Never Hunch



CHILD'S MEDITATION.



How sweet to lay my little head,

At night, upon my quiet bed,

And feel assured that all day long,

I have not knowingly done wrong.

How sweet to hear my mother say,

"You have been very good today."

How sweet to see my father's joy,

When he can say, "my dear good boy."

How sweet to think the God I love,

"Who made the shining worlds above,

My pure and happy heart can see,

And loves a little child like me. 


M. BOYER.




"Never Hunch when Others Crowd."

One very warm afternoon in July, I visited a

school in Boston. There were about sixty 

childrenfrom four to eight years old. The school

room was small, and the children looked much 

oppressed by the heat, especially the youngest. 

I stood up before them and asked. " Children, 

What can you tell me what peace children will

 do?" 

One said. ''Love your enemies." another, "

 Forgive your enemies:" another. ' When others 

strike one cheek, turn the other;" another, 

"Overcome evil with good."

All these were good answers. At length a little

girl whom I had observed on the middle of a

seat directly before me, looking very 

uncomfortable (being so crowded that she could

 not move her elbows.) looked up, and in a most

 piteous and  plaintive tone, said: When the 

children are crowded,,  don't hunch when others

 do!

That was the very thing! The little crowded

suffering child, gave the best definition to peace

 I ever heard. She gave a sure and certain 

antidote to all anger and fighting. "Never hunch

 when others crowd." And she drew it directly 

from her own personal experience She said what

 she felt. 

That makes it all the better. There the little

girl was crowded up her arms squeezed  by

her side, she could hardly move or breathe,

yet there was no anger, no quarreling, simply be-

cause she did not hunch."    Let all children act

 upon this maxim and never!   

hunch when others crowd, and it would be 

impossible to get them into a fight. When other

 children get angry at you, pinch, strike, or kick

 you, destroy your things, try to provoke you by

 calling you names, or in any way crowd upon 

you, and try to injure you. Do not "hunch" that is,

 do not return anger for anger, and evil for evil;

 but affectionately and lovingly suffer the wrong

 and it will be impossible to fight and war among

 themselves.

Others will take care how they crowd upon

you. This is the way that Jesus did.

How few children act as this sweet-tempered,

lovely child did. They are selfish, and want to

have all the best things for themselves, and are

not willing that others should be more 

comfortable than they are. This is the reason

 there is so much quarreling among children. 

They do not love each other as well as they do

 themselves. But selfishness always makes them

 unhappy. If this little girl had "hunched" and 

crowded the other children, it would not have

 done any good, for they would have crowded

 back again worse, and perhaps have struck her,

 so she would have been warmer and more 

uncomfortable than before. 






 YI