Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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■ io- THE LUTHERAN VISITOR tfftUdmi ami XJouth. POLLY’S DILEMMA. There'll sooietbiDK that il’ve ,thought I wish you’d ’aplaio to uje, Why, when the weather’s warm, There’s leaves on every tree, And when they need them most. To keep them warm and nice, They lose jiff half their clothes. And look as cold as Ice. —Selected. A COUNTERPLOT. “Paul! Fred! hold on! I want to tell you somethinf?!” The little^ ffroup of boys who were sturdily trudging up the hill at the close of school turned to see Joe rushing after them as fast as he could come. “Fire away, Cap’n!” called Fred Mitchell,' stamping impa tiently in the snow; “and hurry up!” “Well, wait till a'fellow gets his breath,” said “Cap’n Joe,” who fairly merrited this impor tant title which his comrades had bestowed upon him; for he was the acknowledged leader of their boyish sports. “I’ve been down to the store to do an errand, and 1 came back as far as the corner with Jim Larkin and some of the other fellows; and when we went by Granny White’s she was out in the yard tugging away at a lot of wood—trying to get some of it into the shed, and out of the snow, I guess. Then Jim began to tell how mean she was last fall. She.wouldn’t let ’em pick up one of her acorns under the big oak where we’ve always had ’em. Said there were only a few, and she wanted them to color with.” “Color with! That’s a likely story,” interrupted Fred. “Well, it’s so anyway,” piped up little Dickey. “She begs rags of people and colors them to make rugs of, and then goes and sells the rugs to the folks she begs the rags of. 1 know, for my mother bought one; and that’s the way she gets her„wood. “Jim doestf’t care anything about that,” replied Joe. He vowed he’d pay her off when he got a chance; so after dark to night he and Steve and Jack are going down to Granny White’s to throw every bit of that wood over the fence; and tomorrow morning she’ll not know where it is; and I guess she’ll have to tug it back!” : Honest little Paul Lindsey’s face glowed with righteous in dignation. He stood perfectly si lent for a moment, and then said, contemptuously: “What yer drivin’ at, Joe? Ye don’t expect us to join that crowd, do you? I’d be ashamed to do such a mean thing!” “Who said anything ’bout joining that crowd?’* Joe ex claimed. “I’m only telling you what the other fellows are going to do. Now, I’ve got a little plan to propose to you.” With many suppressed chuck les and stifled outbursts of merri ment, the boys listened to Joe’s plan. “Good for you, Cap’n! We’re in for it! We’ll be on deck!” ejaculated his companions. “Remember, now, half past six, sharp,” ordered Captain Joe. The daylight rapidly failed, and at six o’clock on this early winter day the little village was wrapped in darkness. Half an hour later Granny White, sitting by her‘lonely hearth in her poverty-stricken cottage, heard a loud rap at her door. Rising with difficulty, owing to the pain in her rheuma tic back, she lifted the latch and looked out. There upon the pprch stood seven boys, their leader in front, with a lighted lantern in his hand. It was Cap’n Joe, who, at the sight of the old woman, with the red shawl over her head, forgot all the fine things which he had planned to say. “We’vecome”—hestammered, “to see if you don’t want us to get your wood in for you.” “Get ray wood in?” replied the old woman, suspiciously. “Get my wood in—pitch dark—this time o’ night. More likely you want to play some joke on me. Off with you, every one of you!” “Don’tyou know him? He’s Joe Bailey!” exclaimed Paul, seizing the lantern and holding it up so that its light fell upon Joe’s face. “He isn’t that kind of a boy, granny. We mean it, honor bright. You must un fasten your shed door and we’ll have the wood inside in less than no time.” “You’d better let us, granny,” said Joe, impressively. “Cause that’s what we’ve come for, and it may save you some trouble in the morning.” Granny White looked at the eager, upturned faces, and felt instinctively that these boys were friends. So she opened her shed door, and for an hour the seven boys worked like beavers. The load of wood was not a large one; but none of the boys was very large or strong, and it required some pluck and perseverance to carry out their resolution. “Now, granny, you bolt the door fast,” said Joe; “and you fasten all your other doors, too; and if you hear anybody round this evening, don’t you feel afraid, for it will be only some of the boys for fun.” Granny White’s expressions of gratitude were profuse, and the boys went home with light hearts and radiant faces. • Two hours later the moon had risen, and by its light three big, burly fellows might have been seen coming stealthily round the corner of Granny White’s shed. They kicked and fumbled around in the snow, and finally one of them muttered: “There’s no wood here, Jim; not a stick.” “There is,” asserted Jim. “’Tisn’t at all likely it’s climbed over the fence itself.” “It’s gone somewhere, sure’s you’re alive,” declared Steve, vigorously shaking the shed door. “Here! stop that!” cried Jim, who was not noted for his valor. “You’ll have the old witch out here herself.” “Yes, and if she brings her broomstick,” sneered Steve, “good-bye to Mr. Jim!” “Well, we might as well go home,” said Jack; “but let me tell you that somebody has had a hand in this little game, and I’d like to know who it is.” A few days later they found out; for the mystic seven had quite forgotten to bind Granny White to secrecy, and the old woman was so pleased with the chivalry of the boys that she spread the story far and wide among the neighbors. When it reached the ears of the three conspirators, Steve whistled; Jack said, “I.told you so;” and even Jim had the grace to be ashamed of himself. Granny White was never molested again. —Morning Star. A GUARANTEE OF MANLINESS. “I don’t know that you will be able to do much with him,” said a father to the principal of a school to whom he had brought his son as a pupil; “he is so full January 9, 1902 of mischief.” “Does he tell the truth?” asked the teacher. “Can I always de pend upon his word?” “Oh, yes,” said the father, “he dishonest. He will tell the truth even when it is against himself. You may depend upon that.” “Then we can manage him,” replied the experienced teacher. “He will make a manly man.” —Selected. A BOY’S RELIGION. •The late Henry Drummond said to a company of boys: “Boys, if you are going to be Christians, be Christians as boys, and not as your grandmothers. A grandmother has to be a Chris tian as a grandmother, and that is the right and, beautiful thing for her; but if you cannot read your Bible by the hour as your grandmother can, or delight in meetings as she can, don’t think that you are necessarily a bad boy. When you are your grand mother’s age, you will have your grandmother’s religion.” Now, there is a great deal in the above for a boy to take to heart, for some boys have the idea that they will be expected to put aside most of their pro pensities if they take upon them selves the duties of Christian boys. This is a mistake No one expects, no one wants them to give up the natural rights and feelings of boyhood. They are not to be in the least grand motherly or grandfatherly, but they are to be happy in the way that God intended all youth should be happy. One of the truest-hearted Christian boys I know is also the merriest. No one would think of calling him “grandmotherly.” He reads his Bible, too, and goes regularly to church and to Sun day-school .—Selected. PECULIAR FOWLS Why do ducks put their heads in the water? For diver’s rea sons. Why do they take them out? For sundry reasons. Why do they put them in again ? To liquidate their little bills. Why do they take them out again? To make a run on the banks. For LiGrippe and Infloenza nse CHENEY’S EXPECTORANT.