The Deaf Shoemaker. Barrett Philip

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      RUFUS TAYLOR

      Children, obey your parents in all things; for this is well-pleasing unto the Lord. – Bible.

      On an evening in July, 18–, as several youths, from twelve to eighteen years of age, were standing at the corner of a street in the little village of B – , Rufus Taylor, one of their companions, came up to them and said, “Come, boys, let’s go and take a cool bath – ’tis terribly warm.”

      Rufus had been positively forbidden by his parents to go bathing without their consent; but, thinking they would never know anything about it, he came up to the group of boys and made the preceding proposition.

      They all, with one consent, agreed to it, and soon were on their way to the bay.

      Arriving at their famous bathing spot, and undressing in a few moments, they soon plunged into the cooling water, and swam to an island, a few hundred yards distant.

      Rufus alone remained on the shore.

      He was afraid to attempt swimming such a long distance, as he had but recently learned to swim. But, collecting all his courage, he followed his comrades, and cried out that he would overtake them or be damned! What an awful word to proceed from the lips of a boy twelve years old! He had not swum more than fifty yards, when his strength failed, and he sank beneath the blue waves of the roaring ocean. Every effort was made by his friends to save him, but they were all in vain.

      Let his untimely end be a solemn warning to boys who are in the habit of disobeying their parents.

      May it teach a lesson, also, to those who indulge in the use of profane language. Rufus did not think that his damnation was so near at hand, when he uttered that awful curse.

      He was hurried into the presence of his Maker without one moment’s warning, and with the profane expression still lingering on his lips.

      Who can tell the unutterable anguish of his parents when the intelligence of the death of their only son – their disobedient boy – reached their ears? His father, on being told that his son was drowned, exclaimed, “Oh, my disobedient son! I told him not to go bathing without my consent. Would to God I had died for him!”

OBEDIENCE TO PARENTS

      “Let children that would fear the Lord,

      Hear what their teachers say;

      With reverence mark their parents’ word,

      And with delight obey.

      “Have you not heard what dreadful plagues

      Are threaten’d by the Lord

      To him that breaks his father’s laws,

      Or mocks his mother’s word?

      “What heavy guilt upon him lies!

      How cursed is his name!

      The ravens shall pick out his eyes,

      And eagles eat the same.

      “But those that worship God, and give

      Their parents honor due,

      Here on this earth they long shall live,

      And live hereafter too.”

      JAMES JONES;

      OR, THE LITTLE GAMBLER

      “Make us unguarded youth

      The objects of Thy care;

      Help us to choose the way of truth,

      And fly from every snare.”

      “What can be meant by ‘the little gambler?’ I never heard of a boy’s gambling in my life!” my little reader will, no doubt, exclaim. Though it may seem very strange, yet such things often occur. I will relate to you an incident that occurred in my school-boy days, which, perhaps, may bring to your recollection the fact that you have indulged in it yourself. Boys as well as men are frequently found to be gamblers, though, of course, on a much smaller scale.

      At the corner of a street in the city of – was a gaming house, kept by a boy not more than twelve years old. It was one of the most beautiful and pleasant places I ever saw, well calculated to entice within its polluted walls the heedless and inconsiderate youth. Here, after school hours, quite a number of boys were accustomed to assemble and spend their evenings.

      Passing near the above place one pleasant evening in May, I saw a youth, whom I shall call James Jones, who seemed to be intently engaged in the issue of a game. He was successful; and when he gathered up the “stakes,” a smile of exulting joy passed over his face. I saw nothing more of James till some eight years after the above occurrence. I was standing in the court-room one morning, when I heard the clerk read out a charge against James Jones for forcibly breaking into the trunk of a certain gentleman, and stealing therefrom the sum of $500.