THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF ILLINOIS 
 LIBRARY 
 
 From the collection of 
 Julius Do erner, Chicago 
 Purchased, 1918. 
 
 ^6<o 
 
 Atn 58 vy 
 
See page 26. 
 
THE WAY 
 
 i 
 
 FOR 
 
 A CHILD TO DO GOOD. 
 
 REVISED BY THE COMMITTEE OF PUBLICATION OF THB 
 AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION. 
 
 *4 
 
 JHifUrtJeliiWa : 
 
 AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION, 
 146 CHESTNUT STREET. 
 
I 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1836, by 
 Paul Beck, Jr., Treasurer, in trust for the American Sunday- 
 school Union, in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the 
 Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 
 
f\ rn 3^y/ | 
 
 WAY FOR A CHILD 
 
 TO DO GOOD. 
 
 $ 
 
 < PART 1. 
 
 HOW CAN A CHILD DO GOOD TO THE 
 HEATHEN WITHOUT MONEY ? 
 
 “ How can I do good to the hea- 
 then without money ?” and, “ How 
 can I get money with which to do 
 good to them ?” are questions over 
 which I used often to ponder. I 
 had, from different causes, become 
 strongly interested for the poor, 
 dark idolater. But my parents had 
 
 never approved or adopted in our 
 1 * 5 
 
 1 
 
6 
 
 way for a child 
 
 large family the plan of giving 
 money to the children. I think 
 they' were in the right; but we 
 will not discuss that now. Well, 
 I had no money then to give to 
 the missionary societies, so I tried 
 to think what good to the cause I 
 could do without it. Perhaps some 
 of the young readers of this little 
 book may be in the same situation 
 with myself; let us see then what 
 we could do. 
 
 Our distance from the heathen 
 prevents us from employing the 
 means we could ordinarily use to 
 lead souls to the knowledge and 
 love of the Saviour. We cannot 
 teach or persuade them, or even set 
 before their eyes a holy and consist- 
 
TO DO GOOD. 
 
 7 
 
 ent example. But there are men 
 who are willing to go all the way to 
 them, to leave their native shores, 
 and, in a heathen land, spend all 
 their time in publishing to sinful 
 men the gospel of God’s grace. 
 Such men will do that work which 
 we are unable to accomplish, if they 
 can be sent out and supported by 
 Christian people. You and I have 
 no money to give to defray their ex- 
 penses and assist them in their great 
 work. Our duty then is, to use all 
 our influence with others in this 
 cause, to lead those who have the 
 means to aid the heathen and the 
 missionary. Perhaps some of you 
 do not know exactly how to do this. 
 A few examples will easily explain. 
 
8 
 
 WAY FOR A CHILD 
 
 Louisa Gillod’s father came home 
 from his business on a freezing win- 
 ter evening. Cold and fatigued, he 
 was glad to draw his comfortable 
 arm chair close to the bright coal 
 fire. “ It will be half an hour before 
 tea,” said his wife; “the cook has 
 gone out, so I must go down and see 
 about getting it,” and she left the 
 room. The astral lamp was burning 
 on the table, and Louisa was sitting 
 on a stool by her father. 
 
 “Well then, my daughter,” said 
 he, “I would like to have you read 
 aloud to me this half hour.” 
 
 “ What would you like to hear ?” 
 asked Louisa. 
 
 “ Any thing that is interesting,” 
 was the reply. 
 
TO DO GOOD. 
 
 Now Louisa knew that her father 
 scarcely ever thought of religion, or 
 any thing connected with it; hut 
 she knew also that he was a sensible 
 and feeling man ; so bearing in mind 
 the poor heathen, whom her pious 
 mother had taught her to pity, she 
 ventured to commence a very inte- 
 resting extract from Ellis’s account 
 of the Sandwich Islanders. Mr. 
 Gillod’s attention was engaged. Af- 
 ter tea, he commenced the regular 
 reading of the book. Evening after 
 evening he took it up and read. He 
 was much struck with its contents; 
 and when he had finished he said, 
 “That really he did not know or 
 trouble himself much about either 
 heathen or missionaries before, but 
 
10 
 
 WAY FOR A CHILD 
 
 that if those were the kind of things 
 they were, and the kind of things 
 they did, the societies ought to be 
 
 I 
 
 encouraged.” Each month after- 
 wards his name was on the sub- 
 scription paper for the Foreign 
 Missionary Society. 
 
