Various

“ My dear little friends, I never could understand why men love war. I never could see any good it has ever done, but, on the contrary, war and intemperance have made this world a sad and gloomy place. Read a full account of this battle, and I think you will agree with me, that war has no charms. Maddened battalions rushed over the plain, crushing the poor wounded men. ”

“ Now it goes still further in the direction of the popular tendency, and offers for Sunday Schools a separate list of books not often thought of for that purpose.
Everybody knows that children, especially boys, are apt to prefer a library where all sorts of books are within their reach. Such browsing unrestrained is apt to lead downward rather than up. But why not let the Sunday School library have the attraction without the danger? Why not afford the delight of inspiring, instructive, helpful literature in some of the books and religious teaching in others without the popular trash? ”

“ Pansy herself is a leader of children. She opens her mouth—they are eager to catch her lightest word. She raises her hand—instinctively up go theirs. The secret of such a power as that is sympathy, feeling together. ”

“ One in a dozen families—no, not so many—one in a hundred eats good food. About as many read good books. And yet the proportion of good eating and reading is quite as high in this as in any country. The fact is some good food is a little dry. Good reading is never peppery. We are losing our capacity for enjoyment of both when we crave unwholesome stimulants.
Wide Awake is one of those rare collections varied and bright enough to engage the common reader and good enough to lead the capable reader to higher pleasures and benefits. ”

“ Do not you think it will be a happy day when warriors’ steeds shall be forever chained in olive groves, and all men shall love each other? I trust so long as we live peace, with dovelike wings, shall brood over our beloved land! ”

“ All this was two years before this Thanksgiving; and now Mother Brimmer and the successful business firm and Roly Poly were to have a party!
After the breakfast dishes were cleared away, the boys hurrying off to the shop, as they anticipated a rushing trade for the day, the old kitchen began to assume the aspect of getting ready for some great festivity, while it smelt of spices and boiling sweets clear out beyond the lilacs and down to the front gate. Every passer-by must have known that it was Thanksgiving, and suspected pies and such other accompaniments of the national holiday at once. ”

“ The boys and girls of her books, the children of her brain, are just like her readers, natural flesh and blood; not life-like but real, just as real as you are yourself. They live in their world with the rest of us ”

“ And old Widow Tucker’s thin face began to lose some of its worn lines, and she forgot to make any uncharitable remarks about other people, to which she was a little prone, and her daughter, Miss Mary Jane, seeing her ma so happy, came out from behind her spectacles and began to be pleasant, too.
And the minister told the most delightful stories! and when he got tired, then there was Miss Clorinda to set the ball of conversation to rolling again. Everybody laughed, even lame Joey Clark, and, altogether, there was no family party in all Cherryfield so merry and festive. ”

“ A walking-stick is not a stick by the aid of which people walk, but a walking-stick, that is, a stick that walks. It is a very strange insect, and is so exactly like the broken twig of a tree, with the little branches and all, that the most sagacious person can’t tell them apart, without seeing them walk. They are called ‘devil’s walking-sticks’ by some, and we flies think it very appropriate, for they are dreadful for us—that is, for Southern flies. The people will put a walking-stick in a room full of flies, and in a short time he will have killed them all! ”

“ One difficulty in the way of supplying the home with good literature is that parents are too busy. To provide a pure and healthful course of reading, and with it the impulse to follow it, the Chautauqua Young Folks’ Reading Union has been established. This is an outgrowth of the Chautauqua movement, which aims to promote popular education for every grade and every age, and is the peculiar adaptation of the Chautauqua Course to young people. ”

“ Half the pupils go to school in the morning, while the other half are at work in the sewing-room, the pantry, the harness shop, the printing office, the carpenter’s room, and the like. In the afternoon these two divisions change places; the students work, and the workmen turn students.
Think what a little while ago these boys and girls were roaming through the forests, sleeping on the ground, their only dress old blankets wrapped about them; learning to be dangerous enemies to all the white race! Now some of them are Christians, and all are well-behaved and industrious. ”

