Newspaper Page Text
4 (100) THE
0 ?
Family I
1 '
0
"THE TIME TO TRUST!"
"What is the time to Trust?
is it when all is calm;
"When waves the victor's palm
And life is one glad psalm
Of joy and praise?
Nay; but the time to trust
Is, when the waves beat high,
"When storm clouds fill the sky
And prayer is one long cry,
'O help and save!'
"What is the time to trust?
Ib it when friends are true?
Is it when comforts woo?
And in all we say and do
We meet but praise?
Nay; but the time to trust
18, when we stand alone,
And summer birdB have flown
And every prop is gone,
All else but God.
"What Is the time to trust?
Is it some future day.
When you have tried your way
And l amed to trust and pray
By bitter woe?
Nay, but the time to trust
Is in this moment's need
Poor broken bruised reed!
Poor troubled soul, make speed
To trust thy God.
"What is the time to trust?
Is it when hopes bent high
When sunshine gilds the sky,
And joy and ecstacy
'Till all thy heart?
Nay, but the time to trust,
Is when our joy has fled.
w iieii Burruw ui>wb ueau
And all is cold and dead,
All else but trust."?(Author unknovn..)
A HAPPY TIME FOR MOTHER DEAR.
Elizabeth is the youngest granddaughter of
a very charming little lady who is never called
"grandma," biit always "mother dear."
Mother dear was raised in an old-fashioned
farmhouse, and lived there until her husband
died then she came to town to spend the rest
of her life with Elizabeth's mother. She is
surrounded by new conditions, and while she
is very sweet and brave, there are times when
she is homesick.
Just before her last birthday, mother dear
talked wistfully to Elizabeth of old times.
"You have never seen a quilting party, such
as we had at the old farm," she said. "The
women worked all day, and in the evening,
when the quilt was finished, the men came and
* there was a big supper and maybe a sleigh ride
to end up with."
Elizabeth had this conversation in mind
when the grandchildren and children of mother
dear began to talk of a birthday celebration.
Some one suggested that they give a reception
and present mother dear with a dozen
American Beauty roses and a new set of furs.
But Elizabeth had a better plan.
' ' SI u 1 u mot I Anmn rv 4*/~v * on nisi frinnrlo
MIC JO juot iui HOI V1U II 1CIJV.ID,
she said, "and I think we ought to give her a
grandmother party."
They heard her with interest and adopted
her plan with enthusiasm.
The next day Elizabeth telephoned to a half
dozen girls. "Come over and bring your thimbles,
and some pretty scraps from summer
gowns." They came, and she told them radiantly,
"We will sew the patches for a quilt,
and the grandmothers are to have a quilting
party, hut they mustn't know it yet."
The invitations to the party were extended to
mother dear's old friends, who lived back in
the country, and to the grandmother of the
girl who sewed the patches. Three big automobiles
were sent to bring the guests to the
place of meeting. For the day, the living
room of the very modern house htd been
PRESBYTERIAN OP THE 8
?...
"leadings
transformed into an old-fashioned parlor, with
mother dear's two china dogs on the mantle
and jars of sweet peas everywhere.
Mother dear had not dreamed of the surprise
in store for her, and when s"- stored
the changed room, and saw the circle ol sweet
old faces gathered about the quilt, she almost
hroke down.
"Why, it's lovely, lovely," she cried; "who
thought of it?"
Elizabeth laughed. "It's your quilting party,"
she said, "and you must forget that you
aren't right back in the farmhouse."
Tongues and needles were busy all the morning,
and at noon the little old ladies sat down
to a lunch of hot biscuits and honey, of gingerbread
and tea and cottage cheese. It was
served on mother dear's own blue china, and
her thin teaspoons and pierced silver cake
basket gave an air of old-fashioned luxury.
Mother dear made a flushed and happy
hostess. She was radiant with the spirit of familiar
hospitality. At receptions and at formal
dinners, she had been merely a deprecatilllT
little shoflnti' 11 nna.wl ... ?.1 ? 1?1
?0 iu muucru ways, uui
here she was on her own ground, and she
poured tea and led the conversation with equal
grace and spirit.
1 he afternoon was occupied with finishing
ihe quilt, and at five o'clock the lamps were
rought in, for electricity would have spoiled
the effect ?and with the lamps came the grandfathers.
