He evidently enjoyed doing the honors of his half pew, but there was a deeper and better motive under that; the soul that has heard its own “call” is eager that other souls should hear, too.
CHAPTER XV.
MORE CHANCES.
Perhaps, if you had seen Johnny starting for school on a certain Thursday of which I mean to tell you, you would have thought that somebody was imposing on his good nature, for he carried in his book-strap a very large bundle, so large, that there was scarcely room enough left in the strap for his geography and arithmetic. But a glance at his face would have told you that he did not feel in the least “put upon,” for he looked very well satisfied, and ran back, when he reached the gate, to give his mother an extra kiss.
The bundle contained a great deal of sewing for a woman in whom Mrs. Leslie was interested, and it meant that Johnny was to be trusted to go quite alone to this woman’s home, which was a long way from his own, and near the park. He was to go after school, and when he had done his errand, he was to be allowed to go to the park, and watch a base-ball match which was to take place that afternoon, until it should be time to come home to tea. And this was not all. By way of saving precious time, he was to take his dinner to school with him, and eat it at the noon recess, and there it was in Tiny’s new straw basket—three sandwiches, two hard-boiled eggs, with a little paper of salt, a very large and a middling-sized piece of gingerbread, and a slice of yesterday’s “queen of puddings.”
“You’d better save a sandwich and the gingerbread to eat at the park,” said Mrs. Leslie, as she packed this delightful dinner, “you can wrap them in this nice piece of paper—see, it is that large brown envelope in which my handkerchiefs came—for it will not be best to take Tiny’s basket with you, you might so easily lose it. You can leave it in your desk, and bring it home to-morrow. And be sure to ask somebody what time it is, as soon as the sun is down to the tops of the trees in the park—you can see them quite well from the base-ball ground, you know—and don’t stay later than half past five, dear.
“All right, mamma,” said Johnny, cheerfully, “what a jolly dinner! I hope I shan’t be too hungry at twelve to save the cake and sandwich, but I don’t know!”