#431 - Pull Out the Nail Hole

Pull Out the Nail Hole

  John B. DeMotte, A.M., gives this little story of father's teaching.

  “My boyhood home was not far south of the great chain of North American Lakes. Our fuel was poles cut from a neighboring tamarack swamp. It was my business, after they had been brought to our yard, to saw them to proper length for the stoves. They were long and slick and hard to hold. One morning, when I was in a hurry to be off fishing, they seemed to be especially aggravating. Getting the saw fast, I jerked about until finally I plunged the teeth some distance into one of my feet, making an ugly gash. My father saw the exhibition of my tempter, but said nothing until I had finished my work and my passion had subsided. Then he called me to him.

  “John,” said he, very kindly, “I wish you would get the hammer.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Now a nail and a piece of pine board.”

  “Here they are.”

  “Will you drive the nail into the board?”

  It was done.

  “Please pull it out again.”

  “That's easy.”

  “Now, John”--and my father's voice dropped to a lower, sadder key--“pull out the nail hole.”

  Ah! Boys and girls, every wrong act leaves a scar. Even if the board were a living tree, yea, a living soul, the scars remain. 

Illustrative Anecdotes for Preachers, Sunday School Teachers, and the Family Circle. Henry M. Tyndall. 1925. #431 (Page 231).