O God, our heavenly Father, Thou who givest us the sunshine of this new day, Thou who art the God of life and light, we ask Thy help and Thy strength as we again go out to our separate duties and cares. Help us to fill this day with good deeds, to give cheer and comfort to all we meet. May our lips be clean. May our hearts be pure. And when the even time comes, may it find us conscious that we have put no cloud upon the day, that we have walked through its hours true disciples of the Master who went about doing good. Amen. WILLIAM H. MORRISON. April 25 _To weigh the material in the scales of the personal, and measure life by the standard of love; to prize health as contagious happiness, wealth as potential service, reputation as latent influence, learning for the light it can shed, power for the help it can give, station for the good it can do--to choose in each case what is best on the whole, and accept cheerfully incidental evils involved; to put my whole self into all that I do, and indulge no single desire at the expense of myself as a whole; to crowd out fear by devotion to duty, and see present and future as one; to treat others as I would be treated, and myself as I would my best friend; and to recognize God's coming kingdom in every institution and person that helps men to love one another._ WILLIAM DEWITT HYDE. For the dear love that kept us through the night, And gave our senses to sleep's gentle sway, For the new miracle of dawning light, Flushing the east with prophecies of day, We thank Thee, O, our God! For the fresh life that through our being flows, With its full tide to strengthen and to bless, For calm, sweet thoughts, upspringing from repose, To bear to Thee their song of thankfulness, We praise Thee, O, our God! Thou knowest our needs, Thy fulness will supply Our blindness--let Thy hand still lead us on, Till, visited by the dayspring from on high, Our prayer, one only, "Let Thy will be done," We breathe to Thee, O, God! Amen. W. H. BURLEIGH. April 26 Is it not possible, then, that the hindrances which arrest our progress, and the obstacles that lie broadly in our path, are the divinest agents of help which our Creator could give us? The painful struggles to overcome and remove them develop in us strength, courage, self-reliance, and heroism. They are the hammer and chisel that release the statue from the imprisoning marble,--the plow and the harrow that break up the soil, and mellow it for the reception of the seed that shall yield an abundant harvest. Perfection lies that way. MARY A. LIVERMORE.