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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Optimist's Good Morning, by Florence
+Hobart Perin
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Optimist's Good Morning
+
+
+Author: Florence Hobart Perin
+
+
+
+Release Date: March 13, 2012 [eBook #39129]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OPTIMIST'S GOOD MORNING***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Larry B. Harrison, Julia Neufeld, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images
+generously made available by the Google Books Library Project
+(http://books.google.com)
+
+
+
+Note: Images of the original pages are available through
+ Internet Archive. See
+ http://books.google.com/books?id=VsgVAAAAYAAJ&oe=UTF-8
+
+
+
+
+
+THE OPTIMIST'S GOOD MORNING
+
+Compiled by
+
+FLORENCE HOBART PERIN
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Boston
+Little, Brown, and Company
+1911
+
+Copyright, 1907,
+By Little, Brown, and Company.
+
+All rights reserved
+
+Printers
+S. J. Parkhill & Co., Boston, U. S. A.
+
+
+
+
+ TO
+ My Mother and father
+
+
+
+
+Acknowledgments
+
+
+The compiler desires to make her grateful acknowledgments to the
+publishers and authors who have so generously given their permission to
+use selections from their copyrighted publications. She is especially
+indebted to Dodd, Mead & Co., Houghton, Mifflin & Co., The Century Co.,
+The Outlook Co., Small, Maynard & Co., McClure, Phillips & Co., for
+extracts from "The Simple Life" by Charles Wagner and from "The Angelus"
+by Edwin Markham; G. P. Putnam's Sons for selections from "Christus
+Victor" by Henry Nehemiah Dodge; to Doubleday, Page & Co. for extracts
+from "The Story of My Life" by Helen Keller, copyright 1902, 1903; also
+for selections from "Afterwhiles," copyright 1887, "Riley Farm Rhymes,"
+copyright 1885, "Riley Songs o' Cheer," copyright 1883, "Pipes o' Pan,"
+copyright 1888, used by special permission of the publishers, The
+Bobbs-Merrill Co., to Charles Scribner's Sons for selections from
+"Fisherman's Luck," "The Lost Word," "Little Rivers," "The Story of the
+Psalms," "The Toiling of Felix and Other Poems," by Henry Van Dyke, and
+a selection from "El Dorado" by Robert Louis Stevenson.
+
+
+
+
+Preface
+
+
+Once family devotions were general, now they are rare. There are reasons
+for the change. One reason is that the simplicity of the old family life
+is gone. It is not easy to get all the members of the family together at
+any one time in the day. A part of this is due to less leisure now than
+formerly. Men must catch trains in the morning. In the evening they are
+distracted by manifold social engagements.
+
+Yet the need of spiritual adjustment is ever the same. Rapid transit,
+the telephone, the telegraph, do not take the place of God. Indeed the
+more rapid pace involved in these modern pace-makers, renders the more
+necessary some pause in the day for prayer, some upward look, when for a
+moment the soul may find an open way between itself and God. But how and
+when? Why not the breakfast table? Surely one or two minutes may be
+spared. Thirty seconds of silence, then the reading of a noble sentiment
+from some one who has been thinking for us,--another pause,--and a few
+words of prayer, framed by some one with more leisure than we have, but
+who puts us in the mood of prayer and so starts us right upon the duties
+of the day,--this will bring the needed readjustment.
+
+Such is the plan and purpose of this little book. It is made for busy
+men and women, who _need_ to begin the day with God. The quotations for
+each day are brief, but they are gleaned from the great Masters of
+thought. The prayers are from devout men of all the denominations.
+
+As the title will have suggested, both quotations and prayers are
+generally in the spirit of a truly optimistic faith. However life may
+look in the middle of the night, it is a good thing to start out to do
+the work of the day with hope and courage. I shall be glad if I can feel
+that this little book has helped some busy people to begin the day in
+this spirit. I shall be particularly glad if I can feel that it has
+helped a little to keep the candles lighted on the family altar.
+
+ FLORENCE HOBART PERIN.
+
+
+
+
+List of Authors of Selections
+
+
+ Abbott, Lyman, 234, 296.
+
+ Albee, John, 348.
+
+ Alden, Marion, 263.
+
+ Ambrosius, Johanna, 254.
+
+ Ames, Charles G., 51, 68.
+
+ Amiel, Henri-Frédéric, 305, 340, 350.
+
+ Anonymous, 16, 33, 52, 91, 93, 129, 181, 198, 213, 268, 354.
+
+ Arnold, Edwin, 39.
+
+ Arnold, George, 249.
+
+ Aughey, 315.
+
+ Aurelius, Marcus, 216.
+
+
+ Babcock, Maltbie Davenport, 279.
+
+ Baldwin, Mary, 72.
+
+ Banks, G. L., 135.
+
+ Bashford, H. H., 9.
+
+ Beecher, Henry Ward, 120, 141, 144, 192, 317, 333.
+
+ Bisbee, Frederick A., 248.
+
+ Bolton, Sarah Knowles, 211.
+
+ Boyd, A. H. K., 78.
+
+ Bridges, Madeline S., 304.
+
+ Brooke, Stopford A., 27, 115, 289.
+
+ Brooks, Phillips, 17, 24, 36, 75, 137, 212, 235, 240, 264, 271,
+ 288, 362.
+
+ Brown, Alice, 218.
+
+ Brown, Anna Robertson, 51.
+
+ Browning, Elizabeth Barrett, 29, 104, 148, 232, 331.
+
+ Browning, Robert, 28, 64, 69, 79, 90, 109, 130, 179, 201, 221, 243.
+
+ Bryant, William Cullen, 249, 338.
+
+ Bulkeley, Benjamin R., 347.
+
+ Burton, Richard, 59.
+
+
+ Carlisle, J. H., 220.
+
+ Carlyle, Thomas, 37, 61, 85, 107, 164, 183, 209, 219, 269, 331.
+
+ Carman, Bliss, 156.
+
+ Carpenter, Edward, 147.
+
+ Carruth, William H., 252.
+
+ Cary, Alice, 123, 138, 366.
+
+ Chadwick, John White, 134.
+
+ Child, Lydia Maria, 364.
+
+ Clarke, James Freeman, 267.
+
+ Cleaves, Charles P., 214.
+
+ Coates, Florence E., 189.
+
+ Coleridge, Hartley, 245.
+
+ Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, 217.
+
+ Collyer, Robert, 77, 287.
+
+ Confucius, 191.
+
+ Coolidge, Susan, 150, 157, 207, 339.
+
+ Cowper, William, 335.
+
+ Cox, Francis Augustus, 276.
+
+ Craig, Dinah Mulock, 143.
+
+ Crashaw, Richard, 151.
+
+
+ Danforth, Abbie E., 357.
+
+ Davis, Ozora Stearns, 82.
+
+ DeVere, Aubrey, 71.
+
+ Dix, William F., 261.
+
+ Dodge, Henry Nehemiah, 49, 300, 371, 372.
+
+ Donaldson, Alfred L., 244.
+
+ Dowd, Emma C., 169.
+
+ Drummond, Henry, 91, 203, 323.
+
+ Dunbar, Paul Laurence, 88, 186, 256.
+
+
+ Earle, Mabel, 278.
+
+ Eliot, George, 48, 241.
+
+ Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 19, 42, 57, 87, 108, 124, 127, 151, 158, 185,
+ 210, 228, 271, 281, 344.
+
+ Epictetus, 56, 284.
+
+
+ Faunce, W. H. P., 153.
+
+ Fiske, John, 11.
+
+ Ford, Mary Hanaford, 8.
+
+ Foss, Sam Walter, 99, 341.
+
+ Fox, George, 104.
+
+ Franklin, Benjamin, 158.
+
+
+ Gannett, William C., 116, 132, 239, 302.
+
+ Garland, Hamlin A., 196.
+
+ Gilder, Richard Watson, 168, 367.
+
+ Gilman, Charlotte Perkins, 4, 146.
+
+ Goethe, 360.
+
+ Gordon, Anna A., 247.
+
+ Gotthold, 23.
+
+ Gray, John, 378.
+
+ Green, J. R., 199.
+
+ Grover, Edwin Osgood, 155.
+
+
+ Hale, Edward Everett, 65, 188, 219, 280, 281.
+
+ Harraden, Beatrice, 80.
+
+ Hart, Estelle M., 337.
+
+ Havergal, Frances Ridley, 282.
+
+ Hawkes, Clarence, 97.
+
+ Hay, John, 67.
+
+ Hoar, George F., 83.
+
+ Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 29, 55, 172, 188, 253, 286, 297, 311, 352.
+
+ Homer, 341.
+
+ Hopkins, Ellice, 265.
+
+ Hovey, Richard, 292.
+
+ Hughes, Thomas, 194.
+
+ Humboldt, Alexander von, 306.
+
+ Hunt, Leigh, 143.
+
+ Huntington, Bishop, 70.
+
+ Huxley, Thomas Henry, 202.
+
+ Hyde, William DeWitt, 118.
+
+
+ Ibsen, Henrik, 312.
+
+ Ingelow, Jean, 221, 327.
+
+
+ Jackson, J. S., 7.
+
+ James, Henry, Sr., 165.
+
+ Johnson, Samuel, 66.
+
+ Jones, T. Edgar, 224.
+
+
+ Karr, Alphonse, 264.
+
+ Keats, John, 295.
+
+ Keller, Helen, 93, 128, 145.
+
+ King, T. Starr, 275.
+
+ Kingsley, Charles, 85.
+
+ Kiser, S. E., 318.
+
+ Klingle, George, 106.
+
+
+ Larcom, Lucy, 32, 161.
+
+ Leonard, Priscilla, 60, 299, 312, 329, 336.
+
+ Livermore, Mary A., 119.
+
+ Longfellow, Henry W., 30, 52, 162, 308.
+
+ Lowell, James Russell, 54, 92, 174, 242, 291.
+
+ Luther, Martin, 43.
+
+
+ Mabie, Hamilton W., 173.
+
+ MacDonald, George, 159, 177, 179, 200, 272, 326, 374.
+
+ Maeterlinck, 170, 193.
+
+ Marius, 35.
+
+ Markham, Edwin, 14, 257.
+
+ Markwell, Mary, 126.
+
+ Martin, Theodore, 96.
+
+ Mason, Caroline Atwater, 152.
+
+ Massey, Gerald, 66.
+
+ Meredith, Owen, 89.
+
+ Merriam, George S., 112.
+
+ Miller, James Russell, 293.
+
+ Milton, John, 62, 125, 136, 262, 307.
+
+ Montaigne, 69.
+
+ Moodie, William, 44, 178, 195, 226, 237.
+
+ Moore, Henry Hoyt, 238.
+
+ Moore, Thomas, 229, 309.
+
+ Moxom, Philip S., 149.
+
+ Murray, Ada Foster, 246.
+
+
+ O'Reilly, John Boyle, 314.
+
+
+ Parker, Theodore, 34.
+
+ Partridge, William Ordway, 18.
+
+ Payne, J. Howard, 361.
+
+ Peabody, Francis G., 332, 334.
+
+ Perin, George L., 3, 12, 153, 163, 176, 215, 290, 322, 368, 379.
+
+ Perry, Carlotta, 231.
+
+ Perry, Nora, 101.
+
+ Plutarch, 298.
+
+ Procter, Adelaide A., 10.
+
+ Procter, Bryan Waller, 166.
+
+ Pullman, James M., 21, 56, 225.
+
+
+ Rankin, Isaac Ogden, 25.
+
+ Ravenscroft, James, 255.
+
+ Realf, Richard, 223.
+
+ Reimer, Edward F., 227.
+
+ Rexford, Eben E., 94.
+
+ Richter, 285.
+
+ Riley, James Whitcomb, 182, 230, 266, 283, 310.
+
+ Robertson, Frederick W., 250.
+
+ Rollins, Alice Wellington, 26.
+
+ Roosevelt, Theodore, 65, 74, 197.
+
+ Rosetti, Christina, 171.
+
+ Ruskin, John, 23, 58, 83, 139, 190, 206.
+
+ Russell, Bessie L., 259.
+
+
+ Sangster, Margaret, 117, 205.
+
+ Savage, Minot J., 47.
+
+ Schiller, 363.
+
+ Scollard, Clinton, 84.
+
+ Scott, Walter, 235.
+
+ Shafer, Sara Andrew, 184, 260.
+
+ Shakespeare, 38, 107, 113, 258, 345, 351.
+
+ Shelley, 100, 111.
+
+ Shipman, George W., 277.
+
+ Sill, Edward Rowland, 98, 274.
+
+ Smiles, Samuel, 236, 320.
+
+ Smyth, Julian K., 73.
+
+ Spofford, Harriet P., 101.
+
+ Spurgeon, 197.
+
+ Stanton, Frank L., 160, 343.
+
+ St. Bernard, 269.
+
+ Stebbins, Horatio, 280.
+
+ Stedman, Edmund Clarence, 95.
+
+ Stevenson, Robert Louis, 180, 353.
+
+ Stoddard, Richard H., 45.
+
+ Story, William Wetmore, 6, 321.
+
+ Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 230.
+
+ Swinburne, Algernon Charles, 53, 167.
+
+ Swing, David, 46.
+
+ Symonds, John Addington, 175, 346.
+
+
+ Taylor, Bayard, 240, 321.
+
+ Taylor, Jeremy E., 59.
+
+ Tennyson, Alfred, 232, 326.
+
+ Thaxter, Celia, 95.
+
+ Tholuck, 357.
+
+ Thompson, Maurice, 110.
+
+ Thoreau, Henry David, 50, 335.
+
+ Townsend, Mary Ashley, 81.
+
+ Trowbridge, Robertson, 273.
+
+
+ Urmy, Clarence, 268.
+
+
+ Van Dyke, Henry, 142, 154, 294, 313, 324, 328, 355, 365, 377.
+
+ Vinci, Leonardo da, 74.
+
+
+ Wagner, Charles, 20, 63, 114, 204, 356.
+
+ Waterman, Nixon, 173.
+
+ Whitman, Walt, 22, 40, 102, 270, 349, 358.
+
+ Whitney, Mrs. A. D. T., 31, 86, 122, 127, 147, 167, 298, 301, 303, 348.
+
+ Whittier, John Greenleaf, 15, 41, 103, 140, 289, 359, 376.
+
+ Wilcox, Ella Wheeler, 5, 13, 87, 121, 222, 231, 325.
+
+ Willard, Frances E., 105.
+
+ Wordsworth, William, 76, 131, 251, 319.
+
+ Wright, Mary Frances, 233.
+
+
+
+
+List of Authors of Prayers
+
+
+ Adams, J. Coleman, 119.
+
+ Albion, James F., 91.
+
+ Alcott, A. N., 299.
+
+ Allen, James F., 265.
+
+ Amee, E. McP., 264.
+
+ Ames, Charles Gordon, 6.
+
+ Anderson, Thomas D., 132.
+
+ Annas, J. W., 253.
+
+ Atwood, Isaac M., 34.
+
+ Atwood, John Murray, 36.
+
+ Ayers, Samuel Gilbert, 121.
+
+
+ Babcock, William G., 10.
+
+ Backus, Wilson M., 139.
+
+ Badger, George H., 271.
+
+ Barker, J. H., 107.
+
+ Barney, Edward M., 74.
+
+ Bartlett, A. Eugene, 11.
+
+ Batchelor, George, 108.
+
+ Bates, Lewis P., 226.
+
+ Beane, Samuel C., 236.
+
+ Benton, Herbert E., 272.
+
+ Berle, Adolph A., 319.
+
+ Betts, Frederick W., 70, 181, 317.
+
+ Billings, Charles T., 316.
+
+ Bisbee, Frederick A., 27.
+
+ Bissell, Flint M., 79.
+
+ Blake, Edwin Alonzo, 228.
+
+ Blanchard, Henry, 24.
+
+ Bliss, Charles B., 206.
+
+ Brandow, Melvin, 287.
+
+ Brett, Francis W., 182.
+
+ Brigham, L. Ward, 20.
+
+ Brodie, James Fairbairn, 320.
+
+ Bronson, Dillon, 9.
+
+ Brown, Howard N., 354.
+
+ Brown, William Channing, 106.
+
+ Buckshorn, Louis H., 191.
+
+ Burch, Ernest W., 312.
+
+ Burleigh, W. H., 118.
+
+ Burr, Everett D., 136.
+
+ Bush, R. Perry, 82.
+
+ Bushnell, Samuel C., 37.
+
+ Bygrave, Hilary, 212.
+
+
+ Canfield, Harry L., 39.
+
+ Carter, John Wesley, 48.
+
+ Cary, Phoebe, 274.
+
+ Chapin, Eben H., 323.
+
+ Chapman, Edward M., 30.
+
+ Charlton, J. E., 341.
+
+ Chase, J. Frank, 237.
+
+ Cheney, George H., 192.
+
+ Church, Augustus B., 99.
+
+ Clark, C. C., 144.
+
+ Clark, DeWitt S., 257.
+
+ Clark, Francis E., 38.
+
+ Clark, Hobart, 218.
+
+ Clarke, William N., 258.
+
+ Clayton, Francis Treadway, 302.
+
+ Coddington, Isaac P., 190.
+
+ Coleman, Albert J., 353.
+
+ Collier, Frank W., 174.
+
+ Conklin, Abram, 19.
+
+ Conklin, Charles, 361.
+
+ Conner, Ralph E., 211.
+
+ Coons, Leroy W., 68.
+
+ Cooper, Joseph, 84.
+
+ Cooper, J. Francis, 310.
+
+ Corby, James D., 280.
+
+ Couden, Henry N., 26.
+
+ Crandall, Lathan A., 202.
+
+ Crane, Cephas B., 60.
+
+ Crane, Frank, 337.
+
+ Crooker, Florence Kollock, 98.
+
+ Crooker, Joseph H., 23.
+
+ Crooker, Orin Edson, 163.
+
+ Cuckson, John, 123.
+
+ Curnick, E. T., 93.
+
+ Cushman, Henry Irving, 94.
+
+
+ Danforth, Abbie E., 105.
+
+ Davis, Charles Edward, 260.
+
+ Davidson, John M., 289.
+
+ Day, Edward, 62.
+
+ Day, John, 78.
+
+ Dean, George B., 267.
+
+ DeNormandie, James, 125.
+
+ Dick, Samuel M., 333.
+
+ Dight, Alexander, 290.
+
+ Dillingham, Fred A., 41.
+
+ Dodge, J. Smith, 340.
+
+ Dodson, George R., 197.
+
+ Dole, Charles F., 157.
+
+ Dole, Walter, 339.
+
+ Downey, Edward C., 365.
+
+
+ Earle, A. Gertrude, 104.
+
+ East, Charles R., 324.
+
+ Eddy, William B., 49.
+
+ Eichler, M. M., 195.
+
+
+ Faunce, W. H. P., 307.
+
+ Fish, William H., 263.
+
+ Fischer, Theodore A., 17.
+
+ Fisher, C. E., 67.
+
+ Fisk, Richmond, 159.
+
+ Fleischer, Charles, 360.
+
+ Forbes, John P., 142.
+
+ Forbes, Roger S., 161.
+
+ Fortier, George F., 77.
+
+ Foster, Augustine N., 154.
+
+ Fraser, Donald, 284.
+
+ Freeman, L. A., 255.
+
+ Frick, Philip L., 348.
+
+ Frothingham, Paul Revere, 169.
+
+ Full, William, 300.
+
+ Fulton, J. W., 282.
+
+
+ Galbraith, John, 220.
+
+ Gannett, William C, 373.
+
+ Gaskin, William E., 251.
+
+ Gerrish, George Mayo, 75.
+
+ Gibbs, William E, 168.
+
+ Gifford, O. P., 209.
+
+ Gooding, Alfred, 245.
+
+ Gould, William H., 146.
+
+ Grant, Elihu, 238.
+
+ Grant, Eugene M., 288.
+
+ Graves, Herbert H., 242.
+
+ Gray, Francis A., 111.
+
+ Greene, L. L., 131.
+
+ Greene, Ransom A., 355.
+
+ Greene, Samuel H., 328.
+
+ Grier, Albert C., 269.
+
+ Grose, Arthur W., 311.
+
+ Gunnison, Almon, 4, 47.
+
+ Guth, William W., 216.
+
+
+ Hale, Edward Everett, 55, 92, 120, 304, 345.
+
+ Hall, Frank Oliver, 278.
+
+ Hammatt, Albert, 232.
+
+ Hammond, L. H., 244.
+
+ Hamilton, Franklin, 322.
+
+ Hatch, William H. P., 318.
+
+ Hawkins, J. E., 279.
+
+ Haynes, Myron W., 58.
+
+ Healy, Walter, 100.
+
+ Helms, E. J., 343.
+
+ Henry, Carl F., 248.
+
+ Hiller, Charles C. P., 336.
+
+ Hitchcock, Albert Wellman, 64.
+
+ Hodge, Dwight M., 81.
+
+ Hodges, George, 356.
+
+ Holden, C. W., 29.
+
+ Holden, James Harry, 204.
+
+ Holmes, C. K., 281.
+
+ Holt, Frank M., 71.
+
+ Horne, Ralph Edwin, 103.
+
+ Horner, Thomas J., 329.
+
+ Horton, Edward A., 115.
+
+ Howe, George M., 346.
+
+ Hoyt, Wayland, 54.
+
+ Huntley, George E., 325.
+
+ Hyde, William DeWitt, 351.
+
+
+ Illman, Thomas W., 247.
+
+
+ Jennings, B. L., 88.
+
+ Johnson, L. P., 335.
+
+ Johonnot, Rodney F., 252.
+
+ Jones, Effie McCollum, 31.
+
+
+ Kellerman, Robert S., 194.
+
+ Kent, George W., 147.
+
+ Kidner, Reuben, 43.
+
+ Kimball, John, 42.
+
+ King, Henry M., 57.
+
+ Knickerbocker, Charles A., 5.
+
+
+ Lacount, J. Edwin, 350.
+
+ Lee, John Clarence, 175.
+
+ Leonard, Charles H., 170.
+
+ Levy, Maurice A., 155.
+
+ Locke, Calvin S., 277.
+
+ Longbrake, George Runyon, 327.
+
+ Lord, Augustus Mendon, 40.
+
+ Lund, Charles E., 178.
+
+ Lutterman, E. W., 308.
+
+
+ MacLennan, A. K., 275.
+
+ Main, William H., 14.
+
+ Martin, T. C., 160.
+
+ Martineau, James, 56, 217, 321, 334.
+
+ Marshall, Perry, 189.
+
+ Marvin, Reginold K., 114.
+
+ Masseck, Frank Lincoln, 112.
+
+ McCollester, Lee S., 221.
+
+ McCollester, S. H., 18.
+
+ McGlaughlin, William H., 332.
+
+ McKenzie, Alexander, 12.
+
+ McKinney, Luther F., 210.
+
+ Mead, I. J., 143.
+
+ Meyer, John F., 349.
+
+ Milburn, U. S., 113.
+
+ Mitchell, Stanford, 179.
+
+ Moore, Henrietta G., 110.
+
+ Morgan, William S., 25.
+
+ Morrison, William H., 117.
+
+ Mudge, James, 223.
+
+ Myers, Cortland, 344.
+
+
+ Nash, C. Ellwood, 188, 362, 371, 372, 377.
+
+ Nash, Charles P., 148.
+
+ Nash, Henry S., 21.
+
+ Northrop, Cyrus, 296.
+
+ Norton, Stephen A., 359.
+
+
+ Opdale, Nellie Mann, 243.
+
+ Osgood, Edmund Q. S., 101.
+
+ Owen, George W., 28.
+
+
+ Parker, Joseph, 59, 214, 219.
+
+ Parker, Theodore, 53, 97, 109, 135, 193, 230, 239, 249.
+
+ Parkhurst, Charles, 63.
+
+ Patterson, A. J., 364.
+
+ Pattison, Harold, 225.
+
+ Payne, Thomas B., 133.
+
+ Payson, James M., 222.
+
+ Peloubet, F. N., 331.
+
+ Pember, Elmer F., 134.
+
+ Penniman, George Wallace, 129.
+
+ Perin, Florence H., 375.
+
+ Perin, George L., 3, 22, 35, 46, 80, 90, 96, 102, 116, 124, 153,
+ 153, 172, 185, 196, 215, 234, 250, 270, 286, 297, 306, 330,
+ 342, 352, 366, 368, 376, 378.
+
+ Perkins, Frederick W., 229.
+
+ Perkins, O. Howard, 66.
+
+ Perkins, Warren S., 164.
+
+ Perrin, Willard T., 276.
+
+ Perry, Edward A., 61.
+
+ Petty, Charles E., 85.
+
+ Polk, Robert T., 224.
+
+ Potter, Wilburn D., 83.
+
+ Potter, William F., 150.
+
+ Potterton, Thomas Edward, 165.
+
+ Powers, LeGrand, 73.
+
+ Preble, Edgar W., 72.
+
+ Priest, Frederick C., 208.
+
+ Puffer, Charles H., 357.
+
+ Putnam, Alfred P., 162.
+
+
+ Randall, J. O., 198.
+
+ Reardon, John B., 140.
+
+ Rexford, E. L., 16, 128, 233.
+
+ Rice, Charles F., 256.
+
+ Rice, Clarence E., 173.
+
+ Rice, Frank S., 87.
+
+ Richardson, W. G., 314.
+
+ Roblin, Stephen H., 183.
+
+ Rose, Henry R., 303.
+
+ Rowley, Francis H., 13.
+
+ Rugg, Henry W., 126.
+
+
+ Safford, Oscar F., 65.
+
+ Sage, Nathaniel S., 32.
+
+ Sallaway, James, 293.
+
+ Sargent, Frank D., 347.
+
+ Scott, Alva Roy, 44, 141.
+
+ Scott, O. W., 186.
+
+ Scrivener, George S., 268.
+
+ Selleck, Willard C., 227.
+
+ Shaw, Annette J., 231.
+
+ Shaw, Avery A., 45.
+
+ Shields, Albert B., 309.
+
+ Shinn, Q. H., 149.
+
+ Snippen, Rush R., 201.
+
+ Simons, Minot O., 138.
+
+ Skene, George, 315.
+
+ Slicer, Thomas R., 166.
+
+ Small, E. E., 203.
+
+ Smiley, Edmund L., 266.
+
+ Smiley, George M., 295.
+
+ Smith, Thomas W., 283.
+
+ Stephan, J. W., 76.
+
+ Straub, Jacob, 177.
+
+ Studley, Elliott F., 261.
+
+ Sweetser, Edwin C., 151.
+
+
+ Taylor, Frederick A., 254.
+
+ Taylor, Henry B., 69.
+
+ Tenney, Charles R., 294, 313, 326, 363, 367, 379.
+
+ Thayer, George A., 199.
+
+ Thompson, J. Frank, 51.
+
+ Tillinghast, Alan R., 86.
+
+ Tillinghast, James D., 358.
+
+ Tomlinson, Charles W., 33.
+
+ Tomlinson, Vincent E., 205.
+
+ Towne, Edward C., 291.
+
+ Tupper, Kerr Boyce, 95.
+
+ Tuttle, Walter A., 213.
+
+
+ Vail, Charles H., 246.
+
+ Varney, Charles E., 292.
+
+ Vossema, Hendrick, 235.
+
+
+ Wallace, O. C. S., 50.
+
+ Ward, Merrill C., 262.
+
+ Ward, W. I., 127.
+
+ Warner, E. M., 187.
+
+ Weatherly, Arthur L., 200.
+
+ Weil, Fred Alban, 338.
+
+ Wendte, Charles W., 156.
+
+ Wentworth, Margaret, 259.
+
+ West, Julius P., 145.
+
+ Weston, Costello, 207.
+
+ Wheeler, C. H., 8.
+
+ Wheeler, F. H., 89.
+
+ Whippen, Frank W., 7.
+
+ Whitaker, George, 15.
+
+ White, Albert C., 167.
+
+ Whitney, Elbert W., 301.
+
+ Williams, Leon O., 298.
+
+ Willson, Andrew, 122.
+
+ Wilson, John M., 171.
+
+ Wilson, Lewis G., 180.
+
+ Wood, W. A., 130.
+
+ Wright, Arthur, 184.
+
+ Wright, James Edward, 176.
+
+ Wright, M. Emory, 273.
+
+
+ Yantis, Arnold S., 52.
+
+ Young, George H., 240, 285.
+
+ Young, Joshua, 158, 241, 305.
+
+
+
+
+The Optimist's Good Morning
+
+January 1
+
+ _Throughout the year, why not keep sweet? No frown ever made a
+ heart glad; no complaint ever made a dark day bright; no bitter
+ word ever lightened a burden or made a rough road smooth; no
+ grumbling ever introduced sunshine into a home. What the world
+ needs is the resolute step, the look of cheer, the smiling
+ countenance, and the kindly word. Keep sweet!_
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+God of the years, our Heavenly Father, whatever the message of the old
+year may have been, whether of darkness or light, joy or sorrow,--we
+stand this morning waiting expectantly and confidently for some message
+with glad tidings. May we therefore enter upon the New Year in the mood
+of hope and good cheer,--brushing from our faces every sign of care, let
+us go forth into the New Year with the spirit of a child who puts his
+hand into the hand of a Father to be led into a field where the flowers
+blossom and the birds sing. Not for to-day only do we pray for sweetness
+and light, but let us be glad and happy every day. Thou art with us
+today,--Thou wilt be with us through all the journey of the year. May
+our own daily gladness be born of the conviction that Thou art always
+near. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+January 2
+
+ _To keep my health!
+ To do my work!
+ To live!
+ To see to it I grow and gain and give!
+ Never to look behind me for an hour!
+ To wait in weakness and to walk in power
+ But always fronting forward to the light,
+ Always, and always facing toward the right.
+ Robbed, starved, defeated, fallen, wide astray--
+ On, with what strength I have!
+ Back to the way!_
+
+ CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN.
+
+With this new day, O God, let some new strength be mine, to walk in
+patience, the way appointed for me. Let me be strong to battle with the
+ills that shall beset me, to toil with faith and honest heart, to keep
+myself untainted and make my life helpful to my fellowmen. Help me to be
+forgetful of myself, but thoughtful to do no evil to any man. Thy hand
+is strong and mine is weak. I need Thy guidance, let Thy strength be
+mine, that though I stumble I may not fall nor fail. And when the day is
+done, may happy memories be mine. Amen.
+
+ ALMON GUNNISON.
+
+
+January 3
+
+ _Build on resolve, and not upon regret,
+ The structure of Thy future. Do not grope
+ Among the shadows of old sins, but let
+ Thine own soul's light shine on the path of hope
+ And dissipate the darkness. Waste no tears
+ Upon the blotted record of lost years,
+ But turn the leaf, and smile, oh, smile, to see
+ The fair white pages that remain to thee._
+
+ ELLA WHEELER WILCOX.
+
+O Thou All-persuasive God, who dost speak within the souls of men in
+language which the heart interprets as its own! enlarge our trust in
+that better self which beckons us, that we may be led out of the
+lingering darkness of regret, out of the shadow of embittered memory
+into the brightness of a new resolve where we may see Thy face. Smile
+upon us in the smiling day; in the joy of strength renewed, and
+opportunity reborn; in the beauty of the promise each hour whispers to
+us as it passes by. So fill us with Thyself that each new day shall mean
+new life led by the glory of those hopes which do not fade at evening.
+Amen.
+
+ CHARLES A. KNICKERBOCKER.
+
+
+January 4
+
+ _We of our age are part, and every thrill that wakes
+ The tremulous air of Life its motion in us makes._
+
+ _The imitative mass mere empty echo gives
+ As walls and rocks return the sound that they receive._
+
+ _But as the bell, that high in some cathedral swings,
+ Stirred by whatever thrill, with its own music rings,_
+
+ _So finer souls give forth, to each vibrating tone
+ Impinging on their life, a music of their own._
+
+ W. W. STORY.
+
+O living and loving One, brighter than the morning and fairer than the
+day, from Thee we come, to Thee we turn, who art more than Father and
+Mother to us all. Our times are in Thy hand. Thou, who hast set the sun
+and stars in the sky, hast appointed our place and part in this human
+world. May Thy light lead and Thy love win us into the harmonies of law
+and grace, that we may become responsive to every touch of nature, every
+whisper of truth, every appeal of humanity. So prepare us to serve our
+generation in the spirit of Him who has taught us to do Thy will on
+earth as it is done in heaven. Amen.
+
+ CHARLES G. AMES.
+
+
+January 5
+
+ _All such as worked for love, not wages--some
+ Who, painting for a perfect tint did drain
+ Their hearts, or some to save their country slain,
+ Or many who for truth braved martyrdom,
+ Or more who, in what common days may come,
+ Have toiled in hope, beyond the hope of gain,
+ Of doing something well,--all such would fain
+ Speak thus: These gifts more free than flowers from
+ The earth are given. Good world, if to our need
+ Ye offer bread and shelt'ring roof unsought,
+ As guests our thanks we give, but not for greed,
+ As if our gifts were bartered for and bought;
+ And if, perchance, good world, ye offer nought,
+ Ah, well, that were of life the lesser meed._
+
+ J. S. JACKSON.
+
+Father in Heaven, we thank Thee, as we enter upon another day, for
+strength with which to work. We thank Thee for our tasks; for our
+opportunities to work for Thee and for those we love, we thank Thee. May
+we know the joy, when night shall come, of having accomplished something
+worthy. Help us to see in that satisfaction a part of our pay. Make each
+of us faithful in his place; and help the humblest worker to understand
+that consecration and not rank is the all-important thing. Above all,
+may we not forget that living is giving, and may our desire either for
+rest or gain keep us from no helpful act. May we follow Him who came to
+minister, and live as sons and daughters of God. Amen.
+
+ FRANK W. WHIPPEN.
+
+
+January 6
+
+ _The sculptor moulds his clay with reverent hand,
+ That clay thro' which his fancy flashes free--
+ Quick with an answer to his soul's demand,
+ And pliant to his fingers' minstrelsy!
+ Could ever bronze or marble so respond
+ In wordless echo of the being's will?
+ Naught but the clay, as to a rapture fond
+ Could he with fire of genius thus infill!
+ And so the common people are the clay,
+ Swift moulded by Divine Deific hand,
+ Until transfigured, in the glorious day,
+ The statue of humanity shall stand!
+ It knows no tinsel crown, this masterpiece.
+ But all the sovereignty of God's release!_
+
+ MARY HANAFORD FORD.
+
+Heavenly Father, we are of Thy plain common people: we feel ourselves of
+very little worth. For what can we do of ourselves? But, if Thou wilt
+graciously use us, shaping us to Thine ends as the potter his clay, it
+may be that we shall serve some worthy purpose. We therefore yield
+ourselves to Thee, and beg Thee to use us this day. Make us pliant to
+Thy purposes, make us a help to someone who needs us today. So take us
+into partnership with Thyself, and so may this day be a day of delight,
+and our plain common lives be made rich with the Glory of service. Amen.
+
+ C. H. WHEELER.
+
+
+January 7
+
+ _And I, too, sing the song of all creation,
+ A brave sky and a glad wind blowing by,
+ A clear trail and an hour for meditation,
+ A long day and the joy to make it fly,
+ A hard task and the muscle to achieve it,
+ A fierce noon and a well-contented gloom,
+ A good strife and no great regret to leave it,
+ A still night--and the far red lights of home._
+
+ H. H. BASHFORD.
+
+Almighty God, we thank Thee that Thou art our Father, and that Thou
+lovest us as though Thou hadst no other children; we adore Thee for the
+beautiful world in which Thou hast placed us; for trees and birds and
+flowers and sky, for friends and music and books and all the ten
+thousand mercies which crown our lives. We thank Thee too, for hard
+tasks and severe disciplines, for everything that is intended to make us
+strong and brave and true. Thou art the Lord of the day and of the night
+also. Give us grace to trust Thee and to believe in Thy motherly
+solicitude at all times. May Thy goodness lead us to repentance and to
+joyous unselfish living and may we so improve our opportunities for
+service that we shall make others think of Him who went about doing good
+and trusted in His Father with a perfect trust. Amen.
+
+ DILLON BRONSON.
+
+
+January 8
+
+ _Have we not all, amid life's petty strife,
+ Some pure ideal of a noble life
+ That once seemed possible? Did we not hear
+ The flutter of its wings and feel it near,
+ And just within our reach? It was. And yet
+ We lost it in this daily jar and fret.
+ But still our place is kept and it will wait,
+ Ready for us to fill it, soon or late.
+ No star is ever lost we once have seen:
+ We always may be what we might have been._
+
+ ADELAIDE A. PROCTER.
+
+O Thou, whose goodness is new to us every morning and fresh every
+evening, we bless Thee for Thy patient and unforgetting care of all of
+us. Though we transgress Thy beneficent laws and frequently lose sight
+of our cherished ideals, our hunger and thirst for righteousness never
+dies, for we partake of Thy Divine Nature. O that we might always be
+animated with Thy spirit of disinterested Love. We thank Thee this day
+for the inspiration of light and joy of our gifted poets and pray that
+we may meet the daily trials of life with a sweet and courageous spirit,
+remembering that "no star we have ever seen will cease to shine." Amen.
+
+ WILLIAM G. BABCOCK.
+
+
+January 9
+
+ _The future is lighted for us with the radiant colors of hope.
+ Strife and sorrow shall disappear. Peace and love shall reign
+ supreme. The dream of poets, the lesson of priest and prophet, the
+ inspiration of the great musician, is confirmed in the light of
+ modern knowledge; and, as we gird ourselves for the work of life,
+ we may look forward to the time when in the truest sense the
+ kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdom of Christ, and He
+ shall reign forever and ever, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords._
+
+ JOHN FISKE.
+
+All-wise and all-loving Father, we invoke Thy aid at the opening of a
+glad, new day. For the past we thank Thee, remembering that each day
+yielded its blessings. We rejoice that the victories of yesterday are
+the promise of larger successes today. Whenever during the day, we shall
+be conscious of our littleness, give us at that moment the vision of our
+possible largeness. Teach us, however tumultuous be the outward
+conditions, to maintain the inward calm. Today may Thy love work its
+miracle upon our pain and pleasure. So through faithful, hopeful work
+may we find Thy kingdom nearer at this day's close. Amen.
+
+ A. EUGENE BARTLETT.
+
+
+January 10
+
+ _Blessings on the man who smiles! I do not mean the man who smiles
+ for effect, nor the one who smiles when the world smiles. I mean
+ the man whose smile is born of an inner radiance, the man who
+ smiles when the clouds lower, when fortune frowns, when the tides
+ are adverse. Such a man not only makes a new world for himself, but
+ he multiplies himself an hundred fold in the strength and courage
+ of other men._
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+Blessed art Thou, O Lord, our Father in heaven and on the earth! Give to
+us of Thy blessedness that all this day we may rejoice in Thee. Incline
+our hearts to see Thy goodness and wisdom. Make the gladness of our
+hearts constant that it may illumine our presence, so that those who
+walk with us may walk in Thy light and give Thee thanks. Make Thy joy
+our strength, whether expressed in storm or sunshine, that we may
+consent to Thy will cheerfully. We ask these and all gifts in the name
+of Him who would have His joy abide in us, that our joy may be
+fulfilled. Amen.
+
+ ALEXANDER MCKENZIE.
+
+
+January 11
+
+ _Talk happiness! The world is sad enough,
+ Without your woes. No path is wholly rough;
+ Look for the places that are smooth and clear
+ And speak of those who rest the weary ear
+ Of earth, so hurt by one continuous strain
+ Of human discontent and grief and pain._
+
+ _Talk health! The dreary, never changing tale
+ Of mortal maladies is worn and stale.
+ You cannot charm or interest or please,
+ By harping on that minor chord, disease.
+ Say you are well, or all is well with you,
+ And God shall hear your words and make them true._
+
+ ELLA WHEELER WILCOX.
+
+Heavenly Father, by whose mercy we are permitted to greet another day,
+we offer Thee this morning our grateful praise for all the blessings of
+this life. We take from Thee with thankful heart the gift of health,
+conscious that we shall never know how rich the gift until we lose it.
+Now, while it is ours, may we use it with abounding joy for the good of
+those we may meet this day. To be able to bring light where there is
+darkness, hope where there is despair, comfort where there is sorrow,
+and so to be the children of our Father which is in Heaven, for this we
+pray, with the pardon of our sins, in Jesus' name. Amen.
+
+ FRANCIS H. ROWLEY.
+
+
+January 12
+
+ _The crest and crowning of all good,
+ Life's final star, is Brotherhood;
+ For it will bring again to Earth
+ Her long-lost Poesy and Mirth;
+ Will send new light on every face,
+ A kingly power upon the race,
+ And till it comes, we men are slaves,
+ And travel downward to the dust of graves.
+ Come clear the way, then, clear the way;
+ Blind creeds and kings have had their day,
+ Our hope is in the aftermath--
+ Our hope is in heroic men,
+ Star-led to build the world again.
+ To this event the ages ran;
+ Make way for Brotherhood--make way for Man._
+
+ EDWIN MARKHAM.
+
+O Lord, make us like Thee. There can be no greater ambition, no loftier
+desire, no holier purpose, for Thou holdest the secret of Brotherhood.
+Like Thee, the only begotten of the Father, the essence of love, the joy
+of angels, the hope of the world,--make us like Thee, O Christ. Let Thy
+light be our light; thy service our joy; Thy peace our inheritance.
+Touch our lips that we may say no unkind word; touch our hearts that we
+may feel no wrong desires. May our living be for the world's good, our
+acts precious helps to Thy kingdom, our all consecrated to Thy blessed
+service. May we be satisfied when we awake with Thy likeness. Amen.
+
+ WILLIAM H. MAIN.
+
+
+January 13
+
+ _If there be some weaker one,
+ Give me strength to help him on;
+ If a blinder soul there be,
+ Let me guide him nearer Thee.
+ Make my mortal dreams come true
+ With the work I fain would do;
+ Clothe with life the weak intent,
+ Let me be the thing I meant;
+ Let me find in Thine employ
+ Peace that dearer is than joy!_
+
+ JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER.
+
+Heavenly Father! We humbly beseech Thee to breathe upon us Thy Holy
+Spirit, that we may be Thy true disciples, that we may be quick to see
+our brother's need, and quicker to relieve it. If he has lost his way,
+may we be aided to show it to him clearly. May we see our brother in the
+Master's "prodigal," and find in every needy soul our sphere of service.
+Forgive our weak excuses, and make the flickering embers burn to fervent
+heat, that the ideal Thou hast given in Thy Word may command every power
+of our lives. For Jesus' sake, Amen.
+
+ GEORGE WHITAKER.
+
+
+January 14
+
+ _A German allegory tells of two little girls. They had been playing
+ together in a strange garden, and soon one ran in to her mother
+ full of disappointment. "The garden's a sad place, mother." "Why,
+ my child?" "I've been all around, and every rose-tree has cruel,
+ long thorns upon it!" Then the second child came in breathless. "O
+ Mother, the garden's a beautiful place!" "How so, my child?" "Why,
+ I've been all around, and every thorn-bush has lovely roses growing
+ on it!" And the mother wondered at the difference in the two
+ children._
+
+ ANONYMOUS.
+
+Divine Spirit and Soul of this day! We rejoice in its accomplished and
+its prophetic beauty and wealth which even our undisciplined hearts and
+minds may readily perceive, but may we increase the joy of its
+activities and its whole divine meaning by a deeper appreciation of its
+ministry to the disciplined life we bear. If there shall be fortunes in
+its passing which we would not choose, if there shall be encountered any
+experiences we would shun, may we remember that our reverses only
+emphasize our successes, that our sorrows intensify our joys, that even
+the humiliation and shame of the "far country" add divine meaning to the
+Father's House where wait the sandals and robes and rings for the
+comfort and beauty that are yet to be. May we learn that the thorn
+protects the rose, that the flaming sword turning in all directions
+protects the Tree of Life in every Eden of the world. May we remember
+that every great and good fortune of life is guarded by a seeming
+hostility which bears in its soul the secret of a lasting benevolence
+appointed for our own good. Amen.
+
+ E. L. REXFORD.
+
+
+January 15
+
+ _We are haunted by an ideal life, and it is because we have within
+ us the beginning and the possibility of it. God is our continual
+ incitement because we are His children. So the ideal life is in our
+ blood and never will be still. We feel the thing we ought to be
+ beating beneath the thing we are. Every time we see a man who has
+ attained our ideal a little more fully than we have it wakens our
+ languid blood and fills us with new longings._
+
+ PHILLIPS BROOKS.
+
+O God, we thank Thee each morning for ideals which appeal to us with
+such persistence that we have no peace unless we pursue them. Even in
+our seeming indifference we are ill at ease, because Thy voice calling
+to us disturbs our fancied content. We are not satisfied with ourselves
+nor with our attainments. "We shall be satisfied only when we wake in
+Thy likeness." Weary though we often are in our service yet we thank
+Thee that Thou relentlessly pursuest us with even greater and higher
+demands. Help us in our onward and upward plodding. Revive our failing
+spirits. Lead us ever on. Help us to realize that "in our patience we
+shall win our souls." We pray as followers of Jesus Christ. Amen.
+
+ THEODORE A. FISCHER.
+
+
+January 16
+
+ _O Singer of today, this glorious hour
+ Is all for you and me--what shall it give
+ To us, and ask of fate--what splendid power
+ In brain and hand, what glorious right to live
+ Among our fellows and to war with sin?
+ What quickening of the pulse as we aspire
+ To claim our right, and risk earth's joys to win,
+ To conquer self, and force it through the fire!
+ Give us this force, dear God, and evermore
+ Give us a deepening love of all our fellowmen;
+ Give us new insight--courage to explore
+ With all the tenderness of human ken
+ The lowliest heart that beats in human kind,
+ Its glory and its soul to seek and find!_
+
+ WILLIAM ORDWAY PARTRIDGE.
+
+O Soul of all souls! Baptize us afresh this morning into the lustral
+waters that we may devoutly thank Thee that Thou art and that Thou dost
+clearly reveal Thyself to Christian souls through Thy Son, as the Father
+of the great brotherhood of mankind. So wait upon us that we shall go
+forth to this day's duties resolved upon so living as to render the
+morning glad, the noon redolent with merciful activity, and the evening
+full of praise. Thus quickened and enlarged the night will afford rest
+and recuperation fitting us to welcome the morrow, still hoping, loving,
+progressing, obedient to the sainted call, "Up higher," being
+incessantly recompensed with the coveted refrain, "Well done." Amen.
+
+ S. H. MCCOLLESTER.
+
+
+January 17
+
+ _There is one topic peremptorily forbidden to all well-bred, to all
+ rational mortals, namely, their distempers. If you have not slept
+ or if you have slept, or if you have headache, or sciatica, or
+ leprosy or thunder stroke, I beseech you, by all angels, to hold
+ your peace, and not pollute the morning, to which all the
+ housemates bring serene and pleasant thoughts, by corruption and
+ groans._
+
+ RALPH WALDO EMERSON.
+
+Our Father, when we remember the multitude of Thy mercies our hearts are
+filled with peace and praise and we are ashamed to murmur and complain.
+Turn our thoughts toward the love and joy that this day holds for us;
+its opportunities, its privileges and victories. Let the morning light
+dispel the shadows on our faces and the fears in our hearts. Thou hast
+glorified us and will glorify us again. Help us to be grateful for the
+rose that smiles amidst the thorns and the light that ever shines behind
+the clouds. Grant that the spirit of trust may prevail in us and send us
+on our way with power to conquer. Amen.
+
+ ABRAM CONKLIN.
+
+
+January 18
+
+ _Simplicity is a state of mind. It dwells in the main intention of
+ our lives. A man is simple when his chief care is the wish to be
+ what he ought to be, that is, honestly and naturally human. And
+ this is neither so easy nor so impossible as one might think. At
+ bottom it consists in putting our acts and aspirations in
+ accordance with the law of our being, and consequently with the
+ Eternal Intention which willed that we should be at all. Let a
+ flower be a flower, a swallow a swallow, a rock a rock, and let a
+ man be a man, and not a fox, a hare, a hog, or a bird of prey; this
+ is the sum of the whole matter._
+
+ CHARLES WAGNER.
+
+Dear Heavenly Father, we rejoice in the awakening of body and soul to
+new activities. We thank Thee for the gift of divinity in the soul and
+for opportunity to give it expression. We would be true to ourselves,
+knowing we can thus alone be true to Thee. O God, hush the voice of evil
+passion. Quicken every noble aspiration. Grant the vision of Thy holy
+love that Thy image within us may remain clear in the turmoil of our
+life. We pray Thee stir the heart and mind that both may grow up to the
+full stature of man as it was in Jesus, our Saviour. Amen.
+
+ L. WARD BRIGHAM.
+
+
+January 19
+
+ _God has put the keys to His kingdom into your own hands. Your
+ intelligence is a key, your affection is a key, your conscience is
+ a key. With these keys you are to unlock the great doors of life,
+ and gain access to its heavenly treasures._
+
+ JAMES M. PULLMAN.
+
+Master of life, as Thou hast opened our eyes to see the sun, open the
+eyes of our hearts to see the splendor of Thy law. And even as Thou dost
+bring to birth, through the marriage of our eye and the sun, all the
+beauty of this visible world, so through the union between our hearts
+and Thy holy will, create a world rejoicing in the beauty of truth and
+justice and peace. Lead us this day deeper into the mystery of Thy life
+and our life and make us interpreters of life to our fellows, through
+Him who by His death opened for us the book of life, Jesus Christ our
+Lord. Amen.
+
+ HENRY S. NASH.
+
+
+January 20
+
+ _A noiseless, patient spider,
+ I mark'd how on a little promontory it stood isolated,
+ Mark'd how to explore the vacant, vast surrounding,
+ It launch'd forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself,
+ Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them._
+
+ _And you, O my soul, where you stand,
+ Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space,
+ Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to
+ connect them,
+ Till the bridge you will need be form'd, till the ductile anchor hold,
+ Till the gossamer threads you fling catch somewhere O my soul._
+
+ WALT WHITMAN.
+
+Thou Infinite Spirit, we are glad of all human relationships. We are
+thankful for all companionship with nature. We rejoice in the fellowship
+with books, yet like the child who grows tired with every plaything and
+every childish task and lonely for a mother's love, we look to Thee with
+an infinite longing. In our effort to solve the problems of life, we
+throw our web of life hither and thither, but it will not hold. Only
+when at last we have thrown the thread of faith to Thee, shall the
+ductile anchor hold. Our Heavenly Father, as we go forth into this day,
+may we not leave Thee for any dream or phantom, but may we walk with
+Thee all day long, and find in Thee the answer to every longing and the
+solution of every problem. Though we may not see, we may trust and wait.
+Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+January 21
+
+ _Do not think of your faults, still less of others' faults; in
+ every person who comes near you, look for what is good and strong;
+ honor that; rejoice in it; and as you can, try to imitate it; and
+ your faults will drop off like dead leaves when their time comes._
+
+ RUSKIN.
+
+ _With a clear sky, a bright sun, and a gentle breeze, you will have
+ friends in plenty; but let fortune frown, and the firmament be
+ overcast, and then your friends will prove like the strings of the
+ lute, of which you will tighten ten before you find one that will
+ bear the stretch and keep the pitch._
+
+ GOTTHOLD.
+
+Dear Father, may the new day bring some fresh and inspiring thought of
+Thyself. May it give some tender communion with the universe, kindling
+into beauty as Thy smile shines through. May we make and keep a few dear
+friends. May some good book enrich the passing hours. May love flow
+through all acts, and the star of hope shine in all shadows. And
+trusting Thee supremely, may we humbly do our best that good may abound
+on earth. Amen.
+
+ JOSEPH H. CROOKER.
+
+
+January 22
+
+ _The power of mere activity is often overrated. It is not what the
+ best men do, but what they are, that constitutes their truest
+ benefaction to their fellowmen. The things that men do get their
+ value, after all, from the way in which they are able to show the
+ existence of character which can comfort and help mankind.... It is
+ the lives, like the stars, which simply pour down on us the calm
+ light of their bright and faithful being, up to which we look and
+ out of which we gather the deepest calm and courage._
+
+ PHILLIPS BROOKS.
+
+Thou knowest, dear Father, how often we wish to do many things which are
+beyond our power. Help us to believe that Thou dost accept the wish when
+we cannot do the deed. But we thank Thee that we can do some things,
+though they are not large nor many. We know that as we grow in faith, in
+patience, in courage, in love, we radiate light and peace and power to
+those who are around us. As we begin a new day, we are uplifted by the
+thought that we have been called into being because Thou desirest the
+love of children, and because we are to co-work with Thee by loving and
+serving all whom we can reach. Always, we believe, art Thou ready to
+help us. Always art Thou brooding over us to draw us nearer to Thee, and
+to give us light and strength to be fellow-workers with Thee. In this
+new day, may we speak some word and do some work which shall please Thee
+and give us joy as we shall lie down to sleep. Amen.
+
+ HENRY BLANCHARD.
+
+
+January 23
+
+ _We pride ourselves, in weighing worth and merit,
+ Too much in virtues that we but inherit.
+ Some punctual grandsire makes us hate delay
+ And we are proud to keep our oath and day.
+ But our ancestral follies and abuses
+ We still indulge in, and make for them excuses.
+ Let him be proud, dared man be proud at all,
+ Who stands where all his fathers used to fall,
+ Holding their virtues fast and passing on
+ Still higher good through his own victories won._
+
+ ISAAC OGDEN RANKIN.
+
+This morning, the sun shines by his own inherent worth. The clouds often
+intercept his influence but he shines back of them and finds a way
+through the slightest cleft to tip them with glory. He always reveals
+himself--his inner self--and makes all purer and more beautiful. May we
+so shine! The world needs the divinity there is in us. We are a part of
+Thee. Thou art our deeper self. The Nazarean prophet relied entirely
+upon his inner life and found ancient good uncouth. Whatever clouds
+intercept our influence, teach us to reveal what conscience dictates,
+what intuition illumines, what reason shows, to purify our time, and all
+unrighteousness, wrong thinking and useless and hurtful custom. To this
+end, give us purity, courage, and nobility. Amen.
+
+ WILLIAM S. MORGAN.
+
+
+January 24
+
+ _My faith begins where your religion ends,--
+ In service to mankind. This single thread
+ Is given to guide us through the maze of life.
+ You start at one end, I the other; you,
+ With eyes fixed only upon God, begin
+ With lofty faith, and, seeking but to know
+ And do His will who guides the universe,
+ You find the slender and mysterious thread
+ Leads down to earth, with God's divine command
+ To help your fellowmen; but this to me
+ Is something strangely vague. I see alone
+ The fellowmen, the suffering fellowmen.
+ Yet, with a cup of water in my hand
+ For all who thirst, who knows but I one day,
+ Following faithfully the slender thread,
+ May reach its other end, and kneel at last
+ With you in heaven at the feet of God?_
+
+ ALICE WELLINGTON ROLLINS.
+
+Our Father in heaven, author of life and light, justice and mercy,
+liberty and love, we hail with joy and gratitude this new born day,
+token of Thy presence, good will and continued care. Help us with high
+ideals, pure thoughts and noble endeavors to hallow Thy name, trusting
+where we cannot prove, proving where we cannot trust, by a willing
+service to our fellowmen, ever advancing by faith, by works, with a
+strong heart, a firm step, a generous hand, a sunny smile, and a
+cheering voice, until we all come into the measure of the stature of the
+fulness of Christ; and Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
+Amen.
+
+ HENRY N. COUDEN.
+
+
+January 25
+
+ _If you would have sunlight in your home, see that you have work in
+ it: that you work yourself and set others to work. Nothing makes
+ moroseness and heavy-heartedness in a house so fast as idleness.
+ The very children gloom and sulk if they are left with nothing to
+ do. Every day there is the light of something conquered in the eyes
+ of those who work. In such a house, if there be also the good
+ temper of love, sunshine never ceases. For in it the great law of
+ humanity is obeyed, a law which is also God's law. For what said
+ Christ, "My Father worketh hitherto and I work." Sunlight comes
+ with work._
+
+ STOPFORD A. BROOKE.
+
+O Thou, who art the source of light and life, we pause in Thy presence
+at the opening of the day, that in the light of thy countenance we may
+see ourselves as we are and as we ought to be, and receive the
+inspiration to consecrated effort and worthy achievement. We thank Thee
+that Thou hast done so much for us and yet left so much for us to do.
+May we think how important are these lives we are going to live today;
+that no matter how small we are, this universe in all its majesty can
+never be complete without our effort, and Thou, Almighty God, art
+waiting with infinite patience for us to do our part. Thus shall our
+work, however humble, be glorified by a Godlike temper and a Christlike
+faith. Amen.
+
+ FREDERICK A. BISBEE.
+
+
+January 26
+
+ _All that is, at all,
+ Lasts ever, past recall:
+ Earth changes, but thy soul and God stand sure;
+ What entered into thee,
+ That was, is and shall be._
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ _He fixed thee 'mid this dance
+ Of plastic circumstance,
+ This Present, thou, forsooth, wouldst fain arrest;
+ Machinery just meant
+ To give thy soul its bent,
+ Try thee, and turn thee forth, sufficiently impressed._
+
+ ROBERT BROWNING.
+
+We thank Thee, O Father, for the yet unwrought possibilities of this
+day. Show us Thy purpose; or, if it please Thee, withhold the entire
+plan, yet may our faith claim a divine sanction for each hour's work as
+a part of the fulfilment of Thy purpose. We pray for strength and
+patience to have our souls rightly impressed by the cares, the joys, and
+disappointments of life. Make the things of the body only incidental to
+us. Save us from all but the best things. Give us the happiness of
+harmony with Thee. Wilt Thou grant these things through the power of Thy
+spirit, and in the name of Thy perfect Son, the vision of whom
+transforms our lives. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE W. OWEN.
+
+
+January 27
+
+ _Beloved, let us love so well,
+ Our work shall still be better for our love
+ And still our love be sweeter for our work._
+
+ ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING.
+
+ _If your name is to live at all, it is so much more to have it live
+ in people's hearts than only in their brains! I don't know that
+ one's eyes fill with tears when he thinks of the famous inventor of
+ logarithms, but a song of Burns or a hymn of Charles Wesley goes
+ straight to your heart and you can't help loving both of them, the
+ sinner as well as the saint._
+
+ OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.
+
+Our Father, who art in heaven, help us to hold Thee in our hearts this
+day, that we may live for Thee, from the love of Thee. Forgive us that
+we have not always a thankful spirit. Strengthen our wills to do good
+work, as in Thy sight, with clean hands and heart. Help us now as we
+pray, and flood the morning with the sunshine of Thy face, that we may
+be glad all the day long, and bring other lives into the brightness of
+Thy light. Save us from a partial mind, that we may love all Thy little
+ones with the same love of Him who said "Of such is the Kingdom of
+Heaven." Amen.
+
+ C. W. HOLDEN.
+
+
+January 28
+
+ _All thoughts of ill; all evil deeds.
+ That have their root in thoughts of ill;
+ Whatever hinders or impedes
+ The noble action of the will;--
+ All these must first be trampled down
+ Beneath our feet if we would gain
+ In the bright fields of fair renown
+ The right of eminent domain.
+ We have not wings, we cannot soar;
+ But we have feet to scale and climb
+ By slow degrees, by more and more,
+ The cloudy summits of our time._
+
+ HENRY W. LONGFELLOW.
+
+We bless Thee, Lord, for the new day and for the new chance which it
+offers to our wayward lives. Forgive the evil in them, and make the good
+efficient. Let the tides of Thy spirit bring to us cleansing,
+refreshment and power. In the day's business may we be brave, cheerful
+and considerate. Grant us a clear vision of the path of honor and the
+will to choose it at whatever cost. We wait upon Thee for renewal of our
+strength; for uplift as on eagle's wings; for unwearied running upon Thy
+larger errands, if Thou shalt ordain us to such high employ; but most of
+all, for grace to walk life's common ways without fainting. So at
+evening wilt Thou send Thy peace. Amen.
+
+ EDWARD M. CHAPMAN.
+
+
+January 29
+
+ _Don't you touch the edge of the great gladness that is in the
+ world, now and then, in spite of your own little single worries?
+ Well, that's what God means; and the worry is the interruption. He
+ never means that.... If you are glad for one minute in the day,
+ that is His minute; the minute He means, and works for._
+
+ MRS. A. D. T. WHITNEY.
+
+Dear Father, Thou hast made us fit for joy. Help us today to grasp our
+birthright of gladness. For those things which must be borne in sorrow
+give us submission. Let us taste the salt tonic of our tears and feel
+the strength born of struggle and the peace wrested from trial. Make us
+glad that friendly hands meet our own; that kindness is always sweet and
+sympathy divine. Teach us to lay hold on the radiance of each hour, that
+the morning bow of promise may become our evening glory and prophesy
+another glad new day. As children find content and joy by looking into
+their father's face so we turn to Thee. Amen.
+
+ EFFIE MCCOLLUM JONES.
+
+
+January 30
+
+ _Still must I climb if I would rest;
+ The bird soars upward to his nest;
+ The young leaf on the tree-top high
+ Cradles itself within the sky._
+
+ _I cannot in the valley stay:
+ The great horizons stretch away;
+ The very cliffs that wall me round
+ Are ladders unto higher ground._
+
+ _I am not glad till I have known
+ Life that can lift me from mine own;
+ A loftier level must be won.
+ A mightier strength to lean upon._
+
+ LUCY LARCOM.
+
+Heavenly Father, as the bird that soars first looks upward, we turn our
+souls to Thee, seeking inspiration that in the duties of today we may
+live to the full height of the faculties Thou hast given. Help us to
+know what is right and to follow it day by day continually. Grant that
+our toils this day may be acts of service as sacramental as our prayer.
+In our weakness, grant us of Thy strength that we may pass from glory to
+glory till we are transformed at last into the perfect image of Thy
+spirit. And when our work on earth is ended, when the clods of the
+valley are sweet to our weary frame, take us home to Thyself. Amen.
+
+ NATHANIEL S. SAGE.
+
+
+January 31
+
+ _Only a frown! Yet it pressed a sting
+ Into the day which had been so glad;
+ The red rose turned to a scentless thing:
+ The bird-song ceased with discordant ring;
+ And a heart was heavy and sad._
+
+ _Only a smile! yet it cast a spell
+ Over the sky which had been so gray;
+ The rain made music wherever it fell;
+ The wind sang the song of the marriage-bell;
+ And a heart was light and gay._
+
+ ANONYMOUS.
+
+With our tribute of praise, O Father, we would begin this day; this day,
+which, with all its bounties, is Thy gift. Prepare us, we beseech Thee,
+for the experiences of the hours as they open before us. Gratefully
+remembering that we are Thy children, may our duties weigh with such
+sacredness upon our hearts that we may shun the evil way as unworthy
+those so richly endowed and blest. Write, we pray Thee, Thy law within
+us; and may our love of Thee make it so easy and so joyous to obey that
+we shall continually grow into the likeness of Him whose mission it is
+to fill the world with blessedness and peace. Amen.
+
+ CHARLES W. TOMLINSON.
+
+
+February 1
+
+ _Father, I will not ask for wealth or fame,
+ Though once they would have joyed my carnal sense.
+ I shudder not to bear a hated name,
+ Wanting all wealth, myself my sole defence.
+ But give me, Lord, eyes to behold the truth;
+ A seeing sense that knows the eternal right;
+ A heart with pity filled, and gentlest ruth;
+ A manly faith that makes all darkness light;
+ Give me the power to labor for mankind;
+ Make me the mouth of such as cannot speak;
+ Eyes let me be to groping man and blind;
+ A conscience to the base; and to the weak
+ Let me be hands and feet; and to the foolish, mind;
+ And lead still farther on such as Thy Kingdom seek._
+
+ THEODORE PARKER.
+
+Heavenly Father, we speak to Thee this morning out of a sense of rest
+and trust. We would begin the day with Thee and keep in Thy company to
+its close. Whether we work or pray, wilt Thou rule our spirits?
+Conscious in this moment of freedom, that we shall soon be pressed and
+absorbed by our own cares, we pray, Father, that we may keep in mind the
+privilege and joy of bearing each other's burdens and so fulfilling the
+law of Christ. Nor ever permit us to fall away from perfect faith in Thy
+purpose. Work in us and through us to usher in the morning when Truth
+shall spring out of the earth and Righteousness shall come down from
+heaven. Amen.
+
+ ISAAC M. ATWOOD.
+
+
+February 2
+
+ _As when good news is come to one in grief, straightway he
+ forgetteth his former grief, and no longer attendeth to anything
+ except the good news which he hath heard, so do ye, also! having
+ received a renewal of your soul through the beholding of these good
+ things. Put on therefore gladness that hath always favor before
+ God, and is acceptable unto Him, and delight thyself in it; for
+ every man that is glad doeth the things that are good, and thinketh
+ good thoughts, despising grief._
+
+ MARIUS THE EPICUREAN.
+
+O Lord, we know there are a thousand reasons why we should be glad. We
+cannot always forget our sorrows and our failures; there are manifold
+sources of temporary vexation and annoyance and harassing care, but in
+the face of Thine overmastering Providence and Love we cannot long be
+vexed nor sad. If tears have dimmed our eyes let us brush away the
+tears. If troubles and cares have burdened our hearts let us rise
+triumphant over them all and for this day be glad; and in our gladness
+let us find our strength. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+February 3
+
+ _Do not dare to be so absorbed in your own life, so wrapped up in
+ listening to the sound of your own hurrying wheels, that all this
+ vast pathetic music, made up of the mingled joy and sorrow of your
+ fellowmen, shall not find out your heart and claim it and make you
+ rejoice to give yourself for them.... Be sure that ambition and
+ charity will both grow mean unless they are both inspired and
+ exalted by religion. Energy, love, and faith,--these make the
+ perfect man._
+
+ PHILLIPS BROOKS.
+
+O Thou who art not far from any one of us, but art the Source and
+Sustainer of our life, gratefully do we acknowledge the Mercy that has
+given us this new day with its certain opportunity for living the glad,
+true life. Directed by Thee, may this be for us a day of progress. May
+its duties be performed with alacrity and cheerfulness, its lessons
+learned with humility, its temptations met with resolute will, its
+crosses with patient hope. We thank Thee for the life of the Master who
+has shown us that if we would live Thy divine life, ours must be one of
+continual service and constant progression. If, tried by the seeming
+drudgery of duties daily repeated, we long for the end of our labors or
+dream of an idle heaven, O forgive our weakness, and help us trustingly
+to obey Thy voice as it whispers, "Up and on, this is not thy rest."
+Thus let the day close on hours well spent, and Thy joy and peace fill
+our hearts. Amen.
+
+ JOHN MURRAY ATWOOD.
+
+
+February 4
+
+ _Who art thou that complainest of thy life of toil? Complain not.
+ Look up, my wearied brother; see thy fellow-workmen there, in God's
+ eternity; surviving there, they alone surviving; sacred band of the
+ Immortals, celestial body-guard of the empire of mankind. To thee,
+ Heaven, though severe, is as that Spartan mother, saying while she
+ gave her son his shield, "With it, my son, or upon it." Thou too
+ shalt return home in honor; to thy far distant Home, in honor;
+ doubt it not,--if in the battle thou keep thy shield! Thou, in the
+ Eternities, and deepest death-kingdoms, art not an alien; thou
+ everywhere art a denizen. Complain not._
+
+ THOMAS CARLYLE.
+
+O Thou God of goodness and grace, who dost turn Thy smiling countenance
+upon the upturned faces of Thy children, help us to find in the light of
+another day the continued proof of Thy fatherly care and tender mercy.
+Since Thou art so well disposed towards us, give us courage to attempt
+anything which the duties of this day require, remembering that Thou
+canst not ask anything beyond our strength, or withhold from us the
+blessing of Thy Divine approval. Living under Thy smile help us to be
+strong and calm and confident, delighting Thy heart by our faith in Thee
+and our love for our fellowmen. Amen.
+
+ SAMUEL C. BUSHNELL.
+
+
+February 5
+
+ _This goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory;
+ this most excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave
+ o'er-hanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden
+ fire, why, it appears no other thing to me than a foul and
+ pestilent congregation of vapors. What a piece of work is a man!
+ how noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! in form and moving
+ how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in
+ apprehension how like a god!_
+
+ SHAKESPEARE.
+
+Our Father in Heaven, we pray Thee that this may be a bright and happy
+day in each of our lives. May there be sunshine in our hearts because
+they are attuned to Thine. Going about our daily tasks, Thy spirit
+within us, may we make our little portion of the earth not a sterile
+promontory but a rich garden abounding in the fruits of the spirit, and
+may we, by Thy grace, be enabled to dispel some of the pestilent vapors
+of wordliness and doubt. In all things, may we remember our divine
+parentage and conform our lives more and more to the pattern shown us by
+Thy dear Son, Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.
+
+ FRANCIS E. CLARK.
+
+
+February 6
+
+ _There was a merchant once, who on the way
+ Meeting one fatherless and lamed, did stay
+ To draw the thorn which pricked his foot, and passed;
+ And 'twas forgot; and the man died at last.
+ But in a dream the Prince of Khojand spies
+ That man again, walking in Paradise.
+ Walking and talking in that blessed land,
+ And what he said the prince could understand;
+ For he said this, plucking the heavenly posies;
+ "Wonderful! One thorn made me many roses!"_
+
+ EDWIN ARNOLD.
+
+Dear Father in Heaven, with our life refreshed and renewed by sleep, we
+would face the duties of the day with strong hope and a ready courage.
+Forbid that these shall in any degree be diminished by any difficulty or
+perplexity that may arise. We pray for wisdom and love. Grant us that
+interest in others that shall impel us to help those who are in need.
+And may our desire to minister move us not only to dress the wounds of
+those whom the thorns have injured, but to clear the paths, along which
+men must pass, of those conditions and influences which inevitably maim
+and blight. May we serve Thee faithfully and with gladness this day!
+Amen.
+
+ HARRY L. CANFIELD.
+
+
+February 7
+
+ _Quicksand years that whirl me I know not whither,
+ Your schemes, politics fail, lines give way, substances mock and
+ elude me,
+ Only the theme I sing, the great and strong-possess'd soul, eludes not,
+ One's self must never give way--that is the final substance--that out
+ of all is sure,
+ Out of politics, triumphs, battles, life, what at last finally remains?
+ When shows break up what but One's self is sure?_
+
+ WALT WHITMAN.
+
+O Thou, who beholdest all the souls of men, in our vision of another new
+day, help us to see as Thou seest; to be conscious not of our own need
+and desert alone, but also of the deserts and needs of all those with
+whom we have to do; shaping our prayer and directing the effort that
+follows after all true prayer in accordance with this wider outlook. O
+Thou, who fashionest the hearts of all, who observest all their works,
+we would strengthen and purify our hearts that they may be fitted to be
+fashioned by Thee to noble ends, and set to some good service; and we
+would do our daily work as in the sight of one who knows and loves all
+honest, thorough workers, great or humble, wise or simple. Amen.
+
+ AUGUSTUS MENDON LORD.
+
+
+February 8
+
+ _Truth should be the first lesson of the child and the last
+ aspiration of Manhood; for it has been well said that the inquiry
+ of truth, which is the love-making of it, the knowledge of truth,
+ which is the presence of it, and the belief of truth, which is the
+ enjoying of it, is the sovereign good of human nature._
+
+ _We search the world for truth; we cull
+ The good, the pure, the beautiful,
+ From graven stone and written scroll,
+ From all old flower-fields of the soul._
+
+ JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, we acknowledge Thee as the Author and Giver of all
+truth. We bless Thee that Thou hast attuned our souls to its music, and
+that when with conscious life we touch its strings covering the universe
+we feel harmony with the Divine. We thank Thee for the truths of our
+sonship in Thee and for the assurances of Thy Fatherhood. We bless Thee
+for Jesus who was the truth made life, and who is our daily guide to its
+blessings. We thank Thee for the truth of immortality, with its
+encouragement to eager life today and its assurances of endless joyful
+tomorrows. Make us seekers of truth, lovers of truth and examples of
+truth as it is in Jesus our Savior. Amen.
+
+ FRED A. DILLINGHAM.
+
+
+February 9
+
+ _All things are engaged in writing their history. The planet, the
+ pebble, goes attended by its shadow. The rolling rock leaves its
+ scratches on the mountain; the river, its channel in the soil; the
+ animal, its bones in the stratum; the fern and leaf, their modest
+ epitaph in the coal. The falling drop makes its sculpture in the
+ sand or the stone. Not a foot steps into the snow or along the
+ ground, but prints, in characters more or less lasting, a map of
+ its march. Every act of the man inscribes itself in the memory of
+ his fellows, and in his own manners and face. The air is full of
+ sounds, the sky of tokens, the ground is all memoranda and
+ signatures, and every object covered over with hints which speak to
+ the intelligent._
+
+ _Ralph Waldo Emerson._
+
+Our Father, who art in Heaven and in every manifestation of living
+nature, we turn our thoughts to Thee with the rising of each new sun. We
+hear Thy voice in the singing of every summer bird. We realize Thy
+presence in the shifting shadows of the clouds. In the arching blue
+above us we realize something of the depth and breadth of the love that
+arches over the horizon of our life and stretches like the radiant bow
+of promise from the green hills of childhood to the sombre mountains of
+old age. We beseech Thee to give us thoughts so beautiful and ennobling
+that even amid the sods and clods of life's daily drudgery we can always
+face the morning light of some new hope which comes like the old song
+sung in the new land. Amen.
+
+ JOHN KIMBALL.
+
+
+February 10
+
+ _First, when I feel that I am become cold and indisposed to prayer,
+ by reason of other business and thoughts, I take my psalter and run
+ into my chamber, or, if day and season serve, into the church to
+ the multitude, and begin to repeat to myself--just as children
+ used--the ten commandments, the creed, and, according as I have
+ time, some sayings of Christ or of Paul, or some Psalms. Therefore
+ it is well to let prayer be the first employment in the early
+ morning, and the last in the evening. Avoid diligently those false
+ and deceptive thoughts which say, Wait a little, I will pray an
+ hour hence; I must first perform this or that. For with such
+ thoughts a man quits prayer for business that lays hold of and
+ entangles him, so that he comes not to pray the whole day long._
+
+ MARTIN LUTHER.
+
+O Lord, our Heavenly Father, who keepest covenant and loving kindness
+with Thy servants, who walk humbly with Thee, and who hast been
+attentive to the prayers of our fathers when they lifted up their hearts
+and their hands to Thee, teach us to pray, and to love to pray. Visit us
+in the night season and before the morning watch. Touch our spirits with
+the flame of Thy Spirit, before the day's business lays hold upon us and
+entangles us, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
+
+ REUBEN KIDNER.
+
+
+February 11
+
+ _In one of Dean Stanley's sermons to children, preached at
+ Westminster Abbey, he told the following story: "There was a little
+ girl living with her grandfather. She was a good child, but he was
+ not a very good man; and one day, when the little child came back
+ from school, he had put in writing over the bed, 'God is nowhere,'
+ for he did not believe in the good God, and he tried to make the
+ little child believe the same. What did the little girl do? She had
+ no eyes to see, no ears to hear, what her grandfather tried to
+ teach her. She was very small. She could only read words of one
+ syllable at a time; she rose above the bad meaning which he tried
+ to put in her mind; she rose, as we all ought to rise, above the
+ temptation of our time; she rose into a higher and better world;
+ she rose because her little mind could not do otherwise, and she
+ read the words, not 'God is nowhere,' but 'God is now here.' That
+ is what we all should strive to do. Out of words which have no
+ sense or which have bad sense, our eyes, our minds, ought to be
+ able to read a better sense."_
+
+ WILLIAM MOODIE.
+
+O Thou, Invisible Presence, there can be no place where Thou art not.
+Thou, our Father, art in heaven and on earth and everywhere. Thou art in
+the order of the rock, the beauty of the flower, the light of the sun
+and stars, and goodness in the human soul. Teach us to be conscious of
+Thy nearness to us, and so may we never be afraid. In the light of Thy
+countenance, may we see duty and truth, and recognize more easily the
+good in one another. Amen.
+
+ ALVA ROY SCOTT.
+
+
+February 12
+
+ ABRAHAM LINCOLN BORN 1809
+
+ _Chosen for large designs, he had the art
+ Of winning with his humour, and he went
+ Straight to his mark, which was the human heart;
+ Wise, too, for what he could not break he bent._
+
+ _Upon his back a more than Atlas-load--
+ The burden of the Commonwealth was laid;
+ He stooped, and rose up to it, though the road
+ Shot suddenly downwards, not a whit dismayed._
+
+ _Hold, warriors, counsellors, kings! all now give place
+ To this dear benefactor of the race._
+
+ RICHARD H. STODDARD.
+
+Almighty Father, we thank Thee today for the gracious memory of Thy
+servant who lived and died for the sake of a free and united nation. We
+thank Thee more that we have his life inwrought into the very fabric of
+the life of the nation. We had in him "a hiding place from the wind and
+a covert from the tempest, a river of water in a dry place and the
+shadow of a great rock in a weary land." We gratefully join in praise
+with the thousands who found help and cheer in the shadow of his
+strength. And now we humbly beseech Thee, help us in some small way this
+day to be a helper to the helpless, a friend to the needy, sunshine to
+those whose day will be gray and gloomy, the shadow of a great rock to
+those who are buffeted by the world's storms. Thus shall we prove our
+gratitude to Thee for the gift of Thy servant whom we honor today, and
+thus shall we honor Thee. We ask and offer all in the name of Thy Son
+Jesus Christ. Amen.
+
+ AVERY A. SHAW.
+
+
+February 13
+
+ _Let us learn to be content with what we have. Let us get rid of
+ our false estimates, set up all the higher ideals--a quiet home;
+ vines of our own planting; a few books full of the inspiration of a
+ genius; a few friends worthy of being loved, and able to love us in
+ return; a hundred innocent pleasures that bring no pain or remorse;
+ a devotion to the right that will never swerve; a simple religion
+ empty of all bigotry, full of trust and hope and love--and to such
+ a philosophy this world will give up all the empty joy it has._
+
+ DAVID SWING.
+
+Thou gracious Spirit of Life, our Father, at the beginning of this new
+day we wait for a moment before Thee with uncovered heads and with
+reverent spirits; Thou knowest us through and through, whatever man may
+think of us Thou knowest just what we are. In Thy sight we need not
+pretend; we need not make believe, we need only be simple and genuine
+and brave and earnest. We need be glad in the possession of what we
+have. Help us this day to rightly value that which is good and honest.
+Let us for this day at least, put away all vanity and give ourselves
+unreservedly to Thy service and the love of our fellow men. To this high
+end, may we have the sweet companionship of Jesus. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+February 14
+
+ _We go through life as some tourists go through Europe,--so anxious
+ to see the next sight, the next cathedral, the next picture, the
+ next mountain peak, that we never stop to fill our sense with the
+ beauty of the present one. Along all our pathways sweet flowers are
+ blossoming, if we will only stop to pluck them and smell their
+ fragrance. In every meadow, birds are warbling, calling to their
+ mates, and soaring into the blue, if we will only stop our
+ grumbling long enough to hear them._
+
+ MINOT J. SAVAGE.
+
+Give us, O God, the vision to see the way where duty lies and strength
+to walk in it, to ever keep the forward look and never to lose heart
+today because of the stumblings and fallings in the yesterdays that are
+forever gone. Let us remember that we are in Thy hands and we are
+faithless to Thee and to ourselves if knowingly we fail to do Thy work.
+Though we cannot see Thee, we now see our fellow men and we shall best
+serve Thee if, in love and patience, we help our fellows. Amen.
+
+ ALMON GUNNISON.
+
+
+February 15
+
+ _May I reach
+ That purest Heaven--be to other souls
+ The cup of strength in some great agony,
+ Enkindle generous ardor, feed pure love,
+ Beget the smiles that have no cruelty,
+ Be that sweet presence of a good diffused,
+ And in diffusion ever more intense!
+ So shall I join the choir invisible,
+ Whose music is the gladness of the world._
+
+ GEORGE ELIOT.
+
+Our heavenly Father, we bless Thee for the gift of another day with all
+its opportunities for service. And we pray that our hearts may respond
+in sympathy with the heartbeats of those who love and toil and suffer
+around us today. May we learn to make their joys and sorrows our own. Do
+not let our unfeeling hands strike the heart-strings of others harshly,
+nor allow our feet to go crushing roses of love, without thought. Help
+us, we pray Thee, to walk tenderly and reverently among our fellow men.
+May their hopes and noble endeavors ring within us the prayer bells of
+the soul. Make us thus to grow large and tender and noble through our
+helpful ministries. Amen.
+
+ JOHN WESLEY CARTER.
+
+
+February 16
+
+ _Ah, love and love alone at last will solve
+ All the vast, threatening questions that distract
+ Mankind; that fellow-men in strife array,
+ And the whole world with fierce contentions rend.
+ Still keep your idle millions under arms--
+ Fed on the hard-earned substance of the poor--
+ Still watch each other with keen jealousy,
+ Still slaughter thousands on the field of war,
+ Or strive with statesman's craft to arbitrate;
+ Thread the sly mazes of diplomacy,
+ Try communistic cures for every ill,
+ And when all fails at last, for lack of love,
+ Try love--the mightiest of them all--and win!_
+
+ HENRY NEHEMIAH DODGE.
+
+God of the light,--within, without, who hast lifted the curtain of night
+from our abodes, perfect now Thy blessing unto us, and take the veil
+from all our hearts, and make clear to us Thy holy presence. Filled with
+the everlasting light, may we look on each other, and on our work here
+below, and on the strifes and conditions of humanity, with a love and
+hope that are not of this world. May Faith, Hope and Love abide with
+us--and may we realize that the greatest of these is Love. Hasten Thou
+the time when by love alone Thy kingdom shall come, and Thy will be done
+on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.
+
+ WILLIAM B. EDDY.
+
+
+February 17
+
+ _If the day and night are such that you greet them with joy, and
+ life emits a fragrance like flowers and sweet-scented herbs, is
+ more starry, more immortal,--that is your success. All nature is
+ your congratulation and you have cause momentarily to bless
+ yourself._
+
+ HENRY DAVID THOREAU.
+
+Father, I have found Thy gift of life, a sweet and beautiful thing. It
+has known cloud and rain, but these have nourished it, and the darkness
+has sheltered it. It has felt driving storms, but these have
+strengthened it. It has known sunshine too. And now every day is a
+transfiguration and every night a benediction. Let thanksgiving be my
+prayer. What I need Thou wilt give. My hands Thou wilt touch with the
+soft petals of Thy flowers; and the arms of Thy strong care shall be
+about me. By the voices of brooks and rivers and winds and birds and
+little children Thou wilt speak to me, and in the deeper silences I
+shall hear Thy still small voice. Father, I thank Thee. Amen.
+
+ O. C. S. WALLACE.
+
+
+February 18
+
+ _Let us not care too much for what happens: Let us not leave our
+ peace of mind at the mercy of events._
+
+ CHARLES G. AMES.
+
+ _Let us lay hold of the happiness of today. Do we not go through
+ life blindly, thinking that some fair tomorrow will bring us the
+ gift we miss today?... Know thou, my heart, if thou art not happy
+ today, thou shalt never be happy._
+
+ ANNA ROBERTSON BROWN.
+
+We thank Thee, our Father, that the Satisfaction of righteousness is
+present as well as future. Help us, we beseech Thee, to live this day so
+that earth shall seem like heaven. In the proof of our adequacy to the
+demands of duty may we find a delight that shall more than compensate us
+for any pleasure or profit surrendered for its sake. May the sense of
+Thine approval sanctify our joys and comfort our sorrows. May we win
+love by deserving it, and find happiness in bestowing it. Through
+obedience to Thy will may we add strength and spiritual beauty to our
+own character and carry into the evening shadows the sweet assurance
+that other lives have been enriched by our kind words and helpful deeds.
+We ask it as Thy children. Amen.
+
+ J. FRANK THOMPSON.
+
+
+February 19
+
+ _'Tis always morning somewhere, and above
+ The awakening continents from shore to shore.
+ Somewhere the birds are singing evermore._
+
+ HENRY W. LONGFELLOW.
+
+ _The inconveniences and the petty annoyances, the pains and the
+ sorrows, do we ever forget them? Indeed, no; we grumble and groan
+ continually. The blue sky and the sunshine, the everyday mercies
+ and the wonderful blessings that we accept as a matter of course,
+ do we remember to rejoice because of them? Only too seldom. On this
+ one day, do let us be sincerely and expressedly thankful._
+
+ ANONYMOUS.
+
+Our Father, we rejoice to believe that Thy love is the eternal sun which
+knows no eclipse and that in its pure shining, we Thy children can go
+forward with brave hearts and radiant hopes, assured that Thy wisdom
+hath left nothing unfinished and that "Thy goodness faileth never." We
+greet this new day with newness of joy in Thy Fatherhood as our personal
+right, and with ascending ideals of a service whose gracious light shall
+kindle other souls into a larger hopefulness and a deeper tenderness. We
+would fill this day with all sunny thoughts, with all cheering words and
+with all generous deeds, and thus the more effectually bring the divine
+light into the human and make clearer the outlines of a heaven on earth.
+Amen.
+
+ ARNOLD S. YANTIS.
+
+
+February 20
+
+ _No blast of air or fire of sun
+ Puts out the light whereby we run
+ With girdled loins our lamplit race,
+ And each from each takes heart of grace
+ And spirit till his turn be done,
+ And light of face from each man's face
+ In whom the light of trust is one;
+ Since only souls that keep their place
+ By their own light, and watch things roll,
+ And stand, have light for any soul._
+
+ ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE.
+
+O Thou, Who coverest Thyself with light as with a garment, even the true
+light which lighteth every man coming into the world, shine Thou in us,
+putting to flight all the powers of darkness, and guilt of sin, and
+selfishness. Shine also through us to any that live in the shadow; and
+so fill us with Thy radiant Spirit, that we may be a lamp unto a
+neighbor's feet and a light unto his path. And when this day is done may
+every face we have met be the brighter for our meeting, and every heart
+braver with new joy and cheer and grace and strength. For in Thee O
+Lord, is life, and Thy life is the light of men. Amen.
+
+THEODORE PARKER.
+
+
+February 21
+
+ _The longer on this earth we live
+ And weigh the various qualities of men
+ The more we feel the high, stern-featured beauty
+ Of plain devotedness to duty,
+ Steadfast and still, nor paid with mortal praise,
+ But finding amplest recompense
+ For life's ungarlanded expense
+ In work done squarely and unwasted days._
+
+ JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL.
+
+Our dear Heavenly Father, we would greet Thee as this morning greets us.
+We thank Thee for the daily duty; that, amid this wondrous world, Thou
+hast set somewhat for our doing. May we appreciate the honor. May we not
+grudge our best, even in the humblest tasks, since Thou appointest them.
+Strengthen us, we beseech Thee, if sometimes the heart fails, and the
+tired hands get laggard. Show us how the lowliest service becomes
+loftiest if done with the glorifying motive of pleasing Thee. Make us
+this day blithe in duty. When our heads find pillow may Thy peace enfold
+us; forgive our failures; and, for Jesus' sake, may we never cease
+endeavor. Amen.
+
+ WAYLAND HOYT.
+
+
+February 22
+
+GEORGE WASHINGTON. BORN 1732.
+
+ _Welcome to the day returning,
+ Dearer still as ages flow,
+ While the torch of faith is burning,
+ Long as Freedom's altars glow!
+ See the hero whom it gave us
+ Slumbering on a mother's breast;
+ For the arm he stretched to save us,
+ Be its morn forever blest._
+
+ OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.
+
+Father of life, we thank Thee that Thou hast been with the Fathers; that
+Thou hast been with him whose birth this day we celebrate. Thou wert
+willing to speak to them, and they were willing to hear Thee and answer
+Thee, "Lo, here am I; send me." We thank Thee that the memory of this
+great man has come down to us; of him who was first in war, first in
+peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen; and we ask Thee that
+Thou wilt be with our countrymen today; that Thou wilt teach us Thy law,
+that we may walk in Thy ways; that this may be that happy nation whose
+God is the Lord. In all time of our trial, if we have sought Thee we
+have found Thee,--in all time of our success Thou hast won for us our
+victories,--Thou hast been with our counsellors. Father, today,
+tomorrow, and in days to come, in our memories and in our hopes be with
+us still, Our Father, Who art in Heaven. Amen.
+
+ EDWARD EVERETT HALE.
+
+
+February 23
+
+ _If you always remember that in all you do in soul or body God
+ stands by as a witness, in all your prayers and your actions you
+ will not err; and you shall have God dwelling with you._
+
+ EPICTETUS.
+
+ _Faith acts on our souls as a moral tonic; it takes the fret and
+ fever out of our lives; it gives the appetite and desire for noble
+ living; it removes despondency; it gives energy, courage, hope,
+ patience, and persistence; and in its highest manifestations it
+ makes our lives a blending of power, sweetness, and peace._
+
+ JAMES M. PULLMAN.
+
+Father of spirits! We yield ourselves to Thee. We will be afraid of
+neither sorrow nor death in a world where many saintly souls have
+sanctified them by a divine patience, and amid a Providence wherein no
+evil thing can dwell. Clinging unto Thee, we shall not perish with the
+fashion of this world that passeth away. As sparks falling on the river,
+so shall the glories of our strength go out. But the graces of the holy
+soul shall be as the brightness of the firmament, and as the stars
+forever and ever. In Thee, O Lord, is our undying trust. Amen.
+
+ JAMES MARTINEAU.
+
+
+February 24
+
+ _Be of good cheer, brave spirit; steadfastly serve that low whisper
+ thou hast served; for know, God hath a select family of sons now
+ scattered wide thro' earth, and each alone, who are thy spiritual
+ kindred, and each one by constant service to that inward law, is
+ weaving the sublime proportions of a true monarch's soul. Beauty
+ and strength, the riches of a spotless memory, the eloquence of
+ truth, the wisdom got by searching of a clear and loving eye that
+ seeth as God seeth. These are their gifts, and time, who keeps
+ God's word, brings on the day to seal the marriage of these minds
+ with thine, thy everlasting lovers._
+
+ RALPH WALDO EMERSON.
+
+O Thou, who makest the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice,
+help us to welcome this new day as Thy gift, to take up its duties with
+courage, and to follow the light which Thou shalt give. Conscious of the
+meaning and purpose of life, undismayed by the failures of past days,
+and ever remembering that Thy strength is made perfect in human
+weakness, may we consecrate ourselves anew to the glad service of life,
+knowing that in so doing we enter into fellowship with all who have been
+workers together with Thee, and into increasing likeness of soul to Thy
+holy Son. May the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and may life
+become stronger and sweeter and richer, until at last we receive through
+grace the "well done!" of the Master. Amen.
+
+ HENRY M. KING.
+
+
+February 25
+
+ _There is no music in a rest, but there is the making of music in
+ it. In our whole life melody, the music is broken off here and
+ there by "rests," and we foolishly think we have come to the end of
+ time. God sends a time of forced leisure--sickness, disappointed
+ plans, frustrated efforts--and makes a sudden pause in the choral
+ hymn of our lives, and we lament that our voices must be silent,
+ and our part missing in the music which ever goes up to the ear of
+ the Creator. How does the musician read the rest? See him beat time
+ with unvarying count and catch up the next note true and steady, as
+ if no breaking place had come in between. Not without design does
+ God write the music of our lives. But be it ours to learn the time,
+ and not be dismayed at the "rests." They are not to be slurred
+ over, nor to be omitted, nor to destroy the melody, nor to change
+ the key-note. If we look up, God Himself will beat the time for us.
+ With the eye on Him we shall strike the next note full and clear._
+
+ JOHN RUSKIN.
+
+O God, help us to trust where we cannot see, and to feel that life is
+not necessarily a failure because we are shut out from its activities.
+Grant us in sickness such visions and such communion with Thee that
+disease of the body shall be transformed into a healer of the soul; and,
+as the crushed rose the sweeter fragrance emits, so may our sorrows
+chasten and refine us.
+
+O Heavenly Father, grant that all our sickness and pain and
+disappointment may so sweeten our dispositions, purify our character and
+strengthen our souls that we shall bring heaven's sunlight into the
+lives of all whom we meet. Amen.
+
+ MYRON W. HAYNES.
+
+
+February 26
+
+ _Love is the greatest thing that God can give us, for Himself is
+ love; and it is the greatest thing we can give to God, for it will
+ also give ourselves, and carry with it all that is ours._
+
+ JEREMY TAYLOR.
+
+ _High thoughts and noble in all lands
+ Help me, my soul is fed by such;
+ But ah, the touch of lips and hands,
+ The human touch!
+ Warm, vital, close, life's symbols dear,
+ These need I most and now and here._
+
+ RICHARD BURTON.
+
+Our Father in Heaven, we bless Thee this morning for all Thy care and
+love; Thou hast made our houses homes, sweet, quiet dwelling-places. We
+thank Thee for sleep, for communion with one another in all holy and
+tender speech. We thank Thee for all our hopes; the worlds are nearer
+than we thought, heaven's fragrance attempers the winds of earth, we
+almost hear the upper song: may we listen for it, may our souls delight
+in sweet anticipations of immortal fellowship, and may we come out of
+these high reveries determined to work more, suffer more patiently, to
+accept every discipline more willingly, and to do all our little day's
+work as men whose citizenship is in heaven. Amen.
+
+ JOSEPH PARKER.
+
+
+February 27
+
+ _Flame of the spirit, and dust of the earth,--
+ This is the making of man,
+ This is his problem of birth;
+ Born to all holiness, born to all crime,
+ Heir of both worlds, on the long slope of time
+ Climbing the path of God's plan;
+ Dust of the earth in his error and fear,
+ Weakness and malice and lust;
+ Yet, quivering up from the dust,
+ Flame of the spirit, unleaping and clear,
+ Yearning to God, since from God is its birth--
+ This is man's portion, to shape as he can,
+ Flame of the spirit, and dust of the earth--
+ This is the making of man._
+
+ PRISCILLA LEONARD.
+
+O God, Thou art the Father of our spirits, but our spirits have come to
+us through ways of flesh. We are both spiritual and carnal. Our spirits
+seek Thee evermore, but our flesh turns away from Thee and strives to
+drag us down. Between our best and our worst is bitter conflict. Help us
+to the discovery that all that lives is in like conflict, and that there
+can be no virtue and no glory except in overcoming. Make us see that the
+spirit is stronger than the flesh because it is of God, and that in the
+obedience and inspiration of Jesus, Thy Son and our Brother, we may at
+last be enthroned with Him. Amen.
+
+ CEPHAS B. CRANE.
+
+
+February 28
+
+ _Neither let mistakes nor wrong directions, of which every man, in
+ his studies and elsewhere, falls into many, discourage you. There
+ is precious instruction to be got by finding we were wrong. Let a
+ man try faithfully, manfully, to be right; he will grow daily more
+ and more right. It is at bottom the condition on which all men have
+ to cultivate themselves._
+
+ THOMAS CARLYLE.
+
+Almighty God, our heavenly Father,--in Thine own loving way Thou dost
+bless us when we do the right; when we fall into mistakes so teach us by
+Thy judgments that we become wise unto salvation. Help Thy children to
+recognize their proneness to blunder, that they learn to walk
+circumspectly. When we fall into the wrong, grant that we lie prone not
+long but arise undismayed to greater effort. Bring to bear upon us the
+influences of the Holy Spirit, that we strive earnestly and devoutly to
+be right at the centre of our being; that rightness be the fabric of our
+life. To Thee be all glory evermore. Amen.
+
+ EDWARD A. PERRY.
+
+
+February 29
+
+ _Henceforth I learn that to obey is best,
+ And love with fear the only God, to walk
+ As in His presence, ever to observe
+ His providence, and on Him sole depend,
+ Merciful over all His works, with good
+ Still overcoming evil, and by small
+ Accomplishing great things--by things deemed weak
+ Subverting worldly strong, and worldly wise
+ By simply meek, that suffering for Truth's sake
+ Is fortitude to highest victory,
+ And to the faithful death the gate of life--
+ Taught this by His example whom I now
+ Acknowledge my Redeemer ever blest._
+
+ JOHN MILTON.
+
+O Thou Eternal One before whom from day to day we walk and on whom we
+ever depend, help us to-day to love whatever is good and beautiful and
+to follow obediently the behests of Thy Spirit. May we overcome evil
+with good; and may we accomplish whatever tasks the hours as they pass
+demand of us, whether small or great, with such strength as may be
+vouchsafed us and with a wisdom begotten of meekness. If we must suffer
+for truth's sake may we manifest such humility and fortitude as shall be
+conducive to the highest success. Open for us hourly the gates of life,
+as those who endeavor to be faithful to their high calling. These favors
+we ask in the name of Him who redeems our lives from all evil and crowns
+us daily with His loving kindness. Amen.
+
+ EDWARD DAY.
+
+
+March 1
+
+ _All the strength of the world and all its beauty, all true joy,
+ everything that consoles, that feeds hope, or throws a ray of light
+ along our dark paths, everything that makes us see across our poor
+ lives a splendid goal and a boundless future, comes to us from
+ people of simplicity, those who have made another object of their
+ desires than the passing satisfaction of selfishness and vanity,
+ and have understood that the art of living is to know how to give
+ one's life._
+
+ CHARLES WAGNER.
+
+Heavenly Father, help us to be like Thyself, as manifested in the person
+of Jesus Christ, Thy Son! It was His will to do the will of His Father
+by living and dying for others. Teach us so to live. Help us to learn by
+positive personal experience that supremest joy comes only "in
+ministering unto others." Teach us what Jesus meant when He said: "I am
+among you as he that serveth." Plant deeply within us His passion for a
+life of service. May our morning hours be gladdened and inspired by this
+divine purpose. Let Thy holy will be done in us this day. Amen.
+
+ CHARLES PARKHURST.
+
+
+ March 2
+
+ _The year's at the spring
+ And day's at the morn;
+ Morning's at seven;
+ The hill-side's dew-pearled;
+ The lark's on the wing;
+ The snail's on the thorn;
+ God's in His heaven--
+ All's right with the world!_
+
+ ROBERT BROWNING.
+
+Father in Heaven, refreshed and heartened by the night, we begin again
+with Thee the high adventure of our life. Add to the beauty of the world
+about us a finer spiritual beauty in our souls. Save us from our own
+undoing. If our thoughts are dark, shine in upon them with Thy glory; if
+they be bright, make them to light the pathway of another. Have us
+wholesomely to forget ourselves, in the joy of Thy good world, the
+promise of our imperfection and the trust in God that maketh not afraid.
+And when the duties of the day are done, dismiss us, Thy well-meaning
+children, with a quiet mind to rest. Amen.
+
+ ALBERT WELLMAN HITCHCOCK.
+
+
+ March 3
+
+ _We will do something worth doing--that is the resolution for you
+ and me._
+
+ EDWARD EVERETT HALE.
+
+ _We admire the man who embodies victorious efforts, the man who
+ never wrongs his neighbor, who is prompt to help a friend, but who
+ has those virile qualities necessary to win in the stern strife of
+ actual life._
+
+ THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
+
+Father of Lights in whom is no darkness at all, and in whose light we
+see light, help us to clearly see and never forget that only right deeds
+are worthy of a child of Thine. May we in no moment forget that to yield
+to the wrong is to bring upon us Thy just condemnation and sow for us a
+sure reaping of sorrowful repentance. By doing the things we know to be
+right and worth doing, the things worthy of our true selves and of our
+Father and of our Master whose we are, may this day, through us, yield
+some benefit to other children of Thine, and bring to us the sweet
+reward of Thine approval. Amen.
+
+ OSCAR F. SAFFORD.
+
+
+March 4
+
+ _It is worth a thousand pounds a year to have the habit of looking
+ on the bright side of things._
+
+ SAMUEL JOHNSON.
+
+ _Not by appointment do we meet delight and joy;
+ They wait not our expectancy;
+ But round some corner in the street of life,
+ They, on a sudden, greet us with a smile._
+
+ GERALD MASSEY.
+
+Our Father, at the beginning of a new day, refreshed by the night's
+rest, we turn to Thee for strength for the day's task. We know not what
+the hours hold for us, but this we do know, that come what may, Thou
+wilt go with us to bless, to cheer; we shall not walk or work alone. As
+we faithfully and cheerfully perform our work, conscious of Thy
+presence, there will come joys and smiles unexpected and unsought. This
+is Thy way of teaching us faithfulness and endurance. May we soon learn,
+that if we would make the day happy and worth while, we must not seek
+our own pleasure and good, but that of our brethren. May we so live that
+when the night shadows are again upon us, there shall be no cause for
+shame or regret. In the Master's spirit! Amen.
+
+ O. HOWARD PERKINS.
+
+
+March 5
+
+ _Not in dumb resignation we lift our hands on high;
+ Not like the nerveless fatalist, content to do and die.
+ Our faith springs, like the eagle's, who soars to meet the sun,
+ And cries exulting unto Thee, "Oh, Lord, Thy will be done."_
+
+ _Thy will! It bids the weak be strong; it bids the strong be just;
+ No lips to fawn, no hand to beg, no brow to seek the dust,
+ Wherever man oppresses men beneath the liberal sun,
+ O Lord, be there, Thine arm made bare, Thy righteous will be done._
+
+ JOHN HAY.
+
+It is with the beautiful assurance of Thy love and kindness, our Father,
+that we draw nigh unto Thee. It is Faith that seems to give us wings by
+which we rise above the darkness, into Thy Presence of light and love.
+We feel our divine relationship to Thee, so that we lift up our hands to
+Thee, as the child to the parent. We are content to do Thy will, because
+we know then just what it is to love Thee. Our Master taught us this
+great lesson by His own faith in Thee. To do Thy will means strength to
+the weak, hope to the hopeless. To the sorrowing there can be seen,
+beyond the tear, the rainbow of Thy promise. Thus, as we realize our
+sonship will we work to make all men feel their own power, and all
+become one in Thy great love. May Thy Kingdom come and Thy will be done,
+in Christ our Lord. Amen.
+
+ C. E. FISHER.
+
+
+March 6
+
+ _If you are my friend you cannot be indifferent to my faults of
+ character, any more than you can be indifferent to my sickness or
+ suffering. But, if you care to help me cure these faults, please
+ let them alone! Please make much of my good qualities if you can
+ discover any. And especially bless me with the encouraging sight of
+ a better man than myself, and cheer me with a high example. I know
+ that there are times when a sharp or gentle rebuke is in order, and
+ that "faithful are the wounds of a friend." But the wiser doctors
+ have lost their faith in blood-letting; and they know that clumsy
+ surgery kills more than it cures._
+
+ CHARLES G. AMES.
+
+In our prayer, our Heavenly Father, we desire to be consciously grateful
+for the opportunities this new day affords us of being helpful to each
+other. The inspiration so to act comes from Thee. Thou art the constant
+and never-failing Helper of Thy children. May we be mindful of the fact
+that our noblest service to another may not be an alms, but a look of
+encouragement, a word of cheer. Enable us to be not too sensible of
+others' faults and failings. Assist us to see and magnify the good in
+other lives. To this end may we be to others such examples in conduct
+and character as we would have them be to us. We offer and ask all in
+the spirit of Jesus. Amen.
+
+ LEROY W. COONS.
+
+
+March 7
+
+ _The mariner of old said to Neptune in a great tempest, "O God!
+ Thou mayest save me if Thou wilt, and if Thou wilt Thou mayest
+ destroy me, but whether or no, I will steer my rudder true."_
+
+ MONTAIGNE.
+
+ _I go to prove my soul
+ I see my way as birds their trackless way.
+ I shall arrive! what time, what circuit first,
+ I ask not; but unless God send His hail
+ Or blinding fire-balls, sleet or stifling snow,
+ In some time, His good time, I shall arrive;
+ He guides me and the bird. In His good time!_
+
+ ROBERT BROWNING.
+
+Once more we face the day that can be dreadful only to our poor sight
+and trembling faith. For Thou hast made flame and pain, the hurricane
+and quaking earth to be Thy ministers of grace. Shall trust depart when
+shadows fall? Thou art "in the shadow keeping watch above Thine own." As
+truly in severity as in gentleness, Thou art the All-Loving and
+All-Wise. Shall we fear to go anywhere? Lord, Thou art everywhere!
+Defend us only from the blindness and fear of ignorance and sin. Draw us
+nearer to Thee, this day, by any means in Thy good pleasure, so that at
+last, truly knowing Thy way, we shall rise above the worst that
+circumstances may do into joy unspeakable and peace unbroken. In the
+name of Him made perfect through suffering. Amen.
+
+ HENRY B. TAYLOR.
+
+
+March 8
+
+ _We complain of the slow, dull life we are forced to lead, of our
+ humble sphere of action, of our low position in the scale of
+ society, of our having no room to make ourselves known, of our
+ wasted energies, of our years of patience. So do we say that we
+ have no Father who is directing our life, so do we say that God has
+ forgotten us, so do we boldly judge what life is best for us, and
+ so by our complaining do we lose the use and profit of the quiet
+ years._
+
+ BISHOP HUNTINGTON.
+
+Infinite and Holy One, by the tender mercies of Thy great love show us
+this day the true life that is hid in Thee. Feed us with Thy spirit that
+we hunger not. Make us strong and merciful in Thee. Help us to be
+simple, brave, and true. Give us to speak and live the truth. Make us
+content with life while ever dreaming of the more perfect day. Fix our
+lives in a great and brave integrity. Humble us in our pride, lift us
+from our despondency. Keep our hearts pure and our lips from speaking
+guile. Send us forth in perfect faith that here and now our lives may be
+patterned after that of Jesus without loss of influence over men. Make
+us not ashamed to be good and forgiving and gentle in all our ways.
+Amen.
+
+ FREDERICK W. BETTE.
+
+
+March 9
+
+ _Count each affliction, whether light or grave,
+ God's messenger sent down to thee; do thou
+ With courtesy receive him; rise and bow;
+ And, ere his shadow pass thy threshold, crave
+ Permission first his heavenly foot to lave._
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ _Grief should be
+ Like joy, majestic, equable, sedate,
+ Confirming, cleansing, raising, making free.
+ Strong to consume small troubles; to commend
+ Great thoughts, grave thoughts, thoughts lasting to the end._
+
+ AUBREY DEVERE.
+
+Our Father, we would learn to trust Thy love, to live so that Thy grace
+shall have in us its perfect work. Not the easy thing is what we ask,
+but strength for duty. Give us the confidence that Thou art by our side.
+Let Thy strong touch be felt, Thy blessed presence seen. In all the
+turmoil that rages within, without, grant us Thy peace. In childish
+helplessness, grant us the Father's help. To grow like Jesus is our
+heart's desire. All things that Thy great heart permits or sends, we
+would receive with gratitude, that so our wills and lives may be in
+harmony with Thine. And so day by day may something of the Saviour's
+glory shine through us and bless and brighten other lives in need. Amen.
+
+ FRANK M. HOLT.
+
+
+March 10
+
+ _Dawn and its silence draw a silver sigh
+ Far in the east where early shadows lie
+ All flocked and folded like soft peaceful sheep.
+ The spirit of the spring stirs in its sleep,
+ Breathes into life a misty floating sheen;
+ The willows dreamy drip of constant green;
+ Exultant beats a bird-heart o'er a nest,
+ Where dim, vague stirrings 'neath the tiny breast
+ Spell fresh the miracle of motherhood.
+ Ah, how the world is young! ah, how 'tis good!
+ To feel the new life flutter mystic wing;
+ Like to a lark to feel one's soul upspring,
+ Transpierce the very limit of the sky,
+ And toss its challenge to Eternity!_
+
+ MARY BALDWIN.
+
+O God, our heavenly Father, make our hearts exultant, as the earth in
+the spring morning, with the radiance of Thy Presence. Fill them with
+the joy and hopefulness of eternal youth, and cause them to be uplifted
+in gratitude and thankfulness to Thee. We have seen earthly faces so
+beaming with the light of love that we never shall forget them. We have
+spoken names that are so endeared to us that they will linger in our
+memory as long as we live. So, O Father, may it be with Thy face and Thy
+name. May Thy face beaming upon us as the sun of righteousness win our
+love to holiness and virtue, making us fruitful of good works, and Thy
+name be so woven in our affections that we shall cherish and hallow it
+forever. Amen.
+
+ EDGAR W. PREBLE.
+
+
+March 11
+
+ _You must be serving something, some one, that needs your help in
+ order to really appreciate the Divine care. It may be the parents'
+ care of their children; the teacher and her scholars; the
+ charity-worker and the poor, the friendless, the benighted; it may
+ be friend helping friend--in some way the life of loving service
+ must be there as something out of which God can help us think of
+ and value the care which infinite love bestows upon us._
+
+ JULIAN K. SMYTH.
+
+Heavenly Father, with the opening of a new day we thank Thee for father
+love and mother love, for love of patriot and philanthropist, and for
+the love which that has called into being in our own hearts. Through
+this love and the service of mutual helpfulness to which we have been
+led thereby, Thou openest our eyes to behold the world pervaded and
+overruled by a spirit of infinite goodness, society resting upon mutual
+services, and through that service mankind rising to a nobler and
+diviner civilization. Help us to be mindful of this heavenly vision, and
+so make our feet swift to run and our hands eager to work in the service
+of righteousness and mutual helpfulness. We ask in His name, who loving
+us, has taught us the divinity of service. Amen.
+
+ LEGRAND POWERS.
+
+
+March 12
+
+ _Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs
+ even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor
+ spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the
+ gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat._
+
+ THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
+
+ _But only he whose judgment never strays
+ Beyond the threshold of the right, learns this--
+ Not always is it good to have one's wish;
+ What seemeth sweet full oft to bitter turns;
+ Fulfilled desire hath made mine eyes to weep.
+ Therefore, O reader of these lines, if thou
+ Would'st virtuous be, and held by others dear
+ Will ever for the power to do aright._
+
+ LEONARDO DA VINCI.
+
+God of the morning light, with the dawn of another day we come to Thee
+with prayer for help in the steadfastness of our manifold duties. The
+cares that oppress us, the burdens we carry, the obligations that fall
+upon us, are too much for our little strength without Thy help. That
+help we crave from Thee, the only source of all-availing strength. Let
+us not be dismayed by the powers of this world or busy ourselves in vain
+ambitions seeking the praise of men, but may we seek that Divine
+approval which is of more worth than all the favors of earth. Make us
+brave and strong to follow in the way of Thine appointment, and grant
+that we may so sincerely feel and act in the busy times of this day that
+when the evening comes no wasted hours may be laid to our charge. Amen.
+
+ EDWARD M. BARNEY.
+
+
+March 13
+
+ _You are in God's world; you are God's child. Those things you
+ cannot change; the only peace and rest and happiness for you is to
+ accept them and rejoice in them. When God speaks to you, you must
+ not believe that it is the wind blowing or the torrent falling from
+ the hill. You must know that it is God. You must gather up the
+ whole power of meeting Him. You must be thankful that life is great
+ and not little. You must listen as if listening were your life. And
+ then, then only can come peace. All other sounds will be caught up
+ into the prevailing richness of that voice of God. The lost
+ proportions will be perfectly restored. Discord will cease; harmony
+ will be complete._
+
+ PHILLIPS BROOKS.
+
+Almighty God! We thank Thee for the peace and comfort of the night; for
+the new day and all the hope and peace and promise that it brings to us.
+Help us that with glad faces and joyous hearts we may take up its every
+privilege and duty, doing, in the spirit of the Master every good and
+helpful thing our hands find to do. And when the evening shall have come
+may we look back on a day of plenty, service, and peace, retiring to our
+rest with songs in our hearts and thanksgiving on our lips because Thy
+blessings have been on this, as on all other days new every morning and
+fresh every evening. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE MAYO GERRISH.
+
+
+March 14
+
+ _It is the first mild day of March:
+ Each minute sweeter than before,
+ The red-breast sings from the tall larch
+ That stands beside our door._
+
+ _There is a blessing in the air,
+ Which seems a sense of joy to yield,
+ To the bare trees and mountain bare,
+ And grass in the green field._
+
+ WILLIAM WORDSWORTH.
+
+Our Father, we wake each morning refreshed and thankful for the joy of
+living; for the air we breathe, the things we see, the sounds of
+nature's sweetest harmonies and all the beauty which surrounds our
+earthly life. May the wonders of the earth speak to us in witness of Thy
+love. Let springing-grass and opening flower remind us of the new life
+which is ours through the resurrection of our Lord. His blessing like
+the light of the sun runs everywhere, carrying with it morning and hope,
+springtime and gladness. The joy is in the song of the birds, the murmur
+of the waters, the children's laughter and the song of happy hearts.
+Attune our hearts to notes of praise and make us glad upon the earth
+until Thou bringest us to perfect and unshadowed joys where we shall see
+Thee as Thou art and be like Thee. Amen.
+
+ J. W. STEPHAN.
+
+
+March 15
+
+ _As to equality and inequality, all the beauty and glory of life
+ come from inequalities. If we were all Beethovens or Shakespeares
+ or marvelous in any one direction, life would be unbearable. Who
+ shall tell me if an Easter lily is the equal of a rose, or if
+ either is equal to an oak or a pine? The question of equality is
+ out of the court. The one thing we need to do is to cultivate the
+ finest and sweetest things in us; and then, whether we are one of
+ the California big trees or the violet in a valley, we shall help
+ on the beauty and glory of the earth._
+
+ ROBERT COLLYER.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for the manifold beauties of Thy
+universe, the revelations of Thyself to Thy children. For those large
+wonders which stir men's minds and rouse their souls to awe, we thank
+Thee, but not less for the little things of life, filling their places
+well, and showing daily to the seeing eye that without them Thy universe
+could not be complete. Help us to grasp the lesson that they teach. If
+Thou hast given to us the great place, we thank Thee, but we thank Thee
+not less for the homely task, the humble duty, for it is all necessary
+to Thy plan. Help us, day by day, with stronger purpose, larger
+consecration, to fill our place, to do Thy will, in His name. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE F. FORTIER.
+
+
+March 16
+
+ _There must be a way of taking worry rightly, so that it shall do
+ us good and not harm. Worry, rightly taken, should train to
+ quietness, humility, patience, gentleness, sympathy. It ought not
+ to eventuate (though it naturally does) in making others suffer
+ because we are uncomfortable; in making us a source of painful
+ worry to others because we are worried ourselves._
+
+ A. H. K. BOYD.
+
+Father of Love, Thy blessing it is which gives us another day. Help us
+to put before its cares the spirit that will banish care, to find in its
+beginning the power that will make labors happy and its ending sweet,
+and so to open our hearts to Thy light that no gloom of night shall
+linger round our way. If heaviness there be in ours or others' lives may
+every wholesome cheer make it less sore. If remembered faults and
+follies quench a better hope, send Thy patience and Thy will to be our
+courage and fresh resolve. Through all the noisy world may the secret
+music of Thy law swell in our breasts and every step keep time with its
+glorious march. Amen.
+
+ JOHN DAY.
+
+
+March 17
+
+ _Therefore to whom turn I but to Thee, the ineffable Name?
+ Builder and maker, Thou, of houses not made with hands!
+ What, have fear of change from Thee who art ever the same!
+ Doubt that Thy power can fill the heart that Thy power expands!
+ There shall never be one lost good! What was, shall live as before;
+ The evil is null, is nought, is silence implying sound;
+ What was good, shall be good, with, for evil, so much good more;
+ On the earth the broken arcs; in the heaven, a perfect round._
+
+ ROBERT BROWNING.
+
+We thank Thee, O God, that each morning brings us fresh assurance of Thy
+wisdom and goodness--that the days have taught us to believe in Thee and
+to trust Thee as our perfect Friend. We are glad that we can face the
+day in the faith that Thou art sufficient to the needs of the day--to
+all the needs of all Thy children. In this trust, we beseech Thee, make
+us more and more to rejoice in life and its high privileges. Help us to
+go on our way with gladness and peace in our hearts--to worship Thee
+hourly by honest work, by faithful service, by kind words, by helpful
+deeds, and so, to find life good by doing something to make it good.
+Amen.
+
+ FLINT M. BISSELL.
+
+
+March 18
+
+ _"If I were you," she said, "I should not worry. Just make up your
+ mind to do better when you get another chance. One can't do more
+ than that. That is what I shall think of: that God will give each
+ of us another chance, and that each one of us will take it and do
+ better--I and you and everyone. So there is no need to fret over
+ failure, when one hopes one may be allowed to redeem that failure
+ later on. Besides which life is very hard. Why, we ourselves
+ recognize that. If there be a God, some intelligence greater than
+ human intelligence, He will understand better than ourselves that
+ life is very hard and difficult, and He will be astonished not
+ because we are not better, but because we are not worse. At least,
+ that would be my notion of a God. I should not worry if I were you.
+ Just make up your mind to do better if you get the chance and be
+ content with that."_
+
+ BEATRICE HARRADEN.
+
+O Lord, how often we have failed--how weak and frail we are--we have
+groped and stumbled along the pathway of life and have been defeated
+over and over again. Yet in the light of Thy providence and Thy love in
+spite of all defeats, we take heart and face the day with hope. In Thine
+economy no failure is ever final--we rejoice that Thou openest before us
+another opportunity. Let us be brave and earnest to seize the
+opportunities of these passing hours. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+March 19
+
+ _To every life there comes a time supreme:
+ One day, one night, one morning, or one noon,
+ One freighted hour--one moment opportune,
+ One rift through which sublime fulfilments gleam;
+ One time when fate goes tiding with the stream,
+ One Once in balance 'twixt Too Late, Too Soon--
+ And ready for the passing instant's boon
+ That shall in favor tip the wavering beam.
+ Ah! happy he who, knowing how to wait,
+ Knows also how to watch and how to stand
+ On life's broad deck alert, and at the prow,
+ To seize the happy moment big with fate
+ From Opportunity's extended hand
+ When the great clock of Destiny strikes Now!_
+
+ MARY ASHLEY TOWNSEND.
+
+Our heavenly Father! Thou art the Author of all our days, and all our
+times and seasons are hid in the unfolding mystery of Thy Thought and
+Purpose. It is not given to us to know what a day or an hour may bring
+forth, but the opportune moments come, ways are opened before us to
+larger life and usefulness and privilege and duty. May we, by
+faithfulness, and watchfulness, and the readiness of those on duty, be
+prepared for each divinely offered opportunity. Surrounded by blessings,
+may we live to bless. Ministered unto, may we minister. Grateful to
+Thee, may we show our gratitude by service. In Thy name, Amen.
+
+ DWIGHT M. HODGE.
+
+
+March 20
+
+ _Put out of your thought the past whatever it may be; let go even
+ the future with its golden dream and its high ideal; and
+ concentrate your soul in this burning, present moment. For the man
+ who is true to the present is true to his best; and the soul that
+ wins the ground immediately before it, makes life a triumph._
+
+ OZORA STEARNS DAVIS.
+
+Almighty Giver of every good, we come to Thee amid the joys of a new
+morning, with its new blessings and opportunities. We would dedicate
+this day to Thy service. We would forget the past and waste not our time
+in idle dreaming of to-morrow, but with consecrated zeal we would apply
+ourselves to the tasks Thou hast appointed us for this present hour. Thy
+hand is ever opened to let down the tokens of Thy love. May all that is
+best within us rise up in answer, and may we be dedicated anew to our
+upbuilding in righteousness and the fulfilment of our duties to one
+another. May we this day follow the footsteps of the Christ and prove
+ourselves His faithful disciples! Amen.
+
+ R. PERRY BUSH.
+
+
+March 21
+
+ _I believe that today is better than yesterday, and that tomorrow
+ will be better than today._
+
+ GEORGE F. HOAR.
+
+ _Make yourselves nests of pleasant thoughts, bright fancies,
+ faithful sayings; treasure-houses of precious and restful thoughts,
+ which care cannot disturb nor poverty take away from you,--houses
+ built without hands for your souls to live in._
+
+ JOHN RUSKIN.
+
+Dear Father in heaven, around Thy name cluster the most sacred and holy
+affections. Thy name, indeed, is above every name infinite in love, and
+awakening in each heart a sense of filial gratitude. At this morning
+hour, therefore, we are mindful of the tie that binds us to Thee, that
+provides a nesting-place for pleasant and restful thoughts, that makes
+duty less irksome, home-love more tender, sacrifice more willing, and
+character more noble. In this spirit we pray Thee, O Father, send us
+forth to the labor which awaits us, only to realize, under Thy
+Providence, that this is the best day of our life, and full of assurance
+and rejoicing for a still better tomorrow. In the light of faith, hope
+and love do we ask and offer all. Amen.
+
+ WILBURN D. POTTER.
+
+
+March 22
+
+ _Scarce tangible may be the first glad sign,
+ Yet how it shakes us with a vernal thrill!
+ The voice of the south wind behind the hill;
+ Or an elusive bird-note faint and fine;
+ A flush at dawn along the wan sky-line;
+ A lyrical exuberance in the rill;
+ A something working its mysterious will
+ Both in majestic hole and tenuous vine!_
+
+ _It is the vernal spirit. In the earth
+ It throbs and pulses; quickens in the air;
+ And permeates all nature thro' and thro'.
+ In the expectant poignancy of birth
+ What raptures, what rare ecstasies we share--
+ Old,--ah, how old!--and yet forever new!_
+
+ CLINTON SCOLLARD.
+
+O God, how good Thou art! All Thy works praise Thee. The world is filled
+with Thy glory. This dawning Springtime brings Thee very near every
+responsive heart. Thou art the fountain of life. We see Thee in bursting
+bud and incipient bloom. We hear Thee in the rapture of birds and in the
+new-found gladness of sun-kissed rivulets. May we, the children of Thy
+love, be new born into a deeper spirituality,--a richer life! May the
+beauty of the Spirit breathing through our hearts call forth the latent
+goodness that slumbers there! Speak through us the music of Thy love.
+Perfume us with the odors of Thy heavenly grace, and may we walk this
+day in tune with Thee! Amen.
+
+ JOSEPH COOPER.
+
+
+March 23
+
+ _Work is the grand cure of all the maladies and miseries that ever
+ beset mankind--honest work, which you intend getting done._
+
+ THOMAS CARLYLE.
+
+ _Thank God every morning when you get up that you have something to
+ do which must be done whether you like it or not. Being forced to
+ work and forced to do your best will breed in you temperance,
+ self-control, diligence, strength of will, content and a hundred
+ virtues which the idle will never know._
+
+ CHARLES KINGSLEY.
+
+Kind Father and Friend, Thy presence has watched over us all our days
+and has been a comfort in all our labors. We thank Thee for Thy
+unwearied watching over us. May we at the dawn of this new day, come to
+our tasks with thanks in our hearts and a song on our lips. May all
+life's stern duties and its perplexities get grace and beauty from our
+hallowed thoughts and sanctified resolves. We would ask that Thy free
+spirit be with us this day to give us hope and joy in our several tasks.
+May the sweet peace of mind of those who learn to labor and to wait
+crown all our efforts. Dear Father, forgive our failures and keep us
+ever Thine. Amen.
+
+ CHARLES E. PETTY.
+
+
+March 24
+
+ _Ah, the mis-takings and the mis-leavings; and all the ignorant
+ beginning, when we can only lay up things for late wisdom to repent
+ of!_
+
+ _Nothing really bad can ever happen.... I've meant right,--and I
+ mean right now. I'll do the best I can, and the Lord will take care
+ of everybody._
+
+ MRS. A. D. T. WHITNEY.
+
+Lord, Thou comest to us with light and life, forgive us for coming to
+Thee as aliens and beggars; daily Thou art our refuge and strength, and
+this should subtract our fear and multiply our confidence, comfort and
+consecration. Our needs are Thy opportunity; we have more sunshine than
+we can use, more love than we can repay and more revelation than we can
+translate. O may this satisfy us early and strengthen us through all our
+days. Alone we are very weak, but we are never alone; all of life is a
+company affair, for Thou art with us; help us to be as truly Thy
+children as Thou art our Father and Mother. Through our thinking,
+working and waiting may men see Thee and glorify Thee. O teach us to
+abide ever in Thy love, and help us to work some helpful miracle by the
+gates of need, and to see the rainbow of prophecy through earth's tears
+and over its years. Amen.
+
+ ALAN R. TILLINGHAST.
+
+
+March 25
+
+ _'Tis the fine souls who serve us, and not what is called fine
+ society._
+
+ RALPH WALDO EMERSON.
+
+ _We find what we look for in the world. I have always been looking
+ for the nobler qualities in human beings, and I have always found
+ them. There are great souls all along the highway of life, and
+ there are great qualities even in the people who seem common and
+ weak to us ordinarily._
+
+ ELLA WHEELER WILCOX.
+
+Gracious Father, we thank Thee for the power Thou hast given us to labor
+for our own and others' advancement and happiness. As we begin this new
+day we trust in Thy bounty and would draw on Thy strength to sustain us
+in our toil. We thank Thee for the brave souls in every walk of life who
+have set us an example worthy to be followed. Many have been or are
+notable in the world for their fortitude, honor and achievements; many
+others have been known to us but have been unheralded by men, and from
+all these we have ourselves been made more capable and faithful. By Thy
+grace may we be aided in emulating the good we see in others, and be
+able to make the world a little brighter because of Thy gift to us of
+this day. Amen.
+
+ FRANK S. RICE.
+
+
+March 26
+
+ _An old, worn Harp that had been played
+ Till all its strings were loose and frayed,
+ Joy, Hate, and Fear, each one, assayed
+ To play. But each in turn had found
+ No sweet responsiveness of sound._
+
+ _Then Love the Master-player came
+ With heaving breast and eyes aflame;
+ The Harp he took all undismayed,
+ Smote on its strings, still strange to song,
+ And brought forth music sweet and strong._
+
+ PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR.
+
+Heavenly Father, I pray Thee that Thou wilt help me to love to-day. Thou
+art Love and if Thou shalt fill my life there will be no room for hate
+and no room for fear, for "Perfect Love casteth out fear." As the Master
+stilled the waves in Galilee, so speak Thou peace to my soul, and bid
+all discord cease, that my whole life may be in tune with heaven, and
+may be one happy song. Love alone can bring harmony out of discord, love
+out of hate, trust out of fear, and music out of a worn-out, or a long
+unused or misused life. So let Love control the whole of my life for
+Jesus' sake. Amen.
+
+ B. L. JENNINGS.
+
+
+March 27
+
+ _No stream from its source
+ Flows seaward, how lonely soever its course,
+ But some land is gladdened. No star ever rose
+ Or set without influence somewhere. Who knows
+ What earth needs from earth's lowliest creature? No life
+ Can be pure in its purpose and strong in its strife,
+ And all life not be purer and stronger thereby._
+
+ OWEN MEREDITH.
+
+If I am this day to touch other lives helpfully so that they may be
+gladdened and strengthened for truer and nobler living, I shall need, my
+Father, not only a clear perception of myself in relation to that to
+which Thou dost call me, but also a clear vision of the Christ who would
+be felt through me, not only the impulse of a strong purpose but also
+the endowment of power by Thy spirit of power. That this may be, do Thou
+test my purpose by that of Thy son and fashion my life by His teaching,
+keeping my heart open always toward Thee. Amen.
+
+ F. H. WHEELER.
+
+
+March 28
+
+ _I but open my eyes,--and perfection, no more and no less,
+ In the kind I imagined, full-fronts me, and God is seen God,
+ In the star, in the stone, in the flesh, in the soul and the clod.
+ And thus looking within and around me, I ever renew
+ (With that stoop of the soul which in bending upraises it too)
+ The submission of man's nothing-perfect to God's all-complete,
+ And by each new obeisance in spirit, I climb to His feet._
+
+ ROBERT BROWNING.
+
+Thou Infinite Spirit, we cannot understand Thee, yet we feel Thy
+presence within us and about us. We cannot unravel the mystery of Thy
+life, not even of our own lives, yet we feel ourselves linked as by
+chains of steel to Thyself. We are poor and ignorant and little and
+finite; Thou art great and strong and infinite, yet we cling to the
+thought that we are Thy children. Even in Thine infinity Thou stoopest
+to listen to us. Thou carest for us, lovest us. O Thou Father of our
+Souls, may we cling to Thee to-day and every day. We do not ask Thee to
+explain Thyself, but we do ask that in storm and sunshine, in adversity
+and in prosperity, and in every emergency we may keep our anchorage to
+Thee unbroken, and feel Thy presence with us. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+March 29
+
+ _I wonder why it is that we are not all kinder to each other than
+ we are. How much the world needs it! How easily it is done!_
+
+ HENRY DRUMMOND.
+
+ _Let us awaken to the divine privilege of sharing the heartaches of
+ our friends; of the meaning of good fellowship; of that
+ independence of spirit that does not imitate; of courage and pride
+ that can endure adversity with dignity, and without fear._
+
+ ANONYMOUS.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, help us through this new day to allow the impulses
+of our hearts to have fullest play. Help us to help each other, Lord,
+and of whatever grace or influence we have to bless and uplift our
+fellowmen to give generously and gladly. Help us scatter sunshine along
+our pathway, to speak the cheering word to discouraged hearts and to
+lend the helping hand to feeble or halting ones along the way. May we
+find our greatest happiness following in the footsteps of our Master,
+humbly serving our neighbor's needs, and doing good even at every
+wayside opportunity. Amen.
+
+ JAMES F. ALBION.
+
+
+March 30
+
+ _Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide,
+ In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side;
+ Some great cause, God's new Messiah, offering each the bloom or blight,
+ Parts the goats upon the left hand, and the sheep upon the right,
+ And the choice goes by forever 'twixt that darkness and that light._
+
+ JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL.
+
+Almighty Father, we are before Thee, asking for strength this day, that
+for today's duty we may have the help of Thy Infinite wisdom, as we know
+we have Thy love, Our Father with His Children. Father, help us to look
+to Thee for strength and wisdom in every moment of doubt. We are not
+afraid, because we can come to Thee for counsel, and companionship. We
+can come to Thee for everything, and we find everything if we seek for
+it with all our heart and soul and strength. So today, Father, be with
+us to show each one of us here, the youngest or the oldest, the weakest
+or the strongest, what is the duty next his hand today, that we may
+enter into that work and go about our Father's business. Go with us and
+be with us as with Thine own children. Amen.
+
+ EDWARD EVERETT HALE.
+
+
+March 31
+
+ _I long to accomplish great and noble tasks, but it is my duty and
+ joy to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and
+ noble._
+
+ HELEN KELLER.
+
+ _It is a fine notion of life to liken it to the loom. God puts on
+ the warp in those circumstances in which we find ourselves, and
+ which we cannot change. The woof is wrought by the shuttle of
+ everyday life. It is made of very homely threads sometimes, common
+ duties, unpromising and unwelcome tasks. But whoever tries to do
+ each day's work in the spirit of patient loyalty to God is weaving
+ the texture whose other side is fairer than the one he sees._
+
+ ANONYMOUS.
+
+Our Father in heaven, grant that we may be "faithful in that which is
+least," leaving to Thy will whether we have the opportunity of being
+"faithful in much." May we understand that the value of our service is
+not so much in what we do as the spirit in which we do it. Help us to
+remember that no service is common in Thy sight, if it is done for Thy
+glory and the betterment of humanity; that in blessing others, we
+ourselves are blessed; that life is mostly made up of little things, but
+a character which is perfected by Thy grace and humble service is not a
+little thing, but a jewel to shine in Thy crown forever. Amen.
+
+ E. T. CURNICK.
+
+
+April 1
+
+ _April is here!
+ There's a song in the maple, thrilling and new;
+ There's a flash of wings of heaven's own hue;
+ There's a veil of green on the nearer hills;
+ There's a burst of rapture in woodland rills;
+ There are stars in the meadow dropped here and there;
+ There's a breath of arbutus in the air;
+ There's a dash of rain, as if flung in jest;
+ There's an arch of color spanning the west;
+ April is here!_
+
+ EBEN E. REXFORD.
+
+O God, ever-living and ever-acting, all Thy works praise Thee, and Thy
+saints bless Thee! We rejoice that Thou art bringing in this new
+springtime, and art preparing to pour out Thy summer glory and bounty in
+garden and field and wood, that Thy children may be richly blessed. As
+Thou art working mightily in nature today so wilt Thou work in us, Thy
+children, that the blessed fruits of the Spirit may appear in all that
+we think and do and are? And may the spontaneous spring song of the
+woods find its counterpart in the perpetual gladness of our souls sunk
+deep in the love of Christ! Amen.
+
+ HENRY IRVING CUSHMAN.
+
+
+April 2
+
+ _The sweetest sound our whole year round
+ 'Tis the first robin of the spring!
+ The song of the full orchard choir,
+ Is not so fine a thing._
+
+ EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN.
+
+ _The grass comes, the flower laughs where lately lay the snow,
+ O'er the breezy hill top hoarsely calls the crow,
+ By the flowing river the alder catkins swing
+ And the sweet song sparrow cries, "Spring, it is Spring!"_
+
+ CELIA THAXTER.
+
+Accept from a heart of gratitude, O God, thanksgiving and praises for
+the glad anticipation of the coming days of spring. May the awakening of
+nature, this living garment in which Thou hast robed Thy mysterious
+loveliness, be to each of Thy children symbol of the new life which
+comes to those who put their trust in the risen Christ and of the higher
+life beyond where shadows are no more and light and gladness bless an
+eternity of joy. O, Thou Father of lights, make every hour of this
+opening day rich and radiant with Thy effulgent presence through Jesus
+Christ. Amen.
+
+ KERR BOYCE TUPPER.
+
+
+April 3
+
+ _Within my earthly temple there's a crowd;
+ There's one of us that's humble, one that's proud,
+ There's one that's broken-hearted for his sins,
+ There's one that unrepentant sits and grins;
+ There's one that loves his neighbor as himself,
+ And one that cares for naught but fame and pelf.
+ From much corroding care I should be free
+ If I could once determine which is me._
+
+ THEODORE MARTIN.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for our multiform life. Thou hast
+made us a little lower than the angels and hast crowned us with glory
+and honor, yet how little we know ourselves! We go astray; we fall from
+our high estate; like the moth we flutter around the blaze that burns
+us. When we would do good, evil is present with us. Yet through all
+complexity of thought and feeling, of passion and appetite, through all
+our wanderings and all our sins we thank Thee that there shines clearly
+the light of our own Divinity. We are Thy children. Help us, we pray
+Thee, to know ourselves at our best. May we not be betrayed in this
+day's journey by any siren voice. Let us go forth to the tasks of the
+day with the consciousness that until the evening shadows fall Thou wilt
+be with us. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+April 4
+
+ _If we but knew the secret of that power
+ That opes the bud in early days of spring,
+ If we but knew what makes the robin sing
+ His wondrous song just at the matin hour,
+ If we but knew the priceless boon and dower
+ Of human life when man is truly king.
+ If we but understood the little thing
+ That vexes us just at the present hour,
+ If we but knew--ah, well, 'tis vain to sigh
+ And speculate on things beyond our ken!
+ We know that earth is fair and life is sweet,
+ And something tells us that we cannot die.
+ And if we live and love the good, ah! then
+ We face to face with truth some day must meet._
+
+ CLARENCE HAWKES.
+
+O Lord, we thank Thee for a day so sweet and fair as this, when the
+trees lift up their hands in a psalm of gratitude to Thee, and every
+little flower that opens its cup and every wandering bird seem filled by
+Thy spirit, and grateful to Thee. We thank Thee for all thine
+handwritings of revelation on the walls of the world, on the heavens
+above us and the ground beneath, and all the testimonies recorded there
+of Thy presence, Thy power, Thy justice, and Thy love. Amen.
+
+ THEODORE PARKER.
+
+
+April 5
+
+ _Yet we must give the children leave to use
+ Our garden tools, though they spoil tool and plant
+ In learning. So the Master may not scorn
+ Our awkwardness, as with these bungling hands
+ We try to unroot the ill, and plant with good
+ Life's barren soil: the child is learning use.
+ Perhaps the angels even are forbid
+ To laugh at us, or may not care to laugh,
+ With kind eyes pitying our little hurts._
+
+ EDWARD ROWLAND SILL.
+
+Our Father: Thou knowest how unskilled are these hands and hearts of
+ours. Thou knowest how much that we do, think, and speak often tends to
+retard the progress of that which we would promote. Give us, then, this
+day that wisdom which is from above, that no touch of our hand may mar
+the beauty of one of Thy creations: no thought nor word wrong one of Thy
+creatures. Help us to know that we are workers with God, and in this
+knowledge may we strive for that excellence of service that shall hasten
+the coming of that kingdom of peace, joy and righteousness which is life
+eternal. Amen.
+
+ FLORENCE KOLLOCK CROOKER.
+
+
+April 6
+
+ _Plant flowers in the soul's front yard,
+ Set out new shade and blossom trees,
+ An' let the soul once froze an' hard,
+ Sprout crocuses of new idees._
+
+ _Yes, clean yer house, an' clean yer shed,
+ An' clean yer barn in ev'ry part;
+ But brush the cobwebs from yer head,
+ An' sweep the snow banks from yer heart._
+
+ SAM WALTER FOSS.
+
+Gracious Father, help us gratefully to begin this day with Thee. We
+expect the day to bring its accustomed routine of cares and duties, and
+its round of petty irritations, but we confidently believe that Thou
+wilt help us in all our experiences. Let this morning's freshness, hope
+and vigor be ours through the whole day. Help us to put faith in the
+place of fear that all our efforts may be crowned with the success of
+helpfulness. May we go blithely about our business with kind words and
+cheerful faces that our day's work may be our day's worship. Amen.
+
+ AUGUSTUS B. CHURCH.
+
+
+April 7
+
+ _Ye seek for happiness--alas the day!
+ Ye find it not in luxury nor in gold,
+ Not in the fame nor in the envied sway,
+ For which O willing slaves to custom old,
+ Severe taskmistress, ye your hearts have sold.
+ Ye seek for peace, and, when ye die, to dream
+ No evil dreams; all mortal things are cold
+ And senseless then; if aught survive, I deem
+ It must be love and joy, for they immortal seem._
+
+ SHELLEY.
+
+O Thou Eternal God who hast given us life, help us to love Thy will and
+to walk in Thy way this day. If flowers chance to grow beside our path
+we would pluck them, but most of all would we rejoice in Thee alone,
+knowing that in Thy will is perfect peace. Fill our souls with Thy joy
+and strengthen us in the spirit of self-forgetfulness to spill it out
+into the lives of others. Give us hearts "roomy, radiant, and full of
+laughter," learned of "Jesus Christ, whom not having seen we love; on
+whom though now we see Him not, yet believing, we rejoice greatly with
+joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of our faith, even
+the salvation of our souls." Amen.
+
+ WALTER HEALY.
+
+
+April 8
+
+ _A gush of bird song, a patter of dew,
+ A cloud and a rainbow's warning,
+ Suddenly sunshine and perfect blue--
+ An April day in the morning._
+
+ HARRIET P. SPOFFORD.
+
+ _There is something in the air
+ That's new and sweet and rare--
+ There's something too that's new,
+ In the color of the blue
+ That's in the morning sky,
+ Before the sun is high._
+
+ NORA PERRY.
+
+Infinite and Holy One, be with us in the beauty of this new day. May the
+dewy sweetness of the dawn Thou hast given to us be regarded as a token
+of Thy love for Thy children. As an atmosphere of joy and peace may be
+the thought of Thy consolation and Thy care. The delicate tints of Thy
+sky arching over us may we compare to the blue of a constancy that is
+divine, and which is freely shown to even the humblest and more erring
+of Thy flock. Bless us and guide us on our pilgrim way, and inspire our
+hearts and our hands to perform well their daily task. In His name do we
+ask it. Amen.
+
+ EDMUND Q. S. OSGOOD.
+
+
+April 9
+
+ _As I have walked in Alabama my morning walk,
+ I have seen where the she-bird--the mocking-bird sat on her nest
+ in the briers hatching her brood,
+ I have seen the he-bird also,
+ I have paused to hear him near at hand inflating his throat and joyfully
+ singing,
+ And while I paused it came to me that what he really sang for was not
+ there only,
+ Nor for his mate nor for himself only, nor
+ All sent back by the echoes,
+ But subtle, clandestine, away beyond,
+ A charge transmitted and gift occult for those being born._
+
+ WALT WHITMAN.
+
+Thou great Spirit of Life, Our Father, in heaven, and in the earth, with
+what myriad voices dost Thou speak to us, sometimes with the voice of
+thunder and sometimes with the voice of bird. Even the rocks and hills
+have their language. With every manifold voice Thou tellest us that we
+do not live nor work for a day only. The song and the word and the work
+of today have larger relations. They pass over into other days. We pray
+this morning that the thoughts we think, the words we speak, and the
+work we do may be so true that they may be fit for another day. So may
+we begin _now_ to realize the meaning of Eternal Life. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+April 10
+
+ _If the stream had no quiet eddying place, could we so admire its
+ cascade over the rocks? Were there no clouds, could we so hail the
+ sky shining through them in its still calm purity?_
+
+ _The night is mother of the Day
+ The Winter of the Spring,
+ And ever upon old Decay
+ The greenest mosses cling.
+ Behind the cloud the starlight lurks,
+ Through showers the sunbeams fall:
+ For God, who loveth all His works,
+ Has left His Hope with all!_
+
+ JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER.
+
+Our Father, with childhood's glowing morning face we would turn to Thee
+and be conscious that the brightness of life comes only to those upon
+whom the sun of righteousness shines with clear light. Full of trust,
+full of joy, we turn our faces towards the light and take up the labors
+of life with entire confidence in the Divine care and guidance that
+blesses the open vision, the faithful hand and the loving heart. We
+would follow our Master, feeling that we could choose no better way, and
+content if we be not called to suffer more than He in His life of
+service and sacrifice, while our hearts praise the giver of spiritual
+things with unceasing happy songs. Amen.
+
+ RALPH EDWIN HORNE.
+
+
+April 11
+
+ _Oh, the little birds sang east, and the little birds sang west,
+ And I smiled to think God's greatness flowed around our incompleteness,--
+ Round our restlessness, his nest._
+
+ ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING.
+
+ _And I saw that there was an Ocean of Darkness and Death; but an
+ infinite Ocean of Light and Love flowed over the Ocean of Darkness;
+ and in that I saw the infinite Love of God._
+
+ GEORGE FOX.
+
+Father of Light, in whom is no darkness at all, to Thee we lift our
+longing eyes again. Shine away the darkness of our minds by the light of
+Thy presence. Complete our incompleteness. Bring us out of our
+restlessness into Thy rest. We thank Thee for our daily gifts,--bread to
+feed the body, strength to sustain the soul, light to guide the feet.
+Help us to put away the mistakes of the past, remembering them only with
+the penitence that shall cause Thee to remember them no more. Help us
+all through this day to know ourselves surrounded by Thine Infinite
+Love. Amen.
+
+ A. GERTRUDE EARLE.
+
+
+April 12
+
+ _Just as you now play a piece without the music and do not think
+ what notes you strike, though once you picked them out by slow and
+ patient toil, so, if you begin of set purpose, you will learn the
+ law of kindness in utterance so perfectly that it will be second
+ nature to you and make more music in your heart than all the songs
+ the sweetest voice has ever sung._
+
+ FRANCIS E. WILLARD.
+
+Father, we rejoice and will be glad all the day that Thou hast made it
+possible for us and all Thy children to learn the sweet song of true
+life and that Thou dost give us so many opportunities for its practice.
+O Lord, give us patience and kindness toward our fellowmen and trust in
+Thee, so that whether the lessons be easy or hard we may take them
+cheerfully, believing that Thou dost give us only that which is best.
+Grant that we may be earnest and faithful until our souls can sing the
+highest, purest and sweetest notes, until we are in harmony with All
+Good. Amen.
+
+ ABBIE E. DANFORTH.
+
+
+April 13
+
+ _So many little faults we find:
+ We see them, for not blind
+ Is love--we see them; but if you and I
+ Remember them, perhaps, some by and by
+ They will not be
+ Faults then, grave faults to you and me,
+ But just odd ways, mistakes, or even less--
+ Remembrances to bless._
+
+ GEORGE KLINGLE.
+
+Our dear Father in Heaven: for this day help us to be good. All through
+the long night Thou hast watched over us. Under Thy wing have we been
+sheltered as the chickens under the wing of the mother. Now that light
+has come we will help Thee to keep this world sweet and bright and
+clean. Help us to be true to this our promise; we resolve to be patient,
+steadfast, cheerful, kindly, sturdy, and good. Our Father, we need Thee.
+We want to walk in Thy way. Help us, for we are Thy children. Amen.
+
+ WILLIAM CHANNING BROWN.
+
+
+April 14
+
+ _The man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder; a waif,
+ a nothing, no man. Have a purpose in life, if it is only to kill
+ and divide and sell oxen well, but have a purpose; and having it,
+ throw such strength of mind and muscle into your work as God has
+ given you._
+
+ THOMAS CARLYLE.
+
+ _Neither a borrower nor a lender be;
+ For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
+ And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
+ This above all: to thine own self be true
+ And it must follow, as the night the day,
+ Thou canst not then be false to any man._
+
+ SHAKESPEARE.
+
+Almighty God, at the commencement of this day's work may we look on
+high, and measure everything we are about to do by the scale of
+eternity. Keep us from all littleness; may we not be turned aside by
+things that are insignificant and unworthy. Help us, we beseech Thee, to
+make the glory of our life commensurate with the splendors of our
+privileges. May we live life in a great spirit, realizing that there is
+no duty so simple, no position so humble, but that we may show forth the
+grandeur of trust, and obedience toward Thee. May the great and holy
+purpose we cherish find its expression as we cooperate with the divine
+purpose. Amen.
+
+ J. H. BARKER.
+
+
+April 15
+
+ _'Twas one of those charmed days
+ When the genius of God doth flow,
+ The wind may alter twenty ways,
+ A tempest cannot blow;
+ It may blow north, it still is warm;
+ Or south, it still is clear;
+ Or east, it smells like a clover farm;
+ Or west, no thunder fear._
+
+ RALPH WALDO EMERSON.
+
+Father of Lights, from whom cometh every good and perfect gift, we thank
+Thee for the morning and for the sunshine. We rejoice in the light, but
+when it is hidden from us, we are thankful that in the upper air above
+our clouded morning it still fills Thy heavens. Thou gavest us good
+things while we slept, and now, refreshed by Thy Spirit, may we go forth
+to our appointed tasks with cheerful obedience and joyful expectation.
+If trial and trouble await us, or if, in the heat of the day the burden
+seems too great, may we still be comforted, because we put our trust in
+Thee. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE BATCHELOR.
+
+
+April 16
+
+ _But spring-wind, like a dancing psaltress, passes
+ Over its breast, to waken it, rare verdure
+ Buds tenderly upon rough banks between
+ The withered tree-roots and the cracks of frost,
+ Like a smile striving with a wrinkled face;
+ The grass grows bright, the boughs are swol'n with blooms
+ Like chrysalids impatient for the air,
+ The shining dors are busy, beetles run
+ Along the furrows; ants make their ado;
+ Above, birds fly in merry flocks, the lark
+ Soars up and up, shivering for very joy;
+ Afar the ocean sleeps; white fishing gulls
+ Flit where the sand is purple with its tribe
+ Of nested limpits; savage creatures seek
+ Their loves in wood and plain--and God renews
+ His ancient rapture._
+
+ ROBERT BROWNING.
+
+O Lord, who givest to mankind liberally, and upbraidest not, we thank
+Thee for the blessings Thou bestowest from day to day. We thank Thee for
+this material world, now clad in its garment of Northern beauty, for the
+great sun which all day pours down his light upon the waiting and the
+grateful world, and for the earth underneath our feet. We bless Thee for
+the grass, bread for the cattle, its harvest of use spread everywhere,
+and for the various beauty which here and there spangles all useful
+things which Thine eye looks down upon. May we use this world of matter
+to build up the being that we are to a nobler stature of strength and of
+beauty. Amen.
+
+ THEODORE PARKER.
+
+
+April 17
+
+ _O brothers all! come near
+ And hear
+ A bird's
+ Melodious dreaming set to words, and flung
+ The spring's new leaves and tender buds among,
+ For very joy of life, and hope, and love
+ In a world made broad enough
+ For all God's creatures to be merry in,
+ With joyous clash and din,
+ And yet too small
+ For any greed at all!
+ Lo! deep and sure
+ Is cut this truth in heaven's book of gold:
+ Out of one mother in the garden old
+ Were born the rich and poor._
+
+ MAURICE THOMPSON.
+
+Our Father, may we begin this day with a song in our hearts,--a song as
+rich and full and free as the bird sings at the earliest dawning of the
+sun's light,--a song so attuned with infinite life and hope and love
+that it must be sung. Thou giver of abundance unto the rich and poor
+alike, help our souls to mount unto the highest reaches of living
+thoughts and generous deeds, that we may give unto others as Thou
+givest. Unfettered by unholy passions and freed from the spirit of
+greed, may we feel the unity of the bonds of a universal brotherhood,
+and be just and true, honest, and helpful in all our dealings with all
+men this day. Amen.
+
+ HENRIETTA G. MOORE.
+
+
+April 18
+
+ _O spring, of hope and love and youth and gladness
+ Wing-winged emblem! Brightest, best and fairest!
+ Whence comest thou when with dark Winter's sadness
+ The tears that fade in sunny smiles thou sharest?
+ Sister of Joy! thou art the child who wearest
+ Thy mother's dying smile, tender and sweet:
+ Thy mother Autumn, for whose grave thou bearest
+ Fresh flowers, and beams like flowers,
+ Disturbing not the leaves which are her winding-sheet._
+
+ SHELLEY.
+
+God unchanging, and still the creator of the seasons, we look up to
+Thee, as the springtide works out the miracle of the resurrection from
+the sleeping forms of the past season, in confidence and in trust that
+ever Thou wilt bless us with a nobler, holier, sweeter, more wholesome
+life, as the seasons come and go. The resources of trusting hearts are
+always reinforced and reinvigorated by contact with Thy life, Thy power,
+Thy goodness and Thy love. Out of the winter of our discontent, we enter
+the springtime of love, that leads us forward in confidence through the
+glad summer of growth to the soul's fruition and the place of rest and
+peace in our Father's Home beneath Thine everlasting Love. Amen.
+
+ FRANCIS A. GRAY.
+
+
+April 19
+
+ _One sound always comes to the ear that is open; it is the steady
+ drum-beat of Duty. No music in it, perhaps,--only a dry rub-a-dub.
+ Ah, but that steady beat marks the time for the whole orchestra of
+ earth and heaven! It says to you: "Do your work,--do the duty
+ nearest you!" Keep step to that drum-beat, and the dullest march is
+ taking you home._
+
+ GEORGE S. MERRIAM.
+
+O Thou great impelling Spirit, whom we see manifest in all the world, as
+we open our eyes to the light of another morning, may we be as
+responsive to Thy influence as the sun and the flowers which brighten
+our way. May we be very sensitive to Thy promptings as we go about our
+day's work. May we be very quick to do the things Thou wouldst have us
+do. May we give ourselves to Thy service without reserve. When again the
+night shades draw about us, may our hearts be filled with deepest
+gratitude for all the experiences of the day, and, deep within, may our
+spirits be conscious of Thy approving benediction, "Well done, good and
+faithful servant; enter Thou into the joy of Thy Lord." Amen.
+
+ FRANK LINCOLN MASSECK.
+
+
+April 20
+
+ _Thyself and thy belongings
+ Are not thine own so proper as to waste
+ Thyself upon thy virtues, they on thee.
+ Heaven doth with us as we with torches do
+ Not light them for themselves; for if our virtues
+ Did not go forth of us, 'twere all alike
+ As if we had them not. Spirits are not finely touched
+ But to fine issues, nor Nature never lends
+ The smallest scruple of her excellence
+ But like a thrifty goddess, she determines
+ Herself the glory of a creditor,
+ Both thanks and use._
+
+ SHAKESPEARE.
+
+Father, with faith and confidence in Thee we begin the day's duties,
+with a blithe song upon our lips, expressing the melody of our souls,
+thanking Thee for opportunities for work, and thought and love. We ask
+not for more blessings but to be more worthy of those we have, using and
+not abusing them. May our minds be open to Thy truth, and hearts to Thy
+love, and when received may we be almoners of both to the waiting world.
+May we keep by giving Thy love abundantly, and grow through the glory of
+self-sacrifice. Give us the heart, O God, to sanctify our work and to
+lift it above drudgery into the divinest service, and give us strength
+to perform it. Amen.
+
+ U. S. MILBURN.
+
+
+April 21
+
+ _A man is simple where his chief care is the wish to be what he
+ ought to be; that is honestly and naturally human. We may compare
+ existence to raw material. What it is matters less than what it is
+ made of; as the value of a work of art lies in the flowering of a
+ workman's skill. True life is possible in social conditions the
+ most diverse and with natural gifts the most unequal. It is not
+ fortune or personal advantage, but our training them to account,
+ that constitutes the value of life. Fame adds no more than does
+ length of days; quality is the thing._
+
+ CHARLES WAGNER.
+
+Heavenly Father, our eyes are ever toward Thee. We do not pray for the
+things of the world. Teach us to walk in Thy truth. Though our days be
+few, may our lives be hopeful and cheerful. Though our bodies be frail,
+may we be invincible in spirit. All Thy children are immortal, but it is
+for us to attain the eternal life. May we know Thee through Jesus. Then
+days and hours and minutes will disappear in the liberty and glory and
+peace of the life eternal. Then poverty of worldly goods will be
+forgotten in the riches of the Spirit. Then the cares of the world that
+now is will be lost in the joy of the life that is to be. Amen.
+
+ REIGNOLD K. MARVIN.
+
+
+April 22
+
+ _A little sun, a little rain,
+ A soft wind blowing from the west--
+ And woods and fields are sweet again
+ And warmth within the mountain's breast._
+
+ _So simple is the earth we tread,
+ So quick with love and life her frame,
+ Ten thousand years have dawned and fled.
+ And still her magic is the same._
+
+ STOPFORD A. BROOKE.
+
+Gracious God, we thank Thee for the gift of sight whereby we behold the
+marvels of the outer world. But greater is our gratitude for the inner
+sight, the power to see things as they ought to be. If we but look deep
+enough, we find Thy central laws ever at the heart of all life. With
+such insight, apparent confusion shall not bewilder us, life's cares
+shall not harden us, the world's show cannot dazzle us. Give us, we pray
+Thee, unceasing ability to wonder and admire, which brings perpetual
+youth; to hope, to believe, to trust; to rest content in working with
+Thee, the Eternal One, Lord of the seasons, this is our heart's desire.
+Amen.
+
+ EDWARD A. HORTON.
+
+
+April 23
+
+ _"What is the secret of your life?" asked Mrs. Browning of Charles
+ Kingsley; "tell me, that I may make mine beautiful too." He
+ replied, "I had a friend." Somewhere in her "Middlemarch," George
+ Eliot puts it well: "There are natures in which, if they love us,
+ we are conscious of having a sort of baptism and consecration; they
+ bind us over to rectitude and purity by their pure belief about us;
+ and our sins become the worst kind of sacrilege, which tears down
+ the invisible altar of trust."_
+
+ WILLIAM C. GANNETT.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for all the sweet and sacred
+influences of life. Music comes with its invisible fingers to weave a
+magic charm around our souls;--the home with its love is ours,--but we
+thank Thee to-day for the sweet and saving influence of friendship,--for
+the counsel and fellowship of those who are wise and good and faithful
+to us. We would not walk alone--we would find strength in the strength
+of others, and faith in other's faith. Let us cherish such fellowships
+and give back to those, who love us, love again. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+April 24
+
+ _Live in the sunshine, don't live in the gloom,
+ Carry some gladness the world to illume.
+ Live in the brightness, and take this to heart;
+ The world will seem gayer if you'll do your part.
+ Live on the housetop, not down in the cell;
+ Open air Christians live nobly and well.
+ Live where the joys are, and, scorning defeat,
+ Have a good-morrow for all whom you meet.
+ Live as a victor, and triumphing go
+ Through this queer world, beating down every foe.
+ Live in the sunshine, God meant it for you!
+ Live as the robins, and sing the day through._
+
+ MARGARET SANGSTER.
+
+O God, our heavenly Father, Thou who givest us the sunshine of this new
+day, Thou who art the God of life and light, we ask Thy help and Thy
+strength as we again go out to our separate duties and cares. Help us to
+fill this day with good deeds, to give cheer and comfort to all we meet.
+May our lips be clean. May our hearts be pure. And when the even time
+comes, may it find us conscious that we have put no cloud upon the day,
+that we have walked through its hours true disciples of the Master who
+went about doing good. Amen.
+
+ WILLIAM H. MORRISON.
+
+
+April 25
+
+ _To weigh the material in the scales of the personal, and measure
+ life by the standard of love; to prize health as contagious
+ happiness, wealth as potential service, reputation as latent
+ influence, learning for the light it can shed, power for the help
+ it can give, station for the good it can do--to choose in each case
+ what is best on the whole, and accept cheerfully incidental evils
+ involved; to put my whole self into all that I do, and indulge no
+ single desire at the expense of myself as a whole; to crowd out
+ fear by devotion to duty, and see present and future as one; to
+ treat others as I would be treated, and myself as I would my best
+ friend; and to recognize God's coming kingdom in every institution
+ and person that helps men to love one another._
+
+ WILLIAM DEWITT HYDE.
+
+ For the dear love that kept us through the night,
+ And gave our senses to sleep's gentle sway,
+ For the new miracle of dawning light,
+ Flushing the east with prophecies of day,
+ We thank Thee, O, our God!
+
+ For the fresh life that through our being flows,
+ With its full tide to strengthen and to bless,
+ For calm, sweet thoughts, upspringing from repose,
+ To bear to Thee their song of thankfulness,
+ We praise Thee, O, our God!
+
+ Thou knowest our needs, Thy fulness will supply
+ Our blindness--let Thy hand still lead us on,
+ Till, visited by the dayspring from on high,
+ Our prayer, one only, "Let Thy will be done,"
+ We breathe to Thee, O, God!
+ Amen.
+
+ W. H. BURLEIGH.
+
+
+April 26
+
+ Is it not possible, then, that the hindrances which arrest our
+ progress, and the obstacles that lie broadly in our path, are the
+ divinest agents of help which our Creator could give us? The
+ painful struggles to overcome and remove them develop in us
+ strength, courage, self-reliance, and heroism. They are the hammer
+ and chisel that release the statue from the imprisoning
+ marble,--the plow and the harrow that break up the soil, and mellow
+ it for the reception of the seed that shall yield an abundant
+ harvest. Perfection lies that way.
+
+ MARY A. LIVERMORE.
+
+We seek Thy face anew this day, O our Father, and ask Thee that Thou
+wilt help us to live our lives in constant communion with Thee. Let us
+see Thee at every turn in the way. Let us find Thy hand in all our
+duties, all our meditations, all our intercourse with men, all our
+doings and all our deeds. Help us to make Thee our counsellor every
+hour. Help us to undertake nought without Thy blessings, to finish
+nought without Thy benediction. Morning and evening may we turn in
+prayer to Thy throne. At every meal may we seek Thy grace and give Thee
+thanks. So may we find the blessing of them that abide in Thy house.
+Amen.
+
+ J. COLEMAN ADAMS.
+
+
+April 27
+
+ _I think the sweetest thought, the very central idea, of the
+ revelation of the character of God to me, is this: that He does
+ everything out of His supreme will. There is no one thing that I
+ can say with more heartiness, or that has in it more echoes of joy,
+ than "Thy will be done." If anything works righteousness in me or
+ in you, it is God. The nature of God is fruitful in generosity. He
+ is so good that He loves to do good, and loves to make men good,
+ and loves to make them happy by making them good. He loves to be
+ patient with them, and to wait for them, and to pour benevolence
+ upon them, because that is His nature._
+
+ HENRY WARD BEECHER.
+
+Father, we thank Thee for the blessing. We know what are our privileges,
+we know what are our duties, and we are before Thee again to consecrate
+this day in all its glory and beauty to Thee, the Father of perfect
+Love. Thou wilt be with us as we strive to be with Thee. Thou wilt make
+us strong when we are weak. Thou wilt make us see where we are in
+darkness. Thou wilt send us forth on Thine infinite mission to the
+world. Boys or girls, men or women, here we are, the living children of
+the living God, sent forward by Thee to proclaim it that all may be one
+as Christ Jesus with Thee and Thou with Him, that this world may be
+perfected into one, that men may know that Thou art Father and what the
+Father has given us to do, that each one of us may lift up what has
+fallen down, that each one may open the eyes that are blind and the ears
+that are deaf, that each one of us may proclaim the gospel of Thy
+perfect love. This is our prayer and our hope, in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+
+ EDWARD EVERETT HALE.
+
+
+April 28
+
+ _With every rising of the sun,
+ Think of your life as just begun._
+
+ _The past has shrived and buried deep,
+ All yesterdays; there let them sleep._
+
+ _Nor seek to summon back one ghost
+ Of that innumerable host._
+
+ _Concern yourself with but today.
+ Woo it, and teach it to obey_
+
+ _Your will and wish. Since time began
+ Today has been the friend of man;_
+
+ _But in his blindness and his sorrow,
+ He looks to yesterday and tomorrow._
+
+ _You, and today! a soul sublime,
+ And the great pregnant hour of time,_
+
+ _With God himself to bind the twain!
+ Go forth, I say, attain, attain!_
+
+ ELLA WHEELER WILCOX.
+
+Infinitely wise and loving Father, our minds and hearts reach out to
+Thee in this morning hour thankful that the rest of the night has
+prepared us for the work of the new day, and that the light brings the
+call to service. The past cannot be recalled, but today is ours. I and
+today, with God and in the Spirit of Jesus! Priceless privilege! Grant
+us, O Father, to use it for Thee, for humanity and "In His name." Amen.
+
+ SAMUEL GILBERT AYERS.
+
+
+April 29
+
+ _Life is full of new beginnings. Some change may come, something is
+ sure to come, to close one chapter and begin another. Life is
+ planned just so, ... that there should be a break from former link
+ and habit, often from imperfection and mistake, and a clear, clean
+ start for the fulfilment of the best one has grown to, even in
+ desire, unhampered by the poorest one has ever happened to be, or
+ to get credit for._
+
+ MRS. A. D. T. WHITNEY.
+
+O, Thou who dwellest in the light, help Thy children this morning to see
+the light of Thy truth and feel the warmth of Thy love. We thank Thee
+for the open doors of opportunity for helpful service; for the
+exhibition of kindness and for growth in the kingdom of Heaven. May we
+clearly see the way to the Eternal life and have strength to walk
+therein. May we so welcome Thy truth that we shall be free from error
+and sin. May Thy wisdom so guide our energies that we shall reach after
+greater perfection. May the evening of this day find us more in harmony
+with God than we now are. And may the evening of life find us rich in
+the treasures of heaven. Amen.
+
+ ANDREW WILLSON.
+
+
+April 30
+
+ _True worth is in being, not seeming;
+ In doing each day that goes by,
+ Some little good--not in the dreaming
+ Of great things to do by and by,
+ For whatever men say in blindness,
+ And spite of the fancies of youth,
+ There's nothing so kingly as kindness,
+ And nothing so royal as truth._
+
+ _We get back our mete as we measure:
+ We cannot do wrong and feel right;
+ Nor can we give pain and gain pleasure,
+ For justice avenges each slight.
+ The air for the wing of the sparrow,
+ The bush for the robin and wren,
+ But always the path that is narrow
+ And straight for the children of men._
+
+ ALICE CARY.
+
+Almighty Father, who with every morning dost give us a new day and with
+each day some fresh duty, mercifully equip us for every task that awaits
+us! Give us eyes to see, and hearts to love the truth and right, and the
+disposition that makes every duty a delight, and the doing of good to
+others a sacred privilege. Save us this day from angry passions and low
+desires. Forgive us when we are selfish; recall us when we go astray;
+save us from wronging ourselves by thinking ill of others, and in all
+places and to all people give us the mind which was in Christ Jesus.
+Amen.
+
+ JOHN CUCKSON.
+
+
+May 1
+
+ _To the Woods:--Whoso goeth in your paths readeth the same cheerful
+ lesson, whether he be a young child or a hundred years old, comes
+ he in good fortune or in bad, ye say the same things, and from age
+ to age. Ever the needles of the pine grow and fall, the acorns on
+ the oak, the maples redden in autumn and at all times of the year
+ the ground pine and the pyrola bud and root under foot. What is
+ called fortune and what is called time by men, ye know them not.
+ Men have not language to describe one moment of your life._
+
+ RALPH WALDO EMERSON.
+
+Thou God of Nature and of the human heart, we thank Thee for our human
+relations, but we thank Thee also for our kinship with the birds. We
+thank Thee for that instinct which makes us to sympathize with the
+mating of the bird lovers and for that music of the heart which makes us
+to love the song of the birds. We pray this morning for a life so simple
+and natural that we shall be able to enter into sympathetic relations
+with everything that lives--the flowers of the garden, and the
+field--the bees that sip the flowers' honey, and the bird that makes her
+nest among the trees. If Thou speakest to men in the glory of the
+heavens, Thou speakest also in the manifold voices of all Thy loving
+creatures. May our ears be trained to hear Thee when Thou speakest thus.
+Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+May 2
+
+ _Hail bounteous May, that doth inspire
+ Mirth and youth, and warm desire;
+ Woods and groves are of thy dressing,
+ Hill and dale doth boast thy blessing,
+ Thus we salute thee with our early song,
+ And welcome thee and wish thee long._
+
+ JOHN MILTON.
+
+Almighty and All-loving Father, who dost make all the earth to rejoice
+in the brightness of returning springtime, fill our hearts with like joy
+and renewal. Graciously awaken in us the life that the cold or care or
+trouble or sorrow of the world often has caused to fade and go out. As
+our eyes behold all this outward beauty and glory, give unto us that
+spiritual vision by which we behold the beauty and glory of divine
+things. Then when the springtime of our life passes with the summer and
+the summer ripens into the autumn, and our work is done, may we bring
+unto Thee the harvest of spiritual riches. Amen.
+
+ JAMES DENORMANDIE.
+
+
+May 3
+
+ _Success! It is won by a patient endeavor,
+ Energy's fire, and the flame-glow of Will;
+ By grasping the chance with a "Now, now or never!"
+ Urging on, on! while the laggard stands still._
+
+ _Success! It is facing life's trials, undaunted;
+ Fighting the present--forgetting the past:
+ By trusting to Fate, though for years she has taunted,
+ And bearing Time's scars; facing front, to the last!_
+
+ _Success! Would you win it and wear its bright token?
+ Smile and step out to the drummer's light lilt;
+ Fight on till the last inch of sword-blade is broken.
+ Then do not say die. Fight on with the hilt!_
+
+ MARY MARKWELL.
+
+We thank Thee, Our Father, that Thou hast enriched our being with those
+faculties which prompt to noble endeavor. We rejoice in our power,
+guided by Thy free Spirit, both to overcome evil and to do good. Help
+us, dear Father, to recognize the great incentives of conscience and of
+duty, assured that in cheerful conformity thereto we shall find the
+sweetest zest of life. Increase our faith in Thee, O Lord. Enable us
+more clearly to realize that in the end truth and right will gain the
+victory. Thus may we be inspired to live brave, true and wholesome
+lives. May we fight the good fight of faith and win the crown of life
+promised to all those who follow the conquering Christ. In His name.
+Amen.
+
+ HENRY W. RUGG.
+
+
+May 4
+
+ _The green grass is bowing;
+ The morning wind is in it;
+ 'Tis a tune worth the knowing,
+ Though it change every minute.
+ 'Tis a tune of the Spring;
+ Every year plays it over._
+
+ RALPH WALDO EMERSON.
+
+ _God does not send strange flowers every year.
+ When the spring winds blow o'er the pleasant places
+ The same dear things lift up the same fair faces.
+ The violet is here._
+
+ MRS. A. D. T. WHITNEY.
+
+O God, Father Almighty, who bringest light out of darkness and at whose
+word night yields to day, we offer Thee glad worship and praise. We
+thank Thee for Thy gifts which are beautiful and good; for flowers which
+renew old friendships and awaken new affections; for songs in which
+voices of all yesterdays sound through today's melodies; for rich
+memories of the past; for the joy of living now; for the hope of better
+days; for new expressions of abiding truth and fresh breathings of
+eternal love; for courage to do right and for confidence in
+righteousness. May we this day, mindful of earthly duty and of heavenly
+promise, humbly follow Him "who went about doing good" and "gave Himself
+a ransom for many." Amen.
+
+ W. I. WARD.
+
+
+May 5
+
+ _Bishop Brooks taught me no special creed or dogma; but he
+ impressed upon my mind two great ideas--the fatherhood of God and
+ the brotherhood of man, and made me feel that these truths underlie
+ all creeds and forms of worship. God is love, God is our Father, we
+ are His children; therefore the darkest clouds will break, and
+ though right be worsted, wrong shall not triumph. He said: "There
+ is one universal religion, Helen--the religion of love. Love your
+ Heavenly Father with your whole heart and soul, love every child of
+ God as much as ever you can, and remember that the possibilities of
+ good are greater than the possibilities of evil; and you have the
+ key to Heaven."_
+
+ HELEN KELLER.
+
+Infinite Spirit! We shall not look upon Thee as a friend looketh upon
+the face of his friend, but may we learn to see Thee in every form of
+life and beauty and service here in this great world of Nature and of
+Man. May we discover Thee in the midst of common things and then they
+shall no more be common, but all things shall be sacred and divine. May
+we see Thy face in all human faces, clasp Thy hand in all human hands,
+and when we have walked with a friend, or talked with those we love, may
+it be as a walk with Thee and a communion with Thee. May we not think of
+Thee as afar off but always near, making all things holy. May we realize
+that it is a diviner thing to serve the lowly who need our help than to
+praise the Infinite who needeth not. May the sense of Thy presence in
+all things be the inspiration and interpretation of all days for us.
+Amen.
+
+ E. L. REXFORD.
+
+
+May 6
+
+ _The brown, brown woods of March
+ Are the green, green woods of May,
+ And they lift their arms with a freer swing
+ And shake out their pennons gay.
+ And the brown, dead world of March,
+ Is the living world of today;
+ Life throbs and flushes and flashes out
+ In the color and fragrance of May._
+
+ ANONYMOUS.
+
+Infinite Spirit of the winter and the summer and of the night and the
+morning, Thou hast watched over and guarded, during its winter sleep and
+rest, this earth which Thou hast made, and which Thou hast made for a
+purpose--to be beautiful and fruitful in its season, to be a humble and
+obedient servant of Thy will of goodness. And now, as the woods of May
+are radiant in the beauty of springtime, and ready to do Thy will; so as
+we wake to the opportunity of this new day, may we rejoice in the
+privilege of living to Thee and doing Thy will in the glad service of
+lives lived as the Master lived. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE WALLACE PENNIMAN.
+
+
+May 7
+
+ _One who never turned his back, but marched breast forward,
+ Never doubted clouds would break,
+ Never dreamed, though right were worsted,--wrong would triumph,
+ Held we fall to rise, are baffled to fight better,
+ Sleep to wake._
+
+ ROBERT BROWNING.
+
+Our Father, in the heaven, we thank Thee for the birth of a new day. May
+we be full of gladness during its golden hours, may our hearts be
+tranquil with God's peace. A day is a part of Thy eternity. Thou hast
+set us in the battle, Thou art watching us in the fight; Thou art
+training us by well-accepted controversy. May nothing of Thy purpose be
+lost because of the blinding details of the conflict. Strengthen our
+hearts to do the work of this day. Help us to be as grateful as we are
+dependent upon God. Inspire our whole life; help us quickly to learn why
+we are here, what we are to do while here, and the path that leads home
+when the work-day is over. In the name of the Christ! Amen.
+
+ W. A. WOOD.
+
+
+May 8
+
+ _Then sing, ye birds, sing, sing a joyous song!
+ And let the young lambs bound
+ As to the tabor's sound!
+ We in thought will join your throng,
+ Ye that pipe and ye that play,
+ Ye that through your hearts today
+ Feel the gladness of the May!_
+
+ WILLIAM WORDSWORTH.
+
+God of the morning, Father of the Soul, we bless Thee for the light, for
+it is pleasant to behold the world made beautiful by the King of day,
+and sweet with the melody of the song of bird, and cheerful with the
+promise of hope in the swelling buds of spring. We join with Thy
+faithful ones in ascriptions of praise to Thee for the depth of the
+riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God. Help us to look upon
+our every faculty of soul, and power of body, as gifts from Thee, to be
+used for the advancement of love, truth and beauty, in our own hearts,
+and in the world. Give us Thine own help to bear every burden
+cheerfully, to stand erect before every responsibility, and if in our
+efforts to do much good for this day we seem to fail, may we look to
+Jesus and learn of Him that in a conscience void of offence there is no
+such thing as failure. Help us to strive with the evil of the world and
+sin not, that at the close of the day we may look back and say, we have
+kept ourselves unspotted from the world. Amen.
+
+ L. L. GREENE.
+
+
+May 9
+
+ _Fairer grows the earth each morning
+ To the eyes that watch aright;
+ Every dew-drop sparkles warning
+ Of a miracle in sight;
+ Of some unexpected glory
+ Waiting in the old and plain;
+ Poet's dream nor traveller's story
+ Words such wonders as remain._
+
+ WILLIAM C. GANNETT.
+
+O Thou, who makest things seen and temporal quiver and flash with Thine
+own informing spirit, so illumine our pathways that the Luz where we
+meet our duties may become the Bethel where we meet our God. As Thou
+dost clothe the lily with beauty and inspire the bird with song help us
+to grow into the beauty of holiness, and to know the joy of Thy
+salvation. Whatever our past, open our eyes this day to some better
+thing which Thou hast always in reserve. Teach us what hinders our
+attainment and help us burst through the barrier. Make us so conscious
+of Thy indwelling spirit that we may yield to its gracious impellings
+toward righteousness and peace and joy. Amen.
+
+ THOMAS D. ANDERSON.
+
+
+May 10
+
+ _Listen to the exhortation of the dawn!_
+
+ _Look to this day!
+ For it is life, the very life of life.
+ In its brief course lie all the
+ Varieties and realities of your existence;
+ The bliss of growth,
+ The glory of action,
+ The splendor of beauty:
+ For yesterday is but a dream,
+ And tomorrow is only a vision,
+ But to-day well-lived makes
+ Every yesterday a dream of happiness,
+ And every tomorrow a vision of hope.
+ Look well, therefore to this day!_
+
+ _Such is the salutation of the dawn._
+
+ FROM THE SANSKRIT.
