"I know a young man who is now studying for the ministry. I think he
will succeed, for he is very much in earnest and he has natural ability,
too. Yet he finds his task rather difficult, because he had no
opportunity to study when he was younger. He has not been trained to
think or to remember, and the work he is doing now is something like
your washing the paint brush this morning. It must all be done before he
can go on to anything better, and he regrets that it was not done at the
proper time."
"I suppose that the moral for me is to improve my privileges."
"Yes, that's just it. Improve your privileges by getting ready
beforehand for the work of life. If the paint brush teaches you this
lesson, you may be glad that you had to stop to get it clean."
The Pied Piper of Hamelin.
(_A Child's Story._)
BY ROBERT BROWNING.
I.
Hamelin Town's in Brunswick,
By famous Hanover city;
The river Weser, deep and wide,
Washes its wall on the southern side;
A pleasanter spot you never spied;
But, when begins my ditty,
Almost five hundred years ago,
To see the townsfolk suffer so
From vermin, was a pity.
II.
Rats!
They fought the dogs and killed the cats,
And bit the babies in their cradles,
And ate the cheeses out of the vats,
And licked the soup from the cooks' own ladles,
Split open the kegs of salted sprats,
Made nests inside men's Sunday hats,
And even spoiled the women's chats
By drowning their speaking
With shrieking and squeaking
In fifty different sharps and flats.
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