The Family Circle

New Zealand Tablet, 10 March 1921, Page 45

The Family Circle

STAND BY AND BE READY.

When you heart is all gay, and all bright is your day, ... . » And rose-strewn the pathway before you; When your life is all spring, and the glad songbirds

smg, When ne'er one dark cloud settles o'er you; Then find some poor soul who is far from its goal, Though its strivings have been long and steady, And reach forth a hand, as you hear the command — Stand by at once and be ready.

When you never have need to be mournful indeed Over troubles and trials and sorrows ; When you rise from your bed and feel never a drgad That the days will mean darksome to-morrows; Then find some sad heart who has never a part In the smile of -Good Fortune, so steady; And do kind acts of cheer as the order you hear — Stand by at once and be ready.

When good health is your own, and you ne’er make a moan Over pains that make life all hard labor; When your work is sheer joy, as your time you employ With happy Content as your neighbor ; Just look once again for a sufferer in pain, Whose ill-luck has been long and steady; Help with heart, mind', and hand, as you hear the command— Stand by at once and be ready. THE JOY OF GIVING. The word “Charity” can cover a multitude of givings (says the Manchester Guardian). It may be one of those ceremonial affairs illustrated in Free Art Plates, where a lady trips through the snow of the village street carrying a basket with the,neck of a port-wine bottle peeping out, and a groom follows behind laden with bundles whose decorous brown paper presumably covers flannel petticoats and shirts. Or it may be a case of just slipping twopence into the mittened hand of some old gentleman who dangles bootlaces over the gutter. In either way it is charity, done at a small, cost to the giver and bringing him an immense reward of satisfaction and content. The groom probably hated carrying parcels in his off time , and with chilblains on his fingers; the donor of the twopence may have been hurrying for a train. But for both of them there would be a comfortable feeling of having passed on a little kindliness to a thin and meagre life. It is this comfortable feeling which proves over and over again that the blessing of giving is much more to the giver than to the recipient. No sum of money can buy nor the most , feather-stitched flannel petticoat create the pleasant glow that follows - any act of charity. It is, perhaps, the most satisfactory joy in life, this double-hearted joy of happiness that multiplies itself with every fragment given lss away. The widow who fed Elijah found that neither he nor her big hungry son could ever exhaust the little stock of food *that was miraculously restored, and in the .same way those who give in charity - find that the sheer joy of it wells up each time afresh. Part of the joy of giving comes from the neediness of the cause to which one gives. The*. groom would feel ill-rewarded for his cold and : uncomfortable pilgrimage if he had toy leave his bundles with people who had no , use for them. One wants to feel sure that one’s help has : gone to those who want it and who want just that kind of assistance that has 'been* gl T en It is indiscriminate? gifts of money; to-thirsty ne er-de-wells : and . bonnets- to bedridden- - old- ; ladies which have given a cynical twist to the pretty name of , charity. . r* . -Vi,

