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U (514) THE I
Our Boys
THE SEASON'S LOVES.
"Who loves the trees best?
"I." said the Snrine.
"Their leaves so beautiful
To them I bring."
Who loves the trees best?
"I," Summer said.
'TI give them blossoms,
White, yellow, red."
Who loves the trees best?
"I,"' said Fall.
"I give luscious fruits,
Bright tints to all."
Who loves the trees best?
"I love them best,"
Harsh Winter answered,
"I give them rest."?Exchange.
A CHILD'S DREAM OF A STAR.
There was once a child, and he strolled
about a good deal, and thought of a number
of things. He had a sister, who was a child
too, and Ins constant companion, tnese two
used to wonder all day long. They wondered
at the beauty of the flowers; they wondered at
the height and blueness of the sky; they wondered
at the depth of the bright water; they
wondered at the goodness and the power of
God, who made the lovely world.
They used to say to one another, sometimes,
"Suppose all the children upon earth were to
die, would the flowers and the water and the
sky be sorry?" They believed they would be
sorry. For, said they, the buds are the children
of the flowers, and the little playful
streams, that gambol down the hill-sides, are
the children of the water; and the smallest
bright specks, playing at hide-and-seek in the
sky all night, must surely be the children of
the stars; and they would all be grieved to
see their playmates, the children of men, no
more.
There was one clear, shining star, that used
to come out in the sky before the rest, near *
the church spire, above the graves. It was
larger ana more Deautiiul, tney tnougnt, tnan
all the others, and every night they watched
for it, standing hand in hand at a window.
Whoever saw it first, cried out, "I see the
star!" And often they cried out both together,
knowing so well when it would rise,
and where. So they grew to be such friends
with it, that, before lying down in their beds,
they always looked once again, to bid it good
night; and when they were turning round
to sleep, they used to say, "God bless the
star!"
But while she was still verv vouner?O.
very, very young?the sister drooped, and
came to be so weak that she could no longer
stand in the window at night; and then the
child looked sadly out by himself, and, when
he saw the star, turned round and said to the
patient, pale face on the bed, "I see the star!"
and then a smile would come on the face, and
a little, weak voice used to say, "God bless
my brother and the star!"
And so the time came?all too soon?when
the child looked out alone, and when there
was no face on the bed: and when there was
a little grave amon^ the graves, not there before;
and when the star made long rays down
toward him, as he saw it through his tears.
Now, these rays were so bright, and they
seemed to /nake such a shining way from earth
to heaven, that when the child went to his
solitary bed, he dreamed about the star; and
he dreamed that, lying where he was, he saw
'
PRESBYTERIAN OF THE S <
and Girls
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a train of people taken up that sparkling road
I 1_ ?_ J iL .1 ! -? J
uy uugeis. Aiiu me star, opening, suowyu
liiin a great world of light, where many more
such angels waited to receive them.
All these angels, who were waiting, turned
their beaming eyes upon the people who were
carried up into the star; and some came out
from the long rows in which they stood, and
fell upon the people's necks, and kissed them
tenderly, and went away with them down
avenues of light, and were so happy in their
company, that, lying in his bed, he wept for
joy.
But there were many angels who did not
go with them, and among them one he knew.
The patient face that once had lain upon the
bed was glorified and radiant; but his heart
found out his sister among all the host.
His sister's angel lingered near the entrance
of the star, and said to the leader among those
who had brought the people thither, "Is my
brother come?"
And he said, "No."
She was turning hopefully away, when the
child stretched out his arms, and cried, "O
sister, I am here! Take me!" And then she
turned her beaming eyes upon him, and it was
night; and the star was shining into the room,
making long rays down toward him as he saw
it through his tears.
From that hour forth, the child looked out
upon the star as on the home he was to go to,
when his time should come; and he thought he
did not belong to the earth alone, but to the
star too, because of his sister's angel gone
before.
There was a baby born to be a brother to
the child; and while he was so little that he
never yet had spoken a word, he stretched
his tiny form out on his bed, and died.
Again the child dreamed of the opened star,
and of the company of angels, and the train of
people, and the rows of angels, with their
beaming eyes all turned upon those people's
faces.
