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G (1014) THE 1
Our Boys
THE ROCK-A-BY CHAIR.
Oh, the rock-a-by chair is a jolly old ship,
And grandma's the captain and crew,
And she sings a nice song as we start on our
trip
Though I never have heard it quite through:
But it's all about islands and rivers and things,
And the treasures and dream-people there;
And this is the song that my grandma sings
In the wonderful rock-a-by chair;
"Oh, a beautiful stream is the river of sleep,
And it Hows through the kingdom of God;
And its current is broad and its channels deep,
Vnd its shores are so fair and so placid its
sweep,
And it flows from the footstool of God,
From the fountains and footstool of God.
"There's a marvellous isle up the river so fair,
Where a clow of eternitv cleams:
And our hopes and our yearnings are realized
there,
And freedom from sorrow and surcease of care,
In the beautiful island of dreams,
In the misty mid-island of dreams.
"Oh, the faces so fair in that far-away isle;
And the treasures that never shall rust;
There are glimpses and gleams of the sweet afterwhile,
And the touch and the kiss and the vanishing
smile
Of the lips that have crumbled to dust,
Of the lips that have fallen to dust."
And this is her song, but I don't know the rest,
As I never have heard it quite all;
For 1 cuddle down close to my grandmama's
breast,
And my eyelids grow heavy and fall;
But I know that she sings about heaven and
God,
yvna ine angeis ana everyimng tnere,
As we journey away to the kingdom of Nod,
In the wonderful rock-a-by chair.
?Selected.
FELICIE.
The name had been given the little maid at
her birth, "for good luck," her father said;
for, though Felicie's father (a German artist)
was one of those men who refuse to believe in
a dear heavenly father's power, he believed in
a good many senseless superstitions. "Some
men," said Napoleon, "can believe anything
but the Bible."
Alas! Little Felicie's name, meaning "happiness,"
had not brought her the good luck her
father had hoped for. The pictures in the
artist's studio did not sell. They were good
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pictures, turn Knowing xnai ne naa put iaitniui
intelligent work on them, and that worse pictures
were daily selling better, Rudolph
Schneider'8 heart became bitter and his temper
sour.
This bitter heart and sour temper did not make
any happiness at home for Felicie or her mother,
and the scanty meals were seasoned with
the bitter herbs of anger, discontent and repining,
on the artist's part, as the years went by.
The years went by. Felicie grew into a great
stout girl, in spite of hard work and poor food,
and under the patient mother's teaching she i
was growing as the child of Nazareth did, in <
wisdom and stature, and in the grace of God. 1
"Felicie, girl, where's supper?" cried the 1
artist, angrily, coming out from the attic which <
served as his studio. "Here's dark come, and i
PRESBYTERIAN Of THE S (
and Girls
no table set. Are we so rich that we must
wait to light tapers before we feast? Come,
thou lazy oue, thou art asleep."
"No, father," answered Felicie, entering
the kitchen (which was also an attic room)
from a third chamber, small and dark, on the
opposite side, "but something strange has happened
to mother; she cannot move her foot or
her hand on one side."
It was too true; poor, overworked nature had
at last rebelled; warning after warning the
tired worker had received, but what could she
do? Only her fine needle work, wrought by
day and by night, kept even this poor shelter
over their heads, and themselves from starving.
Now her work was done forever; not her life;
she might live on many years, but only with
idle hands, and in that helplessness which iR
so hard to bear.
"Never mind, husband." said this hmp
spirit, "God will take care of us; he will provide
us with some means of support."
"If he does," said the artist bitterly, "It will
be the first thing I have ever had to thank him
for."
The poor wife was silent; she had long ago
learned that silence was less irritating than
speech nn these outbursts.
"Will he, though, mother?" asked Felicie,
anxiously, infected perhaps by the miasms of
her father's unbelief?"will God give us money
and food?"
"He will, dear heart," answered her mother,
looking up with a beautiful light in her
eyes. "Are not two sparrows sold for a
farthing, and not one of them shall fall to the
ground without your heavenly father?"
"When he does, girl," said the father, no
less bitterlv than he.fnrp t ?~ *1
? , nu?u x. occ Liiose in
mous ravens flying in with bread and meat,
you may get down my hat, I will go to pastor
Urbeck's with you, and sing praises, too."
Fortunately the thrifty mother had a liule
store of savings by her, kept against the cold
weather, when Felicie would need flannels ami
shoes. It must be doled out now, day by day
for bread.
