Page images
PDF
EPUB

Memoirs.

0

WILLIAM GREENWOOD

Was born at Goole, on the 27th of December, 1860, where he lived with his parents until the year 1866. In this year the family removed to Barnsley. He here first attended the Wesleyan Sunday school, and remained connected with it for nearly three years. Having an elder brother who attended our Ebenezer school, it was thought better for both to be together. After leaving the Wesleyan school he joined ours. join ours first about December, 1873.

He would

His attendance, owing to lack of robustness, was not so regular as could have been desired. With respect to his punctuality, he has left an example worth imitating. Such an advocate for it was he, that when ill he was greatly concerned lest his sisters should ever be too late for the school.

At school he was remarkably quiet, neither speaking to teacher nor fellow-scholars. Still he was evidently attentive to the lesson of the day, and seemed earnestly to desire good. We need scarcely add that he gave no trouble to anybody. It was not until confined to his home that he seems to have fully realised his position before God, notwithstanding the good counsel he received from his widowed Christian mother, as well as the good impressions made on his mind in the school. Consumption was the fatal disease under which he languished. Our young friend was first confined to his home in September, 1875. He was visited by teachers and scholars as soon as they knew illness kept him from the school, and their prayers he responded to most heartily. In a few months he more openly confessed his trust in Christ. He bore all his sufferings patiently, looking forward to the rest of the skies. During the last few weeks of his life it was good to be with him, for he spoke so sweetly of Christ and of heaven. He assured his mother on one occasion when she stood by his bedside weeping because of his sufferings, that Jesus had taken all his pain away, in answer to the prayers offered. Later on he asked to see his brothers and sisters' teachers, and all who had spoken kind words to him, to bid them farewell. He thus passed away, safe in the arms of Jesus, May 18th, 1876, aged sixteen years. A number of teachers and the class to which he belonged were present at his funeral, also the senior class of females, who sang when leaving the house the beautiful verses :— "How happy every child of grace, "A country far from mortal sight,

Who knows his sins forgiven;
This earth, he cries, is not my place,
I seek my place in heaven!

Yet, oh, by faith I see

The land of rest, the saints' delight,
The heaven prepared for me.'

When passing the school we sang the 199th hymn in our school hymn-book:

"Death has been here and borne away

A scholar from our side;

Just in the morning of his day,
As young as we he died."

By the graveside we sang the well-known hymn :

"Safe in the arms of Jesus,

Safe on His gentle breast,

There by His love o'ershaded,
Sweetly my soul shall rest.'

[ocr errors]

Oh! that the last end of the writer and every reader may be like his !

JOSEPH WAINWRIGHT.

Poetry.

A LITTLE CHILD'S FANCIES.

I THINK that the world was finished at night,
Or the stars would not have been made;
For they wouldn't have thought of having the light,
If they hadn't first seen the shade.

And then, again, I alter my mind,
And think perhaps it was day,
And the starry night was only designed
For a little child tired of play.

And I think that an angel, when nobody knew,
With a window pushed up very high,

Let some of the seeds of the flowers fall through,
From the gardens they have in the sky.

For they couldn't think here of lilies so white,
And such beautiful roses, I know;

But I wonder, when falling from such a height,
The dear little seeds should grow!

And then, when the face of the angel was turned,
I think that the birds flew by,

And are singing to us the songs they learned

On the opposite side of the sky.

And a rainbow must be the shining below

Of a place in heaven's floor that is thin,

Right close to the door where the children go,
Where the dear Lord lets them in.

And I think that the clouds that float in the skies
Are the curtains that they drop down,

For fear when we look we should dazzle our eyes,
As they each of them put on their crown.

I do not know why the water was sent,
Unless, perhaps, it might be

God wanted us all to know what it meant

When we read of the "Jasper Sea."

Oh! the world where we live is a lovely place,

But it oftentimes makes me sigh,

For I'm always trying causes to trace,

And keep thinking "Wherefore ?" and "Why?"

