MARCH NINTH

Americus Vespucius born 1451.

Lewis Gonzaga born 1568.

Comte de Mirabeau born 1749.

William Cobbett born 1762.

Edwin Forrest born 1806.

Yet nerve thy spirit to the Proof, and blanch not at thy chosen lot;
The timid good may stand aloof, the sage may frown--yet faint thou not;
Nor heed the shaft too surely cast, the foul and hissing bolt of scorn;
For with thy Side shall dwell, at last, the victory of endurance born.

--William C. Bryant.

You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and
forge yourself into one.

--James Anthony Froude.

Can thy heart endure, or can thy hands be strong, in the days that I
shall deal with thee?

--Ezekiel 22.14.

Loving Father, search me, and if there be any evil ways in me, correct
them, and lead me into the ways everlasting. I pray that I may not be
deformed from selfishness, but with a lowly and expectant heart run
with patience and triumph the race that is set before me. Amen.

MARCH TENTH

Bishop Duppa born 1698.

Professor Playfair born 1748.

Charles Loyson (Pere Hyacinthe) born 1827.

So he died by his faith. That is fine--
More than the most of us do.
But stay. Can you add to that line
That he lived for it too?

It is easy to die. Men have died
For a wish or a whim--
From bravado or passion or pride.
Was it hard for him?

But to live: every day to live out
All the truth that he dreamt,
While his friends met his conduct with doubt,
And the world with contempt.

Was it thus that he plodded ahead,
Never turning aside?
Then we'll talk of the life that he led.
Never mind how he died.

--Ernest Crosby.

For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the
Lord Jehovah: wherefore turn yourselves, and live.

--Ezekiel 18. 32.

Almighty God, help me to live an upright life. Give me courage to
abandon useless customs, and seeming duties that keep me from
perfecting my life. Amen.

MARCH ELEVENTH

Torquato Tasso born 1544.

Alexander Mackenzie died 1820.

Henry Drummond died 1897.

There is nothing that is puerile in nature; and he who becomes
impassioned of a flower, a blade of grass, a butterfly's wing, a
nest, a shell, wraps around a small thing that always contains a
great truth. To succeed in modifying the appearance of a