Thy soul shall enter on its heritage
    Of God’s unuttered wisdom.  Thou shalt sweep
    With hand assured the ringing lyre of life,
    Till the fierce anguish of its bitter strife,
    Its pain, death, discord, sorrow, and despair,
    Break into rhythmic music.  Thou shalt share
    The prophet-joy that kept forever glad
    God’s poet-souls when all a world was sad. 
    Enter and live!  Thou hast not lived before.

    —­S.  Weir Mitchell.

    Return unto thy rest, O my soul;
    For Jehovah hath dealt bountifully with thee. 
    For thou hast delivered my soul from death,
    Mine eyes from tears,
    And my feet from falling.

    —­Psalm 116. 7, 8.

Almighty God, grant that I may never be so discouraged that I feel my life has been spent.  Help me to so live, that I may not follow into hopeless days, but look for the bright and beautiful in to-morrow.  Forgive me for all that I have asked for and accepted through willful judgment, and make me more careful in selecting my needs.  Amen.

MARCH SECOND

Juvenal born A.D. 40.

John Wesley died 1791.

Horace Walpole died 1797.

    Nature never says one thing, Wisdom another.

    —­Juvenal.

    By all means, use some times to be alone;
      Salute thyself—­see what thy soul doth wear;
    Dare to look in thy chest, for ’tis thine own,
      And tumble up and down what thou findest there.

    —­William Wordsworth.

Lonesomeness is part of the cost of power.  The higher you climb, the less can you hope for companionship.  The heavier and the more immediate the responsibility, the less can a man delegate his tasks or escape his own mistakes.

    —­Shailer Mathews.

    But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thine inner chamber, and
    having shut thy door, pray to thy Father who is in secret, and thy
    Father who seeth in secret shall recompense thee.

    —­Matthew 6. 6.

My Father, I pray that thou wilt take care of my thoughts when I am alone and tired, and keep them strong and clean.  Grant that while I commune with thee I may yield to my needs and be restored with keener energy for worthier deeds.  May I ask of thy wisdom every day.  Amen.

MARCH THIRD

Edmund Waller born 1605.

George Herbert died 1633.

Christine Nilsson born 1843.

    Pitch thy behaviour low, thy projects high,
      So shalt thou humble and magnanimous be;
    Sink not in spirit:  who aimeth at the sky,
      Shoots higher than he that means a tree.

    —­George Herbert.

    We and God have business with each other; and in opening ourselves
    to his influence our deepest destiny is fulfilled.