Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1903-06-20

were so big that | had TO get lauuer
TO climb them. Some of them were so
lig that after had climbed them l
found four or five BIRDS nests in the
same tree. Some Of them were so big
that my mother used to come out ON
lot DAYS and hang her hammock under
the branches and there do her sewing
and knitting
That answer is right, my boy. An
annie grows upon branch in an
orchard But where did those big
trees come from which produced the
apples? "Oh, do not know answers
the boy. 81 suppose they have always
been there. Why, mother said that
some of those apple trees were forty
or fifty years old. Some Of them were
as old as my grandfather and grand
mother. and they are awfully old.
Yes. my boy. you are right again.
Some apple trees live to be very, very
old. But those trees did not just grow.
Every tree had Il beginning. If you
cut open the apple which hold in my
hand YOU will find in the center of 1t
nm aDple core. Right in the center of
the apple core you will find little
brown seed. Now, children, if you
will take this apple seed and plant it
in the ground in the springtime that
seed will burst open and begin to grow.
The little roots of that seed will begin
10 grow down. \ little green shoot
like grass will begin to grow up. Then
the green grass will change after
awhile into stem. The stem will
change after awhile into tree trunk.
From that tree trunk will grow the
branches From the branches will
grow the leaves and the blossoms.
From the blossoms will afterward
grow the apples. The apple tree does
not come forth from nothing. The APP
pie tree first grows from the little seed
like that which hold in my hand.
Christ the Guide.
Now, little child's life can be COM
pared to a seed How? Because you
know seed does not grow unless it is
rightly planted in the right kind Of
ground Weeds will grow anywhere
without any care. So if the good seed
| spoke of just now does not get cared
for and looked after it will not grow.
but the bad seed will, and your lives
will become like weeds-good for moth
ing. Now, if you ask Jesus to look aft
er YOU and take charge of you, out of
your nature can grow the great trees
of Righteousness which will bear forth
good fruit if you will only let the roots
of your heart grow about the rock OF
Calvary, upon which once stood the
Saviour's cross. DO you not see, chill
dren. how important it is that you give
your life to Christ now if from your
little selves must come all that is good
or all that is bad?
Little children should come to Christ
soon. very soon. Their Christian IA
Tiers and mothers will not be able
much longer to shield them from the
evil temptations as they have been able
to do When my little boys and girls
were at home could do what pleased
with them. | could say Susan or
Gertrude" or Thomas De Witt or
"Frank"-for I have four children-"l
wish YOU would not associate with that
little boy you were with this morning.
And if one of my little girls should say,
"Why. papaT" l would answer: Il do
not think he is a nice little boy. heard
his mother. call to him today to come
into the house, and he answered,
won't come And when his mother
went after him he lay right down in the
street and began to kick and scream
and bite. Now, no good little boy Will
ever act like that, and | do not want
you to go with him."
But, children, though l may have
been able to guard and shield and pro
tect my little girl while she was at
home. there came a momentous day
when she went beyond my direct care
and guiding influence. That day first
came when we sent her to school 1t
was a sad time for the parental heart
when our Oldest child had to pack her
little schOolbooks and leave home.
Her mother took her up to great Big
room filled with little boys and girls
and left her there. In that school we
knew that there were bad girls as well
as good girls, bad boys as well as good
BOYS. and she had to sit there and as
sOciate to some extent with them all
Now. who is going to look after my
little girl when she goes TO meet TIE
foundations of school unless Christ
who loves little children, goes along
md takes her by the hand: Who is
going to tell her what to do when the
bad girl tells her to disobey her teach
er and whispers in her ear the naughty
story if Christ is not there? Her
mother cannot do it. Her father can
not do it. We are not there. Christ
only can be her guide and her shield.
Temptations of the Little Ones.
Some grown up people 90 not think
that little children have any big temp
tations. But | know that some Of the
greatest temptations we ever have in
life come TO us when we are young
very young l knew Of one little boy
who did not take Christ along with
him to school One day his playmates
were teasing him. Then, because he
did not have Christ with him, he lost
his temper and picked up a stone and
threw it at the boys, and lie hit an
eye of one of the boys and put it out
That little boy, who afterward grew
up to be a big man, had to 90 through
life with his eye blinded. l knew of
another little boy who, because he
did not have Christ with him, wanted
to frighten a playmate, as bad boys
sometimes do. He pushed him from a
bank into a river and the little boy
was drowned. | saw his poor little
body after it was taken out of the
water and | heard the broken hearted
mother wppning over it. | knew OF