CHAPTER IV.
FRANKIE'S BLOCK HOUSE
A few days after mamma talked with Frankie, he was building a high house on the floor with his blocks, when Sally passed along and hit them, and over they went. The little boy looked very angry. "You naughty girl," he said.
Mamma laid down her work, and gazed at him, and her eyes looked very sorry. As soon as Sally went out of the room, she said, "What is Satan whispering to you now, my dear?"
Frankie started up and looked behind him: "I don't see him any where," he said.
"But didn't you hear his voice?" asked mamma.
"Yes, I did: he said, 'Throw a block at nurse; she is so naughty to knock your house over.'"
"Shall I blow Satan away?" said mamma.
"Yes, please."
She blew very hard; then opened the door, and blew again, as if she meant to send him off. "Now he's gone, I think," she said, looking in Frankie's bright face.
"The next time he comes I'll whip him, mamma," cried the little fellow, standing very straight, "'cause he tells me naughty things."
In a few minutes Sally came in again, and glanced at the little boy to see whether he felt happier than he did before.
Frankie looked at her, too, and his mamma thought he seemed sorry that he had called her naughty. She called him to her, and whispered, "Is any body speaking to you now, my darling?"
"Yes, mamma. It says, 'Tell Sally you're sorry.'"
"Are you going to mind the good Spirit?"
"Yes, mamma. I'm sorry, nurse, I called you naughty."
Nurse looked very much pleased. "I am sorry myself, dear," she said, "that my dress hit your blocks; and, if mamma is willing, I'll build you a high house."
"Yes, indeed," said mamma.
So Sally sat down on the carpet, and Frankie passed her the blocks; and she built a meeting house, with a high steeple. Mamma thought it was splendid, and the little boy danced about, and put his arms round Sally's neck, and kissed her ever so many times. "I'm so happy, mamma," he said, when she had gone.
"Children are always happy, my dear," she said, "when they have tried to be good."
"Satan can't stay here now; can he, mamma?"
"No, he has gone to trouble some other little boy with naughty thoughts."
The next morning, Frankie had forgotten all about this; and when papa said he must not have so much sugar on his cakes, his lips began to pout, and they were all afraid he was going to be very naughty.
Mamma leaned over her plate, and said, softly, "Is Satan here again?"
"Yes, mamma," said Frankie; "may I whip him out?"
She nodded yes; and he then jumped down from the table, and began to blow with all his might. Then he caught up a newspaper, and whisked it all about, saying, "Go long, old feller; go long out of this house."
"Whew! whew!" said papa; "what is all this?"
Mamma smiled, as if she understood it well; and presently the little fellow climbed up in his chair, looking very bright and happy, but quite out of breath with his exercise.
"Satan's gone, papa," he said. "Now I'm your dear little Frankie."
"Yes, indeed, you are," said his father, laughing heartily. "I am glad we have found a way to get rid of Satan so easily."
"What does it mean?" asked Willie.
"I will tell you presently, my dear," said papa.
When they had done breakfast, Mr. Gray opened the Bible for prayers, and taking Frankie on his knee, and calling Willie to stand by his side, he said, "In God's book, he tells us that Satan is our great enemy, who is trying to make us do wrong. He is called a roaring lion, who goeth about seeking whom he may devour. This means that he loves to destroy our happiness, and to see people miserable; and he knows if we are naughty, we shall suffer. He goes about whispering in the ears of little boys and girls, prompting them to mischief, persuading them to tell lies, to be disobedient and unkind. If children listen to his voice, they soon become like him; but if they say, 'Get thee behind me, Satan,' or drive him away, as Frankie did, the Holy Spirit will come and put good thoughts into their minds, and teach them, as the Bible says, what they ought to say and what they ought to do."
Papa then knelt down, and holding Frankie's little hand, prayed that he might always listen to the voice of the good Spirit, and be led by it to do all that is right.
CHAPTER V.
FRANKIE AND THE SUGAR
One morning Mrs. Gray was finishing a piece of work which she wished to send away, when Frankie ran in from the dining hall, and asked, "Mamma, may I have some chucher?" He meant sugar, but he could not speak the word plainly.
"Where is the sugar that you want, my dear?" asked mamma.
"On the table," said Frankie. "Nurse is washing the dishes."
"Look in my face, darling," said mamma, "Did you take any sugar without my leave?"
Frankie looked up with his clear, truthful eyes, and said, "No, mamma, I didn't take any."
"Then go and get two large lumps, and bring them to me."
The little boy ran off, saying, "I will, mamma; I will get some."
Presently he returned with them; and she said, "Now, my dear, you shall have these, because you didn't take any without asking leave."
A few months before this time, Willie one day found Frankie in the store closet dipping up sugar with his hand from the barrel, and crowding it into his mouth. His whole face was covered with sugar, when Willie lifted him down from the chair, and led him to his mother.
When mamma had washed his hands and face, she took him in her lap, and told him it was very naughty to take mother's sugar without her permission. When he wanted sugar, or candy, or figs, he must always ask for them. Since that time she had not known him to touch any thing until he had first asked leave. Once she had left a paper of cough candy in her drawer for several days, and she knew he often went to this drawer on errands for her. She was coughing severely one afternoon, and said, "I really wish I had some candy."
"I will get you some," he said. "I saw some in the drawer;" and away he ran for it.
Mamma was so much pleased that he had not taken any, that she gave him a small paper of sugar plums. The cough candy was not good for him.
Ever since Frankie could remember, his mamma had told him the pretty stories in the Bible. The account of Adam and Eve in the garden; the sad death of good Abel, and the punishment of wicked Cain; the ark, and the dreadful flood; the stories of Joseph and his brethren, of Samuel and of Ruth, were as familiar to him as the names of the family circle. Indeed, the little boy seemed to connect the events of the Bible with every thing he saw.
One day a gentleman gave him a short cane. He had often seen Frankie play horse with his father's cane, and he thought it would please the child to have one of his own.
Frankie was very much delighted, and ran around the garden with it for several hours, Ponto following close at his heels, quite delighted with the new sport. At last he came in, and, sitting down by his mamma, began to play with the string she had tied around the head of the cane. Then he looked very thoughtful for a minute, when he said, "I don't like that cane any more."
"Why don't you like it?" she asked, in surprise.