JUNE TWENTY-SEVENTH

Paul Laurence Dunbar born 1872.

Lafcadio Hearne born 1850.

Helen Keller born 1880.

Of course, it was not easy at first to fly.  The speech wings were weak and broken; nothing was left save the impulse to fly, but that was something.  One can never consent to creep when one has an impulse to soar.  There are so many difficulties in the way, so many discouragements; but I kept on trying, knowing that perseverance and patience win in the end.

    —­Helen Keller.

    De da’kest hour, dey allus say,
      Is des’ befo’ de dawn,
    But it’s moughty ha’d a-waitin’
      Were de night goes frownin’ on;
    An’ it’s moughty ha’d a-hopin’
      When de clouds is big and black,
    An’ all de t’ings you’s waited fu’
      Has failed, er gone to wrack—­
    But des’ keep on a joggin’ ind a little bit o song. 
    De moon is allus brightah w’en de night’s been long.

    —­Paul Laurence Dunbar.

    Weeping may tarry for the night,
    But joy cometh in the morning.

    —­Psalm 30. 5.

My Father, I thank thee for life and its faculties.  May I not be deceived by gratification and miss the permanent satisfactions.  Make me brave that I may be courageous in affliction, and not be dismayed over humiliations and disappointments.  May I be kept in harmony with thy will.  Amen.

JUNE TWENTY-EIGHTH

Henry VIII born 1491.

Jean Jacques Rousseau born 1712.

John Wesley born 1703.

Frederick William Faber born 1814.

    Workman of God!  O lose not heart,
      But learn what God is like;
    And in the darkest battlefield
      Thou shalt know where to strike.

    For right is right, since God is God;
      And right the day must win;
    To doubt would be disloyalty,
      To falter would be sin.

    —­F.  W. Faber.

    Leisure and I have parted company. 
    I look upon the world as my parish. 
    The best of all is, God is with us. 
    To overdo is to undo.

    —­John Wesley.

    But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only.

    —­James 1. 22.

Lord God, I pray for a desire to work.  May I not be deceived in my convictions, and work for that of which I may afterward be ashamed.  Lead me into a clear conception of right and wrong.  Help me to see as thou dost see, that I may walk with confidence in thy steps.  Amen.

JUNE TWENTY-NINTH

Paul Rubens born 1577.

Baron John De Kalb born 1721.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning died 1861.