[Illustration:  “I will kneel down and pray first.”]

At last, to Fred’s cry, “Come, boy, come to bed,” I mustered courage to say, “I will kneel down and pray first; that is always my custom.”  “Pray?” said Fred, turning himself over on his pillow and saying no more.

His propriety of conduct made me ashamed.  Here I had long been afraid of him, and yet when he knew my wishes, he was quiet and left me to myself.  How thankful I was that duty and conscience triumphed.

That settled my future course.  It gave me strength for time to come.  I believe that the decision of the “Christian boy,” by God’s blessing, made me a Christian man; for in after years I was thrown amid trials and temptations which must have drawn me away from God and from virtue, had it not been for my settled habit of secret prayer.

Let every boy who has pious parents, read and think about this.  You have been trained in Christian duties and principles.  When you go from home, do not leave them behind.

Carry them with you, and stand by them; then, in weakness and temptation, by the help of God, they will stand by you.

Take your place like a man, on the side of your God and Saviour, of your mother’s God and Saviour, and of your father’s God.

It is by a failure to do this, that so many boys go astray, and grow up to be young men dishonoring their parents, without hope and without God in the world.

* * * * *

Ashamed of Jesus! that dear friend,
On whom my hopes of heaven depend? 
No; when I blush, be this my shame,
That I no more revere His name.

Ashamed of Jesus! yes, I may,
When I’ve no guilt to wash away,
No tears to wipe, no good to crave,
No fears to quell, no soul to save.

[Illustration:  “Herbert closed his book and began playing with some marbles.”]

THE USE OF LEARNING

“I am tired of going to school,” said Herbert Allen to William Wheeler, the boy who sat next to him.  “I don’t see any great use, for my part, in studying geometry, and navigation, and surveying, and mensuration, and the dozen other things that I am expected to learn.  They will never do me any good.  I am not going to get my living as a surveyor, or measurer, or sea captain.”

“How are you going to get your living, Herbert?” his young friend asked, in a quiet tone, as he looked up into his face.

“Why, I am going to learn a trade; or, at least, my father says that I am.”

“And so am I,” replied William; “and yet my father wishes me to learn everything that I can; for he says that it will all be useful some time or other in my life.”

“I’m sure I can’t see what use I am ever going to make, as a saddler, of algebra or surveying.”

“Still, if we can’t see it, Herbert, perhaps our fathers can, for they are older and wiser than we are.  And we ought to try to learn, simply because they wish us to, even if we do not see clearly the use in everything that we are expected to study.”