The brave are the tender,—­then do not refuse
    To carefully cherish the brutes you must use;
    Make their life’s labor sweet, not dreary and sad,
    Their working and serving you, easy and glad.
      Chorus: “Be kind,” etc.

    He made them and blessed them, the least are his care: 
    The swallow that wings her swift flight through the air,
    The dog on your hearthstone, the horse in your barn,
    The cow in your pasture, the sheep on your farm.
      Chorus: “Be kind,” etc.

Our Dumb Animals.

* * * * *

ACTION.

    Do something! do it soon! with all thy might;
      An angel’s wing would droop if long at rest,
      And God inactive were no longer blest. 
    Some high or humble enterprise of good
      Contemplate till it shall possess thy mind,
    Become thy study, pastime, rest, and food,
      And kindle in thy heart a flame refined: 
    Pray heaven for firmness thy whole soul to bind
      To this high purpose:  to begin, pursue,
    With thoughts all fixed, and feelings purely kind;
      Strength to complete, and with delight review,
      And strength to give the praise where all is due.

WILCOX.

* * * * *

“IN HIM WE LIVE.”

    The measureless gulfs of air are full of Thee: 
      Thou art, and therefore hang the stars:  they wait
    And swim, and shine in God who bade them be,
      And hold their sundering voids inviolate.

    A God concerned (veiled in pure light) to bless,
      With sweet revealing of his love, the soul;
    Towards things piteous, full of piteousness;
      The Cause, the Life, and the continuing Whole.

    He is more present to all things He made
      Than anything unto itself can be;
    Full-foliaged boughs of Eden could not shade
      Afford, since God was also ’neath the tree._

JEAN INGELOW.

* * * * *

FIRM AND FAITHFUL.

    Be firm and be faithful; desert not the right;
    The brave are the bolder, the darker the night;
    Then up and be doing, though cowards may fail;
    Thy duty pursuing, dare all, and prevail.

    If scorn be thy portion, if hatred and loss,
    If stripes or a prison, remember the cross! 
    God watches above thee, and He will requite;
    Stand firm and be faithful, desert not the right.

NORMAN MCLEOD.

* * * * *

HEART SERVICE.

    Our hearts’ pure service, Love, be thine,
    Who clothest all with rights divine,
    Whose great Soul burns, though ne’er so dim,
    In all that walk, or fly, or swim.

    All Father! who on Mercy’s throne
    Hear’st thy dumb creatures’ faintest moan,—­
    Thy love be ours, and ours shall be
    Returned in deeds to thine and Thee.