rfully do the best I can.'

"A child went merrily forth to play,
But a thought, like a silver thread,
Kept winding in and out, all day,
Through the happy golden head.
Mother said,--'Darling, do all you can;
For you are a part of God's great plan.'

"So he helped a younger child along,
When the road was rough to the feet,
And she sung from her heart a little song
That we all thought passing sweet;
And her father, a weary, toil-worn man,
Said, 'I, too, will do the best I can.'"

"A Noble Boy." "Not long ago," said a Christian lady, "I saw a boy do
something that made me glad for a week. Indeed it fills my heart with
tenderness and good feeling whenever I think about it. But let me
tell you what it was.

"As I was walking along a crowded street I saw an old blind man
walking on without any one to lead him. He went very slowly, feeling
his way with his cane.

"'He's walking straight to the highest part of the curb-stone,' said
I to myself. 'And it's very high too. I wonder if some one won't help
him and start him in the right direction.'

"Just then, a boy, about fourteen years old, who was playing near by,
ran up to the old man and gently putting his hand through the man's
arm, said:--'Allow me, my friend, to lead you across the street.' By
this time there were three or four others watching the boy. He not
only helped the old man over one crossing, but led him over another
to the lower side of the street. Then he ran back to his play.

"Now this boy thought he had only done an act of kindness to that old
man. But just see how much farther than that the use of his one
talent went. The three boys with whom he was playing, and who had
watched his kind act, were happier and better for it, and felt that
they must be more careful to do little kindnesses to those about
them.

"The three or four persons who stopped to watch the boy turned away
with a tender smile upon their faces, ready to follow the good
example of that noble boy. I am sure that I felt more gentle and
loving towards every one, from what I saw that boy do.

"And then, another one that was made happy was the boy himself. For,
it is impossible for us to do a kind act, or to make any one else
happy, without feeling better and happier ourselves. To _be_ good and
to _do_ good, is the way to be happy. This is our mission here in
this world. Whatever talents our Master has given us, he intends that
we should use them in thi