bet you ain't; you're goin' to fish
An' bait, an' bait ag'in,
Until success will bite your hook.
For grit is sure to win."

PERSUASION

"Mother," said a twelve-year-old of Baltimore, "did you tell father I
wanted a new bicycle?"

"Yes, dear," said the mother, "I told him; but he said he couldn't
afford to buy you one."

"Of course he'd say that; but what did you do?"

"I told him how badly you wanted it, and argued in favor of it, but he
refused."

"Argued! Oh, mother, if it had been something you wanted yourself
you'd have cried a little and then you'd have got it."

Persuasion tips his tongue whene'er he talks.--_Colley Gibber_.

Few are open to conviction, but the majority of men are open to
persuasion.--_Goethe_.

PESSIMISM

TED--"What's the difference between a pessimist and a cynic?"

NED--"The pessimist is without hope, while the cynic is sure you'll
always be able to get a drink if you have the price."--_Life_.

_The Pessimist_

Nothing to do but work,
Nothing to eat but food,
Nothing to wear but clothes,
To keep one from going nude.

Nothing to breathe but air,
Quick as a flash 'tis gone;
Nowhere to fall but off,
Nowhere to stand but on.

Nothing to comb but hair,
Nowhere to sleep but in bed,
Nothing to weep but tears,
Nothing to bury but dead.

Nothing to sing but songs,
Ah, well, alas! alack!
Nowhere to go but out,
Nowhere to come but back.

Nothing to see but sights,
Nothing to quench but thirst,
Nothing to have but what we've got
Thus through life we are cursed.

Nothing to strike but a gait;
Everything moves that goes.
Nothing at all but common sense
Can ever withstand these woes.

--_Ben King_.

It was a mile over Mount Clemens.

The pilot of the plane from Selfridge Field was giving a visiting
officer his first air voyage.

He cut off the motor.

"See those people?" shouted the pilot. "Fifty per cent of them think
we are going to fall."

"They've got nothing on us," was the reply that streamed for a half a
mile back of the plane; "fifty per cent of us do."

THE PESSIMIST--"The best luck any man can have is never to have been
born; but that seldom happens to any one."

Said the weather prophet, "I think it is safest always to predict bad
weather."

"Why's that?"

"Well, people are ready to forgive you if you turn out to be wrong."