CHIL
OF THE CHURCH
jt'
JAMES M.FARRAR.D.D.
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
CHATS WITH
CHILDREN OF THE
CHURCH
BY
JAMES M. FARRAR, D.D., LL.D.
Author of "A Junior Congregation" and "Little Talks
to Little People"
FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY
NEW YORK AND LONDON
1912
Copyright, 1910-1911
THE CHRISTIAN HERALD
Copyright, 1912
PUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY
[Printed in the United States of America]
Published, September, 1912
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PAGE
The Price op a Day 7
Bending a Sword Into a Crown . . 12
Carnation Celebration 17
The Land of the Shadow .... 22
A Clean Lent 27
St. Valentine and Lincoln .... 31
The Father of Our Country ... 35
A Little Talk on Sentiment ... 40
The Village Blacksmith .... 45
A Saint Digging a Well .... 50
The Children's Palm Sunday ... 55
The Children's Easter Sunday . . 60
All Fool's Day 65
A Golden Spoon 70
A Little Brown Bed 76
Keep off This Seat 81
Mother's Day 86
Grant's Birthday 91
Peace Day 96
Apple Blossom Sunday 101
Memorial Day 106
Clinging Climbers (Rose Sunday) . . Ill
Our Flag Day 116
Hanging a Prayer on the Stars . . 121
5
CONTENTS
PAGE
25.
The Cross on the Arm ....
. 126
26.
The Coming Fourth of July .
. 131
27.
The White Stone
. 136
28.
Superstition and St. Swithin .
. 141
29.
The Password
. 146
30.
The Little Window Door
151
31.
August in Earnest
. 156
32.
Vacation Rest, With a Thread
. 161
33.
Raindrops and the Rainbow
. 166
34.
Labor Day
. 171
3,5.
Rest Day
. 176
36.
Little Moments and Margins .
. 181
37.
Little Children and the Big Stick
186
38.
New Year's Day in October .
191
39.
Columbus Day
196
40.
A Little Child and a Big Man .
201
41.
The Statue of Liberty ....
206
42.
All Saints' Day and Hallow's Eve
211
43.
John's Letter to Children .
216
44.
Chrysanthemum Sunday ....
221
45.
Thanksgiving Day
226
46.
Linked Up With God ....
231
47.
Nothing Ventured, Nothing Won .
236
48.
The Advent Child
241
49.
Peace Sunday
246
50.
The Silent Years
251
51.
Steel-Rimmed Spectacles . . . .
256
52.
Gold-Rimmed Spectacles .
261
CHATS WITH CHILDREN
OF THE CHURCH
One
THE PRICE OF A DAY
"Redeeming the time." — Ephesians 5:16.
fTl HE first day of the New Year will soon fold its
**• tent like an Arab, and as silently steal away.
Each day has twenty-four hours, and that seems like
a long time. But each hour is divided into seconds,
and these tiny mites of a day may slip away before
you pray. They go so quickly that an hour is soon
past ; it won't last. As soon as one hour goes another
hour starts to run after it. One part of the day you
have for play, and each play hour is on roller skates.
Juniors should sleep at least ten hours a day ; each
one of these hours steals away before you wake. In
the day there is a break.
If, therefore, you are going to d© anything with
7
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
the days of this New Year you must be quick about
it, or they will all slip away in making way for
another day. Paul says we should redeem them.
What does he mean? His idea is that you should
buy them, purchase them, make them your own. The
days of this year will go faster than any automobile.
They will never have a punctured tire, and you can
not arrest them for speeding. They will just keep go-
ing on at full speed. Are you ready to purchase one
day? Have you money enough to purchase a whole
day? You may be surprised to learn that even one
hour is of more value than an automobile. What
do you suppose a day is worth? I can tell you what
a very rich man by the name of Carnegie has offered,
or said he would be very willing to give, for ten more
years of life. He enjoys this world, and would like
to live in it ten years more. For these ten years,
if any one could sell them to him, he would be willing
to give two hundred millions of dollars.
If this is the price, how much time can you pur-
chase? In ten years there are 3,650 days. At the
rate that Mr. Carnegie is willing to pay for ten years,
one day would be worth $54,794. Is that too much to
pay? Then possibly you would be willing to take an
hour. An hour at this rate would cost you $
8
THE PRICE OF A DAY
Is that too much for your pocketbook so soon after
Christmas? Then possibly you would be willing to
buy a minute. A minute would cost you $38.
I see some of you shaking your heads. You do not
have $38? Then you had better buy a second, for
I am sure you want to have some time that you can
call your own Now, how much would a second cost
you? I want you to figure this out when you go
home. If one minute costs $38, how much will one
second cost? This is the price an old man is willing
to pay for every second in ten years.
Time is very much more valuable for a junior than
it is for a senior. An hour now is worth ten hours
when you are old. A year now is worth ten years
when you are old. I am glad God does not ask you
to purchase time with money. Some of you boys
and girls would have to work a month of borrowed
time in order to buy a second. What is the price
God asks you to give for time? "Redeeming the
time" means buying the opportunity. A study hour
is an opportunity. If you make good use of the
hour, you have purchased it, you have bought an
opportunity for study. The price was hard work.
If you have an hour for recitation you pay attention
for the hour. An hour for play is purchased by ex-
9
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
ercise, and you get health. You buy every oppor-
tunity by using it.
The trouble with a great number of boys and girls
is that they lose much of their time. The morning
hour is the most valuable one of the day. Your mind
has had a long rest during the night, and is fresh
and ready for work. You lose the best hour. I think
I know where you lost it. You will probably find it
in your bed. You just turned over and dropt half
an hour in a nap. Two naps make a knapsack, into
which you often drop an hour. Then you lose many
of these valuable minutes by being late for breakfast,
late at school, late for church, always behind time.
Here is a sentiment that I would like to have you
commit and repeat every night before you go to bed :
LOST ! Somewhere between sunrise and sunset,
two Golden Hours, each set with Sixty Diamond
Minutes. No reward is offered, for they are gone
forever.
Shall I tell you a story? Here is one that is
specially interesting because it is true. It is a sad
story about the late Prince Napoleon. He had joined
the English army, and was one day at the head of a
squad riding horseback outside the camp. It was a
dangerous situation. One of the company said, "We
10
THE PRICE OF A DAY
had better return ; if we don't hasten we may fall into
the hands of the enemy." "Oh," said the Prince, let
us stay here ten minutes, and drink our coffee." Be-
fore the ten minutes had passed a company of Zulus
came upon them, and in the skirmish the Prince
lost his life. His mother, when informed of the facts,
in her anguish said, "That was his great mistake
from babyhood. He never wanted to go to bed at
night, nor to rise in the morning. He was ever
pleading for ten minutes more. When too sleepy to
speak, he would lift up his two little hands and spread
out ten fingers, indicating that he wanted ten minutes
more. On this account I sometimes called him 'Mr.
Ten Minutes.' "
Redeem each and every hour of the day, and then
at night, after you have said your prayer, and just
before you fall asleep, you can hear Longfellow sing :
"And the night shall be filled with music,
And the cares that infest the day
Shall fold their tents like the Arabs,
And as silently steal away."
11
Two
BENDING A SWORD INTO A CROWN
"Escaped the edge of the sword."— Hebrews 11:34.
ELEVEN days of our New Year have folded their
tents. Each one stole away silently at mid-
night. All the other days of this New Year are in
the temple of To-morrow. To-morrow, the torment-
ing day that never comes. It is that strange day
that never arrives, but always sends To-day. We
call To-morrow a temple, because from To-morrow,
To-day comes to us so pure and good. It comes
without sin and without stain, alike in sunshine and
rain. Every junior takes To-day as it comes from
To-morrow, and writes something on it before it
passes into Yesterday. When the day slips by with-
out being stained or spoiled, God takes it and reads
with pleasure all you have written on it. If the day
does not go from you as clean and sweet as it came
to you, Satan will claim it when it becomes Yesterday.
He will read all you write on it as a letter to him
from you.
Over the head of every boy and girl who redeemed
12
BENDING A SWORD INTO A CROWN
each day for God, hangs a crown. It is held in the
air, over his head, by a very slender thread. This
thread will some day break, and let the crown down
softly upon his head. God has a crown for every one
of his workers. I believe the brightest are for boys
and girls. The juniors are wearing crowns to-day,
but their eyes are not bright enough to see them.
In the next world you will see the crowns you on earth
wore while on your daily rounds.
Over the head of every boy and girl who works
for Satan there hangs a sword. It is suspended only
by a thread. I do not like to talk about the sword;
I would rather talk about the crown. But there is a
sword hanging over the head of every junior who is
not redeeming each day, and is not sending it back
clean and sweet to God. Now I am sure you will
think this sermon is long enough and you are wait-
ing for a story. Here is a story which I change a
little for the sake of the juniors, but it is really one
of the great stories of the world, and the main part
of it actually happened. Many years ago there was
a boy who wrote on each day unkind words and
marked each day with dark deeds — received each day
from God, and sent it on to Satan. He was a
Prince, the son of Dionysius. So cruel and unkind
13
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
was the Prince that the people called him the "Young
Tyrant." He was very rich, and lived in a fine
palace, with everything as beautiful as money could
buy. But he did not purchase each day for God;
he stained it for Satan. Then there was some-
thing the King and all his friends tried to find. It
was something unseen that made the Prince unhappy.
He said he felt something over his head, but no one
could see it.
One day a very poor child, the son of Damocies,
came to the palace and saw the Prince as he walked
in the garden. The boy spoke to the Prince, and
said, "How happy you must be! You have here
everything you desire." The boy was surprized to
hear the Prince was very unhappy. The Prince said,
"Perhaps you would like to change places with me;
if so, I will give you all my riches and pleasures for
one day if you may teach me how to play. You can
take my place and everything that is here will be
yours for the day, but you must stay and play as
I say." The boy agreed and anxiously waited for
"to-day" to come from "to-morrow." He could not
sleep that night, thinking how happy he was going
to be for one day. The next day he went to the
palace, and all the servants were told to treat him
14
BENDING A SWORD INTO A CROWN
as the Prince. He soon tired of the palace and its
pleasures.
He went out and sat down under a tree in the
garden, where everything that was good to eat and
drink was placed before him. Anything that he could
think of was brought to him the -moment he men-
tioned it. He sat enjoying the good things and
listening to the wonderful music. He tried to make
himself believe that he was the happiest boy in all
the world. He thought he was enjoying the life his
father and mother had taught him not to live. He
chanced to raise his eyes toward the sky, and saw
a sharp sword that hung directly over his head. He
was frightened when he saw it was held only by two
threads of a spider's web. What if the threads should
break? The smile faded from his lips and he became
ashy pale.
The Prince came and asked him what the trouble
was. "That sword! That sword!" cried the boy.
"How can I escape the edge of the sword?" He was
so frightened that he feared to move lest the sword
would fall. "Let me go," he said, "for I can not
be happy with this sword hanging over my head."
He went back to his old home, in the poor little
cottage, where he thanked God for the plain food
15
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
and Christian home and the music of the birds and
the brook.
He began again to think good thoughts and to
do noble deeds, and then real joy filled his heart.
Looking up from the table, he saw hanging over his
head a crown, a beautiful crown, suspended by just
one thread of a spider's web. Some one whispered,
"When your life is pure, and you are content and
willing to think more of God than of riches and
pleasures, then this crown will fall gently upon your
head. As soon as he learned this, he ran, almost
out of breath, to the Prince and told him about the
crown. It is the sword that makes you unhappy.
He told the Prince if he would be a brother to the
Prince of Peace, an angel would come and bend the
sword, now hanging over his head, into a crown.
From him the Prince was glad to learn how to escape
the edge of the sword.
16
Three
CARNATION CELEBRATION
"The Word was made flesh." — John 1:14.
THE Carnation holds the world's admiration. It
was first found in southern Europe. Flower
lovers have cultivated it for many, many years, be-
cause of its fragrance and beauty. Do you know
the meaning of the name Carnation? We get the
name Carnation from a Latin word that means flesh.
The wild Carnation was flesh-colored. The beautiful
pink of a little child's flesh. Carnation, there-
fore, means flesh, or flesh-colored. It was once called
a pink. By loving the Carnation a little, coaxing it
a little, and pushing it a little, the florist has made
it bloom in several colors.
This name Carnation will help you to remember
the long word, "Incarnation." Take off the "in"
and you have left "Carnation," the name of this
flower. Put "in" back again, and you have "In-
carnation." Now you have a new word, one you will
never forget. What does this long word mean? Car-
nation, you know, means flesh, and Incarnation, then,
17
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
means in the flesh. The Incarnation of Christ means
his life here on earth in the flesh ; that is, in the body.
"The Word was made flesh." "Word" is one of the
names the Bible uses for Christ. "In the beginning
was the Word." Christ came down from heaven, and
lived in a flesh body like yours. He came as a little
child, with beautiful pink cheeks. "Carnation," a
flesh-colored flower; "Incarnation," the beautiful
flesh-color, or body, in which Christ lived while on
earth.
Just think, isn't it splendid? The junior congre-
gation knows what the minister means when he talks
to the senior congregation about the "Incarnation
of Christ." He means our Christ living in the flesh,
living close to us, suffering with us, rejoicing with
us, dying for us. The Bible calls Christ the "Rose
of Sharon" and the "Lily of the Valley." We will
also call him our "Carnation." I am glad the Bible
tells us to think of Christ as being like a flower. He
is just like a flower, of which I read last week. On
one side of a gangway entering a coal mine grows a
plant which is perfectly white. Visitors on seeing
it were surprized that this little plant could be so
pure and white, clean and sweet, with coal dust and
dirt flying over it all the time. A miner took a hand-
18
CARNATION CELEBRATION
ful of coal dust and threw it upon the plant. The
coal dust fell off the flowers. There is something
like enamel on the white flower, to which the finest
speck could not stick. There the flower lives, the
one spot of beauty and purity amid a world of work
and dirt. Christ became incarnate, lived in a body
as we do, to show us how we can live and work in
the dust and dirt of sin and still keep our body, mind
and soul clean and sweet.
Flowers also help to make our lives clean and sweet.
A young girl on a train gave a bunch of Carnations
to a little cripple. The child held them to her lips
and prest them to her heart until she fell asleep.
As the train neared her home, her father came in
from another car. At the sight of his little one lying
peacefully with the Carnations in her hand and her
head against the stranger, he said, in a voice full of
feeling, "I'm not a prayin' man, but, the Lord's
blessin' rest on you for your kindness to my mother-
less child." The little girl roused as she was taken
in her father's arms, and said, "I've been — in —
heaven — pa; I've got — some — Carnations." The
dear child, I hope some one told her about the "In-
Carnation."
Look a little louder, please, through that tear!
19
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
Now I hear. You say, if I will tell you another
story, you will remember all the sermon. Here,
then, is the story. President McKinley loved the
Carnation. It was the flower he wore in the button-
hole of his coat. January 29, will be the seventieth
anniversary of his birth. Millions of people each
year, on January 29, wear a Carnation in memory
of this great and good man. We therefore call
January 29 "Carnation Day." To-day we will call
"Carnation Sunday." Our Carnation Celebration!
President McKinley was shot September 6, 1901,
when visiting the Pan-American Exposition in Buf-
falo. He died on September 14, at the Milburn
home. Three days before he died, a poor but sweet-
faced old lady tried to get to the house to see Mrs.
McKinley. She carried a bunch of old-fashioned
garden posies, and had them tied with a faded pink
ribbon. In this bouquet were many "hardy pinks,"
now called Carnations. A policeman stopped her
near the rope that kept the crowd back from the
house. "You can't go through, lady," said the of-
ficer, stepping in front of her. She stepped back
trembling, and the tears began to flow as she said,
"Will you be so kind as to give these flowers to Mrs.
McKinley? They're from my own yard, and I've
CARNATION CELEBRATION
walked clear in from out near Grimesville to give
them to Mrs. McKinley, with my love. Tell her that
we are all praying out at Grimesville that her hus-
band will get well."
It is said at the Milburn home that, while there
were bouquets of American Beauty roses here and
there in the rooms, the bunch of old-fashioned posies
from the woman from out Grimesville way, who
prayed for the President, had the place of honor on
her dresser. The Incarnation of Christ made the
world wonderfully beautiful, fragrant and kind.
On this day the children come with arms full of Carnations,
and after the service they are sent to the children's ward of
the hospital, and to any sick children known of to whom they
can be sent.
~2\
Four
THE LAND OF THE SHADOW
"They that dwell in the land of the shadow." — Isaiah 9:2.
\ ]| TISH I could be a country boy again, just for
* » a day. If the choice came at this time of the
year, I would take February 2 for that one day.
What a great day it used to be in the fields, watch-
ing the woodchuck. We Pennsylvania boys called it
Groundhog Day. But as the woodchuck and the
groundhog are the same animal, it does not matter
which name we use. The mound around the ground-
hog hole was our weather bureau. There was an old
myth, that had great interest for the blacksmith's
son. If the groundhog came out on February 2, and
saw his shadow, we believed he would dive head fore-
most into his hole. Out from his dark hole in the
ground he would not come for six weeks. I am sure
you are all sorry for the foolish groundhog. Run-
ning from his shadow, and hiding in a dark hole for
six long weeks!
I imagine that the Indian boys call him "groundhog
afraid of his shadow." Do we know any "boy afraid
THE LAND OF THE SHADOW
of his shadow," or "girl afraid of her shadow?"
Why should any one be afraid of a shadow? One
of the most beautiful homes in this country was built
from a shadow. How could a house be built from a
shadow? One day Mr. Spencer Trask and his little
daughter were crossing a rustic bridge, over a beau-
tiful lake. The little girl saw their shadows in the
water and, pointing with joy, said, "Yaddo," which
was as near as her baby tongue could get to the
word shadow. Near this lake her father built a man-
sion, where the little child could see its shadow and
shout "Yaddo." He named the mansion "Yaddo."
This is what I mean by building a home from a
shadow. Would it not be great to build our shadows
into something beautiful and useful?
But I am not going to preach to-day, and will stop
right here, and tell you a story. It is about "The
Land of the Shadow People." I found the story in
one of our daily papers. Elaine made a long journey
to the Land of the Shadow People. She soon noticed
that they had a strange custom of always walking
and working with their backs to the sun. In the
morning they worked with their faces set westward,
and at noon turned and began working backward.
Always with their backs to the sun. Approaching
23
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
one, whose strong body she admired, Elaine said that
it was a beautiful day. To her surprize, this man
replied that one so sick and sad as he did not care
whether the day was beautiful or not. And when
she exprest surprize at such a remark, he pointed
down to his shadow lying on the ground and said,
"You see me there, see how dark and thin I am."
"But," she cried out in surprize, "what difference does
that make? That is not yourself, it is only the
shadow of your real body." The man answered,
"No, that is not my shadow; that is my real self
lying on the ground."
Elaine was sorry, but he would not let her help
him. She went to a beautiful young girl, who was
sitting with her face to the west while sewing. A
straighter, better developed girl, with more beautiful
face, she had never seen. When Elaine spoke to her,
she began complaining of her poor health, and said
she was sinking into an early grave. "But," mur-
mured Elaine, "you have no signs of sickness; you
are beautiful and strong." "You are a strange girl,"
the young woman responded; "if you look at my
body you will see that it is already shrunken and
eaten away by sickness." "But," Elaine said, "what
of it? That is not yourself! That is nothing but a
THE LAND OF THE SHADOW
shadow of yourself." The beautiful girl said, "You
tell me that is not my body! Whose is it, then?"
Elaine kindly said, "Why, nobody's. It is nothing
but your shadow." But the young woman would not
believe her.
Elaine hurried over to a group of little children
who were staying in one place, but not playing.
Here, too, she found that each one's attention was
bent upon his or her shadow on the ground, and each
was afraid of it. Elaine asked, "Why don't you
juniors turn your faces to the sun, and you won't
see those ugly shadows." "Turn to the sun ! Why,
then, we couldn't see ourselves, and, if we didn't see
our bodies, how could we care for them?" At last
Elaine succeeded in persuading one little girl to turn
toward the light. "Why," she exclaimed, "where is
my body? I don't see it ! What has become of it?"
"Just where it always was," Elaine replied, and she
laid her hand on the girl's shoulder. "It seems so
strange. Why, I don't feel a bit sick." Elaine asked,
"Why not remain with your back to the dark and
your face to the light? Are you not happier as you
are?" "Oh, so much happier. Why, I never was
happy before." Then all the juniors turned from
their shadows with a shout of joy, and Elaine taught
25
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
them how to play and pray. This was the first junior
congregation in the Land of the Shadow People.
Woodchuck Day is a good time for us to say we
will not dwell in the Land of the Shadow. In the
Bible we read of "a sun and shield." A sun to give
us light, and a shield to protect us from danger.
See if you can find the name of our "Sun and Shield,"
who taught us how to dwell and to be happy in the
Land of the Shadow.
Five
A CLEAN LENT
"Tho your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow."
—Isaiah 1:18.
A SH Wednesday is the first day of Lent and
*■*■ Easter Sunday is the last day in Lent. From
early times the Church has set apart this season in
memory of Christ's forty-day fast. The name of
Lent comes from an old word meaning Spring. This
observance in memory of Christ's forty-day fast in
the wilderness came in the spring, so they called it
Lent. Some call it "Clean Lent." What a strange
name ? What do they mean ? On Ash Wednesday, in
some of the churches, ashes and holy water are
sprinkled on the people in the sign of the cross. Ashes
mean humility — we must be humble. Water has
reference to our need of washing clean from all sin.
The sign of the cross refers to what Christ has done
for us. Because Lent begins on Ash Wednesday with
this ceremony of cleaning it is called Clean Lent.
A Quaker, named Isaac Hopper, was a great lover
of little children. When he met a boy with a dirty
27
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
face or hands he would ask him, "Didst thou ever
study chemistry ?" The boy, with a wondering stare,
would answer, "No." "Then I will teach thee how
to perform a curious chemical experiment. Go home,
take a piece of soap, put it in water, and rub it
briskly on thy hands and face. Then thou wilt see
what a beautiful froth it will make. From it thou
canst make soap bubbles. This is a chemical experi-
ment ; I advise thee to try it."
It is not the body, but the mind and soul, that are
to be cleansed and made ready for the Easter joy.
In our church we do not have the chemical experi-
ment with ashes and holy water, but we do want you
to be made humble and to keep your mind and soul
clean. Tho your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as
white as snow. On Ash Wednesday just think, think,
think of what the day means. You wash and get ready
for dinner. Lent is the getting ready for the feast
of Easter. Let your prayer every morning be,
"Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." At the
close of Christ's forty-day fast we read that the
angels came and ministered unto him. Make this
"Clean Lent," and at Easter I am sure the angels
will bring blessings to you. Remember not only the
water of cleansing, but also the ashes of humility.
28
A CLEAN LENT
Humility means bowing jour proud head. Can I
help you to remember this ? Listen ! An eccentric
minister, preaching on "The Ark," said : "Noah sent
his boys out to measure the animals, in order to know-
how large to make the door of the Ark. The boys
brought back the measurement of the elephant as the
largest animal. When the door had been completed,
they came in, much excited, and said, 'Father, father,
the door is too low! We found a giraffe, with head
so high it can never get in.' The old gentleman re-
plied, 'I have made the door large enough to admit
the elephant, and that high-headed giraffe must get
its head down to enter.' And I say, brethren," con-
tinued the preacher, "the door into the Ark is wide
enough to admit an elephant of a sinner like me, and
if you high-headed sinners want to get in you must
get your heads down." You must be humble and use
God's method of cleansing. I hear a junior say, "I
am not a great sinner, I am sure my sins are not
like scarlet ; why should I be humble and ask God to
wash my mind and soul?"
Dr. Hulbert's story about one drop of red paint
will help you to understand. A boy walked into a
house-painter's shop one day, and stood looking at
the different colors. The painter had gone out for
-29
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
something, and the boy began to meddle. On the
floor stood a large keg of white paint, and close
beside it was a smaller one, filled with Indian red, all
ready for the brush. The boy took hold of a paddle
in the smaller keg and held it up, watching the thin
red stream which flowed from the end. Something
startled him, and he turned quickly and let a single
drop fall into the white paint. The boy was fright-
ened, and tried to hide the one drop of red paint by
mixing it well with the white paint. At last he
thought that the red drop was completely hidden.
But the first thing that the painter said when he
came in was, "That keg of white paint isn't very
white. I wonder what's the matter with it?"
Some of you have tried the same thing with the
spots in your characters that the boy did with the
spot in the paint. You try to hide your sin by mix-
ing it in with your good life. But one little, mean sin
will spoil your good character just as one drop
spoiled the keg of white paint.
30
Six
ST. VALENTINE AND LINCOLN
"He loveth our nation." — Luke 7:5.
WHY did the early Church call Valentine a
saint? Because he had a great heart of
love. An old Roman legend tells us that Valentine
was arrested and thrown into prison because he be-
came a Christian. Asterius, who was a very wise
man, tried to win Valentine back to heathenism. This
wise man had a beautiful daughter, who was blind.
Valentine, in the name of Christ, opened her eyes. Her
father, Asterius, then believed in Valentine's Chris-
tianity, and he and all his family were baptized.
But loving all who were in sorrow did not save him
from being murdered. The date of his death, Febru-
ary 14, is celebrated in memory of his love, and is
known as St. Valentine's Day. If you watch your
big brother and sister on February 14, you may see
them sending valentines — love-letters hidden in pic-
tures.
We celebrate February 12 as Lincoln's Day. He
31
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
had a great heart of love. "He loved our nation."
Ask father to tell you how much Lincoln loved our
nation. Ask him the price Lincoln paid for his love
of our nation. But like St. Valentine, Lincoln's
great heart of love did not save him. On April 14,
1865, he, like St. Valentine, passed into the larger
world of love.
How big was Lincoln? More than six feet in
height. But that is not his full measure. He had
a great brain. But you can not find how big he was
by measuring his brain. To know how big he was,
how really great he was, you will have to get the
measure of his heart. Last week I was talking to a
man who writes and publishes books. He told me
that the real greatness of a man is not found by
the measure of his head, but by the measure of his
heart.
The time will come when we will not speak of how
tall a junior is, or how much a junior weighs, but will
ask the size of his or her heart. All juniors have big
and good hearts. But sometimes, as the junior grows,
the heart begins to shrink. There are many things
that make the heart smaller and smaller as juniors
grow larger and larger. When Lincoln was a boy,
he avoided things that would have wrinkled his heart.
32
ST. VALENTINE AND LINCOLN
His mother taught him never to swear, never to
drink liquor, and never to lie. Do I hear you say,
"I know how telling lies and swearing will shrink the
heart. But I do not think that drinking liquor would
make the heart any smaller." I am glad to hear you
say that you "think." Your pastor wants you to
think, and if he is wrong in what he thinks he wants
you to set him right. Here are two questions for
your "think": Would Lincoln's heart have grown
if he had become a drunkard? Will strong drink
take love out of the heart ? I will leave you to think,
and to decide on these two questions. Send me your
vote. Vote yes or no on each of the questions. As
a reward for sending me your vote, I will tell you
a story.
A minister, who was my neighbor in the City of
Brotherly Love, told the following story to a large
congregation: "We had in the city of Philadelphia
a man who was secretary and treasurer in one of
our great institutions. I suppose there is scarcely a
man in this city that would equal him as a finan-
cier. Certainly not one who could surpass him. He
was a college graduate, and had all the fine instincts
of a gentleman. But strong drink claimed him as
its victim. He drank and drank until he had to move
33
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
into a very humble home. When his baby died, they
had no clothing to put on him to make him ready for
the grave. We furnished the clothes. Somebody
said that altho the child's feet were hidden by the
dress, they were bare, and that we should put shoes
on the little feet. I purchased some white kid shoes
and slipped them on the little icy feet. And old-time
friend said, 'Get the father and bring him in. Maybe
if he sees the baby, he will come back to himself.'
We brought the father in. He stood beside the little
casket for a moment, and looked down into the sweet
face of his child. Then he began to shake with great
emotion. The tears ran down his cheeks. The
friends said to us, 'Leave him alone,' and we went
out and left him alone with his child. He ran his
fingers over the folds of the little white dress and
underneath, and took off from those icy feet the
white kid shoes and crammed them in his pocket.
When I took his baby to the grave the father was
insensible from drink. He had pawned the little white
kid shoes and had spent the money in a saloon.
This man's heart had at one time been as large and
as full of love as your father's heart." Please do
not forget to send me your vote.
34
Seven
THE FATHER OF OUR COUNTRY
"Honor thy father."— Mark 10:19.
GEORGE WASHINGTON did not have a little
boy or a girl to call him father. He was lone-
some, and adopted all the people in this country as
his children. We are glad he adopted us, as he cer-
tainly was a good father. We will call each State in
our country a room in Father Washington's home,
and each person in our country a member of his fam-
ily. In 1776 how many rooms were in his home?
That is right, thirteen. You do not know how many
people were in his family? This you should know.
There were 3,929,214. He loved every one; they
were all his children. Why should we honor the
"Father of our Country"? One reason is because
of the troubles he had with and for the children.
He had many trials, and, when fighting those great
battles, he had more defeats than victories. Some
one has counted forty times in his life when it did
not seem possible for him to succeed.
35
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
Do you know the secret of his final success? Here
is what a student of history says : "Washington was
great in his courage and sticking qualities. He
would stick until he succeeded." This was one secret
of his success, but there must be some secret greater
than this one. He met difficulties that could not have
been overcome by merely sticking at his work.
