>6 
THREE LANDS. 
_ \ 
Three countries I can see to-day, 
Three countries fair, and far, 
I can not, for I dare not, say 
The half of what they are. 
* 
Serene aud calm, against the east, 
The land of Has Been lies; 
There, storms forever more have ceased, 
And cloudless are the skies. 
From off its quiet hills are blown 
Remembrances so sweet, 
I seem to cross the narrow zone, 
Where past and present meet. 
The fairer land of Yet May Be, 
From over in the west, 
Is even now inviting me 
To earnest, endless quest. 
For, flowers whose names I do not know, 
Light up each shaded dell, 
And rivers, whence, I see not, flow— 
Whither I can not tell. 
Its glow of gold and amethyst 
But dimly shining through 
A veil of thickly rising mist, 
Another land I view. 
But vainly for a beckoning hand 
I look across the stream, 
'That shuts me out from this bright land, 
This country of my dream. 
A bridge once spanned the stream, but now 
There is no way to cross; 
The very winds that fan my brow 
But mock my bitter loss. 
No other land is fair as this! 
No oVlier land!—and yet, 
In sight of all its wealth of bliss, 
I stand in mute regret. 
In sight of all the perfect years 
I never stepped within, 
And view, with grief too deep for tears, 
The land of Might Have Been. 
—Jessie H. Brown, in Good Cheer. 
HUMAN FAILINGS. 
Brother Gardner’s Theory About the 
Weak Spots in Men. 
“De odder day,” began the old man, with 
a half-ashamed expression of countenance, 
“when one of de members of dis club dis- 
kivered me dyein’ my ha’r wid a leetle 
lamp-black and sweet ile, he dispressed de 
greatest astonishment dat a pusson o’ my 
y’ars would be so vain. Gem’lem, when 
you find a man widout a single weak spot 
in his character^ you have foun’ a man too 
good for dis weary world. 
•'When you find a drunkard you find a 
man wid a weakness. He may be honest 
and truthful, but when you offer him whis¬ 
key you peel de patch off his weak spot. 
If inflooence am brought to b*ar to reform 
dat man, watch him. He am jist as sartin 
to break out in some odder spot, as de sun 
am to rise an’ sot. He will run to hoss 
races or poker rooms, or he will dress to 
kill, or run arter women, or develop suthin’ 
to prove dat he can’t keep a tight rein on 
his hull character at once. 
“Reform a gambler an* what do you 
make of him. Passion fur play am a weak¬ 
ness. Shake it off an’ de weakness breaks 
out in some odder spot. I have known a 
sober, .temperate gambler to reform dat 
habit and become a drunkard. 
“When you find a man wid a weakness 
fur horses let him alone. Take his hoss 
away an’ he will replace it wid sumthin’ 
mo’ disagreeable. 
“I look upon lyin’ as a weak hoop on de 
human bar’l. Few men like to lie, but dey 
lie bekase dey want to cotch de mous’ fish, 
or se£ the biggest bar, or cum de nigliest to 
bein’ killed. Lyin’ may be called an am¬ 
bitious weakness. Smith lies to get eben 
with Jones, and Jones to get eben wid 
Brown, an’ so it goes. Reform a liar and 
some oder hoop has got to bust. 
“Gem’lem, when de Lord an’ de church 
refuse to recognize perfecksliun in a man, 
why do we expeck an’ demand it ? Half a 
millyun clergymen in this kentry am tellin’ # 
us from de pulpit each Sabbath day dat 
man am weak an’ full o’ tricks, and yet 
when a pusson beats us out o’ half a dollar 
we riz up an’ yell as if it was a strange 
thing. I doan’ drink nor gamble nor lie 
nor steal, but I’ze got a weakness. I’ze a 
bit vain. I imagine dat I look purtier wid 
my hair greased up an’ de true color dis¬ 
guised. . . 
“In windin’ up de eulogy let me simply 
warn you agin’ expecting to fine any man 
or woman so good an’ nice an’ perfeck dat 
a flaw can’t be foun’ in de structure. Give 
’em due credit fur all good traits, an’ stall’ 
prepar’d to dodge when de bad ones comes 
to de surface. Let us now march on to 
attack de reg’lar progrommy ,”—Detroit 
Free Press , 
