Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, Volume XXIX, Number 26, 28 Iune 1890 — Our English Column. [ARTICLE]

Our English Column.

"/* Yonth Prtpart for Manhoed" t'NCt.K PHIL'S DESK.

1 find m my de*k this week, * pretty little ston i>r l»ttJe boys It »* no« very lorg, and, rou fcliows, »tand rlo»e around the desk «fld read it It h about poon mamma. Wbit small boy hai not fdt a* bij:» a man, when he pots on for the first time a real pair of ptnt»loonj with pockets in them ? Not even when be get§ to bc biggcr, and ean be trusted with a jark-kntfe, w his bappiness greater. He goe* right :o work, and makes the pockets into store houscs, by putting into them ail his tops, marWes, old *tnng*. pieces of eake, nuts, and cverythin« he ean lay his hands on. One littlc boy who had just becn put into his fir*t pair of pantaloon% wcnt around to all his friends to show them his new richcs» Hc was ncarly five years old, and struttcd up and down the room feeling as btg as his papa, and his hands were thrust dtep d iwn into his pockcts. 'l'hen he stopped before his mother's chair, and in his great joy, crted out, 4, 0, mamma, pants make me feel so like sonicbody! I>on ! t I look real grown up? M His mother smi!ing!y told him he ccrtainly d'd, and that she could not fecl he was her baby any more. <4 Did'n't it make you fecl grown up» mamma," Jamic bcgan, •'when you—" He stopped short. lt had eome to his mind that his mother had never know the great joy whieh su filled his soul He lookcd at he with sorrow in his eyes, then took her hand in lioih cf his, and laid it softly against his eheek. "Poor mamma !" he said softly, 'Toor mamma ! If you'd becn my little girl, l'd havc let you wear pant», just the same as i/ >•<>«'</ bcen a boy." Herc is anothcr story for the little fulks; fur the little girls this time. It is about A quskr trl*nk. One day Lauia and hcr Sistcr C.crtie were looking at pictures together. Thcy eame, to a picture of an elephant, whieh pleased l«aura vcry mueh. •'Oh, what a funny nose!" she said laughing. "Nose! That isn't his nosē I That's his trunk," said Oertie, who« ten years old, and knows a grat deal, of coursc.

Laura #as silent for a minute, and her face looked sadly puwled. Then she said with a sigh: "Well, I don t sce how he ean get his clothcs into that thing." And now Unele Phil wiil tell you older boys tnd girls about thf. i.a»c;f.st wf.dding th \ r EVER WAS. Generally but onecouplearc marned at a time now a days, but in days gone by this was not so. All of you older school children have heard of Alexander The Great, and I have heard some of you spcak the dialogue beginning with "How big waa Alexander, pa, that people calted him Great Ah, I see you remember it well It was this C»reat Alexander who got up the biggest wedding and wedding feast you ever heard of. It took placeat Susa a Persian city in ancient time. Afcxāader h«d conqnered Penia, and he wishcd to make hia soldiers and tbe people of Persia good frienās; so h? commanded to preparc a great wedding feast, or festival. Now, guess how manf|>eople he ordered to be mamed? You will n*rer guess. Well, Alexander himself was to marry Statira, the daughter of king Darius; one hundred of his chief orticers were to manry oae hundred ladies of the noblest Persian families, and ten thousand of hii Greek soldiers weie lo marry ten thousand Persian woihen. Twenty thousand two hundred and two persont were to be married at the same lime! I don't see how they could get up a feast for so many, but they did, and fed manj thousands of guescs besides On a plain, near the city, a vast pavilion f or tent was put up on pilUn sixty feet high. Tbe fine*t c|oths were hung on these pilUn, and spread down on the floor, aod it was ornamented with gold and precious stones. Near to thb great pa?ilion wtrt a hundred spleodid rooma for tbe hundred bridegrooms, while for the remaining ten thousaod, an outer space was ioclosed, and dotha oI great value «ere hung around the walk A great many tables were made ready 00 the plaio for the re*t of the multitude. Atl the persons to be married were seated on separate ieats placed aroood the royal thitxke in a half cirde. Eaeh hrid*grooaa had receiv«d a golden drinking eup. The tram|<ets then •ounded« aod the brides ali went mto Uie graal ft4ltiog hail, aod tboh thetr piāee*. The king gave hk hand to Stattti, and kis«ed her as his wife, aod

all the other brwk«TOoms did tbe same way. TKtt »f tbe wiy in whkh they wene ail rojrricd Tbcte **J oo min»ter, as there is these diyv Then eime the feaftmg ird good whieh UsU*d fire dj?s.