By M. C. Wilcox. A brief essay on “The Parable of the Talents,” showing that the talents represent the various gifts of the Spirit which God bestows as he will upon those who are consecrated to him, with the duties and blessed privileges involved therein. Bible Students’ Library, No. 77; 16 pp., price 2 cents.
1 “And Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau came, and with him four hundred men. And he divided the children unto Leah, and unto Rachel, and unto the two handmaids. 2 And he put the handmaids and their children foremost, and Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph hindermost. 3 And he himself passed over before them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until 4 he came near to his brother. And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him; and 5 they wept. And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children; and said, Who are these with thee? And he said, The children which God hath graciously given thy servant. 6 Then the handmaids came near, they and their children, and they bowed themselves. 7 And Leah also and her children came near, and bowed themselves; and after came Joseph near and Rachel, and they bowed themselves. 8 And he said, What meanest thou by all this company which I met? And he said, To find grace in the sight of my lord. 9 And Esau said, I have enough; my brother, let that thou hast be thine. And Jacob said, Nay, I pray thee, if now I have found grace in thy sight, then receive my present at my hand; forasmuch as I have seen thy face, as one seeth the face of God, and thou wast pleased with me. 10 Take, I pray thee, my gift that is brought to thee; because God hath dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough. And he urged him, and he took it. 11 And he said, Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will go before thee. 12 And he said unto him, My lord knoweth that the children are tender, and that the flocks and herds with me give suck; and if they overdrive them one day, all the flocks will die. 13 Let my lord, I pray thee, pass over before his servant; and I will lead on softly, according to the pace of the cattle that is before me and according to the pace of the children, until I come unto my lord unto Seir. 14 And Esau said, Let me now leave with thee some of the folk that are with me. And he said, What needeth it? let me find grace in the sight of my lord. 15 So Esau returned that day on his way unto Seir. 16 And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built him an house, and made booths for his cattle; therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.
18 “And Jacob came in peace to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Paddan-aram; and encamped before the city. 19 And he bought the parcel of ground, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for an hundred pieces of money. 20 And he erected there an altar, and called it El-elohe-Israel.”
1 “And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Beth-el, and dwell there; and make there an altar unto God, who appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother. 2 Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and 3 purify yourselves, and change your garments; and let us arise, and go up to Beth-el; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me 4 in the way which I went. And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and the rings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which 5 was by Shechem. And they journeyed; and a great terror was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did 6 not pursue after the sons of Jacob. So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan (the same is Beth-el), he and 7 all the people that were with him. And he built there an altar, and called the place El-beth-el; because there God was revealed unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother. 8 And Deborah Rebekah’s nurse died, and she was buried below Beth-el under the oak; and the name of it was called Allon-bacuth.
9 “And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. And God said unto him, 10 Thy name is Jacob; thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name; and he called his name Israel. 11 And God said unto him, I am God Almighty; be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, 12 and kings shall come out of thy loins; and the land which I gave unto Abraham and Isaac, to thee will I give it, and to thy 13 seed after thee will I give the land. And God went up from 14 him in the place where he spake with him. And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he spake with him, a pillar of stone; and he poured out a drink-offering thereon, and poured oil 15 thereon. And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Beth-el.”
SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS.
