OCR Text |
Show ..Our Boys and girls.. Edited by Aunt Busy. This department is conducted solely in 'the inter-, inter-, efts of our girl and boy readers Aunt Busy is glad to hea'any time from the nieces and nephews who read this page, and to give them all the advice and help in her power Write on one Fide or the paper only. Do not have letters too lone Original Tories and verses will be gladly received and carefully edited. The manuscrlpg of contributions not accepted will lie returned. ' . raUu TClterS t0 Aunt Bus' Xntermountaln i Catholic. Salt Lake City. V ' I MAKE THIS A DAY. j C MTake ihis a .1ny. Thfre is no gain t 1 ." wocdin over .'ays to come: f j J ho message of todav is plain 1 ' ?'h futurp' :)ps are ever dumb. . ; The work of yesrt.-rdav is gone ' For good or ill. let come what may i But now we face another dawn J Make this u day. ' I Though yeste.-day we failed to see ' The urging hand and earnest face ! That men cail opportunity; j AVe failed 10 know, the' time or place ; For pome great deed, what need to fret? j The dawn comes up a silver gray, j And golden moments must be met.' j Make this 'lay. This day is yours; your work is yours; J The odds ire not who pays your hire. The thing acr-ompi'shed that endures, I If it be wht tin days require, j He who takes up his daily round. As one new armored for the fray, j' TmiMrrow steps on solid ground, j Make this n dav. ! J The day is this: the time is now; j No better lour was ever here "Who waits upon the when and how 1 Remains forever in the rear. j Though yesterday were wasted stuff, I Your feet may seek out the way. J Tuniom w is not soon enough 3 Make ihis a day. W. D. X., in Chicago Tribune. j AUNT BUSY HAS HER SAY. j TV-ar !N"iH'( s and Xrphows: A happy, nrijrht and plad Xcw Year to all Aunt Busy's dear girls and j l.uys. i Another yc-ar has jiWc1 with its joys, sorrows, 1 L"lcs. ambitions, and old Father Time will soon bo j alonjr in with a now name, 10."i. . Ah, how sincerely does . Aunt Busy wish that J nothing hut the truest happiness and goodness will ntcr into the lives of all. her children, not only j ir lhe coming year, but f or jdl the year;? to come, f May everv moment he filled with sunshine and j 5"V vith not a shadow to cloud the days of the near j j or distant future, jj Once more, dear children, best wishes for a hap- 5 pv glad New Year from your loving ! ! AUXT BUSY. ! i Y LETTERS AND ANSWERS. Salt Lake, Dec. 20. T)ear Aunt Busy: How are you getting along? ' J T do not write very often, hut I certainly do not . ' forget you. Santa Clans was pretty good to me. ! Jh'W did he treat you. Aunt Busy t Your loving nei.hew. Ill CHARD CUMMIXGS. I Aunt Busy would be getting along better if she j received more letters. She is glad that you reinem- I bered her after your long neglect. Write soon : I jig;iin, Kichard. 1 t ; f Butte, Mont.. Dee. 2(5. : s Dear Aune Busy : I have not written to you for a l"iig time. Have you forgotten me, Aunt Busy? . j . Yours in a hurry, WILLIAM CRAWFORD. I Aunt Buy has certainly for forgotten "in a f hurry, her in a hurry" nephew. Please write Aunt Busy 'a few lines next time or even a postal card. ! Salt Lake, Dec. 25. ; Dear. Old Aunt Busy: This is my first letter if . to you. I read the letters in the Intermountain I Catholic and 1 decided to write to you. I spent a 1 nice Christmas and got many presents. Did you ' i have a good time. Aunt Busy? With love, 1 re- ; main, vour affectionate niece, I X MARY GRIFFIN". i j Another new niece! How Aunt Busy gladly ; j welcomes the new coiners. She hopes to hear very ' I oftc'ii from you, Mary. ! j Salt Lake, Dee. 20. i My Dear Aunt Busy: T wish you would come i and see all the lovely presents Santa Claus brought j me. They are fine and I do want ynu to see them. v I Did Santa Clans treat you well ! I hope he did. i With love and best wishes for a happy Xcw ' : w Year. 1 remain, vour loving nieee, r JOSEPHINE M'CARTIIY. Aunt Busy is very pleased to hear from you, 1 i Var. Of course Santa Clans was good to you. Old ' S ; i 1 1 1 v is idwavs kind to dear, sweet, little irirls and i I to funnv. faf, old ladies like your old Aunt Busv, y t... 1 SOPHIA'S SWEEPINGS. : f Everybody in the great treasury building at the i I capital knows "good old Sophia," the janitress. She has 1m 'en there thirty-four years, respected and Lived by the officials and clerks, -y She was the first woman ever appointed officially I in the government service. For. her honesty jn sav- f intr l"ni-e Sain $lsOl(0 in one nighf, long ago, : I Broi-lent Lincoln gave her a life appointment in the trejiMiry. where she has seen nine administrations : C"ine and go. - ? i Among the ninety scrub women at the treasuo" I Sophia was. no. One day, after a hard evening's f work, when the great building was emptied of its I workers, Sophia, as usual, swept and cleaned the f looms, where (with shears in those days), the bank I notes were cul and trimmed". Under the shavings - sin- found a box. packed with notes, all ready for ! "lie safe. Jt had been forgotten. "New,'' thought Sophia, "what can I do? So I i -i on thinkin' and swecpin' fast, and thinkin'. . j The watchman stops at the door and says, 'Sophy, you're mighty perticular this owning with your j J eleaninV ! l. '1 says when I had covered the box with shav- iii's. 