wMi. 
 
 LITTLE TALKS 
 to LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 'f 
 
 T 
 
 VMES 
 FARRA 
 
JUL 1 9 1916 
 
 ^5iC/;l '^ 
 
 .^^. 
 
 BV 4315 .F377 1910 
 Farrar, James M. 
 Little talks to little 
 people 
 
LITTLE TALKS 
 
 TO 
 LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
LITTLE TALKS 
 
 TO 
 
 LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 BY 
 
 ( JUL 
 
 JAMES M. FARRAR, D.D 
 
 Pastor of the First Reformed Church, Brooklyn, N. T., and 
 Minister of the First Organized yunior Congregation. 
 
 Author of ** A Junior Congregation^^ 
 
 FUNK& WAGNALLS COMPANY 
 
 NEW YORK AND LONDON 
 
 19 lO 
 
Copyright 1910 
 
 BY 
 
 FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY 
 
 [Printed in the United States of America} 
 
 Published September, 1910 
 
 All Rights Reserved 
 
Contents 
 
 SPRING 
 
 (Begins March 21st) Paee 
 
 1st Sunday — Every Tomb a Sleeping-Room 11 
 
 2d " All Fools' Day 15 
 
 3d " The Little Brown Bed 19 
 
 4th " Music Lessons 25 
 
 5th " The Garden of the Soul— (Grant's Birthday) 30 
 
 6th " Grandpa's Dream 35 
 
 7th " Sentiment 39 
 
 8th " Apple-blossom Sunday 44 
 
 9th " Why? 49 
 
 10th " Painting the Face on the Inside — (Memorial 
 
 Day) 53 
 
 11th *' Head and Heels 57 
 
 12th " Flag-day 62 
 
 13th " The Invisible Prince— (Rose Sunday) . . 67 
 
 SUMMER 
 
 {Begins June 21st) 
 
 1st Sunday — Love and Sunshine Company 75 
 
 2d " The Pathfinder 79 
 
 3d " The Gold Bullet 84 
 
 4th '• The Cure for Curiosity 89 
 
 V 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Page 
 
 5th Sunday—Eyes That See 94 
 
 6th " Faultfinders and Faultreceivers .... 98 
 
 7th " Peacemakers in August 103 
 
 8th " One for You and One for Me 109 
 
 9th " Playing to Music 114 
 
 10th " The Land of Forget 119 
 
 11th " The Vex Hospital 125 
 
 12th " A Good Telltale 130 
 
 13th " Heartsick and Homesick 135 
 
 AUTUMN 
 
 {Begins September 21st) 
 
 1st Sunday — Canned Simshine 143 
 
 2d " Jack Tar, Jr 148 
 
 3d " Diego, the Dago 153 
 
 4th " The Shadow Child 157 
 
 5th " The Secret Word 163 
 
 6th " HaUowe'en 168 
 
 7th " Chrysanthemum Sunday 173 
 
 8th " Fruit for Thanksgiving Dinners .... 178 
 
 9th " Thanksgiving Ragamuffins 182 
 
 10th " The Lure of the Lesson 187 
 
 11th " The Call of the Church 191 
 
 12th " Finding a Good Thing 196 
 
 13th " A Ring to Make Him Sing 200 
 
 vi 
 
CONTENTS 
 WINTER 
 
 (Begins December 21st) p 
 
 1st Sunday — Christmas Measure 207 
 
 2d " The Athletic Day 213 
 
 3d " The Pity Ear 218 
 
 4th " Alongside of God 222 
 
 5th " Take It With You 225 
 
 6th " Bone Breaking 230 
 
 7th " Lincoln's Birthday 235 
 
 8th " St. Valentine's Day 242 
 
 9th " Washington's Birthday 248 
 
 10th " Getting Ready for Church 253 
 
 11th " The Village Blacksmith 257 
 
 12th " Lessons from Lent 262 
 
 13th " Children's Palm Sunday 268 
 
 vii 
 
FIRSTWORD 
 
FIRSTWORD 
 
 FOR CHILDREN ONLY 
 
 IN 1908 I wrote fifty-three letters. Fifty-two; 
 one for each week of the year I wrote for you. 
 Funk & Wagnalls Company bound them in a book 
 and named it "A Junior Congregation." The first 
 letter was for your pastor, parents and other people, 
 telling them about the Junior Congregation and 
 how the children can have a church and congregation 
 all their own. This letter added to your fifty-two 
 made the fifty-three bound in the book. All these 
 books were sold and a new edition was printed. The 
 children from different parts of the country asked 
 for more letters, as they wanted to hear and read 
 more stories. Here's a letter from a far-away Junior : 
 
 Dear Doctor Farrar : 
 
 I am a little girl and my grandmother 
 reads your sermons to little children every 
 week to me, and I like them very much. I 
 shall always remember what you said about 
 "Palm Sunday," it was so good. I think 
 3 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 you are very good to talk so much to little 
 children like me. 
 
 My father preaches every Sunday to big 
 folks. When I grow bigger, I hope I shall 
 understand him better. 
 
 I thought you would be pleased to know 
 about me. I wonder if you have a little girl 
 like me. My name is 
 
 "EHzabeth " 
 
 Your new book, "Little Talks to Little People," is 
 the answer to the many requests for more stories. 
 I had to write it. Indeed I just could not help wri- 
 ting it. Why.'' Because I could not get close enough 
 to speak to you. Some day I hope to have a chil- 
 dren's wireless telephone. We may some day have 
 one that will let us see each other while we talk. Yes, 
 see each other when we are hundreds of miles apart. 
 Then we will arrange a day and hour when I can see 
 you all, say "Good-morning," and tell you a story. 
 Until that someday comes, we will just have to write 
 and read the letters. 
 
 Fifty-two stories in the first book and fifty-two in 
 the second book, one hundred and four stories. Have 
 I any more in store.'' Yes, I have more stories in my 
 brain-box. What do I mean by a "brain-box?" 
 
 4 
 
FIRSTWORD 
 
 Every day I am looking for some good stories for 
 my Juniors. When I find a story that makes my 
 heart thump and sends a bump in my throat and 
 dumps a tear out of my eye, I know that is the story 
 for my Juniors. How do I know a child will enjoy the 
 story ? Will you keep the secret ? 
 
 When I grew to be a man I took the boy, that I 
 used to be, with me, and he loves me and plays with 
 me every day. Sometimes he says, "Come away from 
 these grown people, leave your silk hat at home and 
 romp with me." When the boy in my heart tells me 
 the story he likes, I put it away. On a card I put 
 the name of the story and where I have hidden it. 
 The cards are put in a box called a "card-index," and 
 this box I call my "brain-box." 
 
 Did your father or mother ever find and read a 
 letter written just for you? Did they say it was 
 not worth reading? Probably your answer was that 
 it was not written for them. Except they "become as 
 httle children" they can not enjoy your letters. These 
 letters are all just for you, this is true. In this Httle 
 book of fifty-two letters your friend hopes to lead 
 you to read. Great Talks to Little People. "Great 
 Talks ?" you say. Yes ! In Great Talks you will find 
 sixty-six letters. In the first part are old letters; 
 
 5 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 thirty-nine in all; in the second part you will find 
 twenty-seven new letters. In these Great Talks you 
 will read the most beautiful and interesting stories 
 ever written for boys and girls. There are really 
 sixty-six Great Talks; thirty-nine called Old Testa- 
 ment, and twenty-seven called New Testament. They 
 are all bound in one book called The Bible. At the 
 beginning of each of the Little Talks you will find 
 a quotation from the Great Talks. 
 
 If the Little Talks will help you to find and to 
 enjoy the Great Talks, then your friend will be very 
 happy. Shall I tell you a story.? Here is one that 
 should be fresh and cool as I found it in "The Well- 
 spring." 
 
 One night a man took a little taper out of a drawer 
 and lighted it, and began to ascend a long, winding 
 stair. 
 
 "Where are you going.?" asked the taper. 
 
 "Away high up," said the man, "higher than the 
 top of the house where we sleep." 
 
 "And what are you going to do there.?" said the 
 taper. 
 
 "I am going to show the ships out at sea where 
 the harbor is," said the man, "for we stand here at 
 the entrance to the harbor, and some ships far out on 
 
 6 
 
FIRSTWORD 
 
 the stormy sea may be looking for a light even now." 
 
 "Alas ! No ship could ever see my light," said the 
 little taper, "it is so very small." 
 
 "If your light is small," said the man, "keep it 
 burning bright, and leave the rest to me." 
 
 Well, when the man got up to the top of the hght- 
 house, for this was a lighthouse they were in, he took 
 the little taper and with it lighted the great lamps 
 that stood ready there with their polished reflectors 
 behind them. 
 
 Hoping these little talks may light the great lamps 
 of love in your souls and show you the way to "The 
 Great Talks," I am. 
 
 The Junior's friend, 
 
 James M. Farrae. 
 
SPRING 
 
 (March 21- June SO) 
 THE COMING OF SPRING 
 
 There's something in the air 
 
 That's new and sweet and rare — 
 
 A scent of summer things, 
 A whir as if of wings. 
 
 There's something, too, that's new 
 
 In the color of the blue 
 That's in the morning sky, 
 
 Before the sun is high. 
 
 — N. Perry. 
 
FOR FIRST SUNDAY IN SPRING 
 EVERY TOMB A SLEEPING-ROOM 
 
 "In the garden." — John xix., 41 
 
 GOD made this world, but did not finish it. He 
 did that part only that no other person could 
 do. Then God made man and told him to complete 
 the work. As Adam, the first man, had no experience, 
 God gave him a sample of the world's work. He 
 made a large garden, and through it caused rivers 
 to flow, and in it trees to grow. Flowers were made 
 to bloom; He gave days without gloom. In the 
 sand by the riverside was gold, and in the land there 
 was wealth untold. He gave the birds a song, and 
 in all the garden there was no wrong. God gave 
 Adam a wife from his own side, that from him she 
 might not hide. Adam's rib was his wife's crib, that 
 rocked when he laughed. 
 
 From that time on men and women have been at 
 work making the world into a garden. They are 
 making the wilderness to blossom as a rose — gardens 
 in the country, gardens in the city, gardens in the 
 dooryard, gardens on the roof-tops, gardens every- 
 where. 
 
 11 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 Our text tells us of something wonderful in a 
 garden. You have seen many beautiful things in 
 gardens, but nothing so wonderful as this: "In the 
 garden a new sepulcher." It was Easter morning 
 and over the sepulcher the trees were bending, the 
 flowers were blooming, and birds were singing. By 
 the sepulcher Christ was standing, and saw the 
 women who were weeping. Christ had risen from the 
 dead and had stept out of the sepulcher into the gar- 
 den. Had the women believed what He told them 
 before He died, they would have been smiling, not 
 weeping. Under the fruit-trees He stood, Himself 
 the first fruit of all who sleep. 
 
 Our word "cemetery" means a "sleeping-room." 
 Sleeping-rooms in a garden. Our cemeteries are the 
 world's most beautiful gardens. Greenwood in Brook- 
 lyn, Mount Auburn in Boston, Laurel Hill in Phila- 
 delphia, Spring Grove in Cincinnati, and Lone Moun- 
 tain in San Francisco. On the last Easter morning, 
 the resurrection day, the dead will rise and walk 
 out into the garden. Joy, joy, joy, more joy at 
 Easter time. Flowers and song, song and flowers, 
 more flowers and song, for Easter is the world's 
 garden with an empty tomb! I wish I could march 
 through Greenwood to-day with the Junior Congre- 
 
 12 
 
EVERY TOMB A SLEEPING-ROOM 
 
 gation, out through the cemetery where our loved 
 ones sleep. Every tomb a sleeping-room, where we 
 with our loved ones will some day wake and step out 
 into the garden to meet our risen Christ. Shall I 
 tell you a story, just as I read it? 
 
 The Moravian Graveyard at Salem, North Caro- 
 lina, tho more than a century old, is laid out in as 
 perfect order as any of the modern city cemeteries. 
 The headstones are all exactly alike, and are placed 
 flat upon the green mounds. On the afternoon pre- 
 ceding Easter, a large number of citizens meet at 
 the graveyard for the purpose of scouring and polish- 
 ing the headstones, in preparation for the early serv- 
 ice. Every stone is left shining in its pure whiteness, 
 and the graves are literally covered with fragrant 
 blossoms. 
 
 On Easter morning, long before the sky begins to 
 redden with coming day, the Moravian band makes 
 a tour of the city. With sweet music, they wake the 
 people to take part in the hallowed sunrise service. 
 The music in the still morning air is touching, sweet 
 and pathetic. At half -past five they gather by the 
 thousands in front of the Moravian meeting-house to 
 join in the first responsive service. At the close of 
 these services, the many attendants march, with 
 
 13 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 almost noiseless tread and In solemn silence, to the 
 graveyard beneath the stately cedar-trees, the band, 
 meanwhile discoursing the sweetest music. 
 
 Upon the arrival of the procession thousands of 
 men, women and children stand along the walks be- 
 tween rows of well-kept graves. Then all join heart- 
 ily in singing the resurrection hymn, "Now is 
 Christ risen from the dead," and while they sing, each 
 one lays an Easter lily upon the grave at his feet. 
 After the triumphant closing, "He rose, He rose. He 
 burst the bars of death and triumphed o'er the 
 grave," the congregation unites in the closing por- 
 tion of the litany, and with the final "Amen," the 
 sun rises majestically over the eastern hilltops, flood- 
 ing with Easter brightness hundreds of joyful faces. 
 
 14 
 
FOR SECOND SUNDAY IN SPRING 
 ALL FOOLS' DAY 
 
 "Who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool?" — 
 Eccl ii., 19 
 
 THE word "fool" has rough edges ; it almost 
 scratches the tongue. In our text it means 
 thick-headed; — "Who knoweth whether he shall be a 
 wise man or thick-headed?" Some of you boys and 
 girls will learn on April first whether you are wise 
 or thick-headed. April first, "All Fools' day," a day 
 when you must have your wits ready for use. It is 
 the meanest day of the year. The meanest because 
 it is the day when we try to make others feel mean. 
 In England those who think they are wise try to send 
 the thick-headed on foolish errands, for example; to 
 ask some one the name of Adam's grandfather. In 
 Scotland they call the foolish one a "gowk." Some- 
 times the one who is supposed to be thick-headed 
 proves to be the one who is wise. This was true in 
 the first celebration I can find of April Fools' day, 
 443 years ago. It was the occasion of a wager in 
 1466 between Duke Philip of Burgundy and his court 
 
 15 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 fool. The wager was that, if the jester succeeded 
 in hoaxing the Duke on April first, he was to have 
 his fool's cap filled with golden ducats. If the Duke 
 succeeded in hoaxing the jester the latter was to 
 pay the penalty with his life. The Duke at once 
 set to work to make the jester very drunk, and suc- 
 ceeded in his efforts. Early on the following morn- 
 ing soldiers seized him, brought him into a room all 
 hung with black, where a mock trial resulted in his 
 being sentenced to death. The block and the execu- 
 tioner were brought in and the jester, blindfolded, 
 was laid on the block. The executioner struck the 
 jester with a stick, pretending it was a sword. As 
 he was struck some one poured warm blood on his 
 neck to make him think that he was bleeding. At 
 this moment the Duke thought it was time to laugh. 
 So did all those present. But the laughter stopt 
 when the jester remained apparently Hfeless. "Ter- 
 ror has killed him," cried the Duke. Then he sent 
 for the doctors, who labored over the alleged corpse 
 for some time before the jester opened his eyes and 
 laughing, cried, "April fools, all of you. Now, Duke, 
 pay me my gold." Then it was time for the Duke to 
 ask, "Who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man 
 or thick-headed .f^" 
 
 16 
 
ALL FOOLS' DAY 
 
 Some of our wise people believe that the time has 
 come to change All Fools' day into an All Wise day. 
 The members of the Optimists' Club of America 
 have made it Optimists' day. On the last day 
 of March more than a thousand members held 
 a watch-night service at the Waldorf-Astoria and 
 welcomed April 1, 1909, as the first Optimists' 
 day. It is a day upon which every one should 
 do some kind act, and say some kind thing. It is 
 a day on which men, women and children can send 
 out cards and try in some way to lift the gloom which 
 hovers around many lives. Your pastor wants his 
 Junior Congregation to join the Optimists' Club, 
 and he hopes each member will frown on the idea of 
 "All Fools' day," and will try to make it All Opti- 
 mists' day. Optimist is a big word, but not too big 
 for my Juniors. It means seeing the bright side of 
 things, and taking both sides of the best things. 
 A pessimist is one who sees the dark side, and takes 
 the worst side of everything. Some one has tried to 
 show the difference between the two in the following 
 way. Suppose there is a large cruller on the plate, 
 the optimist would take the cruller, while the pessi- 
 mist would take the hole. Southey, in one of his 
 letters, writes of the Spaniard who always put on 
 
 17 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 his spectacles when about to eat cherries, that they 
 might look bigger and more tempting. He was an 
 optimist. 
 
 Here is a story to show you how a little girl, who 
 was a pessimist, was converted into an optimist. She 
 did not believe that God could hear her prayer amid 
 all the music of heaven. She was a pessimist. Pro- 
 fessor Drummond, who related the incident, told her 
 that if it were necessary, God would say to cherubim 
 and seraphim and all the angelic choir, "Be still; 
 there is a little girl down on earth who wants to 
 speak to me." Believing this, she became an optimist. 
 
 A colored man was asked how he managed to be 
 so contented and joyful. His reply was, "I jes' 
 walks out on de promises of God, and I lies flat on 
 my back, and I prays straight up." Try this plan 
 and it will make you an optimist. 
 
 I hope you all will learn these lines : 
 
 It is easy enough to be pleasant 
 When life flows along like a song, 
 
 But the Junior worth while, 
 
 Is the one who will smile 
 When everything goes dead wrong. 
 
 18 
 
D 
 
 THE THIRD SUNDAY IN SPRING 
 
 THE LITTLE BROWN BED 
 
 I sleep, but my heart waketh." — Solomon's Song, v., 2 
 ID you ever see a flower going asleep? When 
 
 it begins to droop and hang its head, it is get- 
 ting sleepy. Watch it and you will see how snugly 
 it rolls itself up in a little brown bed you call a seed. 
 In this bed the flower is sound asleep. The flower 
 sleeps all Winter, "as snug as a bug in a rug." What 
 you call "Spring," the season after Winter, is 
 "Mother Nature," going from bed to bed to wake 
 up her flower friends asleep in the seeds. She has 
 a big family to wake up. She lifts the shades of 
 Winter and lets in the bright light. If they do not 
 wake she sprinkles water on them, shakes them, and 
 keeps her temper until all are awake. Some are easy 
 to wake and they get right up, others are very sleepy 
 and dear old Spring has to be very patient. They 
 sleep, but, way down in the seed something is awake. 
 They sleep but the seed heart waketh. Some one 
 whose name I do not know, a friend of "Mother 
 Spring," says: 
 
 19 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 "Far down in Mother Earth a tiny seed was sleep- 
 ing, safely wrapt in a warm bed. The little seed had 
 been asleep for a long, long time, and now somebody 
 thought it was time to wake up. This somebody was 
 an earthworm, a friend of Mother Spring. He had 
 been creeping about and found all the seeds in the 
 neighborhood had roused themselves. They were 
 pushing their roots down into the earth and lifting 
 their heads up through the soil into the bright sun- 
 shine and fresh air. So when the v/orm saw this little 
 seed still sleeping, he cried, 'Oh, you lazy fellow, 
 wake up ! All the seeds are awake and growing, and 
 you have slept long enough !' 
 
 " *But how can I grow or move at all in this tight- 
 brown sleeping-gown.'^' said the seed, in a drowsy tone. 
 
 " 'Why, push it off ; that's the way the other seeds 
 have done. Just move about a Httle and it will come 
 off.' All the time the worm was telling him how 
 happy the other seeds were, now that they had lifted 
 their heads into the sunshine. 
 
 " 'Oh, dear ! Oh, dear !' said the seed, 'what shall 
 I do.? I am so sleepy I can't keep awake any longer,' 
 and he fell asleep again. 
 
 "The little seed slept soundly for a long time. At 
 last he awoke and found Mother Spring throwing 
 
THE LITTLE BROWN BED 
 
 water in his face. She called it a Spring shower for 
 the May flower. 
 
 "Then he felt so warm and happy that he cried, *I 
 really believe I am going to grow after all. Who 
 woke me up and helped me out of bed? I don't see 
 any one near by.' 
 
 " 'I woke you,' said a soft voice close by. 'I am 
 a sunbeam. Mother Spring sent me to wake you, and 
 my friends the rain-drops washed the sleep out of 
 your eyes.' 
 
 " 'Oh, thank you,' said the seed. 'You're all very 
 kind. Will you help me to grow into a plant too .?' 
 
 " 'Yes,' said the sunbeam, 'I'll come as often as I 
 can to help you, and the rain-drops will come too. If 
 you work hard, with our help, you will become a 
 beautiful plant, I'm sure.' 
 
 " 'But,' said the seed, 'how did you know that I 
 was sleeping here? Could you see me?' ' 
 
 " 'No,' said the sunbeam, 'but Mother Spring saw 
 you. She saw you beneath the ground trying to 
 grow. She called the rain-drops to her, and said, 
 'One of my seed children is sleeping down there, and 
 he wants to grow. Go down and help him and tell 
 the sunbeams to follow you and wake the seed, so 
 that he may begin to grow as soon as he will.' 
 
 21 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 " 'How kind she is,' said the seed, 'if she had not 
 seen me sleeping here I should have slept on and on 
 and on, slept forever in my little brown bed. How 
 did Mother Spring know I was here ?' 
 
 " 'She is a servant of God, who knows all things. 
 He knows where every seed sleeps and sends Mother 
 Spring with her friends to wake them up.' 
 
 " 'How can I thank Him?' said the seed. 'What 
 can I do that will please Him very much?' 
 
 " 'Grow into the best plant that you possibly can,' 
 said the sunbeam. 'That will please God most 
 of all.' 
 
 "So the seed grew into a beautiful vine. He 
 climbed higher and higher toward the heavens, from 
 which the Father smiled down upon him to reward his 
 labor." 
 
 There is some one more beautiful and valuable than 
 a flower. Some one who needs sleep more than the 
 seed needs it, and who says : 
 
 "Rock me to sleep, mother, rock me to sleep." 
 This some one is a little child. 
 
 Before going to sleep you should say, "In the 
 
 morning wake me from sleep — mother, wake me from 
 
 sleep." How often you would be late for breakfast, 
 
 late for school, late for church, if mother did not 
 
 wake you. 
 
 22 
 
THE LITTLE BROWN BED 
 
 What part of you wakes up the rest of you when 
 mother calls? The part of you that does not sleep. 
 The part that keeps on thinking while you sleep. 
 You call the thinking a dream. What does our text 
 say? "I sleep, but my heart waketh." It is that 
 part that will never sleep. What we call death the 
 Bible calls sleep. There is a short sleep from which 
 we wake in the morning. Then there is a long sleep 
 from which we will wake some morning in heaven. 
 There is a beautiful story in the ninth chapter of 
 Matthew. 
 
 A man came to Christ and told him that his dear 
 little girl was dead. Christ went home with the 
 father, and when He saw the Httle girl. He said, 
 "She is not dead, but sleepeth." The people laughed 
 at Christ and told Him the little girl was dead. 
 Christ woke her as gently as Spring wakes the seed, 
 took her by the hand and she arose. She was only 
 asleep. The word "cemetery" means sleeping- place. 
 As Mother Spring wakes the seed, so your mother 
 wakes you. Our greatest friend, Christ, will some 
 day wake all who sleep, all who are called dead. 
 Listen ! 
 
 "My beloved spake, and said unto me, 'Rise up, my 
 love, my fair one, and come away, for lo, the Winter 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 is past, the rain is over and gone, the flowers appear 
 on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is 
 come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land ; 
 the fig-tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines 
 with the tender grapes give a good smell. Arise, my 
 love, my fair one, and come away.' " 
 
 Would it not be splendid to write on the tomb, "I 
 sleep, but my heart waketh." 
 
 Rejoice, for Spring is here! 
 
 Q4, 
 
FOR FOURTH SUNDAY IN SPRING 
 
 IVrUSIC LESSONS 
 
 "Add to your faith."— 77 Pet, i., 5 
 
 MOUNTAINS and mice are musical. In Hawaii 
 there is a singing mountain. If two persons 
 whose voices chord, sing from one of the heights, the 
 mountain will catch up the song and take it from cliff 
 to cliff, carrying it off into the distance in one direc- 
 tion, and bringing it back to another, until all parts 
 of the mountain are singing. Then if the singers 
 suddenly cease their song, the mountains will go on 
 singing it for quite a long time after they are silent. 
 The natives hear the music and believe that the souls 
 of their departed warriors have gone to this moun- 
 tain and are singing of their victories. 
 
 I read of a mouse that sang like a small bird. 
 The writer said it looked like other mice, but acted 
 like a wren. Such a quivering, musical warble he 
 said, could scarcely come from any other throat 
 than that of a tiny bird. The writer said this mouse 
 was caught and put in a cage and petted like a 
 canary. In Japan there are insects that sing, and 
 
 25 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 one that sings very sweetly is called "Insect Bell," 
 its voice being like a little silver bell. 
 
 Mountains may be musical, but they can not take 
 music lessons. It may be true that mice can sing, 
 but I fear they would make some excuse if they had 
 to practise. Probably they would tell mama there 
 was a cat in the music-room. 
 
 Job tells us that when God laid the foundations of 
 this world, "The morning stars sang together, and 
 all the sons of God shouted for joy." I believe that 
 God put part of that song into everything He made. 
 We find music in stones, in running brooks, in spin- 
 ning tops, music in mountains and mice, in animals 
 and men, and, best of all, in boys and girls — music 
 everywhere. The world is full of music that came 
 from heaven. When you came into the world, voice 
 culture was your first music lesson. You worked 
 overtime and woke up at night to practise. Your cry 
 was not very musical, but it was the best you could 
 do at that age. Now you can do better, and you 
 should do your best. Every boy and girl should take 
 music lessons. God put a song in your heart and you 
 should learn to sing it. I heard Doctor Talmage 
 say, that any one that can sing and won't sing, should 
 be sent to Sing Sing. 
 
 26 
 
MUSIC LESSONS 
 
 In your soul there are eight sweet voices. One is 
 a solo voice, and seven are chorus voices. One sings 
 and the others join in the chorus. In our text the 
 little word "add" means to chorus. What Peter 
 really said was: "Chorus to your faith virtue; and 
 to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; 
 and to temperance patience; and to patience godli- 
 ness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to 
 brotherly kindness charity." You have eight sweet 
 singers in your heart. Faith is the leader, and you 
 should train the other seven to join in the chorus. 
 Faith is trust in God. If your soul is sad, faith 
 sings. When the meadow is damp and cold, the lark 
 rises above the fog into the sunshine and sings. When 
 your soul is cold and dreary, your faith, hke the lark, 
 rises above your sorrows and sings. Do you want 
 to know about the other voices that are to sing in the 
 chorus ? 
 
 The first one is virtue. Virtue means strength and 
 courage. The next one is knowledge. Let your 
 knowledge, all you know and all you learn, join and 
 sing with faith. Temperance is the third voice — the 
 voice that can not sing if you eat too much, play too 
 much, dance too much, play cards too often ; the voice 
 that strong drink spoils. The fourth voice is patience. 
 
 27 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 Impatience is patience out of tune. When you feel 
 impatient, stop and tune up. Tune patience to the 
 key-note of faith. Next comes a wonderful voice, 
 godliness — a voice like God's voice. This voice can 
 not join in wicked songs. The sixth voice of the 
 chorus is brotherly kindness. It is being as nice to 
 your sister as you are to some other boy's sister. 
 There was a brother and sister who loved each other 
 very much. The brother was taken ill and died. His 
 little sister held his hand and kept saying, "This 
 hand never struck me." That was brotherly kind- 
 ness. The seventh and last voice in the chorus is 
 charity. Charity suffereth long and is kind, charity 
 is love. All these singers are in the music-room of 
 your soul. Give them music lessons. Teach them to 
 sing in chorus. 
 
 Our story was written by a friend of yours, and 
 is about a class of eight boys and girls who took 
 lessons from Professor Music. Miss Faith had a strong 
 soprano voice. She sang the solo parts. Master Vir- 
 tue, Miss Knowledge, Master Temperance, Miss Pa- 
 tience, Masters Godliness and Brotherly Kindness and 
 Miss Charity were in the Chorus. Professor Music had 
 much trouble in training them. Faith would get a 
 doubt in her throat and could not sing. Virtue would 
 
 28 
 
MUSIC LESSONS 
 
 act silly. Knowledge would lose her lines. One night 
 Temperance ate too much and was out till twelve 
 o'clock. The next rehearsal found him dull, stupid 
 ajid cross. Patience would "flat," and sometimes lost 
 the key. Godliness came to the class with a lie in 
 his heart, which is worse than "a frog in the throat." 
 Brotherly Kindness made sport of Miss Charity's 
 "Merry Widow" hat; said it was too large for a 
 parasol, and not large enough for an umbrella. She 
 got cross and would not sing. Poor Professor Music ! 
 What a difficult task he had of training Faith, and 
 of teaching all the other children to sing in the 
 chorus. He took them all to the Junior Congrega- 
 tion on Sunday and found them wiser and better on 
 Monday. Week after week he worked until they all 
 sang like angels. Miss Faith reached high C without 
 a break, and the "Hallelujah Chorus" sounded like 
 the morning stars singing together. The audience 
 was about to shout for joy when Professor Music 
 struck the stand with his baton. He had missed one 
 voice. Miss Knowledge thought that when all were 
 singing so loud and sweet, her voice would not be 
 missed. But each voice had a place and was needed 
 for a full chorus. Professor Music missed that one 
 voice. Learn to chorus 3^our faith. 
 
 29 
 
FOB FIFTH SUNDAY IN SPRING 
 THE GARDEN OF THE SOUL 
 
 "Their soul shall be as a watered garden."— /er. xxxi., 12 
 
 "fnriHEY will need horses for their Spring plow- 
 X ing." In each of these eight words was a 
 handful of seeds. Whenever the plow turned a fur- 
 row these seeds grew and blossomed. Does this 
 sound like a riddle.? We shall try to make it flow 
 through your mind like a rill. At the close of the 
 war, General Grant, the great leader of the Northern 
 Army, and General Lee, the great leader of the 
 Southern Army, met on April 9, 1865, at Appo- 
 mattox. General Lee surrendered the Confederate 
 Army of Northern Virginia, about 26,000 soldiers, 
 practically ending the Civil War. In a friendly and 
 brotherly way they brought the war to a close. 
 
 General Lee was as brave in defeat as he had been 
 in victory, and was ready to make a complete surren- 
 der. General Grant was as manly in victory as he 
 had been in defeat, and was ready to accept surrender 
 as a brother. To General Lee he said : "Your soldiers 
 are mainly small farmers. They will need horses for 
 their Spring plowing. Let them keep them and 
 
 30 
 
THE GARDEN OF THE SOUL 
 
 ride home to their farms." So the boys in gray, 
 on horseback, returned to the beautiful Southland, 
 and the boys in blue hurried back to their homes in the 
 North. Many of the boys in gray began to plow 
 and to get ready for the coming harvest. If a gun 
 were fired near the field, the old war horses would 
 throw up their heads and start to run. They forgot 
 that the plow was not made for a row. The farmer 
 would say, "Whoa! whoa! You old fighters, don't 
 you know the war at last is past?" Then he would 
 talk, half to the horses and half to himself, of the 
 battles, lost and won, and of loved ones in unmarked, 
 unknown graves. The farmer would often repeat 
 Grant's words : "They will need horses for the Spring 
 plowing." Each word had seeds of kindness that 
 dropt with the farmer's tears into the furrow back 
 of the plow. 
 
 Flowers of sympathy, flowers of kindness, flowers 
 of love ! You can not see them, but they are bloom- 
 ing everywhere, in the North and in the South, in 
 the minds and in the hearts of all good citizens. 
 Blooming in the garden of the soul. The graves of 
 brave soldiers are being covered with flowers. The 
 bright and fragrant flowers that we see represent 
 the heart flowers we can not see. 
 
 31 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 In a few years, on Memorial day, you boys and 
 girls must scatter the flowers. The florist will furnish 
 the flowers you can see, but in your hearts must be 
 cultivated the flowers of sympathy, kindness and love 
 that you can not see. A little girl was asked how she 
 raised such a beautiful flower. She said, "I loved it 
 a little, coaxed it a little, and pushed it a little." 
 The boys and girls in the North and South should 
 plant flowers of sympathy, kindness and love in the 
 garden of their soul, and should "love them a little, 
 coax them a httle, and push them a little." Then 
 they can meet on future Memorial days and cover 
 the soldiers' graves with flowers invisible on earth, 
 but visible in heaven. Flowers the angels can see 
 and over which God will pronounce a benediction of 
 peace. Plant flowers of sympathy, kindness and 
 love in the garden of your soul. 
 
 Little Mabel dropt a few flower-seeds into a box 
 filled with earth, and placed the box on the window- 
 sill. The sun loved the seeds a little, coaxed them a 
 little, and something inside the seeds pushed them a 
 little. In a few days little leaves began to peep up 
 to see what it all meant. They enjoyed the sun- 
 shine and air so well that in a few weeks they were 
 big and strong. Then came buds and beautiful 
 
THE GARDEN OF THE SOUL 
 
 flowers, and a fragrance that filled the room. Each 
 day Mabel would carry the box into a little back 
 room and leave it for an hour with an invalid child. 
 Sometimes she would take a flower to an old lady 
 over the way. Mabel's mother told her that every 
 heart was a little box filled with "Garden of Eden" 
 earth. Then Mabel began to drop kind words into 
 every heart and watched them grow. Mother told 
 her to love them a little, coax them a little, and push 
 them a little. Soon she saw with great delight 
 the buds and flowers of love, bright faces, smiles and 
 thanks. She planted seeds in the garden of her soul. 
 I have a story for you. It was a cold, stormy 
 Sunday morning in the early Spring of 1909. Your 
 pastor was working on the Junior sermon when the 
 door-bell rang. A special-delivery package was put 
 on his desk, close to the manuscript of the Junior 
 sermon. What was it? Off* came the string, the 
 wrapper and the lid. What did he find? Flowers, 
 sweet, fragrant flowers ! Where could they have 
 come from? In the corner of the box was a letter 
 from a Httle girl in the South to your pastor in the 
 North. From a sweet little friend of his, who reads 
 the Junior sermon every week. When our gardens 
 here in the North were frozen and the air was full 
 
 33 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 of snow, she, of the sunny South, where the birds 
 were singing, had gathered these flowers from her 
 garden and sent them to your pastor. When he 
 came to church the storm was left outside and your 
 sermon was full of flowers. The beautiful flowers 
 were temporal and in a few days faded and died. 
 
