The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Pansy, May 1886, by "Pansy" (Isabella Alden).

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"DILIGENT IN BUSINESS."

If his mother asked him to do anything, he always replied, "I will in a minute." He said this so often that I wonder he was not called "in a minute" by everybody. It would have been a very appropriate name.

Howard had the charge of the hens, at least that was the way they put it, but I think that Mrs. Grinnell was the one upon whom the burden rested. Every morning after breakfast she found it necessary to ask,

"No, I will not forget, I am going in a minute; I just want to look at the weather report."

Half an hour later Howard appears from the direction of the east meadow with his hands full of meadow lilies which he presents to his mother, saying:

"The very first! Put them in the antique vase, please. And set it under the mantle, will you, mamma?"

"Thank you, dear, they are beautiful! I will arrange them at once." Then as she turned away, "The hens?"

"Seems to me," said Mr. Grinnell one morning, "that you have carried that on your shoulders about long enough. Howard should attend to his business without prompting. It did very well at first, but the time has come when he must be held responsible for the prompt discharge of the duty, else take away the privilege. Howard!"

"After this you are not to be reminded of your work, and if the hens are not cared for before breakfast, I will do it myself, and you will not have any benefit from the eggs, either in money or as food; it will be some little extra trouble for your mother, but you will be provided with food prepared without eggs unless you are faithful to your trust."

"Yes, sir." And Howard went on his way. I do not think he made any resolutions; he thought it would be easy enough to attend to the duty as required, and gave himself up to the examination of a weed which had sprung up in the yard and which was a new one to him. The next morning he remembered the hens, but the second morning though remembering he thought of something he wished to hunt up in the cyclopædia, and stopped in the library until the breakfast bell rang.

For breakfast there was ham and eggs, and corn muffins. Howard was a little surprised when his father passed him a plate with only a potato on it. He was about to remonstrate, when he caught the significant look on his mother's face, and remembered the compact. He wisely made the best of it and decided that he would try a bowl of bread and milk.

After breakfast Mr. Grinnell fed the hens, and at night he brought in the eggs, saying to his wife:

"I would like some boiled eggs for supper; as Bridget is away, we can get along very well with bread and butter and eggs. Didn't I see you making a sponge cake this morning?"

"It is rather hard on the boy when he is so fond of eggs, but it is quite time he had a lesson. His dilatory habits will be a hindrance to his success as long as he lives unless he is cured."

Now, privately, I do not believe that Mr. or Mrs. Grinnell enjoyed their supper of boiled eggs and sponge cake. I know the mother would much rather have eaten dry bread and given the boy her supper, but she and her husband chatted over the meal as if everything were quite as usual. Howard ate his bread and butter, missing the canned fruit which Mrs. Grinnell remarked she thought they could do without as they had the extra indulgence of boiled eggs. Now I do not suppose any of you boys are surprised to hear that Howard, after asking to be excused some time before his father and mother were through with their supper, banged the door slightly as he left the room.

However, the next morning the hens received attention at the proper time. And so far as that [203] one duty was concerned he did not need another lesson, but he was not yet made over into the prompt boy which his father desired him to be. That woodbox! O, boys! Do you shrug your shoulders and say, "I don't blame him?" The woodbox is a dread to boys, I well know. Howard Grinnell did not particularly dislike the work of filling the box, but he was never quite ready to do it. He was always putting it off until he had finished reading the morning paper, or been the rounds of the garden and meadows to see if there were any new flowers out or any new birds' nests, and at length the school bell would ring and he would go off to school having forgotten that there was such a thing in the wide world as a woodbox. One morning Mrs. Grinnell said, "Howard, Bridget will need a box full of wood to-day; she has a large ironing."

"Yes, ma'am," said Howard dreamily from the depths of an arm-chair where he had established himself with a new orchid and a botany. Mrs. Grinnell was busy, and gave the matter no farther attention until two hours later Bridget announced that the wood was out.

"Dear me!" said Mrs. Grinnell, "that boy went off without filling the box, after all!" After a moment's thought she said: "Well, Bridget, Howard cannot expect his clothes to be ironed with cold irons. You may hang all his things upon the bars without ironing, and he will have to wear them so. Perhaps you and I can get wood enough for the rest."

Bridget thought it a good joke to play upon Master Howard, and her good nature returned in view of the sport she would have at the boy's expense.

You may imagine that Howard did not enjoy wearing his rough-dried garments, but he was forced to do so. And as he was a somewhat fastidious boy, it was quite a trial to go to school in that plight.

It was by such lessons as this that Mr. and Mrs. Grinnell sought to cure Howard of his fault; and one day when Mrs. Grinnell was looking over same mottoes, she discovered one handsomely illuminated which struck her as being just the one for her son's room. It was this:

HOW IT BECAME POSSIBLE.

And to this Mrs. Frazee had made answer, "It is impossible!" and indeed it did seem impossible. Where was the money to come from for a journey?

Annie Frazee had been ill all winter; first it was the measles, then later the whooping-cough. How that cough did hang on! Day after day the child seemed to grow weaker, though they kept hoping for improvement. They were too poor to have constant medical attendance, but a kind-hearted physician who had been consulted when the cough had proved too obstinate to yield to the mother's nursing, had fallen into the habit of dropping in for a moment whenever he was in the neighborhood. It was one of those bright mornings of early spring. Doctor Emmons had been called to prescribe for Mrs. Murphy's baby. Mrs. Murphy lived away up at the top of the tall tenement house of which the Frazees occupied two rooms on the second floor. The doctor stopped for a few moments on his way down, and his quick professional eye noted immediately the change in Annie since his last call, and he made the plain statement which so distressed the poor mother.

"If it could be," she said over and over when Doctor Emmons had gone on his busy way, "but it is impossible!"

Suddenly as she was going sadly about taking up the work she must do, and repeating the sorrowful sentence, "It is impossible!" she seemed to hear a voice saying, "The things which are impossible with men, are possible with God."

The voice seemed far away, and though Mrs. Frazee was startled she soon realized that it was a memory of words she had read long ago, and as she reflected she knew that they were the words of Christ himself.

Away back in her girlhood Mrs. Frazee had professed to be a follower of Jesus. The good seed sown in her heart in the Sunday-school seemed to promise to bring forth fruit; but presently the pleasures of life, and afterwards the cares, crowded in upon her Christian life, until it seemed to have withered away. Dropping Christian duties one by one, putting away the privileges of a servant of God, she had for a long time been living away from Christ, struggling under her sorrows without aid from above. And that morning along with the memory of the words, "With God all things are possible," came the thought, "But this is not for me! I cannot claim anything from God; I have so long wandered from Christ, so long denied my Master that I have no right to come in his name asking for help!" Then after a little while thoughts of the prodigal came to her, and then by and by, stepping softly so as not to disturb Annie who had fallen into a light sleep, and saying in a whisper so faint that only the ear of the Infinite could hear, "I will arise and go to my Father," she passed into the other room, and, closing the door, knelt down alone with God to confess her sin and to plead for forgiveness. When did Christ ever turn away from a weary, burdened and repentant soul?

When Mrs. Frazee came back to the room where Annie was still sleeping, and looked into the pale face, she murmured, "If it be thy will, dear Father, spare my child." The possibility of bringing about a removal of her darling into the country seemed as remote as ever. Yet now and then there came the thought, "With God all things are possible!"

In a pleasant home in the upper part of the city a cheerful group sat at breakfast.

"If I go home with uncle Ben, I have ever so much to do to-day," said Ethel Miller, a bright young girl of fifteen.

"You girls always have so much to do," replied her brother John, two years younger. "I could get ready to go into the country for a few days in five minutes, but I suppose you will have to spend half a day deciding what to take, and the other half in packing two or three trunks!" he added with a smile.

"You are quite mistaken; I am not going to take even one trunk. But I have some calls to make."

"Calls!" said uncle Ben, arching his eyebrows. "I supposed that as you were a schoolgirl yet, you were exempt from that form of fashionable nonsense."

"Oh! I do not mean fashionable calls," replied Ethel; "but you see I am on the lookout [205] committee, and Mr. Myers told me yesterday that the Frazee girl who has been sick all winter seems to be failing, and I ought to go there before I go away. And there are one or two more on my list who live down that way, so I may as well call on them all while I am about it."

"What will you do this morning, Benjamin?" asked Mr. William Miller, Ethel's father.

"If Ethel will take me along, I think I will go with her, and on the way back I will drop in at the store and go to lunch with you. And this afternoon I propose to give myself over to John."

This arrangement gave general satisfaction, only Mrs. Miller suggested that she, being left out of the plans, should claim the evening for herself.

Several things happened to delay Ethel and uncle Ben, so that it was quite a little after noon when they reached the home of the Frazees. Ethel in her new spring suit, with her dainty ways and bright face, was a pleasant sight to the invalid, and uncle Ben seemed to Mrs. Frazee to bring in a whiff of that country air which she had been longing for.

It all came about naturally enough. Ethel's inquiries brought out the information that Annie was not gaining and that the doctor had recommended country air. And Mrs. Frazee said, "We have not had time to plan yet, but I hope a way will be opened for her to go, though it seems just now to be impossible."

Uncle Ben listened, meantime taking in the barenness of the room as to its furnishings. Presently he asked a few questions, not in any sense obtrusive, but such as a sympathetic stranger might ask if he knew how, and uncle Ben did know how. Then he said, turning to Ethel: "Suppose we take your friend here home with us? There's room enough out there, and your aunt would not let her want for care."

Ethel's eyes beamed. "That would be just the thing! May we take her, Mrs. Frazee?" Then Ethel explained that uncle Ben lived about forty miles away in the country, that she was going home with him for a week, and that Annie would be a very welcome guest if she could go.

"You see," said Mr. Benjamin Miller, "if it agrees with her out there she can stay on after Ethel comes back to school; Ethel being with her for the first few days will help her to get used to the place."

Mrs. Frazee was too much overcome to express her joy at this unexpected turn of affairs. She tried to say it was too much, that they were strangers to him, and could not expect such kindness; but uncle Ben said:

"It's all right! This seems to be the next bit of work that the Lord has set for me to do, and it is not an unpleasant task, I'm thinking. Someway he gives me pleasant things to do, mostly!"

So it was settled, and a week later Mrs. Frazee's heart was cheered by a letter from Annie herself. She wrote:

Mrs. Frazee dropped the letter in her lap, and clasping her hands said, "My God, I thank thee!" Presently Doctor Emmons tapped at the door, and entering, looked about in surprise.

"O doctor! didn't you know? She has gone into the country and I have a letter here from her. She is getting well!"

"Of course she is! But how did it happen?" And then Mrs. Frazee had to tell the story to the wondering doctor. As she ended she added, "And I have found out that 'all things are possible with God.'"

SIX O'CLOCK IN THE EVENING.

"Yes," she said, "I know a story about that last one. It happened a great many years ago, as the most of my stories do. Are you all ready?"

The hassock and chairs were by this time fixed in their accustomed places, and the silence kept by all the children showed that they were ready for the story, without Harold's announcement to that effect. So Grandma began:

"It was one day in November, just before Thanksgiving, when I was about twelve years old, that my brother Fred and I received a note from a lady who lived out in the country a mile or two, which said that she wanted us to come and spend Thanksgiving with her. We were both very fond of Mrs. Watson, and were delighted when father said we might go.

"So that afternoon he harnessed Old Gray to the sleigh, and took us around to Mrs. Watson's. It was quite cold, I remember, and father said he guessed there would be a big snowstorm in the night. The house we were going to was a little low one, that was old-fashioned even then, and with only one story.

"Mrs. Watson came to the gate to meet us, and showed us into her warm kitchen, while father said good-by, and hurried home. We had some nice fresh milk and bread for supper, and went to bed early. I was very tired, and didn't waken till I heard the big clock strike six, so I hurried up, and dressed very fast, all the time wondering what made the room so dark. I couldn't see out of doors, because of the curtain at the little window.

"When I came into the other room, I saw my brother up on a chair at the window, looking over what seemed to be a white sheet tacked to it, and Mrs. Watson watching him. 'You can't see anything but snow,' he said presently, 'for the little hill hides the road.' 'Why, what is the matter?' I asked, surprising them so that Fred nearly fell off his chair. And how frightened I was when I found the snow had drifted against the house, so that we could neither see out of the windows, nor get out of the door!

"I know, dear," said Grandma Burton, "but where I lived when I was a little girl was much farther North than we are now, you know, and I remember that in the winters we often used to go out sleighriding, and ride over the tops of the fences, not being able to see them at all."

"Well, we tried to make a way through the drift, but didn't succeed. My brother said he thought he could shovel a path, but Mrs. Watson told him she had lent her big shovel to Mr. Smith the day before, while his was getting mended, and had only a little one for the fire. So all there was to do was to get breakfast, and wait for some one to come and dig as out of the drift, or rather, dig the drift away from us.

"We did pretty well for breakfast, only we hadn't any bread. 'I was out of flour,' said Mrs. Watson, 'before I knew it, and Mr. Jones was to bring me another barrel this morning, but I don't suppose he will come, now that there is so much snow.' The turkey was there in the pantry, so were the cranberries; Mrs. Watson let Fred and me help cook them for dinner, and we tried to make the best of our condition, and think as little as possible of the great wall of snow outside the house. But it was hard work; every little while the tears would come into my eyes, to think of my dear father and mother at home, not knowing how we were snowed up in the little red farmhouse.

"A little while after breakfast we all sat down to have family worship, and Mrs. Watson, taking down her big old Bible, read part of the sixth chapter of John. I remember it now, just as well as I did years ago, how she read about Jesus' feeding that great multitude, when they [207] had nothing to eat. And then how he told his disciples afterward what was the best bread to have, and said, 'I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.'

"'Children,' said Mrs. Watson, when she had finished reading, 'Jesus can give us the bread we eat, and the bread of life, just as well now as he could then. Let us ask him for the two kinds.' And then we knelt down, and she prayed very earnestly that God would not only give us the bread that we needed then to eat, but would also give us the blessed bread of life. And I am sure Fred and I prayed too.

"The dinner was a pretty good one, with the turkey and all, but we missed the bread again. It is wonderful how much you do need that, no matter what else you have. I had often thought, before that Thanksgiving, that I could get along just as well without bread as with it, if I had plenty of other things, but I saw, in just that one day, how necessary it was.

"We had a pretty lonely afternoon. Nearly always, when we went to see Mrs. Watson, we had a very good time, but with that great wall of snow outside the house, and the weather growing colder and colder, so that it couldn't melt, it was impossible to be very happy, no matter how much we tried. It seemed awful to go to bed feeling so badly, though I knew that father would be after us in the morning. Every little while, all the afternoon, I would flatten my nose against the window, and after looking at the snow a minute, I would shut my eyes tight, and pray to God that he would have somebody come and help us soon. And I really thought he would answer.

