William said: "I will tell you how it shall be: you go to the judges and tell them your case and mine; then there will be no need for me to go." "Well," said the other, "if you will trust your cause with me, I will do so." He accordingly went, pleaded the case, and lost. Returning to his neighbor, he said: "The field is yours. I congratulate you, neighbor. I am glad the affair is over." The two men were firm friends ever after. Read: "The Farmer and His Sons," and "The Quarrel," from Baldwin's Fairy Stories and Fables. Sing: "Morning Song," from Kellogg's Best Primary Songs. Birthdays: Martin Luther, the leader of the Reformation in Germany, born at Eisleben, Germany, November 10, 1483; died at Eisleben, February 18, 1546. Oliver Goldsmith, a famous English author, born in Pallasmore, Ireland, November 10, 1728; died in London, England, April 4, 1774. Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller, a famous German poet, born at Marbach, Würtemberg, November 10, 1759; died at Weimar, May 9, 1805. Joaquin Miller, the pen-name of Cincinnatus Heine Miller, an American author, born in Wabash District, Indiana, November 10, 1841. Henry Van Dyke, an American clergyman and author, born at Germantown, Pa., November 10, 1852; lives in Princeton, N. J. Winston Churchill, an American novelist, born in St. Louis, Mo., November 10, 1871; living at Cornish, N. H. 11 HUMILITY For praise too dearly loved, or warmly sought, Leans for all pleasure on another's breast. -Goldsmith STOOP AS YOU GO THROUGH BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, the son of a tallow-chandler, the printer's apprentice, the printer, the philosopher, and the patriot, wrote the following incident of his visit, when a young man, to the celebrated Cotton Mather, a clergyman of New England. The letter was written to Cotton Mather's son. "The last time I saw your father was in the beginning of 1724, when I visited him after my first trip to Pennsylvania. He received me in the library, and, on my taking leave, showed me a shorter way out of his house, through a narrow passage, which was crossed by a beam overhead. We were still talking as I withdrew, he accompanying behind, and I turning partly toward him, when he said hastily, 'Stoop, stoop!' I did not understand him till I felt my head hit against the beam. He was a man that never missed any occasion of giving instruction; and, upon this, he said, 'You are young, and have the world before you. Stoop as you go through it, and you will miss many hard thumps.' This advice, thus beat into my head, has frequently been of use to me; and I often think of it when I see pride mortified, and misfortunes brought upon people by carrying their heads too high." Before honor is humility. Birthday: Thomas Bailey Aldrich, an American poet and novelist, born in Portsmouth, N. H., November 11, 1836; died in Boston, Mass., March 19, 1907. He that cannot forgive others, breaks the bridge over which he must pass himself; for every man has need to be forgiven.-Lord Herbert A QUARREL SOON ENDED Two dogs began to quarrel over a bone that had been thrown to one of them. They were fighting on a bridge and before they knew it, both had fallen into the water. One of them was a Newfoundland dog, and swam easily to shore, but when he looked for his enemy he saw him still struggling in the water. This dog could not swim, and he was about to drown, when the Newfoundland dog plunged in and brought him safely to shore. They forgave each other then and became great friends. Read: "The Sympathy of Abraham Lincoln" and " A Hero of Valley Forge," from Baldwin's An American Book of Golden Deeds; Bible, Matt. 5: 7-9 and 43-48. Sing: "Good Advice," from Merry Melodies. THE day returns and brings us the petty round of irritating concerns and duties. Help us to perform them with laughter and kind faces, let cheerfulness abound with industry. Give us to go blithely on our business all this day, bring us to our resting beds weary and content and undishonored, and grant us in the end the gift of sleep. Read: Selections from Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses. Sing: Selections from Robert Louis Stevenson Songs. Birthdays: Joseph Hooker, an American general, born in Hadley, Mass., November 13, 1814; died at Garden City, N. Y., October 31, 1879. Edwin Thomas Booth, a noted American tragic actor, born at Bel Air, Md., November 13, 1833; died June 7, 1893. (John Wilkes Booth (1839-1865), a younger brother, was the assassin of President Lincoln.) Robert Louis Stevenson, a noted Scottish novelist and story writer, born in Edinburgh, Scotland, November 13, 1850; died at Apia, Samoa, December 3, 1894. 14 SELF-CONTROL How happy is he born or taught, THE ECHO LITTLE PETER had never heard of the Echo which lives among the woods and rocks, and repeats the very words we speak. One day while walking in a field near a wood, he saw a squirrel running among the bushes. "Ho! Stop there!" he cried. Something in the woods answered him back, "Ho! Stop there!" Astonished, Peter shouted out, "Who are you?" The word came back, "Who are you?”"You are a fool, "he answered. "You are a fool," was echoed back loud and clear from the wood. Peter grew angry, for he thought some saucy boy was hidden behind the trees. Then he poured out all the hard ugly names he could think of, but the Echo sent them all back to him in mocking tones. "He shall learn not to call me names, "" he said to himself, as he picked up a stick and ran toward the wood. Peter wandered in the wood a long time, but found no one. Tired and vexed, he went home and complained to his mother that a naughty boy, who had been calling him names, was hiding in the wood. "You have been angry with your own self," said his mother. "It was only your own voice that made the sound, and you heard only the echo of your own words. If you had spoken kind words, kind words would have come back to you from the wood.” -White's School Management 15 SERVICE Not what we give, but what we share, Who gives himself with his alms feeds three,- -Lowell Birthdays: William Pitt, first earl of Chatham, an English statesman, born November 15, 1708; died at Hayes, Kent, England, May 11, 1778. Sir William Herschel, a noted English astronomer, born in Hanover, Prussia, November 15, 1738; died at his home at Slough, near Windsor, England, August 23, 1822. 16 TRUTH Dare to be true; nothing can need a lie. A fault which needs it most grows two thereby. -George Herbert THE PRICE OF A LIE IF WE are under no moral obligation to fulfill a promise made to do a wrong, there can be no dishonor in refusing its performance. Dishonor belongs to those who persist in doing wrong after they have discovered the right. "Would you tell a lie for three cents?" asked a teacher of one of her boys. "No, ma'am," answered Dick, very promptly. "For ten cents?" "No, ma'am." "For a dollar?" "No, ma'am." "For a hundred dollars?" "No, ma'am." "For a thousand dollars?" |