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قراءة كتاب Anecdotes for Boys
تنويه: تعرض هنا نبذة من اول ١٠ صفحات فقط من الكتاب الالكتروني، لقراءة الكتاب كاملا اضغط على الزر “اشتر الآن"
money to buy one, I have none to spare. I have no more than will be absolutely necessary for my expenses home. I must go: but if I leave this woman without the means to procure the word of God, she may perish for lack of knowledge. What shall I do?” These passages of Scripture then came to his mind, “He that hath pity on the poor lendeth to the Lord.” “Cast thy bread upon the waters, for thou shalt find it after many days.” He said in his heart, “I will trust in the Lord.” He took a dollar from his purse, went back and gave it to the woman, telling her to buy a Bible with it. She promised to do so, and said she knew where one could be obtained.
The traveller set out, and when night came he took lodgings at a private house. He had a little change left, but as he had two days more to travel, he thought he would make his supper on a cold morsel, which he had with him. But, when the family came to the table, he was urged to take a seat with them, and invited to ask a blessing. He now began to feel himself among friends, and at liberty to speak of divine things; and the family seemed gratified in listening to his conversation. In the morning, he offered to pay for his lodging, but the people would take nothing. He travelled on, till late in the morning, when, finding no hotel, he stopped at a private house for breakfast. While waiting, he lost no time to recommend Christ to the family. When ready to depart, the mistress of the house would take nothing for his breakfast, or the oats, which his horse had eaten. And so he went on, asking for and receiving refreshment when he wanted it, and offering to pay for it, as any other traveller would do; but no one would take any thing, although they did not know but he had plenty of money. “What does this mean?” said he to himself. “I was never treated in this manner on a journey before.” He recollected the dollar he had given the poor woman, and the passage of Scripture, which induced him to do it, and said, “I have been well paid. It is indeed safe lending to the Lord.” On the second day after he left the cottage in the wilderness, he arrived safely at home, having been at no expense on the way. The Lord has the control of all events. The hearts of all men are in his hands. It was He who inclined the hearts of the people to be kind and hospitable to his servant, and to ask no pay for what they gave him.
About a year and a half after this, a stranger called at Mr. M.’s house, and asked for some refreshment. In the course of their conversation, Mr. M. asked the stranger whether the people in those parts where he lived paid much attention to religion.
“Not much,” he replied; “but in a town twenty or thirty miles distant, there has been a powerful revival. The commencement of it was very extraordinary. The first person that was awakened and brought to repentance, was a poor woman, who lived in a very retired place. She told her friends and neighbors that a stranger was driven into her house by a thunder storm, and talked to her so seriously, that she began, while listening to his discourse to feel concerned about her soul. The gentleman was much affected, when he found she had no Bible; and after he had left the house to go on his journey, returned again, and gave her a dollar to buy one; and charged her to get it soon, and read it diligently. She did so; and it had been the means, as she believed, of her salvation. The neighbors wondered at this; and it was the means of awakening them to a deep concern for the salvation of their souls. As many as thirty or forty are rejoicing in God their Savior.” Mr. M. who had listened to this narrative, with his heart swelling more and more with wonder, gratitude, and joy, could refrain no longer; but with hands and eyes raised to heaven, exclaimed, “My God, thou hast paid me again!”
When we lend to the Lord, he always pays us with “good measure, pressed down and running over.”
An Indian story.
In the early settlement of this country a strange Indian arrived at an inn in Litchfield, Connecticut, and asked for something to eat; at the same time saying that, as he had been unsuccessful in hunting, he had nothing to pay. The woman who kept the inn, not only refused his reasonable request, but called him hard names. But a man who sat by, seeing that the Indian was suffering for want of food, told her to give him what he wanted at his expense. When the Indian had finished his supper, he thanked the man, and assured him that he should be faithfully recompensed, whenever it was in his power.
Some years after this, the man had occasion to go from Litchfield to Albany, where he was taken prisoner by the Indians, and carried to Canada. Some of them proposed that he should be put to death; but an old woman demanded that he should be given to her, that she might adopt him in place of a son, who had been killed in the war. This was done, and he passed the winter in her family. The next summer, while he was at work alone in the woods, a strange Indian came and asked him to go to a certain place on a given day, which he agreed to do; though he had some fears that mischief was intended. His fears increased, and his promise was broken. But the Indian came again and renewed the request. The man made another engagement, and kept his word. On reaching the spot, he found the Indian provided with ammunition, two muskets, and two knapsacks. He was ordered to take one of each; which he did, and followed his conductor. In the day time, they shot the game that came in their way, and at night, they kindled a fire and slept by it. But the Indian observed a mysterious silence as to the object of their expedition. After travelling in this manner many days, they came to the top of a mountain, from which they saw a number of houses in the midst of a cultivated country. The Indian asked him if he knew the ground, and he eagerly answered, “It is Litchfield?” The Indian then recalled to his mind the scene at the inn, and bidding him farewell, exclaimed, “I am that Indian! Now I pray you go home.”
Example of Disinterested Benevolence.
A traveller in Asia Minor, in a time of distressing drought, found a vase of water under a little shed by the road-side, for the refreshment of the weary traveller. A man in the neighborhood was in the habit of bringing the water from a considerable distance, and filling the vase every morning, and then going to his work. He could have had no motive to do this, but a kind regard to the comfort of weary travellers, for he was never there to receive their thanks, much less their money. This was benevolence.
Section IV.—Manners.
politeness.