Poet: Daniel C. Colesworthy
Be never discouraged —
Look up and look on;
When the prospect is darkest
The cloud is withdrawn:
The shadows that blacken
The earth and the sky,
Speak to the strong-hearted,
Salvation is nigh . . . . .
Poet: Patience Strong
The little maid-of-all-work sits beside the firelight glow -
The teardrops glisten in her eyes, for oh, she longs to go,
Dressed in a gown of satin, to the splendours of the Ball -
Poor Cinderella, dreaming in her little ragged shawl . . . . .
Poet: David V. Bush
From the days of creation, it's been just the same,
And it will be to judgment day.
They tell you, each one, that it cannot be done;
At least not in this or that way. . . . .
Poet: David V. Bush
All men, like horses, have a stride —
To find it, they have often sighed.
And feared themselves withheld by Fate,
From falling in their proper gait.
But many heroes, holding fast.
Have found the cherished gait at last;
So never quit the race, for you
Will strike your stride if you push through. . . . .
Poet: Arthur Franklin Fuller
He that knocks and runs away
May live to knock some more next day —
But he who slanders in the open
May live to wish he had not spoken.
Some take vengeance through the law,
While others use a mighty paw —
But the meanest bully takes a crack
At helpless folk who can't fight back. . . . .
Poet: Patience Strong
The candlelight flings funny shapeless shadows on the wall
And when I put the candle out the queer moon-shadows fall
The sun casts shadows on the lawn when there are trees around
Like stripes of blackness painted on the green and shining ground. . . . .
Poet: Strickland Gillilan
Face the sunshine — let the shadows lie behind you;
Face the sunshine from life's dawning to its night;
Face the sunshine, though at first its brightness blind you —
Face the sunshine! Keep the shadows out of sight. . . . .
Poet: Daniel C. Colesworthy
Don't be impatient -
Wait, wait, wait:
Than plunge into sorrow,
You would better be late.
By striving
And driving,
The mark is not hit:
'Tis wiser to grope,
And feel for a rope,
Than fall in the pit . . . . .
Poet: Nixon Waterman
One day in huckleberry time, when little Johnny Flails
And half a dozen other boys were starting with their pails
To gather berries, Johnny's pa, in talking with him, said
That he could tell him how to pick so he'd come out ahead . . . . .
Poet: Berton Braley
I'd rather risk gamely
And lose for my trying
Than grind around tamely -
A cog in the mill.
I'd rather fail greatly
With courage undying
Then plod on sedately
With never a thrill . . . . .
Poet: Henry VanDyke
The mountains that enfold the vale
With walls of granite, steep and high,
Invite the fearless foot to scale
Their stairway toward the sky . . . . .
Poet: J.J. Thorne
A sluggard's plea is no excuse.
It is inferior to the little ant;
Busy as a bee, industrious is he,
That never says I can't . . . . .
Poet: Mary C. Ryan
Oh! tell me not of love grown cold,
Nor of departed hopes;
These tales are sad and often told
By every heart that weeps . . . . .
Poet: Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Laugh, and the world laughs with you;
Weep, and you weep alone,
For sad old earth must borrow its mirth,
But has trouble enough of its own.
Sing, and the hills will answer;
Sigh, it is lost on the air,
The echoes bound to a joyful sound,
But shrink from voicing care . . . . .
Poet: Daniel C. Colesworthy
Let us give something every day
For one another's weal;
A word, to make the gloomy gay,
Or the crushed spirit heal;
A look, that to the heart will speak,
Of him that's poor and old;
A tear for her, o'er whose wan cheek
Full many a stream has rolled . . . . .
Poet: J.J. Thorne
We often do not think in time,
Our words are cold and bleak;
Think twice with careful thought,
Before we haste to speak . . . . .
Poet: William Arthur Ward
Do you seek nobility?
Do you want your work to last?
Using your ability
Just transform the common task . . . . .
Poet: Daniel C. Colesworthy
Truth will prevail, though men abhor
The glory of its light,
And wage exterminating war
And put all foes to flight . . . . .
Poet: David V. Bush
There's just one certain way to climb up to the top,
Where there's plenty of room to expand,
Where each thing's more congenial and not quite so menial,
With chances to think and command;
It is simple, yet not for the shirk or the drone
Whom the bonds of dull indolence fetter.
For the way to get there in foul weather or fair
Is to work just a little bit better . . . . .
Poet: Lillian E. Curtis
If your pathway be not smooth,
And your future look not fair,
Or you get vexed at some little trifle,
Oh, don't give up in despair . . . . .
Poet: Lillian E. Curtis
What is this world? A playhouse that God for man hath built,
And some by fortune are favored more than others;
Then, favored ones, upon this platform of woe, and want, and guilt,
Oh, assist your struggling, wayside brothers!
You, who on fortune's eminence chance to stand,
Open the heart and lend a hand . . . . .
