The Family Circle

New Zealand Tablet, 27 November 1919, Page 45

The Family Circle

CHILD AND MOTHER. 0 Mother-my-love, if you’ll give me your hand ; And go where I ask you to wander, 1 will lead you away to a beautiful land— The Dreamland that’s waiting out yonder. We’ll walk; in a sweet-posie garden out there. Where moonlight and starlight are streaming, ? And the flowers and birds are filling the air With fragrance and music of dreaming. There’ll be no little tired-out boy to undress, No questions or cares to perplex you; There’ll be no little bruises or bumps to caress. Nor patching of stockings to vex you. For I’ll rock you away on a silver-dew stream. And sing you asleep when you’re weary, And no one shall know of our beautiful dream But you and your own little dearie. And when I am tired I’ll nestle my head In the bosom that’s soothed me so often, And the wide-awake stars shall sing in my stead A song which our dreaming shall soften. So, Mother-my-love, let me take your dear hand, - And away through the starlight we’ll wander — Away through the mist to the beautiful land The Dreamland that’s waiting out yonder! —Eugene Field. ALABASTER BOXES. Do not keep the alabaster boxes of your love and tenderness sealed up, until your friends are dead. Fill their lives with sweetness. Speak approving, cheering words, while their ears can hear them, and while their hearts can be thrilled and made happier by them; the kind things you mean to say when they are gone, say before they go. The flowers you mean to send for their coffin, send to brighten and sweeten their homes before they leave them. If my friends have alabaster boxes laid away, full of fragrant perfumes of sympathy and affection, which they intend ''to break over my dead body, I would rather they would bring them out in my weary and troubled hours, and open them, that I may be refreshed and cheered by them while I need them. I would rather have a plain coffin without a flower,_ a’ funeral without a eulogy, than a life without the sweetness of love and sympathy. Let us learn to anoint our friends beforehand for their burial. Post-mortem kindness does not cheer the burdened spirit. Flowers on the coffin cast no fragrance backward over the weary way. THE FIRST NOVENA. The first Novena of which Ave have any knowledge is recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. It was made by the Blessed Virgin, the Apostles and the Disciples of Our Lord, the holy women and faithful followers of Christ who saw Him ascend into Heaven. This Novena was made during those days between the Ascension and the Descent of the Holy Ghost. The Novena in preparation for the Feast of Pentecost, which has the solemn approbation of Holy Mother Church, begins on the day following the Feast of the Ascension. By rescript given at Gaeta on January 5, 1849, the Sovereign Pontiff Pius IX. granted to all the faithful w'ho devoutly and with contrite heart shall make this Novena in honor of the Holy Ghost, an Indulgence of three hundred days on each day of the Novena and a Plenary Indulgence either during the course of the Novena or upon one of the -eight days immediately , following it. The condition of Confession and Communion, with prayers for the Church and for the Sovereign Pontiff, are attached to this Novena. The days of Novena are days of prayer, during which Ave should strive to come into closer union with God through His Holy Spirit. We may call to mind the words of St. Bernard,' who enjoins us to pray “that the days of Pentecost may be accomplished in us, the days of pardon, of joy, and true jubilee; and may the Divine Spirit find us established by our corporal presence, also by the .union of our hearts, all together in steady perseverance.” W Surrounded by dangers to our Faith, the allurements of a world that is sinking into paganism, we need the light of the Holy Spirit. : W i V THE SECRET OF HAPPINESS. t ' It is the desire of the Master that those who, follow Him should “rejoice with those who do rejoice and weep with -those who weep.” We should live in sympathy with those whose; lives touch ours.y The well-balanced life ; is responsive to human joys. Jesus I would have His followers happy, for - only thus can they realise the highest possi-

bilities of their physical and intellectual . powers, : only . thus can they radiate happiness. However, it is essential that the happiness of the Christian should be sought and enjoyed in wholesome ways that leave no one harmed thereby. Especially should our | sympathies in practical • ways go forth to the weak and erring, to the unfortunate, to the sick and sorrowing.’- ’ >■. . : , . .. ■ T : ‘MOTHER. ‘ , She was a pure, true woman, all unversed In arts save those that gave her grace and skill Her duties to perform. From day to day ' Her tasks seemed fitted to her willing hands. To little cares that vex the common mind She gave less thought than to the greater ills That all must bear; yea, even lent her aid To lessen and uplift another’s load. She gave few precepts for the childish mind To fret against. Example Avon its way here these had failed. And if perchance there came .Days when the burden seemed too hard to bear, Her children never thought the placid smile Covered a wound that time alone could heal. The influence she left unmeasured lies Within the hearts and lives that bless her name. Can such a mother live and leave no mark Upon generations yet to be? Aye, is not hers a legacy more ■ rich Than vast estates, learning, and nyitchless skill? Could aught of these her place of influence fill? Hellen M. Richardson, in The American Messenger. AN, OUTDOOR OR INDOOR GAME. Grown-ups as well as children enjoy this game. The questions are all to l be answered by one, two, or three letters. Of course, the leader will keep the key herself, just writing the questions for her friends. Name a creeping plant?l V. What is jealousy —N V. Name a beverage?T. Name a common bird?J. Name a composition?S A. Name a mournful poem?—L E G. Name a kind of pepper?K N. Name a common summer dress? K. Name a county in England?S X. Name one of the human organs?—l. hat is it to surpass others? —X L. Name the condition of winter pavements? —l C. Name too much of something?—X S. The award goes to the player who hands in the largest number of correct answers first. When the questions are set, a time limit should be given for replies to be written. THE HAT TRICK. Flushed and breathless, the bloom of sport upon his cheek, the panting, bald-pated, twenty-stoner picked up the bowler he had been chasing down the street, and then leant up again a lamp-post to gain breath. It had been a desperate chase, but, thank goodness, he had his hat at last! Phew ! Another, also breathing heavily, came pounding up, and snatched the headgear out of his hand. “Much obliged !” gasped the new-comer. “For what?” “This is my hat.” “Your hat?” gasped the twenty-stoner. “Then where is mine?” “Behind you,” replied the other, “at the end of a string.”-. • And then, for the first time, the twenty-stoner remembered the hat-guard his winsome wife had made him wear. ■ - A QUESTION OF TIME. Mr. Brownson, the grocer, had a passion for learning, and had earned a great reputation throughout the village for encyclopaedic knowledge. When, therefore,, Mrs. Jenkins’s cook floundered into his shop one morning, athirst for information, the worthy grocer was only too ready to oblige.

