GRAINS OP GOLD

New Zealand Tablet, Volume 31, Issue 44, 31 October 1907, Page 3

GRAINS OP GOLD

,THE GOLDEN DUST. The yellow pollen, falling from a flower, Like dust of gold from off a golden star, The kindly breeze upbore and wafted far, To let it drift in some propitious hour On other bloom in finely filtered shower ; And if no hostile hand or tempest mar, Or ruthless insect wage its hungry war, That dus^ shall fruitful make another bower. , So golden deeds from noble souls depart In shining cloud, and, floating in the air, -Seek" out a brother's breast and settle there/ And bring a bursting fruitage from the heart. What blessedness those flower-like spirits hold That shower on hearts this drifting dust of gold! — ' Aye Maria.'

Parents .must interest themselves in all the concerns of their chtlaren, and the latter' must give their confidence to 'their truest friends.— ' Cati-^'ic Advance.' v There is nothing easier to acquire than a fretful, complaining spirit. It is a foolish habit to borrow trouble or meet it half-way. Cultivate a cheerful mind and heart, and much imaginary trouble can be avoided. Little self-denials, little honesties, little passing words of sympathy, little nameless acts of kindness, little silent victories over favorite temptations-^-these are the silent threads of gold which, when woven . together, • gleam out brightly in the pattern of .life. It is a safeguard as well as a shortcoming of human intimacy that even our bosom friend cannot read our bosom secrets, or enter the adytum of our innermost heart — Love's last refuge-^to measure our attachment as- it really is, in all the .strength of its weakness and the weakness of its strength. i WTth"oarE lave life is scarcely worth living ; with it, the first blows of misfortune fall comparatively muffled and harmless. So long as we love and are beloved, we can bear the- whips and stings with stoical equanimity. When love fails us, or the beloved- is taken from us, then are our armor Qf pride, our defence, and safeguard gone.