The little ones, all standing up,
had then to repeat the text sentence by sentence in like manner, until
it was thoroughly imprinted on their memories.
I came into school on a Monday. The passage chosen for that week was,
"Seek ye first the kingdom of God." I heard these words every day in the
calm, serious, somewhat sing-song voices of the children, sometimes
repeated by one child, sometimes by the whole number. And the text made
an impression upon me such as none had ever done before and none ever
did after. Indeed, this impression was so vigorous and permanent, that
to this day every word spoken, with the special tone and expression then
given to it, is still vivid in my mind. And yet that is now nearly forty
years ago! Perhaps even then the simple boy's heart felt that these
words would be the foundation and the salvation of his life, bringing to
him that conviction which was to become later on to the working and
striving man a source of unconquerable courage, of unflinching,
ever-ready, and cheerful self-sacrifice. In short, my introduction into
that school was my birth into the higher spiritual life.
Here I break off my narrative to ask myself whether I dare venture to
pause yet a little longer over this first period of my life.
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