BREATHE AN EVENING BLESSING

Saviour, breathe an evening blessing
Ere repose our spirits seal;
Sin and want we come confessing,
Thou canst bless, and Thou canst heal.

Though destruction walk around us,
Though the arrow past us fly,
Angel-guards from Thee surround us,
We are safe if Thou art nigh.

Though the night be dark and dreary,
Darkness cannot hide from Thee;
Thou art He who, never weary,
Watchest where Thy people be.
--_James Edmeston_.

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[Illustration]
THE MADONNA OF THE HARPIES
By Andrea del Sarto (1487-1583)

One of the most famous painters of the Florentine school. He lived
and worked in his native city of Florence except for a sojourn at
Paris, where he was invited by Francis I. This picture is called the
"Madonna of the Harpies" because of the strange figures of harpies
in the border, not shown in this reproduction
[End illustration]

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SUMMER RAIN

The mountain streams are silent,
Or whisper faint and low;
The earth is grateful to the dews
For moisture which the clouds refuse;
Blow, west wind, blow!
And fall, O gentle rain!
Awake the music of the bowers,
Unfold the beauty of the flowers;
The cornfields long to hear thy voice,
And woods and orchards will rejoice
To see thee, gentle rain!

It comes! The gushing wealth descends!
Hark! how it patters on the leaves!
Hark! how it drops from cottage eaves!
The pastures and the clouds are friends.
Drop gently, gentle rain!
The fainting cornstalk lifts its head,
The grass grows greener at thy tread,
The woods are musical again;
And from the hillside springing,
Down comes the torrent singing,
With grateful nature in accord,
A full-voiced anthem to the Lord,
To thank Him for the rain.

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THE GLORIOUS HEAVENS

The spacious firmament on high,
With all the blue ethereal sky,
And spangled heavens, a shining frame,
Their great Original proclaim.
Th' unwearied sun, from day to day,
Does his Creator's power display,
And publishes to every land
The work of an almighty hand.

Soon as the evening shades prevail
The moon takes up the wondrous tale,
And nightly to the listening earth
Repeats the story of her birth;
Whilst all the stars that round her burn,
And all the planets in their turn,
Confirm the tidings as they roll,
And