THE FUN-MAKER

A certain writer, speaking of Signor Blitz, a successful necromancer of the past century, shows how invariably he turned his talent to good account, and how often, though but a ventriloquist and a "magician," he accomplished what defied the physician, the lawyer, and the philosopher. In his tour of the West Indies it is said he had a fine field in the superstitions of the people. They regarded him as something more than mortal, and called on him to work impossibilities. The sick, the lame, the blind, the unfortunate, hailed him as the gcod physician. He told them he was no dealer in miracles, no spiritualist, no astrologer, nothing but an artist traveling to make a living for himself by giving innocent pleasures to others, and at the same time to show by his own progress the progress of science. Yet, with these qualities, he did what many an ancient necromancer would have failed in. He reconciled hostile parents to the marriage of faithful lovers; frightened the drunkard into temperance; infused courage into a ship's crew during a storm at sea, and once compelled the restoration of her fortune to a poor girl by making the portrait of the dead brother of the dishonest guardian speak in stern rebuke of his guilt. But no part of this curious character is so agreeable as his constant attendance upon the With his birds, his rabbits, his ventriloquy, he was greeted with joy by the poor creatures, whose minds "like sweet bells jangled, out of tune," were made briefly happy by his kindness and his skill. During the war he was omnipresent in the hospitals, performing gratuitously to the maimed and broken, filling the hours of convalescence with joy, and smoothing the pillows of the weary. He gave one hundred and thirty-two entertainments before sixty-three thousand soldiers, and three weeks, every afternoon and evening, at the "Great Sanitary Fair," in Logan Square, Philadelphia. All this work was gratuitous. In his autobiography he states his mission thus:

"Witless sighing and croaking oddly contrast with the full, free bursts of glee which break forth from the merry troops of children we meet on every hand, or the loud and joyous songs of the bright birds, to whose pure notes the streams and winds join their full chorus.

"It was a laugh which gave birth to Eden's first echo, and why not let it still live on?

"He who gives us one hour's pure pleasure is a far greater philanthropist than he who prates of charity and heaven, which can only be obtained, so says his creed, by passing through lives of sighing, fasting, and continued slavish fear of Him who would have us in all things free, living for the beautiful and good alone."

Not such happiness as is seen and commended by the foolish lovers of the world, but such as the good and faithful servants of Christ wait for, and of which the spiritual and pure in heart, whose conversation is in heaven, sometimes have a foretaste.-Thomas A. Kempis.

SOMETIME

Sometime, when all life's lessons have been learned,
And sun and stars for evermore have set,

The things which our weak judgments here have spurned,
The things o'er which we grieved with lashes wet,

Will flash before us, out of life's dark night,

As stars shine most in deeper tints of blue;
And we shall see how all God's plans are right,
And how what seemed reproof was love most true.
And we shall see, while we frown and sigh,
God's plans go on as best for you and me;
How, when we called, he heeded not our cry,
Because his wisdom to the end could see.
And e'en as prudent parents disallow

Too much of sweet to craving babyhood,
So God, perhaps, is keeping from us now

Life's sweetest things, because it seemeth good. And if sometimes, commingled with life's wine, We find the wormwood, and rebel and shrink, Be sure a wiser hand than yours or mine

Pours out this potion for our lips to drink;
And if some friend we love is lying low,
Where human kisses cannot reach his face,
O, do not blame the loving Father so,

But wear your sorrow with obedient grace!
And you shall shortly know that lengthened breath
Is not the sweetest gift God sends his friend,
And that, sometimes, the sable pall of death
Conceals the fairest boon his love can send.
If we could push ajar the gates of life,

And stand within, and all God's workings see,
We could interpret all this doubt and strife,

And for each mystery could find a key.

But not to-day. Then be content, poor heart!
God's plans like lilies pure and white unfold;
We must not tear the close-shut leaves apart;

Time will reveal the calyxes of gold.
And if, through patient toil, we reach the land
Where tired feet, with sandals loosed, may rest,
When we shall clearly know and understand,

I think that we will say "God knew the best."
-May Riley Smith.

PLAYING GOLF

Above our heads the clear blue sky,
We bound the gowaned sward o'er,
And as our balls fly far and high,

Our bosoms glow with ardor.
O blessings on pure cauler air

And every healthy sport, boys,

That makes sweet Nature seem more fair
And makes long life seem short, boys.