“ Elbridge S. Brooks will contribute a series of practical papers for young people embodying suggestions helpful to them in their desire to get on in the world. The papers will be a departure from the customary “Letters to Young Men.” They will be, rather, in the spirit of appreciation and comradeship, and will endeavor to indicate and open toward the possibilities that exist for the boys and girls of America in these busy days that are merging into the twentieth century. ”

“ I said, “I broke the dish.”
Then she questioned, and I answered, until somehow, she had the whole story.
I don’t think any tears dropped, but my eyes and my throat felt full of them. It didn’t seem to me that I could say another word, and then grandma said: “Well, well, child, there are worse things in the world than broken dishes. Eat your wedding cake, and think no more about it.” And I heard her call one of the waiters, and say to him: “Tell little John that he may dress himself again in his best suit, and come to the dining-room as soon as he is ready.” ”

“ Robbie listened attentively, as the minister told how many great things had been started and helped by little boys and girls, and by people with little money or talent.
At the dinner table Robbie’s father remarked, “How anxious Dr. Sullivan is for a new church! But he won’t get it—not very soon, anyway. The people don’t care enough about it, though I’m sure they need one badly.”
“Dear me!” thought Robbie to himself, “I do wish Dr. Sullivan could get the new church. I’m sure he ought to have it if he wants it.” ”

“ No American girl need envy them, says Mrs. Sherwood. “They are in chains, all of them. They must be careful what they say, do, think even. With royal girls, what interrupted destinies, what cruel disappointments, what unhappy marriages, what a contrast between the desire and fulfilment do we constantly see.” ”

“ They were all at the supper-table; father, mother, Marie and her brothers and the servants. The old cat lay on the bench by the stove; but nowhere was there a trace of Curlyhead to be seen as Lisa peered into all the corners. Then she ran around the house into the garden, around the hedge, again into the garden, and along the inside of the hedge, calling ‘Curlyhead, come now, oh! come, come!’
“All in vain; there was no sight or sound of the lamb. Lisa grew more anxious. It grew darker and the wind howled louder and louder, and almost blew her from the ground. She must go home. ”

“ We put in the List the best we can get and the best we can get for the money: some things because it is worth your while to know about them; others to answer wants we know exist—we put in nothing to be ashamed of. Some things are commonplace; not all are new or hard to get; but those we emphasize are worthy of careful study. ”

“ Nothing can be more severely simple than the story, which is thus summed up. “I have learned,” says Tolstoi, “that man lives not by care for himself, but by love.... I know that God has given life to men, and wishes them to live. ”

“ We register packages going by mail if you send the registry fee, ten cents a package, in addition to postage.
What is a new subscription
We pay for new subscriptions; not for renewals. What is the difference? A new one is that of a family not on our list before.
We pay premiums in good faith. We expect them to be earned in good faith. A subscriber may stop one magazine and become a new subscriber to another; but change of a magazine from one name to another in a family is not a new subscription. Your own subscription (if new) may count with others (not alone) for premiums. ”

“ If there was to be a meeting of the society at a certain time, particularly if it was to be a public one, everything must needs yield to it. Thither the fathers and mothers would go, no matter what other attractions offered.
Thus this Poplar Street Society came to be known as the popular society.
But the Roman Empire had its decline and fall. Why should not this society? Certain boys and girls had come in who cared more for place than for progress. ”

“ By Margaret Sidney. CHAPTER I.
THE air was clear and fresh; a slight fall of snow just conveniently stopping at the point of becoming higher than the overshoes of the pedestrians, lay on the ground. It was an early fall, as the old farmers say when there is snow at Thanksgiving, and every sign gave promise of winter shutting in rapidly.
The old gray house set back from Cherryfield high road, had its chimney smoking by break of day, for Mother Brimmer tied on her baking apron as soon as she had told Rosalie how to prepare the simple breakfast “to hurry forward those pies,” as she said. ”

