HOW DO YOU TACKLE YOUR WORK? It would be foolish to begin digging a tunnel through a mountain with a mere pick and spade. We must assemble for the task great mechanical contrivances. And so with our energies of will; a slight tool means a slight achievement; a huge, aggressive engine, driving on at full blast, means corresponding bigness of results. How do JOW do you tackle your work each day? Do you stand right up to the work ahead Do you start to toil with a sense of dread You can do as much as you think you can, For failure comes from the inside first, And you can win, though you face the worst, Success! It's found in the soul of you, The world will furnish the work to do, It's all in the start you make, young man: How do you tackle your work each day? What is the thought that is in your mind? From "A Heap o' Livin'," The Reilly & Lee Co. Edgar A. Guest. MAN OR MANIKIN The world does not always distinguish between appearance and true merit. Pretence often gets the plaudits, but desert is above them-it has rewards of its own. N° O matter whence you came, from a palace or a ditch, life; And no matter what they say, hermit-poor or Midas-rich, You are nothing but a husk if you sidestep strife. For it's do, do, do, with a purpose all your own, No matter what you do, miracles or fruitless deeds, You're a man, man, man, if you do them with a will; And no matter how you loaf, cursing wealth or mumbling creeds, You are nothing but a noise, and its weight is nil. For it's be, be, be, champion of your heart and soul, That makes a man a man, whether reared in silk or rags; And it's talk, talk, talk, from a tattered shirt or stole, That makes the image of a god a manikin that brags. Richard Butler Glaenzer Permission of Richard Butler Glaenzer. HAVING DONE AND DOING A member of Parliament, having succeeded notably in his maiden effort at speech-making, remained silent through the rest of his career lest he should not duplicate his triumph. This course was stupid; in time the address which had brought him fame became a theme for disparagement and mockery. A man cannot rest upon his laurels, else he will soon lack the laurels to rest on. If he has true ability, he must from time to time show it, instead of asking us to recall what he did in the past. There is a natural instinct which makes the whole world kin. It is distrust of a mere reputation. It is a hankering to be shown. Unless the evidence to set us right is forthcoming, we will praise dust which is gilded over rather than gold which is dusty from disuse. IME hath, my lord, a wallet at his back, A great-sized monster of ingratitudes: As done: perséverance, dear my lord, Keeps honor bright: to have done, is to hang In monumental mockery. Take the instant way; Where one but goes abreast: keep, then, the path; That one by one pursue: if you give way, Or hedge aside from the direct forthright, And leave you hindmost; Or, like a gallant horse fallen in first rank, Lie there for pavement to the abject rear, O'errun and trampled on: then what they do in present, That slightly shakes his parting guest by the hand, And farewell goes out sighing. O let not virtue seek One touch of nature makes the whole world kin, More laud than gilt o'er-dusted. The present eye praises the present object, FAITH William Shakespeare. Faith is not a passive thing-mere believing or waiting. It is an active thing-a positive striving and achievement, even if conditions be untoward. OPPORTUNITY What is opportunity? To the brilliant mind of Senator Ingalls it is a stupendous piece of luck. It comes once and once only to every human being, wise or foolish, good or wicked. If it be not perceived on the instant, it passes by forever. No longing for it, no effort, can bring it back. Notice that this view is fatalistic; it makes opportunity an external thing-one that enriches men or leaves their lives empty without much regard to what they deserve. MASTER of human destinies am I! Fame, love, and fortune on my footsteps Cities and fields I walk; I penetrate John James Ingalls. OPPORTUNITY HERE is a tide in the affairs of men, Omitted, all the voyage of their life And we must take the current when it serves, William Shakespeare. |