AUGUST NINETEENTH

Augustus Caesar died A.D. 14.

James Watt died 1819.

Robert Bloomfield died 1823.

Honore Balzac died 1850.

It is written not, “Blessed is he that feedeth the poor,” but “Blessed is he that considereth the poor.”  And you know a little thought and a little kindness are often worth more than a great deal of money.

    —­John Ruskin.

    So pity never leaves the gentle breast
    Where love has been received a welcome guest;
    As wandering saints poor huts have sacred made,
    He hallows every heart he once has swayed,
    And, when his presence we no longer share,
    Still leaves compassion as a relic there.

    —­Thomas Sheridan.

If a brother or sister be naked and in lack of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Go in peace, be ye warmed and filled; and yet ye give them not the things needful to the body; what doth it profit?

    —­James 2. 16.

Tender Father, help me to consider those who receive the crust of bread at my door; for if it be needed it is asked for by sad and desperate lives.  Make me conscious of thy mercy and help, that I may be considerate for the one with the outstretched hand.  Amen.

AUGUST TWENTIETH

Saint Bernard died 1153.

Robert Herrick born 1591.

John and Cornelius De Witt killed 1672.

Francis Asbury born 1745.

Henry P. Liddon born 1829.

Benjamin Harrison, Ohio, twenty-third President
United States, born 1833.

    The busy world shoves angrily aside
    The man who stands with arms akimbo set
    Until occasion tells him what to do;
    And he who waits to have his task marked out
    Shall die and leave his errand unfulfilled.

    —­James Russell Lowell.

    Awake, arise! the hour is late! 
      Angels are knocking at thy door! 
    They are in haste and cannot wait,
      And once departed come no more.

    —­Henry W. Longfellow.

    Boast not thyself of to-morrow;
    For thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.

    —­Proverbs 27. 1.

Gracious Father, grant that I may not tarry so long, that when I arrive I will hear, “Too late, too late, ye cannot enter now”; but may I be so persistent with every day that when I arrive I may be ready as well as on time.  Amen.

AUGUST TWENTY-FIRST

Lady Mary Montagu died 1762.

Jules Michelet born 1798.

John Tyndall born 1820.

Let us never be afraid of innocent joy; God is good and what he does is well done; resign yourself to everything, even happiness; ask for the spirit of sacrifice, of detachment, of renunciation, and above all, for the spirit of joy and gratitude.

    —­Amiel.