Bennie's Christmas Stocking

BY MRS. SUSAN M. GRIFFITH

(For the Christian Observer.)

It was when we lived on the old Yandall place and went to school in the little red brick school-house on the edge of Piper's grove, that it all happened. It was about Benny Dale. You see, he came to school, too, at the little red brick, and I don't know what possessed us fellows, but we found he was extremely senitive, and we got to teasing him one way and another until we fairly made his life miserable; and then-that's how we came to make him the Christmas stocking.

I suppose we boys were like most other fellows of fourteen and fifteen years; we didn't think very deeply about most things, and just because Benny was a little slow at his lessons, and timid, and couldn't wear good clothes, we all felt inclined to set him up as a target and shoot

all the mean little arrows of sarcasm at him we could-though we never meant

one-half the mischief we were guilty of; and if he had stood up for himself like a man instead of shrinking from us and looking so hurt (for somehow that just made us mad), we would soon have let him alone. Little Dale was very poor. None of us knew much about him except that he lived with his grandmother in a shabby old log cabin belonging to old man Piper, which had been standing empty for some years. In fact, the old gentleman had intended pulling it down, but when the Dales came and begged to be allowed to rent it, he let them have it

to live in without pay.

dinner of cold potatoes and corn bread looked despicable, and I am ashamed to say that we were not slow in making remarks upon it, some of us even calling him "Cold Potatoes" and "Potato Patch." I don't see now, how we could have been so very cruel; I cannot think that we were deliberately cold-blooded. It must have arisen from the supreme thoughtlessness of youth.

One day I remember well how cold it was, and how we were all gathered around the red-hot stove enjoying our lunch-we were more unmerciful than ever, and kept up our raillery to such an extent that at last our poor little victim lost his wonderful self-control and burst into a piteous flood of tears. This made an awkward pause in our fun, especially as the girls began to take his part and comfort him and shame us, calling us all sorts of hard names indignantly. In fact, for once, we were completely shut up, and fairly taken aback to see the timid Benny rise to his feet and defend himself

thus:

"If you fellows only knew what it is to be poor, and to suffer with cold and hunger as grandma and I do, and not know, half the time; where you are going to get anything to eat for the next day, you'd make your jokes a good deal scarcer than You don't know how it hurts. you do. If you did, you wouldn't do it, because not mean boys. I can't help you are wearing patched clothes. And I try to be thankful to grandma for keeping them so If you want to keep it clean and nice. up, why, go ahead, of course; I suppose I'll have to stand it, that's all; but I will say, once for all, now that I have tried to explain, if you do go right on guying me

When I got home that night I went out to the kitchen where mother was getting supper and held a long conversation with her. The result of that conference was, that I was allowed to make a fire in the parlor upon Friday evening, pop a lot of corn, crack a pile of nuts, and bring up a big dish of Baldwins from the cellar for my invited guests.

They were all on hand early, and after some preliminary talk, I introduced the good things to eat, and suggested that we talk Benny and his stockings while we ate, for it was my plan that we should make a very large stocking of canton flannel, trim it with ribbons, and fill it from toe to top with everything good and useful that could be gathered together. In the first place, we must all know what each one could contribute. Fred Winters said that he had a good coat that he had out-grown, and Carl Bradley had a firstrate cap and necktie that he could give as well as not. The girls said they could manage a dress of some kind for Grandma Dale, beside various other articles, books and I had plenty of and such But there were a lot of other things we wanted to give them that had to be bought, and in those times boys and girls did not have much money of their own, and you may rest assured that what we gave in that line came out of However, our self-denial pocket. managed it, and by dint of giving up this and that, we scraped enough together to get Benny some cloth for a pair of pants, a couple of shirts, some socks and shoes, besides a pound of candy, half a dozen oranges, and a little sugar, and coffee and tea. And then one of the girls, Mary Bliss, who had been raising turkeys that

things.

we

I shall think it's mighty mean!" year, volunteeered to give one already Well, so did we, and as the lonely, op-dressed, and we were just about tickled pressed little boy went to his desk and to death. opened his book to spend the remainder of his nooning in study, we looked at each other as if we had been undergoing a good chastising; and it did not take us

