Trust a Boy by Bishop Clark

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA · Sep 11, 1879

Trust a Boy.

By Bishop Clark

DURING the session of the Episcopal Convention in Boston, the Bishop of Louisiana, in crossing the common, met a boy whose face he fancied, and calling to him, asked if he had anything to do just then, to which he said, "No." "Are you a good boy?" The little fellow scratched his head, and replied: "I am not a very good boy; I cuss a little sometimes." That candid answer inspired the bishop with confidence, and he then said, after giving his name and address: "I want you to go to a certain place and bring a bundle to my hotel. There will be a charge of eight dollars; here is the money to pay it, and half a dollar which you will keep for doing the errand." On his return to the hotel the bishop's friends laughed at him for his credulity, telling him that he would never see the boy, or the bundle, or the money, again; but in half an hour the young chap returned, bringing the receipted bill for eight dollars and fifty cents, the bishop having made a slight mistake as to the amount that was due. "How did you manage to pay the extra half dollar?" he inquired. "I took the money you gave me for the job. I knew you would make it all right." And "all right" it was made, and I have no doubt that the confidence that was reposed in that boy because of his truthfulness will do him good as long as he lives.—Bishop Clark.