FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74  
75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   >>   >|  
to shame a man To do his heavenly best.... When she tries the highest test That her reckoning may bring-- When she wants a god or king!-- How she reins him and restrains him So his body scarce contains him While she fires him And inspires him! Keeps him yearning, ever burning for a tantalising goal-- Lures and lacerates his soul. Sets a challenge for his spirit, Draws it higher when he's near it-- Makes a jungle, that he clear it; Makes a desert, that he fear it And subdue it if he can-- So doth Nature make a man. Then, to test his spirit's wrath Hurls a mountain in his path-- Puts a bitter choice before him And relentless stands o'er him. "Climb, or perish!" so she says.... Watch her purpose, watch her ways! Nature's plan is wondrous kind Could we understand her mind ... Fools are they who call her blind. When his feet are torn and bleeding Yet his spirit mounts unheeding, All his higher powers speeding Blazing newer paths and fine; When the force that is divine Leaps to challenge every failure and his ardor still is sweet And love and hope are burning in the presence of defeat.... Lo, the crisis! Lo, the shout That must call the leader out. When the people need salvation Doth he come to lead the nation.... Then doth Nature show her plan When the world has found--a man! _Angela Morgan._ From "Forward, March!" ORDER AND THE BEES (FROM "HENRY V.") We often wish that we might do some other man's work, occupy his social or political station. But such an interchange is not easy. The world is complex, and its adjustments have come from long years of experience. Each man does well to perform the tasks for which nature and training have fitted him. And instead of feeling envy toward other people, we should rejoice that all labor, however diverse, is to one great end--it makes life richer and fuller. Therefore doth heaven divide The state of man in divers functions, Setting endeavor in continual motion; To which is fixed, as an aim or butt, Obedience: for so work the honey-bees, Creatures that by a rule in nature teach The act of order to a peopled kingdom. They have a king and officers of sorts; Where some, like magistrates, correct at home, Others, like merchants, venture trade abroad, Others, like soldiers, armed in their stings, Make boot upon the summer's velvet buds; Wh
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74  
75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

spirit

 

Nature

 
challenge
 

nature

 

burning

 
higher
 

people

 

Others

 

fitted

 
training

perform

 
feeling
 

rejoice

 

occupy

 

political

 
experience
 

station

 

interchange

 

complex

 

social


adjustments
 

divide

 
magistrates
 

correct

 

merchants

 

officers

 

peopled

 
kingdom
 

venture

 

summer


velvet
 
soldiers
 

abroad

 
stings
 

Therefore

 

fuller

 

heaven

 

divers

 
richer
 
diverse

functions

 

Setting

 

Obedience

 

Creatures

 
continual
 

endeavor

 

motion

 

subdue

 
jungle
 

desert