And leave the vain low strife
      That makes men mad; the tug for wealth and power,
    The passions and the cares that wither life,
      And waste its little hour.

    —­William Cullen Bryant.

    Let the field exult, and all that is therein; Then shall all the
    trees of the wood sing for joy.

    —­Psalm 96. 12.

My Father, may I have an appreciation of the wonderful creations of the earth.  Give me a discriminating eye, that I may know the precious things that thou art growing; and throughout my life may I love the beautiful, and choose that which will make my life worthy of growth.  Amen.

NOVEMBER

    Who said November’s face was grim? 
      Who said her voice was harsh and sad? 
    I heard her sing in wood paths dim,
      I met her on the shore so glad,
    So smiling, I could kiss her feet! 
    There never was a month so sweet.

    —­Lucy Larcom.

NOVEMBER FIRST

Sir Matthew Hale born 1609.

William M. Chase born 1849.

Sir Robert Grant died 1892.

    O worship the King, all glorious above,
    O gratefully sing his power and his love;
    Our Shield and Defender, the ancient of days,
    Pavilioned in splendor, and girded with praise.

    Thy bountiful care what tongue can recite? 
    It breathes in the air, it shines in the light;
    It streams from the hills, it descends to the plain,
    And sweetly distills in the dew and the rain.

    —­Robert Grant.

    Ye shall walk in all the way which Jehovah your God hath commanded
    you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye
    may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess.

    —­Deuteronomy 5. 33.

Almighty God, help me to make my life refulgent while I have the abundance of summer, that I may not find the November of life bleak and barren.  Help me to live in the realities of life, that I may gain energy and repose, to use for the lonesome and anxious hours.  May I be watchful for the conditions that thwart life, and with patience wait for the awakening of truth.  Amen.

NOVEMBER SECOND

Marie Antoinette born 1755.

Field-Marshal Radetzky born 1766.

James Knox Polk, North Carolina, eleventh President
United States, born 1795.

Overmastering pain—­the most deadly and tragical element in life—­alas! pain has its own way with all of us; it breaks in, a rude visitant, upon the fairy garden where the child wanders in a dream, no less surely than it rules upon the field of battle, or sends the immortal war-god whimpering to his father; and innocence, no more than philosophy, can protect us from this sting.

    —­Robert Louis Stevenson.