"Every day will I bless Thee, and I will praise Thy name forever" (Ps. cxliv. 8, 9, 2).
Let us give the good God, our Father in heaven, a service of Love, in the spirit of St. Francis Xavier, who said: "O God! I love Thee, not for the sake of winning heaven, or of escaping hell, not for the hope of gaining aught, but solely because Thou art my God."
"Not with the hope of gaining aught,
Not seeking a reward;
But as Thyself hast loved me,
O ever-loving Lord.
E'en so I love Thee, and will love,
And in Thy praise will sing:
Solely because Thou art my God
And my eternal King."
XVII. Providence Watches Over us.
1. MANY years ago my path led me by the side of a river, where laborers were engaged in erecting water-works. It was a sultry summer's day, and I pitied the workmen who were obliged to pursue their daily toil in the fierce rays of the sun. I said to myself: "How these poor creatures have to suffer, exposed as they are the livelong day to this blazing heat; and in spite of all their wearisome toil, they perhaps scarcely earn wherewithal to buy clothing and to appease their hunger and thirst!" My sympathy for these laborers caused me to devote my attention to them for a short space of time and to listen to them at their work.
a. Two middle-aged workmen, whose counte-
