THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 ^*~^7^
 
 OV AJS AK1H1LL.
 
 Little and IVise ; 
 
 LESSONS FROM 
 
 THE ANTS, THE. CONIES, THE LOCUSTS, 
 AND THE SPIDER;. 
 
 BY - ' 
 
 WM. WILBERFOECE NEWTON. 
 
 WESLEYAN CONFERENCE OFFICE, 
 
 . 2, CASTLE-STREET, CITY-ROAD ; * 
 SOLD AT .66, P A T E R N O S T E R -RO*W .
 
 PRINTERS, 
 
 HATTON HOlTSE, FARRINQOON ROAD. 
 LONDON, E.O.
 
 Mil I. 
 
 PZ 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THE ANTS -. .7 
 
 THE CONIES . . . . . .- 31 
 
 THE LOCUSTS , .. . . . . . 49 
 
 THE SPIDER .' .71 
 
 48408? 
 
 LIBRARY '
 
 I. 
 
 THE ANTS.
 
 THE ANTS. 
 
 ' There be four things which are little upon the 
 earth, but tney are exceeding wise : the ants are a 
 people not strong, yet they prepare their* meat -in 
 the summer.' PEOVERBS xxx. 24, 25. 
 
 King Solomon wrote the 
 .-*- greater portion of the Book of Pro- 
 verbs, these words were written by a man 
 named Agur. We know very little about 
 him. Some people have thought t*hat Agur 
 was another name for Solomon, because 
 the word Agar means he gathered/ and 
 Solomon was a -great gatherer of proverbs 
 and wise sayings. But it is more probable 
 that Agur was some sage or philosopher of 
 the period, who used to speak wise words 
 that were remembered at the time, an^noted 
 down by the person who gathered together 
 
 * this collection of proverbs, 
 
 In tlie thirty-first chapter we. meet with 
 
 .another of these local sages, King Lemuel, of
 
 JJ LITTLE AND WISE. 
 
 whom we know next to nothing- as. compared 
 with what we know of- King Solomon ; and 
 yet his words are as wise and as g'ood as 
 any that are found in the Bo.ok of Proverbs. 
 
 But whoever this Agur was, one tiling he 
 knew. . He was very familiar with animals, 
 and knew their habits and ways. 
 
 Some people love to have animals about' 
 them; others don't care anything about pets." 
 Some persons have great power over animals, 
 and can teaeh them all sorts of tricks, and 
 can make them do -just what they wish 
 them to do ; other persons have no more 
 power over the wills of animals than they 
 have over the cast-iron lions and dogs on 
 front* door-steps or in the gardens. 
 
 I think it does us all good to t>e with 
 animals. A horse in the stable gets to 
 know you when you come in to see him. He 
 neigh^-t you, and notices if you are going 
 over to the box where the oats are kept. 
 He likes to have you near him. So it is 
 with an affectionate dog;, he cannot. bear 
 to be alone ; he loves human comnany. Sir.
 
 THE ANTS, 11 
 
 Walter Scott, who" wrote so many -books at 
 his beautiful- place called Abbotsf ord, always 
 had his greyhounds by his . side in his 
 library. 
 
 The poet' Cowper, who wrote such beauti- 
 ful hymns and poetry, had a whole family 
 of pet hares, in which he used to take 
 the greatest delight. Pet birds and 'cats, 
 parrots that talk so strangely, and all such 
 domestic animals, help us to be kind and' 
 tender and compassionate, and to think of 
 others. 
 
 Just set liow much good has been done in 
 teaching people to be kind by the ' Society 
 for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.' 
 If hard-hearted people are fined for being 
 cruel to animals, it will teach them after' 
 a while, as the Bible says, to consider the 
 life of one's beast ; and if people begin to 
 be kiad to animals, then after a while' they 
 will learn to be kind to little children and 
 to grown-up people. To come back to Agur, 
 then, the man who. wrote this text, whoever 
 he may have been, it is a pretty sure thing
 
 12 LITTLE AND WISE, 
 
 that he knew a good deal about animals and 
 h#d studied their habits and ways. 
 
 ' Little and wise.' This is what these 
 four sermons are about. We are going to 
 look at the ants, the conies, the locusts, and 
 the spiders. 
 
 These are the words of Agur, ' There be 
 four, things which are little upon the earth, 
 but they are exceeding wise : the .arrts are 
 a jpeople not strong, yet they prepare their 
 meat in the summer ; the conies are but a 
 feeble folk, yet they build their houses in. 
 ' the rocks ; the locusts have no king, yet 
 they, go forth ^all of them by bands ; 'the 
 spider taketh hold with her hands, and is 
 in kings' palaces.' 
 
 First of all, then, come the ants. Our 
 sermon to-day is about them. We learn 
 three lessons frpm these little creatures. 
 
 .1. 
 
 FIEST of all we'learn a lesson from what 
 the ants are. * They are a people not strong.'
 
 They are a very .little race of people, some- 
 thing like the pigmies found -in Liliput, 
 according to the story of Gulliver's Travels. 
 Why, the ants are only insects, the very 
 weakest sort of animals that can be found ; 
 they 'are so small that we can hardly call 
 
 them animals ; and yet we are told that 
 they are very wise. It is not true that mg 
 people are always great or wise. Wisdom- 
 is a matter of quality, not of quantity. 
 There used to be- a piece of. poetry in one 
 of the school readers, about a little boy and 
 his father who were talking of Alexander 
 the Great. It begins with the little fellow 
 asking the question, 
 
 ' How big was Alexander, pa ? 
 The people call him great ! ' 
 
 When we are -young we are a people not 
 strong, but we can surely do something wise . 
 while r we are little. We need not wait until
 
 LITTLE AND WISE. 
 
 r ; we are grown up. Our first lesson, then, is 
 ^ from -what the ants are. They are little 
 people, a people not strong; and yet they are 
 'very wise. If the ants were to wait until 
 they grew up to be big before they began 
 to be. wise, they would always remain little 
 and foolish. I suppose the little baty ants 
 grow up into what they call big ants ; but 
 then they are all very little .after 'all. When 
 an ant sees us walking along, we must look 
 ly^e moving mountains ; 'and the garden 
 
 \vhere his ant-hill is, is the same to him as 
 
 
 
 the world to us. 
 
 They are -a people not strong, and" yet 
 they do what they can. If you have ever 
 examined an ant-hill, you have found that 
 it is built just like a city. There are streets 
 in it, and gates, a'nd thousands of little 
 " holes where the different ants live, and 
 these are like our houses. They build their 
 cities according to some plan of their own ; 
 and they have their storehouses and places 
 of supplies in which they keep their food 
 for the winter* just as we find food kept in
 
 " the storeroom of some fort. And now. I 
 
 want to tell you about some little people 
 
 who were not strong like gr.own-up men 
 
 'and women, but who were wise in what 
 
 they did, like the little and wise ants. 
 
 Down on the coast of Kent, near-Dover, 
 in England, there was a .little girl named 
 Mary Anning. Her f atheiabad been a fisher- 
 man, and .had been lost at' sea, and her 
 "mother had a very haroUtimo of it in getting 
 
 on with the poor little fatherless children 
 
 ' 
 and in bringing them up. 
 
 Little Mary was very fond of going down 
 on the beach and hunting for what she 
 called ' coor osities.' She used to take her 
 little baby brpiher in a playcart that she 
 had, and ' she w'ould fasten another waggon 
 to it, and in this second waggon she put 
 all the pieces of seaweed, and the curious 
 pebbles ^nd shells and stones which she 
 found on the sea-shore. Then she madfe a 
 . pretty little' museum for herself with cur- 
 tains to it, and she labelled the different 
 specimens, and numbered them; and, by
 
 16 LITTLE. AND WISE.' 
 
 degrees, she had a catalogue- of them all 
 -written out,' to explain her museum to visit- 
 ors. At last, when she was about fifteen 
 years old, she had such a fine collection 
 ' that the people^ who came down to the 
 sea-shore for the summer used. to drive to 
 Mary's little house to see her museum ; and 
 in this way she w%s a help to her mother : 
 for the strangers always gave her a present 
 of & sixpence or a shilling as they, left the 
 h^ousa, just as they did 'when they' visited 
 the lighthouse and the life-saving station. 
 One day the bones of some monster lizard 
 were found near Mary's "home by an agent 
 and collector for the famous British Museum 
 in London. Some of the scientific people 
 were sure they were the bones of a mammoth, 
 an animal which lived thousands of years 
 a.go. But one bone was wanting. If they 
 only had that one bone, all would be right. 
 
 At last somebody said' there was a fisher?, 
 man's daughter named Mary Anning, down 
 near Dover, who had quite a collection of 
 curiosities, and perhaps she might have a
 
 THE ANTS. 17 
 
 part of this bone. So a man was sent down 
 to see Mary's collection. He arrived at her 
 house with a trunk full of what do you 
 think ? not clothes, but bones ! Then he 
 put them out on the floor and looked at all 
 the specimens Mary had, and sure enough, 
 there was the very identical bone that was 
 missing : it fitted right into the socket,, and 
 was just the one thing that was wanting. 
 
