Our restlessness in this world seems to indicate that we are intended for a better.  We have all of us a longing after happiness; and surely the Creator will gratify all the natural desires he has implanted in us.

    —­Robert Southey.

    Whenso my quick, light-sandaled feet
    Bring me where Joys and Pleasures meet,
    I mingle with their throng at will;
    They know me not an alien still,
    Since neither words nor ways unsweet
    Of stored bitterness I spill;
    Youth shuns me not nor gladness fears,
    For I go softly all my years.

    —­Edith Thomas.

    He hath swallowed up death forever; and the Lord Jehovah will wipe
    away tears from off all faces.

    —­Isaiah 25. 8.

Loving Father, help me to guard my inclinations.  May I be able to appreciate that though I may be restless from ambition, I also may be restless through discontent.  Correct my life, that my desires may meet the true demands of my soul.  Strengthen me with the power of calmness, that “I may go softly all my years,” even though I walk through the bitterness of sorrow.  Amen.

AUGUST THIRTEENTH

Jeremy Taylor died 1667.

Dr. William Wotton born 1669.

Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward born 1844.

Elizabeth Prentiss died 1878.

Sir John Millais died 1896.

    Feeling the way—­and all the way up hill;
    But on the open summit, calm and still,
    The feet of Christ are planted; and they stand
    In view of all the quiet land.

    Feeling the way—­and if the way is cold,
    What matter? since upon the fields of gold
    His breath is melting; and the warm winds sing
    While rocking summer days for him.

    —­Elizabeth S. Phelps.

    All the performances of human art, at which we look with praise and
    wonder, are instances of the resistless force of perseverance.

    —­Samuel Johnson.

    But abide thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been
    assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them.

    —–­2 Timothy 3. 14.

My Lord, I would remember to ask thee this morning for that of which I seem to have most need.  May I have the will to keep my patience and realize the untold power of my words and actions.  Give me thy peace, not only to rest in, but that I may have it to give to others.  Amen.

AUGUST FOURTEENTH

Dr. Meric Casaubon born 1599.

Dr. Charles Button born 1737.

Walter Besant born 1836.

Ernest Thompson Seton born 1860.

Florence Nightingale died 1910.

    I count this thing to be grandly true,
      That a noble deed is a step toward God;
      Lifting the soul from the common clod
    To a purer air and a broader view.