Part 3 (1/2)
”Yes, I do, but another thing. Does an education make a person good?”
”No, it will make you better if you are good, but if a bad man gets education, that doesn't make him good.”
”Then is it any use to study so hard to get a good education?”
”Why certainly.”
”Tell me.”
”Education, Charlie, is just development. You know what development means?”
”Yes sir.”
”Well, development gives strength.”
”You have noticed that large tree out in the orchard. It was only a chestnut once, but now it is developed. That tree is only an educated chestnut. Which is stronger,--the chestnut tree or the little chestnut?”
”The tree, of course,” said he, ”but I heard some one say, I think it was just last Sunday, that education spoils some people.”
”The right kind of an education will never spoil any one.”
”I'm going to get a good education. Papa and mamma said they'd help me, but I want to earn the money myself, and then go a long time.”
”And then you'll be a missionary won't you?”
”Could I?”
”You can if you choose.”
”What must I do?”
”You must be a good Christian at home, and do all you can for Jesus now. Whoever is not good at home is the same away from home. Do things so people will all love you. If your a.s.sociates and acquaintances do not love you, it is not likely the heathen will, and love is a great deal of the missionary's preparation. And give. If you have not much, give a little, and if you have more, give proportionately. But it is not all in giving. There is more even in living for the Lord, and just letting one's self be all His.”
Charlie seemed to be thinking of something else then, and he spoke out in earnest:
”Doesn't the Bible say we ought to send missionaries everywhere in the world?”
”It says we must '_Go_', yes.”
”Were there heathen fifty years ago?”
”Yes.”
”Well, then why didn't we send lots of missionaries fifty years ago? I wish I could go.”
”Do you want to know, Charlie, how you can tell if you can be a missionary when you are a man?”
”Yes sir,” said Charlie.