It is no good for
our purpose.'

"'No good!' exclaimed the owner, 'why that tree looks to me to be a
good deal better than some that you selected.'

"But the buyer was an expert and knew what he was talking about. To
show the owner what was the trouble with it, he cut the tree down, and
this is what they found: [Remove the paper from the drawing board;
turn it one-fourth around, and reattach to the board; add lines to
complete Fig. 115.]

[Illustration: Fig. 115]

"What was the matter with the tree? Yes, it was hollow. The owner was
a much-surprised man. The expert, by tapping the tree with the blunt
side of his ax, could tell that the tree was not solid. We might call
it a deceitful tree because it seemed to be better than it really was.

"Sometimes we hear of deceitful men and women--deceitful boys and
girls. None of us wants to be called deceitful, for the world has no
more use for a deceitful person than this man had for a hollow
tree. Some may think that they may deceive their friends and everyone
else around them, but they get found out sooner or later, and, worst
of all, their lives are an open book to the Lord, who sees and knows
their every thought. The hollow tree in the forest is certain to come
crashing to the earth when a severe storm breaks. The deceitful man or
woman suffers a like fate when something happens to reveal their
hollow lives to the world.

"On this Decision day, let us resolve anew to make our lives of solid
worth through and through. We can do it only by coming close to the
Master and learning from Him how to live.

"The trouble with the tree in the forest was that it was not sound.
It lacked _inside strength_. Even a slight tap of the ax proved
that it was a sort of 'hollow mockery.' It was a good-looking tree on
the outside, but its heart was not right. And isn't that exactly the
case with a lot of good-looking, well-dressed people? Why, even a boy
or a girl can be all wrong at the heart, though their faces and hands
and clothes are clean and beautiful.

"Have you ever stopped to think what good eyes God has? He never needs
a telescope or a microscope, for 'the eyes of the Lord are in every
place, beholding the evil and the good.' God never beholds evil where
there is none, but no boy or girl, man or woman, can hide it so well
in their hearts but that God sees it and knows it.

"Let us, therefore, on this Decision day, resolve never to let deceit
come into our hearts, to make o