Chapter 12

While usually it is better to allow each person to learn the lines that most appeal to him, yet some help should be given children. No two people will select all of the same things, though probably all would agree on some few things as being of the highest excellence. Some lines should be learned because of their beauty in description, others because of beauty in phraseology, and still others because of beauty in sentiment. Search should be made, too, for those things which are inspirational, and which will be strong aids in the building of character.

We append a few pages of quotations taken at random from the volumes. They will prove handy when the parent or teacher is pressed for time, and the references to volume and page will enable the busy person readily to find the context, if that seems desirable.

The quotations below are arranged in the order of their appearance in _Journeys Through Bookland_. This will enable anyone to locate them easily. The lines cover a wide range of thought and will furnish an endless variety of material for stories, comment, question and conversation. Some of them cannot be appreciated without a knowledge of their setting in the original poem or prose selection, while others are complete and perfect as they stand.

One of the best ways to teach a poem or selection is to begin by creating an interest in a quotation from it. For instance, "Write me as one who loves his fellow men," will lead the way to an acquaintance with the old favorite _Abou Ben Adhem_. In fact, only after the poem has been read and appreciated will a person get the full force of the idea, "Write me as one who loves his fellow men."

_One Hundred Choice Quotations_

(Volume I)

Early to bed, and early to rise, Is the way to be healthy, wealthy and wise. --Page 48.

Had it not been for your buzz I should not even have known you were there. --Page 70.

The Rock-a-by Lady from Hushaby street, With poppies that hang from her head to her feet. --Page 94.

I saw the dimpling river pass And be the sky's blue looking-glass. --Page 130.

In through the window a moonbeam comes, Little gold moonbeam with misty wings. --Page 133.

Oh, the world's running over with joy. --Page 147.

The honorable gentleman has not told us who is to hang the bell around the Cat's neck. --Page 197.

Here is the mill with the humming of thunder, Here is the weir with the wonder of foam, Here is the sluice with the race running under-- Marvelous places, though handy to home. --Page 349.

Then she smooths the eyelids down Over those two eyes of brown-- In such soothing, tender wise Cometh Lady Button-Eyes. --Page 367.

One must be content with the good one has enjoyed. --Page 379.

Oh, not in cruelty, not in wrath, The Reaper came that day; 'Twas an angel visited the green earth, And took the flowers away. --Page 411.

It matters nothing if one is born in a duck yard, if one can only be hatched from a swan's egg. --Page 427.

(Volume II)

Did you ever hear of a bird in a cage, that promised to stay in it? --Page 2.

The very violets in their bed Fold up their eyelids blue. --Page 32.

Rejoice in thy youth, rejoice in thy fresh growth, and in the young life that is within thee. --Page 70.

You are more than the Earth, though you are such a dot-- You can love and think, and the Earth cannot. --Page 67.

Thank him for his lesson's sake, Thank God's gentle minstrel there, Who, when storms make others quake, Sings of days that brighter were. --Page 214.

You must expect to be beat a few times in your life, little man, if you live such a life as a man ought to live. --Page 242.

Those that wish to be clean, clean they will be. --Page 247.

Reckon not on your chickens before they are hatched. --Page 376.

He saw the rocks of the mountain tops all crimson and purple with the sunset; and there were bright tongues of fiery cloud burning and quivering about them; and the river, brighter than all, fell, in a wavering column of pure gold, from precipice to precipice, with the double arch of a broad purple rainbow stretched across it, flushing and fading alternately in the wreaths of spray. --Page 420.

(Volume III)

In darkness dissolves the gay frost-work of bliss. --Page 96.

Peace and order and beauty draw Round thy symbol of light and law. --Page 349.

Lips where smiles went out and in. --Page 386.

All the little boys and girls, With rosy cheeks and flaxen curls, And sparkling eyes and teeth like pearls. --Page 391.

(Volume IV)

Prince thou art,--the grown up man Only is republican. --Page 3.

