AUTUMN came again. It was not quite daylight when Mother rose to make the fire in the kitchen, and Philip was just pulling on his warm sweater to come and help her, when she heard a knock at the door. it was a heavy knock and a heavy footstep, and a rough-looking man outside when she opened the door. His question made her feel worse than I can tell you, for this is what he said.
“I left my little boy here a year ago. I want him to come with me.”
Philip knew his father right away and he did not think of saying “No”, though his little heart was nearly breaking when he kissed Mother goodbye, and left the happy little home in the early morning. The other thieves were nearby but nobody seemed glad to see him. They tramped all morning in silence though poor little Philip’s mind was full of questions. He wanted to cry but it was no use, nobody loved him. Why did they come for him if they did not want him?
At last he could not bear it any longer “Daddy”, he asked timidly, “Where are we going?”
“I’ll tell you when I feel like it,” said Daddy, and that was his only answer.
At noon they stopped to eat the buns that Mother had packed for Philip. The little fellow bowed his head, as he always did at home, to thank God for the gift of daily bread, but when he opened his eyes he saw three angry frowns. Father thought it was time to explain where they were going, so he began,
“There’s a big empty house, Philip, just outside the city. No one is living there now, but a very rich family used to live there and now they have gone away for the winter and they have left plenty for us. There’s jewelry and silverware more than we can carry. But it is locked and barred, all but a little window in the third story, just big enough for you to crawl through. The ladder is ready and that’s your job tonight and an easy one it is too.”
Philip used to think it was fun to do things like that, but now there was a lump in his throat and he felt as if he could not speak. At last he said, “Father, I’m never going to steal again.”
“Why not?” asked one of the men.
“Because that’s what Jesus died for, and I’m never going to steal again.”
The name of Jesus in Philip’s quiet voice made all the men angry. They talked and scolded and frightened and laughed at him, but all he would say was, “That’s what Jesus died for, and I’m never going to steal again.”
All the long afternoon they walked towards the city, and in the dark evening they reached the house, standing alone with plenty of trees to hide the thieves. Philip’s heart was beating hard as the men held the ladder steady in the cement walk, against the window.
“Now, Philip,” said Father, “Climb up.”
He had scarcely time to say “No,” for his father seized him, shook him and kicked him with angry words scarcely above a whisper. But Philip would not move. He only repeated, when his father stopped, “That’s what Jesus died for, and I’m never going to steal again.”
One of the thieves saw that it was no use to punish the boy, so he came up and whispered in his ear, “You don’t need to steal. It won’t be your fault. Just open the window and leave the rest to us.”
Philip thought a moment. Perhaps it would not be his fault really. He listened to the Devil’s temptations and he climbed the ladder.
It was very dark and very high, Philip turned and looked down at the faces of the three thieves turned towards him. “Hold the ladder tight Daddy,” he whispered.
“I’m holding it, Go on.”
To be continued Feb. 22nd.
Messages of the Love of God 2/15/1948