 But, in Marguerite's heart the flowers of sympa- 
 thy, kindness and love do not fade, will not die. I 
 am glad my little friend did not wait in order to send 
 the flowers for my grave. I enjoyed them so i^xuch 
 better on my desk. 
 
 Some of the brave and bullet-scarred soldiers are 
 still living in the North and in the South. A few 
 flowers given to them now will be enjoyed much bet- 
 ter than wreaths of flowers placed some day on their 
 graves. Only a few more years must pass before 
 we of the North and South will meet on the same 
 Memorial day, and together decorate all the graves 
 because the men were brave. Let us be patient while 
 we wait. 
 
 Plant patience in the garden of thy soul. 
 
 The roots are bitter, but the fruits are sweet, 
 
 And when at last, it grows a tree complete. 
 Beneath its spreading shade the burning heat 
 
 And burden of the war shall lose control. 
 Plant patience in the garden of thy soul. 
 34 
 
FOR SIXTH SUNDAY IN SPRING 
 GRANDPA'S DREAM 
 
 "The voice of the bird." — Eccl. xii., 4 
 
 IF birds could talk we would not walk; we would 
 run. How frightened we would be if a bird cried 
 out from a tree : "Do not throw stones at me." "Take 
 my feather off your hat." This is a short sermon, 
 but before you go may I tell you a story of a long, 
 long time ago.? 
 
 A man had a beautiful garden, and he was in the 
 habit of rising early in the morning to watch the 
 flowers grow and the buds blossom; to hear the 
 birds sing and the church-bells ring. One day he 
 noticed that some flower beds were damaged, and 
 each day the rose-bushes were broken. He hid him- 
 self behind the hedge and saw a little bird, no larger 
 than a sparrow, pick at the leaves of the flowers until 
 the petals fell off one by one. He set a trap and 
 caught the bird. The man was very angry and was 
 about to wring the little bird's neck when, to his 
 amazement, the bird opened its mouth and began 
 to plead for its life. 
 
 35 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 "Do not kill me, please, of what use would my 
 death be to you? I am only a little bird, and you 
 are a big man. There is not even enough of me to 
 satisfy your hunger. Please be kind to me. If you 
 will spare my life I will teach you three wonderful 
 truths, which will prove very helpful to you." The 
 man was so surprized that he released the bird and 
 started to run. The bird cried, "Come back, come 
 back, I am not large enough to hurt you." He turned 
 back and asked the bird to tell him the three great 
 truths. The little bird flew to a higher limb and then 
 said: "The first truth is, do not be unhappy over 
 anything you have lost that can not be recalled. For 
 example, do not cry over spilled milk. The pitcher is 
 broken, the milk is gone. It is fooHsh to cry over 
 what you can not get back. Second, do not covet or 
 try to obtain what you can not reach. For example, 
 if an apple on the lower branch is as good as one on 
 the top branch, why leave the lower one and covet 
 the one you can not reach? Do not covet what you 
 can not reach. Third, do not believe what is impossi- 
 ble, for it makes you seem like a foolish man. If you 
 believe things that are impossible, even the little chil- 
 dren will laugh at you. Remember these three truths, 
 for you will need them." The little bird flew to a 
 
GRANDPA'S DREAM 
 
 still higher limb and then began to laugh loud and 
 long. The man asked : "Why are you so merry ?" 
 
 "Oh, you fooHsh man," said the bird. "Do you 
 know what you have lost.? Had you killed me you 
 would have found in me a pearl as large as a goose- 
 egg, and you could have lived in comfort the rest of 
 your days." 
 
 When the man heard this he tried to coax the bird 
 back. He extended his hand and said : "Come to me, 
 little bird, come ; I'll take good care of you, you will 
 be as dear to me as a child. I shall make you very 
 happy." 
 
 The bird only laughed the louder and said : ^'How 
 foolish of you to forget the three truths so soon. I 
 told you not to be unhappy over anything you have 
 lost that can not be recalled. You have lost me. 
 You are now trying to get me back. You are un- 
 happy because I can not be recalled. I saw you 
 angry; never again can you catch me. You do not 
 have wings, I have — ha ! ha ! Why do you pray for 
 happiness and then make yourself unhappy? The 
 second thing I told you was not to covet nor try 
 to obtain what you can not reach. I am beyond your 
 reach, but still can preach. Listen to my Junior 
 sermon and do not covet what you can not reach. 
 
 37 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 This I preach and teach. The third thing I told you 
 was not to believe what is impossible. Now you be- 
 lieve I have in my body a pearl the size of a goose- 
 egg, when, Lo ! my whole body is not as large as a 
 goose-egg. You are not a good pupil, you forget as 
 soon as you hear. I am afraid you could not pass 
 a good mid-term examination. You are too old to 
 learn. Go home and teach these three truths to your 
 grandchildren. They are young and can remember. 
 They have a long time to live, a long time to be 
 happy." 
 
 The httle bird flew away and everything faded 
 away from the man. He faded away from himself. 
 The next thing he knew some one was leading him 
 out of the darkness. When he opened his eyes there 
 were the grandchildren ready for a morning romp. 
 At the breakfast table he told them his dream about 
 the little bird in the garden. A dream, a dream, a 
 dream, but out of the dream three truths. The 
 grandchildren never forgot the three truths in 
 Grandpa's dream. These three truths made them 
 happy all their days. 
 
 38 
 
I 
 
 FOR SEVENTH SUNDAY IN SPRING 
 
 SENTIMENT 
 
 "Why was this waste?" — Mark xiv., 4 
 
 HEAR some one asking "What is sentiment ?" It 
 is something that comes when you are not looking 
 for it. It comes from your heart. Let us take an 
 example. As you walk along the street you see a 
 man whipping a boy. This makes you think. If 
 you hold the "think" in your brain it will keep cool 
 and you will be able to reason about it. You will 
 say, probably the boy was bad and needed a whip- 
 ping. You can put the thought in cold storage ; that 
 is, in your brain, and pass on. But if you let the 
 thought get into your heart, warm storage, you will 
 begin to be sorry for the boy. A tear will come 
 into your eye, and you will go up and ask the man 
 not to whip the boy. "Please, mister, give him an- 
 other chance." The feeling that made you sorry for 
 the boy is what we call "sentiment." It is a cold 
 thought from your brain warmed up in your heart. 
 You should think, and think hard. Make your brain 
 
 39 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 work. But you have a heart as well as a brain, and 
 through your heart you should pass all your think- 
 ing. The warm heart will soften the edges of your 
 thought and give you some "sentiment." 
 
 There are some people who think they should obey 
 what the brain says and not listen to the heart. I 
 heard of a boy who decided that he would only put 
 "think" through his brain, and not through his heart. 
 He was determined to be guided by reason alone, and 
 not by any sentim.ent. One day he did something 
 that was wrong and that made his mother cry. He 
 took one of her tears to his chemistry teacher and 
 asked him to analyze it. The teacher told him this 
 tear was composed of phosphate of Hme and soda. 
 The boy went home and told his mother that when 
 she cried she was wasting her lime and soda. He did 
 not have any "sentiment." Another boy saw his 
 mother crying and the tear on her cheek not only 
 went through his brain, but he let it go through his 
 heart. His heart told him that the mother's tear 
 was composed of love and sympathy. Putting his 
 arms about his mother's neck, he said: "Mother, I 
 am sorry to vex you, I shall be a good boy and not 
 make you cry again." One boy used his brain, but 
 not his heart. The other boy used brain and heart. 
 
 40 
 
SENTIMENT 
 
 Which of the boys do you Hke better? I am sure 
 that you hke better the boy who let his thought pass 
 through his heart, and whose sentiment prompted him 
 to be kind to his mother. 
 
 When Christ was visiting in Bethany a woman 
 broke a box of precious ointment and poured it on 
 His head. Her thought about Christ was not in her 
 brain only, but also in her heart. Those who had 
 no sentiment said, "Why was this waste?" They did 
 not let the thought into their hearts. She was pour- 
 ing out her love, but all they saw was the ointment. 
 Cold brain said she was wasting the ointment. The 
 broken box became her monument. Christ said where- 
 soever His gospel is preached in all the world, this 
 story shall be told. 
 
 I want my Juniors to think about Christ. "What 
 think ye of Christ ?" But do not forget to hold your 
 "think" in your heart until there is a tear in your 
 eye. Your brain will tell you that Christ is the great- 
 est man who ever lived. Your heart will tell you 
 to love Him as your best friend and Savior. Love 
 is a great sentiment. Do not forget that there is 
 plenty of room in your brain and heart for both rea- 
 son and sentiment. Napoleon had a big brain and 
 could reason out great problems. He also had a big 
 
 41 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 heart, and had room for sentiment. One day when 
 marching rapidly to a great battle, he stopt to turn 
 over a turtle that was struggling on its back. That 
 was a good "sentiment." 
 
 The woman who poured the ointment on Christ's 
 head got a great reward. But she was not expecting 
 any reward. I read in the Christian Herald of a 
 girl who got a reward for sentiment. This young 
 girl had nursed an aged relative who was neglected 
 by her other relatives. When the woman died she left 
 some money and an old watch. This watch was to be 
 given to whichever one of the heirs might choose to 
 take it instead of five hundred dollars. One after 
 another examined it, and said: 
 
 "Give me the five hundred dollars, the old watch 
 rattles but will not tick." 
 
 But the girl who had nursed the old lady said she 
 would take the watch because it had her friend's 
 picture in it. She was ridiculed for her sentiment, 
 which the other relatives called foolishness. But she 
 got an unexpected reward for her sentiment. One 
 day, when looking at the picture, she accidentally 
 touched a secret spring in the watch. It flew open 
 and she saw why the watch would not tick. The 
 wheels had all been taken out. What do you suppose 
 
SENTIMENT 
 
 they had heard rattling in the watch? Not loose 
 wheels, but beautiful diamonds worth thousands of 
 dollars. Each stone in the watch looked like a big 
 tear molded by sympathy into a precious diamond. 
 Her sacrifice and love were not wasted. 
 
FOB EIGHTH SUNDAY IN SPRING 
 APPLE-BLOSSOM SUNDAY 
 
 "I raised thee up under the apple-tree." — Solomon's Song viii., 5 
 
 THE apple-trees are in bloom. I hope you chil- 
 dren are all enjoying this beautiful world and 
 its apple-blossoms. There are many delightful days 
 and weeks and months, and as visitors to this planet 
 you can be very happy. If you had known you were 
 coming, what would you have brought with you ? God 
 knew you were on the way and He sent with you the 
 three things you need most for a happy visit. First, 
 a portable house, called a body, in which to live. Sec- 
 ond, an intellect to help you to enjoy the world and 
 the people you are visiting. This intellect is very 
 busy gathering a library in the memory room, hang- 
 ing pictures on the wall, teaching you how to use the 
 tools in your workshop, and doing a thousand other 
 things. Third, a spirit that keeps you from get- 
 ting lost in this world. The spirit tells you not to 
 forget yourself in this world; you are only visitors. 
 It tells you of the beautiful world and home to which 
 you are to return after your visit here. A spirit into 
 
 44 
 
APPLE-BLOSSOM SUNDAY 
 
 which you go and close the door when you talk with 
 your Father in heaven. 
 
 Had you known you were coming, what else would 
 you have brought ? A small boy said, after his mother 
 had punished him, "If I had been given the choice 
 of a mother, I would have taken grandma, she is so 
 good to me." Wliat would have been your choice 
 of a birthplace ? Our text tells of the beautiful birth- 
 place of a little girl. "I raised thee up under the 
 apple-tree." It is a wonderful song-story. The little 
 girl had grown up and with her husband had gone 
 back as bride and groom to the old home. He pointed 
 to the apple-tree where she was born — the same 
 apple-tree under whose shade they had often sat, and 
 where he had told her of his love for her. Do you 
 ► wish you had been born under an apple-tree.? You 
 can if you will. The Bible says you must be born 
 again, born a second time. You can select your 
 second birthplace. There is a spiritual world right 
 here under the apple-blossoms, and wherever God is, 
 into which you can be born. The Bible says Christ 
 is like an apple-tree. "As the apple-tree among the 
 trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons." 
 As a child of God you are born again, born in the 
 likeness of Christ, born under the apple-tree. Pos- 
 
 45 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 sibly, when the visit is ended and you return to your 
 home in heaven, you will sit down under the shade of 
 a tree by the river of life and talk to Christ about His 
 love. I hope the tree of life in Paradise will be like 
 an apple-tree in blossom. 
 
 Apple-blossoms are beautiful, but there is some- 
 thing more useful to follow. After the blossoms 
 come the apples. Apples are blossoms filled with 
 fragrance, sunshine, colors from the rainbow and 
 nectar. In Europe, before our ancestors became 
 Christians, it was the custom when a child died to 
 put an apple in his hand with which to play in Para- 
 dise. There is a legend that represents the angel of 
 death, whose duty it is to separate the souls from 
 the bodies of those who are dying, holding an apple 
 close to the one who is about to depart from life, so 
 that the first thing the spirit will see in the new world 
 will be a beautiful apple. "As the apple-tree among 
 the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the 
 sons." We as Christians expect to see Christ first in 
 heaven. 
 
 It is time to close, but I must give you two minutes 
 in order to hear a quaint apple story. If your 
 father and mother came from the country they will 
 tell you how, as children, they played under the apple- 
 
 46 
 
APPLE-BLOSSOM SUNDAY 
 
 trees. Children play in the orchard and put sticks 
 for legs in big apples and set them up as animals. 
 With a little imagination added to the apples and 
 sticks they soon have a menagerie. This quaint play 
 has an interesting origin. In early days, the people 
 of Athens had a place for worship just across the 
 river Esopus. They took sheep across the river as 
 a sacrifice to their gods. There came a very heavy 
 storm and the river was so swollen that the worship- 
 ers could not take the sheep across. Some one re- 
 called that the Greek words for sheep and for apples 
 were the same. They then put wooden legs on the 
 apples and offered them as a sacrifice. They used 
 the same word and believed their gods would not 
 know the difference. Once a year they put apples 
 on legs and sacrificed them in commemoration of 
 this occasion. Children playing under the apple- 
 trees are still commemorating the old Greek sacrifice. 
 Christ is compared to an apple-tree, He is so 
 beautiful. But we must not put these apple-blossoms, 
 with which our church is decorated to-day, in place 
 of Christ. We do not worship apple-blossoms, but 
 we use them and enjoy their great beauty as a re- 
 minder of Christ, and of how we can be born under 
 the beauty of His love. 
 
 47 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 After your apple-blossom service take these flow- 
 ers to the sick, take armfuls of them to the chil- 
 dren's ward in the hospital. Tell them the Bible 
 stories. 
 
 But you can not tell what you do not know. Be- 
 gin to-day and read and commit everything you can 
 find about apples. Ask friends to help you to find 
 the places. In your Bible you will find the apples 
 spoken of eleven times. In one of these you will 
 learn how beautiful your words can be made. "A 
 word fitly spoken is hke apples of gold in pictures 
 of silver." 
 
 48 
 
FOB NINTH SUNDAY IN SPRING 
 "WHY?" 
 
 "The sparrow has found an house, and the swallow a nest for 
 
 herself, where she may lay her young, even Thy altars." — 
 
 Psalm Ixxxiv., 3 
 
 GOD sent children into this world to ask ques- 
 tions. In this way they educate their parents 
 and friends. If any person attempts to answer a 
 child's questions for one year he will receive a liberal 
 education. I am sure my Juniors want to ask me 
 a question. I am ready, but do not make the ques- 
 tion too hard. Why did sparrows and swallows 
 build their nests in the church ? I will tell you a story 
 while I am trying to answer your question. 
 
 One morning at family prayers, Uncle Jim was 
 reading the eighty-fourth Psalm. Little Dickie, who 
 was nestling on his uncle's knee, said: "Uncle Jim, 
 why did the sparrow and the swallow build their nests 
 in the church?" His uncle wanted a little time to 
 think, so he asked Edie. She thought it was because 
 the mother bird wanted her children on Sunday, to 
 hear the Junior sermon and the good music. Annie, 
 
 49 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 the older sister, said: "I know, Uncle Jim. They 
 heard the minister say that parents should bring 
 their little children to church, so the birds brought 
 their children to church in a cradle." 
 
 "Cradle.?" said Uncle Jim. 
 
 "Yes, Uncle Jim, didn't you know an egg is the 
 baby bird's cradle? Once I saw a little bird in the 
 shell and it was folded up and sound asleep with its 
 head, I think, under its wing. I once heard papa 
 say, 'The church is a home for parents and a nest 
 for their children.' " 
 
 Uncle Jim was smiling and all the children said: 
 "Uncle Jim, do tell us why." Their uncle asked 
 them to listen to a story in which they were to find 
 an answer to their "Why.?" 
 
 "Not long ago, when I was a little boy, my father 
 took me to a shipyard where they were building a 
 ship named Robin. Can you guess why she was 
 named for a bird.?" 
 
 Dickie said they called her Robin so she could fly 
 through the water. 
 
 Edie said, "I know, because we all love the robin 
 redbreast so." 
 
 Annie said, "I think the ship-builder had read the 
 legend that when Jesus was being led to Calvary, a 
 
 50 
 
"WHY?"' 
 
 bird flew down and plucked from His brow one of 
 the thorns of the crown. The blood spurted from 
 the wound and reddened the bird's breast. That is 
 why we all love and protect the robin redbreast." 
 
 "Not one of you has it right. I will tell you the 
 story of the robin ship. 
 
 "While the ship was being built a bird began to 
 build her nest in the bow. The ship-builder was a 
 good man and did not want to destroy the nest, so 
 he had the men leave that part of the ship until the 
 little birds were able to fly. There were soon four 
 little robins who were watched every day until they 
 flew away. Later the papa and mama robins 
 came back and again built their nest on this boat. 
 Now why do you suppose they built it there ? They 
 had learned that their little home nest was pro- 
 tected and that the men were their friends." 
 
 Then all the children cried out, "Uncle Jim! we 
 know why the sparrows and the swallows built their 
 nests in the church. Because good people were in 
 the church and would protect them." 
 
 Their uncle told them that this was the correct 
 answer. God's house is a house of protection and 
 blessing. If in God's house there is protection for 
 the sparrow, the most worthless bird, and a nest for 
 
 51 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE , 
 
 the swallow, the most restless bird, surely God will 
 take good care of His Juniors. There is a blessing 
 for every one who dwells in the house of God. 
 "Blessed are they that dwell in thy house." 
 
 "What became of the ship.?" asked Dickie. 
 
 "She sailed off across the seas," replied Uncle Jim, 
 "and I am sure she was always a fortunate vessel. 
 Her builder was called Uncle Robin, and all the 
 children loved him." 
 
 After Uncle Jim read the Psalm they all knelt 
 and prayed for the Junior Congregation, the par- 
 ents' church nest for their children. 
 
FOR TENTH SUNDAY IN SPRING 
 PAINTING THE FACE ON THE INSIDE 
 
 "Saw his face as it had been the face of an angel." 
 — Acts vi., 15 
 
 YOUR face has two sides — the outside and the 
 inside. It is like a stained-glass window — 
 needs a light inside to reveal its beauty outside. 
 Education hghts your lamps. The school work 
 lights the intellect, the church work lights the soul. 
 These lamps shine through what is called character. 
 If the character is beautiful, the face is beautiful; if 
 the character is not beautiful, the face is ugly. 
 
 The creation of man was God's best and greatest 
 work. The face is the most beautiful part of His 
 best and greatest work. In an old legend we read 
 that when Adam was driven out of the Garden of 
 Eden he asked the angel who kept the gate, "What 
 shall I bring back to God when I return?" The 
 angel replied, "Bring Him back the face He gave you 
 in the garden, and I will let you in." A child's face is 
 like the face God gave man in Eden. Keep your 
 
 53 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 lamps burning and jour face will be your "pass" 
 into God's garden. 
 
 Children of a larger growth sometimes paint their 
 faces on the outside. Their lamps need trimming. 
 Stephen's face was painted on the inside. His brain 
 lamp and soul-lamp were shining through a beautiful 
 character. Those who watched him when he was 
 being stoned "saw his face as it had been the face of 
 an angel." Before the beautiful face the gates of 
 heaven swung wide open. 
 
 I found a story for you in Zion's H*erald, Shall I 
 tell it.? 
 
 "Painting, are you.?" asked Uncle Jim. "Well! 
 well !" and he studied Patty's rose and Betty's morn- 
 ing-glory with the eye of an art student. "How 
 would you like to paint bottles as the Chinese paint 
 them.?" 
 
 "Do tell us about the bottles," shouted the twins, 
 for they hoped a story was coming. 
 
 "Wait till I go up to my trunk," said Uncle Jim. 
 And they did wait, for so many pretty and interest- 
 ing things had come out of Uncle Jim's trunk since 
 he had been visiting them. He soon came down, hold- 
 ing a little bottle not more than three inches long, 
 and its neck so small you could not possibly have 
 
 54 
 
PAINTING THE FACE ON THE INSIDE 
 
 thrust even a very slender lead-pencil into it. It was 
 painted beautifully, too, the twins thought. On one 
 side a Chinese lady with flowing robes of pink and 
 blue and green, carrying gorgeous flowers, and with 
 a long-legged bird nestling against her; and on the 
 other side a vase of cherry-blossoms and a whole 
 groiip of curious pieces of Chinese pottery. Then 
 there were decorations in black all around the edges 
 and side of the bottle, a Chinese lettering that the 
 twins looked at with wonder. 
 
 "And what a lot of painting to go on such a little 
 bottle !" exclaimed Patty. 
 
 "In the bottle," corrected Uncle Jim. "That was 
 all painted on the inside of the bottle, and I saw the 
 artist doing it myself." 
 
 "Oh! oh!" said the twins together. 
 
 "There is just one place in the world where they 
 do this," Uncle Jim went on, "a town in China that 
 I visited to see them work. The artists are in a 
 room that has no side windows at all, but is lighted 
 by glass overhead. They lie on their backs, on a 
 mass of green branches and hold these little bottles 
 up against the light. The glass has been carefully 
 ground inside, and they use very slender-pointed 
 brushes. You can see what a tiny opening the bottle 
 
 55 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 has. Think of putting your brush through that and 
 then managing to paint from the inside. Yes, the 
 bristles are curved a httle, or they could not possibly 
 do it. Pretty neat piece of work, isn't it.?" 
 
 "Oh, yes !" Patty drew a long breath, and Betty 
 drew another. It was all so true and exact. Not a 
 sKp had the brush made. Patty and Betty are now 
 coaxing Uncle Jim to get them a tiny electric-light 
 put inside the bottle — they want to see the pictures 
 at night when they wake up after a dream. 
 
 Character is painted best when you are on your 
 back looking up to God. The best light comes from 
 above. The brush is made from your thoughts, the 
 colors are found in your conduct, and the pictures 
 are sketched by your imagination. The transparent 
 something upon which the pictures are painted is 
 called character. The lamps back of and shining 
 through character are your intellect and your soul. 
 
 If the angel looked at your face, would he pass 
 you into the garden ? 
 
 56 
 
FOR ELEVENTH SUNDAY IN SPRING 
 HEAD AND HEELS 
 
 **I thougkt on my ways, and turned my feet." — Psalm cxix., 59 
 
 "X XE turned on his heel." The boy was angry 
 JL X and said, "I just turned on my heel and 
 went out." His heel was the turn-table of his body. 
 What part of his body was farthest away from his 
 heel.? "His head," you all answer. There was some- 
 thing in his head that turned his heel. What was 
 it.? John has the right answer ; it was a thought. He 
 had an angry thought. This thought was sent from 
 his brain and through his muscles into his heel. On 
 his heel he turned and went out of the house. 
 
 His mother listened to his story and got the angry 
 thought out of his mind. Then she put a good 
 thought in its place. He then turned on his heel, 
 went into the house again, and asked his father to 
 forgive him. The first thought made him unhappy 
 and turned his feet in the wrong direction. The 
 second and better thought made him happy and 
 turned his feet in the right direction. 
 
 A wrong thought not only starts you in the 
 wrong direction, but it wears out the heels of your 
 
 67 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 shoes. How can a thought wear out the heels of 
 your shoes? By sending you on a long trip. 
 
 A boy asked a stranger how far it was to the next 
 village. "If you continue the way you are going," 
 said the stranger, "it is about twenty-five thousand 
 miles ; but if you turn around and go the other way, 
 it is only about half a mile." A right thought turned 
 him in the right direction. His head saved his heels. 
 If you do your work in the wrong way you will have 
 to take more steps. Each step wears the heels of 
 your shoes. A story from The Boifs World will 
 explain this. A boy had charge of some cattle. 
 There was running water in the next field, but none 
 in the field where the cattle were. A bright boy 
 passing the place saw a young fellow carrying water 
 in buckets and pouring it into a trough. The boy 
 asked, "What are you carrying that water for.^*" 
 
 "Got to water my cattle, haven't I.?" said the 
 young man. 
 
 "Pretty hard work, isn't it?" 
 
 "Harder than asking questions," he replied. 
 
 "Well, why don't you open the gate and let the 
 cattle go to the water?" asked the boy. "It'll take 
 you all day to water them with those buckets." 
 
 "Sakes alive!" said the young man smiling, "I 
 58 
 
HEAD AND HEELS 
 
 hadn't thought of that scheme. I'll just do it." He 
 had now a new thought in his head that saved his 
 heels, and his shoes. He thought on his ways and 
 turned his feet. 
 
 Did I hear you say, "When I am grown up I am 
 going to think, I am going to think hard. The cob- 
 bler will not get rich mending my shoes." Better do 
 some thinking now. 
 
 There are many things you can think out when a 
 child that you will not have time to think out when 
 you are a busy man. A little story will explain. Sir 
 Isaac Newton had a pet cat. He cut a hole in the 
 door of his room so that the cat could come in and go 
 out. One day that cat came in with two kittens. 
 Sir Isaac did not take time to think, so he cut a 
 smaller hole in the door for the kittens. Any child 
 would take time to think that the kittens could go 
 through the same hole with their mother. 
 
 Children sometimes think better than men. A 
 boy saw a locomotive drawing an express-train stop 
 near where he was plowing. He left his plow and 
 horses, and, jumping over the fence, sat down on the 
 bank and fanned his hot, freckled face with his 
 dilapidated straw hat. He was a Yankee, and 
 "wanted to know" why the train had stopt. He soon 
 
 59 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 found that one of the side-rods of the engine was 
 broken and that the other side had stopt on a "dead 
 center," and would not move forward or backward. 
 The engineer and fireman consulted, but could not 
 think how to start the engine. The boy stood up 
 and waved his hat, shouting, "Back the last car up 
 the grade and let her come down kerchunk. That'll 
 start her." 
 
 The trainmen laughed, but the passengers sided 
 with the boy. Finally, orders were given to uncouple 
 the rear car. No less than fifty passengers caught 
 hold and pushed the car up the long incHne. At the 
 top the car was let go, and came faster and faster 
 down the grade, in spite of the engineer's shouting, 
 "Let her come easy!" the car crashed into the train 
 with a thump and pushed the engine off the dead 
 center. The boy had the better thought. Juniors 
 can think twice while Seniors are getting ready to 
 think once. 
 
 Before God made you He thought about you. He 
 made your brain as carefully as He made your heart. 
 If you love God with your heart you should think 
 about Him with your brain. You can make your 
 head save not only your heels but your heart as 
 well. Think! Think! Think! 
 
 60 
 
HEAD AND HEELS 
 
 Now you understand the text, "I thought on my 
 ways, and turned my feet." The man who wrote this 
 text said he had a wicked thought in his head and 
 that thought started his feet in the wrong direction. 
 Then he got a right thought about God and that 
 thought turned his feet in the right direction. "He 
 turned on his heel." It is your head that takes care 
 of your heels and keeps your feet in the right direc- 
 tion. 
 
 If my Juniors are not thinking right they are 
 walking in the wrong direction. Isn't it strange that 
 in the print of your foot God can read the thought 
 in your head.'* 
 
 Listen, Juniors, Longfellow is whispering to you: 
 
 We can make our lives sublime, 
 And, departing, leave behind us 
 Footprints on the sands of time. 
 
 61 
 
A 
 
 THE TWELFTH SUNDAY IN SPRING 
 FLAG DAY 
 
 "Lift ye up a banner." — Is. xiii., 2 
 
 RE any of you boys and girls ready and willing 
 to die? If so, you have my sympathy, as 
 there is no call for your services at the present time. 
 In 1860 there was a call for those who were willing 
 to die for their country. On Memorial day we deco- 
 rate their graves. The call of to-day is not for men, 
 women and children who are ready to die for, but 
 for all who are ready to live for, their country. It 
 is more difficult to live for a cause than it is to die 
 for it. You can die in a few moments, but it takes 
 a long time to live if you keep at it. Are you boys 
 and girls ready to live every hour and every day 
 and every week and every month and every year for 
 your country? 
 
 On Memorial day we had our Stars and Stripes 
 hung from every window and unfurled from every 
 flag staff. You were called to "lift up a banner." 
 June 14th is Flag Day, and again we will be called 
 to unfurl our national flag. Would not this Sunday 
 
 62 
 
FLAG DAY 
 
 before Flag Day be a good time to celebrate a church 
 flag day? Probably some of you do not know that 
 we have a church flag. The Christian flag was born 
 in Brooklyn, September 24, 1897. The ground is 
 white, representing peace, purity and innocence. In 
 the upper corner is a blue square, the color of the 
 unclouded sky, emblematic of heaven, the home of the 
 Christian ; also a symbol of faith and trust. In the 
 center of the blue is the cross, the ensign and chosen 
 symbol of Christianity. The cross is red, typical of 
 Christ's blood. It is a flag that every church can 
 use, a flag under which all Christians can march. Let 
 us lift up this banner and under it march, not as 
 boys and girls who are willing to die for, but as boys 
 and girls who are willing to live for their church. 
 To-day this Christian flag is lifted up over our com- 
 munion-table. His banner over us is love. If you 
 boys and girls will march through the world with 
 this church-banner and give to the world what is 
 represented on the communion-table, you will become 
 great in the sight of God. 
 
 A story known as "The Feast of Cherries" will 
 illustrate what I mean. 
 
 The city of Hamburg was besieged and the people 
 in the city were very hungry, and the soldiers were 
 
 63 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 becoming too weak to defend the walls. Mr. Wolff, 
 a wealthy merchant, was returning to his house one 
 morning after helping all night to defend the city. 
 He was very sad, for on the morrow he knew that for 
 lack of food they would be forced to open the gates 
 to the enemy. As he passed to his house, through 
 his garden, he noticed that the cherries had ripened 
 and that the limbs of many trees were bending to the 
 ground with luscious fruit. A thought came to his 
 mind. The enemy, he knew, had plenty of food, but 
 were suffering from thirst. What would they not 
 give for the fruit hanging on his trees .^^ In a few 
 moments his plans were made, and he gathered to- 
 gether three hundred small children, all drest in 
 white, and loaded them with cherries on the branch. 
 The gates of the city were thrown open and the 
 children marched out on their strange errand. A boy 
 and girl beautifully drest led the procession, carry- 
 ing a white banner bearing a cross. This was their 
 flag of truce. When the leader of the enemy saw 
 the city gates open and hundreds of white-clad cliil- 
 dren coming out, he thought it was a trick by which 
 the people were trying to deceive him. When the 
 children came nearer, and he saw the little ones so 
 pale and tliin from want of food, he thought of his 
 
 64 
 
FLAG DAY 
 
 own children at home, and tears came to his eyes. 
 The three hundred children ran up to the soldiers 
 and handed them the cherries. When the rough sol- 
 diers tasted the cool, juicy cherries and saw these 
 beautiful, innocent children clothed in white, they 
 sent up a cheer that was heard in the city by the 
 starving people. When the little ones returned they 
 were accompanied by wagons loaded with food. The 
 little children had conquered the great army. For 
 many years the city of Hamburg celebrated this 
 event and called it "The Feast of Cherries." Throngs 
 of children marched through the streets, each one 
 carrying a cherry-tree branch. I hope they took the 
 cherries to the homes of the poor and to all who were 
 sick. 
 
 To-day we are celebrating the great victory of 
 Christ when He suffered and died on the cross. On 
 this communion-table are bread and wine — the bread 
 representing Christ's body, and the wine representing 
 his blood. Under this Christian flag, with its blue 
 field and red cross, you children can go out and take 
 to the hungry and thirsty people the Christ whom 
 they most need. You boys and girls can conquer 
 for Christ. I do not want you to be willing to die, 
 but I want you to be willing to live. Better than 
 
 65 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 "The Feast of Cherries" is "The Feast of Christ's 
 Love." 
 
 Lift up a banner and fasten it to the cross. Our 
 Flag-Day for Christ and for the world ! 
 
 Are the members of the Junior Congregation 
 ready and wiUing to Hve? 
 
 66 
 
FOR THIRTEENTH SUNDAY IN SPRING 
 INVISIBLE PRINCE AND ROSE SUNDAY 
 
 "Ask what I shall give thee." — // Chronicles i., 7 
 
 IF I could give you Juniors anything j^ou ask for, 
 any one thing in this world, what would you love 
 most to get? This question would make you think 
 quick, and a foolish request would almost make you 
 sick. One night, after Solomon came home from 
 church, God said, "Ask what I shall give thee." That 
 was enough to make Solomon nervous. Any one 
 thing in all the world he could have for the asking. 
 What in the world would he select! Let us suppose 
 you are in one of our big department stores and the 
 owner says, "Good-afternoon ; I am very glad to see 
 you here ; 'ask what I shall give you.' " Would that 
 make you nervous? Anything in that great store 
 you could have for the asking. Think, think, think, 
 what would you take? I know what God was afraid 
 Solomon would ask for ; He was afraid he might ask 
 for riches. But Solomon proved that he was a wise 
 man by asking for wisdom and knowledge. Solomon 
 said, "Give me wisdom, so that I may be a good king." 
 
 67 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 God was pleased and told Solomon he made a good 
 choice, and that He would give him many other gifts 
 that he did not ask for as best gifts. 
 
 God does not speak to you as I do, but He does in 
 some way say to every Junior, "Ask what I shall 
 give thee." If you are anxious to leave school and 
 to take a position so as to make money, then you are 
 asking for riches. If you are asking God to help 
 you in school work, so that you may have wisdom 
 and knowledge, then you are making the same choice 
 as Solomon made. You can have almost anything in 
 this world by making it your choice. You can be 
 rich if you will choose to give up all other pleasures, 
 working hard, and saving all you make. You can 
 have great wisdom and knowledge if you select them 
 as the best things in the world. Then you work 
 hard at school, give up other pleasures that would 
 take you away from your books. God is whispering 
 to every boy and girl, "Ask what I shall give thee." 
 
