Chapter I: Part 1

LEAVES OF LIFE

FOR DAILY INSPIRATION

BY

MARGARET BIRD STEINMETZ

1914

The Bible text used in this book is taken from the American Standard Edition of the Revised Bible, copyright, 1901, by Thomas Nelson & Sons, and is used by permission.

DEDICATED

TO THOSE WHO HAVE HELPED IN GATHERING THESE LEAVES--AND TO THOSE WHO MAY GATHER SOMETHING FROM THEM.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The Macmillan Company, New York, N.Y.
Shailer Mathews, Jane Addams, Newell Dwight Hillis,
Marion Crawford.

The Century Company, New York, N.Y.
S. Weir Mitchell, Theodore Roosevelt, John Kendrick
Bangs, Richard Watson Gilder, Edith Thomas.

Oxford University Press, London, E.C.
Annie Matheson.

The Saalfield Publishing Company, Akron, Ohio.
Joseph Jefferson.

Mitchell Kennerley, New York.
Theodosia Garrison: My Litany.

Thomas Y. Crowell Company, New York, N.Y.
Charles W. Eliot: The Durable Satisfactions of Life.
J.R. Miller.

The Pilgrim Press, Boston, Mass.
Henry Ward Beecher.

Harper & Brothers, New York, N.Y.
Will Carleton: Farm Legends.
Margaret E. Sangster: Easter Bells.

Elbert Hubbard, Roycroft Shop, East Aurora, N.Y.
Printed by special permission of the publishers.

W.B. Conkey, Hammond, Ind.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox, copyrighted 1912.

National W.C.T.U., Evanston, Ill.
Frances E. Willard.

American Baptist Publication Society, Philadelphia, Pa.
W.E. Winks.

Rand, McNally & Company, Chicago, Ill.
Marie Bashkirtseff.

Tennesseean and American, Nashville, Tenn.
G. Rice.

Cosmopolitan Magazine, New York, N.Y.
O. Henry.

The H.M. Rowe Company, Baltimore, Md.
Edwin Leibfreed: Poems.

Permission from President Wilson for the excerpts from his speeches.

Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, Mass.
Kate Douglas Wiggin, Richard Watson Gilder, Josephine
Peabody, John Hay, Hugo Münsterberg, Edith Thomas,
Lyman Abbott, John Burroughs, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps,
Thomas Bailey Aldrich, Julia Ward Howe, Harriet
Beecher Stowe, Joel Chandler Harris, Lucy Larcom,
Bret Harte, Bayard Taylor, Alice Freeman Palmer,
Thomas W. Higginson.

Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, N.Y.
Henry van Dyke: Music and Other Poems.
Maltbie D. Babcock: Thoughts for Every Day Living.
Sidney Lanier: Poems of Sidney Lanier.
Robert Bridges: Robert Bridges' Poems.
George Meredith: Last Poems.
James Anthony Froude: Short Studies on Great Subjects.
Robert Louis Stevenson: Poems and Works.
W.E. Henley: Poems.
Eugene Field: Western Verse.

G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York and London.
Arthur Christopher Benson: Along the Road, Silent Isle,
From a College Window, Joyous Gard, Lord Vyet and Other Poems.

Little, Brown & Company, Boston, Mass.
Emily Dickinson, Laura E. Richards, Edward Everett Hale.

George H. Doran Company, New York, N.Y.
Sir Oliver Lodge, Arnold Bennett, J. Stalker, A.H. Begbie.

Fleming H. Revell Company, New York, N.Y.
Percy C. Ainsworth, E.H. Divall, Margaret E. Sangster,
J.H. Jowett, George Matheson.

Longmans, Green & Company, New York and London.
William James.

Dodd, Mead & Company, New York, N.Y.
Maurice Maeterlinck, Hamilton Mabie, Ian Maclaren,
Jerome K. Jerome, G.K. Chesterton, Paul Laurence Dunbar.

Small, Maynard & Company, Boston, Mass.
Mrs. Charlotte Perkins Gilman, John B. Tabb, Ernest Crosby.

Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Company, Boston, Mass.
Paul Hamilton Hayne.

Doubleday, Page & Company, Garden City, New York
Charles Wagner, Edwin Markham, Helen Keller.

E.P. Dutton Company, New York.
George Macdonald.

JANUARY

Janus am I; oldest of potentates;
Forward I look, and backward, and below
I count, as god of avenues and gates,
The years that through my portals come and go.

I block the roads, and drift the fields with snow;
I chase the wild fowl from the frozen fen;
My frosts congeal the rivers in their flow,
My fires light up the hearths and hearts of men.

--Henry W. Longfellow.

JANUARY FIRST

Bartolome Esteban Murillo, baptized 1618.

Paul Revere born 1735.

Betsy Ross born 1752.

Maria Edgeworth born 1767.

Arthur Hugh Clough born 1819.

Old things need not be therefore true,
O brother men, nor yet the new;
Ah! still awhile the old thought retain,
And yet consider it again!

We! what do we see? each a space
Of some few yards before his face;
Does that the whole wide plan explain?
Ah, yet consider it again!

Alas! the great world goes its way,
And takes its truth from each new day;
They do not quit, nor can retain,
Far less consider it again.

--Arthur Hugh Clough.

There are two sorts of content; one is connected with exertion, the
other habits of indolence. The first is a virtue; the other a vice.

--Maria Edgeworth.

Oh send out thy light and thy truth; let them lead me:
Let them bring me unto thy holy hill,
And to thy tabernacles.

--Psalm 43. 3.

Almighty God, lead me in the search for life. Teach me what is important and what is unimportant; what is false, and what is true. Remove the hindrances that keep me from the worthiest deeds, and grant that I may have the peace that comes with surrender of self to thy will. Amen.

JANUARY SECOND

General James Wolfe born 1727.

Colonial flag first raised 1776.

