JANUARY FOURTEENTH

Madame de Sévigné died 1696.

Edmund Halley died 1742.

Pierre Loti born 1850.

Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute
What you can do, or dream you can; begin it;
Boldness has genius, power magic in it.
Only engage, and then the mind grows heated;
Begin and then the work will be completed.

--Goethe.

Were half the power that fills the world with terror,
Were half the wealth bestowed on camps and courts,
Given to redeem the human mind from error,
There were no need of arsenals or forts.

--Henry W. Longfellow.

Choose you this day whom ye will serve;... but as for me and my
house, we will serve Jehovah.

--Joshua 24. 15.

Almighty God, help me to appreciate the sacredness of work while I
have it to do. Grant that I may be spared the wretchedness that comes