tion. A good
quality, if abused or allowed free sway, becomes a force for evil and
does its owner more harm than if he had not possessed it in the first
place.

They that have power to hurt, and will do none,
That do not do the thing they most do show,
Who, moving others, are themselves as stone,
Unmoved, cold, and to temptation slow,--

They rightly do inherit heaven's graces,
And husband nature's riches from expense;
They are the lords and owners of their faces,
Others, but stewards of their excellence.

The summer's flower is to the summer sweet,
Though to itself it only live and die;
But if that flower with base infection meet,
The basest weed outbraves his dignity:

For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds;
Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds.

_William Shakespeare._

CHARACTER OF A HAPPY LIFE

"I'd rather be right than President," said Henry Clay. It is to men who
are animated by this spirit that the greatest satisfaction in life
comes. For true blessedness does not lie far off and above us. It is
close at hand. Booker T. Washington once told a story of a ship that had
exhausted its supply of fresh water and signaled its need to a passing
vessel. The reply was, "Send down your buckets where you are." Thinking
there was some misunderstanding, the captain repeated his signal, only
to be answered as before. This time he did as he was bidden and secured
an abundance of fresh water. His ship was opposite the mouth of a mighty
river which still kept its current unmingled with the waters of the
ocean.

How happy is he born and taught
That serveth not another's will;
Whose armor is his honest thought
And simple truth his utmost skill!

Whose passions not his masters are,
Whose soul is still prepared for death,
Not tied unto the world with care
Of public fame or private breath;

Who envies none that chance doth raise
Or vice; who never understood
How deepest wounds are given by praise
Nor rules of state, but rules of good;

Who hath his life from rumors freed,
Whose conscience is his strong retreat;
Whose state can neither flatterers feed,
Nor ruin make accusers great;

Who God doth late and early pray
More of his grace than gifts to lend;
And entertains the harmless day
With a well-chosen book or friend;

--This man is freed from servile bands
Of hope to rise or fear to fa