The Family Circle

New Zealand Tablet, 5 June 1919, Page 45

The Family Circle

THE SMALL BOY'S TROUBLE. Before they had arithmetic. Or telescopes or chalk. Or blackboards, maps, and copy-books— When they could only talk, Before Columbus came to show The world geography. What did they teach the little boy Who went to school like me? There wasn’t any grammar then; They couldn’t read nor spell, For books were not invented yet I think ’twas just as well. There were not any rows of dates. Or laws, or wars, or kings, Or generals, or victories, Or any of those things. There couldn’t be much to learn; There wasn’t much to know, ’Twas nice to be a boy Ten thousand years ago. For history had not begun. The world was very new. And in the school I don’t see what The children had to do. Now always there is more to learn How history does grow ! And every day they find new things They think we ought to know. And if it must go on like this I'm glad to live to-day, , For boys ten thousand years from now . Will not have time to play ! ' THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. O Catholic Church, when we kneel before thy altars raised in every clime, our eyes behold thy years thy labors, and thy glory. We see the children of every age, of every tribe and nation bending low before thy Eucharistic God, raised on high in thy myriad - temples. We see the princes, statesmen, sages, leaders of thought and action of the great and historic races — those noble sons of mankind whose names are bywords in the great world story —with their gentle heads tent low in adoration before “The Presence’’ of Calvary’s eternal King. We see the fathers, the mothers, and the little children kneeling beside the great ones of the earth to share in the benediction of those who believe. We see the holy martyrs whose blessed feet followed thy Christ up the road of the Cross, and by their blood have beaten a path for the children of the Church to tread to God’s own country. We see thy labors, O Catholic Church, for the poor—for the weak — for the unprotected —we see thee standing between the cruel oppressor and voicing the rights of the voiceless. . _ We see thy institutions of learning in every clime to bring to the youth of the world the lights of Sacred learning, and to lead r them with gentle hands to the foot of the throne of God. ■; With thy golden ring of chalices encircling the —thy Cross— Cross of that Divine Founder raised under every sun—thou art indeed the wonder of wonders for the eyes of men to behold. ■ . O Catholic Church, thou art the one haven of peace for the . human soul—=thou art the garden filled with flowers whose hues have been blushed from the 'altar lights of Heaven —who : knowing thee would, not r cry aloud. Open . O Gates of the City >of 1 God, and let me know that peace which the world cannot give.

' THE-SIGN OP THE CROSS, g ' - - The day of-' the famous battle of Bull during the American ■ Civil War, General Smith : with his division arrived too late, to learn the password. Foreseeing that if he advanced he would : be exposed to the fire of his own party, he asked if any man was willing to sacrifice his life. A youth left the ranks. - “You will be killed.” X -|- “Yes, general.” Therefore Smith wrote on a bit of paper : ' “Send me the. password. Generali Smith.” He gave the note to the soldier, saying to ; himself at the same time:— “Should this messenger be'killed, they will find this paper upon him.” .. . Having reached the outposts, the young- soldier was challenged: “Who goes there?” “A friend.” “Give the sign.” , ,7"T' He advanced in silence, all the guns being pointed at him. Quickly he makes the Sign of the Cross and lifts his hand to heaven. The sign of the Catholic soldier recommending himself to God was, by a strange coincidence, the sign that the Catholic General Beauregard had given in-, the morning to his army. THE SINLESS ONES. It is related of a learned magistrate that, finding himself in the company of a country priest, he thought it to be his duty to show his mental superiority—usually the vanity of the inferior. Turning the conversation to the subject of the Confessional, he asserted Boldly; — “Monsieur le Cure, I don’t confess for the very reason that I never commit any sins.” The good Cure smiled, lifted his head a trifle, looked squarely into the eyes of the pretended sinless one, and said: “Monsieur, only two classes of persons do not sin; those who have not found their reason and those who have lost it.” TIME AND THE BOY. Warm little hand in my hand ! Music of pattering feet, Eyes that are clear as the day— Time of his march I would cheat. Warm little hand in my hand. Can we not bid him to stand ? * Warm little hand in my hand ! That were as foolish as fond, x Feet must be taught how to step, - Stepping to march tune. respond. Then, when aside I must stand, : Xi Dim-eyed I’ll open my hand. Now when alone you can stand, Walk with a firm boyish tread. Join in life’s march without fear ! God be your guide in my stead , But you and I must not part, Heart that once beat ’neath my heart ! A. M. Pike, in the Irish World. HOW IT HAPPENED. “Was I wounded?” exclaimed the exasperated Tommy in surprise. “No, mum, not at all. You see, there’s a careless chap in our company, and the night I got hurt he’d been eating oranges and throwing the peel all over the battlefield. So, of course, when I went to ask ’ Aig if the night was dark enough to have some fireworks, blow me if I didn’t slip on one of them . bits o’ peel and cut my finger on a salmon-tin.” ~ BUSINESS AS USUAL. A /North Country miller, noted for his keenness ii% financial matters, was in a boat trying his best to get across the stream which drove his mill. ; The stream' was flooded, and he was-taken past the point at which he wanted to land; .’while, farther

on, misfortune again overtook him, to the extent that the boat was upset. ■. :V? - , -p ; >| 4+ His wife, realising the danger he was in, ran frantically along the side of the stream, crying for help in a pitiful voice; when, to, her sheer amazement, she was suddenly brought to a' standstill by her husband yelling out:“If I’m drowned, Molly, don’t forget that flour’s gone up two shillin’ a sack! ” SERVICES RENDERED. He entered the station-master’s office in an I’ve-got-no-business-here sort of manner, and quietly asked the busy man if he could speak to the station-master. “I am he,” replied the official, without raising his eyes from the desk. “What do you want?” “One of your trains killed my dog a few days ago, and I thought I would step in and ” “Well, he had no business on our line. You should have kept him tied up.” “Yes, I know,” meekly responded the caller, “but I didn’t, and he got on the line and was killed, and I thought you ought to ” “But we won’t! We don’t pay for killing doss on this line !”■ . . “Who said anything about pay?” replied the exdog owner. “I’d been trying for a month to get someone to drown the brute, and as the railway has killed him for me I thought you ought to be paid for the job. Here’s five bob.” SMILE RAISERS. Schoolmaster: “Robert, here is an example in subtraction. Seven boys went down to the pond to bathe, but two of them had been told not to go into the water. Now, how many went in?” Robert; “Seven, sir.” “Tommy,” said the hostess, “you appear to be in deep thought.” “Yes’m,” replied Tommy “ma told me somethin’ to say if you should ask me to have some cake or anything, an’ I bin here so long now I forget what it was.” Phrenologist: “This large lump running across the back of your head shows that you are inclined to be curious to the point of recklessness.” Client: “You are right. I got that by sticking my head into a lift-shaft to see if the lift was coming up, and it was coming down. My curiosity was more than satisfied.” Last Christmas a vicar was invited to dinner at the house of one of the leading men in the town. At the dinner table he was placed opposite a goose. The lady of the house was seated on the vicar’s left. Seeing the goose, he remarked : “Shall I sit so close to the goose?” Finding his words a bit equivocal, he turned round to the lady and said, in a most inoffensive tone; “Excuse me, Mrs. Blank, I meant the roast one.”