O'er me, like a regal tent, Cloudy-ribbed, the sunset bent, Purple-curtained, fringed with gold, Looped in many a wind-swung fold. --Page 6.

Now in memory comes my mother, As she was long years agone, To regard the darling dreamers Ere she left them till the dawn. --Page 8.

I chatter over stony ways, In little sharps and trebles, I bubble into eddying bays, I babble on the pebbles. --Page 60.

For men may come and men may go, But I go on forever. --Page 61.

And looks the whole world in the face, For he owes not any man. --Page 86.

Thus at the flaming forge of life Our fortunes may be wrought; Thus on its sounding anvil shaped Each burning deed and thought. --Page 88.

And when the arrows of sunset Lodged in the tree-tops bright, He fell, in his saint-like beauty, Asleep by the gates of light. --Page 129.

Save me alike from foolish pride, Or impious discontent, Or aught thy wisdom has denied, Or aught thy goodness lent. --Page 173.

And there through the flash of the morning light, A steed as black as the steeds of night, Was seen to pass as with eagle flight. --Page 224.

Noiselessly as the springtime Her crown of verdure weaves, And all the trees on all the hills Open their thousand leaves. --Page 267.

Who dies in youth and vigor, dies the best, Struck through with wounds, all honest, on the breast. --Page 369.

(Volume V)

I was not ever thus, nor prayed that thou Shouldst lead me on; I loved to choose and see my path, but now Lead thou me on; I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears, Pride ruled my will. Remember not past years. --Page 111.

Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice; Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment. --Page 112.

This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man. --Page 112.

the knotted column of his throat, The massive square of his heroic breast, And arms on which the standing muscle sloped, As slopes a wild brook o'er a little stone, Running too vehemently to break it. --Page 150.

Ye think the rustic cackle of your bourg The murmur of the world! --Page 156.

For man is man and master of his fate. --Page 158.

Perseverance gains its meed And Patience wins the race. --Page 316.

Forever float that standard sheet! Where breathes the foe but falls before us, With Freedom's soil beneath our feet, And Freedom's banner streaming o'er us? --Page 398.

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat; He is sifting out the hearts of men before his judgment seat; O, be swift, my soul, to answer him! be jubilant, my feet! Our God is marching on. --Page 399.

Silence! ground arms! kneel all! caps off! "Old Blue-Light's" going to pray. Strangle the foe that dares to scoff! Attention! It's his way. --Page 401.

(Volume VI)

To every man upon this earth Death cometh soon or late. And how can man die better Than facing fearful odds, For the ashes of his fathers, And the temples of his gods. --Page 8.

When by my bed I saw my mother kneel, And with her blessing took her nightly kiss; Whatever Time destroys, he cannot this;-- E'en now that nameless kiss I feel. --Page 122.

Sweet and low, sweet and low, Wind of the western sea; Low, low, breathe and blow, Wind of the western sea! Over the rolling waters go, Come from the dying moon, and blow, Blow him again to me; While my little one, while my pretty one, sleeps. --Page 122.

Sublime words make not a man holy and righteous, but it is a virtuous life that maketh him dear to God. --Page 134.

Who hath a stronger battle than he that useth force to overcome himself? This should be our occupation, to overcome ourselves and every day to be stronger and somewhat holier. --Page 136.

And the sheen on their spears was like stars on the sea, Where the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee. --Page 142.

Whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy people shall be my people and thy God my God. --Page 144.

For we are all, like swimmers in the sea, Poised on the top of a huge wave of fate, Which hangs uncertain to which side to fall. --Page 186.

Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam, Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home. --Page 224.

"God bless us every one!" said Tiny Tim. --Page 309.

All hail'd, with uncontroll'd delight And general voice, the happy night, That to the cottage, as the crown, Brought tidings of Salvation down. --Page 357.

The short and simple annals of the poor. --Page 363.

The paths of glory lead but to the grave. --Page 363.

Full many a gem of purest ray serene The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear; Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, And waste its sweetness on the desert air. --Page 365.