"When supper time came, and the clock struck six, we were all real glad, I guess, for we hadn't eaten so very much for dinner, and were pretty hungry; besides, supper would give us something to do. But there wasn't much of it—no bread, and no milk—only a little cold turkey for each of us, for the coal was all gone, and we couldn't cook anything. The room was growing cold. I put mother's shawl around me, and Fred put on his overcoat, while Mrs. Watson got her shawl too. We had to light a candle long before supper time, it got dark so early, when only a little bit of light could come in at the windows.

"So there we sat, in the cold kitchen. Once or twice Mrs. Watson suggested that my brother and I should go to bed, but he was sure he didn't want to—neither did I. So she got out an old game of checkers, and we played awhile, till we grew sleepy in spite of ourselves, and I dropped off into dreamland with my head on Mrs. Watson's lap, and Fred with his on the table. I didn't waken till the clock struck ten, and then I sat up and looked about me in surprise. I could hardly remember where I was, when suddenly I heard a dull thud, which made all of us jump.

"We opened the front door wide. Just as we did so, a great mass of snow came into our faces, soon a snow-shovel appeared, and next—the face of my father! O, how glad we were! He stepped into the room, and threw his arms about Fred and me, covering us with a coating of snow. Two or three more men came in then, one of them with a basket which had been sent by my mother, and as Mrs. Watson took off the cover, I spied a huge piece of bread and butter, and contented myself with that. You can't think how good it was to have some bread again! It seemed a year since I had had any!

"That's about all there is to tell, except that in the morning father drove Fred and me home in the sleigh, just as we had come. The reason the verse made me think of that Thanksgiving was that I had never before realized how valuable and necessary bread was, and why Jesus called himself 'the bread of life.'

"My brother told me, a great many years later, that he believed that day was the first time he ever really made up his mind to come to the 'Bread of life,' and never hunger again."

"They didn't know Mrs. Watson's house was snowed up so. It was out in the country, you know, and the snow hadn't drifted so badly in the town. But they missed us from meeting in the morning, and in the afternoon a man came into town, and told them he had seen the house with the wall of snow all around it. So they got their shovels, and came right out to help us."

"But God was taking care of us, dearie," said Grandma, "and he heard and answered our prayers."

REACHING OUT.

CHAPTER VII.

"But how could that be done?" Nettie said in wondering tones, which nevertheless had a note of admiration in them. Jerry went so deeply into things, it almost took her breath away to follow him.

"Just so; that's the problem which ought to be thought out. I can think of things enough; but the room, and the tools to begin with, are the trouble."

"O my!" said Jerry, with a little laugh; "don't ask me that question, or your folks will have no apple dumplings to-day. I don't believe there is any end to the things which I would do if I could. But the first beginnings of them are like this: suppose we had a few dollars capital, and a room."

"You might as well suppose we had a palace, and a million dollars," said Nettie, with a long-drawn sigh.

"No, because I don't expect either of those things; but I do mean to have a room and a few dollars in capital for this thing some day; only, you see, I don't want to wait for them."

"Why, then we would start an eating-house, you and I, on a little bit of a scale, you know. We would have bread with some kind of meat between, and coffee, in cold weather, and lemonade in hot, and a few apples, and now and then some nuts, and a good deal of gingerbread—soft, like what auntie Smith makes—and some ginger-snaps like those Mrs. Dix sent us from the country, and, well, you know the names of things better than I do. Real good things, I mean, but which don't cost much. Such as you, and Sarah Ann, and a good many bright girls learn how to make, without using a great deal of money. Those things are all rather cheap, which I have mentioned, because we have them at our house quite often, and the Smiths are poor, you know. But they are made so nice that they are just capital. Well, I would have them for sale, just as cheap as could possibly be afforded; a great deal cheaper than beer, or cigars, and I would have the room bright and cheery; warm in winter, and as cool as I could make it in summer; then I would have slips of paper scattered about the town, inviting young folks to come in and get a lunch; then when they came, I would have picture papers if I could, for them to look at, and games to play, real nice jolly games, and some kind of music going on now and then. I'd run opposition to that old grocery around the corner from Crossman's, with its fiddle and its whiskey. That's the beginning of what I would do. Just what I told you about, that first night we talked it over. The fellows, lots of them, have nowhere to go; it keeps growing in my mind, the need for doing something of the sort. I never pass that mean grocery without thinking of it."

You should have seen Nettie's eyes! The little touch of discouragement was gone out of them, and they were full of intense thought.

"I can see," she said at last, "just how splendid it might grow to be. But what did you mean about Norm? there isn't any work for him in such a plan. At least, I mean, not until he was interested to help for the sake of others."

"Yes, there is, plenty of business for him. Don't you see? I would have this room open evenings, after the work was done, and I would have Norm head manager. He should wait on customers, and keep accounts. When the thing got going he would be as busy as a bee; and he is just the sort of fellow to do that kind [211] of thing well, and like it too," he added.

"O Jerry," said Nettie, and her hands were clasped so closely that the blood flowed back into her wrists, "was there ever a nicer thought than that in the world! I know it would succeed; and Norm would like it so much. Norm likes to do things for others, if he only had the chance."

"I know it; and he likes to do things in a business way, and keep everything straight. Oh! he would be just the one. If we only had a room, there is nothing to hinder our beginning in a very small way. Those chickens are growing as fast as they can, and by Thanksgiving there will be a couple of them ready to broil; then the little old grandmothers did so well."

"I know it; who would have supposed that almost four dollars could be made out of some daisy grandmothers! Miss Sherrill gave me one dollar and ninety-five cents which she said was just half of what they had earned. I do think it was so nice in her to give us that chance! She couldn't have known how much we wanted the money. Jerry, why couldn't we begin, just with that? It would start us, and then if the things sold, why, the money from them would keep us started until we found a way to earn more. Why can't we?"

"Room," said Jerry, with commendable brevity. "Why, we have a room; there's the front one that we just put in such nice order. Why not? It is large enough for now, and maybe when our business grew we could get another one somehow."

Jerry stopped fitting the toe of his boot to a hole which he had made in the ground, and looked at the eager young woman of business before him. "Do you mean your mother would let us have the room, and the chance in the kitchen, to go into such business?"

"Mother would do anything ," said Nettie emphatically, "anything in the world which might possibly keep Norm in the house evenings; you don't know how dreadfully she feels about Norm. She thinks father," and there Nettie stopped. How could a daughter put it into words that her mother was afraid her father would lead his son astray?

"I know," said Jerry. "See here, Nettie, what is the matter with your father? I never saw him look so still, and—well, queer, in some way. Mr. Smith says he doesn't think he is drinking a drop; but he looks unlike himself, somehow, and I can't decide how."

"I don't know," said Nettie, in a low voice. "We don't know what to think of him. He hasn't been so long without drinking, mother says, in four years. But he doesn't act right; or, I mean, natural. He isn't cross, as drinking beer makes him, but he isn't pleasant, as he was for a day or two. He is real sober; hardly speaks at all, nor notices the things I make; and I try just as hard to please him! He eats everything, but he does it as though he didn't know he was eating. Mother thinks he is in some trouble, but she can't tell what. He can't be afraid of losing his place—because mother says he was threatened that two or three times when he was drinking so hard, and he didn't seem to mind it at all; and why should he be discharged now, when he works hard every day? Last Saturday night he brought home more money than he has in years. Mother cried when she saw what there was, but she had debts to pay, so we didn't get much start out of it after all. Then we spend a good deal in coffee; we have it three times a day, hot and strong; I can see father seems to need it; and I have heard that it helped men who were trying not to drink. When I told mother that, she said he should have it if she had to beg for it on her knees. But I don't know what is the matter with father now. Sometimes mother is afraid there is a disease coming on him such as men have who drink; she says he doesn't sleep very well nights, and he groans some, when he is asleep. Mother tries hard," said Nettie, in a closing burst of confidence, "and she does have such a hard time! If we could only save Norm for her."

"I'll tell you who your mother looks like, or would look like if she were dressed up, you know. Did you ever see Mrs. Burt?"

"The woman who lives in the cottage where the vines climb all around the front, and who has birds, and a baby? I saw her yesterday. You don't think mother looks like her!"

"She would," said Jerry, positively, "if she had on a pink and white dress and a white fold about her neck. I passed there last night, while Mrs. Burt was sitting out by that window [212] garden of hers, with her baby in her arms; Mr. Burt sat on one of the steps, and they were talking and laughing together. I could not help noticing how much like your mother she looked when she turned her side face. Oh! she is younger, of course; she looks almost as though she might be your mother's daughter. I was thinking what fun it would be if she were, and we could go and visit her, and get her to help us about all sorts of things. Mr. Burt knows how to do every kind of work about building a house, or fixing up a room."

"Why, yes, nice enough; he is steady and works hard. Mr. Smith thinks he is quite a pattern; he has bought that little house where he lives, and fixed it all up with vines and things; but I should like him better if he didn't puff tobacco smoke into his wife's face when he talked with her. He doesn't begin to be so good a workman as your father, nor to know so much in a hundred ways. I think your father is a very nice-looking man when he is dressed up. He looks smart, and he is smart. Mr. Smith says there [213] isn't a man in town who can do the sort of work that he can at the shop, and that he could get very high wages and be promoted and all that, if"—

Jerry stopped suddenly, and Nettie finished the sentence with a sigh. She too had passed the Burt cottage and admired its beauty and neatness. To think that Mr. Burt owned it, and was a younger man by fifteen years at least than her father—and was not so good a workman! then see how well he dressed his wife; and little Bobby Burt looked as neat and pretty in Sunday-school as the best of them. It was very hard that there must be such a difference in homes. If she could only live in a house like the Burt cottage, and have things nice about her as they did, and have her father and mother sit together and talk, as Mr. and Mrs. Burt did, she should be perfectly happy, Nettie told herself. Then she sprang up from the log and declared that she must not waste another minute of time; but that Jerry's plan was the best one she had ever heard, and she believed they could begin it.

With this thought still in mind, after the dinner dishes were carefully cleared away, and her mother, returned from the day's ironing, had been treated to a piece of the apple dumpling warmed over for her, and had said it was as nice a bit as she ever tasted, Nettie began on the subject which had been in her thoughts all day:

"Yes'm. Jerry and Norm and me. Jerry has a plan; he has been telling me about it this morning. It is nice if we can only carry it out; and I shouldn't wonder if we could. That is, if you think well of it."

"I begin to think there isn't much that you and Jerry can't do, with Norm, or with anybody else, if you try; and you both appear to be ready to try to do all you can for everybody."

Mrs. Decker's tone was so hearty and pleased, that you would not have known her for the same woman who looked forward dismally but a few weeks ago to Nettie's home-coming. Her heart had so warmed to the girl in her efforts for father and brother, that she was almost ready to agree to anything which she could have to propose. So Nettie, well pleased with this beginning, unfolded with great clearness and detail, Jerry's wonderful plan for not only catching Norm, but setting him up in business.

Mrs. Decker listened, and questioned and cross-questioned, sewing swiftly the while on Norm's jacket which had been torn, and which was being skilfully darned in view of the evening to be spent at the parsonage.

"Well," she said at last, "it looks wild to me, I own; I should as soon try to fly, as of making anything like that work in this town; but then, you've made things work, you two, that I'd no notion could be done, and between you, you seem to kind of bewitch Norm. He's done things for you that I would no sooner have thought of asking of him than I would have asked him to fly up to the moon; and this may be another of them. Anyhow, if you've a mind to try it, I won't be the one to stop you. I've been that scared for Norm, that I'm ready for anything. Oh! the room , of course you may use it. If you wanted to have a circus in there, I think I'd agree, wild animals and all; I've had worse than wild animals in my day. No, your father won't object; he thinks what you do is about right, I guess. And for the matter of that, he doesn't object to anything nowadays; I don't know what to make of him."

Just what this strange change in her husband meant, Mrs. Decker could not decide; and each theory which she started in her mind about it, looked worse than the last.

Norm's collar was ready for him, so was his jacket. He was somewhat surly; the truth was, he had received what he called a "bid" to the merry-making which was to take place in the back room of the grocery, around the corner from Crossman's, and he was a good deal tried to think he had cut himself off by what he called a "spooney" promise, from enjoying the evening there. At the same time there was a certain sense of largeness in saying he could not come because he had received an invitation elsewhere, which gave him a momentary pleasure. To be sure the boys coaxed until they had discovered the place of his engagement, and joked him the rest of the time, until he was half-inclined [214] to wish he had never heard of the parsonage; but for all that, a certain something in Norman which marked him as different from some boys, held him to his word when it was passed; and he had no thought of breaking from his engagement. It was an evening such as Norman had reason to remember. For the first time in his life he sat in a pleasantly furnished home, among ladies and gentlemen, and heard himself spoken to as one who "belonged."

Three ladies were there from the city, and two gentlemen whom Norman had never seen before; all friends of the Sherrills come out to spend a day with them. They were not only unlike any people whom he had ever seen before, but, if he had known it, unlike a great many ladies and gentlemen, in that their chief aim in life was to be found in their Master's service; and a boy about whom they knew nothing, save that he was poor, and surrounded by temptations, and Satan desired to have him, was in their eyes so much stray material which they were bound to bring back to the rightful owner if they could.

To this end they talked to Norman. Not in the form of a lecture, but with bright, winning words, on topics which he could understand, not only, but actually on certain topics about which he knew more than they! For instance, there was a cave about two miles from the town, of which they had heard, but had never seen; and Norm had explored every crevice in it many a time. He knew on which side of the river it was located, whether the entrance was from the east or the south; just how far one could walk through it, just how far one could creep in it, after walking had become impossible, and a dozen other things which it had not occurred to him were of interest to anybody else. In fact, Norm discovered in the course of the hour that there was such a thing as conversation. Not that he made use of that word, in thinking it over; his thoughts, if they could have been seen, would have been something like this: "These are swell folks, but I can understand what they say, and they seem to understand what I say, and don't stare as though I was a wild animal escaped from the woods. I wonder what makes the difference between them and other folks?"

But when the music began! I have no words to describe to you what it was to Norm to sit close to an organ and hear its softest notes, and feel the thrill of its heavy bass tones, and be appealed to occasionally as to whether he liked this or that the best, and to have a piece sung because the player thought it would please him; she selected it that morning, she told him, with this thought in view.

"Decker, you ought to learn to play," said one of the guests who had watched him through the last piece. "You look music, right out of your eyes. Miss Sherrill, here is a pupil for you who might do you credit. Have you ever had any instrument, Decker?"

Then Norm came back to every-day life, and flushed and stammered. "No, he hadn't, and was not likely to;" and wondered what they would think if they were to see the corner grocery where he spent most of his leisure time.

The questioner laughed pleasantly. "Oh, I'm not so sure of that. I have a friend who plays the violin in a way to bring tears to people's eyes, and he never touched one until he was thirty years old; hadn't time until then. He was an apprentice, and had his trade to master, and himself to get well started in it before he had time for music; but when he came to leisure, he made music a delight to himself and to others."

