Little foxes : stories for boys and girls

Preface

THE following short sermonettes or talks to girls and boys were given as the children's portion at the Sunday morning

services.

As a child at church, the author remembers sitting with pins and needles in his feet, which were somewhere between heaven and earth, while he wondered what the preacher was talking about. He determined if the job was ever his, not to neglect tiie little people.

These are some of his attempts to interest them, and are given out in print because some seemed to think them worth preserving.

If they are, and will help anybody, the author will be content and happy. It has been suggested that the chapters might be used as bedtime stories.

There are some little gems used which are anonymous or whose authors are unknown. The/ were used in the addresses and are passed on with apologies for not being able to acknowledge authorship.

E. A. H.

Toronto,

Introduction

Winnipeg, ph July, 1^22,

Rev. E. a. Henry, D. D., Deer Park Presbyterian Church, Toronto, Ont.

My dear Henry :

I have just looked into your " Little Foxes," and I am delighted to be able to say, with a clear conscience, that you have done a fine bit of work. The book is full of quaint philosophy, and it has the heart touch, too, that will give it wings.

It was a happy inspiration that made you use the vernacular of every-day boy and girl speech without descending to the vulgarity that so often mars the attempt to use vernacular English. The vernacular lends reality to your thought.

Then, too, I wish to congratulate you upon your admirable selection of illustration. Illustration in literature is a very fine art, and you have got the touch in your " Little Foxes." After all, that is the secret of interesting speech — the power of concreting ideas. A Congregation that will drowse or gape over the most logical argument will suddenly wake to alert attention in response to the phrases, " Once on a time," There was once a boy," " I knew a man."

You have done a real service to the children, but 7

INTRODUCTION you have also done a real service to Preachers. For many a Preacher who has been forced to confess himself a failure in the art of interesting children in sermons (And how terrible a failure is that!), after reading " Little Foxes," will take new heart because of the suggestions your book will bring.

I venture to say that hosts of people, especially little people and those who think little people worth while, will come to know and love Dr. Henry because of his " Little Foxes."

And so may " Little Foxes " run far and fast. Yours very truly,

Contents

I. Little Things . . , .11

II. It's No Matter " . , . .15

III. "I Don't Care" . • . .18

II "irS NO MATTER"

WHEN a girl or boy is slovenly, with tously head and dirty hands ; or washes the face and forgets the ears; or leaves a high water mark around the neck, and mother makes a remark on the way things look to her, the girl or boy says, " Oh, it's no matter." And first thing they know, a fox has bitten off a green leaf in their garden.

Or John makes a mistake and the teacher corrects it, and John says, " Oh, it's no matter/' Foolish John !

Say, boy, did you know an architect once made plans for a great building and when he went to work it out, nothing fitted, because away back in the beginning he made a mistake of one inch with his ruler, and it put the whole thing out of joint !

Or Mary, her mother's pride, did not put into her work quite enough time. She fooled over it, and played with it — and when the examination results came out, she failed. And when she saw her mother's sad face, she tried to comfort her by saying, " Oh, it's no matter! "

It seems so dreadful to see a man who has grown up to think things do not matter. His looks—" Oh, well, what's the odds how I look? "

16 "IT'S NO MATTEE"

Of course, it is only when he is married or else settled into a grouchy old bachelor he says this. If he is still looking forward — Huh! That makes a difference!

Some young fellows once were lounging about the street comer, when one of them saw a bright young girl coming down the street, and say! he went away so fast his companions wondered what had happened. Well, he did not want her to see him, for he felt it would matter very much for him if she saw his careless street life.

Or his clothes. — Sometimes you can almost tell what he had for dinner by the spots on his vest; and the whole thing started a long time earlier, when as a little boy he said, " It's no matter!

And it is just the same with the girl. She grows up with a faded character and lopsided gait, and looks as though what she wore had been thrown at her with a pitchfork and sort of lodged on her person.

Sometimes she is real clever and knows a lot, but oh, the pity! She did not think her appearance mattered, and there she is, so that people look at her when she passes, and laugh.

It is very much worse, though, to let that spirit get past your body and your clothes and your outer habits, into the inside of you.

