beauty! to love, to obey
With obedience sweetened by love and love made strong by the right;
Not once, not once to be drunken with self,
Or to play the hypocrite's poisoned part,
Or to bend the knee of my soul to the passion for pelf,
Or the glittering gods of the mart;
Through each glad hour to lay on the wings of its flight
Some flower for the angels' sight;
Some fragrant fashion of service, scarlet and white--
White for the pure intent, and red where the pulses start.
O, if thus I could serve him, could perfectly serve him one day,
I think I could perfectly serve him forever--forever and aye!

--Amos R. Wells.

Life is a burden; bear it.
Life is a duty; dare it.
Life is a thorn crown; wear it.
Though it break your heart in twain,
Though the burden crush you down,
Close your lips and hide the pain;
First the cross and then the crown.

BETTER THINGS

Better to smell the violet cool than sip the glowing wine;
Better to hark a hidden brook than watch a diamond shine.

Better the love of gentle heart than beauty's favors proud,
Better the rose's living seed than roses in a crowd.

Better to love in loneliness than bask in love all day;
Better the fountain in the heart than the fountain by the way.

Better be fed by a mother's hand than eat alone at will;
Better to trust in God than say, My goods my storehouse fill.

Better to be a little wise than in knowledge to abound;
Better to teach a child than toil to fill perfection's round.

Better sit at a master's feet than thrill a listening state;
Better suspect that thou art proud than be sure that thou art great.

Better to walk in the realm unseen than watch the hour's event;
Better the _well done_ at the last than the air with shoutings rent.

Better to have a quiet grief than a hurrying delight;
Better the twilight of the dawn than the noonday burning bright.

Better to sit at the water's birth than a sea of waves to win;
To live in the love that floweth forth than the love that cometh in.

Better a death when work is done than earth's most favored birth;
Better a child in God's great house than the king of all the earth.

--George Macdonald.

Time is indeed a precious boon,
But with the boon a task is given:
The heart must learn its duty well
To man