Above the clamor and noise, above the din of the rocks thrown at him, his masterpiece and his fame endure. And compensation, the salve to the sore, makes the great man deaf to the noise and immune to the attacks of the knockers. In his own heart he knows he has done a thing worth while; his own conscience is clear, and he cares not for the estimate of the world. His own character is his chief concern, and he is content in the knowledge that time will bring its reward. If you have high ideals in business, if you make success, mark well, you will be a subject of attacks, of lies, of malice, of envy, of disreputable competition; there is no way out of it. But you will be repaid. The lover of fair play, the grateful, the true, honest, worth-while people will flock to your standard; the riff-raff will skulk behind bushes and throw rocks and mud, but their acts will prove to the great mass of the people that your purposes, practices and policies are right. Therefore, courage is to be your chief asset; with patience, pride, perseverance your lieutenants. Be not weary, grow not discouraged when your progress is hampered by obstacles. OLD AGE The Pleasures of a Well Lived Life There are three periods in our lives: the youth period or prospective period, the adult or introspective period, and the old age or retrospective period. Too many there are who look forward to old age with fear or dread. But old age has its joys and pleasures as keen as youth or adult age, if the youth and adult ages were lived sanely, worthily and properly. If middle age is spent in getting dollars only, then old age will be days of empty nothingness. Youth is the planning time of ideals and ambitions, middle age the building time and old age the dividend time. With many, old age is reading the book of the past, with sadness as the reader recognizes that the ideals, plans and hopes were shattered. As age turns the page in the book of the past he reads one hope after another vanished in smoke. Anticipation is seldom realized, and this is as it should be, for in time men will learn to live each day for each day's good and each day's happiness. Let us perform our duty today, let us put away a kindly act, a smile, a word of cheer in the bank of good deeds. Each of us has our share in this world's work. It matters little whether our actual share is what we had guessed or wished it to be. Vicissitudes clip us here and there, so-called misfortune or bad luck will strike us when least suspected. The failure of our dreams should not grieve us. We cannot reach up and grasp the stars, but like the pilot at the wheel at sea we can steer by those stars and help us on our way. Our ideal may not be realized but the journey to it may still be a pleasant one. Our ideals, plans and hopes had a real purpose, a real service; they gave us courage and made us work and thus they were well worth while.