 George Nugent, on the first Mon- 
 day of five successive months, suc- 
 ceeded in persuading his father’s fa- 
 mily to attend the Monthly Concert 
 of Prayer, which they had before al- 
 ways forgotten or neglected. They 
 are now much interested in the 
 cause of the heathen, always attend 
 the Monthly Concert, and, although 
 the father is only a poor shoemaker, 
 and the mother and daughter, who 
 take in plain sewing, have but few 
 
TO DO GOOD. 
 
 11 
 
 employers, the three together give 
 yearly fifteen dollars to the Board 
 of Domestic Missions, and twenty- 
 five to the Board of Foreign Mis- 
 sions — forty dollars in all ! 
 
 Eliza Randall goes to school, 
 where the scholars sew two hours in 
 tl^e afternoon. Each one, in her 
 turn, reads aloud to the others 
 They may take whatever they please 
 for perusal ; the teacher, of course, 
 first looks over what is to be read. 
 To-day it is Eliza’s turn to read, and 
 she has carried a missionary pe- 
 riodical with her to school. She 
 has taken this means of interesting 
 her companions in the cause of mis- 
 sions. 
 
 Mary Lansing’s friend, Laura, is 
 
12 
 
 WAY FOR A CHILD 
 
 the orphan ward of a fond old grand- 
 father. She has a great deal of 
 pocket money, for he allows her a 
 dollar every week. How often have 
 I heard Mary beg Laura to remem- 
 ber the heathen idolater, and not 
 spend so much for cakes and candy. 
 
 But here comes Mary into the 
 room. She says, that Laura told 
 her to-day that she meant to put 
 aside thirty -three cents every week 
 for the heathen. Though Laura is 
 a wild girl, a spoiled child, as every- 
 body says, yet I never knew her to 
 
 break her word. So Marv will have 
 
 %/ 
 
 been the means of bringing, an an- 
 nual tribute of thirteen dollars into 
 the Lord’s treasury. 
 
 Emily Fisher is now twelve years 
 
TO DO GOOD. 13 
 
 old. From her sixth to her ninth 
 year, her parents lived in England, 
 while she stayed with an aunt in 
 America. Every fortnight, her mo- 
 ther expected to hear from her by 
 the packet ship. So Emily had to 
 write a great many letters. Both 
 her mother and her aunt were very 
 particular about the rules of ortho- 
 graphy and grammar. By this con- 
 
 I 
 
 tinual practice, she gained a facility 
 and propriety in expressing her ideas 
 quite uncommon in a child of her 
 age. When, on her parent’s return, 
 she went to school, the easy style 
 and the correctness of her composi- 
 tions were observed and praised. 
 Emily’s parents are both pious, and 
 for the last year we have hoped that 
 
14 
 
 WAY FOR A CHILD 
 
 Emily is pious too; for she has 
 changed much in many things. 
 And in proportion as she has be- 
 come interested in behalf of her 
 own soul, has she become interested 
 in behalf of those millions of souls 
 who know’ nothing of Christ and his 
 salvation. 
 
 Well, how does Emily do good? 
 She has not any money. She does 
 good with that which she has, with 
 the talents which God has given 
 her. At the school which she at- 
 tends, the scholars’ compositions are 
 read aloud to them every Friday 
 afternoon. Yesterday Emily pre- 
 sented one, entitled “ The Poor Hin- 
 doo Child.” She brought it to me 
 before, to know if there was any 
 
TO DO GOOD. 
 
 15 
 
 thing exaggerated or improbable 
 in it. No — it was but a true pic- 
 ture; yet one to which I am sure 
 few of the scholars can attend on 
 F riday, without feeling a deep com- 
 passion for the thousand benighted 
 sufferers who are at this moment 
 living witnesses to the truth of the 
 description, or without being obliged 
 seriously to consider the conclud- 
 ing sentence : — “ My dear school- 
 fellow's, can none of us do any 
 thing towards stopping this tide of 
 misery ? ‘Why sit ye here all the 
 day idle V ” 
 
 But I have not yet mentioned the 
 most important way by which many 
 do, all can, and all ought to do good 
 to the heathen, whether they have 
 
16 
 
 WAY FOR A CHILD 
 
 money or not : it is by praying for 
 
 THEM. 
 
