Charity as it ought to be.—If our mercy to the poor is to be true mercy, it must never be careless giving, dictated by mere sentimental impulse. Sentiment may be nobler than insensibility, but it often does more harm. The Samaritan would have been no good example for us if he had passed on with an easy conscience after administering the two pence and had omitted to consider whether the special needs of the case did not also require oil and wine.
The Average Woman.—We have been favoured with this definition of the average woman:—She is lovable but limited, for on the north side she is bounded by servants; on the south by children; on the east by her ailments, and on the west by her clothes.
Take a Right View of Life.—It is a sad thing to begin life with low conceptions of it. It may not be possible for a girl to measure life, but it is possible for her to say, “I am resolved to put life to its noblest and best use.”
Triple Acrostic I.
In yonder bower, one glorious May,
Three lovely sisters grew;
One, in imperial bright array
Of richest purple hue;
One, who conceal’d her drooping head
Amid her foliage green;
And one with fragrant petals spread,
Our beauteous Summer-Queen.
1. Waster of time, of mind, of health,
This useless creature see:
Yet once, in print, he gather’d wealth
And greatly sought was he.
2. From the north-east adventurers came
And built this City fair;
They call’d it by the river’s name
And yet—no river’s there!
3. A monster was to be destroy’d,
A hero claim’d the feat;
Alas! the means that he employ’d
Were sadly incomplete.
My ready help he needs would ask,
Which I was prompt to give,
Or else he must forego his task
And let the creature live:
While he, with heavy axe in hand,
Struck off each slimy head,
I tear’d the wound with flaming brand
And laid the monster dead.
4. ’Tis sometimes good, and sometimes bad,
And sometimes none at all;
This in his belt the Roman had,
Sharp-pointed, bright, and small.
For centuries it fix’d remain’d,
And might have kept so still
But that a Pontiff pow’r obtain’d
To change it at his will.
Ximena.