 Have you ever read the story of the invisible 
 prince? It is just a fairy story, but there is a truth 
 hid in the story. Here it is : 
 
 "A young man was in his garden playing a flute. 
 He felt something coihng about his leg, and, on 
 looking down, saw that it was an adder, a beautiful 
 
 68 
 
INVISIBLE PRINCE AND ROSE SUNDAY 
 
 little creature. It looked at him imploringly and 
 seemed to say, 'Please don't kill me?' The prince 
 carried it home and placed it in a room. A couple 
 of days after he went to the room to look for the 
 adder and found that it had disappeared, but in the 
 room was a beautiful fairy named Gentilla. She 
 wore a beautiful dress of purple satin, embroidered 
 with pearls and diamonds. 
 
 "She told the prince that she had been permitted 
 to come into the world and to go about doing good. 
 She said that she could stay on one condition — that 
 every one hundred years she would spend eight days 
 as a serpent. If any one killed her while in the form 
 of a serpent she would have to leave the world for- 
 ever. She thanked him for not destroying her, and 
 asked him if she could not do something to repay 
 him for his kindness. 'Ask what I shall give thee.' 
 'What can you give.?' asked the prince. 'I can make 
 you great, prolong your life, give you mines of dia- 
 monds, a house filled with gold, make you a poet or 
 a musician, or an artist, or a spirit of the air.' The 
 prince chose the last, and thereafter became known 
 as the 'Invisible Prince.' He could become invisible 
 and go any place and get anything he wanted. Out 
 of all these he chose to become an invisible prince. 
 
 69 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 His wish was granted. He remembered once having 
 seen some beautiful roses blooming in a forest far 
 away. Immediately he was lost to sight. He soon 
 mounted into the air, floated out of the window and 
 on over the forest stream and meadow land, until at 
 last he came to the spot where the roses were bloom- 
 ing. He plucked three and carried them back to the 
 fairy and offered them to her. But she said: 'You 
 must keep them. The first rose will give you money, 
 the second will tell you your true friends, for it will 
 glow brightly and freshen up when placed near a 
 true friend, while it will wither when placed near a 
 false friend. The third rose will give you long life.' 
 The young prince was very happy. If he needed 
 any money he would look at the rose and out would 
 roll the cash. If any one said he was his friend, the 
 prince would pin the rose on his coat. If he were a 
 true friend the rose would look fresh and would fill 
 the room with fragrance. If he were not a true 
 friend the rose would droop and no fragrance would 
 come out of it. He was never sick, for the third 
 rose gave him health and long life." 
 
 This is Rose Sunday. If some one should hand 
 you a beautiful rose and say: "Ask what I shall 
 give thee," what would you say? I am quite sure 
 
 70 
 
INVISIBLE PRINCE AND ROSE SUNDAY 
 
 many of you would say, "I want to be an invisible 
 prince or princess." Now, listen hard, for I have 
 something to tell you. I can give you a rose that 
 will do most wonderful things for you. Like the 
 little fairy, you are in this world for a time and are 
 living in a body. If you do what is right and do not 
 permit any sin to kill you, there is some great re- 
 ward for you. When I promise you a wonderful 
 rose, I mean a wonderful man who is called the "Rose 
 of Sharon." Your answer is correct. "The Rose of 
 Sharon is Christ." When Christ rose from the 
 tomb, He was the great Invisible Prince. He could 
 step into a house when all the doors were shut, and 
 He could think a hundred miles away, and while He 
 was thinking He was there. One day, when He was 
 ready to go back home to heaven. He just ascended 
 and was at home. If we love Christ and live as He 
 tells us to live, then some day we shall throw off this 
 body, rise from the grave, and become the invisible 
 prince or princess. Christ will supply all our needs. 
 We will never hunger nor thirst. The Rose of 
 Sharon will give us everything we need. 
 
 Only good people can be there. If a bad person 
 stood beside the Rose of Sharon this bad person would 
 wilt and fade. But every good person who stands 
 
 71 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 beside the Rose of Sharon will be brighter, sweeter 
 and more beautiful. Your life will have no end. 
 Christ is the Rose of Sharon, the rose that will make 
 you rich in heaven, that will give you true friends 
 and give you eternal life. 
 
 72 
 
SUMMER 
 
 (June 21-8eptember 20) 
 
 VACATION SONG 
 
 I have closed mj books and hidden my slate, 
 And thrown my satchel across the gate. 
 
 My school is out for a season of rest, 
 
 And now for the school-room I love the best. 
 
 My school-room Hes on the meadow wide, \ 
 
 Where under the clover the sunbeams hide, 
 
 Where the long vines cHng to the mossy bars. 
 And the daisies twinkle like fallen stars. 
 
 T3 
 
FOB FIRST SUNDAY IN SUMMER 
 LOVE AND SUNSHINE COMPANY 
 
 "They shall prosper that love thee." — Psalm cxxii., 6 
 
 THERE are six words in this text, but two 
 of them are all I ask you to remember. One 
 is the word "love," which you all know, and that 
 leaves but one for you to learn. This one word has 
 seven letters: "p-r-o-s-p-e-r." They shall prosper 
 that love thee. What does prosper mean ? We think 
 of the prosperous person as one who makes money; 
 but deep down in the heart of the word prosper we 
 find that the meaning is not "to make money," but 
 "to make happy." "They shall be made happy that 
 love thee." This one word, then, gives you the 
 meaning of the six words in the text : they shall pros- 
 per, be made happy, that love Thee. Do we want to 
 be happy ? We shall be happy if we love God. Love 
 goes out from us to God, and comes back from God 
 to us in happiness. One of my friends visited Johns- 
 town, Pennsylvania, and sent me a picture of one of 
 the large stores in that city. On the top of the 
 building is a flagstaff, from which floats the name 
 of the firm, "Love and Sunshine Company, Whole- 
 
 75 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 sale Grocers." I hope they are prosperous, and they 
 surely are, for if love goes out from them to the 
 customers, it will come back to them in sunshine. I 
 wish we had a flag floating from this church while 
 the Junior Congregation is worshiping. On it we 
 would place in big letters that all could read, "Love 
 and Sunshine Company, Wholesale and Retail Chris- 
 tians." 
 
 You Juniors are interested to-day in what looks 
 like a pure white flag spread over the table before 
 you. I believe you all know what it means. This is 
 the communion-table, covered with pure white linen. 
 To-day we are to eat of this bread and drink from 
 this cup in memory of Christ who loved us well enough 
 to die for us. It was dark, very dark, when He was 
 dying, but Christians have had sunshine ever since. 
 Love broke up the darkness and left in the sunshine. 
 We prosper, are happy, because we love Christ. At 
 the communion-table our love goes out to God, and 
 it comes back to us in happiness and sunshine. I 
 want you to think of the church as the "Love and 
 Sunshine Company, Wholesale and Retail Christians." 
 Now, some one asks, "How can we learn to love 
 Christ.?" A better question is, "How can we help 
 but love Christ.?" Shall I tell you a story.? 
 
 76 
 
LOVE AND SUNSHINE COMPANY 
 
 A gipsy girl? who lived the wild life of her tribe, 
 had an intelligent and pretty face. A German 
 painter got her to come to his studio in order that 
 he might paint her picture. I give you the story 
 just as I found it. 
 
 She had never been in an artist's studio before, and 
 did not fail to notice on the other side of the room 
 an unfinished painting of the "Crucifixion of our 
 Lord." One day she asked: 
 
 "Master, who is that?" 
 
 "That is Jesus Christ, son of Mary," replied the 
 painter carelessly. 
 
 "But was He a bad man, that they treated Him so 
 cruelly .''" 
 
 "Oh, no ! He was the best man that ever lived." 
 
 "Tell me more about Him." And so he did, tho 
 unwilling to do so. 
 
 Day after day, as the gipsy girl came into the 
 studio to have her picture painted, her face was 
 fixt upon this painting of Christ. As the last sitting 
 was over, and she was about to leave the room, she 
 whispered: "Master, how can you help loving Him, 
 who, you say, has died for you? If anybody had 
 loved me like that, oh, I'd like to die for him !" And 
 then, with a sad heart, she went back to her people. 
 
 77 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 And the painter! He was struck as with an ar- 
 row. God's spirit sent the words home to his heart. 
 He fell on his knees, and, covering his face with his 
 hands, confest before God's blest Son how for 
 twenty-seven years he had neglected Him, and sinned 
 against Him, and looking for pardon to that cross 
 of Jesus, gave his life to Him. His heart was filled 
 with a new joy, and he then became a worker for 
 Christ. He put aside the half-finished picture, in 
 which he had thought only of painting the suffering 
 of Christ, and began a fresh one, with his heart full 
 of love toward the Savior who had died for him. 
 
 As his love went out to Christ, happiness and sun- 
 shine came back to him. He began to prosper when 
 he began to love Christ, and his paintings of the 
 gipsy girl and of his Christ are famous and are in 
 the Diisseldorf Gallery, in Prussia. 
 
 The gipsy girl may not have known it, but she 
 was a member of the "Love and Sunshine Company." 
 
FOR SECOND SUNDAY IN SUMMER 
 THE PATHFINDER 
 
 "Teach me thy paths." — Psalm xxv., 4 
 
 WILL my Juniors fix two words in their minds ? 
 The first one is "vacation." It is related 
 to the word "vacant," not occupied. "Vacation" is 
 an intermission. By changing one letter in the word 
 "vacation" you will find the second word you are to 
 fix in your minds. It is "vocation." This word has a 
 meaning very different from "vacation." "Vacation" 
 means rest, "vocation" means work. A vacation is a 
 rest after work ; a vocation is work after rest. All 
 vocation and no vacation makes Jack a dull boy. All 
 vacation and no vocation makes Jack a dumb boy. 
 
 Each day you have vacation hours ; each week you 
 have two vacation days — Saturday and Sunday. A 
 vacation at Christmas, and again at Easter. Each 
 summer you have two months' vacation. Your vo- 
 cation is school work, and the harder the vocation 
 the happier the vacation. When you start to school 
 this week your vacation will become a vocation. 
 When God created our world He worked six days 
 
 79 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 and rested one day ; six days' vocation and one day 
 vacation. Work first and rest second; more voca- 
 tion than vacation. 
 
 When God created this world He made paths 
 through it. Your vocation is to find these paths. 
 The more paths you find the happier will be your 
 vacation. Each path leads to some great happiness. 
 You learn to read, and then by reading good books 
 you learn of God's paths. Some day you will study 
 botany. This will be a vocation. When you go into 
 the garden, your knowledge of flowers will lead you 
 along some of God's most beautiful paths. In find- 
 ing God's pathway through the flowers you will 
 learn the real happiness of a vacation. When Christ 
 was on earth He led some people through a flower- 
 bed to God. They were fretting about clothing. 
 Probably they needed a new suit of clothes. Christ 
 told them to look at the lilies, how beautiful they 
 were. Then He said if God clothes the flowers so 
 beautifully He will surely clothe you. The story 
 you will find in Luke. The age Christ was when He 
 first went up to Jerusalem is the number of the chap- 
 ter. When you study astronomy you will find God's 
 paths through the sky. "The heavens declare the 
 glory of God, and the firmament sheweth his handy- 
 
 80 
 
THE PATHFINDER 
 
 work." Some one has said : "We see God all around 
 us. The mountains are God's thoughts upheaved; 
 the rivers are God's thoughts in motion; the oceans 
 are God's thoughts embedded; the dewdrops are 
 God's thoughts in pearls." 
 
 Your school work is teaching you to read two 
 books God has written about His paths. One book 
 is nature, and the other is the Bible. Read the XIX 
 Psalm and you will enjoy all it says about these two 
 books. 
 
 Every morning when you start to school just 
 think, "I am learning God's paths; I am a path- 
 finder." Here is a school prayer for each day: 
 "Shew me thy ways, O Lord, teach me thy paths." 
 You know how a prayer should close, "For Christ's 
 sake." Sometimes the path from you to God is 
 through some one's heart. A tear is one of God's 
 tiny electric-lights showing the way. 
 
 A story will help you to find this beautiful path- 
 way to God. One morning a little boy noticed that 
 his tutor seemed very sad and that there were tears 
 in his eyes. After lessons, the little fellow asked a 
 servant what made his tutor so sad. The servant 
 said that the tutor had a large sum of money to pay 
 because his bad son had gotten into dreadful debt. 
 
 81 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 The tutor was poor and saw no way to get money. 
 The next day, when the royal family were at break- 
 fast, the little fellow said, "Grandfather, if I write 
 well in my copy-book for a whole week, will you give 
 me something?" "Yes," replied the grandfather. 
 "Will you give me ten pounds .f^" "That is a great 
 deal of money," said the king. "What will you do 
 with it.?" "That is my secret," answered the boy. 
 So the king smiled at him and promised. All the 
 morning the little man worked faithfully and steadily 
 on his copy-book. The birds sang, the tame pigeons 
 came and sat on the window-sill, merry children 
 played under the tree, but for once he seemed neither 
 to see nor hear any of them, but wrote a whole copy 
 without a mistake or blot. The tutor was astonished. 
 "WHien his pupil kept up his careful work for a week, 
 he wondered what had happened. The boy did not 
 think of anything but his vocation. He was finding 
 great pleasure in vocation. He was a pathfinder. 
 At the end of the week he took his copy to his grand- 
 father. A few minutes later he returned to his tutor 
 carrying in both hands the bag containing ten 
 pounds. His face shone with smiles, as he lovingly 
 gave the money to his tutor. "Here are my wages. 
 Please take the money. I only worked that I might 
 
THE PATHFINDER 
 
 help you." The tear of sorrow dropt from the tutor's 
 cheek. Then came another tear, the big tear of joy. 
 The boy's heart was overflowing with happiness. He 
 had never known what it was to be so happy. He did 
 not have one dull hour during the day, and at night 
 he dreamed about being happy. When he prayed he 
 said God seemed like father and mother standing 
 beside him. His mother told him that he was happy 
 because he had found a pathway to God through 
 his tutor's heart. 
 
 My Juniors have started to school, vocation has 
 come after vacation. Your pastor wants you to 
 study very, very hard. In every subject he wants 
 you to find a pathway to God, for that is the real 
 pathway to happiness. Your vocation will teach you 
 how to be happy during your vacation. How many 
 of my boys and girls will be pathfinders? One, two, 
 twenty, fifty, one hundred, two hundred ! How very 
 happy God will be when on the way He meets His 
 little pathfinders! Tell Him that your teacher 
 helped you to find the way. 
 
I 
 
 FOB THIRD SUNDAY IN SUMMER 
 THE GOLD BULLET 
 
 "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth." — Exodus xxi., 24 
 
 F the Juniors had a choice, would they prefer to 
 be boys and girls growing to manhood and wo- 
 manhood, or would they rather be men and women 
 first and then grow backward to boys and girls? 
 I know your answer before you can utter it. It is 
 a splendid thing to be young and then grow in years, 
 in size, in strength, and in knowledge. So long as 
 you think and act, you will grow; when you stop 
 thinking and acting you will begin to grow back- 
 ward. Your school work helps you to grow in knowl- 
 edge. From time to time your teacher gives you a 
 test, and after the test you are anxious to see your 
 corrected papers. Each mark is a measure of your 
 growth. If your marks are, first A, then B, C and 
 D, you are growing backward ; if the letters go in the 
 other direction you are growing upward. 
 
 Every nation was at first young, like a little child, 
 and then grew to be strong and great. When a na- 
 tion is young it thinks and acts like a child. When 
 
 84 
 
THE GOLD BULLET 
 
 it stops thinking and acting it stops growing up- 
 ward. There was a nation called Israel that tried 
 to learn all that could be known about God. The 
 Old Testament is the school-papers of this nation. 
 This child nation knew God as a little child would 
 know Him. If any one strikes a child he wants to 
 strike back. Israel thought God would want them 
 to strike back. Our text became one of their laws, 
 "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth" — that is, if a man 
 put out another man's eye, then one of his eyes was 
 to be put out. If a boy struck a companion and 
 broke his tooth, one of his teeth was to be broken. 
 You boys would call it "tit-for-tat." They listened 
 to God as their teacher, but they did not understand 
 all He said. Their test-papers were not perfect. 
 Christ, the great teacher, came into this world, cor- 
 rected their papers, and gave them some new lessons. 
 Our text is one of the mistakes He corrected. 
 
 The Old Testament is their school-papers, the New 
 Testament is their corrected papers, with some new 
 lessons. Christ, the great teacher, drew a line 
 through this text. In Matthew 5 : 38-39 you will 
 find the correction : "Ye have heard that it hath been 
 said, an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth, but 
 I say unto you, that ye resist not evil ; but whosoever 
 
 85 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the 
 other also." Many parts of the Old Testament were 
 not corrected, but were marked "A." These test- 
 papers were correct. Some good people called Chris- 
 tians read the Old Testament and overlook the cor- 
 rection-marks in the New Testament. They take for 
 truth the parts Christ marked mistakes. I am going 
 to tell you a story of how a good man in reading the 
 Old Testament overlooked the correction of our text. 
 At the time of the Boer War, in Africa, the Dutch 
 hated the English. They believed that the English 
 came only to get their gold. A man whose name was 
 Van Bosboom was considered the best shot in the 
 Transvaal. It is said that he never missed a buck, 
 a kaffir, or a wild ostrich, since he was sixteen years 
 of age. After one of the awful battles between the 
 Dutch and English, Van Bosboom was told that his 
 two sons, officers in the Dutch army, had been shot. 
 He went to President Paul Kruger and asked the 
 privilege of being sent back into the army. "Oom 
 Paul," as the people loved to call their President, 
 asked Van Bosboom if he still had his famous rifle. 
 "Yes," he replied. "Then you will need cartridges," 
 said the President. Van Bosboom answered, "I have 
 plenty of cartridges; I have made some for myself." 
 
 86 
 
THE GOLD BULLET 
 
 Then drawing close to "Oom Paul," he whispered 
 something to him. It must have been astonishing, 
 for "Oom Paul" let his pipe drop from his mouth. 
 As he bade the President good-bj, he said: "I will 
 give these people what they came for." Then he 
 went to the front and waited for a battle. When the 
 English army came, he would get as close to them as 
 he could, and would select two young officers, about 
 the age of his two sons. A sharp crack of his rifle 
 would be heard ; then a Httle later it would be heard 
 again, but no oftener. 
 
 When the two young men were carried from the 
 field it was noticed that instead of the usual two 
 ounces of lead which formed the Martini bullet, there 
 was a bullet made of two ounces of gold. That was 
 what he meant when he whispered to the President, 
 "I will give them what they came for." He believed 
 they came for gold. After he had shot two young 
 officers. In order to be avenged for his own two boys, 
 he would return to a quiet place, smoke a pipe, and 
 read his Bible. He read the Old Testament, but for- 
 got to turn to the New Testament in order to learn 
 what parts the Great Teacher had corrected. When 
 the next battle was being fought this man would go 
 out again and shoot two young officers, and, in every 
 
 87 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 instance, in the heart of the young man that was 
 killed they would find two ounces of gold. He be- 
 lieved "tit-for-tat" was right. 
 
 Every tear shed by a father, or mother, brother, 
 or sister of the young officer shot with a gold bullet 
 was a cry, "Oh, that this man had read the corrected 
 papers! Then he would have used the Golden Rule 
 and not the golden bullet." 
 
 "Ye have heard that it hath been said, an eye for 
 an eye, and a tooth for a tooth, but I say unto you, 
 that ye resist not evil; but whosoever shall smite 
 thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also." 
 
FOB FOURTH SUNDAY IN 8UMMER 
 THE CURE FOR CURIOSITY 
 
 "If we confess our sins. He is faithful and just to forgive us 
 
 our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." — 
 
 — / John i., 9 
 
 «^^ URIOSITY once killed a cat." This is an 
 V^ old saying, but is probably not true, as a 
 cat is very, very hard to kill. But curiosity has 
 killed the good intentions of many of our boys and 
 girls. They want to do right, but curiosity over- 
 comes their good resolutions. Last week a girl 
 climbed into the seat of the scornful. She had never 
 wanted to sit there until she learned what a mean 
 chair it was. Curiosity urged her to do what con- 
 science told her not to do. She got green paint on 
 her white dress and a sharp pain in her conscience. 
 She was very, very sorry, but it was too, too late. 
 How are you to conquer the curiosity that urges you 
 to do what you know is wrong.? There is just one 
 way, and that is to take Christ into your heart. "A 
 lamp in the attic gives no light in the parlor. So 
 the head may be full of the knowledge of the truth, 
 while the heart is dark with sin." Christ is not only 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 in jour head, but in your heart, and with full con- 
 trol from your head to your feet, and from the fin- 
 ger-tips of one hand to the finger-tips of the other 
 hand. 
 
 The Arabs have a fable that a camel once came to 
 the door of a tent and thrust in its nose. Not being 
 resisted, he thrust in his feet, and there being no 
 hindrance, he came half-way in. After a while he 
 came all the way in. The Arab said to the camel, 
 "This tent is too small for two." "Then," said the 
 camel, "you had better leave." The end of the 
 camel's nose was full of curiosity, and carried the 
 head into the tent, then the shoulders, and little by 
 little until the camel was in possession of the tent 
 and the master was an outsider. Christ is the only 
 one who can keep your life free from the camel of 
 curiosity. "If we confess our sins. He is faithful and 
 just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from 
 all unrighteousness." A real Christian can conquer 
 evil curiosity. You ask if a small boy or girl can be 
 a Christian — not a name Christian, but a real one. 
 Just listen to a conversation between a child and her 
 mother. 
 
 "Mother," a little child said, "how old must I be 
 before I can be a Christian.?" 
 
 90 
 
THE CURE FOR CURIOSITY 
 
 The wise mother answered: "How old will you 
 have to be, Mary, before you can love me?" 
 
 "Why, mother, I always loved you ; I do now, and 
 I always shall. But you have not told me how old 
 I shall have to be." 
 
 The mother replied : "How old must you be before 
 you can trust yourself wholly to me and my care.?" 
 
 "I always did," she answered ; "but tell me, please, 
 what I want to know," and she put her arms around 
 her mother's neck. 
 
 The mother asked again : "How old will you have 
 to be before you can do what I want you to do ?^^ 
 
 Then the child whispered, half-guessing what her 
 mother meant: "I can now, without growing older." 
 
 Her mother said: "You can be a Christian now, 
 darling, without waiting to be older. Don't you want 
 to begin now.?" 
 
 The child whispered, "Yes." Then they both 
 knelt down, and in her prayer the mother gave to 
 Christ her little one who wanted to be His. Christ 
 then moved into her soul and lived in every room. In 
 every room except one little corner in the curiosity 
 room. 
 
 Mary went out to play but soon came back and 
 said, "Mama, 1 am going to tell Frank; I want him 
 
 91 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 to be a Christian." In the evening Mary came home 
 with her first convert, her brother Frank. 
 
 They tried real hard to be Christhke, but Satan 
 tempted them, just as he tempts grown people. 
 Mother told them not to open her desk. Then Mary 
 — or was it Frank — had a curiosity to know just 
 what was in the desk. Mother said, "Do not look in." 
 Curiosity said, "I want to look in." So that day, 
 when mother was out, Frank and Mary climbed on 
 the curiosity chair and opened the desk and toppled 
 over a bottle of ink. "Don't tell her!" whispered 
 Frank. "We'll shut the door and run away, and 
 she'll never know who did it." So they ran away and 
 began to play in another room. But a small voice 
 followed them. Mary heard a whisper in her heart 
 that took away the joy of play, "Mary, you have 
 done wrong." Then she said, "Frank, we ought to 
 tell mother and say that we are sorry." Frank had 
 heard a whisper in his heart, but did not heed it. 
 "No, don't tell ; mother will think Bridget did it while 
 dusting the desk." Frank looked unhappy and Mary 
 could not play. "I'm going to tell her this very 
 minute, before the ink hardens. Come, Frank, and 
 tell mother." "Run Mary," said mother, "and get a 
 damp cloth, and Frank, bring the salts of lemon." 
 
 99 
 
THE CURE FOR CURIOSITY 
 
 Then the work began, and soon the spots were re- 
 moved. "I am so glad you told me at once," she 
 said, "for if the ink had dried in, it would have ruined 
 my desk and carpet; now it will not show at all." 
 There was a big, black ink splash on the curiosity 
 chair, but Frank and Mary agreed to leave it as a 
 warning in the future. 
 
 Sin is as black as ink, and always leaves a blot. 
 Delay makes it harder to confess and makes the 
 stain harder to remove. If we confess our sins, God, 
 like mother, is faithful and just to forgive us our 
 sins. God loves us when we confess our sins, and love 
 covers our stains. God can also take out the stains, 
 and he will cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 
 Ought we not to tell God before the stains harden ? 
 
 Better tell God in time to get Satan out of the 
 curiosity corner. 
 
 93 
 
FOE FIFTH SUNDAY IN SUMMER 
 EYES THAT SEE 
 
 "The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and 
 the good." — Prov. xv., 3 
 
 YOUR eyes are windows through which you look 
 out upon the world. You train yourself to 
 run, to swim, and to do many difficult things. You 
 should train your eyes to see. Some hunters have 
 trained their eyes so that they can shoot a nut out 
 of a squirrel's mouth without hurting the squirrel. 
 An Indian boy will hold up his hand and permit his 
 companion to shoot between his fingers. After the 
 shooting he still has five fingers. The sailor trains his 
 eyes until he can see a ship at sea long before the 
 passengers see it. When God made our eyes He in- 
 tended us to see a thousand times better than we now 
 see. We have all sinned against our eyes. This is 
 just a hint about your eyes. It is God's eyes that I 
 want to talk about to-day. In Psalm 94 : 9, we find 
 this question : 
 
 "He that formed the eye, shall He not see?" If 
 God made our eyes so that we can see so well, surely 
 
 94 
 
EYES THAT SEE 
 
 He must have wonderful eyes. God has searching 
 eyes and can see to the end of the world. The X-ray 
 enables us to see through solid bodies. God can 
 look right through the earth. He can see the people 
 on the other side of the world while looking at us on 
 this side. Our text says, "The eyes of the Lord are 
 in every place, beholding the evil and the good." If 
 you dislike any one, you usually see only the evil in 
 him. If you love any one, you are quite sure to see 
 only the good. God has honest eyes and sees the evil 
 and the good. He sees all the evil there is in the world. 
 He sees even the evil thoughts. There is nothing hid 
 from God. Even if you were so mean and wicked as 
 to try to hide things from your mother, you can not 
 hide anything from God. He sees the hiding-place 
 while you are looking for it. He beholds all the evil 
 in your Hfe. There is something still more wonder- 
 ful ; listen, and never forget what I am going to tell 
 you. God sees all the good there is in the world, sees 
 every good deed and every good thought. Deep 
 down under a wicked life, God can see the good there 
 is in that life. Mother has eyes that find nearly 
 everything there is good in her boys and girls. If 
 you should hear her talking to her friends you would 
 be surprized to find how really good you are. But 
 
 95 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 there are some good thoughts in your heart that 
 even mother can not see. You perform some good 
 deeds that are so small that no one on earth can see 
 them. But God sees them and never forgets them. 
 They look large to God. I am so glad this world 
 has God. If you did not have Him there would be no 
 one to see the secret good things in your life. Our 
 God sees all good things. I would like to preach 
 more on this subject, but I must stop and tell you 
 a story. 
 
 One day an astronomer was engaged in making 
 some observations on the sun. As it descended to- 
 ward the horizon, just as it was setting, there came 
 into the vision of the great telescope the top of a 
 hill seven miles away. On the top of that hill grew 
 a large number of apple-trees, and the apples were 
 large and tempting. On one of the trees was a boy, 
 and under the tree was another boy. 
 
 One was getting the apples, filling his pockets and 
 hat, while the other was watching to make sure no- 
 body saw them. "Throw me down a ripe one, Jim, 
 no one sees us." But there was a man, seven miles 
 away, with the great telescope directed fully upon 
 them. He saw every movement they made as plainly 
 as if he had been under the tree with them. 
 
 96 
 
EYES THAT SEE 
 
 The astronomer knew the farmer who owned the 
 apples, so he called him up on the 'phone and told 
 him what the boys were doing. Soon a big bulldog 
 came bounding through the orchard. He looked 
 very hungry. He was not coming for apples. Now, 
 both boys were up a tree. Soon they saw a farmer 
 coming with a smile on his face and a whip in his 
 hand. The farmer was a Christian and felt sorry 
 for the boys. He knew they did not know how 
 wicked it was to steal. With the whip he drove the 
 dog away and with words wrapt in the smile, said, 
 "Boys, throw those apples away. You will feel un- 
 comfortable to-night when saying your prayers. I 
 see your fishing-rods, and I know you are hungry. 
 You are stealing apples, but I forgive you. Come 
 down, boys, and come with me to the other side of 
 the orchard, where the apples are larger and better." 
 The boys had never been to church, but once they 
 had gone to the Christmas celebration. Jim whis- 
 pered to Sam, "Is this man God.^" Sam said, "No, 
 but I think he must be one of His relatives." 
 
 The apples will soon be ripe. Enjoy all the good, 
 ripe apples you can honestly find, but remember, 
 "The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding 
 the evil and the good." 
 
 97 
 
FOB SIXTH SUNDAY IN SUMMER 
 
 FAULTFINDERS AND FAULTRECEIVERS 
 
 "They found fault."— Marfc vii., 2 
 
 I HAVE a secret for my Juniors. It is an India- 
 rubber secret. What is an India-rubber secret? 
 It is one that can be stretched from your Hps to a 
 friend's ears. Nearly all secrets have a little stretch 
 in them. This one has a great stretch, and you can 
 make it reach to all your friends. The rubber secret 
 I am to tell you is, that you can nearly always find 
 anything for which you are looking. I remember 
 when a boy seeing nearly every day a man riding 
 past the schoolhouse. He was quite sure to have a 
 horseshoe in the stirrup of his saddle. Why? Be- 
 cause he was looking for horseshoes. If there had 
 been an eclipse of the sun, I fear he would not have 
 seen it. He kept his eyes on the road, looking for 
 lost horseshoes. There was a row of all-sized horse- 
 shoes along the full length of his barn. He found 
 what he was looking for. If you are looking for 
 nickels, you will find a number of them during the 
 
FAULTFINDERS AND FAULT RECEIVERS 
 
 year. If you are looking for faults, you will be sure 
 to find plenty of them. If you could find nickels as 
 easily as you find faults, you would soon be a mil- 
 lionaire. If we were willing to give away nickels as 
 freely as we give away the faults of our friends, then 
 faultreceivers would soon be automobile-riders. 
 Faultfinders are not the worst people in the world. 
 Faultreceivers, people who listen to faultfinders, are 
 very much meaner. 
 
 John finds a fault in his friend Robert — probably 
 not hard to find — and then he finds a boy willing to 
 hear about it — probably not hard to find. The boy 
 who hears it would not say anything against Robert, 
 but feels free to tell all his companions what John 
 said about Robert. A second-hand secret has a 
 longer stretch than has a first-hand secret. He can 
 have the fun of telling, and then have the fun of 
 seeing John and Robert fight it out. 
 
 The man who gathers cigar-butts from the gutters 
 is a mean fellow, but not so mean as the man who 
 makes them into cigarets. The man who smokes them 
 gets all the meanness. The butt-gatherer is the fault- 
 finder. The man who wraps up the faults in the 
 tissue-paper of "I heard" is the cigaret-maker, and 
 the smoker is the faultreceiver, who blows the rings 
 
 99 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 of scandal, like smoke, into your life. You know a 
 smoke-ring, like a rubber-band, has a big stretch. 
 I want my Juniors to decide to-day not to find fault. 
 
 Probably your father and mother, when children, 
 were faultfinders or faultreceivers. Have you no- 
 ticed that they now never find fault with any one, 
 and that they now refuse to listen to the fault- 
 finder.? Ask father and mother how they got rid 
 of this bad habit. Beg them to tell 3^ou all about it. 
 If father or mother blushes, do not ask "Why.'"' 
 
 A long time ago, in the far, far away, there were 
 children, now all dead, who went home from church 
 and poisoned their parents at the dinner-table — 
 poisoned their minds by finding fault with the church. 
 If you should ever find fault with the church, do not 
 tell your parents, as it might keep your father and 
 mother away from the church. 
 
 Not in your church, but in one far, far away, a 
 long, long time ago, some good children lost their 
 love for their pastor and church because their parents 
 said so many unkind things about the pastor and 
 the church. When the children grew to be young 
 men and women, the parents came to the pastor and 
 asked him why the children did not love their church. 
 Would the dear pastor pray for their children. Kiss 
 
 100 
 
FAULTFINDERS AND FAULTRECEIVERS 
 
 father and mother and tell them how glad you are 
 that they are not like these parents of a long, long 
 time ago, in a far, far away land. Now, I will tell 
 you a story. It is just a think story, the kind of 
 story out of which dreams are made. 
 
 A boy who had the habit of faultfinding and fault- 
 receiving, died, and was admitted into Paradise on 
 condition that he was not to indulge in this habit of 
 censuring and criticizing. 
 
 He saw two angels carrying a beam crosswise and 
 knocking it against every object they met, but said 
 nothing. He wanted to find fault, but did not. He 
 next saw two angels drawing water from a fountain 
 and pouring it into a cask which had holes in the 
 bottom, but he still held his peace. At many other 
 things of the same kind he also supprest his laughter 
 and remarks, fearing that he might be otherwise ex- 
 pelled from the place. 
 
 At last he saw a cart stuck fast in the mire, with 
 one pair of horses yoked to it before and another pair 
 behind, and the carter urging both forward at the 
 same time. It was more than this boy could do to 
 refrain from finding fault, and the consequence was 
 that he was seized by two angels and turned to the 
 door. Before it closed behind him, however, he 
 
 101 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 looked back, and saw that the horses were winged 
 and had succeeded in drawing the cart out of the 
 mud into the air. He was very sorry for being so 
 fooHsh as to find fault. As the door closed behind 
 him an angel whispered that there was no doubt that, 
 in the other cases of the beam and of the cask, there 
 were equally good reasons for what was done. 
 
 Faultfinders and faultreceivers remain for a long 
 time on earth, but can not stay long in heaven. 
 
 102 
 
FOB SEVENTH SUNDAY IN SUMMER 
 
 PEACE-MAKERS IN AUGUST 
 
 "Blessed are the peacemakers." — Matt.^ v., 9 
 
 ON the coldest day in winter which is the best 
 month of the year to think about? The 
 answer is a chorus, "August, August, August !" In 
 which month do you find it most difficult to keep from 
 getting angry? Again I hear the chorus of 
 "August." It is a long, hot month. A good month 
 to think about when you are cold. A difficult month 
 in which to keep cool when the brain is hot. It is 
 the month when all find it hard to keep the anger- 
 pot from boiling. August is the month when many 
 peace-makers take a vacation. We all love dogs 
 during eleven months of the year, but many people 
 are afraid of them during August. Why? Because 
 there is a star called "dog star" that rises in August 
 at the same time as the sun. These are "dog days," 
 and some people imagine that dogs go mad at that 
 time. This, I think, is a superstition about dogs, but 
 I know it is a truth about boys and girls, and some 
 
 103 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 other people. How many of my Juniors will make 
 a special effort to be peacemakers in August? 
 "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called 
 the children of God." 
 
