The Family Circle

New Zealand Tablet, 9 June 1910, Page 917

The Family Circle

A FELLOW'S MOTHER ' A fellow's mother,' said Fred the wise, With rosy cheeks and merry eyes, ~ ' Knows what to do if a fellow gets hurt > "_■:'- By a thump or a bruise, or a fall : in the dirt. A fellow's mother has bags and strings, Rags and buttons and lots of things; No matter how busy she is, she'll stop To see how well you can spin your top. ' She does not —not much I mean, If a fellow's face is not always clean:. And if your trousers are torn at the knee, She can put in a patch that you would never see. A fellow's mother, she is never mad, But only feels sorry if you are bad; And I tell you this, if you only are true, She'll always forgive you, whatever you do.

1 Of this I am sure,’ said Fred the wise, With a _manly Took in his laughing eyes; ‘ I’ll mind my mother, quick, every day— A fellow’s a baby who does not obey.’

SUCH AS HE HATH Bilkins was in a hurry—he was always in a hurry. Just now, as he had nothing to do, his rush was greater than ever.- For Bilkins was just out of college, had just secured a job on the Picayune as a junior reporter, and the little fellow was mortally afraid he would miss something, or something would miss him, or that he would lose a scoop. His terror was constant.

As Bilkins wandered nervously up and down Canal street, he thought being a journalist a most strenuous life. For just now Bilkins called himself ‘ journalist ’ ; this title would;tone down later to ‘reporter,’ then ‘scribbler,’ then ‘ hack,’ then Suddenly the youth walked face to face with an old woman, tattered, weather-beaten, bent, holding in her arms a rather large youngster— boy. ‘Help me,’ groaned the woman in Bilkins’ face. The eyes of the ‘ journalist ’ ceased searching the streets for stray , dukes and burning skyscrapers. ‘What’s the matter?’ inquired Bilkins. ‘ My boy’s arm is broke —and— ’ The old woman closed her eyes, opened them a little blindly, then she turned abruptly and sat down on a step by the curb. ‘l’ve walked up here from Avery’s Island,’ she said after a moment. , c hdd s , face was very white and its eyes were shut, tratiori by alan b you ride •’ asked Bilkins with great pene-

‘ No money.’ ‘ It’s eight miles down there.’ ‘ Yes,’ gasped the woman. ‘I wanted you to show me the way to the chanty hospital.’ She struggled to her feet again, the child still inert. , Bilkins thrust his hands in his pocketsand found them empty. He cast a swift glance around the street. ■ Nothing seemed about to happen. By a swift calculation Bukins decided that he could trust Canal street to run itself while he was away. i ‘ Here,’ said Bilkins, ‘let me take that child. If you have walked eight miles with the kid you are tired.’ The woman turned Her burden over to the ‘journalist,’ and the two f set off , down Canal, turned down Rampart into Gravier for the hospital. _ The young fellow was fearrully afraid some of his acquaintances would see him. As they walked along Bilkins asked questions, and the woman answered with the loquacity of the ignorant. _ The woman was an Austrian, a Mrs. Nikola Slehzak, °l a JV yst ! r shu ?ker ’at Avery Island. ; Her little Nikola had fallen from the top of the oyster-box, where « j S n pla J ln L g ’ aid J lad broken his arm. She couldn’t afford the doctor at the island, so she. had to come to New Orleans. She told her story statistically, much as if she had been counting oysters. Sho said nothing about the walk,, her weariness, how her feet were blistered, her prese"t hu "£ er; i>i t the ‘journalist’ filled in those gaps himself. The child moved against Bilkins’ lapel and groaned. The mother held out her weary arm instantly. Bilkins shook his head. ‘He’s all right,’ he said. m The whole thing appealed to.Bilkins, who was young, wanted to give this old woman something, to at least send her back on the cars. His charity even thought of that W &S ° ySter Shllcker ’’ and he shed he could better

. . ‘ Oyster shucker,’ thought Bilkins, what an awful nickname for a person s employment I ’ .The thought that he was a journalist crossed his mind. They reached the . hospital. The old woman was distracted about the child,, who, aroused' from its stupor.

