The Crooked-Stick Family.
By John Todd
I HAVE been told—though I cannot vouch for all the story—that a man was crossing a spur of the Green Mountains, in Vermont, when he heard a great thrashing and noise over the fence among the bushes. He dismounted from his horse, and carefully and cautiously looked over the fence, not knowing whether he would see a bear or some other animal, when he found that all the noise came from a stick that was so crooked it couldn't lie still! He rode off as fast as he could, lest in some of its whirls it should strike him! Now, there are many people who are just like this crooked stick, they can't be easy anywhere. Like the polywogs in the margin of a pond, they must keep wriggling. It is a sort of mental nervousness that makes them want to turn and change. How many children I have known who begin life in this way. They go awhile to the Sabbath-school. But they soon find something out of the way with the superintendent, or with their teachers, or the school-room, or their classmates. And then they must change, stay at home a while, and then you may find them in some other school. Every change increases the disease and the restlessness, till you give up all hope of their ever becoming stationary. They belong to “the crooked stick” family. You will find grown-up people, too, who belong to the same family. They roam from church to church, and perhaps from denomination to denomination. They can't find the right spot. There is hardly a church near or far off which they have not tried, and not one that suits them. The church where they are to-day places no reliance on them, for they very likely will be off to-morrow. They gain no foothold, and can do no good. They receive no good from the preacher, for I hold that no man can receive much good from any preacher, unless he has heard him at least six months, and become acquainted with “the hang” of his mind. The boy who said he could not “spell so well in the new school-house till he got the hang of the house,” was not so very far out of the way. A minister can't rely upon the good or bad opinion of a hearer, unless he has preached to him at least six months. Then there are Sabbath-school teachers who wander from school to school, and can find no easy spot. They find stupid scholars and careless, mischievous children everywhere. In one place they are not appreciated, and have a class given them that is too young, and in another they cannot keep their class together. In one school they are not taken notice of, in another they find things “not according to their mind.” I am sorry to say that I fear there are some ministers who belong to this “crooked stick” family. They are always rolling round; they hope to find the next field easier, the difficulties fewer, the trials lighter, and the aids greater. But everywhere work is work, human nature is stubborn, the heart is selfish, and indolence and parsimony are to be overcome. The burden on the shoulder is very heavy, and it seems as if it must be lighter if shifted to the other shoulder. But shifting do n't make it lighter. O uneasy one! get away from this family of “crooked sticks.” Go to work where you are to-day, and do the best you can. Make the best of everything and of everybody. You can receive good and do good in every position. If you are not in the right niche, work on faithfully and you will soon find your place. I once knew a gentleman who moved into a strange city, and on inquiring for a class in a Sabbath-school had the very lowest class of little boys given him. He quietly took it, and went faithfully to work. By degrees he came to be appreciated, and in two years he was the superintendent of that large school. There is always enough to do. No garden is so full that no more seed can be put in. If things are not pleasant to us, they bring a discipline that is valuable to us. The north star is more valuable to the world than any other, because the little fellow is always in his place, and the sailor knows just where to find him, and if he steers by this light he cannot go wrong. I am grieved to say that this “crooked stick” family is very numerous, but am in hope that when they come to know just how they appear to others, they will learn to straighten out and lie still.—Rev. John Todd, D. D.