ding formerly used by yellow fever patients, but in a house carefully screened from mosquitoes. The thermometer stood at 92°; they were in close contact with loathsome bedding, but they kept to their task till the end and not one man was taken sick. Again and again experiments were made until all necessary knowledge was won. In 1900, just before the work of the Commission was begun, 308 people were ill with yellow fever in Havana alone. In 1902, there were but six cases. Think what a saving of suffering and of death for all the years to come is due to Reed and his brave followers! Now that it is known that mosquitoes only give the disease, Cuban houses are made mosquito-tight and water-barrels and pools covered with kerosene that kills the eggs. Yellow fever is under control. Here is a letter that Reed wrote to his wife when, after months of labor and anxiety, his experiments were accomplished: COLUMBIA BARRACKS, QUEMADOS, CUBA. 11.50 P.M., Dec. 31, 1900. Only ten minutes of the old century remain. Here have I been sitting, reading that most wonderful book, La Roche on Yellow Fever, written in 1853. Fortyseven years later it has been permitted to me and my assistants to lift the impenetrable veil that has surrounded the causation of this most wonderful, dreadful pest of humanity and to put it on a rational and scientific basis. I thank God that this has been accomplished during the latter days of the old century. May its cure be wrought out in the early days of the new! The prayer that has been mine for twenty years, that I might be permitted in some way or at some time to do something to alleviate human suffering, has been granted! A thousand Happy New Years. . . . Hark, there go the twenty-four buglers in concert, all sounding 'Taps' for the old year. Questions: Why does a strong interest develop character? Do every day or two something for no other reason than because “it is hard." Is this a good rule or not? Why? Would it be an advantage if everything man needed were at once supplied by nature, if, for example, tools grew on trees, and food fell from the skies? Why, or why not? Ought we to try as far as possible to get rid of drudgery in the world? Does drudgery improve or injure character? Is there any good work done without sacrifice? Give examples. Give an example of a really great sacrifice, and explain why it was especially remarkable. Learn, from Shakespeare's Othello, Act III, Scene 3, the speech beginning: Good name in man and woman, dear my Lord. DECEMBER: SYMPATHY Read: Matthew, Chap. xxvi, verses 6 to 14. Study carefully the lives of Clara Barton or Florence Nightingale. Questions: If you were looking for people who were humble, would you expect to find them among great men and women, or among those who had done little in the world? Why? Does praise help any one more than blame? Why? Why are conceited people especially unpopular? How can any one get over being conceited? Read the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican (Luke, Chap. xviii, verses 9 to 15). If the Pharisee did everything he believed to be right, was he still blameworthy? A rich man buys the last loaf of bread in the only bake shop of a small village. In the shop at the same time is a starving woman with only five cents; she asks for bread. The rich man sees, but does not notice her. Is he selfish? What facts do we need to consider? FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE Even as a child Florence Nightingale loved to care for the sick. Once, when a little girl, she found a dog badly hurt by some rough boys. Its master thought that he would kill it to put it out of pain, but she bandaged its leg and the dog got well. As she grew up, she helped at home, taught in Sunday school, and visited the sick, but she wanted to do more than this. She wanted to be well trained as a nurse, so that she could help sick people in just the right way. When she was eighteen she met Elizabeth Fry, who gave her life to helping prisoners, and Dr. Howe, who was devoting himself to the blind, and she asked them whether she could not be a trained nurse. There were no thoroughly trained nurses in England then, but in Kaizerwerth, Germany, there was a private hospital for the poor, in which she could be taught to help the sick. Miss Nightingale studied there and in the hospital of the Sisters of St. Vincent de Paul in Paris. When she came home to England, she was given a position at the head of a home for sick governesses. Before long the great war between Russia and Turkey broke out, and England took part in it. Many wounded men were brought to the dreary military hospitals. It was then that Mr. Sidney Herbert, the head of the English War Department, asked Florence Nightingale to get nurses together and go to the war. "It will be a hard task," he said, "and very painful; but if it succeeds it will do good now and multiply the good to all time." Miss Nightingale accepted at once. In six days she was ready. By November fourth she was at the Barracks Hospital at Scutari. It was a shocking place when she came: no vessels to hold water, no soap, towels, or cloth; the wounded men still in their stiff uniforms and covered with blood and dirt. The doctors were working hard, but there were not nearly enough of them. Every one felt hopeless. The air in the wards was stifling; the sheets were of stiff canvas; the corridors were crowded with sick and wounded, lying on the floor, with rats running over them. The food was cooked in great cauldrons by soldiers, and was unfit to eat. There was no laundry and almost no clean linen. And what made things even harder, the doctors and the officers did not want Miss Nightingale to come. They thought a woman would be in the way. Just twenty-four hours after Miss Nightingale came, there was a battle at Inkermann, and hundreds more wounded men came in. They were laid everywhere, indoors and out. She set to work at once, and sometimes was on her feet twenty hours a day! She went to every severe operation, so that the sick men might have the comfort of her sympathy. Five men were given up by the doctors, and left to die. Miss Nightingale took charge with one of her nurses, and fed them hour by hour till they recovered. In ten days a kitchen was in operation, and instead of rancid butter, sour bread, and leathery meat, the wounded men were given beef tea, chicken broth, and gruel. Miss Nightingale had brought all the stores with her. Next she hired a house for a laundry, and there five hundred shirts and many sheets were washed each week. Meanwhile, at home, the Queen in her palace and the poor women in their cottages were all making lint, bandages, shirts, and socks, pillow-cases, blankets, and sheets for the soldiers. On and on Miss Nightingale and her nurses worked through the long snowy winter. There was sickness everywhere, and three nurses died of fever and of cholera, but still Miss Nightingale held out. At last even her strength gave way and she lay desperately ill with Crimean fever. She was convalescent after two weeks, and insisted on going to work till the war was ended and her soldiers going home. Then she returned quietly to England, not letting any one come to meet her. Queen Victoria sent her a red enamel cross on a white field, and on it were the words, "Blessed are the Merciful." Miss Nightingale knew that she was tired, but she did not realize that she had worn herself out she had given her life. She has never been strong again, but from her sick room for over fifty years she has helped thousands of soldiers; and through her advice great training schools for nurses are at work all over the world. She poured out her strength to the last drop in a time of great need, but her influence is like a fountain of living water springing up anew in other lives. The best life of Florence Nightingale for young people is by Laura E. Richards (D. Appleton & Co.). Learn the following poem in commemoration of Florence Nightingale : SANTA FILOMENA BY HENRY W. LONGFELLOW Whene'er a noble deed is wrought, |