An Anchor Of Safety.


"This little sister will be an anchor of

safety to her brothers," said a friend on being

shown a new-born baby girl.

She did not seem, as her little round

 expressionless face looked out from the blanket

in which she was wrapped, as if she could

anchor anything but a fond mother, whose

wondrous love would maintain a sleepless

watch over the tiny, helpless form, and whose

ear would understand each cry. How could

anything so small and feeble, so ignorant,

so uninteresting to strangers, be an anchor

of safety to a family of romping, whistling,

whittling, uproarious boys?

"A birch rod, a shaking, a dismissal from

school, being sent before the mast, is the

anchor they need," some would say who

know not the soft, sweet kernel in the boys’

heart.

God who made the dear boys and gave

them their vigor and manly energies, so

troublesome in childhood, so useful in after

life, knew better than any one what kind of

an anchor they needed, and so sent a helpless

baby, whose tiny touch would disarm

Satan's power.

It is a sweet, honored place in the family!

Her winning smiles, her cheerful ways, help

make the home an inviting spot to tempted

boys. A boy who loves and is loved by a

patient, kind, Christian sister, is far harder

to ruin, and if he sins is more apt to repent

and reform, than one who is denied that

sweet relationship.

Dear reader, are you an anchor of safety

to your brothers? Do you keep them at home

when bad boys and worse men are tempting

them to sin? Are you patient with their

rough ways and boisterous games? Or do you

scold and frown and fret when your brother

steps on your dress and tears it? takes

some of your valuable bits of ribbon and

materials for doll's dresses to make a kite's

tail, or tips over and breaks your cups and

saucers? Do you feel relieved when the

"boys are out"? and say "how quiet and

pleasant a house without boys" ? Do you

dread their vacations and holidays? Then

you are no anchor of safety. You are not

doing the sacred, holy work for which God

placed sisters in families.

Dear girls, bear with your brothers! Their

loud, noisy manners are given them that

they may push their way among hardhearted

rough men. Nothing pays better

than loving, and petting, and bearing with

a headstrong boy. Satan fears a sister's caresses and smiles and loving confidence, and

will do all that he can to make you neglect

your work. He is never sure of a youth's

destruction while he tells his secrets to a

sister.

When you leave your book or sewing to

mend a rip in a ball, while a big boisterous

brother stands whistling, beating time with

his thick boots, and hurrying you, and finally

runs off, tripping over a chair or two, and

leaving all the doors open, without a word of

thanks, remember that he is a boy. Forgive

his rude ways. Give him a heart full of

tender love. He will return it in his own

fashion. A brother's love is a priceless possession through life. Don't complain of him,

or lecture him. By-and-by when he is a

man of influence and worth, he may say as

many others have done, "I tremble to think

what I might have been but for my little sister."

"But my brother is so wild, and rude, and

teases me," says one little reader.

"Mine has gone away to sea, or somewhere,

and I can't do him any good."

Never mind where brothers go, or what

they do, a sister's love can reach them, and

will, with God's help, save them.

Remember that your work in the family

is to be an "anchor of safety" to hold the

heart of the precious, wayward, roving,

headstrong boy in the harbor of home. No

nobler task can be assigned to a daughter.



M. E. Willard.