 Soon after this there was a vacancy in the 
 British Museum among the female librari- 
 ans ;* and the once little Mary Anning who 
 used to hunt about for ' coor osities ' was 
 appointed ; and ever after that took good 
 care of her poor mother and her little sisters. 
 Now there was a girl who was wise while 
 she was little. She did not waste her time. 
 She did not spend it all in play ; she tried to 
 help her mother and improve herself, and 
 Grod blessed that poor fisherman's daughter 
 and made her the means of -doing good while 
 she was receiving good ! 
 
 Let me tell you another story. 
 
 About two hundred and sixty years ago 
 B
 
 18 LITTLE AND WISE. 
 
 
 
 a poor boy of sixteen was seen travelling on 
 foot in the south of England. He carried 
 over his shoulder, at the end of a stick, all 
 the clothing he had in the -world, and had 
 in his pocket an old leathern purse with 
 a few pieces of money given him by his 
 mother, whpn with a sad heart she took leave 
 "of him on the road, at a short distance from 
 y;heir own cottage door. His name was 
 John : he was the son of poor but honest 
 people; and he had six brothers and five 
 sisters, all of whom had to work hard for 
 a living. He was an honest lad, and at 
 fourteen was disappointed in getting a place 
 as parish clerk, .and at last, with his parents' 
 consent, set out to get employment. In the 
 city of Exeter, to which he first went, he 
 met with no success ; but as he looked on 
 the beautiful cathedral, and in the book- 
 sellers' windows, a strong desire came over 
 him to become a scholar. He set out at 
 once for the University of Oxford,"some two 
 hundred and sixty miles off, walking all the 
 way. By night he slept in a barn or on the
 
 THE ANTS. 19. 
 
 sheltered side of a hay-rick.. He lived 
 wholly on bread and water, with an occa- 
 sional jug of milk as a great luxury. When 
 he arrived at the splendid city of Oxford 
 his clothing was nearly worn out and was 
 very dus.ty, and his feet were so sore that 
 he could hardly walk, and his spirits were 
 greatly depressed. * 
 
 He had heard of Exeter College ii0 
 Oxford. Thither, he went; and to his great 
 delight he was engaged to carry coal into 
 the kitchen, and to clean pans and kettles 
 and do all that kind of work. 
 
 Here, while scouring his pans, he might 
 often be seen reading a book. His studious 
 habits soon attracted the attention of the 
 authorities, who admitted him into the 
 college as a ' poor scholar,' providing for . 
 all his wants. He studied hard, and was 
 soon at the head of his class. He rose to 
 great eminence as a scholar, was very useful 
 as a minister of Christ ; and, many years 
 before his death*, which took place when 
 he was seventy-three years of age, he visited 
 
 B2
 
 THE ANTS. 21 
 
 
 
 his father aird mother, who were delighted 
 to see their son not only a c great scholar ' 
 bat an eminent bishop of the Church. Such 
 is the history of Dr. John Prideaux, who 
 used to say, ' If I had been parish clerk of 
 Uxborough I should never have been Bishop 
 of Worcester.' 
 
 Now, my dear children, such stories as 
 these about little people who were not ver^ 
 great or strong, and who yet accomplished 
 a'great deal of good, show us how, like the 
 ants, we can be little and wise in doing 
 what we can. 
 
 . This first lesson, then, from the ants is 
 found in what they are. They are a people 
 not strong, yet they are wise. . 
 
 II. 
 
 Qur SECOND lesson from the ants is found 
 in what they do. They 'prepare their 
 meat. 1 When a vessel goes to -sea on a long 
 voyage, the steward who has charge of all 
 the provisions, puts pleoty of prepared food
 
 22 LITTLE AND WISE. 
 
 
 
 on board, such as canned vegetables and 
 fruits and salted meats and fish. Those are 
 called ' prepared vegetables,' and ' prepared 
 meats.' They are put up long before they 
 are used, and are preserved from the air and 
 from all possibility of decay. And so, too, 
 when an army marches, there is one very 
 important branch- called the commissariat 
 department. It is .in charge of an officer 
 called the quarter-master ; and it;is his duty 
 to provide suitable food and provisions for 
 the men and horses and all the different 
 parts of the army. This takes a great deal 
 of planning and forethought. A quarter- 
 master-general must see a long way ahead ; 
 he must" not provide only for the day, or the 
 week, or even the month, but he must pro- 
 vide for months to come ; for if the men and 
 the horses have not food enough, they cannot 
 march or fight, and there will surely be 
 trouble. Just think, then, how very wise 
 these little insignificant ants must be, to 
 think of the future as they do, and prepare 
 for it when it is afar off.
 
 THE ANTS. 23 
 
 We know that in an ant-hill, which is an 
 ant-city, they have soldiers and policemen 
 and hard-working day-labourers, whose busi- 
 ness it is to go out and bring home food 
 and store it away in their barns for winter. 
 Travellers who have watched all sorts of 
 ants tell us that sometimes in Africa and 
 other Eastern countries, different tribes of 
 ants have regular pitched battles ; they meet 
 and fight by thousands ; and the conquering 
 army takes possession of the captured city, 
 and carries off the food that has been stored 
 there, and makes slaves of the poor defeated 
 ants, just as Alexander the Great, and King 
 Cyrus, and Julius Caesar did with cities and 
 men in their days. How very wonderful 
 all this is ! How strange a thing it is to see 
 all this system and forethought among such 
 little bits of creatures as. the ants ! This is 
 one .of the great works of the ants, then, to 
 provide or prepare their food. They cannot 
 work in the winter time. There is no food 
 for them when the snow is on the ground ; 
 and so they plan for their underground
 
 24 LITTLE AND WISE. 
 
 cities in the summer time ; and they send 
 out their thousands of day-labcrurers to hunt 
 for little, particles of food to be stored away 
 in their granaries for the \jinter, just as 
 Joseph sent out the Egyptians to gather 
 food in the years of plenty before the days 
 of famine canie. And here it is that the 
 lesson comes home to us all. We must 
 prepare for our future : we must not live 
 only for the present. And there are three 
 kinds of meat we must get, for meat means 
 strength, you know ; and these kinds are, 
 meat for the body, meat .for the mind, and 
 meat for the soul. 
 
 Once when some of the disciples had gone 
 away to get food, one of them who remained 
 behind asked Jesus if He had any meat. 
 Our Lord's words to hiin were, ' My meat 
 is to do the work of Him that sent Me, and 
 to finish His work.' He meant by this to 
 teach His disciple that there were other 
 kinds of strength than that which came to 
 the body by food. . We must learn, then, how 
 to get strength for the body, how to live.
 
 . THE ANTS. 25 
 
 how to form good habits for the time when 
 we must work for ourselves. It is when we 
 are young that our habits are formed, and 
 we ought to learn how to be systematic an.d 
 persevering- in the way in which we do our 
 work ; so that we shafl*be able to make our 
 own living .or to prepare our own meat when 
 the time for this comes. But this is not 
 the only kind of food that we want to get. 
 Our minds' and our souls must have food 
 quite as well as our bodies. Some people 
 never have hungry minds or souls until they 
 grow up and feel the need of knowing about 
 God. Jesus said in His sermon upon the 
 mount, * Blessed are they which do hunger 
 and thirst after righteousness : for they 
 shall be filled.' That is, if they had an 
 appetite for righteousness, if they were 
 hungry after goodness, they would relish it 
 when they saw it, just as you relish your 
 food after a long walk or drive in the open 
 air on a cold day. 
 
 When we are young our parents supply 
 us with food for our bodies ; but .we our-'
 
 26 LITTLE AND WlSJS. 
 
 selves by our studies at school and at home 
 and in church, must prepare the food for 
 our minds and souls. You know how dis- 
 agreeable a thing it is to eat something sour 
 or bitter, which leaves a bad taste in your 
 mouth. Well, my dfear children, bad books, 
 and bad thoughts, and wicked words, leave 
 just such a bad taste in the mind. Evil 
 thoughts and words will poison our souls 
 just as the paint in certain kinds of candy, 
 or as the red stain of some berries, poisons 
 our bodies. Bad words and thoughts and 
 books will stick in the memory for a whole 
 lifetime ; you cannot get them out. And 
 so, my dear children, when you prepare your 
 meat for life, get good meat, good food that 
 is pure and fresh and sound. Don't let bad 
 books get possession of your mind ; don't 
 let evil thoughts and wishes get into your 
 soul, or after a while you will be hungry 
 for this bad food. People who eat good, 
 sound, wholesome food will have a good 
 appetite, and those who eat bad' food will 
 have a bad appetite. Now, then, dear
 
 THE ANTS. 27 
 
 children, try for the good appetite for*your 
 minds ; pray for it ; seek to get good meat 
 for life, ; be as busy as the hardworking bee 
 is for the food which it gathers, or as the 
 industrious little ant is, that tries so hard 
 to prepare its own meat. Don't get evil 
 thoughts and wishes into your mind, but 
 learn to be hungry after knowledge and 
 righteousness, for that is the kind of meat 
 your souls should live on. 
 