(1) Whom was Jacob now fearlessly prepared to see? Gen. 33:1. (2) What arrangement, however, did he make of his family? V. 1. (3) Describe the meeting of this humble shepherd and that warrior chief. Vs. 3, 4. (4) How did Jacob’s family meet Esau? Vs. 2-7. (5) What question did Esau now ask? What was Jacob’s reply? V. 8. (6) Did Esau wish to take the present? V. 9. (7) How was it that Jacob could see the face of God in Esau’s face? V. 10. (8) By what words did he show that he recognized the hand of God in all his dealings with him? V. 11. (9) What proposition did Esau now make? V. 12. (10) Did Jacob accept it? Vs. 13, 14. (11) What other proposition of Esau’s was gracefully rejected? V. 15. (12) Where did Esau now go? To what place did Jacob journey? Vs. 16, 17. (13) Where did Jacob journey from Succoth? V. 18. (14) What example of Abraham’s did he follow here? What name did he give the altar? Vs. 19, 20. (15) After his experiences at Shechem, what instruction did the Lord give Jacob? Gen. 35:1. (16) What did Jacob say to his household? Vs. 2, 3. (17) What were their strange gods? and what was done with them? Why did not the people pursue after them? Vs. 4, 5. (18) How did Jacob here reveal his reverence for God? What did he call the altar? Vs. 6, 7. (19) What sad event occurred in this place? V. 8. (20) What blessing was here renewed? Compare it with the previous blessing at Penuel. Vs. 9-13. (21) By what ceremony did Jacob here reveal his reverence for the Lord? Vs. 14, 15.
Suggestive Readings.—“Patriarchs and Prophets,” pp. 204-208; “Spirit of Prophecy,” vol. 1, pp. 125, 126.
NOTE.
The life of Jacob is a vivid illustration of the utter futility of human planning to accomplish the designs of God. “The wisdom of any human agent is not sufficient for the planning and devising in this time. Spread every plan before God, with fasting, with the humbling of the soul before the Lord Jesus, and commit thy ways unto the Lord, and the promise is, ‘He shall direct thy paths.’” “The Lord will work in this last work in a manner very much out of the common order of things, and in a way that will be contrary to any human planning. . . . God will use ways and means by which it will be seen that He is taking the lines in His own hands. Workers will be surprised by the simple means that He will use to bring about and perfect His work of righteousness.” It is by prayer that we know the will and plans of God. It is the prayer, and not the planning, of Jacob that turns the heart of Esau.
ADDITIONAL STUDY.
(1) Write a comparison of the lives of Jacob and Esau. (2) What did Jacob’s attitude in this meeting with Esau signify as to his mind with reference to his former course concerning the birthright? (3) Note the directions of Mt. Seir and Succoth from this place of meeting. (4) Who had been at Shalem before Jacob stopped there? Between what two famous mountains was the field of Shechem? (5) Trace Jacob’s travels from Haran back to Bethel, and look up the places in the Bible dictionary. (6) How often do we read of Esau’s erecting an altar to the Lord? Jacob? What does this show?
1 “And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, to keep the Passover unto 2 the Lord, the God of Israel. For the king had taken counsel, and his princes, and all the congregation in Jerusalem, to keep 3 the Passover in the second month. For they could not keep it at that time, because the priests had not sanctified themselves in sufficient number, neither had the people gathered themselves together in Jerusalem. And the thing was right in the 4 eyes of the king and of all the congregation. So they established a decree to make proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beer-sheba even to Dan, that they should come to keep the Passover unto the Lord, the God of Israel, at Jerusalem; 5 for they had not kept it in great numbers in such sort as it is written. So the posts went with the letters from the king and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah, and according to the commandment of the king, saying, Ye children of Israel, turn again unto the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that He may return to the remnant that are escaped of 6 you out of the hand of the kings of Assyria. And be not ye like your fathers, and like your brethren, which trespassed against the Lord, the God of their fathers, so that He gave 7 them up to desolation, as ye see. Now be ye not stiffnecked, as your fathers were; but yield yourselves unto the Lord, and enter into His sanctuary, which He hath sanctified forever, and serve the Lord your God, that His fierce anger may turn 8 away from you. For if ye turn again unto the Lord, your brethren and your children shall find compassion before them that led them captive, and shall come again into this land; for the Lord your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn 9 away His face from you, if ye return unto Him. So the posts passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, even unto Zebulun; but they laughed them to 10 scorn, and mocked them. Nevertheless divers of Asher and Manasseh and of Zebulun humbled themselves, and came to 11 Jerusalem. Also in Judah was the hand of God to give them one heart, to do the commandment of the king and of the 12 princes by the word of the Lord. And there assembled at Jerusalem much people to keep the feast of unleavened bread 13 in the second month, a very great congregation.”
