young men that were of his age, and asked of them counsel.  And the young men that had been nourished with him bade him say to the people in this wise:  Is not my finger greater than the back of my father?  If my father hath laid on you a heavy burden, I shall add and put more to your burden; my father beat you with scourges, and I shall beat you with scorpions.  The third day after, Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam to have their answer, and Rehoboam left the counsel of the old men, and said to them like as the young men had counselled him.  And anon the people of Israel forsook Rehoboam, and of twelve tribes, there abode with him no more but the tribe of Judah and Benjamin.  And the other ten tribes departed and made Jeroboam their king, and never returned unto the house of David after unto this day.  And thus for sin of Solomon, and because Rehoboam would not do after the counsel of the old men, but was counselled by young men, the ten tribes of Israel forsook him, and departed from Jerusalem, and served Jeroboam, and ordained him king upon Israel.  Anon after this, Jeroboam fell to idolatry and great division was ever after between the kings of Judah and the kings of Israel.  And so reigned divers kings each after other in Jerusalem after Rehoboam, and in Israel after Jeroboam.  And here I leave all the history and make an end of the book of Kings for this time, etc.  For ye that list to know how every king reigned after other, ye may find it in the first chapter of Saint Matthew which is read on Christmas day in the morning before Te Deum, which is the genealogy of our Lady.

A LITTLE MAID

BY THEODORE T. MUNGER

[From “Lamps and Paths,” by courtesy of Houghton, Mifflin & Co.]

In old days we read of angels who came and took men by the hand, and led them away from the city of Destruction.  We see no white-robed angels now; yet men are led away from threatening destruction:  a hand is put into theirs, and they are gently guided toward a bright and calm land, so that they look no more backward; and the hand may be that of a little child.—­GEORGE ELIOT

As aromatic plants bestow
No spicy fragrance while they grow,
But crushed, or trodden to the ground,
Diffuse their balmy sweets around.

—­GOLDSMITH:  The Captivity

"Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honorable, because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria:  he was also a mighty man in valor, but he was a leper.  And the Syrians had gone out by companies, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid; and she waited on Naaman’s wife.  And she said unto her mistress.  Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy."—­2 KINGS v. 1-3

I think upon the whole that old stories are better than new ones; I mean, stories of old times.  It is perhaps because only the very best are remembered while the poorer ones are forgotten, so that those which have come down to us through past ages are the choice ones selected from a great number that pleased people for a while, but not well nor long enough to get fixed in their minds.