The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1892-02-02
Charles Dickens Prayer.

MtlIulc blChluS, III = oi oh 'A@e
My Father Taught Us' in the February
Ladies' Home Journal. prints for the
first time 1.-THE little prayer which my
father wrote for use and which each one
of us was taught to repeat night Il
morning as soon as we could speak,
"Pray God, Who has made everything,
and is so kind and merciful to everything
He has made who tries to be good and
deserve it.
"Pray God bless my lear pap
mamma, brothers and sisters and aunt1e,
and all my relations and friends.
Make me u good lutte boy. Let me
never be naughty, or tell II lie, which is
a mean and shameful thing. Make me
kind to my nurses and servants, and to
all poor people.
LET me never be cruel to any dumb
creature; for if l am cruel to anything.
ever to a poor little fly, Thou, who are so
good, will uever love me.
pray God to bless and preserve us all
this night aud forevermore, through Jesus
Christ, our Lord. Amen
The word ''auntie" was not in the
original prayer. I.added it for myself. l
was quite u tiny child when she, Il very
young girl, first came 10 live with US.
And, as | do not remember any part OF
my life without her, 1t seemed only nat
ural to me to put her name among those
specially mentioned in our evening sup
pllcations.
A Sweet Rule of Life.
know a woman who approaches nearer
my ideal of lovely womanhood than al
most any other type that ever came under
nv notlce, She is low voiced, earnest,
sweet hearted, mercifrl and wise. She
can laugh as heartily (Wnen there Is any
thing to laugh about AS Il robin can sing
when the apple tree flowers are in the
mir hnt she npVar OiCUleS. neither does
she smile at what causes discontinue
to others. | would be hardly more
surprised to see her sharpening
up Il butcher knife to behead an
orphan than 1 would be to mud her
laughing because somebody had slipped
on an icy idewalk or stumbled along an
uneven way, and yet she is nothing of @
prude or bigot. Her home is the gather
ing place of BohemlanS OF The better
type, and her parlors are not too fine for
tobacco smoke nor the grim disorder OF
good comradeship bouts. One day !
asked this woman what was the secret of
her beautiful life, a life that attracted
ali and repealed zone.
After laughing a little at the question,
she told Inc a story. Once" said she,
81 was called upon to watch day and
night by what threatened TO be the death
bed of 3 darling child. That boy IA
| dearer to me than my life, and every hope
vi lily bSoAO @ - ~
| ply could not let him die. | neither
slept nor ate; 1 devoted every moment of
my time, every pulse beat OF my energy
to nursing HIM, and yet he seemed 10 be
going steadily down to death.
FINALLY one night l just got down on
my knees and told the Lord that if he
would only let my darling live l would
solemnly covenant never again to do a
thing. little or big, which l myself
thought was wrong. Mind you, didn't
| promise to consult my neighbors or my
best friends. or anybody else, or do what
might be considered un worthy. l simply
said:-'Here, dear Lord. is my hand upon
it that | will live up to my w individual
Consciousness of what is best and poblest
to do And l have tried ever since to
keep my covenant" Wouldn't that be
an excellent creed for such of us as are
naturally endowed with quick perception
| and the power of discriminating selection
to adopt?-Chtcdgo Herald