Blessed are they who die for God, And earn the martyr's crown of light; Yet he who lives for God may be A greater conqueror in his sight. Better to stem with heart and hand The roaring tide of life than lie, Unmindful, on its flowery strand, Of God's occasions drifting by! TRUTH Truth will prevail, though men abhor The glory of its light; And wage exterminating war And put all foes to flight. Though trodden under foot of men, Truth from the dust will spring, And from the press--the lip--the pen-- In tones of thunder ring. Beware--beware, ye who resist The light that beams around, Lest, ere you look through error's mist, Truth strike you to the ground. --D. C. Colesworthy. TO A REFORMER Nay, now, if these things that you yearn to teach Bear wisdom, in your judgment, rich and strong, Give voice to them though no man heed your speech, Since right is right though all the world _go_ wrong. The proof that you believe what you declare Is that you still stand firm though throngs pass by; Rather cry truth a lifetime to void air Than flatter listening millions with one lie! --Edgar Fawcett. TEACH ME THE TRUTH Teach me the truth, Lord, though it put to flight My cherished dreams and fondest fancy's play; Give me to know the darkness from the light, The night from day. Teach me the truth, Lord, though my heart may break In casting out the falsehood for the true; Help me to take my shattered life and make Its actions new. Teach me the truth, Lord, though my feet may fear The rocky path that opens out to me; Rough it may be, but let the way be clear That leads to thee. Teach me the truth, Lord. When false creeds decay, When man-made dogmas vanish with the night, Then, Lord, on thee my darkened soul shall stay, Thou living Light. --Frances Lockwood Green. HEROISM It takes great strength to train To modern service your ancestral brain; To lift the weight of the unnumbered years Of dead men's habits, methods, and ideas; To hold that back with one hand, and support With the other the weak steps of the new thought. It takes great strength to bring your life up square With your accepted thought and hold it there; Resisting the inertia that drags back From new attempts to the old habit's track. It is so easy to drift back, to sink; So hard to live abreast of what you think. It takes great strength to live where you belong When other people think that you are wrong; People you love, and who love you, and whose Approval is a pleasure you would choose. To bear this pressure and succeed at length In living your belief--well, it takes strength,