For then, when people see you doing things and saying things you should not, — things that make people look at you — the old habit, started when

" IT'S NO MATTEE "

you were a girl or boy, comes out, and you think it does not matter.

But it does.

It matters whether you are loving or unloving. It matters whether you are kind or ugly in temper. It matters whether you are at the foot of the class or its head. It matters whether you are neat or just a disorderly heap. It matters whether you are a sunbeam or a shadow. It matters whether you are growing up straight or with a lean.

It makes a big difference.

Of course it matters, silly child !

If it didn't matter, God would never have given us so many lessons in nature and history and biography.

Nearly everything in God's great world is telling us that —

"Life is real.

Life is earnest."

And it has an end ; and it will be a poor end for her or for him who starts by saying, " It's no matter!"

There was a fellow once did that in a great Rugby game. He failed, and the team lost the match and the trophy.

A slip may seem small, but we can slip and fail, and do slovenly work once too often — and lose the game of life !

It does matter I It matters to God ! It matters to you, and it matters to all who love you !

Ill

" I DON^T CARE "

THAT is one of the worst of all foxes, with a very sharp tooth.

A horse lost a shoe once, and the owner did not care. And some one wrote this verse —

" For want of a shoe a horse was lost, For want of a horse a rider was lost, For want of a rider a battle was lost^ And all for want of a shoe."

When I was a student at Toronto University, there took place one February night the great fire that became a college date, and practically helped to end the life of President Sir Daniel Wilson, who saw the building of his life labour go up in smoke.

It was the great social night of the college year. There were no electric lights in those days, and lamps were used. The building was gaily decorated with evergreens and bunting.

A college servant came down the east stair with a tray of lamps, and making a careless step, he stumbled, and the blazing oil started a fire, which, fanned by the air pouring down the great win-

i8

"I DON'T OAEE''

dows, soon destroyed the great building. It all came from a careless step.

Just think of a tailor who goes around with his pants legs down over his heels and the edges all frayed, and a pair of dirty cuffs down over his wrists — what a poor advertisement for his trade and all because he does not care.

And you have a trade, too ! Your business is to show every other girl and boy what a girl and boy ought to be ; and if you don't care, then you can't show them anything except what they should not be. They should not be like you.

Or think of a girl or boy who is always making a mess of things.

They fail in school, and they grieve their parents, and they are no use to anybody. They get into trouble, and they get others into trouble. They miss the mark and are getting nowhere ; and worse than all, they blind their eyes and close their ears. They simply do not care !

A young fellow once went mountain climbing; and I think he thought he was pretty sure-footed. Anyhow, he would take no advice as to dangerous places or how to watch his step, and one careless moment he stepped into a great crack in the ice called a crevasse, and it was twenty years before they found his body, after the slowly moving glacier brought it down to the place where the warmer regions broke off the edges of the ice !

And life has a lot of danger spots too; and it needs care in the step, and to say you don't care may land you sometime in disaster.

In fact, if that spirit stays, I do not see how any one can escape disaster.

" I don't care! "—What does that mean?

It means you would just as soon be bad as good !

It means you would just as soon see things go wrong as right !

It means you would just as soon see things go down as up !

You think it makes no difference. But it does !

It means you shut your eyes and let things go !

Some great preacher tells of the wonders of the eyelids. They act so quickly and they can shut out so much if closed; — all the glory of the heavens; the wonders of the mountains and sea; the books of a library; the great world of people; — all shut out by closing the eyes !

You can shut your eyes if you like — and when you say, " I don't care ! " that is what you do. You shut your eyes.

If you keep them shut long enough, you will go blind!

You don't want to be blind, do you ? Then do not say, " I don't care ! " Instead of that, Care. Be careful — full of care !

IV Temper

^EMPER is a fine thing to have.

A horse without any temper nobody wants. A man without temper is no good.

Temper is a word worth study. It comes from a root that means to control and not let get away and run wild. It means to mix up in the right way so that there will not be too much of anything.

And so temper means to give a good form to, by having just enough of what makes that form.

And perhaps because heat is used to mould things and helps in mixing, temper sometimes means heat; and when that heat gets inside us it warms us. And that inside heat is good. A cold heart or mind will not do anything.

