lOeelily gftemawa American
" MAY 6, 1910. NO. 43
AH That He Needed
Last summer it was my privilege to
epend an afternoon at a dear little home
in one of the suburbs of Boston. The
house was dainty in all its furnishings
and altogether charming in its setting of
apple trees, shrubs, flower beds and
kitchen garden Until a year previous
to the time of our visit, the family had
consisted only of a man and his wife.
Soon after we took our seats under the
apple trees, a boy about 12 years old,
with handsome face and shining eyes,
came bounding up from the strawberry
patch holding in each hand a basket of
large luscious berries which he left- with
us after a few peasant words, find bound
ed away again. It was no wonder that our
hostess caught the look of inquirv on out
faces, and before we could ask the ques
tion, "Who is he?" she said, as her eves
followed him lovingly, "I will tell you
about him, and he is helpful and obed
ient as he is handsome, although I could
not have said that a year ago." Then she
told us how they had taken him into
their home a year before against the
protest of every one who knew the boy's
record He was considered in the town
a hopeless case, dishonest, defiant, his
hand against every man, and every man
against him. He was always getting in
to trouble himself and making trouble for
somebody else. The rough people with
whom he lived were in the habit of beat
ing him like a dog, and he hardly knew
the meaning of kindness for he had never
experienced it But the brave woman
who told the story saw something in the
boy which nobody else had ever seen or
even dreamed of, and she simply said,
"All this boy needs is love."
With her husband's consent she took
him into their home. He was disorderly,
deceitful, and noisy He had never even
seen a bath tub, and all his tastes were
pad ly pei verted. But the woman was not
di.-courged, and held to her conviction
that all he needed was love. She did
not :irgue, "Oh this disorderly dirty boy
will spoil my home and make a lot of
extra work for ino." She did not think
how much more cooking she would have
to feed such a hungry . growing boy;
she was not afraid that he would steal
her money or set fire to the housv but
she simply applied her understanding of
divine love to the case, always knowing
that Love never faileth.
When he came into the home she told
him that he would never be whipped