food,
Thy hunger too will surely satisfy,
And all thy wants in His good time supply.
Be thou content.

Sayest thou, I know not how or where,
No hope I see where'er I turn;
When of all else we most despair,
The riches of God's love we learn;
When thou and I His hand no longer trace,
He leads us forth into a pleasant place.
Be thou content.

Though long His promised aid delay,
At last it will be surely sent:
Though thy heart sink in sore dismay,
The trial for thy good is meant.
What we have won with pains we hold more fast,
What tarrieth long is sweeter at the last.
Be thou content.

Lay not to heart whate'er of ill
Thy foes may falsely speak of thee,
Let man defame thee as he will,
God hears and judges righteously.
Why shouldst thou fear, if God be on thy side,
Man's cruel anger, or malicious pride?
Be thou content.

We know for us a rest remains,
When God will give us sweet release
From earth and all our mortal chains
And turn our sufferings into peace.
Sooner or later death will surely come
To end our sorrows and to take us home.
Be thou content.

Home to the chosen ones, who here
Served their Lord faithfully and well,
Who died in peace without a fear,
And there in peace for ever dwell;
The Everlasting is their joy and stay,
The Eternal Word Himself to them doth say
Be thou content!

PAUL GERHARDT, 1670.

For weeks together during her illness Bessie was at times unable to
sleep during the night. She was too considerate to her nurses to disturb
them for mere sleeplessness. She would then, as we have said, recall to
memory music and books which she had heard, and at these times
Shakespeare and Sir Walter Scott were a great resource to her. The
characters she admired lived for her, and she would try to picture to
herself how they would act in circumstances which she invented for them.
Her knowledge of English history was also a source of interest, and
often astonished those around her. One evening in 1884 a young niece
preparing for an examination asked in vain for information as to the
"Salisbury Assize" until the question was put to