Leaves of Life, for Daily Inspiration — Edition Insights

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In Category - Historical Psychological Social Fiction

Authors: Steinmetz, Margaret Bird Digital Source: Project Gutenberg Gutenberg Release Year: 2005 First Publication Year: Not confirmed

Key Word: Devotional literature; Meditations; Calendars; Devotional exercises Target Reader: Readers of public-domain and historical texts

Book Edition: Project Gutenberg digital edition Book Language: en

Edition facts

Words 70,282

Reading time 306 min

Text sections 2

The catalog record for Leaves of Life, for Daily Inspiration — Edition Insights provides practical reading context through 70,282 words, 5 hr 6 min estimated reading time, and 2 detected text sections.

The text analysis averages about 15.2 words per sentence, while the detected sections provide another way to judge how the source is divided.

Project Gutenberg metadata also associates the work with “Devotional literature,” connecting these edition facts with the source record’s subject description.

Source: Project Gutenberg record #14849

A daily devotional calendar blending scripture, historical anniversaries, and brief prayers, with excerpts revealing a structure of date entries, biographical notes, literary quotations, and original petitions.

Editorial Edition Score 4.6/5

★★★★★ ★★★★★

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Description quality20 pts
Title & short description10 pts
Source metadata20 pts
Text length15 pts
Chapters / structure15 pts
EPUB file integrity20 pts

Total of 100 points, scaled to a 2.5-5.0 range. Editions with an empty description or a missing EPUB file are not scored.

Edition quality

File: pg14849

Read the Text

There were no need of arsenals or forts.

--Henry W. Longfellow.

Choose you this day whom ye will serve;... but as for me and my house, we will serve Jehovah.

Almighty God, help me to appreciate the sacredness of work while I have it to do. Grant that I may be spared the wretchedness that comes from working with fragments from idleness. May I do my part, even if it be in obscurity and the night overtakes me before it is done. Amen.

Dr. Samuel Parr born 1747.

Edward Everett died 1865.

The sun withholds his generous beam; Athwart my soul the shadows stream; The weird winds boisterously blow, And drift the melancholy snow.

When I, in sorrow and despair, Expect the storm, with tender care He rends the clouds and through the blue The glorious sun breaks forth anew.

So with the wan waste grasses on my spear, I ride forever seeking after God. My hair grows whiter than my thistle plume And all my limbs are loose; but in my eyes The star of an unconquerable praise; For in my soul one hope forever sings, That at the next white corner of the road My eyes may look on Him.

He brought me forth also into a large place; He delivered me, because he delighted in me.

Loving Father, if I may be discouraged to-day, strengthen my faith. May I not weary of waiting for thee, but trust in thy promises. Amen.

Edmund Spenser died 1599.

Johann August Neander born 1789.

Edward Gibbon died 1794.

Sir John Moore died 1809.

But lovely concord, and most sacred peace, Doth nourish vertue, and fast friendship breeds; Weake she makes strong, and strong thing does increase, Till it the pitch of highest praise exceeds.

Perfect good-breeding is the result of nature and not of education; for it may be found in a cottage, and may be missed in a palace. 'Tis the genial regard for the feeling of others that springs from an absence of selfishness.

Can a fig tree, my brethren, yield olives, or a vine figs? neither can salt water yield sweet.

Heavenly Father, help me to value my thoughts, words, and deeds. If at the close of the day, there may be one who has been wounded by my injustice, may I be willing to make quick atonement. May I avoid the ways and words that hurt; and not only wish rightly and work rightly, but speak to enrich others with tenderness. Amen.

Benjamin Franklin born 1706.

George Bancroft died 1891.

Employ thy time well if thou meanest to gain leisure; and since thou art not sure of a minute, throw not away an hour! Leisure is time for doing something useful; this leisure the diligent man will obtain, but the lazy man never; a life of leisure and a life of laziness are two things.

There is nothing to gain and everything to lose by despising the example of nature, and making arbitrary rules for oneself. Our liberty wisely understood is but a voluntary obedience to the universal laws of life.

I will meditate on thy precepts, And have respect unto thy ways.

My Father, help me to understand the power of nature, that I may be willing to obey her laws. I pray that I may so live that my life will proclaim itself without need of boasting or deception. Forbid that I should spend my life in perfecting trifles, and have no leisure to enjoy thy great gifts. Amen.

