Wait not till your friend is dead Ere your compliments are said; For the spirit that has fled, If it know, Does not need to speed it on Our poor praise; where it has gone Love's eternal, golden dawn Is aglow. But unto our brother here That poor praise is very dear; If you've any word of cheer Tell him so. --J. A. Egerton. So when a great man dies, For years beyond our ken The light he leaves behind him lies Upon the paths of men. --Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. THE MAN WITH A GRUDGE There once was a man who bore a grudge. Stoutly he bore it many a year. "Beware!" said the parson. He answered, "Fudge! Well it becomes me, never fear. "Men for this world, and saints for heaven; Too much of meekness shows a fool; My loaf shall rise with a livelier leaven; 'Give as you get,' is a good old rule." The longer he bore it, the more it grew, Grew his grudge, as he trudged along; Till in sight of a pearly gate he drew, And he heard within it a wondrous song. The shining porter said, "Walk in." He sought to do so; the gate was strait: Hard he struggled his way to win, The way was narrow, the grudge was great. He turned in haste to lay it down; He strove to tear it away--to cut-- But it had fast to his heart strings grown, "O wait," he cried; but the door was shut. Through windows bright and clear he saw The blessed going with their Lord to sup. But Satan clapped on his grudge a claw; Hell opened her mouth and swallowed him up. --Sara Hammond Palfrey. Man judges from a partial view, None ever yet his brother knew; The Eternal Eye that sees the whole May better read the darkened soul, And find, to outward sense denied, The flower upon its inward side. --John Greenleaf Whittier. O brothers! are ye asking how The hills of happiness to find? Then know they lie beyond the vow-- "God helping me, I will be kind." --Nixon Waterman. A BLESSING Not to the man of dollars, Not to the man of deeds, Not unto craft and cunning, Not unto human creeds; Not to the one whose passion Is for the world's renown, Not in the form of fashion Cometh a blessing down. But to the one whose spirit Yearns for the great and good; Unto the one whose storehouse Yieldeth the hungry food; Unto the one who labors Fearless of foe or frown; Unto the kindly-hearted, Cometh a blessing down. --Mary Frances Tucker. WEAPONS Both swords and guns are strong, no doubt, And so are tongue and pen, And so are sheaves of good bank notes, To sway the souls of men. But guns and swords and piles of gold, Though mighty in their sphere, Are sometimes feebler than a smile, And poorer than a tear.