Listen, and I will give you what I believe was the
secret of his success. Mr. Potts owned the house at
Valley Forge in which Washington made his head-
quarters. One day Mr. Potts was walking along
the creek, near the house, and heard a deep voice.
Then he noticed a horse tied to a sapling. On look-
ing further, he found General Washington on his
knees praying. Washington believed God would hear
and answer his prayer. Read his history and see if
this was not the great secret of his success.
We should honor Father Washington also for the
way he trained those 3,929,214 children. After his
death, the family did not quarrel. In each of the
thirteen rooms they remembered what he told them,
and kept on working together and adding more rooms
to the house. How many rooms are now in the
George Washington house ? Forty-eight is the correct
answer. I am glad you know your American history.
36
THE FATHER OF OUR COUNTRY
We have one peculiar room named the District of Co-
lumbia. Ask your father why it does not count as a
State. Then there are some large rooms on which we
have not swung a State door: Alaska, Hawaii, Porto
Rico, Guam and Tutuila. There are also children in a
far-away land, in a house we call the Philippines.
If we call each island in the Philippines an ocean
cubby, we have in this far-away home 3,139 cubbies,
or small rooms. In them are 8,159,502 George
Washington grandchildren. The father of our coun-
try could have been a king or an emperor, but he
chose to be just a father, and to work for his children.
Will a story help you to remember this? Then I
will tell you a story. It is about a discontented
stonecutter. He had a family, bright boys and girls,
but he loved himself better than he loved his chil-
dren. One day he said, "Would that I were rich, and
could lie on a couch with silk curtains." An angel
said, "Your wish is granted." But he soon tired of
his soft couch and si& curtains and said, "Would
that I were king." The angel crowned him and made
him a king. As king it was his duty one day to re-
view a very long procession of soldiers. The sun
shone down with fierce rays through the silken sun-
shade that was held over him. This made him dis-
37
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
contented, and he cried out, "I want to be the sun,
for the sun is stronger than a king." The angel
picked him up and threw him into the air. Before
he had time to think, he was the sun shining in the
sky. While he was rejoicing, a storm arose and hid
his power. Again he became discontented and wished
that he could be the cloud that was more powerful
than the sun. The angel was very patient, and
changed him into a big black thunder cloud. But
there was a mountain that he could not move. He
could cover it, and the lightning would flash
and the thunder roar, but the mountain
would not move. Therefore he was very unhappy.
"I wish I were a mountain of stone, stronger and
more powerful than the stormcloud." In a moment
he was a great mountain like Gibraltar, and boasted
of his strength. The next day a man came with a
chisel and hammer, and began to cut stones out of
his side. "What is this?" he cried out in despair;
"a man has power over me and cuts stones out of
my body. Would that I were a stonecutter, for a
stonecutter is stronger than a mountain, and a moun-
tain is stronger than a stormcloud, and a stormcloud
is stronger than the sun, and the sun is stronger than
a king, and a king is stronger than a rich man on
38
THE FATHER OF OUR COUNTRY
a silk couch." "It shall be as you desire," said the
angel. In a few minutes he found himself a stone-
cutter, again at his old work. But he had lost the
best years of his life.
The "Father of Our Country," whose birthday we
celebrate, was content to work without asking for
honor and more power. Now we all honor him, and
his name is power. At our national capital a
George Washington Memorial Hall is to be erected.
It will cost two million and a half dollars. Fifty
thousand children are to give a dime each toward the
cost. We love to honor this father.
G
Eight
A LITTLE TALK ON SENTIMENT
"Why was this waste?" — Mark 14:4.
OOD-BY to February. This month is short in
days, but large in celebrations. It is a month
of sentiment. I hear some one asking, "What is
sentiment?" It is something that comes to you when
you are not looking for it. It comes from your heart.
Let us take an example : As you walk along the street
you see a man whipping a boy. This makes you
think. If you hold the "think" in your brain, it
will keep cool and you will be able to reason about
it. You will say, probably, the boy was bad and
needed the whipping. You can put the thought in
cold storage; that is, in your brain, and pass on.
But if you let the thought get into your heart —
warm storage — you will begin to be sorry for the
boy. A tear will come into your eye, and you will
go up and ask the man not to whip the boy : "Please,
mister, give him another chance." The feeling that
made you sorry for the boy is what we call "senti-
40
A LITTLE TALK ON SENTIMENT
ment." It is a cold thought from jour brain warmed
up in your heart. You should think, and think hard.
Make your brain work. But you have a heart as
well as a brain, and through your heart you should
pass all your thinking. The warm heart will soften
the edges of your thought and give you some "sen-
timent."
There are some people who think they should obey
what the brain says, and not listen to the heart. I
heard a boy who decided that he would only put
"think" through his brain, and not through his heart.
He was determined to be guided by reason alone and
not by any sentiment. One day he did something that
was wrong and that made his mother cry. He took
one of her tears to his chemistry teacher, and asked
him to analyze it. The teacher told him this tear
was composed of phosphate of lime and soda. The
boy went home and told his mother that when she
cried she was wasting her lime and soda. He did
not have any "sentiment." Another boy saw his
mother crying, and the tear on her cheek not only
went through his brain, but he let it go through his
heart. His heart told him that the mother's tear
was composed of love and sympathy. Putting his
arms about his mother's neck he said, "Mother, I
41
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
am sorry to vex you; I will be a good boy, and not
make you cry again." One boy used his brain, but
not his heart. The other boy used brain and heart.
Which of the boys do you like better? I am sure that
you like better the boy who let his thought pass
through his heart and whose sentiment prompted him
to be kind to his mother.
When Christ was visiting in Bethany a woman
broke a box of precious ointment, and poured it on
his head. Her thought about Christ was not in her
brain only, but also in her heart. Those who had no
sentiment said, "Why was this waste?" They did
not let the thought into their hearts. She was pour-
ing out her love, but all they saw was the ointment.
Cold brain said she was wasting the ointment. Christ
told them that it was a sweet sentiment, it was no
waste. The broken box became her monument.
Christ said, wheresoever his Gospel is preached in all
the world, this story shall be told.
I want my juniors to think about Christ. "What
think ye of Christ?" But do not forget to hold
your "think" in your heart until there is a tear in
your eye. Your brain will tell you that Christ is
the greatest man who ever lived. Your heart will
tell you to love Him as your best friend and Savior.
42
A LITTLE TALK ON SENTIMENT
Love is a great sentiment. Do not forget that there
is plenty of room in your brain and heart for both
reason and sentiment. Napoleon had a big brain,
and could reason out great problems. He also had
a big heart and had room for sentiment. One day,
when marching rapidly to a great battle, he stopped
to turn over a turtle that was struggling on its back.
That was a good "sentiment."
The woman who poured the ointment on Christ's
head received a great reward. But she was not ex-
pecting any reward. I read in The Christian Herald
of a girl who obtained a reward for sentiment. This
young girl had nursed an aged relation, who was ne-
glected by her other relatives. When the woman
died, she left some money and an old watch. This
watch was to be given to whichever one of the heirs
might choose to take it instead of $500. One after
another examined it, and said : "Give me the $500 ;
the old watch rattles, but will not tick."
But the girl who had nursed the old lad}' said she
would take the watch because it had her friend's
picture in it. She was ridiculed for her sentiment,
which the other relatives called foolishness. But she
was given an unexpected reward for her sentiment.
One day, when looking at the picture, she accidentally
43
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
touched a secret spring in the watch. It flew open,
and she saw why the watch would not tick. The
wheels had all been taken out. What do you sup-
pose they had heard rattling in the watch? Not
loose wheels, but beautiful diamonds, worth thousands
of dollars. Each stone in the watch looked like a
big tear, molded by sympathy into a precious dia-
mond. Her sacrifice and love were not wasted.
44
Nine
THE VILLAGE BLACKSMITH
"Make a chain." — Ezekiel 7:23.
TF you pass a blacksmith shop this week, I want
-*■ you to "look in at the open door." Why? Be-
cause March 7 is the anniversary of the death of
Elihu Burritt, the village blacksmith of New Britain,
Conn. There are some facts from his life that may
help in developing your life. Near the forge he kept
an open book, and while blowing the bellows and
heating the iron he was reading and studying. By
using faithfully his spare moments he became a great
scholar. He mastered Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Arabic,
and almost all European languages. Then, as "the
learned blacksmith," he visited the people in different
parts of the world with whom he could talk, preach-
ing "universal brotherhood." In the great Peace
Congresses of Brussels, Paris, Frankfort, London
and Edinburgh, he stood like a blacksmith at his
anvil welding together the nations of the world in
universal brotherhood. By hard work and faithful-
45
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
ness in the village blacksmith shop at New Britain,
Conn., he climbed to the honor of being United States
Consul at Birmingham, England. This was a long,
strong chain.
While looking in at the open door of a blacksmith
shop you can think of Ex-Governor John A. John-
son of Minnesota, who was the son of a village black-
smith. His father was a drunkard, and, after wast-
ing his time, died in the almshouse. His son deter-
mined to do some good in the world, and worked
hard while his mother took in washing in order to
keep John at school. When he was elected Governor,
some one asked him how he had risen from the black-
smith shop to the Governor's palace. He answered,
"I just tried to make good." One of the most beau-
tiful paintings at the Columbian Exposition was of
a blacksmith shop. In the picture you can not see
the fire on the forge, but you see a boy, his face
beautifully and marvelously lighted by the glow of
the forge. No difference how humble your work or
home may be, there is an unseen light and the glow
is on your face. Do something great for God and
man! Ezekiel was the preacher blacksmith. The
lord told him to make a chain. He was a great
preacher, and therefore I believe that he was a good
46
THE VILLAGE BLACKSMITH
blacksmith. Will each one of you be a blacksmith,
and make a chain? Do each day the best that you
can in school, at home, in church work. Do more
than your level best every day. Your enthusiasm
will be the furnace in which you can heat each link.
You can shape them on the anvil of your determina-
tion, and your will is the hammer with which you can
shape and weld the links into a chain. The finished
chain will be your character and strength.
I hear your answer: "I can never be like Burritt
and Johnson." God says to every boy and girl,
"Make a chain." It may not be a chain of iron, it may
be a chain of loving deeds. "I just tried to make
good." This chain of six-word links would be a good
one for you to forge. Try to "make good" while
working on your chain. The other day I found this
story about a chain which an old blacksmith made:
The blacksmith lived in a village, and his shop was
near the village church. From early morning till
evening each day, the people near could hear the
clanging of his hammer upon the anvil, and they
knew he was forging a chain. Now and then idlers
dropped in to watch his work. When they saw how
faithful and patient he was, and what pains he took
never to leave a link until it was as nearly perfect
47
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
as he could make it, they laughed at him and told
him that he would accomplish much more if he took
less care.
Hearing such remarks, the old smith could only
shake his head and continue doing his best, making
each link as strong as if the whole chain depended
upon it. At last he died, and was buried in the vil-
lage churchyard. The great chain, which was found
in a corner of the village blacksmith shop, was put
on board a ship. It was coiled up out of the way,
and for a long time no one noticed it. But there
came a time in the winter when the fierce wind blew
a gale. The ship toiled through the waves and
strained and groaned as she obeyed her helm. To
guide her three men were needed to hold her wheel.
Finally, they determined to anchor her. The great
chain was thrown over the side into the gloomy waves.
The anchor touched bottom, and the chain grew taut
and stiff as a bar of iron. Would it hold?
Every one on board anxiously repeated the ques-
tion as the gale raged fiercer. If one link was weak
or imperfect the chain would part, and those on board
would be lost. But the chain was the work of the
faithful village blacksmith, and he had wrought each
link the best he could. So this awful night, when the
48
THE VILLAGE BLACKSMITH
great test came, his workmanship defied the tempest,
and when at length the sun rose and the waves were
still, the vessel, with the precious lives in her, was safe.
What had saved her? The chain, you say. True,
but what was the quality that had been wrought into
the chain? Fidelity. It was fidelity that had saved
her. Do you not see that the tale of the fidelity of
the old blacksmith applies to our daily character
building? Link by link we fashion it, and in the
hour of temptation comes the test of our workman-
ship. One weak link and we shall be wrecked. But
if we have been faithful day by day our chain will
hold, and the bark of our soul, anchored to the Rock
of Ages, will ride the tempest in safety.
Ten
A SAINT DIGGING A WELL
"To the Saints." — Colossians 1:2.
WHO are saints? If this were one of your ex-
amination questions how many of you could
answer it? One boy holds up his hand; he says:
"Saints are a — well, saints are the — why, saints are
saints." A little girl says saints are very holy men
with a ring of light around their heads. The diction-
ary says : "Saints are holy or godly persons." Some-
times we go to the dictionary when we ought to go
to the Bible. What answer does the Bible give? The
Bible word that tells the meaning of saint is the one
you are almost sure to miss in your spelling lesson.
The word is "separate." Saints are people who are
separated from those who do not love and obey God.
March 17 is St. Patrick's Day. You are smiling,
and I know you are thinking of something that girls
run from and that boys like to kill. Behind the smile
and the snakes the real St. Patrick has been lost.
He did not drive the snakes from Ireland. He did
50
A SAINT DIGGING A WELL
something better than that. Do you want to know
some facts about St. Patrick, and about what he did?
He was born in Britain, and was of noble birth.
When he was about fifteen years old, at his father's
country place, he was seized by pirates and carried
to Ireland and sold to strangers. He was kept in
slavery for six years. After he escaped to his home
in Britain, he tells us that he heard a voice in his
mind. It was "the voice of the Irish," and it said:
"We pray thee, holy youth, to come and hencefor-
ward walk among us." He separated himself from
his home and friends and went to Ireland to preach
Christ. This separation made him a Bible saint.
St. Patrick lived in the fifth century. We are
living in the twentieth century. At that time all the
people on the Emerald Isle were heathen and wor-
shiped idols. They had not so much as heard there
was a Christ. The slave boy's life was noble and
good, and his "intense faith" drew the people to him.
They knew there was a God, but did not know he
had sent Christ with good news for our world. Shall
I tell you how these heathen tried to get a message
from God? The man who wanted to get the mes-
sage would take the skin off a ram or goat, and
wrap himself in the skin, that had the warm blood
51
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
on it. Then he would run to a stream or waterfall
and there lie down and sleep. He believed that, while
by the side of the running water, he slept in this
skin, his idol would talk to him and give him a
message from God. His dream was his Bible.
St. Patrick had, while a boy, learned of Christ, and
now saw how foolish these strange heathen customs
were. He spent the remainder of his life preaching
Christ to these people. He was what we call to-day
a missionary. By his life and hard work he won the
people from idolatry and taught them to learn the
will of God from Christ. Do I hear some of you
say: "How could one man convert a whole island
from heathenism and change idol worshipers into
Christians?" We do not have to go back to the fifth
century to answer this question. I will tell you a
story more wonderful than the story of the conver-
sion of the island of Ireland.
The Rev. Dr. John G. Paton, who for forty years
was a missionary to the South Sea Islands, spoke at
one time in New York about his work. He told us that
when he went to the South Sea Islands the people
were heathen. They had never heard of Christ.
One of his most interesting stories is about the well
he dug. On the island there were weeks and weeks
A SAINT DIGGING A WELL
when it did not rain. During the dry season they
drank the milk of the cocoanuts — as long as it lasted.
Then they would go to their idols and pray for rain.
Poor people, with tongues hot from thirst, praying to
dumb idols to send them rain ! When the "rain-god"
delayed his answer to their prayers, there was great
suffering.
There had been no rain for several weeks, the co-
coanuts were all gone, and the people were dying
from thirst. Dr. Paton told them he was going down
into the earth for rain. The people had never seen
fresh water except as it came from the clouds. How
could clouds be found in the earth? Dr. Paton
prayed to God to help him, and then began to dig
a hole in the ground. The savages supposed he
was crazy. All he could persuade them to do was
to pull a windlass-rope and draw up the loosened
earth as he sank the well deeper and deeper. If he
found fresh water they would believe he was telling
the truth about Christ. If he failed, they would
not believe him and would probably kill him.
After going down thirty feet he struck a spring.
Down on his knees he fell, praying, tasting the
water at the same time. It was pure, fresh water.
The people drank and their parched tongues were
53
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
cooled. The effect was magical. The man they had
laughed at was now a "prophet." He had said he
would go down in the ground to "find rain," and
now the people believed that all he told them about
Jehovah and Jesus Christ was true. Ask your teacher
to tell you the story of how the heathen in the South
Sea Islands believed in Dr. Paton's God, destroyed
their idols, built churches and schools, accepted God's
laws and were changed from cannibals into Chris-
tians. This story will help you to understand some
of the wonderful things we are told about the great
missionary, St. Patrick.
54
Eleven
THE CHILDREN'S PALM SUNDAY
"And the Children."— Matthew 21:15.
fTIHE first Palm Sunday was a day of great en-
-*• thusiasm. Is the word "enthusiasm" too long
and strong for my juniors? Then we will take it
apart and let you look at it. The Greeks made this
word "enthusiasm" by putting two words into one
word. Their word "en" means in and "theos" means
God. They joined them in one word "en theos,"
God-in. When they were very happy, and wanted
to shout and rejoice, they said it was their God in
them that made them happy. The English of "en-
theos" is "enthusiasm." When God is in our hearts
we are happy, we want to shout for joy, we are
enthusiastic. Now you have had a lesson in Greek.
On the first Palm Sunday morning crowds of en-
thusiastic men and women followed Jesus from Beth-
any to Jerusalem. We say men and women, for we
do not read of any children being with them. I
believe there were children with Christ on his way to
55
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
Jerusalem. Probably the fathers and mothers shouted
so loud that the children were not heard. We know
that when Christ entered the city the children were
with him and were helping him. In the morning it
was Palm Sunday; in the afternoon it was Hosanna
Sunday. When all was going well with Christ and
every one was happy, the men and women followed
him, waving palm branches. In the afternoon the
people who had stores and shops in God's house be-
came very angry because Christ drove them out and
upset their tables. Then we read, not of men and
women, but of the children who were there to help
Christ. They shouted "Hosanna to our King !" They
were enthusiastic; God was in their hearts.
These children were not able to overturn the tables
of the money-changers and to upset the seats of
those who sold doves. But the children did help
Christ by cheering him when he was doing this great
work. I believe the cheers of the children made
Christ stronger for the work of Palm Sunday. The
wicked people were angry at the children. They
knew the boys and girls were helping Christ. "Stop
them! Stop them!" cried the wicked men. Christ
said, "No ! No !" Their cries and shouts were perfect
praise. They were helping Christ. A lad helped
56
THE CHILDREN'S PALM SUNDAY
Christ to feed the five thousand and a little child
helped him when he needed an illustration about
the kingdom of heaven. The lad furnished the five
loaves and two fishes, and the little child was used
as a kingdom illustration. Your pastor believes
Christ needed the children's encouragement when he
was cleansing the temple. He needed their shouts.
"And the children." He had need of them.
The boys of a certain Sunday-school were drest
up in their uniforms for a parade, and the girls in
their best dresses were lined along the sidewalk to
see the parade. One boy cut his foot, and said to
the captain: "Captain, I've cut my foot, and I can
not march with the brigade to-day." "Well, George,"
the captain answered, "if you can not march, you
can stand on the corner anyway and shout 'Hurrah !'
when we come along." "Yes, I'll do that, anyway,"
promised George; and so, when the brigade came
along, he took off his hat and shouted as loud as
he could, "Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!" When
Christ was cleansing his Father's house the children
were shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David."
"And the children." Three cheers for the children.
They were happy.
A pretty story is related of the late Dr. Phillips
57
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
Brooks, Bishop of Massachusetts. He had long been
a favorite with a little girl of five, the daughter of a
parishioner, and she was always delighted if she
happened to meet him when out for a walk. The
day the Bishop died her mother came into the room
where the child was playing and, holding the bright
little face between her hands, said, tearfully, "Bishop
Brooks has gone to heaven." "Oh, mamma," was the
reply, "How happy the angels will be !" Christ made
not the angels only, but the children in heaven happy
when he went back to them. One reason Christ loved
the children so much on earth was because they re-
minded him of the children in heaven. You will find
what I mean in the following story :
"Yes, indeed, we have some queer little incidents
happen to us," said the engine-driver, as he plied his
oilcan about and under his machine. "A queer thing
happened to me about a year ago. You'd think it
queer for a rough man like me to cry for ten min-
utes, and nobody hurt, either, wouldn't you? Well,
I did, and I almost cry every time I think of it. I
was running along one afternoon pretty lively when
I approached a little village where the track cuts
through the streets. I slackened up a little, but was
still making good speed, when suddenly, about twenty
58
THE CHILDREN'S PALM SUNDAY
rods ahead of me, a little girl, not more than three
years old, toddled onto the track. In ten seconds
more it would all have been over. After reversing
and applying the brake, I shut my eyes. I didn't
want to see any more. As we slowed down my fireman
laughed and shouted to me: 'Jim, look here!' I
looked, and there was a big, black Newfoundland
dog, holding the little girl in his mouth, leisurely
walking toward the house where she evidently be-
longed. She was kicking and crying, so that I knew
she wasn't hurt, and the dog had saved her. My
fireman thought it funny and kept on laughing, but
I cried. She reminded me of a dear little girl in my
far-away home." The children's Palm Sunday ! God
bless our children ! Christ loves them and needs them,
every one.
59
Twelve
THE CHILDREN'S EASTER SUNDAY
"If a man die, shall he live again?'' — Job 14:14.
T^ ASTER is a celebration of the resurrection of
Christ. The day when we all are glad, and
rejoice because Christ rose from the grave. He was
dead, but now lives. Rejoice! Rejoice! Rejoice!
When Christ was on earth he brought the dead back
to life. Were they all grown people, who had spent
a long life working for Christ? No, no, they were
not all grown people. One was a little maid in her
shroud, one was a young man in his coffin, and one
was a man in his tomb. Children, young people and
grown people, all are to rise from their graves. After
Christ was crucified and buried he rose from the tomb.
That made it sure that we will rise.
Easter means that we are to have another life after
this one. When you see the Easter flowers, and hear
the Easter music, do you ever ask: "If a boy die,
shall he live again?" "If a girl die, shall she live
again?" God tells you "Yes," and he wants you to
GO
THE CHILDREN'S EASTER SUNDAY
think "Yes." Have you done any thinking about
it? Do not be afraid to think. Here is how Dick
and Mary did some thinking. While looking for
shells on the beach one morning, they found a dead
bird. Some one had shot it. They looked at the
feathered body curiously and pitifully. "Mary," said
Dick, "when we die, we'll look like that. How does
anybody know there's any more of us than of a bird?"
"What a curious boy you are!" said Mary; "how
should I know?" Dick picked up the dead bird,
then caught sight of his teacher coming toward them.
He ran to her with his question. "Well, Dick," said
she, "suppose you had been shot, and were lying on
the sands, and this bird had passed over you, would
it have stopt to pity you, or wonder who shot you
and if you had gone to heaven?" "I suppose not,"
said Dick. "Then there is something in you that can
love and be sorry, and wonder and ask questions, that
the bird does not have. That's the part of you that
is not like the bird, and will live forever." Dick and
Mary buried the bird in the sand, but they never for-
got why they were different from the bird and more
precious to Jesus because they had a spirit that would
go to God.
I can almost hear you say, "If I die, how is it
61
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
possible for me to live again?" In Child Garden I
read a story in which you can find an answer to your
question. One day, when Manette was visiting her
grandpa, she found a great worm lying in the path.
It was as long as her grandpa's forefinger, and was
as big around as his thumb. It was a light green
color, with queer, bright-colored knobs or bumps all
over it. It was so ugly Manette was afraid of it;
but her grandpa lifted it between two sticks and put
it into a pasteboard box, with a piece of glass for a
cover. He then carried it into an upper room, which
was not much used. His little granddaughter won-
dered and asked questions. "The worm is sleepy, and
so I have made it a bed, and by and by it will make
itself a blanket," grandpa said. "Oh, grandpa, can
it, really? How can a worm make a blanket?" It
weaves it, dearie, somewhat as a spider weaves its
web. It will take a good while ; you must watch and
be patient."
Manette went every day to look at the worm, and
after what seemed to her a long time one day she
saw some fine threads from the worm to the glass.
Every day there were more threads, until at last
Manette could not see the worm at all. "He has
covered himself all up, grandpa. Is the blanket
THE CHILDREN'S EASTER SUNDAY
finished now?" she asked. "Yes, and now the worm
will sleep all winter, and when he awakes in the spring
I don't believe you will recognize him." When Ma-
nette's visit was over, her grandpa gave her the box,
carefully done up in paper, and told her to lift the
cover off when she reached home. So she did, and
found the worm snugly wrapped in its odd bedclothes,
fastened tight to the glass. Her mamma leaned the
glass against the wall, above the mantel in the lib-
rary, and there it stayed all winter, and Manette
stood and looked at it just as we go and look at the
grave of our loved ones.
But one day in the early spring a very wonderful
thing happened. Manette was playing in the yard
when her mamma called her. She ran into the library,
and there on the edge of the mantel was the most
beautiful, gorgeous, golden-yellow butterfly! "Oh,
mamma," she whispered, "did it fly in through the
window, do you think?" "No, dear; it crept out of its
winter blanket." And then her mamma showed her
the cocoon, as she called the blanket which the worm
had made. There was a hole at one end, and out
of that the ugly green worm, changed into a fairy-
like insect, had crept to spend its second summer
floating in the air and sipping sweets from flowers.
63
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
"It's just as grandpa told me," Manette said; "I
never would have known it."
How much more beautiful was the butterfly than
the worm ! One crept along the earth and burrowed
under the ground, the other walked on the flowers and
floated in the air. It was the same worm that slept
and woke. Slept as a worm and rose as a butterfly.
We now live on earth, some day we are to live in
heaven. Our word cemetery means a sleeping place.
The children's Easter Sunday. Rejoice! Rejoice!
Rejoice!
61
Thirteen
ALL FOOL'S DAY
"/ said unto the fools, Deal not foolishly." — Psalm 75:4.
T^OOLISHNESS is bound up in the heart of a
* child. Bound up in every heart, but tied in a
bow-knot. It is sure to get loose for a fun-burst on
April first. All work and no play makes Jack a dull
boy. Three cheers for the one day when juniors can
get fun on the run. When you boys are old enough
to vote, I hope you will make April 1 a national
holiday. A day off for sport is the best medicine in
the world for that tired feeling. I wish we could
make April jokes like skyrockets. Jokes that would
burst like a rocket and send out stars and bouquets
of laughter. Jokes that girls, as well as boys, can
enjoy. A holiday for all, like Labor Day in the fall.
Our text says fools should not deal foolishly. The
fool by dealing foolishly tells every one that he is a
fool. What do you think of this? In 1719 Peter
the Great of Russia introduced the April Fool cus-
tom. On the open square in front of his palace, at
65
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
St. Petersburg, he piled a great quantity of wood,
and covered it with oil and tar. Early in the morn-
ing of April 1 he set it on fire. The flames shot up
high in the air, and it looked from a distance as if the
palace and the entire city were aflame. People came
from all sides, some of the peasantry traveling miles
in their sleighs to put out the fire. When finally they
reached the palace, they were met by troops formed
up round the square. "Mutton-heads ! Swine ! Don-
keys !" the soldiers shouted. "Fall back, by order of
the Czar! Fall back! Can't you understand that
the Little Father has fooled you? It is the 1st of
April to-day." You think the Czar and soldiers were
dealing foolishly? You are certainly right in your
"think." The poor people would be unhappy all day.
Then some time, when there was a fire, and they were
needed, no one would go. They would think some
one was fooling them again.
I have a better plan for April Fool's Day fun. A
plan that will give you a great sport and will not
make any one unhappy. If I tell you my plan you
may forget it, but if you must hunt until you find
it then you will remember. In a story I once read
I will hide my plan. You must think, think, think,
hunt, hunt, hunt, until you find what I have hid
66
ALL FOOL'S DAY
under its lid. The story is about a little girl and
her Aunt Helen. "This is your third guess, Aunt
Helen ; you can't guess why I'm so happy," and Ruth
nestled farther down into her little white bed. No
one needed to guess that she was happy — her dancing
eyes told that; but why, that was what Aunt Helen
had made two wrong guesses on already. She had
guessed that it was because she was staying a week
with her grandmother and aunt, but Ruth had shaken
her curly head vigorously. "Partly that, of course,"
she said, "but that's not it."
The next thing Aunt Helen guessed was the new
ring, with three tiny pearls in it, which Uncle Jack
had given her. Ruth told her she was wrong. There
was one more chance, but Aunt Helen knew so many
things which might make such a merry little girl as
Ruth happy that she gave up trying to guess any
particular one. "I give it up," she said. "Well," Ruth
began, "you never could have guessed if you tried all
night, so I'll tell you. It is because I played an
April Fool on somebody to-day." "April Fool!"
Aunt Helen certainly was surprized. "You know
Mr. Dobbs?" Yes, Aunt Helen knew, and she looked
very grave. She had known Mr. Dobbs when he
was a tall, strong man, before the accident which had
67
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
crippled him for life. She did not think that Ruth
could have been doing anything that might bother
him. "You know he passes here every day, making
his wheel-chair go with that handle he works back
and forth?" Yes, Aunt Helen knew. "Well, when
I see him coming I hide behind the little tree in the
corner of the yard. Just as soon as he is past, I slip
out behind and begin to push, and I push till he's
clear up that little hill."
