Mary Jane was cross. “Next Sunday we are having a missionary collection, and we have to bring some money. I don’t have any to bring.” “I thought I saw a dollar on your dresser this morning,” said her brother. “Oh yes, but I’m saving up for a good paint box, and I can’t spare any of that!” “Selfish kid,” he said.
Mary Jane was about to make an angry reply when Uncle Joe looked up from his paper. “Want to hear a story?” Mary Jane loved stories, and so did her brother, although he was two years older than her. This is the story Uncle Joe told……
Once upon a time there was a shiny dollar coin. It was born in the big mint. It said to itself, ‘Oh, I hope I’ll be of some use in the world. I hope I won’t spend my life for nothing. Wonder where I’ll go first.’ A well-dressed man came to the bank, and the dollar was given to him for change. How excited the dollar was. ‘It’s my first chance to do some good!’ It rode home in the man’s pocket. At the gate two children met him. ‘Give us a dollar for an ice cream,’ they said, and the father handed each a dollar coin …one of them being our little friend.
So his next trip was to the store. He was disappointed, and tears came to his eyes. “I wanted to do some good in life, and here I’m being spent for a cone that will be eaten up in five minutes.’
“The shop man put him in the till, and the dollar dried his tears and waited. He did not have to wait long. The shop man’s daughter came into the store. ‘Give me a dollar for carfare; it’s too hot to walk,’ said she. So the dollar was dropped into the car man’s box. “This is not so bad,’ murmured the dollar. ‘I have saved her a long hot walk.’ But when the girl got off at the end of three blocks, he felt sorrowful again. ‘I haven’t done much,’ he sighed. “That night he went home in the car man’s pocket.
As he sat at supper, the man said to his wife, ‘Tomorrow is Dot’s birthday. We’ll give her a dollar for every year she is old and let her spend it as she likes.’ “So he counted out ten dollars, and our friend was one of them. All night it lay under Dot’s plate along with the others, a shiny row. He talked to the dollar next to him, “Oh, I did want to be useful, and I seem to have done nothing with myself so far.’
The other dollar sniffed ‘Once I felt that way, but I’ve given up hoping.’ In the morning Dot exclaimed with delight when she saw the row of shining dollars, ‘Goody, I know what I’ll buy.’ So the dollar along with the others, were taken to the store and exchanged for a string of beads.
Our dollar was so discouraged that he rolled away into a corner of the till. ‘Is all my life to be wasted on things that don’t last?’ he cried. It was at least an hour before he was able to take any interest in anything. Then he heard the door of the store open and the shop man’s voice, ‘Hello, Betty, how’s everything?’ And he heard a little girl say, ‘Not so good; Mother’s sick, and Brother’s lost his job.’ ‘Well, now, that’s bad,’ replied the store man. ‘You do have the worst of luck of anyone I know.’ ‘But Mother says that health may be lost, and jobs, but we have got something that can’t be lost.’ “Now, what might that be?’
“God’s love.’ “Well, well, that’s true. What was it you were wanting?’
“Fifty cents’ worth of hamburger,’ said the little girl. “Here it is, and here’s a dollar to spend for yourself. No, don’t thank me. Just get something you really want.’ And so our friend, the dollar, found himself held in a hot, little hand. The girl was poorly dressed, but neat and clean. As soon as the store door closed, she started running, and ran all the way home.
Into the home she burst, ‘Mother, here’s the hamburger, and what do you think, Mr. B. gave me a dollar just for myself.’ “Oh, a whole dollar!’ exclaimed the other girls sitting by their mother’s bed. ‘What are you going to do with it?’ “Let’s get some candy,’ said one of them.
“But Betty replied, ‘I have another plan. I’ve never had anything but cents before to give to the Lord, so I’m going to put this into my missionary box.’ ‘What a good idea,’ said her mother. “So out came the missionary box, in went the dollar, and as it dropped down in the darkness it laughed a dollar laugh, ‘My life is not useless after all!”
Uncle Joe stopped. “I never heard a dollar laugh,” said Mary Jane. “That’s because you never put a dollar in the missionary box,” replied Uncle Joe. “What happened to the dollar after that?” Mary Jane wanted to know. “It went to the missionary society and helped buy a Bible for a boy called Sing Lee. What country do you think he lived in?” “Sounds like a Chinese laundry name to me,” replied Mary Jane. “Yes, he lived in China, and he never had a Bible before. And what happened then? Listen: ” and Uncle Joe sang this little song…..
“You sent a dollar across the sea; That bought a Bible for young Sing Lee, And young Sing Lee, when he’d read therein, Then turned his back on all his sin”.