And spend less than you earn, That he alone is free yyyye 37. DESPAIR. Oh! why cast down my soul? Of grief and care; Through every scene of pain, The glorious morning's light But soon the heavens grow black, The lightenings glare. Yet the red lightening's way And the sun's cheering ray, The self-same love display, Then welcome, O my soul! The will divine; Thyself resign. Since love divine appears His will be mine! * -DR. TUCKERMAN. From Mary Carpenter's Meditations. No circumstances are so desperate which Providence may not relieve. Have ye vices that ask a destroyer? And your body be ruled by your soul. Have ye Poverty's pinching to cope with? And dawn may come out of the night. On "Where there's a will there's a way." Should ye see afar off that worth winning, And hardships may hinder and stay; Keep a heart, and be sure you'll get through it, -ELIZA COOK. Let no man who owns a Providence, become desperate under any calamity, or strait whatsoever. Then, while there's work for you to do, Let "forward" be the move ye make, And when success has crowned your plans, To see the good your labour's done; Then droop not on your way. Beware of desperate steps. The darkest day, -CowPER. Never despair of God's blessings here, or of his reward hereafter. -WAKE. 38. DHRUVA. Dhruva's father had two wives; the favourite Suruchi was proud and haughty: the second, his mother, Sunîti was humble and gentle. Suruchi had a son, named Uttama. While quite a child Dhruva was contemptuously treated by Suruchi, and she told him that her own son Uttama would alone succeed to the throne. Dhruva and his mother submitted, and he declared that he wished for no other honours than such as his own actions should acquire. He was a Kshatriya, but he joined a society of Rishis, and becoming a Rishi himself he went through a rigid course of austerities, notwithstanding the efforts of Indra to distract him. At the end he obtained the favour of Vishnu who raised him to the skies as the pole-star.* One day Dhruva tried, like his elder brother, to take a seat in his father's lap, but he was contemptuously treated both by the king and his favourite wife. Dhruva went sobbing to his mother who told him in consolatory terms that fortune and favour were not attainable without hard exertions. A wise man will be contented with that degree which appertains to him. But if you continue to feel hurt at the words of your step-mother, endeavour to augment that religious merit which bestows all good. Be amiable; be pious; be friendly; be assiduous in benevolence to all living creatures. For prosperity descends upon modest worth, as water flows towards low ground.f -ADVICE TO DHRUVA BY HIS MOTHER. * From Dowson's Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion &c. + Vishnu Purana-from the works of H. H. Wilson. |