Freeman Edwin Miller

“ We'll walk in the sunshine
And laugh in the light;
And the roses and lilies of God's holy love
With their garlands shall crown us for mansions above!
The hewers of wood and the drawers of water do but little of the real work of the world. The horse, the ox, the insensate thing of steam and steel, does quite as much and more. But the men who dream,—who put something of brain and heart and soul into the clods and fashion them into things of beauty for mankind,—these lift the burdens off the shoulders of the race and plant a song upon the lips of toil! ”

“ It smiles with the lips of pleasure,
And laughs with the lips of hope.
Keep in the sunshine, brother!
It gladdens the world with light;
The shadows are over yonder,
And there is the night, the Night!
Little Sermons.
However we may measure it, the heart of the world is always greatly bigger than its head.
Love will stir the heart into laughter when all the gold of Ophir only brings a snow-storm to life's roses.
That work is only worthy which adds something to the store of things that contribute multiplied joys to the lives of men. ”

“ While the roses rim the meadows of the morning!
The glad hearts send the gladness
Over all the fields we go,
And the glory of the sunshine
Brightens all the world we know;
O, brothers, come along!
Let us sing the rain-bow song
While the roses rim the meadows of the morning!
The good Lord gives his bounties
To his children through the years,
And his gifts of love and labor
Conquer all the griefs and tears;
O, brother, bye and bye
We shall reach the home on high
While the roses rim the meadows of the morning! ”

“ There's a call of rolling music for the lonely hearts that lack,
And across the hills and valleys that have silent been so long
There's a lilt of love and laughter and a rhapsody of song;
And the cares that brought the sorrows and the shadows bleak and black
Hide away their gloomy faces, when the birds come back!
When the birds come back! There's a sky of sweeter blue,
With the breezes blowing softer and the blossoms peeping through;
There's a daisy in the meadows and a green upon the trees
With a welcome for the songsters and their swelling melodies ”

“ The boys and girls are weary with toilsomeness that grows
Where labor drowns the music of melodies she knows;
Then fix your fiddles, fellers! Each happy heart shall beat
To glories of the raptures and trippings of the feet!
IV.
Tune up the Christmas fiddles!
Where royal music rings,
Where lips are red with laughter and romping rapture sings,
We'll find surcease of sorrow and
Care shall die away
While the feet shall dance the music of happiness for aye!
Then fix your fiddles, fellers! Our sweet-hearts laugh applause,
And Love repeats the echoes in a kiss for Santa Claus! ”

“ Charity is something of which the mills of human life never turn out an over-production. Even some of the blessed saints could use a little more in their daily walk and conversation.
Hope.
All the path is dark with shadows
And the road is hard to see,
But there's sunshine on the hill-tops
And that's the way for me!
There are many blessings in this world, but a shade-tree at the end of the cotton row, and a water-melon cooling in a seventy-foot well are two of its greatest joys. ”

“ And sorrows dark the sky,
We'll seek the cave of faithful love
And watch the clouds go by;
A refuge safe, my honey,
From all the storm and strife,
Where joy shall keep the strong heart young
Through all the cares of life.
Then come with me, my honey;
What though the wild winds blow?
With hand and heart true love shall keep
Us safe through weal and woe!
The storm-clouds dark, my honey,
May fret the deep blue sky,
But love shall keep us smiling still
Of bright days by and by!
Be Patient.
Don't you lose your stock of patience
When the world seems going wrong ”

“ Joy for aye and aye!
Something Left.
There's joy in Oklahoma!
Let's go it good and strong;
There's sunshine on the prairies,
The land is glad with song;
What though the cotton tumbled,—
What if the wheat was short?
We've corn for hog and hominy
Of every blessed sort!
Charity not only covers a multitude of sins, but she also tucks the quilts in around the feet and gets up in the middle of the night to see if the blanket is on straight. ”

“ What shall matter the struggle with error and wrong?
For the lilies and roses of gladness shall bloom
Till we sleep the long slumber as dust in the tomb!
Caught on the Fly.
It's no use to try to trot in a race where you are out-classed. Better be a good weed-puller at so much per pull, than a member of the legislature without any pull at all.
If a woman's hair is smoothed up, her hat on straight and her belt all right behind, the other cares and responsibilities of this life sink at once and forever into insignificant nothingness. ”

