The Family Circle

New Zealand Tablet, 30 June 1910, Page 1037

The Family Circle

STRANGE THINGS

A clock can run, but cannot walk ; My shoe has a tongue, but cannot talk; A comb has teeth, but has no mouth; A north wind blows the smoke straight south.

Bottles have necks, but have no heads, And pins have heads, but have no necks, And needles have to hold their threads Right in their eyes—how it must vex! If I were a needle, comb or shoe, T 1 111 ' i ~ ,'

I never should know what to do. My head is really in a whirl; I'm glad I am a little girl.

HUGH'S PROMISE ' It means work during vacation, and keeping it up after getting into school again, or quitting school entirely.' So Hugh concluded to himself at the beginning of the vacation. The next thing was to decide on what he should, or rather could, do. There was no father, and there were younger ones to be helped on. Many of his schoolmates earned more or less during the long summer days. Some raised garden stuff, but Hugh had no garden. Some raised fowls, but Hugh had no convenience for that. Some carried papers, but the routes were filled. Some went out to work on farms, but Hugh was the man of the house, and felt that he must not leave his mother, in which she cordially agreed with him. The only thing seemed to be to get something to do in a store. 'lf only I could get in at Spencer's!' said Hugh to his mother.

' If only you could!' she said. .' It's the best place in town. Mr. Spencer is a good man, and always treats. his help well, and keeps them a long time.' 'Yes. All that makes it very unlikely that you can get in there.' ' It's no harm trying.' And Hugh went to Mr. Spencer, but, as he feared, found little encouragement. He had all the help he needed; had thought a short time ago that one of the boys was likely to leave, but nothing had been said of it lately. If any. opening should offer, Mr. Spencer would let him know.

Disappointed, but not surprised, Hugh continued his search later, turning into some of the less desirable streets of the town, finding at length a place which he could take at once. It was not by any means the kind he would have chosen, but he was glad to secure it. ''Now, can I. depend on you to be here bright and early on Monday morning?' Hugh was asked. ' You can. I'll be here.'

'"' Because there are plenty of boys to be had, and I don't want any delay about it.' ' You can depend on me,' said Hugh. It was a pleasure to have found anything, for he knew it was i true that there., plenty of boys looking for work. ' Four, dollars a week,' he said to his mother. ' That will be a real help,' she said. ' Enough to fit you-all out for school in the Fall.' That was Saturday morning. Late in the afternoon, as he was again passing Mr. Spencer's store, that gentleman beckoned him in. 'I have just learned,' he said, ' that one of my boys is to leave. He's not strong, and his parents want him to find work out of doors for the summer. If you can come on Monday morning, I should like to take you on.' 'Oh, I am sorry,' said Hugh, his f voice and his look showing it, 'but I can't come. I've taken another place.' .'Where?' ' Over oh First street.' ' There are not any very good places there.' "' I know,.,it, but 'twas the best I could get, Mr. Spencer.' Well, I guess you had better come here.' ' But I promised to go to him, sir.' Well, he can find plenty of other boys. I'll give you five dollars a week.'

' Ho!' Hugh caught his breath. ' That's good pay,' he said. ■ '.":-'- iv'•'-."■.--.'■ ■'"'-':■-;-."■ .•- ■ '■■'--: :

' Yes, I want good work, and I mean to pay for it. I guess you'll come.' ' Butl promised to go to the other place.' ' Think it over,' said Mr. Spencer. ' I shall look for you at 8 o'clock on Monday morning.' 'To think of my missing such a chance! A better place and : better pay. A dollar a week more for the ten weeks — .., why, enough to buy a good suit of clothes. Mother, you don't see any way out of it?' 'Out of what j Hugh?' . 'Out of keeping my engagement with Mr. Adams.' ' You promised him, you said ?' ' Yes —but—why, mother, see what a difference "it is going to make to me! • Aren't there—-well, circumstances in which a person may— change his mind?'

