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said, Callie leaned over too far, lost her
balance, there was a faint cry, a plash,
and then Robert Talbot dashed into the
water, and soon reached the frightened
girl.
The whole band had gathered upon
the shore, and received the dripping
form of Callie as Robert reached the
bank.
“ Bravely done!” “What a noble
act!” and many such expressions were
made ; but that which touched Robert’s
heart most Avas when little Callie Leroy
placed her little cold, wet hands in his,
and looking up, with her great gray eyes
fixed full upon his, said :
“I thank you, 0! so much, Robert.
I shall ask God to bless you for it.”
How proud the invalid mother Avas of
her boy when the Avhole band of pic-nic
crs stopped, on their return, and gave
her an account —a very glowing one, I
can assure you —of her son’s bravery.
That all occurred some eight or ten
years ago, and several weeks since, as I
was stopping in the city, I saw at a pub
lic lecture a young man of such fine and
prepossessing appearance that I asked
the one nearest me :
“Who is that gentleman ?”
“Which one? 0! I see; that one
with the lady on his right? That is Dr.
Robert Talbot, a very promising young
physician, and that lady is his Avite. ’
“ See here, my friend,” I exclaimed,
tugging at his coat sleeve, “is his wife’s
name Callie?”
“Yes, his wife’s name is Callie, and
he fished her out of Silver Creek some
ten years ago.”
I said nothing more, but I Avondered
Avho Avould have been Mrs. Robert Tal
botif Robert’s mother had refused her
son permission to go to the creek that
memorable day of the Pic-nic.
Clara LeClerc.
Live it Down.
IVE it cloAvn! whate’er the word
/"i jT I Against thy fortune or thy fame—
Whate’er the whisper, dimly heard,
(TAR Blurring the brilliance of thy name,
Or bolder tones, that louder tell
The slander base —the falsehood fell;
bi' Though stunned, appalled beneath
the bloAv,
Thy heart-strings quivering in woe,
Stand like a man and face the foe !
With conscience pure and upright aim,
Leave to the Judge of all thy name :
Cling to the path of Truth, though blame
May tarnish, and though vice defame!
Heed not tho serpent hissing near.
Nor forked tongue of dragon fear !
Though darkness whelm thee, firmly stand —
Unswerving trust thy Father’s hand :
Thy coAvardice would malice croAvn :
Stand, in God’s name, and live it down !
Iron breaks the stone, fire melts
iron, Avater extinguishes fire, the clouds
drink up the water, a storm drives away
the clouds ; fear unmans man, wine dis
pels fear, sleep drives aAvay wine, and
death SAveeps all aAvay —even sleep.
who is ashamed will not easi
ly commit sin.
BURKE’S WEEKLY FOR BOYS AND GIRLS.
Written for Burke’s Weekly.
IHE ENCHANTED SPRING.
gA FAIRY TALE.
BY SISTER PAUL.
CHAPTER IV.
TIIE MYSTERIOUS MUSIC.
RHE little girls did
not forget their
Avork long, and
when they had fin
ished their simple
romp they returned
able task.
and Minet were soon
ork, cutting up the
of fallen trees, and
tying them up with Avithes of straw, or
thin splits of oak, twisted around like a
hoop.
Minna and Neina were soon at Avork,
collecting, Avith their tiny strength, such
pieces as they could lift. The children
talked aAvay to each other about the
amusements of their simple lives; but
Minna stopped every now and then and
looked at Neina.
Neina had an intuitive mind, which
seemed to catch ideas, beyond the peas
ant’s cot, the fountain in the glade, and
even the mighty forest, that sheltered
them from the summer’s sun and the
winter’s wind.
Day after day the children aAvoke with
the morning light, and, putting on their
simple attire, Avent out to the spring.
Minet would ahvays say to them—
“ Mind, children, Avhat I say: ahvays
bathe in the spring before you begin to
play.”
Sometimes their lids Avere drooping
Avith the effects of sleep, and their eyes
peeping from under them, looked like
black sloes, but as soon as they Avashed in
the Avater, they were as bright as the
sun’s light that played upon the foun
tain.
Green grass greAv all around this
spring, and the Avater bubbled up through
silvery sand at the bottom. At the side
of the spring next to the brook, rocks
Avere piled up, and the bright water, in
passing over them, formed a little fall,
in Avhich these children Avould hold their
little hands, to catch, as they said, “the
sparkling diamonds to dress their hair
with.”
One evening, while there, Neina said
to her sister:
“Sister Minna, don’t you hear the
Avater singing ?’ ’
“No, no, sister mine,” said Minna,
“ it is only the voices of our parents as
they come through the forest. The
shadows are closing over us now, and
they will soon be at borne.”
Another evening, Avhen they bad been
chasing butterflies over the laAvn, and
Avere resting themselves on the green
grass by the spring, Neina said again :
“ Sister Minna, don’t you hear music
in the spring?”
“No, no, sister mine ; it is only the
cow lowing for her calf, as she comes
through the forest path over the brook.”
