290 
THE RURAL 
Ucatowi for % JJoung, 
ODR SCHOOL DAYS. 
BY T. HAGAN, 
Crowded back, wo look upon them 
Past, yes past—forever gone— 
Scenes of pleasure, hours of treasure, 
-Sweet to gaze and look npon: 
Past, yes, like a fleeting moment, 
Oft they constitute an age; 
Budding forth from early childhood, 
Soon we turn life's gayest page. 
lilingliug with our intact comrades 
Life stamped naught upon our mind ; 
But when Holmol-days dawned npon us. 
Footprints then were left behind: 
Traces of a new-born era 
On the way by which we trod. 
Bike the plow which Jnarkn its furrow, 
Leaves behind tbo upturned sod. 
Thus do wo in pensive silence 
Wander thoughtfully through tho field. 
Gathering Dowers of early childhood. 
Fragrant with life's morning seal; 
Straight, perhaps, onr course has led us, 
Sweetly smells each glowing flower. 
Planted well and watered duly. 
Index of a happy hour. 
Not alone we find we've labor'd. 
Many hands came to our aid; 
Cheering words, like dews of heaven, 
Gave a vigor u. >l to fade. 
Helping bands and toiling comrades 
Made our intercut all but one, 
While our trail hies, light and narrow, 
Soon were lost in blithesome fun. 
Pass'd we've now tho span of boyhood. 
With its memories flooding on. 
As the bosom of a river 
Ever bears its tide along. 
Launohod upon more ruffled waters 
And boset thy greatest fear. 
Swift cmr bark floats down the current. 
And the verdant leaf grows sere. 
Pause we then—yea, stop to wonder 
llow our happy school days sped; 
Years rolled by and days long number’d 
Would tve could again but wod. 
Thus we look upon life's morning. 
Ushering in a noonday sun; 
Veering round, it shrouded leaves ua— 
Thus the race of life is run. 
DEEDS OF KINDNESS. 
Sequel to “A Memorial.” 
BERTIE A. WINKLER, 
It was a aultry day In June when Harper Ak- 
gow, exhausted by the heat and fatigue of the 
Ions walk, seated himself on a log In the shady 
lane leading to the Lome of Ashley grey. 
Tuning hi* hat over hta eyes ho wearily leaned 
his head on Ills crutoh. Mnlday .silence reigned; 
only at long Intervals a harmless locust would 
break the stillness or a grasshopper disturb tho 
languid air as, snapping his wings, he flew from 
stalk to stala. on his destructive errand. 
J n deep thought, ho paid no heed to tho youth¬ 
ful figure which approached on tiptoe, and only 
turned with a slight, start as he fell his hat re¬ 
moved and the woll-known face of Ashley Grey 
peering anxIoiLsiy into Ills. 
“Side, Harper, or asleep?” he asked, taking a 
seat beside him. 
•‘Neither, Ashley,” IIarter replied, chcer- 
ruily, "I was merely planning while I was rest¬ 
ing.” 
"Just like you for all the world, ever busy with 
brain or hand. Some new game for (.he boys, eh V” 
“ Well, not exactly. I was Just on my way to 
look for you—” he broko oil abruptly, “ Have you 
anything to do?” 
"No. Urn just ready for some fun. Come 
tell me your plan," he urged as he saw Harper 
hesitate. 
" Well, Ashley, you know widow Brown whose 
twenty acres join your father’s woods? Mother 
sent me to her this morning, and when I asked 
her about the crop, she commenced to tell me of 
her troubles; how the only fann-liand she had 
was suddenly taken sick during haying, and 
being unable to hire others while the farmers 
were all so busy, she Is in a bad way. Her hay Is 
to be gotten In before the rain which 1 don't 
think la very far distant., •• Suppose,” here he 
continued the conversation In a whisper until his 
companion Interrupted him with aloud "Bravo, 
Harper 1 that will be capital fun for us. You 
ought to have the first prize as the Inventor 
oi-” 
“llush,” said Harper quickly, "let’s go, keep 
your compliments until It's done.” 
