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18 THE
The Family
WHEN THE MASTER CALLS.
By ...argaret Roy Radcliffe.
If the Lord should call In the morning,
When life Is ringing with glee,
When the light is glinting with pleasure,
Will I greet his coming for me?
If 1 hear at breaking of day his voice,
Shall 1 weep in fear, or will I rejoice?
Should the message be given at noontide,
When all life is eager with power,
And beauty in richest abundance
Is crowning each short, shining hour,
Oh, will I be grieved at the Master's
voice? .
Weeping and wailing, or shall I rejoice?
If the Master comes in the evening,
When purple and gold till the west.
Will I-he found willing and ready,
And enter with joy on my rest?
Through the evening glow should I hear
his voice,
Shall this soul of mine be glad and rejoice?
What if I am called in the midnight
From the soft, folding arm of sleep;
Shall I wake in great- fear and trembling
Shall I smile at his coming or weep?
In the stillness shall I hear his voice
And rise to his coming?shall I rejoice?
Have I seen in the dawn of the morning
The lovelight in my Father's face,
And garnered his mercies at noontide,
At evening fruitions of grace?
In the midnight still heard the Master's
voice?
Then, come when he may, Oh, I shall
rejoice.
?United Presbyterian.
THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A RUBBER
BALL.
Several months ago, when I was down
in Para, near the mouth of the Amazon,
T aonr n Koll r\f i*nKhar tKo otorif nP -nrVilstV*
I am sure the boys would be glad to
hear. I am going to let the ball tell its
own story. Here it is:
'T am not city bred, so feel very much
out of place in this big city, where everything
is so different from what I am
accustomed to. My home was in the
dense forests of the upper Amazon, near
Bolivia. Some time before my story begins
men began to Invade our country
and take away all of us they could lay
their hands on. They kept getting nearer
and nearer to my home. One day a
man came and built a little house right
where I was to begin my existence?I
was not yet born?and he cleared away
the underbrush and made short trails
out In different directions. Then, under
a shed, he set two strong forked sticks
In the ground, about four feet apart,
leaving the forks about two feet above
the earth. He then cut a stick two
PRESBYTERIAN OF THE SOUT]
Inches in diameter and six feet long and
placed it in the forks he had set in the
ground. Next he took a very small
hatchet, made specially for the purpose,
and several dozens of little tin cups,
made also for this work, and started out
to get milk, i p there there are no cows,
but there are certain trees that give
milk, and most valuable trees they are,
too. To get the milk he began making
little hacks or cuts into the bark of the
trol'Q nnH cHolrJnrr o "? ? ?
ovivniuc a lime tup juai UBIUW
each cut to catch the milk as it came
out drop by drop. He went on doing
this until all the cups were used up.
Then, returning to his shanty, the man
took a bucket and began to collect the
milk from the little cups. In a short
time he came back with Ids bucket full
of the precious milk. He then gathered
up a quantity of a certain kind of fuel
that makes a tremendous smoke, but no
blaze, and made a fire right between
the two forked sticks set in the ground
and underneath the pole laid in the
forks. Over this fire he next placed a
cone-shaped sheet iron chimney about
two feet high or a little less, to make
the smoke all go just where he wished
it. When this was all ready, the man
began to turn slowly the stick in the
forks and at the same time to put the
milk, little by little, on the middle of
the stick just where the smoke was
striking it. After all the water had been
evaporated from the mlk, only pure rubber
remained. With this first operation
began my conscious existence. My story
up to this Doint was told mo hv mv
nurse, the man who brought me up.
He gave me, In the same way, that
whole bucket of milk, although I was
so small and not an hour old. By the
time I had taken that bucket of milk 1
weighed about seven pounds. I was
very healthy from the beginning. I
never suffered from indigestion, although
my daily allowance of milk was about
two and a half gallons. I had not the
least trouble with my teeth and escaped
all the diseases of childhood. I grew
very rapidly, as you can imagine. You
could actually see me growing. I added
to my weight nearly seven and a half
pounds each day. My! that smoke and
heat were something terrible. I just
could not see a thing. I tried to get my
nurse to leave that part off, but he
would not hear to it. He said that no
decent ball of rubber could be brought
up without it. I know he was right,
for I myself have seen other halls that
did not have it, or much.less than I did.
and they were spoilt almost to death.
They were simply horrid. So it seems
that if we are to be worth anything in
this world we must pass through the Are
and the smoke.
"Well, at the end of five months I was
a wonder to myself and to everybody
else. I was a real curiosity?as biground
as tall up?no such baby ball had
ever been seen In my neighborhood before.
I weighed?I am almost afraid
to tell you?1,100 pounds. You will not
be surprised when I -tell you that, up
to that time, I had drunk no less than
ti. September 29, 1909.
400 gallons of milk, which was worth
about $1,100. So you see I am a valuable
ball. I feel sure most of you boys
would like to have a few balls like me.
"My nurse received, besides his salary,
a present of $175 In recognition of
his faithfulness. When I was five months
old It was decided I should go out to
see and be seen, like all other welltrained
rubber balls. My nurse went
with me in a boat to the point where
I could take the steamer. It took us
twenty-five days to get to where the
steamer came. It was a long, tedious
trip. It seemed to me our journev would
never end. I had no idea the world
was half so big. Finally we reached
the place. I felt rather frightened when
I saw that monster, the steamer. I had
never seen nor imagined such a thing.
When our boat got alongside there was
a great stir on board. I could not make
out at first what the trouble was, but it
soon began to dawn on me that I had
caused a sensation about as great as
ihe steamer had caused me. I was the
center of attraction, and, every one was
asking every one else: 'Have you seen
the baby elephant? Have you seen
'Fatty?'
'I was sorry to have to part with my
nurse. He felt it, too, very keenly. He
had done all he could for me. He had
learned to love me almost like a son.
"Soon everything was in a bustle.
The boat was to leave at a certain hour,
and all the balls had to be hustled on
board. The notice I had attracted had
turned my head a little, and I was beginning
to look with some disdain on
other balls that were to embark also. I
soon had all that foolishness knocked
out of me. All of us were dumped,
without the least ceremony, into the
dark, damp hold of the steamer. I was
furious. I had never been used to any
such treatment. To think, too, that I had
been put in there with the common
herd! It was more than I could bear.
I gave free vent to my outraged feelings,
and many other balls Joined with me.
We made it warm down there for
awhile. However, our anger began to
wear ofT, and I felt a little ashamed of
myself for having given way so to my
feelings. I soon found that, though the
other balls were not as large as I was,
still many were Just as well trained and
a deal better behaved. I began to
realize that, while I was not responsible
for my surroundings, I was for my conduct.
I saw I ought to make the best
of the situation, so I began to try to
make everything as pleasant as Dossibie
for my companions. It Is remarkable
how many pleasant people you can find
when you are trying to be pleasant yourself.
By the time our boat was well
under way I had made the acquaintance
of a number of nice,, companionable
balls, and before we got to Para, the
end of my first 3,000 miles, we were all
muiic won acquainted, ur course, ail tne
ballB were not of the best society?not
of the 'P. P. V.' class, as we say in Virginia.
I could not make some of them
my companions, but I could treat them