to vour children; it is time well invested. You can never get nearer to them than in these days when they are living so near to nature. Does all this sound too much like a sermon? Never mind, likely enough you are not hearing many sermons this month, for the preachers have all taken to the woods. In conclusion, then, conform your lives and open your hearts to content, and upon your heads will rest the benediction, "The peace of God which passeth all understanding."-Ellen Lee Wyman. SING A SONG. if you'll sing a song as you go along, If you'll sing a song as you plod along, And you'll make new friends, till hope descends And all because of a little song: If you'll sing the song as you plod along! -Selected. ** THE WHISTLING BOY. Is there a sound in the world so sweet, on a dark and dreary morn, When the gloom without meets the gloom within, till we wish we'd not been born, As the sound of a little barefoot boy gaily whistling in the rain, While he drives the cows to pastures green, down the path in the muddy lane? The joy of a boy is a funny thing, not dampened by autumn rain; His clothes and his hands and his sturdy feet are not spoiled by grime or stain; The world to him is a wonderful place that he means some day to explore If there's time to play and plenty to eat, who cares if the heavens pour? Oh, that cheery trill of a heart as fresh as the drops that clear the air, Brings a smile to our lips, and clears the soul of gloom that brood ed there; And we bless the boy as he spats along through rivers of rain and mud, For the hope and cheer in that whistled note would rainbow the sky in a flood. -Celia S. Berkstesser, in Ladies' Home Journal. THE FRAGRANCE OF A GENTLE LIFE. Once in crossing a meadow I came to a spot that was filled with fragrance. Yet I could see no flowers, and I wondered whence the fragrance came. At last I found, low down,close to the ground, hidden by the tall grass, innumerable little flowers. It was from these that the fragrance came. I enter some homes. There is a rich perfume of love that pervades all the place. It may be a home of wealth and luxury, or it may be plain and bare. No matter; it is not the house, nor the furniture, nor the adornment that makes this air of sweetness. I look closely. It is a gentle woman, mother or daughter, quiet, hiding herself away, from whose life the fragrance flows. The gentle There is a wondrous charm in a gentle spirit. girl in a home may not be beautiful, may not be well educated, may not be musical or an artist or "clever" in any way, but wherever she moves she leaves a benediction. Her sweet patience is never disturbed by the sharp words that fall about her. The children love her because she never tires of them. She helps them with their lessons, listens to their frets and worries, mends their broken toys, makes dolls' dresses, straightens out the tangles and settles their little quarrels and finds time to play with them. When there is sickness in the home she is the angel of comfort. Her face is always bright with the outshining of love. Her voice has music in it as it falls in cheerful tenderness on the sufferer's ear, Her hands are wondrously gentle as their soothing touch rests on the aching head, as they minister in countless ways about the bed of pain. "The lives that make the world so sweet Are shy, and hide like the humble flowers. BOOKS FOR USE IN PRIMARY ASSOCIATIONS. Primary Roll Book..... Primary Report Blanks, per doz... A Young Folks' History of the Church, by Nephi Anderson, Cloth. Life Sketches by Aurelia S. Rogers.. ... $1.00 .25 .50 .25 .75 .10 1.50 Minutes of the First General Conference of the Primary As sociations.... Life of Christ, by Canon Farrar, illustrated.. ... A Child's Life of Brigham Young, by Wm. A. Morton.. .. .60 1.50 .20 music.... Song Stories, by Hill, words and music.. For sale at this office; address all orders and communications to Miss May Anderson, 204 Templeton Building, Salt Lake City, Songs of the Child World, by Gaynor; words and music.... 1.00 Songs for Little Children, by Eleanor Smith, words and .30 1.00 1.00 THE CHILDREN'S FRIEND. VOL. II. ORGAN OF THE PRIMARY ASSOCIATIONS OF THE LET TOMORROW TAKE CARE OF TOMORROW. Let tomorrow take care of tomorrow; Life's troubles come never too late. If to hope overmuch be an error, 'Tis one that the wise have preferred; And how often have hearts been in terror Of evils that never occurred. Have faith, and thy faith shall sustain thee; With invisible bonds to enchain thee; But think how oft hearts have been saddened Let tomorrow take care of tomorrow, We Half our troubles are half our inventions, -Selected. |