TALKS TO LITTLE FOLKS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1201, 8 March 1895, Page 31

TALKS TO LITTLE FOLKS.

By Rev. William Birch, D.D. . CHARLIE WE YD ON’S TARGET. Little Charlie Weydon received a present of a bow and several arrows, the bow being several inches taller than himself:: For a while, with great delight, he aimed at the sky, or anywhere, and before long grew weary. Seeing he was tired of the new toy, I tried to do him a good turn by pushing my stick into the ground and fixing my silk hat on the top, saying, “There, Charlie, is your target; aim at that.” Enthusiasm flushed his cheeks and shone in his eyes as he now made desperate efforts to aim straight. To show him how, I put my hand over his on the bow and the other over his fingers on the string, and when the arrow was let go, very nearly made an additional ventilator in the belltopper. After a while he struck the hat, and, overwhelmed with both sorrow and joy, shook my hand, looking compassionately at a big scratch on the hat. For many a day I carried tho mark of that well-aimed arrow. You see that Charlie’s enthusiasm arose and continued while he had something tangible to hit -and also some one else to watch him and to feel interested in the work.

Let me turn it into a parable: Your body is tho bow; your brain holds the bow, looks at the target and pulls the string; and you, your inner self, is the arrow. Now about the target! Boys, what kind of a man would you be ? Don’t you want to be generous, and brave, and pure ? Don’t you want to be an honour to your parents and a faithful servant of God ? Well, are you aiming to be that ? Girls, what kind of women do you mean to be ? Don’t you want to be pure as water from the crystal spring, so brave as to fear nothing except what is wrong, so loving as to be a gentle sunbeam in the home and like a sweet everlasting flower to your little world ? Well, are you aiming to be this ? Little folks, have you thought of the target ? At what are you aiming ? With this glass, named a lens, I can so concentrate the rays of the sun as to light a match or set the house on fire. Now, if you are to be sweet and brave, you must concentrate your energies in daily effort to aim to hit the target. And if at first you don’t succeed, “try, try, try again!” How much is seventy times seven ? (Voices) “ Four hundred and ninety !” Thank you. Well, you know our Lord said that we were to forgive one another seventy times seven, meaning, also, that we are to try four hundred and ninety times to hit the targ-et. A glorious target has been set before every one of us; it is to be like our heavenly Father. It seems impossible for

any one to come within a thousand miles of that target; but if we concentrate our energies, like Charlie Weydon, when after a good many tries he hit my hat, God will stand by us to show us how, and in due time give us power to do it. Jesus tells us to try to be like our Father, namely, to be pure in His sight, righteous in our conduct, and gracious and loving at home and abroad. Therefore try! If you fail sometimes, do not lose heart. Try again ! God has made your success certain if you keep on trying. Let your daily prayer be, “Heavenly Father, incline all my energies to Resolve to grow up braye and sweet.” In the thought that thousands of little folks may read this tale about Charlie Weydon hitting my hat, I also pray, “Heavenly Father, may every one of these little folks with life-long enthusiasm aim at being gentle and pure, brave and sweet/’ Dear little reader, you are the arrow; aim yourself at the target of being like Jesus. “ More fit for the kingdom, More used would I be; ,v More gracious and holy, More, Saviour, like Thee”