Every-Day Boys Follow the Leader
ONE day a poor old woman drove into town in a rickety spring wagon. She tied her horse to a post near the schoolhouse. It was about as bad looking an old horse as you ever saw. The woman hobbled away, with feeble steps, to sell a few eggs which she had in a basket. Just as she was out of sight the bell rang for the noon hour, and a crowd of jolly, noisy boys rushed out of the schoolhouse. The air in a moment was full of their shouts and laughter. "Halloo! See that horse!" "Ho! ho! ho! Who ever saw such a looking old thing!" "You can count all his ribs." "He looks as if he hadn't spirit enough to hold his head up." "Looks half starved. Say, bony, is there enough of you left to scare?" Two or three boys squealed in the ears of the horse and gave him small pokes; others jumped before him to try to frighten him. "Let's lead him 'round to the back of the building and tie him there, so that when the folks he belongs to come they'll think he's run away." "Say, boys," put in one boy, who loved all animals, "there's no fun in tormenting such a poor fellow. He does look half starved—yes, more than half, I should say. And we all know it isn't good to feel that way, since the day we got lost in the woods nutting." The boys stopped their teasing and began to look at the horse with different eyes, while one of them brushed the flies off him. "Let's tie him under that tree," proposed a second; "the sun's too hot here." "Look here, boys, I wish we could give him something to eat while he's standing." "A real bang-up good dinner, such as he hasn't had for a century, by the looks of him!" "Let's do it. I've got a nickel." "I'll give another nickel if you'll come over to my father's feed store." More cents came in. The man at the feed store contributed a nearly worn-out bag, and in a few moments the poor old horse was enjoying a good meal of oats.15By the time he had finished it the old woman came back, her basket filled with groceries, for which she had exchanged her eggs. The chord of sympathy and kindness, once touched in the careless yet well-meaning hearts, continued to vibrate. We all know how one taste of a kind act makes us long to taste more. "I'll lift your basket in," said one respectfully. "See, here's a lot of oats left. We'll put 'em in the wagon." "She looks pretty nearly as starved as the horse," came in a suggestive whisper. A few small contributions from lunch baskets were hastily wrapped in a piece of paper and laid on top of the basket. The old woman was helped in as if she had been a queen. And every boy's heart glowed while the quavering voice and dim eyes bore a burden of warm thanks as she drove away. Those were every-day schoolboys. There are millions and millions like them, only they do not quite realize what a spirit of loving-kindness dwells in their hearts. Let it out, boys and girls; for it is you who are to lift this whole world into an atmosphere higher, sweeter, and brighter than it has before known.—Humane Press Bureau.