September 12

Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward.—Ex. xiv, 15.

We should waste no moments in weak regret, If the day were but one;

If what we remember and what we forget Went out with the sun;

We should be from our clamorous selves set free To work or to pray,

And to be what the Father would have us be, If we had but a day.

MARY LOWE DICKINSON.

Let us have done with vain regrets and longings for the days that will never be ours again. Our work lies in front, not behind us; and "forward" is our motto. Let us not sit with folded hands gazing upon the past as if it were the building; it is but the foundation. Let us not waste heart and life thinking of what might have been, and forgetting the "may be" that lies before us.

JEROME K. JEROME.

For the errors of the wise the remedy is reparation, not regret; regret consumes the heart, but the effort to repair an error causes it to throb with a noble pride. In Egypt, regret is numbered among the forty-two deadly sins. One of the principal commandments is, "Thou shalt not consume thine heart."