The Family Circle

New Zealand Tablet, 27 October 1921, Page 45

The Family Circle

"THEN YOU'RE A MAN." If you have a chance to say a kindly word, And you say it, If you can do a kindly deed, And you do it, If you can smile when others frown Or help your brother when he's down: And still fight on until win Then you're a man. If you can bear another's burden, And you bear it, f If you can learn of some soul's sorrow, And-you share it: If you've wealth and gladly give, That the poor may have more joy to live; But if no money you can spare And give your service everywhere, Then you're a man. If you have the courage of your convictions, And your opinions find expression; If despite men's persecution, You stand firm for truth with sweet aggression, If you scorn to tell a lie, And every evil thing decry; If you give your heart and soul, And count in life your highest goal Is to be a friend to one and all— Then you're a man. —Fred Close, in the Canadian Veteran. r SPIRIT OF THE PHARISEE. To say that no true follower of Christ ought to be as the rest of men seems to partake of the spirit of the Pharisee. But it is truethat is to say, we are bound, as Christians, to be different from the world. What the Pharisee did was to boast of this. should never boast; on the contrary, we should be humbly conscious that we fall far short of what our duty is. But if there is anything certain and clear in the New Testament, it is the distinction drawn by Our Blessed Saviour between His followers and what He calls "the world."—Bishop Hedley. ALL SOULS' DAY. One of the last acts of the late Pope, his Holiness Pius X., was to grant "that on the second day of November of every year the faithful who have been to Confession and Holy Communion, as often as they visit any church or public or semi-public oratory in order to help the dead, and there pray according to the intention of the Holy Father, can gain each time a plenary indulgence to be applied only to the souls in Purgatory." (S. Cong. S. Off., June 25, 1914.) According to the terms of this concession: (1) The indulgence cannot be gained for one's self, but only for the dead. (2) The visits can be made not only to any church whatever, or any public oratory, but even to a semi-public oratory, such as that in a college, convent, hospital, gaol, orphanage, etc. (3) Confes- . sion and Holy Communion should be made beforehand. ? The Confession for any toties quoties indulgence may be "-. made on any of the three days before the day of the induli, gence, e.g., October 30, 31, or November 1, and the Communion may be made on November 2 or on the preceding „; v ■ day, November 1, as laid down in the decree S. Cong. Ind., March 11, 1908. But those who are accustomed to 5 go to daily Communion (even though they abstain once or r- twice in a week) need not make any special Confession to gain any plenary indulgences falling during the week. T\ (4) The time for making the visits is November 2. But "; . according to the general principle laid down by the S. Cong. S. Off. (February 15, 1911),. the time begins at midday on the previous day, that is, at 12 o'clock on November 1, and ends at midnight on November. 2.

It is to be hoped that our Catholic people will avail themselves of this privilege of gaining many plenary indulgences this year, especially for the thousands of Catholic soldiers who have already been hurried into eternity with little time for prayer or penance, during the war. BENEDICT XV. AND THE FINE ARTS. Pope Benedict, since his accession to the Papal throne, lias not only come to be recognised as one of the foremost statesmen of the world, but through many distinctive activities has gained celebrity as a patron of the arts and sciences (says the Irish Catholic). His Holiness' interest in archaeology was manifested in his purchase of extensive strips of ground in two parts of the Roman catacombs, which will be restored, thanks to a donation from the l ; Vatican, under the direction of Professor Marruchi. Also C; under the direction of the Pontiff Cardinal Gasquet has undertaken to secure the return to the Vatican Library of many important documents which were long ago taken away. Through a favorable exchange with the Italian archives, invaluable ancient manuscripts have already returned. The Holy Father also has inspired the Vatican galleries to undertake reproductions of the hitherto unpublished maps painted towards the end of the sixteenth century, by St. Damasus, and has ordered the Vatican astronomers to continue the work on the preparation of photographic maps of the heavens to be published in the fifth volume of the astrographic catalogue. But perhaps the most interesting artistic or scientific work sponsored by this many-sided Pontiff is the revival of the ancient industry of tapestry-making, for many centuries a pride of the Vatican and which was under the patronage of successive Pontiffs for centuries, but which gradually fell into neglect until, under Pius X., it was almost forgotten. The present Pontiff had been on the \ throne only a short time when he set about to re-open the Pontifical school and factory of tapestries, placing the old Papal mint at its disposal. Under the guidance of the late Professor Gentili and the supervision of Monsignor Tedeschini, girls were taught the art of embroidering tapvestries, one of the first elaborate sets designed being for the Sistine Chapel. The new pupils learn on small canvasses and the more expert are already doing elaborate work, some of them now being busy on a reproduction of „ the Madonna del Crivelli, which hangs in the Vatican picture gallery.

