1216

LIFE AND DEATH.

I have seen the wicked in great power, And spreading himself, like a green bay-tree; Yet he passed away, and, lo! he was not; Yea, I sought him, but he could not be found. Mark the perfect man, And behold the upright, For the end of that man is peace.

—Psalms xxxvii, 35-37v.

1217

He who stands high is seen from afar.

—From the Danish.

1218

I confess that increasing years bring with them an increasing respect for men who do not succeed in life, as those words are commonly used.

—G. S. Hillard.

1219

Beauty is good for women, firmness for men.

—Bion.

1220

A man who is always forgetting his best intentions may be said to be a thoroughfare of good resolutions.

1221

It is a matter of the simplest demonstration, that no man can be really appreciated, but by his equal or superior.

—Ruskin.

1222

It takes a great man to make a good listener.

—Sir Arthur Helps.

1223

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but rising every time we fall. A gem is not polished without rubbing, nor is a man perfected without trials.

—Goldsmith.

1224

Be content with the day as it is; look for the good in everything.

1225

An honest man is believed without an oath, for his reputation swears for him.

1226

A thread will tie an honest man better than a rope will do a rogue.

1227

Would you make men trustworthy? Trust them. Would you make them true? Believe them. We win by tenderness. We conquer by forgiveness.

—Robertson.

1228

If there is any person to whom you unfortunately feel a dislike that is the person of whom you ought never to speak.

—Richard Cecil.

1229

He is not yet born who can please everybody.

1230

Fenimore Cooper asserts, in one of his books, that there is "an instinctive tendency in men to look at any man who has become distinguished." Said Carlyle: "True, surely, and moreover, an instinctive desire in men to become distinguished and be looked at, too!"

1231

It is not what he has, nor even what he does, which directly expresses the worth of a man, but what he is.

—Amiel.

1232

Man is not allowed to know what will happen—tomorrow.

—Statius.

1233

A horse is not known by his furniture, but by his qualities; so men should be esteemed for virtue, not wealth.

1234

Man looks aloft, and with erected eyes Beholds his own hereditary skies.

—Dryden's Ovid.

1235

The best club for a married man is an armchair in front of a big fire-place at home.

1236

Men take each other's measure when they meet for the first time.

1237

Does one see wolves taking to the road in order to plunder other wolves, as does inhuman man?

1238

No man can end with being superior, who will not begin with being inferior.

—Sydney Smith.

1239

Never speak of a man in his own presence. It is always indelicate, and may be offensive.

—Dr. Johnson.

1240

No man is always wise.

—Pliny.

1241

An obstinate man does not hold opinions, but they hold him.

1242

They that stand high have many blasts to shake them.

—Shakespeare.

1243

Men possessed with an idea cannot be reasoned with.

—Froude.

1244

The life of an old man is like a lighted candle in a draft.

—Japanese.

1245

The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor the man perfected without trials.

—From the Chinese.

1246

He was—describe him who can, An abridgement of all that was pleasant in man; A truer, nobler, trustier heart, More loving or more loyal, never beat Within a human breast.

1247

Some men remain poor because they haven't enough friends, and some because they have too many.

1248

A poor man, though living in the crowded mart, no one will notice; a rich man, though dwelling amid the remote hills, his distant relative will visit.

1249

Art may make a suit of clothes, but nature must produce the man.

—Hume.

1250

The real man is one who always finds excuses for others, but never for himself.

1251

It is not good that man should be alone.

—Genesis 2, 18v.

1252

Silent men, like still waters, are sometimes deep and dangerous.

1253

Man is a social creature, and we are made to be helpful to each other; we are like the wheels of a watch, that none of them can do their work alone, without the concurrence of the rest.

1254

Strive not too anxiously for thy support, thy Maker will provide. No sooner is a man born, than milk for his support streams from the breast.

—Chinese.

1255

He that swells in prosperity will be sure to shrink in adversity.

—Colton.

1256

The difference, he, Johnson, observed between a well-bred and an ill-bred man is this: One immediately attracts your liking, the other your aversion. You love the one till you find reason to dislike him; you dislike the other till you find reason to love him.

—Boswell's Life of Johnson.

1257

THE UNPUNCTUAL MAN.

He is a general disturber of other's peace and serenity. Everybody with whom he has to do is thrown from time to time into a state of fever; he is systematically late; regular only in his irregularity.

—Smiles.

1258

NO.

No is a surly, honest fellow, speaks his mind rough and round at once.

1259

A true man never frets about his place in the world, but just slides into it by the gravitation of his nature, and swings there as easily as a star.

1260

He had nothing and was content. He became rich and is discontented.

1261

Thou canst mould him into any shape like soft clay.

—Horace.

1262

None but the well-bred man knows how to confess a fault, or acknowledge himself in error.

1263

A well-bred man is always sociable and complaisant.

—Montaigne.

1264

"HOW MUCH DID HE LEAVE?"

The question is asked concerning the property of every rich man who dies; and it was answered very happily by Cloots, who was executor upon the estate of the late Mr. Snodgrass. His neighbor, Mr. Nailroad, was an exceedingly inquisitive man. The day after the funeral, Nailroad visited Cloots, and, with an inspecting face, began to question him. "Mr. Cloots," says he, "if it is not improper, will you inform me how much my particular friend Snodgrass left?" "Certainly," said Cloots:—"He left every cent he was worth in the world, and didn't take a copper with him."

1265

Who does the best his circumstances allow, Does well, acts nobly; angels could do no more.

—Young.

1266

If you would know a man truly, know him off duty, when the duties of the day are over and he has left his post.

—Observer.

1267

Men who want to do everything their own way must make a world to suit them, for it can not be done in this.

1268

The man whom I call deserving the name, is one whose thoughts and exertions are for others, rather than himself.

—Blanchard.

1269

If a man write a better book, preach a better sermon, or make a better mouse-trap than his neighbor, though he build his house in the wilderness, the world will make a beaten path to his door.

—Emerson.

1270

He who doth not speak an unkind word to his fellow-creatures is master of the whole world.

1271

Those who think must govern those who toil.

1272

The wise man shapes himself according to his environments, as water to the shape of the vessel into which it is poured.

—Japanese.

1273

At the working-man's house hunger may look in, but dare not enter.

1274

I am almost frozen by the distance you are from me.

1275

Manners carry the world for the moment; character, for all time.

—Alcott.

1276

Behavior is a mirror in which every one displays his image.

—Goethe.

1277

MANNERS.

The distinguishing trait of people accustomed to good society is a calm, imperturbable quiet, which pervades all their actions and habits, from the greatest to the least. They eat in quiet, move in quiet, live in quiet, and lose their wife, or even their money in quiet; while others cannot take up either a spoon, or an affront, without making such an amazing noise about it.

—Bulwer-Lytton.

1278

Manners are the shadows of virtue.

—Sydney Smith.

1279

Vulgar people can't be still.

—O. W. Holmes.

1280

In society want of sense is not so unpardonable as want of manners.

—Lavater.

1281

The wealthy and the noble when they expend large sums in decorating their houses with the rare and costly efforts of genius, with busts, and with cartoons from the pencil of a Raphael, are to be commended, if they do not stand still here, but go on to bestow some pains and cost, that the master himself be not inferior to the mansion, and that the owner be not the only thing that is little, amidst everything else that is great. The house may draw visitors, but it is the possessor alone that can detain them.

1282

Marriage is the bloom or blight of all men's happiness.

—Byron.

1283

A MAIDEN'S TRUST IN MARRIAGE.

There is no one thing more lovely in this life, more full of the divine courage, than when a young maiden, from her past life, from her happy childhood, when she rambled over every field and moor around her home; when a mother anticipated her wants and soothed her little cares, when her brothers and sisters grew from merry playmates, to loving, trustful friends; from Christmas gatherings and romps, the summer festivals in bower or garden; from the secure backgrounds of her childhood, and girlhood, and maidenhood, looks out into the dark and unilluminated future away from all that, and yet unterrified, undaunted, leans her fair cheek upon her lover's breast, and whispers—"Dear heart! I cannot see, but I believe. The past was beautiful, but the future I can trust—with thee!"

—Hunt.

1284

Advice on Marriage.—An Athenian who was hesitating whether to give his daughter in marriage to a man of worth with a small fortune, or to a rich man who had no other recommendation, went to consult Themistocles on the subject. "I would bestow my daughter," said Themistocles, "upon a man without money, rather than upon money without a man."

—Arvine.

1285

Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half shut afterwards.

1286

ON A WEDDING DAY.

Cling closer, closer, life to life, Cling closer, heart to heart; The time will come, my own wed wife, When you and I must part! Let nothing break our band but Death, For in the world above 'Tis the breaker Death that soldereth Our ring of wedded love.

—G. Massie.

1287

A SUCCESSFUL EXPERIMENT.

A man of experience, declares that men, like plants, adapt themselves to conditions. To illustrate his theory, he told of two men, one of whom said to the other, at a pleasantly critical period:

"Do you think two can live as cheaply as one?"

"Before my marriage I thought they could," was the guarded reply.

"And afterward?" anxiously.

"Afterward I found they had to."

1288

MARRIAGE,—CHOICE IN.

