The Family Circle

New Zealand Tablet, 28 August 1913, Page 61

The Family Circle

THE CHILDREN AND THE ANQELS When little children wake at morn ■ « To greet once more the day new-born, The angels take each tiny hand And lead them forth from Slumberland. When little children laugh and play ’Mid snares and perils of the day, The guardian angels stand between Each lure and pitfall dark, unseen. When little children sink to sleep, Above them white-winged angels keep A loving watch from dark to light, All through the terrors of the night. And when in dreams they softly smile With hearts and lips that know not guile, Their souls forsake the haunts of men, And wander back to heaven again. —Ave Maria. TWO BOYS AND THEIR FIRST PAY There’s my first week’s pay, mother,’ said a recent graduate, as he put his envelope in his mother’s hand. ‘ Buy yourself a silk dress.’ ‘ This is my first money, mother,’ said another graduate. * You’ll let me keep it, won’t you ? There’s so many things I want to get for myself.' And how do you suppose these mothers answered (asks the Sacred Heart Review) 1 The first began to cry, because she was so glad that her boy had thought of her. He had promised her that silk dress on every occasion when he felt particularly grateful to her, and at last the promise was fulfilled. He didn’t know that the four dollars in the envelope couldn’t buy such silk as he had in mind, and the mother didn’t undeceive him. She put the money away in a box with other things that marked memorable events in the boy’s life, and she said ‘l’ll never part with that unless I have to.’ Which, perhaps, was not the best use to make of it, but it showed how much the little envelope meant to her. The other mother cried, too, but it was because a hard, queer feeling seemed to squeeze her heart, and, send hot angry words to her lips. She wanted to tell her boy of the love and money she had spent on him, of the sacrifices she had made, and of the hopes she cherished of one day being able to depend on his young strength. And this was the beginning. There were so many things he wanted for himself! Mother couldn’t expect anything ! Very grudgingly he assented to a compromisea certain sum for board every week, the rest for himself. The mother dried her tears, and kept back the angry words, but as she added the board money to the family purse she said something that possibly only mothers can understand. She said * I have lost my boy and got a boarder.’ A DOG STORY The New York Scottish American tells the following dog story, which might be possible, but hardly probable: An Irish terrier named Galtee was about a year old when he was brought to America from the town of Clonmel, Ireland, by the wife of a man now in New York. The party travelled by the Majestic, and ■ the dog, being an exceptionally instinctive creature, quickly made friends" with every on© on board. Two days after the party arrived at New York the dog disappeared. Not a word was received about Galtee until a letter arrived from Ireland saying that he had reached Clonmel one day. At first the owner thought it was some joke of his relatives in the ‘ Quid Dart,’ and he immediately

