THE ORPHANS’ FRIEND.
Wednesday, Fcbisiary 7, tS77.
Okpiian Asylum, ')
Oxford, N. a, ^
Feb. 6tli, .1877. ^
Messrs. W. T. Blackwell S Go.—
Bear Sirs ;—After careful in
vestigation and due deliberation,
1 lilive decided that the splendid
new Remington Sewing Machine,
offered bj you to the lady send
ing to the Orphan Asylum the
largest contribution in monej', is
due to the Goldslioro Misses
Orphan Aid Society.” The money
was sent by a lady for the Soci
ety. The Machine should there
fore be sent to the Society.
There were some reasons for
postponing the time of this decis
ion ; but I knew that you were
in earnest, and that yon would
not tolerate any appearance of
ti'ifling with a matter of business.
The weather was bad; but you
made the offer on purpose to for
tify the orphans against the sever
ity of winter, and you will be
glad to learn that we have a good
sujiply of blankets, siioes, liats
and hoods and shawls, for the
'present winter, and that, with a
hundred and ten orphans, the
sick-room has been closed
three months.
With grateful esteem,
J. n Mills, Supt.
for
On the fourth page of this pa
per we print the well-known pic
ture of Mary and her little lamb.
The story is an old one; but no
less needful to all orphans. They,
like other children, are by nature
depraved, and by experience made
selfish. It is a great benefit to a
child to love a mother and a
father and a yard-full of brothers
and sisters. Dr. Franklin wisely
advised a young man to take a
wife out of a bunch of children,
because a member of a large
family (properly trained) is apt
to be more affectionate and less
selfish than one who lias been
the “all and in all” of her parents.
For the same reason motherhood
usually improves the tune and
temper of a woman. She for
gets herself and loves her child,
for its own sake. And so Cole
ridge was sensible when he said;
“A mother is a mother still,
The holiest thing alive.”
But orphans sometimes feel
that nobody loves them, and their
temptation is to love nobody.
Hence “Silent Sam” sings :
“I never say nothing to nobody,
And nobody never says nothing to me.”
In taking care of themselves,
orphans learn to care for them
selves alone, and so they frequent
ly forget to pray with Words
worth ;
' “Give unto me, made lowly wise,
The spirit of self-ScTcrifice.”
We therefore ask the children
to note carefully 'that the lamb
loved Mar}’, because Mary loved
the lamb; that even the Lord loves
those who love him ; and that
they must be kind and faithful to
others, if they wish others to be
kind and faithful to them.
AIV IIOKOB.tBf.E ATtO GUACE-
FEE BETIKEMEKT.
A noble and model man is John
Nichols. A few fat offices are
obliged to bo distributed, and he
retires with all the dignity of an
honest and faithful public servant;
“ My dati'es as Principal of this'Institution
close to-day, after a service of four years. My
letiremont froiu tire position has not been
voluntary, but has been caused by the politi
cal changes in out* State government. I deem
ft unnecessary to offer any explanation oia tlie-
£'uUject. It is due to myself, however, to state
that no complaints, much less charges, have
be*n nmde against my admiuistratiun, even
by my op})onentSi
During tiie time I have been Piiiu-ipal of
the Institution, I have formed many pleasant
acquaintances amoiig the parents and friends
of our pupil-s, find from some of them T have
received acts of kindness that will never be
forgotten.
I DOW surrender the Institution, with all its
honors and responsibilities, into the hands of
my successor, who is a gentleman of intelli
gence, education and energy, and wlio will, I
trust, make a more efficient officer than I have
been.
To the parents and guardians of our jmpils,
aud other friends of the Institution, I now
introduce Mr. Ilezokiah A. Gudger, the iievv-
Iy-C‘lc('ted Principal, and bespeak for liim the
same kind feeling, cordial support and on-
eouragement that have been extemled to me
laring my term of service.
Very respectfully,
JOHN NICHOLS.
Tllli fi>OLLS.
Mr. William Brandreth of Sing
Sing, N. Y, sent a box of dolls
already dressed by Miss Mary
Wiltsie. The box arrived on
Thursday evening. The girls
were in a wonderful glee. After
the usual evening services the
roll of the girls was called and
each ope came forward and select
ed a doll. The teachers reserved
several for girls soon to come,
and three ivere left. Several
boys offered to siiell for a doll,
and were allowed to do so.
Fairley Dickinson obtained it.
Tlie remaining two were given to
Wesley Patton of Buncombe and
to William Tark'nton of Chowan.
And now the dolls are sitting
about and standing around in the
rooms and the children are busy
and cheerful.
FAESE SXANDAROS.
The most merciless critics, the
hardest people in the world to
please belong to that class of in
dividuals “who do not profess to
be judges,” quake and tremble
when your arbiter thus prefa
ces his opinion. Rest assured the
most unrivaled dogmatism is to
follow, and know most certainly
you are weighed in the balance
against an amount of conceit that
would send a dozen such aspirants
as yon down to zero.
