Newspaper Page Text
February 24, igog. THE PRESBYTERIi
pillar snugly wrapped up in his home-made blanket
fastened tightly to the glass. So he stood the glass
against the wall 011 the mantel in his room and there
it stayed all winter.
But one day in April a strange thing happened.
Madge had just gotten out of bed when she heard
t t 1 ? T?,i* 11: 1 ~ ~ ?nt, tvt ? j
UJIIUIU Itu Utl 11UI11 Ills IUU1U. V-/II, lUdU^C,
come here as quickly as you can." So she ran just
as she was in her little white nightie. And there, on
Uncle Ted's mantel, was a lovely butterfly.
"Oh, Uncle Ted, how did it get here? Did it fly in
your window?"
"No, dear! It crept out of its winter blanket."
And then Uncle Ted showed her the cocoon, as he
called tne DianKet wincii the caterpillar had made. There
was a hole at one end, and out of that the ugly green
worm, now changed into a fairy-like insect, had crept
to spend its second summer floating in the air and
sipping sweets from flowers.?McCall's Magazine.
TOGGLES BORROWS A BIRTHDAY.
When he had said "good-by" to them, he came back
into the house. The sitting-room was all in confusion,
for there they had played blind man's buff; in the diningrnrun
urlmVn flint? lii/l Oitnn 4-1-*^. xl I
will, HUViV Hivjr 11UU vaiv.ll SU^V.1, DIUUU lilt VlldllCd Mill
upon the table, and. the seven candles all ranged around
the plate which held the birthday cake; in the bedroom
were the presents, and as Toggles thought of all that long
and happy day, there came into his throat a strange feeling.
"Grandpa," he said, "were you ever so happy that
you couldn't talk about it?"
"Yes," answered grandpa.
"Then you know," said Toggles. "Why, grandpa,
if God should say to me right now, 'Toggles, what could
I do to make you gladder yet?' all I could say would be,
'Let me have it again, another day.' But a boy never
has but one seven-year-old birthday, does he?"
"No."
"And never any kind of birthday but only once a
year, does he?"
"Not usually."
"Not usually! Why, he doesn't?does he, grandpa?
How could he?"
"He might borrow one," suggested grandpa.
1 t, ? ! I
Iiu^ica laugucu muuu.
"How could he do that, grandpa?"
"Well, I knew a boy once who had a lot of fireworks,
but when the Fourth of July came, he was sick, and so
he gave them to some other boys to shoot off."
> Toggles smiled, for he remembered, too.
"And if a boy had a birthday he couldn't use, or
didn't know how to use, it seems to me he might give it
to another boy to celebrate."
"I believe," said Toggles, "that would be almost as
much fun as your really own birthday."
"I think so, too," answered grandpa; "and if you
want me to, when I go to town tomorrow, 111 see if I
. can find anybody who will loan you a birthday."
OF THE SOUTH. *5
So next afternoon, when grandpa drove back from
town, the first question Toggles asked was:
"Did you find a boy who would loan me his birthday?"
"No," answered grandpa; "but I found a girl."
Somehow a girl's birthday had not been just what
Toggles had expected.
"She wasn't a little girl," grandpa went on; "she's
eighteen, but you couldn't really call her quite grown up;
she hasn't learned to talk yet."
"When does it come?" asked Toggles; for it seemed
uuogeincr nopeiess to try to understand about a girl
eighteen years old who hadn't learned to talk.
"To-morrow. We'll have to hurry to get ready. I
suppose we ought to have a cake."
"Surely."
"Well, I bought the eighteen candles."
"That custard with the white on top was verygood,"
suggested Toggles.
"We will ask grandma about that," said grandpa;
and so they went inside.
Early next afternoon they started for town, they two
alone together in the buggy, with the big box which held
the things. Just where they were to go was a secret, so
Toggles asked no questions; but he was surprised when
they stopped at ?he big schoolhouse.
There were only four children in the room they entered,
and all, grandpa told him, were deaf; not one ot
them could hear as he could. At first he watched them
at their regular school work, and wondered to find them
learning to say words, some of them quite plainly. He
wondered, too, at the way they understood, for their .
eyes did their hearing, and by the motion of their teacher's
lips they could tell what she said. Toggles talked
with them, too, and saw the things they had made?the
pictures, and baskets, and notebooks.
Afterward, when school was over, they lighted the
candles, and the girl who had loaned Toggles her birthday,
cut the cake, and passed it first to them and thento
the others. After the cake, they had nuts and candy
and the custard with the white on top, and everything
was passed by the girl who had loaned Toggles her
birthday.
When they had finished eating, they played drop the
handkerchief, and before they had begun to think that
it was time, the father of one of the little deaf girls had
come to take her home.
"Grandpa," said Toggles, as they were driving back,,
"that's a good school. Why, the teacher told me that
that birthday girl was just wild at first, and when they
went to see if she would come to school, she ran and hid
under the bed. But now she seems to be quite a nice girl.
It ^as very kind of her to loan me her birthday. I had
a good time. Didn't you?"
"Yes," answred grandpa, "and I think she did, too."
?S. S. Times.
Jacob's ladder has its foot where rests the head of any
trusting disciple, in every clime, under every sky; its top
is in the light that always shines undimmed?the heavenlyglories.
4