Keep on keeping on by Anonymous

Keep on keeping on by Anonymous

If the day looks kinder gloomy

And your chances kinder slim,

If the situation's puzzlin'

And the prospect's awful grim,

If perplexities keep pressin'

Till hope is nearly gone,

Just bristle up and grit your teeth

And keep on keepin' on.

Frettin' never wins a fight

And fumin' never pays;

There ain't no use in broodin'

In these pessimistic ways;

Smile just kinder cheerfully

Though hope is nearly gone,

And bristle up and grit your teeth

And keep on keepin' on.

There ain't no use in growlin'

And grumblin' all the time,

When music's ringin' everywhere

And everything's a rhyme.

Just keep on smilin' cheerfully

If hope is nearly gone,

And bristle up and grit your teeth

And keep on keepin' on.

Don’t push him back by S. E. Kiser

Don’t push him back by S. E. Kiser

It may be that you cannot stay

To lend a friendly hand to him

Who stumbles on the slippery way,

Pressed by conditions hard and grim;

It may be that you dare not heed

His call for help, because you lack

The strength to lift him, but you need

Not push him back.

It may be that he has not won

The right to hope for your regard;

He may in folly have begun

The course that he has found so hard;

It may be that your fingers bleed,

That Fortune turns a bitter frown

Upon your efforts, but you need

Not kick him down.

Hard by Edgar Guest

Hard by Edgar Guest

One day, in ages dark and dim,

A toiler, weary, worn and faint,

Who found his task too much for him,

Gave voice unto a sad complain.

And seeking emphasis to give

Upon his trials (day ill-starred!)

Coupled to “work” this adjective,

This little word of terror: Hard.

And from that day to this has work

Its frightening description worn;

'Tis spoken daily by the shirk,

The first cloud on the sky at morn.

Today when there are tasks to do,

Save that we keep ourselves on guard

With fearful doubtings them we view,

And think and speak of them as hard.

That little but ill-chosen word

Has wrought great havoc with men's souls,

Has chilled the hearts ambition stirred

And held the pass to splendid goals.

Great dreams have faded and been lost,

Fine youth by it been sadly marred

As plants beneath a withering frost,

Because men thought and whispered: Hard.

Let's think of work in terms of hope

And speak of it with words of praise,

And tell the joy it is to grope

Along the new, untrodden ways!

Let's break this habit of despair

And cheerfully our task regard;

The road to happiness lies there;

Why think or speak of it as hard?

Be a man by Edgar Guest

Be a man by Edgar Guest

To do your little bit of toil,

To play life's game wit head erect;

To stoop to nothing that would soil

Your honor or your self-respect;

To win what gold and fame you can,

But first of all to be a man.

To know the bitter and the sweet,

The sunshine and the days of rain;

To meet both victory and defeat,

Nor boast to loudly or complain;

To face whatever fates befall

And be a man throughout it all.

To seek success in honest strife,

But not to value it so much

That, winning it, you go through life

Stained by dishonor's scarlet touch.

What goal or dream you choose, pursue,

But be a man whate'er you do!