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. Knowing ourselves, our world, our task so great, Our time so brief, 'tis clear if we refuse The means so limited, the tools so rude To execute our purpose, life will fleet, And we shall fade, and leave our task undone. --Robert Browning. Study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your hands. --1 Thessalonians 4. 11. Lord God of life, give me the desire to learn, and the wisdom to live in my best. May I not fail to culture my mind and heart and make life productive and worthy. Help me to see the mistakes that I have made in the past, and in the year that is approaching not only try to avoid them, but try to make amends for them. Amen. DECEMBER TWENTY-EIGHTH Catherine M. Sedgwick born 1789. Woodrow Wilson, Virginia, twenty-seventh President United States, born 1856. Thomas B. Macaulay died 1859. The government might be serviceable for many things. It might assist in a hundred ways to safeguard the lives and the health and promote the comfort and happiness of the people; but it can do these things only if they respond to public opinion, only if those who lead government see the country as a whole, feel a deep thrill of intimate sympathy with every class and every interest in it. --Woodrow Wilson. The hearts of men are their books; events are their tutors; great actions are their eloquence. --Thomas B. Macaulay. Be of good courage, and let us play the man for our people, and for the cities of our God: and Jehovah do that which seemeth him good. --2 Samuel 10. 12. Lord God, I pray that my estimate of life may not be as I take it, but as thou hast given it for peace and prosperity. Teach me my duty to my country, and make me useful in uplifting and serving humanity. Amen. DECEMBER TWENTY-NINTH Thomas a Becket died 1170. Andrew Johnson, Tennessee, seventeenth President United States, born 1808. William E. Gladstone born 1809. Margaret Bottome born 1827. Pauline O. Louise, Queen of Roumania (Carmen Sylva), born 1843. Christina G. Rossetti died 1894.