win in any desultory way.
   No soul is worthy till it learns to wait.
Day after day be patient, then, oh, soul;
Month after month—till, lo! the goal! the goal!

Give

GIVE, and thou shalt receive.  Give thoughts of cheer,
   Of courage and success, to friend and stranger.
And from a thousand sources, far and near,
   Strength will be sent thee in thy hour of danger.

Give words of comfort, of defense, and hope,
   To mortals crushed by sorrow and by error.
And though thy feet through shadowy paths may grope,
   Thou shalt not walk in loneliness or terror.

Give of thy gold, though small thy portion be.
   Gold rusts and shrivels in the hand that keeps it.
It grows in one that opens wide and free.
   Who sows his harvest is the one who reaps it.

Give of thy love, nor wait to know the worth
   Of what thou lovest; and ask no returning.
And wheresoe’er thy pathway leads on earth,
   There thou shalt find the lamp of love-light burning.

Perfection.

THE leaf that ripens only in the sun
Is dull and shriveled ere its race is run.
The leaf that makes a carnival of death
Must tremble first before the north wind’s breath.

The life that neither grief nor burden knows
Is dwarfed in sympathy before its close.
The life that grows majestic with the years
Must taste the bitter tonic found in tears.

Fear.

FEAR is the twin of Faith’s sworn foe, Distrust.
If one breaks in your heart the other must.

Fear is the open enemy of Good.
It means the God in man misunderstood.

Who walks with Fear adown life’s road will meet
His boon companions, Failure and Defeat.

But look the bully boldly in the eyes,
With mien undaunted, and he turns and flies.

The Way.

BETWEEN the finite and the infinite
The missing link of Love has left a void.
Supply the link, and earth with Heaven will join
In one continued chain of endless life.

Hell is wherever Love is not, and Heaven
Is Love’s location.  No dogmatic creed,
No austere faith based on ignoble fear
Can lead thee into realms of joy and peace.
Unless the humblest creatures on the earth
Are bettered by thy loving sympathy
Think not to find a Paradise beyond.

There is no sudden entrance into Heaven.
Slow is the ascent by the path of Love.

Understood.

I VALUE more than I despise
   My tendency to sin,
Because it helps me sympathize
   With all my tempted kin.

He who has nothing in his soul
   That links him to the sod,
Knows not that joy of self-control
   Which lifts him up to God.

And I am glad my heart can say,
   When others trip and fall
(Although I safely passed that way),
   “I understand it all.”

His Mansion.

THERE was a thought he hid from all men’s eyes,
And by his prudent life and deeds of worth
He left a goodly record upon earth
As one