SPRING had come to the hills of Tennessee. Nine-year-old Hugh Tucker’s cheery whistle rose above the creaking of the harness as the team of horses settled to the task of spring plowing, plodding patiently across the field, guided by the boy farmer.
Hugh knew that he would be dead tired at the end of the day but he was glad to be following the plow, glad school was over for that week!
Finally Hugh turned his last furrow and started the team toward the little cabin which was home. Most of the farm chores had become the responsibility of Hugh and his brothers since their father had returned from the army, broken in health.
As he sat down to supper, the young plowboy wondered if he would be able to stay awake long enough to eat the simple meal his mother had prepared.
“Teacher was here today,” announced his mother. “He came to find out which you would rather have as your prize for giving the best recitation at the school program — a Bible or The Gazeteer. I didn’t know what to tell him, but he seemed so sure you’d rather have the book of stories, I finally told him to make the decision. I’m sorry you were too far away to call.”
Hugh’s eyes filled with tears. “Didn’t you know I would rather have a Bible of my own than any other book in the whole world, Mother?” he asked.
Realizing his son’s disappointment, Mr. Tucker suggested that Hugh get up before daylight the next day in order to meet the teacher and arrange for receiving the Bible as the prize instead of the storybook.
Hugh Tucker, the boy who preferred a Bible to a storybook, grew up to be the missionary who was used in distributing hundreds of thousands of Bibles, Testaments and Gospels in Brazil for the Bible Society. — Words of Life
ML-11/05/1972