The Family Circle

New Zealand Tablet, 15 October 1914, Page 61

The Family Circle

v; > TO A CHILD WHOM I MET ONCE. * . And are the years as happy and good As - the hours that summer were bright and pleasant, My beautiful little Red Riding Hood’ / ■ r Or is past time lost in a dismal present?

For you seemed so blithe, and so filled with hope Were the eyes that looked at the white sea-distance, I made you the sunniest horoscope Which memory treasures with fond persistence

Said you should ever be loyal, and sweet, Loving and’loved through a life of gladness, Making the joy of your home complete. Banishing far from you care and sadness;

Said you should ever be pure of soul, Dear to Jesus and dear to Mary, Crowned with God’s grace as an aureole, And blest with a blessing no time, should vary;

Said, when your golden hair was-white, You should pass away with the passing roses, To bloom once more in the Saviour’s sight .With the fairest flowers His love uncloses.

And are the years so happy and good ? And are you all that my fancy thought you ? Merriest maiden. Red Riding Hood, What is the lot that the days have brought you ?

Vainly I ask; and my eyes grow dim As I think of our life and its awful chances :

But trustfully, gladly I leave you to Him Whose mercy is more than my heart’s romances. —Rev. J. W. Atkinson, S.J.

‘IT WAS THE CAT!’

1 Uncle Ned ’ll make you a pair —said he would. ’Twouldn’t be much fun if you didn’t have some, too.’ Jimsie Treslow’s house and Mark Bolder’s house stood side by side. The two boys always played together. ‘ I’m ’fraid mother won’t let me. She says they’re dang’rous.’ Mark spoke wistfully. Jimsie was mounted on a pair of stilts, and Mark did want a pair ever so much.

* Uncle Ned says boys must be brave, and learn to take what come’s.’ Jimsie was a polite little fellow, and he didn’t add that his Uncle Ned thought Mrs. Bolder would make Mark a mollycoddle, if she didn’t watch out.;; Ned'was a college athlete, and scorned a mollycoddle. ‘ We might go and ask her,’ Jimsie said. ,; After a good deal of talk, and many promises to be careful, Mark’s mother consented. * Remember,’ she said, ‘you are to go on floors, or flat ground. Not try going upstairs, or any such stunts.’ * Yes, Mrs. Bolder,’ from Jimsie. ‘Yes, mother,’ from Mark.

So that afternoon, the other pair of stilts were made, and given to .Mark as his very own. Two happy boys marched ' about - now. They : wanted to measure heights with all the grown people. / proudly. ‘He said so himself.’ And as Uncle Ned was perfection in Jimsie’s eyes, he wouldn’t have had those. stilts one inch shorter or one inch longer for the world. : ‘ V ' : ~

And I’ve got fity growth, too,’ Ned said. A week went by with no mishap. ’ The mothers. felt easier, j Mrs. Bolder didn’t run to the, window every five minutes to see -if Mark was safe. And then— it was the cat 1' ' 1 - . ' ;

Billy ! was quite big-for his age, but hehadn’t lost his kittenish ways. What should he do, frisking round, V. . -c-. .. . . •*;. O, I- ■ . • : . k • *

butjun smack against on© of Mark’s stilts, and j throw the boy down. Nobody was to blame. You couldn't blame the cat!

When Mark fell, his left ankle twisted, and it hurt so he just had to cry out. No, it was not broken, but badly sprained. |-It swelled so fast, turning purple in the pail of hot water, where Mrs. Bolder had it in no time, that Jimsie was quite scared. ’ ■Then it was bound up in red flannel and arnica, and Mark couldn’t put his foot to the floor to walk for many days. Jimsie was coming in very often, and usually he came across on his stilts, leaving them on the piazza. Mark’s chair was placed .by the window, where he could see Jimsie come. They played all the quiet games they could think ofletters, jack straws, and others. It was getting pretty , near the time when Mark could walk again. ‘ y By next week,’ Jimsie said, ‘ you can use your stilts.’

Mark tried hard not to, but he burst out crying. ‘Mother says I- can’t walk that way any more,’ he sobbed. ‘lt’s too dangerous. They’re split up for kindling wood. She said then I wouldn’t be tempted.’ It certainly was a grave situation. Jimsie went home silently. He carried his stilts instead of mounting them. He must think it out for himself. It took him pretty nearly an hour. Then he sought his uncle.

. * Uncle Ned,’ he said, 1 Mark can’t ever use his stilts again. His mother says they’re too dang’rous. They’re split up.’ There was a catch in his voice. ‘ Will you please split mine up, too, Mark would feel so bad to see me walk when he couldn’t?’

It almost paid when Uncle Ned said, ‘ Jimsie, you’re the pluckiest little chap I ever saw.’

DID NOT WANT ONE.