 "I was a peacemaker to-day," said Httle Amy on 
 a hot August day. Her mother asked, "What makes 
 you think so .?" "Cause there was something I didn't 
 tell," replied Amy. This is one of the best ways in 
 the world of being a peacemaker. Right there and 
 then Amy became one of the "children of God." If 
 two strong men are fighting, you may be afraid to 
 step between them and try to make peace. But, like 
 Amy, you can all be peacemakers. "Cause there was 
 something I didn't tell." 
 
 Another way to be a peacemaker is by forgiving 
 those who talk too much. "Cause they have nothing 
 to tell they enjoy telling what is not true about you." 
 Can you forgive those who say mean things about 
 you.? 
 
 A story is told of Peter Miller, a plain Baptist 
 preacher of Ephrata, Pennsylvania, in the days of 
 the Revolutionary War. Near his church lived a 
 man who abused the pastor in every way he could 
 abuse him. This man was arrested for treason — that 
 is, for not being true to his country. He was tried, 
 
 104 
 
PEACE-MAKERS IN AUGUST 
 
 found guilty and sentenced to be hanged. Peter 
 Miller, the old preacher, started out on foot and 
 walked the whole seventy miles to Philadelpliia that 
 he might plead for the man's life. Washington 
 heard his plea, but he said, "No, your plea for your 
 friend can not be granted." "My friend," said the 
 preacher. "He is the worst enemy I have." "What.?" 
 said Washington, "You have walked nearly seventy 
 miles to save the life of your enemy .^^ That puts the 
 matter in a different light. I will grant the pardon." 
 
 The pardon was made out and given to Miller, 
 and he at once started to walk to a village fifteen 
 miles off, where the execution was to take place that 
 afternoon. He arrived just as the man was being 
 taken to the scaffold. The condemned man, as he 
 looked out over the crowd saw Peter Miller come up, 
 and he said: "There is old Peter Miller. He has 
 walked all the way from Ephrata to have his revenge 
 by seeing me hanged." He had scarcely said the 
 words when the pardon was presented by the dear old 
 preacher of peace. The life of the traitor was spared, 
 and the preacher proved he was a child of God. 
 "Blessed are the peacemakers." 
 
 I must tell you about one wrong way to make 
 peace. A missionary was praying and talking with 
 
 105 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 an Indian chief who was dying. The missionary 
 said : "You have been in many wars, but now before 
 you die you should forgive all your enemies and be 
 at peace with them." The answer was: "I am at 
 peace with all my enemies, for I have killed all of 
 them." Some one has called this "graveyard peace." 
 Over their graves we could not write, "Blessed are 
 the peace-makers." 
 
 But I must be a peace-maker with August before I 
 close this chat with the children. August is the 
 greatest peace month in the year. It was in August, 
 1815, that the first peace society of the world was 
 organized. In the library of a New York merchant, 
 David L. Dodge, in the month of August, the world's 
 first peace society came into existence. Three cheers 
 for August ! It is the best month of the year to or- 
 ganize yourself into a peace societ}^ If you can 
 keep peace in August, you can take your own con- 
 stitution and make a few by-laws for the remainder 
 of the year. Now for a story as I found it in one 
 of our Christian papers. 
 
 On the peak of the Andes Mountains, fourteen 
 thousand feet above the level of the sea, and on the 
 line which marks the boundary between the republics 
 of Argentine and Chile, has been erected one of the 
 
 106 
 
PEACE-MAKERS IN AUGUST 
 
 most striking monuments in the world. For genera- 
 tions the people who live in the two republics have 
 quarreled about the location of this boundary-line. 
 Sometimes the disputes led to war and bloodshed. 
 The two nations are now at peace. They are both 
 growing in wealth and strength and bid fair to out- 
 strip all the other countries of the South American 
 continent. 
 
 These Spanish-Americans have warm hearts and 
 vivid imaginations. When they sign a treaty they 
 are not satisfied to tie a piece of red tape around the 
 peace papers and lock them up in a vault of the state 
 department. That might do for North Americans, 
 but to them it seems a very dull and stupid way. To 
 let all the world know that they are at peace they 
 have made a colossal statue of Christ, twenty-six 
 feet high, and standing on a granite hemisphere 
 symbolizing the world. This they have set up upon 
 the Andean peak, three miles above the level of the 
 Pacific Ocean. They cut into the pedestal an in- 
 scription in Spanish which, being interpreted, reads: 
 
 "These mountains will crumble to dust ere Argen- 
 tines and Chileans break the peace which at the feet 
 of Christ the Redeemer they have sworn to keep." 
 I hope the children of these two countries will spend 
 
 107 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 their August holidays on top of this mountain, and, 
 joining hands, will play their games around this 
 peace monument. 
 
 Some day we hope to have a Peace monument in 
 America, around which our children can play. Why ? 
 Because, the first time a quarrel between two great 
 nations was settled without war was the quarrel we 
 had with England concerning the "Alabama Claims." 
 In 1871 we made peace without war. 
 
 108 
 
FOR ETOHTH SUNDAY IN SUMMER 
 
 ONE FOR YOU AND ONE FOR ME 
 
 "In my father's house are many mansions. I go to prepare a 
 place for you." — John xiv., 2 
 
 DO you have a room or do you live in the hall.? 
 What a strange question, you say. I have a 
 room all my own. Is it like grandma's room.? No; 
 grandma's room looks like grandma, and my room 
 just looks like me. Papa found out the colors I like, 
 the kind of a bed I wanted, the chairs I would enjoy, 
 and he said I might select my own pictures. I do 
 not know how papa and mama found out, but they 
 made just the kind of a room I wanted. It is a 
 dream, and it is my dream. Grandma's room is too 
 quiet for me and it is not furnished like my room, but 
 she says everything in it is just what she likes. Wish 
 you could see brother's room — dumb-bells, Indian 
 clubs, guns, and, and — just come and see it. There is 
 nothing in it like a girl's room but girls' pictures. 
 Papa put a double floor in Jack's room and two mir- 
 rors in my room. I wish you could see Dick Archer's 
 
 109 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 room. He has circus posters on the wall. His neck- 
 ties are hung on the gas-fixtures and look like a 
 faded rainbow. The room is like the seashore when 
 the tide is going out. His father says he is going to 
 send Dick to military school and give him some les- 
 sons in art. When Dick gets some new ideas his father 
 will furnish his room to fit his new life. 
 
 There are several rooms in my father's house, but 
 no two of them are alike. Each room is just a little 
 mansion — mine is all my own. 
 
 Mary, I am so glad you told me about your 
 father's house and Dick Archer's room, for you have 
 made it easy for me to tell the Juniors what Christ 
 meant when He said: "In my father's house are 
 many mansions ; I go to prepare a place for you." 
 He knows just what you like and what I like, and Ht 
 will have a place ready, one for you and one for me, 
 when we go home. "May I ask a question?" Cer- 
 tainly, you may ask a question. "Does the text mean 
 that God, like papa, prepares the kind of a room 
 we like best, one for Dick Archer and one for me?" 
 I once read a story, written by a Mr. Wilson, that 
 just answers your question: 
 
 A very wealthy society woman had a dream. She 
 dreamed that an angel came to her and asked her 
 
 110 
 
ONE FOR YOU AND ONE FOR ME 
 
 if she would like to go up and look at heaven. Her 
 curiosity at once prompted her to accept the invita- 
 tion. Up and down the golden street she followed 
 the angel. Everywhere she saw beautiful, shining 
 mansions. Some were tall and built of gold and pearl 
 and precious stones, while others were small and 
 scarcely begun. Seeing one particularly beautiful 
 mansion, she said to the angel, "You may reserve this 
 one for me, faithful guide." The angel smiled and 
 answered, "You can not choose another's mansion 
 here ; you must dwell in the one you yourself furnish. 
 This one belongs to Hannah Laden, your servant." 
 The woman caught her breath and gasped, "What 
 can you mean? This grand palace belong to my 
 common handmaiden?" "Yes," replied the angel, 
 "all day long she works for you faithfully, and en- 
 dures your hard service with patience, and when 
 alone she is always praying for your soul. At night, 
 when her labors are done, she is out visiting the sick 
 or reading to the aged and infirm from God's word, 
 and giving all she can spare from her wages to suf- 
 fering humanity. Each prayer is a precious gem; 
 each charity a layer of pearl; each act of mercy a 
 pillar of gold, which we use in constructing her man- 
 
 Ill 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 The lady was silenced for a time; but finally her 
 proud nature asserted itself again, and she began 
 to fancy that if this house could belong to humble 
 Hannah Laden, then there must be a palace some- 
 where in heaven awaiting her, and she asked to see 
 it. The guide led her to a street where the houses 
 were small, and, pointing to an unusually humble, 
 unfinished dwelling, said, "This one is yours." She 
 looked at the structure, and said, "This one for me.^* 
 Why, I can't believe it! Why is mine so small and 
 rough?" The angel looked sad and answered, 
 "Madam, we have used the material you have sent 
 up for it. When you send more, we shall add to it, 
 and of such material as you send shall your mansion 
 be built." And she left heaven, a sorrowing woman. 
 
 After she awoke her dream filled her heart and 
 mind, and she began life anew from that day. She 
 has been sending up ever since such rich materials 
 as will insure her a glorious mansion in the sky. She 
 has so purified her heart and life that when the real 
 summons comes, and she is taken away, she will surely 
 not be denied the happiness of looking upon the 
 glorious face she so desired to see. 
 
 One for you and one for me. The rooms will not 
 be ahke unless we send up the same kind of material. 
 
 112 
 
ONE FOR YOU AND ONE FOR ME 
 
 The material is what we are doing each day. If we 
 are working for self, then the material is selfish. If 
 we are working to make the world better, then the 
 material will be beautiful. Each night when you 
 pray, ask what kind of material have I sent up to- 
 day for my mansion. There is one for you and one 
 for me. 
 
 What did you say, Archie.? "I said, we must be 
 little architects drawing our plans for Christ, who 
 must be a great builder." 
 
 Will each Junior commit this verse, written by O. 
 W. Holmes: 
 
 Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul, 
 
 As the swift seasons roll! 
 
 Leave thy low-vaulted past ! 
 Let each new temple, nobler than the last, 
 Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast, 
 
 Till thou at length art free. 
 Leaving thine outworn shell by life's unresting sea. 
 
 113 
 
FOR NINTH SUNDAY IN SUMMER 
 
 PLAYING TO MUSIC 
 
 "We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced." 
 — Matt.i xi., 17 
 
 THE boy or girl who will not dance is a dunce. 
 I mean the kind of dance that Christ watched 
 and enjoyed, when the children were playing on the 
 streets of Jerusalem. Christ speaks of two street- 
 games — one was funeral, and the other was wedding. 
 Children then, like children now, imitated the older 
 people. At a real funeral the mourners played on 
 reed-pipes, something like our flute. When the sad 
 and doleful music was heard, the people would la- 
 ment. Lament means to cry and moan. The chil- 
 dren would imitate the funeral — they played funeral. 
 Sometimes when a trifle contrary they refused to 
 play. "We have moaned unto you," the other chil- 
 dren said, "and ye have not lamented." 
 
 Their other game gave no excuse for refusing to 
 play. It was the game of wedding. The same 
 pipe or flute was used, and they played the same 
 
 114 
 
PLAYING TO MUSIC 
 
 tune, but they played it a little faster. There were 
 some cross-grained children who would not play 
 wedding. I think that they were the ones who 
 were not asked to play bride and groom. Then 
 those who were playing would say, "We have piped 
 unto you, and ye have not danced." Christ watched 
 these children when they played, as truly as He 
 watched them when they prayed. What a beautiful 
 picture! Children on the street dancing to music 
 and shouting to one another in great glee, Christ 
 watching them and rejoicing with them. When I was 
 a boy the minister preached about Christ listening 
 when I prayed. How I wish he had told me that 
 Christ watched me when I played. How much better 
 I would have played. 
 
 The children Christ was watching were not dancing 
 in the way we mean by dancing. They were playing 
 to music. In the army they have music to help the 
 soldiers march. Why not have music to help the 
 children play? It is better to have music while you 
 exercise than it is to have music while you eat. You 
 can eat fast enough and long enough without music. 
 I wish we could have a band of music on every play- 
 ground. When music gets into your ears it runs 
 down into your feet and makes you dance. You 
 
 115 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 ought to dance. Dancing in the open air is fine ex- 
 ercise. God put dance into your feet to make you 
 grow. I am always glad when I hear the street- 
 band and see the children dancing. I once heard of 
 some one who counted the steps taken by dancers. 
 As many as 56,000 steps are often taken by the chil- 
 dren. That is three miles longer than the Marathon 
 race. The children's street dance is the easiest and 
 best way of exercise. 
 
 There are two things I want you to remember. 
 The first is that Christ watches you not only when 
 you pray, but He watches you when you play. 
 Christ was interested in me when, as a boy, I danced 
 along the streets of the little village of Candor. He 
 is interested in you as you dance along the streets of 
 the great city of New York. Isn't it splendid to 
 know that Christ enjoys your play.? The second 
 thing to remember is that you have no more right to 
 be cranky and cross-grained when you play than you 
 have to be cranky and cross-grained when you pray. 
 God watches while you play and listens while you 
 pray. 
 
 The Bible says there is "a time to weep and a time 
 to laugh ; a time to mourn and a time to dance." A 
 time to dance — that means that we are not to dance 
 
 116 
 
PLAYING TO MUSIC 
 
 all the time. When the dancing-time is up, you 
 should stop and be ready to do something else. You 
 ought to work and pray as heartily and cheerfully 
 as you dance and play. The dance habit, wanting to 
 dance all the time, is a very bad habit. Dance and 
 play in order to grow strong and happy. Get strong 
 and happy in order that you may do great things 
 for God and man. There are battles to be fought in 
 life that can not be won by those who know only how 
 to dance. 
 
 May I tell you a story.? The Sybarites were 
 great warriors. At one time they sent out 300,000 
 men to fight their enemies. They had fine horses, and 
 being very proud of them, taught them to dance. 
 The horses would rise on their hind-feet and then on 
 their fore-feet, as they kept time to the music. For 
 more than a year the soldiers had nothing to do, so 
 they exercised their horses by having them dance. 
 The horses got into the dancing habit. Then came 
 a great war, and the soldiers rode out to the battle- 
 field expecting to gain a victory. The enemy were 
 on foot and the horsemen expected to ride right over 
 them, and to easily defeat them. The enemy knew 
 the horses had the dance habit. They knew the 
 horses' dance music. So when the horsemen came 
 
 117 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 rushing at them, the enemy began to play dance 
 music. The horses forgot it was war and began to 
 dance. What a sight! Warriors eager for battle, 
 sitting on dancing horses. The horses danced, rising 
 on their hind-feet and then on their fore-feet, turning 
 to right, then turning to left, forward and back- 
 ward and balanced all. While the horses danced, the 
 enemy fought, and the brave horsemen were easily 
 conquered. The battle was lost because the war 
 horses had the dance habit. Let us make a resolution 
 to-day to play and pray, to work and never shirk. 
 Christ came to set our life to music. 
 
 118 
 
FOB TENTH SUNDAY IN SUMMER 
 THE LAND OF FORGET 
 
 "The end of forgetfulness." — Psalm Ixxxviii., 12 
 
 THE train starts early every morning. There 
 are several trains a day for the Land of For- 
 get. Children are on every train. Sometimes they 
 come back on the switch-train. We are all tourists 
 and every one takes a trip to the Land of Forget. 
 Many things are left on the train as we journey to 
 this strange land. Guess how many articles are left 
 in one year in the London cabs by passengers on 
 their way to the Land of Forget. Can't guess ? Then 
 I shall tell you, as I have the report: 19,000 um- 
 brellas, 850 canes, 267 rugs, 742 opera-glasses, 3,239 
 purses, 926 articles of jewelry, and a number of birds, 
 dogs and cats. All on their way to the Land of 
 Forget. Some foolish and funny things are done 
 in the Land of Forget. Here is one: 
 
 A French writer, engaged upon a profound scien- 
 tific work, rang for his valet. He then sat down and 
 wrote this note: "Kindly send some one to arrest 
 the cook. She has stolen my purse." This he di- 
 
 119 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 rected to the Chief of Police. The valet appeared, 
 and, while waiting for his master to finish writing, 
 picked up something lying under the table. As he 
 took the note, he said, "Monsieur, here is your purse ; 
 I found it under the table." 
 
 "Ah, just in time ; give me the note, Jean." 
 He hurriedly added the postcript: "I have found 
 my purse; it is unnecessary to send any one," and 
 handed the missive to the valet, saying, "DeHver this 
 at once; it is important." He then went back to his 
 writing. 
 
 There are too many trains and cabs to the Land 
 of Forget. I say too many ; but there should be one, 
 at least, each day. There are some things we should 
 take to the Land of Forget. God made this land, 
 and it has room for many things we should not find 
 room for here. Learn this verse before you take the 
 morning train. Do not forget ! 
 
 If you know of a thing that will darken the joy 
 
 Of a man or a woman, a girl or a boy, 
 That will wipe out a smile, or the least way annoy 
 
 A fellow, or cause any gladness to cloy, 
 It's a pretty good plan to forget it. 
 
 But how many things there are that we should 
 
 not forget. Fathers, mothers and friends are very 
 
 much troubled by the Junior's forget. "I forgot!" 
 
 120 
 
THE LAND OF FORGET 
 
 "I did not think !" I fear the Juniors take too many 
 trips to the Land of Forget. There must be a hole 
 in the corner of your memory. What a strange hole 
 it is. If you have "a date" for a party or a day off 
 with a friend it never falls out through that hole. If 
 a visit is promised you, it would not fall out even if 
 the hole were as large as the pocket. But the letter 
 to be posted, the errand to be run, or something for 
 mama as big as a barn-door will drop out through 
 the hole. I know a boy who said, "I fordegot." I 
 once read a story a Mr. Roach wrote on how to cure 
 the "fordegot." 
 
 "Did my son post that letter I gave him yester- 
 day .P" asked Ned's mama. 
 
 Ned's hand dived into the inside pocket of his coat 
 and brought out a crumpled letter. 
 
 "I'm so sorry, mama !" he cried, seeing the grieved 
 look on his mama's face. 
 
 "I, too, am sorry," responded mama, "as that was 
 a letter inviting Aunt Amy to stop off here on her 
 way home." 
 
 "Oh! oh!" cried Ned. "And I do so love Aunt 
 Amy!" 
 
 "If you catch this mail the letter may yet be in 
 time," said mama. 
 
 121 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 Ned ran off as fast as he could to post the precious 
 letter. 
 
 Another day it was a school-book which he left out 
 in the orchard. It rained all right and ruined his 
 book. Ned tried to remember, but always forgot. 
 One day Uncle Charlie heard Ned say to his mama, 
 *'Plague take my forgettery!" Uncle Charlie knew 
 that Ned had been forgetting again, and he thought 
 of a plan to cure Ned of his habit. 
 
 "Ned will be eight years old Saturday," said mama 
 that day at tea-time." 
 
 *'Can I have a party with both boys and girls, and 
 plum-cakes and candles?" cried Ned. 
 
 "Of course you can," said Uncle Charlie. "I'll 
 buy the candles — eight and one to grow on." 
 
 "I'll bake the plum-cake," said mama. 
 
 "I'll write the invitations," said sister Nell. 
 
 "I'll make a heaping platter of fudge," laughed 
 Aunt Amy, who, after all, had gotten the delayed 
 letter in time. 
 
 "And I," said papa, "will send up some ice-cream." 
 
 Ned danced for joy and ran off to school with a 
 hop, skip and jump. Saturday morning Ned's 
 mama sent him ever so far to Mr. Benton's, who 
 raised vegetables and chickens to sell. Try as he 
 
 122 
 
THE LAND OF FORGET 
 
 would, Ned could not get home until just dinner 
 time; but he told Mr. Benton all about his party, 
 and Mr. Benton gave him a cute little bantam 
 chicken for his birthday present. 
 
 "Do you think," asked Ned at dinner, "my party 
 will come right at two o'clock?" 
 
 "Well, well," said Uncle Charhe, "I forgot all 
 about those candles !" 
 
 "I've been so busy," said Aunt Amy, "that I forgot 
 to make the fudge!" 
 
 "And I," said papa, "forgot to order the ice- 
 cream. It is too bad!" 
 
 "It doesn't matter at all, said sister Nell, "for I 
 forgot to invite any one to the party." 
 
 Ned's face grew longer and longer, and he looked 
 at his mama, who had not spoken yet. Surely she 
 had not forgotten ! 
 
 "Why," laughed Uncle Charlie before mama could 
 speak, "it'll be a forget party, won't it ?" 
 
 This was too much. Ned burst into tears and ran 
 up to his own little room. After what seemed a 
 long, long time to Ned and to Ned's mama, too, she 
 stole up-stairs with a great big piece of plum-cake, 
 for, try as she would, mama could not forget her little 
 boy's birthday. 
 
 193 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 After that, when Ned forgot, which he seldom did, 
 some one would say, "I guess we would better have 
 another forget party." 
 
 Solomon was a very, very wise man, and he said: 
 "My son, forget not my law ; but let thine heart keep 
 my commandments." Now, I believe we have the real 
 cure for "fordegot." Put the things you are to re- 
 member in your heart as well as in your brain. There 
 is no hole in the pocket of your heart. 
 
 124 
 
FOB ELEVENTH SUNDAY IN SUMMER 
 THE VEX HOSPITAL 
 
 "Heal me for my bones are vexed." — Psalm vi., 2 
 
 THERE are two little companions who are very 
 close friends. The name of one is Vex, and 
 the other one's name is Cry. Vex has a room in 
 your heart, but often lodges in some other part of 
 your body. Cry has a room with a bath, just back 
 of your eye. No one has ever seen Vex, but his 
 shadow often crosses your face. The moment you 
 look bright the shadow hides, for it is very much 
 afraid of light. Cry has a little wheel called a tear, 
 on which he rolls out on your cheek when Vex calls 
 for help. Looking through this tear you can almost 
 see Cry. You can always hear him. 
 
 Our text tells us of a man who called, "Heal me, 
 for my bones are vexed." Vex, the Httle torment, 
 had taken a room in the hollow of this man's bones. 
 Cry rolled out to call for help. A man, great and 
 good, called the Nazarene, sent Sympathy to help 
 all that Vex annoyed. This friend. Sympathy, was 
 
 125 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 very sorry for the man whom Vex was tormenting, 
 and decided to build hospitals for all in whose bones 
 Vex was lodging. One of these hospitals was built 
 near our church, and it is called "Seney." When 
 any one says, "Heal me, for my bones are vexed," 
 we ring up an ambulance and hurry him to the hos- 
 pital. There he is cared for, and Vex is taken out 
 of his bones. Medicine will often drive Vex out, but 
 sometimes the patient must be put to sleep while the 
 surgeon takes Vex out with a knife. 
 
 What do you suppose becomes of Vex when he is 
 taken out of his lodging.? This is the question I 
 want to answer. This little torment, Vex, is changed 
 into a song. The hospital is a place where pain is 
 turned into praise and into joy. If your eyes were 
 brighter you would behold Vex, Cry, Pain, Moan, 
 and Sorrow flying out of the operating-room and 
 out of the ward-rooms ; flying like song-birds into the 
 air. If your ears were a little keener, you would hear 
 Vex and his chorus singing as they fly. The angels 
 can see them fly, and can hear them sing. In this 
 Vex hospital. Sympathy asks you to furnish more 
 looms, to secure more doctors, more nurses, and more 
 medicine. Sympathy wants to have a larger place 
 with more doctors and nurses, so that every day he 
 
 196 
 
THE VEX HOSPITAL 
 
 can change Vex and Cry into song-birds of Joy and 
 Gladness. A little fairy, called Parody, says that 
 when an offering is received for a hospital, tkese 
 birds sing the offertory. But the song is so low and 
 sweet that only little children can hear it. Parody, 
 my little fairy, gave me the words. They are a secret, 
 but I want you to know them. Here they are : 
 
 Sing a song of sixpence, 
 
 A plate full of cash, 
 Four and twenty Vex cried. 
 
 Cured without a lash. 
 
 When the hospital was opened. 
 
 They all began to sing, 
 "Was not that a splendid gift. 
 
 To set before our king." 
 
 Do I hear you say, "The sermon is long enough, 
 now tell us a story?" Very well, here is a story you 
 will all enjoy. There is a man in Tacoma, Wash., 
 who every year has hundreds of birds brought to his 
 home from different parts of this country and from 
 Europe. In large, bright rooms they are taught to 
 sing and fly through the house until their songs are 
 sweet and their wings are strong. When they can 
 sing well enough, and are strong enough, he opens 
 the windows and away they fly. Linnets, goldfinches, 
 English blackbirds, and the many song-birds of our 
 
 127 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 country go out from his bird hospital to make boys 
 and girls happy. Some of them fly very liigh and 
 sing half to the angels and half for the boys and 
 girls. Last spring this man, whose name is Dr. 
 Charles McCutcheon, set free five hundred birds of 
 seven varieties, all strong of wing and sweet of song. 
 When asked why he did this, he answered: "Ever 
 since I was a boy in England I have dreamed of the 
 days when I rolled upon the green and listened to 
 the skylarks and finches. I always said I would have 
 a cage of these birds in my home. But it is a sin to 
 confine the birds, as they will not sing as sweetly 
 as they do in the open. There is a beauty about a 
 landscape that has its song-birds which is not seen 
 in a stretch of country that is as still as a tomb." 
 The birds are made happy and they make the world 
 happy. Would it not be nice to fun-think that all 
 these song-birds were once called Vex, Cry, Pain, 
 Sorrow, Heartache, and other like names? Then to 
 fun-think that all these torments living in your body 
 can be set free as song-birds of joy and gladness. 
 Every time you pass a hospital think of it as a great 
 joy house, where we take Vex and Pain, Tears, Sor- 
 row and Heartache, and change them into smiles, 
 joys, health and happiness; the home of Sympathy, 
 
 128 
 
THE VEX HOSPITAL 
 
 where we take scores of people who cry out, "Heal me, 
 for my bones are vexed." Then think of how often 
 the windows of the hospital are opened and from 
 them sorrow and pain fly out as song-birds to make 
 the world happier and better. 
 
 129 
 
FOB TWELFTH SUNDAY IN SUMMER 
 A GOOD TELLTALE 
 
 "Who knoweth the interpretation of a thing." — EccL, viii., 1 
 
 WOULD you use a trunk to carry a note-book 
 to schooL^ You would laugh at any one 
 who used even a dress-suit case to carry a pad and 
 lead-pencil. The words in our text are too large 
 for what is in them. You do not need a trunk to 
 carry your pad and pencil, neither do you need the 
 large words of this text to carry what is in them. 
 When men translated the Hebrew into English they 
 once in a while had the bad habit of using long 
 words. The word "knoweth" is too long; let us use 
 the shorter word, "knows." "Who knows the inter- 
 pretation of a thing?" "Interpretation" is cer- 
 tainly too long; it has fourteen letters. The word 
 "explain" has the same meaning and just half the 
 number of letters. The text with the same meaning, 
 but shorter words, reads, "Who knows how to ex- 
 plain a thing.?" 
 
 You boys would laugh if I said, "Who knoweth the 
 interpretation of this game called marbles.?" I am 
 
 130 
 
A GOOD TELLTALE 
 
 sure you girls would laugh if, when playing jacks, 
 I said, "Who knoweth the interpretation of jacks?" 
 If I asked, "Who knows how to explain this game?" 
 you would all understand me. Our text asks, "Who 
 knows how to explain a thing?" You do not know 
 anything real well until you can tell it to some one. 
 You half know it, and telhng gives you the other 
 half. In school life your home work is half knowl- 
 edge; reciting the lesson to the teacher gives you 
 the other half. It is just as much your duty to tell 
 what you know as it is to know what you tell. We 
 need good telltales. 
 
 You boys and girls come to church to learn about 
 God and His love. You want to know if He loves 
 you, and what you must do in order to get His love 
 into your heart. This is but half of the knowledge. 
 The other half is gained when you tell some one how 
 God got His love into your heart, and how you got 
 your love into His heart. The first part is your 
 church work, the second is your recitation work. 
 You really do not know the love of God until you are 
 able to tell some other person about how it feels to 
 have God love you, and how it feels to love God. 
 You do not have your school lesson until you give 
 it to your teacher. You do not have your church 
 
 131 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 lesson until you give it to some one. It is strange, 
 but true, that there are some things you do not pos- 
 sess until you give them away. Get your knowledge 
 of God and of His love into short words and tell it 
 to some one, to every one with whom you talk. 
 
 I have not given you all of our text, "Who knoweth 
 the interpretation of a thing? A man's wisdom 
 maketh his face to shine, and the boldness of his face 
 is changed." Boldness means pride and selfishness. 
 Your face shines and you are happy when you ex- 
 plain something that makes others happy. The hap- 
 piest people are those who do the most to make others 
 happy. Happiness takes the boldness out of the 
 face. You can make people very happy by telling 
 them what you know about the love of God. You 
 may make them very unhappy by not telling them. 
 We sin by not telling a truth as surely as we sin by 
 telling an untruth. Now, I shall tell you a story of 
 how a man kept another from being happy by not 
 being a good telltale. 
 
 One of the governors of Virginia at the close of 
 his term went to Palm Beach, Florida, for rest and 
 recreation. He tells about his first and only night 
 at that beautiful resting-place. When he arrived, he 
 was going to ask for a room — one not too expensive 
 
 132 
 
A GOOD TELLTALE 
 
 for his purse. Before he had time to do this he was 
 hurried off to the elevator, taken up-stairs, and 
 shown to a gorgeous suite of rooms. On the door he 
 saw this notice: "The price of these rooms is one 
 hundred dollars per day." The governor had not 
 saved enough out of his salary to pay such a large 
 price and he was ashamed to go down and ask for 
 cheaper rooms. He was so much troubled about the 
 price that it kept him awake most of the night. He 
 kept working on the problem, "If this suite of rooms 
 costs one hundred dollars for one day, how much 
 will it cost for one night .'^" What was he to do.f^ 
 
 Early the next morning he went down to the of- 
 fice and told the clerk that he was obliged to leave 
 on the next train. The clerk was very much sur- 
 prized and told the governor that all the people 
 would be disappointed as they expected him to remain 
 for six weeks. But the governor said he must leave 
 on the next train — urgent business. The governor 
 .vas whispering to himself: "If these rooms cost one 
 hundred dollars for one day, what will they cost for 
 six weeks?" He tried to look rich and asked for 
 his bill. The clerk did not give him a bill, so he asked 
 for it a second time. "Oh, that's all right; there is 
 no bill," replied the clerk. "The proprietor left 
 
 133 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 orders, as soon as he heard you were coming, that you 
 were to have that suite of rooms, and that there was 
 to be no charge whether you remained for one day or 
 for six weeks. We are only sorry that you can't re- 
 main." The owner of the hotel had love for the 
 governor, and was trying to get his love into the gov- 
 ernor's heart. The clerk knew all about this love, 
 and he could have and should have explained it to the 
 governor. The governor was, therefore, made very 
 unhappy for one night, and lost all the happiness of 
 six weeks. The clerk had not been "wise," his face 
 did not "shine," the "boldness" was not changed. 
 "Who knows how to explain a thing?" The clerk 
 was not a good telltale. Do my Juniors know the 
 meaning of our word "gospel." It means good news. 
 Some one needs the gospel to make him happy. Are 
 you a good telltale.'' 
 
 134 
 
FOR THIRTEENTH SUNDAY IN SUMMER 
 HEARTSICK AND HOMESICK 
 
 "We hanged our harps upon the willows." — Psalms cxxxvii., 2 
 
 THESE harp-hangers had heart trouble. They 
 were homesick. It was very mean of their 
 enemies to ask them to sing home songs when they 
 were homesick. We do not find fault with them for 
 hanging up their harps and refusing to sing. They 
 said: "How shall we sing the Lord's song in a 
 strange land.'"' Whittier writes: 
 
 The homesick dreamer's brow is nightly fanned 
 By breezes of his native land. 
 
 I can almost hear you ask: "Why did they hang 
 their harps on the willow-trees.'^" I do not know 
 why. Possibly they were weeping willows. It would 
 be interesting to know all about these trees, but there 
 is something in this story more important for you 
 and me than the harps and willows. Here were men, 
 women and children refusing to sing because they 
 were homesick. They were God's people, carried away 
 as captives into a strange land. The children were 
 crying and sobbing. They wanted to go home. 
 
 135 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 Their ancestors in the wilderness were homesick for 
 leeks and onions. We laugh at them for wanting 
 leeks and onions, but we do not laugh at these good 
 people who hung their harps on the willows. They 
 were homesick for Zion — their church home. It was 
 a case of church-homesickness. In the home city, 
 Jerusalem, was a beautiful temple, with grand music, 
 where they had met every week to worship God. 
 They were homesick for their church. 
 
 If you boys and girls were carried away as slaves 
 into a strange country and made to work hard all 
 week, you would be very homesick on Sunday morning 
 for your church and Junior Congregation. Home- 
 sick for your church, I am sure you would not want 
 to sing your church songs for those who were making 
 fun of you. You would be looking for weeping 
 willows upon which to hang your mandolins. If you 
 were away and homesick for your Junior church, I 
 would be both sorry and glad. Sorry that you were 
 church-homesick, and glad that you loved your 
 church enough to be homesick. I believe God would 
 be sorry and glad; very, very sorry and very, very 
 glad. 
 
 Satan is your enemy. He is trying to carry you 
 136 
 
HEARTSICK AND HOMESICK 
 
 away from your church and to make you a slave to 
 some sin. "Sabbath-breaking" is a far country into 
 which he carries many children on Sunday in auto- 
 mobiles. Please do not look so sad. Father and 
 mother will come to church with you and will help 
 us to keep Satan from tearing you away into slavery. 
 Cheer up! Look happy! There is another far- 
 away country into which Satan carries children. It 
 is a country where there are no weeping willows. It 
 is a country where there are no weeping willows. It is 
 the Land of Nod, where they do not weep, but sleep, 
 the land where people get tired when they have noth- 
 ing to do. I shall tell you a story. The story is an 
 old legend about a wonderful bell in the town of 
 Lenz. 
 