Mary Carey Thomas born 1857.

To what profit we could use the time for our present task that we
spend in impatient waiting and wondering over the future! So often
the future is just one step up from the present, but some of us miss
it by preferring to wait for an elevator.

--M. B. S.

Prepare to live by all means, but for heaven's sake do not forget to
live. You will never have a better chance than you have at present.
You may think you will have, but you are mistaken.

--Arnold Bennett.

He that riseth late must trot all day, and shall scarce overtake his
business at night; while laziness travels so slowly that poverty
soon overtakes him. He that lives on hope will die fasting.

--Benjamin Franklin.

Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might, for there
is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in Sheol, whither
thou goest.

--Ecclesiastes 9. 10.

Gracious Father, my heart burns with shame when I think how much I claim, and how little I am. I pray that my body may not cast a shadow to-day, and cloud the light of my life to-morrow. Cleanse the windows of my soul that I may take in thy glory. Amen.

JANUARY THIRD

Marcus Tullius Cicero born B.C. 106.

Martin Luther excommunicated 1521.

Douglas Jerrold born 1803.

Charles Wagner (France) born 1852.

To be continually advancing in the paths of knowledge is one of the
most pleasing satisfactions of the human mind. These are pleasures
perfect consistent with every degree of advanced years.

--Cicero.

Fidelity in small things is at the base of every great achievement.
We too often forget this and yet no truth needs more to be kept in
mind particularly in the troubled eras of history and in the crises
of individual life. In shipwreck a splintered beam, an oar, any
scrap of wreckage saves us. To despise the remnants is
demoralization.

--Charles Wagner.

He that is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much and he
that is unrighteous in a very little is unrighteous also in much.

--Luke 16. 10

Almighty God, may I understand that thou art in everything and that I cannot hide from thee, for thou boldest me though I know it not. Give me the desire, and help me to learn of thy laws, that I may know that even in the least of things, I have the liberty to obtain happiness by obeying them. Amen.

JANUARY FOURTH

Archbishop Usher born 1580.

Jacob L. Carl Grimm born 1785.

Elizabeth Peabody died 1894.

Years rush by us like the wind, we see not whence the eddy comes,
nor whitherward it is tending, and we seem ourselves to witness
their flight without a sense that we are changed: and yet time is
beguiling man of his strength, as the winds rob the trees of their
foliage.

--Sir Walter Scott.

The bell strikes one. We take no note of Time
But from its loss. To give it, then a tongue
Is wise in man; as if an angel spoke
I feel the solemn sound. If heard aright
It is the knell of my departed hours:
Where are they?

--Edward Young.

Days should speak, And multitude of years should teach wisdom. And
the breath of the Almighty giveth them understanding. It is not the
great that are wise, Nor the aged that understand justice.

--Job 32. 7, 9.

Lord God, help me to see my mistakes, and bring me to the realization of my life. Grant that I may no longer use the time that thou gavest me to learn in, heedlessly, but to give it my best thought and care. Amen.

JANUARY FIFTH

Stephen Decatur born 1779.

Robert Morrison born 1782.

Thomas Pringle born 1789.

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 cup 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.

The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament showeth his
handiwork.

--Psalm 19. 1.

Almighty God, grant that my life may no longer be a noise, but be kept in tune with the sublimest melodies, that wherever I am, there may be no discords in the songs of my soul. Through thy loving-kindness may my songs resound. Amen.

JANUARY SIXTH

Epiphany, or Twelfth-Day.

Joan d'Arc born 1412.

David Dale born 1739.

'Twas even so! and thou the shepherd's child,
Joanne, the lowly dreamer of the wild!
Never before and never since that hour
Hath woman, mantled with victorious power,
Stood forth as thou beside the shrine didst stand,
Holy amidst the knighthood of the land.

--Mrs. Felicia Hemans.

Every one must recognize the splendid work which has been done by
women in social and educational fields. And it will, I believe, come
more and more to be recognized that in some respects women are
specially fitted for government and for official-municipal life.

--Sir Oliver Lodge.

Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, she judged Israel
at that time. And she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between
Ramah and Bethel in the hill-country of Ephraim: and the children of
Israel came up to her for judgment.

--Judges 4. 4, 5.

My Father, help me to be thoughtful and just. May I consider the great truths and broader visions that may not be seen from where I stand. May I be willing to accept a better view. Grant that I may realize that the battle of life is not a sham battle, but a struggle for the advancement of life. Amen.

JANUARY SEVENTH

General Putnam born 1718.

Robert Nicholl born 1814.

T. DeWitt Talmage born 1832.

Opportunities fly in a straight line, touch us but once and never
return, but the wrongs we do others fly in a circle; they come back
from the place they started.

--T. DeWitt Talmage.

Our share of night to bear,
Our share of morning,
Our blank is bliss to fill,
Our blank is scorning.

Here a star, and there a star,
Some lose their way,
Here a mist, and there a mist,
Afterwards--day!

--Emily Dickinson.

Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your resting-place.

--Micah 2. 10.

Lord God, give me the desire to be persistent in service, while I have health and strength. May I experience the sweetness that comes in doing the thing that I ought to have done, as well as that in which I took the most pleasure. Help me to so live that my days may be useful, and be recalled with bright and happy recollections. Amen.

JANUARY EIGHTH

John Earl of Stair died 1707.

Sir William Draper died 1787.

Alfred Russel Wallace born 1823.

William Wilkie Collins born 1824.

Sir Laurence Alma-Tadema born 1836.

A blue bird built his nest
Here in my breast.
"O bird of Light! Whence comest thou?"
Said he, "From God above:
My name is Love."

A mate he brought one day,
Of plumage gray.
"O bird of Night! Why comest thou?"
Said she: "Seek no relief!
My name is Grief."

--Laurence Alma-Tadema.

