That’s How




WHAT THE SNOWFLAKES DID.


OVER the great broad prairie

The snowflakes, soft and light, 

Began in early morning

To carpet the ground with white. 

Softly they flutter downward,

And some of them paused to rest 

On two little threads of iron,

That tie the East to the West.

But one little snowflake whispered,

"Alas! How small am I! 

On this cold, hard bed of iron

What can I do but die?" 

Her sister snow-flake answered,

"Yes, I know that we are small, 

But that needn't worry you, sister,

We've nothing to do but fall!"

Then every listening snowflake

Went steadily on and on 

Falling and falling and falling,

Till the wintry day was gone 

And then, why the rails were hidden,

And everywhere the eye 

Saw only the spotless snowdrifts

Under the cold gray sky.

In vain the panting engine

With snort and scream, essayed 

To pass, the tiny snowflakes

A giant barrier made! 

Came hurrying men and engines,

While frantic whistle blew, 

Till at last eight "iron horses"

The train in safety drew!

Now if every little snowflake

Had paused that stormy day, 

To muse and sigh despondent 

To melt upon its way 

They never could have wrought the chain

That link by link they threw 

Around that monster engine,

And held it captive too.

This story of the snowflakes

Is more than idle verse 

It points you to a moral

Which I need scarce rehearse: 

That any thought, word, action,

However light and small, 

May aid you in your heavenward way,

Or bind you here in thrall.



"THAT'S HOW." 

DON, a little fellow after a great snowstorm, began to shovel a path through a large snow bank before his grandmother's door. He had nothing but a small shovel to work with. 

"How do you expect to get through that drift?" asked a gentleman who was just then passing by.

"By keeping at it," said the boy, cheerfully. "That's how." 

That is the secret of mastering almost every difficulty under the sun. If a hard task is before you, stick to it. Do not keep thinking how large or how hard it is; but go at it, and little by little it will grow smaller until it is done.

If a hard lesson is to be learned, do not spend a moment in fretting; do not lose breath in saying, "I can't, "or" I don't see how; "but go at it and keep at it steady. 

That is the only way to conquer it.  If a fault is to be cured or a bad habit broken up, it cannot be done by merely being sorry, or only crying a little. You must keep fighting until it is got rid of.

If you have entered your Master's service and are trying to be good, you will sometimes find hills of difficulty in the way. 

Things will often look discouraging, and you will not seem to make any progress at all; but keep at it. Never forget. "That's how."  




LITTLE hands can work with meekness, 

Smallest things may please the Lord;

Little feet can run with fleetness, 

Errands must be done for God.