Part 33 (1/2)

All in the dark we grope along, And if we go amiss We learn at least which path is wrong, And there is gain in this.

We do not always win the race By only running right, We have to tread the mountain's base Before we reach its height.

But he who loves himself the last And knows the use of pain, Though strewn with errors all his past, He surely shall attain.

Some souls there are that needs must taste Of wrong, ere choosing right; We should not call those years a waste Which led us to the light.

_Etta Wheeler Wilc.o.x._

From ”Poems of Power.”

A TOAST TO MERRIMENT

A lady said to Whistler that there were but two painters--himself and Velazquez. He replied: ”Madam, why drag in Velazquez?” So it is with Joyousness and Gloom. Both exist,--but why drag in Gloom?

Make merry! Though the day be gray Forget the clouds and let's be gay!

How short the days we linger here: A birth, a breath, and then--the bier!

Make merry, you and I, for when We part we may not meet again!

What tonic is there in a frown?

You may go up and I go down, Or I go up and you--who knows The way that either of us goes?

Make merry! Here's a laugh, for when We part we may not meet again!

Make merry! What of frets and fears?

There is no happiness in tears.

You tremble at the cloud and lo!

'Tis gone--and so 'tis with our woe, Full half of it but fancied ills.

Make merry! 'Tis the gloom that kills.

Make merry! There is suns.h.i.+ne yet, The gloom that promised, let's forget, The quip and jest are on the wing, Why sorrow when we ought to sing?

Refill the cup of joy, for then We part and may not meet again.

A smile, a jest, a joke--alas!

We come, we wonder, and we pa.s.s.

The shadow falls; so long we rest In graves, where is no quip or jest.

Good day! Good cheer! Good-bye! For then We part and may not meet again!

_James W. Foley._

From ”Friendly Rhymes.”