life that has no ending.

Sighs and Songs.

Don't begin your sighing
When you see the snows;
Yonder blooms the lily;
Yonder burns the rose!

What's the use to shiver
When the blizzards blow?
Yonder blazes August
Hotter than you know!

Hope is ever ringing
All the bells she brings;
Keep a life of laughter
And a heart that sings.

Good-bye to the trouble!
Farewell to the wrong!
Man forgets the sorrow
When he sings a song!

Caught on the Fly.

The cart of imperfect deeds travels with more speed than the palace car
of good intentions.

If the pew would practice only one day in the week what the pulpit
preaches on Sunday, the Devil would put out all the fires in his
settlement and join the angels before Saturday night.

The Third House.

Yes, they say the Legislature
Soon will come along and sit,
And for sixty days of wonder
We'll behold the likes of it;
But with all the mighty glory
That around it waves its wings,
Don't forget who does the voting
Nor the chaps who pull the strings!

There's the grave and mighty Senate
Full of statesmen wise and great,
With profound deliberations
Ere they choose to legislate:
But with all their stores of wisdom
They are slow at doing things,
For they only do the voting
While the Third House pulls the strings.

There's the House, a wondrous body,
Full of patriotic souls,
Each with ideas that would hurry
Up the world as on it rolls;
But before they get in action
Sober wisdom caution brings,
And they only do the voting
While the Third House pulls the strings!

O, my dear, deluded people!
When the statesmen cure your ills,
Look around before you honor
Those who pass the proper bills!
To the fellows you elected
There is little glory clings,
For they only do the voting
While the Third House pulls the strings!

To the Third House bring your laurels!
There you'll find the wisdom rare,
Free to tell the verdant statesmen
How to legislate with care;
There you'll find the brain and virtue
That afar the evil flings:
While the others do the voting
These delight to pull the strings!

Play Ball.

In the great orchestra of life, if you can't play the first violin, beat
the drum; if you can't beat the drum, pound