Mother came in just as we had got that

tians. We did go so far as to let him

down into an old unused and dried-up well on 'Squire Hopkins' premises, right

next to the school-house, and we kept him there all one afternoon session; and we thought we were having fine sport laughing in our sleeves at the teacher, who made all sorts of inquiries about him, while we appeared as innocent as Mary's little lamb. Of course we knew we were safe enough. Ben wasn't apt to tell, for fear of consequences, but I must say I felt for one that we went a little too far that time. And when he was released, he never opened his mouth, with but just walked off his face all stained with tears, and, somehow, as far as I was concerned, I felt a good deal like a sneak. I know, now, that I was

one.

There was another thing that we were contemptible enough to make fun of, too, and that was his food. I believe, as a rule, people are more sensitive in regard to that than they are about clothes. Any way, I think Ben was. The most of us lived too far away from the school-house to return for the noonday meal, and we enjoyed making something of a display of our eatables and exchanging delicious bits with one another. In contrast with our abundant provision Benny's frugal

"I say,

hasn't it?"

all arranged, and offered to furnish the canton flannel and cut out the stocking.

and as the girls made no objection to I had thought it would be splendid to boys," said Fred Winters, have a letter from Santa Claus tied to plunging his hands deep into his trousers the stocking, and written in verse if such a thing were possible; and as I knew of pockets, "the worm has turned at last, one girl who had written a little for the village paper, I believed she could do it; but the moment I mentioned it, she, of course, was covered with blushes, and began to make all manner of excuses. "Why, Clarence Parker," she said, speaking to me directly, "you know I couldn't do a thing like that. It would never sound right."

"It made me feel a good deal as if he had slapped me in the face," said Carl Bradley. "I didn't know the fellow had as much man about him. Wonder how it would feel to be in his place a couple of days or so."

"He didn't tell the truth about one "He thing, though," said Cyril Atkins. said we are not mean boys, and we just are. Carl wants to know how we'd feel in his place. I'll tell you how I'd feel. Most mighty mad, that's how. It wouldn't be healthy for you fellows to use me the way we've all used him. I'd pitch in and whip about twenty-five of you before I was done with it."

"I'll tell you what it is, fellows," said 1, by а suddenly enlightened brilliant thought, "let us make it up to him some way. It's coming holidays, you know, and-" and I proceeded to unfold to them a plan which was received with genuine shouts of approbation.

"We must let the girls into it, and you must all meet at our house to arrange matters as soon as Friday evening. That's a little more than a week till Christmas. And mum's the word."

"Pshaw!" said I. "You can do whatever you want to, Ella. You have such a brilliant imagination and are so generoushearted, that it will be no trouble at all to put yourself in old St. Nicholas' place." And then the others all put in and said everything, and she finally gave a reluctant consent. The first of the next week she had the verses all written, and we gathered at the Bradleys to hear them read, and ate more nuts, apples and popcorn. We were most highly delighted with them, and coaxed Fred Winters, who had taken lessons in fancy penmanship, to copy them beautifully in goldcolored ink. I think I will write them down for you, because we thought them good for a school-girl, and were happy in fastening them in a conspicuous place on Benny's Christmas stocking.

To my dear Benny Dale, this note I indite,
Riding along in the pale moonlight,
Over city and country covered with snow,

the end of the voyage; the smell aboard was nauseating; the monotony, exasperating; the duties-fish feeding-weak

With things that I thought he would like best, you know,

And I shall endeavor to further his cause
As long as my name is old Santa Claus.

