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18 TH1
The Family
A LOVE SONG.
By Henry Van Dyke.
I envy every flower that blows
Beside the pathway where she goes,
And every bird that sings to her,
And every breeze that brings to her
The fragrance of the rose.
I envy every poet's rhyme
That moves her heart at eventime,
And every tree that wears for her
Its brightest bloom, and bears for her
The fruitage of its prime.
I envy every Southern night
That paves her path with moonbeams
white,
And silvers all the leaves for her.
And in their shadow weaves for her
A dream of dear delight.
1 envy none whose love requires
Of her a gift, a task that tires:
I only long to live to her,
I only ask to give to her
All that her heart desires.
?The Century Magazine for March.
THE STRATEGY OF GREAT GRANDMA.
"Well," said Great Grandma, breathlessly,
"go on."
"Let me see," began Lisbeth, thinking
a little.
Lisbeth was a little slender girl of fourteen
or fifteen, with thick braids of auburn
hair and thoughtful brown eyes.
She was very fond of Great Grandma, and
Great Grandma was very fond of her.
She was telling Great Grandmja just now
about the missionary from India she had
heard at the church the day before. The
generations that lay between the two did
not Interfere in the least with their affection.
The slender little girl went to
see the white-haired, bent old lady every
day, telling her all her plans and what
she had been doing. Great Grandma did
the same. Even her daughter, grayhaired
and portly now, or her granddaughter,
pretty, plump Mrs. Abbott, were
not the comfort and delight to her that
Lisbeth was.
All at once Lisbeth exclaimed enthusiastically,
"Why, Great Grandma, this is
the very prettiest quilt you ever made.
What pattern is it?"
~ "It's a grape vine pattern," returned
Great Grandma a trifle absently. "Yes,
it is pretty, but go oft. What did the
missionary look like?"
"She was pretty," said Lisbeth, enthusiastically.
"She had gray eyes and her
complexion was a little tanned, for It's
awful hot over in India, and she's been
there fourteen years; but she had the
sweetest smile and the loveliest teeth,
and she was dressed just like the women
dress over there, to show us. Red waist
and skirt, a kind of drapery fastened on
her head, moccasins on her feet, beads
and tinsel around her neck and on her
arms"?
"Poor heathen!" exclaimed Great
Grandma, compassionately.
"She said, too," went on Lisbetb, "that
S PRESBYTERIAN OF THE SOU
it only takes three cents a day to feed
a person in India, and that ten cents will
do, oh, such a lot! She said she had awful
hard work to get money to come over
here, because all she earned she put in
her mission school, but some kind lady
who knew how she felt about it gave her
the money for her passage. She said she
knew that American people were good
and generous, and that if we knew about
starvintr Tnrlla WO wonU A ?J Ai
o ..v nuum ueijj. nuu men
she went on to tell about it. Oh! Great
Grandma, it was awful, the things they
do over there, and they think it is all
right, and the only thing that will stop it
is Christianity. Those little Hindu wives
of ten and twelve are so pitiable, and
if they happen to be widows, why every
one looks upon them as 'accursed,' and
they are made terrible slaves of. She
says sometimes they will find at the gates
of the mission school a poor little wife,
so beaten and abused she can not stand,
left there by a cruel husband or mother
ui uiumct-m-iaw 10 aie. Ana me missionaries
take her and heal her."
"It's a grand work," said Great Grandma,
thoughtfully. "I've always wanted
to do something for missions."
"Lisbeth," she said suddenly, "what
would you think if I gave this quilt to
missions? When people know it was
made by an old woman of ninety-four,
don't you think some one would buy it?"
"I am sure of it," replied Lisbeth,
promptly.
"Well, now, what I want you to do is
to take It over to the mission circle right
after school. It meets this afternoon at
Mrs. Grant's. Don't you tell your mother
or your grandma a word about It. It's
just between you and me. I want the
circle to sell it, and every cent it brings
shall go to the missionary."
