0) 
 
 PEAN's 
 
 SlWrnti!^ /nrtljiiig fowh. 
 
 OUR GOLD DUST. 
 
 LONDON: DEAN & SON, 
 
 11, Ludgate Hill. 39 
 
OUR '^GOLD DUST/^ 
 
 ** First, I am going to write to mother," 
 said Thomas, with his eye on the clock, 
 
QVB, GOLD piJST. 3 
 
 parceling out Wednesday afternoon ; *next, 
 two hours' play ; next, come in and study 
 my algebra lesson ; after supper, go and 
 hear that man lecture on Africa." Did 
 he ? for boys as well as men make capital 
 plans, which they do not always execute. 
 
 No sooner said than Tom took his 
 writing materials, and sat down to write. 
 There was a great hurrah in the street, 
 but he never got up to look out. He 
 went once for the dictionary, to learn how 
 ^ word was spelled. " Do you care 
 when you are only writing home T' asked 
 one of Tom's cousins who was waiting for 
 him. ** I always care," answered Tom. 
 The letter was finished, well done for a 
 boy of his age, in about three-quarters of 
 an hour, and he was ready to be off. And 
 80 the afternoon was filled out as promptly 
 as that letter was filled up. That is a 
 specimen of Tom. 
 
 '' Uncle," said Tom, one day, '* it seems 
 to me your things do not look as well as 
 they might." They were in the garden, 
 and '' the things " the boy had his eye on 
 were the currant-bushes. 
 
i 
 
 OUR GOLD DUST. 
 
 ** I do not expect they do," replied his 
 yncle ; '* I'm no great hand at a garden. 
 Well, sir, what can you improve ?" 
 
 *' I can try on the currants," said Tom. 
 ^* They want to be thinned out, and the 
 
 "^l^CLEK S« 
 
 old wood cut off, and the right suckers 
 trained . Do you eyer dig around them, 
 and put ashes on the roots?" 
 
 His uncle had never done one of these 
 things; did not know they ought to be 
 
OUR GOLD DUST. 5 
 
 done. He thought, he said, currants took 
 care of themselves. 
 
 ** But they can be cared for," said Tom 
 *'and all the better.'' 
 
 *; Suppose you try, boy," said his 
 uncle. 
 
 Tom's uncle gave him a home for two 
 years, to attend to school and prepare for 
 college, and that gave him time to try the 
 bushes. In the autumn he dug around 
 their roots, pulled up the grass, separated 
 the large old bushes, and put out new 
 ones. It took time, but he worked 
 hard at it. In the spring he loosened 
 the soil, laid on some ashes, watched 
 the young shoots, kept some, and cut 
 down others. His uncle did not believe 
 much would come of it; but he had 
 ^reason to change his mind. Much did 
 come of it. All at once, it seemed to him 
 for time goes fast to an old man, his 
 bushes were loaded with fruit, fine larae 
 currants, such as his garden had not seen 
 for many a day, if ever before. People 
 when they walked in the garden, ex-^ 
 
e 
 
 OUR GOLD PUST. 
 
 daimed, ** What splendid currants you 
 have 1" 
 
 **That boy knows how to take care of 
 
OUR GOLD DUST. 7 
 
 hiB gold dust," said his uncle often to 
 himself, and sometimes aloud. 
 
 Tom went to college, and every account 
 they heard of him, he was going ahead, 
 laying a solid foundation for the future. 
 
 ** Certainly," said his uncle, " certainly. 
 That boy, I tell you, knows how to take 
 care of the gold dust." 
 
 '* Gold dust!" where did Tom get gold 
 dust? He was a poor boy. He has not 
 been to California. He never was a 
 miner. Where did he get the gold dust? 
 Ah ! he had the seconds and the minutes^ 
 and these are the " gold dust" of time — 
 specks and particles of time, which boys 
 and girls and grown-up people are so apt 
 to waste and throw away. Tom knew 
 their value. His deceased father, a poor 
 minister, had taught him that every speck 
 and particle of time was worth its weight 
 of gold ; and his son took care of them as 
 if they were. He never spent them 
 foolishly, but only in good bargains ; "for 
 value received " was stamped on all he 
 passed away. 
 
 It is a mistake to suppose that miners 
 
OUR GOLD DUST. 
 
 and the mints have all the ''gold dust." 
 You, children, have some, some of infi- 
 nitely greater value than the richest mines 
 can yield. God does not give it to you in 
 gold bars a day, a month, or a year long ; 
 nobody can be trusted with so much time 
 all at once ; but God wisely deals it out in 
 seconds and minutes, so that you can 
 make the most of it. If you are robbed 
 of one, or lose it, the loss is comparatively 
 small. It cannot, to be sure, ever be 
 made up ; the whole world cannot ever 
 make up for a minute lost ; but if it teach 
 you to be thoughtful and careful of the 
 rest, you will, by and by, be rich with the 
 golden years of an useful and happy life. 
 Take care of your " gold dust," chil- 
 dren. 
 
 
 2M&b\(cH