Aunt Helen put her arms around Ruth. "I think
that is a splendid April Fool joke," she said. "But
wait, let me tell you the rest," Ruth went on, squirm-
ing from her aunt's embrace. "The funniest part is
to hear him wonder why his chair goes so easy. He
talks to himself, and I almost laugh out loud to hear
him. 'What ails my chair?' he'll say; 'it acts as if
it had feet instead of wheels.' And pretty soon he'll
say, 'Dear me! am I going crazy? It looks to me
as if it was up-hill, but from the way I'm going it
must be down-hill.' Oh, it's more fun than anything
I ever did; and when I go home Harold Tompkins
is going to keep on fooling him. Wouldn't he be the
most s'prized man in the world if he ever did find it
out?" Aunt Helen tucked the covers around the
happy little girl. "I wish all April Fools could be as
68
ALL FOOL'S DAY
splendid as that, dear," she said softly. That night
Ruth laughed in her sleep.
I have seen our dear friend, Dr. Louis Klopsch,
make hundreds of children happy, oh, so happy;
but I never saw him deal foolishly with them. His
happiness lifted them almost to heaven. He knew
how to make April Fool's Day a wise day of real
happiness.
69
Fourteen
A GOLDEN SPOON
"One spoon of gold." — Numbers 7:20.
if TE loved God and little children. One day he
-*■ ■*• heard of a poor child who had diphtheria.
The little one was near death. It would not take
medicine. He was soon by the bedside. "I will give
you a gold spoon, if you will take the medicine." The
child asked with tongue and eyes: "A real gold
spoon, and all my own?" Out he rushed, and soon
returned with a beautiful gold spoon. Into his arms
he lifted the child, and the taste of the medicine was
lost in the sight of the golden spoon. You want to
know the man's name. I want to write his name —
Louis Klopsch — on your heart.
The chapter in which you find the text, "One spoon
of gold," tells of the offerings the princes made to
God when the temple was dedicated. "Nethaneel,
the son of Zuar, prince of Issachar, did offer." Then
follows the long list of his princely gifts, and among
A GOLDEN SPOON
them is "One spoon of gold." In God's memory book
I imagine this record: "Louis Klopsch, the son of
Dr. Osmar Klopsch, prince of Christians, did offer."
In the long list of his offerings I am sure will be found
"one spoon of gold." The sick-room of the little
child was a temple, the golden spoon was an altar,
and the medicine was a sweet incense before God.
In the winter of 1892-93 there were 100,000 people
idle in the city of New York. Dr. Klopsch, who, as
a Sunday-school teacher, had been visiting the poor
and giving them one-tenth of his income, now started
a relief fund. During the winter he furnished 1,200
families with food. It was at this time he found the
little child dying with diphtheria and saved its life
with the golden spoon. His next thought was to
establish a summer home, where children could find
the health and happiness God wanted them to enjoy.
The result of his heart-effort is Mont-Lawn. The
golden-spoon child was one of the first to be taken
to the home. So useful was she in making the home
bright and cheerful that Dr. Klopsch kept her as a
little helper during the entire summer.
Some one might have said, "Why was not this
golden spoon sold and the money given to the poor?"
It was the extravagance of love, and wherever the
71
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
history of Mont-Lawn is told this story of the golden
spoon should be heard. The golden spoon is now the
sixty-thousand-dollar Mont-Lawn, where three thou-
sand children every summer are made strong enough
to resist disease. Since Mont-Lawn was opened
40,000 children have found health, happiness and
heaven.
In the summer of 1909, I left the train at Nyack
and drove up the mountain side with Dr. Klopsch.
The beautiful country of mountains and valleys,
meadows and harvest fields slowly unfolded before us.
At a turn in the road Mont-Lawn, like heaven let
down on earth, was before us. As we drove through
the great stone archway, over which is inscribed in
letters of gold, "I Love God and Little Children,"
there was a surprize I shall never forget. The chil-
dren, crowding upon the terrace to greet Dr. Klopsch,
sang out:
Mont-Lawn, Mont-Lawn, here we are !
Mont-Lawn, Mont-Lawn, 'Rah, 'Rah, 'Rah!
I did not see Dr. Klopsch again until noon; the
children claimed him. During his absence I visited
the cottage dormitories, with their snow-white beds;
the Homestead, with its offices and resting-rooms ; the
72
A GOLDEN SPOON
playgrounds, shaded by great trees, beautified by
flowers and fountains, and cut by walks made more
beautiful by footprints of children. From the tower,
above the dining-hall, we heard the "Westminster
chimes."
It was dinner hour at Mont-Lawn. The children
came in companies, as bright and happy as angels
and as clean and orderly as soldiers on dress-parade.
They sang "grace,"
God is great and God is good,
And we thank Him for our food;
By His hand must all be fed,
Give us, Lord, our daily bread. Amen.
and then ate graciously. Poor children from
the crowded tenements of New York, cleanly
and neatly drest, seated at tables beautifully
provided with wholesome food, well cooked. In this
dining-hall I saw three hundred and twenty-five
spoons, each one in the hand of a child, spoons ris-
ing and falling, up full and down empty. They were
ordinary spoons, but in the sight of God they were
extraordinary. One spoon of gold transformed into
three hundred and twenty-five. Medicine spoons no
longer needed, food spoons enjoyed! From the
spacious dining-hall the children could see the Hud-
73
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
son river, like a silver cord binding the mountains
and valleys into a paradise.
After dinner they went out to worship, play
around the flower beds and fountains, across the lawn
and up the mountain side. At three o'clock the
chimes were again heard, and the Children's Temple
was soon crowded with a happy congregation of
children. In carriages, automobiles and walking
came visitors from Nyack and the surrounding coun-
try to enjoy the children's worship. The singing
was something wonderful, and was followed by a
prayer hush like majesty resting on the mountain.
The more than three hundred children who in the
morning crowded about our carriages to greet and
welcome Dr. Klopsch, now thronged the Children's
Temple and were led by him in the worship of God.
This unique Temple, built for children from Dr.
Klopsch's plans and purse, is the crown jewel of
Mont-Lawn.
During the summer Dr. Klopsch lived at Tarry-
town. Every morning he would look across the river
to Mont-Lawn to see if the flag was floating. It
signaled the message, "All is well." From his
deathbed he left the request that this work, nearest
and dearest to his heart, should be continued. He
74
A GOLDEN SPOON
also requested to be buried in Sleepy Hollow Ceme-
tery.
During the summer the children can look out over
the Hudson River to where their friend sleepeth.
Every night, when they kneel by the bedside, there
will be prayers of thanksgiving for the memory of
Dr. Klopsch.
75
Fifteen
A LITTLE BROWN BED
"I sleep, but my heart waketh." — Solomon's Song 5:2.
\\ THEN a flower begins to droop and hang its
* * head it is getting sleepy. How snugly it
rolls itself up in a little brown bed you call a seed.
"As snug as a bug in a rug," the flower sleeps all
winter. What you call "spring," the season after
winter, is "Mother Nature" going from bed to bed
to wake her little flower friends. She lifts the shades
of winter and lets in the light. If they do not wake,
she sprinkles rain on them. Some are easy to wake,
and they get right up; others are very sleepy, and
dear old spring has to be very patient. Sound asleep,
but way down in the seed is life, and it hears the call.
They sleep, but the seed-heart waketh. Some one
whose name I do not know, a friend of "Mother
Nature," says:
Far down in Mother Earth a tiny seed was sleep-
ing, safely wrapt in a warm bed. The little seed
had been asleep for a long time, and now some one
76
A LITTLE BROWN BED
thought it was time for the seed to wake up. This
some one was an earthworm, that lived close by.
When the worm saw this little seed still sleeping he
cried: "Oh, you lazy fellow, wake up! Your little
friends are awake and you have slept long enough."
"But how can I grow or move at all in this tight,
brown sleeping-gown?" said the seed, in a drowsy
tone.
"Why, push it off; that's the way the other seeds
have done."
"Oh, dear! Oh, dear!" said the seed. "What
shall I do? I am so sleepy I can't keep awake any
longer," and he fell asleep again.
At last he awoke, and found Mother Nature
throwing water in his face. Then he felt so warm
and happy that he cried : "I really believe I am going
to grow after all. Who woke me up and helped me
out of bed?"
"I woke you," said a soft voice close by. "I am a
sunbeam. Mother Nature sent me to wake you, and
my friends, the raindrops, washed the sleep out of
your eyes."
"Oh, thank you," said the seed; "you're all very
kind. Will you help me to grow into a plant, too?"
"Yes," said the sunbeam, "I'll come as often as I
77
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
can to help you, and the raindrops will come, too.
If you work hard, with our help, you will become a
beautiful plant, I'm sure."
"But," said the seed, "how did you know that I
was sleeping here? Could you see me?"
"No," said the sunbeam, "But Mother Nature saw
you. She called the raindrops to her and said: 'One
of my seed-children is sleeping down there. Go down
and help him, and tell the sunbeam to follow you,
so that the seed may begin to grow.' "
"How kind she is," said the seed; "if she had not
seen me sleeping here I should have slept on, and on,
slept forever in my little brown bed. How did
Mother Nature know I was here?
"She is a servant of God, who knows all things."
"How can I thank Him?" said the seed. "What
can I do that will please Him very much?"
"Grow into the best plant that you possibly can,"
said the sunbeam ; "that will please God most of all."
So the seed grew into a beautiful vine. He climbed
higher and higher toward the heavens, from which
the Father smiled down upon him to reward his labor.
There is some one more beautiful and valuable than
a flower, that droops after a long day and wants to
sleep. Some one who needs sleep more than the seed
78
A LITTLE BROWN BED
needs it, and who says, "Rock me to sleep, mother,
rock me to sleep." This some one is a little child.
Before going to sleep you should say, "In the
morning wake me from sleep, mother, wake me from
sleep." How often you would be late for breakfast,
late for school, late for church, if mother did not
wake you.
What part of you wakes up the rest of you when
mother calls? It is the part that keeps on thinking
while you sleep. What does our text say? "I sleep,
but my heart waketh." It is that part that will
never sleep. What we call death the Bible calls sleep.
There is a beautiful story in the Gospel by Matthew.
You will find it in the ninth chapter. A man came
to Christ and told him that his dear little girl was
dead. Christ went home with the father, and when
he saw the little girl he said, "She is not dead, but
sleepeth." The people laughed at Christ, and told
him the little girl was dead. Christ just woke her
up, took her by the hand, and she arose. She was
only asleep. The word "cemetery" means sleeping
place. As Mother Spring wakes the seed, and your
mother wakes you, so our greatest friend, Christ,
will some day wake all who sleep, all who are called
dead. Listen ! "My beloved spake, and said unto
79
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away;
for lo ! the winter is past, the rain is over and gone ;
the flowers appear on the earth ; the time of the sing-
ing birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard
in our land; the fig tree putteth forth her green
figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good
smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away."
Would it not be splendid to write on the tomb, "I
sleep, but my heart waketh."
80
D
Sixteen
KEEP OFF THIS SEAT
Not sitteth in the seat of the scornful." — Psalm 1:1.
O you know the first word of the first Psalm?
To say the word you must bring your lips
together and then open your mouth to let it out.
The word is blessed. You close your lips, and begin
to say it as tho you wanted to keep it. Then you
open your mouth and send it out round and full.
This is the first fact to remember about the word
blest. It is half for you and half for others. You
always keep a blessing by giving a blessing. In the
Hebrew it is a plural noun, "aslxrey" and is difficult
to say in English. It is blessednesses. God just
packed the Hebrew full of blessednesses. Do I hear
you ask what blest means? It means happy. It is
happy packed full of happiness. This is your first
lesson in Hebrew.
In this Psalm God is telling you how to get true
happiness. If you want to be happy God tells you
three things you must do. Not something very hard
81
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
to do, but just three things you are not to do. You
must not walk in the company of ungodly people.
You must not stand with sinners. You must not
sit in the seat of the scornful. Walking, standing,
sitting. If you take a walk with a bad companion,
you will soon be standing on the street corner with
him, and with other bad companions. Then it will
not be long until you will be sitting together as
great friends. The seat will be the scorner's chair.
Keep off this seat! The scorner's seat is the un-
happy chair. Look at the other three words: un-
godly, sinners, scornful. An ungodly person is one
who has no reverence for God. Those who have no
reverence for God soon become sinners. Then when
they become sinners they become scornful. If you
want to be happy, you must keep off the scorner's
seat. You do not know what "scorner" means? It
is that mean something that gets into your thoughts
and turns up your nose. It is showing contempt for
those you think are not as good as you are. Those
you think do not know as much as you know. They
are persons whom God may know are better than the
one who scorns them. A story will explain the word
scornful.
One day a beautiful young girl rustled into one
82
KEEP OFF THIS SEAT
of New York's old-fashioned horse-cars, and Satan
gave her the seat of the scornful. Her dress, of pure
white serge, was fresh from the dressmaker's and
looked beautiful and dainty. Her little gloved hand
held a parasol, tied with a knot of yellow ribbon. It
made you think of a great white lily with a golden
center. The car was crowded and among the pas-
sengers were some of those Italian laborers that are
now doing the rough work of our great cities.
"I think it is dreadful," she scornfully whispered
to her companion. "Why don't the company refuse
to let such creatures on the cars? or, if they must
ride, I should think they could stand on the plat-
form. He will ruin my dress if I touch him. Just
see how he stares at me."
And so he did, his great eyes glistening and soft-
ening as they fell on the girl's fair beauty ; and then
he arose, and, leaning forward to catch the strap,
fairly bent over her. The girl grew restive. She
was very, very scornful, and turned up her nose as
he arose.
"I am sure he is very impertinent," she said, with
added scorn, and when the conductor came she mo-
tioned him. "Won't you make this man move?" she
said.
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CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
"Move up!" ordered the conductor. The words
were said in a quick, sharp, scornful tone. "Yes,"
the Italian answered; "but see ze oil! Ze bootiful
lady, see!"
The lady looked up, and there saw the oil lamp
had sprung a leak, and would have dript all over
her had not this man seen it, and, stretching out his
arms above her, formed an umbrella, which had per-
fectly protected her beautiful dress and hat.
A guilty blush came into her face as she bowed
her thanks to him, and murmured to her friend, "It
makes me ashamed to think while I was scorning him,
and he knew it, he should have taken such pains
for me. It's a lesson I will not soon forget, that this
poor laborer has a better soul than I have. I'll never
again be scornful to any one." She will never again
sit in the seat of the scornful.
She had walked with proud people, then she stood
and talked with them, and now she was sitting with
them in the scorner's seat. When she found how
unhappy she was in the scorner's seat she said, "I
will never again sit in it." The dictionary will tell
you that the "scorner" is one who holds religion and
religious things in contempt — a person who laughs at
you for being Christian boys and girls. Your father
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KEEP OFF THIS SEAT
and mother call scorners bad companions. I read of a
little girl who made the seat of a scorner very un-
comfortable. She was reading her Bible when a
scorner said, "Beatrice, you can't understand that
book, and it is not true." Looking at her she said,
"There is one thing in the Bible that you make me
think is true." "Well, what can that be?" Looking
not only at her, but clear through her, she answered,
"The Bible says, 'In the last days shall come scoffers,'
and you talk like one of them."
Memorize these words: "Blessed is the man (or the
boy or girl) that walketh not in the counsel of the
ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor
sitteth in the seat of the scornful." Keep off the
seat of the scornful!
85
Seventeen
/
MOTHER'S DAY
"His mother made him a little coat." — I Samuel 2:19.
"]V /[ OTHER sews love into all the seams. Happy
•^ ■*■ is the child whose mother makes the little coat.
It may not fit as well as the tailor-made one, but it
surely looks more like the child who wears it.
A tailor-made coat keeps the body warm; a mother-
made coat keeps the heart warm. A tailor-made
coat is worn out and forgotten, but the mother-made
coat is worn on the memory even unto old age and
never wears out. There is a beautiful story about
a mother whose name was Hannah. She gave the
greatest gift she had to God. The gift was her
little boy Samuel. How did she give him to God?
She took him to God's temple and left him there
to serve God as long as he lived. Once a year she
visited him and each time took him a new coat that
she made with her own hands and heart. Ask your
mother to tell you about the coat Hannah made
for her little boy Samuel.
Some one has said that the three best words in the
86
MOTHER'S DAY
English language are Mother, Home, and Heaven.
You can fold all three into one big word, Mother.
It is mother who makes the word House spell Home ;
and Mother and Home are Heaven on earth. There
is, therefore, just one best word; it is MOTHER.
An old fable represents Atlas holding the world on
his shoulders. A great sculptor has given the world a
new statue representing Atlas as a mother support-
ing the world. Here is what Dr. Parkhurst writes
about it:
The right arm seems extended to its utmost reach, as tho
yearning to throw its clasp clear around the precious burden,
while the other arm lays itself up against the globe in a sort
of half caress. The instant impression produced is that of
the clinging affectionateness of sustaining motherhood. There
is just enough evidence of strain in the right arm and in the
slightly drawn muscles of the back to indicate that, altho it
is a love-task that she is committed to, it is still a task, and
involving that same kind of self-expenditure that is the price at
which all perfect service has to be rendered.
In the entire posture — which is not so much posture as action
— there is symbolized the idea of mother-love tinged with hope
and purpose, as the means of the great world's uplift. She is,
however, upon bended knee, and her achievement made holy by
the devoutness of her intent and aspiration. Altho a work of
love, and due to the artist's devotion to his own mother, it is
still a marketable product, and has already been sold for
$10,000.
It is mother who lifts and holds the world. Some
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CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
of these words in the story of Mother Atlas have too
many letters. Ask mother to put a tuck in the long
words. As your mind grows you can let out the
tucks, one each year. The second Sunday in May
is Mother's Day. One day set apart for every person
to think and talk about mother. If mother is with
us this is the day to plant tulips where she smiles.
If mother is dead, we will plant flowers on her grave.
Mother's Day, the best day in all the year.
Did I hear you sing, "Tell me a new, new story of
mother and her love"? Here is one I read in Little
Folks, that is new to me. It is called "The Loving
Game." It was a pretty game that Aunt Rose and
little Harry used to play together. When Harry
would put up his tiny finger and say, "I can beat you
lovin' !" Aunt Rose would say, "Oh, no, you can't !"
Then she would put her thinking cap on and begin,
"I love you more than a bushel of pennies!"
Quick as a flesh, Harry would say, "I love you
more than two bags of big dollars!"
Then Aunt Rose would say, "I love you longer
than seven Sundays!"
A shake of that tiny forefinger, and Harry would
answer, "But I love you longer than ten Christ-
mases
!»
MOTHER'S DAY
"I love you clear round the block!" Aunt Rose
would say.
"And I love you all over the park !" Harry would
assert.
"I love you as high as this house!" Aunt Rose
would declare.
"And I love you to the top of the church steeple !"
Harry would say.
"I love you as deep as a well!"
"Pooh! I love you to the bottom of the lake!"
And so they would go on.
But one day, Harry had a bright thought. After
he had loved to the bottom of the ocean and down
into the middle of the earth, and to the top of the
mountains and way up into the sky, he began to
caper about and clap his hands. "I've got you!"
"I've got you !" he shouted.
Then with shining eyes he said, "I love you more
than my mamma loves me!" Thereupon Aunt Rose
gave it up; there was nothing, she thought, beyond
that.
The children's pastor thinks Aunt Rose had an-
other guess. She could have told Harry that she
tried to love him as much as God loved him. This is
the greatest love. If the sculptor had represented
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
Mother Atlas as lifting her children on the world
into the arms of God the statue would be complete.
God loves every child better than mother loves her
child. Hannah knew this and took little Samuel,
whom she loved better than she loved herself, and
gave him back to God.
Let us all sing "the old, old story of Jesus and
his love."
90
Eighteen
GRANT'S BIRTHDAY
"Above all things, swear not." — James 5:12.
SWEARING is a great waste of time. Stop the
leak in the kettle. This kettle is an hour with
sixty drops of time in it. If there is a leak in the
kettle the little drops of time will be lost. Sixty
drops and the hour-kettle is empty. Swearing is a
bad habit and will surely wear a hole in the kettle.
It is difficult to swear without getting angry. Some-
times the kettle is emptied before the hole is made.
How? Anger starts the kettle boiling and time runs
over and is lost. Swearing is a great waste of time !
In sixty minutes of temper an hour has run over.
April 27 is Grant's birthday. Some one told the
following interesting story about him. "While sit-
ting with him at the camp-fire late one night, after
every one else had gone to bed, I said to him : 'Gen-
eral, it seems singular that you have gone through
all the trouble of army service and frontier life and
have never been provoked into swearing. I have
never heard you utter an oath or use an imprecation.'
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CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
" 'Well, somehow or other, I never learned to
swear,' he replied. 'When a boy, I used to have an
aversion to it, and when I became a man I saw the
folly of it. I have always noticed, too, that swearing
helps to arouse a man's anger ; and when a man flies
into a passion, his adversary who keeps cool always
gets the better of him. In fact, I never could see the
use of swearing. I think it is the case with many
people who swear excessively that it is a mere habit,
and that they do not mean to be profane; but, to
say the least, it is a great waste of time.' "
When you read this to your uncle he may say, "If
General Grant had been provoked as I often am, I
think he would have sworn." Just tell uncle this
story and ask him if General Grant did not have some
reason now and then to have a provoke:
"After he had served the nation as its President,
General Grant was in New York when the Masonic
Temple was burned. The fire-line was drawn half
way down the block, but the great, surging crowds
hampered the work. A policeman stationed below
failed to recognize the ex-President as he approached
the line, and quickly grabbing him by the collar, he
swung him around in the other direction, yelling at
him as he gave him a whack with his club: 'Here,
GRANT'S BIRTHDAY
what's the matter with you? Don't you see the fire-
line? Chase yourself out of here, and be quick
about it.' "
The General did not swear, but just hurried out of
the crowd and began to attend to his own business.
Swearing would have been a great waste of time.
Other great men tell us that swearing is more
than a waste of time ; it destroys the kettle.
General Washington, in an order issued August
3, 1776, said : "The General is sorry to be informed
that the foolish and wicked practise of profane curs-
ing and swearing, a vice hitherto little known in an
American army, is growing into fashion. He hopes
the officers will, by example as well as influence, en-
deavor to check it, and that both they and the men
will reflect that we can have little hope of the bless-
ing of heaven on our army if we insult it by our
impiety and folly. Added to this, it is a vice so mean
and low, without any temptation, that every man of
sense and character detests and despises it." Swear-
ing is a great waste of character !
James says: "But above all things, my brethren
(and my Juniors), swear not; neither by heaven,
neither by the earth, neither by any other oath ; but
let your yea be yea, and your nay be nay; lest ye
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CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
fall into condemnation." Swearing is a great loss
of soul! James asks you to be specially watchful
against the habit of swearing. "Above all things" —
that is, you will find it more difficult to keep from
this sin than it is to keep from many other sins.
If Satan can not get a boy or girl to swear with
the tongue, he will try to get a swear through the
hands or feet. Slamming a door when you are mad
is hand-swearing. When you have been corrected
and go out of the room as tho each step would put
holes in the floor you are foot-swearing. Sometimes
a swear spreads over the face like a cloud across the
sky. Swearing is a great loss of happiness !
Will my Juniors celebrate Grant's birthday by re-
solving never to swear? Do not forget that swearing
is a great waster.
You really want a story? I never tell a swear-
story, but here is one that may help you to remem-
ber our thought about swearing: A long, long time
ago in the summer time a man was stung in the face
by a bee. This made him mad, and he swore and
swore and then swore again. The swear was so hot
that his kettle of time boiled over and he wasted half
an hour swearing at the bee. A friend who was sorry
to hear him swear, said: "Jim, I am sorry for you.
94,
GRANT'S BIRTHDAY
I think that bee might have stung you in a better
place." Again the kettle boiled over. "Where might
it have stung me?" asked the swearer. "Why, it
would have been better for you if it had stung you
on the tip of the tongue." Read the third chapter
of James and then think of the need of a bee on the
tip of the tongue.
95
Nineteen
PEACE DAY
"Blessed are the peacemakers." — Matthew 5:9.
IN the library of a New York merchant, David L.
Dodge, the world's first peace society came
into existence. May 18 is known as "Peace Day."
A day when we are to think and talk about peace
more than any other subject. A Lord's Day near
Peace Day is Whit Sunday. You do not know what
Whit Sunday is? It is the day when many churches
celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day
of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit and Peace Day!
How glad we should be to celebrate both days in
the same week! The Children's Pastor hopes that
soon each day of the three hundred and sixty-five
days of each and every year will be known as Peace
Day, and on every Lord's Day we will celebrate the
coming of the Holy Spirit.
Here is the wrong way to be a peacemaker. A
missionary was praying and talking with an Indian
chief Who was dying. The missionary said: "You
96
PEACE DAY
have been in many wars, but now before you die you
should forgive all your enemies and be at peace with
them." The answer was: "I am at peace with my
enemies, for I have killed all of them." Some one
has called this "graveyard peace." Over their graves
we could not write: "Blessed are the peacemakers."
Here is the right way to be a peacemaker: "I was
a peacemaker to-day," said little Amy. Her mother
asked: "What makes you think so?" « 'Cause there
was something I didn't tell," replied Amy. This is
one of the best ways in the world of being a peace-
maker. Right there and then Amy became one of the
"children of God." 'Cause there was something she
didn't tell.
Another way to be a peacemaker is by forgiving
those who talk too much. Can you forgive those
who say mean things about you?
A story is told of Peter Miller, a plain Baptist
preacher of Ephrata, Pa., in the days of the Revo-
lutionary War. Near his church lived a man who
abused the pastor in every possible way. This man
was arrested for treason ; that is, for not being true
to his country. He was tried, found guilty, and
sentenced to be hanged. Peter Miller, the old
preacher, started out on foot and walked the whole
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CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
seventy miles to Philadelphia that he might plead for
the man's life. Washington heard his plea, but he
said: "No, your plea for your friend can not be
granted." "My friend!" said the preacher; " he is
the worst enemy I have." "What!" said Washing-
ton; "you have walked nearly seventy miles to save
the life of your enemy? That puts the matter in a
different light. I will grant the pardon."
The pardon was made out and given to Miller, and
he at once started to walk to a village fifteen miles
off, where the execution was to take place that after-
noon. He arrived just as the man was being taken
to the scaffold. The condemned man, as he looked
out over the crowd, saw Peter Miller coming up, and
he said : "There is old Peter Miller. He has walked
all the way from Ephrata to have his revenge by
seeing me hanged." He had scarcely said the words
when the pardon was presented by the dear old
preacher of peace. The life of the traitor was
spared, and the preacher proved he was a child of
God. "Blessed are the peacemakers."
Shall I tell you a story in which to hold the ser-
mon? On the peak of the Andes Mountains, four-
teen thousand feet above the level of the sea and
on the line which marks the boundary between the
PEACE DAY
republics of Argentina and Chile, has been erected
one of the most striking monuments in the world.
For more than a century the boundary line between
Argentina and Chile has been in dispute. (Get your
maps and find these countries.) A wise man who
loved peace proposed that the dispute be settled by
arbitration. (Turn to your dictionary and learn
the meaning of arbitration.) The two governments
agreed to ask the King of England to be their arbi-
trator. The King worked hard and drew a line of
separation that made all happy. So very happy
were they to be at peace that all agreed to settle by
arbitration all their disputes for the next five years.
Soon they found that they did not need so many
soldiers and many of them were sent home to work
and care for their families. Boys and girls shouted
for joy when fathers came marching home. Several
large battleships were soon sold and the money was
used for building docks. The two nations, growing
in wealth and strength, bid fair to outstrip all the
countries of the South American continent.
These Spanish-Americans have warm hearts and
great love for peace. When they sign a treaty they
are not satisfied to tie a piece of red tape around the
peace papers and lock them up in a vault of the State
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CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
Department. That might do for North Americans,
but to them it seems a very dull and stupid way.
To let all the world know that they are at peace they
have made a colossal statue of Christ, twenty-six feet
high, and standing on a granite hemisphere symbol-
izing the world. This they set up upon the Andean
peak, three miles above the level of the Pacific Ocean.
Into the pedestal they cut an inscription in Spanish,
which, being interpreted, reads: "These mountains
will crumble to dust ere Argentines and Chileans
break the peace which at the feet of Christ the Re-
deemer they have sworn to keep." Peace Day is a
good time to tell this story to your friends.
100
A
Twenty
APPLE BLOSSOM SUNDAY
I raised thee up under the apple tree."— Solomon's Song 8:5.
N apple orchard in blossom is one of the most
beautiful sights on all this earth. I hope my
Juniors are all enjoying this beautiful world made
more beautiful by apple blossoms. If you had
known you were going to visit this world what would
you have brought with you? God knew you were
coming and he sent with you the three things you
need most for a happy visit. First, a portable house,
called a body, in which to live. It is built to last
from seventy to one hundred years. Second, an in-
tellect to help you to enjoy the world and the people
you are visiting. It shows you how to see and en-
joy the best things in the world. Third, a spirit
that keeps you from getting lost in this world. This
spirit tells you to enjoy this life, but not to forget
that the world from which you came, and to which
you can return, is more beautiful than this one.
