Keep Growing

Not long before Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s death at age seventy-five, someone asked him how he continued to write so beautifully and remain so vigorous. Longfellow pointed to an apple tree that was full of colorful bloom and said …

“That is a very old apple tree, but the blossoms this year seem more beautiful than ever before. That old tree grows a little new wood each year. And I suppose that it is out of the new wood that these blossoms come. Like the apple tree, I try to grow a little new wood each year.”

A talented violinist was scheduled to play before a very critical audience …

Although she had a fine instrument, she was not fully satisfied with the quality of its sound. She said to her father, “This violin must yield its full resonance and vibration of tone. Therefore, I’m going to buy some tested strings.

When asked how these strings are tested, she replied, “First they’re put on a rack…