ng sore
For love's sweet service sought the sisters' door,
One saw the heavenly, one the human guest;
But who shall say which loved the Master best?

--John Greenleaf Whittier.

Oft, when the Word is on me to deliver,
Opens the heaven, and the Lord is there.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Then with a rush the intolerable craving
Shivers throughout me like a trumpet call--
Oh to save these! to perish for their saving,
Die for their life, be offered for them all!

No man is born into the world whose work
Is not born with him; there is always work,
And tools to work withal, for those who will;
And blessed are the horny hands of toil!

--James Russell Lowell.

The Holy Supper is kept, indeed,
In whatso we share with another's need;
Not what we give, but what we share,
For the gift without the giver is bare;
Who gives himself with his alms feeds three:
Himself, his hungering neighbor, and Me.

--James Russell Lowell.

Look not beyond the stars for heaven,
Nor 'neath the sea for hell;
Know thou, who leads a useful life
In Paradise doth dwell.

--Hafiz, tr. by Frederic Rowland Marvin.

Small service is true service while it lasts:
Of humblest friends, bright creature, scorn not one;
The daisy, by the shadow that it casts,
Protects the lingering dewdrop from the sun.

--William Wordsworth.

Mechanic soul, thou must not only do
With Martha, but with Mary ponder too;
Happy's the home where these fair sisters vary;
But most, when Martha's reconciled to Mary.

--Francis Quarles.

If thou hast the gift of strength, then know
Thy part is to uplift the trodden low;
Else, in the giant's grasp, until the end
A hopeless wrestler shall thy soul contend.

--George Meredith.

The best men doing their best
Know, peradventure, least of what they do.
Men usefullest i' the world are simply used.

--Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

New words to speak, new thoughts to hear,
New love to give and take;
Perchance new burdens I may bear
To-day for love's sweet sake.

He doth good work whose heart can find
The spirit 'neath the letter;
Who makes his kind of happier mind,
Leaves wiser men and better.

Work for some good, be it ever so slowly,