OF DIAMOND VALUE

A genuine diamond is almost indestructible. It can stand the test of raging fire. I found this out by accident.

A friend once passed her diamond ring to me for safe-keeping while she did some work.

I wrapped the ring in a slip of paper and put it into my pocket, forgetting all about it until it was called for.

I then remembered that in kindling a fire I had taken the crumpled paper from my pocket and burned it up, diamond with it.

My face blanched. The day had been cold, and the fire very hot; in fact, a rousing coal-fire.

Rushing to the stove, I began to search the ashes for the missing diamond, at length finding it, dimmed and dulled by the intense heat.

Going with it to a dealer, I was rejoiced to learn that the stone was uninjured, and that after repolishing it would be more radiant and valuable than before, which proved to be the case.

The gem was sent to New York, burnished anew, given a rich setting, and of course was prized by its owner more than

ever.

My own interest in diamonds was thus enhanced. No other stone is so beautiful. No other substance is so impenetrable. No other fiber is so fireproof.

Diamond-polishing is one of the finest of the fine arts. Two years have been occupied in the cutting of one stone. A single diamond has been esteemed as worth five millions.

The New Gem diamond, which measured four inches in diameter when discovered in 1905, contained three thousand carats.

The Brazil diamond, discovered in 1680, measured three inches and contained one hundred and thirty cut karats.

The Kohinoor, discovered in 1304, belonging at length to Queen Victoria, is valued at six hundred thousand dollars.

The diamond has always been highly prized. Its ancient

name was "adamant," and it was used chiefly in cutting or writing upon glass or other hard substances, hence the expression "An adamant harder than fiint."

But there are diamonds other than those plucked from the soil of the Transvaal and coveted by all the world.

These other diamonds are none other than human hearts that glow, intellects that sparkle, characters that shine, spirits which are "purest rays serene."

These higher-class diamonds are not all to be found in the open; some of them have never been discovered at all, others are yet in the rough and needing resolute polishing; but every one of them has value, ornamenting the home, flashing in schools, gracing individual life, enriching society, and really doing the world more good than all the literal diamonds which flash in royal crowns, or are guarded in the treasures of society queens.

It is said that the potential value of a gem becomes actual after contact with the emery wheel. When the Cullinan diamond was lifted out of the blue earth of South Africa, its weight in the rough was over three thousand carats. After a year, however, in the polishing shop of an Amsterdam lapidary, though it had lost weight, its value had enhanced and it was considered fit to shine in the British crown.

Diamonds, however, all have intrinsic worth. Plentitude does not seem to lower their cost nor lessen their brilliancy. They can be imitated, but not cheapened. Excellence inheres in them. They are never anything but diamonds.

So with those gems of character which God has set in moral and spiritual crowns. They may shine by multitudes unseen, in humble cots, around beds of affliction, in halls of learning, in mission fields afar, but they are all diamonds still. Angels see them and appreciate their beauty. Great men know them and accord them their dues. They can not be destroyed by fire, or sword, or neglect. They are heaven's own priceless gems lent awhile to earth but soon to flash in imperial splendor throughout eternal years.

CHEERFULNESS

Some life qualities are like a field of thistles, homely and hurtful; others are like a garden full of roses and lilies, fragrant and beautiful.

Cheerfulness is a delightful life quality, as full of bright bouquets as a bird song is full of music.

What sunshine is to flowers, and what flowers are to persons who love them, so good cheer is to society; it develops, refines, and makes glad.

If one is determined to be miserable in this world, he can easily find enough to make him so, but if he wishes to be happy, he can open the windows of his soul and let in the sunshine. Life's day is light or dark in proportion as our vision is clear and our spirit bright.

"I would rather have a fool make me merry than experience make me sad." A song in the heart and a bouquet in the window are sources of gladness.

Innocent cheeriness beautifies any face and modifies any deformity. A club-foot's smile is more attractive than a beautyqueen's scowl.

Some fastidious people use face massage to keep out wrinkles. Cheeriness is a better remedy; it transforms wrinkles into beauty lines.

The beauty doctors say, "Don't laugh; laughing makes wrinkles." Rather say, "Don't frown; frowning kills folks." "A light heart lives long."

Cheerfulness is health; melancholy is disease, and heart disease at that. Nothing is more deadly than dumps.

When the heart is light, everything in life is bracing and charming. Even tears may water roses.

For usefulness or for a good time one ounce of cheerfulness is worth a ton of ill-humor. The scold never yet scaled the summit of bliss.

"If I can put one touch of rosy sunset into the life of any man or woman, I shall feel that I have worked with God;" how