screamed with pain She said ;■> Thanfcye ’to Bilkins at the door, and straightway forgot him.' j,; i l +v.^n^ nS V? ld not forget. -The .incident somehow stirred the boy He was sorry for this woman. He wanted fnr h !- P ]^ £ He , COU J d u fairly feel the weight of that child l°! + ei g r V°i lg ’u heart-breaking miles, the blisters on the mother s feet, her aching back, and straining arms. The more he thought of it the hotter arose the desire to help n . o , tion > he regained Canal, found the rW?n +i b h f d a l f properly ia his absence, then sat WlHno hH CU n j 11 1! began to " rite in his notebook. If Bilkins had walked those eight miles with the child himself he could not have described it more -graphically, mom simply, more touchingly. He drew the very picture of the fnrm an «liii e h brown, weather-stained, wrinkled face, bent form, shabby, frayed clothes, and in her arms the heavy inert child, and last pitiful touch— utter destitution. ' Bilkins arose, patted his manuscript in his pocket then resumed his patrol for wandering dukes, flyino- assassins distraught heroines, burning buildings. Nothing happened! make 'S report kn ' S “ tho K cayu,,e office- to ‘Anything?’ inquired the city editor gruffly, Bukins shook his head somewhat shamefacedly. Vj. oi?+n y °+i mean ’i asked the city editor, that you have let all the thousand and one bits of life float around you all moinmg there on Canal, and you didn’t have sense enough to pick out one single little interesting thing?’ ilkms flushed. Suddenly he remembered the old woman s story. He fumbled that * njo i, % silently handed it over ° Ut ° f hIS P ° cket and . T }l f city editor looked it over, lifted his eyes once to Bdkms reel face. ‘lt’ll do,’ he snapped all in one word and Bilkins backed out of the door. ’ j. ‘ f , tk *. nk that kid’ll write some day,’ said the city editor to Ins assistant; ‘ blessed if he didn’t make me—feel like chipping in a quarter to help an old woman out.’ Bilkins article appeared on the second page of next morning’s Picayune. The old Austrian woman never did kaw , why she received, in the care of the hospital, about ■ttcnty dollais in little gifts ranging from five cents to five dollars. She thought that the New Orleans people were very kind— she was right. p

ACTS OF KINDNESS AND THOUGHTFULNESS •* m i v y ° U ' eer , think that a kind w °rd put out at interest brings back an enormous percentage'of love and appreciation? That though a loving thought may not seem to be appreciated, it has yet made you better and braver because of it? That the little acts of kindness and thoughtfulness day n by day are really greater than one immense act of goodness once a year? That to be always polite to the people at home is better and more refined than haying company manners That to learn to talk pleasantly about nothing m particular is a great art, and prevents you saying things that you may regret? That to judge anybody by his personal appearance stamps von as not only ignorant, but vulgar? r J \

A BOY'S BRAVERY . The story of a little Boer boy who refused to betray his friends, even on the threat of death, is told by Major fceely, M.P. It happened during the Boer war. .'I was asked,' said Major Seely, to get some.volunteers and try to capture a commandant at a place some twenty miles away. I got the men readily, and we set out. It was rather a desperate enterprise, but we got there all right I can see the little place yet, the valley and the farmhouse and I can hear the clatter of the horses' hoofs. The Boer general had got away, but where had he gone ? It was even a question of the general. catching us, and not we catching the general. We rode down to the farmhouse and there we saw a good-looking Boer boy and some yeomen. I asked the boy if the commandant had been there and he said in Dutch, taken by surprise, " Yes." " Where has he gone?" I said, and the boy became suspicious. He answered, "I don't know." , 'I decided then to do a thing for which I hope I may be forgiven, because my men's lives were in danger I threatened the boy with death if he would not disclose the whereabouts of the general. He still refused, and I put him against a wall and said I would have him shot At the same time I whispered to my men, " For heaven's sake don t shoot." The boy still refused, although I could see he believed I was going to have him shot. I ordered the men to "Aim." Every rifle was levelled at the boy 'Now' I said before I give the word, which way has the general gone?" I remember the look in the boy's face—a look such as I have never seen but once. He was transfigured before me. Something greater almost than anything human shone from his eyes. He threw back his head and said in Dutch -"r will not say." There was nothing tor it but to shake hands with the boy and go away. '

FRESH DISCOVERY OF AN OLD TRUTH • Helen's enjoyment of the party given in honor of her ninth birthday was nearly spoiled by the ill-tempered: but-

breaks of a very pretty and well-dressed little girl who was among her guests. A peacemaker appeared, however, in a plain and rather shabby child, who proved herself a veritable little angel of tact and goodwill. After her playmates were gone Helen talked it all over very seriously with her mother. She summed it up in this piece of philosophical wisdom : ‘ Well, I’ve found out one thing, mamma. Folks don’t always match their outsides.’

