William Shakespeare.

NEVER TROUBLE TROUBLE

To borrow trouble is to contract a debt that any man is better without.  If your troubles are not borrowed, they are not likely to be many or great.

    I used to hear a saying
  That had a deal of pith;
  It gave a cheerful spirit
  To face existence with,
  Especially when matters
  Seemed doomed to go askew,
  ’Twas Never trouble trouble
  Till trouble troubles you.

    Not woes at hand, those coming
  Are hardest to resist;
  We hear them stalk like giants,
  We see them through a mist. 
  But big things in the brewing
  Are small things in the brew;
  So never trouble trouble
  Till trouble troubles you.

    Just look at things through glasses
  That show the evidence;
  One lens of them is courage,
  The other common sense. 
  They’ll make it clear, misgivings
  Are just a bugaboo;
  No more you’ll trouble trouble
  Till trouble troubles you.

St. Clair Adams.

CLEAR THE WAY

Humanity is always meeting obstacles.  All honor to the men who do not fear obstacles, but push them aside and press on.  Stephenson was explaining his idea that a locomotive steam engine could run along a track and draw cars after it.  “But suppose a cow gets on the track,” some one objected.  “So much the worse,” said Stephenson, “for the cow.”

  Men of thought! be up and stirring,
    Night and day;
  Sow the seed, withdraw the curtain,
    Clear the way! 
  Men of action, aid and cheer them,
    As ye may! 
  There’s a fount about to stream,
  There’s a light about to gleam,
  There’s a warmth about to glow,
  There’s a flower about to blow;
  There’s midnight blackness changing
    Into gray! 
  Men of thought and men of action,
    Clear the way!

  Once the welcome light has broken,
    Who shall say
  What the unimagined glories
    Of the day? 
  What the evil that shall perish
    In its ray? 
  Aid it, hopes of honest men;
  Aid the dawning, tongue and pen;
  Aid it, paper, aid it, type,
  Aid it, for the hour is ripe;
  And our earnest must not slacken
    Into play. 
  Men of thought and men of action,
    Clear the way!

  Lo! a cloud’s about to vanish
      From the day;
  And a brazen wrong to crumble
      Into clay! 
  With the Right shall many more
  Enter, smiling at the door;
  With the giant Wrong shall fall
  Many others great and small,
  That for ages long have held us
      For their prey. 
  Men of thought and men of action,
      Clear the way!

Charles Mackay.

ONE FIGHT MORE