ONCE upon a time, in our own dear land, there lived a princess. Her home was a beautiful palace, and all around the palace were trees and birds and flowers. She loved them all, for her heart was so full of love that she gave it freely to every living thing.

And about her were many to love, for she did not live alone in this great palace. Five hundred girls shared it with her-girls sad and glad, bright and stupid, friendly and shy, gentle and proud, girls every one loved and girls no one cared for except the princess. But they all loved her.

Every morning, as she sprang out of bed, she cried, "Here 's another great, rich day!" And it was. Early in the morning she met with her girls in a quiet, lovely room, and together they talked to their Father, the Father none of them had ever seen, but whom many loved because they knew His voice and loved His other children.

Afterward the princess went to the rooms where her girls gathered to learn how to live wisely, and often she talked to them about men and women and nations who had been when the world was younger. And as she talked, her girls felt that they, too, could live nobly and make life beautiful for others.

Part of the day she sat alone in her own peaceful room, and then to her there came any girl who needed help. Perhaps the girl's work was too hard; perhaps sorrow had knocked at her door; perhaps two ways opened before her, and she did not know which to take; perhaps the noise of things had dulled her ears so she could no longer hear the Father's voice. Whatever her need, the princess knew how to meet it.

The girls went out from this palace into the great wide world, but they never forgot the princess. Each said, "As often as I think of her, I am ashamed of not being always happy and hopeful."

There came a time when the princess herself left the palace. But she left it only to go to a better place-the one men call home. In this home, there came to her those who needed love. And from this quiet place she went out into the great world wherever she was called, to counsel, to inspire, to help others.

One hot day she went to talk to the little girls in a dirty, crowded street of a great

city. There were almost as many babies as little girls, for the mothers were working and so the big sisters had to be little mothers. "What shall I talk about this morning?" asked the princess.

One thin, pale little girl, with a big fat baby on her knees, cried out, "Tell us how to be happy!"

Then all the little mothers called together, "Tell us how to be happy!"

The princess smiled at them, but her eyes were bright with tears, and her voice was like a quick, warm hug as she said: "Yes, I will tell you. There are three rules, and you shall know each one, but first you must give me a promise. Will you keep the rules for a week, and not skip even one day? rules will not work if you skip a single day." Then all the children shouted: "We promise! We promise!"

The

The princess smiled and spoke. This time her voice was like a friendly hand-clasp. "The first rule is: Commit something to memory every day. It need not be muchjust a line or two of poetry, or a bit of a Bible verse. But it must be something you want to remember."

In the back of the room a little, black-eyed girl jumped up and cried: "I know! I know! You mean something we 'd be glad to remember if we went blind!"

"That 's it exactly!" agreed the princess. Again she spoke, and this time her voice was like an eager, pulling hand-grip. "The second rule is: Look for something pretty each day. Try to find a pretty leaf, a pretty flower, or a pretty cloud. And when you have found it, stop long enough to say to yourself, 'Is n't it beautiful?' Stop long enough to see all its loveliness, so when you are far from it and shut your eyes, you can see its beauty just as though it were before you. Can you do that?"

And every little mother said she could.

The princess looked long into the eager eyes that met her own, and when she spoke again, her voice was like the strong, steady, upward lift of helping hands. "The third rule is: Do something for somebody every day. But it must be every day; not one day can you miss.'

Then they all shouted, "Oh, that 's easy!" The princess looked surprised. But a big

little girl in the front seat stood up with her baby brother in her arms, and said: "Please, ma'am, always we run errands and tend baby. Is that doing something for somebody?" "Yes," said the princess, and her voice

ALICE FREEMAN PALMER

was like a chime of bells. "That is doing something for somebody."

It was many days before the princess could come again to this narrow, dirty street. But she did come, and as she walked along, some one clutched her dress, and cried, "Please, missus, I done it!"

The princess smiled and said, "Let us sit down on this step while you tell me about it."

