Daughter.—To a father waxing old nothing is dearer than a daughter; sons have spirits of higher pitch, but less inclined to sweet endearing fondness.
—Euripides.
438
BEREFT OF AN ONLY DAUGHTER.
This day my loved one leaves me, and my heart
Is heavy with its grief: the streams of sorrow,
Choked at the source, repress my faltering voice.
I have no words to speak; mine eyes are dimmed
By the dark shadows of the thoughts that rise
Within my soul. If such the force of grief
In an old hermit parted from his nursling,
What anguish must the stricken parent feel
Bereft forever of an only daughter!
Weep not my daughter, check the gathering tear
That lurks beneath thine eyelid, ere it flow
And weaken thy resolve; be firm and true—
True to thyself and me, the path of life
Will lead o'er hill and plain, o'er rough and smooth,
And all must feel the steepness of the way,
Tho' rugged be thy course, press boldly on.
Honor thy betters; even be respectful
To those above thee. Should thy wedded lord
Treat thee with harshness, thou must never be
Harsh in return, but patient and submissive.
Be to thy menials courteous, and to all
Placed under thee considerate and kind:
Be never self-indulgent, but avoid
Excess in pleasure; and, when fortune smiles
Be not puffed up. Thus to thy husband's house
Wilt thou a blessing prove, and not a curse.
439
See here it is dawning
Another bright day:
Think wilt thou let it
Slip uselessly away?
440
He mourns the dead who lives as they desire.
—Dr. E. Young.
441
One of the Fathers said: "That there is but this difference between the death of old and young men,—that old men go to death, and death comes to young men."
—Bacon.
442
THE REPROOF OF A FOOL.
There was a certain nobleman who kept a fool, to whom he one day gave a staff, with a charge to keep it till he should meet with one who was a greater fool than himself. Not many years after, the nobleman fell sick, even unto death. The fool came to see him: his lord said to him—"I must shortly leave you." "And whither are you going?" said the fool. "Into another world," replied his lordship. "And when will you come again? Within a month?" "No." "Within a year?" "No." "When then?" "Never." "Never!" said the fool, "and what provision hast thou made for thy entertainment there, whither thou goest?" "None at all." "No!" said the fool, "none at all! Here then, take my staff; for with all my folly, I am not guilty of any such folly as this."
443
The divinity who rules within us, forbids us to leave this world without his command.
—Cicero.
444
When a man dies, they who survive him, ask what property he has left behind. The angel who bends over the dying man, asks what good deeds he has sent before him.
445
Happy is, or ought to be, the man who owes nothing.
446
If you would avoid paying debts, avoid incurring them.
447
But wealth and power have no immortal day,
For all things ripen only to decay.
448
DECISION.
Lose this day loitering,—'t will be the same story
To-morrow, and the next more dilatory;
The indecision brings its own delays,
And days are lost lamenting over days.
Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute,
What you can do, or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.
Only engage, and then the mind grows heated,—
Begin,
And then the work
Will be completed.
—J. W. Von Goethe.
449
Let him that hath done the good office conceal it; let him that hath received it disclose it.
450
NOBLE DEEDS.
He built a house, time laid it in the dust;
He wrote a book, its title now forgot;
He ruled a city, but his name is not
On any tablet graven, or where rust
Can gather from disuse, or marble bust.
He took a child from out a wretched cot,
Who on the state dishonor might have brought,
And reared him to the Christian's hope and trust.
The boy to manhood grown, became a light
To many souls, preached for human need
The wondrous love of the Omnipotent.
The work has multiplied like stars at night
When darkness deepens; every noble deed
Lasts longer, than a granite monument.
—Sarah H. Bolton.
451
"He wishes well" is worthless, unless the deed go with it.
—Plautus.
452
Deformed.—Mock not at those who are misshapen by nature. He that despiseth them despiseth God that made them.
—Dr. Fuller.
453
Away with delay! it always injures those that are prepared.
—Lucan.
454
Do not delay: the golden moments fly!
—Longfellow.
455
True delicacy, that most beautiful heart-leaf of humanity, exhibits itself most significantly in little things.
456
Nothing prevents our being natural so much as the desire to appear so.
—Rochefoucauld.
