The Family Circle

New Zealand Tablet, 22 July 1915, Page 61

The Family Circle

% I THE SEVEN DOLLS. Seven dollies went to school On a lawn beach/ nice and cool •: Seven dresses, fresh and clean, . • Seven heads of golden sheen. /v ' We must be polite,' said they, Never cry, always obey Sit up straight, as we are told, While our little books we noid.' Mistress Betty, kind and grave, Made the little dolls behave; Taught them how to read and write, And never with each other fight. From her seat upon the grass She taught each chubby little lass How to keep her dress so neat And her face so clean and sweet. Also how to lead a life Free from discord and all strife, And to . others ever do As you wish they'd do to you. Seven dollies grew up well, Each one learned to read and spell Wise and cultured now are they, And kind and gentle in their play. A REAL HERO. Slow at his books Tom Gordon certainly was, yet he had a good mind. It took him a long time to learn a lesson; but, when he had once learned it, he never had to look at it again. In athletic sports, too, he was not brilliant; but he could be relied upon. He was like a stone wall at the batting crease, though not very brilliant in the field. In football he was not aggressive enough, to suit his school-fellows; but he was fearless, and he could carry an indefinite number of opponents on his back. In the tug-of-war he was unconquerable. One evening after supper Tom took the electric car and went into town on an errand for his father. His business accomplished, he set out to walk home : for although a few flakes of snow had fallen, the night was fine, and he wanted to get some good fresh air into his lungs before sitting down to spend an evening with Cicero. He had reached a deserted part of the street, and was walking up a long hill not far from home, when he saw coming toward him a' heavy two-wheeled coal-cart drawn by one horse. The wheels were on the cartracks, the driver's head had fallen over on his shoulder, and he was fast asleep. Meanwhile the brave old horse plodded on, with the contentment of a veteran in the coal business who had left his load of coal, whose driver is asleep, and who is going down hill on his way home. From out of sight far along the street came the singing of wires, which means that an electric car is approaching. A moment later the car, coming on like mad, hove in sight some distance behind the coal-cart. As it reached the summit of the hill,, and began the descent, its speed did not abate. . - Nearer and nearer it came, but the motorman did not seem to have any fear of running into the coal-cart. He even turned round and said something to the conductor, who was standing behind him. Then he turned back again, but he turned too late. He was nearer than he thought. He jammed on the brake, and reversed the power just as the old horse turned aside to draw the cart out of danger; but the tracks were covered with a, little layer of snow, and the car-wheels slid, over them like the runners of a sleigh i. The whole weight of the car struck the corner of the coal-cart, and flung it from the -tracks. The wagon fairly , surged up in the air, and came down on its side,