ORIGIN OF FAMILY NAMES. /; "Before the year one thousand there were no family names, such as Smithy Johnson, and the like,” ; says Clifford Howard in Hoys’u Life. "In those olden : times persons had only first names, and used only 5 one name apiece. We did this, ■ • for instance,. in the Bible | —Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Samuel, David, John, Peter, Paul, and all the other familiar ones. And the same thing is true of all the famous men of ancient history Alexander, §yrus, Hannibal, v Socrates, Homer, Nero, etc. Some of them had*, two names, and sometimes three, as Mark Antony, Julius Caesar, Pontius Pilate; and there were others who had titles attached to their names, as William the Conqueror, Richard the Lion-Hearted, Alfred the Great, etc., in order to distinguish them from others of the same names; but these were not family names. In time, however, there were so many Johns and Richards and Henrys that there was no way of telling them apart, except to say John the son of John, Richard the son of William, and so on; and by and by thesp were shortened to • John, John’s son,’ and Richard, William’s son,’ which afterwards became shortened to the still simpler forms of John Johnson and Richard Williamson, and thereafter all the descendants of those particular families were known as Johnson and Williamson. And in the same way we got our family names of Jackson, Richardson, Jacobson, Allison (Allenson), Jackson, Robson, and a good many others of that kind. * “We see, therefore, that certain of our family names come really from first names by simply adding the word son ; and there are others which have come by merely adding the letter ‘ s,’ as, for instance, Richards, Matthews, Edwards, Daniels, and the like. And our old familiar friend Jones belongs to this class, for it really is intended to bo Johns, but long ago somebody spelt it wrong, and ever since it has been Jones.” O ERIN MINE ! - O Eiin Mine! dear Land of Song and Story, Though far from thee, yet ever do I sigh To see again the sun in golden glory 'Shfjne down from heav’n to dry thy tear-dim’d eve. But though the waiting hour be sad and weary And those around thee mock- in accents vile, Yet there will rise a star to guide and cheer thee, O my beloved! My own dear Em’rald Isle ! eaqh long day I hear from o’er the ocean Thy voice like fairy music sounding near, ... And with an exile’s tenderest devotion A prayer I breathe while falls the silent tear. '* God speed the day when Freedom’s air a-blowing, , Th Y sweet face radiant with a happy smile, 1 11 glad return to see the sunburst glowing O’er my beloved! My own dear Em’rald Isle! —J. F. Corleys. CONCERNED ABOUT IT. A woman bargained with a cabman at a station to take her into the town with her parrots and cats a dog, the boxes, and the baskets. . ; .’ 5 . Cabman : “Beggin’ your pardon, ma’am, but you am t expecting a flood, I ’ope?” ■ "Dear me, no; whatever made you ask that?” ■ .‘I " thought I’d ask,” said Jehu, "’cos I ain’t certain as , ow my horse can swim, and I fancied that you were a-takin’ my keb for a Noah’s Ark!” GOOD STUFF. / v . ..• 'Yes, , madam,” said the cement-seller, holding up a plate whose fragments had been glued together you will observe that Stickum’s Patent Family Cbm! tort Cement holds . anything firmly and everlastingly. ;V® ft P. 6 for instance, I now suspend by ~ a wire a 251 b ; weight, and the cement holds firm. I increase the weight to 301 b, and^^^sW;. .■ .■ HereHhe plqte Broke along the • cracked line: And yoh will observe, madam, • that the plate breaks with ease, thus giving an opportunity to cement

the edges more, firmly, whenever-, it is desirable to do so.” ‘ l ' - : - ‘ I ’•-i v | CATCHING THE COLONEL. The officer commanding a Territorial regiment met one of his lieutenants -on the rifle-range. 1 The! lieutenant was shooting, and he “called” each shot as he fired, without waiting for the markers to signal the result. “You’re a pretty good guesser,” said the colonel,. “Why don’t you admit you’re guessing where those shots land?” ' “I’ll bet you a box of cigars,” said the junior officer, “that I can call 20 shots correctly in succession.”

"Taken," said the older warrior. The lieutenant fired.

"Miss," he announced/and a red flag from the target told that this was correct.

Another shot.

"Miss," he declared. A , third shot.

"Miss again," he said. Fourth shot.

"Fourth miss," announced the young officer. Another shot.

"Miss," again sang out the lieutenant. "Hold on, there," put in the colonel; "what are you trying to do ? I thought you were going to fire at the target." "I am trying to win my box of cigars," said the lieutenant.

"Don't fire any more," said the colonel, "they're yours."

SMILE RAISERS.

Borleigh: "Some men, you know, are born great, some achieve greatness —— Miss Keen: "Exactly! And some just grate upon you."

"What good deed did you perform to-day?" asked a lady of a smart little Boy Scout. The young hero replied, "Mother had only enough castor-oil for one dose, so I let my sister. it."

"Now look pleasant and natural," urged the pho-

tographer.

"Can't be done," murmured the sitter's wife, who accompanied him." If he looked pleasant he wouldn't be natural."

"Then you don't think I practise what I preach, eh?" queried the minister. "No, sir, I don't," replied the deacon. "You've been preachin' on the subject of resignation for two years, an' ye haven't resigned yet."

Major (to man who has not saluted): "Now then, my man, what do you generally do when you see an officer?"

Private: "Well, I generally hop it quick. But I didn't see you a-comin'!"

"My, husband is .such a handy man, you know. He can bang nails into wood like lightning." "How splendid , ; -; ■ "Yes, lightning seldom strikes in the same place twice." ~,-.. ■.-.' .;....*;•> .-•■

"Take it away! Take it away!", said the editor, handing the amateur poet's poem back to him. "What's the matter? Why .are you so •disturbed?" ' '.,!.''■, >,.-'■ '■ '

"Take it away ! Your metre is so leaky that I'm afraid to tackle it without a gas mask."