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6 (544) THE
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EVER-BLOOMING ROSE.
Hy Helen Elizabeth Coolidge.
"I wish, oh dear! how hard 1 wish,
I had a garden fair;I'd
never let the weeds grow tall.
I'd water it with care;
I'd pick the lovely roses brieht
And give them all away;
I'd be a butterfly and dance
Amid the blossoms gay;?
Yet, here I live, in this old street.
And scarcely see the sky.
And 'tis so hard to do what's right,
T A ??
x uai, ULlUll, A UUU L 117.
"O little maid!" a fairy speaks,
"Your heart's a garden fair,
And grumbly thoughts are ugly weeds
That fast, are growing there;
There is a rose, well-named "Content"
That's always bright with dew.
And grows and grows more beautiful
If watered well by you; ?
With only just a patch of sky,
In some dark, narrow street.
I've seen it blooming all the year,
The sweetest of the sweet."
"I'LL PAY YOU FOR THAT!"
This little parable by an unknown author
leaches its own lesson:
A hen trod on a duck's foot. She did not
mean to do it, and it did not hurt the duck
much; but the duck said: "I'll pay you for
that!" So tlie duck flew at the old lien, but
as she did so her wings struck an old goose
who stood close by.
"I'11 pay you for that!" cried the goose,
and she flew at the duck; but as she did so,
her foot tore the fur of a cat who was just then
in the yard.
"I'll pay you for that!" cried the eat, and
she started for the goose; but as she did so,
her claw caught in the wool of a sheep.
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and she ran at the cat; but as she did so, her
foot hit the foot of a dog who lay in the sun.
"I'll pay you for that!" cried she, and she
jumped at the sheep; but as he did so, her leg
struck an old cow that stood by the gate.
"Ill pay you for that!" cried she, and she
ran at the dog; but as she did so, her horn
grazed the skin of a horse who was standing
by a tree.
"I'll pay you for that!" cried he, and he
rushed at the cow.
What a noise there was! The horse flew
at the cow, and the cow at the dog, and the
dog at the sheep, and the sheep at the cat, md
the cat at the goose, and the goose at the duck,
and the duck at the hen. What a fuss there
was! And all because the hen accidentally
stepped on the duck's toes.
"Hi! hi! What's all this?" cried the man
who had the care of them. "You may stay
here," he said to the hen; but he drove the
duck to the pond, the goof^e to the field, the
eat to the barn, the sheep to her fold, the dog
to the house, the cow to the yard, and the
horse to his stall. And so all their good times
were over because the duck would not overlook
a little hurt which was not intended.
A little explained,
A little endured,
A little forgiven,
The quarrel is cured.
?Exchange.
In the eyes of the world, the test of a man's religion
is worthy walking, right living, seven day?
of every week the year round.?Ex.
PRESBYTERIAN OF THE SC
and Girls ||
ODD CUSTOMS IN JAPAN.
The daily life of a Japanese mother is very
much like that of a Canadian mother; rising,
preparing breakfast, getting the children and
husband off to school and business, tidying
up, and preparing the other meals, welcoming
(hem back in the evening, and putting the
children to bed. The matter of performing
these various tasks may he different, but the
tasks are the same. The tables must be set,
though they use trays instead of tables. The
breakfast must he cooked, though it is rice
instead of porridge. The beds must he made,
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and covers and putting them into a
closet. Cleaning and dusting must be done,
and clothes wear out and get dirty in Japan
as at home. To wash them they must be taken
apart, and after washing are stretched on a
board to be dried and ironed at the same time.
Then, of course, they must be remade. It is
not such a hard task as it might seem, though
the needles are very poor, for the stitches are
as long as our hasting stitches; so the work
is quickly done.
The Japanese are a polite people. Their
language is full of polite terms and has no
swear words, lint why use an oath when the
omission of an honorific will show your contfiirmt.
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1'"liteness,
but not of servility. Sitting on the
floor as they do, permits of no other form of
salutation. Hand-shaking and kissing arc impossible.
It. is hard for foreigners to learn
the art of bowing, and few of us ever become
proficient.
There are no old maids in Japan. The parents,
with the help of the go-between, choose
the husband or wife for their children, and
that is all there is to it. . The bride, after the
preparation of her trousseau, goes to the home
of her groom and there is married, the real
ceremony, being the three-times-three sips of
wine. The marriage is registered by changing
the wife's place of residence from her father's
house to her husband's, and in case of divorce
her residence is merely changed back again.
