The Family Circle

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LII, Issue 52, 30 December 1925, Page 61

The Family Circle

\DON'T MAKE THE WRINKLES DEEPER \ Is father's eyesight growing dim, 2> His form a. little lower? >%, Is mother's hair a little gray, Her steps a little slower? Is life's hill growing hard to climb? Make not their pathway steeper j Smooth out the furrows on their brows. Oh, do not make them deeper.There's nothing makes a face so young As joy, youth's fairest token; And nothing makes a face grow old ; Like hearts that have been broken. Take heed lest deeds thine own should make i ■ Thy mother he a weeper; :.. Stamp peace upon a father's brow, Don't make the wrinkles deeper. ;•'■;'• In doubtful pathways do not go, Be tempted not to wander; Grieve not the hearts that love you so, But make their love grow fonder. Much have thy parents borne for thee, ; \ . Be now their tender keeper; And let them lean upon thy love, "T-: Don't make the wrinkles deeper. -";;;'■••;;, Be lavish with the kindly deeds, / Be patient, true, and tender; - t - And make the path that ageward leads , Aglow with earthly splendor. Some day, the dear ones, stricken low, - Must yield to death the reaper; \. r k And you will then be glad to know You made no wrinkles deeper. '■-<■ r LITTLE KINDNESSES. '..;, Very small kindnesses help so much that it is a thousand pities that more of them are not shown in all our lives. Thousands of them are shown and they add a great deal _to the sum total of human helpfulness. But 'being kind is one of the beautiful things of th« world that everyone can cultivate. No ''■v-.-'rani gift of genius is needed to bring it to the highest degree of perfection. **' Often it reaches its most beautiful form of expression among the poor, a look, a word, " a touch, a little bit of human helpfulness V that has a fixed abiding place in the heart. . When we hear of a person who has "no ■.-'--"-'heart" we are hearing of one who is not "1 likely to be very kind to anyone or to any- !/" thing. Being kind includes in its highest L perfection' kindness to all living things, and f there are no class distinctions when it reaches out to people. \ RULES FOR THE BOOK-BUYER. |> 1. Do not buy a book simply because it appeals not buy a its captious title, or beappeals to you by its captious title, or be- | . cause of the praise of it contained in the ;; book-trader's announcement, or of the name fe;||*»f the notariety who writes the introduction c a commendatory letter. These are tokens |P >, often independent of the merit or value of 1' a book. • -2". Let not the price of a book be the determining factor in your purchase. A ;; book worth having is worth ten books that are merely cheap.

3. Buy books only which serve you for study or repeated reading. Casual reading can be done by borrowing books. 4. Before buying valuable books consult a friend who knows you. Excellent books are often useless to a reader not prepared to assimilate their value. 5. Be slow in accumulating a library for your personal use. Examine a book before making it your own. 6. Do not buy on general recommendations. Be sure you want a book before purchasing it. 7. Serial works offered on subscription plan are most often mere business enterprises. They have of course a useful aim. Wait until you see the whole work; then consult your own need, utility, and purse.— The Ecclesiastical Review. THE THREE WISE MEN. Three wise men, of those ancient days, who knew something of the disposition of the heavens, watched by many nights for the star which was to herald the coming of Him Who was born King of the Jews. They scanned the skies in the secret silence of the night, while Herod, the priests' and all the world slept. It is in watching and in still .less that we catch the primeval glimmer of interior light. The first impulses of grace may come to us without preparation on our par*-, but they cannot be perceived except we be on the alert and have composed ourselves by the habits of prayer and meditation. Moreover, the wise men went at once. This was necessary for as the star came into the system of a suddenness, so might it suddenly disappear. They therefore were not only watchers in the night but they were constant watchers. There are graces freely bestowed which must be jealously watched and used else they vanish as subtly as they appear. Mark, too, the sacrifice which was provoke! by the sincerity of their quest for Christ. 'The journey was circuitous and attended With all the fierce dangers which accompany the traveller in the Orient. Earnestness, therefore, was a quality characteristic of these three kingly philosophers. Imagination and sentiment may beguile us in the beginning of our conversion, but enduring sincerity ard zeal are quite other gifts.. Unforeseen dangers arise and the way towards the new-born King becomes not only monotonous, out hazardous. Special lights and directions are suddenly and mysteriously withdrawn and we travel by the sheer force of our abiding earnestness. ' Faith follows, in patience and assiduity, the early flicker of light in the darkness of the journey of life. Christ -is not merely the Life and the Light but He is the Way. We are the creatures of process. The possession of truth is seen at the end of the journey when the ruggedness of the road and the darkness of the night have vanished. Progress and ownership were inevitable: "And entering into the house they found the Child with Mary His Mother." So, too, must it be a'principle with all

seekers after truth—the habitual state of ■ internal vigilance, constancy, thoroughness, and endurance. In these are found the first fruits of adoption, redemption, and saiicti-0 fication: "But when the fullness of time was come, God sent His Son, made of a woman, made under the law that He might, redeem them who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." THE RICHER LIFE. He who consecrates himself to higher ideals than those of the world may be called a visionary by those who have never heard the voice that calls him or never seen the light that leads him on. Things of the spirit are immeasurably greater and more desirable than things of matter and sense. He who cultivates the nobler things of mind and heart is rich. Only the wicked and the ignorant are poor. . ; If you only knew it, your fortune is made now. The scholar hangs the walls of memory with the riches of the world, and this palimpsest gives hack its treasures without measure and without number. Whether a Greek slave like Epictetus, or on the throne of the Caesars like Marcus Aurelius, or in the cell of the recluse like the Angel of the Schools, the wise and holy alone are rich; and inalienably rich, because their riches are in themselves. Nor are they impoverished when they lavish all they have upon others. They give to others only to enrich themselves the more.

No artist ever put on canvas the wealth of imagery that flooded his own soul. No musician ever expressed all the enchanting harmony that ravished himself. The Bourdaloues and Massillon® conceived a wealth of meaning and strength of conviction which even their matchless oratory failed to awaken in others.

"So the wise and the holy who live for others conceive a joy and satisfaction which, with all their generosity, they cannot give away. Sacrifice is the fulness of life, arid they who give most receive most. He who gives nothing till he dies, gives nothing at all. - ; ©OSKMySMJ WISHING. Do you wish the world were better? Let me tell you what to do. Set a watch upon your actions, .''.': •Keep them always straight and true; Rid your mind of selfish motives, Let your thoughts be clean and high You can make a little Eden Of the sphere you occupy. \' Do you wish the world were wiser? Well, suppose you make a start By accumulating wisdom In the scrap-book of your heart. Do not waste one page in folly, - .y: Live to learn and learn to live; If you want to give men knowledge, - ; You must get it ere you give. Do you wish the world were happy? , Then remember day by day, ;q; Just to scatter seeds of kindness As you pass along the way. For the pleasures of the many •\°y* May be often traced to one, r , J As the hand that plants the acorn .-•: Shelters armies from the sun. -w: