Art is long, and Time is fleeting, And our hearts, though stout and brave, In the world's broad field of battle, Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant! Lives of great men all remind us We can make our lives sublime, Footprints, that perhaps another, Let us, then, be up and doing, -American. H. W. LONGFELLOW, 1807 ODE TO DUTY. STERN daughter of the Voice of God! When empty terrors overawe; From vain temptations dost set free; There are who seek not if thine eye Upon the genial sense of youth: Glad hearts! without reproach or blot ; Who do thy work, and know it not : May joy be theirs while life shall last! And thou, if they should totter, teach them to stand fast! Serene shall be our days and bright, And happy shall our nature be, When love is an unerring light, And blest are they who in the main Love in the spirit of this creed; Yet find that other strength, according to their need. I, loving freedom, and untried; The task imposed, from day to day; Through no disturbance of my soul, My hopes no more must change their name, Stern lawgiver! yet thou dost wear Flowers laugh before thee on their beds; Thou dost preserve the stars from wrong; And the most ancient heavens, through thee, are fresh and strong. To humbler functions, awful power! Give unto me, made lowly wise, The spirit of self-sacrifice; The confidence of reason give ; And in the light of truth thy bondsman let me live! WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, 1770-1850. INCENTIVES TO LIFE-ACTION. SEE how the day beameth brightly before us! Enter the treasuries pleasure uncloses List! how she thrills in the nightingale's lay! Breathe! she is wafting thee sweets from the roses; Feel! she is cool in the rivulet's play; Taste! from the grape and the nectarine gushing Flows the red rill in the beams of the sunGreen in the hills, in the flower-groves blushing, Look! she is always and everywhere one. Banish, then, mourner, the tears that are trickling Over the cheeks that should rosily bloom; Why should a man, like a girl or a sickling, Suffer his lamp to be quench'd in the tomb? Still may we battle for goodness and beauty; Still hath philanthropy much to essay : Glory rewards the fulfilment of duty; Rest will pavilion the end of our way. What though corroding and multiplied sorrows, Over the stars thy desire shall have scope. Look round about on the face of creation! Thus shalt thou reap the more perfect delight. Love, then, with willing and deathless emotion, All that is just, and exalted, and fair. Act!-for in action are wisdom and glory, Fame, immortality-these are its crown: Wouldst thou illumine the tablets of story, Build on achievements thy dome of renown. |