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6 (1012) tai.l
Our Boys
DO NOT FORGET TO PRAY.
Lines to a Child.
There's much in life to make you happy, dear;
So much of comfort, and so much of cheer.
Amid these joys be mindful of your blessing,
Remember Him who gives you all that's worth
possessing;
And read His Holy Word, by night and day,
And ask His help to teach you how to pray.
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When ttlLpted from the path of right to stray
Into some road that seemis a pleasant way?
If doubt of right or wrong your soul annoy,
Or thoughts of evil would your peace destroy,
Remember then His guidance true to ask,
Though sweet the pleasure, or though hard the task.
Life is not all you know a sunny road;
The shadows fall, and many a heavy load
Of sorrow lies ahead along the stage
From golden youth to silver-headed age.
When hopes are gone, when friends unfaithful prove.
His book will teach you that our "God is love."
And in the future, near or far away,
Some one, some time, will come and softly say,
"Your mother's dead." And 'then you will recall
These words I write, and as your tears fall,
(For you will miss me), then your heart will say.
"She begged me never to forget to pray."
Blaokstone. Va. ?Rosa T. H. Gray.
THE GUARDIAN ANGEL.
"Of course everyone has guardian angels!"
Baid Polly Hastings, looking about her as if
defying anyone to contradict her; but the little
group of boys and girls were willing to agree
with her?all excepting Billy Brown.
"How do you know we have 'em?" he demanded,
pushing his way forward and standing,
hands in pockets, before her. "Did you ever
see 'em?"
"Course not. No one ever did. tsut l Know
there are such things, because my mother says
so," replied Polly, valiantly.
Billy sniffed scornfully, and shrugged his
small shoulders with a careless air. "What are
they for, anyway?" he asked.
Polly was amazed at such ignorance. "Why,
to take care of you, of course. You ought to
be ashamed not to know that, Billy Brown!
They watch over you and keep you from coming
to any hafra," she explained.
"Humph! Girls may have 'em, but boys
don't," declared Billy. "Boys don't need anyone
to take care of them. They can do it for
themselves."
"You'd better not talk like that, Billy
Brown, or you may be sorry !'' said Polly, waruingly.
"If your guardian angel should go away
and leave you because you don't believe there's
any such thing, you'd be in a nice fix!"
"Pooh! how could they know whether I believe
in 'em or not?" he asked.
"Oh, they know everything," answered Polly,
quickly. "They can see you wherever you
are, and they know when you 're in trouble, and
all about you."
Billy shook his head, for he was hard to convince.
"How many of 'em do you have?" he
asked, aouotiuiiy.
"Only one for each child," replied Polly,
knowingly. "There are so many children on the
earth I guess there wouldn't be enough angels
to go around if each child had more than one."
"Well, T just tell you I don't believe there's
any such thing!" said Billy, defiantly, and he
walked away, leaving the children staring at
' each other in horrified silence. It seemed such
a dreadfully rash thing to say!
'KfiJJHYTKKlAW OF Ttlfi SO
and Girls
It happened that a day or two later Billy's
mother sent him over to Mrs. Jordan's house on
the other side of the town to carry a little basket
of jellies and dainties to Mrs. Jordan's sister,
who was sick.
"Hurry, Billy, and bfe sure you come right
lmcK," his mother said. "I am sure it is going
to snow, but if vou don't stOD 011 the wav
you will have plenty of time to get back before
dark."
So Billy took the basket and started off,
whistling gaily, and wondering if Mrs. Jordan
would have any more of that delicious gingerbread
on hand. Then he began to think of
the fun he would have if it did snow again.
He and Bobby Morton were building a doublerunner,
and they hoped to hnve it finished in
time for the next snowfall.
He had to pass Bobby's house on his way,
and he decided that he had better stop in just
for a minute, and see how the coaster was getting
along. "It won't take me a minute to
take a peep at her," he thought to himself.
But Bobby had a great deal to tell him, and
they were so interested that they forgot to notice
the time, and it was already growing dusk
when Billy left the house.
"Jolly! it'8 begun to snow already!" he
shouted back over his shoulder to Bobby, waving
his cap in delight. But he saw that he
would have to hurry now if he wished to get
home before dark.
Mrs. Jordan made him sit down beside her
cozy fire, and warm his hands while she took
the jars from the basket, and then brought him
a big piece of smoking-hot gingerbread.
"I guess we're going to have another storm,"
she said, bustling back and forth.
