Chapter 8

Lord God, may I never feel that I have a right to sell thy joys, nor the privilege of giving away my burdens. Grant that I may not forsake my principles, but may I keep the way clear that memory may find an unruffled rest. Amen.

MAY THIRTIETH

Decoration Day.

Joan d'Arc burned at Rouen 1431.

Alexander Pope died 1744.

Voltaire died 1778.

Alfred Austin born 1835.

Here is the nation God has builded by our hands. What shall we do with it? Who stands ready to act again and always in the spirit of this day of reunion and hope and patriotic fervor? The day of our country's life has but broadened into morning. Do not put uniforms by. Put the harness of the present on. Lift your eyes to the great tracts of life yet to be conquered in the interest of righteous peace, of that prosperity which lies in a people's hearts and outlasts all wars and errors of men.

--Woodrow Wilson.

Cover them over with beautiful flowers: Deck them with garlands these brothers of ours; Lying so silent, by night and by day, Sleeping the years of their manhood away;

* * * * *

Give them the laurels they lost with their life.

--Will Carleton.

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

--John 15. 13.

My Father, as I pause this day to think of the brave men and women who have given their lives for the sake of others, may I be thankful for them. May I remember that noble deeds and kind words are never lost, but that self may block the way to justice. O Father, make war to cease! and lead us to victories that are won through peace. Amen.

MAY THIRTY-FIRST

Ludwig Tieck born 1773.

Joseph Haydn died 1809.

Walt Whitman born 1819.

Passage, immediate passage! the blood burns in my veins! Away, O soul! hoist instantly the anchor! Out the hawser--haul out--shake out every sail! Have we not stood here like trees in the ground long enough? Have we not groveled here long enough eating and drinking like mere brutes? Have we not darkened and dazed ourselves with books long enough? Sail forth--steer for the deep waters only, Reckless, O soul, exploring, I with thee, and thou with me, For we are bound where mariner has not dared to go, And we will risk the ship, ourselves and all.

--Walt Whitman.

Be strong and of good courage, fear not, nor be affrighted at them: for Jehovah thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

--Deuteronomy 31. 6.

My Father, give me joyful courage to squarely face my life. Help me to know that I cannot vanquish life by evading duties, nor encircling myself with indulgences. If I may be blind to my situation, restore my sight that I may make ready a worthy passage with thee. Amen.

JUNE

There lives a glory in these sweet June days Such as I found not in the days gone by, A kindlier meaning in the unclouded sky, A tenderer whisper in the woodland ways; And I have understanding of the lays, The birds are singing, forasmuch as I Have learned how love avails to satisfy A man's whole heart, and fills his lips with praise.

--Percy C. Ainsworth

JUNE FIRST

Nicolas Poussin born 1594.

Sir Christopher Marlowe died 1593.

Sir David Wilkie died 1841.

Hugo Münsterberg born 1863.

In every act of ours, in every feeling and every volition and every thought, we are conscious of a self which expresses its aims and meanings. Every idea of ours points beyond itself, every volition binds us in decision, and every experience gets meaning by our attitudes. The most immediate task which life demands from us in the understanding of ourselves and of others is, therefore, to interpret our ideas, to draw the consequences of our will, to appreciate the attitudes, to measure them by higher standards.

--Hugo Münsterberg.

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.

--Genesis 1. 26.

My Creator, I pray that I may not only have the desire to know life, but the assurance to live it. Help me to understand that my earthly possessions are not the measure of my life, nor my body the boundary of my living. May I reach for the high standards that are free, without limit, to all. Amen.

JUNE SECOND

Ethelbert baptized 597.

John Randolph born 1773.

Thomas Hardy born 1840.

In battle or business, whatever the game, In law or in love, it is ever the same: In the struggle for power, or scramble for pelf, Let this be your motto: "Rely on yourself."

--John G. Saxe.

Labor is necessary to excellence. This is an eternal truth, although vanity cannot be taught to believe or indolence to heed it.

--John Randolph.

But let each man prove his own work, and then shall he have his glorying in regard of himself alone, and not of his neighbor.

