dear birds,
Is all even:
For their speech, be whatever their words,
Is of Heaven.

THEIR BEST
[Sidenote: _Wilfrid Maynell_]

She is a very simple maid--
Nicknamed a "tweeny";
The cook's and housemaid's riven aid,
Christ-named Irene.
And when, in lower regions, she
Hears hurled request,
She laughs or cries: "Oh, right you be,
I'll do my best."

Her very best, be very sure!
She holds it fast--
Religion undefiled and pure.
And, at the last,
When Life, from this sad house of her,
Flits like a guest,
She'll curtsy to the Judge: "O Sir,
I did my best."

The Judge, for sure, will bow His head;
And, round the throne,
Angels will know to God they've led
His very own.
This sentence then shall gently fall:
"Irene, you
Have done your best: and that is all
Even God can do."

MAGNIFICENT ENDS
[Sidenote: _Disraeli in "Vivian Grey"_]

In the plenitude of his ambition he stopped one day to enquire in what
manner he could obtain his magnificent ends: "The Bar--pooh! law and bad
jokes till we are forty; and then with the most brilliant success, the
prospect of gout and a coronet. Besides, to succeed as an advocate, I
must be a great lawyer, and to be a great lawyer, I must give up my
chance of being a great man. The Services in war time are only fit for
desperadoes (and that truly am I); but, in peace, are fit only for
fools. The Church is more rational. Let me see: I should certainly like
to act Wolsey, but the thousand and one chances against me! and truly I
feel _my_ destiny should not be on a chance. Were I the son of a
millionaire, or a noble, I might have _all_. Curse on my lot! that the
want of a few rascal counters, and the possession of a little rascal
blood should mar my fortunes!"

GENIUS, WHEN YOUNG
[Sidenote: _Disraeli in "Coningsby"_]

"Nay," said the stranger; "for life in general there is but one decree.
Youth is a blunder; Manhood a struggle; Old Age a regret. Do not
suppose," he added smiling, "that I hold that youth is genius; all that
I say is that genius, when young, is divine. Why, the greatest captains
of ancient and modern times both conquered Italy at five-and-twenty!
Youth, extreme youth, overthrew the Persian Empire. Don John of Austria
won Lepanto at twenty-five, the greatest battle of modern time; had it
not been for the jealousy of Philip, the next year he would