Golden Text.—“Yield yourselves unto the Lord, and enter into His sanctuary.”2 Chron. 30:8.
SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS.
(1) What important message did King Hezekiah send out to all Israel and Judah? V. 1. Note 1. (2) What wise course had the king pursued? V. 2. Note 2. (3) Why could they not keep the Passover at the regular time? V. 3. (4) How were the king and the people affected by the idea of observing the Passover? V. 4. (5) Then what decree was established? What was there peculiar about this Passover? V. 5. (6) How was the proclamation sent out? What was the purport of this address to the people? V. 6. Note 3. (7) What admonition did the proclamation contain? Vs. 7, 8. Note 4. (8) What promise of mercy did it contain? What special characteristics of God were set forth? V. 9. (9) To what extent were the messengers sent out? How did the people of Israel receive them? V. 10. (10) Were there exceptions to the manner in which the proclamation was received in Israel? V. 11. (11) How was it in Judah? V. 12. Note 5. (12) What was the result of the call? V. 13.
NOTES.
1. THE name Hezekiah means “the strength of Jehovah.” King Hezekiah was a good son of a very wicked father, whose name was Ahaz. When Hezekiah came to the throne of Judah, the kingdom was in a most deplorable condition, both morally and politically. He reigned twenty-nine years, and his was one of the best administrations in the history of the nation. The very first thing he did on ascending the throne was to begin a work of reform. See Isa. 29:3–11.
2. “The king had taken counsel.”—Therein he showed good judgment. “In multitude of counselors there is safety.” Prov. 24:6. He took counsel of Isaiah the prophet, which his father had stubbornly rejected. By this means he secured also the counsel of the Lord.
3. “Throughout all Israel and Judah.”—In true missionary spirit Hezekiah’s heart turned toward the people of the sister kingdom as well as to his own kingdom of Judah. The Spirit of the Lord had moved him to give this invitation to the people of the northern kingdom to join him in a thorough reformation. And it would have been well for Israel had they accepted the invitation; for it was but a few years until their enemies, the Assyrians, were permitted to make an end of Israel’s existence as a nation. In continual rejection of the Lord’s overtures of mercy, no one knows which may be the last offer. “Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” 2 Cor. 6:2.
4. “Like your fathers.”—Their fathers had on various occasions rebelled against God and been given over to their enemies for chastisement. “And like your brethren.”—The tribes of Reuben and Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh were at this time in the hands of the Assyrians because of their idolatry. 1 Chron. 5:26.
5. “The hand of God.”—The movement was of the Lord. It was one of His many marked visitations to His people, showing His long-suffering and earnest desire that they might be spared the terrible doom to which they were fast hastening. Wherever and whenever there has been a call to turn to the Lord, and to keep His commandments, His hand has been in the work. The enemy of souls will never originate such a reformation, albeit he may join himself to the movement for the purpose of disconcerting the unwary and leading them into some fanatical excess. He will get in the van if possible, in order to turn the reform into some byway that will lead back to the former or a worse condition.
Testimonies for the Church
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CALIFORNIA SCENERY. No. 29.—General view of Yosemite Valley. At the right of the picture is Bridal Veil Fall, 900 feet high. At the left is seen El Capitan, the guardian of the lower end of the valley, above which he towers 3,300 feet. In the background are the cliffs that inclose this wonderful vale, ending with Half Dome, dimly seen in the distance. The valley at its lower end is about three-fourths of a mile wide.
GOOD FOR EVIL.
By James Buckham
[By James Buckham, in Christian Work.]
DURING the days of wood-burning locomotives and wooden bridges, the managers of our principal railroads in the Eastern States strove to protect their bridges against fire by appointing watchmen who lived near these structures and kept a vigilant eye upon them day and night. Usually, the watchman with his family occupied a small house built by the railroad company near one end of the bridge. The different members of the family, including the older children, often took turns watching the bridge, and after the passage of each train some one of them was required to cross the bridge and return, looking carefully for any spark that might have fallen from the locomotive and kindled the dry, tar-soaked wood of the bridge.
