The Family Circle

New Zealand Tablet, 13 June 1912, Page 61

The Family Circle

THE BEE'S WISDOM

Said a little wandering maiden To a bee, with honey laden —• ' Bee, in all the flowers you work, Yet in some doth poison lurk.'

4 That I know my little maiden,' Said the bee, with honey laden; ' But the poison I forsake, And the honey only, take.'

' Cunning bee, with honey laden, 'That is right,' replied the maiden; ' So will I, from all I meet, Only take the good and sweet.'

TOPSY

Topsy, yes, that was her name; smiling, light-

hearted Topsy.

She was seven years old, seven whole years seemed an age to her and as she thought of it, she presumed she must be very near a woman. She was the joy and sunlight of the Wright family; without her smiling, winning ways, her quaint witticisms, and her never-ending baby prattle, what would father and mother have done?

Her brother Tommy was a bright-eyed, goodhearted boy, full of fun and mischief, and nearly two years older. One of his characteristics (when Topsy was around) was a great contempt for girls and their mission in life, and often did he avail himself of expressing his thoughts to her, though she was his constant playmate and companion. No one knew how she got her nickname; even her parents had forgotten. Certain it was that this was the only name she went by even if she had been christened Isabella. Isabella! She hardly knew how to pronounce it; Topsy suited her far better, it was so much prettier. Perhaps—if you are anxious to know how she got this queer titleperhaps it was because when she was young (of course she was not now, for she was seven years old), she had turned everything topsy-turvy, or perhaps— there are a hundred reasons that could be guessed. Topsy now sat on the front porch of the spacious house, calculating on the possibilities and probabilities of her future life, as any young lady of her mature age would have done under like circumstances. On her head was a new sun-bonnet, a gift from mamma that very day— birthday present she said. Topsy had thought that hardly enough, but mamma had consoled her by saying that father was going to town that afternoon, and maybe he would get her something nice. However, the sun-bonnet was nice pink—the very prettiest shade, for Topsy was an admirer of bright colors. Just at this juncture Tommy came around the corner, whistling what he considered a very fine tune. Among the arguments he used against being a woman, was that they couldn't whistle. 'Come, Tommy, let's go and play/ said Topsy, great an air of dignity as she could assume. 'Just like a girl/ commented Tommy; 'always wanting to do something that is of no use to the world.' ' Well I will let you know that I am seven years old, most as old— real old, and I don't care whether you play with me or not/ said Topsy, with great decision. f I suppose a woman must have her own way, so come along and I will play with you/ for Tommy wanted to play even more than Topsy. His position as a man forbade him to surrender without a struggle.

" Topsy jumped up quickly; she well enough knew that it would not be long before Tommy would forget all about his dignity, and the relative importance of man and woman. They went first to the long, spacious old barn, situated immediately across the road, surrounded by numerous sheds, stacks, and outbuildings. ' I tell you what we will do/ said Tommy, for he was generally leader in all the sports, and Topsy a faithful follower; ' We will play hide and seek.' Soon they were at play, and the barn echoed and re-echoed with their shouts and laughter. Now Tommy would find Topsy with her head and body safely hidden beneath a pile of hay, her tiny shoe in plain sight; then she would find her brother'in some out-of-the-way place. J 'Well,' said Topsy to herself, after she had been repeatedly easily caught, and Tommy had as often told her that it was nothing to catch a girl, ' I am going to hide this time where he won't find me.' Soon > as Tommy started out to count, she noiselessly glided out of the barn, out of the yard, and into the meadow lot beyond. The grass was still wet, caused by a heavy ram that had fallen the night before; but she did not mind that; her only thought was to safely hide from Tommy. On she trudged, until she came to he railroad track. This was one of the great lines of the West, and trains passed at short intervals She climbed the fence, and looked over: 'Mamma don t want me to go on the track : she has said that lots of times, but that was when I was younger when she was afraid I would get hurt-when I waL't seven years old Of course she wouldn't care now/ and with these words she climbed over, and ran down the track " was forbidden ground, and sweet to tread. Both before and behind her lay the long steel rails, stretching away in the distance until lost to sight g to her?elf h ° W Small the *""* iS Way y ° nder '' she said

While Tommy was at the barn looking in every comer and out-of-the-way spot, crying, Come, Topsy you can come in free/ she was toddling along as fast as her tiny feet could carry her down the track On, on she ran, through cuts and over embankments, it was „ the same J h for she never beamed of danger. At last she neared the river; she could hear the water splashing over the rock, and the noise seemed very loud. - She had forgotten all about Tommy now; her only thought was of the river. When she reached the bridge the scene held her spellbound. Everything was so new and strange that it was some time before she discovered that the bridge was partly gone. < w , The J"* rai ? °J the previous night had done the work, and, though from a short distance it looked all light, it would have carried to destruction the first passing train. Young as she was, she comprehended the impending danger; but how to avoid it she did not know g She would go home and tell, her father; and she started on her backward journey of over a mile, when perhaps a few miles behind her hundreds of human lives were being carried forward to a horrible fate it was a long journey home; and tired, toddling feet make slow headway. She had not gone 40 rods before speed™ a paSSenger train a PP r °aching with lightning

fr. ? 0W ;\ cam r e! T °P s y had never seen anything travel so fast before. It made her flesh creep as she heard the steel rails by her side, snap, sTap he ZZ U Vi ?PP roacl i ing danger - She did not heed it! but walked bravely forward. ' What could she do? Would she be killed? The engineer whistled a warning ; she did not know its meaning but, seizing the new pink sun-bonnet from her head, she took it by the string, waving it frantic ally shouting, 'Stop, Mr. Driver, stop, at L? Would he understand, what would she do? Topsy never moved from the track. Her little arms continued to frantically wave the pink alarm; her HtSe voice to pipe the cry of danger. »w The monster machine uttered a series of. wild' shrieks, the air brakes were applied, and, grinding and

groaning, the engine stopped within a dozen feet of the child.

