It has been well said that it is the repetition of little acts which constitutes not only the sum of human character, but which determines the character of nations; and where men or nations have broken down, it will almost invariably be found that neglect of little things was the rock on which they were wrecked.
Every human being has duties to be performed, and, therefore, has need of Thought alone is eternal.—Owen Meredith. cultivating the capacity for doing them—whether the sphere of action be the management of a household, the conduct of a trade or a profession, or the government of a nation.
Only those live who do good.— Tolstoi. The one fixed truth in the matter of character-building is the fact that steady attention to the little matters of detail lies at the very foundation of human progress.
The splendid trees that lift their branches heavenward depend for their sustenance on the tiny thread-like roots The greatest truths are the simplest.—Hare. that come into very close relations with the soil and can thus take in the nourishment needed for the making of growth. This, the larger roots have not the capacity for doing. So in the growth of the human intellect and human character, it is the little actions, day by day, that really do the permanent building. With patient purpose to do successfully the many little tasks that confront us we can later on achieve the larger success awaiting us.
Many people owe the grandeur of their lives to their tremendous difficulties.—Spurgeon. The world’s history is full of the triumphs of those who have had to struggle from beginning to end for recognition. Carey, the great missionary, began life as a shoemaker; the chemist Vanquelin was the son of a peasant; the poet Burns was a farmer boy and a day laborer; Ben Jonson was a bricklayer; Livingstone, the traveler and explorer, was a weaver; Abraham Lincoln was a "rail-splitter" and a farmer boy.
Thought by thought piled, till some great truth is loosened.—Shelley. At the plow, on the bench, at the loom, these men dreamed of the future greatness, and step by step, day by day, they persevered until they won the full measure of success.
The great and good women of the The child’s reasoning powers are, as it were, the wings with which he will eventually have to fly.—Landon. world have won their distinction in the same manner. They cultivated the sterling qualities that made for success. They acquired the manners that attracted toward them help and strength of others interested in good causes and those struggling to advance them.
Choose always the way that seems the best, however rough it may be. Custom will render it easy and agreeable.— Pythagoras. And the girl who is reading these lines, can, if she will, make her life a happy success. She may be praised by the world or it may be by the small circle of friends with whom she comes in contact. Her name may never be written in history but it may be fondly spoken by parents, sisters, brothers, schoolmates, Recollection is the only paradise from which we cannot be turned out.—Richter. friends. In a thousand gracious ways she can make the hours, days and years good and golden for her own precious self and for all who know her. She must be thoughtful and intelligently alert to the opportunities lying all about her ready to be fashioned into shining deeds. She must know that she is a precious craft on the sea of life and that she must not be permitted to drift from the harbor of youth and of home without a life pilot. And this pilot should be her Memory is the treasure-house of the mind.—Fuller. own conscience, hedged about with the learning, the good breeding, the fine character that she herself, under proper guidance, must cultivate through the impressionable years of childhood and maidenhood. If she so wills it, beauty and grace and true worth are all hers. And let her greet and go forth in the freshness of each golden day, as indeed, she must greet life, itself, with a glad, hopeful, helpful
MORNING PRAYER
Habit is an internal principle which leads us to do easily, naturally, and with growing certainty, what we do often.—Webster.Oh, may I be strong and brave, to-day,
And may I be kind and true,
And greet all men in a gracious way,
With frank good cheer in the things I say,
And love in the deeds I do.