 III. 
 
 But then, THIRDLY, we learn from these 
 little ants a lesson of the time when we 
 ought to prepare this meat.' ' The ants are 
 a- people not strong, yet they prepare their meat 
 in the summer.' 
 
 Once upon a time, according to an old 
 fable, there was a merry grasshopper, who 
 chirruped away and hopped about through 
 the grass all summer as happy as he could be. 
 A big bumblebee saw him and said, ' Look 
 out for the winter, my friend, or you '11 
 starve.' Then a hard-working ant asked
 
 28 LITTLE AND WISE. 
 
 him to help him to roll along a big piece ot 
 .bread which he had found. ' Xot I,' said 
 the grasshopper. * I 'm no fool ; yo,u don't 
 catch me working like a slave, with such 
 lovely sunshine as this all about us.' . ' But 
 there 's a winter coming on,' said the ant, 
 1 and what will you do then, with the cold 
 weather and the snow on the" ground ? ' 
 ' 0, I '11 wait .till it comes,' replied the- 
 grasshopper ; ' and, besides, I never sav a 
 winter, and I don't believe it is as bad as 
 people say.' And away he jumped over the 
 tall grass. But at last the leaves fell, and 
 it grew very cold, and the -snow came, and- 
 the poor grasshopper had the rheumatism 
 in his fine legs, and he. did not know how 
 he- was to live. He went to the beehive and 
 begged them to take him in, but they said - 
 they had no room for loafers. Then he 
 went to the ant-hill and tried to get in, but 
 he was told at the door that they had no 
 food to spare for those who would not work ; 
 and so the poor grasshopper died. 
 
 He was larger than either the bee or the
 
 TJIE "ANTS. . 29 
 
 ant ; but he was not wise, lie did not prepare 
 his food in the summer. 
 
 King Solomon says in one place that 
 there is a time for everything : a time to 
 sow and a time to reap, a time to labour 
 and a time to rest. 
 
 Summer time is the season for work. 
 Everything helps us at this timp. It is 
 then that the farmers take good care that 
 nothing hurts their growing crops ; so that 
 in the winter they can have plenty of pro- 
 visions both to eat and to sell. They are 
 wise like the little' ants, and prepare their 
 meat in the summer. And, my dear children, 
 now is the summer time of your prepara- 
 tion ; as you are now, so in all probability 
 you will be when you are grown up. See 
 to it, then, that you do these three things. 
 First, be wise while you are young, as the 
 ants are wise while they are little ; secondly, 
 prepare your food honestly by your own 
 efforts, as the ants do ; and thirdly, prepare 
 this in the summer. Don't wait until the 
 winter comes, prepare your meat now ; and
 
 30 LITTLE AND WISE. 
 
 then when you grow up you will not be 
 hungry and forsaken. Let the poor, hard- 
 working little ant, black and ugly though 
 he be, teach you these three lessons : 
 
 Be wise as well as little. 
 
 Work. 
 
 Work in your summer time. 
 
 And when you feel like being lazy and 
 careless, remember Solomon's words : ' Go 
 to the ant, thou sluggard ; consider her ways 
 and be wise ! '
 
 II. 
 
 THE CONIES.
 
 THE CONIES. 
 
 ' There be. four things which are little upon the 
 ea^th, but they are exceeding wise : . . . the conies 
 are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses 
 in the rocks.' PEOVEEBS xxx. 24, 26. 
 
 r I THESE conies were little rabbits or 
 -*- squirrels. They were caught for the 
 sake of their skins, which were covered 
 with thick rich fur. 
 
 .Even to-day among hatters and furriers 
 there is a certain kind of stuff very much 
 tike felt, .which is called cony cloth. It is 
 used as one of the niaterials out of which to 
 make hats and caps. The conies of our text 
 v/ere very timid little creatures. They were 
 afraid of being caught, so they built their 
 houses high up on the rocks and deep down 
 in them. You may have seen sometimes 
 in the country little, red squirrels running 
 along stone walls and fences. If you have 
 ever tried 'to catch them, you have found 
 
 c
 
 34 * LITTLE AND WISE. 
 
 that they run very quickly and disappear 
 in the rocks. Well, this was- just the way 
 these conies lived. They built their houses 
 far up in the rocks, SQ that when the 
 freshets came and the ground was all soak- 
 ing with water, these little fellows were 
 perfectly safe. And you know our Saviour 
 ended His wonderful sermon on the mount 
 by telling of two men ; one was foolish and 
 built has house upon the sa'nd, and it was 
 all washed away ; the other was wise, and 
 when the wind blew and the rain descended 
 and the floods came and. beat upon that 
 house, it fell not, because it was founded 
 upon a rock. 
 
 We know that this world on . which wo 
 live is built up of different layers or strata 
 of .rocks. You will learn all about thia 
 when you come to study geology. "You will 
 find all sorts of hard names given to these 
 different layers in the rocks. And those 
 names are very difficult to spell, and pro- 
 nounce, and remember. 89 I shall not give 
 any of them now. Under all these different
 
 36 . LITTLE AND WISE. 
 
 layers of rocks, it is " supposed, about thirty 
 miles below the earth's surface, there is a 
 hidden fire, and this earth of ours is like a 
 great bronze ball with fire and fiery gases 
 inside of it. And volcanoes like Mount 
 Etna or Mount Vesuvius are just like great 
 chimneys, and carry off the smoke and 
 steam of these underground forces. When 
 . people dig down into the earth the come 
 to clay and water and stones of different 
 kinds, but the last stone, below which they 
 cannot get, is the granite. There is nothing 
 stronger or firmer than the granite, though 
 the ancients thought thore was a rock called 
 adamant, made up of diamonds, which no 
 power on earth could break. . 
 
 Well, my dear children, you and I are" 
 made up of different layers of character, just 
 in the way in which the earth is made up. 
 
 Some people have very bad layers of bad 
 habits : they will all crumble away before 
 sin, just as a piece of lava .stone will crumble, 
 before the rubbing' of a hard brush. There
 
 THE CONIES. 37 
 
 are other people who have built the houses of 
 their characters upon good, strong, honest 
 rock. Their souls are like 'the famous Rock 
 of Gibraltar ; they cannot be stormed into 
 sin, and they cannot be undermined ; for 
 there are the two ways. of taking a man, just 
 as soldiers take a fort. 
 
 Sometimes you can storm a person and 
 frighten him into surrender; and then 'he 
 can be slowly undermined, and can be taken 
 in this way. 
 
 In every army there are those who belong 
 to what is called the * storming party ; ' it 
 is their work to head the forlorn hope, and 
 go to the front and fight ; and there are 
 those who are called ' sappers and miners- ; ' 
 it is their work to dig trenches and make 
 tunnels and mines under the walls of the 
 city or fortification 'that has to be taken 
 and then put powder in there and blow 
 everything up. 
 
 Now then what kind of rock are we 
 built on ? Can we be easily stormed ? Can 
 we be easily undermined ? Do we yield to
 
 38 LITTLE AND WISE. 
 
 temptations when our great enemy, Satan, 
 puts temptations in our way ? 
 
 Do we surrender to sin when evil thoughts 
 get into our hearts and tempt ns to do 
 wrong ? Are the layers of . rock on which 
 our houses are built good and firm and 
 strong ? Are we like .the conies, which, 
 though they are little and are but a feeble 
 folk, yet are exceeding wise and make their 
 houses in the rocks ? 
 
 These are the. questions we ought to ask 
 ourselves. 
 
 We ought to build our houses, the-houses 
 of our souls, on* these three kinds of rock : 
 *they will be to us like the granite to the 
 earth. ' 
 
 They are these Honour. 
 
 Generosity. 
 Love. 
 
 I. 
 
 FIEST of all comes Honour. 
 What a wonderful thing this is. We can- 
 not hear it or see it, or perceive it in any
 
 THE CONIES. 39 
 
 way with our Censes ; we cannot handle it, 
 or take it out of our souls and look at it ; 
 and jet a true man would rather lay down 
 his life than lay his honour in the dust. 
 This thing is all from God. He has put 
 this sense of honour in our souls. It is a 
 part of the image of God in wtdch we are 
 all created. It is the lowest layer in our . 
 character, and holds us firmly to God and 
 to ouf sense of duty when everything else 
 gives way. . This was what- made the 
 martyrs so firm and strong. They could 
 not turn their backs upon their Lord. 
 Their soul of honour would not let them 
 do this. When Polycarp, one of the early- 
 Christian martyrs, was told bef orefhe went 
 into the arena to meet the lions, that he 
 could even then be saved, if he would only 
 deny Jesus ^Christ, he said, ' My Lord has 
 neyer denied me, and I shall not deny Him . 
 now.' 
 