Temper is not bad.

We get a lot of good words from temper; like temperament — ^what your character is like; and temperature — the amount of heat in the air; and temperance — the amount of self-control you have.

Unfortunately, the heat gets often too hot. And then we are people of bad temper. And if

TEMPER you get too much of that, it leads to very serious trouble.

I went once to the gallows with a splendid-looking boy who did not mix things right, and got so much temper that he became a murderer !

Bad temper means lost control. To keep your temper is like riding a high mettled horse. — You have to keep firm hold of the bit.

When the present King George was Duke of York, he came to Western Canada, where I was a young minister. The people of Winnipeg gave him a great reception. The streets were lined, and flags and bunting made gay the city.

It was interesting to see the man who was to become the head later of the greatest empire in history. But I must confess there was a part of the procession that interested me more than even the Prince did.

It was his equerry. — ^The man who rode by his side on horseback. It was a wonderful sight. He was on the back of a magnificent black charger, with glossy flanks, and flowing mane and tail, and arching neck and prancing feet. Powerfully built, it seemed the ambition of the horse to hurl the driver from his back. The noise of the cheering and the bands added to his restlessness. He curved to this side and that ; stood up on his hind legs ; tossed his head between his feet ; danced and careered around until you would wonder how anybody could stay on his back.

TEMPEE

But that rider was a great horseman. He sat there as though he were part of the horse. With a firm hand and soothing voice, and a grip that kept the bit soHd in the mouth of his prancing charger, he danced up the street a splendid sight.

And I thought, what a fine illustration of a strong life he was.

The man who can sit on his fiery temper, and hold it in control.

The Bible says: "He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city."

I suppose every boy here would envy Foch as he swept back the tide and took trench after trench until he broke the Hindenburg line.

But when you hold the bridle firm on your temper you can be greater than Foch.

Only those who have been West have ever seen a " stampede " where the cowboys undertake to break a wild broncho, or to ride on the back of an untamed steer.

I saw one once at Calgary, where a plunging broncho brought his four feet together, and bucked his back, and lowered his head, and the cowboy was hardly on his back till he was off again, and the broncho wildly galloping down the dusty prairie.

But it was a thrilling sight when, without even reins, just one little piece of rope, the skillful fellow, with his knees dug deep into the broncho's

TEMPER side, mastered him, and came galloping up the track in triumph.

And it is just as fine a sight to see a girl or boy who can use this wonderful gift of temper, and never let it use them — who masters it and are never mastered by it.

Watch your temper, girls and boys. If it is kept under control it is a splendid gift If it is not, it may ruin you !

SELFISHNESS

Y, that is a nasty little fox! If it gets into your garden it will spoil it, sure as guns!

Not that you and I are to have no selves. That kind of a person is an empty, silly, shallow body. You want the biggest self you can get. And you need to care for yourself. For if you do not, you will have no self with which to care for any one else.

And you need a true self-love, for if you stop truly loving yourself, you will soon have nothing with which to love any one else.

But selfishness means you cannot see anybody else but yourself.

Selfishness means putting yourself in the centre and expecting everybody and everything to dance to your music.

A little boy said to his sister, " Mary, there would be more room for me on this sofa if one of us were to get off ! "

Was he not a selfish boy? Who would want to have that kind of child around — that expects the whole house to get out of his way so he could blow himself?

SELFISHNESS

Some one tells a story of the sweetness of the unselfish life of a little ragged bootblack, who sold his kit to get a quarter to pay for a notice in the paper of the death of his little brother. When the kind newspaper man asked if it was his little brother, with a quivering chin he said, " I had to sell my kit to do it, b-but he had his arms aroun' my neck when he d-died ! "

The news went round and that same day at evening, he found his kit on the doorstep, with a bunch of flowers bought with pennies by his chums, who were touched by his unselfish act.

There is something very attractive about a girl or boy who thinks of others and forgets self.

I have read of the wonderful St. Bernard dogs in the mountains of Switzerland.

There is a house called a hospice, 8,000 feet above sea level, where the monks live who keep the dogs to watch for lost travellers who may perish in the snow.

The dogs have baskets strapped on their backs, which contain food for lost men. They are trained so that they will find people and guide them to the place of safety.

