The Family Circle

New Zealand Tablet, 19 June 1919, Page 45

The Family Circle

RHYME FOR LITTLE GIRLS. * s v .v.; 1 Little Miss Hurry, ........ All bustle and flurry. « Comes down to breakfast ten minutes too late; Her hair,, is a-rumple, Her gown is a-crumple, She’d no time to button and hook herself straight. ■-iv She hunts and she rushes For needles and brushes, For books and for pencils flies upstairs and down; If ever you find her Just follow behind her A trail of shoe buttons and shreds of her gown. But little Miss Steady By school-time is ready, All smiling and shining, and neat in her place, With no need to worry. She pities Miss Hurry, Who but yesterday sat here with shame on her face Her heart beating lightly, , Her duty done brightly, She vows she will never again change her name; For though you’d not guess it, I’m bound to confess These two little maidens are one and the same.

TWO HONEST BOYS. An example of honesty is always instructive, whether it be given by a child or by one of maturer -years. A skilful teacher, who takes great interest in the moral growth of her pupils, writes as follows: —“In a country school a large class was standing to spell. In the lesson there was a very hard word. I put the word to the scholar at the head, and he missed it; I passed it to the next, and the next, till it came to the last scholar, the smallest in the class, and he spelt it right— least I understood him so—and he went to the head, above 17 boys and girls, all older than himself. I then turned round and wrote the word on the blackboard, so that they might all see how it was spelt, and learn it better. But no sooner had I written it than the little boy at the head cried out, “Oh, I didn’t say it so; I said e instead of i” ; and he went back to the foot, of his own accord, quicker than he had gone to the head. Here was an honest boy. I should always have thought that he spelt the word right if he had not told me but he was too honest to take any credit that did not belong to him. In connection with this worthy conduct, there is herewith given another interesting lesson ; — “Do you want to buy any berries to-day said a boy to a lady one afternoon. The little fellow was not well clothed, and his feet were bare and travel-stained. In his hand he held up a (basket full of ripe and dewy raspberries, which were peeping out from amid the bright green leaves that lay lightly over them. The lady, told him she would purchase, and taking the basket up, she,stepped into the house 3 . He did not follow her, but remained behind, whistling to her canaries as they hung in their cage in the porch, tie seemed fully occupied with the pretty bird pets, and the berries appeared forgotten. “Why do you not come in and see if I measure your berries right?” said the lady. “How do you know but what I might cheat you, and take" more than the quantity I have agreed upon ?” The boy looked up and smiled. “I am not afraid,” said, he,'.“for you would get the worst of it, madam.” ; “ ‘Get the worst of it?’ What do you mean?” “ Why, madam, I ■ should only lose my berries, but you would I be stealing. Don’t yon think you would get the worst of ?” £ “No man is bound to be rich or great, but every man is bound to be honest.” \ . - . ■ “Honest minds are pleased with . honest . things.” ■ ;i TO A MOTHER. 1 - , 3Tt is hard, perhaps impossible, to say,-- anything that will help you to forget your loss or that can dull

the sense pfi emptiness- in 'your heart for the boy who • is gone. - - That | consolation it 'if'/ beyond the power of words to bestow, but it will come to you of itself, unsought and unexpected—a, light from .. the glory of the great cause that has taken [ him.''>.,'/. ; -, vlUor,' P If--' You are his mother, and therefore have had. a mother's dreams for your son. You taught him. to be honest— himself as with others. You set his feet in the difficult path of courage and helped him to walk in it. You encouraged him to think little of himself, but much of others, and to hate injustice and cruelty; and you made him : see that the love of country is not love for a mere set of geographical boundaries or a political system, but 'for; a. body of moral principles] a creed of justice and liberty. •- As the years ; have passed ; you had .the supreme happiness . deepest: and most enduring satisfaction that life affords seeing your aspirations take form and express themselves in your son's character, and of knowing that it is your dreams and your guidance and teaching that have made him what he is. When the call came he heard it and was ready. He went in the purity of his youth, with his visions all undimmed and his heart on fire with noble passion. So, for you, he will always remain. It is your high privilege—and in the years to come it will be your proud comfort—to remember that, having made him worthy, you also gave him the great opportunity that he took so gladly, and by your sacrifice set the seal of success on both your lives.

