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fi (54) T H E P
Our Boys
A NEW MULTIPLICATION TABLE.
"Oh, I'm going to have such a good time this
aiiernoonr cneu Jiyra, as sue danced tnroug.'i
the room where her Aunt Rachel was at work.
"It is so lovely to be out of school at last,
Auntie!" she went on. "So good to be done
with lessons, and to think only of having
a good time!"
"I hope you are not leaving all your lessons
behind you, dear," said Aunt Rachel, with a
smile at the lighthearted lassie.
"Every one of them. Not to give them a
thought until vacation is over. But," turning
at the door with an inquiring look, "do you
mean that I ought to keep up my lessons, auntie?
Mother thinks that, as I had a good deal
of headache the last few weeks, I had better
not use my eyes much."
"She is right, dear. I was only thinking that
if you could multiply your good times a little?"
"The very thing I'm going to do all these
weeks. Trust me for that!"
"That is right, dear. Take the multiplication
table into your pleasures."
"But do you mean study it? You are puzzling,
auntie. But you often are, and then 1
find you always mean something."
"Puzzle it out, my bird. If you multiply
Wpi 1 - VOll will finrl it n rinli vnnntinn T mnon
just that?hold on to the multiplication table.
You will he surprised to find liow easy it is,
and how very delightful."
Later in the day, Myra came again, her face
this time more thoughtful, but not less happy.
"I've thought it out, auntie?yes, and
worked it."
"And, does it work well, my dearie?"
"Oh, so well! Though," with a grave shake
of the head, "I had to tackle it pretty hard t3
make out what you could be meaning. Multiply?multiply
pleasures. That seemed easy at
first. Just to keep on the lookout for all the
pleasures T could possibly pet hold of. That
is what I had planned for the whole vacation.
"Then T hepan to think it couldn't he that,
or you wouldn't have said what you did. So
T had to try it some other way. And T hit it.
More pleasure?multiply, multiply? hut not
all for me. The only other way was to get
more folks into it."
The chatterer stopped to look inquiringly at
Aunt Rachel, hut the latter only smiled and
nodded for her to go on.
"T had ten cents to spend for candy. I was
going to take my dolls out into the prove, and
eat it there. And I had the new 'St. Nicholas.'
and I was going to read it. If nny of the girls
were with me, they would expect some of the
candy, you see. and T couldn't have a nice,
quiet time with the 'St. Nicholas.' "
"I see yon had laid out a very nice afternoon
f if J f ?
Tor yourseir, aenr.
"Yes. Well, as T went for the candy, I met
the Crane girls. They had walked clear out
our way to try to find some wild flowers, and
asked me if I knew where they were. They
' live in a fiat, you know, and don't often get.
out so far. T had gone up the hill for columbine
and mandrakes, only yesterday, and T
^i/^n fool tvinoli lilrn rrnin o ?o In litif ow
'nun i. 'rri unit f;unif5 n^nin, uut
looked so prlad and so anxious when T tried to
tell them where they were, that T said I'd <?o.
and we had such a jolly time, that was a real
fonr times one. wasn't itt"
"Tt really was."
"When we came back, Jane called me to the
RESBYTERIAN OF THE 801
?(1 i
and Girls i
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? ?'I
kitchen and said, 'I see you have company, so
you will want some cookies.' So with those
and the candy we had a regular little feast. ^
Then Delia Crane read one of the 'St. Nichoy
}
las' stories. That was "keeping on with the r
four times, you see, and don't you think I ^
might call it a little bit of a multiplication?
just soy about two times one?"
"Oh, yes, my dear little girl," and Aunt J
Rachel put a tender arm about Myra, "for you
are certainly learning the new multiplication
table!"?Sydney Dayre, in Young Christian s
Soldier.
I
DICKEN S LETTER TO HIS SON.
When Charles Dickon's son left England to '
go to Australia, whence he never returned, until
many years had passed, his father wrote: ^
"I write this note to-day because your going
away is much upon my mind, and because ^
I want you to have a few parting words from
me, to think of now and then at quiet times.
I need not tell you that I love you dearly, and
am very, very sorry in my heart to part with J
you. But this life is half made up of part- (
ings, and these pains must be borne. It is mv '
comfort and my sincere conviction that you are 1
going to try the life for which you are best
fitted. I think its freedom and wildness more
suited to you than any experiment in a study f
or office would have been; and without that
training you could have followed no other ani- '
table occupation. "What you have always
X%7 q r? f L? 1
uuiii uu?v nus oeen a set, steady, constant
purpose. I therefore exhort you to persevere
in a thorough determination to do whatever
you have to do as well as you can do it. T
was not so old as you are now when 1 first
had to win my food, and to do it out of this
determination; and I have never slackened in
it since. Never take a mean advantage of anyone
in any transaction, and never be hard upon
people who are in your power., Try to do to
others as you would have them to do to you.
and do not be discouraged if they fail sometimes
It ie '-~4 *? ?
