THE FAMILY CIRCLE

New Zealand Tablet, 10 December 1914, Page 61

THE FAMILY CIRCLE

OPPORTUNITY. A word unsaid seems a little thing, But alas ! I may never know If the coming days to a soul may bring The truth that I fail to show. A song unsung seems a little thing, But the heart that I left to-day May pine for the songs that I did not sing, As it goes on its cheerless way. A deed undone seems a little thing, e But the burden I might have shared Has left a heart with a bitter sting. Of the thought that * nobody cared.’ So the little things that we leave undone Are. the things that men hold dear ; Life’s battles are reckoned lost or won . By a smile, or a falling tear. ’Tis the little things that the burdened heart In the. time of trial heeds Then let us light life’s ache and smart With the sunshine of little deeds.

A NOTABLE CAT. . _ • The only salaried cat in = the United States, so far as one can find out, died recently in New Orleans, and was given a proper burial." This was Old Tom, which for years had . been carried, on the Board of Trade as official rat catcher, with a salary of 10 <jpnts a day, and was never discharged, though, in his later years he was as reluctant as other veteran office-holders to get busy. But he had no enemies except of ‘the feline sort, and his framed .picture is to adorn the directors' room- at the Board of Trade. . ■«% ; » ■

HE KNEW A GOOD PLACE. Parson : My son, do you know where little boys go who go. fishing on' the Sabbath day ?’ Boy: Sure. Get your hat and foller me. I’ll show you a good place.’ COULD NOT REMEMBER FACES. _ A missionary in China once mentioned to a mandarin that he had great difficulty in remembering faces among the Chinese. ‘l’m getting over it now,’ he said, ‘but in the beginning you all looked as much alike as two peas.’ ‘Two peas said the mandarin, smiling. But why not say two queues ?’ ‘ HE KNEW MORE ABOUT IT. A Christian scientist found a small boy sitting under an apple tree doubled up with pain. ‘I ate some green apples,’ moaned the boy, ‘and, oh, how I do ache !’ V ‘You don’t ache,’ answered the G.S. ; you only think so. ‘ That’s all right,’ said the boy; ‘you may think so,'“but I’ve got inside information.’ A LEFT-HANDED COMPLIMENT. Lucille .was a carefully-brought-up little girl of five, and she returned in high glee from her first party. ‘I was a good, girl, mamma,’ she announced, ‘and i talked nice all the time,’ ,1- * Did, you remember to say something nice to Mrs. Applegate ( just before leaving?’ asked her mother. ‘Oh, yes, I did,’ responded Lucille. ‘I smiled at her and said: ‘‘l enjoyed myself very much, Mrs. Applegate. I had lots more to eat than I ’spected to have.** ' ' THE BETTER RULE. ‘ Oh, dear !’ said one girl to another, ‘don’t you wish you never had to do anything that you didn’t like?’ The other thought a moment. ‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘ 1 think I’d rather like everything that I have to do.’ These two wishes showed the difference between two girls. Instead of wishing that you were never obliged to do anything but the thing you like, try to like everything that you are obliged to do. That is the spirit that makes happy, successful workers. HE BARKED. « .... . . . ' Willie was struggling ■ through the story in his reading lesson. ‘ “No,” said the captain,’ he read, ‘ “it was not a sloop.. It was a larger, vessel. By the rig I judged her to be a —a — a- - ” ” ’ The word was new to him. ‘ Barque,’ supplied the teacher. Still Willie hesitated. ‘ Barque,’ repeated the teacher, this time sharply. Willie looked as though he had not heard aright. Then, with an apprehensive glance around the class, he shouted "V'/; ' - ‘Bow-wow!’ > - • THEY DROPPED THEIR TEARS. A lady complained to her milkman of the quality of milk he sold Her. ‘Well, mum,’ said the milkman, ‘ the cows don’t get enough grass feed this time of. year. Why, them cows are just as sorry about it as I am. ' I often see ’em cryin’—regular cryin’, mumbecause they feel as how their milk don’t do ’em credit. Don’t you believe it, muin ?’ ; . , Oh,' yes, I believe it,’ responded his, customer; ‘ but 1 wish in future you’d see that they don’t drop, their tears into our can.’ ,