HIS POSITION. “I suppose you are still with the same firm?” said the old school friend. “Yes,” answered the youth with the patient expression of countenance. “What’s your position?” “I’m an employee.” “But what is your official title?” “I haven’t any official title. It’s like this; When the manager wants something done he tells the head clerk, and the head clerk tells one of his assistants, and the assistant tells me.” “And what then?” “Well, I haven’t anybody to tell, so I have to go and do it myself.” PREPARED FOR THE WORST. Just as two men were in the middle of a large field, one. of them turned and saw an angry bull making ■ for. them. With a yell of warning he bolted, and just managed to clear the hedge. His companion, less nimble, ran wildly round the -hedge to find an opening. Twice he went round .without escaping. Then, as he passed his anxious friend for the third time, he shouted : “Tell my missus my insurance policy is in the bottom drawer. This is my last time round.” A FRIENDLY FEELING. For 20 minutes Brown had sat staring helplessly at the empty table in front of him. Another five minutes passedsix, seven, eight. ■And then at last the waiter appeared, bringing with him the.; potatoes and cold meat which Brown had f ordered!?© f V. Brown nobly restrained all the caustic comments which he felt inclined to pass, and “Thank you!” he said, as the food was laid before him. Then, “Waiter,” he addedJ;;| “can yon also bring me a little salad?” “Certainly, sir!”- replied the waiter, as he proceeded to '.move away from the table at a steady four miles a week. \ “And, by the way,” , Brown shouted after him, :• “you might drop me a post card every now and then -iwhile you’re absent, will you ■ TOO COMPLICATED. .“These modern ideas are. all very well,” growled •^>^arm«f*T!iirmiit, over . his pipe one evening, “but not

for me! I ain't got time to waste with 1 hew-fangled machines ' and-such like. See that cupboard over there? Well, inside's one of them there type-writer machines that the missus spent a year's butter land egg money on as a present for me-'"* seeing as* I ain't over handy with" the pen." : '-'^-^^^^^ri^^^^:ci':: : -.:-- "And don't ye like it?" ; asked his neighbor. - ; • /• "Like it?" snapped old s Turmut, indignantly. "Why, ye can't even write your name with the dratted thing till you've learned to play the pianner or the church organ!" '■■zi'Asii'-iitfte^l-^&^x&Y*??-

SMILE RAISERS. Lady; “You have not 5 been out to service yet, therefore you have no character.” ; Applicant; “No, mum; but I’ve got three school certificuts.” Lady: “Ah, well, that is something. Are they for honesty, cleanliness, or ?”.. Applicant: “No, please, mum, for literatoor, jograffy, and free’and drorin’.” Jackie had proudly brought his slate to Daddy to show him the drawing upon it. “What is it?” asked Daddy. “Why, Daddy,” said the surprised little boy, “it’s a train.” “But you haven’t drawn the carriages, sonny,” said the father. “No,” said Jackie; “mother says the engine draws those.” “And why did you leave your last place?” the lady asked of an applicant for housework. “Well, mum, it was like this,” replied the woman. “One day the missus ses to me, ‘Caroline,’ she ses, ‘get a wet cloth and give the Old Master a wipe over,’ she ses, so I gave her notice on the spot.” “Never in my life,” said the harassed householder, “have I been so pleased to hear my neighbor’s piano going.” “Oh asked his friend, “is there a good pianist staying there?” “No; I heard it going away in a furniture van,” “Tommy,” said Mr. Figg, sternly, “I hung a motto in your room to the effect that little boys should be seen and not heard.” “Yes, sir.” “What did you do with it?” “I— took it down to the deaf and dumb orphan asylum.” ■ -i “Your narrative is too highly colored,” remarked the editor, returning the bulky manuscript. “In what way?” inquired the disappointed author. ‘.‘Why,” replied the editor, “in the-very first chapter you make the old man turn purple with rage, the villain turn green with envy, the hero turn white with anger, the heroine turn red with blushes, and the coachman turn blue with cold.” r,. A hen-pecked man being told that an old acquaintance was married, exclaimed, “I am glad to hear it.” But, reflecting a moment, he added; in a tone of compassion and forgiveness, “And yet I don’t know why I should be; he never did me any. harm.’