.o ...nt.t ucuer mr you tnat they '
should fail in obeying the greatest rule laid
down by our Saviour than that you should.
T put a New Testament among your hooks for
the very same reason and with the very same 1
hopes that made me write an easy account of
it for you when you were a little child. Be
cause it is the best Book that ever was or will
be known in the world; and because it teaches 1
you the best lessons by which any human creature
who tries tn hn *
v? uiuiui 21 iiu milium to
duty can possibly be guided. As your brothers
have gone away, one by one, 1 have written
to each such words as I am now writing to 1
you, and have entreated them all to guide them- ^
selves by this Book, putting aside the interpre- (
tations and inventions of man. You will re- }
member that you have never at home been '
harassed about religious observances or mere
formalities. I have always been anxious not to ^
weary my children with such things before '
they are old enough to form opinions respect- {
ing them. You will therefore understand the 1
better that I now most solemnly impress upon
you the truth and benntv nf ru.-:*.*:
j ? - v. uiiiiauau Ifligion
as it came from Christ himself, and the
impossibility of your going far wrong if you i
humbly but heartily respect it. Only one thing i
more on this head. The more we are in earnest y
as to feeling it, the less we are disposed to hold "
forth about it. Never abandon the wholesome ?
practice of saying your own private prayers. |
[J T H I .January 22, 1913
light and morning. 1 have never abandoned
t myself, and I know the comfort of it. I
lope you will always be able to say in after
ife that you had a kind father. You cannot
ihow your affection for him so well, or make
iim so happy, as by doing your duty."
ASTT?nTjni\/rv vnp vottwo vatvq
Perhaps you know that there are always two
dnds of stars in the heavens, stars that twinde
and stars that do not, says an astronomer,
rhose that twinkle are suns like our own sun,
>ut they arc so far off that they do not give us
iny heat and very little light. Those that do
lot twinkle are called planets, and are worlds
ike our own earth. They do not shine by their
iwn light, but simply reflect the light of the
11M l' 11 r>4- nw !*<* J
urn, juot (IS 11IU UIUU11 UUl'S.
The stars tliat twinkle never change their
:>ositions, although they rise and set like the
sun and moon, but the planets are in a different
alace every night. Perhaps you know the
lames of the planets, Venus, Saturn, Mars,
Jupiter and others. All the biggest and
brightest stars also have names, and there are
:ertain groups of stars that are called constelations,
and have a name for the group as well
is for each star in it.
Every boy and girl should know something
i. X1 X - IV * "
luuui iiie stars, so mat ne can call the brightest
mes by name, and say good evening to.theni
low and then, because no matter where von
nay live or how old you may get to be, you
vill always find the same stars winking at
fou from the same place in the sky at the
same time of the year.
The stars are not always in the same place
ill the year round, but they never change their
positions to each other, as the planets do, and
hat is why we call them the fixed stars. Thev
ire always at exactly the same place at the
mme time, of the year.
The first group of stars that every one should
tie able to find is called the "Rig Bear, which is
uade up of seven bright stars, and always appears
in the northern shy. The two stars 011
the outer side of the dipper are called the
Pointers, because they always point to the
Morth Star. Before the compass was invented,
this was the only guide that sailors had to
?teor by at night, and many a poor traveler on
land who has lost his way has been glad that
ie knew how to find the North Star.
The Big Bear can he seen all the year round
in this part of the world, hut it is not always
the same side up, for Mr. Bear sometimes
stands on his head and sits on his tail, and does
ill kinds of stunts. Next May he will he uplide
down, and the North Star will he below it.
nstead of above it, as now, but the Pointers
tvill still point to it.
This group of stars is not called by the
same name in all countries. The ancient Egyptians
called it the Hippopotamus, because there
vere no bears in Egypt. The North American
Indians always called it the Polar Bear, while
>ther people called it David's Car, the "Wagon,
ind even the Snail. Tn England, it is always
'ailed the Plow.
All the big groups of stars have been named
rum nungs tnnt people thought they looked
ike. and that is why Americans think thie
rroup looks more like a dipper than either a
>ear or a pillow.?Presbyterian.
MAKING FRIENDS OF THE BIRDS.
Living as we do in northern New England.
/?_ * " ~
,ve nnn mucn enjoyment, through the winters,
n making companions of the chickadees,
writes a contributor to the ''Rural New
Worker." At first we tied marrow bones and
met in the trees near the house, with no
-honght but to attract the birds and to help
1