Ella Wheeler Wilcox.

From “Poems of Power.”

[Illustration:  ELLA WHEELER WILCOX]

SIT DOWN, SAD SOUL

“A watched pot never boils.”  Though the pot be the pot of happiness, the proverb still holds true.

  Sit down, sad soul, and count
    The moments flying: 
  Come,—­tell the sweet amount
    That’s lost by sighing! 
  How many smiles—­a score? 
  Then laugh, and count no more;
    For day is dying.

  Lie down, sad soul, and sleep,
    And no more measure
  The flight of Time, nor weep
    The loss of leisure;
  But here, by this lone stream,
  Lie down with us and dream
    Of starry treasure.

  We dream:  do thou the same: 
    We love—­forever;
  We laugh; yet few we shame,
    The gentle, never. 
  Stay, then, till Sorrow dies;
  Then—­hope and happy skies
    Are thine forever!

Bryan Waller Procter.

SONG OF ENDEAVOR

Don Quixote discovered that there are no eggs in last year’s bird’s-nests.  Many of us waste our time in regrets for the past, without seeming to perceive that hope lies only in endeavor for the future.

  ’Tis not by wishing that we gain the prize,
    Nor yet by ruing,
  But from our falling, learning how to rise,
    And tireless doing.

  The idols broken, nor our tears and sighs,
    May yet restore them. 
  Regret is only for fools; the wise
    Look but before them.

  Nor ever yet Success was wooed with tears;
    To notes of gladness
  Alone the fickle goddess turns her ears,
    She hears not sadness.

  The heart thrives not in the dull rain and mist
    Of gloomy pining. 
  The sweetest flowers are the flowers sun-kissed,
    Where glad light’s shining.

  Look not behind thee; there is only dust
    And vain regretting. 
  The lost tide ebbs; in the next flood thou must
    Learn, by forgetting.

  For the lost chances be ye not distressed
    To endless weeping;
  Be not the thrush that o’er the empty nest
    Is vigil keeping.

  But in new efforts our regrets to-day
    To stillness whiling,
  Let us in some pure purpose find the way
    To future smiling.

James W. Foley.

From “The Voices of Song.”

KEEP A-GOIN’!

Some men fail and quit.  Some succeed and quit.  The wise refuse to quit, whether they fail or succeed.

  Ef you strike a thorn or rose,
    Keep a-goin’! 
  Ef it hails, or ef it snows,
    Keep a-goin! 
  ‘Taint no use to sit an’ whine,
  When the fish ain’t on yer line;
  Bait yer hook an’ keep a-tryin’—­
    Keep a-goin’!