Cyclopedia of illustrations for public speakers (part 3 of 8)

Cyclopedia of illustrations for public speakers (part 3 of 8)

Wherever all the world around is remarkably uniform in color and appearance, all the animals, birds, and insects alike necessarily disguise themselves in its prevailing tint to escape observation. It does not matter in the least whether they are predatory or defenseless, the hunters or the hunted; if they are to escape destruction or starvation, as the case may be, they must assume the hue of all the rest of nature about them. In the arctic snows, for example, all animals, without exception, must needs be snow-white. The polar bear, if he were brown or black, would immediately be observed among the unvaried ice-fields by his expected prey, and could never get a chance of approaching his quarry unperceived at close quarters. On the other hand, the arctic hare must equally be drest in a snow-white coat, or the arctic fox would too readily discover him and pounce down upon him off-hand; while conversely, the fox himself, if red or brown, could never creep upon the unwary hare without previous detection, which would defeat his purpose. For this reason, the ptarmigan and the willow-grouse become as white in winter as the vast snow-fields under which they burrow; the ermine changes his dusky summer coat for the expensive wintry suit beloved of British Themis; the snow-bunting acquires his milk-white plumage; and even the weasel assimilates himself more or less in hue to the unvarying garb of arctic nature. To be out of the fashion is there quite literally to be out of the world; no half measures will suit the stern decree of polar biology; strict compliance with the law of winter change is absolutely necessary to success in the struggle for existence. (Text.)--Cornhill Magazine.

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=Congenital Neurasthenics=--See INEBRIETY, INCURABLE.

=Conjugal Rights=--See ROBBING JUSTIFIED.

CONNECTION

You can get no water from your old pump. When you try you get only a painful wheezing. Pumps are not living things, but they, too, suffer exhaustion. Must you give it up, and dig a new well? Oh, no. The well is all right, and has given abundant and sweet water for a generation. You look it over, and find that the old leather valve is dry and worn out. Pour in a pitcher of water to wet it, and the wheezing is cured. Put in a new valve and the old pump is good for years to come. God’s supply of living water is abundant as ever. It is only your connection with it that failed.--FRANKLIN NOBLE, “Sermons in Illustration.”

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CONQUEST BY MAN

These vehement elements, of air and water, demand to be wrestled with and patiently mastered, by the vigorous soul, in order that they may administer to our happiness. There is the wax. In the soul is the seal, designed to impress it. There are the materials, upon which and with which the spirit is to operate. But no implements, even, are given it for its use. It must forge them, as it wants them. They are not found ready fashioned to the hand, as ornamental stones are, in the caverns and rock-rifts. They must be conceived by our skill, and completed by our labor. But the moment we begin, all is ready for our progress.--RICHARD S. STORRS.

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CONQUEST, COMMONPLACE

Even the conquest of the North Pole takes on an aspect of the commonplace, especially after many years of hard work. The New York Times quotes this entry from Peary’s journal:

The pole at last! The prize of three centuries, my dream and goal for twenty years, mine at last! I can not bring myself to realize it.

It all seems so simple and commonplace. As Bartlett said when turning back, when speaking of his being in these exclusive regions which no mortal had ever penetrated before:

“It is just like every day!”

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=Conquest, Peaceful=--See EMIGRATION, CONQUEST BY.

CONQUEST, SEVERE

Death Valley is the most barren part of the Great American Desert. More men have died in its arid wastes than on any other equal area of the world’s surface, barring the great battle-fields. It lies, a great sink in the sandy plain, about 250 miles north and east of Los Angeles, Cal., and within the boundaries of that State. The valley received its sinister name owing to the fact that in the early fifties a party of emigrants, some hundred and twenty in number, traveling overland by wagon from Salt Lake City, Utah, to Los Angeles, perished in its awful solitudes, barely a man escaping.

In the Wide World Magazine is given the story of a man who, alone and unaided, conquered Death Valley in the hottest month of the desert year. The tale of awful suffering endured by this man, H. W. Manton, of Rhyolite, Cal., is told for the first time in his own words.

For almost a week Manton was lost in the heart of Death Valley. In three days he tramped eighty miles over sands so hot that he could scarcely walk on them, tho shod with heavy shoes. During those never-ending days he had no food, and but one drink of water.

When he staggered up to Cub Lee’s Furnace Creek ranch, more dead than alive, his tongue was swollen to such a size that his mouth could no longer contain it. His lips and eyelids were cracked open; his clothing was in tatters, and his shoes were coated with a heavy incrustation of borax and other alkalines, which had eaten great holes in the leather.

At first he could not drink, and the touch of water was as fire to his parched lips and tongue. Kind-hearted ranchmen and miners forced the precious fluid into his mouth with a straw, with a spoon--any way to get him revived. And eventually he spoke, telling the strange story of his crossing the dread pit; of how he had wandered therein for many days, with no companions save the lizards and the snakes of the barren sands.--Boston Transcript.

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CONSCIENCE

There is an ingenious instrument used in testing the condition of railroads whereby every slight deviation in the width or levelness of the track, every defect of the rails, and even the quality of the steel and manufacture are registered.

Is not a well-instructed and carefully cultivated conscience just such a dynograph?

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* * * * *

“Conscience makes cowards of us all.” The following rather amusing incident well illustrates this hackneyed observation of Shakespeare:

On one of Landseer’s early visits to Scotland the great painter stopt at a village and took a great deal of notice of the dogs, jotting down rapidly sketches of them on a piece of paper. Next day, on resuming his journey, he was horrified to find dogs suspended from trees in all directions or drowning in the rivers, with stones around their necks. He stopt a weeping urchin, who was hurrying off with a pet pup in his arms, and learned to his dismay that he was supposed to be an excise officer who was taking notes of all the dogs he saw in order to prosecute the owners for unpaid taxes. (Text.)

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* * * * *

The religious ferment of the age made a tremendous impression on Bunyan’s sensitive imagination. He went to church occasionally, only to find himself wrapt in terrors and in torments by some fiery itinerant preacher; and he would rush violently away from church to forget his fears by joining in Sunday sports on the village green. As night came on the sports were forgotten, but the terrors returned, multiplied like the evil spirits of the parable. Visions of hell and the demons swarmed in his brain. He would groan aloud in his remorse, and even years afterward he bemoans the sins of his early life. When we look for them fearfully, expecting some shocking crimes and misdemeanors, we find that they consisted of playing ball on Sunday and swearing. The latter sin, sad to say, was begun by listening to his father cursing some obstinate kettle which refused to be tinkered, and it was perfected in the Parliamentary army. One day his terrible swearing scared a woman, “a very loose and ungodly wretch,” as he tells us, who reprimanded him for his profanity. The reproach of the poor woman went straight home, like the voice of a prophet. All his profanity left him; he hung down his head with shame. “I wished with all my heart,” he says, “that I might be a little child again, that my father might learn me to speak without this wicked way of swearing.” With characteristic vehemence Bunyan hurls himself upon a promise of Scripture, and instantly the reformation begins to work in his soul. He casts out the habit, root and branch, and finds to his astonishment that he can speak more freely and vigorously than before. Nothing is more characteristic of the man than this sudden seizing upon the text, which he had doubtless heard many times before, and being suddenly raised up or cast down by its influence.--WILLIAM J. LONG, “English Literature.”

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See EYE, THE SEARCHING; MISSIONARY ACCOMPLISHMENTS.

CONSCIENCE A LIGHT

The woodsman carries a box of safety matches protected against the rain and snow. In the arctic zone he knows that if he loses the match and the light he has lost life itself. Man can lose his health but not his conscience. But, if stumbling, the torch has fallen, and the light flamed low, snatch it up, and relight it, at the altars of God. So shall the light in thee wax into greater light, until conscience is a true pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, guiding thee into the summer land where man needs no light of the lamp, neither light of the sun.--N. D. HILLIS.

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CONSCIENCE A MONITOR

I remember when a boy my mother had a beautiful vase. I was charged not to touch it. My fingers, however, boy-like, itched to touch it. I frequently went around it, and peered behind it. I wondered if there might not be some painting on the bottom of it, as there was on the sides. In lifting ii up, one day, when I had grown bolder, it fell to the hearthstone and broke into a thousand pieces. I knew I had wounded the mother heart in that moment. She heard the crash and came in. I knew that I deserved punishment. But she only said, “My dear boy; do you see what you have done.” It was burned into my memory then what it cost to disobey law, and in all the sixty years that have elapsed since then, when I have looked upon the treasures of others, I have heard her voice saying to me, “Do you see what you have done?”--Bishop D. A. GOODSELL.

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CONSCIENCE A MORAL MENTOR

A writer speaks of a special form of the barometer, used generally by travelers, in which air supplies the place of mercury as a measuring medium. Speaking of its use, he says:

As the pressure of the outside air varies does it rise and fall, and by a beautifully delicate apparatus this rising and falling is magnified and represented upon the dial. Such barometers are made small enough to be carried in the pocket, and are very useful for measuring the heights of mountains; but they are not quite so accurate as the mercurial barometer, and are therefore not used for rigidly scientific measurements; but for all ordinary purposes they are accurate enough, provided they are occasionally compared with a standard mercurial barometer, and adjusted by means of the watch-key axis provided for that purpose, and seen on the back of the instrument. They are sufficiently delicate to tell the traveler in a railway whether he is ascending or descending an incline, and will indicate the difference of height between the upper and lower rooms of a three-story house. The unseen air in the aneroid is a mark of the rise or fall in altitude of the possessor of the instrument.

Conscience plays a like part in morals. It is always with us and always admonishes us of the varying moral altitudes to which we rise or fall.

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CONSCIENCE BENUMBED

One of the most astonishing things in prison life is said to be the deficiency of conscience in criminals. Scenes of heartrending despair are rarely witnessed among them. Their sleep is broken by no uneasy dreams; on the contrary, it is easy and sound: they have also excellent appetites. They have a sense of self-righteousness, and feel, on the whole, that they have been wronged. Recently the newspapers told us of the execution of a grave-digger upon the Continent, who had been convicted of four murders, five robberies, eight cases of incendiarism, and other crimes. When he was informed that he would be hanged early next morning, he said that he deserved his fate, but he assured his judge that worse fellows than he were running about the world.

To have no consciousness of sin, no proper consciousness of it, is no proof of our integrity; much more likely is it a proof that our conscience has become benumbed and indurated by years of worldliness and disobedience. (Text.)--W. L. WATKINSON, “The Transfigured Sackcloth.”

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CONSCIENCE, CHRISTIAN

The following is told of Mr. Frank Crossley, a great promoter and founder of London missionary work:

Mr. Crossley was conscience incarnate. While yet a poor apprentice he had got free admission to a theater through the connivance of a fellow workman who kept the door; but when, as a renewed man, conscience demanded reparation for this sort of robbery, he reckoned up the entrance fee he had evaded, and sent the theater company sixty pounds.--PIERSON, “The Miracles of Missions.”

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CONSCIENCE, TROUBLED

A quiet, bashful sort of a young fellow was making a call on a Capitol Hill girl one evening not so very long ago, when her father came into the parlor with his watch in his hand. It was about 9:30 o’clock. At the moment the young man was standing on a chair straightening a picture over the piano. The girl had asked him to fix it. As he turned, the old gentleman, a gruff, stout fellow, said:

“Young man, do you know what time it is?”

The bashful youth got off the chair nervously. “Yes, sir,” he replied. “I was just going.”

He went into the hall without any delay and took his hat and coat. The girl’s father followed him. As the caller reached for the doorknob, the old gentleman again asked him if he knew what time it was.

“Yes, sir,” was the youth’s reply. “Good-night!” And he left without waiting to put his coat on.

After the door had closed the old gentleman turned to the girl.

“What’s the matter with that fellow?” he asked. “My watch ran down this afternoon and I wanted him to tell me the time, so that I could set it.”--Denver Post.

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CONSCIOUSNESS

Is there any difference between the vibrations of sound on the tympanum of the ear and those on the surface of the water? Science does not seem to see a great difference, but Ruskin finds, in the differing effects, an illustration of the mystery of consciousness:

It is quite true that the tympanum of the ear vibrates under sound, and that the surface of the water in a ditch vibrates, too; but the ditch hears nothing for all that; and my hearing is still to me as blest a mystery as ever, and the interval between the ditch and me, quite as great. If the trembling sound in my ears was once of the marriage-bell which begun my happiness, and is now of the passing bell which ends it, the difference between those two sounds to me can not be counted by the number of concussions. There have been some curious speculations lately as to the conveyance of mental consciousness by “brain-waves.” What does it matter how it is conveyed? The consciousness itself is not a wave. It may be accompanied here or there by any quantity of quivers and shakes, up or down, of anything you can find in the universe that is shakeable--what is that to me? My friend is dead, and my--according to modern views--vibratory sorrow is not one whit less, or less mysterious, to me, than my old quiet one.

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CONSECRATION

A Chinese preacher, whose wages were twenty-two dollars a month, refused the offer of the post of consul at fifty dollars, that he might be free to preach the gospel to his countrymen. His countrymen said of him: “There is no difference between him and the Book.” (Text.)

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CONSEQUENCES

Mr. Justice Burroughs, of the Common Pleas, used to resort to the use of proverbs and parables in dealing with the juries. One day at nisi prius, much talk was made about a consequential issue in the case. He began to explain it to the jury thus: “Gentlemen of the jury, you have been told that the first is a consequential issue. Now, perhaps, you do not know what a consequential issue means; but I dare say you understand nine-pins. Well, then, if you deliver your bowl so as to strike the front pin in a particular direction, down go the rest. Just so it is with these counts. Knock down the first, and all the rest will go to the ground; that’s what we call a consequential issue. (Text.)--CROAKE JAMES, “Curiosities of Law and Lawyers.”

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CONSEQUENCES, IRREPARABLE

The doctrine of the following verse (unidentified) is quite doubtful. Is it not the hope of Christianity that men now broken by sin will yet, by God’s healing grace, soar even higher than ever?

I walked through the woodland meadows, Where sweet the thrushes sing; And I found on a bed of mosses A bird with a broken wing. I healed its wound, and each morning It sang its old sweet strain, But the bird with a broken pinion Never soared as high again.

I found a young life broken By sin’s seductive art; And touched with a Christlike pity I took him to my heart. He lived with a noble purpose, And struggled not in vain; But the life that sin had stricken Never soared as high again.

But the bird with a broken pinion Kept another from the snare; And the life that sin had stricken Raised another from despair. Each loss has its compensation, There is healing for every pain; But the bird with a broken pinion Never soars as high again. (Text.)

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CONSEQUENCES, UNNOTICED

A little girl in Kansas has recently given the telegraph companies a vast amount of trouble in a peculiar way. Her daily duty was to herd a large drove of cattle on a range through which passed the telegraph lines. For weeks, some hours nearly every day, these lines absolutely failed to work, and the trouble seemed to be in the vicinity of where this girl herded her father’s cattle; but it was a long time before they discovered the cause. Finally, they found out that in order to get a better view of the herd the girl had driven railroad-spikes into a telegraph-pole, and whenever she got weary watching the cattle from the ground she would climb the pole and seat herself on a board across the wires and watch her herd from that lofty station. Whenever the board happened to be damp it destroyed the electric current and cut off all telegraphic communication between Denver and Kansas City. (Text.)--LOUIS ALBERT BANKS.

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CONSERVATION

Under the iron law of conflict in the “survival of the fittest,” the world finds a shipwrecked brother in its path and removes him without ceremony and covers him with scorn and contempt. Christ reverses this iron law.

Formerly when a war vessel discovered a derelict, the latter was immediately destroyed by dynamite. The government has now entered upon a new policy. Whenever it is possible, the abandoned vessel is towed into the nearest port. Recently two abandoned schooners were brought in, the value of the vessels and their cargo being estimated at more than sixty thousand dollars.

When Jesus finds a human derelict He does not destroy him. He cleanses him and rehabilitates him, and makes him valuable in the kingdom. (Text.)

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* * * * *

Christian treatment of the Indian not only has improved his character, but has saved him from threatened extinction.

The idea is prevalent that the red man is doomed to disappear from the earth at no distant day. But the census tables give no such indication. The first official count was taken about seventy years ago, and gave the number as 253,461. In 1880 the figures had risen to 256,127, in 1900 to 272,073, and now (1909), by actual count, the reservations are found to contain 284,000.

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* * * * *

A bundle of wood is placed in our kitchen stove to kindle the fire. It is consumed. Its ashes represent what the tree took from the soil. Its carbon goes up the chimney, restoring to the air what some tree took from the air. Nothing was lost. The earth received again what it originally gave. To the air was restored its original contribution of carbonic acid gas, which the leaf manufactured into wood. And so God has made a universe of perennial youth, where nothing is lost nor can be lost.--E. M. MCGUFFEY.

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CONSERVATION OF INFLUENCE

Dr. F. F. Shannon, commenting on the early death of a talented man, says:

“Such a man dead at 40?” you ask. “Why, to what purpose is this waste?” Well, a man can make a match, but it takes God to make a sun. We know the match must go out, the sun never does, tho his shining face is often hidden from our eye. And so the sun of this man’s genius--of any man’s genius--can never go out. The flame is burning yet--in a few hearts still in the flesh, and in countless glorified spirits before the throne. There is not enough wind, loosed or unloosed, in the vast caverns of the universe to blow out that flame, nor enough blackness in the untenanted halls of space to swallow up its light! Do you tell me that the God who is so strict in the economy of His universe as to refuse a throb of energy to be lost, or an atom to be wiped out of existence, or a few pieces of bread to perish in the desert, will allow that genius, which is the breath of His own being, to be wasted without contributing wealth to the world, to the universe, to God Himself!

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CONSERVATION OF REMAINDERS

A man was in possession of a great farm. The abundant crops finally failed, and other calamities came, and at last the wife of the great landowner lost her reason. Nearly all had been lost, and the farmer was left with only a few feet of ground as his possession. I had not the courage to visit this man in his destitution. After a lapse of time, however, I went to his humble abode, and was amazed to see the little garden in the highest state of cultivation. And I exclaimed: “Why, how is this? How did you have the heart to do this, after you had lost all?”

“Why, what would you have had me do?” was the reply. “This is all I had, and I tried to make the best of it.”

So it is for us to strengthen that which is left in the Church and in ourselves as individuals.--OLIN A. CURTIS.

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CONSERVATISM, FALSE

There stands the false conservative, anchored to the past. Whatever is, for him, is right and good. He is constitutionally opposed to change. Wagon-wheels make a rut an inch deep across the prairie, but when this man is thirty he is in a rut up to his eyebrows. When he dies, at seventy, you can truly say, that his image is truth lying at the bottom of a well. He loves his father’s house because it is old; he loves old tools; old laws; old creeds. He stands at his gate, like an angry soldier, waving his hands and shouting warnings to all who approach. He has one injunction for every boy starting out to make his fortune: “Watch your anchor, my son; don’t cast off your moorings”; as if any Columbus, who spent all his time throwing out anchors, could ever have crossed the sea! As if any world voyage could be made by a captain who never dared cast off his moorings! In the Arabian tale, when the sheik was lost in the desert, he took off the bridle, and committed the camel to God and his own instincts, trusting the beast to find its way to the water springs. But if the old sheik had been a false conservative, he would first of all have staked the camel down by a lariat, and then committed himself to God, like these church dignitaries and councils that stake the religious or political thinker down by a lariat, which they then label in a humorous moment, “liberty of thought,” and having made progress impossible, they commit themselves to the care of the God of progress.--N. D. HILLIS.

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=Conservatism Natural=--See PROGRESS.