Boswell: "Pray, sir, do you not suppose that there are fifty women in the world, with any one of whom a man may be as happy, as with any one woman in particular?" Johnson: "Ay, sir, fifty thousand." Boswell: "Then, sir, you are not of opinion with some who imagine that certain men and certain women are made for each other, and that they cannot be happy if they miss their counterparts." Johnson: "To be sure not, sir. I believe marriages would in general be as happy, and often more so, if they were all made by the Lord Chancellor, upon a due consideration of the characters and circumstances, without the parties having any choice in the matter."

Boswell's Johnson, p. 283. —Samuel Johnson.

1289

Choose not alone a proper mate, But proper time to marry.

—Cowper.

1290

When a man and woman are married their romance ceases and their history commences.

1291

Wedlock, indeed, hath oft compared been To public feasts, where meet a public rout, Where they that are without, would fain go in, And they that are within, would fain go out.

—Sir J. Davis.

1292

Marriage somewhat resembles a pair of shears, so joined that they cannot be separated, often moving in opposite directions, yet always punishing anyone who comes between them.

—S. Smith.

1293

Marry in your own Rank. Wise was the man, ay, wise indeed, who first weighed well this maxim, and with his tongue published it abroad, that to marry in one's own class is best by far, and that a peasant should woo the hand neither of any that have waxed wanton by riches, nor of such as pride themselves in high-traced lineage.

—Aeschylus.

1294

THE NEWLY WEDDED.

Now the rite is duly done, Now the word is spoken, And the spell has made us one Which may ne'er be broken; Rest we, dearest, in our home, Roam we o'er the heather; We shall rest, and we shall roam, Shall we not—together?

From this hour the summer rose Sweeter breathes to charm us; From this hour the winter snows Lighter fall to harm us; Fair or foul—on land or sea— Come the wind or weather, Best or worst, whate'er they be, We shall (D.V.) always share—together!

—Winthrop Mackworth Praed.

1295

Whom first we love, you know one seldom weds.

—Owen Meredith.

1296

A pious elder once said to his son in view of marriage,—"My boy, piety is essential for the life to come, but good temper is the great requisite for happiness in this world."

1297

The reason why so few marriages are happy is because young ladies spend their time in making nets, not in making cages.

—Swift.

1298

COMPANIONSHIP IN MARRIAGE.

If God had designed woman as man's master, He would have taken her from his head; if as his slave, He would have taken her from his feet; but as He designed her for his companion and equal, He took her from his side.

—St. Augustine.

1299

The following was written on a card by an old friend of a young lady's when he sent her some flowers on the eve of her wedding day:—"I have sent you a few flowers to adorn the dying moments of your single life."

1300

The treasures of the deep are not so precious As are the concealed comforts of a man Lock'd up in woman's love. I scent the air Of blessings, when I come but near the house. What a delicious breath marriage sends forth— The violet bed's not sweeter!

—Middleton.

1301

Blessed their life whose marriage prospers well, But if things fall out ill, no happiness Awaits them, within doors or without,—so beware!

—Unknown.

1302

THE MARRIAGE VOW.

Speak it not lightly; 'tis a holy thing— A bond, enduring thro' long distant years, Life will not prove all sunshine; there will come Dark hours for all; oh! will ye, when the night Of sorrow gathers thickly round your home, Love as ye did in days when smooth and bright Seemed the sure path ye trod, untouched by care, And deemed the future, like the present, fair?

Age, with its silvery locks, will come stealing on, And bring the tottering step, the furrow'd cheek, The eye, from whence each lustrous gleam hath gone; And the pale lip, with accents low and weak; Will ye then think upon your youth's gay prime, And, smiling, bid love triumph over time?

Speak it not lightly; oh! beware! beware! 'Tis no vain promise, no unmeaning word; Before God's altar, now ye both do swear, And by the High and Holy One 'tis heard! Be faithful to each other till life's close; Seek peace below, and you'll get Heaven's repose.

1303

Let him who weds, wed character, not money.

1304

A girl should look happy because she is not married; a wife because she is.

1305

A Gentleman, but a Fool.—Chief Justice Marshall once found himself suddenly brought to a halt by a small tree which intervened between the front wheel and the body of his buggy. Seeing a servant at a short distance, he asked him to bring an axe and cut down the tree. The servant—a colored man—told the judge that there was no occasion for cutting down the tree, but just to back the buggy. Pleased at the good sense of the fellow, Judge Marshall told him that he would leave him something at the inn hard by, where he intended to stop, having then no small change. In due time the man applied, and a dollar was handed him. Being asked if he knew who it was that gave him the dollar, he replied: "No, sir: I concluded he was a gentleman by his leaving the money, but I think he is the biggest fool I ever saw."

1306

If thou art a master, be sometimes blind, and sometimes deaf.

—Fuller.

1307

Let no man be the servant of another who can be his own master.

1308

Our master is our—enemy.

—From Amiel's Journal.

Applicable to those who have formed a useless habit.

1309

Matrimony.—He hath tied a knot with his tongue that he cannot untie with all his teeth.

1310

Numbers, xxxvi. 6,—"Let them marry to whom they think best; only to the family of the tribe of their fathers shall they marry."

Mr. John Martin used to give two advices, both to his children and others, in reference to marriages. One was, "Keep within the bounds of your profession." The other was, "Look at suitableness in age, quality, education, temper, etc." He used to observe, from Genesis, ii, 18, "I will make him a help-meet for him;" that there is not meetness, there will not be much help. He commonly said to his children, with reference to their choice in marriage, "Please God, and please yourselves, and you shall never displease me;" and greatly blamed those parents who conclude matches for their children without their consent. He sometimes mentioned the saying of a pious gentlewoman, who had many daughters.—"The care of most people is how to get good husbands for their daughters; but my care is to fit my daughters to be good wives, and then let God provide for them."

1311

MATRIMONY.

The sum of all that makes a just man happy Consists in the well-choosing of his wife: And there, well to discharge it, does require Equality of years, of birth, of fortune; For beauty being poor, and not cried up By birth or wealth, can truly mix with neither. And wealth, when there's such difference in years, And fair descent, must make the yoke uneasy.

—Massinger.

1312

MATRIMONY.

1. That man must lead a happy life 2. Who is directed by a wife; 3. Who's free from matrimonial chains 4. Is sure to suffer for his pains.

5. Adam could find no solid peace 6. Till he beheld a woman's face; 7. When Eve was given for a mate, 8. Adam was in a happy state.

Epigram: Read alternate lines,—1,3; 2,4; 5,7; 6,8.

—Cowper.

1313

FROM A WORK ENTITLED "SKETCHES OF PERSIA."

The following admirable lines were inscribed upon a golden crown having five sides, which was found in the tomb of Noosherwan.

First Side.—"Consider the end before you begin, and before you advance, provide a retreat.

Give not unnecessary pain to any man, but study the happiness of all.

Ground not your dignity upon your power to hurt others."

Second Side.—"Take counsel before you commence any measure, and never trust its execution to the inexperienced.

Sacrifice your property for your life, and your life for your religion.

Spend your time in establishing a good name, and if you desire fortune, learn contentment."

Third Side.—"Grieve not for that which is broken, stolen, burnt or lost.

Never give order in another man's house; accustom yourself to eat your bread at your own table."

Fourth Side.—"Take not a wife from a bad family, and seat not thyself with those who have no shame.

Keep thyself at a distance from those who are incorrigible in bad habits, and hold no intercourse with that man who is insensible to kindness.

Convert not the goods of others.

Be sensible of your own value, estimate justly the worth of others: and war not with those who are far above thee in fortune."

Fifth Side.—"Be envious of no man, and avoid being out of temper, or thy life will pass in misery.

Respect and protect the females of thy family."

1314

The meals which are eaten in company are always better digested than those which are taken in solitude.

—Dr. Combe.

1315

The poor man must walk to get meat for his stomach, the rich man to get a stomach for his meat.

1316

Johnson said melancholy people were apt to fly to intemperance for relief, but that it sunk them much deeper in misery. He observed, that laboring men who work hard and live sparingly, are seldom or never troubled with low spirits.

—Boswell's Johnson.

1317

Everyone complains of his memory, and no one complains of his judgment.

—Rochefoucauld.

1318

By attention ideas are registered on the memory.

1319

An old deacon was accustomed to offer this prayer: "Help us to forget what we ought not to remember, and to remember what we ought not to forget."

—Weekly Paper.

1320

What nicer, what sweeter, than— The remembrance of a past in boyhood's village days without regret!

1321

So many we find to be well fed but ill taught.

1322

The Greatest Men Arose from the People.—The greatest scholars, poets, orators, philosophers, warriors, statesmen, inventors, and improvers of the arts, arose from the people. If we had waited till courtiers had invented the arts of printing, clockmaking, navigation, and a thousand others, we should probably have continued in darkness till this hour.

1323

I would as soon attempt to entice a star To perch upon my finger; or the wind To follow me like a dog—as try to make Some people do what they ought.

1324

ABBOTSFORD.

When Washington Irving visited Abbotsford, Sir Walter Scott introduced him to many of his friends and favorites, not only among the neighboring farmers, but the laboring peasantry. "I wish to show you," said Scott, "some of our really excellent plain Scotch people. The character of a nation is not to be learnt from its fine folks, its fine gentlemen and ladies; such you meet everywhere, and they are everywhere the same."

—Smiles.

1325

MEN—UNLUCKY.

Never have anything to do with an unlucky man. I never act with them. Their advice sounds very well, but they cannot get on themselves; and if they cannot do good to themselves, how can they do good to me?

