THE PANSY.
Terms of Subscription.
The price of The Pansy is One Dollar a year. New subscriptions may begin with the volume (November issue), or with any number desired.
The date following the subscriber’s name on the label shows the time to which the subscription is paid. Thus, Oct. ’87 means that the subscription is paid to and including the October, 1887, number.
If no request to discontinue the magazine is received, it is understood that its continuance is desired. The magazine will, however, be stopped at any time, if the subscriber so desires, provided all arrearages are paid as required by law.
The order to discontinue must be sent to the publishers direct, and not through an agent.
If a change of address is desired, the OLD as well as the new must be given.
Remittances may be made by Post Office Money Order, Draft, Bank Check, or American Express Money Order.
D. LOTHROP & CO., Publishers, Boston.
My Dear Ones:
Here we are with November at the door! A new year for The Pansy. Greeting to you, every one. How have you treated the old year who has just shut the door on you all? Three hundred and sixty-five days since last November! Oh! the story of them. How ill it reads when you come to look it over! Oh! there is ever so much which you wish was blotted out? Is that what you say? I know, for I have to say the same. What a blessed thing for us all that we have a Friend, great and glorious, who has promised to do just that with the story of our mistakes and failures. “I will blot out their transgressions.” Have you been to Him to get them blotted out?
Well, we begin again. New faces join us; and we must do what we can to help them. They will do what they can to help us. A Thanksgiving Day is just ahead. Shall we each try to give some one something for which to be thankful? It may be that they need only a pleasant word, a loving smile, a kind “Good-morning!” Such easy things to give! Shall we look about us while the surly November winds blow over half the country, and the balmy November breezes glide over the other half, and whether Dame Nature smiles or frowns where we are, make all hearts light because of our brightness, and sympathy, and unselfishness? Try to spread sunshine, my Blossoms, so we may have real flowers all the year round.
What are we going to give you for 1887? Why, look through the November Pansy and see. “Monteagle.” Yes; that is a serial. I shall tell how it all happened, just as well as I can. I do hope you will like some of the people, for I do, very much. “She.” I know it is a queer title. It will be altogether a queer story. Something that happened, well known to seven different people, who intend to tell it as well as each of them know how. Who are the people? Why, their names will be at the head of the chapters which they write. You can see for yourselves. “All Along the Line.” I know you will like our new department. Young people always like to know what is really going on in this world; and of course you will enjoy the design, engraved especially for us, by an artist who is also one of our contributors, and who loves every Blossom of you. For the rest, the old friends, Faye Huntington, Rev. C. M. Livingston, Margaret Sidney, Paranete, etc., will continue to work for you; you have told me so many times that you thought they were “Just perfectly splendid,” and as they each intend to be more splendid than ever, this year, I have no fears for their places in your hearts.
There are other new features, which you will be able to see for yourselves. We mean, with your help, to make The Pansy for 1887 a great deal better than ever before. How many new Blossoms can you gather for our bed?
Another thing; will you remember that you have now a department of your own to look after? “Around the Family Lamp” has been thrown open for your use. We do hope you will be industrious and unselfish, and send on your thoughts as often as you have any. Keep your eyes open, and when you see other people playing games which you think are pleasant, don’t be contented with simply copying their good times, but pass the word down the line for the rest of us.
That reminds me of the address: I wonder if there is any way in which I can get you to remember it? Winter Park, Orange Co., Florida. This, until further notice. Now please do not send your letters to Boston, nor to Cincinnati, nor to Chautauqua, nor anywhere else but to Winter Park. Understand? Of course when you want to subscribe for The Pansy, or order books, or transact any business which would naturally belong to the Publishers, you send to Boston, as usual. But for the “P. S. Department,” or “Around the Family Lamp,” or when you want a badge, or want to ask me any question, remember the Winter Park address. For anything pertaining to the new department, “All Along the Line,” address the Editor, R. M. Alden, at Winter Park, also. Who will be the first to give us some games for our Christmas number?
Lovingly,
Pansy.
Gracie from Canada. Indeed, your letter was not too long. I enjoyed every word. You must have been a very industrious Pansy to get so many premiums. I knew a boy who used to trouble his mother very much by being late to breakfast. One morning when he came down to the dining-room half an hour after time, he found the table dishes all cleared away, and there was no breakfast for that boy until next morning. I don’t think he was late again for nearly two weeks. I am glad you are going to break yourself of that careless habit without any such help.
Mary Edith from Ohio. It is very easy to be cross, and brave to try to overcome the habit. I hope your badge will help you.
Ray Spencer from Turkey in Asia. We are very glad to welcome you. One who “tries to do things right the first time,” is a great comfort to his friends, and will be likely to grow into a good and wise man. It is a pleasure to have a letter from your far-away home. The Pansies would all be glad to hear something about the people of Turkey. Can’t you write us a little letter for the magazine?
Arthur from Iowa. You are right, my boy. What is generally meant by “talking back” does harm instead of good. The Bible says “a soft answer turneth away wrath.” But the trouble is, when people are saying things on purpose to vex us it is very hard to think of anything “soft” to say, or to be willing to say it if we could think of it. The One who has promised to “keep the door of our lips,” is the only Source of real help.
Harry from Ohio. Yes, indeed, a boy six years old may have a badge. I am sorry you did not tell us the name of the habit you were going to get rid of; but so long as you know its name, and are pledged against it, we will trust you.
