Joy-bringing pay days And heart-lifting May days! The sun will be shining in just a wee while So smile! Permission of the Author. Griffith Alexander. From "The Philadelphia Evening Public Ledger." LAUGH A LITTLE BIT "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine"; a little laughter cures many a seeming ill. Cherish this as sacred writ Laugh a little bit. Keep it with you, sample it, Laugh a little bit. Little ills will sure betide you, Fortune may not sit beside you, Men may mock and fame deride you, If you laugh a little bit. Edmund Vance Cooke. From "A Patch of Pansies," 6. P. Putnam's Sona, A SONG OF LIFE Many of us merely exist, and think that we live. What we should regain at all costs is freshness and intensity of being. This need not involve turbulent activity. It may involve quite the opposite. AY not, "I live!" Unless the morning's trumpet brings Unless the ecstasy that sings Through rushing worlds and insects' wings, Glad of the need for toil and strife, Eager to grapple hands with Life Say not, "I live!" Say not, "I live!" Unless the energy that rings A challenge to your spirit flings, Say not, "I live!" Such were a libel on the Plan Ere world or star or sun began. From "The Hour Has Struck," The John Lane Co. Angela Morgan. A POOR UNFORTUNATE Things are never so bad but they might have been worse. An immigrant into the South paid a negro to bring him a wild turkey. The next day he complained: "You shouldn't shoot at the turkey's body, Rastus. Shoot at his head. The flesh of that turkey was simply full of shot." "Boss," said the negro, “dem shot was meant for me." H1 I IS hoss went dead an' his mule went lame; A harricane came on a summer's day, An' carried the house whar' he lived away; An' charged him up fer the hole in the groun'! II Did he moan an' sigh? Did he set an' cry Did he grieve that his ol' friends failed to call With all them troubles on top his head! Not him. . . . He clumb to the top o' the hill- An', barin' his head, here's what he said: But, Lord, I hain't had the measels yit!" Printed in and permission from "The Atlanta Constitution." Frank L. Stanton THE TRAINERS To Franklin, seeking recognition and aid for his country at the French court, came news of an American disaster. "Howe has taken Philadelphia," his opponents taunted him. "Oh, no,” he answered, "Philadelphia has taken Howe." He shrewdly foresaw that the very magnitude of what the British had done would lull them into overconfidence and inaction, and would stir the Americans to more determined effort. Above all, he himself was undisturbed; for to the strong-hearted, trials and reverses are instruments of final success. Y name is Trouble-I'm a busy bloke MY I am the test of Courage-and of Class→→→ I bind the coward to a bitter yoke, I drive the craven from the crowning pass; Weaklings I crush before they come to fame; But as the red star guides across the night, I train the stalwart for a better game; I drive the brave into a harder fight. My name is Hard Luck-the wrecker of rare dreams- I am the shadow where the far light gleams And mold the brave for any drive that comes. My name is Sorrow-I shall come to all To block the surfeit of an endless joy; Along the Sable Road I pay my call Before the sweetness of success can cloy; My name's Defeat-but through the bitter fight, For I can build beyond the wrath of might But for the brave who seek their chance to learn, To where the scarlet flames of triumph burn. Permission of the Author. From "The Sportlight." LIFE Grantland Rice. Most of us have failed or gone astray in one fashion or another, at one time or another. But we need not become despondent at such times. We should resolve to reap the full benefit of the discovery of our weakness, our folly. ALL in the dark we grope along, And if we go amiss We learn at least which path is wrong, We do not always win the race We have to tread the mountain's base But he who loves himself the last Though strewn with errors all his past, Some souls there are that needs must taste Ella Wheeler Wilcox. From "Poems of Power," W. B. Conkey Co., Chicago, Ill. |