—Rothschild.

1326

He that studies books alone, will know how things ought to be; and he that studies men, will know how things are.

1327

Wise men care not for what they cannot have.

1328

Young people are very apt to overrate both men and things, from not being enough acquainted with them.

1329

YOUNG MEN.

The trouble with most young men is that they do not learn anything thoroughly, and are apt to do the work committed to them in a careless manner. The business world is full of such young men, content in simply putting in their time somehow and drawing their salaries, making no effort whatever to increase their efficiency and thereby enhance their own as well as their employers' interests.

—Unknown.

1330

The Clemency of a Queen.—It is related that during the first few days of the reign of Queen Victoria, then a girl between nineteen and twenty years of age, some sentences of a court-martial were presented for her signature. One was death for desertion. She read it, paused, and looked up to the officer who laid it before her, and said:—"Have you nothing to say in behalf of this man?" "Nothing; he has deserted three times," answered the officer. "Think again, Your Grace," was the reply. "And," said the gallant veteran, as he related the circumstance to his friends—(for he was none other than the Duke of Wellington)—"seeing her majesty so earnest about it, I said—'He is certainly a bad soldier, but there was somebody who spoke as to his good character, and he may be a good man for aught I know to the contrary.'" "Oh, I thank you a thousand times!" exclaimed the youthful queen, and hastily writing 'Pardoned' in large letters on the fatal page, she sent it across the table with a hand trembling with eagerness and beautiful emotion.

—Hodgins.

1331

Mercy's door should open to those who knock.

1332

When there is doubt, lean to the side of mercy.

—Cervantes.

1333

MAN—THE CHILD OF MERCY.

When the Omniscient Giver of all life, In His eternal council first conceived The thought of man's creation, forth He call'd Into His presence three bright ministers— Justice, and Truth, and Mercy, that forever Had hovered around His throne—and thus He spoke; "Shall we make man?" Then stern Justice replied: "Create him not, for he will trample on Thy holy law;" and Truth, too, answering, said, "Create him not, O God! he will pollute Thy sanctuary!" When forth Mercy came, And dropping on her knees, exclaimed: "O God! Create him! I will watch his wandering steps, And tender guide thro' all the darksome paths That he may tread." Then forthwith God made man, And said: "Thou art the child of Mercy; go: In mercy with thy erring brother deal."

—Judge Crittenden, of Ky.

1334

MERCY.

Think not the good, The gentle deeds of mercy thou hast done, Shall die forgotten all; the poor, the prisoner, The fatherless, the friendless, and the widow, Who daily owe the bounty of thy hand, Shall cry to Heaven, and pull a blessing on thee.

—Nicholas Rowe.

1335

He that showeth mercy when it may be best spared will receive mercy when it shall be most needed.

1336

MERCY.

I would not enter on my list of friends (Though graced with polished manners and fine sense, Yet wanting sensibility) the man Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm. An inadvertent step may crush the snail That crawls at evening in the public path; But he that has humanity forewarn'd, Will tread aside, and let the reptile live. Ye, who love mercy, teach your sons To love it too.

—Cowper.

1337

It is beautifully said that the veil of futurity is woven by the hand of mercy.

—Bulwer-Lytton.

1338

We pray for mercy, Let that same prayer teach us to render The deeds of mercy.

—Shakespeare.

1339

Merit does not always meet its due reward.

1340

Merit and good-breeding will make their way everywhere.

1341

All are not merry that dance lightly.

—Herbert.

1342

When I dinna ken what I say, Sandy, And ye dinna ken what I mean—that's metaphysics.

—Scotch.

1343

Method will teach you to win time.

—Goethe.

1344

FRIENDS IN NEED.

Perhaps one of the most noteworthy characteristics of Methodists is the spirit of clannishness which runs through the whole body. Is any sick, the rest are eager to pray; is any merry, the rest are delighted to sing psalms; and they will not only pray and sing in sympathy, which is comparatively easy, but they are ready to spend, and to be spent, for the brethren to almost any extent. Men may know that they are Methodists from the love they have one to another.

Through whatsoever ill betide For you I will be spent and spend: I'll stand forever by your side, And naught shall you and me divide, Because you are my friend.

—Ellen Thorneycroft Fowler.

1345

Where might is right, right is not upright.

—From the German.

1346

It is indicative of a weak mind to be much depressed by adversity or elated by prosperity.

1347

A well-governed mind learns in time, to find pleasure in nothing but the true and the just.

—Amiel.

1348

Overtasking the mind is an unwise act; when nature is unwilling, the labour is vain.

—Seneca.

1349

Who fills his mind with matters small For great things has no room at all.

1350

When the mind is in a state of uncertainty, the smallest impulse directs it to either side.

—Terence.

1351

MIND.

It cannot be too deeply impressed on the mind, that application is the price to be paid for mental acquisitions, and that it is as absurd to expect them without it, as to hope for a harvest where we have not sown the seed.

—Bailey.

1352

Narrowness of mind is often the cause of obstinacy: we do not easily believe beyond what we see.

—La Rochefoucauld.

1353

I am one, Who finds within me a nobility, That spurns the idle pratings of the great, And their mean boast of what their fathers were, While they themselves are fools effeminate, The scorn of all who know the worth of mind And virtue.

1354

All who know their mind do not know their heart.

1355

RESIGNATION.

Entire and perfect happiness is never Vouchsafed to man; but nobler minds endeavor To keep their inward sorrows unrevealed. With meaner spirits nothing is concealed. Weak, and unable to conform to fortune, With rude rejoicing or complaint importune, They vent their exultation or distress. Whate'er betides us—grief or happiness— The brave and wise will bear with steady mind, The allotment, unforeseen and undefined, Of good or evil, which the Gods bestow, Promiscuously dealt to man below.

—Theognis, Greek. Translated by Frere.

1356

Life will always be, to a large extent, what we ourselves make it. Each mind makes its own little world. The cheerful mind makes it pleasant, and the discontented mind makes it miserable. "My mind to me a kingdom is" applies alike to the peasant as to the monarch.

1357

The face is the index of the mind.

—Crabbe.

1358

It is not position, but mind, that I want, said a lady to her father, when rejecting a suitor.

1359

Those who visit foreign countries, but who associate only with their own countrymen, change their climate, but not their customs; they see new meridians, but the same men, and with heads as empty as their pockets, return home, with travelled bodies, but untravelled minds.

1360

Youthful minds, like the pliant wax, are susceptible of the most lasting impressions, and the good or evil bias they then receive is seldom if ever eradicated.

1361

Little minds are hurt by little things; great minds rise above them.

1362

Noblest minds are easiest bent.

—Homer.

1363

DUTY OF MINISTERS.

My friends, the chief duty of the ministers of God, is, that they should help their brethren to the best of their fallible knowledge and feeble power. When there is a spirit of repentance; when men truly seek the means of grace; when they have ceased to be insolent and defiant in sin; when they do intend—were it but ever so faintly—to lead a new life—then

Our commission is to heal, not harm; We come not to condemn, but reconcile; We come not to compel, but call again; We come not to destroy, but edify; Nor yet to question things already done; These are forgiven; matters of the past; And range with jetsam, and with offal, thrown Into the blind sea of forgetfulness.

—F. W. Farrar, D. D.

1364

One ounce of mirth is worth more than ten thousand weight of gloominess.

1365

Man is no match for woman where mischief reigns.

—Balzac.

1366

Most just it is that he who breweth mischief should have the first draught of it himself.

—Jemmat.

1367

CONSTANTINE AND THE MISER.

Constantine the Great, born 274 A. D., in order to reclaim a miser, took a lance and marked out a space of ground the size of a human body and said to him: "Add heap to heap, accumulate riches upon riches, extend the bounds of your possessions, conquer the whole world, and in a few days, such a spot as this, will be all that you will have."

1368

A miser grows rich by seeming poor; an extravagant man grows poor by seeming rich.

—Shenstone.

1369

Misers.—If I knew a miser, who gave up every kind of comfortable living, all the pleasure of doing good to others, all the esteem of his fellow citizens, for the sake of accumulating wealth; "Poor Man," I would say, "you pay too much for your whistle."

—Benj. Franklin.

1370

No thoroughly occupied man was ever miserable.

—Dutch.

1371

'Tis time enough to bear a misfortune when it comes without anticipating it.

—Seneca.

1372

Learn never to repine at your own misfortunes, or to envy the happiness of others.

1373

Any man may make a mistake; none but a fool will stick to it.

—Cicero.

1374

Better a mistake avoided, than two corrected.

1375

I will not quarrel with a slight mistake, Such as our nature's frailty may excuse.

—Roscommon.

1376

There are few, very few, that will own themselves in a mistake.

—Swift.

1377

No lessons are so impressive as those our mistakes teach us.

1378

Young heads are giddy, and young hearts are warm, And make mistakes for manhood to reform.

—Young.

1379

People seldom improve when they have no other model but themselves to copy after.

—Goldsmith.

1380

MODERATION.

He that holds fast the golden mean, And lives contentedly between The little and the great, Feels not the wants that pinch the poor, Nor plagues that haunt the rich man's door.

—Cowper.

1381

THE CHARM OF MODULATION.

'Tis not enough the voice be sound and clear, 'Tis modulation that must charm the ear.

1382

The abundance of money ruins youth.

