And the ruin of worlds that fall he views from eternal arches, And rides God's battlefield in a flashing and golden car. From "The Lyric Year," Mitchell Kennerley. Sheamus O Sheel. SUCCESS As necessity is the mother of invention, strong desire is the mother of attainment. Work day and night for it, Give up your time and your peace and your sleep for it. If only desire of it Makes you quite mad enough Never to tire of it, Makes you hold all other things tawdry and cheap for it If life seems all empty and useless without it And all that you scheme and you dream is about it, Fret for it, Plan for it, Lose all your terror of God or man for it, If you'll simply go after that thing that you want, Strength and sagacity, Faith, hope and confidence, stern pertinacity, Of body or brain Can turn you away from the thing that you want, You'll get it! From "Things As They Are," George H. Doran Co., Publishers. Berton Braley. PLAY THE GAME The Duke of Wellington said that the battle of Waterloo was won on the cricket fields of Eton. English sport at its best is admirable; it asks outward triumph if possible, but far more it asks that one do his best till the very end and treat his opponent with courtesy and fairness. The spirit thus instilled at school has again and again been carried in after life into the large affairs of the nation. THE HERE'S a breathless hush in the Close Ten to make and the match to win- An hour to play and the last man in. The sand of the desert is sodden red Red with the wreck of a square that broke; And England's far and Honor a name, This is the word that year by year, This they all with a joyful mind Bear through life like a torch in flame, And falling, fling to the host behind "Play up! Play up! And play the game!" From "Admirals All, and Other Verses," Henry Newbolt. The John Lane Co.' THE MAN WHO FRETS AT WORLDLY STRIFE "Lord, what fools these mortals be!" exclaims Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream. And well might the fairy marvel who sees folk vexing themselves over matters that nine times out of ten come to nothing. Much wiser is the man who smiles at misfortunes, even when they are real ones and affect him personally. Charles Lamb once cheerfully helped to hiss off the stage a play he himself had written. THE maswallow, sour, and thin; HE man who frets at worldly strife Grows Give us the lad whose happy life He, Midas-like, turns all to gold- And laughs though wet or dry. There's fun in everything we meet,- And every speech a jest: So, come what may, the man's in luck And laughing, cries, with honest Puck, Joseph Rodman Drake. SERENITY Calmness of mind to face anything the future may have in store is expressed in this quatrain. ERE'S a sigh to those who love me HERE'S And a smile to those who hate; And whatever sky's above me, Here's a heart for every fate. Lord Byron. HERE'S HOPIN' An optimist has been described as a man who orders oysters at a restaurant and expects to find a pearl to pay the bill with. This of course is not optimism, but brazen brainlessness. Yet somehow the pearls come only to those who expect them. ; YEAR ain't been the very best ;— Purty hard by trouble pressed; But the rough way leads to rest,- CLEON AND I Toward the end of the yacht race in which the America won her historic cup the English monarch, who was one of the spectators, inquired: "Which boat is first?" "The America seems to be first, your majesty," replied an aide. "And which is second?" asked the monarch. "Your majesty, there seems to be no second." So it is in the race for happiness. The man who is natural, who is open and kind of heart, is always first. The man who is merely rich or sheltered or proud is not even a good second. CLEON a million clase, in a cottage 1; LEON hath a million acres, ne'er a one have I; Cleon hath a dozen fortunes, not a penny I; Cleon, true, possesses acres, but the landscape I; Cleon is a slave to grandeur, free as thought am I; Cleon sees no charm in nature, in a daisy I; Cleon hears no anthems ringing in the sea and sky; State for state, with all attendants, who would change? Not I. Charles Mackay. |