Martin Lee was one of these bridge watchmen on the Central Vermont Railroad, and his little home stood in a most romantic spot, at the gorge of the Winooski River, near the manufacturing town of Winooski, where the river ran with great speed between two precipitous limestone cliffs, roaring over sharp rocks and twisting its current into angry whirlpools. The gorge was spanned by an old-fashioned wooden, “deck-bridge,” having scuttles at each end, with ladders leading down to the stringers below, on which were laid two narrow lines of plank, one on each side of the bridge, so that a person might walk the length of the bridge and inspect it from the inside.
Martin Lee’s family consisted of himself and wife and two children, Barty, a boy of thirteen, and his baby sister, Fannie. Barty was old enough to assist his parents in watching the bridge, and he was usually given a “spell” of four or five hours during the daytime. It was on one of these watches, while his father had gone to town to make some purchases, and his mother was up at the “lime-kilns” calling on a neighbor, that Barty saw the track walker for that section enter the railroad cut toward Winooski and approach the bridge. Now the track walker was no friend of Barty’s. He loved to tease the boy, sometimes even maliciously, and seldom passed the house at the gorge, when Barty was on watch, without catching hold of him and playing some of those rude tricks with which certain men seem to delight in bullying boys. So persistently and almost vindictively did he keep up this practise that Barty had come to dread his visits more than anything else, and if it were not for being on duty, he would have run away and hidden every time he saw the man approaching.
On this particular day the track walker seemed to be in an especially teasing mood, and, finding that both of Barty’s parents were away, he tormented the boy until he got him to crying. Then, with a coarse laugh, he tweaked Barty’s nose, tripped him on his back, and walked off. Reaching the bridge, he removed the scuttle and prepared to make the usual inspection.
Barty, sobbing and indignant, followed him to replace the cover of the scuttle, as usual, for the track walker would leave the bridge through the scuttle at the other end. Just as he was about to drop the scuttle cover in place, the boy heard a crash, followed by a terrified scream, and, thrusting his head inside the bridge, saw a sight that made the blood run cold in his veins. One of the half-rotten boards laid over the stringer had snapped beneath the track walker’s feet, and as he fell, the man had convulsively grasped one of the stringers, and now hung suspended over the boiling, rapids fifty feet below. There he swung, hanging by both arms, helpless and horror-stricken. Being a heavy man, with rather slight muscular development, he was unable to pull himself up to the level of the stringer, much less to climb upon it. His condition was desperate, for certainly he could not hang long in that position, and to fall among the rocks and whirlpools below would be sure death.
The man’s only hope lay in Barty, and what could such a small boy do to save him? The lad thought fast as he gazed down through the scuttle. Lift the man he could not, even if he succeeded in reaching him. There was but one thing to do, to run for help as fast as his legs could carry him. All vindictive or hateful thoughts were driven out of the boy’s mind, and his only desire was to rescue the man who had been his tormentor.
“Hang on, Mr. Mosely!” he cried shrilly. “Hang hard; I’ll bring help!”
Away sprang the boy across the bridge toward the lime-kilns, and the agonized man hanging to the stringer heard the patter of bare feet pass over his head and die rapidly away. If he could only hang on till the boy brought help! Already the current of his blood seemed scorching his veins, and his senses were swimming. There was a terrible roaring in his head, and the power of speech and sight was gone. Then the roaring in his ears died away, and a white mist began to fall about him in piles and heaps. He longed to let go his hold on the stringer and sink into the mist and rest.
Meanwhile Barty was flying through the cut and up the track toward the lime-kilns. Coatless and helpless he ran, as swiftly as if there were wings on his feet. As soon as he came in sight of the storehouse below the valley, he began to shout: “Help! quick! Bridge—Mr. Mosely!”
