THE TELEPHONE. You see a gentleman in the picture holding one tube-like instrument to his mouth and another to his ear. About two miles off, in a pretty suburban villa, a young and pleasant looking woman is doing the same thing,-holding similar instruments to her lips and ears. The lady and gentleman are man and wife, and, though two miles apart, are holding a conversation with each other by means of the Telephone. Let us just hear what they are saying. 66 Edith, dear." "Yes, love." "When will dinner be ready?" "At half-past two exactly." "But I can't get for an hour later.” "Very well, I shall put off till then." "I am going to bring a gentleman with me, if you have no objection." 66 'Oh, are you? Well, I hope it's not that horrid German who is always smoking." 66 Yes, it's my friend Ranchter, but as he now knows you dread smoking, if he wants to smoke he will go into the garden.” "Very well; mind you don't be later than half-past three." The gentleman lays aside his instrument saying, "What a bright little woman I have got. There isn't a better housewife in London, and I consider myself a lucky fellow to have got her." MAKING BEAUTY. SOME school girls were using the last golden moments of recess in bright, playful talk. Madame Roget's table was near enough for her to understand the remark, though she seemed otherwise engaged. "Which would you rather be-rich or beautiful?" asked one. “Beautiful, of course!" they all exclaimed, with the exception of a girl who ventured to say, "Rich." "You're not likely to be either," whispered one girl, contemptuously. ... Madame Roget glanced toward the group, and began rapidly to make mental comments. Those girls, with their soul-lit faces, were like so many open books to her. She watched lovingly the sweet play of generous feeling, and turned away sorrowfully from flashes of envy and insincerity. "Madame Roget says we can make ourselves beautiful or otherwise," said one. "All our feelings leave an impress not noticeable at first; but by and by the lines will appear, and, before we are aware, our faces will have taken expression from our character.” "Mamma says the same thing. She knew two sisters long ago, one of whom everybody said would be beautiful, and the other very plain. But as they grew older the beautiful one became more and more selfish, and the plain one more and more generous and noble in every way, till the face of one lost its beauty, and that of the other was almost heavenly. Papa says it has been just so with boys he has known.” "I'd like to have a beautiful soul," said one, thoughtfully. "It is sure to shine out of the eyes," said another. 66 "Nonsense!" exclaimed a girl who knew quite well that she had faultless features. "Certainly, Isabel; we don't expect you to think anything else," whispered her next neighbour. "By the way, your cousin doesn't look the least like you." "Girls, what do you think of her?" inquired Isabel, eagerly. They glanced toward a girl, the centre of another group. "She's pretty, and yet she isn't. She has a bright, open look that one can trust, and that's better than the most regular features without the trustworthiness." "You should not choose for me," said Isabel, angrily. The girls looked surprised at this sudden outburst. Just then the bell rang, so that a blunt girl had only time to say, "Look in the glass, my dear, and you will see several ugly things in your facepride and envy-if I may believe my eyes." Isabel pushed her aside angrily, sending at the same time no very amiable glance across to the unconscious cousin, who had just come to live with her. At the close of school she kept aloof from the others, in the dressing-room, and also during the walk home. She even ran upstairs without waiting to speak with her father and mother. No one suspected the cause, and yet throughout the evening every one felt more comfortable at a distance from her. The children gave her sly glances, and turned to make friends with the new cousin. As she sat before her toilet-table brushing her long hair for the night, Isabel was really startled at her own face in the glass. There were some things in it she had never seen before. "Can it be that Madame Roget is right?" she exclaimed. But it was not in the least agreeable to think so; and gradually the discontented look passed away, leaving only a certain self-satisfied expression that rested on her face, and did some silent work before morning. Next day, almost the first sounds she heard were the children's loving words to the new cousin. "They care more for her than for me, their own sister," she exclaimed bitterly, the bright look in her beautiful eyes giving place to an expression of envy; so that little Elsie paused in the impulse to kiss her, and Jamie exclaimed, "Ob, sister, what makes you look so?" Isabel was smiling upon them in a moment, however, and the bad feelings were pushed out of sight. Still, they were in the heart ; ready, on the slightest provocation, to come out and do more work upon the face that might have been so lovely. Alice, the new cousin, was soon made to feel that she could expect little affection from Isabel; still, she met coldness with kindness, and waited patiently. Meanwhile, Isabel was growing very miserable; wrong feelings were becoming to her strong as iron bands. Even she could see that the beauty was going out of her face, leaving none of that beauty of soul she had so heartily despised. Alice's patient kindness won her at last. She began to watch her with loving eyes and to wish to be like her. "How did Alice grow so lovely, mamma?" Isabel asked one night. "Alice would tell you that all the good in her is a gift from God, and that the strength by which she lives so loving and beautiful a life comes day by day from the Lord Jesus Christ." "Just the old, old story you have been telling me all my life, mamma; and yet it seems like something very new just now.” "That is because you are willing to take it, my child. Christ can do nothing for us until we receive and rest upon Him alone for everything; then we shall know what it is to be helped." "Dear mamma, one great mistake has been that I thought so much of the outward, forgetting that I could not have that right unless I were beautiful within. But now I see the folly of this. I will let it go, and seek to be beautiful in God's sight." Dear girls, it is so natural to want to be beautiful; and apart from the vanity that accompanies self-seeking, there can be no harm in the desire. Only be careful not to make a mistake just here. Value holiness of character for its own sake, and not alone for any outward advantage it may give. In the end, however you may look to the world in general, you will be very beautiful in the eyes of those you know best. Let me say to you, in the good words of another: "Christ offers to. make you beautiful. He offers to give you help to fill the place where He has set you with the beauty of heaven. O young maidens who would be beautiful, there is no other way. You must go to the pierced heart of Jesus for true beauty. Christ is the true beautifier. It is He alone who can put pride and self and sin away from your hearts, and make you shine like sweet flowers in the homes in which He has planted you." WASHINGTON AND THE CORPORAL. Ir is related that during the American Revolution, the corporal of little company was giving orders to those under him relative to a piece of timber, which they were endeavouring to raise up to the top of some military works they were repairing. The timber went up with difficulty, and on this account the voice of the little-great man was often heard, in regular vociferations of "Heave away! There she goes! Heave ho!" An officer, not in military costume, was passing, and asked the noncommissioned officer why he did not take hold and render a little aid. The latter, astonished, turning round with all the pomp of an emperor, said: "Sir, I am a corporal!" "You are, are you?" replied the officer: "I was not aware of that," and taking off his hat and bowing, the officer said, "I ask your pardon, Mr. Corporal," and then dismounted and lifted till the perspiration stood in drops on his forehead. When the work was finished, turning to the commander, he said: "Mr. Corporal, when you have another such job, and have not men enough, send for your Commander-in-Chief, and I will come and help you a second time." The corporal was thunderstruck! It was none other than Washington who thus addressed him. |