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1 VI 111V VI1I1IU1 Vll
THE LITTLE SPARROW.
I am only a tiny sparrow,
A bird of low degree;
My life is of little value,
But the dear Lord cares for me.
i nave no Darn or siorenouse,
I neither sow nor reap;
God gives me a sparrow's portion,
But never a seed to keep.
if my meal is sometimes scanty,
Close picking makes it sweet;
I nave always enough to feed me,
And life is more than meat.
I know there are many sparows.
All over the world thev are found:
But our heavenly Father knoweth
When one of us falls to the ground.
Thougn small, we are never iorgotten;
Though weak, we are never afraid;
For we know the dear Lord keepeth
The life of the creatures he made.
I fly to the thickest forest,
I light on many a spray;
I have no chart nor compass.
But I never lose my way.
And I fold my wings at twilight,
Wherever I happen to be;
For the Father is always watching,
?And no harm will come to me.
?Our Four-looted Friends.
THE BIGGEST MAN.
"Who was the biggest man you ever saw?" asked
Johnny of Uncle John. Uncle John had sailed ever so
many times around the world, and seen wonderful
things.
"The biggest man 1 ever saw was in the Society Islands."
said Uncle Tohn. stroking his white heard. "It
was on my first voyage, Johnny, and I was ready to be
surprised at anything. But Tamatoa?that was the
islander's name?was the most astonishing person I
have ever seen from that day to this. Me was six feet
eleven inches tall?a real, true giant, and the king of
the island."
"Did he wear a rrnft-n ?" *aid Tnhnnv
"No," said Uncle John. "He didn't need to. You
could pick him out for the king wherever, he went, for
lie was head and shoulders above the rest and he was
the strongest and'cleverest of them all. Before the
missionaries came, Tamatoa had been actually worshiped
and had sacrifices offered to him, because the
people thought he was greater than any man could he,
and so he must he a god. They did not know anything
about the true God, anyway, but worshiped
idols."
"Was Tamatoa kind to the people?" asked Johnny.
"Sometimes he was a good enough king," said Uncle
John. "But the trouble with Tamatoa was that he
drank. He bought liquor from the trading vessels that
came to the islands, and when he was drunk he was a
terrible creature. He would seize a club or a spear
N OF THE SOUTH. October 6, 1909.
and run out and strike down the first person he saw.
Once he did not have a spear handy, so he struck a
man in the face with his big fist, instead. He hit so
hard that he made the man blind; but Tamatoa's own
forefinger was so smashed up that it had to be taken
oflf."
"Wasn't everybody afraid of such a giant?" said
Johnny, feeling glad he didn't live in the Society Islands.
"Yes, indeed," said Uncle John. "But something
wonderful happened. Tamatoa heard the missionaries
preach, and he became converted. He threw away his
idols, and refused to let the people worship him as a
god. He came and sat in the missionary school and
learned to read the Bible. He stood up before all the
islanders and said he wanted to be a Christian ; and on
the day he joined the church he nmmicpH
liquor again as long as he lived. There-is a kind of intoxicating
drink the islanders make from the hava-root
of which Tamatoa was very fond. He promised never to
touch that, either, and he kept his word. He never
again tasted intoxicating drink, and instead of heing a
terror to everybody, he was kind and good."
"Weren't his people glad when he stopped drinking
and was a Christian?" asked Johnny.
"Thev werf nlMepfl " coirl t T^ 1 ^ < .i? .
?j ? j JWIU uiiiic ju11, iiicii nnjsL
of them stopped drinking, too. Tamatoa set such a
good example that the whole island tried to follow it.
In fifteen years the missionary counted only two
drunken persons, where before there had been many.
Tamatoa became a true king, you see, leading his people
to do right and follow Jesus. If he had not turned,
away from liquor, he would have ruined his own soul,
and other people's, too. I always think of Tamatoa
when I go to a temperance meeting."?Child's Hour.
MIRABEL'S GIFT.
Grandma was going to have a birthday, and Mirabel
cu. i?i t?
uiMiMug. one nctu ner cmn proppea Dy her two
plump fists, and her elbows rested on her knees. Her
fair little forehead was all in a pucker, and between
her eyes were two straight up-and-down lines which
brought the brows very close together, quite after the
fashion of grown folks when they think unpleasant
thoughts.
Mirabel unclasped one fat fist, and anxiously regarded
the two pennies it contained. She counted them
slowly and carefully. Then she turned them over, and
counted them again. Two pennies were so very few.
The only thing she could think of that mamma ever
bought for two cents was a cake of yeast, and of course
a cake of yeast wouldn't do for grandma's birthday.
"I'll just have to tell her that I* love her," thought
Mirabel, sadly. "That's all that I can do. Mamma
says that even when people know we love them, they
like to be told about it. I'll spend my two cents for a
postage stamp." So she asked Aunt Dora to help her
with the spelling.
When her birthday came, the oostman hmnorht
grandma a-little* letter that made her ^ipe her eyesseveral
times before she could see to read it all.
"Dear Grandma," it said, "I love you ever so much
?bushels and bushels. I wanted to send you some%
.thing nice for your birthday, but I only had two cents.
They wouldn't buy anything nice enough for my