+
+Dear God, in Thy loving kindness, Thou hast brought us to the opening of
+another day; from darkness to light, from sleep to wakefulness, from
+rest to labor. We thank Thee for its opening glory and its coming
+opportunities; but above all, for the new strength we feel within
+ourselves to do its work and live its life. As radiant dawn climbs to
+full-orbed day and glides to setting sun, may we come to this day's
+close with the consciousness that we have lived a little closer to the
+great heart of the Eternal in every thought, word and deed, that we have
+woven into the texture of our lives, and gently as twilight enfolds the
+fruitful earth, shall "peace that passeth understanding" enfold our
+souls. Amen.
+
+ THOMAS B. PAYNE.
+
+
+May 11
+
+ _As the insect from the rock
+ Takes the color of its wing;
+ As the boulder from the shock
+ Of the ocean's rhythmic swing
+ Makes itself a perfect form,
+ Learns a calmer front to raise;
+ As the shell, enameled warm
+ With the prism's mystic rays,
+ Praises wind and wave that make
+ All its chambers fair and strong;
+ As the mighty poets take
+ Grief and pain to build their song;
+ Even so for every soul,
+ Whatsoe'er its lot may be--
+ Building, as the heavens roll,
+ Something large and strong and free--
+ Things that hurt and things that mar
+ Shape the man for perfect praise;
+ Shock and strain and ruin are
+ Friendlier than the smiling days._
+
+ JOHN WHITE CHADWICK.
+
+Dear Father, as the light of this morning follows the darkness of the
+night, may we devoutly believe that the light of Thy love shall dispel
+all darkness and bring us into the morning of eternal peace. May we
+learn each day that our trials and sorrows are but stepping-stones in
+Thy divine economy, to bring us up into the clearer atmosphere of
+heavenly thought and life. Help us to live closer to Jesus, to
+understand how even He was made glorious through suffering, and ever
+learn to conquer in His name. Amen.
+
+ ELMER F. PEMBER.
+
+
+May 12
+
+ _I live for those that love me
+ For those that know me true,
+ For the heaven that smiles above me,
+ And waits my coming, too;
+ For the cause that lacks assistance,
+ For the wrongs that need resistance,
+ For the future in the distance,
+ For the good that I can do._
+
+ G. L. BANKS.
+
+Father, we bless Thee for such as love us and those whom we love in the
+varying forms of affection, thanking Thee for the sacramental cup of joy
+in which Thou givest the wine of life to all of Thy children, humble or
+high. We thank thee for that love which setteth the solitary in families
+at the beginning, and then reaches wide arms all around, and will not
+stay its hold till it joins all nations and kindreds and tongues and
+people into one great family of love. We bless Thee for the noble men
+and women whose generous heart has lit the altar fire of philanthropy in
+many a dark and else benighted place. We thank Thee for the unbidden
+faith which springs up in our hearts, impelling us to trust Thee and
+love Thee and keep every commandment of Thine, and that while we know
+not what a day shall bring forth, we are sure of everlasting life. Amen.
+
+ THEODORE PARKER.
+
+
+May 13
+
+ _Gladness of morning--
+ To hear the lark begin his flight,
+ And singing, startle the dull Night
+ From his watch-tower in the skies,
+ Till the dappled Dawn doth rise;
+ Then to come in spite of sorrow,
+ And at my window bid good-morrow
+ Through the sweetbrier, or the vine,
+ Or the twisted eglantine._
+
+ JOHN MILTON.
+
+O Thou, in whose light we see light, who hast lifted the shadows of
+night from our dwellings, complete now in our behalf Thy ministry of
+light, we beseech Thee, and let the day star arise in our hearts. Make
+clear Thy face unto us. Rise with Thy morning upon our souls. May the
+light which envelops us throughout the day be the radiance of Thy
+presence. May our eyes behold only what Thou revealest and our lives be
+warmed with the glow of Thy love. O, that we may be new-born like the
+day and live a new life in Thy mercies which are new every morning; that
+our love may rise fresh as the dawn and our obedience be as sure as the
+path of the law. Let no shadow from the past dim the joy of Thy
+presence. Scatter the darkness of sense and self within us. As the
+morning reveals, interprets and fulfils the beauties of a world which
+was wrapped in night, may the mystery of our lives unfold, our latent
+forces be summoned to service, and our hearts find fulness of joy
+because we live in Thee. Amen.
+
+ EVERETT D. BURR.
+
+
+May 14
+
+ _It may be truly said that no man does any work perfectly who does
+ not enjoy his work. Joy in one's work is the consummate tool
+ without which the work may be done indeed, but without its finest
+ perfectness. Men who do their work without enjoying it are like men
+ carving statues with hatchets. A man who does his work with
+ thorough enjoyment of it is like an artist who holds an exquisite
+ tool which is almost as obedient to him as his own hand, and almost
+ works intelligently with him._
+
+ PHILLIPS BROOKS.
+
+O Heavenly Father, we thank Thee that Thou hast placed us where we are
+and hast given us the work we have to do. We would not seek far and wide
+for some better place or more honourable task. We pray today for the
+spirit that shall make us glad in our common toil. We need not to fly
+away to find enjoyment; we have only to feel that in the duties of this
+day we are in partnership with Thee,--then shall we be happy that Thou
+hast called us to so divine a fellowship. Make us strong and earnest and
+brave--that when the evening shadows fall we shall not look regretfully
+back because we have been unfaithful,--but that we may be satisfied and
+happy in the memory that we have been serving with Thee. Amen.
+
+ ANONYMOUS.
+
+
+May 15
+
+ _I love the flowers that come about with spring,
+ And whether they be scarlet, white or blue,
+ It mattereth to me not anything,
+ For when I see them full of sun and dew,
+ My heart doth get so full with its delight,
+ I know not blue from red, nor red from white._
+
+ ALICE CARY.
+
+Father Divine, we remember Thee at the beginning of another day, and the
+obedience to Thy laws of life which Thou dost require. About us is Thy
+beautiful world, thrilling with new life. We would that our lives today
+may be likewise beautiful, restrained from sin against body and spirit.
+As there is now in the earth, so there is always in human souls a
+springtide ready to burst forth into beautiful living. In our hearts
+there is always the stirring energy of a spiritual spring that needs but
+the warmth of Thy heavenly sunshine. Let that warmth now stream into our
+hearts that our lives today may show forth Thy praise. Amen.
+
+ MINOT O. SIMONS.
+
+
+May 16
+
+ Violet: "_Well, but surely at least one ought to be afraid of
+ displeasing God; and one's desire to please Him should be one's
+ first motive._"
+
+ Lecturer: "_He never would be pleased with us, if it were, my dear.
+ When a father sends his son out into the world--suppose as an
+ apprentice--fancy the boy's coming home at night, and saying,
+ 'Father, I could have robbed the till to-day; but I didn't because
+ I thought you wouldn't like it.' Do you think the father would be
+ particularly pleased?" (Violet is silent). "He would answer, would
+ he not, if he were wise and good, 'My boy, though you had no
+ father, you must not rob tills.' And nothing is ever done so as
+ really to please our Great Father, unless we would also have done
+ it, though we had had no Father to know of it._"
+
+ JOHN RUSKIN.
+
+Father of Life, Thy children raise their thoughts in prayer to Thee at
+the dawning of each day. Their prayer asserts love, trust and conformity
+to Thy will. May the spirit of prayer abide with us the day through,
+that we may be dutiful and worthy. The moral law is Thy way of life, may
+we make it our way by intelligent obedience. To know Thee aright and to
+find our joy in Thy life is to have fullness of being through purity and
+strength. O Father, may we be as those who broaden and deepen and purify
+life by word and deed that none may suffer loss through us, but find aid
+to reach the perfect life in Thee. Amen.
+
+ WILSON M. BACKUS.
+
+
+May 17
+
+ _Through the harsh noises of our day
+ A low sweet prelude finds its way:
+ Through clouds of doubt and creeds of fear
+ A light is breaking, calm and clear._
+
+ _Henceforth my heart shall sigh no more
+ For olden time and holier shore:
+ God's love and blessing, then and there
+ Are now and here and everywhere._
+
+ JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER.
+
+Our Father, as we enter upon the duties of this new day, incline our
+minds and hearts unto Thee. May we feel, amid its harsh noises, the
+assurance of Thy love and care. If doubt or fear assail us may we turn
+unto Thee who art the source of life, love and light, and find calm and
+peace. We would forget the things behind and make the most of the
+present. We rejoice that today is better than yesterday and that
+tomorrow will be better than today. Thou art here now, as Thou art
+everywhere always, to bless us with Thy love and care. Direct us through
+the hours of this day and may its close find us better children of
+Thine. Amen.
+
+ JOHN B. REARDON.
+
+
+May 18
+
+ _The sun does not shine for a few trees and flowers, but for the
+ wide world's joy. The lonely pine of the mountain top waves its
+ sombre boughs, and cries, "Thou art my sun!" And the little meadow
+ violet lifts its cup of blue, and whispers with its perfumed
+ breath, "Thou art my sun!" And the grain in a thousand fields
+ rustles in the wind, and makes answer, "Thou art my sun!" So God
+ sits, effulgent, in heaven, not for a favored few, but for the
+ universe of life; and there is no creature so poor or so low that
+ he may not look up with child-like confidence, and say, "My Father,
+ Thou art mine!"_
+
+ HENRY WARD BEECHER.
+
+O God, the Eternal Source of all life, we rejoice that there are no
+bounds to Thy love. We thank Thee that Thou givest us all things richly
+to enjoy. May we learn that Thy bounties are for all human beings. Make
+the hearts of men eager that the ignorant, the lowly, the poor, the
+wayward, may come into the full estate of knowing that they are children
+of God. Let them in no way be denied the joy of unfolding the divinity
+within them. Lead us all into those fields of labor where we can be our
+best selves and develop our lives by what we do to meet the growing
+demands of truth and love and goodness. Wherever the morning breaks and
+the sunshine falls upon human faces, may its cheer make homes happy and
+true, men and women good, and little children joyous. Amen.
+
+ ALVA ROY SCOTT.
+
+
+May 19
+
+ _Hear the Master's risen word!
+ Delving spades have set it free,
+ Wake! the world has need of thee,
+ Rise and let thy voice be heard,
+ Like a fountain disinterred,
+ Upward springing, singing, sparkling;
+ Through the doubtful shadows darkling;
+ Till the clouds of pain and rage
+ Brooding o'er the toiling age,
+ As with rifts of light are stirred
+ By the music of the Word;
+ Gospel for the heavy-laden, answer to the labourer's cry;
+ "Raise the stone, and thou shalt find Me: cleave the wood, and there
+ am I."_
+
+ HENRY VAN DYKE.
+
+God of light and strength and beauty, for this day we thank Thee. The
+morning hours come to us freighted with messages of gladness. Thou, our
+Father, art refreshing our spirits, and home seems dearer, love more
+sacred and the way of duty clearer before our waiting feet. We thank
+Thee for life as it is given us, day by day. Help us to fill it with
+honest, cheerful, fruitful service. May we realize and rejoice in the
+nobility of labor, and may we learn how it is that a child of Thine,
+standing in his own place, giving himself to the tasks of the hour,
+imparts strength and courage to his fellow-worker, and helps the world
+forward in the path of righteousness and peace. So may Thy will be done
+in and through us. Amen.
+
+ JOHN P. FORBES.
+
+
+May 20
+
+ _O the green things growing, the green things growing
+ The faint sweet smell of the green things growing!
+ I should like to live, whether I smile or grieve,
+ Just to watch the happy life of my green things growing._
+
+ DINAH MULOCK CRAIG.
+
+ _Not all these sweets, these sounds, this vernal blaze,
+ Is but one joy, express'd a thousand ways;
+ And honey from the flowers, and song of birds,
+ Are from the poet's pen, his overflowing words._
+
+ LEIGH HUNT.
+
+O Thou who art the Creator of life in every form in which it is
+expressed in the earth, we thank Thee for the grass and the flowers, the
+trees and the shrubs, the music of the streams and the melody of the
+birds. As nature is ever vocal with Thy praise, so may our hearts be
+attuned to deepest joy that we are a part of Thy creation and made
+capable of constant exultation in the beauty and the beneficence of Thy
+purpose therein displayed. In this spirit may we rejoice and be glad in
+this new day which Thou hast made for us. Amen.
+
+ I. J. MEAD.
+
+
+May 21
+
+ _As one familiar with the sonatas and the symphonies of Beethoven,
+ while passing along the street in summer, gets, from out of the
+ open window, a snatch of a song or a piece that is being played,
+ catching a strain here and another there--and says to himself, "Ah,
+ that is Beethoven. I recognize that: it is from such and such a
+ movement of the Pastoral" or whatever it may be;--so men in life
+ catch strains of God in the mother's disinterested and self-denying
+ love, in the lover's glow, in the little child's innocent
+ affections. Where did this thing come from? No plant ever brought
+ out such fruit as this?_
+
+ HENRY WARD BEECHER.
+
+Father of all and giver of every good thing, to Thee we pray; to Thee we
+look for light, for truth, for beauty. In the travail of thought may
+there come only the highest and best good. Where there is division we
+ask for unity; where there is confusion we ask for serenity; where there
+is discord, we ask for harmony. May divergent paths lead to the larger
+way of widening vision, distinctive service, unstinted love. Hasten the
+day when Thy purpose shall be accomplished in us, and when that which is
+now imperfect shall become the perfected whole. Grant to us wisdom to
+pursue noble ends with intelligent zeal, and patient effort, and in a
+charitable and hopeful spirit. Amen.
+
+ C. C. CLARK.
+
+
+May 22
+
+ _It is very interesting to watch a plant grow, it is like taking
+ part in creation. When all outside is cold and white, when the
+ little children of the woodland are gone to their nurseries in the
+ warm earth and the empty nests on the bare trees filled with snow,
+ my window-garden glows and smiles, making summer within while it is
+ winter without. It is wonderful to see flowers bloom in the midst
+ of a snow-storm! I have felt a bud "shyly doff her green hood and
+ blossom with a silken burst of sound," while the icy fingers of the
+ snow beat against the window panes. What secret power, I wonder,
+ caused this blossoming miracle? What mysterious force guided the
+ seedling from the dark earth up to the light, through leaf and stem
+ and bud, to glorious fulfilment in the perfect flower? Who could
+ have dreamed that such beauty lurked in the dark earth, was latent
+ in the tiny seed we planted? Beautiful flower, you have taught me
+ to see a little way into the hidden heart of things. Now I
+ understand that the darkness everywhere may hold possibilities
+ better than even my hopes._
+
+ HELEN KELLER.
+
+Grant us, O God, this day, vitality of brain and heart, to lay hold on
+the ordinary events and experiences of life, and transmute them into
+beautiful and permanent values for ourselves and others. May we have
+courage, love and faithfulness, to conquer adversities and fulfil our
+duties. And should the winter of discontent and disappointment beat
+without against our souls, even so may Thy Kingdom come. Amen.
+
+ JULIUS P. WEST.
+
+
+May 23
+
+ _Brother--there is no payment in the world!
+ We work and pour our labor at the feet
+ Of those who are around us and to come.
+ We live and take our living at the hands
+ Of those who are around us and have been.
+ No one is paid. No person can have more
+ Than he can hold. And none can do beyond
+ The power that's in him. To each child that's born
+ Belongs as much of all our human good
+ As he can take and use to make him strong._
+
+ _And from each man, debtor to all the world,
+ Is due the fullest fruit of all his powers,
+ His whole life's labor, proudly rendered up,
+ Not as return--can moments pay an age?
+ But as the simple duty of a man.
+ Can he do less--receiving everything?_
+
+ CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN.
+
+O, Thou Most Bountiful Giver! We thank Thee this morning for all the
+conveniences and comforts, the stored knowledge and acquired wisdom, the
+inspirations and encouragements of our daily life. Truly others have
+lived as Thy children and labored as Thy servants, by mind and hand and
+heart, and we are wondrously permitted to enter into the fruits of their
+labours. Grant unto us this day, O Father, so to strive and so to live
+that some other life may be cheered and blessed by the spirit and by the
+fruit of our day's service. May our thoughts and words and deeds somehow
+express our gratitude for the blessings which we are constantly
+receiving. Amen.
+
+ WILLIAM H. GOULD.
+
+
+May 24
+
+ _What a wonderful thing it is to meet a man or woman whose manners
+ are instantly open and free--opening up a direct road between him
+ or her and yourself!_
+
+ EDWARD CARPENTER.
+
+ _There is a world in us that God keeps to himself, except when He
+ calls some few souls, with special errand for us, to receive a
+ glimpse. It is full of life, and growths, and wonders, that are to
+ be developed and revealed. We ourselves know not what we shall be;
+ but He knows that we shall be like Him.... It is the world of the
+ spiritual microscope._
+
+ MRS. A. D. T. WHITNEY.
+
+Our Father and Mother God,--we have cried for Thee as little children
+cry for parental love to wait upon their wants, and, like babes that
+cry, we have looked for Thee in nothing else. We would be now Thy sons
+and daughters of a larger growth, who learn to find Thee in a more
+complete and blessed fellowship of service and sacrifice with Thee, of
+united thought and will with Thine, of such living as shares in Thy
+perfect and eternal life. Help us so to be and so to live that even in
+ourselves we may get glimpses of Thine infinite good will and
+faithfulness, and show in our human lives, that God is in His world and
+all is well. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE W. KENT.
+
+
+May 25
+
+ _What are we set on earth for? Say to toil:
+ Nor to seek to leave the tending of thy vines,
+ For all the heat of the day, till it declines,
+ And death's mild curfew shall from work assoil.
+ God did anoint thee with His odorous oil
+ To wrestle, not to reign; and he assigns
+ All thy tears over, like pure crystallines,
+ For younger fellow-workers of the soil
+ To wear for amulets. So others shall
+ Take patience, labor, to their heart and hand,
+ From thy hand, and thy heart, and thy brave cheer,
+ And God's grace fructify through thee to all.
+ The least flower with a brimming cup may stand,
+ And share its dewdrop with another near._
+
+ ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING.
+
+Our Father In Heaven, we devoutly thank Thee for that ceaseless and
+refreshing tide of blessing that, from the reservoir of Thine
+exhaustless goodness, flows into our hearts and lives. And we further
+thank Thee that among the choicest of those blessings, is the one of
+being, not merely the receptacles of this inflow, but also co-workers
+with Thee, and with Thy Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ, in carrying
+forward to successful issue Thy beneficent purposes of grace and
+salvation. Grant us, we beseech Thee, day by day, such an infusion of
+Thy Holy Spirit as shall fittingly equip us for the gladsome and
+effective discharge of the duties of this divine relation, and its
+exalted privileges. All of which grant for Thy mercy's sake. Amen.
+
+ CHARLES P. NASH.
+
+
+May 26
+
+ _The deepest secret of life is love. Without love there is no
+ enthusiasm, and without ideals there is no enthusiasm. We freeze
+ our hearts by selfishness, and stifle them by sordidness. We fix
+ our eyes upon the little field circumscribed by our day's
+ activities and ends. With no wide-reaching affection and no
+ uplifting ideal, we make of our life a treadmill and of our duty an
+ unwelcome drudgery. We disclaim the highest endowment of the soul
+ and deny our sonship to God. Narrow faiths and narrow hopes put
+ fetters on the spirit, and small affections keep small the heart._
+
+ PHILIP S. MOXOM.
+
+Our Father, every morning is a fresh witness of Thy loving kindness.
+When we sleep the vigils of Thy love are round about us. At the
+threshold of this new day, may it please Thee to inspire us with lofty
+aims, so that we may rise out of our selfish selves into conscious
+kinship with Thee. Help us to know the mystery of love, how limitless
+and all-conquering it is. Animated by its sweet law, may we go out into
+this great, needy world with hearts to sympathize and words to cheer and
+hands to minister. Then we shall know the divine sweetness of our
+Christian faith, the joy of Christlike living; we shall know that love
+is the fulfilling of the law. Amen.
+
+ Q. H. SHINN.
+
+
+May 27
+
+ _Every day is a fresh beginning,
+ Every morn is the world made new.
+ You who are weary of sorrow and sinning,
+ Here is a beautiful hope for you,
+ A hope for me and a hope for you._
+
+ _Every day is a fresh beginning;
+ Listen, my soul, to the glad refrain,
+ And, spite of old sorrow and older sinning,
+ And puzzles forecasted and possible pain,
+ Take heart with the day, and begin again._
+
+ SUSAN COOLIDGE.
+
+O Thou, who makest all things new, we are glad each day is not only a
+new day but one unlike any before it. Everything breathes freshness and
+newness of life; a new heaven is over our heads, a new earth beneath our
+feet. We know this day will be full of new opportunities for work, new
+scenes for pleasure, new chances to make better our lives. If yesterday
+was not all we could wish, if there were failures in duty, or loss of
+faith in ourselves, and Thy great love, may this be filled with larger
+faith, greater hope, complete love. May we so take heart in this quiet
+morning hour, that we may be brave and faithful all the day, so that in
+spite of old sorrows and older sins, the memory of which may now and
+then shadow our way, we may find ourselves when the evening shall come,
+nearer heaven in heart and life, and more worthy to be called Thy
+children. Amen.
+
+ WILLIAM F. POTTER.
+
+
+May 28
+
+ _O friend, never strike sail to a fear! Come into port greatly, or
+ sail with God the seas.... He has not learned the lesson of life
+ who does not every day surmount a fear._
+
+ RALPH WALDO EMERSON.
+
+ _There is no storm but this
+ Of your own cowardice
+ That braves you out;
+ You are the storm that mocks
+ Yourself; you are the rocks
+ Of your own doubt;
+ Besides this fear of danger there's no danger here
+ And he that here fears danger does deserve his fear._
+
+ RICHARD CRASHAW.
+
+Thou knowest, O Lord, the weakness of our human nature, and how prone we
+are not only to shrink from the difficulties and to tremble at the
+dangers which lie in our way, but to allow imaginary difficulties and
+dangers to hinder us from living as Thy children should. Help us, we
+pray Thee, to be free from all such fear today. Be Thou our refuge from
+whatsoever may threaten us, either without or within. Deliver us from
+faint-heartedness and enable us to stand fast in the glorious liberty of
+those who fear nothing but to offend against Thee and to wrong their own
+immortal souls. We ask it as disciples of Christ. Amen.
+
+ EDWIN C. SWEETSER.
+
+
+May 29
+
+ _Whichever way the wind doth blow,
+ Some heart is glad to have it so;
+ Then blow it east or blow it west,
+ The wind that blows, that wind is best._
+
+ _My little craft sails not alone:
+ A thousand fleets from every zone
+ Are out upon a thousand seas;
+ And what for me were favoring breeze
+ Might dash another, with the shock
+ Of doom, upon some hidden rock.
+ And so I do not dare to pray
+ For winds to waft me on my way,
+ But leave it to a Higher Will
+ To stay or speed me; trusting still
+ That all is well, and sure that He
+ Who launched my bark will sail with me
+ Through storm and calm, and will not fail,
+ Whatever breezes may prevail,
+ To land me, every peril past,
+ Within His sheltering heaven at last._
+
+ CAROLINE ATWATER MASON.
+
+O Lord let us know that we do not sail life's seas alone. Thou art the
+God of the storms. Thou goest with us whithersoever we go. Grant us, our
+Heavenly Father, that we may not suffer shipwreck of our faith. Grant us
+that the voyage of our lives may be prosperous, and that at last,
+whether soon or late we shall find some harbor of rest and peace. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+May 30
+
+ _Our Memorial Day celebrations will be but a hypocritical
+ play-acting unless they shall remind us of the cause and the country
+ for which our brave soldiers gave their lives. It is not enough for
+ us to recall their names and sing their praises. We must love the
+ country they loved and in our turn be ready to do the hero's part._
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+ _But what is it to love one's country? Is it to carry a banner in a
+ procession? Is it to shout as we see the flag? Is it to fling
+ bunting from the tops of the buildings, and send off sky-rockets in
+ the evenings? Vastly deeper than that is love of country, deeper
+ than any soldier's uniform, deeper than any pictures of battleships
+ with which we adorn our walls._
+
+ W. H. P. FAUNCE.
+
+God of the Nations, we thank Thee today for every heroic deed of every
+heroic soul. We rejoice that in every hour of real emergency there have
+ever been men who were ready to die for their country. O Lord, may the
+memory of their sacrifice ever remain to us and to the children of
+coming generations a sacred heritage. Yet, O Lord, let us not be
+satisfied to glorify their deeds with a memory. Let us do them the
+higher honor of consecrating our lives to the service of the country
+they loved. So shall we, in the honor we render them find the title to
+our honor. Thus in _our_ land and in _our_ time may Thy Kingdom come and
+Thy will be done. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+May 31
+
+ _To be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love and to
+ work and to play and to look up at the stars; to be satisfied with
+ your possessions, but not contented with yourself until you have
+ made the best of them; to despise nothing in the world except
+ falsehood and meanness, and to fear nothing except cowardice; to be
+ governed by your admirations rather than your dislikes; to covet
+ nothing that is your neighbor's except his kindness of heart and
+ gentleness of manners; to think seldom of your enemies, often of
+ your friends, and every day of Christ; and to spend as much time as
+ you can, with body and with spirit in God's out-of-doors--these are
+ little guide-posts on the footpath to peace._
+
+ HENRY VAN DYKE.
+
+O Thou God of peace and of love. How shall we come to Thee? How shall we
+share Thy strength and know Thy life? Let us commune with Thy gracious
+spirit and so learn Thy way. How beautiful the vision which prayer
+unfolds to us when we worship in spirit and truth! We see the virtues
+which ennoble and sanctify other lives. Sweet and tender patience
+appears and in her light ruffled and distorted tempers are subdued and
+clothed in their right mind. Faith is seen and as irresolution and doubt
+take their flight, confident trust and cherished conviction appear in
+magnetic power. So, O Lord, would we read the signs which other lives
+present. So would we strengthen our own aspirations and make real the
+vision. So, O Father, would we find Thy peace. Amen.
+
+ AUGUSTINE N. FOSTER.
+
+
+June 1
+
+ _A season for simple living with the kindly sun and the blue sky,
+ days of keen delight in little things, of joyous questing after
+ beauty, days for the making of true friends by being a true friend
+ to others, days when we may enlarge our little lives by excursions
+ to strange places, by friendly association, by the companionship of
+ great thoughts, days that may teach us to live nobly, to work
+ joyously, to play harder, to do our labor better. So should each
+ June bring us indeed a golden summer._
+
+ EDWIN OSGOOD GROVER.
+
+Heavenly Father, Thou givest all good things. We thank Thee for life and
+hope and cheer. In gratitude we consecrate this day to blessing Thy
+children, and so to serving Thee who hast said, "Inasmuch as ye have
+done it unto these, ye have done it unto Me." Teach us the gladness of a
+life responsive to Thy messages through Nature. Grant us the joy of
+making friends by being friendly with our fellow men. Whatsoever we may
+do, at work or at play, may it be in the spirit of the Saviour. We begin
+this day with Thee. By its ministries may our comrades be helped and our
+lives together be made nobler, stronger, and well-pleasing in Thy sight.
+Amen.
+
+ MAURICE A. LEVY.
+
+
+June 2
+
+ _Over the shoulders and slopes of the dune,
+ I saw the white daisies go down to the sea,
+ A host in the sunshine, an army in June,
+ The people God sends us to set our hearts free._
+
+ _The bobolinks rallied them up from the dell,
+ The orioles whistled them out of the wood,
+ And all of their singing was "Earth, it is well,"
+ And all of their dancing was, "Life, Thou art good!"_
+
+ BLISS CARMAN.
+
+O Thou, who art the Father of Light and Love, from whom cometh down
+every good and perfect gift, we thank Thee for this new born day, which
+Thou sendest us, for the splendor of Thy presence in the sunlit sky
+above us and the blossoming earth beneath; for spring-time flowers that
+border our paths with loveliness and happy bird song, lifting our hearts
+to responsive joy and praise. We thank Thee for life and health, for
+home and friends, for opportunities and duties, for temptations and
+trials, yea, for the very sorrows and bereavements which bring us to
+ourselves in penitence, to others in sympathy, and to Thee in faith and
+adoration. Thy will be done! Thy kingdom come! Amen.
+
+ CHARLES W. WENDTE.
+
+
+June 3
+
+ _One small life in God's great plan,
+ How futile it seems as the ages roll,
+ Do what it may, or strive how it can,
+ To alter the sweep of the infinite whole!
+ A single stitch in an endless web,
+ A drop in the ocean's flow and ebb!
+ But the pattern is rent where the stitch is lost,
+ Or marred where the tangled threads have crossed;
+ And each life that fails of its true intent
+ Mars the perfect plan that its Maker meant._
+
+ SUSAN COOLIDGE.
+
+O Thou, the heavenly Father, in whom we live and move, whose life-giving
+spirit is ever around us like the air we breathe,--we lift our thoughts
+to Thee in reverence and gladness at the coming of the new day. We are
+glad for the quiet hours of the night, while the stars shine over us.
+May we be ready now, with willing and obedient hearts, for the work, the
+cares, the joys and the friendly converse of the day. We know how small
+our lives are; may we share the thoughts of Thy infinite mind, may Thy
+power and beauty, Thy justice and goodness possess us. May our feeble
+wills be strong to carry the current of the one Good Will that sways the
+universe. Amen.
+
+ CHARLES F. DOLE.
+
+
+June 4
+
+ _I have lived, sir, a long time; and the longer I live, the more
+ convincing proofs I see of this truth, that God governs in the
+ affairs of men._
+
+ BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.
+
+ _All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not
+ seen. Whatever it be which the great Providence prepares for us, it
+ must be something large and generous; and in the great style of His
+ works. The future must be up to the style of our faculties, of
+ memory, of hope, of imagination, of reason._
+
+ RALPH WALDO EMERSON.
+
+O Thou, who in Thy greatness holds the planets on their way, and in Thy
+providence guides the sparrow's flight, and in Thy tenderness marks the
+sparrow's fall, may we not be blind to Thy foot-prints in the events of
+every day, but see them guiding our way and feel more and more Thy love.
+Father, we ask not for great things, but we ask Thee to help us in the
+little needs and longings that fill our every day, to be the strength of
+our every endeavor, that in our daily walk, we may feel that the earth
+is warm with life and joy, that the air is full of strength, that there
+comes to us from every side some message, sweet and tender, if only we
+can be patient, trustful, believing that all things work together for
+good to them who seek to do Thy will Amen.
+
+ JOSHUA YOUNG.
+
+
+June 5
+
+ _And do not fear to hope. Can poet's brain
+ More than the Father's heart rich good invent?
+ Each time we smell the autumn's dying scent,
+ We know the primrose time will come again;
+ Not more we hope, nor less would soothe our pain.
+ Be bounteous in our faith, for not misspent
+ Is confidence unto the Father lent:
+ Thy need is sown and rooted for his rain,
+ His thoughts are as thine own; nor are his ways
+ Other than thine, but by their loftier sense
+ Of beauty infinite and love intense.
+ Work on! One day, beyond all thought of praise
+ A sunny joy will crown thee with its rays;
+ Nor other than thy need, thy recompense._
+
+ GEORGE MACDONALD.
+
+Our Father, in the gratitude of loved and loving children we thank Thee
+for life and all the faith and hope and love Thy goodness has awakened
+in our souls. For the splendors of the world and the greater splendor of
+the mind radiant with Thy love, we bow in rapture and adoration.
+Overwhelmed at times by the mysteries and vicissitudes of life, we will
+trust Thy will to lead us out of darkness into the light of Thine
+informing spirit of truth and wisdom. Conscious of our weakness and
+needs, we rejoice that strength and supply are assured to us in the
+permanence of Thy Fatherhood. Lead us more and ever more to realize that
+in Thee we live and move and have our being. Amen.
+
+ RICHMOND FISK.
+
+
+June 6
+
+ _When a feller goes a-huntin' for a rose
+ He shouldn't be a-thinkin' of the thorn;
+ He must woo it, he must win it--
+ Where his heart beats he must pin it
+ An' breathe the breath that's in it
+ Every morn!_
+
+ _When a feller goes a-huntin' for a rose
+ He shouldn't see the thorn beneath its breast,
+ But for all its thorny foes.
+ Red and reckless,--one poor rose
+ Is sweet enough, God knows,
+ For the best._
+
+ FRANK L. STANTON.
+
+O Lord, our God, so great is our life we may find that for which we
+look,--the good or the bad. Send us into this day with eyes searching for
+the good. Beholding it may we admire it and admiring it we shall become
+like it changed into the same image from character to character by the
+Spirit. May we be more concerned to do right than not to do wrong. Save us
+from a humility that is weakness and give us largeness of life without
+pride. May we want nothing so much as opportunity,--opportunity to be, to
+do, to suffer. May we not strive for bigness but for fitness and may our
+reception of the Christ be our forgiveness and our salvation for His name's
+sake. Amen.
+
+ T. C. MARTIN.
+
+
+June 7
+
+ _The beauty of work depends upon the way we meet it,--whether we
+ arm ourselves each morning to attack it as an enemy that must be
+ vanquished before night comes, or whether we open our eyes with the
+ sunrise to welcome it as an approaching friend who will keep us
+ delightful company all day, and who will make us feel at evening,
+ that the day was well worth its fatigues._
+
+ LUCY LARCOM.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, Thou givest us light for the hours of labor and
+darkness for the hours of slumber. We toil and then we rest. We sleep
+and then we arise, to perform the tasks which await us. Convince us, O
+God, that the life which Thou hast given us to live is more than working
+that we may rest, and resting that we may work. Persuade us that it is
+for some great and good end. Help us to understand that even as we live
+in Thee so Thou dost fulfil Thine eternal purposes in and through us.
+Teach us that our smallest effort is important to Thee. So may we dread
+no duty. So may every moment of every day be precious in our sight.
+Amen.
+
+ ROGER S. FORBES.
+
+
+June 8
+
+ _And those who heard the Singers three
+ Disputed which the best might be;
+ For still their music seemed to start
+ Discordant echoes in each heart._
+
+ _But the great Master said, "I see
+ No best in kind, but in degree;
+ I gave a various gift to each,
+ To charm, to strengthen, and to teach._
+
+ _"These are the three great chords of might,
+ And he whose ear is tuned aright,
+ Will hear no discord in the three,
+ But the most perfect harmony."_
+
+ HENRY W. LONGFELLOW.
+
+O God, our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for all Thy mercies new every
+morning, and fresh every evening, but especially we bless Thee that Thou
+callest us to Thy service and kingdom by Jesus Christ, our Lord, and
+hast vouchsafed to each of us some gracious gift whereby we may
+accomplish Thy holy will concerning us. Grant that we may so improve and
+use that pearl of price as to enhance greatly the welfare of Thy
+children. Help each to see the good in all, and all to see the good in
+each, that all may strive together in sinless and sweet accord for the
+common weal and thus for the glory of Thy name, and so hasten the happy
+day when all souls shall be one, as prayed the Saviour of the world.
+Amen.
+
+ ALFRED P. PUTNAM.
+
+
+June 9
+
+ _Men talk sometimes as if the passage of a ship through the sea or
+ a bird through the air is a fit symbol of man's passage through
+ this world. I do not think so. A better symbol would be the passage
+ of a plough through the soil leaving a furrow behind. What does the
+ furrow include? All the memory of every beautiful picture and
+ landscape you have ever seen. It includes the memory of every
+ experience, every sweet association, every tie of love, whether of
+ father, mother, wife or children. All these, whether living or
+ dead, speak to you. They have a voice, a language that you will
+ understand._
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+We thank Thee, O God, for the many influences past and present which
+have had a share in the moulding of our lives and characters toward a
+larger usefulness and a more perfect realization of the Christian ideal.
+We thank Thee for the mother's love which watched over us through years
+of helplessness; for the father's love which made provision for our
+wants, for the human sympathy which has everywhere blessed and
+strengthened us and made life brighter; for the friends of youth and age
+who have helped us to better things. Grant, O God, that a memory of
+these blessings may abide with us so long as life may last, and that as
+we have been helped by others to walk the way of life we may not forget
+to extend a helping hand to those who may need our comfort and our
+sympathy.
+
+ ORIN EDSON CROOKER.
+
+
+June 10
+
+ _It is not to taste sweet things, but to do noble and true things,
+ and vindicate himself under God's heaven, as a God-made man, that
+ the poorest son of Adam dimly longs. This dim longing for what is
+ noble and true, the still small voice which calls to one
+ imperatively in moments of temptation, is the safeguard which, if
+ hearkened to, not only protects one in severe trials of manliness
+ and womanliness, but also incites to the formation of a fine
+ character, without which all acquisitions, all graces and
+ accomplishments, all talents and all learning, are but as sounding
+ brass and a tinkling cymbal._
+
+ THOMAS CARLYLE.
+
+Almighty God, our heavenly Father, in grateful recognition of Thy love
+and watchful care, we thank Thee for the repose of the night and the
+promise of the day. Our desire is to do Thy will, and we ask for the
+guidance and inspiration of Thy spirit. Enable us to perform faithfully
+all the work that Thou hast given us to do. Grant us a sufficiency of
+Thy grace to treat all our fellowmen as children of Thine, and when
+night comes may we have the blessed assurance that through the
+experiences of this day we have become a little more like Thine own
+glorious self in love and holiness. We ask it in the name of Jesus, our
+example, and Saviour. Amen.
+
+ WARREN S. PERKINS.
+
+
+June 11
+
+ _Now it is June, and the secret is told;
+ Flashed from the buttercup's glory of gold;
+ Hummed in the bumblebee's gladness, and sung
+ New from each bough where a bird's nest is swung;
+ Breathed from the clover-beds, when the winds pass;
+ Chirped in small psalms, through the aisles of the grass._
+
+ HENRY JAMES, SR.
+
+Dear Father, in the morning hour of this new day, we thank Thee for the
+glorious revelation of Thyself in the open Book of Nature. May we love
+the beautiful and therein love Thee, with a true and abiding affection.
+Grant unto us the understanding that it is only as we have the spirit of
+the beautiful in our lives that we can appreciate the beautiful without
+us. So may we value this life, which is from Thee, as a means of
+attaining a larger usefulness and for realizing that goodness which is
+ever heavenly. In simply trying to be nobler, more unselfish, like unto
+Christ, we pray, that we may learn how good is life. Amen.
+
+ THOMAS EDWARD POTTERTON.
+
+
+June 12
+
+ _Methinks I love all common things,
+ The common air, the common flower,
+ The dear, kind, common thought that springs
+ From hearts that have no other dower,
+ No other wealth, no other power,
+ Save love; and will not that repay
+ For all else fortune tears away?_
+
+ BRYAN WALLER PROCTER.
+
+We thank God for the beauty of the world. We thank God that it is good
+to be alive. We thank God for the joy that joins us to Thy world in
+gladness, and makes it seem to be the open book of Thy graciousness and
+tenderness and compassion. We thank Thee also for the ministry of those
+days that were not bright, but that were full of comfort, even in their
+darkness, into which God came shrouded, only to reveal Himself more
+clearly as the light. We thank Thee for the intervening by the hand of
+love and tenderness that is human, so that our best nature was called
+out for love's sake, and all the lower forces of our lives led in the
+leash of that sweet attraction. We thank God for everything for which
+our life is better, and pray Thee to help us to use Thy mercies to turn
+them into strength, not the strength of praise alone, but the strength
+of service also. Amen.
+
+ THOMAS R. SLICER.
+
+
+June 13
+
+ _A creed is a rod,
+ And a crown is of night;
+ But this thing is God,
+ To be man with thy might,
+ To grow straight in the strength of thy spirit, and live out thy life
+ as the light._
+
+ ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE.
+
+ _Life is fuller and sweeter for every fulness and sweetness that we
+ take knowledge of. And to him that hath, cannot help being given
+ from everything._
+
+ MRS. A. D. T. WHITNEY.
+
+Infinite Love and Beauty, who stirrest in the tiniest seed that breaks
+its earthly shell to greet the light and warmth of thy beneficence and
+round its life in blade and flower and ripened fruit,--awake in us, we
+pray, that we may burst the casements of our dead selves and live to
+bear the fruits of completed lives. Be love alone our creed and service
+our crown; and in the sweetness and light of these twin ministers draw
+Thou us on, until having taken full knowledge of the fulness and
+sweetness of our Lord the Christ, we shall have measured in our
+spiritual stature, His perfect manliness and strength. Thus shall we
+have indeed and to us shall be given from everything. Amen.
+
+ ALBERT C. WHITE.
+
+
+June 14
+
+ _He fails who climbs to power and place
+ Up the pathway of disgrace.
+ He fails not who makes truth his cause,
+ Nor bends to win the crowd's applause.
+ He fails not, he who stakes his all
+ Upon the right and dares to fall.
+ What though the living bless or blame,
+ For him the long success of fame!_
+
+ RICHARD WATSON GILDER.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, help us when we fail to see and know the truth and
+its blessed influence for good. Help us to combat bravely the evil in
+the world and to look to Thee for encouragement and success. Help us, if
+we fail, to regain our footing and to reach the higher because of the
+effort which Thy love prompts. We gratefully accept the power which Thy
+wisdom gives and thank Thee for the opportunity to use its strength. Be
+Thou our guide and we shall fear no failure, nor overestimate the worth
+of success. So shall we "rejoice in the Lord always,"--in failure
+because of Thy help and in success because of Thine approval. In the
+name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Redeemer. Amen.
+
+ WILLIAM E. GIBBS.
+
+
+June 15
+
+ _A singer sang a song of tears,
+ And the great world heard and wept
+ For the song of the sorrows of fleeting years,
+ And the hopes which the dead past kept:
+ And souls in anguish their burdens bore,
+ And the world was sadder than ever before._
+
+ _A singer sang a song of cheer,
+ And the great world listened and smiled,
+ For he sang of the love of a Father dear
+ And the trust of a little child;
+ And souls that before had forgotten to pray,
+ Looked up and went singing along the way._
+
+ EMMA C. DOWD.
+
+Almighty God, our heavenly Father, our trust is evermore in Thee, and we
+would keep that trust as a song within our hearts, which may cheer and
+bless and strengthen us. When the night is dark and the day is dreary
+may that song be with us, and when cares oppress and sorrows meet us,
+may our prayers still rise to Thee, for Thou art the God of our lives.
+Let not the day's discouragements depress us, nor its failures find us
+weak or helpless, nor its trials leave a stain upon our souls. But
+because we have Thy song of love within our hearts may we march to
+heavenly music, and ever go upon our way rejoicing. Amen.
+
+ PAUL REVERE FROTHINGHAM.
+
+
+June 16
+
+ _It is only the sincerity of human feeling that abides. As for a
+ thought, we know not, it may be deceptive; but the love, wherewith
+ we have loved it, will surely return to our soul; nor can a single
+ drop of its clearness or strength be abstracted by error. Of that
+ perfect ideal that each of us strives to build up in himself, the
+ sum total of all our thoughts will help only to model the outline;
+ but the elements that go to construct it, and keep it alive, are
+ the purified passion, unselfishness, loyalty, wherein these
+ thoughts have had being._
+
+ MAETERLINCK.
+
+O God, our Heavenly Father, help us to take up the cares of this day
+with an unselfish heart, and in loyalty to what is right and good. Keep
+us in right relation to those with whom our lot is cast, in sympathy
+with the unanxious joy of the world and with the deeper life which is
+its source. We desire to enter into the thought and the love of the most
+hopeful souls, that, in all the needful pauses of the day, we may find
+cheer, incentive, and the ampler rest: through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
+Amen.
+
+ CHARLES H. LEONARD.
+
+
+June 17
+
+ _"Does the road wind up-hill all the way?"
+ "Yes, to the very end!"
+ "Will the day's journey take the whole long day?"
+ "From morn to night, my friend!"_
+
+ _"But is there for the night a resting-place?"
+ "A roof for all when the dark hours begin."
+ "May not the darkness hide it from my face?"
+ "You cannot miss that inn."_
+
+ _"Shall I meet other wayfarers at night?"
+ "Those who have gone before."
+ "Then must I knock or call when just in sight?"
+ "They will not keep you standing at that door."_
+
+ _"Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak?"
+ "Of labor you shall find the sum."
+ "Will there be beds for me and all who seek?"
+ "Yea,--beds for all who come!"_
+
+ CHRISTINA ROSSETTI.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for this new day. May it be an open
+door to faithful service. Open our eyes that we may see all vexations,
+distresses, and toil as angels in disguise sent to strengthen and fulfil
+us, to prepare us for larger blessings at our journey's end. As the blue
+sky of Thy loving kindness is broader and more enduring than the clouds
+that sometimes hide it, so teach us to trust Thine unfailing love that
+overarches and outlasts all weariness and pain. When life and strength
+fail us here, may we find them transformed and glorious in the city of
+God hereafter. Be Thou our shield and our reward now and forever. Amen.
+
+ JOHN M. WILSON.
+
+
+June 18
+
+ _Those homelier wildflowers, which we call weeds; yellow japanned
+ buttercups and star-disked dandelions, lying in the grass, like
+ sparks that have leaped from the kindling sun of summer; the
+ profuse daisy-like flower which whitens the fields, to the great
+ disgust of liberal shepherds, yet seems fair to loving eyes, with
+ its button-like mound of gold set round with milk-white rays; the
+ tall-stemmed succory, setting its pale blue flowers aflame one
+ after another; the red and white clovers; the broad, flat leaves of
+ the plantain,--"the white man's foot," as the Indians called
+ it;--those common growths which fling themselves to be crushed
+ under our feet and our wheels, making themselves so cheap in this
+ perpetual martyrdom that we forget, each of them is a ray of the
+ divine beauty._
+
+ OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, however poor and mean and commonplace our lives may
+seem to be, in our better moments we think of ourselves as Thy children.
+We may have failed sometimes but we shall not utterly fail. In Thy
+sight, nothing is common or worthless. No life shall be cast as rubbish
+to the void. However commonplace our tasks may seem, let us feel
+ourselves in partnership with God, and go forth to the duties of the day
+with high hope and sense of dignity. So shalt Thou make even our little
+lives of some real service to the world. We pray to Thee in the spirit
+of Him, who though the humblest of all, was yet Master of all. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+June 19
+
+ _There's a real grace of character in forgetting the things which
+ disturb the harmony of life._
+
+ HAMILTON W. MABIE.
+
+ Touch your lips with gladness and go singing on your way,
+ Smiles will strangely lighten every duty;
+ Just a little word of cheer may span a sky of gray
+ With hope's own heaven-tinted bow of beauty.
+ Wear a pleasant face wherein shall shine a joyful heart,
+ As shines the sun, the happy fields adorning;
+ To every care-beclouded life some ray of light impart,
+ And touch your lips with gladness every morning.
+
+ NIXON WATERMAN.
+
+O Thou who art from everlasting to everlasting, Our God and Father, we
+flee unto Thee as the One who is able to save us from all foes within
+and without. We confess our weakness and our many grievous faults, and
+beseech Thee to touch us by Thy Spirit, that with penitent and lowly
+hearts we may seek Thee as our everlasting Friend and Helper. Be patient
+yet a while with our shortcomings and frowardness. Suffer us yet a
+little that Thine infinite grace and compassion may arouse us from our
+spiritual slumber unto the glorious life of obedience and love. In this
+new day we would be made to feel Thy presence and the light and joy and
+peace, which Thou dost promise to all who diligently seek Thee through
+Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.
+
+ CLARENCE E. RICE.
+
+
+June 20
+
+ _Now is the high tide of the year,
+ And whatever of life hath ebbed away
+ Comes flooding back with a ripply cheer,
+ Into every bare inlet and creek and bay;
+ Now the heart is so full that a drop overfills it,
+ We are happy now because God wills it._
+
+ JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL.
+
+Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty! early in the morning we approach
+unto Thee. The whole round of creation is burdened with the exuberance
+of Thy life, and everywhere is hallowed ground. We come with unshod
+feet. The sun, mighty minister of Thy great goodness, flooding the world
+with light and piercing all things with his fiery arrows, calls back to
+life the sleeping earth, and assures us that we are partakers of Thy
+light and Thy love and Thy life. O most glorious God! may these Thy
+mercies, fresh every morning, be with us through the day to strengthen
+us to do Thy will, we ask in the name of Him who came that we may have
+life and have it abundantly. Amen.
+
+ FRANK W. COLLIER.
+
+
+June 21
+
+ _Man hath much need of courage; and need to brace
+ His spiritual nerve in solitude;
+ Self-trusting, self-sustained, and self-imbued;
+ Seeking God in his own heart's secret place.
+ To perfect self, and in that self embrace
+ The triune essence of truth, beauty, and good;
+ This is fulfilment, this beatitude
+ Throned high above base fears and hopes more base.
+ What shall it profit us, if, gaining all
+ The privilege of priest-made paradise,
+ We lose therewith our self which is the soul?
+ And wherefore should we shrink from even the fall,
+ If haply we should fail with steadfast eyes
+ Fixed only on so bright, so pure a goal?_
+
+ JOHN ADDINGTON SYMONDS.
+
+Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for the gift of a new day, for the tasks
+which it brings, and for the strength with which we rise to its
+requirements. Help us, through all this day, to remember Thee. Thou art
+our strength, our guide, our inspiration. Fill us with the courage born
+of faith. Let us feel that, seeking to do right, we shall be moved and
+aided by an unseen Power. In all our experiences this day, help us to
+speak the truth, to be loyal to friendship, to be steadfast in
+principle, to fight the good fight and to keep the faith. Bless our
+endeavors to give heart and hope to other souls; and grant them the
+presence of Thy loving spirit. Amen.
+
+ JOHN CLARENCE LEE.
+
+
+June 22
+
+ _Let a man start out at breakneck speed in the morning, pushing and
+ driving and hurrying as if it were a matter of life and death to
+ accomplish a given task before noon, and he will generally end by
+ working himself into a fever of anxiety and harassing care before
+ night, and the man who, under any pretext whatsoever, whether for
+ the sake of wealth or learning or pleasure, has pursued this mad,
+ rushing, whirling method of life for fifteen or twenty years, will
+ find himself thoroughly disqualified for the normal enjoyment of
+ life thenceforward to the end of his days._
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+Most gracious God! Thou who hast sustained us through the night watches,
+and who now openest to us the day, with its promise of good and
+opportunity for service, we still depend upon that heavenly faithfulness
+which never fails. We look to Thee for the quickening of our best
+powers. We would be laborers together with Thee to-day, not as driven to
+irksome tasks, but as honored with a welcome privilege. Whether we plant
+or water may we do it faithfully, and then trust Thee for the desired
+increase. May it please Thee to quiet our anxieties, to lay to rest our
+unworthy fears, and to assure us of Thine over-ruling providence; and
+thus through all our toiling may we enjoy large measures of the peace
+that passeth understanding. Amen.
+
+ JAMES EDWARD WRIGHT.
+
+
+June 23
+
+ _I do not say you can make yourself merry and happy when you are in
+ a physical condition which is contrary to such mental condition,
+ but by practice and effort you can learn to withdraw from it,
+ refusing to allow your judgments and actions to be ruled by it.
+ "What does that matter?" you will learn to say. "It is enough for
+ me to know that the sun does shine, and that this is only a weary
+ fog that is round about me for a moment. I shall come out into the
+ light beyond presently." This is faith,--faith in God, who is
+ Light._
+
+ GEORGE MACDONALD.
+
+Our Father, residing in the light incomprehensible and who art seeing
+and providing all good for Thine immortal household, when mid investing
+clouds we shall hail Thy presence, transforming weakness into perfect
+strength and sighs and groans into joy and swelling songs, above all the
+many rightful subjects of Christian petition, we pray that Thou wilt
+always press us near to Thee to feel Thy loving heart-beats and dwell in
+the light in which is no darkness at all. We pray not to be spared any
+of our full part of the burdens needful to this day, but to be given the
+measure of grace to maintain unfaltering steps. Behold with compassion
+the errors that befall us as we, too, compassionate others. Amen.
+
+ JACOB STRAUB.
+
+
+June 24
+
+ _We are all perhaps familiar with the story of the little
+ housemaid, who, when she was asked why she thought she had become a
+ Christian, replied, after a little hesitation, "Because I sweep
+ under the mats." A very poor reason at first sight, and only
+ significant from the fact of the master-motive underlying the fact
+ itself. A child's reasoning--but did not quaint old Herbert employ
+ the same fine logic when he sang:_
+
+ _"Who sweeps a room as for Thy laws.
+ Makes that and the action fine!"_
+
+ WILLIAM MOODIE.
+
+Dear Lord of Life and Light, at the dawn of another day we rise to thank
+Thee for Thy watchful care, imparting strength and vitality during the
+closed hours of the night. Thy gift of eternal life is ours by Thy
+creatorship and love, and we would pray that in no way during this
+coming day shall we dishonor our birthright by evil thought or action.
+Help us to aspire to hold fast and develop Thy holy characteristics,
+normal to us and made active by our wills. We thank Thee for the goal
+revealed to us as our destiny, the spirit displayed by our Master, Jesus
+Christ, and like Him may we lean on Thee daily for the strengthening of
+our faith and the maturing of our plans. Amen.
+
+ CHARLES E. LUND.
+
+
+June 25
+
+ _They are tired of what is old,
+ We will give it voices new;
+ For the half hath not been told
+ Of the beautiful and true._
+
+ GEORGE MACDONALD.
+
+ _The common problem, yours, mine, everyone's,
+ Is not to fancy what were fair in life
+ Provided it could be--but finding first
+ What may be, than find how to make it fair
+ Up to our means, a very different thing._
+
+ ROBERT BROWNING.
+
+Thou Infinite Heart! our hearts go out after Thee, not for past, not for
+future, not for what was, though dear, not for what may be, though in
+vision precious,--not these the burden of our prayer. Our hearts crave
+peace, comfort with what is. May we confide in Thee so utterly that the
+old pain is eased, the anxious foreboding is dispelled, self-will merged
+in divine will, self-direction yielding to divine leading. Lo! our
+prayer is answered in the making and we are helped. Amen.
+
+ STANFORD MITCHELL.
+
+
+June 26
+
+ _Today is your day and mine, the only day we have, the day in which
+ we play our part. What our part may signify in the great whole, we
+ may not understand, but we are here to play it, and now is our
+ time. This we know, it is a part of action, not of whining. It is a
+ part of love, not cynicism. It is for us to express love in terms
+ of human helpfulness. This we know, for we have learned from sad
+ experience that any other course of life leads toward weakness and
+ misery._
+
+ DAVID STARR JORDAN.
+
+Our Father, Author alike of the morning light and Guardian through the
+darkness and shadow of the night, grant us the right spirit as we go
+forth to the unknown experiences of this day. We would not look eagerly
+for our own comfort and happiness, but would find them as Thy free gift
+while we are employed in giving comfort and happiness to others.
+Illuminate our lives with happy thoughts, cheerful words and blessed
+hopes, that we may go forth with no purpose but to do Thy will, and
+seeking no reward more glorious, than Thine approval whispered into
+loving and attentive hearts, in Thy name. Amen.
+
+ LEWIS G. WILSON.
+
+
+June 27
+
+ _A Persian fable says: "One day
+ A wanderer found a lump of clay,
+ So redolent of sweet perfume
+ Its odors scented all the room.
+ "What art thou?" was his quick demand;
+ "Art thou some gem from Samarcand,
+ Or spikenard in this rude disguise,
+ Or other costly merchandise?"
+ "Nay, I am but a lump of clay."
+ "Then whence this wondrous perfume--say?"
+ "Friend, if the secret I disclose,
+ I have been dwelling with the rose,"
+ Sweet parable! and will not those
+ Who love to dwell with Sharon's Rose,
+ Distil sweet odors all around,
+ Though low and mean themselves are found?
+ Dear Lord, abide with us, that we
+ May draw our perfume fresh from thee._
+
+ ANONYMOUS.
+
+Our Father, which art in heaven,--we thank Thee for the memory of those
+who lived in Thy spirit and labored in Thy love. The fragrance of their
+lives abides with us. We thank Thee for the prophets of great
+hopes,--for those who have seen the invisible, and have searched
+patiently for the city of their God. We bless those who by their pure
+hearts and unselfish lives have revealed unto us our greater selves.
+Help us to learn of them the way of life. Help us to live in such
+thoughts and deeds as made them truly great. Keep our hearts so pure
+to-day, our vision of the Master life so clear, that our path, before
+and after us, shall be as the light of day. Amen.
+
+ FREDERICK W. BETTS.
+
+
+June 28
+
+ _Tell you what I like the best;
+ 'Long about knee-deep in June,
+ 'Bout the time the strawberries melts
+ On the vine,--some afternoon
+ Like to jes' git out and rest,
+ And not work at nothing else._
+
+ _Orchard's where I'd ruther be--
+ Needn't fence it in for me!
+ Jes' the whole sky overhead,
+ And the whole airth underneath._
+
+ JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY.
+
+Help us, O Thou who art the Lord of life, that we may this morning
+praise Thee for the beauty of the world and for the joyful privilege of
+wandering in the green fields and by the sparkling brooks, and of
+resting tired body and weary limb beneath the sweet orchard shade,
+gazing with gladdened eyes at the blue canopy above, all forgetful of
+the toil and din of the far off city. O may our hearts this day be in
+tune with nature and in harmony with Thyself; and as we contemplate Thy
+works this and every day may our hearts go out in loving and practical
+sympathy toward those whose lives are spent within the narrow confines
+of sunless courts. Hear us for the Saviour's sake. Amen.
+
+ FRANCIS W. BRETT.
+
+
+June 29
+
+ _Give us, O give us the man who sings at his work. Be his
+ occupation what it may, he is equal to any of those who follow the
+ same pursuit in silent sullenness. He will do more in the same
+ time--he will do it better--he will persevere longer. One is
+ scarcely sensible of fatigue while he marches to music. The very
+ stars are said to make harmony as they revolve in their spheres.
+ Wondrous is the strength of cheerfulness, although past calculation
+ its power of endurance. Efforts to be permanently useful, must be
+ uniformly joyous--a spirit all sunshine, graceful from very
+ gladness, beautiful because bright._
+
+ THOMAS CARLYLE.
+
+Almighty God, we turn to Thee in adoration and praise as we pause upon
+the threshold of this new day. Grant, we pray Thee, that a song be in
+our hearts as we go about the duties of the passing hours. Whatever our
+experiences, whether of joy or sorrow, may we truly value the truthful
+spirit. If Thou callest us to bear burdens or to stand upon the mountain
+top of exultant achievement may we not forget to sing of Thee. Yea, O
+God, we would be ever of the company of trusting souls, for such are
+near to Thee. And when earthly days are past and the life of the freed
+spirit is over, grant that our lives may blend in full accord with the
+music of love, in sunshine of joy, in the beauty of holiness. We praise
+Thee now and ever. Amen.
+
+ STEPHEN H. ROBLIN.
+
+
+June 30
+
+ _Full-leafed in pride of deepest green,
+ The earth in the sunshine basks serene,
+ Where linden blossoms crowded cling,
+ A thousand bees are murmuring.
+ As showers drift from the freshened land
+ With a seven-barred bow is the rain-cloud spanned.
+ The wild rose yields her subtlest scents
+ Where hay cocks pitch their fragrant tents.
+ The longest day's too brief for June,
+ The night too short for such a moon!_
+
+ SARA ANDREW SHAFER.
+
+We thank Thee, our Father, for the wonderful world in which we live; for
+the glory of the heavens; for the beauty of the earth; for the bright
+morning following the star-crowned night; for the song of birds, the hum
+of bees, the fragrance of flowers, and the laughter of children, for the
+industry of men and women, for all Thy gifts of love. As again the
+lengthening shadows creep across our pathway, may we redouble our
+energies that no labor of love may be left undone. So fill us with Thy
+presence, so lead us by Thy Spirit this day, that in our homes we may be
+patient, in our occupations sweet, in our social relations brotherly, in
+all things Christlike, for Jesus' sake. Amen.
+
+ ARTHUR WRIGHT.
+
+
+July 1
+
+ _Let me go where'er I will
+ I hear a sky-born music still:
+ It sounds from all things old,
+ It sounds from all things young,
+ From all that's fair, from all that's foul,
+ Peals out a cheerful song._
+
+ _It is not only in the rose,
+ It is not only in the bird,
+ Not only where the rainbow glows,
+ Nor in the song of woman heard,
+ But in the darkest, meanest things
+ There alway, alway something sings._
+
+ _'Tis not in the high stars alone,
+ Nor in the cups of budding flowers,
+ Nor in the redbreast's mellow tone,
+ Nor in the bow that smiles in showers,
+ But in the mud and scum of things
+ There alway, alway something sings._
+
+ RALPH WALDO EMERSON.
+
+Dear Father in heaven, we thank Thee for all the sweet voices of the
+world, not only for the harmonies of the great masters of song but for
+the sweet voice of the mother as she sings her song of love, for the
+bird in the spring time. We thank Thee for the music in the prattle of
+children, and the kindly word spoken everywhere. The world is full of
+music if only we have music in our own hearts. We pray, as we set forth
+again this morning, for spirits in tune with all that is sweet and good.
+Wherever we go this day, let the world sing to us and make us glad.
+Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+July 2
+
+ _A little bird with plumage brown,
+ Beside my window flutters down,
+ A moment chirps its little strain,
+ Then taps upon my window-pane.
+ And chirps again, and hops along,
+ To call my notice to its song;
+ But I work on, nor heed its lay,
+ Till, in neglect, it flies away._
+
+ _So birds of peace and hope and love
+ Come fluttering earthward from above,
+ To settle on life's window-sills,
+ And ease our load of earthly ills;
+ But we, in traffic's rush and din
+ Too deep engaged to let them in,
+ With deadened heart and sense plod on,
+ Nor know our loss till they are gone._
+
+ PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR.
+
+My voice shalt Thou hear in the morning, O Lord, in the morning will I
+direct my prayer unto Thee, and will look up; and looking up, may we not
+fail to realize that, amid the turmoil of this outward life, Thou art
+ever present to give peace and rest in the inner life. Should we fail to
+recognize that presence we shall lose the comfort which Thou art ever
+ready to bestow, and must ourselves bear burdens which Thou wouldst
+gladly bear for us or take from us. Thou knowest our frame and
+rememberest that we are dust. Open our spiritual vision to behold that
+Divine resources are subject to our daily prayer. In the name of Jesus,
+the Christ. Amen.
+
+ O. W. SCOTT.
+
+
+July 3
+
+ _Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of
+ Heaven.
+
+ Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are
+ the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.
+
+ Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you, and
+ shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake._
+
+ MATTHEW v. 3, 8, 11.
+
+O God, our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee that Thou dost overrule our
+weakness, failure and sins to the accomplishment of Thy divine plan for
+us. We recall with pleasure our successes in the past year, and if we
+have failed, wilt Thou show us where and when and teach us the way of
+amendment. We thank Thee for our Hope and Faith which have come to us
+from the Bible. Here, on every page and in every biography, have we
+learned of Christ Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life. We thank Thee
+that through Him our sins are forgiven, and we have learned to know
+Thee, O blessed Father, which knowledge is eternal life. May we walk
+with Him, moment by moment in a life of loving service to all mankind,
+during all the remaining days of our life. Amen.
+
+ E. M. WARNER.
+
+
+July 4
+
+ _One flag, one land, one heart, one hand,
+ One nation, evermore!_
+
+ OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.
+
+ _And for your country, boy, and for that flag, never dream a dream
+ but of serving her, though the service carry you through a thousand
+ hells! No matter what happens to you--no matter who flatters or
+ abuses you--never look at another flag, never let a night pass but
+ you pray God to bless that flag._
+
+ EDWARD EVERETT HALE.
+
+Thine, O God, is the kingdom. And blessed is the nation whose God is the
+Lord. We believe that Thy hand has been in the founding and the fortunes
+of this land. We do homage to it for its ideals, its principles, its
+glorious company of apostles of truth, its noble army of martyrs for
+liberty and humanity; we love and cherish it as our home and our shrine;
+but we hallow it, we stand in awe of it, as the scene of Thy special
+activity, the instrument of Thy holy purposes. May its vision not pass;
+may the clouds that hang over it be dispersed by the clear shining of
+the sun of righteousness and peace; may the dream of freedom with
+fraternity be realized here, even here, upon these shores, that Thy
+saving health may be known among all nations. Amen.
+
+ C. ELLWOOD NASH.
+
+
+July 5
+
+ _Far up the crag, 'twixt sea and sky,
+ Where winds tempestuous, blowing by,
+ Leave giant boulders swept and bare;
+ Where forked lightnings fitful flare,
+ And petrels sound their stormy cry._
+
+ _A dainty bluebell, sweet and shy,
+ Lifted its head complacently,
+ As guarded by the tenderest care,
+ Far up the crag._
+
+ _And now, whenever fear draws nigh,
+ In thought I stand 'twixt sea and sky,
+ And, as of old in my despair,
+ I bless the Power that set it there--
+ That tiny thing with courage high,
+ Far up the crag!_
+
+ FLORENCE E. COATES.
+
+Eternal Presence, may we now speak to Thee? or, consciously within Thy
+presence, should our lips be still? Art Thou the Infinite Mercy, and
+shall we say, be merciful? Shall we persuade the love that can not once
+withhold itself? We would not ask, were prayer to change established
+law. But, we will open here our hearts, and so receive the blessedness
+that seeks us and has sought us,--sought us as the sunlight sought us
+early,--seeks us as the raindrops seek us in the storm. Not more canst
+Thou withhold the goodness from us. We wait receptively, unbarring all
+our rust-hinged doors to welcome the true favors that now find us. In
+sweet trust, asking or unasking, we abide ever in Thee. Amen.
+
+ PERRY MARSHALL.
+
+
+July 6
+
+ _God is a kind Father. He sets us all in the places where he wishes
+ us to be employed, and that employment is truly "our Father's
+ business." He chooses work for every creature which will be
+ delightful to them, if they do it simply and humbly. He gives us
+ always strength enough and sense enough for what He wants us to do;
+ if we either tire ourselves or puzzle ourselves, it is our own
+ fault. And we may always be sure, whatever we are doing, that we
+ cannot be pleasing Him if we are not happy ourselves._
+
+ JOHN RUSKIN.
+
+Father Divine, Thou art indeed kind. Thine are the ways of kindness, of
+wisdom, and of love,--the ways of pleasantness and the paths of peace.
+In simple and humble spirit as becometh Thy children, may we walk with
+Thee accomplishing the work to which Thou dost call us. Our work is Thy
+work, our business the Father's business; the business of justice, mercy
+and truth. When loyal and true, we are what we are, and do what we do by
+Thy grace. So help us to honor Thee in all the duties of life,--"Not
+slothful in business,--fervent in spirit,"--pleasing Thee and therefore
+happy ourselves. Amen.
+
+ ISAAC P. CODDINGTON.
+
+
+July 7
+
+ _Threefold is the form of Space:
+ Length, with ever restless motion,
+ Seeks eternity's wide ocean;
+ Breadth with boundless sway extends;
+ Depth to unknown realms descends._
+
+ _All as types to thee are given;
+ Thou must onward strive for heaven,
+ Never still or weary be,
+ Wouldst thou perfect glory see;
+ Far must thy researches go
+ Wouldst thou learn the world to know;
+ Thou must tempt the dark abyss
+ Wouldst thou prove what Being is._
+
+ _Naught but firmness gains the prize,--
+ Naught but fulness makes us wise,--
+ Buried deep, truth ever lies!_
+
+ PROVERBS OF CONFUCIUS.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, help us this day to make good our privilege to feel
+and think of Thee as we do. Help us this day to make ourselves part of
+our brotherhood, and our brotherhood part of Thee. We know not what the
+day hath in store for us, but we pray Thee to help us have in store for
+it our better heart, our better hands. Send Thy holy spirit into our
+life to calm and to strengthen; that we may be steadfast and true; that
+we may give and be forgiven. Bless all Thy children this day, and may
+our labor end as it began, in Thee, with Thee, for Thee. Amen.
+
+ LOUIS H. BUCKSHORN.
+
+
+July 8
+
+ _O Impatient Ones! Do the leaves say nothing to you as they murmur
+ to-day? They are not fashioned this spring, but months ago; and the
+ summer just begun will fashion others for another year. At the
+ bottom of every leaf-stem is a cradle, and in it is an infant germ;
+ and the winds will rock it, and the birds will sing to it all
+ summer long, and next season it will unfold. So God is working for
+ you and carrying forward to the perfect development all the
+ processes of our lives._
+
+ HENRY WARD BEECHER.
+
+O Eternal Father, giver of all spiritual grace, we thank Thee for Thy
+presence in our hearts. May we realize that Thou hast the best possible
+plan for every human life. Help us to be patient and joyful in the
+consciousness that Thou art carrying forward Thy blessed work in us. Thy
+love, O Lord, is equal to Thy wisdom, and Thou wilt always do what is
+best for us. May Thy holy will be our delight, so that we may each trust
+in Thee at all times and cheerfully say, Thy will, O Lord, not mine, be
+done. Thou who dost care for the birds and the lilies art ever mindful
+of us, Thy children. Deliver us from worry and may Thy peace guard our
+hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE H. CHENEY.
+
+
+July 9
+
+ _Let us hope that one day all mankind will be happy and wise; and
+ though this day never should dawn to have hoped for it cannot be
+ wrong. And in any event, it is helpful to speak of happiness to
+ those who are sad, that thus at least they may learn what it is
+ that happiness means. They are ever inclined to regard it as
+ something beyond them, extraordinary, out of their reach. But if
+ all who may count themselves happy were to tell, very simply, what
+ it was that brought happiness to them, the others would see that
+ between sorrow and joy the difference is but as between a gladsome,
+ enlightened acceptance of life and a hostile gloomy submission;
+ between a large and harmonious conception of life, and one that is
+ stubborn and narrow._
+
+ MAETERLINCK.
+
+O Lord, we thank Thee for the special providence which is over
+everything which Thou hast created, and wherein Thou residest with all
+Thine infinite perfections. We thank Thee that Thou carest for us all,
+that in our day of joy we know it is Thou who fillest our cup, by giving
+us the faculties which make it run over at the brim. We thank Thee that
+Thou art with us in our days of hardship and of calamity, that when our
+own heart cries out against us, Thou art greater than our heart, and,
+understanding all things, blessest us in secret ways; and when we are
+cast down and go stooping and feeble, with hungering eyes and a failing
+heart, that Thou still art with us, and leadest us from strength to
+strength and blessest us continually. Amen.
+
+ THEODORE PARKER.
+
+
+July 10
+
+ _Were any of us really disappointed or melancholy in a hayfield?
+ Did we ever lie fairly back on a haycock and look up into the blue
+ sky, and listen to the merry sounds, the whetting of scythes and
+ the laughing prattle of women and children, and think evil thoughts
+ of the world or our brethren? Not we! Or, if we have so done we
+ ought to be ashamed of ourselves, and deserve never again to be out
+ of town during hay-harvest._
+
+ THOMAS HUGHES.
+
+Dear Heavenly Father, we devoutly thank Thee for the beautiful open face
+of Nature shining upon us; for the splendor of the fields where the
+birds wing their merry flight; for the breath of the flowers and the
+grass beneath the scythe, like the odor of incense; and most of all, for
+the merry shouts of women and children and men in the meadow, in the
+heyday of happiness, as they fill their souls with the freedom of the
+children of God, and live in the open where no evil breath can come.
+Grant that we may live spiritually forever in the fragrant hayfields of
+life, where the birds sing and the children shout, and where no covering
+or roof can ever shut out the sunshine of life's eternal bliss. Amen.
+
+ ROBERT S. KELLERMAN.
+
+
+July 11
+
+ _A story is told of a king who went into his garden one morning and
+ found everything withering and dying. He asked an oak that stood
+ near the gate what the trouble was. He found that it was sick of
+ life and determined to die, because it was not tall and beautiful
+ like the pine. The pine was out of heart because it could not bear
+ grapes like the vine; the vine was going to throw its life away,
+ because it could not stand erect and have as fine fruit as the
+ pomegranate; and so on throughout the garden. Coming to the
+ heart'sease, the king found its bright face uplifted, as full of
+ cheerfulness as ever. Said the king, "Well, heart'sease, I am glad
+ to find one brave little flower in this general discouragement and
+ dying. You don't seem one bit disheartened." "No, your majesty. I
+ know I am of small account; but I concluded you wanted a
+ heart'sease when you planted me. If you had wanted an oak, or a
+ pine, or a vine, or a pomegranate, you would have set one out. So I
+ am bound to be the best heart'sease that ever I can."_
+
+ WILLIAM MOODIE.
+
+Like the wise King of old, I pray Thee, gracious Lord, give unto me
+wisdom. May Thy Pillar of Light guide my footsteps so that I go not
+astray in the wilderness of sin and selfish ambition. Help me to acquire
+a pure heart and a contented spirit. Amidst all the vicissitudes of
+fortune, let faith induce me to say, "Whatever God doeth is well." Amen.
+
+ M. M. EICHLER.
+
+
+July 12
+
+ _What shall I do to be just?
+ What shall I do for the gain
+ Of the world--for its sadness?
+ Teach me, O seers that I trust!
+ Chart me the difficult main
+ Leading out of my sorrow and madness,
+ Preach me the purging of pain._
+
+ _Shall I wrench from my finger the ring
+ To cast to the tramp at my door?
+ Shall I tear off each luminous thing
+ To drop in the palm of the poor?
+ What shall I do to be just?
+ Teach me, O Ye in the light,
+ Whom the poor and the rich alike trust;
+ My heart is aflame to be right._
+
+ HAMLIN A. GARLAND.
+
+Infinite Spirit, Thou seest us just as we are. In Thy sight there can be
+no make-believe; we need not seek to offer Thee as a penance for our
+sins some cheap alms to the poor, for Thy favor cannot be bought. We
+pray simply that we may be just,--that we may be true. If we have
+wronged anyone, help us to right the wrong. If we have been false to
+ourselves or false to our neighbors, O Lord, make us true,--we seek no
+easy admission to a far-off heaven, we seek Thy presence here and now,
+today, by the only pathway open, the pathway of righteousness and truth.
+That we may enter this pathway, grant us we pray Thee the illumination
+of Thy Holy Spirit. Amen.
+
+GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+July 13
+
+ _The law of worthy life is fundamentally the law of strife. It is
+ only through labor, painful effort, by grim energy and resolute
+ courage, that we move on to better things._
+
+ THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
+
+ _If we would please God we must watch every stroke and touch upon
+ the canvas of our lives; we may not think we can lay it on with a
+ trowel and yet succeed. We ought to live as miniature painters
+ work, for they watch every line and tint._
+
+ SPURGEON.
+
+As we begin this new day, O our Father, may such energy and vigor, such
+strength and courage, such faith and hope be ours that the problems and
+tasks awaiting us may be boldly and gladly met as challenges to our
+powers. May that abundant life be in us which shall make our
+difficulties a tonic, and the struggle to achieve high aims a joy. May
+we be resourceful, equal to life, adequate to every situation, able to
+stand this universe,--men who can. May we count it a privilege to live,
+to have a vision of life's possibilities, and to have the fellowship of
+so many good men and women by the way. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE R. DODSON.
+
+
+July 14
+
+ _With place, with gold, with power--oh, ask me not
+ With these my little hour of life to blot.
+ A little hour indeed! and I would fain
+ Its moments spend in what is worth its pain.
+ What traveler would faint through troublous lands
+ To gather only what must leave his hands
+ The moment that he takes his homeward ship?
+ Earth's goods and gauds give every man the slip;
+ But wealth of thought and richer wealth of love,
+ Must pass for coin in any world above.
+ The good to others done while here I strive
+ Is all at last that shall my dying shrive;
+ And, setting sail, my slight self-conquest's store
+ Is all my freight if I shall come to shore._
+
+ ANONYMOUS.
+
+O Father, God! The span of our influence is both near and far; may it
+also be direct and strong. Thou hast planted mighty virtue and
+unquenchable love in our hearts. Love knows the secret of imparting
+virtue's value to all the wretchedness in life. So, we beseech Thee,
+direct our hearts to altitudes of holiness and set our feet in the
+highways of helpfulness. May the charm of gentleness be in every service
+to-day, and may the tone of tenderness carry love's message over all
+barriers to the hearts that need. Thus would we keep our confidence with
+Thee and bind ourselves more profitably to our fellows. So shall Thy
+great name be honored among men. Amen.
+
+ J. O. RANDALL.
+
+
+July 15
+
+ _What seems to grow fairer to me as life goes by, is the love and
+ peace and tenderness of it. Not its wit and cleverness and grandeur
+ of knowledge, but just the laughter of little children, and the
+ friendship of friends, and the cosy talk of the fireside, and the
+ sight of flowers and the sound of music._
+
+ J. R. GREEN.
+
+Now that Thou givest us the light of a new day, grant that it carry with
+it the brightness of hope and courage for whatsoever the day may offer.
+Always behind the clouds is the shining that never fails; always beyond
+the labor which irks us is the joy of attainment. Open our eyes that we
+may see the best which shall be in the day; its love of friends, its
+sights of beauty, its music, its wisdom such as no day before could
+possess, its voices of the Spirit awaiting the listening ear, its tears
+of compassion and sympathy. Give us our daily bread such as shall feed
+the heart and enrich the mind and grant us forgiveness when we are blind
+to the common treasures of this Thy world. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE A. THAYER.
+
+
+July 16
+
+ _Methought that in a solemn church I stood.
+ Its marble acres, worn with knees and feet,
+ Lay spread from door to door, from street to street.
+ Midway the form hung high upon the rood
+ Of Him who gave His life to be our good;
+ Beyond, priests flitted, bowed, and murmured meet
+ Among the candles shining still and sweet.
+ Men came and went, and worshipped as they could;
+ And still their dust a woman with her broom,
+ Bowed to her work, kept sweeping to the door.
+ Then saw I slow through all the pillared gloom
+ Across the church a silent figure come.
+ "Daughter," it said, "Thou sweepest well my floor!"
+ "It is the Lord!" I cried, and saw no more._
+
+ GEORGE MACDONALD.
+
+Our Father, who art ever with us, help us this day so to reveal Thee
+through our common tasks, our relations with one another, in our homes
+and at our work, that men may know and love Thee better. This is Thy
+most beautiful world. May we not mar its glory by our selfishness, but
+by the gentleness and sweetness of our lives make it more beautiful. May
+we this day not add to another's burden of care or pain. But may we by
+our words and deeds sweeten and brighten and strengthen the lives of
+those whom we meet. For Thy goodness and mercy to us, for the
+opportunity of service, for love and sympathy, we thank Thee and pray
+that our devotion to Thy truth may reveal the thankfulness of our
+hearts. Amen.
+
+ ARTHUR L. WHEATHERLY.
+
+
+July 17
+
+ _For I, a man, with men am linked,
+ And not a brute with brutes; no gain
+ That I experience must remain
+ Unshared; but should my best endeavor
+ To share it, fail--subsisteth ever
+ God's care above, and I exult
+ That God, by God's own ways occult,
+ May--doth, I will believe--bring back
+ All wanderers to a single track._
+
+ ROBERT BROWNING.
+
+Father of all souls in all worlds, our best friend forever, in Thy good
+keeping we cannot wander beyond Thy loving care. We thank Thee for life,
+for the fair world we live in, enriched by Thy countless benefits, for
+the glad tidings of Thy fatherly love that never fails, for the
+brotherhood that binds together all Thy children, and for the immortal
+hope that beckons us up and on. By faithful living may we make life
+divine, and by brotherly service show Thee our gratitude and love. May
+the gospel of Jesus prevail in all hearts, speedily bring all wanderers
+home, draw our souls heavenward, and prepare us for higher and larger
+realms of service, where we shall forever live to Thy glory. Amen.
+
+ RUSH R. SHIPPEN.
+
+
+July 18
+
+ _That man has a liberal education who has been so trained in youth
+ that his body is the ready servant of his will, and does with ease
+ and pleasure the work that it is capable of; whose intellect is a
+ clear logic engine, ready to spin the gossamer as well as forge the
+ anchors of the mind--one full of life and fire but whose passions
+ are trained to come to heel by a rigorous will; the servant of a
+ tender conscience; who has learned to love beauty, to hate vileness
+ and to respect others as himself; such a one is in harmony with
+ nature; they will get on together._
+
+ THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY.
+
+Our Father, we would face this day in conscious companionship with Thee.
+Give us to know Thy will, to do Thy work. Help us to interpret aright
+Thy constant revelation of love in nature and in the experiences of
+life. Give us strength so to will and so to act that we may make this
+day rich in the joy that comes from helpful living. May divine impulse
+find quick expression in righteous deed. In Thine unresting effort to
+make this world Thine own may we join with glad hearts. Rejoicing in Thy
+love, strong in the consciousness of Thy presence, may we go to our
+day's work with unwavering purpose to do Thy will. Amen.
+
+ LATHAN A. CRANDALL.
+
+
+July 19
+
+ _A lily grows mysteriously, pushing up its solid weight of stem and
+ leaf in the teeth of gravity. Shaped into beauty by secret and
+ invisible fingers, the flower develops we know not how. But we do
+ not wonder at it. Every day the thing is done; it is Nature, it is
+ God. We are spiritual enough at least to understand that. But when
+ the soul rises slowly above the world, pushing up its delicate
+ virtues in the teeth of sin, shaping itself mysteriously into the
+ image of Christ, we deny that the power is not of man. A strong
+ will, we say, a high ideal, the reward of virtue, Christian
+ influence--these will account for it. Spiritual character is merely
+ the product of anxious work, self-command, and self-denial. We
+ allow, that is to say, a miracle to the lily, but none to the man.
+ The lily may grow; the man must fret and toil and spin._
+
+ HENRY DRUMMOND.
+
+This morning, our God, we need Thee! Give us Thyself afresh in the holy
+inspiration of heart warmth and burning love, that today we may have
+power from above while we walk and toil with things and folks of earth.
+May we be the vase to hold the blossoming beauty of Thy unfolding. So
+may that beauty which Thou givest unfold in acts which we are led to
+perform, and the holiness of this day set fast character drawn from
+Thee. Thus may we all who are Thy children gladden the earth with
+unfolding beauty and kindness and shut out the things that are earthy.
+Amen.
+
+ E. E. SMALL.
+
+
+July 20
+
+ _The more simply you live, the more secure is your future; you are
+ less at the mercy of surprises and reverses. An illness or a period
+ of idleness does not suffice to dispossess you; a change of
+ position, even considerable, does not put you to confusion. Having
+ simple needs, you find it less painful to accustom yourself to the
+ hazards of fortune. You remain a man, though you lose your office
+ or your income, because the foundation on which your life rests is
+ not your table, your cellar, your horses, your goods and chattels,
+ or your money. In adversity you will not act like a nursling
+ deprived of its bottle and rattle. Stronger, better armed for the
+ struggle, presenting like those with shaven heads, less advantage
+ to the hands of your enemy, you will also be of more profit to your
+ neighbor._
+
+ CHARLES WAGNER.
+
+O Thou who art ever the same, with the growing light of a new day, we
+would again take Thy name upon our lips; and again invite the dear
+consciousness of Thy presence. We do not know what this day may yield
+us. It may bring disaster; perhaps cherished hopes must be surrendered;
+plans may miscarry, clouds may gather, and storms may rage, but we will
+not be unmanned. We will not surrender our hold upon Thee. May we thus
+be enabled to meet disaster with courage, and unlooked for joy with the
+poise of humility. Guard our goings-out and our comings-in, and lead us
+into the beauteous paths of ripe content. Amen.
+
+ JAMES HARRY HOLDEN.
+
+
+July 21
+
+ _Love wore a suit of hodden gray
+ And toiled within the fields all day._
+
+ _Love wielded pick and carried pack
+ And bent to heavy loads the back._
+
+ _Though meagre fed and sorely lashed,
+ The only wage Love ever asked,_
+
+ _A child's wan face to kiss at night,
+ A woman's smile by candle light._
+
+ MARGARET SANGSTER.
+
+Our Father in Heaven, we thank Thee for love. How rich a gift it has
+been to us, and how exhaustless. It has been the source of all other
+gifts. We thank Thee for the brightness and gladness with which love
+invests the sunny day, and more for the patience and hope which it
+inspires when the sky is overcast and the way grows weary. In joy or
+sorrow we can ask nothing better than that it be our constant guest. We
+thank Thee for home life which offers us every hour its opportunity to
+give and to receive love. May it be to us the symbol of Thy great
+household which Thy love pervades. And as we thus think of it may our
+home life grow to us more holy and divine and Thy love for all Thy
+children more personal and tender until Thy kingdom come and Thy will be
+done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.
+
+ VINCENT E. TOMLINSON.
+
+
+July 22
+
+ _The entire object of true education is to make people not merely
+ do the right things, but enjoy the right things--not merely
+ industrious, but to love industry--not merely learned, but to love
+ knowledge--not merely pure, but to love purity--not merely just,
+ but to hunger and thirst after justice._
+
+ JOHN RUSKIN.
+
+O Father, fill us with Thy love today, with love for Thee, and love for
+the morning light and all Thy glory. Fill us with love for the work that
+Thou dost give us to do, with love for the truth that Thou dost reveal
+to us and with love for the ideals of purity and righteousness that Thou
+dost set before us. May we have love for all Thy children. Make us
+realize that they are all our brothers and sisters. Make us strive to
+have Thy will done in their lives. Make us eager to have them know Thee.
+Amen.
+
+ CHARLES B. BLISS.
+
+
+July 23
+
+ _If you were toiling up a weary hill,
+ Bearing a load beyond your strength to bear.
+ Straining each nerve untiringly and still
+ Stumbling and losing foothold here and there
+ And each one passing by would do so much
+ As give one upward lift and go his way,
+ Would not the slight reiterated touch
+ Of help and kindness lighten all the day?_
+
+ _If you were breasting a keen wind which tossed
+ And buffeted and chilled you as you strove,
+ Till baffled and bewildered quite, you lost
+ The power to see the way, and aim and move,
+ And one, if only for a moment's space,
+ Gave you a shelter from the bitter blast,
+ Would you not find it easier to face
+ The storm again when the brief rest was past?_
+
+ SUSAN COOLIDGE.
+
+Our Father, as we thank Thee for the friendly service and sympathy that
+bless and strengthen our daily lives, we pray that our gratitude may
+move us to give a like service and sympathy as freely as we receive. In
+the day to whose beginning Thou hast brought us, let our hearts and
+hands be ready to meet the needs of those with whom we come in touch. So
+influence our wayward wills that we shall not walk in selfish ways, nor
+forget the ties that bind us to one another, and to Thee. Keep us
+conscious of our birthright as Thy children, that our acts and aims may
+be filial and fraternal and loyal to Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.
+
+ COSTELLO WESTON.
+
+
+July 24
+
+ _It matters little where I was born,
+ Whether my parents were rich or poor,
+ Whether they shrank from the cold world's scorn
+ Or walked in the pride of wealth secure;
+ But whether I live an honest man,
+ And hold my integrity firm in my clutch,
+ I tell you brother, plain as I am,
+ It matters much._
+
+ FROM THE SWEDISH.
+
+ Dear Father in Heaven, good Giver of all,
+ For birth in a land fair and free,
+ For parents with pluck, if not the best luck,
+ Who toiled and who suffered for me.
+ Who never knew fear, though the scorners were near,
+ Whom circumstance filled not with pride,
+ I thank Thee! These gifts, more than all on the lists,
+ Have mattered with me, and abide.
+
+ While striving and struggling my manhood to build,
+ To live like Thine own perfect Son,
+ I find on Earth's face not just one single place
+ Where such work so well can be done
+ As in the fair land which from Thy gracious hand
+ Comes to me a home to enjoy,
+ Where man, who should grow, may all liberty know
+ In seeking the soul's high employ.
+
+ Amen.
+
+ FREDERICK C. PRIEST.
+
+
+July 25
+
+ _Don't object that your duties are so insignificant; they are to be
+ reckoned of infinite significance, and alone important to you. Were
+ it but the more perfect regulation of your apartments, the sorting
+ away of your clothes and trinkets, the arranging of your
+ papers,--"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy
+ might," and all thy worth and constancy. Much more, if your duties
+ are of evidently higher, wider scope; if you have brothers,
+ sisters, a father, a mother, weigh earnestly what claim does lie
+ upon you on behalf of each, and consider it as the one thing
+ needful, to pay them more and more honestly and nobly what you owe.
+ What matter how miserable one is if one can do that? That is the
+ sure and steady disconnection and extinction of whatsoever miseries
+ one has in this world._
+
+ THOMAS CARLYLE.
+
+Creator of things, Father of Spirits, standing at the dawn of a new day
+we seek Thy blessing. We know not what awaits us, Thou knowest, grant us
+guidance! Help us to see all our duties in the light of Thy countenance.
+Thou hast made the little and the large, help us to see our duties in
+their relation to Thy plans. Whatsoever we do, help us to do all to Thy
+glory. Help us to sweep our floors as to Thy laws, right our rooms as a
+part of Thy universe, care for our clothes as gifts from Thee. Help us
+to see Thee in the souls Thou hast sent into the world, to treat them as
+thinking-thoughts of Thine, expressions of Thy life. May we owe no man
+anything but to love, may the sun never set on an unpaid bill. For Thy
+name's sake. Amen.
+
+ O. P. GIFFORD.
+
+
+July 26
+
+ _Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.
+ No man has learned anything rightly until he knows that every day
+ is doomsday. Today is a king in disguise. Today always looks mean
+ to the thoughtless, in the face of an uniform experience that all
+ good and great and happy actions are made up precisely of these
+ blank todays. Let us not be so deceived, let us unmask the king as
+ he passes._
+
+ RALPH WALDO EMERSON.
+
+Our Father, we thank Thee for this morning that ushers in the only day
+of which we have promise. Whether it proves to be a day of sunshine or
+of clouds,--of joy or of sorrow,--may we live it with thankfulness, with
+perfect confidence that Thou wilt always give us that which is for our
+own good. Help us to spend this day in doing well what our hands find to
+do; may our souls breathe the spirit of love and helpfulness to all, and
+may we have abundantly the influence of Thy divine spirit to keep us
+pure. Amen.
+
+ LUTHER F. MCKINNEY.
+
+
+July 27
+
+ _I like the man who faces what he must
+ With heart triumphant and a step of cheer;
+ Who fights the daily battle without fear;
+ Sees his hopes fail, yet keeps unfaltering trust
+ That God is God; that somehow, true and just,
+ His plans work out for mortals; not a tear
+ Is shed when fortune, which the world holds dear,
+ Falls from his grasp; better, with love, a crust
+ Than living in dishonor; envies not,
+ Nor loses faith in man; but does his best,
+ Nor even murmurs at his humbler lot;
+ But with a smile and words of hope, gives zest
+ To every toiler; he alone is great
+ Who by a life heroic conquers fate._
+
+ SARAH KNOWLES BOLTON.
+
+Gracious Father, last night we laid ourselves down in peace to sleep,
+but it was Thou who madest us to dwell in safety, and when we awoke this
+morning we found ourselves still with Thee. Thy loving favor was keeping
+faithful watch and ward while we slumbered. We thank Thee for Thy kindly
+care of our lives during the darkness and danger of the night. Confident
+of Thy continued presence and armed with Thy unfailing strength, we
+would go forth to meet the duties and delights of the new day. God with
+us, we will overcome every temptation, endure every trial, bear every
+burden, and improve every opportunity of character-building and
+service-rendering, in the trustful and courageous spirit of Jesus Christ
+our Lord. Amen.
+
+ RALPH E. CONNER.
+
+
+July 28
+
+ _How large a part of our Godward life is travelled, not by clear
+ landmarks seen far off in the promised land, but as travellers
+ climb a mountain peak, by putting footstep after footstep, slowly
+ and patiently, into the prints which someone going before us, with
+ keener sight, with stronger nerves, tied to us by the cord of
+ saintly sympathy, has planted deep into the pathless snow of the
+ bleak distance that stretches up between humanity and God.... So we
+ ascend by one another. We live by one another's blessings._
+
+ PHILLIPS BROOKS.
+
+Our Father, we thank Thee for the light of a new day. May a new spirit
+and new courage come to our hearts. We thank Thee for all those who by
+patient toil and self-forgetting effort have made life as sweet and
+precious to us as it is. If we can no longer hear the voices nor see the
+faces of those we love or have reason to revere, may we be able to see
+their foot-prints and to take the way they trod, though that way seem
+steep and hard. May we be assured that the upward way leads to the
+expanding view and brings us to the splendor of the setting sun or of
+the still more glorious dawn. Amen.
+
+ HILARY BYGRAVE.
+
+
+July 29
+
+ _A prince went into the vineyard to examine it. He came to a peach
+ tree, and said, "What are you doing for me?" The tree said, "In the
+ spring I give my blossoms and fill the air with fragrance, and on
+ my boughs hangs the fruit which men will gather and carry into the
+ palace for you." "Well done!" said the prince. To the chestnut he
+ said, "What are you doing?" "I am making nests for the birds, and
+ shelter cattle with my leaves and spreading branches." And the
+ prince said, "Well done!" Then he went down to the meadow and asked
+ the grass what it was doing. "We are giving our lives for others,
+ for your sheep and cattle that they may be nourished." And the
+ prince said, "Well done!" Last of all he asked the tiny daisy what
+ it was doing, and the daisy said, "Nothing, nothing. I cannot make
+ a nesting-place for the birds, and I cannot give shelter for the
+ cattle, and I cannot send fruit into the palace, and I cannot even
+ give food for the sheep and cows,--they do not want me in the
+ meadow. All I can do is to be the best little daisy I can be." And
+ the prince bent down and kissed the daisy, and said, "There is none
+ better than thou."_
+
+ ANONYMOUS.
+
+Help us, O Father, not to wait for the great opportunities which may
+never come. Help us to do with faithfulness the duties which lie close
+at hand. In our homes this day and wherever we may be--at school or on
+the street or at our work--fill our hearts with the spirit of Christ and
+let that spirit speak in every word which passes our lips and shine from
+our faces and work with our hands. Amen.
+
+ WALTER A. TUTTLE.
+
+
+July 30
+
+ _I will be glad all day for this cool draught
+ And the clear drops I dash upon my brow;
+ For the fresh glint of sunlight on the tree
+ And the bird singing on the bough._
+
+ _I will be glad for that stored strength of life
+ Which lasts the day because the spirit wills;
+ For the live air that wings from far and breathes
+ The vigor of the everlasting hills._
+
+ _What scope of toil, what loss or what reward,
+ I do not know. It is enough that now
+ I pledge the day's good cheer with this cool draught
+ And the drops dashed upon my brow._
+
+ CHARLES P. CLEAVES.
+
+Our Father, we are nursed in Thine arms, we are rested in the heart of
+Jesus, so that we know no more the emptiness of earth and the poverty of
+time, for our citizenship is in heaven, already do we walk the streets
+of gold. Out of the highest rapture may we come to do earth's plainest
+work, earth's hardest toil, with patient hearts and willing hands,
+knowing that death can be but for a moment, that all things are meant,
+in the sovereignty of God to give themselves up to the rule of life.
+Thus may Thy children be loyal citizens, patient workers, honest
+merchantmen, wise parents. Be with all men who trust Thee; melt the
+mountains before their coming, and open the gates of difficulty ere they
+reach them, and give them to feel that the greatness of Thy mercy is the
+proof of its divinity. Amen.
+
+ JOSEPH PARKER.
+
+
+July 31
+
+ _For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
+ principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to
+ come._
+
+ _Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to
+ separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our
+ Lord._
+
+ ROMANS viii. 38-39.
+
+ _These verses seem to me to express completely the remedial power
+ of God's love. In this rough and tumble world of ours, of hard
+ conditions, of disasters many, of untold misery, there are
+ temptations enough for men to lose faith in God's love. It is well
+ now and then to have an outburst of faith like this with the
+ assurance that nothing can ever separate any child of God from the
+ divine compassion and the divine care._
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, it is good for us to believe that through all
+storms and all darkness and all sickness and all infirmity, even through
+death itself, Thy love abides. As we enter upon this day, we know not
+whither we shall go, but we thank Thee for the assurance that we may not
+go away from Thee. Thou followest us with Thy care and wrappest us
+around with Thy love, as with a garment. In all that we do today may we
+know that Thou seest us, and if our way be steep, may we be sure that
+Thou lovest us. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+August 1
+
+ _Begin the morning by saying to thyself, I shall meet this day with
+ the busybody, the ungrateful, the arrogant, deceitful, envious,
+ unsocial. All these things happen to them by reason of their
+ ignorance of what is good and evil. But I who have seen the nature
+ of the good that it is beautiful, and of the bad that it is ugly,
+ can neither be injured by any of them--for no one can fix on me
+ what is ugly--nor can I be angry with my neighbor, nor hate him. We
+ are made for coöperation; to act against one another, that is
+ contrary to nature; and it is acting against one another to be
+ vexed and turn away._
+
+ MARCUS AURELIUS.
+
+Eternal Spirit of Love, teach us the power of love. Help us to learn
+that love is supreme, and hence envieth not, nor vaunteth itself, nor
+seeketh its own, but suffereth long and is kind. We, who in Jesus of
+Nazareth have seen the glory of Thy likeness and experienced the
+sweetness of Thy love, desire like Him to reveal Thee in our lives, to
+be loving and gentle, sincere and generous, to cooperate with friend and
+stranger in all that is good, to live so that they can work with us for
+the advancement of everything righteous. Fill us, therefore, with Thy
+spirit, and send us forth today in Thy service. Amen.
+
+ WILLIAM W. GUTH.
+
+
+August 2
+
+ _"God!" let the torrents, like a shout of nations,
+ Answer! and let the ice-plain echo, "God!"
+ "God!" sing, ye meadow streams, with gladsome voice
+ Ye pine groves, with your soft and soul-like sounds!
+ And they, too have a voice, yon piles of snow,
+ And in their perilous fall shall thunder, "God!"_
+
+ _Ye living flowers that skirt the eternal frost!
+ Ye wild goats sporting round the eagle's nest!
+ Ye eagles, playmates of the mountain storm!
+ Ye lightnings, the dread arrows of the clouds!
+ Ye signs and wonders of the elements!
+ Utter forth "God!" and fill the hills with praise!_
+
+ SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE.
+
+Heavenly Father, how long have Thy servants thirsted after Thee--Thou
+spring of everlasting life! In this land of our home the meditations of
+ages surround us, and through the treasured thoughts of the wise in many
+generations we are lifted into a light beyond the solitary soul.
+Countless are Thy witnesses, Eternal God! the stars without number are
+but a little part of them; and the prayers and aspirings of every heart
+of man can never cease to speak Thee. Humbled and blind amid Thy
+manifold glories, may we find rest in the simplicity of Christ, and be
+among the pure in heart who alone can see Thee. Amen.
+
+ JAMES MARTINEAU.
+
+
+August 3
+
+ _O God, my master God, look down and see
+ If I am making what Thou wouldst of me.
+ Fain might I lift my hands up in the air
+ From the defiant passion of my prayer;
+ Yet here they grope on this cold altar stone,
+ Graving the words I think I should make known.
+ Mine eyes are Thine. Yea, let me not forget,
+ Lest with unstaunched tears I leave them wet,
+ Dimming their faithful power, till they not see
+ Some small, plain task that might be done for Thee.
+ My feet, that ache for paths of flowery bloom,
+ Halt steadfast in the straitness of this room.
+ Though they may never be on errands sent,
+ Here shall they stay, and wait Thy full content.
+ And my poor heart, that doth so crave for peace,
+ Shall beat until Thou bid its beating cease.
+ So, Thou dear master God, look down and see
+ Whether I do Thy bidding heedfully._
+
+ ALICE BROWN.
+
+O God, our Heavenly Father, from whom cometh to us again this gift of
+life, may we be able to use as Thou wouldst have us the fresh revelation
+and energy of each morning hour. May we be helped to see more clearly
+that task with all its blessings, which Thou placest within our reach
+today. Freshen our souls anew with the coming sunlight and quicken our
+will that we may perceive and fulfil our present duty gladly, eagerly,
+successfully, however humble in the spirit of those who remember that if
+done for Thy sake and beneath Thy laws even servile labors shine. Amen.
+
+ HOBART CLARK.
+
+
+August 4
+
+ _We thank Thee for all that Thou hast made, and that Thou hast
+ called it Good! We thank Thee! We enter into Thy work, and go about
+ Thy business._
+
+ EDWARD EVERETT HALE.
+
+ _O, it is great, and there is no other greatness. To make some work
+ of God's creation a little fruitfuller, better, more worthy of God;
+ to make some human hearts a little wiser, manfuller, happier,--more
+ blessed, less accursed,--it is a work for God._
+
+ THOMAS CARLYLE.
+
+Heavenly Father, we would begin the day with noble purpose; may we scorn
+all meanness, and lift up our heads unto the Lord as men who have a
+great expectation. Our hope is in a living God; Thou wilt not allow our
+life to wander into darkness; if for a small moment we are forsaken, we
+shall be gathered with ineffable and everlasting mercies. In the
+confidence of Thy presence, in the assurance of Thy sustaining grace, we
+look steadfastly to heaven, and then we look hopefully to earth, and we
+know that, having begun the day with prayer and praise and pious
+expectancy, its hours shall all be gladdened and its even-tide shall be
+a benediction. Guide us with Thine eyes; sustain us by Thy mighty power;
+keep us this day without sin. Amen.
+
+ JOSEPH PARKER.
+
+
+August 5
+
+ _The scenery around your house may be monotonous, without a
+ mountain or sea or lake or hill; but an upward look at the clear
+ sky will put you in instant communication with infinite beauty and
+ majesty. No spot on earth is common or barren over which the skies
+ bend in solemn silence. No human life need be barren or common
+ which is connected by the great network of moral law with any other
+ being._
+
+ J. H. CARLISLE.
+
+Our God and Father, the author of beauty, the rewarder of all them that
+seek Thee, we, Thy children, come to Thee at the opening of this new
+day. May we have hearts so pure that we shall see Thee; minds so open
+that we shall talk with Thee; and lives so true that we shall reveal
+Thee. Let toil become to us as a sacrament. Reveal to us the beauty of
+life as well as of holiness and help us to live with upturned faces, so
+that we may catch the glory of Thy presence, and reflect it to all
+around us. May we walk with Thee, thinking Thy thoughts, having Thy
+visions of beauty and of life. When life's evening shall come gather us
+in Thine arms of love to be with Thee in the home which Thou hast
+prepared for us and hast beautified with earth's fairest treasures
+through Jesus Christ, Our Lord. Amen.
+
+ JOHN GALBRAITH.
+
+
+August 6
+
+ _How good is man's life, the mere living! How fit to employ
+ All the heart and the soul and the senses forever in joy!_
+
+ ROBERT BROWNING.
+
+ _I am glad to think
+ I am not bound to make the world go right;
+ But only to discover and to do,
+ With cheerful heart, the work that God appoints.
+ I will trust in Him,
+ That He can hold His own; and I will take
+ His will, above the work He sendeth me,
+ to be my chiefest good._
+
+ JEAN INGELOW.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, all Thy works prove Thy goodness; the world Thou
+givest us is good; the powers with which Thou dost endow us are adapted
+to deeds of goodness. We know full well that we do evil as well as good.
+Some of our days close in sadness.... At the beginning of this day we
+pledge ourselves to try harder than ever to do something good, to make
+somebody happy, to keep our minds filled with pure thoughts, to set our
+ambitions on worthy objects; and we pray that Thou who art "the Power
+not ourselves that makes for righteousness" shalt work with us that
+through our effort and Thy help the day shall end in joy and peace.
+Amen.
+
+ LEE S. MCCOLLESTER.
+
+
+August 7
+
+ _Our lives are songs; God writes the words,
+ And we set them to music at pleasure;
+ And the song grows glad, or sweet, or sad,
+ As we choose to fashion the measure.
+ We must write the music, whatever the song,
+ Whatever its rhyme or metre;
+ And if it is sad, we can make it glad,
+ Or, if sweet, we can make it sweeter._
+
+ ELLA WHEELER WILCOX.
+
+We thank Thee, O God, that Thou hast made us responsive to all the
+beauty and gladness about us, and that we may make our lives one grand,
+sweet song. We know there is much that may spoil the song. But we thank
+Thee, that if we follow the great Leader, we can change all discordant
+notes into harmony. Help us through Him to tune our lives into accord
+with Thine. Especially may we live in peace with each other. Make us
+strong to return good for evil, to meet irritability with patience,
+unkindness with gentleness and harsh words with quiet speech. So may our
+lives "be filled with music, and the cares that infest the day, shall
+fold their tents like the Arabs, and as silently steal away." Amen.
+
+ JAMES M. PAYSON.
+
+
+August 8
+
+ _Back of the canvas that throbs the painter is hinted and hidden,
+ Into the statue that breathes the soul of the sculptor is bidden,
+ Under the joy that is felt lie the infinite issues of feeling;
+ Crowning the glory revealed is the glory that crowns the revealing.
+ Great are the symbols of being, but that which is symbolled is greater;
+ Vast the create and beheld, but vaster the inward creator._
+
+ RICHARD REALF.
+
+Thou, Lord, who hast created us surely for good and not evil, for Thou
+art good and doest good, wilt go with us through all the day. Help us to
+keep in mind Thy presence, that we may walk before Thee and be perfect,
+that we may walk with Thee and be pleasing to Thee, that we may walk
+after Thee, humbly, reverently. May we prize the glories that come with
+the hours, not suffering them to make us conceited or self-centered, or
+unduly independent, but utilize them as means to make us more fully a
+part of Thee. Give us this day complete victory over each temptation as
+it arrives, and may we feel when night falls that we have acquitted
+ourselves well in the campaign, and done what we could to make, not only
+ourselves, but the world around us, better. Amen.
+
+ JAMES MUDGE.
+
+
+August 9
+
+ _Each night is followed by its day,
+ Each storm by fairer weather,
+ While all the works of nature sing
+ Their songs of joy together.
+ Then learn, O heart, their songs of hope!
+ Cease, soul, thy thankless sorrow;
+ For though the clouds be dark today,
+ The sun will shine tomorrow._
+
+ T. EDGAR JONES.
+
+Father of light! Who causeth light to shine out of darkness and maketh
+day to follow the night; we thank Thee for Thy loving care that has
+brought us from the slumber and rest of night to behold the light of a
+new day. May we rejoice in it, and cheerfully enter upon its duties and
+experiences. May the grace of Thy presence make our sunshine, that we
+may walk in the light of heaven, breathe its atmosphere and engage in
+its service; doing Thy will in the service of one another and in the
+service of love, truth and goodness. May the light of faith, hope, and
+love shining within us, dispel all darkness and sorrow from our lives,
+that light which shines so lustrously from the life of Jesus Christ our
+Lord. Amen.
+
+ ROBERT T. POLK.
+
+
+August 10
+
+ _Never say, "It is nobody's business but my own what I do with my
+ life." It is not true. Your life is put into your bands as a trust,
+ for many others besides yourself. If you use it well, it will make
+ many others happy; if you abuse it, you will harm many others
+ besides yourself._
+
+ JAMES M. PULLMAN.
+
+Almighty Father, whom, though we have not seen, we love, we know not
+what this day may bring forth but we know that it shall be for good as
+our trust is in Thee. We look up and adore Thee, and we believe and love
+and obey. Throughout all the hours of this day may we be "diligent in
+business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord." We believe in the
+victory of good over evil, of light over darkness; help us to bear our
+part courageously in the battle. Be merciful to us and make us merciful
+to one another. May we be numbered with those who are pure in heart, and
+see God in the humblest service to the humblest people. We beseech Thee
+to answer according to Thy love not only these prayers which we utter
+with our lips but also the silent prayers of our heart. Amen.
+
+ HAROLD PATTISON.
+
+
+August 11
+
+ _Prince Florimel and Prince Carimel were twin brothers, the sons of
+ a king, and no one could tell which of the two ought to succeed to
+ the throne, for they were both exactly the same age. So one day
+ they went to a wise magician, and asked him which of them ought to
+ be king after their father's death. "He who is most worthy," said
+ the magician. "But how shall we find out who is most worthy?" "He
+ who possesses the magic flower that grows in the enchanted forest
+ shall be found most worthy," he answered. So the two brothers
+ travelled through the enchanted forest until they found the magic
+ flower; but it grew in such a dangerous place that Carimel would
+ not attempt to reach it. Florimel, however, clambered down the
+ rocks and plucked the flower; and when he had got it, what do you
+ think he did with it? Why, he gave it to his brother, for the name
+ of that magic flower was Unselfishness._
+
+ WILLIAM MOODIE.
+
+Our Father, with thankful hearts for all Thy goodness to us in the
+past,--we seek Thy Holy Spirit's guidance for the day before us. Help us
+to live not for self alone, but for the good of all with whom we mingle.
+May the needy, suffering, and struggling ones all about us gather
+strength because of our devotion to Thee. So inspire us to forget
+ourselves, that we may the better remember our Master, and the
+privileges and duties of a life's service to Thy children. Wilt Thou
+not, Infinite One, thus help us, this day, and in all the days to come,
+to live to Thy glory! Amen.
+
+ LEWIS P. BATES.
+
+
+August 12
+
+ _To do something for someone else; to love the unlovely; to give a
+ hand to the unattractive; to speak to the uncongenial; to make
+ friends with the poor and folks of lowly degree; to find a niche in
+ the church of the Lord, and to do something out of sheer love for
+ Him; to determine in His house to have His mind; to plan to win at
+ least one for the Master; to aim to redeem past time that is lost;
+ to will to let one's light shine; to cut off practices that are
+ sinful and costly; to add the beauty of holiness--this is to make
+ one's life a thing of beauty and this is to grow in grace, for
+ growing in grace is simply copying the beautiful life of the
+ altogether lovely One._
+
+ EDWARD F. REIMER.
+
+Infinite Father, we rejoice that it is possible for us to be workers
+together with Thee by giving our sympathy, love and help to Thy needy
+children. As Thou hast honored us by appointing us to such a gracious
+ministry, may we seek to honor Thee in return by trying to do Thy
+blessed will. In all lowly and gentle ways, may we do what we can to
+bind up the broken-hearted, to relieve the distressed, to strengthen the
+weak. Let none who suffer look to us in vain for some manifestation of
+the Christ-like Spirit. May we so meet and treat the sad, the lonely,
+the tempted, that they shall take knowledge of us that we have been with
+Jesus. So may His heavenly teaching bear sweet fruit in our conduct and
+characters, and so may the Kingdom which He came to establish grow apace
+in the world. In His name. Amen.
+
+ WILLARD C. SELLECK.
+
+
+August 13
+
+ _Let me feel that I am to be a lover. I am to see to it that the
+ world is better for me, and to find my reward in the act. Love
+ would put a new face on this weary old world in which we dwell as
+ pagans and enemies too long; and it would warm the heart to see how
+ fast the vain diplomacy of statesmen, the impotence of armies and
+ navies and lines of defence, would be superseded by this unarmed
+ child. This great, overgrown, dead Christendom of ours still keeps
+ alive at least the name of a lover of mankind. But one day all men
+ will be lovers: and every calamity will be dissolved in the
+ universal sunshine._
+
+ RALPH WALDO EMERSON.
+
+What manner of love hast Thou bestowed upon us, dear Lord, that we
+should be called Thy children! As Thou hast loved us, so teach us each
+to love the world. This day someone will go forth to business on land or
+sea burdened with heavy cares: some father disheartened and discouraged
+will take up the trials of yesterday wondering what the end will
+be--some mother dismayed with her lot will cry "How long?" Help us, O
+Lord to minister to them in word or look, in prayer or gift. As the sun
+shall this day bring light and life to this old earth causing it to
+yield its highest purpose, so grant that Thy love may give through us a
+new inspiration to all mankind. Hasten the time when all shall love Thee
+as Thou hast loved the world. Then will each love the other. Then will
+the sword and the spear be molten into the plowshare and the pruning
+hook, and the desert shall bud and blossom as the rose. Amen.
+
+ EDWIN ALONZO BLAKE.
+
+
+August 14
+
+ _Thou art, O God, the life and light
+ Of all this wondrous world we see;
+ Its glow by day, its smile by night,
+ Are but reflections caught from thee.
+ Where'er we turn, thy glories shine,
+ And all things fair and bright are thine._
+
+ THOMAS MOORE.
+
+Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, who hast safely brought us to the
+beginning of this day, defend us in the same with Thy mighty power.
+Grant that this day we fall into no sin. Create in us a clean heart and
+renew a right spirit within us. Open our eyes that this day may be a
+fresh disclosure of Thyself, the Unseen Presence; endow us with Thy
+strength that, in joy and pain, it may lead us into Thy house not made
+with hands, eternal in the heavens. Enable us so to use the things of
+the world that while they abide we may not lose Thy presence, and when
+they pass we may not stand alone. So shall the spirit of Christ inflame
+us. Amen.
+
+ FREDERICK W. PERKINS.
+
+
+August 15
+
+ _It ain't no use to grumble and complain,
+ It's just as cheap and easy to rejoice;
+ When God sorts out the weather and sends rain,
+ Why, rain's my choice._
+
+ JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY.
+
+ _When you get into a tight place, and everything goes against you,
+ till it seems as if you could not hold on a minute longer, never
+ give up then, for that's just the place and time that the tide will
+ turn._
+
+ HARRIET BEECHER STOWE.
+
+Father, we pray Thee that in every emergency of our lives we may be
+faithful to the duty which the day demands, and with reverent spirits
+acquit us like men, doing what should be done, bearing what must be
+borne, and so growing greater from our toil and our sufferings, till we
+transfigure ourselves into noble images of humanity, which are blameless
+within and beautiful without, and acceptable to Thy spirit. So may Thy
+kingdom come and Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; for Thine
+is the kingdom and the power and the glory, the dominion and honor
+forever and ever. Amen.
+
+ THEODORE PARKER.
+
+
+August 16
+
+ _It was only a glad "Good Morning"
+ As she passed along the way;
+ But it spread the morning's glory
+ Over the livelong day._
+
+ CARLOTTA PERRY.
+
+ _Smile upon the troubled pilgrims
+ Whom you pass and meet;
+ Frowns are thorns, and smiles are blossoms,
+ Oft to weary feet.
+ Do not make the way seem harder
+ By a sullen face;
+ Smile a little, smile a little,
+ Brighten up the place._
+
+ ELLA WHEELER WILCOX.
+
+Father, in this morning hour, we would look into Thy face and feel the
+sweetness of that transforming influence which is forever baptizing Thy
+world with light and gladness, adding beauty to beauty and glory to
+glory. Baptize us anew, with this all-pervading spirit and send us out
+into this day's work to meet its varied experiences with trusting hearts
+and smiling faces. May we each send forth a brightening, gladdening
+influence to cheer and strengthen and uplift every weary, troubled
+pilgrim whom we meet on this day's journey. So may it be ours to enter
+into closer and diviner fellowship with Thee, our Father, whose greatest
+joy is to impart joy and blessing to Thy waiting children. Amen.
+
+ ANNETTE J. SHAW.
+
+
+August 17
+
+ _There are nettles everywhere,
+ But smooth green grasses are more common still;
+ The blue of heaven is larger than the cloud._
+
+ ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING.
+
+ _Flower in the crannied wall,
+ I pluck you out of the crannies;--
+ Hold you here, root and all, in my hand,
+ Little flower--but if I could understand
+ What you are, root and all, and all in all,
+ I should know what God and man is._
+
+ ALFRED TENNYSON.
+
+O Thou, Who hast gemmed the heavens with round, revolving worlds, the
+earth with beauty and the coronet of our minds with royal faculties, we
+do not know what "the little flower is, root and all, and all in all"
+and yet, dear Lord, through the clear and the convincing revelation of
+Thy dear Son; through the divine image which Thou hast implanted within
+us; through the mighty and the persuasive witness from experience, we do
+feel and believe that Thou art the great creator, preserver and
+benefactor; That Thou hast called us to do a noble, a specific work;
+that we ought not to neglect the gift that is in us; to this end wilt
+Thou help us to be pure, brave, faithful and strong, that we may fight
+the good fight, and win the crown of righteousness. Amen.
+
+ ALBERT HAMMATT.
+
+
+August 18
+
+ _O ye, so far above me on the Height,
+ I cannot hear your voices as ye stand
+ Facing the vast, invisible to me.
+ But I can see your gestures of delight,
+ And something guess of that wide, glorious sea,
+ The glimmering isles of that enchanted land,
+ The winds which from that ocean freshly blow.
+ And so your Vision lifts me toward the Height,
+ Although ye have forgot me far below._
+
+ _But you, my brother, you, my near of kin,
+ Who some few steps above me on the steep
+ Look smiling back to cheer me ever on,
+ Who lend a hand as I the chasm leap,
+ And stay your haste that I the crag may win,
+ Thinking it scorn for Strength to climb alone;
+ You with your morning song when sings the lark,
+ You, with unflagging purpose at high noon,
+ And quiet-hearted trust when comes the dark,--
+ To you I owe it that I climb at all._
+
+ MARY FRANCES WRIGHT.
+
+Spirit of the Infinite Life! We praise Thee that our visions of the
+Divinest rise far beyond the borders of our known and familiar fields,
+that the resources of our unwearied life are in those mysterious regions
+that we have not explored. And yet we rejoice that the shadows of these
+holy visions fall across our common ways, reporting thus from the
+Infinite and the unknown the possibilities of greater fortunes yet to
+be. In this life of Thee may we dwell, seeing Thee in the life about us
+and evermore seeking to lead the life toward those high places that are
+always waiting the coming of those who aspire toward Thee. Amen.
+
+ E. L. REXFORD.
+
+
+August 19
+
+ _The flowers got into a debate one morning as to which of them was
+ the flower of God: and the rose said: "I am the flower of God, for
+ I am the fairest and the most perfect in beauty and variety of form
+ and delicacy of fragrance of all the flowers." And the crocus said:
+ "No, you are not the flower of God. Why, I was blooming long before
+ you bloomed. I am the primitive flower; I am the first one." And
+ the lily of the valley said modestly: "I am small, but I am white;
+ perhaps I am the flower of God." And the trailing arbutus said:
+ "Before any of you came forth I was blooming under the leaves and
+ under the snow. Am I not the flower of God?" And all the flowers
+ cried out: "No, you are no flower at all; you are a come-outer."
+ And then God's wind, blowing on the garden, brought this message to
+ them: "Little flowers, do you not know that every flower that
+ answers God's spring call, and comes out of the cold, dark earth,
+ and lifts its head above the sod and blooms forth, catching the
+ sunlight from God and flinging it back to men, taking the sweet
+ south wind from God and giving it back to others in sweet and
+ blessed fragrance--do you not know they are all God's flowers?"_
+
+ LYMAN ABBOTT.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, in Thy sight, there are no nations, there is no
+north and no south, no east and no west; there is no black and no white;
+Jew and Gentile, bond and free,--all are Thine. O, Lord, give us so much
+breadth of sympathy that we shall be able to understand at least dimly
+the universality of Thy love. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+August 20
+
+ _Sound, sound the clarion, fill the fife!
+ To all the sensual world proclaim
+ One crowded hour of glorious life
+ Is worth an age without a name._
+
+ WALTER SCOTT.
+
+ _Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men. Do not pray
+ for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your
+ tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle. But you
+ shall be a miracle. Every day you shall wonder at yourself, at the
+ richness of life which has come to you by the grace of God._
+
+ PHILLIPS BROOKS.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for the rest of the night and the joy
+and beauty of the morning. This day we accept as a loving tribute of Thy
+Love to Thy children. May we not mar it by unhallowed thoughts, unkind,
+hasty and regretful speech and shameful and evil deeds. May ours be the
+illumination which comes from moral and spiritual conquest. May we feel
+the ties that bind us tenderly to Thee and to one another; and work for
+that large human brotherhood, which holds in its strong embrace even the
+most distant and isolated member of the human family. May we go forth to
+our work with a deep and abiding faith in the power of good over evil
+and willing to do our share in the building up of Thy kingdom of love
+and righteousness, peace and good will here upon earth. Amen.
+
+ HENDRIK VOSSEMA.
+
+
+August 21
+
+ _We learn wisdom from failure much more than from success, often
+ discover what will do by finding out what will not do, and probably
+ he who never made a mistake never made a discovery. Horne Tooke
+ used to say of his studies in intellectual philosophy that he had
+ become all the better acquainted with the country through having
+ had the good luck sometimes to lose his way._
+
+ SAMUEL SMILES.
+
+Our Father, in the strength of our nightly rest and daily bread we go
+forth to whatever needs us or awaits us. Nothing from Thee is too
+difficult for us to attempt; nothing too grievous for us to bear. Teach
+us how priceless is Thy gift of life, how close we are to the fountain
+of strength, how sure of success is every effort to bring good to pass.
+Reverently and believingly would we hearken to Thee in our inmost souls.
+Let not our failures dishearten us, or the delay of results cause chill
+of doubt or fear. May our presence have strength and peace for others,
+and our lives proclaim that Thou livest and art good to all. In the name
+of Christ we lift our prayer. Amen.
+
+ SAMUEL C. BEANE.
+
+
+August 22
+
+ _At Bannockburn Lord Randolph Murray was being sorely pressed by a
+ large body of cavalry. Sir James Douglas got leave from Bruce to go
+ to his aid, but just as he came up he found the English in
+ disorder, and many horses galloping away with empty saddles.
+ "Halt!" he cried to his men; "These brave men have already repulsed
+ the enemy; let us not diminish their glory by seeking to share
+ it."_
+
+ WILLIAM MOODIE.
+
+O God of Hosts! On many a field of battle wilt Thy soldiers fight this
+day. Help them to be brave and true. Give them a glorious victory. Help
+us who watch to give them full credit for their valor. May we not
+diminish by seeking to share their glory. May we not render their deeds
+commonplace by insisting that "It is so easy, so natural, for them to be
+good," implying that their struggle has not been hard or that their
+victories had not been what ours have proven to be. Help us, O Lord,
+with valor to fight our own battles and run our own race and with
+gratitude to be glad in others' victories. Amen.
+
+ J. FRANK CHASE.
+
+
+August 23
+
+ _The bee that sips her sweets from flowers fair,
+ Flying on careless wing now here, now there,
+ With azure skies above, green sward below,
+ And soft south wind to bear her to and fro,
+ Might seem the soul of self-devoted ease,
+ Her life a draught of nectar without lees.
+ Not so! Her prime is full of strenuous deed
+ That shames our own in generous meed
+ Of work for other's good. Long summer days
+ She builds her golden house, with guerdons stays
+ Her Queen, uprears her young, and stores her food--
+ Then sudden shuns her wealth, her home, her brood,
+ And seeks new haven on an unknown sea,
+ Leaving her life-work to posterity._
+
+ HENRY HOYT MOORE.
+
+Gracious Father in heaven, and all about me, Thy gentleness doth ever
+tend to make life greater and richer. Thy providence is so wholesomely
+good, I would fain be completely at home in it. Thou art very gracious.
+Help me to be as gracious in my way as Thou art in Thy wonderful way.
+When I acknowledge that Thou art good and wise, there comes a joyous
+freedom to my spirit that makes life a sweet pleasure. I desire ever to
+work in the fulness of this faith without grudging, without suspecting,
+an open, glad and fruitful service. Oh, help me then to love my fellows
+more, and Thee sincerely! Amen.
+
+ ELIHU GRANT.
+
+
+August 24
+
+ _Drudgery is the gray angel of success.... Look at the leaders in
+ the professions, the solid men in business, the master-workmen who
+ begin as poor boys and end by building a town to house their
+ factory-hands, they are drudges of the single aim.... "One thing I
+ do."... Mr. Maydole, the hammer-maker of Central New York, was an
+ artist: "Yes," he said, "I have made hammers for twenty-eight
+ years." "Well, then you ought to be able to make a pretty good
+ hammer by this time." "No, sir," was the answer, "I never made a
+ pretty good hammer--I make the best hammer made in the United
+ States."_
+
+ WILLIAM C. GANNETT.
+
+O Lord, we remember our daily duties before Thee, the hard toil which
+Thou givest us in our manifold and various avocations, and we pray Thee
+that there may be in us such a confidence in our nature, such earnest
+obedience to Thee, we reverencing all Thy qualities and keeping Thy
+commands, that we shall serve Thee every day, making our life one great
+act of holiness unto Thee. May our continuous industry be so squared by
+the golden rule that it shall nicely fit with the interests of all with
+whom we have to do, and so by our handicraft all mankind shall be
+blessed. Amen.
+
+ THEODORE PARKER.
+
+
+August 25
+
+ _His larger life ye cannot miss
+ In gladly, nobly using this._
+
+ BAYARD TAYLOR.
+
+ _There are saints enough if we only know how to find
+ them--sainthoods of the fireside and of the market place. They wear
+ no glory round their heads; they do their duties in the strength of
+ God; they have their martyrdoms and win their palms, and though
+ they get into no calendars, they leave a benediction and a force
+ behind them on the earth when they go up to heaven._
+
+ PHILLIPS BROOKS.
+
+Our Father, in Whose life are our lives, help us to use all things nobly
+and so find joy in Thee. We thank Thee for faithful souls who in
+humblest station have reflected Thy life and have worked for blessing.
+In Thy strength they have sought to build Thy kingdom, and though they
+have had no glory of men they yet have wrought for Thee and have won
+place in Thy heart. Because they have aided the world and others have
+entered into their labors their good work shall remain and its quiet
+influence shall be a benediction. Though they have lived obscure lives
+and have filled obscure places they have been precious in Thy sight and
+are numbered with Thy saints. May we, like them, eternally serve Thee.
+Amen.
+
+ GEORGE H. YOUNG.
+
+
+August 26
+
+ _We can't choose happiness either for ourselves or for another; we
+ can't tell where that will lie. We can only choose whether we will
+ indulge ourselves in the present moment, or whether we will
+ renounce that for the sake of obeying the divine voice within
+ us,--for the sake of being true to all the motives that sanctify
+ our lives. I know this belief is hard; it has slipped away from me
+ again and again; but I have felt that if I let it go forever, I
+ should have no light through the darkness of this life._
+
+ GEORGE ELIOT.
+
+O God, Thou knowest the hours in which we desire Thee. Thou knowest that
+Thou hast made us to love truth and to walk in the light and when we are
+unjust, unkind, unloving, then we are not true to ourselves,--then we
+forget that we are living souls and that Thou art our Father. Let us not
+draw nigh to Thee with our lips while our hearts are far from Thee, but,
+knowing how dependent and frail we are, may we feel that it is a good
+and helpful thing to draw nigh unto Thee by faith and prayer,--and to
+take thought of that Infinite Love which holds us all in its arms of
+strength and mercy. Lift up our minds today, warm our affections, and
+deepen within us the feeling of reverence, of gratitude, and guide all
+the longings of our hearts aright. Amen.
+
+ JOSHUA YOUNG.
+
+
+August 27
+
+ _Life may be given in many ways,
+ And loyalty to truth be sealed
+ As bravely in the closet as the field,
+ So bountiful is fate;
+ But then to stand beside her,
+ When craven churls deride her,
+ To front a lie in arms and not to yield,
+ This shows, methinks, God's plan
+ And measure of a stalwart man,
+ Limbed like the old heroic breeds,
+ Who stands self-poised on manhood's solid earth,
+ Not forced to frame excuses for his birth,
+ Fed from within with all the strength he needs._
+
+ JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL.
+
+Heavenly Father, in this new day may we recognize a new opportunity for
+seeking Thy purpose in us; to become stronger children of Thine, and
+worthier followers of Thy Son. Whatever be our trial give us courage to
+stand without compromise, for that which we believe to be true; give us
+grace to rise superior to praise or blame, timidity or self-interest; to
+be loyal to the best in us, and be ever ready to protest against wrong
+and injustice. Help us to know ourselves as temples of Thine; to know
+that the essential principal in us is not dust, but God; to rise to that
+dignity of sonship that compels one to choose the right and say: "Here I
+stand, I cannot do otherwise." In His name. Amen.
+
+ HERBERT H. GRAVES.
+
+
+August 28
+
+ _All we have willed or hoped or dreamed of good, shall exist;
+ Not its semblance, but itself; no beauty, nor good, nor power
+ Whose voice has gone forth, but each survives for the melodist,
+ When eternity affirms the conception of an hour.
+ The high that proved too high, the heroic for earth too hard,
+ The passion that left the ground to lose itself in the sky,
+ Are music sent up to God by the lover and the bard;
+ Enough that he heard it once: we shall hear it by and by._
+
+ ROBERT BROWNING.
+
+O God, our heavenly Father! we come before Thee at this morning hour,
+thanking Thee for Thy loving care, that has protected us through the
+night, and for the blessed sleep, that has brought refreshment to our
+bodies and minds. We are grateful, O Father, for this new day, rich in
+hope and promise and opportunity, and we pray that, as its hours pass,
+we may be kept very near to Thee, that the "Words of our mouth and the
+meditations of our heart, may be acceptable in Thy sight," that when the
+day is done, and we come to Thee at its close, we need in no wise to be
+ashamed. Amen.
+
+ NELLIE MANN OPDALE.
+
+
+August 29
+
+ _How often does the chopper of some stone,
+ While toiling at his task of heave and shock,
+ Find in the heart-space of a severed rock
+ The impress of some fern that once had grown,
+ Full of aspiring life and color-tone,
+ Deep in the forest where the shadows flock,
+ Till, caught within the adamantine block,
+ It lay for ages hidden and unknown!
+ So many a beauteous thought blooms in the mind
+ But unexpressed, droops down into the soul
+ And lies unuttered in the silence there
+ Until some opener of the soul shall find
+ The fern-like fossilled dream, complete and whole,
+ And marvel at its beauty past compare._
+
+ ALFRED L. DONALDSON.
+
+ O mighty Potter, to whose steadfast eyes
+ A thousand years lie open as one day,
+ Thy patient hand set firm on life's great wheel
+ This heavy, shapeless clay.
+
+ Rough and imperfect, yet it owns Thy touch;
+ Spare not, nor stay, the pressure of Thine hand;
+ Make known Thy power; and soon, or late, let love
+ Perfect what love hath planned!
+ Amen.
+
+ L. H. HAMMOND.
+
+
+August 30
+
+ _The dark green summer, with its massive hues,
+ Fades into Autumn's tincture manifold;
+ A gorgeous garniture of fire and gold
+ The high slope of the ferny hill indues.
+ The mists of morn in slumbering layers diffuse
+ O'er glimmering rock, smooth lake, and spiked array
+ Of hedgerow thorns a unity of gray.
+ All things appear their tangible form to lose
+ In ghostly vastness. But anon the gloom
+ Melts, as the sun puts off his muddy veil.
+ And now the birds their twittering songs resume,
+ All summer silent in the leafy dale.
+ In spring they piped of love on every tree,
+ But now they sing the song of memory._
+
+ HARTLEY COLERIDGE.
+
+Ever blessed Father, in Whose pleasant world we are glad to awake again,
+looking forward to a happy and useful day, we beseech Thy loving
+guidance through these hours. May we look abroad with gratitude and love
+upon this beautiful earth, doubly beautiful in the waning summer time,
+when a new splendor comes across the hills, and Thou dost reveal
+Thyself, as of old, in the burning bush. Grant that we may look through
+nature up to nature's God. Grant that the mists of doubt and uncertainty
+which often hide Thee from us may be dispersed in the sunlight of a
+happy faith, and that the heart, so often sad and silent, may once more
+lift its cheerful song to Thee. Amen.
+
+ ALFRED GOODING.
+
+
+August 31
+
+ _No rare creative inspirations throng
+ My quiet spirit, silent, sad and lone;
+ No Sapphic flame hath on its altar shone;
+ No music to my nature doth belong.
+ Thou art the sunlight, I am Memnon's stone,
+ Thou art the zephyr, I give back its song;
+ The harp Ćolian can do no wrong
+ To the soft airs which wake an answering tone:
+ Upon my soul, Oh, then breathe tenderly;
+ Subdue the discord, still the jarring strain;
+ So may the harp-strings yield but melody.
+ If notes discordant give thy keen ear pain,
+ Set the fine chords again to harmony;
+ Let but sweet echoes of thyself remain._
+
+ ADA FOSTER MURRAY.
+
+O Thou Who art the source of all that is and the giver of all that makes
+life blessed, we thank Thee that Thy providence abides through every
+change and that Thou dost cheer the loneliest lot with the comfort of
+Thy presence. Thou hast been with us in times past and now on this last
+day of the summer months, we would thank Thee for the blessings of the
+closing season and ask for the continuance of Thy unfailing care and the
+enrichment of our souls with the gifts of Thy Spirit. Bring us into
+harmony with all that is pure and good, and enable us to walk in the
+light of Thy favor and in the paths of Thy commandments. Amen.
+
+ CHARLES H. VAIL.
+
+
+September 1
+
+ _'Neath harvest moon the stricken summer lies
+ Still smiling bravely in her brightest bloom,
+ Her heart yet holds no hint of gloom,
+ No trace of sadness in her sunlit eyes.
+ We love thee, Summer, child of Paradise--
+ A myriad host announce thy coming doom
+ Chanting the requiem of thy wintry tomb,
+ While lovingly look down the tender skies;
+ A holy hush is in the hazy air
+ As in thy radiant beauty thou dost sleep!
+ Nature, arrayed in rainbow colors fair,
+ Is strong of heart her vigil long to keep:
+ We know the secret thou dost seek to tell,--
+ Thou art immortal, Summer, fare thee well._
+
+ ANNA A. GORDON.
+
+Heavenly Father, behind all changes dost Thou lurk in eternal constancy.
+Never lingering, each good of life gives place to the better Thou hast
+in store, and in glory and gladness resigns to that which comes after.
+From the good that is, may we learn to pass cheerfully to the better
+that is to be,--from the cool morning and sunny noon to the purple
+gloaming and the star-lit night, from the tender spring and glowing
+summer to the golden autumn and snow-pure winter, from the sweet life
+that now is to that fulness of realization whose sweeter splendors eye
+hath not seen nor the heart of man conceived. We place our hands in
+Thine and would walk with Thee in holiest trust and serenest peace.
+Amen.
+
+ THOMAS W. ILLMAN.
+
+
+September 2
+
+ _"I will be happy all the day
+ Let come what may."
+ 'Twas early morning when the word was said,
+ And like a journey 'cross a weary plain
+ There stretched the hours, but I was comforted
+ As heart and voice sung o'er the sweet refrain,
+ "I will be happy all the day
+ Let come what may."_
+
+ _"I will make hope and only hope
+ My horoscope."
+ The sombre, brooding clouds of discontent
+ Oppress one's spirit like a throbbing pain;
+ One frets and moans in one's environment,
+ But with a look ahead I sing again,
+ "I will make hope and only hope
+ My horoscope."_
+
+ FREDERICK A. BISBEE.
+
+Yea, Lord, we thank Thee that we may hope and be happy all the day for
+Omnipotence is our Father and our changeless Friend, and we have naught
+to fear. We are glad of life and thank Thee for all that makes it heroic
+or beautiful or sweet. We rejoice in our home, in our dear ones, and in
+the precious human loves that reflect the love divine. Pardon our sins,
+we pray Thee, and work out Thy purposes in us. May we work and hope on
+and be glad in Thee filling this day so full of useful employ that when
+the night shall come, we shall lie down to sleep upon Thy loving
+children like tired but happy children, and so find rest and refreshment
+for another day with men and Thee. Amen.
+
+ CARL F. HENRY.
+
+
+September 3
+
+ _There's a dance of leaves in that aspen bower,
+ There's a titter of winds in that beechen tree,
+ There's a smile on the fruit, and a smile on the flower,
+ And a laugh from the brook that runs to the sea._
+
+ WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT.
+
+ _O sweet September! thy first breezes bring
+ The dry leaf's rustle and the squirrel's laughter,
+ The cool, fresh air, whence health and vigor spring
+ And promise of exceeding joy hereafter._
+
+ GEORGE ARNOLD.
+
+O Lord, we thank Thee for the spring, which brought her handsome
+promise, for the gorgeous preparation which the summer made in his manly
+strength, and we bless Thee for the months of autumn, whose sober beauty
+now is cast on every hill and every tree. We thank Thee for the harvests
+which the toil and the thought of man have gathered already from the
+surface of the ground, or digged from its bosom. We bless Thee for the
+other harvests still growing beneath the earth, or hanging abundant
+beauties in the autumnal sun from many a tree, all over our blessed
+Northern land. Amen.
+
+ THEODORE PARKER.
+
+
+September 4
+
+ _Do right, and God's recompense to you will be the power to do more
+ right. Give, and God's reward to you will be the spirit of giving
+ more: blessed spirit, for it is the Spirit of God Himself, whose
+ Life is the blessedness of giving. Love, and God will pay you with
+ the capacity of more love; for love is Heaven, love is God within
+ you._
+
+ FREDERICK W. ROBERTSON.
+
+O Lord, we thank Thee for Thy manifold gifts unto the children of men.
+Thou givest life and all the sustenance of life. Thou givest our fair
+and beautiful world. Thou givest us the power of hope and faith and
+thought. From Thine own giving may we learn that it is more blessed to
+give than to receive. Teach us, O Lord, to give more freely and more
+gladly, and may we learn how our own life, and joy and growth are
+involved in the spirit in which we give and serve. In all our giving and
+all our serving may we keep before us the vision of the Master who gave
+Himself that we might live. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+September 5
+
+ _Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
+ The soul that rises with us, our life's star,
+ Hath had elsewhere its setting,
+ And cometh from afar.
+ Not in entire forgetfulness,
+ And not in utter nakedness,
+ But trailing clouds of glory, do we come
+ From God who is our home:
+ Heaven lies about us in our infancy,
+ At length the man perceives it die away
+ And fade into the light of common day._
+
+ WILLIAM WORDSWORTH.
+
+O Eternal God, Who art without beginning of days or end of years, from
+Whom cometh all our life; pardon, we beseech Thee, the sins of Thy
+children, wherein we have darkened Thine own image within us. Let not
+our light die away amid the common toil and daily care, but so glorify
+our life with Thy spirit, that we may gladly present both souls and
+bodies to Thy service an acceptable sacrifice, and, learning to love
+Thee above all things, may be approved in Thy sight as true disciples of
+Thy Son Jesus Christ. Amen.
+
+ WILLIAM E. GASKIN.
+
+
+September 6
+
+ _A haze on the far horizon,
+ The infinite tender sky,
+ The ripe, rich tint of the corn-fields,
+ And the wild geese sailing high,
+ And all over upland and lowland
+ The charm of the goldenrod--
+ Some of us call it Autumn,
+ And others call it God._
+
+ WILLIAM H. CARRUTH.
+
+Once more, O God, Thou partest the curtains of night to bless us with a
+new day. In its dawning Thou revealest Thyself to us anew. Fresh
+beauties break upon our vision; new evidences of Thy goodness appear;
+new joys rise in our hearts. We thank Thee for the harvest of corn that
+feeds our bodies and the harvest of beauty that feeds our souls; for the
+blue of the distant hills and the wide stretch of meadow and prairie;
+for golden flower and flying bird; for the nearness of Thy presence in
+the brooding haze; for the thoughts unutterable that rise within us. In
+thankfulness may we go forth to our daily tasks and live in
+consciousness of Thy eternal presence and love. Amen.
+
+ RODNEY F. JOHONNOT.
+
+
+September 7
+
+ _I come under your windows, some fine morning, and play you one of
+ my adagio movements, and some of you say,--This is good, play us so
+ always. But, dear friends, if I did not change the stop sometimes,
+ the machine would wear out in one part and rust in another. How
+ easily this or that tune flows! you say, there must be no end of
+ such melodies in him. I will open the poor machine for you one
+ moment, and you shall look. Every note marks where a spur of steel
+ has been driven in. It is easy to grind out the song, but to plant
+ these bristling points which make it was the painful task of time._
+
+ OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.
+
+We thank Thee, Father, for Thy love which, like the morning light, fails
+not to greet us at each opening day. While its radiant beams light up
+the pathway from our hearts to Thine, we come, with eager steps, for
+morning worship and for praise. Take Thou, we pray, the hand
+outstretched out to Thee and lead us safely through another day. Grant
+us the strength to do our very best and leave results with Thee. We do
+not ask for ease, but victory; not for the praise of men, but for the
+blessing of our God upon our heaven-appointed task. Grant us the joy
+supreme of knowing, when the sun has set, that we have left undone no
+duty to our God or fellowman. Amen.
+
+ J. W. ANNAS.
+
+
+September 8
+
+ _Admit into thy silent breast
+ The notes of but one bird
+ And instantly thy soul will join
+ In jubilant accord._
+
+ _The perfume of a single flow'r
+ Inhale like breath of God,
+ And in the garden of thy heart
+ A thousand buds will nod._
+
+ _Toward one star in heaven's expanse
+ Direct thy spirit's fight,
+ And thou wilt have in the wide world,
+ My child, enough delight._
+
+ JOHANNA AMBROSIUS.
+
+Our Father In Heaven, as Thou turnest the earth once more toward the
+light to give us another day may we not forget that all things come of
+Thee. Thou givest us this beautiful earth, adorned with a thousand
+varied beauties, crowded with opportunities and possibilities, for our
+home. Day and night, sunshine and the rain, labor and trial, joy and
+victory, all are from Thy hand. Whatever the circumstances of our life,
+whatever our labor and place, help us to remember that life is a school
+in which to learn, an arena where we may fight and win. May we gain
+wisdom and strength to win the victory which is life eternal, and in
+finding that may we find peace and content in Thee. Amen.
+
+ FREDERICK A. TAYLOR.
+
+
+September 9
+
+ _Give me the gospel of the fields and woods--
+ The sermons written in the book of books;
+ The sweet communion of the things of earth
+ Fresh with the warm baptism of the sun.
+ Give me the offertory of bud and bloom,
+ The perfect caroling of happy birds.
+ Give me the creed of one of God's fair days
+ Wrought in the beauty of its loveliness;
+ And then, the benediction of the stars,
+ His eloquent ministers of the night._
+
+ JAMES RAVENSCROFT.
+
+Heavenly Father, we praise Thee for the breaking day, the singing birds,
+the dew in the meadows, the fragrance of the flowers, ascending like
+old-time incense from Jewish altar, the sun gilding the hill-tops, the
+veiled stars, the gliding river, mirroring in its depths, sedge and tree
+and overhanging sky. Thou hast ordained that we nestle in the bosom of
+nature and feel the touch of God. Pour strength into our beings from
+bird and flower, and Thy spirit which moves in them, that our youth may
+be renewed like the eagle's. So shall the memories of earth enrich our
+heaven. We praise and supplicate in the name of Jesus. Amen.
+
+ L. A. FREEMAN.
+
+
+September 10
+
+ _Just whistle a bit if the day be dark
+ And the sky be overcast:
+ If mute be the voice of the piping lark,
+ Why, pipe your own small blast._
+
+ _And it's wonderful how o'er the gray sky-track,
+ The truant warbler comes stealing back.
+ But why need he come? for your soul's at rest,
+ And the song in the heart,--ah, that is best._
+
+ PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for the assurance that all things
+work together for good to them that love Thee. Help us to live this day
+in joyous faith in that promise. May we realize that behind all clouds
+the sun still shines, and that the Father's wisdom never errs, and his
+love never fails. Give us courage for this day's conflicts, grace for
+its trials, and strength for its duties. Guide our feet in the way of
+Thy commandments and fill our souls with the joy of Thy presence. May
+our lives no less than our lips praise Thee. Amen.
+
+ CHARLES F. RICE.
+
+
+September 11
+
+ _For each true deed is worship; it is prayer,
+ And carries its own answer unaware.
+ Yes, they whose feet upon good errands run
+ Are friends of God, with Michael of the sun;
+ Yes, each accomplished service of the day
+ Paves for the feet of God a lordlier way.
+ The souls that love and labor through all wrong,
+ They clasp His hand and make the Circle strong;
+ They lay the deep foundation stone by stone,
+ And build into Eternity God's throne!_
+
+ EDWIN MARKHAM.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, we, Thy children, turn to Thee in gratitude and
+hope for this new day of opportunity. May our high calling in Christ
+Jesus loom large before our eyes. Deliver us, we humbly beseech Thee,
+from making ourselves and our concerns chief in thought and effort. May
+we find our lives in saving those whose sky is dark, whose burdens are
+heavy, and whose faith is perishing. With zest, as do the angels, when
+we hear Thy Spirit's voice, may we turn and obey. To let these hours of
+service prove to us, not only that Thou art, but that Thou art the
+rewarder of them that diligently seek Thee. Through Jesus Christ, our
+Lord. Amen.
+
+ DEWITT S. CLARK.
+
+
+September 12
+
+ _Good name, in man or woman, dear my lord,
+ Is the immediate jewel of their souls.
+ Who steals my purse, steals trash; 'tis something, nothing;
+ 'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands;
+ But he that filches from me my good name,
+ Robs me of that which not enriches him,
+ And makes me poor indeed._
+
+ SHAKESPEARE.
+
+God of all righteousness and charity, breathe upon me the spirit of
+thine own charity and righteousness, that I may deal worthily with the
+good name of every human being with whom I have to do. Help me, that I
+may bring no injury to the fair fame of any. May the law of kindness be
+in my lips, and the spirit of helpful justice in my heart. Inspire me to
+come, whenever I ought, to the rescue of the slandered, that I may
+deliver them into the liberty of human fellowship. And not to me alone,
+O God, but to all men, teach this divine lesson of fair judgment and
+sweet help, that they may live together as children in thy gracious
+family. Amen.
+
+ WILLIAM N. CLARKE.
+
+
+September 13
+
+ _I searched for love in heart of city's hum;
+ I searched for love upon the shining sand
+ Of ocean beach; and then on towering cliffs I sung
+ A pleading song that love unto my heart might come;
+ But love came not._
+
+ _I searched for love no more, but labored sore
+ To ease those hearts whom sorrow'd touched before,
+ Faint hope that in sweet work I'd surely find
+ Some compensation for a fate unkind--
+ When, lo! love came._
+
+ BESSIE L. RUSSELL.
+
+ For love and life and light and breath and ease,
+ For work, success and hope, for power to please,
+ For conscience clear, for faith without alloy,
+ For common share in common human joy,
+ I thank Thee, gracious God!
+
+ For loneliness and shadow, sickness, care,
+ For failure, doubt, remorse, death, and despair,
+ For sleepless nights, for aching heart and brain,
+ For common share in common human pain,
+ I thank Thee, gracious God! Amen.
+
+ MARGARET WENTWORTH.
+
+
+September 14
+
+ _In fallow fields the goldenrod
+ And purple asters beck and nod.
+ The milkweed launches fairy boats;
+ In tangled silver the cobweb floats.
+ Pervasive odors of ripening vine,
+ Fill the air like a luscious wine.
+ The gentian blooms on the browning waste;
+ With coral chains is the alder laced.
+ The blackbirds gather, and wheel and fly,
+ The swallows twitter a low "Goodbye!"_
+
+ SARA ANDREW SHAFER.
+
+Father in Heaven, we love Thee, we cannot help it. Thy blessings around
+us on every side tell us of Thy love. Our love leaps involuntarily from
+our hearts responsive to these numberless delights. We thank Thee for
+the rich harvests that burden the fields, for the acres of beauty that
+reach over hill and through meadow, for the stars that make cheerful the
+night. Help us to bless Thee when the storms come to disappoint and
+destroy. May we realize that the tempest comes from the Good Father,
+that He has sent it, a great blessing in disguise. Great Father, help us
+to know and feel that everything coming from Thee is good. So may Thy
+Kingdom come to Thy children of earth. Amen.
+
+ CHARLES EDWARD DAVIS.
+
+
+September 15
+
+ _Once, out of all the anguish and the sorrow of my heart,
+ I wrote a song, and put my pent-up passion in its art.
+ And the great world never heeded this soulful human groan,
+ For it bore a burden infinitely heavy of its own._
+
+ _Once, out of all the happiness and joy within my breast,
+ I made a little song and blithely sent it on its quest.
+ And the great world, with its infinitely many joys, divine,
+ Still had room and instant welcome for this little song of mine._
+
+ WILLIAM F. DIX.
+
+O God, I thank Thee that Thou hast numbered me with the children of the
+day. O Immanuel, make Thy Presence to be a sun within me this day. May I
+dispel clouds or reveal the rainbows ever half-hidden in robes of mists.
+May I melt snows and bring spring-time freshets of joy. May I shed light
+that shall turn groans into songs. May I shine on till I shall stand
+before the Great White Throne that is encompassed with an unbroken
+rainbow, and take up the angelic music among that starry host of souls
+who have found the true "music of the spheres," and are:
+
+ "Forever singing as they shine,
+ 'The hand that made us is divine.'"
+ Amen.
+
+ ELLIOTT F. STUDLEY.
+
+
+September 16
+
+ _All is best, though we oft doubt
+ What the unsearchable dispose
+ Of highest wisdom brings about,
+ And ever best found in the close.
+ Oft He seems to hide His face,
+ But unexpectedly returns,
+ And to his faithful champion hath in place
+ Bore witness gloriously._
+
+ JOHN MILTON.
+
+Our Father, we have ever dwelt in Thee, though sometimes we have
+forgotten it. While our eyes slept, it may be that to our spirit's sight
+a ladder was set up on the earth and the top of it reached to heaven,
+and on it Thy angels were ascending and descending to help us. Now
+again, O Father, comes to us from Thy hand of love the food and the
+tasks of a new day. Help us then to put away the error from which we
+fled or should have fled yesterday. This morning let us set up the stone
+of our Bethel that through the day we may be reminded in all we do, that
+Thou art in this place with us. Whether we see Thee or not, let us take
+courage and make this a day nearer Thee. Fill us with Jesus' own large
+sympathies for others, with Jesus' purpose to seek and to serve the
+right, and especially grant us Jesus' complete trust in Thy perfect
+goodness. In His name, we ask it. Amen.
+
+ MERRILL C. WARD.
+
+
+September 17
+
+ _As far as earth is from the sky,
+ So Love is high.
+ Where Alpine lakes their vigils keep
+ Is Love more deep._
+
+ _In Nature there no boundaries are
+ That tell how far Love goes;
+ Love's measure, as each countless star,
+ God knows._
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ _One only thing we know: Love comes to stay;
+ Though God's to give, it is not even His
+ To take away._
+
+ MARIAN ALDEN.
+
+O God, our Heavenly Father, we recognize our dependence upon Thee for
+the bounties of Thy never-failing Providence, and as we enter upon this
+new day to which Thou has safely brought us, we ask Thy help that we may
+receive it as a gift from Thee and may consecrate ourselves more
+perfectly in the least things as well as in the greatest, to Thy
+service. Help us to be faithful to all the duties and responsibilities
+of our lot. Deliver us from all useless discontent, all idle doubts and
+foolish fears. In all our dealings may we be simple and sincere.
+Strengthen us to do at every moment that which we feel to be right and
+good in Thy sight, and through loyal obedience to Thy will may we rise
+into a clearer vision of the things that belong to Thy heavenly kingdom.
+Amen.
+
+ WILLIAM H. FISH.
+
+
+September 18
+
+ _Some people are always grumbling because roses have thorns. I am
+ thankful that thorns have roses._
+
+ ALPHONSE KARR.
+
+ _There are those who want to get away from all their past; who if
+ they could, would fain begin all over again. Their life seems one
+ long failure. But you must learn, you must let God teach you, that
+ the only way to get rid of your past is to get a future out of it._
+
+ PHILLIPS BROOKS.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, the remembrance of Thee fills life with all that is
+most beautiful and bright. Our deepest sorrows, our most bitter
+experiences come when we forget Thee. No life can be a failure which
+strives to do Thy will. Sorrow may come to us, but just as an artist may
+darken a flower, in painting, before retouching it to make its color all
+the brighter, so we know that Thou, who givest color to the flowers, may
+for a season permit sorrow to darken our lives; but Thou art only in the
+midst of Thy work. At Thy retouch, life becomes the more beautiful. Help
+us to pray, not simply, "Lord, remember me," for it is not possible for
+Thee to forget Thy children; we pray "assist us to be always mindful of
+Thee." Amen.
+
+ E. MCP. AMEE.
+
+
+September 19
+
+ _The sooner we read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest a little
+ Eastern apothegm of Howard Hinton's the better: Two balls were
+ together in a box, a gold and a gilt ball. The gilt ball was
+ carefully done up in tissue paper, and securely wedged into one
+ corner; but the gold ball was loose, and went rolling about with
+ every movement of the box. "Oh, please, do take care of yourself!"
+ said the gilt ball, peeping out apprehensively from the folds of
+ the tissue paper. "Why, where's the harm?" answered the gold ball,
+ as it took a fresh lurch to an opposite corner. "Oh, how can you?"
+ cried the other; "you'll rub it off." "Rub what off?" asked the
+ gold ball.... The gold won't rub off.... Only the gingerbread
+ gilt._
+
+ ELLICE HOPKINS.
+
+Heavenly Father, we hear the loving call of this new day and on the
+wings of the morning we would speed to the work and worship of the
+beautiful hours Thou hast given us. We thank Thee that Thou hast made us
+for the hurry of the market place as well as for the quiet of the home.
+May our own lives be brightened by contact with our fellowmen. May the
+pure gold of the Spirit of Christ be ours in purity of personal thought,
+in the benediction of words of strength and sweetness and in the varied
+service we may render our neighbors in the name of Jesus our Lord and
+Saviour. Amen.
+
+ JAMES F. ALLEN.
+
+
+September 20
+
+ _O heart of mine, we shouldn't worry so!
+ What we've missed of calm we couldn't have, you know!
+ What we've met of stormy pain,
+ And of sorrow's driving rain,
+ We can better meet again,
+ If it blow!_
+
+ _For we know, not every morrow can be sad;
+ So, forgetting all the sorrow
+ We have had,
+ Let us fold away our fears,
+ And put by our childish tears,
+ And through all the coming years,
+ Just be glad._
+
+ JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY.
+
+Heavenly Father, Thy very name fills our hearts with confidence and
+peace. For we know that out of Thy Fatherly goodness all earthly
+providences are bestowed and administered for our good. So, for our
+unwilling submission, when Thou hast led us into hard and thorny
+pathways, we ask Thy generous forgiveness; and for our ingratitude when
+pleasure and prosperity have attended us, we entreat Thy tender
+patience. As Thou hast commanded us to rejoice in Thy salvation, may our
+hearts be filled with gladness to-day; and, as Thou hast counselled us
+that when we lack wisdom, we may ask of Thee, we beseech Thee to bestow
+upon us now and evermore the wisdom of cheerfulness and joy. In the name
+of Jesus, Amen.
+
+ EDMUND L. SMILEY.
+
+
+September 21
+
+ _We all shrink, like cowards, from new duties, new
+ responsibilities. We do not venture to go out of the beaten track
+ of our daily life. Close to us, on each side of the road, are those
+ whom we might help or save with one good action, one kind word. But
+ we are afraid. We say: "I am not prepared; I am not ready; I have
+ not time; I am not qualified; find some better person; send some
+ one else." Perhaps we have only one talent, and, therefore, instead
+ of using it, we hide it, and when the Master comes we shall meet
+ him with the old answer: "I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent
+ in the earth. Lo! there thou hast that is thine."_
+
+ JAMES FREEMAN CLARKE.
+
+From the base sin of selfishness, O Lord, deliver us. Teach us by Thy
+life of ministry and sacrifice for others that the more fully and
+willingly we lose ourselves in service for our fellowmen, the more
+surely we shall find ourselves in Thee. As we go forth this day in paths
+that Thou hast prepared for us, help us to so forget ourselves in acts
+of kindness and words of comfort that each one whom our lives may touch,
+may become thereby a happier, purer, stronger soul. Take Thou the care
+of these lives of ours, while, with Thee, in busy streets and crowded
+shops where greed is grasping and sin is lurking, we shall try to care
+for souls of others, who need the help that we might give. Then, at the
+eventide today or on the morrow, it will be our joy like Thine to find
+ourselves again in hearts made happy, in lives inspired, in souls
+redeemed. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE B. DEAN.
+
+
+September 22
+
+ _Before God's footstool to confess
+ A poor soul knelt and bowed his head,
+ "I failed!" he wailed. The Master said,
+ "Thou didst thy best--that is success!"_
+
+ ANONYMOUS.
+
+ _Straight from the Mighty Bow, this truth is driven:
+ "They fail, and they alone, who have not striven."
+ Fly far, O shaft of light, all doubt redeeming,
+ Rouse men from dull despair and idle dreaming.
+ High Heaven's Evangel be, gospel God-given;
+ They fail, and they alone, who have not striven._
+
+ CLARENCE URMY.
+
+We thank Thee, O God, for the light that reveals to us the divine
+estimate of life, that lifts the veil of mystery from struggle and
+sacrifice and enables us to interpret their meaning as elements of
+successful living. We praise Thee for the truth that assures us that we
+are in this world to win, to overcome, to be more than conquerors. We
+pray that we may be too busy to dream and too brave to doubt. Strengthen
+us for life's conflict, help us to carry our burdens cheerfully, fight
+courageously, strive lawfully, that we may be worthy to be counted among
+those who shall receive the crown of righteousness and hear at last the
+"Well done" of the Master. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE S. SCRIVENER.
+
+
+September 23
+
+ _Be diligent and faithful, patient and hopeful, one and all of you;
+ and may we all know, at all times, that verily the Eternal rules
+ above us, and that nothing finally wrong has happened or can
+ happen._
+
+ THOMAS CARLYLE.
+
+ _If you entered the workshop of a blacksmith, you would not dare to
+ find fault with his bellows, anvils and hammers. If you had not the
+ skill of a workman, but the consideration of a man, what would you
+ say? "It is not without cause the bellows are placed there; the
+ artificer knew, though I do not know, the reason." You would not
+ dare to find fault with the blacksmith in his shop, and do you dare
+ to find fault with God in His world?_
+
+ ST. BERNARD.
+
+We thank Thee, O loving Father, that we are not alone in the universe
+with longing for the higher life. There are a thousand revelations of
+Thee in our fellowmen. And when we cannot find Thee, for blindness, in
+nature or in ourselves, we can see Thee revealed in the lives heroic
+that surround us. In the abstract Thou art hard to find; in the lives of
+men Thou art always visible. We thank Thee that there is a contagion of
+rightness and that love is a vital seed that fills the world with its
+kind. We are fearful of love sometimes, fearing to waste it on a
+loveless world. Help us to see that every atom we give becomes an ocean
+to ourselves. Amen.
+
+ ALBERT C. GRIER.
+
+
+September 24
+
+ _To be at all--what is better than that?
+ I think if there were nothing more developed, the clam in its callous
+ shell in the sand were august enough
+ I am not in any callous shell;
+ I am cased with supple conductors, all over
+ They take every object by the hand, and lead it within me;
+ They are thousands, each one with his entry to himself;
+ They are always watching with their little eyes, from my head to my feet;
+ One no more than a point lets in and out of me such bliss and magnitude,
+ I think I could lift the girder of the house away if it lay between me
+ and whatever I wanted._
+
+ WALT WHITMAN.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for all the delicate beauty as well
+as for the rugged strength of these bodies in which Thou hast set us to
+live. But more wonderful than the habitation of the soul is the soul
+itself. Thou hast made us a little lower than the angels, Thou hast
+crowned us with glory and honor, and we join reverently in the words of
+the great poet-prophet who said of man--"In action how like an angel, in
+apprehension how like a God!" O Lord, we thank Thee for this great
+thought of our own life. Yet let us not be vain nor proud. We pray
+rather that we may be inspired to live so earnestly and so nobly that we
+shall prove our title now to all that we have dreamed as our natural
+birthright. So shall we feel ourselves to-day sons and daughters of God.
+Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+September 25
+
+ _I do believe the common man's task is the hardest. The hero has
+ the hero's aspiration that lifts him to his labor. All great duties
+ are easier than the little ones, though they cost far more blood
+ and agony._
+
+ PHILLIPS BROOKS.
+
+ _Thus man is made equal to every event. He can face danger for the
+ right. A poor, tender, painful body, he can run into flame or
+ bullets or pestilence, with duty for his guide.... I am not afraid
+ of accident as long as I am in my place.... Every man's task is his
+ life-preserver. The conviction that his work is dear to God and
+ cannot be spared, defends him._
+
+ RALPH WALDO EMERSON.
+
+O Thou Who art the giver of every good and perfect gift, help us better
+to understand the measure of Thy giving; that we count not those
+blessings only which make life smooth and easy and of tame comfort but
+the things that make life resolute and hearty, and that put to test the
+vigor of our souls, that give us chance to prove our high nobility and
+unfaltering courage; the things that build for the soul's fine substance
+of eternal worth--these are Thy blessings, too, for which we thank Thee.
+Give us entrance into Thine eternal living through strong activity and
+zest of life; that manhood have its eager challenge and womanhood its
+glowing opportunity to assert themselves as winning joy through
+bafflement and Thy strong peace that passeth not away, through steadfast
+consecration to high service. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE H. BADGER.
+
+
+September 26
+
+ _If I can put one touch of a rosy sunset into the life of any man,
+ or woman I shall feel that I have worked with God. He is in no
+ haste; and if I do what I may in earnest I need not worry if I do
+ no great work. Let God make His sunsets; I will mottle my little
+ cloud. To help the growth of a thought that struggles toward the
+ light, to brush with gentle hand the earth stain from the white of
+ one snowdrop--such be my ambition._
+
+ GEORGE MACDONALD.
+
+Help us, our Father, to know that we have here at hand all that we need
+to make this day what it ought to be; that we need not look afar, but in
+the duty of this present moment, in the opportunity to learn, to serve
+and thus to grow, which the morning offers, is all that is necessary to
+make this day sound and serviceable; in such a day we shall find
+enduring joy and from it Thou, the Giver of all days, wilt derive
+satisfaction, since it will do its full share in fulfilling Thy purpose.
+And may we see that if we make our todays what they should be Thou wilt
+take care of the tomorrows. Amen.
+
+ HERBERT E. BENTON.
+
+
+September 27
+
+ _My neighbor hath a little field,
+ Small store of wine its presses yield,
+ And truly but a slender hoard
+ Its harvest brings for barn or board.
+ Yet tho' a hundred fields are mine,
+ Fertile with olive, corn and wine;
+ Tho' Autumn piles my garners high,
+ Still for that little field I sigh.
+ For ah! methinks no otherwhere
+ Is any field so good and fair.
+ Small tho' it be, 'tis better far
+ Than all my fruitful vineyards are,
+ Amid whose plenty sad I pine--
+ "Ah, would the little field were mine!"
+ Large knowledge void of peace and rest,
+ And wealth with pining care possest--
+ These by my fertile lands are meant.
+ That little field is called Content._
+
+ ROBERTSON TROWBRIDGE.
+
+Heavenly Father, as prayed Thy servant of old, so we this morning repeat
+"Give us neither poverty nor riches." Help us this day, in whatsoever
+state we are, therewith to be content. May no complaining word proceed
+out of our mouths. Above all may no murmuring thought lodge within us.
+So shall we rest in peace with Thee, and God, even our God, shall bless
+us. Yet, O Lord, forbid that we should remain satisfied with any
+portion, which our best effort, with Thine assistance, can improve. Then
+shall we grow in grace and more and more approach the stature of true
+men and women, in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+
+ M. EMORY WRIGHT.
+
+
+September 28
+
+ _Forenoon and afternoon and night--Forenoon
+ And afternoon and night,--Forenoon, and--what?
+ The empty song repeats itself. No more?
+ Yea, that is life. Make this forenoon sublime,
+ This afternoon a psalm, this night a prayer,
+ And time is conquered, and thy crown is won._
+
+ EDWARD ROWLAND SILL.
+
+ Help me, O Lord, if I shall see
+ Times when I walk from hope apart,
+ Till all my days but seem to be
+ The troubled week-days of the heart.
+
+ Help me to find, in seasons past,
+ The hours that have been good or fair,
+ And bid remembrance hold them fast,
+ To keep me wholly from despair.
+
+ Help me to look behind, before,
+ To make my past and future form
+ A bow of promise, meeting o'er
+ The darkness of my day of storm.
+ Amen.
+
+ PHOEBE CARY.
+
+
+September 29
+
+ _The iris-pillar suggested the burning bush on Horeb. In Moses'
+ time, nature, in the regard of science, was a mere bush, a single
+ shrub. Now it has grown, through the researches of the intellect,
+ to a tree. The universe is a mighty tree; and the great truth for
+ us to connect with the majestic science of these days, and to keep
+ vivid by a religious imagination, is, that from the roots of its
+ mystery to the silver-leaved boughs of the firmament, it is
+ continually filled with God, and yet unconsumed._
+
+ T. STARR KING.
+
+Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, who in all ages has been revealing
+Thyself to men as a God of righteousness and love, we approach Thy
+throne of grace this morning confessing our unworthiness and pleading
+Thy forgiving love. While humbling ourselves before Thee because of the
+consciousness of our unworthiness, we yet approach Thee, our Father,
+with filial trust and confidence, yea, with gladness of heart and holy
+boldness in the all-prevailing name of Jesus Christ our Lord. We bless
+Thee for Thy watchful care over us amid all the dangers, temptations and
+difficulties of the past. Truly Thou hast been with us, and although Thy
+people have often been surrounded by fire, the bush has not been
+consumed. In the future as in the past, be Thou our God and Guide and
+finally bring us into Thine everlasting Kingdom, through Jesus Christ
+our Lord. Amen.
+
+ A. K. MACLENNAN.
+
+
+September 30
+
+ _Would you like to hear what sort of questions the school-boys had
+ to answer eighteen centuries ago? Very well; you shall. A rabbi,
+ who lived nearly twenty years before Christ was born, set his
+ pupils thinking by asking them, "What is the best thing for a man
+ to possess?" One of them replied, "A kind nature;" another, "A good
+ companion;" another, "A good neighbor." But one of them, named
+ Eleazer, said, "A good heart." "I like your answer best, Eleazer,"
+ said the master, "for it includes all the rest."_
+
+ FRANCIS AUGUSTUS COX.
+
+Our Father in heaven, we are happy to believe that Thou dost wish us to
+have the best. Thou dost teach us that the best possession we can have
+is a good heart, for out of the heart are the issues of life. Thou art
+the searcher of hearts,--if our hearts are hard Thou canst give us
+hearts of flesh, if they are sinful Thou canst create clean hearts
+within us. Even if they are desperately wicked Thou canst make them new.
+Grant us, therefore, Thy Holy Spirit we humbly beseech Thee, that our
+hearts may be pure and good. Thus may we ever possess the best possible
+treasure, and thus may we perfectly love Thee and worthily magnify Thy
+holy name. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
+
+ WILLARD T. PERRIN.
+
+
+October 1
+
+ _Month of fruits and falling leaves,
+ Under thy opalescent skies
+ The vagrant summer idly lies,
+ While coming Autumn deftly weaves
+ Rare tints for tall ungarnered sheaves
+ Of goldenrod, kissing the eyes
+ Of purple asters as she dyes
+ The vine that swings beneath the eaves._
+
+ _And all the bending hedgerows seem
+ A Joseph's coat of colors. Hues
+ That shame the rainbow's royal arch
+ Set all the harvest fields a-gleam
+ With beauty, fresh with fragrant dews
+ To crown the season's onward march._
+
+ GEORGE W. SHIPMAN.
+
+Author and Giver of every good and perfect gift whose infinite presence
+and power underlie all growth and life and activity, Who revealest
+Thyself in the varied forms of beauty which come so rapidly in the
+revolving year, in the green grass and blossoming roses and lilies and
+refreshing, fast-succeeding fruits, we thank Thee that Thou art now
+crowning the year with Thy goodness and inviting us to gather in from
+tree, garden, field, forest, mine, what will feed, clothe, protect us
+during the wintry season given us, free from arduous labors, to find
+enjoyment in books, music and social intercourse. These blessings remind
+us to present to Thee the fruits of the spirit, love, joy, peace, long
+suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, temperance. Amen.
+
+ CALVIN S. LOCKE.
+
+
+October 2
+
+ _One answered, on the day when Christ went by,
+ "Lord, I am rich; pause not for such as I.
+ My work, my home, my strength, my frugal store,
+ The sun and rain--what need have I of more?
+ Go to the sinful who have need of Thee,
+ Go to the poor, but tarry not for me.
+ What is there Thou should'st do for such as I?"
+ And He went by._
+
+ _Long years thereafter, by a palace door,
+ The footstep of the Master paused once more
+ From whence the old voice answered piteously,--
+ "Lord, I am poor, my house unfit for Thee;
+ Nor peace nor pleasures bless my princely board,
+ Nor love nor health; what could I give Thee, Lord?
+ Lord, I am poor, unworthy, stained with sin,--"
+ Yet He went in._
+
+ MABEL EARLE.
+
+We who are poor in spirit, turn to Thee who art the giver of every good
+and perfect gift, to hold out our empty hands and pray that Thou wilt
+make us rich. During the past days and years we have been out in Thy
+world striving for more things and then more things and yet more things,
+forgetful of the fact that a man's life consisteth not in the abundance
+of the things which he possesseth. Now, realizing the poverty of our
+real lives, we ask Thee to bestow upon us those eternal riches which
+pertain to the human soul and possessing which we shall have treasure in
+that heaven within where moth and rust do not corrupt nor thieves break
+through and steal. So shall we be rich indeed. Amen.
+
+ FRANK OLIVER HALL.
+
+
+October 3
+
+ _Be strong!
+ We are not here to play, to dream, to drift.
+ We have hard work to do, and loads to lift.
+ Shun not the struggle; face it. 'Tis God's gift._
+
+ _Be strong!
+ Say not the days are evil,--who's to blame?
+ And fold the hands and acquiesce--O shame!
+ Stand up, speak out, and bravely, in God's name._
+
+ _Be strong!
+ It matters not how deep intrenched the wrong,
+ How hard the battle goes, the day how long,
+ Faint not, fight on! Tomorrow comes the song._
+
+ MALTBIE DAVENPORT BABCOCK.
+
+O our Father, we thank Thee for this new morning. Truly the light is
+sweet and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the same. Lift
+Thou upon us the light of Thy countenance and bid us go in peace. So
+shall we begin the day aright. With gentle skill Thou dost deal with us.
+Thou art not careless with us or hasty or impatient. Help us to be
+strong in Thee. May we be able to cast out of our lives everything that
+would grieve Thee and harm us. With a loving spirit may we serve Thee
+this day. May we be rooted and grounded in love. However hard the battle
+may go give us courage and confidence to believe that through Christ,
+strengthening us, we can do all things required of us. Lord, increase
+our faith. Amen.
+
+ J. E. HAWKINS.
+
+
+October 4
+
+ _Nobody proves God's being. But, suddenly, one sees God is here.
+ One speaks and God answers. Thereafter all is sure._
+
+ EDWARD EVERETT HALE.
+
+ _There is nothing that so persuades us of the great realities of
+ moral and spiritual being as the man in whom God is manifest, the
+ type of our human nature at its best, and the indorsement of the
+ sublime faith that God in humanity is the supreme revelation of
+ Himself!_
+
+ HORATIO STEBBINS.
+
+Blessed Father, as the morning light has triumphed in its struggle to
+overcome darkness, so Thou dost gently but irresistibly call us from
+slumber to the glories and duties of the new day. May we be strong in
+the sweet assurance that the unfolding hours are full of blessing
+because Thou art caring for us. Help us to do Thy will by enabling us to
+minister to those around us. May the words of our mouth and the industry
+of our hands reveal Thy guiding love. Enable us to order our ways by the
+habit of trust that we have learned through Thy constancy. Wilt Thou
+disappoint our fears, steady our hearts, and show us the way of
+obedience, peace and service that we may realize the good through the
+day and rejoice in it, as disciples of Christ. Amen.
+
+ JAMES D. CORBY.
+
+
+October 5
+
+ _Thou knowest not what argument
+ Thy life to thy neighbor's creed hath lent;
+ All are needed by each one;
+ Nothing is good or fair alone._
+
+ RALPH WALDO EMERSON.
+
+ _Men will not be content to live every man for himself, nor to die
+ every man for himself. In work, in art, in study, in trade--in all
+ life, indeed, the children of God, called by a Saviour's voice,
+ will wish to live in the common cause. They will live for the
+ common wealth,--this is the modern phrase. They will bear each
+ other's burdens,--this is the phrase of Paul. They will live in the
+ life of love. And it will prove true as it was promised, that all
+ things are added to the community which thus seeks the Kingdom of
+ God and His Righteousness._
+
+ EDWARD EVERETT HALE.
+
+Eternal God, who dost still create the light, and make the morning and
+the evening of our days, by Thy light we look to Thee. In Thy light we
+worship Thee. Gird us with strength to work with Thee to bring Thy
+Kingdom in. May we lose and find ourselves again in the larger whole of
+life by ministering to others' needs; by bearing others' burdens; by
+sharing their joys and tears and the common fruits of toil, thus making
+our life and faith in Thee become their own. Let Thy work appear unto
+Thy servants, and establish Thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the
+work of our hands establish Thou it; and let Thy beauty and Thy glory be
+upon us forever and ever. Amen.
+
+ C. E. HOLMES.
+
+
+October 6
+
+ _Master, to do great work for Thee, my hand
+ Is far too weak! Thou givest what may suit,
+ Some little chips to cut with care minute,
+ Or tint, or grave, or polish. Others stand
+ Before their quarried marble, fair and grand,
+ And make a life-work of the grand design
+ Which Thou hast traced; or, many-skilled, combine
+ To build vast temples, gloriously planned.
+ Yet take the tiny stones which I have wrought
+ Just one by one, as they were given by Thee,
+ Not knowing what came next in Thy wise thought.
+ Let each stone by Thy master-hand of grace
+ Form the mosaic as Thou wilt for me
+ And in Thy temple-pavement give it place._
+
+ FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL.
+
+Father, we are shortsighted and weak, and hence cannot do our best work
+without Thine aid. We rejoice in the privileges and opportunities of
+this day. Thou hast counted us worthy to work for Thee. Thou canst use
+our loaves and fishes, but dost require us to bring thus our little all
+for Thy blessing. We are inspired with hope to make our consecration to
+Thee. Make this a day of glorious service. Guide us in our thoughts and
+work. Glorify Thyself in our life. And wherever the close of this day
+may find us may it be with the feeling that we have done our best by Thy
+blessing and help. Amen.
+
+ J. W. FULTON.
+
+
+October 7
+
+ _"Whatever the weather may be," says he--
+ "Whatever the weather may be,
+ It's the songs ye sing, an' the smiles ye wear,
+ That's a-making the sun shine everywhere;
+ An' the world of gloom is a world of glee,
+ Wid the bird in the bush, an' the bud in the tree
+ An' the fruit on the stim o' the bough," says he,
+ "Whatever the weather may be," says he--
+ "Whatever the weather may be!"_
+
+ JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY.