The story that interested me was of an Englishman who wanted to see the dogs at work.

The monks told him that the best dog had been out for some time and they were becoming worried over his absence.

In a few moments, in the dog came, looking

SELFISHNESS completely discouraged. He seemed to have no spirit, although all his companions were barking and jumping around him. The old dog paid no attention, but went and lay down in a sort of hopeless way, without even wagging his tail — like all good dogs do that are pleased with themselves.

The explanation of the monks made me think.

They told the Englishman that that was the way the dog always acted whenever he had failed to help any traveller.

Just think, girls and boys, of the instinct of a well-trained dog — so deeply set on helping, that failure, even when he was not to blame for it, made him ashamed and sad !

Surely we will at least be equal to a trained St. Bernard.

Surely we should far surpass him, by voluntarily, of our own loving choice, seeking to help in a life of shining unselfishness.

I do not know any one who should be better able than a girl or boy to put into their lives the spirit of this little poem, whose author I do not know, but which I give to you :

LITTLE THINGS THAT CHEER

Just to bring to those who need

The little word of cheer; Just to lift the drooping head

And check the falling tear;

SELFISHNESS

Just to smooth a furrovi^ from

A tired brow a while ; Just to help dispel a cloud,

Just to bring a smile —

Oh, the kindly little deeds.

As on through life we go, How they bring the sunshine,

Only those who do them know.

Just to do the best we can,

As o'er Hfe's path each day.

We take our steady way ; Just to give a helping hand

Some weary weight to bear.

And lend a heart of sympathy

Some neighbour's grief to share — ^

Oh, those kindly little deeds, Our dear Lord notes each one.

And sheds His blessings o'er our way Toward life's setting sun.

VI Impurity

NCE m California I visited the beautiful gardens of San Francisco and saw a very lovely flower.

Its petals were white, and when you opened up the heart, away down at the very centre was a shape made by the base of the pistil that looked exactly like a dove. It was a flower with a white dove at its heart. They called it the Holy Ghost plant of South America.

It is a fine thing when a girl or boy carries within them a white heart !

There is no sin that leaves a worse stain than the sin of impurity.

It comes by unclean thoughts and words and deeds ; and when it comes, it is next to impossible to wash it out.

A man once looked at a dirty picture, and years after he had not forgotten it ! It made for him a lifelong fight!

It is almost like putting nails in a post. You may draw them out, but you can never quite fill out the holes left. A growing tree may fill them and a growing life may, but there is always a scar left where the nail entered.

IMPUEITY

Some boys like to tell nasty stories, and if the boys to whom I talk want to have white souls they should turn from nasty story-tellers the way they would from drinking poison.

It is awful the way a dirty story sticks. It is so hard to get rid of its memory. It is Hke indelible ink that you use when you want some writing not to wear out.

The great General Grant, the United States hero of the Civil War, was once at a party where one of those men were who think it smart to tell such stories. Looking around, the man said, " I have a story to tell you. There are no ladies present, are there ? " " No," said Grant, " but there are some gentlemen."

That story was never told.

Dear girls and boys, when any evil breath like that is around, think of your dear mother or your beautiful sister, and tell your heart you must be true to them.

" I must be true, for there are those who love me, I must be pure, for there are those who care."

A newspaper published these verses that I think are so good. I would like you to learn them.

While walking through a crowded down-town

street the other day, I heard a little urchin to his comrade turn and

say:

IMPUEITY

" Say, Jimmy, let me tell youse, I'd be happy as a clam

If I only was de feller dat me mudder t'inks I am.

She just t'inks dat I'm a wonder, and she knows

her Httle lad Could never mix wid nothin' dat was ugly, mean

or bad.

Lots er times I sits and t'inks how nice 'twould

be, gee whiz, If a feller was de feller dat his mudder t'inks

he is!"

My friends, be yours a life of toil or undiluted

joy,

You still can learn a lesson from this small unlettered boy.

Don't aim to be an earthly saint with eyes fixed on a star;

Just try to be the fellow that your mother thinks you are.

And how can we keep the life straight, and in a true direction?