 Think of the three hundred Greeks who 
 defended the Pass of Thermopylae against 
 the thousands and thousands of Xerxes'
 
 40 LITTLE AND WISE. 
 
 Persian army. There they stood, though 
 they knew it would be death, though it 
 would have been* a very easy thing to run 
 away, and though one by one they were cut 
 down until they all perished. What was it 
 which kept them there ? Only their sense 
 of honour to their country ; only this" strong 
 layer in their characters, this rock on which 
 their natures were built. And just so it 
 was w r ith the six hundred of the Light 
 Brigade, who in the Crimean War rode up 
 to the Russian guns, along a valley which 
 was as death, simply because they ha"d been 
 told to do so by their commander. And 
 even though the order was found out to be 
 a mistake, their sense of duty to their 
 country would not for one moment let them 
 disobey. Contrast this fine sense of honour 
 with the cowardly conduct of Benedict 
 Arnold, the one great traitor of the Ameri- 
 can -Revolution. He grew tired of the hard 
 struggle for freedom; and he thought it 
 would be a fine thing .after all to get out 
 of it.
 
 THE CONIES. 41 
 
 :it seemed to him as if the money he could 
 .v.oeive by betraying th& forts on the Hud- 
 son would be better in the long run than his 
 mere sense of honour towards the American 
 army, and so it came to pass, that he 
 broke his pledge, and threw away all sense 
 of honour, and lived to be hated and de- 
 spised by both nations. And, my dear 
 children, we can never be true brave boys 
 and 'girls, until we have this feeling of 
 honour so strong in us that it will hold us 
 to our duty and teach us to resist everything 
 that struggles with our sense of that which 
 is right. We must have this sense of 
 honour to God, to our parents^ to our com- 
 panions, and to our teachers, so that we 
 would rather die than be false or cowardly. 
 This feeling of honour in our lives will be 
 like the keel or the centre-board to a vessel : 
 it will steady us, as we .move on through 
 life, and will keep us upright and true ; it 
 will keep us from blushing for shame at our 
 wrong-doing ; we shall after a while be able 
 to trust ourselves, and thus, though we may
 
 42 . LITTLE AND WISE. 
 
 be little, we shall be wise, like the conies, 
 in building our house high up on the solid 
 rock, 
 
 II. 
 
 The SECOND layer in the rock of our -char- 
 acter required to make us wise as well as 
 strong, is Generosity. 
 
 Here a*e two tea-kettles : one is fuH of 
 cold water and is upon the ground; the 
 other is on the stove, and is singing away 
 and giving off all the water it has in the 
 form of steam. The one on the ground with 
 the cold water, in it' looks surly and is silent,' 
 The other is giving out in steam all the 
 bubbling water it contains ; it seems to sing 
 and speak, it is so busy and so happy ; it 
 can hardly contain itself, and the lid kteeps 
 bobbing up and down, because there is so 
 much going on insMe. 
 
 And' what is it which makes all this 
 difference between these" two tea-kettles ? 
 Simply the fire; the warmth of the 'stove 
 giving 'itself away to the kettle makes the
 
 THE CONIES. 43 
 
 kettle in turn give -away the water in the 
 form of steam. 
 
 Here are two locomotives. One of them 
 has water in its boiler and coal in its 
 tender; but the engineer wishes to keep 
 them perfectly safe. He is afraid of wast- 
 ing the coal and losing the fire, and there- 
 fore he never uses fhem. The other loco- 
 motive uses the coal and the water, and 
 hurries along the track with the express 
 train behind it. Which does the most good ? 
 Which ke*eps in good order the longest ? 
 Which answers -the end for which it was 
 made, the one that rusts away from want of 
 use, or the one that uses up the coal and 
 water, and drags the cars along after it ? 
 
 Well, my dear children, just what the fire, 
 making the steam, is to the singing tea- 
 kettle and the active locomotive, generosity 
 is to the human heart. We must learn to 
 give, to be unselfish, to think of others and. 
 live for them, and not only for ourselves, if 
 we wish to be truly happy and of any real 
 use in the world.
 
 44 LITTLE AND. WISE. 
 
 ' Are you not going to save a peach for 
 your little brother ? ' asked a lady of her 
 little girl when they were coming down from 
 a house which they had been visiting, and 
 in which the lady had given the child two 
 or three peaches. 
 
 ' yes, certainly, mamma,' replied the 
 little girl ; ' I mean to give him one. See, I 
 am saving the rotten one for Tommy.' 
 
 My dear children, do not try -to be mean or 
 selfish, for selfishness will eat into your very 
 soul, until it destroys all that is good there. 
 
 Be generous, be unselfish-, build your house 
 high up on this second layer in the rock; 
 this generosity. 
 
 You can take a little boy, andean dwarf, 
 him so that he will be always little, simply 
 by putting a heavy weight on his head, or 
 by making him exercise in a certain way at 
 a gymnasium. And just in the same way 
 "you can make a man's nature little, and his 
 heart no larger than a pigeon's egg, by 
 teaching him when a boy to be selfish and 
 mean.
 
 THE CONIES. . 45 
 
 Selfishness will crumble the foundation of 
 a man's character all away, b.t generosity 
 will give him a good strong layer to build on 
 
 III. 
 
 And then, LASTLY, there is Love. 
 "This is the highest, uppermost layer in 
 the rock in which we ought to build. Every- 
 thing that is good and fresh and fair in the 
 world is planted in love; just as the trees 
 and the flowers of the garden are planted in 
 the deep rick soil, and not in the thick 
 yellow clay. 
 
 Sometimes boys think that it isn't manly 
 to love, that love only belongs to women 
 and children, bat that men ought never to 
 be sorry, or shed a tear, or love a great deal ; 
 but this is one of the greatest mistakes in 
 the world. This is the reason why sisters are 
 more loved as a general rule than brothers, 
 because they "love more, in return. I know- 
 some boys who are ashamed to kiss their 
 father, because they think it is not manly, 
 and it shows a man is weak and hasn't any
 
 46 LITTLE AND WISE.^ 
 
 pluck. I suppose it is" because Judas be- 
 trayed our Itord with a kiss that people 
 think men can never love as much as women 
 can. But Judas wasn't a true man. He 
 "had no honour, generosity, or love. The 
 rock of his nature was rotten and crumbling. 
 His' kiss was deceit. 'But we ought all to e 
 willing to learn to'love. Jesus said that all 
 the teaching of the law and the prophets 
 hung upon love. And all true success in 
 life, all great results, depend upon this third 
 layer of character, love. 
 
 If we love our studies we shall not wish 
 . to stay avay from school ; ii; we love our 
 Sunday-school we shall always l)e promptly 
 in our places ;' if you love your parents you 
 will wish not to give them pain and trouble) 
 by disobeying them, or by hurting theii 
 feelings in any way. 
 
 If you love God, you will keep His com- 
 mandments ; .if you really love your Saviour, 
 you will try to do all you honestly can to 
 be His sincere servant. 
 
 You krfbw, - everything depends upon
 
 THE CONIES. 47 
 
 getting at the right souree and spring, and 
 fountain-head of motion. A -musical box 
 will not play until you start the slide and 
 let the wound-up . tune begin to work itself 
 off. A spring-gun will not go off until the 
 trigger is pulled in the right way. Sick- 
 ness cannot be cured until the right medicine 
 'goes to the right spot. When the Israelites 
 first were le(J out of .Egypt, they came to 
 some water in the desert, which they were 
 thirsting for, but they found they couH not 
 drink it. It was bitfcer, and they called it 
 Marah. Then, when they complained aboul 
 it, and began to rebel, God told Moses tc 
 cut down a certain tree, and throw it' into 
 the water, and it would make the watei 
 sweet. 
 
 Well, just in the same way,, having love 
 in our hearts is like going to the source of 
 the stream, and making it. all sweet and 
 pure. Love is the great spring and source 
 of activity, because we generally do what 
 we love to do ; and thus, whether it is for 
 sin or for goodness, love is the highesf
 
 .48 LITTLE AXD WISE. 
 
 motive that we can ever have. Be wise, 
 then-, even, if you are little, and build your 
 house on this last and strongest of sell the 
 layers in the rock, this common but all- 
 powerful motive of love. 
 
 ' 
 Now, then, dear children, remember these 
 
 three habits, these three layers in the rock 
 of our character, upon which we are to 
 build, just as the cony, who is little, but is 
 wise 'in the foundation he makes, builds his 
 house firmly and safely on the rpcks. 
 
 Then when temptations come, and we are 
 in danger of losing all thought of God and 
 the hereafter, we -shall be, by God's grace, 
 like the wise man w.ho built his house upon 
 the rock ; and so we shall be safe for ever !
 
 Ill 
 
 THE LOCUSTS.
 
 BWAEM OF IX)CTJSTS.
 
 THE LOCUSTS. 
 
 'There be four things which are. little upfch the 
 earth, but they are exceeding wise : . . . the ' 
 locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them 
 f>y bands.' PROVERBS xxx. 24, 27. 
 
 N.OW we come-to tlie locusts, 
 It doesn't seem at first, sight as if 
 these locusts could teach us very much or 
 as if we should find any particular lesson in 
 this text, ' The locusts have no king, yet go 
 they forth all of them- by bands.' It looks 
 at first like a hard .lesson, out of which we 
 cannot squeeze any .juice. But let us see if' 
 - there is not a sermon here for us all. 
 
