The Family Circle

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XLIII, Issue 1, 6 January 1916, Page 61

The Family Circle

JUDGE NOT. r: Judge not with haste thy fellow man, Amid the swelling strife, Nor with uncertain vision scan The fabric of his life. For none may know the hidden wells Of worth that lie within ; Where undiscovered virtue dwells And nothing base has been. Judge not, for error often holds Its sway o’er mortal mixxd, ’Till truth with magic power controls Our hearts, to make us kind. For oft, with our perverted sight, The faults by others shown Become, when opened to the light, Reflections of our own.

A HAIR-BREADTH ESCAPE. Several years ago, when the winter quarters of Barnum's Menagerie at Bridgeport;, Conn., were burned, many of the confined animals were loosed and some escaped into the country. Miss Fay, a woman who was then a very young girl, tells of her thrilling experience with one of the wild wanderers. ‘ One Sunday night,’ she writes, ‘ I was walking home from church by a long, lonely route, partly on the Westfield dyke, which is an embankment parallel to the Westfield River, built to hold the overflow in the springtime. The snow was deep nearly everywhere except at the top of the dike, where it had been blown away. ‘ I was walking rapidly when I was startled by hearing a cry as of a child in distress, at which I stopped and listened a moment. Hearing nothing, I started again, but had taken but a few steps when I heard the sound again, this time from behind me. ‘ I turned and at first saw nothing, for I was looking on the top of the dike, but in a moment my eyes rested on what looked like a large dog with a long, shaggy tail at the foot of the dike not far behind me. I was thoroughly frightened, for I knew in a moment that the animal was a wild one, as no dog or other domesticated animal would make such a cry. * A few days earlier I had visited my grandfather, who lived some ten miles away, and he had declared that he had heard a “painter” for some two or three nights previous. As he was an old hunter, all except one of his neighbors had heeded his warning and carefully housed their stock. ‘ The one who laughed at him lost a young calf. Tracks of a strange animal and marks of blood showed that some beast had taken it away. The neighbors then decided that grandfather had really heard a panther and that it was one which had escaped from Barnum’s show.

‘ Remembering all this, I wondered what I ought to do. I knew enough to walk slowly, for I had been told that a wild animal would be more apt to attack a person who appeared to fear it. ‘ Still I heard that cry every few steps, and every time I turned I found the strange animal had come nearer to me.

‘ I was getting more and more frightened. ‘“What shall I do?” I asked myself in agony. Suddenly the thought-flashed through my —try singing! ... I could get no help by screaming,, for there were no houses within “ hearing distance, nor any person except myself on the dike, which I could see for nearly a : quarter of a mile in each direction. It would be useless for me to run, as the creature was certainly swifter than T. 1' ’ "

vt Try singing! At the thought I began, “Jesus, Lover of my soul,’’- very softly at first, for the sound of

my own' voice' frightened hie'.' . But , I soon gained ; confidence when I saw that the panther was attentive to my voice. Its cry ceased. I began to take courage and walked more quickly. ; -.-S' . ; *' ‘ Ahead of me was the railroad track, which crossed the dike and the fiver. Near that was the gashouse, and my home was only a short distance farther on. But would I ever reach it ? ■■:. ‘ I kept singing, first one hymn and then another, until I reached the railroad. ' Then the panther was exactly opposite me at the foot of the dike. As he passed under the railroad bridge I stopped both singing and walking, hoping he would go on and leave me, but no—he stopped, looked at me fixedly and again raised that awful cry. ’ - ■ - - ‘ I began another hymn and walked quickly on, hoping against hope for help. Every step seemed a mile, every moment an hour. I was nearly home, and yet I was too far away to make a call for help heard by my friends. Even in the short distance that lay before me I might be killed by the beast,- ‘ Still I sang, though even as I saw the light in the window at home I found the panther was stealthily creeping to the top of the dike. My voice faltered and I was ready to despair when, almost behind me, sounded the shriek of a locomotive whistle. *

‘For a moment the panther stood still, then with another of those awful cries he bounded away over the ice-covered river and disappeared among the trees at the foot of Mount Tom, while I, too thankful for my escape, was soon at home with mother. ‘ Some weeks afterwards a panther, gaunt and hungry, was captured on the north side of the mountain, and I have always believed it to be the beast which followed me.'

