Hymn to life

Ah, Life, dear Life, how beautiful art thou!
All day sweet, chiming voices in my heart
Have hymned thy praises joyfully as now,
Telling how fair thou art!


This morn, while yet the dew was on the flowers,


They sang like skylarks, soaring while they sing
This noon, like birds within their leafy bowers
Warbled with folded wing.


Slow fades the twilight from the glowing west,


And one pale star hangs o'er yon mountain's brow;
With deeper joy, that may not be repressed,
O Life, they hail thee now!


And not alone from this poor heart of mine


Do these glad notes of grateful love ascend;
Voices from mount and vale and woodland shrine
In the full chorus blend.


The young leaves feel thy presence and rejoice
The while they frolic with the happy breeze;
And paeans sweeter than a seraph's voice
Rise from the swaying trees.


Each flower that hides within the forest dim,


Where mortal eye may ne'er its beauty see,


Waves its light censer, while it breathes a hymn


In humble praise of thee.

Julia C. R. Dorr

positive thinking

When things go wrong as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill.
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh.
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As everyone of us sometimes learns.
And many a fellow turns about,
When he might have won had he stuck it out.
Don't give up though the pace seems slow,
You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than
It seems to a faint and faltering man.
Often the struggler has given up,
When he might have captured the victor's cup.
And he learned too late when the night came down,
How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out,
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt.
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems afar.
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit,
It's when things seem worst that you mustn't quit.