 But, first, I .want to tell you something 
 about these locusts. You know we read 
 about them many times in the Bible. When 
 the plagues came to Pharaoh and the 
 Egyptians, one of them was a plague of 
 locusts. They came by thousands. In and 
 out of the rooms, on the food and on the 
 
 D2
 
 52 LITTLE AND WISE. 
 
 tables and beds, wherever people went, there 
 were the wretched locusts ! They would 
 eat up everything they could find, and even 
 devour the woo'd-work of houses, as we 
 read .in the tenth chapter of Exodus. In 
 the book of the prophet Joel- we read some- 
 thing more about them. There they are 
 compared to an army of men making a 
 great noise in their flight. We are told 
 that John the Baptist ate locusts and wild 
 honey. It is supposed that the locusts were 
 ground up with flour and made into cakes, 
 and salted, and cooked over a fire, as the 
 .poor people of the. East used to cook them. 
 And in the Book of the .Revelation we read 
 about locusts, T\there they are compared to 
 the evil .spirits under Satan. 
 
 But in this text of ours they are described 
 as going forth by- bands without any leader 
 or king* Now, if you watch a long string 
 of wild fowl sailing along the coast to the 
 south in autumn, you wilj. find that the old 
 birds head the bunch, and that generally 
 some one is leader. Or il you study the
 
 THE LOCUSTS.^ 63 
 
 habits and ways of sheep, you will find that 
 a great herd of them, runfling along the 
 road, are sure to Jbe following some old ram, 
 the head of the line, and the major-general 
 of them all. But we are told that. these 
 locusts do not follow a king, but go in 
 bands. They fly as it were in. a hollow 
 square, and each seems to know where they 
 are all going. A gentleman who watched 
 these locusts in Persia and Syria says that 
 when he saw them coming, it was like the 
 most furious hailstorm that we can imagine. 
 He says their flight was slow and uniform ; 
 that their noise resembled that of rain ; 
 and that the sky was darkened, and the 
 light of the sun considerably weakened. In 
 a moment the terraces of the houses, the 
 streets, and all the fields were covered by* 
 these insects, and in two days they had 
 devoured nearly all the leaves of the plants. 
 And now that we. know a little about these 
 Eastern locusts, of which our- text tells us, 
 and can think of them as being large^r, and 
 coming in^ greater "quantities, than we ever
 
 54 LITTLE AND WISE. 
 
 see in this country, I want to tell you what 
 the subject is that we are going to talk 
 about. It is this : ' Self-control is better 
 than obedience ! ' Now then let us find out 
 what self-control is, and what obedience is, 
 and draw these two lessons, 
 
 1st. Every one must know for himself, 
 2nd. Every one must act for himself.
 
 THE LOCUSTS. 55 
 
 Every one must know for himself. 
 
 These locusts have no one to guide them, 
 and no king or ruler over them, and yet 
 they know what to do; and they all mote 
 just as if the millions of them were only one 
 great locust. God has taught them by 
 instinct' how they are to fly, and which way . 
 they a're to turn, and they don't- need any 
 one to explain it to -them. And just so it 
 is with bees in their wonderful instinct for 
 hiving. They go out on excursions far 
 away from their hives, or their homes in 
 the bee-trees, and yet they never get lost ; 
 they always find their way back, and they go 
 so straight that people call the straightest 
 line a bee line. 
 
 And the conscience within us is just like 
 the instinct of these locusts and bees ; but 
 we have to learn for ourselves, and think for 
 ourselves, and act for ourselves from what 
 we know. Animals never go to school to 
 learn anything, except perhaps some trained
 
 56 LITTLE AND WISE. 
 
 animals- like jumping dogs and bears and 
 acting canary birds. To think of animals 
 learning and studying always makes us 
 laugh : we read such things in story books 
 and fables and pictu^je books for the nursery. 
 But we have- to learn almost everything. 
 Sopn you will be out in life for' yourself, 
 Then you will not have your father and 
 mother to lean on, but you will have to 
 think and act for yourself. You will go 
 forth in bands, in the company of others, 
 without any king or guide but your con- 
 science within you and God above you ; and 
 then you will have to act for yourself ; you 
 will not be able to turn to your parents for 
 their advice that you may do what they say. 
 
 Self-control is like a man walking along 
 the road himself. Obedience -is like a horse 
 walking with a bit in his mouth. Self- 
 control is obedience to God's law ; and it is 
 an excellent kind of obedience. If we do 
 what is right ourselves because we know it 
 is right, it is better than always waiting to' 
 be told what we ought to do.
 
 THE LOCUSTS. 57 
 
 Let me tell you story of a little fellow 
 whose presence of mind and self-control were 
 much better than the habit of waiting to 
 be told what he was to do. It was in the 
 streets of the town of Weser in Germany 
 that this event happened. He was playing 
 one day with his sister, four years old, -who 
 was alarmed by the cry of some men who 
 were in pursuit of a mad dog. The boy, 
 looking around, saw the dog running toward 
 him ; and, instead of making his escape, he 
 took off his coat, and wrapped it round his 
 arm. He then faced the dog, holding out 
 the arm covered with the coat ; and the dog 
 attacked the coat, and worried it until the 
 men came up and killed him. The men 
 asked the boy why he did not run and 
 avoid the dog, which he could so easily 
 have done. * Yes/ said the little hero. ' I 
 could have run. from the! dog, but if I had, 
 he would have bitten my little sister ; so, a's 
 I couldn't run away from her, I gave -him 
 my coat, that he might tear it ! ' There was 
 a little fellow whose self-control and presence
 
 58 LITTLE AND WISE. 
 
 of mind "were better than any obedience. If 
 he had waited for his father or some one to 
 tell him what to do, would he have. sav,ed 
 his .little sister ? No, indeed ! That boy, 
 like^the locust^, had no king ; but he knew 
 how to govern himself ! 
 
 We must all learn to know for ourselves. 
 As the light "of the sun comes into our 
 dwellings and our churches through the 
 window panes, so the light of truth must 
 come into our souls. Conscience is just like 
 the jury in a law-case. First one side gives 
 its view, and then the other, and at last the 
 jurymen go out to settle the matter, and 
 bring in the verdict to the judge. And we 
 must learn to know and judge for ourselves. 
 Some time ago there was a boy who burned 
 down his%iother's barn, because she would 
 not let him go skating with the other boys. 
 When the police heard of it, they arrested 
 him, and he said, ' My mother has forgiven 
 me, and I 'm very sorry for what I 've done.' 
 ' yes,' said the officers ; .' that may be, but 
 the State has not forgiven you ; you have to
 
 THE LOCUSTS. 59' 
 
 be tried by the State yet.' That boy did not- 
 know that when he sinned 'against his 
 mother he sinned against the State. So we 
 ought all to know that when we sin against 
 ur parents and our friends and those about 
 us, we sin against Grod ; we must all know 
 these things, each one for himself. Let me 
 tell you' a story about a little girl who forgot 
 this. 
 
 Whether it was the sun streaming into 
 the room, or the robin that sang so loudly 
 in the apple-tree that did it, Jessie was 
 waked up uncommonly early. She sat up 
 'in bed, tossed back her hair, and gazed out 
 over the garden and the fields, and away to 
 the hills. It was all so fragrant and so fair 
 that Jessie herself felt bright and sweet. 
 
 ' O, I 'm going to be just so good to-day ! ' 
 and the little girl smacked her lips as if she 
 had been going to eat a ripe, peach. She 
 would do everything exactly right all day, 
 like that little girl in her Sunday-school 
 book. So, to begin with, she dressed her- 
 self all alone. She wasn't going .to trouble
 
 60 LITTLE AND WISE. 
 
 
 
 anybody; not if it did stretch, her little arms' 
 to button her own frock. 
 
 ' Now I'll surprise mother with a fresh 
 vase on the breakfast table,' thought Jessie. ' 
 
 If you could have seen her 'flitting like .a, 
 humming bird from one bed of flowers to 
 another, you could almost have read on her 
 face the happy thoughts of her heart. 
 
 '0, won't mother be pleased when she 
 sees this ! And then I '11 tend the baby and 
 keep him as still as a mouse, and I '11 be 
 pleasant to Hal, if he does tease me half out 
 of my senses. Then I '11 be ready in good 
 time for school, and won't I be as good as a 
 ' kitten, and get to the head of the class ! 
 Miss Bell will be glad, and will give me a 
 ten, and I will go with that Susan Jones 
 that nobody speaks to. Then I'll have 
 father's dressing gown and slippers for him 
 when he comes home to night, and mother 
 will tell him what a comfort Jessie has 
 been. 
 
 '.Now, if. I could only reach those roses, 
 my bouquat would be perfect ! ' So up she
 
 THE LOCUSTS. 61 ' 
 
 climbed on the trellis, and broke the highest 
 spray of the prairie rose. It was hard for 
 her to get up, and harder to get down, with 
 both hands full of flowers ; and she pre- 
 sently - t found herself landed flat . on the 
 ground. The fall hurt her a little, but she 
 tried not to mind it, and walked up the 
 path ? thinking how brave and patient she 
 was not to cry. 
 