1383

I almost grow to believe there is a sort of curse on money which is not earned, even when it is bestowed by father on son or daughter. It cripples individual development, and I think only when it is earned is it blest.

1384

A' complain o' want o' siller (money): nane o' want o' sense.

—Scotch.

1385

Your money cannot change your blood, Although you strut as though it could.

1386

A MONEY-LENDER.

He serves you in the present tense; He lends you in the conditional mood; Keeps you in the subjunctive; And is apt to ruin you in the future!

—Addison.

1387

The love of money is the root of much devotion.

1388

A man's money is either his master or his slave.

1389

Money doesn't make happiness. There is many a heart-ache behind plenty of money!

—Nettie S. Murphy.

1390

He who finds no money in his own purse, is still less likely to find it in that of others.

1391

Agassiz said, "I have no time to waste in making money. Life is not sufficiently long to enable a man to get rich and do his duty to his fellow man at the same time."

1392

No bees, no honey; no work, no money.

1393

THE POWER OF MONEY.

Money will purchase occupation; It will purchase all the conveniences of life; It will purchase variety of company; It will purchase all sorts of entertainments; It can change men's manners; alter their conditions! How tempestuous these slaves are without it! O thou powerful metal! what authority Is in thee! thou art the key of all men's Mouths; with thee a man may lock up the jaws Of an informer, and without thee, he Cannot open the lips of a lawyer.

—Broome.

1394

Mention money and the world is silent.

1395

How like a queen comes forth the lonely moon From the slow opening curtains of the clouds; Walking in beauty to her midnight throne!

—G. Croly.

1396

MOON.

See yonder fire! it is the moon Slow rising o'er the eastern hill. It glimmers on the forest tips, And through the dewy foliage drips In little rivulets of light, And makes the heart in love with night.

—H. W. Longfellow.

1397

With morning cool reflection comes.

—Sir Walter Scott.

1398

The morning hour has gold in its mouth.

—Dr. Franklin.

1399

WHILE MOTHER WAS AWAY.

The Princess of Wales has trained her children so carefully in habits of obedience and veracity that they are most trustworthy little persons. Before her royal highness started on her trip round the world with her husband, she drew up a list of rules to be observed in the nursery, and added a series of light tasks to be fullfilled by each one of the youngsters before the date set for her return.

The rules were to be enforced by the nurses. The performance of the tasks was left to the honor of the children, and in addition there was a list of things they must not do.

There were occasional lapses of memory as regards the forbidden things, and some carelessness in carrying out the tasks, for royal children, despite the severity of their training, are children still. But in the main they respected their mother's wishes and commands, and took no advantage of her absence. Upon one occasion, however, they were sorely tempted. This was when their loving and beloved grandmother, Queen Alexandria, brought them a big box of bonbons. But when the sweets were offered to them, one child after another reluctantly but firmly declined to take any.

"We like them, but mother has forbidden us to eat them," explained the eldest prince.

"You can have the sugar-plums if I say you may," said the indulgent queen. "I will tell mama all about it when she returns."

Prince Eddie wavered momentarily, then reiterated his refusal.

"We'd like them," he sighed, "but that's what mother said."

The queen was slightly annoyed by this opposition.

"But if I say you may—" she said.

Prince Eddie stood his ground, a hero between two fires—the wishes of his adored mother, and those of his almost equally adored grandmother. His sister and his brothers followed his lead. When the queen went away she put the bonbons on the nursery table and there they stayed for months untouched, a handsome monument to the thoroughness of the princess' training and the respectful love and devotion of her children.

—The Youth's Companion.

1400

Better the child should cry than the mother sigh.

—Danish.

1401

THE DARING OF A MOTHER.

In Scotland a peasant woman had a child a few weeks old, which was seized by one of the golden eagles, the largest in the country, and borne away in its talons to its lofty eyrie on one of the most inaccessible cliffs of Scotland's bleak hills; the mother, perceiving her loss, hurried in alarm to its rescue, and the peasantry among whom the alarm spread, rushed out to her aid; they all came to the foot of the tremendous precipice; the peasants were anxious to risk their lives in order to recover the little infant; but how was the crag to be reached? One peasant tried to climb, but was obliged to return; another tried and came down injured; a third tried, and one after another failed, till a universal feeling of despair and deep sorrow fell upon the crowd as they gazed upon the eyrie where the infant lay. At last a woman was seen, climbing first one part and then another, getting over one rock and then another, and while every heart trembled with alarm, to the amazement of all, they saw her reach the loftiest crag, and clasp the infant rejoicingly in her bosom. This heroic female began to descend the perilous steep with her child; moving from point to point; and while everyone thought that her next step would precipitate her and dash her to pieces, they saw her at length reach the ground with the child safe in her arms. Who was this female? Why did she succeed when others failed? It was The Mother of The Child.

—Cumming.

1402

FUNERAL OF A MOTHER.

The Rev. George Crabbe when describing the funeral of "The Mother," in his passing glance at the half-interested spectators, says:—

Curious and sad, upon the fresh-dug hill The village lads stood, melancholy still.

and in his description of the return to the house:—

Arrived at home, how then they gazed around. In every place where she no more was found; The seat at table she was wont to fill; The fireside chair, still set, but vacant still; The garden walks, a labor all her own; The latticed bower, with trailing shrubs o'ergrown: The Sunday pew she filled with all her race— Each place of hers, was now a sacred place, That while it called up sorrows in the eyes, Pierced the full heart, and forced them still to rise.

—From the Eclectic Magazine.

1403

A MOTHER'S LOVE.

Children, look in those eyes, listen to that dear voice, notice the feeling of even a single touch that is bestowed upon you by that gentle hand. Make much of it while yet you have that most precious of all good gifts, a loving mother. Read the unfathomable love of those eyes; the kind anxiety of that tone and look, however slight your pain.

In after-life you may have friends, fond, dear, kind friends; but never will you have again the inexpressible love and gentleness lavished upon you which none but a mother bestows. Often do I sigh in my struggles with hard, uncaring world, for the sweet, deep security I felt when, of an evening nestling in her bosom, I listened to some quiet tale, suitable to my age, read in her tender and untiring voice. Never can I forget her sweet glances cast upon me when I appeared asleep, never her kiss of peace at night. Years have passed away since we laid her beside my father in the old church yard; yet still her voice whispers from the grave, and her eye watches over me, as I visit spots long since hallowed to the memory of my mother.

1404

The mother's heart is the child's school-room.

1405

He who takes the child by the hand, takes the mother by the heart.

1406

Who ran to help me when I fell, And would some pretty story tell, Or kiss the place to make it well? My mother.

1407

Each mother is a historian; she writes not the history of empires or of nations on paper, but she writes her own history on the imperishable mind of her child. That tablet and that history will remain indelible when time shall be no more. That history each mother shall meet again, and read, with eternal joy, or unutterable grief, in the coming ages of eternity.

1408

MOTHERS AND MEN.

That it is the mother who moulds the man is a sentiment beautifully illustrated by the following recorded observation of a shrewd writer:—

"When I lived among the Choctaw Indians, I held a consultation with one of their chiefs respecting the successive stages of their progress in the arts of civilized life; and among other things he informed me, that at their start they made a great mistake,—they only sent boys to school. These boys came home intelligent men; but they married uneducated and uncivilized wives, and the uniform result was, the children were all like their mothers. The father soon lost all his interest both in wife and children. 'And now,' said he 'if we would educate but one class of our children, we should choose the girls; for, when they become mothers, they educate their sons.'"

1409

MOTHER.

Can'st thou, mother, for a moment think That we, thy children, when old age shall shed Its blanching honors on thy weary head, Could from our best of duties ever shrink? Sooner the sun from his high sphere should sink, Than we, ungrateful, leave thee in that day To pine in solitude thy life away, Or shun thee, tottering on the grave's cold brink. Banish the thought!—where'er our steps may roam, O'er smiling plains, or wastes without a tree Still will fond memory point our hearts to thee, And paint the pleasures of thy peaceful home; While duty bids us all thy griefs assuage And smoothe the pillow of thy sinking age.

—Henry Kirke White.

1410

MY MOTHER.

My mother! when I learned that thou wast dead, Say, wast thou conscious of the tears I shed? I heard the bells tolled on thy burial day, I saw the hearse that bore thee slow away; And, turning from my nursery window, drew A long, long sigh, and wept a last adieu! Thus many a sad to-morrow came and went, Till, all my stock of infant sorrow spent, I learned at last submission to my lot: But though I less deplored thee, ne'er forgot.

—Cowper.

1411

An ounce of mother is worth more than a pound of clergy.

—Spanish Proverb.

1412

A MOTHER'S EXAMPLE.

It was a judicious resolution of a father, as well as a most pleasing compliment to his wife, when, on being asked by a friend what he intended to do with his girls, he replied: "I intend to apprentice them to their mother, that they may learn the art of improving time, and be fitted to become wives, mothers, heads of families, and useful members of society." Equally just, but very different, was the remark of an unhappy husband—his wife was vain and thoughtless—"It is hard to say, but if my girls are to have a chance of growing up good for anything, they must be sent out of the way of their mother's example."

1413

A MOTHER'S SORROWS.

My son! my son! I cannot speak the rest— Ye who have sons can only know my fondness! Ye who have lost them, or who fear to lose, Can only know my pangs! none else can guess them; A mother's sorrows cannot be conceived But by a mother!

