All along this year I have felt that it was a hard year--the hardest of my life.

And I have kept enumerating to myself my many trials; to-day it suddenly occurred to me that my blessings were much more numerous.

If mother's illness was a sore affliction, her recovery is a great blessing; and even the illness itself has its bright side, for we have joyed in showing her how much we prize her continued life.

If I have lost some friends by death, I have not lost all.

If I have worked harder than I felt that I could bear, how much better is that than not to have as much work as I wanted to do.