Red-Line Jubilee.
It is worth a great deal to have the right kind of memory. Although there are more bright spots than shadows in our lives, we are apt to forget this, and let the wrong kind of memory fasten itself upon us quite unawares. Many would be surprised, if they kept a record, to see how far the days with at least some gleams of gladness outnumbered the “days that are dark and cold and dreary.” Try it. For a “red-line jubilee” you need to begin a year beforehand. At New Year’s, or just before, each Junior is to be presented with a calendar, and the plan is as follows:
All that you need is your calendar, a clean pen, and a bottle of red ink. Every evening you take out your calendar, and, if the day has been a happy one, draw a red line all around the date; if it brought you only some gleams of gladness, make a red dot for every gleam; and, if it was a day of sorrow and trouble, unrelieved by any brightness, leave the date blank, with only its own black line surrounding it. Then, at the very end of the year, hold a “red-line jubilee,” and, see whose calendar makes the best showing. As every one learns by kindness to others to make his own happiness instead of being satisfied with any stale, second-hand variety, the red lines will grow more and more numerous. To the “red-line jubilee” bring all the calendars for inspection; let there be a little talk from the pastor and a short programme of songs and recitations by the Juniors, every one of the cheery kind. Here are four that will serve as samples if the recitations are to be short enough so that each Junior can have one:
I.
Smile once in a while;
’Twill make your heart seem lighter.
Smile once in a while;
’Twill make your pathway brighter.
Life’s a mirror; if we smile,
Smiles come back to greet us;
If we’re frowning all the while,
Frowns forever meet us.
II.
There’s help in seeming cheerful
When a body’s feeling blue,
In looking calm and pleasant
If there’s nothing else to do.
If other folks are wearing,
And things are all awry,
Don’t vex yourself with caring;
’Twill be better by and by.
III.
There’s never a rose in all the world
But makes some green spray sweeter;
There’s never a wind in all the sky
But makes some bird-wing fleeter;
There’s never a star but brings to heaven
Some silver radiance tender,
And never a rosy cloud but helps
To crown the sunset splendor;
No robin but may thrill some heart,
His dawn-like gladness voicing;
God gives us all some small, sweet way
To set the world rejoicing.
IV.