 The King of France was passing through the town 
 and heard the sweet, mellow tones of the bell floating 
 out from the old church-spire. Pigeons nesting near 
 the bell flew out when it began to ring. The king, 
 seeing the pigeons, thought of them as notes of 
 music opening and floating out from the spire and 
 lighting upon the homes of the happy people of 
 Lenz. Out from these homes the king saw fathers 
 and mothers with merry children wending their way 
 
 137 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 to the church, the bell chiming, the pigeons flying, 
 and the children almost dancing with joy. 
 
 The king determined to have the bell removed to 
 Paris, where he could hear it every day. Down from 
 the church-spire the bell was carried to the tower of 
 the king's palace. The legend says that the bell re- 
 fused to ring for the king. The best bell-ringers of 
 the city tried it, coaxed it, but failed to make it ring. 
 Bell-founders from Hungary and Vienna were sum- 
 moned, but their efforts also failed. 
 
 The king, fearing that some harm might come to 
 him for keeping the bell against its will, sent it back 
 to Lenz. It made the journey in a cart, drawn by 
 twenty horses. As it drew near its old home it began 
 to ring of its own accord. So loudly and clearly did 
 it ring that the town-folks heard it when it was yet 
 six miles away. The pigeons flew in ever-widening 
 circles around the spire, their white wings gleaming 
 in the sunshine. Children, drest in white, went out 
 to meet the bell, singing its welcome home. The bell 
 had been homesick for its church and now rang more 
 sweetly than ever before — it was so glad to get 
 home. 
 
 At midnight a strange sound woke all the children 
 138 
 
HEARTSICK AND HOMESICK 
 
 of Lenz. The old bell in the church-spire was ring- 
 ing: 
 
 'Mid pleasures and palaces tho we may roam, 
 Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home. 
 
 A charm from the skies seems to hallow us there. 
 Which, seek thro' the world, is never met elsewhere. 
 
 Home, home, sweet, sweet home. 
 There's no place like home, there's no place like home. 
 
 "Homesick" is God's medicine to bring us home. 
 
 139 
 
AUTUMN 
 
 {September 21st-Decemher 20th) 
 
 THE SONG OF THE WIND 
 
 I've a great deal to do, a great deal to do, 
 
 Don't speak to me, children, I pray ; 
 These little boys' hats must be blown off their heads, 
 
 And these little girls' bonnets away. 
 
 There are bushels of apples to gather to-day. 
 
 And O ! there's no end to the nuts ; 
 Over many long roads I must traverse away. 
 
 And many by-lanes and short-cuts. 
 
 — Selected. 
 
 141 
 
FOR FIRST SUNDAY IN AUTUMN 
 CANNED SUNSHINE 
 
 "We love Him because He first loved us." — 1 John iv., 19 
 
 MOTHER is in the kitchen, canning." That 
 is what Helen said when I called at the 
 farm. It was a beautiful autumn day, the trees were 
 loaded with fruit, the vines were bending with great 
 clusters of grapes, and the farm looked like Para- 
 dise. Mother was busy canning peaches and pears. 
 Into jars she put them and sealed them safe from air 
 and germs. On a shelf was a long row of cans look- 
 ing like pictures of dinners in glass frames. "But why 
 trouble about canning a few peaches and pears when 
 you could gather bushels from the trees?" I asked. 
 Helen smiled and answered, "These are for winter din- 
 ners." Then she opened the pantry-door and showed 
 me the preserves — quince and apple-butter, pure 
 grape- juice and jams — cans, cans, cans on all the 
 stands. Beautiful autumn canned for winter. Helen 
 said they were winners. I am going to accept Helen's 
 invitation to a winter dinner of canned autumn. 
 
 143 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 Suppose your teacher were to hold up before you 
 a lump of coal and ask, "What is it?" What would 
 be your answer? "A lump of coal is canned sun- 
 shine." You could not give a better answer. Long 
 ago plants and trees gathered sunshine, preserved 
 it and hid it deep in the earth. We now take it out 
 in black lumps, or cans, that we call "coal." When 
 we warm up the coal, out comes the sunshine to light 
 and warm our homes. A lump of coal is an old, 
 black can full of sunshine. In the ash-can is what is 
 left when the sunshine is taken out. Thousands of 
 years ago God, like a loving mother, canned this sun- 
 shine for you and me. Some rich men propose to 
 erect a monument of coal to Philip Ginter. 
 
 One hundred and nine years ago Ginter lived in 
 a rough cabin in the forests of Mauch Chunk Moun- 
 tain. While in quest of game for his family, whom 
 he had left at home without food of any kind, his 
 foot struck a black stone. By the roadside, not far 
 from the town of Summit Hill, he built a fire of wood 
 and threw pieces of the supposed stone about it, so 
 that the embers might last longer while he was roast- 
 ing a fowl. He was surprized after a little while to 
 see the stones glow and retain their heat for a long 
 time. He carried a lot of the coal home and burned 
 
 144 
 
CANNED SUNSHINE 
 
 it there. A monument to the man who discovered 
 canned sunshine. 
 
 On one side of the monument they should put the 
 name GOD, who canned the sunshine Ginter dis- 
 covered. 
 
 Now, I have a question for you to answer. "Why 
 is love like a lump of coal?" Because love is canned 
 sunshine. The heart is a vessel that God fills with 
 love. When we "warm up" to any one, the can opens, 
 and love shines out to brighten and warm his life. 
 A heart may be black and cold like a lump of coal, 
 but inside there is love. Religion opens the heart 
 and lets the sunshine out. If you want to get light 
 and heat out of a lump of coal you put it into the 
 fire. If you want to get love out of a soul, you must 
 put that soul into the light and heat of friendship 
 and kindness. 
 
 A little boy declared that he loved his mother 
 "with all his strength," and he was asked to explain 
 what he meant by the expression. After some little 
 time spent in reflection, he said : "Well, I'll tell you. 
 You see, we hve up here on the fourth floor of this 
 tenement, and there's no elevator, and the coal is 
 kept 'way down in the basement. Mother is dread- 
 fully busy all the time, and she isn't very strong, so 
 
 14)5 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 I see to it that the coal-hod is never empty. I kig 
 all the coal up four flights all by myself, and the 
 hod is pretty big. It takes all my strength to get it 
 up here. Now, isn't that loving mother with all my 
 strength?" 
 
 The boy's heart was open, and the sunshine of love 
 came out. Once he was a cross and crying baby. 
 His mother took him to the warm heart of her love, 
 loved him and loved him, until she opened his heart. 
 He loved his mother because she first loved him. 
 
 At a great exposition it was the custom for the 
 people to sign their names in the different State 
 buildings. People who registered were asked to give 
 their occupations, so that the books read Hke this: 
 "John Smith, carpenter" ; "Thomas Brown, farmer." 
 A little golden-haired girl asked if she might register. 
 She was told to write her name and occupation. This 
 is what she wrote : "Mary Jones, help mama." 
 
 Christ came into this world with all the love of 
 heaven in His heart for you and me. When we come 
 close to Him our hearts open and let love out. Our 
 hearts are opened because His heart was first opened 
 for us. "We love Him because he first loved us." 
 He died for us, so great was His love. Here is a 
 story : 
 
 146 
 
CANNED SUNSHINE 
 
 In a storm off the New England coast a few years 
 ago a vessel was wrecked. It was impossible for the 
 life-saving service to reach the drowning passengers 
 and seamen. At last one of the men began to drift 
 toward the shore. A line of life-savers was imme- 
 diately formed, stretching out toward him into the 
 sea. The drifting man came nearer and nearer, until 
 the life-saver at the end of the line was able to reach 
 him and pass him back along the line. He reached 
 the shore in safety. 
 
 The life-saver, in loosing his hand to catch the man 
 who was floating in from the wreck, was dragged off 
 his feet by the undertow, carried out to sea, and 
 drowned. The rescued man was sick for weeks with 
 a raging fever. When he finally recovered a pecu- 
 liarity was noticed in his talk. No matter to whom 
 he spoke, or what the topic of conversation, he al- 
 ways closed by repeating, "A man died for me once ! 
 A man died for me once!" He never forgot it. He 
 wanted others to know it. 
 
 Love is canned sunshine. Youth is the time to fill 
 your heart with love. Then when you grow older 
 and sickness and trouble come, you can open a can 
 to brighten your life. 
 
 147 
 
THE SECOND SUNDAY IN AUTUMN 
 JACK TAR, JR. 
 
 "I know." — Revelation xi., 19 
 
 " T ACK TAR" is a nickname for sailors. In the 
 tJ early times they used to make their clothing 
 water-proof by coating it with tar. They, there- 
 fore, called a sailor an "Old Tar." But under "Jack 
 Tar's" water-proof jacket was a good, warm heart. 
 On the Half Moon was a "Jack Tar, Jr." His 
 real name was John Hudson. The first time that we 
 hear of "Jack Tar, Jr.," was on April 6, 1607. He 
 was at church and at the communion-table. He was 
 a whole Junior Congregation. The old record tells 
 of certain seamen at St. Ethelburga's Church, in 
 Bishop's Gate Street, London. This was their last 
 Sunday on land, "purposing to go to sea four days 
 after." I want you to notice how the roll reads: 
 "Henry Hudson, master; William Colines, mate; 
 eleven members of the crew, and John Hudson, boy." 
 Some one has said : "We point with grateful appre- 
 ciation to the honored explorer with his son and his 
 
 148 
 
JACK TAR, JR. 
 
 crew kneeling at the Lord's table to receive the holy 
 sacrament. It is a touch that joins the valiant souls 
 who, in the ages past, believed in the Lord Jesus and 
 gave outward expression of that faith with those who 
 do likewise to-day ; a link by which living and dead, 
 they of the past and they of the present, are united 
 in one mystical communion and fellowship. St. 
 Ethelburga in Bishop's Gate Street still stands. It 
 is there that they who venerate the discoverer's 
 memory may pass through the very doorway and 
 stand within the very walls, beneath the very roof 
 that sheltered him w'hen he and his ship's company 
 joined together in the most solemn worship of our 
 religion more than three hundred years ago." 
 
 "Jack Tar, Jr.," a charter member of our Junior 
 Congregation. Four days after this communion he 
 was on the deck, sailing into the shadows of the un- 
 known — no playmates, no one with whom to plan 
 pranks, no other boy with whom to share the blame, 
 no girl friends to see and admire him when he 
 climbed the mainmast, no more school, no more 
 church, no mother to bathe his tired feet and to kiss 
 away his aches and pains. 
 
 The upper end of our great Hudson River should 
 be called "Hudson, Jr." I believe that he saw the 
 
 149 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 river first. Boys usually see things first. An Indian 
 swam under the Half Moon and tried to upset it. 
 Surely, the boy first saw him and laughed at the 
 foolish Indian until he had to roll on the deck to rest. 
 One of the lifeboats of the Hendrik Hudson should 
 be named "Jack Tar, Jr." He cheered his father 
 when lonely and discouraged, kept the sailors from 
 being homesick for lack of time to think, and caught 
 and cooked the best fish in the river. Yet there is 
 nothing in the history about him save "John Hud- 
 son, a boy." 
 
 To-day some of the best and bravest people in the 
 world are boys and girls. This fall scores of boys 
 and girls could not go back to their playmates and 
 playgrounds, to their teachers and their schools. A 
 few days ago I attended a father's funeral. On the 
 way to the cemetery I asked one of the boys if he 
 was in school. He said that he was in high-school 
 and had expected to graduate in February, but must 
 now go to work and help mother. 
 
 There is no record on earth about "Jack Tar, Jr.," 
 but there is a record in heaven; no record on earth 
 about boys and girls who give up play and school and 
 bright hopes in order to help pay rent and to keep 
 food on the table. Some one knows. Our text says, 
 
 150 
 
JACK TAR, JR. 
 
 "I know." Who knows? God, who knows all things. 
 What does He know.^^ "I know thy works and love 
 and service and faith and thy patience." Some day 
 our Father will reward you boys and girls who love 
 and serve — "John Hudson, a boy," at church at the 
 Lord's Supper with the grown people. If you, my 
 boys and girls, have sorrows and burdens, remember 
 the Lord's Supper is the place to get strength to 
 bear them. 
 
 Now, are you ready to go home ? No ! Why ? 
 "A story in which to carry the sermon .?" Here it is : 
 
 John L. Clem, the famous "drummer-boy of the 
 Shiloh," at the close of the war went to see General 
 Grant. The President asked: "What can I do for 
 you?" "Mr. President," said Clem, "I want to ask 
 you for an order to admit me to West Point." "But 
 why do you not take the examination?" "I did, Mr. 
 President, but I failed to pass." "That was unfor- 
 tunate. How was that?" "Why, Mr. President, you 
 see, I was in the war, and while I was there those other 
 boys of my age were in school." "What !" exclaimed 
 the President amazed, "you were in the war !" "Yes, 
 Mr. President, I was in the war four years." He re- 
 lated his experience, and the President then wrote 
 something, sealed it, and, handing it to Clem, said: 
 
 151 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 "Take this to the Secretary of War. I guess it will 
 fix you all right." Clem went to the Secretary and 
 delivered the note. The Secretary read it and said: 
 "Do you know what this is?" "No," repHed Clem, 
 "but I hope that it is an order to admit me to West 
 Point." "Well, it isn't," returned the Secretary; 
 "it's an order to commission you second lieutenant in 
 the regular army." 
 
 When the President was asked why he gave Clem 
 the position without a West Point diploma, he said, 
 "I know." He knew Clem's work and love and 
 service for and faith in his country. Colonel John 
 J. Clem is now assistant quartermaster-general in the 
 regular army. Our Father overlooks some of your 
 faults, but he underlooks, remembers and rewards 
 every noble act, every sacrifice that you make. 
 
 152 
 
FOB THIRD SUNDAY IN AUTUMN 
 DIEGO, THE DAGO 
 
 "That which hath wings will tell the matter." — Eccl., x., 20 
 
 THE world would soon lose its whirl without 
 our girl. Life would be sad without our lad. 
 Girls and lads enjoy a holiday. Wednesday will be 
 their delight — Columbus day, a legal holiday. The 
 boys and girls of only four other States — Connec- 
 ticut, Montana, Maryland, and Colorado — have this 
 holiday. You owe ''Columbus day" to a boy, Diego, 
 and some birds. There was a boy on the Half Moon, 
 a boy on the Mayflower, and there was a boy, Diego, 
 on the deck with Columbus. His father had a vision. 
 He believed there was a great country to the west- 
 ward on which he should plant the cross. He was 
 very poor, and the King of Italy would not give him 
 ships with which to find the new world. With Diego, 
 his little motherless boy, he went to Genoa. There 
 the people thought he was crazy and refused to help 
 him. Columbus then went to Spain. One day, tired 
 and footsore, he stopt at a convent to beg some 
 bread for his child. The superior of the convent was 
 
 153 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 interested in the boy and talked with his father. As 
 a result of the conversation, Columbus was introduced 
 to the King and Queen of Spain. 
 
 Seven years later, with three small boats, one hun- 
 dred and twenty men and the boy, he sailed in search 
 of his vision. "In 1492 Columbus crossed the waters 
 blue." This is true, but we must not forget Diego, 
 too. After a long, stormy voyage over an unknown 
 sea, they sailed near to land. Driftwood and land- 
 birds were seen. To them it was clear that land was 
 near. A short time, in the direction they were sail- 
 ing, would have brought them to what is now North 
 Carolina. This country would then have been Span- 
 ish. American children would be Spaniards. Our 
 country would be like South America. Why did 
 Columbus not sail right on to North America? A 
 flock of birds were flying southwest. I believe the boy 
 saw them first. Columbus decided to follow the birds. 
 They led him to the West Indies. God wanted the 
 Dutch to come here first — to bring us a free govern- 
 ment and the public schools. God used the birds. 
 "That which hath wings will tell the matter." Did 
 you ever thank God for birds? 
 
 Here are two thoughts for you to keep. First, 
 God used the boy, Diego, when He was ready to have 
 
 154 
 
DIEGO, THE DAGO 
 
 America discovered. Diego came to be a very com- 
 mon name with Italians, like our John or Will. The 
 English sailors, often hearing them say Diego, called 
 them all Dago. When you get "dago" in your 
 mouth, stop and think that Diego, the dago, really 
 discovered America for you. The first boy in Amer- 
 ica was an Indian ; the second, an Italian ; the third, 
 Dutch. You came late and should not hate. Second, 
 God rules and can use not only a boy but a bird to 
 carry out His plans. Man can use carrier-pigeons to 
 carry his messages. "That which hath wings will 
 tell the matter." 
 
 As I gave you two thoughts, I must give you two 
 stories. 
 
 In East Africa there is a winged messenger called 
 the honey-bird. It loves honey. When it finds a tree 
 where wild bees are storing their sweets, it will chatter 
 and fly about until some one follows it to the tree. 
 It wants the honey the man will help it to get. Rev. 
 Dr. W. S. Rainsford writes about this honey-bird : 
 
 "I think I must have followed the bird certainly 
 more than a dozen times, and it never once failed to 
 lead me straight to the honey-tree. I had followed 
 one bird for many hundreds of yards. It would wait 
 for me, and while it was waiting it would never cease 
 
 155 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 to utter its sharp, chirping cry. Once I was up, it 
 would go on again." 
 
 The other story is nearer home. This summer your 
 pastor followed Peter's advice and went fishing. He 
 found two men who, like Peter's companions, were 
 truthful and skilful fishermen. Into the blue sky 
 they would look for bluefish. At first the idea made 
 your pastor laugh behind his mustache. But soon he 
 was looking up and asking the sea-gulls where to find 
 the fish. That which hath wings told us where to 
 find them. One day we saw the gulls standing in 
 line on the shore like soldiers waiting for the battle 
 call. The fishermen said there is no use of wetting 
 our lines until the gulls show us where to fish. When 
 I found this was true, I remembered Psalm 116: 11. 
 Dr. Henry Van Dyke writes: "Where bluefish are 
 found the gulls are often useful guides to the fisher- 
 man. When he sees a great flock of them fluttering 
 over the water, he suspects that the objects of his pur- 
 suit are there, feeding from below on the squid, on 
 which the gulls are feeding from above. So the 
 fisherman sails as fast as possible in that direction, 
 wishing to drag his trolls through the school of fish 
 while they are still hungry." 
 
 God wants us to use his messengers as our servants. 
 156 
 
FOR FOURTH SUNDAY IN AUTUMN 
 THE SHADOW-CHILD 
 
 "My days are like a shadow that declineth." — Psalms cii., 11 
 
 DO you want to hear a weird story of the shadow- 
 child? No one knows when and where he was 
 born, nor when and where he died. His history is 
 hid behind a shadow. He had a home somewhere, no 
 one knows where. He went to school and was well 
 educated — where, no one knows. His days were like 
 a shadow. Behind the shadow he grew into man- 
 hood. One day he came out from the shadow, and for 
 four years he searched for one thing, but never found 
 it. That for which he sought was hid behind a 
 shadow. 
 
 Long before white men came to live in this country 
 the shadow-child came hunting for something that 
 he did not find. The Indians saw a strange some- 
 thing swimming or floating and nearing the land. 
 They thought that it was a spirit coming to them 
 from another world. It was the shadow-child, who 
 
 157 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 remained for a few days, gave the Indians many 
 presents, then rode away on the moon. 
 
 During the four years that he Hved out of the 
 shadow he appeared at different places, looking for 
 that one thing he could not find. Then he suddenly 
 dropt behind a big, black shadow, and no one knows 
 where he went. No one can find his grave, but you 
 can see one of his monuments. It is the highest 
 monument In New York, nearly four thousand feet. 
 It is more permanent and enduring than granite, 
 but it is always moving. For one hundred and 
 seventy-five miles it moves twice a day in opposite 
 directions, but 3^ou can always find It at the same 
 place. Once a day this monument Is hid under a 
 shadow. 
 
 The shadow-child's name Is Henry Hudson. He 
 came here searching for a passageway to China. He 
 sailed up the river as far as Albany, thinking that he 
 could go on to China. This river, the Hudson, Is 
 now his monument, reaching from New York Bay to 
 the Adirondack Mountains, four thousand feet above 
 New York. Along this river monument the tide ebbs 
 and flows twice each day as far as Troy, one hundred 
 and seventy-five miles. Once each day it is hid under 
 the shadow of night. 
 
 158 
 
THE SHADOW CHILD 
 
 In the fall of 1909 we celebrated the three-hun- 
 dredth anniversary of Henry Hudson's coming to 
 and going from this river. He did not go away on 
 the moon in the sky, but in the Half Moon on the sea. 
 Later, when he was again searching for a sea-road 
 to China, some bad men tied his hands and feet and 
 threw him into a little boat that was left to drift out 
 into a big, black shadow. From this shadow he never 
 returned. His life seemed to be a failure. He did 
 not find what he was looking for. It was hid behind 
 a shadow. Would you like to be a shadow-child? 
 I hear you say, "No ! no ! no ! I do not want my days 
 to be like a shadow." 
 
 There is another shadow-child whose life is more 
 interesting and his work much greater than Henry 
 Hudson's. A few days after He was born He was 
 carried behind a shadow, and we know nothing about 
 Him for twelve years. Then we see Him for but one 
 day. Again He is hid behind a shadow, and we do 
 not see nor hear from Him for eighteen years. He 
 is thirty years of age before we see Him for more 
 than a few hours. 
 
 When we see Him, like the other shadow-child. He 
 is standing by a great river, the River Jordan. Do 
 you know His name.? His name is Jesus. He, too, 
 
 159 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 was searching for a road around the world. He 
 wanted to save all the people on the earth. For 
 three years He worked in the light — the light of His 
 love. He worked to save you and me, and then 
 passed into the "valley of the shadow of death." 
 His life seemed to be a failure. It was hid behind a 
 shadow. 
 
 He has a monument that is to be the longest and 
 highest in the world. It is to reach from earth to 
 heaven. This monument God asks you to help in 
 building. It is the Lord's Supper — "do this in re- 
 membrance of Me." Ask your parents how you can 
 help to build this monument. 
 
 I told you some things about Hudson's monument 
 that seemed impossible — running in opposite direc- 
 tions twice a day, but always to be found in the same 
 place, and once a day hid under a shadow. How 
 very simple when you understand it. There are some 
 things hard to understand about Christ's monument, 
 the Lord's Supper. Some day, when God explains 
 them, we shall find them very simple, very easy to un- 
 derstand. Shall I tell you a story in which to carry 
 your sermon home ? Very well ; here it is : 
 
 There is a legend of a saint whose good works so 
 pleased the angels that they offered him such a gift 
 
 160 
 
THE SHADOW CHH^D 
 
 that he might have power to do good, as the flower 
 gives out perfume, without knowing it. The angels 
 could not give this at once; but after thinking long 
 and hard, they decided to make this power for him. 
 So they carried the loom of light into a land where 
 it was all night. 
 
 Out of the darkness they spun threads finer than 
 those of love that hold hearts together. From these 
 they wove a web so fine that they could walk through 
 it without tearing it ; so fine that you can to-day 
 throw stones through it without breaking a thread 
 or leaving a mark. This web the angels gave to the 
 saint, and they told him that if he would work be- 
 hind it he would be able to do good as the flowers 
 give out perfume without knowing it. The saint 
 called this new web his shadow. 
 
 This wonderful web is given to every boy and girl 
 on one condition — you must stand in the light. 
 Henry Hudson blest the world without knowing it. 
 He was behind a shadow. Christ has given you a 
 shadow behind which the world may not see you, a 
 shadow behind which you may live and do great good 
 without knowing it. It is the shadow of His cross. 
 Are you willing to be a shadow-child? I want to 
 hear you all say, "Yes ! Yes ! Yes !" 
 
 161 
 
FOB FIFTH SUNDAY IN AUTUMN 
 
 THE SECRET WORD 
 
 "Obey them that have the rule over you." — Hebrews xiii., 17 
 
 SCHOOL fraternities give their members a secret 
 word. This word is like a key that opens many- 
 doors. To-day I am going to give the members of 
 our Junior Congregation a secret word, one that will 
 open very many doors. When you stand before 
 great difficulties where there is no door, this word 
 will often make a door and then open it. We call it 
 a secret word because it is a secret of happiness, a 
 secret of success, a secret of power. It is a secret you 
 can tell out loud to all your friends. This secret word 
 is "obey." Professor Huxley says the boy or girl 
 who learns to obey has a liberal education. My 
 Juniors have heard of the Lick Observatory. James 
 Lick, the millionaire who built it, when taking any 
 one into his service always asked him to plant a tree 
 upside down — the roots in the air, the branches un- 
 derground. If there were any protest the man was 
 at once sent away. Lick saying that he wanted only 
 men who would obey orders strictly. 
 
 162 
 
THE SECRET WORD 
 
 I have a friend and neighbor whose dog has seven 
 puppies. Last week the maid threw some bones to 
 the mother and the puppies began to bite on these 
 hard bones. The mother was real cross with her 
 puppies, bit their ears and made them cry. They 
 are not big enough to howl, and so I say cry. There 
 were tears in the sound they made. This was the 
 mother dog's way of teaching her children the secret 
 word "obey." She knew they were not old enough 
 to chew bones. The mother dog was angry at her 
 puppies because she loved them. If they did not 
 learn to obey her they would not grow to be big dogs. 
 
 Our text says, "Obey them that have the rule over 
 you." Your parents, your school, your church and 
 your God have rule over you. Obey is the secret word 
 of your happiness and success. The mother dog in 
 her bark language told the puppies to keep away 
 from the bones. They disobeyed and she gave them 
 sore ears. The next time they will listen to what 
 mother dog tells them. 
 
 The Bible says obey, "Be not as the horse, or as 
 
 the mule which has no understanding." But you 
 
 can train a horse or mule to obey. A story from the 
 
 Christian Herald will explain this. One day in Texas 
 
 eirrht hundred horses broke out of a corral and went 
 «j 
 
 163 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 off at full speed. Two men made an heroic effort to 
 head them off, but were brushed aside and narrowly 
 escaped losing their lives. Many of the horses, how- 
 ever, belonged to the First Texas Cavalry, and the 
 bugler was one of the men who saw the tumultuous 
 flight. He made a rush for his bugle and sounded 
 a call. Instantly it could be seen which of the horses 
 had received military training. In obedience to the 
 call, the old chargers formed in line and turned at 
 right angles. He sounded "Halt !" and the chargers 
 came to a standstill. The other horses, heedless of 
 the bugle-call, continued on their mad career. Some 
 were cut to pieces by a train, others died by collision 
 with telegraph-poles and other obstacles. Thirty, in 
 all, were killed before their flight came to an end. 
 The horses that had learned to obey were not hurt. 
 Boys and girls have more understanding than a horse. 
 They should more readily learn to obey. 
 
 General Havelock was one night at a public dinner 
 in London. He suddenly rose from the table and 
 exclaimed, "I left my boy this afternoon on London 
 Bridge, and told him to wait there till I came back !" 
 
 The general had forgotten his boy. Where do 
 you suppose the father went to find his son? He 
 hastened to the bridge where he had left him, and 
 
 164 
 
THE SECRET WORD 
 
 there was the brave boy, patiently waiting for his 
 father. He had learned to obey. If you will promise 
 not to forget the secret word, I will tell you a true 
 bear story. I give it to you just as I found it in 
 one of our magazines. 
 
 Mr. Kipling says the law of the jungle is "obey." 
 This seems to be the law of Yellowstone Park. There 
 is a lunch-station at the Upper Basin, near Old 
 Faithful, kept by a kind-hearted man. He got ac- 
 quainted last year with a bear, who came to his house 
 every day. The bear also got acquainted with him, 
 and would walk into the kitchen seeking food for her- 
 self and her cubs. The cubs never came with the 
 mother. The man got on very intimate terms with 
 the bear, who was always civil and well behaved. This 
 bear would take food from his hand without taking 
 his hand. One day toward sunset the bear came to 
 the kitchen, and having received her portion, she 
 went out of the back door to carry it to her cubs. 
 To her surprize and anger the cubs were there wait- 
 ing for her. She laid down the food, and rushed at 
 her infants and gave them a rousing spanking, and 
 so drove them back into the woods, cuffing them and 
 knocking them at every step. When she reached the 
 spot where she had told them to wait, she left them 
 
 165 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 there and returned to the house. And there she 
 stayed in the kitchen for two whole hours, making 
 her disobedient children wait for their food, simply 
 to discipline them and teach them obedience. The 
 explanation is very natural. When the bear leaves 
 her young in a particular place and goes in search 
 of food for them, if they stray away in her absence 
 she has great difficulty in finding them. The mother 
 knew that the safety of her cubs and her own peace 
 of mind depended upon strict discipline in the family. 
 "Obey them that have the rule over you." 
 At the close of a hot day an aged father went 
 into the field and asked his boy to take a package to 
 the village two miles away. For a second the boy 
 hesitated. He was tired and hungry. But God's 
 good angel helped him, and he said almost instantly 
 and pleasantly, "Certainly, father, I'll take it." The 
 father guessed the sacrifice the boy was making. He 
 put his hand on his arm and said lovingly, "Thank 
 you, my son; you've always been a good boy to me, 
 Jim." When the lad returned he saw the farm-hands 
 all crowded around the door. One of them came to 
 him and said: "Your father fell dead just as he 
 reached the house. The last words he spoke were to 
 you." And those last words had been approving 
 
 166 
 
THE SECRET WORD 
 
 words. '^You've always been a good boy to irie, 
 Jim." They echoed and reechoed in the orphan's 
 heart, making such a precious melody. 
 
 The Bible says : "To obey is better than sacrifice." 
 Luther said: "I would rather obey than work mira- 
 cles." He might have said, "No one can work mira- 
 cles unless he obeys." Obedience is a key to every 
 door you should enter. Will my Juniors read a story 
 of how a Junior became a great man by obeying a 
 call.? The story is in I Samuel iii., 1-21. 
 
 167 
 
FOR SIXTH SUNDAY IN AUTUMN 
 HALLOWE'EN 
 
 "The man that deceiveth his neighbor, and saith, 'Am not I in 
 sport?' " — Prov., xxvi., 19 
 
 THIRTEEN centuries ago Hallowe'en was a 
 holy day in May. It was called "All Saints' 
 day." The evening before was known as Hallowe'en, 
 or holy evening. On November 1st the heathen had 
 an "All Spirits' day." All spirits, good and evil, 
 were thought to be on earth that night. Witches 
 and fairies visited homes and played tricks and had 
 a good time. In order to keep these evil spirits 
 away church-bells were kept ringing all night. 
 
 When these pagans were converted to Christianity 
 the Church thought by putting the two holy days, 
 "All Saints' day" and "All Spirits' day," together, 
 they would make it easier for the pagans to be good 
 Christians. They took "All Saints' day" from May 
 and put it into "All Spirits' day" in November. At 
 first the real good Christians celebrated the evening 
 of October 31st in a Christian way. Those who were 
 
 168 
 
HALLOWE'EN 
 
 not so good celebrated it in their old pagan way. 
 The pagan evening soon swallowed up the Christian 
 evening, leaving only its name. Now, after thirteen 
 centuries, we still have the Christian name and the 
 pagan celebration. When the boys kindle the bon- 
 fires it is the old pagan worship of the sun. When 
 children crack nuts it is a relic of the old pagan su- 
 perstition. How can we keep all the fun and have 
 less pagan and more Christian in our Hallowe'en.? 
 
 In western Pennsylvania, when I was a boy, 
 Hallowe'en was a night when boys and girls took the 
 place of witches and fairies. They would deceive 
 their neighbors and then say: "Weren't we in 
 sport?" One Hallowe'en a farmer had his wagon 
 loaded with wheat ready for market. A number of 
 the neighboring boys and young men went to his barn 
 that night, unloaded the wheat and took the wagon, 
 piece by piece, and put it together on the very top 
 of the barn. Then they carried up the wheat and 
 put it in the wagon. It was hard work, but when 
 finished they rolled on the ground and laughed to 
 think of how surprized this farmer would be. Be- 
 fore daylight the farmer came out, harnessed his 
 horses and got ready for an early start to market. 
 When he opened the barn-doors there was no wagon 
 
 169 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 to be found. He hunted until daylight and then 
 found the wagon on the top of his barn. They were 
 not bad boys, but did this in order to have a little 
 sport. I think those boys could have had just as 
 much sport and a httle more if they had surprized 
 their neighbors in another way. 
 
 Suppose they had taken a wagonful of flour and 
 potatoes and meat, and in the quiet hours of the 
 night had driven to the homes of their neighbors 
 who were very, very poor, and left some of these 
 good things at their doors. They could have had a 
 good, rollicking laugh at the thought of how sur- 
 prized these people would be when they came out next 
 morning. 
 
 Just imagine a widow with a number of children 
 and scarcely anything in the house for breakfast. 
 The next morning she prays that God would send 
 something to eat. Then she takes the water-pail and 
 starts for the spring. As she opens the door some- 
 thing falls on the step. She is so frightened that she 
 drops the pail and runs back to the window. She 
 sees a barrel of flour, a bag of potatoes, some meat, 
 and a number of good things. What a joke that 
 would be for the boys — to imagine how surprized she 
 would be. They could roll over the ground and al- 
 
 170 
 
HALLOWE'EN 
 
 most over themselves laughing at the way the poor 
 woman would look at the answer to her prayer on 
 Hallowe'en. 
 
 Then suppose there was a farmer who was sick 
 and too poor to hire men to husk his corn. The boys 
 could go to his field and husk his corn and put it in 
 the crib. Imagine the fun of seeing the sick man 
 next morning in bed leaning on his elbow and looking 
 out at his empty corn-field and full corn-crib. Boys 
 will be boys, and in this way they could have funnels 
 full of fun on Hallowe'en. 
 
 Shall I tell you a story? One Hallowe'en a boy 
 rang the drug-store bell. The clerk came down and 
 opened the door. All he saw was a pumpkin with 
 holes for eyes, nose, mouth and ears, through which 
 a candle was shining. The boys had a good laugh 
 and meant no harm. They were not bad, only 
 wanted some fun. The clerk was mad and thought 
 the boys were bad. When the boy who rang the bell 
 went home he saw the doctor's horse at the gate. 
 He ran in and found baby sister very sick. The 
 doctor said, "Peter, run as fast as you can and get 
 this medicine." He rang and rang the bell, but the 
 clerk did not come down. The next morning there 
 was crape on the door of the baby's home. 
 
 171 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 Solomon says: As a mad man who casteth fire- 
 brands, arrows and death, so is the man that de- 
 ceiveth his neighbor, and saith, "Am not I in sport?" 
 
 Do not forget that Hallowe'en means Holy Eve. 
 An evening set apart to think of those who were hke 
 saints of God in your life. Commit to memory now 
 what Lowell wrote and as you grow older the mean- 
 ing will unfold and help you to enjoy Hallowe'en. 
 