Only those who can see deep into the hearts
of the old can understand the joy of mother
dear at the reunion of friends of her own age.
i'here were men whom she had known as a
little girl, now white-haired, but still holding
on to distinctive boyish traits. The old minister
teased her just as he had teased when they
went to school together ?nH whnr. olio
0 ? ? ? iivu ouu tucnuu
her hand into the arm of an ancient judge, who
was to take her out to supper, he asked, "Do
you remember when I buried your doll, and
dug it up after dark because you cried?"
Mother dear remembered, but as the diningroom
doors were open, she found little time
to answer, for there was a chorus of delighted
exclamations as the table was revealed.
The centerpiece was of fruit, at one end was
a baked ham, and at the other a roast chicken.
These were flanked by preserves and whole
cakes?cocoanut and .chocolate, and by molds
of blanc-mange. But best of all was the steaming
oyster stew with which the meal began;
mother dear and her venerable friends had
lived in the time when to serve stewed oysters
was to prove oneself socially knowing.
There were speeches after supper and oldfashioned
songs. The quavering voices made
the hackneyed music seem full of melody, and
mother dear's high thin voice led the rest.
At the end they presented mother dear with
a memory book, in which the old folks signed
their names.
When they were all gone, the little grandmother
kissed Elizabeth.
Yet it was a very simple thing that made
mother dear happy. Just a meeting with old
mends and with old fashions.?Kansas City
Times.
The chief qualification of a guide is that he
shall know the way. The Lord never leads his
sheep over any paths which he has not traversed
himself.
J
0 U T H [ January 31, 1912
THE OHUECH IN THE 0ATA00MB3.
BY REV. E. P. MARVIN.
The catacombs were underground galletes,
excavated in the soft volcanic rock for building
purposes. They extend more than ii- e
hundred miles under and around Rome In
the early persecutions many Christians found
refuge in this "cradle of Christianity,r.ud
probably four millions were burried there. They
icu uo gioomy inscriptions oi death, but unity
thousand iuscriptions of Christian faith and
hope.
We may presume that the most reliable testimony
of the Church concerning doctrin j and
life is that nearest the apostolic times. lhcs?'
testimonies extend from the second to the sixth
centuries, and 1 will give the earlier ones. In
the later ones some errors, superstitions and
unscriptural forms crept in, but the earlier
ones are strictly orthodox. In these inscriptions
death is never represented in a gloomy
spirit, but only as a temporary sleep or rest
before the resurrection and the glory. Indeed,
the word death is not found in the catacombs.
In their persecutions and afflictions it was
thought of as a refreshing slumber.
No portraits of Christ are found until the
fourth century, and then in the catacomb of
Calixtus we find one of doubtful truthfulness,
but the one in modern use. In the earlier inscriptions
we find no worship of the virgin, but
only praiseworthy references, as '4highly exalted
among woman." No prayers are recorded
for the dead, but kindly wishes for
their welfare with the Lord, as we say, 44 May
you rest in peace."
The deity of Jesus Christ and the Trinity
are repeatedly and plainly attested. No day
but the first day, the Lord's day, was recognized
and observed as holy. No complaints of
persecutions or a hard lot are found. In spite
of all, they lived and died cheerful in the
Lord.
Nearly all their names were expressive of
Christian virtues, in Latin or Greek. Celibacy
is nowhere commended. They give testimony
against all worldly pleasures and amusements,
JlTul t'rnm wnrlHIv nnn fn rmitv nrn.
senting a contrast. They esteemed the testimony
of their lives above that of their lips.
They condemned war and refused to bear arms,
and said: "Nothing is farther from our concern
than the troubled politics of the world."
They did not try to "run the world." Their
church order and method of worship were
very simple. Their officers were elders and
deacons. They used no liturgy. They seemed
to receive little children, as Neophites, to the
church by Baptism.
As to their mode of baptism, we find sketches
of baptismal fonts, and one of John standing
in the Jordan with Christ and pouring water
on his head with a sea shell.?Herald and Presbytery.
THE WOMAN WHO PLEASES.
"She knows just how to talk to all kinds
and conditions of men" was the recommendation
given for a bright woman who makes, her
living as much by her ability to please as by,
her actual labors. Seeing that woman afterwards
and observing her closely, one could not
imii oe impressed witn tne trutn or what had
been said. She was gay with the gay, silent
when any one else wanted to talk, talkative
with the shy, always good-tenrpered, never too
animated, and never, never visibly in pain nor
n tears. She was always charming, bright,
sympathetic, and sweet. She was witty, too,
but not terribly so. She kept her wit to illumine
conversation t^xd to lighten dull spir