along. "Why do not thy waters surge and roar?" asked the man. And the river replied: "I need not shout aloud; my name is known widely enough. The green meadows which I water and the lofty trees upon my banks-these tell who I am."

The man came afterward to the banks of the Tigris River. Its waves dashed along wildly and with clouds of foam. "Hello, how loud you are shouting!" said the man. "Ah," said the river, "my shouting does not help me at all! I still am not praised like other streams, however loudly I proclaim that I am something in the world.”

The man went further. He saw trees with the costliest and most beautiful fruit. They offered their fruits without a sound. "Why so still, good trees?" he asked. "Why not rustle like your companions in the wood?" "We are known," they replied, "by the fruit we bear, however silent we are. Soon the man came to a wood whose trees towered to the skies, and whose empty crests kept up a constant roar. "Why do you make such a noise?" he asked. "Ah," they replied, "we have shouted loud and long, and yet we are not treated as we deserve.'

"Now I know," said the man, "who praises himself amounts to nothing. The truly meritorious require no selfpraise. That truth I will not forget."

-Jewish Messenger

Read: "The Fantail Pigeon," from Poulsson's In the Child's World.

Sing: "Don't Talk When You've Nothing to Say," from American School Songs.

Birthdays: Henry Inman, an American painter, born in Utica, N. Y., October 20, 1801; died in New York City, January 17, 1846.

Thomas Hughes, an English author, born in Uffington, Berkshire, England, October 20, 1823; died March 22, 1896.

21 MUSIC IN ALL THINGS

There's music in the sighing of a reed;
There's music in the gushing of a rill;
There's music in all things, if men had ears:
This earth is but an echo of the spheres.

"AMERICA"

-Byron

THIS most popular and best loved of all our national songs was written by Dr. Samuel F. Smith. One of Dr. Smith's best friends was Lowell Mason, the eminent musician. A German friend had given to Mr. Mason a number of German music books. Being unable to read German, Mr. Mason carried the books to Dr. Smith and asked him to translate some of the songs for him. What followed we will let Dr. Smith relate. He says: "Turning over the leaves of one of these books one day in February, 1832, I came across the air 'God Save the King.' I liked the music. I glanced at the German words at the foot of the page. Under the inspiration of the moment I went to work and in half an hour ‘America' was the result. It was written on a scrap of paper I picked up from the table, and the hymn of to-day is substantially as it was written that day."

This hymn was first sung at a children's Fourth of July celebration in Park Street Church, Boston. It did not have great popularity until the Civil War. Since then it has become the best known of any of our national songs.

An incident in connection with the singing of "America," on one particular occasion, may be related here with profit. Not many years ago there was gathered in a United States consulate in a foreign land a few score Americans. It was the Fourth of July and the little band seemed particularly impressed with the significance of the day and the occasion. One member of the party suggested that they sing "America." He began the song, all sang the first

stanza, a few sang the second, four voices blended together to the end of the third, and a single voice continued to the end. Only one person of all those gathered together knew his national song to the end. Is not this a lesson to us?

Sing: "America."

Birthdays: Samuel Taylor Coleridge, a noted English poet, born at Ottery Saint Mary, Devonshire, England, October 21, 1772; died in London, July 25, 1834.

Will Carleton, an American poet, born at Hudson, Mich., October 21, 1845; died in 1912.

Samuel F. Smith, an American clergyman, born in Boston, Mass., October 21, 1808; died in Boston, November 16, 1895. Author of song "America."

22 EVIL SPEAKING

Boys flying kites haul in their white-winged birds;
You can't do that way when you're flying words.
"Careful with fire," is good advice, we know;
"Careful with words," is ten times doubly so.
Thoughts unexpressed may sometimes fall back dead;
But God himself can't kill them when they're said.
-Will Carleton

THE SLANDERER

A LADY visited Sir Philip Neri on one occasion, accusing herself of being a slanderer.

"Do you frequently fall into this fault?" he inquired. "Yes, very often," replied the penitent.

"My dear child," said Philip, "your fault is great, but the mercy of God is greater. I now bid thee do as follows: Go to the nearest market and purchase a chicken just killed and still covered with feathers; then walk to a certain distance, plucking the bird as you go. Your walk finished, return to me.'

The woman did as directed and returned, anxious to know the meaning of so singular an injunction.

"You have been very faithful to the first part of my orders," said Philip; "now do the second part, and you will be cured. Retrace your steps, pass through all the places you have traversed, and gather up one by one all the feathers you have scattered."

"But," said the woman, "I cast the feathers carelessly away, and the wind carried them in all directions."

"Well, my child," replied Philip, "so it is with your words of slander. Like the feathers which the wind has scattered, they have been wafted in many directions: call them back now if you can. Go, sin no more.'

Birthdays: Franz Liszt, a famous Hungarian pianist and composer of music, born at Raiding, October 22, 1811; died at Bayreuth, Bavaria, July 31, 1886.

Sarah Bernhardt, a celebrated French actress, born in Paris, France, October 22, 1844. (Her real name is Rosine Bernard.)

23 BEAUTIFUL THINGS

Beautiful faces are they that wear
The light of a pleasant spirit there;
It matters little if dark or fair.

Beautiful hands are they that do

Deeds that are noble, good and true;

Busy with them the long day through.

Beautiful feet are they that go

Swiftly to lighten another's woe,

Through the summer's heat or winter's snow.

Beautiful children, if, rich or poor,

They walk the pathways sweet and pure

That lead to the mansion strong and sure.

-Mrs. E. R. Miller

Sing: "Away with Melancholy," from Uncle Sam's School Songs.

Birthday: Francis Hopkinson Smith, an American

author, painter and civil engineer, born in Baltimore, Md., October 23, 1838; died in New York City, April 7, 1915.

24 PURPOSE

I live for those who love me,

Whose hearts are fond and true.
For the heaven that smiles above me,
And awaits my spirit too;
For all human ties that bind me,
For the task by God assigned me,
For the bright hopes left behind me,
And the good that I can do.
-G. L. Banks

THE TWO ROADS

BY JEAN PAUL RICHTER

IT WAS New Year's night. An aged man was standing at a window. He raised his mournful eyes toward the deep blue sky, where the stars were floating, like white lilies, on the surface of a clear, calm lake. Then he cast them down hopelessly on the earth.

Already he had passed sixty years of life, and he had brought from his journey nothing but errors and remorse. His health was destroyed, his mind vacant, his heart sorrowful, and his old age devoid of comfort.

The days of his youth rose up, in a vision, before him, and he recalled the solemn moment, when his father had placed him at the entrance of two roads,-one leading into a peaceful, sunny land, covered with a fertile harvest, and resounding with soft, sweet songs; while the other conducted the wanderer into a deep, dark cave, whence there was no issue, where poison flowed, instead of water, and where serpents hissed and crawled.

He looked toward the sky, and cried out in his agony: "O youth, return! O my father, place me once more at the entrance to life, that I may choose the better way!"