+
+O Father of Lights, with whom can be no variation, neither shadow that
+is cast by turning, help us today so to trust Thee that our joy may be
+unclouded. Thy love is unchanging in its radiance and warmth. Therefore
+let it glow in me and through me light someone who may be in darkness. O
+strong Son of God, who art the same, yesterday, today, yea, and forever,
+enable us, we beseech Thee, to be brave and cheery as though Thyself
+wast in the darkest hours as in the brightest. Teach us that the storm
+and trial is just our opportunity to shine. Cleanse us of all
+disobedience and darkness. Be our constant Comforter. Let others see
+that it is Christ within us. Amen.
+
+ THOMAS W. SMITH.
+
+
+October 8
+
+ _Look up to God, and say, "Make use of me for the future as Thou
+ wilt. I am of the same mind; I am equal with Thee. I refuse nothing
+ which seems good to Thee. Lead me whither Thou wilt. Clothe me in
+ whatever dress Thou wilt. Is it Thy will that I should be in a
+ public or private condition; dwell here, or be banished; be poor or
+ rich? Under all these circumstances I will make Thy defence to men.
+ I will show what the nature of everything is."_
+
+ EPICTETUS.
+
+Merciful Father, we begin this day, knowing not what the end may be,
+with thoughts of Thee and Thy loving kindness. May this be to us a day
+of joy, a day upon which we can look back and say we have been blessed
+by Thee. We pray for that spirit that enabled others to labor in the
+cause of love and righteousness, and while we may not be able to
+accomplish all the good we have set our hearts upon, may the thought
+that our lives and our labors have not been in vain, inspire us and
+others with courage to continue the work of helping and blessing our
+fellowmen. Amen.
+
+ DONALD FRASER.
+
+
+October 9
+
+ _Men deny the Divine Existence with as little feeling as the most
+ assert it. Even in our true systems we go on collecting mere words,
+ playmarks and medals, as the misers do coins; and not till late do
+ we transmute the words into feelings, the coins into enjoyments. A
+ man may for twenty years believe the immortality of the soul; in
+ the one-and-twentieth, in some great moment, he for the first time
+ discovers with amazement the rich meaning of this belief, and the
+ warmth of this naphtha-well._
+
+ RICHTER.
+
+O Thou Who slumberest not, nor sleepest, in the dawn of this new day we
+look trustingly to Thee. While the night has been enfolding us, Thy
+loving care has held us in the everlasting arms. May this day be for us
+a fresh consecration. May we be ennobled in Thee. May we share Thy life
+in things small or great. However humble our lives--however emptied our
+experience of that which wins the plaudits of men, may we manifest Thee.
+By us may Thy Kingdom come and Thy will be done. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE H. YOUNG.
+
+
+October 10
+
+ _Thou wilt not hold in scorn the child who dares
+ Look up to Thee, the Father,--dares to ask
+ More than Thy wisdom answers. From Thy hand
+ The worlds were cast; yet every leaflet claims
+ From that same hand its little shining sphere
+ Of star-lit dew; thine image, the great sun,
+ Girt with his mantle of tempestuous flame,
+ Glares in mid-heaven; but to his noontide blaze
+ The slender violet lifts its lidless eye,
+ And from his splendor steals its fairest hue,
+ Its sweetest perfume from the scorching fire._
+
+ OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.
+
+Thou great Spirit of life and power, we do not shrink in terror before
+Thee, but come to Thee in trust and love. Though we cannot fathom the
+mystery of Thy life nor measure the might of Thy power, yet we have
+learned to call Thee Father; and even as the violet lifts its face to
+the noonday sun to find the secret of its life, so we lift our faces to
+Thee, to find the secret of our lives. Thou answerest us with
+tenderness. Thou speakest to us in love. Fresh from sleep, we put our
+hands in Thine to be led forth to the duties of the day. May we go forth
+with that confidence and hope, which are born of trust in Thee, our
+Father. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+October 11
+
+ _Now believe me, God hides some ideal in every human soul. Some
+ time in our life we feel a trembling, fearful longing to do some
+ good thing. Life finds its noblest spring of excellence in this
+ hidden impulse to do our best. There is a time when we are not
+ content to be such merchants or doctors or lawyers as we see on the
+ dead level or below it. The woman longs to glorify her womanhood as
+ sister, wife or mother. Here is God,--God standing silently at the
+ door all day long,--God whispering to the soul that to be pure and
+ true is to succeed in life and that whatever we get short of that
+ will burn up like stubble, though the whole world try to save it._
+
+ ROBERT COLLYER.
+
+God of all power and might, come into our lives with Thy might and Thy
+power. Awaken us from that slumber of death-in-life which easily and
+sweetly steals through the door, and, like some new Delilah, binds the
+strong will within. Come, come as the fresh morning sun, to drive away
+the mist of our sloth and indecision. Come, enter; and bring with Thee
+the upstirring power and the wide radiance of the life divine. Come,
+enter, and abide! When Thou art absent, though life be easy, it doth not
+satisfy us; but when Thou art present, though life be hard, it doth also
+content us. O God of all power and might, come Thou into our lives with
+Thy might and Thy power. Amen.
+
+ MELVIN BRANDOW.
+
+
+October 12
+
+ _If you really want to help your fellowmen, you must not merely
+ have in you what would do them good if they should take it from
+ you, but you must be such a man that they can take it from you. The
+ snow must melt upon the mountain and come down in a spring torrent,
+ before its richness can make the valley rich. And yet in every age
+ there are cold, hard, unsympathetic wise men standing up aloof,
+ like snow banks on the hill tops, conscious of the locked up
+ fertility in them and wondering that their wisdom does not save the
+ world._
+
+ PHILLIPS BROOKS.
+
+O Thou, who hast kept us safely during the unconsciousness of our
+slumbering hours and brought us refreshed to this morning light, prepare
+us for the duties of this day by filling us with the assurance that we
+are Thine, and that Thou lovest us. Help us to be more like Thee, to
+love Thee more and serve Thee better. May we manifest our love to Thee
+by our willingness to be of service to our fellowmen. Make us
+warm-hearted and true, helpful and kind, reflecting Thy love and doing
+Thy will. We are glad to live in this beautiful world. And we pray that
+we may be faithful co-laborers with Jesus Christ, in bringing light,
+love and joy to all lives. Amen.
+
+ EUGENE M. GRANT.
+
+
+October 13
+
+ _A few more smiles of silent sympathy, a few more tender words, a
+ little more restraint in temper, may make all the difference
+ between happiness and half-happiness to those I live with._
+
+ STOPFORD A. BROOKE.
+
+ _Others shall sing the song,
+ Others shall right the wrong,
+ Finish what I begin,
+ And all I fail to win,
+ What matter, I or they,
+ Mine or another's day,
+ So the right word be said,
+ And life the sweeter made?_
+
+ JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER.
+
+Father, so little of the world in which we live is Thy world, so much
+our world, the petty, dwarfed world of our own small vision, that we
+lose heart and fail to do our share. Help us to see that, as in the
+densest swamps the sweetest flowers grow, so, even in our darkest hours,
+we still may be sweet at heart, saying the word, doing the deed, giving
+the sympathy, that will make the world sing and blossom. If there are
+times when pain and darkness obscure our vision of Thee, help us to look
+on to the sunset of our day, when the black pall is transfigured at the
+touch of Thy glory,--when sorrow and failure transcended by gentleness
+are our beauty and salvation. Amen.
+
+ JOHN M. DAVIDSON.
+
+
+October 14
+
+ _There is not a man in the world who is not saved by hope every day
+ of his life. Rob one of hope and you have robbed him of his power.
+ Nothing may so quickly unnerve a man and render him helpless as to
+ take hope out of his heart. What is poverty? What is sickness? What
+ is disaster? What are daily burdens? What signifies the desertion
+ of friends, what of death itself so long as a man can hope? The man
+ who hopes will brush every difficulty out of the way. He will put
+ aside every suggestion of failure. Take hope out of a man's heart
+ and you have taken all. Put hope into a man's heart and you have
+ given all._
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+We thank Thee, O God, for the light of another morning, for the
+privilege of entering upon another day. We shall meet with those who do
+not understand life nor the world in which we live. It is to them only a
+place to bear burdens, to toil, to endure. Give us, O Father,
+understanding minds and hearts. Teach us to know that life is a great
+opportunity, that Thy plans for each one are very broad, that the world
+is full of open doors; and inspired by this knowledge may no despondent
+soul cross our path without being helped and made to feel that every
+life through the love of God and the guidance of God may be made
+sublime. Amen.
+
+ ALEXANDER DIGHT.
+
+
+October 15
+
+ _Ho! for the bending sheaves,
+ Ho! for the crimson leaves
+ Flaming in splendor!
+ Season of ripened gold,
+ Plenty in crib and fold,
+ Skies with a depth untold
+ Liquid and tender._
+
+ JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL.
+
+Source Infinite and Eternal of Light and Life; Creator of being flowing
+on forever; Minister far and wide of unspeakable bounty; Through whose
+power rise the riches of Nature; From whose abundance descend all gifts
+to man; Soul of our souls and safeguard of the world; To whom all
+Intelligence looks through every dawn; And by whose support the heart of
+man is stayed; Let there be to our steps paths of brightness; to our
+lives laws of justice, kindness, and trust, that we may abound in doing
+good and by grace, mercy, and truth duly shown, may obtain grateful
+remembrance evermore. Amen.
+
+ EDWARD C. TOWNE.
+
+
+October 16
+
+ _There is something in the autumn that is native to my blood
+ Touch of manner, hint of mood;
+ And my heart is like a rhyme,
+ With the yellow and the purple and the crimson keeping time._
+
+ _The scarlet of the maples can shake me like a cry
+ Of bugles going by.
+ And my lonely spirit thrills
+ To see the frosty asters like a smoke upon the hills._
+
+ RICHARD HOVEY.
+
+O Father, my heart is lonely till I feel Thy spirit near, and then the
+glory of the season brings a message to my soul. Help me now to see Thy
+master hand in the great beauty of the world. May my soul that feels the
+glad riot of color know that he who gives such beauty and bounty has for
+me far richer blessings in the great fields of the future. May this day,
+begun with Nature's rhythm be set with the music of holy purpose and
+noble service. And may the music sound not alone for me, but for others
+that we together may march forward in the spirit of Him who loved the
+lilies of the field and the fowls of the air. Amen.
+
+ CHARLES E. VARNEY.
+
+
+October 17
+
+ _Thousands of years ago a leaf fell on the soft clay, and seemed to
+ be lost. But last summer a geologist in his ramblings broke off a
+ piece of rock with his hammer, and there lay the image of the leaf,
+ with every line and every vein and all the delicate tracery
+ preserved in the stone through those centuries. So the words we
+ speak and the things we do today may seem to be lost, but in the
+ great final revealing the smallest of them will appear._
+
+ JAMES RUSSELL MILLER.
+
+Our Father we thank Thee for the light of this new day. Tenderly Thou
+hast withdrawn the curtain of the night and shown us the beauties and
+glories of Nature, reminding us of Thine own blessed verdict in the dawn
+of creation, "Behold they are very good." Good indeed, is it to live in
+such a world, and we thank Thee for our being. We ask this morning, dear
+Lord, not for the perishing things of earth, but for continued power and
+disposition to enjoy Thee and Thy works, for a faith that never wavers
+and a hope that never grows dim, for such a portion of this world's
+goods as the wise may enjoy without harm and the righteous hold without
+wrong. Amen.
+
+ JAMES SALLAWAY.
+
+
+October 18
+
+ _Nay, I wrong you, little flower,
+ Reading mournful mood of mine
+ In your looks, that give no sign
+ Of a spirit dark and cheerless:
+ You possess the heavenly power
+ That rejoices in the hour,
+ Glad, contented, free and fearless,--
+ Lifts a sunny face to heaven
+ When a sunny day is given;
+ Makes a summer of its own,
+ Blooming late and all alone._
+
+ HENRY VAN DYKE.
+
+We thank Thee, O Father, that, to those who obey the command of Jesus to
+consider them, the flowers become prophets of God and preachers of
+righteousness. We thank Thee for the worship which They render Thee, so
+pure, so brave, so glad, and so acceptable. They may not hinder Thee and
+Thou dost work Thy perfect will in them; O give us the wisdom and the
+grace to make Thee welcome to our hearts until in us also Thou shalt
+work Thy perfect will. So may we find our true use and felicity, and
+render unto Thee the praise that is Thy due. And this we ask through
+Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
+
+ CHARLES R. TENNEY.
+
+
+October 19
+
+ _Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness!
+ Close bosom friend of the maturing sun;
+ Conspiring with Him how to load and bless
+ With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run;
+ To bend with apples the moss'd cottage trees,
+ And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
+ To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel-shells
+ With a sweet kernel; to set to budding more
+ And still more later flowers for the bees,
+ Until they think warm days will never cease,
+ For summer has o'er brimmed their clammy cells._
+
+ JOHN KEATS.
+
+Our dear Heavenly Father, Thou hast ever been wooing us by a thousand
+influences and voices to Thyself and our souls are ever restless till
+they rest in Thy love. The voices of nature everywhere speak to us of
+Thy goodness and Thy power and all verdure and blossom and fruitage is
+but the answer of the inanimate world to Thy call of life. Shall we do
+less than these, O God, when upon us Thou hast stamped Thine own image
+and made our being the house beautiful for Thine indwelling! We are Thy
+disciples indeed if we bear much fruit and have love one for the other.
+Mould us, fashion us, mature us, dear Lord, till the angels, watching at
+the gates and on the towers, say we look like Thee. And this we ask in
+Jesus' name. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE M. SMILEY.
+
+
+October 20
+
+ _I pluck an acorn from the greensward, and hold it to my ear and
+ this is what it says to me: "By and by the birds will come and nest
+ in me. By and by I will furnish shade for the cattle. By and by I
+ will provide warmth for the home in the pleasant fire. By and by I
+ will be shelter from the storm to those who have gone under the
+ roof. By and by I will be the strong ribs of the great vessel, and
+ the tempest will beat against me in vain, while I carry men across
+ the Atlantic." "O foolish little acorn, wilt thou be all this?" I
+ ask. And the acorn answers, "Yes, God and I."_
+
+ LYMAN ABBOTT.
+
+Almighty God, we believe that Thou art present and controlling in all
+the operations of Nature. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without Thy
+notice. All life is of Thy giving. Plants, animals, and worlds alike are
+governed by Thy laws. We realize in some measure Thy Omnipotence. We
+should fear to draw near to Thee if Thou hadst not revealed Thyself to
+us in Jesus Christ as a God of love. Thou, O God, art love. We believe
+that Thou wilt give to all Thy children eternal life. As from the acorn
+comes the oak, clothed in royal beauty, seemingly life from death, so
+from what seems death shall our immortal spirits rise to dwell forever
+with Thee. We adore Thee, O God. We love Thee for Thy goodness and Thy
+love shown to us. Be gracious unto us and bless us for our Saviour's
+sake. Amen.
+
+ CYRUS NORTHROP.
+
+
+October 21
+
+ _I suppose every day of earth, with its hundred thousand deaths and
+ something more of births,--with its loves and hates, its triumphs
+ and defeats, its pangs and blisses, has more of humanity in it than
+ all the books that were ever written, put together. I believe the
+ flowers growing at this moment send up more fragrance to heaven
+ than was ever exhaled from all the essences ever distilled._
+
+ OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, Thou art in all nature and in all human history. If
+we really know our world and our fellowmen and ourselves, we shall know
+Thee. As we enter upon the work of this new day, we pray that we may
+feel Thy presence with us. Thou art never far away from us; we cannot
+get away from our world, and we cannot fly from ourselves. Thou art with
+Thy world and Thou art with Thy children. We ask not so much for Thy
+presence, as for the consciousness of Thy presence. May we learn to know
+Thee in the world about us and in the secret places of our own hearts.
+Then shall all life be fragrant and beautiful and this day somewhat
+divine. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+October 22
+
+ _The best thing to take people out of their own worries, is to go
+ to work and find out how other folk's worries are getting on._
+
+ MRS. A. D. T. WHITNEY.
+
+ _Socrates thought that if all our misfortunes were laid in one
+ common heap, whence every one must take an equal portion, most
+ persons would be content to take their own and depart._
+
+ PLUTARCH.
+
+Our Father in Heaven, the light of this new day is the light of Thy
+countenance, therefore we rejoice. In Thy sunshine our souls find
+strength for the burdens Thou dost give, and even through Thy shadows we
+reach the peace which passeth understanding. Yet Thou art comfort to us
+that we may comfort the troubled and the distressed with the comfort
+wherewith we ourselves are comforted. Set Thou our feet in the paths of
+service. Make us, we pray Thee, glad ministers of Thy mercy, and in
+binding up the wounds of others may we have balm for our own. By this
+day, may we grow in patience and power, and in the knowledge of Thy
+love. Amen.
+
+ LEON O. WILLIAMS.
+
+
+October 23
+
+ _Life has a thousand pages--love and scorn,
+ Hope and adventure, poverty and sin,
+ Despair and glory, loneliness forlorn,
+ Age, sorrow, exile, all are writ therein--;
+ And on each page, however stern or sad,
+ Are words which gleam upon the crabbed scroll,
+ Revealing words, that make our spirits glad,
+ And well are worth the study of the soul.
+ We may not lightly shrink from any leaf,
+ For on it may be writ the word we need.
+ God turns the page--whatever joy or grief
+ He opens for us, let us wisely read._
+
+ PRISCILLA LEONARD.
+
+Fill our souls with Thy light, O God, that we may ever hope. Give us the
+poise of endless progress. Make our souls free and joyous as the bird's
+wing. Give us the courage of our convictions in all places, under all
+conditions. Make us brave. Take away all forms of fear, whether of man,
+of nature, or of Thee, and make us feel that each is our mighty friend,
+but Thou supreme over all, faithful each moment to our being, in ten
+thousand sweet, true, tender, life-giving, life-sustaining ministries.
+Teach us to look for Thee everywhere, and to see Thy order, and Thy
+beauty, facing all things Heavenward. May our ideals be perfect
+holiness, perfect strength, perfect love, perfect service. Make our
+faith great in the higher estate, where our faculties, only dawning
+here, shall rise in a glorious morning of the soul. Amen.
+
+ A. N. ALCOTT.
+
+
+October 24
+
+ _Suppose a kindly word of mine
+ Could lift the clouds and bring sunshine;
+ Am I my brother's keeper?_
+
+ _Suppose the weary worker toils,
+ For scanty pittance delves and moils;
+ Am I my brother's keeper?_
+
+ _Suppose in penury and fear
+ My neighbor see the wolf draw near;
+ Am I my brother's keeper?_
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ _Perhaps--who knows?--perhaps I'm not!
+ Self-centred soul! hast thou forgot
+ The marvel of our common lot,
+ The mystic tie that binds us all
+ Who dwell on this terrestrial ball,
+ Stupendous hope of time and song,
+ The bourne for which the ages long?
+ How hard our hearts must seem to Thee,
+ Exhaustless Fount of Charity!_
+
+ HENRY NEHEMIAH DODGE.
+
+We thank Thee, our Father, for the light of a new day and for its
+opportunities of service for Thee and Thy great Cause. We rejoice that
+Thou dost not only set duty clearly before us, but also dost grant power
+to perform it. May we realize not only that we are "our brother's
+keeper," and that our lives are helpful or harmful every day, but may we
+be increasingly grateful that we may every day by Thy grace be
+fellow-helpers and workers together with God. Amen.
+
+ WILLIAM FULL.
+
+
+October 25
+
+ _It is of no use to dispute about the Indian Summer. I never found
+ two people who could agree as to the time when it ought to be here,
+ or upon a month and day when it should be decidedly too late to
+ look for it. It keeps coming. For my part, I think we get it now
+ and then, little by little, as "the Kingdom" comes. That every
+ soft, warm, mellow, hazy, golden day, like each fair, fragrant
+ life, is a part and out-crop of it; though weeks of gale and frost,
+ or ages of cruel worldliness and miserable sin may lie between._
+
+ MRS. A. D. T. WHITNEY.
+
+Vouchsafe Thy blessing, O Heavenly Father, upon this morning service of
+thanksgiving and prayer. We thank Thee that each year Thou sendest
+seed-time and harvest, to us Thy children. For the beauty and bounty of
+the Autumn, for all Thy material gifts, for friends and home, and for
+our precious Christian faith, we are deeply grateful to Thee. Give us
+the attentive mind, the receptive heart, that we may see Thy providence
+and love in every event of life. Banish fear and doubt from our minds.
+Guard us from all temptations. May the Spirit of Christ abide in our
+hearts, and enable us to glorify Thee in all our works and lives. In its
+power and glory may Thy Kingdom come, and remain upon the earth forever.
+Amen.
+
+ ELBERT W. WHITNEY.
+
+
+October 26
+
+ _Pleasant smiles, gentle tones, cheery greetings, tempers sweet
+ under a headache or a business care or the children's noise; the
+ ready bubbling over of thoughtfulness for one another, and the
+ habits of smiling, greeting, forbearing, thinking in these ways; it
+ is these above all else which makes one's home "a building of God;
+ a house not made with hands," these that we hear in the song of
+ "Home, Sweet Home."_
+
+ WILLIAM C. GANNETT.
+
+Almighty Father, the light of another day breaks in upon our lives, to
+reveal to us unfinished tasks and unsought duties. The sorrows and joys
+of the coming day are hidden from our sight, enswathed in the folded
+hours of toil. But Thou knowest all our heedless ways and tempers that
+chafe from impatience; Thou seest the measure of our needs and dost
+consider our desires. Give unto us the consciousness of Thine
+everlasting arms about us. And then when the shadows lengthen and the
+twilight hushes the hum of toil, our spirits shall know no weariness and
+bear no stain. Give ear unto this our morning prayer, O Thou Light of
+Light. Amen.
+
+ FRANCIS TREADWAY CLAYTON.
+
+
+October 27
+
+ _How can people help loving things, when they are full of life
+ magnetism, that even a finger touch gets the thrill of?_
+
+ _It is not the sunshine, or any other tangible why, that accounts
+ for the pleasantness of old house corners. It is the pureness and
+ the pleasantness that have clustered there; the very walls have
+ drunk these in._
+
+ MRS. A. D. T. WHITNEY.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, wilt Thou keep our home life bright and sweet?
+Guard our lips from harsh words, our lives from shame. If quarrels
+arise, help us to be the first to forgive and forget. In the hour of
+temptation may we say no, because of a father's splendid honor, and a
+mother's pure face! In the time of trial or seeming defeat may we be
+brave and of good cheer! Teach us that home is made dear, not by its
+furnishings, but by the memories and inspirations of the hours we spent
+under its roof with those who loved us and were always tender and true!
+Bind us together in the bonds of love and peace, and keep us always
+united and a happy family. Amen.
+
+ HENRY R. ROSE.
+
+
+October 28
+
+ _There are loyal hearts, there are spirits brave,
+ There are souls that are pure and true;
+ Then give to the world the best you have,
+ And the best shall come back to you._
+
+ _Give love, and love to your heart will flow,
+ A strength in your utmost need;
+ Have faith, and a score of hearts will show
+ Their faith in your word and deed._
+
+ _For life is the mirror of king and slave,
+ 'Tis just what you are and do;
+ Then give to the world the best you have,
+ And the best will come back to you._
+
+ MADELINE S. BRIDGES.
+
+Almighty Father, we come to Thee for a Father's blessing, that this day
+we may go about Thy work and enter into Thy business, alive in Thy
+spirit and strong in Thy strength. We ask this for ourselves, each of
+us, that we may be knit to each other as brothers with brothers, to bear
+each other's burdens. We ask it most of all for home, that in home-life
+there always may be joy and peace and love, each seeking another's good,
+brothers and sisters with sisters and brothers, fathers and mothers with
+their children, that home may be the place of Thy holy spirit and the
+home of joy. Today we would come and go as Thy messengers, in our own
+lives welcoming the Father, who is with us seeking Thy strength and
+asking for Thy good will. Bless us today with Thy blessing. Amen.
+
+ _Edward Everett Hale._
+
+
+October 29
+
+ _We are never more discontented with others than when we are
+ discontented with ourselves. The consciousness of wrongdoing makes
+ us irritable, and our heart in its cunning quarrels with what is
+ outside it, in order that it may deafen the clamor within._
+
+ _In the conduct of life, habits count for more than maxims, because
+ habit is a living maxim, become flesh and instinct. To reform one's
+ maxims is nothing; it is but to change the title of the book. To
+ learn new habits is everything, for it is to reach the substance of
+ life. Life is but a tissue of habits._
+
+ HENRI-FRÉDÉRIC AMIEL.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, we pray that our daily life may take on that
+dignity and calmness and tranquillity which are the possession of those
+who truly and inwardly trust and confide in the eternal Goodness, who
+believe that our days are ordered by a Higher Power, and that through
+all there runs a thread,--a chain of Infinite Love, binding us all to
+Thee and to one common universal good and blessedness. In this faith,
+keep us, O Holy Father, and, filled with love to Thee and to our
+neighbor, may we pursue our way and do our work, anxious only to have
+Thee in all our thoughts. In Thy name, Amen.
+
+ JOSHUA YOUNG.
+
+
+October 30
+
+ _Thus pass away the generations of men!--thus perish the records of
+ the glory of nations! Yet, when every emanation of the human mind
+ has faded, when in the storms of time the monuments of man's
+ creative art are scattered to the dust, an ever new life springs
+ from the bosom of the earth. Unceasingly prolific Nature unfolds
+ her germs, regardless though sinful man, ever at war with himself,
+ tramples beneath his foot the ripening fruit!_
+
+ ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT.
+
+Infinite Spirit, Thou buildest the monuments of Thy power in the rocks
+of the mountains, but Thou buildest the monuments of Thy love in the
+hearts of men. When the bodies and the works of men have perished the
+rocks will abide and the trees will bear their fruit. But when the rocks
+have crumbled the souls of men will abide. If that which is seen is
+temporal, we thank Thee O Lord, that the unseen is eternal. We are awed
+by the majesty of the seas and the mountains. But we are inspired by the
+immortality of the soul. Heavenly Father, may we live today as if made
+for eternity. So may our lives be dignified and glorified. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+October 31
+
+ _God doth not need
+ Either man's work, or His own gifts, who best
+ Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best; His state
+ Is kingly; thousands at His bidding speed
+ And post o'er land and ocean without rest:--
+ They also serve who only stand and wait._
+
+ JOHN MILTON.
+
+O God, who didst give to Thy servant light in his blindness and music in
+the heart, grant that I may this day be swift to run on all errands of
+mercy and truth, or patient to wait Thy will, if so Thou commandest.
+Make me as unswerving as are the stars above me, as trustful as the
+birds who sing at dawn, and fear not what the day may bring. May I be
+strong to resist all evil, and cleave to that which is good. May I be
+conscious that in the loneliest hour Thou art near, and in the most
+solitary place there is the communion of saints. May Thy power flow
+through human weakness, and may all the trials and testings of life lead
+me constantly to the Rock that is higher than I. So may Thy will be done
+in my life as it is in heaven. Amen.
+
+ W. H. P. FAUNCE.
+
+
+November 1
+
+ _I saw the long line of the vacant shore
+ The sea-weed and the shells upon the sand,
+ And the brown rocks left bare on every hand,
+ As if the ebbing tide would flow no more,
+ Then heard I, more distinctly than before,
+ The ocean breathe and its great breast expand,
+ And hurrying came on the defenceless land
+ The insurgent waters with tumultuous roar.
+ All thought and feeling and desire, I said,
+ Love, laughter, and the exultant joy of song
+ Have ebbed from me forever! Suddenly o'er me
+ They swept again from their deep ocean bed
+ And in a tumult of delight, and strong
+ As youth, and beautiful as youth, upbore me._
+
+ HENRY W. LONGFELLOW.
+
+We give Thee hearty thanks, most Holy Father that Thou hast not
+delivered up our souls to the emptiness and longing of despair. In Thy
+mercy and wisdom hast Thou ordained that we may taste ever afresh the
+deepest joys of life and ever anew feel the thrill of its loftiest
+inspirations. Like the sea is our life for its largeness; like the sea
+in its ebbs and flows. O Father of Life, flood our souls this day with a
+tide from the ocean of Thine own love lifting our lives to highest
+service and bliss. And Thine shall be all the honor and praise. Amen.
+
+ E. W. LUTTERMAN.
+
+
+November 2
+
+ _The bird, let loose in Eastern skies,
+ When hastening fondly home,
+ Ne'er stoops to earth her wing, nor flies
+ Where idle warblers roam.
+ But high she shoots through air and light
+ Above all low delay,
+ Where nothing earthly bounds her flight,
+ Nor shadow dims her way._
+
+ _So grant me, God, from every care,
+ And stain of passion free,
+ Aloft, through Virtue's purer air,
+ To hold my course to Thee!
+ No sin to cloud--no lure to stay
+ My soul, as home she springs;--
+ Thy sunshine on her joyful way,
+ Thy freedom in her wings!_
+
+ THOMAS MOORE.
+
+O God, who art both life and truth, the Author of our being and the
+light which lighteneth all, the source of our soul's life, and the goal
+towards which we strive, as cleaves the lark at dawn the heavenly blue,
+so may our souls be freed from sense, whose music siren-like would seek
+to draw us from our flight to Thee. As that same bird rejoices in the
+morning light, and sounds its note of praise, so may our souls be tuned
+to heavenly symphonies, and may the sunshine of Thy love, resplendent in
+secure omnipotence, give glad assurance to our hearts, nor cease to
+guide our way, until we reach that central orb, our soul's true home,
+and find eternal rest in Thee. Amen.
+
+ ALBERT B. SHIELDS.
+
+
+November 3
+
+ _There is ever a song somewhere, my dear;
+ There is ever a something sings alway:
+ There's the song of the lark when the skies are clear
+ And the song of the thrush when the skies are gray,
+ The sunshine showers across the grain,
+ And the bluebird trills in the orchard tree;
+ And in and out, when the eaves drip rain,
+ The swallows art twittering ceaselessly._
+
+ _There is ever a song somewhere, my dear,
+ Be the skies above or dark or fair,
+ There is ever a song that our hearts may hear--
+ There is ever a song somewhere, my dear--
+ There is ever a song somewhere!_
+
+ JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY.
+
+O God, the Giver of all harmony and joy, before whom the morning stars
+sang together, by Whom the voice of the sparrow is heard, we thank Thee
+that we may serve Thee with gladness and come before Thy presence with
+singing. Put Thy new song into our mouths and help us to render the
+acceptable praises of the upright and pure in heart. Help us to love all
+Thy creatures and to delight in the songs Thou hast taught them.
+Especially enable us to bless our brother men, to hush their sighing and
+swell their singing, to strengthen the chorus of joy and praise with
+which Thou hast ordained the world shall be filled. We ask with
+confidence because we know Thy love. Amen.
+
+ J. FRANCIS COOPER.
+
+
+November 4
+
+ _The snow has capped yon distant hill,
+ At morn the running brook was still,
+ From driven herds the clouds that rise
+ Are like the smoke of sacrifice;
+ Ere long the frozen sod shall mark
+ The ploughshare, changed to stubborn rock.
+ The brawling stream shall soon be done--
+ Sing, little bird! the frosts have come._
+
+ OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.
+
+Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, Thou art the giver of all good gifts,
+and all that comes from Thy hand is good. May we accept Thy providences.
+In the dreary days of winter as in the pleasant summer season, Thy
+mercies are new every morning and fresh every evening. Even when our
+hearts are chilled with grief and disappointment and failure, we would
+still put our trust in the eternal goodness. Help us, O God, to be truly
+grateful for everything that comes to us. In the winter of the soul may
+we learn the lessons of patience and resignation. Thus, with faith
+triumphant and with hearts full of gladness may we sing our songs of
+praise to Thy holy name forever and forever. Amen.
+
+ ARTHUR W. GROSE.
+
+
+November 5
+
+ _It is will alone that matters!
+ Will alone that mars or makes,
+ Will, that no distraction scatters,
+ And that no resistance breaks._
+
+ HENRIK IBSEN.
+
+ _No man can choose what coming hours may bring
+ To him of need, of joy, of suffering;
+ But what his soul shall bring unto each hour
+ To meet its challenge--this is in his power._
+
+ PRISCILLA LEONARD.
+
+Infinite God, Who perceivest the destinies of worlds and of men; Who
+bringest to pass all that we enjoy, and Who permittest all that we
+suffer; may I this day be enabled to recognize Thy Fatherly goodness, in
+the morning mists, even as in the noonday brightness! Should sorrow
+becloud my pathway, should disappointment make its keen thrusts, should
+temptation lay its attractive coils, may my soul be made aware of Thy
+consoling presence, enjoy the compensations of Thy grace, assert the
+potency of the wisdom from above! And mayest Thou reveal Thyself! So may
+be fanned to a flame the divine spark in my heart, whereby all are made
+partakers of the victory with and through our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.
+
+ ERNEST W. BURCH.
+
+
+November 6
+
+ _"Yes," she answered, lifting her eyes to his face; "I, too, have
+ felt it, Hermas, this burden, this need, this unsatisfied longing.
+ I think I know what it means. It is gratitude;--the language of the
+ heart, the music of happiness. There is no perfect joy without
+ gratitude. But we have never learned it, and the want of it
+ troubles us. It is like being dumb with a heart full of love. We
+ must find the word for it, and say it together. Then we shall be
+ perfectly joined in perfect joy."_
+
+ HENRY VAN DYKE.
+
+Almighty God, forbid that we shall ever be satisfied with the rich gifts
+of Thy land, or until the gifts have brought us, appreciative, humble,
+grateful, to Thee, the giver of them all. Help us to see that this is
+their high office, disregarding which the noblest of them becomes a
+stumbling block, accepting which the humblest of them becomes a means of
+grace and of surpassing gladness. Move us, then, to such acceptance of
+Thy favors as shall bring us to Thee rejoicing, that we may need less
+the experiences which shall bring us to Thee weeping. And hallow all our
+human loves by lifting us to a common sense and acknowledgment of Thy
+transcendent love, as shown especially in Jesus Christ. Amen.
+
+ CHARLES R. TENNEY.
+
+
+November 7
+
+ _"What is the real good?"
+ I asked, in musing mood.
+ "Order," said the court;
+ "Knowledge," said the school,
+ "Truth," said the wise man,
+ "Pleasure," said the fool,
+ "Love," said the maiden,
+ "Beauty," said the page,
+ "Freedom," said the dreamer,
+ "Home," said the sage;
+ "Fame," said the soldier,
+ "Equity," said the seer.
+ Spake my heart full sadly--
+ "The answer is not here."
+ Then within my bosom
+ Softly this I heard:
+ "Each heart holds the secret;
+ Kindness is the word."_
+
+ JOHN BOYLE O'REILLY.
+
+Oh, Father, we are in a world of wonder and of bountiful promise. We
+scarcely know which to choose. Of all life's quests we would seek the
+highest and best. Thou art a Lord gracious and kind. Grace is but
+another name for kindness. It is this which is pronounced as a
+benediction Sabbath after Sabbath, and for which we lift up our faces
+morning after morning, to receive. Crown us with Thy loving kindness and
+tender mercies. But not for ourselves alone! As we meet the weary and
+heavy burdened in life, inspire us to show them the kindness of our God.
+As freely as we have received, so freely may we impart. Amen.
+
+ W. G. RICHARDSON.
+
+
+November 8
+
+ _What a blessed thing it is that we can forget! Today's troubles
+ look large, but a week hence they will be forgotten and buried out
+ of sight. Says one writer, "If you should keep a book and daily put
+ down the things that worry you, and see what becomes of them, it
+ would be a benefit to you." The art of forgetting is a blessed art,
+ but the art of overlooking is quite as important._
+
+ AUGHEY.
+
+Lord, we know not the path our feet must walk today; yet we are not
+anxious. "Thy word will be a lamp to our feet," and what we need to know
+Thou wilt reveal just when we need to know it. Help us not to forget
+that we are under our Father's care; that He knoweth our frame, that He
+will not unduly burden us; that He will not "suffer us to be tempted
+beyond that which we are able to bear;" that He will make "all things
+work together for good to them that love Him." So may this day be one of
+peace to us, and through us may some troubled heart find rest. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE SKENE
+
+
+November 9
+
+ _Learn to laugh. A good laugh is better than medicine. Learn to
+ tell a story. A well told story is as welcome as a sunbeam in a
+ sick room. Learn to keep your own troubles to yourself. The world
+ is too busy to care for your ills and sorrows. Learn to do
+ something for others. Even if you are a bedridden invalid there is
+ always something that you can do to make others happier, and that
+ is the surest way to attain happiness for yourself._
+
+ THE BEACON.
+
+Father of all mankind, may the spirit of cheer mark this new day. May
+the smile of Thy benediction rest upon us, and give courage to meet the
+duty and bear the burden. Help us each moment to know something of the
+highest joy of serving Thee. May that joy never be absent from our pain.
+May it consecrate every pleasure. May it lift us nearer the stature of
+the Christ, that the light of our life may shed its beams on the pathway
+of other lives,--a light in their darkness, an assurance of sympathy in
+affliction, an inspiration to do and endure. So may all gladly go to
+their appointed duty, one with Thee, even as Christ, whose followers we
+aim to be. Amen.
+
+ CHARLES T. BILLINGS.
+
+
+November 10
+
+ _Take whatever is good in man, and argue that God is not only that,
+ but infinitely better than that. In fashioning your conception of
+ God, make it as resplendent in justice, as august in truth, as
+ noble and pure in love, as radiant and wondrous in pity, as
+ enduring as you please. Never be afraid that you will overdraw the
+ divine character. God is never better in your thought or
+ imagination than He is in Himself._
+
+ HENRY WARD BEECHER.
+
+Almighty God, we thank Thee for the great thoughts and high hopes which
+lie deep in human hearts. We thank Thee for the visions of the perfect
+life which lead us ever toward the light. We long to follow those who
+lead the way to Thee. By faith and love may we be bound to them. As
+voices of Thy spirit may they be to us. Bless us this day with hunger
+for righteousness. Feed us with the bread of life. Endow us with high
+hopes and determined wills, that we may be faithful. Amen.
+
+ FREDERICK W. BETTS.
+
+
+November 11
+
+ _There was a man who smiled
+ Because the day was bright;
+ Because he slept at night;
+ Because God gave him sight
+ To gaze upon his child!
+ Because his little one
+ Could leap and laugh and run;
+ Because the distant sun
+ Smiled on the earth, he smiled._
+
+ _He toiled and still was glad
+ Because the air was free;
+ Because he loved, and she
+ That claimed his love and he
+ Shared all the joys they had!
+ Because the grasses grew;
+ Because the sweet wind blew;
+ Because that he could hew
+ And hammer he was glad._
+
+ S. E. KISER.
+
+O Lord, who dost bountifully provide for us the necessities and comforts
+of life, and makest us glad in the enjoyment of the same; grant, we
+beseech Thee, that we may so use these, Thy gifts, that in all our
+blessings we find Thee to be the source and author of all our
+happiness--of our health and prosperity, of our joys and hopes, and of
+the holy relations of friends and family; lest, resting content in that
+which is less, we fail to attain to that which is greatest--truly to
+know Thee and to love Thee, which is the very end of our being and the
+consummation of all bliss; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
+
+ WILLIAM H. P. HATCH.
+
+
+November 12
+
+ _I have seen
+ A curious child, who dwelt upon a tract
+ Of inland ground, applying to his ear
+ The convolutions of a smooth-lipped shell;
+ To which, in silence hushed, his very soul
+ Listened intensely; and his countenance soon
+ Brightened with joy; for from within were heard
+ Murmurings, whereby the monitor expressed
+ Mysterious union with its native sea:
+ Even such a shell the universe itself
+ Is to the ear of Faith; and there are times,
+ I doubt not, when to you it doth impart
+ Authentic tidings of invisible things;
+ Of ebb and flow, and ever-during power;
+ And central peace, subsisting at the heart
+ Of endless agitation._
+
+ WILLIAM WORDSWORTH.
+
+Father of Lights, with whom can be no variation or shadow that is cast
+by turning, give to me the joy of the love that endures as seeing Him
+who is invisible; that where Thy speaking voice is, there may be my
+listening ear; that above the waste and clamor of the tasks that exhaust
+me in bodily strength, there may be supplied a power of will to do the
+right and a fellowship with all righteous men everywhere. Help me to
+remember that Life consists not in the abundance of the things I
+possess. Let my faith see through doubt, endure through temptation and
+privation, and cleave steadfastly to God, remembering that Love
+believing is Love triumphing. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
+
+ ADOLPH A. BERLE.
+
+
+November 13
+
+ _When Jeremy Taylor had lost all--when his house had been plundered
+ and his family driven out of doors, and all his worldly estate had
+ been sequestered--he could still write thus: "I am fallen into the
+ hands of publicans and sequesterers, and they have taken all from
+ me. What now? Let me look about me. They have left me the sun and
+ moon, a loving wife and many friends to pity me, and some to
+ relieve me; and I can still discourse, and, unless I list, they
+ have not taken away my merry countenance and my cheerful spirit and
+ a good conscience; they have still left me the providence of God,
+ and all the promises of the Gospel, and my religion, and my hopes
+ of heaven, and my charity to them, too; and still I sleep and
+ digest, I eat and drink, I read and meditate--and he that hath so
+ many causes of joy and so great, is very much in love with sorrow
+ and peevishness, who leaves all these pleasures, and chooses to sit
+ down upon his little handful of thorns."_
+
+ SAMUEL SMILES.
+
+Father of all mercies, Who Thyself art more to us than the utmost of Thy
+gifts; we thank Thee for those blessings of our life which come like the
+manna fresh every morning and pass with the passing day. Still more we
+thank Thee for the blessings which abide, like a pillar of cloud by day
+and fire by night, witness of Thine own presence ever continuing with
+us. Give us grace and wisdom so to receive the ministries of this new
+day, that by means of them we may enter more fully into the Divine
+friendship and the everlasting habitations. Whatever may fail us, grant
+us such hold upon Thyself as shall be the having of all things, through
+Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
+
+ JAMES FAIRBAIRN BRODIE.
+
+
+November 14
+
+ _Native goodness is unconscious, asks not to be recognized;
+ But its baser affectation is a thing to be despised.
+ Only when the man is loyal to himself shall he be prized._
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ _If I live the life He gave me, God will turn it to His use._
+
+ BAYARD TAYLOR.
+
+ _Live not without a friend! the Alpine rock must own
+ Its mossy grace or else be nothing but a stone._
+
+ _Live not without a God! however low or high,
+ In every house should be a window to the sky._
+
+ WILLIAM WETMORE STORY.
+
+Eternal God, who hast neither dawn nor evening, yet sendest us alternate
+mercies of the darkness and the day; there is no light but Thine,
+without, within. As Thou liftest the curtain of night from our abodes,
+take also the veil from our hearts. Rise with Thy morning upon our
+souls: quicken all our labor and our prayer: and though all else
+declines, let the noontide of Thy grace and peace remain. May we walk,
+while it is yet day, in the steps of Him who, with fewest hours,
+finished Thy divinest work. Amen.
+
+ JAMES MARTINEAU.
+
+
+November 15
+
+ _I found it difficult the other night to cross a muddy street
+ because of the deep shadow cast by my own body which stood between
+ the electric light and the walk over which I was crossing. Not a
+ little of the time, I fear, do we stand in our own spiritual light,
+ making our own pathway black with ugly shadows cast by our own
+ personality, while the light flashes all around us. If you would
+ avoid the shadows walk toward the electric light in the heavens and
+ let its beams fall in your face._
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+Our pathway, Heavenly Father, is dark and lone. Sad and sinister
+suggestions born in our own hearts blind our souls and stay our steps.
+But with Thee there is no night. Light is Thy shadow. Unto Thee,
+therefore, we would turn in the sweet surrender of the spirit. In our
+darkness which leadeth unto death show us the way. Walking by Thy
+guidance, intent upon Thy will, may we rest with unforgetting memory
+upon Thy sevenfold promise of life. Give us the gift of the morning
+star. With Thee by our side may this new day bring us a new vision of
+duty, a larger girding for life, the nobler hope, the truth that makes
+men free. And unto Thee be thanks, praise and glory.
+
+ Amen.
+
+ FRANKLIN HAMILTON.
+
+
+November 16
+
+ _The first principle of Christianity is to forget one's self. When
+ Wilberforce was straining every energy to get his bill for the
+ emancipation of slaves passed, a lady once said to him, "Mr.
+ Wilberforce, I'm afraid you are so busy about those slaves that you
+ are neglecting your own soul." "True, madam," he said; "I had quite
+ forgotten that I have one." That remark contains one of the deepest
+ truths of Christianity._
+
+ HENRY DRUMMOND.
+
+O Lord, give us the mind of the Master! We would look on our fellow
+creatures as he looked on them. We would be free from all taint of envy,
+jealousy, and sin. We would have his single eye and his hearing ear. We
+know that Thou art in man, for it is Thy spirit which quickens within
+him every pure thought and moves to every unselfish deed. Give us a due
+sense of humility and appreciation that we may enter into the secret
+thought and understand the sincere purpose of all the toilers of this
+present world! Thus would we abide forever with the saints, the seers,
+and the singers, of all climes and ages!
+ Amen.
+
+ EBEN H. CHAPIN.
+
+
+November 17
+
+ _Do we not know that more than half our trouble is borrowed? Just
+ suppose that we could get rid of all unnecessary and previous
+ terror; just suppose that we could be sure of final victory in
+ every conflict, and final emergence out of every shadow into
+ brighter day; how our hearts would be lightened! How much more
+ bravely we should work and fight and march forward! This is the
+ courage to which we are entitled and which we may find in the
+ thought that God is with us everywhere._
+
+ HENRY VAN DYKE.
+
+O Gracious and Infinite Presence, Thou art the peace that dwells in the
+shade of night and the brightness and hope of this new day. We are
+gratefully conscious of the loving strength that stands ever ready to
+help. The call of the day's work is in our ears and the courage manfully
+to labor is in our hearts. Strengthen us, Father, when weariness of toil
+dissolves our noble resolutions; calm us when petty vexations distract
+from our holy purposes. May midday find us refreshed by Thy grace and
+eventide solaced by Thy benediction. And now as we go forth to duty let
+our hearts know no terror but the fear of wrong-doing and our minds no
+anxiety but the earnest desire to toil fruitfully. Grant that we may see
+beneath life's busy activities the great good Thou art working out among
+men and to this end learn to labor and to wait. Amen.
+
+ CHARLES R. EAST.
+
+
+November 18
+
+ _There is no thing we cannot overcome.
+ Say not thy evil instinct is inherited,
+ Or that some trait inborn makes thy whole life forlorn,
+ And calls down punishment that is not merited.
+ Back of thy parents and grandparents lies
+ The Great Eternal Will. That, too, is thine
+ Inheritance, strong, beautiful, divine,
+ Sure lever of success, for him who tries.
+ Pry up thy faults with this great lever, Will,
+ However deeply bedded in propensity,
+ However firmly set, I tell thee firmer yet
+ Is that strange power that comes from truth's immensity!_
+
+ ELLA WHEELER WILCOX.
+
+O Eternal Goodness, help us now, as another morning dawns, to readjust
+ourselves to Thy purpose of blessing. We believe that the most certain,
+significant and permanent fact of the universe is that Thou art our
+Father. Thus we are the heirs of Thy sufficient grace. There is no curse
+of ancestry for him who knows Thee as His parent. There is no weakness
+of the flesh for him who, through touch with Thee, becomes strong in the
+spirit. Help us all through this day to deny the chain of every earthly
+folly and sin, to stand erect and free as becometh children of the
+Infinite. So, finding and using the wisdom of our Master, who, most of
+all men, gained success, may we overcome the world. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE E. HUNTLEY.
+
+
+November 19
+
+ _All things seem rushing straight into the dark--
+ But the dark still is God._
+
+ GEORGE MACDONALD.
+
+ _Love is and was my king and lord,
+ And will be, tho' as yet I keep
+ Within the court on earth, and sleep
+ Encompass'd by his faithful guard,_
+
+ _And here at times a sentinel
+ Who moves about from place to place,
+ And whispers to the worlds of space,
+ In the deep night, that all is well._
+
+ ALFRED TENNYSON.
+
+O God, our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee that Thou hast led us into
+this new day. We thank Thee also, that, though its experiences are
+untried and its issues involved in uncertainty, we are unafraid, full
+indeed of glad expectation, because we know Thee as our King and Lord.
+Help us in obedience and love to keep close to Thee, so that, if ever
+quick darkness shall come upon us, we may still be undisturbed because
+of Thy presence, to whom the darkness and the light are both alike. This
+we ask in the name of Him who loved us and gave Himself for us. Amen.
+
+ CHARLES R. TENNEY.
+
+
+November 20
+
+ _Let thy day be to thy night
+ A letter of good tidings. Let thy praise
+ Go up as birds go up, that when they wake
+ Shake off the dew and soar; so take joy home
+ And make a place in thy heart for her,
+ And give her time to grow and cherish her;
+ Then will she come and oft will sing to thee
+ When thou art working in the furrows; ay,
+ Or weeding in the sacred hour of dawn.
+ It is a comely fashion to be glad--
+ Joy is the grace we say to God._
+
+ JEAN INGELOW.
+
+Our Father, we thank Thee for the blessings of night. In this new
+morning hour, we pray for stout hearts and strong to meet the day's
+work. May we go forth with a song on our lips and the joy of renewed
+youth in our souls. Amid the tumults of the day enable us to hear Thy
+becalming voice. Then, though in dreariest labor, we shall have glad
+hearts, though pressed by dullest cares, we shall keep uncrushed hopes,
+though distracted by earth's din, we shall hear heaven's music. Abide
+with us, Benign Spirit. Inspire us to do our duty, and to learn that
+therein, alone, may true joy be found. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE RUNYON LONGBRAKE.
+
+
+November 21
+
+ _The weather-prophet tells us of an approaching storm. It comes
+ according to the programme. We admire the accuracy of the
+ prediction, and congratulate ourselves that we have such a good
+ meteorological service. But when, perchance, a bright crystalline
+ piece of weather arrives instead of the foretold tempest, do we not
+ feel a secret sense of pleasure which goes beyond our mere comfort
+ in the sunshine? The whole affair is not as easy as a sum in simple
+ addition, after all,--at least not with our present knowledge. It
+ is a good joke on the Weather Bureau. "Aha, Old Probabilities!" we
+ say, "You don't know it all yet; there are still some chances to be
+ taken!"_
+
+ HENRY VAN DYKE.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, Thou hast covered us with the darkness and we have
+slept under the shadow of Thy care. Thou hast opened for us again the
+gates of the morning, and refreshed, we rise to praise Thee. The memory
+of mercies past inspires our hope for today. Reveal Thyself to us by Thy
+spirit and through Thy word; make nature to minister to us in the
+heavens above and the fields below; let every experience lead us toward
+Thyself. Help us to see Thy face in those about us, and honor Thee in
+loving, helpful ministry to them. Bring to us today a fresh and larger
+sense of Thy presence, forgiveness, and care, and so the assurance that
+all things are working together for our good. In the name of Jesus
+Christ our Saviour. Amen.
+
+ SAMUEL H. GREENE.
+
+
+November 22
+
+ "_I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills._"
+
+ PSALM cxxi. 1.
+
+ _Peace is the message of the hills,
+ A peace that broods
+ Upon their mighty heads, and fills
+ Their forest solitudes;
+ The leaping mountain waterfalls,
+ As each unto the other calls,
+ Blend in a murmuring noise
+ Whose silver rushing music stills
+ The pretty play of human moods,
+ And bids the calmed soul rejoice
+ In the deep secrets of the woods,
+ The majesty of Nature's voice._
+
+ PRISCILLA LEONARD.
+
+Dear God and Father of us all, Who maketh Thy sun to rise out of the sea
+and tintest the hills with the rosy promise of the day, we look up when
+we awake and seeing the light upon the mountains know that the day is
+coming to fill the world with beauty and glory. With thankful hearts we
+praise Thee, and pray that to us may be granted that loftiness of
+nature, that stability of character, that repose of mind and heart and
+life that is prefigured to us in the natural world. Grant that we may
+each become mediums of Thy love and hope to all who may chance to look
+up to us for guidance along the shores of life's tempestuous ocean. May
+the spirit of the Eternal find such expression in us and through us,
+this day, that all who come within the radiance of our joy may come into
+the consciousness of the joy of the Eternal. Amen.
+
+ THOMAS J. HORNER.
+
+
+November 23
+
+ _And he said unto me, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand
+ the words that I speak unto thee, and stand upright: for unto thee
+ am I now sent, and when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood
+ trembling. Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel, for from the
+ first day that thou didst set thy heart to understand and to
+ chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come
+ for thy words.... Then there came again and touched me one like the
+ appearance of a man and he strengthened me and said, O man, greatly
+ beloved, fear not: peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong._
+
+ BOOK OF DANIEL.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee that Thou art not far from us at any
+time. We have only to look up reverently and to our imagination Thou art
+standing near. We have only to wait in the darkness of the night to feel
+Thy presence with us. We have only to listen at any time to hear Thy
+voice. Thou deignest to stop and speak to us when we are in trouble, to
+guide our footsteps when we have lost our way, to renew our courage when
+we have become disheartened. O Lord, speak to us this day, saying to us,
+as unto him of old, "Peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong."
+Amen.
+
+ George L. Perin.
+
+
+November 24
+
+ _Let star-wheels and angel-wings, with their holy winnowings,
+ Keep beside you all the way:
+ Lest in passion you should dash, with a blind and heavy crash.
+ Up against the thick-bossed shield of God's judgment in the field._
+
+ ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING.
+
+ _Be diligent and faithful, patient and hopeful, one and all of you;
+ and may we all know, at all times, that verily the Eternal rules
+ above us, and that nothing finally wrong has happened or can
+ happen._
+
+ THOMAS CARLYLE.
+
+Almighty God, our Father in heaven, the giver of every good and perfect
+gift, teach us, we pray Thee, how to do Thy will on earth as it is done
+in heaven, as the goal of our lives. Send down exceeding, abundantly
+above all that we can ask or think, the blessed influences of Thy Holy
+Spirit, to transform each heart and all the world into the kingdom of
+heaven. Give us the Morning Star of Hope. Feed us from the Tree of Life.
+Teach us Thy redeeming love. Grant that we may have some part with Thee
+in the redemption of the world, and be permitted to join with the whole
+glad earth in the chorus, "Blessing and honor and glory and power be
+unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and
+ever." Amen.
+
+ F. N. PELOUBET.
+
+
+November 25
+
+ _What is the crown of the whole of life lived faithfully here? It
+ is not a crown of gold or gems in another life; it is simply more
+ life; a broader use of power, a healthier capacity, a larger
+ usefulness. You are faithful unto death, through the
+ misapprehensions and imperfections and absence of appreciation or
+ gratitude in this preparatory world, and then there is offered to
+ you inevitably and legitimately the crown of a larger, more
+ serviceable, more effective life._
+
+ FRANCIS G. PEABODY.
+
+To Thee, O Author of our lives, we speak thanksgiving and gratitude for
+Thy gifts of love and trust. Help us to bring them into full exercise
+this day. By them may we know the experience of burdens made light and
+yokes made easy. With them, let us realize that we are effective workers
+with Thee. Because of them, show us how all our tasks are transformed to
+divine endeavors. Through them, set free all other of our highest
+impulses. So, O God, shall we know the fulness of life, we and all our
+loved ones. So shall we see doubt change to faith and blindness to
+vision. So shall our influence through word and work be the ministry of
+hope and of joy to any disconsolate, and to any who are a weak guide to
+the source of strength. For newness of life, for all the fruits of the
+spirit, whereby the heart is ever young and in joyous companionship with
+the Christ, for all this we pray now and ever. Amen.
+
+ WILLIAM H. MCGLAUCHLIN.
+
+
+November 26
+
+ _The child frightened in his play runs to seek his mother. She
+ takes him upon her lap and presses his head to her bosom; and with
+ tenderest words of love, she looks down upon him and smooths his
+ hair and kisses his cheek, and wipes away his tears. Then, in a low
+ and gentle voice, she sings some sweet descant, some lullaby of
+ love; and the fear fades out from his face, and a smile of
+ satisfaction plays over it, and at length his eyes close, and he
+ sleeps in the deep depths and delights of peace. God Almighty is
+ the mother and the soul is the tired child; and He folds it in His
+ arms and dispels its fears, and lulls it to repose, saying "Sleep,
+ my darling, sleep! It is I who watch thee."_
+
+ HENRY WARD BEECHER.
+
+Blessed Master! we thank Thee that every tired and weary child may find
+rest in the bosom of the Father. Each morning brings with it new cares,
+new duties, new privileges, new responsibilities; for all these, we need
+Thy protecting care, and pray for Thy divine guidance. When wearied and
+burdened with the cares of daily life, wilt Thou help us to flee to Thee
+as the frightened child flees to the loving mother; and wilt Thou
+encircle us with Thine arms of love, and whisper in our ears words of
+comfort and cheer and of forgiveness. Teach us to trust Thee in the
+morning, to walk with Thee through the day, and to commit our ways to
+Thee at all times. Amen.
+
+ SAMUEL M. DICK.
+
+
+November 27
+
+ _Certainly there never was a busier life than that of Jesus,--His
+ whole great mission bounded by three hurried years. Yet in the
+ morning He says to His friends: "Let us come apart and rest
+ awhile;" and again when the evening is come He is in the mountain
+ apart, alone. That is the place of worship in a world of work. It
+ is not a refuge from duty, or a shirking of it; it is the renewal
+ of power to meet one's duty and do it. The work of life is not to
+ be well done with a hot, feverish, overwhelmed, and burdened mind;
+ it is to be well done with a mind calmed and fortified by moments
+ of withdrawal; and it is to be best done by one who from time to
+ time pulls himself up in his eager life and permits God to speak to
+ his soul._
+
+ FRANCIS G. PEABODY.
+
+O Spirit of grace, who withholdest Thy blessing from none, take from us
+the tediousness and anxiety of a selfish mind, the unfruitfulness of
+cold affections, the weakness of an inconstant will. With the simplicity
+of a great purpose, the quiet of a meek temper, and the power of a
+well-ordered soul, may we pass through the toils and watches of our
+pilgrimage; grateful for all that may render the burden of duty light;
+and even in strong trouble rejoicing to be deemed worthy of the severer
+service of Thy will. Amen.
+
+ JAMES MARTINEAU.
+
+
+November 28
+
+ _God gives to every man
+ The virtue, temper, understanding, taste,
+ That lifts him into life, and lets him fall
+ Just in the niche he was ordain'd to fill._
+
+ WILLIAM COWPER.
+
+ _Did you ever hear of a man who had striven all his life faithfully
+ and singly toward an object, and in no measure obtained it? If a
+ man constantly aspires, is he not elevated? Did ever a man try
+ heroism, magnanimity, truth, sincerity, and find that there was no
+ advantage in them--that it was a vain endeavor?_
+
+ HENRY DAVID THOREAU.
+
+Holy Father, help us to be thankful that no life is beneath Thy notice.
+If a sparrow cannot fall without Thee, how much more is Thine eye fixed
+upon Thy child. Teach us, O Lord, that there is a divine purpose in each
+life. But may we not try to choose this without Thee. Show us how to
+wait upon Thee in holy silence till Thou dost make it known to us. O
+Master, say to us: "As the Father hath sent me into the world even so
+have I sent you." When we have found at the Cross our little mission, O
+sustain us and help us to keep it steadily in view--let us share Thy
+holy enthusiasm when Thou didst say: "My meat is to do the will of Him
+that sent me and to finish His work." O Father, when we are depressed
+whisper to us: "Your labor is not in vain in the Lord." May our mission
+transform us into the likeness of Jesus, and may we say with Him at
+evening: "I have glorified Thee on the earth; I have finished the work
+Thou gavest me to do." Amen.
+
+ L. P. JOHNSON.
+
+
+November 29
+
+ _Though wrong may win, its victory is brief,
+ The tides of good at first no passage find;
+ Each surge breaks, shattered, on the sullen reef,--
+ Yet still the infinite ocean comes behind._
+
+ _The road of Right has neither turn nor bend,
+ It stretches straight unto the highest goal;
+ Hard, long, and lonely?--yes, yet never soul
+ Can lose its way thereon, nor miss the end._
+
+ PRISCILLA LEONARD.
+
+We thank Thee, Heavenly Father, that awaking, we are conscious that Thou
+art near. Walk with us, through the untried path of this day's duty and
+service. We rejoice that Thou art in Thy world. Within its striving is
+Thy calm. Around its restlessness is Thy rest. Thy purpose fashions its
+achievements; Thy love shapes its future. Help us to see it with clearer
+vision, to hold it fast with firmer faith. When wrong seems to triumph,
+may we know that it is already perishing, and hold hard by truth and
+love and faith. Give us grace to spend this day as becometh children of
+God in honor, in courtesy, in sympathy, in confident trust. When the way
+seems long and lonely, straight and steep, help us to sing as we march
+forward, since Thou art with us, Who hast said, "I will never leave thee
+nor forsake thee." Amen.
+
+ CHARLES C. P. HILLER.
+
+
+November 30
+
+ _She was a droll little figure of a girl with a quaint old face,
+ that showed too early the lines of care and work, and her clothing
+ betokened a poverty-stricken home. Evidently not much of brightness
+ had touched her life, but her face always lightened up when she
+ mentioned her school or her teacher. "Why is it that you love your
+ teacher so well?" she was asked one day. Her eyes shone and her
+ lips smiled happily as she replied, "Because she's glad to me!"
+ What a tribute was that! What an evidence was that of a happy heart
+ that radiated its gladness! If we cannot bring other offerings of
+ much value to the children and the poor among us, how blessed are
+ we if we can bring gladness!_
+
+ ESTELLE M. HART.
+
+Almighty God, teach us how to be glad. Put some gladness into our
+hearts. Show us where gladness is hidden in our little world about us,
+so that we may find it and use it. Give us the wisdom of Jesus, who,
+although a Man of Sorrows, yet spake ever of His joy and His peace. We
+feel that the secret of things must be gladness, that somehow there is a
+covered joy even in what we call our sufferings. Let us find that. Keep
+our hearts pure of the soiling of evil desire, for we know that no
+gladness can come from the muddy fountains of sin. Let our hands be busy
+at some good part of the world's work, for we know that idleness never
+went hand in hand with joy. Let our minds be open to acknowledge, love
+and obey the truth, for we feel that truth alone can satisfy our hearts.
+And let us feel to-day the duty of gladness we owe to our
+fellow-creatures. Let us give to them what we would receive from Thee.
+Amen.
+
+ FRANK CRANE.
+
+
+December 1
+
+ _But winter has yet brighter scenes--he boasts
+ Splendors beyond what gorgeous Summer knows;
+ Or Autumn with his many fruits, and woods
+ All flushed with many hues, come when the rains
+ Have glazed the snow and clothed the trees with ice,
+ The incrusted surface shall upbear thy steps,
+ And the broad arching portals of the grove
+ Welcome thy entering._
+
+ WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT.
+
+Our Father, we know that Thou wilt commune with us if only we truly seek
+Thee; Thou art the Infinite Consciousness and Thou dost include within
+Thyself our finite consciousness. We have our life in Thy life. This
+morning we would be mindful of Thy presence. The northern groves with
+snow-laden, bended branches bid us enter and worship. Thou dost send
+forth the rays of Thy sun and touch them aglow with the reflected beauty
+of the snow-flake. Thou hast also created us. The flake reflects the
+sun, and may we reflect Thee, through living righteously. Help us to do
+the right and to forego the wrong. Amen.
+
+ FRED ALBAN WEIL.
+
+
+December 2
+
+ _"A commonplace life," we say, and we sigh;
+ But why should we sigh as we say?
+ The commonplace sun in the commonplace sky
+ Makes up the commonplace day.
+ The moon and the stars are commonplace things,
+ And the flower that blooms and the bird that sings,
+ But dark were the world and sad our lot
+ If the flowers failed and the sun shone not;
+ And God, who studies each separate soul
+ Out of commonplace lives makes His beautiful whole._
+
+ SUSAN COOLIDGE.
+
+Our Infinite Father, we open our hearts to Thee, for where Thou art
+heaven is. As the morning sun gives light and life to Earth, so Thou
+givest light and life and joy to us. We say Good-morning to Thee, and as
+we listen Thy Good-morning comes to us. As it comes we glow and expand
+like the opening flower. May this glowing spirit of love be in all we
+say and do and think this day, and still continue through all days to
+come. When we are vexed and weary with trials and labor, make us to
+remember this morning glow of Thy Love that it may renew rest and peace
+within us. Help us, O our Father, to enter the beauty of this day and
+this life by claiming our heritage as "children of light" and going
+forth to fulfil the common duties of the day as "children of God." Amen.
+
+ WALTER DOLE.
+
+
+December 3
+
+ _No matter! so long as the world is the work of eternal goodness,
+ and so long as conscience has not deceived us. To give happiness
+ and to do good, there is our only law, our anchor of salvation, our
+ beacon light, our reason for existing. All religions may crumble
+ away; so long as this survives we have still an ideal, and life is
+ worth living. Nothing can lessen the dignity and value of humanity
+ so long as the religion of love, of unselfishness and devotion
+ endures; and none can destroy the altars of this faith for us so
+ long as we feel ourselves still capable of love._
+
+ HENRI-FRÉDÉRIC AMIEL.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for a night of peaceful rest, and we
+are glad to begin a new day with full assurance of Thy loving care. We
+hope for pleasant ways and large success, but Thy wisdom is better than
+our wishes and if it is appointed us to meet difficulties or
+temptations, we pray for strength to sustain a manly warfare. We have
+faith that whatever our condition Thou wilt still provide a way by which
+lofty purpose and resolute endeavor may use the circumstances of our
+life for a nearer approach to Thee and for service to our fellowmen. To
+this end be then the light of our way and the strength of our life,
+through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
+
+ J. SMITH DODGE.
+
+
+December 4
+
+ _He was a friend to man, and lived in a house by the side of the
+ road._
+
+ HOMER.
+
+ _There are hermit souls that live withdrawn
+ In the peace of their self-content;
+ There are souls, like stars, that dwell apart,
+ In a fellow-less firmament;
+ There are pioneer souls that blaze their paths
+ Where highways never ran:--
+ But let me live by the side of the road
+ And be a friend to man._
+
+ _Let me live in a house by the side of the road.
+ Where the race of men go by--
+ The men who are good and the men who are bad,
+ As good and as bad as I.
+ I would not sit in the scorner's seat,
+ Or hurl the cynic's ban:--
+ Let me live in a house by the side of the road
+ And be a friend to man._
+
+ SAM WALTER FOSS.
+
+Our Father in Heaven, we come with thanksgiving for the light of another
+day and all the blessings which it brings from Thee. May the precious
+moments before us be filled with activity. Forgive us if we have been
+remiss in seizing our opportunities and so lead us this day that if we
+shall be called to Thee, the sweet voice of the Master may greet us
+with, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my
+brethren, ye have done it unto Me." In Jesus' name. Amen.
+
+ J. E. CHARLTON.
+
+
+December 5
+
+ _One old lady kept a sighing;
+ Said she wasn't young,
+ Didn't look as sweet's she used to,
+ Times were all unstrung;
+ Troubles doubled aches, and favors
+ Went a flying past,
+ Wrinkles stung like thorns, and eyesight
+ Kept a failing fast._
+
+ _One old lady kept a saying
+ Life was like the spring,
+ Brighter blossoms always coming,
+ Birds around to sing;
+ Troubles came--and went; she let 'em,
+ Didn't count the throng.
+ Thanked the Lord 'most every morning
+ She'd been young so long!_
+
+ JESSIE M. SHAW.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, wilt Thou forgive us for the sighs and tears and
+frowns and doubts of yesterday? Especially wilt Thou forgive us for all
+that was little and petty and mean? May we begin again today with larger
+vision, higher hope and nobler ambition. May there be no sighs for lost
+beauty, no grief over faded youth and no lamentation over lost fortune.
+Thankful and glad for what we have, may we find our joy in using it for
+some high end. So may we conserve the youth of the heart and the light
+of the soul. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+December 6
+
+ _There is never a sky of winter
+ To the heart that sings alway;
+ Never a night but hath stars to light,
+ And dreams of a rosy day._
+
+ _The world is ever a garden
+ Red with the bloom of May;
+ And never a stormy morning
+ To the heart that sings alway!_
+
+ FRANK L. STANTON.
+
+O Thou who art the Love, the Light, and the Life in whom is no discord,
+no darkness, no disease nor death; but who art ever radiating sympathy,
+vision and health; we give Thee hearty thanks for the consciousness of
+Thy abiding presence when we possess a humble and contrite spirit. May
+we ever remember that nothing but our own selfishness, pride, and
+forgetfulness can break this constant communion with Thee. Open our
+hearts just now for the inflow of the divine Love in order that we may
+pass it on to others today. Open our eyes today that we may see Thee
+everywhere striving against selfishness in the lives of all men. Fill us
+with Thy Life today in order that there may go out to others a heavenly
+harmony, a song, a symphony, that will dispel discord, darkness and
+disease; that will overcome evil with good. Amen.
+
+ E. J. HELMS.
+
+
+December 7
+
+ _As the bird trims her to the gale,
+ I trim myself to the storm of time,
+ I man the rudder, reef the sail,
+ Obey the voice at eve obeyed at prime;
+ "Lowly faithful, banish fear,
+ Right onward drive unharmed;
+ The port, well worth the cruise, is near,
+ And every wave is charmed."_
+
+ RALPH WALDO EMERSON.
+
+Heavenly Father, keep our faces in the light and upward. Make us
+courageous in the storm. Help us to consecrate all our powers against
+the contrary winds and listen for the loving voice of Him who walks the
+rough waves and comes toward our frail barks. May we never be afraid;
+may we know peace and rest and trust. O Saviour, help us to know the
+reality of Thy love and friendship, and hear Thee say in the darkest
+hour, "All is well." May no storm be too severe, no burden too heavy, no
+task too hard. So let us believe and live. Amen.
+
+ CORTLAND MYERS.
+
+
+December 8
+
+ _Love thyself last: cherish those hearts that hate thee,
+ Corruption wins not more than honesty.
+ Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace,
+ To silence envious tongues. Be just, and fear not:
+ Let all the ends thou aim'st at be thy country's,
+ Thy God's, and truth's; then if thou fall'st, O Cromwell,
+ Thou fall'st a blessed martyr!_
+
+ SHAKESPEARE.
+
+Father Almighty, we do trust in Thee, and we ask Thee for everything.
+Thou art pleased to give us everything. Thou dost give us the light by
+which we see. Thou dost give us this air which we breathe and with which
+we speak. Best of all, Thou hast shown us that we are one family of Thy
+children, alive in Thy life and strong in Thy strength. Thou dost give
+us the water that we drink and the food that we eat. Everything is Thine
+while it is ours. Now, Father, we are here to consecrate these gifts to
+Thy service, to come and go indeed as Thy children; when we speak, to
+speak the word that Thou shalt teach; when we act, to do the thing that
+Thou wouldst. Moreover, inspire us with Thine holy spirit, that we may
+so come and go in our Father's service, and for the coming of Thy
+kingdom in this world, that all men may be one, and may bear one
+another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. Amen.
+
+ EDWARD EVERETT HALE.
+
+
+December 9
+
+ _Each soul, alone unto herself, must bear
+ The heartache out of which man wins despair
+ Or hope according to his faculty.
+ Nathless one thing is certain; who hath known
+ Truth, beauty, goodness, shining in their sphere,
+ Shall not be lost through any lesser lure.
+ On black tempestuous waves he may be thrown;
+ Yet to the right port shall he surely steer,
+ And God Himself shall make his doing pure._
+
+ JOHN ADDINGTON SYMONDS.
+
+O God, with the dawn we would lift our grateful hearts to Thee! We know
+not what Thou hast in store for us this new day, but we rejoice that we
+are in Thy thought, and that we cannot pass beyond the reach of Thy
+love. Helpless and weak, we pray for courage to be undaunted by the
+uncertainties of life, and that we may meet all its duties with a firm
+and tranquil mind. Grant that we may be helpful to all with whom we come
+in contact and forbid that we should judge others hastily or
+uncharitably. May our minds and hearts be open to the truth, that we may
+know and do Thy gracious will. Guided and guarded by Thee, may the day
+be full of peace, purity and power. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE M. HOWE.
+
+
+December 10
+
+ _There was never a song that was sung by thee,
+ But a sweeter one was meant to be.
+ There was never a deed that was grandly done,
+ But a greater was meant by some earnest one.
+ For the sweetest voice can never impart
+ The song that trembles within the heart._
+
+ _And the brain and the hand can never quite do
+ The thing that the soul has fondly in view.
+ And hence are the tears and the burdens of pain,
+ For the shining goals are never to gain
+ But enough that a God can hear and see
+ The song and the deed that were meant to be._
+
+ BENJAMIN R. BULKELEY.
+
+Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, who hast illumined the morning with
+the brightness of Thy life, we rejoice in the potency of the influence
+that brings us into communion with Thee. For the blessed revelation of
+Thyself, for life and all things that nourish it, for the earth and the
+fulness thereof, for daily comforts and mercies and for the Light that
+lighteth every man who cometh into the world, we give Thee thanks. We
+thank Thee too for the songs that we have sung and for the better songs
+that are in our hearts. We thank Thee for every noble deed and also for
+the dreams of nobler deeds that men have cherished. O Lord, bless our
+work and fill us with aspiration for nobler service. Bless the poor, the
+sick, and those that mourn. Hear this our prayer and answer our petition
+through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
+
+ FRANK D. SARGENT.
+
+
+December 11
+
+ _Love the spot where you are, and the friends God has given you and
+ be sure to expect everything good of them._
+
+ JOHN ALBEE.
+
+ _When do we lift each other up? Must we gain a height first or can
+ we reach up our feebleness together to the Hands that do offer us a
+ mighty help from on high? Near doing, and near living, and near
+ loving; these life-particles make the great heaven, as the little
+ polarized atoms of light, all magnetized one way, make the great
+ blue in which the stars burn forever._
+
+ MRS. A. D. T. WHITNEY.
+
+No discontent could harass us if we had a deeper faith in Thee and a
+broader love for those about us. We praise Thee, therefore, that we may
+be rooted and grounded in Christ. And that our little lives may glorify
+Him by bringing forth abundant fruit. Thou dost give us the holy
+privilege of being co-laborers with Thee in the salvation of needy
+humanity. Around us are the countless opportunities for ennobling and
+gladdening the lives of those whose courage burns low, or who have never
+known the transforming companionship of Christ. We would not forget that
+we are debtors to Thee and to that great Host whose love and service has
+inspired us. May we be not selfish takers only, but generous givers. May
+there be less gloom, fewer shackles, less guilt in the world because we
+are mastered by the spirit of Christ. Amen.
+
+ PHILIP L. FRICK.
+
+
+December 12
+
+ _Have you learned lessons only of those who admired you, and were
+ tender with you, and stood aside for you?_
+
+ _Have you not learned great lessons from those who reject you, and
+ brace themselves against you? or who treat you with contempt, or
+ dispute the passage with you?_
+
+ WALT WHITMAN.
+
+Help us, O God, always to be hopeful; teach us what it means to hope in
+Thee, and may we experience the truth of the promise which says: "He
+will strengthen your heart that hopes in Him;" but help us not to
+indulge in too fond hopes nor to be too easily elated by future dreams.
+May we see life clearly as it is and be ready to accept courageously
+whatsoever Thou sendest us. Help us to accept all our joys as Thy
+blessings; all our duties as Thy commands, and our sorrows as of Thine
+appointment, and help us to believe that Thou wilt turn even that which
+seems to harm us, into everlasting good and everlasting joy. Amen.
+
+ JOHN F. MEYER.
+
+
+December 13
+
+ _Life should be a giving birth to the soul, the development of a
+ higher mode of reality. The animal must be humanized: flesh must be
+ made spirit; physiological activity must be transmuted into
+ intellect and conscience, into reason, justice, and generosity, as
+ the torch is transmuted into light and warmth. The blind, greedy,
+ selfish nature of man must put on beauty and nobleness. This
+ heavenly alchemy is what justifies our presence on the earth; it is
+ our mission and our glory._
+
+ HENRI-FRÉDÉRIC AMIEL.
+
+Our Father, this world is Thy world, and this day is Thy renewed gift of
+opportunity to learn life's lesson more perfectly. We need clearer
+insight into Thy designs, that we may loathe every form of selfishness,
+and love devotion. Give us to know the Christ more intimately, and in
+the strength of His apprehended presence help us to employ this day in
+practising the holy principles He taught. Assist us this morning to
+have, and throughout this day to keep, such an attitude of glad
+co-operation with Him, that work shall be shot through and through with
+joy in anticipation of its glorious result. So may this day be to us a
+time of real soul expansion; a wooing and a winning of that which is
+highest, even a purer, noble character. Amen.
+
+ J. EDWIN LACOUNT.
+
+
+December 14
+
+ _'Tis the mind that makes the body rich,
+ And as the sun breaks through the darkest clouds,
+ So honor peereth in the meanest habit.
+ What, is the jay more precious than the lark,
+ Because his feathers are more beautiful?
+ Or is the adder better than the eel,
+ Because his painted skin contents the eye?_
+
+ SHAKESPEARE.
+
+In this world of mingled good and evil, amid the ceaseless struggle of
+the better with the worse, grant unto us our Father, the cheerful
+assurance that we are enlisted in the service of the good, bound for the
+better, and destined for the best. Reveal to us each day some task that
+we can do for Thee, some chance to bear with Christ the burden of
+another, some call to take the side of the right against the wrong. Help
+us to conquer hardship by patience, despair by hope, fear by courage,
+and hate by love; and may we find the peace, the power, the glory of Thy
+perfect will and Thy great kingdom reflected and reproduced in our
+hearts and lives. Amen.
+
+ WILLIAM DEWITT HYDE.
+
+
+December 15
+
+ _Call him not old, whose visionary brain
+ Holds o'er the past its undivided reign,
+ For him in vain the envious seasons roll
+ Who bears eternal summer in his soul.
+ If yet the minstrel's song, the poet's lay,
+ Spring with her birds, or children at their play,
+ Or maiden's smile, or heavenly dream of art,
+ Stir the few life-drops creeping round his heart,
+ Turn to the record where his years are told,--
+ Count his gray hairs,--they cannot make him old!_
+
+ OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.
+
+Thou infinite Spirit of Life, in Thy sight, there is no old age. The
+step may grow feeble, the hair may whiten, the eye may grow dim, but
+each human soul is still Thy child. We gather about the tables of earth,
+families of children, some older, some younger, but all young in Thy
+sight. We pause for a moment this morning to pray for the spirit of
+youth. Let us cherish the power of hoping and of believing. Let us have
+that fine quality of the child life which keeps it facing the future
+with glad expectancy. Let us not give over our toils till we must. Let
+us not relinquish our interest in life till the evening shadows fall,
+and even at the last, let us lie down like the child who sleeps with his
+hand in the hand of his mother. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+December 16
+
+ _O toiling bands of mortals! O unwearied feet, travelling we know
+ not whither! Soon, soon, it seems to you, you must come forth on
+ some conspicuous hilltop, and but a little way further, against the
+ setting sun, descry the spires of El Dorado. Little do ye know your
+ own blessedness; for to travel hopefully is a better thing than to
+ arrive, and the true success is to labor._
+
+ ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON.
+
+Our Father, we thank Thee for the work that Thou givest us to do; for
+its joy, for its zest, even for its very task and weariness. We would
+interpret our labor by the highest good it brings us; through our brave
+and cheerful doing Thy heaven of peace is found. We thank Thee for our
+diviner hopes, and for the Spirit that would complete them. They light
+our days with gladness, and set our feet in large places, and though the
+higher hill-tops seem far away, yet meeting our duties faithfully, we do
+see them, and looking back we find the places of our departure lying far
+below. O blessed tasks! O blessed hopes! That lead us ever to our
+Father's love. Amen.
+
+ ALBERT J. COLEMAN.
+
+
+December 17
+
+ _God speaks to hearts of men in many ways:
+ Some the red banner of the rising sun,
+ Spread o'er the snow-clad hills, has taught his praise.
+ Some the sweet silence when the day is done;
+ Some, after loveless lives, at length have won
+ His word in children's hearts and children's gaze;
+ And some have found him where low rafters ring
+ To greet the hand that helps, the heart that cheers;
+ And some in prayer, and some in perfecting
+ Of watchful toil through unrewarding years;
+ And some not less are his, who vainly sought
+ His voice, and with his silence have been taught,--
+ Who bore his chains who bade them to be bound,
+ And at the end in finding not have found._
+
+ ANONYMOUS.
+
+O God, all voices of the earth are Thine, even when there is no speech
+or language, Thy messages have many ways to reach the listening heart.
+Give us this day to hear at least some whisper of Thy grace. If it may
+be, open our minds and attune our spirits to receive more than we could
+hitherto interpret of the assurances sent to us by elevated goodness and
+love. So let us be defended this day against wrong, and do our work in
+joy and peace through the knowledge that Thou art with us, our friend
+and helper even unto the end. Amen.
+
+ HOWARD N. BROWN.
+
+
+December 18
+
+ _Did you ever see a schoolboy tumble on the ice without stooping
+ immediately to re-buckle the strap of his skates? And would not
+ Ignotus have painted a masterpiece if he could have found good
+ brushes and a proper canvas? Life's shortcomings would be bitter
+ indeed if we could not find excuses for them outside of ourselves.
+ And as for life's successes--well, it is certainly wholesome to
+ remember how many of them are due to a fortunate position and the
+ proper tools._
+
+ HENRY VAN DYKE.
+
+Our Father, God, help us to begin this new day with the right spirit in
+our hearts,--the spirit of love toward Thee and our fellowmen. Help us
+to begin the day if possible without mistake. If, in our human weakness
+we find that we have not succeeded, that we have erred or gone astray,
+help us not to despair, not to be discouraged; help us to know and to
+seek and to love the right. Help us never to forget what we owe to Thee,
+to our friends, and the beautiful world Thou hast given us. Daily bread
+we have, opportunities open, like books on every hand. Greater than all
+life's bitter is its sweet. Ever ready is the Master to bless; ever
+ready is the spirit to comfort Thy children look up and praise the
+Father eternal. Amen.
+
+ RANSOM A. GREENE.
+
+
+December 19
+
+ _I love Thee, O Son of Man! for Thy strength and Thy sweetness, for
+ Thy simplicity, Thy courage, Thine infinite tenderness, for Thy
+ glance which strengthens and pardons us, quickens us and lifts us
+ up; for all that Thou hast brought us of consolation, of peace and
+ of warmth of heart. Abide Thou with us! Teach us to see the divine
+ spark imprisoned in every stone of the highway._
+
+ CHARLES WAGNER.
+
+O Lord, our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for all Thy manifold mercies
+to us, for all Thy constant care and watchfulness over us from the
+beginning of our lives to this day, for the revelations of Thy presence
+in the world about us, in the shining sky, in the earth beneath our
+feet, and in the faces of our friends. Bless us, O Lord, this day, with
+health and strength and a good courage, and grant that we may show our
+gratitude for all Thy goodness not only with our lips but in our lives,
+through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE HODGES.
+
+
+December 20
+
+ _In every "Oh my Father!"
+ Slumbers deep a "Here, my child."_
+
+ THOLUCK.
+
+ _This world, with its wonderful creations, its beauties, and
+ mysteries may lead a child up to the father's throne, if his heart
+ and mind are open to it. Fill the heart with goodness and there is
+ no place for badness. Fill the soul with heaven, and there is no
+ hell. And this delightful time will come when "God is all and in
+ all."_
+
+ ABBIE E. DANFORTH.
+
+Our Father, who art in heaven; we know that Thou hast been good to us.
+We thank Thee for the daily witnesses of Thy love. And we would walk
+worthily before Thee. But we are weak. Help us, O Father to see clearly
+what Thou would'st have us do! Give us strength. Fill us with Thy
+spirit, that all the way we may be pure and patient. Help us to walk
+aright. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
+
+ CHARLES H. PUFFER.
+
+
+December 21
+
+ _Grand is the seen, the light, to me--grand are the sky and stars,
+ Grand is the earth, and grand are lasting time and space,
+ And grand their laws, so multiform, puzzling, evolutionary;
+ But grander far the unseen soul of me, comprehending, endowing all those,
+ Lighting the light, the sky and stars, delving the earth, sailing
+ the sea,
+ (What were all those, indeed, without thee, unseen soul? of what amount
+ without Thee?)
+ More evolutionary, vast, puzzling, O my soul!
+ More multiform far--more lasting Thou than they._
+
+ WALT WHITMAN.
+
+O Thou, our Heavenly Father, in spirit we reach out to Thy great spirit.
+Quicken within us visions of what things we may do this day, with Thee
+at hand, Thy love abounding. Give us vision that we may rise to the
+opportunities of our daily task. Let Thy holy spirit bear witness to the
+reality of our dreams and aspirations, that we may look not idly upon
+our opportunities, but rather that each new opportunity shall challenge
+us to nobler effort. O keep us this day full of faith in ourselves and
+Thee, each obedient to our vision, until full purposed, winning Thine
+approval, we shall accomplish the thing for which Thou sendest us, and
+Thine be the glory. Amen.
+
+ JAMES D. TILLINGHAST.
+
+
+December 22
+
+ _I see the wrong that round me lies,
+ I feel the guilt within,
+ With groan and travail cries
+ I hear the world confess its sin._
+
+ _Within the maddening maze of things,
+ And tossed by storm and flood,
+ To one fixed stake my spirit clings:
+ I know that God is good._
+
+ _I know not where his islands lift
+ Their fronded palms in air;
+ I only know I cannot drift
+ Beyond His love and care._
+
+ JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER.
+
+O Thou, without whose care a sparrow does not fall, who through the
+pathless sky dost guide the bird seeking its distant nest, Thy trusting
+children are safe in Thy dear love. We know not the way before us, but
+Thou dost know; our feet may stumble in rough paths, but Thou wilt hold
+us up. Glad in this confidence, may we begin the day with song and
+finish it, whatever may befall us, in the calm assurance that all things
+work for good. Give us patience in perplexity, hope amid our fears, and
+faith to trust Thy holy will as best. Thus walking in Thy love may we
+reach home at last to see our Saviour's face. Amen.
+
+ STEPHEN A. NORTON.
+
+
+December 23
+
+ _Wouldst make thy life go fair and square?
+ Thou must not for the past feel care;
+ Whatever thy loss, thou must not mourn;
+ Must ever act as if new-born.
+ What each day wants of thee, that ask;
+ What each day tells thee, that make thy task;
+ With pride thine own performance viewing,
+ With heart to admire another's doing;
+ Above all, hate no human being,
+ And all the future leave to the All-Seeing._
+
+ GOETHE.
+
+Dear Father, grateful for another new-born day, myself new-born, I greet
+Thee! Yesterday and all other yesterdays are in Thy keeping. _This day
+is mine!_ For the failures of the past I care not, nor do I mourn the
+losses of the days gone by. _Today I am new-born!_ Indeed, aspiring to
+Thy comprehensive wisdom, I may see my past and my present as one, and
+out of that past I may select--even from failures and losses--such
+experiences and lessons as will help me live the present--at least this
+one day which is mine!--more nobly, more fully, more usefully, more
+beautifully. May I, knowing myself to be Thy Child, respect myself as a
+creative spirit able to look upon its own work and to say: "Behold, it
+is good!" And above all, I pray: that, to-day and always, I may grow in
+grace and loving-kindness,--hating no one, but feeling, thinking,
+speaking, acting with good will towards all Thy creatures! _This day is
+mine!_ The future I leave to Thee, All-Seeing Father! but feel myself
+Thy open-eyed and confident child. Amen.
+
+ CHARLES FLEISCHER.
+
+
+December 24
+
+ _'Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,
+ Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home;
+ A charm from the skies seems to hallow us there,
+ Which sought through the world is ne'er met with elsewhere._
+
+ _An exile from home splendor dazzles in vain,
+ Oh give me my lowly thatched cottage again;
+ The birds singing gaily, that came at my call,
+ Give me them, and that peace of mind dearer than all._
+
+ J. HOWARD PAYNE.
+
+O God, our Heavenly Father, we thank thee for the blessings of home; for
+the shelter, safety, and hallowed associations of our domestic
+habitation; for the sympathy and helpfulness of family relationship.
+Help us we pray thee to make ours an ideal household, bright with
+cheerfulness, an exemplification of Christian faith and hope. May the
+happiness of all be the object of each. To that end help us to be
+patient toward one another, kind and forgiving. May we realize by many
+beatific experiences that it is better to give than to receive, better
+to serve than to be served. May we be disposed, as occasion may arise,
+to share, for a season, the comfort and inspiration of our home with
+those who are homeless. We thank Thee for the bright assurance that
+beyond the fading scenes and transitory experiences of this life, there
+is, awaiting us, an eternal abiding place in "a continuing city" whose
+maker and builder is God, where there shall be no more parting, and
+where the shadows of our present life shall forever flee away. Amen.
+
+ CHARLES CONKLIN.
+
+
+December 25
+
+ _That ever-vivid scene of Bethlehem.... A father, a mother, and a
+ child are there. No religion which began like that could ever lose
+ its character. The first unit of human life, the soul, is there, in
+ the new-born personality of the childhood. But the second unit of
+ human life, the family, is just as truly there in the familiar
+ relation of husband and wife and the sacred, eternal mystery of
+ motherhood._
+
+ PHILLIPS BROOKS.
+
+"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth Peace." We take up the angel
+symphony and give it new breath, this gladsome day of days. Thou who
+didst send Thy Son in the likeness of a little child, that by His life
+of increase in love and beauty and wisdom and power He might give us
+courage to begin as children the obedience that alone leads at last to
+the measure of the stature of His fulness, accept our unutterable
+gratitude for all that gift. And oh, may He be born in us and formed in
+us, the hope of glory, that so we may share His peace, His victory, His
+exaltation, His union with Thee. Amen.
+
+ C. ELLWOOD NASH.
+
+
+December 26
+
+ Two are the pathways by which mankind can to virtue mount upward;
+ If thou shouldst find the one barr'd, open the other will lie.
+ 'Tis by exertion the Happy obtain her, the Suffering by patience,
+ Blest is the man whose kind fate guides him along upon both!
+
+ SCHILLER.
+
+O Thou who hast kept us safely during the unconsciousness of our
+slumbering hours, and brought us refreshed to this morning light,
+prepare us for the duties of this day by filling us with the assurance
+that we are Thine, and that Thou lovest us. Help us to be more like
+Thee, to love Thee more and serve Thee better. May we manifest our love
+to Thee by our willingness to be of service to our fellowmen. Make us
+warm-hearted and true, helpful and kind, reflecting Thy love and doing
+Thy will. We are glad to live in this beautiful world. And we pray that
+we may be faithful co-laborers with Jesus Christ, in being light, love
+and joy to all lives. Amen.
+
+ CHARLES R. TENNEY.
+
+
+December 27
+
+ _Stronger, and more frequently, comes the temptation to stop
+ singing, and let discord do its own wild work. But blessed are they
+ that endure to the end,--singing patiently and sweetly, till all
+ join in with loving acquiescence, and universal harmony prevails,
+ without forcing into submission the free discord of a single
+ voice._
+
+ _This is the hardest and the bravest task which a true soul has to
+ perform amid the clashing elements of time. But once has it been
+ done perfectly unto the end; and that voice--so clear in its
+ meekness--is heard above all the din of a tumultuous world: one
+ after another chimes in with its patient sweetness; and, through
+ infinite discords, the listening soul can perceive that the great
+ tune is slowly coming into harmony._
+
+ LYDIA MARIA CHILD.
+
+Our Father, who art in heaven! We thank Thee that we are permitted to
+see the light, engage in the duties and enter into the experiences of
+this new day. We thank Thee for the order and harmony of this wonderful
+universe; that every force and law and being supports and balances every
+other force, law and being; that every life contributes to or may
+contribute to the welfare of every other life, and we pray, that each
+one of us may come into such relations with Thee, the great harmonizing
+soul of things, as to add our little note to the full anthem of
+perpetual and adorable praise. In Christ's dear name, we ask and offer
+all. Amen.
+
+ A. J. PATTERSON.
+
+
+December 28
+
+ _It is said that a friend once asked the great composer, Haydn, why
+ his church music was always so full of gladness. He answered, "I
+ cannot make it otherwise; I write according to the thoughts I feel;
+ when I think upon my God, my heart is so full of joy that the notes
+ dance and leap from my pen; and since God has given me a cheerful
+ heart, it will be pardoned me that I serve Him with a cheerful
+ spirit."_
+
+ _Pardoned? Nay, it will be praised and rewarded. For God looks with
+ approval and man turns with gratitude to everyone who shows by a
+ cheerful life that religion is a blessing for this world and the
+ next._
+
+ HENRY VAN DYKE.
+
+Our Father in Heaven, we awake this morning with a sense of thankfulness
+for the beauty and glory of Thy creation. We praise Thee that as Thy
+children we can be conscious of the kingdom of heaven always about us.
+So we pray for that attitude of mind and spirit of soul that will unlock
+for us the divine life. Help us to be conscious of Thee in all the
+varied experiences of this day. If it shall be a day of burdens, give us
+strength to play our part uncomplainingly, if a day of joy to accept it
+with true gratitude; and when the shades of night shall call us to our
+rest, may our memory of the day bring us peace. Amen.
+
+ EDWARD C. DOWNEY.
+
+
+December 29
+
+ _Ah, don't be sorrowful, darling,
+ And don't be sorrowful, pray;
+ Taking the year together, my dear,
+ There isn't more night than day._
+
+ _'Tis rainy weather, my darling;
+ Time's waves they heavily run;
+ But taking the year together, my dear,
+ There isn't more cloud than sun._
+
+ ALICE CARY.
+
+We thank Thee, heavenly Father, for the days just as they come. Nor
+would we measure the sunshine against the storm as if to test Thy
+goodness by some petty form of bookkeeping. Thou presidest over all our
+days, and whatever may be the face of nature we trust Thy love. Let us
+go forth today, not in critical mood nor despondent mood but in the mood
+of high Christian faith, anxious, not to test Thy providence, but ready
+to do our own part, taking care to hold our cup of blessing open-side
+up; so shall it catch the manna when it falls. Then shall each passing
+day be full of blessing. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+December 30
+
+ _Fades the rose; the year grows old;
+ The tale is told;
+ Youth doth depart--
+ Only stays the heart._
+
+ _Ah, no! if stays the heart,
+ Youth can ne'er depart,
+ Nor the sweet tale be told--
+ Never the rose fade, nor the year grow old._
+
+ RICHARD WATSON GILDER.
+
+Dear Father, we thank Thee for the year now coming to its close, and for
+all that has blessed us in it. Help us to keep the good wherewith it has
+done us good in lasting memory. By the flight of time which its passing
+emphasizes move us to earnestness in the labors committed to our hands.
+Beyond this help us that we may be undisturbed, remembering that Thou
+art our dwelling place, and that we are the children of Thy love and the
+sharers of Thy everlastingness. So may we keep the vision of youth, the
+vision to which endings are but beginnings, the good leading to the
+better, and the best forever more. May Thy blessing be upon all whom we
+love and should pray for in this and every day, in Jesus' name. Amen.
+
+ CHARLES R. TENNEY.
+
+
+December 31
+
+ _Be not afraid, dear friend. What of sickness! What of sorrow! What
+ of failure! What of misfortune! What of death! Is not this God's
+ world? Are not you God's child? Go forth into the New Year with
+ brave heart. When fortune smiles, smile with her. When fortune
+ frowns, smile the more, and trust in God._
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, we stand upon the utmost verge of the old year.
+Forgetting the things that are behind, we stand with our faces looking
+earnestly into the future. We do not despise the past, we do not forget
+its manifold blessings. We do not forget that Thou hast been with us in
+the old year; for all this we would be grateful. With clear vision and
+earnestness of purpose, we would stand looking into the future
+expectantly, ready for its duties and its responsibilities; yet not
+ostentatiously nor with over-confidence, for we know our own
+infirmities, our own weaknesses. We would enter upon the New Year with
+confidence, not because of our own strength, but because of Thy living
+presence. Thou art always with us, Thou art pouring out Thy spirit upon
+us. O Lord, let us believe in Thee, and believing, let us have a heart
+for any fate. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+Services for Special Days
+
+ _Good Friday_
+ _Easter_
+ _Thanksgiving Day_
+ _Birth of a Baby_
+ _Child's Birthday_
+ _Father's Birthday_
+ _Mother's Birthday_
+ _General Birthday_
+
+
+Good Friday
+
+ _Why dost thou glare so fierce
+ O Death, as thou wouldst pierce,
+ With thine uplifted dart,
+ My sinking heart?_
+
+ _Yet though men fear thee so
+ Wherever thou dost go,
+ And tremble at thy feet,
+ Thou art a cheat!_
+
+ _Though men thy pity crave,
+ Though naught from thee can save,
+ Thy Master rules above,
+ Thou servest Love._
+
+ HENRY NEHEMIAH DODGE.
+
+O Thou, who didst not spare Thine own Son, but didst deliver Him up for
+us all, we cannot ask Thee to withhold us from our Gethsemane nor even
+from our Calvary. But when Thou callest us to go down into the gloom or
+up to the cross, remember, O God, that we are dust. Might we so dwell
+with Thee in Thy secret place, as to abide under Thy shadow! There,
+sheltered and unafraid, we should sustain the rod as eager for its
+chastening stroke, praying only for wisdom to learn its lesson and
+acquire its discipline. With the picture of the crucified Savior before
+us, we only cry this day as He taught us, Thy will be done. Amen.
+
+ C. ELLWOOD NASH.
+
+
+Easter
+
+ _See, in that rock-hewn garden sepulchre,
+ The Holy One of God, despised and slain,
+ With nail-torn hands and feet, and spear-pierced side,
+ His gentle brow by mocking thorns defaced;
+ See where He lies, obedient unto death.
+ Into that pallid face the glow of life
+ Begins to steal, while silent and in awe
+ The heavenly watchers stand. Now they with haste
+ Unwind the scented wrappings from His form
+ That fill the place with rich aromas rare,
+ Perfume of spicery and sweet spikenard's breath
+ Lingering since Love her alabastron broke,
+ And with her tresses wiped these tear-bathed feet.
+ And then, their joyful faces all aglow
+ Like flashing sunbeams, quickly by a touch
+ They roll away the stone with jarring shock,
+ As if an earthquake passed, and sitting there
+ Behold their Lord go forth, Death's Conqueror!_
+
+ HENRY NEHEMIAH DODGE.
+
+O Thou Eternal One, who gatherest our fleeting moments into Thy
+permanence, when we draw close to Thee the terrors of change and
+vicissitude pass away, and a sense of the stability and security of all
+that is good brings us peace. We rejoice to know through Thy gospel that
+"life is ever lord of death." "Thou didst not suffer Thy Holy One to see
+corruption," and we trust that because He lives we shall live also. O
+grant that, believing in Him, we may not see death save as a door to
+more abounding life, and so realize our privilege daily to be risen with
+Him in the newness and power of an endless life. Amen.
+
+ C. ELLWOOD NASH.
+
+
+Thanksgiving
+
+ _Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands._
+
+ _Serve the Lord with gladness: come before His presence with
+ singing._
+
+ _Know ye that the Lord He is God; it is He that hath made us, and
+ not we ourselves; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture._
+
+ _Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with
+ praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His name._
+
+ _For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting; and His truth
+ endureth to all generations._
+
+ PSALM 100.
+
+For days of health, for nights of quiet sleep; for seasons of bounty and
+of beauty, for all earth's contributions to our need through this past
+year: Good Lord, we thank Thee. For our country's shelter; for our
+homes; for the joy of faces, and the joy of hearts that love: for the
+power of great examples; for holy ones who lead us in the ways of life
+and love: for our powers of growth; for longings to be better and do
+more; for Ideals that ever rise above our real: for opportunities well
+used; for opportunities unused, and even those misused: Good Lord, we
+humbly thank Thee! For our temptations, and for any victory over sins
+that close beset us; for the gladness that abides with loyalty and the
+peace of the return: for the blessedness of service and the power to fit
+ourselves to others' needs: for our necessities to work; for burdens,
+pain, and disappointments, means of growth; for sorrow; for death: for
+all that brings us nearer to each other, nearer to ourselves, near to
+Thee; for Life: We thank Thee, O our Father!
+
+ WILLIAM C. GANNETT.
+
+
+Birth of a Baby
+
+ _Where did you come from, baby dear?
+ Out of the everywhere into the here._
+
+ _Where did you get your eyes so blue?
+ Out of the sky as I came through._
+
+ _What makes the light in them sparkle and spin?
+ Some of the starry spikes left in._
+
+ _Where did you get that little tear?
+ I found it waiting when I got here._
+
+ _What makes your forehead so smooth and high?
+ A soft hand stroked it as I went by._
+
+ _What makes your cheek like a warm white rose?
+ Something better than anyone knows._
+
+ _Whence that three-cornered smile of bliss?
+ Three angels gave me at once a kiss._
+
+ _Where did you get those arms and hands?
+ Love made itself into hooks and bands._
+
+ _Feet, whence did you come, you darling things?
+ From the same box as the cherub's wings._
+
+ _How did they all just come to be you?
+ God thought about me, and so I grew._
+
+ _But how did you come to us, you dear?
+ God thought of You, and so I am here._
+
+ GEORGE MACDONALD
+
+Fresh from the Gates of Heaven, our Father, this dear child has come,
+opening in our hearts springs of new and deeper affection. We thank Thee
+for this life whose coming has filled our lives with sunshine. Teach us
+how to live that we may guide it aright, so that as the years pass more
+and more sunlight shall be radiated. Even as Thine angels kissed the
+sweet rosebud lips and left a smile thereon, so may we kiss away the
+tears of life. Heavenly Father, we consecrate this child to Thy service.
+We pray that the ears may learn to listen for Thy voice, speaking in
+truth and purity. May the tiny hands be ever ready to do a service of
+love and may the feet be swift to do Thy bidding. Tenderly guide this
+precious child, for it needs Thy guidance, and safely guard it through
+all the years, lest it go astray. This we ask in the name of Him who
+took little children in His arms and blessed them, saying--"Suffer
+little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the
+kingdom of Heaven." Amen.
+
+ FLORENCE H. PERIN.
+
+
+A Child's Birthday
+
+ _A dreary place would be this earth,
+ Were there no little people in it:
+ The song of life would lose its mirth,
+ Were there no children to begin it:_
+
+ _No little forms, like buds to grow,
+ And make the admiring heart surrender:
+ No little hands on breast and brow,
+ To keep the thrilling love-chords tender._
+
+ _The sterner souls would grow more stern,
+ Unfeeling nature more inhuman,
+ And man to stoic coldness turn,
+ And woman would be less than woman._
+
+ _Life's song, indeed, would lose its charm,
+ Were there no babies to begin it;
+ A doleful place this world would be,
+ Were there no little people in it._
+
+ JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER.
+
+Our dear Heavenly Father, Thou lookest upon us all as Thy
+children,--whether our hair be flaxen or brown or white with age. We
+thank Thee today for the children of our own household, for our
+children, and all the children, and especially do we thank Thee for the
+one whose birthday we celebrate here to-day. May Thy blessing be upon
+him (her), may the skies be bright over his (her) head,--may the birds
+sing to him (her). May the flowers blossom around his (her) pathway.
+Thro' all the journey of this life let him (her) have the guidance of
+Thy Father hand. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+A Father's Birthday
+
+ _The boy enjoyed this kind of a father at the time, and later he
+ came to understand, with a grateful heart, that there is no richer
+ inheritance in all the treasury of unearned blessings. For, after
+ all, the love, the patience, the kindly wisdom of a grown man who
+ can enter into the perplexities and turbulent impulses of a boy's
+ heart, and give him cheerful companionship, and lead him on by free
+ and joyful ways to know and choose the things that are pure and
+ lovely and of good report, make as fair an image as we can find of
+ that loving, patient Wisdom which must be above us all if any good
+ is to come out of our childish race._
+
+ HENRY VAN DYKE.
+
+By Thy very name, our Father, Thou hast ennobled and sanctified the
+office of parenthood and attracted to it our respect and love. Thou hast
+commanded us to honor father and mother, that our days may be
+lengthened. Assured thus of Thy approval, O God, we call upon Thee to
+hallow our joy and gratitude on this anniversary day. We thank Thee for
+him whom we honor as "Father in the flesh" and pray Thee to grant him
+yet many days with health and strength to minister and to be ministered
+unto, to grow in grace and in favor with God and man, and to taste the
+sweet tributes of love and the rewards of good deeds finely done. Amen.
+
+ C. ELLWOOD NASH.
+
+
+A Mother's Birthday
+
+ _Blessings on the hand of woman!
+ Angels guard her strength and grace;
+ In the cottage, palace, hovel,--
+ O! no matter where the place.
+ Would that never storms assailed it,
+ Rainbows ever gently curled;
+ For the hand that rocks the cradle
+ Is the hand that rules the world._
+
+ _Blessings on the hand of woman!
+ Fathers, sons and daughters cry;
+ And the sacred song is mingled
+ With the worship in the sky,--
+ Mingles where no tempest darkens,
+ Rainbows evermore are curled;
+ For the hand that rocks the cradle
+ Is the hand that rules the world._
+
+ JOHN GRAY.
+
+Heavenly Father, Thou plantest anew Thine own love in the hearts of Thy
+children and so multipliest Thyself on the earth. We thank Thee today
+for the manifold incarnation of Thyself in the hearts of all true
+mothers. We have known the magic charm of mother love and it relates us
+anew to Thee. Here we celebrate the birthday of one who has honored us
+and blessed us by a sacred ministry. We thank Thee, our Father, for all
+the sweet memories of the past, for all the joy of the present relation
+with her, and for the hope that these sacred associations may long
+continue. Wilt Thou bless her whose birthday we honor here. Crown her
+with long life and happy days and the sweet consciousness of having
+ministered in love. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+General Birthday
+
+ _Birthdays, what are they? One will say they are mileposts on the
+ highway of life, marking the distance already traveled and
+ suggesting what yet remains of the journey. Another looking into
+ the deeper meaning of the years will suggest that they are memorial
+ tablets recording the service of a passing life. But no matter
+ under what figure you think of them, the coming into this world of
+ a human life with all the magic powers of thought and love and
+ faith and service is a thing of such transcendent moment, as to
+ make it well worth while to mark the passing of the years._
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+Father of all, it is Thou who hast made us and given us all things
+richly to enjoy; we thank Thee, therefore, for the birthday to which we
+have come. We thank Thee for the physical life, and all that makes it
+glad; for the power of intellect, and all the wealth it feeds upon; for
+love, and all the forms of love which answer to it; for faith which
+looks on Thee and heaven; for service, the exercise and opportunity of
+every gift and grace. Help us to be faithful that our felicity may be
+secure in Thee, and that we may ever recall the day of our birth with
+rejoicing. This we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.
+
+ CHARLES R. TENNEY.
+
+
+
+
+ * * * * *
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+Minor typographical errors and inconsistencies have been corrected
+without comment. Unmatched quotation marks were left as they were
+in the original.
+
+page 76, March 14: "And grass in the green fields" changed to "field".
+
+
+
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+<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Optimist's Good Morning, by Florence Hobart Perin</title>
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+<body>
+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Optimist's Good Morning, by Florence
+Hobart Perin</h1>
+<pre>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre>
+<p>Title: The Optimist's Good Morning</p>
+<p>Author: Florence Hobart Perin</p>
+<p>Release Date: March 13, 2012 [eBook #39129]</p>
+<p>Language: English</p>
+<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p>
+<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OPTIMIST'S GOOD MORNING***</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h4>E-text prepared by Larry B. Harrison, Julia Neufeld,<br />
+ and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br />
+ (<a href="http://www.pgdp.net">http://www.pgdp.net</a>)<br />
+ from page images generously made available by the<br />
+ Google Books Library Project<br />
+ (<a href="http://books.google.com">http://books.google.com</a>)</h4>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;margin: 0 auto;" cellpadding="10">
+ <tr>
+ <td valign="top">
+ Note:
+ </td>
+ <td>
+ Images of the original pages are available through
+ Internet Archive. See
+ <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=VsgVAAAAYAAJ&amp;oe=UTF-8">
+ http://books.google.com/books?id=VsgVAAAAYAAJ&amp;oe=UTF-8</a>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h1>
+The Optimist's<br />
+Good Morning</h1>
+
+<p class="center"><i>Compiled by</i></p>
+<h2>Florence Hobart Perin</h2>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<div class="center">Boston<br />
+Little, Brown, and Company<br />
+1911<br /><br />
+
+<i>Copyright</i>, 1907,<br />
+<span class="smcap">By Little, Brown, and Company</span>.<br /><br />
+
+<i>All rights reserved</i><br /><br /><br />
+
+Printers<br />
+<span class="smcap">S. J. Parkhill &amp; Co., Boston, U. S. A.</span>
+
+</div>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+TO<br />
+My Mother and father
+</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>Acknowledgments</h2>
+
+
+<p>The compiler desires to make her grateful acknowledgments
+to the publishers and authors who have so
+generously given their permission to use selections
+from their copyrighted publications. She is especially
+indebted to Dodd, Mead &amp; Co., Houghton, Mifflin
+&amp; Co., The Century Co., The Outlook Co., Small,
+Maynard &amp; Co., McClure, Phillips &amp; Co., for extracts
+from "The Simple Life" by Charles Wagner and
+from "The Angelus" by Edwin Markham; G. P.
+Putnam's Sons for selections from "Christus Victor"
+by Henry Nehemiah Dodge; to Doubleday, Page &amp;
+Co. for extracts from "The Story of My Life" by
+Helen Keller, copyright 1902, 1903; also for selections
+from "Afterwhiles," copyright 1887, "Riley
+Farm Rhymes," copyright 1885, "Riley Songs o'
+Cheer," copyright 1883, "Pipes o' Pan," copyright
+1888, used by special permission of the publishers,
+The Bobbs-Merrill Co., to Charles Scribner's Sons
+for selections from "Fisherman's Luck," "The Lost
+Word," "Little Rivers," "The Story of the Psalms,"
+"The Toiling of Felix and Other Poems," by Henry
+Van Dyke, and a selection from "El Dorado" by
+Robert Louis Stevenson.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>Preface</h2>
+
+
+<p>Once family devotions were general, now they
+are rare. There are reasons for the change. One
+reason is that the simplicity of the old family life
+is gone. It is not easy to get all the members of the
+family together at any one time in the day. A part
+of this is due to less leisure now than formerly.
+Men must catch trains in the morning. In the
+evening they are distracted by manifold social engagements.</p>
+
+<p>Yet the need of spiritual adjustment is ever the
+same. Rapid transit, the telephone, the telegraph,
+do not take the place of God. Indeed the more
+rapid pace involved in these modern pace-makers,
+renders the more necessary some pause in the day
+for prayer, some upward look, when for a moment
+the soul may find an open way between itself and
+God. But how and when? Why not the breakfast
+table? Surely one or two minutes may be spared.
+Thirty seconds of silence, then the reading of a
+noble sentiment from some one who has been thinking
+for us,&mdash;another pause,&mdash;and a few words of
+prayer, framed by some one with more leisure than
+we have, but who puts us in the mood of prayer
+and so starts us right upon the duties of the day,&mdash;this
+will bring the needed readjustment.</p>
+
+<p>Such is the plan and purpose of this little book.
+It is made for busy men and women, who <i>need</i> to
+begin the day with God. The quotations for each
+day are brief, but they are gleaned from the great
+Masters of thought. The prayers are from devout
+men of all the denominations.</p>
+
+<p>As the title will have suggested, both quotations
+and prayers are generally in the spirit of a truly
+optimistic faith. However life may look in the
+middle of the night, it is a good thing to start out
+to do the work of the day with hope and courage.
+I shall be glad if I can feel that this little book has
+helped some busy people to begin the day in this
+spirit. I shall be particularly glad if I can feel that
+it has helped a little to keep the candles lighted on
+the family altar.</p>
+
+<div class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Florence Hobart Perin.</span>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xi" id="page_xi">[xi]</a></span></p>
+
+<h3>List of Authors of Selections</h3>
+
+
+
+
+
+<div>
+Abbott, Lyman, <a href="#page_234">234</a>, <a href="#page_296">296</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Albee, John, <a href="#page_348">348</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Alden, Marion, <a href="#page_263">263</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Ambrosius, Johanna, <a href="#page_254">254</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Ames, Charles G., <a href="#page_51">51</a>, <a href="#page_68">68</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Amiel, Henri-Frédéric, <a href="#page_305">305</a>, <a href="#page_340">340</a>, <a href="#page_350">350</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Anonymous, <a href="#page_16">16</a>, <a href="#page_33">33</a>, <a href="#page_52">52</a>, <a href="#page_91">91</a>, <a href="#page_93">93</a>, <a href="#page_129">129</a>, <a href="#page_181">181</a>, <a href="#page_198">198</a>, <a href="#page_213">213</a>, <a href="#page_268">268</a>, <a href="#page_354">354</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Arnold, Edwin, <a href="#page_39">39</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Arnold, George, <a href="#page_249">249</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Aughey, <a href="#page_315">315</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Aurelius, Marcus, <a href="#page_216">216</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Babcock, Maltbie Davenport, <a href="#page_279">279</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Baldwin, Mary, <a href="#page_72">72</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Banks, G. L., <a href="#page_135">135</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Bashford, H. H., <a href="#page_9">9</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Beecher, Henry Ward, <a href="#page_120">120</a>, <a href="#page_141">141</a>, <a href="#page_144">144</a>, <a href="#page_192">192</a>, <a href="#page_317">317</a>, <a href="#page_333">333</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Bisbee, Frederick A., <a href="#page_248">248</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Bolton, Sarah Knowles, <a href="#page_211">211</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Boyd, A. H. K., <a href="#page_78">78</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Bridges, Madeline S., <a href="#page_304">304</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Brooke, Stopford A., <a href="#page_27">27</a>, <a href="#page_115">115</a>, <a href="#page_289">289</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Brooks, Phillips, <a href="#page_17">17</a>, <a href="#page_24">24</a>, <a href="#page_36">36</a>, <a href="#page_75">75</a>, <a href="#page_137">137</a>, <a href="#page_212">212</a>, <a href="#page_235">235</a>, <a href="#page_240">240</a>, <a href="#page_264">264</a>, <a href="#page_271">271</a>, <a href="#page_288">288</a>, <a href="#page_362">362</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Brown, Alice, <a href="#page_218">218</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Brown, Anna Robertson, <a href="#page_51">51</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xii" id="page_xii">[xii]</a></span>Browning, Elizabeth Barrett, <a href="#page_29">29</a>, <a href="#page_104">104</a>, <a href="#page_148">148</a>, <a href="#page_232">232</a>, <a href="#page_331">331</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Browning, Robert, <a href="#page_28">28</a>, <a href="#page_64">64</a>, <a href="#page_69">69</a>, <a href="#page_79">79</a>, <a href="#page_90">90</a>, <a href="#page_109">109</a>, <a href="#page_130">130</a>, <a href="#page_179">179</a>, <a href="#page_201">201</a>, <a href="#page_221">221</a>, <a href="#page_243">243</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Bryant, William Cullen, <a href="#page_249">249</a>, <a href="#page_338">338</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Bulkeley, Benjamin R., <a href="#page_347">347</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Burton, Richard, <a href="#page_59">59</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Carlisle, J. H., <a href="#page_220">220</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Carlyle, Thomas, <a href="#page_37">37</a>, <a href="#page_61">61</a>, <a href="#page_85">85</a>, <a href="#page_107">107</a>, <a href="#page_164">164</a>, <a href="#page_183">183</a>, <a href="#page_209">209</a>, <a href="#page_219">219</a>, <a href="#page_269">269</a>, <a href="#page_331">331</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Carman, Bliss, <a href="#page_156">156</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Carpenter, Edward, <a href="#page_147">147</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Carruth, William H., <a href="#page_252">252</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Cary, Alice, <a href="#page_123">123</a>, <a href="#page_138">138</a>, <a href="#page_366">366</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Chadwick, John White, <a href="#page_134">134</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Child, Lydia Maria, <a href="#page_364">364</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Clarke, James Freeman, <a href="#page_267">267</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Cleaves, Charles P., <a href="#page_214">214</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Coates, Florence E., <a href="#page_189">189</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Coleridge, Hartley, <a href="#page_245">245</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, <a href="#page_217">217</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Collyer, Robert, <a href="#page_77">77</a>, <a href="#page_287">287</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Confucius, <a href="#page_191">191</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Coolidge, Susan, <a href="#page_150">150</a>, <a href="#page_157">157</a>, <a href="#page_207">207</a>, <a href="#page_339">339</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Cowper, William, <a href="#page_335">335</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Cox, Francis Augustus, <a href="#page_276">276</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Craig, Dinah Mulock, <a href="#page_143">143</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Crashaw, Richard, <a href="#page_151">151</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Danforth, Abbie E., <a href="#page_357">357</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Davis, Ozora Stearns, <a href="#page_82">82</a>.<br />
+<br />
+DeVere, Aubrey, <a href="#page_71">71</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Dix, William F., <a href="#page_261">261</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Dodge, Henry Nehemiah, <a href="#page_49">49</a>, <a href="#page_300">300</a>, <a href="#page_371">371</a>, <a href="#page_372">372</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Donaldson, Alfred L., <a href="#page_244">244</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Dowd, Emma C., <a href="#page_169">169</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Drummond, Henry, <a href="#page_91">91</a>, <a href="#page_203">203</a>, <a href="#page_323">323</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Dunbar, Paul Laurence, <a href="#page_88">88</a>, <a href="#page_186">186</a>, <a href="#page_256">256</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Earle, Mabel, <a href="#page_278">278</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xiii" id="page_xiii">[xiii]</a></span>Eliot, George, <a href="#page_48">48</a>, <a href="#page_241">241</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Emerson, Ralph Waldo, <a href="#page_19">19</a>, <a href="#page_42">42</a>, <a href="#page_57">57</a>, <a href="#page_87">87</a>, <a href="#page_108">108</a>, <a href="#page_124">124</a>, <a href="#page_127">127</a>, <a href="#page_151">151</a>, <a href="#page_158">158</a>, <a href="#page_185">185</a>, <a href="#page_210">210</a>, <a href="#page_228">228</a>, <a href="#page_271">271</a>, <a href="#page_281">281</a>, <a href="#page_344">344</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Epictetus, <a href="#page_56">56</a>, <a href="#page_284">284</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Faunce, W. H. P., <a href="#page_153">153</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Fiske, John, <a href="#page_11">11</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Ford, Mary Hanaford, <a href="#page_8">8</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Foss, Sam Walter, <a href="#page_99">99</a>, <a href="#page_341">341</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Fox, George, <a href="#page_104">104</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Franklin, Benjamin, <a href="#page_158">158</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Gannett, William C., <a href="#page_116">116</a>, <a href="#page_132">132</a>, <a href="#page_239">239</a>, <a href="#page_302">302</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Garland, Hamlin A., <a href="#page_196">196</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Gilder, Richard Watson, <a href="#page_168">168</a>, <a href="#page_367">367</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Gilman, Charlotte Perkins, <a href="#page_4">4</a>, <a href="#page_146">146</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Goethe, <a href="#page_360">360</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Gordon, Anna A., <a href="#page_247">247</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Gotthold, <a href="#page_23">23</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Gray, John, <a href="#page_378">378</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Green, J. R., <a href="#page_199">199</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Grover, Edwin Osgood, <a href="#page_155">155</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Hale, Edward Everett, <a href="#page_65">65</a>, <a href="#page_188">188</a>, <a href="#page_219">219</a>, <a href="#page_280">280</a>, <a href="#page_281">281</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Harraden, Beatrice, <a href="#page_80">80</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Hart, Estelle M., <a href="#page_337">337</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Havergal, Frances Ridley, <a href="#page_282">282</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Hawkes, Clarence, <a href="#page_97">97</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Hay, John, <a href="#page_67">67</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Hoar, George F., <a href="#page_83">83</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Holmes, Oliver Wendell, <a href="#page_29">29</a>, <a href="#page_55">55</a>, <a href="#page_172">172</a>, <a href="#page_188">188</a>, <a href="#page_253">253</a>, <a href="#page_286">286</a>, <a href="#page_297">297</a>, <a href="#page_311">311</a>, <a href="#page_352">352</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Homer, <a href="#page_341">341</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Hopkins, Ellice, <a href="#page_265">265</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Hovey, Richard, <a href="#page_292">292</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Hughes, Thomas, <a href="#page_194">194</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Humboldt, Alexander von, <a href="#page_306">306</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Hunt, Leigh, <a href="#page_143">143</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Huntington, Bishop, <a href="#page_70">70</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Huxley, Thomas Henry, <a href="#page_202">202</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xiv" id="page_xiv">[xiv]</a></span>Hyde, William DeWitt, <a href="#page_118">118</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Ibsen, Henrik, <a href="#page_312">312</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Ingelow, Jean, <a href="#page_221">221</a>, <a href="#page_327">327</a>.<br />
+
+<br />
+<br />
+Jackson, J. S., <a href="#page_7">7</a>.<br />
+<br />
+James, Henry, Sr., <a href="#page_165">165</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Johnson, Samuel, <a href="#page_66">66</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Jones, T. Edgar, <a href="#page_224">224</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Karr, Alphonse, <a href="#page_264">264</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Keats, John, <a href="#page_295">295</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Keller, Helen, <a href="#page_93">93</a>, <a href="#page_128">128</a>, <a href="#page_145">145</a>.<br />
+<br />
+King, T. Starr, <a href="#page_275">275</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Kingsley, Charles, <a href="#page_85">85</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Kiser, S. E., <a href="#page_318">318</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Klingle, George, <a href="#page_106">106</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Larcom, Lucy, <a href="#page_32">32</a>, <a href="#page_161">161</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Leonard, Priscilla, <a href="#page_60">60</a>, <a href="#page_299">299</a>, <a href="#page_312">312</a>, <a href="#page_329">329</a>, <a href="#page_336">336</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Livermore, Mary A., <a href="#page_119">119</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Longfellow, Henry W., <a href="#page_30">30</a>, <a href="#page_52">52</a>, <a href="#page_162">162</a>, <a href="#page_308">308</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Lowell, James Russell, <a href="#page_54">54</a>, <a href="#page_92">92</a>, <a href="#page_174">174</a>, <a href="#page_242">242</a>, <a href="#page_291">291</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Luther, Martin, <a href="#page_43">43</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Mabie, Hamilton W., <a href="#page_173">173</a>.<br />
+<br />
+MacDonald, George, <a href="#page_159">159</a>, <a href="#page_177">177</a>, <a href="#page_179">179</a>, <a href="#page_200">200</a>, <a href="#page_272">272</a>, <a href="#page_326">326</a>, <a href="#page_374">374</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Maeterlinck, <a href="#page_170">170</a>, <a href="#page_193">193</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Marius, <a href="#page_35">35</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Markham, Edwin, <a href="#page_14">14</a>, <a href="#page_257">257</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Markwell, Mary, <a href="#page_126">126</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Martin, Theodore, <a href="#page_96">96</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Mason, Caroline Atwater, <a href="#page_152">152</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Massey, Gerald, <a href="#page_66">66</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Meredith, Owen, <a href="#page_89">89</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Merriam, George S., <a href="#page_112">112</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Miller, James Russell, <a href="#page_293">293</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Milton, John, <a href="#page_62">62</a>, <a href="#page_125">125</a>, <a href="#page_136">136</a>, <a href="#page_262">262</a>, <a href="#page_307">307</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Montaigne, <a href="#page_69">69</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Moodie, William, <a href="#page_44">44</a>, <a href="#page_178">178</a>, <a href="#page_195">195</a>, <a href="#page_226">226</a>, <a href="#page_237">237</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Moore, Henry Hoyt, <a href="#page_238">238</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Moore, Thomas, <a href="#page_229">229</a>, <a href="#page_309">309</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Moxom, Philip S., <a href="#page_149">149</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xv" id="page_xv">[xv]</a></span>Murray, Ada Foster, <a href="#page_246">246</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+O'Reilly, John Boyle, <a href="#page_314">314</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Parker, Theodore, <a href="#page_34">34</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Partridge, William Ordway, <a href="#page_18">18</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Payne, J. Howard, <a href="#page_361">361</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Peabody, Francis G., <a href="#page_332">332</a>, <a href="#page_334">334</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Perin, George L., <a href="#page_3">3</a>, <a href="#page_12">12</a>, <a href="#page_153">153</a>, <a href="#page_163">163</a>, <a href="#page_176">176</a>, <a href="#page_215">215</a>, <a href="#page_290">290</a>, <a href="#page_322">322</a>, <a href="#page_368">368</a>, <a href="#page_379">379</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Perry, Carlotta, <a href="#page_231">231</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Perry, Nora, <a href="#page_101">101</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Plutarch, <a href="#page_298">298</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Procter, Adelaide A., <a href="#page_10">10</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Procter, Bryan Waller, <a href="#page_166">166</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Pullman, James M., <a href="#page_21">21</a>, <a href="#page_56">56</a>, <a href="#page_225">225</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Rankin, Isaac Ogden, <a href="#page_25">25</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Ravenscroft, James, <a href="#page_255">255</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Realf, Richard, <a href="#page_223">223</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Reimer, Edward F., <a href="#page_227">227</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Rexford, Eben E., <a href="#page_94">94</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Richter, <a href="#page_285">285</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Riley, James Whitcomb, <a href="#page_182">182</a>, <a href="#page_230">230</a>, <a href="#page_266">266</a>, <a href="#page_283">283</a>, <a href="#page_310">310</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Robertson, Frederick W., <a href="#page_250">250</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Rollins, Alice Wellington, <a href="#page_26">26</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Roosevelt, Theodore, <a href="#page_65">65</a>, <a href="#page_74">74</a>, <a href="#page_197">197</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Rosetti, Christina, <a href="#page_171">171</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Ruskin, John, <a href="#page_23">23</a>, <a href="#page_58">58</a>, <a href="#page_83">83</a>, <a href="#page_139">139</a>, <a href="#page_190">190</a>, <a href="#page_206">206</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Russell, Bessie L., <a href="#page_259">259</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Sangster, Margaret, <a href="#page_117">117</a>, <a href="#page_205">205</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Savage, Minot J., <a href="#page_47">47</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Schiller, <a href="#page_363">363</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Scollard, Clinton, <a href="#page_84">84</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Scott, Walter, <a href="#page_235">235</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Shafer, Sara Andrew, <a href="#page_184">184</a>, <a href="#page_260">260</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Shakespeare, <a href="#page_38">38</a>, <a href="#page_107">107</a>, <a href="#page_113">113</a>, <a href="#page_258">258</a>, <a href="#page_345">345</a>, <a href="#page_351">351</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Shelley, <a href="#page_100">100</a>, <a href="#page_111">111</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Shipman, George W., <a href="#page_277">277</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Sill, Edward Rowland, <a href="#page_98">98</a>, <a href="#page_274">274</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Smiles, Samuel, <a href="#page_236">236</a>, <a href="#page_320">320</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xvi" id="page_xvi">[xvi]</a></span>Smyth, Julian K., <a href="#page_73">73</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Spofford, Harriet P., <a href="#page_101">101</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Spurgeon, <a href="#page_197">197</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Stanton, Frank L., <a href="#page_160">160</a>, <a href="#page_343">343</a>.<br />
+<br />
+St. Bernard, <a href="#page_269">269</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Stebbins, Horatio, <a href="#page_280">280</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Stedman, Edmund Clarence, <a href="#page_95">95</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Stevenson, Robert Louis, <a href="#page_180">180</a>, <a href="#page_353">353</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Stoddard, Richard H., <a href="#page_45">45</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Story, William Wetmore, <a href="#page_6">6</a>, <a href="#page_321">321</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Stowe, Harriet Beecher, <a href="#page_230">230</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Swinburne, Algernon Charles, <a href="#page_53">53</a>, <a href="#page_167">167</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Swing, David, <a href="#page_46">46</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Symonds, John Addington, <a href="#page_175">175</a>, <a href="#page_346">346</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Taylor, Bayard, <a href="#page_240">240</a>, <a href="#page_321">321</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Taylor, Jeremy E., <a href="#page_59">59</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Tennyson, Alfred, <a href="#page_232">232</a>, <a href="#page_326">326</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Thaxter, Celia, <a href="#page_95">95</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Tholuck, <a href="#page_357">357</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Thompson, Maurice, <a href="#page_110">110</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Thoreau, Henry David, <a href="#page_50">50</a>, <a href="#page_335">335</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Townsend, Mary Ashley, <a href="#page_81">81</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Trowbridge, Robertson, <a href="#page_273">273</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Urmy, Clarence, <a href="#page_268">268</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Van Dyke, Henry, <a href="#page_142">142</a>, <a href="#page_154">154</a>, <a href="#page_294">294</a>, <a href="#page_313">313</a>, <a href="#page_324">324</a>, <a href="#page_328">328</a>, <a href="#page_355">355</a>, <a href="#page_365">365</a>, <a href="#page_377">377</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Vinci, Leonardo da, <a href="#page_74">74</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Wagner, Charles, <a href="#page_20">20</a>, <a href="#page_63">63</a>, <a href="#page_114">114</a>, <a href="#page_204">204</a>, <a href="#page_356">356</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Waterman, Nixon, <a href="#page_173">173</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Whitman, Walt, <a href="#page_22">22</a>, <a href="#page_40">40</a>, <a href="#page_102">102</a>, <a href="#page_270">270</a>, <a href="#page_349">349</a>, <a href="#page_358">358</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Whitney, Mrs. A. D. T., <a href="#page_31">31</a>, <a href="#page_86">86</a>, <a href="#page_122">122</a>, <a href="#page_127">127</a>, <a href="#page_147">147</a>, <a href="#page_167">167</a>, <a href="#page_298">298</a>, <a href="#page_301">301</a>, <a href="#page_303">303</a>, <a href="#page_348">348</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Whittier, John Greenleaf, <a href="#page_15">15</a>, <a href="#page_41">41</a>, <a href="#page_103">103</a>, <a href="#page_140">140</a>, <a href="#page_289">289</a>, <a href="#page_359">359</a>, <a href="#page_376">376</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Wilcox, Ella Wheeler, <a href="#page_5">5</a>, <a href="#page_13">13</a>, <a href="#page_87">87</a>, <a href="#page_121">121</a>, <a href="#page_222">222</a>, <a href="#page_231">231</a>, <a href="#page_325">325</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Willard, Frances E., <a href="#page_105">105</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Wordsworth, William, <a href="#page_76">76</a>, <a href="#page_131">131</a>, <a href="#page_251">251</a>, <a href="#page_319">319</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Wright, Mary Frances, <a href="#page_233">233</a>.<br />
+
+</div>
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xvii" id="page_xvii">[xvii]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3>List of Authors of Prayers</h3>
+
+
+
+
+
+<div>
+Adams, J. Coleman, <a href="#page_119">119</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Albion, James F., <a href="#page_91">91</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Alcott, A. N., <a href="#page_299">299</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Allen, James F., <a href="#page_265">265</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Amee, E. McP., <a href="#page_264">264</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Ames, Charles Gordon, <a href="#page_6">6</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Anderson, Thomas D., <a href="#page_132">132</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Annas, J. W., <a href="#page_253">253</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Atwood, Isaac M., <a href="#page_34">34</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Atwood, John Murray, <a href="#page_36">36</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Ayers, Samuel Gilbert, <a href="#page_121">121</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Babcock, William G., <a href="#page_10">10</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Backus, Wilson M., <a href="#page_139">139</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Badger, George H., <a href="#page_271">271</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Barker, J. H., <a href="#page_107">107</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Barney, Edward M., <a href="#page_74">74</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Bartlett, A. Eugene, <a href="#page_11">11</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Batchelor, George, <a href="#page_108">108</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Bates, Lewis P., <a href="#page_226">226</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Beane, Samuel C., <a href="#page_236">236</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Benton, Herbert E., <a href="#page_272">272</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Berle, Adolph A., <a href="#page_319">319</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Betts, Frederick W., <a href="#page_70">70</a>, <a href="#page_181">181</a>, <a href="#page_317">317</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Billings, Charles T., <a href="#page_316">316</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Bisbee, Frederick A., <a href="#page_27">27</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Bissell, Flint M., <a href="#page_79">79</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Blake, Edwin Alonzo, <a href="#page_228">228</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xviii" id="page_xviii">[xviii]</a></span>Blanchard, Henry, <a href="#page_24">24</a>.<br />
+
+<br />
+Bliss, Charles B., <a href="#page_206">206</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Brandow, Melvin, <a href="#page_287">287</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Brett, Francis W., <a href="#page_182">182</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Brigham, L. Ward, <a href="#page_20">20</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Brodie, James Fairbairn, <a href="#page_320">320</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Bronson, Dillon, <a href="#page_9">9</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Brown, Howard N., <a href="#page_354">354</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Brown, William Channing, <a href="#page_106">106</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Buckshorn, Louis H., <a href="#page_191">191</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Burch, Ernest W., <a href="#page_312">312</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Burleigh, W. H., <a href="#page_118">118</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Burr, Everett D., <a href="#page_136">136</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Bush, R. Perry, <a href="#page_82">82</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Bushnell, Samuel C., <a href="#page_37">37</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Bygrave, Hilary, <a href="#page_212">212</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Canfield, Harry L., <a href="#page_39">39</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Carter, John Wesley, <a href="#page_48">48</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Cary, Ph&oelig;be, <a href="#page_274">274</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Chapin, Eben H., <a href="#page_323">323</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Chapman, Edward M., <a href="#page_30">30</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Charlton, J. E., <a href="#page_341">341</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Chase, J. Frank, <a href="#page_237">237</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Cheney, George H., <a href="#page_192">192</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Church, Augustus B., <a href="#page_99">99</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Clark, C. C., <a href="#page_144">144</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Clark, DeWitt S., <a href="#page_257">257</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Clark, Francis E., <a href="#page_38">38</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Clark, Hobart, <a href="#page_218">218</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Clarke, William N., <a href="#page_258">258</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Clayton, Francis Treadway, <a href="#page_302">302</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Coddington, Isaac P., <a href="#page_190">190</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Coleman, Albert J., <a href="#page_353">353</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Collier, Frank W., <a href="#page_174">174</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Conklin, Abram, <a href="#page_19">19</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Conklin, Charles, <a href="#page_361">361</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Conner, Ralph E., <a href="#page_211">211</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Coons, Leroy W., <a href="#page_68">68</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Cooper, Joseph, <a href="#page_84">84</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Cooper, J. Francis, <a href="#page_310">310</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xix" id="page_xix">[xix]</a></span>Corby, James D., <a href="#page_280">280</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Couden, Henry N., <a href="#page_26">26</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Crandall, Lathan A., <a href="#page_202">202</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Crane, Cephas B., <a href="#page_60">60</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Crane, Frank, <a href="#page_337">337</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Crooker, Florence Kollock, <a href="#page_98">98</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Crooker, Joseph H., <a href="#page_23">23</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Crooker, Orin Edson, <a href="#page_163">163</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Cuckson, John, <a href="#page_123">123</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Curnick, E. T., <a href="#page_93">93</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Cushman, Henry Irving, <a href="#page_94">94</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Danforth, Abbie E., <a href="#page_105">105</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Davis, Charles Edward, <a href="#page_260">260</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Davidson, John M., <a href="#page_289">289</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Day, Edward, <a href="#page_62">62</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Day, John, <a href="#page_78">78</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Dean, George B., <a href="#page_267">267</a>.<br />
+<br />
+DeNormandie, James, <a href="#page_125">125</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Dick, Samuel M., <a href="#page_333">333</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Dight, Alexander, <a href="#page_290">290</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Dillingham, Fred A., <a href="#page_41">41</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Dodge, J. Smith, <a href="#page_340">340</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Dodson, George R., <a href="#page_197">197</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Dole, Charles F., <a href="#page_157">157</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Dole, Walter, <a href="#page_339">339</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Downey, Edward C., <a href="#page_365">365</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Earle, A. Gertrude, <a href="#page_104">104</a>.<br />
+<br />
+East, Charles R., <a href="#page_324">324</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Eddy, William B., <a href="#page_49">49</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Eichler, M. M., <a href="#page_195">195</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Faunce, W. H. P., <a href="#page_307">307</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Fish, William H., <a href="#page_263">263</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Fischer, Theodore A., <a href="#page_17">17</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Fisher, C. E., <a href="#page_67">67</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Fisk, Richmond, <a href="#page_159">159</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Fleischer, Charles, <a href="#page_360">360</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Forbes, John P., <a href="#page_142">142</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Forbes, Roger S., <a href="#page_161">161</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xx" id="page_xx">[xx]</a></span>Fortier, George F., <a href="#page_77">77</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Foster, Augustine N., <a href="#page_154">154</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Fraser, Donald, <a href="#page_284">284</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Freeman, L. A., <a href="#page_255">255</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Frick, Philip L., <a href="#page_348">348</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Frothingham, Paul Revere, <a href="#page_169">169</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Full, William, <a href="#page_300">300</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Fulton, J. W., <a href="#page_282">282</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Galbraith, John, <a href="#page_220">220</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Gannett, William C, <a href="#page_373">373</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Gaskin, William E., <a href="#page_251">251</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Gerrish, George Mayo, <a href="#page_75">75</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Gibbs, William E, <a href="#page_168">168</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Gifford, O. P., <a href="#page_209">209</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Gooding, Alfred, <a href="#page_245">245</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Gould, William H., <a href="#page_146">146</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Grant, Elihu, <a href="#page_238">238</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Grant, Eugene M., <a href="#page_288">288</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Graves, Herbert H., <a href="#page_242">242</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Gray, Francis A., <a href="#page_111">111</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Greene, L. L., <a href="#page_131">131</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Greene, Ransom A., <a href="#page_355">355</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Greene, Samuel H., <a href="#page_328">328</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Grier, Albert C., <a href="#page_269">269</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Grose, Arthur W., <a href="#page_311">311</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Gunnison, Almon, <a href="#page_4">4</a>, <a href="#page_47">47</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Guth, William W., <a href="#page_216">216</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Hale, Edward Everett, <a href="#page_55">55</a>, <a href="#page_92">92</a>, <a href="#page_120">120</a>, <a href="#page_304">304</a>, <a href="#page_345">345</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Hall, Frank Oliver, <a href="#page_278">278</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Hammatt, Albert, <a href="#page_232">232</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Hammond, L. H., <a href="#page_244">244</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Hamilton, Franklin, <a href="#page_322">322</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Hatch, William H. P., <a href="#page_318">318</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Hawkins, J. E., <a href="#page_279">279</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Haynes, Myron W., <a href="#page_58">58</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Healy, Walter, <a href="#page_100">100</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Helms, E. J., <a href="#page_343">343</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Henry, Carl F., <a href="#page_248">248</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Hiller, Charles C. P., <a href="#page_336">336</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xxi" id="page_xxi">[xxi]</a></span>Hitchcock, Albert Wellman, <a href="#page_64">64</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Hodge, Dwight M., <a href="#page_81">81</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Hodges, George, <a href="#page_356">356</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Holden, C. W., <a href="#page_29">29</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Holden, James Harry, <a href="#page_204">204</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Holmes, C. K., <a href="#page_281">281</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Holt, Frank M., <a href="#page_71">71</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Horne, Ralph Edwin, <a href="#page_103">103</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Horner, Thomas J., <a href="#page_329">329</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Horton, Edward A., <a href="#page_115">115</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Howe, George M., <a href="#page_346">346</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Hoyt, Wayland, <a href="#page_54">54</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Huntley, George E., <a href="#page_325">325</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Hyde, William DeWitt, <a href="#page_351">351</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Illman, Thomas W., <a href="#page_247">247</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Jennings, B. L., <a href="#page_88">88</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Johnson, L. P., <a href="#page_335">335</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Johonnot, Rodney F., <a href="#page_252">252</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Jones, Effie McCollum, <a href="#page_31">31</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Kellerman, Robert S., <a href="#page_194">194</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Kent, George W., <a href="#page_147">147</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Kidner, Reuben, <a href="#page_43">43</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Kimball, John, <a href="#page_42">42</a>.<br />
+<br />
+King, Henry M., <a href="#page_57">57</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Knickerbocker, Charles A., <a href="#page_5">5</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Lacount, J. Edwin, <a href="#page_350">350</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Lee, John Clarence, <a href="#page_175">175</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Leonard, Charles H., <a href="#page_170">170</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Levy, Maurice A., <a href="#page_155">155</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Locke, Calvin S., <a href="#page_277">277</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Longbrake, George Runyon, <a href="#page_327">327</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Lord, Augustus Mendon, <a href="#page_40">40</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Lund, Charles E., <a href="#page_178">178</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Lutterman, E. W., <a href="#page_308">308</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+MacLennan, A. K., <a href="#page_275">275</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Main, William H., <a href="#page_14">14</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xxii" id="page_xxii">[xxii]</a></span>Martin, T. C., <a href="#page_160">160</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Martineau, James, <a href="#page_56">56</a>, <a href="#page_217">217</a>, <a href="#page_321">321</a>, <a href="#page_334">334</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Marshall, Perry, <a href="#page_189">189</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Marvin, Reginold K., <a href="#page_114">114</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Masseck, Frank Lincoln, <a href="#page_112">112</a>.<br />
+<br />
+McCollester, Lee S., <a href="#page_221">221</a>.<br />
+<br />
+McCollester, S. H., <a href="#page_18">18</a>.<br />
+<br />
+McGlaughlin, William H., <a href="#page_332">332</a>.<br />
+<br />
+McKenzie, Alexander, <a href="#page_12">12</a>.<br />
+<br />
+McKinney, Luther F., <a href="#page_210">210</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Mead, I. J., <a href="#page_143">143</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Meyer, John F., <a href="#page_349">349</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Milburn, U. S., <a href="#page_113">113</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Mitchell, Stanford, <a href="#page_179">179</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Moore, Henrietta G., <a href="#page_110">110</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Morgan, William S., <a href="#page_25">25</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Morrison, William H., <a href="#page_117">117</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Mudge, James, <a href="#page_223">223</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Myers, Cortland, <a href="#page_344">344</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Nash, C. Ellwood, <a href="#page_188">188</a>, <a href="#page_362">362</a>, <a href="#page_371">371</a>, <a href="#page_372">372</a>, <a href="#page_377">377</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Nash, Charles P., <a href="#page_148">148</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Nash, Henry S., <a href="#page_21">21</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Northrop, Cyrus, <a href="#page_296">296</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Norton, Stephen A., <a href="#page_359">359</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Opdale, Nellie Mann, <a href="#page_243">243</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Osgood, Edmund Q. S., <a href="#page_101">101</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Owen, George W., <a href="#page_28">28</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Parker, Joseph, <a href="#page_59">59</a>, <a href="#page_214">214</a>, <a href="#page_219">219</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Parker, Theodore, <a href="#page_53">53</a>, <a href="#page_97">97</a>, <a href="#page_109">109</a>, <a href="#page_135">135</a>, <a href="#page_193">193</a>, <a href="#page_230">230</a>, <a href="#page_239">239</a>, <a href="#page_249">249</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Parkhurst, Charles, <a href="#page_63">63</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Patterson, A. J., <a href="#page_364">364</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Pattison, Harold, <a href="#page_225">225</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Payne, Thomas B., <a href="#page_133">133</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Payson, James M., <a href="#page_222">222</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Peloubet, F. N., <a href="#page_331">331</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Pember, Elmer F., <a href="#page_134">134</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Penniman, George Wallace, <a href="#page_129">129</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Perin, Florence H., <a href="#page_375">375</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xxiii" id="page_xxiii">[xxiii]</a></span>Perin, George L., <a href="#page_3">3</a>, <a href="#page_22">22</a>, <a href="#page_35">35</a>, <a href="#page_46">46</a>, <a href="#page_80">80</a>, <a href="#page_90">90</a>, <a href="#page_96">96</a>, <a href="#page_102">102</a>, <a href="#page_116">116</a>, <a href="#page_124">124</a>, <a href="#page_153">153</a>, <a href="#page_153">153</a>, <a href="#page_172">172</a>, <a href="#page_185">185</a>, <a href="#page_196">196</a>, <a href="#page_215">215</a>, <a href="#page_234">234</a>, <a href="#page_250">250</a>, <a href="#page_270">270</a>, <a href="#page_286">286</a>, <a href="#page_297">297</a>, <a href="#page_306">306</a>, <a href="#page_330">330</a>, <a href="#page_342">342</a>, <a href="#page_352">352</a>, <a href="#page_366">366</a>, <a href="#page_368">368</a>, <a href="#page_376">376</a>, <a href="#page_378">378</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Perkins, Frederick W., <a href="#page_229">229</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Perkins, O. Howard, <a href="#page_66">66</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Perkins, Warren S., <a href="#page_164">164</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Perrin, Willard T., <a href="#page_276">276</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Perry, Edward A., <a href="#page_61">61</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Petty, Charles E., <a href="#page_85">85</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Polk, Robert T., <a href="#page_224">224</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Potter, Wilburn D., <a href="#page_83">83</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Potter, William F., <a href="#page_150">150</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Potterton, Thomas Edward, <a href="#page_165">165</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Powers, LeGrand, <a href="#page_73">73</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Preble, Edgar W., <a href="#page_72">72</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Priest, Frederick C., <a href="#page_208">208</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Puffer, Charles H., <a href="#page_357">357</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Putnam, Alfred P., <a href="#page_162">162</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Randall, J. O., <a href="#page_198">198</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Reardon, John B., <a href="#page_140">140</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Rexford, E. L., <a href="#page_16">16</a>, <a href="#page_128">128</a>, <a href="#page_233">233</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Rice, Charles F., <a href="#page_256">256</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Rice, Clarence E., <a href="#page_173">173</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Rice, Frank S., <a href="#page_87">87</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Richardson, W. G., <a href="#page_314">314</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Roblin, Stephen H., <a href="#page_183">183</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Rose, Henry R., <a href="#page_303">303</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Rowley, Francis H., <a href="#page_13">13</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Rugg, Henry W., <a href="#page_126">126</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Safford, Oscar F., <a href="#page_65">65</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Sage, Nathaniel S., <a href="#page_32">32</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Sallaway, James, <a href="#page_293">293</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Sargent, Frank D., <a href="#page_347">347</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Scott, Alva Roy, <a href="#page_44">44</a>, <a href="#page_141">141</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Scott, O. W., <a href="#page_186">186</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Scrivener, George S., <a href="#page_268">268</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Selleck, Willard C., <a href="#page_227">227</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Shaw, Annette J., <a href="#page_231">231</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Shaw, Avery A., <a href="#page_45">45</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xxiv" id="page_xxiv">[xxiv]</a></span>Shields, Albert B., <a href="#page_309">309</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Shinn, Q. H., <a href="#page_149">149</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Snippen, Rush R., <a href="#page_201">201</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Simons, Minot O., <a href="#page_138">138</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Skene, George, <a href="#page_315">315</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Slicer, Thomas R., <a href="#page_166">166</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Small, E. E., <a href="#page_203">203</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Smiley, Edmund L., <a href="#page_266">266</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Smiley, George M., <a href="#page_295">295</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Smith, Thomas W., <a href="#page_283">283</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Stephan, J. W., <a href="#page_76">76</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Straub, Jacob, <a href="#page_177">177</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Studley, Elliott F., <a href="#page_261">261</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Sweetser, Edwin C., <a href="#page_151">151</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Taylor, Frederick A., <a href="#page_254">254</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Taylor, Henry B., <a href="#page_69">69</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Tenney, Charles R., <a href="#page_294">294</a>, <a href="#page_313">313</a>, <a href="#page_326">326</a>, <a href="#page_363">363</a>, <a href="#page_367">367</a>, <a href="#page_379">379</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Thayer, George A., <a href="#page_199">199</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Thompson, J. Frank, <a href="#page_51">51</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Tillinghast, Alan R., <a href="#page_86">86</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Tillinghast, James D., <a href="#page_358">358</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Tomlinson, Charles W., <a href="#page_33">33</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Tomlinson, Vincent E., <a href="#page_205">205</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Towne, Edward C., <a href="#page_291">291</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Tupper, Kerr Boyce, <a href="#page_95">95</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Tuttle, Walter A., <a href="#page_213">213</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Vail, Charles H., <a href="#page_246">246</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Varney, Charles E., <a href="#page_292">292</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Vossema, Hendrick, <a href="#page_235">235</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Wallace, O. C. S., <a href="#page_50">50</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Ward, Merrill C., <a href="#page_262">262</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Ward, W. I., <a href="#page_127">127</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Warner, E. M., <a href="#page_187">187</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Weatherly, Arthur L., <a href="#page_200">200</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Weil, Fred Alban, <a href="#page_338">338</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Wendte, Charles W., <a href="#page_156">156</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Wentworth, Margaret, <a href="#page_259">259</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xxv" id="page_xxv">[xxv]</a></span>West, Julius P., <a href="#page_145">145</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Weston, Costello, <a href="#page_207">207</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Wheeler, C. H., <a href="#page_8">8</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Wheeler, F. H., <a href="#page_89">89</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Whippen, Frank W., <a href="#page_7">7</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Whitaker, George, <a href="#page_15">15</a>.<br />
+<br />
+White, Albert C., <a href="#page_167">167</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Whitney, Elbert W., <a href="#page_301">301</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Williams, Leon O., <a href="#page_298">298</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Willson, Andrew, <a href="#page_122">122</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Wilson, John M., <a href="#page_171">171</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Wilson, Lewis G., <a href="#page_180">180</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Wood, W. A., <a href="#page_130">130</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Wright, Arthur, <a href="#page_184">184</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Wright, James Edward, <a href="#page_176">176</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Wright, M. Emory, <a href="#page_273">273</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Yantis, Arnold S., <a href="#page_52">52</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Young, George H., <a href="#page_240">240</a>, <a href="#page_285">285</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Young, Joshua, <a href="#page_158">158</a>, <a href="#page_241">241</a>, <a href="#page_305">305</a>.<br />
+</div>
+
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_1" id="page_1">[1]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_2" id="page_2">[2]</a></span></p>
+<h2>The Optimist's Good Morning</h2>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_3" id="page_3">[3]</a></span></p>
+<p>January 1</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Throughout the year, why not keep sweet? No
+frown ever made a heart glad; no complaint ever
+made a dark day bright; no bitter word ever lightened
+a burden or made a rough road smooth; no grumbling
+ever introduced sunshine into a home. What the
+world needs is the resolute step, the look of cheer, the
+smiling countenance, and the kindly word. Keep
+sweet!</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">George L. Perin.</span></p>
+
+
+<p>God of the years, our Heavenly Father, whatever
+the message of the old year may have been, whether
+of darkness or light, joy or sorrow,&mdash;we stand this
+morning waiting expectantly and confidently for
+some message with glad tidings. May we therefore
+enter upon the New Year in the mood of hope and
+good cheer,&mdash;brushing from our faces every sign
+of care, let us go forth into the New Year with the
+spirit of a child who puts his hand into the hand of
+a Father to be led into a field where the flowers
+blossom and the birds sing. Not for to-day only
+do we pray for sweetness and light, but let us be
+glad and happy every day. Thou art with us today,&mdash;Thou
+wilt be with us through all the journey of
+the year. May our own daily gladness be born of
+the conviction that Thou art always near. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">George L. Perin.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_4" id="page_4">[4]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>January 2</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<p><i>To keep my health!<br />
+To do my work!<br />
+To live!<br />
+To see to it I grow and gain and give!<br />
+Never to look behind me for an hour!<br />
+To wait in weakness and to walk in power<br />
+But always fronting forward to the light,<br />
+Always, and always facing toward the right.<br />
+Robbed, starved, defeated, fallen, wide astray&mdash;<br />
+On, with what strength I have!<br />
+Back to the way!</i></p>
+
+
+<p class="signature"><span class="smcap">Charlotte Perkins Gilman.</span>
+</p>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>With this new day, O God, let some new strength
+be mine, to walk in patience, the way appointed
+for me. Let me be strong to battle with the ills that
+shall beset me, to toil with faith and honest heart,
+to keep myself untainted and make my life helpful
+to my fellowmen. Help me to be forgetful of myself,
+but thoughtful to do no evil to any man. Thy hand
+is strong and mine is weak. I need Thy guidance,
+let Thy strength be mine, that though I stumble I
+may not fall nor fail. And when the day is done,
+may happy memories be mine. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Almon Gunnison.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_5" id="page_5">[5]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>January 3</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Build on resolve, and not upon regret,<br />
+The structure of Thy future. Do not grope<br />
+Among the shadows of old sins, but let<br />
+Thine own soul's light shine on the path of hope<br />
+And dissipate the darkness. Waste no tears<br />
+Upon the blotted record of lost years,<br />
+But turn the leaf, and smile, oh, smile, to see<br />
+The fair white pages that remain to thee.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature"><span class="smcap">Ella Wheeler Wilcox.</span>
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>O Thou All-persuasive God, who dost speak
+within the souls of men in language which the heart
+interprets as its own! enlarge our trust in that better
+self which beckons us, that we may be led out of the
+lingering darkness of regret, out of the shadow of
+embittered memory into the brightness of a new
+resolve where we may see Thy face. Smile upon
+us in the smiling day; in the joy of strength renewed,
+and opportunity reborn; in the beauty of the promise
+each hour whispers to us as it passes by. So fill us
+with Thyself that each new day shall mean new
+life led by the glory of those hopes which do not
+fade at evening. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Charles A. Knickerbocker.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_6" id="page_6">[6]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>January 4</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>We of our age are part, and every thrill that wakes<br />
+The tremulous air of Life its motion in us makes.</i><br />
+<br />
+<i>The imitative mass mere empty echo gives<br />
+As walls and rocks return the sound that they receive.</i><br />
+<br />
+<i>But as the bell, that high in some cathedral swings,<br />
+Stirred by whatever thrill, with its own music rings,</i><br />
+<br />
+<i>So finer souls give forth, to each vibrating tone<br />
+Impinging on their life, a music of their own.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">W. W. Story.</span>
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>O living and loving One, brighter than the morning
+and fairer than the day, from Thee we come,
+to Thee we turn, who art more than Father and
+Mother to us all. Our times are in Thy hand. Thou,
+who hast set the sun and stars in the sky, hast appointed
+our place and part in this human world.
+May Thy light lead and Thy love win us into the
+harmonies of law and grace, that we may become
+responsive to every touch of nature, every whisper
+of truth, every appeal of humanity. So prepare
+us to serve our generation in the spirit of Him who
+has taught us to do Thy will on earth as it is done
+in heaven. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Charles G. Ames.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_7" id="page_7">[7]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>January 5</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<p><i>All such as worked for love, not wages&mdash;some<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Who, painting for a perfect tint did drain</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Their hearts, or some to save their country slain,</span><br />
+Or many who for truth braved martyrdom,<br />
+Or more who, in what common days may come,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Have toiled in hope, beyond the hope of gain,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of doing something well,&mdash;all such would fain</span><br />
+Speak thus: These gifts more free than flowers from<br />
+The earth are given. Good world, if to our need<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ye offer bread and shelt'ring roof unsought,</span><br />
+As guests our thanks we give, but not for greed,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As if our gifts were bartered for and bought;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And if, perchance, good world, ye offer nought,</span><br />
+Ah, well, that were of life the lesser meed.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">J. S. Jackson.</span>
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Father in Heaven, we thank Thee, as we enter
+upon another day, for strength with which to work.
+We thank Thee for our tasks; for our opportunities
+to work for Thee and for those we love, we thank
+Thee. May we know the joy, when night shall come,
+of having accomplished something worthy. Help
+us to see in that satisfaction a part of our pay. Make
+each of us faithful in his place; and help the humblest
+worker to understand that consecration and not
+rank is the all-important thing. Above all, may we
+not forget that living is giving, and may our desire
+either for rest or gain keep us from no helpful act.
+May we follow Him who came to minister, and live
+as sons and daughters of God. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Frank W. Whippen.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_8" id="page_8">[8]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>January 6</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>The sculptor moulds his clay with reverent hand,<br />
+That clay thro' which his fancy flashes free&mdash;<br />
+Quick with an answer to his soul's demand,<br />
+And pliant to his fingers' minstrelsy!<br />
+Could ever bronze or marble so respond<br />
+In wordless echo of the being's will?<br />
+Naught but the clay, as to a rapture fond<br />
+Could he with fire of genius thus infill!<br />
+And so the common people are the clay,<br />
+Swift moulded by Divine Deific hand,<br />
+Until transfigured, in the glorious day,<br />
+The statue of humanity shall stand!<br />
+It knows no tinsel crown, this masterpiece.<br />
+But all the sovereignty of God's release!</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Mary Hanaford Ford.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Heavenly Father, we are of Thy plain common
+people: we feel ourselves of very little worth. For
+what can we do of ourselves? But, if Thou wilt
+graciously use us, shaping us to Thine ends as the
+potter his clay, it may be that we shall serve some
+worthy purpose. We therefore yield ourselves to
+Thee, and beg Thee to use us this day. Make us
+pliant to Thy purposes, make us a help to someone
+who needs us today. So take us into partnership
+with Thyself, and so may this day be a day of delight,
+and our plain common lives be made rich with the
+Glory of service. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">C. H. Wheeler.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_9" id="page_9">[9]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>January 7</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>And I, too, sing the song of all creation,<br />
+A brave sky and a glad wind blowing by,<br />
+A clear trail and an hour for meditation,<br />
+A long day and the joy to make it fly,<br />
+A hard task and the muscle to achieve it,<br />
+A fierce noon and a well-contented gloom,<br />
+A good strife and no great regret to leave it,<br />
+A still night&mdash;and the far red lights of home.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">H. H. Bashford.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Almighty God, we thank Thee that Thou art our
+Father, and that Thou lovest us as though Thou
+hadst no other children; we adore Thee for the
+beautiful world in which Thou hast placed us; for
+trees and birds and flowers and sky, for friends and
+music and books and all the ten thousand mercies
+which crown our lives. We thank Thee too, for
+hard tasks and severe disciplines, for everything
+that is intended to make us strong and brave and
+true. Thou art the Lord of the day and of the night
+also. Give us grace to trust Thee and to believe in
+Thy motherly solicitude at all times. May Thy
+goodness lead us to repentance and to joyous unselfish
+living and may we so improve our opportunities
+for service that we shall make others think of Him
+who went about doing good and trusted in His
+Father with a perfect trust. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Dillon Bronson.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_10" id="page_10">[10]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>January 8</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Have we not all, amid life's petty strife,<br />
+Some pure ideal of a noble life<br />
+That once seemed possible? Did we not hear<br />
+The flutter of its wings and feel it near,<br />
+And just within our reach? It was. And yet<br />
+We lost it in this daily jar and fret.<br />
+But still our place is kept and it will wait,<br />
+Ready for us to fill it, soon or late.<br />
+No star is ever lost we once have seen:<br />
+We always may be what we might have been.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Adelaide A. Procter.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>O Thou, whose goodness is new to us every morning
+and fresh every evening, we bless Thee for Thy
+patient and unforgetting care of all of us. Though
+we transgress Thy beneficent laws and frequently
+lose sight of our cherished ideals, our hunger and
+thirst for righteousness never dies, for we partake
+of Thy Divine Nature. O that we might always
+be animated with Thy spirit of disinterested Love.
+We thank Thee this day for the inspiration of light
+and joy of our gifted poets and pray that we may
+meet the daily trials of life with a sweet and courageous
+spirit, remembering that "no star we have
+ever seen will cease to shine." Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">William G. Babcock.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_11" id="page_11">[11]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>January 9</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>The future is lighted for us with the radiant colors
+of hope. Strife and sorrow shall disappear. Peace
+and love shall reign supreme. The dream of poets,
+the lesson of priest and prophet, the inspiration of
+the great musician, is confirmed in the light of modern
+knowledge; and, as we gird ourselves for the work
+of life, we may look forward to the time when in the
+truest sense the kingdoms of this world shall become
+the kingdom of Christ, and He shall reign forever
+and ever, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">John Fiske.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>All-wise and all-loving Father, we invoke Thy aid
+at the opening of a glad, new day. For the past
+we thank Thee, remembering that each day yielded
+its blessings. We rejoice that the victories of yesterday
+are the promise of larger successes today.
+Whenever during the day, we shall be conscious of
+our littleness, give us at that moment the vision of
+our possible largeness. Teach us, however tumultuous
+be the outward conditions, to maintain the inward
+calm. Today may Thy love work its miracle upon
+our pain and pleasure. So through faithful, hopeful
+work may we find Thy kingdom nearer at this
+day's close. Amen.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">A. Eugene Bartlett.</span></p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_12" id="page_12">[12]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>January 10</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Blessings on the man who smiles! I do not mean
+the man who smiles for effect, nor the one who smiles
+when the world smiles. I mean the man whose smile
+is born of an inner radiance, the man who smiles
+when the clouds lower, when fortune frowns, when
+the tides are adverse. Such a man not only makes a
+new world for himself, but he multiplies himself an
+hundred fold in the strength and courage of other men.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">George L. Perin.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Blessed art Thou, O Lord, our Father in heaven
+and on the earth! Give to us of Thy blessedness
+that all this day we may rejoice in Thee. Incline
+our hearts to see Thy goodness and wisdom. Make
+the gladness of our hearts constant that it may
+illumine our presence, so that those who walk with
+us may walk in Thy light and give Thee thanks.
+Make Thy joy our strength, whether expressed in
+storm or sunshine, that we may consent to Thy will
+cheerfully. We ask these and all gifts in the name
+of Him who would have His joy abide in us, that our
+joy may be fulfilled. Amen.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Alexander McKenzie.</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_13" id="page_13">[13]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>January 11</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Talk happiness! The world is sad enough,<br />
+Without your woes. No path is wholly rough;<br />
+Look for the places that are smooth and clear<br />
+And speak of those who rest the weary ear<br />
+Of earth, so hurt by one continuous strain<br />
+Of human discontent and grief and pain.</i><br />
+<br />
+<i>Talk health! The dreary, never changing tale<br />
+Of mortal maladies is worn and stale.<br />
+You cannot charm or interest or please,<br />
+By harping on that minor chord, disease.<br />
+Say you are well, or all is well with you,<br />
+And God shall hear your words and make them true.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Ella Wheeler Wilcox.</span>
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Heavenly Father, by whose mercy we are permitted
+to greet another day, we offer Thee this morning
+our grateful praise for all the blessings of this
+life. We take from Thee with thankful heart the
+gift of health, conscious that we shall never know
+how rich the gift until we lose it. Now, while it is
+ours, may we use it with abounding joy for the good
+of those we may meet this day. To be able to bring
+light where there is darkness, hope where there is
+despair, comfort where there is sorrow, and so to
+be the children of our Father which is in Heaven,
+for this we pray, with the pardon of our sins, in
+Jesus' name. Amen.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Francis H. Rowley.</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_14" id="page_14">[14]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>January 12</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>The crest and crowning of all good,<br />
+Life's final star, is Brotherhood;<br />
+For it will bring again to Earth<br />
+Her long-lost Poesy and Mirth;<br />
+Will send new light on every face,<br />
+A kingly power upon the race,<br />
+And till it comes, we men are slaves,<br />
+And travel downward to the dust of graves.<br />
+Come clear the way, then, clear the way;<br />
+Blind creeds and kings have had their day,<br />
+Our hope is in the aftermath&mdash;<br />
+Our hope is in heroic men,<br />
+Star-led to build the world again.<br />
+To this event the ages ran;<br />
+Make way for Brotherhood&mdash;make way for Man.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Edwin Markham.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>O Lord, make us like Thee. There can be no
+greater ambition, no loftier desire, no holier purpose,
+for Thou holdest the secret of Brotherhood. Like
+Thee, the only begotten of the Father, the essence
+of love, the joy of angels, the hope of the world,&mdash;make
+us like Thee, O Christ. Let Thy light be our
+light; thy service our joy; Thy peace our inheritance.
+Touch our lips that we may say no unkind word;
+touch our hearts that we may feel no wrong desires.
+May our living be for the world's good, our acts
+precious helps to Thy kingdom, our all consecrated
+to Thy blessed service. May we be satisfied when
+we awake with Thy likeness. Amen.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">William H. Main.</span></p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_15" id="page_15">[15]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>January 13</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>If there be some weaker one,<br />
+Give me strength to help him on;<br />
+If a blinder soul there be,<br />
+Let me guide him nearer Thee.<br />
+Make my mortal dreams come true<br />
+With the work I fain would do;<br />
+Clothe with life the weak intent,<br />
+Let me be the thing I meant;<br />
+Let me find in Thine employ<br />
+Peace that dearer is than joy!</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">John Greenleaf Whittier.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Heavenly Father! We humbly beseech Thee to
+breathe upon us Thy Holy Spirit, that we may be
+Thy true disciples, that we may be quick to see our
+brother's need, and quicker to relieve it. If he has
+lost his way, may we be aided to show it to him clearly.
+May we see our brother in the Master's "prodigal,"
+and find in every needy soul our sphere of service.
+Forgive our weak excuses, and make the flickering
+embers burn to fervent heat, that the ideal Thou hast
+given in Thy Word may command every power of
+our lives. For Jesus' sake, Amen.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">George Whitaker.</span></p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_16" id="page_16">[16]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>January 14</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>A German allegory tells of two little girls. They
+had been playing together in a strange garden, and
+soon one ran in to her mother full of disappointment.
+"The garden's a sad place, mother." "Why, my
+child?" "I've been all around, and every rose-tree
+has cruel, long thorns upon it!" Then the second
+child came in breathless. "O Mother, the garden's
+a beautiful place!" "How so, my child?" "Why,
+I've been all around, and every thorn-bush has lovely
+roses growing on it!" And the mother wondered at
+the difference in the two children.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Anonymous.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Divine Spirit and Soul of this day! We rejoice
+in its accomplished and its prophetic beauty and
+wealth which even our undisciplined hearts and
+minds may readily perceive, but may we increase
+the joy of its activities and its whole divine meaning
+by a deeper appreciation of its ministry to the disciplined
+life we bear. If there shall be fortunes
+in its passing which we would not choose, if there
+shall be encountered any experiences we would shun,
+may we remember that our reverses only emphasize
+our successes, that our sorrows intensify our joys,
+that even the humiliation and shame of the "far
+country" add divine meaning to the Father's House
+where wait the sandals and robes and rings for
+the comfort and beauty that are yet to be. May we
+learn that the thorn protects the rose, that the flaming
+sword turning in all directions protects the Tree
+of Life in every Eden of the world. May we remember
+that every great and good fortune of life is
+guarded by a seeming hostility which bears in its
+soul the secret of a lasting benevolence appointed
+for our own good. Amen.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">E. L. Rexford.</span></p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_17" id="page_17">[17]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>January 15</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>We are haunted by an ideal life, and it is because
+we have within us the beginning and the possibility
+of it. God is our continual incitement because we
+are His children. So the ideal life is in our blood
+and never will be still. We feel the thing we ought
+to be beating beneath the thing we are. Every time
+we see a man who has attained our ideal a little more
+fully than we have it wakens our languid blood and
+fills us with new longings.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Phillips Brooks.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>O God, we thank Thee each morning for ideals
+which appeal to us with such persistence that we have
+no peace unless we pursue them. Even in our seeming
+indifference we are ill at ease, because Thy
+voice calling to us disturbs our fancied content.
+We are not satisfied with ourselves nor with our
+attainments. "We shall be satisfied only when we
+wake in Thy likeness." Weary though we often are
+in our service yet we thank Thee that Thou relentlessly
+pursuest us with even greater and higher
+demands. Help us in our onward and upward
+plodding. Revive our failing spirits. Lead us ever
+on. Help us to realize that "in our patience we
+shall win our souls." We pray as followers of Jesus
+Christ. Amen.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Theodore A. Fischer.</span></p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_18" id="page_18">[18]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>January 16</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>O Singer of today, this glorious hour<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Is all for you and me&mdash;what shall it give</span><br />
+To us, and ask of fate&mdash;what splendid power<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In brain and hand, what glorious right to live</span><br />
+Among our fellows and to war with sin?<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">What quickening of the pulse as we aspire</span><br />
+To claim our right, and risk earth's joys to win,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To conquer self, and force it through the fire!</span><br />
+Give us this force, dear God, and evermore<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Give us a deepening love of all our fellowmen;</span><br />
+Give us new insight&mdash;courage to explore<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With all the tenderness of human ken</span><br />
+The lowliest heart that beats in human kind,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Its glory and its soul to seek and find!</span></i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">William Ordway Partridge.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>O Soul of all souls! Baptize us afresh this morning
+into the lustral waters that we may devoutly thank
+Thee that Thou art and that Thou dost clearly reveal
+Thyself to Christian souls through Thy Son, as
+the Father of the great brotherhood of mankind.
+So wait upon us that we shall go forth to this day's
+duties resolved upon so living as to render the morning
+glad, the noon redolent with merciful activity,
+and the evening full of praise. Thus quickened and
+enlarged the night will afford rest and recuperation
+fitting us to welcome the morrow, still hoping, loving,
+progressing, obedient to the sainted call, "Up
+higher," being incessantly recompensed with the
+coveted refrain, "Well done." Amen.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">S. H. McCollester.</span></p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_19" id="page_19">[19]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>January 17</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>There is one topic peremptorily forbidden to all
+well-bred, to all rational mortals, namely, their distempers.
+If you have not slept or if you have slept,
+or if you have headache, or sciatica, or leprosy or
+thunder stroke, I beseech you, by all angels, to hold
+your peace, and not pollute the morning, to which
+all the housemates bring serene and pleasant thoughts,
+by corruption and groans.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Ralph Waldo Emerson.</span>
+</p>
+
+<p>Our Father, when we remember the multitude of
+Thy mercies our hearts are filled with peace and
+praise and we are ashamed to murmur and complain.
+Turn our thoughts toward the love and joy that
+this day holds for us; its opportunities, its privileges
+and victories. Let the morning light dispel the
+shadows on our faces and the fears in our hearts.
+Thou hast glorified us and will glorify us again.
+Help us to be grateful for the rose that smiles amidst
+the thorns and the light that ever shines behind the
+clouds. Grant that the spirit of trust may prevail
+in us and send us on our way with power to conquer.
+Amen.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Abram Conklin.</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_20" id="page_20">[20]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>January 18</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Simplicity is a state of mind. It dwells in the
+main intention of our lives. A man is simple when
+his chief care is the wish to be what he ought to be,
+that is, honestly and naturally human. And this is
+neither so easy nor so impossible as one might think.
+At bottom it consists in putting our acts and aspirations
+in accordance with the law of our being, and
+consequently with the Eternal Intention which willed
+that we should be at all. Let a flower be a flower, a
+swallow a swallow, a rock a rock, and let a man be
+a man, and not a fox, a hare, a hog, or a bird of prey;
+this is the sum of the whole matter.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Charles Wagner.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Dear Heavenly Father, we rejoice in the awakening
+of body and soul to new activities. We thank
+Thee for the gift of divinity in the soul and for opportunity
+to give it expression. We would be true
+to ourselves, knowing we can thus alone be true to
+Thee. O God, hush the voice of evil passion.
+Quicken every noble aspiration. Grant the vision
+of Thy holy love that Thy image within us may
+remain clear in the turmoil of our life. We pray
+Thee stir the heart and mind that both may grow
+up to the full stature of man as it was in Jesus, our
+Saviour. Amen.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">L. Ward Brigham.</span></p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_21" id="page_21">[21]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>January 19</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>God has put the keys to His kingdom into your
+own hands. Your intelligence is a key, your affection
+is a key, your conscience is a key. With these keys
+you are to unlock the great doors of life, and gain access
+to its heavenly treasures.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">James M. Pullman.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Master of life, as Thou hast opened our eyes to
+see the sun, open the eyes of our hearts to see the
+splendor of Thy law. And even as Thou dost
+bring to birth, through the marriage of our eye
+and the sun, all the beauty of this visible world,
+so through the union between our hearts and Thy
+holy will, create a world rejoicing in the beauty of
+truth and justice and peace. Lead us this day
+deeper into the mystery of Thy life and our life and
+make us interpreters of life to our fellows, through
+Him who by His death opened for us the book of
+life, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Henry S. Nash.</span></p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_22" id="page_22">[22]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>January 20</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>A noiseless, patient spider,<br />
+I mark'd how on a little promontory it stood isolated,<br />
+Mark'd how to explore the vacant, vast surrounding,<br />
+It launch'd forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself,<br />
+Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them.</i><br />
+<br />
+<i>And you, O my soul, where you stand,<br />
+Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space,<br />
+Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them,<br />
+Till the bridge you will need be form'd, till the ductile anchor hold,<br />
+Till the gossamer threads you fling catch somewhere O my soul.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Walt Whitman.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Thou Infinite Spirit, we are glad of all human
+relationships. We are thankful for all companionship
+with nature. We rejoice in the fellowship with
+books, yet like the child who grows tired with every
+plaything and every childish task and lonely for a
+mother's love, we look to Thee with an infinite longing.
+In our effort to solve the problems of life, we
+throw our web of life hither and thither, but it will
+not hold. Only when at last we have thrown the
+thread of faith to Thee, shall the ductile anchor
+hold. Our Heavenly Father, as we go forth into
+this day, may we not leave Thee for any dream or
+phantom, but may we walk with Thee all day long,
+and find in Thee the answer to every longing and
+the solution of every problem. Though we may not
+see, we may trust and wait. Amen.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">George L. Perin.</span></p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_23" id="page_23">[23]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>January 21</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Do not think of your faults, still less of others'
+faults; in every person who comes near you, look
+for what is good and strong; honor that; rejoice in
+it; and as you can, try to imitate it; and your
+faults will drop off like dead leaves when their
+time comes.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Ruskin.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>With a clear sky, a bright sun, and a gentle
+breeze, you will have friends in plenty; but let fortune
+frown, and the firmament be overcast, and then
+your friends will prove like the strings of the lute,
+of which you will tighten ten before you find one
+that will bear the stretch and keep the pitch.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Gotthold.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Dear Father, may the new day bring some fresh
+and inspiring thought of Thyself. May it give some
+tender communion with the universe, kindling into
+beauty as Thy smile shines through. May we make
+and keep a few dear friends. May some good book
+enrich the passing hours. May love flow through
+all acts, and the star of hope shine in all shadows.
