WHICH? OR WHAT THE SUN SAW
By HELEN A. STEINHAUER
A BOY on a bicycle. Two old ladies standing talking to each other on an elevated sidewalk at the corner of two streets. The younger of the two, standing at the edge of the walk, was not far from sixty years of age. The other must have been older still, as her hair was snowy white; she stood directly in front of the boy, who evidently had no intention of stopping, as he rang his bell and rode ahead quite unconcerned that she neither saw nor heard him, for her back was toward him, and she was hard of hearing. Seeing this the younger lady said, pleasantly:— “Jump off, my boy; don't make old ladies get out of your way.” At this the elder lady started, and taking in the situation, stepped off the sidewalk into the road, while the boy rode on triumphantly, and passed her without swerving an inch from his course. Then a strange thing happened. The boy turned the corner, and when in the middle of the crossing, beyond dismounted, and facing the two old ladies, an ugly sneer disfiguring what might otherwise have been a comely countenance, exclaimed, with an offensive drawl:— “Old ladies! I guess old ladies ain't as great as they think they are!” and having thus freed his mind, remounted and rode off; leaving the astonished old ladies gazing at each other in mute amazement,—they having been brought up to regard such conduct much as the prophet Elisha might have done. (See 2 Kings 2: 23, 24.) A bright morning in June. Two boys seated on the side-porch of their rented home, heads close together in boyish confab. Presently one of them, glancing up saw an old lady of the neighborhood approaching,—probably on her way to church, as she had her hymn-book in one hand, while the other held her sun-umbrella. A pleased look flitted across the face of the younger boy (they seemed to be brothers) who nudged his companion in the side, and said in what was meant to be an undertone:— “Don't she look nice!” and then as she came nearer, removed his cap from his curly head, and sang out, boy-fashion, and with a beaming smile: “How d'y do?” The old lady smiled back and returned a cheery, “Good morning!” His salutation made the pleasantness of the day just that much more apparent to her; for old people who keep their hearts green never lose their loving appreciation of friendliness in the young. Altho no Jew this lad had unquestionably been reared in accordance with the Spirit inculcated in Lev. 19: 32 and Prov. 23: 22. Now, lads and lassies, I leave it to you to answer the question. Which was the gentleman, the rider of the bicycle, or the boy who doffed his cap?