"He was young, and he killed a giant with a stone from his sling," said Ray, desperately; "that's all I know about him, and Mr. Carleton told me that."
A general laugh followed.
"Boys," said Miss Squire, earnestly, "if any of you had lived where you never heard who was president of the United States, would you want to be laughed at for your ignorance? Ray, unfortunately, has not been as favored as you, but he is braver than you all in one respect. He is not ashamed to let us know he is ignorant. In that very fact we have the assurance that if he has the opportunity he will not refuse to learn."
Then noticing that Ray had neither lesson-leaf nor Bible, she handed her own Bible—an Oxford Teachers', with flexible covers—over to him, saying:
"Here, Ray, take this, and use it until you get another."
"Do you mean, take that home with me?" he asked, in astonishment.
"Yes," she replied, "if you will agree to read some in it every day, and then come here Sundays, and ask me about what you do not understand."
Ray hesitated for a moment, but those earnest eyes looked with perfect confidence into his own, as she added:
"I know if you will only promise me that, not one of my boys here will more surely keep his word."
Then Ray saw his mother on her bed of sickness, and heard her saying again: "I wish you would go every Sunday, Ray." And reaching out his hand, he put it into hers, saying, "I promise."