1414

Pomponius Atticus, who pronounced a funeral oration on the death of his mother, protested that though he had resided with her sixty-seven years, he was never once reconciled to her; "because," said he, "there never happened the least discord between us, and consequently there was no need of reconciliation."

1415

THE MOTHER'S HOPE.

Is there, when the winds are singing In the happy summer time— When the raptured air is ringing With earth's music heavenward springing, Forest chirp and village chime— Is there, of the sounds that float Unsighingly, a single note Half so sweet, and clear, and wild, As the laughter of a child?

—Laman Blanchard.

1416

A True Estimate of a Mother.—To a child, there is no velvet so soft as a mother's lap, no rose so lovely as her smile, no path so flowery as that imprinted with her footsteps.

1417

TURF FROM MY MOTHER'S GRAVE.

The following simple, beautiful lines contain an unadorned statement of a fact in the experience of a friend, who is fond of wandering in the Scotch highland glens:

As I came wandering down Glen Spean, Where the braes are green and grassy, With my light step I overtook A weary-footed lassie.

She had one bundle on her back, Another in her hand, And she walked as one who was full loath To travel from the land.

Quoth I, "my bonnie lass!"—for she Had hair of flowing gold, And dark brown eyes, and dainty limbs, Right pleasant to behold—

"My bonnie lass, what aileth thee, On this bright summer day, To travel sad and shoeless thus Upon the stony way?

"I'm fresh and strong, and stoutly shod, And thou art burdened so; March lightly now and let me bear The bundles as we go."

"No, no!" she said, "that canna be, What's mine is mine to bear, Of good or ill, as God may will, I take my portioned share."

"But you have two and I have none; One burden give to me; I'll take that bundle from thy back That heavier seems to be."

"No, no!" she said; "this, if you will, That holds—no hand but mine May bear its weight from dear Glen Spean 'Cross the Atlantic brine!"

"Well, well! but tell me what may be Within that precious load Which thou dost bear with such fine care Along the dusty road?

"Is it some present rare From friend in parting hour; Perhaps, as prudent maidens wont, Thou tak'st with thee thy dower?"

She drooped her head, and with her hand She gave a mournful wave; "Oh, do not jest, dear sir—it is Turf from my mother's grave!"

I spoke no word; we sat and wept By the road-side together: No purer dew on that bright day Was dropt upon the heather.

—John Stuart Black.

1418

When we are sick, where can we turn for succor, When we are wretched where can we complain? And when the world looks cold and surly on us Where can we go to meet a warmer eye With such sure confidence as to a mother?

1419

Is there a heart that music cannot melt? Alas! how is that rugged heart forlorn.

—Beattie.

1420

Music loosens a heart that care has bound.

1421

No music is so charming to my ear as the requests of my friends, and the supplications of those in want of my assistance.

—Caesar.

1422

His very foot has music in't, As he comes up the stair.

—Burns.



N

1423

For art may err, but nature cannot miss.

—J. Dryden.

1424

Our nature exists by motion; perfect rest is death.

1425

Good-nature, like a bee, collects honey from every herb. Ill-nature, like a spider, sucks poison from the sweetest flower.

1426

Good-nature is the beauty of the mind, and, like personal beauty, wins almost without anything else.

—Hanway.

1427

If you want to keep your good looks, keep your good nature.

1428

NATURE.

No ordinance of man shall override The settled laws of nature and of God; Not written these in pages of a book, Nor were they framed to-day, nor yesterday; We know not whence they are; but this we know, That they from all eternity have been, And shall to all eternity endure.

—Sophocles, born 495 B. C.

1429

Every one follows the inclinations of his own nature.

—Propertius.

1430

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods, There is a rapture on the lonely shore, There is society where none intrudes, By the deep sea, and music in its roar: I love not man the less, but nature more, From these our interviews, in which I steal From all I may be, or have been before, To mingle with the universe, and feel What I am can ne'er express, yet cannot all conceal.

—Lord Byron.

1431

Who can paint Like nature? Can imagination boast, Amid its gay creation, hues like hers?

—J. Thomson.

1432

Tender handed stroke a nettle And it stings you for your pains; Grasp it like a man of mettle, And it soft as silk remains; Thus it is with vulgar natures, Use them kindly, they rebel: But be rough as nutmeg graters, And the rogues obey you well.

—Aaron Hill.

1433

Where is there a sharper arrow than the sting of unmerited neglect?

1434

'Tis wisely said To know thyself: equally profitable it is To know thy neighbors!

1435

Say not unto thy neighbor, Go, and come again, and to-morrow I will give; when thou hast it by thee.

—Proverbs 3, 28v.

1436

Very Few Live by Choice.—Every man is placed in his present condition by causes which acted without his foresight, and with which he did not always willingly co-operate; and therefore you will rarely meet one who does not think the lot of his neighbor better than his own.

—Dr. Johnson in Rasselas.

1437

We ought to do at once and without delay whatever we owe to our neighbors; to make them wait for what is due to them, is the essence of injustice.

1438

A BIRD'S NEST.

It wins my admiration To view the structure of this little work— A bird's nest. Mark it well, within, without; No tool had he that wrought; no knife to cut, No nail to fix, no bodkin to insert, No glue to join; his little beak was all; And yet how neatly finished!—What nice hand, And every implement and means of art, And twenty years' apprenticeship to boot, Could make me such another? Fondly then We boast of excellence, whose noblest skill Instinctive genius foils.

—Hurdis.

1439

The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done, is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

—Ecclesiastes 1, 9v.

1440

He knocks boldly at the door who brings good news.

1441

The most ridiculous nicknames are often the most adhesive.

—Haliburton.

1442

Coolness and counsel come in the night, and both are of God.

—Arab Proverb.

1443

Quiet night, that brings Rest to the laborer, is the outlaw's day, In which he rises early to do wrong, And when his work is ended, dares not sleep.

—P. Massinger.

1444

Night is the time for rest; How sweet, when labors close, To gather 'round an aching breast The curtain of repose. Stretch the tir'd limbs and lay the head Down on our own delightful bed!

—Jas. Montgomery.

1445

Learn to say No! and it will be of more use to you than to be able to read Latin.

—Spurgeon.

1446

Duty.—A wise man who does not assist with his counsels, a rich man with his charity, and a poor man with his labor, are perfect nobodies in a commonwealth.

—Swift.

1447

IMPORTANT.

Nobody likes to be nobody; But everybody is pleased to think himself somebody. And everybody is somebody: But when anybody thinks himself to be somebody, He generally thinks everybody else to be nobody.

1448

By doing nothing we learn to do ill.

—Watts.

1449

The young are fond of novelty.

1450

So easily are we impressed by numbers, that even a dozen wheelbarrows in succession seem quite imposing.

—Richter.



O

1451

A CLEVER "TURN."

Lord Elibank, the Scotch peer, was told that Dr. Johnson, in his dictionary, had defined oats to be food for horses in England, and for men in Scotland. "Ay," said his lordship, "and where else can you find such horses and such men?"

1452

Deuteronomy xxi, 20.—"This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice."

"I well remember," says a writer on Christian education, "being much impressed by a sermon about twenty years ago, in which the preacher said, were he to select one word as the most important in education, it should be the word, obey. My experience since has fully convinced me of the justice of the remark. Without filial obedience everything must go wrong. Is not a disobedient child guilty of a manifest breach of the Fifth Commandment? And is not a parent, who suffers this disobedience to continue, an habitual partaker in his child's offense against that commandment?"

1453

Obedience.—Obedience, promptly, fully given, is one of the most beautiful things that walks the earth.

—Dr. Raleigh.

1454

Wise, modest, constant, ever close at hand, Not weighing, but obeying all command, Such servant by a monarch's throne may stand.

1455

An extraordinary haste to discharge an obligation is a sort of ingratitude.

—La Rochefoucauld.

1456

Most men remember obligations, but not often to be grateful for them. The proud are made sour by the remembrance, and the vain silent.

1457

To John I ow'd great obligation, But John unhappily thought fit To publish it to all the nation: Sure John and I are more than quit.

—Prior.

1458

People newly emerged from obscurity, generally launch out into indiscriminate display.

—Jean Ingelow.

1459

Obstinacy is will asserting itself without being able to justify itself. It is persistence without a plausible motive. It is the tenacity of self-love substituted for the tenacity of reason or conscience.

—Amiel.

1460

Thrice happy they who have an occupation.

—Byron.

1461

An oil-jar can be used again for nothing but oil.

(A man should follow what he was bred to.)

—Chinese.

1462

Others may use the ocean as their road, Only the British make it their abode:— They tread the billows with a steady foot.

—Waller.

1463

To call people peculiar is only a polite way of calling them disagreeable.

—W. S. Murphy.

1464

WORDS.

Time to me this truth has taught ('Tis a treasure worth revealing,) More offend by want of thought Than by want of feeling.

—Charles Swain.

1465

A dog's obeyed in office.

—Shakespeare.

1466

A bad man in office is a public calamity.

—French.

1467

Omissions, no less than commissions, are oftentimes branches of injustice.

—Antoninus.

1468

It has been shrewdly said, that, when men abuse us, we should suspect ourselves, and when they praise us, them.

1469

No liberal man would impute a charge of unsteadiness to another for having changed his opinion.

—Cicero.