CONSIDERATENESS

This incident is from a source not identified:

A few days ago I was passing through a pretty, shady street, where some boys were playing at baseball. Among their number was a little lame fellow, seemingly about twelve years old--a pale, sickly-looking child, supported on two crutches, who evidently found much difficulty in walking, even with such assistance.

The lame boy wished to join the game, for he did not seem to see how his infirmity would be in his own way, and how much it would hinder the progress of such an active sport as baseball.

His companions, very good naturedly, tried to persuade him to stand at one side and let another take his place; and I was glad to notice that none of them hinted that he would be in the way, but that they all objected for fear he would hurt himself.

“Why, Jimmy,” said one of them at last, “you can’t run, you know.”

“Oh, hush!” said another--the tallest in the party; “never mind, I’ll run for him,” and he took his place by Jimmy’s side, prepared to act. “If you were like him,” he said, aside to the other boy, “you wouldn’t want to be told of it all the time.”

As I passed on I thought to myself, “That boy is a true gentleman.”

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See KINDNESS; SERVICE, INTERESTED.

=Consideration for Others=--See OTHERS, CONSIDERATION FOR.

=Consideration for Weakness=--See WEAKNESS, CONSIDERATION FOR.

CONSISTENCY

Those who walk with God are sure to exercise a powerful effect, conscious or unconscious, upon their worldly friends and neighbors. It is said of certain of the apostles that those who watched them “took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.”

A certain mill-owner was an infidel. He ran his mill seven days in the week, yet on Sundays he stopt it for a short time in the morning and again at noon. At length some one ventured to ask him why he acted thus. His reply was, “It is because I know that Deacon B. will pass at a certain time on his way to church, and again on his way back. I do not mind the rest of you, for you do not properly live what you profess, but I tell you I do mind him, and to run my mill while he is passing would make me feel bad here”--putting his hand upon his heart.

Theosophy in its mystic theories includes the concept that the spirit within each individual forms a visible aura or halo around him, which can be seen by many who possess the faculty of discernment. The spirit of a true Christian is apprehended by those about him far more accurately than might be imagined. For the spirit inevitably impels the actions of the life.

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CONSTITUTION IN OBSCURITY

A schoolboy in Brooklyn was asked: “What is the Constitution of the United States?” He replied: “It is that part in small print in the back of the book that nobody reads.”

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=Constraint=--See ACQUIESCENCE TO PROVIDENCE.

=Consumption=--See TUBERCULOSIS.

=Consumption and Vocal Exercises=--See SINGING CONDUCIVE TO HEALTH.

CONTACT

If one’s heart be charged with sympathy, he will convey it by his handshaking, as if he carried with him this ingenious toy:

An “electric handshaker” to shock unsuspecting friends, has been devised by a man in Paterson, N. J. The specification of the patent that he has secured reads, according to The Western Electrician: “It is intended that the cell or battery and coil be concealed in the inside breast pocket or other convenient hiding-place on the person intending to operate the toy. The two wires are to be run down the sleeve of the operator and the ring slipt on one of his fingers, the two contact buttons being turned toward the palm of the hand. If now, the circuit through the induction-coil and battery being closed, the operator shakes hands or otherwise brings the two buttons on the ring into contact with another person, this person receives a most surprizing and effective electric shock. Owing to the small size and the ingenious method of concealing the apparatus, the recipient of the shock does not at once discover the source of the discharge, and the toy is productive of much amusement.” (Text.)

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See SYMPATHY.

=Contact with the Blind=--See BLINDNESS AND CONTACT.

=Contagion=--See POST-MORTEM CONSEQUENCES.

=Contagion of Evil=--See EVIL, VIRULENCY OF.

CONTAMINATION

A party of young people were about to explore a coal-mine. One of the young ladies appeared drest in white. A friend remonstrated with her. Not liking the interference, she turned to the old miner, who was to conduct them, and said:

“Can’t I wear a white dress down in the mine?”

“Yes, mum,” was his reply. “There is nothing to hinder you from wearing a white frock down there, but there’ll be considerable to keep you from wearing one back.”

There is nothing to hinder a Christian from conforming to the world’s standard of living, but there is a good deal to keep him from being unspotted if he does. Christians were put into the atmosphere of this world to purify it, and not to be poisoned by it.

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* * * * *

Mr. Hilditch, of the Sheffield Laboratory of Bacteriology and Hygiene, Yale University, has demonstrated that the average number of bacteria in each of twenty-one bills was 142,000, while by far the most common forms present were the varieties of the pyogenic staphylococcus. These organisms were not in possession of their full virulence, but merely produced a more or less local reaction, on guinea-pig injection, with swelling of the lymph glands of the groin. Their constant presence on money is certainly of greater significance than merely indicating the exposure to the bacterial contamination of the air; they clearly indicate that the money has been contaminated by handling and without regard to the virulence or the danger of infection to which these particular organisms themselves expose those who receive the money, they establish beyond question the most fundamental and significant fact for scientific demonstration, viz., that money is a medium of bacterial communication from one individual to another.--The Popular Science Monthly.

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CONTAMINATION, DEATH FROM

For the soldier in the far-away Philippines, death lurks in many places. Perhaps it is the enemy in the open, or the shot from the thicket, or the assassin’s knife in the dark. These are not the deadliest foes, however. The cholera is everywhere. Man can guard against the one, but he falls a victim to the other. Not long since a certain constabulary officer had met the enemy and defeated them. Before he reached camp on the return march, however, disease laid hold upon him for its own. Ere he reached the camp he was dead. In trying to explain that sudden demise, a companion of the march said:

When we stopt at shacks on the roadside and asked for water it was furnished us in a coconut shell with the native’s thumb dipt in and the water so muddy one could not see the bottom, but down it went with some jest about a cool death.

The thumb of the native, dipt in the shell of water, brought death to the drinker. There is another sort of cup in which lurks the serpent of death--the wine cup.

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=Contempt of Patriotism=--See MEMORIALS OF PATRIOTISM.

CONTENT

Robert Trowbridge wrote for Scribner’s Magazine the following verse:

My neighbor hath a little field, Small store of wine its presses yield, And truly but a slender hoard Its harvest brings for barn or board. Yet tho a hundred fields are mine, Fertile with olive, corn, and vine; Tho autumn piles my garners high, Still for that little field I sigh, For, ah! methinks no other where Is any field so good and fair. Small tho it be, ’tis better far Than all my fruitful vineyards are, Amid whose plenty sad I pine-- “Ah, would that little field were mine!”

Large knowledge void of peace and rest, And wealth with pining care possest-- These by my fertile lands are meant. That little field is called Content.

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CONTENTMENT

There is a story of an old woman who was very uncomfortable in her temper. She was always fretting and worrying and complaining. Nothing ever went right with her, and everybody was tired of her continual crossness and grumbling.

At last, late in her life, there came a change over her, and this cross, crabbed old woman grew gentle, patient and amiable. She was so altered from her former self that one of her neighbors took courage to ask her how it was that she, who had always found life so full of prickles, now seemed to touch the smooth and pleasant side of everything.

“Well,” said she, “I’ll tell you how it is. I’ve been all my life a-struggling and a-striving for a contented mind, and now I’ve made up my mind to sit down contented without it.”

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See OPTIMISM.

=Contentment More than Raiment=--See CHARACTER MORE THAN CLOTHING.

=Contest, Made for=--See BODY, MASTERING THE.

=Contingency=--See COMMON PROBLEM, THE.

=Continuity of Life=--See LIFE, CONTINUED.

=Contraband Traffic=--See EVIDENCE, PROVIDENTIAL.

=Contraction of Stomach=--See ADAPTATION.

=Contrariness=--See DOURNESS.

CONTRAST NECESSARY TO INTEREST

In nature as well as in poetry the sense of beauty is stimulated by contrast. If all women were pretty, how soon we should cease to admire lovely eyes and fair complexions and the thousand charms which make women in their weakness stronger than men are in their strength; if all men were handsome fine features would be disregarded. In climates which have months of perpetual drought and heat, the blue sky becomes hateful, and the sun, instead of being the best of friends, as in temperate lands, is regarded as an enemy. An Englishman finds cloudy days depressing because they are so frequent in his own land; his brothers in tropical lands welcome them because they are so few. In animal life, too, the same rule holds good, and I question if we should admire the exquisite shape of a gazelle or of a well-bred horse, and the superb plumage of the peacock and the secretary-bird, were it not for the contrast afforded by the rhinoceros, the hippopotamus, and the vulture.--Illustrated London News.

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=Contrasted Careers=--See CAREERS CONTRASTED.

=Contrasts, Shameful=--See EXTRAVAGANCE, CENSURABLE.

CONTROL, DIVINE

The late Prof. Henry Drummond was staying at the house of a friend whose coachman had imperiled his career more than once by drunkenness. “Do try and speak to him about it,” said the lady to Professor Drummond. Driving to the station, Professor Drummond sat beside the coachman. The carriage narrowly escaped collision through the carelessness of another driver. “Didn’t I manage that well?” said the coachman to Professor Drummond. “You did, indeed. How was it?” “Because,” said the coachman, “I understand the horses’ mouths exactly and they obey my slightest guidance.” Drummond seized the opportunity immediately. “I have only a minute,” he said, “but let me ask, Why don’t you throw the reins of your life to God, who understands your mouth and is ready and willing to guide you?” The word went home to the coachman’s heart. (Text.)

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CONTROL OF CIRCUMSTANCES

The time has not yet come when man may plow the atmosphere for rain as he plows the soil for crops. If mines must be worked and towns built in arid regions, let promoters of these schemes be required to build aqueducts and bore wells sufficient in advance to supply the needed water, not waiting until droughts come and the people die. Every place on this globe has its rainy years and its dry years. Areas of cold and heat, wind and calm, rain and drought, appear and move and disappear in irregular succession. We must prepare for them and provide against disaster. We can not control the weather, but we may control ourselves.

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CONVERSION

Rev. J. Hawksley, a missionary among the Indians of the Klondyke, was one evening holding a service and using a magic lantern. He threw upon the screen a picture of Christ cleansing the temple. An inveterate gambler in the audience was so imprest with the attitude of Christ that the words in explanation went straight to his heart. “If Christ was so angry at those who did such things in His earthly temple, I am sure He would never let such a sinner as I am come into His holy temple above. I will give up my gambling and ask His pardon.” And the man kept his word.

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* * * * *

That man steeped in iniquity can be won back by the grace of Christ to a life of decency and service is one of the marvels of the world.

Luther Burbank, the well-known botanist, finds in nature this renewing and generating quality. He can take a tree that shows distinct evidence of decay, that looks as if it were beyond recovery, and treat it, and treat it again, until he rescues it from its bad habits of many years’ standing. He directs its energies so that they flow in new channels and, as “if by the shock of recreation,” what was once blighted and blasted becomes beautiful, fragrant and fruitful. (Text.)

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* * * * *

In 1855 some Hebrew Christians met in New York to observe the Passover. The meal being over, one after the other rose to testify to faith and love in Christ. One man sat with head dropt between his hands, then sobs shook his body, and those around saw that a mighty conflict was in progress in his soul. Suddenly he leapt to his feet and cried, “I will no longer deny my Lord! I will follow Him outside the camp.” God took that Polish Jew--for it was Bishop Schereschewsky--and through him gave the Mandarin Bible to the vast empire of China. The Passover had become the Supper of the Lord.

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* * * * *

Like a ship becalmed in tropic seas, whose sails hang useless in the breathless air, whose sailors wearily, idly wander about the decks or lean listlessly over the bulwarks looking into the waveless, torpid sea, and over which the heavy gloom of despair and hopeless waiting hangs like a stifling air, so is many a soul arrested in the voyage of life. Its energies are like the useless sails, its thoughts like the listless sailors, the whole spirit of its life like the dull, weary scene of the idly drifting ship. And when at length the welcome wind comes rippling the sea’s dead calm, filling the drooping sails, lifting the ship onward in its course, what music in the rustle of its coming! what joy in the new force it brings to the forceless ship! what animation of life, revival of hope, fleeing of all the dull, dreary spirits which haunted the scene a moment before! So is a soul who has lived with no great, good purpose which gave progress, importance, and interest to life, when at length it seizes on the great Christian purpose of living unto God. (Text.)--W. R. BROOKS, Baptist Examiner.

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See CREATURE, A NEW.

CONVERSION AND A BUTTON

In the life of Charles G. Finney there is an account of the conversion of a prominent merchant. He went to hear Mr. Finney preach and was powerfully affected. Mr. Arthur Tappan, the eminent merchant, sat near him and noticed his agitation. In telling his experience afterward he said that as he arose to go, Mr. Tappan stept up and took him gently by the button of his coat and asked him to stay for prayer and conversation. He tried to excuse himself, but Mr. Tappan held on till he finally yielded. He said afterward, “He held fast to my button, so that an ounce weight at my button was the means of saving my soul.”

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=Conversion, Evidence of=--See FAMILY RELIGION.

CONVERSION, GENUINE

The convert is known by his fruits. Conduct, conversation, and character, are the infallible tests of a personality transformed within.

In a large iron factory one of the worst men in the place was converted. He had been a man of terrible temper, and could scarcely speak without swearing and blaspheming against God. After his conversion his comrades waited for his temper to break out as before, and to hear him give utterance to a string of oaths. But nothing of the sort occurred. So they prepared a trap for him, which they felt sure would cause his downfall. They heated a long bar of iron and tempered it so that it would look as tho it were cold. Then they laid it on the floor when he was absent, and waited for him to come in and pick it up. Presently he returned, and, stooping over, grasped the hot iron with both hands. His comrades now expected an explosion, for there was a badly blistered strip of flesh on each hand. But the man simply turned round and said quietly, “Men, I didn’t think you would do that.”

At these words, so different from what they expected, tears ran down the cheeks of those strong men; a revival broke out then and there, and many of those ironworkers found salvation, because that man had not lost his temper, but had shown the reality of his transformation.

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CONVERSION, NOT UNNATURAL

Why should people balk at conversion as if it was something foreign to the universe? The fact is that there is not a moment of time when the process ceases. Dr. W. L. Watkinson calls attention to it in this way:

You come away from your house leaving your inkpot with the sun shining upon it. You go back. Where is your ink? Why, if you look up into the sky to-morrow you will see it in the rainbow! Nature is absolutely full of cleansings, of refinements, of marvelous chemistries, upliftings, transformations, transmutations, transfigurations! And do you mean to tell me that in a world where you see every day the miracle of renewal, the miracle of transfiguration--do you mean to tell me that the only thing in it that can not be changed is the human soul, that which it is most desirable to change? (Text.)

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CONVERSION, SINCERE

Mr. C. T. Studd, a missionary to China, tells the following:

A white-haired old Chinaman, over fifty years of age, an old opium-smoker, came to us, and having learned of Jesus Christ, was converted, went home and took down his idols. The elders of the village came to him for a subscription to their heathen temples. “I now worship the true God and can not henceforth pay any money for idol worship,” said the old man. When his reply was known, his village and a neighboring village took counsel and decided that they would kill him. One day, as the old man sat in his chair, a mob surrounded his home yelling and cursing. He sat quietly praying. One of the six men who stood at the door ready to kill him shouted, “Now, old man, you come out.”

“No,” he replied quietly, “if you want me out, you must come and pull me out.”

A dispute arose among the representatives of the villages as to which should have precedence in this act of religious zeal, and the contention waged so high that neither one dared to kill the gray-haired old man. They dispersed to their homes, and after living peacefully a while longer, the old Christian passed quietly to his heavenly home in 1895.

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CONVERTED BY THE COMET

The first conversion to Christianity by Halley’s comet was recorded to-day. As far as the available records show, this is the comet’s first convert.

At 4:30 o’clock yesterday morning a number of people who had shortened their matutinal slumbers to watch the great sidereal visitor from the roof of a Fourth Avenue apartment house were startled by a loud cry from one of their party. The man, a professional skeptic, was standing with arms outstretched to the heavens, weeping profusely.

“This convinces me that there is a God,” he said to his friends. “Hereafter I shall always live as a Christian. These stars could not be unless there is a God.”

The profound impression created on the man by the spectacle had not worn off to-day, and he assured his friends he meant to attend church regularly hereafter and to conduct himself as a Godfearing man should.

“I had never seen the heavens as I did then,” he declared this morning. “I did not realize what a wonderful world it is.”

The man’s name is withheld in order to save him from what his friends say would be embarrassing publicity. His agnostic beliefs have long been the despair of his well-wishers, who are elated over his curious conversion.--Brooklyn Eagle. (May, 1910.)

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=Converts in Heathendom=--See NATIVE CONVERTS.

=Convict, A=--See DEAD THO ALIVE.

CONVICT LABOR

Last summer about forty per cent of the Colorado convicts were put to work outside their prison walls. A thousand were employed exclusively in road-building. The cost for each prisoner employed was thirty-six cents a day and the counties where the roads were built paid this amount, less the amount the State would have to pay to maintain them in the prison. The day’s work was eight hours, and for each month’s service there was a substantial subtraction from the term of imprisonment. No chains were attached, no stripes were worn and there was no armed guard to patrol the work camps; yet less than one-half of one per cent of those thus employed were lost by escapes.

The success of the method may be due largely to the tact and judgment of the warden. The road work is said to be the desire of every prisoner, but he must earn the privilege by good conduct. The warden personally has a talk with each prisoner before assigning him to this service and receives his pledge that he will be true and faithful to his trust. “The best effect of this,” he says, “is that every man who goes from prison to road work and keeps his word with me, has taken a long step toward reformation.”

This seems to be one of the best solutions of the two problems, how to get good roads and employ the inmates of our penal institutions in healthful labor, under conditions that appeal to their manliness and better nature. Of course, this method must be discriminatingly applied, but the proof that it is workable is a valuable contribution to penology.--Boston Transcript.

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CONVICTION

Alexander McLaren says:

I once heard that if you take a bit of phosphorus and put it upon a slip of wood and ignite the phosphorus, bright as the blaze is, there drops from it a white ash that coats the wood, and makes it almost impossible to kindle the wood. And so, when the flaming conviction laid upon your heart has burnt itself out, it has coated the heart, and it will be very difficult to kindle the light there again.

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=Conviction as a Foundation=--See HUMAN NATURE, INSECURITY OF.

CONVICTION THROUGH A MONKEY

The Boston Herald is the authority for this story from Baton Rouge, La.:

Because their conviction for murder was based almost entirely on the animosity displayed against them by a trained monkey, Christopher Starr and his wife, Mamie, circus performers, are serving life sentences in State prison.

A movement has been started to obtain a new trial for them. During the circus season, James Ackerman, proprietor of a one-ring circus, was murdered while his show was playing at Devall’s Landing, La.

Mr. and Mrs. Starr, who had had a troupe of trained animals with the show, were arrested soon afterward, but there was little evidence against them, and they would have been released but for the actions of Scamp, a pet Himalayan ape, belonging to Mr. Ackerman.

Ackerman had been feeding the ape when he was slain, and when the animal, which was the only living witness of the crime, saw Starr, he flew into a terrible rage.

This action was repeated whenever Starr appeared, despite the fact that he formerly had been a friend of Scamp, and it was repeated when Mrs. Starr was seen.

The monkey’s actions caused husband and wife to be indicted, and when placed on trial the monkey was brought into court, and so imprest the jury that, altho the evidence was not over-strong, they were found guilty.

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CONVICTION, UNYIELDING

Lord Lyndhurst told a curious anecdote about a trial of a civil cause in which the jury would not agree on their verdict. They retired on the evening of one day, and remained till one o’clock the next afternoon, when, being still disagreed, a juror was drawn. There was only one juror who held out against the rest--Mr. Berkeley (M.P. for Bristol). The case was tried over again, and the jury were unanimously of Mr. Berkeley’s opinion, which was, in fact, right--a piece of conscientious obstinacy which prevented the legal commission of a wrong. (Text.)--GREVILLE’S “Memoirs.”

