—­James Russell Lowell.

    Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt
    rest.

    —­Exodus 23. 12.

My Father, I pray for the love of work, and the desire to cultivate life.  Stir me, that I may be ambitious.  May I not stare at life in an everyday way and forget that others are watching for the surprises.  Help me to be considerate and kind in all that I do.  Amen.

JUNE FIFTH

Socrates born B.C. 469.

Dr. Adam Smith born 1723.

Karl Maria von Weber died 1826.

O. Henry died 1910.

You think that upon the score of foreknowledge and divining I am infinitely inferior to the swans.  When they perceive approaching death they sing more merrily than before, because of the joy they have in going to the God they serve.

    —­Socrates.

    O yet we trust that somehow good
      Will be the final goal of ill,
      To pangs of nature, sins of will,
    Defects of doubt, and taints of blood;

    That nothing walks with aimless feet;
      That not one life shall be destroyed,
      Or cast as rubbish to the void,
    When God hath made the pile complete.

    —­Alfred Tennyson.

    How precious is thy lovingkindness, O God!  And the children of men
    take refuge under the shadow of thy wings.

    —­Psalm 36. 7.

Eternal God, forbid that I should try to set up thy judgment-seat in so small a place as self, and attempt to render decisions for thee.  My soul lives anew as I think of thy love, and that there is no place where thy mercy can be withheld from me.  Amen.

JUNE SIXTH

Diego R. Velasquez born 1599.

Pierre Corneille born 1606.

Nathan Hale born 1755.

Sir John Stainer born 1840.

    These stones that make the meadow brooklet murmur
      Are the keys on which it plays. 
    O’er every shelving rock its touch grows firmer,
      Resounding notes to raise.

    If every path o’er which footsteps wander,
      Were smooth as ocean strand,
    There were no theme for gratitude and wonder
      At God’s delivering hand.

    —­W.  E. Winks.

    We also rejoice in our tribulations:  knowing that tribulation
    worketh steadfastness; and steadfastness, approvedness; and
    approvedness, hope.

    —­Romans 5. 3, 4.

My Father, if rain may come to-day, may I realize its help, with the power of the sun, to increase life; and may its influence be sweet and wholesome to me, as I learn that sadness is temporary and will disappear with the coming of gladness.  May I go search for the joy that may be mine to-day.  Amen.

JUNE SEVENTH