JUST BE GLAD

Misfortunes overtake us, difficulties confront us; but these things must not induce us to give up. A Congressman who had promised Thomas B. Reed to be present at a political meeting telegraphed at the last moment: "Cannot come; washout on the line." "No need to stay away," said Reed's answering telegram; "buy another shirt."

OH

HEART of mine, we shouldn't
Worry so!

What we've missed of calm we couldn't
Have, you know!

What we've met of stormy pain,

And of sorrow's driving rain,
We can better meet again,
If it blow!

We have erred in that dark hour
We have known,

When our tears fell with the shower,
All alone!-

Were not shine and shower blent
As the gracious Master meant?-
Let us temper our content
With His own.

OPPORTUNITY

"I lack only one of having a hundred," said a student after an examination; "I have the two naughts." And all he did lack was a one, rightly placed. The world is full of opportunities. Discernment to perceive, courage to undertake, patience to carry through, will change the whole aspect of the universe for us and bring positive achievement out of meaningless negation,

WITH doubt and dismay you are smitten

WITH

You think there's no chance for you, son?
Why, the best books haven't been written
The best race hasn't been run,
The best score hasn't been made yet,
The best song hasn't been sung,
The best tune hasn't been played yet,
Cheer up, for the world is young!

No chance? Why the world is just eager
For things that you ought to create
Its store of true wealth is still meagre
Its needs are incessant and great,
It yearns for more power and beauty
More laughter and love and romance,
More loyalty, labor and duty,

No chance why there's nothing but chance!

For the best verse hasn't been rhymed yet,
The best house hasn't been planned,
The highest peak hasn't been climbed yet,
The mightiest rivers aren't spanned,
Don't worry and fret, faint hearted,
The chances have just begun,

For the Best jobs haven't been started,
The Best work hasn't been done.

Berton Braley.

From "A Banjo at Armageddon,"

Copyright, 1917,

George H. Doran Co., Publishers.

44

SOLITUDE

Said an Irishman who had several times been kicked downstairs: "I begin to think they don't want me around here." So it is with our sorrows, our struggles. Life decrees that they belong to us individually. If we try to make others share them, we are shunned. But struggling and weary humanity is glad enough to share our joys.

LAUGH, and the world laughs with you;

Weep, and you weep alone;

For the sad old earth

Must borrow its mirth,

It has trouble enough of its own.

Sing, and the hills will answer;
Sigh, it is lost on the air;
The echoes bound

To a joyful sound,

But shrink from voicing care.

Rejoice, and men will seek you;
Grieve, and they turn and go;
They want full measure
Of all your pleasure,

But they do not want your woe.

Be glad, and your friends are many;
Be sad, and you lose them all;

There are none to decline

Your nectared wine,

But alone you must drink life's gall.

Feast, and your halls are crowded;
Fast, and the world goes by;
Succeed and give,

And it helps you live,

But it cannot help you die.

There is room in the halls of pleasure
For a long and lordly train;

But one by one

We must all file on

Through the narrow aisles of pain.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox.

From "How Salvator Won,"

W. B. Conkey Co., Chicago, Ill.

UNSUBDUED

"An artist's career," said Whistler, "always begins to-morrow. So does the career of any man of courage and imagination. The Eden of such a man does not lie in yesterday. If he has done well, he forgets his achievements and dreams of the big deeds ahead. If he has been thwarted, he forgets his failures and looks forward to vast, sure successes. If fate itself opposes him, he defies it. Farragut's fleet was forcing an entrance into Mobile Bay. One of the vessels struck something, a terrific explosion followed, the vessel went down. "Torpedoes, sir." They scanned the face of the commander-in-chief. But Farragut did not hesitate. "Damn the torpedoes," said he. “Go ahead."

HAVE hoped, I have planned, I have striven,

To the will I have added the deed;

The best that was in me I've given,

I have prayed, but the gods would not heed.

I have dared and reached only disaster,
I have battled and broken my lance;

I am bruised by a pitiless master

That the weak and the timid call Chance.

I am old, I am bent, I am cheated
Of all that Youth urged me to win;
But name me not with the defeated,
To-morrow again, I begin.

Permission of the Author.

From "Poems That Have Helped Me,"
P. F. Volland & Co., Chicago, Ill.

S. E. Kiser.

WORK

"A SONG OF TRIUMPH"

When Captain John Smith was made the leader of the colonists at Jamestown, Va., he discouraged the get-rich-quick seekers of gold by announcing flatly, "He who will not work shall not eat." This rule made of Jamestown the first permanent English settlement in the New World. But work does more than lead to material success. It gives an outlet from sorrow, restrains wild desires, ripens and refines character, enables human beings to cooperate with God, and when well done, brings to life its consummate satisfaction. Every man is a Prince of Possibilities, but by work alone can he come into his Kingship.

TORK!

WORK

Thank God for the might of it,
The ardor, the urge, the delight of it-
Work that springs from the heart's desire,
Setting the brain and the soul on fire-
Oh, what is so good as the heat of it,
And what is so glad as the beat of it,
And what is so kind as the stern command,
Challenging brain and heart and hand?

Work!

Thank God for the pride of it,

For the beautiful, conquering tide of it,
Sweeping the life in its furious flood,
Thrilling the arteries, cleansing the blood,
Mastering stupor and dull despair,
Moving the dreamer to do and dare.
Oh, what is so good as the urge of it,
And what is so glad as the surge of it,
And what is so strong as the summons deep,
Rousing the torpid soul from sleep?

Work!

Thank God for the pace of it,

For the terrible, keen, swift race of it;

Fiery steeds in full control,

Nostrils a-quiver to greet the goal.