In the secluded garden of Christ's College, at Cambridge, there is a mulberry-tree of which tradition says that it was planted by John Milton in his student days. I remember sitting on the green turf below it, a few years ago, and looking up at the branches, heavy with age, and propped on crutches, and wondering to see that the old tree still brought fruit. It was not the size nor the quality of the fruit that impressed me. I hardly thought of that. The strange thing, the beautiful thing, was that, after so many years, the tree was yet bearing.

HENRY VAN Dyke.

Our Father, who art in heaven; we thank Thee that, whether we be young and strong or old and weak, happy in the midst of friends or longing for faces out of sight, enduring temptation or triumphant after trial, we have it always within our power to make known in our daily living the spirit of the Master's gospel. To do this is to bless the world around us, and please Thee, and add content unto our own hearts. May we rest in peace this night, our Father, and awake tomorrow grateful and trustful, glad to live another day and do Thy will. Amen.

CHARLES H. PUFFER.

No longer forward nor behind
I look in hope or fear;

But, grateful, take the good I find,
The best of now and here.

All as God wills, who wisely heeds
To give or to withhold,

And knoweth more of all

my needs

Than all my prayers have told..
JOHN GREENLEaf Whittier.

There is a sense in which the life of every man, however spiritually stifled by the poisonous atmosphere of the degradation in which he lives, is held in the grip of God, hidden in the bosom of God, the object of God's care and God's responsibility, though, as yet, he knows it not, as the unborn child knows not how near it is to the mother's beating heart.

BASIL WILBErforce.

All-loving God, who hast made rich with opportunity the hours of this day, and hast opened our eyes to see the smile upon the face of duty, in the hours of rest give us the noble satisfaction which came through the memory of service. If we have seemed to accomplish little, may we remember that every just and loving act has made us co-laborers with Thee. Save us from the discouragements which are Thy judgments upon selfishness, and give us a sense of the grandeur, the glory and the eternal value of the life which sees itself as a part of Thine infinite purpose. With the joy that Thou art with us may we rest in peace this night. Amen.

HARRIS G. HALE.

And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.

ISAIAH XLII. 16.

God! Thou art love! I build my faith on that! ... So doth Thy right hand guide us through the world

Wherein we stumble. God! What shall we say?

He erred,

Save him, dear God; it will be like Thee: bathe him
In light and life! Thou art not made like us:
We should be wroth in such a case: but Thou
Forgivest.

ROBERT BROWNING.

Abide with us, that we may feel that our sins are forgiven. Abide with us, for we see in the past our follies and our faults, and would wrong no more. Abide with us as we lie down to gentle sleep, that it may be gentle and refreshing to us, that pure thoughts may keep the portals of our dreams, and God's blessing hold watch over us.

E. H. CHAPIN.

Amen.

A happy disposition is largely a disposition to make others happy. One life permeates all things, and there is no corner of the cosmos too remote to feel its heart throb.

HENRY WOOD.

Hast thou no ray of inborn light

To make some shadowed life more bright?

Then be a lens! Catch every gleam,
And flash it on, a shining beam!

Sunshine reflected can illume
The darkest corner of a room!

ALDIS DUNbar.

Master of Life, we thank Thee for the gift of life. This day has carried us a little deeper into its mystery. Joy and pain, knowledge and ignorance, have come to us out of the infinite. But the heart. of the mystery is Thy friendship for us. And Thy friendship knits our knowledge and our ignorance, our joy and our pain, into a seamless robe of the spirit. The light of the sun has gladdened our eyes. The light of Thy love has gladdened our souls. With hearts aglow with gratitude and trust, we lay ourselves to rest, praying that on the morrow we may wake up after Thy likeness, eager to serve our fellows, and in renewed hope of the life eternal. Amen.

HENRY S. NASH.

Opportunities do not come with their values stamped upon them. Every one must be challenged. A day dawns quite like other days; in it a single hour comes, quite like other hours; but in that day and in that hour the chance of a lifetime faces us. To face every opportunity of life thoughtfully, and ask its meaning frankly and earnestly, is the only way to meet the supreme opportunities, when they come, whether open-faced or disguised.

MALTBIE D. BABCOCK.

Eternal Father, who dost cause the outgoing of the morning and evening to rejoice; whose mercy is new every morning, and fresh every evening, grant that the close of the day may bring rest and peace to spirits weary and troubled. May the quiet night be beautiful with the shining of the stars. If the record of the day show imperfection and failure, do Thou forgive; if it show success, and worthy accomplishment, then Thine be the glory. Give a proper outlook upon time, and upon eternity, the power to set things in right relations, and to estimate and compare values. Help in the realization of every noble ideal, and the fulfilment of every holy purpose, and at evening time may it be light. Amen.

WALTER D. COLE.