Serene will be our days and bright
    And happy will our nature be
    When love is an unerring light,
    And joy its own security. 
    And they a blissful course may hold
    Ev’n now, who, not unwisely bold,
    Live in the spirit of this creed;
  Yet seek thy firm support, according to their need.

    I, loving freedom, and untried,
    No sport of every random gust,
    Yet being to myself a guide,
    Too blindly have reposed my trust: 
    And oft, when in my heart was heard
    Thy timely mandate, I deferr’d
    The task, in smoother walks to stray;
  But thee I now would serve more strictly, if I may.

    Through no disturbance of my soul
    Or strong compunction in me wrought,
    I supplicate for thy control,
    But in the quietness of thought: 
    Me this uncharter’d freedom tires;
    I feel the weight of chance-desires: 
    My hopes no more must change their name;
  I long for a repose that ever is the same.

    Stern Lawgiver! yet thou dost wear
    The Godhead’s most benignant grace,
    Nor know we anything so fair
    As is the smile upon thy face;
    Flowers laugh before thee on their beds,
    And fragrance in thy footing treads;
    Thou dost preserve the Stars from wrong;
  And the most ancient Heavens, through Thee, are fresh and strong.

    To humbler functions, awful Power! 
    I call thee:  I myself commend
    Unto thy guidance from this hour;
    Oh let my weakness have an end! 
    Give unto me, made lowly wise,
    The spirit of self-sacrifice;
    The confidence of reason give;
  And in the light of truth thy Bondman let me live.

William Wordsworth.

THE SYNDICATED SMILE

A ready and sincere friendliness is the one thing we can show to every human being, whether we know him or not.  The world is full of perplexed and lonely people whom even a smile or a kind look will help.  Yet that which is so easy to give we too often reserve for a few, and those perhaps the least appreciative.

  I knew a girl who had a beau
  And his name wasn’t Adams—­
  No child of hers would ever call
  The present writer “daddums.” 
  I didn’t love the girl, but still
  I found her most beguiling;
  And so did all the other chaps—­
  She did it with her smiling. 
  “I’m not a one-man girl,” she said—­
  “Of smiles my beau first took his;
  But some are left; I’ll syndicate
  And pass them round like cookies.”

That syndicated smile! 
When trouble seemed the most in style,
It heartened us—­
That indicated,
Syndicated
Smile.

It’s not enough to please your boss
Or fawn round folks with bankrolls;
Be just as friendly to the guys
Whose homespun round their shank rolls. 
The best investment in the world
Is goodwill, twenty carat;
It costs you nothing, brings returns;
So get yours out and air it. 
A niggard of good nature cheats
Himself and wrongs his fellows. 
You’d serve mankind?  Then be less close
With friendly nods and helloes.