n has flashed around his mid-day course, or at evening,
when a fringe of a shadow, like the lash of a weary eye, droops over
mountain and valley and sea, or in the majestic pomp of night when
stars swarm together like bees, and the moon clears its way through
the golden fields as a sickle through the ripened wheat, that I do not
hug myself for very joy that I am yet alive. What matter if I am poor
and unsheltered and costumeless?

Thank God, I am yet alive! People who tire of this world before they
are seventy and pretend that they are ready to leave it, are either
crazy or stuck as full of bodily ailments as a cushion is of pins. The
happy, the warm-blooded, the sunny-natured and the loving cling to
life as petals cling to the calyx of a budding rose. By and by, when
the rose is over-ripe, or when the frosts come and the November winds
are trumpeting through all the leafless spaces of the woods, will be
time to die. It is no time now, while there is a dark space left on
earth that love can brighten, while there is a human lot to be
alleviated by a smile, or a burden to be lifted with a sympathizing
tear."

We all understand that it is not so difficult for us to be bright and
smiling and gracious toward everyone when there is naught to disturb
the serenity of our thoughts, and when nothing happens to interfere
with the fulfillment of our wishes. But when things go "at sixes and
sevens," when our dearest purposes are thwarted, when some one is
about to gain the place or prize which we covet, when we are forced to
stay within doors when we very much prefer to go in the fields; then
it requires more of character, more of strength, more of the true
spirit of sacrifice to wear a smiling face and to maintain a cheerful
heart. But instead of fleeing from the petty trials that cross our
paths we should welcome them as opportunities for testing and
strengthening our good purposes. Newcomb tells us: "Disappointment
should always be taken as a stimulant, and never viewed as a
discouragement." To the sunshiny, philosophical person, trials and
difficulties but serve to help him to develop into

THE PRIZE WINNER

Oh, the man who wins the prize
Is the one who bravely tries,
As he works his way amid the toil and stress,
Through the college of Hard Knocks,
So to hew his stumbling-blocks,
They will serve as stepping-stones toward success.

Sunshine has ever been deemed by the close s