THE DAFFODILS The poet in lonely mood came suddenly upon a host of daffodils and was thrilled by their joyous beauty. But delightful as the immediate scene was, it was by no means the best part of his experience. For long afterwards, when he least expected it, memory brought back the flowers to the eye of his spirit, filled his solitary moments with thoughts of past happiness, and took him once more (so to speak) into the free open air and the sunshine. Just so for us the memory of happy sights we have seen comes back again to bring us pleasure. I WANDER'D lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills, Continuous as the stars that shine The waves beside them danced, but they In such a jocund company! gazed-and gazed-but little thought What wealth the show to me had brought; For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood, And then my heart with pleasure fills, William Wordsworth. A LITTLE THANKFUL SONG No man is without a reason to be thankful. If he lacks grati tude, the fault lies at least partly with himself. 'OR what are we thankful for? For this: FOR a For the breath and the sunlight of life. For the love of the child, and the kiss On the lips of the mother and wife. For bud and for bloom, And hopes that are shining For what are we thankful for? For this: For what are we thankful for? For all: ('Tis love that doth teach it) And faith that can reach it! Printed in and permission from "The Atlanta Constitution." Frank L. Stanton. TWO RAINDROPS (A FABLE) An egotist is not only selfish; he is usually ridiculous as well, for he sets us to wondering as to any possible ground for his exalted opinion of himself. The real workers do not emphasize their superiority to other people, do not even emphasize the differences, but are grateful that they may share in humanity's privilege of rendering service. WO little raindrops were born in a shower, And one was so pompously proud of his He got in his head an extravagant notion He leaped in the sea with a puff and a blare→→ But the other drop as along it went And welcomed the sea as an old-time friend. Joseph Morris, MY WAGE We may as well aim high as low, ask much as little. The world will not miss what it gives us, and our rewa will largely be governed by our demands. I BARGAINED with Life for a penny, And Life would pay no more, However I begged at evening For Life is a just employer, I worked for a menial's hire, That any wage I had asked of Life, From "The Door of Dreams," Jessie B. Rittenhouse THE GIFT "Trust thyself," says Emerson; "every heart vibrates to that iron string.' This is wholesome and inspiring advice, but there is, as always, another side to the question. Many a man falls into absurdities and mistakes because he cannot get outside of himself and look at himself from other people's eyes. We should cultivate the ability to see everything, including ourselves, from more than one standpoint. wad some Pow'r the giftie gie us What airs in dress an' gait wad lea'e us, And ev❜n devotion! Robert Burns. PROMETHEUS UNBOUND In the poem from which this excerpt is taken, Prometheus the Titan has been cruelly tortured for opposing the malignant will of Jupiter. In the end Prometheus wins a complete outward victory. Better still, by his steadfastness and high purpose he has won a great inward triumph. The spirit that has actuated him and the nature of his achievement are expressed in the following lines. To suffer wives wongs darker than death or night; O suffer woes which Hope thinks infinite; To defy Power, which seems omnipotent; Good, great and joyous, beautiful and free; Percy Bysshe Shelley. VICTORY IN DEFEAT The great, radiant souls of earth-the Davids, the Shakespeares the Lincolns-know grief and affliction as well as joy and triumph. But adversity is never to them mere adversity; it "Doth suffer a sea-change Into something rich and strange"; and in the crucible of character their suffering itself is transmuted into song. DEFE EFEAT may serve as well as victory Edwin Markham. From "The Shoes of Happiness, and Other Poems," |