OCR Text |
Show ) ...Our Boys and girls... EDITED BY AUNT BUSY. This department Is conducted solely In the interest!! inter-est!! of our girl and boy readers. Aunt Busy Is clad to hear any tlmo from the nieces and nephews who read this page, and to glT them all the advice and help In her power. Write on one side of the paper only. Do not have letters too long:. V Original Ftorles and verses will be gladly received I end carefully edited. V The manuscripts of contributions not accepted wlU be returned. . r-V!1 5tt -Aunt Busy. Intermountala Catholic. Salt Lake City. "S AUNT BUSY HAS HER SAY. f Iar Xieces and .Nephews: Of course t ho doar girls and boys had a merry time at Christmas and Aunt Busy trusts the new year will be a happy one. With older people the new year always means the making of many good resolutions, and Aunt Busy thinks the dear young people might do the fame. If the past months of the school vear have been wasted, if the attendance at Sunday school and choir practice has not been regular, if oh, ! so many "ifs," now is the time for the young folks to say, "We are going to work hard to make up for what we have lost," and Aunt Busy is sure that you will succeed. The dear little folk, who write to Aunt Busy have such innocent reforms to make that to older eyes the resolutions seem amusing but if you correct your little weaknesses now, in the future years you will not be tired, old and almost al-most discouraged from your failures and faults, because you weeded them out in the long-ago time. The old folks of today once had a "long-ago" time too, when their faults were just as small as yours today, but if they failed to correct even the small ones then, they are certainly paying the penalty now. Of course Aunt Busy is preaching agair, but she does want her girls and boys to become happy women and happy men. Do not wait from year to year to start correcting your faults but be gin at once. Kight here, Aunt Busy wants to tell you about a little girl she once knew. This dreadful dread-ful child was very impertinent and disrespectful to her teacher. No amount of punishment seemed to improve her, until one day a sweet good woman whom this little girl liked very much, spoke to her about her fault, pleaded with her until the littlo girl really cried. The good woman felt that at f last she had made an impression and finished with, "Now, dear, ihe new year will soon be here. Rc-i Rc-i solve to chsinge into a polite, obedient little girl." fyS There was silence for a moment and then this very, - very bad little sinner, said: "Well, it's three weeks 4 ill New Years and I'll 'sass', 'sass,' 'sass' her until un-til then anyhow." Now many years have gone since that naughty child was so wilfull, and those years have been spent by her in teaching many girls and boys of a large school in Now York City. Oh, the many times that the naughty children have done just what their teacher did when she ' was naughty, too! Perhaps she is to blame, maybe may-be she is hasty, cross and impatient with the pupils, pu-pils, if her disposition is the one of early years, so remember little girls, little boys, big girls, big boys, that the "Bogie" man is watching and you'd beet look out." Aunt Busy wauts to plead with you for the school teachers, the tired men and women, who are so underpaid, not to mention the thousands thous-ands of sisters and priests who caring for God's glory alone, get only their bare food and clothes. She wants to plead with her boys and girls for " those devoted men and women. The least you can give them is respect and obedience. Please try to realize that money alone cannot pay for the nerve strain, the tired brains and bodies of those teachers. teach-ers. If they take an interest in your advancement, money can never pay, but gratitude helps. Aunt Busy does not believe that teachers are perfect, indeed in-deed no, but in gtneral the pupils "make" the teacher. You am young, gay, with hardly any care, your greatest worry being that you must , study, while the teachers have the remembrance of years of past worry, often the dread of the future, when tired out they will be put aside for younger rj. j i i l j more moaern instructors, oiten tney nave lovea ones depending on them for daily bread, Aunt Busy knows right now of a brave teacher in this city who is helping a brother in college, is watching watch-ing an invalid sister slowly but surely dying, but is trying to look prosperous and happy as the other teachers, who have far less care. Aunt Busy once read a letter to a pupil written by a teacher, who knew she was dying. For forty-one years she s taught in the public schools of a large city. One sentence that Aunt Busy will always remember was, "In the dim distant future may some dear ? girls gladden your heart as you did mine." Aunt I Busy felt her eyes fill when she remembered the I bad, thoughtless conduct of her school girl days. She particularly remembered her rudeness to one teacher, a quiet, patient sister, with sad tired beautiful beau-tiful brown eyes, one whose life was a daily martyrdom mar-tyrdom from illness. Aunt Busy remembered the times she refused to read in class, the times she drew funny pictures, made funny remarks to make others laugh, wrote answers on her cuffs to pass 4 around to other lazy girls and did many dreadful 'H things, for which she should have been whipped with a strong trunk strap. Just a few words more and Aunt Busy is finished. fin-ished. She certainly has preached this time and too much she fears, but tonight 6he feels like "Jo" in Louise Alcott's "Little Women." Don't you re member where "Jo" would go into the attic, put on a crazy looking cap, wave a queer looking pen in the air, put smudges of ink on her funny nose, and say, "Genius Burns?" Well, Aunt Busy felt that way tonight. If only one girl or boy resolves to treat "teacher" just a little kinder, Aunt Busy wiJl be very happy. With her dear love and many sincere wishes for a happy, successful year, she remains lovingly, your short, fat, funny old AUNT BUSY. |