The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1897-04-10
JOHN WESLEY RARErOOTED.
tbs Way that Great Teacher HsbuksH
Vanity and Pride,

Vanity and Pride.
Margaret Holmes Bates. a trlllc more
than one hundred and llfIv Years since
John wesley, the founder OF Mctho-
dIsm organized SUNDAY school in
the town OF savannah, Ga. The rules
nf that SUNDAY school were different
from those that prevail nowadays The
children were compelled to attend cN-
cCptlng they were III, A lack of fine
clothing WAS no excuse, and 70 IL hap
pcncd that many OF the boys and girls
presented themselves iR their classes
without shoes or stockings. There arc
many sC,tles told OF the mothers Of
those days putting the children to bed
early on Saturday nights and then
wishing their clothes, 80 as TO be cloIn
on Sunday,
The cnlonists were. many Of them, too
poor to buy shoes, or even much cloth
ing of any kind. hut the climate In
Georgia IL mild. and II IL no hardship to
SO scantIly clad.
Human nature, however. az Il showed
Itself In John Wesiey's Sunday school,
was the same as II Is noN. The children
who could AFFORD shoes fell into the
habit OF saying dlsugrcclhlC thlnas to
ILt UuItlNNlNu lNAN NllAN khfHa " lANNl
Mr.. Wesley heard OF this (rom the par
| ents OF the children whose feet were
| bare aud whose pride was sensitive, he
Wondered for u while as 10 what course
ii would be wlscst 10 pursue FIRST h.
thought he ought to insist on all the
chlldrcu coming To the Sunday school
barcfooted.
Then he considered lecturinE the Of
fendorl fOundly on the sin Of vanity,
He did neither! but the next SUNDAY
what wNs the surprise of teachers and
pupils to SEQ Preacher Wesley walk
softly into their midst, with bare, clean,
white feet!
one can fancy that those who wore
shoes drew their feet far back under
the benches, and the harCrOoted onos.
conscious Of being In good company. sat
very straight, and looked satisfied and
happy
In the course OF the session Mr.. WeF-
Icy took occasion Ga speak 0f the fcn"-
fully and wonderfully made human
body; and. placing his foot on ron
vcnIent chair. he gave a list NJ the
bones, tcndOus, and joints. with murh
other anatomical knowledge. lie told
the school that no human being could
possibly make piece Of machinery rs
marvellous a. the human foot.
lif ltlildlNtl lNl AINlt ''AAN ~ go
clothing we had to wear was him
drance 10 our usefulness He called at
tention to the cmmsinrsS and uglincss
OF shoes and stockings. ~ compared
with the uatural fO0twith ito white ard
pink col1ling the blue VEINS showing
through. and each toe protected by a
beautiful transparent shell. that we
called nails,
Even the tan on the feet Of children
Of grown people who ran baretooted all
the time spoke ot the goodness and
Kindness OF the Creator. This tan was
made by the great sun and the soft,
OlOrGus winds,
The school thought this little lecture
very interesting and It had Il much
better cfrrct Than scolilng. The chill
dren learned = lesson w physiology,
while hcihg kindly rsbuked for the fol-
~ OF vanity II may be supposed too.
that later II life these boys AMI girls.
whcn finding themselves at disad-
vantage. tried To flnd out If there wds
not some compensation. even In what
seemed tU be real misfortunes.
In the regions whore John Wesley
FIRST laborcd there used 10 be MANY old
stories anoat. all proving how full OF
resource ne was, and what a great gen
crous smplc-mInded scholar and Chris
tiln he was, too.