Biggs, previously a comparatively poor man, had come into a big fortune, so he set about doing things in grand style. Ordering some clothes from his tailor, he told him he would send round his coachman to be measured for a livery.

The tailor scented good business, and, thinking his customer would not be proof against flattery, he said :

‘Don’t you think, sir,.it would be nice to have your crest stamped on your coachman’s buttons?’ ‘Crest!’ roared the indignant Mr. Biggs. ‘What do I or my servants want with crests? D’ye take us for a family of cockatoos?’

THE SWORD OF ST. IGNATIUS.

When Ignatius of Loyola fell wounded defending Pampeluna against the French, and was carried to his native • 'castle in Guipuscoa, he reached the turning point of his life (writes Rev. C. J. Mullally, S.J., in the Catholic Columbian). From being a knight in the service of* Charles 1., he .became a true knight of Christ. The; sword which he had used so valiantly to defend the honor'v of - his king he left at the altar of the ' Virgin of Montserrat 'as a sign that his life was to be spent henceforth in the servied of God. From that shrine amid the awe-inspiring peaks of Catalonia he went forth with new spiritual - arms received in exchange for his sword of iron. £ The, Sword of Stf“lgnatius is preserved in the Church of the Sacred Heart (Sagerdo Corazbn) in. Barcelona,- T Spain. T It •is remarkable for its length. Though long since stripped of its hand-guard and ornaments by relic-seekers,..it - still ..shows that it belongs to the type of thrusting blade used in the deadly hand-to-hand conflicts of . the sixteenth century. It was'forged from the best ’' metal of its time, j is | firm, and tapers to ■appoint;”;. ~ I . p'.. 'i' This' sword whs ‘affectionately guarded for . a long time by , the Benedictines of Montserrat. In 1674 it passed by ; the courtesy of these good religious, to the

Jesuit Church of, our Lady of Bethlehem' (Nuestra Senora de Belen) in Barcelona, Constant tradition and the writings of many authors show beyond a doubt that the sword guarded in this church for more than two C ® nt .;, les f and during years of the Jesuits’ exile and of civil strife, is no other than the sword of the soldier o? m iQoS e /° under of the Society of Jesus. On March fV- r. 7 ’ , thls esteemed relic was given, by permission of 13 Eminence Cardinal Casanas, to the present Jesuit Church of the Sacred Heart. As one kneels at the altar of the saint in the little church in the Calle de Casne, Barcelona, and holds reverently in his hand the long, firm blade that Ignatius used in the service of his earthly king, a prayer instinctively rises from the heart to God that the heroic spirit of the brave soldier from the Basque hills may inspire countless other souls to a prompt obedience to the voice of the Heavenly King, calling the worldly to a higher life of renunciation and detachment. As we told, in our hand that relic of worldly glory, the saint seems to whisper: ‘Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity, except to love God and serve Him alone.’

MADE IT COME OUT.

Customer (irascibly) ; ‘ Your hair- restorer has made my hair come out more than ever.’

Hairdresser: ‘Ah, you must have put too much on, sir ! Made the hair come right out, instead of only half-way.’

RIDDLES.

Why are birds in spring like banking establishments They issue promissory notes and rejoice when the branches are flourishing. Why is the letter T like an island? Because it is in the middle of water.

What is the difference between the death of a hairdresser and the death of a sculptor ? A hair-dresser curls up and dyes and a sculptor makes faces and busts. Why were there no postage stamps in the reign of Henry VIII ? Because a queen’s head was not worth a penny.

When were E and O the only vowels? In the days of Noah (No ‘ A ’), when U and I were were not born.

What is that which everybody has seen but will never see again? Yesterday.

CLOSE SHAVING.

The following is told of a politician in a Pennsylvania town well known for its ardent support of the Prohibition party. According to the physician, who was consulted by this man, who fancied himself quite ill, he was told that there was really nothing the matter with him. What you need,’ said the doctor, ‘ is a stimulant —a little whisky now and then will make you all right in no time.’ ‘Whisky!’ gasped the politician. ‘Why, doctor, my folks wouldn’t stand such a thing for a minute! Don’t you know that I am a Prohibitionist?’ ‘I think,’ replied the physician,- ‘that the difficulty may be* overcome. 1 have a jug of excellent liquor and will send you some of that. You take a tablespoonful in hot water three or four time a day.’ But, doctor,’ persisted the Prohibitionist, ‘when I send for the hot water the family may suspect something.’ ' You shave, don’t you?’ suggested the physician. ‘ Send your shaving mug downstairs. The hot water may be sent to you in that.’ . week later the physician called to see,how his patient was getting on. Every one in the house seemed to be greatly -perturbed. In response to the doctor’s surprised query, the family chorused : ‘ Oh, he’s all-right physically, doctor, but we really think i he’s quite out 'of his mind. Why, he’s been shaving himself every hour or bo for a week!’