If it come, accept it and be thankful, and be thou humble in

accepting;

If it tarry, be no -thou cast down; the bee can gather honey out of rue:

And is thine aim so low, that the breath of those around thee Can speed thy feathered arrow, or retard its flight?

The child shooteth at a butterfly, but the man's mark is an eagle:

And while his fellows talk, he hath conquered in the clouds.

Ally thee to truth and godliness, and use the talents in thy

charge;

So shalt thou walk in peace, deserving, if not having.

With a friend, praise him when thou canst; for many a friendship hath decayed,

Like a plant in a crowded corner, for want of sunshine on its leaves:

With another praise him not often-otherwise he shall despise thee;

But be thou frugal in commending; so will he give honor to thy judgment:

For thou that dost so zealously commend, art acknowledging thine own inferiority,

And he, thou so highly hast exalted, shall proudly look down on thy esteem.

WILT thou that one remember a thing ?-praise him in the midst of thy advice;

Never yet forgat man the word whereby he hath been praised. Better to be censured by a thousand fools, than approved but by one man that is wise;

For the pious are slower to help right, than the profane to hinder it:

So, where the world rebuketh, there look thou for the excel

lent,

And be suspicious of the good, which wicked men can praise.

The captain bindeth his troop, not more by severity than kindness,

And justly, should recompense well-doing, as well as be strict with an offender;

The laurel is cheap to the giver, but precious in his sight who hath won it,

And the heart of the soldier rejoiceth in the approving glance of his chief.

Timely-given praise is even better than the merited rebuke of censure,

For the sun is more needful to the plant than the knife that cutteth out a canker;

Many a father hath erred, in that he hath withheld reproof, But more have mostly sinned, in withholding praise where it

was due:

There be many such as Eli among men; but these be more culpable than Eli,

Who chill the fountain of exertion by the freezing looks of indifference:

Ye call a man easy and good, yet he is as a two-edged sword,

He rebuketh not vice, and it is strong: he comforteth not virtue, and it fainteth.

There is nothing more potent among men than a gift timely

bestowed,

And a gift kept back where it was hoped, separateth chief

friends:

For what is a gift but a symbol, giving substance to praise and esteem?

And where is a sharper arrow than the sting of unmerited neglect ?

EXPECT not praise from the mean, neither gratitude from the

selfish;

And to keep the proud thy friend, see thou do him not a service:

For, behold, he will hate thee for his debt: thou hast hum

bled him by giving;

And his stubbornness never shall acknowledge the good he hath taken from thy hand:

Yea, rather will he turn and be thy foe, lest thou gather from his friendship,

That he doth account thee creditor, and standeth in the second place.

Still, O kindly feeling heart, be not thou chilled by the thank

less,

Neither let the breath of gratitude fan thee into momentary

heat;

Do good for good's own sake, looking not to worthiness nor

love:

Fling thy grain among the rocks, cast thy bread upon the

waters,

His claim be strongest to thy help, who is thrown most helplessly upon thee,

So shalt thou have a better praise, and reap a richer harvest of reward.

Ir a man hold fast to thy creed, and fit his thinking to thy

notions,

Thou shalt take him for a man right minded, yea, and excuse

his evil:

But seest thou not, O bigot, that thy zeal is but a hunting after praise,

And the full pleasure of a proselyte lieth in the flattering of self?

A man of many praises meeteth many welcomes,

But he who blameth often, shall not keep a friend;

The velvet-coated apricot is one thing, and the spiked horsechestnut is another,

A handle of smooth amber is pleasanter than rough buck-horn. Show me a popular man; I can tell thee the secret of his

power;

He hath soothed them with glozing words, Julling their ears

with flattery,

The smile of seeming approbation is ever the companion of his presence,

And courteous looks, and warm regards, earn him all their

hearts.

NOTHING but may be better, and every better might be best The blind may discern, and the simple prove, fault or want in all things,

And a little mind looketh on the lily with a microscopic eye,
Eager and glad to pry out specks on its robe of purity;
But a great mind gazeth on the sun, glorying in his bright-

ness,

And taking large knowledge of his good, in the broad prairie of creation:

What, though he hatch basilisks? what, though spots are on the sun?

In fulness is his worth, in fulness be his praise!

KNOWLEDGE holdeth by the hilt, and heweth out a road to

conquest;

Ignorance graspeth the blade, and is wounded by its own good sword:

Knowledge distilleth health from the virulence of opposite poisons;

Ignorance mixeth wholesomes unto the breeding of disease: Knowledge is leagued with the universe, and findeth a friend in all things;

But ignorance is everywhere a stranger; unwelcome, ill at ease, and out of place.

A man is helpless and unsafe up to the measure of his igno

rance,

For he lacketh perception of the aptitudes commending such a matter to his use,

Clutching at the horn of danger, while he judgeth it the handle of security.

Or casting his anchor so widely, that the granite reef is just within the tether.

Untaught in science he is but half alive, stupidly taking note

of nothing,

Or listening with dull wonder to the crafty saws of an empiric;

Simple in the world, he trusteth unto knaves; and then to make amends for folly,

Dealeth so shrewdly with the honest, they cannot but suspect him for a thief;

With an unknown God, he maketh mock of reason, fathering contrivance on chance,

Or doting with superstitious dread on some crooked image of his fancy,

But ignorant of self, he is weakness at heart; the keystone crumbleth into sand,

There is panic in the general's tent, the oak is hollow as

hemlock;

Though the warm sap creepeth up its bark, filling out the sheaf of leaves,

Though knowledge of all things beside add proofs of seeming vigor,

Though the master-mind of the royal sage feast on the mysteries of wisdom,

Yet ignorance of self shall bow down the spirit of a Solomon to idols;

The storm of temptation, sweeping by, shall snap that oak like a reed,

And the proud luxuriance of its tufted crown drag it the sooner to the dust.

YOUTH, Confident in self, tampereth with dangerous dalliance,