C3-XjE-A.3sriisra-s iisr see cxji.ttjr,e ex:ti^.a.. 



He that is laitUful in that wliich is least, is luitlilul ahio in much.— Luke 10.10. 



FUTBI/I^HIEM) BIT Ao I^ IR®®^, 



)l)nMAo (OMI®c 



Vo\ II. 



JULY, 1883. 



No. 4. 



MYSEIiF AND MY ]\E;I011BOKS. 



WHO X., UY NEIOIinonf— LUKE 10: S8. 



And the Lord God formed man of fho du,«t of tho 

 (rround, jind brcMthod into his nostril.-* the hroiith of 

 life; and man became a living- soul.— Gen. i: V. 



|p|.EAIl C'lIILDREN, I liave Ji new topic 

 fW) to talk to you about to-day. I have no 

 idea tliat tfiis topic will be as interest- 

 ing to you as to me ; and I am not ([uite cer- 

 tain, either, whether it properly belongs un- 

 der the department of " My Neighbors," al- 

 though it surely comes very near indeed to 

 that part of it included in the term "My- 

 self." What do vou suppose it is I am going 

 to talk about V Well, it is the new baby over 

 at our house. lie is now just about six 

 week-s old ; and if I were sure it would be as 

 int3res*,ing to you as to me, I might fill this 

 whole Juvenile in telling you about his 

 funny ways and habits, although he is only 

 six weeks old, or a little more. Have any of 

 you got a six-weeks-old baby at your liouseV 

 I will try to tell you one reason wliy ray 

 thouglits center so much on him. I used to 

 teach school once ; and when I got through 

 teaching that school, some way I took to 

 teaching boys and girls in general, and have 

 been doing it almost ever since. One of the 

 most interesting things to me in this world 

 of ours is the problem of human life, and es- 

 pecially human intelligence. Every day of 

 my life I am teaching somebody something, 



and every day of my life I am watching anx- 

 iously, and I hope ])rayerfully, the unfolding 

 of intelligence and ability and skill in those 

 about me. I am obligeil to study the money 

 value of these friends whom T meet, because 

 I pay them wages, and the amount of wages 

 tliey receive is in proportion to the amount 

 of intelligence and ability that they manifest 

 to make themselves helpful to other people. 

 One of the great wants in this world is the 

 ability to make our wants known to others, 

 and also to minister to the wants of others. 

 For instance, a hundred or so of people are 

 coming to us every day, telling what they 

 want; and their letters expressing these 

 wants are turned over, directly or indirectly, 

 to a huMdred or more boys and girls, to wait 

 on these people who come to us. Now, the 

 great thing needful is, that we may under- 

 stand each other — that we may convey the 

 thoughts of our hearts to the thoughts in 

 their hearts. To do this we have a language, 

 and talk. Is it not funny that we can talk 

 to each other? Well, friends that are a 

 great way off can not talk so far; it would 

 make them Iwiarse, you see, to shout to us 

 a. way across the Ilocky Mountains or across 

 the vast oceans ; therefore they write letters. 

 Now, while some of them write real nice 

 plain letters, and tell what they want plainly 

 and clearly, others make horrid work of it. 

 Yes, they make even worse work of it than 

 you childrea do, for I can read the worst 

 letters from children that have ever been 