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=Convictions, Lack of=--See INCERTITUDE.

CONVICTIONS, STRONG

Many years ago in the city of New York there was an organized set of dishonest men known as the Tweed Ring. They stole $51,000,000 from the State and city, and everybody knew it. When they told Tweed that he was under arrest, he dared to say, “Well, what are you going to do about it?” There was a merchant in New York named William Sloane. They put him on the Grand Jury. Because of his large business interests and the tremendous demands upon his time, he said, “I can not serve.” But earnest men said, “Here is the bulwark of sin and here is the need of righteousness.” Immediately he said, “I will serve.” Now, certain men on the jury had been bought up by Tweed. One man in particular stood out. For twenty-three hours that jury sat in council. They could not come to an agreement; this one man would not yield. Finally, Mr. Sloane put his hand on this man’s shoulder and said: “Do you know, sir, that the people whom we represent know the character of this man on trial? They know that we have explicit, convincing evidence against him. And do you know that I will stay here until I die before I will go out and say that this jury does not agree?” The man yielded, Tweed was convicted, sentenced and committed to jail.

There has never been a time in the history of our own land or in the history of Christendom when men standing for righteousness and truth have not accomplished something. It may sometimes mean their death. (Text.)

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=Convictions versus Cash=--See RESPONSIBILITY AFFECTS JUDGMENT.

=Cooking, The Art of=--See WASTE, THE PROBLEM OF.

COOLNESS

During the battle of Waterloo the Duke of Wellington appeared frequently among his men. Sergeant Cotton, in his book “A Voice from Waterloo,” says:

Whenever the Duke came, which at this momentous period was often, there was a low whisper in the ranks “Here’s the Duke!” and all was steady as on parade. No matter what the havoc and destruction might be, the Duke was always the coolest man there; in the words of an eye-witness of this bloody scene, the Duke was coolness personified.

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COOLNESS IN DANGER

Michael Henry Ryan, able seaman on the liner Philadelphia, would rather drown than be rescued by means of a rope which had a poorly tied sailor’s knot in it. Ryan proved this by risking his life in mid-Atlantic waves until he could retie the knot.

The rescue in itself was one of the most remarkable in the history of the American line. The captain from the bridge saw Ryan go over the side. It was too rough to launch a boat and the liner was stopt almost in its own length and sent astern so that it drifted down upon the struggling seaman. A line was lowered.

When Ryan caught the rope he examined the knot. The sea was smashing him against the side of the ship.

“Who tied this knot?” he called out to the men on deck. And then he calmly untied the knot and retied it in his own way. All the while he gave his opinion of the lubbers on deck and their inability to tie a knot. Then he put the loop under his arms and called out to those above to haul him up.--Chicago Tribune.

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=Cooperation=--See HELP ONE ANOTHER; WORKING TOGETHER; WORLD IMPROVING.

=Cooperation, Divine=--See FAITH IN GOD; GROWTH, CAUSE OF.

COOPERATION, LACK OF

An old Norse legend tells of a departed spirit meeting his guardian angel in the other world, and commiserating him upon his forlorn and haggard looks, only to receive the reproving reply: “No wonder I am worn out. All your life I have been fighting in your behalf, and I never got a bit of assistance from you.” (Text.)

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COOPERATION WITH GOD

The farmer drops a seed into the ground and goes away and leaves it. It sprouts and grows, and by and by he reaps the harvest of the sowing, and he says, “I have harvested, I have raised so many bushels of corn to the acre.” Oh, no, he has not. He has sown so many seeds, he has cultivated so many acres, he has put in his sickle or his harvesting machine, and he has gathered so many stalks. But he could not have done it if some forces of nature had not been at work perfecting that which he began. He and nature, as we say--he and God, as I say--have worked together to raise the harvest. (Text.)--LYMAN ABBOTT.

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See GRATITUDE.

COPYING VAIN

It would never make an arithmetician of a boy at school if he merely copied the solution of arithmetic problems from his neighbor’s slate or paper, even tho the solutions thus copied should be the correct ones. To become an arithmetician the boy must himself learn to solve problems; and this means that he must understand thoroughly every step in the process of solution. The process must go through him, or through his intelligence, as well as that he must go through the process. He must know what he is aiming at, and why it is that he adds, subtracts, multiplies, and divides, every time that he does any of these. Merely to put down figures on his paper, even should they be the right figures by chance, unless he understands the why and the when, would do him no good whatsoever. And it would not make the matter one whit better if he imagined the schoolmaster would be pleased with seeing him put down right figures without understanding what he was doing, or why he was doing it. The whole would only show that he was far back in intelligence, and would hardly ever become an arithmetician. We can not become truly religious either by being mere copiers of the religion of others, or by fetish worship.--ALEXANDER MILLER, “Heaven and Hell Here.”

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=Cordiality=--See HOSPITALITY IN CHURCH.

CORN VERSUS GOLD

Drop a grain of California gold into the ground, and there it will lie unchanged to the end of time, the clods on which it falls not more cold and lifeless. Drop a grain of our gold, of our blest gold, into the ground, and lo! a mystery. In a few days it softens, it swells, it shoots upward, it is a living thing. It is yellow itself, but it sends up a delicate spire, which comes peeping, emerald green, through the soil; it expands to a vigorous stalk; revels in the air and sunshine; arrays itself, more glorious than Solomon, in its broad, fluttering, leafy robes, whose sound, as the west wind whispers through them, falls as pleasantly on the husbandman’s ear as the rustle of his sweetheart’s garment; still towers aloft, spins its verdant skeins of vegetable floss, displays its dancing tassels, surcharged with fertilizing dust, and at last ripens into two or three magnificent batons like this [an ear of Indian corn], each of which is studded with hundreds of grains of gold, every one possessing the same wonderful properties as the parent grain, every one instinct with the same marvelous reproductive powers. There are seven hundred and twenty grains on the ear which I hold in my hand. I presume there were two or three such ears on the stalk. This would give us one thousand four hundred and forty, perhaps two thousand one hundred and sixty grains as the product of one. They would yield next season, if they were all successfully planted, four thousand two hundred, perhaps six thousand three hundred ears. Who does not see that, with this stupendous progression, the produce of one grain in a few years might feed all mankind? And yet with this visible creation annually springing and ripening around us, there are men who doubt, who deny the existence of God. Gold from the Sacramento River, sir! There is a sacrament in this ear of corn enough to bring an atheist to his knees.--EDWARD EVERETT.

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CORRUPTION, INNER

Athenian society decayed at last, not at all because its artists had reached the limit of human invention, or its philosophers the necessary term of human thought, but because the moral faculties and tastes which should have presided in that society were not developed in proportion to the esthetic and intellectual powers which added to its ornament. It was outwardly like the statue of Minerva in the Parthenon, of costly ivory, overlaid with gold; but it was wood within; and the wood rotted; that is all that can be said of it. Then the cunning of the ivory, and the splendor of the gold, fell and were broken, and the nations gathered the shining fragments.--RICHARD S. STORRS.

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COSMOLOGY, PRIMITIVE

Knowing nothing of the planetary system, early man had to account in his own way for the apparent fixity of the earth, and as the Greeks invented the giant Atlas, the Hindus contrived a huge turtle to bear the world upon its patient back. What sustained the giant or the monster, the ancient mind inquired not. To make everything out of anything and believe with implicit faith in his own creations was the happy faculty of early man, not entirely fallen from possession in these days of all-questioning. The first Egyptians knew that the heavens and the earth were formed by the breaking of the cosmic egg, an idea suggested by the resemblance of the skies to the half of an eggshell. That is as poetic and more agreeable than the Norse idea of a giant dashed to pieces to make earth, water, and starry firmament. The Mexican legend as to the creation of man resembles the Hebraic, clay and the breath of life admitted. But the North American Indians explain the mixt nature of man by declaring that the daughter of the Great Spirit, living in the wigwam, Mount Shasta, stole forth one day, was seized by a patriarchal grizzly, who took her home and wedded her to his son. Man was the result of this union. As a punishment for the sacrilege in contaminating the race of the Great Spirit, grizzlies were deprived the power of speech and made to wander ever after on all fours.--Chicago Inter-Ocean.

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=Cosmopolitanism=--See AMERICANISM, TRUE.

=Cosmopolitanism in Education=--See EDUCATION BY TRAVEL.

=Cost of Disease=--See HEALTH AND SCIENCE.

COST RECKONED

When your child throws away a piece of bread, make him pick it up again and tell him the history of that piece of bread. Tell him what has been requisite that that bread might exist. Tell him of the toils of the plowman and of the sower, under the sky, inclement and changeful; the obscure bursting of the seed in the ground, the long sleep under the snow, the awakening in the spring, when the green life along the furrows makes its orisons to the sun, source of life. Describe the hope of the farmer when the corn puts forth its ears, and his anguish when the storm rises on the horizon. Do not forget the harvester who wields his scythe in the dog-day heat, and that poor prisoner of the cities, pledged to nocturnal toil in overheated cellars, the baker. (Text.)--CHARLES WAGNER, “The Gospel of Life.”

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COST, THE

In the Newark, N. J., public library is a statue of Benjamin Franklin carved in Carrara marble. It embodies an incident in his life. When a lad he bought a whistle from a playmate, giving all the coppers he possest for it. He whistled all over the house, until his brothers and sisters told him he had paid too much for the whistle, laughing at him until he cried from mortification and chagrin.

Franklin was not the first nor the last to pay too much for the whistle. Music is not the only thing that may come at too high a price.

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COUNTENANCE, GRACE IN THE

The face of the veteran missionary, John G. Paton, was itself an inspiration to the beholder and a revelation to the triumphs of the grace of God in the man. Once when Principal Story was introducing him to an audience, he casually remarked that much of Doctor Paton’s life had been spent among savages and cannibals, and many a time he had been in danger of being killed and eaten, but had escaped unscathed. “But,” added Principal Story, “I do not wonder, for had I been one of those cannibals, one look at that benignant face would have been enough to make me a vegetarian for the rest of my days.” (Text.)

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=Counterfeiters=--See CRIMINALS, TRACING.

COUNTRY ADVANTAGES

Only forty-seven per cent of our population of working age reside in the country districts; they furnish fifty-seven per cent of our successful men, while the cities, with twenty per cent of the population, furnish seventeen per cent.

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COUNTRY, A NEW

A Chinese lived in Yokohama some twelve years ago. He was a house-painter by occupation, and went about wearing a very much bedaubed suit of clothes, caked here and there with white and green and yellow. He was a Christian and attended church regularly. When the leader said, “Let any one pray who will,” John never failed to take part. The gladness of his soul spoke itself forth in a kind of Cantonned Japanese, the full meaning of which was known to himself and God only. When the Shinasan (Mr. Chinaman) prayed, many a face in the room became wreathed in smiles, and sometimes a hand was necessary over the mouth to help hold the hearer steady. John paid no attention; he cared not who laughed at his prayers, he was happy, God had forgiven him; and tho a Chinese, he said good-by to the world, and cut his cue off. One day a Korean friend met him and said, “Honorable sir from the great country, where is your cue?” “Cue? Cue belong no good, makee cut off.” “But you will not dare to go home, you have lost your country.” “Maskee country,” said John; “my country belong Htien-kuoa, Htien-kuoa” (“heaven, heaven”), pointing upward.--JAMES S. GALE, “Korea in Transition.”

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=Country Church=--See CHURCH, THE COUNTRY.

COUNTRY, LONGING FOR THE

If out beyond the city’s farthest edge There were no roads that led through sleepy towns, No winds to blow through any thorny hedge, No pathways over hazel-tufted downs, I might not, when the day begins, be sad Because I toil among the money-mad.

If out beyond the distant hill there lay No valley graced by any winding stream, And if no slim, white steeples far away Might mark the spots where drowsy hamlets dream, I could, perhaps, at midday be content Where striving millions at their tasks are bent.

If far away from noise and strife and care There were no buds to swell on waiting trees, No mating birds to spill upon the air The liquid sweetness of their melodies I might, at sunset be serene and proud Because a few had seen me in the crowd.

--The Chicago Record-Herald.

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=Country, Love of=--See FIDELITY; HOME WHERE THE HEART IS.

=Country, Serving One’s=--See SEEKING SERVICE.

COURAGE

When a soldier ran crying to Pelopidas, “We are fallen among the enemies, and are lost!” “How are we fallen among them any more than they among us?” replied the undaunted spirit. And when the soldiers of Marius complained of thirst, being encamped where there was no water, he pointed to a river running close to the enemy’s trenches, and bade them take the drink which valor could give them in that direction.--JAMES T. FIELDS.

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* * * * *

“Evils faced are half-conquered.” Such seems to be the purport of this poem by John Finley:

I’d have the driving rain upon my face-- Not pelting its blunt arrows on my back, Goading with blame along its ruthless track, But flinging me defiance in the race.

And I would go at such an eager gait That whatsoe’er may fall from heaven of wo Shall not pursue me as some coward foe, But challenge me--that I may face my fate.

(Text.)--Harper’s Magazine.

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* * * * *

I have walked on the Mount of Gladness, I have wept in the Vale of Tears, And my feet have stumbled ofttimes as I trod through the path of the years; Yet my heart has ever lifted its song of thankful praise To the God of all eternity, who has kept me in my ways, Tho alone I tread the wine-press, or kneel in Gethsemane, I know He has never forsaken, and that He leadeth me. Tho I “walk through the Valley of Shadow,” my soul shall not be dismayed, For my God is the God of the fathers, the God of the unafraid!

--Northwestern Christian Advocate.

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* * * * *

It is easy to be courageous when backed by the crowd. It is different when one stands alone against the crowd.

At the beginning of the eighteenth century Professor Simson, of Glasgow, was on trial in the General Assembly for dangerous heresy. He was convicted, and suspended from preaching and teaching. There were some who thought the sentence inadequate. Boston, of Ettrick, was one of them. He was a shy man. But no one else offering to rise, he rose, overcoming his timidity, to enter his dissent against the inadequate condemnation of Simson--to enter his dissent in his own name and in the names of all who would adhere to him, adding, amid solemn silence on the part of the assembly, “And for myself if nobody shall adhere.”

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See ACHIEVEMENT; FITNESS.

=Courage, Calm=--See FAITHFULNESS.

COURAGE, CHRISTIAN

During the Boxer rebellion the railroad tracks laid by the Russians in Manchuria were torn up, and the Russian troops were sent on an expedition to punish the Chinese insurgents. The Russians marched from city to city destroying and looting, meeting with practically no resistance. But at one place something unexpected happened, as told by Mr. H. J. Whigham in V.C. (London):

The Russians marched up to the gates and were just about to enter when the Boxers opened fire upon them. The army was withdrawn, the batteries were got out, and the general was just going to smash up the city when the Scotch missionary, Doctor Westwater (acting as interpreter) approached him and asked for a moment’s truce.

“I undertake,” he said, “to enter the city and to induce it to surrender without a shot being fired on one condition.”

“Which is?”

“That there shall be no destruction and no looting; none whatever.”

The general yielded, and mounting his pony, Doctor Westwater rode forward to the city alone.

Now, when you consider that the city was full of Boxers, you will realize that it was a pretty considerable act of courage for a minister, of all men, to ride unarmed through those seething streets. This was what Westwater did. The city was a roaring hive of armed Boxers, muskets peeping from roof and window, and the streets ringing with the noise of arms. At the missionary quarters Doctor Westwater was fortunate enough to find a Christian convert, who conducted him to a place where the merchant gild were holding a sort of cabinet council.

Westwater explained matters, appealed to the citizens to avoid bloodshed, and pledged his word that neither destruction nor looting should mark the Russian occupation of their city. The appeal was successful, and he rode quietly back to the Russian general.

The general was an awful brute, as bad as he could be, but Westwater’s action seemed to impress him, and his orders were very exact. During his occupation of the city there was no single instance of crime. Westwater’s gallant action, too, imprest even the Boxers. They named him the savior of the town, and when, some months later, he took his departure for home, he was made the honored guest of extraordinary banquets, and was accompanied to the railway station by all the grateful citizens, half of them waving flags and half of them banging musical instruments.

(601)

See TROUBLE BRAVELY MET.

COURAGE CONTAGIOUS

Charles Wagner, in “The Gospel of Life,” says:

You are struggling with difficulties, your look is troubled and your good will as well. One of those painful moments of strife and discouragement, when man is no longer anything but the shadow of himself, is passing over. In these circumstances a newspaper falls into your hands. In it you read that, on such and such a day, in the heart of Africa, surprized by an ambuscade, surrounded by enemies in superior numbers, an officer, who does not speak your language and who is not fighting for your cause, has kept calm; that, the better to show his tranquil resolution, he has, at a moment like that, before his troops, hemmed in, lost, lighted his cigar, recalled in few words the memory of the fatherland and the duty of a soldier; and then marched toward the enemy and to certain death. It is all told in three lines. And when you have read it, you arise, you come out of your depression, you organize your resistance; you look your trouble in the face, you feel high spirits, virility, a certain generous ardor for the strife. And all this life, this precious elasticity of courage that animates you, you owe to those who are unknown to you, to the vanquished, and to the dead lying out yonder without burial and without name. What a proof of what we can do for each other?

(602)

COURAGE IN LIFE

This poem has been printed as anonymous and it has also been attributed to Edmund Vance Cook:

Did you tackle the trouble that came your way With a resolute heart and cheerful Or hide your face from the light of day With a craven heart, and fearful? Oh, a trouble’s a ton or a trouble’s an ounce, Or a trouble is what you make it; And it isn’t the fact that you’re hurt that counts, But only how did you take it.

You’re beaten to earth. Well, well, what’s that? Come up with a smiling face. It’s nothing against you to fall down flat, But to lie there--that’s disgrace. The harder you’re thrown, why, the higher you bounce; Be proud of your blackened eye. It isn’t the fact that you’re licked that counts, It’s how did you fight, and why.

And tho you be done to death, what then? If you battled the best you could; If you played your part in the world of men, Why, the critic will call it good. Death comes with a crawl or comes with a pounce, And whether he’s slow or spry, It isn’t the fact that you’re dead that counts, But only how did you die.

(603)

COURAGE, MORAL

Mrs. George E. Pickett, wife of General Pickett, who led the fatal charge the last day at Gettysburg against the Union forces, writes of the tender memories she had of Grant. She called upon him with her husband while he was President. Grant knew that his old comrade of West Point had been made a poor man by the war, and he offered him the marshalship of Virginia. While sorely needing help, he appreciated the heavy draft made upon the President by office-seekers, and said: “You can’t afford to do this for me now, and I can’t afford to take it”; but Grant instantly replied with firmness, “I can afford to do anything I please that is right.”--Col. NICHOLAS SMITH, “Grant, the Man of Mystery.”

(604)

COURAGE OF HOPE

These lines from an unidentified source point a New Year’s lesson:

As a dead year is clasped in a dead December, So let your dead sins with your dead days lie. A new life is yours and a new hope. Remember We build our own ladders to climb to the sky.

Stand out in the sunlight of promise, forgetting Whatever the past held of sorrow or wrong. We waste half our strength in a useless regretting; We sit by old tombs in the dark too long.

Have you missed in your aim? Well, the mark is still shining. Did you faint in the race? Well, take breath for the next. Did the clouds drive you back? But see yonder their lining. Were you tempted and fell? Let it serve as a text.

It is never too late to begin rebuilding Tho all into ruins your life has been hurled, For see how the light of the New Year is gilding The wan, worn face of the bruised old world. (Text.)

