Catch the sunshine, catch it gladly,
Messenger in Hope's employ;
Sent through clouds, through storms and billows,
Bringing you a ray of joy. Don't be sighing, don't be weeping;
Life, you know, is but a span: There's no time to sigh or sorrow; Catch the sunshine when you can.
THE FOUNTAIN.
NTO the sunshine; Full of the light; Leaping and flashing From morn till night;
Into the moonlight, Whiter than snow; Waving so flower-like When the winds blow;
Into the starlight
Rushing in spray; Happy at midnight, Happy by day;
Ever in motion,
Blithesome and cheery; Still climbing heavenward, Never aweary ;
Glad of all weathers,
Still seeming best; Upward or downward, Motion thy rest ;
Full of a nature
Nothing can tame; Changed every moment,
Ever the same ;
Ceaseless aspiring,
Ceaseless content; Darkness or sunshine,
Thy element,
Glorious fountain!
Let my heart be Fresh, changeful, constant, Upward, like thee!
F you cannot on the ocean Sail among the swiftest fleet, Rocking on the mighty billows, Laughing at the storms you meet, You can stand among the sailors Anchored yet within the bay; You can lend a hand to help them As they launch their boats away.
If you are too weak to journey Up the mountain steep and high, You can stand within the valley As the multitudes go by; You can chant in happy measure As they slowly pass along: Though they may forget the singer, They will not forget the song.
If you cannot in the conflict
Prove yourself a warrior true; If, where fire and smoke are thickest, There's no work for you to do, Where the battle-field is silent, You can go with gentle tread; You can bear away the wounded; You can cover up the dead.
If you cannot in the harvest
Garner up the richest sheaves, Many a grain both ripe and golden, Which the careless reaper leaves, You can glean among the briers Growing rank against the wall; And it may be that the shadows Hide the heaviest wheat of all.
If you have not gold and silver Ever ready at command; If you cannot toward the needy Reach an ever-open hand, -
You can visit the afflicted; O'er the erring you can weep; You can be a true disciple Sitting at the Saviour's feet.
Do not, then, stand idly waiting For some nobler work to do For your heavenly Father's glory, Ever earnest, ever true. Go and toil in any vineyard; Work in patience and in prayer : If you want a field of labor, You can find it anywhere.
Of some secret deed of shame,
And for this by all rejected As a thing of evil fame, Guard thine every look and action; Speak no word of heartless blame; For the slander's vile detraction Yet may soil thy goodly name.
When you meet with one pursuing Ways the lost have wandered in,
Working out his own undoing With his recklessness and sin; Think, if placed in his condition, Would a kind word be in vain? Or a look of cold suspicion Win thee back to truth again?
There are spots that bear no flowers, - Not because the soil is bad; But the summer's genial showers Never make their bosoms glad. Better have an act that's kindly Treated sometimes with disdain, Than, by judging others blindly, Doom the innocent to pain.
LL around us, fair with flowers, Fields of beauty sleeping lie;
All around us clarion-voices Call to duty stern and high. Thankfully we will rejoice in All the beauty God has given; But beware it does not win us From the work ordained of Heaven.
Following every voice of mercy, With a trusting, loving heart, Let us, in Life's earnest labor, Still be sure to do our part.
Now, to-day, and not to-morrow, Let us work with all our might, Lest the wretched faint and perish In the coming stormy night.
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