"I never skipped one day, but it was awful hard sometimes. One day it rained and rained. rained. The baby had a cold, so I just could n't go to the park, an'. there was nothing pretty to look at. I went to the window an' I cried 'cause I was going to skip. Then I looked at the rain gutter round the top of the house, an' there was a sparrow taking a bath. An' he had a black necktie on. An' he was handsome!"

The princess nodded, and the little girl hurried on. "Another day, baby was sick an' I just gave up trying to see anything pretty. And then" she touched the princess's hand softly and her face shone," then I saw the baby's hair! A little mite of sun came in the window right on his hair, and see, is n't it pretty?"

The little mother lifted the baby from the step beside her, and held him out to the princess. "See, is n't his hair pretty?" she repeated.

"It is beautiful!" said the princess, as she lifted the baby in her arms.

So the princess went about the world teaching others to be as happy and as useful as she was herself. "Each eye that saw her blessed her; each ear that heard her was made glad."

The day came when she laid down her work and went to meet face to face the Father whose voice she had listened to so long. But still she lives and loves, though, like the Father, she can not be seen. And all over the country, girls and women are better because of her. In a little farm-house, tucked away among the hills, her picture, cut from a newspaper, is pinned above the kitchen table. The woman who works there looks at it often and says, "I'll be a better woman, Alice Freeman Palmer, because you lived."

I ASKED the robin as he sprang
From branch to branch and sweetly sang,
What made his breast so round and red.
"'T was looking toward the sun," he said.

I asked the violets sweet and blue,
All sparkling with the morning dew,
Whence came their color. Then, so shy,
They answered, "Looking toward the sky."

I saw the roses one by one
Unfold their petals to the sun.

I asked what made their tints so bright.
They answered, "Looking toward the light."

I asked the thrush, as his silvery note Came like a song from an angel's throat, What made him sing in the twilight dim. He answered, "Looking up to Him."

Sanford D. Stockton.

THE WAR ANNIVERSARY

FIVE years have passed since the United States declared war against Germany. It was on the sixth day of April in 1917 that Congress made the declaration.

It is an interesting fact, even though only an accidental coincidence, that all our most important wars have begun in the fourth month of the year. The date for the Revolution is April 19, 1775; for the war with Mexico, April 24, 1846; the Civil War, April 15, 1861, and the war with Spain, April 21, 1898. The war of 1812 is the one prominent exception. That conflict began in June, 1812. Perhaps that was a backward year.

This fifth anniversary of our entrance into the great War in Defense of Democratic Civilization offers a good opportunity for a review of the first half-decade of the New Age. There was the year and seven months of fighting and of work and sacrifice by the Second Line, Over Here. Then came the armistice, and the joyous entrance into the period of the Return to Normalcy; a joyousness that did not last long, because normalcy came on laggard feet.

In 1920 we had our national election; the war-time administration gave way to its Republican successor. Tax and tariff laws came up in Congress; the railroad strike, which seriously threatened the national peace and the progress of industry, was forestalled; a season of unemployment followed, and there was much distress; finally came the Washington conference, and the submission to the Senate for ratification of the treaties for limitation of armament and for the preservation of peace in the Pacific lands.

The story of the past five years will make a mighty interesting chapter in the school histories of coming years. Folks looking

A Review of Current Events By EDWARD N. TEALL

back will be able to see that some of the things we have been doubtful about were good things, and some of those about which we may have been inclined to boast were not so good.

Take it all in all, probably the conclusion that will be reached when the long view is taken will be that we went through an extremely trying period with as much courage and good sense as people generally exhibit in such times. And it is not at all unlikely that we shall have credit for pulling through in the good old American fashion.

The events of these past five years ought to give us a clearer understanding and better appreciation of what history means.

