esired direction."

So let us pause and take an account of stock and ascertain whether we
are thinking ourselves up or down, whether we are building truthfully
or falsely, whether we are going forward or backward,

JUST THIS MINUTE

If we're thoughtful, just this minute,
In whate'er we say or do;
If we put a purpose in it
That is honest, through and through,
We shall gladden life and give it
Grace to make it all sublime;
For, though life is long, we live it
Just this minute at a time.

Just this minute we are going
Toward the right or toward the wrong,
Just this minute we are sowing
Seeds of sorrow or of song.
Just this minute we are thinking
On the ways that lead to God,
Or in idle dreams are sinking
To the level of the clod.

Yesterday is gone, to-morrow
Never comes within our grasp;
Just this minute's joy or sorrow,
That is all our hands may clasp.
Just this minute! Let us take it
As a pearl of precious price,
And with high endeavor make it
Fit to shine in paradise.

One who finds joy in the doing of things can work more easily and
steadily than one who works unwillingly and unhappily. Good nature is
a lubricant for all the wheels of life. It changes the leaden feet of
duty into the airy wings of opportunity, it not only brings happiness
but that almost necessary adjunct of happiness,--health.

"In the maintenance of health and the cure of disease," says Dr. A. J.
Sanderson, "cheerfulness is a most important factor. Its power to do
good like a medicine is not an artificial stimulation of the tissues,
to be followed by reaction and greater waste, as is the case with many
drugs; but the effect of cheerfulness is an actual life-giving
influence through a normal channel the results of which reach every
part of the system. It brightens the eye, makes ruddy the countenance,
brings elasticity to the step, and promotes all the inner forces by
which life is sustained. The blood circulates more freely, the oxygen
comes to its home in the tissues, health is promoted, and disease is
banished."

When we note how generally the members of the medical profession
ascribe to cheerfulness the very highest of health-giving powers, we
are led to think that the wise words quoted above possess a foundation
of scientific fact. "Faith, hope and love," says Charles G. Ames, "are
purifiers of