 One feast, of holy days the crest, 
 
 I, tho no Churchman, love to keep, 
 All Saints — the unknown good that rest 
 
 In God's still memory folded deep. 
 The bravely dumb who did their deed. 
 
 And scorned to blot it with a name, 
 Men of the plain heroic breed, 
 
 That loved Heaven's silence more than fame. 
 
 172 
 
FOB SEVENTH SUNDAY IN AUTUMN 
 
 CHRYSANTHEMUM SUNDAY 
 
 "The perfection of beauty." — Psalm 1., 2 
 
 HAVE you seen the perfection of beauty ? No ! 
 Then you must be asleep all day as well as all 
 night. Surely, you have seen the perfection of 
 beauty in a sunset ? Our text tells us that God shines 
 through the perfection of beauty. As the sun shines 
 through a beautiful cloud at sunset and makes it 
 more beautiful, so God shines through the perfection 
 of beauty, adding the beauty of heaven to the per- 
 fection of earth. The rainbow is the perfection of 
 beauty — the beauty of color and the beauty of a 
 great arch. When I see a rainbow I think of it 
 as an arch of triumph under which the angels, after 
 bringing to earth God's blessing of rain, march back 
 to heaven. I have also seen in flowers almost the per- 
 fection of beauty. We all enjoy that beauty to-day 
 as we look at these chrysanthemums. The one I hold 
 in my hand is nearly the perfection of beauty, and I 
 can almost see the light of God shining through it. 
 
 173 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 But this chrysanthemum in mj left hand, while it 
 is beautiful, can never be the perfection of beauty. 
 God will not shine through this one. It is a counter- 
 feit. It was a beautiful white chrysanthemum, but 
 the florist has dipt it in some fluid in order to 
 change its color to salmon-pink. God does not like a 
 counterfeit. There is no need for counterfeit, as God 
 has made it possible for us to have every color of the 
 rainbow in our flowers. We must study the flower 
 and learn how to get the real color, just as we study 
 arithmetic to learn the correct answer. To color a 
 flower is as much a sin as it is to put down the answer 
 to a problem without working it out. The gardener 
 can take a seed or a bulb with a brown, dead color, 
 and make it grow and blossom — pink, blue, red, 
 violet, and all colors of the rainbow. We train the 
 plants to grow and look up to heaven. 
 
 They meet the beauty and fragrance coming down 
 to them. The lily rises from the mud at the bottom 
 of the pond and lies on the surface of the water as 
 fragrant and beautiful as it would if the roots were 
 in the Garden of Eden. Dipping the chrysanthemum 
 to give it a beautiful color is an insult to nature. 
 
 The seed and bulb have no fragrance, but they 
 have hidden away a power to gather fragrance from 
 
 174. 
 
CHRYSANTHEMUM SUNDAY 
 
 the earth and sky. Those who color chrysanthemums 
 will be mean enough to sprinkle them with frag- 
 rance. The chrysanthemum has somewhere hidden 
 away the power to become as sweet and fragrant as 
 the violet and rose. It is our duty to develop this 
 power. God has hid away wonderful things, and 
 boys and girls are being educated in order to find 
 these things and give them to the world. When you 
 study botany, you are learning to find the marvelous 
 things God has hid for you in the flowers. When 
 the chrysanthemum becomes fragrant, it will be the 
 perfection of beauty. 
 
 Would you laugh if some one asked you to listen 
 to a chrysanthemum growing.? Huxley, the great 
 student of nature, says if our ears were able to hear 
 the vibrations we could sit down in the garden and 
 listen to the flowers growing. Just imagine the con- 
 cert we would enjoy on a beautiful summer morning. 
 The lily, rose, carnation and chrysanthemum; what 
 a wonderful quartet. Then the children's chorus — 
 the pansy, violet, clover, honeysuckle, lily-of-the-val- 
 ley, sweet-peas and trailing arbutus. I believe the 
 birds would stop singing in order to listen to this 
 quartet and chorus. Ear specialists may some day 
 train children's ears to hear the flowers grow. 
 
 175 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 This is a good and great world, but it will be bet- 
 ter later on. Burbank, or some of his students, will 
 give us chrysanthemums of all colors and of a de- 
 lightful fragrance. In everything we are reaching 
 forward to the perfection of beauty. God has pro- 
 vided the way ; we must find it. 
 
 Shall I tell you a story.? 
 
 James T. Field visited Tennyson at his English 
 country home. After dinner they took a walk 
 through the garden. Tennyson would stop by a rare 
 flower, the perfection of beauty, and read its "poetry 
 of matter." Field lingered to admire a flower, and 
 when he turned from it he found Tennyson crouching 
 on the ground and crying, "Down on your knees, 
 man ! Down on your knees ! Violets ! Violets !" Fol- 
 lowing the fragrance, Tennyson had found the Eng- 
 lish violet with its bluish-purple color. Before it the 
 two men knelt, for behind this perfection of beauty 
 they felt that God was standing, and through it God 
 was shining. 
 
 I hope our Juniors will study diligently and be- 
 come great men and women. God has hid away the 
 perfection of beauty and needs you to find it. Listen 
 to Tennyson as he cries, "Down on your knees. 
 Juniors ! Down on your knees !" On your knees, 
 
 176 
 
CHRYSANTHEMUM SUNDAY 
 
 my boys and girls, for you are workers together with 
 God in developing the perfection of beauty. Moses 
 took off his shoes when standing before the burning 
 bush. It was the perfection of beauty through which 
 God was speaking. 
 
 177 
 
FOB EIGHTH SUNDAY IN AUTUMN 
 FRUIT FOR THANKSGIVING DINNERS 
 
 "The fruit of our lips." — Hebrews xiii., 15 
 
 "/^OOD-MORNING, Juniors, and a happy thanks- 
 Vj" giving for every one." At seven o'clock on 
 Thanksgiving evening will you all listen, as I want 
 to say to each of you, "Good-night, Juniors, I hope 
 every one has made some one happy to-day!" You 
 may not be able to give a Thanksgiving dinner, but 
 you can all give some Thanksgiving fruit. Every 
 boy and girl should plant a tree, cultivate it, and in 
 a few years it will become fruit-bearing. Then you 
 can have fruit of your own, to give for Thanksgiving 
 dinners. 
 
 In the eighth chapter of Luke there is a farmer 
 story, and it tells us about seeds and how they grow. 
 Then it says, "The seed is the word of God. This is 
 the seed for you boys and girls to plant in your 
 hearts, watching over it, cultivating it, until you 
 have the fruit. Where do you look for fruit.? The 
 place will depend upon the kind of fruit you are 
 
 178 
 
FRUIT FOR THANKSGIVING DINNERS 
 
 seeking. Peanuts grow under the ground at the 
 ends of the roots, apples grow in the air at the ends 
 of the branches, cantaloups are found on the ground 
 at the ends of the vine. 
 
 Now, if you plant the seed of God's Word in your 
 hearts, where will you find the fruit? Some good 
 fruit grows on the eyelashes, known by the name of 
 tears. This fruit ripens as it drops off the cheek, 
 falls into the hand and rolls off as nickles, dimes, 
 quarters and dollars. The tear represents the kind 
 heart, changed into money for some one in need. 
 Another place to find the fruit is on your lips. Our 
 text speaks of the fruit of our lips. When our 
 thanksgiving is Godward the fruit of the lips is 
 thanks, and when they reach God, our thanks are 
 like "apples of gold in pictures of silver." When our 
 thanksgiving is manward it takes the form of some- 
 thing that will feed the hungry body or satisfy the 
 hungry heart. 
 
 I want to tell you a story of how a little girl tried 
 to secure some fruit to satisfy her mother's hunger. 
 This little child wrote to one of our papers, adverti- 
 sing her doll for sale. This was a strange advertise- 
 ment, and a reporter went to the home and found an 
 eight-year-old girl whose mother was sick and 
 
 179 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 starving. The little tot, without saying anything 
 to her mother, had decided to sell her doll, in order 
 to buy food and medicine. 
 
 It will not take you very long, Juniors, to find a 
 family in need of food, not only at Thanksgiving, 
 but during other parts of the year. If you have the 
 seed of God's truth in your heart, and it has grown, 
 you will be ready to drop some of the fruit from 
 the ends of your fingers into their hands. At Thanks- 
 giving time we all have something to give — chestnut- 
 fed turkey, cranberry sauce, and all that goes with 
 a Thanksgiving dinner. 
 
 Do we not forget that there is a hunger that 
 turkey dinner will not satisfy ? The hunger that calls 
 for one special kind of fruit — the fruit of the lips. 
 Children and grown people are hungry for a kind 
 word, starving for sympathy. 
 
 Here's a story of a boy who was hungry for the 
 fruit of the lips. One day he saved a rich man from 
 drowning. The man took out his wet pocketbook, 
 full of money, and said, "What can I do for you, my 
 boy.f^" When he saw this bulging pocketbook, what 
 do you suppose the boy said.-^ Here are his words: 
 "I want you to speak a kind word to me sometimes. 
 I ain't got no mother like some of the kids." This 
 
 180 
 
FRUIT FOR THANKSGIVING DINNERS 
 
 man had the fruit of the hand and was ready to drop 
 dollars from the ends of his fingers, but they would 
 not satisfy the boy's hunger. He was hungry, al- 
 most starving for a kind word. 
 
 Will my Juniors, while remembering the fruit of 
 the eyelashes and the fruit of the fingers, not forget 
 the fruit of the lips.? 
 
 181 
 
FOR NINTH SUNDAY IN AUTUMN 
 ' THANKSGIVING RAGAMUFFINS 
 
 "Old shoes and clouted upon their feet, and old garments upon 
 them." — Joshua ix., 5 
 
 THIS text tells how jou dress on Thanksgiving 
 for jour annual game of ragamuffin. Old 
 shoes and clouted upon your feet, and old garments 
 upon you. Clouted means patched. Old patched 
 shoes. On Thanksgiving morning, on our way to 
 church service, we will meet some of you boys and 
 girls. Meet you going to church .f^ No! With your 
 faces painted like wild Indians, drest with old gar- 
 ments and clouted shoes, we will not expect to see 
 you in the Thanksgiving service. You will not so 
 much as play church, except in taking up a collec- 
 tion. Those of you who have always lived in New 
 York do not think of this Thanksgiving game of 
 ragamuffin as a strange custom. But the strangers 
 coming to our city are greatly surprized and ask 
 what it means. Ragamuffin day is all that is left of 
 an old New York custom. Men and women richly 
 
 183 
 
THANKSGIVING RAGAMUFFINS 
 
 drest would parade on Thanksgiving as our Phila- 
 delphia friends do on New Year's. 
 
 The children, quick to see a chance for fun, began 
 to imitate the grown-ups. Dressing in old clothes 
 many sizes too large, painting their faces or putting 
 on a mask, the children went out to mimic the seniors. 
 The grown-ups have given up their custom, but the 
 children keep up the imitation. One part of the game 
 is to ask the passer-by for pennies. Frequently the 
 ragamuffins ring the door-bell and ask for money and 
 for something to eat. It sometimes happens that a 
 well-to-do and generous man will meet on the street 
 and give money to his own child, thinking that he is 
 helping some poor boy or girl. 
 
 The text I have given you to-day is a part of a 
 quaint story you will want to hear. When Joshua, 
 with his army, was marching through Canaan, he 
 drove the people out and took possession of the 
 country. The land had been given to him, but the 
 people were not willing that he should take pos- 
 session. The inhabitants of Gideon, who lived close 
 to Joshua's camp, came to him one day wearing old 
 patched shoes, ragged clothes and with many other 
 things to indicate that they had just ended a long, 
 long journey. Joshua believed them and promised 
 
 183 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 to protect them when he came to their country. After 
 Joshua gave them this promise and oath, he learned 
 that they were his neighbors. He kept his promise, 
 but as a punishment for deceiving him he made them 
 all servants, "hewers of wood and drawers of water." 
 That meant they were to cut all the wood and carry 
 all the water for the soldiers. Servants because they 
 were deceivers. 
 
 Your ragamuffin play on Thanksgiving morning 
 is very much like the game in earnest that was played 
 on Joshua. The difficulty about that old game was 
 that they were deceiving. The patched shoes and old 
 garments were telling a lie for these people. The 
 Gideonites were too cowardly and lazy to fight 
 Joshua's army. They made a lie on which to lie. 
 But your game is all fun, and every one knows you 
 are not trying to deceive. 
 
 The Thanksgiving custom of our Juniors is, I be- 
 lieve, here to stay. In fact, I would be sorry to see 
 it given up. If it is here to stay how can we make 
 it pay. Here is an idea; will you catch it in your 
 heads and drop it into your hearts? On Thanks- 
 giving morning put on old, patched, but warm shoes ; 
 old ragged, but warm clothes ; paint your faces or 
 put on a mask, and then go out into the crisp morn- 
 
 184 
 
THANKSGIVING RAGAMUFFINS 
 
 ing for an hour's fun. Collect all the pennies the 
 people will give; get dimes and dollars if you can. 
 Tell the people the money is for the poor. Then 
 scamper home. Put on your respectable countenance 
 and good clothes and go to the Thanksgiving service. 
 When the offering is received for the poor, as it al- 
 ways is on Thanksgiving, put in the money you have 
 received. Handsful onto the plate, pour it out for 
 the poor. In this way you can keep up the custom 
 that gives so much pleasure to all Juniors. No one 
 will be deceived, and you will be helping the poor to 
 be thankful on Thanksgiving. Last year three of 
 my Juniors tried this plan, and when they came to 
 church it was not with a miserable collection but with 
 a grand offering. 
 
 Shall I give you a story in which to carry this new 
 plan home.'' One day, not a long, long time ago, a 
 boy brought home a dog. Some of you know how 
 happy a boy is with his first dog; he is almost as 
 happy as the dog. The boy's name was Sam ; the 
 dog's name was Bruno. On Thanksgiving morning 
 Sam put an old collar on Bruno, a black patch over 
 one of his eyes and one foot in splints. Sam and 
 Bruno went out as ragamuffins. The basket hung 
 around Bruno's neck was nearly filled with pennies 
 
 185 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 and nickles. At the dinner-table the mother noticed 
 the boj was putting to one side of his plate a choice 
 part of the turkey and pushing aside the best por- 
 tions of his Thanksgiving dinner. The mother said, 
 "Sam, you must eat that piece of turkey; you need 
 it to make you strong ; you must not waste these good 
 things." Sam's answer was, "I am saving these for 
 my dog, Bruno. He is waiting for his Thanksgiving 
 dinner." The mother scolded Sam and told him there 
 would be plenty of scraps left for Bruno. The father 
 remembered when he was a boy and expected to give 
 Sam a good "helping" for his dog. But after dinner 
 father, with his cigar, forgot all about Bruno. Sam 
 took a plate and went 'round the table finding a bone 
 on father's plate, a piece of gristle on the next plate, 
 a crust at another, and poured some cold gravy over 
 them. On a silver tray he carried a dinner to 
 Bruno. His sister overheard Sam talking to his dog : 
 "Poor Bruno ; I expected to bring you a Thanksgiv- 
 ing offering, but here I am with only a collection." 
 
 186 
 
FOB TENTH SUNDAY IN AUTUMN 
 THE LURE OF THE LESSON 
 
 "I have learned." — Phil, iv., 11 
 
 c<X URE" is a good word to learn. It means to 
 
 M J call, a peculiar call that attracts. Lure was 
 
 in the call of Orpheus, which brought wild animals 
 like pets to his feet. In the call of the school you 
 can hear the lure of the lesson — a sweet, clear call, 
 coaxing you to master every subject. If each lesson 
 is well prepared, the recitation will be a delight. 
 School days and school work will flow along like a 
 song. If you start right, master each lesson, you 
 will hear the lure each morning when you wake, and 
 it will make you sing like the lure of a swing. Then 
 you will not want to stay at home from school; you 
 will not listen to the lure of "hookey." 
 
 It is easy enough to be pleasant, 
 
 When school flows along like a song; 
 
 And the Juniors worth while, can always smile 
 When recitations are never dead wrong. 
 
 These are lessons to learn on the playground, at 
 home, in church — lessons in the school of joy and 
 
 187 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 in the school of sorrow. Paul, in our text, says, "I 
 have learned." What did he learn .^^ He learned to 
 be content, to be satisfied. "I have learned, in what- 
 soever state I am, therewith to be content." This 
 is a hard lesson. Last week I read of a man who 
 said: "Have patience and wait. In seeking to raise 
 a choice variety of grapes I waited twelve years be- 
 fore the vine bore, and then it bore only six grapes, 
 and I was overjoyed. No ; twelve years was not long 
 to wait. I was after a definite object, and time and 
 patience bring success." Discontented boys and 
 girls are never happy, because never content. A 
 good teacher can help you to learn your lessons. 
 Paul had a good teacher. He says, "I can do all 
 things through Christ which strengtheneth me." I 
 want my Juniors to hear and heed the lure of Christ's 
 school. Learn from Him how to be content. Read 
 one of the gospels each week, and find how many 
 things He did cheerfully that would make you un- 
 happy. Christ heard the lure of His Father's call. 
 Learn from him to be content. 
 
 There is a fable I want you to find for me. It is 
 about a king who was unhappy, never content. Some 
 one told him that if he could find a happy man and 
 wear this happy man's shirt, he would always be 
 
 188 
 
THE LURE OF THE LESSON 
 
 contented. It took him many days, weeks and months 
 to find a happy man, and when at last he found him, 
 he had no shirt. He was so poor that he could not 
 afford a shirt — he just kept his coat buttoned. 
 
 Hear what Christ said when on earth: "Foxes 
 have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the 
 son of man hath not where to lay his head." If he 
 had been discontented He would have gone home to 
 heaven before suffering and dying for you. Learn 
 from Him to be content. Be able to say, "I have 
 learned." If you are tempted to fail, tempted to be 
 discontented, find some one who has less than you 
 have, but who has heard the lure of content. Here 
 is a story I found in one of our daily papers : 
 
 "Were you ever in your life glum and discon- 
 tented?" asked unhappy Will. 
 
 "Yes ; once I was plumb down in the mouth," owned 
 Uncle Henry, with an air of candor. "But I got 
 cured right off, and I ain't ever had an attack of the 
 'blues' since then." 
 
 "Do tell us about it." 
 
 "Well, it was when I was a young man. I had just 
 got a job workin' on the Erie Canal. It was gettin' 
 late in the fall, and I hadn't any shoes to my name, 
 and I had to send home every red cent to help mother, 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 except what would feed me. I didn't see how I was 
 to get a pair of shoes before the winter set in." 
 
 "Well, that was hard lines." 
 
 "So I thought," said Uncle Henry, smiling, "until 
 one day I saw a feller on the street that hadn't any 
 feet. I can't rightly say as I've ever been discontented 
 since then." 
 
 The story cured unhappy Will. 
 
 "Listen ! Can you hear the lure of the lesson.?" 
 
 190 
 
FOR ELEVENTH SUNDAY IN AUTUMN 
 THE CALL OF THE CHURCH 
 
 "Let every man prove his own work." — Gal.^ vi., 4 
 
 " T^ ACK to your books !" is the call of the school. 
 
 1 J You will find one end of your recitation-room 
 painted black. Some white marks on this black- 
 board will tell the teacher how your brain is working. 
 You will put a problem on the board and get the 
 correct answer. The teacher will ask you to explain 
 and prove your work. Then the trouble will begin. 
 The addition and division are wrong — strange that 
 the answer should be right. You have the answer, 
 but can not prove your work. The white marks tell 
 not only how your brain is working, but they may 
 tell as well how your heart is working. 
 
 "Back to the Junior Congregation!" is the call of 
 the church. Have you solved the problem of how to 
 be Christ's boys and girls ? Some white marks on the 
 blackboard of sin will tell how your brain and heart 
 are working. You write in clear white letters, 
 "Christ, faith, love, repentance, obedience." Then 
 
 191 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 put down the answer, "Christian." The answer in 
 correct. Can you prove your work? Have you 
 worked out the problem, or have you just put down 
 the answer .f' Are you as good a Christian on the 
 playground as you are on the blackboard? 
 
 We must prove our faith by our works. Josiah 
 says he is a Christian, loves God and His children. 
 But he gets very angry and strikes a playmate. 
 Josiah's answer was correct, but the work, or fight, 
 did not prove the answer. Prove your work. 
 
 Two illustrations will help you to understand what 
 I mean by proving. Tommy came to his father and 
 said: "Does the Golden Rule, 'Do unto others as 
 you would have others do unto you,' mean papa as 
 well as Tommy?" His father said, "Yes, my son." 
 "And is it perfectly right to follow the Golden 
 Rule, papa?" "Why, certainly," returned the 
 father ; "we should all obey the Golden Rule." Then 
 Tommy went to the cupboard and came back with a 
 knife and a large apple-pie. "Papa, you can eat 
 all you want of it." His father had worked the 
 problem ; now Tommy asked him to prove his answer. 
 
 During the Civil War a man told Secretary Cam- 
 eron that he had invented a bullet-proof breastplate 
 for the soldiers. He had the bullet-proof breast- 
 
 192 
 
THE CALL OF THE CHURCH 
 
 plate with him, and wanted to furnish one for each 
 soldier. The Secretary asked, "Do you guarantee it 
 to be bullet-proof?" The inventor said, "It is im- 
 possible for a bullet to go through it." "Very well," 
 said the Secretary, "just put on the sample you have 
 been showing me, and stand on the other side of the 
 room while I try a few shots at you with this pistol." 
 The man refused to furnish the proof. "Let every 
 man prove his own work." Paul says, "Prove all 
 things; hold fast that which is good." 
 
 There are two problems on our church black- 
 board for you Juniors. First, are you a Christian? 
 You have the answer ; can you prove your work ? A 
 clergyman asked his Juniors if they had ever done 
 anything they knew was wrong. They were honest 
 boys and girls and answered "Yes." He told them 
 they could not be Christians until they were sorry 
 for doing wrong and repented. Then he asked if 
 they knew what was meant by repentance. A little 
 boy raised his hand. "Well, what is it, my lad?" 
 "Being sorry for your sins," was the answer. A 
 little girl on the back seat raised her hand. "Well, 
 my little girl, what do you think?" asked the clergy- 
 man. "I think," said the child, "it's being sorry 
 enough to quit." 
 
 193 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 He next asked the Juniors to count how many 
 things they had done that were wrong and that they 
 were sorry for doing. "Now, one more addition," 
 he said ; "how many times have you been sorry enough 
 to quit doing what you knew was wrong?" From 
 the number of times you did wrong and were sorry 
 for it, subtract the number of times you were sorry 
 enough to quit. Let every Junior prove his or her 
 own work. Second, are you doing anything to prove 
 to others that you are a Christian? Something that 
 will cause others to follow Christ. Listen to a story 
 that was told at a meeting in the Old John Street 
 Church, New York. In Alabama a godly man died 
 leaving four unconverted sons. Each built a new 
 house on the large estate. One day all were en- 
 gaged in tearing down the old home. Suddenly one 
 of them dropt and began to cry. The other brothers 
 supposed he was injured. Rising, he pointed to the 
 floor he was tearing up. There, he pointed, are the 
 marks made by the toe of father's boots. They knew 
 this was where he knelt for twenty-five years at 
 famil}^ prayers. The four knelt at the mark of the 
 old family altar and gave their hearts to God. 
 
 The father was dead, but he had left the proof. 
 
 There is a legend of a monk at whose door stood 
 194 
 
THE CALL OF THE CHURCH 
 
 one who said he was Jesus Christ. After a searching 
 look the monk asked, "Where is the print of the 
 nails?" The mark of the true Christ was not there, 
 and the man pretending to be Christ could not prove 
 his problem. As a Christian boy or girl, you will not 
 have the nail-print in your hand, but there will be 
 something in the touch of your hand, as you go 
 about doing good, that will prove to all that you are 
 a child of the Christ. 
 
 "Let every man prove his own work and then shall 
 he have rejoicing." Let every Junior prove his or 
 her work, then play and pray. 
 
 195 
 
FOR TWELFTH SUNDAY IN AUTUMN 
 FINDING A GOOD THING 
 
 "It is a good thing to give thanks." — Psalms xcii., 1 
 
 TELL your day-school teacher that you are 
 looking for a good thing. The teacher will 
 say, "You must not use slang." You can answer, 
 "A good thing, is not slang. God says, 'It is a good 
 thing to give thanks.' " If you are looking for "a 
 good thing," look for something for which to give 
 thanks. Fourteen more days to Christmas — just two 
 weeks in which to find a good thing. You can find a 
 good thing if you are looking for it. 
 
 A little girl's mother asked her, "Why are you 
 tearing your doll to pieces.?" Her answer was, "Papa 
 says there is a grain of comfort in everything, and I 
 am looking for it." When this child was older she 
 went to a party where everybody was strange to her. 
 She grew very homesick and was crying when she 
 started home. When at the door she remembered her 
 lesson, and running back, a smile shining through her 
 tears, said: "Good-by, Miss Smif ; mama told me to 
 
 196 
 
FINDING A GOOD THING 
 
 be sure and tell you I had a nice time." Surely, you 
 can find one grain of comfort for which to be thank- 
 ful. She found a grain of comfort in her home- 
 going. 
 
 Happiness is a good thing for which to give 
 thanks. Can we, in eleven days, find any happiness .f* 
 Listen to two stories. 
 
 "Guess who was the happiest child I saw to-day .f*" 
 asked father, taking his own two little boys on his 
 knees. 
 
 "Oh, who, father?" 
 
 "But you must guess." 
 
 "Well," said Jim slowly, "it was a very rich little 
 boy, with lots and lots of sweets and cakes." 
 
 "No," said father. "He wasn't rich; he had no 
 sweets and cakes. What do you guess, Joe?" 
 
 "He was a pretty big boy," said Joe, "and he was 
 riding in an automobile." 
 
 "No," said father. "He wasn't big and wasn't 
 riding in an automobile. You have lost your guesses, 
 so I will have to tell you. There was a flock of sheep, 
 and they must have come a long way, so dusty and 
 tired and thirsty were they. The drover took them 
 up, bleating and lolling out their tongues, to the 
 town pump to water them. But one poor old ewe 
 
 197 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 was too tired to get to the trough, and fell down on 
 the hot, dusty stones. Then I saw my little man, 
 ragged and dirty and tousled, spring out from the 
 crowd of urchins who were watching the drove, fill 
 his hat with water and carry it — one, two, three — oh, 
 as many as six times, to the poor, suffering animal, 
 until the creature was able to get up and go on with 
 the rest." 
 
 This boy found happiness when he was not looking 
 for a good thing — found happiness in doing a good 
 thing. 
 
 There was a young lady once who was very un- 
 happy. She lived in a fine house, and had lots of 
 toys, and a pony, and a watch, but she was very, 
 very unhappy. Nothing could please her. Even 
 the weather was never just what she wanted; it was 
 sure to rain when she wanted it to be fine, or it was 
 sure to be fine when she took out her nice new um- 
 brella. From morning till night she murmured, 
 murmured, grumbled, grumbled, and was very un- 
 happy. 
 
 One day she came upon two poor children playing 
 in a field, and they were having a hearty game. You 
 could hear their shouts of laughter almost over the 
 village. "These children are very happy; their eyes 
 
 198 
 
FINDING A GOOD THING 
 
 are so bright, and they seem so fond of each other, 
 I think I shall ask them what makes them so happy." 
 So she summoned up courage and went to the big- 
 gest boy — he was about seven — and said, "You are 
 very happy; what makes you so?" The boy was a 
 little shy at first, before this fine little lady, with her 
 very fine dress, and his little brother came and half 
 hid behind him. 
 
 "What makes you so happy ?" asked the little lady. 
 
 "I don't know, Miss, what you mean," said the 
 boy; "what's happy.?" "Why," she repHed, "it 
 means bright, glad, fond of things." 
 
 "Oh!" said the boy, "Jim and I are always glad; 
 ain't we, Jim.^"' And the eyes of the little brother 
 danced like sunshine upon ripples as he said, "Yes, 
 always glad." 
 
 "But what makes you so glad.'"' 
 
 "I don't know, I'm sure. Miss," said the boy, "ex- 
 cept that when I try to make Jim glad I get glad 
 myself." 
 
 I want each and every one of my girls and boys 
 to get glad before Christmas. "It is a good thing 
 to give thanks." 
 
 199 
 
FOR THIRTEENTH SUNDAY IN AUTUMN 
 
 A RING TO MAKE HIM SING 
 
 "A ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet." — Luke xv., 22 
 
 IT was very kind of that father to give his son a 
 pair of shoes. The boy had been away from 
 home. He had spent all his money, worn out all his 
 clothes, and tramped out both his shoes. An unkind 
 father would have told him to go back and get his 
 shoes where he foolishly spent his money. But this 
 father was good and wise. I do not think any one 
 should have objected, even if he had given the boy 
 two pairs of shoes. But why did he give his younger 
 son a ring when he needed so many other things? I 
 believe you can guess the reason. The clothes and 
 the shoes made the boy feel comfortable; the ring 
 made him feel at home. The shoes told him of his 
 father's pity; the ring told him of his father's love. 
 The shoes warmed his feet; the ring warmed his 
 heart. It was the ring that made him sing, "Home, 
 Sweet Home." 
 
 In our works of charity we give clothes and shoes, 
 200 
 
FINDING A GOOD THING 
 
 but too often we forget the ring. We provide for the 
 body, but forget the heart. Sometimes you meet 
 people whose hearts are starving. A tear dropt on 
 this story when your pastor read it: The tall, awk- 
 ward boy, just in from his work at the shop, care- 
 fully unrolled the big bundle he carried, and dis- 
 closed a plant in full bloom. As his toil-roughened 
 hands busied themselves with folding up the paper 
 and string, a woman who felt that neighborly 
 services gave her the right to free speech, looked at 
 the flower and remarked, "It's pretty; but there are 
 plenty of things needed a sight more than flowers in 
 this house." "It's for mother," answered the boy. 
 "She's had a whole lifetime of doing without things 
 she liked because something else was needed worse. 
 She's going to have flowers now, if I can get them." 
 It would not be for long; they both knew that, and 
 the invalid in her plain little room caressed with 
 loving fingers and eager eyes the treasures that were 
 brought to her. She was too weak to question now 
 with voice or brain how such things were procured ; 
 she only watched for and enjoyed them, and the boy 
 saw to it — at what cost of self-sacrifice and overwork 
 he only knew — that the supply did not fail. But the 
 well-meaning woman shook her head over each ar- 
 
 201 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 rival, and murmured to herself, if to no one else, that 
 it was "a shame to spend money for just flowers, with 
 so many things worse needed about the house." 
 Love's lavish offerings have often a reason and mean- 
 ing not understood by those who coldly compute the 
 pence they cost. The flowers in the sick-room were 
 pleasures and comfort to the dying mother, but who 
 shall estimate what threads of fineness and nobility 
 their purchase wove into the character of the boy? 
 
 The ring warmed the boy's heart and made him 
 sing. The flowers warmed the mother's heart and 
 gave her new power. There are poor boys and girls 
 whose hearts are starving to death after they have 
 been given all the clothes and food they need — boys 
 and girls starving for love. 
 
 Here is a story that tells just what I mean. I 
 visited South Washington to see Margaret Miller. 
 It went to my heart to see the bright hectic flush, 
 and the thin, wasted fingers so nervously playing 
 with the patched quilt. I found that the family had 
 food and fuel enough for present needs ; but, oh ! 
 those people starve and shiver for the food and 
 warmth that love and sympathy alone can give. They 
 are so shut out from all that is beautiful, even if it 
 be not essential, 
 
 202 
 
A RING TO MAKE HIM SING 
 
 Margaret welcomed me with a smile more than 
 usually wistful. I put down the cod liver oil I had 
 brought and took the little hand in mine. 
 
 "You have been so good to me, and given me so 
 many things that I need," she said; "I wonder if 
 you'll let me ask for something else — something, oh ! 
 something I do so want to have for my very own!" 
 Her eyes took the look of happy anticipation. "She 
 is only seventeen," I thought, "and what can these 
 bare walls hold to feed her longing?" So I answered, 
 "You may ask me now." "I want, oh ! I want a gold 
 ring; I've never had a ring — and please mark it 
 'With Mrs. Williamson's love.' " 
 
 When I returned with the ring, a little band, 
 simply chased, I slipt it on her slender finger so quick- 
 ly that she felt it before she saw it. 
 
 When she held up her hand and realized that the 
 glittering gold band was hers — her heart's desire 
 gratified, her face fairly shone — there was a glory 
 in it beyond words to express. Its brightness seemed 
 to hght the dingy room. I was so overcome that 
 I slipt out as quickly as I could, scarcely knowing 
 whether I still heard the words : "Mine ! Mine ! 
 Oh, isn't it beautiful!" So small a gift and such a 
 rich reward. 
 
 203 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 I did not reach home until late last night, so over- 
 slept this morning. With mj mail I found a 
 crumpled note. "It was left for you very early this 
 morning," said my maid, "by a ragged-looking boy, 
 whom the cook found crying at the gate when she 
 unlocked it." 
 
 It read: "My child Margaret went to sleep with 
 the ring on her finger. She ain't never woke up. 
 Maybe she's walkin' on them golden streets now. 
 You made her very happy. Jane Miller." 
 
 She had lived only half an hour after we parted. 
 Her mother said that the smile never left her face. 
 
 It was the ring that made her sing, "Mine ! Mine ! 
 Oh, isn't it beautiful!" 
 
 204, 
 
WINTER 
 
 (December Zlst-March 20th) 
 
 BLOW, BLOW, THOU WINTER WIND 
 
 Blow, blow, thou winter wind, 
 Thou art not so unkind 
 As man's ingratitude ; 
 Thy tooth is not so keen, 
 Because thou art not seen, 
 
 Altho thy breath be rude. 
 Heigh-ho ! sing, heigh-ho ! unto the green holly ; 
 Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly; 
 Then, heigh-ho, the holly! 
 This life is most jolly ! 
 
 — William Shakespeaee. 
 
FOB FIRST SUNDAY IN WINTER 
 
 THE CHRISTMAS MEASURE 
 
 "And running over." — Luke vi., 38 
 
 A QUART measure does not hold a gallon. This, 
 you say, is true, but it is not new. Juniors, 
 please do not look so blue, and I may tell you some- 
 thing new. Do you know that a quart measure will 
 hold more than a quart? No? Then I can tell you 
 something true that is new to you. A full quart is 
 good measure. There is another kind of measure for 
 the same quart ; it is called gospel measure. When 
 good measure is prest down a little and shaken to- 
 gether a little, it will settle a little. Then it will 
 hold a little more. If you keep pressing and shaking 
 until it is running over, you have gospel measure. 
 "Prest down, shaken together and running over." 
 