+And trusting Thee supremely, may we humbly do
+our best that good may abound on earth. Amen.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Joseph H. Crooker.</span></p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_24" id="page_24">[24]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>January 22</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>The power of mere activity is often overrated. It
+is not what the best men do, but what they are, that
+constitutes their truest benefaction to their fellowmen.
+The things that men do get their value, after all, from
+the way in which they are able to show the existence
+of character which can comfort and help mankind....
+It is the lives, like the stars, which simply pour down
+on us the calm light of their bright and faithful being,
+up to which we look and out of which we gather the
+deepest calm and courage.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Phillips Brooks.</span>
+</p>
+
+<p>Thou knowest, dear Father, how often we wish
+to do many things which are beyond our power.
+Help us to believe that Thou dost accept the wish
+when we cannot do the deed. But we thank Thee
+that we can do some things, though they are not
+large nor many. We know that as we grow in faith,
+in patience, in courage, in love, we radiate light
+and peace and power to those who are around us.
+As we begin a new day, we are uplifted by the thought
+that we have been called into being because Thou
+desirest the love of children, and because we are to
+co-work with Thee by loving and serving all whom
+we can reach. Always, we believe, art Thou ready
+to help us. Always art Thou brooding over us to
+draw us nearer to Thee, and to give us light and
+strength to be fellow-workers with Thee. In this
+new day, may we speak some word and do some
+work which shall please Thee and give us joy as we
+shall lie down to sleep. Amen.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Henry Blanchard.</span></p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_25" id="page_25">[25]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>January 23</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>We pride ourselves, in weighing worth and merit,<br />
+Too much in virtues that we but inherit.<br />
+Some punctual grandsire makes us hate delay<br />
+And we are proud to keep our oath and day.<br />
+But our ancestral follies and abuses<br />
+We still indulge in, and make for them excuses.<br />
+Let him be proud, dared man be proud at all,<br />
+Who stands where all his fathers used to fall,<br />
+Holding their virtues fast and passing on<br />
+Still higher good through his own victories won.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Isaac Ogden Rankin.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>This morning, the sun shines by his own inherent
+worth. The clouds often intercept his influence but
+he shines back of them and finds a way through the
+slightest cleft to tip them with glory. He always
+reveals himself&mdash;his inner self&mdash;and makes all
+purer and more beautiful. May we so shine! The
+world needs the divinity there is in us. We are a
+part of Thee. Thou art our deeper self. The Nazarean
+prophet relied entirely upon his inner life and
+found ancient good uncouth. Whatever clouds
+intercept our influence, teach us to reveal what
+conscience dictates, what intuition illumines, what
+reason shows, to purify our time, and all unrighteousness,
+wrong thinking and useless and hurtful
+custom. To this end, give us purity, courage, and
+nobility. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">William S. Morgan.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_26" id="page_26">[26]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>January 24</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>My faith begins where your religion ends,&mdash;<br />
+In service to mankind. This single thread<br />
+Is given to guide us through the maze of life.<br />
+You start at one end, I the other; you,<br />
+With eyes fixed only upon God, begin<br />
+With lofty faith, and, seeking but to know<br />
+And do His will who guides the universe,<br />
+You find the slender and mysterious thread<br />
+Leads down to earth, with God's divine command<br />
+To help your fellowmen; but this to me<br />
+Is something strangely vague. I see alone<br />
+The fellowmen, the suffering fellowmen.<br />
+Yet, with a cup of water in my hand<br />
+For all who thirst, who knows but I one day,<br />
+Following faithfully the slender thread,<br />
+May reach its other end, and kneel at last<br />
+With you in heaven at the feet of God?</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Alice Wellington Rollins.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Our Father in heaven, author of life and light,
+justice and mercy, liberty and love, we hail with
+joy and gratitude this new born day, token of Thy
+presence, good will and continued care. Help us
+with high ideals, pure thoughts and noble endeavors
+to hallow Thy name, trusting where we cannot prove,
+proving where we cannot trust, by a willing service
+to our fellowmen, ever advancing by faith, by
+works, with a strong heart, a firm step, a generous
+hand, a sunny smile, and a cheering voice, until we
+all come into the measure of the stature of the fulness
+of Christ; and Thy will be done on earth as it is
+in heaven. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Henry N. Couden.</span><br /></p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_27" id="page_27">[27]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>January 25</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>If you would have sunlight in your home, see that
+you have work in it: that you work yourself and set
+others to work. Nothing makes moroseness and
+heavy-heartedness in a house so fast as idleness.
+The very children gloom and sulk if they are left with
+nothing to do. Every day there is the light of something
+conquered in the eyes of those who work. In
+such a house, if there be also the good temper of love,
+sunshine never ceases. For in it the great law of
+humanity is obeyed, a law which is also God's law.
+For what said Christ, "My Father worketh hitherto
+and I work." Sunlight comes with work.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Stopford A. Brooke.</span>
+</p>
+
+<p>O Thou, who art the source of light and life, we
+pause in Thy presence at the opening of the day,
+that in the light of thy countenance we may see
+ourselves as we are and as we ought to be, and receive
+the inspiration to consecrated effort and worthy
+achievement. We thank Thee that Thou hast done
+so much for us and yet left so much for us to do.
+May we think how important are these lives we
+are going to live today; that no matter how small
+we are, this universe in all its majesty can never
+be complete without our effort, and Thou, Almighty
+God, art waiting with infinite patience for us to do
+our part. Thus shall our work, however humble,
+be glorified by a Godlike temper and a Christlike
+faith. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Frederick A. Bisbee.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_28" id="page_28">[28]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>January 26</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p><i>
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">All that is, at all,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Lasts ever, past recall:</span><br />
+Earth changes, but thy soul and God stand sure;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">What entered into thee,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">That was, is and shall be.</span></i><br />
+</p>
+<p>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &#42; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &#42; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &#42; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &#42; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &#42; <br /></p>
+
+<p><i>
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">He fixed thee 'mid this dance</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Of plastic circumstance,</span><br />
+This Present, thou, forsooth, wouldst fain arrest;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Machinery just meant</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">To give thy soul its bent,</span><br />
+Try thee, and turn thee forth, sufficiently impressed.</i>
+</p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Robert Browning.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<p>We thank Thee, O Father, for the yet unwrought
+possibilities of this day. Show us Thy purpose;
+or, if it please Thee, withhold the entire plan, yet
+may our faith claim a divine sanction for each hour's
+work as a part of the fulfilment of Thy purpose.
+We pray for strength and patience to have our souls
+rightly impressed by the cares, the joys, and disappointments
+of life. Make the things of the body
+only incidental to us. Save us from all but the best
+things. Give us the happiness of harmony with
+Thee. Wilt Thou grant these things through the
+power of Thy spirit, and in the name of Thy perfect
+Son, the vision of whom transforms our lives. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">George W. Owen.</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_29" id="page_29">[29]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>January 27</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p><i>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Beloved, let us love so well,</span><br />
+Our work shall still be better for our love<br />
+And still our love be sweeter for our work.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Elizabeth Barrett Browning.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<blockquote><p><i>If your name is to live at all, it is so much more
+to have it live in people's hearts than only in their
+brains! I don't know that one's eyes fill with tears
+when he thinks of the famous inventor of logarithms,
+but a song of Burns or a hymn of Charles Wesley
+goes straight to your heart and you can't help loving
+both of them, the sinner as well as the saint.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Oliver Wendell Holmes.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Our Father, who art in heaven, help us to hold
+Thee in our hearts this day, that we may live for
+Thee, from the love of Thee. Forgive us that we
+have not always a thankful spirit. Strengthen our
+wills to do good work, as in Thy sight, with clean
+hands and heart. Help us now as we pray, and
+flood the morning with the sunshine of Thy face,
+that we may be glad all the day long, and bring other
+lives into the brightness of Thy light. Save us from
+a partial mind, that we may love all Thy little ones
+with the same love of Him who said "Of such is
+the Kingdom of Heaven." Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">C. W. Holden.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_30" id="page_30">[30]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>January 28</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>All thoughts of ill; all evil deeds.<br />
+That have their root in thoughts of ill;<br />
+Whatever hinders or impedes<br />
+The noble action of the will;&mdash;<br />
+All these must first be trampled down<br />
+Beneath our feet if we would gain<br />
+In the bright fields of fair renown<br />
+The right of eminent domain.<br />
+We have not wings, we cannot soar;<br />
+But we have feet to scale and climb<br />
+By slow degrees, by more and more,<br />
+The cloudy summits of our time.</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Henry W. Longfellow.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>We bless Thee, Lord, for the new day and for the
+new chance which it offers to our wayward lives.
+Forgive the evil in them, and make the good efficient.
+Let the tides of Thy spirit bring to us cleansing,
+refreshment and power. In the day's business
+may we be brave, cheerful and considerate. Grant
+us a clear vision of the path of honor and the will
+to choose it at whatever cost. We wait upon Thee
+for renewal of our strength; for uplift as on eagle's
+wings; for unwearied running upon Thy larger
+errands, if Thou shalt ordain us to such high employ;
+but most of all, for grace to walk life's common
+ways without fainting. So at evening wilt Thou
+send Thy peace. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Edward M. Chapman.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_31" id="page_31">[31]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>January 29</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Don't you touch the edge of the great gladness that
+is in the world, now and then, in spite of your own
+little single worries? Well, that's what God means;
+and the worry is the interruption. He never means
+that.... If you are glad for one minute in the
+day, that is His minute; the minute He means, and
+works for.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Dear Father, Thou hast made us fit for joy. Help
+us today to grasp our birthright of gladness. For
+those things which must be borne in sorrow give us
+submission. Let us taste the salt tonic of our tears
+and feel the strength born of struggle and the peace
+wrested from trial. Make us glad that friendly hands
+meet our own; that kindness is always sweet and
+sympathy divine. Teach us to lay hold on the
+radiance of each hour, that the morning bow of
+promise may become our evening glory and prophesy
+another glad new day. As children find content
+and joy by looking into their father's face so we
+turn to Thee. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Effie McCollum Jones.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_32" id="page_32">[32]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>January 30</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Still must I climb if I would rest;<br />
+The bird soars upward to his nest;<br />
+The young leaf on the tree-top high<br />
+Cradles itself within the sky.</i><br />
+<br />
+<i>I cannot in the valley stay:<br />
+The great horizons stretch away;<br />
+The very cliffs that wall me round<br />
+Are ladders unto higher ground.</i><br />
+<br />
+<i>I am not glad till I have known<br />
+Life that can lift me from mine own;<br />
+A loftier level must be won.<br />
+A mightier strength to lean upon.</i>
+</p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Lucy Larcom.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Heavenly Father, as the bird that soars first looks
+upward, we turn our souls to Thee, seeking inspiration
+that in the duties of today we may live to the
+full height of the faculties Thou hast given. Help
+us to know what is right and to follow it day by day
+continually. Grant that our toils this day may be
+acts of service as sacramental as our prayer. In our
+weakness, grant us of Thy strength that we may
+pass from glory to glory till we are transformed at
+last into the perfect image of Thy spirit. And when
+our work on earth is ended, when the clods of the
+valley are sweet to our weary frame, take us home
+to Thyself. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Nathaniel S. Sage.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_33" id="page_33">[33]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>January 31</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Only a frown! Yet it pressed a sting<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Into the day which had been so glad;</span><br />
+The red rose turned to a scentless thing:<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The bird-song ceased with discordant ring;</span><br />
+And a heart was heavy and sad.</i><br />
+<br />
+<i>Only a smile! yet it cast a spell<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Over the sky which had been so gray;</span><br />
+The rain made music wherever it fell;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The wind sang the song of the marriage-bell;</span><br />
+And a heart was light and gay.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Anonymous.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>With our tribute of praise, O Father, we would
+begin this day; this day, which, with all its bounties,
+is Thy gift. Prepare us, we beseech Thee, for the
+experiences of the hours as they open before us.
+Gratefully remembering that we are Thy children,
+may our duties weigh with such sacredness upon
+our hearts that we may shun the evil way as unworthy
+those so richly endowed and blest. Write, we pray
+Thee, Thy law within us; and may our love of Thee
+make it so easy and so joyous to obey that we shall
+continually grow into the likeness of Him whose
+mission it is to fill the world with blessedness and
+peace. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Charles W. Tomlinson.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_34" id="page_34">[34]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>February 1</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Father, I will not ask for wealth or fame,<br />
+Though once they would have joyed my carnal sense.<br />
+I shudder not to bear a hated name,<br />
+Wanting all wealth, myself my sole defence.<br />
+But give me, Lord, eyes to behold the truth;<br />
+A seeing sense that knows the eternal right;<br />
+A heart with pity filled, and gentlest ruth;<br />
+A manly faith that makes all darkness light;<br />
+Give me the power to labor for mankind;<br />
+Make me the mouth of such as cannot speak;<br />
+Eyes let me be to groping man and blind;<br />
+A conscience to the base; and to the weak<br />
+Let me be hands and feet; and to the foolish, mind;<br />
+And lead still farther on such as Thy Kingdom seek.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Theodore Parker.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Heavenly Father, we speak to Thee this morning
+out of a sense of rest and trust. We would begin
+the day with Thee and keep in Thy company to its
+close. Whether we work or pray, wilt Thou rule
+our spirits? Conscious in this moment of freedom,
+that we shall soon be pressed and absorbed by our
+own cares, we pray, Father, that we may keep in
+mind the privilege and joy of bearing each other's
+burdens and so fulfilling the law of Christ. Nor
+ever permit us to fall away from perfect faith in Thy
+purpose. Work in us and through us to usher in
+the morning when Truth shall spring out of the
+earth and Righteousness shall come down from
+heaven. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Isaac M. Atwood.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_35" id="page_35">[35]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>February 2</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>As when good news is come to one in grief, straightway
+he forgetteth his former grief, and no longer
+attendeth to anything except the good news which
+he hath heard, so do ye, also! having received a
+renewal of your soul through the beholding of these
+good things. Put on therefore gladness that hath
+always favor before God, and is acceptable unto Him,
+and delight thyself in it; for every man that is glad
+doeth the things that are good, and thinketh good
+thoughts, despising grief.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Marius the Epicurean.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>O Lord, we know there are a thousand reasons
+why we should be glad. We cannot always forget
+our sorrows and our failures; there are manifold
+sources of temporary vexation and annoyance and
+harassing care, but in the face of Thine overmastering
+Providence and Love we cannot long be vexed
+nor sad. If tears have dimmed our eyes let us brush
+away the tears. If troubles and cares have burdened
+our hearts let us rise triumphant over them all and
+for this day be glad; and in our gladness let us find
+our strength. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">George L. Perin.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_36" id="page_36">[36]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>February 3</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Do not dare to be so absorbed in your own life, so
+wrapped up in listening to the sound of your own
+hurrying wheels, that all this vast pathetic music,
+made up of the mingled joy and sorrow of your fellowmen,
+shall not find out your heart and claim it and
+make you rejoice to give yourself for them....
+Be sure that ambition and charity will both grow mean
+unless they are both inspired and exalted by religion.
+Energy, love, and faith,&mdash;these make the perfect
+man.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Phillips Brooks.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>O Thou who art not far from any one of us, but
+art the Source and Sustainer of our life, gratefully
+do we acknowledge the Mercy that has given us
+this new day with its certain opportunity for living
+the glad, true life. Directed by Thee, may this be
+for us a day of progress. May its duties be performed
+with alacrity and cheerfulness, its lessons
+learned with humility, its temptations met with
+resolute will, its crosses with patient hope. We
+thank Thee for the life of the Master who has shown
+us that if we would live Thy divine life, ours must
+be one of continual service and constant progression.
+If, tried by the seeming drudgery of duties
+daily repeated, we long for the end of our labors or
+dream of an idle heaven, O forgive our weakness,
+and help us trustingly to obey Thy voice as it whispers,
+"Up and on, this is not thy rest." Thus let the day
+close on hours well spent, and Thy joy and peace
+fill our hearts. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">John Murray Atwood.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_37" id="page_37">[37]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>February 4</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Who art thou that complainest of thy life of toil?
+Complain not. Look up, my wearied brother; see
+thy fellow-workmen there, in God's eternity; surviving
+there, they alone surviving; sacred band of
+the Immortals, celestial body-guard of the empire of
+mankind. To thee, Heaven, though severe, is as
+that Spartan mother, saying while she gave her son
+his shield, "With it, my son, or upon it." Thou
+too shalt return home in honor; to thy far distant
+Home, in honor; doubt it not,&mdash;if in the battle thou
+keep thy shield! Thou, in the Eternities, and deepest
+death-kingdoms, art not an alien; thou everywhere
+art a denizen. Complain not.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Thomas Carlyle.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>O Thou God of goodness and grace, who dost
+turn Thy smiling countenance upon the upturned
+faces of Thy children, help us to find in the light of
+another day the continued proof of Thy fatherly
+care and tender mercy. Since Thou art so well
+disposed towards us, give us courage to attempt
+anything which the duties of this day require, remembering
+that Thou canst not ask anything beyond
+our strength, or withhold from us the blessing of
+Thy Divine approval. Living under Thy smile help
+us to be strong and calm and confident, delighting
+Thy heart by our faith in Thee and our love for our
+fellowmen. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Samuel C. Bushnell.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_38" id="page_38">[38]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>February 5</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>This goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile
+promontory; this most excellent canopy, the air,
+look you, this brave o'er-hanging firmament, this majestical
+roof fretted with golden fire, why, it appears
+no other thing to me than a foul and pestilent congregation
+of vapors. What a piece of work is a
+man! how noble in reason! how infinite in faculty!
+in form and moving how express and admirable!
+in action how like an angel! in apprehension how
+like a god!</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Shakespeare.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Our Father in Heaven, we pray Thee that this
+may be a bright and happy day in each of our lives.
+May there be sunshine in our hearts because they
+are attuned to Thine. Going about our daily tasks,
+Thy spirit within us, may we make our little portion
+of the earth not a sterile promontory but a rich
+garden abounding in the fruits of the spirit, and
+may we, by Thy grace, be enabled to dispel some of
+the pestilent vapors of wordliness and doubt. In
+all things, may we remember our divine parentage
+and conform our lives more and more to the pattern
+shown us by Thy dear Son, Jesus Christ, in whose
+name we pray. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Francis E. Clark.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_39" id="page_39">[39]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>February 6</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>There was a merchant once, who on the way<br />
+Meeting one fatherless and lamed, did stay<br />
+To draw the thorn which pricked his foot, and passed;<br />
+And 'twas forgot; and the man died at last.<br />
+But in a dream the Prince of Khojand spies<br />
+That man again, walking in Paradise.<br />
+Walking and talking in that blessed land,<br />
+And what he said the prince could understand;<br />
+For he said this, plucking the heavenly posies;<br />
+"Wonderful! One thorn made me many roses!"</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Edwin Arnold.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Dear Father in Heaven, with our life refreshed
+and renewed by sleep, we would face the duties of
+the day with strong hope and a ready courage.
+Forbid that these shall in any degree be diminished
+by any difficulty or perplexity that may arise. We
+pray for wisdom and love. Grant us that interest
+in others that shall impel us to help those who are
+in need. And may our desire to minister move us
+not only to dress the wounds of those whom the
+thorns have injured, but to clear the paths, along
+which men must pass, of those conditions and influences
+which inevitably maim and blight. May
+we serve Thee faithfully and with gladness this
+day! Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Harry L. Canfield.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_40" id="page_40">[40]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>February 7</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Quicksand years that whirl me I know not whither,<br />
+Your schemes, politics fail, lines give way, substances mock and elude me,<br />
+Only the theme I sing, the great and strong-possess'd soul, eludes not,<br />
+One's self must never give way&mdash;that is the final substance&mdash;that out of all is sure,<br />
+Out of politics, triumphs, battles, life, what at last finally remains?<br />
+When shows break up what but One's self is sure?</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Walt Whitman.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>O Thou, who beholdest all the souls of men, in
+our vision of another new day, help us to see as Thou
+seest; to be conscious not of our own need and desert
+alone, but also of the deserts and needs of all those
+with whom we have to do; shaping our prayer and
+directing the effort that follows after all true prayer
+in accordance with this wider outlook. O Thou,
+who fashionest the hearts of all, who observest all
+their works, we would strengthen and purify our
+hearts that they may be fitted to be fashioned by
+Thee to noble ends, and set to some good service;
+and we would do our daily work as in the sight of
+one who knows and loves all honest, thorough workers,
+great or humble, wise or simple. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Augustus Mendon Lord.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_41" id="page_41">[41]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>February 8</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Truth should be the first lesson of the child and
+the last aspiration of Manhood; for it has been well
+said that the inquiry of truth, which is the love-making
+of it, the knowledge of truth, which is the presence
+of it, and the belief of truth, which is the enjoying
+of it, is the sovereign good of human nature.</i></p></blockquote>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>We search the world for truth; we cull<br />
+The good, the pure, the beautiful,<br />
+From graven stone and written scroll,<br />
+From all old flower-fields of the soul.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">John Greenleaf Whittier.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Our Heavenly Father, we acknowledge Thee as
+the Author and Giver of all truth. We bless Thee
+that Thou hast attuned our souls to its music, and
+that when with conscious life we touch its strings
+covering the universe we feel harmony with the
+Divine. We thank Thee for the truths of our sonship
+in Thee and for the assurances of Thy Fatherhood.
+We bless Thee for Jesus who was the truth
+made life, and who is our daily guide to its blessings.
+We thank Thee for the truth of immortality, with
+its encouragement to eager life today and its assurances
+of endless joyful tomorrows. Make us seekers
+of truth, lovers of truth and examples of truth as
+it is in Jesus our Savior. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Fred A. Dillingham.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_42" id="page_42">[42]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>February 9</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>All things are engaged in writing their history.
+The planet, the pebble, goes attended by its shadow.
+The rolling rock leaves its scratches on the mountain;
+the river, its channel in the soil; the animal, its
+bones in the stratum; the fern and leaf, their modest
+epitaph in the coal. The falling drop makes its
+sculpture in the sand or the stone. Not a foot steps
+into the snow or along the ground, but prints, in
+characters more or less lasting, a map of its march.
+Every act of the man inscribes itself in the memory
+of his fellows, and in his own manners and face. The
+air is full of sounds, the sky of tokens, the ground is
+all memoranda and signatures, and every object covered
+over with hints which speak to the intelligent.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<i>Ralph Waldo Emerson.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Our Father, who art in Heaven and in every
+manifestation of living nature, we turn our thoughts
+to Thee with the rising of each new sun. We hear
+Thy voice in the singing of every summer bird.
+We realize Thy presence in the shifting shadows
+of the clouds. In the arching blue above us we
+realize something of the depth and breadth of the
+love that arches over the horizon of our life and
+stretches like the radiant bow of promise from the
+green hills of childhood to the sombre mountains
+of old age. We beseech Thee to give us thoughts
+so beautiful and ennobling that even amid the sods
+and clods of life's daily drudgery we can always
+face the morning light of some new hope which comes
+like the old song sung in the new land. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">John Kimball.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_43" id="page_43">[43]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>February 10</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>First, when I feel that I am become cold and indisposed
+to prayer, by reason of other business and
+thoughts, I take my psalter and run into my chamber,
+or, if day and season serve, into the church to the
+multitude, and begin to repeat to myself&mdash;just as
+children used&mdash;the ten commandments, the creed, and,
+according as I have time, some sayings of Christ
+or of Paul, or some Psalms. Therefore it is well to
+let prayer be the first employment in the early morning,
+and the last in the evening. Avoid diligently those
+false and deceptive thoughts which say, Wait a little,
+I will pray an hour hence; I must first perform
+this or that. For with such thoughts a man quits
+prayer for business that lays hold of and entangles
+him, so that he comes not to pray the whole day long.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Martin Luther.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>O Lord, our Heavenly Father, who keepest covenant
+and loving kindness with Thy servants, who walk
+humbly with Thee, and who hast been attentive to
+the prayers of our fathers when they lifted up their
+hearts and their hands to Thee, teach us to pray,
+and to love to pray. Visit us in the night season
+and before the morning watch. Touch our spirits
+with the flame of Thy Spirit, before the day's business
+lays hold upon us and entangles us, through
+Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Reuben Kidner.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_44" id="page_44">[44]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>February 11</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>In one of Dean Stanley's sermons to children,
+preached at Westminster Abbey, he told the following
+story: "There was a little girl living with her grandfather.
+She was a good child, but he was not a very
+good man; and one day, when the little child came
+back from school, he had put in writing over the bed,
+'God is nowhere,' for he did not believe in the good
+God, and he tried to make the little child believe the
+same. What did the little girl do? She had no eyes
+to see, no ears to hear, what her grandfather tried
+to teach her. She was very small. She could only
+read words of one syllable at a time; she rose above
+the bad meaning which he tried to put in her mind;
+she rose, as we all ought to rise, above the temptation
+of our time; she rose into a higher and better world;
+she rose because her little mind could not do otherwise,
+and she read the words, not 'God is nowhere,'
+but 'God is now here.' That is what we all should
+strive to do. Out of words which have no sense or
+which have bad sense, our eyes, our minds, ought to
+be able to read a better sense."</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">William Moodie.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>O Thou, Invisible Presence, there can be no place
+where Thou art not. Thou, our Father, art in
+heaven and on earth and everywhere. Thou art in
+the order of the rock, the beauty of the flower, the
+light of the sun and stars, and goodness in the human
+soul. Teach us to be conscious of Thy nearness to
+us, and so may we never be afraid. In the light of
+Thy countenance, may we see duty and truth, and
+recognize more easily the good in one another. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Alva Roy Scott.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_45" id="page_45">[45]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>February 12</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Abraham Lincoln Born 1809</span></p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p><i>
+Chosen for large designs, he had the art<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of winning with his humour, and he went</span><br />
+Straight to his mark, which was the human heart;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wise, too, for what he could not break he bent.</span><br />
+<br />
+Upon his back a more than Atlas-load&mdash;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The burden of the Commonwealth was laid;</span><br />
+He stooped, and rose up to it, though the road<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Shot suddenly downwards, not a whit dismayed.</span><br />
+<br />
+Hold, warriors, counsellors, kings! all now give place<br />
+To this dear benefactor of the race.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Richard H. Stoddard.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Almighty Father, we thank Thee today for the
+gracious memory of Thy servant who lived and
+died for the sake of a free and united nation. We
+thank Thee more that we have his life inwrought
+into the very fabric of the life of the nation. We
+had in him "a hiding place from the wind and a
+covert from the tempest, a river of water in a dry
+place and the shadow of a great rock in a weary
+land." We gratefully join in praise with the thousands
+who found help and cheer in the shadow of his
+strength. And now we humbly beseech Thee, help
+us in some small way this day to be a helper to
+the helpless, a friend to the needy, sunshine to those
+whose day will be gray and gloomy, the shadow of
+a great rock to those who are buffeted by the world's
+storms. Thus shall we prove our gratitude to Thee
+for the gift of Thy servant whom we honor today,
+and thus shall we honor Thee. We ask and offer
+all in the name of Thy Son Jesus Christ. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Avery A. Shaw.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_46" id="page_46">[46]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>February 13</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Let us learn to be content with what we have. Let
+us get rid of our false estimates, set up all the higher
+ideals&mdash;a quiet home; vines of our own planting;
+a few books full of the inspiration of a genius; a
+few friends worthy of being loved, and able to love
+us in return; a hundred innocent pleasures that
+bring no pain or remorse; a devotion to the right
+that will never swerve; a simple religion empty of
+all bigotry, full of trust and hope and love&mdash;and to
+such a philosophy this world will give up all the
+empty joy it has.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">David Swing.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Thou gracious Spirit of Life, our Father, at the
+beginning of this new day we wait for a moment
+before Thee with uncovered heads and with reverent
+spirits; Thou knowest us through and through,
+whatever man may think of us Thou knowest just
+what we are. In Thy sight we need not pretend;
+we need not make believe, we need only be simple
+and genuine and brave and earnest. We need be
+glad in the possession of what we have. Help us
+this day to rightly value that which is good and
+honest. Let us for this day at least, put away all
+vanity and give ourselves unreservedly to Thy
+service and the love of our fellow men. To this
+high end, may we have the sweet companionship
+of Jesus. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">George L. Perin.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_47" id="page_47">[47]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>February 14</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>We go through life as some tourists go through
+Europe,&mdash;so anxious to see the next sight, the next
+cathedral, the next picture, the next mountain peak,
+that we never stop to fill our sense with the beauty of
+the present one. Along all our pathways sweet flowers
+are blossoming, if we will only stop to pluck them and
+smell their fragrance. In every meadow, birds are
+warbling, calling to their mates, and soaring into
+the blue, if we will only stop our grumbling long
+enough to hear them.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Minot J. Savage.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Give us, O God, the vision to see the way where
+duty lies and strength to walk in it, to ever keep
+the forward look and never to lose heart today
+because of the stumblings and fallings in the yesterdays
+that are forever gone. Let us remember that
+we are in Thy hands and we are faithless to Thee
+and to ourselves if knowingly we fail to do Thy
+work. Though we cannot see Thee, we now see
+our fellow men and we shall best serve Thee if,
+in love and patience, we help our fellows. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Almon Gunnison.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_48" id="page_48">[48]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>February 15</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p><i>
+<span style="margin-left: 6em;">May I reach</span><br />
+That purest Heaven&mdash;be to other souls<br />
+The cup of strength in some great agony,<br />
+Enkindle generous ardor, feed pure love,<br />
+Beget the smiles that have no cruelty,<br />
+Be that sweet presence of a good diffused,<br />
+And in diffusion ever more intense!<br />
+So shall I join the choir invisible,<br />
+Whose music is the gladness of the world.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">George Eliot.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>Our heavenly Father, we bless Thee for the gift
+of another day with all its opportunities for service.
+And we pray that our hearts may respond in sympathy
+with the heartbeats of those who love and
+toil and suffer around us today. May we learn
+to make their joys and sorrows our own. Do not
+let our unfeeling hands strike the heart-strings of
+others harshly, nor allow our feet to go crushing
+roses of love, without thought. Help us, we pray
+Thee, to walk tenderly and reverently among our
+fellow men. May their hopes and noble endeavors
+ring within us the prayer bells of the soul.
+Make us thus to grow large and tender and noble
+through our helpful ministries. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">John Wesley Carter.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_49" id="page_49">[49]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>February 16</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Ah, love and love alone at last will solve<br />
+All the vast, threatening questions that distract<br />
+Mankind; that fellow-men in strife array,<br />
+And the whole world with fierce contentions rend.<br />
+Still keep your idle millions under arms&mdash;<br />
+Fed on the hard-earned substance of the poor&mdash;<br />
+Still watch each other with keen jealousy,<br />
+Still slaughter thousands on the field of war,<br />
+Or strive with statesman's craft to arbitrate;<br />
+Thread the sly mazes of diplomacy,<br />
+Try communistic cures for every ill,<br />
+And when all fails at last, for lack of love,<br />
+Try love&mdash;the mightiest of them all&mdash;and win!</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Henry Nehemiah Dodge.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>God of the light,&mdash;within, without, who hast
+lifted the curtain of night from our abodes, perfect
+now Thy blessing unto us, and take the veil from
+all our hearts, and make clear to us Thy holy presence.
+Filled with the everlasting light, may we look on
+each other, and on our work here below, and on
+the strifes and conditions of humanity, with a love
+and hope that are not of this world. May Faith,
+Hope and Love abide with us&mdash;and may we realize
+that the greatest of these is Love. Hasten Thou
+the time when by love alone Thy kingdom shall
+come, and Thy will be done on earth as it is in
+heaven. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">William B. Eddy.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_50" id="page_50">[50]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>February 17</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>If the day and night are such that you greet them
+with joy, and life emits a fragrance like flowers and
+sweet-scented herbs, is more starry, more immortal,&mdash;that
+is your success. All nature is your congratulation
+and you have cause momentarily to bless yourself.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Henry David Thoreau.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Father, I have found Thy gift of life, a sweet
+and beautiful thing. It has known cloud and rain,
+but these have nourished it, and the darkness has
+sheltered it. It has felt driving storms, but these
+have strengthened it. It has known sunshine too.
+And now every day is a transfiguration and every
+night a benediction. Let thanksgiving be my prayer.
+What I need Thou wilt give. My hands Thou wilt
+touch with the soft petals of Thy flowers; and the
+arms of Thy strong care shall be about me. By
+the voices of brooks and rivers and winds and birds
+and little children Thou wilt speak to me, and
+in the deeper silences I shall hear Thy still small
+voice. Father, I thank Thee. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">O. C. S. Wallace.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_51" id="page_51">[51]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>February 18</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Let us not care too much for what happens: Let
+us not leave our peace of mind at the mercy of events.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Charles G. Ames.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Let us lay hold of the happiness of today. Do we
+not go through life blindly, thinking that some fair
+tomorrow will bring us the gift we miss today?...
+Know thou, my heart, if thou art not happy today,
+thou shalt never be happy.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Anna Robertson Brown.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>We thank Thee, our Father, that the Satisfaction
+of righteousness is present as well as future. Help
+us, we beseech Thee, to live this day so that earth
+shall seem like heaven. In the proof of our adequacy
+to the demands of duty may we find a delight that
+shall more than compensate us for any pleasure or
+profit surrendered for its sake. May the sense of
+Thine approval sanctify our joys and comfort our
+sorrows. May we win love by deserving it, and
+find happiness in bestowing it. Through obedience
+to Thy will may we add strength and spiritual
+beauty to our own character and carry into the
+evening shadows the sweet assurance that other
+lives have been enriched by our kind words and
+helpful deeds. We ask it as Thy children. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">J. Frank Thompson.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_52" id="page_52">[52]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>February 19</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>'Tis always morning somewhere, and above<br />
+The awakening continents from shore to shore.<br />
+Somewhere the birds are singing evermore.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Henry W. Longfellow.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<blockquote><p><i>The inconveniences and the petty annoyances, the
+pains and the sorrows, do we ever forget them? Indeed,
+no; we grumble and groan continually. The
+blue sky and the sunshine, the everyday mercies and
+the wonderful blessings that we accept as a matter
+of course, do we remember to rejoice because of them?
+Only too seldom. On this one day, do let us be sincerely
+and expressedly thankful.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Anonymous.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Our Father, we rejoice to believe that Thy love
+is the eternal sun which knows no eclipse and that
+in its pure shining, we Thy children can go forward
+with brave hearts and radiant hopes, assured that
+Thy wisdom hath left nothing unfinished and that
+"Thy goodness faileth never." We greet this new
+day with newness of joy in Thy Fatherhood as
+our personal right, and with ascending ideals of a
+service whose gracious light shall kindle other souls
+into a larger hopefulness and a deeper tenderness.
+We would fill this day with all sunny thoughts, with
+all cheering words and with all generous deeds,
+and thus the more effectually bring the divine light
+into the human and make clearer the outlines of a
+heaven on earth. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Arnold S. Yantis.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_53" id="page_53">[53]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>February 20</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>No blast of air or fire of sun<br />
+Puts out the light whereby we run<br />
+With girdled loins our lamplit race,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And each from each takes heart of grace</span><br />
+And spirit till his turn be done,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And light of face from each man's face</span><br />
+In whom the light of trust is one;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Since only souls that keep their place</span><br />
+By their own light, and watch things roll,<br />
+And stand, have light for any soul.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Algernon Charles Swinburne.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>O Thou, Who coverest Thyself with light as with
+a garment, even the true light which lighteth every
+man coming into the world, shine Thou in us, putting
+to flight all the powers of darkness, and guilt of
+sin, and selfishness. Shine also through us to any
+that live in the shadow; and so fill us with Thy radiant
+Spirit, that we may be a lamp unto a neighbor's
+feet and a light unto his path. And when this day
+is done may every face we have met be the brighter
+for our meeting, and every heart braver with new
+joy and cheer and grace and strength. For in Thee
+O Lord, is life, and Thy life is the light of men. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Theodore Parker.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_54" id="page_54">[54]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>February 21</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>The longer on this earth we live<br />
+And weigh the various qualities of men<br />
+The more we feel the high, stern-featured beauty<br />
+Of plain devotedness to duty,<br />
+Steadfast and still, nor paid with mortal praise,<br />
+But finding amplest recompense<br />
+For life's ungarlanded expense<br />
+In work done squarely and unwasted days.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">James Russell Lowell.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Our dear Heavenly Father, we would greet Thee
+as this morning greets us. We thank Thee for the
+daily duty; that, amid this wondrous world, Thou
+hast set somewhat for our doing. May we appreciate
+the honor. May we not grudge our best, even in
+the humblest tasks, since Thou appointest them.
+Strengthen us, we beseech Thee, if sometimes the
+heart fails, and the tired hands get laggard. Show
+us how the lowliest service becomes loftiest if done
+with the glorifying motive of pleasing Thee. Make
+us this day blithe in duty. When our heads find
+pillow may Thy peace enfold us; forgive our failures;
+and, for Jesus' sake, may we never cease endeavor.
+Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Wayland Hoyt.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_55" id="page_55">[55]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>February 22</p>
+
+
+<div class="poem">
+<p><span class="smcap">George Washington. Born 1732.</span></p>
+<p>
+<i>Welcome to the day returning,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Dearer still as ages flow,</span><br />
+While the torch of faith is burning,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Long as Freedom's altars glow!</span><br />
+See the hero whom it gave us<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Slumbering on a mother's breast;</span><br />
+For the arm he stretched to save us,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Be its morn forever blest.</span><br /></i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Oliver Wendell Holmes.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Father of life, we thank Thee that Thou hast
+been with the Fathers; that Thou hast been with
+him whose birth this day we celebrate. Thou wert
+willing to speak to them, and they were willing to
+hear Thee and answer Thee, "Lo, here am I; send
+me." We thank Thee that the memory of this great
+man has come down to us; of him who was first
+in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his
+countrymen; and we ask Thee that Thou wilt be
+with our countrymen today; that Thou wilt teach
+us Thy law, that we may walk in Thy ways; that
+this may be that happy nation whose God is the
+Lord. In all time of our trial, if we have sought
+Thee we have found Thee,&mdash;in all time of our
+success Thou hast won for us our victories,&mdash;Thou
+hast been with our counsellors. Father, today,
+tomorrow, and in days to come, in our memories
+and in our hopes be with us still, Our Father, Who
+art in Heaven. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Edward Everett Hale.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_56" id="page_56">[56]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>February 23</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>If you always remember that in all you do in soul
+or body God stands by as a witness, in all your prayers
+and your actions you will not err; and you shall
+have God dwelling with you.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Epictetus.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Faith acts on our souls as a moral tonic; it takes
+the fret and fever out of our lives; it gives the appetite
+and desire for noble living; it removes despondency;
+it gives energy, courage, hope, patience, and persistence;
+and in its highest manifestations it makes
+our lives a blending of power, sweetness, and peace.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">James M. Pullman.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Father of spirits! We yield ourselves to Thee.
+We will be afraid of neither sorrow nor death in a
+world where many saintly souls have sanctified them
+by a divine patience, and amid a Providence wherein
+no evil thing can dwell. Clinging unto Thee, we
+shall not perish with the fashion of this world that
+passeth away. As sparks falling on the river, so
+shall the glories of our strength go out. But the
+graces of the holy soul shall be as the brightness of
+the firmament, and as the stars forever and ever.
+In Thee, O Lord, is our undying trust. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">James Martineau.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_57" id="page_57">[57]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>February 24</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Be of good cheer, brave spirit; steadfastly serve
+that low whisper thou hast served; for know, God
+hath a select family of sons now scattered wide thro'
+earth, and each alone, who are thy spiritual kindred,
+and each one by constant service to that inward law,
+is weaving the sublime proportions of a true monarch's
+soul. Beauty and strength, the riches of a spotless
+memory, the eloquence of truth, the wisdom got by
+searching of a clear and loving eye that seeth as God
+seeth. These are their gifts, and time, who keeps
+God's word, brings on the day to seal the marriage
+of these minds with thine, thy everlasting lovers.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Ralph Waldo Emerson.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>O Thou, who makest the outgoings of the morning
+and evening to rejoice, help us to welcome this
+new day as Thy gift, to take up its duties with courage,
+and to follow the light which Thou shalt give. Conscious
+of the meaning and purpose of life, undismayed
+by the failures of past days, and ever remembering
+that Thy strength is made perfect in human weakness,
+may we consecrate ourselves anew to the
+glad service of life, knowing that in so doing we
+enter into fellowship with all who have been workers
+together with Thee, and into increasing likeness of
+soul to Thy holy Son. May the beauty of the
+Lord our God be upon us, and may life become
+stronger and sweeter and richer, until at last we receive
+through grace the "well done!" of the Master. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Henry M. King.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_58" id="page_58">[58]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>February 25</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>There is no music in a rest, but there is the making
+of music in it. In our whole life melody, the music
+is broken off here and there by "rests," and we foolishly
+think we have come to the end of time. God sends a
+time of forced leisure&mdash;sickness, disappointed plans,
+frustrated efforts&mdash;and makes a sudden pause in
+the choral hymn of our lives, and we lament that our
+voices must be silent, and our part missing in the
+music which ever goes up to the ear of the Creator.
+How does the musician read the rest? See him beat
+time with unvarying count and catch up the next
+note true and steady, as if no breaking place had come
+in between. Not without design does God write the
+music of our lives. But be it ours to learn the time,
+and not be dismayed at the "rests." They are not
+to be slurred over, nor to be omitted, nor to destroy
+the melody, nor to change the key-note. If we look
+up, God Himself will beat the time for us. With the
+eye on Him we shall strike the next note full and clear.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">John Ruskin.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>O God, help us to trust where we cannot see,
+and to feel that life is not necessarily a failure because
+we are shut out from its activities. Grant us in
+sickness such visions and such communion with
+Thee that disease of the body shall be transformed
+into a healer of the soul; and, as the crushed rose
+the sweeter fragrance emits, so may our sorrows
+chasten and refine us.</p>
+
+<p>O Heavenly Father, grant that all our sickness
+and pain and disappointment may so sweeten our
+dispositions, purify our character and strengthen
+our souls that we shall bring heaven's sunlight into
+the lives of all whom we meet. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Myron W. Haynes.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_59" id="page_59">[59]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>February 26</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Love is the greatest thing that God can give us,
+for Himself is love; and it is the greatest thing we
+can give to God, for it will also give ourselves, and
+carry with it all that is ours.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Jeremy Taylor.</span><br />
+</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>High thoughts and noble in all lands<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Help me, my soul is fed by such;</span><br />
+But ah, the touch of lips and hands,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The human touch!</span><br />
+Warm, vital, close, life's symbols dear,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">These need I most and now and here.</span><br /></i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Richard Burton.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Our Father in Heaven, we bless Thee this morning
+for all Thy care and love; Thou hast made our
+houses homes, sweet, quiet dwelling-places. We
+thank Thee for sleep, for communion with one
+another in all holy and tender speech. We thank
+Thee for all our hopes; the worlds are nearer than
+we thought, heaven's fragrance attempers the winds
+of earth, we almost hear the upper song: may we
+listen for it, may our souls delight in sweet anticipations
+of immortal fellowship, and may we come
+out of these high reveries determined to work more,
+suffer more patiently, to accept every discipline
+more willingly, and to do all our little day's work
+as men whose citizenship is in heaven. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Joseph Parker.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_60" id="page_60">[60]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>February 27</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Flame of the spirit, and dust of the earth,&mdash;<br />
+This is the making of man,<br />
+This is his problem of birth;<br />
+Born to all holiness, born to all crime,<br />
+Heir of both worlds, on the long slope of time<br />
+Climbing the path of God's plan;<br />
+Dust of the earth in his error and fear,<br />
+Weakness and malice and lust;<br />
+Yet, quivering up from the dust,<br />
+Flame of the spirit, unleaping and clear,<br />
+Yearning to God, since from God is its birth&mdash;<br />
+This is man's portion, to shape as he can,<br />
+Flame of the spirit, and dust of the earth&mdash;<br />
+This is the making of man.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Priscilla Leonard.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>O God, Thou art the Father of our spirits, but
+our spirits have come to us through ways of flesh.
+We are both spiritual and carnal. Our spirits seek
+Thee evermore, but our flesh turns away from Thee
+and strives to drag us down. Between our best
+and our worst is bitter conflict. Help us to the discovery
+that all that lives is in like conflict, and that
+there can be no virtue and no glory except in overcoming.
+Make us see that the spirit is stronger
+than the flesh because it is of God, and that in the
+obedience and inspiration of Jesus, Thy Son and
+our Brother, we may at last be enthroned with
+Him. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Cephas B. Crane.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_61" id="page_61">[61]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>February 28</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Neither let mistakes nor wrong directions, of which
+every man, in his studies and elsewhere, falls into
+many, discourage you. There is precious instruction
+to be got by finding we were wrong. Let a man try
+faithfully, manfully, to be right; he will grow daily
+more and more right. It is at bottom the condition
+on which all men have to cultivate themselves.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Thomas Carlyle.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Almighty God, our heavenly Father,&mdash;in Thine
+own loving way Thou dost bless us when we do the
+right; when we fall into mistakes so teach us by Thy
+judgments that we become wise unto salvation.
+Help Thy children to recognize their proneness
+to blunder, that they learn to walk circumspectly.
+When we fall into the wrong, grant that we lie prone
+not long but arise undismayed to greater effort.
+Bring to bear upon us the influences of the Holy
+Spirit, that we strive earnestly and devoutly to
+be right at the centre of our being; that rightness
+be the fabric of our life. To Thee be all glory evermore.
+Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Edward A. Perry.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_62" id="page_62">[62]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>February 29</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Henceforth I learn that to obey is best,<br />
+And love with fear the only God, to walk<br />
+As in His presence, ever to observe<br />
+His providence, and on Him sole depend,<br />
+Merciful over all His works, with good<br />
+Still overcoming evil, and by small<br />
+Accomplishing great things&mdash;by things deemed weak<br />
+Subverting worldly strong, and worldly wise<br />
+By simply meek, that suffering for Truth's sake<br />
+Is fortitude to highest victory,<br />
+And to the faithful death the gate of life&mdash;<br />
+Taught this by His example whom I now<br />
+Acknowledge my Redeemer ever blest.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">John Milton.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>O Thou Eternal One before whom from day to
+day we walk and on whom we ever depend, help
+us to-day to love whatever is good and beautiful
+and to follow obediently the behests of Thy Spirit.
+May we overcome evil with good; and may we
+accomplish whatever tasks the hours as they pass
+demand of us, whether small or great, with such
+strength as may be vouchsafed us and with a wisdom
+begotten of meekness. If we must suffer for truth's
+sake may we manifest such humility and fortitude
+as shall be conducive to the highest success. Open
+for us hourly the gates of life, as those who endeavor
+to be faithful to their high calling. These favors
+we ask in the name of Him who redeems our lives
+from all evil and crowns us daily with His loving
+kindness. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Edward Day.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_63" id="page_63">[63]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>March 1</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>All the strength of the world and all its beauty,
+all true joy, everything that consoles, that feeds hope,
+or throws a ray of light along our dark paths, everything
+that makes us see across our poor lives a splendid
+goal and a boundless future, comes to us from
+people of simplicity, those who have made another
+object of their desires than the passing satisfaction of
+selfishness and vanity, and have understood that the
+art of living is to know how to give one's life.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Charles Wagner.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Heavenly Father, help us to be like Thyself, as
+manifested in the person of Jesus Christ, Thy Son!
+It was His will to do the will of His Father by living
+and dying for others. Teach us so to live. Help
+us to learn by positive personal experience that
+supremest joy comes only "in ministering unto
+others." Teach us what Jesus meant when He
+said: "I am among you as he that serveth." Plant
+deeply within us His passion for a life of service.
+May our morning hours be gladdened and inspired
+by this divine purpose. Let Thy holy will be done
+in us this day. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Charles Parkhurst.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_64" id="page_64">[64]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>March 2</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>The year's at the spring<br />
+And day's at the morn;<br />
+Morning's at seven;<br />
+The hill-side's dew-pearled;<br />
+The lark's on the wing;<br />
+The snail's on the thorn;<br />
+God's in His heaven&mdash;<br />
+All's right with the world!</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Robert Browning.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Father in Heaven, refreshed and heartened by
+the night, we begin again with Thee the high adventure
+of our life. Add to the beauty of the world
+about us a finer spiritual beauty in our souls. Save
+us from our own undoing. If our thoughts are dark,
+shine in upon them with Thy glory; if they be
+bright, make them to light the pathway of another.
+Have us wholesomely to forget ourselves, in the
+joy of Thy good world, the promise of our imperfection
+and the trust in God that maketh not afraid.
+And when the duties of the day are done, dismiss
+us, Thy well-meaning children, with a quiet mind
+to rest. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Albert Wellman Hitchcock.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_65" id="page_65">[65]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>March 3</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>We will do something worth doing&mdash;that is the
+resolution for you and me.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Edward Everett Hale.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>We admire the man who embodies victorious efforts,
+the man who never wrongs his neighbor, who is prompt
+to help a friend, but who has those virile qualities
+necessary to win in the stern strife of actual life.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Theodore Roosevelt.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Father of Lights in whom is no darkness at all,
+and in whose light we see light, help us to clearly
+see and never forget that only right deeds are worthy
+of a child of Thine. May we in no moment forget
+that to yield to the wrong is to bring upon us Thy
+just condemnation and sow for us a sure reaping of
+sorrowful repentance. By doing the things we
+know to be right and worth doing, the things worthy
+of our true selves and of our Father and of our Master
+whose we are, may this day, through us, yield
+some benefit to other children of Thine, and bring
+to us the sweet reward of Thine approval. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Oscar F. Safford.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_66" id="page_66">[66]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>March 4</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>It is worth a thousand pounds a year to have the
+habit of looking on the bright side of things.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Samuel Johnson.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Not by appointment do we meet delight and joy;<br />
+They wait not our expectancy;<br />
+But round some corner in the street of life,<br />
+They, on a sudden, greet us with a smile.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Gerald Massey.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Our Father, at the beginning of a new day, refreshed
+by the night's rest, we turn to Thee for
+strength for the day's task. We know not what the
+hours hold for us, but this we do know, that come
+what may, Thou wilt go with us to bless, to cheer;
+we shall not walk or work alone. As we faithfully
+and cheerfully perform our work, conscious of Thy
+presence, there will come joys and smiles unexpected
+and unsought. This is Thy way of teaching us
+faithfulness and endurance. May we soon learn,
+that if we would make the day happy and worth
+while, we must not seek our own pleasure and good,
+but that of our brethren. May we so live that when
+the night shadows are again upon us, there shall
+be no cause for shame or regret. In the Master's
+spirit! Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">O. Howard Perkins.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_67" id="page_67">[67]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>March 5</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Not in dumb resignation we lift our hands on high;<br />
+Not like the nerveless fatalist, content to do and die.<br />
+Our faith springs, like the eagle's, who soars to meet the sun,<br />
+And cries exulting unto Thee, "Oh, Lord, Thy will be done."</i><br />
+<br />
+<i>Thy will! It bids the weak be strong; it bids the strong be just;<br />
+No lips to fawn, no hand to beg, no brow to seek the dust,<br />
+Wherever man oppresses men beneath the liberal sun,<br />
+O Lord, be there, Thine arm made bare, Thy righteous will be done.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">John Hay.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>It is with the beautiful assurance of Thy love and
+kindness, our Father, that we draw nigh unto Thee.
+It is Faith that seems to give us wings by which we
+rise above the darkness, into Thy Presence of light
+and love. We feel our divine relationship to Thee,
+so that we lift up our hands to Thee, as the child
+to the parent. We are content to do Thy will, because
+we know then just what it is to love Thee.
+Our Master taught us this great lesson by His own
+faith in Thee. To do Thy will means strength to
+the weak, hope to the hopeless. To the sorrowing
+there can be seen, beyond the tear, the rainbow of
+Thy promise. Thus, as we realize our sonship will
+we work to make all men feel their own power,
+and all become one in Thy great love. May
+Thy Kingdom come and Thy will be done, in Christ
+our Lord. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">C. E. Fisher.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_68" id="page_68">[68]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>March 6</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>If you are my friend you cannot be indifferent to
+my faults of character, any more than you can be
+indifferent to my sickness or suffering. But, if you
+care to help me cure these faults, please let them alone!
+Please make much of my good qualities if you can
+discover any. And especially bless me with the encouraging
+sight of a better man than myself, and cheer
+me with a high example. I know that there are
+times when a sharp or gentle rebuke is in order, and
+that "faithful are the wounds of a friend." But
+the wiser doctors have lost their faith in blood-letting;
+and they know that clumsy surgery kills more than
+it cures.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Charles G. Ames.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>In our prayer, our Heavenly Father, we desire
+to be consciously grateful for the opportunities this
+new day affords us of being helpful to each other.
+The inspiration so to act comes from Thee. Thou
+art the constant and never-failing Helper of Thy
+children. May we be mindful of the fact that our
+noblest service to another may not be an alms, but
+a look of encouragement, a word of cheer. Enable
+us to be not too sensible of others' faults and failings.
+Assist us to see and magnify the good in other lives.
+To this end may we be to others such examples in
+conduct and character as we would have them be
+to us. We offer and ask all in the spirit of Jesus.
+Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Leroy W. Coons.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_69" id="page_69">[69]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>March 7</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>The mariner of old said to Neptune in a great
+tempest, "O God! Thou mayest save me if Thou
+wilt, and if Thou wilt Thou mayest destroy me,
+but whether or no, I will steer my rudder true."</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Montaigne.</span><br />
+</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p><i>
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">I go to prove my soul</span><br />
+I see my way as birds their trackless way.<br />
+I shall arrive! what time, what circuit first,<br />
+I ask not; but unless God send His hail<br />
+Or blinding fire-balls, sleet or stifling snow,<br />
+In some time, His good time, I shall arrive;<br />
+He guides me and the bird. In His good time!<br /></i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Robert Browning.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Once more we face the day that can be dreadful
+only to our poor sight and trembling faith. For
+Thou hast made flame and pain, the hurricane and
+quaking earth to be Thy ministers of grace. Shall
+trust depart when shadows fall? Thou art "in the
+shadow keeping watch above Thine own." As
+truly in severity as in gentleness, Thou art the All-Loving
+and All-Wise. Shall we fear to go anywhere?
+Lord, Thou art everywhere! Defend us only from
+the blindness and fear of ignorance and sin. Draw
+us nearer to Thee, this day, by any means in Thy
+good pleasure, so that at last, truly knowing Thy
+way, we shall rise above the worst that circumstances
+may do into joy unspeakable and peace unbroken.
+In the name of Him made perfect through suffering.
+Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Henry B. Taylor.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_70" id="page_70">[70]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>March 8</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>We complain of the slow, dull life we are forced to
+lead, of our humble sphere of action, of our low position
+in the scale of society, of our having no room to
+make ourselves known, of our wasted energies, of
+our years of patience. So do we say that we have no
+Father who is directing our life, so do we say that
+God has forgotten us, so do we boldly judge what
+life is best for us, and so by our complaining do we
+lose the use and profit of the quiet years.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Bishop Huntington.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Infinite and Holy One, by the tender mercies of
+Thy great love show us this day the true life that is
+hid in Thee. Feed us with Thy spirit that we hunger
+not. Make us strong and merciful in Thee. Help
+us to be simple, brave, and true. Give us to speak
+and live the truth. Make us content with life while
+ever dreaming of the more perfect day. Fix our
+lives in a great and brave integrity. Humble us
+in our pride, lift us from our despondency. Keep
+our hearts pure and our lips from speaking guile.
+Send us forth in perfect faith that here and now
+our lives may be patterned after that of Jesus without
+loss of influence over men. Make us not ashamed
+to be good and forgiving and gentle in all our ways.
+Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Frederick W. Bette.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_71" id="page_71">[71]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>March 9</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Count each affliction, whether light or grave,<br />
+God's messenger sent down to thee; do thou<br />
+With courtesy receive him; rise and bow;<br />
+And, ere his shadow pass thy threshold, crave<br />
+Permission first his heavenly foot to lave.<br />
+<br />
+&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &#42; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &#42; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &#42; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &#42; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &#42; <br />
+
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 8em;">Grief should be</span><br />
+Like joy, majestic, equable, sedate,<br />
+Confirming, cleansing, raising, making free.<br />
+Strong to consume small troubles; to commend<br />
+Great thoughts, grave thoughts, thoughts lasting to the end.<br /></i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Aubrey DeVere.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Our Father, we would learn to trust Thy love,
+to live so that Thy grace shall have in us its perfect
+work. Not the easy thing is what we ask, but strength
+for duty. Give us the confidence that Thou art by
+our side. Let Thy strong touch be felt, Thy blessed
+presence seen. In all the turmoil that rages within,
+without, grant us Thy peace. In childish helplessness,
+grant us the Father's help. To grow like Jesus
+is our heart's desire. All things that Thy great
+heart permits or sends, we would receive with gratitude,
+that so our wills and lives may be in harmony
+with Thine. And so day by day may something of
+the Saviour's glory shine through us and bless and
+brighten other lives in need. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Frank M. Holt.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_72" id="page_72">[72]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>March 10</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Dawn and its silence draw a silver sigh<br />
+Far in the east where early shadows lie<br />
+All flocked and folded like soft peaceful sheep.<br />
+The spirit of the spring stirs in its sleep,<br />
+Breathes into life a misty floating sheen;<br />
+The willows dreamy drip of constant green;<br />
+Exultant beats a bird-heart o'er a nest,<br />
+Where dim, vague stirrings 'neath the tiny breast<br />
+Spell fresh the miracle of motherhood.<br />
+Ah, how the world is young! ah, how 'tis good!<br />
+To feel the new life flutter mystic wing;<br />
+Like to a lark to feel one's soul upspring,<br />
+Transpierce the very limit of the sky,<br />
+And toss its challenge to Eternity!</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Mary Baldwin.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>O God, our heavenly Father, make our hearts
+exultant, as the earth in the spring morning, with
+the radiance of Thy Presence. Fill them with the
+joy and hopefulness of eternal youth, and cause them
+to be uplifted in gratitude and thankfulness to
+Thee. We have seen earthly faces so beaming with
+the light of love that we never shall forget them.
+We have spoken names that are so endeared to us
+that they will linger in our memory as long as we
+live. So, O Father, may it be with Thy face and
+Thy name. May Thy face beaming upon us as
+the sun of righteousness win our love to holiness
+and virtue, making us fruitful of good works, and
+Thy name be so woven in our affections that we
+shall cherish and hallow it forever. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Edgar W. Preble.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_73" id="page_73">[73]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>March 11</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>You must be serving something, some one, that
+needs your help in order to really appreciate the Divine
+care. It may be the parents' care of their children;
+the teacher and her scholars; the charity-worker
+and the poor, the friendless, the benighted; it may
+be friend helping friend&mdash;in some way the life of
+loving service must be there as something out of which
+God can help us think of and value the care which
+infinite love bestows upon us.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Julian K. Smyth.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Heavenly Father, with the opening of a new day
+we thank Thee for father love and mother love,
+for love of patriot and philanthropist, and for the
+love which that has called into being in our own hearts.
+Through this love and the service of mutual helpfulness
+to which we have been led thereby, Thou
+openest our eyes to behold the world pervaded and
+overruled by a spirit of infinite goodness, society
+resting upon mutual services, and through that
+service mankind rising to a nobler and diviner
+civilization. Help us to be mindful of this heavenly
+vision, and so make our feet swift to run and our
+hands eager to work in the service of righteousness
+and mutual helpfulness. We ask in His name,
+who loving us, has taught us the divinity of service.
+Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">LeGrand Powers.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_74" id="page_74">[74]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>March 12</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious
+triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to
+rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor
+suffer much because they live in the gray twilight
+that knows neither victory nor defeat.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Theodore Roosevelt.</span><br />
+</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>But only he whose judgment never strays<br />
+Beyond the threshold of the right, learns this&mdash;<br />
+Not always is it good to have one's wish;<br />
+What seemeth sweet full oft to bitter turns;<br />
+Fulfilled desire hath made mine eyes to weep.<br />
+Therefore, O reader of these lines, if thou<br />
+Would'st virtuous be, and held by others dear<br />
+Will ever for the power to do aright.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Leonardo da Vinci.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>God of the morning light, with the dawn of another
+day we come to Thee with prayer for help in
+the steadfastness of our manifold duties. The cares
+that oppress us, the burdens we carry, the obligations
+that fall upon us, are too much for our little
+strength without Thy help. That help we crave
+from Thee, the only source of all-availing strength.
+Let us not be dismayed by the powers of this world
+or busy ourselves in vain ambitions seeking the
+praise of men, but may we seek that Divine approval
+which is of more worth than all the favors of earth.
+Make us brave and strong to follow in the way of
+Thine appointment, and grant that we may so sincerely
+feel and act in the busy times of this day
+that when the evening comes no wasted hours may
+be laid to our charge. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Edward M. Barney.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_75" id="page_75">[75]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>March 13</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>You are in God's world; you are God's child.
+Those things you cannot change; the only peace
+and rest and happiness for you is to accept them and
+rejoice in them. When God speaks to you, you must
+not believe that it is the wind blowing or the torrent
+falling from the hill. You must know that it is God.
+You must gather up the whole power of meeting
+Him. You must be thankful that life is great and
+not little. You must listen as if listening were your
+life. And then, then only can come peace. All other
+sounds will be caught up into the prevailing richness
+of that voice of God. The lost proportions will be
+perfectly restored. Discord will cease; harmony will
+be complete.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Phillips Brooks.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Almighty God! We thank Thee for the peace
+and comfort of the night; for the new day and all
+the hope and peace and promise that it brings to us.
+Help us that with glad faces and joyous hearts we
+may take up its every privilege and duty, doing, in
+the spirit of the Master every good and helpful thing
+our hands find to do. And when the evening shall
+have come may we look back on a day of plenty,
+service, and peace, retiring to our rest with songs
+in our hearts and thanksgiving on our lips because
+Thy blessings have been on this, as on all other days
+new every morning and fresh every evening. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">George Mayo Gerrish.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_76" id="page_76">[76]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>March 14</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>It is the first mild day of March:<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Each minute sweeter than before,</span><br />
+The red-breast sings from the tall larch<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That stands beside our door.</span><br />
+<br />
+There is a blessing in the air,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Which seems a sense of joy to yield,</span><br />
+To the bare trees and mountain bare,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And grass in the green field.</span><br /></i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">William Wordsworth.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Our Father, we wake each morning refreshed and
+thankful for the joy of living; for the air we breathe,
+the things we see, the sounds of nature's sweetest
+harmonies and all the beauty which surrounds
+our earthly life. May the wonders of the earth
+speak to us in witness of Thy love. Let springing-grass
+and opening flower remind us of the new
+life which is ours through the resurrection of our
+Lord. His blessing like the light of the sun runs
+everywhere, carrying with it morning and hope,
+springtime and gladness. The joy is in the song of
+the birds, the murmur of the waters, the children's
+laughter and the song of happy hearts. Attune our
+hearts to notes of praise and make us glad upon the
+earth until Thou bringest us to perfect and unshadowed
+joys where we shall see Thee as Thou
+art and be like Thee. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">J. W. Stephan.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_77" id="page_77">[77]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>March 15</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>As to equality and inequality, all the beauty and
+glory of life come from inequalities. If we were all
+Beethovens or Shakespeares or marvelous in any
+one direction, life would be unbearable. Who shall
+tell me if an Easter lily is the equal of a rose, or if
+either is equal to an oak or a pine? The question of
+equality is out of the court. The one thing we need
+to do is to cultivate the finest and sweetest things in
+us; and then, whether we are one of the California
+big trees or the violet in a valley, we shall help on the
+beauty and glory of the earth.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Robert Collyer.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for the
+manifold beauties of Thy universe, the revelations
+of Thyself to Thy children. For those large wonders
+which stir men's minds and rouse their souls to awe,
+we thank Thee, but not less for the little things of
+life, filling their places well, and showing daily to
+the seeing eye that without them Thy universe
+could not be complete. Help us to grasp the lesson
+that they teach. If Thou hast given to us the great
+place, we thank Thee, but we thank Thee not less
+for the homely task, the humble duty, for it is all
+necessary to Thy plan. Help us, day by day, with
+stronger purpose, larger consecration, to fill our place,
+to do Thy will, in His name. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">George F. Fortier.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_78" id="page_78">[78]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>March 16</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>There must be a way of taking worry rightly, so
+that it shall do us good and not harm. Worry, rightly
+taken, should train to quietness, humility, patience,
+gentleness, sympathy. It ought not to eventuate
+(though it naturally does) in making others suffer
+because we are uncomfortable; in making us a source
+of painful worry to others because we are worried
+ourselves.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">A. H. K. Boyd.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Father of Love, Thy blessing it is which gives us
+another day. Help us to put before its cares the
+spirit that will banish care, to find in its beginning
+the power that will make labors happy and its ending
+sweet, and so to open our hearts to Thy light
+that no gloom of night shall linger round our way.
+If heaviness there be in ours or others' lives may
+every wholesome cheer make it less sore. If remembered
+faults and follies quench a better hope,
+send Thy patience and Thy will to be our courage
+and fresh resolve. Through all the noisy world
+may the secret music of Thy law swell in our breasts
+and every step keep time with its glorious
+march. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">John Day.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_79" id="page_79">[79]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>March 17</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Therefore to whom turn I but to Thee, the ineffable Name?<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Builder and maker, Thou, of houses not made with hands!</span><br />
+What, have fear of change from Thee who art ever the same!<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Doubt that Thy power can fill the heart that Thy power expands!</span><br />
+There shall never be one lost good! What was, shall live as before;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The evil is null, is nought, is silence implying sound;</span><br />
+What was good, shall be good, with, for evil, so much good more;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On the earth the broken arcs; in the heaven, a perfect round.</span><br />
+</i></p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Robert Browning.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>We thank Thee, O God, that each morning brings
+us fresh assurance of Thy wisdom and goodness&mdash;that
+the days have taught us to believe in Thee and
+to trust Thee as our perfect Friend. We are glad
+that we can face the day in the faith that Thou art
+sufficient to the needs of the day&mdash;to all the needs
+of all Thy children. In this trust, we beseech Thee,
+make us more and more to rejoice in life and its
+high privileges. Help us to go on our way with
+gladness and peace in our hearts&mdash;to worship Thee
+hourly by honest work, by faithful service, by kind
+words, by helpful deeds, and so, to find life good
+by doing something to make it good. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Flint M. Bissell.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_80" id="page_80">[80]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>March 18</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>"If I were you," she said, "I should not worry.
+Just make up your mind to do better when you get
+another chance. One can't do more than that. That
+is what I shall think of: that God will give each of
+us another chance, and that each one of us will take
+it and do better&mdash;I and you and everyone. So there
+is no need to fret over failure, when one hopes one
+may be allowed to redeem that failure later on. Besides
+which life is very hard. Why, we ourselves recognize
+that. If there be a God, some intelligence greater
+than human intelligence, He will understand better
+than ourselves that life is very hard and difficult,
+and He will be astonished not because we are not better,
+but because we are not worse. At least, that would
+be my notion of a God. I should not worry if I were
+you. Just make up your mind to do better if you
+get the chance and be content with that."</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Beatrice Harraden.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>O Lord, how often we have failed&mdash;how weak
+and frail we are&mdash;we have groped and stumbled
+along the pathway of life and have been defeated
+over and over again. Yet in the light of Thy providence
+and Thy love in spite of all defeats, we take
+heart and face the day with hope. In Thine economy
+no failure is ever final&mdash;we rejoice that Thou
+openest before us another opportunity. Let us be
+brave and earnest to seize the opportunities of these
+passing hours. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">George L. Perin.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_81" id="page_81">[81]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>March 19</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>To every life there comes a time supreme:<br />
+One day, one night, one morning, or one noon,<br />
+One freighted hour&mdash;one moment opportune,<br />
+One rift through which sublime fulfilments gleam;<br />
+One time when fate goes tiding with the stream,<br />
+One Once in balance 'twixt Too Late, Too Soon&mdash;<br />
+And ready for the passing instant's boon<br />
+That shall in favor tip the wavering beam.<br />
+Ah! happy he who, knowing how to wait,<br />
+Knows also how to watch and how to stand<br />
+On life's broad deck alert, and at the prow,<br />
+To seize the happy moment big with fate<br />
+From Opportunity's extended hand<br />
+When the great clock of Destiny strikes Now!</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Mary Ashley Townsend.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Our heavenly Father! Thou art the Author of
+all our days, and all our times and seasons are hid
+in the unfolding mystery of Thy Thought and Purpose.
+It is not given to us to know what a day or
+an hour may bring forth, but the opportune moments
+come, ways are opened before us to larger
+life and usefulness and privilege and duty. May
+we, by faithfulness, and watchfulness, and the
+readiness of those on duty, be prepared for each
+divinely offered opportunity. Surrounded by blessings,
+may we live to bless. Ministered unto, may we
+minister. Grateful to Thee, may we show our
+gratitude by service. In Thy name, Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Dwight M. Hodge.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_82" id="page_82">[82]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>March 20</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Put out of your thought the past whatever it may
+be; let go even the future with its golden dream and
+its high ideal; and concentrate your soul in this
+burning, present moment. For the man who is true
+to the present is true to his best; and the soul that
+wins the ground immediately before it, makes life a
+triumph.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Ozora Stearns Davis.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Almighty Giver of every good, we come to Thee
+amid the joys of a new morning, with its new blessings
+and opportunities. We would dedicate this
+day to Thy service. We would forget the past and
+waste not our time in idle dreaming of to-morrow,
+but with consecrated zeal we would apply ourselves
+to the tasks Thou hast appointed us for this present
+hour. Thy hand is ever opened to let down the
+tokens of Thy love. May all that is best within us
+rise up in answer, and may we be dedicated anew
+to our upbuilding in righteousness and the fulfilment
+of our duties to one another. May we this day
+follow the footsteps of the Christ and prove ourselves
+His faithful disciples! Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">R. Perry Bush.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_83" id="page_83">[83]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>March 21</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>I believe that today is better than yesterday, and
+that tomorrow will be better than today.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">George F. Hoar.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Make yourselves nests of pleasant thoughts, bright
+fancies, faithful sayings; treasure-houses of precious
+and restful thoughts, which care cannot disturb nor
+poverty take away from you,&mdash;houses built without
+hands for your souls to live in.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">John Ruskin.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Dear Father in heaven, around Thy name cluster
+the most sacred and holy affections. Thy name,
+indeed, is above every name infinite in love, and
+awakening in each heart a sense of filial gratitude.
+At this morning hour, therefore, we are mindful of
+the tie that binds us to Thee, that provides a nesting-place
+for pleasant and restful thoughts, that makes
+duty less irksome, home-love more tender, sacrifice
+more willing, and character more noble. In this
+spirit we pray Thee, O Father, send us forth to the
+labor which awaits us, only to realize, under Thy
+Providence, that this is the best day of our life,
+and full of assurance and rejoicing for a still better
+tomorrow. In the light of faith, hope and love do
+we ask and offer all. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Wilburn D. Potter.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_84" id="page_84">[84]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>March 22</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Scarce tangible may be the first glad sign,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Yet how it shakes us with a vernal thrill!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The voice of the south wind behind the hill;</span><br />
+Or an elusive bird-note faint and fine;<br />
+A flush at dawn along the wan sky-line;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A lyrical exuberance in the rill;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A something working its mysterious will</span><br />
+Both in majestic hole and tenuous vine!</i><br />
+<br />
+<i>It is the vernal spirit. In the earth<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">It throbs and pulses; quickens in the air;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And permeates all nature thro' and thro'.</span><br />
+In the expectant poignancy of birth<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">What raptures, what rare ecstasies we share&mdash;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Old,&mdash;ah, how old!&mdash;and yet forever new!</span><br />
+</i></p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Clinton Scollard.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>O God, how good Thou art! All Thy works
+praise Thee. The world is filled with Thy glory.
+This dawning Springtime brings Thee very near
+every responsive heart. Thou art the fountain of
+life. We see Thee in bursting bud and incipient
+bloom. We hear Thee in the rapture of birds and
+in the new-found gladness of sun-kissed rivulets.
+May we, the children of Thy love, be new born
+into a deeper spirituality,&mdash;a richer life! May
+the beauty of the Spirit breathing through our hearts
+call forth the latent goodness that slumbers there!
+Speak through us the music of Thy love. Perfume
+us with the odors of Thy heavenly grace, and may
+we walk this day in tune with Thee! Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Joseph Cooper.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_85" id="page_85">[85]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>March 23</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Work is the grand cure of all the maladies and
+miseries that ever beset mankind&mdash;honest work,
+which you intend getting done.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Thomas Carlyle.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Thank God every morning when you get up that
+you have something to do which must be done whether
+you like it or not. Being forced to work and forced
+to do your best will breed in you temperance, self-control,
+diligence, strength of will, content and a
+hundred virtues which the idle will never know.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Charles Kingsley.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Kind Father and Friend, Thy presence has watched
+over us all our days and has been a comfort in all
+our labors. We thank Thee for Thy unwearied
+watching over us. May we at the dawn of this
+new day, come to our tasks with thanks in our hearts
+and a song on our lips. May all life's stern duties
+and its perplexities get grace and beauty from our
+hallowed thoughts and sanctified resolves. We
+would ask that Thy free spirit be with us this day
+to give us hope and joy in our several tasks. May
+the sweet peace of mind of those who learn to
+labor and to wait crown all our efforts. Dear Father,
+forgive our failures and keep us ever Thine. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Charles E. Petty.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_86" id="page_86">[86]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>March 24</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Ah, the mis-takings and the mis-leavings; and
+all the ignorant beginning, when we can only lay up
+things for late wisdom to repent of!</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Nothing really bad can ever happen.... I've
+meant right,&mdash;and I mean right now. I'll do the
+best I can, and the Lord will take care of everybody.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Lord, Thou comest to us with light and life, forgive
+us for coming to Thee as aliens and beggars;
+daily Thou art our refuge and strength, and this
+should subtract our fear and multiply our confidence,
+comfort and consecration. Our needs are Thy opportunity;
+we have more sunshine than we can
+use, more love than we can repay and more revelation
+than we can translate. O may this satisfy us
+early and strengthen us through all our days. Alone
+we are very weak, but we are never alone; all of
+life is a company affair, for Thou art with us; help
+us to be as truly Thy children as Thou art our Father
+and Mother. Through our thinking, working and
+waiting may men see Thee and glorify Thee. O
+teach us to abide ever in Thy love, and help us to
+work some helpful miracle by the gates of need,
+and to see the rainbow of prophecy through earth's
+tears and over its years. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Alan R. Tillinghast.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_87" id="page_87">[87]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>March 25</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>'Tis the fine souls who serve us, and not what is
+called fine society.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Ralph Waldo Emerson.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>We find what we look for in the world. I have
+always been looking for the nobler qualities in human
+beings, and I have always found them. There are
+great souls all along the highway of life, and there
+are great qualities even in the people who seem common
+and weak to us ordinarily.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Ella Wheeler Wilcox.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Gracious Father, we thank Thee for the power
+Thou hast given us to labor for our own and others'
+advancement and happiness. As we begin this new
+day we trust in Thy bounty and would draw on Thy
+strength to sustain us in our toil. We thank Thee
+for the brave souls in every walk of life who have
+set us an example worthy to be followed. Many
+have been or are notable in the world for their fortitude,
+honor and achievements; many others have
+been known to us but have been unheralded by men,
+and from all these we have ourselves been made
+more capable and faithful. By Thy grace may we
+be aided in emulating the good we see in others, and
+be able to make the world a little brighter because
+of Thy gift to us of this day. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Frank S. Rice.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_88" id="page_88">[88]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>March 26</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>An old, worn Harp that had been played<br />
+Till all its strings were loose and frayed,<br />
+Joy, Hate, and Fear, each one, assayed<br />
+To play. But each in turn had found<br />
+No sweet responsiveness of sound.</i><br />
+<br />
+<i>Then Love the Master-player came<br />
+With heaving breast and eyes aflame;<br />
+The Harp he took all undismayed,<br />
+Smote on its strings, still strange to song,<br />
+And brought forth music sweet and strong.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Paul Laurence Dunbar.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Heavenly Father, I pray Thee that Thou wilt
+help me to love to-day. Thou art Love and if Thou
+shalt fill my life there will be no room for hate and
+no room for fear, for "Perfect Love casteth out fear."
+As the Master stilled the waves in Galilee, so speak
+Thou peace to my soul, and bid all discord cease,
+that my whole life may be in tune with heaven,
+and may be one happy song. Love alone can bring
+harmony out of discord, love out of hate, trust out
+of fear, and music out of a worn-out, or a long unused
+or misused life. So let Love control the whole
+of my life for Jesus' sake. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">B. L. Jennings.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_89" id="page_89">[89]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>March 27</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p><i>
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">No stream from its source</span><br />
+Flows seaward, how lonely soever its course,<br />
+But some land is gladdened. No star ever rose<br />
+Or set without influence somewhere. Who knows<br />
+What earth needs from earth's lowliest creature? No life<br />
+Can be pure in its purpose and strong in its strife,<br />
+And all life not be purer and stronger thereby.<br />
+</i></p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Owen Meredith.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>If I am this day to touch other lives helpfully so
+that they may be gladdened and strengthened for
+truer and nobler living, I shall need, my Father,
+not only a clear perception of myself in relation to that
+to which Thou dost call me, but also a clear vision
+of the Christ who would be felt through me, not
+only the impulse of a strong purpose but also the
+endowment of power by Thy spirit of power. That
+this may be, do Thou test my purpose by that of
+Thy son and fashion my life by His teaching, keeping
+my heart open always toward Thee. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">F. H. Wheeler.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_90" id="page_90">[90]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>March 28</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>I but open my eyes,&mdash;and perfection, no more and no less,<br />
+In the kind I imagined, full-fronts me, and God is seen God,<br />
+In the star, in the stone, in the flesh, in the soul and the clod.<br />
+And thus looking within and around me, I ever renew<br />
+(With that stoop of the soul which in bending upraises it too)<br />
+The submission of man's nothing-perfect to God's all-complete,<br />
+And by each new obeisance in spirit, I climb to His feet.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Robert Browning.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Thou Infinite Spirit, we cannot understand Thee,
+yet we feel Thy presence within us and about us.
+We cannot unravel the mystery of Thy life, not even
+of our own lives, yet we feel ourselves linked as by
+chains of steel to Thyself. We are poor and ignorant
+and little and finite; Thou art great and strong
+and infinite, yet we cling to the thought that we
+are Thy children. Even in Thine infinity Thou
+stoopest to listen to us. Thou carest for us, lovest
+us. O Thou Father of our Souls, may we cling to
+Thee to-day and every day. We do not ask Thee
+to explain Thyself, but we do ask that in storm
+and sunshine, in adversity and in prosperity, and
+in every emergency we may keep our anchorage to
+Thee unbroken, and feel Thy presence with us. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">George L. Perin.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_91" id="page_91">[91]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>March 29</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>I wonder why it is that we are not all kinder to
+each other than we are. How much the world needs
+it! How easily it is done!</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Henry Drummond.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Let us awaken to the divine privilege of sharing
+the heartaches of our friends; of the meaning of
+good fellowship; of that independence of spirit that
+does not imitate; of courage and pride that can endure
+adversity with dignity, and without fear.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Anonymous.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Our Heavenly Father, help us through this new
+day to allow the impulses of our hearts to have fullest
+play. Help us to help each other, Lord, and of
+whatever grace or influence we have to bless and
+uplift our fellowmen to give generously and gladly.
+Help us scatter sunshine along our pathway, to
+speak the cheering word to discouraged hearts and
+to lend the helping hand to feeble or halting ones
+along the way. May we find our greatest happiness
+following in the footsteps of our Master, humbly
+serving our neighbor's needs, and doing good even
+at every wayside opportunity. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">James F. Albion.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_92" id="page_92">[92]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>March 30</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide,<br />
+In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side;<br />
+Some great cause, God's new Messiah, offering each the bloom or blight,<br />
+Parts the goats upon the left hand, and the sheep upon the right,<br />
+And the choice goes by forever 'twixt that darkness and that light.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">James Russell Lowell.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Almighty Father, we are before Thee, asking
+for strength this day, that for today's duty we may
+have the help of Thy Infinite wisdom, as we know
+we have Thy love, Our Father with His Children.
+Father, help us to look to Thee for strength and
+wisdom in every moment of doubt. We are not
+afraid, because we can come to Thee for counsel,
+and companionship. We can come to Thee for
+everything, and we find everything if we seek for it
+with all our heart and soul and strength. So today,
+Father, be with us to show each one of us here, the
+youngest or the oldest, the weakest or the strongest,
+what is the duty next his hand today, that we may
+enter into that work and go about our Father's
+business. Go with us and be with us as with Thine
+own children. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Edward Everett Hale.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_93" id="page_93">[93]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>March 31</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>I long to accomplish great and noble tasks, but it
+is my duty and joy to accomplish humble tasks as
+though they were great and noble.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Helen Keller.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>It is a fine notion of life to liken it to the loom.
+God puts on the warp in those circumstances in which
+we find ourselves, and which we cannot change. The
+woof is wrought by the shuttle of everyday life. It
+is made of very homely threads sometimes, common
+duties, unpromising and unwelcome tasks. But
+whoever tries to do each day's work in the spirit
+of patient loyalty to God is weaving the texture whose
+other side is fairer than the one he sees.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Anonymous.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Our Father in heaven, grant that we may be
+"faithful in that which is least," leaving to Thy
+will whether we have the opportunity of being "faithful
+in much." May we understand that the value
+of our service is not so much in what we do as the
+spirit in which we do it. Help us to remember that
+no service is common in Thy sight, if it is done for
+Thy glory and the betterment of humanity; that
+in blessing others, we ourselves are blessed; that life
+is mostly made up of little things, but a character
+which is perfected by Thy grace and humble service
+is not a little thing, but a jewel to shine in Thy
+crown forever. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">E. T. Curnick.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_94" id="page_94">[94]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>April 1</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p><i>
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">April is here!</span><br />
+There's a song in the maple, thrilling and new;<br />
+There's a flash of wings of heaven's own hue;<br />
+There's a veil of green on the nearer hills;<br />
+There's a burst of rapture in woodland rills;<br />
+There are stars in the meadow dropped here and there;<br />
+There's a breath of arbutus in the air;<br />
+There's a dash of rain, as if flung in jest;<br />
+There's an arch of color spanning the west;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">April is here!</span><br />
+</i></p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Eben E. Rexford.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>O God, ever-living and ever-acting, all Thy works
+praise Thee, and Thy saints bless Thee! We rejoice
+that Thou art bringing in this new springtime, and
+art preparing to pour out Thy summer glory and
+bounty in garden and field and wood, that Thy
+children may be richly blessed. As Thou art working
+mightily in nature today so wilt Thou work in
+us, Thy children, that the blessed fruits of the Spirit
+may appear in all that we think and do and are?
+And may the spontaneous spring song of the woods
+find its counterpart in the perpetual gladness of our
+souls sunk deep in the love of Christ! Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Henry Irving Cushman.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_95" id="page_95">[95]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>April 2</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>The sweetest sound our whole year round<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">'Tis the first robin of the spring!</span><br />
+The song of the full orchard choir,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Is not so fine a thing.</span><br />
+</i></p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Edmund Clarence Stedman.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+<i>The grass comes, the flower laughs where lately lay the snow,<br />
+O'er the breezy hill top hoarsely calls the crow,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">By the flowing river the alder catkins swing</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And the sweet song sparrow cries, "Spring, it is Spring!"x</span><br />
+</i></p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Celia Thaxter.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Accept from a heart of gratitude, O God, thanksgiving
+and praises for the glad anticipation of the
+coming days of spring. May the awakening of
+nature, this living garment in which Thou hast
+robed Thy mysterious loveliness, be to each of Thy
+children symbol of the new life which comes to those
+who put their trust in the risen Christ and of the higher
+life beyond where shadows are no more and light
+and gladness bless an eternity of joy. O, Thou
+Father of lights, make every hour of this opening
+day rich and radiant with Thy effulgent presence
+through Jesus Christ. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Kerr Boyce Tupper.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_96" id="page_96">[96]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>April 3</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Within my earthly temple there's a crowd;<br />
+There's one of us that's humble, one that's proud,<br />
+There's one that's broken-hearted for his sins,<br />
+There's one that unrepentant sits and grins;<br />
+There's one that loves his neighbor as himself,<br />
+And one that cares for naught but fame and pelf.<br />
+From much corroding care I should be free<br />
+If I could once determine which is me.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Theodore Martin.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for our
+multiform life. Thou hast made us a little lower
+than the angels and hast crowned us with glory and
+honor, yet how little we know ourselves! We go
+astray; we fall from our high estate; like the moth
+we flutter around the blaze that burns us. When
+we would do good, evil is present with us. Yet
+through all complexity of thought and feeling, of
+passion and appetite, through all our wanderings
+and all our sins we thank Thee that there shines
+clearly the light of our own Divinity. We are Thy
+children. Help us, we pray Thee, to know ourselves
+at our best. May we not be betrayed in
+this day's journey by any siren voice. Let us go
+forth to the tasks of the day with the consciousness
+that until the evening shadows fall Thou wilt be
+with us. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">George L. Perin.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_97" id="page_97">[97]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>April 4</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>If we but knew the secret of that power<br />
+That opes the bud in early days of spring,<br />
+If we but knew what makes the robin sing<br />
+His wondrous song just at the matin hour,<br />
+If we but knew the priceless boon and dower<br />
+Of human life when man is truly king.<br />
+If we but understood the little thing<br />
+That vexes us just at the present hour,<br />
+If we but knew&mdash;ah, well, 'tis vain to sigh<br />
+And speculate on things beyond our ken!<br />
+We know that earth is fair and life is sweet,<br />
+And something tells us that we cannot die.<br />
+And if we live and love the good, ah! then<br />
+We face to face with truth some day must meet.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Clarence Hawkes.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>O Lord, we thank Thee for a day so sweet and
+fair as this, when the trees lift up their hands in a
+psalm of gratitude to Thee, and every little flower
+that opens its cup and every wandering bird seem
+filled by Thy spirit, and grateful to Thee. We
+thank Thee for all thine handwritings of revelation
+on the walls of the world, on the heavens above us
+and the ground beneath, and all the testimonies
+recorded there of Thy presence, Thy power, Thy
+justice, and Thy love. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Theodore Parker.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_98" id="page_98">[98]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>April 5</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Yet we must give the children leave to use<br />
+Our garden tools, though they spoil tool and plant<br />
+In learning. So the Master may not scorn<br />
+Our awkwardness, as with these bungling hands<br />
+We try to unroot the ill, and plant with good<br />
+Life's barren soil: the child is learning use.<br />
+Perhaps the angels even are forbid<br />
+To laugh at us, or may not care to laugh,<br />
+With kind eyes pitying our little hurts.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Edward Rowland Sill.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Our Father: Thou knowest how unskilled are
+these hands and hearts of ours. Thou knowest
+how much that we do, think, and speak often tends
+to retard the progress of that which we would promote.
+Give us, then, this day that wisdom which
+is from above, that no touch of our hand may mar
+the beauty of one of Thy creations: no thought nor
+word wrong one of Thy creatures. Help us to know
+that we are workers with God, and in this knowledge
+may we strive for that excellence of service that
+shall hasten the coming of that kingdom of peace,
+joy and righteousness which is life eternal. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Florence Kollock Crooker.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_99" id="page_99">[99]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>April 6</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Plant flowers in the soul's front yard,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Set out new shade and blossom trees,</span><br />
+An' let the soul once froze an' hard,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sprout crocuses of new idees.</span><br />
+<br />
+Yes, clean yer house, an' clean yer shed,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">An' clean yer barn in ev'ry part;</span><br />
+But brush the cobwebs from yer head,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">An' sweep the snow banks from yer heart.</span><br />
+</i></p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Sam Walter Foss.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Gracious Father, help us gratefully to begin this
+day with Thee. We expect the day to bring its
+accustomed routine of cares and duties, and its
+round of petty irritations, but we confidently believe
+that Thou wilt help us in all our experiences. Let
+this morning's freshness, hope and vigor be ours
+through the whole day. Help us to put faith in
+the place of fear that all our efforts may be crowned
+with the success of helpfulness. May we go blithely
+about our business with kind words and cheerful
+faces that our day's work may be our day's
+worship. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Augustus B. Church.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_100" id="page_100">[100]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>April 7</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Ye seek for happiness&mdash;alas the day!<br />
+Ye find it not in luxury nor in gold,<br />
+Not in the fame nor in the envied sway,<br />
+For which O willing slaves to custom old,<br />
+Severe taskmistress, ye your hearts have sold.<br />
+Ye seek for peace, and, when ye die, to dream<br />
+No evil dreams; all mortal things are cold<br />
+And senseless then; if aught survive, I deem<br />
+It must be love and joy, for they immortal seem.</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Shelley.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>O Thou Eternal God who hast given us life, help
+us to love Thy will and to walk in Thy way this
+day. If flowers chance to grow beside our path we
+would pluck them, but most of all would we rejoice
+in Thee alone, knowing that in Thy will is perfect
+peace. Fill our souls with Thy joy and strengthen
+us in the spirit of self-forgetfulness to spill it out
+into the lives of others. Give us hearts "roomy,
+radiant, and full of laughter," learned of "Jesus
+Christ, whom not having seen we love; on whom
+though now we see Him not, yet believing, we rejoice
+greatly with joy unspeakable and full of glory,
+receiving the end of our faith, even the salvation
+of our souls." Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Walter Healy.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_101" id="page_101">[101]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>April 8</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>A gush of bird song, a patter of dew,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A cloud and a rainbow's warning,</span><br />
+Suddenly sunshine and perfect blue&mdash;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">An April day in the morning.</span><br />
+</i></p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Harriet P. Spofford.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>There is something in the air<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That's new and sweet and rare&mdash;</span><br />
+There's something too that's new,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In the color of the blue</span><br />
+That's in the morning sky,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Before the sun is high.</span><br />
+</i></p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Nora Perry.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Infinite and Holy One, be with us in the beauty
+of this new day. May the dewy sweetness of the
+dawn Thou hast given to us be regarded as a token
+of Thy love for Thy children. As an atmosphere of
+joy and peace may be the thought of Thy consolation
+and Thy care. The delicate tints of Thy sky arching
+over us may we compare to the blue of a constancy
+that is divine, and which is freely shown to even
+the humblest and more erring of Thy flock. Bless
+us and guide us on our pilgrim way, and inspire our
+hearts and our hands to perform well their daily
+task. In His name do we ask it. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Edmund Q. S. Osgood.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_102" id="page_102">[102]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>April 9</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>As I have walked in Alabama my morning walk,<br />
+I have seen where the she-bird&mdash;the mocking-bird sat on her nest in the briers hatching her brood,<br />
+I have seen the he-bird also,<br />
+I have paused to hear him near at hand inflating his throat and joyfully singing,<br />
+And while I paused it came to me that what he really sang for was not there only,<br />
+Nor for his mate nor for himself only, nor<br />
+All sent back by the echoes,<br />
+But subtle, clandestine, away beyond,<br />
+A charge transmitted and gift occult for those being born.</i>
+</p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Walt Whitman.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Thou great Spirit of Life, Our Father, in heaven,
+and in the earth, with what myriad voices dost
+Thou speak to us, sometimes with the voice of
+thunder and sometimes with the voice of bird. Even
+the rocks and hills have their language. With every
+manifold voice Thou tellest us that we do not live
+nor work for a day only. The song and the word
+and the work of today have larger relations. They
+pass over into other days. We pray this morning
+that the thoughts we think, the words we speak, and
+the work we do may be so true that they may be
+fit for another day. So may we begin <i>now</i> to realize
+the meaning of Eternal Life. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">George L. Perin.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_103" id="page_103">[103]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>April 10</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>If the stream had no quiet eddying place, could we
+so admire its cascade over the rocks? Were there
+no clouds, could we so hail the sky shining through
+them in its still calm purity?</i></p></blockquote>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>The night is mother of the Day<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Winter of the Spring,</span><br />
+And ever upon old Decay<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The greenest mosses cling.</span><br />
+Behind the cloud the starlight lurks,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Through showers the sunbeams fall:</span><br />
+For God, who loveth all His works,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Has left His Hope with all!</span><br />
+</i></p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">John Greenleaf Whittier.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Our Father, with childhood's glowing morning
+face we would turn to Thee and be conscious that
+the brightness of life comes only to those upon whom
+the sun of righteousness shines with clear light.
+Full of trust, full of joy, we turn our faces towards
+the light and take up the labors of life with entire
+confidence in the Divine care and guidance that
+blesses the open vision, the faithful hand and the
+loving heart. We would follow our Master, feeling
+that we could choose no better way, and content if
+we be not called to suffer more than He in His life
+of service and sacrifice, while our hearts praise
+the giver of spiritual things with unceasing happy
+songs. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Ralph Edwin Horne.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_104" id="page_104">[104]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>April 11</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Oh, the little birds sang east, and the little birds sang west,<br />
+And I smiled to think God's greatness flowed around our incompleteness,&mdash;<br />
+Round our restlessness, his nest.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Elizabeth Barrett Browning.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<blockquote><p><i>And I saw that there was an Ocean of Darkness
+and Death; but an infinite Ocean of Light and Love
+flowed over the Ocean of Darkness; and in that I
+saw the infinite Love of God.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">George Fox.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Father of Light, in whom is no darkness at all,
+to Thee we lift our longing eyes again. Shine away
+the darkness of our minds by the light of Thy presence.
+Complete our incompleteness. Bring us out of our
+restlessness into Thy rest. We thank Thee for our
+daily gifts,&mdash;bread to feed the body, strength to
+sustain the soul, light to guide the feet. Help us
+to put away the mistakes of the past, remembering
+them only with the penitence that shall cause Thee
+to remember them no more. Help us all through
+this day to know ourselves surrounded by Thine
+Infinite Love. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">A. Gertrude Earle.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_105" id="page_105">[105]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>April 12</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Just as you now play a piece without the music
+and do not think what notes you strike, though once
+you picked them out by slow and patient toil, so, if
+you begin of set purpose, you will learn the law of
+kindness in utterance so perfectly that it will be second
+nature to you and make more music in your heart
+than all the songs the sweetest voice has ever sung.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Francis E. Willard.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Father, we rejoice and will be glad all the day
+that Thou hast made it possible for us and all Thy
+children to learn the sweet song of true life and that
+Thou dost give us so many opportunities for its
+practice. O Lord, give us patience and kindness
+toward our fellowmen and trust in Thee, so that
+whether the lessons be easy or hard we may take
+them cheerfully, believing that Thou dost give us
+only that which is best. Grant that we may be
+earnest and faithful until our souls can sing the
+highest, purest and sweetest notes, until we are
+in harmony with All Good. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Abbie E. Danforth.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_106" id="page_106">[106]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>April 13</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>So many little faults we find:<br />
+We see them, for not blind<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Is love&mdash;we see them; but if you and I</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Remember them, perhaps, some by and by</span><br />
+They will not be<br />
+Faults then, grave faults to you and me,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But just odd ways, mistakes, or even less&mdash;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Remembrances to bless.</span><br />
+</i></p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">George Klingle.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Our dear Father in Heaven: for this day help
+us to be good. All through the long night Thou
+hast watched over us. Under Thy wing have we
+been sheltered as the chickens under the wing of
+the mother. Now that light has come we will help
+Thee to keep this world sweet and bright and clean.
+Help us to be true to this our promise; we resolve
+to be patient, steadfast, cheerful, kindly, sturdy,
+and good. Our Father, we need Thee. We want
+to walk in Thy way. Help us, for we are Thy
+children. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">William Channing Brown.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_107" id="page_107">[107]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>April 14</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>The man without a purpose is like a ship without
+a rudder; a waif, a nothing, no man. Have a purpose
+in life, if it is only to kill and divide and sell
+oxen well, but have a purpose; and having it, throw
+such strength of mind and muscle into your work
+as God has given you.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Thomas Carlyle.</span><br />
+</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Neither a borrower nor a lender be;<br />
+For loan oft loses both itself and friend,<br />
+And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.<br />
+This above all: to thine own self be true<br />
+And it must follow, as the night the day,<br />
+Thou canst not then be false to any man.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Shakespeare.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Almighty God, at the commencement of this
+day's work may we look on high, and measure
+everything we are about to do by the scale of eternity.
+Keep us from all littleness; may we not be turned
+aside by things that are insignificant and unworthy.
+Help us, we beseech Thee, to make the glory of
+our life commensurate with the splendors of our
+privileges. May we live life in a great spirit, realizing
+that there is no duty so simple, no position so humble,
+but that we may show forth the grandeur of trust,
+and obedience toward Thee. May the great and
+holy purpose we cherish find its expression as we
+cooperate with the divine purpose. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">J. H. Barker.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_108" id="page_108">[108]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>April 15</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>'Twas one of those charmed days<br />
+When the genius of God doth flow,<br />
+The wind may alter twenty ways,<br />
+A tempest cannot blow;<br />
+It may blow north, it still is warm;<br />
+Or south, it still is clear;<br />
+Or east, it smells like a clover farm;<br />
+Or west, no thunder fear.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Ralph Waldo Emerson.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Father of Lights, from whom cometh every good
+and perfect gift, we thank Thee for the morning
+and for the sunshine. We rejoice in the light, but
+when it is hidden from us, we are thankful that in
+the upper air above our clouded morning it still
+fills Thy heavens. Thou gavest us good things
+while we slept, and now, refreshed by Thy Spirit,
+may we go forth to our appointed tasks with cheerful
+obedience and joyful expectation. If trial and
+trouble await us, or if, in the heat of the day the
+burden seems too great, may we still be comforted,
+because we put our trust in Thee. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">George Batchelor.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_109" id="page_109">[109]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>April 16</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>But spring-wind, like a dancing psaltress, passes<br />
+Over its breast, to waken it, rare verdure<br />
+Buds tenderly upon rough banks between<br />
+The withered tree-roots and the cracks of frost,<br />
+Like a smile striving with a wrinkled face;<br />
+The grass grows bright, the boughs are swol'n with blooms<br />
+Like chrysalids impatient for the air,<br />
+The shining dors are busy, beetles run<br />
+Along the furrows; ants make their ado;<br />
+Above, birds fly in merry flocks, the lark<br />
+Soars up and up, shivering for very joy;<br />
+Afar the ocean sleeps; white fishing gulls<br />
+Flit where the sand is purple with its tribe<br />
+Of nested limpits; savage creatures seek<br />
+Their loves in wood and plain&mdash;and God renews<br />
+His ancient rapture.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Robert Browning.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>O Lord, who givest to mankind liberally, and
+upbraidest not, we thank Thee for the blessings
+Thou bestowest from day to day. We thank Thee
+for this material world, now clad in its garment of
+Northern beauty, for the great sun which all day
+pours down his light upon the waiting and the grateful
+world, and for the earth underneath our feet. We
+bless Thee for the grass, bread for the cattle, its
+harvest of use spread everywhere, and for the various
+beauty which here and there spangles all useful
+things which Thine eye looks down upon. May
+we use this world of matter to build up the being
+that we are to a nobler stature of strength and of
+beauty. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Theodore Parker.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_110" id="page_110">[110]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>April 17</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>O brothers all! come near<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And hear</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">A bird's</span><br />
+Melodious dreaming set to words, and flung<br />
+The spring's new leaves and tender buds among,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">For very joy of life, and hope, and love</span><br />
+In a world made broad enough<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">For all God's creatures to be merry in,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">With joyous clash and din,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And yet too small</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">For any greed at all!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Lo! deep and sure</span><br />
+Is cut this truth in heaven's book of gold:<br />
+Out of one mother in the garden old<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Were born the rich and poor.</span><br />
+</i></p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Maurice Thompson.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Our Father, may we begin this day with a song
+in our hearts,&mdash;a song as rich and full and free
+as the bird sings at the earliest dawning of the
+sun's light,&mdash;a song so attuned with infinite life
+and hope and love that it must be sung. Thou
+giver of abundance unto the rich and poor alike,
+help our souls to mount unto the highest reaches of
+living thoughts and generous deeds, that we may
+give unto others as Thou givest. Unfettered by
+unholy passions and freed from the spirit of greed,
+may we feel the unity of the bonds of a universal
+brotherhood, and be just and true, honest, and
+helpful in all our dealings with all men this
+day. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Henrietta G. Moore.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_111" id="page_111">[111]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>April 18</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>O spring, of hope and love and youth and gladness<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wing-winged emblem! Brightest, best and fairest!</span><br />
+Whence comest thou when with dark Winter's sadness<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The tears that fade in sunny smiles thou sharest?</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sister of Joy! thou art the child who wearest</span><br />
+Thy mother's dying smile, tender and sweet:<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thy mother Autumn, for whose grave thou bearest</span><br />
+Fresh flowers, and beams like flowers,<br />
+Disturbing not the leaves which are her winding-sheet.<br />
+</i></p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Shelley.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>God unchanging, and still the creator of the seasons,
+we look up to Thee, as the springtide works
+out the miracle of the resurrection from the sleeping
+forms of the past season, in confidence and in trust
+that ever Thou wilt bless us with a nobler, holier,
+sweeter, more wholesome life, as the seasons come
+and go. The resources of trusting hearts are always
+reinforced and reinvigorated by contact with Thy
+life, Thy power, Thy goodness and Thy love. Out
+of the winter of our discontent, we enter the springtime
+of love, that leads us forward in confidence
+through the glad summer of growth to the soul's
+fruition and the place of rest and peace in our Father's
+Home beneath Thine everlasting Love. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Francis A. Gray.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_112" id="page_112">[112]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>April 19</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>One sound always comes to the ear that is open;
+it is the steady drum-beat of Duty. No music in it,
+perhaps,&mdash;only a dry rub-a-dub. Ah, but that
+steady beat marks the time for the whole orchestra
+of earth and heaven! It says to you: "Do your
+work,&mdash;do the duty nearest you!" Keep step to
+that drum-beat, and the dullest march is taking you
+home.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">George S. Merriam.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>O Thou great impelling Spirit, whom we see manifest
+in all the world, as we open our eyes to the
+light of another morning, may we be as responsive
+to Thy influence as the sun and the flowers which
+brighten our way. May we be very sensitive to Thy
+promptings as we go about our day's work. May
+we be very quick to do the things Thou wouldst
+have us do. May we give ourselves to Thy service
+without reserve. When again the night shades draw
+about us, may our hearts be filled with deepest
+gratitude for all the experiences of the day, and,
+deep within, may our spirits be conscious of Thy
+approving benediction, "Well done, good and
+faithful servant; enter Thou into the joy of Thy
+Lord." Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Frank Lincoln Masseck.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_113" id="page_113">[113]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>April 20</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p><i>
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Thyself and thy belongings</span><br />
+Are not thine own so proper as to waste<br />
+Thyself upon thy virtues, they on thee.<br />
+Heaven doth with us as we with torches do<br />
+Not light them for themselves; for if our virtues<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Did not go forth of us, 'twere all alike</span><br />
+As if we had them not. Spirits are not finely touched<br />
+But to fine issues, nor Nature never lends<br />
+The smallest scruple of her excellence<br />
+But like a thrifty goddess, she determines<br />
+Herself the glory of a creditor,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Both thanks and use.</span><br />
+</i></p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Shakespeare.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Father, with faith and confidence in Thee we
+begin the day's duties, with a blithe song upon our
+lips, expressing the melody of our souls, thanking
+Thee for opportunities for work, and thought and
+love. We ask not for more blessings but to be more
+worthy of those we have, using and not abusing
+them. May our minds be open to Thy truth, and
+hearts to Thy love, and when received may we be
+almoners of both to the waiting world. May we keep
+by giving Thy love abundantly, and grow through
+the glory of self-sacrifice. Give us the heart, O
+God, to sanctify our work and to lift it above drudgery
+into the divinest service, and give us strength to
+perform it. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">U. S. Milburn.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_114" id="page_114">[114]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>April 21</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>A man is simple where his chief care is the wish
+to be what he ought to be; that is honestly and naturally
+human. We may compare existence to raw material.
+What it is matters less than what it is made of; as
+the value of a work of art lies in the flowering of a
+workman's skill. True life is possible in social conditions
+the most diverse and with natural gifts the
+most unequal. It is not fortune or personal advantage,
+but our training them to account, that constitutes the
+value of life. Fame adds no more than does length
+of days; quality is the thing.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Charles Wagner.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Heavenly Father, our eyes are ever toward Thee.
+We do not pray for the things of the world. Teach
+us to walk in Thy truth. Though our days be few,
+may our lives be hopeful and cheerful. Though
+our bodies be frail, may we be invincible in spirit.
+All Thy children are immortal, but it is for us to
+attain the eternal life. May we know Thee through
+Jesus. Then days and hours and minutes will
+disappear in the liberty and glory and peace of the
+life eternal. Then poverty of worldly goods will be
+forgotten in the riches of the Spirit. Then the cares
+of the world that now is will be lost in the joy of
+the life that is to be. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Reignold K. Marvin.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_115" id="page_115">[115]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>April 22</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>A little sun, a little rain,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A soft wind blowing from the west&mdash;</span><br />
+And woods and fields are sweet again<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And warmth within the mountain's breast.</span><br />
+<br />
+So simple is the earth we tread,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">So quick with love and life her frame,</span><br />
+Ten thousand years have dawned and fled.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And still her magic is the same.</span><br />
+</i></p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Stopford A. Brooke.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Gracious God, we thank Thee for the gift of
+sight whereby we behold the marvels of the outer
+world. But greater is our gratitude for the inner
+sight, the power to see things as they ought to be.
+If we but look deep enough, we find Thy central
+laws ever at the heart of all life. With such insight,
+apparent confusion shall not bewilder us, life's
+cares shall not harden us, the world's show cannot
+dazzle us. Give us, we pray Thee, unceasing ability
+to wonder and admire, which brings perpetual
+youth; to hope, to believe, to trust; to rest content
+in working with Thee, the Eternal One, Lord of the
+seasons, this is our heart's desire. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Edward A. Horton.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_116" id="page_116">[116]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>April 23</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>"What is the secret of your life?" asked Mrs.
+Browning of Charles Kingsley; "tell me, that I
+may make mine beautiful too." He replied, "I had
+a friend." Somewhere in her "Middlemarch,"
+George Eliot puts it well: "There are natures in
+which, if they love us, we are conscious of having a
+sort of baptism and consecration; they bind us over
+to rectitude and purity by their pure belief about us;
+and our sins become the worst kind of sacrilege, which
+tears down the invisible altar of trust."</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">William C. Gannett.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for all the
+sweet and sacred influences of life. Music comes
+with its invisible fingers to weave a magic charm
+around our souls;&mdash;the home with its love is ours,&mdash;but
+we thank Thee to-day for the sweet and saving
+influence of friendship,&mdash;for the counsel and fellowship
+of those who are wise and good and faithful to
+us. We would not walk alone&mdash;we would find
+strength in the strength of others, and faith in other's
+faith. Let us cherish such fellowships and give
+back to those, who love us, love again. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">George L. Perin.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_117" id="page_117">[117]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>April 24</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Live in the sunshine, don't live in the gloom,<br />
+Carry some gladness the world to illume.<br />
+Live in the brightness, and take this to heart;<br />
+The world will seem gayer if you'll do your part.<br />
+Live on the housetop, not down in the cell;<br />
+Open air Christians live nobly and well.<br />
+Live where the joys are, and, scorning defeat,<br />
+Have a good-morrow for all whom you meet.<br />
+Live as a victor, and triumphing go<br />
+Through this queer world, beating down every foe.<br />
+Live in the sunshine, God meant it for you!<br />
+Live as the robins, and sing the day through.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Margaret Sangster.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>O God, our heavenly Father, Thou who givest us the
+sunshine of this new day, Thou who art the God of
+life and light, we ask Thy help and Thy strength
+as we again go out to our separate duties and cares.
+Help us to fill this day with good deeds, to give cheer
+and comfort to all we meet. May our lips be clean.
+May our hearts be pure. And when the even time
+comes, may it find us conscious that we have put
+no cloud upon the day, that we have walked through
+its hours true disciples of the Master who went
+about doing good. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">William H. Morrison.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_118" id="page_118">[118]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>April 25</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>To weigh the material in the scales of the personal,
+and measure life by the standard of love; to prize
+health as contagious happiness, wealth as potential
+service, reputation as latent influence, learning for
+the light it can shed, power for the help it can give,
+station for the good it can do&mdash;to choose in each
+case what is best on the whole, and accept cheerfully
+incidental evils involved; to put my whole self into
+all that I do, and indulge no single desire at the expense
+of myself as a whole; to crowd out fear by
+devotion to duty, and see present and future as one;
+to treat others as I would be treated, and myself as I
+would my best friend; and to recognize God's coming
+kingdom in every institution and person that helps
+men to love one another.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">William DeWitt Hyde.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<p>For the dear love that kept us through the night,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And gave our senses to sleep's gentle sway,</span><br />
+For the new miracle of dawning light,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Flushing the east with prophecies of day,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">We thank Thee, O, our God!</span><br />
+<br />
+For the fresh life that through our being flows,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With its full tide to strengthen and to bless,</span><br />
+For calm, sweet thoughts, upspringing from repose,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To bear to Thee their song of thankfulness,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">We praise Thee, O, our God!</span><br />
+<br />
+Thou knowest our needs, Thy fulness will supply<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Our blindness&mdash;let Thy hand still lead us on,</span><br />
+Till, visited by the dayspring from on high,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Our prayer, one only, "Let Thy will be done,"</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">We breathe to Thee, O, God!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 15em;">Amen.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">W. H. Burleigh.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_119" id="page_119">[119]</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>April 26</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>Is it not possible, then, that the hindrances which
+arrest our progress, and the obstacles that lie broadly
+in our path, are the divinest agents of help which
+our Creator could give us? The painful struggles
+to overcome and remove them develop in us strength,
+courage, self-reliance, and heroism. They are the
+hammer and chisel that release the statue from the
+imprisoning marble,&mdash;the plow and the harrow that
+break up the soil, and mellow it for the reception of
+the seed that shall yield an abundant harvest. Perfection
+lies that way.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Mary A. Livermore.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>We seek Thy face anew this day, O our Father,
+and ask Thee that Thou wilt help us to live our
+lives in constant communion with Thee. Let us
+see Thee at every turn in the way. Let us find
+Thy hand in all our duties, all our meditations, all
+our intercourse with men, all our doings and all
+our deeds. Help us to make Thee our counsellor
+every hour. Help us to undertake nought without
+Thy blessings, to finish nought without Thy benediction.
+Morning and evening may we turn in prayer
+to Thy throne. At every meal may we seek Thy
+grace and give Thee thanks. So may we find the
+blessing of them that abide in Thy house. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">J. Coleman Adams.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_120" id="page_120">[120]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>April 27</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>I think the sweetest thought, the very central idea,
+of the revelation of the character of God to me, is this:
+that He does everything out of His supreme will.
+There is no one thing that I can say with more heartiness,
+or that has in it more echoes of joy, than "Thy
+will be done." If anything works righteousness in
+me or in you, it is God. The nature of God is fruitful
+in generosity. He is so good that He loves to do
+good, and loves to make men good, and loves to make
+them happy by making them good. He loves to be
+patient with them, and to wait for them, and to pour
+benevolence upon them, because that is His nature.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Henry Ward Beecher.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Father, we thank Thee for the blessing. We
+know what are our privileges, we know what are
+our duties, and we are before Thee again to consecrate
+this day in all its glory and beauty to Thee,
+the Father of perfect Love. Thou wilt be with us
+as we strive to be with Thee. Thou wilt make us
+strong when we are weak. Thou wilt make us see
+where we are in darkness. Thou wilt send us forth
+on Thine infinite mission to the world. Boys or
+girls, men or women, here we are, the living children
+of the living God, sent forward by Thee to proclaim
+it that all may be one as Christ Jesus with Thee
+and Thou with Him, that this world may be perfected
+into one, that men may know that Thou art
+Father and what the Father has given us to do,
+that each one of us may lift up what has fallen down,
+that each one may open the eyes that are blind and
+the ears that are deaf, that each one of us may proclaim
+the gospel of Thy perfect love. This is our
+prayer and our hope, in Christ Jesus. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Edward Everett Hale.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_121" id="page_121">[121]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>April 28</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>With every rising of the sun,<br />
+Think of your life as just begun.</i><br />
+<br />
+<i>The past has shrived and buried deep,<br />
+All yesterdays; there let them sleep.</i><br />
+<br />
+<i>Nor seek to summon back one ghost<br />
+Of that innumerable host.</i><br />
+<br />
+<i>Concern yourself with but today.<br />
+Woo it, and teach it to obey</i><br />
+<br />
+<i>Your will and wish. Since time began<br />
+Today has been the friend of man;</i><br />
+<br />
+<i>But in his blindness and his sorrow,<br />
+He looks to yesterday and tomorrow.</i><br />
+<br />
+<i>You, and today! a soul sublime,<br />
+And the great pregnant hour of time,</i><br />
+<br />
+<i>With God himself to bind the twain!<br />
+Go forth, I say, attain, attain!</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Ella Wheeler Wilcox.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Infinitely wise and loving Father, our minds and
+hearts reach out to Thee in this morning hour thankful
+that the rest of the night has prepared us for the
+work of the new day, and that the light brings the
+call to service. The past cannot be recalled, but
+today is ours. I and today, with God and in the
+Spirit of Jesus! Priceless privilege! Grant us, O
+Father, to use it for Thee, for humanity and "In
+His name." Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Samuel Gilbert Ayers.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_122" id="page_122">[122]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>April 29</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Life is full of new beginnings. Some change
+may come, something is sure to come, to close one
+chapter and begin another. Life is planned just
+so, ... that there should be a break from former
+link and habit, often from imperfection and mistake,
+and a clear, clean start for the fulfilment of the best
+one has grown to, even in desire, unhampered by the
+poorest one has ever happened to be, or to get credit
+for.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>O, Thou who dwellest in the light, help Thy
+children this morning to see the light of Thy truth
+and feel the warmth of Thy love. We thank Thee
+for the open doors of opportunity for helpful service;
+for the exhibition of kindness and for growth in the
+kingdom of Heaven. May we clearly see the way
+to the Eternal life and have strength to walk therein.
+May we so welcome Thy truth that we shall be free
+from error and sin. May Thy wisdom so guide
+our energies that we shall reach after greater perfection.
+May the evening of this day find us more
+in harmony with God than we now are. And may
+the evening of life find us rich in the treasures of
+heaven. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Andrew Willson.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_123" id="page_123">[123]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>April 30</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>True worth is in being, not seeming;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In doing each day that goes by,</span><br />
+Some little good&mdash;not in the dreaming<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of great things to do by and by,</span><br />
+For whatever men say in blindness,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And spite of the fancies of youth,</span><br />
+There's nothing so kingly as kindness,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And nothing so royal as truth.</span><br />
+<br />
+We get back our mete as we measure:<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">We cannot do wrong and feel right;</span><br />
+Nor can we give pain and gain pleasure,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For justice avenges each slight.</span><br />
+The air for the wing of the sparrow,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The bush for the robin and wren,</span><br />
+But always the path that is narrow<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And straight for the children of men.</span><br />
+</i></p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Alice Cary.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Almighty Father, who with every morning dost
+give us a new day and with each day some fresh
+duty, mercifully equip us for every task that awaits
+us! Give us eyes to see, and hearts to love the
+truth and right, and the disposition that makes every
+duty a delight, and the doing of good to others a
+sacred privilege. Save us this day from angry passions
+and low desires. Forgive us when we are selfish;
+recall us when we go astray; save us from wronging
+ourselves by thinking ill of others, and in all places
+and to all people give us the mind which was in
+Christ Jesus. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">John Cuckson.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_124" id="page_124">[124]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>May 1</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>To the Woods:&mdash;Whoso goeth in your paths readeth
+the same cheerful lesson, whether he be a young child
+or a hundred years old, comes he in good fortune or in
+bad, ye say the same things, and from age to age. Ever
+the needles of the pine grow and fall, the acorns on the
+oak, the maples redden in autumn and at all times of
+the year the ground pine and the pyrola bud and root
+under foot. What is called fortune and what is called
+time by men, ye know them not. Men have not language
+to describe one moment of your life.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Ralph Waldo Emerson.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Thou God of Nature and of the human heart,
+we thank Thee for our human relations, but we
+thank Thee also for our kinship with the birds.
+We thank Thee for that instinct which makes us
+to sympathize with the mating of the bird lovers
+and for that music of the heart which makes us to
+love the song of the birds. We pray this morning
+for a life so simple and natural that we shall be able
+to enter into sympathetic relations with everything
+that lives&mdash;the flowers of the garden, and the field&mdash;the
+bees that sip the flowers' honey, and the bird
+that makes her nest among the trees. If Thou
+speakest to men in the glory of the heavens, Thou
+speakest also in the manifold voices of all Thy loving
+creatures. May our ears be trained to hear Thee
+when Thou speakest thus. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">George L. Perin.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_125" id="page_125">[125]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>May 2</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Hail bounteous May, that doth inspire<br />
+Mirth and youth, and warm desire;<br />
+Woods and groves are of thy dressing,<br />
+Hill and dale doth boast thy blessing,<br />
+Thus we salute thee with our early song,<br />
+And welcome thee and wish thee long.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">John Milton.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Almighty and All-loving Father, who dost make
+all the earth to rejoice in the brightness of returning
+springtime, fill our hearts with like joy and renewal.
+Graciously awaken in us the life that the cold or
+care or trouble or sorrow of the world often has
+caused to fade and go out. As our eyes behold all
+this outward beauty and glory, give unto us that
+spiritual vision by which we behold the beauty and
+glory of divine things. Then when the springtime of
+our life passes with the summer and the summer ripens
+into the autumn, and our work is done, may we bring
+unto Thee the harvest of spiritual riches. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">James DeNormandie.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_126" id="page_126">[126]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>May 3</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Success! It is won by a patient endeavor,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Energy's fire, and the flame-glow of Will;</span><br />
+By grasping the chance with a "Now, now or never!"<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Urging on, on! while the laggard stands still.</span><br />
+<br />
+Success! It is facing life's trials, undaunted;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fighting the present&mdash;forgetting the past:</span><br />
+By trusting to Fate, though for years she has taunted,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And bearing Time's scars; facing front, to the last!</span><br />
+<br />
+Success! Would you win it and wear its bright token?<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Smile and step out to the drummer's light lilt;</span><br />
+Fight on till the last inch of sword-blade is broken.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Then do not say die. Fight on with the hilt!</span><br />
+</i></p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Mary Markwell.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>We thank Thee, Our Father, that Thou hast
+enriched our being with those faculties which prompt
+to noble endeavor. We rejoice in our power, guided
+by Thy free Spirit, both to overcome evil and to do
+good. Help us, dear Father, to recognize the great
+incentives of conscience and of duty, assured that
+in cheerful conformity thereto we shall find the
+sweetest zest of life. Increase our faith in Thee, O
+Lord. Enable us more clearly to realize that in
+the end truth and right will gain the victory. Thus
+may we be inspired to live brave, true and wholesome
+lives. May we fight the good fight of faith and win
+the crown of life promised to all those who follow
+the conquering Christ. In His name. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Henry W. Rugg.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_127" id="page_127">[127]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>May 4</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>The green grass is bowing;<br />
+The morning wind is in it;<br />
+'Tis a tune worth the knowing,<br />
+Though it change every minute.<br />
+'Tis a tune of the Spring;<br />
+Every year plays it over.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Ralph Waldo Emerson.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>God does not send strange flowers every year.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When the spring winds blow o'er the pleasant places</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The same dear things lift up the same fair faces.</span><br />
+The violet is here.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>O God, Father Almighty, who bringest light out
+of darkness and at whose word night yields to day,
+we offer Thee glad worship and praise. We thank
+Thee for Thy gifts which are beautiful and good;
+for flowers which renew old friendships and awaken
+new affections; for songs in which voices of all
+yesterdays sound through today's melodies; for
+rich memories of the past; for the joy of living now;
+for the hope of better days; for new expressions of
+abiding truth and fresh breathings of eternal love;
+for courage to do right and for confidence in righteousness.
+May we this day, mindful of earthly duty
+and of heavenly promise, humbly follow Him "who
+went about doing good" and "gave Himself a
+ransom for many." Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">W. I. Ward.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_128" id="page_128">[128]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>May 5</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Bishop Brooks taught me no special creed or dogma;
+but he impressed upon my mind two great ideas&mdash;the
+fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man,
+and made me feel that these truths underlie all creeds
+and forms of worship. God is love, God is our Father,
+we are His children; therefore the darkest clouds
+will break, and though right be worsted, wrong shall
+not triumph. He said: "There is one universal
+religion, Helen&mdash;the religion of love. Love your
+Heavenly Father with your whole heart and soul,
+love every child of God as much as ever you can, and
+remember that the possibilities of good are greater
+than the possibilities of evil; and you have the key
+to Heaven."</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Helen Keller.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Infinite Spirit! We shall not look upon Thee as
+a friend looketh upon the face of his friend, but
+may we learn to see Thee in every form of life and
+beauty and service here in this great world of Nature
+and of Man. May we discover Thee in the midst
+of common things and then they shall no more be
+common, but all things shall be sacred and divine.
+May we see Thy face in all human faces, clasp Thy
+hand in all human hands, and when we have walked
+with a friend, or talked with those we love, may it
+be as a walk with Thee and a communion with Thee.
+May we not think of Thee as afar off but always
+near, making all things holy. May we realize that
+it is a diviner thing to serve the lowly who need our
+help than to praise the Infinite who needeth not.
+May the sense of Thy presence in all things be the inspiration
+and interpretation of all days for us. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">E. L. Rexford.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_129" id="page_129">[129]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>May 6</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>The brown, brown woods of March<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Are the green, green woods of May,</span><br />
+And they lift their arms with a freer swing<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And shake out their pennons gay.</span><br />
+And the brown, dead world of March,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Is the living world of today;</span><br />
+Life throbs and flushes and flashes out<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In the color and fragrance of May.</span><br />
+</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Anonymous.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Infinite Spirit of the winter and the summer
+and of the night and the morning, Thou hast watched
+over and guarded, during its winter sleep and rest,
+this earth which Thou hast made, and which Thou
+hast made for a purpose&mdash;to be beautiful and
+fruitful in its season, to be a humble and obedient
+servant of Thy will of goodness. And now, as the
+woods of May are radiant in the beauty of springtime,
+and ready to do Thy will; so as we wake to the
+opportunity of this new day, may we rejoice in the
+privilege of living to Thee and doing Thy will in
+the glad service of lives lived as the Master
+lived. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">George Wallace Penniman.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_130" id="page_130">[130]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>May 7</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>One who never turned his back, but marched breast forward,<br />
+Never doubted clouds would break,<br />
+Never dreamed, though right were worsted,&mdash;wrong would triumph,<br />
+Held we fall to rise, are baffled to fight better,<br />
+Sleep to wake.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Robert Browning.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Our Father, in the heaven, we thank Thee for
+the birth of a new day. May we be full of gladness
+during its golden hours, may our hearts be tranquil
+with God's peace. A day is a part of Thy eternity.
+Thou hast set us in the battle, Thou art watching
+us in the fight; Thou art training us by well-accepted
+controversy. May nothing of Thy purpose be lost
+because of the blinding details of the conflict.
+Strengthen our hearts to do the work of this day.
+Help us to be as grateful as we are dependent upon
+God. Inspire our whole life; help us quickly to
+learn why we are here, what we are to do while here,
+and the path that leads home when the work-day
+is over. In the name of the Christ! Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">W. A. Wood.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_131" id="page_131">[131]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>May 8</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Then sing, ye birds, sing, sing a joyous song!<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And let the young lambs bound</span><br />
+As to the tabor's sound!<br />
+We in thought will join your throng,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ye that pipe and ye that play,</span><br />
+Ye that through your hearts today<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Feel the gladness of the May!</span><br />
+<br />
+</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">William Wordsworth.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>God of the morning, Father of the Soul, we bless
+Thee for the light, for it is pleasant to behold the
+world made beautiful by the King of day, and sweet
+with the melody of the song of bird, and cheerful
+with the promise of hope in the swelling buds of
+spring. We join with Thy faithful ones in ascriptions
+of praise to Thee for the depth of the riches both of
+the wisdom and the knowledge of God. Help us
+to look upon our every faculty of soul, and power of
+body, as gifts from Thee, to be used for the advancement
+of love, truth and beauty, in our own hearts,
+and in the world. Give us Thine own help to bear
+every burden cheerfully, to stand erect before every
+responsibility, and if in our efforts to do much good
+for this day we seem to fail, may we look to Jesus
+and learn of Him that in a conscience void of offence
+there is no such thing as failure. Help us to strive
+with the evil of the world and sin not, that at the
+close of the day we may look back and say, we have
+kept ourselves unspotted from the world. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">L. L. Greene.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_132" id="page_132">[132]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>May 9</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Fairer grows the earth each morning<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To the eyes that watch aright;</span><br />
+Every dew-drop sparkles warning<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of a miracle in sight;</span><br />
+Of some unexpected glory<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Waiting in the old and plain;</span><br />
+Poet's dream nor traveller's story<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Words such wonders as remain.</span><br />
+</i></p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">William C. Gannett.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>O Thou, who makest things seen and temporal
+quiver and flash with Thine own informing spirit,
+so illumine our pathways that the Luz where we
+meet our duties may become the Bethel where we
+meet our God. As Thou dost clothe the lily with
+beauty and inspire the bird with song help us to
+grow into the beauty of holiness, and to know the
+joy of Thy salvation. Whatever our past, open our
+eyes this day to some better thing which Thou hast
+always in reserve. Teach us what hinders our
+attainment and help us burst through the barrier.
+Make us so conscious of Thy indwelling spirit that
+we may yield to its gracious impellings toward
+righteousness and peace and joy. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Thomas D. Anderson.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_133" id="page_133">[133]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>May 10</p>
+
+
+<div class="poem">
+<blockquote><p><i>Listen to the exhortation of the dawn!</i></p></blockquote>
+<p><i>
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Look to this day!</span><br />
+For it is life, the very life of life.<br />
+In its brief course lie all the<br />
+Varieties and realities of your existence;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">The bliss of growth,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">The glory of action,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">The splendor of beauty:</span><br />
+For yesterday is but a dream,<br />
+And tomorrow is only a vision,<br />
+But to-day well-lived makes<br />
+Every yesterday a dream of happiness,<br />
+And every tomorrow a vision of hope.<br />
+Look well, therefore to this day!<br />
+</i></p>
+<blockquote><p><i>Such is the salutation of the dawn.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">From the Sanskrit.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Dear God, in Thy loving kindness, Thou hast
+brought us to the opening of another day; from
+darkness to light, from sleep to wakefulness, from
+rest to labor. We thank Thee for its opening glory
+and its coming opportunities; but above all, for
+the new strength we feel within ourselves to do its
+work and live its life. As radiant dawn climbs to
+full-orbed day and glides to setting sun, may we
+come to this day's close with the consciousness that
+we have lived a little closer to the great heart of
+the Eternal in every thought, word and deed, that we
+have woven into the texture of our lives, and gently
+as twilight enfolds the fruitful earth, shall "peace
+that passeth understanding" enfold our souls.
+Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Thomas B. Payne.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_134" id="page_134">[134]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>May 11</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>As the insect from the rock<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Takes the color of its wing;</span><br />
+As the boulder from the shock<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Of the ocean's rhythmic swing</span><br />
+Makes itself a perfect form,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Learns a calmer front to raise;</span><br />
+As the shell, enameled warm<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">With the prism's mystic rays,</span><br />
+Praises wind and wave that make<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">All its chambers fair and strong;</span><br />
+As the mighty poets take<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Grief and pain to build their song;</span><br />
+Even so for every soul,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Whatsoe'er its lot may be&mdash;</span><br />
+Building, as the heavens roll,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Something large and strong and free&mdash;</span><br />
+Things that hurt and things that mar<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Shape the man for perfect praise;</span><br />
+Shock and strain and ruin are<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Friendlier than the smiling days.</span><br />
+</i></p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">John White Chadwick.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Dear Father, as the light of this morning follows
+the darkness of the night, may we devoutly believe
+that the light of Thy love shall dispel all darkness
+and bring us into the morning of eternal peace.
+May we learn each day that our trials and sorrows
+are but stepping-stones in Thy divine economy,
+to bring us up into the clearer atmosphere of heavenly
+thought and life. Help us to live closer to Jesus,
+to understand how even He was made glorious
+through suffering, and ever learn to conquer in His
+name. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Elmer F. Pember.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_135" id="page_135">[135]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>May 12</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>I live for those that love me<br />
+For those that know me true,<br />
+For the heaven that smiles above me,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And waits my coming, too;</span><br />
+For the cause that lacks assistance,<br />
+For the wrongs that need resistance,<br />
+For the future in the distance,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">For the good that I can do.</span><br />
+</i></p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">G. L. Banks.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Father, we bless Thee for such as love us and
+those whom we love in the varying forms of affection,
+thanking Thee for the sacramental cup of joy in
+which Thou givest the wine of life to all of Thy children,
+humble or high. We thank thee for that love
+which setteth the solitary in families at the beginning,
+and then reaches wide arms all around, and will
+not stay its hold till it joins all nations and kindreds
+and tongues and people into one great family of
+love. We bless Thee for the noble men and women
+whose generous heart has lit the altar fire of philanthropy
+in many a dark and else benighted place.
+We thank Thee for the unbidden faith which springs
+up in our hearts, impelling us to trust Thee and
+love Thee and keep every commandment of Thine,
+and that while we know not what a day shall bring
+forth, we are sure of everlasting life. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Theodore Parker.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_136" id="page_136">[136]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>May 13</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p><i>
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Gladness of morning&mdash;</span><br />
+To hear the lark begin his flight,<br />
+And singing, startle the dull Night<br />
+From his watch-tower in the skies,<br />
+Till the dappled Dawn doth rise;<br />
+Then to come in spite of sorrow,<br />
+And at my window bid good-morrow<br />
+Through the sweetbrier, or the vine,<br />
+Or the twisted eglantine.<br />
+</i></p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">John Milton.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>O Thou, in whose light we see light, who hast
+lifted the shadows of night from our dwellings, complete
+now in our behalf Thy ministry of light, we
+beseech Thee, and let the day star arise in our hearts.
+Make clear Thy face unto us. Rise with Thy morning
+upon our souls. May the light which envelops
+us throughout the day be the radiance of Thy presence.
+May our eyes behold only what Thou revealest and
+our lives be warmed with the glow of Thy love.
+O, that we may be new-born like the day and live
+a new life in Thy mercies which are new every
+morning; that our love may rise fresh as the dawn
+and our obedience be as sure as the path of the law.
+Let no shadow from the past dim the joy of Thy
+presence. Scatter the darkness of sense and self
+within us. As the morning reveals, interprets and
+fulfils the beauties of a world which was wrapped in
+night, may the mystery of our lives unfold, our latent
+forces be summoned to service, and our hearts find
+fulness of joy because we live in Thee. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Everett D. Burr.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_137" id="page_137">[137]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>May 14</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>It may be truly said that no man does any work
+perfectly who does not enjoy his work. Joy in one's
+work is the consummate tool without which the work
+may be done indeed, but without its finest perfectness.
+Men who do their work without enjoying it are like
+men carving statues with hatchets. A man who
+does his work with thorough enjoyment of it is like
+an artist who holds an exquisite tool which is almost
+as obedient to him as his own hand, and almost works
+intelligently with him.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Phillips Brooks.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>O Heavenly Father, we thank Thee that Thou
+hast placed us where we are and hast given us the
+work we have to do. We would not seek far and
+wide for some better place or more honourable task.
+We pray today for the spirit that shall make us
+glad in our common toil. We need not to fly away
+to find enjoyment; we have only to feel that in the
+duties of this day we are in partnership with Thee,&mdash;then
+shall we be happy that Thou hast called us to
+so divine a fellowship. Make us strong and earnest
+and brave&mdash;that when the evening shadows fall
+we shall not look regretfully back because we have
+been unfaithful,&mdash;but that we may be satisfied and
+happy in the memory that we have been serving
+with Thee. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Anonymous.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_138" id="page_138">[138]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>May 15</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>I love the flowers that come about with spring,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And whether they be scarlet, white or blue,</span><br />
+It mattereth to me not anything,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For when I see them full of sun and dew,</span><br />
+My heart doth get so full with its delight,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I know not blue from red, nor red from white.</span><br />
+</i></p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Alice Cary.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Father Divine, we remember Thee at the beginning
+of another day, and the obedience to Thy laws of
+life which Thou dost require. About us is Thy
+beautiful world, thrilling with new life. We would that
+our lives today may be likewise beautiful, restrained
+from sin against body and spirit. As there is now
+in the earth, so there is always in human souls a
+springtide ready to burst forth into beautiful living.
+In our hearts there is always the stirring energy of
+a spiritual spring that needs but the warmth of Thy
+heavenly sunshine. Let that warmth now stream
+into our hearts that our lives today may show forth
+Thy praise. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Minot O. Simons.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_139" id="page_139">[139]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>May 16</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>Violet: "<i>Well, but surely at least one ought to be
+afraid of displeasing God; and one's desire to please
+Him should be one's first motive.</i>"</p>
+
+<p>Lecturer: "<i>He never would be pleased with us,
+if it were, my dear. When a father sends his son
+out into the world&mdash;suppose as an apprentice&mdash;fancy
+the boy's coming home at night, and saying,
+'Father, I could have robbed the till to-day; but I
+didn't because I thought you wouldn't like it.' Do
+you think the father would be particularly pleased?"
+(Violet is silent). "He would answer, would he not,
+if he were wise and good, 'My boy, though you had
+no father, you must not rob tills.' And nothing is
+ever done so as really to please our Great Father,
+unless we would also have done it, though we had had
+no Father to know of it.</i>"</p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">John Ruskin.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Father of Life, Thy children raise their thoughts
+in prayer to Thee at the dawning of each day. Their
+prayer asserts love, trust and conformity to Thy will.
+May the spirit of prayer abide with us the day through,
+that we may be dutiful and worthy. The moral law
+is Thy way of life, may we make it our way by intelligent
+obedience. To know Thee aright and to find
+our joy in Thy life is to have fullness of being through
+purity and strength. O Father, may we be as those
+who broaden and deepen and purify life by word
+and deed that none may suffer loss through us, but
+find aid to reach the perfect life in Thee. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Wilson M. Backus.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_140" id="page_140">[140]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>May 17</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Through the harsh noises of our day<br />
+A low sweet prelude finds its way:<br />
+Through clouds of doubt and creeds of fear<br />
+A light is breaking, calm and clear.<br />
+<br />
+Henceforth my heart shall sigh no more<br />
+For olden time and holier shore:<br />
+God's love and blessing, then and there<br />
+Are now and here and everywhere.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">John Greenleaf Whittier.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Our Father, as we enter upon the duties of this
+new day, incline our minds and hearts unto Thee.
+May we feel, amid its harsh noises, the assurance of
+Thy love and care. If doubt or fear assail us may
+we turn unto Thee who art the source of life, love
+and light, and find calm and peace. We would forget
+the things behind and make the most of the present.
+We rejoice that today is better than yesterday and
+that tomorrow will be better than today. Thou
+art here now, as Thou art everywhere always, to
+bless us with Thy love and care. Direct us through
+the hours of this day and may its close find us better
+children of Thine. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">John B. Reardon.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_141" id="page_141">[141]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>May 18</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>The sun does not shine for a few trees and flowers,
+but for the wide world's joy. The lonely pine of the
+mountain top waves its sombre boughs, and cries,
+"Thou art my sun!" And the little meadow violet
+lifts its cup of blue, and whispers with its perfumed
+breath, "Thou art my sun!" And the grain in a
+thousand fields rustles in the wind, and makes answer,
+"Thou art my sun!" So God sits, effulgent, in
+heaven, not for a favored few, but for the universe of
+life; and there is no creature so poor or so low that
+he may not look up with child-like confidence, and
+say, "My Father, Thou art mine!"</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Henry Ward Beecher.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>O God, the Eternal Source of all life, we rejoice
+that there are no bounds to Thy love. We thank
+Thee that Thou givest us all things richly to enjoy.
+May we learn that Thy bounties are for all human
+beings. Make the hearts of men eager that the ignorant,
+the lowly, the poor, the wayward, may come
+into the full estate of knowing that they are children
+of God. Let them in no way be denied the joy of
+unfolding the divinity within them. Lead us all
+into those fields of labor where we can be our best
+selves and develop our lives by what we do to meet
+the growing demands of truth and love and goodness.
+Wherever the morning breaks and the sunshine
+falls upon human faces, may its cheer make homes
+happy and true, men and women good, and little
+children joyous. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Alva Roy Scott.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_142" id="page_142">[142]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>May 19</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Hear the Master's risen word!<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Delving spades have set it free,</span><br />
+Wake! the world has need of thee,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Rise and let thy voice be heard,</span><br />
+Like a fountain disinterred,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Upward springing, singing, sparkling;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Through the doubtful shadows darkling;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Till the clouds of pain and rage</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Brooding o'er the toiling age,</span><br />
+As with rifts of light are stirred<br />
+By the music of the Word;<br />
+Gospel for the heavy-laden, answer to the labourer's cry;<br />
+"Raise the stone, and thou shalt find Me: cleave the wood, and there am I."<br />
+</i></p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Henry Van Dyke.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>God of light and strength and beauty, for this
+day we thank Thee. The morning hours come to
+us freighted with messages of gladness. Thou, our
+Father, art refreshing our spirits, and home seems
+dearer, love more sacred and the way of duty clearer
+before our waiting feet. We thank Thee for life
+as it is given us, day by day. Help us to fill it with
+honest, cheerful, fruitful service. May we realize
+and rejoice in the nobility of labor, and may we
+learn how it is that a child of Thine, standing in his
+own place, giving himself to the tasks of the hour,
+imparts strength and courage to his fellow-worker,
+and helps the world forward in the path of righteousness
+and peace. So may Thy will be done in and
+through us. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">John P. Forbes.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_143" id="page_143">[143]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>May 20</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>O the green things growing, the green things growing<br />
+The faint sweet smell of the green things growing!<br />
+I should like to live, whether I smile or grieve,<br />
+Just to watch the happy life of my green things growing.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Dinah Mulock Craig.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Not all these sweets, these sounds, this vernal blaze,<br />
+Is but one joy, express'd a thousand ways;<br />
+And honey from the flowers, and song of birds,<br />
+Are from the poet's pen, his overflowing words.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Leigh Hunt.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>O Thou who art the Creator of life in every form
+in which it is expressed in the earth, we thank Thee
+for the grass and the flowers, the trees and the shrubs,
+the music of the streams and the melody of the
+birds. As nature is ever vocal with Thy praise, so
+may our hearts be attuned to deepest joy that we are
+a part of Thy creation and made capable of constant
+exultation in the beauty and the beneficence of Thy
+purpose therein displayed. In this spirit may we
+rejoice and be glad in this new day which Thou
+hast made for us. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">I. J. Mead.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_144" id="page_144">[144]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>May 21</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>As one familiar with the sonatas and the symphonies
+of Beethoven, while passing along the street in summer,
+gets, from out of the open window, a snatch of a song
+or a piece that is being played, catching a strain here
+and another there&mdash;and says to himself, "Ah,
+that is Beethoven. I recognize that: it is from such
+and such a movement of the Pastoral" or whatever
+it may be;&mdash;so men in life catch strains of God in
+the mother's disinterested and self-denying love, in
+the lover's glow, in the little child's innocent affections.
+Where did this thing come from? No plant
+ever brought out such fruit as this?</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Henry Ward Beecher.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Father of all and giver of every good thing, to Thee
+we pray; to Thee we look for light, for truth, for
+beauty. In the travail of thought may there come
+only the highest and best good. Where there is
+division we ask for unity; where there is confusion
+we ask for serenity; where there is discord, we ask
+for harmony. May divergent paths lead to the
+larger way of widening vision, distinctive service,
+unstinted love. Hasten the day when Thy purpose
+shall be accomplished in us, and when that which
+is now imperfect shall become the perfected whole.
+Grant to us wisdom to pursue noble ends with intelligent
+zeal, and patient effort, and in a charitable
+and hopeful spirit. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">C. C. Clark.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_145" id="page_145">[145]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>May 22</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>It is very interesting to watch a plant grow, it is
+like taking part in creation. When all outside is
+cold and white, when the little children of the woodland
+are gone to their nurseries in the warm earth and the
+empty nests on the bare trees filled with snow, my
+window-garden glows and smiles, making summer
+within while it is winter without. It is wonderful
+to see flowers bloom in the midst of a snow-storm! I
+have felt a bud "shyly doff her green hood and blossom
+with a silken burst of sound," while the icy fingers of
+the snow beat against the window panes. What secret
+power, I wonder, caused this blossoming miracle?
+What mysterious force guided the seedling from the
+dark earth up to the light, through leaf and stem and
+bud, to glorious fulfilment in the perfect flower? Who
+could have dreamed that such beauty lurked in the
+dark earth, was latent in the tiny seed we planted?
+Beautiful flower, you have taught me to see a little
+way into the hidden heart of things. Now I understand
+that the darkness everywhere may hold possibilities
+better than even my hopes.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Helen Keller.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Grant us, O God, this day, vitality of brain and
+heart, to lay hold on the ordinary events and experiences
+of life, and transmute them into beautiful
+and permanent values for ourselves and others.
+May we have courage, love and faithfulness, to
+conquer adversities and fulfil our duties. And
+should the winter of discontent and disappointment
+beat without against our souls, even so may Thy
+Kingdom come. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Julius P. West.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_146" id="page_146">[146]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>May 23</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Brother&mdash;there is no payment in the world!<br />
+We work and pour our labor at the feet<br />
+Of those who are around us and to come.<br />
+We live and take our living at the hands<br />
+Of those who are around us and have been.<br />
+No one is paid. No person can have more<br />
+Than he can hold. And none can do beyond<br />
+The power that's in him. To each child that's born<br />
+Belongs as much of all our human good<br />
+As he can take and use to make him strong.<br />
+<br />
+And from each man, debtor to all the world,<br />
+Is due the fullest fruit of all his powers,<br />
+His whole life's labor, proudly rendered up,<br />
+Not as return&mdash;can moments pay an age?<br />
+But as the simple duty of a man.<br />
+Can he do less&mdash;receiving everything?<br />
+<br /></i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Charlotte Perkins Gilman.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>O, Thou Most Bountiful Giver! We thank Thee
+this morning for all the conveniences and comforts,
+the stored knowledge and acquired wisdom, the
+inspirations and encouragements of our daily life.
+Truly others have lived as Thy children and
+labored as Thy servants, by mind and hand
+and heart, and we are wondrously permitted to
+enter into the fruits of their labours. Grant unto
+us this day, O Father, so to strive and so to live
+that some other life may be cheered and blessed
+by the spirit and by the fruit of our day's service.
+May our thoughts and words and deeds somehow
+express our gratitude for the blessings which we are
+constantly receiving. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">William H. Gould.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_147" id="page_147">[147]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>May 24</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>What a wonderful thing it is to meet a man or
+woman whose manners are instantly open and free&mdash;opening
+up a direct road between him or her and yourself!</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Edward Carpenter.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>There is a world in us that God keeps to himself,
+except when He calls some few souls, with special
+errand for us, to receive a glimpse. It is full of life,
+and growths, and wonders, that are to be developed
+and revealed. We ourselves know not what we shall
+be; but He knows that we shall be like Him....
+It is the world of the spiritual microscope.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney.</span>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Our Father and Mother God,&mdash;we have cried
+for Thee as little children cry for parental love to
+wait upon their wants, and, like babes that cry,
+we have looked for Thee in nothing else. We would
+be now Thy sons and daughters of a larger growth,
+who learn to find Thee in a more complete and
+blessed fellowship of service and sacrifice with Thee,
+of united thought and will with Thine, of such living
+as shares in Thy perfect and eternal life. Help us
+so to be and so to live that even in ourselves we
+may get glimpses of Thine infinite good will and
+faithfulness, and show in our human lives, that
+God is in His world and all is well. Amen.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">George W. Kent.</span>
+</p>
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_148" id="page_148">[148]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>May 25</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>What are we set on earth for? Say to toil:<br />
+Nor to seek to leave the tending of thy vines,<br />
+For all the heat of the day, till it declines,<br />
+And death's mild curfew shall from work assoil.<br />
+God did anoint thee with His odorous oil<br />
+To wrestle, not to reign; and he assigns<br />
+All thy tears over, like pure crystallines,<br />
+For younger fellow-workers of the soil<br />
+To wear for amulets. So others shall<br />
+Take patience, labor, to their heart and hand,<br />
+From thy hand, and thy heart, and thy brave cheer,<br />
+And God's grace fructify through thee to all.<br />
+The least flower with a brimming cup may stand,<br />
+And share its dewdrop with another near.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Elizabeth Barrett Browning.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Our Father In Heaven, we devoutly thank Thee
+for that ceaseless and refreshing tide of blessing
+that, from the reservoir of Thine exhaustless goodness,
+flows into our hearts and lives. And we further
+thank Thee that among the choicest of those blessings,
+is the one of being, not merely the receptacles
+of this inflow, but also co-workers with Thee, and
+with Thy Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ, in carrying
+forward to successful issue Thy beneficent purposes
+of grace and salvation. Grant us, we beseech Thee,
+day by day, such an infusion of Thy Holy Spirit as
+shall fittingly equip us for the gladsome and effective
+discharge of the duties of this divine relation, and
+its exalted privileges. All of which grant for Thy
+mercy's sake. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Charles P. Nash.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_149" id="page_149">[149]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>May 26</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>The deepest secret of life is love. Without love
+there is no enthusiasm, and without ideals there is
+no enthusiasm. We freeze our hearts by selfishness,
+and stifle them by sordidness. We fix our eyes upon
+the little field circumscribed by our day's activities
+and ends. With no wide-reaching affection and no
+uplifting ideal, we make of our life a treadmill and
+of our duty an unwelcome drudgery. We disclaim
+the highest endowment of the soul and deny our sonship
+to God. Narrow faiths and narrow hopes put
+fetters on the spirit, and small affections keep small
+the heart.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Philip S. Moxom.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Our Father, every morning is a fresh witness of
+Thy loving kindness. When we sleep the vigils of
+Thy love are round about us. At the threshold of
+this new day, may it please Thee to inspire us with
+lofty aims, so that we may rise out of our selfish
+selves into conscious kinship with Thee. Help us to
+know the mystery of love, how limitless and all-conquering
+it is. Animated by its sweet law, may we go
+out into this great, needy world with hearts to sympathize
+and words to cheer and hands to minister.
+Then we shall know the divine sweetness of our
+Christian faith, the joy of Christlike living; we shall
+know that love is the fulfilling of the law. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Q. H. Shinn.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_150" id="page_150">[150]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>May 27</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Every day is a fresh beginning,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Every morn is the world made new.</span><br />
+You who are weary of sorrow and sinning,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Here is a beautiful hope for you,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A hope for me and a hope for you.</span><br />
+<br />
+Every day is a fresh beginning;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Listen, my soul, to the glad refrain,</span><br />
+And, spite of old sorrow and older sinning,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And puzzles forecasted and possible pain,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Take heart with the day, and begin again.</span>
+</i></p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Susan Coolidge.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>O Thou, who makest all things new, we are glad
+each day is not only a new day but one unlike any
+before it. Everything breathes freshness and newness
+of life; a new heaven is over our heads, a new earth
+beneath our feet. We know this day will be full of
+new opportunities for work, new scenes for pleasure,
+new chances to make better our lives. If yesterday
+was not all we could wish, if there were failures in
+duty, or loss of faith in ourselves, and Thy great love,
+may this be filled with larger faith, greater hope,
+complete love. May we so take heart in this quiet
+morning hour, that we may be brave and faithful
+all the day, so that in spite of old sorrows and older
+sins, the memory of which may now and then shadow
+our way, we may find ourselves when the evening
+shall come, nearer heaven in heart and life, and
+more worthy to be called Thy children. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">William F. Potter.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_151" id="page_151">[151]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>May 28</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>O friend, never strike sail to a fear! Come into
+port greatly, or sail with God the seas.... He
+has not learned the lesson of life who does not every
+day surmount a fear.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Ralph Waldo Emerson.</span><br />
+</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>There is no storm but this<br />
+Of your own cowardice<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">That braves you out;</span><br />
+You are the storm that mocks<br />
+Yourself; you are the rocks<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Of your own doubt;</span><br />
+Besides this fear of danger there's no danger here<br />
+And he that here fears danger does deserve his fear.<br /></i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Richard Crashaw.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Thou knowest, O Lord, the weakness of our human
+nature, and how prone we are not only to shrink
+from the difficulties and to tremble at the dangers
+which lie in our way, but to allow imaginary difficulties
+and dangers to hinder us from living as Thy
+children should. Help us, we pray Thee, to be free
+from all such fear today. Be Thou our refuge from
+whatsoever may threaten us, either without or within.
+Deliver us from faint-heartedness and enable us to
+stand fast in the glorious liberty of those who fear
+nothing but to offend against Thee and to wrong
+their own immortal souls. We ask it as disciples of
+Christ. Amen.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Edwin C. Sweetser.</span></p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_152" id="page_152">[152]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>May 29</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Whichever way the wind doth blow,<br />
+Some heart is glad to have it so;<br />
+Then blow it east or blow it west,<br />
+The wind that blows, that wind is best.</i><br />
+<br />
+<i>My little craft sails not alone:<br />
+A thousand fleets from every zone<br />
+Are out upon a thousand seas;<br />
+And what for me were favoring breeze<br />
+Might dash another, with the shock<br />
+Of doom, upon some hidden rock.<br />
+And so I do not dare to pray<br />
+For winds to waft me on my way,<br />
+But leave it to a Higher Will<br />
+To stay or speed me; trusting still<br />
+That all is well, and sure that He<br />
+Who launched my bark will sail with me<br />
+Through storm and calm, and will not fail,<br />
+Whatever breezes may prevail,<br />
+To land me, every peril past,<br />
+Within His sheltering heaven at last.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Caroline Atwater Mason.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>O Lord let us know that we do not sail life's seas
+alone. Thou art the God of the storms. Thou goest
+with us whithersoever we go. Grant us, our Heavenly
+Father, that we may not suffer shipwreck of our
+faith. Grant us that the voyage of our lives may be
+prosperous, and that at last, whether soon or late we
+shall find some harbor of rest and peace. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">George L. Perin.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_153" id="page_153">[153]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>May 30</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Our Memorial Day celebrations will be but a
+hypocritical play-acting unless they shall remind us
+of the cause and the country for which our brave soldiers
+gave their lives. It is not enough for us to recall their
+names and sing their praises. We must love the country
+they loved and in our turn be ready to do the hero's
+part.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">George L. Perin.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>But what is it to love one's country? Is it to carry
+a banner in a procession? Is it to shout as we see
+the flag? Is it to fling bunting from the tops of the
+buildings, and send off sky-rockets in the evenings?
+Vastly deeper than that is love of country, deeper
+than any soldier's uniform, deeper than any pictures
+of battleships with which we adorn our walls.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">W. H. P. Faunce.</span>
+</p>
+<p>
+God of the Nations, we thank Thee today for
+every heroic deed of every heroic soul. We rejoice
+that in every hour of real emergency there have ever
+been men who were ready to die for their country.
+O Lord, may the memory of their sacrifice ever remain
+to us and to the children of coming generations a
+sacred heritage. Yet, O Lord, let us not be satisfied
+to glorify their deeds with a memory. Let us do
+them the higher honor of consecrating our lives to
+the service of the country they loved. So shall we,
+in the honor we render them find the title to our
+honor. Thus in <i>our</i> land and in <i>our</i> time may Thy
+Kingdom come and Thy will be done. Amen.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">George L. Perin.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_154" id="page_154">[154]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>May 31</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>To be glad of life because it gives you the chance
+to love and to work and to play and to look up at the
+stars; to be satisfied with your possessions, but not
+contented with yourself until you have made the best
+of them; to despise nothing in the world except falsehood
+and meanness, and to fear nothing except cowardice;
+to be governed by your admirations rather than
+your dislikes; to covet nothing that is your neighbor's
+except his kindness of heart and gentleness of manners;
+to think seldom of your enemies, often of your friends,
+and every day of Christ; and to spend as much time
+as you can, with body and with spirit in God's out-of-doors&mdash;these
+are little guide-posts on the footpath to
+peace.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Henry Van Dyke.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>O Thou God of peace and of love. How shall we
+come to Thee? How shall we share Thy strength
+and know Thy life? Let us commune with Thy
+gracious spirit and so learn Thy way. How beautiful
+the vision which prayer unfolds to us when we worship
+in spirit and truth! We see the virtues which
+ennoble and sanctify other lives. Sweet and tender
+patience appears and in her light ruffled and distorted
+tempers are subdued and clothed in their
+right mind. Faith is seen and as irresolution and
+doubt take their flight, confident trust and cherished
+conviction appear in magnetic power. So, O Lord,
+would we read the signs which other lives present.
+So would we strengthen our own aspirations and
+make real the vision. So, O Father, would we find
+Thy peace. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Augustine N. Foster.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_155" id="page_155">[155]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>June 1</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>A season for simple living with the kindly sun
+and the blue sky, days of keen delight in little things,
+of joyous questing after beauty, days for the making
+of true friends by being a true friend to others, days
+when we may enlarge our little lives by excursions
+to strange places, by friendly association, by the companionship
+of great thoughts, days that may teach
+us to live nobly, to work joyously, to play harder, to
+do our labor better. So should each June bring us
+indeed a golden summer.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Edwin Osgood Grover.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Heavenly Father, Thou givest all good things. We
+thank Thee for life and hope and cheer. In gratitude
+we consecrate this day to blessing Thy children, and
+so to serving Thee who hast said, "Inasmuch as
+ye have done it unto these, ye have done it unto Me."
+Teach us the gladness of a life responsive to Thy
+messages through Nature. Grant us the joy of
+making friends by being friendly with our fellow
+men. Whatsoever we may do, at work or at play,
+may it be in the spirit of the Saviour. We begin
+this day with Thee. By its ministries may our comrades
+be helped and our lives together be made
+nobler, stronger, and well-pleasing in Thy sight.
+Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Maurice A. Levy.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_156" id="page_156">[156]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>June 2</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Over the shoulders and slopes of the dune,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I saw the white daisies go down to the sea,</span><br />
+A host in the sunshine, an army in June,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The people God sends us to set our hearts free.</span><br />
+<br />
+The bobolinks rallied them up from the dell,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The orioles whistled them out of the wood,</span><br />
+And all of their singing was "Earth, it is well,"<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And all of their dancing was, "Life, Thou art good!"</span><br />
+</i></p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Bliss Carman.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>O Thou, who art the Father of Light and Love,
+from whom cometh down every good and perfect
+gift, we thank Thee for this new born day, which
+Thou sendest us, for the splendor of Thy presence
+in the sunlit sky above us and the blossoming earth
+beneath; for spring-time flowers that border our
+paths with loveliness and happy bird song, lifting
+our hearts to responsive joy and praise. We thank
+Thee for life and health, for home and friends, for
+opportunities and duties, for temptations and trials,
+yea, for the very sorrows and bereavements which
+bring us to ourselves in penitence, to others in sympathy,
+and to Thee in faith and adoration. Thy will
+be done! Thy kingdom come! Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Charles W. Wendte.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_157" id="page_157">[157]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>June 3</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>One small life in God's great plan,<br />
+How futile it seems as the ages roll,<br />
+Do what it may, or strive how it can,<br />
+To alter the sweep of the infinite whole!<br />
+A single stitch in an endless web,<br />
+A drop in the ocean's flow and ebb!<br />
+But the pattern is rent where the stitch is lost,<br />
+Or marred where the tangled threads have crossed;<br />
+And each life that fails of its true intent<br />
+Mars the perfect plan that its Maker meant.</i>
+</p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Susan Coolidge.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>O Thou, the heavenly Father, in whom we live
+and move, whose life-giving spirit is ever around us
+like the air we breathe,&mdash;we lift our thoughts to
+Thee in reverence and gladness at the coming of the
+new day. We are glad for the quiet hours of the
+night, while the stars shine over us. May we be
+ready now, with willing and obedient hearts, for
+the work, the cares, the joys and the friendly converse
+of the day. We know how small our lives are;
+may we share the thoughts of Thy infinite mind,
+may Thy power and beauty, Thy justice and goodness
+possess us. May our feeble wills be strong to
+carry the current of the one Good Will that sways
+the universe. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Charles F. Dole.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_158" id="page_158">[158]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>June 4</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>I have lived, sir, a long time; and the longer I live,
+the more convincing proofs I see of this truth, that
+God governs in the affairs of men.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Benjamin Franklin.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for
+all I have not seen. Whatever it be which the great
+Providence prepares for us, it must be something
+large and generous; and in the great style of His
+works. The future must be up to the style of our
+faculties, of memory, of hope, of imagination, of
+reason.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Ralph Waldo Emerson.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>O Thou, who in Thy greatness holds the planets
+on their way, and in Thy providence guides the
+sparrow's flight, and in Thy tenderness marks the
+sparrow's fall, may we not be blind to Thy foot-prints
+in the events of every day, but see them guiding
+our way and feel more and more Thy love. Father,
+we ask not for great things, but we ask Thee to help
+us in the little needs and longings that fill our every
+day, to be the strength of our every endeavor, that
+in our daily walk, we may feel that the earth is warm
+with life and joy, that the air is full of strength,
+that there comes to us from every side some message,
+sweet and tender, if only we can be patient, trustful,
+believing that all things work together for good to
+them who seek to do Thy will Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Joshua Young.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_159" id="page_159">[159]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>June 5</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>And do not fear to hope. Can poet's brain<br />
+More than the Father's heart rich good invent?<br />
+Each time we smell the autumn's dying scent,<br />
+We know the primrose time will come again;<br />
+Not more we hope, nor less would soothe our pain.<br />
+Be bounteous in our faith, for not misspent<br />
+Is confidence unto the Father lent:<br />
+Thy need is sown and rooted for his rain,<br />
+His thoughts are as thine own; nor are his ways<br />
+Other than thine, but by their loftier sense<br />
+Of beauty infinite and love intense.<br />
+Work on! One day, beyond all thought of praise<br />
+A sunny joy will crown thee with its rays;<br />
+Nor other than thy need, thy recompense.</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">George MacDonald.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Our Father, in the gratitude of loved and loving
+children we thank Thee for life and all the faith
+and hope and love Thy goodness has awakened in
+our souls. For the splendors of the world and the
+greater splendor of the mind radiant with Thy love,
+we bow in rapture and adoration. Overwhelmed
+at times by the mysteries and vicissitudes of life, we
+will trust Thy will to lead us out of darkness into
+the light of Thine informing spirit of truth and
+wisdom. Conscious of our weakness and needs, we
+rejoice that strength and supply are assured to us
+in the permanence of Thy Fatherhood. Lead us
+more and ever more to realize that in Thee we live
+and move and have our being. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Richmond Fisk.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_160" id="page_160">[160]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>June 6</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>When a feller goes a-huntin' for a rose<br />
+He shouldn't be a-thinkin' of the thorn;<br />
+He must woo it, he must win it&mdash;<br />
+Where his heart beats he must pin it<br />
+An' breathe the breath that's in it<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 6em;">Every morn!</span><br />
+<br />
+When a feller goes a-huntin' for a rose<br />
+He shouldn't see the thorn beneath its breast,<br />
+But for all its thorny foes.<br />
+Red and reckless,&mdash;one poor rose<br />
+Is sweet enough, God knows,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 6em;">For the best.</span></i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Frank L. Stanton.</span>
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>O Lord, our God, so great is our life we may find
+that for which we look,&mdash;the good or the bad.
+Send us into this day with eyes searching for the
+good. Beholding it may we admire it and admiring
+it we shall become like it changed into the same
+image from character to character by the Spirit.
+May we be more concerned to do right than not to
+do wrong. Save us from a humility that is weakness
+and give us largeness of life without pride. May
+we want nothing so much as opportunity,&mdash;opportunity
+to be, to do, to suffer. May we not strive for
+bigness but for fitness and may our reception of the
+Christ be our forgiveness and our salvation for His
+name's sake. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">T. C. Martin.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_161" id="page_161">[161]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>June 7</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>The beauty of work depends upon the way we meet
+it,&mdash;whether we arm ourselves each morning to
+attack it as an enemy that must be vanquished before
+night comes, or whether we open our eyes with the
+sunrise to welcome it as an approaching friend who
+will keep us delightful company all day, and who will
+make us feel at evening, that the day was well worth
+its fatigues.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Lucy Larcom.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Our Heavenly Father, Thou givest us light for
+the hours of labor and darkness for the hours of
+slumber. We toil and then we rest. We sleep and
+then we arise, to perform the tasks which await us.
+Convince us, O God, that the life which Thou hast
+given us to live is more than working that we may
+rest, and resting that we may work. Persuade us
+that it is for some great and good end. Help us to
+understand that even as we live in Thee so Thou
+dost fulfil Thine eternal purposes in and through
+us. Teach us that our smallest effort is important
+to Thee. So may we dread no duty. So may every
+moment of every day be precious in our sight. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Roger S. Forbes.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_162" id="page_162">[162]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>June 8</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>And those who heard the Singers three<br />
+Disputed which the best might be;<br />
+For still their music seemed to start<br />
+Discordant echoes in each heart.</i><br />
+<br />
+<i>But the great Master said, "I see<br />
+No best in kind, but in degree;<br />
+I gave a various gift to each,<br />
+To charm, to strengthen, and to teach.</i><br />
+<br />
+<i>"These are the three great chords of might,<br />
+And he whose ear is tuned aright,<br />
+Will hear no discord in the three,<br />
+But the most perfect harmony."</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Henry W. Longfellow.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>O God, our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for
+all Thy mercies new every morning, and fresh every
+evening, but especially we bless Thee that Thou
+callest us to Thy service and kingdom by Jesus
+Christ, our Lord, and hast vouchsafed to each of
+us some gracious gift whereby we may accomplish
+Thy holy will concerning us. Grant that we may
+so improve and use that pearl of price as to enhance
+greatly the welfare of Thy children. Help each to
+see the good in all, and all to see the good in each,
+that all may strive together in sinless and sweet
+accord for the common weal and thus for the glory
+of Thy name, and so hasten the happy day when
+all souls shall be one, as prayed the Saviour of the
+world. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Alfred P. Putnam.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_163" id="page_163">[163]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>June 9</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Men talk sometimes as if the passage of a ship
+through the sea or a bird through the air is a fit symbol
+of man's passage through this world. I do not think
+so. A better symbol would be the passage of a plough
+through the soil leaving a furrow behind. What
+does the furrow include? All the memory of every
+beautiful picture and landscape you have ever seen.
+It includes the memory of every experience, every
+sweet association, every tie of love, whether of father,
+mother, wife or children. All these, whether living
+or dead, speak to you. They have a voice, a language
+that you will understand.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">George L. Perin.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>We thank Thee, O God, for the many influences
+past and present which have had a share in the
+moulding of our lives and characters toward a larger
+usefulness and a more perfect realization of the
+Christian ideal. We thank Thee for the mother's
+love which watched over us through years of helplessness;
+for the father's love which made provision
+for our wants, for the human sympathy which has
+everywhere blessed and strengthened us and made
+life brighter; for the friends of youth and age who
+have helped us to better things. Grant, O God,
+that a memory of these blessings may abide with us
+so long as life may last, and that as we have been
+helped by others to walk the way of life we may
+not forget to extend a helping hand to those who
+may need our comfort and our sympathy.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Orin Edson Crooker.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_164" id="page_164">[164]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>June 10</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>It is not to taste sweet things, but to do noble and
+true things, and vindicate himself under God's heaven,
+as a God-made man, that the poorest son of Adam
+dimly longs. This dim longing for what is noble
+and true, the still small voice which calls to one imperatively
+in moments of temptation, is the safeguard
+which, if hearkened to, not only protects one in severe
+trials of manliness and womanliness, but also incites
+to the formation of a fine character, without which
+all acquisitions, all graces and accomplishments, all
+talents and all learning, are but as sounding brass
+and a tinkling cymbal.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Thomas Carlyle.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Almighty God, our heavenly Father, in grateful
+recognition of Thy love and watchful care, we thank
+Thee for the repose of the night and the promise of
+the day. Our desire is to do Thy will, and we ask
+for the guidance and inspiration of Thy spirit.
+Enable us to perform faithfully all the work that
+Thou hast given us to do. Grant us a sufficiency
+of Thy grace to treat all our fellowmen as children
+of Thine, and when night comes may we have the
+blessed assurance that through the experiences of
+this day we have become a little more like Thine
+own glorious self in love and holiness. We ask it
+in the name of Jesus, our example, and Saviour.
+Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Warren S. Perkins.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_165" id="page_165">[165]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>June 11</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Now it is June, and the secret is told;<br />
+Flashed from the buttercup's glory of gold;<br />
+Hummed in the bumblebee's gladness, and sung<br />
+New from each bough where a bird's nest is swung;<br />
+Breathed from the clover-beds, when the winds pass;<br />
+Chirped in small psalms, through the aisles of the grass.</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Henry James, Sr.</span>
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+Dear Father, in the morning hour of this new day,
+we thank Thee for the glorious revelation of Thyself
+in the open Book of Nature. May we love the
+beautiful and therein love Thee, with a true and
+abiding affection. Grant unto us the understanding
+that it is only as we have the spirit of the beautiful
+in our lives that we can appreciate the beautiful
+without us. So may we value this life, which is
+from Thee, as a means of attaining a larger usefulness
+and for realizing that goodness which is ever
+heavenly. In simply trying to be nobler, more
+unselfish, like unto Christ, we pray, that we may
+learn how good is life. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Thomas Edward Potterton.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_166" id="page_166">[166]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>June 12</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Methinks I love all common things,<br />
+The common air, the common flower,<br />
+The dear, kind, common thought that springs<br />
+From hearts that have no other dower,<br />
+No other wealth, no other power,<br />
+Save love; and will not that repay<br />
+For all else fortune tears away?</i>
+</p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Bryan Waller Procter.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>We thank God for the beauty of the world. We
+thank God that it is good to be alive. We thank
+God for the joy that joins us to Thy world in gladness,
+and makes it seem to be the open book of Thy
+graciousness and tenderness and compassion. We
+thank Thee also for the ministry of those days that
+were not bright, but that were full of comfort, even
+in their darkness, into which God came shrouded,
+only to reveal Himself more clearly as the light.
+We thank Thee for the intervening by the hand of
+love and tenderness that is human, so that our best
+nature was called out for love's sake, and all the
+lower forces of our lives led in the leash of that sweet
+attraction. We thank God for everything for which
+our life is better, and pray Thee to help us to use
+Thy mercies to turn them into strength, not the
+strength of praise alone, but the strength of service
+also. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Thomas R. Slicer.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_167" id="page_167">[167]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>June 13</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p><i>
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">A creed is a rod,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And a crown is of night;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">But this thing is God,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">To be man with thy might,</span><br />
+To grow straight in the strength of thy spirit, and live out thy life as the light.</i>
+</p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Algernon Charles Swinburne.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<blockquote><p><i>Life is fuller and sweeter for every fulness and
+sweetness that we take knowledge of. And to him that
+hath, cannot help being given from everything.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney.</span>
+</p>
+
+<p>Infinite Love and Beauty, who stirrest in the tiniest
+seed that breaks its earthly shell to greet the light
+and warmth of thy beneficence and round its life
+in blade and flower and ripened fruit,&mdash;awake in
+us, we pray, that we may burst the casements of our
+dead selves and live to bear the fruits of completed
+lives. Be love alone our creed and service our crown;
+and in the sweetness and light of these twin
+ministers draw Thou us on, until having taken
+full knowledge of the fulness and sweetness of
+our Lord the Christ, we shall have measured
+in our spiritual stature, His perfect manliness and
+strength. Thus shall we have indeed and to us
+shall be given from everything. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Albert C. White.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_168" id="page_168">[168]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>June 14</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>He fails who climbs to power and place<br />
+Up the pathway of disgrace.<br />
+He fails not who makes truth his cause,<br />
+Nor bends to win the crowd's applause.<br />
+He fails not, he who stakes his all<br />
+Upon the right and dares to fall.<br />
+What though the living bless or blame,<br />
+For him the long success of fame!</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Richard Watson Gilder.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Our Heavenly Father, help us when we fail to
+see and know the truth and its blessed influence for
+good. Help us to combat bravely the evil in the
+world and to look to Thee for encouragement and
+success. Help us, if we fail, to regain our footing
+and to reach the higher because of the effort which
+Thy love prompts. We gratefully accept the power
+which Thy wisdom gives and thank Thee for the
+opportunity to use its strength. Be Thou our guide
+and we shall fear no failure, nor overestimate the
+worth of success. So shall we "rejoice in the Lord
+always,"&mdash;in failure because of Thy help and in
+success because of Thine approval. In the name
+of Jesus Christ our Lord and Redeemer. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">William E. Gibbs.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_169" id="page_169">[169]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>June 15</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>A singer sang a song of tears,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And the great world heard and wept</span><br />
+For the song of the sorrows of fleeting years,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And the hopes which the dead past kept:</span><br />
+And souls in anguish their burdens bore,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And the world was sadder than ever before.</span><br />
+<br />
+A singer sang a song of cheer,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And the great world listened and smiled,</span><br />
+For he sang of the love of a Father dear<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And the trust of a little child;</span><br />
+And souls that before had forgotten to pray,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Looked up and went singing along the way.</span></i>
+</p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Emma C. Dowd.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Almighty God, our heavenly Father, our trust is
+evermore in Thee, and we would keep that trust as
+a song within our hearts, which may cheer and bless
+and strengthen us. When the night is dark and the
+day is dreary may that song be with us, and when
+cares oppress and sorrows meet us, may our prayers
+still rise to Thee, for Thou art the God of our lives.
+Let not the day's discouragements depress us, nor
+its failures find us weak or helpless, nor its trials
+leave a stain upon our souls. But because we have
+Thy song of love within our hearts may we march
+to heavenly music, and ever go upon our way rejoicing.
+Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Paul Revere Frothingham.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_170" id="page_170">[170]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>June 16</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>It is only the sincerity of human feeling that abides.
+As for a thought, we know not, it may be deceptive;
+but the love, wherewith we have loved it, will surely
+return to our soul; nor can a single drop of its clearness
+or strength be abstracted by error. Of that perfect
+ideal that each of us strives to build up in himself,
+the sum total of all our thoughts will help only to
+model the outline; but the elements that go to construct
+it, and keep it alive, are the purified passion, unselfishness,
+loyalty, wherein these thoughts have had
+being.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Maeterlinck.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>O God, our Heavenly Father, help us to take up
+the cares of this day with an unselfish heart, and in
+loyalty to what is right and good. Keep us in right
+relation to those with whom our lot is cast, in sympathy
+with the unanxious joy of the world and with the
+deeper life which is its source. We desire to enter
+into the thought and the love of the most hopeful
+souls, that, in all the needful pauses of the day,
+we may find cheer, incentive, and the ampler rest:
+through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Charles H. Leonard.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_171" id="page_171">[171]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>June 17</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>"Does the road wind up-hill all the way?"<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Yes, to the very end!"</span><br />
+"Will the day's journey take the whole long day?"<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"From morn to night, my friend!"</span><br />
+<br />
+"But is there for the night a resting-place?"<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"A roof for all when the dark hours begin."</span><br />
+"May not the darkness hide it from my face?"<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"You cannot miss that inn."</span><br />
+<br />
+"Shall I meet other wayfarers at night?"<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Those who have gone before."</span><br />
+"Then must I knock or call when just in sight?"<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"They will not keep you standing at that door."</span><br />
+<br />
+"Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak?"<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Of labor you shall find the sum."</span><br />
+"Will there be beds for me and all who seek?"<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Yea,&mdash;beds for all who come!"</span></i></p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Christina Rossetti.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for this new
+day. May it be an open door to faithful service.
+Open our eyes that we may see all vexations,
+distresses, and toil as angels in disguise sent to
+strengthen and fulfil us, to prepare us for larger
+blessings at our journey's end. As the blue sky of
+Thy loving kindness is broader and more enduring
+than the clouds that sometimes hide it, so teach us
+to trust Thine unfailing love that overarches and
+outlasts all weariness and pain. When life and
+strength fail us here, may we find them transformed
+and glorious in the city of God hereafter. Be Thou
+our shield and our reward now and forever. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">John M. Wilson.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_172" id="page_172">[172]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>June 18</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Those homelier wildflowers, which we call weeds;
+yellow japanned buttercups and star-disked dandelions,
+lying in the grass, like sparks that have leaped
+from the kindling sun of summer; the profuse daisy-like
+flower which whitens the fields, to the great disgust
+of liberal shepherds, yet seems fair to loving eyes,
+with its button-like mound of gold set round with milk-white
+rays; the tall-stemmed succory, setting its pale
+blue flowers aflame one after another; the red and
+white clovers; the broad, flat leaves of the plantain,&mdash;"the
+white man's foot," as the Indians called it;&mdash;those
+common growths which fling themselves to be
+crushed under our feet and our wheels, making themselves
+so cheap in this perpetual martyrdom that we
+forget, each of them is a ray of the divine beauty.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Oliver Wendell Holmes.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Our Heavenly Father, however poor and mean
+and commonplace our lives may seem to be, in our
+better moments we think of ourselves as Thy children.
+We may have failed sometimes but we shall
+not utterly fail. In Thy sight, nothing is common
+or worthless. No life shall be cast as rubbish to the
+void. However commonplace our tasks may seem,
+let us feel ourselves in partnership with God, and
+go forth to the duties of the day with high hope and
+sense of dignity. So shalt Thou make even our
+little lives of some real service to the world. We
+pray to Thee in the spirit of Him, who though the
+humblest of all, was yet Master of all. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">George L. Perin.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_173" id="page_173">[173]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>June 19</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>There's a real grace of character in forgetting the
+things which disturb the harmony of life.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Hamilton W. Mabie.</span><br />
+</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p><i>
+Touch your lips with gladness and go singing on your way,<br />
+Smiles will strangely lighten every duty;<br />
+Just a little word of cheer may span a sky of gray<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With hope's own heaven-tinted bow of beauty.</span><br />
+Wear a pleasant face wherein shall shine a joyful heart,<br />
+As shines the sun, the happy fields adorning;<br />
+To every care-beclouded life some ray of light impart,<br />
+And touch your lips with gladness every morning.</i>
+</p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Nixon Waterman.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>O Thou who art from everlasting to everlasting,
+Our God and Father, we flee unto Thee as the One
+who is able to save us from all foes within and without.