It is not so much resolution as renunciation, not so much courage as
resignation, that we need. He that has once yielded thoroughly to
God will yield to nothing but God.

--John Ruskin.

Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man, Neither will he uphold
the evildoers. He will yet fill thy mouth with laughter, And thy
lips with shouting.

--Job 8. 20, 21.

Almighty God, help me to understand that peace does not come in rebellion or grieving, but is obtained through the calm of the soul. Grant that if I may be perplexed or worried to-day, I may have the power to control myself and wait in thy strength. Amen.

JANUARY NINTH

Dr. Thomas Brown born 1778.

Elizabeth O. Benger died 1822.

Caroline Lucretia Herschel died 1848, aged ninety-seven.

Wondrous is the strength of cheerfulness altogether past calculation
its powers of endurance. Efforts to be permanently useful must be
uniformly joyous--a spirit of all sunshine.

--Thomas Carlyle.

Honest good humor is the oil and wine of a merry meeting.

--Washington Irving.

A laugh is worth a hundred groans in any market.

--Charles Lamb.

A glad heart maketh a cheerful countenance; But by sorrow of heart
the spirit is broken.

Better is a dinner of herbs, where love is, Than a stalled ox and
hatred therewith.

--Proverbs 15. 13, 17.

Gracious Father, if I am sorrowing over disappointment and am forgetful, grant that I may see the things thou hast made, for which I should be thankful. Help me to so live that I may have a right to claim a cheerful heart. Amen.

JANUARY TENTH

Dr. George Birkbeck born 1776.

Michel or Marshal Ney born 1769.

Karl von Linné, Linnæus, died 1778.

Ethan Allen born 1737.

Shall I hold on with both hands to every paltry possession? All I
have teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.

--Ralph Waldo Emerson.

The practical weakness of the vast mass of modern pity for the poor
and the oppressed is precisely that it is merely pity; the pity is
pitiful but not respectful. Men feel that the cruelty to the poor is
a kind of cruelty to animals. They never feel that it is injustice
to equals; nay, it is treachery to comrades.

--G.K. Chesterton.

Be ye all like-minded, compassionate, loving as brethren,
tender-hearted, humble-minded: not rendering evil for evil, or
reviling for reviling; but contrariwise blessing.

--1 Peter 3. 8, 9.

God of justice, may I pause to remember that while I may do a mean act and keep it hidden from others, I cannot keep it hidden from myself, nor from thee. Help me to have a nobler sense of the quality of life, and less anxiety for the quantity, that I may avoid harshness and selfishness, and be given to tenderness and justice. Amen.

JANUARY ELEVENTH

Alexander Hamilton born 1757.

Bayard Taylor born 1825.

William James born 1842.

Alice Caldwell Regan Rice born 1870.

The paternal relation to man was the basis of that religion which
appealed directly to the heart; so the fraternity of each man with
his fellow was its practical application.

--Bayard Taylor.

It is indeed a remarkable fact that sufferings and hardships do not,
as a rule, abate the love of life; they seem on the contrary,
usually to give it a keener zest; and the sovereign source of
melancholy is repletion. Need and struggle are what excite and
inspire. Our hour of triumph is what brings the void.

--William James.

Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he hath been
approved, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord
promised to them that love him.

--James 1. 12.

Lord God, I come to thee for help that the small things may not force themselves into my life, and keep me from pursuing the larger things which are continually open to me. May I not be blind to what I may have and be, through inspiration and work. Grant that I may not be satisfied to remain in that in which I have triumphed, but climb to greater endeavors. Amen.

JANUARY TWELFTH

Edmund Burke born 1729.

Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi born 1746.

François Coppée born 1842.

John S. Sargent born 1856.

Show the thing you contend for to be reason; show it to be common
sense; show it to be the means of attaining some useful end. The
question with me is not whether you have a right to render your
people miserable, but whether it is your interest to make them
happy.

--Edmund Burke.

Like the star
That shines afar,
Without haste
And without rest,
Let each man wheel with steady sway
Round the task that rules the day,
And do his best.

--Goethe.

Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth
not itself, is not puffed up.

--1 Corinthians 13. 4.

Gracious Father, cause me to be critical of my life, that I may not be deceived in myself. Help me to look into my soul and see what thou dost find there; and with humility may I acknowledge what I am to thee, and seek thy wisdom and love. Amen.

JANUARY THIRTEENTH

George Fox, founder Society of Friends, died 1691.

Samuel Woodworth (Old Oaken Bucket) born 1785.

Order of King's Daughters founded 1886.

Have thy soul feel the universal breath
With which all nature's quick, and learn to be
Sharer in all that thou dost touch or see;
Break from thy body's grasp thy spirit's trance;
Give thy soul air, thy faculties expanse;
Love, joy, even sorrow,--yield thyself to all!
They make thy freedom, groveling, not thy thrall.
Knock off the shackles which thy spirit bind
To dust and sense, and set at large the mind!
Then move in sympathy with God's great whole,
And be like man at first, a _Living Soul_.

--Richard Henry Dana.

I was deeply impressed by what a gardener once said to me concerning
his work. "I feel, sir," he said, "when I am growing the flowers or
rearing the vegetables, that I am having a share in creation." I
thought it a very noble way of regarding his work.

--J.H. Jowett.

For we are God's fellow workers: ye are God's husbandry, God's
building.

--1 Corinthians 3. 9.

Creator of all, help me to see what there is for me to do; and help me to know that I cannot be productive if I am hovering in the choice of my work. May I learn from thy great works of heaven and earth the ways of selection and steadfastness. Give me the desire to work and the confidence that is needed to carry on my work. Amen.

JANUARY FOURTEENTH

Madame de Sévigné died 1696.

Edmund Halley died 1742.

Pierre Loti born 1850.

Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute
What you can do, or dream you can; begin it;
Boldness has genius, power magic in it.
Only engage, and then the mind grows heated;
Begin and then the work will be completed.

