The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1891, Page 3

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The Lutheran Pioneer. 3

The Wrong Turning. and stockings are in; and the skirt of your
jacket is almost off! What have you been
about?” In a village near Warsaw there lived a pious

I then told my father the whole of my mis-} peasant, by the name of Dobry. Without any
haps just as they had occurred to me; how the] fault of his own he had fallen into arrear with
gate had flung me into the mud; how the dog} his rent, and the landlord determined to turn
had attacked me; and howI tore my jacket,| him out. It was winter and evening, and the
cut my finger, and lost my pocket knife; and} next day he was to be turned out with all his
I acknowledged that all had been brought about | family. As they sat in their sorrow, Dobry
by my foolishly taking the wrong turning. knelt down in their midst and they sang that

“Ah! my lad,” said my father, ‘‘you are not} sweet old Lutheran hymn:
the first by a great many who suffered by neg-
lecting their father’s directions, and by taking
the wrong turning.”

All of us who live in the world, said uncle
Brown, are travelers to eternity. Our heavenly
Father wants us to reach heaven by faith in
Jesus, the Saviour of sinners. In the Bible He
has given us the plainest directions that we
may not lose our road. Those who attend to
these directions find their way; but woe be to
them who neglect them. When traveling
heavenward it is a sad thing to take a wrong
turning.

God’s Care.

On the last evening of the year, old uncle
Brown sat with some friends, speaking about
the rapid flight of time and about the im-
portance of keeping on the straight road to
heaven and avoiding every wrong turning.
This reminds me of a story, said uncle Brown.
When I was a boy—but that is a long time
ago, for many a crop of corn has been gathered
into the garner and many a fall of snow has
covered the hills and valleys since then; ay,
and many a friend and companion has been
carried to the cold grave—but, as I said, when
I was boy my father sent me to a farm-house
a few miles in the country. ‘You must go,”
said he, ‘“‘straight along the turn-pike road till
you come to the second milestone, and then,
passing the big house with the rookery in the
elmtrees, you must take the first turning to the
right, which will lead you to farmer Gilbert's
house; but mind, whatever you do, be sure
that you do not take the wrong turning.”

Boy-like, I was so pleased with the prospect
of a pleasant walk into the country, that I did
not’attend so carefully as I ought to have done
to the directions which my father gave me, so
that when I passed the second milestone and
passed the big house with the rookery in the
elmtrees, I could not at all remember whether
I was to take the first turn to the right hand
or to the left. After puzzling for some time I
made up my mind to go to the left. I did so,
and thereby took the wrong turning.

Well, on I went, as I thought, for farmer
Gilbert’s till the lane got very narrow and the
road very dirty. At one part there was a gate
across it, and in getting over the gate I did not
see that the bottom hinge was off it; no sooner
had I mounted the gate than it swung on one
side and flung me into the mud, and a fine dirty
state I wasin. A dog came growling out of a
cottage by the roadside; to get rid of the dog
I climbed over a hedge, and in my haste almost
tore off the skirt of my jacket. With the in-
tention of defending myself from the dog when
I should return, I pulled out my pocket-knife
to cut a stick; but in doing this I cut my
finger, and dropped my knife into the ditch,
and could not find it again. After all my mis-
fortunes no farmer Gilbert could I find. At
last I asked a man who was working in a field
to tell me the nearest way to farmer Gilbert's,
mentioning at the same time which way I had
come. ‘I do not wonder,” said the man, “at
your being puzzled; why, my lad, you have
taken the wrong turning. ‘

I soon set off back again, blaming myself for
not having paid more attention to the direc-
tions of my father. I found no further difficulty
in my way to farmer Gilbert’s, and having
done my errand, I returned home, heartily re-| often saved me from sinking: ‘As thy days,
penting my error in taking the wrong turning. | so shall thy strength be.:””

No sooner did my father see me than he be-} ‘There came many times in her after life
gan thus: ‘Why, Robert, where have you|when Mary remembered that day’s lesson, and
been? ‘You have been long enough to do the} it brought cheer and peace to her soul.
errand twice over; what a pickle your shoes Juvenile Instructor.

“Commit thou all thy griefs
And ways into His hands,
To His sure truth and tender care,
Who earth and heaven commands;
Who points the clouds their course,
Whom winds and seas obey,
He shall direct thy wandering feet,
And shall prepare thy way.’’
Just as they came to the lines,
“When Thou arisest, Lord,
What shall Thy work withstand?
When all Thy children want Thou giv’st,
Who, who shall stay Thy hand?”
there was a knock at the door. It was an.old
friend, a raven, that Dobry’s grandfather had
taken out of the nest, and tamed, and then set
at liberty. Dobry opened the window: the

A little girl was sent on an errand one day| raven hopped in, and in his bill there was a
to the neighboring village. Her path lay| ring, set with precious stones.
through beautiful fields. On her way she had] Dobry thought he would sell the ring; but
to cross a wide but shallow stream, The| he thought again that he would take and show
bridge was a long way off, but there were firm, | it to his minister, and the minister, who saw at
tried stepping-stones all the way over. once by the crest that it belonged to King

“Qh, I’m afraid!’’ said the child to a lady | Stanislaus, took it to the king and told him the
who was passing. story. The king sent for Dobry and rewarded

“But you see the stones, my child; they go| him so that he was no more in need, and the.
all the way across.”” : next year built him a new house and gave him

“The water is so wide!”? she said tearfully, | cattle from his own herd; and over the house-
looking across the stream. door there is an iron tablet, and on the tablet

‘““Yes; but it is very shallow. See how| is engraved a raven with a ring in his beak, and
easily I can cross it.” So carefully picking her underneath the following lines from that sweet
way, she went quite over and then returned. hymn:

Very timidly the little girl began to cross. “Thou everywhere hast sway,

“Just one step at a time is all you have to ane OP CARTS GENO 487 AA
- -- = y every act pure blessing is,
take,’’ said her kind guide. Thy path unsullied light!”
’ So one step followed another—the first few ;
were the hardest to take—and soon she was
safe on the other shore, smiling at her fears.

“Jt is not-so hard, after all,’ she said, look-
ing back on the watery way. ‘“‘Just one step
at a time brought us over.”

“Remember this walk, dear, when you have
other hard things to do. Go forward and the
way will look easier and easier. When troubles
come—as they are almost sure to do in this
world—don’t look at the waters before you, but
at the stepping-stones Jesus‘places for your feet.
The thing that we feared’ very often does not
come upon us, or if it does, Jesus sends such
comfort as we never could have imagined.
Here is a strong, firm stepping-stone that has

The Stepping-Stones.

Thy Will be Done.

‘““What would you do, if I in the coming
year would become blind?”’ cried grandmother, *
rubbing her eyes.

Pl tell you what to do, grandmother,’’ said
Jessie, jumping up from her Christmas play-
things.

“What?” asked grandma.

*¢Go, and tell Jesus,’’ said Jessie; ‘‘that is
what I would do.”

‘Perhaps He would not cure me,’’ said grand-
mother.

“Then He would help you to say, ‘Thy will
be done,’ and then you would not mind it,
grandma,” said the sweet little girl.

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Tue Bible speaks to man in every condition

and walk in life, from the holiest saint to the
most hardened sinner. &