trust."

I heard it said that I was a tool to assist in civilization, and I soon
found myself aiding men in commercial transactions. I had manifold
experiences and, like most useful people, found that while age increased
my usefulness it subdued my glitter. At last, after many, many years, I
fell into the hands of a Sabbath-school Superintendent with a missionary
spirit, and by him was distributed with many of my companions to the
children of his Sabbath-school, with the injunction to multiply. I fell
into the hands of a boy who undertook to help me in a business way
which should tend to my rapid increase. At the end of a fixed period I
and my companions were to be returned to the Superintendent with our
respective gains; and then, after relating our experiences, we were to
be sent forth as missionaries to the Indians. Before this, my aims had
been simply to aid in commerce, with no definite plan before me, and
like all who have no fixed purpose, I drifted here and there and took no
special interest in the world. But now I was to become a missionary; I
was not only to aid in civilization but in advancing Christianity.

My new aim in life made me anxious concerning the boy who was to be my
helper. I took the deepest interest in all his plans in regard to me and
listened attentively when he bargained with his father for a fourth of a
cent's worth of yarn and the use of a needle with which to darn his
father's socks. I thought that a boy of sixteen who was willing to
increase me by undertaking to darn his father's stockings, deserved all
the aid that I could give him. I looked on with interest and admiration,
while he, with earnest toil, completed his task. When the task was
ended, I found myself increased from one to three cents. This small
beginning was in reality the most important of all our transactions and
demonstrated that we could work harmoniously together.