Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: LOOK FOR THE BEST "F anvne should give me a dish of sand," said Oliver Wendell Holmes, "and say there were particles of iron in it, I might look with my eyes for them, and search for them with my clumsy fingers, and be unable to find them; but let me take a magnet and sweep it, and how it would draw to itself the most invisible particles by the power of attraction! The unthankful heart, like my finger in the sand, discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day, and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find in every hour some heavenly blessing; only the iron in God's sand is gold." How truly the genial Holmes has described the secret of finding in every-day life abundant cause for gladness. It is the spirit in which one views life that makes the outlook pleasant or the reverse. With theheart ready to receive and appreciate brightness and joyous circumstances, the eyes are open to see all there is of such in the daily pathway. The spirit that hopes for the best is often best prepared for the worst, should that worst befall, and is most apt to bear manfully whatever happens. The buoyancy of hopefulness is the best antidote to disappointment, and most thoroughly fits one to appreciate all that happens in the day to cause joy and thankfulness. It is true that many a day brings some things that are by no means joyful; there are troubles, disasters, sorrows, heart-breaks, but still the hopeful heart is best able to bear up under these trials, and, toiling on, will see the reward of conquest achieved over all that is now so hard to endure. Gerald Massey, a British poet, wrote many beautiful poems, each filled with optimism and hopefulness. The following is a sample of his expression of a cheerful spirit. The little gem, which has been set to music,...