Leaves of Life Part 48

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 fellows.h.i.+p. 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-- G.o.d and I.

--Unknown.

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

--Hebrews 10. 23.

Almighty G.o.d, 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 Sh.e.l.ley.

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 G.o.d, 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 pa.s.s. 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 Francois 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?