"There is a certain amount of work to be done in this world. If any of us does not take his full share, he imposes that which he does not take on the shoulders of another; and the first cause of poverty, of disease, of misery in all States, is the overwork which is imposed on men and women by the idle and indifferent members of the nation. This is to steal from the human race; to steal from them joy, leisure, health, comfort and peace, and to impose on them sorrow and overwork, disease and homelessness, bitter anger and fruitless tears. This is the curse which the selfish dreamer leaves behind him. Many have been the fierce oppressors and defrauders of the human race, but the evil they have done is less than that done by those who drop by drop and hour by hour drain the blood of mankind by doing no work for the overworked. This is the crime with which the idle and indifferent will be confronted when the great throne is set in our soul, and the books we have written on men's lives are opened, and God shall lay judgment to the line and righteousness to the plummet. 'Lord, what hast Thou to do with it?' we will say. 'I did not neglect Thee; I took my ease, it is true, but I kept Thy law. I was never impious, never an atheist. When was I not religious?' Then He will answer: 'Inasmuch as ye never worked for the least of these My brothers, ye never worked for Me!'" _The Gospel of Joy_, STOPFORD BROOKE. "Let us start up and live: here come moments that cannot be had again; some few may yet be filled with imperishable good." J. MARTINEAU. Idleness FEBRUARY 23 "It is not necessary for a man to be actively bad in order to make a failure of life; simple inaction will accomplish it. Nature has everywhere written her protest against idleness; everything which ceases to struggle, which remains inactive, rapidly deteriorates. It is the struggle towards an ideal, the constant effort to get higher and further which develops manhood and character." "Shun idleness, it is the rust that attaches itself to the most brilliant metals." VOLTAIRE. "There is always hope in a man that actually and earnestly works. In idleness alone is there perpetual despair." CARLYLE. "'Twere all as good to ease one breast of grief As sit and watch the sorrows of the world." _The Light of Asia_, E. ARNOLD. Fear of Failure FEBRUARY 24 "Who would ever stir a finger, if only on condition of being guaranteed against oversights, misinformation, mistakes, ignorance, loss, and danger?" H. MARTINEAU. "The man who insists upon seeing with perfect clearness before he decides, never decides." _Amiel's Journal._