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Family, Circle.
----------- A——,---- ;
Growing
,------ V-—------
Old,
At six—I well remember then
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length he found it absolutely neces
sary to dismiss the lad as a warning
That is what they call Japan. to others. He soon after enlisted
Men go about the streets and blow in a regiment that was ordered to
soap-bubbles for them, with pipes America.
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The Paradise of Babies.
dead body of James, his head re
clining on the Bible, which - was
open at the passage, “ Cotne unto
Ale, all ye that labor and are heavy
laden, and 1 will give you rest.’
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But when I’d turned my first decade,
Fifteen appeared more truly staid.
But when the fifteenth round I’d run,
I thought none old till twenty-one.
Then, oddly, when I’d reached that age,
I held that thirty made folks sage.
J3ut when my thirtieth year was told,
I said : “ At two-score men grow old !n
Yet two scoreCame and found me thrifty,
And so I drew the line at fifty.
But when I reached that age, I swore
None could be old until three score.
And here lam at sixty now,
And young as when at six, I trow .!
’Tis true, these rogues about my knee
Say “Grandpa” when they speak to me.
But, bless your soul, I’m young as when
. I thought all ptople old at ten !
Perhaps a little wiser grown—
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Perhaps some old illusions flown :
But wondering still, while years have
rolleft,'
"When it is that a man grows bld ?
— Vandyke Brown. _■
The young Japs haye tops, stilts,
pop-guns, blow-guns, magic lan
terns, kaleidscopes, wax figures,
terra cotta animals, Hying fish and
dragons, masks, puzzles and games;
butterfiies and beetles that flutter
, VUIUXVO VIHfcV
VUV»* *
and pop out their heads ; birds that
fiy about, and peck the fingers and
whistle; pasteboard targets that,
when hit, burst open and let a
winged figure fiy. out"; and,most
wonderful of all, perhaps -little
balls looking like elderpith, which,
thrown into bowls of warm water,
slowly expand into the shape of a
boat, or a fisherman, a tree, Hower,
crab, or bird.
The girls of Japan have dolls’
furniture and dishes, and, of course,
dolls. They have,dollsthat walk ami
dance: dolls that put on a mask
when a string is pulled ; dojis dress
Deal Gently With Mother.
ed to represent nobles, ladies, min
Deal gently with Mother, O Time as you strels, mythological and historical
pass
personages. Dolls are handed dowp
■\Vith your scythe so remorseless, and
for generations, and in some families'
fast changing glass,
Hmooth softly the hair that was raven in there are hundreds of them. They
never seem to get broken or worn
hue,
For the white threads therein were all out as yours do ; and, in fact, they
penciled bjjan
.
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can hardly be the dear playmates
Deal gently with her, since in earnest that yours are. They are kept as a
or play,
sort of show ; and, though the lit
You’ve stolen the years of her youth tle owners play with them, they do
hood away ;
May her days be serene as a sweet sum not dress and undresp them and
take them to bed as you do. A
mer eve,
And nothing be present t’o vex or to good deal of the time they are
grieve.
rolled up in silk paper and packed
You've chiseled deep lines on that away in a trunk. On the great
motherly face,
festival day of the Japanese girls—
Trom her step so elastic you’ve taken the Feast of Dolls, of which no
the grace,
Her form ydu have broken with labor doubt you have heard—there is a
great show of dolls and toys, and it
and years,
And bathed very often her eyelids with is the event of the year for the
tears.
queer little black-eyed maidens.
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Deal kindly with Mother, O Time while , The Feast of Flags is the boys great
you may,
j day, and they have banners, Hags,
And take her not soon from our circle
figures of warriors and great men,
away ;
Break not this strong link in our family swords and other toys suitable for
chain,
But may she with us many years yet re boys.— St. Nicholas.
called upon the clergyman to beg a There were not less than fifty pa
Bible of the smallest size. Sur ges’stained with the blood of poor
prised at such a request from an in James.
The Word of the Lord is quick ■
dividual who was evidently on the
and
powerful. The only verse this
verge of eternity, and who he knew
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Jiad one or^two Bibles of large poor man ever committed iomemo
print, which she had long used to a
good purpose, he inquired what she bringing the widow’s son out of
darkness into marvelous light; and
wanted it for,-
She answered, “ A regiment is he is now, we trust, uniting in the
going out to America, and 1 want song of the redeemed in Heaven.—
to send it to my poor boy, and oh, Fr i en dl ¡j Greet i nys.____
sir, who knows what it may do F
The Sense of Honor in Boys.