--Goethe.

Were half the power that fills the world with terror,
Were half the wealth bestowed on camps and courts,
Given to redeem the human mind from error,
There were no need of arsenals or forts.

--Henry W. Longfellow.

Choose you this day whom ye will serve;... but as for me and my
house, we will serve Jehovah.

--Joshua 24. 15.

Almighty God, help me to appreciate the sacredness of work while I have it to do. Grant that I may be spared the wretchedness that comes from working with fragments from idleness. May I do my part, even if it be in obscurity and the night overtakes me before it is done. Amen.

JANUARY FIFTEENTH

Molière born 1622.

Dr. Samuel Parr born 1747.

Edward Everett died 1865.

The sun withholds his generous beam;
Athwart my soul the shadows stream;
The weird winds boisterously blow,
And drift the melancholy snow.

When I, in sorrow and despair,
Expect the storm, with tender care
He rends the clouds and through the blue
The glorious sun breaks forth anew.

--M.B.S.

So with the wan waste grasses on my spear,
I ride forever seeking after God.
My hair grows whiter than my thistle plume
And all my limbs are loose; but in my eyes
The star of an unconquerable praise;
For in my soul one hope forever sings,
That at the next white corner of the road
My eyes may look on Him.

--G.K. Chesterton.

He brought me forth also into a large place;
He delivered me, because he delighted in me.

--Psalm 18. 19.

Loving Father, if I may be discouraged to-day, strengthen my faith. May I not weary of waiting for thee, but trust in thy promises. Amen.

JANUARY SIXTEENTH

Edmund Spenser died 1599.

Johann August Neander born 1789.

Edward Gibbon died 1794.

Sir John Moore died 1809.

But lovely concord, and most sacred peace,
Doth nourish vertue, and fast friendship breeds;
Weake she makes strong, and strong thing does increase,
Till it the pitch of highest praise exceeds.

--Edmund Spenser.

Perfect good-breeding is the result of nature and not of education;
for it may be found in a cottage, and may be missed in a palace.
'Tis the genial regard for the feeling of others that springs from
an absence of selfishness.

--Disraeli.

Can a fig tree, my brethren, yield olives, or a vine figs? neither
can salt water yield sweet.

--James 3. 12.

Heavenly Father, help me to value my thoughts, words, and deeds. If at the close of the day, there may be one who has been wounded by my injustice, may I be willing to make quick atonement. May I avoid the ways and words that hurt; and not only wish rightly and work rightly, but speak to enrich others with tenderness. Amen.

JANUARY SEVENTEENTH

John Ray died 1705.

Benjamin Franklin born 1706.

George Bancroft died 1891.

Employ thy time well if thou meanest to gain leisure; and since thou
art not sure of a minute, throw not away an hour! Leisure is time
for doing something useful; this leisure the diligent man will
obtain, but the lazy man never; a life of leisure and a life of
laziness are two things.

--Benjamin Franklin.

There is nothing to gain and everything to lose by despising the
example of nature, and making arbitrary rules for oneself. Our
liberty wisely understood is but a voluntary obedience to the
universal laws of life.

--Amiel.

I will meditate on thy precepts,
And have respect unto thy ways.

--Psalm 119. 15.

My Father, help me to understand the power of nature, that I may be willing to obey her laws. I pray that I may so live that my life will proclaim itself without need of boasting or deception. Forbid that I should spend my life in perfecting trifles, and have no leisure to enjoy thy great gifts. Amen.

JANUARY EIGHTEENTH

Charles de Montesquieu born 1689.

John Gillies born 1747.

Daniel Webster born 1782.

We would leave for the consideration of those who shall occupy our
places some proof that we hold the blessings transmitted from our
fathers in just estimation; some proof of our attachment to the
cause of good government and of civil and religious liberty; some
proof of a sincere and ardent desire to promote every thing which
may enlarge the understanding and improve the hearts of men.

--Daniel Webster.

Brother and friend, the world is wide,
But I care not whether there be
The soothing song of a summer tide
Or the thrash of a wintry sea,
If but through shimmer and storm you bide,
Brother and friend, with me.

--Percy C. Ainsworth.

Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the King.

--1 Peter 2. 17.

Almighty God, I thank thee for all the tender influences of life; for all the gentleness and strength that may be given and received through friendship. Help me to be careful of what I do, for my sake, and for the sake of those who may follow me. Amen.

JANUARY NINETEENTH

Hans Sachs died 1576.

William Congreve died 1729.

James Watt born 1736.

Robert E. Lee born 1807.

Edgar Allan Poe born 1809.

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand--
How few! Yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep--while I weep!
O God, can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?

--Edgar Allan Poe.

Do not train up your children in hostility to the government of the
United States. Remember that we are one country now. Dismiss from
your mind all sectional feeling, and bring them up to be Americans.

--Robert E. Lee.

Wait for Jehovah: Be strong, and let thy heart take courage; Yea,
wait thou for Jehovah.

--Psalm 27. 14.

Lord God, I pray that if I have struggled for the wrong, and have worked with weak hands, thou wilt forgive me for my lost strength. Give me more light to shine upon my work, upon thy promises, and upon my duties; and with thy wisdom may I search for the truth that is behind every wrong, and for the purpose that is beyond all journeyings. Amen.

JANUARY TWENTIETH

Eve of Saint Agnes.

David Garrick died 1779.

John Howard died 1790.

John Ruskin died 1900.

Nathaniel P. Willis born 1806.

How like a mounting devil in the heart
Rules the unreigned ambition! Let it once
But play the monarch, and its haughty brow
Glows with a beauty that bewilders thought
And unthrones peace forever. Putting on
The very pomp of Lucifer, it turns
The heart to ashes.

--Nathaniel P. Willis.