THE FLOWER OF HOPE. There's a beautiful flower that springs in each heart— In the soul's virgin soil the roots make their start j It's the sweetest to raise, the hardest to kill, Since the Planter who loves it waters it still. Through the bright beaming eyes of children at play Bursting flowerets of Hope are flung on life's way, From those dear freshling hearts and pattering feet, Where the tendrils find clasp and early buds meet. Out of gloom or despair the wonderful flower, In her rising and beauty, throws out a power That dispels with one breath of fragrance divine, Every thought which bodes sadness or evil design. —Florence Marion. L. Hunter. WHEN HARD THINGS ARE TO BE DONE. When a hard thing is to be done the natural inclination of most of us is to allow ourselves to think on the effort necessary to do it, instead of going ahead and doing it. And;here we make one of the most common mistakes in our lives. v When one is confronted by a severe task of duty which . seems almost beyond one's powers, it is fatal to pause to consider its difficulties. "'". Never mind how hard it may seem* nothing can be tolerated in the mind except the consideration of ways of accomplishing it. The secret of accomplishment lies' in the answer of the youth who was asked if he thought he would get the Babbit for which he was energetically searching: "Get him? Why, man, I've got to get him; the minister's coming to dinner and there ain't no meat in the house!" V ''*-' i: - '". •

It is a wise economy in daily life to train the mind to take the attitude of determination in the beginning to be deaf to the self which insists upon dwelling upon difficulties, and at once to bring into action the self that is determined to succeed. Most persons have had the experience of looking back over an accomplished task with amused surprise at the exaggerated idea they entertained of it beforehand. Do the thing first and consider its difficulty afterward. THE WAY HOME. He was going home, and it was growing dark. His road from the station was a lonely one, and he was getting along as fast as he could when he suddenly suspected that a man behind was following him purposely. The faster he went the faster the man followed until they came to a churchyard. "Now," he said to himself, "I'll find out if he's after me," and he entered the churchyard. The man followed him. Vague visions of revolvers and loaded clubs grew upon him. He dodged round a grave and his pursuer dodged after him. He made a detour of a family vault. Still the man was after him. At last he turned and faced the fellow. "What do you want? What are you following me for?" ■.*'■ "Well, sir, it's like this. I'm going up 7 to Mr. Fitzbrown's house with a parcel, and the porter at the station told me if I followed you I should find the place, as you live next door. Do you always go home like this?" SMILE RAISERS. A famous explorer was being pestered by the foolish questions of the lady at his side. "How will you know," she said, "when you have crossed the North Pole?""That will be easy to tell," he answered; "the north wind will become a south one." •P Husband (looking up from the newspaper he has been reading): "I see Thompson's shirt store has been burned out." Wife (slightly deaf): "Whose?" Husband: "Thompson's shirt store." Wife: "Dear me, who tore it?" ' Questioning a class, an inspector asked: "If you were to say to me, ' You was here yesterday,' would that be right?" "No, sir!" was the reply. "And why not?" \ "Please, sir, because you wasn't." A country clergyman, being anxious to raise some money for the purpose of restoring an arch in his church, commissioned the local sign-writer to paint an appropriate notice. The next day he was horrified to observe in the porch, emblazoned in brightest red, the following: "Contributions for the Arch Fiend earnestly solicited." * ,■ "Well, what do you think of my acting?" asked an amateur player of a truthful but diplomatic member of the audience. "I can say this," replied the spectator, frankly, "I have a friend who I am confident would have given £SOO to have heard you." "Who- is he?" asked the 1 embryo tragedian, highly pleased. "Well, you wouldn't'know him. But he's as deaf as a post." \