A Little Boy, Not More Than Eleven Or Twelve ...

A little boy, not more than eleven or twelve years of age, somewhat delicate in health, and rather backward, once went to a large boarding school. The first night that he slept there, when they came to go to bed, he glanced timidly round the room to see what other boys were doing, and then he saw how first one and then another got into bed without saying their prayers. And then it came into his head that he should look singular if he knelt down and said them, and that after all he might just as well say them in bed; and Satan whispered that if we pray with all our heart it does not matter how or where we say our prayers, or whether we kneel or not. But just as he was hesitating there flashed into his mind those words of our dear Lord, "Whosoever therefore shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father which is in heaven" (Matt. 10:33). And so, after a short, sharp struggle, he took courage and knelt down. Then there arose such a shouting and howling, such a volley of oaths, such a tempest of sounds as might well have daunted a brave man, much more a weak and timid boy. But he held his ground. Shoes, slippers, anything and everything that they could lay hands on, were thrown at him; he was reviled, and mocked, and threatened. And so it went on night after night; as soon as he knelt down the room was in an uproar, the same insults and injuries were heaped upon him. But he bravely and quietly held on. Wherever he went among his school-fellows he was jeered at as "the boy who said his prayers." At last, however, by degrees first one and then another of his school-fellows began to take his part; then they began to follow his example, and to kneel down and say theirs. And soon they all did. The good example of one brave boy changed the practice of the whole school.