A DAILY MESSAGE

Hokitika Guardian, 14 February 1929, Page 1

A DAILY MESSAGE

YOU ARE NO EXCEPTION! With almost uncanny persistence \ve Jim] the word “ work ” associated with the lives of great men, ancient and modern. Study the mottoes which have inspired them; read their biographies; think over what they have said and what they have written, and you wilt find that the word “ work ’’ figures more than any other word in the language. It is more than a coincidence. Johnson, Scott, and Carlyle differed in many things, hut there were throe qualities which these throe majesticfigures had in common. The first was their greatness. The second was their prodigious capacity for work. The third is expressed'in a motto which they acknowledged to be the secret of their inspiration. “ The night cometh ” were the words inscribed in Greek on the face of Dr Johnson’s watch. “ The night cometh ” were the words engraved by Scott’s orders on the sundial in his garden. “The night cometh ” were the words inscribed by Carlyle on the fly-leaf or his first book, written long before ho became 'famous. “ Work while if is called to-day, for the night cometh wherein no man can work ” was the motto which proved such a source of power to the three sages. And they stand to-day the three greatest workers in history. II was not the coming night that they were afraid of; they were alraid of the passing day. Their 'tear was that the day would' pass and night close in around them and find their work undone—their destiny unfulfilled. Thus they learnt to use their days. Every man in file world’s history who gets anywhere got there through work. You are no exception! —M. PIIESTOX STANLEY.