We putt, we drive, we laugh, we chat,
Our strokes and jokes aye clinking,

We banish all extraneous fat,

And all extraneous thinking.

We'll cure you of a summer cold
Or of a winter cough, boys,

We'll make you young when you are old,
So come and play at golf, boys.

Then don your brilliant scarlet coats,

With your bright blue velvet caps, boys,
And some shall play the rocket shots
And some the putting paps, boys.

No son of Scotland, man or boy,

Shall e'er become an oaf, boys,

Who gathers friendship, health and joy

By playing at the golf, boys.-James Ballantyne.

SEEKING GOD JOYOUSLY

How joyous a thing it was to the Hebrews to seek their God! How artlessly they call upon him to entertain them in his pavilion, to cover them with his feathers, to hide them in his secret place, to hold them in the hollow of his hand or stretch around them the everlasting arms! These men were true children of Nature. As the humming-bird among its own palm-trees, so they lived their joyous lives. And even the full share of the sadder experiences of life which came to all of them but drove them the farther into the Secret Place, and led them with more consecration to make, as they expressed it, "the Lord their portion." The New Testament has nothing higher to offer man than this. The Psalmist's "God is our refuge and strength" is only the earlier form, less defined, less practicable, but not less noble, of Christ's "Come unto Me, and I will give you rest."-Henry Drummond.

OUT-DOOR FUN

"Athletic sports were in high favor at Blumfield," says Louisa M. Olcott in Jo's Boys; " and the river where the old punt used to wobble about with a cargo of small boys,

or echo to the shrill screams of the little girls trying to get lilies, now was alive with boats of all kinds, from the slender wherry to the trim pleasure-craft, gay with cushions, awnings, and fluttering pennons. Everyone rowed, and the girls as well as the boys, had their races, and developed their muscles in the most scientific manner. The large level meadow near the old willow was now the college playground, and here baseball battles raged with fury, varied by football, leaping, and kindred sports fitted to split the fingers, break the ribs and strain the backs of the too ambitious participants. The gentler pastimes were at a safe distance from the Champ de Mars; croquet mallets clicked under the elms that fringed the field, racquets rose and fell energetically in several tennis courts, and gates were handy to practice the graceful bound by which every girl expected to save her life some day, when the mad bull, which was always coming but never seemed to arrive, should be bellowing at her heels."

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NEAR THE TENNIS COURT

Athletic sports have a great deal to do with one's "health, wealth and happiness." By building up the body and breathing daily "great mouthfuls of fresh air," one becomes stronger, more hopeful, and more able to deal with life's problems in an effective way.

Seek Heaven as your first great good.-Philo.

A MERRY TONGUE

Perhaps no one man's sayings have given so many people entertainment as Sidney Smith's. No matter if he lived over a hundred years ago. People 'have

BRINGETH LIGHT

been laughing ever since at the funny things he said, and so the world's debt to him increases. To have made thousands of people laugh is no slight service to humanity. See how blithely and wholesomely he took life. "There, Kate, you lucky girl, I give you all my fortune," a poor young curate, he cried to his bride, tossing joyfully into her lap his entire worldly wealth, which consisted of six silver teaspoons. The good turn in his affairs came about through one to whom he had been a delightful companion.

Learn from him that you can even grumble in a way to put people in a merry temper, and that there is a clever fashion of making embarrassing situations pay tribute to fun. At Holland House, when, according to custom, a chance visitor was ushered into the dining-room and invited to take a seat at a table already (according to custom) overcrowded with guests, some confusion was betrayed, when Lady Holland said, "Make room, please." "It will certainly have to be made, for it is not here," said Mr. Smith, putting the truth in such a comical way that everybody had to laugh and nobody felt badly.

The benevolence which he ever showed in adding to the happiness and comfort of his fellow-beings was none the less practical because he had a lively tongue, or because he loved flowers, or liked to see young folks have a gay time. When he visited the sick and poor he always had something to give away. He anticipated Henry Bergh in efforts for the prevention of cruelty to animals. He was so kind to animals encountered in his pastoral visits that they remembered him. A laughable and thoroughly characteristic provision which he made for their comfort, was an invention called the "universal scratcher," at which beasts might scratch their backbones without breaking gates and palings. Sickness could not crush his merry spirits. When his physician advised him to take a walk upon an empty stomach, he asked, "Upon whose?" When he was dieted and they would not let him