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Show A HAPPY PEOPLE. The following words uttered by a political writer, not inaptly describes people who may often be met in our every day life. If all who read these lines would equally and feelingly exhibit by their acts and deeds the advantage they hold over the rest of mankind they would fully know that they had not lived in vain. "Some men move through life as a band of music move down the street, flinging out pleasure on every side through the air to everyone, far and near, that can listen. Some men fill the air with their strength and sweetness as the orchards in October days fill the air with ripe fruit. Some women cling to their own houses like the honeysuckle over the door, yet like it fill all the region with the subtle fragrance of their goodness. How great a bounty and a blessing is it, so to hold the royal gifts of the soul that they shall be music to all! It would be no unworthy thing to live for, to make the power which we have within us the breath of other men's joy; to fill the atmosphere which they must stand in with a brightness which they cannot create for themselves. Some men and women talk by the yard and think by the inch. Earnestness of purpose can spring only from strong convictions. Gray hairs are the only object of respect that can never excite envy. He who has neither friend nor enemy is without talent, power, or energy. A coward can be a hero at a distance, presence of danger tests presence of mind. When a good resolution is formed, beware of the tempter-he is then always nearest. The ?? of others may be of use to teach us, not of what we are, but what we ought to be. Our character is but the stamp on our souls of the free choice of good or evil we have made through life. The lesson of self-denial is far beyond any other in importance. It must be repeated again and again. Envy is a vice, which keeps no holiday but is always on the wheel, and working its own disquiet. We cannot conquer fate and necessity but we can yield to them in such a way as to be greater than if we could. Glory not in thyself, but rather in thy neighbor. Be low in thy heart, that thou mayst be lowly in thy actions. When the character of any one is discussed, silence in the good-natured is censure. To rejoice in another's prosperity is to live content to your own lot; to mitigate another's grief is to alleviate or dispel your own. There are times in the lives of most of us when the pressure of the hand and the unspoken sympathy are worth infinitely more than gold. Do not allow yourself to speak ill of the absent one if it can be avoided, the day may come when some friend may be needed to defend you in your absence. Let us never forget that every station in life is necessary; that each deserves our respect; that not the station itself but the worthy fulfillment of its duties, does honor to a man. Don't covet the possessions of any man until you are willing to pay for them the price which he paid, then you will not need to covet them, for you can have and get them for yourself. Distance has the same effect on the mind that it has on the eye; and while we glide on the stream of time, whatever we leave behind us is always lessening, and that which we approach increasing in magnitude. How many of us would be willing to turn our characters wrong side out and wear them thus for a single day before the astonished and disappointed gaze of fellow-beings? Yet we are willing that our omniscient God should see them as they are, with their rents, their patches, their mangled lining and unsightly seams. The Sabbath.-Sabbath-day is the beautiful river in the week of time. The other days are troubled streams, whose angry waters are disturbed by the countless craft that glide over them, but the sure river Sabbath blows on to eternal rest, charting the sublime music of the silent, throbbing sphere, and ?? by the pulsations of the everlasting life. Beautiful river glide on! Bear forth on thy bosom the poor tired spirit to the rest which it seeks, and the weary watching soul to the endless bliss. |