To keep my health; To do my work; To live; To see to it that I grow and gain and give; Never to look behind me for an hour; To wait in meekness, and to walk in power; But always fronting onward, to the light, Always and always facing toward the right. Robbed, starved, defeated, fallen, wide-astray-- On, with what strength I have-- Back to the way. --Charlotte Perkins Stetson. IN MYSELF I do not ask for any crown But that which all may win; Nor try to conquer any world Except the one within. Be thou my guide until I find Led by a tender hand, The happy kingdom in myself And dare to take command. --Louisa May Alcott. HIDE NOT THY HEART This is my creed, This is my deed: "Hide not thy heart!" Soon we depart; Mortals are all; A breath, then the pall; A flash on the dark-- All's done--stiff and stark. No time for a lie; The truth, and then die. Hide not thy heart! Forth with thy thought! Soon 'twill be naught, And thou in thy tomb. Now is air, now is room. Down with false shame; Reck not of fame; Dread not man's spite; Quench not thy light. This be thy creed, This be thy deed: "Hide not thy heart!" If God is, he made Sunshine and shade, Heaven and hell; This we know well. Dost thou believe? Do not deceive; Scorn not thy faith-- If 'tis a wraith Soon it will fly. Thou who must die, Hide not thy heart! This is my creed, This be my deed: Faith, or a doubt, I shall speak out-- And hide not my heart. --Richard Watson Gilder. A GENTLEMAN (Psa. XV.) 'Tis he whose every thought and deed By rule of virtue moves; Whose generous tongue disdains to speak The thing his heart disproves. Who never did a slander forge His neighbor's fame to wound; Nor hearken to a false report By malice whispered round. Who vice in all its pomp and power Can treat with just neglect; And piety, though clothed in rags, Religiously respect. Who to his plighted word of truth Has ever firmly stood; And, though he promised to his loss, Still makes his promise good. Whose soul in usury disdains His treasure to employ; Whom no reward can ever bribe The guiltless to destroy. I hold it as a changeless law, From which no soul can sway or swerve, We have that in us which will draw Whate'er we need or most deserve. BE TRUE THYSELF Thou must be true thyself If thou the truth wouldst teach; Thy soul must overflow if thou Another's soul wouldst reach. It needs the overflow of heart To give the lips full speech.