 Jessie met her mother in the porch. . But 
 poor Jessie ! Instead of the cry of delight she 
 expected, she heard in tones of displeasure, 
 
 ' Why, my child, how- could you get so 
 be-draggled and dirty so early in the morn- . 
 ing.? I should think you had drenched 
 yourself in the dew, and then rolled in the 
 path. Your pretty clean frock is fit for no- 
 thing but the wash. You may go and put 
 on your brown one.' 
 
 Now Jessie hated her brown dress, and 
 she was ready to cry for bitter disappoint- 
 ment as she went to her room, dressed her-. 
 self, and came down late to breakfast. Her 
 roses and pinks were wilting in the porch..
 
 62 JLITTLE AtfD WISE. 
 
 She had no heart to take care' of them now. 
 But when her father bade her good morn- 
 ing, and said, quite Soberly,, * Our Jessie 
 must try to get up in better time,' she felt 
 it was more than she could bear. She could 
 not tell him that she had been up an hour, 
 trying to prepare a pleasure for them all, 
 and resolving to be the best of all good 
 girls. Still she was not quite discouraged. 
 After breakfast she took little Dick from 
 the floor, and began to rock him in her arms. 
 But somehow the little fellow began at once 
 to scream, and Bridget came to the door, 
 calling out, 
 
 ' Indade, Miss Jissie, ye shouldn't be after 
 botherin' that babby ! * 
 
 Just at this moment Jessie caught sight 
 of Hal tying a United States -flag to the tail 
 of her cat. Now the child could bear any- 
 thing better than an insult to her puss, and 
 she cried, 
 
 'Now, Hal, I think you should be 
 ashamed, big boy as you are, to be teasing 
 a poor little cat. Kitty, kitty, kitty ! ' -' .
 
 THE LOCUSTS. C3 
 
 1 Pshaw, Jessie ! it doesn't hurt her ; 
 every cat ought to show her colours.' 
 
 ' My cat needn't.' 
 
 * Then she 's an old traitor.' 
 : ' She isn't a traitor ! ' cried Jessie, stamp- 
 ing her little foot, with flashing eyes. 
 ' She 's a patriot! .1 think you are a traitor 
 and a rebel, and a cruel, naughty boy ! ' 
 
 ' Why, sweetie, don't " let your angry 
 passions rise"!' exclaimed Hal, with pro- 
 voking coolness. 
 
 Poor Jessie dashed off to her own rodm, 
 hid her face in her pillow, and cried as if 
 her heart would break. After all her. reso- 
 lutions, and her efforts, she had displeased 
 her father .and mother, made the baby cry, 
 and. got very angry with Hal. She felt as 
 if it was of no use to try to be good. In- 
 stead of getting any credit for it, she was 
 blamed more than ever. 
 
 The trouble was that Jessie had tried to 
 please everybody but the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 She had been in such a hurry to be good, 
 that she had forgotten the only Friend Who ;
 
 64 LITTLE AND WISE. 
 
 could make- her so. If she had thought 
 most of Him, and done everything for His 
 sake, she would not have been disappointed, 
 for He always knows just what we mean. 
 
 Now, rtfy dear children, remember this 
 first lesson from our subject, that self go-v- 
 ernment is better than obeying others. 
 
 Remember, first of all, every one of us 
 must govern himself rightly, must know for 
 himself. 
 
 II. 
 
 AND what comes next ? Why, when we 
 know what it is right for us to do, then we 
 ought always to do it. 
 
 The second lesson we learn is, that every 
 . one of us must act for himself. 
 
 After knowledge comes action. ' To him 
 that knoweth to do good and doeth it not,' 
 says the Bible, ' to him it is sin.* Our 
 Saviour, you. will remember, told His dis- 
 ciples at one time a parable about two sons. 
 The father said to one of them, ' Go, work to-
 
 THE LOCUSTS. 65 
 
 day in my vineyard^' and he said, ' I go, Sir,' 
 and went not. Then he told tlie other to 
 go, and he would not, but afterwards, when 
 he had more light and knew for himself, he 
 repented and went. In the one case the 
 good intention never, became a good action ; 
 in the other case the disobedience was 
 changed into repentance and obedience. 
 
 Let me tell you one' story more, and then 
 I shall have done. 
 
 Far down Maple Lane, in the little red 
 brick house by the mill, lived Gertrude. 
 White. She was a sweet little girl, about 
 nine years old. If she had a few freckles 
 on . her little round face, and was slightly 
 lame, it did not prevent her being a great 
 favourite with everybody in Cherry ville. 
 Gertrude had only one great trouble. Will 
 Evans would insist on calling her How- 
 head,' whenever they met. At- such times 
 ghe would pout, turn very red, and go home 
 to her mother, much discontented and out 
 of temper. Gertie's mother was a good 
 woman, a widow, supporting herself and two
 
 66 LITTLE AND WISE. 
 
 children by dressmaking. Nothing pleased 
 her so much as to see her children well- 
 behaved and exemplary. One day little 
 Gertrude came running home in much ex- 
 citement, and, tossing her little sun-bonnet 
 half across the room, said, in a burst of 
 anger, 'Mother, I can't bear this any 
 longer. Will Evans has called me " Old 
 Towhead " before all the girls, and bear 
 it I won't ! ' 
 
 'My daughter,' said the kind mother, 
 ' will you please bring me the Bible from 
 the table ? ' Gertrude silently obeyed her 
 mother. 
 
 1 Now will my little daughter read to me 
 the seventh verse of the fifty-third chapter 
 of Isaiah ? ' Slowly and softly the child 
 read how the blessed Saviour was afflicted 
 and oppressed, yet opened not His mouth. 
 She sighed as she said, 'Mother, do you 
 suppose they called Him names ? ' 
 
 Mrs. White placed her work upon the 
 table ; and, taking Gertrude upon her lap, 
 she read from the holy Book the passages
 
 THE LOCUSTS. 67 
 
 which speak of His being reviled but revil- 
 .ing not again. 
 
 Not many minutes passed before Ger- 
 trude's eyes were filled with tears and her 
 heart with (Jeep tenderness, as the sorrows 
 of the Son of God were brought before her 
 mind. 
 
 When she went to bed that night, she 
 asked of God that He would help her to. 
 bear with meekness the injuries and trials 
 of the world. He delights to answer such 
 petitions, and always will do so when they 
 are offered in faith and sincerity. 
 
 Not many days passed before Gertrude 
 met Will Evans going to school ; and, 
 remembering her prayer and the. resolution 
 she had formed, she actually smiled at him. 
 This was such a mystery to him that he 
 could not muster courage, to call after her, 
 if, indeed, he felt any inclination ; but he 
 watched her till she had turned the corner, 
 and then went to school in a very thought- 
 ful mood. Before another week had passed, 
 they met. again, and- Will at once asked 
 E2
 
 :LI ASKED GEBTEUDE'S FOSGIVEXESS. 
 
 See-pa
 
 THE LOCUSTS. .69 
 
 Gertrude's forgiveness for his unkindness 
 in calling her names. Gertrude was very 
 ready to forgive, and they soon became 
 friends, Will saying, - 1 used to like to see 
 you get cros's, but when you smiled, I 
 couldn't stand that.' Gertrude told Will of 
 her mother's kind conversation that after- 
 noon, and of its effects upon her ; meanwhile 
 Will did not reply, but his moistened eyes 
 showed what he felt, and he said he would 
 never call her names again. 
 
 And thus her Christian action conquered 
 him. 
 
 Now, my dear children, remember these 
 two lessons : if we wish to be true men and 
 women and rule ourselves, we must knew 
 what to do, every one for himself ; and we 
 must learn to act, every one for himself. 
 
 Remember this, ' Self-control is better than 
 obedience.' Remember the locusts who have 
 no king, no one to tell them what to do or to 
 guide them, and yet know when and where 
 and how they are to fly, each one for himself, 
 when ' they go forth all of them by bands.'
 
 70- LITTLE AXD WISE. 
 
 God wants every one of us to know His 
 will and His truth and to do it. He has 
 given us our reason and the Bible and the 
 conscience within us to govern us. And 
 " then Jesus will guide us and be our true 
 King to help us do what is right, if we pray- 
 to Him.. 
 
 He will guide us with His counsel here, 
 and, after that, will receive us to Himself 
 for ever.
 
 IV. 
 THE SPIDER.
 
 TH-E SPIDER. 
 
 4 There be four things which are little upon the 
 earth, but they are exceeding wise : the. 
 
 spider taketh hold with her hands, ajid is in kings' 
 palaces.' PROVERBS xxx. 24, 28. 
 
 f I iHIS is the last sermom about these 
 -4- little creatures who are "wise as well 
 as little. 
 
 First we had the ants, who are little but 
 are wise in working in the summer time ; 
 then we had the conies, who are little but 
 are wise in the foundations they made ; 
 then we had the locusts, who are little but 
 are wise in making self-control better than 
 obedience ; and now . we have the spider, 
 who is wise in aiming to build high ! 
 