"A great deal can be done with leisure time," said another of the guests. "Mr. Sherrill, you remember Myers, your college classmate? He did not learn to read, you know, until he was seventeen."

"No," repeated the gentleman, "not until he was seventeen. He had a hard childhood—was kicked about in the world, with no leisure and no help, had to work evenings as well as days, but when he was seventeen he fell into kinder hands, and had a couple of hours each evening all to himself, and he mastered reading, not only, but all the common studies, and graduated from college with honor when he was twenty-six."

Now Norm had all his evenings to lounge about in, and had not known what to do with them; and he could read quite well.

THE TWO LITTLE PIGS.

They did not walk aimlessly, but as if they had some special object in view, and some definite destination. I wondered what they would do when they reached the water. I was not long in being answered. Without a moment's hesitation, they plunged into the waves, side by side, and swam out and away toward another island, six miles distant. I stood and watched them until their two little heads looked like balls bobbing up and down, side by side all the time.

When I related the incident to the landlord, a little later, he looked astonished and annoyed.

"Those pigs," he said, "were to have been served up for dinner to-day. They were brought here this morning in a boat from that island, six miles away, and we thought we might allow them their freedom for the short time they had to live, never thinking of their making an attempt to return home. And did you notice," he continued, "they chose the point of land nearest the island where they came from, to enter the water? Singular, the little animals should have been so bright? And, furthermore, they weren't landed there; that makes it more strange."

I, too, left the island that day, and I have never heard whether those brave little pigs ever reached their destination or not.— Harper's Young People.

DECORATION DAY.

YES, little daughter, we go again,
One glad bright hour in May,
To cover with bloom the quiet graves
Where sleep the "Blue and Gray."

I think I have told you many times
The sacred reason why,
But mamma often likes to speak
Of the sad, sad days gone by.

I have told you how your grandpa
Fell in the ranks of the Blue,
When I was a wee maid, Barbara,
Not nearly as large as you.

Fell 'neath the dear old banner
At the battle of "Cedar Creek,"
In the days when uncle Charley
Was a baby small and weak.

I well remember him, darling,
So true, and noble, and bold,
Though I was such a small, small girlie,
Not quite turned eight years old.

He told me we of the Northland
Were forced to enter the fight,
How we , not our Southern brother,
Were battling for God and right,

How they of the fiery Southland
Were striving to tear apart
The States cemented by life-blood,
From many a loyal heart.

And I ever was staunchly loyal,
For when my baby came,
I called her the name our Quaker bard
Has given to deathless fame.

Of her who so bravely held the flag,
Out in the morning air
Baring to rebel bullets
The crown of her grand white hair.

But grandpa dwells where he knows to-day
The truth between Gray and Blue
Better than they of that far-off time
Who thought they alone were true,

And mamma has learned that noble men
Were there on the conquered side,
As any that ever suffered,
Suffered and bravely died.

So, little maiden Barbara,
On that sunny time in May,
Let us seek to honor the lonely graves
Of the men who wore the Gray.
Emily Baker Smalle.

MONUMENTS.

The next morning aunt said, "You will go with me to-day to another Greenwood and see grander monuments than any you saw yesterday."

I wondered how that could be. But we were soon on our way. At length we turned into narrow, dirty streets, growing worse and worse. I shuddered at such sights and sounds of human beings, never before dreaming that in grand New York there could be so much wretchedness. I drew closer and closer to aunt, fearing one of the human demons that leered at us would seize me and carry me off.

Such people! such places to live in! Such language! Why, it almost makes my hair stand on end to think of it. Aunt did not seem to mind them. May be they knew her, for every one stood aside for us to pass. "Here it is," she said at length. "Here is the other Greenwood."

"This?" I answered, looking around for gravestones and monuments, and seeing nothing but dreadful houses and miserable objects. "This Greenwood!"

A sweet-faced girl met us with a warm welcome to aunt and an earnest look at me. As she led the way within, aunt whispered:

"Her name is Maggie," she quickly whispered back; "used to be called 'wild Maggie;' was one of the worst girls in this region. Never mind now, will tell you more hereafter. Take a good look at her, you'll see her again."

Then I heard singing like the songs of many angels. A door swung open. We entered. It was a great company of children, black and white, some with sweet sad faces; others with evil looks, but all singing. Soon Maggie came in from another door and sat among them and I could hear her voice ring out in joyful strains, leading the rest.

There was prayer and Bible reading, and such a good talk by a gentleman. It seemed like heaven, while many of the children, some partly blind, some lame, some pale and sad-faced, gathered around after meeting was out and seized aunt Joanna's hand, and seemed so happy. Another lady was there to whom they all pressed for a smile and a word.

"What can you mean?" I asked. "Sir Christopher Wren was a man who died in England more than a hundred years ago."

Aunt Joanna only laughed and said, "And came to life again, my child. This is he, only greater."

But she went on: "Look around here at the Monuments. You knew Sir Christopher was the architect of the great Westminster Abbey of London, and that kings and statesmen and poets are buried there, and their names and deeds are written there; but if any one inquires for Sir Christopher Wren's monument, he is told to look at the wonderful building of which he was the architect."

"Exactly," said aunt Joanna, "and more than one hundred other miserable, sick and wicked children. See that frail girl over there coming toward her? It would take a book to tell how this lady used to come daily here and bend over her crib, sometimes holding her in her arms for hours fearing each moment would be her last. But come and I will introduce you and you shall see a greater than Christopher Wren."

After we were on our way home, aunt told me the story of this lady; how one day curiosity led her to go through this worst part of New [219] York. Her heart was so touched at the wretchedness of the people that she resolved to do something for them. Her friends tried to dissuade her. Some said the people would kill her; some said it was no use to try to help them. But she went right forward, and now after years of labor and sorrow there is her monument, saved children.

Before my return home in the country, aunt Joanna gave a treat to the children of the Home all at her own expense.

Maggie, once "Wild Maggie," and I served. How many sandwiches I passed around, how many cups of milk Maggie filled, how some of the urchins were dressed, how they laughed, or chattered, or stared, what they all said to aunt Joanna about the "treat," would fill a book.

MONKEY POCKETS.

The little creature's day's work was over, and, perched up on the sill of the carriage window, he produced his supper from those stow-away pockets of his, and commenced to munch it with great enjoyment. Several times the platform had to be cleared of the girls and boys who had come to see the little friend off on his journey. At length a porter, whose heart was warm toward little folks, allowed them to slip in and remain.

The officials felt the attraction of that window; and the stoker addressed the monkey as "mate." Even the station-master as he passed cast a sly glance toward the monkey, and a cheer was raised when the train was set in motion, and the monkey glided away from big and little spectators.

I heard the other day of a pet monkey called Hag, a creature no larger than a guinea-pig, whose master once found in his cheek pockets a steel thimble, his own gold ring, a pair of sleeve-links, a farthing, a button, a shilling, and a bit of candy. Monkeys, I am sorry to say, are given to stealing, and they use these pockets to hide the articles which they have stolen.— Selected.

MY BRAINLESS ACQUAINTANCE.

VII.—IN WHICH THE STORY IS FINISHED.

"I learned from day to day, from Fred and the other members of the family, how the sick boy was getting along. He was fast improving, it seemed.

"I was soon transferred to the cushion from which I had been taken, where I remained for some time, until fall, indeed. From time to time, though, I was used for little things by different members of the family, but nothing special occurred in my presence, and I was seldom taken from my resting-place, for I was so long, that it was seldom that any one wanted to use me." (Moral: If you are long about doing things, no one will want your help.)

"One day trunks were being packed, there was a general air of 'going away' about the house, and I learned that the lady, Fred's mother, was going away to be gone for some time. The children were to remain at home with their father. The last day I, or, more properly speaking, the pincushion on which I was, was packed in a satchel, and taken to the depot, and I knew no more of where I was for a good while, except by the rocking and noise of the train. Soon the satchel I was in was picked up, I felt the motion of a carriage again, and when light was let in upon me, we were in a room in a hotel, and my mistress placed my pincushion on the bureau, where I could see the busy street of a large city. The pins that were with me were pretty good company, and we remained in the city (that is, my mistress did) for some weeks, when one day, to our amazement, she packed up and went off, leaving us behind!

"Well, during that winter the room was occupied by various persons, thus affording me opportunity to study human nature, but I will not tire you with the results of the study, for I am simply telling you the story of my life. None of these persons touched me, but finally all the other pins were gone from the cushion, and I was left alone, and consequently was rather lonesome. The room was hired by a mother and her baby, a father and his baby, a young couple taking their wedding trip, I judged, and divers and sundry other people, who, as I remarked before, paid no attention to me. I grew more and more lonely, and was almost despairing of ever getting out of the hotel, when, one day, a fat old gentleman was led into the room by the colored porter, and established himself there. He was an author"—

"Never mind," responded the pin, "don't interrupt me, please. This gentleman was an author, as I said before. He had papers and papers and papers! He had pens and pens and pens! He had stylographic pens, Mackinnon pens, and Paragon pens, and Todd's pens, and other pens! He came there to be quiet, he said, but he made more noise than anybody else in the house, except the solo singer, who roomed at our right, and the elocutionist (female, of course) who roomed at our left.

"One day the old gentleman announced to the porter that he couldn't stand it in that horrid place any longer, and he must help him get away the very next day. So he went. And as he was packing up, he found one roll of manuscript that wasn't pinned together, and so he drew me out from my long resting-place, much to my joy, and fastened the roll together with me.

"I was packed up in his satchel, and we journeyed quite a while. When it was opened, we were in a pleasant little room in a country boarding-house"—

"Will you please be so kind as not to interrupt me again?" said the pin, his sharp voice growing sharper than ever. "I found myself, as I remarked before, in a pleasant little room in a country boarding-house. The scenery all around was very beautiful. There were fields, a meadow, a brook and some woods." (I very much wanted to interrupt again, but I bit my tongue, and squealed instead.)

"My master took long walks, and would sit down every little while on stone, stump, or fence, and write. One day as he was going out he asked the lady of the house to give him some lunch, as he would probably not be back for a good while"—

"I think you are very impolite," the pin replied. "However, to pacify you, I will tell you that you are correct—it was your mother, and she put him up a nice lunch. He took quite a little walk, meditating the while, and every few moments he would lift up his arms, and discourse enthusiastically on the beauty of Nature. These talks were very uninteresting to me, as I felt quite competent to decide for myself what I thought of Nature, but I listened silently and patiently. At one point in the [221] road the gentleman saw a good seat ahead, in the form of a stump, and so he slung his satchel on his arm, after getting some papers out, which he commenced to pin together with me. But at this point, as he was not engaged in looking where he was going, his toe unfortunately collided with the root of a stump which was firmly fixed in the ground, and he fell flat! A breeze coming up at the time, his papers, and so forth, were scattered to the four winds as you might say (though there was but one at the time), and he probably will never find the most of them again. His pens flew into a hollow stump near by, I flew over to the roots of another stump, and he fell on the satchel of lunch that your mother had prepared for him, squeezing it all out on the ground. Then he picked himself up and went home.

"As for me, I remained where I fell until you kindly brought me home with you this afternoon.

"Now, my young friend, I will conclude. I have done my work in this world, so far, as faithfully as I knew how, and I think I have fulfilled the purposes for which I was made. I hope I have proved to you that pins are of some importance, for I came very near causing the death of one person and saved the life of another. If you do your work, no matter how small it may be, as well as I have, you will be as happy as I am, perhaps not joyful, but you will at least be satisfied with yourself, which is a great deal better than being satisfied with others. I am through."

"Now shall I take you back to the stump?" I asked. But there was no answer given. I repeated the question, but still I received no reply.

Then I took my acquaintance up carefully, and carried it back to the stump, laying it in a place sheltered from the wet, as that worthy had requested.

"Here is your friend the pin," I said. But the stump made no reply. So I turned sadly and went home, and up to my room, to meditate on the singular silence of both the pin and the stump.

The supper bell startled me and I arose from my chair and my reverie, and hastened down stairs.

As I entered the dining-room, one of the [222] boarders said: "Why, where have you been all the afternoon?"

"Oh, I took a walk down to Racket Brook, and then I stayed up in my room the rest of the time."

"You were, I know," assented my little brother. "I saw you way down in the orchard, and you were asleep with your head on the window sill."

I made no reply, but went up to my room as soon as I had finished my supper, and spent the evening in writing my composition. And what do you think it was? Why, just the story of the pin as he told it to me that afternoon. The children wanted to know if it was true, after I had come down from the platform, having been greatly applauded by the audience (the fat author being in it). I replied that, every word of it was true, and went with them to the shore of the brook, where we found the identical stump with the young beech-tree growing beside it. Where was the pin? I do not know. It wasn't there, though, much to my chagrin.

When I got home, the fat author wanted to know if I would let him have my composition for one chapter of his book. I was perfectly willing, but when he showed me the chapter afterward it was headed "A Boy's Dream." And he had it that a boy had gone to sleep on the window-sill, and had dreamed—my composition!

OUR ALPHABET OF GREAT MEN.

P.—PENN, WILLIAM.

And now I wish I could set before you the calm, sweet, yet strong face of the man who founded and named this city, who truly desired it to be a city of love.

William Penn was a native of London. He was born nearly a quarter of a century after the Pilgrims landed upon Plymouth Rock; he belonged to a good family, his father being Admiral Sir William Penn of the British Navy. It appears that the son was of a religious turn of mind, and when he was a boy of twelve years he believed himself to have been specially called to a life of holiness. He was very carefully educated, but he offended his father by joining the Quakers; indeed, it seems that several times in the course of his life his father became very much displeased with him, but a reconciliation always followed, and at last the Admiral left all his estate to the son who had been such a trial to him. While a student at the University, Penn and his Quaker friends rebelled against the authority of the college and was expelled. The occasion of the rebellion was in the matter of wearing surplices and of uncovering the head in the presence of superiors. You know that the Quakers always keep their hats on, thinking it wrong to show to man the honor which they consider belongs only to God. And this reminds me to tell you that in the Wide Awake for February, I think, Mr. Brooks has told a pretty story of William Penn and St. Valentine's Day, in which he mentions this refusal to uncover in the presence of the king even, as one cause of trouble between the father and son.