Virginia from Louisiana. I hope you don’t think we put the letters of our Blossoms into the waste basket! I am always glad when I receive a pledge against “teasing.” I think it one of the most troublesome habits we have to deal with. So easy to form, so ready to grow, so hard to get rid of. Yet it can be conquered.
Fred from Illinois. I once knew a beautiful black-eyed boy who used to tell his mother he saw seventy-two cats down in the back yard, when he meant that he saw three. His mother used to laugh, and think such stories were amusing, so Eddie kept telling them, until, when he was nine years old, people said of him: “You cannot believe a word that boy says.” And yet I don’t think Eddie meant to tell what was false; he had simply formed a bad habit, and let it grow. I am glad to receive your pledge.
May from Georgia. Do you know the difference between “firmness” and “stubbornness?” The former we admire, and the latter is unpleasant to everybody. I asked a little girl the difference between the two, and she said, “Firmness was sticking to a thing because it was right, and you thought you ought; and obstinacy was sticking to it anyhow, because you wanted your own way, right or wrong.” Do you accept her definition?
Edward Mason. Now, my friend, you and I are both in trouble. You have sent a letter, asking for a badge, and giving your pledge, but you have not told me where you lived, neither town nor State! How can I get a badge to you? I am hoping your bright eyes will see this printed letter, and that you will at once let me hear from you again.
Bernie from Missouri. If here isn’t another Blossom who bites her poor little finger-nails! How glad we are that she has resolved to stop it, and I hope by this time succeeded. Did the missing magazines reach you at last?
Ella from Nebraska. Oh! these tempers. I know all about them. It is astonishing how small a thing will ruffle them. Yet I know a lady of whom everybody says: “How lovely she is. One never hears her speak an ungentle word.”
And the lady told me herself that when she was a young girl she used to fly into a passion over the smallest things, and have to be locked into her room for hours! So, you see, the naughty tempers can be overcome.
May from Conn. Thirty-seven mistakes in my “queer letter!” I wonder if any of the Pansies will find more than that number? I am waiting to see. Your little poem gave me so much amusement I think I must copy it for all our family.
Harold and Laurence from New Mexico. Welcome to our Pansy Bed, my dear, brave boys! How do I know you are brave? Because people who own their faults and resolve to conquer them, have a right to that title. Don’t you know the Bible says: “He that ruleth his spirit, is greater than he that taketh a city?” Is that just the way it reads? I am quoting from memory. Look it up, won’t you, and see if I am exactly correct?
We would like to hear about the interesting things in New Mexico.
Lizzie from Illinois. Don’t get discouraged, my dear girl, even when things will not go just as you want them. Don’t you know the old couplet:
If at first you don’t succeed,
Try, try again.
It is a good motto to work by. If I were you, I would, by all means, try a “P. S.” in the new home. You may be able, through it, to do a great deal of good.
Marion from Conn. I hope our badge is helping you. Jealous people manage to get a great deal of unhappiness out of things which were intended for their pleasure. It is wise to get rid of that weed as fast as possible.
Minnie from Conn. I am glad to hear from you. Yes, it is hard to do right; but we have one comfort: it is, after all, a great deal harder to do wrong, because doing right grows easier as the days go by, while doing wrong makes life harder for us each day.
Ralph from Ohio. “My boy,” said an old gentleman, putting his hand on the head of a little fellow, “here is something to remember: other people may do your work, but no one can ever do your duty for you.” The boy is a man now, a grand one, and says he has always tried to live by that sentence which the old gentleman gave him. Your pledge made me think of this.
Stella from Nebraska. There are plenty of weeds in our bed, my dear; you need not think you are alone in that; but the beauty of it is, we are all trying to get rid of them. “I always count tardy obedience just the same as disobedience,” said a stern-faced mother to me the other day.
That seems rather hard, doesn’t it? I don’t think that is quite the way; but tardy obedience is a very disappointing kind. I know your mother must be glad that you intend to give no more of it.
Clarence from —— The truth is, my boy, I don’t really know where you are from. You forgot the State.
You are right about the mistakes. And did you correct them all without help? I should agree with you about the rabbit. I think we are often very cruel in trying to cage and make pets of animals and birds who are used to freedom.
Mattie from Tennessee. O, yes! I have been in Florida. In fact, while I am writing, I sit at this moment under an orange-tree in Orange Co., answering your letter. As I read it, I raise my voice and give Mr. Livingston, who is in his study overhead, your message. He is very glad to get it. It makes a minister’s heart glad to have a young listener say that he makes things plain, in the pulpit.
I hope you find your badge a reminder whenever you are tempted not to do the next thing promptly.
Rufus and Mamie from Massachusetts. So glad to welcome these dear people to our garden! I think often of Rufus’ pleasant face, and of his tender care of Mamie. I wonder if that little Blossom is becoming less timid? Flowers often droop their heads, but the sweet, gentle dews make them look up and smile. I think the dew of gentleness will drop all around Mamie’s life and give her courage. Thank the dear mamma for her sweet, kind, strong words to me. When we all get home, what a happy time we shall have together.
George from Indiana. Oh! these tempers. I think I must have said that at least a dozen times this morning. I find so many of my Pansies tortured by that weed “anger.” If we were not sure we could succeed, how discouraging it would be! As it is, I rejoice over every new name I write in our great pledge book.
Emma from Dakota. I congratulate mamma. I know by experience just how trying it is to have to repeat the same direction several times before it is obeyed. If you read the answers to letters, you will notice how many of our Pansies are at work in the same line. We will take courage; the next men and women will be stronger and better than we.