Birthday

“ A birthday is a device for recalling to you in a formal and impressive manner that a certain person still lives and is in need of goodwill. It is a device which experience has proved to be both valuable and necessary.
Real faith effervesces; it shoots forth in every direction; it communicates itself. And the inevitable result is a festival. The festival is anticipated with pleasure, and it is remembered with pleasure. And thus it reacts stimulatingly on that which gave it birth, as the vitality of children reacts stimulatingly on the vitality of parents. ”

“ These annual summings up are awkward things, even to the prosperous and the happy, but to those who are the reverse, who are discontented with themselves, and find that youth melting away which they believe can alone achieve anything, I think a birthday is about the most gloomy four-and-twenty hours that ever flap their damp dull wings over melancholy man. ”

“ The idea that every birthday shortens your life is all nonsense. The truth is that every birthday is a guarantee that you will live longer than you ever had any right to think you would. Every birthday you reach puts your probable deathday further into the future. ”

“ Bright as a flower may thy Birthday be.
True love shall live thro’ sorrow’s wintry storm,
And bloom afresh on this glad Birthday morn.
Lovingly take this birthday souvenir,
And for my sake esteem it dear! May the morning of thy birth break in gladness, and the day teem with light-hearted mirth that shall last always!
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HUMOROUS.
I dip my pen into the ink,
And grasp your album tight;
But for my life I cannot think
One single word to write.
In the storms of life,
When you need an umbrella,
May you have to uphold it
A handsome young fellow.
May beauty and truth,
Keep you in youth ”

“ It was good to see the shops on mother's Birthday,
⁠And the blacksmiths at the anvil and the forge,
And the fitters and the masons and the plumbers,
⁠Busy tradesmen, trusty soldiers of King George.
It was good to see the field on mother's Birthday,
⁠It was good to feel the sunshine and the breeze,
It was good to see the water in the river,
⁠And the flowers and the sparrows and the trees.
It was good to think of men on mother's Birthday,
⁠Just the men you have to govern and to serve,
And to say that this must not be done or must be,
⁠So that every man may offer every nerve. ”

“ My fortieth birthday is upon me. I am sitting in the room where, since the day of our wedding, all of my best thoughts have been written. Sharp winds blow around our dwelling, but our hearts heed not their harsh voices. Louis and I have been retrospecting to-day, reading together the journal of the past two years. We have kept it together, devoting two pages to each day, each of us writing one. ”

“ A birthday, what is a birthday, a birthday is a speech, it is a second time when there is tobacco, it is only one time when there is poison. It is more than one time when the occasion which shows an occasional sharp separation is unanimous. ”

“ So you wish you had not been born on Christmas Day? Why, ’tis the day most blessed in all the year—the day when the King of Kings sent peace and goodwill to Man in the form of the Christ Child. It is His birthday as well as yours, and in memory of Him the Fairies show themselves to Christmas children, if they are pure in heart and word and deed. ”

“ YOUR birthday, my girl with the tender eyes,
And the dower of youth and zest,
It is kind of heaven to give us this day,
When the world is looking its best,
When the crimson roses are all abloom
With their sisters of paler grace,
When the sun makes warm, and the dew makes glad
Each velvety beautiful face.
When the breeze which comes seems a heavy breath,—
From the lungs of the earth o’ergrown
With the fairest things, and the sweetest things
That ever was seen, or known,
When the bird has an added note of pride
In each carol of joy he sings,
Do you know? can you guess? ”

“ Why, you haven't even remembered that it's my birthday."
"Oh, Lord! is it really?—the eighteenth! Of course it is! I'm an awful fool. I have no memory, but I have a big heart and I love you twice as much as that——"
"There you go again. You love me twice as much and forget my birthday. But he remembered it. He's giving a dinner party here at the hotel tonight in my honor."
"Oh, yes; he invited me. He felt sure enough of you for that! But he didn't tell me it was your birthday." ”