Arrived, after a brisk walk, near Airs. Brown’s 
premises iliey concluded that Ashley should go 
ahead and see it the Hell was clear, In which case 
he woutd signal to harper. Silently Ashley 
crossed the stream and crept cautiously along 
the thick underbrush which answered for a fence 
about the orchard. Five minutes elapsed and no 
sign of his comrade. Harper was growing im- 
paUeut, when a low, prolonged whistle came 
across the fields, and Harper hastened to Join 
his friend who with a proud smile on Ills race, 
said, “ Good news, Harper, tho house la closed, 
no one In sight. 8ho has no doubt gone to get 
help. We must hurry or hho’ll catch us.” 
This said, ASuley brawled through the window 
of the stable and noiselessly opened the door to 
admit, his comrade. To harness tho horse and 
hitch him to a wagon was the work of a few min¬ 
utes. Fortunately the lane was covered with 
soft green sward which effectually muffled tho 
noise of wheels as they drove off, all the while 
casting furtive glances behind. Arrived on the 
r hay-fleld they began work in earnest. Ashley 
conveying the bundles or hay to tho wagon, while 
Harper was busy with hands, feet, and crutch 
lu leading. 
They had eloared more than half the field when, 
pausing to rest, Harper pointed to the western 
horizon whore thick black clouds came rolling up, 
Ashley understood the mute language of his 
friend and with renewed vigor turned to Ills 
work. Neither spoko; every minute was prec¬ 
ious, every muscle was strained to meet the 
emergency. Never did boys work harder, and 
never did Harper regret, the loss of his leg more 
than now, as with a frown of impatience ho Hung 
his crutch over the wagon. 
The gale blew fiercer, the lightning Dashed 
sharper, and the horse was growing restless. 
There was still a large patch of hay to be 
gathered. 
“ Oh, for some kind angel to holdback that tem¬ 
pest for a few moments longer,” murmured Asu- 
lkv, almost breaking beneath the heavy load he 
was reaching up to the wagon. 
" Hello, boys 1 What, are you doing here. Have 
you hired yourselves out?” 
With a startled look, ns though caught In some 
gulit.y act, they turned and faced the new-comer. 
"oh 1 (Icy, you’re Just In time to do us a favor; 
come lend us a helping hand. 1 will tell yon all 
about It. when wo’ro done,” cried Harper greatly 
relieved to sec it was ono of the boys. 
" All right, Ashley, Jump on the wagon, I will 
bring you the hay while Harper holds the horse" 
laughed guy as he reached his baud to Harper 
to help him Horn tho wagon. 
Tho three soon finished their work, and when 
the horse was comfortable In Ids stable, hay safe 
under the shed, Uabi-kr told Guy the whole af¬ 
fair : how they thought they would have some 
harmless fun, by quietly spiriting Mrs. Brown s 
hay from the field and lodging It under her shed, 
and him warned not to say a word about It to 
any one. 
"Good! good!” laughed his companions. 
“ That's one of the best tricks you ever played, 
Harper. Won't she look, though, when she hnds 
her hay high and dry! She’ll begin to believe In 
spirits.” 
Suddenly Harper started aud cxclnlmod "Boys 
I'velost ray watch 1” All started la search of It, 
but alter a long vatu search on the field Harper 
turned for home rull of vexation and grief. The 
watch hud been sent to him, when ho was lying 
halfdoadwlt.il his shattered leg, by a strange 
lady who passed through the village on the train 
he saved from destruction. It was therefore 
priceless. After his companions were out, of 
sight,, Harper seated lilmself on the same log 
where, in tho beginning or the story, ho haa so 
hopefully planned a deed of kluduess to a neigh¬ 
bor. "la this my reward?” he murmured al¬ 
most licurt-broken; In spite of his efforts the big 
tears welled Up to his eyes. He sat there until 
the sun was sinking In the west. He concluded 
at length to make another search for Ida lost 
treasure, when he was confronted by Mrs. 
Brown a flushed face. 
