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The Bee’s Sermon.
( fft^ oor> morning, dear friends, I’m a
r-IDITL clever young bee,
■''aJDl And a Sermon I’ll preach if you'll
listen to me ;
pfgfp It will not be long, and it will not
be dry.
Sr*' And your common sense my re
marks may apply.
Not slothful in business must be the first head,
For with vigor we work till the sun goes to
bed;
And unless one is willing to put forth one’s
powers,
There is no getting on in a world such as ours.
Wo are fond of our dwellings ; no gossips are
we,
No gadders about idle neighbors to sec;
And though we are forced for our honey to
roam,
We come back as soon as we can to our home.
“The way to be happy, and healthy, and wise.
Is early to rest and early to rise.”
This proverb has moulded our conduct for
years,
And we never sleep when the daylight ap
pears,
If you were to peep in our hives, you would
own
That as models of cleanliness they might be
shown;
All dust and all dirt, without any delay,
Is swept from our door and transported away.
Ventilation most thorough our domicils share
So no one need teach us the worth of fresh
air;
For we could not live, as we’ve heard people
do,
In close rooms where no health giving breeze
can pass through.
When one of our number is sick or dis
tressed.
He is sure of kind treatment from each of the
rest;
We sympathize warmly with those who’re in
grief,
And are eager to proffer immediate relief.
And lastly—for here my remarks ought to
cease—
The bees,"as a nation, are bent upon peace :
You are ready to question this statement, I
know,
And to ask why we carry our stings where go.
We carry our stings, not on any pretence
For aggressive attack, but in pure self
defence ;
We meddle with no one, and only repel
Assailants who will not in peace with us
dwell.
Now my sermon is ended, and you, if you
please,
Some hints may derive from us hard working
bees:
May your life be as useful, your labors as
sweet,
And may you have plenty of honey to eat.
-
Written for Burke’s Weekly.
CHILDREN.
Knot trifle with your affections.
[ mean, do not pretend to like
people when you don’t, and
never say that you dislike
those whom you really like. If you do.
you will get so that you do not love any
body, and when that is the ease you will
be miserable, for then you cannot' love
God either. Maga.
—— *
ealth is not his who gets it, but his
who enjoys it.
BURKE’S WEEKLY FOR BOYS AND GIRLS.
Written for Burke’s Weekly.
THE ENCHANTED SPRING.
.A. FAIRY TALE.
BY SISTER PAUL.
CHAPTER XXVII.
THE WRONG PATH.
from the time they turned
their steps down the mountain
P ass they had a hard time
of it.
Their voices were seldom heard ming
ling in pleasant strains, or even conver
sation, for all their time had to be taken
up in keeping their feet in the path, and
even when in the path they felt a great
deal-of trouble and perplexity.
“You may depend upon it, my dear
sister, that we are not in the right path,”
| said Rudolpho. “Here we have noth
j ing but trouble and distress of mind, and
our bodies are continually harassed by
the great care we have to take of them.”
Xeina and Lizzie, who took less trou
ble than the rest, as they followed in
the very tracks of those who went be
fore, laughed together at their brother,
who, Neina said, “seemed to find his
body a very troublesome one.”
Cona, who was near, and heard them,
said :
“You wicked girls, do you not know
that Rudolpho’s care is that all may be
saved? He only means that it is not
well to have so many thoughts devoted
to the care of one’s own person, when it
may be that we will be lost after all.”
Here they were interrupted by Minna,
who gave a shriek of agony.
For some time, while approaching a
dark ravine, they heard a gurgling noise,
as of water rushing near them. Minna,
who was going on carefully in front of
them, 'had come unexpectedly upon a
deep chasm, and in the fright of the
moment, had been nearly precipitated
into its fearful depths.
There it was, far beneath them, rush
ing wildly on —a dark and impetuous
flood.
“ A frightful chasm, and a deep, dark
and dangerous flood,” said Minna, as
the rest came up. “ Where did it come
from ? Where is it going’?’ ’
She clasped her hands as if in silent
supplication, and, kneeling down, look
ed over upon it in dismay.
“ Oh, how many victims have fallen
inhere! How dark and portentous it
looks!” said Cona.
As they looked around they saw frag
ments of torn dresses and veils, and
scraps of paper written upon, as if some
poor despairing creatures had stopped
here to attempt a history of their sad
fate.
“ What shall we do now, rny brother?”
said Minna, clasping her hands in agony.
“We have listened to a deceiver, and
our own hearts have brought us down
to this region of death.”
