You can not get honey if you are frightened at bees, nor sow corn if you are afraid of getting mud on your boots.  Lackadaisical gentlemen had better emigrate to fool’s-land, where men get their living by wearing shiny boots and lavender gloves.  When bars of iron melt under the south wind, when you can dig the fields with toothpicks, blow ships along with fans, manure the crops with lavender-water, and grow plum-cakes in flower-pots, then will be a fine time for dandies; but until the millennium comes we shall all have a deal to put up with, and had better bear our present burdens than run helter-skelter where we shall find matters a deal worse.

Keep your weather eye open.  Sleeping poultry are carried off by the fox.  Who watches not, catches not.  Fools ask what’s o’clock, but wise men know their time.  Grind while the wind blows, or if not do not blame Providence.  God sends every bird its food, but he does not throw it into the nest:  he gives us our daily bread, but it is through our own labor.  Take time by the forelock.  Be up early and catch the worm.  The morning hour carries gold in its mouth.  He who drives last in the row gets all the dust in his eyes:  rise early, and you will have a clear start for the day.

TRY.

Can’t do it sticks in the mud, but Try soon drags the wagon out of the rut.  The fox said Try, and he got away from the hounds when they almost snapped at him.  The bees said Try, and turned flowers into honey.  The squirrel said Try, and up he went to the top of the beech-tree.  The snow-drop said Try, and bloomed in the cold snows of Winter.  The sun said Try, and the Spring soon threw Jack Frost out of the saddle.  The young lark said Try, and he found his new wings took him over hedges and ditches, and up where his father was singing.  The ox said Try, and ploughed the field from end to end.  No hill too steep for Try to climb, no clay too stiff for Try to plough, no field too wet for Try to drain, no hole too big for Try to mend.  As to a little trouble, who expects to find cherries without stones, or roses without thorns!  Who would win must learn to bear.  Idleness lies in bed sick of the mulligrubs where industry finds health and wealth.  The dog in the kennel barks at the fleas; the hunting dog does not even know they are there.  Laziness waits till the river is dry, and never gets to market; “Try” swims it, and makes all the trade.  Can’t do it couldn’t eat the bread and butter which was cut for him, but Try made meat out of mushrooms.

If you want to do good in the world, the little word “Try” comes in again.  There are plenty of ways of serving God, and some that will fit you exactly as a key fits a lock.  Don’t hold back because you can not preach in St. Paul’s; be content to talk to one or two in a cottage; very good wheat grows in little fields.  You may cook in small pots as well as big ones.  Little pigeons can carry great messages.  Even a little dog can bark at a thief, and wake up the master and save the house.  A spark is fire.  A sentence of truth has heaven in it.  Do what you do right thoroughly; pray over it heartily, and leave the result to God.