“ Forest l forest 1” said Neina quick
ly, as if she Avas disgusted with the very
name of forest; “I am glad there is
something else in the Avorld besides
forest .”
“ Why, Neina, Avhat do you mean?”
“I mean, sister, that I am tired of
the forest. If there was nothing in the
Avorld but a big forest, I would like to
go somewhere else.”
“Well, Neina, sister dear, are you
tired of us.” *
“ Oh no, no, sister dear, but I want
to see a big blue shy. The forest is too
shady; it shuts us up, and whenever I
ask you anything, you always tell me
about forest, forest. lam tired of the
forest.”
“Oh, Neina, Neina dear, you are too
queer,” said Minna.
“ Come, let us bathe our heads in the
fall, and then go and get some glow
worms for our evening lamp.”
And soon the mysterious music and
the gloomy forest Avere alike forgotten
by these happy children, for the brook
was bearing the charmers spell over the
grassy glade, and the shades of night
had shut the forest from their view.
CHAPTER V.
• UNDER TII E SPE LL .
Every evening, as the shadows length
ened, they Avere at the spring—some-
times chasing the pale yellow butterflies
that fly about in the evening air, or play
ing on the grass with the smooth Avhite
pebbles from the brook.
“ Sister Minna,” said Neina, one eve
ning, “ don’tyou bear the water singing
in the fountain, low doAvn where it bub
bles up from the Avhite pebbles ?”
“No, no, sister mine,” said Minna,
“it is only the echo from the songs of
the locusts among the forest trees.
Come, let us bathe our heads in the fall,
and then Ave will hear it no more.”
Minna just going to hold her head
down beneath the Avater Avhen she saAV
Neina lay her head doAvn on the green
grass by the spring, as if listening to
distant music.
The child looked, mysterious and
dreamy, and earnest, too, in her simple
faith.
“ Minna,” she said, holding one arm
up from the green sward, as if to encir
cle her sister. “Come, Minna, listen
to the music we hear in dreams. It
sounds like happy children playing to
gether. It goes up high, then conies
doAvn loav, but it is all as soft as the
moonbeams, that we love to see coming
doAvn through the forest leaves and on
the green grass, and sparkling upon the
bright Avater of the fountain.”
And, perfectly enchanted with the
pleasant sounds, they lay side by side,
talking together about the music singing
to them from the ground and then float
ing above them; as if it filled the air.
At last they fell asleep, and even in
slumber they Avere like tAvin cherries,
so much alike they Avere, and so sweetly
passive they lay in each other’s em
brace.
Their dark, clustering hair lay in folds
after their day’s exercise, for they had
not taken their usual bath. Their rud
dy complexions and rosy cheeks, and
their long black lashes resting upon
them, made a sweet picture.
There they lay upon a hank of green
and verdant grass. The fountain bub
bling up near by, and with a rippling
1 sound passing over the rocks and down
into the murmuring brook. The dark
forest trees raised their magnificent
heads all around them. Their shadows
lengthened, and then met.
The children slept soundly, with a
smile upon their lips, but they slept no
longer by the “ Enchanted Spring.”
CHAPTER VI.
THE SEA SHELL COUCH.
As Minna and Neina slept, the picture
changed. The green sward on Avhich
they lay in innocent beauty became a
couch, simple, graceful and elegant. It
Avas a sea shell, set upon a pedestal of
gold, around which the graceful tendrils
of the seaweed Avound its shining fibres,
as if to protect it and the SAveet little
girls from harm.
A room arched above their heads,
which hid from their vieAV the dark for
est, the cottage in its leafy bower, and
the fountain Avith its murmuring brook.
A carpet, covered with roses, Avas upon
the floor. Festooned upon the windows
were vines of wondrous beauty and mag
nificence, AA'hile within them, and upon
the Avails, Avere gilded cages, filled with
exquisite birds, and birds of radiant
plumage.
There they lay, asleep —like two love
ly cherub twins —in the midst of the
golden rays, and surrounded by the
mother-of-pearl radiance of the sea shell.
Their eyes, closed in slumber, lay pas
sionless, acted upon by the dreams of
another life. Their dark lashes touched
their rosy cheeks. Their hair lay in
clustering beauty around their broAVS.
Minna’s a shade the darkest, butNeina's
had a radiant, changing gIoAV, playing
ever around and upon it. It was like
tlie glow of her young heart, that had
been with her in the cottage in the Avood,
lighting it up with beauty ; that touched
the glow-worm lamp, the yelloAv butter
flies, and the grassy glade—the running
brook and the sparkling fountain —the
sunlight and the sliadoAV, Avith a roman
tic light.
Not that sheAvas conscious of all this.
She Avas a littte unconscious sleeper,
Avhom God had blessed in this world of
mortal sense with a lifted eye, an uplift
ed heart, and grace to feel His truth.
The lost jeAvel Avill always be a
jewel, but the one who has lost it —well
may he Aveep.