ONE OF GRANDMA'S STORIES.
GRANDMA STRINGHAM was an old lady who lived in the house just beyond the grist-mill, — a silver haired, kindly-faced old lady, grandmother to all the neighbor-hood. She lived all alone with her son, a sturdy and thrifty young farmer. The children dearly loved to spend a day at her cozy little home, either listening to the tales of grandma's early days, or watching from the broken stone fence the water dripping from the old mill-wheel, or the minnows darting in the brook below.
Sometimes grandma would bring her knitting out under the trees with them, or would read them some story of the brave deeds of Bible heroes.
Mary and Frank never tired of listening to these tales; but today she did not tell them about the wars of the Israelites, but about a little boy. Grandma did not tell them what his name was, but said that they might see, when she finished, if they could not tell themselves.
"This little boy," said grandma, "had no brother or sister. His mother thought a great deal of him, and no doubt wanted him to grow up to be a good and useful man; for she took him, when he was very small, to live with a good old minister.
"Every year she used to go to see him, and carry him a new suit of clothes. I think he must have been very glad to see his kind mother, and pleased to wear the clothes she had taken so much pains to make. He was good to the minister who took care of him, and was always ready to come when he called.
"One night, when he was sleeping quietly, he thought he heard the old minister calling him.
He did not lie still and say,— "'I wonder what he wants to call me up in the night for; why can't he let me sleep! '
"But he started right off to ask the minister
what he wanted.
"'My son, I did not call you,' said the old man;
'go and lie down again."
"By and by he heard the same call again; and after a while he heard it a third time. Each time he went to see what was wanted. The minister at last said,—
"'It is the Lord calling to you, my son; and,
when, you hear the voice again, say, " Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth." '
"So the boy did as he was bidden; and the
Lord told him, that both the old minister's sons should die in one day, because he had not brought them tip to fear the Lord
"This made the lad feel very sorry, because he did not want to hurt the good man's feelings by telling him what the Lord had said about these wicked young men. But when he was asked in the morning what the Lord had said to him, he fearlessly told it all to the minister, and hid not a thing."
"Did these young men die?" Frank anxiously asked.
"Yes;" said grandma, "it all happened just as God had said; and one day when they were fighting with their enemies in battle, they were both slain. And the old minister felt so bad when he heard about it, that he fell over backward from his seat, and broke his neck, and died."
“After that," she continued, "this little boy,
who had by this time grown to be a man, took the old minister's place, and told
the people that came to him with their
troubles, what the Lord wanted them to do;
and sometimes he preached to them."
Frank and Mary thought they had never heard a story half so nice, and they wondered who the little boy could be, for they were sure that they had never heard of him before.
Grandma wouldn't tell them what his name was, but said that they might ask their mother about him when they got home; and next time when they came to see her, they might see how much they could tell her about him.
w. E. L.