"The pinnacle of praise"*

AMY M. SMITH

True praise must be expressed in daily life,
Down in the byways and the stirring mart,—
The quick denial that will still the strife,
The love that satisfies the hungry heart!

Such praise as Jesus lived, the gratitude
He voiced before the stone was rolled away,
The thankfulness that fed the multitude,—
This is the off' ring we must bring to-day!

The praise that sings when all the way seems dark,
The love that bears rebuff and takes no hurt,
The light that kindles at the smallest spark
Of kindliness, and is with pity girt!

In gratitude and true repentant tears
This pinnacle has its foundation laid,
Until, at last, triumphantly it rears
Its dazzling shaft, serene and unafraid!

This shaft is "evidence of things not seen,"
'T is planted in humanity's great heart,
The healed wound and leprosy made clean;
In this great stone-work all have played a part.

No campanile high rising to the sky,
No monument, no slender, curving span
Can with this pinnacle in beauty vie
That rises from the grateful heart of man!

* Church Manual, by Mary Baker Eddy, page 47.

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