1470

SELF-CONFIDENCE.

Men often lose opportunities by want of self-confidence. Doubts and fears in the minds of some rise up over every event, and they fear to attempt what most probably would be successful through their timorousness; while a courageous, active man, will, perhaps with half the ability, carry an enterprise to a prosperous termination.

1471

Men spend their lives in anticipations, in determining to be vastly happy at some period or other, when they have time. But the present time has one advantage over every other—it is our own. Past opportunities are gone; the future may never come to us.

—Colton.

1472

To let slip a favorable opportunity is the greatest proof of imbecility.

1473

He loses all who loses the right moment.

1474

OPPORTUNITY.

Master of human destinies am I; Fame, love, and fortune on my footsteps wait, Cities and fields I walk; I penetrate Deserts, and seas remote, and, passing by Hovel, and mart, and palace, soon or late, I knock unbidden once at every gate. If sleeping, wake; if feasting, rise Before I turn away. It is the hour of fate, And those who follow me, gain every state Mortals desire, and conquer every foe Save Death, but those who doubt, or hesitate, Condemned to failure, penury, and woe, Seek me in vain, and uselessly implore. I answer not, and I return no more.

—U. S. Senator John J. Ingalls, of Kansas.

1475

OPPORTUNITY.

There is no man whom Fortune does not visit at least once in his life; but when she does not find him ready to receive her, she walks in at the door, and flies out at the window.

—Cardinal Imperiali.

1476

Didn't Know the Place.—A young man who left his native city to study medicine in Paris, and had been applying his time and the paternal remittances to very different purposes, received a visit from his father, who intended making a short stay in the capital to inspect its wonders. During an afternoon stroll together, the day after the elder's arrival, the father and son happened to pass in front of a large colonnaded building. "What is that?" said the senior, carelessly. "I don't know, but we'll inquire," answered the student. On the query being put to an official, he shortly replied: "That? It is the School of Medicine."

1477

The opportunity is often lost by deliberating.

—Syrus.

1478

We must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures.

—Shakespeare.

1479

Four things come not back. The spoken word, The sped arrow, The past life, And the neglected opportunity.

1480

To-day is the opportunity for enjoyment and work; knowest thou where thou wilt be to-morrow? Time flies swiftly away, and we with it.

—Gleim.

1481

OPPRESSORS—EVERYWHERE.

There are sharks in the ocean, and wolves in the forest, and eagles in the air, and tyrants on thrones, and tormentors in cottages.

—Dr. J. Hamilton.

1482

All orators are dumb when beauty pleadeth.

—Shakespeare.



P

1483

Ambitious parents sometimes try to make lawyers, doctors, preachers and statesmen out of boys nature meant for plowmen. How often do we find misfits! There is nothing more pitiable than to see a man whose mind and heart are completely wrapped up in one thing and yet condemned by circumstances to do another.

1484

The cavalry captain Kurtzhagen was invited to dine with King Frederick II. "From what noble house are you descended?" asked the king. "From none whatever," replied Kurtzhagen. "My parents are only poor country people, but I would not exchange them for any other parents in the world." "Well said," replied the king. "Woe to him who is so mean as to be ashamed of his parents."

1485

"Father," said a young man on his death-bed, "you have been very good to me. You have given me a fine education, and you have placed me in a fine social position; you have done everything for me in a worldly sense; but, dear father, you never told me much of a hereafter. Now I am dying."

1486

If any one toil for a parent, it is not fitting to bear remembrance of the toil.

1487

The good conduct of the father and mother is the blessing of the children.

1488

ALL FOOLS NOW.

A little Boston girl was encouraged by her parents to study so much that her brain gave way, and she is now an idiot. This is a sad result, but the parents must find some consolation in the thought that they have made their daughter like themselves.

1489

It so falls out, that, What we have we prize, not to the worth, While we enjoy it; but being lack'd and lost, Why, then, we rack the value, then we find The virtue that possession would not show us, Whilst it was ours.

—Shakespeare.

Note: Applicable to one's parents.

1490

PARTING.

We twain have met like the ships upon the sea, Who hold an hour's converse, so short, so sweet; One little hour! and then, away they speed On lonely paths, through mists, and cloud, and foam, To meet no more.

—A. Smith.

1491

PARTING FROM FRIENDS.

When forc'd to part from those we love, Though sure to meet to-morrow; We yet a kind of anguish prove, And feel a touch of sorrow. But oh! what words can paint the fears When from those friends we sever, Perhaps to part for months—for years— Perhaps to part for ever.

1492

Control your passion or it will control you.

—Horace.

1493

Nothing overcomes passion sooner than silence.

—French.

1494

Remember, three things come not back; The arrow sent upon its track— It will not swerve, it will not stay Its speed; it flies to wound or slay; The spoken word, so soon forgot By thee, but it has perished not; In other hearts 'tis living still, And doing work for good or ill; And the lost opportunity That cometh back no more to thee. In vain thou weep'st, in vain dost yearn, These three will never more return.

1495

Let by-gones be by-gones; let the past be forgotten.

—Dr. Webster.

1496

Every one utters the word "past" with more emotion than "future."

—Richter.

1497

The beaten path is the safe one.

—From the Latin.

1498

A pearl is often hidden in an ugly shell.

—Chinese.

1499

The pen is the tongue of the mind.

—Cervantes.

1500

HOW TO WAKE THE PEOPLE.

An old peasant in a German village had to leave his children alone in the house for the day. "If a thief comes," he said to them, "do not cry 'Thief!' For everybody will be afraid and will say to himself: 'After all, it's not my property that's being taken.' No, my children; shout 'Fire!' The whole village will run to help you, for everybody will be afraid the fire will spread."

—Saturday Evening Post.

1501

Perfection none must hope to find In all this world—in man or woman-kind.

1502

As the sun's shadow shifts, so there is no permanence on earth.

—Chinese.

1503

By persevering, mountains will often become only mole hills.

1504

SCOTTISH PERSEVERANCE.

Scottish perseverance has itself become proverbial; we remember to have met with a story which is said to be connected with the foundation of an opulent mercantile house which has flourished for some generations. Saunders, the traveler, entered a shop in London and enquired for the head of the house; one of the clerks asked what he wanted; the answer of Saunders was, as usual, a question, "Want ye aught in my line, sir?" "No," was the prompt reply, accompanied by a look of contempt at the itinerant Scotch merchant. "Will ye no tak' a look o' the gudes, sir?" was Saunders' next query. "No, not at all; I have not time. Take them away—take them away!" "Ye'll aiblins (perhaps) find them worth your while, and I doubt na but ye'll buy," said Saunders; and he proceeded to untie and unstrap his burden. "Go away—go away!" was reiterated more than once by the clerk, but the persevering Scot still persisted. The master of the establishment overheard all that had taken place, and now he stepped forward, and, moved by some compunction for the treatment the traveler had received, and some admiration, too, for the patience and perseverance of the man, he consented to look over the contents of the pack, found them to be exactly the goods he was in want of, purchased them all, and gave a very large order; and thus, says Chambers, who tells the story, assisted in the foundation of a large mercantile house.

But is not this the stuff of which also the Livingstones and the Macleods are made? Was not this the spirit which set the brave Sir Walter Scott to work, when sinking into his later years, to overtake his fearful loss of one hundred thousand pounds? Is it not a commentary upon that especial proverb which we have said so illustrates the Scottish character, "He that tholes (or endures) overcomes?"

—Chambers Journal.

1505

Better ask twice than lose your way once.

1506

THE FATE OF PETITIONS.

Petitions not sweeten'd With gold, are but unsavoury, oft refused; Or if received, are pocketed, never read.

—Massinger.

1507

Jenny Lind was frequently known to pass unobserved from her residence, as if to make a visit, and had been traced to the back lanes and cottages of the poor, whose wants she ascertained and relieved. Several times she had been remonstrated with, and warned by her intimate friends against being imposed upon. She always replied, "Never mind; if I relieve ten, and one is worthy, I am satisfied."

1508

NAME OF THE GOOD SAMARITAN.

A philanthropist, when a candidate for the ministry, was traveling on one occasion from Strasbourg. It was in the winter time. The ground was deeply covered with snow, and the roads were almost impassable. He had reached the middle of his journey and was among the mountains; and by that time was so exhausted that he could stand erect no longer. He was rapidly freezing to death, and sleep began to overpower him. He commended himself to God, and yielded to what he felt to be the sleep of death. He knew not how long he slept, but suddenly became conscious of some one rousing him. Before him stood a wagon-driver in his blue blouse, and the wagon not far away. His rescuer gave him a little wine and food, and the spirit of life returned. He then helped him upon the wagon, and brought him to the next village. Oberlin, the philanthropist, was profuse in his thanks, and offered money, which his benefactor refused. "It is only a duty to help one another," said the wagoner; "and it is the next thing to an insult to offer a reward for such a service." "Then," said Oberlin, "at least tell me your name, that I may have you in thankful remembrance before God." "I see," said the wagoner, "that you are a minister of the Gospel. Please tell me the name of the Good Samaritan." "That," said Oberlin, "I cannot do; for it was not put on record." "Then," replied the wagoner, "until you can tell me his name, permit me to withhold mine."

