“IN HONOR PREFERRING ONE ANOTHER."
MINNIE MARVIN paused in her morning lesson, and read the words softly over again. "I've heard mamma repeat them a great many times, but they never sounded just as they do now. 'In honor preferring one another;' then I must always be ready to yield my preferences to theirs, must never in anywise be selfish. Ah, how many times I have violated this rule!" She sat thoughtfully a few minutes, then drawing herself up resolutely, exclaimed, "I'll see how faithfully I can heed it today." She bowed her head reverently, and asked God to help her keep her resolution, for she had been taught to pray. Minnie Marvin had just reached her sixteenth year, a lively, amiable girl, but very impulsive, and a little thoughtless of others' comfort sometimes; yet her warm heart and genial disposition won her many friends, and Minnie was greatly loved, notwithstanding her faults.
The holidays were being spent with her cousin in the country, and happy days they, were, bringing many rare pleasures to the city girl.
When she entered the breakfast-room, and responded to the glad good mornings that greeted her, the light of a new purpose beamed in her eye, and her life seemed to possess a deeper meaning than ever before.
A delicate morsel of yesterday's dinner stood temptingly before her; it was a favorite dish, and by common consent had been given to her, as the honored guest. Now Minnie was very fond of this particular roast, but she looked at it hesitatingly, for she knew grandma was very fond of it too. She had no doubt here must be something fully as nice for grandma; but, remembering her text, she looked up timidly, and said,
"If you please, I would like grandma to have this." Her aunt looked at her with an approving smile; and when, an hour later, she saw the old lady eating her breakfast with an unusual satisfaction, and heard her say, "You are a good girl, Minnie, to remember your grandma—a good girl, just as your mother used to be," she felt much more than repaid for her little act of self-denial, and thought it a very pleasant thing to "prefer one another in honor."
The forenoon slipped quietly away, and all were so happy that Minnie had almost forgotten her resolution. But when, after dinner, she opened a new book to finish the reading of a story she had commenced that morning, she suddenly remembered how weary Mary looked when she left her a few minutes before. "She has been at work all the morning," thought Minnie, "while I have done almost nothing. I should so much like to finish my story," and she looked longingly at the book, "but that would not be preferring Mary to myself, so I believe I must go and help her." Minnie sprang up, and went out to the kitchen, where her plainer cousin was still busy at her work. There was a pleasant expression on her face, for she loved her work, but her step was heavy, and she only smiled wearily as Minnie entered. "I thought I would come and help you a little, Cousin Mary, if you will let me; you must be tired'!
"It is very kind of you," and Mary looked rested even while she spoke.
With Minnie's help, the work was soon finished, and she was bounding away with a light step to feast on her story-book, when grandma looked up from her tangled yarn with a perplexed face, and called, "Here, Minnie, your bright eyes are just what I want for a minute."
Now Minnie could not be displeased when her grandma asked her to do anything—of course she could not; but she was disappointed at this delay, and I am afraid she felt a little annoyed too. The tangled yarn proved a serious test of her patience, for the obstinate knots would not yield at first; but Minnie kept saying to herself, over and over, "In honor preferring one another—preferring one another," and the words seemed to be a charm; for her peace of mind came back, and in a few minutes the yarn was straightened out, and she wound it in triumph into a nice, smooth ball.
When the old lady looked at her kindly over the top of her glasses, and said, "Thank you, dear," as only a grandmother can say it, Minnie was very happy and replied earnestly, "I love to do anything for you, grandma."
The afternoon waned, and Minnie leaned closer into the window to catch the last rays of daylight. Little Willie sat at her feet, intent on the manufacture of a toy that she hald been helping him construct.
"Please, Cousin Minnie;" but Cousin Minnie was absorbed in her own affairs, and so she shut her ears to the pleading voice. "Please," broke in Willie again, "please will you show me how to fix this?"
"In honor preferring one another," suggested the silent Monitor within, and she turned from her reading with a start, like one suddenly aroused. "Yes, Willie, what is it?" Preferring another's happiness before her own, she found great pleasure, and little Willie went wild with delight over his new plaything.
Thus the day went down upon Minnie Marvin; and when she laid her head upon her pillow 'that night, it was with much sweeter satisfaction than she was wont to know.
"It is only in little things that l've denied myself today," she mused, "very little things; but I suppose our lives are mostly filled up with just such trifles, after all. Perhaps he who numbereth the hairs of our heads does not reckon these things so small either." And she thanked God for strength to obey even in that which seems to be least.
Ladies Repository