457
Remember that your dependents have seldom a full power of replying to you; and let the recollection of that make you especially considerate in your dealings with them.
—Sir Arthur Helps.
458
Honorable descent is in all nations greatly esteemed; besides, it is to be expected that the children of men of worth will be like their fathers.
—Aristotle.
459
When any great design thou dost intend,
Think on the means, the manner, and the end.
—Sir J. Denham.
460
The desires of man increase with his acquisitions.
—Dr. Johnson.
461
DESTINY.
Ships that pass at night, and speak each other in passing,
Only a signal shown and a distant voice in the darkness:
So on the ocean of life we pass and speak one another,
Only a look and a voice, then darkness again and a silence.
—Longfellow.
462
INSCRIPTION FOR A SUN-DIAL.
The shadow by my finger cast
Divides the future from the past:
Before it sleeps the unborn hour
In darkness, and beyond thy power:
Behind its unreturning line,
The vanished hour, no longer thine:
One hour alone is in thy hands—
The Now on which the shadow stands.
—Henry Van Dyke.
463
RISE ABOVE YOUR DIFFICULTIES.
Not till after the death of a member of Parliament, a prominent county magistrate, the owner of large estates, and an active, public-spirited man in all local and national matters, was it known by those who had not seen him, that it was but the misshapen block of a man that had lived this active, manly life.
He was born with neither legs nor arms. After his death his story was told: how he resolved, when but a boy, to act and live as did other boys, without regard to his horrible misfortune; how he persisted in studying every book, in learning every game, in joining in every amusement possible to him, with his companions. How, to the last year of his life, he held himself to be as responsible as other men, and bravely paid every tithe of duty to God and to his fellows.
Even in lesser matters in life he pressed to the front. He was the most genial, witty guest at social dinner tables. Strapped to his horse, he hunted foxes in Yorkshire, or tigers in India, and with his brothers made long journeys in other parts of the world. Everywhere his cheerfulness and gaiety gave new life to duller souls.
Is there no lesson for us all in the life of this gallant gentleman?
—Youth's Companion.
464
Dr. Roux, the celebrated French physician, said: "The greater part of preparation for the digestion of food takes place in the mouth."
465
True dignity exists independent of—
"Studied gestures or well-practiced smiles."
466
We have all met with a great many disappointments, and if we live much longer, shall likely meet with many more.
467
Discontented People.—You have such a February face,
So full of frost, of storm, and cloudiness.
468
'Tis not my talent to conceal my thoughts,
Or carry smiles and sunshine in my face,
When discontent sits heavy at my heart.
—Addison.
469
Discontent is a man's, and a woman's, worst enemy.
470
DISCONTENT.
Thinkest thou the man whose mansions hold
The worldling's pomp, and miser's gold,
Obtains a richer prize
Than he, who, in his cot at rest,
Finds heavenly peace a willing guest,
And bears the promise in his breast
Of treasures in the skies?
—Mrs. Sigourney.
471
Be discreet in all things, and so render it unnecessary to be mysterious about anything.
—Wellington.
472
Thy friend has a friend, and thy friend's friend has a friend;—be discreet.
473
Woe unto him that increaseth that which is not his!
—Habakkuk 2, 6v.
474
No man's disposition will alter, say what we may.
475
Shut not thy purse-strings always against distress.
—Charles Lamb.
476
Thou, who feelest not for the distress of others,
Meritest not to be called by the name of man.
477
It is better occasionally to be deceived in people than for one to be always distrustful.
478
God and the doctor we alike adore
In times of danger, only,—not before:
The danger past, both are alike requited;
God, is alas!—forgotten, and the doctor—slighted.
—Anon.
479
Did you never observe that dogs have not the power of comparing? A dog will take a small bit of meat as readily, when both are before him.
—Dr. Sam'l Johnson.
480
THE FAITHFUL DOG.
When wise Ulysses, from his native coast
Long kept by wars, and long by tempests tost,
Arrived at last, poor, old, disguised, alone,
To all his friends, and ev'n his queen, unknown:
Chang'd as he was with age, and toils, and cares,
Furrow'd his rev'rend face, and white his hairs,
In his own palace forc'd to ask his bread,
Scorn'd by those slaves his former bounty fed,
Forgot of all his own domestic crew;
The faithful dog alone his master knew!
