"Well, you may leave something to piece out my hour with. I don't believe I can ever find enough to fill up."
"What is your topic?" asked Lucia.
"Mexico; and I don't know a thing about it."
Lucia expressed her sympathy by laughing at him, and saying, "Just wait until you study it up!"
Faye Huntington.
SELECTION FOR RECITATION.
WHY DID YOU NOT COME BEFORE?
[An aged Hindoo woman, while first hearing the Gospel, said, "Why did you not come before? My hair has grown gray waiting for the good news.">[
AN aged woman, poor and weak,
She heard the mission teacher speak;
The slowly-rolling tears came down
Upon her withered features brown.
"What blessed news from yon far shore—
Would I had heard it long before.
"O, I have bowed at many a shrine,
When youth and health and strength were mine;
How earnestly my soul has striven
To find some gleam of light from heaven;
But all my toil has been in vain—
These gods of stone but mocked my pain.
"A weary pilgrimage I've trod,
To win some favor from my god;
And all my jewelled wealth I've laid
Beneath the dark Pagoda's shade;
But still, the burden on my breast
Bowed head and heart with sore unrest.
"Now, I have waited many a day,
My form is bent, my hair is gray;
But still the blessed words you bear
Have charmed away my long despair;
O sisters, from your happy shore,
Would you had sent to me before!
"O, precious is the message sweet
I hear your kindly lips repeat;
It bids me weep for joy again;
My stony eyes were dry with pain;
My weary heart with joy runs o'er—
Ah, had you come to me before!
"How welcome is the glorious name
Of Jesus, who to save me came.
And shall I live when death is past?
And may I all my burdens cast
On Him? And is His mercy free?
Not bought with gifts? Such news for me!
"Yes, please forgive me when I say,
I've needed this so many a day.
In your glad homes, did ye not know
How India's tears of sorrow flow?
If you had known on that bright shore,
Surely you would have come before!"
—Miss P. J. Owens, Methodist Protestant.