ng aside?
Then we'll talk of the life that he led--
Never mind how he died.

_Ernest H. Crosby_

From "Swords and Ploughshares."

ON BEING READY

At nightfall after bloody Antietam Lee's army, outnumbered and exhausted,
lay with the Potomac at its back. So serious was the situation that all
the subordinate officers advised retreat. But Lee, though too maimed to
attack, would not leave the field save of his own volition. "If
McClellan wants a battle," he declared, "he can have it." McClellan
hesitated, and through the whole of the next day kept his great army
idle. The effect upon the morale of the two forces, and the two
governments, can be imagined.

The man who is there with the wallop and punch
The one who is trained to the minute,
May well be around when the trouble begins,
But you seldom will find he is in it;
For they let him alone when they know he is there
For any set part in the ramble,
To pick out the one who is shrinking and soft
And not quite attuned to the scramble.

The one who is fixed for whatever they start
Is rarely expected to prove it;
They pass him along for the next shot in sight
Where they take a full wind-up and groove it;
For who wants to pick on a bulldog or such
Where a quivering poodle is handy,
When he knows he can win with a kick or a brick
With no further trouble to bandy?

_Grantland Rice._

From "The Sportlight."

TWO AT A FIRESIDE

I built a chimney for a comrade old,
I did the service not for hope or hire--
And then I traveled on in winter's cold,
Yet all the day I glowed before the fire.

_Edwin Markham._

From "The Man with the Hoe, and Other Poems."

TO-DAY

We often lose the happiness of to-day by brooding over the sorrows of
yesterday or fearing the troubles of to-morrow. This is exceedingly
foolish. There is always _some_ pleasure at hand; seize it, and at no
time will you be without pleasure. You cannot change the past, but your
spirit at this moment will in some measure shape your future. Live life,
therefore, in the present tense; do not miss the joys of to-day.

Sure, this world is full of trouble--
I ain't said it ain't.
Lord! I've had enough, an' double,
Reason for complaint.
Rain an' storm have come to fret me,
Skies were often gray;
Thorns an' brambles have beset me
On the road--but, say,
Ain't it fine to-day?