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COURAGE OF UTTERANCE

James Oppenheim, in a poem, “The Cry of Men,” writes this verse inciting to boldness in uttering our truth:

Then put off the coward--live with the Vision! Let me go to my work in the morning With fire of God, let me strike in the open, let me cry, cry aloud the age dawning-- Let my life be real--faith in my heart! My eternity hangs on this day-- God in me dies or leaps godward as I thunder my yea or my nay!

(606)

COURAGE VERSUS ETIQUETTE

Here is a story of Gen. Leonard Wood, told by a Boston physician in the New York Times:

One day an infant was brought in suffering from membranous croup. The case was so far advanced that any delay would almost certainly result in death for the little one. Dr. Wood did not hesitate a moment. He began to work at once, carefully, fearlessly, promptly, and successfully. Five minutes later, and while both mother and patient were still in the room, the surgeon who should have had the case according to rule, walked in. The young doctor (Wood) explained, but would not apologize, as he was asked to do. He had done right, and he was not going to tell any man he was sorry for it, he said. The result was that he was first suspended, and then dismissed. And I call that courage. (Text.)

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COURTESY

Charles W. Eliot introduced [at Harvard] a system of discipline based upon personal loyalty to college interests. It is related that at a faculty meeting shortly after he had been inducted into office, one of the faculty asked him with considerable severity the reason for this doing away with time-honored rules of discipline, when the young president replied, with great sweetness and courtesy, “The reason is, we have a new president.”--JAMES T. WHITE, “Character Lessons.”

(608)

See KINDNESS.

* * * * *

The Brooklyn Eagle has an office boy whose name, let us say, is Joe. The other day Joe was present when the wife of a member of the staff called to see her husband. The latter, having just returned from lunch, deferentially greeted the lady by raising his hat. Joe contemplated this act of courtesy with that fine scorn which office boys feel for all obligations that are not compulsory. “Huh!” he remarked to a companion. “You’d think them two was strangers!”

(609)

=Courtesy Imitated=--See SYMBOLS, THE VALUE OF.

COURTESY IN TRAVELING

Probably few people know it, but the institution of the bell-cord, by which the engineman is signaled to stop his train, was due to the courtesy of a conductor. A general passenger agent told the story the other day. Back in the fifties, when wood was still used for fuel in locomotives, the conductor on a local train rigged up a bell-cord so that he could let passengers off at will. The stop signal was given too often for the engineman, who finally became so annoyed that he cut the rope. At the next stop the conductor went forward to the engine cab.

“Jim,” he said, “I’m going to treat my passengers right. You tie up that bell-cord, and if you cut it again I’ll punch your head.”

The engineman cut the cord again, and the conductor, who valued his reputation for courtesy to passengers, went forward and delivered the promised thrashing. Conductors nowadays, tho, are not quite so primitive in their methods, and are not obliged to administer personal discipline to fellow employés.--Buffalo Evening News.

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COURTS OF JUSTICE AMONG BIRDS

Dr. Edmondson describes regular assemblies of crows of the hooded species--“crow courts,” they are called--which are held at certain intervals in the Shetland Isles. A particular hill or field suitable for the business is selected, but nothing is done till all are ready, and consequently the earlier comers have sometimes to wait for a day or two till the others arrive. When all have come, the court opens in a formal manner and the presumed criminals are arraigned at the bar. A general croaking and clamor are raised by the assembly and judgment is delivered, apparently, by the whole court. As soon as the execution is over, the court breaks up and all its members disperse quietly. An Alpine tourist relates that, during an excursion in the Swiss mountains, he accidently came upon a small secluded glen, which was surrounded by trees, and became the unexpected witness of a singular spectacle. About sixty or seventy ravens were ranged in a ring around one of their fellows, evidently reputed a culprit, and with much clatter of tongues and wings, were engaged in discussing his alleged delinquencies. At intervals they paused in their debate in order to permit the accused to reply, which he did most vociferously and with intense energy, but all his expostulations were speedily drowned in a deafening chorus of dissent. Eventually the court appears to have arrived at the unanimous conclusion that the felon had utterly failed to exculpate himself, and they suddenly flew at him from all sides and tore him to pieces, with their powerful beaks. Having executed their sentence, they speedily disappeared.--The Popular Science Monthly.

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=Covenant=--See BLOOD, THE TIE OF.

COWARDICE

We see by the following account of English sparrows that any coward may seem brave when he is with the majority:

The English sparrow has been called pugnacious. He is nothing of the kind. He does not love a fight. Bird to bird, there is nothing too small to whip him. I have seen a chipping sparrow, which is the least among the pasture sparrows, send the poltroon scurrying to shelter with all his feathers standing on end. A cock bluebird, fighting like a gentleman, and like a gentleman fighting only when he must, will drive a half-dozen of them. The English sparrow has the true instincts of the browbeating coward, and loves to fight only when in overwhelming numbers he may attack a lone pasture bird without danger to himself.--WINTHROP PACKARD, “Wild Pastures.”

(612)

=Craziness Indicated=--See CONCERT, LACK OF.

=Crazy Spells=--See ABSENT-MINDEDNESS.

CREATION, A WITNESS OF

Ruskin finds God’s witness in creation in contemplating a leaf:

If you ask an ordinary botanist the reason of the form of a leaf, he will tell you it is a “developed tubercle,” and that its ultimate form “is owing to the directions of its vascular threads.” But what directs its vascular threads? “They are seeking for something they want,” he will probably answer. What made them want that? What made them seek for it thus? Seek for it, in five fibers or in three? Seek for it, in serration, or in sweeping curves? Seek for it in servile tendrils, or impetuous spray? Seek for it in woolen wrinkles rough with stings, or in glossy surfaces, green with pure strength and winterless delight? It is Mr. Ruskin who asks these questions: and it is Mr. Ruskin who adds, “There is no answer.”

(613)

=Creation, Intelligence in=--See DESIGN IN NATURE.

CREATION, JOY IN

God’s heart must laugh a mighty laugh of joy every spring and summer time. Oh, man! don’t you think you would laugh if you could make a leaf--not a great big green oak or maple-leaf, but just a wee, modest, unpretentious leaf, and yet a real leaf? Now, wouldn’t you thrill with joy to the ends of your finger-tips if you could make just one leaf? And well you might, for never yet was born the man who could make a leaf without God doing the major part of the work.

And yet every spring God grows a million leaves and flowers out in the corn-fields, back in the forests, down in the meadows of earth. Why, truly God is right down here among us watching things grow, going through the corn-fields and laughing to the rustling music of the green blades of silken corn.--F. F. SHANNON.

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=Creatorship=--See LIFE, SOURCE OF MAN’S.

CREATURE, A NEW

The author of that noble hymn, “The God of Abraham praise,” was Thomas Olivers, the Welsh Methodist evangelist, popularly known as “the cobbler of Tregonan,” but who became a signal instance of the power of grace to change the heart and to quicken genius. Left an orphan early in life, he grew up neglected in learning and morals, and became known as the worst character in all the country round. But a sermon by George Whitefield, at Bristol, entirely changed the character of the young man, and the current of his life. Of that change he himself said: “When that sermon began, I was one of the most abandoned and profligate young men living; before it ended I was a new creature. The world was all changed for Tom Olivers.”

(615)

=Credentials, Negative=--See REALISM, REFRAINING FROM.

=Credentials of Merit=--See APPRECIATION OF CHARACTER.

=Credit Refused=--See NEED, REFUSED IN THE HOUR OF.

CREEDS, INSECURITY OF

It is natural to desire a few firm and unshakable beliefs. If we can only formulate the eternal verities and tuck them away in pigeon-holes ready to our hand when wanted, we feel a certain sense of security. To run the fundamental principles into molds and have them forever after in cast-iron rigidity and indestructibility is surely, we imagine, a consummation devoutly to be wished.

But soon we encounter unexpected and vexatious and puzzling difficulties. Truth has a way of losing its trueness by the very act of being exprest. Exprest, or squeezed out, it does, indeed, too often become; and nothing but an empty husk, a hollow form, remains. How often one has the vaguely haunting and curiously baffling sense that, if one were to say a certain thing, that thing would immediately cease to be so; and, that if one had only refrained from a certain other utterance, the thought intended would not have lost, so unaccountably, its quality of truth! In other words, how many times does truth show itself to be of a nature quite too shy to be caught and tamed, too slippery to be grasped, too elusive to be held fast! To take a homely illustration, Mrs. Smith says to Mrs. Brown, “I am more polite than you,” and straightway an assertion that might have been true, if unuttered, becomes glaringly false. An able lawyer was once arguing a case in court when the judge interrupted him by declaring, “That is not the law.” “It was the law, your Honor, until your Honor spoke,” was the two-edged rejoinder. Some such ironical retort is constantly being flung back at us by the inscrutabilities that we attempt to fathom. We know not well (tho we are learning) the subtle ways they “keep, and pass, and turn again.”

“Outworn creeds” is a phrase familiar to all. But why have we so abundant a heritage of these cast-off garments? Is not their undurability owing to the fact that truth is dynamic rather than static? We must believe that at every instant of time something is true; but that the same thing, stated just so and no otherwise, is true for all time, is not so certain, and he who depends on a fixt creed, of elaborate pattern, to bear him up through all the stormy seas, is likely to find himself clinging to a very poor life-preserver.--The Christian Register.

(616)

=Crime and Playgrounds=--See PLAY AND MORALS.

CRIME, EPIDEMICS OF

In the days of bank burglaries--now much less frequent, owing to the protections that science has provided for money vaults--it was not often that a single robbery was reported; they “came in battalions.” This was not because the same gangs engaged in many different enterprises, but because a universal similar impulse permeated the minds of the criminal class devoted to these forms of guilt. A curious study might be made of the causes of epidemics of crime. In superstitious times all evils were attributed to the influence of adverse stars. This may have been an approach to scientific truth, or its advanced shadow. The causes of meteorological change must be the causes lying back of the pervading disposition at times witnessed to commit peculiar classes of crime. A suicidal atmosphere must have its origin in some of the secret springs of nature. Advanced speculation has recently attributed cyclones, earthquakes, and other terrestrial disturbances to great changes in the surface of the sun or in the superheated ether surrounding it. A theory quite as plausible as this might attribute epidemics of crime to similar influences, by which weak reasons are overthrown and murderous intents are kindled in excitable minds with destructive tendencies. There are causes for all things in life and nature, and no study of such causes is in vain.--Chicago Journal.

(617)

CRIME EXPOSED

Marshall P. Wilder describes a punishment common in China:

The cangue is a large square board that fits about the neck, and besides being very heavy and uncomfortable, is considered a great disgrace, for it has the prisoner’s name and crime pasted on it. In order to make the punishment more severe, the prisoner is often condemned to be taken to the place where the crime was committed and made to stand near the store or house where the nature of his crime, as well as his name, is plainly to be read by every passer-by. This is a terrible punishment, for the Chinese are very sensitive about being publicly shamed.--“Smiling ‘Round the World.”

(618)

See EVIDENCE, PROVIDENTIAL.

CRIME IN FORMER DAYS

Every week a host of young lads were hanged for theft, and the spectacle of a criminal riding through the streets to Tyburn, and getting as drunk as he conveniently could upon the way, was too common to attract attention. London was called the City of the Gallows, for from whatever joint you entered it, by land or water, you passed between a lane of gibbets, where the corpses of felons hung, rotting and bleaching in the light. Nor was crime supprest by this stringency of the law. Highwaymen rode into town at nightfall, coolly tying their horses to the palings of Hyde Park, and executed their plans of robbery in the very presence of the impotent protectors of the public peace. London was infested by gangs of youths, whose nightly pastime was to bludgeon inoffensive watchmen, and to gouge out the eyes of chance travelers. Dean Swift dared not go out after dark, and Johnson wrote:

Prepare for death, if here at night you roam, And sign your will before you sup from home.

Ludgate Hill swarmed with mock parsons, and thousands of spurious marriages were celebrated every year.--W. J. DAWSON, “The Makers of English Prose.”

(619)

=Crime Prevented=--See SCIENCE PREVENTING CRIME.

=Crime Traced=--See MISERY AN EDUCATOR.

CRIME UNPROFITABLE

“I have talked with murderers, train and stage robbers, burglars, pickpockets, hobos, yeggmen and others guilty of nearly every crime known,” says Griffith J. Griffith, “yet I never found a prisoner but could easily be convinced that a criminal career does not pay. A sane young man so convinced can be reformed.”

(620)

=Criminal Energy=--See DISHONESTY.

=Criminals Deficient in Conscience=--See CONSCIENCE BENUMBED.

CRIMINALS, GAIT OF

All evil traits probably carry with them some bodily signs. Soul and body are intimately related.

Dr. Parrachia has made a curious study of the differences between criminals and law-abiding citizens, as exhibited by their walk. He not only has shown how we may distinguish criminals in general, but has laid the beginning of the differential diagnosis between various evil-doers. He found that in criminals in general (obtained from the study of forty criminals) the left pace was longer than the right, the lateral deviation of the right foot was greater than that of the left, and the angle formed by the axis of the foot with the straight line was greater on the left side than on the right. It would thus seem that, in general, the gait of a criminal betrays a marked preponderance of power of the left foot over the right--a true sinistrality. This also agrees with the discovery of Marro that criminals are often left-handed.--Public Opinion.

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CRIMINALS, TRACING

The tracing of counterfeit bills back to the persons responsible for their issue is a curious and exciting employment. The experts assigned by the Government to this work are among the most skilful members of the Secret Service.

A bank clerk in Cleveland had detected a counterfeit twenty-dollar bill in the deposit of a small retail grocer. An expert was sent for and undertook the case.

He found that the grocer had received the bill from a shoe-dealer, who had it from a dentist, who had it from somebody else, and so on, until the Secret Service man finally traced the bad note to an invalid woman who had used it to pay her physician. When questioned, this woman said that the money had been sent her by her brother, who lived in New Orleans.

The sleuth looked up the brother’s antecedents, and soon became convinced that he was the man wanted. The brother, however, soon proved to the satisfaction of the Secret Service man that his suspicions were unfounded. Indeed, it appeared that the money had been received by the New Orleans man in part payment of rent of a house he owned in Pittsburg. While the sleuth was a bit discouraged, he couldn’t give over the case when he had gone so far, so he took the next train for Pittsburg.

The tenant of the house in Pittsburg proved to be a traveling oculist, who spent most of his time in the Middle West. The Secret Service man had the good luck, however, to catch him just as he had returned from a trip; and the man at once recognized the bad bill as one that had been given him by a patient in Cleveland, the very point whence the sleuth had started.

The patient was a boss carpenter. The Secret Service man got his address from the oculist and went right after the new clue. At this point he had a premonition that something was going to happen, and he wasn’t disappointed.

The carpenter, an honest old fellow, said that he had received the bill from a certain Parker. The said Parker was the small grocer in whose bank deposit the counterfeit had turned up. The expert flew to the grocer’s as quickly as a cab would take him, and found it closed. He had left town.

Afterward it was shown beyond question that the grocer was the agent of an organized band of counterfeiters. His shop was a mere blind. That the bill which he gave the carpenter should get back into his own funds after traveling all over the continent was one of those miracles of chance for which there is no explanation.--Harper’s Weekly.

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CRISES, PREPARATION FOR

Let it not be imagined that the great souls who have made history by their heroic action and their momentous decisions in moments of critical exigency were unprepared, or that they played their grand parts at random. The hour of destiny comes, and the man comes with it, but he has always been in training for it. He has had his forty days in the wilderness.

On the ridge of Leuthen, far up above the plain, Frederick the Great through his glass watched the gathering of the enemy’s hosts in overwhelming numbers. He only gazed on the terrible spectacle five minutes, and then he had thought out the magnificent combinations which arranged his plan of battle. Ruin fell on the foe and a new era in history was inaugurated; but this was only because Frederick had trained himself for years for the crisis.

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CRITIC RIDICULED

A teacher of elocution from New Jersey went to hear Mr. Beecher, and when the sermon was closed he crowded himself up to the front and said, “Mr. Beecher, I am an elocution teacher from the State of New Jersey. I came over to hear the greatest American preacher, but I am disappointed, disappointed.” “What is the matter now?” said Beecher. “Well, sir, I counted eighty grammatical mistakes in your sermon.” Beecher replied, “Is that all? I would have wagered this old hat there were over eight hundred if you had not told me.” That is a philosophical way of looking at it, and treating deservedly a self-inflated and imposing upstart of a critic. Beecher could at times read human nature intuitively.

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=Critical Faculty, The=--See ORIGINALITY.

CRITICISM

It is not necessary for a child to know all about the lenses of the eye in order to see its mother’s face, or to understand gravity in order to enjoy the summer’s day. We use, enjoy and are saved by food and drink and sun long years before we know anything about their laws. It is one thing to pick to pieces your faith, and another thing to reconstruct it. A thousand boys can take a watch to pieces, and not one can put the wheels together again.--N. D. HILLIS.

(625)

See CYNIC REBUKED; JUDGING, CARE IN.

CRITICISM, CARPING

If he is poor, he is a bad manager. If he is rich, he is dishonest.

If he needs credit, he can’t get it. If he is prosperous, every one wants to do him a favor.

If he’s in politics, it’s for pie. If he is out of politics, you can’t place him, and he’s no good for his country.

If he doesn’t give to charity, he’s stingy. If he does, it’s for show.

If he is actively religious, he is a hypocrite. If he takes no interest in religion, he’s a hardened sinner.

If he shows affection, he’s a soft specimen. If he seems to care for no one, he is cold-blooded.

If he dies young, there was a great future ahead of him. If he lives to an old age, he has missed his calling.--Christian Guardian.

(626)

=Criticism, Ignorant=--See MEANING, LOGICAL.

CRITICISM, INCOMPETENT

It is an interesting study of human nature to watch a mixt crowd as they pass through a gallery of pictures. Some simply express admiration at everything; sure that they must be good, or they would not be there, they feel safe in giving indiscriminate praise. Others spice their approbation with occasional criticism. Some utter impulsively their first impressions; others, more timid, look silently upon all. The few who, being true artists themselves, are best qualified to judge, are usually the most reticent. Indeed, they seem more occupied in studying than in judging, and more anxious to understand what they see than either to criticize or to flatter. Doubtless, however, the majority of these spectators are secretly conscious of their real incapacity to pronounce judgment, and the wisest of them will refrain from doing so, however willingly they may express whatever pleasure or preference they feel. They know they are there for their own gratification or improvement, not to pass sentence upon works which they can only dimly fathom. Yet as they pass out of the gallery into the world of living men and women how quickly is this respectful diffidence removed! He who would not presume to criticize a picture, of which he knows but little, will not hesitate to criticize a man or woman of whom he knows far less. Willing to admit his inability to estimate the work of the painter, he yet feels competent, without study or experience, to estimate the noblest and most complex work of infinite wisdom.--Philadelphia Ledger.

(627)

See CHRISTIANITY, CRITICISM OF.

=Criticism, Indifference to=--See MODESTY.

=Criticism of Christianity=--See CHRISTIANITY, CRITICISM OF.

CRITICISM, UNHELPFUL

One of the most brilliant of our younger poets was descanting on the Chinook vocabulary, in which a Chinook calls an Englishman a Chinhog to this day, in memory of King George. And this writer says that when they have a young chief whose warpaint is very perfect, whose blanket is thoroughly embroidered, whose leggings are tied up with exactly the right colors, and who has the right kind of star upon his forehead and cheeks, but who never took a scalp, never fired an arrow, and never smelled powder, but was always found at home in the lodges whenever there was anything that scented of war--he says the Chinooks called that man by the name of “Boston Cultus.” You have seen these people, as I have seen them, as everybody has seen them--people who sat in Parker’s and discust every movement of the campaign in the late war, and told us that it was all wrong, that we were going to the bad, but who never shouldered a musket. They are people who tell us that the immigration, that the pope of Rome, or the German element, or the Irish element, is going to play the dogs with our social system, and yet they never met an immigrant on the wharf or had a word of comfort to say to a foreigner.--EDWARD EVERETT HALE.

