"THE QUEEN'S GIFT."
By Rose Hartwick Thorpe.
Where English daisies blossom
And English robins sing,
Where all the land was fragrant
Beneath the feet of Spring,
Two little sisters wandered
Together, hand in hand,
Along the dusty highway,
Their bare feet soiled and tannned.
'Twas not a childish sorrow
That filled their eyes with tears,
Their little hearts were burdened
With grief beyond their years.
The bright-eyed daisies blossomed
In valley and in glen ;
The robins sang their sweetest
Spring smiled but not for them
Beneath the trees of Whitehall,
Within their shadow brown;
From the royal palace
The Queen came walking down.
She saw the children standing
Together, side by side,
And, gazing down with pity,
She asked them why they cried.
"Dear lady," said the eldest,
"My little sister Bess
And I have come together
A hundred miles, I guess.
"Sometimes the roads were dusty,
And sometimes they were green,
We're very tired and hungry
We want to see the Queen.
"For mother's sick, dear lady,
She cries 'most all the day;
We hear her telling Jesus
When she thinks we're at play.
"She tells him all about it
How, when King James was
King,
We were so rich and happy,
And had 'most everything.
"We had our own dear father,
At home beside the Thames ;
But father went to battle
Because he loved King James.
"And then things were so different
I cannot tell you how.
We haven't any father,
Nor any nice things now.
"Last night our mother told us
They'd take our home away,
And leave us without any
Because she couldn't pay.
THE HONOLULU TIMES
"So then we came together,
Right through the meadow
green,
And prayed for God to help us,
And take us to the Queen.
"Because mamma once told us
That many years ago
The Queen was James's little girl,
And, lady, if 'twas so
"I know she'd let us keep it
Our home beside the Thames;
Nor we have come to ask her,
And father loved King James.
"And if we have to leave it,
I'm sure mamma would die,
For there's no place to go to
No place but in the sky."
Here the simple story finished,
She gazed up in surprise,
To see the lovely lady
With tear drops in her eyes.
And when the English robins
Had sought each downy nest,
And when the bright-eyed daisies,
Dew-damp, had gone to rest,
A carriage, such as never
Had passed that way before,
Set down two little children
Beside the widow's door.
They brought the weeping mother
A package fro mthe Queen
Her royal seal was on it,
And folded in between
A slip of paper, saying:
"The daughter of King James
Gives to these little children
Their home beside the Thames."
2& w v
THE EDITOR'S BRIEF
NOTES FOR JULY
July 4 We are glad we have
come to our senses in trying to
avoid fires and loss of life on this
holiday. All workers need a quiet
rest clay and now here it is, a real
present without noisy racket and
rumpus and the fire alarm. As for
cannon, we don't like to hear them
at any time. We like bells and
the flags floating over the town,
never too many.
It is a pity we have no peal of
bells in Honolulu, no chimes. The
Catholic church is rich enough
for a good peal, so is Central
Union, and also St. Andrew's,
likely the Methodist.
How delightful to hear hymns
and the National anthems on the
bells 1 At twilight, for instance.
The Germans could have a
chime, why not?
Oh, let us do without something
else if needs must, and have a
beautiful chime in Honolulu; at
least, one. "When last I heard
that soothing chime."
"That editor is a good hand to
spend money for us."
What's money for, my friend?
It would be nice to be able to
say: "I made music to float over
the city from the church of my
choice."
Sunday morning and evening,
those bells peal forth of God and
Heaven and man must listen to
the sermon they preach.
July S Engineer Gere says
there will be several thousand
spent on school-houses, repairing,
during the vacation.
Judge Perry does not think it at
all beneath his dignity to attend
to smallest matters, and put himself
out to look after them that
no one else shall have to wait. It
is a trait of superior minds to attend
often to the odds and ends
the almost insignificant things of
life, when bunched, may signify
much.
Strange paradox.
Prof. Alexander has clone a
giant's work in this Territory, as
we all know, and in doing it all
has not aged too fast th
mind has kept the body young
and vigorous and alert.
We are glad to note the Golden
Wedding of Prof, and Mrs. Alexander
and may God bless them
all, bless us all, relatives and
friends.
July 7 We saw Mrs. Foster
this morning; she said she had
been the other side of Oahu and
that all was beautiful and she
looked very well and happy to be
in Honolulu again. We like to
meet the lady, for her face is kind
and friendly to all the world.
A friend gave us a lot of rarest
pansies; some were coal black,
others snow white wonderful
pansies they were in beauty and
oddity.
Oh, yes, as Dr. Jordan says,
there must be ever Sobriety and
Peace in order to advance in civilization.
And, every community,
yea every man and woman, must
be willing to contribute his and
her quota of the goods. And every
true Christian will and does.
Without temperance and sobriety
in all things, there can be