AFTER THE CONFERENCE, THE SENATE THE Conference on Limitation of Armaments did not work miracles, but it did work out a clean program for naval reduction, for the settlement of China's position in the world, and for the prevention of trouble in the Pacific lands. And it embodied its ideas in a set of treaties.

These treaties, in order to become part of American law, had to be ratified by the Senate; and so we went plump into a situation that had possibilities not pleasant to contemplate. The circumstances of the period following upon the drafting of the Treaty of Versailles were repeated, but the Republicans and Democrats had changed sides.

On the former occasion a Democratic President asked the Senate to confirm his actions and turn his policies into law, and Republican Senators refused to accept his program. And in February a Republican President and secretary of state were eager to have their great work made permanent by

the Senate. It would not have been surprising if some senatorial friends of the League of Nations had been tempted to "get square" by voting against President Harding's treaty alliances outside the League!

The opposition did not seem to be based on so unworthy (though natural) a motive, however. But the fear of possible bad consequences of these new agreements made some of the senators insist upon cautious investigation, and there was long and bitter debate.

If you were an Englishman, an Italian, a Frenchman, or a German, you might wonder just how, between President and Senate, the United States could ever get anywhere in international affairs!

their own living. They gave everything for their country, and their country must take the best care of them as long as they live. That much is clear at the start.

"Then," you, as Uncle Sam, would continue, "there are many veterans who are not disabled-and some of whom, indeed, have had an education, while in the service, such as they would not have had if there had been no war-who think their pay was wholly inadequate and that I owe them money. Well, if I had a thousand billion dollars, it would n't be enough to pay those fellows for saving America! The nation's debt to them is not one that can be measured in money.

"They compare their position with that of profiteers, who made fortunes out of the war, and with that of fellows who stayed home and made high wages. Well, perhaps we made a mistake in paying those high prices and big wages-but we simply had to have the goods and the work, and it was not a time to argue about the cost. And what a mistake it is for the men who wore my uniform to compare themselves with the few who took advantage of the emergency to make money while the nation's fate was at stake! And what a mistake these fine fellows make, again, when they forget to give credit to the men and women, the girls and boys, who served in the Second Line, Over Here, and worked and sacrificed to win the war for freedom. Too bad-too bad!

"Now," you would say next, "the States have appropriated hundreds of millions of dollars for bonus and adjusted compensation payments. That does not lessen my obligation, if I have one. But suppose that in addition to this, the nation ought to pay a bonus-though many of the veterans themselves dislike the idea. Where am I to get the money? Not," Uncle Sam would hasten to add, "not that I mean in the least to begrudge it, but because I have to be fair to the whole nation, not merely kind to a part of it. That's a sticker, that is!

"You see, I have n't any money of my own, not a cent. All the money I handle comes from the people, and belongs to them. I am still trying to catch up on war bills, and to keep up with the high prices. To get the several billions of dollars to pay a bonus, I must put on more taxes. I can't take from the rich only, because this job, if it 's done, belongs to all the people. Shall I tax food, clothing, and the necessaries everybody has to buy; shall I tax business, or shall I tax luxuries? Will the public stand the extra load? Per

haps I might issue bonds; would the people buy them? The 'funny' part of it is that the veterans themselves are part of the public that will have to pay the bill! Increased taxation will slow up the improvement of conditions that seems at last to have got really started-and I can not see that the veterans will be any better off!"

And you-Uncle Sam-would be as much puzzled as ever. People would say "Oh, he 's afraid his Congress won't be reëlected"; and others would say, "No, he 's selfish and has n't courage." You would know better than that—and still you would be puzzled.

In the latter days of February it seemed to this observer that the majority of our people were beginning to come to the conclusion that while there was no limit to what the country ought to do for disabled veterans, the truly American verdict on the national bonus plan would be opposed to it.

Possibly by the time this WATCH TOWER is published, the final decision will have been reached. We trust it may be so, and that the decision may be clearly seen to embody American wisdom, American courage, and the American ideal of fair play for all.