August, 1935
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
295
Jun ior K ING ’S BUSINESS B y M a r t h a S. H o o k e r
LITTLE SAMPLES*
O h , aren ’ t those samples beautiful! I’d like a dress made from this piece with the pretty pink flowers,” ex claimed Mary as she handled the pretty samples her mother brought home from the store. Many other girls will no doubt be making the same exclamations as school days come again and the new dresses for school are being planned. Boys, too, like samples, but not those of flowered materials. I have some young friends whose father is a clothier. These boys enjoy having their father bring them samples of woolens and tweeds, so that they can plan for the suits they will some day wear. When asking the saleswoman at the store for a sample of goods, have you ever noticed that she is careful to cut the sample so as to include a bit of all the pattern found in the material? Then she places on it a small tag stating the price, and you hurry away home to give your mother a glimpse of some beautiful ma terial you have seen at the store. Samples|often lead to the purchase of yards of material, for people feel that if the sample is attractive, the material must itself be even more beautiful. 'VT The story is”told that once upon a time, long, long ago, there were master work men who worked for years, each seeking to prepare some beautifuil thing to send out into the world as a gift. There was one master workman whose present was the most beautiful of materials. He longed to clothe all the people of the world with the lovely fabric his hands had wrought. For long, long years this master work man wrought. Through loneliness and cold and suffering he sat at the loom, and under his fingers grew the most beautiful dream stuff the world had ever seen. It was a very simple pattern, so simple that even a little child could appreciate it. It was of a lovely blue color which sometimes seemed like a laughing June sky, some times deep like a bottomless pool, or some times the soft blue of a storm cloud; but always it was shot through with stars. It was so utterly lovely that the master work man thought, “Now, surely, seeing this, the people of the world will turn from all that is ugly and cheap, and will want this alone.” ☆ Journeymen, that is, hired workers, were chosen and sent forth by this master work man to all parts of the kingdom to tell of this beautiful material. They described as best they could the loveliness of the fabric. They told of the shining stars upon the rich blue background, and they told, too, what they, the journeymen, could hardly *Adapted from The Sunday School Times.
understand—that the master workman was giving this beautiful material as a gift to all who would take it and keep it “un spotted from the world.” But the people did not understand this beautiful gift that was being offered them for the taking. It was a strange offer, they thought. They therefore refused the free and beautiful gift and chose the old ugly things and continued as before, ex cept for a few who understood the gift. Wherever the wonderful blue fabric found its way, it took joy, a deep untouched joy, such as the master workman had felt during the years when he sat at his loom. But the master workman was not satis fied. As he watched the crowds of people who filled the streets, jostling, elbowing, quarreling, he sighed as he^aw the ugly, worn, dirty clothes they wore—when all his beautiful materials were theirs for the taking! There came a day when the master work man felt he must devise some new plan to bring the beautiful star stuff to the people who were in such need of it. The journey men had done their best. To those to whom they had gone, they had explained the nature of the fabric; they had bidden the people wash before they put it on, and keep themselves clean and pure as they wore it; they had even said that if the stains of the world dimmed its brightness, the master workman was eager to cleanse it and restore its luster. But there were hundreds and thousands of homes, even in the master workman’s own country, where the beautiful fabric had never been seen. He decided that the time had come for a new plan—he would send out samples of his work. ☆ In his workshop one evening, he cut them off, one by one, as he sat before the great loom. Suddenly a timid little voice broke the silence, for this is only a story you know, and in stories even samples can thlk. The First Little Sample was speak ing. “Where art thou sending me, master,: and why?” The master workman might have scolded the First Little Sample for asking ques tions, but he did not. After a moment’s silence he answered: “I am sending you to the House of Indifference, Little Sample, to show to those who dwell therein the beauty of the fabric from which you come.” The First Little Sample gasped with fright. “Oh, no, dear master,” it begged. “Send out some one else, the Second or the Third or the Fifth Little Sample. I am so little, and only one little star of the fabric shines in me; perhaps even that will fade! Oh, dear master, I cannot show them the beauty of the fabric!”
But the master workman shook his head. “It is true that you are a very little sample,” he said, “but I wish you to go to the House of Indifference. There are many things, Little Sample, which shall not be required of you. It is not required of a sample that it clothe all that are in the house. But these things, and these alone are necessary. All of you may listen while I tell you the things that are required of a sample^® ^ The little samples all sat up in a row as the master workman continued. On the breast of each one gleamed a tiny star against the blue. “The very first duty of a sample,” he said, “is to keep its color, true blue. There will be many times when it will be easier to be gray or green, when the dust and dirt of the world will cover the star. But if each one of you is to be any good at all as a sample, you must think of the beautiful, starry fabric from which you came, and keep true to your color. That is the first thing I have to say to you. “And the second duty of a sample is to be durable. The people will accept you on trial for a time, at the houses to which you are going, but if you lose thread after thread, or grow thin and weak where you should be strong, they will not seek to obtain the beautiful fabric for themselves. And that, you know, is the purpose for which I am sending you.” Here the master workman looked very sternly at the Fifth Little Sample, who was swelling up with pride. He took his big shining shears in his hand. “There are master workmen,” he said, “who cut their samples almost in half lest they should forget that they are, after all, only samples, sent out, not to draw attention to themselves, but to that from which they came. But that will not be necessary so long as you are good little samples and remember. Now go I” One by one, alone and somewhat afraid, each little sample went to the house of its assignment, clasping the star to its breast for comfort. ☆ What happened to the five Little Samples as they stayed awhile in the homes where they were sent, I do not know. Surely there were days of joy and days of testing. But I am sure that after the people had seen the durability of their beauty and color, they hastened to the master work man that they, too, might be clothed in the same lovely fabric. And if this result was accomplished by the little samples, I’m sure the heart of the master workman was satisfied. Now I wonder whether you have under-, stood my story, and know that by the Little Samples I mean just boys and girls ’
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