Be true to your deed, whatever it may have
been, and if the deed was true, the end must necessarily be
satisfactory.
Burns, of course, we must read. We must have him to keep the milk of
human kindness flowing in our veins--to keep sweet and sincere and
loving. The good that you get from Burns cannot be analyzed. You
cannot say, "I have read Burns, and find in him of wisdom so many
grains, of humor so many grains, of beauty of expression so many
grains," and so forth and so on to the end.
It is the general effect of Burns that is so valuable, so
indispensable. Read a little bit of Burns every day, and you will find
it very hard to be unkind; you are conscious that you are more human.
A mellow and delightful sympathy for your fellow man--aye, and for all
living things--warms your heart. And this human quality is more
valuable than all the riches of all the lords of wealth.
At all cost keep your capacity for human sympathy.
The sharp, hard processes of our strictly business civilization tend
to regulate even our sympathies into a system. It is as if we should
say each day, "I have time to-day for five minutes of human sympathy,"
and promptly push the button of our stop-watch when the second-hand
shows that the time has expired.
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