'■-. ,~' Your father always thought ; that the only way of dealing with a promise is to keep }x%, and you think so 'That's what I do,' said Hugh slowly. x - But the question worried and teased him. Really, it was such an important thing for.; him, getting into a place ike Spencer's. It might make './a;, difference in his whole lire—he, a boy who had to work his own way. :^vHe had the Sunday for thinking it over. And before Monday morning dawned had come to his conclusion.' :- ; i+ ™i -t+ ■ Ways k f n \y word^n( i I think, I shall : keep it yet. It may make a difference in things to me, but I'm not going to begin building my fortunes on the fragments of a broken promise.' / ~-... 6 of hS presented himself at the - time appointed at the store of his employer. .'I wanted to say to you,' began Mr. Adams, 'that—this place is open to you if you can't find anything else. But I was going to say—if you'd like to get out of your agreement with me—l have a nephew I could give the place

' I would,' said Hugh. At 8 o'clock on Monday morning Mr. Spencer was looking out for his new boy. •j ' I T?' a J n !, to , see how much his promise means to him,' he said. But the hour came and went without his making his appearance. -* -.■--•*»'. oi ' 1 J i, ke *"?* so , of h °y> and wish I had him.' Unly, it he had been the other sort, and had come I shouldn't have wanted him.' " Half an hour later Hugh presented himself. tit a' you made up . yov,r mind to come, did you?' said Mr. Spencer, _ with a distinct feeling of disappointment. Yes, said Hugh. ' I'm late, because I went to Mr Adams, expecting to stay there. But I, found he had a nephew he wanted to take on, so I came to you.' 'That's the kind of boy to be helped along,' said Mr. Spencer to himself, 'and I'm going to do it '

RELICS OF CELEBRITIES By what standard is the value of relics belonging to famous writers judged? The question naturally arises as one reads that £6OO was paid the other day for a shabby old mahogany desk which was once used by Burns. At the same sale at which Burns's desk was sold a sloping desk used by Charles Dickens was bought for £l3, and a fourlegged oak stool from the room in which the famous novelist last wrote at his house at Gad's Hill for ten guineas. Another relic—the working cabinet of William Blake, the poetpamter—fetched £3O 10s, and yet some time ago a collector secured for 50s a chair in which Lord Byron used to sit and work, while another which at one time belonged to Sir Walter Raleigh went for £2. ; . An interesting souvenir, consisting of an ivory handle, ?tT silver holder, and a quill nib, at one time used by Sir alter Scott, was secured some years ago for eight guineas while a gold pen which had done loyal service for Charles Dickens for many a long year fetched £4O. One of the most interesting literary relics was a Scotch pebble seal once belonging to Robert Burns, which was sold three years ago for 200 guineas. The coat of arms engraved on the seal was invented by Burns. Mounted with gold, the seal used to hang on the poet's watch-chain. '

DEEP SEA FISH i /: The fish that live at enormous depths are, in consequence of great pressure, liable to a curious form of accident. If, in chasing their prey or for any other reason they rise to a considerable distance above the floor of the ocean, the gases of their swimming bladder become considerably expanded and their specific gravity greatly reduced up to a certain limit the muscles of their bodies can counteract the tendency to float upwards and enable the fish to regain its proper sphere of life at the bottom, but beyond that limit the muscles are not strong enough to drive the body downwards, and the fish, becoming more and more distended as it goes, is gradually killed on its long and involuntary journey to the surface of the sea. The deep sea fish, then, are exposed to a danger that no other animals in the world are subject to, namely, that of tumbling upwards. That such accidents do occasionally occur is evidenced by the fact that some fish, which are known to be true deep sea forms, were discovered dead and floating on the surface of the ocean long before our modern investigations were commenced.

