behind, give obstacles a first place in your life. If you want to count for something more than the "average," let every obstacle be a fresh incentive to action.

I Do not know

Where falls the seed I have to sow
With the greatest care;

But I shall know

The meaning of each waiting hour below
Sometime somewhere.

THE best and highest thing a man can do in a day is to sow a seed whether it be a word, an act or an

acorn.

JAMES BOYLE O'REILLY.

LITTLE BY LITTLE

LITTLE by little the world grows strong,
Fighting the battles of right and wrong;
Little by little the wrong gives way,
Little by little the right has sway;
Little by little all longing souls
Struggle up nearer the shining goals.

FLOWERS never emit so pleasant and strong a fragrance as before a storm. Beauteous soul! when a storm approaches thee be as fragrant as a sweet-smelling flower.

RICHTER.

LIFE is God's gymnasium. He takes the measures; we do not know what they are. He puts us in our places and tenderly disciplines us.

THE man leans back upon his oars, satisfied. We may come to that mood in spiritual things as surely as in temporal. Some men practically retire from religion, much as they retire from business, because they think they have accumulated enough to live on. That was not Paul's way.

PROF. C. T. WINCHESTER.
Zion's Herald.

GIVE HIM A LIFT

GIVE him a lift! Don't kneel in prayer,
Nor moralize with his despair.

The man is down, and his great need
Is ready help-not prayer and creed.

One grain of aid just now is more
To him than tomes of saintly lore;
Pray if you must, in your full heart,
But give him a lift-give him a start.

The world is full of good advice,

Of prayer and praise, and preaching nice;
But the generous souls who aid mankind
Are scarce as gold and hard to find.

Give like a Christian-speak in deeds.
A noble life's the best of creeds;

And he shall wear a royal crown

Who gives 'em a lift when they are down.

LIFE is made up, not of great sacrifices or duties, but of little things, in which smiles and kindnesses, and small obligations given habitually, are what win and preserve the heart and secure comfort.

SIR. H. DAVY.

THE one sin in the world is selfishness, the one virtue is love. In these two rest all the theology and philosophy of the ages.

OLD-FASHIONED

PHILOSOPHY

SCORN not the homely virtues. We are prone
To search through all the world for something new;
And yet sometimes old-fashioned things are best—
Old-fashioned work, old fashioned rectitude,
Old-fashioned honor and old-fashioned prayer,
Old-fashioned patience that can bide its time,
Old-fashioned firesides sacred from the world,
Old-fashioned satisfaction with enough,
Old-fashioned candor and simplicity,

Old-fashioned folks that practice what they preach.

J. A. EDGERTON, IN NATIONAL MAGAZINE.

A LITTLE work, a little play

To keep us going-and so, good-day!

A little warmth, a little light

Of love's bestowing-and so, good-night!

A little fun to match the sorrow

Of each day's growing and so, good-morrow!

GEORGE DUMAURIER.

You cannot run away from a weakness; you must fight it out or perish. And if that be so, why not now, and where you stand?

SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS

I AM thinking of you today because it is Christmas, and I wish you happiness. And tomorrow, because it will be the day after Christmas, I shall wish you happiness; and soon clear through the year. I may not be able to tell you about it every day, because I may be far away; or because both of us may be very busy. But it makes no difference. The thought and the wish will be here just the same. Whatever joy or success comes to you will make me glad. Without pretense, and in plain words, good will to you is what I mean, in the Spirit of Christmas.

'HENRY VAN DYKE. From The Spirit of Christmas; Copyright 1905 by Charles Scribner's Sons.

BLESSED are the happiness makers.

BEECHER.

GOOD NIGHT

SLEEP Sweetly in this quiet room,

O thou, whoe'er thou art,

And let no mournful yesterdays
Disturb thy peaceful heart.
Nor let tomorrow scare thy rest
With thoughts of coming ill;
Thy Maker is thy changeless friend,
His love surrounds thee still.
Forget thyself and all the world;
Put out each feverish light,
The stars are watching overhead,
Sleep sweetly then. Good night.

GOOD night! Good night!
Far flies the light;

But still God's love
Shall flame above,

Making all bright.

Good night! Good night!

VICTOR HUGO.

BEAUTY OF WORK

THE beauty of work depends upon the way we meet it. Whether we arm ourselves each morning to attack it as an enemy that must be vanquished before night comes, or whether we open our eyes with the