Unfed, unhous'd, neglected, on the clay
Like an old servant, now cashier'd he lay;
And, tho' e'en then expiring on the plain
Touch'd with resentment of ungrateful man,
And longing to behold his ancient lord again.
Him, when he saw—he rose, and crawl'd to meet,
'Twas all he could, and fawn'd, and kiss'd his feet,
Seized with dumb joy: then, falling by his side,
Own'd his returning lord, look'd up, and died.
—Pope.
481
Food remains for three days in the stomach of the dog, because God knew that his food would be scanty.
—From the Talmud.
482
If you are in doubt whether to write a letter or not—don't! The advice applies to doubts in life besides that of letter writing.
—Zoroaster.
483
Our doubts are traitors,
And make us love the good we oft might win,
By fearing to attempt.
—Shakespeare.
484
THE ORPHAN BOY'S DREAM.
The room is old—the night is cold,—
But night is dearer far than day;
For then, in dreams, to him it seems
That she's returned who's gone away!
His tears are pass'd—he clasps her fast,—
Again she holds him on her knee;
And, in his sleep, he murmurs deep,
"Oh! mother, go no more from me!"
485
Dreams.—Children of night, of indigestion bred.
—Churchill.
486
We sacrifice to dress, till household joys
And comforts cease. Dress drains our cellar dry,
And keeps our larder lean; puts out our fires,
And introduces hunger, frost and woe,
Where peace and hospitality might have reign'd.
—Cowper.
487
Those who think that in order to dress well, it is necessary to dress extravagantly or grandly, make a great mistake. Nothing so well becomes true feminine beauty as simplicity.
No real happiness is found
In trailing purple o'er the ground.
—Geo. D. Prentice.
488
Numbers vi, 3.—"He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink."
A heathen king, who had been for years confirmed in the sin of drunkenness by the evil practices of white men on the Sandwich Islands, had been led to forsake the dreadful habit. He said lately to a missionary, "suppose you put four thousand dollars in one hand, and a glass of rum in the other; you say, you drink this rum, I give you four thousand dollars, I no drink it; you say you kill me, I no drink it."
489
THE RIGHT ANSWER.
In an address to a temperance society, Admiral Capps told a story which is printed in the New York Tribune.—A man who had ruined his health with alcohol sat looking sadly at his wife, to whom he had made many promises of reform.
"Jenny," he said, "you are a clever woman, a courageous, good woman. You should have married a better man than I am."
She looked at him, thin-limbed and stoop-shouldered, prematurely old, and answered, quietly, "I did, James."
490
Genesis ix, 21—"Noah drank of the wine, and was drunken."
A person in Maryland, who was addicted to drunkenness, hearing a considerable uproar in his kitchen one night, felt the curiosity to step without noise to the door, to know what was the matter; when he found his servants indulging in the most unbounded roars of laughter at a couple of negro boys, who were mimicking himself in his drunken fits!—as how he reeled and staggered—how he looked and nodded—and hiccupped and tumbled. The pictures which these children of nature drew of him, and which had filled the rest with such inexhaustible merriment, struck him with so salutary a disgust, that from that night he became a perfectly sober man, to the great joy of his wife and children.
491
Pray tell me whence you derive the origin of the word dun? The true origin of this expression owes its birth to one Joe Dunn, a famous bailiff of the town of Lincoln, England, so extremely active, and so dexterous at the management of his rough business, that it became a proverb, when a man refused to pay his debts, "Why don't you Dun him?" that is, why don't you send Dun to arrest him? Hence it grew a custom, and is now as old as since the days of Henry VII.
—Mulledulcia.
493
Knowledge is the hill which few may hope to climb;
Duty is the path that all may tread.
—Lewis Morris.
494
When a minister preaches his sermon, he should do so fearlessly, i. e. like a man who cuts up a big log,—let the chips fall where they may.
495
Do what you ought, come what may.
—French.
496
Duty:—I hate to see a thing done by halves; if it be right, do it boldly; if wrong, leave it undone.
—Gilpin.
497
Whosoever contents himself with doing the little duties of the day, great things will, by-and-by, present themselves to him for their fulfilment also.
—Howard Pyle.
498
We make time for duties we love.
—Unknown.