We all got together on Christmas eve and filled that stocking. Down in the

toe went a rubber ball and a top, some pencils and little trifles like that, then came the shoes and stockings and grandma's dress. After that followed Benny's suit and the books, and on top we put the groceries, candy and turkey and a big frosted cake, made by Nannie Myers. Then we tied it up and put a bow of ribbon on heel and toe, and pinned the verses on the knot of ribbon. Fred Winters was to stop all night with me, and we were to get up in the gray of the morning and go over and set the stocking outside the door, knock, and then hide and see the fun. We followed out our programme to the letter, and would have got away all right if it hadn't been for Benny's little dog, Scamp, who set up such a shrill, excited barking, that Benny got up to see what the matter was, and came within nothing of catching us. However, we managed to slip around to the rear of the house, and pretty soon we heard Benny call to the old lady in the queerest, most trembly voice, and then he struck a light, and we did kind of a mean thing-we peeped in at the window. We saw the boy and the dear old grandmother tugging away at the big stocking, and Benny had got hold of the note and was reading it. We saw them take the things out reverently and lay them down with exclamations of wonder and joy, and then the dear old grandma put her arm around Benny and they both knelt down right where they were and asked God to bless us, for they seemed to have no difficulty in knowing who personified Santa Claus. Fred stepped around the corner, and I wiped my eyes on the sly, and then we tapped on the glass and shouted, "Merry Christmas!" and Scamp came around and bit playfully at our heels while we ran joyfully home.

THE JOURNEY TO SAMOA.

By Elder Clare W. Reid.

"duties"-very unsatisfactory; and the sleeping-when I could sleep-the only relief I had; in fact, I appreciate only one thing in a long voyage, and that is the inexpressable joy of again stepping on good old "Mother Earth."

We naturally expect to see much of interest that we have never seen before and

to gain much infomation, but now-a-days all this comes to us from the cleverest writers and the most renowned artists through the standard magazines of the world, and it is a very poor man indeed that cannot take a most realistic journey to any part of the earth without having to leave his own comfortable hearthstone. Therefore, most of what we saw we had seen before. The shipping of San Francisco, as we approached it by the ferry boat from Oakland across the bay, was a familiar picture. There were the ships with masts, spars, sails and smokestacks-all sizes, all kinds. The distance shows no life. The city, with its mass of buildings shrouded in mist and smoke forms a very prominent background on account of the gradually increased elevation from the waters edge back to Sutro Heights, the extreme western limit of the city.

SO

straight down the Pacific brought us in sight of our destination, the Samoan Islands. Clouds hung low over the land, hiding it from our view, except where

rifts in the mist showed us the verdurecovered mountains, with here and there the regularly planted rows of cocoanut palms in the plantations on the hillside. We sat on the upper deck about two hours watching what we had long anbecome more and ticipated, gradually more distinct until the "Moana," our ship, anchored about 1,000 yards from shore, where civilization seemed to have dropped a feather from her wing in her flight from the Northern Hemisphere to the Antipodes.

consists

of four fine

Small

Apia, the only foreign city in Samoa, lines the half circle of beach that forms the harbor and churches, three or four up-to-date hotels, several reading rooms and loan libraries, schools, stores, carpenter and blacksmith shops, homes and beer houses. sailing vessels do considerable business around the islands carrying 'cobra," the meat of the cocoanut, which is manufactured into soap and which forms the principal export. Several large steamers and sailing vessels ply between these islands, the Fiji isles, the Society isles, the Friendlies, and in fact all islands where

try, and horses, carts and buggies are very common. It is on one of these roads,

about a mile and a half from Apia, that

we are stationed. I teach school, study the language, and visit the Saints in company with our companion, Bro. Jos. Quinney, of Logan. Mrs. Reid has a class of girls who are learning to do needle work.

the avaricious White has stationed himself to get as many "popo's" for a "lavaI do not like San Francisco. The streets lava" as the simple black can get; so you see there is considerable business done are narrow and steep (a number are covered with grass-the incline being here. There are some very fine roads abrupt that there is no traffic on them), running from Apia back into the counand in the lower part of the city are paved with cobble-stones. The noise and din here is indescribable. In other parts asphaltum is being used and it is refreshing to pass into one of these streets from the cobble-stones. There are plenty attractions if one has plenty money and the "open sesame" to interesting places where a fee for admittance is no object. We visited the Cliff House, which cannot compare with Saltair; Sutro Heights, the home and private park of the late Adolph Sutro; a small part of Golden Gate Park, the only place that made us feel that we were in the much lauded state of California; and last, but with the greatest pleasure of all, our soldier boys who were at the docks preparing to embark for Manila.