I suppose you had to come around by the
Main Road, didn't you? I hear the River Road
is not safe now since the ice did so much damage
to the bridge. They say the whole bridge
may come down any moment. I hope you boys
don't go near it."
"Oh, I guess the bridge is all right, Mrs.
Jordan," answered Billy, taking big bites out
of the gingerbread. "And, anyway, we fellows
can look after ourselves all right, you know."
"I wouldn't take any risks, though," she
answered. "And now I impsfi vnnM
starting back; it's quite dark outside. Tell your
mother we're very thankful for the goodies,
and I'm glad she's got such a manly little son.''
As he plunged out into the storm, Billy wished
he had brought the lantern with him. It
was so dark he could scarcely see, and the keen
wind drove the snow into his eyes, and made
his cheeks sting. He tried to whistle, but the
wind took his breath away, and he had all he
could do to push along against it.
"It's a good thing I'm not a girl, or mother
would be worried," he thought to himself, and
tried to walk faster, but he was going right
around and walked backward for a time, so
that he should not have the wind in his face,
but it was so dark now that he was afraid he
would fall, so he had to face about once more.
"Guess we'll have plenty of snow for the
coaster to-morrow." he thought h?r\r?ilv
7 ? ??y "-rfv > W11VA
was thinking what a jolly time they would
have coasting down Miller's Hill after school,
when he stumbled over something and almost
fell.
What could it bet He stooped down and felt
it with his hands. Why, it was the stump of
a tree! That was strange, for he knew that
0 T ft [September 4, 1912
there were no tree stumps anywhere along the
Main Road. He must have missed his way for
a moment. Turning sharply to the right, he
hurried on, but to his surprise he kept running
into trees, and stumbling over other stumps
that bruised his shoulders and knees, and scraped
his face uncomfortably. He did not understand
it at all. Where could he bet
There were plenty of trees on the western
side of the town, but he could not be way over
there! That was the direction of the River
Road, but he had been walking along the Main
Road! If only it were not so pitchy dark, and
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could not tell which way he was going now,
for every minute he grew more and more confused.
What would his mother think? He
must hurry, or she would be dreadfully worried.
He tried walking first to the right and
then to the left, then forward and then backward,
but still there seemed to be no end to
the trees, and there was no sign of the road.
It was growing colder every minute, and the
snow fell faster and faster, but Billy struggled
bravely along, expecting every minute to reach
the familiar road again. Then, all of a sudden,
he heard a queer sound. A rushing roaring
sound it was, that seemed from the darkness
just in front of him. It must be the river. Then
he was in the West Woods! But now he knew
about where he was, for, if he could find his
way to the River Road, he was safe? So he
set out in the direction of the sound as fast
as he could go, and very soon he stumbled into
the well-known road.
"Whew! I'm glad!" he said to himself as
he plodded along, and before long his foot
1_ A ii _ _ n ? iv i I
sirucK againsr ine wooa worn 91 ine Driage,
and he started quickly across. Half way over
he stopped abruptly and listened again. There
was something odd about the sound of the river.
It seemed so very loud?and near! It must
have risen very high to roar and dash against
the supports of the bridge like that. Billy
could feel the whole structure shake and tremble.
He began to walk more slowly, wishing
it were not quite so dark. He would have liked
to see the tumbling waters, as they rushed along
full of ice and driftwood.
Suddenly he seemed to step off into the air,
and found himself falling down, down into the
darkness! With quick instinct he flung out his
arms and hv nhannp nancrht. nnn nf tVio cwnv
^ w-w w* w?V
ing wooden supports of the bridge, and there
he clung with all his might until his breath
came back to him, and he managed to swing
up his legs and curl them about the support.
He was dreadfully frightened, for he did not
know what minute he might lose his hold and
drop down into the river; but he was a brave
boy, and he knew that he must try to keep his
hold until daylight came.
His hands were numb with cold, and his head
felt dizzy, but he began to think about a great
many different things, and then he remember*
ed what Polly Hastings had said about guardian
angels. Could it be true that there were
such thingsT If there were, why hadn't they
kept him from falling through the broken
nriaget wnat was it rouy naa saicn ne remembered
every word! "If your guardian angel
should go away and leave you because you
don't believe there's any such thing, you'd be
in a nice fix!" Could that be what happened
now? Billy's heart dropped like lead, and a
lump rose in his throat. Tt was lonely there
in the dark, with the water so near Polly had
said that, no matter where you were, ths
guardian angels, could see you, and they always
knew when you were in trouble. Could they