I cannot follow with you all the vicissitudes of [223] Penn's life; after leaving the University he travelled upon the Continent. Afterwards he studied law in London; he became a soldier. This strikes us as being somewhat curious when we remember that the sect to which he belonged are opposed to war, and preach the doctrine of love and peace. However, he was not long in service, and meeting a noted Quaker preacher he became firmly fixed in his devotion to the society of Friends, and was ever after a strong advocate of its doctrines; nothing could turn him from the path he had chosen. He was several times imprisoned on account of his religious opinions and suffered persecution and abuse. Through all he adhered to his views, and stood by his Quaker friends in the dark days of persecution. He had inherited from his father a claim against the British Government of several thousand pounds, and in settlement of this claim he received a large tract of land in the then New World. With the title to the land he secured the privilege of founding a colony upon principles in accordance with his religious views. And in 1682 he came to America and laid the foundations not only of the City of Brotherly Love, but of the State of Pennsylvania. His object was to provide a place of refuge for the oppressed of his own sect, but all denominations were welcomed, and many Swedes as well as English people came. While other colonies suffered from the attacks of the Indians, for more than seventy years, so long as the colony was under the control of the Quakers, no Indian ever raised his hatchet against a Pennsylvania settler. Under a great elm-tree, long known as Penn's elm, he met the Indians in council, soon after his arrival in the territory which had been ceded to him. He said to them:

"My friends, we have met on the broad pathway of good faith. We are all one flesh and blood. Being brethren, no advantage shall be taken on either side. Between us there shall be nothing but openness and love."

And they replied, "While the rivers run and the sun shines, we will live in peace with the children of William Penn."

William Penn lived to see his enterprise achieve a grand success. Philadelphia had grown to be a city of no small dimensions and no little importance. The colony had grown to be a strong, self-supporting State, capable of self-government.

"I will found a free colony for all mankind," said William Penn. Were these the words of a great man?

Unswerving integrity, undaunted courage, adherence to duty, and devotion to the service of God—are these the characteristics of a great man? Then William Penn may well be placed in our Alphabet of Great Men.

MY GIFT.

ARBUTUS SENDS GREETING TO PANSY.

A GIFT she held from the Father;
It was pansies fresh with dew;
Sweet messengers of Heaven,
They bear a blessing true.

But her hand too lightly clasped,
And could not hold them all,
So to the ground unheeded,
She let the fairest fall.

The uplifted lips of the flower
Did not mutely plead in vain;
From the dust the blossom I raised,
And gave to the owner again.

Sweet Pansy's robe is purple,
Her crown of the purest gold;
All hearts who know, enthrone her,
All love her who behold.

But I'll away to the forest,
And seek my treasures there;
'Tis there Arbutus hideth,
Her blossoms I may wear.

This is my gift from the Father,
Arbutus buds are mine;
I'll sing their modest beauty,
In them read Heaven's design.

And I will bear to the Giver
The fragrance and the song
That fills my life with blessing—
To Him my blooms belong.

Rockville, Mass. With love of Arbutus .

ST. GEORGE AND THE DRAGON.

VII.

"I'm awfully glad we knew enough to cut and run," exclaimed Phipps Benton, hugging himself in his cosey car-corner, "at least that you knew enough," he corrected himself honestly; "that last skate cost those chaps something. Won't Pa Bangs give it to Wilfred though!"

He couldn't help the shrug of delight as this thought seized him. Wilfred, to state it mildly, was not a boy to be loved dearly, and circumstances now seemed likely to make him anything but an object of envy.

"For shame!" cried St. George hotly, "we've just been there, and he's treated us well."

Phipps flushed all over his brown little face, and looked out of the window into the gathering night. St. George jumped out of his seat, and walked rapidly and unsteadily down the aisle to shake off some of his excitement. That he was going home to his mother all right, warm and safe to a capital supper such as only she knew how to get up for a hungry boy, tired and cold after a long winter-day frolic, made it all the worse that other boys who had so little while ago been the larger part of his laughing, noisy troop, should be at this very minute, shivering, half-starved and cross, at their wits' end how to pass the night. He could almost see Bridget setting on the supper things, smell the delicious coffee permeating the house, and hear his mother say, "Come, it is almost time for my boy to be here, you better begin to mix your cake-batter," and his mouth almost watered as he thought of the toothsome, smoking hot cakes that would before long be piled upon his plate.

But suddenly he stopped. No cakes for him that night—perhaps not even coffee. Who would tell those parents of the fifteen or so boys stranded on Sachem Hill why they were not to come bounding into their several homes on the arrival of the six o'clock train in the B. and A. Depot? George Edward and Phipps must do all those errands before they could hope to enjoy any supper that night.

Whew! He drew himself up with a long breath, turned and rushed back to his seat.

"See here," he cried, throwing himself down, "you can take all the places nearest to your house—and I'll do the same."

"To tell the fathers and mothers," explained St. George with a nod, "no other way, you see, why the chaps don't get home."

"Good gracious!" cried Phipps explosively, "I never thought of that. We can't! We're as hungry as beavers."

"We must." St. George laughed gayly, now that the struggle was over, and indulged in a smart pinch on his companion's shoulder. "Wake up, old fellow."

"You let me be," cried Phipps crossly, shaking him off, "and you get out with your 'musts.' I don't know any, I can tell you, and as for going around to tell a lot of people what's none of my business, you won't see me doing it. I'm going home myself."

"Don't know," said Phipps doggedly, "only I know I won't, that's all." He returned the look his companion gave him with another no pleasanter, and every whit as determined.

"And you mean to let those fathers and mothers go all night without knowing where in creation the chaps are?" cried the other boy in the seat, every feature ablaze with indignation. "Say?"

"But the fathers and mothers aren't to blame," insisted St. George vehemently. "Yours would go most crazy if you didn't turn up at the right time."

Phipps, however, was not to allow his feelings to be worked upon in this way. He now found himself very cold, decidedly hungry, and violently cross, and, giving St. George a push, he [227] declared, "I tell you I won't do a single thing, nor take a single step. I can't hardly move, and I shall go straight home."

"Of course," said St. George, brightening up, and relaxing a bit, "so shall I, to tell my folks."

"I shall stay there," said Phipps obstinately. With that he turned again to the window.

"Do!" burst out St. George in high scorn, "and save your stingy, mean, little pinched-up carcass!"

"Boys," said an old gentleman back of them, leaning forward to bring his stern face over into the excitement, "I should think if you must fight, you could find some other place a little more appropriate than a crowded rail-car."

St. George brought his flushed face over against that of the old gentleman, and sprang to his feet, reaching for the skates dangling from the rack overhead, while he shivered all over with anger and mortification. Phipps did not turn his head.

The old gentleman seeing that his shaft had struck home, wounding at least one individual, put himself back in his own seat, well pleased, and St. George summarily retreated to the rear of the car, full of reflections the farthest removed from agreeable ones.

Here he was in a quarrel, and just a moment before he had been giving advice how to spare the feelings of others, and he couldn't control his own, but must anger Phipps with whom he had never had the least falling out. Faugh! He was so disgusted with himself, he would have thanked any one who would take him one side, and give him that castigation he felt he so richly deserved. And there were the eyes of all the passengers in the car directed to him, as if he were a person whose movements were singular, to say the least, and would bear watching. Half of them had heard the old gentleman's sharp, ringing rebuke even if they had not been listeners to the quarrel itself, and the other half were now, he felt, staring at him and whispering over him as he stood pretending to look out of the door, while their eyes seemed burning holes into his jacket.

It was interminable, that hour before they could reach the B. and A. Depot, and the only relief he experienced was in pulling out his watch every five moments to see what time it was.

At last, in the train swept to the depot. St. George looked back quickly, intending to rush back, bestow a thwack on Phipps' back, say he was sorry, and make up. But the throng was great and a woman with a baby asked him to help her off the car, so by the time he got free most of the passengers had filed out and were hurrying along the platform. St. George caught a flying glimpse of the boy he sought, some little distance ahead, and he bounded after him.

"Phipps," he cried, darting in and out between the people, and dodging an expressman with a barrow, "wait, old chap."

St. George was positive that his call was heard, but the boy in front now gathered up his skates to a tighter clasp and broke into a run.

St. George chased him so long as he saw the least chance of gaining on him, then suddenly pulled up.

"All right," he gasped, "if you want it that way, you may have it. I don't care."

A WAIF FROM THE SKIES.

No one was skeptical enough to deny it, for there was the chair, or rather its remains. The most the incredulous could venture to do was to criticise the coarse workmanship of the miraculous seat, and they were busy carping and fault-finding with the celestial upholstery, when an account of M. Gray-Lussac's voyage was published, and extinguished at once the discussion and the miracle.— Chambers' Journal.

"THE HUMPY THING."

"I never would have made a camel, that's certain," remarked a wise (?) lad, after taking a slight look at the ungainly beast.

"Probably not," answered his wiser father. "You would have put the same material into pop-guns or ponies."

"But see what an ugly thing he is; not a handsome feature about him," still urged the boy.

"Look at those abominable humps on his back. Why must he be disfigured in that way?"

"But what has that ill-looking hump to do with a trunk, I'd like to know?" continued his questioner.

"There are many more things you ought to 'like to know.' That ill-looking hump is his trunk, which his master sees is well packed with—fat—before he starts on the long journey over the deserts where he can't be sure of any grass or shrubs for days and days. But there is that trunk full on his back from which the camel picnics on the weary way."

"No; but near by, in another trunk or bottle. He has an extra supply in his stomach. Those 'clumsy' feet are beautifully formed for travelling the desert. Scientific folks might have studied for ages without discovering and patenting such a marvel of a desert foot.

"You see no beauty in his eyelashes and queer nose, but you would, after a day in the burning sun or flying sand of the desert. Why, my boy, there's no beast like him for use in his own land.

"Just see him, knelt there for his load of one thousand or fifteen hundred pounds, and objecting as plainly as a camel can, when a little too much is put upon him. Then rising up and moving on his way in such dignified patience, on and on, hour after hour, seventy-five or one hundred miles a day. Know of a horse that could do that, my boy?

"General Gordon. That brave, grand man who went to Khartoom to save the garrison and people there from falling into the hands of the false prophet?

"It almost seems as if the noble camel that carried him hundreds of miles on the way, knew [229] what General Gordon was going for; he just hurried right on without a word of complaint, till he could not move a step further; then another gladly took his place and pushed on day and night till Charles James Gordon passed through the gates and the city shouted for joy.

SOME REMARKABLE WOMEN.

M.—MITFORD, MARY RUSSEL.

She wrote other books, Atherton, and Other Tales , Country Stories , and then she wrote such delightful letters to her friends. You will find some of these in her Life and Correspondence . She was the daughter of wealthy parents, who later in life became poor. So that from a life of luxury our gifted author was reduced to poverty.

The latter part of her life must have contrasted painfully with the days of her childhood, yet she kept through all her trials her sweet serenity of mind, her habit of making the best of everything. She is described as a short, stout woman, with a face shining with quiet happiness and unselfishness. The appreciation with which her sketches were received gave her much pleasure, and the fact that her writings were re-printed in America afforded her the greatest gratification, while it was a surprise to her.

She was a delightful person to meet socially, having charming ways and a soft, sweet voice. She died in a wee bit of a house, in 1855, at the age of sixty-eight.

Do you ask why I have chosen to place Miss Mitford in our list of Remarkable Women? To begin with, she was the first to discover and set before us in prose writing the beauty in every-day things. She had written poems and tried her hand at writing tragedy, but with indifferent success, and at length when poverty stared her in the face she took up the then new line of writing and tried with grand success to show to the world the beauty there is in common things. Then all through her long life with its sad changes she kept that wonderful serenity of mind, and that happy faculty of living above the vexations of life. Many a woman when forced by growing poverty to move from place to place, each time going to a poorer home, would have grown faint and weary of life, and given up in despair.

If we cultivate the habit of making the best of everything, we shall be the better prepared to meet the vicissitudes of life.

To get ready for my little proposed festival, everybody must go a-Maying. With baskets, and fern cases, let the children, papa and mamma, nursey, aunt Grace, uncle Fred, and indeed every one who will drop books and work, and go off to the woods for the wild treasures that are playing hide-and-seek there. We do not want on this lovely May festival, any flowers but wild ones that have grown silently all winter under the snow, waiting for us. Their reign is short indeed. We will give them one evening all to themselves before we turn to June with her wealth of roses, and all other sweet and glowing blossoms.

Let us gather them all—the hepaticas, the anemones, darling little forget-me-nots, violets, Solomon's seal, and—but the name is legion—and the varieties multiply as we dig and prowl in the damp moss, and explore behind rocks and in crannies. Put them all in the baskets and cases, surrounded by their own moss to keep them green, not forgetting to bring as many roots as possible, cover all with lovely vines, and come home, flowers in the baskets, and flowers in your cheeks.

Amy and Ruth have been very busy. No one exactly knew why they got up so early in the morning. No one but the cook, and she promised not to tell. But in the cake-box is a toothsome collection of sugar wafers, ready to be put on the flower-crowned table, and the two little girls have every little while that pleasant "woodsy morning," as Ruth called it, flown at each other in the secret places, when resting from their flower-digging, and something like this might have been heard, if there had been ears to hear. But there were none, only those of the squirrels, and they looked wise, and determined not to tell. "Oh, I hope they will be good."

Bob has a secret too. Why can't boys as well as girls have one, pray tell. That is, no one but papa knows it, but then papa has a fashion without ever asking, of being informed of his boy's movements.

Bob's twenty-five cents hoarded for two weeks, went into the grocer's till only yesterday, and Bob has twelve bright yellow lemons instead, waiting as patiently as lemons will, to be sacrificed to a thirsty group who stand around the same flower-crowned table. Bob's papa is to give the sugar, and moreover he has promised to tie on another apron and help the boy make the loveliest lemonade on that very same night. So Bob and his papa must of necessity go off together on this "woodsy morning" to hunt for flowers, for there is danger if they staid with the large group that they would let the whole thing out. Oh, what fun, to have papa to one's self and a secret!

Now then, after your invitations to two or three neighbors, and a little friend or two who hasn't many pleasures of her own, are given out for this evening, and your wood-treasures are ready, and you have had a good lunch and are all bathed and rested, you have nothing to do but to arrange your table with banks of moss, flowers and vines, get uncle Fred who is to give the little talk on "Plants and their Habits," to settle his microscope and specimens just where he wants them in the evening, Mary puts out the music on the piano-rack that she has promised to play, the two secrets are out, because there are the trays laden with sugar wafers, and two bright-faced, white-capped young girls, one with blue ribbons and the other with pink, to pass [231] them around, and there's the lemonade table in the corner, with a big pail covered with green moss, a little well sweep to which is fastened the Baby's tiny pail for a bucket, and Bob stands back of it all with a beaming face ready to serve you to glassesfull from the "old oaken bucket."

Oh, it is rare fun, this dainty May festival—the best part after all being the "Plant talk," and the wonders to which the company, young and old, are brought to see through the microscope. Each small spear of green has its delicate meaning—each blossom its tender message. Nothing has been lost there so long under the snow, and the good Giver tells anew to these awakened minds, his story of creative love. Dear children, I hope you will have in each family a "May festival," and my most loving wish is that it may be a happy, bright, and joyous one.

JACK-IN-THE-BOX.

YOU want a story, another story,
One you have never heard before?
Stories don't come when you call them, always;
I do not know any more.
"Jack and the Bean-Stalk," "Goldilocks,"
"Bright Prince Charming," "Reynard the Fox,"
And now you ask for a "spandy-new" one,
About your Jack-In-The-Box!