Temperance, in the nobler sense, does not mean a subdued and
imperfect energy; it does not mean a stopping short in any good
thing, as love or in faith; but it means the power which governs the
most intense energy, and prevents its acting in any way but as it
ought.

--John Ruskin.

And thy gentleness hath made me great.

--Psalm 18. 35.

Gracious Father, I pray that I may be willing to profit by the experience of great teachers, and appreciate the value of strong principles. May I too live for the higher ideals of life, and through a sympathetic response add power and virtue to other lives, while gaining strength for my own. Amen.

JANUARY TWENTY-FIRST

Miles Coverdale died 1568.

John Fitch born 1743.

John C. Fremont born 1813.

Thomas Erskine born 1750.

Thomas Jonathan (Stonewall) Jackson born 1824.

So long as we love we serve; so long as we are loved by others I
would almost say that we are indispensable; and no man is useless
while he has a friend.

--Robert L. Stevenson.

So to the calmly gathered thought
The innermost of life is taught,
The mystery dimly understood,
That love of God is love of good:
That to be saved is only this--
Salvation from our selfishness.

--John Greenleaf Whittier.

Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: love therefore is the
fulfillment of the law. And this, knowing the season, that already
it is time for you to awake out of sleep: for now is salvation
nearer to us than when we first believed.

--Romans 13. 10, 11.

Tender Father, may I not attempt to serve life for my own gratification. May I not interpret love through vanity, but from reality. Make me worth while, that I may be relied upon for my pledges, and needed for my services. Amen.

JANUARY TWENTY-SECOND

Andrea del Sarto died 1531.

Francis Bacon born 1561.

Lord George Byron born 1788.

Queen Victoria died 1901.

Father of light! to thee I call,
My soul is dark within:
Thou who canst mark the sparrow's fall,
Avert the death of sin,
Thou who canst guide the wandering star,
Who calm'st the elemental war,
Whose mantle is yon boundless sky,
My thoughts, my words, my crimes forgive;
And since I soon must cease to live,
Instruct me how to die.

--Lord Byron.

Knowledge, whether it descend from divine inspiration or spring from
human sense, would soon perish and vanish to oblivion if it were not
preserved in books, traditions, conferences, and places appointed.

--Francis Bacon.

Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of the
prophecy, and keep the things that are written therein.

--Revelation 1. 3.

Almighty God, I would have thy counsel as I read the words and follow the deeds of helpful lives, that I may be inspired to nobler activities. Give me the desire to know more of thy holy word, that I may have a better knowledge of life. Amen.

JANUARY TWENTY-THIRD

John Hancock born 1737.

William Pitt died 1806.

Charles Kingsley died 1875.

Paul Gustave Doré died 1883.

Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful. Welcome it
in every fair face, every fair sky, every fair flower, and thank Him
for it, who is the fountain of all loveliness.

--Charles Kingsley.

Nature never did betray
The heart that loved her; 'tis her privilege
Through all the years of this life, to lead,
From joy to joy; for she can so impress
With quietness and beauty, and so feed
With lofty thoughts, that neither evil tongues,
* * * * *
Nor all the dreary intercourse of daily life,
Shall e'er prevail against us or disturb
Our cheerful faith, that all which we behold
Is full of blessings.

--William Wordsworth.

Is not God in the height of heaven?
And behold the height of the stars, how high they are!
And thou sayest, What doth God know?
Can he judge through the thick darkness?

--Job 22. 12, 13.

Lord God, I pray that I may not overlook thy blessings of beauty while endeavoring to perform my duties. Guide me that I may not struggle to be where thou wouldst not have me go. Amen.

JANUARY TWENTY-FOURTH

Charles Earl of Dorset born 1637.

Frederick the Great born 1712.

Charles James Fox born 1749.

The great Gods pass through the great Time-hall,
Stately and high;
The little men climb the low clay wall
To gape and spy;
"We wait for the Gods," the little men cry,
"But these are our brothers passing by."

The great Gods pass through the great Time-hall;
Who can see?
The little men nod by the low clay wall,
So tired they be;
'"Tis weary waiting for Gods," they yawn,
"There's a world o' men, but the Gods are gone."

--A.H. Begbie.

But their eyes were holden that they should not know him.

--Luke 24. 16.

My Father, may I be careful of getting weary and missing the best through the need of rest. Intensify my desire for the songs and glorious ways, that I may not settle into dullness and slumber, while others pass on in the light. I pray for a keener sense of the possessions made possible by the deeds and cares of noble men and women. Amen.

JANUARY TWENTY-FIFTH

Robert Burns born 1759.

Lord Frederick Leighton died 1896.

Daniel Maclise born 1811.

When ranting round in pleasure's ring
Religion may be blinded:
Or if she gie a random sting,
It may be little minded:
But when on life we're Tempest-driv'n--
A conscience but a canker,
A correspondence fixed wi' Heav'n,
Is sure a noble anchor.

--Robert Burns.

Be good, sweet maid, and let who will be clever;
Do noble things, not dream them, all day long:
And so make life, death, and that vast forever
One grand sweet song.

--Charles Kingsley.

O Lord, by these things men live;
And wholly therein is the life of my spirit:
Wherefore recover thou me, and make me to live.

--Isaiah 38. 16.

Gracious Father, grant that I may not be willing to spend my life for trivial needs, for thou dost measure me for what I am, and boldest me for what I lose in waste. Be with me in my judgment of what is best, that I may make the most of my life. Amen.

JANUARY TWENTY-SIXTH

Lord George Sackville born 1716.

Benjamin Robert Haydon born 1786.

Mary Mapes Dodge born 1838.

General Gordon (Chinese Gordon) killed 1885.

Ave Maria! blessed be the hour,
That time, the clime, the spot, where I so oft
Have felt that moment in its fullest power
Sink o'er the earth so beautiful and soft,
While swung the deep bell in the distant tower
Or the faint dying day-hymn stole aloft,
And not a breath crept through the rosy air,
And yet the forest leaves seemed stirred with
prayer.