“ Nobody at seventy-one and with many still to love and leave on earth, can hail a birthday with much gladness.... The real sadness to me of birthdays, and of all marked days, is in the bitterly disappointing answer I am obliged to make to myself to the question: "Am I nearer to God than a year ago?" ”

“ You must know that to-day is my birthday—that's why I came and brought you the rose.”
“Oh,” she said, “that is an event. Your birthday to-day? Well, I'm sure that you received all your congratulations with the dignity you always show. You may have mine as well! It was sweet of you to bring me the rose, although it has its doubtful side.” And she tried the mouldy smell once more with an expression of fear on her face. “How old are you to-day, Prince?”
“Twenty-seven,” he answered. “I was born twenty-seven years ago in the Grimmburg. ”

“ ON NEW YEAR, 1897 TO G. D. AND S. F. B.
God bless you thro' this bright new year,
The first you spend together;
Give peace and trust thro' cloudy days,
Joy in its sunny weather.
And may the days as days go by,
Still richer seem and sweeter,
And passing seasons make your lives
In every good completer.
There are not words to tell the love
In which I could caress you;
Your dear united names I breathe,
And once more pray, God bless you.
TO ANNA ON HER SIXTEENTH BIRTHDAY
Sixteen! ”

“ Being the Bumble’s birthday—if you grin, Ardiune Coleman-Smith, I’ll pinch you!—Being, as I have observed, the Bumble’s birthday, it seems only right and fit and proper that the other bees in the hive should buzz in sympathy, and take a holiday, and go and sip nectar. Let us copy Nature’s methods! ”

“ A birthday:—and a day that rose
With much of hope, with meaning rife—
A thoughtful day from dawn to close:
The middle day of human life. ”

“ Is that a birthday? 'tis alas! too clear 'Tis but the funeral of the former year. ”

“ A ‘fête-day’ suggests something to celebrate with some sort of hurrah, a person’s own Christmas or Thanksgiving, as if everybody ought to be glad I was born. ‘Birthday’ is too apt to suggest nothing but that the clock has ticked again, that another coupon has been torn from my seventy-trip book, that another hole has been punched in my meal-ticket. ”

“ I remember often thinking whether other children were all as happy as I, and sometimes, especially on a spring morning of the 18th March,—my mother’s birthday, when I had a holiday, and used to make coronets of primroses and violets for her,—I can recall walking along the grass walks of that beautiful old garden and feeling as if everything in the world was perfect, and my life complete bliss for which I could never thank God enough. ”

“ She was glad she had been born, and she wanted others to be glad, so she gave them presents. You would imagine, when you see how some people hate [Pg 20] the coming of their birthdays, that there was some law of nature that declared that a man must inevitably die on the same day of the year as that on which he was born—that his birthday was also his deathday. If that were so, I might have some reason to hang up a bunch of crape and write for prices on coffins, plain and fancy, as my birthday approached. ”

“ I should not have a birthday, therefore, for six months. I was sorry for that, for birthdays are very nice; on one day at least in the year you are queen, and you are thought more of than any one else in the house. You are put first instead of last, and you get delicious presents. Some girls get presents every day—at least every week—but my sort of girl only gets a present worth considering on her birthday. ”

“ I knew that on everyone's birthday his friends undertake vows for him whose birthday it is. I, however, since I love you as myself, wish to offer up on this day, which is your birthday, hearty prayers for myself. I call, therefore, with my vows to hear me each one of all the Gods, who anywhere in the world provide present and prompt help for men; who anywhere give their aid and shew their power in dreams or mysteries, or healing, or oracles ”

“ To give her a birthday treat that won't give her neuralgia, and will take her by surprise.
Look here, Major! How can you give people treats who can order what they wish for far better than you?
I wonder what they do for the Queen!—her birthday must be the hardest of all." But he said, "Not a bit of it! ”

“ Aunt Sophy was telling us to-day about the Lord Mayor and the great, tremendous Show, and I began to think of Pauline and her birthday. I could not help myself. It is a pity that a birthday should only last such a very short time! ”

