The Family Circle

New Zealand Tablet, 1 November 1917, Page 45

The Family Circle

“I’M SORRY; I WAS WRONG.” There may be virtue in the man Who’s always sure he’s right, Who’ll never hear another’s plan And seek no further light; But I like more the chap who sings A somewhat different song; Who says, when he has messed up things, “I’m sorry; I was wrong.” It’s hard for any one to say That failure’s due to him— That he has lost the fight or way Because his lights burned dim. It takes a man aside to throw The vanity that’s strong, Confessing, “ ’Twas my fault, I know, I’m sorry; I was wrong.” And so, I figure, those who use This honest, manly phrase. Hate it too much their way to lose On many future days. They’ll keep the path and make the fight, Because they do not long To have to saywhen they’re not right “I’m sorry; I was wrong.” There is the pale-blue, milk-eyed Catholic, who, when away on his vacation, complacently keeps his mouth shut and his conscience silenced, it would seem and poses as not a Catholic at all ! He eats meat on Friday ; never goes to Mass ; and if the occasion come when non-Catholics, in his presence, laugh or sneer at Catholic practices, he either joins in or acquiesces with that cowardly silence which gives consent. —Newark Monitor. CITIZEN PATRIOT AND MAN OF PEACE. All the bells throughout the mountains and valleys of Switzerland were lately rung to usher in the fifth centennial of the great Catholic patriot to whom Switzerland is indebted for the preservation of her national unity, the Blessed Nicholas von Flue. Distinguished in' his country s battles,, he refused to accept from a grateful nation the highest dignity it could bestow on him. When after the Burgundian wars the delegates from the various cantons fell into disagreement, and there seemed no possible settlement except an appeal to arms, an embassy was sent to seek his advice. As a result unity and peace were so firmly established that they continued unbroken for centuries. After a strenuous life of public service and after giving ten children to his native land, the hero retired to a hermitage where his bed was a board, his pillow a stone, and his sole food for twenty years, the Holy Eucharist. This last fact, a constant miracle, was carefully verified • during his own lifetime by both the civil and ecclesiastical authorities. From his family have sprung at least thirty priests. In its official proclamation the Swiss Government thus describes his unique services to his native land: - The present day (March 21) vividly calls to mind the memory of a venerable figure in Swiss history. In a period of extreme danger to the old Federation, Brother Klaus (the familiar name by which he was known), looking far beyond mere petty local interests, threw the weight of his moral influence into the scales for peace, a peace of no mere temporary nature. He firmly welded together the bonds that had loosely joined the members of the Federation, so that it remained unbroken in the crisis of the Reformation. Thus was established the solid foundation of the present Swiss ideal: the peaceful happy union of peoples of diverse tongues, all dowered with equal rights and the harmonious blending of three .distinct types of culture.

