Work is the very salt of life, not only preserving it from decay, but also giving it tone and flavor.—Hugh Black. The pleasant, helpful girl is most likely to become the pleasant, helpful woman. The seed that is sown in the springtime of life determines the character of the harvest that must be reaped in the autumn.
Treat your friends for what you know them to be. Regard no surfaces. Consider not what they did, but what they intended.—Thoreau. The cultivation of the right point of view means so much in determining one’s attitude toward all that the years may bring. Three centuries ago it was written: "What is one man’s poison is another’s meat or drink." So there are many things in life that bring pleasure to some and distress to others.
Work! It is the sole law of the world.—Emile Zola. There is a beautiful little story about a shepherd boy who was keeping his sheep in a flowery meadow, and because his heart was happy, he sang so loudly that the surrounding hills echoed back his song. One morning the king, who was out hunting, spoke to him and said: "Why are you so happy, my boy?"
"Why should I not be happy?" answered the boy. "Our king is not richer than I."
"Indeed," said the king, "pray tell me of your great possessions."
No lot is so hard, no aspect of things is so grim, but it relaxes before a hearty laugh.— George S. Merriam. The shepherd boy answered: "The sun in the bright blue sky shines as brightly upon me as upon the king. The flowers upon the mountain and the grass in the valley grow and bloom to gladden my sight as well as his. I would not take a fortune for my hands; my eyes are of more value than all the precious stones in the world. I have food and clothing, too. Am I not, therefore, as rich as the king?"
Concentration is the secret of strength.—Emerson. "You are right," said the king, with a smile, "but your greatest treasure is your contented heart. Keep it so, and you will always be happy."
Anybody can do things with an "if"—the thing is to do them without.—Patrick Flynn. So much of life’s happiness depends upon one’s immediate surroundings that wherever it is a matter of choice they should be made to conform as nearly as possible to the thoughts and tastes one wishes to cultivate. As a matter of course but few persons can have just the surroundings they would like, but it An aim in life is the only fortune worth the finding; and it is not to be found in foreign lands, but in the heart itself.—R. L. Stevenson. is possible that by pleasant thinking all of us can make the surroundings we have more likable. We can, at least, be thoughtful of the character of the friends and companions we choose to have with us, and it is they who are the most vital and influential part of our
ENVIRONMENT
It is better to be worn out with work in a thronged community than to perish of inaction in a stagnant solitude.—Mrs. Gaskell. Shine or shadow, flame or frost,
Zephyr-kissed or tempest-tossed,
Night or day, or dusk or dawn,
We are strangely lived upon.