wrote for more details. In the meantime, when the Majestic came to port, the next trip, the man inquired and there learned that the dog made the return trip on the boat. . As the ship passed Sandy Hook the puppy suddenly made , his appearance: on deck and began to make, friends with : the - passengers. \ No very great notice was taken .of him ,by the ship’s crew, for it .was thought that someone- he belonged to . might be returning on the boat, but it was soon found that the dog was making the trip on his own hook." He had a good time all ; the way, but after the Majestic had touched Queenstown the dog vanished. On the re* mainder of the journey to . Liverpool - the stewards /arid other employees of > the liner searched the * nooks '/and corners, but there was no dog; ■ A:. " : He . slipped off in the excitement at Queenstown, and legged it every foot of the way, a hundred miles or so, to Clonmel. He was footsore and weary when he limped home, an extra note said afterward, and his coat .bore unmistakable evidence of having been in several rough and tumble scraps on the road. One eye was nearly closed, there was a deep gash on one shoulder from the fangs of i another dog, and his tail was eaten off almost to the root. It took a full month for Galtee to recuperate, and he is enjoying good health to-day at home. No further attempt was made to bring him to America. IMPROVED CONDITIONS The father, anxious to impress his offspring with a spirit of thankfulness, repeated at the supper table, as he had often done before: ‘ Remember, children, when I was a boy I often went to bed hungry and seldom had a square meal.’ " Well, that shows how much better off you are since you have known us,’ replied little Willie, who was tired of hearing about it. 7 ' TO HOLD SUCCESS Some years ago, in a poor schoolhouse in a back district, a boy at the foot of the class unexpectedly spelled a word which had passed down the entire class. • ' ■> ‘Go up to the head,’ said the master, ‘and see that you stay there. You can, if you work hard.’ The boy hung his head. But the next day he did not miss a word in spelling. The brighter scholars knew every word in the lesson, hoping there might be a chance to get head, but there was not a single one; Dave stayed at the head. He had been an indifferent speller before, but now he knew every word. Dave, how do you get your lessons so well now?’ said the master. ‘ I learn every word in the lesson, and get my mother to hear me at night; then Igo over them in the morning before I come to school. And I go over them at my seat before the class is called up.’ ‘ Good boy, Dave,’ said the master. ‘ That’s the way to have success; always work that way, and you’ll do.’ Dave is to-day the manager of a big lumber company, and he attributes his start to the words: ‘Go up to the head, and see that you stay there; you can if you work hard.’ THE BOY AND THE BIRD ‘ I wish I hadn’t done that,’ said the boy frankly. He held in his hand the little feathered victim of a carelessly flung stone. His aim had been only too true, and the songster lay still and lifeless. The boy (says the Sadred Heart Review ) was not cruelly inclined, just thoughtless; but the small tragedy made him stop and think now, with a little aching pain of regret in his heart at sight of the harm he had done. < Boys are more apt to do wrong thoughtlessly than deliberately. Yet such thoughtlessness is wrong in itself . The secret of the remedy is in the words of a certain writer who has said, * The only way to prevent what’s past is to put a stop to it before it happens.’

■ , , Forethought is always better and usually happier than v after-thought. Cultivate it. * THE FAITHFUL CAMEL What the horse is to us, and the dog to the Eskimo, such is the camel to the people of the Ear East. These faithful beasts are often called ‘ ships of the desert,’ and are most appropriately named. Imagine the "vast stretches of desert, without a . drop of water for miles, and think how useless a horse would be if it were unable to have a cool drink every once' in a while. But the camel is made in a wonderful manner, so that he can drink enough water at the beginning of a journey to last him a long time. His, stomach is a series of cells and he can fill all these and then, whenever he feels thirsty, nature has so provided that ho can refresh himself with the contents of every on© of these cells. A camel has been known to drink as much as twenty gallons of water" at one time. In this way he can travel for days without being worn out. AN UNPROFITABLE PATRON For four entire hours the lady remained in the shop. She had visited every department and worried the majority of the salesmen without spending a penny. Toward the close of the afternoon one of the salesmen, feeling somewhat exasperated, ventured to make a mild protest. ‘Madame,’ he asked sweetly, ‘are you shopping her©?' *' The lady looked surprised, but not by any means annoyed. ‘ Certainly,’ she replied. ‘ But what else should I be doing ?’ For a moment the salesman hesitated, then blurted out: ‘Well, madam, I thought perhaps you might bo taking an inventory.’ Then the lady melted away among the shadows by the door. THE IRISHMAN’S ADVICE A well-known Irish M.P. recently told the following amusing story of a man who complained to three friends (an Englishman, a Scotchman, and an Irishman) that his servant was constantly breaking china. * What do you think I ought to do with her?’ he asked, plaintively. The practical Englishman (records the Toiler said: ‘ Dismiss her ; but as she was otherwise an excellent servant her master was unwilling to do that. ‘ Then take it out of her wages,' suggested the thrifty Scot. ‘ That wouldn’t do much good,' was the reply, * for her wages are less than the amount of damage she does.’ * Them raise her wages,’ said the Irishman promptly. THE PALL-BEARER The following story of a pall-bearer is not new, but re-appearing after some years gives me renewed pleasure (says a writer in the Sphere ): A Frenchman arrived in England and began the struggle with the language. One day he came with his conversation book to an English friend: * Ze polar bearvat does he do?’ ‘ What’s that?’ said the puzzled friend. *Ze polar —vat does he do?’ * Oh, he don’t do a thing but sit on the ice and - eat fish.’ ‘ Non non! I not acoep’.’ ‘Why’s that?’ ‘ I been invite to be polar bear at a funeral.’