1832.

Opportunities fly in a straight line, touch us but once and never
return, but the wrongs we do others fly in a circle; they come back
from the place they started.

--T. DeWitt Talmage.

Our share of night to bear,
Our share of morning,
Our blank is bliss to fill,
Our blank is scorning.

Here a star, and there a star,
Some lose their way,
Here a mist, and there a mist,
Afterwards--day!

--Emily Dickinson.

Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your resting-place.

--Micah 2. 10.

Lord God, give me the desire to be persistent in service, while I have
health and strength. May I experience the sweetness that comes in
doing the thing that I ought to have done, as well as that in which I
took the most pleasure. Help me to so live that my days may be useful,
and be recalled with bright and happy recollections. Amen.

JANUARY EIGHTH

John Earl of Stair died 1707.

Sir William Draper died 1787.

Alfred Russel Wallace born 1823.

William Wilkie Collins born 1824.

Sir Laurence Alma-Tadema born 1836.

A blue bird built his nest
Here in my breast.
"O bird of Light! Whence comest thou?"
Said he, "From God above:
My name is Love."

A mate he brought one day,
Of plumage gray.
"O bird of Night! Why comest thou?"
Said she: "Seek no relief!
My name is Grief."

--Laurence Alma-Tadema.

It is not so much resolution as renunciation, not so much courage as
resignation, that we need. He that has once yielded thoroughly to
God will yield to nothing but God.

--John Ruskin.

Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man, Neither will he uphold
the evildoers. He will yet fill thy mouth with laughter, And thy
lips with shouting.

--Job 8. 20, 21.

Almighty God, help me to understand that peace does not come in
rebellion or grieving, but is obtained through the calm of the soul.
Grant that if I may be perplexed or worried to-day, I may have the
power to control myself and wait in thy strength. Amen.

JANUARY NINTH

Dr. Thomas Brown born 1778.

Elizabeth O. Benger died 1822.

Caroline Lucretia Herschel died 1848, aged ninety-seven.

Wondrous is the strength of cheerfulness altogether past calculation
its powers of endurance. Efforts to be permanently useful must be
uniformly joyous--a spirit of all s