Miss May Kendall for those from _Turkish Bonds_, &c. Messrs. Longmans, Green & Co. for those from the works of Bishop Paget, and from Canon MacColl's _Here and Hereafter_. Professor MacCunn for those from _The Making of Character_. Messrs. Macmillan & Co. for those from the works of Bishop Westcott, Mrs. Bernard Bosanquet; Tennyson's Poems; from the present Lord Tennyson's Life of his father; from the _Mettle of the Pasture_, by James Lane Allen; and from Mrs. Humphry Ward's translation of _Amiel's Journal_. Messrs. Methuen & Co. for one from the _Life of R. L. Stevenson_. Mr. Lloyd Osbourne for those from R. L. Stevenson's works. Messrs. Wells, Gardner, Darton & Co. for those from Bishop Winnington Ingram's _Under the Dome_ and _Friends of the Master_. Dr. John Watson for those from his writings. Permission was kindly given me before by Messrs. Macmillan to quote from the works of the late Archbishop Temple and of Matthew Arnold. By Messrs. Smith, Elder & Co. for quotations from Robert Browning. By Mr. C. Lewes for quotations from George Eliot; and from Lord Avebury and the Rev. Stopford Brooke for those from their works. In my experience the reading of extracts often leads to the reading of the books from which they were taken, and I hope and believe many of these gleanings will serve as introductions. CONSTANCE M. WHISHAW. SUNNY BANK, ARNSIDE, CARNFORTH. New Year's Day JANUARY 1 "Here you stand at the parting of the ways; some road you are to take; and as you stand here, consider and know how it is that you intend to live. Carry no bad habits, no corrupting associations, no enmities and strifes into this New Year. Leave these behind, and let the Dead Past bury its Dead; leave them behind, and thank God that you are able to leave them." EPHRAIM PEABODY. "WOULD'ST shape a noble life? Then cast No backward glances toward the past, And though somewhat be lost and gone, Yet do thou act as one new-born; What each day needs, that shalt thou ask, Each day will set its proper task." GOETHE. "No aim is too high, no task too great, no sin too strong, no trial too hard for those who patiently and humbly rest upon God's grace: who wait on Him that He may renew their strength." _Faculties and Difficulties for Belief and Disbelief_, BISHOP PAGET. Purpose JANUARY 2