(628)

=Cross Anticipated=--See CALVARY, ANTICIPATING.

CROSS CENTRAL

It is said that two famous enemies of Christianity were once talking together of a plan for the reconstruction of religion. They believed only in the enjoyment of the life that now is. They talked of the building of a temple which would express the religious impulse and yet lay stress on the glory of the life that now is. And after they had talked of marvelous music, forever in the major key, they admitted that something was lacking in their scheme. “I know what it is,” finally declared one. “It is that hymn, ‘O Sacred Head Now Wounded.’ Without that there is a fatal lack of beauty and of power.” And this goes down pretty far toward the center. The compelling beauty of Christianity is in its doctrine of self-sacrifice. The cross sets the Christian teaching on high.--FRANCIS J. MCCONNELL.

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CROSS, CHARM OF THE

Rev. Edward Payson Scott, Baptist missionary in Assam, was strongly moved to visit a wild hill tribe--the Nagas--three days’ journey from his station, whereas yet he had made only a start in the Naga language and had to take a Naga teacher along. He was strongly urged by the British resident officer not to run such risk, but he could not be deterred; and, when an escort of soldiers was offered him, he firmly declined, as it would defeat the very end in view, which was to go as a messenger of peace. A military escort would give a false impression of his whole spirit and motive.

So with a native companion he set out, and when they reached the base of the mountain ridge where the native village crowned the summit, and began the ascent, the alarmed villagers forming in battle-line, waved their spears in menace, the chief crying out, “Halt! we know you! You are the man of the British Queen, come to make us prisoners and carry off our children. Come no nearer!”

The missionary drew out his violin, and began to sing in the native tongue, “Alas, and did my Savior bleed!” When he had sung one verse, the chief and his warriors had already thrust their spears into the ground and broken ranks. As Mr. Scott sang on, about the amazing pity, grace, love shown when the Maker died for the sin of the creature, the wild men began to creep down the hillside, nearer and nearer; and the chief cried out, “Where did you learn that? Sing us more; we never heard the like before.” The savages were subdued. The stranger was safe from their spears, and welcomed to their huts and best hospitality. The cross has never lost its charm. (Text.)--Missionary Review of the World.

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CROSS GLORIOUS

My God, I have never thanked thee for my thorn. I have thanked thee a thousand times for my roses, but not once for my thorn. I have been looking forward to a world where I shall get compensation for my cross, but I have never thought of my cross as itself a present glory. Thou divine Love whose human path has been perfected through sufferings, teach me the glory of my cross, teach me the value of my thorn.--GEORGE MATHESON.

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CROSS IMPERISHABLE

Matthew Arnold had a brother-in-law, Mr. Cropper, who lived in Liverpool, and attended Sefton Park Church, where Dr. John Watson (“Ian Maclaren”) ministered. Visiting Mr. Cropper, Mr. Arnold accompanied him to church one Sunday morning, which proved to be Arnold’s last Sunday on earth. Dr. Watson preached on “The Shadow of the Cross”; and the congregation afterward sang the familiar hymn, “When I survey the wondrous cross.” At lunch that day Mr. Arnold referred to an illustration which the preacher had drawn from the Riviera earthquake. “In one village,” said Dr. Watson, “the huge crucifix above the altar, with a part of the chancel, remained unshaken amid the ruins, and round the cross the people sheltered.” “Yes,” remarked Arnold in speaking of this, “the cross remains, and in the straits of the soul makes its ancient appeal.” (Text.)

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CROSS, THE

Many preachers, while they do not ignore the cross, dim or obscure it by eliminating from it the element of redemption. But however obscured, it will emerge in human life, for the cross is the center of faith.

One of the most magnificent ecclesiastical structures in the world is the mosque of Hagia Sophia, or “Holy Wisdom,” commonly known in our language as St. Sophia. This was originally the famous temple erected by Constantine in 325, as a Christian church. But it was destroyed by fire in 404 in a riot connected with the exile of Chrysostom. Rebuilt at once, in 530 it was again burnt to the ground, and the present edifice was reared by Justinian, and on Christmas day of 537 was dedicated as a Christian cathedral. In 1453 it was converted into a mosque. Jesus was put aside for Mohammed, the cross was supplanted by the crescent, and the Bible was dethroned by the Koran. Yet tho in many places the cross is wholly hidden under plaster with fine filigree work, here and there it can be perceived. (Text.)

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CROSS, THE VEILED

The cross of Jesus Christ was to the Greeks foolishness and a stumbling-block of the Jews. They could not see its meaning; just as I have walked out on the porch of a north Georgia home two hours before day, and in the dim starlight I could see only the faint outline of mountain and hill. I could not tell what they were. It was an indistinct picture that had in it no meaning to me. I have gone back to my room and after a while have walked out on the porch again. The sun had risen on the scene and bathed hill and mountain and valley in a flood of light, and then I looked and saw hills and mountains and valleys and streams that mine eyes had never seen before.--“Famous Stories of Sam P. Jones.”

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CROWD AND THE EXCEPTION

Sam Walter Foss sings of the man who comes up from the crowd in these verses:

There’s a dead hum of voices all saying the same thing, And our forefathers’ songs are the songs that we sing, And the deeds by our fathers and grandfathers done Are done by the son of the son of the son, And our heads in contrition are bowed. And lo, a call for a man who shall make all things new Goes down through the throng. See! he rises in view! Make room for the man who shall make all things new! For the man comes up from the crowd.

And where is the man who comes up from the throng, Who does the new deed and sings the new song, Who makes the old world as a world that is new? And who is the man? It is you! It is you! And our praise is exultant and proud. We are waiting for you there--for you are the man! Come up from the jostle as soon as you can; Come up from the crowd there, for you are the man-- The man who comes up from the crowd. (Text.)

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CROWN, THE CHRISTIAN’S

A true Christian gladly works for the souls of the people without hope of any earthly fee or reward, but such an elevated policy naturally appears aimless to the selfish or unenlightened worldling.

Gipsy Smith says: “My father was once preaching in the open air at Leytonstone. A coster in his donkey-cart shouted out, ‘Go it, old party, you will get ’arf a crown for that job.’ My father stopt his address for a moment, and said quietly, ‘No, young man, you are wrong; my Master never gives half-crowns. He gives whole crowns.’” (Text.)

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CROWNING CHRIST

“Why did you put your five-dollar goldpiece in the missionary collection, instead of some silver?” Davie was asked. “Because,” he replied, “as the congregation sang, ‘Bring forth the royal diadem, and crown him Lord of all,’ I imagined that I could hear his steps coming down the aisle to receive his crown, and I did not want Him to wear a copper crown, or a silver crown, but a gold crown.” A part of the missionary work is giving gold for Christ’s coronation.

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=Crucified=--See MARTYR SPIRIT.

CRUEL GREED

A missionary from a north China city wrote to the Missionary Review of the World:

Recently some professional procurers going the rounds of the cities of northern China buying girls for the brothels of Shanghai stopt here in their diabolical quest. They negotiated a sale with a mother living near us for her seventeen-year-old daughter. As this daughter’s feet were not small enough to command the sum desired, the mother arose at midnight while the children were sleeping and proceeded to beat the feet of the daughter in question to a pulp. The agonizing pain, the heartrending screams were of no avail. The feet were bound into a smaller compass by this process and a more advantageous sale expedited.

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* * * * *

Dr. William H. Leslie, for many years a missionary in the Kongo, recently confirmed many of the stories of the atrocities that have marked the rule of the Belgians in that country. This is what he says:

With my own eyes I have witnessed many of the most horrible examples of cruelty practised upon the poor natives in that country. I have seen natives with one hand cut off and I have seen them with both cut off, and in many cases the poor victims were children.

Dr. Leslie also said that much of the cruelty had been practised in order to impress upon the blacks the necessity of their bringing to market the rubber wanted by their persecutors, and to emphasize the dire results that would follow their failure to do so.

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CRUELTY, CHINESE

There is a cruel custom which prevails in some districts in South China in time of drought. A large collection of brass locks is made, and each is marked with a Chinese character. One iron lock is added to the pile, and duplicate slips are distributed among all the male population of the villages. The unfortunate man whose slip holds the same writing on it as the iron lock must have a slit made in the front of his throat and through this, the bar of the iron lock passed. He is considered to be in some way the cause of the drought and must wear this lock until rain comes. Blood-poisoning often carries the victim off before the drought is broken.

As fast as Christian mission work prevails in China, these cruelties disappear.

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=Cruelty from the Past=--See MUTUAL SUFFERING.

CRUELTY IN WORSHIP

Rev. W. B. Simpson, missionary among the Tamil people, writes of a most inhuman sacrifice, which was being offered in a village near Kumbakonam. A goat is brought, and its mouth tied up to prevent its crying out. Nails are driven into its nostrils, its mouth, ears, eyes, and the other two openings of the body. Then a hand-beating on its poor body takes place, which must be kept up till death comes to free the animal. This, the people claim, is worshiping God according to the Vedas, altho there is no foundation for it in any of its pages.

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CRUELTY TO BIRDS

The following is reported by the Daily Sentinel, of Fairmount, Minnesota:

A mother dove had been the target of some small boy. The bullet had passed through her breast, and had left her only strength enough to flutter homeward and reach the nest, where a half-grown fledgling awaited her coming.

Dying, she had snuggled up against her little one, her life-blood pulsing out over her own white breast and against that of her young. And there, with eyes staring wide, she breathed her last, and the fledgling starved, and then froze. The two were found with their heads prest together as in a last embrace.

The owner of the dove-house brought them down-town just as they rested in the nest, and the sight and the suffering of which it spoke were enough to melt the hardest heart.

The boy with the rifle may cause a like tragedy again, and many times.

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CRUELTY TO CHILDREN

Edward Gilleat tells of some of the horrors of the African slave-trade:

Children are thrown with the baggage on the camels if unable to walk; but if they are five or six years of age the poor little creatures are obliged to trot on all day with bleeding feet. The daily allowance of food was sometimes a quart of dates in the morning and half a pint of flour, made into a bazeen, in the evening. None of the owners ever moved without their whips, which were in constant use. Drinking too much water, bringing too little wood, or falling asleep before the cooking was finished were considered almost capital crimes. No excuses were taken; the whip exacted a fearful penalty. Sometimes the little children would cry bitterly for water when the hot east wind was blowing; if they fell down, the Moors would haul them up roughly and drag them along violently, beating them incessantly till they had overtaken the camels.--“Heroes of Modern Crusades.”

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CRYING BENEFICIAL

A French physician contends that groaning and crying are two grand operations by which nature allays anguish; that those patients who give way to their natural feelings more speedily recover from accidents and operations than those who suppose it unworthy in a man to betray such symptoms of cowardice as either to groan or cry. He tells of a man who reduced his pulse from 126 to 60 in the course of a few hours by giving full vent to his emotion. If people are unhappy about anything, let them go into their rooms and comfort themselves with a loud boo-hoo, and they will feel one hundred per cent better afterward. In accordance with this, the crying of children should not be too greatly discouraged. What is natural is nearly always useful. (Text.)--American Homeopathist.

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=Cultivation=--See SELECTION BY PURPOSE; SUCCESS BY EXPERIMENTATION.

=Culture Counts=--See TRAINING.

=Culture Not Everything=--See GENIUS.

CUNNING

Almost always when you meet a fox in the woods he pretends not to see you, but changes his course casually, as if, perhaps, he had just heard a mouse over there among the stumps. He does not increase his speed in the slightest degree until he is behind some tree or rock; then away he goes at a tremendous rate, always keeping the tree between you and himself until well out of gunshot.--WITMER STONE and WILLIAM EVERETT CRAM, “American Animals.”

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=Cunning Among Animals=--See SUBTLETY AMONG ANIMALS.

=Cure by Reversal=--See REVERSED ATTITUDE.

=Cure from Bible Reading=--See MIND-HEALING.

CURIOSITY

The catbird has the courage of his convictions, and one of these convictions is that he has the right to the satisfaction of an ungovernable and enormous curiosity. Bait your bird-trap in the woods with something which strikes a bird as a curiosity that courts immediate investigation and you will catch a catbird. Other birds might start for it, but the catbird would distance them.--WINTHROP PACKARD, “Wild Pastures.”

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=Curiosity in a Boy=--See CONSCIENCE A MONITOR.

CURIOSITY, RATIONALE OF

When the child learns that he can appeal to others to eke out his store of experiences, so that, if objects fail to respond interestingly to his experiments, he may call upon persons to provide interesting material, a new epoch sets in. “What is that?” “Why?” become the unfailing signs of a child’s presence. At first this questioning is hardly more than a projection into social relations of the physical overflow which earlier kept the child pushing and pulling, opening and shutting. He asks in succession what holds up the house, what holds up the soil that holds the house, what holds up the earth that holds the soil; but his questions are not evidence of any genuine consciousness of rational connections. His why is not a demand for scientific explanation; the motive behind it is simply eagerness for a larger acquaintance with the mysterious world in which he is placed. The search is not for a law or principle, but only for a bigger fact. Yet there is more than a desire to accumulate just information or heap up disconnected items, altho sometimes the interrogating habit threatens to degenerate into a mere disease of language. In the feeling, however dim, that the facts which directly meet the senses are not the whole story, that there is more behind them and more to come from them, lies the germ of intellectual curiosity.--JOHN DEWEY, “How We Think.”

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=Current, Double=--See JOY AND SORROW.

CURRENTS OF LIFE

The waters of the Pacific are tempered for a certain width with a warm current flowing north from the tropics. The temperature of Alaska is affected by it, and the result of its genial influence is increased vegetation and civilization. But for this life-giving stream Alaska would be as destitute and uninhabitable as Labrador.

But for the enriching stream of Christian life the whole world would now be a moral Labrador. (Text.)

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CURRENTS, UTILIZING

Sir Wyville Thompson and, later, Sir John Murray, unraveled some of the mysteries of the hidden depths of the sea, such as the Gulf stream and the waters that wash the Cape of Good Hope. They have found that there are currents flowing over one another in different directions, as in the case of air-currents above us. The aim is to be able to utilize these cross-currents, both of air and water, for the benefit of man.

Still more were it wise to use the many and even the contrary currents of life so as to make all serve man’s best interests.

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=Curse of Drink=--See DRINK AND NATIVE RACES.

CURSING FORBIDDEN

Bishop Benzler used to be a great favorite of the German Emperor, but recently the bishop fell into one of those quarrels about burial-grounds that in Germany, as well as in England and Wales, seem to have a great power of making people forget Christian charity. The bishop, because a Protestant had been buried in this ground, went to the extreme step of declaring that the ground had been desecrated, and decided to curse it.

The Emperor was furious when he heard of this, and when the bishop was imprudent enough to demand an audience, he let loose upon the head of the unfortunate ecclesiastic a flood of eloquent wrath which submerged him. Here is the principal passage:

“Your Reverence,” said the Emperor, “has asked for an audience, and I have granted it because I, also, have a few words to say to you. Before leaving Alsace-Lorraine I must tell your Reverence that your attitude has greatly displeased me. You were represented to me as a mild and peaceable man; your actions prove the contrary. You have done worse things than the worst fanatic. You have curst a cemetery situated on German soil, the German soil over which I rule. Do not forget, your Reverence, that I, as German Emperor, will never tolerate that even one inch of German soil should be curst--no, not one inch! It is a bishop’s duty to bless, and the moment you begin to curse you cease to be fit for your high position.” (Text.)

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CURVES OF TEMPTATION

An efficient baseball player tries to get at the secret of the pitcher’s curves; and the player in the game of life will look well to the curves of the world. This is a good world, and the men and women in it are of royal lineage--we are of God; but the glorious gift of liberty makes possible temptation and sin.

Because you ought to do right it is possible that you may yield to temptation, and failing to overcome a world curve be compelled to give up your place at the homeplate.--T. E. POTTERTON.

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CUSTOM

Whether in architecture, or in education, or in dress, or in other affairs of life, custom rules in Korea. Custom explains everything.

“What about this absurdity?” “Oh, it’s custom.” “Yes, but see here, why are the dead propt up on sticks and not buried?” “Oh, it’s custom.” “Do you sometimes marry off children as early as nine years of age?” “Yes, that’s custom.”

The reader must learn this word if he would understand old Korea, and if he would read into much of the life of the East still The forefather may have been an imbecile, or may have walked in his sleep, but what he did has come down, down to the present, and custom maintains that it is the sane and right thing to do.

“Why do you feed all these idle tramps, who come calling at your door, and you a poor man?” I once asked of my host.

He replied, “It’s custom, and for my life I can’t get out of it.” “What about these dolmens set up all through these valleys here like tables of the gods; what do they mean?” “They were set up by the Chinese invader, thousands of years ago, to crush out the ground influence that brought forth Korean warriors.”

“You mean that they have stifled out the life of the nation for all these centuries?” “Yes.” “Then why don’t you roll them off and get back your lost vigor?” “Oh, that’s no use now, never do.” “As it was, is now, and ever shall be,” is the only reply.--JAMES S. GALE, “Korea in Transition.”

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=Custom, Disregarded=--See PILOT, NEED OF.

CUSTOM, FORCE OF

Dr. Harlan P. Beach says:

In China there are customs which are more important than etiquette. I met a man who had been shaking from head to feet “You have had chills and fever, haven’t you?” I said sympathizingly. He came very near taking my head off, because there is a special god who runs chills and fever, and if he hears a man has chills and fever and is getting over it, he will give him another shake. I had gone against their deadly custom. Another incident of the same sort happened one day when a doctor of divinity saw a cheap sedan chair and bought it. A millionaire globe-trotter used it that day for sight-seeing, and when he reached the missionary compound, he exclaimed, “I have been outrageously treated by the heathen. The whole city was out laughing at me. As soon as I appeared, every man rushed out of his shop, and the streets were in an uproar.” The doctor of divinity asked his native teacher for an explanation. Now, a teacher is never supposed to smile from one day’s end to another, but that dignified teacher, glass, goggles, and all, doubled up with laughter when he saw the chair. “You really must excuse me,” he said, “but that kind of a chair is used only in funeral processions for the spirit of the dead to ride in.” It was as tho a man should ride through our city sitting up in a hearse.

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=Custom Upheld=--See EXPERIENCE A HARD TEACHER.

=Customs, Oriental=--See GESTURES AND USE OF THE HANDS IN THE EAST.

=Customs, Value of=--See EXPERIENCE A HARD TEACHER.

=Cycles in Nature=--See INVISIBLE, THE, MADE VISIBLE.

CYNIC REBUKED

The late A. T. Gordon, D.D., told this incident:

A certain infidel, a blacksmith, was in the habit when any one came into his shop of telling what some Christian brother or deacon or minister had done, and say, “That is one of their fine Christians we hear so much about!”

An old gentleman, an eminent Christian, one day went into the shop; the infidel soon began about what some Christians had done. The old deacon stood a few moments, and listened, and then quietly asked the infidel if he had read the story in the Bible about the rich man and Lazarus.

“Yes, many a time; and what of it?”

“Well, you remember about the dogs; how they came and licked the sores of Lazarus? Now,” said the deacon, “do you know, you just remind me of those dogs--content to merely lick the Christian’s sores.”

The blacksmith grew suddenly pensive, and hasn’t had much to say about failing Christians since. (Text.)

