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I SUPPOSE you all have heard of the mirage, which is a delusion of the eye, and which often deceives the poor traveller across the weary, pathless desert. Sometimes, when the caravan is about to give up, and lie down to die of weariness and thirst, they will suddenly feel their courage revived by the sight, as they suppose, of a lovely oasis, with lofty palms and silvery fountains.
Not long since I was reading an account of a whole regiment who when the Egyptians first conquered Nubia were destroyed. The poor creatures saw this mirage, and ordered their guide to take them thither. He insisted that it was only the delusive mirage, and, in their anger, they fell upon and killed him. The regiment then rushed for the supposed lake. Faint and weary they hurried over the hot sands. Oh! how those sparkling silvery waters allured them on!
But soon the cooling lake turned into sand! And the whole regiment lay down on the burning sands, and when found by Arabs, sent to search for them, they were all dead.
Now, dear little friends, there are some so-called pleasures in life which allure us like the mirage—but let us not be deceived. Let us choose the better part, which can never be taken from us.
J.
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THIS is something as Miss Agnes Hedenstrom looked when she was eight years old, and living among her wealthy relatives in Upsala. She was an orphan, petted by everybody and allowed to have her own way.
Thus she grew up, apparently a spoiled child.
She was not happy, however, though indulged with whatever she wished. She felt the need of something else.
Girl playing a luteWHEN SHE WAS EIGHT YEARS OLD.
WHEN SHE WAS EIGHT YEARS OLD.
One day she heard a Swedish minister preach, and soon after Agnes gave her heart to Jesus. Strangely enough, she began herself to preach to her people, now in schoolhouses, now in great halls.
Often she would address on the streets of London great crowds of the worst sort of people.
For years she thus toiled on among the wretched and wicked and dangerous people who infested East London.
Once she was speaking alone in an awful place to twenty drunken sailors while they yelled and blasphemed. Still she continued as best she could to tell them the wondrous story of redeeming love. Think of the "spoiled Agnes" coming to be such a brave, true woman! She still shudders to remember those awful moments when she did not know but those wretches would tear her to pieces. They did not. They became quiet and subdued. The next evening they came, bringing some of their comrades with them.
Then came a lecture room by her efforts; then a larger one. A few years ago Miss Agnes went among the good people of London and told them about the wretched people among whom she was laboring, especially the wicked sailors.
They gave her money to build a Home for sailors, when they come on shore without friends and an army of saloons to tempt them to drink and waste all their earnings in "riotous living."
Well, after waiting some months for the builders to finish the work, she clapped her hands—not on her guitar as when she was a child—buttogetheras she walked through this Home.
She is sole manager of the sailors' boarding-house. There she sees that the beds are clean and the meals good. She has books and papers, and best of all, her dear Master Jesus in this Home.
More than a thousand sailors are thought to have been saved from their awfully wicked ways through this wonderful Agnes Hedenstrom.
Some one has said that God can thresh a mountain with a worm. Would not you like to be the worm in his hand?
C. M. L.
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An English acre consists of 6,272,640 square inches; and an inch deep of rain on an acre yields 6,272,640 cubic inches of water, which at 277,274 cubic inches to the gallon makes 22,622.5 gallons; and as a gallon of distilled water weighs 10 lbs., the rainfall on an acre is 226,225 lbs. avoirdupois; counting 2,240 lbs, as a ton, an inch deep of rain weighs 100.993 tons, or nearly 101 tons per acre. For every hundredth of an inch a ton of water falls per acre.
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A FEW years ago I copied from a marble slab, imbedded in the earth upon a grave in a quiet country cemetery at Cornwall, Ct., the following inscription:
Henry Obookiah of Owhyee,Died February 17, 1818, aged 26.
His arrival in this country gave rise to the Foreign Mission School of which he was a worthy member. He was once an idolator and designed for a Pagan priest; but by the grace of God, and by the prayers and instructions of pious friends, he became a Christian. He was eminent for piety and missionary zeal; was almost prepared to return to his native island to preach the Gospel when God called him. In his last moments he wept and prayed for his "Ow-hy-hee," but was submissive to the will of God and died without fear, with a heavenly smile on his face and glory in his soul.
