The Commoner.
8
Trt. a, H. Z3.
t
THE HOME DEPARTMENT,
Tits Wants of Man.
"Man wants but llttlo hero below,
Nor wants that little long."
'Tis not with me exactly so, .
But 'tis so in the song.
My wants aro many, and if told,
Would muster many a score;
And wore each wish a mint of gold,
I still should long for more.
What first I want is daily bread,
And canvas-backs and wine;
And all the realms of nature spread
Boforo mo when I dine.
With four choice cooks from Franco,
bcsido,
To dress my dinner well,
Four courses scarcely can provide
My appotito to quell.
What next I want, at princely -cost,
- Is elegant attire:
Black sable furs for winter's frost
And silk for summor's fire,
And cashmere shawls and brussels lace
My bosom's front to deck,
And diamond rings my hands to grace,
And rubies for my neck.
I want (who does not want?) a wife,
Affectionate and fair;
To solace all the woes of life,
Ann all" tho joys to share;
Of temper sweet, of yielding will,
Of Arm, yet placid mind,
With all my faults to love me still,
With sontiments refined.
And as time's car incessant runs,
And fortune fills my store,
I want of daughters and of sons
From eight to half a scoro.
I want (alas! can mortal dare
Such bliss on earth to crave?)
That all the girls bo chaste and fair,
The boys all wise and bravo. ,
I want a warm and faithful friend
To cheer the adverse hour
Who ne'er to flatter will descend,
Nor bend the knee to power;
A friend to chide me when I'm wrong,
My inmost soul to see;
And that my friendship prove as
strong
For him as his for me.
I want tho seals of power and place,
Tho ensigns of command,
Charged by the people's unbought
grace
To rule my native land.
Nor crown nor scepter would I ask
But from my country's will,
By day, by night, to ply the task.
Her cup of bliss to fill.
I want the voice of honest pralsa
To follow me behind,
And to be thought In future daya
The friend of humankind;
That after ages, as they rise,
Exulting may proclaim,
In choral union to the skies,
Their blessings on my name.
These aro the wants of mortal man;
I cannot want them long,
For life itself is but a span,
And earthly bliss a song.
My last great want, absorbing all,
Is, when beneath the sod,
And summoned to my final call
The mercy of my God.
John Quincy Adams.
Lessons and Learning:.
When the next issue of The Com
moner finds its way to the thousands
of homes to which it makes its visits
each week there will be something
missing. Tho dancing feet and out
stretched hand that met the carrier
at tho door will not be there. All over
tho land the schools, colleges and in
stitutions of learning will be opening,-
and our bright-faced lads and
lassies will bo beginning tho business
of life in these halls. In the school
room, many a new face will bo seen,
many an old one missed. Among the
teachers, too, will be changes, and new
classes will bo formed, new -books
opened, new studies taken up, while
new friendships will bo begun, and
old ones ronewed. It is the way -of the
world change is written over all.
Yet tho same bright, active brains,
awakening ambitions and warm hearts
will bo there the spirit of progress
will rule as of old only the forms
will be changed.
How" I wish I might bend down and
whisper two words into each pink ear!
To the boys I would say, "Be gentle
men;" to tho girls, "Be gentle women."
And when I said it, 1 would not think
of fino clothes or conventional man
ners; even tho most boorish among
you may boast of these outward signs,
for they are often but disguises which
coarse natures assume. Many a brave,
manly boy's heart beats beneath a
tattered garment, and many a time is
conventional rule broken by its no-'
bio wearer.
But I would have you be kind and
courteous, each to each, with the kind
ness and courtesy born of a gentle and
unselfish nature. The good Book tells
us that tho second greatest command
ment is, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself;" and I would that you
should ask your own hearts, "Who is
my neighbor?" -Search diligently for
tho answer to this.
You are learning more lessons now
than your books will show. Along
with the mental you are developing the
moral powers, and every day you are
growing either toward, or "away from,
your ideals. You may never stand
still; forward or backward, the pen
dulum swings, and you must Bwing
with it. Let your aims be high; let
your ideals bo pure. In exercising your
moral faculties, as with the mental,
you strengthen them. A gentle, kind
ly act today will make the one tomor
row easier to do, until, by and by, it
will seem but "second nature," to do
well in all things-
If you arq wiser, stronger mentally
or morally than your companions, do
,not forget that you will1 wield an in
fluence over these weaker ones for
good or for evil. Your life will be a
light unto their feet; they will fol
low in your footsteps. No one can
stand alone "no man liveth unto
himself." Always you are pulling oth
ers up, or pushing them down, by your
daily acts; you either encourage, or
discourage vice by all you do. Virtue
will beam or blacken under your
breath.
You should aim high, not alone in
the world of letters, but in the moral
world. Try to, in all things, retain
your own self-respect. Cultivate moral
courage as well as physical. A moral
coward is a pitiable creature, though
he may bef physically, of the bravast.
Sometimes it requires the very highest
order of courage to dare to do right
to refuse to do wrong. The exercise
of moral courage, may, in some in
stances, bring upon you the censure of
all your companions, for a time; yet
God will know, and if you- have a
senpe of consciousrectitude, you can
bear all their abuse.
