THEOLOGICAL LIBRARY V. 20-21 172 Good Advice of a Heathen Philosopher. 173 Gregory of Utrecht........................ ............................... Great Swelling Words of Vanity.... 297 261 A Dedication in East Pennsylvania..... 254 A Day under the Trees.................... WE have here a peep into a happy home. Back of what we see, there is an unseen home-world here. But why not show us more of it? Not for all eyes are the sacred arrangements of a godly household. What is she doing, anyhow? The balls on the table look like carpet rags. The one in her hand seems to be stocking-yarn. That it must be. And she is wrapping and getting it ready to knit stockings for somebody. The sleek little mischief on the table has been pawing and clawing at the balls. She has drawn out and entangled the yarn. Curling her tail, and lazily rolling over on the table, she looks up to her kind friend, with a phosphorescent spark in her roguish eye, trying to say by her look: "See here, have we not fine sport together?" A certain learned author, in defining the difference between man and the animals below him, calls him "a laughing animal." He tells us, that none of the lower animal creation have a capacity to laugh. Be this as it may, our little friend on the table most assuredly can relish a joke. And if her face were shaven, I am not sure but what we might discover a broad grin thereupon. Inwardly the cat is certainly laughing. But what a "muss" she has made. And the good lady is not in the least displeased about it. A good and fast friend is she to this mischievous, fun-loving cat. Many a savory dish does she get, and caresses and kind words without end. Kindness to animals is a pleasing virtue. In a very important sense "He liveth best, who loveth best, All things both great and small.” Fain could I wish to peep over the sides of that basket. For next to a little boy's pockets, a mother's sewing basket is one of the most marvellous domestic curiosities I have ever laid my eyes upon. Well do I remember, how a certain restless boy would never tire in rummaging through his mother's work-basket for hours. There were balls of white, blue, black and red yarn; spools of white, black, yellow and brown thread; knitting needles, darning needles, sewing needles of all sizes from number four up to the top of the scale, sticking in cushions along the sides of the basket. Buttons of brass, ivory, horn and wood, for sleeves, collars, pants, coats and vests. Tape of every imaginable width and color. Boxes of hooks and eyes. Strings, straps, patches and a mass of other articles, all huddled together in a basket less than a foot in diameter. Let me tell you, dear reader, you rarely find so many marks of a mother's true and tenderest love collected within so small a space, as in her sewing basket. That my poor grateful heart remembers full well. This picture must have been taken some years ago. The lady's dress is not up to the times. But it is none the worse for that. The cap, carelessly hanging over her half-concealed locks, becomes her well. The bow on her sleeve would be considered out of place now. Not so then. She seems to have fallen into a reverie. Her busy hands have evidently ceased to ply the yarn. Unconsciously she has stopped. Her eyes are half-vacantly peering into some matter, beyond our sight, but not beyond hers. What is the dear lady thinking about? May there not be a cradle, with its precious treasure, back of her chair? There must be some Ittle feet which these large bills of yarn are intended to warm. They may have merrily pattered through the slush and snow to school. Perhaps some are sleeping in the graveyard, under the snow. No matter where they are. Her calm, contented face, beams with "Life, Light and Love." THE NEW YEAR. BY THE EDITOR. ers. The GUARDIAN herewith sendeth greetings to all its friends and readFor this New Year is its twentieth birthday. Just twenty years ago, its now sainted founder issued the first unpretending number. From the start, it has had many and warm friends, and it has them still. Good and able writers, with a strong faith and a warm sympathizing love for the young, have contributed to its pages, down to this present. We thank our readers for taking and reading this Magazine; we thank the writers, who so kindly and ably have written for the good of others, for their labor of love For such we know it to be. We bespeak from both a continuance of their favor. We should feel greatly encouraged in our work, if the friends of the GUARDIAN Would labor for the increase of its circulation. We try to make it interesting and instructive. Our constant aim is to suit and bene |