Let us then, be what we are, speak what we think, and in all things keep ourselves loyal to truth.—Longfellow. So let us pause and take an account of stock and ascertain whether we are thinking ourselves up or down, whether we are building truthfully or falsely, whether we are going forward or backward,
JUST THIS MINUTE
If we’re thoughtful, just this minute,
In whate’er we say or do;
If we put a purpose in it
That is honest, through and through,
We shall gladden life and give it
Grace to make it all sublime;
For, though life is long, we live it
Just this minute at a time.
There are some people whose smile, the sound of whose voice, whose very presence, seems like a ray of sunshine, to turn everything they touch into gold.—Lord Avebury. Just this minute we are going
Toward the right or toward the wrong,
Just this minute we are sowing
Seeds of sorrow or of song.
Just this minute we are thinking
On the ways that lead to God,
Or in idle dreams are sinking
To the level of the clod.
Yesterday is gone, to-morrow
Never comes within our grasp;
Just this minute’s joy or sorrow,
That is all our hands may clasp.
Just this minute! Let us take it
As a pearl of precious price,
And with high endeavor make it
Fit to shine in paradise.
It is work which gives flavor to life. Mere existence without object and without effort is a poor thing. Idleness leads to languor, and languor to disgust.—Amiel. One who finds joy in the doing of things can work more easily and steadily than one who works unwillingly and unhappily. Good nature is a lubricant for all the wheels of life. It changes the leaden feet of duty into the airy wings of opportunity, it not only brings happiness but that almost necessary adjunct of happiness,—health.
"In the maintenance of health and the cure of disease," says Dr. A. J. How poor are they who have only money to give!—John Lancaster Spalding. Sanderson, "cheerfulness is a most important factor. Its power to do good like a medicine is not an artificial stimulation of the tissues, to be followed by reaction and greater waste, as is the case with many drugs; but the effect of cheerfulness is Fear begets fear.—A. E. Winship. an actual life-giving influence through a normal channel the results of which reach every part of the system. It brightens the eye, makes ruddy the countenance, brings elasticity to the step, and promotes all the inner forces by which life is sustained. The blood circulates more freely, the oxygen comes to its home in the tissues, health is promoted, and disease is banished."
When we note how generally the What an absurd thing it is to pass over all the valuable parts of a man and fix our attention on his infirmities!—Addison. members of the medical profession ascribe to cheerfulness the very highest of health-giving powers, we are led to think that the wise words quoted above possess a foundation of scientific fact. "Faith, hope and love," says Charles G. Ames, "are purifiers of the blood. They have a peptic quality. They open and enlarge all the channels of bodily vitality. As was learned long ago, ’A There can be no true rest without work and the full delight of a holiday cannot be known except by the man who has earned it.—Hugh Black. merry heart doeth good like a medicine.’ And the self-control which keeps reason on the throne and makes passion serve is the best of all domestic physicians."
So the girl who would go down the paths of sunshine will put joy and enthusiasm into her work and into her play. She will practice her music The more we do the more we can do; the more busy we are the more leisure we have.— Hazlitt. lesson, take up her studies at school, assist in performing the household duties, and in doing the many tasks that come to her hands in a joyous, whole-hearted manner.