--Lord Byron.

I am quite happy, thank God, and like Lawrence, I have tried to do
my duty.

--General Gordon (just before death).

For in the day of trouble he will keep me secretly
in his pavilion:
In the covert of his tabernacle will he hide me;
He will lift me up upon a rock.

--Psalm 27. 5.

Heavenly Father, teach me how to breathe in the sweetness of life. Reveal to me the life that will bring peace to the soul. May I not be dismayed, but find the "Peace that passeth all understanding," the perfect peace that comes from thee. Amen.

JANUARY TWENTY-SEVENTH

Johannes Wolfgang Mozart born 1756.

A.W. von Schlegel born 1767.

David Friedrich Strauss born 1808.

To keep young, every day read a poem, hear a choice piece of music,
view a fine painting, and, if possible, do a good action. Man's
highest merit always is, as much as possible, to rule external
circumstances, and as little as possible to let himself be ruled by
them.

--Goethe.

Let us not always say,
"Spite of this flesh to-day
I strove, made head, gained ground upon the whole!"
As the bird wings and sings,
Let us cry, "All good things
Are ours, nor soul helps flesh more now than flesh helps soul!"

--Robert Browning.

Surely goodness and loving-kindness shall follow me all the days of
my life.

--Psalm 23. 6.

Loving Father, help me to foresee that it is what I care for to-day that determines how I will find old age. May I not bring my closing years to weariness and lonesomeness, but may I have the restfulness that comes with communing with thee. Amen.

JANUARY TWENTY-EIGHTH

Charlemagne died 814.

Sir Francis Drake died 1596.

Peter the Great died 1725.

Charles George Gordon (Chinese Gordon) born 1833.

He only is advancing in life whose heart is getting softer, whose
blood warmer, whose brain quicker, and whose spirit is entering into
living peace. And the men who have this life in them are the true
lords and kings of the earth--they, and they only.

--John Ruskin.

Just where you stand in the conflict,
There is your place!
Just where you think you are useless,
Hide not your face!
God placed you there for a purpose,
What e'er it be;
Think you he has chosen you for it:
Work loyally.

--Anonymous.

O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of
God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing
out!

--Romans 11. 33.

My Father, I thank thee that thou hast endowed me with a will; help me to use it aright. May I have the knowledge of what thou dost demand of my soul, that I may do my best with what thou hast given me. Help me that I may reach out for the highest ideals of life. Amen.

JANUARY TWENTY-NINTH

Emanuel Swedenborg born 1688.

Thomas Paine born 1737.

Adelaide Ristori born 1822.

William McKinley, Ohio, twenty-fourth President United States, born 1843.

God will keep no nation in supreme place that will not do supreme
duty.

--William McKinley.

Reputation is what men and women think of us; character is what God
and the angels know of us.

--Thomas Paine.

The reward of one duty is the power to fulfill another.

--George Eliot.

Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand,
Upon the son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself.
So shall we not go back from thee:
Quicken thou us, and we will call upon thy name.

--Psalm 80. 17, 18.

My Father, I pray that I may be just and be given to kindness. May I be conscious of my virtues, and use them to overcome my faults. May I hear clearly thy call that I may be sure of the way as I lead others to duty and happiness. Amen.

JANUARY THIRTIETH

Archbishop Butler born 1774.

Walter Savage Landor born 1775.

Henri Rochefort born 1830.

Why, why repine, my pensive friend,
At pleasures slipped away?
Some the stern fates will never lend,
And all refuse to stay.
I see the rainbow in the sky,
The dew upon the grass;
I see them and I ask not why
They glimmer or they pass.
With folded arms I linger not
To call them back; 'twere vain;
In this, or in some other spot,
I know they'll shine again.

--Walter Savage Landor.

When disappointment comes meet it, but do not carry it along with
you; nor fetter your spirit by changeless haste. "Memory will always
pursue some precious instance of itself," which will bring either
renewed confidence or resignation.

--M. B. S.

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

--Job 11. 16.

Gracious Father, help me to "Lift mine eyes unto the hills" that glorify the discouraging ways. May I appreciate thy great love, and from my limitations find the possibilities that are limitless. Amen.

JANUARY THIRTY-FIRST

Cromwell dissolved Parliament 1655.

Charles Edward (Young Pretender) died 1788.

Franz Schubert born 1797.

James G. Elaine born 1830.

Nature demands that man be ever at the top of his condition. He who
violates her laws must pay the penalty, though he sit on a throne.

--James G. Elaine.

Dig channels for the streams of love,
Where they may broadly run;
And love has overflowing streams
To fill them every one.

For we must share if we must keep
The good things from above;
Ceasing to give, we cease to have--
Such is the law of love.

--R. C. Trench.

And thy life shall be clearer than the noonday;
Though there be darkness, it shall be as the morning.

--Job 11. 17.

My Father, I would remember that it is mostly from my inspirations that I conceive life. Take away hatred and vanity that keep me in faults, and awake in me the thoughts that are responsible for visions that lead to high ideals. Amen.

FEBRUARY

Then came old February, sitting
In an old wagon, for he could not ride,
Drawn of two fishes for the season fitting,
Which through the flood before did softly slide
And swim away; yet he had by his side
His plow and harness fit to till the ground,
And tools to prune the trees, before the pride
Of hasting prime did make them bourgeon wide.

--Edmund Spenser.

FEBRUARY FIRST

Ben Jonson born 1574.

John Philip Kemble born 1757.

Arthur Henry Hallam born 1811.

George Cruikshank died 1878.

It is not growing like a tree
In bulk, doth make man better be;
Or standing long an oak, three hundred year,
To fall a log at last, dry, bald, and sere:
A lily of a day
Is fairer far in May,
Although it fall and die that night--
It was the plant and flower of Light.
In small proportions we just beauties see;
And in short measure life may perfect be.