This remarkable young man was early made an orphan by the cruel massacre of both father and mother during a fearful struggle of two parties for the control of his native island, Hawaii. His younger brother was also slain while the boy of our sketch was endeavoring to save him by carrying him upon his back in his flight. Obookiah was taken prisoner and made a member of the family of the man who had murdered his parents. After a year or two he was discovered by an uncle, and his release from the hands of his enemy secured. His uncle was a priest and he entered upon the work of preparing his young nephew for the same service. This preparation was very different from the preparation of young men in Christian lands for the work of the Gospel ministry. One part of his duty was to learn and to repeat long prayers; sometimes he was forced to spend the greater part of the night in repeating these prayers in the temple before the idols. But Henry was not happy; he had seen his parents and little brother cruelly murdered, and thoughts of the terrible scene and of his own lonely and orphaned condition preyed upon his mind continually. But he had passed through still another sad experience. Before peace was restored in the island he was again taken prisoner together with his father's sister. He succeeded in making his escape the very day which had been appointed for his death. His aunt was killed by the enemy, and this made him feel more sad and lonely than before, and he resolved to leave the island, hoping that if he should succeed in getting away from the place where everything reminded him of his loss he might find peace if not happiness; and this is how he was to be brought under Christian influences in Christian America. He sailed with Captain Britnall and landed in New York in the year 1809. He remained for some time in the family of his friend the captain, at New Haven. And here he became acquainted with several of the students in Yale College, who were at once interested in this young foreigner, and from one of these friends he learned to read and write.
His appearance was not prepossessing or promising. His clothes were those of a rough sailor and his countenance dull and expressionless. But he soon showed that he was neither dull nor lacking in mental power.
For some time, while Obookiah improved in the knowledge of English, making good progress in his studies, he was unwilling to hear any talk about the true God. He was amiable and quite willing to be taught, and drank in eagerly the instruction given on other subjects, but after some months he began to pray to the true God. He had a friend, also a Hawaiian and his first prayer in the presence of another was made in company with his friend. A copy of this prayer has been preserved and I copy it for you to show how even in the beginning of his own interest in Gospel truth, his thoughts turned towards his native country.
"Great and eternal God—make heaven—make earth—make everything—have mercy on me—make me understand the Bible—make me good—great God, have mercy on Thomas—make him good—make Thomas and me go back to Hawaii—tell folks in Hawaii no more pray to stone god—make some good man go with me to Hawaii, tell folks in Hawaii about heaven"—
From this time until he died his one longing was to go back to his early home and tell thepeople about God. He used to talk with his friend Thomas about it and plan the work. In his diary he wrote at one time:
"We conversed about what we would do first at our return, how we should begin to teach our poor brethren about the religion of Jesus Christ. We thought we must first go to the king or else we must keep a school and educate the children and get them to have some knowledge of the Scriptures and give them some idea of God. The most thought that come into my mind was to leave all in the hand of Almighty God; as he seeth fit. The means may be easily done by us, but to make others believe, no one could do it but God only."
In April, 1817, a Foreign Mission School was opened at Cornwall. And Obookiah became a pupil in this school, intending to finish his preparation for work among his own people as soon as practicable. A description of this Sandwich Islander as given of him at that time may be of interest: "He was a little less than six feet in height, well-proportioned, erect, graceful and dignified. His countenance had lost every trace of dullness, and was in an unusual degree sprightly and intelligent. His features were strongly marked, expressive of a sound and penetrating mind; he had a piercing eye, a prominent Roman nose, and a chin considerably projected. His complexion was olive, differing equally from the blackness of the African and the redness of the Indian. His black hair was dressed after the manner of Americans."
As a scholar he was persevering and thorough. After he had gained some knowledge of English, he conceived the idea of reducing his native language to writing. As it was merely a spoken language, everything was to be done. He had succeeded in translating the Book of Genesis and made some progress in the work of making a grammar and dictionary. But the work he had planned was not to be finished by his own hand. Within a year from the time he entered the school at Cornwall he was called home. As recorded upon the marble slab, his last thoughts were for his native island; his last earthly longing was, that the Gospel might be preached to his own countrymen. One of our popular cyclopædias gives a brief mention of this remarkable young man and makes this statement: "He was the cause of the establishment of American Missions in the Sandwich Islands."
