perhaps, if you had seen johnny starting for school on a certain thursday of which i mean to tell you, you would have thought that somebody was imposing on his good nature, for he carried in his book-strap a very large bundle, so large, that there was scarcely room enough left in the strap for his geography and arithmetic. but a glance at his face would have told you that he did not feel in the least “put upon,” for he looked very well satisfied, and ran back, when he reached the gate, to give his mother an extra kiss.
the bundle contained a great deal of sewing for a woman in whom mrs. leslie was interested, and it meant that johnny was to be trusted to go quite alone to this woman’s home, which was a long way from his own, and near the park. he was to go after school, and when he had done his errand, he was to be allowed to go to the park, and watch a base-ball match which was to take place that afternoon, until it should be time to come home to tea. and this was not all. by way of saving precious time, he was to take his dinner to school with him, and eat it at the noon recess, and there it was in tiny’s new straw basket—three sandwiches, two hard-boiled eggs, with a little paper of salt, a very large and a middling-sized piece of gingerbread, and a slice of yesterday’s “queen of puddings.”
“you’d better save a sandwich and the gingerbread to eat at the park,” said mrs. leslie, as she packed this delightful dinner, “you can wrap them in this nice piece of paper—see, it is that large brown envelope in which my handkerchiefs came—for it will not be best to take tiny’s basket with you, you might so easily lose it. you can leave it in your desk, and bring it home to-morrow. and be sure to ask somebody what time it is, as soon as the sun is down to the tops of the trees in the park—you can see them quite well from the base-ball ground, you know—and don’t stay later than half past five, dear.
“all right, mamma,” said johnny, cheerfully, “what a jolly dinner! i hope i shan’t be too hungry at twelve to save the cake and sandwich, but i don’t know!”
mrs. leslie laughed, but she made another sandwich, and cut another slice of cake, and perhaps it was the recollection of this generous deed which sent johnny back for one more kiss.
he had hard work to keep his thoughts where they belonged during school hours, but he succeeded pretty well, for he thought it would be “mean” not to behave at least as well as usual, with such a treat in prospect. he also succeeded in saving the cake and sandwich. “but i couldn’t have done it,” he thought, as he wrapped them in the nice brown envelope, ready for an immediate start, when school should be out, “if mamma hadn’t put in that last sandwich and piece of cake!”
some proverb maker has said that “chosen burdens are light,” and johnny certainly did not seem weighed down by his burden, as he hailed a horse car, and stepped gayly on board. when they came to the “up-grade” he felt like shaking hands with the patient extra horse, and telling him how many good thoughts he had caused. and then he resolved to be more on the lookout for chances to help the heavily-laden; perhaps he had kept too near home with his efforts; he would try to do more.
he did not put into words, in his mind, the feeling that he had so many things to make him happy, that he ought to hand some of his happiness on to less favored people, but it was some such feeling as this which prompted his resolve, and made him shyly offer his envelope-full of lunch to a very ragged and dirty little newsboy, who was being hustled out of the car by the conductor. it was accepted without the least shyness, and also without any very special thanks; but johnny, craning his neck backward as the car moved on, saw the delighted face of the little fellow, as he opened the envelope, and was more than satisfied. it set him thinking of taffy, and that was a thought which always filled his heart with a sort of quiet sunday happiness.
he found the house where he was to leave the bundle, without any trouble, and his knock was answered by the woman for whom it was intended. she was a gentle-faced, tired-looking little woman, and she held on one arm a sturdy baby-boy, who seemed trying to make himself heavier by kicking and struggling. she attempted to take the bundle with her free hand, but johnny held it fast, saying pleasantly,—
“if you’ll tell me where you want it put, mrs. waring, i’ll take it in for you.”
“oh, thank you,” she answered, “you’re very kind—right in here, please,” and she led the way to a room which would have been quite pretty and attractive, if it had been in order, but it was evident that master baby had had everything his own way, at least for the past few hours.
“i can’t keep things straight five minutes,” said his mother, wearily, “as fast as i get settled with my work at the machine, he’s into something, and i have to jump up and take it away from him. some of the kind ladies i sew for have given him nice playthings, but no—he just wants everything he can’t have, and he’s got so heavy, lately, that i can’t take him about with me as i did. there’s a parcel of work that i promised to take home this afternoon, and i don’t see how i’m going to do it, for the neighbor that offered to mind him had to leave home unexpectedly, and it isn’t safe to trust him for five minutes, let alone two hours!”
“maybe i could leave it on my way home,” said johnny, “where’s it to go?”
“you’re very kind,”—she said, gratefully, “but it’s quite the other way from your house, and besides, i’ve forgotten the number, though i know the house when i come to it. no, i’ll just have to wait till to-morrow, but i did want the money to-night.”
johnny stood irresolute for a minute or two; could he give up his chance to watch that game of base-ball? but was not this another chance? yes, he would do it!
