THE SECRET.
"On dear, how stupid everything seems!" sighed Laura.
"What do you mean, Laura?"
"Why, that I am tired of being just a common-place American girl. I wish that I were a nobleman's daughter, or a queen. It is just as though I were thirsty for something, Cousin Nell."
"My dear child, take just one week to read about the "queens.” Count, as you read, the happy and the unhappy ones, and let me know the result. I will give you the words of a beautiful French queen to begin with:
"'Alas!' (she wrote at one time to her favorite niece) 'alas, that I cannot give you my experience that I cannot show you the weariness of soul by which the great are devoured, the difficulty which they find in getting through their days! Do you not see how they die of sadness in the midst of that fortune which has been a burden to them? I have been young and beautiful, I have tasted many pleasures, I have been universally beloved;
at a more advanced age I have passed years in the intercourse of talent and wit; and I solemnly protest to you that all conditions leave a frightful void.'
"This, Laura, is true of every heart, high or low, rich or poor, till it find out the secret of those words of Jesus, the words that he spoke to the woman at the well of Samaria:" Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again; but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. John 4:14
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STARTING ANEW.
VACATION is over, and all the boys and girls are at their homes again.
This is well. It is not good for anybody, old or young, to have too long a time for play. A little play and a good deal of work should be the rule. God himself works, and he would have all his children work. He never made any one to be idle. The devil only has use for idle people. But in returning home most of our young readers go back to their schools and their studies. Here they are at work.
It is to be a long pull of eight or nine months, and it will be a splendid opportunity for accomplishing a great deal. As we have been through this experience, our young friends will, we are sure, permit us to say a few words.
And the first thing we would say is, Do not be afraid of work—of hard work. Many of our studies may appear very dry and uninteresting, and it may be a real drudgery to get our lessons. But never mind this; some day you will find the benefit. The harder you work away now, the more you will have by and by. The second thing we would say is, Improve each day as it comes. See to it that your habits of promptness, of cleanliness, of regularity, and of perseverance are carefully watched. These things may be the best part of your education.
Whoever improves the whole day as well as he can will accomplish much In the third place, Do not neglect any of your studies. You cannot see well now which will prove the most important. It is quite common to hear boys and girls say they hate this or that study. What! Hate the very study, which gives them the knowledge they will most need? Remember the old saying, "The roots of learning may be bitter, but the fruits will be sweet." Just be willing to plod along, and by and by you will get over the hard places and have a smooth road before you. Begin and continue right, and you will end right.
Parish Visitor.