The longer on this earth we live
And weigh the various qualities of men

The more we feel the high, stern-featured beauty
Of plain devotedness to duty,

Steadfast and still, nor paid with mortal praise, But finding amplest recompense

For life's ungarlanded expense

In work done squarely and unwasted days. JAMES RUSSELL Lowell.

Our dear Heavenly Father, we would greet Thee as this morning greets us. We thank Thee for the daily duty; that, amid this wondrous world, Thou hast set somewhat for our doing. May we appreciate the honor. May we not grudge our best, even in the humblest tasks, since Thou appointest them. Strengthen us, we beseech Thee, if sometimes the heart fails, and the tired hands get laggard. Show us how the lowliest service becomes loftiest if done with the glorifying motive of pleasing Thee. Make us this day blithe in duty. When our heads find pillow may Thy peace enfold us; forgive our failures; and, for Jesus' sake, may we never cease endeavor. Amen.

WAYLAND HOYT.

GEORGE WASHINGTON. BORN 1732.

Welcome to the day returning,
Dearer still as ages flow,
While the torch of faith is burning,
Long as Freedom's altars glow!
See the hero whom it gave us

Slumbering on a mother's breast;
For the arm he stretched to save us,
Be its morn forever blest.

Oliver Wendell Holmes.

Father of life, we thank Thee that Thou hast been with the Fathers; that Thou hast been with him whose birth this day we celebrate. Thou wert willing to speak to them, and they were willing to hear Thee and answer Thee, "Lo, here am I; send me." We thank Thee that the memory of this great man has come down to us; of him who was first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen; and we ask Thee that Thou wilt be with our countrymen today; that Thou wilt teach us Thy law, that we may walk in Thy ways; that this may be that happy nation whose God is the Lord. In all time of our trial, if we have sought Thee we have found Thee, in all time of our success Thou hast won for us our victories, - Thou hast been with our counsellors. Father, today, tomorrow, and in days to come, in our memories and in our hopes be with us still, Our Father, Who art in Heaven. Amen.

EDWARD EVERETT HALE.

If you always remember that in all you do in soul or body God stands by as a witness, in all your prayers and your actions you will not err; and you shall have God dwelling with you.

EPICTETUS.

Faith acts on our souls as a moral tonic; it takes the fret and fever out of our lives; it gives the appetite and desire for noble living; it removes despondency; it gives energy, courage, hope, patience, and persistence; and in its highest manifestations it makes our lives a blending of power, sweetness, and peace. JAMES M. PULlman.

Father of spirits! We yield ourselves to Thee. We will be afraid of neither sorrow nor death in a world where many saintly souls have sanctified them by a divine patience, and amid a Providence wherein no evil thing can dwell. Clinging unto Thee, we shall not perish with the fashion of this world that passeth away. As sparks falling on the river, so shall the glories of our strength go out. But the graces of the holy soul shall be as the brightness of the firmament, and as the stars forever and ever. In Thee, O Lord, is our undying trust. Amen. JAMES MARTINEAU.

Be of good cheer, brave spirit; steadfastly serve that low whisper thou hast served; for know, God bath a select family of sons now scattered wide thro' earth, and each alone, who are thy spiritual kindred, and each one by constant service to that inward law, is weaving the sublime proportions of a true monarch's soul. Beauty and strength, the riches of a spotless memory, the eloquence of truth, the wisdom got by searching of a clear and loving eye that seeth as God seeth. These are their gifts, and time, who keeps God's word, brings on the day to seal the marriage of these minds with thine, thy everlasting lovers. RALPH WALDO EMERSON.

O Thou, who makest the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice, help us to welcome this new day as Thy gift, to take up its duties with courage, and to follow the light which Thou shalt give. Conscious of the meaning and purpose of life, undismayed by the failures of past days, and ever remembering that Thy strength is made perfect in human weakness, may we consecrate ourselves anew to the glad service of life, knowing that in so doing we enter into fellowship with all who have been workers together with Thee, and into increasing likeness of soul to Thy holy Son. May the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and may life become stronger and sweeter and richer, until at last we receive through grace the "well done!" of the Master. Amen.

HENRY M. KING.

is no music in a rest, but there is the making ic in it. In our whole life melody, the music Ren off here and there by“ rests,” and we foolishly R we have come to the end of time. God sends a time of forced leisure-sickness, disappointed plans, frustrated efforts and makes a sudden pause in the choral hymn of our lives, and we lament that our voices must be silent, and our part missing in the music which ever goes up to the ear of the Creator. How does the musician read the rest? See him beat time with unvarying count and catch up the next note true and steady, as if no breaking place had come in between. Not without design does God write the music of our lives. But be it ours to learn the time, and not be dismayed at the "rests." They are not to be slurred over, nor to be omitted, nor to destroy the melody, nor to change the key-note. If we look up, God Himself will beat the time for us. With the eye on Him we shall strike the next note full and clear. JOHN RUSKIN.

O God, help to trust where we cannot see, and to feel that life is not necessarily a failure because we are shut out from its activities. Grant us in sickness such visions and such communion with Thee that disease of the body shall be transformed into a healer of the soul; and, as the crushed rose the sweeter fragrance emits, so may our sorrows chasten and refine us.

O Heavenly Father, grant that all our sickness and pain and disappointment may so sweeten our dispositions, purify our character and strengthen our souls that we shall bring heaven's sunlight into the lives of all whom we meet. Amen.

MYRON W. HAYNES.