the
farm, with one extra hired man in harvest-time. Alex went out on the
crest of the wave--he had just been recommended for promotion--the
children will always have a proud memory.

"This is a great country, isn't it? Where can you find such abundance,
and such a climate, with its sunshine and its cool nights, and such a
chance to make good?... I suppose freedom has to be paid for. We
thought the people long ago had paid for it, but another installment
of the debt fell due. Freedom is like a farm--it has to be kept up. It
is worth something to have a chance to work and bring up my
children--in peace--so I am living on from day to day ... not grieving
... not moping ... not thinking too much,--it hurts to think too
hard,--just living."

Then we shook hands, and I told her that she had found something far
greater than happiness, for she had achieved power!

* * * * *

There is a fine rainbow in the sky this evening, so bright and strong
that it shows again in a reflected bow on the clouds behind it. A
rainbow is a heartsome thing, for it reminds us of a promise made long
ago, and faithfully kept.

There is shadow and shine, sorrow and joy, all the way along. This is
inevitable, and so we must take them as they come, and rejoice over
every sunny hour of every day, or, if the day is all dark, we must go
hopefully forward through the gloom.

To-day has been fine. There was one spattering shower, which pebbled
the dusty roads, and a few crashes of rolling thunder. But the western
sky is red now, giving promise of a good day to-morrow.

A PRAYER FOR THE NEXT OF KIN

O Thou, who once Thine own Son gave
To save the world from sin,
Draw near in pity now we crave
To all the Next of Kin.
To Thee we make our humble prayer
To save us from despair!

Send sleep to all the hearts that wake;
Send tears into the eyes that burn;
Steady the trembling hands that shake;
Comfort all hearts that mourn.
But most of all, dear Lord, we pray
For strength to see us through this day.

As in the wilderness of old,
When Thou Thy children safely led,
They gathered, as we have been told,
One day's supply of heavenly bread,
And if they gathered more than that,
At evening it was stale and flat,--

So, Lord, may this our faith increase--
To leave, untouched, to-morrow's load,
To take of grace a one-day lease
Upon life's winding road.
Th