Poor little Jack-In-The-Box, who never
Can open his door himself;
Whose house is so small that it almost pinches,
With neither cupboard nor shelf.
Dark, beside, with a varnishy smell,
Enough to keep him from feeling well,
And a crick in his back that must surely hurt him,
If he could only tell!

Now, let's pretend; when he first was finished,
This rosy-cheeked little Jack,
He stood up straight, with his hands beside him,
And never a crick in his back.
Oh, what a beautiful world of toys!
Little doll-girls and little doll-boys;
Drums and trumpets, and everything lovely
For making a splendid noise!

Ah, but wait—he is not quite finished;
Poor little rosy Jack!
A knife, some glue, some muslin, some paper—
Now there's a crick in his back!
Oh, but the hot glue made him smart;
How near the sharp knife went to his heart;
And for five dreadful, dreadful minutes,
His head and feet were apart!

Now for the box—it is very pretty,
Painted a charming red.
In he goes, his feet are fastened;
Down comes the lid on his head!
Oh, he knew he was going to smother!
He'd have called mamma if he'd owned a mother,
But he'd nobody nearer than distant cousins,
Neither sister nor brother.

Frantic his struggles for fifteen minutes,
But it seemed, the more he tried,
The tighter his house grew; then his courage
Failed; and he cried and cried.
Then he heard laughter, soft and low;
His door flew up, and he heard an "Oh!"
And a dear little face was bent above him—
Your little face, you know.

Over and over the darkness caught him,
The lid came down on him tight;
But he soon found out that after the darkness
Always would come the light.
He was a hero! Up he went
Whenever the lid rose; not content
With merely rising, he came up smiling,
Though all of his strength was spent.

That was the story. Grave and silent
Sat my small Goldilocks,
Looking down with a tender pity,
At brave Jack-In-The-Box.
"Thank you, auntie," was all she said.
But I found that night, when she'd gone to bed,
Jack's box in the grate, and Jack on her pillow,
Close to the golden head.
M. Vandergrift , in Youth's Companion .

PATTY PLUMMER'S TRIAL.

"Aha! I just know why I dreamed that! I know what makes me so happy!" and she danced round in her stocking feet, singing her gayest song, quite forgetful of the old saying,

"Oh! I do hope she'll bring it to-day," Patty cried as she put on her slippers and ran out to her play-house, where in a parlor gorgeous with yellow paper carpet and green pasteboard chairs, stood an old accordion as a doll's piano, with a gayly-dressed rag lady sitting before it on a velvet-covered spool, and a fine gentleman by her side in blue paper trousers and black silk jacket.

Now the "she" of Patty's remarks was her clever cousin Charlotte who had taken home the "it"—no other than broken-headed, torn-to-pieces old Lulu Jane herself—to make therefrom, as she declared to Patty the day before, "the finest rag doll she ever saw!"

"I do b'leeve she'll bring it home this very afternoon," happy Patty kept saying to herself, as she flew out of doors after breakfast and worship was over. Everything seemed lovelier than ever this one fair morning. The little rock-basin filled by water trickling down from a higher one, which Charlotte had named "the fountain," seemed the most wonderful thing that ever was; the hollyhocks and lady-delights fairly smiled as she bent over the flower mound to admire them—all was cheerful and gay.

How Patty loved to go over by herself the events of a pleasant play-day with Charlotte! There was the little stone oven place with a mock fire of sticks, where they had played at boiling a pudding made of mud and tied in a rag, while the pot was a hollow ribbon block from old Miss Simpkins' store! there hung the swing her father had made between two ash-trees for her and her cousin. She climbed on the notched board and swayed to and fro, every now and then looking up the pasture hill to see if Charlotte was coming down the path from uncle Nathan's.

By and by she gave a joyful shout. An old-fashioned, two-seated carriage was coming up the long grassy lane from the big gate opening into the street. Mother Plummer ran to the door with flowery hands to see Patty's Grandmother Pratt getting out of the carriage. Such goodies as grandma always brought from Mill Village when she came to see the Plummers! This time the driver, uncle Dave, lifted out a huge basket of big fresh blackberries and a large newly caught salmon. Patty was not forgotten; grandma never came without something for her little namesake. The last time she brought Patty a pretty plaid gingham; this time the gift was a gay Indian basket full of tiny pats of yellow butter, covered with cool, broad rhubarb leaves.

"O, this is the goodest day that ever I did see!" warbled Patty to the tune of The Battle Hymn of the Republic, as she followed the dear plump old lady into the house. The summer day was as perfect as a day could be. Inside the house everything was sunshiny and cheerful too; and Patty opened her glad heart to take in the pleasure of all things to the uttermost. Grandmother sat in the arm-chair swaying the huge palm-leaf fan as she loosened the ribbon cap strings at her fat white throat, and Patty sat on a cricket beside her in perfect content. They were going to have such a lovely dinner! Tempting pink salmon, mealy new potatoes, blackberries with cream and sugar, and a dainty pie which Patty's eyes spied through the half-open pantry door. A dainty turnover beside it too, on purpose for Patty! Never thought of clouds or showers came into her heart as she sat there softly stroking grandma's gown of silver gray.

"Tinkle, inkle," came the sound of old Daisy's bell from the pasture; and the sound started a new train of glad thoughts. If Charlotte would only come with Lulu Jane, what fun she would have showing the doll to grandma! Grandma always took an interest in her doll babies—even [235] in Augustus with his blue paper trousers!

They were all seated around the dining-table, Patty beside grandma, with the turnover in her hand to keep it from uncle Dave who pretended he was going to eat it, when the back door opened. Patty's heart went pit-a-pat, and she ran out with mother's leave, turnover and all, to meet cousin Charlotte in the dim little entry.

"Here it is," said Charlotte. "I hope you'll be pleased with it; and I must go right back, 'cause I've got to do a big stent o' patchwork 'n help aunt Betsy get supper for comp'ny." Patty took the bundle to the out-door light, and when she opened it, danced and screamed with delight.

"You dear, darling old thing!" she cried, hugging Charlotte so hard she fairly hurt her. "How did you fix her up so nice?" she sat on the doorstep admiring Lulu Jane between bites of turnover while Charlotte flew home like a bird.

The doll had a new smooth white linen face, the head nicely joined at the top instead of being sewn with big black stitches as Patty sewed hers. The face had beet-juice cheeks and black bead eyes, the feet were neatly shod with velvet, and the old gown had been replaced by a pink ruffled one of calico, edged at the neck with a frill of lace. But the crowning glory was a little pink bonnet trimmed with a downy chicken's feather and a tiny spray of snakeberry vine from which hung wee scarlet berries! Patty hugged her treasure closely, and ran to the swing to enjoy it by herself. Uncle Dave was coming, and he might run off with it just to tease her. By and by she ran in to show it to grandma.

"Deary, deary!" said grandma, as she took the dolly from Patty and examined it through her spectacles. "Nice piece o' work, quite a neat little gownd, 'n a bunnit too! Charlotte must be quite tasty."

Grandma held it in her fat hand a minute and then after fumbling in her big pocket she brought out a shining new quarter-dollar.

"Patty," said she, looking down into the wondering eyes of her little granddaughter, "I'd like to buy this pretty doll to take home to your little cousin Bessie Alice. She's coming to spend to-morrow with me and she'll think so much of a doll that came 'way from Mapleton." The cloud had come down over the sun; the gladness of the perfect day was completely darkened by the trial which suddenly loomed up before the child.

"Why, gra'ma!" cried she, the tears flowing fast, "you don't want me to let you have my darling sweety Lulu Jane, when she just got all fixed up new! I never could let her go! Please give her to me, grandma." Grandma placed the precious doll in Patty's arms and said quietly:

"I won't take your doll away if you aren't willing; but I was thinkin' how pleased Bessie Alice would be; you know she's no ma now 'n no Charlotte to make dolls for her like you have. Then you'd have the quarter to help buy you a winter hat, and Charlotte would make you another dolly, I'm sure. But if you aren't willing I'll say no more about it," and she put the bright quarter away in her big pocket again.

"Can I have a little while to think it over?" asked Patty timidly. Her good mother had taught her to think matters over before she decided, and the sight of the money had brought something to her mind. The Sunday-school superintendent had told the children only last Sunday about two good women who had left their homes to teach the poor Labrador children about Jesus. They needed books and papers. Miss Bridgman, Patty's teacher, had asked her class if they could not bring some money next Sunday even if they had to deny themselves of something to get it. Patty thought it all over upstairs. She looked at the beautiful bonnet, the velvet shoes and the pink ruffles, and gave the doll a hard hug as she cried amid falling tears:

"I can't give her to gra'ma, I can't sell her! I wish gra'ma 'd never come! I wish Bessie Alice 'd never been born! That hateful thing! She's got red hair, 'n she did just pinch me awful, once! Oh, dear, dear , DEAR ! this is the nastiest day I ever did see!" and she threw herself on the trundle bed in a spasm of grief.

"Why, ain't I a goose! What am I cryin' for? I needn't sell her 'f I don't wan't to! Poor Bessie Alice, I'm awful sorry she's got no mother to tuck her in bed 'n' kiss her! I s'pose Jesus 'd be pleased if I let her have it. I'd rather have Lulu Jane than twenty quarters; but I'd have all that money to take to Miss Bridgman Sunday, 'n that would please Jesus too. And I do want to please Him, I'm sure! Of course Charlotte would make me another! [236] She's such a ' genius girl, mother says. I'll go right away 'n give dolly to gra'ma. I'm goin' to sell it to you," handing the fine lady to Grandmother Pratt. "I want the money for the missionaries, 'n I do pity Bessie Alice. Put her away quick, so I won't want her again," said Patty, dancing away with the quarter in her hand.

"Well, this has been the queerest day!" said little Patty as she sat on the doorstep that night watching the old carriage roll away toward Mill Village. "I'd like to have Lulu Jane to play with, 'n' I don't know what Charlotte'll say; but I b'leeve I feel happier now than I did this mornin', 'n I was happy then 's I could be!"

HARRY'S SACRIFICE.

"It is a good offer for the dog," continued the colonel, "more than he is really worth, but Frank has taken a fancy to him, and to gratify him I am willing to give a good price."

"No, sir; I shall want money worse than I ever have yet when I part with Jack. Thank you for the offer, but I cannot sell my dog."

"That is a foolish boy," said the colonel, turning to a friend as Harry went off down the street whistling to his dog; "I made him a good offer. You know my boy Frank is an invalid, and it was to gratify a whim of his that I offered the boy twice the worth of the dog."

"I heard your offer, and I confess I thought it very liberal," replied the friend; "has the boy rich parents, that he can afford to reject such offers?"

"No; Danvers is only a day laborer, and I do not suppose the boy ever had five dollars pocket money in his life."

"Humph!" was the expressive rejoinder of the friend; then the subject was dropped.

There was a missionary convention in progress in the town where Harry Danvers lived. Harry was not specially interested in missions, though he was a Sunday-school scholar and a member of a Mission Band; but someway he did not get interested in the Band. And I suspect that boys generally fail to become interested in the Mission Bands. [237] Can you tell why it is that our missionary societies are so largely made up of girls?

Harry had no thought of going to any of the meetings in progress, but at tea time his sister Alice said:

"Harry, they say that the teacher from the school where our Band supports a pupil is going to speak to-night at the First Church; let's go down."

"But, my son, if your sister wants to go, you will not refuse to go with her?" said Mr. Danvers.

"I suppose I can go," replied Harry, not ungraciously, but somewhat indifferently.

"I do want to go; and, Harry, you know you said you were to write an essay on the Indian question for next Wednesday; maybe you'll get some ideas; you know Miss R—— is from the Indian Territory."

Harry Danvers was never the same boy after that evening. You might not have noticed the difference, but it was there. He could never again be indifferent towards Missions. He gained, as Alice had suggested, some ideas, but not altogether in the line of his school essay. He for the first time in his life realized that he, Harry Danvers, had a part in the great work given to the church of Christ; that the responsibility of sending the Gospel to the heathen nations rested upon him in proportion to his ability, and the question, What can I give? was pressed home upon his heart. The duty and privilege of sacrifice were set before him, and he asked himself, What can I sacrifice? The questions were unanswered when he went to bed that night. Harry was a Christian boy, and he carried his questioning to his Heavenly Father, and waited for the answer. The next morning as he went down stairs, with Jack's customary greeting there came to him the answer he had sought. Here was an opportunity to prove his sincerity! Was he equal to the sacrifice?

"Yes, sir; I liked it all very much. Mother, you ought to go this morning; they say there is a perfectly wonderful speaker to be on the platform—a woman from Syria; are you going, Harry?"

"Dear me," said Alice; "boys are so queer. Now I thought it was just splendid last evening, but Harry won't even say he liked it. I was all stirred up and ready to give all my jewelry—only I haven't any to give," and Alice chattered on until breakfast was over, and the family went their several ways. All the time Harry was thinking, and, as you will see, thinking to some purpose. He had an errand down town for his mother, and as he went out of the gate he said with energy, "I'll do it!"

Now Mrs. Danvers was a timid woman, and very much afraid of dogs. True, she tried to hide her fear and aversion for Harry's sake, but she had a nervous dread of some member of the family being bitten by the dog, and only a few days before, Harry's father said: "My boy, I sometimes wish you could make up your mind to give that dog away; your mother dislikes dogs so much."

Remembering this, Harry did not consider it necessary to say anything to his father about what he intended to do. His way down the street led him past Colonel Bates' residence. He stopped at the door and rang the bell, asking to see Colonel Bates. When that gentleman appeared he said, though his voice trembled,

"Certainly; walk in and we will settle the business. I am very glad; we are going to a rather lonely place for the summer, and the dog will be both a comfort and protection to Frank."

The transfer of property was made in the course of the morning, and, strangely enough, Colonel Bates sat beside Harry that evening in the meeting and caught the glitter of the gold piece which the boy dropped into the basket as the collection was taken for the Indian Mission. [238] And this is what he thought: "Here's a boy who has made a sacrifice; he has given that which cost him something, and I gave what I can spare as well as not! for once I will give something that I shall feel."

"Father, why didn't you buy those horses you were talking about?" asked Frank Bates a few days later.

"That is just what it cost me," replied Colonel Bates, smiling at his boy's bewildered looks. And then he told him the story of the gold piece and his own sacrifice, and the boy, after a little silence had fallen between them, said:

"Father, you need not buy the dog cart; the old pony phaeton will do. Give me the money it would cost in gold pieces, please, and I will go to the next missionary meeting and offer my sacrifice."

OUR MISSION BAND.

"I don't know a single thing about Persia, but I can find out." And I am going to tell you just a few of the things she found out about Persia. She found that in July last the semi-centennial of the beginning of the missionary work among the Nestorians at Oroomia was celebrated. More than fifteen hundred Nestorians came to the jubilee on the college grounds.