To have so lived, and by his earnestness and zeal so inspired others that upon his death they were ready to take up and carry forward the work he had planned, was to have accomplished even more than he could had he been permitted to enter upon the work for which he was preparing.
Faye Huntington.
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A HOLE in the pocket's a very bad thing,And brings a boy trouble fasterThan anything under the sun, I think.My mother, she calls it disaster.For all in one day,I lost, I may say,Through a hole not as big as a dollar,A number of things,Including some ringsFrom a chain Fido wore as a collar,My knife, a steel pen, a nice little noteThat my dear cousin Annie had sent me.The boy who found that, pinned it on to his hat,And tries all the time to torment me.I'd lost a new dimeThat very same time,But it lodged in the heel of my stocking;And one thing beside,Which to you I confide,Though I fear you may think it quite shocking:The doctor had made some nice little pillsFor me to take home to the baby;But, when I reached there, I was quite in despair,They had slipped through my pocket, it may be.Aunt Sallie, she,As cool as can be,Said, a hole in a boy's reputation,Is harder to cure,And worse to endure,Than all pockets unsound in the nation.Still a hole in the pocket's a very bad thing,And I am sure a real cause of disaster.But baby is well; so you must never tell;Perhaps he got well all the faster.—Gwinnet Howard,in Independent.
A HOLE in the pocket's a very bad thing,And brings a boy trouble fasterThan anything under the sun, I think.My mother, she calls it disaster.For all in one day,I lost, I may say,Through a hole not as big as a dollar,A number of things,Including some ringsFrom a chain Fido wore as a collar,My knife, a steel pen, a nice little noteThat my dear cousin Annie had sent me.The boy who found that, pinned it on to his hat,And tries all the time to torment me.I'd lost a new dimeThat very same time,But it lodged in the heel of my stocking;And one thing beside,Which to you I confide,Though I fear you may think it quite shocking:The doctor had made some nice little pillsFor me to take home to the baby;But, when I reached there, I was quite in despair,They had slipped through my pocket, it may be.Aunt Sallie, she,As cool as can be,Said, a hole in a boy's reputation,Is harder to cure,And worse to endure,Than all pockets unsound in the nation.Still a hole in the pocket's a very bad thing,And I am sure a real cause of disaster.But baby is well; so you must never tell;Perhaps he got well all the faster.—Gwinnet Howard,in Independent.
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Round the Family Lamp
AND now we must begin to confess, very reluctantly it is true, that the long evenings we have had the past few months around the Family Lamp are slowly growing shorter and shorter. Before we can have time to realize it very deeply somebody will say, "Oh! don't light the lamp just yet, it is so much pleasanter to sit in the twilight," and then it won't seem but about ten minutes, and the children and young folks will be whisked off to bed, and the games will be crowded entirely off the programme, and the Family will feel as if it had no good-night frolic at all. So we must get all the fun we can, and to-night we propose as a grand bit of sport—
Choose all your players if you can beforehand, so as to have each one select his and her color. As far as possible, wear as much of that color,putting away all other colors, on dress, in button-hole of coat, or scarf around in Highland fashion on the boys' coats, and be sure to tie a bright bow of ribbon of same color on stem of pipe. A player can decorate himself or herself in any way he or she chooses. Variety makes the game all the more brilliant. A cap trimmed with one's color is always pretty for the girls, and toques or soldier caps for the boys.
Dissolve a quarter of an ounce of Castile or oil soap cut up in small pieces, in three quarters of a pint of water, and boil for two or three minutes; then add five ounces of glycerine. When cold, this fluid will produce the best and most lasting bubbles that can be blown.
Now make your soap-bubbles in a big bowl, and choose your sides, an equal number on each, and range them opposite each other, and begin. The side that can make and keep unbroken the largest number of bubbles, is the winner. To keep tally, one of the party must be chosen as judge. You will have plenty of sport. I wish some of you would write me all about your fun.
Margaret Sidney.