Resolve now, while your minds are
growing and your power developing,
that you will take high rank among
tho benefactors of tho world. It may
be that you must forever walk the
paths of the lowly; that to your hands
must always be allotted tho common
tasks of the world; that your compan
ions must always bo below you in the
scale of social, moral and mental life.
You may always feel that to you, life
has been a failure, because some cher
ished ambitions have failed; but be
sure of this: the path in which your
feet are placed is the one path you
could have trodden with safety; the
work your hands must do is the work
that God requires of you, and let it be
your constant aim to do it well.
"Faithful in little things" will fit you
to rule over the greater in God's prom
ised Hereafter.
Gathering: Up the Fragments.
"You just hate to do that, don't
you?" said the lassie, as she watched
me putting the grape pulp through the
colander. "Why, my dear!" I said,
"do I work as though I did?" "No,
but you do not like to do such work,"
she replied.
"When I tell you to do any task, do
.you 'hate' to do it?" I asked; and the
smiling response is, "No, ma'am."
"When God tells me to do anything,
should I not obey him as cheerfully as
you obey me?"
"But God did not tell you to make
grape butter!" is the wondering an-swor.
"Yes," I say. "Do you not remem
ber when Christ fed the hungry mul
titude, he gave them all they could
eat, and more; and when all had eaten
their fill, he told his disciples to
'gather up the fragments, that nothing
be lost;' and the obedient disciples
gathered what remained into baskets
for future use. Well, God has given
us a plenteous harvest, grains and
grasses and fruits and vegetables, and
all the summer long we and bur ani
mals have eaten all we wanted, but
there is still a great abundance left,
and this must all be cared for, else we
shall go hungry when the winter
comes. For the animals, the grain and
hay and roots are stored in barns and
stack yards and granaries, and for
ourselves, we put some of the 'frag
ments' of the summer abundance into
cans; some we preserve in various
ways; some we pickle, some we dry,
some of the vegetables go to seed, and
these must be cared for, the seeds, such
as beans, peas, etc., we pack in bags,
and others, such as grain, we store
in boxes and bins.' In all this, we are
simply doing as God has told us to
do we are 'gathering up tho frag
ments.' "
Tho brown eyes grew grave with
thought. The little soul was lost in
tho sea of speculation.
And oftentimes, to us who are but
older children, this view of the sub
ject comes as a comfort We are only
too apt to rebel when some disagree
able task claims our unwilling hands.
Wo touch, reluctantly the coarser,
commoner duties of life, seeing only
tho dull, prosaic aide, but once we rec
ognizo this call as one. of obedience to
the will of Him "Who go loved the
world,'.' we remember that the Sinless
One did, also, the "will of the father,"
and counted no service as drudgery
whereby ho migh,t bless, the lives of the
"brethren" who shared his pilgrim
age while hero upon earth.
Property Rights.
In answer to our correspondent who
wishes to know how a woman may
learn what her property rights are, and
how to protect them, we" will say that
it is not necessary for her to go
through a course of law study in or
der to know these matters. Every
family should have a copy pf the stat
utes of the state in which they live, or
own property, and jn this volume will
be found all tho laws pertaining to
woman as a property owner, etc.
If upon looking them over one finds
a difficulty in understanding their
meaning, she should go to the ablest
lawyer she knows and ask him to ex
plain them to her which I am quito
sure ho will take pleasure in doing.
As to protecting those rights,- if as
sailed, she should place her case in
the hands of the best attorney she
may be able to employ. Any lawyer
can tell ner where she may procure
the statutes of the state in which she
lives, and, haying procured them, she
should study them diligently. A
woman should sign, or be satisfied with
no paper until she is reasonably sure
she understands it, and that It is cor
rectly drawn with regard to her own
protection.
Floral Notes.
A tea made from 'Quassia 'chips, ap
plied hot as the hand will' boar, is
sure death to many insect foes that in
fect house plants among them mealy,
bug and aphis, and, if often applied,
will also destroy red spider. A free
use of a good brass syringe, with wa
ter either hot or cold will mostly mako
the application of insecticides unnec
essary. Shield your potted plants from tho
hot sun at "midday, and palms, ferns,
oleanders and the like should have
their pots shielded from the sunshine
to preserve even moisture in the soil.
This is the month in which to get"
callas, freesias, and oxalis bulbs,
potted, in order to have them in bloom
by Christmas. Order your out-door
bulbs early, as by this means you will
get choice of the florist's stock. Have
your bulb bed wo.ll prepared, and
make it just as large as your purse
will allow. There Is nothing more
satisfactory than the well stocked,
well cared for out-door Tmlb.bed.
A good time to start hardy shrubs
is during August or September. Plants
for bedding can be had very cheaply
now of many florists. Many of the
plants set now wiirbloom next spring.
It is better to set them now, as, If one
waits until next spring, a whole sea
son's bloom will be lost.
Nothing gives .such an air of cheer
fulness to the living room in winter
as a few pots of blooming plants. If
you can care for but one'' or two, try
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