ble and my missus,” panted the cook, “ ’ave been ’aving an argument what I thought you might settle. ’Ow long’s| the dodo been extinct?” Mr. Brownson retreated to his back parlor, consulted his monumental reference books, and presently returned ;• with the information that, so far as he could tell, the v bird had been extinct about 200 . years. ? ■ ’ ; ; ' “Ah’!”,; said the cook, suddenly producing some eggs from her basket, “I thought by the scent ‘of ’em Mt‘ was about that time, but my missus put it down at : three

undred years. Anyway/’;shb added, depositing the eggs on the counter, “you’ve made a mistake. We ordered ens eggs, not dodo’s!” :

A LITTLE BALLAST AFT. With many a hitch of - his trousers and pulls at his forelock in respectful salute to justice. Jack Collins, able seaman, was navigated up to the court-room railing by a policeman on a charge of cruelty to animals. “He had a paving-stone ; tied to the tail of the horse he was riding, your worship,” said the officer who had arrested him.

“What was that for?” asked the magistrate. “Well, admiral, that wasn’t no cruelty to animals, as this officer says, at all,” blurted Jack. “I hired that bony craft outside for a short cruise ashore. Soon after getting under way I found the bloomin’ old packet wouldn’t steer a little bit. She AAas all down by the head, and tacked about the street when the wind was fair astern. Try as I would, I couldn’t get steady steerage way on her, and she drifted to windward just as often as she did .to leeward. Then, thinks I, she’s too light by the stern, as her heels were constantly liftin’ and racing just for all the world like our propellers on the ship AA-hen she tosses on a big sea. 'She AAants more weight aft,’ says an old shipmate of mine that I met, and then I just got him to help me come to an anchor while I shipped a little ballast aft. That’s all, your worship. All shipshape and aboveboard, and no reason in the world why this blue and brassbound corvette here should have overhauled me at all.” « “Dismissed,” said the justice, after Jack had agreed to jettison the ballast and take the “craft” home in “tow,” which meant lead the ancient steed back to the stable. SMILE RAISERS. Little Billy entered a confectioner’s shop and said: “Please, mum, how much are them buns?” “Well, my little man, I’ll give you six for fivepence.” “Six for five,” said little Billy; “that’s five for four, four for three, three for two, two for one, " and one for — nothing. Please, mum, one’s all I want.”

For many hours he had sat by the river with most elaborate apparatus trying to catch something. Then a small boy came along with a worm tied on to a bit of string swinging from a walking-stick, and in five minutes caught a big fish. “What sort of fish is it?” asked the boy’s mother when he brought it home with pride. “I don’t know, mother,” he replied, “but a gentleman sitting near when I caught it said it was the blooming limit.”

Old Giles was taking out an insurance policy on his life, and he and his wife were puzzling over the forms that had arrived for him to sign. “Yer see- this?” . said Giles. “It says: ‘Age of father if living.’ I suppose I must fill it in.” The form w r as at last filled, and a few days later Giles received a visit from the agent. “What do you mean by your form?” said the agent. “You state your father’s age as one hundred and ten/ That is ridiculous.”

“No, it ain’t,” replied Giles; “your form says ‘if living,’ and that’s the age he’d be if he was alive now.”

A college professor w 7 ho w 7 as always ready for a joke was asked by a student one day if he would like a good recipe for catching rabbits. “Why, yes,” replied the professor. “What is it?” “Weil,” said the student, “you crouch doAvn behind a thick stone w 7 all and make a noise like a turnip.” “That may be,” said the professor, with a 7 inkle in his eye, “but a better way than that would bo for you to go and sit quietly in a bed of cabbage heads and look natural.”

“When I was once in danger of being killed by a lion,” said an old African explorer, “I tried sitting down and staring at him, as I had ntr weapons.” ■ “How did it w 7 ork?’.’ asked his companion. “Perfectly; the lion didn’t even offer to touch me.” “Strange! How 7 do you account for it?” • “Well, sometimes I’ve thought it was because I sat on the branch of a tall tree.”