Oklahoma Sunshine Part 48

Little Sermons.

Eloquent sermons never saved a sin-sick soul.

Hate would narrow heaven to a one man's closet.

Charity is the first lesson in the school of righteousness.

The religion that feeds only the heart can never hope to save hungry souls.

If you shake hands with sin as you leave it, you will find it at the station to meet you when the train stops.

In April Days.

The budding trees Perfume the breeze With breath of blossomed mysteries, And soft winds play By gra.s.sy way Through every laughing April day!

Suns rosy rise Through turquoise skies, And life looks out through tender eyes; While cloudlets lift Through rent and rift, Where floating islands drive and drift.

Clear waters sing From stream and spring, With music in their murmuring, And where they drip, With thirsty sip A lonely violet lifts its lip.

The balmy croons Of tender tunes Sing through the drowsy afternoons, And faint perfumes Of bursting blooms Haunt all the aisles of dying glooms!

And dreams arise Of perfect skies And all the worlds of prophets wise, And tender hands Whose fond commands Lead fast and far through Love's sweet lands.

And bending low We fondly know The love-songs of the Long Ago, So sweet and fair With raptures rare, And lips of welcome waiting there.

O, fields afar, Whose echoes are Soft whispers flung from sun and star, Still faint and dim I hear your hymn Across the wide horizon's rim!

Little Sermons.

Drowning men were never rescued by eloquent preachers who stand on the sh.o.r.e and shout at them how to swim.

The church that brings shadows to this world hangs no suns.h.i.+ne o'er the portals of the next.

The n.o.blest ambition of good men is to pluck the thorns from among the roses of upright living.

Without Embara.s.sment.

(John D. Rockefeller has recently offered the Congregational Missionary Society $100,000; after much discussion, they have decided to take the money.)

It must be very trying When the wicked millionaires Desire to trade the pulpits Dirty dollars for their prayers; But I miss the shame, you see, And am happy as can be, For John D.

Rockyfeller he Hain't a-throwin' any of his awful coin at me!

Of course, if some rich sinner Should attempt to subsidize, I certainly would see, sir, If I dared accept the prize; But I worry none, you see, And my fancies all are free, For John D.

Rockyfeller he Hain't expressed a notion to be subsidizin' me!

But I--I have the promise,-- You may spread the joyous news-- I get whatever millions That the churches may refuse; But I know still poor I'll be And from dirty dollars free, For John D.

Rockyfeller he Will never have occasion to pa.s.s on the coin to me!

In the Dark.

It's all too lonely for speech, Too drear for a swift remark; I only grope till I faintly reach Your finger-tips in the dark.

But there in the darkness near Where the shadows clutch and cling, Above the plash of the bitter tear, A song and the lips that sing!

Caught on the Fly.

Poor cooks make rich undertakers.

Self confidence is the sharpest weapon in life's fierce battles.

It is our own infirmities that lead us to suspect infirmities in our fellows.

Because it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom may account for the wives of so many owning all the property.

"When Teddy Squares the Deal."

They tell us that the good old play We call the game of life, Is fair no more, and every day Leads on to more of strife; The cards are marked, the hands are stuffed, The players bunco feel, And graft has all the goodness bluffed Till Teddy squares the deal!

The gamblers who have won the stakes By shady ways of wrong Will find of dough their biggest cakes And sing another song; The loaded dice so used of yore, The marks that help the steal, Will disappear forever more When Teddy squares the deal.

Then honest men will have a chance To play an even game, And thrift and virtue swift advance To happiness and fame; No more will robbers ply their trade, Nor shout the tin-horn's spiel; The world will call a spade a spade When Teddy squares the deal!

He'll slay the "bear", he'll rope the "bull,"

He'll make the brokers stare; He'll fill the jails with robbers full, And teach them to beware; He'll fill the rich man full of pains And millionaires shall reel, While poor men prosper in their gains, When Teddy squares the deal.