O God of Hosts! On many a field of battle wilt Thy soldiers fight this day. Help them to be brave and true. Give them a glorious victory. Help us who watch to give them full credit for their valor. May we not diminish by seeking to share their glory. May we not render their deeds commonplace by insisting that "It is so easy, so natural, for them to be good," implying that their struggle has not been hard or that their victories had not been what ours have proven to be. Help us, O Lord, with valor to fight our own battles and run our own race and with gratitude to be glad in others' victories. Amen. J. FRANK CHASE. August 23 _The bee that sips her sweets from flowers fair, Flying on careless wing now here, now there, With azure skies above, green sward below, And soft south wind to bear her to and fro, Might seem the soul of self-devoted ease, Her life a draught of nectar without lees. Not so! Her prime is full of strenuous deed That shames our own in generous meed Of work for other's good. Long summer days She builds her golden house, with guerdons stays Her Queen, uprears her young, and stores her food-- Then sudden shuns her wealth, her home, her brood, And seeks new haven on an unknown sea, Leaving her life-work to posterity._ HENRY HOYT MOORE. Gracious Father in heaven, and all about me, Thy gentleness doth ever tend to make life greater and richer. Thy providence is so wholesomely good, I would fain be completely at home in it. Thou art very gracious. Help me to be as gracious in my way as Thou art in Thy wonderful way. When I acknowledge that Thou art good and wise, there comes a joyous freedom to my spirit that makes life a sweet pleasure. I desire ever to work in the fulness of this faith without grudging, without suspecting, an open, glad and fruitful service. Oh, help me then to love my fellows more, and Thee sincerely! Amen. ELIHU GRANT. August 24 _Drudgery is the gray angel of success.... Look at the leaders in the professions, the solid men in business, the master-workmen who begin as poor boys and end by building a town to house their factory-hands, they are drudges of the single aim.... "One thing I do."... Mr. Maydole, the hammer-maker of Central New York, was an artist: "Yes," he said, "I have made hammers for twenty-eight years." "Well, then you ought to be able to make a pretty good hammer by this time." "No, sir," was the answer, "I never made a pretty good hammer--I make the best hammer made in the United States."_ WILLIAM C. GANNETT.