“BENNIE dear, I want you to call at Dr. Hall's surgery on your way to school, and leave this note. Willie seems so poorly this morning, I should like the doctor to see him, so I have written asking him to call on his way to G—. You will not forget, will you, Bennie?" Mrs. Hay asked in a very earnest tone." I should not like you to be late for school; but you have to pass Dr. Hall's door, and need not wait for an answer. If you think you cannot remember, I will ask father to step round.”
“All right, mother, I will not forget this time; I am going to show you what a steady, careful sort of boy your Bennie is, after all." And putting the note into his pocket, and kissing his mother, Bennie started for school.
His mother looked after him till a turn in the road hid him from sight, then turning to her sister, Bennie's aunt Agnes said, "What a dear boy Bennie is, so kind and affectionate, he is truthful and generous, too; but sometimes I cannot help feeling a little anxious about his one great fault, his bad memory, though perhaps it seems a little too hard a name to call it a fault; but at home or school he is always getting into trouble because he cannot remember what he is told to do.”
Aunt Agnes asked, with a smile, "Are you sure that Bennie cannot remember? He does not seem by any means a dull boy, and he did not forget I promised him a fishing-rod for a birthday present.”
“You are right, Agnes; Bennie is on the whole a clever boy, and I find he remembers anything in which he is interested, and hope he will soon improve.”
Bennie Hay had not gone far on his way to the doctor's when, hearing his own name loudly called, he turned and saw a class-mate, Harold King, running after him. Harold was almost out of breath, but said, "Come this way, Bennie, I have something very particular to tell you, and something to show you that is just splendid. My uncle came home from sea last night, and brought with him a lot of things for mother, and Bella, and oh! such a dear, funny, old-fashioned monkey for me. His name is Jack, and on the voyage home uncle taught him lots of tricks—he can make a bow and dive into your pockets for nuts. Come in and you shall see him.”
Bennie said something about having to do an errand for his mother, but Harold cut him short with an impatient, "But you must come, I want you to be the first of our boys to see Jack. If we leave our house when the school-bell begins to ring, and run all the way, we can get there in time, and you can do your mother's errand when school is over. She will not mind, I dare say; so come along.”
Without another word, Bennie allowed himself to be tempted out of the path of duty, and, once in sight of the monkey's cage, forgot his mother's words and his own promise to her.
Jack was really a very amusing little fellow, full of fun and mischief. One of his favorite tricks being to take small articles out of the pocket, he soon contrived to get the note Bennie ought to have left at Dr. Hall's, and tearing it into fragments, threw it on the floor of his cage. But just then both the boys were too busy talking to observe it.
“Are you deaf this morning, boy?" Mrs. King asked, as she entered the kitchen: "the school-bell has been ringing for quite two minutes, so you had better make haste.”
In another moment the boys were running at full speed along the road leading from Harold's home to the school, and, quite out of breath, just managed to take their seats as the bell ceased ringing, and the order to close the door was given from the master's desk.
Bennie's class was now going into long division sums. Mr. Grant, the master, had taken great care the day before to explain the manner of working these to the boys, going through several examples with them, and telling them he expected them the next day to work all alone.
When the sum was written on the blackboard, Bennie who had not been paying attention to the master's explanation, could not remember a single word. He made one or two attempts at getting through his sum, but in vain. When the boys were called up, Mr. Grant, after one glance at Bennie's slate, asked sternly for an explanation. Bennie, looking very much ashamed of himself, faltered out his favorite excuse, "Please, sir, I forgot." Mr. Grant looked at him for a moment, evidently much displeased, then said, "I cannot overlook such carelessness as yours, Bennie, so you will remain after school till you have written out eight pages of English history; now go to the foot of your class.”
Bennie took the lowest seat, feeling for once that he was justly punished. As his broken promise to his mother came to mind, he could hardly help shedding tears. He knew that eight pages of history meant almost two hours hard writing, and that long before he would be free, Dr. Hall would have started for his country house at G—.
As soon as school was over, Bennie went up to Mr. Grant's desk, and said, in a very timid voice, "If you please, sir, may I just step up to Dr. Hall's surgery with a note from mother? I was told to leave it on my way to school, but forgot all about it. And please, sir, our little Willie is so poorly to-day. Do let me go, sir, I will run all the way, and come back quick and write my history.”
“Where is the note, Bennie?" said Mr. Grant. Poor Bennie fumbled in his pockets; but, as my young readers know, the note was not there. After trying for some time, and getting very red in the face, he was obliged to confess he could not find it.
Mr. Grant now fairly out of patience, told him to take his seat and begin writing at once.
It was almost dark when Bennie reached home, feeling very unhappy. His dinner was waiting for him, and his aunt Agnes sat sewing near the window. She welcomed him with kind words, and before Bennie had been in the house half an hour he had told her the whole story of his broken promise and school troubles.
She answered gently, " I am very sorry, Bennie, not only that you have got into disgrace at school; but because I think you love the Lord Jesus Christ, and He is grieved when, by careless ways, we dishonor Him. You often sing
'Jesus looks from heaven
To see us shine.'
Have you been shining for Him to-day, Bennie?”
Bennie looked very grave as he answered slowly, "No, aunt Agnes, I am sure I have not, and I am really sorry; but I have a bad memory, and do not see how I can help it.”
Aunt Agnes was silent for a few moments, then said gently, "The Jews you know, Bennie, were God's earthly people. Even the food they ate and the clothes they wore interested Him. Every Jewish boy was expected to learn and remember many things commanded by God through Moses their great law giver. But what about those who had bad memories? Just get your Bible and turn to Deut. 8. Now read Deut. 8:22And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. (Deuteronomy 8:2): ‘And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee;' now Deut. 8:1111Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day: (Deuteronomy 8:11), ‘Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God;' and Deut 8:18, ‘But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God.'
“There, Bennie, is there a word in all that like, ‘I cannot help my bad memory'? Your troubles to-day were not the fault of your memory, but of your own failure in obedience and attention. You would not have forgotten your mother's errand if you had done it at once. You would have understood how to work your sums if you had been attentive to Mr. Grant's explanation.
“You need to watch against your besetting sin of carelessness, and you need help, too, such help as none but the Lord Jesus can give; but if you look to Him, and say from your heart when you are tempted to be idle or careless, ‘Lord, help me,' you will learn what a strong, loving Savior you have.”
“I see it, auntie; I see it all now; I can remember if I really try and ask the Lord's help." Bennie added, almost in a whisper, "I am going to begin at once.”
“But tell me about Willie, has the doctor seen him?”
“Oh yes, Bennie, as I was going to see a sick friend this afternoon, I met Dr. Hall, and he kindly came at once. Willie is, I think, better this evening.”
Bennie kept his promise. After a few weeks of steady, patient trying, it was noticed that his memory began to improve; and when, at the end of the school year, he carried home a handsome prize awarded to him for diligence and improvement in his studies, I do not think any one was more really pleased than his aunt Agnes.