“ All the time is love time
Where the roses throng!
Don't you sigh or sorrow!
Raptures full and free
Crown each glad tomorrow,
Sweet, for you and me!
June-time and tune-time,
Where the roses throng,
Life-time and love-time
And the world of song!
The Candidate.
He's getting so busy, he makes the world dizzy,
His smoke can be seen from afar;
He kisses the babies and flatters the ladies
And gives the old man a cigar!
[22]
Good-bye, Dear Heart. I.
Good-bye, Dear Heart! ”

“ The love way, the song way,
The way we gladly go,—
The way of blossoms sweet and fair
And all the dreams we know!
What the world may think of a man is of small consequence either to him or the world; but what he thinks of himself is of infinite and imperishable importance to all the realms of creation.
[239]
Mister Blue-bird.
"Mister Blue-bird! Mister Blue-bird!
Don't you think it's rather soon
For the making of your music,
And the striking of a tune?"
"I have heard the lone trees calling
And the meadows barren long,
For the laughter of the lovers
And the raptures of the song! ”

“ And there beyond the shadows where gladness reigns alway
We'll meet the hosts of morning, and dwell with them for aye.
V.
O, Morning on the Hill-tops! The dim eyes look to you,
Beyond the darkened valleys and all the griefs they knew,
And to the sunshine waiting in realms of rhapsody,
The paths lead on and upward to where you wait for me!
The Defeated.
Not he who loses but who fails to fight,
In God's long years reaps harvestings of blame;
Not he the blind but who destroys the sight
Receives the curses of the ages' blame! ”

“ In the glories of the sunshine when we reach the bye and bye!
Don't you worry at the winter! When the snow is all about;
It may seem a time of trouble for the blossoms peeping out,
[224] And the sere leases of the forest and the dead grass of the hills
Bring a set-back to the roses and the lilies have the chills;
But the world is rolling onward! and the spring is drawing nigh,
When the birds will spill their music through the blossoms bye and bye!
There's no need to get impatient! All the tangled ways will cease,
All the outer darkness vanish, all the battles end in peace ”

“ Don't trail over the world hunting for happiness with a candle, when the sunshine Of God's mercy is over every thing.
Who can understand the deeps and heights of another's nature? Nay, who can measure and comprehend even his own?
Four-tined forks are splendid implements in the hay-field, but any fork is a mighty poor thing to impale the gorgeous bliss reposing in a ripe water-melon's ruddy heart. ”

“ II.
Though distance part, though sky and sea divide,
To you I must not reach detaining hands;
The years are many and the world is wide,
And Love's fair roses bloom in many lands.
III.
With all the joys and all the wishes fond
My soul sends after you, we can't regret;
The raptures wait us in the sweet Beyond,
And we shall teach our memories to forget.
[23]
IV.
We meet no more! The hand-clasp and embrace,
The hot, mad kiss, the crush of lips to lips,
The melt of eye and tender flush of face,—
These all for us have passed to last eclipse.
V.
So, good-bye, Dear! ”

“ Yet the world is bright and bloomy
When the sunny side is out.
There is still an angel chorus
That shall put the griefs to rout,
And the sorrows flee before us
When the sunny side is out.
Then ring the bells of glory
And swing them with a shout!
This life's a laughing story
When the sunny side is out!
And fill the lips with laughter!
Let ancient worries pout!
With joys before and after
And the sunny side still out!
Little Sermons.
It's a mighty poor religion that isn't better than some of its devotees.
If God is in your debt, you can meet the Devil's sight drafts on demand. ”

“ With raptures rare,
And lips of welcome waiting there.
O, fields afar,
Whose echoes are
Soft whispers flung from sun and star,
Still faint and dim
I hear your hymn
Across the wide horizon's rim!
Little Sermons.
Drowning men were never rescued by eloquent preachers who stand on the shore and shout at them how to swim.
The church that brings shadows to this world hangs no sunshine o'er the portals of the next.
The noblest ambition of good men is to pluck the thorns from among the roses of upright living. ”

