What the Clock Says: A Poem

288 IMPRG VEMENT ERA. reading the same page of really good literature. The fifteenth Psalm read at the ages of ten, 'fifteen, twenty, and forty years respectively, should yield a very different result in each case. The fact, then, that one is able to get new thought and in- spiration on re-reading a book, after setting it aside for six months, is no cause for alarm. It may, on the other hand, be an indication both of the intrinsic value of the book and of the mental advancement of the reader. The opposite result would indicate either that the literature read is very poor, or that the reader is rather stupid. Literature is an expression of life; and life is very complex and many-sided. The associations sug- gested may never be exactly the same in any two readings of the same poem. Even during the same day the thought may vary greatly, since it is determined in part by the temporary moods of the reader. ''How can I turn

what I read into life?" I am not sure that I understand the intent of this question. If it refers to the intel- lectual life, some suggestions on this point have already been offered, if to the moral life, it opens a broad field. Activity and motive taken together, are the index of the moral life. Thought and feeling gained through reading must, then, be turned into motive and action. Let no good thought or feeling escape with- out being expressed in some good act, performed through a worthy, unselfish motive. This can be done only by grasping principles, and then applying them in a manner appropriate to cir- cumstances and conditions. Salt Lake City, Utah. WHAT THE CLOCK SAYS. {For the Improvement Era.) These bright little seconds are nuggets of gold. Tlie minutes are pnils into which they are rolled. The hours are the buckets ; when each bucket weighs A just portion, 'tis tipped to the measure of days; Thence to the measure of weeks; and when It teems to the brim, it is emptied again.