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Little Stories of the Children.

No. 1. His First Night Away.

(Illustrated by the Editor.)

The neighbor lad had teased, and so had he,
Till mother sighed: "Well, if it has to be!"
And father said: "Sure! Let him run along;
It's so near by there's nothing can go wrong.'
So mother rolled his gown into a lump

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I love these little people; and it is no slight thing, when they, who are so fresh from God, love us.-Dickens.

He choked a little when he said good-night
To stranger-parents; and he saw a light
Shining in his own house, two worlds away
In the next block; then dreamed till dawning day
That he was homeless. At their breakfast-time

He could not eat, but made his homesick flight
Without adieux-to him no social crime

When first he stayed away from home all night.

And mother met him with her arms outspread,
And in her loving bosom hid his head

A long, long time while neither of them stirred
Nor anybody said a single word.

In her a pang old as maternity

Forewarned her of long partings that must come;
For him had ended all eternity-

First time he'd stayed all night away from home!

-Strickland W. Gillilan.

D

Temptation.

By J. W Wight.

HAT which entices or allures; how many have fallen a prey to the baneful influence when enmeshed by this insidious foe, and especially so when the temptation has been related to the sin that doth so easily beset!

Not that I would condone the sin resulting from the yielding, nor seek to lessen its awfulness when such yielding has reached the point or act of committal, am I led to pen these lines, but rather to show the necessity of a more careful exercise in the manner of our condemnation.

One might have enjoyed all the advantages of the highest conception of moral training and yet have inherited a weakness-that inheritance possibly reaching back for generations, or mayhap the result of prenatal influence-the which becomes the very bane of his existence and the one point above all others where he is especially vulnerable. Years may come and go without any especial enticement along the line of weakness and one grow into a healthy and vigorous morality to be suddenly brought down from the high plane so long traveled by an enticement that strikes directly at the very root of his besetment, while in all the strength of his higher development, he is striving to overcome and fairly abhorring the tendency of his slipping feet. But the arrow of moral turpitude has entered the very vitals of his higher ideals, and carrying with it the poison of its baseness has stricken down the hitherto idol of a mother's doting!

And now what? How many, forgetting that they too had a weakness, have frowned upon the fallen one to his or her utter discomfiture, rather than to have extended the helping hand of charity in an effort to reclaim? And as though the sting of mortification were not in itself a sufficient rebuke to the highly sensitive but fallen one, too many have gloated over the fall and frustrated the opportunity to arise by administering the venom of scoff, scorn, and contumely, until in utter despair the effort on the part of the fallen one to duly recompense ceases.

When we are so prone to thus villify the yielder we would do well to stop long enough to consider the deterrent forces,-"Let him that is without sin cast the first stone," together with our own individual weaknesses and the possibility of our own erring. The argument can not be said to condone the offence, but the rather

being in favor of helping the weak and erring one to regain his former prestige, and the pointing to the fact that all are weak and may sooner or later find themselves on the toboggan slide, hastening downward in the pathway of yielding to that temptation that may perhaps enslave them.

Temptations are not alone insidious; they come in so many forms that few, if any, can escape, hence the necessity for the exercise of charity. I may perchance scoff at my brother for his yielding, and at the same time be committing that which in God's sight is a greater evil than he is guilty of.

Temptation is continuously alluring, but who art thou that judgest thy brother?

An Oasis.

To the Keepers of a Home, by Jas. E. Yates. I saw a pilgrim journeyman,

Upon the desert sand;

His countenance betrayed him
As a stranger in the land.

For a stranger plods a desert path,
Whether green the fields or dry,
Where the multitude with icy mood
Jostle the passer-by.

I saw the pilgrim's vision bent
To a cherished spot afar,

It led his sight like the beacon light
Of a silvery pointed star.

An oasis upon the dreary way

He finds the spot to be,

Where stately trees nod to the breeze
With greetings sweet and free.

The pilgrim feasts at first his eyes,—
His thirst, and then his soul,

As a queenly hand of Fairyland
With welcome fills the bowl.

'Tis a brother's home and a sister's true
Where welcome fills the air-

Where wafts no taint of cool restraint,
As the traveler enters there.

This pilgrim, I, myself have been,

Not in myth but fact,

And the drama gleam of the Fairy dream

God's own dear Saints enact.

This pilgrim part many endure,

Where duty calls to roam

The oasis bower of peaceful hour,

Some Saints' sweet happy home.