1509

A Sensible Answer.—A story is told about Wendell Phillips—a story that must have made even the serious-minded Abolitionist laugh heartily: He was in a hotel in Charleston, had breakfast in his room, and was served by a slave. Mr. Phillips spoke to him as an Abolitionist, but the waiter seemed to be more concerned about the breakfast than about himself. Finally Mr. Phillips told him to go away, saying that he could not bear to be waited upon by a slave.

The other remonstrated: "Scuse me, massa, but I's obliged to stay yere, 'cause I's 'sponsible fo' de silverware."

1510

MY FIRST PATIENT.

A lady sent for me in haste to come and see, What her condition for a cure might be. Dear me! a patient—what a happy tone, To have a patient, and one all my own— To have a patient and myself be feed, Raised expectations very high indeed— I saw a practice growing from the seed.

—Wm. Tod Helmuth.

1511

Fretting is the doctor's best friend all over the whole world.

1512

Temperance and toil are the two real physicians of mankind.

1513

The purse of the patient frequently, alas! protracts his cure.

—Zimmerman.

1514

Physic, for the most part, is nothing else but the substitute of exercise and temperance.

—Addison.

1515

To pity distress is but human; to relieve it is Godlike.

1516

The thirsty earth soaks up the rain And drinks and gaps for drink again; The plants suck in the earth, and are With constant drinking fresh and fair.

—A. Cowley.

1517

THE BREVITY OF PLEASURES.

Pleasures are like poppies spread, You seize the flower, its bloom is shed; Or, like the snow-fall in the river, A moment white, then melts forever.

—Burns: Tam O'Shanter.

1518

There is a certain dignity to be kept up in pleasures as well as in business.

1519

The greatest pleasure I know is to do a good action by stealth, and to have it found out by accident.

—Charles Lamb.

1520

To make pleasures pleasant, shorten them.

—Buxton.

1521

Pleasures make folks acquainted with each other, but it takes trials and griefs to make them know each other.

1522

Our sweetest pleasures—oft Are in our memories.

1523

A man would have but little pleasure if he did not sometimes flatter himself.

1524

The most delicate, the most sensible of all pleasures, consist in promoting the pleasures of others.

—La Bruyere.

1525

ONE WAY OF AVOIDING PNEUMONIA.

When the fire in your room goes out, drop your pen, or, if reading, your book, and go out too; If you remain, and continue your work, you may regret it. Many a student in the universities, anxious to get on with his studies, has worked in a cold room and paid the penalty with—Pneumonia, ending sometimes in death.

—Observer.

1526

Modern poets mix much water with their ink.

—Goethe.

1527

Avoid all haste; calmness is an essential ingredient of politeness.

—Alphonse Karr.

1528

A BUDDING CHESTERFIELD.

A small boy was at a table where his mother was not near to take care of him, and a lady next to him volunteered her services. "Let me cut your steak for you," she said; "if I can cut it the way you like it," she added, with some degree of doubt. "Thank you," the boy responded, accepting her courtesy; "I shall like it the way you cut it, even if you do not cut it the way I like it."

1529

TRUE POLITENESS.

The following beautiful incident is related of the late Prince consort. On one occasion a humble but very worthy man who had befriended the Prince in early life called to see him, and was invited to come to the family table. He began to eat with his knife, as he had always been accustomed to do, and this excited a little quiet merriment among the young people. Prince Albert looked round upon them, as if to say, "Stop that!" and at once began himself to eat with his knife, and continued to do so to the end of the meal. After dinner, one of the children asked him why he did so. The Prince replied: "It is well enough for us to observe the etiquette of the day; but it is far more important to avoid insulting people. I wanted my old friend to enjoy his dinner, which he could not have done had he seen you laughing at him. He is accustomed to use his knife, and it would doubtless be quite difficult for him to use the fork instead."—This was genuine politeness, and the world would be happier if the same feeling were always shown.

1530

Politeness is as natural to delicate natures as perfume is to flowers; it smoothes wrinkles.

1531

Ceremonies are different in every country; but true politeness is everywhere the same.

—Goldsmith.

1532

Dr. Johnson:—"Politics are now nothing more than means of rising in the world. With this sole view do men engage in politics, and their whole conduct proceeds upon it."

—Boswell's Johnson.

1533

Few, save the poor, feel for the poor.

1534

Poor folks' wisdom goes for little.

—Dutch.

1535

He that thinks he can afford to be negligent, is not far from being poor.

—Dr. Johnson.

1536

Poor and content, is rich and rich enough; But riches, is as poor as winter, To him that ever fears he shall be poor.

1537

Speak gently, kindly, to the poor; Let no harsh term be heard; They have enough they must endure, Without an unkind word.

—George W. Hangford.

1538

The poor, the humble, and your dependents, will often be afraid to ask their due from you: be the more mindful of it yourself.

1539

The poor, who envies not the rich, who pities his companions in poverty, and can spare something for him that is still poorer, is, in the realms of humanity, a king of kings.

1540

The man who says, "Let me wait a little, when I have something to spare, I will relieve the poor," will never relieve them.

1541

THE COMPLAINTS OF THE POOR.

"And wherefore do the poor complain?" The rich man ask'd of me: "Come, walk abroad with me," I said, "And I will answer thee."

'Twas evening, and the frozen streets Were cheerless to behold; And we were wrapp'd and coated well, And yet we were a-cold.

We met an old, bareheaded man, His locks were thin and white; I ask'd him what he did abroad In that cold winter's night.

The cold was keen, indeed, he said— But at home no fire had he; And therefore he had come abroad To ask for charity.

We met a young barefooted child, And she begged loud and bold; I asked her what she did abroad When the wind it blew so cold.

She said her father was at home, And he lay sick abed; And therefore was it she was sent Abroad to beg for bread.

We saw a woman sitting down Upon a stone to rest; She had a baby at her back, And another at her breast.

I ask'd her why she loiter'd there, When the night-wind was so chill; She turn'd her head, and bade the child That scream'd behind, be still—

Then told us that her husband served, A soldier, far away; And therefore to her parish she Was begging back her way.

I turn'd me to the rich man then, For silently stood he; "You ask'd me why the poor complain And these have answer'd thee!"

—Old Magazine.

1542

The world caresses the rich, though vulgar and ill-bred, and avoids the poor man of merit in the threadbare coat.

1543

ONE "ALWAYS RIGHT;" THE OTHER, "NEVER WRONG."

A worthy old Ayrshire farmer had the portraits of himself and his wife painted. When that of her husband, in an elegant frame, was hung over the fireplace, the gudewife remarked in a sly manner: "I think, gudeman, noo that ye've gotten your picture hung up there, we should just put in below't, for a motto, like, 'Aye richt!'"

"Deed may ye, my woman," replied her husband in an equally pawkie tone; "and when ye get yours hung up over the sofa there, we'll just put up anither motto on't, and say, 'Never wrang.'"

1544

Not every man who has an easy place has a soft pillow.

1545

CONCEALING POVERTY.

If rich, it is easy enough to conceal our wealth; but, if poor, it is not quite so easy to conceal our poverty. We shall find it less difficult to hide a thousand guineas, than one hole in our coat.

1546

Poverty is the only burden which grows heavier when loved ones help to bear it.

1547

Poverty is in want of much, but avarice of everything.

—Publius Syrus.

1548

POVERTY.

A poor man resembles a fiddler, whose music, though liked, is not much praised, because he lives by it; while a gentleman performer, though the most wretched scraper alive, throws the audience into raptures.

1549

The love of power is an instinct of the human heart.

—Tacitus.

1550

Power often goes before talent.

—From the Danish.

1551

When power puts in its plea, The laws are silent.

—Massinger.

1552

A partnership with men in power is never safe.

—Phaedrus.

1553

And (strange to tell) he practised what he preached.

—Armstrong.

1554

Praise is the best diet for us after all.

—Sydney Smith.

1555

Just praise is only a debt, but flattery is a present.

—Johnson.

1556

The love of praise, howe'er concealed by art, Reigns more or less and glows in every heart.

—Dr. E. Young.

1557

Most persons are like Themistocles that never found himself so well contented, as when he heard himself praised.

1558

PRAISE.

How could my tongue Take pleasure, and be lavish in thy praise! How could I speak thy nobleness of nature! Thy open, manly heart, thy courage, constancy And inborn truth, unknowing to dissemble! Thou art the man in whom my soul delights In whom, next heaven, I trust.

1559

Self-Praise.—It is a sign that your reputation is small and sinking, if your own tongue must praise you.

1560

The sweetest of all sounds is,—praise!

1561

No man ever praised two persons equally—and pleased them both.

1562

DIRECTED IN A DREAM.

A zealous divine, who had prayed earnestly that God would teach him the perfect way of truth, was directed in a dream to go to a certain place, where he would find an instructor; when he came to the place, he found a man in ordinary attire, to whom he wished a good morning.

"I never had a bad morning," replied the man. "That is very singular; I wish you may always be as fortunate." "I was never unfortunate," said he. "I hope you may always be as happy," said the divine. "I am never unhappy," said the other. "I wish," said the divine, "that you would explain yourself a little."

"That I will cheerfully do," said the other; "I said that I never had a bad morning, for every morning, even if I am pinched with hunger, I praise God. If it rains, or snows, or hails, whether the day is serene or tempestuous, I am still thankful to God, and therefore I never had a joyless morning. If I am miserable in outward circumstances, and despised, I still praise God; you wished that I might always be fortunate, but I cannot be unfortunate, because nothing befalls me but according to the will of God, and I believe that His will is always good, in whatever He does or permits to be done. You wished me always happy, but I cannot be unhappy, because my will is always resigned to the will of God."

