Your ShelfYour Projects

FEARLESS AND HONEST

6%

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · May 10, 1905

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 31, No. 19.

Read the full edition

FEARLESS AND HONEST.

A SCOTCH lad arrived at Euston, the brightest, yet the loneliest, passenger by the London and North-western Company's Express. He was barely fourteen, had not a friend in London, and had only a sovereign in his pocket.
"Well, Sandy," said a fellow-passenger, who had befriended him during the journey from Glasgow, "don't you wish that you were safe now with your mother in Scotland?"
"No," said the boy, "I promised her when I left that I would be fearless and honest. I have her fortune to make as well as my own, and I must have good courage."
"Well, laddie, what can you do?" asked a kind voice behind him.
"I can be loyal and true to anybody who will give me something to do," was the quick response.
A well-known lawyer, whose experience with applicants for clerkships in his office had been unfavorable, was passing at the moment.
Sandy's fearless face caught his eye. The honest, manly ring in Sandy's voice touched his faithful Scotch heart.
"Tell me your story," he said, kindly.
It was soon told. Sandy's mother had been left a widow, with little money, and a child to bring up. She had worked for him as long as she could, but when her health failed, she had bought his ticket to London, and had given him what little money she could spare.
"Go, and make your fortune," she said. "Be fearless and honest, and don't forget your mother, who can not work for you any longer."
Having heard this story, the lawyer engaged Sandy as an office boy.
"I'll give you a chance," he said, "to show what there is in you. Write to your mother to-day that you have found a friend who will stand by you as long as you are fearless and honest."
Sandy became a favorite at once in the office. Many of the clients who entered the office paused to have a word with him.
He attended evening classes, and became an expert penman and accountant. He was rapidly promoted, until he was his patron's confidential clerk.
After sharing his earnings with his mother, he went to Scotland, and brought her back with him.
By and by he studied law, and, when he began to practise at the bar, his fearlessness commanded respect, and his honesty inspired confidence. Juries liked to hear him speak; they instinctively trusted him.
His mother had impressed her high courage and sincerity upon him. His success was mainly due to her.—Scottish American.