“Me must retrace our steps ,” said
Rudolpho, “and compel him to tell us
the right way.”
“ Oh, not from him ! not from him /’ ’
said Cona, imploringly. “Let Minna
break an egg. This surely is a time of
need.”
“ Oh, Cona,” said Minna, “ you have
been God’s angel to us. I have allowed
the care of this life to lead me away
from my refuge.”
And saying this, she took the blue
egg out of her little box and broke it.
Instantly there appeared to them, on the
brink of the awful chasm, a form radi
ant with beauty and grace not of this
world.
“ Fly from this chasm at once. It is
the chasm of self-assurance , which has
received its myriads of victims. He
who directed you is ‘superficial,’ and
he would, if he could, cast you headlong
into this fearful flood. Go on your way
rejoicing, you Have faith in the name of
the Saviour, and pray not that thou
shouldst be taken from the world , but
that thou shouldst be kept from the
evil.”
And they were overcome with the
Divine vision that had spoken such
words of encouragement to them, and
they turned with humble and thankful
hearts back, to retrace their steps.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
IN THE RIGHT WAY.
They expressed their joy and delight
at having made their escape, and their
confidence in that Friend who “ sticketh
closer than a brother.”
When they retrod the path, they were
astonished at tho short time it took
them to get again to the hut of “ super
ficial,” who lay by the side of it, asleep
in the sunshine.
Now, they could see very plainly that
a path went upwards', and beyond his
hut.
As they passed the window, they look
ed in, and saw that, as pleasant and fair
as it was on the outside, there was no
thing in it but desolation, and dirt, and
emptiness.
They rejoiced silently at their escape,
and prayed fervently to themselves that
they might never be left to their own
guidance. Their own desires, their own
opinions , their own strength , they felt
to be as nothing, and that it was alto
gether through the unseen, the invisible
Jehovah, they had been saved.
How pleasant it seemed to them now,
as they journeyed along. They felt as
if there w r as an arm ever ready to sup
port them amid the dangers, and protect
them from harm.
Neina and Lizzie did not laugh again
at Rudolpho for lamenting the cares of
the body, for they were fully absorbed
with the pleasures of the way.
CHAPTER XXIX.
■
THE DEATH OF MINNA. j
But, in the midst of all their enjoy- >
ments of the jiresent, and their antici
pations of the future, Minna’s head sank
upon her breast, and she seemed sick
even unto death. How earnestly they
gathered around to cheer and to console
her!
“Keep up, my sweet sister, if you
can,” said Neina; “perhaps we may
now be near to our father’s house ”
And she laid the dear girl’s head up
on her shoulder, and parting her hair
from off’ her forehead, pressed her
feverish brow.
“Never mind, my dear sisters and
brother,” said Minna ; “if I shall never
see our father and mother in this world,
I will see them in the world beyond
this.”
“Do not talk so, Minna,” said Ru
dolpho, “we cannot be happy without
you, my sister.” And Cona and Ru
dolpho leant over her prostrate form
and wept.
Lizzie, too, was there, chafing her soft
hand's, which were now very cold.
“ This is death /” said Minna, hold
ing up her fingers, which were blue and
livid. “ Faith has drawn aside the veil.
0, that Love would come, and make
me enter with delight into the Eternal
world.”
“You have forgotten your egg, my
sister,” said Rudolpho; “break it —it
is the Divine gift of Love.”
And she did so, and instantly a soft
and shadowy spirit stood beside them.
It was not of this world, but soul-like,
ana into their hearts it poured a flood
of joy, of peace, of adoration, of Divine
submission to the will of God.
And Minna slept—a sweet angel-spirit
—in the bosom of her God, and when
they had laid her form beneath the
green sod they turned their steps clown
the mountain’s side.
—
Written for Burke’s Weekly.
BOBBIE.
7 "wilf the time our little Bob
bie was three and a half years
Sr 'v l CLJ old, he went with me to visit
. . .
his grandparents.
There was a pond of water near the
house, which Bob was fond of visiting.
He liked to stand on the bank and watch
the reflection of the flying clouds, which
he imagined were beneath the water.
One day, as he was earnestly looking
down, he lost his balance and fell in
the water. His uncle, who was present,
dragged him out, worse frightened than
hurt. On his return to the house, he
told us of Bobbie’s ducking, and tried
hard to tease the little fellow.
“I don’t care if I did fall in,” re
plied Bob, “I didn’t go deep, for I
didn’t get down to the clouds.”
Marion.
He that repents every day for the sins
of every day, when he comes to die will
have but the sins of one day to repent
of. Even reckonings make long friends.