Two Voices

There was once a little boy who said that whenever he was going to do

anything wrong he heard two voices speaking to him. Do you know what he

meant? Perhaps this story will help you.

The boy's name was Cecil. Cecil's father had a very beautiful and rare canary, which had been brought far over the sea as a present to him.

Cecil often helped his father to feed the canary and give it fresh water, and sometimes his father would allow him to open the door of the cage after completing a chore. The canary would come out and perch on Cecil's hand, which delighted him very much. But he was not allowed to open the door of the cage unless his father was with him.

One day, however, Cecil came to the cage alone, and while he watched the canary. A small voice from inside him said, "Open the door and take him out; Dad will never know". That was the wrong voice. Cecil tried to ignore it. But the voice came again, telling him to release the bird within the cage. It would have been better if he had left the cage and gone into another room, but he did not.

Meanwhile, another little voice in Cecil said, "No, don't; your father said you must not".

But Cecil was not strong enough to resist. He listened to the wrong voice; he opened the door gently, and out flew the pretty bird. First, it perched on his finger, then it flew about the room, and then--he hadn't noticed that the window was open--before he could stop her, the canary flew out of sight. Poor Cecil burst into tears. "Oh!" he thought, "If I had listened to the

good voice, the right voice, and not opened the door! Father will be so angry."

The voice that had told him to open the cage returned: "Don't tell your father," it said. "Say you know nothing about it ". But Cecil did not listen this time; he was too brave a boy to tell his father a lie. 'I'll tell him the truth,' he said aloud. 'I'll be punished if I need to be.'

Of course, his father was disappointed when Cecil lost his pet canary, and he was even more upset when he found out that his son had disobeyed him. But he was pleased to learn that Cecil told him the truth. He appreciated his honesty.

Now, do you know the two things that the wrong voice told Cecil to do?

This voice (1) told him not to obey; and (2) told him not to tell the truth. I think we have all heard those two voices, not with our ears, but within us. Let us always listen to the good voice--the right voice.