The Family Circle

New Zealand Tablet, 22 January 1914, Page 61

The Family Circle

THE BOY WHO MEANT TO

He meant to do his lessons when the house was still at nigrit, But in a new book lost himself and read till morning light'. At school he meant to lead his class before the term was done, But lessons are such stupid things and boys must have some fun. In manhood feats he likewise meant to earn some laurels, too. But fame is such a fickle dame, and picks lifer favorite Jew. But since he never really tried the things he meant to do, That nothing ever came of them I’m not surprised, tire you? THE PROUD PEACOCK I venture to send you some curious particulars about the behaviour of a young peacock that is kept here (says a writer in the London Spectator). The bird began By sedulously frequenting the stable-yard, and whenever the carriage was brought out of the coachhouse he would take liis stand by it, and gaze at his reflection in the panels. ‘He then took to accompanying the carriage up to the house, and, standing beside it at the front door, engaged in self-contemplation. He now runs behind the carriage when it starts from the house, down to a certain point of the drive, apparently in the hope that it may stop and allow him to continue his favorite occupation ; but he seems to Conclude at a certain place that the case is hopeless, though if the carriage halts further down the drive' he will rejoin it and resume his observations. It occurred to us to wonder what he would do u a looking-glass were placed on the lawn. This was accordingly done, and he at once found it out. Nothing will induce him to quit it. He will stand by it for hours together. At first he occasionally looked inquisitively oemnd the glass at intervals to see if a bird was actually present, but he has given this up now. He stands in front of it, entirely absorbed, often motioning- his head gently up and down,•■and sometimes softly touching the glass with his bill, appearing slightly bewildered by the contact. If food is thrown to him he takes no notice, unless it is close to the glass, when he will hurriedly gobble it up and return to his more congenial employment in haste, as though vexed at being interrupted. It the glass is taken into the draw-ing-room, which is on the ground floor, looking into the, garden, he will enter the room by the door or window, find the glass, and continue his favorite pursuit; andhe spends the greater part of the day at the door that leads from the drawing-room into the garden in the hope that someone may bring out the glass for him. Meanwhile the pen-hen is sitting on a nest of eggs in a hedge close at hand. He never goes near her, his only idea being to find opportunities for contemplating his own perfection. I suppose that the proverb, ‘As vain as a peacock,’ refers to the bird’s habit of spreading his tail and strutting about. : _ THE MIGRATION OF BIRDS . , , The migration" of birds is a thing not yet understood, even By the most ~ faithful students of our x feathered friends. How do they know that winter is " coming, and that they must seek a warmer climate if they would not perish ? How do they know where to go ? How do they find their, way back ? V Of course we say they are guided by instinct, but , what is instinct ? . It is a wisdom which acts without : reason ; that we ‘ know, and we know little more. But this blind, ’ un- . reasoning -knowledge sends young ..birds thousands of .

