For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds; Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds.
_William Shakespeare._
CHARACTER OF A HAPPY LIFE
"I"d rather be right than President," said Henry Clay. It is to men who are animated by this spirit that the greatest satisfaction in life comes. For true blessedness does not lie far off and above us. It is close at hand. Booker T. Washington once told a story of a ship that had exhausted its supply of fresh water and signaled its need to a pa.s.sing vessel. The reply was, "Send down your buckets where you are." Thinking there was some misunderstanding, the captain repeated his signal, only to be answered as before. This time he did as he was bidden and secured an abundance of fresh water. His ship was opposite the mouth of a mighty river which still kept its current unmingled with the waters of the ocean.
How happy is he born and taught That serveth not another"s will; Whose armor is his honest thought And simple truth his utmost skill!
Whose pa.s.sions not his masters are, Whose soul is still prepared for death, Not tied unto the world with care Of public fame or private breath;
Who envies none that chance doth raise Or vice; who never understood How deepest wounds are given by praise Nor rules of state, but rules of good;
Who hath his life from rumors freed, Whose conscience is his strong retreat; Whose state can neither flatterers feed, Nor ruin make accusers great;
Who G.o.d doth late and early pray More of his grace than gifts to lend; And entertains the harmless day With a well-chosen book or friend;
--This man is freed from servile bands Of hope to rise or fear to fall; Lord of himself, though not of lands; And having nothing, yet hath all.
_Sir Henry Wotton._
ESSENTIALS
The things here named are essential to a happy and successful life. They may not be the only essentials.
Roll up your sleeves, lad, and begin; Disarm misfortune with a grin; Let discontent not wag your chin-- Let grat.i.tude.
Don"t try to find things all askew; Don"t be afraid of what is new; Nor banish as unsound, untrue, A plat.i.tude.
If folks don"t act as you would choose Remember life is varied; use Your common sense; don"t get the blues; Show lat.i.tude.
Sing though in quavering sharps and flats, Love though the folk you love are cats, Work though you"re worn and weary--that"s The att.i.tude.
_St. Clair Adams._
THE STONE REJECTED
The story here poetically retold of the great Florentine sculptor shows how much a lofty spirit may make of unpromising material.
For years it had been trampled in the street Of Florence by the drift of heedless feet-- The stone that star-touched Michael Angelo Turned to that marble loveliness we know.
You mind the tale--how he was pa.s.sing by When the rude marble caught his Jovian eye, That stone men had dishonored and had thrust Out to the insult of the wayside dust.
He stooped to lift it from its mean estate, And bore it on his shoulder to the gate, Where all day long a hundred hammers rang.
And soon his chisel round the marble sang, And suddenly the hidden angel shone: It had been waiting prisoned in the stone.
Thus came the cherub with the laughing face That long has lighted up an altar-place.
_Edwin Markham._
From "The Gates of Paradise, and Other Poems."
GOOD DEEDS
The influence of good deeds usually extends far beyond the limits we can see or trace; but as well not have the power to do them as not use it.
How far that little candle throws his beams!
So shines a good deed in a naughty world.
Heaven doth with us as we with torches do; Not light them for themselves; for if our virtues Did not go forth of us, "twere all alike As if we had them not.
_William Shakespeare._
YOU MAY COUNT THAT DAY
A cla.s.s of little settlement girls besought Mrs. George Herbert Palmer, one insufferable summer morning, to tell them how to be happy. "I"ll give you three rules," she said, "and you must keep them every day for a week. First, commit something good to memory each day. Three or four words will do, just a pretty bit of poem, or a Bible verse. Do you understand?" A girl jumped up. "I know; you want us to learn something we"d be glad to remember if we went blind." Mrs. Palmer was relieved; these children understood. She gave the three rules--memorize something good each day, see something beautiful each day, do something helpful each day. When the children reported at the end of the week, not a single day had any of them lost. But hard put to it to obey her? Indeed they had been. One girl, kept for twenty-four hours within squalid home-walls by a rain, had nevertheless seen two beautiful things--a sparrow taking a bath in the gutter, and a gleam of sunlight on a baby"s hair.
If you sit down at set of sun And count the acts that you have done, And, counting, find One self-denying deed, one word That eased the heart of him who heard-- One glance most kind, That fell like sunshine where it went-- Then you may count that day well spent.
But if, through all the livelong day, You"ve cheered no heart, by yea or nay-- If, through it all You"ve nothing done that you can trace That brought the sunshine to one face-- No act most small That helped some soul and nothing cost-- Then count that day as worse than lost.