On a blustery, stormy, winter day, at the broad intersection on a busy trunk highway, I noticed a man standing near the side of the road. I was on my way home for lunch. The next day he was there again at the same place, and the next day, and for days following. Blizzards came, with cold weather, sleet, and snow, but he was there. In the pouring rain, I saw him there with his raincoat and umbrella. On days when the skies were clear and the sun shining, he kept his vigil there on the busy highway at noon hour. I wondered just why he might be there.
Then one day my curiosity was satisfied—I found out why he waited there by the busy thoroughfare in all kinds of weather, at midday. He had a little daughter about seven years old who was going to school. She had to cross this highway just at the brow of a hill. There was a constant stream of cars, trucks, and busses going both ways. The father knew of the perils there. He loved that little girl enough to be there to help her safely through the dangers in all kinds of weather.
A number of times after my curiosity had been satisfied, I saw him take her by the hand and help her to safety on the other side of the busy thoroughfare. She did not seem to be concerned. This danger caused her no fears. She accepted her father’s kind attentions with no apparent thought. As soon as he let loose her hand, she skipped of toward home, or to play with some other children. She was unconscious of her danger or of her father’s concern. It seemed a matter of little consequence to her that he had stood in the blizzard or the pouring rain in order to protect her.
This is a busy old world. Traffic is hurried and heavy. There are many danger spots along life’s
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