~

"Use what talents you possess:

The woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best."

~                      ~ Henry Van Dyke ~

Henry Van Dyke, the American clergyman and author, is best known for the Christmas story, "The Other Wise Man." He was born in Pennsylvania in 1852. He was pastor of the Brick Presbyterian Church in New York, taught literature at Princeton, and was U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands. His love of nature influenced his spirituality & he fought to preserve Yellowstone Park. He wrote poetry & essays as well as fiction. Helen Keller called him an architect of happiness. He died in 1933.