JANUARY SECOND

General James Wolfe born 1727.

Colonial flag first raised 1776.

Mary Carey Thomas born 1857.

To what profit we could use the time for our present task that we spend in impatient waiting and wondering over the future!  So often the future is just one step up from the present, but some of us miss it by preferring to wait for an elevator.

    —­M.  B. S.

    Prepare to live by all means, but for heaven’s sake do not forget to
    live.  You will never have a better chance than you have at present. 
    You may think you will have, but you are mistaken.

    —­Arnold Bennett.

    He that riseth late must trot all day, and shall scarce overtake his
    business at night; while laziness travels so slowly that poverty
    soon overtakes him.  He that lives on hope will die fasting.

    —­Benjamin Franklin.

    Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might, for there
    is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in Sheol, whither
    thou goest.

    —­Ecclesiastes 9. 10.

Gracious Father, my heart burns with shame when I think how much I claim, and how little I am.  I pray that my body may not cast a shadow to-day, and cloud the light of my life to-morrow.  Cleanse the windows of my soul that I may take in thy glory.  Amen.

JANUARY THIRD

Marcus Tullius Cicero born B.C. 106.

Martin Luther excommunicated 1521.

Douglas Jerrold born 1803.

Charles Wagner (France) born 1852.

    To be continually advancing in the paths of knowledge is one of the
    most pleasing satisfactions of the human mind.  These are pleasures
    perfect consistent with every degree of advanced years.

    —­Cicero.

Fidelity in small things is at the base of every great achievement.  We too often forget this and yet no truth needs more to be kept in mind particularly in the troubled eras of history and in the crises of individual life.  In shipwreck a splintered beam, an oar, any scrap of wreckage saves us.  To despise the remnants is demoralization.

    —­Charles Wagner.

    He that is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much and he
    that is unrighteous in a very little is unrighteous also in much.

    —­Luke 16. 10

Almighty God, may I understand that thou art in everything and that I cannot hide from thee, for thou boldest me though I know it not.  Give me the desire, and help me to learn of thy laws, that I may know that even in the least of things, I have the liberty to obtain happiness by obeying them.  Amen.

JANUARY FOURTH

Archbishop Usher born 1580.