. . . In the foreign affairs, too, of the Federation, Brother Klaus, for his piety and wisdom had won him international honor, devoted himself to the interests of peace. His influence reached as far as the courts of Innsbruck and Milan. The principles which he so ardently recommended to the Government at Berne have a deep significance even now. They are summed up in the faithful observance of our civic duties, in the protection of the weak, and mainly and above all things, in the preservation of a civic peace founded on mutual charity and esteem.— America. ' TWO LITTLE RAG DOGS. There was once a little boy, Roy, who owned two rag dogs. One was Tony and the other was May. Tony was a white, with brown spots on his left leg, and May was pink, with a blue tail. Both these puppies were nice and soft to hug and to take.to bed. One day Roy stood looking out of the nursery window. He had just had a nice nap and had forgotten to bring his rag puppies in the house with him or to put them on the porch. While he was looking a great big dog came trotting up the walk. He espied Tony and May lying on their backs right in his path. The big dog sniffed and stuck his tail right up straight in the air, as much as to say, “How rude of these rag puppies to get in my wa) !" Roy felt that trouble was coming. So he raised the window and shouted to the big dog, “Get out of my yard!” ' But he was too late. The big dog seized Tony in his huge mouth and tore a terrible hole in his big rag side. When he had chewed to his heart’s delight, the big dog grabbed May by her blue tail and chewed it right off. By this time Roy had run out, with his papa’s cane and scared the big dog away. So Tony and May were sent to a puppy hospital, where a kind doctor fixed them as good as before Roy left them on the lawn. HE DIDN’T DROP. The tired city man called in his office boy. “James,” he said. “Yes, sir,” answered that most important personage. << “I am very tired, and I am going to have an hour’s rest in my chair there.” “Yes, sir.” “If I should happen to drop off, call me at four o'clock.” “Yes, sir.” The city man lay back in his chair, folded his hands, closed his eyes, and was soon in the land of nod. He was awakened by the clock striking five, and called indignantly, “James!” “Yes, sir.” “Why didn’t you call me at four o’clock as I told you to do ? ” “Well, sir, you told me to call you if you dropped off. I looked in at four, and you hadn’t dropped. You was sitting on the chair, sound asleep.” .... LOST HIS BEARINGS. ' | The chairman of the committee was addressing a meeting of teachers. •‘ , V;“My friends, the school work is the bul-house of civilisation. I mean ah ” He began to feel frightened. \ “The bulhouse is the schoolwork of —” [' A smile could be felt. ' _ • " ■%' “The workhouse is the bulschool of ” \ He was evidently twisted. y “The bulschool is the housework ” *1 An audible snicker spread over the audience, f “The bulschool ” ■ “ He was getting wild. So were his hearers. ;, He mopped his perspiration, gritted his teeth, and made a fresh start. •- ' -“The school house, my friends- ” . : If :

A sigh went up. He was himself again. He gazed serenely around. ' The . light of triumphant self-con-fidence was enthroned upon his brow. : “Is the woolbark ” And then he lost consciousness. THE REASON WHY. “My word, but I’ve missed a fearful lot of birds to-day,’’ remarked the Cockney sportsman, as he blazed away for the fortieth time without result. “Nay, nay, sir,” said the keeper, “ye’ve nobbut missed one after all. It’s the same bird every time. ’E’s follerin’ you about.” “Following me about? Nonsense! Why should it?” “Well, yer see, sir, ’e’s an old bird, an’ e’s a-’angin round you for. safety like.” SHE SCORED. A canvasser recently soliciting votes for an election, visited a house where the husband was out, and asking the wife whether she could get her husband to vote for his candidate, she replied : “Well, my husband has been promised a pair of trousers if he will vote for Mr. Jones.” The canvasser, thinking he now had a case against this candidate said : “I will give you a pound note if you tell me who offered the trousers.” The wife replied: “Give me the pound note first.” The canvasser handed her the money. “Well,” said the wife, “it is I that has offered him the trousers, but this will buy two pairs.” SMILE-RAISERS. “Is it necessary to inclose stamps?” asked the poet. “More necessary even than to inclose poetry,” responded the experienced author. Old Crabton is particularly severe upon his wife in argument. During a recent passage-at-arms between the two his wife managed to interpose with : “My dear, I wish you wouldn’t be so very positive about everything. Remember, there are always two sides to every question.” Whereupon old Crabton roared back at her: “Well, that’s no reason why you should always be on the wrong side!” “Mother’s compliments,” said a youngster to a butcher who kept a shop in a busy suburban thoroughfare, “and she’s sent me to show you the big bone brought with the piece of beef this morning.” “Tell your mother next time I kills a bullock without bones in it I’ll make her a present of a joint,” said the man of meat, with a grin. “Mother’s compliments,” continued the boy, “and she says next time you find a sirloin with a shoulder-of-mutton bone in it she’d like to buy the whole carcase as a curiosity !” A German pedlar rapped timidly at the kitchen entrance. Mrs. Kelley, angry at being interrupted in her washing, flung open the door and glowered at him., “Did yez wish to see me?” she demanded in threatening tones. The pedlar backed off a few steps. “Veil, if I did,” he assured her with an apologetic grin, “I got my vish, thank you.” A man who was “wanted” by the police had been photographed previously in six different positions, and the pictures were duly circulated among the police. The chief of police in a country town wrote to headquarters a few days after the pictures had been distributed : ; - “I duly received the pictures of the six miscreants whose capture is desired. I have arrested five of them and the sixth is under observation, and will be secured shortly.” ' ,' • i.v .