Honolulu was reached the morning of the sixth day out from 'Frisco, and the mountains of Hawaii were a most welcome sight to us who love the mountains so much. Here we found a beautiful city; lively, business-like and full of interest. Perpetual summer reigns here not to say anything of "Uncle Sam"-and the vegetation is luxuriant. Palms, mangos, bananas, shrubs, hedges, cacti, and gorgeous flowering trees ornament sidewalks, homes the meanest, and palaces and parks the grandest with an impartial lavishness. The hackman seemed to be the busiest person in sight, and was certainly the most obstinate one. There were three of us bound for Samoa and it was amusing the way one of these

ing down now and then to make a fresh offer concerning the sights, which he seemed most anxious that we should see, provided we paid him, first $7.50 per hour; then $5.00, and finally, but too late, $3.50. He was a Yankee, to be sure.

Our steamer left at 5:30 p. m., and six and a half days more of ocean travel

We live in the home of from whom we Ah Mu, a Chinaman, might learn many a lesson in generosity. He has lived here about twenty years His wife is a and is pretty well off. Samoan, who rules everything about the place except Ah Mu's purse, with a hand that wont stand much interference.

The Samoans are a fine people, capable of being developed to a surprising degree. What is to become of them, is a question apparently unsettled. The old king is dead and a new one has not been chosen yet. There are three candidates, and if the matter is left to the natives there will be war. I believe most of the Samoans would welcome the United States, but they have no use for Germany. They have not forgotten her attempt to enslave them. At present there are two English men-of-war and two Germans in the harbor, where they will probably stay until the disposition of these islands has been decided upon.

The traditions, manners and customs of this people would make a very interesting article if treated properly, so I will leave that for some one else.

To our interested friends I will say that we are well, hearty, interested in our labors, quite satisfied with the climate and all that, but there is no place for us like dear old Utah-and especially Manti. CLARE WM. REID.

Pesega, Samoa.

A Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.

dress. It will have more weight with seekers after truth than the finest kind of a sermon. There are none of us so poverty stricken in the necessities of mission work as to not be endowed with some portion of this divine element; then let this benign shaft, from the Spirit of God, shed its effulgent ray to brighten each other's life in this great, strange world, where there are none (or should be) so near and dear to us as our companion, the one "I sleep with;" the one "I eat with;" the one "I pray with;" the oneand oftentimes the only one "who has the Priesthood;" the only one, perchance, besides myself, who has this divine authority "within miles of me."

Now, cannot I try to overlook his little faults? Have I not some equally as hard to bear? Cannot I arrange to turn the recesses of my disposition to mesh with the corners of his and thereby avoid friction of even the very least jar? Yes, God being my helper, I will. My companion is given me for "better or for worse." I say for "better," and I shall pray for strength to make this, my mission, the crowning success of my life. Success can only be achieved by honest, earnest and united labors with my companion.

Bruce has said: "Love is the only mark whereby the children of Christ and members of Christ's body are known from the rest of the world."

A supply of statistical report blanks for branches of the different Conferences has just been received from headquarters for distribution to each of the Conference Presidents. They have been mailed and those Conferences which receive theirs will not have to make them as heretofore suggested in the columns of this paper, but mail the blanks above referred

to, to their various branches, and have them promptly filled out and returned to each Conference President. Please be prompt in this regard.

We have received an interesting letter from Elder Osmer D. Flake, of Jackson, Mississippi, reciting a rather exciting experience he and a companion, Elder Porter, had at Mechanicsburg. He states an enjoyable visit was had with some dear friends of the Elders and that some of the mobocratic element tried to stir up trouble, but they were finally permitted to leave with nothing but threats and

OUR CONFERENCE PRESIDENTS.

President John E. Griffin.

CHARITY.

