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28 THE
The Family
THE USE OF FLOWERS.
God might have made the earth bring
forth
Enough for great and small,
"The oak tree and the cedar tree,
Without a flower at all.
We might have had enough, enough,
XT' ? "
r ?ji every warn, oi OUTS,
For luxury, medicine, and toil
And yet have had no flowers.
Then wherefore, wherefore were they
made,
All dyed with rainbow light,
All fashioned with supremest grace,
Upspringing day and night?
Springing in valleys green and low,
And on the mountains high,
And in the silent wilderness
Where no man passes by?
Our outward life requires them not?
Then wherefore had they birth??
To minister delight to man,
To beautify the earth;
To comfort man?to whisper hope,
Wh pno'or hie foith io AI tv?
For who so careth for the flowers
Will care much more for him!
THE COWARD.
Among the other girls, strong, steadynerved
young creatures who could play
tennis all the afternoon and dance gaily
through recreation hour in the evening
after it, who were afraid of nothing that
walked, ran or crawled, and emerged from
private Interviews, known to be uncomplimentary
in nature, with careless serenity
and unconcern?among girls like
these delicate lttile Peggy Carew, who
was afraid of cows, blanched at the sight
of a grass-snake, and trembled if a teacher
frowned at her, was held in a sort of
contemptuous alTection.
TU/v ?1~ 1 ? *?
* iic Birio iu?ea reggy wunout question
?people always did. But it was a pity
she was such a little coward. Most of
all, Peggy's roommate, "Tony" Vanderwater,
felt the humiliation of it, and
worked unceasingly to teach Peggy how
to brace up. Peggy?who adored Tony?
would acknowledge her cowardice and
promise to try; but the sight of* a spider
In the corner of the room would shake all
the color from her lips.
Then Harriet Davenport appeared and
at once became the rage. Principal and
teachers discussed the case anxiously, but
mere seemed nothing to do. Her influence
was bad, but so long as it declared
itself by a subtle lowering of the whole
moral tone of the school rather than by
any definite acts, there was nothing to do
Kllf malf
Meantime, Harriet's authority grew
steadily. Not all the girls liked her, but
they all feared her clever sarcasm, and
even the best of them, dreading her
laughter, shrank from openly opposing
her.
Then came the night of her "spread."
There had been spreads before, but never
one like Harriet's. Last of all, she produced
two bottles of champagne. The
girls glanced at each other. They did not
like it, yet as Harriet was hostess, and
PRESBYTERIAN OF THE SOUTE
after the treat she had given them?and
of course it was just for once?
That was when the thunderbolt fell.
Peggy Carew, white-faced and trembling,
looked straight at Harriet.
"I can't, Harriet. I care more for my
father than any one in the world?and he
trusts nie."
Instantly Tony was standing beside her.
"Count me out, too, Harriet. I'm with
Peggy," she declared.
And then in a rush the others followed;
it was a virtual stampede?not all Harriet's
mockery could recall them. In a
moment her kingdom had collapsed.
Up in their room Tony hugged Peggy
ecstatically. "And I called you a coward!"
she cried. "O Peggy, I'll never forgive
myself!"
"But I am!" Peggy renlied. in amaze
ment.
"YOU'RE A BRICK."
?
Some time ago I heard the following
address to the young people at the church
I usually attend, and thinking it would interest
other boys and girls, who had not
the opportunity of hearing it, I asked the
minister to write it out. This he was
good enough to do, and here it is:
"My text for you this morning is not
to be found in your Bible, though I dare
say you have all heard it before. The
other day I heard some one say to a boy
who had done a kind and manly deed,
'Herbert, you're a brick!' and that's mv
text?'You're a brick!' 'Oh,' you will say,
'that's slang, and we must not use slang!'
Well, I think you will agree with me when
I have finished that this, if it is slang,
will not do you any harm at all.