“ A birthday is too charming a thing to refuse, even if it's a special sort of birthday one doesn't exactly understand; so Sara decided to accept hers with a thankful heart. Besides, it must be confessed that she had caught glimpses of parcels here and there. ”

“ A long, long time ago—more than eighteen hundred years—the baby Christ was born on Christmas Day: a baby so wonderful and so beautiful, who grew up to be a man so wise, so good, so patient and sweet, that, every year, the people who know about him love him better and better, and are more and more glad when his birthday comes again. ”

“ My birthday comes at this season,218 and so I accept his jewels as a princely largess peculiarly bestowed upon myself. The day is kept as a festival. That is such a high-sounding expression, that it may perhaps suggest to you reception-parties, complimentary verses, and quantities of presents. Very far from it. Not more than half a dozen people in the world know when the day occurs, and they do not all remember it. As I arrive at the new milestone on my pilgrimage, I generally find that a few friends have placed garlands upon it. My last anniversary was distinguished by a beautiful novelty. ”

“ But my godmother wrote a stiff letter declining for me, and I never went. I never went out at all.
It was my birthday. There were holidays at school on other birthdays—none on mine. There were rejoicings at home on other birthdays, as I knew from what I heard the girls relate to one another—there were none on mine. My birthday was the most melancholy day at home in the whole year.
I have mentioned that unless my vanity should deceive me (as I know it may, for I may be very vain without suspecting it, though indeed I don’t) , my comprehension is quickened when my affection is. ”

“ I believe that in some way now, at this, the crossroads, your twenty-first birthday, the eve of your formal engagement, there will come to you some sign—something which will cause you, wisely or unwisely, to choose what your life will be. ”

“ That was a happy gathering if ever I saw one; and were I brought to believe that a birthday celebration is ever an affair of unmixed loveliness, I should perhaps be brought to say it concerning one for fifteen on the fifteenth. [Pg 229] Fourteen on the fourteenth lacks flavor, is a little unripe, like fruit imported before the real season is at hand. Sixteen on the sixteenth is a little over-mellow, a little late; already childhood is gone, and youth, however lovely it may be in the receiving of homage and favors, should already have its hands outstretched rather to bestow them. ”

“ When a woman attains her sixtieth birthday it is an occasion for great festivities, when she invites all her friends to a dinner to celebrate this wonderful event. If a man or woman should have occasion to celebrate their seventieth birthday, they distribute among their friends and relatives large red and white cakes with the character signifying “longevity” written upon them, and with each increasing year the old man or woman gain in the respect of their community. ”

“ I think more and more that a birthday is a subject not—as poor Job thought—for anathemas, but for congratulations. To be a reasonable human being—with capacity for seeing something of God's purposes for the race—with power to forward them—with opportunities for love and sacrifice and prayer—oh! ”

“ In the volume of “Elia,” an excellent paper begins with “Every man hath two birthdays: two days, at least, in every year, which set him upon revolving the lapse of time, as it affects his mortal duration. The one is that which in an especial manner he termeth his. In the gradual desuetude of old observances, this custom of solemnizing our proper birthday hath nearly passed away, or is left to children, who reflect nothing at all about the matter, nor understand any thing beyond the cake and orange. But the birth of a new year is of an interest too wide to be pretermitted by king or cobbler. ”

“ This glorious birthday ended with an iced cake and ginger wine, and drinking healths. Then we played whatever we liked. There had been rounders during the afternoon. It was a day to be forever marked by memory's brightest what's-its-name. ”

“ Rather a special birthday this time, for I shall be twenty-five. Last year I was thirty-five. These things happen sometimes; I’ve heard of them. When it comes to one’s own turn, it’s jolly good work. You’ll just have time to catch that birthday, if you write off at once. Awfully good of you to worry about my sufferings in being obliged to reply to your—problematically—boring letters! I’ll risk it, Katrine! I’ll do more than that, I’ll promise to own up, and tell you straight, not only when I reach the bored stage, but long before it is even approximately approached. ”