If this “class” we are now after
were as insignificant numerically
as they are intellectually, we
would let them most severely
alone ; but unfortunately for the
world, they constitute a large
proportion of its population, and
to listen to their carpings over the
latest literary novelty, last
musical entertainment, or exhibi
tion of art, suggests the recreation
afforded in Pluto’s region. They
know what they like, and if your
likes chance to differ, why you
are erratic, that is all. But is the
standard of merit to be determined
by ones’ likes and dislikes? A
paragon of a standard ! But these
volunteer critics not unfrequently
determine an author’s or artist’s
popularity with the masses. Of
coiuse there are always the think
ing few who form their own
opinions, but very many are con
tent to accept the criticism in the
last magazine as unquestionably
true. And the mischief they
have wrought cannot be briefly
summed up. Many a pen has
been paralyzed because of the
reception of its first efforts, and
now “what might have been” is
its lonely refrain.
Hang the dipper on the nail,
Put the top upon the pail.
Never soak your dipper. Keen
it clean and dry. Do not expose
your water to the dust or sun.
Keep it nice and cool.
Work, -when you see the.su&,
Rest, when your work is done.
Be prompt, active and vigorous
in hours assigned to work. Then
your conscience will be clear and
vour rest will be sweet.
At meals, take turkey with skill,
In bed, be silent and still.
Turkey is a complimentary title
for food. We call a child “honey,”
knowing that child to be as dif
ferent from honey as chalk is
from cheese. So turkey is merely
a polite term for what is on the
table. But do not drop meat,
nor spill soup, nor handle any
thing ungracefully.
You go to bed to sleep, not to
talk; therefore close }'OLir eyes
and lips and let tlicm ■8ta^’closed.
A MOXSBER’S E®V-E.
(Translated from the French.)
If tl;e soon-forgotten prompt
ings of his first sorrows,extorts a
feebly cry from jthe frail nurse
ling, his mother, with terror, de
spair in her heart, sees his thread
of life just ready to be clipped;
she listens, during the night, to
liis quiet breathing; she fears to
hasten his awaking by her breath ;
she carefully nurtures his frail
existence; for his sake she be
comes a cliild again ; interpreting
his wishes by his cries, she knows
how to invent pleasures for his
merest whims.
When remarkable precociW is
developed, his mother, the fore
most of all, shapes his language,
fixes in his tender memor}’, by
short lessons, the sounds of words
new to him ; precious and gentle
care ! delightful task ! which of
ten a mothei’s kisses interrupt!
She pursues the round of her
salutary training; replies to his
questions without ever growing
weary, gently reproves and mild
ly praises him, cultivates his
mind, enriches his heart, and
kindles in his eye, still feeble and
timid, the healthful torch of reli
gion.
Sometimes she shortens the
evening by a story: the child
nestling on his mother, seated by
lier feet, lends an attentive, won
dering ear, fearing to lose a word
of those marvelous tales. Some
times the pastoral muse of Gesner
presents to the youthful reader
his charming moral. Ilis sports
are abandoned for these endeared
passtimes, and to him, toil is the
price of toil. The lists are soon
to be entered : fond mother ! that
son, the idol of thy heart, steals
from thee the larger time for ab
sorbing study. Already hours of
serious reflection are bringing
successes as well as pleasures.
At last the great day arrives,
when the grave Aristarchus, slug
gish monarch of an infuriated
people, clearing from his brow its
habitual severity, discerns in this
young athletic a merited laurel.
In silence, an admiring gaze is
fixed on the child destined to be
his country’s hero.
That child is thine. A shout
rings out on the air; the hero,
borne by a thousand arms, is al*
ready on thy bosom ; his triumph
is thine, his glory envelopes thee ;
and thou art wetting lii:s cro-nm
with a mother’s tear.
Uncle Al.
A A'JGHX SCENE IN AMERICA.
(From the French.)
The sun had gone down in the
west, and the twilight was fading
away, as the moon appeared
above the tree tops in the eastern
horizon. A balmy breeze, as if
from Araby the blest, seemed to
precede her through the forest as
her own refreshing breath. Queen
of night she slowly ascended the
sky.; now she calmly pursues her
azure path, anon pillowing herself
on fleecy clouds like the snoiv-
crowned peaks ot lofty mountains.
These clouds, folding and unfold
ing their wings, burst into trans
parent zones of satin whiteness,
scattered in light flecks of foam,
or piled up in the heavens tiers
of burnished fleece so soft to the
eye, tliat imagination sought to
grasp their elastic, velvet folds.
The view on earth was no less
entrancing. The velveting light
of the moon, tinged witli the bine
of the sky, gleamed through the
opening of the trees, darting its
arrowy pencils through the thick
armor of profound darkness. The
river that flowed by my feet, soon
hid from my view in the woods,
again suddenly ajjpoaring be
spangled with the stars of night
reflected from its bosom. In a
vast prairie stretching out beyond
the river, the moonlight lay qui
etly sleeping on the turf. The
burcli trees, scattered here and
there over the plain, shaken by
the breeze, formed floating islands
of shadow in a motionless sea of
light. Near by, all was the repose
of a stilly night, save, now, and
then, the tinkle of the falling
leaves, the swfift,^flitting of a sud
den -R'ind, or the rare and oft
suspended bootings of the screech-
owl ; while in the distance -were
occasionally heard, the solemn
thunders of the Niagara which,
in the lonely night, are repeated
from solitude to solitude, dying
away amid the peaceful forest.
