A New Year's Prayer: A Poem

224 IMPROVEMENT EliA. in South Africa, not politically, but commercially, and our govern- ment will feel bound to protect the commercial interests of its great financiers. Hereafter we must be heard in all matters relat- ing to the government of Central Africa. This is commercial impe- rialism which promises to mix us more completely with the nations of the world than our political imperialism. Salt Lake City, Utah. A

NEW YEAR'S PRAYER. Before me lies a clean, white page Just o' er the leaf, one marred by error and by many a tear. Father, help me in the present year, To be more brave, more strong, more kind to all, both strange and dear. 1 do not ask that I be free from care For I would feel its touch, that I may share The woe of those less fortunate here. I do not ask for worldly power, or an excess of gold, Lest in a prosperous hour a blight fall on my heart, And it toward thee grow cold. But this I ask—that I may ever grasp the jewels at my feet, And not be ever striving for those things Which lie so far beyond my reach. Help me to prize the small things grandly done, And thus prepare for greater things to come. Help me to think not of what might have been, and what I might have done But think of what I yet may be, And of the victories there may yet be won. Help me to know the true from false, that in temptation's hour, I may cleave unto the gold and spurn the dross. Help me to build my house, not on the sand, But on a sure foundation; That when the floods shall come and winds shall blow, It still may stand, invincible and grand. These are the blessings that I crave from thee; Not only for this year, but those to come. I ask them in his name, who died for all humanity Thy Son. Amen. Grace Ingles Frost. Salt Lake City, Utah.