Not all may scale the heights of fame,
Nor swim in the conquest foam,
But the angels bless in pure caress,
Such keepers of a home.

EDITOR'S CORNER

AUTUMN LEAVES is published monthly for the youth of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Price $1.00 per year in advance. Herald Publishing House, Lamoni, Iowa.

ELBERT A. SMITH, Lamoni, Iowa.

Honey from Weeds.

During the autumn months spanish needles are in full bloom. Their orange yellow blossoms bedizen the ragged autumnal highways and meadows with a garish gypsy beauty.

They are pestiferous fellows, that lie low and bide their time until the harvester's cycle has gathered in the more virtuous plants and grains, and the moment his back is turned they spring up everywhere.

Their truly diabolical disposition appears a little later, when they have developed a full crop of their barbed and two tined little burrs. They are of the genus bidens,-bidens meaning literally twice-toothed, or two-pronged.

Towser, trying to scratch them from behind his ears, growls a canine malediction. The wayfaring man finds his trousers' legs well peppered with them, and he also growls.

Apparently the spanish needle is absolutely worthless and has no friends among men or animals. But not so. All created things have their uses. The little people of the hive store away pounds and pounds of honey from the spanish needle blossoms. Considering the widespread habitat of the weed we are safe in saying that they store away tons of the yellow nectar each season for their own delectation and for the comfort of us clumsy folks who will pilfer from them later in the season.

Here is a lesson for us to ponder, as with careful thumb and finger we extract pestiferous bidens from the hem of our garment. We see only spanish needle burrs; but the bees see spanish needle honey.

If bees can make honey from weeds can we not draw sweetness of character from the experiences of life that erstwhile would yield us only plagues and irritations? Shall we gather prongs or honey?

THE LITTLE STORY OF JOHN JOHNSON.

John Johnson, as we will call him, is a young fellow who every day in the year calls some one a liar. And yet John Johnson is very much of a gentleman. Those to whom John gives the lie diurnally are the misguided men and women who say that a young fellow is no good unless he is bad, that he has no force of character unless he sows his wild oats and acts the fool generally.

John does not chew, smoke, drink, swear, or gamble. He has a good brain and he has never befuddled it with alcohol. He has a good set of teeth, but he does not use them to masticate plug tobacco. He has a good pair of lungs that are never corrupted by cigarette smoke. He has a good pair of eyes and he can look his mother in

the face and answer all her questions. The firm that hires John Johnson will hire a man and not a deadhead; and the girl who ties up to him will be happy all her life.

He has been a member of the church practically all of his life, and you do not have to write to the church recorder to find out that he is a Latter Day Saint. He is on duty all of the time.

That he has force of character is shown by the fact that he attracts to his following a good many active and virile young men of his own age, and his influence over them is very wholesome. He has helped some of them onto their feet and given them a good start up the hill.

On a certain occasion the young people of his association tried to persuade John to accompany them to certain places of amusement that John deemed it wisest for Saints to avoid. John said, No.

They said, Well, if you will not go with us we will not go without you. So they all packed off with him to the Religio, which proves that John is a positive force.

It is said now that he is doing more good among his young associates than any missionary has been able to accomplish in that branch in many years.

THE BOAT THAT FOUNDERED.

When the Evanelia, which being interpreted means "the gospel boat," was putting out to sea from San Francisco on her initial voyage, she encountered unusually foul weather and heavy waves at "the crossing of the bar."

The seas ran so high that another and heavier schooner that attempted to put out at the same time was picked up and turned completely over so that her masts struck bottom and were thrust up through the hull of the ship.

But it had been prophesied that the Evanelia would ride over the highest waves. And she did. Under the wise direction of Joseph Burton, sea captain and sky pilot combined, who has since anchored his bark in the harbor of eternal peace, and under the protection of Almighty God, the little vessel got safely out to sea and went dancing blithely over the sunset waters toward the coral islands.

She rode over the tops of the highest waves because she was about her Master's business. She was carrying the gospel to the islands of the sea. She was in the line of duty.

But when they made her a trading vessel and loaded her with bufa she sank in quiet waters.

Heed the lesson of the Evanelia. When God's children are in the line of duty they are invincible. When they abandon their heavenappointed work they invite shipwreck.

Whether the wrath of the storm-tossed sea,
Or demons or men, or whatever it be,
No waters can swallow the ship where lies,
The Master of ocean, and earth, and skies.

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