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THE YOUNG SOUTHERNER
Bud and Yellow-Leaf.
I sit beneath a spreading tree,
And life is sweet as life can be,
For all things seem made just for me.
A brooklet ripples at my feet,
And seems the flowers and ferns to greet
With tender love-words low and sweet.
I sit and sing by the brooklet’s rim;
A song bird perches on a limb
And softly trills his answering hymn.
Sweet bird and bee and butterfly
And all things low and all things high,
Each with the other seems to vie,
To make the w’orld so fair and bright ;
So full of joy, so full of light
That banished now is every blight.
So sang a maiden long ago,
Just “where the brook and river meet,”
And love was young and life was sweet,
And treasures rare lay at her feet.
But now a woman old and gray,
Hears neither brooklet, bird nor bee,
Nor sits beneath the spreading tree,
For sorrow’s night has chased away
The glorious radiance of the day
That ever comes with love and May.
L. T. H.
The following extract from the Ohio State Jour
nal contains words of truth and soberness and they
are applicable to the girls of today as well as to the
boys, for what is said of the boys’ character build
ing is equally true of that of the girls’.
The future welfare of our country depends as
much on the true womanliness of our women as on
the manliness of our men and both of these depend
upon the principles that are being instilled in the
boys and girls and the virtues they are acquiring:
“The fruits of the present awakening of con
science in politics, business and society will be gath
ered, if gathered at all, some years from now, when
the boys, now entering manhood, are in charge of
affairs. The great question, how they will acquit
themselves, depends very much upon the character
they are making and the ideas they are acquiring
now.
It is going to take courage, clear thinking, moral
purpose, and a serious view of duty, to turn this
incipient revolt against the corruptions, depravities,
oppressions, and vices of the day, into a realization
of a pure and upright social and public life. That
will be the duty of the boy of today. Is he getting
ready for it? Are the home, the school, the social
status, preparing him for the splendid task?
Better than any crisis of history, will it be ten
years from now’, for heroism to exert itself. The
boys who are now equipping themselves for the
splendid ordeal, will shine in the doing of such
deeds and the making o's great names. It will re
quire nerve, and conscience, and clear-thinking.
Now is the time for the boy to take his training in
these things.
He need not abandon his boyhood instincts, or
disappear from the red letter days of youth, but
amid it all, he should cultivate a love of truth, of
justice, of temperance, of unselfishness, of self-re
liance. There is nothing so beautiful in this world
as a boyhood of courage and principle. It is some
thng to tie to and hope for. Let there be fun, and
bright brows, and happy hearts, but deeper than
them all, let there be cultivated an impulse toward
righteousness and duty,
We speak for the future; for the good of human
ity that is to be, and for the man upon whom that
good will depend, which is the boy today- Some-
Conducted by Louise Threete Hodges.
times there is a cause to fear, that the trend is not
the best—that society is so frivolous, homes so deso
late, parents so foolish, and schools so insipid that
the boy may not pass through it all safely and come
out his very best. There is the risk, and it is great
er than we are apt to concede. But it reveals a
duty to go as far as possible, in home, society,
school, and street to implant the heroic virtues in
the hearts of the youth.
With Correspondents.
Dear Editor:—l wonder if any of your young
correspondents are interested in collecting curios.
I am beginning a collection but haven’t secured
very many yet. It is very interesting, though,
when once you begin. You are always on the look
out for anything that’s odd. When I get a few
more things I am going to have a cabinet so as to
keep them from injury. I have a. few coins, some
Indian trinkets, a panther’s tooth that my uncle
sent me, and some other things. If any of your
other readers have begun collections I wish they
would tell us about them in the Young Southerner.
I read the letters every week -with a great deal of
interest. When I read the letters I feel like I
would like to know the writers. I always draw a
picture in my mind of how each one looks.
I expect to visit my aunt and cousins in Bruns
wick next month and hope to go over to the beach
and gather some shells. If I find any very odd or
beautiful ones I shall keep them in my curio collec
tion. Sincerely yours,
Elizabeth Paul.
Dear Editor:—This is my first letter to The
Young Southerner, and I hope it will not find the
waste basket.
I am a reader of the Golden Age and enjoy read
ing the letters written by the children.
The young readers have been writing about how
they expect to spend their vacation. I am spending
mine at home, but have been out in the country fish
ing several times, and I expect to visit your city
before our school opens.
