Yet all of us have our times of depression, of weakness, and days when aspiration and hope seem dead within us. Then let us try to cast ourselves on Him whose joy, "the joy of the Lord," may become our strength. One of our poets says--
"We cannot kindle when we will The fire that in the heart resides; The spirit moveth, and is still, In mystery the soul abides; Yet tasks in hours of insight willed May be in hours of gloom fulfilled."
It is these two last lines I would beg you to take to heart.
Huber, the distinguished naturalist of Geneva, who wrote so much and so finely on bees, was blind from the age of seventeen; yet he had a passion for the study of animal and especially of insect life, a study one would suppose quite out of the reach of the blind. He had a good and devoted wife, who never wearied in promoting his well-being and their joint happiness. Through her eyes he studied and succeeded in mastering a department in natural history which needs the clearest and keenest eyesight. And not only did he write a great work, which is still referred to as a masterpiece of its kind, and is still constantly quoted, but what the wife's eyes saw and transferred to his brain became his very own, to dwell upon, to draw deductions from, to gather to himself a fund of personal happiness, to give forth again to the world enriched by his thoughts--his life made a happiness and a blessing to himself and others--all through the unwearying industry and persevering efforts of a loving woman who effaced herself, apparently, for the sake of her husband and his life's work. "Who would lose his life shall find it."
A last word. The sovereign remedy for doubt and perplexity is, "Doe the next thynge."
THE GIRL'S OWN QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS COMPETITION.
_We give here the fifth instalment of questions in this Competition, full particulars of which appeared on p. 14._
49. What epidemic in Italy in the sixteenth century was cured by means of music?
50. What is the mother-tongue of Queen Victoria?
51. What is the best time at which to water indoor and outdoor plants?
52. Is abundant hair an indication of bodily and mental strength?
53. How many ways can be named of profitably using broken bread?
54. Was public money ever raised in England by encouraging the spirit of gambling?