 Our Saviour is as willing and de- 
 sirous that children should approach 
 him now, as he was when on earth. 
 He then said, “ Suffer little children 
 to come unto me and can there be 
 any object for which he will be more 
 willing to hear you, more ready to 
 answer you, than that one for which 
 he himself lived, laboured, died? 
 And yet have we not all reason to 
 ask ourselves how we have perform- 
 ed this duty ? Has not our desire 
 been to do something grand, (grand 
 for us,) something that will show, 
 something upon which we can pride 
 ourselves, instead of having simply 
 a warm, fervent, sincere wish that 
 
TO DO GOOD. 
 
 17 
 
 God’s kingdom may come, and his 
 will be done, on earth as it is in 
 heaven? How many of ns have 
 often repeated the Lord’s prayer, 
 thy kingdom come, without one 
 thought of the heathen, one glance 
 at a world lying in wickedness. O, 
 let us resolve that from this time 
 the duty of praying for the heathen 
 shall be oftener and better per- 
 formed. 
 
 And now, we will leave off talk- 
 ing, and go about acting. Yet I 
 have one more word to sav. I have 
 all along taken it for granted, that 
 each one of our little circle, (for I 
 have fancied us all gathered in a cir- 
 cle,) that each one of us is interested 
 in the object. We must take a little 
 
18 
 
 WAY FOR A CHILD 
 
 pains to preserve this interest. We 
 must keep up and accumulate know- 
 ledge respecting these heathen peo- 
 ple themselves, the success of the 
 missionaries, and their peculiar 
 wants, trials, and circumstances. 
 
 And now good-by ; but think 
 over what has been said, and each 
 one of you choose what you can , 
 or rather what you will do, for the 
 heathen, while yet without any 
 
 money. 
 
TO DO GOOD. 
 
 19 
 
 PART II. 
 
 M '• ■ v . ,• ... > V. ■ 
 
 HOW CAN A CHILD RAISE MONEY FOR 
 
 THE HEATHEN ? 
 
 And so, my young friends, we 
 have come together again, to learn 
 more about doing good to the hea- 
 then. The last time we met, we 
 saw some ways in which we might 
 influence others to give money to 
 promote the spread of Christianity 
 in the world. We can pray, too, for 
 this object. But we must not rest 
 contented here. This is not all that 
 we can do. We must give some- 
 thing ourselves. But you say, “I 
 
20 
 
 WAY FOR A CHILD 
 
 have no money to give.” You wish 
 very much that you had, but father 
 and mother do not give you any 
 allowance. None of us, perhaps, 
 have more than a quarter or half a 
 dollar, and some only a few cents. 
 With us the great question then is, 
 How shall w T e get money for this 
 purpose ? We cannot read of all the 
 misery of heathenism, of all the 
 blessings of Christianity — and then 
 hear the different missionary socie- 
 ties and missionaries, and even hea- 
 then people themselves, represent 
 their w r ants, and call aloud for aid, 
 without deeply regretting our inabi- 
 lity to help them. Shall we not 
 each then seriously, earnestly consi- 
 der the question, How can I raise 
 
TO DO GOOD. 
 
 21 
 
 money for the heathen ? — How can 
 we ? Let us think. 
 
 Is there no little thing to which 
 we have been accustomed which we 
 can deny ourselves, and the value 
 of which we can receive in money ? 
 I should think we might all, with 
 the consent of our parents, adopt 
 the plan of the young Lawrences. 
 They neither drink tea nor coffee. 
 Each has a tumbler of clear water 
 (which, by-the-by, is the best thing 
 any one could have) set on the table 
 for them at morning and evening 
 meals. So there is saved, among 
 the three, a good deal of milk and 
 sugar, besides the tea and coffee, 
 quite the worth of the ten cents 
 which their mother gives to each 
 
22 
 
 AVAY FOR A CHILD 
 
 one every week in return. The 
 Lawrences are mv cousins; but I 
 should never have known about this 
 arrangement had I not discovered it 
 while staying at their house, for they ' 
 never speak of it themselves ; and I 
 hope that any of you who may adopt 
 their way of saving money, or any 
 other like it, will follow their exam- 
 ple in this particular. 
 
