And we heard the Christmas anthem, “Peace on earth, good will to men.”
With his courage high within him, and a smile upon his face;
And let every man and woman, every girl and boy alive,
Give a merry, hearty welcome to the Year of Nineteen Five!
“Deer.” By Edward J. Dimock, age 14. (First Prize, “Wild-animal photograph.”.)
“Shark.” By Heyliger de Windt, age 14. (Third Prize, “Wild-animal photograph.”.)
An Episode in Japanese History.
By Hazel V. Hange (age 13.)
(Gold Badge.)
One day, in 1854, an American fleet sailed into the harbor of Tokio, the capital of the fair island-empire of Japan. This greatly alarmed the Japanese, for as much as they dreaded all Europeans, they considered Americams as the worst of barbarians.
But Commodore Perry, captain of the fleet, soon calmed their fears by making a treaty with the Emperor which opened the ports of Japan to all the civilized world. He brought with him a miniature steam-engine and a train of cars as a present to the Japanese Emperor. It was a great novelty to our yellow-skinned neighbors, for they had never seen a locomotive before.
And when Commodore Perry laid the track and put the train on it in the palace courtyard, all the high officials of the empire turned out to see it run. Many of the must dignified men of the empire threw themselves sprawling upon the tops of the cars, and in that most ridiculous position went whirling around the courtyard of the palace! They were pleased with their ride, and others took one in the same way.
Perry also presented the Emperor with a telegraph system, and thus steam power and electricity were introduced into fair Japan, the land of chrysanthemums. This little episode of the steam-engine made Japan and the United States firm friends, and thus they have remained,
May that peace never be broken!
“Robin’s Nest.” By James Donald McCutheon, age 10. (Second Prize, “Wild-animal photograph.”.)
A Welcome to the Sun.
By Ruth Pierce Getchell (age 16.)
(Gold Badge.)
A sullen gray lies aver earth and sky;
The flowers that were so bright have darker grown;
The brook, now cold and drear, runs murmuring by.
Sparkling and dancing as it glided past;
But now the water that was glittering gold
Reflects the darkened sky and holds it fast.
No shadows stretch their forms among the trees.
The woodchuck and the squirrel seek their homes;
The grasses bend and quiver in the breeze.
All earth ts turned from darkened gray to gold.
The brook now glistening suns its merry way
And sings the song that never will be old.
May, like the sun, send forth a shining ray,
To change to light where darkening clouds have been,
To cheer, to warm, to strengthen through the day.
