IN AN old country house there lived two young boys with their Christian parents. Lionel, the older, was strong, lively and fond of adventure. George, on the other hand, was quiet and studious, having been delicate from babyhood. He could not run far and join in the games like the other boys, without getting tired, so he turned his attention to books, botany and nature. It was his delight to study the habits and ways of the birds and other shy little creatures of the fields and woods. Both boys were taught by their mother to reverence God and His holy Word.
The time came when Lionel went away to school, while George rained at home and followed his own quiet pursuits. However, he outgrew his delicacy and the day came when he too went away to study at the same school his brother went to.
George shared a dorm with several other boys, and at first all was noisy and strange. He grew a little homesick as he thought of his dear father and mother and the quiet old home he loved. So he sat down on his bed, took out his Bible and read his daily portion. Then as he had always done, he knelt down to pray.
For a few moments there was silence in the dorm. Then a shoe came hurtling through the air, then another, then a hairbrush, and other missiles assailed the solitary kneeling figure.
“And what did you do, dear?” asked his mother when, the first evening he was home on vacation, George related to her his early experiences of school life.
“Mother,” replied George gravy, “I just knelt on.”
Night after night he did the same, although he was intensely sensitive to the rough jests and shouts directed at him; but gradually the persecution subsided, for the other boys were not really bad-hearted and knew they were wrong; so they were shamed into leaving the new boy to be true to his colors.
Perhaps dear George’s act was not great in the eyes of men, yet we are sure it was well pleasing to his Captain and Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. Well it would be if all our readers had the same courage as underlined those four simple words — “I just knelt on!”
ML-07/02/1972