March 23

Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things.—JAMES iii, 5.

But now ye rejoice in your boastings; all such rejoicing is evil.—JAMES iv, 16.

We rise in Glory, as we sink in Pride,

Where Boasting ends, there Dignity begins.

YOUNG.

The honor's overpaid,

When he that did the act is commentator.

SHIRLEY.

We tarnish the splendor of our best actions by too often speaking of them.

HUGH BLAIR.

A boast is not only a proof of weakness of character, but in its expression weakens still more the character. We cannot talk loudly of feeling without exhausting the latent strength of feeling. . . . Nor can any man boast of his future deeds without endangering his success when the trial comes. "That a man well intends he'll do it before he speaks." The boaster has fought a battle against an imaginary foe and won it, but when the real foe arrives he is surprised at the opposition he encounters. It was easy work in fancy; it is terrible work in reality. The very knowledge that he has boasted confuses him; he is troubled, strikes blindly, and flies.

STOPFORD A. BROOKE.