THE bell for study to cease, rang a full hour earlier than usual. Mr. Monks requested the school to give him their attention, in a voice so very sad as to awaken the liveliest sympathy.
He opened the large Bible, and turning to the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians, read to them Paul's exhortation to Charity.
When he came to the words:
"Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not, charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up," he stopped, and after a moment of painful hesitation said:
"I wish every one of you would ask, 'Have I such charity toward my school-mate as this? Have I suffered long? Have I been really anxious to believe the best? Have my thoughts of him been kind, forbearing, and gentle; or have I been easily provoked, ready to believe the worst? Have I, out of envy of his rich gifts, been pleased with the idea of his falling into temptation? Have I vaunted myself, thinking I could never have so disgraced my character? Have I been puffed up with a belief of my own goodness?"
"Paul here says: 'Charity never faileth.' Has my charity failed? Have I thought and hoped for the best, or the worst, of him whom I have called friend? If it has failed, remember, unless you speedily repent, even though you bestow all your goods to feed the poor, or give your body to be burned, it will avail you nothing, in the solemn day when you will be judged according to your deeds."
He stopped a moment, and covered his eyes with his hand. Presently in a broken voice he went on:
"I am going to give you an account of a few months in my early life. You will condemn me, but not half as much as I do myself. If the recital will teach you to be more forbearing, to think no evil of your neighbors, to hope for the best, to rejoice not in iniquity, but to rejoice in good, then I shall be willing to endure the pain."
"I once had a brother. He was all that a brother could be: noble, brave, generous, loving, faithful; aye, even till death. We loved each other as few boys love; and when I, who was the oldest by eleven months, entered a store as book-keeper, I was not happy until he joined me in learning to be a merchant. I was called grave; and he was mirthful. I heard my employers praise him. I saw them watch his active, pleased endeavors to be useful, and the serpent of suspicion began to steal into my breast. At last one of the clerks left, and Arthur was promoted to a position higher than my own. At least, I thought so at the time."
"Then came all the workings of an uncharitable heart. I was unkind to my brother; I envied him his power of gaining the good will of others; I vaunted myself on my own talents; I said I was older and better fitted than he; I puffed myself up in my own goodness; I was easily provoked; I thought the worst of him; I did not hope for the best."