--Ben Jonson.

There are four things which are little upon the earth,
But they are exceeding wise:
The ants are a people not strong,
Yet they provide their food in the summer;
The conies are but a feeble folk,
Yet make they their houses in the rocks;
The locusts have no king,
Yet go they forth all of them by bands;
The lizard taketh hold with her hands,
Yet is she in king's palaces.

--Proverbs 30. 24-28.

Creator of all, lead me to see the light, and instruct me that I may be able to reason. Guard me against spectacular endeavors, that I may be genuine. Amen.

FEBRUARY SECOND

Candlemas Day.

Nell Gwynn born 1650.

Hannah More born 1745.

William Henry Burleigh born 1812.

'Twas doing nothing was his curse--
Is there a vice can plague us worse?
The wretch who digs the mine for bread,
Or plows, that others may be fed,
Feels less fatigue than that decreed
To him who cannot think, or read.
Not all the peril of temptations,
Not all the conflict of the passions,
Can quench the spark of Glory's flame,
Or quite extinguish Virtue's name.

--Hannah More.

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.

--Sir Walter Scott.

He went out, and found others standing; and he saith unto them, Why
stand ye here all the day idle? They say unto him, Because no man
hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard.

--Matthew 20. 6, 7.

Eternal God, who hath weighed the mountains and measured the seas, I pray that I may not be satisfied to wait in idleness, and let thy wisdom pass away from me as the days. Steady me in my weakness, and reveal to me my strength as I draw near and ask of thee. Amen.

FEBRUARY THIRD

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy born 1809.

Horace Greeley born 1811.

Frederick William Robertson born 1816.

Sidney Lanier born 1842.

My soul is sailing through the sea,
But the past is heavy and hindereth me.
The past hath crusted cumbrous shells
That hold the flesh of cold sea-mells
About my soul.
The huge waves wash, the high waves roll,
Each barnacle clingeth and worketh dole
And hindereth me from sailing.

--Sidney Lanier.

To stand with a smile upon your face, against a stake from which you
cannot get away--that no doubt is heroic. True glory is resignation
to the inevitable. But to stand unchained, with perfect liberty to
go away held only by the higher chains of duty, and let the fire
creep up to the heart--that is heroism.

--F.W. Robertson.

We are pressed on every side, yet not straitened; perplexed, yet not
unto despair; pursued, yet not forsaken; smitten down, yet not
destroyed.

--2 Corinthians 4. 8, 9.

Gracious Father, thou knowest what I am and the condition of my life. May I seek thy will for me. Grant that I may never struggle for consolation through indulgence and indolence, but in my sorrow and failure may I reach out for thy enduring comfort. Amen.

FEBRUARY FOURTH

Mark Hopkins born 1802.

W. Harrison Ainsworth born 1805.

Jean Richepin born 1849.

Thomas Carlyle died 1881.

Life is not a May-game, but a battle and a march, a warfare with
principalities and powers. No idle promenade through fragrant orange
groves and green flowery spaces, waited on by coral muses, and the
rosy hours; it is a stern pilgrimage through the rough, burning,
sandy solitudes, through regions of thick-ribbed ice.

--Thomas Carlyle.

For all sweet and pleasant passages in the great story of life men
may well thank God; for leisure and ease and health and friendship
may God make us truly and humbly grateful; but our chief song of
thanksgiving must be always for our kinship with him, with all that
such divinity of greatness brings of peril, hardship, toil, and
sacrifice.

--Hamilton Mabie.

Thy bars shall be iron and brass;
And as thy days, so shall thy strength be.

--Deuteronomy 33. 25.

My Father, help me to choose the road that leads to my work, and may I not fail to reach it, by wandering away from it. Keep me in touch with the human side of life, holding in mind that "Truth and honesty are the noblest works of God." Amen.

FEBRUARY FIFTH

Sir Robert Peel born 1788.

Ole Boreman Bull born 1810.

John Muir born 1810.

Dwight L. Moody born 1837.

When a great man dies, then has the time come for putting us in mind
that he was alive!

--Thomas Carlyle.

If I practice one day, I can see the result. If I practice two days,
my friends can see it. If I practice three days, the great public
can see it.

--Ole Bull.

Those who say they will forgive but can't forget an injury simply
bury the hatchet while they leave the handle out, ready for
immediate use.

--Dwight L. Moody.

But I hold not my life of any account as dear unto myself, so that I
may accomplish my course.

--Acts 20. 24.

Almighty God, if I am uncertain, and tremble at the crossroads in doubt of the right way, may I wait and be led by thee, and follow on, even if the way be dark and rough. May I be faithful and have thy presence as thou promised at the end. Amen.

FEBRUARY SIXTH

Queen Anne of England born 1665.

Aaron Burr born 1756.

Sir Henry Irving born 1838.

Nothing earthly will make me give up my work in despair. I encourage
myself in the Lord my God and go forward.

--David Livingstone.

To expect defeat is nine tenths of defeat itself.

--Marion Crawford.

I do not see how any man can afford, for the sake of his nerves and
his nap, to spare any action in which he can partake.

--Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Art is a jealous mistress, she requires the whole man.

--Michael Angelo.

Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.

--1 Corinthians 16. 13.

Almighty God, help me to have true conceptions, that my life may not be secured to needless purposes. May my soul be influenced by high ideals, and my work be the production of truth and not of selfishness. Protect me from evil that I may be kept pure and strong for my work. Amen.

FEBRUARY SEVENTH

Millard Fillmore, New York, thirteenth President United States born 1800.

Sir Thomas More born 1478.

Charles Dickens born 1812.

Anne Radcliffe died 1823.

Sidney Cooper died 1902.

