on earth and God in heaven.

--Eliza Cook.

THE LENGTH OF LIFE

Are your sorrows hard to bear?
Life is short!
Do you drag the chain of care?
Life is short!
Soon will come the glad release
Into rest and joy and peace;
Soon the weary thread be spun,
And the final labor done.
Keep your courage! Hold the fort!
Life is short!

Are you faint with hope delayed?
Life is long!
Tarries that for which you prayed?
Life is long!
What delights may not abide--
What ambitions satisfied--
What possessions may not be
In God's great eternity?
Lift the heart! Be glad and strong!
Life is long!

--Amos R. Wells.

IS LIFE WORTH LIVING?

Is life worth living? Yes, so long
As there is wrong to right,
Wail of the weak against the strong,
Or tyranny to fight;
Long as there lingers gloom to chase,
Or streaming tear to dry,
One kindred woe, one sorrowing face,
That smiles as we draw nigh;
Long as a tale of anguish swells
The heart and lids grow wet,
And at the sound of Christmas bells
We pardon and forget;
So long as Faith with Freedom reigns
And loyal Hope survives,
And gracious Charity remains
To leaven lowly lives;
While there is one untrodden tract
For Intellect or Will,
And men are free to think and act,
Life is worth living still.

--Alfred Austin.

The Moving Finger writes, and having writ
Moves on; nor all thy piety nor wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a line,
Nor all thy tears wash out a word of it.

--Omar Khayyam.

LENGTH OF DAYS

He liveth long who liveth well;
All other life is short and vain;
He liveth longest who can tell
Of living most for heavenly gain.

He liveth long who liveth well;
All else is being flung away;
He liveth longest who can tell
Of true things truly done each day.

Waste not thy being; back to him
Who freely gave it, freely give;
Else is that being but a dream;
'Tis but to _be_, and not to _live_.

Be wise, and use thy wisdom well;
Who wisdom _speaks_ must _live_ it too;
He is the wisest who can tell
How first he lived, then spoke the true.

Be what thou seemest! live thy creed!
Hold up to earth the torch divine