Altar and hearth! These, with a brisk career,

A source of honest profit and good fame,

Just so much work as keeps the brain from rust,

Just so much play as lets the heart expand,

Honoring God and serving man,—I say,

These are reality, and all else,—fluff,

Nutshell and naught,—thank Flaccus for the phrase!

Suppose I had been Fisc, yet bachelor!

Why, work with a will, then! Wherefore lazy now?

Turn up the hour-glass, whence no sand-grain slips