miles away in the autumn, and brings them back homo" when food is plentiful and the air is soft and the trees are ready for their nests. They do not sing while -they are away, and their plumage becomes dull. The winter is for them but a season of waiting, [p Most of these birds travel by night. It is only the most fearless and - swift-flying that brave danger from-the’- huntsman’s gun by appearing fn the day time. If you have a strong pair of field glasses you may see these travelling birds on a clear autumn evening. Sometimes they may be heard, chattering with each other. They seem to have regular routes of travel through the air, as our ships do upon the water, laid out long ago when perhaps there were only red men to watch their annual flight. There are birds, however, whose’passage it is almost impossible to discover; for they travel at the rate of a mile a minute. AN INTELLIGENT COMMUNITY 'The number of ants dwelling together in a community, according to Sir John Lubbock, is sometimes as great as five hundred thousand. They are always friendly towards each other, no quarrel ever having been observed between two ants members of the same community. They are,' however, very exclusive, and regard an immigrant with horror. When an ant of the same species belonging to another nest appears among them, he is promptly taken by the leg or antenna and put out. It would naturally bo surmised that this distinction was made by means of some communication. To test whether they could,recognise each other without signs, attempts were made to render them insensible, first by chloroform and afterwards by whisky. ‘ None of tile ants would voluntarily degrade themselves by getting drunk.’' Finally, fifty ants were taken, twentyfive from one community and twenty-five' from another, and dipped into whisky until intoxicated. - They were then appropriately marked with a spot of paint and placed on a table where the ants from one nest were Heeding. The sober ones noticed the drunkards and seemed much perplexed. At length they took the interlopers to the edge of the moat surrounding the table and dropped each one into the water. Their comrades/however, they carried home and placed in the nest, where they slept off the effects of the liquor. HERE’S A HERO This little incident Teaches us what a true hero is. A few years ago a fire broke out in a charming little Swiss village. In a few hours the quaint frame houses were entirely destroyed. One poor man was in greater trouble than his neighbors even. His home and cows were gone, and so, also, was his son, a bright boy of six or seven years. He wept, and refused to hear any words of comfort. He spent the night wandering sorrowfully among the ruins. Just as daybreak came, However, he heard a wellknown sound, and, looking up, he saw his favorite cow leading the herd, and coming directly after them was a bright-eyed little boy ; ‘ Oh, my son! my son!’ he cried, are you really alive V ‘ Why, yes, father. When I saw the fire, I ran to get our cows away to the pasture lands.’ ‘You are a hero, my boy!’ the father exclaimed. But the boy said; Oh, no! A hero is one who does some wonderful deed. I led the cows away because they were in danger and I knew it was the right thing to do.’ » - ‘ .‘Ah!’ cried the father, ‘he who does the right thing at the right lime is a hero.’ . SOMETIMES IT IS : It was the hour of the spelling , lesson, and the H teacher of the primary grades was pronouncing the words while the small persons in front of her laboriously* Wrote them down. According to the usual custom, she

called for volunteers to define each word as it was written down. ‘Lunch/ she said. * Now, who can tell me what “lunch” means?’ There was a long period of silence; then a hand Went up. ‘ Well, Johnny, you may tell us what lunch is.’ ‘A lunch,’ said Johnny, is what you have for dinner when your father is away.’ UNGRATEFUL A party of vegetarians paid a visit to the country, and after a few hours’ ramble in the woods and fields proposed to finish their hitherto pleasant outing by a picnic tea party. After getting comfortably seated to the spread on the grass, they were slightly disturbed. A bull made his appearance in a rather hasty manner, spreading confusion among the party, each trying to get over the stile first. One old lady ran, panting behind, reaching the stile just in time to save herself by scrambling through it and falling in a heap on the other side. On regaining her feet she turned to the bull and breathlessly exclaimed; ‘•That’s your gratitude, is it? I haven’t eaten a bit of beef for the last two years: but I’ll make up for it now, you ungrateful creature,’ CRUELTY TO ANIMALS Father Knuckule writes in the Homiletic Monthly this word of warning against cruelty to animals on the part of hoys : 1 That you may understand what influence cruelty to animals has upon the formation of character, it will be enough To ask you towards which animals a boy will be cruel. A boy will never try to be cruel to an animal that is able to resent the cruelty by doing injury to the boy. He will pick out some small animal, an insect, a butterfly, or the cat, and tantalise them. Does this, not show cowardice in the boy? As a fact, cowardice . and cruelty go hand in hand. A coward will always be cruel to those weaker than himself. Upon them he practises the spite and malice that he dare not show towards those stronger than he. He makes the weaker ones suffer innocently for the wrongs (real or imaginary) that he suffers from those stronger than himself. ALL HE WAS FIT FOR During the last general election a North Island candidate was addressing a meeting of his supporters, when, through some motive or other, a poor old fellow from file crowd climbed on to the platform where the learned gentleman was speaking. The chairman, on seeing him, inquired with a smile :. . ‘ Are you going to be an M.P., too s ‘Well,’ answered tlie old man, with a sigh, ‘I believe that’s all I’m fit for now.’ SCHOOL CHILDREN’S IDEAS The people who lived on the earth before it was inhabited were a very low ‘order of savages. Samuel Johnson was a well-known English writer. He wrote several heavy books. Henry IV. of England met his death by starting to pray and having a fit and died from its effects. A penitent is on© who earns his living by his pen. Monotony is- where a person or a company has everything it's own way. ' Finance is what a girl marries.