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D

DAILY CHARACTER WORK

In character-building, just as in housebuilding, every day’s work ought to count for good. If the house builders do one day’s work carelessly, dishonestly, or in violation of the architect’s plan, the result is liable to be serious, no matter how well the work is done thereafter. An unsound spot in the wall, a beam not properly placed, or any other feature of a misspent working day, will render questionable the soundness and safety of the entire structure when the strain of use and occupation comes. So the wasted day of one’s life may fix a flaw in the character, which will expose that character to grave perils, when certain temptations and trials assail it.--The Interior.

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=Dancing=--See DEGRADATION; RISK SHIFTED.

=Danger=--See LOVE AS A SIDING; QUIETNESS IN DANGER.

DANGER, AVOIDING

Birds who sleep on the water--and they are numerous--are always in danger of drifting to the shore, where lies their greatest danger. In the Zoological Gardens of London it has been discovered that ducks and other water-lovers have evolved a way of avoiding this danger. Tucking one foot up among their feathers, they keep the other in the water and gently paddle, with the result that they revolve in circles and keep at a safe distance from land, a kind of sleepwalking turned to good account.--OLIVE THORNE MILLER, “The Bird Our Brother.”

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DANGER, COURTING

A few years ago a tenderfoot went out West looking for grizzly. He was all togged out in the newest style of hunting-suit, and dawned like an incredible vision, on the astonished inhabitants west of the Missouri. He asked them where he could find a grizzly, and they told him reverently that at a certain place not far from there grizzlies were numerous and would come if you whistled. Light-heartedly he took his way to the place indicated and two days later they buried his mangled remains in the local cemetery. Over his innocent young head they erected a tombstone whereon they rudely carved this epitaph:

“He whistled for the grizzly, and the grizzly came.”

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DANGER FROM BELOW

Moral disaster to character is often wrought by the inrush of animal tendencies stored in the lower nature of man.

At various times during the construction of the Simplon Tunnel work has been retarded by the influx of water from underground springs. In the autumn of 1901 a stream of water burst into the Italian workings, and, attaining a discharge of nearly 8,000 gallons per minute, speedily converted the two headings into canals. Several months elapsed before the flow could be overcome. (Text.)--The Scientific American.

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DANGER LESSENED

The danger of fire on the great transatlantic steamship is no longer to be dreaded. Fire in a compartment can be isolated by the closing of the bulkhead doors, and the flames may then be fought by forcing into the burning section of the hull carbonic-acid gas, steam and water. Fires occur from time to time on liners but they are extinguished so readily, and are so easily confined, that the passengers seldom know anything about them. Should an explosion take place in the engine-room of a modern steamship, the doors would close automatically, preventing the escape of steam and fire.

No such devices avail with the human soul. A man can not allow the fire of lust or sin in one compartment of his being and then keep it out of the remainder. The old doctrine of total depravity was based on this unity and totality of character, such that a taint at one point was believed to be a taint of the whole nature.

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=Danger, Rushing Into=--See WILFULNESS.

DANGER STIMULATING EXERTION

In the homeward voyage of the Atlantic fleet, on its cruise around the world, a historian of its experiences tells of a rescue of one of the sailors in a great storm that arose. The storm was at its height and there ran through the fleet a report that the Minnesota had lost a man overboard. The signal, indicating that fact, went up to the foremast and the fleet stopt.

Could they save the man? It was noticed that the Minnesota swung around a little, as if to afford a lee, and the Vermont following held true. A life-buoy had been thrown to the struggling man, and he, being a good swimmer, caught it, and drifted down toward the Vermont. Those on the Vermont saw him and ran their bow up close to him, turned it a little so as to afford shelter, and were preparing to lower a boat for him. A life-line was thrown overboard, and, to the astonishment of those on the Vermont, the man left the life-buoy and swam for the line. Those on board shouted to him not to do it; but he took the chance, swam to the life-line and wrapt it around his wrist and was drawn on board the Vermont. The next day we heard that there was a similar rescue by the Kentucky of a man lost from the Kearsarge.

The imminent danger caused strenuous exertion. Similarly the man in moral peril can only keep out of danger by exerting all his powers. (Text.)

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DARKNESS

It is one of the many marvels of wireless telegraphy that the ether waves which carry its messages, unlike light waves, suffer no absorption in mist or fog. Quite the opposite, in fact, is the case, for the effect on them of clear sunshine is so marked that they can be sent with equal initial power only less than half the distance by day as by night. For this reason press dispatches and long-distance messages sent by wireless telegraphy are, whenever possible, committed to the ether waves after sunset.

“He knoweth what is in the darkness.” This is what the prophet says in connection with the affirmation, “He revealeth the deep and secret things.” We must not imagine that darkness is symbolical only of evil. The shadow is as beneficent as the sunbeam. (Text.)

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* * * * *

The love of evil prowlers for the darkness is not confined to the insects named in the extract. It is also a characteristic of those who hunt men’s souls; the saloon-keeper thrives best by his night trade.

Tarantulas are night prowlers; they do all their hunting after dark, dig their holes, and, indeed, carry on all the various business of their life in the night-time. The occasional one found walking about in daytime has made a mistake, someway, and he blunders around quite like an owl in the sunshine. (Text.)--VERNON L. KELLOGG, “Insect Stories.”

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* * * * *

A whimsical treatise entitled, “William Ramsay’s Vindication of Astrology,” propounds the absurd theory that the absence of the sun is not the cause of night, but that there are tenebrificous stars by whose influence night is brought on, and which ray out darkness and obscurity upon the earth as the sun does light.

Are there not some men and some institutions that shed darkness rather than light on the world? (Text.)

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Those who love darkness rather than light are morally blind. Here is a case of physical blindness:

Richmond, Va., has a nineteen-year-old boy, Audrey Wilson, who is totally blind in the day, but can see like a cat at night. He can speed a bicycle where ordinary persons have to walk with caution; but in the day he gropes about, able only vaguely to distinguish any object and with no discrimination as to colors. He is quite a possum hunter. He can easily distinguish the animals in the trees without the aid of a lantern. Needless to say, young Wilson is in great demand by possum hunters.--Leslie’s Weekly.

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See SHADOW; SOLITUDE, LESSON OF.

DARKNESS DEVELOPING CHARACTER

Darkness seems to be as necessary to life and growth in this world as is light. An earnest, tireless worker for Christ who has recently suffered through months of illness, writes a cheery word of sympathy to a fellow sufferer, and adds about herself: “It is a long time since I have done a day’s work; it is only a half-hour’s work, or maybe fifteen minutes at a time. And many days have been in a dark room. I wonder, sometimes, if a ‘dark room’ is as necessary for the developing of character as it is for the developing of negatives. If so, perhaps a time will come when I can look back upon the dark-room days with thankfulness. Just now, I want to work.” To wait and to trust, if God directs that, even while one longs to be out in the light and at work, is to gain and grow in the development which only the dark room can give. (Text.)

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=Darkness Frightens=--See FEAR OF MAN.

DARKNESS, GROWTH IN

There is a darkness which helps and sweetens. Disappointments, difficulties, discouragements, and all things dark, come to us apparently to depress us, but these are part of the experience which helps us. Black charcoal will keep water sweet. Bulbs must be buried in the darkness if they are to grow. In the winter a florist endeavored with success to grow some bulbs without placing them in the ground. He gathered some small stones and put them into basins, placing the bulbs on the top of the stones. Then he poured in sufficient water to touch the bulbs, and to conserve the sweetness of the water he introduced little pieces of charcoal among the stones. He then placed the basin in a dark cupboard and kept them there for ten weeks, and when he took them out the green leaves of the bulbs were showing. (Text.)

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DARKNESS, INFLUENCE OF

The nature of most birds seems so full of vitality and gladness that the nocturnal habits of certain species make a more melancholy impression than is their due. The nightingale’s song is essentially strong and spirited; but the bird has acquired a lasting reputation for dolorousness, partly owing to the influence of darkness and solitude on the mind of the midnight listener, but largely because of its apparent preference for night over day. Half the impression of melancholy vanishes from the nightingale’s nocturnal song, once the hearer has learned to recognize the same music in the confusing midday chorus. The owl’s reputation, which is sinister rather than merely mournful, is equally little deserved. We do not set down the jackdaw as a maleficent fowl for haunting church-yards and ruins, or the jay for its harshness of voice; but both these qualities have been enough to excite an historic prejudice against owls. Yet, if once the associations of old superstitions are dispelled, owls are recognized as among the most companionable of birds, and their cries in the winter nights as some of the most heartening sounds in nature.--London Times.

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DAUGHTERS ESTIMATED

The woman’s place in Korea is, first as daughter, one of contempt. A missionary’s little six-year-old once came to him with tears in her eyes and said: “Papa, I have a question.” “Yes, what is it?” “Are you sorry that I wasn’t a boy?” “Well, I should say not; I wouldn’t trade you for a dozen boys. But why do you ask?”

She said, “The Koreans were talking just now, and they pointed at me and said, ‘What a pity that she wasn’t a boy!’”--JAMES S. GALE, “Korea in Transition.”

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=Dawn Eternal=--See SOUL FLIGHT.

DAWN OF CHRISTIAN LIGHT

It is related that near the North Pole, the night lasting for months, when the people expect the day is about to dawn, some messengers go up to the highest point to watch; and when they see the first streak of day, they put on their brightest possible apparel, and embrace each other and say, “Behold the sun.” The cry goes all around the land, “Behold the sun.” We see signs and wonders being done through Jesus. And as we see the dawning of the light in almost every nation under heaven, let us cry out to every human soul, “Behold the sun.” (Text.)

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DAYBREAK

The poem found below, by P. Habberton Fulham, in London Outlook, gives a striking figure that would well symbolize a human experience in passing from a season of darkness and trouble into one of joy and light:

As some great captain, ere the morn be red, Might watch his tired ranks sleeping in the dew, Linger a moment, with some sense of rue, Then bid réveillé sound o’er quick and dead-- So the loth sun-god leaves his cloudy bed, Then, swift the heavy hangings striding through, Bids the dawn’s silver bugles sound anew, His golden banners streaming overhead-- Like camp-fire smoke the mist of morning stirs, Like strewed arms seem the dewy glistenings, And, as that shining clarion peals on high, Up spring the trees like bright-faced warriors, Behind him each his cloak of shadow flings, And one great shout of color shakes the sky! (Text.)

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DAY BY DAY LIVING

These words found in the Church Advocate are by Adelaide A. Proctor:

Do not look at life’s long sorrow; See how small each moment’s pain; God will help thee for to-morrow, So each day begin again. Every hour that fleets so slowly Has its task to do or bear; Luminous the crown and holy, When each gem is set with care.

Do not linger with regretting, Or for passing hours despond; Nor, thy daily toil forgetting, Look too eagerly beyond. Hours are golden links, God’s token, Reaching heaven; but, one by one, Take them, lest the chain be broken Ere the pilgrimage be done.

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DAY-BY-DAY VIRTUES

The prayer contained in these verses, by Ethelwyn Wetherald, is a good one for everybody to offer:

For strength we ask For the ten thousand times repeated task, The endless smallnesses of every day.

No, not to lay My life down in the cause I cherish most, That were too easy. But whate’er it cost,

To fail no more In gentleness toward the ungentle, nor In love toward the unlovely, and to give

Each day I live, To every hour with outstretched hand its meed Of not-to-be-regretted thought or deed.

(672)

DAY, THE BASKET OF THE

Priscilla Leonard is the author of these lines found in the Pittsburg Christian Advocate:

Into the basket of thy day Put each thing good and each thing gay That thou canst find along thy way.

Neglect no joy, however small, And it shall verily befall Thy day can scarcely hold them all.

Within the basket of thy day Let nothing evil find its way, And let no frets and worries stay.

So shall each day be brave and fair, Holding of joy its happy share, And finding blessings everywhere.

(673)

=Deaconesses=--See PERSONAL WORK.

DEAD, INFLUENCE OF

Oh, tell me not that they are dead--that generous host, that airy army of invisible heroes! They hover as a cloud of witnesses above this nation. Are they dead that yet speak louder than we can speak, and a more universal language? Are they dead that yet act? Are they dead that yet move upon society, and inspire the people with nobler motives and more heroic patriotism? Every mountain and hill shall have its treasured name, every river shall keep some solemn title, every valley and every lake shall cherish its honored register; and, till the mountains are worn out, and the rivers forget to flow, till the clouds are weary of replenishing springs, and the springs forget to gush, and the rills to sing, shall their names be kept fresh with reverent honors which are inscribed upon the book of national remembrance.--HENRY WARD BEECHER, Evangelical Messenger.

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=Dead, Number of the=--See CEMETERY, THE EARTH AS A.

DEAD, RESPECT FOR THE

The Chinese have such respect for the dead that they will live in poverty during life to pay for elaborate ceremonies at the time of death. An old carpenter whose shop adjoined the church in Tsicheo, in a time of business prosperity acquired for himself a beautiful coffin valued at four hundred thousand cash. (About $800.) Flood, disease and two worthless sons brought him to poverty, so that he was unable to pay the yearly rental of twenty-two dollars for his shop. Nevertheless, he was unwilling to part with his coffin, tho it would have given him a roof over his head for ten years.

In this same town a very poor Christian woman was forced to become a beneficiary of the church, because relatives who owed her a year’s wages would not pay. When she passed away, however, they paid their long-standing debt in a coffin and funeral accessories ungrudgingly.

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DEAD, THE, LIVE BEYOND

He is not dead, but only lieth sleeping In the sweet refuge of his Master’s breast, And far away from sorrow, toil, and weeping He is not dead, but only taking rest.

What tho the highest hopes he dearly cherished All faded gently as the setting sun; What tho our own fond expectations perished Ere yet life’s noblest labors seemed begun.

What tho he standeth at no earthly altar, Yet in white raiment, on the golden floor, Where love is perfect, and no step can falter, He serveth as a priest for evermore!

O glorious end of life’s short day of sadness, O blessed course so well and nobly run! O home of true and everlasting gladness, O crown unfading! and so early won!

Tho tears will fall we bless thee, O our Father, For the dear one forever with the blest, And wait the Easter dawn when thou shalt gather Thine own, long parted, to their endless rest. (Text.)

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DEAD THO ALIVE

There are many “dead” men walking about who do not know they are dead.

An illustration of the logic of Judge O’Connor is best shown in the case of a man who had looked long and lovingly on the flowing bowl. He fell into a deep pit dug by workmen while fixing the bridge over the Mohawk River. Several policemen with ropes got the man out and he was arrested. Drunk and disorderly was the charge against him when he stood before Judge O’Connor somewhat sobered and chastened. “You were drunk last night,” said the court. “No, sir, your honor, I wasn’t drunk.” “Why, you must have been drunk,” said the court. “If you had not been, you would have been killed by that fall.” “Shure, I wazzent drunk,” persisted the culprit. “Then you are a dead man, so what are you doing here,” declared the judge; and the man, taking the hint, walked out somewhat amazed.

(677)

* * * * *

A marvelous thing for these times is reported from Weathersfield, Conn. A convict who has served a sentence of fifty years in the State prison receives his liberty at this Christmas season (1909). In 1859, when he was twenty-one, he murdered his wife, who was only a young girl of eighteen. He is seventy-one now. Every one of the great occurrences in American life which make our modern civilization what it is belongs to that half-century for which this man has been behind prison bars. Into what a changed world he will come. What can he do? His friends are dead. His generation has passed. His own State does not know him. One would suppose he would almost want to commit some crime that would take him back to his home of fifty years. What can he do? Society punished him, now what will society do for him? There is no asylum for him. He knows nothing of the business methods of the day. He is a living dead man. Would it not have been more merciful for society by capital punishment to have made him a dead man fifty years ago?

(678)

* * * * *

There is a very real “death” other than the merely natural, as the following paragraph from the Scrap Book will show:

Emperor Francis Joseph’s only surviving brother, Archduke Louis Victor, was confined a lunatic, in a mountain castle hidden away in one of the remotest corners of the Austrian Tyrol. He himself, to all intents, is dead as far as the imperial family and the great world at Vienna are concerned. (Text.)

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=Dead Valued More than Living=--See ANCESTOR WORSHIP.

=Deafness=--See ARTICULATION.

DEATH

We are too stupid about death. We will not learn How it is wages paid to those who earn, How it is the gift for which on earth we yearn, To be set free from the bondage to the flesh; How it is turning seed-corn into grain, How it is winning heaven’s eternal gain, How it means freedom evermore from pain, How it untangles every mortal mesh.

We are so selfish about death. We count our grief Far more than we consider their relief Whom the great Reaper gathers in the sheaf, No more to know the seasons’ constant change; And we forget that it means only life, Life with all joy, peace, rest, and glory rife, The victory won, and ended all the strife, And heaven no longer far away or strange.

Their Lent is over, and their Easter won, Waiting till over paradise the sun Shall rise in majesty, and life begun Shall grow in glory, as the perfect day Moves on, to hold its endless, deathless sway.

--WILLIAM CROSWELL DOANE, The Outlook.

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DEATH AS A SHADOW

Did not Jesus show us glimpses of what is behind the shadow into which our friends have gone?

My neighbor’s lamp, across the way, Throws dancing lights upon my wall; They come and go in passing play, And then the sudden shadows fall.

My friend’s white soul through eyes and lips Shone out on me but yesterday In radiant warmth; now swift eclipse Has left those windows cold and gray.

Ah, if I could but look behind The still, dark barrier of that night, And there-undimmed, unwavering-find That life and love were all alight! (Text.)

--CHARLES BUXTON GOING, Munsey’s Magazine.

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DEATH-BED FAITH

John G. Paton tells in his autobiography of the death-bed of Nerwa, the converted chief of Aniwa.

On my last visit to Nerwa his strength had gone very low, but he drew me near his face and whispered, “Missi, my Missi, I am glad to see you. You see that group of young men? They came to sympathize with me, but they never once have spoken the name of Jesus, tho they have spoken about everything else. They could not have weakened me so if they had spoken about Jesus! Read me the story of Jesus. Pray for me to Jesus. No, stop, let us call them and let me speak with them before I go!” I called them all around him and he said, “After I am gone let there be no bad talk, no heathen ways. Sing Jehovah’s songs and pray to Jesus, and bury me as a Christian. Take good care of my Missi, and help him all you can. I am dying happy and going to be with Jesus, and it was Missi that showed me this way. And who among you will take my place in the village school and in the church? Who among you will stand up for Jesus?” Many were shedding tears, but there was no reply, after which the dying chief proceeded, “Now let my last work on earth be this: We will read a chapter of the Book, verse about, and then I will pray for you all, and the Missi will pray for me, and God will let me go while the song is still sounding in my heart.”

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DEATH, CHEERFULNESS BEFORE

The following is a glimpse of Maximilian on the day of his execution:

Miramon slept three hours; he then arose, drank a cup of chocolate, and drest himself with care; at six o’clock he was ready to start, accompanied by a priest, M. Ladron de Guevara. In the corridor he found Maximilian bidding his lawyer, Eulalio Ortega, farewell. The sun was already high in the heavens, and his warm beams shot down brilliantly on the Quaretaro Valley; flashes of sunlight penetrated into the narrow courtyard of the convent. “What a splendid day, Don Eulalio!” said Maximilian; “it is on such a day as this I should have chosen to die.” A few bugle-notes were heard, and Maximilian, not knowing how to interpret them, questioned Miramon: “Miguel, will that be for the execution?” “I have not the slightest idea, sire; it will be the first time I shall ever have been shot.” This reply brought a smile to the Emperor’s lips.--Paris Figaro.