 When you are at dinner to-day, pour water into 
 a glass until it is just full. That will be good meas- 
 ure. Then let one more drop fall into it, and then 
 another one, and then another. Be careful now that 
 it does not run over on the clean table-cloth. Now, 
 
 207 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 steady, careful, now, as you let slip another drop. 
 These drops are pressing a little, and shaking a 
 little, making room for a little more. One more drop 
 and — over it goes. I hear you cry, "Oh, mama, ex- 
 cuse me! I did not know there was so much to run 
 over." 
 
 Are you ready to give gospel measure for Christ- 
 mas? There must be enough in your good measure 
 to have some running over for the poor, who love 
 Christ as dearly as you love Him. I never knew a 
 boy to be sick after eating his Christmas dinner if 
 he gave part of his dinner to the poor. Your Christ- 
 mas measure must also run over enough to give 
 Christmas gifts to boys and girls who do not love 
 Christ. Yes, yes, they must have a part of the 
 Christmas joy! Christmas is like rain, it is for the 
 just and for the unjust. Press your Christmas 
 measure a Httle more and shake it a little more, for 
 you must have enough running over for the animals. 
 Ha, ha, you laugh. How can we give Christmas 
 gifts to animals.? I read this week of two Juniors 
 who gave a horse a Christmas gift. It was a very 
 cold Christmas eve and the streets were coated with 
 ice. This horse had a very heavy load, and was 
 trying to pull it up the hill where Dannie and Helen 
 
 208 
 
THE CHRISTMAS MEASURE 
 
 were coasting. When the horse came to a shppery 
 place he began to coast both ways. His front-feet 
 were coasting down the hill and his hind-feet were 
 coasting up the hill. Dannie thought this was great 
 sport. He said the horse was celebrating. Helen 
 was full of fun, but she was sorry for the horse. 
 Away she ran and got a pail of ashes and threw them 
 around the horse's feet. Dannie saw there was more 
 fun in helping than in hindering, so off he ran for 
 more ashes. Soon they had the road sprinkled all 
 the way to the top of the hill. The driver thanked 
 the Juniors and said they had helped to pull the load 
 up the hill. The horse looked thanks and started 
 up the road with his load. Away ran Dannie and 
 Helen singing, "Jack and Gill, went up the hill, to 
 get a pail of ashes." Helen said it was Ash Christ- 
 mas. There must be enough also in our Christmas 
 measure to have something running over for the 
 birds. When Christ came into this world He made 
 every person and every creature in all the world 
 happy. 
 
 You often speak of the cattle that were in the 
 stable where Christ was born. Did you ever think 
 that there may have been birds roosting there that 
 night? We can not be sure of this, but one thing we 
 
 209 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 are sure of, that birds are happier because Christ was 
 born. How do we know this? Because boys and 
 girls who love Christ are kind to the birds. Here is 
 a story of a boy who became a king and was kingly 
 kind to birds. 
 
 On a very cold Christmas morning, the King of 
 Sweden was coming home from church in a sleigh. 
 He noticed flocks of small birds flying, then lighting 
 on the road, and then flying away again, uttering 
 shrill cries. The king asked his coachman why so 
 many birds were in the city. The coachman, who 
 was from the country, told the king that because of 
 the deep snow the birds had been driven by hunger 
 from the field and the wood in search of food. "Drive 
 home as fast as you can," said the king, "and get a 
 large sheaf of wheat. Bind the sheaf to a tall pole 
 and fasten it in the snow in front of the palace." 
 For an hour the king sat by his window and watched 
 the birds as they came by tens, twenties and hun- 
 dreds to their Christmas dinner. That night the 
 king looked from his bedroom window to see if the 
 birds were roosting on their Christmas tree. It was 
 so dark that he could not see the pole on which had 
 been fastened the sheaf of wheat. But that very 
 night he dreamed that an angel came and split the 
 
 210 
 
THE CHRISTMAS MEASURE 
 
 Christmas pole from top to bottom. Then each of 
 these parts was spht in two. The strange vision of 
 the dream was that no matter how often they were 
 spht, each part was as large as the original pole. 
 Soon there was enough lumber from the one pole to 
 build a palace stable larger and more beautiful than 
 any mansion he had ever seen. In his dream angel 
 carpenters seemed to be doing all the work. All 
 living creatures found a place in this palace stable 
 and there were splendid homes for the birds. In the 
 midst of all tliis was a manger, and in it the sheaf of 
 wheat his coachman had fastened to the pole. In the 
 manger and on the sheaf slept a beautiful child — 
 sweeter and more beautiful than any child he had 
 ever seen. The light from the manger drove away 
 the night and brought in the morning. The singing 
 of the birds, sweeter than any song he had ever 
 heard, woke him from his dream. The king never 
 forgot his dream-vision of Christmas measure — 
 something running over for every living thing. 
 
 The Christmas feeding of the birds is still kept 
 up in many parts of Norway and Sweden. Bunches 
 of oats are placed on the roofs of houses, on trees and 
 fences, to furnish the birds with their share of the 
 Christmas gifts. Two or three days before Christ- 
 
 211 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 mas, carloads of sheaves are brought into the towns 
 as Christmas trees are brought to us. Both rich and 
 poor buy and place them everywhere. Every poor 
 man has saved a penny or two, or even one farthing, 
 to buy a bunch of oats or wheat for the birds. It is 
 a beautiful custom, in which the children take an 
 active part. Gospel measure is a Christmas treasure 
 that brings great pleasure. 
 
FOR SECOND SUNDAY IN WINTER 
 THE ATHLETIC DAY 
 
 "Be not anxious for the morrow, for the morrow will be anxious 
 for itself." — Matthew vi., 34 
 
 NEVER cross a bridge until you come to it. 
 "How foolish," you say; "how could any one 
 cross a bridge until he comes to it?" You can not 
 cross it with your feet, but you can think you are 
 crossing and you can put a fret into each think-step. 
 There is a bridge between this day and our next day ; 
 between Sunday and Monday. When you are 
 anxious and fret about the next day, you are trying 
 to cross the bridge. Our text means, boys and girls, 
 do not try to live in two days without having a 
 night between them. 
 
 Do you Juniors know that the day we fret most 
 about is the day that never comes? The one day 
 of the year that one will never see ? It is the athletic, 
 the jumping day of the year. This athletic day 
 makes a long jump over one long day without touch- 
 ing it. On Friday, December 31, 1909, to-morrow, 
 
 213 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 the day you expected on Saturday, jumped clear 
 over Saturday into Sunday, January 2, 1910. It 
 will always keep one day ahead. The day that is 
 always jumping one day ahead is to-morrow. You 
 have never seen or lived in to-morrow. At midnight, 
 when you are fast asleep, to-morrow makes a long 
 jump, and when you awake, the to-morrow you ex- 
 pected to see has gone. It has jumped over into the 
 next day. 
 
 This is Sunday, and you say "to-morrow will be 
 Monday." But on Monday to-morrow will be Tues- 
 day; on Tuesday, to-morrow will be Wednesday. 
 God is the only person who keeps ahead of to-morrow. 
 We should, therefore, put to-morrow in God's keep- 
 ing, and let Him take care of it for us. "Be not 
 anxious for the morrow, for the morrow will be 
 anxious for itself." We should think about to-morrow 
 and make plans for to-morrow. But we are not to 
 fret and to be anxious about things we can not do 
 until we come to them, or until they come to us. I 
 want you to learn carefully what is called the Chris- 
 tian law of living: "Do the day's work God gives 
 you, bear the day's burden God sends you, and be 
 not anxious about the evil which the morrow may 
 bring." The to-morrows are keeping ahead of us 
 
 2U 
 
THE ATHLETIC DAY 
 
 and the yesterdays are running away from us. One 
 day at a time. 
 
 The first day of this year was a hoHday and the 
 second day was a holy day. There are three kinds 
 of days in each year — hoHdays, holy days and hard- 
 work days. The holidays and holy days are given 
 in order to soften the hard-work days. Our text is 
 another of God's ways for keeping us happy on hard- 
 work days. He says, "Be not anxious for the mor- 
 row." There is no room in to-day for any other 
 day. When yesterday and to-morrow try to crowd 
 into to-da}^ it is overcrowded. One day at a time, 
 Juniors, one day at a time. 
 
 A member of our Senior Congregation, who was 
 once a member of our Junior Congregation, sent me 
 this illustration: Pile three hundred and sixty-five 
 panes of transparent glass one upon the other and 
 try to look through them. What do you see ? Noth- 
 ing but inky blackness. Take from off the pile one 
 pane ; look through it. Now what do you see ? You 
 see everything that is in sight. Thus you face the 
 year with its three hundred and sixty-five days piled 
 one upon the other — all is darkness. But if each 
 morning you take off from the pile of days that one 
 which comes first, you are enabled to see your duties 
 
 215 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 for that one day. Put seven of these panes together 
 and try to look through them. I hear you say, "It 
 makes my eyes tired." The man who made the glass 
 intended that you should look through only one pane 
 at a time. One day at a time, Juniors ; one day at a 
 time. 
 
 When you tire of calling each day a pane of glass 
 you can think of it as a letter. You know what a 
 steamer letter is. Before sailing you get a package 
 of letters, one for each day you are to be away. 
 Now, suppose your teacher gave you a steamer letter, 
 with one lesson for each day. Would it not be wise 
 to open but one at a time, get its lesson and leave the 
 other lessons each for its own day? 
 
 Ask your father to loan you the old book his 
 mother gave him. In it you will find the following, 
 and many other pretty stories : "Why are ye 
 anxious concerning raiment?" — that is, about your 
 clothes. "Consider the lilies of the field, how they 
 grow; they toil not, neither do they spin, yet I say 
 unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not 
 arrayed like one of these. But if God doth so clothe 
 the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow 
 is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe 
 you, O ye of little faith? Be not, therefore, anxious, 
 
 216 
 
THE ATHLETIC DAY 
 
 saying, 'What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, 
 or wherein shall we be clothed?' Your heavenly Father 
 knoweth that ye have need of all these things." Be 
 God's child, love Him, trust Him, obey Him, and 
 He will take good care of your to-morrow. If you 
 will think about this, I will tell you a story from the 
 life of Martin Luther. Here is what he says about 
 being anxious concerning the day after this one: 
 "I have one preacher that I love better than any 
 other on earth; it is my Httle tame robin, who 
 preaches daily to me. I put his crumbs upon my 
 window-sill, especially at night. He hops onto the 
 window when he wants his supply, and takes as much 
 as he desires to satisfy his need. From thence he 
 always hops to a httle tree close by and lifts his 
 voice to God and sings his carol of praise and grat- 
 itude, tucks his Httle head under his wing, and goes 
 fast to sleep, and leaves to-morrow to look after 
 itself. He is the best preacher I have on earth." 
 
 217 
 
FOB THIRD SUNDAY IN WINTER 
 THE PITY EAR 
 
 "He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord; and 
 
 that which he hath given will He pay him back again." 
 
 — Pro., xix., 17 
 
 THE Lord is rich in heaven, but He is poor on 
 earth. Everything on earth was once His, but 
 He has given everything on earth to us. When God 
 desires to have anything done in this world He asks 
 us to do it. He borrows from us, borrows our bodies, 
 brains and spirit ; borrows our money, borrows every- 
 thing we are wilHng to loan to God. Our text to- 
 day is God's promise to pay. He has great love for 
 the poor and for them He asks a loan from us. "He 
 that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord." 
 God put pity near our hearts, just as He put ears 
 near our brain, so that our hearts can hear when He 
 asks us to help the poor. As wax gets into the ear 
 near the brain and makes it deaf, so Stingy some- 
 times gets into "the pity ear" and makes it deaf. 
 Last winter a Brooklyn little girl gave a pair of 
 
 218 
 
THE PITY EAR 
 
 shoes as a loan. One of our daily papers tells the 
 story. 
 
 An instance of childish pity and open-hearted 
 generosity was witnessed yesterday morning on one 
 of our street-cars. Loans are not often made to the 
 Lord on a street-car, but this is one of the few. A 
 prettily drest little girl of eight years sat with her 
 father, a distinguished-looking and evidently well-to- 
 do man, in the forward end of the car. The little 
 girl was hugging a bundle which she from time to 
 time would look at and smile. There was something 
 in that bundle that made her very happy. A poorly- 
 drest woman with a very sad face entered the car. 
 With her was a little girl eight or nine years old. 
 The little one's shoes had seen better days. They 
 were torn in several places and the toes of the child's 
 left foot were plainly visible. The woman and little 
 girl presented a most pitiable appearance. The 
 two sat down almost directly opposite the well-drest 
 man and his pretty, flaxen-haired daughter. The 
 girl, whom fortune had favored with better things, 
 had the "pity ear" near her heart. While she was 
 looking at the worn shoes, God was speaking to her 
 heart. He was asking her for a loan. After a 
 minute or two she turned her face to her father. He 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 leaned over the better to hear her whisper. What 
 she said seemed to please her father, and he nodded 
 smihng at her. "Yes," he said, "do so, Dorothy." 
 Then Dorothy undid the package, opened a paste- 
 board box and drew forth a pretty little pair of 
 shiny new shoes, with red cloth tops. These she pre- 
 sented to the ragged little girl. "Wear these," she 
 said; "I don't need them anyhow." Many of the 
 passengers smiled and some of them smiled through 
 tears. 
 
 It was a proud little girl that carried ofF those 
 pretty little shoes. Each and every one of the pas- 
 sengers on that car looked as tho he or she would 
 have liked to shake hands with the generous little 
 girl. 
 
 Dorothy had made a loan to the Lord. Some day, 
 when she needs it, the Lord will repay her loan with 
 interest. "He that hath pity upon the poor, lendeth 
 unto the Lord ; and that which he hath given will He 
 repay him again." Some day, but not always the 
 same day. Here is a story you can have as a memory- 
 pocket in which to carry this sermon. 
 
 "My son," said a banker, "I want to give you a 
 lesson in business. Here is a half-dollar. Now, if 
 you can find any boy whom you can trust, who will 
 
THE PITY EAR 
 
 take this money and pay you interest for it, you may 
 lend it to him, and if you invest this wisely, I'll in- 
 crease your capital." When night came, the banker 
 said, "My son, how did you invest your money to- 
 day?" "Well, father," repHed the Httle fellow, "I 
 saw a boy on the street without any shoes, and he 
 had no dinner, so I gave him fifty cents with which 
 to buy something to eat." "You'll never make a 
 business man in the world," said the banker. "Busi- 
 ness is business. But I will try you once more. Now, 
 here is a dollar to invest; see how well you can do 
 it." A loud peal of laughter from the boy fol- 
 lowed this speech, which was thus explained: "My 
 pastor told our Junior Congregation that giving to 
 the poor was lending to the Lord, and he said God 
 would return to us double, but I did not think He 
 would do it so quick." 
 
 "He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto 
 the Lord, and that which he hath given will He pay 
 him again." 
 
 S21 
 
FOB FOURTH SUNDAY IN WINTER 
 ALONGSIDE OF GOD 
 
 "Yield yourselves unto God." — Romans vi., 13 
 
 WE have passed old Hallowe'en. I know 
 jou enjoyed the apples and nuts and all the 
 sports. I am glad you were not like the first boy 
 who found a hickory-nut. He threw it away. He 
 did not know of the sweet kernel hid under the bitter 
 shell. Possibly he took it to his professor, who told 
 him that the nut came from a North American tree 
 belonging to the genus Carya, of the natural order 
 of Juglandese. After hearing these words he would 
 surely throw it away, believing it was poison. Even 
 if the professor told him that the fruit was a dry 
 dupe with a bony nutshell containing four-lobed 
 orthotropons seed, I believe he might have tried to 
 interest him in the nut by quoting Bryant : 
 
 Loud the black-eyed Indian maiden's laugh, 
 
 That gather from the nestling heaps of leaves, 
 The hickory's white nuts. 
 
 If any of you boys had been there you would have 
 shown him how to crack the nut and find the kernel. 
 One taste would convert him to hickory-nuts. Later 
 
ALONGSIDE OF GOD 
 
 he would learn to call them shell-barks and to know 
 the tree on which they are found. 
 
 Our text is hke a hickory-nut; you must crack 
 it before you can enjoy it. Many boys and girls do 
 not Hke texts because their learned friends in explain- 
 ing them have used so many big, hard words. They 
 would tell you that the text involved the free agency 
 of man and a voluntary surrender to the Almighty. 
 Come, let us open the text and get the sweet kernel. 
 Leave the big words for those who like them. 
 
 The kernel is in the first word, "yield." Let us 
 open it. The word is made of two Greek words, and 
 means to set or place alongside. Now we know what 
 the text means. Put yourself alongside of God. 
 When alongside of God you will be in such 
 good company that you will not think of doing 
 wrong. Let God use you, let him bring out the best 
 there is in you. He will use your hands and feet, 
 your head and heart. This thought, hid away in our 
 text is worth finding. It is as sweet as the kernel of 
 a hickory-nut. If you want to be a great man or a 
 great woman, yield yourself unto God. Keep along- 
 side of God. 
 
 My preaching-time is gone, but I have just enough 
 time left to tell you a story. Thousands of people 
 
 223 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 go to Freiberg to see and hear the great organ. 
 One day a man asked the caretaker to permit him to 
 play upon the organ. He said, "No, no, you must 
 not touch the great organ." The stranger finally 
 got on the good side of the old caretaker, put some- 
 thing in his hands to think about, and got permis- 
 sion to play a few notes. The stranger took the 
 seat and soon the most wonderful music was filling 
 the cathedral. People were stopping to Hsten, and 
 all were made happy by the sweet sounds. The care- 
 taker forgot his rheumatism, and running up the 
 steps to the stranger asked his name. The organ 
 seemed to smile in music when the stranger answered, 
 "Mendelssohn." With tears like musical notes run- 
 ning down his face the caretaker said, "I refused you 
 permission to play upon my organ." The organist 
 would not at first put himself alongside of Men- 
 delssohn ; but when he heard him play, then he wanted 
 to stay alongside of him. You can make sweet music 
 out of your hfe, but if you will let God come along- 
 side of you, then you will hear from your life the 
 kind of music angels hear in heaven. 
 
 Yield yourselves unto God, let Him get alongside 
 of you, and thousands will listen to the music of your 
 Hfe. 
 
FOR FIFTH SUNDAY IN WINTER 
 TAKE IT WITH YOU 
 
 "Our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with 
 singing." — Psalm cxxvi., 2 
 
 A FEW weeks ago every one you met said: "A 
 happy New Year." If every one is trying 
 to make your j^ear happy, what then? Your mouth 
 will be filled with laughter and your tongue with 
 singing. 
 
 "I hope you'll have a good time, son," said a father 
 as his big boy started out to spend the evening. 
 "Thank you; I always do have a good time, father, 
 for I take it with me." If your mouth is full of 
 laughter and your tongue with singing, you can al- 
 ways take a good time with you. Those who take a 
 good time with them are happy and make others 
 happy. 
 
 "What is happiness?" you ask. It is something 
 that tickles your heart until it fills your mouth with 
 laughter. When you are happy and your mouth is 
 full of tickle — I mean laughter — do not let it go 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 out in giggles or be wasted in a guffaw. I heard of 
 a railroad engine that wasted all the steam when it 
 whistled and had to stop. Do not waste all your 
 happiness in a big laugh. If your mouth is full of 
 laughter, what are you to do with it? That is just 
 what I want to tell you. Let your tongue sing it. 
 We should all have a musical laugh. We have sing- 
 ing-teachers, why not have laughing-teachers.'' 
 Singing is your heart laughing out loud. God 
 promises to fill your mouth with laughter and your 
 tongue with singing. A smile is a little tickle; a 
 song is a big tickle. A laugh in your mouth is your 
 happiness. The laugh that your tongue ripples out 
 of your mouth like a song is happiness for others. 
 
 Laugh and the world laughs with you, 
 
 Weep and you weep alone. 
 For this sad old earth must borrow its mirth 
 
 It has sorrow enough of its own. 
 
 Your laugh-song will make others happy. On a 
 lovely spring evening some lonely children saw a 
 silent nightingale. They said, "Sing, sweet night- 
 ingale, sing." The bird answered, "Do you hear the 
 frogs .'^ They make such a noise that I have lost all 
 pleasure in singing." "We hear the frogs," said the 
 children, "but if you were singing we would not hear 
 
TAKE IT WITH YOU 
 
 them." There are a few people whose mouths are 
 never filled with laughter. They have a frog in 
 their throat. Let your laughter ripple out like a 
 song, and no one will hear the croak of the frogs. 
 
 Croak and the world croaks at you, 
 
 Groan and you groan alone. 
 This sad old earth in you must find mirth 
 
 It has frogs enough of its own. 
 
 Let your mouth be filled with laughter and your 
 tongue with singing. 
 
 Shall I tell you a story to wrap the sermon in.'* 
 A boy and girl, whose father and mother died, went 
 to live with three bachelor aunts. These women were 
 religious, but were converted in a thunder-storm, and 
 always took a little of the thunder-storm with them. 
 One corner of the house was struck with lightning, 
 killing their canary-bird and pet cat. They had a 
 funeral for their pets and always took the funeral 
 with them wherever they went. Took it with them 
 to church and to prayer-meeting, to the store and 
 afternoon teas. Some wicked people called them the 
 "cat-bird funeral." 
 
 The two children, the boy with red hair and blue 
 eyes, the girl with black hair and brown eyes, had 
 been converted in a Junior Congregation, and they 
 
 227 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 took their conversion with them. Took it with them 
 to church, to prayer-meeting, to school, to the store 
 and to their play. They remembered a sermon on 
 this text, "Our mouth was filled with laughter, and 
 our tongue with singing." They "took it with 
 them." 
 
 The aunts made pets of these children and nick- 
 named one of them "Laugh" and the other "Song." 
 As they were nearly always together, they soon be- 
 came known as "Laugh-song." If one of them was 
 wanted, both were wanted, so they called them both 
 at once: "Laugh-song, it is time to go to school"; 
 "Laugh-song, come to dinner." 
 
 These children went to church every Sunday. 
 They called going to church "getting their religion 
 wound up." On Sunday morning it would be nearly 
 run down, and did not tick so merrily nor strike so 
 clearly. Have you noticed how hard it is to be a 
 good Christian on Sunday morning.? Your religion 
 is nearly run down. Our religion is a seven-day clock. 
 On Sunday morning papa and mama are nearly run 
 down. The Sunday services wound them up again. 
 Their friends noticed this and began to speak of the 
 "Laughing church." 
 
 As the aunts had forgotten their own ages they 
 
TAKE IT WITH YOU 
 
 began to grow young and would laugh and sing with 
 Laugh-song. They went with Laugh-song to the 
 Junior Congregation and were converted all over 
 again. Their new religion had no thunder-storm in 
 it. It had sunshine and song. They took their 
 "laugh-song religion" with them wherever they went 
 — took it to church, to prayer-meeting, to the store 
 and afternoon teas. 
 
 They lived for many happy years ; how many I do 
 not know, for they lost their birthdays in the thun- 
 der-storms. After a long and happy life on earth, 
 they went to heaven. Laugh-song had taught them 
 that God was not in the thunder, but that He was a 
 God of love who would fill their mouths with laughter 
 and their tongues with singing. They were happy 
 and they "took it with them." 
 
FOR SIXTH SUNDAY IN WINTER 
 
 BONE-BREAKING 
 
 "A soft tongue breaketh the bone." — Proverbs xxv., 15 
 
 ONE day I saw a man strike a boy. The lad 
 gritted his teeth and muttered, "I would like 
 to break every bone in your body." I think I know 
 what he said inside, "When I am a man I will thrash 
 you." The boy was mad. It is said that yoa can 
 really make a girl angry if you strike her hard 
 enough. If she gets real angry, very angry, she 
 may want to break one or two bones. I am in sym- 
 pathy with you boys and girls, as I recall my ex- 
 perience when a boy. There are some bones that I 
 remember having a desire to break. 
 
 As your pastor, I give you authority to break the 
 bones of any person who imposes on you. You may 
 break every bone in his body. Wait, wait, do not 
 rush to the fray until I finish all I have to say. You 
 may break his bones, but not with your fist or feet, 
 or even with a big stick. You must do it with your 
 tongue. Not with a hard tongue, but with a soft 
 
 230 
 
BONE-BREAKING 
 
 tongue. Some tongues are like a rasp, the kind of 
 tongue that makes "hide-and-seek" shivers play un- 
 der jour nerves. A hard tongue sounds like the 
 bark of a snarling dog. It is often the snarl and 
 bark in your voice that rouse the fighting dog in 
 the other fellow. Solomon says, "A soft tongue 
 breaketh the bone." By a soft tongue he means one 
 that speaks soft, sweet, kind words. Christian fight- 
 ing is very different from sinner fighting. There is 
 more fun in Christian fighting. It requires a braver 
 boy. Christ said, "Whosoever shall smite thee on the 
 right cheek, turn to him the other also." It takes two 
 to make a quarrel. If all your words are soft and 
 kind before you are struck, and all soft and kind 
 after you are struck, you will certainly break the 
 bones of the one who struck you. There the fight 
 will end. He will feel so mean, so ashamed and so 
 weU conquered that all the bones of his mean nature 
 and bad temper will be broken. The fight will end 
 and blend in friendsliip. 
 
 How can my Juniors get the soft, sweet tongue 
 that will break bones? You must have a soft, sweet 
 heart. My mother told me, when a boy, that 
 I must get a new heart. I asked what I would 
 do with the old one. Her answer was that God would 
 
 231 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 make a new one out of the old. I needed a new 
 heart with a large oil-cup. 
 
 You must get the oil of God's grace and love in 
 your heart in order to have a soft tongue and kind 
 words. If you have a Christlike heart, then your 
 answer to those who abuse you will be soft and 
 sweet. "A soft answer turneth away wrath; but 
 grievous words stir up anger." An oiled tongue will 
 not speak kind words if you have a vinegar heart. 
 
 The elocution professor can teach you to use the 
 sweet, tender, kindly voice, but when you are angry 
 you will forget your lessons. Get Christ in your 
 heart and never permit Satan to use your tongue. 
 
 No ; I have not forgotten your story. I am only 
 a trifle late in getting to it. Here is your story: 
 A small boy, whose name was Wendell Phillips, had 
 a very soft tongue. His words were softer than oil. 
 He had Christ in his heart, and he so loved the poor 
 and opprest as to be always ready to speak to them 
 and for them. When he was grown up he was known 
 as the "man who had a kind voice." When he was 
 sixty years old sorrow came to him and made him 
 believe that his usefulness was ended. He kept his 
 kind voice, but the people did not seem to listen to 
 his words. One night, when he was crossing the Bos- 
 
BONE-BREAKING 
 
 ton Common, a little girl stept out from the 
 shadow and asked him for some pennies. She was 
 begging for her sick mother. Many had refused her, 
 and she was angr}^ very angry. Her voice was harsh, 
 and she threw a stone at one man who laughed at 
 her. She wanted to break his bones. 
 
 Being sad and lonely, Wendell Phillips wanted to 
 make some one happy, and so handed her a bill and 
 said, "God bless you, little girl!" The child ran 
 home — almost flew, and rushed into her mother's 
 room. Her mother questioned her about the giver, 
 but all she could tell was, "He had a kind voice. 
 Mother, his voice took all the mad out of me and 
 made me happy." She tried to imitate the voice; 
 over and over she would repeat, "God bless you, little 
 girl!" 
 
 Then she found that God was blessing her. She 
 imitated the kind voice until her own became sweet. 
 A friend sent her to the Conservatory of Music, 
 from which she graduated with honors. She was in- 
 vited to sing at a great meeting in Tremont Temple. 
 After her part was over, Wendell Phillips arose to 
 speak. His voice caught the young girl's ear. She 
 almost cried out, "It is the man with the kind voice." 
 Now she knew who had befriended her and made her 
 
 233 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 great. Closing her eyes, she lived over again that 
 night in the park. 
 
 The one who told this story said, "A few weeks 
 later the great orator was dead. When the pro- 
 cession passed his casket a woman, with gray hair, 
 and a young singer stood long looking into the face. 
 Then down upon the glass a young girl stooped to 
 leave a sacred kiss. As she passed on she seemed to 
 hear the kind voice, 'God bless you, little girl !' " A 
 soft tongue will do more than break bones ; it will 
 help boys and girls to become great men and women. 
 
 234 
 
FOB SEVENTH SUNDAY IN WINTER 
 LINCOLN'S BIRTHDAY 
 
 **On his birthday."— MarA; vi., 21 
 
 ONE hundred years ago a boy was born. The 
 house he was to call "home" had a kitchen, a 
 dining-room, a nursery, a play-room, a bedroom, a 
 library, a parlor and a roof-garden. This, you say, 
 was rather a fine house, and that boy's parents must 
 have been rich. But all these rooms were one room, 
 with a dirt floor. It had one big fireplace, one win- 
 dow, and but one door. There was but one bed and 
 the father had made it out of rough boards. This 
 family was very poor and this one-room log-cabin 
 was the boy's home. In this home was the original 
 one-shelf library. On it were five books : "Aesop's 
 Fables," "Pilgrim's Progress," a "Life of Washing- 
 ton," "Burns' Poems," and the Bible. If the boy had 
 known how poor his house and parents were he might 
 have been lost to the world by dying from over- 
 crying. A log cabin with a dirt floor — but at the 
 other end of his life was the White House with tiled 
 floors. 
 
 ^5 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 The parents named their boy Abraham, but the 
 name was too long for one room, so they shortened 
 it to "Abe," and by this name he has been known for 
 one hundred years — "Abe Lincoln." 
 
 But I must not forget to tell you that inside of 
 this large-small house there was one of the most beau- 
 tiful homes ever built on earth. It had a cozy- 
 corner, light and warm, for Abe there was everything 
 a boy could ask for in a home. The peculiarity of 
 this home was that while "Abe" found it inside the 
 house, it was larger than the house. He continued to 
 live in the love of this home all his life. When he be- 
 came President he took his memory and love of this 
 home with him and found it more beautiful than the 
 White House. The name of this wonderful home was 
 "mother." Your teacher will probably tell you that 
 our three best words are "mother," "home," and 
 "heaven," but they are like the rooms in the cabin, 
 all one. It is mother that makes a home, and a home 
 and mother make heaven, so really there is but one 
 best word, and that is "mother." Better a log cabin 
 with a dirt floor and mother, than a palace and Per- 
 sian rugs without a mother. 
 
 He had a strong body. With a helper he in one 
 day split three thousand fence-rails. This gave him 
 
 236 
 
LINCOLN'S BIRTHDAY 
 
 a new name, "the rail-splitter." He became the 
 champion rail-splitter of his district, and turned this 
 skill to much account, as is seen from his bargain 
 made with Mrs. Nancy Miller to "split four hundred 
 rails for every yard of brown jeans, dyed with white 
 walnut bark that would be necessary to make him a 
 pair of trousers." He was a very strong young man, 
 but he was not handsome. He once told about a pho- 
 tograph he had taken. He said: "This coarse, 
 rough hair of mine was in a particularly bad tousle, 
 and the picture presented me in all its fright. After 
 my nomination, this being about the only picture 
 there was, copies were struck to show those who had 
 never seen me how I looked. The newsboys carried 
 them around to sell and had for their cry, 'Here's old 
 Abe ; he'll look better when he gets his hair combed.' " 
 It is better to have strength without beauty, than 
 beauty without strength. 
 
 A poor woman fought her way into his pres- 
 ence and made a mother's plea for her son, 
 who had been sentenced to death for some vio- 
 lation of the military laws. Lincoln listened to 
 her pleadings, and presently wrote something on a 
 piece of paper which he handed to her. In a moment 
 more, seeing that it was her son's pardon, she fell at 
 
 237 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 her benefactor's feet, kissed his hands, then looking 
 up into his face, she murmured: "I knew they Hed; 
 I knew thej Hed!" Lincoln asked her meaning, to 
 which she replied, "Oh, sir, they told me you were a 
 homely man, but I think you are the handsomest man 
 I ever saw !" 'Twas true. For mercy and humanity's 
 appeal to his great heart had beautified his face as 
 they did his life ! He had more than a strong body ; 
 he had a strong and rugged brain. 
 
 He attended a very private school. The private 
 school was the chimney-corner in the log cabin. His 
 mother was the teacher. You will be interested in 
 his writing-pad. It was the back of a big wooden 
 shovel. When it was written over, he shaved off the 
 wood and had a new pad. His lead-pencil was a 
 piece of charcoal. He graduated from the largest 
 university in the world. The university had three 
 departments — the fields, the streams and the forest. 
 When other boys were playing, he was thinking. 
 
 If you boys and girls ever visit Rutherford Park, 
 N. J., you will find a big boulder on which is cut 
 his Gettysburg address. This rugged boulder is a 
 good illustration of his rugged nature and strong 
 brain, and the address represents the wonders that his 
 
LINCOLN'S BIRTHDAY 
 
 brain could perform. There are but ten sentences 
 and two hundred and sixty-eight words in this Gettys- 
 burg address, but it is the only chapter of American 
 literature ever taught in an English university. 
 
 It is better to have a rugged brain from which 
 came this wonderful address, than to have a brain so 
 smooth and so well polished as to simply shine and 
 nothing more. 
 
 He had more than a strong body and a wonderful 
 brain ; he had a big, warm, rugged heart. His motto 
 was, "Charity for all, malice toward none." If you 
 boys and girls will take this for your motto : charity 
 or love for every person in the world, and malice — 
 that is, disUke or hatred — for no person in the world, 
 it will help to make you great. His rehgious creed 
 was even shorter and better than his Gettysburg 
 speech, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all 
 thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy 
 mind, and thy neighbor as thyself." 
 
 In every city, and in almost every village in Amer- 
 ica, you can see a memorial of Lincoln. In Brooklyn 
 and Manhattan there are five hundred and ninety- 
 two of these memorials. This memorial or monument 
 is the clock in front of the jeweler's store. The 
 
 239 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 hands on the clock point to eighteen minutes after 
 eight. This indicates the hour and minute when 
 Lincoln was shot. 
 
 A little story will show you how large he was. In 
 "Our Birds and Their Nestlings," we find this story 
 of Lincoln. In the early pioneer days, when Abra- 
 ham Lincoln was a young attorney and "rode the 
 circuit," he was one day traveling on horseback from 
 one town to another with a party of friends who 
 were lawyers like himself. 
 
 The road which they traveled led across prairies 
 and through woods. As they passed through a grove 
 where the birds were singing merrily, they noticed 
 a baby bird which had fallen from the nest and lay 
 fluttering by the roadside. After they had gone a 
 short distance, Mr. Lincoln stopt, turned and said, 
 "Wait for me a moment; I will soon rejoin you." 
 As his friends halted and watched him, they saw 
 Mr. Lincoln return to the place where the helpless 
 bird lay on the ground, and tenderly take it up and 
 set it on a limb near the nest. When he joined his 
 companions, one of them laughingly asked, "Why did 
 you bother yourself and delay us with such a trifle 
 as that?" 
 
