CLEAR THE WAY Humanity is always meeting obstacles. All honor to the men who do not fear obstacles, but push them aside and press on. Stephenson was explaining his idea that a locomotive steam engine could run along a track and draw cars after it. "But suppose a cow gets on the track," some one objected. "So much the worse," said Stephenson, "for the coo." MENNight and day; EN of thought! be up and stirring, Sow the seed, withdraw the curtain, Men of action, aid and cheer them, There's a fount about to stream, Men of thought and men of action, Lo! a cloud's about to vanish And a brazen wrong to crumble With the Right shall many more Men of thought and men of action, Charles Mackay. ONE FIGHT MORE We need not expect much of the man who, when defeated, gives way either to despair or to a wild impulse for immediate revenge. But from the man who stores up his strength quietly and bides his time for a new effort, we may expect everything. TOW, think you, Life, I am defeated quite? Now More than a single battle shall be mine Mine be that warrior's blood who, stricken sore, Theodosia Garrison. From "The Earth Cry," A PSALM OF LIFE At times this existence of ours seems to be meaningless; whether we have succeeded or whether we have failed appears to make little difference to us, and therefore effort seems scarcely worth while. But Longfellow tells us this view is all wrong. The past can take care of itself, and we need not even worry very much about the future; but if we are true to our own natures, we must be up and doing in the present. Time is short, and mastery in any field of human activity is so long a process that it forbids us to waste our moments. Yet we must learn also how to wait and endure. In short, we must not become slaves to either indifference or impatience, but must make it our business to play a man's part in life. TELL ELL me not, in mournful numbers, Life is real! Life is earnest! Not enjoyment, and not sorrow, Art is long, and Time is fleeting, And our hearts, though stout and brave, In the world's broad field of battle, Be not like dumb, driven cattle! Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant! Act, act in the living Present! Lives of great men all remind us Footprints, that perhaps another, Let us, then, be up and doing, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. A CREED Men may seem sundered from each other; but the soul that each possesses, and the destiny common to all, invest them with a basic brotherhood. THE HERE is a destiny that makes us brothers: All that we send into the lives of others Comes back into our own. I care not what his temples or his creeds, That into his fateful heap of days and deeds From "Lincoln, and Other Poems," Edwin Markham. BATTLE CRY We should win if we can. But in any case we should prove our manhood by fighting. MORA ORE than half beaten, but fearless, Lifting my fists, I implore Thee, What though I live with the winners Strong is my foe-he advances! See the proud banners and lances! Give me no pity, nor spare me; Red is the mist about me; |