'Yes, I Jikes to be nice,' i I 'Tp an' down, up an' down, the watchman alks. sir sweeps, an' thinks, 'S'posc he steal an' 'ciiso a o..r ie woman like meT" j The long dark evening she kept her watch. It ; j va- mi.lnifiht. It was s still and lonely: only the ! -'- I - of the watchman, to and fro, on the marble . I !' s. One! Two! the big clocks struck, with n Tint;-. Sophia prayed the dear Lord to help her, to ; -:do cue of her little children at home, to protect ! j her und this great amount of money for. the gov- rnine:;!. : .. A' hist General Spinner, the United States s A treasurer, caine jiast her tloor. He cried out : "Why, SMj,hv .00,j woman, what are you doing here this f lime of night ?" it It didn't, take long for Sophy's story" to DP I ' 1"M; and the precious box hidden" in" General r, Spinner's room, all officials were brought from their "ds ami Sophy kept prisoner until, in their pres- ? c iico. ilo money was counted. ' General Spinner had dreamed that, something , wn wrong in the treasury, dressed and gone to his o;heo. Sojihia was sent home in his carriage. l j The secrel.iry said next day, "Sophia, don't you : know you have saved this big government nearly a quarter of a million of dollars?" v "1's glad, Fir; it's a great dcaJ of money to Iolo." . ; Visitors often ask, "Sophia, were you a bit j ' ttmpted to take a few notes that jimcY , f , II Sophia's mild eyes flash, and she stands very straight, and alwaj's replies: "Xo! Xo! It never entered my mind, honey. All the gold and notes in the United States treasury ain't nothin' to leavin' my little black children the legacy of a white soul." Cliiiiiaate. THE CHIPMUNK'S BLACK STRIPE As everybody knows ,the chipmunk has a black stripe running up and down his back. . . According to the red Indians he did not have any black stripe oj him at all originally. They say that he got the one he now wears in. the following manner: The animals used to meet once a year to elect a leader, and, once upon a time, the porcupine was chosen for that position. The first thing the porcupine did was to call a great council of all the animals. Then he placed before them the following question: .. Shall wo have day all the time or night all the time i" It was a very important matter, and the animals began to debate it earnestly. The bear said ho wanted night all the time, for then he could sleep, and sleep was much the most pleasant think he knew of. But the little chipmunk said: "Xo, T want night part of the time aird day part of the time, for then we can have time to sleep and time to gather nuts and hop around among the trees." The big bear and lhe little chipmunk got into a violent discussion over the question, and the other animals became silent and left the two to argue it out. It was night while ihey Avere debating, and when they had got out of breath arguing, they began be-gan to sing. "Xight is best; night is be.-t. We must have darkness!" sang the big bear. "Day is best ; day is best. We must have light," sang the little chipmunk. 'Xight is best; night is best. -We must have darkness," growled the bear in a deep,' thunder tone. "Light will come. We must have light. Day will come," replied the little chipmunk in his shrill voice. i And, just as he was singing, the day began to dawn and the light of morning to illumine the world. Then the bear and the other big animals on his side of the question saw that the little chipmunk was prevailing, and set up an angry chorus, so that the chipmunk was afraid and ran for his hole in a neighboring tree. The bear and his followers ran after him and, just as 1he chipmunk was diving into his hole, the big hear reached out his paw to catch him. But the chipmunk was so quick that the. paw of the bear only grazed his back and lie got into his hole in safety. But you can see to this day in the black stripe on the back of the chipmunk where the paw of the bear who loved darkness just grazed the fur of the little fellow who loved the light. The American Boy. ; CAT CLIMBS A CHURCH STEEPLE. One beautiful summer evening ' the avenues were thronged with people on their way to church. At a corner several persons were standing, gazing apparently into' the air. Others soon joined them, initil so large a crowd was gathered that the way was blocked. Soon tin? windows along, the . street were thronged, and a number of persons were seen on. the tops of the houses in the neighborhood. And what do you think they saw? Clinging for dear life to a jutting ornament, near the top of lhe tall church steeple that pointed straight up into the soft evening air, was a black cat. "How did it get there?" was the first question every one asked, and "How will it get down?" was the next. The poor thing was looking down, and at frequent fre-quent intervals it uttered a pitiful cry,, as if calling call-ing to tie crowd below for help. Once it slipped and fell a short distance down the sloping s'ide of the steeple, and. an exclamation of pity came from the crowd, now intensely interested in its fate. Luckily lhe cat's paws caught on another projection, projec-tion, and for the moment it was safe. Some looker-on suggested that it be shot in order or-der to save it from the more dreadful death that seemed to await it; but no one was willing to fire the shot. Fro. long a little window some distance above the place where the cat was clinging was seen to open. Two boys had determined to save it; they had mounted the stairs to where the bell hung and then by a ladder reached the window. The boys were seen to be lowering a basket down the side of the steeple. Pussy watched it. intently as it. slowly came nearer and nearer. AVhen it was within reach, she carefully put out one paw, and took hold of the side of the basket, then as carefully repeated the action with the other paw, then witlra violent effort flung herself over the side into the bottom of the basket. She was safely drawn to the window, amid loud cheers from the spectators below. St. Xich-olas. |