And these few precepts in thy memory
    See thou character—­Give thy thoughts no tongue,
    Nor any unproportioned thought his act. 
    Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar. 
    The friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
    Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel;
    But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
    Of each new-hatch’d, unfledged comrade.  Beware
    Of entrance to a quarrel:  but, being in,
    Bear’t that the opposed may beware of thee. 
    Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice: 
    Take each man’s censure, but reserve thy judgment. 
    Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
    But not express’d in fancy; rich, not gaudy: 
    For the apparel oft proclaims the man;
    And they in France of the best rank and station
    Are of a most select and generous sheaf in that. 
    Neither a borrower nor a lender be;
    For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
    And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry,
    This above all—­to thine ownself be true;
    And it must follow, as the night the day,
    Thou canst not then be false to any man.

[Illustration:  “Wedlock in Time”—­The Fairbanks’ Family]

The time has come to close this little book.  It has been a great pleasure to write it and a greater pleasure to hope that it will be received in the same spirit it has been written.  These are busy days for all of us.  We go in a gallop most of the time, but there comes the quiet hour when we must sit still and “take stock.”  I know this from the letters that come to me asking my opinion on all sorts of subjects.  People believe I am happy because my laughing pictures seem to denote this fact—­and it is a fact!  In the foregoing chapters I have told why.  If, in the telling I shall have been instrumental in adding to the world’s store of happiness I shall ever thank my “lucky stars.”

Very Sincerely

Douglas Fairbanks

A “CLOSE-UP” OF DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS

by George Creel

Reprinted from Everybody’s Magazine by Permission of The Ridgway Company, New York.

CHAPTER XX

A “CLOSE-UP” OF DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS

Young Mr. Douglas Fairbanks, star alike in both the “speakies” and the “movies,” is well worth a story.  He is what every American might be, ought to be, and frequently is not.  More than any other that comes to mind, he is possessed of the indomitable optimism that gives purpose, “punch,” and color to any life, no matter what the odds.

He holds the world’s record for the standing broad grin.  There isn’t a minute of the day that fails to find him glad that he’s alive.  Nobody ever saw him with a “grouch,” or suffering from an attack of the “blues.”  Nobody ever heard him mention “hard luck” in connection with one of his failures.  The worse the breaks of the game, the gloomier the outlook, the wider his grin.  He has made cheerfulness a habit, and it has paid him in courage, in bubbling energy, and buoyant resolve.