14 THE ACORN Why do we wait until people are dead and gone, before we do good things for them, and say good things about them? It is almost invariably the case that we do so. Nearly every day we read of some person dying and there is almost always a number of good things related in his or her life and a praiseworthy commentary on his character. If we could only say these things when the people are alive, we could give a great deal of encouragement where it is often most needed. Since President Garfield's death, he has been ranked as one of the world's greatest men, while before, he had not been regarded as such. Mary broke the precious alabaster and anointed the head of Jesus with the most costly oil. She gave of the best she had to Jesus. How much more did she do for Him than did Nicodemus, altho he was a staunch friend of Christ's, also. Nicodemus, it is true, was the first to minister to Christ, after the crusifiction, but while He lived, Nicodemus was only His silent friend. He waited till Christ was dead, before he did anything to show his love for Him. We ought to do all we can for our friends, while they are able to appreciate it, and receive benefits from it, and not wait till they are past need of help. Norma Sears, '11 A Cold Hunt On Dec. 23, 18, John James and Frank Willis left for a hunt in the mountains. They expected to be back the following morning and spend Christmas eve at home. They hunted till about six o'clock that night and killed some small game. During the chase, they had become excited and paid no attention to the direction they were traveling. All at once Frank announced, "We're off the trail, John" "Well never mind, we'll strike it again just around that bend yonder," was the reply. They found the bend but the trail was not there. "Say, John," murmured Frank sheepishly, "I've never been lost in my life, but which way are we traveling?" "North, of course. Haven't you been in the mountains enough to know the directions?" "Yes, I've been out in all kinds of weather but I believe that way is South." They disputed the point, each giving his reasons for his statement but both were still of the same mind after the argument, They traveled on for about half an hour in silence when Frank said, "John, we're lost." "Shake, I believe you're right," replied John. Then began a fruitless search for the trail. Darkness overtook them and finding a straw stack they crawled into it to keep warm. The night was very cold and kept getting colder. As Frank THE ACORN 15 was not dressed for such an occasion, John gave him his boots and coat. "Say John, what have we to be thankful and happy over during this Christmas week?" John was silent for some seconds when he replied simply, "We're still alive?" The night was now stinging cold and they felt a peculiar numbness creeping over them. John knew what this meant because he had been frozen once before. I'm "going to sleep," said Frank drowsily. "Don't you dare do it. You'll never wake up again," John said shaking him so fiercely that he awoke with a start. Thus they kept each other awake through the night, but when the sun arose next morning they were both frozen and could hardly stand up. They lay still in the stack till late in the afternoon when John said, "I wonder if the folks won't be looking for us? You know we told them we would be home this morning and now it's almost five o'clock." I" hope they find us before we freeze to death," replied Frank. Even while they were talking, Jack Lee was not more than a half mile from them and straining his eyes to catch a glimpse of them. He found the horses of the two lost boys and followed the tracks to the stack. He wrapped them up as best he could and tied them on their horses. They arrived home about eleven o'clock, Christmas eve Next morning John said: "Were never down and out so bad but what we can be thankful." "No," replied Frank, "but if you had not lent me your coat and boots I should have died." "Forget it," said John and they dropped off to sleep. Fred Jensen