Thank You | AdventAI

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 18, 1907

“Thank You”

SEVERAL winters ago a woman was coming out from some public building when the heavy door swung back and made egress somewhat difficult. A little street urchin sprang to the rescue; and as he held open the door, she said, “Thank you,” and passed on.

“D’ye hear that?” said the boy to a companion.

“No; what?”

“Why, that lady said ‘Thank ye’ to the likes o’ me.”

Amused at the conversation, which she could not help overhearing, the lady turned round and said to the boy: “It always pays to be polite, my boy; remember that.”

Years passed away; and last December, when doing her Christmas shopping, this same lady received an exceptional courtesy from a clerk in Boston, whom she thanked.

“Pardon me, madam, but you gave me my first lesson in politeness a few years ago.”

The lady looked at him in amazement, while he related the little forgotten incident, and told her that that simple “Thank you” awakened his first ambition to be something in the world. He went the next morning and applied for a situation as office boy in the establishment where he was now an honored and trusted clerk.

Only two words, dropped into the treasury of a street conversation, but they yielded returns of a certain kind more satisfactory than investments, stocks, and bonds.—The Congregationalist.