THERE are many toiling ones whose time is not at their own command. But there is not one who cannot hold converse with God. His ear can hear amid the clang and roar of machinery, or the hum of hundreds of voices. The heart can go up to him no matter what the surroundings. Wherever Abraham pitched his tent, there he raised up an altar to the Lord. So wherever the Christian heart is, there is also an acceptable altar from which the incense of prayer and praise may ascend. Yet there are few who may not, if they will, find time and place for private communion with God before entering on the morning's duties. Luther, in his busiest seasons, felt that praying-time was never lost. When remarkably pressed with labors, he would say, “I have so much to do that I cannot get on without three hours a day praying.” Sir Matthew Hale also bears testimony: “If I omit praying and reading God's word in the morning, nothing goes well all day.” How many of us may find here the cause of many of our failures, and consequent discontent and loss of happiness!—Sel.