By good luck one of the workmen, Frank Merritt by name, a muscular young fellow, who had been on several voyages as a sailor, and was both brave and expert in such an emergency, happened to be down-at the storehouse with two other men unloading lime. He at once flung his shovel away and ran toward the bridge, calling on his companions to follow him. Reaching the first scuttle, he tore it off and dropped down into the bridge as if his feet had never touched the ladder. Taking in the situation at once, he ran along the plank walk opposite to Mosely, got astride the stringer, tore up a plank, and hitched along with it till he reached the now exhausted and almost unconscious man.
Then, whirling himself on top of the plank, he grasped Mosely by the collar of the coat and held him firmly until the other men arrived and helped lift the rigid body onto the plank. The rescuers then drew the plank, with the swooning Mosely on it, to the nearest scuttle, and lifted and pulled him up the ladder. He was more dead than alive, with rigid muscles, set face, and protruding tongue and eyes. It was more than an hour, after being carried into the watchman’s house, before the poor man recovered his senses or realized where he was. But when he did fully come to himself, he called for Barty, and with tears in his eyes thanked the lad and begged his forgiveness.
“You saved my life, Barty,” he cried. “You did good for evil. May God bless your kind, forgiving heart. I’ll be a better man and a true friend to you after this, God helping me.”
And Thomas Mosely kept his word, for to this day there is not a kinder, more considerate man in the railroad’s employ than he; and not even Barty’s parents are prouder of the young engineer of the Flying Express than the old track walker, who remembers that awful day in the ’70’s and the patter of the flying feet of his little rescuer over the bridge.
OCTOBER IN CALIFORNIA.
By DORIS
[The writer is a sorely afflicted invalid.]
October peeps in at my window
With her tangle of sunny hair,
And a smile like the light of morning
On her beautiful face so fair.
She beckons to me so gaily:
“Come out in the warm sunshine,
And gather my red, red roses,
And the purple fruit of the vine.
“The earth sings a song of thanksgiving,
The birds, a carol so sweet,
And all of my shining grasses
Will carpet a path for your feet.”
But I answer, Alas, October,
My prison I can not leave
Until I have learned my lesson,
And finished the web I must weave.
For years I have conned the lesson,
But the answer I can not find,
For the gloom of the prison chills me
And clouds and benumbs the mind.
And tangles come in my weaving,
My eyes have grown so dim
With the tears that fall on the fabric
And are constantly woven in.
But I know He who said, “I will lead thee
By paths thou hast not known,”
Will guide me out of the darkness
To the light that surrounds the throne.
And perhaps then I’ll know the meaning
Of my wearisome load and cross
Was the Master’s way of refining
The gold from the cumbersome dross.
And it may be, sometime, fair October,
That together, hand in hand,
You will show to me all the splendors
That gleam on the sea and land.
DORIS.
San Francisco, Cal.
Help Them Who Can Not Help Again
“HELP them who can not help again.”
HEALTH IN THE GOSPEL
By M. E. Olsen
The Gospel of Jesus Christ meets fallen, sinful man at all points, and works out in him a complete transformation. It ministers to his every want. “My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” “For in Him [Christ] dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in Him.” Col. 2:9, 10. “The Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly.” Ps. 84:11.
These scriptures alone are sufficient assurance that God will bestow the blessing of physical health upon His people, for, aside from the hope of eternal life, what thing is more desirable during our short life in this-world, or more necessary in order to render acceptable worship unto the Creator, and be successful in winning other souls to Christ? The apostle John must have considered health in the light of a valuable blessing, else he would not have written to the beloved Gaius, “I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.”
How has this blessing of health been brought within the reach of sinful men?—It comes to us the same as all other blessings, through the sacrifice of Christ. Sin brought disease and death into the world; but the blood of a crucified Saviour, poured out on Calvary’s cross, has fully redeemed us from the bondage of sin. And it is through the strength imparted by Christ that we are enabled to live in harmony with all God’s laws, both moral and physical, and enjoy as a result health of mind and body. This sublime truth is sung by the psalmist in the inspired strain: “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits; who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; . . . who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” And James, writing of the uses of prayer, reminds his readers that health is one of the blessings that can be consistently prayed for, and gives particular instruction in reference to it. Another circumstance pointing to the fact that health is a vital part of the Gospel is that our Saviour while upon earth spent such a large portion of His time in the healing of the sick. When He returned to the Father, He left this work to be carried on by His followers, saying to them, “As My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you.” Therefore we can not but conclude that it is the will of our Lord Jesus Christ to do to-day in and through His people the very same works which He did Himself while here in the flesh. The people, then, which has the whole Gospel for this time, will have a message for the world which includes health of body as well as health of mind,—which will enable men to glorify God in their bodies and in their spirits, which are God’s.