--Galatians 6. 4.

Almighty God, I regret the hours of indiscretion and waste; through thy forgiveness may I have thy help over past wrongs. May I have a deeper conception of a profitable life, that I may hereafter live by it. Amen.

JUNE THIRD

Sydney Smith born 1771.

Dr. John Gregory born 1724.

Richard Cobden born 1804.

Jefferson Davis born 1808.

Norman Macleod born 1812.

Certainly, let the board be spread and let the bed be dressed for the traveler; but let not the emphasis of hospitality lie in these things. Honor to the house where they are simple to the verge of hardship, so that there the intellect is awake and reads the law of the universe, the soul worships truth and love, honor and courtesy flow into all deeds.

--Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Kind actions, and good wishes, and pure thoughts No mystery is here: Here is no boon For high--yet not for low: The smoke ascends To heaven as lightly from the cottage hearth As from the haughtiest palace.

--William Wordsworth.

Given to hospitality.

--Romans 12. 13.

Gracious Father, I beseech thee to give me wisdom for kind thoughts and deeds. Teach me true hospitality, that I may be gracious in my own home and appreciative in the home of others. May I not temper my hospitality for certain reasons, but have a genuine welcome for all. Amen.

JUNE FOURTH

George III born 1738.

Lord Edward Fitzgerald died 1798.

General Garnet Wolseley born 1833.

This is the gospel of labor--ring it, Ye bells of the kirk-- The Lord of Love came down from above To live with the men who work. This is the rose he planted, here In the thorn-cursed soil; Heaven is blest with perfect rest, but The blessing of earth is toil.

--Henry van Dyke

No man is born into the world whose work Is not born with him. There is always work And tools to work withal, for those who will; And blessed are the horny hands of toil.

--James Russell Lowell.

Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest.

--Exodus 23. 12.

My Father, I pray for the love of work, and the desire to cultivate life. Stir me, that I may be ambitious. May I not stare at life in an everyday way and forget that others are watching for the surprises. Help me to be considerate and kind in all that I do. Amen.

JUNE FIFTH

Socrates born B.C. 469.

Dr. Adam Smith born 1723.

Karl Maria von Weber died 1826.

O. Henry died 1910.

You think that upon the score of foreknowledge and divining I am infinitely inferior to the swans. When they perceive approaching death they sing more merrily than before, because of the joy they have in going to the God they serve.

--Socrates.

O yet we trust that somehow good Will be the final goal of ill, To pangs of nature, sins of will, Defects of doubt, and taints of blood;

That nothing walks with aimless feet; That not one life shall be destroyed, Or cast as rubbish to the void, When God hath made the pile complete.

--Alfred Tennyson.

How precious is thy lovingkindness, O God! And the children of men take refuge under the shadow of thy wings.

--Psalm 36. 7.

Eternal God, forbid that I should try to set up thy judgment-seat in so small a place as self, and attempt to render decisions for thee. My soul lives anew as I think of thy love, and that there is no place where thy mercy can be withheld from me. Amen.

JUNE SIXTH

Diego R. Velasquez born 1599.

Pierre Corneille born 1606.

Nathan Hale born 1755.

Sir John Stainer born 1840.

These stones that make the meadow brooklet murmur Are the keys on which it plays. O'er every shelving rock its touch grows firmer, Resounding notes to raise.

If every path o'er which footsteps wander, Were smooth as ocean strand, There were no theme for gratitude and wonder At God's delivering hand.

--W. E. Winks.

We also rejoice in our tribulations: knowing that tribulation worketh steadfastness; and steadfastness, approvedness; and approvedness, hope.

--Romans 5. 3, 4.

My Father, if rain may come to-day, may I realize its help, with the power of the sun, to increase life; and may its influence be sweet and wholesome to me, as I learn that sadness is temporary and will disappear with the coming of gladness. May I go search for the joy that may be mine to-day. Amen.

JUNE SEVENTH

Robert Bruce died 1329.

George Bryan (Beau Brummel) born 1778.

Rev. W.D. Conybeare born 1787.