You remember the story of Ulysses and the Sirens — ^how he kept himself and his sailors from the influence of the enticing music when the sirens played on the dangerous rocks, by filling their ears with wax; and having himself tied to the mast till they passed in safety.

IMPUEITY

That Is one way — the way of stiff stern duty and obedience to law. But there is a better way !

A boy once was trying to make a straight track in the snow. And he did. While the other boys left wriggling marks, his pressed straight on. When they asked him how he did it, he said he fixed his eye on a tree on the other side of the field and walked to the tree without looking to right or left. That is the way always to make a straight trail. Look at something ahead and go to it.

And we have that chance, for this is a splendid text for a girl or boy, or man or woman — Run with patience the race set before us, looking unto Jesus."

The eye fixed on Him and the feet moving toward Him will help make a straight life.

VII "i Can't"

NO girl or boy ever says this about anything they love to do !

No matter how hard it is, if they Hke it, they try at least to do it. In fact, the harder it is, the more they try.

Who ever cares how many bumps he gets when learning to skate ?

I saw: a fellow once who was trying to vault over a pole. His chums laughed and jeered. " You can*t ! they called out. Do you suppose he stopped ? No ! He kept right at it until he did.

Edison, the wizard of electricity, wanted to get a jewel point hard enough to be the right kind of an end for a phonograph needle. When it was suggested he could not get one, he just looked at the one who said it, and went right on and found it!

Every girl and boy should be like the man who refused to let that word appear in his dictionary.

When I was a little boy, I was brought up in a church where they would not sing anything but psalms. They called all others " man-made hymns " and one member of the church had sewed up all the paraphrases at the back for fear he might open them by mistake. That was a very foolish, narrow way to act; but if you have anywhere in your book of life the words, I can't! " just sew those leaves together so you will never see them!

For you can — if you will, and if you want to !

And if you can't, it is only because you won't !

I do not know who wrote these verses and will apologize for using them, but would like to pass them on to girls and boys:

IT CAN BE DONE

" Somebody said that it couldn't be done ;

But he, with a chuckle, replied That maybe it couldn't, but he would be one

Who wouldn't say so till he'd tried. So he buckled right in, with the trace of a grin

On his face ; if he worried, he hid it. He started to sing as he tackled the thing

That couldn't be done — and he did it.

" Somebody scoffed : ' Oh, you'll never do that ; At least, no one has ever done it.' But he took off his coat, and he took off his hat,

And the first thing we knew he'd begun it. With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin;

Without any doubting or quiddit, He started to sing as he tackled the thing

That couldn't be done — and he did it.

"There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done;

There are thousands to prophesy failure; There are thousands to point out to you, one by one,

The dangers that wait to assail you. But just buckle in with a bit of a grin.

Then take off. your coat and go to it. Just start in to sing, as you tackle the thing

That * cannot be done ' — and you'll do itJ'

VIII "i Forgot"

OH, how much trouble this little fox causes I Out West near Fort William, once occurred a serious collision — all because an engineer forgot to watch the safety signals! A great train was wrecked and a whole railway district held up for hours ; and some lives were lost — because a brakeman forgot to guard an open switch !

It's a bad fox, girls and boys!

It makes your character ragged and slovenly. It wastes people's time. It causes endless confusion. It holds up plans. Somebody forgets to do his duty and that upsets all some one else has to do; and so it goes on and around, until things become a regular mix-up.

There is a place for a good forgetterl

It is just to forget your worries and to forget yourself ; and to forget the nasty things people do to you; and to forget your mistakes, if you are sorry for them; and to forget that you were not invited to somebody's party; and to forget that you fell down yesterday, if you got up again and are still on your feet I

But it is important to have a good memory too. 36

I FORGOT "

A little girl forgot to post her mother's letter, and it stopped the chance of a pleasant holiday for her grandmother, who was waiting for directions.

A little boy forgot to close the door of the nursery when he was told, and the baby nearly died of pneumonia.

In the days of the great war so recently closed, they had to spend millions of dollars on making shells. They had to be very carefully made. If a shell was more than 3/1000 of an inch more in diameter than was called for, it was sent back. It was important not to forget this. In fact, they had to watch against fuzz getting on the shell from the gloves worn by the workers.