DEATH OF SAMSON. JOHN MILTON. Scene In Gaza. OCCASIONS drew me early to this city; The building was a spacious theater The feast and noon grew high, and sacrifice Had filled their hearts with mirth, high cheer, and wine, In their state livery clad; before him pipes And timbrels, on each side went armed guards, Both horse and foot; before him and behind He, patient, but undaunted, where they led him, None daring to appear antagonist. At length, for intermission sake, they led him With both his arms on those two massy pillars, He, unsuspicious, led him; which when Samson At last, with head erect, thus cried aloud: 66 Hitherto, lords, what your commands imposed I have performed, as reason was, obeying, Not without wonder or delight beheld: Now, of my own accord, such other trial I mean to show you of my strength, yet greater, As with amaze shall strike all who behold." This uttered, straining all his nerves, he bowed; When mountains tremble, those two massy pillars He tugged, he shook, till down they came, and drew From "Samson Agonistes." MAY MORNING. JOHN MILTON. Now the bright morning star, Day's harbinger, Comes dancing from the east, and leads with her The flowery May, who from her green lap throws The yellow cowslip and the pale primrose. Hail, bounteous May, that dost inspire Mirth, and youth, and warm desire! Woods and groves are of thy dressing; Hill and dale doth boast thy blessing. Thus we salute thee with our early song, And welcome thee, and wish thee long. ON HIS BLINDNESS. JOHN MİLTON. WHEN I consider how my light is spent, Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide, And post o'er land and ocean without rest; How charming is divine philosophy! Not harsh and crabbed, as dull fools suppose, And a perpetual feast of nectared sweets, A CHEERFUL SPIRIT. SIR JOHN LUBBOCK. SIR JOHN LUBBOCK was born in England in 1834. He is a banker and has introduced great improvements into banking and custom-house business. He has written a number of books on literary and scientific subjects. CHEERFULNESS is a great moral tonic. As sunshine brings out the flowers and ripens the fruit, so does cheerfulness the feeling of freedom and life-develop in us all the seeds of good—all that is best in us. . 5 Cheerfulness is a duty we owe to others. There is 10 an old tradition that a cup of gold is to be found wherever a rainbow touches the earth, and there are some people whose smile, the sound of whose voice, whose very presence seems like a ray of sunshine, to turn everything they touch into gold. 66 Men never break down as long as they can keep cheerful. "A merry heart is a continual feast" to others besides itself. The shadow of Florence Nightingale cured more than her medicines; and if we share the burdens of others, we lighten our own. All wish, but few know how, to enjoy themselves. They do not realize the dignity and delight of life. 15 20 Do not magnify small troubles into great trials. We often fancy we are mortally wounded when we are but scratched. A surgeon, says Fuller, "sent for to cure a 25 slight wound, sent off in a great hurry for a plaster. |