The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1891-12-23
Selected storm.
A Y's Experiment.

faces of her Sunday-school class with
unusual feelings of anxiety and earnest
ness. The day before she had joined
the We, and the white ribbon had been
pinned on her dress with special words
of exhortation to remember her inhu-
ence over young men. Clara's thoughts
instantly reverted to this class of youths
just verging on manhood. She re-
called the fact that the brightest, hand
soonest and most mischievous of the
lot was boy with good heart but
whose home training had not been such
as to develop character. His mother
was fretful invalid, into whose room
he seldom ventured, as he always
made her head ache" His father,
lawyer, stern, tyrannical man, had his
Office at his residence, that he might in
some degree by his presence supply the
place of his wife in oversight of domes-
tic affairs. Tyranny and fauli-fndiDg
did not make home attractive TO Hal
Forrest, and Clara had of late heard
rumors of his growing wildness. She
herself had seen him, with cigarette
in his mouth, suspiciously near saloon.
On this Sabbath day the hour devoted
to the lesson was also filed with prayer
for special guidance; and a thought
came to her which she believed to be
an answer to her petition. OBTAINING
Hal moment at the close of Sunday
school, she sa d, " Have you mission
airy spirit to-day, Ha ~
Hal was very fond of his teacher,
and, recognizing from her tone that
she wished to prefer request, has
tened to assure her that he was ready
for any mission in her service.
Hrn ,nxtt, hn
said;" and have been wondering if
my books and pictures. They are very
precious things to me; but L think
can trust you to handle them"
can come to- morrow after school,"
said Hal, flushing with pride at the im-
piled compliment.
How shall we go to work." asked
Miss Elwood, as they stood the next
afternoon looking at The boxes of books
and the empty shelves upon which
they were to be placed. ." want to
arrange them according to topics
history, science, biography and poetry.
If you will bring the books to me, will
put them on the shelves. | am very
proud of my books" she continued;
"f for they show what company l keep
Pm not particular as to their dress; but
they must bring me noble thoughts.
am not ashamed when one looks into
my bookcase, and sees that am on in
innate terms of companionship with
TennysoD, Browning, Longfellow and
Shakespeare"
&c don't care much for poetry" said
Hal. ~ like something that has some
get up to ito
You'd like COoper's and Scott's nov
els, am sure. And think you'd like
Macaulay's ballads. Listen to this"
And she read him " Horatius at the
Bridge" which, strange to say, he had
never heard.
"That's tiptop," said Hal. CT
wouldn't mind re ading poetry if it was
like that; but it's usually so tame"
"Do you like Dickens?" asked Clara.
Hal shook his head. 4" never can
find any fun in it,"
Miss Elwood opened Pickwick Pa
pers," and read Mr.. Wrinkles adven-
ture with the horse, at which Hal laughed
heartily.
"There's fun in it when you read it.
Show me another funny piece"
Clara did not want the task of ar
ranging the books to end too soon, so a
good deal of time was spent in introduce
ing Hal to several authors of whom he
had as yet known nothing but the name.
Really" she said, as the twilight
approached, "we've not accomplished
very much, have we?"
We'll, / don't know" said Hal. 81
haven't done so very much work; but
have learned good deal, and III come
tomorrow afternoon, if you can wait"
" Oh, there's no hurry" said Clara,
so that we get through by Saturday
evening""
Clara's theory in regard to influencing
boys was not to apply coercion in the
direction you wish them to take, nor to
lure them on with rewards and prom
ises, but to show them that Wisdom's
ways are, in truth, ways Of pleasant
ness, and to arouse in them, if
possible, both the desire and pur-
pose to walk therein. Hal Forrest
had no idea that his teac her was " catch
ing him with guile -; and, while he
could not have been induced to look
into book in which he suspected
sermon to be hidden, Miss Elwood's
tactful ways aroused in him wish to
read many books which she believed
would awaken the latent manliness
which she felt was a part of his true
nature.
When the last box was reached, Clara
said, "These are all miscellaneous,
and you can arrange them on the upper
shelves as you please" AS he neared
the bottom of the box, Hal found
some suspicious-lookng, paper
books, bearing tragic titles, as Ralph
Reynolds, the Red-headed Ranger of
the Rockies" etc.
He glanced to see Miss Elwood look
ing at him with a smile that was
childlike and bland" and that
aroused in him no suspicion that he had
reached the critical moment when she
was about to spring her " trap" upon
him.
DO you read these?" he asked, with
an incredulous emphasis.
"Those9" she replied, sitting down
10 &C Lot n