Lisbeth took the quilt up in all the
glory of its innumerable stitches so beautifully
executed, its crimson grapes, its
green leaves.
"It's awful pretty, Great Grandma," she
said again, "but won't Mother care? I
heard her say she was to have this quilt."
"I never said so," replied Great Grand
AVl-1 ?
uia, iiunni;. XI DU? IU1UKS HDe 8 gOlDg
to get it, I expect your Grandma told her.
This is going to be set aside as Samuel
waB, to the Ix>rd. I've never done the
good I wanted to, and it would be a sight
of comfort to me to feel that before I
fold my handa tn my last sleep, I did
something 'pleasing unto him.' "
"Then I think you ought to do it," returned
Llsbeth, promptly. "Right after
school I'll come after the quilt."
Great Grandma lived with her daughter,
Mrs. Abigail Humphreys. Mrs. Abigail
was past sixty herself, but like
hiubkh ui oiu, ner eye was noi aimmed,
nor her natural force abated. She still
ruled over her household with the same
capable hand she had manifested hi her*
younger days. She had a great faculty
of getting work out of everybody, and
Great Grandma at ninety-four was not
permitted to eat the bread of idleness,
even if she had wanted to, which she
didn't. But she did get a little weary of
Abigail's planning for the spare hours. It
TH. October 13, 1909.
was "Mother, patch this, darn this, or fix
that," all the time.
Just then Mrs. Abigail came in.
"Why, Mother," she exclaimed, "your
quilt is done, I see! It is by far the
prettiest one you ever made. I am glad
Dora is to have it. How pleased she will
be!"
But Great Grandma dd not reply. She
was industriously clipping off the loose
threads, and in a minute or two her
daughter went away.
True to her word, promptly after school
Lisbeth called for the quilt. Mrs. Abigail
was out, but Great Grandma was sitting'
in her rocking chair waiting. "I've got
it all ready, Lisbeth," she said joyously.
"Now you take it over to the circle just as
fast as you can. You give it to the president
yourself, and tell her I said I wanted
them to sell it and give what it brings
to missions. It won't probably be a great
deal, but it's all I've got that I can give."
Lisbeth obeyed. She burst into the
circle then in session with the large
bundle.
"Great Grandma has sent you a quilt,"
she began, "and she wants you to sell it
and give the money to missions. She
says she always wanted to do something
more than she has done and she thought
she would give you this. I told her what
the missionary over at the church said
and she wanted to hear every word. She
made me tell some of it over again."
A sweet-faced lady sitting next the
president smiled at the eager, browneyed
girl.
"How old is your Great Grandma?"
she asked.
"Ninety-four," said Liabeth.
"Ninety-four and she is able still to do
such beautiful work! I call that quilt
wonderful."
The strange lady had taken up the
quilt and was studying it The circle
had all gathered around it, too. Lisbeth
1 rv/\lr a /I ? * * ~ * ~
iuuhcu ai iu? Hirauge may admiringly.
She looked . so sweet and stately and
good. All at once the lady spoke.
"I'll give fifty dollars for this quilt,"
she said quietly. "It is a most exquisite
piece of hand work. I have a room at
home that I keep all such treasures in?
and you say she Is ninety-four?"
A few minutes later Lisbeth burst into
Great Grandma's room. .
"It's gone, Great Grandma," she said
breathlessly. "A rich lady visiting the
Parkers took it and she gave, oh, Great
Grandma, what do you think? she gave?
fifty dollars. She said it was just wonderful
you could do such beautiful work
at ninety-four. And the circle is so
pleased. Just as soon as she bought it
the ladies all took out their pocket-books
?nd rolood tsn dnllo?o '
>v? uuimio uuic, suiue in era
cried, too. And they're gong to send It
right over to India."
"Praise the Lord!" saM Great Grandma,
reverently.
At that moment Mrs. Abagail opened
the door. "Mother," she began, "I want
to get the quilt. Dora has come for it "
Lisbeth flushed half-guiltiy, but Great
Grandma looked up quite calm and with a
new dignity.