 I knew another child who used to 
 go without butter, and received in- 
 stead the price of the quantity she 
 would have eaten, say six and a 
 quarter cents a week. 
 
 “ But these sums are so small,” 
 perhaps you say, “they seem scarce- 
 ly worth the trouble of earning.” 
 You forget, however, that sixpence 
 
TO DO GOOD. 
 
 23 
 
 a week amounts to three dollars and 
 a quarter in a year. But I do not 
 suppose that you will keep collecting 
 it till the end of the twelve months* 
 You perhaps put one yveek’s earning 
 into a collection taken up at church 
 for the missionary society. From 
 that society it is sent to China. 
 There it will defray the expense of 
 printing at least two or three pages 
 
 f> I 
 
 of gospel truth in the native Ian* 
 guage. This, with others, is given 
 into the hands of a missionary. By 
 the Chinese people, books are much 
 sought after and esteemed ; and 
 whenever the missionary, as he 
 passes through the country, brings 
 forth his books, multitudes gather 
 round him to hear and to receive. 
 
24 
 
 WAY FOR A CHILD 
 
 As he reads, the words fall upon 
 the ears of many — in some, perhaps, 
 they reach the heart. Yes! who 
 knows to how many they may prove 
 the power of God unto salvation. 
 But the usefulness of the books does 
 not stop here. One person hands 
 the precious gift to another, and he 
 to another, and so the little volume 
 travels on, and on, from village to 
 village, and from city to city, pene- 
 trates into the very heart of the 
 heathen nation, and thence, over 
 rivers and plains, until it reaches 
 even the wild uplands of Tartary. 
 Along its track it has kindled a line 
 of gospel light, which may gladden 
 many souls in the places where, for 
 many and many an age, the people 
 
TO DO GOOD. 25 
 
 have sat in darkness. Your little 
 mite may be the means of accom- 
 plishing such results as these. And 
 can you still think it unworthy of 
 
 you to earn to and give something 
 
 • ' ' 
 
 towards the salvation of men ? 
 
 But let us return to the question, 
 How shall we raise money for the 
 heathen? And now, if you will 
 
 imagine that it is a bright summer 
 
 € 
 
 morning, just five o’clock, and that 
 you are walking \vith me to Mrs. 
 Carrol’s house, I will show you a 
 way to earn it. Here we are at the 
 door. Let us go up stairs to the 
 back room in the third story. Now, 
 peep in there, and you will see little 
 Ellen, at this early hour, closely en- 
 gaged with her needle. Notice the 
 3 
 
26 
 
 WAY FOR A CHILD 
 
 expression of happiness beaming in 
 her countenance. She has thrown 
 open the window, and the fresh 
 morning air, as it breathes over the 
 hill on which the house is situated, is 
 delightful. ( See frontispiece.) Her 
 eyes stray for a moment from her fin- 
 gers to the waking city beneath, and 
 the green velvet slope beyond, the 
 browsing cattle, the opening flowers, 
 and the fluttering birds, who are 
 sounding their early carols from the 
 gardens and hills around. But she 
 soon returns to her work with readi- 
 ness and pleasure. As all seems 
 bright and happy without, so Ellen 
 within is bright and happy too. I say 
 she feels bright — for, although she 
 rose at four o’clock, she is not sleepy : 
 
TO DO GOOD. 27 
 
 she went to bed at eight; and she 
 is happy, for she is engaged in an 
 employment which gives her great 
 delight. She is working for the 
 heathen. Those shirts she is mak- 
 ing: are for a brother at the south. 
 Her mother was going to put them 
 out to be done ; but Ellen, anxious 
 to gain money for her favourite ob- 
 ject, begged leave to rise and work 
 on them before breakfast, and receive 
 the pay of the seamstress. She 
 works for her mother all the rest of 
 the day, and, having no other time 
 which she can call her own, she 
 willingly sacrifices these two hours 
 of unnecessary sleep for a purpose 
 so much beloved. Can none of us 
 follow her plan ? 
 
