February 16

If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.—JOHN xiii, 17.

Loving words will cost but little, Journeying up the hill of life; But they make the weak and weary Stronger, braver for the strife. Do you count them only trifles? What to earth are sun and rain? Never was a kind word wasted; Never one was said in vain.

ANON.

Few persons realize how much happiness may be promoted by a few words of cheer spoken in moments of despondency, by words of encouragement in seasons of difficulty, by words of commendation when obstacles have been overcome by effort and perseverance. Words fitly spoken often sink so deep into the mind and heart of the person to whom they are addressed that they remain a fixed, precious and oft-recurring memory—a continuous sunshine, lighting up years, perhaps, after the lips that have uttered them are sealed in death. A whole life has been changed, exalted, expanded, and illumined by a single expression of approval falling timely upon a sensitive and ambitious nature. Words of cheer cost nothing to the speaker. On the contrary, they are to him, as well as to the hearer, a source of great happiness, to be had for the mere effort of uttering them. The habit of speaking such words at appropriate times is easily acquired, while at the same time it is of so much importance that it should be sedulously cultivated by all. ANON.