So near is God to man,
When duty whispers low, _Thou must_,
The youth replies, _I can_.

_Ralph Waldo Emerson._

THE CALL OF THE UNBEATEN

P.T. Barnum had shrewdness, inventiveness, hair-trigger readiness in
acting or deciding, an eye for hidden possibilities, an instinct for
determining beforehand what would prove popular. All these qualities
helped him in his original and extraordinary career. But the quality he
valued most highly was the one he called "stick-to-it-iveness." This
completed the others. Without it the great showman could not have
succeeded at all. Nor did he think that any man who lacks it will make
much headway in life.

We know how rough the road will be,
How heavy here the load will be,
We know about the barricades that wait along the track;
But we have set our soul ahead
Upon a certain goal ahead
And nothing left from hell to sky shall ever turn us back.

We know how brief all fame must be,
We know how crude the game must be,
We know how soon the cheering turns to jeering down the block;
But there's a deeper feeling here
That Fate can't scatter reeling here,
In knowing we have battled with the final ounce in stock.

We sing of no wild glory now,
Emblazoning some story now
Of mighty charges down the field beyond some guarded pit;
But humbler tasks befalling us,
Set duties that are calling us,
Where nothing left from hell to sky shall ever make us quit.

_Grantland Rice._

From "The Sportlight."

POLONIUS'S ADVICE TO LAERTES

A father's advice to his son how to conduct himself in the world: Don't
tell all you think, or put into action thoughts out of harmony or
proportion with the occasion. Be friendly, but not common; don't dull
your palm by effusively shaking hands with every chance newcomer. Avoid
quarrels if you can, but if they are forced on you, give a good account
of yourself. Hear every man's censure (opinion), but express your own
ideas to few. Dress well, but not ostentatiously. Neither borrow nor
lend. And guarantee yourself against being false to others by setting up
the high moral principle of being true to yourself.

Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportion'd thought his act.
Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar;
The friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel;
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each n