"Ah! Harper Argow you are just tho ono I 
want. It, will save me the trouble of going to 
your house. " There," she said dropping a gold 
watch Into his hand, “ my help found It, la the 
hay he was unloading, 1 knew It was yours the 
moment, I saw It. I don’t know how to (.hank 
you enough, though, lor getting that hay lu be¬ 
fore the rain,” she murmured as she laid her 
hand gently on bis shoulder aud, with eyes 
beaming with pleasure and grat itude added 
"your mother may well be proud of such a 
son.” 
"It was’nt, me altogether Mrs. Brown,” re¬ 
plied Harper, his face beaming with Joy at Ills 
recovered treasure, "Ashley Grey, aud Guy , 
Forbes did the main part of tho work and-” . 
"Nevermind. 1 known you well enough to 
know you must have been on the wagon loading i 
It, for it was there your watch mis round. I am 1 
going to have a grand party In your honor as j 
soon as the busy season is over, will you come ?” j 
she asked. 
“ Tes, If you will luvlte alt the boys" he said , 
hesitatingly "OhI certainly, all the girls too.” , 
she replied with a merry twinkle In her eye. 
For the best specimen of fretrsaw work (any 
small article), done by a boy of not over fourteen 
years, his choice of two dollars’ worth of hardy 
plants from a very fine list which we will send. 
The girls shall have an opportunity to compete 
fora plain-sewing prize. For the best specimen 
by a girl under ten years, her selection of four 
beautiful, hardy plants from our list. 
Afterwe have awarded the prizes, lists will be 
sent to the successful competitors. 
These offers will close upon the 25th day of 
Ma Y- Rose Geranium, 
Care Rural New-Yorker. 
-♦ ♦ »-- 
GRANDMOTHER SPEAKS. 
alrhlj] |lcainn||. 
OUR INDUSTRY CLUB. 
The Queen of the Darners ! 
It Is over! Tho prize was Justly carried off by 
a little slx-yenr-old maiden, Miss Elluor Baldwin, 
of Chula, Virginia. 
Any little striped stocking ought to he proud of 
a pair or such dainty darns, and as lor the mother 
of the little darner-well! we think she ought 
to be a happy woman. 
Miss Flora Barton besieged a rent of mammoth 
proportions and wrought It more skillfully than 
work we have seen executed by young ladles 
with college diplomas lu their bureau drawers, 
she Is Certainly entitled to the postuon of First 
Mal(l of Honor—and to a second prize. 
it seems such a pity to abruptly close these 
pleasant, relations that wc have decided, with the 
Editor's permission, to establish an "Industry 
Club,” that shall be permanent —at least until it 
closes 1 
We hud in our mind, lor future use, an offer for 
that class of persons too often overlooked—the 
boys. However, It does not seem exactly fair that 
they should wait while the girls are enjoying the 
bencfll of their pets—for we have long since dis¬ 
covered that boys are quite as appreciative ad¬ 
mirers of Flora's treasures as are tho girls. So 
we make the following offer: 
•f I heclark ! I do not know what this world Is 
coming to. So much extravagance I so much 
I idleness, shlttlessuess, tbrlttlessneas and a unl- 
i- versal goorl-for-uothlugness ! Talk about every 
8 generation growing wiser! The wisdom of the 
present, generation Is roollshness. Call it croak¬ 
ing, the querulousncsa or old age or what you 
- please, I know that tbo girls now-a-days cannot 
3 hold a candle to the girls of fifty years ago. Now, 
how many hours lu a day do young ladles sit. per- 
3 tectly Idle, with rolded hands 7 u a stranger 
calls, if a friend drops in for an hour, if they 
} have gentleman-callers In tho evening, they must 
• alt still and entertain them. It Is not rashlonnble 
to do anything; you must devote »U tho time to 
l the particular entertainment of your company. 
Wiien I was lu my girlhood. It company called 
I always had some nice needlework at hand, 
; ready to catch up ; and I embroidered yards aud 
yards of ulce edging and Insertion, and made ele¬ 
gant collars and cuffs in just the very time the 
young ladles now do nothing at all. 1 know you 
can buy Hamburg embroidery so cheap that. It 
does not pay to embroider : 1 have hoard that till 
I am tired of It. J t. is not half as nice as that you 
could mako yourself, aud does not wear as well, 
either; and where is the money coming from to 
pay ror Hamburg ? 