MISS KNOW-IT-ALL. A great many people who flatter themselves that they are judges of coffee or other beverages may learn a lesson of caution from the experiments carried on by Sir Hiram Maxim when he was trying to find a palatable preparation of wheat and coffee. It occurred to me (says Sir Hiram) that very few people knew much about coffee. One Sunday I brought out from'the Maxim lamp works about thirty young men and women. My stenographer was also present; she was one of those young ladies that know all —from whose decisions there is no appeal. I had cleared off a long bench and arranged on it a large number of cups, milk, sugar, cream, much’ coffee, and plenty of apparatus for making coffee. I got from the army and navy stores various kinds of coffee that were supposed to be the very best in the world, such as Mocha, Java, and so forth, and I" also got from a dealer in coffee some of the sweepings and siftings of his shop— imperfect and broken kernels. These I freed from dust and dirt, roasted and ground, and mixed with three times their weight of chicory. I was ready for the test. My shorthand writer came, tasted the Mocha, the Java, the Costa Rica, and pronounced them all very bad. She then tried some of my wheat coffee, and some of what was half wheat and half coffee, which, she said, were also bad, but not so bad as the others. But when she reached the mixture of siftings and chicory she was delighted. ‘ That is coffee !’ she said, with an air of finality.: ‘ That’s it! That’s the right stuff !’ In all probability the young lady had never tasted a cup of genuine coffee in her life until that Sunday morning.

HOW TO KEEP THE ELIES OUT. The late Cardinal Manning once told a story which is topical now that flies are plaguing us so badly. When visiting Cambridge. he noticed in the common room of Trinity College a fine portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds of the Duke of Gloucester,- the cousin and son* in-law of George 111. " • V ■:

-7;‘ They used. to call him Silly Billy, ’ remarked ; the Cardinal, ‘ and he well deserved his name. One very hot day the Duke was taking , part in a review, and remarked plaintively to his equerry: - ‘l' can’t . keep the flies out of my mouth:’’ , ' JA £ " r r ■' * ‘ ‘Has it ever occurred to your Royal Highness to shut your mouth?” asked the equerry.’

, THE BUSINESS END. The two British sailors had secured tickets for the dog show and were gazing at a Skye terrier which had so much hair that it looked more like a woollen rug than a dog. ‘ Which end is ’is ead, Bill?’ asked one. ‘ Blowed if I know/ was the reply. ‘ But ’ere. I’ll stick a pin in ’im, and you look which end barks.’

QUITE ENOUGH. A class of recruits were being put through a preliminary examination in first aid work. Finally it came to Pat O’Flynn’s turn to answer. The sergeant asked him the following question: , ‘ Now, Pat, supposing a man were to fall in a drunken fit, how would you treat him?’ ‘ Faith, sergeant/ replied Pat, ‘ I wouldn’t treat him at all. I’d consider he had had enough.’

WAITING FOR THE PRESENT. ‘Well, Johnny, Kbw did you like school?’ ‘ I didn’t like it a bit. The teacher put me on a chair and . told me to siE there for the present. And I sat and sat, and she never gave me the present.’

MUNICIPAL INTELLIGENCE. First Councillor: ‘ Here’s a fine-looking street.’ Second Ditto: You’re right. What’s the best thing to do with it?’ ‘ Let’s have it dug up for a drain.’ ‘ But wouldn’t it be proper to pave it first?’ ‘ Of course; I thought you would understand that. Then, after it is paved and a drain put in, we’ll have it repaved.’ ‘ All in readiness to be dug up again for the gaspip© ? I see you understand the principles of municipal economy. And after we have had it repaved for the second time, then what?’ ‘ Well, then it will be ready for widening. There’s nothing I admire so much as system in the car© and improvement of our roadways.’