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ONE pleasant April Sabbath, the parish clerk of a church in Wiltshire, England, stood at his reading-desk turning to the morning "lesson" in the great Prayer-Book. The congregation waited to give the responses, but he did not begin as soon as usual. Something curious had caught his eye, partly hidden under the Bible-rack, a small, slanting ledge or platform, slightly raised above the main desk. He looked more closely, and there, directly beneath the great Bible, he saw a robin-redbreast's nest, with two pretty blue eggs in it. Mrs. Redbreast and her mate had found a hole left by a small missing pane in one of the quaint old leaden windows, and entered the sacred house to make their little home where the sparrow and the swallow did that the sons of Korah sing of in the eighty-fourth Psalm. The clerk could not resent so pretty an intrusion, and did not disturb the nest; and when one of the birds flew in before the close of service, neither he nor any one of the congregation thought of doing anything to frighten it. And there the nest remained through the rest of April and nearly the whole of May, the redbreasts becoming so tame that the gathering of the worshippers and the voices and music of the service on Sundays or other days did not alarm them away. The sitting bird would stay, quietly brooding her eggs, while the clerk was reading, almost directly over her head. After the young were hatched, the male robin would fly in with worms in his bill to feed them, and his coming never disturbed the people's litany or the rector's sermon. This pleasant sanctuary partnership lasted till the full-fledged young were able to leave the church and trust to their own wings. Everybody felt that the birds had brought a blessing with them, and were sorry when they went away.—Selected.
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cherubs sitting in tree playing instrumentsWHEN THE SPRING WAS YOUNG.
WHEN THE SPRING WAS YOUNG.
MerryJack Frost and his fairy elvesCame by for a raid one nightWhen the spring was young, and a rosebud fair,In a sheltered nook, which the perfumed airAnd the sunbeams, warm and bright,Had wooed for a month, 'till its dainty browWas bright as the flush of dawn,Shone fair 'neath the moon; "'Tis a goodly sight!I'll cover it o'er with a veil of white,"Quoth Jack; "ha! ha! and the morning lightWill shine on its glory, gone!"He gathered his elves for the mischievous prank,When lo! with a mournful sigh,The south wind called to a pitying cloud,"O look! they're weaving the rosebud's shroud."She paused in the midnight sky,And glanced at the rose. "Is her doom so near?Poor bud!" and his tears fell fast.Oh! the elves were caught in a mournful plight,And the south wind laughed, and the frost-king's flightWas a sight to see through the dusk of night,For the cloud's soft tears overwhelmed him quiteAs they fell on his vestments fine and white;And the lovely Dawn, with her shafts of light,Looked down onhis glory, past!May M. Anderson.
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The P.S. CORNER
MY Blossoms all, I wish you a sunshiny April. I know she is apt to shed many tears, but for that very reason we must try to keep our faces unusually bright, for contrast.
I have given you this month several letters from our Blossoms. This, in the future, will be a special feature for our P. S. Corner. I have been selfish in keeping all the sweet bright little letters to myself. There is room for only a very few out of the hundreds which come each month, but you may take them as specimens of the rest. I wish we had room to print them all, for your enjoyment. Meantime, send them on for me to read, that I may keep posted as to what you are doing, and discover in what ways I can best help you.
Lovingly,Pansy.
Mary Louisefrom Florida. How glad it makes me to hear that the Whisper Motto helps you! It is sure to help every one who is faithful to it. That is a sweet thought of yours, to lend yourPansiesto others. I wonder how many of our Blossoms think to do a little good in that way? It would be so easy, and might help somebody very much. Do you like the "land of flowers?" I spent a month there last winter, and had a very happy time. I go to de Funiak Springs, where the Sabbath-school Assembly holds its meetings. Perhaps you will go, and I shall meet you there. Would not that be pleasant? If you do, you must surely come to me and say: "I am Mary Louise," then I shall know you at once.
Lizziefrom Connecticut. My dear, I pray for every name enrolled on our P. S. book. That God will make each Blossom fragrant for him, and take it some day to his heavenly garden, is my constant hope and prayer. Perhaps you need to use the prayer which I find very necessary for me every day: "Set a watch, O Lord, before my tongue. Keep the door of my lips."
Emmafrom Massachusetts. My dear,The Pansyis just twelve years old. Doesn't it travel over a large part of the world for one so young?
Lenafrom Massachusetts. We should be glad to hear about the entertainment. I hope you had a good time. Suppose you see how good a description you can write of it, and of your Sabbath-school?