Had you known you were coming, what birthday
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CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
gift would you have selected? A small boy said,
after his mother had punished him: "If I had been
given the choice of a mother, I would have taken
grandma, she is so good to me." When he grew old
he knew better. There is no friend like mother.
What would have been your choice of a birthplace?
Would you have selected the city or the country?
Our text answers the question as I would answer it.
It tells of the beautiful birthplace of a little girl.
"I raised thee up under the apple-tree." The apple-
tree probably grew by the corner of the house where
she was born. This text is part of a wonderful song-
story. With her husband she had gone back as a
bride to the old home. He pointed to the apple-tree
under which she was born ; the same apple tree under
whose shade they had often sat, and where he had told
her of his love. Do you wish you had been born under
an apple-tree? You can if you will. The Bible
says you must be born again, born a second time.
You can select your second birthplace. The Bible
says Christ is like an apple-tree. "As the apple-tree
among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among
the sons." To be a child of God you must be born
again, born in the likeness of Christ. Our Christ
is the tree of life. To be raised up under his love is
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APPLE BLOSSOM SUNDAY
what God means by, "I raised thee up under the
apple-tree." Possibly, when jour visit to this world
is ended and you return home to heaven, you will
sit down under the shade of a tree by the river of
life and talk to Christ about his love. I hope the
tree of life in Paradise will be like an apple tree in
blossom.
Apple blossoms are beautiful, but there is some-
thing more useful to follow. After the blossoms come
the apples. Apples are blossoms filled with fragrance,
sunshine, nectar, and colors from the rainbow. In
Europe, before our ancestors became Christians, it
was the custom when a child died to put an apple
in his hand with which to play in Paradise. There
is a legend that represents the Angel of Death, whose
duty they believed was to separate the soul from
the bodies of those who were dying, holding an apple
close to the one who is about to depart from life.
This, in order that the first thing the spirit would
see in the new world would be a beautiful apple. "As
the apple-tree among the trees of the wood, so is
my beloved among the sons." We as Christians
expect to see Christ first in heaven. "As the apple-
tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved
among the sons."
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It is time to close, but I must give you two minutes
in order to tell you a quaint apple story. If your
father and mother came from the country they will
tell you how, as children, they played under the
apple-trees. They put sticks for legs in big apples
and set them up as animals. With a little imagina-
tion added to the apples and sticks they soon had a
menagerie. This quaint play has an interesting
origin. In the early days, the people of Athens had
a place for worship just across the river Esopus.
They took sheep across the river as a sacrifice to their
gods. There came a very heavy storm and the river
was so swollen that the worshipers could not take
the sheep across. Some one recalled that the Greek
word for sheep was the same word that meant apple.
Then they put the wooden legs on the apples and
offered them as a sacrifice. They used the same
word and believed their gods would not know the
difference. Once a year they put apples on legs
and sacrificed them in commemoration of this occa-
sion. Children playing under the apple-trees are
still commemorating the old Greek sacrifice.
Christ is compared to an apple-tree, He is so beau-
tiful. But we must not put these apple blossoms,
with which our church is decorated to-day, in place
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APPLE BLOSSOM SUNDAY
of Christ. We do not worship apple blossoms, but
we use them and enjoy their great beauty as a
reminder of His love. After your apple blossom ser-
vice take these flowers to the sick, take arms full
of them to the children's ward in the hospital. It
would be fine to read to the sick while they look at
the blossoms and enjoy the fragrance. In your
Bible you will find apples spoken of eleven times.
105
Twenty-one
MEMORIAL DAY
"This day shall be unto you for a memorial. " — Exodus 12:14.
"\ /TARCH! March! March! Fife and drum and
■*■ •*■ bugle call. Graves covered with flowers and
flags; tears in memory of past years. We know
what all this means, for the thirtieth of May is
Memorial Day. At first we named it Decoration
Day. But we do more than decorate. We remember
the bravery of our soldiers and all they did for our
country. The new name, Memorial Day, is better.
What was the origin of this beautiful custom?
Why do you boys and girls want to know its history ?
Oh ! I understand. Some day it may be one of your
school examination questions. Good, that is one of
many things your pastor wants to do for you. If
he can help you in your school work he will be very
happy. Every Sunday should help you for each day
of the week. Here is your answer. There is a tra-
dition that a German soldier in our Civil War started
the custom by telling that once a year the people
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MEMORIAL DAY
of his native country scattered flowers on the graves
of their soldiers. The history of our Memorial Day
began in 1868, when Adjutant-General Chipman
talked on this subject with John A. Logan, Com-
mander of the Grand Army. The talk got into
Logan's heart, and he ordered that the 30th of May
should be the day set apart "for the purpose of
strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the
graves of comrades who died in defense of their
country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies
now lie in almost every city, village, or hamlet
churchyard in the land."
Thirtieth day of May, Memorial Day. Hurrah!
Hurrah ! Hurrah ! for the brave boys in blue and
gray!
"Over the cannon's mouth the spider weaves her
web." By spinning the web over the cannon's mouth
she tells us that it is time to stop war. The spider
was the world's first engineer and suspension-bridge
builder. Would it not be fine to have our bojrs in
blue wheel up one of their old cannon and the boys in
gray wheel up one of their old cannon and leave them
close enough for the spider to spin her suspension
bridge between them? While the mother spider is
building the bridge the Junior spiders could spin a
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CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
beautiful web over the mouth of each cannon. On
the morning of the thirtieth of May the Juniors of
the North and the Juniors of the South could march
around the cannons and sing "The Star-Spangled
Banner." Early in the morning they will see some-
thing like diamonds on the web of the suspension
bridge. Some one might call them dew drops — the
Juniors can imagine they are tears. Imagine that
nature has been crying about the brave boys in gray
and the brave boys in blue, who sleep in soldiers'
graves.
I have read that the humming-bird in Australia
protects its home with a lightning rod. Before a
thunderstorm bursts, the prudent bird covers the
outside of its little nest with a spider's web. Silk is
a non-conductor of electricity, and since the spider
web is silk the humming-bird's nest is thereby made
lightning-proof. The spider web between the cannon
of the North and the cannon of the South will, let
us hope, protect us from all future thunderstorms
of war. Three cheers for the spider and her web !
Memorial Day will some day, let us pra}', be called
Peace Day. But spiders can not do all the work;
Juniors must do most of the work. Each boy and
girl has a responsibility. The word "responsibility,"
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MEMORIAL DAY
you think, is rather large. Yes, but like a big apple,
you can break it in two. The "re" is a Latin word
meaning "again," and the second part is another
Latin word that means "to answer." Responsibility
is therefore something for which you must some dav
answer. God will ask you what you have done for
your country. Will you be able to say: "I have
done my best?" This responsibility you can not put
off. It is a part of you that can not be taken from
all other parts of you. A story will help you to
remember this fact. A lawyer was defending a man
who was accused of house-breaking. He said : "Your
honor, I submit that my client did not break into
the house at all. He found the parlor window open,
and merely inserted his right arm and removed a
few trifling articles. Now, my client's arm is not
himself, and I fail to see how you can punish the
whole individual for an offense for which his right
arm alone is responsible."
"That argument," said the Judge, "is very well
put. Following it logically, I sentence the defend-
ant's arm to one year's imprisonment. He can ac-
company it or not, as he chooses."
The defendant smiled, and with his lawyer's as-
sistance, unscrewed his cork arm, and leaving it in
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the dock, walked out. You are neither wood nor cork
Juniors, but all flesh and blood.
You must put jour entire life, body, mind and
soul into your responsibility. No one part of you
can be held responsible. Your fathers fought the
battles ; their children must heal the wounds and love
out the scars. As every school has its colors so the
Juniors should have their colors for Memorial Day.
The Children's Pastor suggests that you adopt
blue and gray for their colors. Blue will stand for
true, and gray for to-day ; true to the responsibilities
of each and every Memorial Day.
110
Twenty- two
CLINGING CLIMBERS
"Blossom as the rose." — Isaiah 35:1.
rTlHERE are many varieties of roses. In our first
-*■ rose lesson we will put them all under two
varieties — climbers and non-climbers. On Rose Sun-
day we will talk about the clinging climbers. This
rose climbs and clings and then clings and climbs and
buds and blooms. Each cling is a resting-place and
each resting-place is a new start for another climb ;
each climb sending out more buds and blossoms. Some
of these climbers are called perpetuals because they
are constantly blooming ; climbing and blooming and
filling the air with fragrance. As Christ is called
the Rose of Sharon, I am sure my Juniors will rejoice
in being compared to roses. Juniors should be like
clinging climbers. Six days for climbing and one for
clinging. Sunday is clinging day. On this rest day
they have a chance to cling. To what do they cling?
To God's love, to His great truth, to great beliefs.
For my Juniors there is a great lesson upon the
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CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
three splendid arches spanning the doorways of the
Milan Cathedral. Over one is carved a beautiful
wreath of roses, and underneath is the legend: "All
that pleases is but for the moment." Over another is
sculptured a cross, and there are the words: "All
that troubles is but for a moment." But over the
great central arch are the words: "That only is
important which is eternal." These three lessons I
hope my Juniors will learn and teach.
Many churches have a Junior congregation and
the pastor preaches to them every Sunday. The
Junior congregation is the Children's Garden. Here
is a beautiful story written by James H. Hill, of
Salt Lake City, the city where roses grow and vine
and twine and bloom:
"Early in the springtime many years ago we
planted some roses in our garden. No two were alike
when we planted them ; no two grew the same after-
ward, altho we tried to give each of them the same
care and attention. One especially was unlike any
of the others; it seemed more frail and its branches
more slender and tender. After a while, discouraged
with its growth, we decided to remove it and plant
a rose in its place that would do better ; but a friend
said: 'The fault is not the rose's, but yours — it's
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CLINGING CLIMBERS
a climber and needs support.' We placed a trellis
over the little rose and twined its slender, clinging
branches around the lower bar. Returning some days
after, we found its branches swinging loosely out
from the trellis, and gathering these in, we secured
them to another higher bar.
"Again we returned and again found the branches
hanging out and falling down. As we gathered them
up, preparing to secure them to a still higher bar,
we said, almost impatiently,: 'Why can't you stay
on the trellis where we put you?' But the little rose
seemed to say: 'Did you want me to stay where you
put me? I thought you wanted me to grow. I
tried hard to reach up to the next bar, but the wind
blew so strong that I could not stand alone. I kept
on growing and had to go somewhere.' " The gar-
dener learned to help the rose vine to cling and
swing on the trellis. Then a little higher he put
another trellis bar to which it could climb.
Mr. Hill says: "Years afterwards we returned to
our old home, and sitting under a beautiful vine-
covered arbor we looked for the roses we had taken
care of years before. Some were there strong and
thrifty, others had not grown so well, a few were
missing. We looked for our little rose, but could
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CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
not find it. When we inquired for it our friend said :
'Your little rose has grown so that you do not recog-
nize it, for its branches cover this entire arbor. It's
the pride of the garden.' "
Juniors are clinging climbers, and like our little
rose, need to be helped over the difficult places, other-
wise they will keep on growing, and with no one to
help them will soon follow their own inclinations,
which are usually down and out. But if the Juniors
are trained on the trellis of home and church they
will cling and climb and blossom as the rose.
Some day your pastor expects to be very proud
of you, for he is expecting you to climb and cling,
to cling and climb, until you become great men and
women. Never forget, as you cling and climb, that
all love the rose because it gives so much pleasure
and is always pleasing.
Here is a little story in which to carry home your
Rose Sunday :
"I will not give away my perfume," said the rose-
bud, holding its pink petals tightly wrapt in their
tiny green case. The other roses bloomed in splendor
and those who enjoyed their fragrance exclaimed at
their beauty and sweetness ; but the selfish bud shriv-
eled and withered away, unnoticed.
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CLINGING CLIMBERS
"No, no," said a little bird, "I do not want to
sing." But when his brothers soared aloft on joyous
wings, pouring a flood of melody, making weary
hearers forget sorrow and bless the singers, the little
bird was lonesome and ashamed.
"If I give away all my wavelets, I shall not have
enough myself," said the brook. And it hoarded all
its waters in a hollow place, where it formed a stag-
nant, slimy pool.
A boy who loved a fresh, wide-awake rose, a buoy-
ant, singing bird, and a leaping, refreshing brooklet
thought on these things, and said : "If I would have
and would be I must share all my goods with others ;
for Ho give is to live : to deny is to die.' "
115
Twenty-three
OUR FLAG DAY
"A very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice." — Eze-
kiel 33:32.
TUNE 14 is Flag Day. In the Congressional
*-* Library at Washington, D. C, the records show
that on Saturday, June 14, 1777, this resolution
was passed : "Resolved, That the flag of the thirteen
United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and
white; that the Union be thirteen stars, white in
blue field, representing a new constellation." We
now have forty-eight stars on our flag.
Some one has said: Among the special days of
the year, patriotic and religious, Flag Day has a
very important place. On this day the beautiful
emblem of our country is unfurled to the breeze, and
proudly floats not only from the flagstaff of our
public buildings and institutions, but from those of
the homes of the people. It fosters greater love for
the stars and stripes, and promotes, notably in the
hearts of the youth of our land, the spirit of patriot-
ism. Too much can not be made of our country's
flag, and every Junior should respect it. The cus-
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OUR FLAG DAY
torn is most fitting, to stand up, uncover and cheer
whenever Old Glory is unfurled.
Your pastor wants you to do more than simply
take off your hat and cheer. The children should
sing "The Star Spangled Banner." You have
pleasant voices and it is a very lovely song. How
many of you can start the song and sing the first
line? Good! good! I am glad there are so many of
you who can do this. Now, how many of you can
sing all the verses? Not one of you! Oh, my! my!
my! Just hear the answer of those who were ready
to cheer. One night at Melrose Abbey your pastor
and his wife were very much ashamed of a crowd of
American girls. It was moonlight and midnight and
a crowd had gathered by the old abbey. The Scotch
folk sang their songs and asked the American girls
to sing "The Star Spangled Banner." They could
not sing all of the first verse. They had pleasant
voices, but did not know the very lovely song. Listen
to this story:
Grandma read not long ago that out of a large
class in a public school which was asked to write
"The Star Spangled Banner" from memory, not one
scholar wrote it correctly, and few could go further
than the first verse.
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CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
Every Junior who loves the flag should be able to
repeat "The Star Spangled Banner" word for word
from beginning to end. You should know its history
and be able to say why it was written and by whom.
"The Star Spangled Banner" was written on
August 14, 1814, by Francis Scott Key. Those of
you who have studied history know of the war that
was being carried on during that year. The British
fleet was stationed at the mouth of the Potomac
River, and Mr. Key under a flag of truce went there
to try to obtain the release of a friend. It so hap-
pened that an attack was planned on Baltimore for
the night of August 13, and Mr. Key and his truce
boat were detained all night during the bombard-
ment of Fort McHenry. Just before the darkness
settled down Mr. Key had been watching our flag as
it waved fearlessly in the face of peril and danger.
All through the long hours of the gloomy night the
heavy cannonading went on, but just before daylight
it ceased. Mr. Key, who had been pacing the deck
of his vessel anxiously, was eager for the first ray of
morning which would disclose the result of the battle.
As the dawn broke the first object he saw was the
dear old flag still proudly floating over the fort. We
can believe the sight was thrilling and that under its
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OUR FLAG DAY
inspiration he readily composed the verses which,
as soon as they were printed and circulated, became
popular and were sung with enthusiasm all over the
city. A bronze statue of Mr. Key, one hand out-
stretched as at the moment of discovering that "our
flag was still there," the other waving his hat ex-
ultantly, stands over -his grave in Frederick, Md.,
the city of his birth.
Now, Juniors, do you not think you all should
become familiar with the words of this grand anthem ?
How many of you will commit them to memory?
You will commit "The Star Spangled Banner" to
memory if I will tell you a flag story, you say ? Very
well.
Philip came into the primary schoolroom one morn-
ing and informed the teacher that the flag was up.
"Is it?" said she, doubtfully.
"It certainly is, and it isn't the Fourth of July,
or Washington's Birthday, or Lincoln's, and I
couldn't think why the flag should be up. Why is
it?" The teacher could not remember any anniver-
sary worthy of notice by a flag-raising on that es-
pecial day.
"I don't know, I am sure," she said at last. "Go
and find out and tell me." Philip hurried away.
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CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
"It's to celebrate somebody's wedding," he re-
ported.
"Wedding?" repeated the mystified teacher.
"There isn't any wedding on the whole list of our
historical celebrations."
"That's what it says on the card, anyhow," in-
sisted Philip. "It's something about a wedding."
The teacher decided that she would look for her-
self. What she saw on the card was as follows:
"This day is the anniversary of the engagement of
the Monitor and the Merrimac."
Do not forget your engagement to commit "The
Star Spangled Banner" to memory.
120
Twenty-four
HANGING A PRAYER ON THE STARS
"They that go down to the sea in ships." — Psalm 107:23.
T^VO you pray for the sailors — "they that go down
-*-^ to the sea in ships?" You are to hear of how
a brave sailor prayed for himself; how he wrote a
prayer and hung it on the stars. Listen while Alex-
ander Irvine tells you a story:
We were in a squall off the coast of Sicily, and
the commander, a man of the old school, took ad-
vantage of it to give us a bit of rough-water drill.
The order was to strike the lower yards and topmast
and to clear the decks for action.
"Away, aloft !" he roared, as the wind soughed
through the rigging ; and a moment later I heard :
"Bear out on the yardarm !" Something went
wrong in the foretop and the sailor fell to the hatch-
way grating below, killing a man by his fall. I
stood a few feet from the grating, and it took me
the best part of a day to sponge his blood out of
my clothing. We buried them both that night in
an old cemetery at the base of Mount Etna.
1.21
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
At noontime the next day we were ordered through
the same evolution aloft. A lad had been promoted
to the vacancy in the forecastle, and he was rather
nervous. Five hundred pairs of eyes followed him
as he tore aloft with the lightness of a cat.
At the crucial moment — at the sound of the order,
"Bear out on the yardarm!" — he lost his nerve,
dropt a hundred feet and was crusht to death on
the deck.
Billy Hicks, a second-class officer, was made cap-
tain of the foretop. Billy was something of a wag.
He could dance a hornpipe or sing a song and when
he laughed the deck trembled.
As he stood there barefooted at the foot of the
rigging awaiting the fatal order, the red blush
vanished from his round face. It was ashy and
pinched.
Every eye was on him, and as he sprang at the
rigging, men stood from under.
There was a breathless hush as he reached the top,
a full length ahead of his men. Then the order rang
out over the old ship and a hundred men with the
precision of a clock sprang to their places.
We were fond of Billy, and when the crisis was
past we gulped down our lumps and secretly thanked
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HANGING A PRAYER ON THE STARS
Him in the hollow of whose hand lie the seas. No
one understood how Billy Hicks had been able to
obey the order without falling to the deck.
Something really did happen to the new captain
of the foretop that day, tho nobody knew just what
it was. There was a change and we felt it. Those
who stood nearest felt it most. We couldn't analyze
it; he couldn't himself. I got into the secret by
accident.
An officer of the Gemaraire came on board one day,
a week or two later, to lunch with a friend. I served
the lunch in the wardroom and overheard the follow-
ing conversation:
"Have you a seaman by the name of Billy Hicks
on board?"
"Yes; what about him?"
"Well," the officer said, smiling, "we were ten miles
out at sea a few weeks ago when we noticed the sig-
nals flashing all over the heavens — electric signals.
I was officer of the deck. It was about two bells in
the first watch. I called my signal officer and told
him to take down what he read. He pulled out his
notebook, still smiling, and, spelling out the words,
read :
" 'God, this is Billy Hicks ! I ain't afraid of no
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CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
bloomin' man nor devil; I ain't afraid of no Davy
Jones' bleedin' locker, neither. I ain't like a bawl-
ing baby afussing at his dad for sweeties. I don't
ask you for no favors, but just one: This is it —
when I strike the foretops to-morrow let me do it with
the heart of a man what iz clean. And God, dear
God, from this hear day on, giv me that feeling I
usto have long ago when I nelt at my mother's nee
and said, "Our Father." Good night, dear God.' "
Billy knew he would be called next day to climb
to the topmast. That night while in charge of the
big light signal he wrote his prayer in letters of
light and hung it on the stars before his God. Love
is God's flashlight with which you can send your
prayer beyond the stars and hang them on the great
white throne of God. Ask father or mother to tell
you where to find the following beautiful sailor story :
They that go down to the sea in ships, that do
business in great waters;
These are the works of the Lord, and His wonders
in the deep.
They mount up to the heaven, they go down again
to the depths : their soul is melted because of trouble.
They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken
man, and are at their wit's end.
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HANGING A PRAYER ON THE STARS
Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and
he bringeth them out of their distresses.
He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves
thereof are still.
Then are they glad because they be quiet; so He
bringeth them unto their desired haven.
Oh that men would praise the Xord for his good-
ness, and for his wonderful works to the children of
men'
125
D
Twenty-five
THE CROSS ON THE ARM
Take up his cross daily." — Luke 9:23.
ID you all enjoy the sailor story in the last
sermon? Did any of you think while reading
about Billy Hicks climbing the mast that he was
climbing a cross? The mast of a ship with its yard-
arm is really a great cross uplifted from the deck.
This cross was lifting Billy Hicks up toward the
stars on which he had hung his prayer. Every tele-
graph pole is a cross over which silent and unseen
messages are carried to the ends of the world. Each
telegraph pole is a cross and millions of them are
in line across our continent. In May, 1844, the tele-
graph, now so common, was used for the first time.
One of the first messages ever flashed over a wire
was, "What hath God wrought?" The world's great
history of civilization starts at the Cross on Calvary.
Have you ever thought of the unseen crosses, hun-
dreds of them, along your pathway? Every time
God's plan crosses your plan there is a cross over
THE CROSS ON THE ARM
which God sends a message to your soul. You plan
an outing for Saturday. On Friday night father
or mother tells you of some work you are to do on
Saturday. The two plans are in opposite direc-
tions and your parents' plan crosses your plan near
the top. Here is a cross! Our text reads: "Take
up his cross daily." Are you willing to bear it cheer-
fully on Saturday? Do not forget that "daily"
means Saturday as well as Sunday. God sees your
unseen cross. Your plan is to have a good time.
God says, Make some sacrifice for the benefit of
others. Here is a cross you can take up daily and
follow Christ.
The world honors the cross. Would you believe
that even cannibals honor the cross ? Here is a story
that was telegraphed, sent over thousands of crosses,
from Richmond, Va., to one of our New York daily
papers :
"The Rev. Thomas Needham, following a sermon
on 'Deliverance,' related a remarkable story of kid-
napping and adventure among cannibals in a foreign
land and exhibited a tattooed cross on his arm as
having been the means of his deliverance.
"As a lad he was stolen and carried aboard a ship
bound for a South American port. Among others
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CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
he had tattooed on his arm the figure of a cross.
After a long voyage and before reaching port the
captain decided to put him ashore and leave him to
his fate. If they had taken him to port he would
have told of how he had been stolen and made to
work like a slave. Left on the shore of Patagonia,
he was soon captured by the cannibals who lived on
that coast.
"On being stript in preparation for a feast of
the tribe, the attention of his would-be murderers
was attracted to the cross tattooed on his arm. They
carried him before the chief and showed him the
cross on the boy's arm. He ordered that the boy
be not killed, and he was afterward treated with
every mark of courtesy, and the boy soon became
a member of the chief's household. He remained
among them for several years and learned their
language and told them of Christ and His Cross.
When he learned their language he found that a
tradition existed among the tribesmen that a strange
cross having mystic qualities had been used by the
Jesuits who had once preached Christ to them. They
had forgotten the message, but remembered the cross.
"Finally Mr. Needham made his escape and jour-
neyed to Boston, where some of his relatives lived.
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THE CROSS ON THE ARM
They failed to recognize in the tanned man the boy
who had disappeared years before. A cross had saved
him and he decided to hold up the cross of Christ
for the salvation of the world.
"Many years afterward he was preaching in one
of the lower British provinces and happened to relate
this incident of how a cross had saved his life. A
man came to him after the service saying that he
wanted to talk to him privately. The man took the
minister to his home and there on the wall showed
him a picture of the very boat in which he as a boy
had been carried away from home to a far-off land
and left among the cannibals. The man also in-
formed him that he was the captain of the boat which
had cast him adrift. The captain stated, however,
that the trip was his last ; that he had become con-
verted and that he was repentant for what he had
done. The cross saved the captain."
Do the Juniors see how God's plan and the boy's
plan had crossed? The boy had gone to play; this
was his plan. He was stolen, put on board a ship,
and made to work as a slave; this was God's plan.
The two plans formed a cross. You say, "How disap-
pointed that boy must have been !" Look at the word
"disappointment" and change the first letter, "d," to
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CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
"h" and you have "His appointment." His ap-
pointed way. God's ways are not always our ways.
When the boy grew to be a man he saw how God's
way was the better way. On this cross, like the
mast of the ship, the boy climbed close to God. Over
this cross, like a telegraph pole, God sent a message
to the cannibals, and by the cross laid upon the boy
the captain had been saved, and by the cross the boy
became a captain of Salvation.
On Sunday morning we want you all to sing:
In the cross of Christ I glory.
Towering o'er the wrecks of time;
All the light of sacred story
Gathers round its head sublime.
130
Twenty-six
THE COMING FOURTH OF JULY
"On the fourth day." — Numbers 7:30.
rvy HE Sunday before the Fourth of July is a good
■*• time to plan for a great celebration.
A good Christian Junior asks: "Is Sunday the
time to plan for fire-crackers, sky-rockets, base-ball
and boat rides?" Certainly not! The Fourth of
July was never intended as a day for sports, but as
a day for making a new start as good Americans.
It is the day to read and recite the Declaration of
Independence, to hear of noble deeds and great
achievements. A time to learn about the men who
gave us freedom and created for us a Republic.
It is one hundred and thirty-six years since the
Declaration of Independence was signed. Great men
made this as a valuable offering to their country.
In one hundred and thirty-six years from this time,
A.D. 2048, will the Juniors of that time be able to
look back with pride to what you did for them? If
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CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
not, why not? There is certainly some offering you
can make to your country.
July Fourth, 1776! Does July 4 of any other
year tell us of offerings made to the world? Ask
your teacher to tell you about July 4, 1097, when
the Crusaders gained a victory for the Cross over the
Crescent, and of July 4, 1215, when King John was
made to sign the Magna Charta, the English fore-
runner of our Declaration.
Do not forget July 4, 1898, when we celebrated
the great victory of the day before. Your father will
tell you how the Spanish squadron, under the com-
mand of Admiral Cervera, was destroyed by our
American sailor boys on July 3, fourteen years ago.
I have a beautiful story for you concerning a Christ-
like act on that Sunday of July 3, 1898, a story
that was told to the world on July 4, 1898. The
story was given by an eye-witness and recently
printed in the Youth's Companion.
The late Admiral Sampson told the story to an
audience of small boys in the parlor of a social set-
tlement house. They were ragged boys of more than
one nationality, but they proudly called themselves
Americans, and they had come to see and hear an
American hero.
133
THE COMING FOURTH OF JULY
The admiral judged his audience correctly at once.
He saw that they were at the impatient age, and
plunged straight into his story. "I want to tell
you of something that happened on my ship the
morning the American fleet took the harbor of San-
tiago," he said, and all the wrigglers stopt wriggling.
"You all remember that battle?" Vigorous nod-
dings from every head. "And you know m}' ship
was late getting there?" More nods. "All round
us, as we sailed in, there were signs of a Spanish
defeat, wreckage, dead men, disaster. What day of
the week was that?"
"Sunday!" shouted the audience as one boy.
"Yes, Sunday morning ; and we always have pray-
ers on the Admiral's ship Sunday morning. The
little reading desk, or pulpit, with the cross carved
on the top of it, was still standing on deck. We
had gone into battle so hastily that no one had time
to put the desk away. It was a little thing, easilv
moved about. So we sailed along, and there was
death and destruction on the face of the waters.
And the battle was won. But among the dead things
and the burning things that floated on the water we
saw a man swimming. He was a Spanish sailor, one
of our enemies. He was making a struggle for his
133
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
life, but there was nothing near enough for him to
cling to, and each stroke he made was fainter than
the last. The shore was a long way off. According
to the rules of war, we had no time to save his life ;
besides, he was our enemy."
The room was very still; every eye was fixt on
the Admiral.
"Some of us on that side of the ship," he con-
tinued, "watched the man curiously, wondering how
long he would hold out. Then all of a sudden one
of our sailors picked up that little pulpit and pitched
it over the side of the ship into the sea. 'Here,
friend,' he cried, 'cling to that ! Cling to the cross,
and it'll take you safe to shore !'
"Of course the Spaniard couldn't understand those
English words, but the action was unmistakable ; and
the last we saw of the poor fellow he was clinging
tc the pulpit with its cross moving toward the shore.
That's the kind of Americans you want to be, boys —
the kind that sailor was aboard my ship."
Then they all stood up in the settlement parlor and
sang "America" till the ceiling trembled.
Have you any offering to make to your country?
How are you going to celebrate? How would it do
to get all your playmates together and elect one to
134
THE COMING FOURTH OF JULY
read aloud the Declaration of Independence? Then
tell the Admiral Sampson story. And then ask how
many would be willing to try to save an enemy?
