Leaves of Life Part 93

Albert Thorwaldsen born 1770.

James A. Garfield, Ohio, twentieth President United States, born 1831.

Mary Hallock Foote born 1847.

Count Lyoff (Leo) Tolstoy died 1910.

And son I live, you see, Go through the world, try, prove, reject, Prefer, still struggling to effect My warfare; happy that I can Be crossed and thwarted as a man, Not left in G.o.d's contempt apart, With ghastly smooth life, dead at heart, Tame in earth's paddock, as her prize.

--Robert Browning.

Be good at the depths of you, and you will discover that those who surround you will be good even to the same depths. Therein lies a force that has no name; a spiritual rivalry that has no resistance.

--Maurice Maeterlinck.

First of all, I must make myself a man; if I do not succeed in that, I can succeed in nothing.

--James A. Garfield.

That we may be no longer children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error.

--Ephesians 4. 14.

Eternal G.o.d, I thank thee for all the sterling elements that greaten the individual life. I pray that I may not desire to be kept a small creature, but seek to grow in wisdom and love, and qualify for mighty purposes and achievements. Amen.

NOVEMBER TWENTIETH

Paul Potter born 1625.

Thomas Chatterton born 1752.

William Ellery Channing born 1818.

Sir Wilfred Laurier born 1841.

Then why, my soul, dost thou complain?

Why drooping seek the dark recess?

Shake off the melancholy chain, For G.o.d created all to bless.

The gloomy mantle of the night, Which on my sinking spirits steals, Will vanish at the morning light, Which G.o.d, my East, my Sun, reveals.

--Thomas Chatterton.

Lady, there is a hope that all men have-- Some mercy for their faults, a gra.s.sy place To rest in, and a flower-strewn, gentle grave: Another hope which purifies our race, That when that fearful bourne forever past, They may find rest--and rest so long to last.

I seek it not, I ask no rest forever, My path is onward to the farthest sh.o.r.es.

--William Ellery Channing.

He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay; And he set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.

And he put a new song in my mouth.

--Psalm 40. 2, 3.

My Father, I pray that I may have patience to live through the difficulties of life. May I correct my faults, that they may not destroy my peace and take from me my strength; help me to center my life in brightness and hope. Amen.

NOVEMBER TWENTY-FIRST

Claude Lorraine died 1682.

Bryan Waller Procter (Barry Cornwall) born 1787.

Mary Johnston born 1870.

There is not a creature from England's king To the peasant that delves the soil, Who knows half the pleasures the seasons bring If he had not his share of toil.

--Barry Cornwall.

It may be proved, with much certainty, that G.o.d intends no man to live in this world without working; but it seems to me no less evident that he intends every man to be happy in his work. Now, in order that people may be happy in their work, these three things are needed: they must be fit for it; and they must not do too much of it; and they must have a sense of success in it.

--John Ruskin.

Let him labor, working with his hands the thing that is good, that he may have whereof to give to him that hath need.

--Ephesians 4. 28.

My Father, if my work seems hard to-day, may I not cease working if I grow weary, but may my strength be renewed to continue my work. May the aim of my work be to please thee, and to help in the progress of humanity. Amen.

NOVEMBER TWENTY-SECOND

Saint Cecilia martyred A.D. 230.

Sir Henry Havelock died 1857.

Justin M'Carthy born 1830.

Sometimes the sun, unkindly hot, My garden makes a desert spot, Sometimes a blight upon the tree Takes all my fruit away from me; And then with throes of bitter pain Rebellious pa.s.sions rise and swell; And so I sing and all is well.

--Paul Laurence Dunbar.