 Abraham Lincoln's reply deserves to be remem- 
 240 
 
LINCOLN'S BIRTHDAY 
 
 bered. "My friend," said he, "I can only say this— 
 that I feel better for it. I could not have slept to- 
 night if I had left that helpless Httle creature to 
 perish on the ground." 
 
 Of God it is said : "Not a sparrow f alleth without 
 His notice," 
 
 241 
 
FOB EIGHTH SUNDAY IN WINTER 
 ST. VALENTINE'S DAY 
 
 "To which of the Saints wilt thou turn?" — Job v., 1 
 
 FLOWERS turn to the sun. The sunflower has 
 a turn-table on which it keeps turning all day 
 toward the sun. Boys and girls turn to mother 
 during the day, and sometimes turn in their sleep. 
 They turn to father when he is at home — usually at 
 night. There is always some person to whom we 
 turn. When happy we turn to those who will enjoy 
 our happiness. When in sorrow we turn to those 
 who can help us. We are great turners. When Job 
 was sick, and in trouble, one of his friends asked him 
 to which of the saints he would turn. If you will read 
 the Book of Job you will learn to whom he turned. 
 Did you ever see a saint? "Yes," you say, "in a 
 picture." But you need not look for saints in 
 pictures, for there are many of them in the church 
 and some of them in your home. A saint is a good 
 person who loves God and his fellow man — any one 
 who loves twice, one love to God and one love to man ; 
 any one who loves twice is a saint. 
 
 243 
 
ST. VALENTINE'S DAY 
 
 There is an old legend about two men who were 
 called saints. When one of them entered heaven, 
 Christ said: "What hast thou seen on earth?" He 
 answered, "I saw a poor man floundering with his 
 wagon in the marsh." "Did'st thou help him?" 
 "No." "Why not?" "I was coming before Thee, 
 and I was afraid of soiling my white robes." The 
 other saint entered heaven with his white robes all 
 covered with mud and mire. Christ asked him why 
 he was so stained and soiled. He answered, "I saw 
 a poor man whose horse could not pull the wagon 
 through the mud. I put my shoulder to the wheel to 
 help him out." "Blest art thou," answered Christ. 
 "Thou art a real saint, while your friend with the 
 clean white robes is just an ordinary Sunday Chris- 
 tian." He was a feeble saint. 
 
 An old colored preacher who had never gone to 
 school was trying to read the hymn, "Judge not the 
 Lord by feeble sense." He read, "Judge not the Lord 
 by feeble saints." A feeble saint is a disgrace to 
 God. 
 
 To which of the saints do you turn? There is a 
 saint to whom you are turning to-day — your good 
 St. Valentine. He loved God, young men and 
 maidens, and little children. He was arrested and 
 
 243 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 persecuted for being a Christian and a very bright 
 man was employed to win him back from Christianity 
 to idolatry. This bright man had a beautiful httle 
 girl who was blind. St. Valentine loved the little girl 
 and told her about flowers and birds and many other 
 pretty things. He asked God for power to make 
 her happy. God gave him power to open her eyes. 
 The result was that her father and all his family 
 accepted Christ and were baptized. This made the 
 heathen hate St. Valentine more and more, and on 
 February 14th they cut off his head. The 14th of 
 February is celebrated as St. Valentine's day. 
 
 If you do not really believe in St. Valentine, you 
 at least like, on February 14th, to play believe. 
 
 At Christmas time you play believe in St. Nicholas, 
 the saint who loves children. When a girl sees a 
 snake she does not play, but almost prays to believe 
 in St. Patrick. At Hallowe'en you play believe in 
 "All Saints." So, on St. Valentine's day you play 
 believe in dear St. Valentine. 
 
 To which of the saints wilt thou turn.^^ The young 
 people of this country, England and France are 
 turning to-day to St. Valentine. Some turn to him 
 in a very mean way — a way that must almost make 
 him feel sad in heaven. These young people send 
 
 2U 
 
ST. VALENTINE'S DAY 
 
 horrid and vulgar pictures to the people they dis- 
 like. They call them valentines. Why should they 
 do such bad things on the anniversary of a good 
 man's death? If you are tempted to hate your ene- 
 mies and to send them hateful pictures as valentines, 
 just stop and think what St. Valentine did for his 
 enemy. How happy he made him by opening the 
 eyes of his little girl. 
 
 Let us all turn to this saint to-day and promise 
 never to send an unkind valentine to any one. Many 
 of our boys and girls turn to St. Valentine in a very 
 kindly way. Love pictures and love verses, beautiful 
 flowers and other gifts are sent to friends. As St. 
 Valentine blest his enemies, I think St. Valentine's 
 day would be a good time to send love pictures and 
 love verses and beautiful gifts, not to our friends only 
 but to our enemies. How happy we could make them 
 feel. 
 
 St. Valentine is remembered long after he is for- 
 gotten. Why do you smile? "How?" you ask, "can 
 any one be remembered after he is forgotten?" Sup- 
 pose I had a bottle of perfume, and that I should 
 sprinkle some of it on your handkerchief. You would 
 say, "This sweet perfume must have come from a 
 very beautiful flower." Then, suppose I told you 
 
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LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 that no one now living had ever seen the flower and 
 that there was no description of it in any book. 
 Would it not be true that the flower was remembered 
 after it was forgotten — remembered only by its per- 
 fume? Now, really all we know about St. Valentine 
 is the fragrance and perfume of his life. St Valen- 
 tine's day is the bottle that once a year is opened 
 and the sweet perfume sprinkled on our hearts. We 
 say, "What a good man he must have been; what a 
 beautiful life he must have lived." But there is no 
 history in our books about what he really looked 
 like and what he really did. By the fragrance of his 
 life he is remembered long after he, as a man, is for- 
 gotten. But I must close this bottle and tell you a 
 story before you go home. Once upon a time, long, 
 long ago, as this kind of a story goes, there was an 
 organist who loved his organ, and could make it talk 
 music. He lived with it, and all his money and jewels 
 he hid under its pipes. The organ was in a church 
 that stood in a deep valley. One day a great flood 
 came and left the church at the bottom of a new 
 lake. The old legend says that once a year the 
 church would rise and float on the lake, and that the 
 organist would come back from his grave and play 
 the organ until the people would crowd the shore to 
 
 94,6 
 
ST. VALENTINE'S DAY 
 
 hear the music — music half for angels, half for men. 
 Just before the church would sink again, the organist 
 would stand at the door and toss to the children on 
 the shore the jewels and money he had hidden in the 
 organ, and they would jingle like music as they fell. 
 The children would sing sweet songs back to him, and 
 the angels sang still sweeter songs to welcome him* 
 back to heaven. 
 
 I think St. Valentine, like the church organ, comes 
 back once a year. But instead of music, St. Valen- 
 tine opens the bottle of memory and sprinkles upon 
 our hearts the sweet fragrance of his life. God's 
 people continue to live and to bless humanity long 
 after they are forgotten. There are many saints, 
 angels of God, who are sent by Christ to bring 
 blessings to our boys and girls. 
 
 247 
 
FOB NINTH SUNDAY IN WINTER 
 WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY 
 
 "They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies." 
 — Psalms Iviii., 3 
 
 WHAT was your first sin? Excuse me, I will 
 not ask you to answer this question — it is 
 too personal to be popular. I mean, what is likely 
 to be the first sin of any boy or girl? Our text says 
 that a lie is the first sin of every sinner. "The 
 wicked go astray as soon as they are born, speaking 
 lies." I seem to hear you say, "An infant can not 
 talk; how, then, can it tell a lie.^^ My baby brother 
 did not talk until he was nearly two years old." Is 
 it possible that we have found something in the Bible 
 that is not true.^^ I believe the Bible always tells the 
 truth. There must be some way to explain this text. 
 Oh, I know, the infant cries as soon as it is born and 
 its first lie is a cry ! The tiny infant wants mama, 
 and cries long and loud to make her think he is sick. 
 The first lie is concealed in a tear. In that tear is 
 salted away a lie, some great, great, very long ago, 
 grandfather or grandmother told. Some say it was 
 
 248 
 
WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY 
 
 a lie that both grandparents, who never were chil- 
 dren, once told — the way, way back grandparents, 
 Adam and Eve. Put the blame far enough back, and 
 it will be easier to say it is true. 
 
 We must not be too severe on Adam and Eve. 
 Poor creatures, they never were children. I have 
 never known men or women to be very good, unless 
 they learned to be good when they were children. 
 After the experience of Adam and Eve, God has 
 never let any one come into the world except as a lit- 
 tle child. Even Christ had to come as a babe to 
 Bethlehem. We can not have good men and wo- 
 men unless we have good boys and girls. If as boys 
 and girls you tell little white lies, you will, when men 
 and women, tell big black Hes. 
 
 What is a lie .? A boy once said, "A lie is an abom- 
 ination in the sight of the Lord, and a very present 
 help in time of trouble." The boy said this in fun. 
 Let us see if there is any truth in his definition. A 
 lie is an abomination in the sight of the Lord — al- 
 ways has been and always will be. A lie is also a 
 present help in the time of trouble. The infant finds 
 it a present help in bringing mama. The boy and girl 
 find it a present help to escape a scolding or some 
 other punishment. School children find it a present 
 
 249 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 help when on the way to the principal. But the help 
 is only a "present help," for the lie gets the boy or 
 girl into two or more troubles where there was only 
 one at first. Then the lie gets into the conscience and 
 wakes the har up at night and scolds and punishes 
 him. If the child had told the truth, one scolding 
 would have been the end, but a lie starts conscience to 
 scolding, and it will keep on nagging until the truth 
 is told. 
 
 This week we celebrate Washington's birthday. 
 Some one may tell you that Washington could not 
 tell a lie. This is not true, for Washington could 
 have told a lie if he had tried just a httle. He could 
 have told a lie about that hatchet and cherry-tree. 
 George would have found a lie a very present help 
 when he saw his father break off a rod from that 
 cherry-tree. Washington could, but would not, tell 
 a He, and that is what made him a great boy and a 
 greater man. The story of the hatchet and the 
 cherry-tree may not be true, but one thing we know 
 is, that Washington was true. 
 
 Last week, in one of our papers, I read of a little 
 girl, aged ten years, who had written a composition 
 on the life of Washington. Her teacher wrote that 
 the composition was composed by this girl "without 
 
 950 
 
WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY 
 
 outside aid." Before the little girl sent it in to the 
 judges, she drew her pen through the words, "with- 
 out outside aid," and wrote, "with a little help from 
 mother." A lie would have been a present help to 
 her, but she knew the lie would be in the prize and 
 would destroy its value. She knew the lie would get 
 into her conscience and spoil her pleasure in the prize. 
 
 In our country, and many other countries, monu- 
 ments are erected in memory of great men and wo- 
 men. This is one way in which we honor them. 
 
 The Dyaks, a native race of Borneo, build monu- 
 ments to liars. This is the way they dishonor them. 
 If any one is found to be a liar, the Dyaks heap up a 
 pile of branches of trees to his or her memory. A 
 few small branches, a few dry twigs and leaves — that 
 is what the "tugong bula" is at first. But day by 
 day it increases in size. Every passer-by adds some- 
 thing to it, and in a few years' time it becomes a 
 large and imposing monument, erected in the memory 
 of one who was a liar. What a strange place Green- 
 wood, our beautiful cemetery, would be if such a mon- 
 ument were put over the grave of every har. What 
 a peculiar procession of boys and girls on Decora- 
 tion day. In one hand a flower for the true and 
 honest man's or woman's monument, and in the other 
 
 251 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 hand a stick or a stone for the dishonest man's or 
 woman's monument. Would it not be well for you to 
 celebrate Washington's birthday by deciding to tell 
 the truth on every occasion? How brave it would 
 make you. If you have done what is wrong, go right 
 to the one you have wronged, tell the truth, and take 
 your punishment. Keep the lie and its punishment 
 out of your conscience. A short story before we part ; 
 
 A local physician who acts as examiner for an ac- 
 cident insurance company said that he has to be 
 watchful in order to keep the companies he repre- 
 sents from being defrauded on accident claims. 
 
 "A man was in my office who said that he had 
 fallen from a street-car. I examined his arm ; tho 
 there were a few bruises on it, it didn't appear to 
 be badly hurt. 
 
 " 'How high can you raise it .?' I continued, and he 
 answered by raising his arm with apparent difficulty, 
 until his hand was a few inches above his head. 
 'Pretty bad,' I commented. 'Now show me how high 
 you could raise it before this accident happened.' 
 He lifted it easily then 'way up in the air, and it 
 wasn't until I began to laugh that he realized that 
 he had exposed himself." His present help was very 
 short. 
 
 252 
 
FOR TENTH SUNDAY IN WINTER 
 GETTING READY FOR CHURCH 
 
 "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." — Mark iv., 9 
 
 YOU start every day by getting ready for some- 
 thing. Out of bed and on your knees, in order 
 to get ready to meet the joys and sorrows of the 
 day. You get ready for breakfast, and ought not 
 to be late. You get ready for school and try to 
 have your lessons ready. You get ready for play, 
 and it does not take as long as it does to get ready 
 for breakfast. You get ready for the night by kneel- 
 ing and saying, "Now I lay me down to sleep." Have 
 you ever counted how many times you get ready for 
 something.'* Getting ready tells what you are going 
 to do. If a boy is getting ready to play foot- 
 ball you know he is not going to school. If a girl is 
 getting ready for a party you know she is not get- 
 ting ready for bed. Getting ready tells a lot of 
 things without saying one word. 
 
 "I can get ready myself." How very proud girls 
 and boys are when they can get ready without 
 
 25S 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 mother's help. One of the very important things for 
 my Juniors to learn is, how to get ready for church. 
 First you get the body ready. You are going to 
 God's house and you want to be clean and sweet. 
 Your body is the home in which the Holy Spirit 
 lives. It must be clean and sweet. You take some- 
 thing out of your pockets before going to church. 
 If you take jackstones you will be tempted to play 
 in church if father goes asleep. Little girls had 
 better not take their dolls. Then you get the mind 
 ready. You must take out a lot of "thinks" before 
 going to church. You do not want to think party, 
 think ball-game, and there are other "thinks" that 
 might bother you. Most important of all is to get 
 your soul ready for church. Going to church is 
 taking your soul to school. God teaches the soul. 
 If there is any sin in your soul take it out and leave 
 it out. Sin will tell your soul not to listen while God 
 is talking. You get your mind ready for a baseball 
 game. You put your mind on the game. You see 
 every play and you hear every decision of the um- 
 pire. You do not hear anything on the other side 
 of the fence. Getting ready for church is getting 
 your minds on the subject. You get ready for a 
 difficult lesson by putting your mind on it. This one 
 
 254, 
 
GETTING READY FOR CHURCH 
 
 thing you think of, and you think hard. Have you 
 learned to get ready for church? Have you ever 
 thought of having your ears hungry? The ear has 
 an appetite when it is hungry to hear. He that 
 hath ears to hear, let him get them ready to hear. 
 Have you ever gone to church with hungry ears? 
 
 A story that I found in one of our papers will help 
 you to remember what I have said. The story is 
 "Why the sermon was dull." 
 
 "That was the dullest sermon I ever listened to !" 
 exclaimed Sam on Sunday when he got home from 
 church. "Yes, I thought so myself," replied grand- 
 pa, with a twinkle in his eye. "Did you, grandpa?" 
 inquired Sam, glad to have some one to stand by 
 him. "I mean that I thought you considered it so," 
 replied his grandpa. "I enjoyed it, because my ap- 
 petite was whetted for it before I went to church. I 
 noticed it was just the other way with you." "Just 
 the other way !" cried Sam ; "How was that?" "Why, 
 before you went," answered grandpa, "instead of 
 sharpening your appetite for the sermon, you dulled 
 it by reading that trashy paper. Then, after you 
 got in the building, instead of sitting straight up 
 and looking at the minister while he preached, as tho 
 you wanted to catch every word he said and every 
 
 255 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 expression of his face, you lounged down in your 
 seat and turned half-way-around. I never knew any- 
 body who could hear a sermon right from the side 
 of his head. Then you let your eyes rove about the 
 church and out of the window. That dulled the 
 sense. You dulled your ears by listening to a dog 
 that was barking, and an automobile that was pass- 
 ing. You dulled your mind and soul by thinking 
 you were a terribly abused boy for having to go to 
 church and stay through the sermon, and you made 
 yourself a dull listener. I never knew it to fail in 
 my life that a dull listener made a dull sermon." 
 
 I want to make a bargain with my Juniors. If 
 each week you will get ready for church, I will do 
 all in my power to get a sermon and a story ready 
 for you when you come to church. Is it a bargain.? 
 Thanks. We will ask God to help us all to get ready. 
 "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." 
 
 256 
 
FOB ELEVENTH SUNDAY IN WINTER 
 "THE VILLAGE BLACKSMITH" 
 
 "Make a chain." — Ezekiel vii., 23 
 
 Under a spreading chestnut-tree 
 
 The village smithy stands; 
 The smith, a mighty man is he. 
 
 With large and sinewy hands. 
 And the muscles of Ms brawny arms 
 
 Are strong as iron bands. 
 
 IF you pass a blacksmith shop this week, I want 
 you to "look in at the open door." Why.'^ Be- 
 cause March 7th is the anniversary of the death of 
 Elihu Burritt, the village blacksmith of New 
 Britain, Conn. There are some facts from his hfe 
 that may help in developing your life. Near the 
 forge he kept an open book, and while blowing the 
 bellows and heating the iron he was reading and 
 studying. By using faithfully his spare moments 
 he became a great scholar. He mastered Latin, 
 Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, and almost all European 
 languages. Then, as "the learned blacksmith," he 
 visited the people in different parts of the world with 
 
 257 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 whom he could talk, preaching "universal brother- 
 hood." In the great Peace Congresses of Brussels, 
 Paris, Frankfort, London and Edinburgh, he stood 
 like a blacksmith at his anvil welding together the 
 nations of the world in universal brotherhood. By 
 hard work and faithfulness in the village blacksmith 
 shop at New Britain, Conn., he climbed to the honor 
 of being United States consul at Birmingham, Eng- 
 land. This was a long, strong chain. 
 
 While looking in at the open door of a blacksmith 
 shop you can think of ex-Governor John A. Johnson, 
 of Minnesota, who was the son of a village black- 
 smith. His father was a drunkard, and after wasting 
 his time, died in the almshouse. His son determined 
 to do some good in the world, and worked hard while 
 his mother took in washing in order to keep John at 
 school. When he was elected governor, some one 
 asked him how he had risen from the blacksmith-shop 
 to the governor's palace. He answered, "I just tried 
 to make good." One of the most beautiful paintings 
 at the Columbian Exposition was of a blacksmith- 
 shop. In the picture you can not see the fire on the 
 forge, but you see a boy, his face beautifully and 
 marvelously lighted by the glow of the forge. No 
 difference how humble your work or home may be, 
 
 258 
 
"THE VILLAGE BLACKSMITH" 
 
 there is an unseen light and the glow is on your face. 
 Do something great for God and man ! Ezekiel was 
 the preacher blacksmith. The Lord told him to 
 make a chain. He was a great preacher and, there- 
 fore, I believe that he was a good blacksmith. Will 
 each one of you be a blacksmith and make a chain.'' 
 Do each day the best that you can in school, at home, 
 in church work. Do more than your level best each 
 day. Your enthusiasm will be the furnace in which 
 you will heat each link. You will shape it on the 
 anvil of your determination, and your will is the 
 hammer with which you will shape it and weld it. 
 Then the finished chain will be your character. 
 
 I hear your answer: "I can never be like Burritt 
 and Johnson." God says to every boy and girl, 
 "Make a chain." It may not be a chain of iron ; it 
 may be a chain of loving deeds. "I just tried to 
 make good." This chain of six word-Knks would be 
 a good one for you to forge. Try to "make good" 
 while working on your chain. 
 
 The other day I found this story about the chain 
 which an old blacksmith made. The blacksmith lived 
 in a village and his shop was near the church. From 
 early morning till evening each day the people near 
 could hear the clanging of his hammer upon the 
 
 259 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 anvil, and they knew he was forging a chain. Now 
 and then idlers dropt in to watch his work. When 
 they saw how faithful and patient he was and what 
 pains he took never to leave a Hnk until it was as 
 nearly perfect as he could make it, they laughed at 
 him and told him that he would accomplish much 
 more if he took less care. 
 
 Hearing such remarks, the old smith could only 
 shake his head and continue doing his best, making 
 each hnk as strong as if the whole chain depended 
 upon it. At last he died and was laid away in the 
 village churchyard. 
 
 The great chain, which was found in a corner of 
 the village blacksmith-shop, was put on board a ship. 
 It was coiled up out of the way and for a long time 
 no one noticed it. But there came a time in the win- 
 ter when the fierce wind blew a gale. The ship toiled 
 through the waves and strained and groaned as she 
 obeyed her helm. To guide her, three men were 
 needed to hold her wheel. Finally, they determined 
 to anchor her. The great chain was thrown over the 
 side into the gloomy waves. The anchor touched 
 bottom and the chain grew taut and stiff as a bar of 
 iron. Would it hold.^* 
 
 Every one on board anxiously repeated the ques- 
 260 
 
"THE VILLAGE BLACKSMITH" 
 
 tlon as the gale raged fiercer. If one link was weak 
 or imperfect the chain would part and those on board 
 would be lost. But the chain was the work of the 
 faithful village blacksmith and he had wrought each 
 link as best he could. So this awful night, when the 
 test came, his workmanship defied the tempest, and 
 when at length the sun rose and the waves were still, 
 the vessel with the precious lives in her was safe. 
 
 What had saved her.^^ The chain, you say. True, 
 but what was the quality that had been wrought into 
 the chain? Fidelity. It was fidelity that had saved 
 her. Do you not see how the story of the fidelity of 
 the old blacksmith applies to our daily character- 
 building? Link by link we fashion it, and in the 
 hour of temptation comes the test of our workman- 
 ship. One weak link and we shall be wrecked. But 
 if we have been faithful day by day our chain will 
 if we have been faithful day by day our chain will 
 hold, and the bark of our soul anchored to the rock 
 
 Thanks, thanks to thee, my worthy friend 
 
 For the lesson thou hast taught! 
 Thus at the flaming forge of life 
 
 Our fortunes must be wrought; 
 Thus on its sounding anvil shaped 
 
 Each burning deed and thought! 
 
 961 
 
FOB TWELFTH SUNDAY IN WINTER 
 LESSONS FROM LENT 
 
 "And was with the wild beasts." — 3Iark i., 13 
 
 THIS is the first Sunday in Lent. The word 
 "Lent" has no relation to that large family 
 of words — Loan, and Lent, and Lend. Lent is not 
 a loan given on Ash Wednesday to be returned un- 
 soiled at Easter. We have a loan every year of 365 
 days, each hour to be returned unsoiled at the close 
 of the day. Lent does not belong to this family, but 
 I do not know to what family it really does belong. 
 It does not belong to the Bible family, for you will 
 not find its name there. While we find it in the 
 Church family, it has not always been in the Church. 
 
 Lent is old and very respectable, but we certainly 
 can not say that it came over in the Mayflower. It 
 does not belong to that large family. The Pilgrim 
 fathers did not bring any Ash Wednesdays, Good 
 Fridays and Easters in their boat. 
 
 Lent is now kept by nearly all churches in memory 
 of the forty days Christ spent in the wilderness. 
 
 962 
 
LESSONS FROM LENT 
 
 You ask, "Why did Christ go into the wilderness, and 
 why did He remain there forty days and forty 
 nights?" He had just been baptized, and all who 
 were there heard God say : "This is my beloved Son, 
 in whom I am well pleased." Now listen, "Then" — 
 that is, as soon as God called Him His beloved Son — 
 "Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilder- 
 ness to be tempted of the devil." Why.^ In Hebrews 
 11 : 18 is one answer. He was tempted and tried in 
 order that He could the better help us when we are 
 tempted and tried. Then in Hebrews 4: 15, He was 
 tempted in all points, just as we are tempted, so that 
 He can sympathize with us in our trials. What a 
 wonderful friend He is ! If He had not been tempted. 
 He would probably have scolded us every time we 
 make a mistake. 
 
 There were wild beasts in the wilderness, and at 
 night I think they came near where He was praying. 
 They came growling and snarling and threatening 
 to kill Him. This was a part of His trial, in order 
 to help Him to be patient with us at night when we 
 are afraid. 
 
 Some boys and girls, when in their room with the 
 door shut, are afraid of wild beasts — so frightened 
 that they bounce into bed without saying their 
 
 263 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 prayers. Wild beasts can not get into your room, 
 but they can get into your imagination when you are 
 alone and kneel to pray. If you are ever frightened 
 and find yourself trembling with fear, remember that 
 Christ has sympathy for you. Also remember that 
 if the wild beasts in the wilderness could not hurt 
 Christ, then the wild beasts in your imagination can 
 not hurt you when you are with Christ. 
 
 While Christ was fasting and praying, Satan kept 
 away. The wild animals were growling, but Satan 
 was quiet during the forty days. Christ had a sword 
 and Satan was afraid of him. The sword of the 
 spirit — the word of God. But when Christ left the 
 wilderness then Satan met Him and knowing that He 
 was w^eak and very hungry, tried to tempt Him. 
 Christ was weak in body as a result of this long fast, 
 but He was very strong of spirit because of His long 
 talli with God. He was strong enough to conquer 
 Satan. When Satan was driven away, then the 
 angels came and ministered to Him. I think this 
 means that they brought Him something to eat and 
 drink. 
 
 The wild beasts in our imagination may growl and 
 snarl a little, but I do not believe that Satan tries to 
 tempt us very much during Lent. He is afraid of 
 
 264 
 
LESSONS FROM LENT 
 
 us when we are praying. But look out for Satan 
 after Lent. After Easter, when the Lenten services 
 close and you return to your every-day duties, then 
 he will try to catch you and tempt you. 
 
 Now, in whatever way you boys and girls decide to 
 keep Lent, remember that the one important thing 
 is to get enough strength in your mind and in your 
 soul to resist Satan during the trying days after 
 Lent. It is very easy for you to keep Lent and to 
 give up something when so many of your companions 
 are doing the same thing. But when you are coming 
 away from Lent with your Easter hat and new 
 clothes, Satan will meet you and will tempt you to 
 break all of your Lenten resolutions. 
 
 There are three ways of resisting Satan when He 
 tempts you. The first way is to tie yourself with a 
 resolution, to tie yourself up tight with the Ten 
 Commandments and the other laws — tie yourself so 
 tight that you can not get loose to follow Satan. 
 The danger of this plan is that the cords might 
 break. The second way is to refuse to listen to Satan 
 when he tempts you. You can put wax in your ears 
 so as not to hear him when he attempts to tempt. 
 But the wax may fall out when you need it most. A 
 third and best way is to keep close to Christ, not 
 
 265 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 only during Lent but after Lent — keep so close to 
 Christ that His love will keep you from wanting to 
 do anything that Satan tempts you to do. 
 
 Now, I am going to tell you a story, and when 
 you get home tell it to father and mother or to some 
 friends and ask them to show you how to find in the 
 story three ways of resisting temptation. The story 
 is from Greek mythology. It speaks of an island 
 where strange beings called Sirens lived and sang 
 like angels but acted like some one else. When they 
 saw a boat passing, these Sirens would begin to sing, 
 and the people in the boat would come to the island 
 to see the Sirens and to hear their song. Then the 
 Sirens would wreck the boat, rob the sailors, and 
 often killed them. The story says that Ulysses, on 
 his way to Ithica, having to pass this island, pro- 
 tected himself and his crew in the following ways: 
 He had himself tied securely to the mast of the ship, 
 and had the ears of each of the sailors filled with 
 wax. When they came near the island, the Sirens 
 began to sing and their music so charmed Ulysses 
 that he tried to break the cords that bound him. But 
 fortunately the cords did not break. The sailors 
 with their ears filled with wax did not hear the song 
 and were not tempted to stop. Fortunately the wax 
 
 266 
 
LESSONS FROM LENT 
 
 was not melted by the song. They may have heard 
 a Httle of the song through their teeth. In the same 
 stories of mythology we read of other voyagers, 
 called Argonauts, who had to sail past this island. 
 They had another, and, I think, the best way of 
 protecting themselves from the temptations of the 
 Sirens. They took with them, Orpheus, who had x 
 wonderful musical instrument and played the sw it- 
 est music in the world. When the Sirens i vng, 
 Orpheus played, and his music was so much STv^eter 
 than theirs that no one would listen to the Sirens. 
 I will give you just one little hint about this third 
 way. If we have Christ with us. He is so brave that 
 we will not fear the wild beasts. He is so strong that 
 we will not be afraid of Satan. The music of His 
 love is so sweet that we will not listen to Satan. 
 
 267 
 
FOB THIRTEENTH SUNDAY IN WINTER 
 THE CHILDREN'S PALM SUNDAY 
 
 "And the children." — Matthew xxi., 15 
 
 f ^ 1 HE first Palm Sunday was a day of great en- 
 X thusiasm. Is the word "enthusiasm" too long 
 and strong for my junior Juniors? Then we will 
 take it apart and let you look in it. The Greeks 
 made this word "enthusiasm" by putting two words 
 into one word. Their word "en" means in, and 
 "theos" means God. They jointed them in one word, 
 "entheos," God-in. When they were very happy and 
 wanted to shout and rejoice, they said it was their 
 God in them that made them happy. The English 
 of "entheos" is "enthusiasm." When God is in our 
 hearts we are happy, we want to shout for joy, we 
 are enthusiastic. Now you know the meaning of 
 enthusiasm and you have had a lesson in Greek. 
 
 On the first Palm Sunday morning crowds of en- 
 thusiastic men and women followed Jesus from 
 Bethany to Jerusalem. We say men and women for 
 we do not read of any children being with them. I 
 believe there were children with Christ on his way 
 
THE CHILDREN'S PALM SUNDAY 
 
 to Jerusalem. Probably the fathers and mothers 
 shouted so loud that the children were not heard. 
 
 We know that when Christ entered the city the 
 children were with Him and were helping Him. In 
 the morning it was Palm Sunday; in the afternoon 
 it was Hosanna Sunday. When all was going well 
 with Christ and every one was happy, the men and 
 women followed Him waving palm branches. In the 
 afternoon the people who had stores and shops in 
 God's house got very angry because Christ drove 
 them out and upset their tables. In this hour of 
 trouble and danger the palm branches probably 
 wilted. Then we read, not of men and women, but of 
 the children who were there to help Christ. They 
 shouted "Hosanna to our King!" They were en- 
 thusiastic ; God was in their hearts. 
 
 These children were not able to overturn the tables 
 of the money-changers and to upset the seats of 
 those who sold doves. But the children did help 
 Christ by cheering Him when He was doing this 
 great work. I believe the cheers of the children 
 made Christ stronger for the work of Palm Sunday. 
 The wicked were angry at the children. They knew 
 the boys and girls were helping Christ. "Stop them ! 
 Stop them !" cried the wicked men. Christ said, "No, 
 
 269 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 No ! Their cries and shouts are perfect praise." 
 They were helping Christ. 
 
 A lad helped Christ to feed the five thousand, and 
 a little child helped Him when he needed an illustra- 
 tion about the kingdom of heaven. The lad fur- 
 nished the five loaves and two fishes and the little 
 child was used as a kingdom illustration. Your pas- 
 tor believes Christ needed the children's encourage- 
 ment when He was cleansing the temple. He needed 
 their shouts. "And the children." He had need of 
 them. 
 
 The boys of a certain Sunday-school were all drest 
 up in their uniforms for a parade, and the girls all 
 in their best dresses, were Hned along the sidewalk to 
 see the parade. One boy cut his foot, and said to 
 the captain: "Captain, I've cut my foot and I can 
 not march with the brigade to-day." "Well, 
 George," the captain answered, "if you can not march 
 you can stand on the corner anyway, and shout 
 'Hurrah!' when we come along." 
 
 "Yes, I'll do that, anyway," promised George, and 
 so when the brigade came along he took off his hat 
 and shouted as loud as he could, "Hurrah ! Hurrah ! 
 Hurrah!" When Christ was cleansing His Father's 
 house the children were shouting, "Hosanna to the 
 
 270 
 
THE CHILDREN'S PALM SUNDAY 
 
 Son of David." "And the children." Three cheers 
 for the children! They were happy. Dear little 
 Effie exprest their feelings when she said: "I've 
 never been so happy in all my life; I really couldn't 
 be any happier 'less I was bigger." 
 
 A pretty story is related of the late Dr. Phillips 
 Brooks, Bishop of Massachusetts. He had long been 
 a favorite with a little girl of five, the daughter of 
 a parishioner, and she was always deHghted if she hap- 
 pened to meet him when out for a walk. The day the 
 bishop died her mother came into the room where the 
 child was playing and, holding the bright little face 
 between her hands, said tearfully, "Bishop Brooks 
 has gone to heaven." "Oh, mama," was the reply, 
 "how happy the angels will be." 
 
 Christ made not the angels only, but the children 
 in heaven happy when He went back to them. One 
 reason Christ loved the children so much on earth 
 was because they reminded Him of the children in 
 heaven. You will find what I mean in the following 
 story : 
 
 "Yes, indeed; we have some queer little incidents 
 happen to us," said the engine-driver, as he plied his 
 oil-can about and under his machine. "A queer 
 thing happened to me about a year ago. You'd 
 
LITTLE TALKS TO LITTLE PEOPLE 
 
 think it queer for a rough man hke me to cry for 
 ten minutes, and nobody hurt, either, wouldn't you? 
 Well, I did, and I can almost cry every time I think 
 of it. I was running along one afternoon pretty 
 lively, when I approached a little village where the 
 track cuts through the streets. I slacked up a little, 
 but was still making good speed, when suddenly, 
 about twenty rods ahead of me, a little girl, not more 
 than three years old, toddled on to the track. You 
 can't even imagine my feehngs. There was no way 
 for me to save her. In ten seconds it would all have 
 been over. After reversing and applying the brake, 
 I shut my eyes; I didn't want to see any more. As 
 the train slowed down, my fireman laughed and 
 shouted to me: 'Jim, look here?' I looked, and 
 there was a big, black Newfoundland dog holding 
 the little girl in his mouth, leisurely walking toward 
 the house where she evidently belonged. She was 
 kicking and crying so that I knew she wasn't hurt, 
 and the dog had saved her. My fireman thought it 
 funny and kept on laughing, but I cried — just 
 couldn't help it. She reminded me of a dear little 
 girl in my far-away home." 
 
 The children's Palm Sunday ! God bless our chil- 
 dren. Christ loves them and needs them, every one. 
 

 Date Due 
 
 
 N 1 2 '37 
 
 
 
 
 Wv 13 '38 
 
 
 
 
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