STRAY GEMS.

Pearls of thought, unstrung, that glisten
Round the necks of fleeting years;

Rubies red, where hearts have bled,
Diamonds white, with new found light,
Gems of thought. Who will may listen
While the music of the spheres
Mingles with the thoughts of sages,
Old and young, that thrill the ages.

Do not look for wrong and evil—
You will find them if you do ;
As you measure for your neighbor
He will measure back to you.

-J. C. H.

Look for goodness, look for gladness,
You will meet them all the while;

If you bring a smiling visage

To the glass, you meet a smile.

-Alice Cary.

A few seem favorites of Fate

In Pleasure's lap caress'd,—

Yet think not all the rich and great,
Are likewise truly blest.

-Burns.

A cheerful temper, joined with innocence, will make beauty attractive, knowledge delightful,

and wit good-natured. It will lighten sickness, poverty and affliction; convert ignorance into an amiable simplicity, and render deformity itself agreeable. -Addison.

He who is eager to be a great and noble man in the future, must in the present be great and noble in thought as well as in deed.

Old age hath yet his honor and his toil :
Death closes all; but something ere the end,
Some work of noble note, may yet be done
Not unbecoming men that strove with gods.
-Tennyson.

All natures come to their manhood through some experience of fermentation ! With some it is a ferment of passions; with some, of the affections; and with richly endowed natures it is the ferment of thought and of the moral nature. -Beecher.

The elfin spirit of sleep Preserves for child-like hearts, a pillow broad and deep.

-Edmund Gosse.

Kind words are looked upon like jewels in the breast, never to be forgotten, and, perhaps, to cheer by their memory a long, sad life; while words of cruelty or of carelessness are like swords in the bosom, wounding and leaving scars which will be borne to the grave by their victim.

Sweet are the uses of Adversity,

Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head.

-Shakspere.

Custom is overcome by custom.

-Thomas a Kempis.

Like precious things of every kind and name, This heaven-born treasure oft hath mimicked been,

But honest charity is e'er the same,—

The fairest, purest gem, the world hath seen.

Nothing that is of real worth can be achieved without courageous working. Man owes his growth chiefly to that active striving of the will, that encounter with difficulty, which we call effort; and it is astonishing to find how often results apparently impracticable are thus made. possible.

-Samuel Smiles.

There is in each life some time or spot,
Some hour or moment of night or day,
That never grows dim and is never forgot,
Like an unfaded leaf in a dead bouquet ;
Some rare season, however brief,

That stands forever and aye the same,
A sweet, bright picture in bas-relief,
Hanging before us in memory's frame.

Never hold any one by the button or the hand in order to be heard out; for, if people are unwilling to hear you, you had better hold your tongue than them.

It is the secret sympathy,

-Chesterfield.

The silver link, the silken tie,

Which heart to heart, and mind to mind,
In body and in soul can bind.

-Scott.

Ah yes, I will say again: The great silent men! Looking around on the noisy inanity of the world, words with little meaning, actions with little truth, one loves to reflect on the great empire of Silence! The noble silent men, scattered here and there, each in his department; silently thinking, silently working; whom no morning newspaper makes mention of. They are the salt of the earth. A country that has none or few of these is in a bad way. forest which had no roots; which had all turned into leaves and boughs; which would soon wither and be no forest. Woe for us if we had nothing but what we can show or speak.

A light heart lives long.

Like a

-Carlyle.

-Shakspere.

He is truly great, who is great in charity.

-Thomas à Kempis.

He who gives himself airs of importance exhibits the credentials of impotence.

-Lavater.

There is a joy in worth,

A high, mysterious, soul-pervading charm, Which, never daunted, ever bright and warm, Mocks at the idle, shadowy ills of earth;

Amid the gloom is bright, and tranquil in the

storm.

-R. T. Conrad.

Never was a sincere word utterly lost. Never a magnanimity fell to the ground, but there is some heart to greet and accept it unexpectedly. -Emerson.

Let any man once show the world that he feels
Afraid of its bark, and 'twill fly at his heels ;
Let him fearlessly face it, 'twill leave him alone;
But 'twill fawn at his feet if he flings it a bone.
-Owen Meredith.

That man lives happy and in command of himself who from day to day can say I have lived. Whether clouds obscure, or the sun illuminate the following day, that which is past is beyond recall.

-Horace.

The soul of music slumbers in the shell,
Till waked and kindled by the master's spell :
And feeling hearts, touch them but lightly,—pour
A thousand melodies unheard before.

-Anonymous.