written.

The man who frets at worldly strife
Grows sallow, sour, and thin;
Give us the lad whose happy life
Is one perpetual grin:
He, Midas-like, turns all to gold--
He smiles when others sigh,
Enjoys alike the hot and cold,
And laughs though wet or dry.

There's fun in everything we meet,--
The greatest, worst, and best;
Existence is a merry treat,
And every speech a jest:

* * * * *

So, come what may, the man's in luck
Who turns it all to glee,
And laughing, cries, with honest Puck,
"Good Lord! what fools ye be."

_Joseph Rodman Drake._

SERENITY

Calmness of mind to face anything the future may have in store is
expressed in this quatrain.

Here's a sigh to those who love me
And a smile to those who hate;
And whatever sky's above me,
Here's a heart for every fate.

_Lord Byron._

HERE'S HOPIN'

An optimist has been described as a man who orders oysters at a
restaurant and expects to find a pearl to pay the bill with. This of
course is not optimism, but brazen brainlessness. Yet somehow the pearls
come only to those who expect them.

Year ain't been the very best;--
Purty hard by trouble pressed;
But the rough way leads to rest,--
Here's hopin'!

Maybe craps way short; the rills
Couldn't turn the silent mills;
But the light's behind the hills,--
Here's hopin'!

Where we planted roses sweet
Thorns come up an' pricked the feet;
But this old world's hard to beat,--
Here's hopin'!

P'r'aps the buildin' that we planned
'Gainst the cyclone couldn't stand;
But, thank God we've got the _land_,--
Here's hopin'!

Maybe flowers we hoped to save
Have been scattered on a grave;
But the heart's still beatin' brave,--
Here's hopin'!

That we'll see the mornin' light--
That the very darkest night
Can't hide heaven from our sight,--
Here's hopin'!

_Frank L. Stanton._

From "The Atlanta Constitution."

CLEON AND I

Toward the end of the yacht race in which the _America_ won her historic
cup the English monarch, who was one of the spectators, inquired: "Which
boat is first?" "The _America_ seems to be first, your majesty," replied
an aide. "And which is second?" asked the monarch. "Your majesty, there
seems to be no second." So it is in the race for happiness. The man who
is natural, who is open and kin