There once was a man who bore a grudge.
Stoutly he bore it many a year.
"Beware!" said the parson. He answered, "Fudge!
Well it becomes me, never fear.
"Men for this world, and saints for heaven;
Too much of meekness shows a fool;
My loaf shall rise with a livelier leaven;
'Give as you get,' is a good old rule."
The longer he bore it, the more it grew,
Grew his grudge, as he trudged along;
Till in sight of a pearly gate he drew,
And he heard within it a wondrous song.
The shining porter said, "Walk in."
He sought to do so; the gate was strait:
Hard he struggled his way to win,
The way was narrow, the grudge was great.
He turned in haste to lay it down;
He strove to tear it away--to cut--
But it had fast to his heart strings grown,
"O wait," he cried; but the door was shut.
Through windows bright and clear he saw
The blessed going with their Lord to sup.
But Satan clapped on his grudge a claw;
Hell opened her mouth and swallowed him up.
--Sara Hammond Palfrey.
Man judges from a partial view,
None ever yet his brother knew;
The Eternal Eye that sees the whole
May better read the darkened soul,
And find, to outward sense denied,
The flower upon its inward side.
--John Greenleaf Whittier.
O brothers! are ye asking how
The hills of happiness to find?
Then know they lie beyond the vow--
"God helping me, I will be kind."
--Nixon Waterman.