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* * * * *

The officer in command of the file of execution approached Maximilian and asked his pardon for having to fulfil his duty. The Emperor distributed several pieces of gold bearing his effigy to the soldiers, recommending them not to aim at his face. He then embraced the Generals Mejia and Miramon, and, as the latter had placed himself on his right, he said to him aloud: “Brave men should be respected by their sovereigns to the brink of the grave. General, pass to the place of honor.” Miramon stept to the center. Then, with a firm voice, the Emperor addrest the crowd: “Mexicans! Men of my race and origin are born either to make a people’s happiness or to be martyrs. God grant that my blood may be the last shed for the redemption of this unhappy country. Long live Mexico!” Immediately General Miramon, at the top of his voice, as when he commanded his troops on the battle-field, cried: “Mexicans! Before the court-martial my defenders only sought to save my life. At the moment I am about to appear before my God I protest against the name of traitor, which they have thrown in my face to justify my condemnation. Let this spot of infamy be removed from my children’s name, and God grant that my country may be happy. Long live Mexico!” General Mejia raised his eyes toward the heavens: “Very Holy Mother, I beseech thy Son to pardon me, as I pardon those who are about to sacrifice me.” A volley rung out from the file of soldiers, and amidst the cloud of smoke, which slowly drifted away, Maximilian appeared writhing convulsively in a pool of blood, and groaning, “Hay Hombre!”--Paris Figaro.

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DEATH, CHRISTIAN ATTITUDE TOWARD

Prof. G. Currie Martin points out the difference between the Christian and the unchristian views of death.

In the old days, when the plague swept over Italy, the ladies and gentlemen of fashion used sometimes to withdraw into some beautiful country residence, with its surrounding park, and behind its high walls shut themselves off from all thought of the misery and sorrow that surrounded them. Death, they imagined, could no longer reach them, until suddenly the spectral figure stalked into their midst, no one knew whence, and the false safety was shattered at a blow. The power of Christianity is found in the fact that it can say such brave and hopeful words about life, while all the time it is perfectly conscious of death. (Text.)

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DEATH, CHRISTIAN VIEW OF

Death, ever present all the world over--how softened his grim visage is when associated with the name of Jesus, how awful when he appears alone. The writer still recalls one summer long ago, May, 1889, when funeral preparations were being made before a neighboring house. He made inquiry of An, his host: “I didn’t know that there was a death.” “Yes, the master of the house is dead; they will bury him.” “But when did he die? To-day when we were out?” “No, no, not to-day. He died before you came.” I had been there two months. They had a bier ornamented with dragons’ heads, painted in wild colors, that suggested skull and cross-bones. The funeral service was a fearful row; everybody was noisy, many were weeping, many were drunk. A more gruesome performance than that which I saw, over that horrible, unburied body, no one could imagine. To-day that same village sits as it did then, with background of mountain and foreground of sea, but how changed! All is Christian; Sunday is a day of rest, and every house is represented at the service in the chapel. They have lived down old-fashioned death in that village and exchanged it for quiet sleep.--JAMES S. GALE, “Korea in Transition.”

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DEATH COMPELLING SINCERITY

When the great man comes to the hour of his death, we expect him to be natural, avoiding all sentiments that are forced or incongruous. That is the striking thing about the last words of Sir Walter Raleigh; they were the inevitable and necessary words. Looking down upon his enemies and his friends, Raleigh exclaimed about the executioner’s axe, “It is a sharp medicine, but it is a sure cure of all diseases.” When the sheriff asked if the niche in the block would fit his neck, Raleigh answered, “It matters not how the head lies, if only the heart be right.”--N. D. HILLIS.

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DEATH DOES NOT CHANGE CHARACTER

When corn is cut down and is lying on the ground, and is afterward put into the granary, it is the very same corn as had grown up to full maturity in the earth. So also the souls in the granary above are the very same souls as had grown up to maturity in heaven on earth. When they are transferred to heaven above, they are not tares which had been cut down on earth, and which somehow in the process of cutting had been transformed into corn or wheat. Unless wheat will grow up as wheat in the earth, and be harvested as wheat, it will not turn into wheat in the act of cutting, or while it is being removed to the granary.--ALEXANDER MILLER, “Heaven and Hell Here.”

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DEATH MADE PLAIN

To Paul Laurence Dunbar the secret of death has already been made plain, of which before he died he wrote as follows:

The smell of the sea in my nostrils, The sound of the sea in mine ears; The touch of the spray on my burning face, Like the mist of reluctant tears;

The blue of the sky above me, The green of the waves beneath; The sun flashing down on a gray-white sail Like a simitar from its sheath.

So I said to my heart, “Be silent; The mystery of time is here; Death’s way will be plain when we fathom the main, And the secret of life be clear.”

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DEATH MASKED IN BEAUTY

A news item from Chicago says:

Robert Wahl, one of the foremost chemists in the United States, with a knowledge of drugs and subtle poisons far beyond the ken of the average alchemist, is charged with threatening to kill his wife by giving her a flower to smell.

It would have been a murder that no latter-day coroner or detective could have proved--something unheard of since the days of the Borgias.

The deadliest influence may be conveyed to the mind and soul as well as to the senses by the most delicate and apparently beautiful means.

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DEATH NOT TO BE FEARED

The following lines by Maltbie D. Babcock were read by him just before sailing abroad on the voyage from which he never returned:

Why be afraid of death as tho your life were breath? Death but anoints your eyes with clay. O, glad surprize!

Why should you be forlorn? Death only husks the corn. Why should you fear to meet the Thresher of the wheat?

Is sleep a thing to dread? Yet sleeping you are dead Till you awake and rise, here, or beyond the skies.

Why should it be a wrench to leave your wooden bench? Why not with happy shout run home when school is out?

The dear ones left behind--O foolish one and blind. A day, and you will meet--a night, and you will greet.

This is the death of death, to breathe away a breath And know the end of strife, and taste the deathless life,

And joy without a fear, and smile without a tear, And work, nor care to rest, and find the last the best.

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=Death-rate Reduced=--See IMPROVED CONDITIONS.

=Death, Religion in=--See RELIGION TO DIE BY.

DEATH, SPIRITUAL

Says a writer in the North China Herald:

One of the facts that ineffaceably cut into my memory during my first winter in New-chwang was the finding on one morning about New Year’s time thirty-five masses of ice, each mass having been a living man at 10 o’clock the preceding night. The thermometer was a good bit below zero. The men had just left the opium dens, where they had been enjoying themselves. The keen air sent them to sleep, and they never wakened.

The freezing was only the external manifestation of a spiritual benumbing that long before existed within. (Text.)

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=Death Swifter than Justice=--See JUSTICE DELAYED.

DEATH, THE CHRISTIAN’S

For centuries the world has admired the calmness and fortitude of Socrates in the presence of death, but if Socrates died like a philosopher, Patrick Henry died like a Christian. In his last illness, all other remedies having failed, his physician, Doctor Cobell, proceeded to administer to him a dose of liquid mercury. Taking the vial in his hand, and looking at it for a moment, the dying man said:

“I suppose, doctor, this is your last resort?”

“I am sorry to say, governor, that it is.”

“What will be the effect of this medicine?”

“It will give you immediate relief, or--” The doctor could not finish the sentence.

His patient took up the word: “You mean, doctor, that it will give relief or will prove fatal immediately?”

“You can live only a very short time without it,” the doctor answered, “and it may possibly relieve you.”

Then the old statesman said:

“Excuse me, doctor, for a few minutes,” and drawing over his eyes a silken cap which he usually wore, and still holding the vial in his hand, he prayed in clear words a simple, childlike prayer for his family, for his country, and for his own soul, then in the presence of death. Afterward, in perfect calmness, he swallowed the medicine.

Meanwhile Doctor Cobell, who greatly loved him, went out upon the lawn, and in his grief threw himself down upon the earth under one of the trees, and wept bitterly. Soon, when he had sufficiently mastered himself, the doctor returned to his patient, whom he found calmly watching the congealing of the blood under his finger-nails, and speaking words of love and peace to his family, who were weeping round his chair.

Among other things, he told them that he was thankful for that goodness of God which, having blest him through all his life, was then permitting him to die without any pain. Finally fixing his eyes with much tenderness upon his dear friend, Doctor Cobell, with whom he had formerly held many arguments respecting the Christian religion, he asked the doctor to observe how great a reality and benefit that religion was to a man about to die.

And after Patrick Henry had spoken these few words in praise of something which, having never failed him in his life before, did not then fail him in his very last need of it, he continued to breathe very softly for some moments, after which they who were looking upon him saw that his life had departed.--The Youth’s Companion.

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DEATH, THE RING OF

The whole world hates death. In Madrid, the Spanish capital, in one of its beautiful parks, stands a statue of its patron saint, about whose neck hangs a rare and valuable ring set with pearls and diamonds. It is never stolen, for nobody wants it. The reason is that a tragic story hangs about it. Every one who ever wore it died--Mercedes, Queen Christina, Infanta del Pillar, and others. It is known as “The Ring of Death.” (Text.)

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DEATH, UNTIMELY

Louis Albert Banks tells this story of a young girl cut off just after her graduation from school:

And there is her diploma, lying just as she threw it there, when she came home from college, but a few days before she was taken ill. I came up with her to the room, and she flung the diploma in there with a sort of girlish glee, and it stuck at an angle across the compartment of the bookcase. She closed the door on it and said, “Well, I’m glad I’ve got you anyhow!” and it has never been touched since. Two weeks later, we went with her over to the cemetery and laid her beside her father; and there lies her unused diploma that cost her so much hard work and that she was so proud to obtain. (Text.)

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DEATH USUALLY PAINLESS

Sudden and violent death, shocking to the senses, may not be, probably is not, painful to the victim. Drowning, hanging, freezing, shooting, falling from a height, poisoning of many kinds, beget stupor or numbness of the nerves which is incompatible with sensation. Persons who have met with such accidents, and survived them, testify to this. Records to this effect are numberless. Death from fire dismays us; we can scarcely conceive aught more distressing. In all likelihood, however, it appears far worse than it is. Fire probably causes suffocation from smoke, or insensibility from inhaling flame, so that the agony we imagine is not felt. They who have been near their end have experienced more pain on returning, so to speak, from their grave, than if they had gone to it. They have endured all the pangs, corporeal and mental, of death, without actually dying. It is an error, therefore, to suppose that men may not have tasted the bitterness of death, and yet be alive and in good health.--JUNIUS HENRY BROWNE, The Forum.

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=Death Valley Conquered=--See CONQUEST, SEVERE.

DEATH WITH SAVAGES

H. M. Stanley relates that an African king, as a delicate compliment, presented him with the heads of a dozen of his own subjects whom he had just killed in his guest’s honor; and these twelve unfortunates accepted death as stolidly as a matter of course, and the incident made no sensation whatever.--HJALMAR HJORTH BOYESEN, Chautauquan.

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DEBAUCH, FATAL

A twisted auto on a dead man’s chest-- Ye ho, and a bottle of rum! Drink and the devil had done their best-- Ye ho! and a bottle of rum! The roadhouse bar and the “lady friend”-- Ye ho! and a bottle of rum! And at eighty miles they took the bend-- Ye ho! and a bottle of rum! A swerve that mocked their drunken wills, A crash and a shriek through the darkness thrills; “Joy riding” is the pace that kills-- Ye ho! and a bottle of rum!

--New York World.

(698)

=Debt Paid=--See KINDNESS.

=Debt-paying Converts=--See TESTIMONY, INDISPUTABLE.

=Debts, Payment of=--See PAYMENT OF DEBTS.

=Debtors to All=--See MUTUALISM.

=Decadence, National=--See RETRIBUTION INEVITABLE.

DECAY

Old ships lying at anchor may have the appearance of soundness and the outward evidence of strength, usefulness, and sea-going qualities, but, when carefully examined for a sea voyage, are often found to be covered with barnacles and to be affected with dry rot. When such a vessel, no matter what good it has done or what use it has been in the traffic and carrying trade, is condemned, it is at once replaced by a new or more modern one that is in perfect order and fully seaworthy. What is true of vessels is often true of men also.--American Artisan.

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See JUDGMENT, GRADUAL.

=Deceit=--See ENTICEMENT; UNTRUTHFULNESS.

=Deceit Discovered=--See FALSEHOOD.

DECEIT WITH GOD

Rev. F. W. Hinton, of Allahabad, relates this story in the C. M. S. Gazette:

A young Bengali student came to me to ask for an explanation of difficult passages in a book he was reading. He said his name was “Sat Kori,” which means “seven cowry-shells,” and explained the reason for his curious name. His mother had borne several children before him, but all had died; so, like many other Hindu mothers, she thought God or the Evil One had a grudge against her, and if he could, he would take this last little one also. So she called the nurse who attended her in her illness, and made pretense to sell the baby to her for seven cowry-shells, and gave the boy the name of Seven Cowries to deceive the God into thinking he was of little worth. I asked the student if he thought the ruse had made any difference, and he replied, “Perhaps--at any rate, I did not die as the others had done.” So, a university student more than half believes that one can cheat God by a trick like that!

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DECEPTION

John Mitchell, president of the United Mine Workers, talking about unfair methods in use at the mines for weighing coal, said:

This method is most unfair. The fist-and-pound method, in fact, was scarcely worse. The fist-and-pound method originated, they say, in Scranton. A simple-minded old lady ran a grocery store there. A man came in one day and asked for a pound of bacon. The old lady cut off a generous chunk of bacon, and then, going to weigh it, found that she had mislaid her pound weight. “Dear me,” she said, “I can’t find my pound-weight anywhere.” The man, seeing that there was about two pounds in the chunk cut off, said hastily: “Never mind. My fist weighs a pound.” And he put the bacon on one side of the scales and his fist on the other. The two, of course, just balanced. “It looks kind o’ large for a pound, don’t it?” asked the old lady as she wrapt the bacon up. “It does look large,” said the man, as he tucked the meat under his arm. “Still--” But just then the old lady found her pound-weight. “Ah,” she said in a relieved voice, “now we can prove this business. Put it on here again.” But the man wisely refrained from putting the bacon on the scales to be tested. He put on his fist again instead. And his fist, you may be sure, just balanced the pound-weight. The old lady was much pleased. “Well done,” she said, “and here’s a couple o’ red herrin’ for yer skill and honesty.” (Text.)--New York Sun.

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* * * * *

One evening, as Vincent de Paul, the distinguished French priest, was returning from a mission, he found a beggar lying against the wall. The wretch was engaged in maiming an infant, in order to excite more compassion from the public when he went to beg. Vincent, horror-struck at the sight, cried, “Ah, you savage! you have deceived me. At a distance I mistook you for a man.” Then he took the little victim in his arms and carried him to the crèche, where foundlings were kept.--EDWARD GILLIAT, “Heroes of Modern Crusades.”

(702)

See SAMPLING.

DECEPTION EXPOSED

“Don’t try to make musicians out of all children indiscriminately and thus you will avoid such household conversations as one I overheard the other day,” said Baron Kaneko of Japan, who has been spending the summer in the Maine woods.

“I was on a train and a father and his young son sat near me. The father said: ‘John, do you practise regularly on the piano while I am away at business?’--‘Yes, father,’ replied the boy. ‘Every day?’ ‘Yes, sir.’ ‘How long did you practise to-day?’ ‘Three hours.’ ‘And how long yesterday?’ ‘Two hours and a half.’ ‘Well, I’m glad to hear that you are so regular.’ ‘Yes, father.’ And the next time you practise be sure to unlock the piano. Here is the key. I locked the instrument last week and I have been carrying the key in my pocket ever since.’” (Text.)--Buffalo Enquirer.

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DECEPTION JUSTIFIED

Truth in the abstract is perhaps made too much of as compared to certain other laws established by as high authority. If the Creator made the tree-toad so like the moss-covered bark to which it clings, and the larva of a sphinx so like the elm-leaf on which it lives, and that other larva so exquisitely like a broken twig, not only in color, but in the angle at which it stands from the branch to which it holds, with the obvious end of deceiving their natural enemies, are not these examples which man may follow? The Tibbu, when he sees his enemy in the distance, shrinks into a motionless heap, trusting that he may be taken for a lump of black basalt, such as is frequently met with in his native desert. The Australian, following the same instinct, crouches in such forms that he may be taken for one of the burnt stumps common in his forest region. Are they not right in deceiving, or lying, to save their lives? or would a Christian missionary forbid their saving them by such a trick? If an English lady were chased by a gang of murdering and worse than murdering Sepoys, would she not have a right to cheat their pursuit by covering herself with leaves, so as to be taken for a heap of them? If you were starving on a wreck, would you die of hunger rather than cheat a fish out of the water by an artificial bait? If a schoolhouse were on fire, would you get the children down-stairs under any convenient pretense, or tell them the precise truth, and so have a rush and a score or two of them crusht to death in five minutes?--OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.

(704)

=Decision Dependent Upon Call=--See TESTIMONY, A SHEEP’S.

=Decisive Deeds=--See OPPORTUNITY.

DECORATING SOLDIERS’ GRAVES

Strew flowers, sweet flowers, on the soldiers’ graves, For the death they died the nation saves, ’Tis sweet and glorious thus to die-- Hallowed the spot where their ashes lie.

On Fame’s eternal camping-ground Their martial tents are spread, While glory guards with solemn round The bivouac of the dead.

--Evangelical Messenger.

(705)

=Decoration Day=--See HONOR’S ROLL-CALL.

DECREES

A minister esteemed it his religious duty to visit an extreme frontier settlement to preach. To reach that settlement he had to pass through a wilderness infested with hostile Indians. When about to start on one of these journeys, he took his rifle from its rack and was about to depart with it on his shoulder when his good wife said to him: “My dear husband, why do you carry that great, heavy rifle on these long journeys? Don’t you know that the time and manner of your taking off has been decreed from the beginning of time, and that rifle can not vary the decree one hair’s breadth?” “That is true, my dear wife, and I don’t take my rifle to vary, but to execute the decree. What if I should meet an Indian whose time had come according to the decree and I didn’t have my rifle?”--HENRY C. CALDWELL.

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DEED, THE GOOD

A man walked south on Main Street one afternoon recently. He had no overcoat and he shivered as the north wind struck him. Near the junction he stopped and picked something up. It was a bright silver dime.

“Wasn’t I lucky,” he said to a man who had seen the episode, who related the story to a reporter on the Kansas City Times. “I haven’t a cent and have had nothing to eat since yesterday noon. Now for the nearest lunch-wagon.”

A little girl came along at that moment. She, too, was poorly drest.

“I’ve lost a dime,” she half sobbed, as she inspected the pavement.

“I guess I’ve got what you were looking for,” said the man, as he handed the dime to the child, who danced away with only a “Thank you, mister.”

“Just my luck,” said the man with the stomach.

(707)

DEEDS, BRAVE

This prayer in verse is by Harry P. Ford:

Our Father, God, while life is sweet With earthly joys that round it cling, Grant us brave deeds, for heaven meet, To shape the dreams that death may bring.

(708)

DEEDS, HEAVENLY

A cripple girl on a train was presented with a bunch of roses by another girl on board. She held them to her lips, and prest them to her bosom, and fell asleep. Later her father came in from the smoker, and took his little daughter in his arms. Waking up, she said: “Oh, father--I’ve--been--in--heaven--and--I’ve--got--some--roses.”

Deeds of love make a heaven.

(709)

DEEDS, NOT APPEARANCES

The Orientals have a proverb which says: “Provided that beneficence have long fingers and rapid steps, what does it matter if its wry faces displease thee? Don’t look at its face.” (Text.)--Revue des Deux Mondes.