Let no man turn aside ever so slightly, from the broad path of
honor, on the plausible pretense that he is justified by the
goodness of his end. All good ends can be worked out by good means.

--Charles Dickens.

If evils come not, then our fears are vain;
And if they do, fear but augments the pain.

--Sir Thomas More.

A human heart knows aught of littleness,
Suspects no man, compares with no one's ways,
Hath in one hour most glorious length of days,
A recompense, a joy, a loveliness;

Like eaglet keen, shoots into azure far,
And always dwelling nigh is the remotest star.

--William Ellery Channing.

Teach me thy way, O Jehovah;
I will walk in thy truth:
Unite my heart to fear thy name.

--Psalm 86. 11.

Gracious Father, I pray that thou wilt control my impulses, and protect me from false interpretations. May I have wisdom, and search for the high and holy ways. Help me to be patient for thy purposes, and may my relations to life be triumphant in thy standards. Amen.

FEBRUARY EIGHTH

Samuel Butler born 1612.

John Ruskin born 1819.

General Sherman born 1820.

Jules Verne born 1828.

Richard Watson Gilder born 1844.

If you want knowledge, you must toil for it; and if pleasure, you
must toil for it. Toil is the law. Pleasure comes through toil, and
not by self-indulgence and indolence. When one gets to love work his
life is a happy one.

--John Ruskin.

Whatever sceptic could inquire for,
For every why he had a wherefore.

--Samuel Butler.

Through love to light! O wonderful the way,
That leads from darkness to the perfect day!
From darkness and from sorrow of the night
To morning that comes singing o'er the sea.
Through love to light! through light O God to Thee!
Who art the love, the eternal light of light!

--Richard Watson Gilder.

We must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the
night cometh, when no man can work.

--John 9. 4.

My Father, I pray that I may not weight my life with worthless efforts. May I be guided to the right work, and through the love of it find strength for my soul. Amen.

FEBRUARY NINTH

C.F. Volney born 1757.

William Henry Harrison, Virginia, ninth President United States, born 1773.

Anthony Hope (Hawkins) born 1863.

George Ade born 1866.

A man's own observation, what he finds good of, and what he finds
hurt of, is the best physic to preserve health. But it is a safer
conclusion to say, "This agreeth not well with me, therefore I will
not continue it"; than to say, "I find no offense of this, therefore
I may use it." For strength of nature in youth passeth over many
excesses, which are owing a man till his age.

--Francis Bacon.

Though man a thinking being is defined,
Few use the grand prerogative of mind.
How few think justly of the thinking few!
How many never think, who think they do!

--Jane Taylor.

Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he hath been
approved, he shall receive the crown of life.

--James 1. 12.

Almighty God, I would learn that while thou art a forgiving Lord, nature has no mercy on them that break her laws. Forgive me for all my neglect, and help me to see the way in which thou hast through mercy led me. Give me the power to endure and the strength to resist temptation. May I seek to understand thy laws, that I may not fail through ignorance. Amen.

FEBRUARY TENTH

Rev. Henry Hart Milman born 1791.

Charles Lamb born 1775.

Sir William Napier died 1860.

Never let the most well-intended falsehood escape your lips; for
Heaven, which is entirely Truth, will make the seed which you have
sown of untruth to yield miseries a thousandfold.

--Charles Lamb.

We cannot command veracity at will; the power of seeing and
reporting truly is a form of health that has to be distinctly
guarded, and as an ancient rabbi has solemnly said, "The penalty of
untruth is untruth."

--George Eliot.

The bat hangs upside down and laughs at a topsy-turvy world.

--Unknown.

The lip of truth shall be established for ever;
But a lying tongue is but for a moment.

--Proverbs 12. 19.

Lord God, give me the will to hold to the truth and the strength to help keep the world true; and may I help others to look up and catch the truth from the purest light. Amen.

FEBRUARY ELEVENTH

Mary, Queen of England, born 1516.

Daniel Boone born 1735.

Lydia M. Child born 1802.

Washington Gladden born 1836.

Thomas A. Edison born 1847.

Few, in the days of early youth,
Trusted like me in love and truth.
I've learned sad lessons from the years;
But slowly and with many tears;
For God made me to kindly view
The world that I was passing through.

And all who tempt a trusting heart
From faith and hope to drift apart,
May they themselves be spared the pain
Of losing power to trust again!
God help us all to kindly view
The world that we are passing through!

--Lydia M. Child.

For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the
mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing;
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

--Isaiah 55. 12.

Lord God, I pray that I may not rest my hope in self alone, but know that the greatest joy is in the hope of the world. Help me to have faith in mankind; and with a loyal heart and a brave spirit be as kind to the world as I can. Amen.

FEBRUARY TWELFTH

Dr. Cotton Mather born 1663.

Peter Cooper born 1791.

Abraham Lincoln, Kentucky, sixteenth President United States, born 1809.

Robert Charles Darwin born 1809.

George Meredith born 1828.

With malice towards none, with charity for all, with firmness in the
right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish
the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds, ... to do all
which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among
ourselves and with all nations.

--Abraham Lincoln.

The great moral combat between human life and each human soul must
be single.... When a soul arms for battle she goes forth alone.

--Owen Meredith.

According to the grace of God which was given unto me, as a wise
master builder I laid a foundation; and another buildeth thereon.

--1 Corinthians 3. 10.

Almighty God, I thank thee for the courage that comes with a great life. Help me to be brave, even if it is only that others may be blest. May I lay a careful foundation and plan to build the best that I can afford. Amen.

FEBRUARY THIRTEENTH

David Allan born 1744.

Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord born 1754.

Richard Wagner died 1883.

A man is not his hope, nor yet his despair, nor yet his past deed.
We know not yet what we have done; still less what we are doing.
Wait till evening, and other parts of our work will shine than we
had thought at noon, and we shall discover the real purport of our
toil.

--Henry D. Thoreau.