Anniefrom Georgia. But I do not know that you are in Georgia now, my Blossom. Perhaps you have already moved to that "New home." If so, you will be able to write and tell me how you like it. I was glad to get your full name for enrollment.
Emmafrom Illinois. What success do you have with "impatience?" He is a very trying enemy; you certainly do well to rid yourself of him. But did you find it easy work? A little friend of mine said she could be just as patient as anybody when things went as she wanted them to; it was when nothing behaved right that she got impatient. I have known older people than she who might have said the same.
Alicefrom Vermont. My dear Blossom, I hope the badge reached you in safety and is helping you about taking care of those "things." Such little habits are great trials to "mamma," and I am sure our little Alice wants to be all the comfort she can to mother, especially now that God has taken the dear father and the sister home. I know how lonely you must be without them; but I hope you are trying every day to live so that when He calls you, it will be a joy for you to go and join your dear ones in their bright home.
Andrewfrom Dakota. Here comes another "impatient" boy! So they cannot be patient out in Dakota any better than they can farther East? Well, Satan seems to be busy bothering people all the world over. The Whisper Motto is just these three words: "For Jesus' Sake." We call it the Whisper Motto, not because wewant to hide it, but because we want to have it about with us all the time, speaking softly to our hearts when others cannot hear, perhaps when others are in the midst of talk which makes us feel cross, and we want to remember to give a "soft" answer because that is the only one which will please Jesus. There is no "charge" for membership in the P. S. There is a pledge to try to overcome some bad habit, and to adopt the Whisper Motto as one's own. We welcome you to our ranks, and have enrolled your name.
Helenfrom New Jersey. Oh, yes; we will try as hard as we can to help you. Whenever you see the meek little blossom on your badge, I hope it will put this verse into your mind: "For even Christ pleased not himself." If you think of this and try every time to do the thing you did not want to, so your life will be pleasing to Jesus, by and by it will grow so pleasant to you to think of what others want, that you will forget it was ever a trouble. I am glad you are going to try it.
Lanettafrom New Hampshire. Not at all too late for good wishes, my friend; nine months of the year left to improve. Shall you and I try hard to make it the happiest year of our lives? What a quiet, pleasant Christmas you told me of! It rests me to think of your happy home.
Mildredfrom New York. Yes, I know, the little baby brother needs a great deal of patience. Sometimes it helps us to sit down in a corner by ourselves, and try to imagine how desolate the house would be without him. I know of a woman who sometimes sheds bitter tears, even now, because the last words she spoke to her little baby brother more than fifty years ago, were cross ones! Glad to receive your pledge.
Here is a lovely bouquet of Blossoms from Massachusetts:Cora,Ida,Bessie,Lizzie,Louise,Margaret. Just a sweet half-dozen. I hardly know a bouquet of which I think with so much pleasure as this one. Something whispers to me that some of them are trying hard to help the others. Perhaps all are trying. Like the rest of us, these Blossoms have work to do; weeds will grow in flower gardens, if not carefully watched. Here is the weed of "Carelessness" popping up its naughty head to trouble Louise; it is so much easier to leave the books or the playthings just where they happen to drop; at least it seems easier at the time. Try the other way, Louise, and see how much comfort you will get from it.
Margaret's sweet little tongue wants to speak, sometimes, when it would better keep silence; so many tongues attempt that! Margaret is going to teach hers that while "Speech is silver, silence is golden."
Cora's tongue, too, is sometimes tempted to speak naughty words; watch it, my child. Do you know the verse—
This one little tongue that God has givenMust always speak for him.
If we make our words always such as He will love to hear, we shall be safe.
Ida's tongue is tempted to whisper when it should be silent. Isn't it astonishing how many wrong things there are for tongues to do, and how sure they are to go wrong if they can! Ida, as well as the rest of us, needs this prayer: "Keep the door of my lips, that I sin not with my tongue."
Bessie is evidently tempted to move slowly, either with hands or feet, or both, when she should make all speed. I am glad indeed to hear that you are going to try to teach these members better.
And here is little Lizzie, the last of the group, who has a hard task indeed before her; she is going to try not to "do anything wrong." That sounds like a very large pledge; but after all, if we are soldiers of Jesus, it is no more than he asks: "Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."