Poet: Daniel C. Colesworthy
Keep pushing - 'tis wiser
Than sitting aside,
And dreaming and sighing,
And waiting the tide:
In Life's earnest battle,
They only prevail
Who daily march onward,
And never say fail . . . . .
Poet: David V. Bush
Which side of the bed did you sleep in last night?
Which side did you get out this morning?
Is the face that you carry a dolorous sight,
Or is there a bright smile adorning?
You hardly need tell us which side that your head
Lay through the long night hours a-dreaming,
For with ease we can see what you leave all unsaid —
Your looks — be they sullen or beaming . . . . .
Poet: David V. Bush
My regrets from a heart of compassion and pain,
If you've fled from the fray and will not try again.
For the road's just as broad, just as smooth, just as bright
In the beckoning future, if only you'll fight.
The men who have climbed to the uttermost peak
Are the men who have failed, but have scorned to be weak;
If you quit in the fight ere it draws to its end.
You've my deepest regrets — and the hope you'll amend . . . . .
Poet: David V. Bush
If you've; been flayed by Failure's lash,
Do not lose your pep!
If you have lost your friends and cash,
Do not lose your pep!
The lash in time will ravel out;
You'll gain more friends who will not doubt;
With new-earned wealth your cares you'll flout-
Do not lose your pep . . . . .
Poet: David V. Bush
Successful men are always kicked, they're kicked with envious wrath,
No matter what their line may be, on life's laborious path.
The man who wins is always kicked, they kick him black and blue;
He's thumped with "mud" and "rotten-egged"; gets number fourteen shoe . . . . .
Poet: Patience Strong
It's not the price that sets the value on the gift we send -
It's how much love goes with it -
That's what matters in the end -
The spirit of the giving, the affection that we feel -
The selfless thought behind the act that makes it good and real . . . . .
Poet: Wilhelmina Stitch
There's naught so wild as words that rise on temper's hot, uneven breath;
And, taking love by swift surprise, strike deep, like spears intent on death.
There's naught as wild as words that flow from lips that watch not what they say.
Oh, foolish Two, you surely know that love is scarce an inch away . . . . .
Poet: David V. Bush
Boost, and the world boosts with you;
Knock, and you knock alone;
If you're out to win through thick and thin
You must have the booster's tone . . . . .
Poet: Berton Braley
A boy's heart is a light heart,
A true heart, a clean heart.
A boy's heart is a right heart
If it has half a chance;
It’s leal and kind and tender
A knightly and a keen heart
That glows with fire and splendor
And thrills with high romance . . . . .
Poet: Douglas Malloch
The hills ahead look hard and steep and high
And often we behold them with a sigh;
But as we near them level grows the road,
We find on every slope, with every load,
The climb is not so steep, the top so far,
The hills ahead look harder than they are . . . . .
Poet: Douglas Malloch
You have to believe in happiness,
Or happiness never comes.
I know that a bird chirps none the less
When all that he finds is crumbs.
You have to believe the buds will blow, -
Believe in the grass in the days of snow;
Ah, that's the reason a bird can sing -
On his darkest day he believes in Spring . . . . .
Poet: Douglas Malloch
I hold him dearest who aspires
To kindle in my heart the fires
Of best desires . . . . .
Poet: Edgar A. Guest
Somebody said that it couldn’t be done
But he with a chuckle replied
That "maybe it couldn’t," but he would be one
Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.
So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin
On his face. If he worried he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it . . . . .
Poet: Edgar Guest
My father often used to say:
"My boy, don’t throw a thing away;
You’ll find a use for it someday . . . . .
Poet: Berton Braley
It's doing your job the best you can
And being just to your fellow man;
It's making money - but holding friends
And true to your aims and ends;
It's figuring how, and learning why,
And looking forward and thinking high,
And dreaming little, and doing much . . . . .
Poet: Berton Braley
With doubt and dismay you are smitten
You think there's no chance for you, son?
Why, the best books haven't been written
The best race hasn't been run
The best score hasn't been made yet,
The best song hasn't been sung,
The best tune hasn't been played yet,
Cheer up, for the world is young . . . . .
Poet: Berton Braley
Start where you stand and never mind the past,
The past won't help you in beginning new,
If you have left it all behind at last
Why, that's enough, you're done with it, you're through;
This is another chapter in the book,
This is another race that you have planned,
Don't give the vanished days a backward look,
Start where you stand . . . . .
Poet: Berton Braley
Never a jungle is penetrated,
Never an unknown sea is dared,
Never adventure is consummated,
Never a faint new trail is fared,
But that some dreamer has had the vision
Which leads men on to the ends of earth,
That laughs at doubting, and scorns derision,
And falters not at the cynic s mirth . . . . .
Poet: Berton Braley The reason I never can quit the road
Is a reason that's plain and clear.
It's because no matter where I may stop
And whether it's far or near . . . . .