"I am going to tell you where this
phrase came from. It was used a very
long time ago by a Spartan king, whose
name was Agesilaus. We are told that
there visited him an ambassador from another
part of Greece, and the king showed
him the wonders of Sparta. Now, this
ambassador had heard how great and
mighty a man the king was, and he expected
to see the towns surrounded by
great high walls and towers to keep off
the attacks of the enemy. And he found
none at all. So he said to the king: 'Oh,
king, I have visited the towns over
you rule, and though I have looked, yet
have I seen no walls to defend them
against an enemy. I am amazed.' 'Why,'
said the king, 'you have not looked carefully
enough, Sir Ambassador; come
again tomorrow morning, and I will show
you the walls of Sparta.' And the ambassador
went away more surprised than
ever, and was very curious the next morning
when he returned to meet the king.
"Then the king led him out down the
plains, where his army was drawn up in
full battle array, with their spears and
their shields shining in the sunlight.
Pointing to the battle lines, he said
proudly to the ambassador: 'There, sir,
thou beholdest the walls of Sparta?ten
thousand men, and every man a brick!'?
o?oijr uiau a. untit?every man loyal and
true, ready to defend his country and
fight for his king.
"And so my text is, 'You're a brick,'
and I say it to every boy and girl here. I
want you each to be a 'brick,' to be loyal
and brave, and true?not to the king of
Sparta, but to the King of kings, to God
?fighting for him and defending his ?
name. You remember when Jesus came
[. January 6, 1909.
to earth, men expected him to build a
great throne and to establish himself as
King of the Jews. But Jesus said: 'No, I
.will not build a throne, nor a city of
bricks or stone. My kingdom is made up
of men and women, boys and girls, and I
will reign in their hearts. My kingdom
is within you." Jesus relies on every boy
and girl to defend his cause, to be loyal
to his kingdom, to be his walls of defense.
"I want you, then, to take this text
away with you, and when any one says to
you, because of some kind deed you have
done, 'You're a brick,' remember that you
really are; for Jesus has chosen you to
be loyal and true to his cause, and to his
kingdom. Every kind word, good deed,
loving thought; every battle against sin,
temper, disobedience?all these will
please your King and win for you a
crown of eternal life."?The Australian
Christian World.
TWO WAYS OF GETTING UP.
When we tumble out of the right side of
the bed,
How bright the sun shines overhead!
How good our breakfast tastes?and, O!
How happily to school we go!
And o'er the day what peace is shed?
When we tumble out of the right side of
the bed!
Wnen we tumble out of the wrong side of
the bed,
How dusky the sky frowns overhead!
HOW dull our lessons hero KfAco
mothers,
How perfectly horrid our sisters and
brothers!
(And they all say, too, it's our fault, Instead!)
When we tumble out of the wrong side
of the bed. ?The Outlook.
THE GREATEST GIVING.
Imperial giving is not measured by the
purse but by the heart. Some men have
gained a reputation in the world by the
magnitude of their gifts. They are commonly
spoken of as "great givers." But
who says so? The greatest giving upon
wnicn we nave tne Divine mind is that
of a woman who gave two mites. It is
time that churches especially came to
their senses in this matter of estimating
gifts. For the great work of the world
and the Kingdom is not going to be done
by a few huge gifts, each tagged with the
giver's name, but by the steady, systematic
offerings, out of grateful, humble
hearts, from a host of faithful people. It
is not in the power of the richest man on
earth to pay the bills of organized Christianity
for a single year.?W. T. Ellis.
WHEN JESUS IS WITH US.
When Jesus sits in the ship everything
is in its right place. The cargo is in the
hold, not in the cabin. Cares and gains,
fears and losses, yesterday's failure and
today's success do not thrust themselves
in between us and his presence. The
heart cleaves to him. "Goodness and
mercy shall follow me," said the psalmist.
Alas, when the goodness and mercy come
before us, and our blessings shut Jesus
from view! Here is the blessed order?
the Lord ever first, I following him, his
goodness and mercy following me.?Mark
Guy Pearse.