g a cheerful song.
It worked every step of the way it went,
Bringing joy to others, to itself content.
At last it came to its journey's end,
And welcomed the sea as an old-time friend.
"An ocean," it said, "there could not be
Except for the millions of drops like me."

_Joseph Morris,_

MY WAGE

We may as well aim high as low, ask much as little. The world will not
miss what it gives us, and our reward will largely be governed by our
demands.

I bargained with Life for a penny,
And Life would pay no more,
However I begged at evening
When I counted my scanty store;

For Life is a just employer,
He gives you what you ask,
But once you have set the wages,
Why, you must bear the task.

I worked for a menial's hire,
Only to learn, dismayed,
That any wage I had asked of Life,
Life would have paid.

_Jessie B. Rittenhouse._

From "The Door of Dreams."

THE GIFT

"Trust thyself," says Emerson; "every heart vibrates to that iron
string." This is wholesome and inspiring advice, but there is, as always,
another side to the question. Many a man falls into absurdities and
mistakes because he cannot get outside of himself and look at himself
from other people's eyes. We should cultivate the ability to see
everything, including ourselves, from more than one standpoint.

O wad some Pow'r the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!
It wad frae mony a blunder free us,
And foolish notion;
What airs in dress an' gait wad lea'e us,
And ev'n devotion!

_Robert Burns._

PROMETHEUS UNBOUND

In the poem from which this excerpt is taken, Prometheus the Titan has
been cruelly tortured for opposing the malignant will of Jupiter. In the
end Prometheus wins a complete outward victory. Better still, by his
steadfastness and high purpose he has won a great inward triumph. The
spirit that has actuated him and the nature of his achievement are
expressed in the following lines.

To suffer woes which Hope thinks infinite;
To forgive wrongs darker than death or night;
To defy Power, which seems omnipotent;
To love, and bear; to hope till Hope creates
From its own wreck the thing it contemplates;
Neither to change, nor falter, nor repent;
This, like thy glory, Titan, is to be
Good, great and joyous, beautiful and free;
This is alone Life, Joy, Empire, and Victory.

_Percy Bysshe Shelley._

VICT