'There were two games

There were two games

Some boys had played a game. One little fellow came home gloomy and cast down. His side had lost. But that was not the cause of his dejection.

"Mother," he said, "God was on the side of the bad boys today, and they won. You see, we fellows thought we would try awfully hard and not get mad or cheat or say bad words, and not one fellow did. But the other side did. They swore and got cross and cheated, and yet they won. It wasn't fair."

The mother could not comfort her boy.

The father came in presently, and the mother drew him aside and quietly told him of the state of things. Presently the father said: "Well, my boy, I hear that you won today."

"Well," he answered in a very solemn voice, "you heard wrong, because we were beaten."

"But I heard that there were two games . I heard that you lost the match — but won the big, important thing — you conquered yourselves. You didn't beat the other fellows — but you conquered your tempers and bad language. Congratulations, my boy; I am proud of you!"

The boy's face began to change. "Why, that is so, father," he said happily. "I didn't think of it in that way. God was on our side, after all, wasn't He?"

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