differ; all is well and wisely put;
If I cannot carry forests on my back,
Neither can you crack a nut."

_Ralph Waldo Emerson._

DUTY

When Duty comes a-knocking at your gate,
Welcome him in, for if you bid him wait,
He will depart only to come once more
And bring seven other duties to your door.

_Edwin Markham._

From "The Gates of Paradise, and Other Poems."

PRAYER FOR PAIN

"The thief steals from himself. The swindler swindles himself," says
Emerson. Apparent gain may be actual loss; material escape may be
spiritual imprisonment. Any one may idle; but the men who are not
content unless they climb the unscalable mountains or cross the
uncharted seas or bear the burdens that others shrink from, are the ones
who keep the heritage of the spirit undiminished.

I do not pray for peace nor ease,
Nor truce from sorrow:
No suppliant on servile knees
Begs here against to-morrow!

Lean flame against lean flame we flash,
O, Fates that meet me fair;
Blue steel against blue steel we clash--
Lay on, and I shall dare!

But Thou of deeps the awful Deep,
Thou Breather in the clay,
Grant this my only prayer--Oh keep
My soul from turning gray!

For until now, whatever wrought
Against my sweet desires,
My days were smitten harps strung taut,
My nights were slumbrous lyres.

And howsoe'er the hard blow rang
Upon my battered shield,
Some lark-like, soaring spirit sang
Above my battlefield.

And through my soul of stormy night
The zigzag blue flame ran.
I asked no odds--I fought my fight--
Events against a man.

But now--at last--the gray mist chokes
And numbs me. _Leave me pain!
Oh let me feel the biting strokes
That I may fight again!_

_John G. Neihardt._

From "The Quest" (collected lyrics).

STEADFAST

No one ever has a trouble so great that some other person has not a
greater. The thought of the heroism shown by those more grievously
afflicted than we, helps us to bear our own ills patiently.

If I can help another bear an ill
By bearing mine with somewhat of good grace--
Can take Fate's thrusts with not too long a face
And help him through his trials, then I WILL!
For do not braver men than I decline
To bow to troubles graver, far, than mine?

Pain twists this body? Yes, but it shall not
Distort my soul, by all the gods that be!
And when it's done its worst,