Frances E. Willard born 1839.

General John D. French born 1852.

Mary Anderson born 1859.

    Unless there is a predominating and overmastering purpose to which
    all the accessories and incidents of life contribute, the character
    will be weak, irresolute, uncertain.

    —­Frances E. Willard.

    Life is not an idle ore,
    But iron dug from central gloom,
      And heated hot with burning fears,
      And dipt in baths of hissing tears,
    And battered with the shocks of doom
    To shape and use.

    —­Alfred Tennyson.

    He that doubteth is like the surge of the sea driven by the wind and
    tossed....  A double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

    —­James 1. 6, 8.

O God, help me to be positive.  May I not want to be in so many places, and in so many things, that I can never be found in anything.  Help me to know that a purpose secured is worth many attempts, and that to have a character I must build it.  Amen.

SEPTEMBER TWENTY-NINTH

Pompey killed B.C. 48.

Robert Lord Clive born 1725.

Horatio Nelson born 1758.

    O strange and wild is the world of men
      Which the eyes of the Lord must see—­
    With continents, inlands, tribes, and tongues,
      With multitudes bond and free! 
    All kings of the earth bow down to him,
      And yet—­he can think of me.

    For none can measure the mind of God
      Or the bounds of eternity,
    He knows each life that has come from him,
      To the tiniest bird and bee,
    For the love of his heart is so deep and wide
      That it takes in even me.

    —­Mary E. Allbright.

    Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? and not one of them shall
    fall on the ground without your Father:  but the very hairs of your
    head are all numbered.

    —­Matthew 10. 29, 30.

Almighty God, cause me to look out this morning, and open wide my eyes, that I may see what great preparation thou hast made that I might live.  May I be ashamed to start wrong and be unworthy of the glory of this day.  Amen.

SEPTEMBER THIRTIETH

George Whitefield died 1770.

William Hutton born 1723.

John Dollond died 1761.

    Up, up, my soul, the long-spent time redeeming;
      Sow thou the seeds of better deeds and thought;
    Light other lamps while yet thy lamp is beaming—­
      The time is short.

    Think of the good thou might’st have done when brightly
      The suns to thee life’s choicest season brought;
    Hours lost to God in pleasure passing lightly—­
      The time is short.

    If thou hast friends, give them thy best endeavor,
      Thy warmest impulse, and thy purest thought,
    Keeping in mind and words and action ever—­
      The time is short.