The fireman jumped out, and in a harsh voice inquired what the ' young un' did that for ? Topsy looked timidly up, but could not say a word.

The engineer then came, and kindly asked her what was the matter. She tremblingly told her story, and at the same time pointed to the bridge a few rods away. Both ran hastily forward, and found the story only too true. Instantly it became known that the child, scarcely more than a baby, had saved the lives of the passengers. Their prayer of thankfulness was merged into enthusiastic praise of Topsy. One of the first things they determined upon was to make up a purse for her. The head of the railway chanced to be on the train, and, of course, was one of the first to hear the story. He came forward, and told them not to trouble themselves, as the girl would be rewarded. The train backed up to the last town, and remained there until the bridge was repaired. It carried all of the passengers from the scene of the ' hold-up, with the single exception of the head of the railroad, who accompanied Topsy to the home of her parents. There he told the story to her surprised mother and father, and wondering Tommy. He insisted upon making her a present of a goodly sum of money: In a few days she also received a gold medal, which bore the simple inscription : ' Awarded to Miss Isabella, on her seventh birthday for heroic conduct in saving the lives of many passengers.' Ever after that Topsy was the heroine of the neighborhood,: and her mother was never weary of telling the story of her youthful bravery. Tommy did not again tease her about being only a girl; instead, he secretly envied her.

WHEN AUTHORS STUMBLE

A line by W. J. Locke runs: 'He talked incessantly all the time.' Writes Arnold Bennett: 'She won 15,000 francs in as many minutes.' Pretty long session, that! Another novelist says: ' Her eyes filled with silent tears.' Generally they boom like billows, you know. According to another, the hero ' brushed her hair with his lips.' Scarcely an improvement on the old method, we think.

Another writer remarks: ' Charlotte Von Stern was, when Goethe first met her, several years older than himself.' But later, of course, 'twas otherwise. ' He rested his feet on the back of a chair and blew smoke rings with half-closed eyes/ We've seen it done with the mouth. Marjorie would often take her eyes from the deck and cast them far out to sea.' As a caster, old Ike Walton had nothing on Margie, believe us! Speechless with horror and loathing, I tottered a helpless jelly against the jamb.' We believe that the mess was cleaned up in the next chapter.

ANCESTORS

Ex-mayor Dunne, of Chicago, in an address to young men, preached the doctrines of sturdy democracy.

People bother too much/ he said, about their ancestors. If you believed all you heard, you'd think that every other man was descended from William the Conqueror or Charlemagne. ' My advice to a young man would be this: ' "Don't bother about your descent unless you are an aviator." '

A CONTINGENCY

A commercial traveller at a railway restaurant in one of our Northern towns included in his order for breakfast two boiled eggs. The waiter who served him brought three. ,

Waiter,' said the travelling man, 'why in the world did you bring me three boiled eggs? I only ordered two.

Yes, sir/ said the waiter, bowing and smiling, 'I know you did order two, sir, but I brought three because I jus' naturally felt that one of them might fail you, sir.' "

HORACE GREELEY'S WRITING

Horace Greeley's penmanship was so bad that someone always had to translate it into English. Sometimes these translations were blunderingly funny, a 3 in the case of his answer to a lecture committee in Illinois. Here is what Greeley wrote: ' Dear Sir, — am overworked and growing old. I shall be sixty next February 3. On the whole, it seems I must decline to lecture henceforth, except in this immediate vicinity, if I do at all. I cannot promise to visit Illinois on that errandcertainly not now.'' And here is what the chairman of the committee replied :

Dear Sir, —Your acceptance to lecture before our association next winter came to hand this morning. Your penmanship not being the plainest, it took some time to translate it. But we succeeded, and would say your time, "third of February," and terms, "sixty dollars," are perfectly satisfactory. As you suggest, we may be able to get you other engagements in this immediate vicinity. If so, we will advise you/

PUNCH AND JUDY

Punch is the last survival in England of the old mystery or sacred plays, of which the Bavarians retain one in the now noted play at Oberammergau. The full name, Punch and Judy, is from the two chief characters, Pontius and Judas. Punch as a Roman, speaks with a foreign accent, has a Roman nose, and has on his back a hump. This is in consequence of the tradition that after the condemnation, Pontius was haunted by the idea that the evil one sat on his back. In his exile, he was always followed by a black dog. Hence the introduction of Toby, so named, from the dog of Tobias in the Bible. Judas has now been transformed into a woman because he was dressed in a flowing robe, after the fashion of the East.

FAMILY FUN

Match Puzzles.

Place two wax vestas lengthways on the back of a china plate, the brimstone of one touching the end of the other. Light the latter, and ask the company to guess how long it will be before the second match catches fire. Many guesses will be made, but none will be correct, for the simple reason that the second match will not catch fire if the plate is perfectly dry It will be noticed that when the first match burns half-way it curls, often at a distance of a clear inch, so that the flame does not reach the second match. Lay a match on the table, and rest across it, alternately on one size and the other, ten or a dozen others. When all are straight, crossing the middle match at the same distance from their own extremes, lav across the top another match, parallel to the bottom one If you now carefully lift the whole arrangement by the match first laid namely, the bottom one, on which all the others rest— will find that all the matches ' jam ' one another in such a way that none will fall.