A Right to Pray

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Oct 8, 1885

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 11, No. 38.

THOSE who have read that capital book, "Tom Brown at Rugby," will remember Tom's bravery when he kneeled down in the dormitory and said his prayers in the presence of the other boys. The Youth's Companion mentions a similar incident which occurred in a school near Boston. Two strangers who were assigned a room together spent the first day pleasantly in arranging their new quarters. When night came the younger boy modestly asked the other if he did not think it a good plan to close the day with reading the Bible and a prayer. His companion bluntly objected. Said the other, "I suppose you don't care if I pray by myself?" The older one retorted, "I don't want any praying in this room and I won't have it!" His mate rose slowly, walked to the middle of the room, and standing on a seam in the carpet, quietly remarked, "Half of this room is mine. I pay for it. You choose your half and I will take the other and pray in it, or get another room." The older boy was completely conquered by the true manliness which claimed as a right what had been boorishly denied as a privilege.—Sel.