42 



GLEANINGS IN J3EE CULTURE. 



Jan. 



sit down for the evening and take a good rest. 

 " But, my boy, who will do all the picking- 

 up that has to be done, especially when two 

 romping children have been all over the 

 house after the confmement of all day in 

 school y " 



''Do Mary and I scatter things, mother ? " 



" Oh ! I guess not, more than other chil- 

 di'en do, of your ages." A tear was in her 

 eye as she spoke, for her boy's solicitude had 

 touched her. 



" Mother, if we put every thing away that 

 we touch or handle, would it help you very 

 much ? " 



" 1 think it would, my boy." 



" But," chimed in Mary, " we don't know 

 where to put the things, as mother does." 



Here, somewhat to the astonistiment of 

 all. the father put in, " Can't I help too V " 



Was this really another answer to prayer? 

 thought the mother. She had been sorely 

 trouliled al)out the disorderly ways of her 

 little family; and, if the truth must be told, 

 she had many times been tempted to he cross 

 and fretful at the very thoughtless way in 

 which mud had been tracked in on the floors 

 she had just been at so much pains to sweep 

 and clean. Almost, as a last resort, she had 

 of late been taking these troubles to her 

 Savior, and now, without her having said a 

 Avord, in some strange way the whole of 

 them were getting zealous about a reform in 

 this very matter. 



The Lord is my shepherd ; I shall not want. —Psalm 

 23:1. 



Has any one ever yet sounded the depths 

 of those words V 



" All right, father ; you help us, and I 

 know we can make it easier for mother. 

 What shall we do first V " 



Mary supplied the needed information 

 quite promptly by saying, " Hang up your 

 hat ! there it lies on the floor, right behind 

 you." 



John whirled around in his chair, almost 

 in surprise, but presently recovered, and 

 said, a little shyly, " Well," father's hat is on 

 the floor too," as if thatwere a suflic4ent rea- 

 son why his should be cast right on the floor 

 the minute he came in. 



" Why, is my hat on the floor V I am sure 

 I hung it u]) as I came in." 



" You did hang it up," said the mother, 

 " but it dropped from the nail almost as soon 

 as you turned away." 



" Well, now, I will tell you one of our 

 rules," said the father. " Not only are we 

 all to hang our things up, but we are to do it 

 carefully, and see that they stay hung up." 



"Father, would it not be a good idea to 

 have all the hats and bonnets hung in one 

 particular place, and have something to hold 

 them, from which they would not slip off ; 

 then everybody would know just where to 

 put them, and we would never need to hunt 

 to see where we hung our hats when " 



"The bees are swarming V" suggested 

 Mary . 



"An excellent suggestion, my boy; and 

 now I will go down to the barn, and see if I 

 can not make a hat-rack." 



It was here evident to the mother (who 

 could catch almost the thought of the chil- 

 dren from their faces), that Mary had some- 



thing to say, so she begged that she might 

 have a hearing. 



"It was only this," said Mary; "that if 

 we are going to be so fine as to have a hat- 

 rack in our house, we had better all be very 

 careful to wipe the mud from our feet more 

 than we do, before we come into our nice 

 home." 



This sally occasioned a liearty laugh all 

 round, and John began teasing her, and 

 pulling her around so much at the idea of a 

 " fine home," that he was in great danger of 

 making his mother more work in the way of 

 mending dresses, etc. ; but his father stopped 

 him. 



"John, Mary is right, and we will have a 

 foot-scraper and mat, as well as a hat-rack. 

 Now let us go quietly and orderly to work, 

 all of us, to ' help mother.' " 



Down in the barn, near the work-bench, 

 was an old unused turning-lathe; but of 

 late, John's father had rigged it up and fit- 

 ted in it a little circular saw that he borrow- 

 ed of friend Merrybanks. He found this 

 helped him quite materially in making the 

 knife-boxes. Well, with the lathe and buzz- 

 saw he soon had the hat-rack made you see 

 here below : — 



THE nVJE-CENT IIAT-RACK. 



The turned pins for the, above were 2 inch- 

 es long and f inch in diameter. The strips 

 were long enough to permit the pins to stand 

 8 inches apart, fi'om center to center, and of 

 stutf saM'ed with the buzz-saw, I wide by 

 3-l(i thick. Eriend Jones has decided that 

 he can make them of black-walnut, and even 

 then sell them for the small sum of 5 cents. 

 He probably will not get so rich at the busi- 

 ness as to get proud, but it will keep him 

 from idleness and temptation, and give him 

 much happiness, which, you know, even 

 money often fails to buy. Just here Mary 

 caught sight of John making some strange 

 motions out on the grass. 



"O mother! just see John cleaning his 

 feet." 



As he came in he walked up to his mother, 

 " There, mother, aren't they clean now ? " 



" Yes, my boy, very clean." 



With mock gravity he goes up and places 

 his hac carefully on the hat-rack. Although 

 there were seven pins in it, they were all full 

 but one. He came back and sat down by his 

 mother, and she reached over for her little 

 Bible, where it lay on the stand, and opening 

 it, read, — 



And the rain descended, and the floods came, and 

 the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell 

 not; for it was founded upon a rock. 



He thought awhile, and then, pointing 

 down to his clean shoes, and up at the hat- 

 rack, said, — 



" Mother, do you think such work is ' build- 

 ing on the rock,' where mothers are so tired 

 and have to work so hard V " 



" I think it is, my boy." 



Header, what do you think ? 



