FROM ELSIE'S REFRIGERATOR DOOR

To laugh often and love much; to win and hold the respect of intelligent persons and the affections of little children; to earn the approbation of honest critics and to endure without flinching the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate beauty always, whether in earth¹s creations of human handiwork; to have sought for and found the best in others, and to have given it oneself; to leave the world better than one found it; whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, a cheery letter, or a redeemed social condition; to have played with enthusiasm, laughed with exuberance, and sung with exultation; to go down to dust and dreams, knowing that the world is a bit better, and that even a single life breathes easier because we have lived well, this is to have succeeded.
 
      (words by Emerson)
 

"I am the foundation of all business.  I am the fount of all prosperity.  I am the parent of genius.  I have laid the groundwork for every fortune in America, from the Rockefeller's down.

"I must be loved before I can bestow my greatest blessings and achieve my greatest ends.  Loved, I make life purposeful and fruitful.  I can do more to advance a youth than his own parents, be they ever so rich.

"Fools hate me.  Wise men love me.  I am represented in every loaf of bread that comes from the oven, in every train that crosses the continent, in every newspaper that comes off the press.  I am the mother of democracy.  All progress springs from me.  Who am I?  What am I?  I AM WORK."

      (from Ohio Mason)

Elsies's Memorial Service held at Davies Memorial UU Church on Dec. 3, 1988

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