"College grounds!" exclaimed Lucia's brother Tom as the two sat together working up the programme, for this brother and sister were accustomed to study and work together, "do you mean to say that they have a college over there?"

"Yes; there are schools of all grades in Persia," replied Lucia. "The first school was opened in a cellar with only seven small children; but now there are village schools, high schools, seminaries for boys and girls, a college and theological seminary."

"I do not know what you would call many; I should think it was a large number, all things considered, when they can count the day-school pupils by thousands and the boarding-school students by hundreds. But the population of Persia is between seven and eight million, and there are only seven Mission stations in the whole country. Five of these are under the management of the Presbyterian Board of America, and two are under the care of the English Church Missionary Society."

"It seems like putting little bits of wedges into a narrow crack in a big rock and thinking to split it by pounding with a hammer. The wedges go all to pieces and the rock stays just as it was."

"But, Tom, if your wedges are of iron, with power enough in the arm that strikes the blows, the rock is bound to yield."

"Well, these missionaries who had given their lives as wedges to make an opening for the Gospel, were only too glad to be used in the service of Christ. That is what wedges are made for, I suppose, to be hammered and go to pieces at last."

"But what did they do at this jubilee? That is what I want to find out," said Tom.

"Just what we do in this country when we celebrate. They sold tickets which entitled the holders to the privilege of spending the night on the grounds, and also to their meals. The women were made comfortable in the college building, but many of the men had to sleep out of doors. A large booth had been built for the meeting, and men and women told the story of the last fifty years. They had 'papers' prepared. Some of them, on female education, were written by native women who had been educated in the schools. They told about the native churches, about the medical work of the Missions, and about the hospital; you know the only hospital in Persia was built by the missionaries. The history of the work of Miss Fidelia Fiske, and of [239] Mrs. Grant and Miss Rice were given. There was one old woman who came a long distance, part of the way on foot, and that over a rough mountainous road, to attend the celebration; she was one of Miss Fiske's first girls. Seems to me she might have told a story worth hearing. The history of the Hamadan Mission is interesting. Miss Montgomery says, 'What hath God wrought? Come and see his work in Hamadan.' Nine years only since the first missionary was stationed there, and now a church of seventy-five members. A weekly prayer meeting and a woman's prayer meeting; a Sunday-school and several day schools. But this work is done under the most trying circumstances, without either church or school buildings. The schools are gathered in private houses, and in summer the preaching and other church services are held in the yard of Miss Montgomery's house and in winter in the house. It just seemed to me when I read about the work in Hamadan that I wanted to be rich. I should think some wealthy man would want to build a church there."

"It seems as though there is such a wide crack there a big wedge would go in and do good work."

"There is another thing which is encouraging," said Lucia, "and that is the fact that the people have the Bible in their own language; that is a big wedge, because you see if they once get the Bible into their homes the work will go on faster. The women too are being educated. There was a strong prejudice against the education of women, but that is wearing away and of course the influence of educated Christian mothers will be a great help. Now, Tom, I am going to give you the station at Hamadan for your topic at the meeting, and I shall give Ella the fire worshipers, and Dick will tell us about the Mussulmans. Then I must find somebody who will give an account of the work at Oroomiah. O, dear! there is so much about Persia that the hour will not begin to hold it all."

"Well, you may leave something to piece out my hour with. I don't believe I can ever find enough to fill up."

Lucia expressed her sympathy by laughing at him, and saying, "Just wait until you study it up!"

SELECTION FOR RECITATION.

WHY DID YOU NOT COME BEFORE?

AN aged woman, poor and weak,
She heard the mission teacher speak;
The slowly-rolling tears came down
Upon her withered features brown.
"What blessed news from yon far shore—
Would I had heard it long before.

"O, I have bowed at many a shrine,
When youth and health and strength were mine;
How earnestly my soul has striven
To find some gleam of light from heaven;
But all my toil has been in vain—
These gods of stone but mocked my pain.

"A weary pilgrimage I've trod,
To win some favor from my god;
And all my jewelled wealth I've laid
Beneath the dark Pagoda's shade;
But still, the burden on my breast
Bowed head and heart with sore unrest.

"Now, I have waited many a day,
My form is bent, my hair is gray;
But still the blessed words you bear
Have charmed away my long despair;
O sisters, from your happy shore,
Would you had sent to me before!

"O, precious is the message sweet
I hear your kindly lips repeat;
It bids me weep for joy again;
My stony eyes were dry with pain;
My weary heart with joy runs o'er—
Ah, had you come to me before!

"How welcome is the glorious name
Of Jesus, who to save me came.
And shall I live when death is past?
And may I all my burdens cast
On Him? And is His mercy free?
Not bought with gifts? Such news for me!

"Yes, please forgive me when I say,
I've needed this so many a day.
In your glad homes, did ye not know
How India's tears of sorrow flow?
If you had known on that bright shore,
Surely you would have come before!"
— Miss P. J. Owens , Methodist Protestant .

Maud from Minnesota. Yes, I wrote the book which was your Christmas present. I am glad you like it. I think you will like the closing of the story about "Nettie and Jerry," but I must not tell you how it ends, for that would lessen the interest. "In a minute" is a very troublesome creature; I rejoice that you are going to get rid of his company.

Winnie from Pennsylvania. A "temper" is a very good servant, but makes a bad master. If you succeed in keeping rule over yours, as I know you will if you try, remembering the "Whisper Motto," you will be much happier and more useful than you could possibly be if it ruled you.

Deck and Wilder from Minnesota. Yes, indeed, your letter shall be published, and I hope "papa" will enjoy it as much as I did. I am also much obliged to "sister" for writing for you. Still, I hope you will write me a letter all yourselves, as soon as you can, and let me know how you succeed. I am truly glad you have resolved not to "contradict each other." Do you know I believe Satan likes to hear people contradict better than he likes almost any other fault which well brought up, truthful people have.

Newton from Pennsylvania. My boy, we welcome you with pleasure. To squarely own a fault is sometimes half the battle. You cannot be too careful of the words you speak to "mother." Cross words sometimes sting and burn after the mothers are gone. Watch carefully, and resolve to be a joy and comfort to your mother so long as you have one.

Rachel from Kentucky. These "hasty tempers!" You have only to read the answers to the Pansies from month to month to discover how many are troubled with them. It is a wise thing to begin very early in life to keep them under control. About the habit of "forgetfulness," it sometimes grows on people so rapidly that they injure all their prospects in life by it. You do well to watch it.

Emma from Massachusetts. It would be very pleasant to the Pansies to hear the story of some one whom you succeed in "Helping." Will you tell it for us? I hope the badge has reached you long ago, and is a comfort.

Ned from Massachusetts. Good for you, my brave young soldier! A pledge against all that can intoxicate, and against tobacco, is a grand thing. I hope every Pansy in the garden will follow your example. So you are tempted to say "I don't want to?" Sometimes that isn't a bad thing to say. If anybody coaxes you to do wrong, I hope you will always say boldly, "I don't want to." But if it is something you know you ought to do, suppose you rush right off and set about it so quickly that your tongue will not have time to speak the words. How will that do?

Bessie and Helen form North Carolina. Bless your dear hearts, of course you will not fail! Don't think of such a thing. When a pledge is right to take, and therefore right to keep, just shut your lips firmly and say, "We shall succeed, because we ought to, and what we ought to do, we can." Glad to enroll you.

Iya from Minnesota. I wonder if I have the name right? I am not sure. I hope your badge gave you help and pleasure. Oh, no, it costs nothing to belong to the P. S. but a good strong tussle with one's faults.

Arthur from Massachusetts. My boy, if I should put our roll of honor in The Pansy , there would be room for nothing else. There are thousands and thousands of names! Hurrah for the temperance pledge! I feel like giving a hearty cheer for every boy who signs it. I wonder how many Pansies we have who have done so? Wouldn't it be nice to know? Dear me, I hope you are not a lazy boy! Because they are almost certain to make lazy men. Don't be a lazy Pansy, please.

Cora from South Carolina. So glad to hear the badge is helping you. Give my love to [2] Daisy and little Alice; you will have to be a very careful older sister in order to help them, will you not? So your dear father has gone to Heaven? Poor little Blossom! I know how you miss him. You must be a special flower for your dear mamma now, shedding all the perfume you can around her.

Martha from Massachusetts. Yes, I know all about how easy it is to "answer back," and I know just what a trial it is to the mothers. You do well to make a great effort to break the power of the habit. Getting up in the morning isn't the easiest work in the world for a great many people. I knew a lady who said she was obliged to spring out of bed as soon as her eyes were opened, because if she waited five minutes it seemed to her that it was not possible to get up! I suspect, my dear Blossom, that you have a good mother. There is nothing which needs more careful guarding than what we read. Make a rule to read nothing that mother does not approve.

Lena from New York. Glad to hear from Lena. These dear mothers are worth minding the very minute they speak. I almost know you will keep your pledge.

Cora from Indian Territory. Welcome, dear Cora, to our Pansy bed. I am sorry you have to bloom all alone in your far-away home. Cannot you find some more Pansies who would bloom if they had a chance? Try. I know all about what a nuisance it is to have people around who do not put away their "things." At this moment there lies a cap in the very centre of my study table among the papers. It belongs to a boy who is shouting at somebody in the kitchen to know if they have the least idea where his cap is! He spends an immense amount of time looking for things that ought to be hanging on their hooks, or lying properly on their shelves, and would be, I believe, if they could only walk.

Nettie from Ohio. I hope your Pansy reaches you regularly, my dear little girl, and that it gives you a great deal of comfort. You see your "prayer" was answered in just the way you most wanted. Our Father in Heaven always answers all prayer, but sometimes he has to say "No" because He can tell whether what we have asked is the best thing.

Edwin from New York. My boy, if you have done a "kind act" each day since you took your pledge, you must have some pleasant stories to tell which the Pansies would like to hear. Cannot you write out one of them for us?

Andrew from Illinois. O the teeth! I am very glad you have pledged to take care of them. I know a boy who says he "cannot" remember to brush his, only on Sundays, and I am very much afraid the consequence will be, they will not be worth brushing by the time he is a man. Thank you for being a worker for The Pansy . I know of no better way to show that you like the magazine than to try to get others to take it.

Ethelwyn from Pennsylvania. How many people have you helped, my dear? And how many ways have you discovered in which you can help others? Can we be helpful without speaking a word? One of the most helpful little people I know is a deaf and dumb girl. How do you suppose she manages it?

Minnie from Ohio. Dear little friend, it is very easy to be "impatient." There is a little girl of my acquaintance who became so impatient with a door which would not open that she knocked it with her knee. Now it happened that in her pocket was a small cushion with needles on it, and the knock sent a fine needle into her knee, which caused her dreadful pain and kept her from taking a step for many weeks. She used to say, "Oh, dear, if I only hadn't! "

Willie from Ohio. I like your pledge. When a boy has a good father and mother, and pledges himself always to obey them in everything, he is about as safe as he can be in this world; especially if they are Christian people, who say to him, "My boy, your first duty is to give yourself to the Lord Jesus to obey him in all things."

Jessie from Colorado. I wish you had sent me a copy of the "Exercise," "Jesus Our Star." It must have been very beautiful, and perhaps the Pansies would like to use it in their Sabbath-schools. Perhaps you can send us a copy for next Christmas? How many presents you received! What did you do for those who had none?

Frank from Michigan. So, my seven-year-old Blossom, you sometimes get angry, do you? That is bad; the perfume of angry flowers is very disagreeable. It is well you have taken the pledge to overcome. [3]

Inez from Indiana. You are not alone in your fault, my darling. It is as natural for people to want their own way, as it is to breathe. The important thing is, to be very pleasant about giving it up, when for any reason you cannot, or ought not to have it. This is a thing well worth trying for.

Anne from Washington. I was very deeply interested in your letter, and have great sympathy for you in your great affliction. What a wonderful and blessed thing it will be if all the members of your large family meet in Heaven! Are you doing all you can to make sure of that happy meeting?

Florence from New York. A letter "all to yourself" is something I cannot give, my Blossom, much as I would like to. Don't you see it would not be fair to the others? I think you have the best possible sort of "pet." Finger nails are very useful things, and have a way of looking very badly if they are forgotten. I am glad you are going to care for yours.

Edith and Lilian from Massachusetts. I am always glad to welcome two sisters; I think they can be such helps to each other. We are delighted to accept "Grandma" as an "honorary member." We have a special and tender love for all the dear grandmas. I have not the least doubt but she will keep her beautiful pledge to try to make somebody happy every day; and I can imagine how happy you two can make her if she sees you trying.

Robert from Massachusetts. So you "don't like to mind quickly?" Well, never mind whether you like it or not, if you succeed in doing it. I think myself it requires a good deal of decision to accomplish it, and I don't know of any habit more important to acquire, so I welcome you with pleasure.

Pauline from Massachusetts. My little "wilful" Blossom! A will is a very good thing if you make a servant of it, and oblige it to do just the right thing; but when one gets to be its slave, oh, dear! I am glad you have begun early to train it aright.

Daisy from New York. Poor finger nails! How would you like to be bitten every time you plucked up courage and grew a little. Don't treat your faithful little servants so badly. "Clayton" is very nearly right. We can do almost anything we try hard to do, that is if it is right that we should do it. For, back of this idea lies a great truth: God never gives us any command which is too hard for us to obey. It is very easy to get angry, and sometimes hard to break the habit; but it can be done.

Lulu from Virginia. Here is another little Southern Blossom who wants to overcome "all" her faults. Brave little girl! I am sure you will succeed much better than those who never think about their faults at all.

Emma from Connecticut. Did she have so many faults that she couldn't count them? Poor little robin! Still I suspect that is the honest truth about every one of us. We are great bundles of faults. If you try with wide-open eyes to overcome each as it appears to you, you will keep a very important pledge.

Arthur Fred from Rhode Island. My boy, I can sympathize with "mamma." I am not sure that I know a more troublesome small habit than the one of moving slowly. Especially when one is waiting for you. Did you ever hear of the boy who lost his life because he waited to say "What for?" when told to bend his head? I could tell you of a little girl who lost a long delightful journey because she moved so slowly across a railroad depot that the train went off and left her behind.

Bertha from Maine. "Getting mad!" Oh, dear! what a sorrowful fault for a little Bertha. The "Whisper Motto," my dear, is "For Jesus' Sake." It is called so because though we may be often in places where we could not whisper to our father or mother or any earthly friends, it is not possible to go where we could not speak to Jesus, and get his help. If you control your temper for Jesus' sake, you will surely succeed.

Lena from Massachusetts. "Little sister" will have a much happier life because of your pledge. And she will probably make a better woman if she lives, because of it. If sisters only knew how much they could help each other, by watching their words, I think they would take your pledge.

