--John 16. 22.

My Father, may I remember that the days of my life that I give over to grief can never be reclaimed. Help me that I may not want to keep sorrow in my life, but with faith may I believe that "weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." Amen.

DECEMBER FOURTEENTH

Daniel Neal born 1678.

Rev. Charles Wolfe born 1791.

George Washington died 1799.

Frances Ridley Havergal born 1836.

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

--Frances R. Havergal.

When to the sessions of sweet silent thought I summon up remembrance of things past, I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought.

And with old woes new wail my dear time's waste

But if the while I think on thee, dear friend, All losses are restored, and sorrows end.

--William Shakespeare.

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 me cheerful and courageous, that I may not be given to weary murmurings. May my hours of solitude be spent profitably as they pa.s.s. Grant that I may be a help to those who are in need of sympathy and encouragement, and through the peace that is given to me help them to a tranquil life. Amen.

DECEMBER FIFTEENTH

Catherine of Aragon born 1485.

George Romney born 1734.

Franklin B. Sanborn born 1831.

Yet frequent visitors shall kiss the shrine, And ever keep its vestal lamp alight; All n.o.ble thoughts, all dreams divinely bright, That waken or delight this soul of mine.

--F.B. Sanborn.

One small cloud can hide the sunlight; Loose one string, the pearls are scattered; Think one thought, a soul may perish; Say one word, a heart may break.

--A.A. Procter.

Self-scrutiny is often the most unpleasant, and always the most difficult, of moral actions. But it is also the most important and salutary; for, as the wisest of the Greeks said, "An unexamined life is not worth living."

--J. Strachan.

Try your own selves, whether ye are in the faith; prove your own selves.

--2 Corinthians 13. 5.

Gracious Father, help me that I may not be thoughtless and unkind. May I be gentle and sympathetic. Forgive me for any unhappiness which I may have made, and may it be mine to know the rejoicing that comes hi lifting a discouraged life in time. Amen.

DECEMBER SIXTEENTH

John Selden born 1584.

Francois La Rochefoucauld born 1610.

George Whitefield born 1714.

Jane Austen born 1775.

So live that when thy summons comes to join The innumerable caravan that moves To that mysterious realm where each shall take His chamber in the silent halls of death, Thou go not, like the quarry slave at night, Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch About him and lies down to pleasant dreams.

--William Cullen Bryant.

As the wind extinguishes a taper but kindles the fire, so absence is the death of an ordinary pa.s.sion, but lends strength to the greater.

--La Rochefoucauld.

If a man die, shall he live again?

--Job 14. 14.

Heavenly Father, with thy help may I enter into the hope that overcomes the fear of death. May my days be full of aspiration, and through faith may my life move toward the eternal and the sublime.

Amen.

DECEMBER SEVENTEENTH

Sir Roger L'Estrange born 1616.