GENEROSITY

SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHER—­“Now, Jimmy, I want you to memorize today’s motto, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

JIMMY—­“Yes’m, but I know it now.  My father says he has always used that as his motto in his business.”

TEACHER—­“Oh, how noble of him!  And what is his business?”

JIMMY—­“He’s a prize-fighter, ma’am.”—­Life.

Let us proportion our alms to our ability, lest we provoke God to proportion His blessings to our alms.—­Beveridge.

In this world, it is not what we take up, but what we give up, that makes us rich.—­Beecher.

GENIUS

WILLIE—­“Paw, what is the difference between genius and talent?”

PAW—­“Talent gets paid every Saturday, my son.”

  Time, place, and action, may with pains be wrought,
  But genius must be born, and never can be taught.

  —­Dryden.

Who in the same given time can produce more than many others, has vigor; who can produce more and better, has talents; who can produce what none else can, has genius.—­Lavater.

  And genius hath electric power,
    Which earth can never tame;
  Bright suns may scorch, and dark clouds lower—­
    Its flash is still the same.

  —­Lydia M. Child.

Taste consists in the power of judging; genius in the power of executing.—­Blair.

GEOGRAPHY

Edgar, aged five, was driving from the station on his first visit to Maine.  His mother, noticing a troubled look on his face as he looked about, said: 

“What’s the matter, dear?  Don’t you like the beautiful country?”

“Yes, mother, but on my map Maine is red!”

FATHER—­“Now James, get ready.  I’m going to hear your geography lesson.  What have the various expeditions to the North Pole accomplished?”

JIMMY—­“Nothin’ ’cept to make the geography lessons harder.”

The geography lesson was about to begin, and the subject of it was France.

Accordingly, the teacher started off with the question:  “Now in this present terrible war, who is our principal ally?”

“France,” came the answer from a chorus of voices.

“Quite right,” said the teacher, beaming.  “Now can any of you give me the name of a town in France?”

A small boy at the back of the class almost fell over in his eagerness to tell; “Somewhere,” he said, breathlessly.

GERMANY

“Germany’s claim that she imports nothing, buys only of herself, and so is growing rich from the war, is a dreadful fallacy.”

The speaker was Herbert C. Hoover, chairman of the American Food Board.

“Germany,” he went on, “is like the young man who wisely thought he’d grow his own garden-stuff.  This young man had been digging for about an hour when his spade turned up a quarter.  Ten minutes later he found another quarter.  Then he found a dime.  Then he found a quarter again.