OCTOBER TWENTIETH

Sir Christopher Wren born 1632.

Thomas Hughes born 1823.

Charles Dudley Warner died 1900.

    There has always seemed to me something impious in the neglect of
    health.  I could not do half the good I do if it were not for the
    strength and activity some consider coarse and degrading.

    —­Charles Kingsley.

    To keep well drink often, but water;
    Eat not that which makes life shorter;
    But first, with all your might and skill,
    Just chain your habits to your will.

    —­M.B.S.

    I will be lord over myself.  No one who cannot master himself is
    worthy to rule, and only he can rule.

    —­Goethe.

    Know ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is
    in you, which ye have from God?

    —­1 Corinthians 6. 19.

Lord God, may I not wait until I am afflicted and cannot use them to thank thee for my blessings.  Guard me against infirmities that are brought on through indulgences, and help me to control my life.  May I never forget that regret will not retrieve the life that is spent, even if it brings forgiveness and hope for the days to come.  Amen.

OCTOBER TWENTY-FIRST

Samuel Taylor Coleridge born 1772.

Alphonse Lamartine born 1790.

Samuel F. Smith born 1808.

Will Carleton born 1845.

    He prayeth best who loveth best
      All things both great and small;
    For the dear God who loveth us,
      He made and loveth all.

    —­Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

    We thank thee, O Father, for all that is bright—­
    The gleam of the day and the stars of the night,
    The flowers of our youth and the fruits of our prime,
    And the blessings that march down the pathway of time.

    —­Will Carleton.

    Thanklessness is a parching wind, drying up the fountain of pity,
    the dew of mercy, the streams of grace.  For doth not that rightly
    seem to be lost which is given to one ungrateful?

    —­Saint Bernard.

    O give thanks unto Jehovah; for he is good; For his lovingkindness
    endureth for ever.

    —­Psalm 136. 1.

My Father, help me to understand that I cannot have self-development unless the spirit of truth drills my character.  Cleanse my heart from all impurity, and strengthen me for all usefulness:  help me to daily live this prayer.  Amen.

OCTOBER TWENTY-SECOND

Charles Martel died 741.

Franz Liszt born 1811.

George Eliot born 1819.

Sarah Bernhardt born 1844.