Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 112, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 May 1910 — For The Children [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

For The Children

My Pa. My pa is not a millionaire. He’s never been elected yet To any office anywhere, j There’s lots of things 'that we can’t get; 4 Ma often wishes we could buy The costly things the neighbors do; The price of livin’ is so high We have to skimp to worry-through. I guess my pa was never meant To be a leader In the strife; Ma says he’ll not be President, Nor get ahead much in this life, But he can make a whistle, though, Just from a piece of willow tree; I wish that you could see the bow And arrow that he fixed for me. My pa gets paid so much a week. Because he doesn’t own a store; Ma says if he was not so meek And mild he might be drawin’ more; We have no car nor runabout,

And nearly always have to save; Ma’s heart is often full of doubt, But pa keeps hopin’ and is brave. Sometimes I help him in the yard When he comes home on Saturdays; I’m sorry he must work so hard And wish that he could get a raise; Most all the time ma needs a lot Of things we can’t afford, and which The neighbors nearly all have got. Because they managed to get rich. My pa sometimes takes me away Out in pre country for fresh air; We build dams in*the streams and-play That both of us are boys, out there; Ma says that pa, long, long ago, Just got to be a mere machine; I wouldn’t want to trade him, though, For any pa I’ve ever seen. —S. E. Kiser in Chicago Record-Her-ald. The Reason. “Hurry up, there!” shouted Benny Haddock, as he spied Bobby coming slowly down the schoolhouse stqps. “I believe I’ve been waiting a whole hour for you, Bobby!” “And I believe that you have, too,” answered Bobby, crossly. “I’m just tired of going to school, and I’m tired of staying every night after it is over! I wish I were a robin, or a bluebird, or a butterfly I’ve been wishing it all the afternoon!” Benny laughed. “Bluebirds can’t ride bicycles, Bobby," he said. “I don’t care if they can’t!” declared Bobby. “I’d like to be one just the same. Bluebirds don’t have to study, and they don’t have to work one mite!” “Oh, yes, they do,” said Benny, decidedly. “They have to build their nests, and hunt for worms and bugs, and feed their babies, and do heaps of other things! They work like everything, birds do!” Bobby sniffed. “You never have to work or stay after school, either, ■ Benny Haddock! You haven’t stayed after school once this term!” “I know I haven’t,” said Benny, proudly, “and do you want to know the reason why? It’s because I work and you wish! You were wishing and looking out of the window most every minute before the spelling class recited, and then you missed the very first word. That's the reason why you had to stay after'school to-night. And I studied and studied, until I was sure that I knew every word, and that’s the reason why I didn’t!” « Bobby sniffed again. a “You think you know everything!” he said, shortly. But would you believe it! The very next dayßobby studied with a will. He worked so busily that he’’forgot all about wishing, and he forgot all about looking out of the window, too! He did not stay after school, because he had worked like a little beaver, and had let some other boy do the wishing.—Youth’s Companion. Good Samaritan Sparrows. The sparrow has never been noted for, its good works and kind deeds, but the following little story throws a new light on these oft-despised little scrappers. Last spring, a young. robin was found floundering about a certain man’s lawn. It was unable to fly and had evidently fallen from its nest. Fearing that the cats might devour it in the night the man took the bird .to the rear of his yard, and placed it in an inclosure covered with a wire screen. While dressing the next morning he looked out of his window and -was amazed at the action of a couple* of sparrows which were carrying worms to the young robin in the inclosure. They would fly away only to return a few moments later with

worms, Which they dropped through the screen into the upturned mouth of the captive. They kept up this charitable feeding until the robin was liberated, and even then they hovered around like self-appointed guardians. On Second Thought. Tommie, lying on the grass, I Gazing upward to the sky, Sees the little cloudlets pass And the song-birds flitting by. He alghed: "Oh, would that I could be A little bird for just one day! To perch aloft on yonder trek. And sing, and swing, and rock, and sway!" But then a sudden swift idea. At which his little inside squjrms— His ?upper time will soon be here, H doesn’t care for worms! —Chicago News.