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10 THE PRESBYTERIAI
For the Children
BLUE MONDAY.
Look a-here, Mary Ann,
You stop your complainin';
I know it's a-rainin'
As hard as it can,
But what are von ganin'?
Is 't th' Lord you are trainin'?
Well?he ain't explainin
His reasons to man!
Look a-here, EJinmy Lou,
I know it's a Monday,
But in six days comes Sunday;
So quit bein' blue.
You'd think, by the whiniu',
There warn't no bright linin'.
Wasn't yesterday shinin'?
Ain't Zeb courtin' you?
Life's chock full o' Sundays
To make up for Mondays.
Emmy Lou?Mary Ann,
Jes' you smile while you can.
?Jean Dwight Franklin, in Harper's.
A SILVER BIT OF "JESUS* MONEY."
Beth had a shinv silver dime. She had never had
quite so much before, all at one time. She had spent
this in her mind a dozen times, in a dozen different
. ways, but still the silver piece lay wrapper in tissue paper
in a small box at home. "Come and go with me to
the Loyal Temperance Legion meeting." said Beth's
small neighbor, Nell, and Beth went, for the first time.
When she went in she saw a queer picture on the
blackboard. A tall column of barrels reached from the
top to the bottom of the board, and the barrels were
marked "Wine," "Beer," "Whisky," "Rum," several
of each kind. Then there was a long pipe, not as high
as the stack of barrels, and next to that a column filled
with sticks of candy and candy boxes. This was not
nearly as high as either of the others. Then, beside
these columns was a very short column indeed, oh, so
very short, as it stood beside the others that reached
so high. Above this was written, "Jesus' Money."
Beth wondered what it could all mean, but she was
soon to find out. After the bright songs and other
opening exercises, Miss Lee. the leader, explained
everything. This is what she said: "Children, do you
see how much higher this pile of barrels is than any
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drink than for anything else written down here. Every
year over a billion dollars in this country goes for what
will hurt people, making them weak, wretched, poor
and unloving, so that they even forget those they
ought to care for and help. And next comes tobacco,
which is another poison and does no good to apyone,
but harm. Then comes the money spent for candy.
It is not nearly as much as is spent for drink and tobacco,
for you see this column is ever so much shorter.
It is not wicked to buy and eat candy, but isn't it a pity
to spend over a hundred millions of dollars for it?"
"Yes," cried the children in chorus, though they all
loved candy, you may depend.
"Rut here," said Miss Lee, pointing to the wee col
* OF THE SOUTH. October 20, 1909.
umn, "is what stands for the money given to Jesus to
help the world- If all the money were in piles, the
whiskey money would be this big one and the money
given to Jesus this little one. Oh, isn't that a pitv?
Let me tell you how an old Indian woman gave to
Jesus. She was very poor outside, but she was rich
inside, for she had great love for Jesus in her heart.
One day she came to the teacher with her basket on her
arm. She had been to the store to buy things to eat.
She stood before the teacher, fumbling at the corner
of her blanket that was in a hard knot. By and by she
got the knot untied and drew out a sliver quarter.
'This is Jesus' money,' she said, holding it out. 'I not
spend; I keep fast for Him.' The teacher looked at the
few little things in the basket and at the silver 'Jesus'
money' and could hardly keep back the tears. Did not
the poor Indian love much?''
The children did not answer, but their faces expressed
what they thought. After a moment, Miss
Lee went on. "How are we going to make these tallest
columns smaller and this little one longer? Rvery
child can help. Xext week we will take an offering to
help the temperance work that is trying to pull down
the whisky barrels and show a better way to spend
lUOnev than fnramr lri?a ~: 11 <T '
j ? -.v ui ii is jesus money
that I shall ask for; money that you want to give to
Him to do good with and help people to give up the
poison. Jesus loves His work, and loves you, and so
gives you a chance to do something. Earn or save
what you can and bring the 'Jesus' Money' next week."
The next week Beth was there again. In the offering
was a shiny dime which had no mark on that anybody
could see. But Jesus puts His mark on what is
given to Him, and sees what 110 one else does. Then
He uses the love money, sending it on beautiful errands.
Isn't that enough??Julia H. Johnson, in The
Union Signal.
THE FIGURE THAT LIED.
By E. W. Frentz.
Roy Marshall had been in school nearly three years,
and almost all the time he liked it. It was fun to read
and write, and geography was easy. But the number
work was not like the other studies. It was a gdod
deal harder, and he had to work longer at his lessons.
Peter Greenwood, who sat just in front of him, got on
much better than Roy did in the number work, and
this made Roy unhappy, for always before, in the reading,
and writing and other things, he had kept ahead
of Peter. Roy could not see how it was that Peter
could add up long columns of figures and multiply and
divide, and always get the right answer, when he
himself worked just as hard, and even harder, and
4 _ -
vsiicii j;ui a wrong answer.
One day the teacher, looking over Roy's shoulder at
his paper, pointed out a mistake he had made, and
said, ^is she turned away, "Remember, Roy, figures do
not lie."
It seemed a funny thing to say, and Roy thought
about it a good deal. Figures must be very good if
they always told the truth. He wondered if it was easy
for them. He tried always to tell the truth himself,
but sometimes it was not easy. Once or twice he had