In all things throughout the world, the man who looks for the crooked will see the crooked, and the man who looks for the straight will see the straight.--_Ruskin._ Begin, live, aspire, realize the best ideal of the moment; and this earnest effort shall lead the way to greater achievement.--_H. W. Dresser._ Music is a moral law. It gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, a charm to sadness, gayety and life to everything. It is the essence of order, and leads to all that is good, just, and beautiful.--_Plato._ If thou wouldst speak a word of loving cheer, Oh, speak it now. This moment is thine own. --_Nellie M. Richardson._ Can a man help imitating that with which he holds reverential converse?--_Plato._ If a man can write a better book, preach a better sermon, or make a better mouse-trap, than his neighbor, though he builds his house in the woods, the world will make a beaten path to his door.--_Emerson._ Come, let us live the poetry we sing.--_Edwin Markham._ “Instead of wishing that all men were of our mind, we should account it one of the first blessings of life that there are men who do not agree with us. The currents of sea and air are not more necessary than the currents of thought.” In looking back over our lives, we often see that what seemed at the time the worst hours and the most hopeless in their wretchedness were in reality the best of all! They developed powers within us that had heretofore slept; developed energies of which we had never dreamed.--_James Freeman Clarke._ Let your task be to render yourself worthy of love, and this even more for your own happiness than for that of another’s.--_Maurice Materlinck._ There is great danger in constant dissatisfaction. Sooner or later, it will involve the health, or finances, or both, for it destroys the mental balance, and impairs the judgment.--_C. B. Newcomb._ “Don’t nurse opportunity too long--take it into active partnership with you at once, lest it leave you for other company.” We just shake hands at meeting With many that come nigh; We nod the head in greeting To many that go by,-- But welcome through the gateway Our few old friends and true; Then hearts leap up, and straightway There’s open house for you, Old Friends, there’s open house for you! The surface will be sparkling, Let but a sunbeam shine; Yet in the deep lies darkling, The true life of the wine! The froth is for the many, The wine is for the few; Unseen, untoucht of any, We keep the best for you, Old Friends, the very best for you! The many cannot know us; They only pace the strand, Where at our worst we show us-- The waters thick with sand! But out beyond the leaping Dim surge ’tis clear and blue; And there, Old Friends, we are keeping A sacred calm for you, Old Friends, a waiting calm for you.--_Gerald Massey._