+We confess our weakness and our many grievous
+faults, and beseech Thee to touch us by Thy Spirit,
+that with penitent and lowly hearts we may seek
+Thee as our everlasting Friend and Helper. Be
+patient yet a while with our shortcomings and frowardness.
+Suffer us yet a little that Thine infinite
+grace and compassion may arouse us from our
+spiritual slumber unto the glorious life of obedience
+and love. In this new day we would be made to
+feel Thy presence and the light and joy and peace,
+which Thou dost promise to all who diligently seek
+Thee through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Clarence E. Rice.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_174" id="page_174">[174]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>June 20</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Now is the high tide of the year,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And whatever of life hath ebbed away</span><br />
+Comes flooding back with a ripply cheer,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Into every bare inlet and creek and bay;</span><br />
+Now the heart is so full that a drop overfills it,<br />
+We are happy now because God wills it.</i>
+</p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">James Russell Lowell.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty! early in
+the morning we approach unto Thee. The whole
+round of creation is burdened with the exuberance
+of Thy life, and everywhere is hallowed ground.
+We come with unshod feet. The sun, mighty minister
+of Thy great goodness, flooding the world with light
+and piercing all things with his fiery arrows, calls
+back to life the sleeping earth, and assures us that
+we are partakers of Thy light and Thy love and Thy
+life. O most glorious God! may these Thy mercies,
+fresh every morning, be with us through the day to
+strengthen us to do Thy will, we ask in the name
+of Him who came that we may have life and have it
+abundantly. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Frank W. Collier.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_175" id="page_175">[175]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>June 21</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Man hath much need of courage; and need to brace<br />
+His spiritual nerve in solitude;<br />
+Self-trusting, self-sustained, and self-imbued;<br />
+Seeking God in his own heart's secret place.<br />
+To perfect self, and in that self embrace<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The triune essence of truth, beauty, and good;</span><br />
+This is fulfilment, this beatitude<br />
+Throned high above base fears and hopes more base.<br />
+What shall it profit us, if, gaining all<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The privilege of priest-made paradise,</span><br />
+We lose therewith our self which is the soul?<br />
+And wherefore should we shrink from even the fall,<br />
+If haply we should fail with steadfast eyes<br />
+Fixed only on so bright, so pure a goal?</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">John Addington Symonds.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for the gift of
+a new day, for the tasks which it brings, and for the
+strength with which we rise to its requirements.
+Help us, through all this day, to remember Thee.
+Thou art our strength, our guide, our inspiration.
+Fill us with the courage born of faith. Let us feel
+that, seeking to do right, we shall be moved and
+aided by an unseen Power. In all our experiences
+this day, help us to speak the truth, to be loyal to
+friendship, to be steadfast in principle, to fight the
+good fight and to keep the faith. Bless our endeavors
+to give heart and hope to other souls; and grant
+them the presence of Thy loving spirit. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">John Clarence Lee.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_176" id="page_176">[176]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>June 22</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Let a man start out at breakneck speed in the morning,
+pushing and driving and hurrying as if it were
+a matter of life and death to accomplish a given task
+before noon, and he will generally end by working
+himself into a fever of anxiety and harassing care
+before night, and the man who, under any pretext
+whatsoever, whether for the sake of wealth or learning
+or pleasure, has pursued this mad, rushing, whirling
+method of life for fifteen or twenty years, will find
+himself thoroughly disqualified for the normal enjoyment
+of life thenceforward to the end of his days.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">George L. Perin.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Most gracious God! Thou who hast sustained us
+through the night watches, and who now openest
+to us the day, with its promise of good and opportunity
+for service, we still depend upon that heavenly
+faithfulness which never fails. We look to Thee
+for the quickening of our best powers. We would
+be laborers together with Thee to-day, not as driven
+to irksome tasks, but as honored with a welcome
+privilege. Whether we plant or water may we do
+it faithfully, and then trust Thee for the desired
+increase. May it please Thee to quiet our anxieties,
+to lay to rest our unworthy fears, and to assure us
+of Thine over-ruling providence; and thus through
+all our toiling may we enjoy large measures of the
+peace that passeth understanding. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">James Edward Wright.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_177" id="page_177">[177]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>June 23</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>I do not say you can make yourself merry and happy
+when you are in a physical condition which is contrary
+to such mental condition, but by practice and
+effort you can learn to withdraw from it, refusing to
+allow your judgments and actions to be ruled by it.
+"What does that matter?" you will learn to say.
+"It is enough for me to know that the sun does shine,
+and that this is only a weary fog that is round about
+me for a moment. I shall come out into the light
+beyond presently." This is faith,&mdash;faith in God,
+who is Light.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">George MacDonald.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Our Father, residing in the light incomprehensible
+and who art seeing and providing all good for Thine
+immortal household, when mid investing clouds we
+shall hail Thy presence, transforming weakness into
+perfect strength and sighs and groans into joy and
+swelling songs, above all the many rightful subjects
+of Christian petition, we pray that Thou wilt always
+press us near to Thee to feel Thy loving heart-beats
+and dwell in the light in which is no darkness at all.
+We pray not to be spared any of our full part of the
+burdens needful to this day, but to be given the
+measure of grace to maintain unfaltering steps.
+Behold with compassion the errors that befall us as
+we, too, compassionate others. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Jacob Straub.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_178" id="page_178">[178]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>June 24</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>We are all perhaps familiar with the story of the
+little housemaid, who, when she was asked why she
+thought she had become a Christian, replied, after a
+little hesitation, "Because I sweep under the mats."
+A very poor reason at first sight, and only significant
+from the fact of the master-motive underlying the
+fact itself. A child's reasoning&mdash;but did not quaint
+old Herbert employ the same fine logic when he sang:</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<p><i>"Who sweeps a room as for Thy laws.<br />
+Makes that and the action fine!"</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">William Moodie.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Dear Lord of Life and Light, at the dawn of
+another day we rise to thank Thee for Thy watchful
+care, imparting strength and vitality during the
+closed hours of the night. Thy gift of eternal life
+is ours by Thy creatorship and love, and we would
+pray that in no way during this coming day shall we
+dishonor our birthright by evil thought or action.
+Help us to aspire to hold fast and develop Thy holy
+characteristics, normal to us and made active by
+our wills. We thank Thee for the goal revealed to
+us as our destiny, the spirit displayed by our Master,
+Jesus Christ, and like Him may we lean on Thee
+daily for the strengthening of our faith and the
+maturing of our plans. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Charles E. Lund.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_179" id="page_179">[179]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>June 25</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>They are tired of what is old,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">We will give it voices new;</span><br />
+For the half hath not been told<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of the beautiful and true.</span></i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">George MacDonald.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+<i>The common problem, yours, mine, everyone's,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Is not to fancy what were fair in life</span><br />
+Provided it could be&mdash;but finding first<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">What may be, than find how to make it fair</span><br />
+Up to our means, a very different thing.</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Robert Browning.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Thou Infinite Heart! our hearts go out after
+Thee, not for past, not for future, not for what was,
+though dear, not for what may be, though in vision
+precious,&mdash;not these the burden of our prayer.
+Our hearts crave peace, comfort with what is. May
+we confide in Thee so utterly that the old pain is
+eased, the anxious foreboding is dispelled, self-will
+merged in divine will, self-direction yielding to
+divine leading. Lo! our prayer is answered in the
+making and we are helped. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Stanford Mitchell.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_180" id="page_180">[180]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>June 26</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Today is your day and mine, the only day we have,
+the day in which we play our part. What our part
+may signify in the great whole, we may not understand,
+but we are here to play it, and now is our time.
+This we know, it is a part of action, not of whining.
+It is a part of love, not cynicism. It is for us to express
+love in terms of human helpfulness. This we
+know, for we have learned from sad experience that any
+other course of life leads toward weakness and misery.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">David Starr Jordan.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Our Father, Author alike of the morning light
+and Guardian through the darkness and shadow of
+the night, grant us the right spirit as we go forth to
+the unknown experiences of this day. We would not
+look eagerly for our own comfort and happiness,
+but would find them as Thy free gift while we are
+employed in giving comfort and happiness to others.
+Illuminate our lives with happy thoughts, cheerful
+words and blessed hopes, that we may go forth with
+no purpose but to do Thy will, and seeking no reward
+more glorious, than Thine approval whispered into
+loving and attentive hearts, in Thy name. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Lewis G. Wilson.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_181" id="page_181">[181]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>June 27</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>A Persian fable says: "One day<br />
+A wanderer found a lump of clay,<br />
+So redolent of sweet perfume<br />
+Its odors scented all the room.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"What art thou?" was his quick demand;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"Art thou some gem from Samarcand,</span><br />
+Or spikenard in this rude disguise,<br />
+Or other costly merchandise?"<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"Nay, I am but a lump of clay."</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"Then whence this wondrous perfume&mdash;say?"</span><br />
+"Friend, if the secret I disclose,<br />
+I have been dwelling with the rose,"<br />
+Sweet parable! and will not those<br />
+Who love to dwell with Sharon's Rose,<br />
+Distil sweet odors all around,<br />
+Though low and mean themselves are found?<br />
+Dear Lord, abide with us, that we<br />
+May draw our perfume fresh from thee.</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Anonymous.</span>
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Our Father, which art in heaven,&mdash;we thank Thee
+for the memory of those who lived in Thy spirit and
+labored in Thy love. The fragrance of their lives
+abides with us. We thank Thee for the prophets
+of great hopes,&mdash;for those who have seen the invisible,
+and have searched patiently for the city of
+their God. We bless those who by their pure hearts
+and unselfish lives have revealed unto us our greater
+selves. Help us to learn of them the way of life.
+Help us to live in such thoughts and deeds as made
+them truly great. Keep our hearts so pure to-day,
+our vision of the Master life so clear, that our path,
+before and after us, shall be as the light of day. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Frederick W. Betts.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_182" id="page_182">[182]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>June 28</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Tell you what I like the best;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">'Long about knee-deep in June,</span><br />
+'Bout the time the strawberries melts<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On the vine,&mdash;some afternoon</span><br />
+Like to jes' git out and rest,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And not work at nothing else.</span><br />
+<br />
+Orchard's where I'd ruther be&mdash;<br />
+Needn't fence it in for me!<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jes' the whole sky overhead,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And the whole airth underneath.</span></i>
+</p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">James Whitcomb Riley.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Help us, O Thou who art the Lord of life, that
+we may this morning praise Thee for the beauty
+of the world and for the joyful privilege of wandering
+in the green fields and by the sparkling brooks, and
+of resting tired body and weary limb beneath the
+sweet orchard shade, gazing with gladdened eyes at
+the blue canopy above, all forgetful of the toil and
+din of the far off city. O may our hearts this day
+be in tune with nature and in harmony with Thyself;
+and as we contemplate Thy works this and
+every day may our hearts go out in loving and practical
+sympathy toward those whose lives are spent
+within the narrow confines of sunless courts. Hear
+us for the Saviour's sake. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Francis W. Brett.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_183" id="page_183">[183]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>June 29</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Give us, O give us the man who sings at his work.
+Be his occupation what it may, he is equal to any of
+those who follow the same pursuit in silent sullenness.
+He will do more in the same time&mdash;he will do it
+better&mdash;he will persevere longer. One is scarcely
+sensible of fatigue while he marches to music. The
+very stars are said to make harmony as they revolve
+in their spheres. Wondrous is the strength of cheerfulness,
+although past calculation its power of endurance.
+Efforts to be permanently useful, must be uniformly
+joyous&mdash;a spirit all sunshine, graceful from
+very gladness, beautiful because bright.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Thomas Carlyle.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Almighty God, we turn to Thee in adoration and
+praise as we pause upon the threshold of this new
+day. Grant, we pray Thee, that a song be in our
+hearts as we go about the duties of the passing hours.
+Whatever our experiences, whether of joy or sorrow,
+may we truly value the truthful spirit. If Thou
+callest us to bear burdens or to stand upon the
+mountain top of exultant achievement may we not
+forget to sing of Thee. Yea, O God, we would be
+ever of the company of trusting souls, for such are
+near to Thee. And when earthly days are past and
+the life of the freed spirit is over, grant that our lives
+may blend in full accord with the music of love, in
+sunshine of joy, in the beauty of holiness. We praise
+Thee now and ever. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Stephen H. Roblin.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_184" id="page_184">[184]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>June 30</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Full-leafed in pride of deepest green,<br />
+The earth in the sunshine basks serene,<br />
+Where linden blossoms crowded cling,<br />
+A thousand bees are murmuring.<br />
+As showers drift from the freshened land<br />
+With a seven-barred bow is the rain-cloud spanned.<br />
+The wild rose yields her subtlest scents<br />
+Where hay cocks pitch their fragrant tents.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The longest day's too brief for June,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The night too short for such a moon!</span></i>
+</p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Sara Andrew Shafer.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>We thank Thee, our Father, for the wonderful
+world in which we live; for the glory of the heavens;
+for the beauty of the earth; for the bright morning
+following the star-crowned night; for the song of
+birds, the hum of bees, the fragrance of flowers, and
+the laughter of children, for the industry of men
+and women, for all Thy gifts of love. As again the
+lengthening shadows creep across our pathway,
+may we redouble our energies that no labor of love
+may be left undone. So fill us with Thy presence,
+so lead us by Thy Spirit this day, that in our homes
+we may be patient, in our occupations sweet, in our
+social relations brotherly, in all things Christlike,
+for Jesus' sake. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Arthur Wright.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_185" id="page_185">[185]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>July 1</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Let me go where'er I will<br />
+I hear a sky-born music still:<br />
+It sounds from all things old,<br />
+It sounds from all things young,<br />
+From all that's fair, from all that's foul,<br />
+Peals out a cheerful song.</i><br />
+<br />
+<i>It is not only in the rose,<br />
+It is not only in the bird,<br />
+Not only where the rainbow glows,<br />
+Nor in the song of woman heard,<br />
+But in the darkest, meanest things<br />
+There alway, alway something sings.</i><br />
+<br />
+<i>'Tis not in the high stars alone,<br />
+Nor in the cups of budding flowers,<br />
+Nor in the redbreast's mellow tone,<br />
+Nor in the bow that smiles in showers,<br />
+But in the mud and scum of things<br />
+There alway, alway something sings.</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Ralph Waldo Emerson.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Dear Father in heaven, we thank Thee for all the
+sweet voices of the world, not only for the harmonies
+of the great masters of song but for the sweet voice
+of the mother as she sings her song of love, for the
+bird in the spring time. We thank Thee for the
+music in the prattle of children, and the kindly word
+spoken everywhere. The world is full of music if
+only we have music in our own hearts. We pray, as
+we set forth again this morning, for spirits in tune
+with all that is sweet and good. Wherever we go
+this day, let the world sing to us and make us glad.
+Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">George L. Perin.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_186" id="page_186">[186]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>July 2</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>A little bird with plumage brown,<br />
+Beside my window flutters down,<br />
+A moment chirps its little strain,<br />
+Then taps upon my window-pane.<br />
+And chirps again, and hops along,<br />
+To call my notice to its song;<br />
+But I work on, nor heed its lay,<br />
+Till, in neglect, it flies away.</i><br />
+<br />
+<i>So birds of peace and hope and love<br />
+Come fluttering earthward from above,<br />
+To settle on life's window-sills,<br />
+And ease our load of earthly ills;<br />
+But we, in traffic's rush and din<br />
+Too deep engaged to let them in,<br />
+With deadened heart and sense plod on,<br />
+Nor know our loss till they are gone.</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Paul Laurence Dunbar.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>My voice shalt Thou hear in the morning, O Lord,
+in the morning will I direct my prayer unto Thee,
+and will look up; and looking up, may we not fail
+to realize that, amid the turmoil of this outward
+life, Thou art ever present to give peace and rest in
+the inner life. Should we fail to recognize that presence
+we shall lose the comfort which Thou art ever
+ready to bestow, and must ourselves bear burdens
+which Thou wouldst gladly bear for us or take from
+us. Thou knowest our frame and rememberest that
+we are dust. Open our spiritual vision to behold
+that Divine resources are subject to our daily prayer.
+In the name of Jesus, the Christ. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">O. W. Scott.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_187" id="page_187">[187]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>July 3</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom
+of Heaven.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see
+God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be
+called the children of God.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute
+you, and shall say all manner of evil against
+you falsely for my sake.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Matthew v. 3, 8, 11.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>O God, our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee
+that Thou dost overrule our weakness, failure and
+sins to the accomplishment of Thy divine plan for
+us. We recall with pleasure our successes in the
+past year, and if we have failed, wilt Thou show us
+where and when and teach us the way of amendment.
+We thank Thee for our Hope and Faith which
+have come to us from the Bible. Here, on every
+page and in every biography, have we learned of
+Christ Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life.
+We thank Thee that through Him our sins are forgiven,
+and we have learned to know Thee, O blessed
+Father, which knowledge is eternal life. May we
+walk with Him, moment by moment in a life of
+loving service to all mankind, during all the remaining
+days of our life. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">E. M. Warner.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_188" id="page_188">[188]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>July 4</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>One flag, one land, one heart, one hand,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">One nation, evermore!</span></i>
+</p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Oliver Wendell Holmes.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<blockquote><p><i>And for your country, boy, and for that flag, never
+dream a dream but of serving her, though the service
+carry you through a thousand hells! No matter
+what happens to you&mdash;no matter who flatters or
+abuses you&mdash;never look at another flag, never let a
+night pass but you pray God to bless that flag.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Edward Everett Hale.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Thine, O God, is the kingdom. And blessed is
+the nation whose God is the Lord. We believe that
+Thy hand has been in the founding and the fortunes
+of this land. We do homage to it for its ideals, its
+principles, its glorious company of apostles of truth,
+its noble army of martyrs for liberty and humanity;
+we love and cherish it as our home and our shrine;
+but we hallow it, we stand in awe of it, as the scene
+of Thy special activity, the instrument of Thy holy
+purposes. May its vision not pass; may the clouds
+that hang over it be dispersed by the clear shining
+of the sun of righteousness and peace; may the
+dream of freedom with fraternity be realized here,
+even here, upon these shores, that Thy saving health
+may be known among all nations. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">C. Ellwood Nash.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_189" id="page_189">[189]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>July 5</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Far up the crag, 'twixt sea and sky,<br />
+Where winds tempestuous, blowing by,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Leave giant boulders swept and bare;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Where forked lightnings fitful flare,</span><br />
+And petrels sound their stormy cry.<br />
+<br />
+A dainty bluebell, sweet and shy,<br />
+Lifted its head complacently,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">As guarded by the tenderest care,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Far up the crag.</span><br />
+<br />
+And now, whenever fear draws nigh,<br />
+In thought I stand 'twixt sea and sky,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And, as of old in my despair,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">I bless the Power that set it there&mdash;</span><br />
+That tiny thing with courage high,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Far up the crag!</span>
+</i></p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Florence E. Coates.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Eternal Presence, may we now speak to Thee? or,
+consciously within Thy presence, should our lips be
+still? Art Thou the Infinite Mercy, and shall we
+say, be merciful? Shall we persuade the love
+that can not once withhold itself? We would not
+ask, were prayer to change established law. But,
+we will open here our hearts, and so receive the
+blessedness that seeks us and has sought us,&mdash;sought
+us as the sunlight sought us early,&mdash;seeks us as
+the raindrops seek us in the storm. Not more
+canst Thou withhold the goodness from us. We
+wait receptively, unbarring all our rust-hinged doors
+to welcome the true favors that now find us. In
+sweet trust, asking or unasking, we abide ever in
+Thee. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Perry Marshall.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_190" id="page_190">[190]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>July 6</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>God is a kind Father. He sets us all in the places
+where he wishes us to be employed, and that employment
+is truly "our Father's business." He chooses
+work for every creature which will be delightful to
+them, if they do it simply and humbly. He gives us
+always strength enough and sense enough for what
+He wants us to do; if we either tire ourselves or
+puzzle ourselves, it is our own fault. And we may
+always be sure, whatever we are doing, that we cannot
+be pleasing Him if we are not happy ourselves.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">John Ruskin.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Father Divine, Thou art indeed kind. Thine are
+the ways of kindness, of wisdom, and of love,&mdash;the
+ways of pleasantness and the paths of peace. In
+simple and humble spirit as becometh Thy children,
+may we walk with Thee accomplishing the work to
+which Thou dost call us. Our work is Thy work,
+our business the Father's business; the business of
+justice, mercy and truth. When loyal and true,
+we are what we are, and do what we do by Thy
+grace. So help us to honor Thee in all the duties of
+life,&mdash;"Not slothful in business,&mdash;fervent in
+spirit,"&mdash;pleasing Thee and therefore happy ourselves.
+Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Isaac P. Coddington.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_191" id="page_191">[191]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>July 7</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p><i>
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Threefold is the form of Space:</span><br />
+Length, with ever restless motion,<br />
+Seeks eternity's wide ocean;<br />
+Breadth with boundless sway extends;<br />
+Depth to unknown realms descends.<br />
+<br />
+All as types to thee are given;<br />
+Thou must onward strive for heaven,<br />
+Never still or weary be,<br />
+Wouldst thou perfect glory see;<br />
+Far must thy researches go<br />
+Wouldst thou learn the world to know;<br />
+Thou must tempt the dark abyss<br />
+Wouldst thou prove what Being is.<br />
+<br />
+Naught but firmness gains the prize,&mdash;<br />
+Naught but fulness makes us wise,&mdash;<br />
+Buried deep, truth ever lies!</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Proverbs of Confucius.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Our Heavenly Father, help us this day to make
+good our privilege to feel and think of Thee as we
+do. Help us this day to make ourselves part of
+our brotherhood, and our brotherhood part of
+Thee. We know not what the day hath in store for
+us, but we pray Thee to help us have in store for it
+our better heart, our better hands. Send Thy holy
+spirit into our life to calm and to strengthen; that
+we may be steadfast and true; that we may give
+and be forgiven. Bless all Thy children this day,
+and may our labor end as it began, in Thee, with
+Thee, for Thee. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Louis H. Buckshorn.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_192" id="page_192">[192]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>July 8</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>O Impatient Ones! Do the leaves say nothing to
+you as they murmur to-day? They are not fashioned
+this spring, but months ago; and the summer just
+begun will fashion others for another year. At the
+bottom of every leaf-stem is a cradle, and in it is an
+infant germ; and the winds will rock it, and the
+birds will sing to it all summer long, and next season
+it will unfold. So God is working for you and carrying
+forward to the perfect development all the processes
+of our lives.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Henry Ward Beecher.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>O Eternal Father, giver of all spiritual grace,
+we thank Thee for Thy presence in our hearts. May
+we realize that Thou hast the best possible plan
+for every human life. Help us to be patient and joyful
+in the consciousness that Thou art carrying forward
+Thy blessed work in us. Thy love, O Lord, is equal
+to Thy wisdom, and Thou wilt always do what is
+best for us. May Thy holy will be our delight, so
+that we may each trust in Thee at all times and
+cheerfully say, Thy will, O Lord, not mine, be done.
+Thou who dost care for the birds and the lilies art
+ever mindful of us, Thy children. Deliver us from
+worry and may Thy peace guard our hearts and
+minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">George H. Cheney.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_193" id="page_193">[193]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>July 9</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Let us hope that one day all mankind will be happy
+and wise; and though this day never should dawn
+to have hoped for it cannot be wrong. And in any
+event, it is helpful to speak of happiness to those who
+are sad, that thus at least they may learn what it is
+that happiness means. They are ever inclined to
+regard it as something beyond them, extraordinary,
+out of their reach. But if all who may count themselves
+happy were to tell, very simply, what it was that
+brought happiness to them, the others would see that
+between sorrow and joy the difference is but as between
+a gladsome, enlightened acceptance of life and a hostile
+gloomy submission; between a large and harmonious
+conception of life, and one that is stubborn and narrow.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Maeterlinck.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>O Lord, we thank Thee for the special providence
+which is over everything which Thou hast created,
+and wherein Thou residest with all Thine infinite
+perfections. We thank Thee that Thou carest for
+us all, that in our day of joy we know it is Thou who
+fillest our cup, by giving us the faculties which make
+it run over at the brim. We thank Thee that Thou
+art with us in our days of hardship and of calamity,
+that when our own heart cries out against us, Thou
+art greater than our heart, and, understanding all
+things, blessest us in secret ways; and when we are
+cast down and go stooping and feeble, with hungering
+eyes and a failing heart, that Thou still art with us,
+and leadest us from strength to strength and blessest
+us continually. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Theodore Parker.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_194" id="page_194">[194]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>July 10</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Were any of us really disappointed or melancholy
+in a hayfield? Did we ever lie fairly back on a haycock
+and look up into the blue sky, and listen to the
+merry sounds, the whetting of scythes and the laughing
+prattle of women and children, and think evil thoughts
+of the world or our brethren? Not we! Or, if we
+have so done we ought to be ashamed of ourselves,
+and deserve never again to be out of town during
+hay-harvest.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Thomas Hughes.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Dear Heavenly Father, we devoutly thank Thee
+for the beautiful open face of Nature shining upon
+us; for the splendor of the fields where the birds
+wing their merry flight; for the breath of the flowers
+and the grass beneath the scythe, like the odor of
+incense; and most of all, for the merry shouts of
+women and children and men in the meadow, in
+the heyday of happiness, as they fill their souls with
+the freedom of the children of God, and live in the
+open where no evil breath can come. Grant that
+we may live spiritually forever in the fragrant hayfields
+of life, where the birds sing and the children
+shout, and where no covering or roof can ever shut
+out the sunshine of life's eternal bliss. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Robert S. Kellerman.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_195" id="page_195">[195]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>July 11</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>A story is told of a king who went into his garden
+one morning and found everything withering and
+dying. He asked an oak that stood near the gate
+what the trouble was. He found that it was sick of
+life and determined to die, because it was not tall and
+beautiful like the pine. The pine was out of heart
+because it could not bear grapes like the vine; the
+vine was going to throw its life away, because it could
+not stand erect and have as fine fruit as the pomegranate;
+and so on throughout the garden. Coming
+to the heart'sease, the king found its bright face
+uplifted, as full of cheerfulness as ever. Said the
+king, "Well, heart'sease, I am glad to find one
+brave little flower in this general discouragement and
+dying. You don't seem one bit disheartened." "No,
+your majesty. I know I am of small account; but
+I concluded you wanted a heart'sease when you
+planted me. If you had wanted an oak, or a pine, or
+a vine, or a pomegranate, you would have set one
+out. So I am bound to be the best heart'sease that
+ever I can."</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">William Moodie.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Like the wise King of old, I pray Thee, gracious
+Lord, give unto me wisdom. May Thy Pillar of
+Light guide my footsteps so that I go not astray in
+the wilderness of sin and selfish ambition. Help
+me to acquire a pure heart and a contented spirit.
+Amidst all the vicissitudes of fortune, let faith induce
+me to say, "Whatever God doeth is well." Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">M. M. Eichler.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_196" id="page_196">[196]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>July 12</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>What shall I do to be just?<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">What shall I do for the gain</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Of the world&mdash;for its sadness?</span><br />
+Teach me, O seers that I trust!<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Chart me the difficult main</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Leading out of my sorrow and madness,</span><br />
+Preach me the purging of pain.<br />
+<br />
+Shall I wrench from my finger the ring<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To cast to the tramp at my door?</span><br />
+Shall I tear off each luminous thing<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To drop in the palm of the poor?</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">What shall I do to be just?</span><br />
+Teach me, O Ye in the light,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Whom the poor and the rich alike trust;</span><br />
+My heart is aflame to be right.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Hamlin A. Garland.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Infinite Spirit, Thou seest us just as we are. In
+Thy sight there can be no make-believe; we need
+not seek to offer Thee as a penance for our sins some
+cheap alms to the poor, for Thy favor cannot be
+bought. We pray simply that we may be just,&mdash;that
+we may be true. If we have wronged anyone,
+help us to right the wrong. If we have been false
+to ourselves or false to our neighbors, O Lord, make
+us true,&mdash;we seek no easy admission to a far-off
+heaven, we seek Thy presence here and now, today,
+by the only pathway open, the pathway of righteousness
+and truth. That we may enter this pathway,
+grant us we pray Thee the illumination of Thy Holy
+Spirit. Amen.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">George L. Perin.</span></p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_197" id="page_197">[197]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>July 13</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>The law of worthy life is fundamentally the law of
+strife. It is only through labor, painful effort, by
+grim energy and resolute courage, that we move on to
+better things.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Theodore Roosevelt.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>If we would please God we must watch every stroke
+and touch upon the canvas of our lives; we may not
+think we can lay it on with a trowel and yet succeed.
+We ought to live as miniature painters work, for they
+watch every line and tint.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature"><span class="smcap">Spurgeon.</span></p>
+
+<p>As we begin this new day, O our Father, may such
+energy and vigor, such strength and courage, such
+faith and hope be ours that the problems and tasks
+awaiting us may be boldly and gladly met as challenges
+to our powers. May that abundant life be in
+us which shall make our difficulties a tonic, and the
+struggle to achieve high aims a joy. May we be
+resourceful, equal to life, adequate to every situation,
+able to stand this universe,&mdash;men who can. May
+we count it a privilege to live, to have a vision of life's
+possibilities, and to have the fellowship of so many
+good men and women by the way. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">George R. Dodson.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_198" id="page_198">[198]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>July 14</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>With place, with gold, with power&mdash;oh, ask me not<br />
+With these my little hour of life to blot.<br />
+A little hour indeed! and I would fain<br />
+Its moments spend in what is worth its pain.<br />
+What traveler would faint through troublous lands<br />
+To gather only what must leave his hands<br />
+The moment that he takes his homeward ship?<br />
+Earth's goods and gauds give every man the slip;<br />
+But wealth of thought and richer wealth of love,<br />
+Must pass for coin in any world above.<br />
+The good to others done while here I strive<br />
+Is all at last that shall my dying shrive;<br />
+And, setting sail, my slight self-conquest's store<br />
+Is all my freight if I shall come to shore.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Anonymous.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>O Father, God! The span of our influence is
+both near and far; may it also be direct and strong.
+Thou hast planted mighty virtue and unquenchable
+love in our hearts. Love knows the secret of imparting
+virtue's value to all the wretchedness in life. So,
+we beseech Thee, direct our hearts to altitudes of
+holiness and set our feet in the highways of helpfulness.
+May the charm of gentleness be in every service
+to-day, and may the tone of tenderness carry love's
+message over all barriers to the hearts that need.
+Thus would we keep our confidence with Thee and
+bind ourselves more profitably to our fellows. So
+shall Thy great name be honored among men. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">J. O. Randall.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_199" id="page_199">[199]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>July 15</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>What seems to grow fairer to me as life goes by, is
+the love and peace and tenderness of it. Not its wit
+and cleverness and grandeur of knowledge, but just
+the laughter of little children, and the friendship of
+friends, and the cosy talk of the fireside, and the sight
+of flowers and the sound of music.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">J. R. Green.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Now that Thou givest us the light of a new day,
+grant that it carry with it the brightness of hope and
+courage for whatsoever the day may offer. Always
+behind the clouds is the shining that never fails;
+always beyond the labor which irks us is the joy of
+attainment. Open our eyes that we may see the best
+which shall be in the day; its love of friends, its sights
+of beauty, its music, its wisdom such as no day
+before could possess, its voices of the Spirit awaiting
+the listening ear, its tears of compassion and sympathy.
+Give us our daily bread such as shall feed the heart
+and enrich the mind and grant us forgiveness when
+we are blind to the common treasures of this Thy
+world. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">George A. Thayer.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_200" id="page_200">[200]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>July 16</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Methought that in a solemn church I stood.<br />
+Its marble acres, worn with knees and feet,<br />
+Lay spread from door to door, from street to street.<br />
+Midway the form hung high upon the rood<br />
+Of Him who gave His life to be our good;<br />
+Beyond, priests flitted, bowed, and murmured meet<br />
+Among the candles shining still and sweet.<br />
+Men came and went, and worshipped as they could;<br />
+And still their dust a woman with her broom,<br />
+Bowed to her work, kept sweeping to the door.<br />
+Then saw I slow through all the pillared gloom<br />
+Across the church a silent figure come.<br />
+"Daughter," it said, "Thou sweepest well my floor!"<br />
+"It is the Lord!" I cried, and saw no more.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">George MacDonald.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Our Father, who art ever with us, help us this
+day so to reveal Thee through our common tasks,
+our relations with one another, in our homes and at
+our work, that men may know and love Thee better.
+This is Thy most beautiful world. May we not
+mar its glory by our selfishness, but by the gentleness
+and sweetness of our lives make it more beautiful.
+May we this day not add to another's burden of care
+or pain. But may we by our words and deeds sweeten
+and brighten and strengthen the lives of those whom
+we meet. For Thy goodness and mercy to us, for
+the opportunity of service, for love and sympathy, we
+thank Thee and pray that our devotion to Thy truth
+may reveal the thankfulness of our hearts. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Arthur L. Wheatherly.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_201" id="page_201">[201]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>July 17</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>For I, a man, with men am linked,<br />
+And not a brute with brutes; no gain<br />
+That I experience must remain<br />
+Unshared; but should my best endeavor<br />
+To share it, fail&mdash;subsisteth ever<br />
+God's care above, and I exult<br />
+That God, by God's own ways occult,<br />
+May&mdash;doth, I will believe&mdash;bring back<br />
+All wanderers to a single track.</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Robert Browning.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Father of all souls in all worlds, our best friend
+forever, in Thy good keeping we cannot wander
+beyond Thy loving care. We thank Thee for life,
+for the fair world we live in, enriched by Thy countless
+benefits, for the glad tidings of Thy fatherly love
+that never fails, for the brotherhood that binds together
+all Thy children, and for the immortal hope
+that beckons us up and on. By faithful living may
+we make life divine, and by brotherly service show
+Thee our gratitude and love. May the gospel of
+Jesus prevail in all hearts, speedily bring all wanderers
+home, draw our souls heavenward, and prepare
+us for higher and larger realms of service,
+where we shall forever live to Thy glory. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Rush R. Shippen.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_202" id="page_202">[202]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>July 18</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>That man has a liberal education who has been so
+trained in youth that his body is the ready servant of
+his will, and does with ease and pleasure the work
+that it is capable of; whose intellect is a clear logic
+engine, ready to spin the gossamer as well as forge
+the anchors of the mind&mdash;one full of life and fire but
+whose passions are trained to come to heel by a rigorous
+will; the servant of a tender conscience; who has
+learned to love beauty, to hate vileness and to respect
+others as himself; such a one is in harmony with
+nature; they will get on together.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Thomas Henry Huxley.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Our Father, we would face this day in conscious
+companionship with Thee. Give us to know Thy
+will, to do Thy work. Help us to interpret aright
+Thy constant revelation of love in nature and in the
+experiences of life. Give us strength so to will and
+so to act that we may make this day rich in the joy
+that comes from helpful living. May divine impulse
+find quick expression in righteous deed. In Thine
+unresting effort to make this world Thine own may we
+join with glad hearts. Rejoicing in Thy love, strong
+in the consciousness of Thy presence, may we go to
+our day's work with unwavering purpose to do Thy
+will. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Lathan A. Crandall.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_203" id="page_203">[203]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>July 19</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>A lily grows mysteriously, pushing up its solid
+weight of stem and leaf in the teeth of gravity. Shaped
+into beauty by secret and invisible fingers, the flower
+develops we know not how. But we do not wonder at it.
+Every day the thing is done; it is Nature, it is God.
+We are spiritual enough at least to understand that.
+But when the soul rises slowly above the world, pushing
+up its delicate virtues in the teeth of sin, shaping
+itself mysteriously into the image of Christ, we deny
+that the power is not of man. A strong will, we say,
+a high ideal, the reward of virtue, Christian influence&mdash;these
+will account for it. Spiritual character is merely
+the product of anxious work, self-command, and self-denial.
+We allow, that is to say, a miracle to the lily,
+but none to the man. The lily may grow; the man
+must fret and toil and spin.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Henry Drummond.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>This morning, our God, we need Thee! Give
+us Thyself afresh in the holy inspiration of heart
+warmth and burning love, that today we may have
+power from above while we walk and toil with
+things and folks of earth. May we be the vase to
+hold the blossoming beauty of Thy unfolding. So
+may that beauty which Thou givest unfold in acts
+which we are led to perform, and the holiness of
+this day set fast character drawn from Thee. Thus
+may we all who are Thy children gladden the earth
+with unfolding beauty and kindness and shut out
+the things that are earthy. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">E. E. Small.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_204" id="page_204">[204]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>July 20</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>The more simply you live, the more secure is your
+future; you are less at the mercy of surprises and
+reverses. An illness or a period of idleness does not
+suffice to dispossess you; a change of position, even
+considerable, does not put you to confusion. Having
+simple needs, you find it less painful to accustom yourself
+to the hazards of fortune. You remain a man,
+though you lose your office or your income, because
+the foundation on which your life rests is not your
+table, your cellar, your horses, your goods and chattels,
+or your money. In adversity you will not act like a
+nursling deprived of its bottle and rattle. Stronger,
+better armed for the struggle, presenting like those
+with shaven heads, less advantage to the hands of
+your enemy, you will also be of more profit to your
+neighbor.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Charles Wagner.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>O Thou who art ever the same, with the growing
+light of a new day, we would again take Thy name
+upon our lips; and again invite the dear consciousness
+of Thy presence. We do not know what this
+day may yield us. It may bring disaster; perhaps
+cherished hopes must be surrendered; plans may
+miscarry, clouds may gather, and storms may rage,
+but we will not be unmanned. We will not surrender
+our hold upon Thee. May we thus be enabled to
+meet disaster with courage, and unlooked for joy
+with the poise of humility. Guard our goings-out
+and our comings-in, and lead us into the beauteous
+paths of ripe content. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">James Harry Holden.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_205" id="page_205">[205]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>July 21</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Love wore a suit of hodden gray<br />
+And toiled within the fields all day.</i><br />
+<br />
+<i>Love wielded pick and carried pack<br />
+And bent to heavy loads the back.</i><br />
+<br />
+<i>Though meagre fed and sorely lashed,<br />
+The only wage Love ever asked,</i><br />
+<br />
+<i>A child's wan face to kiss at night,<br />
+A woman's smile by candle light.</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Margaret Sangster.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Our Father in Heaven, we thank Thee for love.
+How rich a gift it has been to us, and how exhaustless.
+It has been the source of all other gifts. We thank
+Thee for the brightness and gladness with which
+love invests the sunny day, and more for the patience
+and hope which it inspires when the sky is overcast
+and the way grows weary. In joy or sorrow we can
+ask nothing better than that it be our constant
+guest. We thank Thee for home life which offers
+us every hour its opportunity to give and to receive
+love. May it be to us the symbol of Thy great household
+which Thy love pervades. And as we thus
+think of it may our home life grow to us more holy
+and divine and Thy love for all Thy children more
+personal and tender until Thy kingdom come and
+Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Vincent E. Tomlinson.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_206" id="page_206">[206]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>July 22</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>The entire object of true education is to make people
+not merely do the right things, but enjoy the right
+things&mdash;not merely industrious, but to love industry&mdash;not
+merely learned, but to love knowledge&mdash;not
+merely pure, but to love purity&mdash;not merely just,
+but to hunger and thirst after justice.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">John Ruskin.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>O Father, fill us with Thy love today, with love
+for Thee, and love for the morning light and all Thy
+glory. Fill us with love for the work that Thou dost
+give us to do, with love for the truth that Thou
+dost reveal to us and with love for the ideals of purity
+and righteousness that Thou dost set before us.
+May we have love for all Thy children. Make us
+realize that they are all our brothers and sisters.
+Make us strive to have Thy will done in their lives.
+Make us eager to have them know Thee. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Charles B. Bliss.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_207" id="page_207">[207]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>July 23</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>If you were toiling up a weary hill,<br />
+Bearing a load beyond your strength to bear.<br />
+Straining each nerve untiringly and still<br />
+Stumbling and losing foothold here and there<br />
+And each one passing by would do so much<br />
+As give one upward lift and go his way,<br />
+Would not the slight reiterated touch<br />
+Of help and kindness lighten all the day?</i><br />
+<br />
+<i>If you were breasting a keen wind which tossed<br />
+And buffeted and chilled you as you strove,<br />
+Till baffled and bewildered quite, you lost<br />
+The power to see the way, and aim and move,<br />
+And one, if only for a moment's space,<br />
+Gave you a shelter from the bitter blast,<br />
+Would you not find it easier to face<br />
+The storm again when the brief rest was past?</i>
+</p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Susan Coolidge.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Our Father, as we thank Thee for the friendly
+service and sympathy that bless and strengthen our
+daily lives, we pray that our gratitude may move us
+to give a like service and sympathy as freely as we
+receive. In the day to whose beginning Thou hast
+brought us, let our hearts and hands be ready to
+meet the needs of those with whom we come in
+touch. So influence our wayward wills that we
+shall not walk in selfish ways, nor forget the ties
+that bind us to one another, and to Thee. Keep us
+conscious of our birthright as Thy children, that
+our acts and aims may be filial and fraternal and
+loyal to Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Costello Weston.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_208" id="page_208">[208]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>July 24</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>It matters little where I was born,<br />
+Whether my parents were rich or poor,<br />
+Whether they shrank from the cold world's scorn<br />
+Or walked in the pride of wealth secure;<br />
+But whether I live an honest man,<br />
+And hold my integrity firm in my clutch,<br />
+I tell you brother, plain as I am,<br />
+It matters much.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">From the Swedish.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dear Father in Heaven, good Giver of all,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For birth in a land fair and free,</span><br />
+For parents with pluck, if not the best luck,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Who toiled and who suffered for me.</span><br />
+Who never knew fear, though the scorners were near,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Whom circumstance filled not with pride,</span><br />
+I thank Thee! These gifts, more than all on the lists,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Have mattered with me, and abide.</span><br />
+<br />
+While striving and struggling my manhood to build,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To live like Thine own perfect Son,</span><br />
+I find on Earth's face not just one single place<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Where such work so well can be done</span><br />
+As in the fair land which from Thy gracious hand<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Comes to me a home to enjoy,</span><br />
+Where man, who should grow, may all liberty know<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In seeking the soul's high employ.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 10em;"> Amen.</span>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Frederick C. Priest.</span></p>
+</div>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_209" id="page_209">[209]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>July 25</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Don't object that your duties are so insignificant;
+they are to be reckoned of infinite significance, and
+alone important to you. Were it but the more perfect
+regulation of your apartments, the sorting away of
+your clothes and trinkets, the arranging of your
+papers,&mdash;"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do
+it with all thy might," and all thy worth and constancy.
+Much more, if your duties are of evidently higher,
+wider scope; if you have brothers, sisters, a father,
+a mother, weigh earnestly what claim does lie upon
+you on behalf of each, and consider it as the one thing
+needful, to pay them more and more honestly and
+nobly what you owe. What matter how miserable
+one is if one can do that? That is the sure and steady
+disconnection and extinction of whatsoever miseries
+one has in this world.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Thomas Carlyle.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Creator of things, Father of Spirits, standing at
+the dawn of a new day we seek Thy blessing. We
+know not what awaits us, Thou knowest, grant us
+guidance! Help us to see all our duties in the light
+of Thy countenance. Thou hast made the little
+and the large, help us to see our duties in their relation
+to Thy plans. Whatsoever we do, help us
+to do all to Thy glory. Help us to sweep our floors
+as to Thy laws, right our rooms as a part of Thy
+universe, care for our clothes as gifts from Thee.
+Help us to see Thee in the souls Thou hast sent into
+the world, to treat them as thinking-thoughts of
+Thine, expressions of Thy life. May we owe no man
+anything but to love, may the sun never set on an
+unpaid bill. For Thy name's sake. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">O. P. Gifford.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_210" id="page_210">[210]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>July 26</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Write it on your heart that every day is the best
+day in the year. No man has learned anything
+rightly until he knows that every day is doomsday.
+Today is a king in disguise. Today always looks
+mean to the thoughtless, in the face of an uniform
+experience that all good and great and happy actions
+are made up precisely of these blank todays. Let
+us not be so deceived, let us unmask the king as he
+passes.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Ralph Waldo Emerson.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Our Father, we thank Thee for this morning that
+ushers in the only day of which we have promise.
+Whether it proves to be a day of sunshine or of
+clouds,&mdash;of joy or of sorrow,&mdash;may we live it with
+thankfulness, with perfect confidence that Thou
+wilt always give us that which is for our own good.
+Help us to spend this day in doing well what our
+hands find to do; may our souls breathe the spirit
+of love and helpfulness to all, and may we have
+abundantly the influence of Thy divine spirit to
+keep us pure. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Luther F. McKinney.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_211" id="page_211">[211]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>July 27</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>I like the man who faces what he must<br />
+With heart triumphant and a step of cheer;<br />
+Who fights the daily battle without fear;<br />
+Sees his hopes fail, yet keeps unfaltering trust<br />
+That God is God; that somehow, true and just,<br />
+His plans work out for mortals; not a tear<br />
+Is shed when fortune, which the world holds dear,<br />
+Falls from his grasp; better, with love, a crust<br />
+Than living in dishonor; envies not,<br />
+Nor loses faith in man; but does his best,<br />
+Nor even murmurs at his humbler lot;<br />
+But with a smile and words of hope, gives zest<br />
+To every toiler; he alone is great<br />
+Who by a life heroic conquers fate.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Sarah Knowles Bolton.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Gracious Father, last night we laid ourselves
+down in peace to sleep, but it was Thou who madest
+us to dwell in safety, and when we awoke this morning
+we found ourselves still with Thee. Thy loving
+favor was keeping faithful watch and ward while
+we slumbered. We thank Thee for Thy kindly care
+of our lives during the darkness and danger of the
+night. Confident of Thy continued presence and
+armed with Thy unfailing strength, we would go
+forth to meet the duties and delights of the new
+day. God with us, we will overcome every temptation,
+endure every trial, bear every burden, and
+improve every opportunity of character-building and
+service-rendering, in the trustful and courageous
+spirit of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Ralph E. Conner.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_212" id="page_212">[212]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>July 28</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>How large a part of our Godward life is travelled,
+not by clear landmarks seen far off in the promised
+land, but as travellers climb a mountain peak, by
+putting footstep after footstep, slowly and patiently,
+into the prints which someone going before us, with
+keener sight, with stronger nerves, tied to us by the
+cord of saintly sympathy, has planted deep into the
+pathless snow of the bleak distance that stretches up
+between humanity and God.... So we ascend by
+one another. We live by one another's blessings.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Phillips Brooks.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Our Father, we thank Thee for the light of a
+new day. May a new spirit and new courage come
+to our hearts. We thank Thee for all those who by
+patient toil and self-forgetting effort have made
+life as sweet and precious to us as it is. If we can
+no longer hear the voices nor see the faces of those
+we love or have reason to revere, may we be able
+to see their foot-prints and to take the way they
+trod, though that way seem steep and hard. May
+we be assured that the upward way leads to the
+expanding view and brings us to the splendor of the
+setting sun or of the still more glorious dawn. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Hilary Bygrave.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_213" id="page_213">[213]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>July 29</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>A prince went into the vineyard to examine it.
+He came to a peach tree, and said, "What are you
+doing for me?" The tree said, "In the spring I
+give my blossoms and fill the air with fragrance, and
+on my boughs hangs the fruit which men will gather
+and carry into the palace for you." "Well done!"
+said the prince. To the chestnut he said, "What
+are you doing?" "I am making nests for the birds,
+and shelter cattle with my leaves and spreading
+branches." And the prince said, "Well done!"
+Then he went down to the meadow and asked the grass
+what it was doing. "We are giving our lives for others,
+for your sheep and cattle that they may be nourished."
+And the prince said, "Well done!" Last of all he
+asked the tiny daisy what it was doing, and the daisy
+said, "Nothing, nothing. I cannot make a nesting-place
+for the birds, and I cannot give shelter for the
+cattle, and I cannot send fruit into the palace, and I
+cannot even give food for the sheep and cows,&mdash;they
+do not want me in the meadow. All I can do
+is to be the best little daisy I can be." And the prince
+bent down and kissed the daisy, and said, "There
+is none better than thou."</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Anonymous.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Help us, O Father, not to wait for the great
+opportunities which may never come. Help us to
+do with faithfulness the duties which lie close at
+hand. In our homes this day and wherever we
+may be&mdash;at school or on the street or at our
+work&mdash;fill our hearts with the spirit of Christ and
+let that spirit speak in every word which passes
+our lips and shine from our faces and work with
+our hands. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Walter A. Tuttle.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_214" id="page_214">[214]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>July 30</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>I will be glad all day for this cool draught<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And the clear drops I dash upon my brow;</span><br />
+For the fresh glint of sunlight on the tree<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And the bird singing on the bough.</span><br />
+<br />
+I will be glad for that stored strength of life<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Which lasts the day because the spirit wills;</span><br />
+For the live air that wings from far and breathes<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The vigor of the everlasting hills.</span><br />
+<br />
+What scope of toil, what loss or what reward,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I do not know. It is enough that now</span><br />
+I pledge the day's good cheer with this cool draught<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And the drops dashed upon my brow.</span></i>
+</p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Charles P. Cleaves.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Our Father, we are nursed in Thine arms, we
+are rested in the heart of Jesus, so that we know no
+more the emptiness of earth and the poverty of time,
+for our citizenship is in heaven, already do we walk
+the streets of gold. Out of the highest rapture may
+we come to do earth's plainest work, earth's hardest
+toil, with patient hearts and willing hands, knowing
+that death can be but for a moment, that all things
+are meant, in the sovereignty of God to give themselves
+up to the rule of life. Thus may Thy children
+be loyal citizens, patient workers, honest merchantmen,
+wise parents. Be with all men who trust
+Thee; melt the mountains before their coming, and
+open the gates of difficulty ere they reach them,
+and give them to feel that the greatness of Thy
+mercy is the proof of its divinity. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Joseph Parker.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_215" id="page_215">[215]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>July 31</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life,
+nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things
+present, nor things to come.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall
+be able to separate us from the love of God which is
+in Christ Jesus our Lord.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Romans</span> viii. 38-39.<br />
+</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>These verses seem to me to express completely the
+remedial power of God's love. In this rough and
+tumble world of ours, of hard conditions, of disasters
+many, of untold misery, there are temptations enough
+for men to lose faith in God's love. It is well now
+and then to have an outburst of faith like this with
+the assurance that nothing can ever separate any
+child of God from the divine compassion and the divine
+care.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">George L. Perin.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Our Heavenly Father, it is good for us to believe
+that through all storms and all darkness and all
+sickness and all infirmity, even through death itself,
+Thy love abides. As we enter upon this day, we
+know not whither we shall go, but we thank Thee
+for the assurance that we may not go away from Thee.
+Thou followest us with Thy care and wrappest us
+around with Thy love, as with a garment. In all
+that we do today may we know that Thou seest us,
+and if our way be steep, may we be sure that Thou
+lovest us. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">George L. Perin.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_216" id="page_216">[216]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>August 1</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Begin the morning by saying to thyself, I shall
+meet this day with the busybody, the ungrateful, the
+arrogant, deceitful, envious, unsocial. All these
+things happen to them by reason of their ignorance
+of what is good and evil. But I who have seen the
+nature of the good that it is beautiful, and of the bad
+that it is ugly, can neither be injured by any of them&mdash;for
+no one can fix on me what is ugly&mdash;nor can I
+be angry with my neighbor, nor hate him. We are
+made for coöperation; to act against one another,
+that is contrary to nature; and it is acting against
+one another to be vexed and turn away.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Marcus Aurelius.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Eternal Spirit of Love, teach us the power of
+love. Help us to learn that love is supreme, and
+hence envieth not, nor vaunteth itself, nor seeketh
+its own, but suffereth long and is kind. We, who
+in Jesus of Nazareth have seen the glory of Thy
+likeness and experienced the sweetness of Thy love,
+desire like Him to reveal Thee in our lives, to be
+loving and gentle, sincere and generous, to cooperate
+with friend and stranger in all that is good,
+to live so that they can work with us for the advancement
+of everything righteous. Fill us, therefore,
+with Thy spirit, and send us forth today in Thy
+service. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">William W. Guth.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_217" id="page_217">[217]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>August 2</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>"God!" let the torrents, like a shout of nations,<br />
+Answer! and let the ice-plain echo, "God!"<br />
+"God!" sing, ye meadow streams, with gladsome voice<br />
+Ye pine groves, with your soft and soul-like sounds!<br />
+And they, too have a voice, yon piles of snow,<br />
+And in their perilous fall shall thunder, "God!"<br />
+<br />
+Ye living flowers that skirt the eternal frost!<br />
+Ye wild goats sporting round the eagle's nest!<br />
+Ye eagles, playmates of the mountain storm!<br />
+Ye lightnings, the dread arrows of the clouds!<br />
+Ye signs and wonders of the elements!<br />
+Utter forth "God!" and fill the hills with praise!</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Samuel Taylor Coleridge.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Heavenly Father, how long have Thy servants
+thirsted after Thee&mdash;Thou spring of everlasting
+life! In this land of our home the meditations of
+ages surround us, and through the treasured thoughts
+of the wise in many generations we are lifted into a
+light beyond the solitary soul. Countless are Thy
+witnesses, Eternal God! the stars without number
+are but a little part of them; and the prayers and
+aspirings of every heart of man can never cease to
+speak Thee. Humbled and blind amid Thy manifold
+glories, may we find rest in the simplicity of
+Christ, and be among the pure in heart who alone
+can see Thee. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">James Martineau.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_218" id="page_218">[218]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>August 3</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>O God, my master God, look down and see<br />
+If I am making what Thou wouldst of me.<br />
+Fain might I lift my hands up in the air<br />
+From the defiant passion of my prayer;<br />
+Yet here they grope on this cold altar stone,<br />
+Graving the words I think I should make known.<br />
+Mine eyes are Thine. Yea, let me not forget,<br />
+Lest with unstaunched tears I leave them wet,<br />
+Dimming their faithful power, till they not see<br />
+Some small, plain task that might be done for Thee.<br />
+My feet, that ache for paths of flowery bloom,<br />
+Halt steadfast in the straitness of this room.<br />
+Though they may never be on errands sent,<br />
+Here shall they stay, and wait Thy full content.<br />
+And my poor heart, that doth so crave for peace,<br />
+Shall beat until Thou bid its beating cease.<br />
+So, Thou dear master God, look down and see<br />
+Whether I do Thy bidding heedfully.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Alice Brown.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>O God, our Heavenly Father, from whom cometh
+to us again this gift of life, may we be able to use
+as Thou wouldst have us the fresh revelation and
+energy of each morning hour. May we be helped
+to see more clearly that task with all its blessings,
+which Thou placest within our reach today. Freshen
+our souls anew with the coming sunlight and
+quicken our will that we may perceive and fulfil
+our present duty gladly, eagerly, successfully, however
+humble in the spirit of those who remember
+that if done for Thy sake and beneath Thy laws
+even servile labors shine. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Hobart Clark.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_219" id="page_219">[219]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>August 4</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>We thank Thee for all that Thou hast made, and
+that Thou hast called it Good! We thank Thee! We
+enter into Thy work, and go about Thy business.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Edward Everett Hale.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>O, it is great, and there is no other greatness. To
+make some work of God's creation a little fruitfuller,
+better, more worthy of God; to make some human hearts
+a little wiser, manfuller, happier,&mdash;more blessed, less
+accursed,&mdash;it is a work for God.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Thomas Carlyle.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Heavenly Father, we would begin the day with
+noble purpose; may we scorn all meanness, and lift
+up our heads unto the Lord as men who have a great
+expectation. Our hope is in a living God; Thou wilt
+not allow our life to wander into darkness; if for a
+small moment we are forsaken, we shall be gathered
+with ineffable and everlasting mercies. In the confidence
+of Thy presence, in the assurance of Thy
+sustaining grace, we look steadfastly to heaven, and
+then we look hopefully to earth, and we know that,
+having begun the day with prayer and praise and pious
+expectancy, its hours shall all be gladdened and its
+even-tide shall be a benediction. Guide us with Thine
+eyes; sustain us by Thy mighty power; keep us this
+day without sin. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Joseph Parker.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_220" id="page_220">[220]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>August 5</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>The scenery around your house may be monotonous,
+without a mountain or sea or lake or hill; but an upward
+look at the clear sky will put you in instant communication
+with infinite beauty and majesty. No spot
+on earth is common or barren over which the skies bend
+in solemn silence. No human life need be barren or
+common which is connected by the great network of
+moral law with any other being.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">J. H. Carlisle.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Our God and Father, the author of beauty, the
+rewarder of all them that seek Thee, we, Thy children,
+come to Thee at the opening of this new day. May
+we have hearts so pure that we shall see Thee; minds
+so open that we shall talk with Thee; and lives so
+true that we shall reveal Thee. Let toil become to us
+as a sacrament. Reveal to us the beauty of life as
+well as of holiness and help us to live with upturned
+faces, so that we may catch the glory of Thy presence,
+and reflect it to all around us. May we walk with
+Thee, thinking Thy thoughts, having Thy visions of
+beauty and of life. When life's evening shall come
+gather us in Thine arms of love to be with Thee in
+the home which Thou hast prepared for us and hast
+beautified with earth's fairest treasures through Jesus
+Christ, Our Lord. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">John Galbraith.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_221" id="page_221">[221]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>August 6</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>How good is man's life, the mere living! How fit to employ<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">All the heart and the soul and the senses forever in joy!</span><br /></i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Robert Browning.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p><i>
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">I am glad to think</span><br />
+I am not bound to make the world go right;<br />
+But only to discover and to do,<br />
+With cheerful heart, the work that God appoints.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">I will trust in Him,</span><br />
+That He can hold His own; and I will take<br />
+His will, above the work He sendeth me,<br />
+to be my chiefest good.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Jean Ingelow.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Our Heavenly Father, all Thy works prove Thy
+goodness; the world Thou givest us is good; the
+powers with which Thou dost endow us are adapted
+to deeds of goodness. We know full well that we do
+evil as well as good. Some of our days close in sadness....
+At the beginning of this day we pledge ourselves
+to try harder than ever to do something good,
+to make somebody happy, to keep our minds filled
+with pure thoughts, to set our ambitions on worthy
+objects; and we pray that Thou who art "the Power
+not ourselves that makes for righteousness" shalt
+work with us that through our effort and Thy help
+the day shall end in joy and peace. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Lee S. McCollester.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_222" id="page_222">[222]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>August 7</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Our lives are songs; God writes the words,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And we set them to music at pleasure;</span><br />
+And the song grows glad, or sweet, or sad,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As we choose to fashion the measure.</span><br />
+We must write the music, whatever the song,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Whatever its rhyme or metre;</span><br />
+And if it is sad, we can make it glad,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Or, if sweet, we can make it sweeter.</span></i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Ella Wheeler Wilcox.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>We thank Thee, O God, that Thou hast made us
+responsive to all the beauty and gladness about us,
+and that we may make our lives one grand, sweet
+song. We know there is much that may spoil the song.
+But we thank Thee, that if we follow the great Leader,
+we can change all discordant notes into harmony.
+Help us through Him to tune our lives into accord
+with Thine. Especially may we live in peace with
+each other. Make us strong to return good for evil,
+to meet irritability with patience, unkindness with
+gentleness and harsh words with quiet speech. So
+may our lives "be filled with music, and the cares that
+infest the day, shall fold their tents like the Arabs,
+and as silently steal away." Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">James M. Payson.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_223" id="page_223">[223]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>August 8</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Back of the canvas that throbs the painter is hinted and hidden,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Into the statue that breathes the soul of the sculptor is bidden,</span><br />
+Under the joy that is felt lie the infinite issues of feeling;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Crowning the glory revealed is the glory that crowns the revealing.</span><br />
+Great are the symbols of being, but that which is symbolled is greater;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Vast the create and beheld, but vaster the inward creator.</span></i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Richard Realf.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Thou, Lord, who hast created us surely for good
+and not evil, for Thou art good and doest good, wilt
+go with us through all the day. Help us to keep in
+mind Thy presence, that we may walk before Thee
+and be perfect, that we may walk with Thee and be
+pleasing to Thee, that we may walk after Thee,
+humbly, reverently. May we prize the glories that
+come with the hours, not suffering them to make us
+conceited or self-centered, or unduly independent,
+but utilize them as means to make us more fully a
+part of Thee. Give us this day complete victory over
+each temptation as it arrives, and may we feel when
+night falls that we have acquitted ourselves well in
+the campaign, and done what we could to make, not
+only ourselves, but the world around us, better. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">James Mudge.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_224" id="page_224">[224]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>August 9</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Each night is followed by its day,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Each storm by fairer weather,</span><br />
+While all the works of nature sing<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Their songs of joy together.</span><br />
+Then learn, O heart, their songs of hope!<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cease, soul, thy thankless sorrow;</span><br />
+For though the clouds be dark today,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The sun will shine tomorrow.</span></i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">T. Edgar Jones.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Father of light! Who causeth light to shine out of
+darkness and maketh day to follow the night; we
+thank Thee for Thy loving care that has brought us
+from the slumber and rest of night to behold the light
+of a new day. May we rejoice in it, and cheerfully
+enter upon its duties and experiences. May the grace
+of Thy presence make our sunshine, that we may
+walk in the light of heaven, breathe its atmosphere
+and engage in its service; doing Thy will in the service
+of one another and in the service of love, truth
+and goodness. May the light of faith, hope, and love
+shining within us, dispel all darkness and sorrow
+from our lives, that light which shines so lustrously
+from the life of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Robert T. Polk.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_225" id="page_225">[225]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>August 10</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Never say, "It is nobody's business but my own
+what I do with my life." It is not true. Your life is
+put into your bands as a trust, for many others besides
+yourself. If you use it well, it will make many others
+happy; if you abuse it, you will harm many others
+besides yourself.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">James M. Pullman.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Almighty Father, whom, though we have not seen,
+we love, we know not what this day may bring forth
+but we know that it shall be for good as our trust is in
+Thee. We look up and adore Thee, and we believe
+and love and obey. Throughout all the hours of this
+day may we be "diligent in business, fervent in spirit,
+serving the Lord." We believe in the victory of good
+over evil, of light over darkness; help us to bear our
+part courageously in the battle. Be merciful to us
+and make us merciful to one another. May we be
+numbered with those who are pure in heart, and see
+God in the humblest service to the humblest people.
+We beseech Thee to answer according to Thy love
+not only these prayers which we utter with our lips
+but also the silent prayers of our heart. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Harold Pattison.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_226" id="page_226">[226]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>August 11</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Prince Florimel and Prince Carimel were twin
+brothers, the sons of a king, and no one could tell which
+of the two ought to succeed to the throne, for they were
+both exactly the same age. So one day they went to a
+wise magician, and asked him which of them ought to
+be king after their father's death. "He who is most
+worthy," said the magician. "But how shall we find
+out who is most worthy?" "He who possesses the
+magic flower that grows in the enchanted forest shall
+be found most worthy," he answered. So the two
+brothers travelled through the enchanted forest until
+they found the magic flower; but it grew in such a
+dangerous place that Carimel would not attempt to
+reach it. Florimel, however, clambered down the rocks
+and plucked the flower; and when he had got it, what
+do you think he did with it? Why, he gave it to his
+brother, for the name of that magic flower was Unselfishness.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">William Moodie.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Our Father, with thankful hearts for all Thy goodness
+to us in the past,&mdash;we seek Thy Holy Spirit's
+guidance for the day before us. Help us to live not
+for self alone, but for the good of all with whom we
+mingle. May the needy, suffering, and struggling
+ones all about us gather strength because of our devotion
+to Thee. So inspire us to forget ourselves, that
+we may the better remember our Master, and the
+privileges and duties of a life's service to Thy children.
+Wilt Thou not, Infinite One, thus help us, this day,
+and in all the days to come, to live to Thy glory!
+Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Lewis P. Bates.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_227" id="page_227">[227]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>August 12</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>To do something for someone else; to love the unlovely;
+to give a hand to the unattractive; to speak
+to the uncongenial; to make friends with the poor and
+folks of lowly degree; to find a niche in the church of
+the Lord, and to do something out of sheer love for Him;
+to determine in His house to have His mind; to plan
+to win at least one for the Master; to aim to redeem
+past time that is lost; to will to let one's light shine;
+to cut off practices that are sinful and costly; to add the
+beauty of holiness&mdash;this is to make one's life a thing
+of beauty and this is to grow in grace, for growing in
+grace is simply copying the beautiful life of the altogether
+lovely One.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Edward F. Reimer.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Infinite Father, we rejoice that it is possible for us
+to be workers together with Thee by giving our sympathy,
+love and help to Thy needy children. As Thou
+hast honored us by appointing us to such a gracious
+ministry, may we seek to honor Thee in return by trying
+to do Thy blessed will. In all lowly and gentle
+ways, may we do what we can to bind up the broken-hearted,
+to relieve the distressed, to strengthen the
+weak. Let none who suffer look to us in vain for some
+manifestation of the Christ-like Spirit. May we so
+meet and treat the sad, the lonely, the tempted, that
+they shall take knowledge of us that we have been
+with Jesus. So may His heavenly teaching bear sweet
+fruit in our conduct and characters, and so may the
+Kingdom which He came to establish grow apace in
+the world. In His name. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Willard C. Selleck.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_228" id="page_228">[228]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>August 13</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Let me feel that I am to be a lover. I am to see to it
+that the world is better for me, and to find my reward
+in the act. Love would put a new face on this weary
+old world in which we dwell as pagans and enemies
+too long; and it would warm the heart to see how fast
+the vain diplomacy of statesmen, the impotence of
+armies and navies and lines of defence, would be superseded
+by this unarmed child. This great, overgrown,
+dead Christendom of ours still keeps alive at least the
+name of a lover of mankind. But one day all men will
+be lovers: and every calamity will be dissolved in the
+universal sunshine.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Ralph Waldo Emerson.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>What manner of love hast Thou bestowed upon us,
+dear Lord, that we should be called Thy children!
+As Thou hast loved us, so teach us each to love the
+world. This day someone will go forth to business
+on land or sea burdened with heavy cares: some
+father disheartened and discouraged will take up the
+trials of yesterday wondering what the end will be&mdash;some
+mother dismayed with her lot will cry "How
+long?" Help us, O Lord to minister to them
+in word or look, in prayer or gift. As the sun shall
+this day bring light and life to this old earth causing
+it to yield its highest purpose, so grant that Thy love
+may give through us a new inspiration to all mankind.
+Hasten the time when all shall love Thee as Thou
+hast loved the world. Then will each love the other.
+Then will the sword and the spear be molten into
+the plowshare and the pruning hook, and the desert
+shall bud and blossom as the rose. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Edwin Alonzo Blake.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_229" id="page_229">[229]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>August 14</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Thou art, O God, the life and light<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of all this wondrous world we see;</span><br />
+Its glow by day, its smile by night,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Are but reflections caught from thee.</span><br />
+Where'er we turn, thy glories shine,<br />
+And all things fair and bright are thine.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Thomas Moore.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, who hast
+safely brought us to the beginning of this day, defend
+us in the same with Thy mighty power. Grant that
+this day we fall into no sin. Create in us a clean heart
+and renew a right spirit within us. Open our eyes
+that this day may be a fresh disclosure of Thyself,
+the Unseen Presence; endow us with Thy strength
+that, in joy and pain, it may lead us into Thy house
+not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Enable
+us so to use the things of the world that while they
+abide we may not lose Thy presence, and when they
+pass we may not stand alone. So shall the spirit of
+Christ inflame us. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Frederick W. Perkins.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_230" id="page_230">[230]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>August 15</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>It ain't no use to grumble and complain,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">It's just as cheap and easy to rejoice;</span><br />
+When God sorts out the weather and sends rain,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Why, rain's my choice.</span></i>
+</p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">James Whitcomb Riley.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>When you get into a tight place, and everything goes
+against you, till it seems as if you could not hold on a
+minute longer, never give up then, for that's just the
+place and time that the tide will turn.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Harriet Beecher Stowe.</span>
+</p>
+
+
+<p>Father, we pray Thee that in every emergency of
+our lives we may be faithful to the duty which the
+day demands, and with reverent spirits acquit us like
+men, doing what should be done, bearing what must
+be borne, and so growing greater from our toil and
+our sufferings, till we transfigure ourselves into noble
+images of humanity, which are blameless within and
+beautiful without, and acceptable to Thy spirit. So
+may Thy kingdom come and Thy will be done on
+earth as it is in heaven; for Thine is the kingdom
+and the power and the glory, the dominion and
+honor forever and ever. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Theodore Parker.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_231" id="page_231">[231]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>August 16</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>It was only a glad "Good Morning"<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As she passed along the way;</span><br />
+But it spread the morning's glory<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Over the livelong day.</span></i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Carlotta Perry.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Smile upon the troubled pilgrims<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Whom you pass and meet;</span><br />
+Frowns are thorns, and smiles are blossoms,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Oft to weary feet.</span><br />
+Do not make the way seem harder<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">By a sullen face;</span><br />
+Smile a little, smile a little,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brighten up the place.</span></i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Ella Wheeler Wilcox.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Father, in this morning hour, we would look into
+Thy face and feel the sweetness of that transforming
+influence which is forever baptizing Thy world with
+light and gladness, adding beauty to beauty and glory
+to glory. Baptize us anew, with this all-pervading
+spirit and send us out into this day's work to meet
+its varied experiences with trusting hearts and smiling
+faces. May we each send forth a brightening, gladdening
+influence to cheer and strengthen and uplift every
+weary, troubled pilgrim whom we meet on this day's
+journey. So may it be ours to enter into closer and
+diviner fellowship with Thee, our Father, whose
+greatest joy is to impart joy and blessing to Thy waiting
+children. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Annette J. Shaw.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_232" id="page_232">[232]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>August 17</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>There are nettles everywhere,<br />
+But smooth green grasses are more common still;<br />
+The blue of heaven is larger than the cloud.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Elizabeth Barrett Browning.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Flower in the crannied wall,<br />
+I pluck you out of the crannies;&mdash;<br />
+Hold you here, root and all, in my hand,<br />
+Little flower&mdash;but if I could understand<br />
+What you are, root and all, and all in all,<br />
+I should know what God and man is.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Alfred Tennyson.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>O Thou, Who hast gemmed the heavens with round,
+revolving worlds, the earth with beauty and the
+coronet of our minds with royal faculties, we do not
+know what "the little flower is, root and all, and all
+in all" and yet, dear Lord, through the clear and the
+convincing revelation of Thy dear Son; through the
+divine image which Thou hast implanted within us;
+through the mighty and the persuasive witness from
+experience, we do feel and believe that Thou art the
+great creator, preserver and benefactor; That Thou
+hast called us to do a noble, a specific work; that
+we ought not to neglect the gift that is in us; to this
+end wilt Thou help us to be pure, brave, faithful and
+strong, that we may fight the good fight, and win the
+crown of righteousness. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Albert Hammatt.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_233" id="page_233">[233]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>August 18</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>O ye, so far above me on the Height,<br />
+I cannot hear your voices as ye stand<br />
+Facing the vast, invisible to me.<br />
+But I can see your gestures of delight,<br />
+And something guess of that wide, glorious sea,<br />
+The glimmering isles of that enchanted land,<br />
+The winds which from that ocean freshly blow.<br />
+And so your Vision lifts me toward the Height,<br />
+Although ye have forgot me far below.<br />
+<br />
+But you, my brother, you, my near of kin,<br />
+Who some few steps above me on the steep<br />
+Look smiling back to cheer me ever on,<br />
+Who lend a hand as I the chasm leap,<br />
+And stay your haste that I the crag may win,<br />
+Thinking it scorn for Strength to climb alone;<br />
+You with your morning song when sings the lark,<br />
+You, with unflagging purpose at high noon,<br />
+And quiet-hearted trust when comes the dark,&mdash;<br />
+To you I owe it that I climb at all.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Mary Frances Wright.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Spirit of the Infinite Life! We praise Thee that
+our visions of the Divinest rise far beyond the borders
+of our known and familiar fields, that the resources
+of our unwearied life are in those mysterious regions
+that we have not explored. And yet we rejoice that
+the shadows of these holy visions fall across our common
+ways, reporting thus from the Infinite and the
+unknown the possibilities of greater fortunes yet to be.
+In this life of Thee may we dwell, seeing Thee in
+the life about us and evermore seeking to lead the
+life toward those high places that are always waiting
+the coming of those who aspire toward Thee. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">E. L. Rexford.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_234" id="page_234">[234]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>August 19</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>The flowers got into a debate one morning as to which
+of them was the flower of God: and the rose said: "I
+am the flower of God, for I am the fairest and the most
+perfect in beauty and variety of form and delicacy of
+fragrance of all the flowers." And the crocus said:
+"No, you are not the flower of God. Why, I was
+blooming long before you bloomed. I am the primitive
+flower; I am the first one." And the lily of the valley
+said modestly: "I am small, but I am white; perhaps
+I am the flower of God." And the trailing arbutus
+said: "Before any of you came forth I was blooming
+under the leaves and under the snow. Am I not the
+flower of God?" And all the flowers cried out: "No,
+you are no flower at all; you are a come-outer." And
+then God's wind, blowing on the garden, brought this
+message to them: "Little flowers, do you not know that
+every flower that answers God's spring call, and comes
+out of the cold, dark earth, and lifts its head above the
+sod and blooms forth, catching the sunlight from God
+and flinging it back to men, taking the sweet south
+wind from God and giving it back to others in sweet
+and blessed fragrance&mdash;do you not know they are all
+God's flowers?"</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Lyman Abbott.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Our Heavenly Father, in Thy sight, there are no
+nations, there is no north and no south, no east and
+no west; there is no black and no white; Jew and
+Gentile, bond and free,&mdash;all are Thine. O, Lord,
+give us so much breadth of sympathy that we shall be
+able to understand at least dimly the universality of
+Thy love. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">George L. Perin.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_235" id="page_235">[235]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>August 20</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Sound, sound the clarion, fill the fife!<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To all the sensual world proclaim</span><br />
+One crowded hour of glorious life<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Is worth an age without a name.</span></i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Walter Scott.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men.
+Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for
+powers equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your
+work shall be no miracle. But you shall be a miracle.
+Every day you shall wonder at yourself, at the richness
+of life which has come to you by the grace of God.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Phillips Brooks.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for the rest
+of the night and the joy and beauty of the morning.
+This day we accept as a loving tribute of Thy Love to
+Thy children. May we not mar it by unhallowed
+thoughts, unkind, hasty and regretful speech and
+shameful and evil deeds. May ours be the illumination
+which comes from moral and spiritual conquest.
+May we feel the ties that bind us tenderly to Thee
+and to one another; and work for that large human
+brotherhood, which holds in its strong embrace even
+the most distant and isolated member of the human
+family. May we go forth to our work with a deep and
+abiding faith in the power of good over evil and willing
+to do our share in the building up of Thy kingdom
+of love and righteousness, peace and good will here
+upon earth. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Hendrik Vossema.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_236" id="page_236">[236]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>August 21</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>We learn wisdom from failure much more than from
+success, often discover what will do by finding out what
+will not do, and probably he who never made a mistake
+never made a discovery. Horne Tooke used to
+say of his studies in intellectual philosophy that he had
+become all the better acquainted with the country through
+having had the good luck sometimes to lose his way.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Samuel Smiles.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Our Father, in the strength of our nightly rest and
+daily bread we go forth to whatever needs us or awaits
+us. Nothing from Thee is too difficult for us to attempt;
+nothing too grievous for us to bear. Teach
+us how priceless is Thy gift of life, how close we are
+to the fountain of strength, how sure of success is
+every effort to bring good to pass. Reverently and
+believingly would we hearken to Thee in our inmost
+souls. Let not our failures dishearten us, or the delay
+of results cause chill of doubt or fear. May our
+presence have strength and peace for others, and our
+lives proclaim that Thou livest and art good to all.
+In the name of Christ we lift our prayer. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Samuel C. Beane.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_237" id="page_237">[237]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>August 22</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>At Bannockburn Lord Randolph Murray was being
+sorely pressed by a large body of cavalry. Sir James
+Douglas got leave from Bruce to go to his aid, but just
+as he came up he found the English in disorder, and
+many horses galloping away with empty saddles.
+"Halt!" he cried to his men; "These brave men
+have already repulsed the enemy; let us not diminish
+their glory by seeking to share it."</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">William Moodie.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>O God of Hosts! On many a field of battle wilt
+Thy soldiers fight this day. Help them to be brave
+and true. Give them a glorious victory. Help us
+who watch to give them full credit for their valor.
+May we not diminish by seeking to share their glory.
+May we not render their deeds commonplace by insisting
+that "It is so easy, so natural, for them to be
+good," implying that their struggle has not been hard
+or that their victories had not been what ours have
+proven to be. Help us, O Lord, with valor to fight
+our own battles and run our own race and with gratitude
+to be glad in others' victories. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">J. Frank Chase.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_238" id="page_238">[238]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>August 23</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>The bee that sips her sweets from flowers fair,<br />
+Flying on careless wing now here, now there,<br />
+With azure skies above, green sward below,<br />
+And soft south wind to bear her to and fro,<br />
+Might seem the soul of self-devoted ease,<br />
+Her life a draught of nectar without lees.<br />
+Not so! Her prime is full of strenuous deed<br />
+That shames our own in generous meed<br />
+Of work for other's good. Long summer days<br />
+She builds her golden house, with guerdons stays<br />
+Her Queen, uprears her young, and stores her food&mdash;<br />
+Then sudden shuns her wealth, her home, her brood,<br />
+And seeks new haven on an unknown sea,<br />
+Leaving her life-work to posterity.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Henry Hoyt Moore.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Gracious Father in heaven, and all about me, Thy
+gentleness doth ever tend to make life greater and
+richer. Thy providence is so wholesomely good, I
+would fain be completely at home in it. Thou art
+very gracious. Help me to be as gracious in my way
+as Thou art in Thy wonderful way. When I acknowledge
+that Thou art good and wise, there comes a
+joyous freedom to my spirit that makes life a sweet
+pleasure. I desire ever to work in the fulness of this
+faith without grudging, without suspecting, an open,
+glad and fruitful service. Oh, help me then to love
+my fellows more, and Thee sincerely! Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Elihu Grant.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_239" id="page_239">[239]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>August 24</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Drudgery is the gray angel of success.... Look
+at the leaders in the professions, the solid men in business,
+the master-workmen who begin as poor boys and
+end by building a town to house their factory-hands,
+they are drudges of the single aim.... "One thing
+I do."... Mr. Maydole, the hammer-maker of
+Central New York, was an artist: "Yes," he said,
+"I have made hammers for twenty-eight years."
+"Well, then you ought to be able to make a pretty good
+hammer by this time." "No, sir," was the answer,
+"I never made a pretty good hammer&mdash;I make the
+best hammer made in the United States."</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">William C. Gannett.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>O Lord, we remember our daily duties before Thee,
+the hard toil which Thou givest us in our manifold
+and various avocations, and we pray Thee that there
+may be in us such a confidence in our nature, such
+earnest obedience to Thee, we reverencing all Thy
+qualities and keeping Thy commands, that we shall
+serve Thee every day, making our life one great act
+of holiness unto Thee. May our continuous industry
+be so squared by the golden rule that it shall nicely
+fit with the interests of all with whom we have to do,
+and so by our handicraft all mankind shall be blessed.
+Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Theodore Parker.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_240" id="page_240">[240]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>August 25</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>His larger life ye cannot miss<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In gladly, nobly using this.</span></i>
+</p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Bayard Taylor.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<blockquote><p><i>There are saints enough if we only know how to find
+them&mdash;sainthoods of the fireside and of the market
+place. They wear no glory round their heads; they do
+their duties in the strength of God; they have their
+martyrdoms and win their palms, and though they get
+into no calendars, they leave a benediction and a force
+behind them on the earth when they go up to heaven.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Phillips Brooks.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Our Father, in Whose life are our lives, help us to
+use all things nobly and so find joy in Thee. We
+thank Thee for faithful souls who in humblest station
+have reflected Thy life and have worked for blessing.
+In Thy strength they have sought to build Thy kingdom,
+and though they have had no glory of men they
+yet have wrought for Thee and have won place in
+Thy heart. Because they have aided the world and
+others have entered into their labors their good work
+shall remain and its quiet influence shall be a benediction.
+Though they have lived obscure lives and
+have filled obscure places they have been precious in
+Thy sight and are numbered with Thy saints. May
+we, like them, eternally serve Thee. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">George H. Young.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_241" id="page_241">[241]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>August 26</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>We can't choose happiness either for ourselves or for
+another; we can't tell where that will lie. We can
+only choose whether we will indulge ourselves in the
+present moment, or whether we will renounce that for
+the sake of obeying the divine voice within us,&mdash;for
+the sake of being true to all the motives that sanctify
+our lives. I know this belief is hard; it has slipped
+away from me again and again; but I have felt that
+if I let it go forever, I should have no light through
+the darkness of this life.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">George Eliot.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>O God, Thou knowest the hours in which we desire
+Thee. Thou knowest that Thou hast made us to love
+truth and to walk in the light and when we are unjust,
+unkind, unloving, then we are not true to ourselves,&mdash;then
+we forget that we are living souls and that Thou
+art our Father. Let us not draw nigh to Thee with
+our lips while our hearts are far from Thee, but, knowing
+how dependent and frail we are, may we feel that
+it is a good and helpful thing to draw nigh unto Thee
+by faith and prayer,&mdash;and to take thought of that
+Infinite Love which holds us all in its arms of strength
+and mercy. Lift up our minds today, warm our
+affections, and deepen within us the feeling of reverence,
+of gratitude, and guide all the longings of our
+hearts aright. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Joshua Young.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_242" id="page_242">[242]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>August 27</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p><i>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Life may be given in many ways,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And loyalty to truth be sealed</span><br />
+As bravely in the closet as the field,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">So bountiful is fate;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But then to stand beside her,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When craven churls deride her,</span><br />
+To front a lie in arms and not to yield,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">This shows, methinks, God's plan</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And measure of a stalwart man,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Limbed like the old heroic breeds,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Who stands self-poised on manhood's solid earth,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Not forced to frame excuses for his birth,</span><br />
+Fed from within with all the strength he needs.</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">James Russell Lowell.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Heavenly Father, in this new day may we recognize
+a new opportunity for seeking Thy purpose in us; to
+become stronger children of Thine, and worthier
+followers of Thy Son. Whatever be our trial give us
+courage to stand without compromise, for that which
+we believe to be true; give us grace to rise superior
+to praise or blame, timidity or self-interest; to be
+loyal to the best in us, and be ever ready to protest
+against wrong and injustice. Help us to know ourselves
+as temples of Thine; to know that the essential
+principal in us is not dust, but God; to rise to that
+dignity of sonship that compels one to choose the
+right and say: "Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise."
+In His name. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Herbert H. Graves.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_243" id="page_243">[243]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>August 28</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>All we have willed or hoped or dreamed of good, shall exist;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Not its semblance, but itself; no beauty, nor good, nor power</span><br />
+Whose voice has gone forth, but each survives for the melodist,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When eternity affirms the conception of an hour.</span><br />
+The high that proved too high, the heroic for earth too hard,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The passion that left the ground to lose itself in the sky,</span><br />
+Are music sent up to God by the lover and the bard;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Enough that he heard it once: we shall hear it by and by.</span></i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Robert Browning.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>O God, our heavenly Father! we come before Thee
+at this morning hour, thanking Thee for Thy loving
+care, that has protected us through the night, and for
+the blessed sleep, that has brought refreshment to
+our bodies and minds. We are grateful, O Father,
+for this new day, rich in hope and promise and opportunity,
+and we pray that, as its hours pass, we may
+be kept very near to Thee, that the "Words of our
+mouth and the meditations of our heart, may be acceptable
+in Thy sight," that when the day is done, and
+we come to Thee at its close, we need in no wise to be
+ashamed. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Nellie Mann Opdale.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_244" id="page_244">[244]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>August 29</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>How often does the chopper of some stone,<br />
+While toiling at his task of heave and shock,<br />
+Find in the heart-space of a severed rock<br />
+The impress of some fern that once had grown,<br />
+Full of aspiring life and color-tone,<br />
+Deep in the forest where the shadows flock,<br />
+Till, caught within the adamantine block,<br />
+It lay for ages hidden and unknown!<br />
+So many a beauteous thought blooms in the mind<br />
+But unexpressed, droops down into the soul<br />
+And lies unuttered in the silence there<br />
+Until some opener of the soul shall find<br />
+The fern-like fossilled dream, complete and whole,<br />
+And marvel at its beauty past compare.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Alfred L. Donaldson.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+O mighty Potter, to whose steadfast eyes<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A thousand years lie open as one day,</span><br />
+Thy patient hand set firm on life's great wheel<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">This heavy, shapeless clay.</span><br />
+<br />
+Rough and imperfect, yet it owns Thy touch;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Spare not, nor stay, the pressure of Thine hand;</span><br />
+Make known Thy power; and soon, or late, let love<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Perfect what love hath planned!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 15em;">Amen.</span>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">L. H. Hammond.</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_245" id="page_245">[245]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>August 30</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>The dark green summer, with its massive hues,<br />
+Fades into Autumn's tincture manifold;<br />
+A gorgeous garniture of fire and gold<br />
+The high slope of the ferny hill indues.<br />
+The mists of morn in slumbering layers diffuse<br />
+O'er glimmering rock, smooth lake, and spiked array<br />
+Of hedgerow thorns a unity of gray.<br />
+All things appear their tangible form to lose<br />
+In ghostly vastness. But anon the gloom<br />
+Melts, as the sun puts off his muddy veil.<br />
+And now the birds their twittering songs resume,<br />
+All summer silent in the leafy dale.<br />
+In spring they piped of love on every tree,<br />
+But now they sing the song of memory.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Hartley Coleridge.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Ever blessed Father, in Whose pleasant world we
+are glad to awake again, looking forward to a happy
+and useful day, we beseech Thy loving guidance
+through these hours. May we look abroad with gratitude
+and love upon this beautiful earth, doubly
+beautiful in the waning summer time, when a new
+splendor comes across the hills, and Thou dost reveal
+Thyself, as of old, in the burning bush. Grant that
+we may look through nature up to nature's God.
+Grant that the mists of doubt and uncertainty which
+often hide Thee from us may be dispersed in the sunlight
+of a happy faith, and that the heart, so often sad
+and silent, may once more lift its cheerful song to Thee.
+Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Alfred Gooding.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_246" id="page_246">[246]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>August 31</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>No rare creative inspirations throng<br />
+My quiet spirit, silent, sad and lone;<br />
+No Sapphic flame hath on its altar shone;<br />
+No music to my nature doth belong.<br />
+Thou art the sunlight, I am Memnon's stone,<br />
+Thou art the zephyr, I give back its song;<br />
+The harp Ćolian can do no wrong<br />
+To the soft airs which wake an answering tone:<br />
+Upon my soul, Oh, then breathe tenderly;<br />
+Subdue the discord, still the jarring strain;<br />
+So may the harp-strings yield but melody.<br />
+If notes discordant give thy keen ear pain,<br />
+Set the fine chords again to harmony;<br />
+Let but sweet echoes of thyself remain.</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Ada Foster Murray.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>O Thou Who art the source of all that is and the
+giver of all that makes life blessed, we thank Thee
+that Thy providence abides through every change
+and that Thou dost cheer the loneliest lot with the
+comfort of Thy presence. Thou hast been with us in
+times past and now on this last day of the summer
+months, we would thank Thee for the blessings of the
+closing season and ask for the continuance of Thy unfailing
+care and the enrichment of our souls with the
+gifts of Thy Spirit. Bring us into harmony with all
+that is pure and good, and enable us to walk in the
+light of Thy favor and in the paths of Thy commandments.
+Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Charles H. Vail.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_247" id="page_247">[247]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>September 1</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>'Neath harvest moon the stricken summer lies<br />
+Still smiling bravely in her brightest bloom,<br />
+Her heart yet holds no hint of gloom,<br />
+No trace of sadness in her sunlit eyes.<br />
+We love thee, Summer, child of Paradise&mdash;<br />
+A myriad host announce thy coming doom<br />
+Chanting the requiem of thy wintry tomb,<br />
+While lovingly look down the tender skies;<br />
+A holy hush is in the hazy air<br />
+As in thy radiant beauty thou dost sleep!<br />
+Nature, arrayed in rainbow colors fair,<br />
+Is strong of heart her vigil long to keep:<br />
+We know the secret thou dost seek to tell,&mdash;<br />
+Thou art immortal, Summer, fare thee well.</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Anna A. Gordon.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Heavenly Father, behind all changes dost Thou
+lurk in eternal constancy. Never lingering, each good
+of life gives place to the better Thou hast in store,
+and in glory and gladness resigns to that which comes
+after. From the good that is, may we learn to pass
+cheerfully to the better that is to be,&mdash;from the cool
+morning and sunny noon to the purple gloaming and
+the star-lit night, from the tender spring and glowing
+summer to the golden autumn and snow-pure winter,
+from the sweet life that now is to that fulness of realization
+whose sweeter splendors eye hath not seen nor
+the heart of man conceived. We place our hands in
+Thine and would walk with Thee in holiest trust and
+serenest peace. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Thomas W. Illman.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_248" id="page_248">[248]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>September 2</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p><i>
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">"I will be happy all the day</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Let come what may."</span><br />
+'Twas early morning when the word was said,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And like a journey 'cross a weary plain</span><br />
+There stretched the hours, but I was comforted<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As heart and voice sung o'er the sweet refrain,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">"I will be happy all the day</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Let come what may."</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">"I will make hope and only hope</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">My horoscope."</span><br />
+The sombre, brooding clouds of discontent<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Oppress one's spirit like a throbbing pain;</span><br />
+One frets and moans in one's environment,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But with a look ahead I sing again,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">"I will make hope and only hope</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">My horoscope."</span></i>
+</p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Frederick A. Bisbee.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Yea, Lord, we thank Thee that we may hope and
+be happy all the day for Omnipotence is our Father
+and our changeless Friend, and we have naught to
+fear. We are glad of life and thank Thee for all
+that makes it heroic or beautiful or sweet. We
+rejoice in our home, in our dear ones, and in the
+precious human loves that reflect the love divine.
+Pardon our sins, we pray Thee, and work out
+Thy purposes in us. May we work and hope on
+and be glad in Thee filling this day so full of
+useful employ that when the night shall come, we
+shall lie down to sleep upon Thy loving children
+like tired but happy children, and so find rest and
+refreshment for another day with men and Thee.
+Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Carl F. Henry.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_249" id="page_249">[249]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>September 3</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>There's a dance of leaves in that aspen bower,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">There's a titter of winds in that beechen tree,</span><br />
+There's a smile on the fruit, and a smile on the flower,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And a laugh from the brook that runs to the sea.</span></i>
+</p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">William Cullen Bryant.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>O sweet September! thy first breezes bring<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The dry leaf's rustle and the squirrel's laughter,</span><br />
+The cool, fresh air, whence health and vigor spring<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And promise of exceeding joy hereafter.</span></i>
+</p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">George Arnold.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>O Lord, we thank Thee for the spring, which
+brought her handsome promise, for the gorgeous
+preparation which the summer made in his manly
+strength, and we bless Thee for the months of autumn,
+whose sober beauty now is cast on every hill and every
+tree. We thank Thee for the harvests which the toil
+and the thought of man have gathered already from
+the surface of the ground, or digged from its bosom.
+We bless Thee for the other harvests still growing
+beneath the earth, or hanging abundant beauties in
+the autumnal sun from many a tree, all over our
+blessed Northern land. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Theodore Parker.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_250" id="page_250">[250]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>September 4</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Do right, and God's recompense to you will be the
+power to do more right. Give, and God's reward to you
+will be the spirit of giving more: blessed spirit, for it
+is the Spirit of God Himself, whose Life is the blessedness
+of giving. Love, and God will pay you with the
+capacity of more love; for love is Heaven, love is God
+within you.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Frederick W. Robertson.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>O Lord, we thank Thee for Thy manifold gifts
+unto the children of men. Thou givest life and all
+the sustenance of life. Thou givest our fair and
+beautiful world. Thou givest us the power of hope
+and faith and thought. From Thine own giving may
+we learn that it is more blessed to give than to receive.
+Teach us, O Lord, to give more freely and more gladly,
+and may we learn how our own life, and joy and
+growth are involved in the spirit in which we give and
+serve. In all our giving and all our serving may we
+keep before us the vision of the Master who gave
+Himself that we might live. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">George L. Perin.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_251" id="page_251">[251]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>September 5</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The soul that rises with us, our life's star,</span><br />
+Hath had elsewhere its setting,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And cometh from afar.</span><br />
+Not in entire forgetfulness,<br />
+And not in utter nakedness,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But trailing clouds of glory, do we come</span><br />
+From God who is our home:<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Heaven lies about us in our infancy,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">At length the man perceives it die away</span><br />
+And fade into the light of common day.</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">William Wordsworth.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>O Eternal God, Who art without beginning of days
+or end of years, from Whom cometh all our life;
+pardon, we beseech Thee, the sins of Thy children,
+wherein we have darkened Thine own image within
+us. Let not our light die away amid the common toil
+and daily care, but so glorify our life with Thy spirit,
+that we may gladly present both souls and bodies to
+Thy service an acceptable sacrifice, and, learning to
+love Thee above all things, may be approved in Thy
+sight as true disciples of Thy Son Jesus Christ. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">William E. Gaskin.</span>
+</p>
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_252" id="page_252">[252]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>September 6</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>A haze on the far horizon,<br />
+The infinite tender sky,<br />
+The ripe, rich tint of the corn-fields,<br />
+And the wild geese sailing high,<br />
+And all over upland and lowland<br />
+The charm of the goldenrod&mdash;<br />
+Some of us call it Autumn,<br />
+And others call it God.</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">William H. Carruth.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Once more, O God, Thou partest the curtains of
+night to bless us with a new day. In its dawning
+Thou revealest Thyself to us anew. Fresh beauties
+break upon our vision; new evidences of Thy goodness
+appear; new joys rise in our hearts. We thank
+Thee for the harvest of corn that feeds our bodies and
+the harvest of beauty that feeds our souls; for the blue
+of the distant hills and the wide stretch of meadow
+and prairie; for golden flower and flying bird; for
+the nearness of Thy presence in the brooding haze;
+for the thoughts unutterable that rise within us. In
+thankfulness may we go forth to our daily tasks and
+live in consciousness of Thy eternal presence and
+love. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Rodney F. Johonnot.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_253" id="page_253">[253]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>September 7</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>I come under your windows, some fine morning, and
+play you one of my adagio movements, and some of you
+say,&mdash;This is good, play us so always. But, dear
+friends, if I did not change the stop sometimes, the
+machine would wear out in one part and rust in another.
+How easily this or that tune flows! you say, there
+must be no end of such melodies in him. I will open
+the poor machine for you one moment, and you shall
+look. Every note marks where a spur of steel has
+been driven in. It is easy to grind out the song, but
+to plant these bristling points which make it was the
+painful task of time.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Oliver Wendell Holmes.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>We thank Thee, Father, for Thy love which, like
+the morning light, fails not to greet us at each opening
+day. While its radiant beams light up the pathway
+from our hearts to Thine, we come, with eager steps,
+for morning worship and for praise. Take Thou, we
+pray, the hand outstretched out to Thee and lead us
+safely through another day. Grant us the strength
+to do our very best and leave results with Thee. We
+do not ask for ease, but victory; not for the praise of
+men, but for the blessing of our God upon our heaven-appointed
+task. Grant us the joy supreme of knowing,
+when the sun has set, that we have left undone no
+duty to our God or fellowman. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">J. W. Annas.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_254" id="page_254">[254]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>September 8</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Admit into thy silent breast<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The notes of but one bird</span><br />
+And instantly thy soul will join<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In jubilant accord.</span><br />
+<br />
+The perfume of a single flow'r<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Inhale like breath of God,</span><br />
+And in the garden of thy heart<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A thousand buds will nod.</span><br />
+<br />
+Toward one star in heaven's expanse<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Direct thy spirit's fight,</span><br />
+And thou wilt have in the wide world,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">My child, enough delight.</span></i>
+</p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Johanna Ambrosius.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Our Father In Heaven, as Thou turnest the earth
+once more toward the light to give us another day may
+we not forget that all things come of Thee. Thou
+givest us this beautiful earth, adorned with a thousand
+varied beauties, crowded with opportunities and possibilities,
+for our home. Day and night, sunshine and
+the rain, labor and trial, joy and victory, all are from
+Thy hand. Whatever the circumstances of our life,
+whatever our labor and place, help us to remember
+that life is a school in which to learn, an arena where
+we may fight and win. May we gain wisdom and
+strength to win the victory which is life eternal, and
+in finding that may we find peace and content in Thee.
+Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Frederick A. Taylor.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_255" id="page_255">[255]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>September 9</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Give me the gospel of the fields and woods&mdash;<br />
+The sermons written in the book of books;<br />
+The sweet communion of the things of earth<br />
+Fresh with the warm baptism of the sun.<br />
+Give me the offertory of bud and bloom,<br />
+The perfect caroling of happy birds.<br />
+Give me the creed of one of God's fair days<br />
+Wrought in the beauty of its loveliness;<br />
+And then, the benediction of the stars,<br />
+His eloquent ministers of the night.</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">James Ravenscroft.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Heavenly Father, we praise Thee for the breaking
+day, the singing birds, the dew in the meadows, the
+fragrance of the flowers, ascending like old-time incense
+from Jewish altar, the sun gilding the hill-tops,
+the veiled stars, the gliding river, mirroring in its
+depths, sedge and tree and overhanging sky. Thou
+hast ordained that we nestle in the bosom of nature
+and feel the touch of God. Pour strength into our
+beings from bird and flower, and Thy spirit which
+moves in them, that our youth may be renewed like
+the eagle's. So shall the memories of earth enrich
+our heaven. We praise and supplicate in the name of
+Jesus. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">L. A. Freeman.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_256" id="page_256">[256]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>September 10</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Just whistle a bit if the day be dark<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And the sky be overcast:</span><br />
+If mute be the voice of the piping lark,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Why, pipe your own small blast.</span><br />
+<br />
+And it's wonderful how o'er the gray sky-track,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The truant warbler comes stealing back.</span><br />
+But why need he come? for your soul's at rest,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And the song in the heart,&mdash;ah, that is best.</span></i>
+</p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Paul Laurence Dunbar.</span>
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for the assurance
+that all things work together for good to them
+that love Thee. Help us to live this day in joyous
+faith in that promise. May we realize that behind all
+clouds the sun still shines, and that the Father's
+wisdom never errs, and his love never fails. Give us
+courage for this day's conflicts, grace for its trials, and
+strength for its duties. Guide our feet in the way of
+Thy commandments and fill our souls with the joy
+of Thy presence. May our lives no less than our lips
+praise Thee. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Charles F. Rice.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_257" id="page_257">[257]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>September 11</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>For each true deed is worship; it is prayer,<br />
+And carries its own answer unaware.<br />
+Yes, they whose feet upon good errands run<br />
+Are friends of God, with Michael of the sun;<br />
+Yes, each accomplished service of the day<br />
+Paves for the feet of God a lordlier way.<br />
+The souls that love and labor through all wrong,<br />
+They clasp His hand and make the Circle strong;<br />
+They lay the deep foundation stone by stone,<br />
+And build into Eternity God's throne!</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Edwin Markham.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Our Heavenly Father, we, Thy children, turn to
+Thee in gratitude and hope for this new day of opportunity.
+May our high calling in Christ Jesus loom
+large before our eyes. Deliver us, we humbly beseech
+Thee, from making ourselves and our concerns chief
+in thought and effort. May we find our lives in saving
+those whose sky is dark, whose burdens are heavy,
+and whose faith is perishing. With zest, as do the
+angels, when we hear Thy Spirit's voice, may we turn
+and obey. To let these hours of service prove to us,
+not only that Thou art, but that Thou art the rewarder
+of them that diligently seek Thee. Through Jesus
+Christ, our Lord. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">DeWitt S. Clark.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_258" id="page_258">[258]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>September 12</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Good name, in man or woman, dear my lord,<br />
+Is the immediate jewel of their souls.<br />
+Who steals my purse, steals trash; 'tis something, nothing;<br />
+'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands;<br />
+But he that filches from me my good name,<br />
+Robs me of that which not enriches him,<br />
+And makes me poor indeed.</i>
+</p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Shakespeare.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>God of all righteousness and charity, breathe upon
+me the spirit of thine own charity and righteousness,
+that I may deal worthily with the good name of every
+human being with whom I have to do. Help me, that
+I may bring no injury to the fair fame of any. May
+the law of kindness be in my lips, and the spirit of
+helpful justice in my heart. Inspire me to come,
+whenever I ought, to the rescue of the slandered, that
+I may deliver them into the liberty of human fellowship.
+And not to me alone, O God, but to all men,
+teach this divine lesson of fair judgment and sweet
+help, that they may live together as children in thy
+gracious family. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">William N. Clarke.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_259" id="page_259">[259]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>September 13</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>I searched for love in heart of city's hum;<br />
+I searched for love upon the shining sand<br />
+Of ocean beach; and then on towering cliffs I sung<br />
+A pleading song that love unto my heart might come;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">But love came not.</span><br />
+<br />
+I searched for love no more, but labored sore<br />
+To ease those hearts whom sorrow'd touched before,<br />
+Faint hope that in sweet work I'd surely find<br />
+Some compensation for a fate unkind&mdash;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">When, lo! love came.</span></i>
+</p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Bessie L. Russell.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For love and life and light and breath and ease,<br />
+For work, success and hope, for power to please,<br />
+For conscience clear, for faith without alloy,<br />
+For common share in common human joy,<br />
+I thank Thee, gracious God!<br />
+<br />
+For loneliness and shadow, sickness, care,<br />
+For failure, doubt, remorse, death, and despair,<br />
+For sleepless nights, for aching heart and brain,<br />
+For common share in common human pain,<br />
+I thank Thee, gracious God! Amen.</p>
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Margaret Wentworth.</span></p>
+</div>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_260" id="page_260">[260]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>September 14</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>In fallow fields the goldenrod<br />
+And purple asters beck and nod.<br />
+The milkweed launches fairy boats;<br />
+In tangled silver the cobweb floats.<br />
+Pervasive odors of ripening vine,<br />
+Fill the air like a luscious wine.<br />
+The gentian blooms on the browning waste;<br />
+With coral chains is the alder laced.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The blackbirds gather, and wheel and fly,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The swallows twitter a low "Goodbye!"</span></i>
+</p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Sara Andrew Shafer.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Father in Heaven, we love Thee, we cannot help
+it. Thy blessings around us on every side tell us of
+Thy love. Our love leaps involuntarily from our hearts
+responsive to these numberless delights. We thank
+Thee for the rich harvests that burden the fields, for
+the acres of beauty that reach over hill and through
+meadow, for the stars that make cheerful the night.
+Help us to bless Thee when the storms come to disappoint
+and destroy. May we realize that the tempest
+comes from the Good Father, that He has sent it, a
+great blessing in disguise. Great Father, help us to
+know and feel that everything coming from Thee is
+good. So may Thy Kingdom come to Thy children
+of earth. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Charles Edward Davis.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_261" id="page_261">[261]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>September 15</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Once, out of all the anguish and the sorrow of my heart,<br />
+I wrote a song, and put my pent-up passion in its art.<br />
+And the great world never heeded this soulful human groan,<br />
+For it bore a burden infinitely heavy of its own.</i><br />
+<br />
+<i>Once, out of all the happiness and joy within my breast,<br />
+I made a little song and blithely sent it on its quest.<br />
+And the great world, with its infinitely many joys, divine,<br />
+Still had room and instant welcome for this little song of mine.</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">William F. Dix.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>O God, I thank Thee that Thou hast numbered me
+with the children of the day. O Immanuel, make
+Thy Presence to be a sun within me this day. May
+I dispel clouds or reveal the rainbows ever half-hidden
+in robes of mists. May I melt snows and bring
+spring-time freshets of joy. May I shed light that
+shall turn groans into songs. May I shine on till I
+shall stand before the Great White Throne that is
+encompassed with an unbroken rainbow, and take
+up the angelic music among that starry host of souls
+who have found the true "music of the spheres,"
+and are:</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+"Forever singing as they shine,<br />
+'The hand that made us is divine.'"<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 10em;">Amen.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Elliott F. Studley.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_262" id="page_262">[262]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>September 16</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>All is best, though we oft doubt<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">What the unsearchable dispose</span><br />
+Of highest wisdom brings about,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And ever best found in the close.</span><br />
+Oft He seems to hide His face,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But unexpectedly returns,</span><br />
+And to his faithful champion hath in place<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bore witness gloriously.</span></i>
+</p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">John Milton.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Our Father, we have ever dwelt in Thee, though
+sometimes we have forgotten it. While our eyes slept,
+it may be that to our spirit's sight a ladder was set
+up on the earth and the top of it reached to heaven,
+and on it Thy angels were ascending and descending
+to help us. Now again, O Father, comes to us from
+Thy hand of love the food and the tasks of a new
+day. Help us then to put away the error from which
+we fled or should have fled yesterday. This morning
+let us set up the stone of our Bethel that through the
+day we may be reminded in all we do, that Thou art
+in this place with us. Whether we see Thee or not,
+let us take courage and make this a day nearer Thee.
+Fill us with Jesus' own large sympathies for others,
+with Jesus' purpose to seek and to serve the right,
+and especially grant us Jesus' complete trust in Thy
+perfect goodness. In His name, we ask it. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Merrill C. Ward.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_263" id="page_263">[263]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>September 17</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>As far as earth is from the sky,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">So Love is high.</span><br />
+Where Alpine lakes their vigils keep<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Is Love more deep.</span><br />
+<br />
+In Nature there no boundaries are<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That tell how far Love goes;</span><br />
+Love's measure, as each countless star,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">God knows.</span><br />
+<br />
+&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &#42; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &#42; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &#42; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &#42; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &#42; <br />
+
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">One only thing we know: Love comes to stay;</span><br />
+Though God's to give, it is not even His<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To take away.</span></i>
+</p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Marian Alden.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>O God, our Heavenly Father, we recognize our
+dependence upon Thee for the bounties of Thy never-failing
+Providence, and as we enter upon this new
+day to which Thou has safely brought us, we ask Thy
+help that we may receive it as a gift from Thee and
+may consecrate ourselves more perfectly in the least
+things as well as in the greatest, to Thy service. Help
+us to be faithful to all the duties and responsibilities
+of our lot. Deliver us from all useless discontent, all
+idle doubts and foolish fears. In all our dealings
+may we be simple and sincere. Strengthen us to do
+at every moment that which we feel to be right and
+good in Thy sight, and through loyal obedience to Thy
+will may we rise into a clearer vision of the things that
+belong to Thy heavenly kingdom. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">William H. Fish.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_264" id="page_264">[264]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>September 18</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Some people are always grumbling because roses
+have thorns. I am thankful that thorns have roses.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Alphonse Karr.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>There are those who want to get away from all their
+past; who if they could, would fain begin all over again.
+Their life seems one long failure. But you must learn,
+you must let God teach you, that the only way to get rid
+of your past is to get a future out of it.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Phillips Brooks.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Our Heavenly Father, the remembrance of Thee
+fills life with all that is most beautiful and bright.
+Our deepest sorrows, our most bitter experiences
+come when we forget Thee. No life can be a failure
+which strives to do Thy will. Sorrow may come to
+us, but just as an artist may darken a flower, in painting,
+before retouching it to make its color all the
+brighter, so we know that Thou, who givest color to
+the flowers, may for a season permit sorrow to darken
+our lives; but Thou art only in the midst of Thy
+work. At Thy retouch, life becomes the more beautiful.
+Help us to pray, not simply, "Lord, remember
+me," for it is not possible for Thee to forget Thy
+children; we pray "assist us to be always mindful
+of Thee." Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">E. McP. Amee.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_265" id="page_265">[265]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>September 19</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>The sooner we read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest
+a little Eastern apothegm of Howard Hinton's
+the better: Two balls were together in a box, a gold
+and a gilt ball. The gilt ball was carefully done up in
+tissue paper, and securely wedged into one corner; but
+the gold ball was loose, and went rolling about with
+every movement of the box. "Oh, please, do take care
+of yourself!" said the gilt ball, peeping out apprehensively
+from the folds of the tissue paper. "Why, where's
+the harm?" answered the gold ball, as it took a fresh
+lurch to an opposite corner. "Oh, how can you?"
+cried the other; "you'll rub it off." "Rub what off?"
+asked the gold ball.... The gold won't rub off....
+Only the gingerbread gilt.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Ellice Hopkins.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Heavenly Father, we hear the loving call of this
+new day and on the wings of the morning we would
+speed to the work and worship of the beautiful hours
+Thou hast given us. We thank Thee that Thou hast
+made us for the hurry of the market place as well as
+for the quiet of the home. May our own lives be
+brightened by contact with our fellowmen. May the
+pure gold of the Spirit of Christ be ours in purity of
+personal thought, in the benediction of words of
+strength and sweetness and in the varied service we
+may render our neighbors in the name of Jesus our
+Lord and Saviour. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">James F. Allen.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_266" id="page_266">[266]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>September 20</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>O heart of mine, we shouldn't worry so!<br />
+What we've missed of calm we couldn't have, you know!<br />
+What we've met of stormy pain,<br />
+And of sorrow's driving rain,<br />
+We can better meet again,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 7em;">If it blow!</span><br />
+<br />
+For we know, not every morrow can be sad;<br />
+So, forgetting all the sorrow<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 6em;">We have had,</span><br />
+Let us fold away our fears,<br />
+And put by our childish tears,<br />
+And through all the coming years,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 6em;">Just be glad.</span></i>
+</p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">James Whitcomb Riley.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Heavenly Father, Thy very name fills our hearts
+with confidence and peace. For we know that out
+of Thy Fatherly goodness all earthly providences are
+bestowed and administered for our good. So, for
+our unwilling submission, when Thou hast led us
+into hard and thorny pathways, we ask Thy generous
+forgiveness; and for our ingratitude when pleasure
+and prosperity have attended us, we entreat Thy
+tender patience. As Thou hast commanded us to rejoice
+in Thy salvation, may our hearts be filled with
+gladness to-day; and, as Thou hast counselled us
+that when we lack wisdom, we may ask of Thee, we
+beseech Thee to bestow upon us now and evermore
+the wisdom of cheerfulness and joy. In the name of
+Jesus, Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Edmund L. Smiley.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_267" id="page_267">[267]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>September 21</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>We all shrink, like cowards, from new duties, new
+responsibilities. We do not venture to go out of the
+beaten track of our daily life. Close to us, on each side
+of the road, are those whom we might help or save with
+one good action, one kind word. But we are afraid.
+We say: "I am not prepared; I am not ready; I
+have not time; I am not qualified; find some better
+person; send some one else." Perhaps we have only
+one talent, and, therefore, instead of using it, we hide
+it, and when the Master comes we shall meet him with
+the old answer: "I was afraid, and went and hid thy
+talent in the earth. Lo! there thou hast that is thine."</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">James Freeman Clarke.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>From the base sin of selfishness, O Lord, deliver us.
+Teach us by Thy life of ministry and sacrifice for
+others that the more fully and willingly we lose ourselves
+in service for our fellowmen, the more surely
+we shall find ourselves in Thee. As we go forth this
+day in paths that Thou hast prepared for us, help us
+to so forget ourselves in acts of kindness and words
+of comfort that each one whom our lives may touch,
+may become thereby a happier, purer, stronger soul.
+Take Thou the care of these lives of ours, while, with
+Thee, in busy streets and crowded shops where greed
+is grasping and sin is lurking, we shall try to care for
+souls of others, who need the help that we might give.
+Then, at the eventide today or on the morrow, it will
+be our joy like Thine to find ourselves again in hearts
+made happy, in lives inspired, in souls redeemed.
+Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">George B. Dean.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_268" id="page_268">[268]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>September 22</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Before God's footstool to confess<br />
+A poor soul knelt and bowed his head,<br />
+"I failed!" he wailed. The Master said,<br />
+"Thou didst thy best&mdash;that is success!"</i>
+</p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Anonymous.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Straight from the Mighty Bow, this truth is driven:<br />
+"They fail, and they alone, who have not striven."<br />
+Fly far, O shaft of light, all doubt redeeming,<br />
+Rouse men from dull despair and idle dreaming.<br />
+High Heaven's Evangel be, gospel God-given;<br />
+They fail, and they alone, who have not striven.</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Clarence Urmy.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>We thank Thee, O God, for the light that reveals to
+us the divine estimate of life, that lifts the veil of mystery
+from struggle and sacrifice and enables us to
+interpret their meaning as elements of successful
+living. We praise Thee for the truth that assures us
+that we are in this world to win, to overcome, to be
+more than conquerors. We pray that we may be too
+busy to dream and too brave to doubt. Strengthen
+us for life's conflict, help us to carry our burdens
+cheerfully, fight courageously, strive lawfully, that we
+may be worthy to be counted among those who shall
+receive the crown of righteousness and hear at last
+the "Well done" of the Master. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">George S. Scrivener.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_269" id="page_269">[269]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>September 23</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Be diligent and faithful, patient and hopeful, one
+and all of you; and may we all know, at all times, that
+verily the Eternal rules above us, and that nothing
+finally wrong has happened or can happen.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Thomas Carlyle.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>If you entered the workshop of a blacksmith, you
+would not dare to find fault with his bellows, anvils
+and hammers. If you had not the skill of a workman,
+but the consideration of a man, what would you say?
+"It is not without cause the bellows are placed there;
+the artificer knew, though I do not know, the reason."
+You would not dare to find fault with the blacksmith
+in his shop, and do you dare to find fault with God in
+His world?</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">St. Bernard.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>We thank Thee, O loving Father, that we are not
+alone in the universe with longing for the higher life.
+There are a thousand revelations of Thee in our
+fellowmen. And when we cannot find Thee, for
+blindness, in nature or in ourselves, we can see Thee
+revealed in the lives heroic that surround us. In the
+abstract Thou art hard to find; in the lives of men
+Thou art always visible. We thank Thee that there
+is a contagion of rightness and that love is a vital seed
+that fills the world with its kind. We are fearful of
+love sometimes, fearing to waste it on a loveless world.
+Help us to see that every atom we give becomes an
+ocean to ourselves. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Albert C. Grier.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_270" id="page_270">[270]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>September 24</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>To be at all&mdash;what is better than that?<br />
+I think if there were nothing more developed, the clam in its callous shell in the sand were august enough<br />
+I am not in any callous shell;<br />
+I am cased with supple conductors, all over<br />
+They take every object by the hand, and lead it within me;<br />
+They are thousands, each one with his entry to himself;<br />
+They are always watching with their little eyes, from my head to my feet;<br />
+One no more than a point lets in and out of me such bliss and magnitude,<br />
+I think I could lift the girder of the house away if it lay between me and whatever I wanted.</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Walt Whitman.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for all the
+delicate beauty as well as for the rugged strength of
+these bodies in which Thou hast set us to live. But
+more wonderful than the habitation of the soul is the
+soul itself. Thou hast made us a little lower than
+the angels, Thou hast crowned us with glory and
+honor, and we join reverently in the words of the great
+poet-prophet who said of man&mdash;"In action how like
+an angel, in apprehension how like a God!" O
+Lord, we thank Thee for this great thought of our own
+life. Yet let us not be vain nor proud. We pray
+rather that we may be inspired to live so earnestly
+and so nobly that we shall prove our title now to all
+that we have dreamed as our natural birthright. So
+shall we feel ourselves to-day sons and daughters of
+God. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">George L. Perin.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_271" id="page_271">[271]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>September 25</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>I do believe the common man's task is the hardest.
+The hero has the hero's aspiration that lifts him to his
+labor. All great duties are easier than the little ones,
+though they cost far more blood and agony.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Phillips Brooks.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Thus man is made equal to every event. He can
+face danger for the right. A poor, tender, painful body,
+he can run into flame or bullets or pestilence, with duty
+for his guide.... I am not afraid of accident as long
+as I am in my place.... Every man's task is his
+life-preserver. The conviction that his work is dear to
+God and cannot be spared, defends him.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Ralph Waldo Emerson.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>O Thou Who art the giver of every good and perfect
+gift, help us better to understand the measure of
+Thy giving; that we count not those blessings only
+which make life smooth and easy and of tame comfort
+but the things that make life resolute and hearty, and
+that put to test the vigor of our souls, that give us
+chance to prove our high nobility and unfaltering courage;
+the things that build for the soul's fine substance
+of eternal worth&mdash;these are Thy blessings, too, for
+which we thank Thee. Give us entrance into Thine
+eternal living through strong activity and zest of life;
+that manhood have its eager challenge and womanhood
+its glowing opportunity to assert themselves as
+winning joy through bafflement and Thy strong peace
+that passeth not away, through steadfast consecration
+to high service. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">George H. Badger.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_272" id="page_272">[272]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>September 26</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>If I can put one touch of a rosy sunset into the life of
+any man, or woman I shall feel that I have worked
+with God. He is in no haste; and if I do what I may
+in earnest I need not worry if I do no great work. Let
+God make His sunsets; I will mottle my little cloud.
+To help the growth of a thought that struggles toward
+the light, to brush with gentle hand the earth stain from
+the white of one snowdrop&mdash;such be my ambition.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">George MacDonald.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Help us, our Father, to know that we have here at
+hand all that we need to make this day what it ought
+to be; that we need not look afar, but in the duty of
+this present moment, in the opportunity to learn, to
+serve and thus to grow, which the morning offers, is
+all that is necessary to make this day sound and
+serviceable; in such a day we shall find enduring joy
+and from it Thou, the Giver of all days, wilt derive
+satisfaction, since it will do its full share in fulfilling
+Thy purpose. And may we see that if we make our
+todays what they should be Thou wilt take care of the
+tomorrows. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Herbert E. Benton.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_273" id="page_273">[273]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>September 27</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>My neighbor hath a little field,<br />
+Small store of wine its presses yield,<br />
+And truly but a slender hoard<br />
+Its harvest brings for barn or board.<br />
+Yet tho' a hundred fields are mine,<br />
+Fertile with olive, corn and wine;<br />
+Tho' Autumn piles my garners high,<br />
+Still for that little field I sigh.<br />
+For ah! methinks no otherwhere<br />
+Is any field so good and fair.<br />
+Small tho' it be, 'tis better far<br />
+Than all my fruitful vineyards are,<br />
+Amid whose plenty sad I pine&mdash;<br />
+"Ah, would the little field were mine!"<br />
+Large knowledge void of peace and rest,<br />
+And wealth with pining care possest&mdash;<br />
+These by my fertile lands are meant.<br />
+That little field is called Content.</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Robertson Trowbridge.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Heavenly Father, as prayed Thy servant of old,
+so we this morning repeat "Give us neither poverty
+nor riches." Help us this day, in whatsoever state
+we are, therewith to be content. May no complaining
+word proceed out of our mouths. Above all
+may no murmuring thought lodge within us. So
+shall we rest in peace with Thee, and God, even our
+God, shall bless us. Yet, O Lord, forbid that we
+should remain satisfied with any portion, which our
+best effort, with Thine assistance, can improve.
+Then shall we grow in grace and more and more
+approach the stature of true men and women, in
+Christ Jesus. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">M. Emory Wright.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_274" id="page_274">[274]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>September 28</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Forenoon and afternoon and night&mdash;Forenoon<br />
+And afternoon and night,&mdash;Forenoon, and&mdash;what?<br />
+The empty song repeats itself. No more?<br />
+Yea, that is life. Make this forenoon sublime,<br />
+This afternoon a psalm, this night a prayer,<br />
+And time is conquered, and thy crown is won.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Edward Rowland Sill.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Help me, O Lord, if I shall see<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Times when I walk from hope apart,</span><br />
+Till all my days but seem to be<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The troubled week-days of the heart.</span><br />
+<br />
+Help me to find, in seasons past,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The hours that have been good or fair,</span><br />
+And bid remembrance hold them fast,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To keep me wholly from despair.</span><br />
+<br />
+Help me to look behind, before,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To make my past and future form</span><br />
+A bow of promise, meeting o'er<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The darkness of my day of storm.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 14em;">Amen.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span class="smcap">Ph&oelig;be Cary.</span></p>
+</div>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_275" id="page_275">[275]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>September 29</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>The iris-pillar suggested the burning bush on Horeb.
+In Moses' time, nature, in the regard of science, was a
+mere bush, a single shrub. Now it has grown, through
+the researches of the intellect, to a tree. The universe
+is a mighty tree; and the great truth for us to connect
+with the majestic science of these days, and to keep
+vivid by a religious imagination, is, that from the roots
+of its mystery to the silver-leaved boughs of the firmament,
+it is continually filled with God, and yet unconsumed.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">T. Starr King.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, who in all
+ages has been revealing Thyself to men as a God of
+righteousness and love, we approach Thy throne of
+grace this morning confessing our unworthiness and
+pleading Thy forgiving love. While humbling ourselves
+before Thee because of the consciousness of our
+unworthiness, we yet approach Thee, our Father,
+with filial trust and confidence, yea, with gladness of
+heart and holy boldness in the all-prevailing name of
+Jesus Christ our Lord. We bless Thee for Thy watchful
+care over us amid all the dangers, temptations and
+difficulties of the past. Truly Thou hast been with us,
+and although Thy people have often been surrounded
+by fire, the bush has not been consumed. In the
+future as in the past, be Thou our God and Guide
+and finally bring us into Thine everlasting Kingdom,
+through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">A. K. MacLennan.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_276" id="page_276">[276]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>September 30</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Would you like to hear what sort of questions the
+school-boys had to answer eighteen centuries ago?
+Very well; you shall. A rabbi, who lived nearly
+twenty years before Christ was born, set his pupils
+thinking by asking them, "What is the best thing for
+a man to possess?" One of them replied, "A kind
+nature;" another, "A good companion;" another,
+"A good neighbor." But one of them, named Eleazer,
+said, "A good heart." "I like your answer best, Eleazer,"
+said the master, "for it includes all the rest."</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Francis Augustus Cox.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Our Father in heaven, we are happy to believe that
+Thou dost wish us to have the best. Thou dost teach
+us that the best possession we can have is a good heart,
+for out of the heart are the issues of life. Thou art
+the searcher of hearts,&mdash;if our hearts are hard Thou
+canst give us hearts of flesh, if they are sinful Thou
+canst create clean hearts within us. Even if they are
+desperately wicked Thou canst make them new.
+Grant us, therefore, Thy Holy Spirit we humbly beseech
+Thee, that our hearts may be pure and good.
+Thus may we ever possess the best possible treasure,
+and thus may we perfectly love Thee and worthily
+magnify Thy holy name. Through Jesus Christ our
+Lord. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Willard T. Perrin.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_277" id="page_277">[277]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>October 1</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Month of fruits and falling leaves,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Under thy opalescent skies</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The vagrant summer idly lies,</span><br />
+While coming Autumn deftly weaves<br />
+Rare tints for tall ungarnered sheaves<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of goldenrod, kissing the eyes</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of purple asters as she dyes</span><br />
+The vine that swings beneath the eaves.<br />
+<br />
+And all the bending hedgerows seem<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A Joseph's coat of colors. Hues</span><br />
+That shame the rainbow's royal arch<br />
+Set all the harvest fields a-gleam<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With beauty, fresh with fragrant dews</span><br />
+To crown the season's onward march.</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">George W. Shipman.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Author and Giver of every good and perfect gift
+whose infinite presence and power underlie all growth
+and life and activity, Who revealest Thyself in the
+varied forms of beauty which come so rapidly in the
+revolving year, in the green grass and blossoming
+roses and lilies and refreshing, fast-succeeding fruits,
+we thank Thee that Thou art now crowning the year
+with Thy goodness and inviting us to gather in from
+tree, garden, field, forest, mine, what will feed, clothe,
+protect us during the wintry season given us, free from
+arduous labors, to find enjoyment in books, music
+and social intercourse. These blessings remind us to
+present to Thee the fruits of the spirit, love, joy, peace,
+long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
+meekness, temperance. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Calvin S. Locke.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_278" id="page_278">[278]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>October 2</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>One answered, on the day when Christ went by,<br />
+"Lord, I am rich; pause not for such as I.<br />
+My work, my home, my strength, my frugal store,<br />
+The sun and rain&mdash;what need have I of more?<br />
+Go to the sinful who have need of Thee,<br />
+Go to the poor, but tarry not for me.<br />
+What is there Thou should'st do for such as I?"<br />
+And He went by.<br />
+<br />
+Long years thereafter, by a palace door,<br />
+The footstep of the Master paused once more<br />
+From whence the old voice answered piteously,&mdash;<br />
+"Lord, I am poor, my house unfit for Thee;<br />
+Nor peace nor pleasures bless my princely board,<br />
+Nor love nor health; what could I give Thee, Lord?<br />
+Lord, I am poor, unworthy, stained with sin,&mdash;"<br />
+Yet He went in.</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Mabel Earle.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>We who are poor in spirit, turn to Thee who art the
+giver of every good and perfect gift, to hold out our
+empty hands and pray that Thou wilt make us rich.
+During the past days and years we have been out in
+Thy world striving for more things and then more
+things and yet more things, forgetful of the fact
+that a man's life consisteth not in the abundance
+of the things which he possesseth. Now, realizing the
+poverty of our real lives, we ask Thee to bestow upon
+us those eternal riches which pertain to the human
+soul and possessing which we shall have treasure in
+that heaven within where moth and rust do not corrupt
+nor thieves break through and steal. So shall
+we be rich indeed. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Frank Oliver Hall.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_279" id="page_279">[279]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>October 3</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p><i>
+<span style="margin-left: 9em;">Be strong!</span><br />
+We are not here to play, to dream, to drift.<br />
+We have hard work to do, and loads to lift.<br />
+Shun not the struggle; face it. 'Tis God's gift.<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 9em;">Be strong!</span><br />
+Say not the days are evil,&mdash;who's to blame?<br />
+And fold the hands and acquiesce&mdash;O shame!<br />
+Stand up, speak out, and bravely, in God's name.<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 9em;">Be strong!</span><br />
+It matters not how deep intrenched the wrong,<br />
+How hard the battle goes, the day how long,<br />
+Faint not, fight on! Tomorrow comes the song.</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Maltbie Davenport Babcock.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>O our Father, we thank Thee for this new morning.
+Truly the light is sweet and a pleasant thing it is for
+the eyes to behold the same. Lift Thou upon us the
+light of Thy countenance and bid us go in peace.
+So shall we begin the day aright. With gentle skill
+Thou dost deal with us. Thou art not careless with
+us or hasty or impatient. Help us to be strong in
+Thee. May we be able to cast out of our lives everything
+that would grieve Thee and harm us. With a
+loving spirit may we serve Thee this day. May we be
+rooted and grounded in love. However hard the
+battle may go give us courage and confidence to believe
+that through Christ, strengthening us, we can
+do all things required of us. Lord, increase our
+faith. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">J. E. Hawkins.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_280" id="page_280">[280]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>October 4</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Nobody proves God's being. But, suddenly, one sees
+God is here. One speaks and God answers. Thereafter
+all is sure.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Edward Everett Hale.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>There is nothing that so persuades us of the great
+realities of moral and spiritual being as the man in
+whom God is manifest, the type of our human nature
+at its best, and the indorsement of the sublime faith
+that God in humanity is the supreme revelation of
+Himself!</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Horatio Stebbins.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Blessed Father, as the morning light has triumphed
+in its struggle to overcome darkness, so Thou dost
+gently but irresistibly call us from slumber to the
+glories and duties of the new day. May we be strong
+in the sweet assurance that the unfolding hours are
+full of blessing because Thou art caring for us. Help
+us to do Thy will by enabling us to minister to those
+around us. May the words of our mouth and the
+industry of our hands reveal Thy guiding love. Enable
+us to order our ways by the habit of trust that we have
+learned through Thy constancy. Wilt Thou disappoint
+our fears, steady our hearts, and show us the
+way of obedience, peace and service that we may
+realize the good through the day and rejoice in it, as
+disciples of Christ. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">James D. Corby.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_281" id="page_281">[281]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>October 5</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Thou knowest not what argument<br />
+Thy life to thy neighbor's creed hath lent;<br />
+All are needed by each one;<br />
+Nothing is good or fair alone.</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Ralph Waldo Emerson.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<blockquote><p><i>Men will not be content to live every man for himself,
+nor to die every man for himself. In work, in art, in
+study, in trade&mdash;in all life, indeed, the children of God,
+called by a Saviour's voice, will wish to live in the common
+cause. They will live for the common wealth,&mdash;this
+is the modern phrase. They will bear each other's
+burdens,&mdash;this is the phrase of Paul. They will live
+in the life of love. And it will prove true as it was
+promised, that all things are added to the community
+which thus seeks the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Edward Everett Hale.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Eternal God, who dost still create the light, and
+make the morning and the evening of our days, by
+Thy light we look to Thee. In Thy light we worship
+Thee. Gird us with strength to work with Thee to
+bring Thy Kingdom in. May we lose and find ourselves
+again in the larger whole of life by ministering
+to others' needs; by bearing others' burdens; by
+sharing their joys and tears and the common fruits of
+toil, thus making our life and faith in Thee become
+their own. Let Thy work appear unto Thy servants,
+and establish Thou the work of our hands upon us;
+yea, the work of our hands establish Thou it; and let
+Thy beauty and Thy glory be upon us forever and
+ever. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">C. E. Holmes.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_282" id="page_282">[282]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>October 6</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Master, to do great work for Thee, my hand<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Is far too weak! Thou givest what may suit,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Some little chips to cut with care minute,</span><br />
+Or tint, or grave, or polish. Others stand<br />
+Before their quarried marble, fair and grand,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And make a life-work of the grand design</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Which Thou hast traced; or, many-skilled, combine</span><br />
+To build vast temples, gloriously planned.<br />
+Yet take the tiny stones which I have wrought<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Just one by one, as they were given by Thee,</span><br />
+Not knowing what came next in Thy wise thought.<br />
+Let each stone by Thy master-hand of grace<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Form the mosaic as Thou wilt for me</span><br />
+And in Thy temple-pavement give it place.</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Frances Ridley Havergal.</span>
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Father, we are shortsighted and weak, and hence
+cannot do our best work without Thine aid. We rejoice
+in the privileges and opportunities of this day.
+Thou hast counted us worthy to work for Thee. Thou
+canst use our loaves and fishes, but dost require us
+to bring thus our little all for Thy blessing. We are
+inspired with hope to make our consecration to Thee.
+Make this a day of glorious service. Guide us in our
+thoughts and work. Glorify Thyself in our life. And
+wherever the close of this day may find us may it be
+with the feeling that we have done our best by Thy
+blessing and help. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">J. W. Fulton.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_283" id="page_283">[283]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>October 7</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>"Whatever the weather may be," says he&mdash;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">"Whatever the weather may be,</span><br />
+It's the songs ye sing, an' the smiles ye wear,<br />
+That's a-making the sun shine everywhere;<br />
+An' the world of gloom is a world of glee,<br />
+Wid the bird in the bush, an' the bud in the tree<br />
+An' the fruit on the stim o' the bough," says he,<br />
+"Whatever the weather may be," says he&mdash;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">"Whatever the weather may be!"</span></i>
+</p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">James Whitcomb Riley.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>O Father of Lights, with whom can be no variation,
+neither shadow that is cast by turning, help us today
+so to trust Thee that our joy may be unclouded. Thy
+love is unchanging in its radiance and warmth.
+Therefore let it glow in me and through me light
+someone who may be in darkness. O strong Son of
+God, who art the same, yesterday, today, yea, and
+forever, enable us, we beseech Thee, to be brave and
+cheery as though Thyself wast in the darkest hours
+as in the brightest. Teach us that the storm and trial
+is just our opportunity to shine. Cleanse us of all
+disobedience and darkness. Be our constant Comforter.
+Let others see that it is Christ within us. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Thomas W. Smith.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_284" id="page_284">[284]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>October 8</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Look up to God, and say, "Make use of me for the
+future as Thou wilt. I am of the same mind; I am
+equal with Thee. I refuse nothing which seems good
+to Thee. Lead me whither Thou wilt. Clothe me in
+whatever dress Thou wilt. Is it Thy will that I should
+be in a public or private condition; dwell here, or be
+banished; be poor or rich? Under all these circumstances
+I will make Thy defence to men. I will show
+what the nature of everything is."</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Epictetus.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Merciful Father, we begin this day, knowing not
+what the end may be, with thoughts of Thee and Thy
+loving kindness. May this be to us a day of joy, a
+day upon which we can look back and say we have
+been blessed by Thee. We pray for that spirit that
+enabled others to labor in the cause of love and
+righteousness, and while we may not be able to accomplish
+all the good we have set our hearts upon,
+may the thought that our lives and our labors have
+not been in vain, inspire us and others with courage
+to continue the work of helping and blessing our
+fellowmen. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Donald Fraser.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_285" id="page_285">[285]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>October 9</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Men deny the Divine Existence with as little feeling
+as the most assert it. Even in our true systems we go
+on collecting mere words, playmarks and medals, as
+the misers do coins; and not till late do we transmute
+the words into feelings, the coins into enjoyments. A
+man may for twenty years believe the immortality of
+the soul; in the one-and-twentieth, in some great
+moment, he for the first time discovers with amazement
+the rich meaning of this belief, and the warmth of this
+naphtha-well.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Richter.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>O Thou Who slumberest not, nor sleepest, in the
+dawn of this new day we look trustingly to Thee.
+While the night has been enfolding us, Thy loving
+care has held us in the everlasting arms. May this
+day be for us a fresh consecration. May we be ennobled
+in Thee. May we share Thy life in things
+small or great. However humble our lives&mdash;however
+emptied our experience of that which wins the
+plaudits of men, may we manifest Thee. By us may
+Thy Kingdom come and Thy will be done. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">George H. Young.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_286" id="page_286">[286]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>October 10</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Thou wilt not hold in scorn the child who dares<br />
+Look up to Thee, the Father,&mdash;dares to ask<br />
+More than Thy wisdom answers. From Thy hand<br />
+The worlds were cast; yet every leaflet claims<br />
+From that same hand its little shining sphere<br />
+Of star-lit dew; thine image, the great sun,<br />
+Girt with his mantle of tempestuous flame,<br />
+Glares in mid-heaven; but to his noontide blaze<br />
+The slender violet lifts its lidless eye,<br />
+And from his splendor steals its fairest hue,<br />
+Its sweetest perfume from the scorching fire.</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Oliver Wendell Holmes.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Thou great Spirit of life and power, we do not shrink
+in terror before Thee, but come to Thee in trust and
+love. Though we cannot fathom the mystery of Thy
+life nor measure the might of Thy power, yet we have
+learned to call Thee Father; and even as the violet
+lifts its face to the noonday sun to find the secret of its
+life, so we lift our faces to Thee, to find the secret of
+our lives. Thou answerest us with tenderness. Thou
+speakest to us in love. Fresh from sleep, we put our
+hands in Thine to be led forth to the duties of the day.
+May we go forth with that confidence and hope, which
+are born of trust in Thee, our Father. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">George L. Perin.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_287" id="page_287">[287]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>October 11</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Now believe me, God hides some ideal in every
+human soul. Some time in our life we feel a trembling,
+fearful longing to do some good thing. Life finds its
+noblest spring of excellence in this hidden impulse to
+do our best. There is a time when we are not content
+to be such merchants or doctors or lawyers as we see on
+the dead level or below it. The woman longs to glorify
+her womanhood as sister, wife or mother. Here is God,&mdash;God
+standing silently at the door all day long,&mdash;God
+whispering to the soul that to be pure and true is
+to succeed in life and that whatever we get short of that
+will burn up like stubble, though the whole world try to
+save it.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Robert Collyer.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>God of all power and might, come into our lives
+with Thy might and Thy power. Awaken us from
+that slumber of death-in-life which easily and sweetly
+steals through the door, and, like some new Delilah,
+binds the strong will within. Come, come as the fresh
+morning sun, to drive away the mist of our sloth and
+indecision. Come, enter; and bring with Thee the
+upstirring power and the wide radiance of the life
+divine. Come, enter, and abide! When Thou art
+absent, though life be easy, it doth not satisfy us; but
+when Thou art present, though life be hard, it doth
+also content us. O God of all power and might, come
+Thou into our lives with Thy might and Thy power.
+Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Melvin Brandow.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_288" id="page_288">[288]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>October 12</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>If you really want to help your fellowmen, you must
+not merely have in you what would do them good if they
+should take it from you, but you must be such a man
+that they can take it from you. The snow must melt
+upon the mountain and come down in a spring torrent,
+before its richness can make the valley rich. And yet
+in every age there are cold, hard, unsympathetic wise
+men standing up aloof, like snow banks on the hill tops,
+conscious of the locked up fertility in them and wondering
+that their wisdom does not save the world.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Phillips Brooks.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>O Thou, who hast kept us safely during the unconsciousness
+of our slumbering hours and brought us
+refreshed to this morning light, prepare us for the
+duties of this day by filling us with the assurance that
+we are Thine, and that Thou lovest us. Help us to be
+more like Thee, to love Thee more and serve Thee
+better. May we manifest our love to Thee by our
+willingness to be of service to our fellowmen. Make
+us warm-hearted and true, helpful and kind, reflecting
+Thy love and doing Thy will. We are glad to live in
+this beautiful world. And we pray that we may be
+faithful co-laborers with Jesus Christ, in bringing light,
+love and joy to all lives. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Eugene M. Grant.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_289" id="page_289">[289]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>October 13</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>A few more smiles of silent sympathy, a few more
+tender words, a little more restraint in temper, may
+make all the difference between happiness and half-happiness
+to those I live with.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Stopford A. Brooke.</span><br />
+</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Others shall sing the song,<br />
+Others shall right the wrong,<br />
+Finish what I begin,<br />
+And all I fail to win,<br />
+What matter, I or they,<br />
+Mine or another's day,<br />
+So the right word be said,<br />
+And life the sweeter made?</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">John Greenleaf Whittier.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Father, so little of the world in which we live is Thy
+world, so much our world, the petty, dwarfed world of
+our own small vision, that we lose heart and fail to do
+our share. Help us to see that, as in the densest
+swamps the sweetest flowers grow, so, even in our
+darkest hours, we still may be sweet at heart, saying
+the word, doing the deed, giving the sympathy, that
+will make the world sing and blossom. If there are
+times when pain and darkness obscure our vision of
+Thee, help us to look on to the sunset of our day,
+when the black pall is transfigured at the touch of Thy
+glory,&mdash;when sorrow and failure transcended by
+gentleness are our beauty and salvation. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">John M. Davidson.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_290" id="page_290">[290]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>October 14</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>There is not a man in the world who is not saved by
+hope every day of his life. Rob one of hope and you
+have robbed him of his power. Nothing may so quickly
+unnerve a man and render him helpless as to take hope
+out of his heart. What is poverty? What is sickness?
+What is disaster? What are daily burdens? What
+signifies the desertion of friends, what of death itself
+so long as a man can hope? The man who hopes will
+brush every difficulty out of the way. He will put aside
+every suggestion of failure. Take hope out of a man's
+heart and you have taken all. Put hope into a man's
+heart and you have given all.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">George L. Perin.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>We thank Thee, O God, for the light of another
+morning, for the privilege of entering upon another
+day. We shall meet with those who do not understand
+life nor the world in which we live. It is to them only
+a place to bear burdens, to toil, to endure. Give us,
+O Father, understanding minds and hearts. Teach
+us to know that life is a great opportunity, that Thy
+plans for each one are very broad, that the world is
+full of open doors; and inspired by this knowledge
+may no despondent soul cross our path without being
+helped and made to feel that every life through the
+love of God and the guidance of God may be made
+sublime. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Alexander Dight.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_291" id="page_291">[291]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>October 15</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Ho! for the bending sheaves,<br />
+Ho! for the crimson leaves<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Flaming in splendor!</span><br />
+Season of ripened gold,<br />
+Plenty in crib and fold,<br />
+Skies with a depth untold<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Liquid and tender.</span></i>
+</p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">James Russell Lowell.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Source Infinite and Eternal of Light and Life;
+Creator of being flowing on forever; Minister far and
+wide of unspeakable bounty; Through whose power
+rise the riches of Nature; From whose abundance
+descend all gifts to man; Soul of our souls and safeguard
+of the world; To whom all Intelligence looks
+through every dawn; And by whose support the heart
+of man is stayed; Let there be to our steps paths of
+brightness; to our lives laws of justice, kindness,
+and trust, that we may abound in doing good and by
+grace, mercy, and truth duly shown, may obtain
+grateful remembrance evermore. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Edward C. Towne.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_292" id="page_292">[292]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>October 16</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>There is something in the autumn that is native to my blood<br />
+Touch of manner, hint of mood;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And my heart is like a rhyme,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With the yellow and the purple and the crimson keeping time.</span><br />
+<br />
+The scarlet of the maples can shake me like a cry<br />
+Of bugles going by.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And my lonely spirit thrills</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To see the frosty asters like a smoke upon the hills.</span></i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Richard Hovey.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>O Father, my heart is lonely till I feel Thy spirit
+near, and then the glory of the season brings a message
+to my soul. Help me now to see Thy master hand in
+the great beauty of the world. May my soul that feels
+the glad riot of color know that he who gives such
+beauty and bounty has for me far richer blessings in
+the great fields of the future. May this day, begun
+with Nature's rhythm be set with the music of holy
+purpose and noble service. And may the music sound
+not alone for me, but for others that we together may
+march forward in the spirit of Him who loved the
+lilies of the field and the fowls of the air. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Charles E. Varney.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_293" id="page_293">[293]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>October 17</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Thousands of years ago a leaf fell on the soft clay,
+and seemed to be lost. But last summer a geologist in
+his ramblings broke off a piece of rock with his hammer,
+and there lay the image of the leaf, with every line and
+every vein and all the delicate tracery preserved in the
+stone through those centuries. So the words we speak
+and the things we do today may seem to be lost, but in
+the great final revealing the smallest of them will appear.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">James Russell Miller.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Our Father we thank Thee for the light of this new
+day. Tenderly Thou hast withdrawn the curtain of
+the night and shown us the beauties and glories of
+Nature, reminding us of Thine own blessed verdict
+in the dawn of creation, "Behold they are very good."
+Good indeed, is it to live in such a world, and we
+thank Thee for our being. We ask this morning, dear
+Lord, not for the perishing things of earth, but for
+continued power and disposition to enjoy Thee and
+Thy works, for a faith that never wavers and a hope
+that never grows dim, for such a portion of this world's
+goods as the wise may enjoy without harm and the
+righteous hold without wrong. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">James Sallaway.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_294" id="page_294">[294]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>October 18</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Nay, I wrong you, little flower,<br />
+Reading mournful mood of mine<br />
+In your looks, that give no sign<br />
+Of a spirit dark and cheerless:<br />
+You possess the heavenly power<br />
+That rejoices in the hour,<br />
+Glad, contented, free and fearless,&mdash;<br />
+Lifts a sunny face to heaven<br />
+When a sunny day is given;<br />
+Makes a summer of its own,<br />
+Blooming late and all alone.</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Henry Van Dyke.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>We thank Thee, O Father, that, to those who obey
+the command of Jesus to consider them, the flowers
+become prophets of God and preachers of righteousness.
+We thank Thee for the worship which They
+render Thee, so pure, so brave, so glad, and so acceptable.
+They may not hinder Thee and Thou dost
+work Thy perfect will in them; O give us the wisdom
+and the grace to make Thee welcome to our hearts
+until in us also Thou shalt work Thy perfect will. So
+may we find our true use and felicity, and render
+unto Thee the praise that is Thy due. And this
+we ask through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Charles R. Tenney.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_295" id="page_295">[295]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>October 19</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness!<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Close bosom friend of the maturing sun;</span><br />
+Conspiring with Him how to load and bless<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run;</span><br />
+To bend with apples the moss'd cottage trees,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;</span><br />
+To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel-shells<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With a sweet kernel; to set to budding more</span><br />
+And still more later flowers for the bees,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Until they think warm days will never cease,</span><br />
+For summer has o'er brimmed their clammy cells.</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">John Keats.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Our dear Heavenly Father, Thou hast ever been
+wooing us by a thousand influences and voices to Thyself
+and our souls are ever restless till they rest in Thy
+love. The voices of nature everywhere speak to us
+of Thy goodness and Thy power and all verdure and
+blossom and fruitage is but the answer of the inanimate
+world to Thy call of life. Shall we do less than
+these, O God, when upon us Thou hast stamped
+Thine own image and made our being the house
+beautiful for Thine indwelling! We are Thy disciples
+indeed if we bear much fruit and have love one for the
+other. Mould us, fashion us, mature us, dear Lord,
+till the angels, watching at the gates and on the towers,
+say we look like Thee. And this we ask in Jesus'
+name. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">George M. Smiley.</span></p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_296" id="page_296">[296]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>October 20</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>I pluck an acorn from the greensward, and hold it to
+my ear and this is what it says to me: "By and by the
+birds will come and nest in me. By and by I will furnish
+shade for the cattle. By and by I will provide warmth
+for the home in the pleasant fire. By and by I will be
+shelter from the storm to those who have gone under the
+roof. By and by I will be the strong ribs of the great
+vessel, and the tempest will beat against me in vain,
+while I carry men across the Atlantic." "O foolish
+little acorn, wilt thou be all this?" I ask. And the
+acorn answers, "Yes, God and I."</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Lyman Abbott.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Almighty God, we believe that Thou art present
+and controlling in all the operations of Nature. Not
+a sparrow falls to the ground without Thy notice. All
+life is of Thy giving. Plants, animals, and worlds
+alike are governed by Thy laws. We realize in some
+measure Thy Omnipotence. We should fear to draw
+near to Thee if Thou hadst not revealed Thyself to us
+in Jesus Christ as a God of love. Thou, O God, art
+love. We believe that Thou wilt give to all Thy
+children eternal life. As from the acorn comes the
+oak, clothed in royal beauty, seemingly life from death,
+so from what seems death shall our immortal spirits
+rise to dwell forever with Thee. We adore Thee, O
+God. We love Thee for Thy goodness and Thy love
+shown to us. Be gracious unto us and bless us for
+our Saviour's sake. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Cyrus Northrop.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_297" id="page_297">[297]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>October 21</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>I suppose every day of earth, with its hundred
+thousand deaths and something more of births,&mdash;with
+its loves and hates, its triumphs and defeats, its pangs
+and blisses, has more of humanity in it than all the books
+that were ever written, put together. I believe the flowers
+growing at this moment send up more fragrance to
+heaven than was ever exhaled from all the essences ever
+distilled.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Oliver Wendell Holmes.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Our Heavenly Father, Thou art in all nature and in
+all human history. If we really know our world and
+our fellowmen and ourselves, we shall know Thee.
+As we enter upon the work of this new day, we pray
+that we may feel Thy presence with us. Thou art
+never far away from us; we cannot get away from
+our world, and we cannot fly from ourselves. Thou
+art with Thy world and Thou art with Thy children.
+We ask not so much for Thy presence, as for the consciousness
+of Thy presence. May we learn to know
+Thee in the world about us and in the secret places of
+our own hearts. Then shall all life be fragrant and
+beautiful and this day somewhat divine. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">George L. Perin.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_298" id="page_298">[298]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>October 22</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>The best thing to take people out of their own worries,
+is to go to work and find out how other folk's worries
+are getting on.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Socrates thought that if all our misfortunes were laid
+in one common heap, whence every one must take an
+equal portion, most persons would be content to take
+their own and depart.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Plutarch.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Our Father in Heaven, the light of this new day is
+the light of Thy countenance, therefore we rejoice.
+In Thy sunshine our souls find strength for the burdens
+Thou dost give, and even through Thy shadows
+we reach the peace which passeth understanding.
+Yet Thou art comfort to us that we may comfort the
+troubled and the distressed with the comfort wherewith
+we ourselves are comforted. Set Thou our
+feet in the paths of service. Make us, we pray Thee,
+glad ministers of Thy mercy, and in binding up the
+wounds of others may we have balm for our own.
+By this day, may we grow in patience and power, and
+in the knowledge of Thy love. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Leon O. Williams.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_299" id="page_299">[299]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>October 23</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Life has a thousand pages&mdash;love and scorn,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hope and adventure, poverty and sin,</span><br />
+Despair and glory, loneliness forlorn,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Age, sorrow, exile, all are writ therein&mdash;;</span><br />
+And on each page, however stern or sad,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Are words which gleam upon the crabbed scroll,</span><br />
+Revealing words, that make our spirits glad,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And well are worth the study of the soul.</span><br />
+We may not lightly shrink from any leaf,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For on it may be writ the word we need.</span><br />
+God turns the page&mdash;whatever joy or grief<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">He opens for us, let us wisely read.</span></i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Priscilla Leonard.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Fill our souls with Thy light, O God, that we may
+ever hope. Give us the poise of endless progress.
+Make our souls free and joyous as the bird's wing.
+Give us the courage of our convictions in all places,
+under all conditions. Make us brave. Take away
+all forms of fear, whether of man, of nature, or of Thee,
+and make us feel that each is our mighty friend, but
+Thou supreme over all, faithful each moment to our
+being, in ten thousand sweet, true, tender, life-giving,
+life-sustaining ministries. Teach us to look for Thee
+everywhere, and to see Thy order, and Thy beauty,
+facing all things Heavenward. May our ideals be
+perfect holiness, perfect strength, perfect love, perfect
+service. Make our faith great in the higher estate,
+where our faculties, only dawning here, shall rise in a
+glorious morning of the soul. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">A. N. Alcott.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_300" id="page_300">[300]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>October 24</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Suppose a kindly word of mine<br />
+Could lift the clouds and bring sunshine;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Am I my brother's keeper?</span><br />
+<br />
+Suppose the weary worker toils,<br />
+For scanty pittance delves and moils;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Am I my brother's keeper?</span><br />
+<br />
+Suppose in penury and fear<br />
+My neighbor see the wolf draw near;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Am I my brother's keeper?</span><br />
+<br />
+&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &#42; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &#42; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &#42; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &#42; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &#42; <br />
+
+<br />
+Perhaps&mdash;who knows?&mdash;perhaps I'm not!<br />
+Self-centred soul! hast thou forgot<br />
+The marvel of our common lot,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The mystic tie that binds us all</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Who dwell on this terrestrial ball,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Stupendous hope of time and song,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The bourne for which the ages long?</span><br />
+How hard our hearts must seem to Thee,<br />
+Exhaustless Fount of Charity!</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Henry Nehemiah Dodge.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>We thank Thee, our Father, for the light of a new
+day and for its opportunities of service for Thee and
+Thy great Cause. We rejoice that Thou dost not
+only set duty clearly before us, but also dost grant
+power to perform it. May we realize not only that
+we are "our brother's keeper," and that our lives are
+helpful or harmful every day, but may we be increasingly
+grateful that we may every day by Thy
+grace be fellow-helpers and workers together with
+God. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">William Full.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_301" id="page_301">[301]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>October 25</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>It is of no use to dispute about the Indian Summer.
+I never found two people who could agree as to the time
+when it ought to be here, or upon a month and day when
+it should be decidedly too late to look for it. It keeps
+coming. For my part, I think we get it now and then,
+little by little, as "the Kingdom" comes. That every
+soft, warm, mellow, hazy, golden day, like each fair,
+fragrant life, is a part and out-crop of it; though weeks
+of gale and frost, or ages of cruel worldliness and
+miserable sin may lie between.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Vouchsafe Thy blessing, O Heavenly Father, upon
+this morning service of thanksgiving and prayer. We
+thank Thee that each year Thou sendest seed-time
+and harvest, to us Thy children. For the beauty
+and bounty of the Autumn, for all Thy material gifts,
+for friends and home, and for our precious Christian
+faith, we are deeply grateful to Thee. Give us the
+attentive mind, the receptive heart, that we may see
+Thy providence and love in every event of life.
+Banish fear and doubt from our minds. Guard us
+from all temptations. May the Spirit of Christ abide
+in our hearts, and enable us to glorify Thee in all our
+works and lives. In its power and glory may Thy
+Kingdom come, and remain upon the earth forever.
+Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Elbert W. Whitney.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_302" id="page_302">[302]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>October 26</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Pleasant smiles, gentle tones, cheery greetings,
+tempers sweet under a headache or a business care or
+the children's noise; the ready bubbling over of thoughtfulness
+for one another, and the habits of smiling, greeting,
+forbearing, thinking in these ways; it is these
+above all else which makes one's home "a building
+of God; a house not made with hands," these that we
+hear in the song of "Home, Sweet Home."</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">William C. Gannett.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Almighty Father, the light of another day breaks in
+upon our lives, to reveal to us unfinished tasks and
+unsought duties. The sorrows and joys of the coming
+day are hidden from our sight, enswathed in the folded
+hours of toil. But Thou knowest all our heedless
+ways and tempers that chafe from impatience; Thou
+seest the measure of our needs and dost consider our
+desires. Give unto us the consciousness of Thine
+everlasting arms about us. And then when the shadows
+lengthen and the twilight hushes the hum of toil,
+our spirits shall know no weariness and bear no stain.
+Give ear unto this our morning prayer, O Thou
+Light of Light. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Francis Treadway Clayton.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_303" id="page_303">[303]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>October 27</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>How can people help loving things, when they are
+full of life magnetism, that even a finger touch gets the
+thrill of?</i></p>
+
+<p><i>It is not the sunshine, or any other tangible why,
+that accounts for the pleasantness of old house corners.
+It is the pureness and the pleasantness that have
+clustered there; the very walls have drunk these in.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Our Heavenly Father, wilt Thou keep our home
+life bright and sweet? Guard our lips from harsh
+words, our lives from shame. If quarrels arise, help
+us to be the first to forgive and forget. In the hour of
+temptation may we say no, because of a father's
+splendid honor, and a mother's pure face! In the
+time of trial or seeming defeat may we be brave and
+of good cheer! Teach us that home is made dear,
+not by its furnishings, but by the memories and inspirations
+of the hours we spent under its roof with
+those who loved us and were always tender and true!
+Bind us together in the bonds of love and peace, and
+keep us always united and a happy family. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Henry R. Rose.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_304" id="page_304">[304]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>October 28</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>There are loyal hearts, there are spirits brave,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">There are souls that are pure and true;</span><br />
+Then give to the world the best you have,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And the best shall come back to you.</span><br />
+<br />
+Give love, and love to your heart will flow,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A strength in your utmost need;</span><br />
+Have faith, and a score of hearts will show<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Their faith in your word and deed.</span><br />
+<br />
+For life is the mirror of king and slave,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">'Tis just what you are and do;</span><br />
+Then give to the world the best you have,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And the best will come back to you.</span></i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Madeline S. Bridges.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>Almighty Father, we come to Thee for a Father's
+blessing, that this day we may go about Thy work and
+enter into Thy business, alive in Thy spirit and strong
+in Thy strength. We ask this for ourselves, each of
+us, that we may be knit to each other as brothers with
+brothers, to bear each other's burdens. We ask it
+most of all for home, that in home-life there always
+may be joy and peace and love, each seeking another's
+good, brothers and sisters with sisters and brothers,
+fathers and mothers with their children, that home
+may be the place of Thy holy spirit and the home of
+joy. Today we would come and go as Thy messengers,
+in our own lives welcoming the Father, who
+is with us seeking Thy strength and asking for Thy
+good will. Bless us today with Thy blessing. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Edward Everett Hale.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_305" id="page_305">[305]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>October 29</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>We are never more discontented with others than
+when we are discontented with ourselves. The consciousness
+of wrongdoing makes us irritable, and our
+heart in its cunning quarrels with what is outside it,
+in order that it may deafen the clamor within.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>In the conduct of life, habits count for more than
+maxims, because habit is a living maxim, become flesh
+and instinct. To reform one's maxims is nothing;
+it is but to change the title of the book. To learn new
+habits is everything, for it is to reach the substance of
+life. Life is but a tissue of habits.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Henri-Frédéric Amiel.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Our Heavenly Father, we pray that our daily life
+may take on that dignity and calmness and tranquillity
+which are the possession of those who truly
+and inwardly trust and confide in the eternal Goodness,
+who believe that our days are ordered by a
+Higher Power, and that through all there runs a
+thread,&mdash;a chain of Infinite Love, binding us all to
+Thee and to one common universal good and blessedness.
+In this faith, keep us, O Holy Father, and,
+filled with love to Thee and to our neighbor, may we
+pursue our way and do our work, anxious only to have
+Thee in all our thoughts. In Thy name, Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Joshua Young.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_306" id="page_306">[306]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>October 30</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Thus pass away the generations of men!&mdash;thus
+perish the records of the glory of nations! Yet, when
+every emanation of the human mind has faded, when
+in the storms of time the monuments of man's creative
+art are scattered to the dust, an ever new life springs
+from the bosom of the earth. Unceasingly prolific
+Nature unfolds her germs, regardless though sinful
+man, ever at war with himself, tramples beneath his
+foot the ripening fruit!</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Alexander von Humboldt.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Infinite Spirit, Thou buildest the monuments of
+Thy power in the rocks of the mountains, but Thou
+buildest the monuments of Thy love in the hearts of
+men. When the bodies and the works of men have
+perished the rocks will abide and the trees will bear
+their fruit. But when the rocks have crumbled the
+souls of men will abide. If that which is seen is
+temporal, we thank Thee O Lord, that the unseen is
+eternal. We are awed by the majesty of the seas and
+the mountains. But we are inspired by the immortality
+of the soul. Heavenly Father, may we live
+today as if made for eternity. So may our lives be
+dignified and glorified. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">George L. Perin.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_307" id="page_307">[307]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>October 31</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p><i>
+<span style="margin-left: 7em;">God doth not need</span><br />
+Either man's work, or His own gifts, who best<br />
+Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best; His state<br />
+Is kingly; thousands at His bidding speed<br />
+And post o'er land and ocean without rest:&mdash;<br />
+They also serve who only stand and wait.</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">John Milton.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>O God, who didst give to Thy servant light in his
+blindness and music in the heart, grant that I may
+this day be swift to run on all errands of mercy and
+truth, or patient to wait Thy will, if so Thou commandest.
+Make me as unswerving as are the stars
+above me, as trustful as the birds who sing at dawn,
+and fear not what the day may bring. May I be
+strong to resist all evil, and cleave to that which is
+good. May I be conscious that in the loneliest hour
+Thou art near, and in the most solitary place there is
+the communion of saints. May Thy power flow
+through human weakness, and may all the trials and
+testings of life lead me constantly to the Rock that is
+higher than I. So may Thy will be done in my life
+as it is in heaven. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">W. H. P. Faunce.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_308" id="page_308">[308]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>November 1</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>I saw the long line of the vacant shore<br />
+The sea-weed and the shells upon the sand,<br />
+And the brown rocks left bare on every hand,<br />
+As if the ebbing tide would flow no more,<br />
+Then heard I, more distinctly than before,<br />
+The ocean breathe and its great breast expand,<br />
+And hurrying came on the defenceless land<br />
+The insurgent waters with tumultuous roar.<br />
+All thought and feeling and desire, I said,<br />
+Love, laughter, and the exultant joy of song<br />
+Have ebbed from me forever! Suddenly o'er me<br />
+They swept again from their deep ocean bed<br />
+And in a tumult of delight, and strong<br />
+As youth, and beautiful as youth, upbore me.</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Henry W. Longfellow.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>We give Thee hearty thanks, most Holy Father
+that Thou hast not delivered up our souls to the
+emptiness and longing of despair. In Thy mercy and
+wisdom hast Thou ordained that we may taste ever
+afresh the deepest joys of life and ever anew feel the
+thrill of its loftiest inspirations. Like the sea is our
+life for its largeness; like the sea in its ebbs and flows.
+O Father of Life, flood our souls this day with a tide
+from the ocean of Thine own love lifting our lives to
+highest service and bliss. And Thine shall be all the
+honor and praise. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">E. W. Lutterman.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_309" id="page_309">[309]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>November 2</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>The bird, let loose in Eastern skies,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When hastening fondly home,</span><br />
+Ne'er stoops to earth her wing, nor flies<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Where idle warblers roam.</span><br />
+But high she shoots through air and light<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Above all low delay,</span><br />
+Where nothing earthly bounds her flight,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nor shadow dims her way.</span><br />
+<br />
+So grant me, God, from every care,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And stain of passion free,</span><br />
+Aloft, through Virtue's purer air,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To hold my course to Thee!</span><br />
+No sin to cloud&mdash;no lure to stay<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">My soul, as home she springs;&mdash;</span><br />
+Thy sunshine on her joyful way,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thy freedom in her wings!</span></i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Thomas Moore.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>O God, who art both life and truth, the Author of
+our being and the light which lighteneth all, the source
+of our soul's life, and the goal towards which we strive,
+as cleaves the lark at dawn the heavenly blue, so may
+our souls be freed from sense, whose music siren-like
+would seek to draw us from our flight to Thee. As
+that same bird rejoices in the morning light, and
+sounds its note of praise, so may our souls be tuned to
+heavenly symphonies, and may the sunshine of Thy
+love, resplendent in secure omnipotence, give glad
+assurance to our hearts, nor cease to guide our way,
+until we reach that central orb, our soul's true home,
+and find eternal rest in Thee. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Albert B. Shields.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_310" id="page_310">[310]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>November 3</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>There is ever a song somewhere, my dear;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">There is ever a something sings alway:</span><br />
+There's the song of the lark when the skies are clear<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And the song of the thrush when the skies are gray,</span><br />
+The sunshine showers across the grain,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And the bluebird trills in the orchard tree;</span><br />
+And in and out, when the eaves drip rain,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The swallows art twittering ceaselessly.</span><br />
+<br />
+There is ever a song somewhere, my dear,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Be the skies above or dark or fair,</span><br />
+There is ever a song that our hearts may hear&mdash;<br />
+There is ever a song somewhere, my dear&mdash;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">There is ever a song somewhere!</span></i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">James Whitcomb Riley.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>O God, the Giver of all harmony and joy, before
+whom the morning stars sang together, by Whom the
+voice of the sparrow is heard, we thank Thee that we
+may serve Thee with gladness and come before Thy
+presence with singing. Put Thy new song into our
+mouths and help us to render the acceptable praises
+of the upright and pure in heart. Help us to love all
+Thy creatures and to delight in the songs Thou hast
+taught them. Especially enable us to bless our brother
+men, to hush their sighing and swell their singing, to
+strengthen the chorus of joy and praise with which
+Thou hast ordained the world shall be filled. We ask
+with confidence because we know Thy love. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">J. Francis Cooper.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_311" id="page_311">[311]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>November 4</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>The snow has capped yon distant hill,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">At morn the running brook was still,</span><br />
+From driven herds the clouds that rise<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Are like the smoke of sacrifice;</span><br />
+Ere long the frozen sod shall mark<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The ploughshare, changed to stubborn rock.</span><br />
+The brawling stream shall soon be done&mdash;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sing, little bird! the frosts have come.</span></i>
+</p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Oliver Wendell Holmes.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, Thou art the
+giver of all good gifts, and all that comes from Thy
+hand is good. May we accept Thy providences. In
+the dreary days of winter as in the pleasant summer
+season, Thy mercies are new every morning and fresh
+every evening. Even when our hearts are chilled with
+grief and disappointment and failure, we would still
+put our trust in the eternal goodness. Help us, O God,
+to be truly grateful for everything that comes to us.
+In the winter of the soul may we learn the lessons of
+patience and resignation. Thus, with faith triumphant
+and with hearts full of gladness may we sing our songs
+of praise to Thy holy name forever and forever. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Arthur W. Grose.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_312" id="page_312">[312]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>November 5</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>It is will alone that matters!<br />
+Will alone that mars or makes,<br />
+Will, that no distraction scatters,<br />
+And that no resistance breaks.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Henrik Ibsen.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>No man can choose what coming hours may bring<br />
+To him of need, of joy, of suffering;<br />
+But what his soul shall bring unto each hour<br />
+To meet its challenge&mdash;this is in his power.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Priscilla Leonard.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Infinite God, Who perceivest the destinies of worlds
+and of men; Who bringest to pass all that we enjoy,
+and Who permittest all that we suffer; may I this day
+be enabled to recognize Thy Fatherly goodness, in
+the morning mists, even as in the noonday brightness!
+Should sorrow becloud my pathway, should disappointment
+make its keen thrusts, should temptation
+lay its attractive coils, may my soul be made aware
+of Thy consoling presence, enjoy the compensations
+of Thy grace, assert the potency of the wisdom from
+above! And mayest Thou reveal Thyself! So may be
+fanned to a flame the divine spark in my heart, whereby
+all are made partakers of the victory with and
+through our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Ernest W. Burch.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_313" id="page_313">[313]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>November 6</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>"Yes," she answered, lifting her eyes to his face;
+"I, too, have felt it, Hermas, this burden, this need,
+this unsatisfied longing. I think I know what it means.
+It is gratitude;&mdash;the language of the heart, the music
+of happiness. There is no perfect joy without gratitude.
+But we have never learned it, and the want of it troubles
+us. It is like being dumb with a heart full of love. We
+must find the word for it, and say it together. Then we
+shall be perfectly joined in perfect joy."</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Henry Van Dyke.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Almighty God, forbid that we shall ever be satisfied
+with the rich gifts of Thy land, or until the gifts have
+brought us, appreciative, humble, grateful, to Thee,
+the giver of them all. Help us to see that this is their
+high office, disregarding which the noblest of them
+becomes a stumbling block, accepting which the
+humblest of them becomes a means of grace and of
+surpassing gladness. Move us, then, to such acceptance
+of Thy favors as shall bring us to Thee rejoicing,
+that we may need less the experiences which shall
+bring us to Thee weeping. And hallow all our human
+loves by lifting us to a common sense and acknowledgment
+of Thy transcendent love, as shown especially
+in Jesus Christ. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Charles R. Tenney.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_314" id="page_314">[314]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>November 7</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>"What is the real good?"<br />
+I asked, in musing mood.<br />
+"Order," said the court;<br />
+"Knowledge," said the school,<br />
+"Truth," said the wise man,<br />
+"Pleasure," said the fool,<br />
+"Love," said the maiden,<br />
+"Beauty," said the page,<br />
+"Freedom," said the dreamer,<br />
+"Home," said the sage;<br />
+"Fame," said the soldier,<br />
+"Equity," said the seer.<br />
+Spake my heart full sadly&mdash;<br />
+"The answer is not here."<br />
+Then within my bosom<br />
+Softly this I heard:<br />
+"Each heart holds the secret;<br />
+Kindness is the word."</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">John Boyle O'Reilly.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>Oh, Father, we are in a world of wonder and of
+bountiful promise. We scarcely know which to choose.
+Of all life's quests we would seek the highest and best.
+Thou art a Lord gracious and kind. Grace is but
+another name for kindness. It is this which is pronounced
+as a benediction Sabbath after Sabbath, and
+for which we lift up our faces morning after morning,
+to receive. Crown us with Thy loving kindness and
+tender mercies. But not for ourselves alone! As we
+meet the weary and heavy burdened in life, inspire us
+to show them the kindness of our God. As freely as
+we have received, so freely may we impart. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">W. G. Richardson.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_315" id="page_315">[315]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>November 8</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>What a blessed thing it is that we can forget! Today's
+troubles look large, but a week hence they will be forgotten
+and buried out of sight. Says one writer, "If
+you should keep a book and daily put down the things
+that worry you, and see what becomes of them, it would
+be a benefit to you." The art of forgetting is a blessed
+art, but the art of overlooking is quite as important.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Aughey.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Lord, we know not the path our feet must walk
+today; yet we are not anxious. "Thy word will be
+a lamp to our feet," and what we need to know Thou
+wilt reveal just when we need to know it. Help us
+not to forget that we are under our Father's care;
+that He knoweth our frame, that He will not unduly
+burden us; that He will not "suffer us to be tempted
+beyond that which we are able to bear;" that He will
+make "all things work together for good to them
+that love Him." So may this day be one of peace to
+us, and through us may some troubled heart find rest.
+Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">George Skene</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_316" id="page_316">[316]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>November 9</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Learn to laugh. A good laugh is better than medicine.
+Learn to tell a story. A well told story is as welcome as
+a sunbeam in a sick room. Learn to keep your own
+troubles to yourself. The world is too busy to care for
+your ills and sorrows. Learn to do something for
+others. Even if you are a bedridden invalid there is
+always something that you can do to make others happier,
+and that is the surest way to attain happiness for
+yourself.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">The Beacon.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Father of all mankind, may the spirit of cheer mark
+this new day. May the smile of Thy benediction rest
+upon us, and give courage to meet the duty and bear
+the burden. Help us each moment to know something
+of the highest joy of serving Thee. May that
+joy never be absent from our pain. May it consecrate
+every pleasure. May it lift us nearer the stature of
+the Christ, that the light of our life may shed its beams
+on the pathway of other lives,&mdash;a light in their darkness,
+an assurance of sympathy in affliction, an inspiration
+to do and endure. So may all gladly go to
+their appointed duty, one with Thee, even as Christ,
+whose followers we aim to be. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Charles T. Billings.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_317" id="page_317">[317]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>November 10</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Take whatever is good in man, and argue that God
+is not only that, but infinitely better than that. In
+fashioning your conception of God, make it as resplendent
+in justice, as august in truth, as noble and pure in
+love, as radiant and wondrous in pity, as enduring as
+you please. Never be afraid that you will overdraw
+the divine character. God is never better in your thought
+or imagination than He is in Himself.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Henry Ward Beecher.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Almighty God, we thank Thee for the great thoughts
+and high hopes which lie deep in human hearts. We
+thank Thee for the visions of the perfect life which
+lead us ever toward the light. We long to follow
+those who lead the way to Thee. By faith and love
+may we be bound to them. As voices of Thy spirit
+may they be to us. Bless us this day with hunger for
+righteousness. Feed us with the bread of life. Endow
+us with high hopes and determined wills, that we may
+be faithful. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Frederick W. Betts.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_318" id="page_318">[318]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>November 11</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>There was a man who smiled<br />
+Because the day was bright;<br />
+Because he slept at night;<br />
+Because God gave him sight<br />
+To gaze upon his child!<br />
+Because his little one<br />
+Could leap and laugh and run;<br />
+Because the distant sun<br />
+Smiled on the earth, he smiled.</i><br />
+<br />
+<i>He toiled and still was glad<br />
+Because the air was free;<br />
+Because he loved, and she<br />
+That claimed his love and he<br />
+Shared all the joys they had!<br />
+Because the grasses grew;<br />
+Because the sweet wind blew;<br />
+Because that he could hew<br />
+And hammer he was glad.</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">S. E. Kiser.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>O Lord, who dost bountifully provide for us the
+necessities and comforts of life, and makest us glad
+in the enjoyment of the same; grant, we beseech
+Thee, that we may so use these, Thy gifts, that in
+all our blessings we find Thee to be the source and
+author of all our happiness&mdash;of our health and prosperity,
+of our joys and hopes, and of the holy relations
+of friends and family; lest, resting content in that
+which is less, we fail to attain to that which is greatest&mdash;truly
+to know Thee and to love Thee, which is
+the very end of our being and the consummation of
+all bliss; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">William H. P. Hatch.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_319" id="page_319">[319]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>November 12</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p><i>
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">I have seen</span><br />
+A curious child, who dwelt upon a tract<br />
+Of inland ground, applying to his ear<br />
+The convolutions of a smooth-lipped shell;<br />
+To which, in silence hushed, his very soul<br />
+Listened intensely; and his countenance soon<br />
+Brightened with joy; for from within were heard<br />
+Murmurings, whereby the monitor expressed<br />
+Mysterious union with its native sea:<br />
+Even such a shell the universe itself<br />
+Is to the ear of Faith; and there are times,<br />
+I doubt not, when to you it doth impart<br />
+Authentic tidings of invisible things;<br />
+Of ebb and flow, and ever-during power;<br />
+And central peace, subsisting at the heart<br />
+Of endless agitation.</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">William Wordsworth.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Father of Lights, with whom can be no variation or
+shadow that is cast by turning, give to me the joy of the
+love that endures as seeing Him who is invisible; that
+where Thy speaking voice is, there may be my listening
+ear; that above the waste and clamor of the tasks that
+exhaust me in bodily strength, there may be supplied
+a power of will to do the right and a fellowship with
+all righteous men everywhere. Help me to remember
+that Life consists not in the abundance of the things
+I possess. Let my faith see through doubt, endure
+through temptation and privation, and cleave
+steadfastly to God, remembering that Love believing is
+Love triumphing. Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
+Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Adolph A. Berle.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_320" id="page_320">[320]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>November 13</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>When Jeremy Taylor had lost all&mdash;when his house
+had been plundered and his family driven out of doors,
+and all his worldly estate had been sequestered&mdash;he
+could still write thus: "I am fallen into the hands of
+publicans and sequesterers, and they have taken all
+from me. What now? Let me look about me. They
+have left me the sun and moon, a loving wife and many
+friends to pity me, and some to relieve me; and I can
+still discourse, and, unless I list, they have not taken
+away my merry countenance and my cheerful spirit
+and a good conscience; they have still left me the providence
+of God, and all the promises of the Gospel, and
+my religion, and my hopes of heaven, and my charity
+to them, too; and still I sleep and digest, I eat and drink,
+I read and meditate&mdash;and he that hath so many causes
+of joy and so great, is very much in love with sorrow
+and peevishness, who leaves all these pleasures, and
+chooses to sit down upon his little handful of thorns."</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Samuel Smiles.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Father of all mercies, Who Thyself art more to us
+than the utmost of Thy gifts; we thank Thee for those
+blessings of our life which come like the manna fresh
+every morning and pass with the passing day. Still
+more we thank Thee for the blessings which abide,
+like a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night, witness
+of Thine own presence ever continuing with us. Give
+us grace and wisdom so to receive the ministries of
+this new day, that by means of them we may enter
+more fully into the Divine friendship and the everlasting
+habitations. Whatever may fail us, grant us
+such hold upon Thyself as shall be the having of all
+things, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">James Fairbairn Brodie.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_321" id="page_321">[321]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>November 14</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Native goodness is unconscious, asks not to be recognized;<br />
+But its baser affectation is a thing to be despised.<br />
+Only when the man is loyal to himself shall he be prized.<br />
+<br />
+&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &#42; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &#42; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &#42; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &#42; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &#42; <br />
+
+<br />
+If I live the life He gave me, God will turn it to His use.</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Bayard Taylor.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Live not without a friend! the Alpine rock must own<br />
+Its mossy grace or else be nothing but a stone.</i><br />
+<br />
+<i>Live not without a God! however low or high,<br />
+In every house should be a window to the sky.</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">William Wetmore Story.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Eternal God, who hast neither dawn nor evening,
+yet sendest us alternate mercies of the darkness and
+the day; there is no light but Thine, without, within.