STARTLING ECONOMY i 'Woman is very unreasonable/ said a venerable country justice of the peace. 'I remember that my wife and I were talking over our affairs one day, and we agreed that it had come to the point where we must both economise.' Yes, my dear," I said to my wife, " we must both economise, both!"' - ■»*""

. '"Very well, Henry," she said, with a tired air of submission; "you shave yourself, and I'll cut your hair." '

POOR BOYS MAKE GOOD BUSINESS MEN A The old adage that a man is not a man until he has known what it is to strive for a livelihood is endorsed

by that great king of ; commerce, Sir Thomas Lipton. i\ Sir Thomas is very 'decided in his views. "It is a good thing, he says, for a young man to be born poor. For this reason: If- his father is in a prosperous way of business, the son more often than not enters that business. The way is paved for him. He never realises the value of money. He may turn out a good ■. business* man, but the chances are that he will not, for the simple reason that being well off he will have no incentive to seize opportunities as they come his way. Suppose, however, a young:man is. born poor and has to work for every penny he owns. Doesn't he realise the value of money, and is he not always on the qui vive to make the best of his chances?" Then, again, the young man who is born poor keeps green about him the memory of what he was once. He can feel the true nature of things; he can grasp the idea of the-man who is struggling to come to the front. He has been a poor man himself—he knows better what the strength of encouragement is and what good a kindly word does for the working classes; he was once of them. Realising their struggles himself, he works for them, he gains their support, and so co-operation helps himself a"head at the same time. The young man who is born rich is very apt to be particular about his hours of labor—not so the young man who has been brought up to work early and late. The young fellow who wants to get along in the world, and is particular about his hours of labor, is on the wrong track. Employers don't like the man who is always watching the clock. ... s ;.

LONGEVITY OF BIRDS j The Duchess of Bedford, in British Birds, gives some remarkable instances of longevity among birds in her own collection. A Barbary dove which has been in the duchess s possession for 15 years was left her by an old woman, who also owned it for 15 years, and who also said it was an old bird when it was given to her. A Chinese goose has been in the possession of the family-for 57 years. A. pintail drake which the duchess bought 20 years ago, wnen it was an adult bird, still survives. Another bird was taken from the nest in 1852 and died in 1900. 'lt was chained by the leg to a small hutch,' said the duchess, 'and lived 48 years under these miserable conditions.' The birds that attain the greatest age are the eagle, the swan, and the raven, which sometimes live for more than 100 years. At the other extreme is the wren, whose average life is only three years. Between these come the heron, the parrot, the goose, and the pelican, with a possible age of 60 years; the peacock and the linnet, 25. years; the canary, 14 years; the goldfinch and the pheasant, 15 years; the lark, 13 years; the blackbird and the robin redbreast, 12 years; the thrush, 10 years., f '

-..../-•,-.• \> POSER There are some legal questions that a witness cannot answer by a simple yes or no, and a browbeating lawyer will sometimes take advantage of this fact. One of this class was once demanding that a witness answer a certain question.: either in the negative or affirmative. 'I cannot do it,' said the witness. ' There are some questions that cannot be answered by a "yes" or a " no, - as anyone knows. # ."■•'.l defy you to give an example to the court, thundered, the lawyer. „ , ~ : M1 "; ~ The retort came in a flash. Are you still beating your " A sickly grin spread over the lawyer's face, and he sat down.

FAMILY FUN r The Restored Document.—Take an ordinary white envelope and place in it two slips of paper the size of the envelope, between which is a sheet of black impression paper, the black side toward the under sheet of the paper. Lay on the outside of the envelope a piece corresponding in size and color with that in the envelope, and ask one of the company to write" on this slip of paper a sentence which no one is to know but himself. As writes the sentence, every mark which he makes is imprinted on the lower slip of paper in the envelope. He is told to keep the slip of paper while the performer gets his magic box. This is one of those thin wooden boxes with both top and bottom a sliding cover. He places the slip of paper which was in the envelope and which shows what was written in the lower half of the box, returns to the room, opens the upper" half of the box to show there is nothing in the box, sets the box on the mantel or some high-shelf, and then asks the writer to burn up the piece of paper on which he has written, and give you the ashes. You take the box from the shelf, and appear to empty the ashes in it. In reality you turn it the other side up and show the piece of paper, on which the writer will find the same words which he wrote on the paper which was burned. Storm and Calm.— a glass about two-thirds full of Water, and then turn oil on the top, but do not fill the glass to the brim. Now make a net of string in which to suspend the glass, leaving two ends about a foot long by which to take up the glassy Pirt the gjass in the net and swing it to and fro, when the. water win become very much agitated, while the oil will remain perfectly smooth.