Helen from Connecticut. You are right, my friend, everybody has "need of patience." I don't suppose you will find a day in your life but you will need a large stock of it to draw from. You do well to begin early to gather it. [4]

Jessie from Connecticut. We are glad to enroll you among our number. There is no doubt but that you and your friend can be great helps to each other. Patient people, those who can be patient with little trials or annoyances, are sadly needed in this world. I heard a gentleman say of a quiet little lady once, that she had a remarkable mind. "How do you know?" I asked, for I was aware that he had not talked much with her. "Because," he said, "I saw her keep a perfectly quiet face and gentle manner under a series of annoying circumstances; and only people with very cultured minds or hearts can do that."

Laura from New Jersey. Your plan for getting up a P. S. is an excellent one. I hope you will write and tell us how you succeed. We are very glad to welcome Andrew. I wish all the boys in the country would take his pledge to keep their arms off the table. Wouldn't the mothers rejoice!

Anita Harriet and Ada Maud . Welcome, dear little sisters, who write such nice letters. Does the old giant Impatience trouble you so much, Anita? I suspect about the time he comes along, Giant Cross gets hold of Maud. Am I right? Those two are very fond of working together. You are wise to join hands in fighting them.

Harvey and Lillie from New York. A brother and sister starting out together; that is good. Harvey, my boy, I don't often get a letter which gives me more pleasure than did yours. It is not easy work that you have undertaken, it is true, but you have a great Helper on your side. As soon as I can manage it, we must get up a mammoth temperance organization from the members of the P. S. As for the little sister, her sweet and thoughtful pledge will be helpful to you, as well as to herself.

In reading my magazine I found you would like to know how your Pansies spent Christmas. I spent mine very pleasantly; we had a small tree in our sitting-room, with presents from papa and mamma, and all the family. In the evening sister went to the organ and played some sweet pieces, and we all joined in the singing. Then we went up to grandpa's. I think the day was filled with pleasant things.

Dear Pansy, I do try to keep my pledge. I try hard to keep things in their proper places; but I find I need to be very watchful, and to ask for a great deal of help from God. Mamma has just written to Boston to renew my subscription to The Pansy . It is rather late, but I hope not too late to wish you a Happy New Year.

I want to join the P. S. because I have many faults, and I think the badge would help me. I believe my worst fault is being careless. Last year I raised some strawberries, and in that way earned the money for my Pansy . I hope to make enough this year to take it again. I can hardly wait for the next number to come. I would like to have your photograph if you have any to sell. I try to remember our "Whisper Motto." This is the first letter I ever wrote.

I have a good many faults, but I think my temper is the worst. That is when I get out of patience I am awful mad! Don't that sound dreadful? I am trying to control it, and I know The Pansy helps me. I like it better than all the papers and magazines in the world. Thank you for your good stories. I wish you a Happy New Year, not in words, but from my heart.

I have signed the temperance pledge and would have tried to carry out my third promise before but I did not know where to get pledges.

I am aware that what I undertake is not easy to perform, but I am one of Jesus' followers and [5] I know he will help me if I ask him. I hope also that the badge will remind me of my pledge, and the whisper motto encourage me to perform it.

My brother Milton and I take The Pansy this year, and I want to be one of your little Pansies. I am seven years old, and can read and make letters and figures on my slate. I am trying to be a good boy, and if you will let me be one of your Blossoms, I will try to be better every day, and will promise not to drink any wine or cider, or anything that will make people drunk, and to be like the little boy my grandma read about in The Pansy , who signed the pledge when he was such a little boy. I say my prayers, and go to Sunday-school when I am well. I am sick now, have been in bed for two days, and my grandma reads to me out of The Pansy . We have some pretty pansies in our flower garden in the spring, and when they bloom I shall think of Pansy, and maybe I will send you some. My brother Milton has written to you, and I send twelve cents to pay for one of our badges. Warren wants to join too—says he is going to try to be good every day, but we think he is too little—he is only three years old. Don't you think he had better wait till he is a little bigger? With love from

My papa takes The Pansy for me this year, and I want to be one of your little Pansies. I am a little boy five years old, and live away down on the Eastern shore of Virginia. I go to school and am in my Second Reader and spelling-book, and make letters and figures on my slate. I can't write yet, so my papa is writing this for me. I try to be a good boy, but I want to be better, and am going to try and mind my papa and mamma every day, and help them all I can. I also promise not to drink any wine or cider, or anything to make me drunk. I say my prayers every night, and ask the Lord to bless my papa and mamma and brothers, and make me a good boy. I have a brother named Jemison who is seven years old, and a little brother named Warren who is three years old. Warren says naughty words sometimes. He says he is going to stop, and wants to be one of your Pansies, but I think he is too little. Jemmie is going to write to you and send twelve cents to pay for a badge. I go to Ocean Grove sometimes, and if I go this summer I hope I will see you. My papa gave me a copy-book to-day, and I am going to learn to write, so that I can write to you myself. I must now close, with love, from

A FAMILY FLIGHT OVER EGYPT AND SYRIA.

I KNOW you are acquainted with the Hales, Edward Everett and Miss Susan; therefore you know, without my telling you, that they write thoroughly delightful books. But I wonder if you are acquainted with the Horners? Not the family of "Little Jack Horner" who "sat in a corner," but some friends of the Hales who took delightful journeys all over the world. What I want of you is to accompany them, and have a good time, and learn more about the world we live in than you imagined you could without bidding good-by to your father and mother, and spending a great deal of money. This trip is very cheap indeed; in fact, if you belong to the P. S.—as of course you do—it will actually cost you only one dollar and fifty cents! Who ever heard of travelling over Egypt and Spain for a dollar and fifty cents! For the matter of that, if you are not particular about the dress, and will choose one a little plainer, you may save thirty cents and go for a dollar-twenty. The book has nearly four hundred pages, and a great many pictures. It is beautifully bound, and printed on the best of paper. I do not know how you could have a prettier ornament for your book table than it offers.

But the best way of helping you to understand how well the book is written, is to give you a piece of it, and I therefore let you have a peep at Damascus with the Horner family: [6]

DAMASCUS.

One of the first things the Horners did was to go to the top of the minaret of the city gate, for the view which is presented there of the town.

They saw below them a plain of flat roofs, broken here and there by a white cupola, and a tall minaret, and the large dome of the great mosque.

At their feet was the beginning of a narrow lane, winding along as far as the eye could follow it. This was the "street called straight,"—straight, meaning narrow; for it certainly would not be called straight in Philadelphia. In the Roman period of Damascus a noble street extended through the city in the same direction, and excavations made under the present Straight street have revealed fragments of a Corinthian colonnade which adorned it. For, during the great age since the founding of Damascus, and in the many evèuements it has experienced, one set of buildings after another has been destroyed, so that, as at Jerusalem, there is supposed to be layer upon layer of demolished cities to a great depth, underlying the present one.

In the distance they saw Mount Hermon, snow-covered at the summit. A walk through this street led them past scenes of the massacre of 1860, and other interesting sites; then, under a low Roman arch, they entered the region of the bazaars. This reminded them of Cairo, "only more so." The same narrow streets, and same open fireplaces as Bessie had called them, where the merchants sat cross-legged, in front of little shelves, on which were piled their stuffs; but at Damascus there was a greater variety of strange and gorgeous materials, rich and splendid. They could not resist the fascination of these shops, and bought a good many things, Hassan doing the bargaining, which consisted in a long and violent argument between him and the shopkeeper, ending in a mutual compromise. Both parties love these tilts of the tongue, and it is a regular part of shopping in the East. The dealer demands a price which he does not dream of receiving, and Hassan mentions a figure which he knows he shall have to raise. The squabble became sometimes violent, but after awhile the repetition was tedious, especially as our Americans did not understand a word of it. Miss Lejeune saw some pretty little damask napkins, for which her soul longed, bordered with red and yellow stripes. [7]

"Well, Hassan," said Mr. Horner, "you may begin the fight over these;" and while it went on, the party turned their attention to the crowds flocking by in the narrow streets, dressed in the brilliant colors of the Orient: the men with gay turbans, and full trousers of every bright tint, the women veiled, in dark garments. A man went by with a cooling drink, rattling tumblers to attract attention; a lemon was stuck on the pointed top of the tin vessel he carried it in. Tommy tried it, and pronounced it "not bad!"

An expedition on donkeys, which was shared only by Mr. Hervey, Miss Lejeune and Bessie, while the others were busy in bazaars, was to Salahiyah, a suburb of Damascus. They rode at first through a narrow lane, with high blank walls on either side. The houses of Damascus are all built in this way, with all their pleasantness concentrated within, upon an interior court. The street walls are without windows or access, except through heavy doors. This is on account of the numerous attacks the inhabitants have received, leading them to protect their outer works.

They stopped before a dingy little door, and knocked. They had to stoop to enter, when lo! they heard the sound of a rushing fountain, and found themselves standing on a balcony surrounded by orange and lemon-trees. Roses and fleur-de-lis were blooming along the paths of a lovely garden, through which poured a deep, though narrow river, with its edge tufted with maiden-hair and grasses that danced in the water. A slowly turning wheel lifted water from the stream to feed the little fountain.

The gentlemanly proprietor, in a turban and gown of striped red and blue cotton, spread a carpet and brought chairs for them to repose upon, while he entertained them by playing upon a musical instrument something like a fiddle, and there they ate their picnic lunch, which Hassan, who accompanied them, had brought. This was his surprise. He had proposed the expedition, and was disappointed that the whole party did not join it; but for some reason, they had not understood the extent of the plan, and so the others lost seeing the pretty garden.

There is much more about Damascus, for which I have not room. There is much to delight you in the book. I hope you will be able to own it, and will give it careful reading.

April 1. " The Pipers ," by Jessie Curtis Shepherd. This charming picture is the very spirit of springtime—springtime of the greening earth, springtime of life, in the gay procession of children blowing on dandelion pipes.

April 15. " On Easter Day ," by W. L. Taylor. This Easter picture is an exquisite idyl of the maid and the lily.

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To improve as well as to amuse young people is the object of these twenty-one sketches, and they fill this purpose wonderfully well. What boy can fail to be interested in reading an account of an excursion made in a balloon and a race with a thunder-storm? And is there a girl who would not enjoy an afternoon in the Christmas-card factory? It is a curious fact that only one hundred and thirty years ago the first umbrella was carried in London, much to the amusement of the ignorant, and now there are seven millions made every year in this country. And who would believe it possible that there was a large factory full of women who earned their living by making dolls' shoes. A bright girl or boy who insists to know something about the work done in the world, who does it, and how it is done, cannot fail to enjoy these stories. The writers are all well-known contributors to children's periodical literature, and the book will be a welcome addition to any child's library, and might be used with advantage as a reading book in schools.

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A mother, whose five children have read Wide Awake in her company from its first number to its latest, writes: " I like the magazine because it is full of Impulses. Another thing—when I lay it down I feel as if I had been walking on breezy hill-tops. "

Every boy who sailed in fancy the late exciting races of the Puritan and the Genesta , and all lovers of sea stories, will enjoy these two stories of Newport and Ocean Yachting, by Charles Remington Talbot .

Mrs. Harriet Prescott Spofford , in this delicious White Mountain Romance, writes her first young folks' magazine serial.

Margaret Sidney writes these two amusing Adventure Serials for Little Folks. Thirty-six illustrations each.

VI. A Six Months' Story (title to be announced), by Charles Egbert Craddock , author of Down the Ravine .

By Mrs. John Sherwood . This series, brilliant and instructive, will begin in the Christmas number and run through the year.

By Elbridge S. Brooks . Illustrations by Howard Pyle. Twelve historical stories celebrating twelve popular holidays.

Thrilling incidents in our various American warfares. Each story will have a dramatic picture. The first six are:

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This article will be a notable feature of the Christmas number. The rich illustrations include glimpses of Holland, Assyria, Persia, Moorish Spain and New England, with two paintings in clay modelled expressly for Wide Awake , and reproduced in three tones.

These are by twelve of the foremost women poets of America. Each ballad will fill five to seven pictorial pages. The first six are:

The Deacon's Little Maid. A ballad of early New England. By Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney . Illustrations by Miss L. B. Humphrey.

The Story of the Chevalier. A ballad of the wars of Maria Theresa. By Mrs. Harriet Prescott Spofford . Illustrations by E. H. Garrett.

The Minute Man. A ballad of the "Shot heard round the World." By Margaret Sidney . Illustrations by Hy. Sandham.

The Hemlock Tree. A ballad of a Maine settlement. By Lucy Larcom . Illustrations by Edmund H. Garrett.

The Children's Cherry Feast. A ballad of the Hussite War. By Nora Perry . Illustrations by George Foster Barnes.

Little Alix. A ballad of the Children's Crusade. By Susan Coolidge . Illustrations by F. H. Lungren.

Many other enjoyments are in readiness; among them a Thanksgiving poem by Helen Jackson (H. H.), the last poem we can ever give our readers from her pen; "A Daughter of the Sea-Folks," a romantic story of Ancient Holland, by Susan Coolidge; "An Entertainment of Mysteries," By Anna Katherine Greene, author of the celebrated "detective novels;" foreign MSS. and drawings by Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Pennell; "Stoned by a Mountain," by Rose G. Kingsley; a frontier-life story by Mrs. Custer, author of Boots and Saddles ; a long humorous poem by Christina Rossetti; Arctic Articles by Lieut. Frederick Schwatka; "A Tiny Tale of Travel," a prose story by Celia Thaxter; a "Trotty" story, by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps; beautiful stories by Grace Denio Litchfield, Mary E. Wilkins and Katherine B. Foote; a lively boys' story by John Preston True; "Pamela's Fortune," by Mrs. Lucy C. Lillie; "'Little Captain' of Buckskin Camp," by F. L. Stealey—in short, the magazine will brim over with good things.

I. Pleasant Authors for Young Folks. ( American Series. ) By Amanda B. Harris . II. My Garden Pets. By Mary Treat , author of Home Studies in Nature . III. Souvenirs of My Time. ( Foreign Series. ) By Mrs. Jessie Benton Fremont . IV. Some Italian Authors and Their Work. By George E. Vincent (son of Chancellor Vincent). V. Ways to Do Things. By various authors. VI. Strange Teas, Weddings, Dinners and Fetes. By their Guests and Givers. VII. Search-Questions in English Literature. By Oscar Fay Adams .

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A Special Inducement to all whose subscriptions are received before June 15th. A handsome three-shelf Bookshelf will be presented to each one whose yearly subscription is received before the above date. Any subscriber sending us one NEW yearly subscriber will receive the bookshelf as a premium. Express charges on the bookshelf to be paid by the receiver.

The works issued in this library are uniformly of a high standard and may well come under that class of literature styled "home fiction," a literature, that, while free from the flashy, sensational effect of much of the fiction of to-day, is, nevertheless, brilliant in style, fresh and strong in action, and of absorbing interest. It is a class that all the young folks, as well as the fathers and mothers and older brothers and sisters, may read with profit as well as great pleasure.