By Mrs. Mattie Cooper. The President of the Virginia Confer--From the Baptist Union, Danville. ence is one of those quiet, unassuming of charity, what tribute may we bring men who can and does accomplish so Of Christian virtues thou art king, much, at the same time apparently mak- The sweetest, dearest, kindest, best, ing no effort. Elder Griffin was called to And reigns supreme o'er all the rest. the mission field on July 10, 1896, and "Tis charity teaches us to forgive, eight days later was in his field of labor. Our fallen brother, and bid him live, Like many others of our Utah boys he A life of right, and wrong despise, spent his early life on the farm with That he in future henceforth may rise. Newton, Cache county, as his birthplace and the farm his field of labor, and the Then too our fallen sister, district school his educational nucleus. Forget the seed, that by the wayside, We bid again to go, He attended the Brigham Young College She sowed so long ago. at Logan, and the University of Utah, graduating in the Normal department, and then took a school for one year prior to his entering on his missionary labors. Elder Griffin is 26 years of age; married just a month before leaving home. He was an active worker in the Sunday schools and Mutual Improvement Asso

ELDER JOHN E. GRIFFIN,

President of the Virginia Conference.

ciation at home, and on his arrival in the field soon found this experience was invaluable to him in qualifying him for the

mission work.

"Tis charity ope's the cold heart's door, And bids us speak some words of cheer,

And bids us feel for another's woe,

And point of love to a Savior dear. 'Tis charity teaches us to forego, So many comforts here below,

And share with those who are forlorn, And of these comforts who have none. "Twas charity so full of love,

That brought the dear one from above,
To die for us, our ransom be,
That we may live in eternity.

Elder Henry W. Stahle got a good joke on his father the night he got home from his mission. His father and two younger sisters were home alone when he rapped on the door. It being about 8 o'clock in the evening and dark, he asked his father, when the latter opened the door, if he could stop over night, to which he replied: "Not very well prepared to keep strangers, but there is a hotel over in town." The elder said, "but I haven't any money." The proprietor of the homestead then proceeded down his pocket for lodging money, but before he had time to hand it to the stranger, he exhibited some of his missionary cheek, and said, "I guess I'll stay here any way." As he crowded into the house past his father, who was standing in the doorway, one of his sisters said to the other, "that's a cheeky tramp. It is needless to say, that when the visi

tor's identification became known, that

the lodging facilities were much better than at first calculated. A dudish mustache and a hoarse voice were the features that disguised the young preacher. El--Bountiful (Utah) Clipper.

Elder Griffin has passed all the various stages of mission work and on Sept. 6, 1898, was installed as President of the Virginia Conference, succeeding Elder John S. Blain, honorably released. ders Samuel E. Taylor and Joseph T. Pulley are his counsellors.

cles from Apostle Mathias F. Cowley. As will be found by reading, noting and comparing the one for this week on Faith new ideas are presented, and the whole is written in a clear, forceful manner, characteristic of the Apostle.

to act for the bondholders. The bonds, which will bear 6 per cent. per annum, will be subject to redemption in five years from the date of issue.

President Rich left yesterday on a visit to a branch of the South Alabama Conference at Autaugauville, in Florida. President Pratt and all the Elders laboring in the vicinity will be in attendance and a number of people nearby are expected to be there. A good time will be had by all without doubt.

Elder Melvin J. Ballard, who returned last week from the missionary field, where he has labored for more than two years, paid a pleasant visit to The Journal His recent labors were on Saturday. principally in the city of St. Louis, where he says a branch of the church is in a most flourishing condition. They have established a status there of a regularly organized and recognized denomination, and are very well treated by press and public. Elder Ballard enjoyed his labors very much, but is still much pleased to be at home again.-Logan (Utah) Journal.

The office has recently been embellished with an elegant crayon portrait of President John Morgan, whose presence shone so many years as the light of the Southern States Mission. President Morgan was identified with the Mission from Oct. 6, 1875, till Jan. 4, 1888, passing through many trying scenes, incidents and experiences. We present his picture in this week's Star with the History of the Southern States.