tell Him that you want His help in your solitude, His guidance in your loneliness, His presence in your isolation; ask Him to come to you as He came of old to His toiling, weary, lonely disciples on the Galilean sea; ask Him to come and guide your ship into quiet harbours, and safe resting-places, and to bring you into a better country, even an heavenly, where none are sad, or sick, or lonely, for all are filled with the Presence of God. *ON SETTING A GOOD EXAMPLE.* "Poor indeed thou must be, if around thee Thou no ray of light and joy canst throw, If no silken cord of love hath bound thee To some little world through weal and woe. If no eyes thy tender love can brighten, No fond voices answer to thine own, If no brother’s sorrow thou canst lighten By daily sympathy and gentle tone. Daily struggling, though enclosed and lonely, Every day a rich reward will give; Thou wilt find, by hearty striving only And truly loving, thou canst truly live." _Harriet Winslow._ There is no subject of those on which I have written as yet in this book, or of those on which I shall write, that I believe to be of greater importance than that of setting a good example to others. Amongst other things our influence on one another has been compared to the action of the sea. And indeed the comparison is a good one. The sea is a mighty power, stronger perhaps than any other natural force. It is constantly and silently at work. We stand on a rock in the midst of the ocean; a rock that looks so firm, and seems so hard that it blunts the sharpest tools to work it. And yet, quite silently, the restless sea is eating into its very heart with its ceaseless beatings. And so is it with influence, or example. Silently, but none the less surely, do we make our influence felt upon each other. The influence may be bad or good; it may be a bad or good example we are setting, or a bad or good word that we speak, still there are always plenty of people ready to take it up and copy it. Probably for every person we can see to be influenced by our example, there are at least ten of whom we know nothing. Reader, these are solemn thoughts. The idle word you spoke yesterday has gone beyond recall; but God heard it and noted both it and its effect upon those who stood by. And you may one day find that that word has caused a world of sorrow to spring up around it. Yes, we cannot unspeak a word carelessly spoken, or unthink one evil thought. How often we hear it said, "Alas! I possess no influence, what can I do?" Now it is true that many have no wealth, no beauty, no rank, no intellect, no learning; but there never has been a heart created since the world began, that has not received and exerted the precious, though much-abused gift of influence. How is this? Just because every heart has the power of loving! There is a story told of Cecil’s little