What next? All resolve to be good Christians and
good citizens. Then one and all sing "America,"
and close with three cheers for the Fourth.
135
I
Twenty-seven
THE WHITE STONE
"With the point of a diamond." — Jeremiah 17:1.
T has been forty-one years, July 13, 1871, since
the discovery of diamonds in South Africa. Do
you know how these great mines were discovered?
A trader stopping over night with a Dutch farmer
saw the children playing with bright marbles. The
trader took the white stones to Cape Town and found
they were diamonds of wonderful beauty and great
value. In these forty-one years about eleven tons of
diamonds have been taken from the Kimberly mines.
Think of eleven tons of diamonds, like eleven tons of
coal, being dumped into your cellar.
Have you a diamond? If not, do you want one?
"Sure!" That is the answer I expected. But I am
not sure that you would be really happy if you had
a dozen diamonds. Last year a little child in Jersey
City had two hundred diamonds, worth a hundred
thousand dollars, but they did not make him happy.
You could have bought them all for a small drum
and a tin horn. The father found them and not
136
THE WHITE STONE
knowing their value gave them to his boy for play-
things. The child threw them away. In 1727 the
people of Brazil used diamonds, white stones, as
counters in playing games. In Khorasan, in 1823,
Abas Mirza purchased for a trifle a 132-karat dia-
mond from a peasant who was using it as a flint for
striking fire. You would enjoy a diamond, but it
would not make you really happy. Why? Because
there is something making you unhappy that these
diamonds can not take away. The Diamond Com-
pany of South Africa has a large room literally
heaped with diamonds that looks like an Arabian
Nights vision. But if you had all these and all the
other diamonds in the world you could not purchase
forgiveness of your sins.
Your text says the sin of Judah was written with
a pen of iron and with the point of a diamond. It
is sin that makes you unhappy. Sin can be written
with a diamond, but it can not be taken away with
a diamond. The text means that just as the old
engravers used a pencil of iron with a diamond point
for writing messages that were to endure, so God
wrote the sin of the sinners. Did you hear where
they were written? Written on their hearts. Does
this mean that the Juniors have records of their
137
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
sins written on their own hearts? Then each Junior
is a page in God's book of remembrance. What a
wonderful book ! Ask your father to tell you about
the loose leaf books and ledgers. The page that can
be put in or taken out without destroying the book.
Every time you see a diamond just think of one in
the point of an iron pen writing the sins on the heart
of the sinners.
Is there no way to get the record of sin taken off
your heart? The story of another white stone will
answer your question. God so loved us that he sent
His Son to purchase with His own life the forgiveness
of our sins. Christ takes the sin leaf out of your
heart-book and nails it to His cross. Ask mother
to tell you all about it. When your sins are for-
given and you fight against sin and conquer, God
says he will give you "a white stone, and, in the
stone a new name written." See Rev. 2:17. This
white stone with the new name will make you happy.
The only white stone that can make any one really
happy. This White Stone was discovered on Calvary
twenty centuries ago.
You want me to tell you a diamond story? You
shall have it, if I can tell one that will help you to
remember the sermon.
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THE WHITE STONE
The day's work at the mine was over and Fred-
erick Wells, the surface manager, was making his
usual rounds. Glancing along one side of the deep
excavation his eye suddenly caught the gleam of a
brilliant object far up the bank. He lost no time
in climbing up to the spot where he had noted the
glint of light. He had not been mistaken: it was a
brilliant crystal. He tried to pull it out with his
fingers, and as this proved impossible he sought to
pry it out with the blade of his pen-knife. To his
surprize the blade of the knife broke without causing
the stone to yield. Then he knew it was a large stone.
So large and brilliant was the stone that he feared
he was either dreaming or was insane.
Determined to test the stone on the spot, before
proceeding further, Wells rubbed off the dirt from
one of its faces with his fingers, and soon convinced
himself that it was not a lump of glass, but a dia-
mond, apparently of exceptional whiteness and
purity. He finally succeeded in prying out the stone
and bore it away with him to the office of the mine.
Here it was cleaned and, to the astonishment of all,
was found to have a weight of 302% carats, more
than three times that of any other diamond that
had been discovered. Before many hours passed the
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CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
telegraph carried tidings to all parts of the world
that the greatest diamond of this age or any other
age had been brought to light. T. M. Cullinan,
founder and chairman of the Premier Company,
named the diamond after himself; others have called
it the Premier and several different names have been
proposed. It was purchased and presented to King
Edward VII. He has passed to a country to which
he could not take this almost priceless white stone.
When dying he said: "It is all over, but I think I
have done my duty." We all hope he had the "white
stone with the new name," the only white stone he
could take with him beyond his palace in London.
140
Twenty-eight
SUPERSTITION AND ST. SWITHIN
"Their own superstition.'' — Acts 25:19.
QUPERSTITION is a long word. You can not
^ cut it with your knife, but if you have a keen
edge on your brain you can divide it into two words.
The first half is the Latin word "super," meaning
over, and the second half is "stare," meaning to
stand. Superstition is something that has been left
to stand over. If a box came to you and you did
not know it was candy you might let it stand over
until it spoiled. Superstition is a truth that people
do not understand and let stand over until it spoils.
Spoiled truth is superstition.
St. Swithin was Bishop of Winchester. Many
superstitions are mixed with his name and fame. He
died in 862. When dying, he requested that his
body be buried in the churchyard. The legend says
that one hundred years afterward, when the monks
on July 15 took up his body to deposit it in the
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CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
Cathedral, they were delayed by a violent rain. The
reason for the rain was not explained and was left
to "stand over" until it became a superstition. Peo-
ple came to believe that the rain was sent to prevent
the monks from taking his body from the place where
he wanted it to rest. There are foolish and super-
stitious people to-day who say if it rains on St.
Swithin's Day, July 15, it will rain for forty days.
Your teacher will explain to you that we expect con-
siderable rain about July 15, at what is called the
"summer solstice." If the monks had known the rain
was the result of God's laws, they would have waited
until the rain was over before lifting the body. Then
there would have been no superstition about it.
This year St. Swithin's Day comes on Monday.
If it came on Friday we would have another super-
stition. Some time in the past something happened
on Friday. It was not explained, but was left over
until it spoiled, or became a superstition. It is a
sin to injure Friday, as it has been a great day in
our history. America was discovered on Friday,
the Mayflower landed at our shores on Friday. The
Declaration of Independence was signed on Friday,
and George Washington was born on Friday. It is
a sin and a shame to leave some facts "standing
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SUPERSTITION AND ST. SWITHIN
over" until they spoil and leave their odor to spoil
the reputation of a good day.
Let me give 3'ou one rule for destroying supersti-
tion. It is the rule of God. Our God rules all
things; He rules "13" and "Friday." When we
"knock wood" we are striking at the rule of God.
The Greek word, superstition, in our text, means
"reverence of demons. " When you lose the rule of
God you are in danger of taking the rule of demons.
Superstition is the rule of demons. If you are
tempted to be superstitious just say: "It is God's
'13.' It is God's 'Friday.' " God, like salt, cures
things that are left over to decay.
Do you really want a story about superstition?
Here it is:
"Listen," said Ned, as he stood in the farmhouse
door with Uncle Horace.
It was an early autumn morning. Across the field,
clear and cheery, sounded once and again the whistle
of a quail.
"Do you hear that?" asked Ned; "that is an old
quail who has raised her family in the north pasture
this summer. "Hear her now!" as the call rang
out again in the quiet air.
"If you were a French instead of an American
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CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
boy," said Uncle Horace, "you would have a super-
stition about the quail."
"Why?"
"Because in France they think, or at least say,
that the number of calls of the quail foretells the
price of wheat." They think that if the quail calls
twice without resting, the farmers need expect but
two francs (about forty cents) a bushel for their
wheat; but if he calls four times it will be twice that."
"How very odd! Do you believe it?"
Uncle Horace laughed. "I don't, Ned, any more
than I believe that the white rooster crowing so loud
on the fence there is a bird of 'ill omen.' "
"Surely no one thinks that," protested Ned.
"Yes, indeed, in many parts of Saxony the peasants
will not raise chickens at all, even tho they are poor
and could sell the eggs at a good price; because, as
I have said, they call the cock the 'bird of ill omen.' "
"Is not that what they call a superstition?" asked
Ned.
"Yes, some fact they did not understand was left
over to spoil."
"Let me tell you a pretty name the Swedish people
have for the turtle dove."
"What is the name, Uncle?"
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SUPERSTITION AND ST. SWITHIN
"They call it 'God's bird,' because God used it to
help Noah out of the ark."
"That is certainly a very pretty name," said Ned.
"Now I am going to the barn to get some wheat to
feed God's birds."
"Yes," said Ned's mother, who from the dining-
room had been listening to Ned and his uncle, "if
you put God into your thought and into your stories
there will be no superstitions."
145
Y
Twenty-nine
THE PASSWORD
"A great door is opened." — I Corinthians 16:9.
OUR first name was "I." When you came into
this world you looked up as tho you wanted to
say, "I am here!" That was the password and it
opened the door of your mother's heart. The little
long word "cry" was for several months your best
password. It was like a night key and opened the
door of mother's sleep. A small boy in Boston went
to his father's library and found "I" was the pass-
word. He was in a great hurry and when he found
the great door was locked began to shout, "Let me
in !" His father said, "For whom am I to open the
door?" The boy answered, "It is me, Harry." The
father answered, "You are not my Harry; he would
say, 'It is I.' " Not until Harry said, "It is I,"
would his father open the door. When Harry went
to college he joined a fraternity and received another
password. After he graduated and went into busi-
ness he was again given a password. This pass-
word was "Honesty." It opened many great doors
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THE PASSWORD
for him. All through life he found the value of a
password.
Girls need a password. A wise mother gives her
daughter the word "Modesty." Another good pass-
word is "On time." "Pure heart" opens many great
doors. It is a splendid password. Will each Junior
select a password for this week and then see how
many doors it will open?
Here are six letters : T. H. I. R. S. C. Put your
brain to work and make with these letters a good
password for boys and girls. Revelation % : 17 tells
you something about the secret word of a good Chris-
tian. This word will open all of the great doors on
earth. It will open the door of your tomb and the
gates of heaven.
Are you really in earnest? Do you really think
you can put the letters together better if I tell you
a password story? Then I must tell you the story:
One bitter winter's night a little Irish lad stood
in the streets of Dublin, homeless and friendless.
Wicked men were making him their tool, and he was
even then waiting to help in a crime. In the dark-
ness a hand was laid on his shoulder. The face he
could not see, but a kind voice said, "Boy, what
are you doing here? The hour is late; go home,
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CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
and go to bed." He could only answer, shivering,
"I have no home, and no bed." The kind voice asked,
"Where is your father?"
"My father went to America, and my mother is
dead."
"Poor fellow ! Would you go to a home if I sent
you?"
"Indeed I would."
"Well, then go to such a street and number, ring
at the gate and give them the pass."
"The pass? What's that, sir?"
"The word that will let you in. Remember the
pass is John 3:16. Don't forget, or you can't get
in. John 3:16."
The boy ran to the place. Timidly he rang the
bell at the iron gates. A gruff porter opened.
"Who's there?"
"It is Jack Devonshire." Then all was quiet, there
was no answer and the iron gate did not open. Jack
started away thinking some one had been making fun
of him. A voice that seemed to come from nowhere
and was softer than a whisper said: "Your pass-
word, John 3:16." Again he rang the bell and said:
"Please sir, I'm John Three Sixteen." In a moment
the great gate was wide open.
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THE PASSWORD
"All right," said the porter, "you've got the pass."
Presently he found himself in a warm bed, the best
he had ever known. Before going to sleep, he
thought, "That's a lucky name. I'll stick to it."
In the morning he had a warm breakfast before being
sent out on the street. Tho he did not know it, God
was leading him. Through suffering and sorrow he
was to realize the blest meaning of his password.
Crossing a crowded street he was run over, picked up
unconscious, and taken to the hospital. Soon fever
and delirium set in. In ringing tones he said over
and over "John 3:16. It was to do me good, and
so it has! My name is John 3: 16; please open the
gate."
The words were heard all over the ward. Testa-
ments were pulled out to find what he meant. So
it came about that one and another read the words.
And as they read it, they could hear the sick boy
crying, "It was to do me good, and so it has !" The
Holy Spirit used the words and souls were saved
then and there. After a while the lad's senses re-
turned. A voice from the next bed said, "Well,
John 3:16, how are you to-day?"
"How do you know my name?"
"Know it? You've never ceased telling us. Blest
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CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
John 3:16! It's from the Bible," the voice went on;
"blest Bible!"
"Bible? What's that?"
The poor little waif drank in the answer. The
verse was read to him, and he said, "That's beautiful ;
it's all about love, and not a home for a night, but
a home for always!" Jack Devonshire was a name
given to him in the orphan asylum, and he threw it
away with his old ragged clothes. With a new suit
of clean warm clothes he took his new name and
always kept it. It was John Three Sixteen. Friends
gave him an education, and he grew up to a career of
great usefulness. He found the great word in
T. H. I. R. S. C.
150
Thirty
THE LITTLE WINDOW DOOR
"He that entereth not by the door." — John 10:1.
WHY do you have a front door in your home?
I hear Ben say: "Foolish question number
ten." Would not a back door do just as well as a
front door? You say "No," because your friends do
not come in that way. Would you laugh if I talked
about a door in the roof? In a few years many of
your homes will have a door in the roof. The maid
will hear the horn, and up in the elevator she will
go to open the roof-door. Friends in an aeroplane
have dropt down for a call. Father will say, "Fasten
your machine to the chimney and stay for dinner."
We shall keep the front door, as the old folks will
come later in an automobile and the little boys and
girls will run in that way from school.
There is one person who does not come into the
home through any door. He entereth not by the door,
but climbs up some other way. He does not blow a
horn, nor ring a bell, nor send in his card. The Bible
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CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
calls him a thief. He is not a friend, but an enemy,
and wants to get in and get out before you know it.
The months of July and August are not his vacation
time. He prefers to call when we are away or fast
asleep.
Have you ever thought of your body as a home
with doors through which your friends come in to
visit you? Your ears are doors, your eyes are win-
dows. Hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting, touching,
these are all doors in your house. Try and count
how many callers and visitors come each day to talk
with you. Are you guarding every door so as to
keep the thief out? The thief who wants to steal
your good name, to steal your pure thought, to steal
your character. But 'thieves do not always come
in through the door. They get in some other way.
There is a thief called sin and some of us believe he
got in before the house was finished. This thief got
into the garden of Eden. Possibly he got in before
the garden was fenced. He came in the form of a
serpent. He is in your body, or house. How are yon
to get him out ? Listen !
"A great and deadly serpent entered into a house
and made its abode in a hole in the wall. The family
was greatly alarmed, and the neighbors came run-
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THE LITTLE WINDOW DOOR
ning to know what was the matter. 'A snake, a
deadly snake, has come here to live ! Oh, what shall
we do?' Said one, 'Have the house thoroughly white-
washed.' Said another, 'Have it painted, too, and
send for a carpenter to mend all the doors and win-
dows.' Said a third, 'Send for a teacher who will
tell you how to be good moral people.' 'Well, the
house was whitewashed and painted, and the teacher
told them how to be moral, and the family, feeling
safe, ate, drank, and slept in the house in peace.
About a month afterward, one dark night, when all
were asleep, the snake came out of his hole and bit
the father and he died. Two nights after the reptile
bit the son, and he also died.'"'
Juniors, do you know the meaning of this parable?
The house is the boy, the hole in the inner wall is
the heart, the serpent is sin. By all your washings
and daubings and trying to be good you will no
more get sin out of your heart than they get the
serpent out of that house by lime and paint. Christ
is the only remedy. Believe in Christ and He will
take sin from your heart.
But we have talked long enough about doors, win-
dows and snakes. I am going to tell you a story.
Evelyn and her mamma went to Grandma Stone's
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CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
and Evelyn was left in the library alone. There
were some beautiful flowers on the table. "I wish
I had just one bloom to take home," she said to
herself; "grandma's sick upstairs, anyhow, and I
know Robert don't ever care to smell 'em." Robert
was the colored butler. Evelyn put out her little
hand, and the white blossom was in great danger,
but a sound in the hall startled her; she dropt back
on the sofa and mamma came in.
How quickly mothers do see things ! There was a
look in Evelyn's eye that told this mother the whole
story, but she didn't say anything about it at first.
She put on the little girl's coat and hat, and they
set out for home.
"Once there was a band of robbers," said mamma,
"and they came to a castle by night and tried to
break in; but the walls were strong and the door
was tight, and they could not get in. Presently
one of them found a tiny little window unbarred, and
so small that he could only thrust his head in. What
did they do? Why, they found a little boy, and
they put him through the narrow window, and he
unlocked the big window, and so all the robbers got
into the castle."
"Is that all the story, mamma?"
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THE LITTLE WINDOW DOOR
"That is not quite all. The rest is to show what
it means. When a little girl does something that
seems a little wrong — only a very little wrong, in-
deed, like pulling grandma's flowers without leave —
that is like putting the little thief inside the castle.
The little wrong makes it easier to do a bigger and
bigger wrong. The only safe thing is to keep the
little window shut and not open it to any little wrong-
doing, however small."
"He that entereth not by the door into the sheep-
fold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a
thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the
door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter
openeth."
155
V
Thirty-one
AUGUST IN EARNEST
He that keepeth thee will not slumber." — Psalm 121:3.
ACATION in earnest should be your motto for
August. Leave all your school books and school
work at home. Leave all your school troubles
and all your other troubles in the cellar. Surely
they can get along one month without being
nursed in your heart. Leave your bad temper and
the temper that is not quite so bad at home. One
month without getting angry ! Long enough to
learn how it feels and not long enough for wings to
grow. Leave all self-ish-ness at home. Just try to
see how much you can do to make others happy.
Find out how many things you can cheerfully give
to others, when you want them yourself. Anger,
worry, anxiety, irritability, envy, jealousy, leave all
in the attic. Ask your older brother or sister to
tell you what a hobby is. If you have one leave
it at home. Home, home, restful home! There is
no place like home for a hobby when you are away
156
AUGUST IN EARNEST
on a vacation. Do not put camphor balls in the
pockets of these faults. Do not brush them and put
them away carefully in a moth bag. Hang them in
a dark wardrobe for moth-nests.
If you will leave these articles at home there will be
room in the trunk of your body for something you
should take. Count your blessings one by one and
take them all with you. If you know how to laugh
until your lungs are filled with fresh air and sun-
shine take the laugh with you.
There is one great comfort that many good people
leave at home. This you should take with you. Can
you guess what it is? It is your religion. God is
everywhere. Religion is a vacation. In it you find
the real rest from the burdens and bruises of sin.
Take your memory with you and "Remember the
Sabbath Day, to keep it holy." There are unseen
dangers in your pathway and there are more of them
in vacation tramps than you will find in any other
part of the year. You will need some one to watch
over you. "He that keepeth thee will not slumber."
Dr. Francis Clark tells an interesting story of a
Junior living in Maine who was out in the woods
one day during his vacation with a camera taking
photographs of attractive bits of scenery. He came
15T
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
upon the mouth of a little cavern between the rocks,
and he said to himself, "I will see what sort of a
picture I can get out of that cave," and as it was a
dark day he decided to take a "time exposure" in-
stead of a "snap shot." Steadying the camera upon
his knee as well as he could at the edge of the cave,
he gave the sensitive plate a long, deliberate look at
the semi-darkness within. Then he continued his
tramp through the woods, and after a few hours
returned to his camp.
Several weeks afterward, when developing his
plates, you can imagine his astonishment to see in
the picture, in the very center of the cavern, with
arched back and bristling fur, and within springing
distance of the spot where he had balanced his camera,
a huge Canada lynx, that might easily have torn
his eyes out or destroyed his life. And yet he came
and went and saw no signs of danger.
How splendid the promise, "He that keepeth thee
will not slumber." Almost I can hear you say, "I
will not go into the woods alone; surely I know
enough to keep out of dark caves." Good for you !
But there are some other dangers you may not have
thought about. More of the members of my Junior
Congregation have been sick during and after vaca-
158
AUGUST IN EARNEST
tion than at any other time of the year. Your pastor
believes that while you should be watchful and care-
ful yet you need to ask God every day and every
hour to watch over you and to care for you. There
are dangers that even mother does not see. After
I tell you a story you can think about unseen and
unknown dangers.
A beautiful child went to a photographer to sit
for a picture. After the sitting, the man retired to
examine the plate. He was greatly puzzled upon
developing the picture in the chemical bath, by the
appearance of a number of dark spots on the face,
altho not the least trace of blemish could be detected
on the face of the child. The next day the explana-
tion came. The spots then became distinctly visible.
The child had contracted smallpox, and soon died.
The faint yellow spots, before they could be detected
by the naked eye, were faithfully portrayed by the
searching and pure rays of the sun. The photograph
revealed them.
But, you say, we will keep away from any one
who has smallpox. There is something more dan-
gerous than smallpox, and more difficult to keep away
from. What can it be? Evil thoughts are more
dangerous than the germs of smallpox, and it is
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CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
difficult for you to keep away from them. They
destroy the soul. The soul is covered with the spots
before they show on the face. God sees them, has
a photograph of them, before you or your parents
know they are there. They may develop while you
are asleep. The first spot is on the heart. It is
not enough to have a beautiful face; the heart must
be pure. During vacation you can not select com-
panions as carefully as you can at home. "Be not
deceived: Evil communications corrupt good man-
ners."
August in earnest! Vacation in earnest! Your
whole life in earnest! Guard your life against seen
and unseen dangers. Ask God who never slumbers to
help you day and night.
160
Thirty-two
VACATION REST, WITH A THREAD
"Rest a while."— Mark 6:31.
"T CAN'T do this sum," said Hal. "I've tried and
*■• tried, and I can't get the answer."
"How many times have you tried it?" asked his
mamma.
"Three times."
"Well, you go out and ride your tricycle around
the house ten times, as fast as you can, and then come
in and try three times more."
Out dashed Hal, and soon came in again, his
cheeks glowing. "I tell you it's splendid out," he
said, "the fresh air is so good, and I've thought of
the way to do that sum, too."
"Got the answer — hurrah!" Hal shouted, after a
few minutes.
"I thought your brains only needed a little shak-
ing up," said the wise mamma. The request of our
text, "rest a while," was given by one who is even
wiser and kinder than a mother.
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CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
The disciples had been working very hard. They
were in what is called "the school of Christ." They
were studying how to work with Him and for Him.
They had some very difficult problems. "They had
no leisure so much as to eat." Christ saw they
were tired, too tired to study their lessons, so he
said, "Come with me to a quiet place and rest a
while." What did they do? They rested by study-
ing a new problem. Read the story, Mark 6 : 30-44,
and you will learn how they were "shaken up" by a
new lesson.
Vacation is a "shaking up" time. The body needs
shaking up. Romp and run, shout and sing, sleep
and snore, wake and walk, eat and exercise, lounge
and laugh. Play in the hay, wade in the water, and
tramp miles with the men when they go fishing and
hunting. The brain needs a "shaking up." Find
something to think about when you are out. Study
the stars, read lessons from leaves of the tree, study
birds in place of books, find new books in running
brooks, train your brain. The soul needs "shaking
up." See God in every thing that is good. Sing
"The Lord is my shepherd," when you are watching
the sheep. Find sermons in stones. "Behold the
fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they
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VACATION REST, WITH A THREAD
reap, nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly
Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than
they?" The birds will teach you how God cares for
you. "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow ;
they toil not, neither do they spin. And yet I say
unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was
not arrayed like one of these." Here you find a soul
lesson from the lily. Recreation means re-creation,
made over again. A shaking up of your life and
starting it along new paths. The best vacation is
found in a variety, in something new and true.
Now I hear many of my Juniors say, "We do
not go away during our school vacation. We stay
at home all the time. There is nothing new to see
at home. How can we find something new to keep
us from getting blue?" Possibly you could find
something new and true not very far from home.
You may find some plan for a "shaking up" in the
summer shadow of your old home. Will this state-
ment interest you ?
Agassiz tells us that he spent an entire summer
exploring his back yard. A merchant sent him a
check for $1,000 and invited him to take a trip to
Europe. Agassiz replied that he was too busy to go
to Europe, but proposed to investigate the treasures
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CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
of his kitchen garden. He began at one corner of
the garden and found a little stone that held the
outline of a mollusk. Close beside that stone was
another that had the section of a fern. He kept
on, working across the garden, and after three
months, by the first of September, he finally reached
the opposite corner of the fence. The great scientist
kept his notes and wrote out his studies with great
care. Later he published his vacation travels in a
garden under the title of Elements of Zoology.
You can not shake up your body, mind and soul
without giving them something to do. Too many
boys and girls think vacation is a time for idleness.
Idleness can not live without his friend and chum,
laziness. Doing something, doing something, doing
something ! That is the secret of successful work and
play.
Shall I tell you a story I found in the Friends for
Boys and Girls?
"I like to sew when there is no thread in the ma-
chine, it runs so easily," said a little girl.
A good many people, I think, are rather fond of
running their machine without thread.
When I hear a boy talking very largely of the
grand things he would do if he only could, and if
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VACATION REST, WITH A THREAD
things and circumstances were only different, and
then neglecting every daily duty, and avoiding work
and lessons, I think he is running his machine with-
out any thread.
When I see a girl cross and disagreeable in her
home, playing when mother is working, sleeping in
the morning when she ought to be playing, she, too,
is running her machine without any thread.
Ah! This sewing without a thread is very easy
indeed, and the life machine will make a great buzz-
ing, but it only wears out the machine. Agassiz
really spent his vacation playing in the garden. He
kept out of his study, away from his books, got a
good shaking up. But he kept a thread in the
machine with which he was playing. When you take
your vacation do not forget the thread.
165
Thirty-three
RAINDROPS AND THE RAINBOW
"The bow shall be in the cloud." — Genesis 9:16.
"1 J ACATION, and some good friend may take you
* for a visit to Niagara Falls. There is a beau-
tiful story I want you to read while you are at the
Falls. I think the story came from the Sunday
School Times, but am not certain about it. Here
it is, a beautiful story about a few raindrops:
Years and years ago, up in Minnesota, a thou-
sand miles away, I came down from heaven, a hand-
ful of raindrops, just as pure and beautiful and
tiny as the new baby in its mother's arms. As I
trickled down through the fields, where the birds sing
and the grass is green, I just sang to myself for
very joy, for it seemed to me that that was all I was
made for, just to laugh in the sunshine and play
along between the tiny banks of the little stream they
call the St. Louis River. But pretty soon my waters
began to get muddy.
Oh, I wasn't beautiful at all then. I was ugly,
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RAINDROPS AND THE RAINBOW
just as ugly as boys and girls when they have gotten
away from the sweet innocence of their baby days,
and their hearts have been all roiled up with bad
words and bad thoughts and bad stories. And I
wondered how I was ever going to be clean again,
and then one day, all of a sudden, I took an awful
plunge and went down and down, and when I asked
the water around me, for there was lots of it, oh,
millions and millions of gallons — four hundred and
twelve miles of water from east to west — I asked
it where I was, and it said, "You're in Lake Supe-
rior," and as I went down lower and lower, one
thousand feet down to the bottom of the lake, it
got cold, almost freezing, thirty-nine degrees above
zero, and I said to myself, "Well, I shall never see
the sun again or be warm again, or be happy again."
One day I found myself going up until I did see the
sun and was just as warm and happy, and do you
know I was not dirty any more, my waters were just
as pure and clear as crystal. Then I said, "Oh, I'm
glad that I lost my life in the life of this great lake,
and that I went down so low, giving up everything,
for now I'm pure," and I thought of Jesus'
words: "Whosoever shall lose his life for my sake
and the Gospel's, the same shall save it." And
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CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
I was content to stay there — it was a happy life and
a useful one — for great ships, carrying eight thou-
sand tons of cargo, steamed back and forth over
me, making men richer and homes happier and chil-
dren brighter.
But God wouldn't let me stay there in Lake Supe-
rior, tho I was happy and doing lots of good, so I
had to move on, just the way people do ; you have
to keep changing and growing old. And so one day
I had to leave Lake Superior and go down through
the St. Mary's River and the great locks at a place
they call the "Soo." I thought I might stay there,
because I was very useful. They carried twenty-six
million tons of valuable cargoes through me every
year, more than all that passes through the Suez
Canal. But no, I had to leave the St. Mary's River
and Lake Huron and Lake Erie, and, oh, it was a
long, long journey, and my life dragged out some-
times, for it is very tiresome to be always moving!
And sometimes my waters that were so pure in Lake
Superior got dirty again and finally when I came
to Buffalo I was awful ugly — oh, dirtier than ever
I had been back in the little St. Louis River ! There
was every kind of dirt on me — oil, and coal dust, and
sewage from the city. Oh, it's very hard to keep
168
RAINDROPS AND THE RAINBOW
clean when you go through cities, for thej roil you
up, and put bad things into your heart ! When I
came by Grand Island I was so soiled I thought I'd
never be really clean.
And then one day I began to be whirled along
at an awful pace — faster than a horse trots. Then
I knew something terrible was going to happen ! It
was death, the water said — a great plunge off into
space — a drop of one hundred and sixty feet, clear
out of sight. I did not want to take that awful leap
over the Falls, for the trees whispered to us that
the river fell on to great granite boulders with
jagged edges that broke the stream into millions
of millions of tiny drops. Oh, it was death, awful
death, and no wonder I fought against it ! If you
will go up above the Falls you can see the river
fighting hard against the current. That's why the
waters are all stirred up so, for nobody likes to die,
not even a river.