The divine, astonished at the man's answers, asked him whence he came.

"I came from God," he replied. "Where did you find Him?" "Where I left the world." "Where did you leave God?" "With the pure in heart." "What are you?" "I am a king." "Where is your kingdom?" "It is within my bosom. I have learned to rule my appetites and passions, and that is better than to rule any kingdom in the world."

"How were you brought into this happy condition?"

"By secret prayer, spiritual meditation and union with God; nothing below God could satisfy my desires; I have found Him, and in Him I have found Peace and Rest."

—Old Magazine.

1563

A PRAYER "FOR ABSENT RELATIVES AND FRIENDS."

"Our Father, in Thy mercy Hear our anxious prayer: Keep our loved ones now far absent 'Neath Thy care."

1564

NO ROOF ON THE HOUSE.

A laborer went to work for a wealthy farmer. It was regarded as something of a favor to be employed by him, as he was a prompt and liberal paymaster, and was look'd upon by his neighbors as a very superior farmer. The man remained with him only a few days.

"I'm told you've left farmer P," said a neighbor.

"Yes, I have," was the reply.

"Was the work too hard for you?"

"There was nothing to complain of on that score."

"What then? Were the wages too low?"

"No."

"Why did you leave?"

"There was no roof on the house!" And he went on his way, leaving the questioner to ponder on the strange answer he had given.

The man's meaning may be found in the saying of an old writer, who affirms that a dwelling in which prayer is not offered up to God daily, is like a house without a roof, in which there cannot be either peace, safety, or comfort.

—Old Magazine.

1565

Prayer in the morning is the key that opens to us the treasures of God's mercies and blessings; in the evening it is the key that shuts us up under his protection and safeguard.

1566

When thou prayest, rather let thy heart be without words, than thy words without heart.

—Bunyan.

1567

A QUAINT OLD PRAYER.

"Oh, that mine eyes might closed be To what concerns me not to see; That deafness might possess mine ear To what concerns me not to hear; That love my tongue might always tie From ever speaking foolishly! But what are wishes! Lord, mine eye On Thee is fixed. To Thee I cry. Wash, Lord, and purify my heart And make it clean in every part; And when 'tis clean, Lord, keep it, too, For that is more than I can do."

—Unknown.

1568

Rev. Thomas Guthrie:—"As an ambassador for Christ, I regard a preacher of the Gospel as filling the most responsible office any mortal can occupy. His pulpit is, in my eyes, loftier than a throne; and of all professions, learned or unlearned, his, though usually in point of wealth the poorest, I esteem the most honorable. That office is one angels themselves might covet."

—From Memoir of Dr. Guthrie.

1569

When the preacher seeks fame he is sure to find folly.

1570

Opinions founded on prejudice are always sustained with the greatest violence.

1571

He who never leaves his country is apt to be full of prejudices.

—Goldoni.

1572

Enjoy the Present.—Our advantages fly away: Gather flowers while ye may.

1573

YESTERDAY, TO-DAY AND TO-MORROW.

We cannot change yesterday—that is clear,— Or begin on to-morrow until it is here; So all that is left for you, and me, Is to make to-day as sweet as can be.

1574

Many delight more in giving of presents than in paying their debts.

—Sir Philip Sidney.

1575

People who strive to appear to be what they are not, only succeed in being nothing.

1576

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

1577

Thou art proud; believest thou thyself to be one of the more exalted beings?

1578

Proud people seldom have friends. In prosperity they know nobody; in adversity nobody knows them.

1579

Never be too much elated.

—From the Latin.

1580

How little do they know of human nature, who imagine, that pride is likely to be subdued by adversity.

—Sir Arthur Helps.

1581

Be unable at all times to forsake your principles.

1582

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND PRINCIPLES.

Mrs. Campbell, a Scotch lady, was recommended as sub-governess to the Princess Charlotte, and the old King George III formed a high opinion of her. She felt reluctant to accept the post, urging her deficiency in the necessary accomplishments. "Madame," said the king, "I hope we can afford to purchase accomplishments, but we cannot buy principles."

1583

What may be dune at ony time, will be dune at nae time.

—Scotch.

1584

Professing, without practising, will never do us any good.

1585

Honor and profit do not always lie in the same sack.

—George Herbert.

1586

Lord Chatham: "I would have inscribed on the curtains of your bed, and the walls of your chamber, this:—If you do not rise early, you can make progress in nothing."

1587

My deeds, and speeches, sir, Are lines drawn from one centre; what I promise To do, I'll do.

—Shakespeare.

1588

There is no piety in keeping an unjust promise.

—From the French.

1589

When you have promised to do any good office, the right of the thing promised, hath passed over from you to another; consequently, you will esteem yourself obliged to stand to the performance of your word, though it may be to your own prejudice.

1590

A man who means to keep his promises can't afford to make many.

—Rousseau.

1591

He that gives away his property before death must prepare to suffer.

1592

FULFILMENT OF A PROPHESY.

The minuteness and accuracy of God's program of the ages is often overlooked. There is a singular and striking instance of this in the triumphal entry of our Lord into Jerusalem. [1592:A]The command to go into the village nearby and bring the colt that would be found tied there, was in fulfillment of a prophesy made five hundred years before by Zachariah, 9th chapter, 9th verse:—"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion: shout O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: He is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass."—That same donkey colt was so essential to the transaction of that day, that the pageant could not have gone on without it.

—Rev. L. W. Irwin.

FOOTNOTES:

[1592:A] Mark xi, 2v.

1593

Let those who propose, be willing to perform.

1594

As distant prospects please us, but when near, We find but desert rocks, and fleeting air.

—Sir Sam'l Garth.

1595

Now that I have a sheep and a cow, everybody bids me good morrow.

1596

Prosperity often creates selfishness.

—Thos. D. Brown.

1597

Hard work is still, and always will be, the only road to prosperity.

1598

If you know how to spend less than you get, you have the philosopher's stone.

1599

In ascending the hill of prosperity, may we never meet a friend.

1600

Prosperity makes friends; Adversity tries them.

—Publius Syrus.

1601

Prosperity makes some friends, and what is too true, many enemies.

1602

Prosperity in business is not always a sign or proof of the rectitude of one's principles.

1603

It shows a weak mind not to bear prosperity as well as adversity, with moderation.

1604

We are pleased with one who instantly assents to our opinions; but we love a proselyte.

—Sir. A. Helps.

1605

JAPANESE PROVERBS.

He who knows not, and knows that he knows not, is humble. Teach him.

* * * * *

He who knows, and knows not that he knows, is asleep. Wake him.

* * * * *

He who knows, and knows that he knows, is a wise man. Follow him.

1606

Punctuality is one of the characteristics of politeness. He who does not keep his appointments promptly, is hardly fit for the society of gentlemen.

1607

Punctuality begets Confidence and Respect.

—From the German.

1607a

PUNCTUALITY AS A VIRTUE.

It is neither polite nor honest to be behind hand when one can just as easily be on time. An artist solicited and obtained permission to paint a portrait of Queen Victoria. The hour and place for the important undertaking were named. Promptly the queen was present; but the artist was not when the hour came. He arrived at length, but too late, for her majesty had departed, leaving a message that she would not return. The queen had kept her promise, but the artist had failed to keep his, and thus lost the rare chance to win both fame and fortune.

—T. J. MacMurray.

1608

Lord Nelson used to say: "I have always been a quarter of an hour before my time, and it has made a man of me."

1609

Horace Mann said:—Unfaithfulness in the keeping of an appointment is an act of dishonesty. You may as well borrow a person's money as his time.

1610

To be unpunctual is sometimes considered a mark of consequence by little great men, but the truly great have always thought differently.

1611

Purposes, like eggs, unless they be hatched into action, will run into decay.

—Smiles.

1612

CONSUMPTION OF THE PURSE.

I can get no remedy against the consumption of the purse: borrowing only lingers and lingers it out, and I find the disease is incurable.

—Shakespeare.

1613

Who has an empty purse must have a sweet tongue.

1614

Not to oversee workmen is to leave them your purse open.

—Franklin.



Q

1615

Quakerwise.—"William, thee knows I never call any bad names; but, William, if the mayor of the city were to come to me and say, 'Joshua, I want thee to find me the biggest liar in the city,' I would come to thee and put my hand on thy shoulder, and say to thee, 'William, the mayor wants to see thee.'"

1616

THE BEST TIME TO QUARREL.

In Lanarkshire, there lived a sma' laird named Hamilton, who was noted for his eccentricity. On one occasion, a neighbor waited on him, and requested his name as an accommodation to a bill for twenty pounds at three months date, which led to the following characteristic and truly Scottish colloquy:

"Na, na, I canna do that."

"What for no', laird? Ye hae dune the same thing for ithers."

"Ay, ay, Tammas, but there's wheels within wheels ye ken naething aboot; I canna do 't."

"It's a sma' affair to refuse me, laird."

"Weel, ye see, Tammas, if I was to pit my name till't, ye wad get the siller frae the bank, and when the time came round, ye wadna be ready, and I wad hae to pay't; sae then you and me wad quarrel; sae we mae just as weel quarrel the noo, as lang's the siller's in ma pouch."