Shaker Commonplace Book

"Not as I will," the sound grows sweet Each time my lips the words repeat "Not as I will", the darkness feels More safe than light, when this thot steals Like whispered voice, to calm and bless All unrest, and all lonliness. "Not as I will" because the one Who loved us first & best has gone Before us on the road, and still For us, must all His love fulfill "Not as we will".

Fact and Fancy.

It is easy enough to be prudent When nothing tempts you to stray - When without or within, no voice of sin Is luring our soul away; But its only a negative virtue Until it is tried by fire And the life that is worth the honor of earth Is the one that resists desire.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox.

Chide Not

Fanny Morcharg

Chide not, Chide not, unless you must As day after day onward places There s much of pain, that must needs be borne Full enough of sorrw, for which to mourn When men are weary, and women are worn With grief shadowed hearts and faces.

O brother! sister! why suffer the hours To go frieghted with frowns and fault finding So few, & fast fleeting, the sweet sheltered years, In which, to be mingled your laughter & tears Ere youth plumes its wings, the sad parting nears And you're left, to the future's reminding.

Ah friend; tho' oft thro lifes wildering way Erring feet must be turned, hearts need guiding. If to check & reprove, be stern duty's decree Let that matchless reproving "Lovest thou me?" Whisper down thro the ages, its message to thee That love be felt, e'en thro' the chiding..

Contrasts.

Strange! that we creatures of such petty ways Poor prisoners, behind these fleshly bare Should sometimes, think us thoughts with God ablaze. Touching the fringes, of the outer stars. And stranger still, that having flown so high, And stood, unshamed, in shining presence That we resume our smallness, nor imply, In mien, or gesture, what that memory is. _ _ _ _ _ _

Resolve Speak a shade more kindly Than the year before, Pray, a little oftener Love a great deal more. Cling a deal more closely To the voice of love. Life below, shall liken grow To the life above.

Kissing the Rod Agnes Pratt

O heart of mine, we should not worry so What you miss of sunshine We would have you know. What we've met of stormy pain Or of sorrows driving rain We can better meet again, if it blow.

That we've erred, in the dark hour, we have known When our tears fell, with the [shorn?] all alone, Were not shine and shadow blent, As the gracious Master meant? Let us temper our content with His own.

For we know not, every morrow Will be sad, So forgetting all the sorrow, we have had, Let us fold away our fears, And put by, our foolish tears, And through all the coming years, Just be glad.

Song for Today. Louis Manning

Groweth the morning from gray to gold; Up! my heart, and greet the sun. Yesterdays cares are a tale that is told " " tasks are a work that is done. Buried beneath the billows of sleep Yesterdays burdens are as they were not - Say them low, in the soundless deep.

Share thy crust, and ask no dole Offer the cup, thou wouldst never drain Only he who saveth his soul Loseth all that he fain would gain Smile with him who has gained the day Smile the gladder, if at thy cost It was his to fo, I think to aspire It is his today who loved the most Pluck the flower that blooms at thy door Cherish the love that the day may send Gratefully take what life offereth Look to heaven, nor seek a reward So shall thou find, come life or death Earth and heaven are in sweet accord.