Dear Blossoms, I hope I shall hear often from you, that you are growing, and blooming, and spreading your fragrance for Jesus' sake.
Georgefrom Illinois. Welcome, my boy, to our roll. I am an excellent hand to read writing; just try me and see if I don't make yours out, without any trouble. Meantime, we, you and I, are very grateful to mamma for writing for you, and for all the kind words she speaks.
Annefrom Washington. Your threefold pledge is very important; especially that one about "reading the Bible every day." If all the young people of this generation, or even if allthose who belong to the P. S., would make and keep that resolution through life, I am certain we should have a different world to live in, by the time they were old enough to help manage it. Dear me! What am I talking about? Not one of you but is old enough this minute to help manage the world, your little piece of it, and I haven't the least doubt but that you are doing it; the question is, How?
Olliefrom Texas. Your first letter! Good! How glad I am you wrote the first one to me. But really I don't understand about the "squirrel." Didn't you find him on some other page? Think it up, my boy, and let us know. Meantime, I have enjoyed your letter.
Walterfrom Dakota. I acknowledge that it is very sad to think of one of my Blossoms as being "mad." But since it is only when you "get out of patience," and you have taken a pledge to keep yourself supplied with that article, we shall hope to hear better things of you very soon. We gladly welcome you.
Nettafrom Missouri. What a busy little woman you must be in school! Your studies are all important, and I hope I may think of you as one of the most faithful scholars in the room. Can I?
Georgefrom Illinois. I am sorry, my dear friend, that I have not a photograph for you. I have often thought what a pleasant thing it would be if I could afford to send a photograph of myself as a birthday gift to each of my Pansies! But alas, alas! my pocket book will not let me. No! I remember you did not ask me to give it; you were very polite. I will answer your question, however, as to where you can find it. L. E. Walker of Warsaw, New York, is authorized to furnish a good picture of me, and will reply promptly to your question as to price. I have forgotten what they cost; they are cabinet size. D. Lothrop & Co., Publishers ofThe Pansy, have also an engraving of me, which they will furnish for twenty-five cents on application.
Frankfrom Massachusetts. Dear little Blossom, I am glad to put your name on my roll. It isn't an easy matter to mind "just as quick!" It takes a boy with a good deal of strength of purpose to accomplish it. I am so glad you have decided to learn the lesson early. Did you ever hear of the great general who said no man was fit to command until he had learned to obey? It is true.
Paulfrom Maine. My boy, I like your rules very much; and your letter. I have just been writing to a dear little fellow who has the same fault to overcome; he will be glad to see you have joined his company. Are you acquainted with a namesake of yours, the grand old "Paul" of the Bible? He is a favorite character of mine. If you have not carefully studied his life, suppose you do it, and write out what you think of him, for me. Will you?
Margueritefrom New York. Yes indeed, my little Daisy, you may join our society. We are glad for all the flowers we can get, and we hope they will bloom summer and winter, and be so sweet that all who come near them will feel their influence. I am glad you like "Reaching Out." It is to be continued through the year.
Haroldfrom Boston. I hope the badge reached you safely. At first I was in great doubt, having received a nice letter from you, with no address, so the badge could be sent; but as soon as the second letter came, I attended to it. To "mind mother" is one of the very important duties in life. So important that God made a special command about it. I think you write an excellent letter for a boy of your age.
Lucyfrom Michigan. Thank you, my dear, for your interesting letter. I think your Band must be a very helpful one. One needs to do something of that sort, in order to realize how rapidly the pennies count up.
Jessiefrom Nebraska. So you are just a little inclined to "fret." Well, that is a very easy thing to do, and rather a hard thing to stop doing. I hope the badge will do its share in the work. I suspect the motto, however, will be more helpful than anything else. I enjoyed your letter very much.
Maudfrom Montana. Oh, yes, my dear, far-away Pansy, there are other Blossoms just as far; but if somebody should ask us what we were talking about—how far from where?—what should we tell them? This is such a big world, and the people who live in California think the people who live in Maine are very far away from them, but when I get a letter from a little missionary girl in China, she says, "I wish you didnot live so far away fromus!" so how shall we count? The truth is, we are all away from home, on a journey; by and by, if we keep the right road, we shall all get home to our Father's house; then no one will be far away.
