PRIZE ESSAY.

HOW TO BE USEFUL IN THE WORLD.

There are five heads under which this subject may be placed--Love, Truthfulness, Obedience, Cheerfulness, Peacemakers.

_Love._ If true love is inspired in our hearts, our chief aim will consist in trying to be a help to others, which is very useful and needful, even in our own homes. The power of love is of such value, that those who know it esteem it as a precious gem set in gold, for without it, our life would be a path of misery and woe--two of the most terrible burdens in the world. Love is the true spring of usefulness.

_Truthfulness_ is always needful. He who is tempted to tell a lie should consider that he may be struck dead while doing so; and then, where will his soul awake? Truth _will_ out, if it be a long while hidden. It will stand like the mountain against the roaring sea--nothing can move it; for with it, is a clear conscience in the sight of G.o.d. If truth were spoken more freely and carefully, we should be far happier. Its preciousness cannot be sufficiently prized.

_Obedience_ is often the root of cheerfulness. An obedient child has this motto in view--"Thou, G.o.d, seest me." Obedience is useful in preserving us from many dangers, which our elders can often foresee, and which might prove the ruin of our immortal souls if we were to be disobedient. Thus it brings happiness into the homes and hearts of children and parents, and so produces cheerfulness.

_Cheerfulness_ is sure to arise, in due course, from G.o.dliness. If we have trials, we should not give way to despair, and make those about us unhappy; but we should try to attend to our work, and look at the brighter side of our troubles, and encourage those whom we often find in greater difficulties than ourselves; at the same time, not forgetting to take our crosses to G.o.d. We may cheer many a saddened heart by cheerful words, and sometimes entice the young revenger to forget and forgive.

_Peacemakers_ are thus spoken of--"Blessed are the peacemakers; for they shall be called the children of G.o.d" (Matt. v. 9). Christ teaches us this in His sermon on the mount; and He also set us the example. A little child may be a peacemaker, if it is only to say a word of love, and so stem the rising tempest. In time, it may develop itself more fully, and we may thus honour our holy Master by treading in His footsteps, and proving a help to all who know it, in speaking His truth boldly and sincerely.

For an example of usefulness, we must consider the precious Jesus, and pray for grace to imitate Him in all His ways; then we shall not willingly do wrong, for He is superlatively good.

MARGARET CREASEY (Aged 14 years).

_Sydney House, Sleaford._

[Our young friend tells us her age will not admit of her writing the Essays in future, but we hope she will not forget us, and we pray that the Lord may give her grace to live a useful and honourable life as a disciple of Jesus.

We have received several creditable Essays this month, those from E. B.

Knocker, Jane Bell, Lilly Rush, Florrie Rush, and W. E. Cray deserving special mention as giving signs of approaching success.]

[The writer of the above Essay receives a copy of "Notable Workers in Humble Life."

The subject for July will be, "The Difference between 'Uncertain Riches'

and 'The True Riches'" (see Tim. vi. 17; Prov. xxiii. 5; Luke xvi. 11; Prov. viii. 18, &c.); and the prize to be given for the best Essay on that subject, a copy of "The Story of the Spanish Armada." All compet.i.tors must give a guarantee that they are under fifteen years of age, and that the Essay is their own composition, or the papers will be pa.s.sed over, as the Editor cannot undertake to write for this necessary information. Papers must be sent direct to the Editor, Mr. T. Hull, 117, High Street, Hastings, by the first of June.]

We insert the following to show what even very young children can accomplish by trying, and with a desire to encourage our young friend and others to _try again_:--

HOW TO BE USEFUL IN THE WORLD.

Little children can be useful in many ways. First, learn to be useful at home. Lay the meals, and do the dusting; go on errands, and be kind to brothers and sisters. Always speak the truth, and obey your parents; and if you are sent out on an errand, or with a message, and any other little children try to persuade you to go with them, mind and obey your parents. Be gentle in your manner and duties, and be careful with little children, if you have to see to them, and with your brothers and sisters, and in all your duties. We should be very careful to do what we are told to do, and also very careful not to do what we are told not to do. Be kind, not selfish; dutiful to parents; and do little things willingly; try and persevere at school; be strictly honest, whatever occupation you may be in; always be just, and if you do this, people will feel they can trust you; but if you do not, people will say they cannot trust you. Set an example not to be cruel to anything or any body, but to be kind to all, and love and obey your parents.

