DECEMBER TENTH

Thomas Holcroft born 1745.

Dr. Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet born 1787.

Eugene Sue born 1804.

Be of good cheer. Do not think of to-day's failures, but of success that may come to-morrow. You have set yourselves a difficult task, but you will succeed if you persevere; and you will have a joy in overcoming obstacles--a delight in climbing rugged paths which you would perhaps never know if you did not sometimes slip backward, if the road were always smooth and pleasant. Remember, no effort that we make to attain something beautiful is ever lost.

--Helen Keller.

We rise by things that are beneath our feet, By what we have mastered by good and gain, By the pride deposed and pa.s.sion slain, And the vanquished ills that we hourly meet.

--J.G. Holland.

He that overcometh, I will give to him to sit down with, me in my throne, as I also overcame, and sat down with my Father in his throne.

--Revelation 3. 21.

My Father, I pray that I may not be given to contradicting and doubting, nor take for granted that which needs to be considered.

Grant that I may have the faith and strength of heart to fulfill the longings of my soul. Amen.

DECEMBER ELEVENTH

Sir Roger L'Estrange died 1704.

Dr. William Cullen born 1712.

Colley Cibber died 1757.

Lord, subdue our selfish will; Each to each our tempers suit, By thy modulating skill, Heart to heart, as lute to lute.

--Charles Wesley.

One of the last, slowly murmured sayings of Whittier, was this: "Give--my--love--to--the--world." And this is the world's supreme need to-day; more than our eloquence, or our knowledge, or our wealth, or all else besides, it needs our love. True, even love may sometimes err; but the cure for love's mistakes is just more love; we often blunder because we do not love enough. G.o.d help us all that, like Whittier, we may live and die, giving our love to the world.

--George Jackson.

Love never faileth.

--1 Corinthians 13. 8.

Lord G.o.d, help me to see the beauty of the world, and through my duty may I find the love in the world. May I not spend my life in discontent, but may I remember that thou hast said, "The meek shall inherit the earth." Fill my heart with compa.s.sion, that I may love my fellow man as I love myself. Amen.

DECEMBER TWELFTH

Chief Justice John Jay born 1745.

Gustav Flaubert born 1821.

Robert Browning died 1889.

A people is but the attempt of many To rise to the completer life of one.

And those who live for models for the ma.s.s Are singly of more value than they all.

--Robert Browning.

Give me the power to labor for mankind; Make me the mouth of such as cannot speak; Eyes let me be to groping men 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 further on such as thy kingdom seek.

--Theodore Parker.

I was eyes to the blind, And feet was I to the lame.

--Job 29. 15.

Almighty G.o.d, wilt thou guide me in the direction where I may choose a useful life; open wide my heart as well as my eyes, that I may early see my work and be diligent in its prosecution. Reveal to me, when I may have failed, that I may do better to-morrow. Amen.

DECEMBER THIRTEENTH

William Drummond born 1585.

Dr. Samuel Johnson died 1784.

Joseph Noel Paton born 1821.

Phillips Brooks born 1835.

Hamilton Mabie born 1846.

When the clouds of sorrow gather over us, we see nothing beyond them, nor can imagine how they can be dispelled; yet a new day succeeded to the night, and sorrow is never long without a dawn of ease.

--Dr. Samuel Johnson.

The fountains of joy and sorrow are for the most part locked up in ourselves.... There come to great, solitary, and sorely smitten souls moments of clear insight, of a.s.surance of victory, of unspeakable fellowship with truth and life and G.o.d, which outweigh years of sorrow and bitterness.

--Hamilton Mabie.

And ye therefore now have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no one taketh away from you.