But suddenly I took the plunge. It was frightful !
Instead of a river I was then a great cloud of spray,
and instead of being ugly and dirty, or pale and
colorless, I was all colors of the rainbow — the most
beautiful sight in all the world. Such glory that
the people that stood on the long bridge shouted
169
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
for very wonder at the sight. I was beautiful, a pure
white spray, and there was the rainbow of God arch-
ing over me. And then I was glad that as a river
I had died, and it seemed to me as I looked in the
face of the great sun that I heard him say, "I am
the Sun of Righteousness — I am the Resurrection and
the Life — he that believeth in me, tho he die, yet he
shall live."
Two things I ask my Juniors to do with this story.
First, trace on the map the rivulet and the river until
you know the history of Niagara Falls from the
Raindrops to the Rainbow. The knowledge gained
will be a valuable part of your education and may
be of value to you in some school examination.
Second, think of it as telling the story of your life
from birth to death. From it you can learn the
meaning of life and the beauty of death.
170
Thirty-four
LABOR DAY
"Six days shalt thou labor." — Exodus 20:9.
rTlWO thousand work horses are led out for a
■*• parade on Memorial Day. This special day is
selected so that the thousands of people on the street
can see the big, strong, long-suffering work horses.
Race horses, high steppers and black beauties are not
in line. The work horses that do the hard work and
pull until they strain a muscle or break the harness,
have the right of way. Why do they have this
annual parade? The Society for Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals believes that when the people see
the great number of horses that do our hard work
and have not time for high stepping they will have
more sympathy. If they have sympathy for the
horses they will see that they are better cared for.
The first Monday after the first Sunday in Sep-
tember is Labor Day. This is a day when the work-
ing men parade. High steppers, men of leisure, and
tramps are not in line. Why do we have Labor Day
and a great parade? In order that when we think
171
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
of the laboring man's long hours and hard work we
may have more sympathy for him. Sympathy will
tell us to do all we can to make the hours shorter,
the pay longer and the burdens lighter. Thirty
thousand of our workingmen are killed every year.
One immigrant out of every twenty who enters Ellis
Island is killed the first year he is in America. Some
day we may have a Society for Prevention of Cruelty
to Workingmen.
Can you repeat the Fourth Commandment? "Re-
member the Sabbath Day to keep it holy." That is,
so far, correct. One day for rest — but do not forget
the next sentence, the one so many overlook : "Six
days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work." This
Fourth Commandment tells you to work six days just
as clearly as it commands you to rest one day. Are
you a laborer? Are you doing something that tires
you, makes you feel the need of rest? Then you are
obeying the second sentence of the Fourth Com-
mandment.
We are not all blacksmiths, but we all have a ham-
mer and an anvil. Your school-room is an anvil;
your text-book is a hammer, and you are hammering
into your brain a good education. Your desk is an
anvil; your pen is a hammer, and on paper you are
172
LABOR DAY
hammering out an examination, an essay or an ora-
tion. The intellect sends out sparks, thoughts glow
as you weld them together into sentences and para-
graphs.
Every boy and girl, every man and woman, every
one who works, has a hammer and an anvil. The
man who digs on the street, the man who sits by
the desk, the woman at the wash-tub and the queen
on her throne, each one has a hammer and an anvil.
Labor Day teaches us to respect and protect every
person who works.
"Six days shalt thou labor." Are you a worker?
Have you a hammer and an anvil? Have you a place
in the parade on Labor Day? Why do you bend
your finger like an interrogation point? Asking for
a story? Very well, you shall have a story written
by R. E. Wakefield:
I had a class but didn't really know what manner
of girls they were, but our Sunday-school picnic
gave me a splendid chance to investigate.
After a fine lunch on the green grass I drew my
class aside and proceeded to find out, as deftly as I
might, what kind of material I was supposed to work
up into good womanhood. Molly Baxter, who was
apparently the class spokeswoman, suggested that
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CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
each girl report to me on her specialty — what she
could do best.
"You'll know then what we are good for," she said
with a laugh. You may be sure I stept briskly into
the chance and Molly led off.
"I'm good for the fastest typewriting in town,"
she said gaily.
"And I'm good for keeping books."
"And I'm good for practising three hours a day."
At this point there was a lull in the proceedings.
Apparently the shyer girls were thinking about their
talents and what their work was. Finally Bertha
Wilson said: "I can make my own dresses."
Annie Brown was the next girl to report : "I make
the bread and pies and cake for our family, and
mother says I'm not such a bad little cook," she said
modestly. And then Grace Kitchen spoke up bravely.
"I don't know that I've any talent, unless it's minding
the children and darning the family stockings."
This left only a queer, stunted-looking home girl
whom I had entered in my new class book as "Martha
Jones." "Well, Martha," I said, "what can you do?
I know you can do something special." Then care-
less, outspoken Molly Baxter said: "Oh, I guess
Martha's only good for scrubbing."
174
LABOR DAY
My first thought was one of indignation at Molly's
slurring tones, but quickly I saw my chance. I told
them it would be a mighty queer world if nobody
was willing to scrub ; that we couldn't get along with
just stenographers and music people; that we really
must have scrubbers. Cleanliness is somewhere in the
neighborhood of godliness.
In Lowell's verse let us change the word man to
Junior :
No Junior is born into the world whose work
Is not born with him; there is always work,
And tools to work withal, for those who will;
The Junior who stands with arms akimbo set,
Until occasion tells him what to do,
And he who waits to have his task marked out,
Shall die and leave his mission unfulfilled.
175
Thirty-five
REST DAY
"Rest the seventh day." — Exodus 20:11.
A FTER Labor Day we look for Rest Day.
***- Juniors should be thankful for their day of
rest. Admiral Hall, of the British Navy, com-
manded a naval vessel at Hongkong. After divine
service had been performed one Sunday on his ship
and the sailors were at rest, his intelligent Chinese
pilot said: "Your joss (God) is better than our
joss, for He gives you holiday and rest one day in
seven, and we have only one day in the year, on
New Year's Day."
The Admiral, in a recent address to workingmen,
told them of this remark, and added: "Just picture
working hard from morning till night for 364 days
and only one day of rest ; and then prize that Sab-
bath!"
In my "brain-box" I find a number of good stories
about Rest Day. I have selected for my Juniors this
story by H. Thomas:
176
REST DAY
The Peach Lesson
As a long-drawn sigh escaped her young guest
Mrs. Grant said: "A penny for your thoughts,
Harry."
"Well, I'll own right up. I was thinking how
much nicer it would be if the Sunday were left out
of the week; it seems to spoil everything so."
"Spoil everything ! Why, Harry, I think it is the
best day of all the week," said Mrs. Grant, trying
not to look shocked at his words.
"Oh, well, that's because you're grown up, I sup-
pose. But I almost hate Sunday ; it puts a stop
to all my nice times."
"Harry, I haven't seen you for a week. Tell me
how you have spent it."
"Well, let me see," answered Harry, thoughtfully.
"It's the last week of vacation, and I've crowded it
with fun. Monday, we boys had a ball game with
some of the West Side boys, and our side beat.
Tuesday, I had more fun yet. Six of us boys went
o\er in the grove and camped out. We fished, and
cooked our own meals, and had heaps of fun! We
stayed until Thursday night."
"I'm so glad you enjoyed yourself. Now for the
two days more." "Well, Friday just beat all the
177
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
other days for fun. Our Sabbath-school went out
to the lake and had just the nicest time! We had
everything good to eat you can think of; played
games, rowed on the water, and — and — oh, dear!
the day wasn't half long enough. And to-day has
been just as nice as the rest of the week. We boys
made some big kites, and you just ought to see what
fun we've had flying them !"
Mrs. Grant excused herself and went to the garden,
where she picked seven of the most beautiful Craw-
ford peaches she could find.
Harry's eyes danced with delight as she entered
the room holding them in her hand, saying : "Harry,
I have selected for you seven of my finest peaches ;
they are all yours. You can, if you please, eat all
of them ; but if, after you have eaten six, you will
carry the seventh to the poor sick boy at the foot
of the hill, and give it to him, it will make me very
happy."
"Why, Auntie Grant," said Harry, "what sort of
a boy do you take me for? Of course I shall take
it to Dick — the very nicest one, too."
"Well, let us imagine that after you have eaten
six peaches you say, 'Oh, dear! I suppose I must
give the last peach to Dick, but I hate to.' "
178
REST DAY
"I won't even imagine such a thing!" interrupted
Harry with a very red face. "It isn't in me to be
so mean :
i"
Mrs. Grant made answer by taking the plate of
peaches into her own hand, and saying impressively:
"Here are seven peaches. They remind me of a boy
who had seven beautiful gifts. The Giver said in
giving them, 'They are yours ; but if you love me
you will do me honor by setting one apart as sacred
to my memory.' Did the boy regard the wishes of the
Giver as sacred, and gladly obey them?"
"It would be a mean sort of a boy that wouldn't
do that much for a generous friend," ventured
Harry.
"It would seem so," said Mrs. Grant. Then taking
up one of the peaches she continued: "We will, for
the sake of illustration, call this Monday, that's the
day he played ball, and came off victorious. Tuesday,
Wednesday and Thursday he camped out, and 'fun'
marked every one of them. Friday, picnic day, not
half long enough. Saturday, kite-flying and a full
tide of enjoyment."
Mrs. Grant had pointed to one peach after another
in naming them, but had avoided looking at Harry.
Had she done so she would have seen that the lesson
179
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
was striking home; for the boy's face was growing
crimson. At last only one peach remained unnamed.
Taking it up, she said, "You are Sunday, and I
almost hate you, because you spoil my nice times !"
There was an instant's silence and then Harry in
a repentant tone said : "Oh, Auntie Grant, I see it I
I have often made my boast that with all my faults
I was at least generous; but now I see how easy it
is to be selfish and not know it."
"I am glad to see my peach lesson has made you
see yourself," said Mrs. Grant, looking pleased.
"It has, for a fact. Six days for fun ought to
satisfy any boy, and I don't think any one will ever
again hear me say I hate Sunday."
180
Thirty-six
LITTLE MOMENTS AND MARGINS
"Hide thyself, as it were, for a little moment."— Isaiah 26:20.
A BOY, James A. Garfield, enjoyed hiding him-
self for a little moment. These little moments
he called margins. What are margins? They are
little odds and ends — something that many boys
and girls waste. A moment is the margin of a
minute and a minute is the margin of an hour.
Garfield used the little moments, the margins of time,
and in them earned and learned his way from a canal
boat to the White House. He walked on the tow-
path and drove the mule that pulled the boat. When-
ever he found a margin of time he would read some-
thing that was worth thinking about while at his
walk and work. A short story will give you the
secret of moments and margins.
If I Only Had the Time
Some boys will pick up a good education in the
odds and ends of time which others carelessly throw
away. What young man is too busy to get an
hour a day for self-improvement?
181
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
Drive the minutes or they will drive you. Success
in life is what Garfield called a question of "margins."
Tell me how a Junior uses the little ragged edges of
time while waiting for meals or for tardy appoint-
ments, or how he spends the evenings, and I will
tell you what that Junior's success will be. One can
usually tell by his manner, the direction of the wrin-
kles in his forehead or the expression of his eyes,
whether he has been in the habit of using his time
to good advantage or not. The same signs are on
the face of a girl.
The Junior who loses no time doubles his life.
Wasting time is wasting life. Some squander time,
some invest it, some kill it. Four things come not
back: the spoken word, the sped arrow, the past
life, and the neglected opportunity.
By hiding himself in every little moment he could
find, Garfield learned enough to become a teacher.
On a pathway paved with moments he found his way
from a canal boat to a schoolhouse. While teaching
school he improved his spare moments and was soon
able to pass his "exams" and enter college. From
t!ie schoolhouse to the college he walked along a
beautiful path paved with moments and margins. In
a few years he was able to pass from college, where
182
LITTLE MOMENTS AND MARGINS
he was graduated with honors in 1856 and where for a
time he was the president, to the court house. From
the court house he went, a moment at a time, to the
State senate house. He did not have the time and
money to go to West Point, but little moments pre-
pared him to command an army and he became a
major-general. At President Lincoln's request he
was sent to Congress. Here he never lost a moment
until he paved his way to the White House. While
serving as the twentieth President of the United
States he was in one little evil moment shot by
Guiteau, Saturday, July 2, 1881.
On September 19, just about thirty-one years ago,
he died at Elberon, N. J. On this anniversary of
Garfield's death is a good time to look back and see
the value of moment margins. Moments made him
a great man, and one evil little moment, in which
an insane man fired a pistol, robbed our country
of a great President. Death was one little trembling
moment on which Garfield stepped from time to
eternity.
Is this all of the story of Garfield's life? No, for
one secret of -his success is not known to many people.
His useful life was Garfield, plus moments, plus some-
thing else. A story tells about the other plus.
183
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
A scholarly, fatherly, contented-looking old gen-
tleman was Thomas Garfield, of Hudsonville, Mich.
He was the only brother of President James A. Gar-
field. At the age of eighty-seven he was well and
happy. He resided on the same farm for over
forty years and did not leave home over a
dozen times after moving to Hudsonville. He
was unknown outside his immediate neighborhood,
did not seek publicity and liked to be called a plain
farmer. He never went to Washington, altho he was
invited by his brother to make his home at the capital
city. He never had the advantage of an education.
But James A. Garfield became President by the wise
use of spare moments plus this brother. Thomas
carried his brother James to school, when the snow
was too deep for the future President to walk, ai*d
worked from daylight till dark in order to help him
to success. He took care of James till he finished at
high school, and then had his life insured, which car-
ried him through college. "My duty was to stay at
home and run the farm," declared Mr. Garfield, "and
I did it. James was a politician from the time he
was a little fellow. He was a natural orator and had
the best memory of any man I ever knew. He could
listen to a discourse and repeat it, and once we heard
184-
LITTLE MOMENTS AND MARGINS
him working out a sum in algebra in his sleep. When
he got up in the morning he wrote it out." We
would be ashamed of James A. Garfield if he had
not loved and honored his brother Thomas.
Now, Juniors, please hide yourselves for "a little
moment" and think. Just think of the fact that
every boy and girl, every man and woman who makes
a success in life ought to thank and love an elder
brother. There is one who sticketh closer than a
brother, who never sought any honors in this world,
refused to be a King, and spent all his life in order
that you might be successful and happy. Hide father
for "a little moment" from his Sunday paper and
ask him for the story of this "Elder Brother."
185
Thirty-seven
LITTLE CHILDREN AND THE BIG STICK
"As obedient children.'" — I Peter 1:14.
T~AID you ever see an eclipse? When the moon
*-J rolls between the sun and the earth we have
an eclipse of the sun. When the earth passes between
the sun and the moon we have an eclipse of the moon.
I want to tell you about an eclipse of a day. The
only one we have had for 134 years. The day was
July 4, 1910, and the eclipse was caused by a great
shadow thrown over it by Saturday, June 18.
Our one living ex-President, came home on June 18.
Every man and woman in Greater New York was
up early, and thousands of people came from other
cities and country places, ready to greet the first
citizen. Ships, big and little, went down the bay to
meet the great ship on which he returned. When
he came ashore at Battery Park the enthusiasm broke
loose and ran over the telegraph wires to the ends
of the world. More than 10,000 dollars were spent
in the "welcome home." And it paid! It was a
greater day than the Fourth of July.
186
LITTLE CHILDREN AND THE BIG STICK
Not one story, but three, I shall tell you about
that day. When the great parade started up
Broadway the Abernathy boys, who had ridden from
Oklahoma, wanted to be with the Rough Riders.
Surely they deserved to be there, for two boys, one
aged ten years and the other six, who could ride 2,500
miles on horseback are surely Rough Rider Kids.
But for some strange reason the Rough Riders did
not want them in their company. Somebody ap-
pealed to the man with the "big stick," who said
they had better obey orders and go where they were
placed. So they were obliged to ride with the
Spanish War Veterans. I am sure the "big stick"
man wanted the boys to ride with the Rough Riders,
but those who were in authority thought differently,
and the boys were taught one of the greatest lessons
of their lives: that was, "To Obey Orders." There
are many times when boys and girls are in the right,
but if some one in authority has commanded other-
wise, then the best and only thing for the Junior
to do is to obey orders. Obedience is better than
having your rights. When you learn to obey you
have learned the greatest lesson any school in this
great world can teach.
There was another incident that my Juniors want
187
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
to remember. Just before the Colonel's carriage
turned into Fourth Street a messenger boy, named
Jacob Youngsivsky, succeeded in getting close
enough to the carriage to get a warm hand-shake
from the hero of the day. Off he ran and soon re-
turned with a bunch of flowers, which he handed to
the Colonel. You will easily guess by this boy's
name that his ancestors were not born in Boston. He
is one of the millions of boys in our country, whose
ancestors were born in foreign lands, but whose de-
scendants are growing into good American citizens.
Colonel Roosevelt probably saw on this boy's face to
what class he belonged, and by giving him his hand
lifted him, and all the other boys of his class, into
enthusiastic lovers of America. When the boy hurried
off and brought back some flowers, it revealed the
spirit that makes the child worthy of becoming a
good citizen. All should recognize such boys as the
coming Americans.
The other incident which you will enjoy, occurred
at Washington Square. There the tiniest trooper
in the parade, aged five years, joined the riders near
the Colonel's carriage. The "big stick" man laughed,
but as he saw the boy had forced himself into a better
position than the Abernathy boys, he scowled fiercely.
188
LITTLE CHILDREN AND THE BIG STICK
This was not "fair play," and I think he was a
greater man when demanding fair play for boys
than when, as President, he demanded fair play for
men.
There was one big blunder in the great New York
parade. While there were children here and there
in the parade, the committee overlooked the joy the
hero would receive by seeing several hundred children
marching together in honor of his return. A woman
standing on the stoop of a Fourth Street house with
a baby in each arm got an approving smile from the
Colonel, who also held up his right hand with two
fingers extended. Later, another woman with three
children got the salute with three fingers extended.
On the evening of that same day the Colonel re-
turned to his summer home at Oyster Bay. Here
the people knew the Colonel's love of children better
than we know it in New York. Hundreds of children
were waiting for him at the station and marched
with their flags, floated b}7 their cheers, on the way
to Sagamore Hill. The Colonel noticed the grown
people, but at sight of the children he stretched him-
self to full length and said, "De-lighted!"
In his address at Sagamore Hill, he said, "I en-
joyed hearing the children sing." Then he said
189
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
something the children will never forget: "I am
glad to see you all again, men, women, and little
Oysters." This was a splendid nickname for the
children of Oyster Bay. Surely he made them very
proud in the next sentence, when, speaking of his
need of rest he said, "I want to close up like a native
Oyster." Every child would understand that the
Big Oyster was going to rest for a little time and
that the Little Oysters could open their mouths and
enjoy everything they could find to enjoy along the
shore of Oyster Bay. September ends the Oyster's
rest.
In Africa the "big-stick" man never shot or in-
jured a baby Elephant, a girl Hippopotamus or a
boy Tiger. Three cheers for the Lover of Children.
190
Thirty-eight
NEW YEAR'S DAY IN OCTOBER
"That they might be saved," — Romans 10:1.
NEW YEAR'S DAY in October makes you sit up
and think. If you think hard enough you can
lean back and rest. You never heard of New Year's
Day coming in October? January 1, you say, is New
Year's Day. True it is that January 1 is our day,
but we are not the only people in this world. The
Jews are very much older than we are, and their
New Year's Day will come on October 4. We date
our New Year from the birth of Christ. The Jews
date their New Year from the creation of the world.
They believe that the world was created 3,760 years
and three months before the birth of Christ.
Are you interested in the Jews? With Paul can
you say: "My heart's desire and prayer to God for
Israel is that they might be saved." Is it possible
that any of you boys and girls have never prayed for
the Jews? Let us look at some of the facts about
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CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
their life, then see if we shall feel any more interested
in them. First, the home life of the Jew. In the
Jewish home more children are born and fewer die
than among any other class of people. Every child
is welcomed and loved. In the Jewish home the chil-
dren honor their parents. As father and mother
grow older they are treated like a king and queen.
If you will visit the poor-house in your county or
State you will not find a Jewish father or mother
there. Jewish parents love their children and Jewish
children love their parents. A Jew organized in
New York the pure milk supply for babies. As a
result the death rate among little children has dropt
from ninety-six to sixty-three in every thousand.
Second, the Jew in American history. A Jew gave
the money to send Columbus on his voyage to Amer-
ica. Queen Isabella had pawned her jewels some
months before and did not have any left to pawn for
Columbus. Luis de Santangel furnished the money
for Columbus. The map Columbus used was drawn
by a Jew. One of his officers, his doctor and his
interpreter, were Jews. The interpreter stood on
American soil first.
In the time of our Revolution three members of
Washington's staff were Jews — Colonels Francks and
192
NEW YEAR'S DAY IN OCTOBER
Nones, and Major Noah. (Major Noah should have
been put at the head of the navy. ) A Jew gave
Washington $658,000 to carry on the war and he
never asked to have a dollar of it returned. In our
Civil War the Jews were a great help, and in the
Spanish-American War were many Jews. Some of
them were with Colonel Roosevelt's Rough Riders.
After living in every country of the world the
Jews selected America as their Promised Land. In
1654 they came to America and on April 25, 1665,
they were given the legal right to make it their
country. For 2,000 years they had been without
a country and without a flag, but now when over
eighteen million boys and girls stand in our public
schools and say: "I pledge allegiance to our flag
and to the Republic for which it stands," three hun-
dred thousand of the little patriots are Jews. In
New York City we have ten times as many Jews as
there are in the Holy Land and thirty times as
many as dwell in Jerusalem. In twenty-eight of our
public schools were found 64,605 children, and of
these 61,105 were Jews. Now, may I ask if you are
interested in the Jews? Will you join with Paul
and say: "My heart's desire and prayer to God
for Israel is that they might be saved."
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CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
In a sermon by a Jew, he said: "We are sent to
this land to be witnesses for God. Tell me not it was
a chance that brought us here. It was the hand of
of God. We are here to preach the great ideal.
God has given us rest. Our fathers passed through
the fire, but our lines are laid in pleasant places."
The Jew believes in God and has taught the world
to believe in Him. There was a time when the Jews
hated our Christ, who came to the world as a Jew.
Now they say He was the best man and the greatest
preacher who ever lived. Some day we hope they will
join with us in preaching Christ. The Bible teaches
us that they are to be saved. Surely my boys and
girls will join with Paul in his great prayer for the
Jews.
About twenty years ago the New Testament was,
for the first time, printed in Hebrew. So many of
the Jews wanted to read about Jesus that 600,000
copies of a Hebrew New Testament were printed.
It is believed that there are 250,000 Jewish Chris-
tians. Three thousand converted Jews are preaching
the Gospel.
I wonder if my Juniors know that one of the
rhymes they often use in play came from the follow-
ing quaint rhyme, which originated with the Jews:
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NEW YEAR'S DAY IN OCTOBER
Then came the Holy One, blessed be he, and killed the angel
of death, that killed the butcher, that slew the ox, that drank
the water, that quenched the fire, that burned the staff, that
beat the dog, that bit the cat, that ate the kid, that my father
bought for two pieces of money — a kid, a kid!
The Jews called it the Haggadah and sang it at
the "home service" of the Passover. By it they
taught their children some great truths in their
history. The father who bought the kid was Je-
hovah. The cat represented the Assyrians, the dog,
the Babylonians, and the staff, the Persians. The
ox was the Saracens who subdued Palestine. By the
butcher was meant the Crusaders, who conquered the
Saracens. By the Holy One they meant God, who
would destroy their enemies and restore to them the
Holy Land. In this rhyme the children learned their
history and hope. America may be that Promised
Land. Pray for the Jews.
195
w
Thirty-nine
COLUMBUS DAY
"They of Italy salute you."— Hebrews 13:24.
EDNESDAY, October 12, is Columbus Day.
In New York State it is a legal holiday. The
420th anniversary of the discovery of America. The
Italians love a holiday, and more than 20,000 of
these holiday-lovers will parade.
As Columbus was an Italian they have the first
right to this day. America is a great country. The
Indians should have a holiday, as they were here first.
You boys and girls should fall in line and join with
the Indians in their celebration. An Italian discov-
ered America ; fall in line and help them to celebrate.
The Jews made it money-possible for the Italian to
find America. Into line, all of you, when the Jew
celebrates. It was the Spanish flag that first floated
in America. Spain therefore has some first rights,
and you must fall in line when the Spaniards cele-
brate. The Dutch discovered how to get the country
from the Indians without fighting for it, and almost
without paying for it. Put on the wooden shoes and
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COLUMBUS DAY
march with the Dutch when they celebrate. An
Englishman commanded the ship that brought the
Dutch. Get a Union Jack and parade with the
English when they celebrate. A Frenchman, Lafay-
ette, helped us to gain our independence. The French
therefore should have a day and we should march
with them.
Now glance back and see what a wonderful parade
this will make, and how many flags will be floating,
and how many languages will be spoken. We call
ourselves Americans. But who are we? If you
throw a stone at an American you are liable to hit
a Dutchman, an Englishman, a German, a French-
man, a Welshman, and almost all the other nations
of the world. Why? Because many of the Amer-
icans have the blood of nearly all the nations flowing
in their veins. The Italian is here learning English.
Do you Juniors pray for the Italians? They are
making our roads and streets, digging our tunnels
and subways, and doing most of our hard work.
When you feel unkindly to the Italian and want to
say unkind words at him, just imagine Columbus
sitting on a cloud and looking down at you. Would
you be surprized if he should speak right out and
say, "I discovered America, and my people have a
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CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
right here to life, liberty and the pursuit of happi-
ness."
The Italian came from the country that looks like
a boot. He has walked into America with his boots
on, and God is giving him something to do for Amer-
ica. In the fifteenth century England gave us
William Tyndall, who translated the Bible into the
English language. Germany gave us John Guten-
berg, who gave us movable type with which to
print the Bible. While we are thankful for these
and other men who helped to make America great,
we must not forget the Italians. Italy has given us
some great and good men. Columbus was one,
Michael Angelo was another. And we must not for-
get Savonarola.
When Columbus was being guided by God in the
discovery of America, Savonarola was doing more
than all others to found the Republic of Florence,
Italy. When you see men building a house or store,
you will notice a man holding a piece of blue paper
with lines and marks on it. This is called a blue
print, the plan of the building that is to be put up.
This little Republic in Italy, that Savonarola did
so much to establish, was God's blue print, one of
the plans for the great American Republic.
19b
COLUMBUS DAY
I want you boys and girls to go to the library
this week and get the Life of Savonarola, and read
it carefully. If you will read this great man's history
I will ask Paul Suter to tell you a story :
If the doctor's son had not been mowing the grass
they might never have noticed him; for he was a
little fellow, and he had been trying hard to escape
their notice when the lawn mower ran him down.
Now he lay quite still, and Harry and Ralph looked
down at him sorrowfully. He was only a toad; but,
as Ralph said, he might have a wife and family
waiting for him at home, and, anyway, maybe toads
were some good in the world. The doctor was look-
ing out of his study window, and he overheard them.
"Bring him in, boys," he called to them. "Maybe
we shall be able to restore Mr. Toad to his family."
"Now, while I am trying to bring him back to life,"
he said, "I should like you to tell me what you know
about a toad."
"He gives people warts when they touch him,"
declared Harry.
The doctor laughed and looked at his own hand.
"I have touched him more than once in the last few
minutes. What else?"
"I'm afraid that's all we know," Ralph said.
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CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
Sure enough, they returned in a few minutes to
find the little fellow looking very spry indeed.
"Oh, I'm so glad!" Harry exclaimed. "We
wouldn't want him to die for anything. Why, we've
found that toads are useful! The natural history
says they kill more than their weight of caterpillars
and bugs in a single day. We need him in the
garden."
They escorted Mr. Toad out again ; but, just as
they reached the last step, he gave a flying leap
and landed in a flower bed. Then he started away
at a lively pace, as if to make up for the lost time.
"Good-by, Mr. Toad," Harry called after him.
"Remember us to your family!"
If we knew the Italian better we would find he
is not as bad as we supposed. We would find him
a very useful man.
They of Italy salute you.
200
Forty
A LITTLE CHILD AND A BIG MAN
"Bring me a sword." — I Kings 3:24.
WHO was the wisest man ? You should know his
name, for every child should love him. Right
you are — Solomon was the wisest man. How came
he to be so wise? When God gave him his choice
of all gifts he selected wisdom. What proof have
we that Solomon was a very wise man? The first
proof the Bible gives will interest you. Two women
with one little child came to Solomon. There had
been two children, but one died. Each woman claimed
the living child was hers. Solomon was to decide
which woman was the mother of the living child.
That was a hard question. Children do not always
look like their parents. I knew a woman who told
a mother how very much her child looked like her —
just her image. The woman smiled; she was the
child's stepmother.
How could Solomon decide which woman was the
mother? Solomon looked at the one child and the
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CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
two women, and said, "Bring me a sword." The
sword was brought and Solomon said, "Divide the
living child in two, and give half to one and half to
the other." One woman said, "That is right, divide
it." But the other woman loved the child and said,
"O my lord, give her the living child, and in no
wise slay it." Her heart of love went out to the
child. Solomon knew that the woman who wanted to
save the child's life was its mother. In this act
Solomon proved that he was a very wise man.
