A Divided Carrot
By Evelyn Krauss Nowell
of the snow-capped peaks or the lovely blue of Rainbow Glacier that people traveled far to see. Judy’s mind was busy feeling sorry for Judy! “ I am going to gather vegetables for supper tonight, Judy,” Mother called from the kitchen. “ Will you help me?” That was one thing Judy liked to do. Daddy told her that she was going to make a good gardener. He often teased her about her “ green thumb.” Judy joined Mother in the garden, but she didn’t run joyfully as she usually did. Her little stubborn mind was dwelling on the fun she thought she was missing. “Judy, it’s time to plant another crop of radishes. You did such a good job of the last sowing that Daddy asked me to get you to do this row today.” Judy began to feel better now. Here was something she could do, and do well. “ First, I’ve got to get the ground ready like Miss Jean told us the sower did in the Bible. Then I’ll plant the radish seeds.” “ That’s quite right,” agreed Mother. “ But where are you going to prepare this ground? In the driveway?” “ Oh, no!” laughed Judy. “It wouldn’t grow there. That’s too stony. I must plant it here where Daddy plowed this spring.” Judy got her own little rake and cleared a tiny spot. Mother helped her mark the straight row, and then, seeing that she was carefully planting the seeds, left her. Mother was pulling tender, yellow carrots for supper when Judy joined her. She started to pick up the carrots that Mother had laid on the ground. This was always Judy’s job. She shook off the moist earth and laid the carrots in Mother’s gathering basket. “ Oh, Mummy, look at this funny carrot!” cried Judy. “ Something stopped it from being a whole carrot.” Judy waved a carrot that had two roots! Mother examined the carrot carefully. “ Do you know how that happened, Judy!” Mother asked. “ See what is stuck between the two roots that made this carrot separate? It’s a stone!” And sure enough, after the carrot had started out to be a perfect carrot at the top, a stone got in the way and caused the carrot to divide and have two roots! Judy was delighted with her find and wanted to save it for Daddy to see. “ That carrot reminds me of a little girl I know,” said Mother. Judy waited, for she knew that Mother had a story. Mother always did her lesson-teaching
F is the story of a little girl who lived on a small ranch in Alaska. Her life is not so very different from boys and girls all over the United States, except perhaps when it snows. And my, how it snows where little Judy Moore goes to school in the northern part of the “ Panhandle” of Alaska! But that is another story. Judy was not her smiling self this bright warm day, because she had not been permitted to go with Daddy to the hay flats. There is not much cleared land in and about the little town where Judy lived, so that getting hay for their few dairy cows was a problem. But along the river, about one mile from Judy’s home, were acres and acres of rich salt hay, and once every month when the summer tides were at their lowest, Judy’s father and several other farmers who lived near this river that empties into the inner waters of the Northern Pacific Ocean, worked fever ishly for three or four days to cut hay before the increasing tides again cov ered the flats. Judy was sometimes allowed to ride to and from the flats when the men were loading hay. She knew that today they were cutting hay. She still wanted to go. Even Mother’s careful explanation that Daddy would be gone all day and that a seven-year-old girl would be tired before supper time, did not help. It was a lovely, lazy day and Judy could have been playing out doors. Instead, she stood resting her chubby arm on the sill of the big picture window in the living room. Her eyes did not see the 5,000-foot high mountain across the river valley. She did not see the beauty
“Oh, Mummy,” cried Judy, “look at this funny carrot.” this delightful way. “ This carrot started out to be a fine carrot, one that would be useful and which Daddy could sell. Instead, some thing entered its life that caused it to divide. Instead of being a whole, useful carrot it has two skinny roots that no body wants. Judy, its just like our lives. If we let sin enter our hearts our lives will become useless to the Lord Jesus.” Judy, her eyes still fixed on the carrot, nodded her head thoughtfully. “ I know what you mean, Mummy,” she said soberly, “ if I keep being stubb-stubb- stubb.” “ The word Daddy used this morning was stubborn, Judy. Yes, if we become stubborn and do not listen when good advice is given to us, we can’t expect God to speak to us either, can we?” “ No,” replied little Judy. “ And I sure don’t want to grow up like a di vided carrot—I want my life to be whole.” “Yes, and whole for the Lord Jesus, without any sin to mar it,” added Mother.
By Martha S. Hooker
Page Seventeen
M A Y , 1 9 5 2
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