codex002489-003v

[top left clipping]

A FAILURE.
He cast his net at morn where fishers
toiled,
At eve he drew it empty to the shore;
He took the diver's plunge into the sea,
But thence within his hand no pearl
he bore.

He ran a race, but never reached his
goal;
He sped an arrow, but he missed his
aim;
And slept at least beneath a simple
stone,
With no achievements carved about his
name.

Men called it failure, but for my own
part
I dare not use that word, for what if
heaven
Shall question, ere its judgment shall be
read,
Not "hast thou won?" but only "hast
thou striven?"
---Sunday School Times.

[top right clipping]

WAITING.
Serene I fold my hands and wait,
Nor care for wind, nor tide, nor sea;
I rave no more 'gainst time or fate,
For lo! my own shall come to me.

I stay my haste, I make delays,
For what avails this eager pace?
I stand amid the eternal ways,
And what is mine shall know my face.

Asleep, awake, by night or day,
The friends I seek are seeking me;
No wind can drive my bark away,
Nor change the tide of destiny.

What matter if I stand alone?
I wait with joy the coming years;
My heart shall reap where it has sown,
And garner up its fruit of tears.

The waters know their own, and draw
The brook that springs in yonder heights;
So flows the good with equal law
Unto the soul of pure delights.

Yon floweret nodding in the wind
Is ready plighted to the bee;
And, maiden, why that look unkind?
For, lo! thy lover seeketh thee.

The stars come nightly to the sky,
The tidal wave unto the sea;
Nor time, nor space, nor deep, nor high,
Can keep my own away from me.
--John Burroughs.

[lower right clipping]

The following lines of Whittier's were a favorite
selection of Lucy Stone's and were repeated at her
funeral:—
I know not what the future hath
Of marvel or surprise,
Assured alone that life and death
His mercy underlies.

I know not where His islands lift
Their fronded palms in air,
I only know I cannot drift
Beyond His love and care.

And so beside the silent sea
I wait the muffled oar.
No harm from Him can come to me,
On ocean or on shore.

True dignity does not depend on the place we
occupy in life, but on the spirit and manner in
which the duties of the place are acquitted.