Charles de Montesquieu born 1689.

John Gillies born 1747.

Daniel Webster born 1782.

We would leave for the consideration of those who shall occupy our places some proof that we hold the blessings transmitted from our fathers in just estimation; some proof of our attachment to the cause of good government and of civil and religious liberty; some proof of a sincere and ardent desire to promote every thing which may enlarge the understanding and improve the hearts of men.

Brother and friend, the world is wide, But I care not whether there be The soothing song of a summer tide Or the thrash of a wintry sea, If but through shimmer and storm you bide, Brother and friend, with me.

--Percy C. Ainsworth.

Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the King.

Almighty God, I thank thee for all the tender influences of life; for all the gentleness and strength that may be given and received through friendship. Help me to be careful of what I do, for my sake, and for the sake of those who may follow me. Amen.

Hans Sachs died 1576.

William Congreve died 1729.

James Watt born 1736.

Robert E. Lee born 1807.

Edgar Allan Poe born 1809.

Continue Reading →

Margaret Bird Steinmetz's Leaves of Life, for Daily Inspiration (1914) is a calendar-based devotional that pairs each day with a historical anniversary, a literary or inspirational quotation, a Bible verse, and an original prayer. The excerpts show entries for July 5–8, where figures like Sarah Siddons, John Huss, and Richard Brinsley Sheridan are noted alongside lines from George Sand, Charlotte Brontë, and John Ruskin. The work's catalog subjects—devotional literature, meditations, calendars, devotional exercises—accurately describe its form, but the excerpts reveal a more eclectic mix: the quotations often come from secular authors, and the historical notes ground the spiritual reflections in worldly events.

A Calendar of Lives and Lessons

The July entries consistently open with a list of births or deaths—Sarah Siddons, David Farragut, George Sand, Cecil Rhodes on the fifth; John Huss, Leibniz, John Paul Jones, Flaxman on the sixth. These are not mere trivia; they set a thematic stage. The quotation that follows often echoes the historical figure's domain: George Sand on nature's imperishable language, Charlotte Brontë on professional perseverance. Steinmetz then selects a Bible verse—Job 12:7–9 on the fifth, Psalm 139:9–10 on the sixth—and closes with a first-person prayer that rephrases the day's lesson. This structure suggests the book is less a conventional devotional than a curated anthology meant to provoke daily reflection through juxtaposition.

Secular Voices in a Sacred Frame

Despite the catalog classification as devotional literature, the excerpts draw heavily on non-religious sources. The acknowledgments list dozens of publishers and authors, including Theodore Roosevelt, O. Henry, Emily Dickinson, and Arnold Bennett. In the July 7 entry, a poem by Thomas Crawford appears alongside Isaiah 50:7; on July 8, a poem by George Croly follows La Fontaine. The prayers themselves are earnest but not doctrinally specific—'Lord God, direct me away from self' or 'Eternal God, help me to honor my life.' This blend of biblical text with contemporary poetry and prose suggests Steinmetz aimed for a broad, inspirational readership rather than a strictly orthodox one.

The Prayer as Personal Application

Each entry ends with a prayer that directly addresses the day's theme. On July 5, after George Sand's quote and Job 12, the prayer asks for patience to 'learn of thy wisdom' and 'do my part to keep the peace.' On July 6, following Brontë on professional choice, the prayer seeks 'wise judgment' in work. These prayers are formulaic in structure—addressing God, stating a request, closing with 'Amen'—but they vary in content to match the preceding material. They serve as a bridge between the external voices (historical figures, authors) and the reader's inner life, making the devotional personal without being prescriptive.

Readers approaching Leaves of Life should expect a mosaic rather than a linear argument. The book rewards browsing: each day stands alone, and the connections between the anniversary, quotation, scripture, and prayer are left implicit. The excerpts show that Steinmetz valued variety—mixing poets, novelists, reformers, and scientists—so the work may be best used as a source of daily prompts rather than a sustained read. Its catalog subjects understate the range of voices included.

That afternoon, the rain blurred the window while the day’s page paired Lincoln’s birthday with a quiet psalm, and I lingered on how daily devotionals stitch grief and gratitude together. Later, my hand drifted to a shelf, pulling down Social Pictorial Satire — Inside the Classic; its cartoons of Victorian foibles felt oddly consoling, another way of marking time’s small absurdities.