The advocate., 1896-12-23

ever thought about tt--that to do good
thing 1t must be a great thing-or great
as the world counts it. He made them
see that this was a mistake and urged
them to think about it. That it was
time that they were doing something
worth while living for. They were big,
hearty, healthy fellows, and ought to
be ashamed to live just for the sake OF
living, with no aim or object in life
higher than husking bee or spelling
school frolic. That God might forget
them just as they were forgetting their
duty to Him and their neighbors. There
were fair possibilities for every one of
them, probably no very great ones; but
no one could tell that. Every one Of
them had it in his power, in his reach,
to do some good, and the quicker they
looked around and set about it the bet
ter and the more manly they would be.
He advised bit Of selfshness-that
their work of well-doing, their charity,
begin at home, emphatically at home
right inside their own foolish, unthink-
ing, careless hearts, and from this start
ing point work out and widen and
lengthen their field of usefulness and
Christian labor. They would find that
it would pay, and maybe in more ways
than one. He would suggest that they
get down to business without waiting.
And much more the schoolmaster said
one time and another, but mostly along
this line. There were many changes in
the social and moral life of Plunkett-
vile, and all were for the better. And
the changes are still going on. The be-
ginning was two years ago. There are
things that would be profitable to speak
of because of their suggestiveness in
the way of help to other Plunkettyllles'
but only one incident or experience will
be mentioned, and that dates back to
last Christmas, which with the school
master as prime leader, ably assisted oy
Jake and the Eaton boys, and half
dozen others, was rendered bit dra-
matte, and it will be many years before
this particular Christmas is forgotten
Uncle Sluman Able was right in his
conjecture that the boys on Sogger Run
bridge were "up to sumthin'." The peo'
ple were awakened at an unusually
early hour that day by the rumbllng OF
wagons over the hard, frozen ground,
and scattered through the village and
out into the country were dozen teams
hauling loads of something. One
stopped in front of the little millinery
Rhop over which little Miss Susie Prin-
die had presided for almost half cen
tury. She, like her bonnet, was out OF
Joint with the times; and even remote
and happy-go-lucky Plunkettville had
outgrown her fashions and the man
ner of her wares, and with old age cruel
ly asserting itself she was stranded IN
her little shop-poor, 80 very poor, and
with a. heart far oftener sad than cheer
full. With her dainty nightcap still tied
under her chin, she pulled the window
shade aside-iust little cautious mite
to see tub filled to its topmost hoop
being handed down from cord of hick-
orv wood cut surely for her stove, for
no other stove in the village was as
small as hers, and this, when piled up
neatly on her porch, was again crowned
with the wash day hamper. What little
Miss Prindle found under the white
linen tablecloth need not be told, but
kneeling by her old chintz-covered
rocking chair, the room warm and
cheerful with it's cracking, laughing
fire, and her table with both its leaves
spread to hold its bounties, she thanked
God. with her grateful tears falling on
the cushion, for the good friends who
had so kindly remembered her and