Sits upon the grave and sings it, Sings it when the heart would groan, Sings it when the shadows darken, "It is better farther on!" Farther on? How much farther? Count the milestones one by one? No! no counting--only trusting, "It is better farther on!" NEW EVERY MORNING Every day is a fresh beginning, Every morn is the world made new; You who are weary of sorrow and sinning, Here is a beautiful hope for you-- A hope for me and a hope for you. All the past things are past and over, The tasks are done and the tears are shed; Yesterday's errors let yesterday cover; Yesterday's wounds, which smarted and bled, Are healed with the healing which night has shed. Yesterday is a part of forever, Bound up in a sheaf which God holds tight; With glad days, and sad days, and bad days, which never Shall visit us more with their bloom and their blight, Their fullness of sunshine or sorrowful night. Let them go, since we cannot relieve them; Cannot undo, and cannot atone; God in his mercy, receive, forgive them! Only the new days are our own. To-day is ours, and to-day alone. Here are the skies all burnished brightly, Here is the spent earth all reborn; Here are the tired limbs springing lightly To face the sun, and to share with the morn In the chrism of dew and the cool of dawn. Every day is a fresh beginning; Listen, my soul, to the glad refrain, And, spite of all sorrow and old sinning, And puzzle forecasted, and possible pain, Take heart with the day, and begin again. --Susan Coolidge. CHEER UP Never go gloomily, man with a mind; Hope is a better companion than fear; Providence, ever benignant and kind, Gives with a smile what you take with a tear. All will be right; look to the light; Morning is ever the daughter of night; All that was black will be all that is bright; Cheerily, cheerily, then, cheer up. Many a foe is a friend in disguise, Many a sorrow a blessing most true, Helping the heart to be happy and wise, Bringing true love and joys ever new. Stand in the van; strive like a man; This is the bravest and cleverest plan-- Trusting in God while you do what you can, Cheerily, cheerily, then, cheer up. PROGRESS Idly as thou, in that old day Thou mournest, did thy sire repine; So, in his time, thy child grown gray Shall sigh for thine. But life shall on and upward go; Th' eternal step of Progress beats To that great anthem, calm and slow, Which God repeats. Take heart! The Waster builds again; A charmed life old Goodness hath; The tares may perish, but the grain Is not for death. --John Greenleaf Whittier. THE VEILED FUTURE