O God, ever-living and ever-acting, all Thy works praise Thee, and Thy saints bless Thee! We rejoice that Thou art bringing in this new springtime, and art preparing to pour out Thy summer glory and bounty in garden and field and wood, that Thy children may be richly blessed. As Thou art working mightily in nature today so wilt Thou work in us, Thy children, that the blessed fruits of the Spirit may appear in all that we think and do and are? And may the spontaneous spring song of the woods find its counterpart in the perpetual gladness of our souls sunk deep in the love of Christ! Amen. HENRY IRVING CUSHMAN. April 2 _The sweetest sound our whole year round 'Tis the first robin of the spring! The song of the full orchard choir, Is not so fine a thing._ EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN. _The grass comes, the flower laughs where lately lay the snow, O'er the breezy hill top hoarsely calls the crow, By the flowing river the alder catkins swing And the sweet song sparrow cries, "Spring, it is Spring!"_ CELIA THAXTER. Accept from a heart of gratitude, O God, thanksgiving and praises for the glad anticipation of the coming days of spring. May the awakening of nature, this living garment in which Thou hast robed Thy mysterious loveliness, be to each of Thy children symbol of the new life which comes to those who put their trust in the risen Christ and of the higher life beyond where shadows are no more and light and gladness bless an eternity of joy. O, Thou Father of lights, make every hour of this opening day rich and radiant with Thy effulgent presence through Jesus Christ. Amen. KERR BOYCE TUPPER. April 3 _Within my earthly temple there's a crowd; There's one of us that's humble, one that's proud, There's one that's broken-hearted for his sins, There's one that unrepentant sits and grins; There's one that loves his neighbor as himself, And one that cares for naught but fame and pelf. From much corroding care I should be free If I could once determine which is me._ THEODORE MARTIN. Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for our multiform life. Thou hast made us a little lower than the angels and hast crowned us with glory and honor, yet how little we know ourselves! We go astray; we fall from our high estate; like the moth we flutter around the blaze that burns us. When we would do good, evil is present with us. Yet through all complexity of thought and feeling, of passion and appetite, through all our wanderings and all our sins we thank Thee that there shines clearly the light of our own Divinity. We are Thy children. Help us, we pray Thee, to know ourselves at our best. May we not be betrayed in this day's journey by any siren voice. Let us go forth to the tasks of the day with the consciousness that until the evening shadows fall Thou wilt be with us. Amen. GEORGE L. PERIN. April 4