"I'm glad that promise is in the Bible." "Yes; it has often been a comfort to me," she said, "as which of His great and precious promises has not?
Max, my dear boy, never be ashamed or afraid to show your colors; stand up for Jesus always, whether at home or abroad, in the company of His friends or His foes.
"The acknowledgment that you are His follower, bound to obey His commands, may expose you to ridicule, scorn, and contempt; but if you are a good soldier of Jesus Christ, you will bear all that and more rather than deny Him." "Oh, Grandma Elsie! could I ever do that ?" he exclaimed with emotion.
"Peter did, you remember, though he had been so sure before the temptation came that he would rather die with his Master than deny Him." "My father's son ought to be very brave," remarked Max after a moment's thoughtful silence, half unconsciously thinking aloud.

"I am quite sure papa would face death any time rather than desert his colors, whether for God or his country." Elsie smiled kindly, approvingly upon the boy.

It pleased her well to see how proud and fond he was of his father; how thoroughly he believed in him as the personification of all that was good and great and noble.
"I'm not nearly so brave," Max went on; "but, as papa says, the promises are mine just as much as his, and neither of us can stand except in the strength that God gives to those that look to Him for help in every hour of temptation.
"Besides, Grandma Elsie, I'll not have death to fear as Peter had.

Yet I'm not sure that it isn't as hard, sometimes, to stand up against ridicule." "Yes; I believe some do find it so; many a man or boy has been found, in the hour of trial, so lacking in true moral courage--which is courage of the highest kind--as to choose to throw away his own life or that of another rather than risk being jeered at as a coward.

Ah, Max, I hope you will always be brave enough to do right even at the risk of being deemed a coward by such as 'love the praise of men more than the praise of God.'" "Oh, I hope so!" he returned; "and if I don't, I think there should be no excuse made for me--a boy with such a father and such friends as you and all the rest of the folks here." "I am pleased that you appreciate your opportunities, Max," Elsie said.
Just at that moment Evelyn and Lulu came up the veranda steps with hands filled with wild-flowers culled from among the myriads of beautiful ones that spangled the velvety lawn where they had been strolling together ever since leaving the house.
"See what lovely flowers.