LITTLE KINGS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2571, 24 June 1903, Page 62

LITTLE KINGS.

Little things! — how apt we are to undervalue, even despise, them ; yet how limitless oftentimes their importance. Every housekeeper knows that if the so-called minor arrangements are suffered to go wrong, disaster in some form results. They know, too, that it is not the greater works of the household that try them most sorely ; rather is it the ceaseless demand made upon their time by those things which, viewed by themselves, seem veriest trifles, yet are in reality the foundation of all the comfort and rest of that home-life v/hich is, as a whole, so beautiful. It is, indeed, wonderful to what an extent inattention to some small household details may mar the harmony and usefulness of the day. Friction, wearing out in time the most patient ; waste of time, which must ere long tell its own tale ; a less eager looking forward to the home hours by the male portion of the family — and, alas! in too many cases a drifting away to the gambling tables or the bar room. More than one sad instance of such drifting conies before me as I write, ending in severed hearts and desolated homes, traceable in the beginning to little things — or, rather. the neglect of them— till wives and mothers mourn in loneliness over a sorrow they might have prevented. Perhaps some may ask impatiently, some regretfully, Must we always be bound by little fretting things— "we who co long to do better, liigher works ? Dear comrades, there can be no better, higher work than just the duty of the hour for any, and while we have mortal bodies, with a mortal body's needs, some of these duties must necessarily be insignificant, singly ; not so, taken relatively. Seeing, then, that so much of our time must be spent in the performance of "The trivial round, the common task," we may well strive to exalt the commonpla^ : To kigh endeavours and preat aims, And see the glint of angel wings Shiiulng across familiar names, And understand that it is given To earth to be the door of heaven— , so that we may be able to Greet the angel who reveals The beauty of the homely task, Who hallows every heart that feels Content and glad ; nor great things ask. God give us e\es to pee the grace Of angels 111 the commonplace. Then perhaps we, too, shall one day find that The good we tried to do doth stand as it 'twere done, because God finishes the work Tjy earnest souls begun And, after all, much lies within the power even of those most botrnd by the fetters of the commonplace : A smile, a word, a {ouch, And each is easily given, Yet either may win A soul from sin, Or smooth the way to heaven. A smile- may brighten the faintcng heart, A word may soften pain's heaviest smart, A touch may lead us from sin apart — How easily either is given! That young people setting out in life should give earnest attention to little things — either of good or ill — is surely allimportant, as they must assured!y grow to greater. Little habits of carelessness may grow till they so mar all work that a good and promising situation is lost. A little want of candour xuay lead on to small deviations from the truth, then to positive falsehood ; and none can tell to what depths of moral degradation that in turn may lead. Perhaps the swind'er, dragging out his slow "term," recalls bitteily his first untruth, his first unfair dealing, called at the time a "smart dodge." The ruined gambler may groan over his early habits of card-playing, his scornful treatment of a mother's or a sister's prayers that he would give up his reckless playing, as the dread craze wrapped him in yet closer and closer thrall. The man who has signally failed through all his life may be the prey of remorse as lie broods over the remembrance of small, yet sure, opportunities lost in vain reaching after greater uncertainties. The wife who finds herself unable to cope with everincreasing responsibility bewails her girlhood's wasted hours, wherein she might have acquired so much practical knowledge. Many a heart is bruised for want of a little sympathy ; many an effort is held back or proves a failure for want of a little encouragment ; many a home is blighted, many a fair life smeared, because some tongue was base enough to whisper a little slander, and others to repeat it with many variations and much enlargement. But there is the other — and brighter — side. Little efforts put forth in the sincere desire to make them the best that can be made under the circumstances have opened the door to greater. Some of the most poweiful institutions of the day have had a beginning in bmall things, while many wielding widest influence were not heard of save by the few immediately benefited by them. So long a3 facts everywhere go to prove tliat out of very small things great may grow, none should lose heart, but lather cheerfully as well as faithfully perform the lowliest task that falls to them, sure that, being now "faithful in little," they are fitting themselves to be one day "faithful in much." Not alone to those \rho have achieved what the world calls great things &hall these words be spoken : "Well done, good and faithful servant." Violet.