Our God and Father, the author of beauty, the rewarder of all them that seek Thee, we, Thy children, come to Thee at the opening of this new day. May we have hearts so pure that we shall see Thee; minds so open that we shall talk with Thee; and lives so true that we shall reveal Thee. Let toil become to us as a sacrament. Reveal to us the beauty of life as well as of holiness and help us to live with upturned faces, so that we may catch the glory of Thy presence, and reflect it to all around us. May we walk with Thee, thinking Thy thoughts, having Thy visions of beauty and of life. When life's evening shall come gather us in Thine arms of love to be with Thee in the home which Thou hast prepared for us and hast beautified with earth's fairest treasures through Jesus Christ, Our Lord. Amen. JOHN GALBRAITH. August 6 _How good is man's life, the mere living! How fit to employ All the heart and the soul and the senses forever in joy!_ ROBERT BROWNING. _I am glad to think I am not bound to make the world go right; But only to discover and to do, With cheerful heart, the work that God appoints. I will trust in Him, That He can hold His own; and I will take His will, above the work He sendeth me, to be my chiefest good._ JEAN INGELOW. Our Heavenly Father, all Thy works prove Thy goodness; the world Thou givest us is good; the powers with which Thou dost endow us are adapted to deeds of goodness. We know full well that we do evil as well as good. Some of our days close in sadness.... At the beginning of this day we pledge ourselves to try harder than ever to do something good, to make somebody happy, to keep our minds filled with pure thoughts, to set our ambitions on worthy objects; and we pray that Thou who art "the Power not ourselves that makes for righteousness" shalt work with us that through our effort and Thy help the day shall end in joy and peace. Amen. LEE S. MCCOLLESTER. August 7 _Our lives are songs; God writes the words, And we set them to music at pleasure; And the song grows glad, or sweet, or sad, As we choose to fashion the measure. We must write the music, whatever the song, Whatever its rhyme or metre; And if it is sad, we can make it glad, Or, if sweet, we can make it sweeter._ ELLA WHEELER WILCOX.