From the Rock Island Argus, November 26, 1912.
By Duncan M. Smith.
What a crisscross maze is life
Take it any way you choose
In the never ending strife
As you gain and as you lose!
Luck is with you now and then
As you hurry for your goal
Twisting through the maze again
You are pitched into a hole.
Out of it you scramble up,
Hoping to do mighty deeds
Still of sorrow you must sup
Ere your budding hope succeeds.
How you struggle, how you groan,
As you buckle to your task
Just to make success your own,
Just in fortune’s smile to bask!
But it isn’t all a frost.
There are seasons to be gay.
Hope is never wholly lost
Joys are blooming on your way.
There’s a path to your success
You will find it after while
If you seek with cheerfulness
And you don’t forget to smile.