Money does not grow on bushes any more than 
it did when 1 was yoirag. A penny saved Is bet¬ 
ter than a penny earned, and if girls only knew 
how much prettier they look when they are busy 
than when sitting idle they would do something. 
It makes me sad to soe girls try so hard to be 
graceful: ilrsl try one posture, then another; uud 
if they only had some work In their handH t hey 
could be graceful and at ease. Then think oi the 
hours that are lost. Time Is money, or ought to 
be. How much they would give If they could 
only have a few or these very hours that they 
squandered away—doing noth]tig! 
1 tell you what, girls 1 I believe In being polite, 
In treating guests hospitably, and the best rule I 
ever saw lor true politeness Is to do to others iuj 
you would that they should do unto you. V ou will 
had this the best rule for etiquette, ever laid 
down; and no ono would enjoy a call, or a visit, 
one whit less If you were employed while they 
were present, in some light work. You can con¬ 
verse Just us well ir your hands are buby, and 
sensible persona would be very apt to tarry longer 
if they saw they wore not delaying your work 
than It you sit, like a sihLub trying to he genteel 
and Interesting. 1 should rather cut up paper 
and make lamp-lighters when I had calls, than to 
be Idle. Hon’t you know tho good Dr. Watts 
said, " Satan finds mischief for Idle hands to do ?'> 
and It Is Just as true as preaching. 
No, l ain't mean tlm new-fashioned preaching. 
I Just mean gospel preaching; the preaching that 
tells us to be good, and we shall bo happy. It Is 
a strange pass that this world has come to, but 
let mo tell you the religion that makes ourselves 
and our neighbors happy, that does good to all, 
la the genuine arUele. Those whom I would trust 
are tho every-day Christians that live religion, i 
never had ratth in Sunday Christians, any wuy. 
But I was telling about girls, uot religion. You 
turned the switch, throwing mo off the track. ( 
suppose you dou't like me to talk to you about 
being Idle; but really, It makes me feel Bad to see 
the youug girls grow up in such a useless way. 
They don't consider how hard their mothers 
have had to work to take care of them from buby- 
hood up to Childhood, night aud day. 
Bui mothers or grandmothers won’t, last forev¬ 
er, and at t he rate girls go ou thero will be a lack 
oi hard work In the household. Sewing machines, 
will not patch, darn or do half t he work nimble, 
well-tralucd fingers can do. 1 am not sure that 
the Invention of sewing machines is a blessing. 
I think that girls arc not as well off In our coun¬ 
try to-day as they would have been if these 
things hud never been made. They might have 
been well enough If they had not been made to 
pamper extravagance but, oh dear, when one 
thinks of the hosts or suits that girls have stitched 
their very lives away in ruffling, flouncing, aud 
all tho suporfiousness that machines brought, In¬ 
to fashion, the rattle of tho thing lias a melan¬ 
choly, kuefi-llke sound to my cars. 
There, who has turned the switch this time ? 
Well, I have gone so far off the truck this time 
that 1 will not try to get back at present, but take 
another day to finish In. Grandmother. 
Do Everything Well.— If you have something 
to attend to, go about It coolly and thoughtfully, 
ana do It Just as well as you can. Dolt as 
though it were the only thing you had ever to 
do In your lire, and as If everything depended 
upon it;theii your work will be well done, and 
It will afford you genolno saUafacttou, Often 
much more does depend upon the manner In which 
things, seemingly trivial, are performed than ono 
would suppose, or than It is possible to foresee. 
Do everything well, and you will find It conducive 
to your happiness, and that of thuse with whom 
you come lu contact. 
t HOLY COMMUNION. 
“ As tho living Father hath sent mo. and I live by 
, the Father: bo be that catetli me, even he shall live by 
me.”—S t. John, vi. fi7. 
" Amen, AUolujah!” 
We sing tho everlasting truth 
Of words that Jmiiib said: 
There in a holy human life 
Upon the earth wc trend. 
It was poured out our faith to win, 
It ban prevailed against our sin. 
It brings eternal glory in. 
E'en here among the dead. 
