The Villa d’Asola, the country residence of the Signor Falieri, was in a state of unusual excitement. Some of the most distinguished patricians of Venice had been bidden to a great banquet, which was to surpass in magnificence any entertainment ever before given, even by the wealthy and hospitable Signer Falieri. The feast was ready, […]

Dost thou love life? Then, do not squander time, forthat is the stuff life is made of!–FRANKLIN. Franklin not only understood the value of time, but he put a price upon it that made others appreciate its worth. A customer who came one day to his little bookstore in Philadelphia, not being satisfied with the […]

He was only a little, barefooted errand boy, the son of a poor blacksmith. His school life ended in his thirteenth year. The extent of his education then was limited to a knowledge of the three “R’s.” As he trudged on his daily rounds, through the busy streets of London, delivering newspapers and books to […]

These words ere uttered many years ago by a youth who had no other means by which to reach the top than work and will. They have since become the watchword of every poor boy whose ambition is backed by energy and a determination to make the most possible of himself. The occasion on which […]

I would not enter on my list of friends,(Though graced with polished manners and fine sense,Yet wanting sensibility), the manWho needlessly sets foot upon a worm. COWPER. “Nero!” Crushed, baffled, blinded, and, like Samson, shorn of his strength, prostrate in his cage lay the great tawny monarch of the forest. Heedless of the curious crowds […]

Long, long ago, in the shadowy past, Ali Hafed dwelt on the shores of the River Indus, in the ancient land of the Hindus. His beautiful cottage, set in the midst of fruit and flower gardens, looked from the mountain side on which it stood over the broad expanse of the noble river. Rich meadows, […]

Farther back than the memory of the grandfathers and grandmothers of some of my young readers can go, there lived in a historic town in Massachusetts a brave little lad who loved books and study more than toys or games, or play of any kind. The dearest wish of his heart was to be able […]

A cow! Now, of all things in the world; of what use was a cow to an ambitious boy who wanted to go to college? Yet a cow, and nothing more, was the capital, the entire stock in trade, of an aspiring farmer boy who felt within him a call to another kind of life […]

“No great deed is doneBy falterers who ask for certainty.” “God will give you a reward,” solemnly spoke the grateful mother, as she received from the arms of the brave youth the child he had risked his life to save. As if her lips were touched with the spirit of prophecy, she continued, “He will […]

Nature took the measure of little Tommy Edwards for a round hole, but his parents, teachers, and all with whom his childhood was cast, got it into their heads that Tommy was certainly intended for a square hole. So, with the best intentions in the world,–but oh, such woeful ignorance!–they tortured the poor little fellow […]

Many years ago, in a shabby room in one of the poorest streets of London, a little golden-haired boy sat singing, in his sweet, childish voice, by the bedside of his sick mother. Though faint from hunger and oppressed with loneliness, he manfully forced back the tears that kept welling up into his blue eyes, […]

“I heard that a neighbor three miles off, had borrowed from a still more distant neighbor, a book of great interest. I started off, barefoot, in the snow, to obtain the treasure. There were spots of bare ground, upon which I would stop to warm my feet. And there were also, along the road, occasional […]

Richard Wagner, the great composer, weaves into one of his musical dramas a beautiful story about a youth named Siegfried, who did not know what fear was. The story is a sort of fairy tale or myth,–something which has a deep meaning hidden in it, but which is not literally true. We smile at the […]

In the year 1866 David Livingstone, the great African explorer and missionary, started on his last journey to Africa. Three years passed away during which no word or sign from him had reached his friends. The whole civilized world became alarmed for his safety. It was feared that his interest in the savages in the […]

“The heights by great men reached and keptWere not attained by sudden flight;But they, while their companions slept,Were toiling upward in the night.” The significant inscription found on an old key,–“If I rest, I rust,”–would be an excellent motto for those who are afflicted with the slightest taint of idleness. Even the industrious might adopt […]

GLIMPSES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN’S BOYHOOD In pronouncing a eulogy on Henry Clay, Lincoln said: “His example teaches us that one can scarcely be so poor but that, if he will, he can acquire sufficient education to get through the world respectably.” Endowed as he was with all the qualities that make a man truly great, […]

THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER “Poetry and music,” says Sir John Lubbock, “unite in song. From the earliest ages song has been the sweet companion of labor. The rude chant of the boatman floats upon the water, the shepherd sings upon the hill, the milkmaid in the dairy, the plowman in the field. Every trade, every occupation, […]

When the current serves, the unseen monitor that directs our affairs bids us step aboard our craft, and, with hand firmly grasping the helm, steer boldly for the distant goal. Philip D. Armour, the open-handed, large-hearted merchant prince, who has left a standing memorial to his benevolence in the Armour Institute at Chicago, heard the […]

“Ye crags and peaks, I’m with you once again! I hold to you the hands you first beheld, to show they still are free. Methinks I hear a spirit in your echoes answer me, and bid your tenant welcome to his home again! O sacred forms, how proud you look! how high you lift your […]

“The loss of an hour,” says the philosopher, Leibnitz, “is the loss of a part of life.” This is a truth that has been appreciated by most men who have risen to distinction,–who have been world benefactors. The lives of those great moral heroes put to shame the laggard youth of to-day, who so often […]