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6 (820) * H fir
Our Boys
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THE FIRST SINGING LESSON.
Twas in the very dead of night,
When from the myrtle tree
<^ame to my ear, so sort and cleax,
"Tewhit, tewhit, tewhee!"
I knew 'twas Mr. Mockingbird
Calling his family ?"
To ope their eyes, and exercise
Their scale of do, re, me. /'
Then Father Bird sang loudly out
"Tewhit, tewhit, tewhee!"
In such a way he seemed to say
"Now sing this just like me."
One birdkin chirped out of tune,
"Tewhit, tewhit, tewhee!"
Screamed all the rest, which means, expressed,
"You're stupid as can be!"
Then Mother Bird sang something low,
And, from what I could hear,
'I'm sure she said, "Throw back your head
And try again, my dear."
Then up and down the notes they went,
"Do re mi, do re mi."
Till, perfect quite, they sang "good night,"
In sleepy harmony.
?The Child's Hour.
ERIC AND THE "COLONEL."
Eric went slowly out into the garden. For
three long, creeping hours the sunshine, and
the birds, and the smell of the clover had been
calling, while he lay in bed and wished that
mother would come and say the words which
would show him that he was once more free
and forgiven.
"When will my little son learn self-control?"
mother said sorrowfully, as she led him
upstairs and began to unfasten the shoes from
a pair of little feet that had taken him again
out into the forbidden street and away from
home. "What shall mother do to make him
remember not to run away?"
"How would tying him up do?" came Uncle
Ben's merry voice from the next room. "I'll
drive a peg for him just as I have for the old
rooster. He runs away, too, and gets into
the next door neighbor's garden, and makes
no encj of bother. But the queer thing is that
all the little chicks love their mother so much
that they won't run away. I'm glad; for I
should hate to see the old mother hen wander
mg aDout, worried ana anxious, looking tor
them. It must be terrible trouble."
Vother did not smile, as she often did, at
what Uncle Ben said. There was a weary look
in her face that went to Eric's heart. He
hung his head in shame, and was glad when
mother went out softly and left him alone "to
think it over." He was really sorry. He had
not meant to disobey; but it was hard to keep
just where he belonged, and such a little step
over the forbidden boundary seemed to make
him forget all about his promises.
One day it had been an organ-grinder and a
monkey?oh, the cutest little monkey, with a
little red jacket; a dear little monkey that
howed, and held out his cap for pennies, and
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ably Eric walked miles that day through the
hot, dusty streets, and mother was almost sick
with anxiety.
Another time it was an unbroken colt that
went curveting by, escaped from the stables;
and every bound of its light hoofs, and toss
of its mane, and glance of its eye was an irresistible
call to Eric to follow.
To-day it was a man who sold patent medicines.
There was a chime of bells under his
cart.' His horses had red tassels on their heads,
I
PRESBYTERIAN ?F THE 80
c*nd Girls
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and he threw out little boxes of bonbons at
beguiling intervals.
Now, any one can see that these were real
tinnc iViol V*r?r1
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knew this, and was thinking of it as he went
slowly down into the garden and the sunshine
and the smell of clover.
Suddenly he stopped. There, within a few
feeet of him, was old Colonel, the rooster, tied
to a stake and tugging to be freed at sight of
Eric. Poor old Colonel! Then what uncle Ben
had said flashed across Eric: "The little
chicks love their mother too much to run away
from her, but the old rooster has to be tied up."
Eric loved his mother so! He stood looking
down at old Colonel. "Mamma," he cried,
"will you untie old Colonel, and let me have
the care of him from running away for the
rest of the day? I will take a stick to drive
him, and some corn to coax him back when I
< an. I know that if I have to keep something
from running away, it will help me to remember
how you feel; I do want to stay by you
like the little chicks."
There was a soft light in mother's eyes as
she untied old Colonel?a light which mothers
know about. It is kindled in the heart. It
shone all that long, hot afternoop as she watched
a little figure trudging about after a big
white rooster, coaxing, driving, feeding.
And glad indeed was Eric that chickens go
early to roost. It was a tired but happy little
boy that mother folded in her arms that night.
The clock struck eight as mother bent over the
flushed face to give another good-night kiss to
the brave little boy who had tried. He stirred
in his sleep and said: "The little chickens love
their mother.''?Kindergarten Review.
A TRUE BEAR STORY.
