The Little Worm-peddler.


WHEN I was coming down from the mountains

this summer, a little boy got on to the

stage with a box which seemed to be filled

with earth. "What have you there, my little

boy?" said I.

"Worms." "Worms! What are you going

to do with them?" "Sell them. Two for a

cent. The fishermen can't get them in the

lower part of the mountains, and so I go up

the valley here and dig them, and bring them

down and sell them."

"But how do you pay for such a long

stage ride?" "I don't pay, I shine; I

shines his boots," pointing to the driver.

"So you have an occupation besides peddling

worms." "Yes, that is the way I get my

living. I have fifteen dollars already laid up,

and it's only the beginning of the season."

"You're a smart boy," I said. "But is

this all you are going to do?'' "No, indeed.

I go to school over in Vermont during the

winter pay two dollars a week for board."

"So you have no home then?" "No." "No

father?" "No." "No mother?" No! Nobody.

I make my own way, and one of these

days I'm going to college." "To college!

To what college?" "Amherst. That is a

good one, isn't it?" "Yes, one of the best

in the country; but you wont ever go there."

"You'll see."

My little friend was certainly determined to

do something in the world, and was in this

respect a good example to those who are

blessed with more privileges, with friends, and

the advantages of education. But where

there's a will there 's a way, and I have no

doubt if his purpose is good, his chance is as

good as anybody's. I could not help thinking

while I was talking, of many who, from just

the same circumstances in which he is placed,

have risen to the very highest positions in

wealth and influence. We can cite examples

familiar to us some who have made great

attainments for good, and some for evil.

After all, it does not make so much difference

where we start, as how we start whether

in the mountains of New England, or on the

plains of the West; for usefulness depends

upon what principles are the basis of action.

"My little friend, one more question before

we part: Do you go to church or Sabbath-school?"

"Yes, sir."

"And do you contribute to the support of

the church?"

"Yes, every Sunday put in a copper. Last

Sunday I put in a quarter."

He is going to be something not only, but

do something, do something for the church

and his fellow-man.

And I said, "God bless the little worm -peddler."





Child's World.


 Poor, But Rich! 

A poor blind woman in Paris put twenty-seven francs into a plate at a missionary meeting.

 

“You cannot afford so much,” said one.

 

“Yes, sir, I can,” she answered.

 

On being pressed to explain, she said: “I am blind, and I said to my fellow straw-workers, ‘How much money do you spend in a year for oil in your lamps when it is too dark to work nights?’ they replied, ‘Twenty-seven francs.’ So I found that I save so much in the year because I am blind and do not need a lamp, and I give it to shed light to the dark heathen lands.”

 

What a happy, thankful heart was that! What a rich poor woman! She might have added the misery of a complaining, selfish spirit to the misfortune of her blindness, but instead, she made the darkness itself light by cherishing a loving and thankful spirit; she lessened her own woes by seeking to relieve those of others. Such grace to me be given!




YI