[Illustration: Oliver Wendell Holmes _The great thing in the world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving._] Instead of a gem, or even a flower, cast the gift of a lovely thought into the heart of a friend.--_Geo. Macdonald._ Be satisfied with nothing but your best.--_Edward Rowland Sill._ Do not think it wasted time to submit yourself to any influence that will bring upon you any noble feeling.--_Ruskin._ Thank God every morning when you get up that you have something to do that day, which must be done whether you like it or not. Being forced to work, and forced to do your best, will breed in you ... a hundred virtues which the idle never know.--_Charles Kingsley._ Foresight is very wise, but foresorrow is very foolish; and castles are, at any rate, better than dungeons in the air.--_Sir John Lubbock._ It requires a sterner virtue than good nature to hold fast the truth, that it is nobler to be shabby and honest, than to do things handsomely in debt.--_Juliana H. Ewing._ “Drop the subject when you cannot agree; there is no need to be bitter because you know you are right.” It is not only a part of the wisdom of happiness, but it is absolutely essential to the conditions of any true work in the world, to so live that one may not be too greatly affected by the attitude of other people. A man’s life is, after all, primarily between God and himself.--_Lilian Whiting._ Get your distaff ready, and God will send you flax.--_Mary A. Livermore’s favorite proverb._ The thoughts that come often unsought, and, as it were, drop into the mind, are commonly the most valuable we have, and therefore should be secured, because they seldom return again.--_Locke._ The little worries that we meet each day May be as stumbling-blocks across our way, Or we may make them stepping-stones to be Of grace, O Lord, to Thee! --_A. E. Hamilton._ A man’s own good breeding is the best security against other people’s ill manners.--_Chesterfield._ The best teacher of duties that still lie near to us, is the practice of those we see and have at hand.--_Carlyle._ “The secret of a sweet and Christian life is learning to live by the day. It is the long stretches that tire us.” To one who is in the rôle of host there can be no more bitter rebuke than to have any guest or chance caller go out from the portals with the feeling that he is sorry he came--that he is depressed rather than up-lifted. For all personal association, whether permanent or transient, whether prearranged or a matter of accidental contact, should leave behind it a lingering charm, a deeper sense of the loveliness of life.--_Lilian Whiting._