_As I have walked in Alabama my morning walk, I have seen where the she-bird--the mocking-bird sat on her nest in the briers hatching her brood, I have seen the he-bird also, I have paused to hear him near at hand inflating his throat and joyfully singing, And while I paused it came to me that what he really sang for was not there only, Nor for his mate nor for himself only, nor All sent back by the echoes, But subtle, clandestine, away beyond, A charge transmitted and gift occult for those being born._ WALT WHITMAN. Thou great Spirit of Life, Our Father, in heaven, and in the earth, with what myriad voices dost Thou speak to us, sometimes with the voice of thunder and sometimes with the voice of bird. Even the rocks and hills have their language. With every manifold voice Thou tellest us that we do not live nor work for a day only. The song and the word and the work of today have larger relations. They pass over into other days. We pray this morning that the thoughts we think, the words we speak, and the work we do may be so true that they may be fit for another day. So may we begin _now_ to realize the meaning of Eternal Life. Amen. GEORGE L. PERIN. April 10 _If the stream had no quiet eddying place, could we so admire its cascade over the rocks? Were there no clouds, could we so hail the sky shining through them in its still calm purity?_ _The night is mother of the Day The Winter of the Spring, And ever upon old Decay The greenest mosses cling. Behind the cloud the starlight lurks, Through showers the sunbeams fall: For God, who loveth all His works, Has left His Hope with all!_ JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER. Our Father, with childhood's glowing morning face we would turn to Thee and be conscious that the brightness of life comes only to those upon whom the sun of righteousness shines with clear light. Full of trust, full of joy, we turn our faces towards the light and take up the labors of life with entire confidence in the Divine care and guidance that blesses the open vision, the faithful hand and the loving heart. We would follow our Master, feeling that we could choose no better way, and content if we be not called to suffer more than He in His life of service and sacrifice, while our hearts praise the giver of spiritual things with unceasing happy songs. Amen. RALPH EDWIN HORNE. April 11 _Oh, the little birds sang east, and the little birds sang west, And I smiled to think God's greatness flowed around our incompleteness,-- Round our restlessness, his nest._ ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING. _And I saw that there was an Ocean of Darkness and Death; but an infinite Ocean of Light and Love flowed over the Ocean of Darkness; and in that I saw the infinite Love of God._