Ah! dear little child, the longing you feel
Is the stir of immortal wings;

But infinite Love one day will reveal

The most hidden aud puzzling things.

You have only your duty to try and do,
To be happy, and rest content;
For by being good and by being true
You will find out all that is meant !

[graphic][merged small]

THE CRIPPLE BOY.

E naturally desire for children and young persons strong and healthy bodies. In youth we have strong impulses to activity; we like to use our limbs, and run, and leap, and climb. When, therefore, we see a boy like the

one represented in our picture, who is obliged to use crutches to move about, we have a feeling of pity for him, and we think how unfortunate he is; that is, we think he is deprived of a great many sources of happiness which boys who have the perfect use of their limbs possess. Well, it is so. A lame or a weak boy cannot play at a many games which give to those who can engage in them great pleasure. How delicious it is, for instance, to have a good game at cricket, or at hare-and-hounds, or at football! But our poor lame boy is forbidden all these and other games of a similar kind. Must he then be discontented and fretful? Nay, for if some, or even many, sources of pleasures are closed to him, all are not. He may have to enjoy himself quietly, but quiet enjoyment is not the least delightful kind of enjoyment. How nice it is to get an interesting and instructive book, and have a good read of it all by yourself! Or what pleasure is yielded to us by pursuing some useful study! I have known many afflicted children quite as cheerful and happy as strong and vigorous children. From my window I often look upon a boy in the street who is far more heavily afflicted than the boy in the engraving. He has one of his legs encased in an iron machine, and cannot straighten it in the least. But that little boy is not always crying or looking sad. Indeed, I have never once seen him look sad, but he always appears as merry as a lark, an his face is as cheerful as sunshine. And that is the disposition that all children should cultivate, for their mercies always outnumber their trials, and as sure as some sources of pleasure are closed to them there will be still left open a sufficient number to make life a gift to be thankful for.

BEN BARLOW'S BUDGET.

By TOM BROWN, Author of “ A Year at School," &c., &c.

Letter No. 19.

From Dr. BARLOW to BEN BARLOW.

The Laurels, Woodbourne,
April 30th, 187-.

MY DEAR BEN,—

This is one of the afternoons I reserve for those patients who visit my surgery, and as the warm weather of the last week has robbed me of a great many of them, I find I shall have time to give you the information I promised about Dr. Tasker.

As I mentioned before, Dr. Tasker was one of the first oars at his University, though I do not know that he ever rowed in the great boat-race. When I first went to his school he was a strong, wellknit young man, a great hand with bat or oar, and an expert swimmer.

A few years after I left him his fondness for aquatic sports drew him to a regatta at Evesham or Stourport-I forget which now. On such an occasion of course the town kept holiday, all except the refreshment purveyors, and everybody who could turned out in their brightest and best to witness the annual boat-races and other sports. Besides which, the newly-opened railway poured in hundreds of holiday folks from Birmingham and other surrounding towns. To accommodate as many sight-seers as possible the authorities had erected a large wood platform by the side of the river. In order to get a good view of the contests the Doctor took his place in a good position on this temporary grand stand. Before the time fixed for commencing the sports the bridge, the grand stand, and the riversides for a considerable distance were packed with eager sightseers.

The contests began, and several races were rowed and won. At length the principal event of the day-a sculling match between two champions-came on. But just as the excitement was at its highest, there was a slight scream from the bridge, and a little girl about nine years of age slipped off the parapet, where she had been held by her father, and falling into the river, sank almost at once. The attention

of the spectators had been so intensely fixed on the race in progress that the fall of the child seemed only to make them more spellbound, for she rose to the surface, and was sinking again, before anyone seemed to have presence of mind enough to do anything for her recovery.

Just then a dark shadow flitted over the edge of the grand stand, and at the same instant a loud shout of warning was heard under the bridge. The dark shadow was Dr. Tasker leaping to rescue the child. The shout was from a man who was just then rapidly urging

« PreviousContinue »