Though there were over thirty boys and girls in the school room, it was very quiet, for everyone was busy writing an examination. In the corner farthest from the teacher’s desk sat Jenny. She was very busy biting the end of her pencil and frowning. She usually looked pleasant, but now she frowned as she looked at the second question for it wouldn’t come right.
“I can’t see where it’s wrong,” she told herself, as she took another big bite at her pencil. Glancing around the room she wondered if anyone else was having the same trouble as she was—or was she very stupid? Each head was bent over the paper—except for Bob Jones, who, true to his name, bobbed his head from morning till night.
He had seen Jenny frowning and as soon as she caught his eye, he raised his eyebrows and looked puzzled—asking as plainly as if he had said it, “What is the trouble?” Jenny raised two fingers and frowned harder than ever—and then she remembered that the rules for examinations said there was to be no communication with each other in any way, so once more she bent her head over the paper.
Presently something struck her arm and fell to the floor. It was a piece of paper rolled into a ball, and a glance at Bob’s face told that it came from him. Jenny shook her head at him— if the teacher saw them it would mean serious trouble and Jenny did not want Bob to get into a scrape.
Bob held up two fingers and nodded toward the paper, and Jenny knew what he meant—the problem was worked out on the paper. She leaned over to get it and then suddenly she remembered—that would be cheating!
Bob was watching, so with a decided shake of her head she bent over her work, and he turned to his with a look of disgust. For some minutes Jenny worked at it again but it wouldn’t come out right. The paper was still lying on the floor at her feet and it looked very tempting. She had tried so hard, and this would end her trouble.
“The others do it and they say it’s no harm,” thought Jenny; “Bob expected me to and I know he thinks me a goose—but I’ll be an honest one anyway,” and she sighed. Just then there flashed through her mind one verse of a hymn she had learned in Sunday school:
“Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged;
Take it to the Lord in prayer.”
“I wonder if it would do any good to pray over this problem,” thought Jenny; “it’s a trouble to me.”
She leaned her head on her hand and in a very few words asked the Lord Jesus, whom she had already trusted as her Saviour, to help her with this question. Once more she set to work, and going over each part carefully, found her mistake. This time she worked it out correctly.
Again she leaned her head on her hand, and thanked the Lord for His goodness in hearing and answering her prayer.
“Ask the Saviour to help you,
Comfort, strengthen and keep you;
He is willing to aid you,
He will carry you through.”
ML 06/18/1961