Leaves of Life Part 20

Comte de Mirabeau born 1749.

William Cobbett born 1762.

Edwin Forrest born 1806.

Yet nerve thy spirit to the Proof, and blanch not at thy chosen lot; The timid good may stand aloof, the sage may frown--yet faint thou not; Nor heed the shaft too surely cast, the foul and hissing bolt of scorn; For with thy Side shall dwell, at last, the victory of endurance born.

--William C. Bryant.

You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself into one.

--James Anthony Froude.

Can thy heart endure, or can thy hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with thee?

--Ezekiel 22.14.

Loving Father, search me, and if there be any evil ways in me, correct them, and lead me into the ways everlasting. I pray that I may not be deformed from selfishness, but with a lowly and expectant heart run with patience and triumph the race that is set before me. Amen.

MARCH TENTH

Bishop Duppa born 1698.

Professor Playfair born 1748.

Charles Loyson (Pere Hyacinthe) born 1827.

So he died by his faith. That is fine-- More than the most of us do.

But stay. Can you add to that line That he lived for it too?

It is easy to die. Men have died For a wish or a whim-- From bravado or pa.s.sion or pride.

Was it hard for him?

But to live: every day to live out All the truth that he dreamt, While his friends met his conduct with doubt, And the world with contempt.

Was it thus that he plodded ahead, Never turning aside?

Then we'll talk of the life that he led.

Never mind how he died.

--Ernest Crosby.

For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord Jehovah: wherefore turn yourselves, and live.

--Ezekiel 18. 32.

Almighty G.o.d, help me to live an upright life. Give me courage to abandon useless customs, and seeming duties that keep me from perfecting my life. Amen.

MARCH ELEVENTH

Torquato Ta.s.so born 1544.

Alexander Mackenzie died 1820.

Henry Drummond died 1897.

There is nothing that is puerile in nature; and he who becomes impa.s.sioned of a flower, a blade of gra.s.s, a b.u.t.terfly's wing, a nest, a sh.e.l.l, wraps around a small thing that always contains a great truth. To succeed in modifying the appearance of a flower is insignificant in itself, if you will; but reflect upon it for however short a while and it becomes gigantic.

--Maurice Maeterlinck.

O world, as G.o.d has made it! All is beauty: And knowing this, is love, and love is duty: What further may be sought for or declared?

--Robert Browning.

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

--Matthew 6. 28, 29.

Creator of all, I do know that if I may hold myself close enough, I can hear restful music through the breeze, and find secrets in the flowers and leaves. I rejoice that thou hast made the woods and rivers that thou dost love, so I too might possess them, and not be a tenant of them only. May I look and study deeper the things which bring me closer to thee. Amen.

MARCH TWELFTH

Cesare Borgia killed 1507.

Bishop Buckley born 1684.

Simon Newcomb born 1835.

Among the happiest and proudest possessions of a man is his character. It is a wreath, it is a bank in itself. What is the essence and life of character? Principle, integrity, independence.

--Bulwer Lytton.

No great genius was ever without some mixture of madness, nor can anything grand or superior to the voice of common mortals be spoken except by the agitated soul.

--Aristotle.

Handsome is that handsome does.

--Oliver Goldsmith.

Since thou hast been precious in my sight, and honorable, and I have loved thee; therefore will I give men in thy stead, and peoples instead of thy life.