with the man underneath it and the horse still in* the shafts. L„ Neither man nor horse stirred /after they fell. The conductor and driver were both unhurt/ 'This is a bad business, Phil; an' N we'd better get -out ,; the .driver said. _ . : / i .: ;■ The conductor nodded, and pulled the bell 'twice, and the car swept away. The ;: only passengers were three ladies,; who probably did. not know what had happened. • ':-•' - V - .":'•■-■."• -v ,• : ;> Tom was not a hundred feet away when the thing happened. His horror at the sight itself was not greater than his astonishment and anger when : the car* moved on . For the first time in his life he would have. liked to have some one by the throat. ,-•. ->-■■;;_: He rushed up to the cart excitedly. It had been thrown to the right of the track. The driver's leg was underneath one of the great wheels; and he had evidently fainted, for he did not move or speak Tom seized him by the shoulder and shook him roughly The man roused up a little. ■-'■- - ■■■■■■- -^%. 'Pull your leg out when I lift,' Tom shouted | and then he stooped down, and got hold of the edge of the wheel. ° . He straightened his back, bent his knees, and gripped the wheel tight. Then-with a great effort, he flung back his head and straightened his knees * Up came the cart, wheel, frame, and all. - > • Pull your leg out!' Tom shouted again. The man started, tried to sit up, pulled his leg, a little way-out gave up, and roiled over on his face, with his head directly under the wheel. ~ It was too much. Tom thought he would rather have died than see such a thing happen. He could not hold up such a load for more than a few moments, and it would kill the man when it fell. No one was in sight. He could not move, not a muscle, or he would have to et go. Oh, if he had only let the fellow lie there; and brought help ! | ' Get out of there ! Rouse up !' he 'cried ; and then, as the man did not move, 'Help! help!'' he yelled. 'There's a man dying! Help!' . There was only one house near enough to send him aid in time, and he directed his cries at that. There were lights in the windows, but no one seemed to stir to help him. At last. the strain became so great that he could shout no longer. He clenched his teeth, and resigned himself to despair. .; A door slammed. He looked up at the house, and saw a girl running clown the steps. Could he hold out till she got to him. ' I'll make a good bluff at it anyway,' thought Tom, grimly; and he held on. He had not strength enough even to hurry up his rescuer. '■■ The girl, who was well built, strong, and ruddy, reached his side quickly. ' What are you wanting, sir?' she said. Tom was gasping. Great drops of sweat ran down his face. His feet staggered about from place to place. His legs were strained past bearing, his hands perfectly numb. He felt that he was all but done for. Pull out the man!' he muttered, and then shut his lips tight, as the wheel almost slipped from his grasp. The girl looked down, and without a moment's hesitation crawled under the wheel to pull him out. 'Don't go under!' Tom gasped, in agony, 'I may drop it.' ; -'Faith, then, you won't,' came her voice, without a tremor. ' You'll hold on a bit longer. You won't let it hurt me'.' t . That was enough for Tom. He bent his knees a trifle, renewed his grip on the wheel, leaned his head forward a' little; and then a 'Ready! Heave!';'burst out on the night air that made the street ring. Back flew his head again, his great knees straightened themselves, and once more wheel, frame, and waggon shot up, in the air. A moment later the girl had. pulled the coal man out of danger. " ""- ~/.",/ ;| 'ig-/ ' Then Tom shifted his feet- a little back, and with an involuntary gasp let go. Down? came the-heavy cart with a crash, but only on the Uninjured earth;-/.1".

/< r ; Tom thanked the girl as best he could, and then, utterly at the end of his strength, sank right down where.he was in the mud and dirt. It seemed as if he could never move again. -•;■?■'. . . / > 'Sure, 'twas an illigant pull entirely !' said the Irish girl, admiringly. ' What shall Ibe do-in', now?' v 'Run for the doctor,' Tom said/ rousing himself; ' or—no. I don't think it will be necessary.' : • • ; •-._; A car was coming, this one out from town. It was crowded. With .a great effort Tom stood on his feet and ran to . the track. 'Stop, stop!' he cried. 'Some one's hurt!' VThe motorman stopped the car. Tom climbed on board, and slammed open the front door. 'ls there a doctor here?' he inquired. A middle-aged man rose from his seat, and came toward the front of the car. Tom led the way to the coal-cart. ' The team fell on him, and hurt his leg,' he said. The doctor stooped down, and began to make an examination. A crowd from the car gathered about the spot. The girl's father was one of the number, and he eagerly questioned his daughter about what had happened. She told him what she knew, and all who heard her turned eagerly to get a sight of the young fellow who had borne so much to save the injured man's life. But Tom was no longer to be seen. He liked to do his duty, but he hated to talk about it. He was on his way home, and hard enough it was for him to get there. Some of the more curious of the crowd tried their hand at lifting the cart. Two young men, working together, raised it half a foot and dropped it. The next morning at breakfast, Mr. Gordon read from the newspaper a very ornamental but substantially correct account of the strength and bravery of an unknown young man who had preserved Michael Daly, of Woodhouse's Coal Company, from instant death. Mr. Gordon read well, and his wife and daughters could hardly breathe till he had finished. ' O-o-oh !' cried Gertrude, when the end came. .' What a splendid man ! And so modest., too, not letting any one know who he was! He was a real hero, wasn't he, Tom . v ' Why, no,' said Tom, unconcernedly. ' I can't say I see anything especially heroic about it.' ' Well !' Gertrude exclaimed, turning to her mother. ' Tom is the most unromantic boy ! I don't believe he knows what a hero is!' SOME SCHOOL 'HOWLERS.' ■i . The Bombay Examiner gives the following samples of 'howlers' perpetrated by the pupils of St. Mary's High School, Bombay: The Tropic of Cancer is a painful and incurable disease. When. Chaucer describes the Prioress as amiable of port, he means that she was fond of wine. The mineral wealth of a country is gingerbeer and lemonade. In the British Empire the sun always sets. The courage of the Turks is explained by the fact that a man with more than one wife is more willing to face death than if he had only one. The Mediterranean and the Red Sea are joined by the-Sewage Canal. James I. claimed the throne of England through his grandmother as he had no father. An appendix is a portion of a book which nobody has yet discovered to be of any use. An elephant is a square animal with a tail in front and behind. The Minister of War is the clergyman who preaches to the soldiers in the barracks. The circulation of the blood was invented by Martin Harvey. • „ x •. A synonym is a word you can use when you don't know : how to spell the one you first thought of. . •. Before a man can become a monk he has to have his tonsils cut. " . ■ .

