Numbers 10

Lend Your Eyes.

Thou shalt be to us instead of eyes. Numbers 10:31.

“Thou shalt be to us instead of eyes” What did Moses mean? He was talking to his father-in-law, and he was trying to persuade him to go with the children of Israel through the wilderness to the Promised Land. Moses' father-in-law had lived all his life in the wilderness. He knew its good places and its bad places. He knew where its best camping-grounds were to be found. He could be an immense help to the wanderers. He could, as Moses said, be “instead of eyes” to them.

Boys and girls, do you know that you too can be “instead of eyes”? Perhaps a story or two will explain how.

I remember a boy quite a little fellow whose mother used to ask him every morning: “Willie, what o'clock is it?” And Willie had no watch. But there was a tower-clock a good way off. His mother could not read the hours on it, but Willie's sharp little eyes could, and Willie told the time to a minute.

And I remember a little girl playing with her doll at a fireside, while her mother stitched, stitched, stitched. Every now and then her mother called, “Nellie, another needle!” And Nellie threaded a fine needle with white thread. “You see, it puts off time if I try to thread them myself,” the mother said to me; “but it's not every day I can get Nellie.”

The other day I heard of a grown-up girl who could be “instead of eyes.” A blind lady came to see me. We chanced to talk of picture galleries, and she told me she had been to see one of the finest picture collections in London. Then, I suppose because she thought I might wonder, she added, “Winifred went with me. she is wonderful when she describes pictures.” That blind lady had had the blessing of sight when she was a young girl. She knew what color meant; and from the description that her seeing friend gave her, she was able to discuss, like an artist, some of the finest modern pictures.

Boys and girls with your bright eyes, you are needed. Even the youngest among you can be of use.

But there is a higher sight than that of the eye, and today I want to speak of it as well. The eyes which are set in your face are not the only eyes you possess. You have eyes in your mind; and I want you to use these eyes also to help the world and the older folk in it.

What do I mean by that? Well, you all know that, besides seeing the actual events which take place around you, you see in your mind wonderful pictures of things that might happen or things that you might do. And these pictures seem so real sometimes that you feel they are, to you, even more real than the real happenings. They are marvelous eyes, those eyes of your imagination! Older people dream dreams mostly of “what has been” or “what might have been” but yours is the privilege to dream dreams of “what may be.”

“But,” you say, “how will dreams of ‘ what may be ' help the world and the older people in it?” They will help in this way they will make the world better, and they will keep the world young. For I want the eyes of your imagination to see only what is good and pure and noble. And I want you to turn these visions of your mind into actual events. I want you to do some, at least, of the splendid things you dream of. I want you to make the noble thoughts noble deeds.

Older people are often tired, the eyes of their imagination are dim; but yours is the fresh vision that can see what may be, and yours is the enthusiasm and the energy that can make dreams real.

So keep your visions, dear children! Hold them fast as the years pass. Then, when you grow old enough, turn them into splendid facts.