Said his sister's angel to the leader, "Is my
brother come?"
And he said, "Not that one, but another."
As the child beheld his brother's angel in
her arms, he cried, "O sister, I am here! Take
me!" And she turned and smiled upon him,
and the star was shining.
He grew to be a young man, and was busy
at his books, when an old -servant came to
him, and said, "Thy mother is no more. I
bring her blessing on her darling son."
Again at night he saw the star, and all that
former company. Said his sister's angel to
the leader, "Is my brother come?"
And he said, "Thy mother!"
A mighty cry of joy went forth through all
the star, because the mother was re-united to
her two children. And he stretched out his
arms, and cried. "O mother, sister and brother,
T am here! Tabe me!" And they answered
him, "Not yet." And the star waa shining.
He crew to be a man whose hair was turn.
ing (fray, and he was sitting in his chair by the
fireside, heavy with grief, and with his face
bedewed with tears, when the star opened
once again.
Said his sister's angel to the leader, "Ts my
brother come?"
And he said, "Nay, but his maiden daughter."
And the man who had been the child saw
3UTH [ May 8, 1912
his daughter, newly lost to him, a celestial
creature among those three, and he said, "My
daughter's head is on my sister's bosom, and
her arm is round my mother's neck, and at
her feet there is the baby of old time, and I
can bear the parting from her, God be
praised!" And the star was shining.
Thus the child came to be an old man. and
his once smooth face was wrinkled, and his
steps were slow and feeble, and his back was
bent. And one night, as he lay upon his bed,
his children standing round, he cried, as he
had cried so long ago, "I see the star!"
They whispered to one another, "He is dying."
And he said, "1 ara. My age is falling from
me like a garment, and I move toward the
star as a child. And 0, my Father, now I
thank thee that it has so often opened to receive
those dear ones who await me!"
?Dickens.
HOW PAPA CAME HOME.
"ATnmn ie nano Vrnmo?"
"No, darling; try and go to sleep. Papa will
be here soon, I hope," came from the young
mother's lips.
"Why does papa stay away so late? Is he
busy?" questions the little girl from the tiny
bedroom.
"I don't know," after a pause; "I am afraid
papa has forgotten us and our little home."
"Doesn't papa love us any more, mamma
dear?" Elsie's tone was imperative.
"Oh, dear, I suppose papa loves us,?but, oh!
why is he so changed?" was the involuntary cry.
"Where is papa, mamma dear?"
"Over at Joe Mason's place, I think, dearie,
but go to sleep now."
Silence fell in the little home; an hour passed,
two, three; the fire burned lower in the open
grate, and the lamp flickered dismally. The still
coolness that foretells the borderland of midnight,
caused the young wife to shiver and lay
aside her sewing, then she arose with a sigh. The
supper so carefully prepared was spoiled long
ago, and she must now get her sleep, else how
could she care for her baby?
"John will scarcely be here now before one
o'clock," she said to herself, as she opened the
cottage door and looked down the lighted street.
A tall man was stumbling along the road carrying
something in his arms. She closed the door
and went into her sitting room to watch the approaching
figure from behind the window curtains.
As it came nearer a startled cry burst
from her lips; then she ran out of the house,
down the garden path, and through the sagging
gate. "John, John! is that you?" she cried as
she seized him by the arm and steadied his sliding
form.
"Elizabeth," said the now rapidly sobering
man, as they entered the cottage, "how came
you to send the baby to fetch me?"
"Elsie fetch you? I send her? What do you
mean? Let me have her, John; you will let her
rail."
"Never again, Elizabeth! My arms will be a
safe place for her hereafter. She is fast asleep
now; she was so tired."
"But, John, I put her to bed. I cannot see
how?I do not understand."
"I was drinking with Joe Lollard, when T
heard my baby calling, 'papa, pnpa! Don't you
love mamma and Elsie any more?" Then she
cried as if her heart was broken. Joe Lollard,
he said?"
J:j L. _i? >n .t. ?\-?A
nut umi iie say, uonnT ' rjiizaDem asacu
anxiously, as she took the sleeping child from her
father, to lay her in her tiny bed.
"Joe said, 'Take the little un home.' If ^
had a missus and a little un like that, I'd stay
to hum."