CHILDREN'S CORNER.

Evening Star, Issue 11891, 20 May 1903, Page 8

CHILDREN'S CORNER.

BURNHAAFS GREAT FEAT. t '^? r^ a ? 1 ' the Americ an scout, -who was .Lord Roberts's chief of scouts, was one of the most interesting figures in the South African War. Some of his adventures are as thrilling as the wildest inventions of the writers of dime novels, differing only in the important respect that thev are true. Mr Frederick Unger, the American war correspondent, relates one of them in his book, 'With "Bobs" and Kruger.' "I'.urnham once allowed himself to be captured and led into Do Wet's camp, hoping to get. information and then escapY He concealed his identity, but was betrayed by another prisoner, a British officer, who. in spite of Burnham'B signs, stupidly called him hy name. A special guard was immediately placed over him, and on the march he was put into a trek waggon, closely covered except in front. An armed driver sat on the seat, a guard rode at each side, and one behind. Learning from the conversation of his guards that when they reached tha raiUvsj hf would be sent on to Pretoria by train, he knew he must escape then or never. He kept awake at nighi, ami w-,t- bed >is chance. <lt cam-j when tb>! driver ,».t down to give some directions to the native boy leading the oxm Bu-fJmin civpi up on the seat, from wlniii he slipped down to the cart tongue, and from there he slid quietly down to the around, prostrate under the cart, which passed over him. The guaids on the sides could not see, but those behind might. He lay still, preparing to endure even the tread of a horse and not give a sign. The night was dark. The horses of the following cart stepped carefully over him, and their riders just happened not to l.v>k down. The next cart, drawn dy oxen, was some distance behind, and before it canu: up Burnham rolled swiftly to the side i:f the road, where hs lay until the cart passed. Then, before another came up, he had time to roll several hundred yards to the right, and was for the moment; safe. But now his escape was discovered. 3he column halted, and lights appeared. Horsemen rode up and down the line, shouting and firing shots. Other horsemen >-ode ever the veldt, and several came close io where Burnham was lying. In the darkness he looked so like a clump of grass thatAe escaped notice. Had his pursuers waited till daylight he would have been token. After a while the column moved tin, and Burnham rose to his feet, and struck u>fT southward for Bloemfontein. He spmu tyo pays and nights on the veldt, hidden bv day on the summits of kopjes, from which he could see Eoer scouts, evidently on the look-out for him. At last he succeeded in reaching Bloemfontein, after for; v-eight hours without food. He had gain'd important information from the careless conversation of his guards, and had accomplished his purpose." AN EXCEPTION. She'd won no prize at any school. She'd taken no degree at college; A sweet exception to the rule, She was the woman without knowledge: And hence, she proved a Mecca-stone To pilgrim men, oppressed and dreary,' J By too much smartness overthrown, Of learning, wit, and wisdom, weary. ■■ They crowded round her, 'mid the whirl, While brilliancy sat by unheededEach man rejoiced to find a girl Who did not know as much as he did. —Madeline Bridges in ' Harper.' DON'T WATCH THE CLOCK "Don't watch the clock." That was the advice given by Thomas A. Edison, the great electrician, to a young man vho applied to him for the .secret of success It was an unexpected and almost curt rejoinder, but after all the root of the whole matter is in it. " Don't watch the clock " Th.'t inc ans, first, that the worker will be absorbed in his work. No one ever accomplishes anything worth while who is not so bound up in what he is doing that he t.-ikf-e no account of the flight of time. " Don't watch the clock," and vnn will never be tempted to do anything* hastily. When the first slight creeps into work, then the workman takes the first step downhill, av ay from his ideal, aw»y from the best that is in him, away from* the standard of painstaking skill he has already established, away from the esteem of his fellows-rafts-men. The first piece of botchw<.rk is the beginning of a decline in capabiliry. Never try to do a nice piece of work with haste, just because the clock says you have onlv so much time left to do "it in. So much time before what?—the noon recess! the next meal? the expected relaxation or pleasure? Let the next thing go, then, and take the time to do your best by what you are doing, or else do the thing well as far as you go, and leave it there to be resumed, painstakingly, later. But never race with the minute hand. " Don't watch the clock," and your employer will not watch you. Self-forget-ting devotion to work wins confidence. Even forget the clock so much as to work a little overtime now and then. Those overtime minutes are golden, and well invested. No earnest workman has ever regretted them or counted them lost. Let the pulse of your enthusiasm time all effort, rather than the oscillations of the pendulum. Yes, Edison was right: that is the secret of success. ''Don't watch the clock." THE OAK'S STORY. "Well," said the Oak, "I am so big and ancient that I can scarcely remember when, I was an acorn. But one summer morning long ago 1 awoke to find myself crowing out of one of those lovely nuts, I sent out a little root into the earth" and a stem into the air, which has gradually grown all these years into my grand old trunk. As this is spring, you will see that I am covered with my flowers, or catkins, as they are called. You will see them hanging in the axils of my leaves I have two kinds of flowers—one kind contains my life-giving pollen, the other bears my stigmas with the baby seeds lying below. When the wind blows my yellow life-giving pollen on mv stigmas, they give it to my haby seeds, who are thus made to live, then they swell and grow into jay beautiful acorn or fruit. lam named the King of the Forest, and long ago, when wooden ships were used, 'three-deckers' were built of my wood. The ancient Britons worshipped me, and the Yule log which they burned at Christmas time was always, of my timber. Aline was the wood that made Kin* Arthur's round tahie.'* •

" Now is our time to speak," said the I Ash and Sycamore trees." "I am a native of Britain,'' began the Ash. I "Just look at my beautiful leaves as they wave in the sunshine. They are called compound leaves, as each one is made up of five or six pairs of leaflets placed opposite to each other on my central leaf stalk. I belong to a very.ancient family, which was well known in the % early days, for one of the oldest poets speaks of the mighty ashen spear of Achilles. And another says :■ ' The towering ash is fairest in the woods:' Just look at my seed vessels. I call them 'keys,' though my seeds are really nuts, and go by the name of 'samara.' The prettiest thing about them is thai they are provided with wings, so they are sent flying far and wide by the wind" Here the Sycamore joined in the talk. "I have winged seeds as well," he said, "besides having beautiful huge leaves deeply cleft into five lobes. The sap that t runs throng my cells contains a good quantity of sugar, and it is sometimes made I use of.' —' N.B. Advertiser.'