Work, 


ATTENTION AND WORK.



"HE did not sit down and wait for his friends to do for him, but he went to work, and kept on working, determined to do his best all the while. 

He gained his honors by close attention and hard work."

So grandpa spoke of a man who had risen to distinction as an author and a man of character, and one of whose books the young folks had been reading.

"Dear me!" said one of the children," I thought it was as easy to write a book as to read one, if not a little easier."

"Ah! there you are altogether mistaken," said grandpa. "There must be long preparation to be able to write a readable and instructive book. Books are called 'works,' because it takes so much work to bring forth a worthy book. Even when people have studied and worked so as to be able to write sensibly about things, it takes a vast amount of attention and labor to compose a book, and to put it in shape for the reader."

"Then," said the child, "nothing worth having can be had without work."

"That is just the point," said grandpa. "Nothing worth having can ever be gained without work. If you would ever be or accomplish anything, you must set your mind on it, and keep hard at work. 'Six days shalt thou labor,' is God's command; and this is just as much his will as that we remember the seventh day to keep it holy.

"God does not tell us how we shall direct our labors; he leaves us to choose and decide that for ourselves; but, if we are ever to accomplish anything, we must attend to it, and work; and that which we are to be most concerned about is what is the nearest to us, and which calls for our present attention. So it is said in the Scriptures, 'Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.'"

"Then it is our business to study our lessons well, to serve one another, to be prompt, to do all that falls to us to do, and to make the best of all our opportunities to do good and improve ourselves," said one of the boys.

"You have hit it exactly," said the good grandfather.

"Just do faithfully what comes to you to do, and what you undertake, go through with; for there is nothing like attention and work." 



Busy Bee



LEARNED IT IN THE SABBATH SCHOOL.


WALKING along with a little girl about nine years old, we met a lady to whom I bowed, and said, "Good morning!" After passing, I asked my little friend if she knew who that lady was. " Why, no!" she quickly replied. "Don't you know her?"

As I answered in the negative, she looked up into my face with surprise, and said, "What made you speak to her, then?"

"Why," said I "don't people ever speak to others unless they know them? 'If ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others'?"

"Oh, I know all about that," she answered with delight, as she skipped along by my side; "we learned that whole fifth chapter of Matthew in our Sabbath school." Then she added thoughtfully, "What does 'salute' mean?" "Well," I said, "I think it means to bow, and say 'good morning' when we meet our friends; and not only that, but I think the text means that we should not forget to say 'good morning' sometimes to persons whom we don't know"; and as the little girl walked more quietly and thoughtfully along, I felt sure the lesson she had learned more than a year before had received a practical illustration which would not soon be forgotten,



 c. c. L.



DO IT NOW.

Do not live a single hour of your life without doing exactly what is to be done in it, and going straight through it, from beginning to end. Work, play, study, whatever it is, take hold at once, and finish it up squarely and cleanly; then do the next thing, without letting any moments drop between. It is wonderful to see how many hours those prompt people contrive to make of a day; it is as if they picked up the moments that the dawdlers lost. And if ever you find yourself where you have so many things pressing upon you that you hardly know how to begin, let me tell you a secret; take hold of the first one that comes to hand, and you will find the rest all fall into file and follow after, like a company of well-drilled soldiers; and though work may be hard to meet when it charges in a squad, it is easily vanquished if you bring it into line. You may have often seen the anecdote of the man who was asked how he accomplished so much in life. "My father taught me," was the reply, "that when I had anything to do, to go and do it." There is the secret the magic word, now.