VILLAGE CUSTPM. It was the kindly custom in the ■ village, for the well-to-do inhabitants to make good any loss which the villagers migh sustain through the death of any live stock. The retired manufacturer who had only recently settled in the village was ignorant of this laudable prpceeding, and so was considerably puzzled by the visit of a laborer’s wife, who explained that she had lost a pig. Well, I ain’t got it/ explained the bewildered new-comer.

‘ What I mean, sir, is, of course, the pig died,’ nervously explained the woman. Well, what do you want me to do?’ cried the thoroughly exasperated man. . ‘Send a wreath?’

WANTED WATCHING. ‘During the match/ ran the bills of the village cricket club, * a. collection will be mad© for the benefit of the groundsman/ And .that worthy, who was something of a batsman, thought fit on the occasion of this red-letter day in his career to give the spectators a taste of, his quality.. Never within memory, had a batsman scored 100 on the ground, but the beneficiary had

reached ninety, and was going strong- and ; well when, after giving anxious glances round the ropes, he remarked that he’d “ ’ad enough ,of it,” .and started walking briskly tentwards. - ■ '* ' ‘ Don’t you know you’re within ten of your 100 ?’ inquired the batsman at the other end. Yes, I do,’ came the reply. ‘And I know Bill ’Uggins who’s startin’ round with the collection box. I’m goin’n round with him for fear of accidents.’

HE WAS READY. A recruiting sergeant one evening, while partaking of refreshment in a public-house, overheard one of a small card-party in an adjoining room exclaim, as he apparently laid down his last few pence : ‘ If I don’t pull this off, I’m going to enlist.’ The recruiting sergeant was quickly alive to the prospect of pulling off his little commission if he could pass the man; and, judging from appearances, everything was in favor of his doing so. So, drawing near to the table, he awaited the finish of the hand, which ended in a loss for the prospective recruit. Noticing the recruiting sergeant standing by, the man said to him :

‘ You’re a sergeant, ain’t you ? Well, if you’ll lend me a florin on the next deal, and I don’t pull it off, I’ll be ready to follow you.’ ; The sergeant, knowing that, if the fellow lost, he himself would not be out of pocket, lent him the money. This time the man lost again, and getting up immediately, exclaimed: ‘ I’m ready, sergeant !’ And amidst the roars of the whole party the discomfited officer found the man had a wooden leg.

A BOY’S VIEW OP TEMPERANCE. The following (says the Taranaki Herald) is an essay on ‘ Temperance/ written by a New Plymouth boy: ‘ Temperance means moderation in all things. If the mind dwells unduly on any one subject, it is apt to become somewhat bigoted in its views. Therefore, be temperate in all things, even to the too-frequent request of writing a "composition on anotherr man’s opinion. This is the fourth time I have been commanded to write on this subject, and it appears to me that, if temperance was practised as much as it is preached, I might have escaped the essay by this time.’

THE DOG DIED. ‘ Halloa, Pat! I hear your dog is dead?’ ‘ It is.’ ' ‘Was it a lap dog?’ * Yes, it would lap anything.’ * What did it die of?’ ‘ It died of a Tuesday/ * I mean, how did it die?’ ‘ It died on its back.’ * I mean, how did the dog meet its death ?’ ‘lt didn’t meet its death. Its death overtook it.’ ‘ I want to know what was the complaint.’ ‘ No complaint; everyone for miles round appeared to be satisfied.’ , ‘ I wish to know how did it occur ?’ ‘The dog was no cur he was a thoroughbred animal.’ , . ■*-. : ‘ Tell me what disease did the dog die of.’ ‘ He, went to fight a motor car.’ What was the result?’ ‘ The dog only lasted one round.’