Along the cool, sequestered vale of life They kept the noiseless tenor of their way. --Page 366.

He gained from Heaven ('twas all he wished) a friend. --Page 368.

Sloth, like rust, consumes faster than labor wears; while the used key is always bright. --Page 410.

He that riseth late must trot all day, and shall scarce overtake his business at night; while laziness travels so slowly that poverty soon overtakes him. --Page 410.

Have you somewhat to do tomorrow? Do it today. --Page 412.

For want of a nail the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe the horse was lost; and for want of a horse the rider was lost. --Page 414.

Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship. --Page 415.

'Tis foolish to lay out money in the purchase of repentance. --Page 416.

Fools make feasts and wise men eat them. --Page 415.

'Tis hard for an empty bag to stand upright! --Page 418.

Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other. --Page 420.

(Volume VII)

That inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude. --Page 1.

Then doth thy sweet and quiet eye Look through its fringes to the sky. --Page 5.

The bonny lark, companion meet, Bending thee 'mang the dewy weet Wi' spreckled breast, When upward springing, blithe to greet The purpling east. --Page 8.

He prayeth well, who loveth well Both man and bird and beast. He prayeth best, who loveth best All things both great and small. --Page 57.

The rank is but the guinea's stamp, The man's the gowd for a' that! --Page 149.

By fairy hands their knell is rung, By forms unseen their dirge is sung. --Page 151.

Still stands Thine ancient Sacrifice, An humble and a contrite heart. Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, Lest we forget--lest we forget! --Page 164.

The remarkably adult yet innocent expression of their open and serene eyes is very memorable. All intelligence seems reflected in them. They suggest not merely the purity of infancy, but a wisdom clarified by experience. Such an eye was not born when the bird was, but is coeval with the sky it reflects. The woods do not yield such another gem. --Page 263.

Sound of vernal showers On the twinkling grass, Rain-awakened flowers, All that ever was Joyous, and clear, and fresh, thy music doth surpass. --Page 278.

Imagine a stream seventy yards broad divided by a pebbly island, running over seductive riffles and swirling into deep, quiet pools where the good salmon goes to smoke his pipe after his meals. --Page 287.

I once had a sparrow alight on my shoulder for a moment while I was hoeing in a village garden, and I felt that I was more distinguished by that circumstance than I should have been by any epaulet I could have worn. --Page 299.

And while in life's late afternoon Where cool and long the shadows grow, I walk to meet the night that soon Shall shape and darkness overflow, I cannot feel that thou art far, Since near at hand the angels are; And when the sunset gates unbar, Shall I not see thee waiting stand, And, white against the evening star, The welcome of thy beckoning hand? --Page 389.

He who, from zone to zone, Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight, In the long way that I must tread alone, Will lead my steps aright. --Page 397.

(Volume VIII)

Go tell the Spartans, thou that passeth by, That here, obedient to their laws, we lie. --Page 90.

Thermopylae had her messenger of defeat: The Alamo had none. --Page 152.

England expects every man to do his duty. --Page 297.

An' Oh! be sure to fear the Lord alway! An' mind your duty, duly, morn and night! --Page 322.

They never sought in vain that sought the Lord aright. --Page 322.

The best acid is assiduity. --Page 332.

(Volume IX)

Write me as one who loves his fellow men. --Page 11.

When beggars die, there are no comets seen; The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes. --Page 145.

Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once. --Page 145.

_Et tu Brute!_ Then fall, Cæsar. --Page 154.

Surely man is but a shadow, and life a dream. --Page 286.

All service ranks the same with God. --Page 301.

The year's at the spring, And day's at the morn; Morning's at seven; The hillside's dew-pearled: The lark's on the wing; The snail's on the thorn; God's in his heaven-- All's right with the world. --Page 303.

For what are the voices of birds-- Ay, and of beasts--but words, our words, Only so much more sweet? --Page 314.

I will pass each, and see their happiness, And envy none--being just as great, no doubt, Useful to men, dear to God as they! --Page 317.