28 
 
 WAY FOR A CHILD 
 
 But go to the next house, and 
 knock at the door of her friend, 
 Sarah Ward. You will find her 
 busy too, and with her brothers, 
 Charles and Edward, sitting at the 
 round table in the middle of the 
 room. It is strewed with paints, 
 and plates rubbed all over with 
 colours, and there are three piles of 
 picture books. They are colouring 
 the prints. Do you see ? Their 
 father procured the pictures from a 
 bookseller for them to paint, and he 
 will pay them a dollar and a quarter 
 for every hundred sheets they co- 
 lour. They will each paint ten 
 sheets before breakfast, or, if not so 
 soon, before school-time. They are 
 doing this, so that they can put their 
 
29 
 
 TO DO GOOD. 
 
 names upon the church subscription 
 paper, and so be able, every month, 
 to give regularly to the cause of 
 missions. My young friends, can 
 none of us follow their plan of rais- 
 ing money ? 
 
 And now it is time that we should 
 turn to go home; but, before we se- 
 parate, we must think of some other 
 ways in which children like our- 
 selves can gain money for the hea- 
 then. Some of us, perhaps, can do 
 like Henry Somers. He lives in 
 New York, where the gardens are 
 generally small. His father’s yard 
 is rather larger than usual, so that 
 he gave Henry a piece of the wide 
 border for his own. As Henry was 
 
 one day thinking how he could raise 
 3 * 
 
30 
 
 WAY FOR A CHILD 
 
 money, he formed this plan, to 
 which both of his parents agreed. 
 It was to cultivate and sell common 
 vegetables, such as beets, carrots, and 
 radishes, in his little garden. His 
 father gave him the necessary seeds, 
 and his mother promised to let the 
 servant boy carry the produce to 
 market to be there disposed of. Al- 
 most any morning or evening Henry 
 may now be seen digging, weeding, 
 or watering his ground. Sometimes 
 inclination strongly urges him to 
 stay to play with his companions in 
 the evening, and to neglect to water 
 the plants, which had been scorch- 
 ed all day by the hot sun ; and 
 sometimes indolence begs most pite- 
 ously for farther repose, when he is 
 
TO DO GOOD. 
 
 31 
 
 wakened early to gather his plants, 
 and tie them in bundles, ready for 
 market, before the sun shall become 
 bright and powerful. But self-de- 
 nial and exertion, coupled with much 
 patience and perseverance, are ne- 
 cessary for one who intends to do 
 good. 
 
 Well! is there nothing like this 
 that we can do ? I say like this, for 
 in bringing forward these particular 
 cases, I do not in the least intend to 
 imply that they are the only methods 
 which we are to try. We must each 
 think over our own situation, and all 
 its circumstances, the practicability 
 of these schemes, and what others 
 would be more useful, more pleasant, 
 t or more expedient ; and especially 
 
32 
 
 WAY FOR A CHILD 
 
 must we regard the feelings of our 
 parents. There are many things to 
 be considered in choosing in what 
 way to raise money for the heathen. 
 
 There is another most effectual 
 method of accomplishing this ob- 
 ject which I have not yet mentioned, 
 but with which all of you are proba- 
 bly more or less acquainted. It is 
 that of joining in juvenile societies, 
 to meet and make needle or fancy 
 work for sale. In many respects, 
 this is a most excellent way for 
 children to earn money. 
 
 But, as I said before, it is time 
 that we should separate; so I will 
 not dwell on this subject. It is suf- 
 ficient that I remind you that there 
 is scarcely any way in which you 
 
TO DO GOOD. 
 
 33 
 
 can be more useful in gaining mo- 
 ney for the heathen, than by be- 
 coming a regular and industrious 
 member of a missionary sewing so- 
 ciety. 
 
 And now, my young friends, if 
 any of you have felt as though you 
 could do nothing for the heathen, 
 and have been sad at the thought, 
 cast away the idea at once. Though 
 you are nothing but a child, a very 
 young child perhaps, you surely 
 ^nust be convinced that you can do 
 something. You have seen how 
 much you may accomplish by influ- 
 encing and interesting others in the 
 cause of the heathen; how much 
 you are encouraged to pray for 
 them ; and how many means you 
 
34 WAY FOR A CHILD TO DO GOOD. 
 
 can devise for obtaining money, to 
 aid more directly in sending to them 
 the gospel and happiness. “If ye 
 know these things, happy are ye if 
 ye do them.” 
 
 THE END. 
 

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