Horacefrom New Jersey. My boy, I know all about that habit of yours, what a temptation it is. I am rejoiced to think you are going to conquer it while you are young. One day I went to call on two ladies, sisters, who were both over fifty years old, and don't you think the younger one contradicted the elder in almost every statement she made! If we could have gotten hold of her when she was a little girl, and coaxed her to take a pledge to overcome the habit, she would not be such an ill-bred woman now.
Corafrom New Hampshire. We welcome you and "sister Mabel" with great pleasure. There are a great many "hasty tempers" among our Blossoms. The world will certainly be the sweeter because of all the flowers that have decided to speak gentle words instead of hasty ones.
Rosefrom Pennsylvania. Did the badge help? I wonder what sort of things you "forgot" so much? Poor gold thimble! I wonder where it is hiding? I heard of a boy who forget to mail a letter for his father, and so was the means of his losing ten thousand dollars!
Rodneyfrom Philadelphia. Another "quick" temper! All right, my boy; we have many to keep you company. We welcome "sister Clara" also. An "answer back" is almost certain not to be a "soft" answer; did you ever notice it?
My Dear Pansy:
Do you know I have read you for over three years, and I think you arejust splendid!I want a badge to help me overcome the fault of fretting. When things don't go to suit me I am apt to fret. Near this town where I live there are prairie dog-towns, where prairie dogs, owls, and rattlesnakes all live together in one hole! I should think they would fight and kill each other, and I expect they do. I learned that piece fromThe Pansy, "The Little Quaker Sinner." I think it is real pretty. I like the story about the Deckers best of anything inThe Pansy, but I like everything in it. I take the magazine to our school, and the teacher reads the story about Nettie and Jerry, aloud; the scholars all like it so much they can hardly wait until the next chapter comes. I have a brother named Paul. I would like to correspond with some Pansy Blossom; a little girl of about my own age.
Good-by,Jessie Moxon.
Dear Pansy:
I want to tell you about our Pansy Band. It meets the first Saturday in every month; there are thirty-two members, boys and girls. We learn the missionary catechism, and each one repeats a verse from the Bible. Sometimes three or four are selected to write little papers on the subject for the month. We pay a penny apiece each Saturday; if any of us are absent, the next Saturday we bring two pennies; and then besides, we give our offering. Alice and I are trying to do right.
Your loving friend,Lucy Taylor.
Dear Pansy:
I have a good many faults, but I want to overcome them. I think the worst one is not to mind promptly. I mean to take for my motto: "Do your duty promptly." I hope God will help me to keep it. Mamma found some rules in a paper, which she said if I would learn and obey, would please her very much. I am going to. I am nine years old; I loveThe Pansyvery much. I want to be a Blossom in your garden. Please send me a badge.
Your loving friend,Paul Thompson.
PAUL'S RULES FOR BEING A TRUE GENTLEMAN.
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Isthere a Blossom among you who does not want to win success? I am sure I hope not. There is an old saying, into which is packed a deal of common sense. This is, "What has been done, can be done." Since there is truth in it, would it not be well for all who want to succeed, to study those who have succeeded? To this end, I want to introduce the Pansies to a book bearing the title which is at the head of this article. It is written by Mrs. Sarah K. Bolton of Cleveland, which name you will know, when you grow older, if you do not now, ensures it as delightfully written and worthy of all trust. A copy of the book lies on my desk at this moment. There is a sense in which it is not of much consequence how a book is dressed, and yet I do like to see one in a pretty dress, don't you?
photographDR. J. H. VINCENT
DR. J. H. VINCENT
This one is robed in a lovely gray tint, very like the color which used to be called "ashes of roses;" ask your mamma if she remembers that. It has an exquisite design in gold, representing the ocean, a ship riding its waves, a lighthouse streaming out its warning of rocks ahead, and a hint of harbor in the distance.
As to size, there are two hundred and forty-five pages clear type, with very good pictures of twelve grand men who were eminently successful in their various fields, and a brief sketch of each, given in Mrs. Bolton's inimitable style.