 But, before proceeding further, I want to 
 tell you something about the spider, and then 
 show you that he is wise, FIRST, in working 
 with the hands God has given him, and, 
 SECONDLY, he is wise in working in the best
 
 74 LITTLE AND WISE. 
 
 ,vay and in. the best place. Now it would not 
 be right in me to go on any further without 
 first explaining to you that the word spider 
 here in this text means lizard *or crawling in- 
 sect. These creatures in warm countries 
 j3ome into the houses and into every part of 
 them. We know when the plagues were in 
 Egypt, they came into every place where they 
 could find ropm enough to crawl. Here, 
 you know, hi our own land, we can keep 
 bats and beetles and flying bugs- and flies 
 and mosquitoes out of our houses by having 
 wire netting stretched across the windows. 
 But even this will not answer sometimes, 
 and flies will bite us in the hot weather, 
 and mosquitoes will come singing around 
 us, making a noise through the mosquito 
 netting, and saying, 'Let me in let me. 
 in ! ' q,nd we are after all not very much 
 better off than the people who live in the 
 warm, tropical climates. 
 
 Well, I suppose this man Agur, who 
 wrote this chapter in the book of Proverbs, 
 might be sometimes in the king's palace,
 
 THE SPIDEE. 75 
 
 where the soldiers and the nobles and the 
 great men of the land were, and there he 
 might see some poor little lizard or spider 
 crawling up the wall, just as if it had been in 
 a barn, or as if the whole place had belonged 
 to it. So he made a note of it, and put it 
 here in this bundle of proverbs. 
 
 We all know how spiders come into our 
 parlours and- make their cobwebs in them. 
 We always think of them as having a par- 
 lour of their own, because we all remember 
 that little song : 
 
 ' Will you walk into my parlour ? 
 
 Said the spider to the fly : 
 'T is the prettiest littte parlour 
 That ever you did spy.' 
 
 And just as spiders now-a-days come into 
 the very best rooms of 6ur best houses and 
 make themselves perfectly at home there, so 
 in old times they used to come even into 
 the king's palaces, and go climbing up, and 
 spinning their webs just as we have often 
 seen them do. There are many kinds of 
 spiders, big and little, mild and fierce
 
 76 LITTLE AND W'SB. 
 
 spiders which are all body and no legs, and 
 spiders which are all legs and no body. 
 These last are old friends of ours ; we know 
 them by the old familiar name of daddy- 
 long-legs. They look in the distance like 
 boys playing at football ; you see a round 
 ball in the middle and nothing but legs 
 kicking out on all sides of it. But somebody 
 may say : ' Well, but this text speaks about 
 
 FOOT OF SPIDEE MAGNIFIED. 
 
 the spider's hands. We know spiders have 
 legs, plenty of them, but have they hands ? ' 
 Now if you take a spider's foreleg, which is 
 the same to it as a hand, and put it under 
 a microscope, you will find there little 
 fingers or claws, which are the same to the 
 spider as our thumb and forefinger are to 
 us. They help the spidar to take hold of his
 
 THE SPIDEE. 
 
 77 
 
 food, and finger his way to his web, just as 
 an ice-man takes hold of the ice with his 
 nippers, or as a dentist pulls out a tooth 
 with those ugly, black, rough-looking in- 
 struments, which are usually hidden away in 
 a drawer so that people cannot see them. 
 
 GABDEN SPIDER. 
 
 Another curious thing about the spider 
 is the power of spinning his web .out of his 
 own body. When we set to work to build 
 a house we have to get all the materials 
 together, the bricks and the mortar and the
 
 78 LITTLE AND WISE. 
 
 wood ; but the spider simply begins to spin, 
 and soon he has his house built. Then 
 think how convenient this habit is if he 
 falls. He just lets out a thread, which 
 takes hold of something standing out, and 
 down he comes, as easily as if he were in an 
 hotel elevator. Think how convenient this 
 power would be to us in case of a fire ! All 
 we should have to do would be to fasten a 
 web to the window, and come down, out- 
 side of the burning building. But these poor 
 spiders have their ups and downs, their 
 accidents and disasters, as we have ours. 
 They tremble when they see a chambermaid 
 with a. broom, for that always means death 
 to them. 
 
 I have been talking about the spider and 
 its habits, its joys and its sorrows : now let 
 me stop and see how it teaches us. What 
 then do we loarn from this text, ' The spider 
 taketh hold with her hands, and is in king's 
 palaces.'
 
 THE SPIDEK. 79- 
 
 I. 
 
 And, FIRST, I said the spider is wise in 
 working ivith the hands which God has given 
 him. 
 
 How many people there are who say, 
 ' J if I were only such a person ' ' if I 
 were only a rich man, or the President of 
 the -United States, or a grand duke, how 
 many good and great things I would do.' 
 
 But, my dear children, success, in life 
 depends upon .the way in which we use the 
 powers which God has given us, not in 
 waiting and wishing for more. 
 
 Many years ago in. Paris, there was a 
 little boy named Cffisar Ducornet. He was 
 a bright, cheery, little soul, but he had a 
 terrible affliction. He was born without 
 hands and arms. How dreadful this was. 
 
 Many little children would think such a 
 trouble quite an excuse for being, not only 
 idle, but fretful; but little Csesar thought 
 quite differently. He determined to try to
 
 80 LITTLE AND WISE. 
 
 be content, and to make the best use he 
 could of the limbs which he had. ,He had 
 heard that some people cpuld use a pen 
 almost as well with their toes as with their 
 fingers ; and as he had always longed to be 
 able ta draw, he thought he would try if he 
 could not hold a pencil in the same way. 
 
 It must have felt very strange and . awk- 
 ward at first ; but Caesar was not to be 
 easily daunted ; and by degrees he grew 
 quite clever with his toes, and very much 
 . pleased he must have been when he had 
 finished his first drawing. And you must 
 not think that his pictures were only done 
 to amuse himself, and were worth nothing. 
 They were beautifully and carefully drawn, 
 so that nobody would ever -have guessed 
 that they were done by a little boy without 
 hands. 
 
 There was once a poor man in England 
 who was a cobbler. He lived at Ports- 
 mouth, and was very poor. He mended 
 shoes for a living. One day while he was
 
 THE SPIDER. 81 
 
 stitching away, he was seized with the 
 strong desire to do some work for his Lord 
 and Master. But what could he do ? He 
 had no money, and no position, and no in- 
 fluence, and he was a cripple. His name 
 was John Pounds.. Though he worked 
 hard, he could not make much of a living. 
 To add to his trials, he had the charge of 
 a little nephew, who was lame like himself. 
 As he could not afford to send him to 
 school, or to clothe him properly, he thought 
 he would bo his teacher. Then he said to 
 himself, ' I may as well have two scholars as 
 one ; ' and he asked the child of a very poor 
 woman to come to his shop ancl learn his 
 letters. The two little scholars got on so 
 well, that he invited a third, and a fourth ; 
 until, after a time, he had around him a class 
 of forty poor ragged children : and of these 
 about twelve were little girls. It must have 
 been a strange sight to see John Pounds in 
 the cobbler's shed, now knocking the sole of 
 a shoe, then hearing a boy repeat A, B, C ; 
 now stitching away with both his hands,
 
 82 LITTLE AND WISE. 
 
 and then teaching a child to repeat a text 
 of Scripture. Sometimes he would follow 
 a very poor boy in the streets and would 
 offer a roast potato to bribe him to his 
 school. 
 
 Was not John Pounds a happy man ? 
 To be sure he was. He was more happy 
 than many rich men ; for the smiling faces 
 of his scholars always filled him with joy. 
 And he was always so kind, and had such 
 cheerful and merry ways of teaching, that 
 the boys could not fail to be pleased and 
 improved. After their lessons were over, 
 he would sometimes lay down his lapstone, 
 and have a game with them. If they were 
 absent and ill, he visited and nursed them. 
 If they had no bread to eat, he spared a 
 few pence, and bought them food. He also 
 taught them to cook their food, and to mend 
 their clothes and old shoes. It is no wonder, 
 then, that they loved him very much. 
 
 See, then, w r hat one poor man could do ! 
 
 Work with the power which God has 
 given you. That is the first lesson we learn
 
 THE SPIDER. 83 
 
 from the diligent little spider who ' taketh 
 hold with her hands, and is in kings' 
 palaces.' 
 
 II. 
 
 Now comes the other lesson which we 
 learn from the spider : Work in the best way 
 and in the lest places. The spider likes 
 palaces ; he likes to get up to the ceiling. 
 To be sure he will spin his web in a barn, 
 and will throw out his net wherever he can, 
 but generally he likes to get pretty high up 
 in the parlour. In other words, he is an 
 ambitious little fellow, and I don't think 
 any of us can blame him for liking the best 
 rooms in a house. 
 
 Let me tell you a story about a little boy 
 who took hold with his hands, and by work- 
 ing in the best way and in the best places 
 that he knew of literally came to be in 
 kings' palaces. 
 
