Items of Interest.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 440, 1 September 1904, Page 3

Items of Interest.

PROGRESS is an advance towards an ideal.—Westcott. / When we sec the dishonour of a thing, then it is time to renounce it.—Plutarch. There is nd greater delight than to be conscious of sincerity- in self-examination.— Mencius. There is in the heart of woman such a deep well of love that no age can freeze it. —Bui war Lytton. Lrve's mirror holds no image long, Save of the inward fairness—blurred and lost, Unless kept clear and white by Duty's care. •—Lowell. If, instead of a gem, or even a flower, we could cast the gift of a lovely thought into the a friend, that would be giving as the angels must give .—George Macdonald" 1 Where there is much desire to learn, there, of necessity, will be much arguing, much writing, many opinions—for opinion in good men is but knowledge in the making.'—Milton. I am not careful for what may be a hundred years hence. He who governed the world before I was born shall take care of it likewise when lam dead. My part is to improve the present moment.—John Wesley. If thou would'st hear the Nameless, and wilt dive Into the Temple-case of thine own self. There, breeding by the central altar, thou May'st haply learn the Namless hath a voice, By which thou wilt abide, if thou be wise, As if thou knowest, tho' thou canst not know. —Tennyson.

If you will be governed by reason, and manage what lies before you with industry, vigour, and temper, keep your mind staunch and well-disciplined, and be true to the best of yourself, standing boldly to the truth of your word and satisfied therewith, you will be happy.—Marcus Aurelius.

It is good to do the right thing, but it is still better to want to do it. Many a one stumbles or drifts into right action, and so far so good. But no one ought to be satisfied with drifting or stumbling at a.ny time. He ought to know that he has done well because he willed and worked to do well. To ignore one's own faculties is to dishonour their Maker.

Real greatness has nothing to do with a man's sphere. It does not lie in the magnitude of his outward agency, in the extent_ of the effects which he produces. The greatest men may do comparatively little abroad. Perhaps the greatest in our city at this moment are buried in obscurity. Grandeur of character lies wholly in force of soul, that is, in the force of thought, moral principle, and love, and this may be found in the humblest condition of life.— W. E. Charming.

There is no sure road to invariable right opinions, acts, and words, save the roads of habit. No man can be sure of thinking, acting, and speaking right at any one time who is not in the habit of doing it at all times, and the only way to attain the habit is not to err in the act. To acquire the habit of temperance, for example, the man must never in one act venture to excess. To acquire the habit of veracity, he must .•never in one word depart from the truth.— Robert E. Speer.

I shall never, in the years remaining, Paint you pictures, no, nor carve you statues, •Make you music that should all-express me; So it seems : I stand on my attainment. This of verse alone, one life allows me : Verse and nothing else have I to give you. Other heights in other lives. God willing: All the gifts from all the heights, your own, Love!

—Browning.

Love is the weapon which Omnipotence reserved to conquer rebel man when all the rest had failed. Reason he parries ; fear he answers blow for blow; future interest he meets with present pleasure ; but love, that sun against whose melting beams the winter cannot stand ; that soft, subliming slumber which wrestles down the giant; there is not one human being in a million, nor a thousand men in all earth's huge quintillion, whose clay heart is hardened against love.—Tupper.

Women excel men in the kind of recompense they are satisfied with. This is neither fee, nor title, nor public glory. Women is content if her kindly work succeeds and is appreciated, satisfied to have given comfort to those she cares for, and abundantly happy in the sense of it. Women understand instinctively, while men learn only degrees, and many men never learn at all—that the grand secret of happiness in human life consists in keeping the heart, busy for the good of others. Very glorious is the privilege of being able to he the cause of happiness in others, especially when they are beloved.

It is so easy to forget a kindness, and to remember a kick. Yet controlling our collections is almost as important as controlling our temper. We are apt to forget completely a hundred little kindnesses and courtesies, which one has shown us, and to remember a single careless slight or thoughtless word. Often we hear it said of some wrong or foolish deed, ' I have never thought so well of that man since then ; it was there he showed his real character ' —as a man's real character appeared more in one separate deed to which, perhaps, he was sorely tempted, than in the striving and overcoming of many days and years.

The only paradise of man is happiness. A thousand heavens could do no more than make people happy. The happiness is attained by the satisfaction of all human aspiration—all the hungers and thirsts of body,* heart and mind. The rounds of the ladder to this paradise are all the definite conditions of external nature, corresponding to the definite powers of human nature, by fulfilling which man arrives at the goal of happiness. And the angels that assist him in this ascent are the angels of Art, Science, Taste, Culture, and Human Love. They are distributed in forms born of the past and of the present; some are descending, having fulfilled their office and delivered up their task to the newer forms that ascend. But they all work together to make life richer, purer, happier ; to do away with its rudeness and crudeness, and so adorn and refine every part of life that it may be utilised, and minister to happiness without danger of causing injury to any.—Dr. Moncure D. Conway.