THINGS THOUGHTFUL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17881, 24 June 1926, Page 13

THINGS THOUGHTFUL.

EARLY RISING. How much more time than necessary do we spend in sleep! forgetting that “the sleeping fox catches no pbultry, and that there will be sleeping enough in the grave.” Sloth makes all things difficult, but industry all easy. He that riseth late must trot all day, and shall scare* overtake his business at night: while laziness travels so slowly that poverty soon overtakes him. as we read in poor Richard, who adds, “Drive thy business, and let it npt drive thee; and early to bed and early to rise makes a, man healthy and wealthy and wise.”—Beniamin Franklin. LIFE'S “TOSS UP.” The life of man is just like playing with dice; if that which you must want to throw does not turn up, that which turns up by chance you must correct by skill.—Terence. OUR DAILY TASK. JSvery day we should hear at least one little song, read one good poem, see one exquisite picture and if possible speak a few sensible words.— Goethe. HOME.’* It is a rare privilege in our nomadic state to find the home of one’s childhood and its immediate neighbourhood unchanged. Many born poets, lam afraid, flower poorly in song, or flot at all, because they have been too often transplanted.—Aliver Wendell Holmes. MARRIAGE A CALL. Marriage is a call to high things. There must be love, loyalty, trust, faithfulness, purity of heart and life, considerateness between two souls, study of, and allowance for, difference of character, a serious sense that those who enter on the marriage relation undertake by mutual self-sacrifice to make one another happy, and to share life’s burdens with courage and brightness.—Knox Little. ADVICE TO THE FAIR SEX. Women should be unacquainted that beauty has any charms, but the inward one of the mind, and that gracefulness in their manner is much more engaging than that of their persons; that meekness and modesty are the true and lasting ornaments; for she that has these is qualified as she ought to be for the management* of a family ; for educating her children; for an affection for her husband: and submitting to a prudent way of living. These only are the charms which render wives amiable, and give them the best title to our respect.—Epictetus. PRESENT EVILS. Accustom yourself to submit on all and every occasion, and on the most minute, no less than on the most important circumstances of life, to a small present evil, to obtain a greater distant good. This will give decision, tone, and energy to the mind, which, thus disciplined, will often reap victory from defeat, and honour from repulse. Having acquired this invaluable habit of rational preference, and just appreciation, start for that prize that endureth for ever; you will have little left to learn.—Colton. j.j SAVING POWER OF MARRIAGE. I have noticed that a married man falling into misfortune is more apt to retrieve his situation in the world than a single one, chiefly because his spirits are soothed and relieved by domestic dearments, and self-respect kept alive by finding that although abroad be darkness and humiliation, yet there is still a little world of love at home, of which he is monarch. Whereas a single man is apt to run to waste and self-neglect— to fall to ruins, like some deserted mansions, for want of inhabitants. I have often had occasion to mark the fortitude with which women sustain the most overwhelming reverses of fortune. Those disasters which break down the spirit of a man, and prostrate him in the dust, seem to call forth all the energies of the softer sex, and give such intrepidity and elevation to their character that at times it approaches sublimity.—Washington Irving.