“ I am pained every day at seeing the work which mischief-makers do. Some one has compared this evil to pin-making. “There is sometimes some truth, which I call the wire. As this passes from hand to hand, one gives it a polish, another a point, others make and put on the head, and at last the pin is done.” The Bible speaks much against mischief-making, and I would advise you to collect all the verses in this book, bearing on this subject, and commit them to memory, and then I do not think you will ever be guilty of this sin. ”

“ A good series for family reading, as both boys and girls are growing more and more interested in the way our Government conducts affairs, and these papers explain just what means are taken to train up a noble body of men to protect our country and maintain her interests and her rights by land and sea. ”

“ Kerosene lamps are dangerous; but you are careful with them. There is no possible way in which the kerosene-brick can explode. The only harm that can come of it is through keeping a larger supply of kerosene for fuel then you would keep for light. The answer to that is that a barrel is no worse than a pint. Either is enough to blow a house into kindling-wood.
The reason why it is the best kindler is that it is the cheapest—in other respects it is not much better than pitch-pine. ”

“ Wouldn’t it be wrong for me to throw things on mother when she isn’t strong, and don’t you think our Saviour would think so, too? Then, besides, mother would have to be a ‘Martha,’ for the work must be done. I am sure it is all very puzzling to me, anyway.”
“I do not wonder that you say so, dear,” said Miss Judith, “for older heads than yours have puzzled over the same question, and certain it is that were it not for the ‘Marthas’ in the world the whole system of society would come to a stand-still. But, then, Annie, we are told that Martha was ‘cumbered with serving’ ”

“ How Margaret longed for such a pleasant evening in their home. She turned involuntarily back to the house. Her father and Mr. Wakefield, the minister, had gone out just after tea, and Mrs. Moore had gone to her own room directly after the dishes were washed. The house was all dark, save Johnnie’s one gas jet. It was just unbearable. No other girl in the world had such a hard lot. ”

“ There is a great deal to know about our neighbors, worth knowing, too; and the surest way to begin learning is to like it. That is why such books as this are made, to make young people like the beginnings of learning. ”

“ She is continually thinking of things that little people are apt to skip; and she keeps her thoughts to herself so wisely and lets them out so in the nick of time, she delights her good papa and mamma in the book and the little girl who reads it. ”

“ He will answer your prayer in some other way than the one you had planned, Margaret. He loves you a great deal better than you love yourself. Can’t you trust him?”
And then the minister went away without his hot water. Went back to his room to pray for the poor little troubled disciple down-stairs. And Margaret sat and thought. She saw now just how foolish and wicked she had been. She had a long struggle with her rebellious heart, kneeling on the bare floor with her head on the kitchen table, but she conquered at last, and the peace of God filled her heart. ”

“ Some others said they must be appointed on the programme committee and be allowed to manage things generally or they would establish a rival society. A few insisted that the time had now come for a change; that the old programme of singing, recitations, games, etc., was poky; that a little dancing and card-playing ought to be allowed a part of the time.
To this it was answered that the Poplar Street Pansy Society was established for mental and moral growth and not for a dancing-school or card-party; that those who must have such things could find them elsewhere. ”

“ Now I know another truth: the truth that God does not wish man to live apart; therefore He has not revealed to them what each needs for himself. He wishes them to live together, and therefore reveals to each the others’ wants. ”

“ Flies are not at all particular. We can enjoy anything that any one does. Our mouths are hollow tubes, through which we suck whatever we wish to eat. This is a very convenient way.”
“You have enemies,” remarked Zoo. “We have just been calling on a spider who is longing for a taste of some of you.”
“You don’t say so!” cried the fly. “She is not very near here, is she? Those spider-webs are the great torment of our lives. I have had several friends caught and eaten by the spiders. The way they wind their fine, yet strong threads about one, is something remarkable. ”

“ THE Poplar Street Pansy Society began with a large membership and every other flattering prospect. The leaders were wide awake, bright boys and girls who meant success, come what might. Everything went on finely for the first year. Meetings were held regularly; the attendance included nearly all the members every time, in bad weather as well as good, and no matter what invitations were given elsewhere to parties or rides. The members, with rare exceptions, were thoroughly loyal to their society. ”