It has been the purpose in this short article simply to call attention to the fact that prominent among these blessings which God stands ready to bestow on His people is that of superior bodily health. In future articles we shall endeavor to point out some of the conditions upon which the promises may be claimed, showing how we may intelligently co-operate with God in the work of perfect restoration which is to be wrought out in the lives of every individual Christian.
Let us take up this study prayerfully, asking God Himself to be our teacher, and resolving to walk in all the light that He may give us. We are living in perilous times; still more trying scenes await us; therefore we need every ray of light, every element of spiritual power, every jot of physical strength, that the Lord has in store for us. Each and every man needs to know from actual experience what it means to have the fulness of Jesus Christ,
M. E. OLSEN.
Heralds OF HIS COMING,
by Milton C. Wilcox, shows conclusively that Christ’s coming is very near. 25,000 already sold. Price, $1.50 per 100.
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YOUTH
By Mary S. Hatch
THERE is a time in the lives of most young people when it takes all a mother’s tact, love, and sympathy to hold them. It is comparatively easy to shelter the fledgling, to be interested in childish pastimes, and patient with children’s foibles, but when they begin to think of putting away childish things, and maturer ambitions begin to call to broader fields, then beware lest they begin to say to themselves, “Mother [or it may be father] doesn’t understand.”
They are active, often restlessly so, and they long for something, they hardly know what. They want companionship, amusements, and to make a show of independence. Home restraint grows irksome, even to gentle natures, and the tendency is away from it; especially is this so with a boy.
At no time in the lives of children is there more need of wisdom, and at no time such necessity for gentle firmness and tact. The thoughtful mother, looking far ahead, has prepared herself, and not only herself, but her husband.
If children have grown up under proper restriction, and have learned to respect parental authority (please read those words with their fullest meaning, as they presuppose years of conscientious parental government), if, as I say, they have learned to respect you, learned that you are never selfish nor self-willed, that your aim is their highest good and the execution of it your loving duty, then you have every reason to hope that the rest will not be hard, at any rate not hopeless.
It is natural for boys and girls to seek companionship, and to want to entertain their friends. If you accommodate yourself to the conditions, and show their friends a willing courtesy, they will feel gratified, and readily allow your leadership.
“I think it is too bad I can’t have what company I want at home,” said a young miss, and added slyly, “But never mind, I get ahead of mother when I go to spend the night with my friends.”
When the girl or boy begins to say wistfully, “I wish I could have so-and-so, like some one else,” don’t put them off with impatience or harshness; better accept it as a sign that here is your attention needed. If you can indulge a harmless wish, it may be best to do so. Put yourself in their places, remembering how important a little thing often seems to them.
Regular practise is alone excellent discipline for either sex, especially if there is inclination to laziness, shiftlessness, or anything short of thoroughness in the doing of anything. Books, papers, and pencils are so cheap. Let them be well supplied, and encourage their use in the many departments of usefulness and art.
Usually when young people see that your reasons against their wishes are good, they will give no trouble even when grievously disappointed. Should it turn out otherwise, then you can be firm, gently and sorrowfully, but positively, seeking the first opportunity to show eagerness in promoting their happiness.
Mothers, we need always to be ready for marching orders, and a hint from any source must be sufficient to keep us alert. Whatever mistakes have gone before, this now is our place; we may not see the end, and the way is often rough, but let us try to be faithful.—Mary S. Hatch, in Good Housekeeping.
