THE angels sing on high

Thy glory through the sky,
And then to earth they
wing

To guard us while we sleep,
And as their watch they keep,
To praise the children's King.

Oh, may we, while we live,
Such willing service give,
A holy offering!

And still Thy glory show
By deeds of love below

To praise the children's King.
-L. MacLeod.

THANKSGIVINGS

"We thank Thee"

For the sweet and silent years of the Holy Childhood.

For the light and gladness brought into the world by little children.

For the grace of Christian nurture, which is the blessing and protection of childhood in lands where the Gospel is known.

For the influence of Christian homes and the benediction which they shed upon the nations of the world.

For all true Christian parents, who through patience and affection train souls for the Kingdom of God.

For the opportunity of blessing childhood, protecting youth and planting Christian homes among all nations.

For the good example and the loving service of those men and women who are ministering to children in this and other lands.

For the growing interest and cooperation of the children of the Church in the upbuilding of the world-wide Kingdom.

INTERCESSIONS

"That it may please Thee"

To guard and protect the innocence of children, and by their example to win men and women to a worthier life.

To bless all family life, direct parents in their sacred task, and give to Thy children a fear and love of Thy Holy Name.

To prosper with Thy blessing all schools and orphanages, and make them fruitful nurseries of noble lives.

To bless those who, as teachers and pupils, are gathered in the Sunday-schools of Thy Church that they may grow in grace and in the knowledge of Thee.

To bring to children of joyless lives brighter days and better hope.

To bless with enlarged success the efforts of the Sunday-school Auxiliary in their gifts and sacrifices during the coming Lent.

To grant to those to whom Thou hast committed the care and training of children such patience, sympathy and love that they may worthily fulfil their great work.

THE CHILDREN

F

ROM November until April King Winter holds carnival in Akita. Wild Manchurian winds, such as are rarely found elsewhere, blow the little Japanese houses nearly to pieces. "It is a cruel, cruel Russian wind," the children say. Then the snow, which first swirls around the Mount of Peace, Tai-hei San, falls, day after day until all the world, except the solemn pine trees, is covered. The crows "caw" hoarsely, and the scream of the kites is unearthly, as they fly about for food. It does not seem Japan at all, and yet the children of Akita look incredulous when told that many Japanese children have scarcely any knowledge of ice or snow.

"Children of the March Wind" is the name playfully given to the children of Akita by the Japanese. In southern Japan, sunshine and sweet potatoes seem to be the glory of the children's day,

and while among them it would be difficult to conceive of Japanese children happy under different conditions. But these "Children of the March Wind" are uninfluenced by leaden skies and they hail the first snowstorms of the year as a most joyous occasion. They roll about in the snow in transports, throw the snow at each other in glee. And songs to the snow man and the winter winds are most popular of all.

During the 300 years since the first daimyo was exiled here, many modifications of the native dress have been made to suit the winter climate. The children's dress consists of a large pointed hood with a generous cape, baggy trousers and straw shoes, as a covering for legs and feet. Little Oyuki Sanotherwise the honorable Miss Snow, a member of both Sunday-school and Junior Auxiliary-has had her picture taken in winter clothing. She holds the

snow shovel, which is the possession of every child here.

Sari boxes on runners, pushed from the rear, are the mode of transportation. The tiny maidens, who always everywhere imitate their elders, have little toy sari in which to push their dolls, a pastime alternated with making cakes. out of the snow and coloring it a wonderful pink, yellow or green with vegetable dyes or else helping with a snowman or an ice-fort.

Japanese children may be safely said to represent one of the most important factors in the work of Christianizing Japan. The future lies with them, and happily one can say that work in their midst is brimming over with possibilities.

In Akita an endeavor is made to consider the children at every turn. They have their own church service once a month, in which they take a most intelligent part; the Sunday-school is well attended; the Junior Auxiliary divides the sessions between mission study in which the children take part by giving little three-minute talks and work for the poor, church institutions, etc. The material for their work is furnished from the Juniors' own treasury. In addition, we have classes for sight singing, sewing and, most important of all, special instruction for baptism. Whatever the meeting may be, it includes hymns, prayers and direct Christian teaching.

Two Japanese rooms in the mission house are about given up to the children. Aside, possibly, from some abstract knowledge, a Japanese child seems to possess no idea of time. To attend a three-o'clock class, children come as early as eleven in the morning and as late as five in the afternoon.

They arrive in little clusters, and have all sorts of games among themselves pending the appearance of the teacher. Small bags filled with tiny beans, and tossed as an American child does jackstones, is a favorite pastime. Hairdressing is a close second. Local news

exchanged around the hibachi, as hands are extended over the charcoal blaze, also helps to pass away the time.

An effort is made to have the rooms as attractive as possible a warm red tint on the walls, pretty paper on the inner sliding walls and places of honor, pictures which both appeal and teach, and warmth enough from the hibachi to make it comfortable. The children know they are always considered, and feel it a dignity. In return, they know they must be obedient, respectful and orderly.

A visit to a Junior Auxiliary meeting would reveal much of interest. Forty children sitting on the floor in a room none too large means some squeezing. The youngest and smallest sit in front, and, from the small boy absorbed in making the most awful faces, and unconscious of his surroundings, to the three-year-old niece violently resisting the efforts of her six-year-old aunt to

wipe her nose, there are various studies in real life. In connection with the three-year-old, one recalls a few days since seeing her at play with a batch of mud pies. When they were finished, she rose solemnly, closed her eyes, and said, "O inari suru yo" (Let us pray)! Then she mumbled an imitation blessing, followed by a prolonged "Amen," during which she was looking out of the corner of an eye. If you think of it, that little scene speaks volumes not only for the future, but the present of the

Church in Japan. So, though the little three-year-old may eat the rice paste when no one is looking, while the Juniors are making a scrap-book, causing them in irritation to suggest her resignation, still she is hopeful, too.

Back of the very small tots sit the wee maidens who are sweetest of all. They are shy little things, and one instinctively softens the voice in speaking to them. They sing prettily-and the picture shows four of them singing "Sleep, Holy Babe!"

The big boys are always to be relied upon for doing things in the way of

map-drawing, composition writing, recitations, etc., and are looked up to accordingly by the others.

The big girls are the most influenced by it all. They are willing to learn, so patient with the little ones, so eager to do what they can. Life begins in earnest at an early age for many of them, and to care and pain they are not strangers. One face looms out among the others of a girl of a retiring, sensitive nature, of whom the parents determined for a consideration of money to make a geisha last year. They were finally dissuaded and consented to a different course for their daughter. She made such improvement that now the parents' ambition for better things for their daughter is aroused. They are willing to give her a good education themselves, and have consented to her receiving regular instruction for baptism.

That Japanese children are like all other children strikes one at every turn. Especially is it beautiful to see emphasized that God's call comes to them during tender years, and that amid the environment of of heathen surroundings they are suddenly awakened by God's voice calling them, and, as did little Samuel, there are those among them who say, "Lord, here am I." Another beautiful thing to think of is that among the Japanese children if one weak child desires wholly to become one of God's children in the Church, no matter what the opposition, no matter what the obstacles, though the waiting may be long, though the opportunity may be slow in coming, just so surely as they are faithful, the time does come when they may become one of Christ's flock. If one follows the lines closely, one sees this again and again. And in the classroom the atmosphere becomes electrical as the children have this truth pressed upon them. Some, of course, do not care, but the teacher always sees some eyes in which there is the far-away look of minds confronting something serious.