One of the faces is like the one I give you in this article—John H. Vincent. I would be glad to have all the Pansies acquainted with the man. Many hundreds of you have seen him at Chautauqua; I hope many thousands more of you will go there, and see and hear him. I believe he has more sympathy with, and heart for, and knowledge of young people, than any other great man whose name I know. These things being true, of course he can help young people, if they will let themselves be helped by him.
Who else is in the book? Oh, Whittier, the grand old poet, and Gough, the temperance orator, and Wanamaker, the Christian merchant and philanthropist, and Edison the great inventor, and Morton, whom so many of the sick and suffering have reason to bless, and half a dozen more whom you may not know quite so well by name, but will enjoy meeting.
I am anxious that the Pansies in their youth gather books about them which will not have to be cast aside as outgrown in a few months, but can be given honorable places on their library shelves when they are men and women.
This is why I am watching the books, and giving you their names, and a hint of their contents, and getting special rates for you. Now I have reached the remaining question of importance, viz., price. Regular price, one dollar; to members of the P. S., whose names are regularly enrolled on our list, sixty cents. Send to D. Lothrop & Co., Boston, if you are entitled to the book at that price.
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JAMES VICK, seedsman and florist (Rochester, N. Y.), sends out a "Portfolio of Rare and Beautiful Flowers." The choice of the subjects comprising the six large plates, painted from nature, is a most happy one; and the accompanying descriptions and history of these exquisite forms, in verse and prose, reflect great credit upon the editorial work. We predict for it a generous reception.
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THE motto of the Society is "Pansies for Thoughts." What kind of thoughts? Oh, sweet, good, pure, unselfish, hopeful thoughts, such as Pansies, beautiful Pansies ought to inspire.
Now "who may join?"
Every boy and girl who takes thePansy, and is willing to promise to try to overcome his or her faults, to encourage every good impulse, to try to conquer some hard lesson at school, to do anything that shows a disposition to help the cause of right in the world. Any one who will say from the heart: "I promise to try each day to do some kind act, or to say some kind word that shall help somebody;" honest effort will be accepted as much as if success were gained.
This promise must be dated, and will be copied into the "P. S." roll-book.
The most important of all to remember is our whisper motto: "I will do it for Jesus' sake."
"FOR JESUS' SAKE."
Whatever He will own, the "P. S." will be proud and glad to copy on its roll-book.
Then you must write a letter to Pansy (Mrs. G. R. Alden, Cincinnati, O.), saying that you thus pledge yourself, and you will become a member of the Pansy Society, and receive a badge.
Now, about the badges.
The officer's is of satin, trimmed with gilt fringe, and has a gilt pin to fasten the badge to the dress or coat. In the centre is a pansy in colors—above it the words,Pansy Society, and beneath it,Pansies for Thoughts.
The badge for members will be the same as the officer's, with the exception of having no fringe and a silver pin.
And thePansywill help. As it has always been glad to encourage those who are struggling up toward the light, so now it reaches forth its helping hand to those little ones who will rally bravely around it, to the work of putting down the evil, and the support of all things good and beautiful.
So many of you have little brothers and sisters who want to join the P. S., and who of course do not need an extra copy of the paper, that we have concluded to receive all such, letting them pay ten cents each for their badges, if they wish them. Understand! If you are a subscriber toThe Pansy, and have a badge, and have a little sister who would like a badge, write at her dictation a little letter to Pansy, taking the pledge, telling of some habit which she means to try to break, and enclosing twelve cents in two-cent stamps, ten to pay for the badge, and two to pay the postage for sending it. Her name will be enrolled as if she were a subscriber. The same advice applies of course to little brothers. Send your letters to Mrs.G. R. Alden, Chapel Street, Walnut Hills, Cincinnati, O.
It is also asked:—
What makes an officer of the Pansy Society?
You are to endeavor to organize a club of as many members as you can. Each one forming such a Club or Society will receive the Officer's badge, and become President of the same. The local Society may contain as many members as can be secured.
Then, of course, you will plan for your Society; how often it shall be called together, and what your rules shall be; whether you will sing, or visit, or work, or have a literary society, or read a book. The only thing you call on the members to positively promise is that each will try to overcome some bad habit, and will take for the whisper motto the words—