“see here, mrs. waring,” he said, earnestly, “if it’s only to watch the little chap, and keep him out of mischief, i could do that, as well as anybody. he doesn’t seem afraid of me, and he has lots of things here to play with. you just go, and i’ll stay here till you come back—i suppose you’ll be back by five?”
“oh yes, easily,” she replied, “and i’d trust you with the baby quick enough, for there’s not many boys would offer, but i’m afraid your mother will worry about you if you stay so long. and besides, i’d hate to keep you in the house such a nice, bright afternoon.”
“mamma wouldn’t worry,” said johnny. “she doesn’t expect me home till tea time; and you needn’t mind keeping me in, just for once.”
there was a little more talk about it, and then mrs. waring consented to go, and johnny was left alone with the baby, whose name, as he had ascertained, was phil, and who seemed quite pleased with his new nurse. he was a good-natured, rollicking baby, and he pulled johnny about the room, talking in his own fashion, and trying one sort of mischief after another, looking up with roguish laughter as johnny gently stopped him. but at last his fat legs seemed to grow tired, and he subsided on the floor, where he actually remained quiet for five minutes, trying to make his wooden horse “eat” a large india-rubber ball. johnny found he was tired, too, and he sat down on the sofa, where, unfortunately, he had thrown his school books. he picked up his mental arithmetic.
“i’ll not study,” he said, as if he were answering some one, “but i just want to see if to-morrow’s lesson is hard.”
it began with,—
“if it takes four men three days to build five miles of stone wall, how much can one man build in a day?”
what a question! johnny’s forehead puckered, he grasped the book as if he would pinch the answer out, and gradually slipped down on the sofa, until he came near joining the baby on the floor. meanwhile, master phil, tired of feeding a horse who would not eat, began to wrestle with the table-cover, and a large bible, which lay near the edge of the table, fell to the floor with a bang, narrowly missing the baby’s head.
johnny sprang to his feet, thoroughly roused and frightened, for phil, startled by the crash, and also expecting the “naughty baby!” and little slap on his hands which always followed any unusual piece of mischief, burst into a roar, although he was quite unable to squeeze out a single tear.
but this johnny was too much alarmed to notice, and, picking up the offender as if he had been made of glass, the amateur nurse felt him very carefully all over, to find out if any bones were broken!
when he came to the little sinner’s ribs, phil made up his baby mind that he was being tickled instead of scolded, and roared again, but this time with laughter, in which johnny could not help joining, though he was provoked both with his interesting charge and himself.
“you little rascal!” he said, catching phil up, and rolling him on the sofa; “don’t you dare to wriggle off there till i straighten up the muss you’ve made—do you hear me?”
“phil vely good boy now!” saying which, the baby folded his fat hands together, and actually sat still until the table was restored to order.
johnny gave the whole of his mind to his business, after this, and when mrs. waring came back, she paused outside the window to look and listen, and she laughed as she had not laughed for many a day. for there was her “troublesome comfort,” on johnny’s back, shouting and shrieking with laughter, while johnny cantered up and down the room, rearing, bolting, plunging, and whinnying.
“i don’t know how to thank you enough, dear,” she said, gratefully, when she at last opened the door. “i’ve got my money, and bought all i shall need for three or four days, and the walk’s done me good, and you’ve given baby such a game of romps as he hasn’t had in a month of sundays. poor little soul, it goes to my heart to pen him up so, but how am i to help it? he’ll sleep like a top to-night, and so shall i. you tell your dear mother that i say she has a son to be proud of.”
johnny colored high with pleasure, and plans for missionary work among unplayed-with babies began to flock into his mind. he said nothing of them, however, remembering, just in time, one of his father’s rules,—
“never promise the smallest thing which you are not sure of being able to perform.”
so he only said, heartily,—
“i’m very glad if i’ve helped you, mrs. waring; he’s a jolly little chap, and it has really been good fun for both of us. but i ought to tell you—i began to study a little, when he seemed busy with his toys, and next thing i knew, he pulled off the table-cover and that large bible, and it wasn’t my doings that it didn’t smash him!”
“oh well, it didn’t! and a miss is as good as a mile,” said mrs. waring, cheerfully. she was so used to phil’s hair-breadth escapes, that this one did not seem worth mentioning.
but johnny went home, thinking at a great rate. learning lessons was not wrong, nobody could say that it was. but it seemed that a thing good in itself could be made wrong, by being allowed to get out of place.
“it’s like what mamma said about ‘watching,’” he thought; “it isn’t that we must not ever do anything besides, but we mustn’t let anything ‘come between.’ if that little scamp had gone to sleep, now, it would have been no harm at all to pull my chair up to the sofa, so that he couldn’t roll off, and study till he woke. but he didn’t go to sleep!”
he had almost forgotten the base-ball match, and his brief, but very sharp feeling of disappointment. the “reward” is sure; not praise and petting, not the giving back to you that which you have foregone, but “the answer of a good conscience,” the “peace which the world cannot give,” the fresh strength which comes with every victory, however small, and which may, by god’s grace, be wrested even from defeat, when defeat is made the stepping-stone to conquest.