 A great many years ago in the little town 
 of Cortona, in Italy, there were two play- 
 mates, children of peasants, named Pietro 
 
 F2
 
 84 LITTLE AND WISE. 
 
 and Tliomasso. But we will call them by 
 their English names Peter and Thomas. 
 
 Thomas was taken to Florence, and be- 
 came page or servant to a very rich cardinal 
 who lived there in a magnificent palace. 
 Little Peter missed his playmate very much. 
 He used to wonder what Thomas was 
 doing, and how he was getting on, as he 
 watched the sheep in his master's field. At 
 last he made up his mind to go to Florence, 
 and hunt up his old friend, and see if he 
 himself could not study in some way and 
 become a painter, because he was very fond 
 of drawing, and seemed to have a great 
 turn for it. He thought that if he could 
 only get there, he should be able to learn to 
 draw, and to become an artist too ; and this 
 was his great desire. 
 
 The journey was one of great difficulty; 
 but when that was over, and he found him- 
 self in Florence, his first thought was to find 
 the great house where his little friend lived. 
 At last he was at the door ; and, after he 
 had waited a little while, Thomas appeared.
 
 86 LITTLE AND WISE. 
 
 He was very much surprised, and greatly 
 pleased, to see his old playmate, and led him 
 up to the little garret where he slept, that 
 they might have a little chat, and settle 
 their plans. 
 
 It was soon agreed that as Thomas had 
 plenty to eat, and Peter had nothing, they 
 should divide the food ; and that as the bed 
 would hold two, they should sleep together ; 
 and both looked forward to many happy 
 hours in their little garret home. 
 
 The next thing to be done was to get 
 pencils and paper for his drawings; but 
 how that was to be done was not so easily 
 settled. Neither of them had any money, 
 or any chance of getting money, and little 
 Peter's face grew rather long at this disap- 
 pointment. Must he really give up all hopes 
 of becoming a painter and a great man ? 
 Must he go back to his sheep in the old vil- 
 lage of Cortona, and give up all his fine plans 
 when they seemed so near being fulfilled ? 
 
 No; little Thomas had thought of another 
 plan. The walls of the garret were white,
 
 THE SPIDBE. 87 
 
 and would do instead of paper ; and if lie 
 could not buy pencils for his friend, lie 
 could get him plenty of charcoal ; and since 
 nothing better could be got, the little artist 
 was soon hard at work with these rough 
 materials. The little garret was soon covered 
 with his sketches ; and soon Thomas had 
 managed to obtain a small sum of money, 
 and to buy for Peter the long wished-for 
 paper and pencils. 
 
 With these he set vigorously to work. 
 Every morning as soon as it was light, he 
 stole down from his little room into the 
 street, and went from one church to another: 
 for you know that in the Roman Catholic 
 churches of Italy there are very many 
 beautiful pictures ; and it was on purpose 
 to copy these that little Peter had come to 
 Florence. Now many of the paintings had 
 been done by some of the greatest artists 
 that ever lived ; and yet this little fellow, 
 who had never drawn at all, except with 
 charcoal on the white walls of his garret, 
 was not afraid to try to copy them.
 
 OS LITTLE AND WISE. 
 
 All the day he spent in this manner ; and 
 when night came, he trotted back to his 
 little friend, qnite happy and quite ready 
 for his supper, which Thomas always took 
 care to have ready for him ; and thus day 
 after day passed merrily and busily with the 
 two little boys. 
 
 At last their secret was discovered. The 
 cardinal who was Thomas's master had de- 
 termined to have this palace repaired and 
 improved ; and it happened that one day, 
 when he was going over it with the builder, 
 he visited the very highest rooms in the 
 house, and at last came to the little garret 
 where Peter and Thomas slept. The room 
 was quite empty ; for Peter was out in the 
 town, and Thomas was down in the kitchen. 
 But the drawings on the wall at once 
 caught the cardinal's eye. They were not 
 the rough charcoal sketches which Peter 
 had first made ; those had been rubbed out 
 long ago ; and now there were many beauti- 
 f al drawings, which showed that a clever 
 little artist had been there. I suppose no
 
 THE SPIDEE. 89 
 
 one in the house had ever heard of Peter. 
 Certainly the cardinal had not, who thought 
 that it was his servant Thomas who had 
 thus ornamented his room. He sent for 
 him that he might tell him how much he 
 admired his works ; and when he heard from 
 him the history of his little friend, how he 
 had longed to become a painter, how hard 
 he had worked to learn to draw, and how 
 he had lived in that house for two whole 
 years, he wished very much to see him and 
 talk to him himself. 
 
 ' When he comes home to-night, you may 
 bring him to me,' he said to Thomas, who 
 was delighted to find that the drawings of 
 his dear Peter were admired by such a great 
 personage as his master, who was so clever 
 and so learned. The evening came, but no 
 Peter appeared ; he had run away. Day 
 after day passed, and nothing was heard of 
 him, till Thomas began to think something 
 dreadful had happened to him. 
 
 At last he was discovered at an old con- 
 vent, where he had made friends with the
 
 90 LITTLE AND WISE. 
 
 monks, and obtained their leave to copy a 
 picture winch was in their chapel. He was 
 brought back to the palace and presented to 
 the cardinal, who received him most kindly, 
 and a little while after, to his great delight, 
 placed him under the care of one of the best 
 Italian artists. 
 
 I dare say he often thought, when he was 
 grown up and had become a great and clever 
 painter, of the days passed in that little 
 garret at the top of the cardinal's palace, 
 and of his first attempt to draw on the white 
 wall with a piece of charcoal; and very 
 glad he must have been that he had not 
 been discouraged by all his difficulties, but 
 had persevered till success came; till by 
 taking hold with his hands he was in kings' 
 palaces. 
 
 My dear children, try to remember these 
 two lessons about the industrious little 
 spider, who is so busy and so ambitious and 
 so persevering. Remember, it is always 
 right to be busy and persevering and am- 
 bitious in a right cause. We must be ir
 
 THE SPIDEE. 91 
 
 earnest to be Christians and to do right, if 
 God's blessing is to rest upon us. 
 
 Remember what King Solomon said, 
 ' Seest thou a man diligent in business ? he 
 shall stand before kings.' Let us be wise 
 in working with the powers which God has 
 given us ; let us not waste time in wishing 
 we were like other people ; and let us be 
 wise in working in the very best way we 
 know how, and in doing well whatever we 
 undertake to do. 
 
 And this finishes the sermons about these 
 four little creatures, who are wise as well 
 as little. 
 
 First, you know, we had the ants, 'A 
 people not strong, but who prepare their 
 food in the summer.' 
 
 We had three lessons from the ants. 
 
 1st. From what the ants are. 
 
 2nd. From what the ants do. 
 
 3rd. From the time in which they do it. 
 
 Then the next Sermon was about the 
 conies, who are a feeble folk, and yet build, 
 their houses upon the rock.
 
 92 LITTLE AND WISE. 
 
 You know, in that sermon I talked about 
 the different layers in the rocks, and I said 
 we ought to have three layers in our char- 
 acters, if we wanted to be good and true 
 men and women : and these three layers 
 are 
 
 1st. Honour. 
 
 2nd. Generosity. 
 
 3rd. Love. 
 
 Then the third Sermon was about the lo- 
 custs, who have no king, and yet go forth all 
 of them by bands. I said, you will remember, 
 that the locusts taught us the great truth 
 that self-control is better than obedience, 
 and we drew from it two lessons : 
 
 1st. That every one must tldnl; for himself! 
 and 
 
 2nd. That ever oney must act for himself. 
 
 And now we learn from the spider, who 
 taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings' 
 palaces, that every one of us must work with 
 the powers God has given us ; and that we 
 should work in the very lest way wo know of 
 and in the very best places.
 
 THE SPIDER. 93 
 
 Think of this lesson every time you see a 
 poor little spider climbing up a wall to find 
 the best place he can in which to spin his 
 web. Think how much better your hands 
 and your brains and your whole life are 
 than the spider's. Think how hard-work- 
 ing and persevering and ambitious these 
 little creatures #re, and then try at home, in 
 the Sunday school, in the day school, to be 
 the very best children and scholars and 
 Christians you can ; and thus you will be 
 happy in climbing up into the bright places 
 in which God wishes to place you. Just 
 think, then, what a great lesson you owe to 
 the little spider ! 
 
 Remember this sermon about the spider, 
 and remember all these little creatures who 
 are wise as well as little ; and may God help 
 you all to be wise. For, as King Solomon 
 says, ' Wisdom is the principal thing, there- 
 fore get wisdom, and with all thy getting 
 get understanding. Happy is the man that 
 findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth 
 understanding ; for the merchandise of it is
 
 94 LITTLE AND WISE. 
 
 better than the merchandise of silver, and 
 the gain thereof than fine gold. She is 
 more precious than rubies : and all the 
 things thou canst desire are not to be com- 
 pared unto her. Length of days is in her 
 right hand ; and in her left hand riches and 
 honour. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, 
 and all her paths are peace.' 
 
 BATMAN BEOS. AND LILLY, FAEBINGDON EOAD, E.G.
 
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