“Poor old Mrs. Crane, she is almost bent double with age, and hard work it is for her to draw up water from her well. She is a good old woman, Mrs. Crane, and was always ready to help others before she grew so feeble. I’ll have time, before I set out for school, to draw up a pail of water and carry it to her door. Won’t it be a nice surprise to her, when she comes out to draw, to find the water all ready! Old age is her burden—I can help her a little to bear it.”
David was soon off to the well. He let down the bucket and filled it; and as he turned the windlass to raise it again, a very sweet thought came into the mind of the boy. “Our Lord asked the woman of Samaria to draw water for Him, and she did not do it; yet what an honour it would have been to her—had she been a queen—to have drawn water for the Son of God! Now the Lord said, Inasmuch as ye did it unto the least of these my brethren, ye did it unto Me;” so I really am doing what the woman would not do,—I am drawing water for the blessed Saviour; for I am sure that Mrs. Crane is His servant, and so, working for her, I am working for Him.”
The boy cheerfully placed the pail of water at the door of Mrs. Crane, and soon after set out for school, carrying with him his dinner of bread and cheese, wrapped up in a bit of brown paper. “I am glad that I have done one little kind act to-day,” thought David; “but it does not seem very likely that I shall be able to do any other.”
He very soon found that he was wrong. There are so many burdens, great and small, in the world, that even a child who is on the look-out for an opportunity of doing good, will not wait long before he find one.
David overtook on the road little Steeney Clark, who was slowly walking towards school.
“Good morning, Steeney,” cried David. “Why do you look so dull and sad?”
“’Cause I’m sure Mr. Day will punish me again,” answered the poor dull boy, who was always getting into trouble with the master at his school. “I didn’t know my lesson yesterday, I don’t know it to-day, I don’t think as I ever shall know it!” and the boy rubbed his forehead hard, as if he fancied that he could make his wits brighter by rubbing.
“Let’s see what you have to learn,” said David. “Maybe if you and I go over it together as we walk along, you may understand it a bit better. Pluck up a brave heart, Steeney. You know ‘perseverance conquers difficulties,’ and ‘slow and steady wins the race.’”
It was very cheering to poor Steeney to have some one to help and encourage him, instead of laughing at his natural dulness. David was one of the sharpest boys in the school, but he did not despise his poor young companion for not being so clever as himself. As the two walked on together, David explained all the difficulties of the lesson so clearly to Steeney, that the dull face of the boy brightened. He was able at last to master the task—he would not be set down as a hopeless dunce by his master. David entered the school-room feeling very happy. He had helped a fellow-creature again to bear a burden.
“How pale Mr. Day looks,” thought David, as the schoolmaster stood up behind his desk and rapped with the ruler to command silence. Mr. Day was not a great favourite with the boys, for he was sometimes severe, and easily put out of temper. The truth was that his work was too much for him, as any one might have seen by looking at his thin worn face with its deep furrow between the brows. Mr. Day would have liked David for his quickness in learning, but for the trouble which he gave by his love of frolic and fun; for David was a very merry boy, and could scarcely keep quiet in school-time. He would drum on a desk, or kick on the floor, and set the other boys laughing. David had never seen much harm in this, though it had often brought him into a scrape with the master; but it struck him this day for the first time that it was not fair to a tired hard-worked master to add to the labour of teaching.