When I grow up I expect to he an electrician. I
have a small motor and some batteries that I like to
work with. I did have an electric bell but sold it
to another boy.
I also want to work with engines and such things.
But above all things I want to be an honest man.
I hope the young readers will agree with me.
Yours truly,
Paul Smith.
Fairburn, Ga.
Dear Editor:—l think the letters in the Young-
Southerner are splendid. I was especially interest
ed in the one on national flowers.
I am very fond of pets and I have several. The
one I love most is a beautiful shepherd dog. He is
very affectionate and has such gentle expressive
eyes. He often comes and lays his head in my lap
and looks at me earnestly as if he wanted to say
something. I wish I could understand what he
thinks. lie is very particular about what he eats;
there are only just certain things that he will have
except what the baby gives him. He will eat any
thing from her hand, and she likes to play with
him.
I wish some of the other boys and girls would
write about their pets. I think it is very interest
ing to study the habits and nature of animals, and
I think the more we study about them the more we
will love them. Your friend,
Sadie Belle M.
Dear Mrs. Hodges and Readers:—Only a short
time have I been able to enjoy reading the Golden
Age ? but oh, what a help it is to me every week!
tion.
The Golden Age for July 12, 1906.
I feel greatly indebted to a kind friend who gave
me a year’s subscription to the splendid paper. I
appreciate it all the more because I am personally
acquainted with the editor. “Earnest Will” as I
call him visited me once, and when you know that I
am one of the unfortunate “shut-ins” you can im
agine how much happiness such a visit can give.
I have of late been able, by great effort, to sit up
some, but can never hope to be well in this world.
How hard it seems to give up at sixteen and'never
to enjoy what seems dear to every young girl’s
heart, but such has been my lot, yet I’m oftentimes
happy despite all my sufferings. The greatest trial
to me is knowing I’m always to be dependent upon
others.
I am a country bred girl and in'love with coun
try life, but from lack of congenial company I al
most go crazy some times from loneliness, so I want
to ask the dear readers to write me a letter during
some of these long summer days. I promise to an
swer all- that enclose a stamp. Letters mean so much
to a lonely invalid whose life is inclosed by four
walls, hills and rocks. Now, how many must I look
for? I’m going to be prepared to entertain at
least a dozen, so be sure to come to my letter party.
With love to each of you, I am your shut-in friend
Annie Peavy.
Peavy, Ala.
Your affliction, dear Annie, may prove, not only a
blessing to you but to others in giving them oppor
tunity for self-denial. How could we ever learn
self-sacrifice if there were none who needed our
ministrations ?
The New York Tribune gives the following' in
teresting information regarding postage stamps:
Stamps were not in use before 1840. Before that
time the postmasters in the United States iri* large
towns and cities kept a private account with all
well-known persons, and at the end of each month
rendered a bill for postage.
Sir Rowland Hill, a member of the English par
liament, has the distinction of introducing the post
age stamp, date May 6, 1840. On that date the
English government adopted the penny post sys
tem. Brazil followed England in 1847, Russia in
1848, Tuscany, Belgium and New South Wales in
1849, and other countries soon after.
In our country before 1847, and as early as 1842,
certain owners of local delivery companies began to
sell stamps to their customers. The first of these
was the City Dispatch Post in New York. After
being in the business for a few months, the proprie
tor sold the entire system to the United tSates
government. Soon afterwards other cities adopted
local stamps, as Baltimore, New Haven, Providence
and St. Louis. The stamps of these cities were used
before the government service began. They com
mand large prices. The stamps of Millbury, Mass.,
command a price of SSOO and upwards. The Balti
more stamp is listed at S3OO to S4OO.
Probably.
“What are you crying for?”
“I fell down on the ice and papa laughed at me.”
“But that’s nothing to cry about.”
“I know it, and I ain’t crying about that; but
papa fell down on the ice and I laughed at him.”
“Well, I wouldn’t cry about that either.”
“You would if you got the spankin’ I got.”—
Houston Post.
Let us not underestimate the value of a simply
good life. Just to be good, to keep lite pure from de
grading elements, to make it constantly helpful in
little ways to those who are touched by it, to keep
one’s spirit always sweet and avoid all manner of
petty anger and irritability— that is an ideal aft
noble is it is difficult.—Edward IL Griggs,