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8. "Fountain to streamlet, streamlet to river,
All in my bosom commingle forever;
Morning to noontide, and noontide to night,
Soon will eternity veil thee from sight."

- W. W. CALDWELL.

LXI.

PATIENCE AND CHEERFULNESS

1. Arthur Stanley, Dean of Westminster Abbey, loved to preach to children, and they loved to listen to the sermons he prepared especially for them, because he spoke to them of the real everyday problems of their young lives, and helped them to see the proper use to be made alike of happiness and misfortune.

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2. The following is from a sermon he once gave on sick children. After explaining that Illness may make a child fretful and selfish ... but it may also teach a child to be patient and considerate," he told a story of a sickly boy named Charles. He then went on as follows:

3. "This is from a story-an imaginary tale of what might happen. Now I will tell you of what has

happened. It is a contrast between two boys in Scotland, to which my attention was called sometime ago by an excellent Scottish judge, now dead. They were boys who both became famous in after life. One was Lord Byron, the English poet, and the other was Sir Walter Scott, the Scotch poet and story-writer.

4. "Well, both these boys had the same kind of misfortune. Both Lord Byron and Sir Walter Scott, from their earliest years, were lame. Each of them had what is called a club foot, or something like it. But now what was the different effect produced by this lame foot on these two boys?

5. "Lord Byron, who was a perverse, selfish boy, was made by this club foot discontented and angry with every one about him. It went like iron into his soul. It poisoned his heart. It set him against all mankind, and it injured his whole character. He had a splendid genius for writing beautiful verse, but amidst many fine qualities, it was a genius blackened and discolored by hatred, malice, uncharitableness, and the deepest gloom.

6. "Walter Scott, on the other hand, never lost his cheerfulness. His lame foot made him turn to the reading of good old books, and to the enjoyment of the beautiful sights and sounds about him. And he, too, grew to be a great poet, and a writer of stories which will live in every age and in every

country. In him, the lameness which he had borne patiently and cheerfully in childhood never interfered with his kindliness and his good humor to those about him. He was a delight to all that came across him; and even when he was at last overtaken by heavier misfortunes, he never lost his loving, generous disposition.

7. "This, then, is the lesson I would wish to teach to all children who are sickly and suffering: Do not think that you are without an object; do not think that you cannot be useful; do not think that everything has gone against you.

8. "No. It is well with you. You can be most useful; you can be the useful child; and when you grow up you can be the useful man or the useful woman in the home.

9. "You can arrange plans for the amusement of those who are too busy to arrange for it themselves; you can show by your constant cheerfulness that happiness does not depend on the good things which you eat or on the active games which you play, but on a contented, joyful heart.

IO. 10. "And you children who are strong and healthy, remember that to you this little sick brother or little sick sister is a blessing that God has given It is well for you to have them. They may not be able to share in your games; you will often

you.

be obliged to be quiet in their sick rooms, or when they come amongst you. But that is good for you, because it makes you see very early the joy, the happiness, the usefulness of having some one weaker than yourself-some one in pain or suffering to whom you can minister like a ministering angel.

II. "Do not be hasty or angry with a deaf brother, or, I may say, a deaf mother or aunt, because they cannot hear you; or a blind sister, or, I may say, a blind father or uncle, because they cannot see; or with a lame or deformed brother or cousin or companion because they cannot take an active part in your amusements.

12. "No, they cannot do this; but they can do. much better than this for you. They can make you feel for deafness and blindness and lameness everywhere. When you have seen it in those you love, you will be reminded of it in those you do not love. And if you have had any of these misfortunes and have grown out of them, the recollection of what you have suffered may make you of much use to others.

13. "In every family where there is a sick child, remember that it is your duty, your privilege, to look after such. They are your special charges. They are our earliest and best teachers in the good way."

Read Mrs. Ewing's "A Story of a Short Life." It tells patheti cally of the change wrought in a willful boy by a sad accident.

LXII. THE GRAY SWAN

Mother. "O tell me, sailor, tell me true,

Is

my little lad, my Elihu,

A-sailing with your ship?"

The sailor's eyes were dim with dew.
Sailor. "Your little lad, your Elihu?"
He said, with trembling lip-

"What little lad? what ship?'

M. "What little lad? as if there could be
Another such a one as he!

What little lad, do you say?
Why, Elihu, that took to the sea
The moment I put him off my knee!
It was just the other day

The Gray Swan sailed away."

S. "The other day?" The sailor's eyes
Stood open with a great surprise -

"The other day! — the Swan!"

His heart began in his throat to rise.

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M. "Aye, aye, sir; here in the cupboard lies

The jacket he had on."

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