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VW., „ ■Mifefi? WK t 1 ( jsaHPw* ■ v XiZ f\\ ‘G Ln V&T txjQ&ei’'- & N^^UgRvA-^l^7W\ , : > W'XT’ \ Volume Vl.] “ ONLY A SLIP OF THE TONGUE.” “ Oh, clear me! Seems to me you’re always wanting some thing, Robbie. Here I’ve just sat down, and now I’ve got to get right up again for you!” and Sophie Churchill rose, with a very unbecoming scowl upon her pretty face, to look for the missing cap, which was seldom, it is true, in the right place. When it was found, she hand ed it to her little brother, saying, “ There! now do run away, child, and leave me in peace.” The little fellow went off to his play with a clouded brow ; for children are quick to catch the spirit of those about them. No sooner had the door closed behind him than Sophie took up the pretty slippers which she was working for her papa’s birthday, and set diligently to work ; but the hasty words she had spoken had given uneasy, dis satisfied feeling, and she would have given anything to recall them. “ Oh! what shall Ido with my troublesome, unruly tongue?” she said, keeping back the tears which would spring to her eyes. “ Shall I never, never, be able to control it? ‘Only a slip of the tongue’ (for I’m sure I did not mean to be cross,) yet dear, sensitive little Robbie has gone off unhappy; and his little face was so bright only a moment before!” An hour passed quietly. “Sophie!” called her mother from the foot of the stairs— “ can’t you come and help me make your father’s birth-day cake?” “ Yes’m, I suppose I can. But I was getting along so beautifully on my slippers! Seems to me I never have any time to myself, as the other girls do.” “ Well, my dear, you needn’t come, if you can’t come cheerfully. I can do it alone.” “ There it is again,” she said in an instant to herself, noticing her mother’s tired face; for she had been all the morning busy in the kitchen, making nice things “ to please the children.” “ Now, I might work down here all day,” she con tinued, “ and yet I shouldn’t deserve the slightest shadow of praise; because I took all the merit out of it by that dreadful ‘slip of the tongue.’ ” “ Oh, yes, mamma! I really would like to help you,” she said aloud, “ if you can only excuse my hasty words. PUBLISHED BY THE HOME MISSION BOARD OF THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION. b w WBWIBMH 9Hig| Btet 3m: .a. nze nze a. ’s t> a. k h, i jxt o. I wish I could help them; but I believe it’s no use try ing : they will come out before I think.” “Patience, my child,” said her mother. “All our faults can be overcome by that and the grace of God.” Sophie was not fond of housework; and this was one of her crosses. It was so much pleasanter to sit down in her pretty pink room, before the open fire, and sew. But she tried bravely to overcome her distaste for it; and her deft fingers could accomplish wonders when once she forgot what might have been her pleasure in duty. “ Sophie, child, won’t you mend my gloves?” said her father, coming in to dinner, and tossing some very dilapi dated-looking gloves into her lap. The cake was in the oven; and she had thought she was sure of a few minutes to herself before dinner, to finish an interesting story. MACON, GEORGIA, JULY 22, 1877. “ Won’t it do just as well by and-by, papa ? I’m so interest ed just now; for Robert is just going to fall in love with Bella; and it’s just an elegant story!” “ I’m sorry to trouble you, dear; but I shall want them as soon as dinner is over.” Sophie closed her book with a slam, while a “ dear ” escaped through her lips. Then the troublesome consci ence smote her again. “ Cross words and ‘ a slip of the tongue ’ for everybody in the house to day. What a horrid, selfish girl I am!” “ Here they are, papa dear,” she said, handing them to him as he drew on his overcoat be fore going out. “ Kiss me, do! I m so sorry I was not willing to do this, or anything in the world I could for you, when you work so hard for us !” But her father caught her in his strong arms; and, as if she had been a little child again, tossed her high up in the air, saying, as he kissed her fondly, “ ‘ A fault confessed is half re dressed,’ my dear. And, when I see how hard my daughter tries to overcome, I am sure she will win the victory by-and-by.” GOOD RESOLUTIONS. A little girl six years old was a short time ago called home to God. About a year before her death, she had a small writing desk given her. After her death her mother unlocked it, and found this writing: “ The minute I wake up in morning, I will think of God. “ I will mind my father and mother always. “ I will try to have my lessons perfect. “ I will try to be kind, and not get cross. “ I want to behave like God’s child.” Matthew Henry tells a story of a great statesman in Queen Elizabeth’s time, who retired from public life in his latter days and gave himself up to serious thought. His former gay companions came to visit him, and told him he was becoming melancholy. “ No,” he replied, “ I am serious; for all are serious round about me. God is serious in observing us; Christ is serious inter ceding for us; the truths of God are serious; our spir itual enemies are serious in their endeavors to ruin us, and why then should not you and I be serious too?” Don’t laugh at religion! [Number 40.