Notebook belonging to J. W. Dwyne (1901)

My Dad was not particularly religious, he kept a small black book with notes and saying's that were of interest.

Fortune Telling

I will tell your fortune not by lines upon the hand (a type of fortune telling I do not understand),

I'll tell it by those other lines, the lines upon your face and what they spell of charm in you, and kindness and grace.

I will tell your fortune not by crystal or by card, I'll tell it by your bearing when life's road is steep and hard; the way you meet with failure and the way you meet success.

I'll tell it by your light of aim, your creed of happiness.

I will tell your fortune not by bumps upon your head, but by your words and by your deeds and how your life is led, your powers of fellow service, oh I'll tell your fortune true - - by the joy you bring to others; and the love that comes to you.

Remember only times of Love and Gladness,

Forget the troubles, let them slip away.

Store up laughter, never mind the sadness of everyday.

Remember only things of Love and Beauty

Forget the stark words people sometimes say

For happy thoughts will keep you to your duty, through every day

Remember all the mercies God is sending

For thankfulness will help you Love and Pray

And Love and Prayer will bring a peaceful ending to each day.

Bygones

Let bygones be bygones and good be extracted

From ills over which it is folly to fret.

The worst of mortals have foolishly acted

The kindest are those who forgive and forget.

Contentment

There is a power to make each hour

As sweet as heaven designed it,

Nor need we roam to bring it home

Though few there be that find it

We look to high, for things close by

And lose what nature found us

For earth has here no charm so dear

As home and friends around us.

Look to this day,

For it is life, the very life of life.

In it's brief course all the variety of your existence

The bliss of growth

The glory of action

The splendour of beauty.

For yesterday is but a dream and tomorrow is only a vision

But today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness

And every tomorrow a vision of hope.

Look well therefore to this day.

Success is costly if we pay for it lowered standards

and degraded manhood or womanhood.

Failure is not defeat if we remain true

to what we know is right and noble

Remember when heart sick or weary,

The sunshine comes after rain

Soon your clouds will have vanished

And smiles will be yours again.

My Prayer

If I can bear his cross,

What matters scorn of men, my grief, my loss

Ambitions, failure, all that I have sought,

Except what I in Love for Christ have wrought

If I can see his face

By faith a vision of his beauty trace

What matters if my path be thorny now

I see the radiant light upon his brow

If I can hear his voice

My throbbing heart, though wounded shall rejoice;

What though I wander through bewildering ways

My soul shall evermore my Saviour praise.

If I can feel his hand

That guides me onward to the better land

What though my tears must fall I see a light

Through mist of sorrow ever shining bright.

Dear Lord, I turn to thee

My hope in life through death eternity

My cross is radiant now with flowers fair

Oh, make my life through love a living prayer

If you want to be happy

Begin where you are, don't wait for some rapture

That's future and far

Begin to be joyous,

Begin to be glad, and soon you'll forget

That you ever were sad.

Twixt Luck and Pluck

Lies but a letter;

Right good is Luck

But Pluck is better.

For Luck you sit

And wait his wooing;

But Pluck means Grit

And something doing!

If you would grow in wisdoms way

Five things observe with care,

To whom you speak

Of whom you speak and

How and when and where

Who hath a friend,

With whom to share,

Hath double cheer

And half a care.

We must try to be the very

best kind of person of the kind that we are,

for it is fatal to try to be the Kind we are not.

Remember

We cannot all be actors.

Someone must see the show.

No matter if you do your best,

You'll get your Kicks like all the rest.

But go right on through praise or blame,

And do your duty just the same.

Good Advice

Throw overboard useless regretting,

For deeds that you cannot undo,

And learn the great art of forgetting

Old things that embitter the new.

To-Day's the Day

We cannot change yesterday,

That is quite clear,

Or begin on tomorrow

Until it is here.

So all that remains

Both for you and for me

Is to make today

Just as sweet as can be.

One of the greatest lessons

of life is to learn not to

do what one likes, but to

like what one does.

The End

The following letter was from my Grandmother

Dear Billy

Although you don't understand this note I shall be thinking about you on your birthday. You will be one year old. As you grow up I hope you will be always Good. Try to do your best just like Granddad did, you are named after a good Man.  He would have been proud of you.

God bless you from Grandma

love xxx

I shall put 10/ to your account for Billy

The above would have been written in March 1945, the 10/ is 10 shillings.

My Grandmother in turn followed by my Dad's sisters Flo and Sally very thoughtfully put small amounts of money into an account for me. This provided some spending money when I was in the UK. They also sent me sweaters (birthday/x-mas) and the EAGLE, a weekly boys magazine (Dan Dare pilot of the Future). Some of the sweaters lasted me 'till my 50's and I still have a few Eagles. As a youth I should have been more thankful, it is however a kindness that has never been forgotten.