When the lamp is shattered The light in the dust lies dead-- When the cloud is scattered The rainbow's glory is shed. When the lute is broken Sweet tones are remembered not; When the lips have spoken Loved accents are soon forgot.

--Percy Bysshe Shelley.

A slip of the rose may take root, and bring forth a bloom to give peace to the soul. A slip of the tongue may take root, and bring forth a thorn that will torture the soul.

--M.B.S.

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; so neither can ye, except ye abide in me.

--John 15. 4.

Many of us, O Father, overlook the fragrance of the rose while we are being pierced by its thorn. Increase my faith in life and in thee, that I may not be dismayed over mysteries, but sincerely wait for deliverance. Amen.

JUNE EIGHTH

Mohammed died 632.

Thomas Rickman born 1776.

Charles Reade born 1814.

John Everett Millais born 1829.

If one touch of nature makes the whole world kin, methinks that sweet and wonderful thing sympathy is not less powerful. What golden barriers, what ice of centuries, it can melt in a moment!

--Charles Reade.

If I had two loaves of bread, I would sell one to buy white hyacinths to feed my soul.

--Mohammed.

What do you live for if it is not to make life less difficult for each other?

--George Eliot.

Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

--James 1. 27.

My Father, help me to understand that kind hearts and willing hands are made possible by the depth and greatness of thy love. May I possess the spirit of forgiveness and consideration, that I may not hold prejudice and revenge, but help with sympathy and tenderness. Amen.

JUNE NINTH

George Stephenson born 1781.

John Howard Payne born 1791.

Richard D. Blackmore born 1825.

Charles Dickens died 1870.

Reflect upon your present blessings of which every man has many; not upon your past misfortunes, of which all have some.

--Charles Dickens.

'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. Home! home! sweet, sweet home! There's no place like home!

--John Howard Payne.

For thou shalt forget thy misery; Thou shalt remember it as waters that are passed away.

--Job 11. 16.

Lord God, my soul fills with gratitude for the blessings which I have received and enjoyed. Help me to conform to thy will concerning my duties. May I not try to resist thy providence. I pray that thou wilt bless my daily life, and make my home a place to dispense kindness and cheerfulness. Amen.

JUNE TENTH

Sir Edwin Arnold born 1832.

Henry M. Stanley born 1840.

Edward Everett Hale died 1809.

Robert Schumann born 1810.

What have you done with your soul, my friend? Where is the ray you were wont to send, Glancing bright through the outer night, Touching with hope what was dark before, Glimmering on to the further shore?

--Arthur C. Benson.

God suffers the light to know eclipse, Dashes the cup from the eager lips; You perchance would have drunk too deep.

--Arthur C. Benson.

Lift where you stand.

--Edward Everett Hale.

A friend is the first person who comes in when the whole world has gone out.

--Unknown.

Who comforteth us in all our affliction, that we may be able to comfort them that are in any affliction, through the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

--2 Corinthians 1.4.

Almighty God, help me to correct my mistakes, and to be more careful of what I take in my life. May I always stretch out a hand of love to inspire others with confidence to care more for themselves and more for thee. Amen.

JUNE ELEVENTH

Roger Bacon died 1292.

George Wither born 1588.

John Constable born 1776.

Exceeding gifts from God are not blessings, they are duties. They do not always increase a man's happiness; they always increase his responsibilities.

--Charles Kingsley.

Make a rule and pray for help to keep it. Once a day spare room for a thought that will pursue a strong purpose. Help in some way the progress of a weary soul who cannot repay you.

--M. B. S.

There is no true potency, remember, but that of help; nor true ambition, but ambition to save.

--John Ruskin.

And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul: then shall thy light rise in darkness, and thine obscurity be as the noon day.

--Isaiah 58. 10.

Heavenly Father, when I think of how little I have given away my heart burns with shame, as I recall what thou hast given to me. May I from this day be more thoughtful of thy tender compassion by being less selfish with what I have. Amen.

JUNE TWELFTH

Harriet Martineau born 1802.

Charles Kingsley born 1819.

Dr. Thomas Arnold (Arnold of Rugby) died 1842.

