There was a great fire in the pit. It was built with toil, and it was fierce, and bright. Huge logs blazed up heating each other, and the flames roared hungrily. On the edge of the pit, beyond the fire, a fagot had been thrown. No one saw it. The outside of it was charred and cold. But its heart glowed. It was a little fagot. The great fire went out, for all its fuel was consumed. The air grew damp and chill. There came a wind from God and the fire in the little fagot waked. Slowly a wreath of smoke curled out, slowly a little tongue pushed up, and the fagot burst into flame. Softly the flame crept through the grass; it touched a tree and vaulted wildly up. the forest was afire, and its brightness lighted up the World. The little fagot burned out, like the great fire. No one noticed it. Its fuel was consumed.

BOLTON HALL.

Mysterious Life, Who art not far from any one of us, we would be conscious of Thy presence everywhere. As the day and its toil recede may its tumult cease in us. Be near us as we turn from labor, and from our hearthstone contemplate all the manifold activities of life. Remind us of Thy everlasting care. Cover with the shadow of thy wing. Brood us as a mother does her child. Sing us to sleep with music such as angels sung, of Thy good will to men. Thus, even while we sleep may sparks of vestal fire burn low within our souls, until when morning comes again and men go forth unto their labors they will light their fires of love and devotion from our deathless flame. Amen.

FREDERICK W. BETTS.

God builds the blind bird's nest;
Will He not build for me

A home of sheltering love and rest,
From worldly tumult free?

No bird more blind than I;
The tiniest, tenderest wing
Through unknown space doth safely fly,
Unawed, unquestioning.

The poor blind bird and I,

Thy children both are we;

Build Thou for her, nor, Lord, deny

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Thy nest of peace to me!

ZITELLA COcke.

It is true, Father, that the mystery of Thy universe deepens with the growth of mind. Though the foundation standeth sure as the more certain conviction of reason, yet the necklace of the sky, with its millions of shining suns, the terrifying forces about unknown and uncontrolled, bewilder us in our larger hopes until with the Psalmist we gasp What is man that Thou art mindful of him?" Stretch forth Thy hand, Father, that in the shadows of this evening's twilight, I may feel for the Presence I cannot see. Give to Thy beloved in sleep, that with the morning light the soul of Thy servant may catch the rhythmic music of Thy world, and join the trustful little songsters at the window in their opening hymn of praise. Amen.

CLAUDE H. PRIDDY.

There are persons who have an impediment of speech, so that the thoughts that shape themselves in the brain are smothered there, and can never be born in fitting utterance. There are many who have an impediment in life. A something wanting-withheld - that hinders the inner existence from flowering out into visible fact and deed. Flowers it not somewhere? Is there not building somewhere, all the while, that which God hath reserved for them from the foundation of the world?

MRS. A. D. T. WHITNEY.

Heavenly Father, we bring to Thee the deep needs of our hearts. We pray not for the removal of the mysteries of our lives, nor for answers to the questions we often ask. We seek for better knowledge of Thee, the God of all hope: we would feel Thy presence and receive Thy benediction, to the end that, when failure and disappointment are ours, when our attainments come far short of our ideals, when again and again we are defeated and humbled, we shall be saved from discouragement, the consecration of our lives shall be strengthened, and we shall with good heart be faithful to our high calling. Thus may we be cheered and sustained by the hope that is in thee. Amen.

FREDERIC GILL.

Ah, never sank a sinning soul so low,
But God's paternal hand could deeper go
His perishing child to save.

Though shipwrecked by sin's overwhelming weight,
God's hand has rescued from as hard a fate
Some other castaway.

How shall I set a limit to His grace,
How dare I cloud the glory of His face? -

Abide His time; have faith through weary days
That at the last each soul shall sing His praise
Who moulds the hearts of men.

HENRY NEHEMIAH DODGE.

O Thou, who seest and knowest all hearts, Thou hast witnessed the strife and the trials of the day now spent. Thou knowest the disappointments and the sense of failure and of shame with which we come to its close, and remember how we have come short of the resolve and the desire of the morning, and have sinned against the goodness and the love which gave us a day more of life and of opportunity. Be patient with us, Lord, and help us to be patient with ourselves, and to wait in simple faith, and in unshaken purpose, the day of fulfilment and of triumph, when Thou shalt conquer in and with our souls. Amen.

JOHN COLEMAN ADAMS.

He had his dream, and all through life,
Worked up to it through toil and strife.
Afloat fore'er before his eyes,

It colored for him all his skies:
The storm-cloud dark

Above his bark,

The calm and listless vault of blue
Took on its hopeful bue,

It tinctured every passing beam
He had his dream.

He labored hard and failed at last,
His sails too weak to bear the blast,
The raging tempests tore away
And sent his beating bark astray.
But what cared he

For wind or sea!

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He said, The tempest will be short,
My bark will come to port."

He saw through every cloud a gleam —
He had his dream.

PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR.

Father of light, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow caused by turning, we dwell amid shifting shadows, the earth turns and we are in darkness, with the darkness comes sleep, and with sleep, dreams. May the dreams of the night give courage for the day. The night reveals the depths of space, and teaches eternity, may the dreams of the night broaden our horizon, and gird us with strength to bear burdens and face storms when the world seems narrow and heart and flesh fail us, for Thy name's sake, Amen.

O. P. GIFFORD.