“ The Gospel of Sunshine is the one Supreme Evangel, the Religion of Love is Mankind's most Universal Creed. They hold in their divine Baptisms the Winning of the Heart to Happiness, the Wooing of the Soul to Heaven. ”

“ In the winter, of course,
They procured a divorce!
However it may happen, there are times when the common-place soul rebels at the petty chains of trifles and seeks acquaintance with the infinite. Then it is a companion of the stars, an associate of wind and wave, and all of Nature's immeasurable forces. Happy he whose sanity is so brave and strong as to walk with the blossoms at his feet and the stars above his head. ”

“ One lapse from sunshine makes the whole world sin.
If you want to pluck nose-gays, you must wander in the sunshine to find the flowers.
The Devil would rather tackle a a good man in a discouraged mood than a hardened criminal with Hope singing in his heart. ”

“ The bright side! The bright side!
Through all the hours of night,
The holy stars are watching you with sentinels of light,
And no matter how the sorrows may darken all the day,
The pleasures come in legions and drive their ghosts away.
III.
The bright side! The bright side!
Though disappointments throng,
Sweet labor lifts the burden and satisfies with song,
And after all the sadness that shades the rugged life,
There's glory for the struggle and slumber for the strife.
[55]
IV.
The bright side! ”

“ There is always a hole for the fellow that wants out, if he is dirty enough to crawl or dig.
What matters it if the peaches are killed and the wheat crop proves a failure! The water-melon crop is still ahead of us, and a heaven of joy in every ruddy heart!
[247]
Love and Song.
Ah, Love is no phantom,
Love's never a dream!
One hour in her kingdom
Is life all supreme!
And ever and ever
The scepter she swings
For hearts that are happy
With laughter that sings!
And Song is her sister
That makes for the feet
All the carpets of roses
And blossoms so sweet! ”

“ Clouds are found where the most flowers bloom: only the desert is a land of clear skies.
War may be a gentleman's game, but the Devil usually wins the most stakes before it breaks up.
All the griefs and tears of the world would cease if Love could only have her way for a very little while. ”

“ A rose is only a rose after all, however sweet and beautiful it may be. And a weed is no worse than a weed, however noxious or deadly its exhalations. Neither can reach into the realm of the other or invade the world of its supremacy. ”

“ And there in the meadows that blossom above
We shall gather in peace all the roses of Love!
Little Sermons.
Some people do all they can to make others uncomfortable, and call it their religion.
The love which is so superfine that it can't find a place for its home in this world is entirely too good for a hearty welcome in the next one.
The reason why the preachers don't have larger congregations must be on account of their not wanting to call the sinners but the righteous to repentance, and there is always plenty of room. ”

“ The man who never laughs at all is as great a trial to his friends as is the one who laughs too much.
No beauty of Nature, either of heart or flower or fruit, was ever grown without the lavish use of sunshine for its development. ”

“ Charity covers the sins all right, but many a poor sinner gets mighty short of blankets in the cold winter times of folly.
One heart of love and two glad lips of song have lifted many a mediocre soul up the slopes of happiness to the bright, eternal morning. ”

“ Fast people demand a religion trained to their own pace.
Whatever may be thought of the teachings of conventional theology and its peculiar dogmas, it is undeniable that a moral and an upright manner of living secures the highest happiness for the human family. If death is only a passage-way to eternal sleep, still a goodly life is worth the living for the little years of this world only. ”

“ Good opinions are valuable only as they come from good people.
Love never yet held poison to the lips or poured vitriol in a wound.
He only is truly rich who carries the sufficiencies of life within his soul. ”

“ With the frying pan for his companion, the civilized idiot is at home any where,—prairie or woods, creek bank or deer-lick or prairie-chicken trysting place. With a frying pan and some bacon fat, home is never far away, and a full meal is so near that heaven comes close to the hungry man. ”

“ They were too wise for Teddy and they still life's blessings share,
Though Teddy went a-huntin' them all loaded up for bear!
Sooner Sayings.
Blood tells when it comes to annuities and allotments.
God made the country, but it never fruited till the boomer boomed it.
The greatest heroes of the world are not those extolled in song or glorified with monuments and statues. They are the undiscovered ones who in tears and darkness lived their uttermost for the accomplishments of lofty purposes and failed utterly just before the triumph came. ”