THE CHILDREN'S FRIEND. VUL. II. ORGAN OF THE PRIMARY ASSOCIATIONS OF THE Edited and Published by the General Board. FEBRUARY, 1903. THE TEACHER'S CALL. Give of your garnered treasure Never the needless part. Give of your own life's sunshine Strength to the weak alway; But to the little children Your spirit's best today. Teach little lips to utter All fearlessly the truth. Scatter the good you've gathered- Of the lowly Nazarene. Fold them, His flock, securely, Carry the lambs alway. No. 2. -Martha A. Liders. LESSONS FOR THE MONTH. Opening exercises for the month. "I'll serve the Lord while I am young." S. S. Song Book, page 17. To be repeated after teacher: "Heavenly Father, Thee we love; For when we seek with earnest work, For seeds we plant, thou sendest showers, Oh, hear this prayer of praise to Thee, "Because He Loves Me So." Page 52. Suggestive Talk. 1. Once upon a time there was a shepherd who had the care of a great many sheep. He took good care of them because he loved them all so dearly. When they were hungry he would feed them, when they were thirsty he gave them water so they could drink, and every night they were led safely into the fold where they could be safe from all danger, and nothing could come to make them afraid. One day when the shepherd was leading the sheep into the fold, one little one lingered behind and thought it could take care of itself; he wandered off into the wrong path and very soon was lost, it could not see any of its companions, and soon became very much afraid; the night was cold and dark, and the foolish little sheep was very sorry that it had not stayed with the kind shepherd. But the shepherd knew that one of his sheep was lost, when they were going into the fold he counted every one of them and knew that one was gone. He did not want to lose any of them, so he locked all the rest in the fold and started out to find the missing one. Up and down the mountain side the shepherd went looking everywhere for his little sheep. At last he heard in the distance something that called "Ba'a bu'a," and that helped him to find the poor, tired and frightened little animal. The shepherd was so glad to find the little sheep that he just took him right up in his arms and carried him home. Jesus has said that He was "The Good Shepherd." Shall we try to be like Him? 2. Marching is a very good exercise for the children, and if conditions are favorable it could be used in connection with the lesson for this day. Review the story of the Good Shepherd, then say that you will be the leader and everyone may follow. Be careful that no one strays and gets lost. When all are reseated the talk may be continued. Jesus said to the people once, "I am the Shepherd, my sheep know my voice and they will follow me.' I think that He meant that we must do as He did when He lived upon the earth. Let us see if we know of anything that Jesus did when He was a little child. Review early life of Jesus, His home, and parents; their humble life; and lead from that to talk of what children may do today that will be helpful and kind. Let us repeat this verse to help us to remember the Good. Shepherd. "Like the lambs, we little children 3. How many of you have played "Follow the leader" at home or on the street? Vernon, you may tell us how to play it? "The children all follow the leader." "And he leads just where he thinks it is best to go, doesn't he? Well, Nellie, what do you know about this game?" "Everybody must do as the leader does." "What helps us to go the right way? Jennie, do you know ?" "Our eyes." "Yes, but suppose we are led into a dark room, could your eyes show the way? What can we use in a dark room to help us to see? Yes, a light, sometimes a candle or lamp or electric light. Sometimes when the evening time comes, mamma sits sewing, perhaps mending or darning for us, and she needs something right by her to show where to put the needle. Then at night when papa comes home, there is something on the street that helps him to find his way home. What is it? Sometimes the moon helps but we cannot always have the moonlight to show us the way to go at night. I was thinking of the street lamps. Then there are the beautiful stars, which twinkle so high in the sky. Let us say a little verse about the star: "Twinkle, twinkle, little star, 4. Sing "Twinkle, twinkle, little star," the teacher adding the two following verses: "When the blazing sun is gone, "Then the traveller in the dark How many lights can you think of that help us to go safely? When Jesus lived on the earth He said to the people, "I am the light." Light shows the way to go and Jesus came down from heaven to show every one the right way to go so that some time we, too, may live with Him in heaven above. When Jesus was a little child what did He do for His parents? How can we be like Him? Do you think that we could be little lights and help others? We will learn a little verse that will help us to remember. "Lord make my life a little light, A little light that burneth bright GAMES. Young children are apt to get tired when expected to remain seated for any great length of time, and little exercises introduced into the lessons will be found helpful in maintaining order. Care and discretion must be used by the teacher that all the children get an opportunity to take part and also that the exercises never become rude or noisy. The following game gives all the children an opportunity to take part and exercises may be varied, for the mother's work, washing, ironing, mixing bread and cake, sweeping, dusting, etc., for the father's work, hammering, sawing, sowing seed, raking, etc. Choose a child to stand in front who shall go through the motions of sweeping the floor, the rest of the children imitate and keep time singing: Tune, Bye baby, bye oh: Oh, a happy band are we What mother does we all may see, Let Lilly the leader be. Another good play is the Snow Game. The children all rise, lift arms high, with palms of hands down, now let arms move up and down with fingers moving as rapidly as possible to represent a snow storm. Now choose one or two children to stand in front, to be snow men, two other children may play that they are making the snowmen and when they are ready all the others will pick up the imaginary snow and with strong, vigorous action throw snowballs at the snowmen until they are knocked to pieces and sink gently to the floor as though they were really thrown down by the snowballs. MISS SKINNER'S BIRTHDAY. “Mamma, it's Miss Skinner's birthday, next Monday, and the boys and girls say they are going to get lots of fun out of it." "What is that, Dolly ?" asked Mrs. Motherwell, turning around from the table where she was making sugar cookies. "Sit down and tell me about it." "But, mamma, it's a secret," said Dolly, anxiously. "Not all the boys and girls know. But I always tell you everything." "Yes, Dolly," said Mrs. Motherwell, looking at her with the beautiful brown eyes, so sincere, yet so loving, that invited confidence from every one. "Well, mamma, you know how cross Miss Skinner is never says a pleasant word to anybody, and what a fuss she makes whenever we children play in the grove near her house as if it belonged to her! Grant Scudder says he's wanted to 'pay her off' ever since she slapped his little brother for picking up an apple outside her fence. And now we've found out when her birthday comes! Lucy Wells's aunt stopped to speak with Miss Skinner the other day, when she was working in her garden, and she told her how we all celebrated Squire Bennet's ninetieth birthday, last week. But all she said was, 'Humph! it takes rich folks to get attention! my birthday comes next Monday, but there won't be a soul to remember it, and, lands knows, I wouldn't thank 'em if they did! I don't ask favors from nobody!' Then she went on |