deceived you mamma; made
you believe lie."
"What is it? Tell me all, Harry. I
thought there was something wrong"
replied Mrs. Cloud, tearfully.
ut seems such little thing, yet how
it has distressed me. feel as though a
great weight hung about my heart, it
is 80 heavy. The thread, you know,
mamma, it was only fifteen cents. I
let you think 1t was twenty. spent
the other five, and thought as you ex-
pected it would be twenty, it was no
matter; but Iwould not suffer so again
for a hundred dollars. 1t was little sin
but great penalty.' Harry cried in
real anguish.
II am so glad you told me; you see.
"the way of the transgressOr is hard,'
and the wages of sin is DEATH Let
this be warning to you all your life."
"YOu will forgive me?" asked Harry.
eyes, darling. and there is another"
II know; will ask Him to forgive
me. But it hurt so, mamma, because
you have often said I never told you a
lie, and to think I should begin in so
small a matter as five cents to deceive
you"
"Little sins lead to great ones. If
you had passed this over it would have
been easier for you next time, and SO
on until your conscience would have
been hardened and your soul ruined"
Harry was asleep when Chloe crept
up stairs and listened to his breathing a
long time. Then she knelt down and
prayed that God would spare his life
and keep him from sinfulness. She
mistrusted something was wrong,
whether soul or body she could not tell.
Harry Is now man, and he thanks
God that He troubled him and would
not let him pass his first lie without re-
pentance.- Christian Union.
One Of the hardest things to do now
adays is to believe in anything or any
body. There are very few men and wo-
men of mature growth who do not often
sigh for the faith of their childhood
days when they had implicit confidence
in all the world, its people and its prom
iSaS. Rut we no sooner cIlt OIlr wisdom.