+As Thou liftest the curtain of night from our abodes,
+take also the veil from our hearts. Rise with Thy
+morning upon our souls: quicken all our labor and
+our prayer: and though all else declines, let the noontide
+of Thy grace and peace remain. May we walk,
+while it is yet day, in the steps of Him who, with
+fewest hours, finished Thy divinest work. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">James Martineau.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_322" id="page_322">[322]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>November 15</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>I found it difficult the other night to cross a muddy
+street because of the deep shadow cast by my own body
+which stood between the electric light and the walk over
+which I was crossing. Not a little of the time, I fear,
+do we stand in our own spiritual light, making our
+own pathway black with ugly shadows cast by our own
+personality, while the light flashes all around us. If
+you would avoid the shadows walk toward the electric
+light in the heavens and let its beams fall in your face.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">George L. Perin.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Our pathway, Heavenly Father, is dark and lone.
+Sad and sinister suggestions born in our own hearts
+blind our souls and stay our steps. But with Thee
+there is no night. Light is Thy shadow. Unto Thee,
+therefore, we would turn in the sweet surrender of
+the spirit. In our darkness which leadeth unto death
+show us the way. Walking by Thy guidance, intent
+upon Thy will, may we rest with unforgetting memory
+upon Thy sevenfold promise of life. Give us the gift
+of the morning star. With Thee by our side may this
+new day bring us a new vision of duty, a larger girding
+for life, the nobler hope, the truth that makes men
+free. And unto Thee be thanks, praise and glory. Amen.</p>
+
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Franklin Hamilton.</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_323" id="page_323">[323]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>November 16</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>The first principle of Christianity is to forget one's
+self. When Wilberforce was straining every energy
+to get his bill for the emancipation of slaves passed, a
+lady once said to him, "Mr. Wilberforce, I'm afraid
+you are so busy about those slaves that you are neglecting
+your own soul." "True, madam," he said; "I had
+quite forgotten that I have one." That remark contains
+one of the deepest truths of Christianity.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Henry Drummond.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>O Lord, give us the mind of the Master! We would
+look on our fellow creatures as he looked on them. We
+would be free from all taint of envy, jealousy, and sin.
+We would have his single eye and his hearing ear.
+We know that Thou art in man, for it is Thy spirit
+which quickens within him every pure thought and
+moves to every unselfish deed. Give us a due sense
+of humility and appreciation that we may enter
+into the secret thought and understand the sincere
+purpose of all the toilers of this present world! Thus
+would we abide forever with the saints, the seers,
+and the singers, of all climes and ages! Amen.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Eben H. Chapin.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_324" id="page_324">[324]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>November 17</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Do we not know that more than half our trouble is
+borrowed? Just suppose that we could get rid of all
+unnecessary and previous terror; just suppose that we
+could be sure of final victory in every conflict, and final
+emergence out of every shadow into brighter day; how
+our hearts would be lightened! How much more bravely
+we should work and fight and march forward! This
+is the courage to which we are entitled and which we
+may find in the thought that God is with us everywhere.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Henry Van Dyke.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>O Gracious and Infinite Presence, Thou art the
+peace that dwells in the shade of night and the brightness
+and hope of this new day. We are gratefully
+conscious of the loving strength that stands ever ready
+to help. The call of the day's work is in our ears and
+the courage manfully to labor is in our hearts.
+Strengthen us, Father, when weariness of toil dissolves
+our noble resolutions; calm us when petty
+vexations distract from our holy purposes. May
+midday find us refreshed by Thy grace and eventide
+solaced by Thy benediction. And now as we go forth
+to duty let our hearts know no terror but the fear of
+wrong-doing and our minds no anxiety but the earnest
+desire to toil fruitfully. Grant that we may see beneath
+life's busy activities the great good Thou art
+working out among men and to this end learn to labor
+and to wait. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Charles R. East.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_325" id="page_325">[325]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>November 18</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>There is no thing we cannot overcome.<br />
+Say not thy evil instinct is inherited,<br />
+Or that some trait inborn makes thy whole life forlorn,<br />
+And calls down punishment that is not merited.<br />
+Back of thy parents and grandparents lies<br />
+The Great Eternal Will. That, too, is thine<br />
+Inheritance, strong, beautiful, divine,<br />
+Sure lever of success, for him who tries.<br />
+Pry up thy faults with this great lever, Will,<br />
+However deeply bedded in propensity,<br />
+However firmly set, I tell thee firmer yet<br />
+Is that strange power that comes from truth's immensity!</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Ella Wheeler Wilcox.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>O Eternal Goodness, help us now, as another
+morning dawns, to readjust ourselves to Thy purpose
+of blessing. We believe that the most certain, significant
+and permanent fact of the universe is that Thou
+art our Father. Thus we are the heirs of Thy sufficient
+grace. There is no curse of ancestry for him who
+knows Thee as His parent. There is no weakness of
+the flesh for him who, through touch with Thee, becomes
+strong in the spirit. Help us all through this
+day to deny the chain of every earthly folly and sin, to
+stand erect and free as becometh children of the
+Infinite. So, finding and using the wisdom of our
+Master, who, most of all men, gained success, may we
+overcome the world. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">George E. Huntley.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_326" id="page_326">[326]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>November 19</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>All things seem rushing straight into the dark&mdash;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 7em;">But the dark still is God.</span></i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">George MacDonald.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Love is and was my king and lord,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And will be, tho' as yet I keep</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Within the court on earth, and sleep</span><br />
+Encompass'd by his faithful guard,<br />
+<br />
+And here at times a sentinel<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Who moves about from place to place,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And whispers to the worlds of space,</span><br />
+In the deep night, that all is well.</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Alfred Tennyson.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>O God, our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee
+that Thou hast led us into this new day. We thank
+Thee also, that, though its experiences are untried and
+its issues involved in uncertainty, we are unafraid,
+full indeed of glad expectation, because we know Thee
+as our King and Lord. Help us in obedience and love
+to keep close to Thee, so that, if ever quick darkness
+shall come upon us, we may still be undisturbed because
+of Thy presence, to whom the darkness and the
+light are both alike. This we ask in the name of Him
+who loved us and gave Himself for us. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Charles R. Tenney.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_327" id="page_327">[327]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>November 20</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Let thy day be to thy night<br />
+A letter of good tidings. Let thy praise<br />
+Go up as birds go up, that when they wake<br />
+Shake off the dew and soar; so take joy home<br />
+And make a place in thy heart for her,<br />
+And give her time to grow and cherish her;<br />
+Then will she come and oft will sing to thee<br />
+When thou art working in the furrows; ay,<br />
+Or weeding in the sacred hour of dawn.<br />
+It is a comely fashion to be glad&mdash;<br />
+Joy is the grace we say to God.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Jean Ingelow.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Our Father, we thank Thee for the blessings of
+night. In this new morning hour, we pray for stout
+hearts and strong to meet the day's work. May we
+go forth with a song on our lips and the joy of renewed
+youth in our souls. Amid the tumults of the day
+enable us to hear Thy becalming voice. Then, though
+in dreariest labor, we shall have glad hearts, though
+pressed by dullest cares, we shall keep uncrushed
+hopes, though distracted by earth's din, we shall hear
+heaven's music. Abide with us, Benign Spirit. Inspire
+us to do our duty, and to learn that therein,
+alone, may true joy be found. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">George Runyon Longbrake.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_328" id="page_328">[328]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>November 21</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>The weather-prophet tells us of an approaching
+storm. It comes according to the programme. We
+admire the accuracy of the prediction, and congratulate
+ourselves that we have such a good meteorological
+service. But when, perchance, a bright crystalline
+piece of weather arrives instead of the foretold tempest,
+do we not feel a secret sense of pleasure which goes beyond
+our mere comfort in the sunshine? The whole
+affair is not as easy as a sum in simple addition, after
+all,&mdash;at least not with our present knowledge. It is a
+good joke on the Weather Bureau. "Aha, Old Probabilities!"
+we say, "You don't know it all yet; there
+are still some chances to be taken!"</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Henry Van Dyke.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Our Heavenly Father, Thou hast covered us with
+the darkness and we have slept under the shadow of
+Thy care. Thou hast opened for us again the gates
+of the morning, and refreshed, we rise to praise Thee.
+The memory of mercies past inspires our hope for
+today. Reveal Thyself to us by Thy spirit and through
+Thy word; make nature to minister to us in the heavens
+above and the fields below; let every experience
+lead us toward Thyself. Help us to see Thy face in
+those about us, and honor Thee in loving, helpful
+ministry to them. Bring to us today a fresh and
+larger sense of Thy presence, forgiveness, and care,
+and so the assurance that all things are working together
+for our good. In the name of Jesus Christ
+our Saviour. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Samuel H. Greene.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_329" id="page_329">[329]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>November 22</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+"<i>I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills.</i>"<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Psalm cxxi. 1.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Peace is the message of the hills,<br />
+A peace that broods<br />
+Upon their mighty heads, and fills<br />
+Their forest solitudes;<br />
+The leaping mountain waterfalls,<br />
+As each unto the other calls,<br />
+Blend in a murmuring noise<br />
+Whose silver rushing music stills<br />
+The pretty play of human moods,<br />
+And bids the calmed soul rejoice<br />
+In the deep secrets of the woods,<br />
+The majesty of Nature's voice.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Priscilla Leonard.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Dear God and Father of us all, Who maketh Thy
+sun to rise out of the sea and tintest the hills with the
+rosy promise of the day, we look up when we awake
+and seeing the light upon the mountains know that
+the day is coming to fill the world with beauty and
+glory. With thankful hearts we praise Thee, and
+pray that to us may be granted that loftiness of nature,
+that stability of character, that repose of mind and
+heart and life that is prefigured to us in the natural
+world. Grant that we may each become mediums
+of Thy love and hope to all who may chance to look
+up to us for guidance along the shores of life's tempestuous
+ocean. May the spirit of the Eternal find
+such expression in us and through us, this day, that
+all who come within the radiance of our joy may come
+into the consciousness of the joy of the Eternal. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Thomas J. Horner.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_330" id="page_330">[330]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>November 23</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>And he said unto me, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved,
+understand the words that I speak unto thee, and
+stand upright: for unto thee am I now sent, and when
+he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling.
+Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel, for from the
+first day that thou didst set thy heart to understand and
+to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard,
+and I am come for thy words.... Then there came
+again and touched me one like the appearance of a man
+and he strengthened me and said, O man, greatly beloved,
+fear not: peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Book of Daniel.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee that Thou art
+not far from us at any time. We have only to look up
+reverently and to our imagination Thou art standing
+near. We have only to wait in the darkness of the
+night to feel Thy presence with us. We have only to
+listen at any time to hear Thy voice. Thou deignest
+to stop and speak to us when we are in trouble, to
+guide our footsteps when we have lost our way, to
+renew our courage when we have become disheartened.
+O Lord, speak to us this day, saying to us, as unto
+him of old, "Peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be
+strong." Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">
+George L. Perin.</span>
+</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_331" id="page_331">[331]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>November 24</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Let star-wheels and angel-wings, with their holy winnowings,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Keep beside you all the way:</span><br />
+Lest in passion you should dash, with a blind and heavy crash.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Up against the thick-bossed shield of God's judgment in the field.</span></i><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Elizabeth Barrett Browning.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Be diligent and faithful, patient and hopeful, one
+and all of you; and may we all know, at all times, that
+verily the Eternal rules above us, and that nothing
+finally wrong has happened or can happen.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Thomas Carlyle.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Almighty God, our Father in heaven, the giver of
+every good and perfect gift, teach us, we pray Thee,
+how to do Thy will on earth as it is done in heaven,
+as the goal of our lives. Send down exceeding, abundantly
+above all that we can ask or think, the blessed
+influences of Thy Holy Spirit, to transform each heart
+and all the world into the kingdom of heaven. Give
+us the Morning Star of Hope. Feed us from the Tree
+of Life. Teach us Thy redeeming love. Grant that
+we may have some part with Thee in the redemption
+of the world, and be permitted to join with the whole
+glad earth in the chorus, "Blessing and honor and
+glory and power be unto Him that sitteth upon the
+throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever." Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">F. N. Peloubet.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_332" id="page_332">[332]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>November 25</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>What is the crown of the whole of life lived faithfully
+here? It is not a crown of gold or gems in another life;
+it is simply more life; a broader use of power, a
+healthier capacity, a larger usefulness. You are
+faithful unto death, through the misapprehensions
+and imperfections and absence of appreciation or gratitude
+in this preparatory world, and then there is offered
+to you inevitably and legitimately the crown of a larger,
+more serviceable, more effective life.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Francis G. Peabody.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>To Thee, O Author of our lives, we speak thanksgiving
+and gratitude for Thy gifts of love and trust.
+Help us to bring them into full exercise this day. By
+them may we know the experience of burdens made
+light and yokes made easy. With them, let us realize
+that we are effective workers with Thee. Because of
+them, show us how all our tasks are transformed to
+divine endeavors. Through them, set free all other
+of our highest impulses. So, O God, shall we know
+the fulness of life, we and all our loved ones. So shall
+we see doubt change to faith and blindness to vision.
+So shall our influence through word and work be the
+ministry of hope and of joy to any disconsolate, and
+to any who are a weak guide to the source of strength.
+For newness of life, for all the fruits of the spirit,
+whereby the heart is ever young and in joyous companionship
+with the Christ, for all this we pray now
+and ever. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">William H. McGlauchlin.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_333" id="page_333">[333]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>November 26</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>The child frightened in his play runs to seek his
+mother. She takes him upon her lap and presses his
+head to her bosom; and with tenderest words of love,
+she looks down upon him and smooths his hair and
+kisses his cheek, and wipes away his tears. Then, in a
+low and gentle voice, she sings some sweet descant, some
+lullaby of love; and the fear fades out from his face,
+and a smile of satisfaction plays over it, and at length
+his eyes close, and he sleeps in the deep depths and delights
+of peace. God Almighty is the mother and the
+soul is the tired child; and He folds it in His arms and
+dispels its fears, and lulls it to repose, saying "Sleep,
+my darling, sleep! It is I who watch thee."</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Henry Ward Beecher.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Blessed Master! we thank Thee that every tired and
+weary child may find rest in the bosom of the Father.
+Each morning brings with it new cares, new duties,
+new privileges, new responsibilities; for all these, we
+need Thy protecting care, and pray for Thy divine
+guidance. When wearied and burdened with the cares
+of daily life, wilt Thou help us to flee to Thee as the
+frightened child flees to the loving mother; and wilt
+Thou encircle us with Thine arms of love, and whisper
+in our ears words of comfort and cheer and of forgiveness.
+Teach us to trust Thee in the morning, to
+walk with Thee through the day, and to commit our
+ways to Thee at all times. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Samuel M. Dick.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_334" id="page_334">[334]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>November 27</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Certainly there never was a busier life than that of
+Jesus,&mdash;His whole great mission bounded by three
+hurried years. Yet in the morning He says to His
+friends: "Let us come apart and rest awhile;" and
+again when the evening is come He is in the mountain
+apart, alone. That is the place of worship in a world
+of work. It is not a refuge from duty, or a shirking of
+it; it is the renewal of power to meet one's duty and do
+it. The work of life is not to be well done with a hot,
+feverish, overwhelmed, and burdened mind; it is to be
+well done with a mind calmed and fortified by moments
+of withdrawal; and it is to be best done by one who
+from time to time pulls himself up in his eager life and
+permits God to speak to his soul.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Francis G. Peabody.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>O Spirit of grace, who withholdest Thy blessing from
+none, take from us the tediousness and anxiety of a
+selfish mind, the unfruitfulness of cold affections, the
+weakness of an inconstant will. With the simplicity
+of a great purpose, the quiet of a meek temper, and
+the power of a well-ordered soul, may we pass through
+the toils and watches of our pilgrimage; grateful for
+all that may render the burden of duty light; and even
+in strong trouble rejoicing to be deemed worthy of the
+severer service of Thy will. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">James Martineau.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_335" id="page_335">[335]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>November 28</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p><i>
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">God gives to every man</span><br />
+The virtue, temper, understanding, taste,<br />
+That lifts him into life, and lets him fall<br />
+Just in the niche he was ordain'd to fill.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">William Cowper.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Did you ever hear of a man who had striven all his
+life faithfully and singly toward an object, and in no
+measure obtained it? If a man constantly aspires, is
+he not elevated? Did ever a man try heroism, magnanimity,
+truth, sincerity, and find that there was no
+advantage in them&mdash;that it was a vain endeavor?</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Henry David Thoreau.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Holy Father, help us to be thankful that no life is
+beneath Thy notice. If a sparrow cannot fall without
+Thee, how much more is Thine eye fixed upon Thy
+child. Teach us, O Lord, that there is a divine purpose
+in each life. But may we not try to choose this
+without Thee. Show us how to wait upon Thee in
+holy silence till Thou dost make it known to us. O
+Master, say to us: "As the Father hath sent me into
+the world even so have I sent you." When we have
+found at the Cross our little mission, O sustain us and
+help us to keep it steadily in view&mdash;let us share Thy
+holy enthusiasm when Thou didst say: "My meat
+is to do the will of Him that sent me and to finish His
+work." O Father, when we are depressed whisper to
+us: "Your labor is not in vain in the Lord." May
+our mission transform us into the likeness of Jesus,
+and may we say with Him at evening: "I have
+glorified Thee on the earth; I have finished the work
+Thou gavest me to do." Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">L. P. Johnson.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_336" id="page_336">[336]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>November 29</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Though wrong may win, its victory is brief,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The tides of good at first no passage find;</span><br />
+Each surge breaks, shattered, on the sullen reef,&mdash;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Yet still the infinite ocean comes behind.</span><br />
+<br />
+The road of Right has neither turn nor bend,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">It stretches straight unto the highest goal;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Hard, long, and lonely?&mdash;yes, yet never soul</span><br />
+Can lose its way thereon, nor miss the end.</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Priscilla Leonard.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>We thank Thee, Heavenly Father, that awaking,
+we are conscious that Thou art near. Walk with us,
+through the untried path of this day's duty and service.
+We rejoice that Thou art in Thy world. Within its
+striving is Thy calm. Around its restlessness is Thy
+rest. Thy purpose fashions its achievements; Thy
+love shapes its future. Help us to see it with clearer
+vision, to hold it fast with firmer faith. When wrong
+seems to triumph, may we know that it is already
+perishing, and hold hard by truth and love and faith.
+Give us grace to spend this day as becometh children
+of God in honor, in courtesy, in sympathy, in confident
+trust. When the way seems long and lonely, straight
+and steep, help us to sing as we march forward, since
+Thou art with us, Who hast said, "I will never leave
+thee nor forsake thee." Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Charles C. P. Hiller.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_337" id="page_337">[337]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>November 30</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>She was a droll little figure of a girl with a quaint old
+face, that showed too early the lines of care and work, and
+her clothing betokened a poverty-stricken home. Evidently
+not much of brightness had touched her life, but
+her face always lightened up when she mentioned her
+school or her teacher. "Why is it that you love your
+teacher so well?" she was asked one day. Her eyes
+shone and her lips smiled happily as she replied,
+"Because she's glad to me!" What a tribute was
+that! What an evidence was that of a happy heart that
+radiated its gladness! If we cannot bring other offerings
+of much value to the children and the poor among us,
+how blessed are we if we can bring gladness!</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Estelle M. Hart.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Almighty God, teach us how to be glad. Put some
+gladness into our hearts. Show us where gladness
+is hidden in our little world about us, so that we may
+find it and use it. Give us the wisdom of Jesus, who,
+although a Man of Sorrows, yet spake ever of His joy
+and His peace. We feel that the secret of things must
+be gladness, that somehow there is a covered joy even
+in what we call our sufferings. Let us find that. Keep
+our hearts pure of the soiling of evil desire, for we
+know that no gladness can come from the muddy
+fountains of sin. Let our hands be busy at some good
+part of the world's work, for we know that idleness
+never went hand in hand with joy. Let our minds
+be open to acknowledge, love and obey the truth, for
+we feel that truth alone can satisfy our hearts. And
+let us feel to-day the duty of gladness we owe to our
+fellow-creatures. Let us give to them what we would
+receive from Thee. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Frank Crane.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_338" id="page_338">[338]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>December 1</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>But winter has yet brighter scenes&mdash;he boasts<br />
+Splendors beyond what gorgeous Summer knows;<br />
+Or Autumn with his many fruits, and woods<br />
+All flushed with many hues, come when the rains<br />
+Have glazed the snow and clothed the trees with ice,<br />
+The incrusted surface shall upbear thy steps,<br />
+And the broad arching portals of the grove<br />
+Welcome thy entering.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">William Cullen Bryant.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Our Father, we know that Thou wilt commune
+with us if only we truly seek Thee; Thou art the
+Infinite Consciousness and Thou dost include within
+Thyself our finite consciousness. We have our life
+in Thy life. This morning we would be mindful of
+Thy presence. The northern groves with snow-laden,
+bended branches bid us enter and worship. Thou
+dost send forth the rays of Thy sun and touch them
+aglow with the reflected beauty of the snow-flake.
+Thou hast also created us. The flake reflects the
+sun, and may we reflect Thee, through living righteously.
+Help us to do the right and to forego the
+wrong. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Fred Alban Weil.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_339" id="page_339">[339]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>December 2</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>"A commonplace life," we say, and we sigh;<br />
+But why should we sigh as we say?<br />
+The commonplace sun in the commonplace sky<br />
+Makes up the commonplace day.<br />
+The moon and the stars are commonplace things,<br />
+And the flower that blooms and the bird that sings,<br />
+But dark were the world and sad our lot<br />
+If the flowers failed and the sun shone not;<br />
+And God, who studies each separate soul<br />
+Out of commonplace lives makes His beautiful whole.</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Susan Coolidge.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Our Infinite Father, we open our hearts to Thee,
+for where Thou art heaven is. As the morning sun
+gives light and life to Earth, so Thou givest light and
+life and joy to us. We say Good-morning to Thee,
+and as we listen Thy Good-morning comes to us.
+As it comes we glow and expand like the opening
+flower. May this glowing spirit of love be in all we
+say and do and think this day, and still continue
+through all days to come. When we are vexed and
+weary with trials and labor, make us to remember
+this morning glow of Thy Love that it may renew
+rest and peace within us. Help us, O our Father, to
+enter the beauty of this day and this life by claiming
+our heritage as "children of light" and going forth
+to fulfil the common duties of the day as "children
+of God." Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Walter Dole.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_340" id="page_340">[340]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>December 3</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>No matter! so long as the world is the work of eternal
+goodness, and so long as conscience has not deceived us.
+To give happiness and to do good, there is our only
+law, our anchor of salvation, our beacon light, our
+reason for existing. All religions may crumble away;
+so long as this survives we have still an ideal, and life
+is worth living. Nothing can lessen the dignity and
+value of humanity so long as the religion of love, of
+unselfishness and devotion endures; and none can
+destroy the altars of this faith for us so long as we feel
+ourselves still capable of love.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Henri-Frédéric Amiel.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for a night
+of peaceful rest, and we are glad to begin a new day
+with full assurance of Thy loving care. We hope for
+pleasant ways and large success, but Thy wisdom
+is better than our wishes and if it is appointed us to
+meet difficulties or temptations, we pray for strength
+to sustain a manly warfare. We have faith that whatever
+our condition Thou wilt still provide a way by
+which lofty purpose and resolute endeavor may use
+the circumstances of our life for a nearer approach
+to Thee and for service to our fellowmen. To this
+end be then the light of our way and the strength of our
+life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">J. Smith Dodge.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_341" id="page_341">[341]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>December 4</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>He was a friend to man, and lived in a house by the
+side of the road.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Homer.</span><br />
+</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>There are hermit souls that live withdrawn<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In the peace of their self-content;</span><br />
+There are souls, like stars, that dwell apart,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In a fellow-less firmament;</span><br />
+There are pioneer souls that blaze their paths<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Where highways never ran:&mdash;</span><br />
+But let me live by the side of the road<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And be a friend to man.</span><br />
+<br />
+Let me live in a house by the side of the road.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Where the race of men go by&mdash;</span><br />
+The men who are good and the men who are bad,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As good and as bad as I.</span><br />
+I would not sit in the scorner's seat,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Or hurl the cynic's ban:&mdash;</span><br />
+Let me live in a house by the side of the road<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And be a friend to man.</span></i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Sam Walter Foss.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Our Father in Heaven, we come with thanksgiving
+for the light of another day and all the blessings which
+it brings from Thee. May the precious moments
+before us be filled with activity. Forgive us if
+we have been remiss in seizing our opportunities and
+so lead us this day that if we shall be called to Thee,
+the sweet voice of the Master may greet us with,
+"Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least
+of these my brethren, ye have done it unto Me." In
+Jesus' name. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">J. E. Charlton.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_342" id="page_342">[342]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>December 5</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>One old lady kept a sighing;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Said she wasn't young,</span><br />
+Didn't look as sweet's she used to,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Times were all unstrung;</span><br />
+Troubles doubled aches, and favors<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Went a flying past,</span><br />
+Wrinkles stung like thorns, and eyesight<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kept a failing fast.</span><br />
+<br />
+One old lady kept a saying<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Life was like the spring,</span><br />
+Brighter blossoms always coming,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Birds around to sing;</span><br />
+Troubles came&mdash;and went; she let 'em,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Didn't count the throng.</span><br />
+Thanked the Lord 'most every morning<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">She'd been young so long!</span></i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Jessie M. Shaw.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Our Heavenly Father, wilt Thou forgive us for
+the sighs and tears and frowns and doubts of yesterday?
+Especially wilt Thou forgive us for all
+that was little and petty and mean? May we begin
+again today with larger vision, higher hope and
+nobler ambition. May there be no sighs for lost
+beauty, no grief over faded youth and no lamentation
+over lost fortune. Thankful and glad for what
+we have, may we find our joy in using it for some
+high end. So may we conserve the youth of the
+heart and the light of the soul. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">George L. Perin.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_343" id="page_343">[343]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>December 6</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>There is never a sky of winter<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To the heart that sings alway;</span><br />
+Never a night but hath stars to light,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And dreams of a rosy day.</span><br />
+<br />
+The world is ever a garden<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Red with the bloom of May;</span><br />
+And never a stormy morning<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To the heart that sings alway!</span></i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Frank L. Stanton.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>O Thou who art the Love, the Light, and the Life
+in whom is no discord, no darkness, no disease nor
+death; but who art ever radiating sympathy, vision
+and health; we give Thee hearty thanks for the consciousness
+of Thy abiding presence when we possess
+a humble and contrite spirit. May we ever remember
+that nothing but our own selfishness, pride, and forgetfulness
+can break this constant communion with
+Thee. Open our hearts just now for the inflow of the
+divine Love in order that we may pass it on to others
+today. Open our eyes today that we may see Thee
+everywhere striving against selfishness in the lives
+of all men. Fill us with Thy Life today in order that
+there may go out to others a heavenly harmony, a song,
+a symphony, that will dispel discord, darkness and
+disease; that will overcome evil with good. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">E. J. Helms.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_344" id="page_344">[344]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>December 7</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>As the bird trims her to the gale,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I trim myself to the storm of time,</span><br />
+I man the rudder, reef the sail,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Obey the voice at eve obeyed at prime;</span><br />
+"Lowly faithful, banish fear,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Right onward drive unharmed;</span><br />
+The port, well worth the cruise, is near,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And every wave is charmed."</span></i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Ralph Waldo Emerson.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Heavenly Father, keep our faces in the light and
+upward. Make us courageous in the storm. Help
+us to consecrate all our powers against the contrary
+winds and listen for the loving voice of Him who
+walks the rough waves and comes toward our frail
+barks. May we never be afraid; may we know peace
+and rest and trust. O Saviour, help us to know the
+reality of Thy love and friendship, and hear Thee
+say in the darkest hour, "All is well." May no storm
+be too severe, no burden too heavy, no task too hard.
+So let us believe and live. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Cortland Myers.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_345" id="page_345">[345]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>December 8</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Love thyself last: cherish those hearts that hate thee,<br />
+Corruption wins not more than honesty.<br />
+Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace,<br />
+To silence envious tongues. Be just, and fear not:<br />
+Let all the ends thou aim'st at be thy country's,<br />
+Thy God's, and truth's; then if thou fall'st, O Cromwell,<br />
+Thou fall'st a blessed martyr!</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Shakespeare.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Father Almighty, we do trust in Thee, and we ask
+Thee for everything. Thou art pleased to give us
+everything. Thou dost give us the light by which we
+see. Thou dost give us this air which we breathe and
+with which we speak. Best of all, Thou hast shown
+us that we are one family of Thy children, alive in
+Thy life and strong in Thy strength. Thou dost give
+us the water that we drink and the food that we eat.
+Everything is Thine while it is ours. Now, Father,
+we are here to consecrate these gifts to Thy service,
+to come and go indeed as Thy children; when we
+speak, to speak the word that Thou shalt teach; when
+we act, to do the thing that Thou wouldst. Moreover,
+inspire us with Thine holy spirit, that we may
+so come and go in our Father's service, and for the
+coming of Thy kingdom in this world, that all men
+may be one, and may bear one another's burdens, and
+so fulfil the law of Christ. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Edward Everett Hale.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_346" id="page_346">[346]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>December 9</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Each soul, alone unto herself, must bear<br />
+The heartache out of which man wins despair<br />
+Or hope according to his faculty.<br />
+Nathless one thing is certain; who hath known<br />
+Truth, beauty, goodness, shining in their sphere,<br />
+Shall not be lost through any lesser lure.<br />
+On black tempestuous waves he may be thrown;<br />
+Yet to the right port shall he surely steer,<br />
+And God Himself shall make his doing pure.</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">John Addington Symonds.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>O God, with the dawn we would lift our grateful
+hearts to Thee! We know not what Thou hast in store
+for us this new day, but we rejoice that we are in Thy
+thought, and that we cannot pass beyond the reach of
+Thy love. Helpless and weak, we pray for courage
+to be undaunted by the uncertainties of life, and that
+we may meet all its duties with a firm and tranquil
+mind. Grant that we may be helpful to all with whom
+we come in contact and forbid that we should judge
+others hastily or uncharitably. May our minds and
+hearts be open to the truth, that we may know and do
+Thy gracious will. Guided and guarded by Thee,
+may the day be full of peace, purity and power. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">George M. Howe.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_347" id="page_347">[347]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>December 10</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>There was never a song that was sung by thee,<br />
+But a sweeter one was meant to be.<br />
+There was never a deed that was grandly done,<br />
+But a greater was meant by some earnest one.<br />
+For the sweetest voice can never impart<br />
+The song that trembles within the heart.<br />
+<br />
+And the brain and the hand can never quite do<br />
+The thing that the soul has fondly in view.<br />
+And hence are the tears and the burdens of pain,<br />
+For the shining goals are never to gain<br />
+But enough that a God can hear and see<br />
+The song and the deed that were meant to be.</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Benjamin R. Bulkeley.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, who hast
+illumined the morning with the brightness of Thy
+life, we rejoice in the potency of the influence that
+brings us into communion with Thee. For the blessed
+revelation of Thyself, for life and all things that
+nourish it, for the earth and the fulness thereof, for
+daily comforts and mercies and for the Light that
+lighteth every man who cometh into the world, we give
+Thee thanks. We thank Thee too for the songs that
+we have sung and for the better songs that are in our
+hearts. We thank Thee for every noble deed and also
+for the dreams of nobler deeds that men have cherished.
+O Lord, bless our work and fill us with aspiration
+for nobler service. Bless the poor, the sick, and
+those that mourn. Hear this our prayer and answer
+our petition through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Frank D. Sargent.</span></p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_348" id="page_348">[348]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>December 11</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Love the spot where you are, and the friends God has
+given you and be sure to expect everything good of them.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">John Albee.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>When do we lift each other up? Must we gain a
+height first or can we reach up our feebleness together
+to the Hands that do offer us a mighty help from on
+high? Near doing, and near living, and near loving;
+these life-particles make the great heaven, as the little
+polarized atoms of light, all magnetized one way, make
+the great blue in which the stars burn forever.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>No discontent could harass us if we had a deeper
+faith in Thee and a broader love for those about us.
+We praise Thee, therefore, that we may be rooted and
+grounded in Christ. And that our little lives may
+glorify Him by bringing forth abundant fruit. Thou
+dost give us the holy privilege of being co-laborers
+with Thee in the salvation of needy humanity. Around
+us are the countless opportunities for ennobling and
+gladdening the lives of those whose courage burns low,
+or who have never known the transforming companionship
+of Christ. We would not forget that we
+are debtors to Thee and to that great Host whose love
+and service has inspired us. May we be not selfish
+takers only, but generous givers. May there be less
+gloom, fewer shackles, less guilt in the world because
+we are mastered by the spirit of Christ. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Philip L. Frick.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_349" id="page_349">[349]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>December 12</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Have you learned lessons only of those who admired
+you, and were tender with you, and stood aside
+for you?</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Have you not learned great lessons from those who
+reject you, and brace themselves against you?
+or who treat you with contempt, or dispute the
+passage with you?</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Walt Whitman.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Help us, O God, always to be hopeful; teach us
+what it means to hope in Thee, and may we experience
+the truth of the promise which says: "He will
+strengthen your heart that hopes in Him;" but help
+us not to indulge in too fond hopes nor to be too easily
+elated by future dreams. May we see life clearly as
+it is and be ready to accept courageously whatsoever
+Thou sendest us. Help us to accept all our joys as
+Thy blessings; all our duties as Thy commands, and
+our sorrows as of Thine appointment, and help us to
+believe that Thou wilt turn even that which seems
+to harm us, into everlasting good and everlasting joy.
+Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">John F. Meyer.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_350" id="page_350">[350]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>December 13</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Life should be a giving birth to the soul, the development
+of a higher mode of reality. The animal must be
+humanized: flesh must be made spirit; physiological
+activity must be transmuted into intellect and conscience,
+into reason, justice, and generosity, as the torch is transmuted
+into light and warmth. The blind, greedy, selfish
+nature of man must put on beauty and nobleness. This
+heavenly alchemy is what justifies our presence on the
+earth; it is our mission and our glory.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Henri-Frédéric Amiel.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Our Father, this world is Thy world, and this day
+is Thy renewed gift of opportunity to learn life's
+lesson more perfectly. We need clearer insight into
+Thy designs, that we may loathe every form of selfishness,
+and love devotion. Give us to know the Christ
+more intimately, and in the strength of His apprehended
+presence help us to employ this day in practising
+the holy principles He taught. Assist us this
+morning to have, and throughout this day to keep,
+such an attitude of glad co-operation with Him, that
+work shall be shot through and through with joy
+in anticipation of its glorious result. So may this day
+be to us a time of real soul expansion; a wooing and a
+winning of that which is highest, even a purer, noble
+character. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">J. Edwin Lacount.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_351" id="page_351">[351]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>December 14</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>'Tis the mind that makes the body rich,<br />
+And as the sun breaks through the darkest clouds,<br />
+So honor peereth in the meanest habit.<br />
+What, is the jay more precious than the lark,<br />
+Because his feathers are more beautiful?<br />
+Or is the adder better than the eel,<br />
+Because his painted skin contents the eye?</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Shakespeare.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>In this world of mingled good and evil, amid the
+ceaseless struggle of the better with the worse, grant
+unto us our Father, the cheerful assurance that we are
+enlisted in the service of the good, bound for the better,
+and destined for the best. Reveal to us each day some
+task that we can do for Thee, some chance to bear
+with Christ the burden of another, some call to take
+the side of the right against the wrong. Help us to
+conquer hardship by patience, despair by hope, fear
+by courage, and hate by love; and may we find the
+peace, the power, the glory of Thy perfect will and
+Thy great kingdom reflected and reproduced in our
+hearts and lives. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">William DeWitt Hyde.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_352" id="page_352">[352]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>December 15</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Call him not old, whose visionary brain<br />
+Holds o'er the past its undivided reign,<br />
+For him in vain the envious seasons roll<br />
+Who bears eternal summer in his soul.<br />
+If yet the minstrel's song, the poet's lay,<br />
+Spring with her birds, or children at their play,<br />
+Or maiden's smile, or heavenly dream of art,<br />
+Stir the few life-drops creeping round his heart,<br />
+Turn to the record where his years are told,&mdash;<br />
+Count his gray hairs,&mdash;they cannot make him old!</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Oliver Wendell Holmes.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Thou infinite Spirit of Life, in Thy sight, there is no
+old age. The step may grow feeble, the hair may
+whiten, the eye may grow dim, but each human soul
+is still Thy child. We gather about the tables of earth,
+families of children, some older, some younger, but
+all young in Thy sight. We pause for a moment this
+morning to pray for the spirit of youth. Let us cherish
+the power of hoping and of believing. Let us have
+that fine quality of the child life which keeps it facing
+the future with glad expectancy. Let us not give over
+our toils till we must. Let us not relinquish our
+interest in life till the evening shadows fall, and even
+at the last, let us lie down like the child who sleeps
+with his hand in the hand of his mother. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">George L. Perin.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_353" id="page_353">[353]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>December 16</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>O toiling bands of mortals! O unwearied feet,
+travelling we know not whither! Soon, soon, it seems
+to you, you must come forth on some conspicuous hilltop,
+and but a little way further, against the setting sun,
+descry the spires of El Dorado. Little do ye know your
+own blessedness; for to travel hopefully is a better thing
+than to arrive, and the true success is to labor.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Robert Louis Stevenson.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Our Father, we thank Thee for the work that Thou
+givest us to do; for its joy, for its zest, even for its
+very task and weariness. We would interpret our
+labor by the highest good it brings us; through our
+brave and cheerful doing Thy heaven of peace is found.
+We thank Thee for our diviner hopes, and for the
+Spirit that would complete them. They light our days
+with gladness, and set our feet in large places, and
+though the higher hill-tops seem far away, yet meeting
+our duties faithfully, we do see them, and looking back
+we find the places of our departure lying far below.
+O blessed tasks! O blessed hopes! That lead us ever
+to our Father's love. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Albert J. Coleman.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_354" id="page_354">[354]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>December 17</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>God speaks to hearts of men in many ways:<br />
+Some the red banner of the rising sun,<br />
+Spread o'er the snow-clad hills, has taught his praise.<br />
+Some the sweet silence when the day is done;<br />
+Some, after loveless lives, at length have won<br />
+His word in children's hearts and children's gaze;<br />
+And some have found him where low rafters ring<br />
+To greet the hand that helps, the heart that cheers;<br />
+And some in prayer, and some in perfecting<br />
+Of watchful toil through unrewarding years;<br />
+And some not less are his, who vainly sought<br />
+His voice, and with his silence have been taught,&mdash;<br />
+Who bore his chains who bade them to be bound,<br />
+And at the end in finding not have found.</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Anonymous.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>O God, all voices of the earth are Thine, even when
+there is no speech or language, Thy messages have
+many ways to reach the listening heart. Give us this
+day to hear at least some whisper of Thy grace. If
+it may be, open our minds and attune our spirits to
+receive more than we could hitherto interpret of the
+assurances sent to us by elevated goodness and love.
+So let us be defended this day against wrong, and do
+our work in joy and peace through the knowledge
+that Thou art with us, our friend and helper even unto
+the end. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Howard N. Brown.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_355" id="page_355">[355]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>December 18</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Did you ever see a schoolboy tumble on the ice without
+stooping immediately to re-buckle the strap of his
+skates? And would not Ignotus have painted a masterpiece
+if he could have found good brushes and a proper
+canvas? Life's shortcomings would be bitter indeed
+if we could not find excuses for them outside of ourselves.
+And as for life's successes&mdash;well, it is certainly wholesome
+to remember how many of them are due to a fortunate
+position and the proper tools.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Henry Van Dyke.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Our Father, God, help us to begin this new day
+with the right spirit in our hearts,&mdash;the spirit of love
+toward Thee and our fellowmen. Help us to begin
+the day if possible without mistake. If, in our human
+weakness we find that we have not succeeded, that
+we have erred or gone astray, help us not to despair,
+not to be discouraged; help us to know and to seek
+and to love the right. Help us never to forget what
+we owe to Thee, to our friends, and the beautiful
+world Thou hast given us. Daily bread we have,
+opportunities open, like books on every hand. Greater
+than all life's bitter is its sweet. Ever ready is the
+Master to bless; ever ready is the spirit to comfort
+Thy children look up and praise the Father eternal.
+Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Ransom A. Greene.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_356" id="page_356">[356]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>December 19</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>I love Thee, O Son of Man! for Thy strength and
+Thy sweetness, for Thy simplicity, Thy courage,
+Thine infinite tenderness, for Thy glance which
+strengthens and pardons us, quickens us and lifts us
+up; for all that Thou hast brought us of consolation,
+of peace and of warmth of heart. Abide Thou with us!
+Teach us to see the divine spark imprisoned in every
+stone of the highway.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Charles Wagner.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>O Lord, our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for
+all Thy manifold mercies to us, for all Thy constant
+care and watchfulness over us from the beginning of
+our lives to this day, for the revelations of Thy presence
+in the world about us, in the shining sky, in the earth
+beneath our feet, and in the faces of our friends.
+Bless us, O Lord, this day, with health and strength
+and a good courage, and grant that we may show
+our gratitude for all Thy goodness not only with our
+lips but in our lives, through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
+Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">George Hodges.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_357" id="page_357">[357]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>December 20</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>In every "Oh my Father!"<br />
+Slumbers deep a "Here, my child."</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Tholuck.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>This world, with its wonderful creations, its beauties,
+and mysteries may lead a child up to the father's throne,
+if his heart and mind are open to it. Fill the heart with
+goodness and there is no place for badness. Fill the
+soul with heaven, and there is no hell. And this delightful
+time will come when "God is all and in all."</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Abbie E. Danforth.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Our Father, who art in heaven; we know that
+Thou hast been good to us. We thank Thee for the
+daily witnesses of Thy love. And we would walk
+worthily before Thee. But we are weak. Help us,
+O Father to see clearly what Thou would'st have
+us do! Give us strength. Fill us with Thy spirit,
+that all the way we may be pure and patient. Help
+us to walk aright. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Charles H. Puffer.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_358" id="page_358">[358]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>December 21</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Grand is the seen, the light, to me&mdash;grand are the sky and stars,<br />
+Grand is the earth, and grand are lasting time and space,<br />
+And grand their laws, so multiform, puzzling, evolutionary;<br />
+But grander far the unseen soul of me, comprehending, endowing all those,<br />
+Lighting the light, the sky and stars, delving the earth, sailing the sea,<br />
+(What were all those, indeed, without thee, unseen soul? of what amount without Thee?)<br />
+More evolutionary, vast, puzzling, O my soul!<br />
+More multiform far&mdash;more lasting Thou than they.</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Walt Whitman.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>O Thou, our Heavenly Father, in spirit we reach
+out to Thy great spirit. Quicken within us visions
+of what things we may do this day, with Thee at hand,
+Thy love abounding. Give us vision that we may
+rise to the opportunities of our daily task. Let Thy
+holy spirit bear witness to the reality of our dreams
+and aspirations, that we may look not idly upon our
+opportunities, but rather that each new opportunity
+shall challenge us to nobler effort. O keep us this
+day full of faith in ourselves and Thee, each obedient
+to our vision, until full purposed, winning Thine
+approval, we shall accomplish the thing for which
+Thou sendest us, and Thine be the glory. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">James D. Tillinghast.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_359" id="page_359">[359]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>December 22</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>I see the wrong that round me lies,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I feel the guilt within,</span><br />
+With groan and travail cries<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I hear the world confess its sin.</span><br />
+<br />
+Within the maddening maze of things,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And tossed by storm and flood,</span><br />
+To one fixed stake my spirit clings:<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I know that God is good.</span><br />
+<br />
+I know not where his islands lift<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Their fronded palms in air;</span><br />
+I only know I cannot drift<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Beyond His love and care.</span></i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">John Greenleaf Whittier.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>O Thou, without whose care a sparrow does not
+fall, who through the pathless sky dost guide the bird
+seeking its distant nest, Thy trusting children are
+safe in Thy dear love. We know not the way before
+us, but Thou dost know; our feet may stumble in
+rough paths, but Thou wilt hold us up. Glad in this
+confidence, may we begin the day with song and finish
+it, whatever may befall us, in the calm assurance that
+all things work for good. Give us patience in perplexity,
+hope amid our fears, and faith to trust Thy
+holy will as best. Thus walking in Thy love may we
+reach home at last to see our Saviour's face. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Stephen A. Norton.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_360" id="page_360">[360]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>December 23</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Wouldst make thy life go fair and square?<br />
+Thou must not for the past feel care;<br />
+Whatever thy loss, thou must not mourn;<br />
+Must ever act as if new-born.<br />
+What each day wants of thee, that ask;<br />
+What each day tells thee, that make thy task;<br />
+With pride thine own performance viewing,<br />
+With heart to admire another's doing;<br />
+Above all, hate no human being,<br />
+And all the future leave to the All-Seeing.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature"><span class="smcap">Goethe.</span>
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Dear Father, grateful for another new-born day,
+myself new-born, I greet Thee! Yesterday and all
+other yesterdays are in Thy keeping. <i>This day is
+mine!</i> For the failures of the past I care not, nor do
+I mourn the losses of the days gone by. <i>Today I am
+new-born!</i> Indeed, aspiring to Thy comprehensive
+wisdom, I may see my past and my present as one,
+and out of that past I may select&mdash;even from failures
+and losses&mdash;such experiences and lessons as will
+help me live the present&mdash;at least this one day which
+is mine!&mdash;more nobly, more fully, more usefully,
+more beautifully. May I, knowing myself to
+be Thy Child, respect myself as a creative spirit able
+to look upon its own work and to say: "Behold, it is
+good!" And above all, I pray: that, to-day and
+always, I may grow in grace and loving-kindness,&mdash;hating
+no one, but feeling, thinking, speaking,
+acting with good will towards all Thy creatures!
+<i>This day is mine!</i> The future I leave to Thee, All-Seeing
+Father! but feel myself Thy open-eyed and
+confident child. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Charles Fleischer.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_361" id="page_361">[361]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>December 24</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>'Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,<br />
+Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home;<br />
+A charm from the skies seems to hallow us there,<br />
+Which sought through the world is ne'er met with elsewhere.</i><br />
+<br />
+<i>An exile from home splendor dazzles in vain,<br />
+Oh give me my lowly thatched cottage again;<br />
+The birds singing gaily, that came at my call,<br />
+Give me them, and that peace of mind dearer than all.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">J. Howard Payne.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>O God, our Heavenly Father, we thank thee for the
+blessings of home; for the shelter, safety, and hallowed
+associations of our domestic habitation; for the
+sympathy and helpfulness of family relationship.
+Help us we pray thee to make ours an ideal household,
+bright with cheerfulness, an exemplification of Christian
+faith and hope. May the happiness of all be the
+object of each. To that end help us to be patient
+toward one another, kind and forgiving. May we
+realize by many beatific experiences that it is better
+to give than to receive, better to serve than to be
+served. May we be disposed, as occasion may arise,
+to share, for a season, the comfort and inspiration of
+our home with those who are homeless. We thank
+Thee for the bright assurance that beyond the fading
+scenes and transitory experiences of this life, there is,
+awaiting us, an eternal abiding place in "a continuing
+city" whose maker and builder is God, where there
+shall be no more parting, and where the shadows of
+our present life shall forever flee away. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Charles Conklin.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_362" id="page_362">[362]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>December 25</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>That ever-vivid scene of Bethlehem.... A father,
+a mother, and a child are there. No religion which
+began like that could ever lose its character. The first
+unit of human life, the soul, is there, in the new-born
+personality of the childhood. But the second unit of
+human life, the family, is just as truly there in the
+familiar relation of husband and wife and the sacred,
+eternal mystery of motherhood.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Phillips Brooks.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth Peace."
+We take up the angel symphony and give it new
+breath, this gladsome day of days. Thou who didst
+send Thy Son in the likeness of a little child, that by
+His life of increase in love and beauty and wisdom
+and power He might give us courage to begin as
+children the obedience that alone leads at last to the
+measure of the stature of His fulness, accept our unutterable
+gratitude for all that gift. And oh, may
+He be born in us and formed in us, the hope of glory,
+that so we may share His peace, His victory, His
+exaltation, His union with Thee. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">C. Ellwood Nash.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_363" id="page_363">[363]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>December 26</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+Two are the pathways by which mankind can to virtue mount upward;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">If thou shouldst find the one barr'd, open the other will lie.</span><br />
+'Tis by exertion the Happy obtain her, the Suffering by patience,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Blest is the man whose kind fate guides him along upon both!</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Schiller.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>O Thou who hast kept us safely during the unconsciousness
+of our slumbering hours, and brought us
+refreshed to this morning light, prepare us for the
+duties of this day by filling us with the assurance that
+we are Thine, and that Thou lovest us. Help us to
+be more like Thee, to love Thee more and serve Thee
+better. May we manifest our love to Thee by our
+willingness to be of service to our fellowmen. Make
+us warm-hearted and true, helpful and kind, reflecting
+Thy love and doing Thy will. We are glad to live in
+this beautiful world. And we pray that we may be
+faithful co-laborers with Jesus Christ, in being light,
+love and joy to all lives. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Charles R. Tenney.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_364" id="page_364">[364]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>December 27</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Stronger, and more frequently, comes the temptation
+to stop singing, and let discord do its own wild work.
+But blessed are they that endure to the end,&mdash;singing
+patiently and sweetly, till all join in with loving acquiescence,
+and universal harmony prevails, without forcing
+into submission the free discord of a single voice.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>This is the hardest and the bravest task which a true
+soul has to perform amid the clashing elements of time.
+But once has it been done perfectly unto the end; and
+that voice&mdash;so clear in its meekness&mdash;is heard above
+all the din of a tumultuous world: one after another
+chimes in with its patient sweetness; and, through
+infinite discords, the listening soul can perceive that
+the great tune is slowly coming into harmony.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Lydia Maria Child.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Our Father, who art in heaven! We thank Thee
+that we are permitted to see the light, engage in the
+duties and enter into the experiences of this new day.
+We thank Thee for the order and harmony of this
+wonderful universe; that every force and law and
+being supports and balances every other force, law
+and being; that every life contributes to or may contribute
+to the welfare of every other life, and we pray,
+that each one of us may come into such relations with
+Thee, the great harmonizing soul of things, as to add
+our little note to the full anthem of perpetual and
+adorable praise. In Christ's dear name, we ask and
+offer all. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">A. J. Patterson.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_365" id="page_365">[365]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>December 28</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>It is said that a friend once asked the great composer,
+Haydn, why his church music was always so full of
+gladness. He answered, "I cannot make it otherwise;
+I write according to the thoughts I feel; when I think
+upon my God, my heart is so full of joy that the notes
+dance and leap from my pen; and since God has given
+me a cheerful heart, it will be pardoned me that I serve
+Him with a cheerful spirit."</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Pardoned? Nay, it will be praised and rewarded.
+For God looks with approval and man turns with gratitude
+to everyone who shows by a cheerful life that religion
+is a blessing for this world and the next.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Henry Van Dyke.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Our Father in Heaven, we awake this morning with
+a sense of thankfulness for the beauty and glory of
+Thy creation. We praise Thee that as Thy children
+we can be conscious of the kingdom of heaven always
+about us. So we pray for that attitude of mind and
+spirit of soul that will unlock for us the divine life.
+Help us to be conscious of Thee in all the varied experiences
+of this day. If it shall be a day of burdens,
+give us strength to play our part uncomplainingly, if
+a day of joy to accept it with true gratitude; and
+when the shades of night shall call us to our rest, may
+our memory of the day bring us peace. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Edward C. Downey.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_366" id="page_366">[366]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>December 29</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Ah, don't be sorrowful, darling,<br />
+And don't be sorrowful, pray;<br />
+Taking the year together, my dear,<br />
+There isn't more night than day.</i><br />
+<br />
+<i>'Tis rainy weather, my darling;<br />
+Time's waves they heavily run;<br />
+But taking the year together, my dear,<br />
+There isn't more cloud than sun.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Alice Cary.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>We thank Thee, heavenly Father, for the days just
+as they come. Nor would we measure the sunshine
+against the storm as if to test Thy goodness by some
+petty form of bookkeeping. Thou presidest over all
+our days, and whatever may be the face of nature we
+trust Thy love. Let us go forth today, not in critical
+mood nor despondent mood but in the mood of high
+Christian faith, anxious, not to test Thy providence,
+but ready to do our own part, taking care to hold our
+cup of blessing open-side up; so shall it catch the
+manna when it falls. Then shall each passing day
+be full of blessing. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">George L. Perin.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_367" id="page_367">[367]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>December 30</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Fades the rose; the year grows old;<br />
+The tale is told;<br />
+Youth doth depart&mdash;<br />
+Only stays the heart.</i><br />
+<br />
+<i>Ah, no! if stays the heart,<br />
+Youth can ne'er depart,<br />
+Nor the sweet tale be told&mdash;<br />
+Never the rose fade, nor the year grow old.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Richard Watson Gilder.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Dear Father, we thank Thee for the year now coming
+to its close, and for all that has blessed us in it.
+Help us to keep the good wherewith it has done us
+good in lasting memory. By the flight of time which
+its passing emphasizes move us to earnestness in the
+labors committed to our hands. Beyond this help us
+that we may be undisturbed, remembering that Thou
+art our dwelling place, and that we are the children
+of Thy love and the sharers of Thy everlastingness.
+So may we keep the vision of youth, the vision to
+which endings are but beginnings, the good leading
+to the better, and the best forever more. May Thy
+blessing be upon all whom we love and should pray
+for in this and every day, in Jesus' name. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Charles R. Tenney.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_368" id="page_368">[368]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>December 31</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Be not afraid, dear friend. What of sickness! What
+of sorrow! What of failure! What of misfortune! What
+of death! Is not this God's world? Are not you God's
+child? Go forth into the New Year with brave heart.
+When fortune smiles, smile with her. When fortune
+frowns, smile the more, and trust in God.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">George L. Perin.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Our Heavenly Father, we stand upon the utmost
+verge of the old year. Forgetting the things that are
+behind, we stand with our faces looking earnestly into
+the future. We do not despise the past, we do not
+forget its manifold blessings. We do not forget that
+Thou hast been with us in the old year; for all this
+we would be grateful. With clear vision and earnestness
+of purpose, we would stand looking into the
+future expectantly, ready for its duties and its responsibilities;
+yet not ostentatiously nor with over-confidence,
+for we know our own infirmities, our own
+weaknesses. We would enter upon the New Year
+with confidence, not because of our own strength, but
+because of Thy living presence. Thou art always
+with us, Thou art pouring out Thy spirit upon us.
+O Lord, let us believe in Thee, and believing, let us
+have a heart for any fate. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">George L. Perin.</span></p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_369" id="page_369">[369]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>Services for Special Days</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Good Friday</i><br />
+<i>Easter</i><br />
+<i>Thanksgiving Day</i><br />
+<i>Birth of a Baby</i><br />
+<i>Child's Birthday</i><br />
+<i>Father's Birthday</i><br />
+<i>Mother's Birthday</i><br />
+<i>General Birthday</i><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_371" id="page_371">[371]</a></span><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_370" id="page_370">[370]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>Good Friday</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Why dost thou glare so fierce<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">O Death, as thou wouldst pierce,</span><br />
+With thine uplifted dart,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">My sinking heart?</span><br />
+<br />
+Yet though men fear thee so<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Wherever thou dost go,</span><br />
+And tremble at thy feet,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Thou art a cheat!</span><br />
+<br />
+Though men thy pity crave,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Though naught from thee can save,</span><br />
+Thy Master rules above,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Thou servest Love.</span></i>
+</p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Henry Nehemiah Dodge.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>O Thou, who didst not spare Thine own Son,
+but didst deliver Him up for us all, we cannot ask
+Thee to withhold us from our Gethsemane nor even
+from our Calvary. But when Thou callest us to
+go down into the gloom or up to the cross, remember,
+O God, that we are dust. Might we so dwell with
+Thee in Thy secret place, as to abide under Thy
+shadow! There, sheltered and unafraid, we should
+sustain the rod as eager for its chastening stroke,
+praying only for wisdom to learn its lesson and
+acquire its discipline. With the picture of the crucified
+Savior before us, we only cry this day as He
+taught us, Thy will be done. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">C. Ellwood Nash.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_372" id="page_372">[372]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>Easter</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>See, in that rock-hewn garden sepulchre,<br />
+The Holy One of God, despised and slain,<br />
+With nail-torn hands and feet, and spear-pierced side,<br />
+His gentle brow by mocking thorns defaced;<br />
+See where He lies, obedient unto death.<br />
+Into that pallid face the glow of life<br />
+Begins to steal, while silent and in awe<br />
+The heavenly watchers stand. Now they with haste<br />
+Unwind the scented wrappings from His form<br />
+That fill the place with rich aromas rare,<br />
+Perfume of spicery and sweet spikenard's breath<br />
+Lingering since Love her alabastron broke,<br />
+And with her tresses wiped these tear-bathed feet.<br />
+And then, their joyful faces all aglow<br />
+Like flashing sunbeams, quickly by a touch<br />
+They roll away the stone with jarring shock,<br />
+As if an earthquake passed, and sitting there<br />
+Behold their Lord go forth, Death's Conqueror!</i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Henry Nehemiah Dodge.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>O Thou Eternal One, who gatherest our fleeting
+moments into Thy permanence, when we draw close
+to Thee the terrors of change and vicissitude pass
+away, and a sense of the stability and security of
+all that is good brings us peace. We rejoice to know
+through Thy gospel that "life is ever lord of death."
+"Thou didst not suffer Thy Holy One to see corruption,"
+and we trust that because He lives we
+shall live also. O grant that, believing in Him,
+we may not see death save as a door to more abounding
+life, and so realize our privilege daily to be risen
+with Him in the newness and power of an endless
+life. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">C. Ellwood Nash.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_373" id="page_373">[373]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>Thanksgiving</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Serve the Lord with gladness: come before His
+presence with singing.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Know ye that the Lord He is God; it is He that
+hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are His
+people, and the sheep of His pasture.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into
+His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and
+bless His name.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting;
+and His truth endureth to all generations.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Psalm 100.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>For days of health, for nights of quiet sleep; for
+seasons of bounty and of beauty, for all earth's
+contributions to our need through this past year:
+Good Lord, we thank Thee. For our country's
+shelter; for our homes; for the joy of faces, and
+the joy of hearts that love: for the power of great
+examples; for holy ones who lead us in the ways
+of life and love: for our powers of growth; for longings
+to be better and do more; for Ideals that ever
+rise above our real: for opportunities well used; for
+opportunities unused, and even those misused:
+Good Lord, we humbly thank Thee! For our temptations,
+and for any victory over sins that close beset
+us; for the gladness that abides with loyalty and
+the peace of the return: for the blessedness of service
+and the power to fit ourselves to others' needs:
+for our necessities to work; for burdens, pain, and
+disappointments, means of growth; for sorrow;
+for death: for all that brings us nearer to each
+other, nearer to ourselves, near to Thee; for Life:
+We thank Thee, O our Father!</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">William C. Gannett.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_374" id="page_374">[374]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>Birth of a Baby</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Where did you come from, baby dear?<br />
+Out of the everywhere into the here.</i><br />
+<br />
+<i>Where did you get your eyes so blue?<br />
+Out of the sky as I came through.</i><br />
+<br />
+<i>What makes the light in them sparkle and spin?<br />
+Some of the starry spikes left in.</i><br />
+<br />
+<i>Where did you get that little tear?<br />
+I found it waiting when I got here.</i><br />
+<br />
+<i>What makes your forehead so smooth and high?<br />
+A soft hand stroked it as I went by.</i><br />
+<br />
+<i>What makes your cheek like a warm white rose?<br />
+Something better than anyone knows.</i><br />
+<br />
+<i>Whence that three-cornered smile of bliss?<br />
+Three angels gave me at once a kiss.</i><br />
+<br />
+<i>Where did you get those arms and hands?<br />
+Love made itself into hooks and bands.</i><br />
+<br />
+<i>Feet, whence did you come, you darling things?<br />
+From the same box as the cherub's wings.</i><br />
+<br />
+<i>How did they all just come to be you?<br />
+God thought about me, and so I grew.</i><br />
+<br />
+<i>But how did you come to us, you dear?<br />
+God thought of You, and so I am here.</i>
+</p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">George MacDonald</span>
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_375" id="page_375">[375]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Fresh from the Gates of Heaven, our Father,
+this dear child has come, opening in our hearts
+springs of new and deeper affection. We thank Thee
+for this life whose coming has filled our lives with
+sunshine. Teach us how to live that we may guide
+it aright, so that as the years pass more and more
+sunlight shall be radiated. Even as Thine angels
+kissed the sweet rosebud lips and left a smile thereon,
+so may we kiss away the tears of life. Heavenly
+Father, we consecrate this child to Thy service.
+We pray that the ears may learn to listen for Thy
+voice, speaking in truth and purity. May the tiny
+hands be ever ready to do a service of love and may
+the feet be swift to do Thy bidding. Tenderly
+guide this precious child, for it needs Thy guidance,
+and safely guard it through all the years, lest it go
+astray. This we ask in the name of Him who took
+little children in His arms and blessed them, saying&mdash;"Suffer
+little children to come unto me, and
+forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of
+Heaven." Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Florence H. Perin.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_376" id="page_376">[376]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>A Child's Birthday</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>A dreary place would be this earth,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Were there no little people in it:</span><br />
+The song of life would lose its mirth,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Were there no children to begin it:</span><br />
+<br />
+No little forms, like buds to grow,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And make the admiring heart surrender:</span><br />
+No little hands on breast and brow,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To keep the thrilling love-chords tender.</span><br />
+<br />
+The sterner souls would grow more stern,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Unfeeling nature more inhuman,</span><br />
+And man to stoic coldness turn,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And woman would be less than woman.</span><br />
+<br />
+Life's song, indeed, would lose its charm,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Were there no babies to begin it;</span><br />
+A doleful place this world would be,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Were there no little people in it.</span></i>
+</p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">John Greenleaf Whittier.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Our dear Heavenly Father, Thou lookest upon
+us all as Thy children,&mdash;whether our hair be flaxen
+or brown or white with age. We thank Thee today
+for the children of our own household, for our children,
+and all the children, and especially do we
+thank Thee for the one whose birthday we celebrate
+here to-day. May Thy blessing be upon him (her),
+may the skies be bright over his (her) head,&mdash;may
+the birds sing to him (her). May the flowers
+blossom around his (her) pathway. Thro' all
+the journey of this life let him (her) have the guidance
+of Thy Father hand. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">George L. Perin.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_377" id="page_377">[377]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>A Father's Birthday</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>The boy enjoyed this kind of a father at the time,
+and later he came to understand, with a grateful
+heart, that there is no richer inheritance in all the
+treasury of unearned blessings. For, after all, the
+love, the patience, the kindly wisdom of a grown man
+who can enter into the perplexities and turbulent
+impulses of a boy's heart, and give him cheerful
+companionship, and lead him on by free and
+joyful ways to know and choose the things that are
+pure and lovely and of good report, make as fair an
+image as we can find of that loving, patient Wisdom
+which must be above us all if any good is to come out
+of our childish race.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">Henry Van Dyke.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>By Thy very name, our Father, Thou hast ennobled
+and sanctified the office of parenthood and
+attracted to it our respect and love. Thou hast
+commanded us to honor father and mother, that
+our days may be lengthened. Assured thus of Thy
+approval, O God, we call upon Thee to hallow our
+joy and gratitude on this anniversary day. We
+thank Thee for him whom we honor as "Father
+in the flesh" and pray Thee to grant him yet many
+days with health and strength to minister and to
+be ministered unto, to grow in grace and in favor
+with God and man, and to taste the sweet tributes of
+love and the rewards of good deeds finely done.
+Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">C. Ellwood Nash.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_378" id="page_378">[378]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>A Mother's Birthday</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<p>
+<i>Blessings on the hand of woman!<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Angels guard her strength and grace;</span><br />
+In the cottage, palace, hovel,&mdash;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">O! no matter where the place.</span><br />
+Would that never storms assailed it,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rainbows ever gently curled;</span><br />
+For the hand that rocks the cradle<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Is the hand that rules the world.</span><br />
+<br />
+Blessings on the hand of woman!<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fathers, sons and daughters cry;</span><br />
+And the sacred song is mingled<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With the worship in the sky,&mdash;</span><br />
+Mingles where no tempest darkens,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rainbows evermore are curled;</span><br />
+For the hand that rocks the cradle<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Is the hand that rules the world.</span></i></p>
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">John Gray.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Heavenly Father, Thou plantest anew Thine own
+love in the hearts of Thy children and so multipliest
+Thyself on the earth. We thank Thee today for the
+manifold incarnation of Thyself in the hearts of all
+true mothers. We have known the magic charm of
+mother love and it relates us anew to Thee. Here
+we celebrate the birthday of one who has honored us
+and blessed us by a sacred ministry. We thank
+Thee, our Father, for all the sweet memories
+of the past, for all the joy of the present relation
+with her, and for the hope that these sacred associations
+may long continue. Wilt Thou bless her
+whose birthday we honor here. Crown her with
+long life and happy days and the sweet consciousness
+of having ministered in love. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">George L. Perin.</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_379" id="page_379">[379]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>General Birthday</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>Birthdays, what are they? One will say they are
+mileposts on the highway of life, marking the distance
+already traveled and suggesting what yet remains of
+the journey. Another looking into the deeper meaning
+of the years will suggest that they are memorial tablets
+recording the service of a passing life. But no matter
+under what figure you think of them, the coming into
+this world of a human life with all the magic powers
+of thought and love and faith and service is a thing
+of such transcendent moment, as to make it well worth
+while to mark the passing of the years.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p class="signature">
+<span class="smcap">George L. Perin.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Father of all, it is Thou who hast made us and
+given us all things richly to enjoy; we thank Thee,
+therefore, for the birthday to which we have come.
+We thank Thee for the physical life, and all that
+makes it glad; for the power of intellect, and all
+the wealth it feeds upon; for love, and all the forms
+of love which answer to it; for faith which looks on
+Thee and heaven; for service, the exercise and opportunity
+of every gift and grace. Help us to be
+faithful that our felicity may be secure in Thee, and
+that we may ever recall the day of our birth with
+rejoicing. This we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Charles R. Tenney.</span><br />
+</p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<div class="tn"><h3>Transcriber's Note:</h3> <p>Minor typographical errors and
+inconsistencies have been corrected without comment.
+Unmatched quotation marks were left as they were in the original.</p>
+<p>
+
+page 76, March 14: "And grass in the green fields" changed to "field".</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OPTIMIST'S GOOD MORNING***</p>
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Optimist's Good Morning, by Florence
+Hobart Perin
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Optimist's Good Morning
+
+
+Author: Florence Hobart Perin
+
+
+
+Release Date: March 13, 2012 [eBook #39129]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OPTIMIST'S GOOD MORNING***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Larry B. Harrison, Julia Neufeld, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images
+generously made available by the Google Books Library Project
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+Note: Images of the original pages are available through
+ Internet Archive. See
+ http://books.google.com/books?id=VsgVAAAAYAAJ&oe=UTF-8
+
+
+
+
+
+THE OPTIMIST'S GOOD MORNING
+
+Compiled by
+
+FLORENCE HOBART PERIN
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Boston
+Little, Brown, and Company
+1911
+
+Copyright, 1907,
+By Little, Brown, and Company.
+
+All rights reserved
+
+Printers
+S. J. Parkhill & Co., Boston, U. S. A.
+
+
+
+
+ TO
+ My Mother and father
+
+
+
+
+Acknowledgments
+
+
+The compiler desires to make her grateful acknowledgments to the
+publishers and authors who have so generously given their permission to
+use selections from their copyrighted publications. She is especially
+indebted to Dodd, Mead & Co., Houghton, Mifflin & Co., The Century Co.,
+The Outlook Co., Small, Maynard & Co., McClure, Phillips & Co., for
+extracts from "The Simple Life" by Charles Wagner and from "The Angelus"
+by Edwin Markham; G. P. Putnam's Sons for selections from "Christus
+Victor" by Henry Nehemiah Dodge; to Doubleday, Page & Co. for extracts
+from "The Story of My Life" by Helen Keller, copyright 1902, 1903; also
+for selections from "Afterwhiles," copyright 1887, "Riley Farm Rhymes,"
+copyright 1885, "Riley Songs o' Cheer," copyright 1883, "Pipes o' Pan,"
+copyright 1888, used by special permission of the publishers, The
+Bobbs-Merrill Co., to Charles Scribner's Sons for selections from
+"Fisherman's Luck," "The Lost Word," "Little Rivers," "The Story of the
+Psalms," "The Toiling of Felix and Other Poems," by Henry Van Dyke, and
+a selection from "El Dorado" by Robert Louis Stevenson.
+
+
+
+
+Preface
+
+
+Once family devotions were general, now they are rare. There are reasons
+for the change. One reason is that the simplicity of the old family life
+is gone. It is not easy to get all the members of the family together at
+any one time in the day. A part of this is due to less leisure now than
+formerly. Men must catch trains in the morning. In the evening they are
+distracted by manifold social engagements.
+
+Yet the need of spiritual adjustment is ever the same. Rapid transit,
+the telephone, the telegraph, do not take the place of God. Indeed the
+more rapid pace involved in these modern pace-makers, renders the more
+necessary some pause in the day for prayer, some upward look, when for a
+moment the soul may find an open way between itself and God. But how and
+when? Why not the breakfast table? Surely one or two minutes may be
+spared. Thirty seconds of silence, then the reading of a noble sentiment
+from some one who has been thinking for us,--another pause,--and a few
+words of prayer, framed by some one with more leisure than we have, but
+who puts us in the mood of prayer and so starts us right upon the duties
+of the day,--this will bring the needed readjustment.
+
+Such is the plan and purpose of this little book. It is made for busy
+men and women, who _need_ to begin the day with God. The quotations for
+each day are brief, but they are gleaned from the great Masters of
+thought. The prayers are from devout men of all the denominations.
+
+As the title will have suggested, both quotations and prayers are
+generally in the spirit of a truly optimistic faith. However life may
+look in the middle of the night, it is a good thing to start out to do
+the work of the day with hope and courage. I shall be glad if I can feel
+that this little book has helped some busy people to begin the day in
+this spirit. I shall be particularly glad if I can feel that it has
+helped a little to keep the candles lighted on the family altar.
+
+ FLORENCE HOBART PERIN.
+
+
+
+
+List of Authors of Selections
+
+
+ Abbott, Lyman, 234, 296.
+
+ Albee, John, 348.
+
+ Alden, Marion, 263.
+
+ Ambrosius, Johanna, 254.
+
+ Ames, Charles G., 51, 68.
+
+ Amiel, Henri-Frederic, 305, 340, 350.
+
+ Anonymous, 16, 33, 52, 91, 93, 129, 181, 198, 213, 268, 354.
+
+ Arnold, Edwin, 39.
+
+ Arnold, George, 249.
+
+ Aughey, 315.
+
+ Aurelius, Marcus, 216.
+
+
+ Babcock, Maltbie Davenport, 279.
+
+ Baldwin, Mary, 72.
+
+ Banks, G. L., 135.
+
+ Bashford, H. H., 9.
+
+ Beecher, Henry Ward, 120, 141, 144, 192, 317, 333.
+
+ Bisbee, Frederick A., 248.
+
+ Bolton, Sarah Knowles, 211.
+
+ Boyd, A. H. K., 78.
+
+ Bridges, Madeline S., 304.
+
+ Brooke, Stopford A., 27, 115, 289.
+
+ Brooks, Phillips, 17, 24, 36, 75, 137, 212, 235, 240, 264, 271,
+ 288, 362.
+
+ Brown, Alice, 218.
+
+ Brown, Anna Robertson, 51.
+
+ Browning, Elizabeth Barrett, 29, 104, 148, 232, 331.
+
+ Browning, Robert, 28, 64, 69, 79, 90, 109, 130, 179, 201, 221, 243.
+
+ Bryant, William Cullen, 249, 338.
+
+ Bulkeley, Benjamin R., 347.
+
+ Burton, Richard, 59.
+
+
+ Carlisle, J. H., 220.
+
+ Carlyle, Thomas, 37, 61, 85, 107, 164, 183, 209, 219, 269, 331.
+
+ Carman, Bliss, 156.
+
+ Carpenter, Edward, 147.
+
+ Carruth, William H., 252.
+
+ Cary, Alice, 123, 138, 366.
+
+ Chadwick, John White, 134.
+
+ Child, Lydia Maria, 364.
+
+ Clarke, James Freeman, 267.
+
+ Cleaves, Charles P., 214.
+
+ Coates, Florence E., 189.
+
+ Coleridge, Hartley, 245.
+
+ Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, 217.
+
+ Collyer, Robert, 77, 287.
+
+ Confucius, 191.
+
+ Coolidge, Susan, 150, 157, 207, 339.
+
+ Cowper, William, 335.
+
+ Cox, Francis Augustus, 276.
+
+ Craig, Dinah Mulock, 143.
+
+ Crashaw, Richard, 151.
+
+
+ Danforth, Abbie E., 357.
+
+ Davis, Ozora Stearns, 82.
+
+ DeVere, Aubrey, 71.
+
+ Dix, William F., 261.
+
+ Dodge, Henry Nehemiah, 49, 300, 371, 372.
+
+ Donaldson, Alfred L., 244.
+
+ Dowd, Emma C., 169.
+
+ Drummond, Henry, 91, 203, 323.
+
+ Dunbar, Paul Laurence, 88, 186, 256.
+
+
+ Earle, Mabel, 278.
+
+ Eliot, George, 48, 241.
+
+ Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 19, 42, 57, 87, 108, 124, 127, 151, 158, 185,
+ 210, 228, 271, 281, 344.
+
+ Epictetus, 56, 284.
+
+
+ Faunce, W. H. P., 153.
+
+ Fiske, John, 11.
+
+ Ford, Mary Hanaford, 8.
+
+ Foss, Sam Walter, 99, 341.
+
+ Fox, George, 104.
+
+ Franklin, Benjamin, 158.
+
+
+ Gannett, William C., 116, 132, 239, 302.
+
+ Garland, Hamlin A., 196.
+
+ Gilder, Richard Watson, 168, 367.
+
+ Gilman, Charlotte Perkins, 4, 146.
+
+ Goethe, 360.
+
+ Gordon, Anna A., 247.
+
+ Gotthold, 23.
+
+ Gray, John, 378.
+
+ Green, J. R., 199.
+
+ Grover, Edwin Osgood, 155.
+
+
+ Hale, Edward Everett, 65, 188, 219, 280, 281.
+
+ Harraden, Beatrice, 80.
+
+ Hart, Estelle M., 337.
+
+ Havergal, Frances Ridley, 282.
+
+ Hawkes, Clarence, 97.
+
+ Hay, John, 67.
+
+ Hoar, George F., 83.
+
+ Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 29, 55, 172, 188, 253, 286, 297, 311, 352.
+
+ Homer, 341.
+
+ Hopkins, Ellice, 265.
+
+ Hovey, Richard, 292.
+
+ Hughes, Thomas, 194.
+
+ Humboldt, Alexander von, 306.
+
+ Hunt, Leigh, 143.
+
+ Huntington, Bishop, 70.
+
+ Huxley, Thomas Henry, 202.
+
+ Hyde, William DeWitt, 118.
+
+
+ Ibsen, Henrik, 312.
+
+ Ingelow, Jean, 221, 327.
+
+
+ Jackson, J. S., 7.
+
+ James, Henry, Sr., 165.
+
+ Johnson, Samuel, 66.
+
+ Jones, T. Edgar, 224.
+
+
+ Karr, Alphonse, 264.
+
+ Keats, John, 295.
+
+ Keller, Helen, 93, 128, 145.
+
+ King, T. Starr, 275.
+
+ Kingsley, Charles, 85.
+
+ Kiser, S. E., 318.
+
+ Klingle, George, 106.
+
+
+ Larcom, Lucy, 32, 161.
+
+ Leonard, Priscilla, 60, 299, 312, 329, 336.
+
+ Livermore, Mary A., 119.
+
+ Longfellow, Henry W., 30, 52, 162, 308.
+
+ Lowell, James Russell, 54, 92, 174, 242, 291.
+
+ Luther, Martin, 43.
+
+
+ Mabie, Hamilton W., 173.
+
+ MacDonald, George, 159, 177, 179, 200, 272, 326, 374.
+
+ Maeterlinck, 170, 193.
+
+ Marius, 35.
+
+ Markham, Edwin, 14, 257.
+
+ Markwell, Mary, 126.
+
+ Martin, Theodore, 96.
+
+ Mason, Caroline Atwater, 152.
+
+ Massey, Gerald, 66.
+
+ Meredith, Owen, 89.
+
+ Merriam, George S., 112.
+
+ Miller, James Russell, 293.
+
+ Milton, John, 62, 125, 136, 262, 307.
+
+ Montaigne, 69.
+
+ Moodie, William, 44, 178, 195, 226, 237.
+
+ Moore, Henry Hoyt, 238.
+
+ Moore, Thomas, 229, 309.
+
+ Moxom, Philip S., 149.
+
+ Murray, Ada Foster, 246.
+
+
+ O'Reilly, John Boyle, 314.
+
+
+ Parker, Theodore, 34.
+
+ Partridge, William Ordway, 18.
+
+ Payne, J. Howard, 361.
+
+ Peabody, Francis G., 332, 334.
+
+ Perin, George L., 3, 12, 153, 163, 176, 215, 290, 322, 368, 379.
+
+ Perry, Carlotta, 231.
+
+ Perry, Nora, 101.
+
+ Plutarch, 298.
+
+ Procter, Adelaide A., 10.
+
+ Procter, Bryan Waller, 166.
+
+ Pullman, James M., 21, 56, 225.
+
+
+ Rankin, Isaac Ogden, 25.
+
+ Ravenscroft, James, 255.
+
+ Realf, Richard, 223.
+
+ Reimer, Edward F., 227.
+
+ Rexford, Eben E., 94.
+
+ Richter, 285.
+
+ Riley, James Whitcomb, 182, 230, 266, 283, 310.
+
+ Robertson, Frederick W., 250.
+
+ Rollins, Alice Wellington, 26.
+
+ Roosevelt, Theodore, 65, 74, 197.
+
+ Rosetti, Christina, 171.
+
+ Ruskin, John, 23, 58, 83, 139, 190, 206.
+
+ Russell, Bessie L., 259.
+
+
+ Sangster, Margaret, 117, 205.
+
+ Savage, Minot J., 47.
+
+ Schiller, 363.
+
+ Scollard, Clinton, 84.
+
+ Scott, Walter, 235.
+
+ Shafer, Sara Andrew, 184, 260.
+
+ Shakespeare, 38, 107, 113, 258, 345, 351.
+
+ Shelley, 100, 111.
+
+ Shipman, George W., 277.
+
+ Sill, Edward Rowland, 98, 274.
+
+ Smiles, Samuel, 236, 320.
+
+ Smyth, Julian K., 73.
+
+ Spofford, Harriet P., 101.
+
+ Spurgeon, 197.
+
+ Stanton, Frank L., 160, 343.
+
+ St. Bernard, 269.
+
+ Stebbins, Horatio, 280.
+
+ Stedman, Edmund Clarence, 95.
+
+ Stevenson, Robert Louis, 180, 353.
+
+ Stoddard, Richard H., 45.
+
+ Story, William Wetmore, 6, 321.
+
+ Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 230.
+
+ Swinburne, Algernon Charles, 53, 167.
+
+ Swing, David, 46.
+
+ Symonds, John Addington, 175, 346.
+
+
+ Taylor, Bayard, 240, 321.
+
+ Taylor, Jeremy E., 59.
+
+ Tennyson, Alfred, 232, 326.
+
+ Thaxter, Celia, 95.
+
+ Tholuck, 357.
+
+ Thompson, Maurice, 110.
+
+ Thoreau, Henry David, 50, 335.
+
+ Townsend, Mary Ashley, 81.
+
+ Trowbridge, Robertson, 273.
+
+
+ Urmy, Clarence, 268.
+
+
+ Van Dyke, Henry, 142, 154, 294, 313, 324, 328, 355, 365, 377.
+
+ Vinci, Leonardo da, 74.
+
+
+ Wagner, Charles, 20, 63, 114, 204, 356.
+
+ Waterman, Nixon, 173.
+
+ Whitman, Walt, 22, 40, 102, 270, 349, 358.
+
+ Whitney, Mrs. A. D. T., 31, 86, 122, 127, 147, 167, 298, 301, 303, 348.
+
+ Whittier, John Greenleaf, 15, 41, 103, 140, 289, 359, 376.
+
+ Wilcox, Ella Wheeler, 5, 13, 87, 121, 222, 231, 325.
+
+ Willard, Frances E., 105.
+
+ Wordsworth, William, 76, 131, 251, 319.
+
+ Wright, Mary Frances, 233.
+
+
+
+
+List of Authors of Prayers
+
+
+ Adams, J. Coleman, 119.
+
+ Albion, James F., 91.
+
+ Alcott, A. N., 299.
+
+ Allen, James F., 265.
+
+ Amee, E. McP., 264.
+
+ Ames, Charles Gordon, 6.
+
+ Anderson, Thomas D., 132.
+
+ Annas, J. W., 253.
+
+ Atwood, Isaac M., 34.
+
+ Atwood, John Murray, 36.
+
+ Ayers, Samuel Gilbert, 121.
+
+
+ Babcock, William G., 10.
+
+ Backus, Wilson M., 139.
+
+ Badger, George H., 271.
+
+ Barker, J. H., 107.
+
+ Barney, Edward M., 74.
+
+ Bartlett, A. Eugene, 11.
+
+ Batchelor, George, 108.
+
+ Bates, Lewis P., 226.
+
+ Beane, Samuel C., 236.
+
+ Benton, Herbert E., 272.
+
+ Berle, Adolph A., 319.
+
+ Betts, Frederick W., 70, 181, 317.
+
+ Billings, Charles T., 316.
+
+ Bisbee, Frederick A., 27.
+
+ Bissell, Flint M., 79.
+
+ Blake, Edwin Alonzo, 228.
+
+ Blanchard, Henry, 24.
+
+ Bliss, Charles B., 206.
+
+ Brandow, Melvin, 287.
+
+ Brett, Francis W., 182.
+
+ Brigham, L. Ward, 20.
+
+ Brodie, James Fairbairn, 320.
+
+ Bronson, Dillon, 9.
+
+ Brown, Howard N., 354.
+
+ Brown, William Channing, 106.
+
+ Buckshorn, Louis H., 191.
+
+ Burch, Ernest W., 312.
+
+ Burleigh, W. H., 118.
+
+ Burr, Everett D., 136.
+
+ Bush, R. Perry, 82.
+
+ Bushnell, Samuel C., 37.
+
+ Bygrave, Hilary, 212.
+
+
+ Canfield, Harry L., 39.
+
+ Carter, John Wesley, 48.
+
+ Cary, Phoebe, 274.
+
+ Chapin, Eben H., 323.
+
+ Chapman, Edward M., 30.
+
+ Charlton, J. E., 341.
+
+ Chase, J. Frank, 237.
+
+ Cheney, George H., 192.
+
+ Church, Augustus B., 99.
+
+ Clark, C. C., 144.
+
+ Clark, DeWitt S., 257.
+
+ Clark, Francis E., 38.
+
+ Clark, Hobart, 218.
+
+ Clarke, William N., 258.
+
+ Clayton, Francis Treadway, 302.
+
+ Coddington, Isaac P., 190.
+
+ Coleman, Albert J., 353.
+
+ Collier, Frank W., 174.
+
+ Conklin, Abram, 19.
+
+ Conklin, Charles, 361.
+
+ Conner, Ralph E., 211.
+
+ Coons, Leroy W., 68.
+
+ Cooper, Joseph, 84.
+
+ Cooper, J. Francis, 310.
+
+ Corby, James D., 280.
+
+ Couden, Henry N., 26.
+
+ Crandall, Lathan A., 202.
+
+ Crane, Cephas B., 60.
+
+ Crane, Frank, 337.
+
+ Crooker, Florence Kollock, 98.
+
+ Crooker, Joseph H., 23.
+
+ Crooker, Orin Edson, 163.
+
+ Cuckson, John, 123.
+
+ Curnick, E. T., 93.
+
+ Cushman, Henry Irving, 94.
+
+
+ Danforth, Abbie E., 105.
+
+ Davis, Charles Edward, 260.
+
+ Davidson, John M., 289.
+
+ Day, Edward, 62.
+
+ Day, John, 78.
+
+ Dean, George B., 267.
+
+ DeNormandie, James, 125.
+
+ Dick, Samuel M., 333.
+
+ Dight, Alexander, 290.
+
+ Dillingham, Fred A., 41.
+
+ Dodge, J. Smith, 340.
+
+ Dodson, George R., 197.
+
+ Dole, Charles F., 157.
+
+ Dole, Walter, 339.
+
+ Downey, Edward C., 365.
+
+
+ Earle, A. Gertrude, 104.
+
+ East, Charles R., 324.
+
+ Eddy, William B., 49.
+
+ Eichler, M. M., 195.
+
+
+ Faunce, W. H. P., 307.
+
+ Fish, William H., 263.
+
+ Fischer, Theodore A., 17.
+
+ Fisher, C. E., 67.
+
+ Fisk, Richmond, 159.
+
+ Fleischer, Charles, 360.
+
+ Forbes, John P., 142.
+
+ Forbes, Roger S., 161.
+
+ Fortier, George F., 77.
+
+ Foster, Augustine N., 154.
+
+ Fraser, Donald, 284.
+
+ Freeman, L. A., 255.
+
+ Frick, Philip L., 348.
+
+ Frothingham, Paul Revere, 169.
+
+ Full, William, 300.
+
+ Fulton, J. W., 282.
+
+
+ Galbraith, John, 220.
+
+ Gannett, William C, 373.
+
+ Gaskin, William E., 251.
+
+ Gerrish, George Mayo, 75.
+
+ Gibbs, William E, 168.
+
+ Gifford, O. P., 209.
+
+ Gooding, Alfred, 245.
+
+ Gould, William H., 146.
+
+ Grant, Elihu, 238.
+
+ Grant, Eugene M., 288.
+
+ Graves, Herbert H., 242.
+
+ Gray, Francis A., 111.
+
+ Greene, L. L., 131.
+
+ Greene, Ransom A., 355.
+
+ Greene, Samuel H., 328.
+
+ Grier, Albert C., 269.
+
+ Grose, Arthur W., 311.
+
+ Gunnison, Almon, 4, 47.
+
+ Guth, William W., 216.
+
+
+ Hale, Edward Everett, 55, 92, 120, 304, 345.
+
+ Hall, Frank Oliver, 278.
+
+ Hammatt, Albert, 232.
+
+ Hammond, L. H., 244.
+
+ Hamilton, Franklin, 322.
+
+ Hatch, William H. P., 318.
+
+ Hawkins, J. E., 279.
+
+ Haynes, Myron W., 58.
+
+ Healy, Walter, 100.
+
+ Helms, E. J., 343.
+
+ Henry, Carl F., 248.
+
+ Hiller, Charles C. P., 336.
+
+ Hitchcock, Albert Wellman, 64.
+
+ Hodge, Dwight M., 81.
+
+ Hodges, George, 356.
+
+ Holden, C. W., 29.
+
+ Holden, James Harry, 204.
+
+ Holmes, C. K., 281.
+
+ Holt, Frank M., 71.
+
+ Horne, Ralph Edwin, 103.
+
+ Horner, Thomas J., 329.
+
+ Horton, Edward A., 115.
+
+ Howe, George M., 346.
+
+ Hoyt, Wayland, 54.
+
+ Huntley, George E., 325.
+
+ Hyde, William DeWitt, 351.
+
+
+ Illman, Thomas W., 247.
+
+
+ Jennings, B. L., 88.
+
+ Johnson, L. P., 335.
+
+ Johonnot, Rodney F., 252.
+
+ Jones, Effie McCollum, 31.
+
+
+ Kellerman, Robert S., 194.
+
+ Kent, George W., 147.
+
+ Kidner, Reuben, 43.
+
+ Kimball, John, 42.
+
+ King, Henry M., 57.
+
+ Knickerbocker, Charles A., 5.
+
+
+ Lacount, J. Edwin, 350.
+
+ Lee, John Clarence, 175.
+
+ Leonard, Charles H., 170.
+
+ Levy, Maurice A., 155.
+
+ Locke, Calvin S., 277.
+
+ Longbrake, George Runyon, 327.
+
+ Lord, Augustus Mendon, 40.
+
+ Lund, Charles E., 178.
+
+ Lutterman, E. W., 308.
+
+
+ MacLennan, A. K., 275.
+
+ Main, William H., 14.
+
+ Martin, T. C., 160.
+
+ Martineau, James, 56, 217, 321, 334.
+
+ Marshall, Perry, 189.
+
+ Marvin, Reginold K., 114.
+
+ Masseck, Frank Lincoln, 112.
+
+ McCollester, Lee S., 221.
+
+ McCollester, S. H., 18.
+
+ McGlaughlin, William H., 332.
+
+ McKenzie, Alexander, 12.
+
+ McKinney, Luther F., 210.
+
+ Mead, I. J., 143.
+
+ Meyer, John F., 349.
+
+ Milburn, U. S., 113.
+
+ Mitchell, Stanford, 179.
+
+ Moore, Henrietta G., 110.
+
+ Morgan, William S., 25.
+
+ Morrison, William H., 117.
+
+ Mudge, James, 223.
+
+ Myers, Cortland, 344.
+
+
+ Nash, C. Ellwood, 188, 362, 371, 372, 377.
+
+ Nash, Charles P., 148.
+
+ Nash, Henry S., 21.
+
+ Northrop, Cyrus, 296.
+
+ Norton, Stephen A., 359.
+
+
+ Opdale, Nellie Mann, 243.
+
+ Osgood, Edmund Q. S., 101.
+
+ Owen, George W., 28.
+
+
+ Parker, Joseph, 59, 214, 219.
+
+ Parker, Theodore, 53, 97, 109, 135, 193, 230, 239, 249.
+
+ Parkhurst, Charles, 63.
+
+ Patterson, A. J., 364.
+
+ Pattison, Harold, 225.
+
+ Payne, Thomas B., 133.
+
+ Payson, James M., 222.
+
+ Peloubet, F. N., 331.
+
+ Pember, Elmer F., 134.
+
+ Penniman, George Wallace, 129.
+
+ Perin, Florence H., 375.
+
+ Perin, George L., 3, 22, 35, 46, 80, 90, 96, 102, 116, 124, 153,
+ 153, 172, 185, 196, 215, 234, 250, 270, 286, 297, 306, 330,
+ 342, 352, 366, 368, 376, 378.
+
+ Perkins, Frederick W., 229.
+
+ Perkins, O. Howard, 66.
+
+ Perkins, Warren S., 164.
+
+ Perrin, Willard T., 276.
+
+ Perry, Edward A., 61.
+
+ Petty, Charles E., 85.
+
+ Polk, Robert T., 224.
+
+ Potter, Wilburn D., 83.
+
+ Potter, William F., 150.
+
+ Potterton, Thomas Edward, 165.
+
+ Powers, LeGrand, 73.
+
+ Preble, Edgar W., 72.
+
+ Priest, Frederick C., 208.
+
+ Puffer, Charles H., 357.
+
+ Putnam, Alfred P., 162.
+
+
+ Randall, J. O., 198.
+
+ Reardon, John B., 140.
+
+ Rexford, E. L., 16, 128, 233.
+
+ Rice, Charles F., 256.
+
+ Rice, Clarence E., 173.
+
+ Rice, Frank S., 87.
+
+ Richardson, W. G., 314.
+
+ Roblin, Stephen H., 183.
+
+ Rose, Henry R., 303.
+
+ Rowley, Francis H., 13.
+
+ Rugg, Henry W., 126.
+
+
+ Safford, Oscar F., 65.
+
+ Sage, Nathaniel S., 32.
+
+ Sallaway, James, 293.
+
+ Sargent, Frank D., 347.
+
+ Scott, Alva Roy, 44, 141.
+
+ Scott, O. W., 186.
+
+ Scrivener, George S., 268.
+
+ Selleck, Willard C., 227.
+
+ Shaw, Annette J., 231.
+
+ Shaw, Avery A., 45.
+
+ Shields, Albert B., 309.
+
+ Shinn, Q. H., 149.
+
+ Snippen, Rush R., 201.
+
+ Simons, Minot O., 138.
+
+ Skene, George, 315.
+
+ Slicer, Thomas R., 166.
+
+ Small, E. E., 203.
+
+ Smiley, Edmund L., 266.
+
+ Smiley, George M., 295.
+
+ Smith, Thomas W., 283.
+
+ Stephan, J. W., 76.
+
+ Straub, Jacob, 177.
+
+ Studley, Elliott F., 261.
+
+ Sweetser, Edwin C., 151.
+
+
+ Taylor, Frederick A., 254.
+
+ Taylor, Henry B., 69.
+
+ Tenney, Charles R., 294, 313, 326, 363, 367, 379.
+
+ Thayer, George A., 199.
+
+ Thompson, J. Frank, 51.
+
+ Tillinghast, Alan R., 86.
+
+ Tillinghast, James D., 358.
+
+ Tomlinson, Charles W., 33.
+
+ Tomlinson, Vincent E., 205.
+
+ Towne, Edward C., 291.
+
+ Tupper, Kerr Boyce, 95.
+
+ Tuttle, Walter A., 213.
+
+
+ Vail, Charles H., 246.
+
+ Varney, Charles E., 292.
+
+ Vossema, Hendrick, 235.
+
+
+ Wallace, O. C. S., 50.
+
+ Ward, Merrill C., 262.
+
+ Ward, W. I., 127.
+
+ Warner, E. M., 187.
+
+ Weatherly, Arthur L., 200.
+
+ Weil, Fred Alban, 338.
+
+ Wendte, Charles W., 156.
+
+ Wentworth, Margaret, 259.
+
+ West, Julius P., 145.
+
+ Weston, Costello, 207.
+
+ Wheeler, C. H., 8.
+
+ Wheeler, F. H., 89.
+
+ Whippen, Frank W., 7.
+
+ Whitaker, George, 15.
+
+ White, Albert C., 167.
+
+ Whitney, Elbert W., 301.
+
+ Williams, Leon O., 298.
+
+ Willson, Andrew, 122.
+
+ Wilson, John M., 171.
+
+ Wilson, Lewis G., 180.
+
+ Wood, W. A., 130.
+
+ Wright, Arthur, 184.
+
+ Wright, James Edward, 176.
+
+ Wright, M. Emory, 273.
+
+
+ Yantis, Arnold S., 52.
+
+ Young, George H., 240, 285.
+
+ Young, Joshua, 158, 241, 305.
+
+
+
+
+The Optimist's Good Morning
+
+January 1
+
+ _Throughout the year, why not keep sweet? No frown ever made a
+ heart glad; no complaint ever made a dark day bright; no bitter
+ word ever lightened a burden or made a rough road smooth; no
+ grumbling ever introduced sunshine into a home. What the world
+ needs is the resolute step, the look of cheer, the smiling
+ countenance, and the kindly word. Keep sweet!_
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+God of the years, our Heavenly Father, whatever the message of the old
+year may have been, whether of darkness or light, joy or sorrow,--we
+stand this morning waiting expectantly and confidently for some message
+with glad tidings. May we therefore enter upon the New Year in the mood
+of hope and good cheer,--brushing from our faces every sign of care, let
+us go forth into the New Year with the spirit of a child who puts his
+hand into the hand of a Father to be led into a field where the flowers
+blossom and the birds sing. Not for to-day only do we pray for sweetness
+and light, but let us be glad and happy every day. Thou art with us
+today,--Thou wilt be with us through all the journey of the year. May
+our own daily gladness be born of the conviction that Thou art always
+near. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+January 2
+
+ _To keep my health!
+ To do my work!
+ To live!
+ To see to it I grow and gain and give!
+ Never to look behind me for an hour!
+ To wait in weakness and to walk in power
+ But always fronting forward to the light,
+ Always, and always facing toward the right.
+ Robbed, starved, defeated, fallen, wide astray--
+ On, with what strength I have!
+ Back to the way!_
+
+ CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN.
+
+With this new day, O God, let some new strength be mine, to walk in
+patience, the way appointed for me. Let me be strong to battle with the
+ills that shall beset me, to toil with faith and honest heart, to keep
+myself untainted and make my life helpful to my fellowmen. Help me to be
+forgetful of myself, but thoughtful to do no evil to any man. Thy hand
+is strong and mine is weak. I need Thy guidance, let Thy strength be
+mine, that though I stumble I may not fall nor fail. And when the day is
+done, may happy memories be mine. Amen.
+
+ ALMON GUNNISON.
+
+
+January 3
+
+ _Build on resolve, and not upon regret,
+ The structure of Thy future. Do not grope
+ Among the shadows of old sins, but let
+ Thine own soul's light shine on the path of hope
+ And dissipate the darkness. Waste no tears
+ Upon the blotted record of lost years,
+ But turn the leaf, and smile, oh, smile, to see
+ The fair white pages that remain to thee._
+
+ ELLA WHEELER WILCOX.
+
+O Thou All-persuasive God, who dost speak within the souls of men in
+language which the heart interprets as its own! enlarge our trust in
+that better self which beckons us, that we may be led out of the
+lingering darkness of regret, out of the shadow of embittered memory
+into the brightness of a new resolve where we may see Thy face. Smile
+upon us in the smiling day; in the joy of strength renewed, and
+opportunity reborn; in the beauty of the promise each hour whispers to
+us as it passes by. So fill us with Thyself that each new day shall mean
+new life led by the glory of those hopes which do not fade at evening.
+Amen.
+
+ CHARLES A. KNICKERBOCKER.
+
+
+January 4
+
+ _We of our age are part, and every thrill that wakes
+ The tremulous air of Life its motion in us makes._
+
+ _The imitative mass mere empty echo gives
+ As walls and rocks return the sound that they receive._
+
+ _But as the bell, that high in some cathedral swings,
+ Stirred by whatever thrill, with its own music rings,_
+
+ _So finer souls give forth, to each vibrating tone
+ Impinging on their life, a music of their own._
+
+ W. W. STORY.
+
+O living and loving One, brighter than the morning and fairer than the
+day, from Thee we come, to Thee we turn, who art more than Father and
+Mother to us all. Our times are in Thy hand. Thou, who hast set the sun
+and stars in the sky, hast appointed our place and part in this human
+world. May Thy light lead and Thy love win us into the harmonies of law
+and grace, that we may become responsive to every touch of nature, every
+whisper of truth, every appeal of humanity. So prepare us to serve our
+generation in the spirit of Him who has taught us to do Thy will on
+earth as it is done in heaven. Amen.
+
+ CHARLES G. AMES.
+
+
+January 5
+
+ _All such as worked for love, not wages--some
+ Who, painting for a perfect tint did drain
+ Their hearts, or some to save their country slain,
+ Or many who for truth braved martyrdom,
+ Or more who, in what common days may come,
+ Have toiled in hope, beyond the hope of gain,
+ Of doing something well,--all such would fain
+ Speak thus: These gifts more free than flowers from
+ The earth are given. Good world, if to our need
+ Ye offer bread and shelt'ring roof unsought,
+ As guests our thanks we give, but not for greed,
+ As if our gifts were bartered for and bought;
+ And if, perchance, good world, ye offer nought,
+ Ah, well, that were of life the lesser meed._
+
+ J. S. JACKSON.
+
+Father in Heaven, we thank Thee, as we enter upon another day, for
+strength with which to work. We thank Thee for our tasks; for our
+opportunities to work for Thee and for those we love, we thank Thee. May
+we know the joy, when night shall come, of having accomplished something
+worthy. Help us to see in that satisfaction a part of our pay. Make each
+of us faithful in his place; and help the humblest worker to understand
+that consecration and not rank is the all-important thing. Above all,
+may we not forget that living is giving, and may our desire either for
+rest or gain keep us from no helpful act. May we follow Him who came to
+minister, and live as sons and daughters of God. Amen.
+
+ FRANK W. WHIPPEN.
+
+
+January 6
+
+ _The sculptor moulds his clay with reverent hand,
+ That clay thro' which his fancy flashes free--
+ Quick with an answer to his soul's demand,
+ And pliant to his fingers' minstrelsy!
+ Could ever bronze or marble so respond
+ In wordless echo of the being's will?
+ Naught but the clay, as to a rapture fond
+ Could he with fire of genius thus infill!
+ And so the common people are the clay,
+ Swift moulded by Divine Deific hand,
+ Until transfigured, in the glorious day,
+ The statue of humanity shall stand!
+ It knows no tinsel crown, this masterpiece.
+ But all the sovereignty of God's release!_
+
+ MARY HANAFORD FORD.
+
+Heavenly Father, we are of Thy plain common people: we feel ourselves of
+very little worth. For what can we do of ourselves? But, if Thou wilt
+graciously use us, shaping us to Thine ends as the potter his clay, it
+may be that we shall serve some worthy purpose. We therefore yield
+ourselves to Thee, and beg Thee to use us this day. Make us pliant to
+Thy purposes, make us a help to someone who needs us today. So take us
+into partnership with Thyself, and so may this day be a day of delight,
+and our plain common lives be made rich with the Glory of service. Amen.
+
+ C. H. WHEELER.
+
+
+January 7
+
+ _And I, too, sing the song of all creation,
+ A brave sky and a glad wind blowing by,
+ A clear trail and an hour for meditation,
+ A long day and the joy to make it fly,
+ A hard task and the muscle to achieve it,
+ A fierce noon and a well-contented gloom,
+ A good strife and no great regret to leave it,
+ A still night--and the far red lights of home._
+
+ H. H. BASHFORD.
+
+Almighty God, we thank Thee that Thou art our Father, and that Thou
+lovest us as though Thou hadst no other children; we adore Thee for the
+beautiful world in which Thou hast placed us; for trees and birds and
+flowers and sky, for friends and music and books and all the ten
+thousand mercies which crown our lives. We thank Thee too, for hard
+tasks and severe disciplines, for everything that is intended to make us
+strong and brave and true. Thou art the Lord of the day and of the night
+also. Give us grace to trust Thee and to believe in Thy motherly
+solicitude at all times. May Thy goodness lead us to repentance and to
+joyous unselfish living and may we so improve our opportunities for
+service that we shall make others think of Him who went about doing good
+and trusted in His Father with a perfect trust. Amen.
+
+ DILLON BRONSON.
+
+
+January 8
+
+ _Have we not all, amid life's petty strife,
+ Some pure ideal of a noble life
+ That once seemed possible? Did we not hear
+ The flutter of its wings and feel it near,
+ And just within our reach? It was. And yet
+ We lost it in this daily jar and fret.
+ But still our place is kept and it will wait,
+ Ready for us to fill it, soon or late.
+ No star is ever lost we once have seen:
+ We always may be what we might have been._
+
+ ADELAIDE A. PROCTER.
+
+O Thou, whose goodness is new to us every morning and fresh every
+evening, we bless Thee for Thy patient and unforgetting care of all of
+us. Though we transgress Thy beneficent laws and frequently lose sight
+of our cherished ideals, our hunger and thirst for righteousness never
+dies, for we partake of Thy Divine Nature. O that we might always be
+animated with Thy spirit of disinterested Love. We thank Thee this day
+for the inspiration of light and joy of our gifted poets and pray that
+we may meet the daily trials of life with a sweet and courageous spirit,
+remembering that "no star we have ever seen will cease to shine." Amen.
+
+ WILLIAM G. BABCOCK.
+
+
+January 9
+
+ _The future is lighted for us with the radiant colors of hope.
+ Strife and sorrow shall disappear. Peace and love shall reign
+ supreme. The dream of poets, the lesson of priest and prophet, the
+ inspiration of the great musician, is confirmed in the light of
+ modern knowledge; and, as we gird ourselves for the work of life,
+ we may look forward to the time when in the truest sense the
+ kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdom of Christ, and He
+ shall reign forever and ever, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords._
+
+ JOHN FISKE.
+
+All-wise and all-loving Father, we invoke Thy aid at the opening of a
+glad, new day. For the past we thank Thee, remembering that each day
+yielded its blessings. We rejoice that the victories of yesterday are
+the promise of larger successes today. Whenever during the day, we shall
+be conscious of our littleness, give us at that moment the vision of our
+possible largeness. Teach us, however tumultuous be the outward
+conditions, to maintain the inward calm. Today may Thy love work its
+miracle upon our pain and pleasure. So through faithful, hopeful work
+may we find Thy kingdom nearer at this day's close. Amen.
+
+ A. EUGENE BARTLETT.
+
+
+January 10
+
+ _Blessings on the man who smiles! I do not mean the man who smiles
+ for effect, nor the one who smiles when the world smiles. I mean
+ the man whose smile is born of an inner radiance, the man who
+ smiles when the clouds lower, when fortune frowns, when the tides
+ are adverse. Such a man not only makes a new world for himself, but
+ he multiplies himself an hundred fold in the strength and courage
+ of other men._
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+Blessed art Thou, O Lord, our Father in heaven and on the earth! Give to
+us of Thy blessedness that all this day we may rejoice in Thee. Incline
+our hearts to see Thy goodness and wisdom. Make the gladness of our
+hearts constant that it may illumine our presence, so that those who
+walk with us may walk in Thy light and give Thee thanks. Make Thy joy
+our strength, whether expressed in storm or sunshine, that we may
+consent to Thy will cheerfully. We ask these and all gifts in the name
+of Him who would have His joy abide in us, that our joy may be
+fulfilled. Amen.
+
+ ALEXANDER MCKENZIE.
+
+
+January 11
+
+ _Talk happiness! The world is sad enough,
+ Without your woes. No path is wholly rough;
+ Look for the places that are smooth and clear
+ And speak of those who rest the weary ear
+ Of earth, so hurt by one continuous strain
+ Of human discontent and grief and pain._
+
+ _Talk health! The dreary, never changing tale
+ Of mortal maladies is worn and stale.
+ You cannot charm or interest or please,
+ By harping on that minor chord, disease.
+ Say you are well, or all is well with you,
+ And God shall hear your words and make them true._
+
+ ELLA WHEELER WILCOX.
+
+Heavenly Father, by whose mercy we are permitted to greet another day,
+we offer Thee this morning our grateful praise for all the blessings of
+this life. We take from Thee with thankful heart the gift of health,
+conscious that we shall never know how rich the gift until we lose it.
+Now, while it is ours, may we use it with abounding joy for the good of
+those we may meet this day. To be able to bring light where there is
+darkness, hope where there is despair, comfort where there is sorrow,
+and so to be the children of our Father which is in Heaven, for this we
+pray, with the pardon of our sins, in Jesus' name. Amen.
+
+ FRANCIS H. ROWLEY.
+
+
+January 12
+
+ _The crest and crowning of all good,
+ Life's final star, is Brotherhood;
+ For it will bring again to Earth
+ Her long-lost Poesy and Mirth;
+ Will send new light on every face,
+ A kingly power upon the race,
+ And till it comes, we men are slaves,
+ And travel downward to the dust of graves.
+ Come clear the way, then, clear the way;
+ Blind creeds and kings have had their day,
+ Our hope is in the aftermath--
+ Our hope is in heroic men,
+ Star-led to build the world again.
+ To this event the ages ran;
+ Make way for Brotherhood--make way for Man._
+
+ EDWIN MARKHAM.
+
+O Lord, make us like Thee. There can be no greater ambition, no loftier
+desire, no holier purpose, for Thou holdest the secret of Brotherhood.
+Like Thee, the only begotten of the Father, the essence of love, the joy
+of angels, the hope of the world,--make us like Thee, O Christ. Let Thy
+light be our light; thy service our joy; Thy peace our inheritance.
+Touch our lips that we may say no unkind word; touch our hearts that we
+may feel no wrong desires. May our living be for the world's good, our
+acts precious helps to Thy kingdom, our all consecrated to Thy blessed
+service. May we be satisfied when we awake with Thy likeness. Amen.
+
+ WILLIAM H. MAIN.
+
+
+January 13
+
+ _If there be some weaker one,
+ Give me strength to help him on;
+ If a blinder soul there be,
+ Let me guide him nearer Thee.
+ Make my mortal dreams come true
+ With the work I fain would do;
+ Clothe with life the weak intent,
+ Let me be the thing I meant;
+ Let me find in Thine employ
+ Peace that dearer is than joy!_
+
+ JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER.
+
+Heavenly Father! We humbly beseech Thee to breathe upon us Thy Holy
+Spirit, that we may be Thy true disciples, that we may be quick to see
+our brother's need, and quicker to relieve it. If he has lost his way,
+may we be aided to show it to him clearly. May we see our brother in the
+Master's "prodigal," and find in every needy soul our sphere of service.
+Forgive our weak excuses, and make the flickering embers burn to fervent
+heat, that the ideal Thou hast given in Thy Word may command every power
+of our lives. For Jesus' sake, Amen.
+
+ GEORGE WHITAKER.
+
+
+January 14
+
+ _A German allegory tells of two little girls. They had been playing
+ together in a strange garden, and soon one ran in to her mother
+ full of disappointment. "The garden's a sad place, mother." "Why,
+ my child?" "I've been all around, and every rose-tree has cruel,
+ long thorns upon it!" Then the second child came in breathless. "O
+ Mother, the garden's a beautiful place!" "How so, my child?" "Why,
+ I've been all around, and every thorn-bush has lovely roses growing
+ on it!" And the mother wondered at the difference in the two
+ children._
+
+ ANONYMOUS.
+
+Divine Spirit and Soul of this day! We rejoice in its accomplished and
+its prophetic beauty and wealth which even our undisciplined hearts and
+minds may readily perceive, but may we increase the joy of its
+activities and its whole divine meaning by a deeper appreciation of its
+ministry to the disciplined life we bear. If there shall be fortunes in
+its passing which we would not choose, if there shall be encountered any
+experiences we would shun, may we remember that our reverses only
+emphasize our successes, that our sorrows intensify our joys, that even
+the humiliation and shame of the "far country" add divine meaning to the
+Father's House where wait the sandals and robes and rings for the
+comfort and beauty that are yet to be. May we learn that the thorn
+protects the rose, that the flaming sword turning in all directions
+protects the Tree of Life in every Eden of the world. May we remember
+that every great and good fortune of life is guarded by a seeming
+hostility which bears in its soul the secret of a lasting benevolence
+appointed for our own good. Amen.
+
+ E. L. REXFORD.
+
+
+January 15
+
+ _We are haunted by an ideal life, and it is because we have within
+ us the beginning and the possibility of it. God is our continual
+ incitement because we are His children. So the ideal life is in our
+ blood and never will be still. We feel the thing we ought to be
+ beating beneath the thing we are. Every time we see a man who has
+ attained our ideal a little more fully than we have it wakens our
+ languid blood and fills us with new longings._
+
+ PHILLIPS BROOKS.
+
+O God, we thank Thee each morning for ideals which appeal to us with
+such persistence that we have no peace unless we pursue them. Even in
+our seeming indifference we are ill at ease, because Thy voice calling
+to us disturbs our fancied content. We are not satisfied with ourselves
+nor with our attainments. "We shall be satisfied only when we wake in
+Thy likeness." Weary though we often are in our service yet we thank
+Thee that Thou relentlessly pursuest us with even greater and higher
+demands. Help us in our onward and upward plodding. Revive our failing
+spirits. Lead us ever on. Help us to realize that "in our patience we
+shall win our souls." We pray as followers of Jesus Christ. Amen.
+
+ THEODORE A. FISCHER.
+
+
+January 16
+
+ _O Singer of today, this glorious hour
+ Is all for you and me--what shall it give
+ To us, and ask of fate--what splendid power
+ In brain and hand, what glorious right to live
+ Among our fellows and to war with sin?
+ What quickening of the pulse as we aspire
+ To claim our right, and risk earth's joys to win,
+ To conquer self, and force it through the fire!
+ Give us this force, dear God, and evermore
+ Give us a deepening love of all our fellowmen;
+ Give us new insight--courage to explore
+ With all the tenderness of human ken
+ The lowliest heart that beats in human kind,
+ Its glory and its soul to seek and find!_
+
+ WILLIAM ORDWAY PARTRIDGE.
+
+O Soul of all souls! Baptize us afresh this morning into the lustral
+waters that we may devoutly thank Thee that Thou art and that Thou dost
+clearly reveal Thyself to Christian souls through Thy Son, as the Father
+of the great brotherhood of mankind. So wait upon us that we shall go
+forth to this day's duties resolved upon so living as to render the
+morning glad, the noon redolent with merciful activity, and the evening
+full of praise. Thus quickened and enlarged the night will afford rest
+and recuperation fitting us to welcome the morrow, still hoping, loving,
+progressing, obedient to the sainted call, "Up higher," being
+incessantly recompensed with the coveted refrain, "Well done." Amen.
+
+ S. H. MCCOLLESTER.
+
+
+January 17
+
+ _There is one topic peremptorily forbidden to all well-bred, to all
+ rational mortals, namely, their distempers. If you have not slept
+ or if you have slept, or if you have headache, or sciatica, or
+ leprosy or thunder stroke, I beseech you, by all angels, to hold
+ your peace, and not pollute the morning, to which all the
+ housemates bring serene and pleasant thoughts, by corruption and
+ groans._
+
+ RALPH WALDO EMERSON.
+
+Our Father, when we remember the multitude of Thy mercies our hearts are
+filled with peace and praise and we are ashamed to murmur and complain.
+Turn our thoughts toward the love and joy that this day holds for us;
+its opportunities, its privileges and victories. Let the morning light
+dispel the shadows on our faces and the fears in our hearts. Thou hast
+glorified us and will glorify us again. Help us to be grateful for the
+rose that smiles amidst the thorns and the light that ever shines behind
+the clouds. Grant that the spirit of trust may prevail in us and send us
+on our way with power to conquer. Amen.
+
+ ABRAM CONKLIN.
+
+
+January 18
+
+ _Simplicity is a state of mind. It dwells in the main intention of
+ our lives. A man is simple when his chief care is the wish to be
+ what he ought to be, that is, honestly and naturally human. And
+ this is neither so easy nor so impossible as one might think. At
+ bottom it consists in putting our acts and aspirations in
+ accordance with the law of our being, and consequently with the
+ Eternal Intention which willed that we should be at all. Let a
+ flower be a flower, a swallow a swallow, a rock a rock, and let a
+ man be a man, and not a fox, a hare, a hog, or a bird of prey; this
+ is the sum of the whole matter._
+
+ CHARLES WAGNER.
+
+Dear Heavenly Father, we rejoice in the awakening of body and soul to
+new activities. We thank Thee for the gift of divinity in the soul and
+for opportunity to give it expression. We would be true to ourselves,
+knowing we can thus alone be true to Thee. O God, hush the voice of evil
+passion. Quicken every noble aspiration. Grant the vision of Thy holy
+love that Thy image within us may remain clear in the turmoil of our
+life. We pray Thee stir the heart and mind that both may grow up to the
+full stature of man as it was in Jesus, our Saviour. Amen.
+
+ L. WARD BRIGHAM.
+
+
+January 19
+
+ _God has put the keys to His kingdom into your own hands. Your
+ intelligence is a key, your affection is a key, your conscience is
+ a key. With these keys you are to unlock the great doors of life,
+ and gain access to its heavenly treasures._
+
+ JAMES M. PULLMAN.
+
+Master of life, as Thou hast opened our eyes to see the sun, open the
+eyes of our hearts to see the splendor of Thy law. And even as Thou dost
+bring to birth, through the marriage of our eye and the sun, all the
+beauty of this visible world, so through the union between our hearts
+and Thy holy will, create a world rejoicing in the beauty of truth and
+justice and peace. Lead us this day deeper into the mystery of Thy life
+and our life and make us interpreters of life to our fellows, through
+Him who by His death opened for us the book of life, Jesus Christ our
+Lord. Amen.
+
+ HENRY S. NASH.
+
+
+January 20
+
+ _A noiseless, patient spider,
+ I mark'd how on a little promontory it stood isolated,
+ Mark'd how to explore the vacant, vast surrounding,
+ It launch'd forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself,
+ Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them._
+
+ _And you, O my soul, where you stand,
+ Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space,
+ Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to
+ connect them,
+ Till the bridge you will need be form'd, till the ductile anchor hold,
+ Till the gossamer threads you fling catch somewhere O my soul._
+
+ WALT WHITMAN.
+
+Thou Infinite Spirit, we are glad of all human relationships. We are
+thankful for all companionship with nature. We rejoice in the fellowship
+with books, yet like the child who grows tired with every plaything and
+every childish task and lonely for a mother's love, we look to Thee with
+an infinite longing. In our effort to solve the problems of life, we
+throw our web of life hither and thither, but it will not hold. Only
+when at last we have thrown the thread of faith to Thee, shall the
+ductile anchor hold. Our Heavenly Father, as we go forth into this day,
+may we not leave Thee for any dream or phantom, but may we walk with
+Thee all day long, and find in Thee the answer to every longing and the
+solution of every problem. Though we may not see, we may trust and wait.
+Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+January 21
+
+ _Do not think of your faults, still less of others' faults; in
+ every person who comes near you, look for what is good and strong;
+ honor that; rejoice in it; and as you can, try to imitate it; and
+ your faults will drop off like dead leaves when their time comes._
+
+ RUSKIN.
+
+ _With a clear sky, a bright sun, and a gentle breeze, you will have
+ friends in plenty; but let fortune frown, and the firmament be
+ overcast, and then your friends will prove like the strings of the
+ lute, of which you will tighten ten before you find one that will
+ bear the stretch and keep the pitch._
+
+ GOTTHOLD.
+
+Dear Father, may the new day bring some fresh and inspiring thought of
+Thyself. May it give some tender communion with the universe, kindling
+into beauty as Thy smile shines through. May we make and keep a few dear
+friends. May some good book enrich the passing hours. May love flow
+through all acts, and the star of hope shine in all shadows. And
+trusting Thee supremely, may we humbly do our best that good may abound
+on earth. Amen.
+
+ JOSEPH H. CROOKER.
+
+
+January 22
+
+ _The power of mere activity is often overrated. It is not what the
+ best men do, but what they are, that constitutes their truest
+ benefaction to their fellowmen. The things that men do get their
+ value, after all, from the way in which they are able to show the
+ existence of character which can comfort and help mankind.... It is
+ the lives, like the stars, which simply pour down on us the calm
+ light of their bright and faithful being, up to which we look and
+ out of which we gather the deepest calm and courage._
+
+ PHILLIPS BROOKS.
+
+Thou knowest, dear Father, how often we wish to do many things which are
+beyond our power. Help us to believe that Thou dost accept the wish when
+we cannot do the deed. But we thank Thee that we can do some things,
+though they are not large nor many. We know that as we grow in faith, in
+patience, in courage, in love, we radiate light and peace and power to
+those who are around us. As we begin a new day, we are uplifted by the
+thought that we have been called into being because Thou desirest the
+love of children, and because we are to co-work with Thee by loving and
+serving all whom we can reach. Always, we believe, art Thou ready to
+help us. Always art Thou brooding over us to draw us nearer to Thee, and
+to give us light and strength to be fellow-workers with Thee. In this
+new day, may we speak some word and do some work which shall please Thee
+and give us joy as we shall lie down to sleep. Amen.
+
+ HENRY BLANCHARD.
+
+
+January 23
+
+ _We pride ourselves, in weighing worth and merit,
+ Too much in virtues that we but inherit.
+ Some punctual grandsire makes us hate delay
+ And we are proud to keep our oath and day.
+ But our ancestral follies and abuses
+ We still indulge in, and make for them excuses.
+ Let him be proud, dared man be proud at all,
+ Who stands where all his fathers used to fall,
+ Holding their virtues fast and passing on
+ Still higher good through his own victories won._
+
+ ISAAC OGDEN RANKIN.
+
+This morning, the sun shines by his own inherent worth. The clouds often
+intercept his influence but he shines back of them and finds a way
+through the slightest cleft to tip them with glory. He always reveals
+himself--his inner self--and makes all purer and more beautiful. May we
+so shine! The world needs the divinity there is in us. We are a part of
+Thee. Thou art our deeper self. The Nazarean prophet relied entirely
+upon his inner life and found ancient good uncouth. Whatever clouds
+intercept our influence, teach us to reveal what conscience dictates,
+what intuition illumines, what reason shows, to purify our time, and all
+unrighteousness, wrong thinking and useless and hurtful custom. To this
+end, give us purity, courage, and nobility. Amen.
+
+ WILLIAM S. MORGAN.
+
+
+January 24
+
+ _My faith begins where your religion ends,--
+ In service to mankind. This single thread
+ Is given to guide us through the maze of life.
+ You start at one end, I the other; you,
+ With eyes fixed only upon God, begin
+ With lofty faith, and, seeking but to know
+ And do His will who guides the universe,
+ You find the slender and mysterious thread
+ Leads down to earth, with God's divine command
+ To help your fellowmen; but this to me
+ Is something strangely vague. I see alone
+ The fellowmen, the suffering fellowmen.
+ Yet, with a cup of water in my hand
+ For all who thirst, who knows but I one day,
+ Following faithfully the slender thread,
+ May reach its other end, and kneel at last
+ With you in heaven at the feet of God?_
+
+ ALICE WELLINGTON ROLLINS.
+
+Our Father in heaven, author of life and light, justice and mercy,
+liberty and love, we hail with joy and gratitude this new born day,
+token of Thy presence, good will and continued care. Help us with high
+ideals, pure thoughts and noble endeavors to hallow Thy name, trusting
+where we cannot prove, proving where we cannot trust, by a willing
+service to our fellowmen, ever advancing by faith, by works, with a
+strong heart, a firm step, a generous hand, a sunny smile, and a
+cheering voice, until we all come into the measure of the stature of the
+fulness of Christ; and Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
+Amen.
+
+ HENRY N. COUDEN.
+
+
+January 25
+
+ _If you would have sunlight in your home, see that you have work in
+ it: that you work yourself and set others to work. Nothing makes
+ moroseness and heavy-heartedness in a house so fast as idleness.
+ The very children gloom and sulk if they are left with nothing to
+ do. Every day there is the light of something conquered in the eyes
+ of those who work. In such a house, if there be also the good
+ temper of love, sunshine never ceases. For in it the great law of
+ humanity is obeyed, a law which is also God's law. For what said
+ Christ, "My Father worketh hitherto and I work." Sunlight comes
+ with work._
+
+ STOPFORD A. BROOKE.
+
+O Thou, who art the source of light and life, we pause in Thy presence
+at the opening of the day, that in the light of thy countenance we may
+see ourselves as we are and as we ought to be, and receive the
+inspiration to consecrated effort and worthy achievement. We thank Thee
+that Thou hast done so much for us and yet left so much for us to do.
+May we think how important are these lives we are going to live today;
+that no matter how small we are, this universe in all its majesty can
+never be complete without our effort, and Thou, Almighty God, art
+waiting with infinite patience for us to do our part. Thus shall our
+work, however humble, be glorified by a Godlike temper and a Christlike
+faith. Amen.
+
+ FREDERICK A. BISBEE.
+
+
+January 26
+
+ _All that is, at all,
+ Lasts ever, past recall:
+ Earth changes, but thy soul and God stand sure;
+ What entered into thee,
+ That was, is and shall be._
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ _He fixed thee 'mid this dance
+ Of plastic circumstance,
+ This Present, thou, forsooth, wouldst fain arrest;
+ Machinery just meant
+ To give thy soul its bent,
+ Try thee, and turn thee forth, sufficiently impressed._
+
+ ROBERT BROWNING.
+
+We thank Thee, O Father, for the yet unwrought possibilities of this
+day. Show us Thy purpose; or, if it please Thee, withhold the entire
+plan, yet may our faith claim a divine sanction for each hour's work as
+a part of the fulfilment of Thy purpose. We pray for strength and
+patience to have our souls rightly impressed by the cares, the joys, and
+disappointments of life. Make the things of the body only incidental to
+us. Save us from all but the best things. Give us the happiness of
+harmony with Thee. Wilt Thou grant these things through the power of Thy
+spirit, and in the name of Thy perfect Son, the vision of whom
+transforms our lives. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE W. OWEN.
+
+
+January 27
+
+ _Beloved, let us love so well,
+ Our work shall still be better for our love
+ And still our love be sweeter for our work._
+
+ ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING.
+
+ _If your name is to live at all, it is so much more to have it live
+ in people's hearts than only in their brains! I don't know that
+ one's eyes fill with tears when he thinks of the famous inventor of
+ logarithms, but a song of Burns or a hymn of Charles Wesley goes
+ straight to your heart and you can't help loving both of them, the
+ sinner as well as the saint._
+
+ OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.
+
+Our Father, who art in heaven, help us to hold Thee in our hearts this
+day, that we may live for Thee, from the love of Thee. Forgive us that
+we have not always a thankful spirit. Strengthen our wills to do good
+work, as in Thy sight, with clean hands and heart. Help us now as we
+pray, and flood the morning with the sunshine of Thy face, that we may
+be glad all the day long, and bring other lives into the brightness of
+Thy light. Save us from a partial mind, that we may love all Thy little
+ones with the same love of Him who said "Of such is the Kingdom of
+Heaven." Amen.
+
+ C. W. HOLDEN.
+
+
+January 28
+
+ _All thoughts of ill; all evil deeds.
+ That have their root in thoughts of ill;
+ Whatever hinders or impedes
+ The noble action of the will;--
+ All these must first be trampled down
+ Beneath our feet if we would gain
+ In the bright fields of fair renown
+ The right of eminent domain.
+ We have not wings, we cannot soar;
+ But we have feet to scale and climb
+ By slow degrees, by more and more,
+ The cloudy summits of our time._
+
+ HENRY W. LONGFELLOW.
+
+We bless Thee, Lord, for the new day and for the new chance which it
+offers to our wayward lives. Forgive the evil in them, and make the good
+efficient. Let the tides of Thy spirit bring to us cleansing,
+refreshment and power. In the day's business may we be brave, cheerful
+and considerate. Grant us a clear vision of the path of honor and the
+will to choose it at whatever cost. We wait upon Thee for renewal of our
+strength; for uplift as on eagle's wings; for unwearied running upon Thy
+larger errands, if Thou shalt ordain us to such high employ; but most of
+all, for grace to walk life's common ways without fainting. So at
+evening wilt Thou send Thy peace. Amen.
+
+ EDWARD M. CHAPMAN.
+
+
+January 29
+
+ _Don't you touch the edge of the great gladness that is in the
+ world, now and then, in spite of your own little single worries?
+ Well, that's what God means; and the worry is the interruption. He
+ never means that.... If you are glad for one minute in the day,
+ that is His minute; the minute He means, and works for._
+
+ MRS. A. D. T. WHITNEY.
+
+Dear Father, Thou hast made us fit for joy. Help us today to grasp our
+birthright of gladness. For those things which must be borne in sorrow
+give us submission. Let us taste the salt tonic of our tears and feel
+the strength born of struggle and the peace wrested from trial. Make us
+glad that friendly hands meet our own; that kindness is always sweet and
+sympathy divine. Teach us to lay hold on the radiance of each hour, that
+the morning bow of promise may become our evening glory and prophesy
+another glad new day. As children find content and joy by looking into
+their father's face so we turn to Thee. Amen.
+
+ EFFIE MCCOLLUM JONES.
+
+
+January 30
+
+ _Still must I climb if I would rest;
+ The bird soars upward to his nest;
+ The young leaf on the tree-top high
+ Cradles itself within the sky._
+
+ _I cannot in the valley stay:
+ The great horizons stretch away;
+ The very cliffs that wall me round
+ Are ladders unto higher ground._
+
+ _I am not glad till I have known
+ Life that can lift me from mine own;
+ A loftier level must be won.
+ A mightier strength to lean upon._
+
+ LUCY LARCOM.
+
+Heavenly Father, as the bird that soars first looks upward, we turn our
+souls to Thee, seeking inspiration that in the duties of today we may
+live to the full height of the faculties Thou hast given. Help us to
+know what is right and to follow it day by day continually. Grant that
+our toils this day may be acts of service as sacramental as our prayer.
+In our weakness, grant us of Thy strength that we may pass from glory to
+glory till we are transformed at last into the perfect image of Thy
+spirit. And when our work on earth is ended, when the clods of the
+valley are sweet to our weary frame, take us home to Thyself. Amen.
+
+ NATHANIEL S. SAGE.
+
+
+January 31
+
+ _Only a frown! Yet it pressed a sting
+ Into the day which had been so glad;
+ The red rose turned to a scentless thing:
+ The bird-song ceased with discordant ring;
+ And a heart was heavy and sad._
+
+ _Only a smile! yet it cast a spell
+ Over the sky which had been so gray;
+ The rain made music wherever it fell;
+ The wind sang the song of the marriage-bell;
+ And a heart was light and gay._
+
+ ANONYMOUS.
+
+With our tribute of praise, O Father, we would begin this day; this day,
+which, with all its bounties, is Thy gift. Prepare us, we beseech Thee,
+for the experiences of the hours as they open before us. Gratefully
+remembering that we are Thy children, may our duties weigh with such
+sacredness upon our hearts that we may shun the evil way as unworthy
+those so richly endowed and blest. Write, we pray Thee, Thy law within
+us; and may our love of Thee make it so easy and so joyous to obey that
+we shall continually grow into the likeness of Him whose mission it is
+to fill the world with blessedness and peace. Amen.
+
+ CHARLES W. TOMLINSON.
+
+
+February 1
+
+ _Father, I will not ask for wealth or fame,
+ Though once they would have joyed my carnal sense.
+ I shudder not to bear a hated name,
+ Wanting all wealth, myself my sole defence.
+ But give me, Lord, eyes to behold the truth;
+ A seeing sense that knows the eternal right;
+ A heart with pity filled, and gentlest ruth;
+ A manly faith that makes all darkness light;
+ Give me the power to labor for mankind;
+ Make me the mouth of such as cannot speak;
+ Eyes let me be to groping man and blind;
+ A conscience to the base; and to the weak
+ Let me be hands and feet; and to the foolish, mind;
+ And lead still farther on such as Thy Kingdom seek._
+
+ THEODORE PARKER.
+
+Heavenly Father, we speak to Thee this morning out of a sense of rest
+and trust. We would begin the day with Thee and keep in Thy company to
+its close. Whether we work or pray, wilt Thou rule our spirits?
+Conscious in this moment of freedom, that we shall soon be pressed and
+absorbed by our own cares, we pray, Father, that we may keep in mind the
+privilege and joy of bearing each other's burdens and so fulfilling the
+law of Christ. Nor ever permit us to fall away from perfect faith in Thy
+purpose. Work in us and through us to usher in the morning when Truth
+shall spring out of the earth and Righteousness shall come down from
+heaven. Amen.
+
+ ISAAC M. ATWOOD.
+
+
+February 2
+
+ _As when good news is come to one in grief, straightway he
+ forgetteth his former grief, and no longer attendeth to anything
+ except the good news which he hath heard, so do ye, also! having
+ received a renewal of your soul through the beholding of these good
+ things. Put on therefore gladness that hath always favor before
+ God, and is acceptable unto Him, and delight thyself in it; for
+ every man that is glad doeth the things that are good, and thinketh
+ good thoughts, despising grief._
+
+ MARIUS THE EPICUREAN.
+
+O Lord, we know there are a thousand reasons why we should be glad. We
+cannot always forget our sorrows and our failures; there are manifold
+sources of temporary vexation and annoyance and harassing care, but in
+the face of Thine overmastering Providence and Love we cannot long be
+vexed nor sad. If tears have dimmed our eyes let us brush away the
+tears. If troubles and cares have burdened our hearts let us rise
+triumphant over them all and for this day be glad; and in our gladness
+let us find our strength. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+February 3
+
+ _Do not dare to be so absorbed in your own life, so wrapped up in
+ listening to the sound of your own hurrying wheels, that all this
+ vast pathetic music, made up of the mingled joy and sorrow of your
+ fellowmen, shall not find out your heart and claim it and make you
+ rejoice to give yourself for them.... Be sure that ambition and
+ charity will both grow mean unless they are both inspired and
+ exalted by religion. Energy, love, and faith,--these make the
+ perfect man._
+
+ PHILLIPS BROOKS.
+
+O Thou who art not far from any one of us, but art the Source and
+Sustainer of our life, gratefully do we acknowledge the Mercy that has
+given us this new day with its certain opportunity for living the glad,
+true life. Directed by Thee, may this be for us a day of progress. May
+its duties be performed with alacrity and cheerfulness, its lessons
+learned with humility, its temptations met with resolute will, its
+crosses with patient hope. We thank Thee for the life of the Master who
+has shown us that if we would live Thy divine life, ours must be one of
+continual service and constant progression. If, tried by the seeming
+drudgery of duties daily repeated, we long for the end of our labors or
+dream of an idle heaven, O forgive our weakness, and help us trustingly
+to obey Thy voice as it whispers, "Up and on, this is not thy rest."
+Thus let the day close on hours well spent, and Thy joy and peace fill
+our hearts. Amen.
+
+ JOHN MURRAY ATWOOD.
+
+
+February 4
+
+ _Who art thou that complainest of thy life of toil? Complain not.
+ Look up, my wearied brother; see thy fellow-workmen there, in God's
+ eternity; surviving there, they alone surviving; sacred band of the
+ Immortals, celestial body-guard of the empire of mankind. To thee,
+ Heaven, though severe, is as that Spartan mother, saying while she
+ gave her son his shield, "With it, my son, or upon it." Thou too
+ shalt return home in honor; to thy far distant Home, in honor;
+ doubt it not,--if in the battle thou keep thy shield! Thou, in the
+ Eternities, and deepest death-kingdoms, art not an alien; thou
+ everywhere art a denizen. Complain not._
+
+ THOMAS CARLYLE.
+
+O Thou God of goodness and grace, who dost turn Thy smiling countenance
+upon the upturned faces of Thy children, help us to find in the light of
+another day the continued proof of Thy fatherly care and tender mercy.
+Since Thou art so well disposed towards us, give us courage to attempt
+anything which the duties of this day require, remembering that Thou
+canst not ask anything beyond our strength, or withhold from us the
+blessing of Thy Divine approval. Living under Thy smile help us to be
+strong and calm and confident, delighting Thy heart by our faith in Thee
+and our love for our fellowmen. Amen.
+
+ SAMUEL C. BUSHNELL.
+
+
+February 5
+
+ _This goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory;
+ this most excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave
+ o'er-hanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden
+ fire, why, it appears no other thing to me than a foul and
+ pestilent congregation of vapors. What a piece of work is a man!
+ how noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! in form and moving
+ how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in
+ apprehension how like a god!_
+
+ SHAKESPEARE.
+
+Our Father in Heaven, we pray Thee that this may be a bright and happy
+day in each of our lives. May there be sunshine in our hearts because
+they are attuned to Thine. Going about our daily tasks, Thy spirit
+within us, may we make our little portion of the earth not a sterile
+promontory but a rich garden abounding in the fruits of the spirit, and
+may we, by Thy grace, be enabled to dispel some of the pestilent vapors
+of wordliness and doubt. In all things, may we remember our divine
+parentage and conform our lives more and more to the pattern shown us by
+Thy dear Son, Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.
+
+ FRANCIS E. CLARK.
+
+
+February 6
+
+ _There was a merchant once, who on the way
+ Meeting one fatherless and lamed, did stay
+ To draw the thorn which pricked his foot, and passed;
+ And 'twas forgot; and the man died at last.
+ But in a dream the Prince of Khojand spies
+ That man again, walking in Paradise.
+ Walking and talking in that blessed land,
+ And what he said the prince could understand;
+ For he said this, plucking the heavenly posies;
+ "Wonderful! One thorn made me many roses!"_
+
+ EDWIN ARNOLD.
+
+Dear Father in Heaven, with our life refreshed and renewed by sleep, we
+would face the duties of the day with strong hope and a ready courage.
+Forbid that these shall in any degree be diminished by any difficulty or
+perplexity that may arise. We pray for wisdom and love. Grant us that
+interest in others that shall impel us to help those who are in need.
+And may our desire to minister move us not only to dress the wounds of
+those whom the thorns have injured, but to clear the paths, along which
+men must pass, of those conditions and influences which inevitably maim
+and blight. May we serve Thee faithfully and with gladness this day!
+Amen.
+
+ HARRY L. CANFIELD.
+
+
+February 7
+
+ _Quicksand years that whirl me I know not whither,
+ Your schemes, politics fail, lines give way, substances mock and
+ elude me,
+ Only the theme I sing, the great and strong-possess'd soul, eludes not,
+ One's self must never give way--that is the final substance--that out
+ of all is sure,
+ Out of politics, triumphs, battles, life, what at last finally remains?
+ When shows break up what but One's self is sure?_
+
+ WALT WHITMAN.
+
+O Thou, who beholdest all the souls of men, in our vision of another new
+day, help us to see as Thou seest; to be conscious not of our own need
+and desert alone, but also of the deserts and needs of all those with
+whom we have to do; shaping our prayer and directing the effort that
+follows after all true prayer in accordance with this wider outlook. O
+Thou, who fashionest the hearts of all, who observest all their works,
+we would strengthen and purify our hearts that they may be fitted to be
+fashioned by Thee to noble ends, and set to some good service; and we
+would do our daily work as in the sight of one who knows and loves all
+honest, thorough workers, great or humble, wise or simple. Amen.
+
+ AUGUSTUS MENDON LORD.
+
+
+February 8
+
+ _Truth should be the first lesson of the child and the last
+ aspiration of Manhood; for it has been well said that the inquiry
+ of truth, which is the love-making of it, the knowledge of truth,
+ which is the presence of it, and the belief of truth, which is the
+ enjoying of it, is the sovereign good of human nature._
+
+ _We search the world for truth; we cull
+ The good, the pure, the beautiful,
+ From graven stone and written scroll,
+ From all old flower-fields of the soul._
+
+ JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, we acknowledge Thee as the Author and Giver of all
+truth. We bless Thee that Thou hast attuned our souls to its music, and
+that when with conscious life we touch its strings covering the universe
+we feel harmony with the Divine. We thank Thee for the truths of our
+sonship in Thee and for the assurances of Thy Fatherhood. We bless Thee
+for Jesus who was the truth made life, and who is our daily guide to its
+blessings. We thank Thee for the truth of immortality, with its
+encouragement to eager life today and its assurances of endless joyful
+tomorrows. Make us seekers of truth, lovers of truth and examples of
+truth as it is in Jesus our Savior. Amen.
+
+ FRED A. DILLINGHAM.
+
+
+February 9
+
+ _All things are engaged in writing their history. The planet, the
+ pebble, goes attended by its shadow. The rolling rock leaves its
+ scratches on the mountain; the river, its channel in the soil; the
+ animal, its bones in the stratum; the fern and leaf, their modest
+ epitaph in the coal. The falling drop makes its sculpture in the
+ sand or the stone. Not a foot steps into the snow or along the
+ ground, but prints, in characters more or less lasting, a map of
+ its march. Every act of the man inscribes itself in the memory of
+ his fellows, and in his own manners and face. The air is full of
+ sounds, the sky of tokens, the ground is all memoranda and
+ signatures, and every object covered over with hints which speak to
+ the intelligent._
+
+ _Ralph Waldo Emerson._
+
+Our Father, who art in Heaven and in every manifestation of living
+nature, we turn our thoughts to Thee with the rising of each new sun. We
+hear Thy voice in the singing of every summer bird. We realize Thy
+presence in the shifting shadows of the clouds. In the arching blue
+above us we realize something of the depth and breadth of the love that
+arches over the horizon of our life and stretches like the radiant bow
+of promise from the green hills of childhood to the sombre mountains of
+old age. We beseech Thee to give us thoughts so beautiful and ennobling
+that even amid the sods and clods of life's daily drudgery we can always
+face the morning light of some new hope which comes like the old song
+sung in the new land. Amen.
+
+ JOHN KIMBALL.
+
+
+February 10
+
+ _First, when I feel that I am become cold and indisposed to prayer,
+ by reason of other business and thoughts, I take my psalter and run
+ into my chamber, or, if day and season serve, into the church to
+ the multitude, and begin to repeat to myself--just as children
+ used--the ten commandments, the creed, and, according as I have
+ time, some sayings of Christ or of Paul, or some Psalms. Therefore
+ it is well to let prayer be the first employment in the early
+ morning, and the last in the evening. Avoid diligently those false
+ and deceptive thoughts which say, Wait a little, I will pray an
+ hour hence; I must first perform this or that. For with such
+ thoughts a man quits prayer for business that lays hold of and
+ entangles him, so that he comes not to pray the whole day long._
+
+ MARTIN LUTHER.
+
+O Lord, our Heavenly Father, who keepest covenant and loving kindness
+with Thy servants, who walk humbly with Thee, and who hast been
+attentive to the prayers of our fathers when they lifted up their hearts
+and their hands to Thee, teach us to pray, and to love to pray. Visit us
+in the night season and before the morning watch. Touch our spirits with
+the flame of Thy Spirit, before the day's business lays hold upon us and
+entangles us, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
+
+ REUBEN KIDNER.
+
+
+February 11
+
+ _In one of Dean Stanley's sermons to children, preached at
+ Westminster Abbey, he told the following story: "There was a little
+ girl living with her grandfather. She was a good child, but he was
+ not a very good man; and one day, when the little child came back
+ from school, he had put in writing over the bed, 'God is nowhere,'
+ for he did not believe in the good God, and he tried to make the
+ little child believe the same. What did the little girl do? She had
+ no eyes to see, no ears to hear, what her grandfather tried to
+ teach her. She was very small. She could only read words of one
+ syllable at a time; she rose above the bad meaning which he tried
+ to put in her mind; she rose, as we all ought to rise, above the
+ temptation of our time; she rose into a higher and better world;
+ she rose because her little mind could not do otherwise, and she
+ read the words, not 'God is nowhere,' but 'God is now here.' That
+ is what we all should strive to do. Out of words which have no
+ sense or which have bad sense, our eyes, our minds, ought to be
+ able to read a better sense."_
+
+ WILLIAM MOODIE.
+
+O Thou, Invisible Presence, there can be no place where Thou art not.
+Thou, our Father, art in heaven and on earth and everywhere. Thou art in
+the order of the rock, the beauty of the flower, the light of the sun
+and stars, and goodness in the human soul. Teach us to be conscious of
+Thy nearness to us, and so may we never be afraid. In the light of Thy
+countenance, may we see duty and truth, and recognize more easily the
+good in one another. Amen.
+
+ ALVA ROY SCOTT.
+
+
+February 12
+
+ ABRAHAM LINCOLN BORN 1809
+
+ _Chosen for large designs, he had the art
+ Of winning with his humour, and he went
+ Straight to his mark, which was the human heart;
+ Wise, too, for what he could not break he bent._
+
+ _Upon his back a more than Atlas-load--
+ The burden of the Commonwealth was laid;
+ He stooped, and rose up to it, though the road
+ Shot suddenly downwards, not a whit dismayed._
+
+ _Hold, warriors, counsellors, kings! all now give place
+ To this dear benefactor of the race._
+
+ RICHARD H. STODDARD.
+
+Almighty Father, we thank Thee today for the gracious memory of Thy
+servant who lived and died for the sake of a free and united nation. We
+thank Thee more that we have his life inwrought into the very fabric of
+the life of the nation. We had in him "a hiding place from the wind and
+a covert from the tempest, a river of water in a dry place and the
+shadow of a great rock in a weary land." We gratefully join in praise
+with the thousands who found help and cheer in the shadow of his
+strength. And now we humbly beseech Thee, help us in some small way this
+day to be a helper to the helpless, a friend to the needy, sunshine to
+those whose day will be gray and gloomy, the shadow of a great rock to
+those who are buffeted by the world's storms. Thus shall we prove our
+gratitude to Thee for the gift of Thy servant whom we honor today, and
+thus shall we honor Thee. We ask and offer all in the name of Thy Son
+Jesus Christ. Amen.
+
+ AVERY A. SHAW.
+
+
+February 13
+
+ _Let us learn to be content with what we have. Let us get rid of
+ our false estimates, set up all the higher ideals--a quiet home;
+ vines of our own planting; a few books full of the inspiration of a
+ genius; a few friends worthy of being loved, and able to love us in
+ return; a hundred innocent pleasures that bring no pain or remorse;
+ a devotion to the right that will never swerve; a simple religion
+ empty of all bigotry, full of trust and hope and love--and to such
+ a philosophy this world will give up all the empty joy it has._
+
+ DAVID SWING.
+
+Thou gracious Spirit of Life, our Father, at the beginning of this new
+day we wait for a moment before Thee with uncovered heads and with
+reverent spirits; Thou knowest us through and through, whatever man may
+think of us Thou knowest just what we are. In Thy sight we need not
+pretend; we need not make believe, we need only be simple and genuine
+and brave and earnest. We need be glad in the possession of what we
+have. Help us this day to rightly value that which is good and honest.
+Let us for this day at least, put away all vanity and give ourselves
+unreservedly to Thy service and the love of our fellow men. To this high
+end, may we have the sweet companionship of Jesus. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+February 14
+
+ _We go through life as some tourists go through Europe,--so anxious
+ to see the next sight, the next cathedral, the next picture, the
+ next mountain peak, that we never stop to fill our sense with the
+ beauty of the present one. Along all our pathways sweet flowers are
+ blossoming, if we will only stop to pluck them and smell their
+ fragrance. In every meadow, birds are warbling, calling to their
+ mates, and soaring into the blue, if we will only stop our
+ grumbling long enough to hear them._
+
+ MINOT J. SAVAGE.
+
+Give us, O God, the vision to see the way where duty lies and strength
+to walk in it, to ever keep the forward look and never to lose heart
+today because of the stumblings and fallings in the yesterdays that are
+forever gone. Let us remember that we are in Thy hands and we are
+faithless to Thee and to ourselves if knowingly we fail to do Thy work.
+Though we cannot see Thee, we now see our fellow men and we shall best
+serve Thee if, in love and patience, we help our fellows. Amen.
+
+ ALMON GUNNISON.
+
+
+February 15
+
+ _May I reach
+ That purest Heaven--be to other souls
+ The cup of strength in some great agony,
+ Enkindle generous ardor, feed pure love,
+ Beget the smiles that have no cruelty,
+ Be that sweet presence of a good diffused,
+ And in diffusion ever more intense!
+ So shall I join the choir invisible,
+ Whose music is the gladness of the world._
+
+ GEORGE ELIOT.
+
+Our heavenly Father, we bless Thee for the gift of another day with all
+its opportunities for service. And we pray that our hearts may respond
+in sympathy with the heartbeats of those who love and toil and suffer
+around us today. May we learn to make their joys and sorrows our own. Do
+not let our unfeeling hands strike the heart-strings of others harshly,
+nor allow our feet to go crushing roses of love, without thought. Help
+us, we pray Thee, to walk tenderly and reverently among our fellow men.
+May their hopes and noble endeavors ring within us the prayer bells of
+the soul. Make us thus to grow large and tender and noble through our
+helpful ministries. Amen.
+
+ JOHN WESLEY CARTER.
+
+
+February 16
+
+ _Ah, love and love alone at last will solve
+ All the vast, threatening questions that distract
+ Mankind; that fellow-men in strife array,
+ And the whole world with fierce contentions rend.
+ Still keep your idle millions under arms--
+ Fed on the hard-earned substance of the poor--
+ Still watch each other with keen jealousy,
+ Still slaughter thousands on the field of war,
+ Or strive with statesman's craft to arbitrate;
+ Thread the sly mazes of diplomacy,
+ Try communistic cures for every ill,
+ And when all fails at last, for lack of love,
+ Try love--the mightiest of them all--and win!_
+
+ HENRY NEHEMIAH DODGE.
+
+God of the light,--within, without, who hast lifted the curtain of night
+from our abodes, perfect now Thy blessing unto us, and take the veil
+from all our hearts, and make clear to us Thy holy presence. Filled with
+the everlasting light, may we look on each other, and on our work here
+below, and on the strifes and conditions of humanity, with a love and
+hope that are not of this world. May Faith, Hope and Love abide with
+us--and may we realize that the greatest of these is Love. Hasten Thou
+the time when by love alone Thy kingdom shall come, and Thy will be done
+on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.
+
+ WILLIAM B. EDDY.
+
+
+February 17
+
+ _If the day and night are such that you greet them with joy, and
+ life emits a fragrance like flowers and sweet-scented herbs, is
+ more starry, more immortal,--that is your success. All nature is
+ your congratulation and you have cause momentarily to bless
+ yourself._
+
+ HENRY DAVID THOREAU.
+
+Father, I have found Thy gift of life, a sweet and beautiful thing. It
+has known cloud and rain, but these have nourished it, and the darkness
+has sheltered it. It has felt driving storms, but these have
+strengthened it. It has known sunshine too. And now every day is a
+transfiguration and every night a benediction. Let thanksgiving be my
+prayer. What I need Thou wilt give. My hands Thou wilt touch with the
+soft petals of Thy flowers; and the arms of Thy strong care shall be
+about me. By the voices of brooks and rivers and winds and birds and
+little children Thou wilt speak to me, and in the deeper silences I
+shall hear Thy still small voice. Father, I thank Thee. Amen.
+
+ O. C. S. WALLACE.
+
+
+February 18
+
+ _Let us not care too much for what happens: Let us not leave our
+ peace of mind at the mercy of events._
+
+ CHARLES G. AMES.
+
+ _Let us lay hold of the happiness of today. Do we not go through
+ life blindly, thinking that some fair tomorrow will bring us the
+ gift we miss today?... Know thou, my heart, if thou art not happy
+ today, thou shalt never be happy._
+
+ ANNA ROBERTSON BROWN.
+
+We thank Thee, our Father, that the Satisfaction of righteousness is
+present as well as future. Help us, we beseech Thee, to live this day so
+that earth shall seem like heaven. In the proof of our adequacy to the
+demands of duty may we find a delight that shall more than compensate us
+for any pleasure or profit surrendered for its sake. May the sense of
+Thine approval sanctify our joys and comfort our sorrows. May we win
+love by deserving it, and find happiness in bestowing it. Through
+obedience to Thy will may we add strength and spiritual beauty to our
+own character and carry into the evening shadows the sweet assurance
+that other lives have been enriched by our kind words and helpful deeds.
+We ask it as Thy children. Amen.
+
+ J. FRANK THOMPSON.
+
+
+February 19
+
+ _'Tis always morning somewhere, and above
+ The awakening continents from shore to shore.
+ Somewhere the birds are singing evermore._
+
+ HENRY W. LONGFELLOW.
+
+ _The inconveniences and the petty annoyances, the pains and the
+ sorrows, do we ever forget them? Indeed, no; we grumble and groan
+ continually. The blue sky and the sunshine, the everyday mercies
+ and the wonderful blessings that we accept as a matter of course,
+ do we remember to rejoice because of them? Only too seldom. On this
+ one day, do let us be sincerely and expressedly thankful._
+
+ ANONYMOUS.
+
+Our Father, we rejoice to believe that Thy love is the eternal sun which
+knows no eclipse and that in its pure shining, we Thy children can go
+forward with brave hearts and radiant hopes, assured that Thy wisdom
+hath left nothing unfinished and that "Thy goodness faileth never." We
+greet this new day with newness of joy in Thy Fatherhood as our personal
+right, and with ascending ideals of a service whose gracious light shall
+kindle other souls into a larger hopefulness and a deeper tenderness. We
+would fill this day with all sunny thoughts, with all cheering words and
+with all generous deeds, and thus the more effectually bring the divine
+light into the human and make clearer the outlines of a heaven on earth.
+Amen.
+
+ ARNOLD S. YANTIS.
+
+
+February 20
+
+ _No blast of air or fire of sun
+ Puts out the light whereby we run
+ With girdled loins our lamplit race,
+ And each from each takes heart of grace
+ And spirit till his turn be done,
+ And light of face from each man's face
+ In whom the light of trust is one;
+ Since only souls that keep their place
+ By their own light, and watch things roll,
+ And stand, have light for any soul._
+
+ ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE.
+
+O Thou, Who coverest Thyself with light as with a garment, even the true
+light which lighteth every man coming into the world, shine Thou in us,
+putting to flight all the powers of darkness, and guilt of sin, and
+selfishness. Shine also through us to any that live in the shadow; and
+so fill us with Thy radiant Spirit, that we may be a lamp unto a
+neighbor's feet and a light unto his path. And when this day is done may
+every face we have met be the brighter for our meeting, and every heart
+braver with new joy and cheer and grace and strength. For in Thee O
+Lord, is life, and Thy life is the light of men. Amen.
+
+THEODORE PARKER.
+
+
+February 21
+
+ _The longer on this earth we live
+ And weigh the various qualities of men
+ The more we feel the high, stern-featured beauty
+ Of plain devotedness to duty,
+ Steadfast and still, nor paid with mortal praise,
+ But finding amplest recompense
+ For life's ungarlanded expense
+ In work done squarely and unwasted days._
+
+ JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL.
+
+Our dear Heavenly Father, we would greet Thee as this morning greets us.
+We thank Thee for the daily duty; that, amid this wondrous world, Thou
+hast set somewhat for our doing. May we appreciate the honor. May we not
+grudge our best, even in the humblest tasks, since Thou appointest them.
+Strengthen us, we beseech Thee, if sometimes the heart fails, and the
+tired hands get laggard. Show us how the lowliest service becomes
+loftiest if done with the glorifying motive of pleasing Thee. Make us
+this day blithe in duty. When our heads find pillow may Thy peace enfold
+us; forgive our failures; and, for Jesus' sake, may we never cease
+endeavor. Amen.
+
+ WAYLAND HOYT.
+
+
+February 22
+
+GEORGE WASHINGTON. BORN 1732.
+
+ _Welcome to the day returning,
+ Dearer still as ages flow,
+ While the torch of faith is burning,
+ Long as Freedom's altars glow!
+ See the hero whom it gave us
+ Slumbering on a mother's breast;
+ For the arm he stretched to save us,
+ Be its morn forever blest._
+
+ OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.
+
+Father of life, we thank Thee that Thou hast been with the Fathers; that
+Thou hast been with him whose birth this day we celebrate. Thou wert
+willing to speak to them, and they were willing to hear Thee and answer
+Thee, "Lo, here am I; send me." We thank Thee that the memory of this
+great man has come down to us; of him who was first in war, first in
+peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen; and we ask Thee that
+Thou wilt be with our countrymen today; that Thou wilt teach us Thy law,
+that we may walk in Thy ways; that this may be that happy nation whose
+God is the Lord. In all time of our trial, if we have sought Thee we
+have found Thee,--in all time of our success Thou hast won for us our
+victories,--Thou hast been with our counsellors. Father, today,
+tomorrow, and in days to come, in our memories and in our hopes be with
+us still, Our Father, Who art in Heaven. Amen.
+
+ EDWARD EVERETT HALE.
+
+
+February 23
+
+ _If you always remember that in all you do in soul or body God
+ stands by as a witness, in all your prayers and your actions you
+ will not err; and you shall have God dwelling with you._
+
+ EPICTETUS.
+
+ _Faith acts on our souls as a moral tonic; it takes the fret and
+ fever out of our lives; it gives the appetite and desire for noble
+ living; it removes despondency; it gives energy, courage, hope,
+ patience, and persistence; and in its highest manifestations it
+ makes our lives a blending of power, sweetness, and peace._
+
+ JAMES M. PULLMAN.
+
+Father of spirits! We yield ourselves to Thee. We will be afraid of
+neither sorrow nor death in a world where many saintly souls have
+sanctified them by a divine patience, and amid a Providence wherein no
+evil thing can dwell. Clinging unto Thee, we shall not perish with the
+fashion of this world that passeth away. As sparks falling on the river,
+so shall the glories of our strength go out. But the graces of the holy
+soul shall be as the brightness of the firmament, and as the stars
+forever and ever. In Thee, O Lord, is our undying trust. Amen.
+
+ JAMES MARTINEAU.
+
+
+February 24
+
+ _Be of good cheer, brave spirit; steadfastly serve that low whisper
+ thou hast served; for know, God hath a select family of sons now
+ scattered wide thro' earth, and each alone, who are thy spiritual
+ kindred, and each one by constant service to that inward law, is
+ weaving the sublime proportions of a true monarch's soul. Beauty
+ and strength, the riches of a spotless memory, the eloquence of
+ truth, the wisdom got by searching of a clear and loving eye that
+ seeth as God seeth. These are their gifts, and time, who keeps
+ God's word, brings on the day to seal the marriage of these minds
+ with thine, thy everlasting lovers._
+
+ RALPH WALDO EMERSON.
+
+O Thou, who makest the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice,
+help us to welcome this new day as Thy gift, to take up its duties with
+courage, and to follow the light which Thou shalt give. Conscious of the
+meaning and purpose of life, undismayed by the failures of past days,
+and ever remembering that Thy strength is made perfect in human
+weakness, may we consecrate ourselves anew to the glad service of life,
+knowing that in so doing we enter into fellowship with all who have been
+workers together with Thee, and into increasing likeness of soul to Thy
+holy Son. May the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and may life
+become stronger and sweeter and richer, until at last we receive through
+grace the "well done!" of the Master. Amen.
+
+ HENRY M. KING.
+
+
+February 25
+
+ _There is no music in a rest, but there is the making of music in
+ it. In our whole life melody, the music is broken off here and
+ there by "rests," and we foolishly think we have come to the end of
+ time. God sends a time of forced leisure--sickness, disappointed
+ plans, frustrated efforts--and makes a sudden pause in the choral
+ hymn of our lives, and we lament that our voices must be silent,
+ and our part missing in the music which ever goes up to the ear of
+ the Creator. How does the musician read the rest? See him beat time
+ with unvarying count and catch up the next note true and steady, as
+ if no breaking place had come in between. Not without design does
+ God write the music of our lives. But be it ours to learn the time,
+ and not be dismayed at the "rests." They are not to be slurred
+ over, nor to be omitted, nor to destroy the melody, nor to change
+ the key-note. If we look up, God Himself will beat the time for us.
+ With the eye on Him we shall strike the next note full and clear._
+
+ JOHN RUSKIN.
+
+O God, help us to trust where we cannot see, and to feel that life is
+not necessarily a failure because we are shut out from its activities.
+Grant us in sickness such visions and such communion with Thee that
+disease of the body shall be transformed into a healer of the soul; and,
+as the crushed rose the sweeter fragrance emits, so may our sorrows
+chasten and refine us.
+
+O Heavenly Father, grant that all our sickness and pain and
+disappointment may so sweeten our dispositions, purify our character and
+strengthen our souls that we shall bring heaven's sunlight into the
+lives of all whom we meet. Amen.
+
+ MYRON W. HAYNES.
+
+
+February 26
+
+ _Love is the greatest thing that God can give us, for Himself is
+ love; and it is the greatest thing we can give to God, for it will
+ also give ourselves, and carry with it all that is ours._
+
+ JEREMY TAYLOR.
+
+ _High thoughts and noble in all lands
+ Help me, my soul is fed by such;
+ But ah, the touch of lips and hands,
+ The human touch!
+ Warm, vital, close, life's symbols dear,
+ These need I most and now and here._
+
+ RICHARD BURTON.
+
+Our Father in Heaven, we bless Thee this morning for all Thy care and
+love; Thou hast made our houses homes, sweet, quiet dwelling-places. We
+thank Thee for sleep, for communion with one another in all holy and
+tender speech. We thank Thee for all our hopes; the worlds are nearer
+than we thought, heaven's fragrance attempers the winds of earth, we
+almost hear the upper song: may we listen for it, may our souls delight
+in sweet anticipations of immortal fellowship, and may we come out of
+these high reveries determined to work more, suffer more patiently, to
+accept every discipline more willingly, and to do all our little day's
+work as men whose citizenship is in heaven. Amen.
+
+ JOSEPH PARKER.
+
+
+February 27
+
+ _Flame of the spirit, and dust of the earth,--
+ This is the making of man,
+ This is his problem of birth;
+ Born to all holiness, born to all crime,
+ Heir of both worlds, on the long slope of time
+ Climbing the path of God's plan;
+ Dust of the earth in his error and fear,
+ Weakness and malice and lust;
+ Yet, quivering up from the dust,
+ Flame of the spirit, unleaping and clear,
+ Yearning to God, since from God is its birth--
+ This is man's portion, to shape as he can,
+ Flame of the spirit, and dust of the earth--
+ This is the making of man._
+
+ PRISCILLA LEONARD.
+
+O God, Thou art the Father of our spirits, but our spirits have come to
+us through ways of flesh. We are both spiritual and carnal. Our spirits
+seek Thee evermore, but our flesh turns away from Thee and strives to
+drag us down. Between our best and our worst is bitter conflict. Help us
+to the discovery that all that lives is in like conflict, and that there
+can be no virtue and no glory except in overcoming. Make us see that the
+spirit is stronger than the flesh because it is of God, and that in the
+obedience and inspiration of Jesus, Thy Son and our Brother, we may at
+last be enthroned with Him. Amen.
+
+ CEPHAS B. CRANE.
+
+
+February 28
+
+ _Neither let mistakes nor wrong directions, of which every man, in
+ his studies and elsewhere, falls into many, discourage you. There
+ is precious instruction to be got by finding we were wrong. Let a
+ man try faithfully, manfully, to be right; he will grow daily more
+ and more right. It is at bottom the condition on which all men have
+ to cultivate themselves._
+
+ THOMAS CARLYLE.
+
+Almighty God, our heavenly Father,--in Thine own loving way Thou dost
+bless us when we do the right; when we fall into mistakes so teach us by
+Thy judgments that we become wise unto salvation. Help Thy children to
+recognize their proneness to blunder, that they learn to walk
+circumspectly. When we fall into the wrong, grant that we lie prone not
+long but arise undismayed to greater effort. Bring to bear upon us the
+influences of the Holy Spirit, that we strive earnestly and devoutly to
+be right at the centre of our being; that rightness be the fabric of our
+life. To Thee be all glory evermore. Amen.
+
+ EDWARD A. PERRY.
+
+
+February 29
+
+ _Henceforth I learn that to obey is best,
+ And love with fear the only God, to walk
+ As in His presence, ever to observe
+ His providence, and on Him sole depend,
+ Merciful over all His works, with good
+ Still overcoming evil, and by small
+ Accomplishing great things--by things deemed weak
+ Subverting worldly strong, and worldly wise
+ By simply meek, that suffering for Truth's sake
+ Is fortitude to highest victory,
+ And to the faithful death the gate of life--
+ Taught this by His example whom I now
+ Acknowledge my Redeemer ever blest._
+
+ JOHN MILTON.
+
+O Thou Eternal One before whom from day to day we walk and on whom we
+ever depend, help us to-day to love whatever is good and beautiful and
+to follow obediently the behests of Thy Spirit. May we overcome evil
+with good; and may we accomplish whatever tasks the hours as they pass
+demand of us, whether small or great, with such strength as may be
+vouchsafed us and with a wisdom begotten of meekness. If we must suffer
+for truth's sake may we manifest such humility and fortitude as shall be
+conducive to the highest success. Open for us hourly the gates of life,
+as those who endeavor to be faithful to their high calling. These favors
+we ask in the name of Him who redeems our lives from all evil and crowns
+us daily with His loving kindness. Amen.
+
+ EDWARD DAY.
+
+
+March 1
+
+ _All the strength of the world and all its beauty, all true joy,
+ everything that consoles, that feeds hope, or throws a ray of light
+ along our dark paths, everything that makes us see across our poor
+ lives a splendid goal and a boundless future, comes to us from
+ people of simplicity, those who have made another object of their
+ desires than the passing satisfaction of selfishness and vanity,
+ and have understood that the art of living is to know how to give
+ one's life._
+
+ CHARLES WAGNER.
+
+Heavenly Father, help us to be like Thyself, as manifested in the person
+of Jesus Christ, Thy Son! It was His will to do the will of His Father
+by living and dying for others. Teach us so to live. Help us to learn by
+positive personal experience that supremest joy comes only "in
+ministering unto others." Teach us what Jesus meant when He said: "I am
+among you as he that serveth." Plant deeply within us His passion for a
+life of service. May our morning hours be gladdened and inspired by this
+divine purpose. Let Thy holy will be done in us this day. Amen.
+
+ CHARLES PARKHURST.
+
+
+ March 2
+
+ _The year's at the spring
+ And day's at the morn;
+ Morning's at seven;
+ The hill-side's dew-pearled;
+ The lark's on the wing;
+ The snail's on the thorn;
+ God's in His heaven--
+ All's right with the world!_
+
+ ROBERT BROWNING.
+
+Father in Heaven, refreshed and heartened by the night, we begin again
+with Thee the high adventure of our life. Add to the beauty of the world
+about us a finer spiritual beauty in our souls. Save us from our own
+undoing. If our thoughts are dark, shine in upon them with Thy glory; if
+they be bright, make them to light the pathway of another. Have us
+wholesomely to forget ourselves, in the joy of Thy good world, the
+promise of our imperfection and the trust in God that maketh not afraid.
+And when the duties of the day are done, dismiss us, Thy well-meaning
+children, with a quiet mind to rest. Amen.
+
+ ALBERT WELLMAN HITCHCOCK.
+
+
+ March 3
+
+ _We will do something worth doing--that is the resolution for you
+ and me._
+
+ EDWARD EVERETT HALE.
+
+ _We admire the man who embodies victorious efforts, the man who
+ never wrongs his neighbor, who is prompt to help a friend, but who
+ has those virile qualities necessary to win in the stern strife of
+ actual life._
+
+ THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
+
+Father of Lights in whom is no darkness at all, and in whose light we
+see light, help us to clearly see and never forget that only right deeds
+are worthy of a child of Thine. May we in no moment forget that to yield
+to the wrong is to bring upon us Thy just condemnation and sow for us a
+sure reaping of sorrowful repentance. By doing the things we know to be
+right and worth doing, the things worthy of our true selves and of our
+Father and of our Master whose we are, may this day, through us, yield
+some benefit to other children of Thine, and bring to us the sweet
+reward of Thine approval. Amen.
+
+ OSCAR F. SAFFORD.
+
+
+March 4
+
+ _It is worth a thousand pounds a year to have the habit of looking
+ on the bright side of things._
+
+ SAMUEL JOHNSON.
+
+ _Not by appointment do we meet delight and joy;
+ They wait not our expectancy;
+ But round some corner in the street of life,
+ They, on a sudden, greet us with a smile._
+
+ GERALD MASSEY.
+
+Our Father, at the beginning of a new day, refreshed by the night's
+rest, we turn to Thee for strength for the day's task. We know not what
+the hours hold for us, but this we do know, that come what may, Thou
+wilt go with us to bless, to cheer; we shall not walk or work alone. As
+we faithfully and cheerfully perform our work, conscious of Thy
+presence, there will come joys and smiles unexpected and unsought. This
+is Thy way of teaching us faithfulness and endurance. May we soon learn,
+that if we would make the day happy and worth while, we must not seek
+our own pleasure and good, but that of our brethren. May we so live that
+when the night shadows are again upon us, there shall be no cause for
+shame or regret. In the Master's spirit! Amen.
+
+ O. HOWARD PERKINS.
+
+
+March 5
+
+ _Not in dumb resignation we lift our hands on high;
+ Not like the nerveless fatalist, content to do and die.
+ Our faith springs, like the eagle's, who soars to meet the sun,
+ And cries exulting unto Thee, "Oh, Lord, Thy will be done."_
+
+ _Thy will! It bids the weak be strong; it bids the strong be just;
+ No lips to fawn, no hand to beg, no brow to seek the dust,
+ Wherever man oppresses men beneath the liberal sun,
+ O Lord, be there, Thine arm made bare, Thy righteous will be done._
+
+ JOHN HAY.
+
+It is with the beautiful assurance of Thy love and kindness, our Father,
+that we draw nigh unto Thee. It is Faith that seems to give us wings by
+which we rise above the darkness, into Thy Presence of light and love.
+We feel our divine relationship to Thee, so that we lift up our hands to
+Thee, as the child to the parent. We are content to do Thy will, because
+we know then just what it is to love Thee. Our Master taught us this
+great lesson by His own faith in Thee. To do Thy will means strength to
+the weak, hope to the hopeless. To the sorrowing there can be seen,
+beyond the tear, the rainbow of Thy promise. Thus, as we realize our
+sonship will we work to make all men feel their own power, and all
+become one in Thy great love. May Thy Kingdom come and Thy will be done,
+in Christ our Lord. Amen.
+
+ C. E. FISHER.
+
+
+March 6
+
+ _If you are my friend you cannot be indifferent to my faults of
+ character, any more than you can be indifferent to my sickness or
+ suffering. But, if you care to help me cure these faults, please
+ let them alone! Please make much of my good qualities if you can
+ discover any. And especially bless me with the encouraging sight of
+ a better man than myself, and cheer me with a high example. I know
+ that there are times when a sharp or gentle rebuke is in order, and
+ that "faithful are the wounds of a friend." But the wiser doctors
+ have lost their faith in blood-letting; and they know that clumsy
+ surgery kills more than it cures._
+
+ CHARLES G. AMES.
+
+In our prayer, our Heavenly Father, we desire to be consciously grateful
+for the opportunities this new day affords us of being helpful to each
+other. The inspiration so to act comes from Thee. Thou art the constant
+and never-failing Helper of Thy children. May we be mindful of the fact
+that our noblest service to another may not be an alms, but a look of
+encouragement, a word of cheer. Enable us to be not too sensible of
+others' faults and failings. Assist us to see and magnify the good in
+other lives. To this end may we be to others such examples in conduct
+and character as we would have them be to us. We offer and ask all in
+the spirit of Jesus. Amen.
+
+ LEROY W. COONS.
+
+
+March 7
+
+ _The mariner of old said to Neptune in a great tempest, "O God!
+ Thou mayest save me if Thou wilt, and if Thou wilt Thou mayest
+ destroy me, but whether or no, I will steer my rudder true."_
+
+ MONTAIGNE.
+
+ _I go to prove my soul
+ I see my way as birds their trackless way.
+ I shall arrive! what time, what circuit first,
+ I ask not; but unless God send His hail
+ Or blinding fire-balls, sleet or stifling snow,
+ In some time, His good time, I shall arrive;
+ He guides me and the bird. In His good time!_
+
+ ROBERT BROWNING.
+
+Once more we face the day that can be dreadful only to our poor sight
+and trembling faith. For Thou hast made flame and pain, the hurricane
+and quaking earth to be Thy ministers of grace. Shall trust depart when
+shadows fall? Thou art "in the shadow keeping watch above Thine own." As
+truly in severity as in gentleness, Thou art the All-Loving and
+All-Wise. Shall we fear to go anywhere? Lord, Thou art everywhere!
+Defend us only from the blindness and fear of ignorance and sin. Draw us
+nearer to Thee, this day, by any means in Thy good pleasure, so that at
+last, truly knowing Thy way, we shall rise above the worst that
+circumstances may do into joy unspeakable and peace unbroken. In the
+name of Him made perfect through suffering. Amen.
+
+ HENRY B. TAYLOR.
+
+
+March 8
+
+ _We complain of the slow, dull life we are forced to lead, of our
+ humble sphere of action, of our low position in the scale of
+ society, of our having no room to make ourselves known, of our
+ wasted energies, of our years of patience. So do we say that we
+ have no Father who is directing our life, so do we say that God has
+ forgotten us, so do we boldly judge what life is best for us, and
+ so by our complaining do we lose the use and profit of the quiet
+ years._
+
+ BISHOP HUNTINGTON.
+
+Infinite and Holy One, by the tender mercies of Thy great love show us
+this day the true life that is hid in Thee. Feed us with Thy spirit that
+we hunger not. Make us strong and merciful in Thee. Help us to be
+simple, brave, and true. Give us to speak and live the truth. Make us
+content with life while ever dreaming of the more perfect day. Fix our
+lives in a great and brave integrity. Humble us in our pride, lift us
+from our despondency. Keep our hearts pure and our lips from speaking
+guile. Send us forth in perfect faith that here and now our lives may be
+patterned after that of Jesus without loss of influence over men. Make
+us not ashamed to be good and forgiving and gentle in all our ways.
+Amen.
+
+ FREDERICK W. BETTE.
+
+
+March 9
+
+ _Count each affliction, whether light or grave,
+ God's messenger sent down to thee; do thou
+ With courtesy receive him; rise and bow;
+ And, ere his shadow pass thy threshold, crave
+ Permission first his heavenly foot to lave._
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ _Grief should be
+ Like joy, majestic, equable, sedate,
+ Confirming, cleansing, raising, making free.
+ Strong to consume small troubles; to commend
+ Great thoughts, grave thoughts, thoughts lasting to the end._
+
+ AUBREY DEVERE.
+
+Our Father, we would learn to trust Thy love, to live so that Thy grace
+shall have in us its perfect work. Not the easy thing is what we ask,
+but strength for duty. Give us the confidence that Thou art by our side.
+Let Thy strong touch be felt, Thy blessed presence seen. In all the
+turmoil that rages within, without, grant us Thy peace. In childish
+helplessness, grant us the Father's help. To grow like Jesus is our
+heart's desire. All things that Thy great heart permits or sends, we
+would receive with gratitude, that so our wills and lives may be in
+harmony with Thine. And so day by day may something of the Saviour's
+glory shine through us and bless and brighten other lives in need. Amen.
+
+ FRANK M. HOLT.
+
+
+March 10
+
+ _Dawn and its silence draw a silver sigh
+ Far in the east where early shadows lie
+ All flocked and folded like soft peaceful sheep.
+ The spirit of the spring stirs in its sleep,
+ Breathes into life a misty floating sheen;
+ The willows dreamy drip of constant green;
+ Exultant beats a bird-heart o'er a nest,
+ Where dim, vague stirrings 'neath the tiny breast
+ Spell fresh the miracle of motherhood.
+ Ah, how the world is young! ah, how 'tis good!
+ To feel the new life flutter mystic wing;
+ Like to a lark to feel one's soul upspring,
+ Transpierce the very limit of the sky,
+ And toss its challenge to Eternity!_
+
+ MARY BALDWIN.