Children did you ever hear about the little
bears that came to live in Lexington, Va. 1
Think of it?real, live, wooly, hungry bears,
living right among the little boys and trirls
of our little town! If you will listen for a
while I will tell you all about them.
One Sunday afternoon in March two boys
went out for a walk on Hog Back Mountain
(which is located about three and one-half
miles from Lexington), accompanied by their
dogs?two fine hunting hounds. The boys
walked leisurely along when their attention
was attracted by the dogs baying something
in a cliff of rocks. They followed the dogs
and found what do you suppose?an old mother
bear and her four baby bears! The older
dog became so much excited that he ventured
in too near the angry mother who caught
him in her great strong arms and literally
chewed him up. The boys being unarmed were
afraid to try to capture the bears so they
returned home and told their friends and
neighbors of their discovery and e?rlv t.h#> noYt
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morning they returned to the mountains accompanied
by a lot of men and dogs and succeeded
in killing the mother bear and capturing
the four baby bears unharmed but who
were very much alive indeed.
One of the men dressed the mother bear for
market and brought it to Lexington and sold
it to the residents to eat. Did you ever eat any
bear meat? I never did and do not think I
wish to, but evidently other people are of different
taste for the man succeeded?as I have
been told, in disposing of all of the meat at
40 cents per pound- He then brought the cubs
XJ T H [July 10, 1912
to town and sold them for five dollars apiece.
One of them was bought by a neighbor of mine.
I see it quite often and such a large-headed
wooly little fellow as he is! His master sometimes
allows him to climb the trees on the lawn
and sometimes he doesn't want to come down.
One day he got loose and ran away through
the yard and seeing the hose lying in the grass
he very promptly picked it up in his little paws
and after giving it a critical examination he
put it into his mouth and began to chew it
most vigorously.
Just think of it, children, I held in my arms
one of the most ferocious animals of the kingdom,
but it was only this little fellow when he
was but two weeks old and weighed four
pounds and was very soft and cunning (altho'
he did grunt at me), but not?I, not for the
world would I touch him now for he weighs
fifty pounds, and his claws are far too long!
Annthpr nf tVin linliv lionro wao V?ir o
student of Washington and Lee University and
lives in the dormitory with his master. He
sleeps in the cellar at night but during the day
he is allowed to roam at will over the building
and quite often he perches himself in one of
the high windows, and after tiring of sightseeing
he swings himself out by one foot as if
he were going to drop. His master allows him
to go down town sometimes but Bowzer (this
is his name) is securely confined by collar and
chain and is thereby quite tractable.
Bowzer drinks sweet milk and can you guess
what he drinks it out of? A soap dish! Living
in a dormitory one can not have the conveniences
one would like so it is a soap dish
from which Bowzer partakes his nourishment.
When the dish is empty his master holds him
up by the back of the neck and re-fills the dish
and this is repeated until Bowzer has consumed
a quart of milk and is ready to go to sleep.
Children, isn't it funny to think of a bear, a
black, woolly bear at college and rooming at
the dormitory?
I wonder if he expects to get a degree.
P. S. If you would like to hear more about
the little bears tell me in your letters to the
Presbyterian.?Lex. Va.
A WILLING MIND.
BY MISS Z. I. DAVIS.
"It is work, work, all the time. 'Freddy,
fill the wood-box,' or 'Freddy, gather the
eggs,' 6r 'Split the kindling.' My arms are
so tired that I wish I could have a little rest."
Cousin Alice, who had arrived a few days
before, raised her hands in astonishment.
Then she made up such a comical face at him
that he had to laugh. Stooping down, she
started his ball across the floor, remarking,
"It does not complain, even if it was so very
busy yesterday."
Freddy laughed again at this reminder of
the ball game. It had been a strenuous day
for him and he had been on the move from
early dawn until dusk. "Playing ball never
hurts me," he exclaimed.
"How we like our own way," was his cousin's
naive remark. His cheeks flushed crimson
nriH h<? Hrnnnorl hits hoa/1
"May I tell you a story of a young man I
met in the hospital when I went there for nervous
prostration?"
"Yes," was the eager reply,* for, like all
other boys, he was fond of stories.
Just then his mother glanced through the
doorway. "There is not enough bread for supper,
and the yeast will not be ready to bake
until to-morrow. Can you go to the baker's,
son, for a loaf?"
Turning to his cousin in dismay, he exclaim