The sublimity, the startling
solemnity of this picture, no mor
tal tongue could tell. The loveliest
European night can .give no just
conception ol its beauty. In our
cultivated fields, imagination
plumes its wings, to meet at everv
turn the abode of many ; but in
these unpeopled realms, thought
revels in an ocean of forests,
roams on tlie shores of vast lakes,
stoops over the Cataract’s abyss,
and, as I may say, finds itself
alone with God.
Uncle Al.
THE CHRIST'S AN CATACOME.
The Christian Catacomb breathes
the calm air of a biessed immor-
talit}’. Every space on the wall
bears on its front the mark of this
hope; as witness the constant
repetition of the inscription : In
Face ! Sometimes it is explained
by the added words, In Bco vivia,
or by an unmistakable symbol,
such as the cruciform anchor, in
dicating the invincible nature of
Christian hope; or Noah’s dove
bearing the green olive branch,
the type of a soul tliathas landed
on the eternal shore. Among all
these inscriptions, perhaps the
most eloquent in its brief simplic
ity is one preserved in the Vati
can Museum, Tcreniianus vivit—
Tcrentianus lives. Faith in the
absolute certainty of the soul’s
endless life has never shaped it
self in briefer, simpler form. The
word cemetery, wliicii is of Chris
tian origin, expresses the same
assurance. It signifies “the place
of common slumber,” and reminds
us of Christ’s sublime utterance
over the tomb of His disciple at
Bethany, “Our friend Lazarus
sleepeth.”
The entire phenomena of
Christian sepultuie set asidethose
ideas of metempsychosis so much
in favor at that epoch. They
witness to the indestructiblo na
ture of the human personality as
destined to live again in its com
pleteness. Here we may discover
the profound reason why the
Christian, after the example of
the Jewish Church, refuses to
sanction the burning of the dead.
“We may at the same time,” says
the Apologist Atheuagoras, “hold
the dogma of the resurrection, and
destroy the body as if it were not
to be raised.” We will not here
discuss the philosophic beai'ing of
this opinion, but will content our
selves with recording it. The
early Christians had yet another
motive for refusing to lend them
selves to pagan rites in this res
pect. The} wished as much as
possible to Follow the example of
tlieir Lord. Hence they adopted
as their type the mode of sepul
ture described in the fourth Gos
pel. They wished, like Him they
loved, to be ■wrapped in a wind
ing sheet and buried in the eartli.
The Catacomb seems to me to be
a funeral cave, very similar to tliat
in which Joseph of Arimathea
laid the remains of the Ci'ucified.
—E. (h Fressense.
D.4NGEROES SOAP.
The public is cautioned bv the
Scientific American against tlie
u.se of dangerous soaps. It
says:
We have remarked of late the
introduction into the market,
under high-sounding name, of
various strong potash combina
tions, intended for laundry and
cleansing purposes.
One of these preparations,
which appears to contain more
caustic potash tlian any other
ingredent, lately caused the death
of a child who accidentally eat
some of it; and we have found
the same stuff strong enough to
remove old hard paint from wood
work when merely wetted by the
same and alloived to rest thereon
for perhaps an hour or two.
We advise our readers to let
such preparations severely aloiu-j
they are ruinous to clothes, and,
except to cleanse kitchen floors
and other greasesoaked places,
should not be used
Even tlie ordinary low grade
soaps are heavily cliarged with
soda and impurities, which the
manufacturers say, they are
obliged to add in order to liold
their own with fraudulent dealers
who adulterate still more licavi-
Iv; and these soaps are also high-
desfriictiva to fabrics.
It is much better economy to
purchase a good quality, even a
a superior quality, of white soa|)
for household purposes, for the
extra cos^ of the soap will, in the
end, be more than saved in tlie
lessened \ve:«' of clothes or oil
clotlis, and of paint.
It is hardly necessary to add
that strong alkali soaps should
never be used on the skin, as their
effects is corrosive and harmful.
The object of using soap for the
toilet is simply to overcome the
natural oil which exudes from tbo
body, and render it possible for
the w'ater to combine therewith,
and a very little of the soap is am
ple for this purpose.—Youth's
Com]}anion.
—One of the Big Trees of Cal
ifornia is now on exhibition in
the city of New York, at th.e cor
ner of Broadway and Ninth St
It is a section, cut several feet
above the ground, the heart taken
out and the bark, wfith a portion
of the wood, left attached. The
section is 16 feet high and 67 feet
in circumference. The tree is
said to have been 3,000 years old.
It is a fine specimen of this giant
tree of the forest.
Commodore Vanderbilt -R'a'S
once asked what was the secret of
his success in business. “SecretP
he replied; “there is no secret
about it. All yon have to do is
to attend to your business and go
ahead.” At another time he said,
“The secret of my success is this
—I never tell what I am going t®
do till I have done it.”
It costs more to avenge than to
forgive.
■■mmt
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