.Tanan is a narartisa of V?oKiao !>!<
_ ?A ? t \/a i/uiyivOj Ulll> 111 LU19
paradise they cry. They are welcome in every
home, and often rule the whole family. There
are many superstitions connected with children.
A papier-mache doll is placed at the
head of the child's bed to ward off evil. Three
pints of rice are put on a child's back to prevent
it from walking before it is a year old,
for that portends an early death or residence
in a foreign country. The cure for prickly
heat is to hang an egg-plant by a red thread
over the door before any member of the family
has eaten any that season. For shyness, wipe
the child's face with the floor-cloth, and for
measles put the hot rice-pot over the child's
head. The school ages are from four to six
in the kindergarten; six to twelve in the pri
inary school; twelve to seventeen in high
school, and then university. The majority of
the girls finish only the primary school, but
boys go on through the high school, and many
now receive a university education.
People grow old early in Japan. Sixty is
the age limit, and should one reach three-score
years and ten he is termed "a rarity since
antiquity." lie is then in his second childhood,
and often wears red clothes, which is
the children's color. Men retire from business
as early as forty-five or fifty, and are then
) U T H. [August 11, 1915 I
taken care of by their children. Respect for
old age is a virtue of this people. I
When death does come, the screen in the
room is turned upside down, the bed-clothes
arc spread over the hodv mixi.ln .1
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sanduls are put on backwards to show that
the dead shall not return, suul a cloth is spread
over the face that the soul may not he retarded
011 its road to Hades. The funeral procession
is headed hy a guide, followed by men
with lanterns 011 poles, huge hunches of flowers,
birds in big cages to be set free at the
grave. The priests are followed by men bearlllir
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and friends. A visit is paid to the grave every
day for seven days, and every week for seven
weeks, for the spirit is supposed to be wandering
in space for forty-nine days, and the
prayers at the grave help it on its journey.
On the forty-ninth day forty-nine cakes are
sent to the temple because of the old idea that
there are forty-nine bones in the body.
This resume teaches only a very few of the
many interesting customs of this very interesting
people.?Christian Messenger.
TWO WAYS TO BE HELPED.
~ i '? ?
.?jicn a iiuv, sum a prominent member
of a church, "I was much helped by Bishop
TTamline, who visited a house where I was.
Taking me aside, the bishop said: 'When in
trouble, my boy, kneel down and ask God's
help; but never climb over the fence into the
Devil's ground and then kneel down and ask
help. Pray from God's side of the fence.' Of
that," said he, "I have thought every day of
my life since." Continuing, he remarked:
''Sanford Cobb, the missionary to Persia,
helped me in another way. Said he, 'Do you
ever feel thankful when God blesses you?'
'Always.' 'Did you ever tell Him so?' 'Well.
i tion t know that L have.' 'Well, try it, my
young friend; try it, try it. Tell Him so; tell
Him aloud; tell Him so that you will hear it
yourself.' That was a new revelation. I found
that I had only been glad, not grateful. I have
been telling llim with grateful feelings ever
since to my soul's help and comfort."?Young
Men's Era.
WHAT A BOY COSTS.
So you are twenty-one.
And you stand up clear-eyed, clear-minded, to
look all the world squarely in the face. You
are a man!
Did you ever think, son, how much it costs
to make a man out of you?
Some one has figured up the cost in money
of rearing a child. He says to bring up a young
man to legal age, care for him and educate
hi in, costs $25,000, which is a lot of money to
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I MMU I/1UUU.
But that isn't all.
You have cost your father many hard knocks
and short dinners and gray streaks in his hair;
and your mother?oh, boy, you will never
know! You have cost her days and nights of
anxiety and wrinkles in her dear face, and
heartaches and sacrifice.
Tt has been expensive to grow you; but?
If you are what we think you are, you ar*1
worth all your cost?and much, much more.
I). en* -
ixt sure or mis: wnue father does not say
much but. "Ilello, son," way down deep in his
tonsil, stauneli lieart. he thinks you are the finest
ever; and as for the little mother, she simply
cannot keep her love and pride for you out nl
her eytfs. You are a man now. *
And some time you must step into your
father's shoes. He wouldn't like you to cuh
him old, but just the same he isn't as young as
he used to be. You see, young man, he has been
working pretty hard for more than twenty
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