Part 9 (1/2)

”There is no place on the road so dark but this lamp will light you through, if you give it a chance.”

This is what Mr. Holbrook had said when he gave Tip his Bible. And Tip had thought of his words very often, had already proved them true more than once; but he didn't see how it could help him now.

He took it out, and slowly turned the leaves; it couldn't write his composition for him, that was certain. But oh, the bright thought that came to Tip just then! Why not find his acrostic in the Bible, and write it out? among so many, _many_ verses, he would be sure to find what he wanted. But then, how very queer it would be for _him_, Tip Lewis, to copy anything from the Bible! What would the boys think? What would Bob Turner say? Still, what else could he do? Besides his spelling-book and a worn arithmetic, it was the only book that he had in the world.

”I don't care,” he said suddenly, after a few moments of troubled thought. ”I guess I ain't ashamed of my Bible,--it's the only thing I've got that I needn't be ashamed of. I'll _do_ it. The boys have got to know that I've turned over a new leaf. I wish they did; the sooner they know it the better. I say, my lamp shall help me out of this sc.r.a.pe, that's as true as can be; it helps me whenever I give it a chance.”

He fumbled in his pocket and drew out an old stump of a pencil. The next thing was a piece of paper; he dived his hand down into another pocket, producing a rusty knife, pieces of string, a chestnut or two, and, finally, a crumpled piece of paper on which Bob Turner had scrawled what he called a likeness of Mr. Burrows, and given to Tip for a keepsake. He spread it out on a flat stone which lay near him, and began his work.

A long, slow work it was for Tip. Hours of that day, and the next, and the next, every day, until the fading light drove him home, did he sit under the elm-tree turning the leaves of his Bible, poring over its contents, writing words carefully now and then on his bit of paper.

Remember it was new work to him.

At last, one evening, the sun went down in the bright red west, the stars shone out in all their twinkling, sparkling glory, the shadows began to fall thick and fast around the old tree, when Tip, with a little sigh of relief, folded the precious piece of paper, laid it carefully away in his Bible, and turned his steps homeward. His acrostic was finished, and into his heart had crept some of the beauty of those precious words, which he had found for the first time. Words they were which would go with him through all his life, and sweetly comfort some dark and weary hours.

The school-books were all piled neatly on the desks that Friday afternoon; the shades were dropped to shut out the low afternoon sun; and forty boys were still and expectant. The acrostics lay in a great white heap on Mr. Burrows' desk, not a name written on any of them. Mr.

Burrows was to read, and the boys were to have the pleasure of spelling out the names of the owners as he read.

A merry time they had of it that afternoon. Some wonderful acrostics were read. Ellis Holbrook had a very clever one, arranged from his lesson in Virgil. Howard Minturn had borrowed from his father's library a copy of Shakespeare, and worked hard over his; the boys and their teacher thought it a success.

Even Bob Turner had written; the idea had happened to strike him as a very funny one, and Bob always did everything that he thought funny. He had found three lines in rhyme which just suited him, and by the time the eager boys had spelled out B O B,--which was the only name the boy saw fit to own,--the schoolroom fairly shook with their laughter.

Next to his lay a paper which Tip knew, and his heart beat so loudly when Mr. Burrows took it up, that he thought every one in the room must notice.

The room had now grown quiet, and Mr. Burrows, after opening the paper, announced the t.i.tle,--

”WHAT JESUS CHRIST SAYS.”

Then read slowly and reverently, while the wondering scholars spelled out the name.

”E Even the night shall lie light about thee.

D Depart from evil and do good.

W Whosoever cometh unto Me, I will in no wise cast out.

A A new heart will I give you.

R Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

D Draw nigh to G.o.d, and He will draw nigh to thee.

”L Lo, I am with you always.

E Ever follow that which is good.

W Whosoever abideth in Him, sinneth not.

I I will go before thee, and make the crooked paths straight.

S So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper.”

What a silent and astonished company listened to this reading, and spelled the name ”Edward Lewis!”