+
+O God, our heavenly Father, make our hearts exultant, as the earth in
+the spring morning, with the radiance of Thy Presence. Fill them with
+the joy and hopefulness of eternal youth, and cause them to be uplifted
+in gratitude and thankfulness to Thee. We have seen earthly faces so
+beaming with the light of love that we never shall forget them. We have
+spoken names that are so endeared to us that they will linger in our
+memory as long as we live. So, O Father, may it be with Thy face and Thy
+name. May Thy face beaming upon us as the sun of righteousness win our
+love to holiness and virtue, making us fruitful of good works, and Thy
+name be so woven in our affections that we shall cherish and hallow it
+forever. Amen.
+
+ EDGAR W. PREBLE.
+
+
+March 11
+
+ _You must be serving something, some one, that needs your help in
+ order to really appreciate the Divine care. It may be the parents'
+ care of their children; the teacher and her scholars; the
+ charity-worker and the poor, the friendless, the benighted; it may
+ be friend helping friend--in some way the life of loving service
+ must be there as something out of which God can help us think of
+ and value the care which infinite love bestows upon us._
+
+ JULIAN K. SMYTH.
+
+Heavenly Father, with the opening of a new day we thank Thee for father
+love and mother love, for love of patriot and philanthropist, and for
+the love which that has called into being in our own hearts. Through
+this love and the service of mutual helpfulness to which we have been
+led thereby, Thou openest our eyes to behold the world pervaded and
+overruled by a spirit of infinite goodness, society resting upon mutual
+services, and through that service mankind rising to a nobler and
+diviner civilization. Help us to be mindful of this heavenly vision, and
+so make our feet swift to run and our hands eager to work in the service
+of righteousness and mutual helpfulness. We ask in His name, who loving
+us, has taught us the divinity of service. Amen.
+
+ LEGRAND POWERS.
+
+
+March 12
+
+ _Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs
+ even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor
+ spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the
+ gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat._
+
+ THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
+
+ _But only he whose judgment never strays
+ Beyond the threshold of the right, learns this--
+ Not always is it good to have one's wish;
+ What seemeth sweet full oft to bitter turns;
+ Fulfilled desire hath made mine eyes to weep.
+ Therefore, O reader of these lines, if thou
+ Would'st virtuous be, and held by others dear
+ Will ever for the power to do aright._
+
+ LEONARDO DA VINCI.
+
+God of the morning light, with the dawn of another day we come to Thee
+with prayer for help in the steadfastness of our manifold duties. The
+cares that oppress us, the burdens we carry, the obligations that fall
+upon us, are too much for our little strength without Thy help. That
+help we crave from Thee, the only source of all-availing strength. Let
+us not be dismayed by the powers of this world or busy ourselves in vain
+ambitions seeking the praise of men, but may we seek that Divine
+approval which is of more worth than all the favors of earth. Make us
+brave and strong to follow in the way of Thine appointment, and grant
+that we may so sincerely feel and act in the busy times of this day that
+when the evening comes no wasted hours may be laid to our charge. Amen.
+
+ EDWARD M. BARNEY.
+
+
+March 13
+
+ _You are in God's world; you are God's child. Those things you
+ cannot change; the only peace and rest and happiness for you is to
+ accept them and rejoice in them. When God speaks to you, you must
+ not believe that it is the wind blowing or the torrent falling from
+ the hill. You must know that it is God. You must gather up the
+ whole power of meeting Him. You must be thankful that life is great
+ and not little. You must listen as if listening were your life. And
+ then, then only can come peace. All other sounds will be caught up
+ into the prevailing richness of that voice of God. The lost
+ proportions will be perfectly restored. Discord will cease; harmony
+ will be complete._
+
+ PHILLIPS BROOKS.
+
+Almighty God! We thank Thee for the peace and comfort of the night; for
+the new day and all the hope and peace and promise that it brings to us.
+Help us that with glad faces and joyous hearts we may take up its every
+privilege and duty, doing, in the spirit of the Master every good and
+helpful thing our hands find to do. And when the evening shall have come
+may we look back on a day of plenty, service, and peace, retiring to our
+rest with songs in our hearts and thanksgiving on our lips because Thy
+blessings have been on this, as on all other days new every morning and
+fresh every evening. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE MAYO GERRISH.
+
+
+March 14
+
+ _It is the first mild day of March:
+ Each minute sweeter than before,
+ The red-breast sings from the tall larch
+ That stands beside our door._
+
+ _There is a blessing in the air,
+ Which seems a sense of joy to yield,
+ To the bare trees and mountain bare,
+ And grass in the green field._
+
+ WILLIAM WORDSWORTH.
+
+Our Father, we wake each morning refreshed and thankful for the joy of
+living; for the air we breathe, the things we see, the sounds of
+nature's sweetest harmonies and all the beauty which surrounds our
+earthly life. May the wonders of the earth speak to us in witness of Thy
+love. Let springing-grass and opening flower remind us of the new life
+which is ours through the resurrection of our Lord. His blessing like
+the light of the sun runs everywhere, carrying with it morning and hope,
+springtime and gladness. The joy is in the song of the birds, the murmur
+of the waters, the children's laughter and the song of happy hearts.
+Attune our hearts to notes of praise and make us glad upon the earth
+until Thou bringest us to perfect and unshadowed joys where we shall see
+Thee as Thou art and be like Thee. Amen.
+
+ J. W. STEPHAN.
+
+
+March 15
+
+ _As to equality and inequality, all the beauty and glory of life
+ come from inequalities. If we were all Beethovens or Shakespeares
+ or marvelous in any one direction, life would be unbearable. Who
+ shall tell me if an Easter lily is the equal of a rose, or if
+ either is equal to an oak or a pine? The question of equality is
+ out of the court. The one thing we need to do is to cultivate the
+ finest and sweetest things in us; and then, whether we are one of
+ the California big trees or the violet in a valley, we shall help
+ on the beauty and glory of the earth._
+
+ ROBERT COLLYER.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for the manifold beauties of Thy
+universe, the revelations of Thyself to Thy children. For those large
+wonders which stir men's minds and rouse their souls to awe, we thank
+Thee, but not less for the little things of life, filling their places
+well, and showing daily to the seeing eye that without them Thy universe
+could not be complete. Help us to grasp the lesson that they teach. If
+Thou hast given to us the great place, we thank Thee, but we thank Thee
+not less for the homely task, the humble duty, for it is all necessary
+to Thy plan. Help us, day by day, with stronger purpose, larger
+consecration, to fill our place, to do Thy will, in His name. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE F. FORTIER.
+
+
+March 16
+
+ _There must be a way of taking worry rightly, so that it shall do
+ us good and not harm. Worry, rightly taken, should train to
+ quietness, humility, patience, gentleness, sympathy. It ought not
+ to eventuate (though it naturally does) in making others suffer
+ because we are uncomfortable; in making us a source of painful
+ worry to others because we are worried ourselves._
+
+ A. H. K. BOYD.
+
+Father of Love, Thy blessing it is which gives us another day. Help us
+to put before its cares the spirit that will banish care, to find in its
+beginning the power that will make labors happy and its ending sweet,
+and so to open our hearts to Thy light that no gloom of night shall
+linger round our way. If heaviness there be in ours or others' lives may
+every wholesome cheer make it less sore. If remembered faults and
+follies quench a better hope, send Thy patience and Thy will to be our
+courage and fresh resolve. Through all the noisy world may the secret
+music of Thy law swell in our breasts and every step keep time with its
+glorious march. Amen.
+
+ JOHN DAY.
+
+
+March 17
+
+ _Therefore to whom turn I but to Thee, the ineffable Name?
+ Builder and maker, Thou, of houses not made with hands!
+ What, have fear of change from Thee who art ever the same!
+ Doubt that Thy power can fill the heart that Thy power expands!
+ There shall never be one lost good! What was, shall live as before;
+ The evil is null, is nought, is silence implying sound;
+ What was good, shall be good, with, for evil, so much good more;
+ On the earth the broken arcs; in the heaven, a perfect round._
+
+ ROBERT BROWNING.
+
+We thank Thee, O God, that each morning brings us fresh assurance of Thy
+wisdom and goodness--that the days have taught us to believe in Thee and
+to trust Thee as our perfect Friend. We are glad that we can face the
+day in the faith that Thou art sufficient to the needs of the day--to
+all the needs of all Thy children. In this trust, we beseech Thee, make
+us more and more to rejoice in life and its high privileges. Help us to
+go on our way with gladness and peace in our hearts--to worship Thee
+hourly by honest work, by faithful service, by kind words, by helpful
+deeds, and so, to find life good by doing something to make it good.
+Amen.
+
+ FLINT M. BISSELL.
+
+
+March 18
+
+ _"If I were you," she said, "I should not worry. Just make up your
+ mind to do better when you get another chance. One can't do more
+ than that. That is what I shall think of: that God will give each
+ of us another chance, and that each one of us will take it and do
+ better--I and you and everyone. So there is no need to fret over
+ failure, when one hopes one may be allowed to redeem that failure
+ later on. Besides which life is very hard. Why, we ourselves
+ recognize that. If there be a God, some intelligence greater than
+ human intelligence, He will understand better than ourselves that
+ life is very hard and difficult, and He will be astonished not
+ because we are not better, but because we are not worse. At least,
+ that would be my notion of a God. I should not worry if I were you.
+ Just make up your mind to do better if you get the chance and be
+ content with that."_
+
+ BEATRICE HARRADEN.
+
+O Lord, how often we have failed--how weak and frail we are--we have
+groped and stumbled along the pathway of life and have been defeated
+over and over again. Yet in the light of Thy providence and Thy love in
+spite of all defeats, we take heart and face the day with hope. In Thine
+economy no failure is ever final--we rejoice that Thou openest before us
+another opportunity. Let us be brave and earnest to seize the
+opportunities of these passing hours. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+March 19
+
+ _To every life there comes a time supreme:
+ One day, one night, one morning, or one noon,
+ One freighted hour--one moment opportune,
+ One rift through which sublime fulfilments gleam;
+ One time when fate goes tiding with the stream,
+ One Once in balance 'twixt Too Late, Too Soon--
+ And ready for the passing instant's boon
+ That shall in favor tip the wavering beam.
+ Ah! happy he who, knowing how to wait,
+ Knows also how to watch and how to stand
+ On life's broad deck alert, and at the prow,
+ To seize the happy moment big with fate
+ From Opportunity's extended hand
+ When the great clock of Destiny strikes Now!_
+
+ MARY ASHLEY TOWNSEND.
+
+Our heavenly Father! Thou art the Author of all our days, and all our
+times and seasons are hid in the unfolding mystery of Thy Thought and
+Purpose. It is not given to us to know what a day or an hour may bring
+forth, but the opportune moments come, ways are opened before us to
+larger life and usefulness and privilege and duty. May we, by
+faithfulness, and watchfulness, and the readiness of those on duty, be
+prepared for each divinely offered opportunity. Surrounded by blessings,
+may we live to bless. Ministered unto, may we minister. Grateful to
+Thee, may we show our gratitude by service. In Thy name, Amen.
+
+ DWIGHT M. HODGE.
+
+
+March 20
+
+ _Put out of your thought the past whatever it may be; let go even
+ the future with its golden dream and its high ideal; and
+ concentrate your soul in this burning, present moment. For the man
+ who is true to the present is true to his best; and the soul that
+ wins the ground immediately before it, makes life a triumph._
+
+ OZORA STEARNS DAVIS.
+
+Almighty Giver of every good, we come to Thee amid the joys of a new
+morning, with its new blessings and opportunities. We would dedicate
+this day to Thy service. We would forget the past and waste not our time
+in idle dreaming of to-morrow, but with consecrated zeal we would apply
+ourselves to the tasks Thou hast appointed us for this present hour. Thy
+hand is ever opened to let down the tokens of Thy love. May all that is
+best within us rise up in answer, and may we be dedicated anew to our
+upbuilding in righteousness and the fulfilment of our duties to one
+another. May we this day follow the footsteps of the Christ and prove
+ourselves His faithful disciples! Amen.
+
+ R. PERRY BUSH.
+
+
+March 21
+
+ _I believe that today is better than yesterday, and that tomorrow
+ will be better than today._
+
+ GEORGE F. HOAR.
+
+ _Make yourselves nests of pleasant thoughts, bright fancies,
+ faithful sayings; treasure-houses of precious and restful thoughts,
+ which care cannot disturb nor poverty take away from you,--houses
+ built without hands for your souls to live in._
+
+ JOHN RUSKIN.
+
+Dear Father in heaven, around Thy name cluster the most sacred and holy
+affections. Thy name, indeed, is above every name infinite in love, and
+awakening in each heart a sense of filial gratitude. At this morning
+hour, therefore, we are mindful of the tie that binds us to Thee, that
+provides a nesting-place for pleasant and restful thoughts, that makes
+duty less irksome, home-love more tender, sacrifice more willing, and
+character more noble. In this spirit we pray Thee, O Father, send us
+forth to the labor which awaits us, only to realize, under Thy
+Providence, that this is the best day of our life, and full of assurance
+and rejoicing for a still better tomorrow. In the light of faith, hope
+and love do we ask and offer all. Amen.
+
+ WILBURN D. POTTER.
+
+
+March 22
+
+ _Scarce tangible may be the first glad sign,
+ Yet how it shakes us with a vernal thrill!
+ The voice of the south wind behind the hill;
+ Or an elusive bird-note faint and fine;
+ A flush at dawn along the wan sky-line;
+ A lyrical exuberance in the rill;
+ A something working its mysterious will
+ Both in majestic hole and tenuous vine!_
+
+ _It is the vernal spirit. In the earth
+ It throbs and pulses; quickens in the air;
+ And permeates all nature thro' and thro'.
+ In the expectant poignancy of birth
+ What raptures, what rare ecstasies we share--
+ Old,--ah, how old!--and yet forever new!_
+
+ CLINTON SCOLLARD.
+
+O God, how good Thou art! All Thy works praise Thee. The world is filled
+with Thy glory. This dawning Springtime brings Thee very near every
+responsive heart. Thou art the fountain of life. We see Thee in bursting
+bud and incipient bloom. We hear Thee in the rapture of birds and in the
+new-found gladness of sun-kissed rivulets. May we, the children of Thy
+love, be new born into a deeper spirituality,--a richer life! May the
+beauty of the Spirit breathing through our hearts call forth the latent
+goodness that slumbers there! Speak through us the music of Thy love.
+Perfume us with the odors of Thy heavenly grace, and may we walk this
+day in tune with Thee! Amen.
+
+ JOSEPH COOPER.
+
+
+March 23
+
+ _Work is the grand cure of all the maladies and miseries that ever
+ beset mankind--honest work, which you intend getting done._
+
+ THOMAS CARLYLE.
+
+ _Thank God every morning when you get up that you have something to
+ do which must be done whether you like it or not. Being forced to
+ work and forced to do your best will breed in you temperance,
+ self-control, diligence, strength of will, content and a hundred
+ virtues which the idle will never know._
+
+ CHARLES KINGSLEY.
+
+Kind Father and Friend, Thy presence has watched over us all our days
+and has been a comfort in all our labors. We thank Thee for Thy
+unwearied watching over us. May we at the dawn of this new day, come to
+our tasks with thanks in our hearts and a song on our lips. May all
+life's stern duties and its perplexities get grace and beauty from our
+hallowed thoughts and sanctified resolves. We would ask that Thy free
+spirit be with us this day to give us hope and joy in our several tasks.
+May the sweet peace of mind of those who learn to labor and to wait
+crown all our efforts. Dear Father, forgive our failures and keep us
+ever Thine. Amen.
+
+ CHARLES E. PETTY.
+
+
+March 24
+
+ _Ah, the mis-takings and the mis-leavings; and all the ignorant
+ beginning, when we can only lay up things for late wisdom to repent
+ of!_
+
+ _Nothing really bad can ever happen.... I've meant right,--and I
+ mean right now. I'll do the best I can, and the Lord will take care
+ of everybody._
+
+ MRS. A. D. T. WHITNEY.
+
+Lord, Thou comest to us with light and life, forgive us for coming to
+Thee as aliens and beggars; daily Thou art our refuge and strength, and
+this should subtract our fear and multiply our confidence, comfort and
+consecration. Our needs are Thy opportunity; we have more sunshine than
+we can use, more love than we can repay and more revelation than we can
+translate. O may this satisfy us early and strengthen us through all our
+days. Alone we are very weak, but we are never alone; all of life is a
+company affair, for Thou art with us; help us to be as truly Thy
+children as Thou art our Father and Mother. Through our thinking,
+working and waiting may men see Thee and glorify Thee. O teach us to
+abide ever in Thy love, and help us to work some helpful miracle by the
+gates of need, and to see the rainbow of prophecy through earth's tears
+and over its years. Amen.
+
+ ALAN R. TILLINGHAST.
+
+
+March 25
+
+ _'Tis the fine souls who serve us, and not what is called fine
+ society._
+
+ RALPH WALDO EMERSON.
+
+ _We find what we look for in the world. I have always been looking
+ for the nobler qualities in human beings, and I have always found
+ them. There are great souls all along the highway of life, and
+ there are great qualities even in the people who seem common and
+ weak to us ordinarily._
+
+ ELLA WHEELER WILCOX.
+
+Gracious Father, we thank Thee for the power Thou hast given us to labor
+for our own and others' advancement and happiness. As we begin this new
+day we trust in Thy bounty and would draw on Thy strength to sustain us
+in our toil. We thank Thee for the brave souls in every walk of life who
+have set us an example worthy to be followed. Many have been or are
+notable in the world for their fortitude, honor and achievements; many
+others have been known to us but have been unheralded by men, and from
+all these we have ourselves been made more capable and faithful. By Thy
+grace may we be aided in emulating the good we see in others, and be
+able to make the world a little brighter because of Thy gift to us of
+this day. Amen.
+
+ FRANK S. RICE.
+
+
+March 26
+
+ _An old, worn Harp that had been played
+ Till all its strings were loose and frayed,
+ Joy, Hate, and Fear, each one, assayed
+ To play. But each in turn had found
+ No sweet responsiveness of sound._
+
+ _Then Love the Master-player came
+ With heaving breast and eyes aflame;
+ The Harp he took all undismayed,
+ Smote on its strings, still strange to song,
+ And brought forth music sweet and strong._
+
+ PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR.
+
+Heavenly Father, I pray Thee that Thou wilt help me to love to-day. Thou
+art Love and if Thou shalt fill my life there will be no room for hate
+and no room for fear, for "Perfect Love casteth out fear." As the Master
+stilled the waves in Galilee, so speak Thou peace to my soul, and bid
+all discord cease, that my whole life may be in tune with heaven, and
+may be one happy song. Love alone can bring harmony out of discord, love
+out of hate, trust out of fear, and music out of a worn-out, or a long
+unused or misused life. So let Love control the whole of my life for
+Jesus' sake. Amen.
+
+ B. L. JENNINGS.
+
+
+March 27
+
+ _No stream from its source
+ Flows seaward, how lonely soever its course,
+ But some land is gladdened. No star ever rose
+ Or set without influence somewhere. Who knows
+ What earth needs from earth's lowliest creature? No life
+ Can be pure in its purpose and strong in its strife,
+ And all life not be purer and stronger thereby._
+
+ OWEN MEREDITH.
+
+If I am this day to touch other lives helpfully so that they may be
+gladdened and strengthened for truer and nobler living, I shall need, my
+Father, not only a clear perception of myself in relation to that to
+which Thou dost call me, but also a clear vision of the Christ who would
+be felt through me, not only the impulse of a strong purpose but also
+the endowment of power by Thy spirit of power. That this may be, do Thou
+test my purpose by that of Thy son and fashion my life by His teaching,
+keeping my heart open always toward Thee. Amen.
+
+ F. H. WHEELER.
+
+
+March 28
+
+ _I but open my eyes,--and perfection, no more and no less,
+ In the kind I imagined, full-fronts me, and God is seen God,
+ In the star, in the stone, in the flesh, in the soul and the clod.
+ And thus looking within and around me, I ever renew
+ (With that stoop of the soul which in bending upraises it too)
+ The submission of man's nothing-perfect to God's all-complete,
+ And by each new obeisance in spirit, I climb to His feet._
+
+ ROBERT BROWNING.
+
+Thou Infinite Spirit, we cannot understand Thee, yet we feel Thy
+presence within us and about us. We cannot unravel the mystery of Thy
+life, not even of our own lives, yet we feel ourselves linked as by
+chains of steel to Thyself. We are poor and ignorant and little and
+finite; Thou art great and strong and infinite, yet we cling to the
+thought that we are Thy children. Even in Thine infinity Thou stoopest
+to listen to us. Thou carest for us, lovest us. O Thou Father of our
+Souls, may we cling to Thee to-day and every day. We do not ask Thee to
+explain Thyself, but we do ask that in storm and sunshine, in adversity
+and in prosperity, and in every emergency we may keep our anchorage to
+Thee unbroken, and feel Thy presence with us. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+March 29
+
+ _I wonder why it is that we are not all kinder to each other than
+ we are. How much the world needs it! How easily it is done!_
+
+ HENRY DRUMMOND.
+
+ _Let us awaken to the divine privilege of sharing the heartaches of
+ our friends; of the meaning of good fellowship; of that
+ independence of spirit that does not imitate; of courage and pride
+ that can endure adversity with dignity, and without fear._
+
+ ANONYMOUS.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, help us through this new day to allow the impulses
+of our hearts to have fullest play. Help us to help each other, Lord,
+and of whatever grace or influence we have to bless and uplift our
+fellowmen to give generously and gladly. Help us scatter sunshine along
+our pathway, to speak the cheering word to discouraged hearts and to
+lend the helping hand to feeble or halting ones along the way. May we
+find our greatest happiness following in the footsteps of our Master,
+humbly serving our neighbor's needs, and doing good even at every
+wayside opportunity. Amen.
+
+ JAMES F. ALBION.
+
+
+March 30
+
+ _Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide,
+ In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side;
+ Some great cause, God's new Messiah, offering each the bloom or blight,
+ Parts the goats upon the left hand, and the sheep upon the right,
+ And the choice goes by forever 'twixt that darkness and that light._
+
+ JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL.
+
+Almighty Father, we are before Thee, asking for strength this day, that
+for today's duty we may have the help of Thy Infinite wisdom, as we know
+we have Thy love, Our Father with His Children. Father, help us to look
+to Thee for strength and wisdom in every moment of doubt. We are not
+afraid, because we can come to Thee for counsel, and companionship. We
+can come to Thee for everything, and we find everything if we seek for
+it with all our heart and soul and strength. So today, Father, be with
+us to show each one of us here, the youngest or the oldest, the weakest
+or the strongest, what is the duty next his hand today, that we may
+enter into that work and go about our Father's business. Go with us and
+be with us as with Thine own children. Amen.
+
+ EDWARD EVERETT HALE.
+
+
+March 31
+
+ _I long to accomplish great and noble tasks, but it is my duty and
+ joy to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and
+ noble._
+
+ HELEN KELLER.
+
+ _It is a fine notion of life to liken it to the loom. God puts on
+ the warp in those circumstances in which we find ourselves, and
+ which we cannot change. The woof is wrought by the shuttle of
+ everyday life. It is made of very homely threads sometimes, common
+ duties, unpromising and unwelcome tasks. But whoever tries to do
+ each day's work in the spirit of patient loyalty to God is weaving
+ the texture whose other side is fairer than the one he sees._
+
+ ANONYMOUS.
+
+Our Father in heaven, grant that we may be "faithful in that which is
+least," leaving to Thy will whether we have the opportunity of being
+"faithful in much." May we understand that the value of our service is
+not so much in what we do as the spirit in which we do it. Help us to
+remember that no service is common in Thy sight, if it is done for Thy
+glory and the betterment of humanity; that in blessing others, we
+ourselves are blessed; that life is mostly made up of little things, but
+a character which is perfected by Thy grace and humble service is not a
+little thing, but a jewel to shine in Thy crown forever. Amen.
+
+ E. T. CURNICK.
+
+
+April 1
+
+ _April is here!
+ There's a song in the maple, thrilling and new;
+ There's a flash of wings of heaven's own hue;
+ There's a veil of green on the nearer hills;
+ There's a burst of rapture in woodland rills;
+ There are stars in the meadow dropped here and there;
+ There's a breath of arbutus in the air;
+ There's a dash of rain, as if flung in jest;
+ There's an arch of color spanning the west;
+ April is here!_
+
+ EBEN E. REXFORD.
+
+O God, ever-living and ever-acting, all Thy works praise Thee, and Thy
+saints bless Thee! We rejoice that Thou art bringing in this new
+springtime, and art preparing to pour out Thy summer glory and bounty in
+garden and field and wood, that Thy children may be richly blessed. As
+Thou art working mightily in nature today so wilt Thou work in us, Thy
+children, that the blessed fruits of the Spirit may appear in all that
+we think and do and are? And may the spontaneous spring song of the
+woods find its counterpart in the perpetual gladness of our souls sunk
+deep in the love of Christ! Amen.
+
+ HENRY IRVING CUSHMAN.
+
+
+April 2
+
+ _The sweetest sound our whole year round
+ 'Tis the first robin of the spring!
+ The song of the full orchard choir,
+ Is not so fine a thing._
+
+ EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN.
+
+ _The grass comes, the flower laughs where lately lay the snow,
+ O'er the breezy hill top hoarsely calls the crow,
+ By the flowing river the alder catkins swing
+ And the sweet song sparrow cries, "Spring, it is Spring!"_
+
+ CELIA THAXTER.
+
+Accept from a heart of gratitude, O God, thanksgiving and praises for
+the glad anticipation of the coming days of spring. May the awakening of
+nature, this living garment in which Thou hast robed Thy mysterious
+loveliness, be to each of Thy children symbol of the new life which
+comes to those who put their trust in the risen Christ and of the higher
+life beyond where shadows are no more and light and gladness bless an
+eternity of joy. O, Thou Father of lights, make every hour of this
+opening day rich and radiant with Thy effulgent presence through Jesus
+Christ. Amen.
+
+ KERR BOYCE TUPPER.
+
+
+April 3
+
+ _Within my earthly temple there's a crowd;
+ There's one of us that's humble, one that's proud,
+ There's one that's broken-hearted for his sins,
+ There's one that unrepentant sits and grins;
+ There's one that loves his neighbor as himself,
+ And one that cares for naught but fame and pelf.
+ From much corroding care I should be free
+ If I could once determine which is me._
+
+ THEODORE MARTIN.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for our multiform life. Thou hast
+made us a little lower than the angels and hast crowned us with glory
+and honor, yet how little we know ourselves! We go astray; we fall from
+our high estate; like the moth we flutter around the blaze that burns
+us. When we would do good, evil is present with us. Yet through all
+complexity of thought and feeling, of passion and appetite, through all
+our wanderings and all our sins we thank Thee that there shines clearly
+the light of our own Divinity. We are Thy children. Help us, we pray
+Thee, to know ourselves at our best. May we not be betrayed in this
+day's journey by any siren voice. Let us go forth to the tasks of the
+day with the consciousness that until the evening shadows fall Thou wilt
+be with us. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+April 4
+
+ _If we but knew the secret of that power
+ That opes the bud in early days of spring,
+ If we but knew what makes the robin sing
+ His wondrous song just at the matin hour,
+ If we but knew the priceless boon and dower
+ Of human life when man is truly king.
+ If we but understood the little thing
+ That vexes us just at the present hour,
+ If we but knew--ah, well, 'tis vain to sigh
+ And speculate on things beyond our ken!
+ We know that earth is fair and life is sweet,
+ And something tells us that we cannot die.
+ And if we live and love the good, ah! then
+ We face to face with truth some day must meet._
+
+ CLARENCE HAWKES.
+
+O Lord, we thank Thee for a day so sweet and fair as this, when the
+trees lift up their hands in a psalm of gratitude to Thee, and every
+little flower that opens its cup and every wandering bird seem filled by
+Thy spirit, and grateful to Thee. We thank Thee for all thine
+handwritings of revelation on the walls of the world, on the heavens
+above us and the ground beneath, and all the testimonies recorded there
+of Thy presence, Thy power, Thy justice, and Thy love. Amen.
+
+ THEODORE PARKER.
+
+
+April 5
+
+ _Yet we must give the children leave to use
+ Our garden tools, though they spoil tool and plant
+ In learning. So the Master may not scorn
+ Our awkwardness, as with these bungling hands
+ We try to unroot the ill, and plant with good
+ Life's barren soil: the child is learning use.
+ Perhaps the angels even are forbid
+ To laugh at us, or may not care to laugh,
+ With kind eyes pitying our little hurts._
+
+ EDWARD ROWLAND SILL.
+
+Our Father: Thou knowest how unskilled are these hands and hearts of
+ours. Thou knowest how much that we do, think, and speak often tends to
+retard the progress of that which we would promote. Give us, then, this
+day that wisdom which is from above, that no touch of our hand may mar
+the beauty of one of Thy creations: no thought nor word wrong one of Thy
+creatures. Help us to know that we are workers with God, and in this
+knowledge may we strive for that excellence of service that shall hasten
+the coming of that kingdom of peace, joy and righteousness which is life
+eternal. Amen.
+
+ FLORENCE KOLLOCK CROOKER.
+
+
+April 6
+
+ _Plant flowers in the soul's front yard,
+ Set out new shade and blossom trees,
+ An' let the soul once froze an' hard,
+ Sprout crocuses of new idees._
+
+ _Yes, clean yer house, an' clean yer shed,
+ An' clean yer barn in ev'ry part;
+ But brush the cobwebs from yer head,
+ An' sweep the snow banks from yer heart._
+
+ SAM WALTER FOSS.
+
+Gracious Father, help us gratefully to begin this day with Thee. We
+expect the day to bring its accustomed routine of cares and duties, and
+its round of petty irritations, but we confidently believe that Thou
+wilt help us in all our experiences. Let this morning's freshness, hope
+and vigor be ours through the whole day. Help us to put faith in the
+place of fear that all our efforts may be crowned with the success of
+helpfulness. May we go blithely about our business with kind words and
+cheerful faces that our day's work may be our day's worship. Amen.
+
+ AUGUSTUS B. CHURCH.
+
+
+April 7
+
+ _Ye seek for happiness--alas the day!
+ Ye find it not in luxury nor in gold,
+ Not in the fame nor in the envied sway,
+ For which O willing slaves to custom old,
+ Severe taskmistress, ye your hearts have sold.
+ Ye seek for peace, and, when ye die, to dream
+ No evil dreams; all mortal things are cold
+ And senseless then; if aught survive, I deem
+ It must be love and joy, for they immortal seem._
+
+ SHELLEY.
+
+O Thou Eternal God who hast given us life, help us to love Thy will and
+to walk in Thy way this day. If flowers chance to grow beside our path
+we would pluck them, but most of all would we rejoice in Thee alone,
+knowing that in Thy will is perfect peace. Fill our souls with Thy joy
+and strengthen us in the spirit of self-forgetfulness to spill it out
+into the lives of others. Give us hearts "roomy, radiant, and full of
+laughter," learned of "Jesus Christ, whom not having seen we love; on
+whom though now we see Him not, yet believing, we rejoice greatly with
+joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of our faith, even
+the salvation of our souls." Amen.
+
+ WALTER HEALY.
+
+
+April 8
+
+ _A gush of bird song, a patter of dew,
+ A cloud and a rainbow's warning,
+ Suddenly sunshine and perfect blue--
+ An April day in the morning._
+
+ HARRIET P. SPOFFORD.
+
+ _There is something in the air
+ That's new and sweet and rare--
+ There's something too that's new,
+ In the color of the blue
+ That's in the morning sky,
+ Before the sun is high._
+
+ NORA PERRY.
+
+Infinite and Holy One, be with us in the beauty of this new day. May the
+dewy sweetness of the dawn Thou hast given to us be regarded as a token
+of Thy love for Thy children. As an atmosphere of joy and peace may be
+the thought of Thy consolation and Thy care. The delicate tints of Thy
+sky arching over us may we compare to the blue of a constancy that is
+divine, and which is freely shown to even the humblest and more erring
+of Thy flock. Bless us and guide us on our pilgrim way, and inspire our
+hearts and our hands to perform well their daily task. In His name do we
+ask it. Amen.
+
+ EDMUND Q. S. OSGOOD.
+
+
+April 9
+
+ _As I have walked in Alabama my morning walk,
+ I have seen where the she-bird--the mocking-bird sat on her nest
+ in the briers hatching her brood,
+ I have seen the he-bird also,
+ I have paused to hear him near at hand inflating his throat and joyfully
+ singing,
+ And while I paused it came to me that what he really sang for was not
+ there only,
+ Nor for his mate nor for himself only, nor
+ All sent back by the echoes,
+ But subtle, clandestine, away beyond,
+ A charge transmitted and gift occult for those being born._
+
+ WALT WHITMAN.
+
+Thou great Spirit of Life, Our Father, in heaven, and in the earth, with
+what myriad voices dost Thou speak to us, sometimes with the voice of
+thunder and sometimes with the voice of bird. Even the rocks and hills
+have their language. With every manifold voice Thou tellest us that we
+do not live nor work for a day only. The song and the word and the work
+of today have larger relations. They pass over into other days. We pray
+this morning that the thoughts we think, the words we speak, and the
+work we do may be so true that they may be fit for another day. So may
+we begin _now_ to realize the meaning of Eternal Life. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+April 10
+
+ _If the stream had no quiet eddying place, could we so admire its
+ cascade over the rocks? Were there no clouds, could we so hail the
+ sky shining through them in its still calm purity?_
+
+ _The night is mother of the Day
+ The Winter of the Spring,
+ And ever upon old Decay
+ The greenest mosses cling.
+ Behind the cloud the starlight lurks,
+ Through showers the sunbeams fall:
+ For God, who loveth all His works,
+ Has left His Hope with all!_
+
+ JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER.
+
+Our Father, with childhood's glowing morning face we would turn to Thee
+and be conscious that the brightness of life comes only to those upon
+whom the sun of righteousness shines with clear light. Full of trust,
+full of joy, we turn our faces towards the light and take up the labors
+of life with entire confidence in the Divine care and guidance that
+blesses the open vision, the faithful hand and the loving heart. We
+would follow our Master, feeling that we could choose no better way, and
+content if we be not called to suffer more than He in His life of
+service and sacrifice, while our hearts praise the giver of spiritual
+things with unceasing happy songs. Amen.
+
+ RALPH EDWIN HORNE.
+
+
+April 11
+
+ _Oh, the little birds sang east, and the little birds sang west,
+ And I smiled to think God's greatness flowed around our incompleteness,--
+ Round our restlessness, his nest._
+
+ ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING.
+
+ _And I saw that there was an Ocean of Darkness and Death; but an
+ infinite Ocean of Light and Love flowed over the Ocean of Darkness;
+ and in that I saw the infinite Love of God._
+
+ GEORGE FOX.
+
+Father of Light, in whom is no darkness at all, to Thee we lift our
+longing eyes again. Shine away the darkness of our minds by the light of
+Thy presence. Complete our incompleteness. Bring us out of our
+restlessness into Thy rest. We thank Thee for our daily gifts,--bread to
+feed the body, strength to sustain the soul, light to guide the feet.
+Help us to put away the mistakes of the past, remembering them only with
+the penitence that shall cause Thee to remember them no more. Help us
+all through this day to know ourselves surrounded by Thine Infinite
+Love. Amen.
+
+ A. GERTRUDE EARLE.
+
+
+April 12
+
+ _Just as you now play a piece without the music and do not think
+ what notes you strike, though once you picked them out by slow and
+ patient toil, so, if you begin of set purpose, you will learn the
+ law of kindness in utterance so perfectly that it will be second
+ nature to you and make more music in your heart than all the songs
+ the sweetest voice has ever sung._
+
+ FRANCIS E. WILLARD.
+
+Father, we rejoice and will be glad all the day that Thou hast made it
+possible for us and all Thy children to learn the sweet song of true
+life and that Thou dost give us so many opportunities for its practice.
+O Lord, give us patience and kindness toward our fellowmen and trust in
+Thee, so that whether the lessons be easy or hard we may take them
+cheerfully, believing that Thou dost give us only that which is best.
+Grant that we may be earnest and faithful until our souls can sing the
+highest, purest and sweetest notes, until we are in harmony with All
+Good. Amen.
+
+ ABBIE E. DANFORTH.
+
+
+April 13
+
+ _So many little faults we find:
+ We see them, for not blind
+ Is love--we see them; but if you and I
+ Remember them, perhaps, some by and by
+ They will not be
+ Faults then, grave faults to you and me,
+ But just odd ways, mistakes, or even less--
+ Remembrances to bless._
+
+ GEORGE KLINGLE.
+
+Our dear Father in Heaven: for this day help us to be good. All through
+the long night Thou hast watched over us. Under Thy wing have we been
+sheltered as the chickens under the wing of the mother. Now that light
+has come we will help Thee to keep this world sweet and bright and
+clean. Help us to be true to this our promise; we resolve to be patient,
+steadfast, cheerful, kindly, sturdy, and good. Our Father, we need Thee.
+We want to walk in Thy way. Help us, for we are Thy children. Amen.
+
+ WILLIAM CHANNING BROWN.
+
+
+April 14
+
+ _The man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder; a waif,
+ a nothing, no man. Have a purpose in life, if it is only to kill
+ and divide and sell oxen well, but have a purpose; and having it,
+ throw such strength of mind and muscle into your work as God has
+ given you._
+
+ THOMAS CARLYLE.
+
+ _Neither a borrower nor a lender be;
+ For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
+ And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
+ This above all: to thine own self be true
+ And it must follow, as the night the day,
+ Thou canst not then be false to any man._
+
+ SHAKESPEARE.
+
+Almighty God, at the commencement of this day's work may we look on
+high, and measure everything we are about to do by the scale of
+eternity. Keep us from all littleness; may we not be turned aside by
+things that are insignificant and unworthy. Help us, we beseech Thee, to
+make the glory of our life commensurate with the splendors of our
+privileges. May we live life in a great spirit, realizing that there is
+no duty so simple, no position so humble, but that we may show forth the
+grandeur of trust, and obedience toward Thee. May the great and holy
+purpose we cherish find its expression as we cooperate with the divine
+purpose. Amen.
+
+ J. H. BARKER.
+
+
+April 15
+
+ _'Twas one of those charmed days
+ When the genius of God doth flow,
+ The wind may alter twenty ways,
+ A tempest cannot blow;
+ It may blow north, it still is warm;
+ Or south, it still is clear;
+ Or east, it smells like a clover farm;
+ Or west, no thunder fear._
+
+ RALPH WALDO EMERSON.
+
+Father of Lights, from whom cometh every good and perfect gift, we thank
+Thee for the morning and for the sunshine. We rejoice in the light, but
+when it is hidden from us, we are thankful that in the upper air above
+our clouded morning it still fills Thy heavens. Thou gavest us good
+things while we slept, and now, refreshed by Thy Spirit, may we go forth
+to our appointed tasks with cheerful obedience and joyful expectation.
+If trial and trouble await us, or if, in the heat of the day the burden
+seems too great, may we still be comforted, because we put our trust in
+Thee. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE BATCHELOR.
+
+
+April 16
+
+ _But spring-wind, like a dancing psaltress, passes
+ Over its breast, to waken it, rare verdure
+ Buds tenderly upon rough banks between
+ The withered tree-roots and the cracks of frost,
+ Like a smile striving with a wrinkled face;
+ The grass grows bright, the boughs are swol'n with blooms
+ Like chrysalids impatient for the air,
+ The shining dors are busy, beetles run
+ Along the furrows; ants make their ado;
+ Above, birds fly in merry flocks, the lark
+ Soars up and up, shivering for very joy;
+ Afar the ocean sleeps; white fishing gulls
+ Flit where the sand is purple with its tribe
+ Of nested limpits; savage creatures seek
+ Their loves in wood and plain--and God renews
+ His ancient rapture._
+
+ ROBERT BROWNING.
+
+O Lord, who givest to mankind liberally, and upbraidest not, we thank
+Thee for the blessings Thou bestowest from day to day. We thank Thee for
+this material world, now clad in its garment of Northern beauty, for the
+great sun which all day pours down his light upon the waiting and the
+grateful world, and for the earth underneath our feet. We bless Thee for
+the grass, bread for the cattle, its harvest of use spread everywhere,
+and for the various beauty which here and there spangles all useful
+things which Thine eye looks down upon. May we use this world of matter
+to build up the being that we are to a nobler stature of strength and of
+beauty. Amen.
+
+ THEODORE PARKER.
+
+
+April 17
+
+ _O brothers all! come near
+ And hear
+ A bird's
+ Melodious dreaming set to words, and flung
+ The spring's new leaves and tender buds among,
+ For very joy of life, and hope, and love
+ In a world made broad enough
+ For all God's creatures to be merry in,
+ With joyous clash and din,
+ And yet too small
+ For any greed at all!
+ Lo! deep and sure
+ Is cut this truth in heaven's book of gold:
+ Out of one mother in the garden old
+ Were born the rich and poor._
+
+ MAURICE THOMPSON.
+
+Our Father, may we begin this day with a song in our hearts,--a song as
+rich and full and free as the bird sings at the earliest dawning of the
+sun's light,--a song so attuned with infinite life and hope and love
+that it must be sung. Thou giver of abundance unto the rich and poor
+alike, help our souls to mount unto the highest reaches of living
+thoughts and generous deeds, that we may give unto others as Thou
+givest. Unfettered by unholy passions and freed from the spirit of
+greed, may we feel the unity of the bonds of a universal brotherhood,
+and be just and true, honest, and helpful in all our dealings with all
+men this day. Amen.
+
+ HENRIETTA G. MOORE.
+
+
+April 18
+
+ _O spring, of hope and love and youth and gladness
+ Wing-winged emblem! Brightest, best and fairest!
+ Whence comest thou when with dark Winter's sadness
+ The tears that fade in sunny smiles thou sharest?
+ Sister of Joy! thou art the child who wearest
+ Thy mother's dying smile, tender and sweet:
+ Thy mother Autumn, for whose grave thou bearest
+ Fresh flowers, and beams like flowers,
+ Disturbing not the leaves which are her winding-sheet._
+
+ SHELLEY.
+
+God unchanging, and still the creator of the seasons, we look up to
+Thee, as the springtide works out the miracle of the resurrection from
+the sleeping forms of the past season, in confidence and in trust that
+ever Thou wilt bless us with a nobler, holier, sweeter, more wholesome
+life, as the seasons come and go. The resources of trusting hearts are
+always reinforced and reinvigorated by contact with Thy life, Thy power,
+Thy goodness and Thy love. Out of the winter of our discontent, we enter
+the springtime of love, that leads us forward in confidence through the
+glad summer of growth to the soul's fruition and the place of rest and
+peace in our Father's Home beneath Thine everlasting Love. Amen.
+
+ FRANCIS A. GRAY.
+
+
+April 19
+
+ _One sound always comes to the ear that is open; it is the steady
+ drum-beat of Duty. No music in it, perhaps,--only a dry rub-a-dub.
+ Ah, but that steady beat marks the time for the whole orchestra of
+ earth and heaven! It says to you: "Do your work,--do the duty
+ nearest you!" Keep step to that drum-beat, and the dullest march is
+ taking you home._
+
+ GEORGE S. MERRIAM.
+
+O Thou great impelling Spirit, whom we see manifest in all the world, as
+we open our eyes to the light of another morning, may we be as
+responsive to Thy influence as the sun and the flowers which brighten
+our way. May we be very sensitive to Thy promptings as we go about our
+day's work. May we be very quick to do the things Thou wouldst have us
+do. May we give ourselves to Thy service without reserve. When again the
+night shades draw about us, may our hearts be filled with deepest
+gratitude for all the experiences of the day, and, deep within, may our
+spirits be conscious of Thy approving benediction, "Well done, good and
+faithful servant; enter Thou into the joy of Thy Lord." Amen.
+
+ FRANK LINCOLN MASSECK.
+
+
+April 20
+
+ _Thyself and thy belongings
+ Are not thine own so proper as to waste
+ Thyself upon thy virtues, they on thee.
+ Heaven doth with us as we with torches do
+ Not light them for themselves; for if our virtues
+ Did not go forth of us, 'twere all alike
+ As if we had them not. Spirits are not finely touched
+ But to fine issues, nor Nature never lends
+ The smallest scruple of her excellence
+ But like a thrifty goddess, she determines
+ Herself the glory of a creditor,
+ Both thanks and use._
+
+ SHAKESPEARE.
+
+Father, with faith and confidence in Thee we begin the day's duties,
+with a blithe song upon our lips, expressing the melody of our souls,
+thanking Thee for opportunities for work, and thought and love. We ask
+not for more blessings but to be more worthy of those we have, using and
+not abusing them. May our minds be open to Thy truth, and hearts to Thy
+love, and when received may we be almoners of both to the waiting world.
+May we keep by giving Thy love abundantly, and grow through the glory of
+self-sacrifice. Give us the heart, O God, to sanctify our work and to
+lift it above drudgery into the divinest service, and give us strength
+to perform it. Amen.
+
+ U. S. MILBURN.
+
+
+April 21
+
+ _A man is simple where his chief care is the wish to be what he
+ ought to be; that is honestly and naturally human. We may compare
+ existence to raw material. What it is matters less than what it is
+ made of; as the value of a work of art lies in the flowering of a
+ workman's skill. True life is possible in social conditions the
+ most diverse and with natural gifts the most unequal. It is not
+ fortune or personal advantage, but our training them to account,
+ that constitutes the value of life. Fame adds no more than does
+ length of days; quality is the thing._
+
+ CHARLES WAGNER.
+
+Heavenly Father, our eyes are ever toward Thee. We do not pray for the
+things of the world. Teach us to walk in Thy truth. Though our days be
+few, may our lives be hopeful and cheerful. Though our bodies be frail,
+may we be invincible in spirit. All Thy children are immortal, but it is
+for us to attain the eternal life. May we know Thee through Jesus. Then
+days and hours and minutes will disappear in the liberty and glory and
+peace of the life eternal. Then poverty of worldly goods will be
+forgotten in the riches of the Spirit. Then the cares of the world that
+now is will be lost in the joy of the life that is to be. Amen.
+
+ REIGNOLD K. MARVIN.
+
+
+April 22
+
+ _A little sun, a little rain,
+ A soft wind blowing from the west--
+ And woods and fields are sweet again
+ And warmth within the mountain's breast._
+
+ _So simple is the earth we tread,
+ So quick with love and life her frame,
+ Ten thousand years have dawned and fled.
+ And still her magic is the same._
+
+ STOPFORD A. BROOKE.
+
+Gracious God, we thank Thee for the gift of sight whereby we behold the
+marvels of the outer world. But greater is our gratitude for the inner
+sight, the power to see things as they ought to be. If we but look deep
+enough, we find Thy central laws ever at the heart of all life. With
+such insight, apparent confusion shall not bewilder us, life's cares
+shall not harden us, the world's show cannot dazzle us. Give us, we pray
+Thee, unceasing ability to wonder and admire, which brings perpetual
+youth; to hope, to believe, to trust; to rest content in working with
+Thee, the Eternal One, Lord of the seasons, this is our heart's desire.
+Amen.
+
+ EDWARD A. HORTON.
+
+
+April 23
+
+ _"What is the secret of your life?" asked Mrs. Browning of Charles
+ Kingsley; "tell me, that I may make mine beautiful too." He
+ replied, "I had a friend." Somewhere in her "Middlemarch," George
+ Eliot puts it well: "There are natures in which, if they love us,
+ we are conscious of having a sort of baptism and consecration; they
+ bind us over to rectitude and purity by their pure belief about us;
+ and our sins become the worst kind of sacrilege, which tears down
+ the invisible altar of trust."_
+
+ WILLIAM C. GANNETT.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for all the sweet and sacred
+influences of life. Music comes with its invisible fingers to weave a
+magic charm around our souls;--the home with its love is ours,--but we
+thank Thee to-day for the sweet and saving influence of friendship,--for
+the counsel and fellowship of those who are wise and good and faithful
+to us. We would not walk alone--we would find strength in the strength
+of others, and faith in other's faith. Let us cherish such fellowships
+and give back to those, who love us, love again. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+April 24
+
+ _Live in the sunshine, don't live in the gloom,
+ Carry some gladness the world to illume.
+ Live in the brightness, and take this to heart;
+ The world will seem gayer if you'll do your part.
+ Live on the housetop, not down in the cell;
+ Open air Christians live nobly and well.
+ Live where the joys are, and, scorning defeat,
+ Have a good-morrow for all whom you meet.
+ Live as a victor, and triumphing go
+ Through this queer world, beating down every foe.
+ Live in the sunshine, God meant it for you!
+ Live as the robins, and sing the day through._
+
+ MARGARET SANGSTER.
+
+O God, our heavenly Father, Thou who givest us the sunshine of this new
+day, Thou who art the God of life and light, we ask Thy help and Thy
+strength as we again go out to our separate duties and cares. Help us to
+fill this day with good deeds, to give cheer and comfort to all we meet.
+May our lips be clean. May our hearts be pure. And when the even time
+comes, may it find us conscious that we have put no cloud upon the day,
+that we have walked through its hours true disciples of the Master who
+went about doing good. Amen.
+
+ WILLIAM H. MORRISON.
+
+
+April 25
+
+ _To weigh the material in the scales of the personal, and measure
+ life by the standard of love; to prize health as contagious
+ happiness, wealth as potential service, reputation as latent
+ influence, learning for the light it can shed, power for the help
+ it can give, station for the good it can do--to choose in each case
+ what is best on the whole, and accept cheerfully incidental evils
+ involved; to put my whole self into all that I do, and indulge no
+ single desire at the expense of myself as a whole; to crowd out
+ fear by devotion to duty, and see present and future as one; to
+ treat others as I would be treated, and myself as I would my best
+ friend; and to recognize God's coming kingdom in every institution
+ and person that helps men to love one another._
+
+ WILLIAM DEWITT HYDE.
+
+ For the dear love that kept us through the night,
+ And gave our senses to sleep's gentle sway,
+ For the new miracle of dawning light,
+ Flushing the east with prophecies of day,
+ We thank Thee, O, our God!
+
+ For the fresh life that through our being flows,
+ With its full tide to strengthen and to bless,
+ For calm, sweet thoughts, upspringing from repose,
+ To bear to Thee their song of thankfulness,
+ We praise Thee, O, our God!
+
+ Thou knowest our needs, Thy fulness will supply
+ Our blindness--let Thy hand still lead us on,
+ Till, visited by the dayspring from on high,
+ Our prayer, one only, "Let Thy will be done,"
+ We breathe to Thee, O, God!
+ Amen.
+
+ W. H. BURLEIGH.
+
+
+April 26
+
+ Is it not possible, then, that the hindrances which arrest our
+ progress, and the obstacles that lie broadly in our path, are the
+ divinest agents of help which our Creator could give us? The
+ painful struggles to overcome and remove them develop in us
+ strength, courage, self-reliance, and heroism. They are the hammer
+ and chisel that release the statue from the imprisoning
+ marble,--the plow and the harrow that break up the soil, and mellow
+ it for the reception of the seed that shall yield an abundant
+ harvest. Perfection lies that way.
+
+ MARY A. LIVERMORE.
+
+We seek Thy face anew this day, O our Father, and ask Thee that Thou
+wilt help us to live our lives in constant communion with Thee. Let us
+see Thee at every turn in the way. Let us find Thy hand in all our
+duties, all our meditations, all our intercourse with men, all our
+doings and all our deeds. Help us to make Thee our counsellor every
+hour. Help us to undertake nought without Thy blessings, to finish
+nought without Thy benediction. Morning and evening may we turn in
+prayer to Thy throne. At every meal may we seek Thy grace and give Thee
+thanks. So may we find the blessing of them that abide in Thy house.
+Amen.
+
+ J. COLEMAN ADAMS.
+
+
+April 27
+
+ _I think the sweetest thought, the very central idea, of the
+ revelation of the character of God to me, is this: that He does
+ everything out of His supreme will. There is no one thing that I
+ can say with more heartiness, or that has in it more echoes of joy,
+ than "Thy will be done." If anything works righteousness in me or
+ in you, it is God. The nature of God is fruitful in generosity. He
+ is so good that He loves to do good, and loves to make men good,
+ and loves to make them happy by making them good. He loves to be
+ patient with them, and to wait for them, and to pour benevolence
+ upon them, because that is His nature._
+
+ HENRY WARD BEECHER.
+
+Father, we thank Thee for the blessing. We know what are our privileges,
+we know what are our duties, and we are before Thee again to consecrate
+this day in all its glory and beauty to Thee, the Father of perfect
+Love. Thou wilt be with us as we strive to be with Thee. Thou wilt make
+us strong when we are weak. Thou wilt make us see where we are in
+darkness. Thou wilt send us forth on Thine infinite mission to the
+world. Boys or girls, men or women, here we are, the living children of
+the living God, sent forward by Thee to proclaim it that all may be one
+as Christ Jesus with Thee and Thou with Him, that this world may be
+perfected into one, that men may know that Thou art Father and what the
+Father has given us to do, that each one of us may lift up what has
+fallen down, that each one may open the eyes that are blind and the ears
+that are deaf, that each one of us may proclaim the gospel of Thy
+perfect love. This is our prayer and our hope, in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+
+ EDWARD EVERETT HALE.
+
+
+April 28
+
+ _With every rising of the sun,
+ Think of your life as just begun._
+
+ _The past has shrived and buried deep,
+ All yesterdays; there let them sleep._
+
+ _Nor seek to summon back one ghost
+ Of that innumerable host._
+
+ _Concern yourself with but today.
+ Woo it, and teach it to obey_
+
+ _Your will and wish. Since time began
+ Today has been the friend of man;_
+
+ _But in his blindness and his sorrow,
+ He looks to yesterday and tomorrow._
+
+ _You, and today! a soul sublime,
+ And the great pregnant hour of time,_
+
+ _With God himself to bind the twain!
+ Go forth, I say, attain, attain!_
+
+ ELLA WHEELER WILCOX.
+
+Infinitely wise and loving Father, our minds and hearts reach out to
+Thee in this morning hour thankful that the rest of the night has
+prepared us for the work of the new day, and that the light brings the
+call to service. The past cannot be recalled, but today is ours. I and
+today, with God and in the Spirit of Jesus! Priceless privilege! Grant
+us, O Father, to use it for Thee, for humanity and "In His name." Amen.
+
+ SAMUEL GILBERT AYERS.
+
+
+April 29
+
+ _Life is full of new beginnings. Some change may come, something is
+ sure to come, to close one chapter and begin another. Life is
+ planned just so, ... that there should be a break from former link
+ and habit, often from imperfection and mistake, and a clear, clean
+ start for the fulfilment of the best one has grown to, even in
+ desire, unhampered by the poorest one has ever happened to be, or
+ to get credit for._
+
+ MRS. A. D. T. WHITNEY.
+
+O, Thou who dwellest in the light, help Thy children this morning to see
+the light of Thy truth and feel the warmth of Thy love. We thank Thee
+for the open doors of opportunity for helpful service; for the
+exhibition of kindness and for growth in the kingdom of Heaven. May we
+clearly see the way to the Eternal life and have strength to walk
+therein. May we so welcome Thy truth that we shall be free from error
+and sin. May Thy wisdom so guide our energies that we shall reach after
+greater perfection. May the evening of this day find us more in harmony
+with God than we now are. And may the evening of life find us rich in
+the treasures of heaven. Amen.
+
+ ANDREW WILLSON.
+
+
+April 30
+
+ _True worth is in being, not seeming;
+ In doing each day that goes by,
+ Some little good--not in the dreaming
+ Of great things to do by and by,
+ For whatever men say in blindness,
+ And spite of the fancies of youth,
+ There's nothing so kingly as kindness,
+ And nothing so royal as truth._
+
+ _We get back our mete as we measure:
+ We cannot do wrong and feel right;
+ Nor can we give pain and gain pleasure,
+ For justice avenges each slight.
+ The air for the wing of the sparrow,
+ The bush for the robin and wren,
+ But always the path that is narrow
+ And straight for the children of men._
+
+ ALICE CARY.
+
+Almighty Father, who with every morning dost give us a new day and with
+each day some fresh duty, mercifully equip us for every task that awaits
+us! Give us eyes to see, and hearts to love the truth and right, and the
+disposition that makes every duty a delight, and the doing of good to
+others a sacred privilege. Save us this day from angry passions and low
+desires. Forgive us when we are selfish; recall us when we go astray;
+save us from wronging ourselves by thinking ill of others, and in all
+places and to all people give us the mind which was in Christ Jesus.
+Amen.
+
+ JOHN CUCKSON.
+
+
+May 1
+
+ _To the Woods:--Whoso goeth in your paths readeth the same cheerful
+ lesson, whether he be a young child or a hundred years old, comes
+ he in good fortune or in bad, ye say the same things, and from age
+ to age. Ever the needles of the pine grow and fall, the acorns on
+ the oak, the maples redden in autumn and at all times of the year
+ the ground pine and the pyrola bud and root under foot. What is
+ called fortune and what is called time by men, ye know them not.
+ Men have not language to describe one moment of your life._
+
+ RALPH WALDO EMERSON.
+
+Thou God of Nature and of the human heart, we thank Thee for our human
+relations, but we thank Thee also for our kinship with the birds. We
+thank Thee for that instinct which makes us to sympathize with the
+mating of the bird lovers and for that music of the heart which makes us
+to love the song of the birds. We pray this morning for a life so simple
+and natural that we shall be able to enter into sympathetic relations
+with everything that lives--the flowers of the garden, and the
+field--the bees that sip the flowers' honey, and the bird that makes her
+nest among the trees. If Thou speakest to men in the glory of the
+heavens, Thou speakest also in the manifold voices of all Thy loving
+creatures. May our ears be trained to hear Thee when Thou speakest thus.
+Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+May 2
+
+ _Hail bounteous May, that doth inspire
+ Mirth and youth, and warm desire;
+ Woods and groves are of thy dressing,
+ Hill and dale doth boast thy blessing,
+ Thus we salute thee with our early song,
+ And welcome thee and wish thee long._
+
+ JOHN MILTON.
+
+Almighty and All-loving Father, who dost make all the earth to rejoice
+in the brightness of returning springtime, fill our hearts with like joy
+and renewal. Graciously awaken in us the life that the cold or care or
+trouble or sorrow of the world often has caused to fade and go out. As
+our eyes behold all this outward beauty and glory, give unto us that
+spiritual vision by which we behold the beauty and glory of divine
+things. Then when the springtime of our life passes with the summer and
+the summer ripens into the autumn, and our work is done, may we bring
+unto Thee the harvest of spiritual riches. Amen.
+
+ JAMES DENORMANDIE.
+
+
+May 3
+
+ _Success! It is won by a patient endeavor,
+ Energy's fire, and the flame-glow of Will;
+ By grasping the chance with a "Now, now or never!"
+ Urging on, on! while the laggard stands still._
+
+ _Success! It is facing life's trials, undaunted;
+ Fighting the present--forgetting the past:
+ By trusting to Fate, though for years she has taunted,
+ And bearing Time's scars; facing front, to the last!_
+
+ _Success! Would you win it and wear its bright token?
+ Smile and step out to the drummer's light lilt;
+ Fight on till the last inch of sword-blade is broken.
+ Then do not say die. Fight on with the hilt!_
+
+ MARY MARKWELL.
+
+We thank Thee, Our Father, that Thou hast enriched our being with those
+faculties which prompt to noble endeavor. We rejoice in our power,
+guided by Thy free Spirit, both to overcome evil and to do good. Help
+us, dear Father, to recognize the great incentives of conscience and of
+duty, assured that in cheerful conformity thereto we shall find the
+sweetest zest of life. Increase our faith in Thee, O Lord. Enable us
+more clearly to realize that in the end truth and right will gain the
+victory. Thus may we be inspired to live brave, true and wholesome
+lives. May we fight the good fight of faith and win the crown of life
+promised to all those who follow the conquering Christ. In His name.
+Amen.
+
+ HENRY W. RUGG.
+
+
+May 4
+
+ _The green grass is bowing;
+ The morning wind is in it;
+ 'Tis a tune worth the knowing,
+ Though it change every minute.
+ 'Tis a tune of the Spring;
+ Every year plays it over._
+
+ RALPH WALDO EMERSON.
+
+ _God does not send strange flowers every year.
+ When the spring winds blow o'er the pleasant places
+ The same dear things lift up the same fair faces.
+ The violet is here._
+
+ MRS. A. D. T. WHITNEY.
+
+O God, Father Almighty, who bringest light out of darkness and at whose
+word night yields to day, we offer Thee glad worship and praise. We
+thank Thee for Thy gifts which are beautiful and good; for flowers which
+renew old friendships and awaken new affections; for songs in which
+voices of all yesterdays sound through today's melodies; for rich
+memories of the past; for the joy of living now; for the hope of better
+days; for new expressions of abiding truth and fresh breathings of
+eternal love; for courage to do right and for confidence in
+righteousness. May we this day, mindful of earthly duty and of heavenly
+promise, humbly follow Him "who went about doing good" and "gave Himself
+a ransom for many." Amen.
+
+ W. I. WARD.
+
+
+May 5
+
+ _Bishop Brooks taught me no special creed or dogma; but he
+ impressed upon my mind two great ideas--the fatherhood of God and
+ the brotherhood of man, and made me feel that these truths underlie
+ all creeds and forms of worship. God is love, God is our Father, we
+ are His children; therefore the darkest clouds will break, and
+ though right be worsted, wrong shall not triumph. He said: "There
+ is one universal religion, Helen--the religion of love. Love your
+ Heavenly Father with your whole heart and soul, love every child of
+ God as much as ever you can, and remember that the possibilities of
+ good are greater than the possibilities of evil; and you have the
+ key to Heaven."_
+
+ HELEN KELLER.
+
+Infinite Spirit! We shall not look upon Thee as a friend looketh upon
+the face of his friend, but may we learn to see Thee in every form of
+life and beauty and service here in this great world of Nature and of
+Man. May we discover Thee in the midst of common things and then they
+shall no more be common, but all things shall be sacred and divine. May
+we see Thy face in all human faces, clasp Thy hand in all human hands,
+and when we have walked with a friend, or talked with those we love, may
+it be as a walk with Thee and a communion with Thee. May we not think of
+Thee as afar off but always near, making all things holy. May we realize
+that it is a diviner thing to serve the lowly who need our help than to
+praise the Infinite who needeth not. May the sense of Thy presence in
+all things be the inspiration and interpretation of all days for us.
+Amen.
+
+ E. L. REXFORD.
+
+
+May 6
+
+ _The brown, brown woods of March
+ Are the green, green woods of May,
+ And they lift their arms with a freer swing
+ And shake out their pennons gay.
+ And the brown, dead world of March,
+ Is the living world of today;
+ Life throbs and flushes and flashes out
+ In the color and fragrance of May._
+
+ ANONYMOUS.
+
+Infinite Spirit of the winter and the summer and of the night and the
+morning, Thou hast watched over and guarded, during its winter sleep and
+rest, this earth which Thou hast made, and which Thou hast made for a
+purpose--to be beautiful and fruitful in its season, to be a humble and
+obedient servant of Thy will of goodness. And now, as the woods of May
+are radiant in the beauty of springtime, and ready to do Thy will; so as
+we wake to the opportunity of this new day, may we rejoice in the
+privilege of living to Thee and doing Thy will in the glad service of
+lives lived as the Master lived. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE WALLACE PENNIMAN.
+
+
+May 7
+
+ _One who never turned his back, but marched breast forward,
+ Never doubted clouds would break,
+ Never dreamed, though right were worsted,--wrong would triumph,
+ Held we fall to rise, are baffled to fight better,
+ Sleep to wake._
+
+ ROBERT BROWNING.
+
+Our Father, in the heaven, we thank Thee for the birth of a new day. May
+we be full of gladness during its golden hours, may our hearts be
+tranquil with God's peace. A day is a part of Thy eternity. Thou hast
+set us in the battle, Thou art watching us in the fight; Thou art
+training us by well-accepted controversy. May nothing of Thy purpose be
+lost because of the blinding details of the conflict. Strengthen our
+hearts to do the work of this day. Help us to be as grateful as we are
+dependent upon God. Inspire our whole life; help us quickly to learn why
+we are here, what we are to do while here, and the path that leads home
+when the work-day is over. In the name of the Christ! Amen.
+
+ W. A. WOOD.
+
+
+May 8
+
+ _Then sing, ye birds, sing, sing a joyous song!
+ And let the young lambs bound
+ As to the tabor's sound!
+ We in thought will join your throng,
+ Ye that pipe and ye that play,
+ Ye that through your hearts today
+ Feel the gladness of the May!_
+
+ WILLIAM WORDSWORTH.
+
+God of the morning, Father of the Soul, we bless Thee for the light, for
+it is pleasant to behold the world made beautiful by the King of day,
+and sweet with the melody of the song of bird, and cheerful with the
+promise of hope in the swelling buds of spring. We join with Thy
+faithful ones in ascriptions of praise to Thee for the depth of the
+riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God. Help us to look upon
+our every faculty of soul, and power of body, as gifts from Thee, to be
+used for the advancement of love, truth and beauty, in our own hearts,
+and in the world. Give us Thine own help to bear every burden
+cheerfully, to stand erect before every responsibility, and if in our
+efforts to do much good for this day we seem to fail, may we look to
+Jesus and learn of Him that in a conscience void of offence there is no
+such thing as failure. Help us to strive with the evil of the world and
+sin not, that at the close of the day we may look back and say, we have
+kept ourselves unspotted from the world. Amen.
+
+ L. L. GREENE.
+
+
+May 9
+
+ _Fairer grows the earth each morning
+ To the eyes that watch aright;
+ Every dew-drop sparkles warning
+ Of a miracle in sight;
+ Of some unexpected glory
+ Waiting in the old and plain;
+ Poet's dream nor traveller's story
+ Words such wonders as remain._
+
+ WILLIAM C. GANNETT.
+
+O Thou, who makest things seen and temporal quiver and flash with Thine
+own informing spirit, so illumine our pathways that the Luz where we
+meet our duties may become the Bethel where we meet our God. As Thou
+dost clothe the lily with beauty and inspire the bird with song help us
+to grow into the beauty of holiness, and to know the joy of Thy
+salvation. Whatever our past, open our eyes this day to some better
+thing which Thou hast always in reserve. Teach us what hinders our
+attainment and help us burst through the barrier. Make us so conscious
+of Thy indwelling spirit that we may yield to its gracious impellings
+toward righteousness and peace and joy. Amen.
+
+ THOMAS D. ANDERSON.
+
+
+May 10
+
+ _Listen to the exhortation of the dawn!_
+
+ _Look to this day!
+ For it is life, the very life of life.
+ In its brief course lie all the
+ Varieties and realities of your existence;
+ The bliss of growth,
+ The glory of action,
+ The splendor of beauty:
+ For yesterday is but a dream,
+ And tomorrow is only a vision,
+ But to-day well-lived makes
+ Every yesterday a dream of happiness,
+ And every tomorrow a vision of hope.
+ Look well, therefore to this day!_
+
+ _Such is the salutation of the dawn._
+
+ FROM THE SANSKRIT.
+
+Dear God, in Thy loving kindness, Thou hast brought us to the opening of
+another day; from darkness to light, from sleep to wakefulness, from
+rest to labor. We thank Thee for its opening glory and its coming
+opportunities; but above all, for the new strength we feel within
+ourselves to do its work and live its life. As radiant dawn climbs to
+full-orbed day and glides to setting sun, may we come to this day's
+close with the consciousness that we have lived a little closer to the
+great heart of the Eternal in every thought, word and deed, that we have
+woven into the texture of our lives, and gently as twilight enfolds the
+fruitful earth, shall "peace that passeth understanding" enfold our
+souls. Amen.
+
+ THOMAS B. PAYNE.
+
+
+May 11
+
+ _As the insect from the rock
+ Takes the color of its wing;
+ As the boulder from the shock
+ Of the ocean's rhythmic swing
+ Makes itself a perfect form,
+ Learns a calmer front to raise;
+ As the shell, enameled warm
+ With the prism's mystic rays,
+ Praises wind and wave that make
+ All its chambers fair and strong;
+ As the mighty poets take
+ Grief and pain to build their song;
+ Even so for every soul,
+ Whatsoe'er its lot may be--
+ Building, as the heavens roll,
+ Something large and strong and free--
+ Things that hurt and things that mar
+ Shape the man for perfect praise;
+ Shock and strain and ruin are
+ Friendlier than the smiling days._
+
+ JOHN WHITE CHADWICK.
+
+Dear Father, as the light of this morning follows the darkness of the
+night, may we devoutly believe that the light of Thy love shall dispel
+all darkness and bring us into the morning of eternal peace. May we
+learn each day that our trials and sorrows are but stepping-stones in
+Thy divine economy, to bring us up into the clearer atmosphere of
+heavenly thought and life. Help us to live closer to Jesus, to
+understand how even He was made glorious through suffering, and ever
+learn to conquer in His name. Amen.
+
+ ELMER F. PEMBER.
+
+
+May 12
+
+ _I live for those that love me
+ For those that know me true,
+ For the heaven that smiles above me,
+ And waits my coming, too;
+ For the cause that lacks assistance,
+ For the wrongs that need resistance,
+ For the future in the distance,
+ For the good that I can do._
+
+ G. L. BANKS.
+
+Father, we bless Thee for such as love us and those whom we love in the
+varying forms of affection, thanking Thee for the sacramental cup of joy
+in which Thou givest the wine of life to all of Thy children, humble or
+high. We thank thee for that love which setteth the solitary in families
+at the beginning, and then reaches wide arms all around, and will not
+stay its hold till it joins all nations and kindreds and tongues and
+people into one great family of love. We bless Thee for the noble men
+and women whose generous heart has lit the altar fire of philanthropy in
+many a dark and else benighted place. We thank Thee for the unbidden
+faith which springs up in our hearts, impelling us to trust Thee and
+love Thee and keep every commandment of Thine, and that while we know
+not what a day shall bring forth, we are sure of everlasting life. Amen.
+
+ THEODORE PARKER.
+
+
+May 13
+
+ _Gladness of morning--
+ To hear the lark begin his flight,
+ And singing, startle the dull Night
+ From his watch-tower in the skies,
+ Till the dappled Dawn doth rise;
+ Then to come in spite of sorrow,
+ And at my window bid good-morrow
+ Through the sweetbrier, or the vine,
+ Or the twisted eglantine._
+
+ JOHN MILTON.
+
+O Thou, in whose light we see light, who hast lifted the shadows of
+night from our dwellings, complete now in our behalf Thy ministry of
+light, we beseech Thee, and let the day star arise in our hearts. Make
+clear Thy face unto us. Rise with Thy morning upon our souls. May the
+light which envelops us throughout the day be the radiance of Thy
+presence. May our eyes behold only what Thou revealest and our lives be
+warmed with the glow of Thy love. O, that we may be new-born like the
+day and live a new life in Thy mercies which are new every morning; that
+our love may rise fresh as the dawn and our obedience be as sure as the
+path of the law. Let no shadow from the past dim the joy of Thy
+presence. Scatter the darkness of sense and self within us. As the
+morning reveals, interprets and fulfils the beauties of a world which
+was wrapped in night, may the mystery of our lives unfold, our latent
+forces be summoned to service, and our hearts find fulness of joy
+because we live in Thee. Amen.
+
+ EVERETT D. BURR.
+
+
+May 14
+
+ _It may be truly said that no man does any work perfectly who does
+ not enjoy his work. Joy in one's work is the consummate tool
+ without which the work may be done indeed, but without its finest
+ perfectness. Men who do their work without enjoying it are like men
+ carving statues with hatchets. A man who does his work with
+ thorough enjoyment of it is like an artist who holds an exquisite
+ tool which is almost as obedient to him as his own hand, and almost
+ works intelligently with him._
+
+ PHILLIPS BROOKS.
+
+O Heavenly Father, we thank Thee that Thou hast placed us where we are
+and hast given us the work we have to do. We would not seek far and wide
+for some better place or more honourable task. We pray today for the
+spirit that shall make us glad in our common toil. We need not to fly
+away to find enjoyment; we have only to feel that in the duties of this
+day we are in partnership with Thee,--then shall we be happy that Thou
+hast called us to so divine a fellowship. Make us strong and earnest and
+brave--that when the evening shadows fall we shall not look regretfully
+back because we have been unfaithful,--but that we may be satisfied and
+happy in the memory that we have been serving with Thee. Amen.
+
+ ANONYMOUS.
+
+
+May 15
+
+ _I love the flowers that come about with spring,
+ And whether they be scarlet, white or blue,
+ It mattereth to me not anything,
+ For when I see them full of sun and dew,
+ My heart doth get so full with its delight,
+ I know not blue from red, nor red from white._
+
+ ALICE CARY.
+
+Father Divine, we remember Thee at the beginning of another day, and the
+obedience to Thy laws of life which Thou dost require. About us is Thy
+beautiful world, thrilling with new life. We would that our lives today
+may be likewise beautiful, restrained from sin against body and spirit.
+As there is now in the earth, so there is always in human souls a
+springtide ready to burst forth into beautiful living. In our hearts
+there is always the stirring energy of a spiritual spring that needs but
+the warmth of Thy heavenly sunshine. Let that warmth now stream into our
+hearts that our lives today may show forth Thy praise. Amen.
+
+ MINOT O. SIMONS.
+
+
+May 16
+
+ Violet: "_Well, but surely at least one ought to be afraid of
+ displeasing God; and one's desire to please Him should be one's
+ first motive._"
+
+ Lecturer: "_He never would be pleased with us, if it were, my dear.
+ When a father sends his son out into the world--suppose as an
+ apprentice--fancy the boy's coming home at night, and saying,
+ 'Father, I could have robbed the till to-day; but I didn't because
+ I thought you wouldn't like it.' Do you think the father would be
+ particularly pleased?" (Violet is silent). "He would answer, would
+ he not, if he were wise and good, 'My boy, though you had no
+ father, you must not rob tills.' And nothing is ever done so as
+ really to please our Great Father, unless we would also have done
+ it, though we had had no Father to know of it._"
+
+ JOHN RUSKIN.
+
+Father of Life, Thy children raise their thoughts in prayer to Thee at
+the dawning of each day. Their prayer asserts love, trust and conformity
+to Thy will. May the spirit of prayer abide with us the day through,
+that we may be dutiful and worthy. The moral law is Thy way of life, may
+we make it our way by intelligent obedience. To know Thee aright and to
+find our joy in Thy life is to have fullness of being through purity and
+strength. O Father, may we be as those who broaden and deepen and purify
+life by word and deed that none may suffer loss through us, but find aid
+to reach the perfect life in Thee. Amen.
+
+ WILSON M. BACKUS.
+
+
+May 17
+
+ _Through the harsh noises of our day
+ A low sweet prelude finds its way:
+ Through clouds of doubt and creeds of fear
+ A light is breaking, calm and clear._
+
+ _Henceforth my heart shall sigh no more
+ For olden time and holier shore:
+ God's love and blessing, then and there
+ Are now and here and everywhere._
+
+ JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER.
+
+Our Father, as we enter upon the duties of this new day, incline our
+minds and hearts unto Thee. May we feel, amid its harsh noises, the
+assurance of Thy love and care. If doubt or fear assail us may we turn
+unto Thee who art the source of life, love and light, and find calm and
+peace. We would forget the things behind and make the most of the
+present. We rejoice that today is better than yesterday and that
+tomorrow will be better than today. Thou art here now, as Thou art
+everywhere always, to bless us with Thy love and care. Direct us through
+the hours of this day and may its close find us better children of
+Thine. Amen.
+
+ JOHN B. REARDON.
+
+
+May 18
+
+ _The sun does not shine for a few trees and flowers, but for the
+ wide world's joy. The lonely pine of the mountain top waves its
+ sombre boughs, and cries, "Thou art my sun!" And the little meadow
+ violet lifts its cup of blue, and whispers with its perfumed
+ breath, "Thou art my sun!" And the grain in a thousand fields
+ rustles in the wind, and makes answer, "Thou art my sun!" So God
+ sits, effulgent, in heaven, not for a favored few, but for the
+ universe of life; and there is no creature so poor or so low that
+ he may not look up with child-like confidence, and say, "My Father,
+ Thou art mine!"_
+
+ HENRY WARD BEECHER.
+
+O God, the Eternal Source of all life, we rejoice that there are no
+bounds to Thy love. We thank Thee that Thou givest us all things richly
+to enjoy. May we learn that Thy bounties are for all human beings. Make
+the hearts of men eager that the ignorant, the lowly, the poor, the
+wayward, may come into the full estate of knowing that they are children
+of God. Let them in no way be denied the joy of unfolding the divinity
+within them. Lead us all into those fields of labor where we can be our
+best selves and develop our lives by what we do to meet the growing
+demands of truth and love and goodness. Wherever the morning breaks and
+the sunshine falls upon human faces, may its cheer make homes happy and
+true, men and women good, and little children joyous. Amen.
+
+ ALVA ROY SCOTT.
+
+
+May 19
+
+ _Hear the Master's risen word!
+ Delving spades have set it free,
+ Wake! the world has need of thee,
+ Rise and let thy voice be heard,
+ Like a fountain disinterred,
+ Upward springing, singing, sparkling;
+ Through the doubtful shadows darkling;
+ Till the clouds of pain and rage
+ Brooding o'er the toiling age,
+ As with rifts of light are stirred
+ By the music of the Word;
+ Gospel for the heavy-laden, answer to the labourer's cry;
+ "Raise the stone, and thou shalt find Me: cleave the wood, and there
+ am I."_
+
+ HENRY VAN DYKE.
+
+God of light and strength and beauty, for this day we thank Thee. The
+morning hours come to us freighted with messages of gladness. Thou, our
+Father, art refreshing our spirits, and home seems dearer, love more
+sacred and the way of duty clearer before our waiting feet. We thank
+Thee for life as it is given us, day by day. Help us to fill it with
+honest, cheerful, fruitful service. May we realize and rejoice in the
+nobility of labor, and may we learn how it is that a child of Thine,
+standing in his own place, giving himself to the tasks of the hour,
+imparts strength and courage to his fellow-worker, and helps the world
+forward in the path of righteousness and peace. So may Thy will be done
+in and through us. Amen.
+
+ JOHN P. FORBES.
+
+
+May 20
+
+ _O the green things growing, the green things growing
+ The faint sweet smell of the green things growing!
+ I should like to live, whether I smile or grieve,
+ Just to watch the happy life of my green things growing._
+
+ DINAH MULOCK CRAIG.
+
+ _Not all these sweets, these sounds, this vernal blaze,
+ Is but one joy, express'd a thousand ways;
+ And honey from the flowers, and song of birds,
+ Are from the poet's pen, his overflowing words._
+
+ LEIGH HUNT.
+
+O Thou who art the Creator of life in every form in which it is
+expressed in the earth, we thank Thee for the grass and the flowers, the
+trees and the shrubs, the music of the streams and the melody of the
+birds. As nature is ever vocal with Thy praise, so may our hearts be
+attuned to deepest joy that we are a part of Thy creation and made
+capable of constant exultation in the beauty and the beneficence of Thy
+purpose therein displayed. In this spirit may we rejoice and be glad in
+this new day which Thou hast made for us. Amen.
+
+ I. J. MEAD.
+
+
+May 21
+
+ _As one familiar with the sonatas and the symphonies of Beethoven,
+ while passing along the street in summer, gets, from out of the
+ open window, a snatch of a song or a piece that is being played,
+ catching a strain here and another there--and says to himself, "Ah,
+ that is Beethoven. I recognize that: it is from such and such a
+ movement of the Pastoral" or whatever it may be;--so men in life
+ catch strains of God in the mother's disinterested and self-denying
+ love, in the lover's glow, in the little child's innocent
+ affections. Where did this thing come from? No plant ever brought
+ out such fruit as this?_
+
+ HENRY WARD BEECHER.
+
+Father of all and giver of every good thing, to Thee we pray; to Thee we
+look for light, for truth, for beauty. In the travail of thought may
+there come only the highest and best good. Where there is division we
+ask for unity; where there is confusion we ask for serenity; where there
+is discord, we ask for harmony. May divergent paths lead to the larger
+way of widening vision, distinctive service, unstinted love. Hasten the
+day when Thy purpose shall be accomplished in us, and when that which is
+now imperfect shall become the perfected whole. Grant to us wisdom to
+pursue noble ends with intelligent zeal, and patient effort, and in a
+charitable and hopeful spirit. Amen.
+
+ C. C. CLARK.
+
+
+May 22
+
+ _It is very interesting to watch a plant grow, it is like taking
+ part in creation. When all outside is cold and white, when the
+ little children of the woodland are gone to their nurseries in the
+ warm earth and the empty nests on the bare trees filled with snow,
+ my window-garden glows and smiles, making summer within while it is
+ winter without. It is wonderful to see flowers bloom in the midst
+ of a snow-storm! I have felt a bud "shyly doff her green hood and
+ blossom with a silken burst of sound," while the icy fingers of the
+ snow beat against the window panes. What secret power, I wonder,
+ caused this blossoming miracle? What mysterious force guided the
+ seedling from the dark earth up to the light, through leaf and stem
+ and bud, to glorious fulfilment in the perfect flower? Who could
+ have dreamed that such beauty lurked in the dark earth, was latent
+ in the tiny seed we planted? Beautiful flower, you have taught me
+ to see a little way into the hidden heart of things. Now I
+ understand that the darkness everywhere may hold possibilities
+ better than even my hopes._
+
+ HELEN KELLER.
+
+Grant us, O God, this day, vitality of brain and heart, to lay hold on
+the ordinary events and experiences of life, and transmute them into
+beautiful and permanent values for ourselves and others. May we have
+courage, love and faithfulness, to conquer adversities and fulfil our
+duties. And should the winter of discontent and disappointment beat
+without against our souls, even so may Thy Kingdom come. Amen.
+
+ JULIUS P. WEST.
+
+
+May 23
+
+ _Brother--there is no payment in the world!
+ We work and pour our labor at the feet
+ Of those who are around us and to come.
+ We live and take our living at the hands
+ Of those who are around us and have been.
+ No one is paid. No person can have more
+ Than he can hold. And none can do beyond
+ The power that's in him. To each child that's born
+ Belongs as much of all our human good
+ As he can take and use to make him strong._
+
+ _And from each man, debtor to all the world,
+ Is due the fullest fruit of all his powers,
+ His whole life's labor, proudly rendered up,
+ Not as return--can moments pay an age?
+ But as the simple duty of a man.
+ Can he do less--receiving everything?_
+
+ CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN.
+
+O, Thou Most Bountiful Giver! We thank Thee this morning for all the
+conveniences and comforts, the stored knowledge and acquired wisdom, the
+inspirations and encouragements of our daily life. Truly others have
+lived as Thy children and labored as Thy servants, by mind and hand and
+heart, and we are wondrously permitted to enter into the fruits of their
+labours. Grant unto us this day, O Father, so to strive and so to live
+that some other life may be cheered and blessed by the spirit and by the
+fruit of our day's service. May our thoughts and words and deeds somehow
+express our gratitude for the blessings which we are constantly
+receiving. Amen.
+
+ WILLIAM H. GOULD.
+
+
+May 24
+
+ _What a wonderful thing it is to meet a man or woman whose manners
+ are instantly open and free--opening up a direct road between him
+ or her and yourself!_
+
+ EDWARD CARPENTER.
+
+ _There is a world in us that God keeps to himself, except when He
+ calls some few souls, with special errand for us, to receive a
+ glimpse. It is full of life, and growths, and wonders, that are to
+ be developed and revealed. We ourselves know not what we shall be;
+ but He knows that we shall be like Him.... It is the world of the
+ spiritual microscope._
+
+ MRS. A. D. T. WHITNEY.
+
+Our Father and Mother God,--we have cried for Thee as little children
+cry for parental love to wait upon their wants, and, like babes that
+cry, we have looked for Thee in nothing else. We would be now Thy sons
+and daughters of a larger growth, who learn to find Thee in a more
+complete and blessed fellowship of service and sacrifice with Thee, of
+united thought and will with Thine, of such living as shares in Thy
+perfect and eternal life. Help us so to be and so to live that even in
+ourselves we may get glimpses of Thine infinite good will and
+faithfulness, and show in our human lives, that God is in His world and
+all is well. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE W. KENT.
+
+
+May 25
+
+ _What are we set on earth for? Say to toil:
+ Nor to seek to leave the tending of thy vines,
+ For all the heat of the day, till it declines,
+ And death's mild curfew shall from work assoil.
+ God did anoint thee with His odorous oil
+ To wrestle, not to reign; and he assigns
+ All thy tears over, like pure crystallines,
+ For younger fellow-workers of the soil
+ To wear for amulets. So others shall
+ Take patience, labor, to their heart and hand,
+ From thy hand, and thy heart, and thy brave cheer,
+ And God's grace fructify through thee to all.
+ The least flower with a brimming cup may stand,
+ And share its dewdrop with another near._
+
+ ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING.
+
+Our Father In Heaven, we devoutly thank Thee for that ceaseless and
+refreshing tide of blessing that, from the reservoir of Thine
+exhaustless goodness, flows into our hearts and lives. And we further
+thank Thee that among the choicest of those blessings, is the one of
+being, not merely the receptacles of this inflow, but also co-workers
+with Thee, and with Thy Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ, in carrying
+forward to successful issue Thy beneficent purposes of grace and
+salvation. Grant us, we beseech Thee, day by day, such an infusion of
+Thy Holy Spirit as shall fittingly equip us for the gladsome and
+effective discharge of the duties of this divine relation, and its
+exalted privileges. All of which grant for Thy mercy's sake. Amen.
+
+ CHARLES P. NASH.
+
+
+May 26
+
+ _The deepest secret of life is love. Without love there is no
+ enthusiasm, and without ideals there is no enthusiasm. We freeze
+ our hearts by selfishness, and stifle them by sordidness. We fix
+ our eyes upon the little field circumscribed by our day's
+ activities and ends. With no wide-reaching affection and no
+ uplifting ideal, we make of our life a treadmill and of our duty an
+ unwelcome drudgery. We disclaim the highest endowment of the soul
+ and deny our sonship to God. Narrow faiths and narrow hopes put
+ fetters on the spirit, and small affections keep small the heart._
+
+ PHILIP S. MOXOM.
+
+Our Father, every morning is a fresh witness of Thy loving kindness.
+When we sleep the vigils of Thy love are round about us. At the
+threshold of this new day, may it please Thee to inspire us with lofty
+aims, so that we may rise out of our selfish selves into conscious
+kinship with Thee. Help us to know the mystery of love, how limitless
+and all-conquering it is. Animated by its sweet law, may we go out into
+this great, needy world with hearts to sympathize and words to cheer and
+hands to minister. Then we shall know the divine sweetness of our
+Christian faith, the joy of Christlike living; we shall know that love
+is the fulfilling of the law. Amen.
+
+ Q. H. SHINN.
+
+
+May 27
+
+ _Every day is a fresh beginning,
+ Every morn is the world made new.
+ You who are weary of sorrow and sinning,
+ Here is a beautiful hope for you,
+ A hope for me and a hope for you._
+
+ _Every day is a fresh beginning;
+ Listen, my soul, to the glad refrain,
+ And, spite of old sorrow and older sinning,
+ And puzzles forecasted and possible pain,
+ Take heart with the day, and begin again._
+
+ SUSAN COOLIDGE.
+
+O Thou, who makest all things new, we are glad each day is not only a
+new day but one unlike any before it. Everything breathes freshness and
+newness of life; a new heaven is over our heads, a new earth beneath our
+feet. We know this day will be full of new opportunities for work, new
+scenes for pleasure, new chances to make better our lives. If yesterday
+was not all we could wish, if there were failures in duty, or loss of
+faith in ourselves, and Thy great love, may this be filled with larger
+faith, greater hope, complete love. May we so take heart in this quiet
+morning hour, that we may be brave and faithful all the day, so that in
+spite of old sorrows and older sins, the memory of which may now and
+then shadow our way, we may find ourselves when the evening shall come,
+nearer heaven in heart and life, and more worthy to be called Thy
+children. Amen.
+
+ WILLIAM F. POTTER.
+
+
+May 28
+
+ _O friend, never strike sail to a fear! Come into port greatly, or
+ sail with God the seas.... He has not learned the lesson of life
+ who does not every day surmount a fear._
+
+ RALPH WALDO EMERSON.
+
+ _There is no storm but this
+ Of your own cowardice
+ That braves you out;
+ You are the storm that mocks
+ Yourself; you are the rocks
+ Of your own doubt;
+ Besides this fear of danger there's no danger here
+ And he that here fears danger does deserve his fear._
+
+ RICHARD CRASHAW.
+
+Thou knowest, O Lord, the weakness of our human nature, and how prone we
+are not only to shrink from the difficulties and to tremble at the
+dangers which lie in our way, but to allow imaginary difficulties and
+dangers to hinder us from living as Thy children should. Help us, we
+pray Thee, to be free from all such fear today. Be Thou our refuge from
+whatsoever may threaten us, either without or within. Deliver us from
+faint-heartedness and enable us to stand fast in the glorious liberty of
+those who fear nothing but to offend against Thee and to wrong their own
+immortal souls. We ask it as disciples of Christ. Amen.
+
+ EDWIN C. SWEETSER.
+
+
+May 29
+
+ _Whichever way the wind doth blow,
+ Some heart is glad to have it so;
+ Then blow it east or blow it west,
+ The wind that blows, that wind is best._
+
+ _My little craft sails not alone:
+ A thousand fleets from every zone
+ Are out upon a thousand seas;
+ And what for me were favoring breeze
+ Might dash another, with the shock
+ Of doom, upon some hidden rock.
+ And so I do not dare to pray
+ For winds to waft me on my way,
+ But leave it to a Higher Will
+ To stay or speed me; trusting still
+ That all is well, and sure that He
+ Who launched my bark will sail with me
+ Through storm and calm, and will not fail,
+ Whatever breezes may prevail,
+ To land me, every peril past,
+ Within His sheltering heaven at last._
+
+ CAROLINE ATWATER MASON.
+
+O Lord let us know that we do not sail life's seas alone. Thou art the
+God of the storms. Thou goest with us whithersoever we go. Grant us, our
+Heavenly Father, that we may not suffer shipwreck of our faith. Grant us
+that the voyage of our lives may be prosperous, and that at last,
+whether soon or late we shall find some harbor of rest and peace. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+May 30
+
+ _Our Memorial Day celebrations will be but a hypocritical
+ play-acting unless they shall remind us of the cause and the country
+ for which our brave soldiers gave their lives. It is not enough for
+ us to recall their names and sing their praises. We must love the
+ country they loved and in our turn be ready to do the hero's part._
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+ _But what is it to love one's country? Is it to carry a banner in a
+ procession? Is it to shout as we see the flag? Is it to fling
+ bunting from the tops of the buildings, and send off sky-rockets in
+ the evenings? Vastly deeper than that is love of country, deeper
+ than any soldier's uniform, deeper than any pictures of battleships
+ with which we adorn our walls._
+
+ W. H. P. FAUNCE.
+
+God of the Nations, we thank Thee today for every heroic deed of every
+heroic soul. We rejoice that in every hour of real emergency there have
+ever been men who were ready to die for their country. O Lord, may the
+memory of their sacrifice ever remain to us and to the children of
+coming generations a sacred heritage. Yet, O Lord, let us not be
+satisfied to glorify their deeds with a memory. Let us do them the
+higher honor of consecrating our lives to the service of the country
+they loved. So shall we, in the honor we render them find the title to
+our honor. Thus in _our_ land and in _our_ time may Thy Kingdom come and
+Thy will be done. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+May 31
+
+ _To be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love and to
+ work and to play and to look up at the stars; to be satisfied with
+ your possessions, but not contented with yourself until you have
+ made the best of them; to despise nothing in the world except
+ falsehood and meanness, and to fear nothing except cowardice; to be
+ governed by your admirations rather than your dislikes; to covet
+ nothing that is your neighbor's except his kindness of heart and
+ gentleness of manners; to think seldom of your enemies, often of
+ your friends, and every day of Christ; and to spend as much time as
+ you can, with body and with spirit in God's out-of-doors--these are
+ little guide-posts on the footpath to peace._
+
+ HENRY VAN DYKE.
+
+O Thou God of peace and of love. How shall we come to Thee? How shall we
+share Thy strength and know Thy life? Let us commune with Thy gracious
+spirit and so learn Thy way. How beautiful the vision which prayer
+unfolds to us when we worship in spirit and truth! We see the virtues
+which ennoble and sanctify other lives. Sweet and tender patience
+appears and in her light ruffled and distorted tempers are subdued and
+clothed in their right mind. Faith is seen and as irresolution and doubt
+take their flight, confident trust and cherished conviction appear in
+magnetic power. So, O Lord, would we read the signs which other lives
+present. So would we strengthen our own aspirations and make real the
+vision. So, O Father, would we find Thy peace. Amen.
+
+ AUGUSTINE N. FOSTER.
+
+
+June 1
+
+ _A season for simple living with the kindly sun and the blue sky,
+ days of keen delight in little things, of joyous questing after
+ beauty, days for the making of true friends by being a true friend
+ to others, days when we may enlarge our little lives by excursions
+ to strange places, by friendly association, by the companionship of
+ great thoughts, days that may teach us to live nobly, to work
+ joyously, to play harder, to do our labor better. So should each
+ June bring us indeed a golden summer._
+
+ EDWIN OSGOOD GROVER.
+
+Heavenly Father, Thou givest all good things. We thank Thee for life and
+hope and cheer. In gratitude we consecrate this day to blessing Thy
+children, and so to serving Thee who hast said, "Inasmuch as ye have
+done it unto these, ye have done it unto Me." Teach us the gladness of a
+life responsive to Thy messages through Nature. Grant us the joy of
+making friends by being friendly with our fellow men. Whatsoever we may
+do, at work or at play, may it be in the spirit of the Saviour. We begin
+this day with Thee. By its ministries may our comrades be helped and our
+lives together be made nobler, stronger, and well-pleasing in Thy sight.
+Amen.
+
+ MAURICE A. LEVY.
+
+
+June 2
+
+ _Over the shoulders and slopes of the dune,
+ I saw the white daisies go down to the sea,
+ A host in the sunshine, an army in June,
+ The people God sends us to set our hearts free._
+
+ _The bobolinks rallied them up from the dell,
+ The orioles whistled them out of the wood,
+ And all of their singing was "Earth, it is well,"
+ And all of their dancing was, "Life, Thou art good!"_
+
+ BLISS CARMAN.
+
+O Thou, who art the Father of Light and Love, from whom cometh down
+every good and perfect gift, we thank Thee for this new born day, which
+Thou sendest us, for the splendor of Thy presence in the sunlit sky
+above us and the blossoming earth beneath; for spring-time flowers that
+border our paths with loveliness and happy bird song, lifting our hearts
+to responsive joy and praise. We thank Thee for life and health, for
+home and friends, for opportunities and duties, for temptations and
+trials, yea, for the very sorrows and bereavements which bring us to
+ourselves in penitence, to others in sympathy, and to Thee in faith and
+adoration. Thy will be done! Thy kingdom come! Amen.
+
+ CHARLES W. WENDTE.
+
+
+June 3
+
+ _One small life in God's great plan,
+ How futile it seems as the ages roll,
+ Do what it may, or strive how it can,
+ To alter the sweep of the infinite whole!
+ A single stitch in an endless web,
+ A drop in the ocean's flow and ebb!
+ But the pattern is rent where the stitch is lost,
+ Or marred where the tangled threads have crossed;
+ And each life that fails of its true intent
+ Mars the perfect plan that its Maker meant._
+
+ SUSAN COOLIDGE.
+
+O Thou, the heavenly Father, in whom we live and move, whose life-giving
+spirit is ever around us like the air we breathe,--we lift our thoughts
+to Thee in reverence and gladness at the coming of the new day. We are
+glad for the quiet hours of the night, while the stars shine over us.
+May we be ready now, with willing and obedient hearts, for the work, the
+cares, the joys and the friendly converse of the day. We know how small
+our lives are; may we share the thoughts of Thy infinite mind, may Thy
+power and beauty, Thy justice and goodness possess us. May our feeble
+wills be strong to carry the current of the one Good Will that sways the
+universe. Amen.
+
+ CHARLES F. DOLE.
+
+
+June 4
+
+ _I have lived, sir, a long time; and the longer I live, the more
+ convincing proofs I see of this truth, that God governs in the
+ affairs of men._
+
+ BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.
+
+ _All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not
+ seen. Whatever it be which the great Providence prepares for us, it
+ must be something large and generous; and in the great style of His
+ works. The future must be up to the style of our faculties, of
+ memory, of hope, of imagination, of reason._
+
+ RALPH WALDO EMERSON.
+
+O Thou, who in Thy greatness holds the planets on their way, and in Thy
+providence guides the sparrow's flight, and in Thy tenderness marks the
+sparrow's fall, may we not be blind to Thy foot-prints in the events of
+every day, but see them guiding our way and feel more and more Thy love.
+Father, we ask not for great things, but we ask Thee to help us in the
+little needs and longings that fill our every day, to be the strength of
+our every endeavor, that in our daily walk, we may feel that the earth
+is warm with life and joy, that the air is full of strength, that there
+comes to us from every side some message, sweet and tender, if only we
+can be patient, trustful, believing that all things work together for
+good to them who seek to do Thy will Amen.
+
+ JOSHUA YOUNG.
+
+
+June 5
+
+ _And do not fear to hope. Can poet's brain
+ More than the Father's heart rich good invent?
+ Each time we smell the autumn's dying scent,
+ We know the primrose time will come again;
+ Not more we hope, nor less would soothe our pain.
+ Be bounteous in our faith, for not misspent
+ Is confidence unto the Father lent:
+ Thy need is sown and rooted for his rain,
+ His thoughts are as thine own; nor are his ways
+ Other than thine, but by their loftier sense
+ Of beauty infinite and love intense.
+ Work on! One day, beyond all thought of praise
+ A sunny joy will crown thee with its rays;
+ Nor other than thy need, thy recompense._
+
+ GEORGE MACDONALD.
+
+Our Father, in the gratitude of loved and loving children we thank Thee
+for life and all the faith and hope and love Thy goodness has awakened
+in our souls. For the splendors of the world and the greater splendor of
+the mind radiant with Thy love, we bow in rapture and adoration.
+Overwhelmed at times by the mysteries and vicissitudes of life, we will
+trust Thy will to lead us out of darkness into the light of Thine
+informing spirit of truth and wisdom. Conscious of our weakness and
+needs, we rejoice that strength and supply are assured to us in the
+permanence of Thy Fatherhood. Lead us more and ever more to realize that
+in Thee we live and move and have our being. Amen.
+
+ RICHMOND FISK.
+
+
+June 6
+
+ _When a feller goes a-huntin' for a rose
+ He shouldn't be a-thinkin' of the thorn;
+ He must woo it, he must win it--
+ Where his heart beats he must pin it
+ An' breathe the breath that's in it
+ Every morn!_
+
+ _When a feller goes a-huntin' for a rose
+ He shouldn't see the thorn beneath its breast,
+ But for all its thorny foes.
+ Red and reckless,--one poor rose
+ Is sweet enough, God knows,
+ For the best._
+
+ FRANK L. STANTON.
+
+O Lord, our God, so great is our life we may find that for which we
+look,--the good or the bad. Send us into this day with eyes searching for
+the good. Beholding it may we admire it and admiring it we shall become
+like it changed into the same image from character to character by the
+Spirit. May we be more concerned to do right than not to do wrong. Save us
+from a humility that is weakness and give us largeness of life without
+pride. May we want nothing so much as opportunity,--opportunity to be, to
+do, to suffer. May we not strive for bigness but for fitness and may our
+reception of the Christ be our forgiveness and our salvation for His name's
+sake. Amen.
+
+ T. C. MARTIN.
+
+
+June 7
+
+ _The beauty of work depends upon the way we meet it,--whether we
+ arm ourselves each morning to attack it as an enemy that must be
+ vanquished before night comes, or whether we open our eyes with the
+ sunrise to welcome it as an approaching friend who will keep us
+ delightful company all day, and who will make us feel at evening,
+ that the day was well worth its fatigues._
+
+ LUCY LARCOM.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, Thou givest us light for the hours of labor and
+darkness for the hours of slumber. We toil and then we rest. We sleep
+and then we arise, to perform the tasks which await us. Convince us, O
+God, that the life which Thou hast given us to live is more than working
+that we may rest, and resting that we may work. Persuade us that it is
+for some great and good end. Help us to understand that even as we live
+in Thee so Thou dost fulfil Thine eternal purposes in and through us.
+Teach us that our smallest effort is important to Thee. So may we dread
+no duty. So may every moment of every day be precious in our sight.
+Amen.
+
+ ROGER S. FORBES.
+
+
+June 8
+
+ _And those who heard the Singers three
+ Disputed which the best might be;
+ For still their music seemed to start
+ Discordant echoes in each heart._
+
+ _But the great Master said, "I see
+ No best in kind, but in degree;
+ I gave a various gift to each,
+ To charm, to strengthen, and to teach._
+
+ _"These are the three great chords of might,
+ And he whose ear is tuned aright,
+ Will hear no discord in the three,
+ But the most perfect harmony."_
+
+ HENRY W. LONGFELLOW.
+
+O God, our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for all Thy mercies new every
+morning, and fresh every evening, but especially we bless Thee that Thou
+callest us to Thy service and kingdom by Jesus Christ, our Lord, and
+hast vouchsafed to each of us some gracious gift whereby we may
+accomplish Thy holy will concerning us. Grant that we may so improve and
+use that pearl of price as to enhance greatly the welfare of Thy
+children. Help each to see the good in all, and all to see the good in
+each, that all may strive together in sinless and sweet accord for the
+common weal and thus for the glory of Thy name, and so hasten the happy
+day when all souls shall be one, as prayed the Saviour of the world.
+Amen.
+
+ ALFRED P. PUTNAM.
+
+
+June 9
+
+ _Men talk sometimes as if the passage of a ship through the sea or
+ a bird through the air is a fit symbol of man's passage through
+ this world. I do not think so. A better symbol would be the passage
+ of a plough through the soil leaving a furrow behind. What does the
+ furrow include? All the memory of every beautiful picture and
+ landscape you have ever seen. It includes the memory of every
+ experience, every sweet association, every tie of love, whether of
+ father, mother, wife or children. All these, whether living or
+ dead, speak to you. They have a voice, a language that you will
+ understand._
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+We thank Thee, O God, for the many influences past and present which
+have had a share in the moulding of our lives and characters toward a
+larger usefulness and a more perfect realization of the Christian ideal.
+We thank Thee for the mother's love which watched over us through years
+of helplessness; for the father's love which made provision for our
+wants, for the human sympathy which has everywhere blessed and
+strengthened us and made life brighter; for the friends of youth and age
+who have helped us to better things. Grant, O God, that a memory of
+these blessings may abide with us so long as life may last, and that as
+we have been helped by others to walk the way of life we may not forget
+to extend a helping hand to those who may need our comfort and our
+sympathy.
+
+ ORIN EDSON CROOKER.
+
+
+June 10
+
+ _It is not to taste sweet things, but to do noble and true things,
+ and vindicate himself under God's heaven, as a God-made man, that
+ the poorest son of Adam dimly longs. This dim longing for what is
+ noble and true, the still small voice which calls to one
+ imperatively in moments of temptation, is the safeguard which, if
+ hearkened to, not only protects one in severe trials of manliness
+ and womanliness, but also incites to the formation of a fine
+ character, without which all acquisitions, all graces and
+ accomplishments, all talents and all learning, are but as sounding
+ brass and a tinkling cymbal._
+
+ THOMAS CARLYLE.
+
+Almighty God, our heavenly Father, in grateful recognition of Thy love
+and watchful care, we thank Thee for the repose of the night and the
+promise of the day. Our desire is to do Thy will, and we ask for the
+guidance and inspiration of Thy spirit. Enable us to perform faithfully
+all the work that Thou hast given us to do. Grant us a sufficiency of
+Thy grace to treat all our fellowmen as children of Thine, and when
+night comes may we have the blessed assurance that through the
+experiences of this day we have become a little more like Thine own
+glorious self in love and holiness. We ask it in the name of Jesus, our
+example, and Saviour. Amen.
+
+ WARREN S. PERKINS.
+
+
+June 11
+
+ _Now it is June, and the secret is told;
+ Flashed from the buttercup's glory of gold;
+ Hummed in the bumblebee's gladness, and sung
+ New from each bough where a bird's nest is swung;
+ Breathed from the clover-beds, when the winds pass;
+ Chirped in small psalms, through the aisles of the grass._
+
+ HENRY JAMES, SR.
+
+Dear Father, in the morning hour of this new day, we thank Thee for the
+glorious revelation of Thyself in the open Book of Nature. May we love
+the beautiful and therein love Thee, with a true and abiding affection.
+Grant unto us the understanding that it is only as we have the spirit of
+the beautiful in our lives that we can appreciate the beautiful without
+us. So may we value this life, which is from Thee, as a means of
+attaining a larger usefulness and for realizing that goodness which is
+ever heavenly. In simply trying to be nobler, more unselfish, like unto
+Christ, we pray, that we may learn how good is life. Amen.
+
+ THOMAS EDWARD POTTERTON.
+
+
+June 12
+
+ _Methinks I love all common things,
+ The common air, the common flower,
+ The dear, kind, common thought that springs
+ From hearts that have no other dower,
+ No other wealth, no other power,
+ Save love; and will not that repay
+ For all else fortune tears away?_
+
+ BRYAN WALLER PROCTER.
+
+We thank God for the beauty of the world. We thank God that it is good
+to be alive. We thank God for the joy that joins us to Thy world in
+gladness, and makes it seem to be the open book of Thy graciousness and
+tenderness and compassion. We thank Thee also for the ministry of those
+days that were not bright, but that were full of comfort, even in their
+darkness, into which God came shrouded, only to reveal Himself more
+clearly as the light. We thank Thee for the intervening by the hand of
+love and tenderness that is human, so that our best nature was called
+out for love's sake, and all the lower forces of our lives led in the
+leash of that sweet attraction. We thank God for everything for which
+our life is better, and pray Thee to help us to use Thy mercies to turn
+them into strength, not the strength of praise alone, but the strength
+of service also. Amen.
+
+ THOMAS R. SLICER.
+
+
+June 13
+
+ _A creed is a rod,
+ And a crown is of night;
+ But this thing is God,
+ To be man with thy might,
+ To grow straight in the strength of thy spirit, and live out thy life
+ as the light._
+
+ ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE.
+
+ _Life is fuller and sweeter for every fulness and sweetness that we
+ take knowledge of. And to him that hath, cannot help being given
+ from everything._
+
+ MRS. A. D. T. WHITNEY.
+
+Infinite Love and Beauty, who stirrest in the tiniest seed that breaks
+its earthly shell to greet the light and warmth of thy beneficence and
+round its life in blade and flower and ripened fruit,--awake in us, we
+pray, that we may burst the casements of our dead selves and live to
+bear the fruits of completed lives. Be love alone our creed and service
+our crown; and in the sweetness and light of these twin ministers draw
+Thou us on, until having taken full knowledge of the fulness and
+sweetness of our Lord the Christ, we shall have measured in our
+spiritual stature, His perfect manliness and strength. Thus shall we
+have indeed and to us shall be given from everything. Amen.
+
+ ALBERT C. WHITE.
+
+
+June 14
+
+ _He fails who climbs to power and place
+ Up the pathway of disgrace.
+ He fails not who makes truth his cause,
+ Nor bends to win the crowd's applause.
+ He fails not, he who stakes his all
+ Upon the right and dares to fall.
+ What though the living bless or blame,
+ For him the long success of fame!_
+
+ RICHARD WATSON GILDER.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, help us when we fail to see and know the truth and
+its blessed influence for good. Help us to combat bravely the evil in
+the world and to look to Thee for encouragement and success. Help us, if
+we fail, to regain our footing and to reach the higher because of the
+effort which Thy love prompts. We gratefully accept the power which Thy
+wisdom gives and thank Thee for the opportunity to use its strength. Be
+Thou our guide and we shall fear no failure, nor overestimate the worth
+of success. So shall we "rejoice in the Lord always,"--in failure
+because of Thy help and in success because of Thine approval. In the
+name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Redeemer. Amen.
+
+ WILLIAM E. GIBBS.
+
+
+June 15
+
+ _A singer sang a song of tears,
+ And the great world heard and wept
+ For the song of the sorrows of fleeting years,
+ And the hopes which the dead past kept:
+ And souls in anguish their burdens bore,
+ And the world was sadder than ever before._
+
+ _A singer sang a song of cheer,
+ And the great world listened and smiled,
+ For he sang of the love of a Father dear
+ And the trust of a little child;
+ And souls that before had forgotten to pray,
+ Looked up and went singing along the way._
+
+ EMMA C. DOWD.
+
+Almighty God, our heavenly Father, our trust is evermore in Thee, and we
+would keep that trust as a song within our hearts, which may cheer and
+bless and strengthen us. When the night is dark and the day is dreary
+may that song be with us, and when cares oppress and sorrows meet us,
+may our prayers still rise to Thee, for Thou art the God of our lives.
+Let not the day's discouragements depress us, nor its failures find us
+weak or helpless, nor its trials leave a stain upon our souls. But
+because we have Thy song of love within our hearts may we march to
+heavenly music, and ever go upon our way rejoicing. Amen.
+
+ PAUL REVERE FROTHINGHAM.
+
+
+June 16
+
+ _It is only the sincerity of human feeling that abides. As for a
+ thought, we know not, it may be deceptive; but the love, wherewith
+ we have loved it, will surely return to our soul; nor can a single
+ drop of its clearness or strength be abstracted by error. Of that
+ perfect ideal that each of us strives to build up in himself, the
+ sum total of all our thoughts will help only to model the outline;
+ but the elements that go to construct it, and keep it alive, are
+ the purified passion, unselfishness, loyalty, wherein these
+ thoughts have had being._
+
+ MAETERLINCK.
+
+O God, our Heavenly Father, help us to take up the cares of this day
+with an unselfish heart, and in loyalty to what is right and good. Keep
+us in right relation to those with whom our lot is cast, in sympathy
+with the unanxious joy of the world and with the deeper life which is
+its source. We desire to enter into the thought and the love of the most
+hopeful souls, that, in all the needful pauses of the day, we may find
+cheer, incentive, and the ampler rest: through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
+Amen.
+
+ CHARLES H. LEONARD.
+
+
+June 17
+
+ _"Does the road wind up-hill all the way?"
+ "Yes, to the very end!"
+ "Will the day's journey take the whole long day?"
+ "From morn to night, my friend!"_
+
+ _"But is there for the night a resting-place?"
+ "A roof for all when the dark hours begin."
+ "May not the darkness hide it from my face?"
+ "You cannot miss that inn."_
+
+ _"Shall I meet other wayfarers at night?"
+ "Those who have gone before."
+ "Then must I knock or call when just in sight?"
+ "They will not keep you standing at that door."_
+
+ _"Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak?"
+ "Of labor you shall find the sum."
+ "Will there be beds for me and all who seek?"
+ "Yea,--beds for all who come!"_
+
+ CHRISTINA ROSSETTI.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for this new day. May it be an open
+door to faithful service. Open our eyes that we may see all vexations,
+distresses, and toil as angels in disguise sent to strengthen and fulfil
+us, to prepare us for larger blessings at our journey's end. As the blue
+sky of Thy loving kindness is broader and more enduring than the clouds
+that sometimes hide it, so teach us to trust Thine unfailing love that
+overarches and outlasts all weariness and pain. When life and strength
+fail us here, may we find them transformed and glorious in the city of
+God hereafter. Be Thou our shield and our reward now and forever. Amen.
+
+ JOHN M. WILSON.
+
+
+June 18
+
+ _Those homelier wildflowers, which we call weeds; yellow japanned
+ buttercups and star-disked dandelions, lying in the grass, like
+ sparks that have leaped from the kindling sun of summer; the
+ profuse daisy-like flower which whitens the fields, to the great
+ disgust of liberal shepherds, yet seems fair to loving eyes, with
+ its button-like mound of gold set round with milk-white rays; the
+ tall-stemmed succory, setting its pale blue flowers aflame one
+ after another; the red and white clovers; the broad, flat leaves of
+ the plantain,--"the white man's foot," as the Indians called
+ it;--those common growths which fling themselves to be crushed
+ under our feet and our wheels, making themselves so cheap in this
+ perpetual martyrdom that we forget, each of them is a ray of the
+ divine beauty._
+
+ OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, however poor and mean and commonplace our lives may
+seem to be, in our better moments we think of ourselves as Thy children.
+We may have failed sometimes but we shall not utterly fail. In Thy
+sight, nothing is common or worthless. No life shall be cast as rubbish
+to the void. However commonplace our tasks may seem, let us feel
+ourselves in partnership with God, and go forth to the duties of the day
+with high hope and sense of dignity. So shalt Thou make even our little
+lives of some real service to the world. We pray to Thee in the spirit
+of Him, who though the humblest of all, was yet Master of all. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+June 19
+
+ _There's a real grace of character in forgetting the things which
+ disturb the harmony of life._
+
+ HAMILTON W. MABIE.
+
+ Touch your lips with gladness and go singing on your way,
+ Smiles will strangely lighten every duty;
+ Just a little word of cheer may span a sky of gray
+ With hope's own heaven-tinted bow of beauty.
+ Wear a pleasant face wherein shall shine a joyful heart,
+ As shines the sun, the happy fields adorning;
+ To every care-beclouded life some ray of light impart,
+ And touch your lips with gladness every morning.
+
+ NIXON WATERMAN.
+
+O Thou who art from everlasting to everlasting, Our God and Father, we
+flee unto Thee as the One who is able to save us from all foes within
+and without. We confess our weakness and our many grievous faults, and
+beseech Thee to touch us by Thy Spirit, that with penitent and lowly
+hearts we may seek Thee as our everlasting Friend and Helper. Be patient
+yet a while with our shortcomings and frowardness. Suffer us yet a
+little that Thine infinite grace and compassion may arouse us from our
+spiritual slumber unto the glorious life of obedience and love. In this
+new day we would be made to feel Thy presence and the light and joy and
+peace, which Thou dost promise to all who diligently seek Thee through
+Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.
+
+ CLARENCE E. RICE.
+
+
+June 20
+
+ _Now is the high tide of the year,
+ And whatever of life hath ebbed away
+ Comes flooding back with a ripply cheer,
+ Into every bare inlet and creek and bay;
+ Now the heart is so full that a drop overfills it,
+ We are happy now because God wills it._
+
+ JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL.
+
+Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty! early in the morning we approach
+unto Thee. The whole round of creation is burdened with the exuberance
+of Thy life, and everywhere is hallowed ground. We come with unshod
+feet. The sun, mighty minister of Thy great goodness, flooding the world
+with light and piercing all things with his fiery arrows, calls back to
+life the sleeping earth, and assures us that we are partakers of Thy
+light and Thy love and Thy life. O most glorious God! may these Thy
+mercies, fresh every morning, be with us through the day to strengthen
+us to do Thy will, we ask in the name of Him who came that we may have
+life and have it abundantly. Amen.
+
+ FRANK W. COLLIER.
+
+
+June 21
+
+ _Man hath much need of courage; and need to brace
+ His spiritual nerve in solitude;
+ Self-trusting, self-sustained, and self-imbued;
+ Seeking God in his own heart's secret place.
+ To perfect self, and in that self embrace
+ The triune essence of truth, beauty, and good;
+ This is fulfilment, this beatitude
+ Throned high above base fears and hopes more base.
+ What shall it profit us, if, gaining all
+ The privilege of priest-made paradise,
+ We lose therewith our self which is the soul?
+ And wherefore should we shrink from even the fall,
+ If haply we should fail with steadfast eyes
+ Fixed only on so bright, so pure a goal?_
+
+ JOHN ADDINGTON SYMONDS.
+
+Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for the gift of a new day, for the tasks
+which it brings, and for the strength with which we rise to its
+requirements. Help us, through all this day, to remember Thee. Thou art
+our strength, our guide, our inspiration. Fill us with the courage born
+of faith. Let us feel that, seeking to do right, we shall be moved and
+aided by an unseen Power. In all our experiences this day, help us to
+speak the truth, to be loyal to friendship, to be steadfast in
+principle, to fight the good fight and to keep the faith. Bless our
+endeavors to give heart and hope to other souls; and grant them the
+presence of Thy loving spirit. Amen.
+
+ JOHN CLARENCE LEE.
+
+
+June 22
+
+ _Let a man start out at breakneck speed in the morning, pushing and
+ driving and hurrying as if it were a matter of life and death to
+ accomplish a given task before noon, and he will generally end by
+ working himself into a fever of anxiety and harassing care before
+ night, and the man who, under any pretext whatsoever, whether for
+ the sake of wealth or learning or pleasure, has pursued this mad,
+ rushing, whirling method of life for fifteen or twenty years, will
+ find himself thoroughly disqualified for the normal enjoyment of
+ life thenceforward to the end of his days._
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+Most gracious God! Thou who hast sustained us through the night watches,
+and who now openest to us the day, with its promise of good and
+opportunity for service, we still depend upon that heavenly faithfulness
+which never fails. We look to Thee for the quickening of our best
+powers. We would be laborers together with Thee to-day, not as driven to
+irksome tasks, but as honored with a welcome privilege. Whether we plant
+or water may we do it faithfully, and then trust Thee for the desired
+increase. May it please Thee to quiet our anxieties, to lay to rest our
+unworthy fears, and to assure us of Thine over-ruling providence; and
+thus through all our toiling may we enjoy large measures of the peace
+that passeth understanding. Amen.
+
+ JAMES EDWARD WRIGHT.
+
+
+June 23
+
+ _I do not say you can make yourself merry and happy when you are in
+ a physical condition which is contrary to such mental condition,
+ but by practice and effort you can learn to withdraw from it,
+ refusing to allow your judgments and actions to be ruled by it.
+ "What does that matter?" you will learn to say. "It is enough for
+ me to know that the sun does shine, and that this is only a weary
+ fog that is round about me for a moment. I shall come out into the
+ light beyond presently." This is faith,--faith in God, who is
+ Light._
+
+ GEORGE MACDONALD.
+
+Our Father, residing in the light incomprehensible and who art seeing
+and providing all good for Thine immortal household, when mid investing
+clouds we shall hail Thy presence, transforming weakness into perfect
+strength and sighs and groans into joy and swelling songs, above all the
+many rightful subjects of Christian petition, we pray that Thou wilt
+always press us near to Thee to feel Thy loving heart-beats and dwell in
+the light in which is no darkness at all. We pray not to be spared any
+of our full part of the burdens needful to this day, but to be given the
+measure of grace to maintain unfaltering steps. Behold with compassion
+the errors that befall us as we, too, compassionate others. Amen.
+
+ JACOB STRAUB.
+
+
+June 24
+
+ _We are all perhaps familiar with the story of the little
+ housemaid, who, when she was asked why she thought she had become a
+ Christian, replied, after a little hesitation, "Because I sweep
+ under the mats." A very poor reason at first sight, and only
+ significant from the fact of the master-motive underlying the fact
+ itself. A child's reasoning--but did not quaint old Herbert employ
+ the same fine logic when he sang:_
+
+ _"Who sweeps a room as for Thy laws.
+ Makes that and the action fine!"_
+
+ WILLIAM MOODIE.
+
+Dear Lord of Life and Light, at the dawn of another day we rise to thank
+Thee for Thy watchful care, imparting strength and vitality during the
+closed hours of the night. Thy gift of eternal life is ours by Thy
+creatorship and love, and we would pray that in no way during this
+coming day shall we dishonor our birthright by evil thought or action.
+Help us to aspire to hold fast and develop Thy holy characteristics,
+normal to us and made active by our wills. We thank Thee for the goal
+revealed to us as our destiny, the spirit displayed by our Master, Jesus
+Christ, and like Him may we lean on Thee daily for the strengthening of
+our faith and the maturing of our plans. Amen.
+
+ CHARLES E. LUND.
+
+
+June 25
+
+ _They are tired of what is old,
+ We will give it voices new;
+ For the half hath not been told
+ Of the beautiful and true._
+
+ GEORGE MACDONALD.
+
+ _The common problem, yours, mine, everyone's,
+ Is not to fancy what were fair in life
+ Provided it could be--but finding first
+ What may be, than find how to make it fair
+ Up to our means, a very different thing._
+
+ ROBERT BROWNING.
+
+Thou Infinite Heart! our hearts go out after Thee, not for past, not for
+future, not for what was, though dear, not for what may be, though in
+vision precious,--not these the burden of our prayer. Our hearts crave
+peace, comfort with what is. May we confide in Thee so utterly that the
+old pain is eased, the anxious foreboding is dispelled, self-will merged
+in divine will, self-direction yielding to divine leading. Lo! our
+prayer is answered in the making and we are helped. Amen.
+
+ STANFORD MITCHELL.
+
+
+June 26
+
+ _Today is your day and mine, the only day we have, the day in which
+ we play our part. What our part may signify in the great whole, we
+ may not understand, but we are here to play it, and now is our
+ time. This we know, it is a part of action, not of whining. It is a
+ part of love, not cynicism. It is for us to express love in terms
+ of human helpfulness. This we know, for we have learned from sad
+ experience that any other course of life leads toward weakness and
+ misery._
+
+ DAVID STARR JORDAN.
+
+Our Father, Author alike of the morning light and Guardian through the
+darkness and shadow of the night, grant us the right spirit as we go
+forth to the unknown experiences of this day. We would not look eagerly
+for our own comfort and happiness, but would find them as Thy free gift
+while we are employed in giving comfort and happiness to others.
+Illuminate our lives with happy thoughts, cheerful words and blessed
+hopes, that we may go forth with no purpose but to do Thy will, and
+seeking no reward more glorious, than Thine approval whispered into
+loving and attentive hearts, in Thy name. Amen.
+
+ LEWIS G. WILSON.
+
+
+June 27
+
+ _A Persian fable says: "One day
+ A wanderer found a lump of clay,
+ So redolent of sweet perfume
+ Its odors scented all the room.
+ "What art thou?" was his quick demand;
+ "Art thou some gem from Samarcand,
+ Or spikenard in this rude disguise,
+ Or other costly merchandise?"
+ "Nay, I am but a lump of clay."
+ "Then whence this wondrous perfume--say?"
+ "Friend, if the secret I disclose,
+ I have been dwelling with the rose,"
+ Sweet parable! and will not those
+ Who love to dwell with Sharon's Rose,
+ Distil sweet odors all around,
+ Though low and mean themselves are found?
+ Dear Lord, abide with us, that we
+ May draw our perfume fresh from thee._
+
+ ANONYMOUS.
+
+Our Father, which art in heaven,--we thank Thee for the memory of those
+who lived in Thy spirit and labored in Thy love. The fragrance of their
+lives abides with us. We thank Thee for the prophets of great
+hopes,--for those who have seen the invisible, and have searched
+patiently for the city of their God. We bless those who by their pure
+hearts and unselfish lives have revealed unto us our greater selves.
+Help us to learn of them the way of life. Help us to live in such
+thoughts and deeds as made them truly great. Keep our hearts so pure
+to-day, our vision of the Master life so clear, that our path, before
+and after us, shall be as the light of day. Amen.
+
+ FREDERICK W. BETTS.
+
+
+June 28
+
+ _Tell you what I like the best;
+ 'Long about knee-deep in June,
+ 'Bout the time the strawberries melts
+ On the vine,--some afternoon
+ Like to jes' git out and rest,
+ And not work at nothing else._
+
+ _Orchard's where I'd ruther be--
+ Needn't fence it in for me!
+ Jes' the whole sky overhead,
+ And the whole airth underneath._
+
+ JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY.
+
+Help us, O Thou who art the Lord of life, that we may this morning
+praise Thee for the beauty of the world and for the joyful privilege of
+wandering in the green fields and by the sparkling brooks, and of
+resting tired body and weary limb beneath the sweet orchard shade,
+gazing with gladdened eyes at the blue canopy above, all forgetful of
+the toil and din of the far off city. O may our hearts this day be in
+tune with nature and in harmony with Thyself; and as we contemplate Thy
+works this and every day may our hearts go out in loving and practical
+sympathy toward those whose lives are spent within the narrow confines
+of sunless courts. Hear us for the Saviour's sake. Amen.
+
+ FRANCIS W. BRETT.
+
+
+June 29
+
+ _Give us, O give us the man who sings at his work. Be his
+ occupation what it may, he is equal to any of those who follow the
+ same pursuit in silent sullenness. He will do more in the same
+ time--he will do it better--he will persevere longer. One is
+ scarcely sensible of fatigue while he marches to music. The very
+ stars are said to make harmony as they revolve in their spheres.
+ Wondrous is the strength of cheerfulness, although past calculation
+ its power of endurance. Efforts to be permanently useful, must be
+ uniformly joyous--a spirit all sunshine, graceful from very
+ gladness, beautiful because bright._
+
+ THOMAS CARLYLE.
+
+Almighty God, we turn to Thee in adoration and praise as we pause upon
+the threshold of this new day. Grant, we pray Thee, that a song be in
+our hearts as we go about the duties of the passing hours. Whatever our
+experiences, whether of joy or sorrow, may we truly value the truthful
+spirit. If Thou callest us to bear burdens or to stand upon the mountain
+top of exultant achievement may we not forget to sing of Thee. Yea, O
+God, we would be ever of the company of trusting souls, for such are
+near to Thee. And when earthly days are past and the life of the freed
+spirit is over, grant that our lives may blend in full accord with the
+music of love, in sunshine of joy, in the beauty of holiness. We praise
+Thee now and ever. Amen.
+
+ STEPHEN H. ROBLIN.
+
+
+June 30
+
+ _Full-leafed in pride of deepest green,
+ The earth in the sunshine basks serene,
+ Where linden blossoms crowded cling,
+ A thousand bees are murmuring.
+ As showers drift from the freshened land
+ With a seven-barred bow is the rain-cloud spanned.
+ The wild rose yields her subtlest scents
+ Where hay cocks pitch their fragrant tents.
+ The longest day's too brief for June,
+ The night too short for such a moon!_
+
+ SARA ANDREW SHAFER.
+
+We thank Thee, our Father, for the wonderful world in which we live; for
+the glory of the heavens; for the beauty of the earth; for the bright
+morning following the star-crowned night; for the song of birds, the hum
+of bees, the fragrance of flowers, and the laughter of children, for the
+industry of men and women, for all Thy gifts of love. As again the
+lengthening shadows creep across our pathway, may we redouble our
+energies that no labor of love may be left undone. So fill us with Thy
+presence, so lead us by Thy Spirit this day, that in our homes we may be
+patient, in our occupations sweet, in our social relations brotherly, in
+all things Christlike, for Jesus' sake. Amen.
+
+ ARTHUR WRIGHT.
+
+
+July 1
+
+ _Let me go where'er I will
+ I hear a sky-born music still:
+ It sounds from all things old,
+ It sounds from all things young,
+ From all that's fair, from all that's foul,
+ Peals out a cheerful song._
+
+ _It is not only in the rose,
+ It is not only in the bird,
+ Not only where the rainbow glows,
+ Nor in the song of woman heard,
+ But in the darkest, meanest things
+ There alway, alway something sings._
+
+ _'Tis not in the high stars alone,
+ Nor in the cups of budding flowers,
+ Nor in the redbreast's mellow tone,
+ Nor in the bow that smiles in showers,
+ But in the mud and scum of things
+ There alway, alway something sings._
+
+ RALPH WALDO EMERSON.
+
+Dear Father in heaven, we thank Thee for all the sweet voices of the
+world, not only for the harmonies of the great masters of song but for
+the sweet voice of the mother as she sings her song of love, for the
+bird in the spring time. We thank Thee for the music in the prattle of
+children, and the kindly word spoken everywhere. The world is full of
+music if only we have music in our own hearts. We pray, as we set forth
+again this morning, for spirits in tune with all that is sweet and good.
+Wherever we go this day, let the world sing to us and make us glad.
+Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+July 2
+
+ _A little bird with plumage brown,
+ Beside my window flutters down,
+ A moment chirps its little strain,
+ Then taps upon my window-pane.
+ And chirps again, and hops along,
+ To call my notice to its song;
+ But I work on, nor heed its lay,
+ Till, in neglect, it flies away._
+
+ _So birds of peace and hope and love
+ Come fluttering earthward from above,
+ To settle on life's window-sills,
+ And ease our load of earthly ills;
+ But we, in traffic's rush and din
+ Too deep engaged to let them in,
+ With deadened heart and sense plod on,
+ Nor know our loss till they are gone._
+
+ PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR.
+
+My voice shalt Thou hear in the morning, O Lord, in the morning will I
+direct my prayer unto Thee, and will look up; and looking up, may we not
+fail to realize that, amid the turmoil of this outward life, Thou art
+ever present to give peace and rest in the inner life. Should we fail to
+recognize that presence we shall lose the comfort which Thou art ever
+ready to bestow, and must ourselves bear burdens which Thou wouldst
+gladly bear for us or take from us. Thou knowest our frame and
+rememberest that we are dust. Open our spiritual vision to behold that
+Divine resources are subject to our daily prayer. In the name of Jesus,
+the Christ. Amen.
+
+ O. W. SCOTT.
+
+
+July 3
+
+ _Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of
+ Heaven.
+
+ Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are
+ the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.
+
+ Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you, and
+ shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake._
+
+ MATTHEW v. 3, 8, 11.
+
+O God, our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee that Thou dost overrule our
+weakness, failure and sins to the accomplishment of Thy divine plan for
+us. We recall with pleasure our successes in the past year, and if we
+have failed, wilt Thou show us where and when and teach us the way of
+amendment. We thank Thee for our Hope and Faith which have come to us
+from the Bible. Here, on every page and in every biography, have we
+learned of Christ Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life. We thank Thee
+that through Him our sins are forgiven, and we have learned to know
+Thee, O blessed Father, which knowledge is eternal life. May we walk
+with Him, moment by moment in a life of loving service to all mankind,
+during all the remaining days of our life. Amen.
+
+ E. M. WARNER.
+
+
+July 4
+
+ _One flag, one land, one heart, one hand,
+ One nation, evermore!_
+
+ OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.
+
+ _And for your country, boy, and for that flag, never dream a dream
+ but of serving her, though the service carry you through a thousand
+ hells! No matter what happens to you--no matter who flatters or
+ abuses you--never look at another flag, never let a night pass but
+ you pray God to bless that flag._
+
+ EDWARD EVERETT HALE.
+
+Thine, O God, is the kingdom. And blessed is the nation whose God is the
+Lord. We believe that Thy hand has been in the founding and the fortunes
+of this land. We do homage to it for its ideals, its principles, its
+glorious company of apostles of truth, its noble army of martyrs for
+liberty and humanity; we love and cherish it as our home and our shrine;
+but we hallow it, we stand in awe of it, as the scene of Thy special
+activity, the instrument of Thy holy purposes. May its vision not pass;
+may the clouds that hang over it be dispersed by the clear shining of
+the sun of righteousness and peace; may the dream of freedom with
+fraternity be realized here, even here, upon these shores, that Thy
+saving health may be known among all nations. Amen.
+
+ C. ELLWOOD NASH.
+
+
+July 5
+
+ _Far up the crag, 'twixt sea and sky,
+ Where winds tempestuous, blowing by,
+ Leave giant boulders swept and bare;
+ Where forked lightnings fitful flare,
+ And petrels sound their stormy cry._
+
+ _A dainty bluebell, sweet and shy,
+ Lifted its head complacently,
+ As guarded by the tenderest care,
+ Far up the crag._
+
+ _And now, whenever fear draws nigh,
+ In thought I stand 'twixt sea and sky,
+ And, as of old in my despair,
+ I bless the Power that set it there--
+ That tiny thing with courage high,
+ Far up the crag!_
+
+ FLORENCE E. COATES.
+
+Eternal Presence, may we now speak to Thee? or, consciously within Thy
+presence, should our lips be still? Art Thou the Infinite Mercy, and
+shall we say, be merciful? Shall we persuade the love that can not once
+withhold itself? We would not ask, were prayer to change established
+law. But, we will open here our hearts, and so receive the blessedness
+that seeks us and has sought us,--sought us as the sunlight sought us
+early,--seeks us as the raindrops seek us in the storm. Not more canst
+Thou withhold the goodness from us. We wait receptively, unbarring all
+our rust-hinged doors to welcome the true favors that now find us. In
+sweet trust, asking or unasking, we abide ever in Thee. Amen.
+
+ PERRY MARSHALL.
+
+
+July 6
+
+ _God is a kind Father. He sets us all in the places where he wishes
+ us to be employed, and that employment is truly "our Father's
+ business." He chooses work for every creature which will be
+ delightful to them, if they do it simply and humbly. He gives us
+ always strength enough and sense enough for what He wants us to do;
+ if we either tire ourselves or puzzle ourselves, it is our own
+ fault. And we may always be sure, whatever we are doing, that we
+ cannot be pleasing Him if we are not happy ourselves._
+
+ JOHN RUSKIN.
+
+Father Divine, Thou art indeed kind. Thine are the ways of kindness, of
+wisdom, and of love,--the ways of pleasantness and the paths of peace.
+In simple and humble spirit as becometh Thy children, may we walk with
+Thee accomplishing the work to which Thou dost call us. Our work is Thy
+work, our business the Father's business; the business of justice, mercy
+and truth. When loyal and true, we are what we are, and do what we do by
+Thy grace. So help us to honor Thee in all the duties of life,--"Not
+slothful in business,--fervent in spirit,"--pleasing Thee and therefore
+happy ourselves. Amen.
+
+ ISAAC P. CODDINGTON.
+
+
+July 7
+
+ _Threefold is the form of Space:
+ Length, with ever restless motion,
+ Seeks eternity's wide ocean;
+ Breadth with boundless sway extends;
+ Depth to unknown realms descends._
+
+ _All as types to thee are given;
+ Thou must onward strive for heaven,
+ Never still or weary be,
+ Wouldst thou perfect glory see;
+ Far must thy researches go
+ Wouldst thou learn the world to know;
+ Thou must tempt the dark abyss
+ Wouldst thou prove what Being is._
+
+ _Naught but firmness gains the prize,--
+ Naught but fulness makes us wise,--
+ Buried deep, truth ever lies!_
+
+ PROVERBS OF CONFUCIUS.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, help us this day to make good our privilege to feel
+and think of Thee as we do. Help us this day to make ourselves part of
+our brotherhood, and our brotherhood part of Thee. We know not what the
+day hath in store for us, but we pray Thee to help us have in store for
+it our better heart, our better hands. Send Thy holy spirit into our
+life to calm and to strengthen; that we may be steadfast and true; that
+we may give and be forgiven. Bless all Thy children this day, and may
+our labor end as it began, in Thee, with Thee, for Thee. Amen.
+
+ LOUIS H. BUCKSHORN.
+
+
+July 8
+
+ _O Impatient Ones! Do the leaves say nothing to you as they murmur
+ to-day? They are not fashioned this spring, but months ago; and the
+ summer just begun will fashion others for another year. At the
+ bottom of every leaf-stem is a cradle, and in it is an infant germ;
+ and the winds will rock it, and the birds will sing to it all
+ summer long, and next season it will unfold. So God is working for
+ you and carrying forward to the perfect development all the
+ processes of our lives._
+
+ HENRY WARD BEECHER.
+
+O Eternal Father, giver of all spiritual grace, we thank Thee for Thy
+presence in our hearts. May we realize that Thou hast the best possible
+plan for every human life. Help us to be patient and joyful in the
+consciousness that Thou art carrying forward Thy blessed work in us. Thy
+love, O Lord, is equal to Thy wisdom, and Thou wilt always do what is
+best for us. May Thy holy will be our delight, so that we may each trust
+in Thee at all times and cheerfully say, Thy will, O Lord, not mine, be
+done. Thou who dost care for the birds and the lilies art ever mindful
+of us, Thy children. Deliver us from worry and may Thy peace guard our
+hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE H. CHENEY.
+
+
+July 9
+
+ _Let us hope that one day all mankind will be happy and wise; and
+ though this day never should dawn to have hoped for it cannot be
+ wrong. And in any event, it is helpful to speak of happiness to
+ those who are sad, that thus at least they may learn what it is
+ that happiness means. They are ever inclined to regard it as
+ something beyond them, extraordinary, out of their reach. But if
+ all who may count themselves happy were to tell, very simply, what
+ it was that brought happiness to them, the others would see that
+ between sorrow and joy the difference is but as between a gladsome,
+ enlightened acceptance of life and a hostile gloomy submission;
+ between a large and harmonious conception of life, and one that is
+ stubborn and narrow._
+
+ MAETERLINCK.
+
+O Lord, we thank Thee for the special providence which is over
+everything which Thou hast created, and wherein Thou residest with all
+Thine infinite perfections. We thank Thee that Thou carest for us all,
+that in our day of joy we know it is Thou who fillest our cup, by giving
+us the faculties which make it run over at the brim. We thank Thee that
+Thou art with us in our days of hardship and of calamity, that when our
+own heart cries out against us, Thou art greater than our heart, and,
+understanding all things, blessest us in secret ways; and when we are
+cast down and go stooping and feeble, with hungering eyes and a failing
+heart, that Thou still art with us, and leadest us from strength to
+strength and blessest us continually. Amen.
+
+ THEODORE PARKER.
+
+
+July 10
+
+ _Were any of us really disappointed or melancholy in a hayfield?
+ Did we ever lie fairly back on a haycock and look up into the blue
+ sky, and listen to the merry sounds, the whetting of scythes and
+ the laughing prattle of women and children, and think evil thoughts
+ of the world or our brethren? Not we! Or, if we have so done we
+ ought to be ashamed of ourselves, and deserve never again to be out
+ of town during hay-harvest._
+
+ THOMAS HUGHES.
+
+Dear Heavenly Father, we devoutly thank Thee for the beautiful open face
+of Nature shining upon us; for the splendor of the fields where the
+birds wing their merry flight; for the breath of the flowers and the
+grass beneath the scythe, like the odor of incense; and most of all, for
+the merry shouts of women and children and men in the meadow, in the
+heyday of happiness, as they fill their souls with the freedom of the
+children of God, and live in the open where no evil breath can come.
+Grant that we may live spiritually forever in the fragrant hayfields of
+life, where the birds sing and the children shout, and where no covering
+or roof can ever shut out the sunshine of life's eternal bliss. Amen.
+
+ ROBERT S. KELLERMAN.
+
+
+July 11
+
+ _A story is told of a king who went into his garden one morning and
+ found everything withering and dying. He asked an oak that stood
+ near the gate what the trouble was. He found that it was sick of
+ life and determined to die, because it was not tall and beautiful
+ like the pine. The pine was out of heart because it could not bear
+ grapes like the vine; the vine was going to throw its life away,
+ because it could not stand erect and have as fine fruit as the
+ pomegranate; and so on throughout the garden. Coming to the
+ heart'sease, the king found its bright face uplifted, as full of
+ cheerfulness as ever. Said the king, "Well, heart'sease, I am glad
+ to find one brave little flower in this general discouragement and
+ dying. You don't seem one bit disheartened." "No, your majesty. I
+ know I am of small account; but I concluded you wanted a
+ heart'sease when you planted me. If you had wanted an oak, or a
+ pine, or a vine, or a pomegranate, you would have set one out. So I
+ am bound to be the best heart'sease that ever I can."_
+
+ WILLIAM MOODIE.
+
+Like the wise King of old, I pray Thee, gracious Lord, give unto me
+wisdom. May Thy Pillar of Light guide my footsteps so that I go not
+astray in the wilderness of sin and selfish ambition. Help me to acquire
+a pure heart and a contented spirit. Amidst all the vicissitudes of
+fortune, let faith induce me to say, "Whatever God doeth is well." Amen.
+
+ M. M. EICHLER.
+
+
+July 12
+
+ _What shall I do to be just?
+ What shall I do for the gain
+ Of the world--for its sadness?
+ Teach me, O seers that I trust!
+ Chart me the difficult main
+ Leading out of my sorrow and madness,
+ Preach me the purging of pain._
+
+ _Shall I wrench from my finger the ring
+ To cast to the tramp at my door?
+ Shall I tear off each luminous thing
+ To drop in the palm of the poor?
+ What shall I do to be just?
+ Teach me, O Ye in the light,
+ Whom the poor and the rich alike trust;
+ My heart is aflame to be right._
+
+ HAMLIN A. GARLAND.
+
+Infinite Spirit, Thou seest us just as we are. In Thy sight there can be
+no make-believe; we need not seek to offer Thee as a penance for our
+sins some cheap alms to the poor, for Thy favor cannot be bought. We
+pray simply that we may be just,--that we may be true. If we have
+wronged anyone, help us to right the wrong. If we have been false to
+ourselves or false to our neighbors, O Lord, make us true,--we seek no
+easy admission to a far-off heaven, we seek Thy presence here and now,
+today, by the only pathway open, the pathway of righteousness and truth.
+That we may enter this pathway, grant us we pray Thee the illumination
+of Thy Holy Spirit. Amen.
+
+GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+July 13
+
+ _The law of worthy life is fundamentally the law of strife. It is
+ only through labor, painful effort, by grim energy and resolute
+ courage, that we move on to better things._
+
+ THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
+
+ _If we would please God we must watch every stroke and touch upon
+ the canvas of our lives; we may not think we can lay it on with a
+ trowel and yet succeed. We ought to live as miniature painters
+ work, for they watch every line and tint._
+
+ SPURGEON.
+
+As we begin this new day, O our Father, may such energy and vigor, such
+strength and courage, such faith and hope be ours that the problems and
+tasks awaiting us may be boldly and gladly met as challenges to our
+powers. May that abundant life be in us which shall make our
+difficulties a tonic, and the struggle to achieve high aims a joy. May
+we be resourceful, equal to life, adequate to every situation, able to
+stand this universe,--men who can. May we count it a privilege to live,
+to have a vision of life's possibilities, and to have the fellowship of
+so many good men and women by the way. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE R. DODSON.
+
+
+July 14
+
+ _With place, with gold, with power--oh, ask me not
+ With these my little hour of life to blot.
+ A little hour indeed! and I would fain
+ Its moments spend in what is worth its pain.
+ What traveler would faint through troublous lands
+ To gather only what must leave his hands
+ The moment that he takes his homeward ship?
+ Earth's goods and gauds give every man the slip;
+ But wealth of thought and richer wealth of love,
+ Must pass for coin in any world above.
+ The good to others done while here I strive
+ Is all at last that shall my dying shrive;
+ And, setting sail, my slight self-conquest's store
+ Is all my freight if I shall come to shore._
+
+ ANONYMOUS.
+
+O Father, God! The span of our influence is both near and far; may it
+also be direct and strong. Thou hast planted mighty virtue and
+unquenchable love in our hearts. Love knows the secret of imparting
+virtue's value to all the wretchedness in life. So, we beseech Thee,
+direct our hearts to altitudes of holiness and set our feet in the
+highways of helpfulness. May the charm of gentleness be in every service
+to-day, and may the tone of tenderness carry love's message over all
+barriers to the hearts that need. Thus would we keep our confidence with
+Thee and bind ourselves more profitably to our fellows. So shall Thy
+great name be honored among men. Amen.
+
+ J. O. RANDALL.
+
+
+July 15
+
+ _What seems to grow fairer to me as life goes by, is the love and
+ peace and tenderness of it. Not its wit and cleverness and grandeur
+ of knowledge, but just the laughter of little children, and the
+ friendship of friends, and the cosy talk of the fireside, and the
+ sight of flowers and the sound of music._
+
+ J. R. GREEN.
+
+Now that Thou givest us the light of a new day, grant that it carry with
+it the brightness of hope and courage for whatsoever the day may offer.
+Always behind the clouds is the shining that never fails; always beyond
+the labor which irks us is the joy of attainment. Open our eyes that we
+may see the best which shall be in the day; its love of friends, its
+sights of beauty, its music, its wisdom such as no day before could
+possess, its voices of the Spirit awaiting the listening ear, its tears
+of compassion and sympathy. Give us our daily bread such as shall feed
+the heart and enrich the mind and grant us forgiveness when we are blind
+to the common treasures of this Thy world. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE A. THAYER.
+
+
+July 16
+
+ _Methought that in a solemn church I stood.
+ Its marble acres, worn with knees and feet,
+ Lay spread from door to door, from street to street.
+ Midway the form hung high upon the rood
+ Of Him who gave His life to be our good;
+ Beyond, priests flitted, bowed, and murmured meet
+ Among the candles shining still and sweet.
+ Men came and went, and worshipped as they could;
+ And still their dust a woman with her broom,
+ Bowed to her work, kept sweeping to the door.
+ Then saw I slow through all the pillared gloom
+ Across the church a silent figure come.
+ "Daughter," it said, "Thou sweepest well my floor!"
+ "It is the Lord!" I cried, and saw no more._
+
+ GEORGE MACDONALD.
+
+Our Father, who art ever with us, help us this day so to reveal Thee
+through our common tasks, our relations with one another, in our homes
+and at our work, that men may know and love Thee better. This is Thy
+most beautiful world. May we not mar its glory by our selfishness, but
+by the gentleness and sweetness of our lives make it more beautiful. May
+we this day not add to another's burden of care or pain. But may we by
+our words and deeds sweeten and brighten and strengthen the lives of
+those whom we meet. For Thy goodness and mercy to us, for the
+opportunity of service, for love and sympathy, we thank Thee and pray
+that our devotion to Thy truth may reveal the thankfulness of our
+hearts. Amen.
+
+ ARTHUR L. WHEATHERLY.
+
+
+July 17
+
+ _For I, a man, with men am linked,
+ And not a brute with brutes; no gain
+ That I experience must remain
+ Unshared; but should my best endeavor
+ To share it, fail--subsisteth ever
+ God's care above, and I exult
+ That God, by God's own ways occult,
+ May--doth, I will believe--bring back
+ All wanderers to a single track._
+
+ ROBERT BROWNING.
+
+Father of all souls in all worlds, our best friend forever, in Thy good
+keeping we cannot wander beyond Thy loving care. We thank Thee for life,
+for the fair world we live in, enriched by Thy countless benefits, for
+the glad tidings of Thy fatherly love that never fails, for the
+brotherhood that binds together all Thy children, and for the immortal
+hope that beckons us up and on. By faithful living may we make life
+divine, and by brotherly service show Thee our gratitude and love. May
+the gospel of Jesus prevail in all hearts, speedily bring all wanderers
+home, draw our souls heavenward, and prepare us for higher and larger
+realms of service, where we shall forever live to Thy glory. Amen.
+
+ RUSH R. SHIPPEN.
+
+
+July 18
+
+ _That man has a liberal education who has been so trained in youth
+ that his body is the ready servant of his will, and does with ease
+ and pleasure the work that it is capable of; whose intellect is a
+ clear logic engine, ready to spin the gossamer as well as forge the
+ anchors of the mind--one full of life and fire but whose passions
+ are trained to come to heel by a rigorous will; the servant of a
+ tender conscience; who has learned to love beauty, to hate vileness
+ and to respect others as himself; such a one is in harmony with
+ nature; they will get on together._
+
+ THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY.
+
+Our Father, we would face this day in conscious companionship with Thee.
+Give us to know Thy will, to do Thy work. Help us to interpret aright
+Thy constant revelation of love in nature and in the experiences of
+life. Give us strength so to will and so to act that we may make this
+day rich in the joy that comes from helpful living. May divine impulse
+find quick expression in righteous deed. In Thine unresting effort to
+make this world Thine own may we join with glad hearts. Rejoicing in Thy
+love, strong in the consciousness of Thy presence, may we go to our
+day's work with unwavering purpose to do Thy will. Amen.
+
+ LATHAN A. CRANDALL.
+
+
+July 19
+
+ _A lily grows mysteriously, pushing up its solid weight of stem and
+ leaf in the teeth of gravity. Shaped into beauty by secret and
+ invisible fingers, the flower develops we know not how. But we do
+ not wonder at it. Every day the thing is done; it is Nature, it is
+ God. We are spiritual enough at least to understand that. But when
+ the soul rises slowly above the world, pushing up its delicate
+ virtues in the teeth of sin, shaping itself mysteriously into the
+ image of Christ, we deny that the power is not of man. A strong
+ will, we say, a high ideal, the reward of virtue, Christian
+ influence--these will account for it. Spiritual character is merely
+ the product of anxious work, self-command, and self-denial. We
+ allow, that is to say, a miracle to the lily, but none to the man.
+ The lily may grow; the man must fret and toil and spin._
+
+ HENRY DRUMMOND.
+
+This morning, our God, we need Thee! Give us Thyself afresh in the holy
+inspiration of heart warmth and burning love, that today we may have
+power from above while we walk and toil with things and folks of earth.
+May we be the vase to hold the blossoming beauty of Thy unfolding. So
+may that beauty which Thou givest unfold in acts which we are led to
+perform, and the holiness of this day set fast character drawn from
+Thee. Thus may we all who are Thy children gladden the earth with
+unfolding beauty and kindness and shut out the things that are earthy.
+Amen.
+
+ E. E. SMALL.
+
+
+July 20
+
+ _The more simply you live, the more secure is your future; you are
+ less at the mercy of surprises and reverses. An illness or a period
+ of idleness does not suffice to dispossess you; a change of
+ position, even considerable, does not put you to confusion. Having
+ simple needs, you find it less painful to accustom yourself to the
+ hazards of fortune. You remain a man, though you lose your office
+ or your income, because the foundation on which your life rests is
+ not your table, your cellar, your horses, your goods and chattels,
+ or your money. In adversity you will not act like a nursling
+ deprived of its bottle and rattle. Stronger, better armed for the
+ struggle, presenting like those with shaven heads, less advantage
+ to the hands of your enemy, you will also be of more profit to your
+ neighbor._
+
+ CHARLES WAGNER.
+
+O Thou who art ever the same, with the growing light of a new day, we
+would again take Thy name upon our lips; and again invite the dear
+consciousness of Thy presence. We do not know what this day may yield
+us. It may bring disaster; perhaps cherished hopes must be surrendered;
+plans may miscarry, clouds may gather, and storms may rage, but we will
+not be unmanned. We will not surrender our hold upon Thee. May we thus
+be enabled to meet disaster with courage, and unlooked for joy with the
+poise of humility. Guard our goings-out and our comings-in, and lead us
+into the beauteous paths of ripe content. Amen.
+
+ JAMES HARRY HOLDEN.
+
+
+July 21
+
+ _Love wore a suit of hodden gray
+ And toiled within the fields all day._
+
+ _Love wielded pick and carried pack
+ And bent to heavy loads the back._
+
+ _Though meagre fed and sorely lashed,
+ The only wage Love ever asked,_
+
+ _A child's wan face to kiss at night,
+ A woman's smile by candle light._
+
+ MARGARET SANGSTER.
+
+Our Father in Heaven, we thank Thee for love. How rich a gift it has
+been to us, and how exhaustless. It has been the source of all other
+gifts. We thank Thee for the brightness and gladness with which love
+invests the sunny day, and more for the patience and hope which it
+inspires when the sky is overcast and the way grows weary. In joy or
+sorrow we can ask nothing better than that it be our constant guest. We
+thank Thee for home life which offers us every hour its opportunity to
+give and to receive love. May it be to us the symbol of Thy great
+household which Thy love pervades. And as we thus think of it may our
+home life grow to us more holy and divine and Thy love for all Thy
+children more personal and tender until Thy kingdom come and Thy will be
+done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.
+
+ VINCENT E. TOMLINSON.
+
+
+July 22
+
+ _The entire object of true education is to make people not merely
+ do the right things, but enjoy the right things--not merely
+ industrious, but to love industry--not merely learned, but to love
+ knowledge--not merely pure, but to love purity--not merely just,
+ but to hunger and thirst after justice._
+
+ JOHN RUSKIN.
+
+O Father, fill us with Thy love today, with love for Thee, and love for
+the morning light and all Thy glory. Fill us with love for the work that
+Thou dost give us to do, with love for the truth that Thou dost reveal
+to us and with love for the ideals of purity and righteousness that Thou
+dost set before us. May we have love for all Thy children. Make us
+realize that they are all our brothers and sisters. Make us strive to
+have Thy will done in their lives. Make us eager to have them know Thee.
+Amen.
+
+ CHARLES B. BLISS.
+
+
+July 23
+
+ _If you were toiling up a weary hill,
+ Bearing a load beyond your strength to bear.
+ Straining each nerve untiringly and still
+ Stumbling and losing foothold here and there
+ And each one passing by would do so much
+ As give one upward lift and go his way,
+ Would not the slight reiterated touch
+ Of help and kindness lighten all the day?_
+
+ _If you were breasting a keen wind which tossed
+ And buffeted and chilled you as you strove,
+ Till baffled and bewildered quite, you lost
+ The power to see the way, and aim and move,
+ And one, if only for a moment's space,
+ Gave you a shelter from the bitter blast,
+ Would you not find it easier to face
+ The storm again when the brief rest was past?_
+
+ SUSAN COOLIDGE.
+
+Our Father, as we thank Thee for the friendly service and sympathy that
+bless and strengthen our daily lives, we pray that our gratitude may
+move us to give a like service and sympathy as freely as we receive. In
+the day to whose beginning Thou hast brought us, let our hearts and
+hands be ready to meet the needs of those with whom we come in touch. So
+influence our wayward wills that we shall not walk in selfish ways, nor
+forget the ties that bind us to one another, and to Thee. Keep us
+conscious of our birthright as Thy children, that our acts and aims may
+be filial and fraternal and loyal to Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.
+
+ COSTELLO WESTON.
+
+
+July 24
+
+ _It matters little where I was born,
+ Whether my parents were rich or poor,
+ Whether they shrank from the cold world's scorn
+ Or walked in the pride of wealth secure;
+ But whether I live an honest man,
+ And hold my integrity firm in my clutch,
+ I tell you brother, plain as I am,
+ It matters much._
+
+ FROM THE SWEDISH.
+
+ Dear Father in Heaven, good Giver of all,
+ For birth in a land fair and free,
+ For parents with pluck, if not the best luck,
+ Who toiled and who suffered for me.
+ Who never knew fear, though the scorners were near,
+ Whom circumstance filled not with pride,
+ I thank Thee! These gifts, more than all on the lists,
+ Have mattered with me, and abide.
+
+ While striving and struggling my manhood to build,
+ To live like Thine own perfect Son,
+ I find on Earth's face not just one single place
+ Where such work so well can be done
+ As in the fair land which from Thy gracious hand
+ Comes to me a home to enjoy,
+ Where man, who should grow, may all liberty know
+ In seeking the soul's high employ.
+
+ Amen.
+
+ FREDERICK C. PRIEST.
+
+
+July 25
+
+ _Don't object that your duties are so insignificant; they are to be
+ reckoned of infinite significance, and alone important to you. Were
+ it but the more perfect regulation of your apartments, the sorting
+ away of your clothes and trinkets, the arranging of your
+ papers,--"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy
+ might," and all thy worth and constancy. Much more, if your duties
+ are of evidently higher, wider scope; if you have brothers,
+ sisters, a father, a mother, weigh earnestly what claim does lie
+ upon you on behalf of each, and consider it as the one thing
+ needful, to pay them more and more honestly and nobly what you owe.
+ What matter how miserable one is if one can do that? That is the
+ sure and steady disconnection and extinction of whatsoever miseries
+ one has in this world._
+
+ THOMAS CARLYLE.
+
+Creator of things, Father of Spirits, standing at the dawn of a new day
+we seek Thy blessing. We know not what awaits us, Thou knowest, grant us
+guidance! Help us to see all our duties in the light of Thy countenance.
+Thou hast made the little and the large, help us to see our duties in
+their relation to Thy plans. Whatsoever we do, help us to do all to Thy
+glory. Help us to sweep our floors as to Thy laws, right our rooms as a
+part of Thy universe, care for our clothes as gifts from Thee. Help us
+to see Thee in the souls Thou hast sent into the world, to treat them as
+thinking-thoughts of Thine, expressions of Thy life. May we owe no man
+anything but to love, may the sun never set on an unpaid bill. For Thy
+name's sake. Amen.
+
+ O. P. GIFFORD.
+
+
+July 26
+
+ _Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.
+ No man has learned anything rightly until he knows that every day
+ is doomsday. Today is a king in disguise. Today always looks mean
+ to the thoughtless, in the face of an uniform experience that all
+ good and great and happy actions are made up precisely of these
+ blank todays. Let us not be so deceived, let us unmask the king as
+ he passes._
+
+ RALPH WALDO EMERSON.
+
+Our Father, we thank Thee for this morning that ushers in the only day
+of which we have promise. Whether it proves to be a day of sunshine or
+of clouds,--of joy or of sorrow,--may we live it with thankfulness, with
+perfect confidence that Thou wilt always give us that which is for our
+own good. Help us to spend this day in doing well what our hands find to
+do; may our souls breathe the spirit of love and helpfulness to all, and
+may we have abundantly the influence of Thy divine spirit to keep us
+pure. Amen.
+
+ LUTHER F. MCKINNEY.
+
+
+July 27
+
+ _I like the man who faces what he must
+ With heart triumphant and a step of cheer;
+ Who fights the daily battle without fear;
+ Sees his hopes fail, yet keeps unfaltering trust
+ That God is God; that somehow, true and just,
+ His plans work out for mortals; not a tear
+ Is shed when fortune, which the world holds dear,
+ Falls from his grasp; better, with love, a crust
+ Than living in dishonor; envies not,
+ Nor loses faith in man; but does his best,
+ Nor even murmurs at his humbler lot;
+ But with a smile and words of hope, gives zest
+ To every toiler; he alone is great
+ Who by a life heroic conquers fate._
+
+ SARAH KNOWLES BOLTON.
+
+Gracious Father, last night we laid ourselves down in peace to sleep,
+but it was Thou who madest us to dwell in safety, and when we awoke this
+morning we found ourselves still with Thee. Thy loving favor was keeping
+faithful watch and ward while we slumbered. We thank Thee for Thy kindly
+care of our lives during the darkness and danger of the night. Confident
+of Thy continued presence and armed with Thy unfailing strength, we
+would go forth to meet the duties and delights of the new day. God with
+us, we will overcome every temptation, endure every trial, bear every
+burden, and improve every opportunity of character-building and
+service-rendering, in the trustful and courageous spirit of Jesus Christ
+our Lord. Amen.
+
+ RALPH E. CONNER.
+
+
+July 28
+
+ _How large a part of our Godward life is travelled, not by clear
+ landmarks seen far off in the promised land, but as travellers
+ climb a mountain peak, by putting footstep after footstep, slowly
+ and patiently, into the prints which someone going before us, with
+ keener sight, with stronger nerves, tied to us by the cord of
+ saintly sympathy, has planted deep into the pathless snow of the
+ bleak distance that stretches up between humanity and God.... So we
+ ascend by one another. We live by one another's blessings._
+
+ PHILLIPS BROOKS.
+
+Our Father, we thank Thee for the light of a new day. May a new spirit
+and new courage come to our hearts. We thank Thee for all those who by
+patient toil and self-forgetting effort have made life as sweet and
+precious to us as it is. If we can no longer hear the voices nor see the
+faces of those we love or have reason to revere, may we be able to see
+their foot-prints and to take the way they trod, though that way seem
+steep and hard. May we be assured that the upward way leads to the
+expanding view and brings us to the splendor of the setting sun or of
+the still more glorious dawn. Amen.
+
+ HILARY BYGRAVE.
+
+
+July 29
+
+ _A prince went into the vineyard to examine it. He came to a peach
+ tree, and said, "What are you doing for me?" The tree said, "In the
+ spring I give my blossoms and fill the air with fragrance, and on
+ my boughs hangs the fruit which men will gather and carry into the
+ palace for you." "Well done!" said the prince. To the chestnut he
+ said, "What are you doing?" "I am making nests for the birds, and
+ shelter cattle with my leaves and spreading branches." And the
+ prince said, "Well done!" Then he went down to the meadow and asked
+ the grass what it was doing. "We are giving our lives for others,
+ for your sheep and cattle that they may be nourished." And the
+ prince said, "Well done!" Last of all he asked the tiny daisy what
+ it was doing, and the daisy said, "Nothing, nothing. I cannot make
+ a nesting-place for the birds, and I cannot give shelter for the
+ cattle, and I cannot send fruit into the palace, and I cannot even
+ give food for the sheep and cows,--they do not want me in the
+ meadow. All I can do is to be the best little daisy I can be." And
+ the prince bent down and kissed the daisy, and said, "There is none
+ better than thou."_
+
+ ANONYMOUS.
+
+Help us, O Father, not to wait for the great opportunities which may
+never come. Help us to do with faithfulness the duties which lie close
+at hand. In our homes this day and wherever we may be--at school or on
+the street or at our work--fill our hearts with the spirit of Christ and
+let that spirit speak in every word which passes our lips and shine from
+our faces and work with our hands. Amen.
+
+ WALTER A. TUTTLE.
+
+
+July 30
+
+ _I will be glad all day for this cool draught
+ And the clear drops I dash upon my brow;
+ For the fresh glint of sunlight on the tree
+ And the bird singing on the bough._
+
+ _I will be glad for that stored strength of life
+ Which lasts the day because the spirit wills;
+ For the live air that wings from far and breathes
+ The vigor of the everlasting hills._
+
+ _What scope of toil, what loss or what reward,
+ I do not know. It is enough that now
+ I pledge the day's good cheer with this cool draught
+ And the drops dashed upon my brow._
+
+ CHARLES P. CLEAVES.
+
+Our Father, we are nursed in Thine arms, we are rested in the heart of
+Jesus, so that we know no more the emptiness of earth and the poverty of
+time, for our citizenship is in heaven, already do we walk the streets
+of gold. Out of the highest rapture may we come to do earth's plainest
+work, earth's hardest toil, with patient hearts and willing hands,
+knowing that death can be but for a moment, that all things are meant,
+in the sovereignty of God to give themselves up to the rule of life.
+Thus may Thy children be loyal citizens, patient workers, honest
+merchantmen, wise parents. Be with all men who trust Thee; melt the
+mountains before their coming, and open the gates of difficulty ere they
+reach them, and give them to feel that the greatness of Thy mercy is the
+proof of its divinity. Amen.
+
+ JOSEPH PARKER.
+
+
+July 31
+
+ _For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
+ principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to
+ come._
+
+ _Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to
+ separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our
+ Lord._
+
+ ROMANS viii. 38-39.
+
+ _These verses seem to me to express completely the remedial power
+ of God's love. In this rough and tumble world of ours, of hard
+ conditions, of disasters many, of untold misery, there are
+ temptations enough for men to lose faith in God's love. It is well
+ now and then to have an outburst of faith like this with the
+ assurance that nothing can ever separate any child of God from the
+ divine compassion and the divine care._
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, it is good for us to believe that through all
+storms and all darkness and all sickness and all infirmity, even through
+death itself, Thy love abides. As we enter upon this day, we know not
+whither we shall go, but we thank Thee for the assurance that we may not
+go away from Thee. Thou followest us with Thy care and wrappest us
+around with Thy love, as with a garment. In all that we do today may we
+know that Thou seest us, and if our way be steep, may we be sure that
+Thou lovest us. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+August 1
+
+ _Begin the morning by saying to thyself, I shall meet this day with
+ the busybody, the ungrateful, the arrogant, deceitful, envious,
+ unsocial. All these things happen to them by reason of their
+ ignorance of what is good and evil. But I who have seen the nature
+ of the good that it is beautiful, and of the bad that it is ugly,
+ can neither be injured by any of them--for no one can fix on me
+ what is ugly--nor can I be angry with my neighbor, nor hate him. We
+ are made for cooperation; to act against one another, that is
+ contrary to nature; and it is acting against one another to be
+ vexed and turn away._
+
+ MARCUS AURELIUS.
+
+Eternal Spirit of Love, teach us the power of love. Help us to learn
+that love is supreme, and hence envieth not, nor vaunteth itself, nor
+seeketh its own, but suffereth long and is kind. We, who in Jesus of
+Nazareth have seen the glory of Thy likeness and experienced the
+sweetness of Thy love, desire like Him to reveal Thee in our lives, to
+be loving and gentle, sincere and generous, to cooperate with friend and
+stranger in all that is good, to live so that they can work with us for
+the advancement of everything righteous. Fill us, therefore, with Thy
+spirit, and send us forth today in Thy service. Amen.
+
+ WILLIAM W. GUTH.
+
+
+August 2
+
+ _"God!" let the torrents, like a shout of nations,
+ Answer! and let the ice-plain echo, "God!"
+ "God!" sing, ye meadow streams, with gladsome voice
+ Ye pine groves, with your soft and soul-like sounds!
+ And they, too have a voice, yon piles of snow,
+ And in their perilous fall shall thunder, "God!"_
+
+ _Ye living flowers that skirt the eternal frost!
+ Ye wild goats sporting round the eagle's nest!
+ Ye eagles, playmates of the mountain storm!
+ Ye lightnings, the dread arrows of the clouds!
+ Ye signs and wonders of the elements!
+ Utter forth "God!" and fill the hills with praise!_
+
+ SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE.
+
+Heavenly Father, how long have Thy servants thirsted after Thee--Thou
+spring of everlasting life! In this land of our home the meditations of
+ages surround us, and through the treasured thoughts of the wise in many
+generations we are lifted into a light beyond the solitary soul.
+Countless are Thy witnesses, Eternal God! the stars without number are
+but a little part of them; and the prayers and aspirings of every heart
+of man can never cease to speak Thee. Humbled and blind amid Thy
+manifold glories, may we find rest in the simplicity of Christ, and be
+among the pure in heart who alone can see Thee. Amen.
+
+ JAMES MARTINEAU.
+
+
+August 3
+
+ _O God, my master God, look down and see
+ If I am making what Thou wouldst of me.
+ Fain might I lift my hands up in the air
+ From the defiant passion of my prayer;
+ Yet here they grope on this cold altar stone,
+ Graving the words I think I should make known.
+ Mine eyes are Thine. Yea, let me not forget,
+ Lest with unstaunched tears I leave them wet,
+ Dimming their faithful power, till they not see
+ Some small, plain task that might be done for Thee.
+ My feet, that ache for paths of flowery bloom,
+ Halt steadfast in the straitness of this room.
+ Though they may never be on errands sent,
+ Here shall they stay, and wait Thy full content.
+ And my poor heart, that doth so crave for peace,
+ Shall beat until Thou bid its beating cease.
+ So, Thou dear master God, look down and see
+ Whether I do Thy bidding heedfully._
+
+ ALICE BROWN.
+
+O God, our Heavenly Father, from whom cometh to us again this gift of
+life, may we be able to use as Thou wouldst have us the fresh revelation
+and energy of each morning hour. May we be helped to see more clearly
+that task with all its blessings, which Thou placest within our reach
+today. Freshen our souls anew with the coming sunlight and quicken our
+will that we may perceive and fulfil our present duty gladly, eagerly,
+successfully, however humble in the spirit of those who remember that if
+done for Thy sake and beneath Thy laws even servile labors shine. Amen.
+
+ HOBART CLARK.
+
+
+August 4
+
+ _We thank Thee for all that Thou hast made, and that Thou hast
+ called it Good! We thank Thee! We enter into Thy work, and go about
+ Thy business._
+
+ EDWARD EVERETT HALE.
+
+ _O, it is great, and there is no other greatness. To make some work
+ of God's creation a little fruitfuller, better, more worthy of God;
+ to make some human hearts a little wiser, manfuller, happier,--more
+ blessed, less accursed,--it is a work for God._
+
+ THOMAS CARLYLE.
+
+Heavenly Father, we would begin the day with noble purpose; may we scorn
+all meanness, and lift up our heads unto the Lord as men who have a
+great expectation. Our hope is in a living God; Thou wilt not allow our
+life to wander into darkness; if for a small moment we are forsaken, we
+shall be gathered with ineffable and everlasting mercies. In the
+confidence of Thy presence, in the assurance of Thy sustaining grace, we
+look steadfastly to heaven, and then we look hopefully to earth, and we
+know that, having begun the day with prayer and praise and pious
+expectancy, its hours shall all be gladdened and its even-tide shall be
+a benediction. Guide us with Thine eyes; sustain us by Thy mighty power;
+keep us this day without sin. Amen.
+
+ JOSEPH PARKER.
+
+
+August 5
+
+ _The scenery around your house may be monotonous, without a
+ mountain or sea or lake or hill; but an upward look at the clear
+ sky will put you in instant communication with infinite beauty and
+ majesty. No spot on earth is common or barren over which the skies
+ bend in solemn silence. No human life need be barren or common
+ which is connected by the great network of moral law with any other
+ being._
+
+ J. H. CARLISLE.
+
+Our God and Father, the author of beauty, the rewarder of all them that
+seek Thee, we, Thy children, come to Thee at the opening of this new
+day. May we have hearts so pure that we shall see Thee; minds so open
+that we shall talk with Thee; and lives so true that we shall reveal
+Thee. Let toil become to us as a sacrament. Reveal to us the beauty of
+life as well as of holiness and help us to live with upturned faces, so
+that we may catch the glory of Thy presence, and reflect it to all
+around us. May we walk with Thee, thinking Thy thoughts, having Thy
+visions of beauty and of life. When life's evening shall come gather us
+in Thine arms of love to be with Thee in the home which Thou hast
+prepared for us and hast beautified with earth's fairest treasures
+through Jesus Christ, Our Lord. Amen.
+
+ JOHN GALBRAITH.
+
+
+August 6
+
+ _How good is man's life, the mere living! How fit to employ
+ All the heart and the soul and the senses forever in joy!_
+
+ ROBERT BROWNING.
+
+ _I am glad to think
+ I am not bound to make the world go right;
+ But only to discover and to do,
+ With cheerful heart, the work that God appoints.
+ I will trust in Him,
+ That He can hold His own; and I will take
+ His will, above the work He sendeth me,
+ to be my chiefest good._
+
+ JEAN INGELOW.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, all Thy works prove Thy goodness; the world Thou
+givest us is good; the powers with which Thou dost endow us are adapted
+to deeds of goodness. We know full well that we do evil as well as good.
+Some of our days close in sadness.... At the beginning of this day we
+pledge ourselves to try harder than ever to do something good, to make
+somebody happy, to keep our minds filled with pure thoughts, to set our
+ambitions on worthy objects; and we pray that Thou who art "the Power
+not ourselves that makes for righteousness" shalt work with us that
+through our effort and Thy help the day shall end in joy and peace.
+Amen.
+
+ LEE S. MCCOLLESTER.
+
+
+August 7
+
+ _Our lives are songs; God writes the words,
+ And we set them to music at pleasure;
+ And the song grows glad, or sweet, or sad,
+ As we choose to fashion the measure.
+ We must write the music, whatever the song,
+ Whatever its rhyme or metre;
+ And if it is sad, we can make it glad,
+ Or, if sweet, we can make it sweeter._
+
+ ELLA WHEELER WILCOX.
+
+We thank Thee, O God, that Thou hast made us responsive to all the
+beauty and gladness about us, and that we may make our lives one grand,
+sweet song. We know there is much that may spoil the song. But we thank
+Thee, that if we follow the great Leader, we can change all discordant
+notes into harmony. Help us through Him to tune our lives into accord
+with Thine. Especially may we live in peace with each other. Make us
+strong to return good for evil, to meet irritability with patience,
+unkindness with gentleness and harsh words with quiet speech. So may our
+lives "be filled with music, and the cares that infest the day, shall
+fold their tents like the Arabs, and as silently steal away." Amen.
+
+ JAMES M. PAYSON.
+
+
+August 8
+
+ _Back of the canvas that throbs the painter is hinted and hidden,
+ Into the statue that breathes the soul of the sculptor is bidden,
+ Under the joy that is felt lie the infinite issues of feeling;
+ Crowning the glory revealed is the glory that crowns the revealing.
+ Great are the symbols of being, but that which is symbolled is greater;
+ Vast the create and beheld, but vaster the inward creator._
+
+ RICHARD REALF.
+
+Thou, Lord, who hast created us surely for good and not evil, for Thou
+art good and doest good, wilt go with us through all the day. Help us to
+keep in mind Thy presence, that we may walk before Thee and be perfect,
+that we may walk with Thee and be pleasing to Thee, that we may walk
+after Thee, humbly, reverently. May we prize the glories that come with
+the hours, not suffering them to make us conceited or self-centered, or
+unduly independent, but utilize them as means to make us more fully a
+part of Thee. Give us this day complete victory over each temptation as
+it arrives, and may we feel when night falls that we have acquitted
+ourselves well in the campaign, and done what we could to make, not only
+ourselves, but the world around us, better. Amen.
+
+ JAMES MUDGE.
+
+
+August 9
+
+ _Each night is followed by its day,
+ Each storm by fairer weather,
+ While all the works of nature sing
+ Their songs of joy together.
+ Then learn, O heart, their songs of hope!
+ Cease, soul, thy thankless sorrow;
+ For though the clouds be dark today,
+ The sun will shine tomorrow._
+
+ T. EDGAR JONES.
+
+Father of light! Who causeth light to shine out of darkness and maketh
+day to follow the night; we thank Thee for Thy loving care that has
+brought us from the slumber and rest of night to behold the light of a
+new day. May we rejoice in it, and cheerfully enter upon its duties and
+experiences. May the grace of Thy presence make our sunshine, that we
+may walk in the light of heaven, breathe its atmosphere and engage in
+its service; doing Thy will in the service of one another and in the
+service of love, truth and goodness. May the light of faith, hope, and
+love shining within us, dispel all darkness and sorrow from our lives,
+that light which shines so lustrously from the life of Jesus Christ our
+Lord. Amen.
+
+ ROBERT T. POLK.
+
+
+August 10
+
+ _Never say, "It is nobody's business but my own what I do with my
+ life." It is not true. Your life is put into your bands as a trust,
+ for many others besides yourself. If you use it well, it will make
+ many others happy; if you abuse it, you will harm many others
+ besides yourself._
+
+ JAMES M. PULLMAN.
+
+Almighty Father, whom, though we have not seen, we love, we know not
+what this day may bring forth but we know that it shall be for good as
+our trust is in Thee. We look up and adore Thee, and we believe and love
+and obey. Throughout all the hours of this day may we be "diligent in
+business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord." We believe in the
+victory of good over evil, of light over darkness; help us to bear our
+part courageously in the battle. Be merciful to us and make us merciful
+to one another. May we be numbered with those who are pure in heart, and
+see God in the humblest service to the humblest people. We beseech Thee
+to answer according to Thy love not only these prayers which we utter
+with our lips but also the silent prayers of our heart. Amen.
