MAY SIXTEENTH
Reading edition
Sir William Patty born 1623.
Honore de Balzac born 1799.
William H. Seward born 1801.
Felicia Hemans died 1835.
Favored of Heaven! O Genius! are they thine, When round thy brow the wreaths of glory shine; While rapture gazes on thy radiant way, 'Midst the bright realms of clear mental day? No! sacred joys! 'tis yours to dwell enshrined, Most fondly cherished, in the purest mind. —Felicia Hemans.
Genius is intensity.
—Honore Balzac.
But what if I fail of my purpose here? It is but to keep the nerves at strain, To dry one's eyes and laugh at a fall, And, baffled, get up and begin again— So the chase takes up one's life, that's all. —Robert Browning.
Be urgent in season, out of season.
—2 Timothy 4. 2.
My Lord, my life makes me conscious of weakness, and my memory brings regret; forgive me for the lost strength I neglected to develop. In thy compassion encourage me to be more watchful of my power, that I may usefully increase it, and not willfully deplete it. May I learn the need of constancy in well-doing. Amen.