"Did you get some one to take it for you?" "No."

"Did you tell the Superintendent you were not to be there?" "No."

"Do you know who had the class?" "No."

"Do you know if any one was there to take it?" "I am afraid there was
nobody; for I saw a good many of the teachers of the school at your
meeting."

"Is that the way you do the Lord's work?" "Well, you know, I have only
five little boys. I thought it would not make any difference."

Only five little boys! Why, there might have been a John Knox, or a
Wesley, or a Whitefield, or a Bunyan there. You cannot tell what these
boys might become. One of them might become another Martin Luther;
there might be a second Reformation slumbering in one of these five
little boys. It is a great thing for any one to take "five little
boys" and train them for God and for eternity. You may set a stream in
motion that will flow on after you are dead and gone.

Little did the mothers of the Wesleys know what would be the result,
when she trained her boys for God and for His kingdom. See what mighty
results have flowed from that one source. It is estimated that there
are to-day 25,000,000 adherents of the Methodist faith, and over
5,000,000 communicants. It is estimated there are 110,000 regular and
local preachers in the United States alone. Two new churches are being
built every day in the year; and the work of the Methodist Church is
spreading over this great Republic. And all this has been done in
about a hundred and fifty years. Let not mothers think that their work
of training children for God is a small one. In the sight of God it is
very great; many may rise up in eternity to call them blessed.

I have now in my mind a mother who has had twelve boys. They have all
grown up to be active Christians. A number of them are preachers of
the Gospel; and all of them are true to the Son of God. There are very
few women in our country who have done more for the nation than that
mother. It is a great thing to be permitted to touch God's work, and
to be a co-worker with Him.

There is a bridge over the Niagara River. It is one of the great
highways of the nation; trains pass over it every few minutes of the
day. When they began to make the bridge, the first thing they did was
to take a boy's kite and send a little thread across the stream. It
seemed a very small thing, but it was the beginning of a great work.
So if we only lead one soul to Christ, eternity alone may tell what
th