DECEMBER TWENTY-FIFTH

Christmas Day.

Sir Isaac Newton born 1642.

William Collins born 1721.

Father Taylor born 1794.

    This is the month, and this is the happy morn,
      Wherein the Son of heaven’s eternal King,
    Of wedded maid, and virgin mother born,
      Our great redemption from above did bring.

    —­John Milton.

    Christmas is here;
    Winds whistle shrill,
    Icy and chill,
    Little care we;
    Little we fear
    Weather without,
    Shelter’d about
    The Mahogany tree.

    —­William M. Thackeray.

And the angel said unto them, Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all the people:  for there is born to you this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.

    —­Luke 2. 10, 11.

Almighty God, I give honor and praise to express my joy for thy great love in the gift of thy Son, Jesus Christ.  With a glad heart I wish all mankind “A merry Christmas,” and may I ever remember, where the angels sang, “Peace on earth, good will toward men.”  Amen.

DECEMBER TWENTY-SIXTH

Thomas Gray born 1716.

Mrs. Southworth born 1818.

Stephen Girard died 1831.

    Let not ambition mock their useful toil,
      Their homely joys, and destiny obscure;
    Nor grandeur hear with a disdainful smile
      The short and simple annals of the poor.

    Nor you, ye proud, impute to those the fault,
      If memory o’er their tomb no trophies raise,
    Where, through the long-drawn aisle and fretted vault,
      The pealing anthem swells the note of praise.

    Full many a gem of purest ray serene
      The dark, unfathomed caves of ocean bear;
    Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
      And waste its sweetness on the desert air.

    —­Thomas Gray.

    Jehovah, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty;
    Neither do I exercise myself in great matters,
    Or in things too wonderful for me.

    —­Psalm 131. 1.

Gracious Father, give me the courage to live my life, and the endurance to overcome the disappointments that may come to me.  May I not be neglectful of the great opportunities of which I am privileged to take advantage.  May I not be pretentious of what I have not done, or boastful of what I am, but with my best ability live in truth.  Amen.

DECEMBER TWENTY-SEVENTH

Jacques Bernoulli born 1654.

Johann Kepler born 1571.

Charles Lamb died 1834.

There is a time in every man’s education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better or worse, as his portion; that, though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given him to till.

    —­Ralph Waldo Emerson.