O Lord of all the angel host 
And of the church above, 
Wc know Thee m the midst of ub 
B y thy descending dove. 
When lu our priuon stained aud dim, 
With uhcrulthn and seraphim, 
Lift up to thee tho heaven-born hymn 
Of Joy and praise, aud love. 
Ilail, broad of Gijd that men may take !— 
Ilia spirit teaches how, 
The dyinfj soul that catetli thee 
Shall even live as thou. 
" Come, oat,” tho faithful witness saith 
To siunerH breathing mortal breath, 
“ And live forever after death; 
Yea, live forever uow." 
This being, with ha rnusomod powers, 
Oh let that body feed, 
And make, the very life it lives 
An ondlesM life Indeed. 
With faith In thy anointing shod, 
It chooses paths winch thou has trod. 
And ofl'ors to tho Jiving God 
Its whole immortal need. 
Soldiers and servants by thy grace, 
But heirless children first. 
We gather round or Father's board 
lu hunger aud in thirst. 
Bold through the love which thou has shown, 
Kich without subsumed of our own, 
We give thee, uot our best alone. 
But all our ioaat aud worst. 
Tho treasure worthless in our hands 
Transformed in thine wo Bee. 
Thou takestfrom us what we are. 
How spoiled soeVr it be. 
In thy participating name, 
We pour our sorrows, tremblings, shame. 
The ompty hope, the failing aim; 
And then we feast ou thee. 
It is for service that we live, 
Destroyer of our sin. 
It Is to keep the children’s place, 
With all Its discipline. 
But sweet ho our communion song. 
The whole contented way along. 
God gave u» thee, and wo are stroug 
For life to triumph lu. [.Sutuiak Magazine. 
-- 
A TYPOGRAPHICAL CRIME. 
Ip one must be singled out and doomed never to 
receive decent typographical treatment, It should 
be any other rather than tho Bible. I should 
Uko to sea what would be the effect of giving It a 
fair chance. 1 believe It would bo read If It were 
made readable. NVe ought to huve one edition of 
a without marginal references and without foot¬ 
notes—unless in tho raro cases where these are 
absolutely necessary. Where the Italicised words 
are necessary to a complete and Idiomatic ren¬ 
dering they Bhould be printed In plain Roman ; 
where not thus necessary, they should be drop¬ 
ped. Instead of verses we should have para¬ 
graphs, and all figures or other Indications of tho 
verses abolished. Conversation should be printed 
in broken paragraphs, with quotation marks, just 
us In a novel. Poetry should be printed as poetry, 
instead of being crowded Into one volume, the 
book should bo In four or five moderate duode¬ 
cimo volumes, with large type and good paper, so 
that It could be ar, once held without tiring the 
arm aud read without straining the eyes. Fi¬ 
nally, this book should have a good analytical In¬ 
dex, and does uot serve the purpose of oue. If 
presented In such a form, t,hc Bible might be en¬ 
joyed as literature aud perhaps better understood 
as a divine authority.— Modeller Johnson, in Sun¬ 
day Afternoon for May, 
Tub Value of Beauty and Utility.— Which 
Is the more valuable, the cup-shaped blossom of 
the purpled convolvulus, or the ripened ear or 
corn ? 
Each has Its value,and probably In value neith¬ 
er exceeds the other. We prize the flower, al¬ 
though Us bravery lasts only a day, since every 
beautiful object delights tho soul and Is In truth 
a smile from God. And wo likewise prize the ear 
of corn, which la also a thing of beauty, ihough of 
a humbler kind, for It has a mysterious power by 
which It sustains the strength of muu, and fills 
his heart with Joy. 
There Is no other name, no other nature, no 
other blood, no other merits, no other persons to 
be justified and saved by, but Jesus Christ. All 
tho tears lu the world cannot wipe off one sin, nor 
can all the grace aud holiness that la In angels 
and men purchase tbe pardon of the least trans¬ 
gression. All remission Is only by the blood of 
Jesus Christ. 
God keeps an exact account of evory penny that 
Is laid out upon him and hlB, and that Is laid out 
against him and his; and Lids in the last day 
men shall know and feel, though now tney wink 
and will not understand. 