"Go, Felicie," she said, on the morrow,
'' with the broidered sash to the good American
lady; it is quite done, thank God! I grew so
strangely weary over it that I had almost
put it from me, but I struggled on and it is
done. She will give thee the silver; one does
not even need to ask her for payment. And
tell her, dear one, why thy mother returns the
kerchie unwrought."
Felicie drew a little faded shawl over her
head and shoulders, not so much for warmth as
to h A tVlP SHion+inooo -1 - 11
ui iicr cioiinng, and sot
out on the streets of Heidelberg, to seek the
boarding place of the American lady, whom she
had never seen. The place was easily found,
and the lady was in her sitting room with i.er
son, a student at the great university, and
two young daughters.
Kind Mrs. McCrumb understood very imperfectly
Felicie's rapid speech, but the young
student's blue eyes grew moist at the simple recital
of so sad a tale, and it lost none of its
pathos as he translated it for his mother and
sisters. Their hearts were stirred with pity,
and in making payment for the work
_ _ _ ? ?"V iauj
offered Felicie double the stipluated sum. But
the little maid refused the charity with an air
that was quite high-bred. Even then Mrs. McDrum
would have pressed it upon her, but her
jon interfered.
) 0 1 H [ October 25, 1911
"Mother! mother!" he cried, with not a little
vexation in his tone, "why will you try to demoralize
the child? Isn't her high tone worth
more to her than ten times the amount of your
paltry dollars?"
"It depends upon whether she has had any
breakfast," answered his mother with spirit.
"You think,then, that man must live by bread
alone? You used to teach me a different les
son in the bible catechism."
Meantime, Felicie, listening to these heated
words and not understanding one of them,
was retreating in some trepidation, when the
student addressed her with grave courtesy:
"You will need to seek other work, Fraulein,
since your mother can no longer embroider;
perhaps you can take her place?"
"No, Herr Makoom" (Felicie's tongue
found the unknown name hard to manage), "I
cannot do such work, but I am strong?oh, as a
little ox!?and I can clean house so that you
could eat off the floor."
"I have no doubt of it," he said, with a
genuine smile, "but I am afraid we cannot
help you with housecleaning. Have you
thought of anything else?"
^TTnri* Prrvfnoonr ooi/1 T?nK/?i/v ?
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fidential eagerness (she did not think this
could be one of those noisy university fellows),
"If I had a washing board and baskets and
soap, I could get washing to do; there is a good
soul who lives on our street, who gets much
washing, much; she sometimes pays me for
helping, and she would get me customers. But,
ah," sighing, "these things cost money at the
start, and I have none?none!"
But there was nothing in the child's frank,
modest air to suggest that she was asking
for money or would take it; the student had no
thought of offering her charity. "Suppose,"
he said, in a business-like tone, "I buy these
things for you, and you pay for them by doing
my washing?"
Ah, what happiness! Felicie was too much
overjoyed for words. She arave him arood Fran
Heise's address, and he promised to make a barpain
with her for a washboard, not too heavy,
to he carried on Felicie's head to the river.
He meant to make another bargain, of which
he said nothing; namely, that the old woman
should watch over the little maid and protect
her at her work.
Ah, mutter!" cried Felicie, bursting into the
garret room like a bright breeze, "it is as you
said, the heavenly father has given this little
sparrow a chance for crumbs," and she laughed
at her own fancy.
If the mother's heart quailed at the prospect
of letting Felicie go out to such work she was
made thankful the next day by a visit from the
American lady, who explained to her that
Frau Heise had promised to watch over the little
maid at her work as if she was her own
daughter. Then came a proposal that Felicie
should come an hour each day and talk German
with the lady's two daughters, for which
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?- Ruuiu uc wen jmin.
"The solemn professor frightens them out
of their wits," said Mrs. McCrum, smiling, and
so far from learning to chatter in German, they
cannot think of a thing to say."
So now little Felicie was carrying the family
on her strong young shoulders, and the morose
artist found his beer and bread ready for him
as usual, little dreaming that it was Felicie who
furnished it, by working hour after hour at the
Neekhar's brink.
Ah, what a privilege it is to make happiness!
Tki- !- *1.- *
...is i? Lne one luxury we may lawfully envy
the rich, for, if they choose to see it, they have
wide chances in this line. Those two fair
American girls, living at ease, sheltered, petted,