+
+ HAROLD PATTISON.
+
+
+August 11
+
+ _Prince Florimel and Prince Carimel were twin brothers, the sons of
+ a king, and no one could tell which of the two ought to succeed to
+ the throne, for they were both exactly the same age. So one day
+ they went to a wise magician, and asked him which of them ought to
+ be king after their father's death. "He who is most worthy," said
+ the magician. "But how shall we find out who is most worthy?" "He
+ who possesses the magic flower that grows in the enchanted forest
+ shall be found most worthy," he answered. So the two brothers
+ travelled through the enchanted forest until they found the magic
+ flower; but it grew in such a dangerous place that Carimel would
+ not attempt to reach it. Florimel, however, clambered down the
+ rocks and plucked the flower; and when he had got it, what do you
+ think he did with it? Why, he gave it to his brother, for the name
+ of that magic flower was Unselfishness._
+
+ WILLIAM MOODIE.
+
+Our Father, with thankful hearts for all Thy goodness to us in the
+past,--we seek Thy Holy Spirit's guidance for the day before us. Help us
+to live not for self alone, but for the good of all with whom we mingle.
+May the needy, suffering, and struggling ones all about us gather
+strength because of our devotion to Thee. So inspire us to forget
+ourselves, that we may the better remember our Master, and the
+privileges and duties of a life's service to Thy children. Wilt Thou
+not, Infinite One, thus help us, this day, and in all the days to come,
+to live to Thy glory! Amen.
+
+ LEWIS P. BATES.
+
+
+August 12
+
+ _To do something for someone else; to love the unlovely; to give a
+ hand to the unattractive; to speak to the uncongenial; to make
+ friends with the poor and folks of lowly degree; to find a niche in
+ the church of the Lord, and to do something out of sheer love for
+ Him; to determine in His house to have His mind; to plan to win at
+ least one for the Master; to aim to redeem past time that is lost;
+ to will to let one's light shine; to cut off practices that are
+ sinful and costly; to add the beauty of holiness--this is to make
+ one's life a thing of beauty and this is to grow in grace, for
+ growing in grace is simply copying the beautiful life of the
+ altogether lovely One._
+
+ EDWARD F. REIMER.
+
+Infinite Father, we rejoice that it is possible for us to be workers
+together with Thee by giving our sympathy, love and help to Thy needy
+children. As Thou hast honored us by appointing us to such a gracious
+ministry, may we seek to honor Thee in return by trying to do Thy
+blessed will. In all lowly and gentle ways, may we do what we can to
+bind up the broken-hearted, to relieve the distressed, to strengthen the
+weak. Let none who suffer look to us in vain for some manifestation of
+the Christ-like Spirit. May we so meet and treat the sad, the lonely,
+the tempted, that they shall take knowledge of us that we have been with
+Jesus. So may His heavenly teaching bear sweet fruit in our conduct and
+characters, and so may the Kingdom which He came to establish grow apace
+in the world. In His name. Amen.
+
+ WILLARD C. SELLECK.
+
+
+August 13
+
+ _Let me feel that I am to be a lover. I am to see to it that the
+ world is better for me, and to find my reward in the act. Love
+ would put a new face on this weary old world in which we dwell as
+ pagans and enemies too long; and it would warm the heart to see how
+ fast the vain diplomacy of statesmen, the impotence of armies and
+ navies and lines of defence, would be superseded by this unarmed
+ child. This great, overgrown, dead Christendom of ours still keeps
+ alive at least the name of a lover of mankind. But one day all men
+ will be lovers: and every calamity will be dissolved in the
+ universal sunshine._
+
+ RALPH WALDO EMERSON.
+
+What manner of love hast Thou bestowed upon us, dear Lord, that we
+should be called Thy children! As Thou hast loved us, so teach us each
+to love the world. This day someone will go forth to business on land or
+sea burdened with heavy cares: some father disheartened and discouraged
+will take up the trials of yesterday wondering what the end will
+be--some mother dismayed with her lot will cry "How long?" Help us, O
+Lord to minister to them in word or look, in prayer or gift. As the sun
+shall this day bring light and life to this old earth causing it to
+yield its highest purpose, so grant that Thy love may give through us a
+new inspiration to all mankind. Hasten the time when all shall love Thee
+as Thou hast loved the world. Then will each love the other. Then will
+the sword and the spear be molten into the plowshare and the pruning
+hook, and the desert shall bud and blossom as the rose. Amen.
+
+ EDWIN ALONZO BLAKE.
+
+
+August 14
+
+ _Thou art, O God, the life and light
+ Of all this wondrous world we see;
+ Its glow by day, its smile by night,
+ Are but reflections caught from thee.
+ Where'er we turn, thy glories shine,
+ And all things fair and bright are thine._
+
+ THOMAS MOORE.
+
+Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, who hast safely brought us to the
+beginning of this day, defend us in the same with Thy mighty power.
+Grant that this day we fall into no sin. Create in us a clean heart and
+renew a right spirit within us. Open our eyes that this day may be a
+fresh disclosure of Thyself, the Unseen Presence; endow us with Thy
+strength that, in joy and pain, it may lead us into Thy house not made
+with hands, eternal in the heavens. Enable us so to use the things of
+the world that while they abide we may not lose Thy presence, and when
+they pass we may not stand alone. So shall the spirit of Christ inflame
+us. Amen.
+
+ FREDERICK W. PERKINS.
+
+
+August 15
+
+ _It ain't no use to grumble and complain,
+ It's just as cheap and easy to rejoice;
+ When God sorts out the weather and sends rain,
+ Why, rain's my choice._
+
+ JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY.
+
+ _When you get into a tight place, and everything goes against you,
+ till it seems as if you could not hold on a minute longer, never
+ give up then, for that's just the place and time that the tide will
+ turn._
+
+ HARRIET BEECHER STOWE.
+
+Father, we pray Thee that in every emergency of our lives we may be
+faithful to the duty which the day demands, and with reverent spirits
+acquit us like men, doing what should be done, bearing what must be
+borne, and so growing greater from our toil and our sufferings, till we
+transfigure ourselves into noble images of humanity, which are blameless
+within and beautiful without, and acceptable to Thy spirit. So may Thy
+kingdom come and Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; for Thine
+is the kingdom and the power and the glory, the dominion and honor
+forever and ever. Amen.
+
+ THEODORE PARKER.
+
+
+August 16
+
+ _It was only a glad "Good Morning"
+ As she passed along the way;
+ But it spread the morning's glory
+ Over the livelong day._
+
+ CARLOTTA PERRY.
+
+ _Smile upon the troubled pilgrims
+ Whom you pass and meet;
+ Frowns are thorns, and smiles are blossoms,
+ Oft to weary feet.
+ Do not make the way seem harder
+ By a sullen face;
+ Smile a little, smile a little,
+ Brighten up the place._
+
+ ELLA WHEELER WILCOX.
+
+Father, in this morning hour, we would look into Thy face and feel the
+sweetness of that transforming influence which is forever baptizing Thy
+world with light and gladness, adding beauty to beauty and glory to
+glory. Baptize us anew, with this all-pervading spirit and send us out
+into this day's work to meet its varied experiences with trusting hearts
+and smiling faces. May we each send forth a brightening, gladdening
+influence to cheer and strengthen and uplift every weary, troubled
+pilgrim whom we meet on this day's journey. So may it be ours to enter
+into closer and diviner fellowship with Thee, our Father, whose greatest
+joy is to impart joy and blessing to Thy waiting children. Amen.
+
+ ANNETTE J. SHAW.
+
+
+August 17
+
+ _There are nettles everywhere,
+ But smooth green grasses are more common still;
+ The blue of heaven is larger than the cloud._
+
+ ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING.
+
+ _Flower in the crannied wall,
+ I pluck you out of the crannies;--
+ Hold you here, root and all, in my hand,
+ Little flower--but if I could understand
+ What you are, root and all, and all in all,
+ I should know what God and man is._
+
+ ALFRED TENNYSON.
+
+O Thou, Who hast gemmed the heavens with round, revolving worlds, the
+earth with beauty and the coronet of our minds with royal faculties, we
+do not know what "the little flower is, root and all, and all in all"
+and yet, dear Lord, through the clear and the convincing revelation of
+Thy dear Son; through the divine image which Thou hast implanted within
+us; through the mighty and the persuasive witness from experience, we do
+feel and believe that Thou art the great creator, preserver and
+benefactor; That Thou hast called us to do a noble, a specific work;
+that we ought not to neglect the gift that is in us; to this end wilt
+Thou help us to be pure, brave, faithful and strong, that we may fight
+the good fight, and win the crown of righteousness. Amen.
+
+ ALBERT HAMMATT.
+
+
+August 18
+
+ _O ye, so far above me on the Height,
+ I cannot hear your voices as ye stand
+ Facing the vast, invisible to me.
+ But I can see your gestures of delight,
+ And something guess of that wide, glorious sea,
+ The glimmering isles of that enchanted land,
+ The winds which from that ocean freshly blow.
+ And so your Vision lifts me toward the Height,
+ Although ye have forgot me far below._
+
+ _But you, my brother, you, my near of kin,
+ Who some few steps above me on the steep
+ Look smiling back to cheer me ever on,
+ Who lend a hand as I the chasm leap,
+ And stay your haste that I the crag may win,
+ Thinking it scorn for Strength to climb alone;
+ You with your morning song when sings the lark,
+ You, with unflagging purpose at high noon,
+ And quiet-hearted trust when comes the dark,--
+ To you I owe it that I climb at all._
+
+ MARY FRANCES WRIGHT.
+
+Spirit of the Infinite Life! We praise Thee that our visions of the
+Divinest rise far beyond the borders of our known and familiar fields,
+that the resources of our unwearied life are in those mysterious regions
+that we have not explored. And yet we rejoice that the shadows of these
+holy visions fall across our common ways, reporting thus from the
+Infinite and the unknown the possibilities of greater fortunes yet to
+be. In this life of Thee may we dwell, seeing Thee in the life about us
+and evermore seeking to lead the life toward those high places that are
+always waiting the coming of those who aspire toward Thee. Amen.
+
+ E. L. REXFORD.
+
+
+August 19
+
+ _The flowers got into a debate one morning as to which of them was
+ the flower of God: and the rose said: "I am the flower of God, for
+ I am the fairest and the most perfect in beauty and variety of form
+ and delicacy of fragrance of all the flowers." And the crocus said:
+ "No, you are not the flower of God. Why, I was blooming long before
+ you bloomed. I am the primitive flower; I am the first one." And
+ the lily of the valley said modestly: "I am small, but I am white;
+ perhaps I am the flower of God." And the trailing arbutus said:
+ "Before any of you came forth I was blooming under the leaves and
+ under the snow. Am I not the flower of God?" And all the flowers
+ cried out: "No, you are no flower at all; you are a come-outer."
+ And then God's wind, blowing on the garden, brought this message to
+ them: "Little flowers, do you not know that every flower that
+ answers God's spring call, and comes out of the cold, dark earth,
+ and lifts its head above the sod and blooms forth, catching the
+ sunlight from God and flinging it back to men, taking the sweet
+ south wind from God and giving it back to others in sweet and
+ blessed fragrance--do you not know they are all God's flowers?"_
+
+ LYMAN ABBOTT.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, in Thy sight, there are no nations, there is no
+north and no south, no east and no west; there is no black and no white;
+Jew and Gentile, bond and free,--all are Thine. O, Lord, give us so much
+breadth of sympathy that we shall be able to understand at least dimly
+the universality of Thy love. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+August 20
+
+ _Sound, sound the clarion, fill the fife!
+ To all the sensual world proclaim
+ One crowded hour of glorious life
+ Is worth an age without a name._
+
+ WALTER SCOTT.
+
+ _Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men. Do not pray
+ for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your
+ tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle. But you
+ shall be a miracle. Every day you shall wonder at yourself, at the
+ richness of life which has come to you by the grace of God._
+
+ PHILLIPS BROOKS.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for the rest of the night and the joy
+and beauty of the morning. This day we accept as a loving tribute of Thy
+Love to Thy children. May we not mar it by unhallowed thoughts, unkind,
+hasty and regretful speech and shameful and evil deeds. May ours be the
+illumination which comes from moral and spiritual conquest. May we feel
+the ties that bind us tenderly to Thee and to one another; and work for
+that large human brotherhood, which holds in its strong embrace even the
+most distant and isolated member of the human family. May we go forth to
+our work with a deep and abiding faith in the power of good over evil
+and willing to do our share in the building up of Thy kingdom of love
+and righteousness, peace and good will here upon earth. Amen.
+
+ HENDRIK VOSSEMA.
+
+
+August 21
+
+ _We learn wisdom from failure much more than from success, often
+ discover what will do by finding out what will not do, and probably
+ he who never made a mistake never made a discovery. Horne Tooke
+ used to say of his studies in intellectual philosophy that he had
+ become all the better acquainted with the country through having
+ had the good luck sometimes to lose his way._
+
+ SAMUEL SMILES.
+
+Our Father, in the strength of our nightly rest and daily bread we go
+forth to whatever needs us or awaits us. Nothing from Thee is too
+difficult for us to attempt; nothing too grievous for us to bear. Teach
+us how priceless is Thy gift of life, how close we are to the fountain
+of strength, how sure of success is every effort to bring good to pass.
+Reverently and believingly would we hearken to Thee in our inmost souls.
+Let not our failures dishearten us, or the delay of results cause chill
+of doubt or fear. May our presence have strength and peace for others,
+and our lives proclaim that Thou livest and art good to all. In the name
+of Christ we lift our prayer. Amen.
+
+ SAMUEL C. BEANE.
+
+
+August 22
+
+ _At Bannockburn Lord Randolph Murray was being sorely pressed by a
+ large body of cavalry. Sir James Douglas got leave from Bruce to go
+ to his aid, but just as he came up he found the English in
+ disorder, and many horses galloping away with empty saddles.
+ "Halt!" he cried to his men; "These brave men have already repulsed
+ the enemy; let us not diminish their glory by seeking to share
+ it."_
+
+ WILLIAM MOODIE.
+
+O God of Hosts! On many a field of battle wilt Thy soldiers fight this
+day. Help them to be brave and true. Give them a glorious victory. Help
+us who watch to give them full credit for their valor. May we not
+diminish by seeking to share their glory. May we not render their deeds
+commonplace by insisting that "It is so easy, so natural, for them to be
+good," implying that their struggle has not been hard or that their
+victories had not been what ours have proven to be. Help us, O Lord,
+with valor to fight our own battles and run our own race and with
+gratitude to be glad in others' victories. Amen.
+
+ J. FRANK CHASE.
+
+
+August 23
+
+ _The bee that sips her sweets from flowers fair,
+ Flying on careless wing now here, now there,
+ With azure skies above, green sward below,
+ And soft south wind to bear her to and fro,
+ Might seem the soul of self-devoted ease,
+ Her life a draught of nectar without lees.
+ Not so! Her prime is full of strenuous deed
+ That shames our own in generous meed
+ Of work for other's good. Long summer days
+ She builds her golden house, with guerdons stays
+ Her Queen, uprears her young, and stores her food--
+ Then sudden shuns her wealth, her home, her brood,
+ And seeks new haven on an unknown sea,
+ Leaving her life-work to posterity._
+
+ HENRY HOYT MOORE.
+
+Gracious Father in heaven, and all about me, Thy gentleness doth ever
+tend to make life greater and richer. Thy providence is so wholesomely
+good, I would fain be completely at home in it. Thou art very gracious.
+Help me to be as gracious in my way as Thou art in Thy wonderful way.
+When I acknowledge that Thou art good and wise, there comes a joyous
+freedom to my spirit that makes life a sweet pleasure. I desire ever to
+work in the fulness of this faith without grudging, without suspecting,
+an open, glad and fruitful service. Oh, help me then to love my fellows
+more, and Thee sincerely! Amen.
+
+ ELIHU GRANT.
+
+
+August 24
+
+ _Drudgery is the gray angel of success.... Look at the leaders in
+ the professions, the solid men in business, the master-workmen who
+ begin as poor boys and end by building a town to house their
+ factory-hands, they are drudges of the single aim.... "One thing I
+ do."... Mr. Maydole, the hammer-maker of Central New York, was an
+ artist: "Yes," he said, "I have made hammers for twenty-eight
+ years." "Well, then you ought to be able to make a pretty good
+ hammer by this time." "No, sir," was the answer, "I never made a
+ pretty good hammer--I make the best hammer made in the United
+ States."_
+
+ WILLIAM C. GANNETT.
+
+O Lord, we remember our daily duties before Thee, the hard toil which
+Thou givest us in our manifold and various avocations, and we pray Thee
+that there may be in us such a confidence in our nature, such earnest
+obedience to Thee, we reverencing all Thy qualities and keeping Thy
+commands, that we shall serve Thee every day, making our life one great
+act of holiness unto Thee. May our continuous industry be so squared by
+the golden rule that it shall nicely fit with the interests of all with
+whom we have to do, and so by our handicraft all mankind shall be
+blessed. Amen.
+
+ THEODORE PARKER.
+
+
+August 25
+
+ _His larger life ye cannot miss
+ In gladly, nobly using this._
+
+ BAYARD TAYLOR.
+
+ _There are saints enough if we only know how to find
+ them--sainthoods of the fireside and of the market place. They wear
+ no glory round their heads; they do their duties in the strength of
+ God; they have their martyrdoms and win their palms, and though
+ they get into no calendars, they leave a benediction and a force
+ behind them on the earth when they go up to heaven._
+
+ PHILLIPS BROOKS.
+
+Our Father, in Whose life are our lives, help us to use all things nobly
+and so find joy in Thee. We thank Thee for faithful souls who in
+humblest station have reflected Thy life and have worked for blessing.
+In Thy strength they have sought to build Thy kingdom, and though they
+have had no glory of men they yet have wrought for Thee and have won
+place in Thy heart. Because they have aided the world and others have
+entered into their labors their good work shall remain and its quiet
+influence shall be a benediction. Though they have lived obscure lives
+and have filled obscure places they have been precious in Thy sight and
+are numbered with Thy saints. May we, like them, eternally serve Thee.
+Amen.
+
+ GEORGE H. YOUNG.
+
+
+August 26
+
+ _We can't choose happiness either for ourselves or for another; we
+ can't tell where that will lie. We can only choose whether we will
+ indulge ourselves in the present moment, or whether we will
+ renounce that for the sake of obeying the divine voice within
+ us,--for the sake of being true to all the motives that sanctify
+ our lives. I know this belief is hard; it has slipped away from me
+ again and again; but I have felt that if I let it go forever, I
+ should have no light through the darkness of this life._
+
+ GEORGE ELIOT.
+
+O God, Thou knowest the hours in which we desire Thee. Thou knowest that
+Thou hast made us to love truth and to walk in the light and when we are
+unjust, unkind, unloving, then we are not true to ourselves,--then we
+forget that we are living souls and that Thou art our Father. Let us not
+draw nigh to Thee with our lips while our hearts are far from Thee, but,
+knowing how dependent and frail we are, may we feel that it is a good
+and helpful thing to draw nigh unto Thee by faith and prayer,--and to
+take thought of that Infinite Love which holds us all in its arms of
+strength and mercy. Lift up our minds today, warm our affections, and
+deepen within us the feeling of reverence, of gratitude, and guide all
+the longings of our hearts aright. Amen.
+
+ JOSHUA YOUNG.
+
+
+August 27
+
+ _Life may be given in many ways,
+ And loyalty to truth be sealed
+ As bravely in the closet as the field,
+ So bountiful is fate;
+ But then to stand beside her,
+ When craven churls deride her,
+ To front a lie in arms and not to yield,
+ This shows, methinks, God's plan
+ And measure of a stalwart man,
+ Limbed like the old heroic breeds,
+ Who stands self-poised on manhood's solid earth,
+ Not forced to frame excuses for his birth,
+ Fed from within with all the strength he needs._
+
+ JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL.
+
+Heavenly Father, in this new day may we recognize a new opportunity for
+seeking Thy purpose in us; to become stronger children of Thine, and
+worthier followers of Thy Son. Whatever be our trial give us courage to
+stand without compromise, for that which we believe to be true; give us
+grace to rise superior to praise or blame, timidity or self-interest; to
+be loyal to the best in us, and be ever ready to protest against wrong
+and injustice. Help us to know ourselves as temples of Thine; to know
+that the essential principal in us is not dust, but God; to rise to that
+dignity of sonship that compels one to choose the right and say: "Here I
+stand, I cannot do otherwise." In His name. Amen.
+
+ HERBERT H. GRAVES.
+
+
+August 28
+
+ _All we have willed or hoped or dreamed of good, shall exist;
+ Not its semblance, but itself; no beauty, nor good, nor power
+ Whose voice has gone forth, but each survives for the melodist,
+ When eternity affirms the conception of an hour.
+ The high that proved too high, the heroic for earth too hard,
+ The passion that left the ground to lose itself in the sky,
+ Are music sent up to God by the lover and the bard;
+ Enough that he heard it once: we shall hear it by and by._
+
+ ROBERT BROWNING.
+
+O God, our heavenly Father! we come before Thee at this morning hour,
+thanking Thee for Thy loving care, that has protected us through the
+night, and for the blessed sleep, that has brought refreshment to our
+bodies and minds. We are grateful, O Father, for this new day, rich in
+hope and promise and opportunity, and we pray that, as its hours pass,
+we may be kept very near to Thee, that the "Words of our mouth and the
+meditations of our heart, may be acceptable in Thy sight," that when the
+day is done, and we come to Thee at its close, we need in no wise to be
+ashamed. Amen.
+
+ NELLIE MANN OPDALE.
+
+
+August 29
+
+ _How often does the chopper of some stone,
+ While toiling at his task of heave and shock,
+ Find in the heart-space of a severed rock
+ The impress of some fern that once had grown,
+ Full of aspiring life and color-tone,
+ Deep in the forest where the shadows flock,
+ Till, caught within the adamantine block,
+ It lay for ages hidden and unknown!
+ So many a beauteous thought blooms in the mind
+ But unexpressed, droops down into the soul
+ And lies unuttered in the silence there
+ Until some opener of the soul shall find
+ The fern-like fossilled dream, complete and whole,
+ And marvel at its beauty past compare._
+
+ ALFRED L. DONALDSON.
+
+ O mighty Potter, to whose steadfast eyes
+ A thousand years lie open as one day,
+ Thy patient hand set firm on life's great wheel
+ This heavy, shapeless clay.
+
+ Rough and imperfect, yet it owns Thy touch;
+ Spare not, nor stay, the pressure of Thine hand;
+ Make known Thy power; and soon, or late, let love
+ Perfect what love hath planned!
+ Amen.
+
+ L. H. HAMMOND.
+
+
+August 30
+
+ _The dark green summer, with its massive hues,
+ Fades into Autumn's tincture manifold;
+ A gorgeous garniture of fire and gold
+ The high slope of the ferny hill indues.
+ The mists of morn in slumbering layers diffuse
+ O'er glimmering rock, smooth lake, and spiked array
+ Of hedgerow thorns a unity of gray.
+ All things appear their tangible form to lose
+ In ghostly vastness. But anon the gloom
+ Melts, as the sun puts off his muddy veil.
+ And now the birds their twittering songs resume,
+ All summer silent in the leafy dale.
+ In spring they piped of love on every tree,
+ But now they sing the song of memory._
+
+ HARTLEY COLERIDGE.
+
+Ever blessed Father, in Whose pleasant world we are glad to awake again,
+looking forward to a happy and useful day, we beseech Thy loving
+guidance through these hours. May we look abroad with gratitude and love
+upon this beautiful earth, doubly beautiful in the waning summer time,
+when a new splendor comes across the hills, and Thou dost reveal
+Thyself, as of old, in the burning bush. Grant that we may look through
+nature up to nature's God. Grant that the mists of doubt and uncertainty
+which often hide Thee from us may be dispersed in the sunlight of a
+happy faith, and that the heart, so often sad and silent, may once more
+lift its cheerful song to Thee. Amen.
+
+ ALFRED GOODING.
+
+
+August 31
+
+ _No rare creative inspirations throng
+ My quiet spirit, silent, sad and lone;
+ No Sapphic flame hath on its altar shone;
+ No music to my nature doth belong.
+ Thou art the sunlight, I am Memnon's stone,
+ Thou art the zephyr, I give back its song;
+ The harp Aeolian can do no wrong
+ To the soft airs which wake an answering tone:
+ Upon my soul, Oh, then breathe tenderly;
+ Subdue the discord, still the jarring strain;
+ So may the harp-strings yield but melody.
+ If notes discordant give thy keen ear pain,
+ Set the fine chords again to harmony;
+ Let but sweet echoes of thyself remain._
+
+ ADA FOSTER MURRAY.
+
+O Thou Who art the source of all that is and the giver of all that makes
+life blessed, we thank Thee that Thy providence abides through every
+change and that Thou dost cheer the loneliest lot with the comfort of
+Thy presence. Thou hast been with us in times past and now on this last
+day of the summer months, we would thank Thee for the blessings of the
+closing season and ask for the continuance of Thy unfailing care and the
+enrichment of our souls with the gifts of Thy Spirit. Bring us into
+harmony with all that is pure and good, and enable us to walk in the
+light of Thy favor and in the paths of Thy commandments. Amen.
+
+ CHARLES H. VAIL.
+
+
+September 1
+
+ _'Neath harvest moon the stricken summer lies
+ Still smiling bravely in her brightest bloom,
+ Her heart yet holds no hint of gloom,
+ No trace of sadness in her sunlit eyes.
+ We love thee, Summer, child of Paradise--
+ A myriad host announce thy coming doom
+ Chanting the requiem of thy wintry tomb,
+ While lovingly look down the tender skies;
+ A holy hush is in the hazy air
+ As in thy radiant beauty thou dost sleep!
+ Nature, arrayed in rainbow colors fair,
+ Is strong of heart her vigil long to keep:
+ We know the secret thou dost seek to tell,--
+ Thou art immortal, Summer, fare thee well._
+
+ ANNA A. GORDON.
+
+Heavenly Father, behind all changes dost Thou lurk in eternal constancy.
+Never lingering, each good of life gives place to the better Thou hast
+in store, and in glory and gladness resigns to that which comes after.
+From the good that is, may we learn to pass cheerfully to the better
+that is to be,--from the cool morning and sunny noon to the purple
+gloaming and the star-lit night, from the tender spring and glowing
+summer to the golden autumn and snow-pure winter, from the sweet life
+that now is to that fulness of realization whose sweeter splendors eye
+hath not seen nor the heart of man conceived. We place our hands in
+Thine and would walk with Thee in holiest trust and serenest peace.
+Amen.
+
+ THOMAS W. ILLMAN.
+
+
+September 2
+
+ _"I will be happy all the day
+ Let come what may."
+ 'Twas early morning when the word was said,
+ And like a journey 'cross a weary plain
+ There stretched the hours, but I was comforted
+ As heart and voice sung o'er the sweet refrain,
+ "I will be happy all the day
+ Let come what may."_
+
+ _"I will make hope and only hope
+ My horoscope."
+ The sombre, brooding clouds of discontent
+ Oppress one's spirit like a throbbing pain;
+ One frets and moans in one's environment,
+ But with a look ahead I sing again,
+ "I will make hope and only hope
+ My horoscope."_
+
+ FREDERICK A. BISBEE.
+
+Yea, Lord, we thank Thee that we may hope and be happy all the day for
+Omnipotence is our Father and our changeless Friend, and we have naught
+to fear. We are glad of life and thank Thee for all that makes it heroic
+or beautiful or sweet. We rejoice in our home, in our dear ones, and in
+the precious human loves that reflect the love divine. Pardon our sins,
+we pray Thee, and work out Thy purposes in us. May we work and hope on
+and be glad in Thee filling this day so full of useful employ that when
+the night shall come, we shall lie down to sleep upon Thy loving
+children like tired but happy children, and so find rest and refreshment
+for another day with men and Thee. Amen.
+
+ CARL F. HENRY.
+
+
+September 3
+
+ _There's a dance of leaves in that aspen bower,
+ There's a titter of winds in that beechen tree,
+ There's a smile on the fruit, and a smile on the flower,
+ And a laugh from the brook that runs to the sea._
+
+ WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT.
+
+ _O sweet September! thy first breezes bring
+ The dry leaf's rustle and the squirrel's laughter,
+ The cool, fresh air, whence health and vigor spring
+ And promise of exceeding joy hereafter._
+
+ GEORGE ARNOLD.
+
+O Lord, we thank Thee for the spring, which brought her handsome
+promise, for the gorgeous preparation which the summer made in his manly
+strength, and we bless Thee for the months of autumn, whose sober beauty
+now is cast on every hill and every tree. We thank Thee for the harvests
+which the toil and the thought of man have gathered already from the
+surface of the ground, or digged from its bosom. We bless Thee for the
+other harvests still growing beneath the earth, or hanging abundant
+beauties in the autumnal sun from many a tree, all over our blessed
+Northern land. Amen.
+
+ THEODORE PARKER.
+
+
+September 4
+
+ _Do right, and God's recompense to you will be the power to do more
+ right. Give, and God's reward to you will be the spirit of giving
+ more: blessed spirit, for it is the Spirit of God Himself, whose
+ Life is the blessedness of giving. Love, and God will pay you with
+ the capacity of more love; for love is Heaven, love is God within
+ you._
+
+ FREDERICK W. ROBERTSON.
+
+O Lord, we thank Thee for Thy manifold gifts unto the children of men.
+Thou givest life and all the sustenance of life. Thou givest our fair
+and beautiful world. Thou givest us the power of hope and faith and
+thought. From Thine own giving may we learn that it is more blessed to
+give than to receive. Teach us, O Lord, to give more freely and more
+gladly, and may we learn how our own life, and joy and growth are
+involved in the spirit in which we give and serve. In all our giving and
+all our serving may we keep before us the vision of the Master who gave
+Himself that we might live. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+September 5
+
+ _Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
+ The soul that rises with us, our life's star,
+ Hath had elsewhere its setting,
+ And cometh from afar.
+ Not in entire forgetfulness,
+ And not in utter nakedness,
+ But trailing clouds of glory, do we come
+ From God who is our home:
+ Heaven lies about us in our infancy,
+ At length the man perceives it die away
+ And fade into the light of common day._
+
+ WILLIAM WORDSWORTH.
+
+O Eternal God, Who art without beginning of days or end of years, from
+Whom cometh all our life; pardon, we beseech Thee, the sins of Thy
+children, wherein we have darkened Thine own image within us. Let not
+our light die away amid the common toil and daily care, but so glorify
+our life with Thy spirit, that we may gladly present both souls and
+bodies to Thy service an acceptable sacrifice, and, learning to love
+Thee above all things, may be approved in Thy sight as true disciples of
+Thy Son Jesus Christ. Amen.
+
+ WILLIAM E. GASKIN.
+
+
+September 6
+
+ _A haze on the far horizon,
+ The infinite tender sky,
+ The ripe, rich tint of the corn-fields,
+ And the wild geese sailing high,
+ And all over upland and lowland
+ The charm of the goldenrod--
+ Some of us call it Autumn,
+ And others call it God._
+
+ WILLIAM H. CARRUTH.
+
+Once more, O God, Thou partest the curtains of night to bless us with a
+new day. In its dawning Thou revealest Thyself to us anew. Fresh
+beauties break upon our vision; new evidences of Thy goodness appear;
+new joys rise in our hearts. We thank Thee for the harvest of corn that
+feeds our bodies and the harvest of beauty that feeds our souls; for the
+blue of the distant hills and the wide stretch of meadow and prairie;
+for golden flower and flying bird; for the nearness of Thy presence in
+the brooding haze; for the thoughts unutterable that rise within us. In
+thankfulness may we go forth to our daily tasks and live in
+consciousness of Thy eternal presence and love. Amen.
+
+ RODNEY F. JOHONNOT.
+
+
+September 7
+
+ _I come under your windows, some fine morning, and play you one of
+ my adagio movements, and some of you say,--This is good, play us so
+ always. But, dear friends, if I did not change the stop sometimes,
+ the machine would wear out in one part and rust in another. How
+ easily this or that tune flows! you say, there must be no end of
+ such melodies in him. I will open the poor machine for you one
+ moment, and you shall look. Every note marks where a spur of steel
+ has been driven in. It is easy to grind out the song, but to plant
+ these bristling points which make it was the painful task of time._
+
+ OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.
+
+We thank Thee, Father, for Thy love which, like the morning light, fails
+not to greet us at each opening day. While its radiant beams light up
+the pathway from our hearts to Thine, we come, with eager steps, for
+morning worship and for praise. Take Thou, we pray, the hand
+outstretched out to Thee and lead us safely through another day. Grant
+us the strength to do our very best and leave results with Thee. We do
+not ask for ease, but victory; not for the praise of men, but for the
+blessing of our God upon our heaven-appointed task. Grant us the joy
+supreme of knowing, when the sun has set, that we have left undone no
+duty to our God or fellowman. Amen.
+
+ J. W. ANNAS.
+
+
+September 8
+
+ _Admit into thy silent breast
+ The notes of but one bird
+ And instantly thy soul will join
+ In jubilant accord._
+
+ _The perfume of a single flow'r
+ Inhale like breath of God,
+ And in the garden of thy heart
+ A thousand buds will nod._
+
+ _Toward one star in heaven's expanse
+ Direct thy spirit's fight,
+ And thou wilt have in the wide world,
+ My child, enough delight._
+
+ JOHANNA AMBROSIUS.
+
+Our Father In Heaven, as Thou turnest the earth once more toward the
+light to give us another day may we not forget that all things come of
+Thee. Thou givest us this beautiful earth, adorned with a thousand
+varied beauties, crowded with opportunities and possibilities, for our
+home. Day and night, sunshine and the rain, labor and trial, joy and
+victory, all are from Thy hand. Whatever the circumstances of our life,
+whatever our labor and place, help us to remember that life is a school
+in which to learn, an arena where we may fight and win. May we gain
+wisdom and strength to win the victory which is life eternal, and in
+finding that may we find peace and content in Thee. Amen.
+
+ FREDERICK A. TAYLOR.
+
+
+September 9
+
+ _Give me the gospel of the fields and woods--
+ The sermons written in the book of books;
+ The sweet communion of the things of earth
+ Fresh with the warm baptism of the sun.
+ Give me the offertory of bud and bloom,
+ The perfect caroling of happy birds.
+ Give me the creed of one of God's fair days
+ Wrought in the beauty of its loveliness;
+ And then, the benediction of the stars,
+ His eloquent ministers of the night._
+
+ JAMES RAVENSCROFT.
+
+Heavenly Father, we praise Thee for the breaking day, the singing birds,
+the dew in the meadows, the fragrance of the flowers, ascending like
+old-time incense from Jewish altar, the sun gilding the hill-tops, the
+veiled stars, the gliding river, mirroring in its depths, sedge and tree
+and overhanging sky. Thou hast ordained that we nestle in the bosom of
+nature and feel the touch of God. Pour strength into our beings from
+bird and flower, and Thy spirit which moves in them, that our youth may
+be renewed like the eagle's. So shall the memories of earth enrich our
+heaven. We praise and supplicate in the name of Jesus. Amen.
+
+ L. A. FREEMAN.
+
+
+September 10
+
+ _Just whistle a bit if the day be dark
+ And the sky be overcast:
+ If mute be the voice of the piping lark,
+ Why, pipe your own small blast._
+
+ _And it's wonderful how o'er the gray sky-track,
+ The truant warbler comes stealing back.
+ But why need he come? for your soul's at rest,
+ And the song in the heart,--ah, that is best._
+
+ PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for the assurance that all things
+work together for good to them that love Thee. Help us to live this day
+in joyous faith in that promise. May we realize that behind all clouds
+the sun still shines, and that the Father's wisdom never errs, and his
+love never fails. Give us courage for this day's conflicts, grace for
+its trials, and strength for its duties. Guide our feet in the way of
+Thy commandments and fill our souls with the joy of Thy presence. May
+our lives no less than our lips praise Thee. Amen.
+
+ CHARLES F. RICE.
+
+
+September 11
+
+ _For each true deed is worship; it is prayer,
+ And carries its own answer unaware.
+ Yes, they whose feet upon good errands run
+ Are friends of God, with Michael of the sun;
+ Yes, each accomplished service of the day
+ Paves for the feet of God a lordlier way.
+ The souls that love and labor through all wrong,
+ They clasp His hand and make the Circle strong;
+ They lay the deep foundation stone by stone,
+ And build into Eternity God's throne!_
+
+ EDWIN MARKHAM.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, we, Thy children, turn to Thee in gratitude and
+hope for this new day of opportunity. May our high calling in Christ
+Jesus loom large before our eyes. Deliver us, we humbly beseech Thee,
+from making ourselves and our concerns chief in thought and effort. May
+we find our lives in saving those whose sky is dark, whose burdens are
+heavy, and whose faith is perishing. With zest, as do the angels, when
+we hear Thy Spirit's voice, may we turn and obey. To let these hours of
+service prove to us, not only that Thou art, but that Thou art the
+rewarder of them that diligently seek Thee. Through Jesus Christ, our
+Lord. Amen.
+
+ DEWITT S. CLARK.
+
+
+September 12
+
+ _Good name, in man or woman, dear my lord,
+ Is the immediate jewel of their souls.
+ Who steals my purse, steals trash; 'tis something, nothing;
+ 'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands;
+ But he that filches from me my good name,
+ Robs me of that which not enriches him,
+ And makes me poor indeed._
+
+ SHAKESPEARE.
+
+God of all righteousness and charity, breathe upon me the spirit of
+thine own charity and righteousness, that I may deal worthily with the
+good name of every human being with whom I have to do. Help me, that I
+may bring no injury to the fair fame of any. May the law of kindness be
+in my lips, and the spirit of helpful justice in my heart. Inspire me to
+come, whenever I ought, to the rescue of the slandered, that I may
+deliver them into the liberty of human fellowship. And not to me alone,
+O God, but to all men, teach this divine lesson of fair judgment and
+sweet help, that they may live together as children in thy gracious
+family. Amen.
+
+ WILLIAM N. CLARKE.
+
+
+September 13
+
+ _I searched for love in heart of city's hum;
+ I searched for love upon the shining sand
+ Of ocean beach; and then on towering cliffs I sung
+ A pleading song that love unto my heart might come;
+ But love came not._
+
+ _I searched for love no more, but labored sore
+ To ease those hearts whom sorrow'd touched before,
+ Faint hope that in sweet work I'd surely find
+ Some compensation for a fate unkind--
+ When, lo! love came._
+
+ BESSIE L. RUSSELL.
+
+ For love and life and light and breath and ease,
+ For work, success and hope, for power to please,
+ For conscience clear, for faith without alloy,
+ For common share in common human joy,
+ I thank Thee, gracious God!
+
+ For loneliness and shadow, sickness, care,
+ For failure, doubt, remorse, death, and despair,
+ For sleepless nights, for aching heart and brain,
+ For common share in common human pain,
+ I thank Thee, gracious God! Amen.
+
+ MARGARET WENTWORTH.
+
+
+September 14
+
+ _In fallow fields the goldenrod
+ And purple asters beck and nod.
+ The milkweed launches fairy boats;
+ In tangled silver the cobweb floats.
+ Pervasive odors of ripening vine,
+ Fill the air like a luscious wine.
+ The gentian blooms on the browning waste;
+ With coral chains is the alder laced.
+ The blackbirds gather, and wheel and fly,
+ The swallows twitter a low "Goodbye!"_
+
+ SARA ANDREW SHAFER.
+
+Father in Heaven, we love Thee, we cannot help it. Thy blessings around
+us on every side tell us of Thy love. Our love leaps involuntarily from
+our hearts responsive to these numberless delights. We thank Thee for
+the rich harvests that burden the fields, for the acres of beauty that
+reach over hill and through meadow, for the stars that make cheerful the
+night. Help us to bless Thee when the storms come to disappoint and
+destroy. May we realize that the tempest comes from the Good Father,
+that He has sent it, a great blessing in disguise. Great Father, help us
+to know and feel that everything coming from Thee is good. So may Thy
+Kingdom come to Thy children of earth. Amen.
+
+ CHARLES EDWARD DAVIS.
+
+
+September 15
+
+ _Once, out of all the anguish and the sorrow of my heart,
+ I wrote a song, and put my pent-up passion in its art.
+ And the great world never heeded this soulful human groan,
+ For it bore a burden infinitely heavy of its own._
+
+ _Once, out of all the happiness and joy within my breast,
+ I made a little song and blithely sent it on its quest.
+ And the great world, with its infinitely many joys, divine,
+ Still had room and instant welcome for this little song of mine._
+
+ WILLIAM F. DIX.
+
+O God, I thank Thee that Thou hast numbered me with the children of the
+day. O Immanuel, make Thy Presence to be a sun within me this day. May I
+dispel clouds or reveal the rainbows ever half-hidden in robes of mists.
+May I melt snows and bring spring-time freshets of joy. May I shed light
+that shall turn groans into songs. May I shine on till I shall stand
+before the Great White Throne that is encompassed with an unbroken
+rainbow, and take up the angelic music among that starry host of souls
+who have found the true "music of the spheres," and are:
+
+ "Forever singing as they shine,
+ 'The hand that made us is divine.'"
+ Amen.
+
+ ELLIOTT F. STUDLEY.
+
+
+September 16
+
+ _All is best, though we oft doubt
+ What the unsearchable dispose
+ Of highest wisdom brings about,
+ And ever best found in the close.
+ Oft He seems to hide His face,
+ But unexpectedly returns,
+ And to his faithful champion hath in place
+ Bore witness gloriously._
+
+ JOHN MILTON.
+
+Our Father, we have ever dwelt in Thee, though sometimes we have
+forgotten it. While our eyes slept, it may be that to our spirit's sight
+a ladder was set up on the earth and the top of it reached to heaven,
+and on it Thy angels were ascending and descending to help us. Now
+again, O Father, comes to us from Thy hand of love the food and the
+tasks of a new day. Help us then to put away the error from which we
+fled or should have fled yesterday. This morning let us set up the stone
+of our Bethel that through the day we may be reminded in all we do, that
+Thou art in this place with us. Whether we see Thee or not, let us take
+courage and make this a day nearer Thee. Fill us with Jesus' own large
+sympathies for others, with Jesus' purpose to seek and to serve the
+right, and especially grant us Jesus' complete trust in Thy perfect
+goodness. In His name, we ask it. Amen.
+
+ MERRILL C. WARD.
+
+
+September 17
+
+ _As far as earth is from the sky,
+ So Love is high.
+ Where Alpine lakes their vigils keep
+ Is Love more deep._
+
+ _In Nature there no boundaries are
+ That tell how far Love goes;
+ Love's measure, as each countless star,
+ God knows._
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ _One only thing we know: Love comes to stay;
+ Though God's to give, it is not even His
+ To take away._
+
+ MARIAN ALDEN.
+
+O God, our Heavenly Father, we recognize our dependence upon Thee for
+the bounties of Thy never-failing Providence, and as we enter upon this
+new day to which Thou has safely brought us, we ask Thy help that we may
+receive it as a gift from Thee and may consecrate ourselves more
+perfectly in the least things as well as in the greatest, to Thy
+service. Help us to be faithful to all the duties and responsibilities
+of our lot. Deliver us from all useless discontent, all idle doubts and
+foolish fears. In all our dealings may we be simple and sincere.
+Strengthen us to do at every moment that which we feel to be right and
+good in Thy sight, and through loyal obedience to Thy will may we rise
+into a clearer vision of the things that belong to Thy heavenly kingdom.
+Amen.
+
+ WILLIAM H. FISH.
+
+
+September 18
+
+ _Some people are always grumbling because roses have thorns. I am
+ thankful that thorns have roses._
+
+ ALPHONSE KARR.
+
+ _There are those who want to get away from all their past; who if
+ they could, would fain begin all over again. Their life seems one
+ long failure. But you must learn, you must let God teach you, that
+ the only way to get rid of your past is to get a future out of it._
+
+ PHILLIPS BROOKS.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, the remembrance of Thee fills life with all that is
+most beautiful and bright. Our deepest sorrows, our most bitter
+experiences come when we forget Thee. No life can be a failure which
+strives to do Thy will. Sorrow may come to us, but just as an artist may
+darken a flower, in painting, before retouching it to make its color all
+the brighter, so we know that Thou, who givest color to the flowers, may
+for a season permit sorrow to darken our lives; but Thou art only in the
+midst of Thy work. At Thy retouch, life becomes the more beautiful. Help
+us to pray, not simply, "Lord, remember me," for it is not possible for
+Thee to forget Thy children; we pray "assist us to be always mindful of
+Thee." Amen.
+
+ E. MCP. AMEE.
+
+
+September 19
+
+ _The sooner we read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest a little
+ Eastern apothegm of Howard Hinton's the better: Two balls were
+ together in a box, a gold and a gilt ball. The gilt ball was
+ carefully done up in tissue paper, and securely wedged into one
+ corner; but the gold ball was loose, and went rolling about with
+ every movement of the box. "Oh, please, do take care of yourself!"
+ said the gilt ball, peeping out apprehensively from the folds of
+ the tissue paper. "Why, where's the harm?" answered the gold ball,
+ as it took a fresh lurch to an opposite corner. "Oh, how can you?"
+ cried the other; "you'll rub it off." "Rub what off?" asked the
+ gold ball.... The gold won't rub off.... Only the gingerbread
+ gilt._
+
+ ELLICE HOPKINS.
+
+Heavenly Father, we hear the loving call of this new day and on the
+wings of the morning we would speed to the work and worship of the
+beautiful hours Thou hast given us. We thank Thee that Thou hast made us
+for the hurry of the market place as well as for the quiet of the home.
+May our own lives be brightened by contact with our fellowmen. May the
+pure gold of the Spirit of Christ be ours in purity of personal thought,
+in the benediction of words of strength and sweetness and in the varied
+service we may render our neighbors in the name of Jesus our Lord and
+Saviour. Amen.
+
+ JAMES F. ALLEN.
+
+
+September 20
+
+ _O heart of mine, we shouldn't worry so!
+ What we've missed of calm we couldn't have, you know!
+ What we've met of stormy pain,
+ And of sorrow's driving rain,
+ We can better meet again,
+ If it blow!_
+
+ _For we know, not every morrow can be sad;
+ So, forgetting all the sorrow
+ We have had,
+ Let us fold away our fears,
+ And put by our childish tears,
+ And through all the coming years,
+ Just be glad._
+
+ JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY.
+
+Heavenly Father, Thy very name fills our hearts with confidence and
+peace. For we know that out of Thy Fatherly goodness all earthly
+providences are bestowed and administered for our good. So, for our
+unwilling submission, when Thou hast led us into hard and thorny
+pathways, we ask Thy generous forgiveness; and for our ingratitude when
+pleasure and prosperity have attended us, we entreat Thy tender
+patience. As Thou hast commanded us to rejoice in Thy salvation, may our
+hearts be filled with gladness to-day; and, as Thou hast counselled us
+that when we lack wisdom, we may ask of Thee, we beseech Thee to bestow
+upon us now and evermore the wisdom of cheerfulness and joy. In the name
+of Jesus, Amen.
+
+ EDMUND L. SMILEY.
+
+
+September 21
+
+ _We all shrink, like cowards, from new duties, new
+ responsibilities. We do not venture to go out of the beaten track
+ of our daily life. Close to us, on each side of the road, are those
+ whom we might help or save with one good action, one kind word. But
+ we are afraid. We say: "I am not prepared; I am not ready; I have
+ not time; I am not qualified; find some better person; send some
+ one else." Perhaps we have only one talent, and, therefore, instead
+ of using it, we hide it, and when the Master comes we shall meet
+ him with the old answer: "I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent
+ in the earth. Lo! there thou hast that is thine."_
+
+ JAMES FREEMAN CLARKE.
+
+From the base sin of selfishness, O Lord, deliver us. Teach us by Thy
+life of ministry and sacrifice for others that the more fully and
+willingly we lose ourselves in service for our fellowmen, the more
+surely we shall find ourselves in Thee. As we go forth this day in paths
+that Thou hast prepared for us, help us to so forget ourselves in acts
+of kindness and words of comfort that each one whom our lives may touch,
+may become thereby a happier, purer, stronger soul. Take Thou the care
+of these lives of ours, while, with Thee, in busy streets and crowded
+shops where greed is grasping and sin is lurking, we shall try to care
+for souls of others, who need the help that we might give. Then, at the
+eventide today or on the morrow, it will be our joy like Thine to find
+ourselves again in hearts made happy, in lives inspired, in souls
+redeemed. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE B. DEAN.
+
+
+September 22
+
+ _Before God's footstool to confess
+ A poor soul knelt and bowed his head,
+ "I failed!" he wailed. The Master said,
+ "Thou didst thy best--that is success!"_
+
+ ANONYMOUS.
+
+ _Straight from the Mighty Bow, this truth is driven:
+ "They fail, and they alone, who have not striven."
+ Fly far, O shaft of light, all doubt redeeming,
+ Rouse men from dull despair and idle dreaming.
+ High Heaven's Evangel be, gospel God-given;
+ They fail, and they alone, who have not striven._
+
+ CLARENCE URMY.
+
+We thank Thee, O God, for the light that reveals to us the divine
+estimate of life, that lifts the veil of mystery from struggle and
+sacrifice and enables us to interpret their meaning as elements of
+successful living. We praise Thee for the truth that assures us that we
+are in this world to win, to overcome, to be more than conquerors. We
+pray that we may be too busy to dream and too brave to doubt. Strengthen
+us for life's conflict, help us to carry our burdens cheerfully, fight
+courageously, strive lawfully, that we may be worthy to be counted among
+those who shall receive the crown of righteousness and hear at last the
+"Well done" of the Master. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE S. SCRIVENER.
+
+
+September 23
+
+ _Be diligent and faithful, patient and hopeful, one and all of you;
+ and may we all know, at all times, that verily the Eternal rules
+ above us, and that nothing finally wrong has happened or can
+ happen._
+
+ THOMAS CARLYLE.
+
+ _If you entered the workshop of a blacksmith, you would not dare to
+ find fault with his bellows, anvils and hammers. If you had not the
+ skill of a workman, but the consideration of a man, what would you
+ say? "It is not without cause the bellows are placed there; the
+ artificer knew, though I do not know, the reason." You would not
+ dare to find fault with the blacksmith in his shop, and do you dare
+ to find fault with God in His world?_
+
+ ST. BERNARD.
+
+We thank Thee, O loving Father, that we are not alone in the universe
+with longing for the higher life. There are a thousand revelations of
+Thee in our fellowmen. And when we cannot find Thee, for blindness, in
+nature or in ourselves, we can see Thee revealed in the lives heroic
+that surround us. In the abstract Thou art hard to find; in the lives of
+men Thou art always visible. We thank Thee that there is a contagion of
+rightness and that love is a vital seed that fills the world with its
+kind. We are fearful of love sometimes, fearing to waste it on a
+loveless world. Help us to see that every atom we give becomes an ocean
+to ourselves. Amen.
+
+ ALBERT C. GRIER.
+
+
+September 24
+
+ _To be at all--what is better than that?
+ I think if there were nothing more developed, the clam in its callous
+ shell in the sand were august enough
+ I am not in any callous shell;
+ I am cased with supple conductors, all over
+ They take every object by the hand, and lead it within me;
+ They are thousands, each one with his entry to himself;
+ They are always watching with their little eyes, from my head to my feet;
+ One no more than a point lets in and out of me such bliss and magnitude,
+ I think I could lift the girder of the house away if it lay between me
+ and whatever I wanted._
+
+ WALT WHITMAN.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for all the delicate beauty as well
+as for the rugged strength of these bodies in which Thou hast set us to
+live. But more wonderful than the habitation of the soul is the soul
+itself. Thou hast made us a little lower than the angels, Thou hast
+crowned us with glory and honor, and we join reverently in the words of
+the great poet-prophet who said of man--"In action how like an angel, in
+apprehension how like a God!" O Lord, we thank Thee for this great
+thought of our own life. Yet let us not be vain nor proud. We pray
+rather that we may be inspired to live so earnestly and so nobly that we
+shall prove our title now to all that we have dreamed as our natural
+birthright. So shall we feel ourselves to-day sons and daughters of God.
+Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+September 25
+
+ _I do believe the common man's task is the hardest. The hero has
+ the hero's aspiration that lifts him to his labor. All great duties
+ are easier than the little ones, though they cost far more blood
+ and agony._
+
+ PHILLIPS BROOKS.
+
+ _Thus man is made equal to every event. He can face danger for the
+ right. A poor, tender, painful body, he can run into flame or
+ bullets or pestilence, with duty for his guide.... I am not afraid
+ of accident as long as I am in my place.... Every man's task is his
+ life-preserver. The conviction that his work is dear to God and
+ cannot be spared, defends him._
+
+ RALPH WALDO EMERSON.
+
+O Thou Who art the giver of every good and perfect gift, help us better
+to understand the measure of Thy giving; that we count not those
+blessings only which make life smooth and easy and of tame comfort but
+the things that make life resolute and hearty, and that put to test the
+vigor of our souls, that give us chance to prove our high nobility and
+unfaltering courage; the things that build for the soul's fine substance
+of eternal worth--these are Thy blessings, too, for which we thank Thee.
+Give us entrance into Thine eternal living through strong activity and
+zest of life; that manhood have its eager challenge and womanhood its
+glowing opportunity to assert themselves as winning joy through
+bafflement and Thy strong peace that passeth not away, through steadfast
+consecration to high service. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE H. BADGER.
+
+
+September 26
+
+ _If I can put one touch of a rosy sunset into the life of any man,
+ or woman I shall feel that I have worked with God. He is in no
+ haste; and if I do what I may in earnest I need not worry if I do
+ no great work. Let God make His sunsets; I will mottle my little
+ cloud. To help the growth of a thought that struggles toward the
+ light, to brush with gentle hand the earth stain from the white of
+ one snowdrop--such be my ambition._
+
+ GEORGE MACDONALD.
+
+Help us, our Father, to know that we have here at hand all that we need
+to make this day what it ought to be; that we need not look afar, but in
+the duty of this present moment, in the opportunity to learn, to serve
+and thus to grow, which the morning offers, is all that is necessary to
+make this day sound and serviceable; in such a day we shall find
+enduring joy and from it Thou, the Giver of all days, wilt derive
+satisfaction, since it will do its full share in fulfilling Thy purpose.
+And may we see that if we make our todays what they should be Thou wilt
+take care of the tomorrows. Amen.
+
+ HERBERT E. BENTON.
+
+
+September 27
+
+ _My neighbor hath a little field,
+ Small store of wine its presses yield,
+ And truly but a slender hoard
+ Its harvest brings for barn or board.
+ Yet tho' a hundred fields are mine,
+ Fertile with olive, corn and wine;
+ Tho' Autumn piles my garners high,
+ Still for that little field I sigh.
+ For ah! methinks no otherwhere
+ Is any field so good and fair.
+ Small tho' it be, 'tis better far
+ Than all my fruitful vineyards are,
+ Amid whose plenty sad I pine--
+ "Ah, would the little field were mine!"
+ Large knowledge void of peace and rest,
+ And wealth with pining care possest--
+ These by my fertile lands are meant.
+ That little field is called Content._
+
+ ROBERTSON TROWBRIDGE.
+
+Heavenly Father, as prayed Thy servant of old, so we this morning repeat
+"Give us neither poverty nor riches." Help us this day, in whatsoever
+state we are, therewith to be content. May no complaining word proceed
+out of our mouths. Above all may no murmuring thought lodge within us.
+So shall we rest in peace with Thee, and God, even our God, shall bless
+us. Yet, O Lord, forbid that we should remain satisfied with any
+portion, which our best effort, with Thine assistance, can improve. Then
+shall we grow in grace and more and more approach the stature of true
+men and women, in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+
+ M. EMORY WRIGHT.
+
+
+September 28
+
+ _Forenoon and afternoon and night--Forenoon
+ And afternoon and night,--Forenoon, and--what?
+ The empty song repeats itself. No more?
+ Yea, that is life. Make this forenoon sublime,
+ This afternoon a psalm, this night a prayer,
+ And time is conquered, and thy crown is won._
+
+ EDWARD ROWLAND SILL.
+
+ Help me, O Lord, if I shall see
+ Times when I walk from hope apart,
+ Till all my days but seem to be
+ The troubled week-days of the heart.
+
+ Help me to find, in seasons past,
+ The hours that have been good or fair,
+ And bid remembrance hold them fast,
+ To keep me wholly from despair.
+
+ Help me to look behind, before,
+ To make my past and future form
+ A bow of promise, meeting o'er
+ The darkness of my day of storm.
+ Amen.
+
+ PHOEBE CARY.
+
+
+September 29
+
+ _The iris-pillar suggested the burning bush on Horeb. In Moses'
+ time, nature, in the regard of science, was a mere bush, a single
+ shrub. Now it has grown, through the researches of the intellect,
+ to a tree. The universe is a mighty tree; and the great truth for
+ us to connect with the majestic science of these days, and to keep
+ vivid by a religious imagination, is, that from the roots of its
+ mystery to the silver-leaved boughs of the firmament, it is
+ continually filled with God, and yet unconsumed._
+
+ T. STARR KING.
+
+Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, who in all ages has been revealing
+Thyself to men as a God of righteousness and love, we approach Thy
+throne of grace this morning confessing our unworthiness and pleading
+Thy forgiving love. While humbling ourselves before Thee because of the
+consciousness of our unworthiness, we yet approach Thee, our Father,
+with filial trust and confidence, yea, with gladness of heart and holy
+boldness in the all-prevailing name of Jesus Christ our Lord. We bless
+Thee for Thy watchful care over us amid all the dangers, temptations and
+difficulties of the past. Truly Thou hast been with us, and although Thy
+people have often been surrounded by fire, the bush has not been
+consumed. In the future as in the past, be Thou our God and Guide and
+finally bring us into Thine everlasting Kingdom, through Jesus Christ
+our Lord. Amen.
+
+ A. K. MACLENNAN.
+
+
+September 30
+
+ _Would you like to hear what sort of questions the school-boys had
+ to answer eighteen centuries ago? Very well; you shall. A rabbi,
+ who lived nearly twenty years before Christ was born, set his
+ pupils thinking by asking them, "What is the best thing for a man
+ to possess?" One of them replied, "A kind nature;" another, "A good
+ companion;" another, "A good neighbor." But one of them, named
+ Eleazer, said, "A good heart." "I like your answer best, Eleazer,"
+ said the master, "for it includes all the rest."_
+
+ FRANCIS AUGUSTUS COX.
+
+Our Father in heaven, we are happy to believe that Thou dost wish us to
+have the best. Thou dost teach us that the best possession we can have
+is a good heart, for out of the heart are the issues of life. Thou art
+the searcher of hearts,--if our hearts are hard Thou canst give us
+hearts of flesh, if they are sinful Thou canst create clean hearts
+within us. Even if they are desperately wicked Thou canst make them new.
+Grant us, therefore, Thy Holy Spirit we humbly beseech Thee, that our
+hearts may be pure and good. Thus may we ever possess the best possible
+treasure, and thus may we perfectly love Thee and worthily magnify Thy
+holy name. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
+
+ WILLARD T. PERRIN.
+
+
+October 1
+
+ _Month of fruits and falling leaves,
+ Under thy opalescent skies
+ The vagrant summer idly lies,
+ While coming Autumn deftly weaves
+ Rare tints for tall ungarnered sheaves
+ Of goldenrod, kissing the eyes
+ Of purple asters as she dyes
+ The vine that swings beneath the eaves._
+
+ _And all the bending hedgerows seem
+ A Joseph's coat of colors. Hues
+ That shame the rainbow's royal arch
+ Set all the harvest fields a-gleam
+ With beauty, fresh with fragrant dews
+ To crown the season's onward march._
+
+ GEORGE W. SHIPMAN.
+
+Author and Giver of every good and perfect gift whose infinite presence
+and power underlie all growth and life and activity, Who revealest
+Thyself in the varied forms of beauty which come so rapidly in the
+revolving year, in the green grass and blossoming roses and lilies and
+refreshing, fast-succeeding fruits, we thank Thee that Thou art now
+crowning the year with Thy goodness and inviting us to gather in from
+tree, garden, field, forest, mine, what will feed, clothe, protect us
+during the wintry season given us, free from arduous labors, to find
+enjoyment in books, music and social intercourse. These blessings remind
+us to present to Thee the fruits of the spirit, love, joy, peace, long
+suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, temperance. Amen.
+
+ CALVIN S. LOCKE.
+
+
+October 2
+
+ _One answered, on the day when Christ went by,
+ "Lord, I am rich; pause not for such as I.
+ My work, my home, my strength, my frugal store,
+ The sun and rain--what need have I of more?
+ Go to the sinful who have need of Thee,
+ Go to the poor, but tarry not for me.
+ What is there Thou should'st do for such as I?"
+ And He went by._
+
+ _Long years thereafter, by a palace door,
+ The footstep of the Master paused once more
+ From whence the old voice answered piteously,--
+ "Lord, I am poor, my house unfit for Thee;
+ Nor peace nor pleasures bless my princely board,
+ Nor love nor health; what could I give Thee, Lord?
+ Lord, I am poor, unworthy, stained with sin,--"
+ Yet He went in._
+
+ MABEL EARLE.
+
+We who are poor in spirit, turn to Thee who art the giver of every good
+and perfect gift, to hold out our empty hands and pray that Thou wilt
+make us rich. During the past days and years we have been out in Thy
+world striving for more things and then more things and yet more things,
+forgetful of the fact that a man's life consisteth not in the abundance
+of the things which he possesseth. Now, realizing the poverty of our
+real lives, we ask Thee to bestow upon us those eternal riches which
+pertain to the human soul and possessing which we shall have treasure in
+that heaven within where moth and rust do not corrupt nor thieves break
+through and steal. So shall we be rich indeed. Amen.
+
+ FRANK OLIVER HALL.
+
+
+October 3
+
+ _Be strong!
+ We are not here to play, to dream, to drift.
+ We have hard work to do, and loads to lift.
+ Shun not the struggle; face it. 'Tis God's gift._
+
+ _Be strong!
+ Say not the days are evil,--who's to blame?
+ And fold the hands and acquiesce--O shame!
+ Stand up, speak out, and bravely, in God's name._
+
+ _Be strong!
+ It matters not how deep intrenched the wrong,
+ How hard the battle goes, the day how long,
+ Faint not, fight on! Tomorrow comes the song._
+
+ MALTBIE DAVENPORT BABCOCK.
+
+O our Father, we thank Thee for this new morning. Truly the light is
+sweet and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the same. Lift
+Thou upon us the light of Thy countenance and bid us go in peace. So
+shall we begin the day aright. With gentle skill Thou dost deal with us.
+Thou art not careless with us or hasty or impatient. Help us to be
+strong in Thee. May we be able to cast out of our lives everything that
+would grieve Thee and harm us. With a loving spirit may we serve Thee
+this day. May we be rooted and grounded in love. However hard the battle
+may go give us courage and confidence to believe that through Christ,
+strengthening us, we can do all things required of us. Lord, increase
+our faith. Amen.
+
+ J. E. HAWKINS.
+
+
+October 4
+
+ _Nobody proves God's being. But, suddenly, one sees God is here.
+ One speaks and God answers. Thereafter all is sure._
+
+ EDWARD EVERETT HALE.
+
+ _There is nothing that so persuades us of the great realities of
+ moral and spiritual being as the man in whom God is manifest, the
+ type of our human nature at its best, and the indorsement of the
+ sublime faith that God in humanity is the supreme revelation of
+ Himself!_
+
+ HORATIO STEBBINS.
+
+Blessed Father, as the morning light has triumphed in its struggle to
+overcome darkness, so Thou dost gently but irresistibly call us from
+slumber to the glories and duties of the new day. May we be strong in
+the sweet assurance that the unfolding hours are full of blessing
+because Thou art caring for us. Help us to do Thy will by enabling us to
+minister to those around us. May the words of our mouth and the industry
+of our hands reveal Thy guiding love. Enable us to order our ways by the
+habit of trust that we have learned through Thy constancy. Wilt Thou
+disappoint our fears, steady our hearts, and show us the way of
+obedience, peace and service that we may realize the good through the
+day and rejoice in it, as disciples of Christ. Amen.
+
+ JAMES D. CORBY.
+
+
+October 5
+
+ _Thou knowest not what argument
+ Thy life to thy neighbor's creed hath lent;
+ All are needed by each one;
+ Nothing is good or fair alone._
+
+ RALPH WALDO EMERSON.
+
+ _Men will not be content to live every man for himself, nor to die
+ every man for himself. In work, in art, in study, in trade--in all
+ life, indeed, the children of God, called by a Saviour's voice,
+ will wish to live in the common cause. They will live for the
+ common wealth,--this is the modern phrase. They will bear each
+ other's burdens,--this is the phrase of Paul. They will live in the
+ life of love. And it will prove true as it was promised, that all
+ things are added to the community which thus seeks the Kingdom of
+ God and His Righteousness._
+
+ EDWARD EVERETT HALE.
+
+Eternal God, who dost still create the light, and make the morning and
+the evening of our days, by Thy light we look to Thee. In Thy light we
+worship Thee. Gird us with strength to work with Thee to bring Thy
+Kingdom in. May we lose and find ourselves again in the larger whole of
+life by ministering to others' needs; by bearing others' burdens; by
+sharing their joys and tears and the common fruits of toil, thus making
+our life and faith in Thee become their own. Let Thy work appear unto
+Thy servants, and establish Thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the
+work of our hands establish Thou it; and let Thy beauty and Thy glory be
+upon us forever and ever. Amen.
+
+ C. E. HOLMES.
+
+
+October 6
+
+ _Master, to do great work for Thee, my hand
+ Is far too weak! Thou givest what may suit,
+ Some little chips to cut with care minute,
+ Or tint, or grave, or polish. Others stand
+ Before their quarried marble, fair and grand,
+ And make a life-work of the grand design
+ Which Thou hast traced; or, many-skilled, combine
+ To build vast temples, gloriously planned.
+ Yet take the tiny stones which I have wrought
+ Just one by one, as they were given by Thee,
+ Not knowing what came next in Thy wise thought.
+ Let each stone by Thy master-hand of grace
+ Form the mosaic as Thou wilt for me
+ And in Thy temple-pavement give it place._
+
+ FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL.
+
+Father, we are shortsighted and weak, and hence cannot do our best work
+without Thine aid. We rejoice in the privileges and opportunities of
+this day. Thou hast counted us worthy to work for Thee. Thou canst use
+our loaves and fishes, but dost require us to bring thus our little all
+for Thy blessing. We are inspired with hope to make our consecration to
+Thee. Make this a day of glorious service. Guide us in our thoughts and
+work. Glorify Thyself in our life. And wherever the close of this day
+may find us may it be with the feeling that we have done our best by Thy
+blessing and help. Amen.
+
+ J. W. FULTON.
+
+
+October 7
+
+ _"Whatever the weather may be," says he--
+ "Whatever the weather may be,
+ It's the songs ye sing, an' the smiles ye wear,
+ That's a-making the sun shine everywhere;
+ An' the world of gloom is a world of glee,
+ Wid the bird in the bush, an' the bud in the tree
+ An' the fruit on the stim o' the bough," says he,
+ "Whatever the weather may be," says he--
+ "Whatever the weather may be!"_
+
+ JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY.
+
+O Father of Lights, with whom can be no variation, neither shadow that
+is cast by turning, help us today so to trust Thee that our joy may be
+unclouded. Thy love is unchanging in its radiance and warmth. Therefore
+let it glow in me and through me light someone who may be in darkness. O
+strong Son of God, who art the same, yesterday, today, yea, and forever,
+enable us, we beseech Thee, to be brave and cheery as though Thyself
+wast in the darkest hours as in the brightest. Teach us that the storm
+and trial is just our opportunity to shine. Cleanse us of all
+disobedience and darkness. Be our constant Comforter. Let others see
+that it is Christ within us. Amen.
+
+ THOMAS W. SMITH.
+
+
+October 8
+
+ _Look up to God, and say, "Make use of me for the future as Thou
+ wilt. I am of the same mind; I am equal with Thee. I refuse nothing
+ which seems good to Thee. Lead me whither Thou wilt. Clothe me in
+ whatever dress Thou wilt. Is it Thy will that I should be in a
+ public or private condition; dwell here, or be banished; be poor or
+ rich? Under all these circumstances I will make Thy defence to men.
+ I will show what the nature of everything is."_
+
+ EPICTETUS.
+
+Merciful Father, we begin this day, knowing not what the end may be,
+with thoughts of Thee and Thy loving kindness. May this be to us a day
+of joy, a day upon which we can look back and say we have been blessed
+by Thee. We pray for that spirit that enabled others to labor in the
+cause of love and righteousness, and while we may not be able to
+accomplish all the good we have set our hearts upon, may the thought
+that our lives and our labors have not been in vain, inspire us and
+others with courage to continue the work of helping and blessing our
+fellowmen. Amen.
+
+ DONALD FRASER.
+
+
+October 9
+
+ _Men deny the Divine Existence with as little feeling as the most
+ assert it. Even in our true systems we go on collecting mere words,
+ playmarks and medals, as the misers do coins; and not till late do
+ we transmute the words into feelings, the coins into enjoyments. A
+ man may for twenty years believe the immortality of the soul; in
+ the one-and-twentieth, in some great moment, he for the first time
+ discovers with amazement the rich meaning of this belief, and the
+ warmth of this naphtha-well._
+
+ RICHTER.
+
+O Thou Who slumberest not, nor sleepest, in the dawn of this new day we
+look trustingly to Thee. While the night has been enfolding us, Thy
+loving care has held us in the everlasting arms. May this day be for us
+a fresh consecration. May we be ennobled in Thee. May we share Thy life
+in things small or great. However humble our lives--however emptied our
+experience of that which wins the plaudits of men, may we manifest Thee.
+By us may Thy Kingdom come and Thy will be done. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE H. YOUNG.
+
+
+October 10
+
+ _Thou wilt not hold in scorn the child who dares
+ Look up to Thee, the Father,--dares to ask
+ More than Thy wisdom answers. From Thy hand
+ The worlds were cast; yet every leaflet claims
+ From that same hand its little shining sphere
+ Of star-lit dew; thine image, the great sun,
+ Girt with his mantle of tempestuous flame,
+ Glares in mid-heaven; but to his noontide blaze
+ The slender violet lifts its lidless eye,
+ And from his splendor steals its fairest hue,
+ Its sweetest perfume from the scorching fire._
+
+ OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.
+
+Thou great Spirit of life and power, we do not shrink in terror before
+Thee, but come to Thee in trust and love. Though we cannot fathom the
+mystery of Thy life nor measure the might of Thy power, yet we have
+learned to call Thee Father; and even as the violet lifts its face to
+the noonday sun to find the secret of its life, so we lift our faces to
+Thee, to find the secret of our lives. Thou answerest us with
+tenderness. Thou speakest to us in love. Fresh from sleep, we put our
+hands in Thine to be led forth to the duties of the day. May we go forth
+with that confidence and hope, which are born of trust in Thee, our
+Father. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+October 11
+
+ _Now believe me, God hides some ideal in every human soul. Some
+ time in our life we feel a trembling, fearful longing to do some
+ good thing. Life finds its noblest spring of excellence in this
+ hidden impulse to do our best. There is a time when we are not
+ content to be such merchants or doctors or lawyers as we see on the
+ dead level or below it. The woman longs to glorify her womanhood as
+ sister, wife or mother. Here is God,--God standing silently at the
+ door all day long,--God whispering to the soul that to be pure and
+ true is to succeed in life and that whatever we get short of that
+ will burn up like stubble, though the whole world try to save it._
+
+ ROBERT COLLYER.
+
+God of all power and might, come into our lives with Thy might and Thy
+power. Awaken us from that slumber of death-in-life which easily and
+sweetly steals through the door, and, like some new Delilah, binds the
+strong will within. Come, come as the fresh morning sun, to drive away
+the mist of our sloth and indecision. Come, enter; and bring with Thee
+the upstirring power and the wide radiance of the life divine. Come,
+enter, and abide! When Thou art absent, though life be easy, it doth not
+satisfy us; but when Thou art present, though life be hard, it doth also
+content us. O God of all power and might, come Thou into our lives with
+Thy might and Thy power. Amen.
+
+ MELVIN BRANDOW.
+
+
+October 12
+
+ _If you really want to help your fellowmen, you must not merely
+ have in you what would do them good if they should take it from
+ you, but you must be such a man that they can take it from you. The
+ snow must melt upon the mountain and come down in a spring torrent,
+ before its richness can make the valley rich. And yet in every age
+ there are cold, hard, unsympathetic wise men standing up aloof,
+ like snow banks on the hill tops, conscious of the locked up
+ fertility in them and wondering that their wisdom does not save the
+ world._
+
+ PHILLIPS BROOKS.
+
+O Thou, who hast kept us safely during the unconsciousness of our
+slumbering hours and brought us refreshed to this morning light, prepare
+us for the duties of this day by filling us with the assurance that we
+are Thine, and that Thou lovest us. Help us to be more like Thee, to
+love Thee more and serve Thee better. May we manifest our love to Thee
+by our willingness to be of service to our fellowmen. Make us
+warm-hearted and true, helpful and kind, reflecting Thy love and doing
+Thy will. We are glad to live in this beautiful world. And we pray that
+we may be faithful co-laborers with Jesus Christ, in bringing light,
+love and joy to all lives. Amen.
+
+ EUGENE M. GRANT.
+
+
+October 13
+
+ _A few more smiles of silent sympathy, a few more tender words, a
+ little more restraint in temper, may make all the difference
+ between happiness and half-happiness to those I live with._
+
+ STOPFORD A. BROOKE.
+
+ _Others shall sing the song,
+ Others shall right the wrong,
+ Finish what I begin,
+ And all I fail to win,
+ What matter, I or they,
+ Mine or another's day,
+ So the right word be said,
+ And life the sweeter made?_
+
+ JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER.
+
+Father, so little of the world in which we live is Thy world, so much
+our world, the petty, dwarfed world of our own small vision, that we
+lose heart and fail to do our share. Help us to see that, as in the
+densest swamps the sweetest flowers grow, so, even in our darkest hours,
+we still may be sweet at heart, saying the word, doing the deed, giving
+the sympathy, that will make the world sing and blossom. If there are
+times when pain and darkness obscure our vision of Thee, help us to look
+on to the sunset of our day, when the black pall is transfigured at the
+touch of Thy glory,--when sorrow and failure transcended by gentleness
+are our beauty and salvation. Amen.
+
+ JOHN M. DAVIDSON.
+
+
+October 14
+
+ _There is not a man in the world who is not saved by hope every day
+ of his life. Rob one of hope and you have robbed him of his power.
+ Nothing may so quickly unnerve a man and render him helpless as to
+ take hope out of his heart. What is poverty? What is sickness? What
+ is disaster? What are daily burdens? What signifies the desertion
+ of friends, what of death itself so long as a man can hope? The man
+ who hopes will brush every difficulty out of the way. He will put
+ aside every suggestion of failure. Take hope out of a man's heart
+ and you have taken all. Put hope into a man's heart and you have
+ given all._
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+We thank Thee, O God, for the light of another morning, for the
+privilege of entering upon another day. We shall meet with those who do
+not understand life nor the world in which we live. It is to them only a
+place to bear burdens, to toil, to endure. Give us, O Father,
+understanding minds and hearts. Teach us to know that life is a great
+opportunity, that Thy plans for each one are very broad, that the world
+is full of open doors; and inspired by this knowledge may no despondent
+soul cross our path without being helped and made to feel that every
+life through the love of God and the guidance of God may be made
+sublime. Amen.
+
+ ALEXANDER DIGHT.
+
+
+October 15
+
+ _Ho! for the bending sheaves,
+ Ho! for the crimson leaves
+ Flaming in splendor!
+ Season of ripened gold,
+ Plenty in crib and fold,
+ Skies with a depth untold
+ Liquid and tender._
+
+ JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL.
+
+Source Infinite and Eternal of Light and Life; Creator of being flowing
+on forever; Minister far and wide of unspeakable bounty; Through whose
+power rise the riches of Nature; From whose abundance descend all gifts
+to man; Soul of our souls and safeguard of the world; To whom all
+Intelligence looks through every dawn; And by whose support the heart of
+man is stayed; Let there be to our steps paths of brightness; to our
+lives laws of justice, kindness, and trust, that we may abound in doing
+good and by grace, mercy, and truth duly shown, may obtain grateful
+remembrance evermore. Amen.
+
+ EDWARD C. TOWNE.
+
+
+October 16
+
+ _There is something in the autumn that is native to my blood
+ Touch of manner, hint of mood;
+ And my heart is like a rhyme,
+ With the yellow and the purple and the crimson keeping time._
+
+ _The scarlet of the maples can shake me like a cry
+ Of bugles going by.
+ And my lonely spirit thrills
+ To see the frosty asters like a smoke upon the hills._
+
+ RICHARD HOVEY.
+
+O Father, my heart is lonely till I feel Thy spirit near, and then the
+glory of the season brings a message to my soul. Help me now to see Thy
+master hand in the great beauty of the world. May my soul that feels the
+glad riot of color know that he who gives such beauty and bounty has for
+me far richer blessings in the great fields of the future. May this day,
+begun with Nature's rhythm be set with the music of holy purpose and
+noble service. And may the music sound not alone for me, but for others
+that we together may march forward in the spirit of Him who loved the
+lilies of the field and the fowls of the air. Amen.
+
+ CHARLES E. VARNEY.
+
+
+October 17
+
+ _Thousands of years ago a leaf fell on the soft clay, and seemed to
+ be lost. But last summer a geologist in his ramblings broke off a
+ piece of rock with his hammer, and there lay the image of the leaf,
+ with every line and every vein and all the delicate tracery
+ preserved in the stone through those centuries. So the words we
+ speak and the things we do today may seem to be lost, but in the
+ great final revealing the smallest of them will appear._
+
+ JAMES RUSSELL MILLER.
+
+Our Father we thank Thee for the light of this new day. Tenderly Thou
+hast withdrawn the curtain of the night and shown us the beauties and
+glories of Nature, reminding us of Thine own blessed verdict in the dawn
+of creation, "Behold they are very good." Good indeed, is it to live in
+such a world, and we thank Thee for our being. We ask this morning, dear
+Lord, not for the perishing things of earth, but for continued power and
+disposition to enjoy Thee and Thy works, for a faith that never wavers
+and a hope that never grows dim, for such a portion of this world's
+goods as the wise may enjoy without harm and the righteous hold without
+wrong. Amen.
+
+ JAMES SALLAWAY.
+
+
+October 18
+
+ _Nay, I wrong you, little flower,
+ Reading mournful mood of mine
+ In your looks, that give no sign
+ Of a spirit dark and cheerless:
+ You possess the heavenly power
+ That rejoices in the hour,
+ Glad, contented, free and fearless,--
+ Lifts a sunny face to heaven
+ When a sunny day is given;
+ Makes a summer of its own,
+ Blooming late and all alone._
+
+ HENRY VAN DYKE.
+
+We thank Thee, O Father, that, to those who obey the command of Jesus to
+consider them, the flowers become prophets of God and preachers of
+righteousness. We thank Thee for the worship which They render Thee, so
+pure, so brave, so glad, and so acceptable. They may not hinder Thee and
+Thou dost work Thy perfect will in them; O give us the wisdom and the
+grace to make Thee welcome to our hearts until in us also Thou shalt
+work Thy perfect will. So may we find our true use and felicity, and
+render unto Thee the praise that is Thy due. And this we ask through
+Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
+
+ CHARLES R. TENNEY.
+
+
+October 19
+
+ _Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness!
+ Close bosom friend of the maturing sun;
+ Conspiring with Him how to load and bless
+ With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run;
+ To bend with apples the moss'd cottage trees,
+ And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
+ To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel-shells
+ With a sweet kernel; to set to budding more
+ And still more later flowers for the bees,
+ Until they think warm days will never cease,
+ For summer has o'er brimmed their clammy cells._
+
+ JOHN KEATS.
+
+Our dear Heavenly Father, Thou hast ever been wooing us by a thousand
+influences and voices to Thyself and our souls are ever restless till
+they rest in Thy love. The voices of nature everywhere speak to us of
+Thy goodness and Thy power and all verdure and blossom and fruitage is
+but the answer of the inanimate world to Thy call of life. Shall we do
+less than these, O God, when upon us Thou hast stamped Thine own image
+and made our being the house beautiful for Thine indwelling! We are Thy
+disciples indeed if we bear much fruit and have love one for the other.
+Mould us, fashion us, mature us, dear Lord, till the angels, watching at
+the gates and on the towers, say we look like Thee. And this we ask in
+Jesus' name. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE M. SMILEY.
+
+
+October 20
+
+ _I pluck an acorn from the greensward, and hold it to my ear and
+ this is what it says to me: "By and by the birds will come and nest
+ in me. By and by I will furnish shade for the cattle. By and by I
+ will provide warmth for the home in the pleasant fire. By and by I
+ will be shelter from the storm to those who have gone under the
+ roof. By and by I will be the strong ribs of the great vessel, and
+ the tempest will beat against me in vain, while I carry men across
+ the Atlantic." "O foolish little acorn, wilt thou be all this?" I
+ ask. And the acorn answers, "Yes, God and I."_
+
+ LYMAN ABBOTT.
+
+Almighty God, we believe that Thou art present and controlling in all
+the operations of Nature. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without Thy
+notice. All life is of Thy giving. Plants, animals, and worlds alike are
+governed by Thy laws. We realize in some measure Thy Omnipotence. We
+should fear to draw near to Thee if Thou hadst not revealed Thyself to
+us in Jesus Christ as a God of love. Thou, O God, art love. We believe
+that Thou wilt give to all Thy children eternal life. As from the acorn
+comes the oak, clothed in royal beauty, seemingly life from death, so
+from what seems death shall our immortal spirits rise to dwell forever
+with Thee. We adore Thee, O God. We love Thee for Thy goodness and Thy
+love shown to us. Be gracious unto us and bless us for our Saviour's
+sake. Amen.
+
+ CYRUS NORTHROP.
+
+
+October 21
+
+ _I suppose every day of earth, with its hundred thousand deaths and
+ something more of births,--with its loves and hates, its triumphs
+ and defeats, its pangs and blisses, has more of humanity in it than
+ all the books that were ever written, put together. I believe the
+ flowers growing at this moment send up more fragrance to heaven
+ than was ever exhaled from all the essences ever distilled._
+
+ OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, Thou art in all nature and in all human history. If
+we really know our world and our fellowmen and ourselves, we shall know
+Thee. As we enter upon the work of this new day, we pray that we may
+feel Thy presence with us. Thou art never far away from us; we cannot
+get away from our world, and we cannot fly from ourselves. Thou art with
+Thy world and Thou art with Thy children. We ask not so much for Thy
+presence, as for the consciousness of Thy presence. May we learn to know
+Thee in the world about us and in the secret places of our own hearts.
+Then shall all life be fragrant and beautiful and this day somewhat
+divine. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+October 22
+
+ _The best thing to take people out of their own worries, is to go
+ to work and find out how other folk's worries are getting on._
+
+ MRS. A. D. T. WHITNEY.
+
+ _Socrates thought that if all our misfortunes were laid in one
+ common heap, whence every one must take an equal portion, most
+ persons would be content to take their own and depart._
+
+ PLUTARCH.
+
+Our Father in Heaven, the light of this new day is the light of Thy
+countenance, therefore we rejoice. In Thy sunshine our souls find
+strength for the burdens Thou dost give, and even through Thy shadows we
+reach the peace which passeth understanding. Yet Thou art comfort to us
+that we may comfort the troubled and the distressed with the comfort
+wherewith we ourselves are comforted. Set Thou our feet in the paths of
+service. Make us, we pray Thee, glad ministers of Thy mercy, and in
+binding up the wounds of others may we have balm for our own. By this
+day, may we grow in patience and power, and in the knowledge of Thy
+love. Amen.
+
+ LEON O. WILLIAMS.
+
+
+October 23
+
+ _Life has a thousand pages--love and scorn,
+ Hope and adventure, poverty and sin,
+ Despair and glory, loneliness forlorn,
+ Age, sorrow, exile, all are writ therein--;
+ And on each page, however stern or sad,
+ Are words which gleam upon the crabbed scroll,
+ Revealing words, that make our spirits glad,
+ And well are worth the study of the soul.
+ We may not lightly shrink from any leaf,
+ For on it may be writ the word we need.
+ God turns the page--whatever joy or grief
+ He opens for us, let us wisely read._
+
+ PRISCILLA LEONARD.
+
+Fill our souls with Thy light, O God, that we may ever hope. Give us the
+poise of endless progress. Make our souls free and joyous as the bird's
+wing. Give us the courage of our convictions in all places, under all
+conditions. Make us brave. Take away all forms of fear, whether of man,
+of nature, or of Thee, and make us feel that each is our mighty friend,
+but Thou supreme over all, faithful each moment to our being, in ten
+thousand sweet, true, tender, life-giving, life-sustaining ministries.
+Teach us to look for Thee everywhere, and to see Thy order, and Thy
+beauty, facing all things Heavenward. May our ideals be perfect
+holiness, perfect strength, perfect love, perfect service. Make our
+faith great in the higher estate, where our faculties, only dawning
+here, shall rise in a glorious morning of the soul. Amen.
+
+ A. N. ALCOTT.
+
+
+October 24
+
+ _Suppose a kindly word of mine
+ Could lift the clouds and bring sunshine;
+ Am I my brother's keeper?_
+
+ _Suppose the weary worker toils,
+ For scanty pittance delves and moils;
+ Am I my brother's keeper?_
+
+ _Suppose in penury and fear
+ My neighbor see the wolf draw near;
+ Am I my brother's keeper?_
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ _Perhaps--who knows?--perhaps I'm not!
+ Self-centred soul! hast thou forgot
+ The marvel of our common lot,
+ The mystic tie that binds us all
+ Who dwell on this terrestrial ball,
+ Stupendous hope of time and song,
+ The bourne for which the ages long?
+ How hard our hearts must seem to Thee,
+ Exhaustless Fount of Charity!_
+
+ HENRY NEHEMIAH DODGE.
+
+We thank Thee, our Father, for the light of a new day and for its
+opportunities of service for Thee and Thy great Cause. We rejoice that
+Thou dost not only set duty clearly before us, but also dost grant power
+to perform it. May we realize not only that we are "our brother's
+keeper," and that our lives are helpful or harmful every day, but may we
+be increasingly grateful that we may every day by Thy grace be
+fellow-helpers and workers together with God. Amen.
+
+ WILLIAM FULL.
+
+
+October 25
+
+ _It is of no use to dispute about the Indian Summer. I never found
+ two people who could agree as to the time when it ought to be here,
+ or upon a month and day when it should be decidedly too late to
+ look for it. It keeps coming. For my part, I think we get it now
+ and then, little by little, as "the Kingdom" comes. That every
+ soft, warm, mellow, hazy, golden day, like each fair, fragrant
+ life, is a part and out-crop of it; though weeks of gale and frost,
+ or ages of cruel worldliness and miserable sin may lie between._
+
+ MRS. A. D. T. WHITNEY.
+
+Vouchsafe Thy blessing, O Heavenly Father, upon this morning service of
+thanksgiving and prayer. We thank Thee that each year Thou sendest
+seed-time and harvest, to us Thy children. For the beauty and bounty of
+the Autumn, for all Thy material gifts, for friends and home, and for
+our precious Christian faith, we are deeply grateful to Thee. Give us
+the attentive mind, the receptive heart, that we may see Thy providence
+and love in every event of life. Banish fear and doubt from our minds.
+Guard us from all temptations. May the Spirit of Christ abide in our
+hearts, and enable us to glorify Thee in all our works and lives. In its
+power and glory may Thy Kingdom come, and remain upon the earth forever.
+Amen.
+
+ ELBERT W. WHITNEY.
+
+
+October 26
+
+ _Pleasant smiles, gentle tones, cheery greetings, tempers sweet
+ under a headache or a business care or the children's noise; the
+ ready bubbling over of thoughtfulness for one another, and the
+ habits of smiling, greeting, forbearing, thinking in these ways; it
+ is these above all else which makes one's home "a building of God;
+ a house not made with hands," these that we hear in the song of
+ "Home, Sweet Home."_
+
+ WILLIAM C. GANNETT.
+
+Almighty Father, the light of another day breaks in upon our lives, to
+reveal to us unfinished tasks and unsought duties. The sorrows and joys
+of the coming day are hidden from our sight, enswathed in the folded
+hours of toil. But Thou knowest all our heedless ways and tempers that
+chafe from impatience; Thou seest the measure of our needs and dost
+consider our desires. Give unto us the consciousness of Thine
+everlasting arms about us. And then when the shadows lengthen and the
+twilight hushes the hum of toil, our spirits shall know no weariness and
+bear no stain. Give ear unto this our morning prayer, O Thou Light of
+Light. Amen.
+
+ FRANCIS TREADWAY CLAYTON.
+
+
+October 27
+
+ _How can people help loving things, when they are full of life
+ magnetism, that even a finger touch gets the thrill of?_
+
+ _It is not the sunshine, or any other tangible why, that accounts
+ for the pleasantness of old house corners. It is the pureness and
+ the pleasantness that have clustered there; the very walls have
+ drunk these in._
+
+ MRS. A. D. T. WHITNEY.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, wilt Thou keep our home life bright and sweet?
+Guard our lips from harsh words, our lives from shame. If quarrels
+arise, help us to be the first to forgive and forget. In the hour of
+temptation may we say no, because of a father's splendid honor, and a
+mother's pure face! In the time of trial or seeming defeat may we be
+brave and of good cheer! Teach us that home is made dear, not by its
+furnishings, but by the memories and inspirations of the hours we spent
+under its roof with those who loved us and were always tender and true!
+Bind us together in the bonds of love and peace, and keep us always
+united and a happy family. Amen.
+
+ HENRY R. ROSE.
+
+
+October 28
+
+ _There are loyal hearts, there are spirits brave,
+ There are souls that are pure and true;
+ Then give to the world the best you have,
+ And the best shall come back to you._
+
+ _Give love, and love to your heart will flow,
+ A strength in your utmost need;
+ Have faith, and a score of hearts will show
+ Their faith in your word and deed._
+
+ _For life is the mirror of king and slave,
+ 'Tis just what you are and do;
+ Then give to the world the best you have,
+ And the best will come back to you._
+
+ MADELINE S. BRIDGES.
+
+Almighty Father, we come to Thee for a Father's blessing, that this day
+we may go about Thy work and enter into Thy business, alive in Thy
+spirit and strong in Thy strength. We ask this for ourselves, each of
+us, that we may be knit to each other as brothers with brothers, to bear
+each other's burdens. We ask it most of all for home, that in home-life
+there always may be joy and peace and love, each seeking another's good,
+brothers and sisters with sisters and brothers, fathers and mothers with
+their children, that home may be the place of Thy holy spirit and the
+home of joy. Today we would come and go as Thy messengers, in our own
+lives welcoming the Father, who is with us seeking Thy strength and
+asking for Thy good will. Bless us today with Thy blessing. Amen.
+
+ _Edward Everett Hale._
+
+
+October 29
+
+ _We are never more discontented with others than when we are
+ discontented with ourselves. The consciousness of wrongdoing makes
+ us irritable, and our heart in its cunning quarrels with what is
+ outside it, in order that it may deafen the clamor within._
+
+ _In the conduct of life, habits count for more than maxims, because
+ habit is a living maxim, become flesh and instinct. To reform one's
+ maxims is nothing; it is but to change the title of the book. To
+ learn new habits is everything, for it is to reach the substance of
+ life. Life is but a tissue of habits._
+
+ HENRI-FREDERIC AMIEL.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, we pray that our daily life may take on that
+dignity and calmness and tranquillity which are the possession of those
+who truly and inwardly trust and confide in the eternal Goodness, who
+believe that our days are ordered by a Higher Power, and that through
+all there runs a thread,--a chain of Infinite Love, binding us all to
+Thee and to one common universal good and blessedness. In this faith,
+keep us, O Holy Father, and, filled with love to Thee and to our
+neighbor, may we pursue our way and do our work, anxious only to have
+Thee in all our thoughts. In Thy name, Amen.
+
+ JOSHUA YOUNG.
+
+
+October 30
+
+ _Thus pass away the generations of men!--thus perish the records of
+ the glory of nations! Yet, when every emanation of the human mind
+ has faded, when in the storms of time the monuments of man's
+ creative art are scattered to the dust, an ever new life springs
+ from the bosom of the earth. Unceasingly prolific Nature unfolds
+ her germs, regardless though sinful man, ever at war with himself,
+ tramples beneath his foot the ripening fruit!_
+
+ ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT.
+
+Infinite Spirit, Thou buildest the monuments of Thy power in the rocks
+of the mountains, but Thou buildest the monuments of Thy love in the
+hearts of men. When the bodies and the works of men have perished the
+rocks will abide and the trees will bear their fruit. But when the rocks
+have crumbled the souls of men will abide. If that which is seen is
+temporal, we thank Thee O Lord, that the unseen is eternal. We are awed
+by the majesty of the seas and the mountains. But we are inspired by the
+immortality of the soul. Heavenly Father, may we live today as if made
+for eternity. So may our lives be dignified and glorified. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+October 31
+
+ _God doth not need
+ Either man's work, or His own gifts, who best
+ Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best; His state
+ Is kingly; thousands at His bidding speed
+ And post o'er land and ocean without rest:--
+ They also serve who only stand and wait._
+
+ JOHN MILTON.
+
+O God, who didst give to Thy servant light in his blindness and music in
+the heart, grant that I may this day be swift to run on all errands of
+mercy and truth, or patient to wait Thy will, if so Thou commandest.
+Make me as unswerving as are the stars above me, as trustful as the
+birds who sing at dawn, and fear not what the day may bring. May I be
+strong to resist all evil, and cleave to that which is good. May I be
+conscious that in the loneliest hour Thou art near, and in the most
+solitary place there is the communion of saints. May Thy power flow
+through human weakness, and may all the trials and testings of life lead
+me constantly to the Rock that is higher than I. So may Thy will be done
+in my life as it is in heaven. Amen.
+
+ W. H. P. FAUNCE.
+
+
+November 1
+
+ _I saw the long line of the vacant shore
+ The sea-weed and the shells upon the sand,
+ And the brown rocks left bare on every hand,
+ As if the ebbing tide would flow no more,
+ Then heard I, more distinctly than before,
+ The ocean breathe and its great breast expand,
+ And hurrying came on the defenceless land
+ The insurgent waters with tumultuous roar.
+ All thought and feeling and desire, I said,
+ Love, laughter, and the exultant joy of song
+ Have ebbed from me forever! Suddenly o'er me
+ They swept again from their deep ocean bed
+ And in a tumult of delight, and strong
+ As youth, and beautiful as youth, upbore me._
+
+ HENRY W. LONGFELLOW.
+
+We give Thee hearty thanks, most Holy Father that Thou hast not
+delivered up our souls to the emptiness and longing of despair. In Thy
+mercy and wisdom hast Thou ordained that we may taste ever afresh the
+deepest joys of life and ever anew feel the thrill of its loftiest
+inspirations. Like the sea is our life for its largeness; like the sea
+in its ebbs and flows. O Father of Life, flood our souls this day with a
+tide from the ocean of Thine own love lifting our lives to highest
+service and bliss. And Thine shall be all the honor and praise. Amen.
+
+ E. W. LUTTERMAN.
+
+
+November 2
+
+ _The bird, let loose in Eastern skies,
+ When hastening fondly home,
+ Ne'er stoops to earth her wing, nor flies
+ Where idle warblers roam.
+ But high she shoots through air and light
+ Above all low delay,
+ Where nothing earthly bounds her flight,
+ Nor shadow dims her way._
+
+ _So grant me, God, from every care,
+ And stain of passion free,
+ Aloft, through Virtue's purer air,
+ To hold my course to Thee!
+ No sin to cloud--no lure to stay
+ My soul, as home she springs;--
+ Thy sunshine on her joyful way,
+ Thy freedom in her wings!_
+
+ THOMAS MOORE.
+
+O God, who art both life and truth, the Author of our being and the
+light which lighteneth all, the source of our soul's life, and the goal
+towards which we strive, as cleaves the lark at dawn the heavenly blue,
+so may our souls be freed from sense, whose music siren-like would seek
+to draw us from our flight to Thee. As that same bird rejoices in the
+morning light, and sounds its note of praise, so may our souls be tuned
+to heavenly symphonies, and may the sunshine of Thy love, resplendent in
+secure omnipotence, give glad assurance to our hearts, nor cease to
+guide our way, until we reach that central orb, our soul's true home,
+and find eternal rest in Thee. Amen.
+
+ ALBERT B. SHIELDS.
+
+
+November 3
+
+ _There is ever a song somewhere, my dear;
+ There is ever a something sings alway:
+ There's the song of the lark when the skies are clear
+ And the song of the thrush when the skies are gray,
+ The sunshine showers across the grain,
+ And the bluebird trills in the orchard tree;
+ And in and out, when the eaves drip rain,
+ The swallows art twittering ceaselessly._
+
+ _There is ever a song somewhere, my dear,
+ Be the skies above or dark or fair,
+ There is ever a song that our hearts may hear--
+ There is ever a song somewhere, my dear--
+ There is ever a song somewhere!_
+
+ JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY.
+
+O God, the Giver of all harmony and joy, before whom the morning stars
+sang together, by Whom the voice of the sparrow is heard, we thank Thee
+that we may serve Thee with gladness and come before Thy presence with
+singing. Put Thy new song into our mouths and help us to render the
+acceptable praises of the upright and pure in heart. Help us to love all
+Thy creatures and to delight in the songs Thou hast taught them.
+Especially enable us to bless our brother men, to hush their sighing and
+swell their singing, to strengthen the chorus of joy and praise with
+which Thou hast ordained the world shall be filled. We ask with
+confidence because we know Thy love. Amen.
+
+ J. FRANCIS COOPER.
+
+
+November 4
+
+ _The snow has capped yon distant hill,
+ At morn the running brook was still,
+ From driven herds the clouds that rise
+ Are like the smoke of sacrifice;
+ Ere long the frozen sod shall mark
+ The ploughshare, changed to stubborn rock.
+ The brawling stream shall soon be done--
+ Sing, little bird! the frosts have come._
+
+ OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.
+
+Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, Thou art the giver of all good gifts,
+and all that comes from Thy hand is good. May we accept Thy providences.
+In the dreary days of winter as in the pleasant summer season, Thy
+mercies are new every morning and fresh every evening. Even when our
+hearts are chilled with grief and disappointment and failure, we would
+still put our trust in the eternal goodness. Help us, O God, to be truly
+grateful for everything that comes to us. In the winter of the soul may
+we learn the lessons of patience and resignation. Thus, with faith
+triumphant and with hearts full of gladness may we sing our songs of
+praise to Thy holy name forever and forever. Amen.
+
+ ARTHUR W. GROSE.
+
+
+November 5
+
+ _It is will alone that matters!
+ Will alone that mars or makes,
+ Will, that no distraction scatters,
+ And that no resistance breaks._
+
+ HENRIK IBSEN.
+
+ _No man can choose what coming hours may bring
+ To him of need, of joy, of suffering;
+ But what his soul shall bring unto each hour
+ To meet its challenge--this is in his power._
+
+ PRISCILLA LEONARD.
+
+Infinite God, Who perceivest the destinies of worlds and of men; Who
+bringest to pass all that we enjoy, and Who permittest all that we
+suffer; may I this day be enabled to recognize Thy Fatherly goodness, in
+the morning mists, even as in the noonday brightness! Should sorrow
+becloud my pathway, should disappointment make its keen thrusts, should
+temptation lay its attractive coils, may my soul be made aware of Thy
+consoling presence, enjoy the compensations of Thy grace, assert the
+potency of the wisdom from above! And mayest Thou reveal Thyself! So may
+be fanned to a flame the divine spark in my heart, whereby all are made
+partakers of the victory with and through our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.
+
+ ERNEST W. BURCH.
+
+
+November 6
+
+ _"Yes," she answered, lifting her eyes to his face; "I, too, have
+ felt it, Hermas, this burden, this need, this unsatisfied longing.
+ I think I know what it means. It is gratitude;--the language of the
+ heart, the music of happiness. There is no perfect joy without
+ gratitude. But we have never learned it, and the want of it
+ troubles us. It is like being dumb with a heart full of love. We
+ must find the word for it, and say it together. Then we shall be
+ perfectly joined in perfect joy."_
+
+ HENRY VAN DYKE.
+
+Almighty God, forbid that we shall ever be satisfied with the rich gifts
+of Thy land, or until the gifts have brought us, appreciative, humble,
+grateful, to Thee, the giver of them all. Help us to see that this is
+their high office, disregarding which the noblest of them becomes a
+stumbling block, accepting which the humblest of them becomes a means of
+grace and of surpassing gladness. Move us, then, to such acceptance of
+Thy favors as shall bring us to Thee rejoicing, that we may need less
+the experiences which shall bring us to Thee weeping. And hallow all our
+human loves by lifting us to a common sense and acknowledgment of Thy
+transcendent love, as shown especially in Jesus Christ. Amen.
+
+ CHARLES R. TENNEY.
+
+
+November 7
+
+ _"What is the real good?"
+ I asked, in musing mood.
+ "Order," said the court;
+ "Knowledge," said the school,
+ "Truth," said the wise man,
+ "Pleasure," said the fool,
+ "Love," said the maiden,
+ "Beauty," said the page,
+ "Freedom," said the dreamer,
+ "Home," said the sage;
+ "Fame," said the soldier,
+ "Equity," said the seer.
+ Spake my heart full sadly--
+ "The answer is not here."
+ Then within my bosom
+ Softly this I heard:
+ "Each heart holds the secret;
+ Kindness is the word."_
+
+ JOHN BOYLE O'REILLY.
+
+Oh, Father, we are in a world of wonder and of bountiful promise. We
+scarcely know which to choose. Of all life's quests we would seek the
+highest and best. Thou art a Lord gracious and kind. Grace is but
+another name for kindness. It is this which is pronounced as a
+benediction Sabbath after Sabbath, and for which we lift up our faces
+morning after morning, to receive. Crown us with Thy loving kindness and
+tender mercies. But not for ourselves alone! As we meet the weary and
+heavy burdened in life, inspire us to show them the kindness of our God.
+As freely as we have received, so freely may we impart. Amen.
+
+ W. G. RICHARDSON.
+
+
+November 8
+
+ _What a blessed thing it is that we can forget! Today's troubles
+ look large, but a week hence they will be forgotten and buried out
+ of sight. Says one writer, "If you should keep a book and daily put
+ down the things that worry you, and see what becomes of them, it
+ would be a benefit to you." The art of forgetting is a blessed art,
+ but the art of overlooking is quite as important._
+
+ AUGHEY.
+
+Lord, we know not the path our feet must walk today; yet we are not
+anxious. "Thy word will be a lamp to our feet," and what we need to know
+Thou wilt reveal just when we need to know it. Help us not to forget
+that we are under our Father's care; that He knoweth our frame, that He
+will not unduly burden us; that He will not "suffer us to be tempted
+beyond that which we are able to bear;" that He will make "all things
+work together for good to them that love Him." So may this day be one of
+peace to us, and through us may some troubled heart find rest. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE SKENE
+
+
+November 9
+
+ _Learn to laugh. A good laugh is better than medicine. Learn to
+ tell a story. A well told story is as welcome as a sunbeam in a
+ sick room. Learn to keep your own troubles to yourself. The world
+ is too busy to care for your ills and sorrows. Learn to do
+ something for others. Even if you are a bedridden invalid there is
+ always something that you can do to make others happier, and that
+ is the surest way to attain happiness for yourself._
+
+ THE BEACON.
+
+Father of all mankind, may the spirit of cheer mark this new day. May
+the smile of Thy benediction rest upon us, and give courage to meet the
+duty and bear the burden. Help us each moment to know something of the
+highest joy of serving Thee. May that joy never be absent from our pain.
+May it consecrate every pleasure. May it lift us nearer the stature of
+the Christ, that the light of our life may shed its beams on the pathway
+of other lives,--a light in their darkness, an assurance of sympathy in
+affliction, an inspiration to do and endure. So may all gladly go to
+their appointed duty, one with Thee, even as Christ, whose followers we
+aim to be. Amen.
+
+ CHARLES T. BILLINGS.
+
+
+November 10
+
+ _Take whatever is good in man, and argue that God is not only that,
+ but infinitely better than that. In fashioning your conception of
+ God, make it as resplendent in justice, as august in truth, as
+ noble and pure in love, as radiant and wondrous in pity, as
+ enduring as you please. Never be afraid that you will overdraw the
+ divine character. God is never better in your thought or
+ imagination than He is in Himself._
+
+ HENRY WARD BEECHER.
+
+Almighty God, we thank Thee for the great thoughts and high hopes which
+lie deep in human hearts. We thank Thee for the visions of the perfect
+life which lead us ever toward the light. We long to follow those who
+lead the way to Thee. By faith and love may we be bound to them. As
+voices of Thy spirit may they be to us. Bless us this day with hunger
+for righteousness. Feed us with the bread of life. Endow us with high
+hopes and determined wills, that we may be faithful. Amen.
+
+ FREDERICK W. BETTS.
+
+
+November 11
+
+ _There was a man who smiled
+ Because the day was bright;
+ Because he slept at night;
+ Because God gave him sight
+ To gaze upon his child!
+ Because his little one
+ Could leap and laugh and run;
+ Because the distant sun
+ Smiled on the earth, he smiled._
+
+ _He toiled and still was glad
+ Because the air was free;
+ Because he loved, and she
+ That claimed his love and he
+ Shared all the joys they had!
+ Because the grasses grew;
+ Because the sweet wind blew;
+ Because that he could hew
+ And hammer he was glad._
+
+ S. E. KISER.
+
+O Lord, who dost bountifully provide for us the necessities and comforts
+of life, and makest us glad in the enjoyment of the same; grant, we
+beseech Thee, that we may so use these, Thy gifts, that in all our
+blessings we find Thee to be the source and author of all our
+happiness--of our health and prosperity, of our joys and hopes, and of
+the holy relations of friends and family; lest, resting content in that
+which is less, we fail to attain to that which is greatest--truly to
+know Thee and to love Thee, which is the very end of our being and the
+consummation of all bliss; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
+
+ WILLIAM H. P. HATCH.
+
+
+November 12
+
+ _I have seen
+ A curious child, who dwelt upon a tract
+ Of inland ground, applying to his ear
+ The convolutions of a smooth-lipped shell;
+ To which, in silence hushed, his very soul
+ Listened intensely; and his countenance soon
+ Brightened with joy; for from within were heard
+ Murmurings, whereby the monitor expressed
+ Mysterious union with its native sea:
+ Even such a shell the universe itself
+ Is to the ear of Faith; and there are times,
+ I doubt not, when to you it doth impart
+ Authentic tidings of invisible things;
+ Of ebb and flow, and ever-during power;
+ And central peace, subsisting at the heart
+ Of endless agitation._
+
+ WILLIAM WORDSWORTH.
+
+Father of Lights, with whom can be no variation or shadow that is cast
+by turning, give to me the joy of the love that endures as seeing Him
+who is invisible; that where Thy speaking voice is, there may be my
+listening ear; that above the waste and clamor of the tasks that exhaust
+me in bodily strength, there may be supplied a power of will to do the
+right and a fellowship with all righteous men everywhere. Help me to
+remember that Life consists not in the abundance of the things I
+possess. Let my faith see through doubt, endure through temptation and
+privation, and cleave steadfastly to God, remembering that Love
+believing is Love triumphing. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
+
+ ADOLPH A. BERLE.
+
+
+November 13
+
+ _When Jeremy Taylor had lost all--when his house had been plundered
+ and his family driven out of doors, and all his worldly estate had
+ been sequestered--he could still write thus: "I am fallen into the
+ hands of publicans and sequesterers, and they have taken all from
+ me. What now? Let me look about me. They have left me the sun and
+ moon, a loving wife and many friends to pity me, and some to
+ relieve me; and I can still discourse, and, unless I list, they
+ have not taken away my merry countenance and my cheerful spirit and
+ a good conscience; they have still left me the providence of God,
+ and all the promises of the Gospel, and my religion, and my hopes
+ of heaven, and my charity to them, too; and still I sleep and
+ digest, I eat and drink, I read and meditate--and he that hath so
+ many causes of joy and so great, is very much in love with sorrow
+ and peevishness, who leaves all these pleasures, and chooses to sit
+ down upon his little handful of thorns."_
+
+ SAMUEL SMILES.
+
+Father of all mercies, Who Thyself art more to us than the utmost of Thy
+gifts; we thank Thee for those blessings of our life which come like the
+manna fresh every morning and pass with the passing day. Still more we
+thank Thee for the blessings which abide, like a pillar of cloud by day
+and fire by night, witness of Thine own presence ever continuing with
+us. Give us grace and wisdom so to receive the ministries of this new
+day, that by means of them we may enter more fully into the Divine
+friendship and the everlasting habitations. Whatever may fail us, grant
+us such hold upon Thyself as shall be the having of all things, through
+Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
+
+ JAMES FAIRBAIRN BRODIE.
+
+
+November 14
+
+ _Native goodness is unconscious, asks not to be recognized;
+ But its baser affectation is a thing to be despised.
+ Only when the man is loyal to himself shall he be prized._
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ _If I live the life He gave me, God will turn it to His use._
+
+ BAYARD TAYLOR.
+
+ _Live not without a friend! the Alpine rock must own
+ Its mossy grace or else be nothing but a stone._
+
+ _Live not without a God! however low or high,
+ In every house should be a window to the sky._
+
+ WILLIAM WETMORE STORY.
+
+Eternal God, who hast neither dawn nor evening, yet sendest us alternate
+mercies of the darkness and the day; there is no light but Thine,
+without, within. As Thou liftest the curtain of night from our abodes,
+take also the veil from our hearts. Rise with Thy morning upon our
+souls: quicken all our labor and our prayer: and though all else
+declines, let the noontide of Thy grace and peace remain. May we walk,
+while it is yet day, in the steps of Him who, with fewest hours,
+finished Thy divinest work. Amen.
+
+ JAMES MARTINEAU.
+
+
+November 15
+
+ _I found it difficult the other night to cross a muddy street
+ because of the deep shadow cast by my own body which stood between
+ the electric light and the walk over which I was crossing. Not a
+ little of the time, I fear, do we stand in our own spiritual light,
+ making our own pathway black with ugly shadows cast by our own
+ personality, while the light flashes all around us. If you would
+ avoid the shadows walk toward the electric light in the heavens and
+ let its beams fall in your face._
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+Our pathway, Heavenly Father, is dark and lone. Sad and sinister
+suggestions born in our own hearts blind our souls and stay our steps.
+But with Thee there is no night. Light is Thy shadow. Unto Thee,
+therefore, we would turn in the sweet surrender of the spirit. In our
+darkness which leadeth unto death show us the way. Walking by Thy
+guidance, intent upon Thy will, may we rest with unforgetting memory
+upon Thy sevenfold promise of life. Give us the gift of the morning
+star. With Thee by our side may this new day bring us a new vision of
+duty, a larger girding for life, the nobler hope, the truth that makes
+men free. And unto Thee be thanks, praise and glory.
+
+ Amen.
+
+ FRANKLIN HAMILTON.
+
+
+November 16
+
+ _The first principle of Christianity is to forget one's self. When
+ Wilberforce was straining every energy to get his bill for the
+ emancipation of slaves passed, a lady once said to him, "Mr.
+ Wilberforce, I'm afraid you are so busy about those slaves that you
+ are neglecting your own soul." "True, madam," he said; "I had quite
+ forgotten that I have one." That remark contains one of the deepest
+ truths of Christianity._
+
+ HENRY DRUMMOND.
+
+O Lord, give us the mind of the Master! We would look on our fellow
+creatures as he looked on them. We would be free from all taint of envy,
+jealousy, and sin. We would have his single eye and his hearing ear. We
+know that Thou art in man, for it is Thy spirit which quickens within
+him every pure thought and moves to every unselfish deed. Give us a due
+sense of humility and appreciation that we may enter into the secret
+thought and understand the sincere purpose of all the toilers of this
+present world! Thus would we abide forever with the saints, the seers,
+and the singers, of all climes and ages!
+ Amen.
+
+ EBEN H. CHAPIN.
+
+
+November 17
+
+ _Do we not know that more than half our trouble is borrowed? Just
+ suppose that we could get rid of all unnecessary and previous
+ terror; just suppose that we could be sure of final victory in
+ every conflict, and final emergence out of every shadow into
+ brighter day; how our hearts would be lightened! How much more
+ bravely we should work and fight and march forward! This is the
+ courage to which we are entitled and which we may find in the
+ thought that God is with us everywhere._
+
+ HENRY VAN DYKE.
+
+O Gracious and Infinite Presence, Thou art the peace that dwells in the
+shade of night and the brightness and hope of this new day. We are
+gratefully conscious of the loving strength that stands ever ready to
+help. The call of the day's work is in our ears and the courage manfully
+to labor is in our hearts. Strengthen us, Father, when weariness of toil
+dissolves our noble resolutions; calm us when petty vexations distract
+from our holy purposes. May midday find us refreshed by Thy grace and
+eventide solaced by Thy benediction. And now as we go forth to duty let
+our hearts know no terror but the fear of wrong-doing and our minds no
+anxiety but the earnest desire to toil fruitfully. Grant that we may see
+beneath life's busy activities the great good Thou art working out among
+men and to this end learn to labor and to wait. Amen.
+
+ CHARLES R. EAST.
+
+
+November 18
+
+ _There is no thing we cannot overcome.
+ Say not thy evil instinct is inherited,
+ Or that some trait inborn makes thy whole life forlorn,
+ And calls down punishment that is not merited.
+ Back of thy parents and grandparents lies
+ The Great Eternal Will. That, too, is thine
+ Inheritance, strong, beautiful, divine,
+ Sure lever of success, for him who tries.
+ Pry up thy faults with this great lever, Will,
+ However deeply bedded in propensity,
+ However firmly set, I tell thee firmer yet
+ Is that strange power that comes from truth's immensity!_
+
+ ELLA WHEELER WILCOX.
+
+O Eternal Goodness, help us now, as another morning dawns, to readjust
+ourselves to Thy purpose of blessing. We believe that the most certain,
+significant and permanent fact of the universe is that Thou art our
+Father. Thus we are the heirs of Thy sufficient grace. There is no curse
+of ancestry for him who knows Thee as His parent. There is no weakness
+of the flesh for him who, through touch with Thee, becomes strong in the
+spirit. Help us all through this day to deny the chain of every earthly
+folly and sin, to stand erect and free as becometh children of the
+Infinite. So, finding and using the wisdom of our Master, who, most of
+all men, gained success, may we overcome the world. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE E. HUNTLEY.
+
+
+November 19
+
+ _All things seem rushing straight into the dark--
+ But the dark still is God._
+
+ GEORGE MACDONALD.
+
+ _Love is and was my king and lord,
+ And will be, tho' as yet I keep
+ Within the court on earth, and sleep
+ Encompass'd by his faithful guard,_
+
+ _And here at times a sentinel
+ Who moves about from place to place,
+ And whispers to the worlds of space,
+ In the deep night, that all is well._
+
+ ALFRED TENNYSON.
+
+O God, our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee that Thou hast led us into
+this new day. We thank Thee also, that, though its experiences are
+untried and its issues involved in uncertainty, we are unafraid, full
+indeed of glad expectation, because we know Thee as our King and Lord.
+Help us in obedience and love to keep close to Thee, so that, if ever
+quick darkness shall come upon us, we may still be undisturbed because
+of Thy presence, to whom the darkness and the light are both alike. This
+we ask in the name of Him who loved us and gave Himself for us. Amen.
+
+ CHARLES R. TENNEY.
+
+
+November 20
+
+ _Let thy day be to thy night
+ A letter of good tidings. Let thy praise
+ Go up as birds go up, that when they wake
+ Shake off the dew and soar; so take joy home
+ And make a place in thy heart for her,
+ And give her time to grow and cherish her;
+ Then will she come and oft will sing to thee
+ When thou art working in the furrows; ay,
+ Or weeding in the sacred hour of dawn.
+ It is a comely fashion to be glad--
+ Joy is the grace we say to God._
+
+ JEAN INGELOW.
+
+Our Father, we thank Thee for the blessings of night. In this new
+morning hour, we pray for stout hearts and strong to meet the day's
+work. May we go forth with a song on our lips and the joy of renewed
+youth in our souls. Amid the tumults of the day enable us to hear Thy
+becalming voice. Then, though in dreariest labor, we shall have glad
+hearts, though pressed by dullest cares, we shall keep uncrushed hopes,
+though distracted by earth's din, we shall hear heaven's music. Abide
+with us, Benign Spirit. Inspire us to do our duty, and to learn that
+therein, alone, may true joy be found. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE RUNYON LONGBRAKE.
+
+
+November 21
+
+ _The weather-prophet tells us of an approaching storm. It comes
+ according to the programme. We admire the accuracy of the
+ prediction, and congratulate ourselves that we have such a good
+ meteorological service. But when, perchance, a bright crystalline
+ piece of weather arrives instead of the foretold tempest, do we not
+ feel a secret sense of pleasure which goes beyond our mere comfort
+ in the sunshine? The whole affair is not as easy as a sum in simple
+ addition, after all,--at least not with our present knowledge. It
+ is a good joke on the Weather Bureau. "Aha, Old Probabilities!" we
+ say, "You don't know it all yet; there are still some chances to be
+ taken!"_
+
+ HENRY VAN DYKE.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, Thou hast covered us with the darkness and we have
+slept under the shadow of Thy care. Thou hast opened for us again the
+gates of the morning, and refreshed, we rise to praise Thee. The memory
+of mercies past inspires our hope for today. Reveal Thyself to us by Thy
+spirit and through Thy word; make nature to minister to us in the
+heavens above and the fields below; let every experience lead us toward
+Thyself. Help us to see Thy face in those about us, and honor Thee in
+loving, helpful ministry to them. Bring to us today a fresh and larger
+sense of Thy presence, forgiveness, and care, and so the assurance that
+all things are working together for our good. In the name of Jesus
+Christ our Saviour. Amen.
+
+ SAMUEL H. GREENE.
+
+
+November 22
+
+ "_I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills._"
+
+ PSALM cxxi. 1.
+
+ _Peace is the message of the hills,
+ A peace that broods
+ Upon their mighty heads, and fills
+ Their forest solitudes;
+ The leaping mountain waterfalls,
+ As each unto the other calls,
+ Blend in a murmuring noise
+ Whose silver rushing music stills
+ The pretty play of human moods,
+ And bids the calmed soul rejoice
+ In the deep secrets of the woods,
+ The majesty of Nature's voice._
+
+ PRISCILLA LEONARD.
+
+Dear God and Father of us all, Who maketh Thy sun to rise out of the sea
+and tintest the hills with the rosy promise of the day, we look up when
+we awake and seeing the light upon the mountains know that the day is
+coming to fill the world with beauty and glory. With thankful hearts we
+praise Thee, and pray that to us may be granted that loftiness of
+nature, that stability of character, that repose of mind and heart and
+life that is prefigured to us in the natural world. Grant that we may
+each become mediums of Thy love and hope to all who may chance to look
+up to us for guidance along the shores of life's tempestuous ocean. May
+the spirit of the Eternal find such expression in us and through us,
+this day, that all who come within the radiance of our joy may come into
+the consciousness of the joy of the Eternal. Amen.
+
+ THOMAS J. HORNER.
+
+
+November 23
+
+ _And he said unto me, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand
+ the words that I speak unto thee, and stand upright: for unto thee
+ am I now sent, and when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood
+ trembling. Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel, for from the
+ first day that thou didst set thy heart to understand and to
+ chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come
+ for thy words.... Then there came again and touched me one like the
+ appearance of a man and he strengthened me and said, O man, greatly
+ beloved, fear not: peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong._
+
+ BOOK OF DANIEL.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee that Thou art not far from us at any
+time. We have only to look up reverently and to our imagination Thou art
+standing near. We have only to wait in the darkness of the night to feel
+Thy presence with us. We have only to listen at any time to hear Thy
+voice. Thou deignest to stop and speak to us when we are in trouble, to
+guide our footsteps when we have lost our way, to renew our courage when
+we have become disheartened. O Lord, speak to us this day, saying to us,
+as unto him of old, "Peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong."
+Amen.
+
+ George L. Perin.
+
+
+November 24
+
+ _Let star-wheels and angel-wings, with their holy winnowings,
+ Keep beside you all the way:
+ Lest in passion you should dash, with a blind and heavy crash.
+ Up against the thick-bossed shield of God's judgment in the field._
+
+ ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING.
+
+ _Be diligent and faithful, patient and hopeful, one and all of you;
+ and may we all know, at all times, that verily the Eternal rules
+ above us, and that nothing finally wrong has happened or can
+ happen._
+
+ THOMAS CARLYLE.
+
+Almighty God, our Father in heaven, the giver of every good and perfect
+gift, teach us, we pray Thee, how to do Thy will on earth as it is done
+in heaven, as the goal of our lives. Send down exceeding, abundantly
+above all that we can ask or think, the blessed influences of Thy Holy
+Spirit, to transform each heart and all the world into the kingdom of
+heaven. Give us the Morning Star of Hope. Feed us from the Tree of Life.
+Teach us Thy redeeming love. Grant that we may have some part with Thee
+in the redemption of the world, and be permitted to join with the whole
+glad earth in the chorus, "Blessing and honor and glory and power be
+unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and
+ever." Amen.
+
+ F. N. PELOUBET.
+
+
+November 25
+
+ _What is the crown of the whole of life lived faithfully here? It
+ is not a crown of gold or gems in another life; it is simply more
+ life; a broader use of power, a healthier capacity, a larger
+ usefulness. You are faithful unto death, through the
+ misapprehensions and imperfections and absence of appreciation or
+ gratitude in this preparatory world, and then there is offered to
+ you inevitably and legitimately the crown of a larger, more
+ serviceable, more effective life._
+
+ FRANCIS G. PEABODY.
+
+To Thee, O Author of our lives, we speak thanksgiving and gratitude for
+Thy gifts of love and trust. Help us to bring them into full exercise
+this day. By them may we know the experience of burdens made light and
+yokes made easy. With them, let us realize that we are effective workers
+with Thee. Because of them, show us how all our tasks are transformed to
+divine endeavors. Through them, set free all other of our highest
+impulses. So, O God, shall we know the fulness of life, we and all our
+loved ones. So shall we see doubt change to faith and blindness to
+vision. So shall our influence through word and work be the ministry of
+hope and of joy to any disconsolate, and to any who are a weak guide to
+the source of strength. For newness of life, for all the fruits of the
+spirit, whereby the heart is ever young and in joyous companionship with
+the Christ, for all this we pray now and ever. Amen.
+
+ WILLIAM H. MCGLAUCHLIN.
+
+
+November 26
+
+ _The child frightened in his play runs to seek his mother. She
+ takes him upon her lap and presses his head to her bosom; and with
+ tenderest words of love, she looks down upon him and smooths his
+ hair and kisses his cheek, and wipes away his tears. Then, in a low
+ and gentle voice, she sings some sweet descant, some lullaby of
+ love; and the fear fades out from his face, and a smile of
+ satisfaction plays over it, and at length his eyes close, and he
+ sleeps in the deep depths and delights of peace. God Almighty is
+ the mother and the soul is the tired child; and He folds it in His
+ arms and dispels its fears, and lulls it to repose, saying "Sleep,
+ my darling, sleep! It is I who watch thee."_
+
+ HENRY WARD BEECHER.
+
+Blessed Master! we thank Thee that every tired and weary child may find
+rest in the bosom of the Father. Each morning brings with it new cares,
+new duties, new privileges, new responsibilities; for all these, we need
+Thy protecting care, and pray for Thy divine guidance. When wearied and
+burdened with the cares of daily life, wilt Thou help us to flee to Thee
+as the frightened child flees to the loving mother; and wilt Thou
+encircle us with Thine arms of love, and whisper in our ears words of
+comfort and cheer and of forgiveness. Teach us to trust Thee in the
+morning, to walk with Thee through the day, and to commit our ways to
+Thee at all times. Amen.
+
+ SAMUEL M. DICK.
+
+
+November 27
+
+ _Certainly there never was a busier life than that of Jesus,--His
+ whole great mission bounded by three hurried years. Yet in the
+ morning He says to His friends: "Let us come apart and rest
+ awhile;" and again when the evening is come He is in the mountain
+ apart, alone. That is the place of worship in a world of work. It
+ is not a refuge from duty, or a shirking of it; it is the renewal
+ of power to meet one's duty and do it. The work of life is not to
+ be well done with a hot, feverish, overwhelmed, and burdened mind;
+ it is to be well done with a mind calmed and fortified by moments
+ of withdrawal; and it is to be best done by one who from time to
+ time pulls himself up in his eager life and permits God to speak to
+ his soul._
+
+ FRANCIS G. PEABODY.
+
+O Spirit of grace, who withholdest Thy blessing from none, take from us
+the tediousness and anxiety of a selfish mind, the unfruitfulness of
+cold affections, the weakness of an inconstant will. With the simplicity
+of a great purpose, the quiet of a meek temper, and the power of a
+well-ordered soul, may we pass through the toils and watches of our
+pilgrimage; grateful for all that may render the burden of duty light;
+and even in strong trouble rejoicing to be deemed worthy of the severer
+service of Thy will. Amen.
+
+ JAMES MARTINEAU.
+
+
+November 28
+
+ _God gives to every man
+ The virtue, temper, understanding, taste,
+ That lifts him into life, and lets him fall
+ Just in the niche he was ordain'd to fill._
+
+ WILLIAM COWPER.
+
+ _Did you ever hear of a man who had striven all his life faithfully
+ and singly toward an object, and in no measure obtained it? If a
+ man constantly aspires, is he not elevated? Did ever a man try
+ heroism, magnanimity, truth, sincerity, and find that there was no
+ advantage in them--that it was a vain endeavor?_
+
+ HENRY DAVID THOREAU.
+
+Holy Father, help us to be thankful that no life is beneath Thy notice.
+If a sparrow cannot fall without Thee, how much more is Thine eye fixed
+upon Thy child. Teach us, O Lord, that there is a divine purpose in each
+life. But may we not try to choose this without Thee. Show us how to
+wait upon Thee in holy silence till Thou dost make it known to us. O
+Master, say to us: "As the Father hath sent me into the world even so
+have I sent you." When we have found at the Cross our little mission, O
+sustain us and help us to keep it steadily in view--let us share Thy
+holy enthusiasm when Thou didst say: "My meat is to do the will of Him
+that sent me and to finish His work." O Father, when we are depressed
+whisper to us: "Your labor is not in vain in the Lord." May our mission
+transform us into the likeness of Jesus, and may we say with Him at
+evening: "I have glorified Thee on the earth; I have finished the work
+Thou gavest me to do." Amen.
+
+ L. P. JOHNSON.
+
+
+November 29
+
+ _Though wrong may win, its victory is brief,
+ The tides of good at first no passage find;
+ Each surge breaks, shattered, on the sullen reef,--
+ Yet still the infinite ocean comes behind._
+
+ _The road of Right has neither turn nor bend,
+ It stretches straight unto the highest goal;
+ Hard, long, and lonely?--yes, yet never soul
+ Can lose its way thereon, nor miss the end._
+
+ PRISCILLA LEONARD.
+
+We thank Thee, Heavenly Father, that awaking, we are conscious that Thou
+art near. Walk with us, through the untried path of this day's duty and
+service. We rejoice that Thou art in Thy world. Within its striving is
+Thy calm. Around its restlessness is Thy rest. Thy purpose fashions its
+achievements; Thy love shapes its future. Help us to see it with clearer
+vision, to hold it fast with firmer faith. When wrong seems to triumph,
+may we know that it is already perishing, and hold hard by truth and
+love and faith. Give us grace to spend this day as becometh children of
+God in honor, in courtesy, in sympathy, in confident trust. When the way
+seems long and lonely, straight and steep, help us to sing as we march
+forward, since Thou art with us, Who hast said, "I will never leave thee
+nor forsake thee." Amen.
+
+ CHARLES C. P. HILLER.
+
+
+November 30
+
+ _She was a droll little figure of a girl with a quaint old face,
+ that showed too early the lines of care and work, and her clothing
+ betokened a poverty-stricken home. Evidently not much of brightness
+ had touched her life, but her face always lightened up when she
+ mentioned her school or her teacher. "Why is it that you love your
+ teacher so well?" she was asked one day. Her eyes shone and her
+ lips smiled happily as she replied, "Because she's glad to me!"
+ What a tribute was that! What an evidence was that of a happy heart
+ that radiated its gladness! If we cannot bring other offerings of
+ much value to the children and the poor among us, how blessed are
+ we if we can bring gladness!_
+
+ ESTELLE M. HART.
+
+Almighty God, teach us how to be glad. Put some gladness into our
+hearts. Show us where gladness is hidden in our little world about us,
+so that we may find it and use it. Give us the wisdom of Jesus, who,
+although a Man of Sorrows, yet spake ever of His joy and His peace. We
+feel that the secret of things must be gladness, that somehow there is a
+covered joy even in what we call our sufferings. Let us find that. Keep
+our hearts pure of the soiling of evil desire, for we know that no
+gladness can come from the muddy fountains of sin. Let our hands be busy
+at some good part of the world's work, for we know that idleness never
+went hand in hand with joy. Let our minds be open to acknowledge, love
+and obey the truth, for we feel that truth alone can satisfy our hearts.
+And let us feel to-day the duty of gladness we owe to our
+fellow-creatures. Let us give to them what we would receive from Thee.
+Amen.
+
+ FRANK CRANE.
+
+
+December 1
+
+ _But winter has yet brighter scenes--he boasts
+ Splendors beyond what gorgeous Summer knows;
+ Or Autumn with his many fruits, and woods
+ All flushed with many hues, come when the rains
+ Have glazed the snow and clothed the trees with ice,
+ The incrusted surface shall upbear thy steps,
+ And the broad arching portals of the grove
+ Welcome thy entering._
+
+ WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT.
+
+Our Father, we know that Thou wilt commune with us if only we truly seek
+Thee; Thou art the Infinite Consciousness and Thou dost include within
+Thyself our finite consciousness. We have our life in Thy life. This
+morning we would be mindful of Thy presence. The northern groves with
+snow-laden, bended branches bid us enter and worship. Thou dost send
+forth the rays of Thy sun and touch them aglow with the reflected beauty
+of the snow-flake. Thou hast also created us. The flake reflects the
+sun, and may we reflect Thee, through living righteously. Help us to do
+the right and to forego the wrong. Amen.
+
+ FRED ALBAN WEIL.
+
+
+December 2
+
+ _"A commonplace life," we say, and we sigh;
+ But why should we sigh as we say?
+ The commonplace sun in the commonplace sky
+ Makes up the commonplace day.
+ The moon and the stars are commonplace things,
+ And the flower that blooms and the bird that sings,
+ But dark were the world and sad our lot
+ If the flowers failed and the sun shone not;
+ And God, who studies each separate soul
+ Out of commonplace lives makes His beautiful whole._
+
+ SUSAN COOLIDGE.
+
+Our Infinite Father, we open our hearts to Thee, for where Thou art
+heaven is. As the morning sun gives light and life to Earth, so Thou
+givest light and life and joy to us. We say Good-morning to Thee, and as
+we listen Thy Good-morning comes to us. As it comes we glow and expand
+like the opening flower. May this glowing spirit of love be in all we
+say and do and think this day, and still continue through all days to
+come. When we are vexed and weary with trials and labor, make us to
+remember this morning glow of Thy Love that it may renew rest and peace
+within us. Help us, O our Father, to enter the beauty of this day and
+this life by claiming our heritage as "children of light" and going
+forth to fulfil the common duties of the day as "children of God." Amen.
+
+ WALTER DOLE.
+
+
+December 3
+
+ _No matter! so long as the world is the work of eternal goodness,
+ and so long as conscience has not deceived us. To give happiness
+ and to do good, there is our only law, our anchor of salvation, our
+ beacon light, our reason for existing. All religions may crumble
+ away; so long as this survives we have still an ideal, and life is
+ worth living. Nothing can lessen the dignity and value of humanity
+ so long as the religion of love, of unselfishness and devotion
+ endures; and none can destroy the altars of this faith for us so
+ long as we feel ourselves still capable of love._
+
+ HENRI-FREDERIC AMIEL.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for a night of peaceful rest, and we
+are glad to begin a new day with full assurance of Thy loving care. We
+hope for pleasant ways and large success, but Thy wisdom is better than
+our wishes and if it is appointed us to meet difficulties or
+temptations, we pray for strength to sustain a manly warfare. We have
+faith that whatever our condition Thou wilt still provide a way by which
+lofty purpose and resolute endeavor may use the circumstances of our
+life for a nearer approach to Thee and for service to our fellowmen. To
+this end be then the light of our way and the strength of our life,
+through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
+
+ J. SMITH DODGE.
+
+
+December 4
+
+ _He was a friend to man, and lived in a house by the side of the
+ road._
+
+ HOMER.
+
+ _There are hermit souls that live withdrawn
+ In the peace of their self-content;
+ There are souls, like stars, that dwell apart,
+ In a fellow-less firmament;
+ There are pioneer souls that blaze their paths
+ Where highways never ran:--
+ But let me live by the side of the road
+ And be a friend to man._
+
+ _Let me live in a house by the side of the road.
+ Where the race of men go by--
+ The men who are good and the men who are bad,
+ As good and as bad as I.
+ I would not sit in the scorner's seat,
+ Or hurl the cynic's ban:--
+ Let me live in a house by the side of the road
+ And be a friend to man._
+
+ SAM WALTER FOSS.
+
+Our Father in Heaven, we come with thanksgiving for the light of another
+day and all the blessings which it brings from Thee. May the precious
+moments before us be filled with activity. Forgive us if we have been
+remiss in seizing our opportunities and so lead us this day that if we
+shall be called to Thee, the sweet voice of the Master may greet us
+with, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my
+brethren, ye have done it unto Me." In Jesus' name. Amen.
+
+ J. E. CHARLTON.
+
+
+December 5
+
+ _One old lady kept a sighing;
+ Said she wasn't young,
+ Didn't look as sweet's she used to,
+ Times were all unstrung;
+ Troubles doubled aches, and favors
+ Went a flying past,
+ Wrinkles stung like thorns, and eyesight
+ Kept a failing fast._
+
+ _One old lady kept a saying
+ Life was like the spring,
+ Brighter blossoms always coming,
+ Birds around to sing;
+ Troubles came--and went; she let 'em,
+ Didn't count the throng.
+ Thanked the Lord 'most every morning
+ She'd been young so long!_
+
+ JESSIE M. SHAW.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, wilt Thou forgive us for the sighs and tears and
+frowns and doubts of yesterday? Especially wilt Thou forgive us for all
+that was little and petty and mean? May we begin again today with larger
+vision, higher hope and nobler ambition. May there be no sighs for lost
+beauty, no grief over faded youth and no lamentation over lost fortune.
+Thankful and glad for what we have, may we find our joy in using it for
+some high end. So may we conserve the youth of the heart and the light
+of the soul. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+December 6
+
+ _There is never a sky of winter
+ To the heart that sings alway;
+ Never a night but hath stars to light,
+ And dreams of a rosy day._
+
+ _The world is ever a garden
+ Red with the bloom of May;
+ And never a stormy morning
+ To the heart that sings alway!_
+
+ FRANK L. STANTON.
+
+O Thou who art the Love, the Light, and the Life in whom is no discord,
+no darkness, no disease nor death; but who art ever radiating sympathy,
+vision and health; we give Thee hearty thanks for the consciousness of
+Thy abiding presence when we possess a humble and contrite spirit. May
+we ever remember that nothing but our own selfishness, pride, and
+forgetfulness can break this constant communion with Thee. Open our
+hearts just now for the inflow of the divine Love in order that we may
+pass it on to others today. Open our eyes today that we may see Thee
+everywhere striving against selfishness in the lives of all men. Fill us
+with Thy Life today in order that there may go out to others a heavenly
+harmony, a song, a symphony, that will dispel discord, darkness and
+disease; that will overcome evil with good. Amen.
+
+ E. J. HELMS.
+
+
+December 7
+
+ _As the bird trims her to the gale,
+ I trim myself to the storm of time,
+ I man the rudder, reef the sail,
+ Obey the voice at eve obeyed at prime;
+ "Lowly faithful, banish fear,
+ Right onward drive unharmed;
+ The port, well worth the cruise, is near,
+ And every wave is charmed."_
+
+ RALPH WALDO EMERSON.
+
+Heavenly Father, keep our faces in the light and upward. Make us
+courageous in the storm. Help us to consecrate all our powers against
+the contrary winds and listen for the loving voice of Him who walks the
+rough waves and comes toward our frail barks. May we never be afraid;
+may we know peace and rest and trust. O Saviour, help us to know the
+reality of Thy love and friendship, and hear Thee say in the darkest
+hour, "All is well." May no storm be too severe, no burden too heavy, no
+task too hard. So let us believe and live. Amen.
+
+ CORTLAND MYERS.
+
+
+December 8
+
+ _Love thyself last: cherish those hearts that hate thee,
+ Corruption wins not more than honesty.
+ Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace,
+ To silence envious tongues. Be just, and fear not:
+ Let all the ends thou aim'st at be thy country's,
+ Thy God's, and truth's; then if thou fall'st, O Cromwell,
+ Thou fall'st a blessed martyr!_
+
+ SHAKESPEARE.
+
+Father Almighty, we do trust in Thee, and we ask Thee for everything.
+Thou art pleased to give us everything. Thou dost give us the light by
+which we see. Thou dost give us this air which we breathe and with which
+we speak. Best of all, Thou hast shown us that we are one family of Thy
+children, alive in Thy life and strong in Thy strength. Thou dost give
+us the water that we drink and the food that we eat. Everything is Thine
+while it is ours. Now, Father, we are here to consecrate these gifts to
+Thy service, to come and go indeed as Thy children; when we speak, to
+speak the word that Thou shalt teach; when we act, to do the thing that
+Thou wouldst. Moreover, inspire us with Thine holy spirit, that we may
+so come and go in our Father's service, and for the coming of Thy
+kingdom in this world, that all men may be one, and may bear one
+another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. Amen.
+
+ EDWARD EVERETT HALE.
+
+
+December 9
+
+ _Each soul, alone unto herself, must bear
+ The heartache out of which man wins despair
+ Or hope according to his faculty.
+ Nathless one thing is certain; who hath known
+ Truth, beauty, goodness, shining in their sphere,
+ Shall not be lost through any lesser lure.
+ On black tempestuous waves he may be thrown;
+ Yet to the right port shall he surely steer,
+ And God Himself shall make his doing pure._
+
+ JOHN ADDINGTON SYMONDS.
+
+O God, with the dawn we would lift our grateful hearts to Thee! We know
+not what Thou hast in store for us this new day, but we rejoice that we
+are in Thy thought, and that we cannot pass beyond the reach of Thy
+love. Helpless and weak, we pray for courage to be undaunted by the
+uncertainties of life, and that we may meet all its duties with a firm
+and tranquil mind. Grant that we may be helpful to all with whom we come
+in contact and forbid that we should judge others hastily or
+uncharitably. May our minds and hearts be open to the truth, that we may
+know and do Thy gracious will. Guided and guarded by Thee, may the day
+be full of peace, purity and power. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE M. HOWE.
+
+
+December 10
+
+ _There was never a song that was sung by thee,
+ But a sweeter one was meant to be.
+ There was never a deed that was grandly done,
+ But a greater was meant by some earnest one.
+ For the sweetest voice can never impart
+ The song that trembles within the heart._
+
+ _And the brain and the hand can never quite do
+ The thing that the soul has fondly in view.
+ And hence are the tears and the burdens of pain,
+ For the shining goals are never to gain
+ But enough that a God can hear and see
+ The song and the deed that were meant to be._
+
+ BENJAMIN R. BULKELEY.
+
+Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, who hast illumined the morning with
+the brightness of Thy life, we rejoice in the potency of the influence
+that brings us into communion with Thee. For the blessed revelation of
+Thyself, for life and all things that nourish it, for the earth and the
+fulness thereof, for daily comforts and mercies and for the Light that
+lighteth every man who cometh into the world, we give Thee thanks. We
+thank Thee too for the songs that we have sung and for the better songs
+that are in our hearts. We thank Thee for every noble deed and also for
+the dreams of nobler deeds that men have cherished. O Lord, bless our
+work and fill us with aspiration for nobler service. Bless the poor, the
+sick, and those that mourn. Hear this our prayer and answer our petition
+through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
+
+ FRANK D. SARGENT.
+
+
+December 11
+
+ _Love the spot where you are, and the friends God has given you and
+ be sure to expect everything good of them._
+
+ JOHN ALBEE.
+
+ _When do we lift each other up? Must we gain a height first or can
+ we reach up our feebleness together to the Hands that do offer us a
+ mighty help from on high? Near doing, and near living, and near
+ loving; these life-particles make the great heaven, as the little
+ polarized atoms of light, all magnetized one way, make the great
+ blue in which the stars burn forever._
+
+ MRS. A. D. T. WHITNEY.
+
+No discontent could harass us if we had a deeper faith in Thee and a
+broader love for those about us. We praise Thee, therefore, that we may
+be rooted and grounded in Christ. And that our little lives may glorify
+Him by bringing forth abundant fruit. Thou dost give us the holy
+privilege of being co-laborers with Thee in the salvation of needy
+humanity. Around us are the countless opportunities for ennobling and
+gladdening the lives of those whose courage burns low, or who have never
+known the transforming companionship of Christ. We would not forget that
+we are debtors to Thee and to that great Host whose love and service has
+inspired us. May we be not selfish takers only, but generous givers. May
+there be less gloom, fewer shackles, less guilt in the world because we
+are mastered by the spirit of Christ. Amen.
+
+ PHILIP L. FRICK.
+
+
+December 12
+
+ _Have you learned lessons only of those who admired you, and were
+ tender with you, and stood aside for you?_
+
+ _Have you not learned great lessons from those who reject you, and
+ brace themselves against you? or who treat you with contempt, or
+ dispute the passage with you?_
+
+ WALT WHITMAN.
+
+Help us, O God, always to be hopeful; teach us what it means to hope in
+Thee, and may we experience the truth of the promise which says: "He
+will strengthen your heart that hopes in Him;" but help us not to
+indulge in too fond hopes nor to be too easily elated by future dreams.
+May we see life clearly as it is and be ready to accept courageously
+whatsoever Thou sendest us. Help us to accept all our joys as Thy
+blessings; all our duties as Thy commands, and our sorrows as of Thine
+appointment, and help us to believe that Thou wilt turn even that which
+seems to harm us, into everlasting good and everlasting joy. Amen.
+
+ JOHN F. MEYER.
+
+
+December 13
+
+ _Life should be a giving birth to the soul, the development of a
+ higher mode of reality. The animal must be humanized: flesh must be
+ made spirit; physiological activity must be transmuted into
+ intellect and conscience, into reason, justice, and generosity, as
+ the torch is transmuted into light and warmth. The blind, greedy,
+ selfish nature of man must put on beauty and nobleness. This
+ heavenly alchemy is what justifies our presence on the earth; it is
+ our mission and our glory._
+
+ HENRI-FREDERIC AMIEL.
+
+Our Father, this world is Thy world, and this day is Thy renewed gift of
+opportunity to learn life's lesson more perfectly. We need clearer
+insight into Thy designs, that we may loathe every form of selfishness,
+and love devotion. Give us to know the Christ more intimately, and in
+the strength of His apprehended presence help us to employ this day in
+practising the holy principles He taught. Assist us this morning to
+have, and throughout this day to keep, such an attitude of glad
+co-operation with Him, that work shall be shot through and through with
+joy in anticipation of its glorious result. So may this day be to us a
+time of real soul expansion; a wooing and a winning of that which is
+highest, even a purer, noble character. Amen.
+
+ J. EDWIN LACOUNT.
+
+
+December 14
+
+ _'Tis the mind that makes the body rich,
+ And as the sun breaks through the darkest clouds,
+ So honor peereth in the meanest habit.
+ What, is the jay more precious than the lark,
+ Because his feathers are more beautiful?
+ Or is the adder better than the eel,
+ Because his painted skin contents the eye?_
+
+ SHAKESPEARE.
+
+In this world of mingled good and evil, amid the ceaseless struggle of
+the better with the worse, grant unto us our Father, the cheerful
+assurance that we are enlisted in the service of the good, bound for the
+better, and destined for the best. Reveal to us each day some task that
+we can do for Thee, some chance to bear with Christ the burden of
+another, some call to take the side of the right against the wrong. Help
+us to conquer hardship by patience, despair by hope, fear by courage,
+and hate by love; and may we find the peace, the power, the glory of Thy
+perfect will and Thy great kingdom reflected and reproduced in our
+hearts and lives. Amen.
+
+ WILLIAM DEWITT HYDE.
+
+
+December 15
+
+ _Call him not old, whose visionary brain
+ Holds o'er the past its undivided reign,
+ For him in vain the envious seasons roll
+ Who bears eternal summer in his soul.
+ If yet the minstrel's song, the poet's lay,
+ Spring with her birds, or children at their play,
+ Or maiden's smile, or heavenly dream of art,
+ Stir the few life-drops creeping round his heart,
+ Turn to the record where his years are told,--
+ Count his gray hairs,--they cannot make him old!_
+
+ OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.
+
+Thou infinite Spirit of Life, in Thy sight, there is no old age. The
+step may grow feeble, the hair may whiten, the eye may grow dim, but
+each human soul is still Thy child. We gather about the tables of earth,
+families of children, some older, some younger, but all young in Thy
+sight. We pause for a moment this morning to pray for the spirit of
+youth. Let us cherish the power of hoping and of believing. Let us have
+that fine quality of the child life which keeps it facing the future
+with glad expectancy. Let us not give over our toils till we must. Let
+us not relinquish our interest in life till the evening shadows fall,
+and even at the last, let us lie down like the child who sleeps with his
+hand in the hand of his mother. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+December 16
+
+ _O toiling bands of mortals! O unwearied feet, travelling we know
+ not whither! Soon, soon, it seems to you, you must come forth on
+ some conspicuous hilltop, and but a little way further, against the
+ setting sun, descry the spires of El Dorado. Little do ye know your
+ own blessedness; for to travel hopefully is a better thing than to
+ arrive, and the true success is to labor._
+
+ ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON.
+
+Our Father, we thank Thee for the work that Thou givest us to do; for
+its joy, for its zest, even for its very task and weariness. We would
+interpret our labor by the highest good it brings us; through our brave
+and cheerful doing Thy heaven of peace is found. We thank Thee for our
+diviner hopes, and for the Spirit that would complete them. They light
+our days with gladness, and set our feet in large places, and though the
+higher hill-tops seem far away, yet meeting our duties faithfully, we do
+see them, and looking back we find the places of our departure lying far
+below. O blessed tasks! O blessed hopes! That lead us ever to our
+Father's love. Amen.
+
+ ALBERT J. COLEMAN.
+
+
+December 17
+
+ _God speaks to hearts of men in many ways:
+ Some the red banner of the rising sun,
+ Spread o'er the snow-clad hills, has taught his praise.
+ Some the sweet silence when the day is done;
+ Some, after loveless lives, at length have won
+ His word in children's hearts and children's gaze;
+ And some have found him where low rafters ring
+ To greet the hand that helps, the heart that cheers;
+ And some in prayer, and some in perfecting
+ Of watchful toil through unrewarding years;
+ And some not less are his, who vainly sought
+ His voice, and with his silence have been taught,--
+ Who bore his chains who bade them to be bound,
+ And at the end in finding not have found._
+
+ ANONYMOUS.
+
+O God, all voices of the earth are Thine, even when there is no speech
+or language, Thy messages have many ways to reach the listening heart.
+Give us this day to hear at least some whisper of Thy grace. If it may
+be, open our minds and attune our spirits to receive more than we could
+hitherto interpret of the assurances sent to us by elevated goodness and
+love. So let us be defended this day against wrong, and do our work in
+joy and peace through the knowledge that Thou art with us, our friend
+and helper even unto the end. Amen.
+
+ HOWARD N. BROWN.
+
+
+December 18
+
+ _Did you ever see a schoolboy tumble on the ice without stooping
+ immediately to re-buckle the strap of his skates? And would not
+ Ignotus have painted a masterpiece if he could have found good
+ brushes and a proper canvas? Life's shortcomings would be bitter
+ indeed if we could not find excuses for them outside of ourselves.
+ And as for life's successes--well, it is certainly wholesome to
+ remember how many of them are due to a fortunate position and the
+ proper tools._
+
+ HENRY VAN DYKE.
+
+Our Father, God, help us to begin this new day with the right spirit in
+our hearts,--the spirit of love toward Thee and our fellowmen. Help us
+to begin the day if possible without mistake. If, in our human weakness
+we find that we have not succeeded, that we have erred or gone astray,
+help us not to despair, not to be discouraged; help us to know and to
+seek and to love the right. Help us never to forget what we owe to Thee,
+to our friends, and the beautiful world Thou hast given us. Daily bread
+we have, opportunities open, like books on every hand. Greater than all
+life's bitter is its sweet. Ever ready is the Master to bless; ever
+ready is the spirit to comfort Thy children look up and praise the
+Father eternal. Amen.
+
+ RANSOM A. GREENE.
+
+
+December 19
+
+ _I love Thee, O Son of Man! for Thy strength and Thy sweetness, for
+ Thy simplicity, Thy courage, Thine infinite tenderness, for Thy
+ glance which strengthens and pardons us, quickens us and lifts us
+ up; for all that Thou hast brought us of consolation, of peace and
+ of warmth of heart. Abide Thou with us! Teach us to see the divine
+ spark imprisoned in every stone of the highway._
+
+ CHARLES WAGNER.
+
+O Lord, our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for all Thy manifold mercies
+to us, for all Thy constant care and watchfulness over us from the
+beginning of our lives to this day, for the revelations of Thy presence
+in the world about us, in the shining sky, in the earth beneath our
+feet, and in the faces of our friends. Bless us, O Lord, this day, with
+health and strength and a good courage, and grant that we may show our
+gratitude for all Thy goodness not only with our lips but in our lives,
+through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE HODGES.
+
+
+December 20
+
+ _In every "Oh my Father!"
+ Slumbers deep a "Here, my child."_
+
+ THOLUCK.
+
+ _This world, with its wonderful creations, its beauties, and
+ mysteries may lead a child up to the father's throne, if his heart
+ and mind are open to it. Fill the heart with goodness and there is
+ no place for badness. Fill the soul with heaven, and there is no
+ hell. And this delightful time will come when "God is all and in
+ all."_
+
+ ABBIE E. DANFORTH.
+
+Our Father, who art in heaven; we know that Thou hast been good to us.
+We thank Thee for the daily witnesses of Thy love. And we would walk
+worthily before Thee. But we are weak. Help us, O Father to see clearly
+what Thou would'st have us do! Give us strength. Fill us with Thy
+spirit, that all the way we may be pure and patient. Help us to walk
+aright. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
+
+ CHARLES H. PUFFER.
+
+
+December 21
+
+ _Grand is the seen, the light, to me--grand are the sky and stars,
+ Grand is the earth, and grand are lasting time and space,
+ And grand their laws, so multiform, puzzling, evolutionary;
+ But grander far the unseen soul of me, comprehending, endowing all those,
+ Lighting the light, the sky and stars, delving the earth, sailing
+ the sea,
+ (What were all those, indeed, without thee, unseen soul? of what amount
+ without Thee?)
+ More evolutionary, vast, puzzling, O my soul!
+ More multiform far--more lasting Thou than they._
+
+ WALT WHITMAN.
+
+O Thou, our Heavenly Father, in spirit we reach out to Thy great spirit.
+Quicken within us visions of what things we may do this day, with Thee
+at hand, Thy love abounding. Give us vision that we may rise to the
+opportunities of our daily task. Let Thy holy spirit bear witness to the
+reality of our dreams and aspirations, that we may look not idly upon
+our opportunities, but rather that each new opportunity shall challenge
+us to nobler effort. O keep us this day full of faith in ourselves and
+Thee, each obedient to our vision, until full purposed, winning Thine
+approval, we shall accomplish the thing for which Thou sendest us, and
+Thine be the glory. Amen.
+
+ JAMES D. TILLINGHAST.
+
+
+December 22
+
+ _I see the wrong that round me lies,
+ I feel the guilt within,
+ With groan and travail cries
+ I hear the world confess its sin._
+
+ _Within the maddening maze of things,
+ And tossed by storm and flood,
+ To one fixed stake my spirit clings:
+ I know that God is good._
+
+ _I know not where his islands lift
+ Their fronded palms in air;
+ I only know I cannot drift
+ Beyond His love and care._
+
+ JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER.
+
+O Thou, without whose care a sparrow does not fall, who through the
+pathless sky dost guide the bird seeking its distant nest, Thy trusting
+children are safe in Thy dear love. We know not the way before us, but
+Thou dost know; our feet may stumble in rough paths, but Thou wilt hold
+us up. Glad in this confidence, may we begin the day with song and
+finish it, whatever may befall us, in the calm assurance that all things
+work for good. Give us patience in perplexity, hope amid our fears, and
+faith to trust Thy holy will as best. Thus walking in Thy love may we
+reach home at last to see our Saviour's face. Amen.
+
+ STEPHEN A. NORTON.
+
+
+December 23
+
+ _Wouldst make thy life go fair and square?
+ Thou must not for the past feel care;
+ Whatever thy loss, thou must not mourn;
+ Must ever act as if new-born.
+ What each day wants of thee, that ask;
+ What each day tells thee, that make thy task;
+ With pride thine own performance viewing,
+ With heart to admire another's doing;
+ Above all, hate no human being,
+ And all the future leave to the All-Seeing._
+
+ GOETHE.
+
+Dear Father, grateful for another new-born day, myself new-born, I greet
+Thee! Yesterday and all other yesterdays are in Thy keeping. _This day
+is mine!_ For the failures of the past I care not, nor do I mourn the
+losses of the days gone by. _Today I am new-born!_ Indeed, aspiring to
+Thy comprehensive wisdom, I may see my past and my present as one, and
+out of that past I may select--even from failures and losses--such
+experiences and lessons as will help me live the present--at least this
+one day which is mine!--more nobly, more fully, more usefully, more
+beautifully. May I, knowing myself to be Thy Child, respect myself as a
+creative spirit able to look upon its own work and to say: "Behold, it
+is good!" And above all, I pray: that, to-day and always, I may grow in
+grace and loving-kindness,--hating no one, but feeling, thinking,
+speaking, acting with good will towards all Thy creatures! _This day is
+mine!_ The future I leave to Thee, All-Seeing Father! but feel myself
+Thy open-eyed and confident child. Amen.
+
+ CHARLES FLEISCHER.
+
+
+December 24
+
+ _'Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,
+ Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home;
+ A charm from the skies seems to hallow us there,
+ Which sought through the world is ne'er met with elsewhere._
+
+ _An exile from home splendor dazzles in vain,
+ Oh give me my lowly thatched cottage again;
+ The birds singing gaily, that came at my call,
+ Give me them, and that peace of mind dearer than all._
+
+ J. HOWARD PAYNE.
+
+O God, our Heavenly Father, we thank thee for the blessings of home; for
+the shelter, safety, and hallowed associations of our domestic
+habitation; for the sympathy and helpfulness of family relationship.
+Help us we pray thee to make ours an ideal household, bright with
+cheerfulness, an exemplification of Christian faith and hope. May the
+happiness of all be the object of each. To that end help us to be
+patient toward one another, kind and forgiving. May we realize by many
+beatific experiences that it is better to give than to receive, better
+to serve than to be served. May we be disposed, as occasion may arise,
+to share, for a season, the comfort and inspiration of our home with
+those who are homeless. We thank Thee for the bright assurance that
+beyond the fading scenes and transitory experiences of this life, there
+is, awaiting us, an eternal abiding place in "a continuing city" whose
+maker and builder is God, where there shall be no more parting, and
+where the shadows of our present life shall forever flee away. Amen.
+
+ CHARLES CONKLIN.
+
+
+December 25
+
+ _That ever-vivid scene of Bethlehem.... A father, a mother, and a
+ child are there. No religion which began like that could ever lose
+ its character. The first unit of human life, the soul, is there, in
+ the new-born personality of the childhood. But the second unit of
+ human life, the family, is just as truly there in the familiar
+ relation of husband and wife and the sacred, eternal mystery of
+ motherhood._
+
+ PHILLIPS BROOKS.
+
+"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth Peace." We take up the angel
+symphony and give it new breath, this gladsome day of days. Thou who
+didst send Thy Son in the likeness of a little child, that by His life
+of increase in love and beauty and wisdom and power He might give us
+courage to begin as children the obedience that alone leads at last to
+the measure of the stature of His fulness, accept our unutterable
+gratitude for all that gift. And oh, may He be born in us and formed in
+us, the hope of glory, that so we may share His peace, His victory, His
+exaltation, His union with Thee. Amen.
+
+ C. ELLWOOD NASH.
+
+
+December 26
+
+ Two are the pathways by which mankind can to virtue mount upward;
+ If thou shouldst find the one barr'd, open the other will lie.
+ 'Tis by exertion the Happy obtain her, the Suffering by patience,
+ Blest is the man whose kind fate guides him along upon both!
+
+ SCHILLER.
+
+O Thou who hast kept us safely during the unconsciousness of our
+slumbering hours, and brought us refreshed to this morning light,
+prepare us for the duties of this day by filling us with the assurance
+that we are Thine, and that Thou lovest us. Help us to be more like
+Thee, to love Thee more and serve Thee better. May we manifest our love
+to Thee by our willingness to be of service to our fellowmen. Make us
+warm-hearted and true, helpful and kind, reflecting Thy love and doing
+Thy will. We are glad to live in this beautiful world. And we pray that
+we may be faithful co-laborers with Jesus Christ, in being light, love
+and joy to all lives. Amen.
+
+ CHARLES R. TENNEY.
+
+
+December 27
+
+ _Stronger, and more frequently, comes the temptation to stop
+ singing, and let discord do its own wild work. But blessed are they
+ that endure to the end,--singing patiently and sweetly, till all
+ join in with loving acquiescence, and universal harmony prevails,
+ without forcing into submission the free discord of a single
+ voice._
+
+ _This is the hardest and the bravest task which a true soul has to
+ perform amid the clashing elements of time. But once has it been
+ done perfectly unto the end; and that voice--so clear in its
+ meekness--is heard above all the din of a tumultuous world: one
+ after another chimes in with its patient sweetness; and, through
+ infinite discords, the listening soul can perceive that the great
+ tune is slowly coming into harmony._
+
+ LYDIA MARIA CHILD.
+
+Our Father, who art in heaven! We thank Thee that we are permitted to
+see the light, engage in the duties and enter into the experiences of
+this new day. We thank Thee for the order and harmony of this wonderful
+universe; that every force and law and being supports and balances every
+other force, law and being; that every life contributes to or may
+contribute to the welfare of every other life, and we pray, that each
+one of us may come into such relations with Thee, the great harmonizing
+soul of things, as to add our little note to the full anthem of
+perpetual and adorable praise. In Christ's dear name, we ask and offer
+all. Amen.
+
+ A. J. PATTERSON.
+
+
+December 28
+
+ _It is said that a friend once asked the great composer, Haydn, why
+ his church music was always so full of gladness. He answered, "I
+ cannot make it otherwise; I write according to the thoughts I feel;
+ when I think upon my God, my heart is so full of joy that the notes
+ dance and leap from my pen; and since God has given me a cheerful
+ heart, it will be pardoned me that I serve Him with a cheerful
+ spirit."_
+
+ _Pardoned? Nay, it will be praised and rewarded. For God looks with
+ approval and man turns with gratitude to everyone who shows by a
+ cheerful life that religion is a blessing for this world and the
+ next._
+
+ HENRY VAN DYKE.
+
+Our Father in Heaven, we awake this morning with a sense of thankfulness
+for the beauty and glory of Thy creation. We praise Thee that as Thy
+children we can be conscious of the kingdom of heaven always about us.
+So we pray for that attitude of mind and spirit of soul that will unlock
+for us the divine life. Help us to be conscious of Thee in all the
+varied experiences of this day. If it shall be a day of burdens, give us
+strength to play our part uncomplainingly, if a day of joy to accept it
+with true gratitude; and when the shades of night shall call us to our
+rest, may our memory of the day bring us peace. Amen.
+
+ EDWARD C. DOWNEY.
+
+
+December 29
+
+ _Ah, don't be sorrowful, darling,
+ And don't be sorrowful, pray;
+ Taking the year together, my dear,
+ There isn't more night than day._
+
+ _'Tis rainy weather, my darling;
+ Time's waves they heavily run;
+ But taking the year together, my dear,
+ There isn't more cloud than sun._
+
+ ALICE CARY.
+
+We thank Thee, heavenly Father, for the days just as they come. Nor
+would we measure the sunshine against the storm as if to test Thy
+goodness by some petty form of bookkeeping. Thou presidest over all our
+days, and whatever may be the face of nature we trust Thy love. Let us
+go forth today, not in critical mood nor despondent mood but in the mood
+of high Christian faith, anxious, not to test Thy providence, but ready
+to do our own part, taking care to hold our cup of blessing open-side
+up; so shall it catch the manna when it falls. Then shall each passing
+day be full of blessing. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+December 30
+
+ _Fades the rose; the year grows old;
+ The tale is told;
+ Youth doth depart--
+ Only stays the heart._
+
+ _Ah, no! if stays the heart,
+ Youth can ne'er depart,
+ Nor the sweet tale be told--
+ Never the rose fade, nor the year grow old._
+
+ RICHARD WATSON GILDER.
+
+Dear Father, we thank Thee for the year now coming to its close, and for
+all that has blessed us in it. Help us to keep the good wherewith it has
+done us good in lasting memory. By the flight of time which its passing
+emphasizes move us to earnestness in the labors committed to our hands.
+Beyond this help us that we may be undisturbed, remembering that Thou
+art our dwelling place, and that we are the children of Thy love and the
+sharers of Thy everlastingness. So may we keep the vision of youth, the
+vision to which endings are but beginnings, the good leading to the
+better, and the best forever more. May Thy blessing be upon all whom we
+love and should pray for in this and every day, in Jesus' name. Amen.
+
+ CHARLES R. TENNEY.
+
+
+December 31
+
+ _Be not afraid, dear friend. What of sickness! What of sorrow! What
+ of failure! What of misfortune! What of death! Is not this God's
+ world? Are not you God's child? Go forth into the New Year with
+ brave heart. When fortune smiles, smile with her. When fortune
+ frowns, smile the more, and trust in God._
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+Our Heavenly Father, we stand upon the utmost verge of the old year.
+Forgetting the things that are behind, we stand with our faces looking
+earnestly into the future. We do not despise the past, we do not forget
+its manifold blessings. We do not forget that Thou hast been with us in
+the old year; for all this we would be grateful. With clear vision and
+earnestness of purpose, we would stand looking into the future
+expectantly, ready for its duties and its responsibilities; yet not
+ostentatiously nor with over-confidence, for we know our own
+infirmities, our own weaknesses. We would enter upon the New Year with
+confidence, not because of our own strength, but because of Thy living
+presence. Thou art always with us, Thou art pouring out Thy spirit upon
+us. O Lord, let us believe in Thee, and believing, let us have a heart
+for any fate. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+Services for Special Days
+
+ _Good Friday_
+ _Easter_
+ _Thanksgiving Day_
+ _Birth of a Baby_
+ _Child's Birthday_
+ _Father's Birthday_
+ _Mother's Birthday_
+ _General Birthday_
+
+
+Good Friday
+
+ _Why dost thou glare so fierce
+ O Death, as thou wouldst pierce,
+ With thine uplifted dart,
+ My sinking heart?_
+
+ _Yet though men fear thee so
+ Wherever thou dost go,
+ And tremble at thy feet,
+ Thou art a cheat!_
+
+ _Though men thy pity crave,
+ Though naught from thee can save,
+ Thy Master rules above,
+ Thou servest Love._
+
+ HENRY NEHEMIAH DODGE.
+
+O Thou, who didst not spare Thine own Son, but didst deliver Him up for
+us all, we cannot ask Thee to withhold us from our Gethsemane nor even
+from our Calvary. But when Thou callest us to go down into the gloom or
+up to the cross, remember, O God, that we are dust. Might we so dwell
+with Thee in Thy secret place, as to abide under Thy shadow! There,
+sheltered and unafraid, we should sustain the rod as eager for its
+chastening stroke, praying only for wisdom to learn its lesson and
+acquire its discipline. With the picture of the crucified Savior before
+us, we only cry this day as He taught us, Thy will be done. Amen.
+
+ C. ELLWOOD NASH.
+
+
+Easter
+
+ _See, in that rock-hewn garden sepulchre,
+ The Holy One of God, despised and slain,
+ With nail-torn hands and feet, and spear-pierced side,
+ His gentle brow by mocking thorns defaced;
+ See where He lies, obedient unto death.
+ Into that pallid face the glow of life
+ Begins to steal, while silent and in awe
+ The heavenly watchers stand. Now they with haste
+ Unwind the scented wrappings from His form
+ That fill the place with rich aromas rare,
+ Perfume of spicery and sweet spikenard's breath
+ Lingering since Love her alabastron broke,
+ And with her tresses wiped these tear-bathed feet.
+ And then, their joyful faces all aglow
+ Like flashing sunbeams, quickly by a touch
+ They roll away the stone with jarring shock,
+ As if an earthquake passed, and sitting there
+ Behold their Lord go forth, Death's Conqueror!_
+
+ HENRY NEHEMIAH DODGE.
+
+O Thou Eternal One, who gatherest our fleeting moments into Thy
+permanence, when we draw close to Thee the terrors of change and
+vicissitude pass away, and a sense of the stability and security of all
+that is good brings us peace. We rejoice to know through Thy gospel that
+"life is ever lord of death." "Thou didst not suffer Thy Holy One to see
+corruption," and we trust that because He lives we shall live also. O
+grant that, believing in Him, we may not see death save as a door to
+more abounding life, and so realize our privilege daily to be risen with
+Him in the newness and power of an endless life. Amen.
+
+ C. ELLWOOD NASH.
+
+
+Thanksgiving
+
+ _Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands._
+
+ _Serve the Lord with gladness: come before His presence with
+ singing._
+
+ _Know ye that the Lord He is God; it is He that hath made us, and
+ not we ourselves; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture._
+
+ _Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with
+ praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His name._
+
+ _For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting; and His truth
+ endureth to all generations._
+
+ PSALM 100.
+
+For days of health, for nights of quiet sleep; for seasons of bounty and
+of beauty, for all earth's contributions to our need through this past
+year: Good Lord, we thank Thee. For our country's shelter; for our
+homes; for the joy of faces, and the joy of hearts that love: for the
+power of great examples; for holy ones who lead us in the ways of life
+and love: for our powers of growth; for longings to be better and do
+more; for Ideals that ever rise above our real: for opportunities well
+used; for opportunities unused, and even those misused: Good Lord, we
+humbly thank Thee! For our temptations, and for any victory over sins
+that close beset us; for the gladness that abides with loyalty and the
+peace of the return: for the blessedness of service and the power to fit
+ourselves to others' needs: for our necessities to work; for burdens,
+pain, and disappointments, means of growth; for sorrow; for death: for
+all that brings us nearer to each other, nearer to ourselves, near to
+Thee; for Life: We thank Thee, O our Father!
+
+ WILLIAM C. GANNETT.
+
+
+Birth of a Baby
+
+ _Where did you come from, baby dear?
+ Out of the everywhere into the here._
+
+ _Where did you get your eyes so blue?
+ Out of the sky as I came through._
+
+ _What makes the light in them sparkle and spin?
+ Some of the starry spikes left in._
+
+ _Where did you get that little tear?
+ I found it waiting when I got here._
+
+ _What makes your forehead so smooth and high?
+ A soft hand stroked it as I went by._
+
+ _What makes your cheek like a warm white rose?
+ Something better than anyone knows._
+
+ _Whence that three-cornered smile of bliss?
+ Three angels gave me at once a kiss._
+
+ _Where did you get those arms and hands?
+ Love made itself into hooks and bands._
+
+ _Feet, whence did you come, you darling things?
+ From the same box as the cherub's wings._
+
+ _How did they all just come to be you?
+ God thought about me, and so I grew._
+
+ _But how did you come to us, you dear?
+ God thought of You, and so I am here._
+
+ GEORGE MACDONALD
+
+Fresh from the Gates of Heaven, our Father, this dear child has come,
+opening in our hearts springs of new and deeper affection. We thank Thee
+for this life whose coming has filled our lives with sunshine. Teach us
+how to live that we may guide it aright, so that as the years pass more
+and more sunlight shall be radiated. Even as Thine angels kissed the
+sweet rosebud lips and left a smile thereon, so may we kiss away the
+tears of life. Heavenly Father, we consecrate this child to Thy service.
+We pray that the ears may learn to listen for Thy voice, speaking in
+truth and purity. May the tiny hands be ever ready to do a service of
+love and may the feet be swift to do Thy bidding. Tenderly guide this
+precious child, for it needs Thy guidance, and safely guard it through
+all the years, lest it go astray. This we ask in the name of Him who
+took little children in His arms and blessed them, saying--"Suffer
+little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the
+kingdom of Heaven." Amen.
+
+ FLORENCE H. PERIN.
+
+
+A Child's Birthday
+
+ _A dreary place would be this earth,
+ Were there no little people in it:
+ The song of life would lose its mirth,
+ Were there no children to begin it:_
+
+ _No little forms, like buds to grow,
+ And make the admiring heart surrender:
+ No little hands on breast and brow,
+ To keep the thrilling love-chords tender._
+
+ _The sterner souls would grow more stern,
+ Unfeeling nature more inhuman,
+ And man to stoic coldness turn,
+ And woman would be less than woman._
+
+ _Life's song, indeed, would lose its charm,
+ Were there no babies to begin it;
+ A doleful place this world would be,
+ Were there no little people in it._
+
+ JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER.
+
+Our dear Heavenly Father, Thou lookest upon us all as Thy
+children,--whether our hair be flaxen or brown or white with age. We
+thank Thee today for the children of our own household, for our
+children, and all the children, and especially do we thank Thee for the
+one whose birthday we celebrate here to-day. May Thy blessing be upon
+him (her), may the skies be bright over his (her) head,--may the birds
+sing to him (her). May the flowers blossom around his (her) pathway.
+Thro' all the journey of this life let him (her) have the guidance of
+Thy Father hand. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+A Father's Birthday
+
+ _The boy enjoyed this kind of a father at the time, and later he
+ came to understand, with a grateful heart, that there is no richer
+ inheritance in all the treasury of unearned blessings. For, after
+ all, the love, the patience, the kindly wisdom of a grown man who
+ can enter into the perplexities and turbulent impulses of a boy's
+ heart, and give him cheerful companionship, and lead him on by free
+ and joyful ways to know and choose the things that are pure and
+ lovely and of good report, make as fair an image as we can find of
+ that loving, patient Wisdom which must be above us all if any good
+ is to come out of our childish race._
+
+ HENRY VAN DYKE.
+
+By Thy very name, our Father, Thou hast ennobled and sanctified the
+office of parenthood and attracted to it our respect and love. Thou hast
+commanded us to honor father and mother, that our days may be
+lengthened. Assured thus of Thy approval, O God, we call upon Thee to
+hallow our joy and gratitude on this anniversary day. We thank Thee for
+him whom we honor as "Father in the flesh" and pray Thee to grant him
+yet many days with health and strength to minister and to be ministered
+unto, to grow in grace and in favor with God and man, and to taste the
+sweet tributes of love and the rewards of good deeds finely done. Amen.
+
+ C. ELLWOOD NASH.
+
+
+A Mother's Birthday
+
+ _Blessings on the hand of woman!
+ Angels guard her strength and grace;
+ In the cottage, palace, hovel,--
+ O! no matter where the place.
+ Would that never storms assailed it,
+ Rainbows ever gently curled;
+ For the hand that rocks the cradle
+ Is the hand that rules the world._
+
+ _Blessings on the hand of woman!
+ Fathers, sons and daughters cry;
+ And the sacred song is mingled
+ With the worship in the sky,--
+ Mingles where no tempest darkens,
+ Rainbows evermore are curled;
+ For the hand that rocks the cradle
+ Is the hand that rules the world._
+
+ JOHN GRAY.
+
+Heavenly Father, Thou plantest anew Thine own love in the hearts of Thy
+children and so multipliest Thyself on the earth. We thank Thee today
+for the manifold incarnation of Thyself in the hearts of all true
+mothers. We have known the magic charm of mother love and it relates us
+anew to Thee. Here we celebrate the birthday of one who has honored us
+and blessed us by a sacred ministry. We thank Thee, our Father, for all
+the sweet memories of the past, for all the joy of the present relation
+with her, and for the hope that these sacred associations may long
+continue. Wilt Thou bless her whose birthday we honor here. Crown her
+with long life and happy days and the sweet consciousness of having
+ministered in love. Amen.
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+
+General Birthday
+
+ _Birthdays, what are they? One will say they are mileposts on the
+ highway of life, marking the distance already traveled and
+ suggesting what yet remains of the journey. Another looking into
+ the deeper meaning of the years will suggest that they are memorial
+ tablets recording the service of a passing life. But no matter
+ under what figure you think of them, the coming into this world of
+ a human life with all the magic powers of thought and love and
+ faith and service is a thing of such transcendent moment, as to
+ make it well worth while to mark the passing of the years._
+
+ GEORGE L. PERIN.
+
+Father of all, it is Thou who hast made us and given us all things
+richly to enjoy; we thank Thee, therefore, for the birthday to which we
+have come. We thank Thee for the physical life, and all that makes it
+glad; for the power of intellect, and all the wealth it feeds upon; for
+love, and all the forms of love which answer to it; for faith which
+looks on Thee and heaven; for service, the exercise and opportunity of
+every gift and grace. Help us to be faithful that our felicity may be
+secure in Thee, and that we may ever recall the day of our birth with
+rejoicing. This we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.
+
+ CHARLES R. TENNEY.
+
+
+
+
+ * * * * *
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+Minor typographical errors and inconsistencies have been corrected
+without comment. Unmatched quotation marks were left as they were
+in the original.
+
+page 76, March 14: "And grass in the green fields" changed to "field".
+
+
+
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