NOVEMBER FIFTH

Hans Sachs born 1494.

Dr. John Brown born 1715.

Benjamin Butler born 1818.

    The thing that goes the farthest
      Toward making life worth while,
    That costs the least, and does the most,
      Is just a pleasant smile. 
    That smile that bubbles from a heart
      That loves its fellow men
    Will drive away the cloud of gloom
      And coax the sun again.

    —­Anonymous.

    One whom I knew intimately, and whose memory I revere, once in my
    hearing remarked that, “Unless we love people we cannot understand
    them.”  This was a new light to me.

    —­Christina G. Rossetti.

    Oil and perfume rejoice the heart; So doth the sweetness of a man’s
    friend that cometh of hearty counsel.

    —­Proverbs 27. 9.

Lord God, I pray that I may be worthy of my friends.  May I not fear to go where I am called, and may I go cheerfully, even though the way be dark and lonesome.  Amen.

NOVEMBER SIXTH

James Gregory born 1638.

John Bright born 1811.

Sir George Williams died 1905.

    Look full into thy spirit’s self,
      The world of mystery scan;
    What if thy way to faith in God
      Should lie through faith in man?

    —­John Bright.

Blessed are they who have the gift of making friends, for it is one of God’s best gifts.  It involves many things, but above all, the power of going out of oneself and seeing and appreciating whatever is noble and loving in another.

    —­Thomas Hughes.

    Be perfected; be comforted; be of the same mind; live in peace:  and
    the God of love and peace shall be with you.

    —­2 Corinthians 13. 11.

Lord God, I earnestly entreat thee to show me if I may be cramping the happiness in another’s life by forcing in my selfishness and demands.  May I understand that perfect gifts are those that come through loving sacrifice.  Make me ashamed to ask for what I refuse or prefer not to give.  Amen.

NOVEMBER SEVENTH

Sir Martin Frobisher died 1594.

William Stukeley born 1687.

Friedrich Leopold, Count von Stolberg, born 1750.

    Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide,
    In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side;
    Some great cause, God’s new Messiah offering each the bloom or blight,
    Parts the goats upon the left hand, and the sheep upon the right;
    And the choice goes by forever ’twixt that darkness and that light.

    —­James Russell Lowell.

We cannot command veracity at will; the power of seeing and reporting truly is a form of health that has to be delicately guarded, and as an ancient rabbi has solemnly said, “The penalty of untruth is untruth.”

    —­George Eliot.