The Value of Hope

From the Rock Island Argus, April 23, 1913.
 By S. E. Kiser.
 

 How drear a place the world would be
     If all who fail to win success
 Permitted all the rest to see
     The evidence of their distress!
 How fortunate it is that men
     So often hide the griefs they bear
 So often still try bravely when
     Their breasts are laden with despair.
 
 How few men ever would achieve
     The victories that are so sweet
 If each should let the world perceive
     Whenever he had met defeat!
 How few men would be deemed sublime
     By those whose hearts are moved to song
 If each sat grumbling every time
     His heart ached or his plans went wrong.
 
 How little there would be to praise
     How much to keep us plunged in gloom
 If each but waited all his days
     To hear the dreadful crack of doom!
 ’Tis well that men conceal despair
     When stubborn fate has used them ill;
 Why not, if you have woes to bear,
     Assist by seeming hopeful still?