How beautiful is Night!
A dewy freshness fills the air;

No mist obscures, nor cloud, nor speck, nor stain
Breaks the serene of heaven:

In full orbed glory, yonder moon divine

Rolls through the dark-blue depths.

Beneath her steady ray

The desert-circle spreads,

Like the round ocean, girdled with the sky,
How beautiful is night.

R. SOUTHEY.

Our gracious God, father of all Mercies, before whom noontime and midnight are as one, we thank Thee for the welcome night to which our weary footsteps have been directed. Guide us ever, we beseech Thee, amid the affairs of life that we may not lose the path nor stumble on the lonely way, but that we like Thy servant of old may finish our course with joy and in acceptance be gathered to Thee above. Amen.

WILLIAM WALLACE ILIffe.

In wonder workings, or some bush aflame,
Men look for God, and fancy Him concealed;
But in earth's common things He stands revealed,
While grass and flowers and stars spell out his name.

The paradise men seek, the city bright
That gleams beyond the stars for longing eyes,
Is only human goodness in the skies.

Earth's deeds, well done, glow into heavenly light.
MINOT J. SAVAge.

Our Heavenly Father, as the shadows lengthen and the night comes on, we draw near unto Thee in whom is no darkness at all. Thou usherest in the morning and spreadest the curtains of evening. Thou art revealed in the splendors of the noontide and made manifest in the glories of the night. We bow before the wonders of Thy majesty. We worship Thee revealed in all Thy creative power. We rear a palace and we pray each stone may be a golden deed to shine as do the stars. This night, Our Father, restore our strength, refresh our spiritual powers, and give us grace to build tomorrow more truly than before. And when the palace is completed, when our earthly day is done, may there be no evening shadows, no darkness, but the morning and the land where Christ Himself is sun. Amen.

LEON H. AUSTIN.

Is it not sad to grow old? Say rather that it is a very difficult art, and one which few men have ever · acquired. . . . To grow old is sad indeed if what you want is to hold back the receding years, to keep your hair from growing white, your eyes from becoming dim, and the wrinkles from chiseling their way across your brow. One of the most beautiful things in the world is an old person who, made better by experience, more indulgent, more charitable, loves mankind in spite of its wretchedness and adores youth without the slightest tendency to mimic it. Such a person is like an old Stradivarius whose tone has become so sweet that its value is increased a hundred-fold, and it seems almost to have a soul.

CHARLES Wagner.

Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for the day and its experiences. It has been blessed because received as a token from Thee. The morning hath its glorious promise, the noon-day its encircling loveliness, the evening its blissful repose. May we so accept our life from Thee that the glory of its morning promise may be illumined by the noon-day and glorified at the gathering twilight with its thankful retrospect and its gilded prospect. To Thy parental arms we entrust ourselves. If we wake to another earthly morn, may the day be spent to Thy glory and service. If we wake to a morn in the great Eternity we are still with Thee, and with Thee there is life and joy and peace. Amen.

F. A. DILLINGHAM.

We are the mariners, and God the sea,
And though we make false reckonings, and run
Wide of a righteous course, and are undone,
Out of his deeps of love we cannot be.
For by those heavy strokes we misname ill,
Through the fierce fire of sin, through tempering
doubt,

Our natures more and more are beaten out,
To perfecter reflections of his will !

ALICE CARY.

As sailors upon the boundless deep, we are helpless, O God, without Thee. Temper to us the storms and the winds that we be not carried far out of our course. And while tossed by the tempests of doubt and perplexity, may we never forget Thee, our Pilot of strong hand and sure knowledge. This night as we lie down to sleep, may rest come to us and to all who are driven hard. May the remembrance of other lives that have learned of Thy strength and Thy love, not in the fair days of favoring winds, but only in the seasons of cloud and gale, bring to us assurance. With fearless trust help each one of us to look forward to the great haven to which Thou art guiding, believing that no harm from Thee can come to me, on ocean or on shore." Amen.

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VIRGIL V. JOHNSON.

The way is dark, my Father! cloud on cloud
Is gathering quickly o'er my head; and loud
The thunders roar above me. See, I stand
Like one bewildered. Father, take my hand,
And through the gloom lead safely home Thy child.

The way is dark, my child, but leads to light;
I would not have thee always walk by sight.
My dealings now thou canst not understand;
I meant it so; but I will take thy hand
And through the gloom lead safely home My child.
HENRY N. COBB.

Heavenly Father, how the lights and shadows alternate in our lives! One day we stand upon the Mount of Transfiguration, another we walk sorrowfully in some valley of despair. One day we stand erect and triumphant in the midst of life's great battlefield, another we lie defeated and bleeding on some field of humiliation when we have scarcely fought at all. One day there is an open way between ourselves and Thee, while the angels come and go, another we have lost our Divine communications, the night comes on and it is dark because we have tried to go alone. O Father, now, with pride all gone, we know we cannot see the way alone. Take our hands and lead us home. Amen.

GEORGE L. PERIN.