1. THE PETTIBONE NAME, by Margaret Sidney , author of The Five Little Peppers , etc. It is a delightful story of New England life and manners, sparkling in style, bright and effective in incident, and of intense interest. There has been no recent figure in American fiction more clearly or skilfully drawn than Miss Judith Pettibone. Most of the characters of the book are such as may be met with in any New England village.

2. MY GIRLS. By Lida A. Churchill. A story of four ambitious girls. Their struggles to realize their ambitions and their trials and successes, make a story of intense interest.

3. WITHIN THE SHADOW, by Dorothy Holroyd. "The most successful book of the year." "The plot is ingenious, yet not improbable, the character drawing strong and vigorous, the story throughout one of brilliancy and power." "The book cannot help making a sensation."— Boston Transcript.

4. FAR FROM HOME. From the German of Johannes Van Derval. Translated by Kathrine Hamilton . A fascinating story of life and travel in foreign lands.

5. GRANDMOTHER NORMANDY. By the author of Silent Tom. The story is fascinatingly told. The character of Grandmother Normandy, stern, relentless and unforgiving, almost to the last, is strongly drawn, and the author has shown much skill in the construction of the story.

6. AROUND THE RANCH. By Belle Kellogg Towne. It is original, fresh, and written with great naturalness and power; its pathos is exquisitely touching. The opening scenes are laid in the Colorado mining regions.

Twelve numbers mailed on receipt of $2.75, if ordered before July 15th. The twenty-four volumes mailed on receipt of $5.00 if ordered before July 15th.

Brief, attractive, and entertaining in style, authentic, and free from any blemish of narrowness or partisanship, the books of this series can be unhesitatingly commended. The volumes are unique in style, handsomely bound, and illustrated, and sold at $1.50 each.

As the American publishers of this popular author, D. Lothrop & Co. offer the most attractive and acceptable edition of his works. Among them are

An invaluable series of instructive and pleasing books with which are associated the names of Ernest Ingersoll, Amanda B. Harris, Arthur Gilman, Hezekiah Butterworth, Benj. V. Abbott, Henry Randall Waite, Edward E. Hale and Rose G. Kingsley.

The works of this popular author are universally acknowledged to be among the very best of all books for Sunday-school reading. Earnest, hopeful, practical, full of the spirit of Christian faith and courage, they are also in the highest degree interesting.

Among the new books by this favorite author, which Sunday-school Superintendents and all readers of her previous books will wish to order, are:—

One Commonplace Day. Pansy has brought out in this book a vivid, lifelike story, full of strong incentives to right thinking and living. 12mo, cloth, $1.50.

Interrupted. Has all the charm of this author's style, grown riper each year. 12mo, extra cloth, $1.50.

In the Woods and Out. Admirably suited to the needs of a large class of young folks. It is composed of the choicest of short tales so delightful at the twilight hour when the children clamor for "a story." 12mo, cloth, $1.00.

The Browning Boys. A fascinating story of the growth of two boys who set out on their birthday to be helpful at home. By applying the "golden texts" of the International Sunday-school lessons in their every-day life, they, without swerving from the strictest sense of right, are able to send their invalid father to Florida, and were the means of his restoration to health. 16mo, cloth, 60 cents.

A Hedge Fence. A story that will be particularly pleasing to boys, most of whom will find in its hero a fair representation of themselves. 16mo, 60 cents.

An Endless Chain. From the introduction, on the first page, of the new superintendent of the Packard Place Sabbath-school, to the end, there is no flagging of interest in this bright, fresh, wholesome story. Illustrated. 12mo., $1.50.

Side by Side. Short illustrated stories from Bible texts for the help of boys and girls in their every-day duties. 16mo., cloth, 60 cents.

Christie's Christmas. No more charming little heroine can be found than the Christie of this volume, and the story of her journey to spend Christmas, with the great variety of characters introduced, all of them original and individual in their way, is perfectly novel and interesting.

As a guide to teachers, rich in suggestions and directions for methods of teaching, etc., there is nothing better than Pansy's Scrap Book . 12mo., cloth, illustrated, $1.00.

In fact all of Pansy's books have some special charm or attraction which makes them a power for good wherever read.

The New Sunday-school Library, No. 11. 20 Volumes. Former prices, $1.25 and $1.50 each; net to Schools, $10.00.

32 Franklin St., Boston , March, 1886.

To Sunday-school Teachers :—

Ladies and Gentlemen ,—Because we know that to you it is, and should be, largely entrusted to advise our young people in regard to their reading, because you are powerful guardians of "literature for the young," we invite you to examine the periodicals we publish monthly for children and young folks: Wide Awake , The Pansy , Our Little Men and Women , and Babyland . We will supply you with specimens of these, if you will call, or if you will write us. These magazines are in the watchful and trained care of their original editors, and the same purity, strength, and sparkle characterize each number from month to month, from year to year. The highest order of fiction, the most inspiring, lifting, and refining poetry, the most instructive lessons in history and natural science, the most entertaining records of travel and adventure, the finest literary and biographical articles, appear in their pages. The Congregationalist said last week of Wide Awake , that it "sets its readers to thinking for themselves along many different lines. It has solved the problem how to proportion fun and soberness best in such a publication better than any of its rivals." Literary Life , after saying that " Wide Awake is the best monthly magazine for young folks published in the country," goes on to say of it, "Next to watching Nature herself, it is the finest educational work we ever have seen for children. A child made happy by such a work will possess an intelligence and richness of mind beyond the mere range of school lessons." We do indeed confidently trust that should you direct your classes to our magazines, you will find them a good means of preparation of hearts and minds for your own important work. You will find the magazines graded suitably for the use of infant classes, and upwards.

Very truly yours,
D. LOTHROP & CO., Publishers .

( From the N. Y. Tribune. )

Among publishers who have carried into their work serious convictions as to their duty to the public in the matter of supplying good literature, and who have resolutely resisted all temptations in the more lucrative direction of that which is simply sensational, an honorable place may be claimed for D. Lothrop & Co., who have accomplished in the United States a work second to that of no publishing-house.

This work was undertaken by D. Lothrop & Co. years ago. With the firm conviction that ultimate success would attend their efforts, they have employed the pens of scores of those who have shared their convictions, including some of the best-known authors at home and abroad, and have sent out an ever-increasing stream of pure, attractive, and instructive literature, which has reached every part of the land, and made their name famous everywhere.

In a general way the public are familiar with the aims of this house, and have come to regard its imprint upon a book as a guaranty of excellent in all essential qualities.

The Waterbury Watch (and Chain) given for Four New Subscriptions to either The Pansy or Our Little Men and Women ; or for Two New Subscriptions and $1.30 cash additional, if sent before June 1st, 1886.

We make this special offer only to present subscribers who send us new subscriptions. One dollar must be paid for each subscription (no club rates being allowed) and the order must be sent to us direct, not through an agent. The subscriptions must be secured between April 10th, 1886, and June 1st, 1886. (Premium credits not taken up cannot be used for this special offer.)

NEW ENGRAVED CASE (BACK).

The above amount includes postage. If the watch is to be registered (and we do not assume responsibility of safe delivery otherwise), 10 cents should be added.

The Waterbury Watch will be found a marvel of accuracy and cheapness.

Accurate, because it will run 24 hours, and keep time equal to the better grade of watches .

Cheap, because it will wear for years, and is offered at a price within the reach of everybody.

Every watch is perfect before leaving the factory and is tested a few days in our office before being sent away.

The price of the watch is $3.50.

Remember, the Waterbury Watch is not a toy, but a real watch , having less than one half the number of parts to be found in any other going watch in the world. It is a stem winder.

Remittances may be made by Money Order, Draft, Bank Check or American Express Money Order, at our risk.

Any subscriber to one of our magazines sending us one new subscription to THE PANSY , with $1.00 for the same, may select any three volumes of the Young Folks' Library as a premium.

Any subscriber sending us two new subscriptions to The Pansy , with $2.00 for the same, may select any four volumes of the Young Folks' Library and one volume from the Household Library as premiums.

See the advertising pages of our magazines for description and titles of the volumes. The subscription money must be sent direct to us. These special offers are good only to July 1st.

Having made special arrangements with the manufacturers we are enabled to offer the celebrated Excelsior Printing-press Outfits as premiums for new subscriptions.

The premiums are given to present subscribers to any of our magazines sending us new subscribers to Wide Awake , The Pansy , Our Little Men and Women , and Babyland , at full subscription rates . The following special inducements are limited to July 15th, 1886.

A SELF-INKING PRESS will be substituted in any of the above offers for additional subscriptions amounting to $2.00.

A SELF-INKING PRESS will be substituted in any of the above offers for additional subscriptions amounting to $5.00.

(With a Self-inking Press , price $3.00 additional.) This outfit will do work from the size of postal card down.

A SELF-INKING PRESS will be substituted for additional subscriptions amounting to $10.00.

(With a Self-inking Press , price $6.00 additional.) This outfit is an excellent one, as it will do for bill-heads, note-sheets, etc.

The mechanical plan of the SELF-INKING PRESS is the same as with the hand inker except that inking rollers are added to work by the stroke of a lever. The advantage of a self inker over a hand inker is mainly in speed, which is increased because both hands are left free, one to feed paper and one to work lever.

ALL EXCELSIOR PRESSES use ordinary printers' type, as made in any part of the world. No Excelsior Press is cheaply made, but has steel bearings, best of screws, etc. All presses print within 1/8 inch of full size of chase as screws are used to lock up the forms.

Every Excelsior Press is fully warranted in every respect. With every press we send out is included full printed instructions on every point, by which any purchaser can manage type-setting, press-work, etc., successfully and satisfactorily.

The Publishers desire to obtain a few copies of The Pansy for November, 1884 and January, 1885. The magazines must be in good condition, clean and perfect. Seven cents per copy will be paid. Notify the publishers by postal card if you have either of the numbers desired, and do not send them unless requested by mail.

Did it ever occur to you how much cleaner and nicer it is to wash the Napkins, Towels, Handkerchiefs, Table Linen, etc., by themselves, with soap not made of putrid fats or questionable grease?

Do it with Ivory Soap (ninety-nine and forty-four-hundreths per cent. pure.) made of vegetable oil, and use them confident that they are clean and not tainted.

If your grocer does not keep the Ivory Soap, send six two-cent stamps, to pay the postage to Procter & Gamble, Cincinnati, and they will send you free a large cake of Ivory Soap.

Transcriber's Notes:

Punctuation errors repaired.

First advertising page, "wokr" changed to "work" (Embroidery Cotton to work)

Same, "AAMATEUR" changed to "AMATEUR" (AMATEUR PRINTERS.)

Page 205, "unpleasont" changed to "unpleasant" (not an unpleasant task)

Page 205, final line of first stanza indented to match rest of poem (It cannot matter much)

Page 207, "come" changed to "came" (supper time came)

Page 215, "reaehed" changed to "reached" (reached their destination)

Page 223, "somwhat" changed to "somewhat" (being somewhat curious)

Page 227, "invisble" changed to "invisible" (balloon was invisible)

Page 228, "Inever" changed to "I never" (I never would have)

Page 237, repeated word "to" removed from text. Original read (ought to to go)

Page 237, word "the" added to text (down the street)

Page 238, "missonaries" changed to "missionaries" (built by the missionaries)

Page 238 and 239, text uses both "Oroomia" and "Oroomiah" once.

Page 3, advertising, "andthe" changed to "and the" (literature, and the book)

Page 3, advertising, ".00" added to text to match rest of prices. (By Hezekiah Butterworth. $1.00.)

Page 12, advertisements, "Pepy's" changed to "Pepys'" (Mr. Pepys' Valentine)

Page 12, advertisements, "Tunrcoat" changed to "Turncoat" (A Revolutionary Turncoat)

Page 12, advertisements, "VI" changed to "IV." (IV. Some Italian Authors)

Page 12, advertisements, "By" changed to "by" (by Anna Katherine Greene)

Page 14, advertisements, "o" changed to "of" (fidelity to facts of)

Page 14, advertisements, "Dr." changed to " Dr. " to match rest of type-setting in advertisement ( Dr. Geo. T. Day )

Page 14, advertisements, word "By" added to text (By Frances A. Humphrey. )

Page 14, advertisements, " Harla " added to " Harlan " (By Marion Harlan .)

Page 14, advertisements, "12m" changed to "12mo." ( Mary Blake . 12mo.)

Page 15, advertisements, "she" changed to "She" (What She Said)

*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PANSY MAGAZINE, MAY 1886 ***

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Oct. 1.	Little Brown Maiden.	Kate Greenaway.
Oct. 15.	On Nantucket Shore.	F. Childe Hassam.
Nov. 1.	In Grandmother's Garden.	W. T. Smedley.
Nov. 15.	The Dream Pedler.	E. H. Garrett.
Dec. 1.	Morning.	F. H. Lungren.
Dec. 15.	Evening .	F. H. Lungren.
Jan. 1.	Wild Ducks.	Charles Volkmar.
Jan. 15.	In Holland.	F. Childe Hassam.
Feb. 1.	The Three Fishers.	Thomas Hovenden.
Feb. 15.	Under the Electric Light.	F. H. Lungren.
Mar. 1.	Two Connoisseurs.	T. W. Wood, N. A.
Mar. 15.	Lost.	W. L. Taylor.

Wide Awake , $3.00.	Babyland , 50 cts.
The Pansy , $1.00.	Young Folks' Library , $3.00.
Our Little Men and Women , $1.00.	Chautauqua Young Folks' Journal , 75 cts.

OUTFIT A consists of
No. 1 Press, complete, 2 ¹ / ₂ x 3 ¹ / ₂ inches	$3.00
Assortment of Furniture,	.10
Ink Roller, 3-inch, with handle,	.35
Can of Black Ink,	.20
Font of Type,	1.00
Leads	.05
Type Case	.30
Price,	$5.00

OUTFIT B consists of
No. 2 Press, complete, 3 ¹ / ₈ x 5 ¹ / ₈ in.	$5.00
Furniture,	.30
Ink Roller, 3-inch, with handle,	.35
Can of Black Ink,	.20
Two Fonts of Type,	2.50
Extra Feed Table,	.30
Leads, Oil Can,	.30
Can of Cleaning Preparation,	.30
Set of Gauge Pins,	.20
Type Case	.55
Price,	$10.00

OUTFIT C consists of
No. 2-1/2 Press, complete, 4 ¹ / ₂ x 7 ¹ / ₂ in.	$8.00
Furniture,	.65
Ink Roller, 5-inch, with handle,	.50
Can of Black Ink,	.35
Four Fonts of Type,	6.90
Leads, Bodkin and Tweezers,	.50
Two Type Cases,	1.10
Set of Gauge Pins,	.20
Composing Stick, Oil Can,	1.20
Can of Cleaning Preparation,	.30
Extra Feed Table,	.30
Price,	$20.00

The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Pansy Magazine, May 1886

THE
PANSY