A pious soldier conveyed the
Bible to the widow’s son, whom he
There is great confusion in boy’s
found the ringleader of vice in the
notions of honor. You should not.
regiment in which he had enlisted'
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After the soldier had made himself go to the teacher with tales of your
known, lie said,. “James, .your school mates, but when questioned
mother has sent you her Last pros- by those in authority over you
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parents, guardians or teachers, it is
ent.”
“ Ah, he replied, in a careless your duty to tell who did a
manner, “is she gone at last? I “nnschief nr brdk‘e''aTfuT»”no matter^-
what results to yourself, or how
hopesjiehas sent m<; some cash.”
unpopular
you become' Boys have
The pious soldier told him he be
lieved she wasjdead; But, he ad a false honor which hides” mean
ded, “ she has sent you something and skuIking actions in each other,
of more value than gold or silver ”_ which ought to be ridiculed out of
(presenting to him the Bible,), “and, them, The most cowardly injuries
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James, it was her 'lying request "and injustice among boys go un
checked,
and
the
weaker
are
abused
that yon would read one verse, at
least of this Book every day ; and and bullied in a way every decent
can you refuse her dying charge ?” boy should resent, because^this false
“ Well,” said
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James, it is not notion of comradeship leads them to
much to ask (openingjjthe Bible;) lie, prevaricate, or keep silence to
screen the guilty. Teachers and
so here goes.”
j
He opened the Bible at the friends ought to put down this
words, “ Come unto Me, all ye that ignorant, petty “ sense of honor,” for
labor, and are heavy laden, and I something more intelligent and
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upright. When you know of a
will give you rest.”
" Well,” said he, “ that is very wrong, and keep silence abaut it
odd. I have opened at the only when asked, you become a partner
verse in the Bible I could ever learn inThe wrong, and responsible for its
by heart; when I was in Sunday- original meanness. It is a pity that
school, I never could, for the life of boys and grown people do not car
me, learn another. It is very ry the same strictness of principle
strange. But who is this Me men- they show in screening bullies and
frauds into points of genuine honor
tioned in the verse ?”
The pious soldier explained it to and courage.— Wide Awake.
him ; spoke to him of Jesus, and of
A little girl, four
was
the invitations of the Gospel. accused by her mother of having
They walked to the house of the
A Mother’s Last Present.
lost her memory; the child looked
,^chaplain, wb.eie they had further
In the county of Kent lived a conversation. From that hour the bewildered for a moment, and then
clergyman and his lady, who took widow’s son became a changed man, light seemed to dawn upon her, tor
a very active part in the Sabbath and was as noted for his exemplary she exclaimed: “I dess I know
school connected with his church. conduct as he had before been for what memory is. It’s the ting I
fordet wiv.”
They had in the school a bôy, thë his Wickedness. ,
only son of a widow, who was no
SoVfie time after th is conversation
- Recently a Frenchman and his
toriously wicked, despising all the his raiment engaged with the ene wife traveled on a two-seated tri
earnest prayers and admonitions of my. At the closelof the engage cycle from Lyons to Nice, Genoa,
the.-4-kwgyman, who, out of pity for ment, the pious soldier, in walking Rome and Naples, and home again,.. _ /
his poor widowed mother, kept him through the field of blood, beheld j a distance of 2,300 miles, making-
in the ifcdiool eighteen months p at1 under a large spreading oak the some fifty or sixty miles a day.
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main.
Crown her brow with sweet peace as
you’ve wreathed it with years,
Fill tho eyelids with joy you have
moistened with tears ;
Lift the burdens of- care that have
weighed down her breast,
And give to her henceforth a Sabbath
of rest.
Down life’s western slope lead our dear
Mother’s feet;
May the sunset becalm, all resplendent,
and sweet;
May angels swing open the poitals of
day,
Y’hat snail give us in heaven a Mother
al way.
•—R ev . J. M it . ton A keus , in Minn, Re-
■ lietr,
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