of a young birch tree three
words which his mother had taught him to say. [As you continue the
narrative, draw the small tree and merely indicate the words and the
heart next referred to, completing Fig. 104.] The first word had three
letters, the second had two letters and the third four letters. And
around them he drew a little heart, as his mother had taught him to
do. And when he had finished it, he ran away to his play and forgot
all about it.

[Illustration: Fig. 104]

"Years afterward, when he had grown to young manhood, he returned to
the home which he had not seen for a long time. As he went once more
to the grove, he came upon a birch tree and stopped to look at some
words carved upon its bark, with a heart drawn about them. Memory
carried him back to the days of his childhood--it was the same tree,
grown big and strong, and with it the heart had grown large and the
words were there strong and plain. They could not be removed without
greatly marring the tree. Here are the heart and the words: [Add lines
to revise Fig. 104 to Fig. 105.] As he looked upon the words, they
thrilled him with tender emotions as he remembered that it was his
mother who had taught him this beautiful sentiment. 'If I had written
there an unkind word,' he reflected, 'that, too, would have been as
permanent and lasting.'

[Illustration: Fig. 105]

"And now for the application: We are told that some fathers and
mothers, through a false idea of what is of lasting good to their
children, permit them, in their inexperience, to learn to do things in
a way which will mean sorrow and anguish in the end. Of course, I
understand that this could not ever happen to any of these fathers and
mothers and these children! The application is for those who aren't
here! If the boy rebels against school, he will bless, in later years,
the hand which made his attendance compulsory. If he can see no harm
in the use of unkind or offensive words, but is compelled by a loving
parent to turn his mind and his speech to lofty things, he will later
bless that one who saved him from his error. If, in the years when he
has grown through babyhood and childhood to youth, a strong, but
gentle, hand bars for him the way which leads to evil companions and
bad habits, he will praise and bless that restraining hand when the
years of discretion show him how close was his step to the brink of a
fatal precipice.

"With the same hand which bars the way to wrong must the