..-> ■ -1/. SCANTY FARE. ,. i .;;,--? : ',.^ Several ladies sat in their " club discussing the merits of their husbands. .! " -'•■ ''%<: 'Mr. Mingleton,' said one of them,' referring to. her life partner, ' has no bad habits.' ' Does he never smoke?' someone asked. -, : ' Yes. lie likes a cigar just after he' has eaten a good-meal. But I suppose, on an average, he doesn't smoke more than once a month !' :' Then her-friends laughed. A BAD HABIT. The lawyer asked the witness if the incident previously alluded to wasn't a miracle, and the witness said he didn't know what a miracle was. Oh, come,' said the attorney. Supposing you were looking out of a window in the twentieth storey of a building and should fall out and should not be injured. What would you call that?' , .'An accident,' was the stolid reply. ' Yes, yes; but what else would you call it? Well, suppose you were doing the same thing the next day suppose you looked out of the twentieth storey window and fell out, and again should find yourself not injured, what would you call that?' A coincidence,' said the witness. 'Oh, come now,' the lawyer began again. ' I want you to understand what a miracle is, and I'm sure you do. Now, just suppose that on the third day you were looking and fell out, and struck your head on the pavement twenty storeys, below and were not in the least injured. Come, now, what would you call it?' 'Three times said the witness, rousing a little from his apathy. ' Well, I'd call that a habit.' SHE COULD NOT SEE HIM. The employer of a Polish girl who has learned quickly to speak English tells of her attempted mastery of the telephone. After its use was explained to her she was eager to answer every can. A ring came and she jumped to the telephone. ' Hello!' came from the receiver. 'Hello!' answered the girl, flushed with pride at being able to give the proper answer. ' Who is this?' continued the voice. ' T don't know,' exclaimed the maid. M can't see you.' IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN WORSE. There had been a violent collision between a milk waggon and a taxicab in one of the main streets of the town, and an unfortunate passer-by sustained a broken collarbone as a result. Of course, a crowd soon collected and one sympathetic woman among the onlookers gazed long and pitifully at the victim. ' Poor chap !' she said at last. ' Are you married?' A wave of emotion passed over the injured_ one's face and then his features went suddenly pallid. 'No!' he gasped at length. This is the worst thing that has ever happened to me.' ALL NET INCOME. A New York lawyer tells of a case tried in a fishing town of Massachusetts, during which the chief witness under cross-examination refused to state the amount of his gross income. ' You must answer the question,' said the'judge. 'But, your honor,' said the man. 'I have no gross income; I am a fisherman, and it's all net.'