Lesson of the Water Mill

Listen to the water mill:
  Through the livelong day
How the clanking of the wheel
  Wears the hours away;

And a proverb haunts my mind
  As a spell is cast:
"The mill will never grind
  With the water that has passed."
Take the lesson to thyself,
  Loving heart and true;
Golden years are fleeting by,
  Youth is passing, too;
Learn to make the most of life;
  Lose no happy day;
Time will never bring thee back
  Chances swept away.
Leave no tender word unsaid;
  Love while life shall last;
"The mill will never grind
  with the water that has passed."

Take the proverb to thine heart,
  Take! Oh, hold it fast:
"The mill will never grind
  With the water that has passed!"
--Sarah Doudney

The Art of Living

  Many men know the laws of mathematics and are skilled
in the arts, but most men know very little about the laws
governing life, the art of living. One may be able to build
an airplane and circle the globe and yet be entirely ignorant
of the simple art of how to be happy, successful, and con-
tent. When studying the arts, place first upon the list the
art of living.
                                                     --Author Unknown

VISION

There have been times when I have looked at life
From out the eyes of sorrow, and have felt
The utter loneliness of black night vigils.
There have been times when I have wept hot tears
And tasted of their salt
And drunk the dregs of sadness to the end.

There have been times--and then another's heartache,
So deep and rending as to mock my own,
Has cut, flamelike, across my blurring vision,
Dwarfing my paltry tragedies to nought.
                                         --Elizabeth N. Hauer

Life's Mirror

There are loyal hearts, there are spirits brave,
There are souls that are pure and true,
Then give the world the best you have,
And the best will come back to you.

Give love, and love to your life will flow,
A strength in your utmost need,
Have faith, and a score of hearts will show
Their faith in your word and deed.

Give truth, and your gift will be paid in kind;
And honor will honor meet;
And a smile that is sweet will surely find
A smile that is just as sweet.

Give pity and sorrow to those who mourn,
You will gather in flowers again
The scattered seeds from your thought outborne
Though the sowing seemed but vain.

For life is the mirror of king and slave,
'Tis just what we are and do;
Then give to the world the best you have,
And the best will come back to you.

--Madeline Bridges

SONG

Love that is hoarded, moulds at last
  Until we know some day
The only thing we ever have
  Is what we give away.

And kindness that is never used
  But hidden all alone
Will slowly harden till it is
  As hard as any stone.

It is the things we always hold
  That we will lose some day;
The only things we ever keep
  Are what we give away.

--Harold C. Sandall

The Anvil--God's Word

Last eve I passed beside a blacksmith's door,
And heard the anvil ring the vesper chime;
Then, looking in, I saw upon the floor
Old hammers, worn with beating years of time.

"How many anvils have you had," said I,
"To wear and batter all these hammers so?"
"Just one," said he, and then with twinkling eye,
"The anvil wears the hammers out, you know."

And so, thought I, the anvil of God's Word,
For ages skeptic blows have beat upon;
Yet, though the noise of falling blows was heard,
The anvil is unharmed--the hammers gone.

--Author Unknown

The Tone of Voice

It's not so much what you say
As the manner in which you say it;
It's not so much the language you use
As the tone in which you convey it;
"Come here!" I sharply said,
And the child cowered and wept.
"Come here," I said--
He looked and smiled
And straight to my lap he crept.
Words may be mild and fair
And the tone may pierce like a dart;
Words may be soft as the summer air
But the tone may break my heart;
For words come from the mind
Grow by study and art--
But tone leaps from the inner self
Revealing the state of the heart.
Whether you know it or not,
Whether you mean or care,
Gentleness, kindness, love, and hate,
Envy, anger, are there.
Then, would you quarrels avoid
And peace and love rejoice?
Keep anger not only out of your words--
Keep it out of your voice.

--Author Unknown