THINGS THOUGHTFUL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17027, 28 April 1923, Page 13

THINGS THOUGHTFUL .

MENIAL CALLINGS. Men talk about menial callings ; nut what is a menial .<.-ailingf I will tel! you. It is A calling that makes a man mean. And the moment ar»x- calling make* .» man a man. he has dignified and glorified it. Show- me the chrysalis first, and what a prejudice l have against butterflies! Rut show me the butterflv first, jtpd after 1 have seen !hat. bow beautiuH the skin looks out of which it was hatched ! 1 carry the beauty of the thing itself back to that trorn which it came, aral hv association, dignify it. And i honour a man that has built himselt up in avocations where no one suspected such a thing : that has. dug up treasures where none but •nich an ingenious industrious and patient man could have done it.- Carlyle. MAN’S LESSONS. Mail’s books arc but man’s alphabet: Beyond and on bis lessons lie The lessons of the violet. Tlie large, gold letters of the skv. -Joaquii;, Miller. A runner who stops discouraged when halfway to the goal not only loses all his labour hut weakens his enthusiasm for his next race. SEL F-CONSCTO I SN ESS. Over-sensitiveness is the cause of many a failure. Self-consciousness is a >dr«wn brake on the wheels. .Men ot ability fail where some bombastic egotist with mediocre talents wins amid the trumpetings of the multitude. Ji is one of the weaknesses of the flesh that is hardest to overcome, fts mastery is more difficult than the conquest of a city, but prayer and faith and i>erseverance arc the best of allies. “ To him that waits all things reveal themselves,” provided that he has the what he has seen in the light.—Coventry Patmore. FICTION. Fiction; in lien of being the daughter of Wit and Fancy, ami the sister of the pools, is only the vulgar handmaid of « chop-house, and the mistress of a man who calls her to pay his daily luncheon. —Oukla. GENIUS. I'ho man born with what we call genius.’’ which will mean born with batter and larger understanding than others: the man in whom “ the inspiration of the Almighty.” gireri to all men. has a higher potentiality; he. and properly he alone, is the perpetual priest of men : ordained to the office hv God Himself, whether men can lie so as to get him ordained or not. —TTi omas C’arlrle. The man who forgets to he thankful has fallen asleep in life.-—Robert Louis Stevenson. WORTH MEETING. There are people whom just to meet makes one stronger and better. It ie not what they consciously - reach or teach, but what thev ;ire that uplifts. ; They bear about with them an atmosphere in winch doubt and cowardice die. and tlie hunger after righteousnews awakes. It is well for us that man can only endure a certain amount of unhappiness: what is beyond {hat either annihilates him or passes by him and leaves him apathetic.—Goethe. GIFTS. May live Giver of Gifts give unto you That which is good and that which is true; The will to help and the courage to do: Whether the skies he gray or blue. May the Giver of Gifts give these to you. Lots of people make a good living who make a very poor life.