“ And judge none lost; but wait and see,
With hopeful pity, not disdain;
The depth of the abyss may be
The measure of the height and pain
And love and glory that may raise
This soul to God in after days!
—Adelaide A. Proctor.
BE STRONG?
Be strong!
We are not here to play, to dream, to drift;
We have hard work to do, and loads to lift;
Shun not the struggle—face it! 'tis God's gift.
Be strong!
Say not, "The days are evil. Who's to blame?" ”

“ Just as the one whose name was cut, died twenty years ago.
My lids have long been dry, Tom, but tears came in my eyes,
I thought of her I loved so well—those early broken ties—
I visited the old churchyard, and took some flowers to strew
Upon the graves of those we loved, some twenty years ago.
Some are in the churchyard laid, some sleep beneath the sea,
But few are left of our old class, excepting you and me,
And when our time is come, Tom, and we are call'd to go,
I hope they'll lay us where we played just twenty years ago.
—A. J. Gault. ”

“ Living or dying, none were blest.
Beyond the flight of Time,
Beyond this vale of death,
There surely is some blessed clime
Where life is not a breath,
Nor life's affections transient fire
Whose sparks fly upward to expire. ”

“ It is easy enough to be pleasant
When life flows by like a song,
But the man worth while is the man who will smile
When everything goes dead wrong;
For the test of the heart is trouble,
And it always comes with the years,
And the smile that comes with the praise of earth
Is the smile that shines through tears. ”

“ If courage be on the wane,
When the cold, dark days are over—
Why, the birds go north again.
—Ella Higginson.
BALANCING
The good we meant to do—the deeds
So oft misunderstood;
The thwarted good we try to do,
And would do, if we could,
The noble deeds we set upon
And have accomplished none—
Write them—and with them credit all
The bad we have not done.
—Wilbur D. Nesbit.
Believe not each accusing tongue,
As most weak persons do ”

“ The force of art by nature seems outdone,
And fancied beauties by the true.
In happy climes, the seat of innocence,
Where nature guides and virtue rules,
Where men shall not impose for truth and sense
The pedantry of courts and schools.
There shall be sung another golden age,
The rise of empire and of arts,
The good and great inspiring epic rage,
The wisest heads and noblest hearts.
Not such as Europe breeds in her decay;
Such as she bred when fresh and young,
When heavenly flame did animate her clay,
By future poets shall be sung. ”

“ Not so do we count our years;
Not by the sun of the earth—but by the shade
Of our souls—and the fall of our tears.
For the young are ofttimes old,
Though their brow be bright and fair,
While their blood beats warm, their hearts lie cold—
O'er them the Springtime—but Winter is there,
And the old are ofttimes young,
When their hair is thin and white ”

“ To wait in weakness, and to walk in power;
But always fronting onward toward the light,
Always and always facing towards the right.
Robbed, starved, defeated, fallen, wide astray—
On, with what strength I have! ”

“ That man may hope to rise, yet fear to fall.
A chance may win that by mischance was lost,
That net that holds no great takes little fish;
In some things all, in all things none are crost;
Few all they need, but none have all they wish. ”

“ I passed by his garden, and saw the wild brier,
The thorn and the thistle grew broader and higher;
The clothes that hung on him are turning to rags;
And his money still wastes till he starves or he begs. ”

“ May it be a companion of good and beautiful thoughts that will teach us to love and appreciate with enduring life—these our poets—who have given us their best, that we thereby might be strengthened, encouraged and beautified. ”

“ I'll tell you, friend: a wise man and a fool.
You'll find, if once the monarch acts the monk,
Or, cobbler, like, the parson will be drunk.
Worth makes the man and want of it the fellow;
The rest is all but leather and prunella.
—Alexander Pope.
THE CHAMBERED NAUTILUS
This is the ship of pearl, which, poets feign,
Sails the unshadowed main—
The venturous bark that flings
On the sweet Summer wind its purpled wings
In gulfs enchanted, where the siren sings,
And coral reefs lie bare,
Where the cold sea-maids rise to sun their streaming hair. ”

“ Each poem is selected with the idea of lifting us out of the commonplace—up to the plane of higher and better living. This uplifting influence, combined with the inspiration that comes only from such a source, will make us better and happier men and women. Many of these poems have long been the "favorites" of the lovers of poetry, and it is the hope of the editor that these masterpieces of the poets may be brought within easy reach of all—without necessitating a reference to large and cumbersome volumes. ”

“ Twenty Years Ago
"'Tis not the weight of jewel or plate..."
Introduction
The poems contained in this volume have been carefully selected from the vast storehouse of poetical works, and comprise only those that I feel will be helpful and pleasure-giving. The poetical gems contained herein are teeming with life and inspiration and will touch a responsive chord in all who may read them. It is hoped that this book may become a "ready reference" volume that will be found pleasurable in times of joy, and strengthening in the vicissitudes of daily life. ”

“ They are slaves who dare not be
In the right with two or three.
—James Russell Lowell.
CHARACTER OF A HAPPY LIFE
How happy is he born and taught
That serveth not another's will;
Whose armor is his honest thought
And simple truth his utmost skill!
Whose passions not his masters are,
Whose soul is still prepared for death,
Not tied unto the world with care
Of public fame or private breath;
Who envies none that chance doth raise
Or vice ”

“ For tho' from out our bourne of time and place,
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crossed the bar. —Tennyson.
YOUNG AND OLD
When all the world is young, lad,
When all the trees are green ”