Sir Oliver Lodge born 1851.

Do to-day's duty, fight to-day's temptation, and do not weaken and distract yourself by looking-forward to things which you cannot see, and could not understand if you saw them.

--Charles Kingsley.

Genuine religion has its roots deep down in the heart of humanity.... The actions of the Deity make no appeal to any special sense. We are deaf and blind, therefore, to the imminent grandeur around us unless we have insight enough to appreciate the whole and to recognize the woven fabric of existence flowing steadily from the loom of an infinite progress toward perfection.

--Sir Oliver Lodge.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, neither shadow that is cast by turning.

--James 1. 17.

Gracious Father, forbid that I should make thee regret thy gifts to me; and if I have failed to appreciate them, look upon me with pity, for I have cheated myself more than I have thee. Give me a deeper appreciation, that I may be strengthened day by day in the veriest duties of life. Amen.

JUNE THIRTEENTH

Dr. Thomas Young born 1773.

General Winfield Scott born 1786.

Dr. Thomas Arnold (Arnold of Rugby) born 1795.

William Butler Yeats born 1865.

Beyond all wealth, honor, or even health, is the attachment we form to noble souls, because to become one with the good, generous, and true is to become, in a measure, good, generous, and true ourselves.

--Thomas Arnold.

Open thy bosom, set thy wishes wide, and let in manhood--let in happiness; admit the boundless theater of thought from nothing up to God ... which makes a man.

--Thomas Young.

Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him that is alone when he falleth, and hath not another to lift him up.

--Ecclesiastes 4. 9, 10.

Heavenly Father, I thank thee for good friends, and for the delight that dwells in fellowship. Give me the power to apprehend love, and guard me against the ways to lose it. May I look to my friends to help me to be pure, and to help me live my truest life. Amen.

JUNE FOURTEENTH

Carlo Guidi born 1650.

Harriet Beecher Stowe born 1812.

Mary Carpenter died 1877.

When you get into a tight place, and everything goes against you till it seems as if you couldn't hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that's just the time and place that the tide will turn.

--Harriet Beecher Stowe.

I cannot do it alone, The waves run fast and high, And the fogs close chill around, And the light goes out in the sky; But I know that we two Shall win in the end-- God and I.

--Unknown.

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope that it waver not.

--Hebrews 10. 23.

Almighty God, I pray that thou wilt sustain me when I may be enduring for a purpose, and to accomplish it seems beyond my strength. Renew me with courage, and give me unceasing hope, and faith that is able to hold out to the end. Amen.

JUNE FIFTEENTH

Thomas Randolph born 1605.

Edward Grieg born 1843.

Thomas Campbell died 1844.

What is rightly done stays with us, to support another right beyond, or higher up; whatever is wrongly done vanishes; and by the blank, betrays what we would have built above.

--John Ruskin.

The seed ye sow another reaps, The wealth ye find another keeps, The robe ye weave another wears, The arms ye forge another bears.

--Percy Bysshe Shelley.

Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee; thou saidst, Fear not. O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life.

--Lamentations 3. 57, 58.

Lord God, reveal to me my selfishness if I am receiving much and giving little to satisfy life. May I be grateful and considerate of all those who labor to give me comfort and happiness. Amen.

JUNE SIXTEENTH

Hugh Capet succeeds to throne of father 956.

Sir Richard Fanshawe died 1666.

Sir John Cheke born 1514.

When to the sessions of sweet, solemn thought I summon up remembrance of things past, I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought. But if the while I think on thee, dear friend, All losses are restored and sorrows end.

--William Shakespeare.

Seldom can the heart be lonely If it seek a lonelier still-- Self-forgetting, seeking only Emptier cups of love to fill.

--F. R. Havergal.

The Lord Jehovah hath given me the tongue of them that are taught, that I may know how to sustain with words him that is weary.

--Isaiah 50. 4.

Gracious Father, keep within me that cheer and courage which never has a place for weary murmurings; and with peace make the hours of solitude profitable as they pass. Help me to seek those who are in need of sympathy and encouragement, that I may help them to have a tranquil life. Amen.

