THINGS THOUGHTFUL

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIII, 27 July 1929, Page 11

THINGS THOUGHTFUL

ENTHUSIASM GIHDED BY KNOWLEDGE Enthusiasm means nothing without , knowledge to direct it.—Marshal Eoeli. « • » • . BE THYSELF ! Resolve to bo thyself, and know that Dio who finds himself, loses his misery. —Matthew Arnold. • * * * KNOWING YOUR STRENGTH Although inoii arc accused of not knowing their weakness, vet perhaps as few know their strength.—Swift. • • * # NO EFFORT So long as thou makest no effort, no one will open the door to thee.—Eastern saving. * • • * FORCE . Wlio overcomes by force hath overcome hut half his foe.—Milton. * • * * , ; /' RAISING DOUBTS .Many give themselves more trouble to raise doubts than to scatter them.— Ail Oil. * • * • EVIL Evil .iriß chase you, so long as you run. —Robert Stanley Ross. * * * * CHEERING LOVE O lovers’ eyes are sharp to see, And lovers’ ears in hearing; And love, in life’s extremity, Can lend an hour of cheering. • ( Y ’ —Scott. * * * * EXPERIENCE Others’ follies teach us not, Nor much their wisdom teaches;; And most of sterling worth is what Our own experience preaches. —Tennyson. • * * • : ' LIFE’S JOURNEY Not enjoyment, and not sorrow, Is our destined end or way; But to act that each to-morrow Finds us farther than to-day. —Longfellow. * • * * YOU CAN NEVER TELL You can never tell when you send a word, Like an arrow shot from a how Bv an archer blind, be it cruel or Lind, . - Jyst where it will chance, to go. It may pierce the breast of your dearest friend, . Tipped; with its poison or balm; To a* stfanger’s heart in life’s great mart It nmy carry its pain or its —Ella Wheeler Wilcox. • t * *

• , COURAGE Courage, from whatever angle we approach it, whatever origin or purpose We assign to it, no matter what form it- assumes nor even what motives underlie it, will always be a quality beloved of mail. The courage of attack, idle courage of defence, the courage of art, the courage of debate, the courage ofVmbtlierhood, tlie courage of grief, the'courage of adventure, tlie coinage of iHhealtli, the courage of the martyr, the gambler and the spy, each for itself W£ respect and admire. And after all, it is not life that matters, but tho coin-age that we bring to it.— Dr. J. L. Birley. . , . * • * * LITTLE THINGS Tlie sweetest lives are those to duty wed. Whose deeds, both great and small, Are close-knit strands of an unbroken thread, Where love ennobles all. The AvoEd may sound no trumpet, ring no bells; . Tlie book of life tlie shining record tells; . . , i Thy love shall chant its ow*n beatitudes A’ftcr'its own life working, A child’s Set on thy sighing lips shall make thee glad, A sick man helped hy thee shall make tlvec strong. ; ' . Thou Shalt be served thyself in every sense • Of service which to men thou renderest.—Robert Browning. • * * * JOY IS BUT SORROW Joy is but'sorrow, While we know It ends to-morrow— Even sob Joy with lifted veil Shows a 1 face as pale As the fair changing moon so fair and frail. . Pain is hut pleasure If we know It heaps up treasure— Even so! Turn, transfigured Pain, Sweetheart, turn again, For fair thou art as woonrise after rain. —Christina Rossetti, , • * ' TONGUE COUPLETS “The boneless tongue, so small and weak, ‘ , , , „ Can crush and kill!” • declared the Greek.

"The tongue destroys a greater horde,” The Turk asserts, “than does the sword.” The Persian proverb wisely saith: “A lengthy tongue—an early death.” Or sometimes takes this form instead: “Don’t let your tongue cut off your .•/’. head.” “The tongue can speak a word whose speed,” Says the Chinese, “outstrips the steed.” While Arab sages this impart, “The tongue’s great storehouse is the heart.” From Hebrew wit the maxim sprung: “Though feet should slip, ne’er let the tongue.” The sacred writer crowns the whole: “Who keeps the tongue, (loth keep his soulT—C. 11. Spurgeon. **• * * ~ THIS LIFE I liavcAouud this life, which it is the fashion to calumniate- good, and well worth the appetite which youth shows for it. The one’real illusion of which you are guiltv about it is to believe it long. No, it "is short, very short; but even thus I assure you it is well to have existed, and the first duty of a man towards that infinitude from which lie emerges is to be grateful. The generous rashness which makes you enter, without the shadow of “arriere-pensee,” upon a career, at (lie close of which so many enlightened folks aver that they have found no--1 thing save disgust, is really very philosophic after its kind. Forward, therefore, with good hearts; suppress nothing of your ardour —that flame which burns within you is the same spirit which, providentially spread throughout the bosom of humanity, is tile principle of its motive force. Forward, forward, say I; lose not your love and passion for living. Speak no evil of the boundless bountifuluess from which your being emerges; and, in the special order of individual for-,

times, bless the happy lot which has bestowed on you a generous country, devoted teaching, kind relations, and, conditions of development in which you have no longer to strive against the old barbarisms. —Renan.