IN THE BLACK BOOKS The Sacred Heart Review, in reply to a correspondent as to the origin of the expression, ' In the black books,' says:We think it is Irish in its origin, and we are inclined to think it may be traced to this :In the years of the Cromwellian Settlement, when Ireland lay bound and bleeding at the feet of her Puritan Conqueror, and the Catholic Irish were being dispossessed of their lands, which were handed over to Cromwellian soldiers and settlers, a Court of Claims was set up at Athlone to examine what amount of land the dispossessed Irish formerly held. To ascertain this the books of the Confederate Catholics were seized at Kilkenny and conveyed to Athlone. They were known as the Black Books of Athlone, and the name was appropriate, because as an Irish historian remarks, ' It was woe to those whose names were found in them either as members of the Confederation, or as having in any way aided the Irish cause.' From this, very probably, the phrase, ' In the black hooks,' became synonymous with everything disagreeable.

MISSIONARIES AND DISCOVERIES Although at present and since the beginning of the nineteenth century (says the Sacred Heart lievicw) the progress of geographical science, is due chiefly to laymen, men without specific religious aims, it should not be forgotten that much of our knowledge of the habitable globe comes to us, through the discoveries of Catholic missionaries. First of all, the great discoveries of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, men like Columbus, Cabot, and Magellan, took with them on their voyages learned priests who wrote glowing accounts of the strange lands which then for the first time knew the face of a white man. These accounts were sent to their religious brethren in the home land, and so the information was scattered broadcast. Soon into all the newly-discovered possessions of Spain and Portugal there entered members of the various Orders — men intent primarily on converting the Indians and extending the Kingdom of Christ, but after all desirous of accurate knowledge of the new lands whereto their missionary zeal had led them. Dominicans were the first missionaries to America, Franciscans were in India as early as 1500. In 1521 the Augustinians were in the Philippines. The Congo district seems to newspaper readers a place of very recent colonisation, but the Jesuits had missions on the Congo in 1547, in Brazil in 1549, in Abyssinia in 1555, in South Africa in 1559, in Peru in 1568, in Paraguay in 1586, and in Chile in 1591. They even penetrated the old heathen civilisations of Japan in 1549, and in China in 1563.

HOW IT HAPPENED The respective mothers of Johnny and Willie are the best of friends, but these boys are always fighting one another. One day, on returning from a victorious battle, Johnny was urged by his mother to go and make friends with his vanquished foe. She offered to give him a party if he would invite Willie to come to it, and after much persuasion Johnny yielded. The party came off at the appointed time, hut Willie was not there.

‘Johnny,’ said his mother,- ‘didn’t you invite him?’ ‘Oh, yes, ma,’ replied Johnny, ‘I invited him!’ Then he added reflectively, And I dared him to come!’

FAMILY FUN To Produce Three Coins from One. —This is a clever little bit of sleight-of-hand, but if played for children creates a good deal of astonishment. Procure three pennies of the same date, and before beginning your trick, stick two of them by a bit of wax to the under side of the table just out of sight, but easily reached with the fingers. Take the first penny, show it to the company, and rolling back your sleeves show that you have no other coins concealed, then laying the penny on the table edge, rub it with the ball of the thumb backward and forward quickly over the place where the other coins are concealed. The ball of the thumb being on the edge of the table, of course the lingers are under it, and at an opportune moment take one of the pennies from the table and hold it with the other one showing that you have the two pennies. Show that you have no more coins in your hands, place the waxed one' on the table, and" then rub the coin on the edge of the table again till there is an opportunity of taking the second coin Any boy or girl can do this trick with a little practice' and it always causes much astonishment and wonderment to find out where the coins could have been concealed,^'