MERCY PHILLIPS (Aged 7 years, 10 months).

_Lindfield, Hayward's Heath._

Interesting Items.

OVER 10,000,000 eggs now arrive in New York city weekly. One recent Canada train had thirty-one cars, with 200,000 eggs in each. The chief supply to the New York market comes from Canada and Michigan.

UNITED STATES' FLOUR EXPORTS.--The United States now manufacture yearly 70,000,000 barrels of flour, and of this one-seventh part is exported.

The great bulk of this flour is sent from eight Atlantic ports to Europe.

AMONG the "fowls of the air" are three, the eagle, swan, and raven, which live to the age of one hundred years or more. The paroquet and heron attain the goodly age of sixty years. The sparrow-hawk, duck, and pelican may live to be forty, while the peac.o.c.k and linnet reach the quarter century, and the canary twenty-four years.

A SAGACIOUS DOG.--Just recently a dog, of the black and tan terrier species, entered the Bolton Infirmary un.o.bserved, and forced itself upon the attention of the house-surgeon, who found one of the animal's legs broken. With the aid of nurses he set the limb, the dog meanwhile licking the surgeon's hand. It refused to leave the inst.i.tution, and was installed as an in-patient. How the dog got into the infirmary is unknown.

WE understand that the hall which, for the last nearly sixty years, has been appropriated in Glasgow to caricaturing religion, and where mockery of the Sabbath, recitations, comic songs, dancing, and all sorts of diabolical devices to entrap weak souls, were revelled in, where many Sabbaths Mrs. Besant and Mr. Bradlaugh gave vent to their mockery and blasphemy of G.o.d, is henceforth to be used for the worship of the Almighty.

ORIGIN OF THE WORD "NEWS."--The word "news" is not, as many may imagine, derived from the adjective "new." In former years (between 1595 and 1730) it was a prevalent practice to put over the periodical publications of the day the initial letters of the cardinal points of the compa.s.s, thus--N E W S, implying that those papers contained intelligence from the four quarters of the globe, and from this practice is derived the term of "newspaper."

A TELEGRAM states that the body of Alexander the Great has been found among the sarcophagi lately unearthed at Saida, in Syria. It is stated that the body can be positively identified by its inscription, and other particulars. Alexander is known to have died at Babylon, and on his death-bed he is stated to have told his sons to convey his body to Alexandria, the city he had founded at the mouth of the Nile. Although the monarch did not live thirty-three years, or reign thirteen, he did more than all before or since his time.

AMONGST the most curious of recorded wills is that of a Mr. Thomas Tuke, of Wath, near Rotherham, who, dying in 1810, bequeathed a penny to every child that should be present at his funeral. Another provision of the will ordered a shilling to be given to every poor woman in Wath, whilst to his own daughter he only bequeathed the pittance of four guineas per annum. An old woman had for eleven years attended him. To her he bequeathed the munificent sum of one guinea only, for, as he expressed it, "tucking him up in bed." A further whimsy of the selfish humourist was a bequest of forty dozen penny buns to be thrown from the church tower at noon on Christmas Day for ever.

ONE day, a gentleman's attention was attracted by an unusual commotion in his stable, where two carriage horses were kept. Looking in, he saw that one of the animals had got out of its loose box, and was helping itself to a bucket of mash which the coachman had left at the door. The other horse was neighing loudly, evidently demanding a share in the feast. What was the gentleman's surprise to see the first horse fill its mouth with the mash, and then push its nose through the bars of the loose box, for its imprisoned companion to take the relish from its mouth. This was repeated several times. The horse which was thus fed had often been seen to push over some of his hay into his companion's rack, when that was emptied first.

A SUBMERGED FOREST.--During the late violent storms in the Channel, the sea washed through a high and hard sand-bank near St. Malo, nearly four metres thick, laying bare a portion of an ancient forest which was already pa.s.sing into the condition of coal. This forest at the beginning of our era covered an extensive tract of the coast; but with the sinking of the land it became submerged and covered up by the drifting sand.

