Stories From The Old Attic | Page 4

and it did amazing things, always adding up the numbers
correctly. So the craftsman sold it to a businessman for many thousands
of dollars. All the parts inside the new adding machine felt good about
being so valuable. They worked hard and happily all day, and often
talked about how useful they were to the businessman.
But one day a spring noticed a little nut just sitting on the end of a shaft.
The spring pulled at the lever he was attached to and pointed. Soon the
whole works knew. "You lazy little nut," said a spinning gear, "why
don't you get to work?"
"But I am working," said the nut. "Holding on is my job."
"That's stupid," yelled a cam. "I don't believe our maker put you here.
You just sneaked in to steal some of our glory. Why don't you get out?"
"Well," said the nut, "I'm sure our maker knew what he was doing, and
that I do serve a purpose. I hold on as tightly as I can." But all the
machinery began to squeal and abuse the nut so violently that he felt
very sad and began to doubt himself. "Maybe I am useless," he thought.
He appealed to the shaft he was threaded onto.
"Look, kid," the shaft told him, "I've got plenty of other parts holding
on to me. I shouldn't have to support you, too."

So finally the little nut decided to unscrew himself and go away. He
dropped off the shaft and fell through a hole in the bottom of the
machine. "Good riddance," said the motor.
"Yeah, good riddance," all the other parts agreed.
Rather quickly the nut was forgotten and things went on as they had for
awhile. But in a few hours, the shaft began to feel funny. At first he
began to vibrate. Then he started sliding and slipping. He called for
help to the other parts attached to him, but they could do nothing.
Presently the shaft fell completely out of his mounting hole, causing
many levers and gears and cams to slip out of alignment and crash
against each other, and forcing the whole machine to grind to a halt
with an awful noise. The motor tried his best to keep things going--he
tried so hard that he bent many of the parts--and then as he tried even
harder, he burned himself out. "This is all the fault of that little nut," the
ruined parts all agreed.
"I'll give ya three bucks for it," said the junk man to the office manager.

Stewardship
A wise man approached three young men standing around idly. "Here
is a coin worth a hundred dollars," the wise man said to the first youth.
"What should I do with it?"
"Give it to me," he said at once.
"Rather than reward such selfishness and greed," responded the wise
man, "it would be better to throw the money into the sea." And with
this, the wise man threw the coin into the water. "Now," he said to the
second youth, "here is another coin. What should I do with it?"
The second youth, feeling shrewd, answered, "Throw it into the sea."
But the wise man said, "That would be a careless waste. To follow a
bad example only because it is an example is folly. Better than

throwing this money away would be to give it to the poor." And he
gave the money to a beggar sitting nearby. "I have one last coin," the
wise man went on, talking to the third youth. "What shall I do with it?"
The third youth had been paying attention, and, thinking he would get
the money if he avoided the greed and wastefulness implied in the
answers of his friends, said, "Why, give it to the poor."
"That is a very wise and kind answer," said the wise man, smiling. And
because you have answered so well" (at this the youth brightened with
expectation), "I will indeed take your good advice and give the money
to the poor."
"Don't I get anything for my wisdom?" demanded the youth.
"You have already received something much better than money," said
the wise man.

The Man Who Believed in Miracles
Once upon a time a traveler arrived in a land quite like our own, full of
modern technology like cars and computers and whistling teapots, but
with these two differences: there were no television sets and no
airplanes. In fact, nothing at all had ever been seen in the sky, not even
a bird, and the only movies the people ever saw were in the theaters.
The traveler stayed for about a month on the eastern shore where he
had arrived, and then decided to visit the western cities. He mentioned
his decision one evening at