By ALICE CARY

TRUE

\RUE worth is in being not seeming;

In doing, each day that goes by,
Some little good not in the dreaming

Of great things to do by and by.
For whatever men say in blindness,

And in spite of the fancies of youth,
There's nothing so kingly as kindness,

And nothing so royal as truth.

We get back our mete as we measure,

We cannot do wrong and feel right,
Nor can we give pain and gain pleasure,

For justice avenges each slight.
The air for the wing of the sparrow,

The bush for the robin and wren,
But always the path that is narrow

And straight, for the children of men.

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20

'Tis not in the pages of story

The heart of its ills to beguile,
Though he who makes courtship to glory

Gives all that he hath for her smile.
For when from her heights he has won her,

Alas! it is only to prove
That nothing's so sacred as honor,
And nothing so loyal as love!

We cannot make bargains for blisses,

Nor catch them like fishes in nets : And sometimes the thing our life misses,

Helps more than the thing which it gets. For good lieth not in pursuing,

Nor gaining of great nor of small, But just in the doing, and doing

As we would be done by, is all.

5

IC

Through envy, through malice, through hating,

Against the world, early and late, No jot of our courage abating

Our part is to work and to wait. And slight is the sting of his trouble

Whose winnings are less than his worth; For he who is honest is noble,

Whatever his fortunes or birth.

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THE COURAGE THAT WINS

A

BOUT thirty years ago I stepped into a book

store in Cincinnati in search of some books that I wanted. While there, a ragged little boy, not over twelve years of age, came in to ask whether they shad geographies to sell.

“Plenty of them,” was the salesman's reply.
“How much do they cost ?”
“One dollar, my lad.”
“I did not know that they were so dear."

He turned to go out and even opened the door, but closed it again and came back. "I have only sixty

. two cents," said he. “Will you let me have the book

” and wait awhile for the rest of the money ?”

How eagerly the lad looked for an answer, and how is he seemed to shrink within his ragged clothes when the man refused his request! The disappointed little fellow looked up at me with a poor attempt at a smile, and left the store. I followed and overtook him a

10

block away

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“And what now?” I asked.
“I shall try another place, sir.”
“Shall I go too, and see how you succeed?"
"Oh, yes, if you like," said he in surprise.

Four different stores I entered with him, and four as times I saw the boy's face cloud at a harsh refusal.

"Shall you try again ?” I asked.

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“Yes, sir. I shall try them all, or I should not know whether I could get one.”

We entered the fifth store and the little fellow walked up manfully and told the gentleman just what he wanted and how much money he had.

“Do you want the book very much?” asked the proprietor.

“Yes, sir, very much."
“Why do you want it so much ?”

“To study, sir. I cannot go to school but when I 10 have time I study at home. All the boys have geographies and they will be ahead of me if I do not get one. Besides, my father was a sailor, and I want to know about the places that he used to go to.”

“Does he go to those places now?”

“He is dead,” replied the boy softly. Then he added after a while, “I am going to be a sailor too.”

“Are you, though?” asked the gentleman, raising his eyebrows curiously.

“Yes, sir, if I live."

“Well, my lad, I'll tell you what I will do. I will let you have a new geography and you may pay the remainder of the money when you can, or I will let you have one that is not new for fifty cents."

“Are the leaves all in it and is it just like the others, as only not new?"

“Yes, it is as good as the new ones." “It will do just as well then, and I shall have twelve

IS

а.