Mont Saint Michel once stood in the middle of it. The forest had quite disappeared by the middle of the tenth century. Occasionally, at very low tides after storms, remains of it are disclosed, just as at present.

It is believed that, some centuries ago, the highest tides rose about twelve metres above the level of the lowest ebb. Now the high-water level is 15.5 metres above the lowest.

PREACHING at Kensington the other week, Cardinal Manning said that there are labouring in London no less than 350 Roman Catholic priests and 1,000 nuns.

A SNAKE THAT UNDERSTOOD ENGLISH.--It is related that some Americans recently going through the Jardin des Plantes of Paris, stopped to look at a big rattlesnake in a cage. It lay motionless, apparently asleep, but when two of the party who lingered behind began to speak in English, it moved, lifted its head, and gave every sign of interest. They told their companions that the snake understood English. The whole party then returned to the cage. The snake was apparently asleep again. They conversed in French, but the snake made no movement. Then the ladies began to speak in English. The snake started, lifted its head, and showed the same alertness as before at the sounds. The rattlesnake proved, on inquiry, to have come from Virginia.

THE SOUTH AFRICAN GOLD FIELDS.--The _Natal Mercury_ says:--"The gold exports for January, 1888, from Natal were 31,447, and from the Cape 26,115, making a total of 57,562. This is a capital opening for the first month of the year, and if continued in the same ratio, will mean the handsome total for the year of 690,744. Glowing reports continue to come in from the Waterfall, at the Kantoor. A number of buildings are going up. Last week a seven-ounce nugget was brought into Barberton. Two Portuguese are said to be making, on an average, four ounces per day, say 100 per week, and their ground is described as a regular 'bank.' Of course they and a few others are exceptionally lucky ones; but all are said to be making a good living."

ST. PATRICK'S DAY IN NEW YORK.--The following "open letter" has been addressed to the Mayor of New York:--"69, Wall Street, New York, March 19th, 1888.--My dear Sir,--While coming from Washington yesterday on the limited express, my eye caught the telegram printed in a Washington paper announcing your order forbidding the display of the Irish flag from the City Hall on St. Patrick's Day. I could not repress an audible and emphatic 'Amen,' quite to the surprise of the ladies and gentlemen in the car. For many years I, in company with thousands of Americans and adopted citizens from England, France, and Germany, have been outraged and scandalized by this annual insult to our intelligence, our pride of country, our religious belief. In the minds of many others besides the writer, that banner represents in a large degree the worst elements in our body politic--ignorance, vice, bigotry, and crime. It is displayed on the 17th of March in nearly every rum shop, gambling h.e.l.l, and thieves' den in New York. It was borne in the ranks of the murderous mob that held possession of the city in the July riots of '63. But, aside from this, no legal or other right exists for the display of that flag or any other, except the ones you indicate, from the City Hall of the great metropolis of a land whose people are by a large majority consistent Protestants, on a day set apart to honour the memory of a fabulous Roman Catholic saint. Furthermore, this is literally a rum-sellers' and a rum-drinkers' procession. The wholesale rum-seller rides on horseback, the retail rum-seller rides in a carriage, the drinkers walk, until many of them, overcome by rum, fall in the gutter, are gathered up by the police, cared for in the station houses and the penitentiary, cleaned, and clothed, and fed at the expense of the long-suffering taxpayer. I respect the honest, right-living Irishman or woman, Catholic or Protestant, and would not deny them a single right to which I, a native-born American citizen, am ent.i.tled; but I enter my indignant protest against the steadily increasing attacks upon our most valued inst.i.tutions by this largely foreign-born and most turbulent portion of our population. It is high time to call a halt and compel obedience to decency and law. You will certainly receive the heartfelt thanks and unanimous support of every lover of our city, our country, our inst.i.tutions, our laws.--I am, my dear sir, very respectfully yours, GEORGE SHEPARD PAGE. To his Honour A. S. Hewitt, Mayor of the City of New York." [We say, All due honour to the n.o.ble Mayor of New York, for such a common-sense decision.--ED.]