Procrastination is not only the thief of time; it is also the grave of opportunity.

IN Where the bright summit of Olympus soars,

an old city by the storied shores

A cryptic statue mounted towards the light—
Heel-winged, tip-toed, and poised for instant flight.

"O statue, tell your name," a traveler cried,
And solemnly the marble lips replied:

"Men call me Opportunity: I lift

My winged feet from earth to show how swift
My flight, how short my stay-

How Fate is ever waiting on the way."

"But why that tossing ringlet on your brow?"
"That men may seize me any moment: Now,
NOW is my other name: to-day my date:
O traveler, to-morrow is too late!"

Edwin Markham.

From "The Gates of Paradise, and Other Poems,"
Doubleday, Page & Co.

TO A YOUNG MAN

"Jones write a book! Impossible! I knew his father." This attitude towards distinction of any sort, whether in authorship or in the field of action, is characteristic of many of us. We think transcendent ability is entirely above and apart from the things of ordinary life. Yet genius itself has been defined as common sense in an uncommon degree. The great men are human. Shakespeare remembered this when he said, "I think the king is but a man as I am." We should take heart at the thought that since the great are like us, we may develop ourselves until we are like them.

THE great were once as you.

They whom men magnify to-day
Once groped and blundered on life's way,
Were fearful of themselves, and thought
By magic was men's greatness wrought.
They feared to try what they could do;
Yet Fame hath crowned with her success
The selfsame gifts that you possess.

The great were young as you,
Dreaming the very dreams you hold,
Longing yet fearing to be bold,
Doubting that they themselves possessed
The strength and skill for every test,
Uncertain of the truths they knew,
Not sure that they could stand to fate
With all the courage of the great.

Then came a day when they
Their first bold venture made,

Scorning to cry for aid.

They dared to stand to fight alone,

Took up the gauntlet life had thrown,

Charged full-front to the fray,

Mastered their fear of self, and then
Learned that our great men are but men.

Oh, Youth, go forth and do!
You, too, to fame may rise;
You can be strong and wise.
Stand up to life and play the man-
You can if you'll but think you can;
The great were once as you.

You envy them their proud success?
'Twas won with gifts that you possess.

Published by permission of

The International Magazine Company

(Cosmopolitan Magazine)

Copyrighted 1921.

Edgar A. Guest.

SLOGAN

Some men want ideal conditions with pay in advance before they will work. But the world does not want such men, and has little place for them.

ON'T prate about what is your right,

DON'T

about nuts and show your might;

But bare your fists

Life is another man to fight

Catch as catch can.

Don't talk of Life as scurvy Fate,

Who gave you favors just too late,

Or Luck who threw you smiles for bait
Before he ran.

Don't whine and wish that you were dead,

But wrestle for your daily bread,

And afterward let it be said

"He was a man."

Permission from

"The New York Evening Journal."

Jane M'Lean.

SMILES

Smiles bring out the latent energies within us, as water reveals the bright colors in the stone it flows over.

Smile a little, smile a little,

All along the road;

Every life must have its burden,
Every heart its load.

Why sit down in gloom and darkness,
With your grief to sup?

As you drink Fate's bitter tonic
Smile across the cup.

Smile upon the troubled pilgrims

Whom you pass and meet;

Frowns are thorns, and smiles are blossoms

Oft for weary feet.

Do not make the way seem harder

By a sullen face,

Smile a little, smile a little,

Brighten up the place.

Smile upon your undone labor;
Not for one who grieves

O'er his task, waits wealth or glory;
He who smiles achieves.

Though you meet with loss and sorrow
In the passing years,