Any one who seeks for wisdom and asks God to
help him can be as wise as Solomon. Solomon did
not believe that all the wisdom of the world was
wrapt up in his brain. Like a good father he talked
to children and told them how to get wisdom. I
have one of his chats with children and you can read
it. "Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father,
and attend to know understanding. For I give you
good doctrine, forsake ye not my law. For I was
my father's son, tender and only beloved in the sight
of my mother. He taught me also, and said unto me,
Let thine heart retain my words: keep my com-
mandments, and live. Get wisdom, get understand-
ing: forget it not; neither decline from the words
of my mouth. Forsake her not, and she shall pre-
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A LITTLE CHILD AND A BIG MAN
serve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee. Wis-
dom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom:
and with all thy getting get understanding. Exalt
her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring
thee to honor, when thou dost embrace her. She
shall give to thine head an ornament of grace: a
crown of glory shall she deliver to thee."
Mr. W. H. Vail, of Newark, N. J., sent me a story
about wisdom, and I will pass it on to you. Read
it and pass it on to others. This will make you a
member of the "Pass-It-On Society." The story will
show you how any thoughtful person can become as
wise as Solomon if he will only try. Solomon is
dead, but God is not dead. You can be as wise as
Solomon if you will keep your eyes open, think about
what you see, pray often, and keep on thinking.
The little Arabian tale of the dervish shall be the
proof of this truth. A dervish was journeying alone
in the desert, when two merchants suddenly met him.
"You have lost a camel," said he to the merchants.
"Indeed we have," they replied. "Was he not blind
in his right eye, and lame in his left leg?" said the
dervish. "He was," replied the merchants. "Had he
not lost a front tooth?" said the dervish. "He had,"
replied the merchants. "And was he not loaded on
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CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
one side with honey and wheat on the other?" "Most
certainly he was," they replied. "And as you have
seen him so lately, and marked him so particularly,
you can, in all probability, conduct us to him."
"My friends," said the dervish, "I have never seen
your camel, nor even heard of him but from you."
"A pretty story, truly!" said the merchants, "but
where are the jewels which formed a part of his
cargo?" "I have neither seen your camel, nor your
jewels," repeated the dervish. On this, they seized
his person, and forthwith hurried him before the cadi,
where, on the strictest search, nothing could be found
upon him, nor could any evidence whatever be ad-
duced to convict him, either of falsehood or of theft.
They were about to proceed against him as a sor-
cerer, when the dervish, with great calmness, thus
addrest the court: "I have been much amused with
your surprize and own that there has been some
ground for your suspicions, but I have lived long
and alone, and I can find ample scope for observation,
even in a desert. I knew that I had crossed the track
of a camel that had strayed from its owner, because
I saw no mark of human footstep on the same route.
I knew that the animal was blind in one eye, because
it had cropped the herbage only on one side of its
204
A LITTLE CHILD AND A BIG MAN
path, and I perceived that it was lame in one leg,
from the faint impression which that particular foot
had produced upon the sand. I concluded that the
animal had lost one tooth, because wherever it had
grazed a small tuft of herbage was left uninjured,
in the center of the bite. As to what formed the
burden of the beast, the busy ants informed me that
it was wheat on the one side, and the clustering bees
that it was honey on the other."
Read all of Solomon's chats with children. Re-
member that your eyes were made to see and your
brain was made to think about all your eyes see.
Think and pray, pray and think, and you can become
even wiser than Solomon.
205
Forty-one
THE STATUE OF LIBERTY
"Whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him." — Ec-
clesiastes 10:8.
TT^RIDAY, October 28. If you are in or near
■*• New York this will be the proper time to visit
the Statue of Liberty. Why? Because on October
28, 1886, this great Statue of Liberty was unveiled.
It was the gift of France to the United States, and
stands on Bedloe's Island as a perpetual reminder
of the good will between these countries. Its height,
from low water mark to the top of the torch, is
305 feet 11 inches. The statue itself, which is in the
form of a woman holding a torch in her hand, is
152 feet.
When strangers from other countries come up our
beautiful bay this is one of the first sights they see,
and it tells them that they are coming into the land
where Liberty is Enlightening the World.
When we speak about this being the Land of
Liberty, what do we mean? Does liberty mean to
do as you please ? You have liberty to throw a stone,
206
THE STATUE OF LIBERTY
but your liberty ceases when you throw that stone
at some one. You have the liberty to use your voice,
and you can shout and yell as long and loud as you
are able ; but your liberty ceases when your shouting
and yelling annoys some sick person or makes some
person nervous who wants to feel well. Liberty is
the privilege of doing anything that you please
within the limits of law. Our text says, "Whoso
breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him." The
hedge means law. There is a hedge, or law, around
your playground and around your house and around
your father's farm. The line fence is a law between
your father's farm and some other man's farm. Your
father has liberty to plant whatever he pleases on
his side of the fence, but he does not have the liberty
to plant anything on the other side of the line fence.
Breaking through the hedge means breaking a law.
Whenever you do anything the law tells you not to
do, then you break through a hedge. The bite of the
serpent means punishment for breaking the law.
Every time we break a hedge or break a law there is
a punishment. In the old hedges spoken of in our
text, serpents found their home. When anyone broke
through a hedge these serpents became angry and
would bite the breaker.
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CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
Our text takes a hedge as an illustration to show
us that when we break a law we shall surely be
punished.
We have a great amount of liberty — more
liberty than is given to the people of any other
nation in the world — but this liberty ends at the
hedge, or the law, that has been made by God and
man.
The law of God is to protect us and to bless us.
When, therefore, you are looking at the Statue of
Liberty remember it is the corner post of the great
hedge or law around our country.
This Statue of Liberty was once worshiped as an
idol. An aged woman and her grown son were on
their way from Mount Lebanon to the United States.
When they saw the great statue, nobody told them
what it was, and they thought it must be Christ,
representing the Christian land which they were
about to enter. They dropt upon their knees on
the deck of their ship and poured out their love and
gratitude for the welcome which the outstretched arm
seemed to offer them. Liberty is the gift of Christ,
but it is not to be worshiped. We worship Christ,
who gave us Liberty and protected our liberty by
law. Tell you a story?
208
THE STATUE OF LIBERTY
About two thousand years ago the Chinese people
were in great trouble. Toward the north of China
there was an enormous plain, and it was one of the
most fruitful and productive in the world. The peo-
ple who lived on the plain were farmers. Farther
north was the country of the Tartars; these people
lived by robbery, and when they looked at their
neighbors' prosperous farms they were filled with
envy. They made a raid on the land of the peaceful
Chinamen, stole everything that they could lay their
hands on, and beat or killed those who made any
objection. The raids happened so often that the
poor farmers did not know what to do, and were
quite in despair. At last they made a complaint to
their emperor, and he caused a wall to be built so
as to prevent the Tartars from entering China.
The great wall of China is one of the wonders of
the world. It is called the Wan-li-chang, or Myriad
Mile Wall. Its length is about one thousand five
hundred miles, so that it would stretch in a straight
line half way from New York to San Francisco. It
winds about, now climbing a mountain to a height
of five thousand feet, now crossing a level plain, and
now spanning a river.
The wall is twenty feet high, with towers twice
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
that height and forty feet square at the base, stand-
ing at intervals of a hundred yards from each other.
These towers were used as posts of observation, and
the watchmen stationed in them could give timely
warning of the approach of the Tartar foe. On the
top of the wall is a great road along which three
automobiles could run side by side. This wall gave
the Chinese liberty and protected them from their
enemies.
Liberty and law are our two friends.
Dr. Abbot tells us the difference between advice
and law. A doctor says to a child: "You have been
working too hard and sleeping too little. You ought
to go to bed every night at nine o'clock." That is
advice, but not law. Then the father says, "My child,
you hear what the doctor said, and you must go to
bed every night at nine o'clock." This is law. This
is the Chinese wall about the child for its protection.
210
Forty-two
ALL SAINTS' DAY AND HALLOW'S EVE
"Time would fail me to tell." — Hebrews 11:32.
ONE tick, and a moment dies. Sixty ticks, and a
minutes dies. Sixty minutes, and an hour dies.
Twenty-four hours, and a day dies. Three hundred
and sixty-five days, and a year dies. The short life
and flight and death of time! You begin to tell
something, and time dies before you can finish. It
was the death of time that troubled the man who
wrote the eleventh chapter of Hebrews. He was
writing about the good people who had by faith
done wonderful things. After writing thirty-one
verses he had to stop. "Time failed me to tell."
Pope Boniface IV. had the same trouble. There
were a number of saints and each one deserved to
have a day named in his memory. But he had but
three hundred and sixty-five days and on his list were
more than three hundred and sixty-five saints. What
was he to do? He selected one day and called it
"All Saints' Day." This is the day we celebrate on
November 1.
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CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
Isn't it splendid to know that there are not enough
days, not enough time, to tell about all the good
people in this world? There would be plent}' of time
to tell about all the bad people. Probably you have
heard mamma say: "The daily paper tells too much
about evil people and about the bad things they do."
Tell mamma that we do not have a paper big enough
to tell about all the good things that are done. If
all the good deeds of all the good people in all of
our country were printed on any one day in any one
of our daily papers, what would happen? It would
require a two-horse wagon or an automobile truck
to bring that paper to }rour house. The paper
would be too big to get in through your door.
You would have to spread it out on the street in
order to read it. Then there would not be room for
people to walk along the street while you were read-
ing your paper. But we can put all the wicked
things that are done in one day in one paper that is
small enough to fold up and put in one of papa's
pockets.
A crowd watches a house on fire. But just think
of that crowd looking at every house that is not on
fire. You will stop and look at a man who is stag-
gering along the street, but you could not possibly
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ALL SAINTS' DAY AND HALLOW'S EVE
take time to stop and look at every man who does
not stagger.
There are more saints than sinners. I hear you
ask, who are saints?" By saints the Bible means any
one who loves God and his fellow-man. You thought
the saints were all dead. Yrou can be a saint without
dying or even being sick. A saint is an every-day
good person. Don't be afraid of the ring of light
that hangs over the heads of picture saints. There
is no such ring or halo. If there were it would come
to the one whose head it would fit like his hat.
How would this plan suit you for the evening be-
fore All Saints' Day, called All Hallow's Eve? Make
a list of the good people you know and love and
write to them and say that to-morrow, All Saints'
Day, you are going to put their names in your
Saints' Gallery. Could not do it? Why? "Time
would fail me to tell." Then try another plan.
Make a list of those who are not saints, those whose
gates you thought of taking off, those on whom you
thought of playing some trick on Hallowe'en. "Good !
Good!" you say. "We can do that, as there are
only two or three in our neighborhood."
How can you know a real saint? You will find
that he loves children and would be willing to die
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CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
for them. I wonder if this is not why "All Saints'
Day" is the Children's Day? A story? All right,
take this one related by Mr. Dayton. He tells of
some of those "close calls" which every engineer must
reckon on as part of the day's work.
A most remarkable instance of this sort happened
many years ago on a railway in eastern Missouri
and was told in a railway paper. One summer morn-
ing a twelve-car train containing the members of a
Sunday-school was bound for a picnic at a point
about fifty miles distant. Altho the sky was cloud-
less when the excursion started, the train had not
proceeded more than half way when a thunder-
storm broke. The rain fell in torrents. The engineer
was worried for fear the terrific downpour might
cause a washout or spreading of the rails, and he
slowed down to about thirty-five miles an hour. As
the train swung around a curve and approached a
small station which it was to pass without stopping,
the engineer, peering through the broken curtain of
rain, saw that the switch just ahead was open. It
meant a terrible disaster. He closed the throttle and
put on the brakes in an instant.
"Better stick to it," he shouted to his fireman,
"hundreds of children on board."
ALL SAINTS' DAY AND HALLOW'S EVE
"I mean to," was the answer. "God help us all !"
His last words were drowned by a terrific crash of
thunder which came with a flash of lightning that
seemed to strike the ground just ahead of the engine.
The next thing they knew they were past the station,
still riding safely on the main-line rails.
The train came to a stop and the engineer and
conductor hurried back to discover what had hap-
pened and how the train had passed the open switch.
They found that the lightning had struck squarely
between the switch and the rail and had closed the
switch. "It was the act of God," said the engineer.
A saint is one who does his best and trusts God
to do the rest. I have a long list of every-day saints,
but "time would fail me to tell."
215
Forty-three
JOHN'S LETTER TO CHILDREN
"My little children, these things write T unto you." — I John 2:1.
IN what book for grown people will you find the
largest number of letters to little children? I
hope you will not make many guesses before you say
"The Bible." May I tell you about a letter that
John, the beloved disciple, wrote to you? In this
short letter John says "little children" nine times.
Why did he write this letter to little children? He
says: "My little children, these things write I unto
vou, that ye sin not." Then after telling some facts
about the little children's best friend, he says: "I
write unto you, little children, because your sins are
forgiven you." Does he tell us how the sins of little
children are forgiven? Yes. He says they are for-
given for Christ's sake.
The question I want to ask you to-day is : Do you
believe that your sins have been forgiven for Christ's
sake? I hear you answer, "Certainly, I believe, and
I pray to God every day and thank him for what
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JOHN'S LETTER TO CHILDREN
Christ has done for me." Then I want to ask you
another question. Have you told the world that you
believe your sins have been forgiven? You remember
Christ said that if we believe in Him we should con-
fess Him before men. If you do not confess Him
you either do not believe in Him or you are ashamed
of Him.
If you were in a house that was on fire and some
man whose clothes were all torn and who had been
drenched with the hose and was covered with dirt
should rush in and save you, would you be ashamed
to take him to your home and tell papa and mamma
that he saved you? Christ's coat was torn off and
they spat on him, and he was nailed to a cross, and
blood was running over him, but surely you should
not be ashamed of him.
If you found the fireman who saved you was a king
then surely you would be very proud of him. Christ
who saved you is the King of Kings and the Lord
of Lords.
We are at the time of the year when the nights
are long, and I want you to think about this to-night.
Think hard, before you say your prayers. If you
will promise to do this I will tell you a story I found
and kept for you.
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CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
In visiting one of the large city hospitals, the visi-
tor asked a nurse what was the most remarkable
incident that she remembered in her long hospital
experience. The nurse said: "I can tell you what
was the most touching and impressive thing I ever
saw in my hospital experience. It took place several
years ago:
"There was a terrible accident in the city where
I was then nursing, and two lads were brought in
fatally mangled. One of them died immediately on
entering the hospital; the other was still conscious.
Both of his legs had been crusht. A brief examin-
ation showed that the only hope for the boy's life
was to have them taken off immediately, but it was
probable he would die under the operation.
" 'Tell me,' he said bravely, 'am I to live or die?'
"The house surgeon answered as tenderly as he
could: 'We hope for the best, but it is extremely
doubtful.'
"As the lad learned his doom, his eyes grew large
and then filled with tears. His mouth quivered piti-
fully, and in spite of himself, the tears forced them-
selves down his smoke-grimed cheeks. He was only
a lad, but he showed the courage of a man.
"As we stood about him, ready to remove him to
218
JOHN'S LETTER TO CHILDREN
the operating room, he summoned up his fast failing
strength and said: 'If I must die, I have a request
to make. I want to do it for the sake of my dead
mother. I promised her I would, but I have kept
putting it off all this while.'
"We listened, wondering what the poor lad meant.
With an effort he went on : 'I want to make a public
confession of my faith in Christ. I want a minister.
I want to profess myself a Christian before I die.'
"We all looked at each other; it was a situation
new to our experience. What should we do? A
nurse was sent for a clergyman. In the meanwhile
we moved the boy upstairs to the operating room.
There we laid him on the table. By this time the
minister arrived. The boy welcomed him with a beau-
tiful smile. The clergyman took his hand. I had
been holding it, and it was already growing cold.
The house surgeons and nurses stood reverently by.
The boy began: 'I believe ' He faltered, for
he could hardly speak above a whisper, he was so
weak. I could not help crying. The surgeon did
not behave much better. Not a soul in the room
will ever forget the sight, nor the words when the
boy said: 'I believe in Jesus Christ — His Son — our
Savior.'
219
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
"He stopt because he had not strength to say
another word. Then the clergyman, seeing that the
end was near, hastily put a small piece of bread in
the lad's mouth, and a few drops of wine to his lips,
thus formally administering the sacrament and re-
ceiving the lad from the operating table — into the
company of those who profess the name of Christ.
Summoning up all his strength, while the minister
was praying, the boy said distinctly : 'I believe '
With these blest words upon his lips he passed away.
"The surgeon put aside his knife and bowed his
head. The Great Physician took the poor boy's case
into his own hands. That, sir, was the most touching
and beautiful thing I have ever seen in my hospital
experience of almost twenty years."
120
Forty-four
CHRYSANTHEMUM SUNDAY
"1 will (jive thee the tvorth of it in money." — I Kings 21: 2.
rV\ HE minister who chats with children has a
-*■ Junior Congregation. There are two hundred
boys and girls who come to church every Sunday
morning. The second Sunday of November is their
Chrysanthemum Day. Each member brings a num-
ber of these beautiful flowers, and after the service
the}' are taken to the children in the hospital.
The beautiful Chrysanthemum was once a Japanese
wild flower, known as Golden Chain. A flower lover
took this wild flower to his own garden and began
to take care of it, and to love it, and to help it to
grow. What did this beautiful flower cost those who
helped it to grow and bloom? It cost them time,
patience, love and watchfulness. If we know how
much it all meant in money we would be surprized
at the amount. Could we give the worth of it in
money ?
Why arc men willing to pay such a great price
221
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
for the development of a wild flower? Because they
see in this little flower something that is trying to
make itself great ; trying but failing. Looking down
at this something the man's heart is touched and he
says, "I will try and help this something to
fulfill its mission." I wonder if this is not the secret
of nearly all of the good that is done in this world.
A little child has lost father and mother and has
no friends. The little child is almost nothing and
would be left to die if some one did not see this
almost nothing trying to be something. The child
is loved and watched and educated and becomes a
great man.
Possibly the Chrysanthemum has a lesson for boys
and girls. If my Juniors ever become great it will
be because they developed from almost nothing.
Father and mother see this almost nothing trying to
be something and begin to help it. Did you ever
count the cost of developing an almost nothing boy
into a great something man? Some one has said,
"When you count what a boy eats and what he wears
and the school-books he has to have, and the doctor's
bills that have to be paid when he gets the measles
or scarlet fever, he will cost his folks at home at
least one hundred dollars a year. If a boy loves to
222
CHRYSANTHEMUM SUNDAY
smash things or to kick his shoes right out, he costs
more than that. So that when he is twenty-one and
old enough to do for himself, he will have cost his
father more than two thousand dollars."
His mother cooks his victuals, makes his clothes
and patches them, washes them when he is a little
fellow and cares for him when he is sick. She never
charges anything for that. If she were dead and
father had to hire all that done, it would cost another
hundred dollars a year more; and that is two thou-
sand dollars' worth of work mother will have done
for him by the time he is a man. Four thousand
dollars for a boy! What do you think of that?
When you are twenty-one, will you pay to father and
mother the worth of yourself in money? Do not
forget to do the best you can and father and mother
will be repaid.
These are hard times. When parents put four
thousand dollars into a boy, what have they a right
to expect from him ? If the boy makes a good citizen
and a useful man, they will feel as if they had good
pay for bringing him up.
Boys and girls, what are you worth to your
parents? The Chrysanthemum pays for all it costs,
and a boy by doing his best pays for all the help
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
he gets. I hope each of you will take a Chrysan-
themum and think of what it was once and then count
the cost and try to enjoy what it is now. As it is
one of the last flowers to bloom before winter freezes
our gardens, you can take it as the flower to think
about during the winter. Would it not be a good
idea to call it the "Key Flower"? A shepherd boy
in the Alps, while minding his sheep, saw a strange
flower at his feet. He picked it, and a door opened
in the hillside. He entered and found a cave piled
up with gems in the center of which sat a gnome,
who said, "Take what you wish, but don't forget the
best !" He dropt his flower, and loaded himseif with
jewels, then went out, hearing again, "Don't forget
the best !" Once more in the open air he remem-
bered his keyflower, and turned back to pick it up;
but the door was gone, and in a moment more all his
gems had turned to dust ! He had forgotten his
flower! Do not forget your "keyflower" and its
lesson. You must have a story?
About two centuries ago a Russian nobleman,
traveling in Mexico, saw and admired the maguey
plant, which is a native of Mexico. The Russian
procured some roots to take home as a present to
the Czar. The Czar gave the roots to the court
224
CHRYSANTHEMUM SUNDAY
gardener, who promised to give the plants his best
attention, but he was taken suddenly ill and died.
The new gardener, not knowing their value, threw
the sack away. Some time afterward his little daugh-
ter picked up one of the roots and planted it. In
time it put out a few spikes for leaves, but it did
not thrive in the cold air of Russia.
Yrears passed, but it did not bloom. A new gar-
dener looked at the plant and saw that it wanted to
bloom, wanted to be something. He began to love
it a little, coax it a little and push it a little. Soon
many clusters of small buds appeared, which slowly
unfolded and became white blossoms. The wonderful
plant bloomed at last. The gardener said it was
one hundred years old and had bloomed in honor of
the Czar. Word was sent to him, and he and his
whole court visited and admired the flowers and the
plant.
The poor exile from the sunny skies of Mexico had
earned its reward and a new name, for ever since
that day it has been known as "the century plant."
2V5
Forty-five
THANKSGIVING DAY
"With thanksgiving and with singing." — Nehemiah 12:27.
ONLY a few more days to Thanksgiving. One
whole day for saying "Thank you." How
much of the day will you need to say your thanks?
Here is an idea ! Suppose we give thanks for the
blessing most people forget? Has the little baby
anything for which to be thankful? Eudora Bump-
stead will tell us some of the blessings for which a
baby should be thankful:
Mamma was making ready the things he would
need when he should wake up. First she went along
the orchard path as far as the old wooden pump and
said : "Good pump, will you give me some nice clear
water for the baby's bath?" And the pump was
willing.
The good old pump by the orchard path
Gave a nice clear water for the baby's bath.
Then she went a little farther on the path, and
stopt at the woodpile and said: "Good chips, the
226
THANKSGIVING DAY
pump has given me nice clear water for dear little
Ray; will you come and warm the water and cook
his food?" And the chips were willing.
The good old pump by the orchard path
Gave nice clear water for the baby's bath;
And the clean white chips from the pile of wood
Were glad to warm it and cook his food.
So mamma went on till she came to the barn and
then said : "Good cow, the pump has given me nice
clear water, and the woodpile has given me clean
white chips, for dear little Ray; will you give me
some warm, rich milk?" And the cow was willing.
Then she said to the topknot hen that was scratch-
ing in the straw: "Good Biddy, the pump has given
me nice clear water, and the woodpile has given me
clean white chips, and the cow has given me warm,
rich milk for dear little Ray; will you give me a
new-laid egg?" And the hen was willing.
The good old pump by the orchard path
Gave nice clear water for the baby's bath;
And the clean white chips from the pile of wood
Were glad to warm it and cook his food;
The cow gave milk in the milk-pail bright,
And the topknot Biddy an egg new and white.
Then mamma went on till she came to the apple-
bin and said: "Good apple-bin, the pump has given
me nice clear water, and the woodpile has given me
227
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
clean white chips, and the cow has given me warm,
rich milk, and the hen has given me a new-laid egg
for dear little Ray ; will you give me a pretty red
apple?" And the apple-bin opened its door and let
her in.
So mamma took the apple and the egg and the
milk and the chips and the water to the house, and
there was Baby Ray in his nightgown looking out of
the window.
And she kissed him and bathed him and drest him,
and while she brushed and curled his soft brown hair
she told him the Thanksgiving story that I am tell-
ing you.
The good old pump by the orchard path
Gave nice clear water for the baby's bath;
And the clean white chips from the pile of wood
Were glad to warm it and cook his food;
The cow gave milk in the milk-pail bright,
And the topknot Biddy an egg new and white;
And the apple-bin gave an apple so round and so red,
For dear little Ray, who was just out of bed.
If we sing this we will have Thanksgiving with
singing.
But all the good things are not for bab}'. The
older Juniors must have something for which to be
thankful.
The Thanksgiving dinner! Yes! You are all
228
THANKSGIVING DAY
thankful for it. And the pumpkin pie— how thank-
ful you are for it ! You begin to be thankful when
the pumpkin turns up its big round face and smiles
at you in the cornfield. Then the pumpkin makes
you smile when you put a candle back of its face
and carry it about on Hallowe'en night. If you
begin to think of pumpkin Thanksgiving, you may,
if it were possible, forget to eat the pie. I am quite
sure you all know that rhyme— "The Four and
Twenty Blackbirds." Do you know it is a Thanks-
giving pie rhyme? It tells us about a number of our
greatest blessings for which we should be thankful.
All the Juniors should recite it at the close of their
Thanksgiving dinner.
The four and twenty blackbirds represented the
twenty-four hours of the day. Surely we should be
thankful for the twenty-four-hour day. Eight hours
for work, eight hours for play and eight hours for
sleep. The bottom of the pie is the world, while the
top crust is the sky that overarches it. The opening
of the pie is the day dawn, when the birds begin to
sing, and surely such a sight is fit for a king. In
the spring when the birds come North you must
wake up early and hear the birds when they begin
to sing. The king, who is represented as sitting in
■2-2$
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
his parlor counting out his money, is the sun, while
the gold pieces that slip through his fingers, as he
counts them, are the golden sunbeams. The sun and
his light! Just think! The sun as a king counting
out his sunbeams and throwing them to us in sun-
shine, something better than gold. The queen, who
sits in the dark kitchen, is the moon, and the honey
with which she regales herself is the moonlight. Had
you ever thanked God for the moonlight? Some-
thing better than honey.
The industrious maid, who is in the garden before
her king, the sun, has risen, is day dawn. The clothes
she hangs out are the clouds. Never thought of that,
did you? The birds who so tragically end the song
by nipping off her nose, are the sunset that ends
the day. So we have the whole day, if not in a nut-
shell, in a pie.
230
IF]
of
Forty-six
LINKED UP WITH GOD
Pray without ceasing."— I Thessalonians 5:17.
FEAR John Knox's prayers more than an army
10,000 men." Why did Mary, Queen of
Scots, fear the prayers of John Knox? Because he
was linked up with God and had power. What do
I mean by being linked up with God? An anchor
is made of strong links and one end of the chain
is fastened to the ship. On the other end of the
chain is a double hook. When the anchor is thrown
out it takes hold upon the rocks in the sea and holds
the ship. The ship is linked up with the rocks, and
is therefore safe. We are linked up with God, who
is called the "Rock of Ages." God has given us an
anchor which is called "Hope," and when we throw
this anchor out into our troubles it takes hold of
God and we are safe.
The Bible tells of wonderful things done by
prayer. Prayer opened the Red Sea ; brought water
gushing out of the dry rock. Prayer made the sun
231
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
stand still. But you must not think that the power
of prayer came to an end when the Bible was written.
If God were writing his Bible to-day He could tell
of wonderful things done by prayer in our own age.
Here is one of them:
Hudson Taylor was a man of great faith in God.
When he first went out as a missionary to China it
was in a sailing vessel. Very close to the shores of a
cannibal island the ship was becalmed, and it was
slowly drifting shoreward, and the savages were
eagerly anticipating a feast. The captain came to
Mr. Taylor and besought him to pray for the help
of God.
"I will," said Taylor, "provided you set your sails
to catch the breeze." The captain declined to make
himself a laughing stock by unfurling sails in a
dead calm. Taylor said: "I will not undertake to
pray for the vessel unless you will prepare the sails."
And it was done. While engaged in prayer there was
a knock at the door of his stateroom.
"Who is there?"
"The captain's voice responded, "Are you still
praying for wind?"
"Yes."
"Well," said the captain, "you'd better stop pray-
LINKED UP WITH GOD
ing, for we have more wind than we can well manage."
And sure enough, when but a hundred yards from
shore a strong wind had struck the sails of the boat
so that the cannibals were cheated out of their human
prey.
I can almost hear some one say: "We pray, but
our prayers just go out from us, and we do not see
the one to whom we pray; how can we know whether
any one hears us?"
A short time ago one of my boys had a birthday.
On the morning of this day I wanted to speak to him
and give him my best wishes. I went to a telegraph
office and wrote what I wanted to say on a piece of
paper. The telegraph officer took it and said that
the message would be delivered in a few minutes. I
was standing by a window from which I could see the
Atlantic Ocean and I knew that my boy was in his
office from the window of which he could see the
Pacific Ocean. The telegraph operator made a little
machine say "Tick-tick," and told me that tfre mes-
sage had gone. Now how did I know whether my
son would receive those ticks or not? I had faith
and believed that that telegraph operator was linked
up with another telegraph operator in that far-
away city. But you say that does not prove that
233
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
my message was received. That is true, but later on
I was given the proof. It came in a message stating
that my congratulations had been received. The
proof, you see, was in the answer. The first time you
pray to God and receive an answer to your prayer
3rou will have proof that you are linked up with God
and that God can and will answer your prayer.