JUNE SEVENTEENTH

Joseph Addison died 1719.

Charles François Gounod born 1818.

Sir E. C. Burne-Jones died 1898.

He who plants a tree Plants a hope. Rootlets up through fibers blindly grope, Leaves unfold unto horizons free. So man's life must climb From the clods of time Unto heavens sublime. Canst thou prophesy, thou little tree, What the glory of the boughs shall be?

--Lucy Larcom.

Very early, I perceived that the object of life is to grow.

--Margaret Fuller.

Many a genius has been slow of growth. Oaks that flourish for a thousand years do not spring up into beauty like a reed.

--George Henry Lewes.

And Jesus advanced in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

--Luke 2. 52.

Almighty God, thy power is so great I cannot express it; help me to comprehend the meaning of it, that I may feel more profoundly thy expectations of my life. May I remember that to forget that life is eternal may make me to lose all it has grown. Amen.

JUNE EIGHTEENTH

Robert Stewart born 1769.

Battle of Waterloo 1815.

William Cobbett died 1835.

Not he the threatening texts who deals Is highest 'mong the preachers, But he who feels the woes and weals Of all God's wandering creatures. He doth good work whose heart can find The spirit 'neath the letter; Who makes his kind of happier mind, Leaves wiser men and better.

Dear Bard and Brother! let who may Against thy faults be railing, (Though far, I pray, from us be they That never had a failing!)

--James Russell Lowell.

Avenge not yourselves, beloved, but give place unto the wrath of God: for it is written, Vengeance belongeth unto me; I will recompense, saith the Lord.

--Romans 12. 19.

Heavenly Father, I pray that I may not be so occupied in expressing my judgment of others, that I will forget to live in thy judgment myself. May I have the compassion for others that I hope to receive from thee. Amen.

JUNE NINETEENTH

Magna Charta signed, Runnymede, 1215.

Blaise Pascal born 1623.

Charles H. Spurgeon born 1834.

Find your niche and fill it. If it is ever so little, if it is only a hewer of wood or a drawer of water, do something in the great battle for God and truth.

--Charles Spurgeon.

If I do what I may in earnest, I need not mourn if I work no great work on earth. To help the growth of a thought that struggles toward the light; to brush with gentle hand the stain from the white of one snowdrop--such be my ambition.

--George Macdonald.

Jehovah thy God will bless thee in all thy work, and in all that thou puttest thy hand unto.

--Deuteronomy 15. 10.

Lord God, I pray that I may not through conceit be betrayed into slacking my work, or through visions of greatness lose it. Teach me how to obtain the secret wealth in the smallest thing; and may I recognize thy treasures, and fill my life with the finest that may be given me. Amen.

JUNE TWENTIETH

John of Lancaster born 1389.

Dr. Adam Ferguson born 1723.

Anna Letitia Aiken (Mrs. Barbauld) born 1743.

If the soft hand of winning Pleasure leads By living waters, and through flowery meads, Where all is smiling, tranquil, and serene, Oh! teach me to elude each latent snare, And whisper to my sliding heart, "Beware!" With caution let me hear the Syren's voice, And doubtful, with a trembling heart rejoice. If friendless in a vale of tears I stray, Where briars wound, and thorns perplex my way, Still let my steady soul thy goodness see, And, with a strong confidence, lay hold on Thee.

--Anna Letitia Barbauld.

For thou, O God, hast proved us: Thou hast tried us, as silver is tried.

--Psalm 66. 10.

O Lord, teach me to select my pleasures with care, that I may not plunge into joyful moments that are irretrievable. May I indulge in the pleasures that bring happiness and not weariness. Grant that I may have the honor to protect others from harm and loss, as I engage in my pleasures and in my work. Amen.

JUNE TWENTY-FIRST

Captain John Smith died 1631.

Anthony Collins born 1676.

Jacques Offenbach born 1819.

In our eagerness to solve life we start out to trace its mysteries and trample God's truths as we search. As we return we discover the shattered treasures, and gladly stoop to gather up the fragments, and with them translate the revelations of the soul.

--M.B.S.