Story of John Wesley Told to Boys and Girls

<h2>CHAPTER XXXV.</h2> <div class="blockquot"><p>How Mr. Wesley settled a school-boys' quarrel.&mdash;Dr. Watts and little birds.&mdash;Mr. Wesley, loved and honoured.&mdash;A holiday for the children.</p> </div> <div class="figleft"> <ANTIMG src="images/cap-h.png" width-obs="100" height-obs="100" alt="H" title="" /></div> <div class='unindent'><br/>ERE is a story of how Mr. Wesley settled a dispute between two quarrelsome school-boys. When he was an old man, seventy-three, he was staying with one of his local preachers, a Mr. Bush, who had a boarding-school. One day Mrs. Bush brought to him two boys who had been fighting.</div> <p>"Boys! boys!" said Mr. Wesley:</p> <div class='poem'> "'Birds in their little nests agree,<br/> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">And 'tis a shameful sight,</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">When children of one family</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Fall out, and chide, and fight!'</span><br/></div> <div class='unindent'>You must make it up. Come now, shake hands with each other."</div> <p>Mr. Wesley, with his long white hair and beautiful<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</SPAN></span> face, looked and spoke so lovingly, that the boys did at once what he asked them.</p> <p>"Now," he said, "put your arms round each other's necks, and kiss each other."</p> <p>And the little boys did this too. He was just having his tea when Mrs. Bush brought in the culprits, and now taking two pieces of bread and butter, he folded them together and told each boy to break a piece off. Then he gave each of them a drink of tea out of his own cup.</p> <p>"Now," he added, "you have broken bread together, and you have drunk out of the same cup, now you must be friends." Then he put his hands on the boys' heads and blessed them. The next morning at family prayer he sought out the boys and blessed them again.</p> <p>The two lads never forgot this meeting with Mr. Wesley. One of them became a magistrate, and when he had children of his own he used to tell them this story of his school-days.</p> <p>I remember that little verse of Dr. Watts' being recited to my brothers and me when we were in the nursery, and as I wrote it down I wondered if the same thoughts came into the heads of those school-boys that came into mine. My dear mother used to look very serious when she said it, and it sounded very solemn. But I had often seen little birds quarrelling, and I knew that hymn did not tell the truth, and so I felt little birds were hardly a proper example<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</SPAN></span> to follow. Now, though Dr. Watts was not quite correct, still little birds do agree very much better than many children; and if they sometimes quarrel, remember they are only guided by instinct, while you have sense, and know the difference between right and wrong.</p> <p>You will all be glad to know that before Mr. Wesley died, all the ill-will and hatred of the people had changed to love and reverence. The very towns where he had been treated most unkindly were now the ones to give him the heartiest welcome. Instead of mobs waiting to abuse him, crowds gathered to do him honour. In many places the children had a holiday from school, the tradespeople closed their shops, and everybody tried who could best show their love and respect for the man whom before they had treated so unkindly.</p> <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/i-172.png" width-obs="93" height-obs="94" alt="Cherub" title="" /></div> <hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</SPAN></span></p> <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/i-104.png" width-obs="529" height-obs="179" alt="Decoration" title="" /></div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />