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hear." The other man by and by said sharply :
''If you'll shut the door you can hear." The
door was not shut, and he could hear, not only
the man's voice, but the street and shop noises,
too ! A great many Christians are going lean
and hungry on the way, because they do not
shut the door more frequently that shuts them
up with God,' and silences for a while the din
of worldliness. Jesus makes the shut door the
condition of peculiar blessings from God. ? Se
lected.
OLD BETHEL. CHURCH.
Near Staunton, Va.
Rev. W. W. Lewis, D. D., one of her sont
How well do I remember
The old church In the grove!
And often through its shady walks
Fond memory doth wove.
Tha name the fathers gave It,
Was "Bethel," "House of God,"
And around its holy walls it seemed
As if Jehovah trod.
On sunhright Sabbath mornings,
From far and near they came,
With hearts aglow and voices tuned,
To praise Immanuel's name.
The grave and godly elders
Seemed to us set apart;
For we had learned to look on them
As wise and pure in heart.
And when we gathered in the church
Rich voices raised anew
The same old tried and stately tunes,
Our Scottish fathers knew.
And then with grave and reverent mien
The white-haired pastor spoke
As to our waiting, hungry soula
The 'bread of life he broke.
The old church long since passed away,
But still the trees are there;
And as they rustle in the breeze,
They seem to whisper prayer.
A statelier church now crowns the hill;
And they who gather round
Are children of the worshippers.
Who made this holy ground.
Hard by the church, their slumbering du> -
The archangel's trump awaits,
To bid it rise and enter in
Through heaven's pearly gates.
Where, through the swiftly moving years.
Old Bethel's light still burns.
The heart of every far-off child
With fond affection turns.
FORGETTING OUR RESOURCES.
A little street girl was taken sick one Christ
mas- and carried to the hospital. While there
she heard the story of Jesus' coming into the
world to save us. One day the nurse came
around at the usual hour, and "Little Broom
stick" (that was her street name) held her by
the hand and whispered, "I am having a real
good times here, ever such good times ! S 'pose
I'll have to go 'way from here just as soon as
T get well; but I'll take the good time along ?
some of it, anyhow. Did you know about
Jesus being bornt"
"Yes," replied the nurse, "I know. But
you must not talk any more."
"You did? I thought you looked as if you
didn't, and I was going to tell you."
"Why, how did I look!" asked the nurse,
forgetting her orders in her curiosity.
"Oh, just like most oy folks ? kind o' glum.
I shouldn't think you'd ever look glum if you
Vnowed about Jesus bein' born." ? Christian
Evangelist.
i, * * ^ * -B!
Our Boys and Girls
THE BOY SCOUT.
He's a clever, lively fellow, with a smile and with a
will,
An' he looks just like a soldier, but he isn't trained
to kill.
A boy in size? but watch him ? in his doings he's
a man;
He's on the job and pledged to help where, when
and as he can.
Beside the school work training, he has just the
right amount
Of commonsensish learning to produce the things
that count;
His eye is peeled for action, and his hand for work
is 'bared,
An' he's marching to the music of the motto, "Be
Prepared !"
? J. H. Taylor.
DANNY'S POTATOES.
Danny Mellen 's heart beat fast as he stooped
over and carefully dug the soft earth away
from the biggest hill of potatoes in his little
garden. It seemed to Danny as if that par
ticular hill had understood that Danny had
had the measles in the spring and couldn't get
his garden planted early, it had grown so much
faster than the other hills. It had blossomed
before any of the others, ar.d the flowers had
been almost as pretty as sweet peas or roses ?
a clear, bright rose color. Gradually the
stalks had turned brown, and Danny knew the
potatoes were ready to dig. Tt was no wonder
his heart brtat fast, for he felt sure that his
potatoes would win the blue ribbon and the
fine new jaekknife that had been offered as
an extra prize to the boy who raised and ex
hibited the six largest potatoes at the Wingate
County Fair.
The only jaekknife Danny owned had but
one blade and that was rusty and broken. It
seemed to Danny as if he had never wanted
anything so much in his life as that shining
new knife with two bright blades that would
actually allow him to whittle out boats and
whistles and anything else he wanted to. He
was thinking so hard about the new knife that
he jumped when the first big, smooth potato
rolled out in front of his bare toes.
"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven."
counted Danny, excitedly. Yes, there was one
more than he needed. They were all alike,
smooth and firm, with a tinge of the same rose
color that had delighted Danny in the blos
soms showing in their russet skins.
Danny could hardly wait for the first day
of the fair to come. When it did he was up at
dawn. At last his father had Old Bess har
nessed to the big farm wagon and the family
climbed in and started to the fair. Danny sat
on the front seat, beside his father, holding
fast to the basket that contained his six pre
cious potatoes. Ahead of them was a long
procession of wagons, all bound for the fair.
Danny recognized George Hall, one of his
schoolmates, in the wagon just in front of him
and the two boys shouted a joyous greeting.
All at once, without any toot or warning,
a great, red automobile whirled around the
turn of the road, and came rushing straight at
them, like a huge, fiery dragon. Even staid
Old Bess pricked up her ears and snorted, as
she caught a glimpse of the monster. The ner
vous young colt that was drawing the wagon
in which the Halls were riding reared straight
up into the air and sprang to one side. The
wheels of the wagon went over the steep
bank, and in a moment it was overturned in
the ditch. Some of those in the wagon would
surely have been killed or badly injured if the
mud had not been so soft. Danny did his best
to wipe it from George's clothes as the farmers
all stopped their teams and came to the res
cue, but the wagon was so badly smashed and
the family so muddy that George's father de
cided to give up going to the fair and go
home.
.As Danny was about to climb back to the
high seat behind Old Bess, he suddenly gave
a big jump of surprise. There, right in front
of his toes, lay a huge brown potato. For a
moment Danny stared at it, wondering if po
tatoes grew in ditches, "It's George's," he ex
claimed, as soon as he had time to think a
moment. "He was going to try for the prize,
too."
The big brown potato was larger than any
of Danny's and another glance showed Danny
an even larger one near it. Should he look for
the others and take them to the fair, or should
he let them lie there in the mud? George
would surely win the knife if his potatoes were
taken to the fair. There was no doubt about
it. And Danny wanted that knife with all his
heart. But he knew how hard George had
toiled in the sun to raise those potatoes, how
he had hoed them and kept the weeds o\u of
his potato patch all summer long. It didn't
seem fair that he shouldn't have a chance to
win the prize after all his hard work. Slowly
Danny bent over and groped in the mud until
he found all of the potatoes.
The lady who had charge of the vegetable
department at the fair showed Danny where
he could wash George's potatoes, and helped
him arrange them on a plate. She brought an
other plate for his own potatoes and put the
two plates side by side on the long bench
where all kinds of vegetables awaited the
judges' decision.
Eagerly Danny waited for the judges to
come. He saw them walking down the aisle
at last, three tall men with little badges on
their eoats. Tucking himself hastily into a
corner, Danny watched. They stopped closc
to him.
"There are no other potatoes as large as
these," said one of them, as they looked at
George's potatoes. "They certainly are mon
sters. Put the blue ribbon on them."
A queer, hard lump rose up in Danny's
throat as he saw the broad satin ribbon with
"First Prize" printed on it in bright gold let
ters, laid on George's potatoes. He tried to
drive the lump away by thinking how sur
prised and pleased George would be when he
found out that he had won the prize.
"I wonder who brought this plate of pota
toes," said another of the judges, as he looked
at Danny's.
"I did, sir," said Danny.
To Danny's surprise, the man continued to
examine the potatoes. "Tf ay are the very
finest specimens of the Early Rose potato 1
have ever seen. I'll pay you a dollar apiece
for them for seed."
Danny gladly accepted the offer, and that
afternoon he and his father stopped at a store
near the fair grounds and bought the best jack
knife they could find, one with three instead of
two fine blades.
"My, but I'm glad I worked so hard to raise
my potatoes," exclaimed Danny, joyfully, as
he looked at his new knife, "and I'm glad I
picked up George's potatoes and carried them
to the fair for him. It'll be ever so much more
fun to whittle out things together than it
would be for me to whittle all alone." ? The
Congregationalism