A branch that overhung the water
Once James heard a letter read that had come from an island on the other side of the world. It told of the sorrows and cruelties that savages have to bear. He was touched. The stories of hardship made him wish to do and dare all that the writer of the letter had dared. The stories of sorrow made him long to help. He said to himself that he too would go when he became a man.
But soon he forgot all about that, and thought only of how much fun he could get as the days passed.
As he grew older he became very wild. He could not bear to meet any one who might urge him to live a better life.
He entered a lawyer’s office, but the work did not interest him, and he filled his free time with all kinds of pranks, so that soon he was blamed for any mischief that was on foot in the town.
He was the leader of the wildest boys in Inveraray, but he himself was led only by his whims and the fancy of the moment. Until one day he found his own leader, who made work and play more interesting and delightful than they had ever been before.
James found that his life was not aimless any longer. It was full of one great wish—the wish to serve his hero, Jesus Christ.
Then he thought of his old longing to go and help those who were in pain and sorrow far away from Scotland.
It was not only because he was sorry for them, and because he wished to do the brave and daring things that others had done. These thoughts still drew him on. But far more than these, the love he had for his newly found Master made him wish to go.