Creating, collecting, and sharing thoughts and ideas. And learning along the way.
Fortune knocks but once, but misfortune has much more patience.
– Laurence J. Peters (1919-1990)
She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellow’d to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o’er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.
And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!
Note on picture: This poem is dedicated to my second-born, seated with her father last summer. This is the fourth and last in a series of poem-posts that linked the poem to a member of my family– one including myself.
Updated April 4, 2012, 2:28 pm
On April 5, 1951, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were sentenced to death for conspiring to commit espionage for the Soviet Union.
On April 5, 1856, Booker T. Washington, the educator and reformer who became an important spokesperson for black Americans at the turn of the 20th century, was born. Following his death on Nov. 14, 1915, his obituary appeared in The Times.
Go to obituary » | Other birthdays »
On This Date
By The Associated Press
1614 Pocahontas, daughter of the leader of the Powhatan tribe, married English colonist John Rolfe in Virginia. 1792 George Washington cast the first presidential veto, rejecting a congressional measure for apportioning representatives among the states. 1856 Black educator Booker T. Washington was born in Franklin County, Va. 1895 Playwright Oscar Wilde lost his criminal libel case against the Marquess of Queensberry, who had accused the writer of homosexual practices. 1908 Actress Bette Davis was born in Lowell, Mass. 1951 Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were sentenced to death for conspiring to commit espionage for the Soviet Union. 1976 Reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes died at age 72. 1984 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar became the highest-scoring player in NBA history with 31,421 career points. (He still holds the career record with with 38,387 points.) 1987 Fox Broadcasting Co. made its prime-time TV debut. 2008 Actor Charlton Heston died at age 84. 2010 An explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine near Charleston, W.Va., killed 29 workers. 2010 In a televised rescue, 115 Chinese coal miners were freed after spending eight days trapped in a flooded mine, surviving an accident that had killed 38. Current Birthdays
By The Associated Press
Former secretary of state Colin Powell turns 75 years old today.
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
Rapper-producer Pharrell Williams turns 39 years old today.
AP Photo/Chris Pizzello
1922 Gale Storm, Actress, turns 90 1926 Roger Corman, Filmmaker, turns 86 1941 Michael Moriarty, Actor, turns 71 1942 Allan Clarke, Rock singer (The Hollies), turns 70 1943 Max Gail, Actor (“Barney Miller”), turns 69 1944 Peter King, U.S. congressman, R-N.Y., turns 68 1950 Agnetha Faltskog, Singer (ABBA), turns 62 1967 Troy Gentry, Country singer (Montgomery-Gentry), turns 45 1968 Paula Cole, Rock singer, turns 44
Historic Birthdays
Booker T. Washington 4/5/1856 – 11/14/1915 American educator and spokesman for black Americans.Go to obituary »
91 Thomas Hobbes 4/5/1588 – 12/4/1679
English philosopher and political theorist72 Elihu Yale 4/5/1649 – 7/8/1721
American-born English merchant and benefactor of Yale University74 Jean-Honore Fragonard 4/5/1732 – 8/22/1806
French rococo painter51 Vincenzo Gioberti 4/5/1801 – 11/26/1852
Italian philosopher, politician and cleric85 Baron Joseph Lister 4/5/1827 – 2/10/1912
English surgeon and scientist72 Algernon Chas. Swinburne 4/5/1837 – 4/10/1909
English poet and critic92 Lincoln Filene 4/5/1865 – 8/27/1957
American business executive and philanthropist; chairman of Federated Department Stores (1929-57)85 Chester Bowles 4/5/1901 – 5/25/1986
American politician and advertising entrepreneur81 Bette Davis 4/5/1908 – 10/6/1989
American motion-picture dramatic actress78 Jagjivan Ram 4/5/1908 – 7/6/1986
Indian politician and spokesman for the untouchables81 Herbert von Karajan 4/5/1908 – 7/16/1989
Austrian-born conductor72 Chaim Grade 4/5/1910 – 6/26/1982
Russian-born Yiddish poet, short-story writer and novelist
MORNING
“Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp.”
Hebrews 13:13Jesus, bearing his cross, went forth to suffer without the gate. The Christian’s reason for leaving the camp of the world’s sin and religion is not because he loves to be singular, but because Jesus did so; and the disciple must follow his Master. Christ was “not of the world:” his life and his testimony were a constant protest against conformity with the world. Never was such overflowing affection for men as you find in him; but still he was separate from sinners. In like manner Christ’s people must “go forth unto him.” They must take their position “without the camp,” as witness-bearers for the truth. They must be prepared to tread the straight and narrow path. They must have bold, unflinching, lion-like hearts, loving Christ first, and his truth next, and Christ and his truth beyond all the world. Jesus would have his people “go forth without the camp” for their own sanctification. You cannot grow in grace to any high degree while you are conformed to the world. The life of separation may be a path of sorrow, but it is the highway of safety; and though the separated life may cost you many pangs, and make every day a battle, yet it is a happy life after all. No joy can excel that of the soldier of Christ: Jesus reveals himself so graciously, and gives such sweet refreshment, that the warrior feels more calm and peace in his daily strife than others in their hours of rest. The highway of holiness is the highway of communion. It is thus we shall hope to win the crown if we are enabled by divine grace faithfully to follow Christ “without the camp.” The crown of glory will follow the cross of separation. A moment’s shame will be well recompensed by eternal honour; a little while of witness-bearing will seem nothing when we are “forever with the Lord.”
EVENING
“In the name of the Lord I will destroy them.”
Psalm 118:12Our Lord Jesus, by his death, did not purchase a right to a part of us only, but to the entire man. He contemplated in his passion the sanctification of us wholly, spirit, soul, and body; that in this triple kingdom he himself might reign supreme without a rival. It is the business of the newborn nature which God has given to the regenerate to assert the rights of the Lord Jesus Christ. My soul, so far as thou art a child of God, thou must conquer all the rest of thyself which yet remains unblest; thou must subdue all thy powers and passions to the silver sceptre of Jesus’ gracious reign, and thou must never be satisfied till he who is King by purchase becomes also King by gracious coronation, and reigns in thee supreme. Seeing, then, that sin has no right to any part of us, we go about a good and lawful warfare when we seek, in the name of God, to drive it out. O my body, thou art a member of Christ: shall I tolerate thy subjection to the prince of darkness? O my soul, Christ has suffered for thy sins, and redeemed thee with his most precious blood: shall I suffer thy memory to become a storehouse of evil, or thy passions to be firebrands of iniquity? Shall I surrender my judgment to be perverted by error, or my will to be led in fetters of iniquity? No, my soul, thou art Christ’s, and sin hath no right to thee.
Be courageous concerning this, O Christian! be not dispirited, as though your spiritual enemies could never be destroyed. You are able to overcome them–not in your own strength–the weakest of them would be too much for you in that; but you can and shall overcome them through the blood of the Lamb. Do not ask, “How shall I dispossess them, for they are greater and mightier than I?” but go to the strong for strength, wait humbly upon God, and the mighty God of Jacob will surely come to the rescue, and you shall sing of victory through his grace.
