Start Where You Stand

When a man who had been in the penitentiary applied to Henry Ford for

employment, he started to tell Mr. Ford his story. "Never mind," said

Mr. Ford, "I don't care about the past. Start where you stand.”

  Start where you stand and never mind the past,

    The past won't help you in beginning new,

  If you have left it all behind at last

    Why, that's enough, you're done with it, you're through;

  This is another chapter in the book,

    This is another race that you have planned,

  Don't give the vanished days a backward look,

    Start where you stand.

  The world won't care about your old defeats

    If you can start anew and win success,

  The future is your time, and time is fleet

    And there is much of work and strain and stress;

  Forget the buried woes and dead despairs,

    Here is a brand new trial right at hand,

  The future is for him who does and dares,

    Start where you stand.

  Old failures will not halt, old triumphs aid,

    To-day's the thing, to-morrow soon will be;

  Get in the fight and face it unafraid,

    And leave the past to ancient history;

  What has been, has been; yesterday is dead

    And by it you are neither blessed nor banned,

  Take courage, man, be brave and drive ahead,

    Start where you stand.

By Berton Braley.

From "A Banjo at Armageddon."

Resolve

There are some things we should all resolve to do. What are they? 

Any one may make a list for himself. It would be interesting to compare it

with the one here given by the poet.

                                    

  To keep my health!

  To do my work!

  To live!

  To see to it I grow and gain and give!

  Never to look behind me for an hour!

  To wait in weakness, and to walk in power;

  But always fronting onward to the light,

  Always and always facing towards the right.

  Robbed, starved, defeated, fallen, wide astray--

  On, with what strength I have!

  Back to the way!

                                        By Charlotte Perkins Gilman.

                                                 From "In This Our World."

Lose the Day Loitering

Anything is hard to begin, whether it be taking a cold bath, writing a

letter, clearing up a misunderstanding, or falling to on the day's work.

Yet "a thing begun is half done." No matter how unpleasant a thing is to

do, begin it and immediately it becomes less unpleasant. Form the

excellent habit of making a start.

  Lose the day loitering, 'twill be the same story

  To-morrow, and the next more dilatory,

  For indecision brings its own delays,

  And days are lost lamenting o'er lost days.

  Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute!

  What you can do, or think you can, begin it!

  Only engage, and then the mind grows heated;

  Begin it, and the work will be completed.

                         By Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Four Things

What are the qualities of ideal manhood? Various people have given

various answers to this question. Here the poet states what qualities he

thinks indispensable.

  Four things a man must learn to do

  If he would make his record true:

  To think without confusion clearly;

  To love his fellow-men sincerely;

  To act from honest motives purely;

  To trust in God and Heaven securely.

By Henry Van Dyke

From "Collected Poems."

The Answer

Bob Fitzsimmons lacked the physical bulk of the men he fought, was

ungainly in build and movement, and not infrequently got himself floored

in the early rounds of his contests. But many people consider him the

best fighter for his weight who ever stepped into the prize ring. Not a

favorite at first, he won the popular heart by making good. Of course he

had great natural powers; from any position when the chance at last came

he could dart forth a sudden, wicked blow that no human being could

withstand. But more formidable still was the spirit which gave him cool

and complete command of all his resources, and made him most dangerous

when he was on the verge of being knocked out.

  When the battle breaks against you and the crowd forgets to cheer

  When the Anvil Chorus echoes with the essence of a jeer;

  When the knockers start their panning in the knocker's nimble way

  With a rap for all your errors and a josh upon your play--

  There is one quick answer ready that will nail them on the wing;

  There is one reply forthcoming that will wipe away the sting;

  There is one elastic come-back that will hold them, as it should--

  Make good.

  No matter where you finish in the mix-up or the row,

  There are those among the rabble who will pan you anyhow;

  But the entry who is sticking and delivering the stuff

  Can listen to the yapping as he giggles up his cuff;

  The loafer has no come-back and the quitter no reply

  When the Anvil Chorus echoes, as it will, against the sky;

  But there's one quick answer ready that will wrap them in a hood--

  Make good.

by Grantland Rice.

From "The Sportlight."

It Isn't Costly

  Does the grouch get richer quicker than the

     friendly sort of man?

  Can the grumbler labor better than the cheerful

     fellow can?          

  Is the mean and churlish neighbor any cleverer

     than the one

  Who shouts a glad "good morning," and then

     smiling passes on?

  Just stop and think about it.  Have you ever

     known or seen

  A mean man who succeeded, just because he

     was so mean?

  When you find a grouch with honors and with

     money in his pouch,

  You can bet he didn't win them just because

     he was a grouch.

  Oh, you'll not be any poorer if you smile along

     your way,

  And your lot will not be harder for the kindly

     things you say.

  Don't imagine you are wasting time for others

     that you spend:

  You can rise to wealth and glory and still pause

     to be a friend.

                                                 

                                         by Edgar Albert Guest

To A Young Man

"Jones write a book! Impossible! I knew his father." This attitude towards distinction of any sort, whether in authorship or in the field of action, is characteristic of many of us. We think transcendent ability is entirely above and apart from the things of ordinary life. Yet genius itself has been defined as common sense in an uncommon degree. The great men are human. Shakespeare remembered this when he said, "I think the king is but a man as I am." We should take heart at the thought that since the great are like us, we may develop ourselves until we are like them.

The great were once as you.

They whom men magnify to-day

Once groped and blundered on life's way,

Were fearful of themselves, and thought

By magic was men's greatness wrought.

They feared to try what they could do;

Yet Fame hath crowned with her success

The selfsame gifts that you possess.

The great were young as you,

Dreaming the very dreams you hold,

Longing yet fearing to be bold,

Doubting that they themselves possessed

The strength and skill for every test,

Uncertain of the truths they knew,

Not sure that they could stand to fate

With all the courage of the great.

Then came a day when they

Their first bold venture made,

Scorning to cry for aid.

They dared to stand to fight alone,

Took up the gauntlet life had thrown,

Charged full-front to the fray,

Mastered their fear of self, and then,

Learned that our great men are but men.

Oh, youth, go forth and do!

You, too, to fame may rise;

You can be strong and wise.

Stand up to life and play the man—

You can if you'll but think you can;

The great were once as you.

You envy them their proud success?

'Twas won with gifts that you possess.

                           by Edgar Albert Guest