John Keats born 1795.
Thomas Bayard born 1828.
Thomas Edward Brown died 1897.
Rise, O my soul, with thy
desires to heaven,
And with divinest
contemplation use
Thy time where time’s
eternity is given,
And let vain thoughts
no more thy thoughts abuse;
But down in darkness let them
lie:
So live thy better, let thy
worse thoughts die!
—Sir Walter Raleigh.
The great elements we know of are no mean comforters; the open sky sits upon our senses like a sapphire crown—the air is our robe of state, the Earth is our throne, and the Sea a mighty minstrel playing before it.
—John Keats.
Ah Lord Jehovah! behold, thou
hast made the heavens and the earth by
thy great power and by thine
outstretched arm; there is nothing too
hard for thee.
—Jeremiah 32. 17.
Almighty God, I thank thee for the power that gives me the breath of life. May I be willing to be controlled by its guiding care. Amen.
OCTOBER THIRTIETH
Rev. John Whitaker died 1808.
John Adams, Massachusetts, second President
United States, born 1735.
Adelaide Anne Procter born 1825.
And
yet thou canst know,
And
yet thou canst not see;
Wisdom
and sight are slow
In
poor humanity.
If
thou couldst trust, poor soul,
In
Him who rules the whole,
Thou
wouldst find peace and rest;
Wisdom and right are well,
but trust is best.
—Adelaide Anne Procter.
The heart to speak in vain
essayed,
Nor could his
purpose reach—
His will nor voice nor tongue
obeyed,
His silence was
his speech.
—John Quincy Adams.
But still believe that story
wrong
Which ought not to be true.
—Richard Brinsley Sheridan.
Blessed is the man that maketh Jehovah his trust.
—Psalm 40. 4.
My Father, may I not be given to unkindly speech. Deliver me from a critical spirit; and may I not encourage mistrust, but cultivate the kindly considerations in which life abounds. Amen.
OCTOBER THIRTY-FIRST
All Hallow’s Eve.
John Evelyn born 1620.
Christopher Anstey born 1724.
Ere, in the northern gale
The summer tresses
of the trees are gone,
The woods of autumn, all around
our vale,
Have put their
glory on.
The mountains that unfold,
In their wide
sweep, the colored landscape round,
Seem groups of giant kings,
in purple and gold,
That guard the
enchanted ground.
Ah! ’twere a lot too
blessed
Forever in thy
colored shades to stray;
Amid the kisses of the soft
southwest
To rove and dream
for aye;