JUNIOR KING’S BUSINESS
The Boy Who Wanted to Be Great by Betty Bruecbert
Synopses of Parts I and II a great, rich man and to make his name great. He regretted that it was such an odd name — “James James” — but was thankful everyone called him “Jim” or “Jimmy.” Mrs. James gave permission for the children to attend the meeting. The announcement had set her to thinking that because her husband was home so little, she did not make much effort to get the children to Sunday s cho o l or c h u r c h ; Jim thought about Mr. Gray’s formula for greatness; and Terry thought about the young girl pianist and her own pretty pink dress and new slip pers she was going to wear that night. She decided it was going to be a wonderful evening, maybe one of the best of her life. Mrs. James was proud of her chil dren when, glistening clean, and in their good clothes, they were ready for the meeting. She dropped them off and drove on to a shower, after giving i n s t r u c t i o n s for Jim and Terry to go home by themselves on the bus. Everything about the me e t ing , well attended by enthusiastic young people, thrilled the children from the singing of the choir, the solo by Mrs. Gray, the truly remarkable piano- A Night of Nights head. Two policemen were standing beside their father, who looked worn and tired. A wan smile crossed his face as he saw Jim and Terry. The children knew enough not to get in the way and to be quiet. Dr. James said to the police, “ I’m sure he’ll be all right now. See that he gets rest and quiet. It is just a surface wound and I don’t expect any concussion.”
One of the numerous s umme r c h o r e s f o r thirteen-year-old Jim James, an A student ready for High School in the fall, was mowing the grass. His helpers in picking up the debris were his nine-year-old sister Terry and his Irish setter Shag, while Terry’s big white Persian, Kitty Bibbs, sat by, doing the “ heavy looking on.’’ Shag brought Terry a paper folded and secured with a rub ber band. It proved to be an an nouncement of special Young Peo ple’s Meetings in the downtown au ditorium, conducted by a certain Gray family which included the fa ther as speaker, the mother as solo ist, and what interested Terry most, who was a piano student, the Gray twins, about Jim’s age, who played piano and violin. But Jim, although a fine trumpet player himself, was more intrigued with Mr. Gray’s sub jects, particularly the one, “How To Became a Great Man.” He had been thinking about his future ever since he finished Junior High and had about decided that he didn’t want to follow in the footsteps of his hard-ivorking, but poorly rewarded doctor-father. Although it had been his dream since he was very young to be a doctor, now he wished to be
and-violin due t s by the talented Tuneful Twins, Harry and Mary Gray, to the message by Mr. Gray on the very subject in which Jim was interested: “How To Be a Great Man.” He said three Cs were re quired for greatness: Consecration, Concentration and Courage, illus trating these points with stories of great men and women. Then he preached the Gospel, showing that no kind of greatness was worth while if a person were not saved, and asking that the ambition of the boys and girls be to be great for God. He explained in terms the young people could understand how they could be come Christians, turning their lives over to the Lord. A t the invitation Jim and Terry, deeply touched, went forward, and were saved. Harry and Mary Gray helped them in prayer and in understand ing Bible verses on salvation. Then, realizing it was getting late, the children ran for their bus. Both were happy at what had 'transpired, but Jim wondered what his parents would say. To their surprise, when they turned into their walk, they saw that the lights were all on and that a police ambulance and squad car were standing in the street.
One of the officers said, “ He’s mighty lucky this happened in front of your house, Doc. I’ll phone his folks right away so they can get to the hospital. He lives about ten blocks from here. I sure wish we had the license num ber of the car that hit him. We’ll take with us what remains of the bike.” “ I guess I was thinking more of the boy than that hit-and-run
CHAPTER THREE J im had HIS key in his hand but he did not need it. The front door was standing ajar. The children rushed in just as two men in white were carrying to .the door on a stretcher a boy whom they did not know. He was covered with a blanket and there was a bandage around his
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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