CHANGE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2456, 10 April 1901, Page 60

CHANGE.

"A pleasant change," "'A fearful change," "A change for the worse — or better," and so on, and so on, we hear the word "change," the tone varying with every changing subject under discussion, and jusfc now we hear cm all sides, "What a terrible change in the weather," "The weather has changed with a vengeance," etc., and we reilise with a feeling of regret that this slimmer — summer of lovely days ond yefc lovelier sunsets, followed by calm, sweefj gloaming hours — has passed away from us ; and then we remember, and remember gladly, that the winter days, when we mosfe look for cold, dreary drizzles, stormy blusters, and— let us be thankful— jlear, bracing frosts will roll slowly away, and once more we shall hail with joy the blue skies pnd green fields of summer We look ati the children thronging round us, from the: crowing baby to the (big school girl or boy, and we wonder, perhaps with a, thrill of sadness quivering tlirough our hearts, what' may the future bring them. Wa know that changes will come, but what those changes may bear on their wings for cur dear ones is veiled from our eyes ; so we are apt to try to pear into the future, and Fear is ever whispering of lurking dangers, of heavy trials, of pain and sorrowv till we hear a voice, both strong and tender, spy, "The very hairs of their heads are all numbered by me,"' and then we resfc m ihe a<-feurniee that He will not betray our trust, but keep that which we have committed to His care, and rejoice while we sing :

The changes that are sure to come

"We will not fear to see.

Two friends meet after the lapse of many years. They were chums in the dear old 'd.ivs of their girlhood, and now they meet ont.e more. Many and varied have been the experiences of each. With each Change has indeed been busy, weaving many silver threads 111 the dark heads, curving lines of care and sorrow in brow and cheek, and robbing the lips of their fulness On ono thing, however, he has not laid his hand, pnd that is their tender affection for each other, that glows still warm and sincere,, untouched and unscathed by tim© or change. A doctor stands by his patient, and his face is grave, growing graver still as she assures him she is not ill, has never had any illness to speak of, for he has noted manysigns — he almost thinks of them n=> fatal signs. He writes out a' prescription, and 1 hands it to the husband, who with a hungry look in his eyes waits in the passage. "A change would do ha- more good thaa medicine — indeed, it is necep-ary.'' At the words the hungry look intensifies. "A change !" The -words sound in his cars almost as sound the earth clods upon a coffin, and his hp.irt grows sick within, him as he runs up rows of figures, and examines pocket book ar.d desk, then settles to the task of finding out what he can sacrifice in order to win "a change" for tha companion who has grown so very weary whilst running at his siqp. A mother bends in anguish owr the cot where lies her only boy. She has been routed front feverish rest by the friend who had come to tell how a change had come over tho boy. Oh, mother, weep not in such hopeless agony ; ere long another change will come, and your little one shall have passedfrom your arms to the arms of his loving Saviour — from pain and sickness to the land, where all such things are done away. Your arms had a very tender clasp, but Christ's have a clasp more tender still. Your lamb will never stray from the fold now r , and you can never know the agony which has torn the heart of this other mother who has seen a change more terrible than that on which you are looking blight her boy. She ha& seen the first down-ward step followed by the second and the third. She has seen the look of innocence on his face all marred by that of crime ; she has seen Truth slain by Falsehood in his heart. Ah, these are sad changes, and well may her heart be sore ; but her prayers are twined around him ; they are holding him as in a net. She knows that across the desert and over the mountains One is follow ing hc'ird — One with pierced hands and feet — and she waits for the div when : All through the mountains, thunder riven,

And up fioni the loeKy steep, There will rise a cry to the gate of heaven, " Rejoice, I have found my shrep " And the angels shall echo around the thione, " Rejoice, for the Lord brings back his own ; " for that change will have been wrought in the heart of her boy over which the angeh in heaven rejoice. At the altar stand .1 youth and maiden. Love, and hope, and trust are throbbing high in each breast ; heart answers to heart, and mind to mind. May the long years to come, whatever of care, or grief, or pain they may bung", bring never that change which makes "mated minds unmate and love decay." All else but binds the closer each heart, and makes more deep and tender the lo\e of youth. It is w r ell that changes come. Ass times and seasons roll on and chase each, other we may hear in the roar of the winter tempest a voice which hd\s: "I hava only my day ; summei w ill come again.* While the summer suns slime and summer blossoms blow, listen well, fur they say, " Make the most of this bright time, re-» joice, and be glad."

Gather the rose 1 ? while je may, Old Time is still a-flymg , And the flower that blooms to-day, To morrow may be dying.

VIOLET.