The Family Circle

New Zealand Tablet, 3 April 1919, Page 45

The Family Circle

HYMN OF FREEDOM. ; t God of Peace !- before Thee, Peaceful, here we kneel, Humbly to implore Thee For a nation’s weal ; Calm her sons’ dissensions, . Bid their discord cease. End their mad contentions — Hear us, God of Peace ! God of Love! low bending To Thy throne we turn — . Let Thy rays descending Through our island burn ; Let no strife divide us, But, from Heaven above, Look on us and guide Hear us, God of Love ! God of Battles ! aid us, Let no despot’s might Trample or degrade us, Seeking this our right ! Arm us for the danger; Keep all craven fear To our breasts a stranger God of Battles ! hear. God of Right! preserve us Just we are strong : Let no passion swerve us To one act of wrong— Let no thought, unholy, Come our cause to blight• Thus, we pray Thee, lowly — Hear us, God of Right ! God of Vengeance! smite us With Thy shaft sublime, If one bond unite us % Forged in fraud or crime ! But, if humbly kneeling, We implore Thine ear, For our rights appealing God of Nations, hear. — M. J. Barry. THE ROSARY HOUR IN IRELAND. It is well to pause on one picture out of the many which the Donegal writer, Seumas McManus, sets forth with unalloyed charm in his book, Yourself and the Neighbors. It is a scene familiar perhaps to all dwellers in Catholic lands—the hour of the Rosary. Mr. McManus thus describes it: “In your house, as in all the houses, the Rosary was recited nightly by the whole household, kneeling in a circle. Molly made you lead it, while she and the children devoutly chorused response. “The Rosary hour was a peaceful hour, and it brought you all very near indeed ,to God. The hum of the Rosary was sweet and beautiful to those who, passing the way, uncovered their heads in reverence, and felt they were treading sacred ground while still that music was in their ears. “Although you led the Rosary, Molly could never trust you with the trimmings. These herself always did take charge of. For ’twas she, and she alone, who knew how to pour out the heartfelt poetic petition which prefaced each Pater and Ave, asking for benefits, spiritual and temporal, for yourselves and your friends and neighbors, and for all the world—and an especial petition for all poor sinners who had no one to pray for them.' Lucky, indeed, was the mortal who was particularised in Molly’s prayers. Blessed were all who <i shared with your household the fruits of the Slightly Rosary. - '

A £ A BEAUTIFUL. EXAMPLE * Catholics to whom the practice of .“saying grace” before and after meals is unknown, or who through indifference . or negligence have abandoned it, .1 would read, with no little surprise and perhaps some - shame also, the following incident from an unidentified secular • journal sent to us by a non-Catholic friend (says the Ave Maria): • ' “The other day a little group of people went.into a restaurant here in the city,—one of these modern “self-serve” affairs. There was a mother and father, and a soldier son, and two smaller children,— rugged family that was evidently here to meet the soldier son who was returning from the service. They took their place in the long line in front of the counters where the food is served, and moved along gradually making their selection. When the members reached the cashier’s desk, and each had upon his plate the food he or she had selected, the father paused and the family bowed their heads. And then, there in that public place, with busy people all around, the father returned thanks to the Creator for the food of which they were about to partake,— audibly, with a firm voice, with great faith, with humility and thankfulness in his tone.

“But the little family were not the only ones who bowed their heads. The long line of busy people paused in their snatching ; each bowed his or her head, and waited the end of the blessing. There, was never a smile of derision, never a murmur of disgust. Instead, there were smiles of appreciation, and everybody in the long line felt better, —that there was something in the thanks offered up that helped wonderfully in this prosy old world.”

The editor’s comment on this little incident is also well worth quoting:

“Returning thanks before partaking of the daily food is going out of style, it seems ; but it ought, not to go out of style. It ought to be practised in every home. We are getting away from too many of the sacred things of the earlier days. We are too prone to give up the little sentiments that mean so much in this materialistic age.”

A USEFUL MAN. A farmer whose orchard is near a school for boys was annoyed by the depredations of the youngsters. Finding two boys helping themselves to his apples, he escorted them off the premises, giving each a parting kick at the gateway. Next days the boys were loitering near his orchard again. “What are you scamps hanging round here for?” he cried. “I told you yesterday what you would get if I caught you here again.” “Yes, sir, we remember,” said the spokesman. “We haven’t come for apples this time. , We came to ask you to join our football team!” NO HUNTING. A young man was walking through a wood with a gun over his shoulder and his bag full of game which he had shot. He was not satisfied with what he had, and was looking for more, when an excited man with a large tin badge on which was inscribed the one word “Sheriff,” came running up to him and demanded: “Haven’t you seen the signs which I put up on the trees in this wood?” “Oh, yes, I saw them,” answered the young man; “they said ‘No hunting,’ but I found some.” THE PROPER WAY. A swagger young soldier was watching the efforts of his comrades to ride a refractory mule. Not one of them could stay on its back for two seconds. A At last the amused looker-on approached, and drawled: “I say, let me show you how it’s done.” ■ “Come on, then!” said the soldiers. “Let’s see you !” / : - ; ... \ The youth sidled up to the mule, swung himself upon the animal’s back, wrapped his legs .beneath its

A body, and took a firm hold on the reins. The mule made a slight effort to • dislodge him, but the - man stuck. Then, laying his ears back and taking a deep breath, the animal shot his heels into the air at an angle of sixty-five degrees, and the young man - was propelled to the ground. He slowly arose to his feet, screwed his face into a smile, and said “Now, that’s the way, boys ! When you see he’s goin’ to pitch you off, just get off.’’

SCOTS WHA HAIG.

The following telegram of congratulation was sent by the Dover and the Kent Scottish Society to FieldMarshal Sir Douglas Haig: - Welcome frae Flanders, We ken while we cheer, If ye hadna been there, Weel —we wadua be here !” SMILE-RAISERS. The inspector was talking about adverbs and adjectives. “Does your master use adverbs and adjectives?” he asked. “Yes, sir,” chorused the scholars. “Well, what does he use when he does not use adjectives or adverbs?” There was a silence. Finally a little fellow put up his hand: “He generally uses a cane, sir.” A certain soldier always looked on the dark side of things. One day a friend tried to cheer him. “Why don’t you do as the song says, ‘Pack all your troubles in your old kit bag, and smile, smile, smile’ 1”

“I tried that once,” he said, sadly, “but the quartermaster didn’t have enough kit bags,”

•A barrister was one day cross-examining a rather innocent-looking countryman. “So you had a pistol?” the barrister asked. “I had, sir.” “Whom did you intend to shoot with it?” “I wasn’t intending to shoot anyone.” “Then was it for nothing that you got it?” “No, it wasn’t.” “Come, come, sir! By virtue of your solemn oath, what did you get that pistol for?” ■ “By virtue of my solemn oath, I got it for four-and-sixpence ! ”

The lads of the. village were talking “footer”; presently one turned to Grandfather Giles and asked him if he had ever played it in his youth. The veteran thoughtfully blew a cloud of tobacco smoke from his pipe, and replied: “Nay, young feller, I’ve never played at none o’ them athletic games, ’cept dominoes.”

The inspector was visiting a country school. He was asking some of the children questions. After a while he said to a junior class : “Now, I want some of you to ask me a question that I can’t answer.”

After a few vain - attempts a small boy said: “Please, sir, if you were stuck in a pool of mud up to your neck and a brick was thrown at your head, would you duck?”

“Are these seasoned troops ?”. “They ought to be, for they were first mustered by their officers, and then peppered by the enemy.”