CHARACTER

"Not all who seem to fail, have failed indeed;
Not all who fail have therefore worked in vain:
For all our acts to many issues lead;
And out of earnest purpose, pure and plain,
Enforced by honest toil of hand or brain,
The Lord will fashion, in His own good time,
(Be this the labourer's proudly humble creed.)
Such ends as, to His wisdom, fitliest chime.
With His vast love's eternal harmonies
There is no failure for the good and wise;
What though thy seed should fall by the wayside
And the birds Snatch it; yet the birds are fed;
Or they may bear it far across the tide,
To give rich harvests after thou art dead."*

*Politics for the People,1848
From CHARACTER-The Discipline of Experience
-SAMUEL SMILES

Said a sheet of snow-white paper

Said a sheet of snow-white paper, "Pure was I created, and pure will I remain for ever. I would rather be burnt and turn to white ashes than suffer darkness to touch me or the unclean to come near me."

The ink-bottle heard what the paper was saying, and it laughed in its dark heart; but it never dared to approach her. And the multicoloured pencils heard her also, and they too never came near her.

And the snow-white sheet of paper did remain pure and chaste for ever -- pure and chaste -- and empty.


From THE FORERUNNER by Kahlil Gibran