Heavenly Father, I would be thankful for the blessings I am inclined to forget. Give me a heart of gratitude, and forbid that I should hold my friends for material gain or selfish ends. May I through the truthfulness of my lips, and the honor of my acts, be a necessary friend. Amen. MAY THIRD Niccolo Machiavelli born 1469. Thomas Hood died 1845. Jacob Riis born 1849. The longing for ignoble things; The strife for triumph more than truth; The hardening of the heart that brings Irreverence for the dreams of youth; All these must first be trampled down Beneath our feet, if we would gain In the bright fields of fair renown The right of eminent domain. --John Keble. One lesson, and only one, history may be said to repeat with distinctness; that the world is built somehow on moral foundations; that in the long run, it is well with the good; in the long run it is ill with the wicked. --James Anthony Froude. No soldier on service entangleth himself in the affairs of this life; that he may please him who enrolled him as a soldier. And if also a man contend in the games, he is not crowned, except he have contended lawfully. --2 Timothy 2. 4, 5. Gracious Father, may my heart be mindful of thee, that I may discover the truth and possess it. Steady me in my affections and save me from wandering impulses; and may I help to put wrong down and uplift humanity. Amen. MAY FOURTH Frederick Edwin Church born 1826. Isaac Barrow died 1677. John James Audubon born 1780. Horace Mann born 1796. Thomas Henry Huxley born 1825. The chess board is the world, the pieces are the phenomena of the universe, the rules of the game we call the laws of nature. My metaphor will remind some of you of the famous picture in which Retzsch has depicted Satan playing chess with man for his soul. Substitute for the mocking fiend in that picture a calm, strong angel, who is playing "for love," as we say, and would rather lose than win, and I should accept it as an image of human life. --Thomas Henry Huxley. Riches and nobility fade together. O, my God! be thou praised for having made love for all time, and immortal as thyself. --George Sand. He hath given food unto them that fear him: He will ever be mindful of his covenant. The works of his hands are truth and justice; All his precepts are sure. --Psalm 111. 5, 7. Father of life, I know I cannot hold youth. I may have prosperity or poverty. I thank thee that thou hast taught me that love may be kept changeless through all. Amen. MAY FIFTH Napoleon Bonaparte died 1821. Empress Eugenie born 1826. Bret Harte died 1902.