Work on and win: Life without work is unenjoy'd; The happiest are the best employ'd !— Work sows the seed; Even the rock may yield its flower,- May conquer fate, and capture fame! Press onward still; In nature's centre lives the fire That slow, though sure, doth yet aspire; If nature then Lay tame beneath her weight of earth, When would her hidden fire know birth? Thus Man, through granite Fate, must find The path, the upward path,-of Mind! Work on! Pause not in fear; Preach no desponding, servile view,- Be firm of heart; By fusion of unnumber'd years A drop, 'tis said, through flint will wear; Within thyself Bright morn, and noon, and night succeed,Power, feeling, passion, thought, and deed; Harmonious beauty prompts thy breast,Things angels love, and God hath blest! Work on! Work on and win! Shall light from nature's depths arise, Work on! CHARLES SWAIN, 1803— A BEGGAR THROUGH THE WORLD AM I. A BEGGAR through the world am I,— Old oak, give me,— That the world's blasts may round me blow, And I yield gently to and fro, While my stout-hearted trunk below And firm-set roots unmovèd be. Some of thy stern, unyielding might, Enduring still through day and night Rude tempest-shock and withering blight,— That I may keep at bay The changeful April sky of chance, And the strong tide of circumstance, Give me, old granite gray. Some of thy mournfulness serene, Some of thy never-dying green, Put in this scrip of mine, That griefs may fall like snow-flakes light, And deck me in a robe of white, Ready to be an angel bright, O sweetly-mournful pine. A little of thy merriment, Ye have been very kind and good Of all good things I would have part, That flowers here as well, unseen, -American. J. R. LOWELL, 1819— OURSELVES. NAY, be not discouraged; why should you repine Because you your destiny cannot divine? There's One who discerns every secret desire Who knows to what heights of delight you aspire; And be sure all He doeth is done for the best: In vain we may sigh some dear object to gain, And victors in Life's mighty battle are still Oh! those who preach doctrines of faith without works, And the heart that's in earnest no bars can impede, Never think of the fearful, the coward's word, "fail ;" But your heart and your actions with faithfulness read, ROWLAND BROWN, 1837— |