Eve of Saint Agnes.
David Garrick died 1779.
John Howard died 1790.
John Ruskin died 1900.
Nathaniel P. Willis born 1806.
How like a mounting devil in the heart
Rules the unreigned ambition! Let it once
But play the monarch, and its haughty brow
Glows with a beauty that bewilders thought
And unthrones peace forever. Putting on
The very pomp of Lucifer, it turns
The heart to ashes.
--Nathaniel P. Willis.
Temperance, in the nobler sense, does not mean a subdued and
imperfect energy; it does not mean a stopping short in any good
thing, as love or in faith; but it means the power which governs the
most intense energy, and prevents its acting in any way but as it
ought.
--John Ruskin.
And thy gentleness hath made me great.
--Psalm 18. 35.
Gracious Father, I pray that I may be willing to profit by the
experience of great teachers, and appreciate the value of strong
principles. May I too live for the higher ideals of life, and through
a sympathetic response add power and virtue to other lives, while
gaining strength for my own. Amen.