The Youth's Companion/July 19, 1860/How to Enjoy a Holiday

How to Enjoy a Holiday.

The Fourth of July has come and gone, and we hope our readers have all of them enjoyed it, but perhaps if they read carefully the following story, they may learn how they could, perhaps, have enjoyed it better. It will enable them to lay up some good thoughts for the next holiday. We take it from the Western Christian Advocate:

“Hurrah, boys! Fourth of July comes next Wednesday, and what are you all going to do!” shouted Willie Nichols, as he ran in upon the play-ground, and joined a group of his mates. “Come, let’s hear, and then we can decide who will have the best time. I’m going down to Uncle George’s. We have just got a letter from him, and he says he’ll get out Grandfather Hill’s old ‘King’s arm’ gun, that he used in the Revolution, and show me how to fire it. In the afternoon we are all going into Boston, and shall stay till the fireworks are over; they will be splendid this year. What shall you do, Arthur?”

“Father has given me a dollar to spend,” said Arthur, “and here’s Charlie Jones, his father has given him one too, and we’ve agreed to put them together and buy a lot of crackers at wholesale. Won’t we have a nice time? I have got an empty flour barrel put away in the shed, and we are going to let off two or three bunches in that, the first thing in the morning, right under father’s window. He says he won’t mind being waked up early, for ‘Independence’ don’t come but once a year. Then we shall fire the rest in the yard.”

“We are all going to sail down the river,” said Johnny Steele. “Cousin Alice, and little Cousin Kate are here; we call Kate, ‘Twist,’ her hair curls so, and they are going with us. We shall land at Rocky Point, and have a family pic-nic up in the grove.”

“Thomas Gray and I are going fishing on the pond, aren’t we, Thomas?” said Edgar Lane, “and both my sisters and his little sister Florence will be with us. Thomas knows how to manage the boat so well, that mother says she is willing that the girls should go.”

“Well, I think you all have pleasant prospests for the day,” said Willie Nichols, “and I can hardly tell which will enjoy most. But you haven’t spoken yet, little Jamie Wallace. What have you in store?”

Jamie was a general favorite. There was very little selfishness in him. It was pleasant to see his bright face and hear his merry laugh. He was always ready for a frolic, and at this moment he noticed a foot-ball, with which another company of boys was playing, coming down through the air, and about to strike the ground not far off, so he made a rush for that, and gave it a kick that sent it up again like a rocket, and made the boys all shout, “Well done, Jamie!” Then back he came, his cheeks glowing and his eyes sparkling, all ready to answer Willie.

“All of our family, and uncle Tim’s, and uncle Everett’s, expect to dine at grandpa Downing’s; brother Edward is coming home from the city too, and going to bring somebody with him,” said Jamie, with rather a comical, knowing look, “somebody that may be our sister, one of these days, and he says he will bring strawberries enough for us all, even if they cost a dollar a box.—Uncle Tim has put up some swings out in the orchard, and we boys and girls will have a fine time. But we shall not go over there till eleven o’clock, and as the band is to play on the green from eight till ten, I thought I would go down to the widow Elliot’s and lead up her little Mary—she’s blind, you know, but she can hear as well as any body, and she loves music—they live so far away from the green that she couldn’t hear much at home, and then I shall have time to take her back again and be in season to go with the others to grandpa’s.

“I went down to the widow’s last night, to ask her if I might come for Mary. They were sitting there together, and while I was asking Mrs. Elliot, I saw the tears coming into her eyes, so that I was afraid I had done something wrong, though Mary seemed very happy. But directly she came and putting her hand on my head, said, ‘God bless you, Jamie! Mary will be delighted to go. Tell your mother to thank God that her dear Jamie is not blind.’ I tell you, boys, though I felt glad to please poor Mary, she is such a sweet-tempered little thing, somehow my throat seemed to be filling up, so I said I would be on hand Wednesday morning, and hurried off, for I was afraid I should cry too. But we expect to have a famous time on the Fourth. Hurrah!—Three cheers!” and away his cap went into the air while the boys joined him.

But while Jamie was telling his plans for the Fourth, the countenances of the boys became more thoughtful. The school-bell rang, and as they parted, Willie Nichols said, “I think Jamie’s Fourth will be the best of all.”

It always adds to our own happiness, my dear little friends, to be the means of making others happy. If we love Christ, we shall want to please him, and will you remember that when he said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive,” he meant, among many other things, that to give joy to another would be a source of the purest joy to ourselves, and that kindness to the unfortunate, when it is shown for Christ’s sake, never fails to please Him who loved us so well that he died for us?—Uncle Paul.