ll;
Lord of himself, though not of lands;
And having nothing, yet hath all.

_Sir Henry Wotton._

ESSENTIALS

The things here named are essential to a happy and successful life. They
may not be the only essentials.

Roll up your sleeves, lad, and begin;
Disarm misfortune with a grin;
Let discontent not wag your chin--
Let gratitude.

Don't try to find things all askew;
Don't be afraid of what is new;
Nor banish as unsound, untrue,
A platitude.

If folks don't act as you would choose
Remember life is varied; use
Your common sense; don't get the blues;
Show latitude.

Sing though in quavering sharps and flats,
Love though the folk you love are cats,
Work though you're worn and weary--that's
The attitude.

_St. Clair Adams._

THE STONE REJECTED

The story here poetically retold of the great Florentine sculptor shows
how much a lofty spirit may make of unpromising material.

For years it had been trampled in the street
Of Florence by the drift of heedless feet--
The stone that star-touched Michael Angelo
Turned to that marble loveliness we know.

You mind the tale--how he was passing by
When the rude marble caught his Jovian eye,
That stone men had dishonored and had thrust
Out to the insult of the wayside dust.
He stooped to lift it from its mean estate,
And bore it on his shoulder to the gate,
Where all day long a hundred hammers rang.
And soon his chisel round the marble sang,
And suddenly the hidden angel shone:
It had been waiting prisoned in the stone.

Thus came the cherub with the laughing face
That long has lighted up an altar-place.

_Edwin Markham._

From "The Gates of Paradise, and Other Poems."

GOOD DEEDS

The influence of good deeds usually extends far beyond the limits we can
see or trace; but as well not have the power to do them as not use it.

How far that little candle throws his beams!
So shines a good deed in a naughty world.
Heaven doth with us as we with torches do;
Not light them for themselves; for if our virtues
Did not go forth of us, 'twere all alike
As if we had them not.

_William Shakespeare._

YOU MAY COUNT THAT DAY

A class of little settlement girls besought Mrs. George Herbert Palmer,
one insufferable summer morning, to tell them how to be happy. "I'll
give you three rules," she said, "and you must keep them every