Our text says, "Pray without ceasing." Some of
you are thinking how it is possible to pray without
ceasing. We must have time to play and time to
eat and time to talk to our friends. As you always
expect a story I shall let the story answer your
question. It is a story of how a little girl prayed
without ceasing. "When I first open my eyes in
the morning I pray: Lord, open the eyes of my
understanding; and while I am dressing I pray that
I may be clothed with the robe of righteousness;
and when I have washed, I ask for a washing of
regeneration ; and as I begin to work, I pray that I
may have strength equal to my day; when I begin
to kindle up the fire, I pray that God will kindle a
fire of love in my soul. And as I sweep my room,
I pray that my heart may be cleansed of all im-
purities; and while preparing and partaking of
breakfast, I desire to be fed from the hidden manna
284
LINKED UP WITH GOD
and the sincere milk of the word; and as I am busy
with the little children I look up to God as my
Father and pray for the spirit of adoption that I
may be his child ; and so on all day, everything I do
furnishes me with a thought for prayer."
Pray without ceasing. Be "linked up" with God.
Do your best and some one will finish all that you
begin. Commit to memory these verses by Whittier:
Others shall sing the song;
Others shall right the wrong;
Finish what I begin,
And all I fail of win.
What matter, I or they,
Mine or another's day;
So the right word be said,
And life the sweeter made?
<235
Forty-seven
NOTHING VENTURED, NOTHING WON
"Go ye into all the world.'' — Mark Hi: 1.5.
"\7POU have learned in your Junior Congregation
■■• that Advent means coming; the coming of
Christ. But if your life is all coming and no going
it will be a failure. When Christ came to this world
He said, "Go ye into all the world and tell others
the good things I have told you." This the third
Sunday in Advent. I would like to call it Adven-
ture Sunday. What does adventure mean ? It mean*
an effort to do something without knowing just what
the result will be. It means something in which you
can wrap your faith. "Nothing ventured, nothing
won." Have faith in God and then venture to do
something for God and man.
In the book of Esther there is a beautiful story
about adventure. Mordecai was a good man and
was linked up with God. He had an advent. God
came and talked with him and after this advent he
found that it was necessary to have an adventure.
33G
NOTHING VENTURED, NOTHING WON
Some one must take God's message to the king. The
king had "No Admittance" on his door, and any one
who went in without being asked was in danger of
death. Mordecai told Esther to go, but she was
afraid. When urged she just wrapt her faith in an
adventure and said she would go. She asked all the
people of God to fast and pray for three days and
told them that she and her friends would do the same.
After these three days she told Mordecai, "I will
go unto the king, which is according to the law, and
if I perish, I perish." This was a brave adventure.
She made the effort without knowing just what the
result would be. Esther was linked up with God and
was successful with the king. All of her people who
trusted in God were saved. There are little ad-
ventures for little people just as there are big ad-
ventures for big people. There are Juniors whose
parents, brothers and sisters have not learned about
the Advent of Christ. A little boy or girl may be
the only Christian in the home. To kneel and pray
before those who do not love God is an adventure.
Mary P. Lord, a teacher among the Sioux In-
dians, tells us this beautiful story: An Indian baby
was dying. It lay in its father's arms, while near
by stood another little daughter, a few vears older.
2's:
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
"Papa," said the little daughter, "little sister is
going to heaven to-night. Let me pray." As she
said this, she kneeled at her father's knee, and this
was the sweet little prayer which fell from her lips:
"Father, God, little sister is coming to see you to-
night. Please open the door softly and let her in.
Amen." That was a real adventure. Do you ever
visit little friends who are not Christians? Try kneel-
ing and saying your prayers before them. You will
probably find it an adventure.
After this season of Advent comes Christmas; it
is almost in sight. You boys and girls must remem-
ber that at the first Christmas all the gifts were
brought to the child Christ. Does this not teach us
that Christmas is a time to give rather than a time
to receive? The time for adventure rather than the
time of advent? You ask, How can we take gifts
to Christ? We can take all our gifts to Christ by
venturing to help some one that is in need. Christ
says whatever we do for other boys and girls and
any one who needs help we are really doing for Him.
I catch you smiling; you think giving to others is
no adventure. So many are just waiting and anxious
to receive gifts. But those who need them most and
those to whom we should take gifts are those to
238
NOTHING VENTURED, NOTHING WON
whom it is most difficult to give them. Here is a
story in which you can learn just what we mean:
The window of a little shop in an old arcade in
Berne was filled one day with crosses and hearts in-
tended for the decoration of graves, and among them
were several slabs of marble with the inscriptions,
"In Memory of my Sister," "To the Best of Hus-
bands," etc.
As we were in the shop, three or four idle tourists
had halted to laugh at the uncultivated taste shown
in these cheap votive offerings. Apart, and quite
unconscious of them, stood a poor Swiss maid-servant.
Her eyes were full of eager longing. The slab she
coveted was the cheapest of the lot, a black slab,
white-lettered; but the inscription was, "To my dear
Mother."
"She stops every morning to look at that," whis-
pered the shopkeeper. "But she won't have enough
money to buy it in years."
"Tell her she can have it," said one of the tourists,
a well-drest man, in a loud voice. "I'll pay for it.'*
"Monsieur is very generous," answered the shop-
keeper. "But I doubt — she is no beggar."
While they were speaking, a young American girl.
with sympathy exprest in her face, had been watching
239
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
this scene. She had real sympathy for the girl, for
she too had lost her mother.
She drew the young girl aside and said: "I am
a stranger. I am going away to-morrow, never to
come back again. I should like to think somebody
here would remember me kindly. Will you not let
me give you that little slab to lay on your mother's
grave?" The woman's face was filled with amaze-
ment, and then with delight. The tears rained down
her cheeks. She held the girl's hand in her own.
"You, too, have lost your mother? Yes? Then
you can understand ! I thank you, gracious lady."
"Go ye" with help to some one who is sensitive but
in real need. "Nothing ventured, nothing won."
no
Forty-eight
THE ADVENT CHILD
"For unto us a child is born." — Isaiah 9:6.
MAMMA is very busy and we are all helping
her. Sweeping, dusting and airing the spare
room and making everything ready. Visitors are
coming. We are so glad to have them come for they
once helped us when we were very poor. Brother,
who is just home from college, says: "We are ex-
pecting the advent of some friends." The dictionary
says "advent" means arrival, visit, the coming of
some one. We are all using the new word and talking
about the advent of our friends.
Since the sixth century some of our churches have
set apart four Sundays before Christmas and call
them Advent Sundays. How busy we all should be !
Getting the heart ready for Christmas. Heart
cleaning ; getting the best heart-room ready for the
little guest. Everything ready to make Christ happy,
whose coming made us all so happy. We are spe-
cially anxious to honor this guest, because He saved
24,1
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
us from our sins when we were not able to save our-
selves.
A certain business man has a curious little charm
for his watch-chain. He wouldn't sell it for a thou-
sand dollars; no, nor two, nor three. His little
child gave it to him one day when, as he says, he
was "down." "I had lost every cent I had in the
world, and there at my desk, my head on my arms,
I was thinking of a possible way to end it, when
my little child came up to me and asked: 'What
does "ruined" mean, papa?' And then I knew I had
been groaning loud enough to be heard and under-
stood. 'You said "ruined," papa. What does it
mean ?'
"It means I haven't any money, baby. Papa's a
poor man. The little feet pattered away, then came
back again, and here on my watchcharm is what she
gave me. Not a great fortune — no, but the founda-
tion of one. Whatever I've gained since came from it,
for it gave me courage." Your pastor has a cross on
his watch-chain. The gift of the Christ Child. The
cross gives him courage.
Jesus has come, and Christmas is the anniversary
of his advent. The Children's Pastor believes that
every little child can be an advent blessing. "How,"
:2\2
THE ADVENT CHILD
you ask, "can a little child bring a bLessing?" Listen,
and I will tell you some of the ways, and you can
guess more of them. I know a little child that
weighed thirty-five pounds who lifted a man who
weighed one hundred and ninety-five pounds. The
man was out of work and each day his pocketbook
was getting thinner and thinner; so were the soles
of his shoes. One morning the little child saw the
father on his knees and heard his prayer. When he
started out that morning to look for work he heard
some one walking behind him. "Where are you
going, my child?" "I am going with you to look
for work." He lifted the child on his broad should-
ers. You say that was one hundred and ninety-
five pounds lifting thirty-five pounds. Was it? The
first place he looked for work he was asked: "Is
this your little child?" Why do you not get her
shoes ?" Before papa could answer the little
child said: "Papa will get me shoes if you will
give him work." Papa got the work. Do you not
see that on the heart of the little child, father was
carried? One of our church papers tells another
true story:
Grandma Wilkins was sick. The doctor said she
must be kept very quiet. Wilfred heard his mother
243
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
say, "We must keep the doorbell from ringing if
possible." "I can do something for grandma,"
thought the little boy. So he sat on the front step,
and soon a woman with a book in her hand came
to the door. "Grandma is very sick," said Wilfred;
"nobody must ring the bell." The lady smiled,
but went away. Soon a man with a satchel came.
"Grandma is sick and mamma doesn't want anything
at all," said the boy.
All day long the people came. It seemed to Wil-
fred that almost everybody had something to sell;
but he kept guard and the bell was silent. Sister
came to call him to lunch, but Wilfred would not
leave his post. "Just bring me a sandwich or some-
thing, and I'll eat it here," he said. At last the
doctor came again. He smiled down upon Wil-
fred and said: "Well, little picket guard, your
grandma is going to get well, and you have helped
to save her." Then his mother came out and took
him in her arms and whispered: "I am quite proud
of my brave, unselfish little son." When Wilfred
went in on tiptoe his grandma thanked him with
a kiss.
Tell you one more advent story? An Eastern
legend says: In the country, near a great city, a
244
THE ADVENT CHILD
golden ball was let down out of heaven every day
at noontime and on it was written, "Whoever shall
touch this ball will get some wonderful blessings."
Many tried to reach it, but all failed. The tallest
man in the country came, but could not reach it.
Then they sent to other countries and brought all
the giants, but not one of them could touch the
ball. One day there was in the crowd, waiting
for the descent of the ball, an old man with a young
child. The old man was not tall, and all laughed
at him when he said he would try to reach the ball.
He lifted the little child on his shoulders and the
child smiled as the ball came down. The golden
ball settled into the tiny uplifted hands and
rested there for a moment. Then came the blessing;
not only to the child, but to every one standing in
that crowd. Thank God for the advent of every
little child.
245
I
Forty-nine
PEACE SUNDAY
"The Prince of Peace:'— Isaiah 9:6.
N a charmed sleep on the Isle of Avalon, rest-
ing until the morning. You want to know who
was asleep? In your history you will learn that
more than 1,500 years ago the English conquered
the Britons. The Britons taught their children to
belive that the great King Arthur was not really
dead, but slept a charmed sleep on the Isle of Ava-
lon, and that he would some day awake and lead
them to victory. More than 800 years before our
first Christmas one of the prophets looked into the
future and wrote: "For unto us a child is born,
unto us a son is given; and the government shall
be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called
Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the ever-
lasting Father, the Prince of Peace." Some one
greater than King Arthur coming to give us peace.
Some people thought that this was a fable, but
it proved to be a fact. The little Prince of Peace
did come, and shortly we shall celebrate the 1912th
246
PEACE SUNDAY
anniversary of his birth. God knew best how to
send peace to the world. Man would have sent a
great warrior with a big sword, who would have
thrashed the next biggest giant, and with one foot on
the conquered giant, would have lifted his sword
into the air and bellowed like a Bull of Bashan,
"Let us have Peace." But God sent a little child
and not a great giant with peace for the world. Sun-
day, December 15, is "Peace Sunday," and all
clergymen are expected to preach about peace. I
am going to talk about this little child who
came to bring the blessings of peace for little
children ! Here are facts that may interest you.
Without peace we must have great battleships. If
we could have peace and sell one battleship, the money
would build and furnish fifty Manual Training
Schools, where 75,000 children could each get a
good education and be taught a trade. The cost
of one battleship would build two libraries like the
great Congressional Library at Washington, which
is the finest building in the world. The cost of
books and libraries would be less than the cost of
keeping the battleship. One of our largest battle-
ships costs $12,000,000 and requires $800,000 a
year to keep it.
247
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
Now, what could we do for children if we had
peace and could use this battleship money for them?
We could furnish 1,400 churches that would cost
$20,000 each. Just think of 1,400 Junior Con-
gregations! Then we could give 7,000 farms,
costing $4,000 apiece, to parents of little children
who did not have a home. And we would have
enough money left to send 14,000 boys and girls to
college and give them $500 a year for their ex-
penses. Surely all children will work for peace.
The little Prince of Peace came to the world, and
gradually but surely peace is coming. Some of
you are old enough to remember about the war be-
tween Russia and Japan. Our ex-President, Colonel
Roosevelt, made peace between these two great coun-
tries. He did not roar like a Bull of Bashan, but
history says that a story he told about a bull de-
cided these nations to make peace. Here is the story :
"I was riding across the plains in a railway train
when a powerful bull placed himself squarely be-
tween the rails and defied the oncoming locomotive.
Now, the engineer could have accepted the chal-
lenge and with his great engine could have killed
the angry bull. But he did not. No, he stopt
the train, and with the aid of the train crew drove
248
PEACE SUNDAY
the animal off the track. Why? Because of the
possible damage which might have been done to the
train had he run over the bull. It might have de-
railed the locomotive." When they thought about
this story, neither of the nations wanted to be the
bull and both decided to get off the track of war
and have peace.
When peace comes permanently to the world it
will be Christian peace. If the boys and girls be-
come good Christians they can, when men and women,
bring peace to the world. A story will show you
how this can be done: A missionary from Mada-
gascar writes: The Kora tribe had been converted
from heathenism to the worship of the true God.
The neighboring Sakalava people began to fight
them. It was the first time the Koras had gone to
war since their conversion to Christianity, and their
prime minister reminded them that it must be car-
ried on in a Christian manner. There must be no
needless bloodshed, no carrying off of slaves, no
stealing or like wrong things that are usually the
rule in war. A fund of money was raised that the
soldiers might honestly buy from the enemy what-
ever they might need. Children held prayer-meet-
ings and prayed for the speedy end of the war.
349
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
The Sakalava villagers were astonished at such
queer warriors. "What strange enemies are these?"
they asked; "they will not take even an egg with-
out paying for it." When the two armies faced each
other, the Kora commander asked for parley. He
explained to the opposing chief why he wished to
avoid bloodshed, if possible. The heathen chief
sneered openly, accusing him of being afraid to
fight. In reply the commander said, "What is your
price for yonder bullock?" The amount was paid,
and the general aimed his gun at the animal. "You
can't kill it at that distance," sneered the other.
The shot rang out and the bullock fell dead. "Now,"
said the Kora chief, "all of my soldiers can shoot as
well as I. What would be your chance in a battle
against us?"
"We should all be dead men," was the frank re-
ply. The parley was followed by an agreement
for peace. The heathen chief asked : "Can not some
of your men stay and teach us the religion that
makes enemies into friends?"
250
Fifty
THE SILENT YEARS
"Jesus increased in wisdom and stature." — Luke 2:52.
"QJ TUDY a tree until you see what every one
^~* else sees in it, and then study it until you see
what no one else sees in it." This is what a great
teacher said to one of his Juniors. Jesus is the Tree
of Life and the Children's Pastor wants you to
study Jesus until you see what every one else sees
in Him and then study Him until you see what
no one else sees in Him. Christmas is the best time
to begin your study. The New Testament tells us
about the life of Jesus as a little child. Then
nothing more is told us about Him until he is twelve
years of age. Then nothing more is told until He
is thirty years of age. All the other years arc
"silent years."
This twelfth year is probably the most important
year. At this age children, like little birds, climb on
the rim of the nest and try to fly. It was when
Jesus was twelve years of age that he went up with
His parents to Jerusalem, but did not start back
251
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
with them. They had a long hunt for Him. But
Joseph and Mary showed Jesus that He could do
something good and great by remaining at home.
Probably they told Him that the first great thing
for a Junior of twelve years of age was to obey
his parents. Obedience is the key to all success.
Jesus went home with His parents and did just what
they told Him. He remained at home until He was
a man ready and prepared to do something really
great.
But what about these silent years? Do you know
anything about them? Our text tells us that dur-
ing the silent years "He increased in wisdom." His
brain grew and He was able to think better and to
do things better. The second thing that He did
during these silent years was to "increase in stat-
ure." He grew to a strong, healthful man. He
grew in favor with God and man. It was also dur-
ing the silent years that He learned a trade. He
was not only spoken of in after years as the car-
penter's son, but Mark tells us that people who
heard Him preach, said, "Is not this the carpenter?"
You therefore see that we know many things about
Christ during His silent years.
I am so glad Luke told us these facts about the
252
THE SILENT YEARS
child Jesus. Real Christmas helps for Juniors. We
can not really know a great man until we know some-
thing about his childhood. When a boy, Giotto the
painter sketched on rough stones pictures of his
sheep. Nelson's boyish reply to his grandmother was,
"What is fear?" Washington as a boy wanted to go
to sea. His mother's tear was larger than the sea,
and in the boat of obedience, launched on the tear,
he sailed home again.
What next? One great fact: The child life of
Jesus was just like your life. At twelve He wanted
to do some great and good work. Nearly every
bov or girl when twelve wants to be brave and
great. The majority of Christians confest Christ
when they were twelve, or just a little older. Just
think of Jesus as being tempted and tried just as
you are. Growing just as you are growing. Open
the door of your heart and let Him in.
He will help you to make your life clean and
sweet and to live happy days and happy weeks. He
will do more than this. He will make your life so
happy that when you are a man you can go back
to your childhood and live over again those happy
days. Dr. Van Dyke has written something very
beautiful about going back to the child-life.
253
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
When to the garden of untroubled thought
I came of late, and saw the open door,
And wished again to enter, and explore
The sweet, wild ways with stainless bloom inwrought
And bowers of innocence with beauty fraught,
It seemed some purer voice must speak before
I dared to tread the garden, loved of yore,
That Eden lost unknown, and found unsought.
Then just within the gate I saw a child —
A strange child, yet to my heart most dear —
He held his hands to me, and softly smiled. . . .
"Come in," he said, "and play a while with me;
I am the little child you used to be."
You are to study the life of Christ until you
see something no one else has seen. Possibly your
father and mother have never noticed the fact that
when Christ was twelve years of age he asked a
great many questions. I am sure he has sympathy
with boyTs and girls who are scolded for asking too
many questions. Now, shall I tell you a story?
When Alexander the Great was a boy the Persian
ambassadors came to his father's court. We are
told that the boy Alexander asked them a great
many questions and that the ambassadors were in-
terested in him because his questions were very wise.
We are told that all Alexander's questions were
directed to the distance and size of their country and
the nature of their great roads and how they had
carried them up into the high countries of Asia.
254
THE SILENT YEARS
He asked about their king and about his power
and about the power their people had. He wanted
to know what their king did with his enemies when
he had conquered them in war. When you are old
enough to read Plutarch you will learn more about
Alexander's questions. Some one has written, "The
child is father to the man." Alexander the boy was
showing what he would be when he became Alexander
the Great.
255
Fifty-one
STEEL-RIMMED SPECTACLES
"And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men
unto me."— John 12:32.
A RE you thankful that your nose is just where
-** it is? Never thought of that? Just try to
imagine it some other place on your face. We
should be thankful that our nose is in the right
place. It holds our spectacles and is therefore a
friend of our eyes. Gold, silver, nickel, iron, steel;
which metal binds your eye-windows together and
holds them across your nose? Yours are steel?
Just the same as mine. We must be careful when
standing close to a powerful magnet. Why? The
magnet might draw our steel-rimmed spectacles off
our nose.
There are many magnets and we pass close to
some of them every day. "When I was a boy,"
said an old man, "I was often very idle, and used
to play during the lessons with other boys as idle as
myself. One day we were fairly caught by the
256
STEEL-RIMMED SPECTACLES
master. 'Boys,' he said, 'you must not be idle; you
must attend closely to your books. The first one
of you who sees another boy idle will please come
and tell me.'
" 'Ah,' I thought to myself, 'there is Joe Sim-
mons, whom I don't like; I'll catch him, and if I see
him lool$ off his book I'll tell the teacher.'
"It was not long until I saw Joe look off his book,
and I went up at once to tell the master.
" 'Indeed,' he said ; 'how did you know he was
idle?'
" 'I saw him,' said I.
" 'You did? And were your eyes on your book
when you saw him ?" said the teacher. 'Probably those
steel—rimmed spectacles you wear are to blame. Mis-
chief is a magnet, and it may have drawn your
eyes and nose into what was not your own business.'
When I went home I asked father to get me gold-
rimmed spectacles. When I told father why I
wanted gold instead of steel he laughed a great long
laugh. Said he had the same trouble when he was a
boy. One day he saw two boys stealing a sled and
something just drew him over to see the sled. The
bad boys broke his glasses, hurt his nose and stole
his hat."
257
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
Let us put on our thinking caps. Might there
be something which is called sin in our hearts, some-
thing like bits of steel? If so, then there may be
magnets of temptation that draw these sins and with
them draw us into bad company. Something like
steel-rimmed spectacles on our soul.
My uncle works in a mill, and oiie day a piece
of steel was thrown from a wheel and sank deep into
his eye. The doctor had a magnet and with it drew
the piece of steel out of his eye. He told uncle that
his magnet would lift four hundred pounds. It
would surely draw a steel splinter out of any part of
the body. I wonder if there is any magnet strong
enough to draw sin out of the heart.
Mother heard me laughing about steel-rimmed
spectacles on my heart, and she said there is a
magnet called the Cross, which can draw them off.
Our text says: "And I, if I be lifted up from the
earth, will draw all men unto me." When Christ
died for us He was lifted up on the cross. That
may be what mother meant when she said the Cross
was a magnet.
When we go home we will ask father or mother
who the great Magnet is that can draw us from any
part of the world to him. If He can draw us to
258
STEEL-RIMMED SPECTACLES
Him, then He will surely be able to draw steal,
and all kinds of sin, out of our hearts.
Now two minutes for a story :
It is about a mariner's compass. In it is a mag-
netic needle pointing to the north. If there is a
steel wire or nail near it the needle will not point
right. Once a sailor drove a nail near the ship's
compass and the nail caused the needle to turn from
the north. The captain thought the needle was
pointing right, but it misled him, and his ship was
wrecked on the rocks.
A very learned man decided to study the magnetic
needle and try to make it always point to the north.
For several weeks he sat and bent over the needle,
but the closer he watched it the farther it would
move from the north. He tried more than a dozen
needles and decided they were all wrong. The
needles were right, his brain was right, his nose
was all right, and his figures were correct. What
was wrong? On his nose he wore steel-rimmed spec-
tacles.
Now listen to the best kind of a secret, a secret
you can tell. Sin is a magnet and draws us away
from God. Love is a better magnet and draws us
to God. The Cross represents love, and so long as
259
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
we keep close to the Cross sin can not draw us
away.
When the woes of life o'ertake me,
Hopes deceive, and fears annoy,
Never shall the Cross forsake me;
Lo! it glows with peace and joy.
260
Fifty-two
GOLD-RIMMED SPECTACLES
"Bear ye one another's burdens." — Galatians 6:2.
DID you see that little girl? She is a great
burden-bearer. If you had a pair of the new
gold-rimmed spectacles you would be astonished to
see what she is carrying. You have not heard of
these new golden spectacles? You have heard of
the X-ray, that strange light that enables you to
see a stout man's bones and to look clear through
some people who think they know how to keep a
secret. The new eye-glasses enable us to see what
people are carrying.
The old eye-glasses were, "Set a thief to catch
a thief." If any one is a thief he is the one who
can see a thief and know all the mean things he is
doing. But there are so few mean people that it
does not pay to make these old eye-glasses. A
new eye-glass firm has been organized, and is called,
"The Junior Congregation Eye-glass Company,
261
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
Unlimited." The new eye-glasses are, "Set a bur-
den-bearer to see a burden-bearer." If a boy or
girl has learned to bear burdens for others, that
is the boy or girl who can see all who are burden-
bearers. We call them gold-rimmed because gold is
pure.
If you have these gold-rimmed spectacles you will
be able to see that little girl with burdens on both
shoulders, burdens on top of her head, burdens in
both arms. Each finger carrying a burden as large
as a big man would feel able to carry on his shoul-
ders. This little girl read in her Bible: "Bear ye
one another's burden." Then she began to ask,
"Can I bear any one's burdens?" At first she
thought that she could only carry some tiny burden
for mother. She could carry this burden and then
added to it some other person's burden. She soon
found that she was able to carry every one of them.
When she took those burdens she found that she
could run faster, skip the rope oftener, dance bet-
ter, sing better, and that her school work seemed to
be lighter.
I am going to tell you a story. Here it is:
"Bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfil the
law of Christ." Lena Graves read this in her Bible.
GOLD-RIMMED SPECTACLES
She determined to help others to bear their burdens.
In the morning, after washing her face, she put on
the new spectacles.
Before going down stairs she resolved that
through the day she would say every kind word she
could honestly utter. She began to use them at the
breakfast table. "How light these muffins are!"
she exclaimed, as she broke one open on her plate.
Mrs. Graves looked pleased. The family was apt
to be critical, and she was dreading remarks upon
the coffee, which was not quite so clear as usual.
Lena's suggestion took effect. The family tasted
the muffins, and were unanimous in their praise.
"Light as a feather," declared father. "Mother's
muffins are always good," said Will. Her mother's
pleased and brightened face was a revelation to
Lena. The talk flowed on in pleasant channels,
without the usual grumbling.
Her next opportunity came as she started for
school. Bridget was scrubbing the front steps, and
the young girl paused to say, "You did up my lace
collar beautifully, Bridget. I really believe it looks
better than when it went to the laundry."
"That's a good thing sure," answered Bridget,
with a happy smile. And as Lena vanished, for
263
CHATS WITH CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
some reason, Bridget went back and scrubbed a
corner of the upper step which she had passed over
slightingly.
After the algebra class Lena lingered for a mo-
ment at the teacher's desk to say, "That explana-
tion of yours helped me to see into this seventh ex-
ample perfectly. Thank you." The pale, dis-
couraged teacher looked up, surprised. She had a
sudden refreshed feeling, such as always came when
a bunch of violets was dropt on her desk. Not many
words of appreciation came her way, and the joy
went through the rest of the school's routine.
And so it went on through the hours of the
eventful day. At its close, Lena felt a rare happi-
ness she had never known. The next morning
mamma was delighted to find that Lena had made
her own bed and tidied up her room. Then when
mamma went to her own room she found her bed
made to a perfect spread and the dusting all done.
Mamma fainted. But she "came to," feeling better,
and has not had a sick headache for three months.
Then came a new world into Lena's vision. She
saw boys and girls, men and women, as she had never
seen them before. So many of them were carrying
burdens for other people! The old world seemed
264
GOLD-RIMMED SPECTACLES
new. The old, sad world was glad. Her new world
was not bad.
Lena was a member of "The Junior Congregation
Eye-glass Company." You could often hear her
say, "New eye-glasses for sale. Price: the life, suf-
fering and death of Christ."
265
A JUNIOR
CONGREGATION
A CHILDREN'S SERMON APPROPRIATE TO EVERY SUNDAY OF THE
YEAR, TOGETHER WITH HINTS FOR FORMING A JUNIOR
CONGREGATION
By JAMES M. FARRAR, D.D.
PMstor of the First Reformed Church, Brookljn, and Minister of the
First Organised Junior Congregation
The church-going men and women of to-day were
the church-going children of their youth. But theirs,
most likely, was a compulsory attendance. This,
however, is the Children's Age. More time, more
thought, more energy are, in this generation, given
to the study, development, and discipline of children
than has ever been attempted in any past century.
The Children's Church is being organized in con-
gregations where the children's welfare and the
church's future are close at heart. Children in such
a church love to attend, for theirs is A Junior Con-
gregation worshiping with the regular congregation,
thus forming habits of church-going in their best
habit-forming years, and acquiring a familiarity with
the church's services and ordinances that will help
them grow into sturdy church workers.
I2mt>, Cloth. $1.20, net; by mail, $1.28
FUNK y WAGNALLS COMPANY, Publishers
NEW YORK and LONDON
Little Talks to
Little People
By JAMES M. FARRAR, D.D.
Author of "The Junior Congregation," "Chats with Children
of the Church," etc. Pastor of the First Reformed
Church, Brooklyn, and Minister of the First
Organized Junior Congregation.
"Fifty-two ' sermonettes ' addressed to children
and used by the pastor as a ' curtain raiser ' preceding
the regular sermon to grown-ups. Cast in story form
appropriate to the season of the year when used, they
show a thorough psychological grasp of their peculiar
and important field. They have a wider use in book
form, as they can be put to service in places far be-
yond the reach of Dr. Farrar's voice, in the home
on Sabbath afternoon during the children's hour, in
juvenile meetings, in the Sunday-school, and indeed
wherever one comes in contact with that * miraculous
gift of God '—a child.
"The use of this volume is urged by the one who
pens this comment, for as a Sunday-school superin-
tendent and worker among boys nothing is so lamen-
table nowadays as the nonchalant ignoring on the
part of a great many parents of the religious instruc-
tion of their own children. Can any stranger teach
your child about your Father's business as you can?
This book will aid you, and will suggest many other
steps that it is your duty to take." — Westminster
Teacher, Philadelphia.
12mo, Cloth. $1.20, net; by mail, $1.30
FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY, Publishers
NEW YORK and LONDON
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