Show MINISTER IKO CHILDREN I 1 childen who perform one kindly act each daiy diy chicago inter acs n A KOBLE WOMANS the countess of meath spoke to the children yesterday afternoon in the schoolroom school room of st jamea episcopal church on the corner of casa and huron streets the address was proceeded prece eded by the reading of a portion of the evening service it was then announced that the distinguished lady present would tell something of the organization of the society of ministering children which she had established and in whose growth she is deeply interested she came to the platform thus introduced accompanied bv her husband the choir boya vacating it and taking pews where they constituted a part of the audience the earl of meath h a tall well knit man of dignified bearing polished manner and pleasing address he has a full dark beard dark hair and eyes and an aquiline nose the countess of meath is also tall slender and dark eyed with a brilliant emile and mobile feature she wore a black dress made with a basque having a scarlet vest and thickly abraded in silver with which she wore a small black bonnet trimmed with black and scarlet the earl of meath spoke first and explained that he bad been announced to talk to the children it was his wife could not be present and ho congratulated them on what he was pleased to call their disappoint because as a founder of the league bia wife could talk of the work more acceptably than he the countess then came forward and talked somewhat rapidly though moat entertainingly to the children who had come to hear her there waa not a dull word in all that ehe eaid and her simplicity and direct uena were models for others who attempt to entertain children and constantly talk over their beads IS or did she err in the her extreme the Cointe aa first observed that it seemed etrone that she should come nearly miles to meet her bearers with whom she had been jinken during the past year neither knowing the other tho first topic was the name of the society its first meaning began with the letter s she had asked a little child the other day what hia idea waa and he immediately replied 1 I think it means sunday school ri stood for servant and it was the duty of each member to endeavor to be a goo 1 little servant some may think she said that it at all a nice thing to say but after all service is the very best thing that people can render no life can be really noble unless it is really a serving ile there is one person over in of whom the people are very fond indeed she is the servant of the people their A lord bad died the other day who had been all his life a servant of ahe people jt was generally thought that lords were ill lazy folks who lived in big houses with a lot of people to wait upon them he died leaving thousands of people better for his having lived he was lord shaftesbury when a buy of 14 years he made up his mind to help others as much as lay in his power and hi life was very richly blessed while at nigara she noticed that the water which came pouring down rose in mist going back to water again so it roust be with us god gives us blessings day by day and hour by hour but we are not to keep them back allowing no day to pass without doing something fur others it need not be a great thing league means binding together those who want to do effective work must be boand together this big city that had been burned a short time ago had been rebuilt BO quickly because the people had worked together to restore it there is a demon against which all have to fight continual lya very demon with a chort name he makes little children fretful and impatient older ones cross and fractious and grown people quero lous and miserable his name is self selfishness is responsible for much of the wretchedness in the world it is necessary to figh thim and in doing go to league to geher there is so much trouble in the world that each should do what he could to lessen it we do not see so much of it in this new city as in the old country where there is a greater population much of would not exist if every one loving kind and useful and th children were urged to do what they could to make others happy the society was organized four and a half years ago A few persons met in hr house in london A membership of fifty was obtained and they then set about to secure another fifty to join them in bog land people are fond of old things they think it is good to what belonged to the past to pause and look back it is not their fault if americana do not like old things so well living where everything is comparatively new the society has taken root readily and after her first visit she went back to england and told what the peo pie here were doing that they must make baste or be left behind there are now organizations branches have ben established in india australia canada and the united states the members though scattered over the world are all united by common bics tics there are two simple obligations a rule to do at least one kind act every day it might seem odd to form a society for such a simple thing last summer the had visited kent the h ip growing region of england she had noticed the hops growing in the fields tied to stakes they required gods air and sunshine but without he dead sticks to hold them up they would have fallen into a tangled mass would not have ripened the society cannot make its mem bera kind only gods blessing can do that but it will bo a help the second obligation is prayer she had heard a clergyman in london who bad come from aus tria a journey of miles which had taken several weeks he told of the children there who were saying there prayers when all the little english children were fast asleep so that at all times of the day and night prayers were being said and kind deeda being dona by the members the world over in new york a lady had noticed lame children in a hospital carrying the cards that were used in the BOCK ty but they were so small and eo lame they apparently do nothing and she thought she must be mistaken she was told that they were really active members the stronger caring for the weaker and all praying together they were also saving their money cent by cent to send to a poor little orphan miles away whom they were trying to help in four and one half years a home has been established in england fur destitute boya who had been taken away from misery and poverty and a similar home would be founded for little girls other cli ildren had collected quantities of clothing toys and scrap books to bo given to children less happy than themselves lu mew ork one society has collected with which to build a chapel fur con averted indians and expects to have by christmas there is a branch in jerusalem in the members meet to sew for the poor or gather flowers for the sick in the hospitals |