_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 G.o.d for the beauty of the world. We thank G.o.d that it is good to be alive. We thank G.o.d 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 compa.s.sion. 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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d, 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 sh.e.l.l 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 cas.e.m.e.nts 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 G.o.d, 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 G.o.d 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 pa.s.sion, unselfishness, loyalty, wherein these thoughts have had being._

MAETERLINCK.

O G.o.d, 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 G.o.d 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 j.a.panned b.u.t.tercups and star-disked dandelions, lying in the gra.s.s, 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 b.u.t.ton-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.