(710)

DEEDS THAT TALK

At a laymen’s meeting of Southern Baptists held in Richmond, Mr. R. E. Breit, president of a Texas oil company, was called upon for an address. He said, “Brethren, I never made a speech in my life and I can’t make one now; but if Brother Willingham (secretary of the missionary society) will send ten men to China, he can send the bill to me.” (Text.)

(711)

DEEDS VERSUS WORDS

A boy was pushing a heavily loaded barrow up a steep hill, using every ounce of energy. “Hi, boy,” called out a benevolent-looking old gentleman, “if you push that zigzag, you’ll find it go up more easily.” “That’s all right, sir,” responded the boy, rather crisply, “but if you’d give me less advice and more shoving, I’d like it better.”

(712)

DEEP-DOWN THINGS

Sam Walter Foss, in “Songs of the Average Man,” is the author of this assuring verse:

The deep-down things are strong and great, Firm-fixt, unchangeable as fate, Inevitable, inviolate, The deep-down things.

The deep-down things! All winds that blow, All seething tides that foam and flow May smite but can not overflow The deep-down things.

The surge of years engulfs the land And crumbles mountains into sand, But yet the deep-down things withstand The surge of years.

Behind the years that waste and smite, And topple empires into night, God dwells unchanged in changeless light Behind the years. (Text.)

(713)

DEEP THINGS

It is folly to think that only those things are of value to us which we can intellectually understand. Is the vast deep of the ocean nothing to me, since I can not move about freely and closely examine its depths? And if I must confess that ’way down are untold mysteries which human eye has never seen, what matters it? Can not I rejoice in the roar of the waves, in the ebb and flow of the tides, and in the flight of the clouds? Why will men insist, with their poor, finite reasoning, on fathoming the deep things of God, instead of drinking to the full from the inexhaustible source of assurance and consolation? (Text.)--E. F. STROTER, “The Glory of the Body of Christ.”

(714)

DEFACEMENT OF SOUL

If a drunkard knew that a certain number of drinks would make his face permanently black, how many men would drink? And shall we be less careful about the face of our soul?

(715)

DEFEAT

This incident corroborates the truth of the poet’s thought, “We rise on stepping-stones of our dead selves to higher things.”

A young Englishman once failed to pass the medical examination on which he thought his future depended.

“Never mind,” he said to himself. “What is the next thing to be done?” and he found that policy of “never minding,” and going on to the next thing, the most important of all policies for practical life. When he had become one of the greatest scientists of the age, Huxley looked back upon his early defeat and wrote:

“It does not matter how many tumbles you have in life, so long as you do not get dirty when you tumble. It is only the people who have to stop and be washed who must lose the race.”

(716)

See SUCCESS IN FAILURE.

=Defective Memory=--See MEMORY AND DISEASE.

DEFECTS OF THE GREAT

Handel, whose seraphic music lifts us to the gate of heaven, and whose faith was so clear that when he was dying, on Good Friday, said that his wish was fulfilled, and that he looked forward to meeting his good God, his sweet Lord and Savior, on Easter day, was yet a man with a very earthly, irritable temper--so much so that he had a quarrel with a brother composer which ended in a duel.

(717)

=Defense=--See RESISTANCE.

DEFORMITY

There died recently in Stockerau, Bavaria, at the age of twenty-eight years, a dwarf, Maria Schuman, who was at one time a celebrity, says La Nature. She passed her whole life in the cradle where she slept her first sleep, twenty-eight years ago. Up to the day of her death, this strange creature preserved the height and general appearance of an infant of a few months; but, wonderful to say, her intellect was normally developed and nothing could have been odder than to hear this tiny baby in the cradle talk like an adult, with much vivacity and intelligence! Maria was born in 1875, at Brigittenan, near Vienna. Her parents were of normal development, and so were her brothers and sisters. (Text.)

(718)

DEGENERACY

Before Lord Shaftesbury began his work among the poor of England, he tells us that he witnessed this occurrence:

I must have been fourteen years old, or a little more, and I was walking down from the churchyard, just as we are to-day, when I was startled by hearing a sudden yell, a drunken voice singing, and a noisy sound of laughter coming up from the main road below; then they turned the corner, and I saw four men staggering along under a coffin, and jesting with song and horrible laughter as they drew near me. I looked at the coffin. I could see the rough boards were hastily nailed together; great cracks half revealed what was inside. Just as they passed me one of the men slipt, and the coffin fell from their shoulders and rolled over into the road. It was horrifying to me; and then they began to swear at one another, using foul language. I thought they would have fought over the poor dead creature’s corpse. I came away feeling that if God preserved my life I would do something to help the poor and him that had no friend.

(719)

* * * * *

Perhaps too much attention is being paid to various theories concerning evolution and development. It might be well sometimes to devote at least a little consideration to the serious possibilities of devolution and degeneracy.

Dr. Carpenter, a London zoologist, speaks thus of certain organisms brought to light by the scientific Atlantic dredging expedition: “This little organism is clearly a dwarfed and deformed representative of the highly developed Apiocrinus of the Bradford clay, which, as my friend Wyville Thomson said, seems to have been going to the bad for millions of years.” Thus we learn that a lowly creature living on the ocean floor is the degenerate result of that which has been going to the bad for millions of years.

But if such a vast course of degradation is possible in a sea-worm, what are the possibilities of degradation in a soul?

(720)

See DEGRADATION; EARLY PROMISE; SELFISHNESS.

=Degeneracy, a Figment=--See SCIENCE SHATTERING SUPERSTITIONS.

DEGENERACY THROUGH DISUSE

It is a recognized fact that the disuse of faculties inevitably leads to deterioration.

There is a curious little plant called the sundew which grows in marshes. A small fly alights on one of the leaves attracted by the crimson hairs, and by the sticky liquid called the “dew.” When the fly struggles to get free the hairs slowly curve round him and trap him, at the same time pouring out more of the dew. Presently the poor insect dies in that trap. Why does the plant do this? Simply because it wants to eat the fly. The dew is acid and dissolves the insect’s body, so that the plant can absorb the nitrogen which it contains. The sundew once lived in harmless plant fashion, for it belongs to the saxifrage family, of which the other members are quite respectable and hard-working plants, getting their living by honest root-work in extracting their nitrogen out of the ground. When we examine the sundew we find it has scarcely anything worthy the name of a root. Long ago it seemed to dislike the wear and tear of thrusting rootlets into the ground and seeking for food, so it settled into a bog, where it could get water at least without any trouble. There, as the roots had next to nothing to do, they slowly dwindled away, as all things will dwindle which are not used, whether they be plant-roots, or the limbs of animals, or the minds of men.--“A Mountain Path.”

(721)

DEGRADATION

A doctor was once riding from Yezd to Kerman, in Persia, to make a visit. Arriving at a post-house, and finding no horse, he demanded a mule. On this beast he made the next stage, to be told on arrival that there was only a donkey available. Accepting this mount from necessity, he reached in time another stage, where he met the announcement that nothing in the shape of an animal was obtainable but a cow! The story stops there, drawing the veil of silence over the rest of the journey.

An evil life is successively degraded, declining in guilt and misery to depths lower than the brute. (Text.)

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* * * * *

The early Christians did not despise the dance; but as monkish asceticism drew away from the simple, natural teaching of Christ, the dance fell into disfavor and was frowned upon as a manifestation of the evil one. And just so it was with artistic perception and artistic appreciation. Where they were highest, in Hellenic antiquity, dancing had its place among the arts and was revered as the oldest of them all, that art upon which all the others were based. Dragged down to pander to luxury and profligacy, as were all the arts during the period of Roman triumph and Roman decadence, the dance fell under a cloud with the rest, and seemed to disappear during the dark ages, as did the others. (Text.)--GRACE ISABEL COLBRON, The Cosmopolitan.

(723)

=Degradation Inciting Philanthropy=--See DEGENERACY.

=Degradation versus Transformation=--See MISSIONARY RESULTS.

=Degrees, Honorary=--See LABELS, MISLEADING.

DEISM

Deism of any type is morally impotent; and deism of the eighteenth-century type is nothing but a little patch of uncertain quicksand set in a black sea of atheism. It does not deny God’s existence, but it cancels Him out as a force in human life. It breaks the golden ladder of revelation between heaven and earth. It leaves the Bible discredited, duty a guess, heaven a freak of the uncharted imagination, and God a vague and far-off shadow. Men were left by it to climb into a shadowy heaven on some frail ladder of human logic.--Rev. W. H. FITCHETT, “Wesley and His Century.”

(724)

DELAY

The limited express that spans the distance between New York and Chicago in twenty-four hours accomplishes the feat not so much by increasing the speed as by reducing the delays. In the main the train does not travel much faster than the other trains that take a third more time do at their maximum; but it makes fewer stops, it attends more strictly to its through business. Chicago is its objective point.

It is much so on the railroad of life. How young we would all be at sixty--ay, at eighty--if we would avoid the petty, useless, the unnecessary delays, the unprofitable business at the side-stations along the road. (Text.)--VYRNWY MORGAN, “The Cambro-American Pulpit.”

(725)

* * * * *

A newspaper item has the following:

At an annual dinner of the Architectural League of New York the venerable artist, John La Farge--who certainly belongs among the first half-score of painters that America has produced--was presented with a medal of honor.

Then a singular thing happened.

Mr. La Farge got upon his feet and, in a gentle tone of expostulation, protested that the honors now offered him were a little empty--and very much belated.

He said he had “only three or four more years left to work in,” and that through all the years of his vigorous manhood the great city of New York, with all its vast enterprise of building, had offered little opportunity to his hand.

The kind word should be spoken to the friend and not engraved on his tombstone. The work that is thought of should be performed in the day of opportunity, for it may be so belated as to lose much of its meaning.

(726)

=Delay, Expensive=--See NATURALIZATION.

=Delay in Religious Instruction=--See RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION.

DELAY, THE TRAGEDY OF

Charles Biedinger, an inventor, was found dead in his room in a cheap lodging-house. He had been in extreme want, and had learned that the Superior Court at Cincinnati had decided a patent-right claim in his favor, awarding him $93,000 and interest upon it for several years. His invention, a machine for making paper wrappers, was patented while he was in a sanatorium by his financial backer, who refused an accounting when the inventor was discharged from the sanatorium. The suit followed, with the verdict of a fortune which came too late. Biedinger was so reduced in circumstances that he was recently employed as a dish-washer in a restaurant. (Text.)

(727)

=Delaying Religious Instruction=--See RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION.

=Delaying the Gospel=--See FATHER, OUR.

=Deliberation=--See PAINSTAKING.

=Deliverance=--See TRANSFORMATION.

DEMAGOGY

“Yes,” said the candidate, “I’m going out among the farmers to-day--to a pumpkin show, or jackass show, or something of that sort. Not that I care for pumpkins or jackasses, but I want to show the people that I am one of them.”

(728)

DEMONOLOGY

St. Thomas Aquinas used to hold that angels and devils made the atmosphere their battle-ground--the angels that live in the calm upper spheres, the devils that fill the immensity of space; and thus he accounted for the injurious changes of weather to be experienced in certain countries. For the mortification and the rout of these demons bells were consecrated and hung in the church-spires, usually inscribed, “Vivos voco, mortuos plango, fulgura frango” (I summon the living, I mourn the dead, I scatter the thunder-storm); and their ringing was thenceforth considered to be one of the potent means of dispelling evil influences and of abating tempests. These evil powers, according to medieval legend and belief, were able to produce hail, thunder, and storms at their will, and those among them called witches took aerial voyages exactly as the witches of much later days were held to do, altho more particular detail is given of their operations, as it is known that they smeared their broomsticks with witch-salve, after which mounting them, they could sail where they would through so much of this atmosphere as was within their jurisdiction. “The air,” says Rydberg, speaking of those days of the Dark Ages, “was saturated with demoniacal vapors,” and specters, ghosts, and vampires multitudinous added their horrors to the fertile imaginations of the people.--Harper’s Bazar.

(729)

* * * * *

In the Kongo district insane people are treated by the native doctors in the following manner: The patient’s hands are secured by stout cords, and he is led to the doctor with a fowl and a lighted firebrand balanced on his head. The doctor takes five twigs from five different trees and strikes the patient with each in turn, bidding the evil spirit depart from him. The lighted stick is then plunged into some water, and as the fire is quenched the evil spirit is supposed to leave the man’s body. He may reenter it, however, so the fowl is killed and placed on a stick at a cross-roads for an offering to the deposited spirit. Then the man’s bands are loosened and he is free to go as he chooses; but if he shows signs of the demon appearing in him again, any one may kill him if his relatives do not object.

(730)

DEMONSTRATION

John W. Gates, the “Wire King,” is described as “an extreme type of the American ‘hustler.’” The Texas cattlemen had never seen barbed wire before, and they ridiculed it.

“That stuff wouldn’t hold a Texas steer a holy minute,” said they.

Gates was put on his mettle. “I’ll show you whether it will or not,” said he.

This was in the picturesque town of San Antonio, which is dotted liberally with small open spaces, or plazas. Gates hired the nearest plaza, and got together a drove of twenty-five of the wildest Texas steers that could be found. Then he fenced his plaza with barbed wire, put the steers inside, and gave the cattlemen a free show. The steers charged the wire, and were pricked by the barbs. They shook their heads and charged again, with the same result. After two or three of these defeats they huddled together on the inside and tried to think it over. Gates sold hundreds of miles of his wire that day at eighteen cents a pound.--Munsey’s.

(731)

* * * * *

Men are sometimes condemned on hearsay, who would be approved if their critics gave them an actual and fair hearing.

When Chief Justice Holt was on the bench, a society had sprung up called “The Society for the Suppression of Vice or the Reformation of manners” (and probably it still exists), and they resolved to prosecute for indecency one of the famous singers of the day named Leveridge. This artist used to sing Dryden’s ode, “The Praise of Love and Wine,” so as to excite great enthusiasm among the depraved votaries of the theater by his peculiar manner of execution. The judge saw the craze under which the prosecutor acted, and resolved to defeat them by the following course: He said to the jury that he had read carefully the words of the song, and he could see nothing very culpable in the words, and therefore he could only come to the conclusion that it must be the manner in which the ode was sung that had occasioned this prosecution. The fairest manner, therefore, to all parties would be for the defendant to sing the song in presence of the court and jury, when they could readily determine the matter in a satisfactory way. The performer took this hint, and, of course, sang with his very greatest power and good taste, so that not only the jury, without leaving the box, acquitted him, but the mob insisted on carrying him home on their shoulders. (Text.)--CROAKE JAMES, “Curiosities of Law and Lawyers.”

(732)

* * * * *

Tolstoy, in his “Coffee-house Parable,” tells of how some men of different faiths had met in a place of public resort and had, after a time, begun to argue about God, each claiming alone to possess a true knowledge of Him, to have alone received His revelation. One, wiser than the others, led them all forth at last till they stood in the sunlight. That sun is a great fact and manifests itself to every creature on earth. Man sees it, or does not see it, being blind, yet is ever cheered by it; the earth is kissed by its rays till it blossoms and brings forth its fruit; even the hard, inanimate things, like the rocks, are warmed by the sun’s rays. And God is the great central fact of life.

(733)

See APPEAL, A LIVING; PROOF.

DEPENDENCE

There are many, like John Wesley, who fear to trust their Christian faith to guide them, but must lean on the faith and strength of others. But faith thus treated is certain to fail the soul in any great crisis.

Wesley’s first consideration, he declares, is “which way of life will conduce most to my own improvement?” He needs daily converse with his friends, and he knows “no other place under heaven, save Oxford, where I can have always at hand half-a-dozen persons of my own judgment and engaged in the same studies. To have such a number of such friends constantly watching over my soul” is a blessing which, in a word, Wesley can not bring himself to give up. “Half Christians,” he declares, would kill him. “They undermine insensibly all my resolutions and quite steal from me the little fervor I have. I never come from among these ‘saints of the world’ but faint, dissipated, and shorn of all my strength.” Except he can crouch beneath the shelter of a stronger faith than his own, John Wesley protests he must die; so he will not venture from Oxford.--W. H. FITCHETT, “Wesley and His Century.”

(734)

DEPENDENCE ON GOD

The will of God is like a rope thrown to us as we struggle among the untamed waves. To remain “independent” is to repulse all succor, all salvation; it is to wander without a compass and without a chart through the fury of the storm. To obey is to seize the rope, to face the blast, to brave the storm, to advance against the confederate waves, to let oneself be irresistibly drawn toward the invisible harbor where our heavenly Father awaits us.--MONROE.

(735)

=Depopulation=--See BIRTH-RATE IN FRANCE.

DEPORTMENT

One effect of the high standard of deportment enforced by the railroads is seen in the extent to which women and children travel alone, without fear. An illustration of this is the experience of a Western woman who was coming to New York for the first time. With her husband, she left Buffalo for New York on the Lehigh Valley Railroad. When they reached Mauch Chunk, Pa., the husband got out to walk up and down the platform, and somehow the train pulled out without him. The woman, left alone, never having been east of Chicago before, was on the verge of panic. Her husband had all the money; the train was to reach New York in the night; she didn’t know what hotel to go to, and, if she had known, couldn’t have found her way there. So the conductor took her in charge, had her carried to a good hotel, and arranged to have the bill guaranteed. The husband, when he arrived, was so grateful that he hunted up the conductor and presented to him a handsome ring.--Buffalo Evening News.

(736)

DEPRAVITY

That sin so easily besets and so dangerously deceives its subjects is accounted for by the declaration that “the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.”

The anemone, or “windflower,” as its Greek name means, is fascinating to botanists and to all lovers of flowers because of two highly contrasted characteristics. One of these is what gardeners call its “sporting” tendency in color. The other is a constant quantity, which never varies. As for the former, all who know the anemone are well aware that this flower is so variable that the cultivator never knows what will be the tint of the blossoms on any plant. But the constant quantity is the great black spot in the heart of the flower. No matter what may happen to be the color of the petals, the dense dark center is always there. So it is with this our human nature. Education, culture, refinement, high accomplishments, hereditary advantages, natural amiability, may and do contribute toward the charm of many a personality; but the black spot of the depravity which is innate is not expunged by any of these expedients. (Text.)

(737)

See BIBLE AND HUMAN NATURE.

=Depravity a Disease=--See CHARACTER CONDITIONED BY THE PHYSICAL.

DEPRIVATION

We can best estimate the value of common blessings by imagining ourselves deprived of them.

What would it mean for you and me If dawn should come no more; Think of its gold along the sea, Its rose above the shore! That rose of awful mystery, Our souls bow down before.

Think what it means to see the dawn! The dawn, that comes each day! What if the East should ne’er grow wan, Should never more grow gray! That line of rose no more be drawn Above the ocean’s spray! (Text.)

--MADISON CAWEIN, Ainslee’s Magazine.

(738)

DEPTH OF RESOURCES

Some splendid pines were found, after a heavy gale, lying prostrate, tho they were strong trees in their full prime. To a questioner an old woodman said: “They got their water far too near the surface. If they had had to strike their roots deeper for moisture no winds could ever have uprooted them.”

Many folks are easily upset because all life has been too easy with them. Their roots have never struck deep because there was no great compulsion to make them go deeper for the sources of life. Our very wants, if we do not succumb to them, but go deeper until we find the heart’s need, may become the means of our strength. (Text.)

(739)

DEPTH, THE SECOND

As we drift along in a boat on the smooth surface of a river, we note many familiar appearances. Delicate winged creatures dart about, swallows flash to and fro, here and there fishes leap up, and zephyrs waft petals of flowers and seeds of plants over the placid mirror. In the shallow pool we note aquatic creatures and weeds growing among the pebbles, and thus we see the material depth. But suddenly there is a change. The bottom of the river vanishes, and there comes into view a second depth. The arched heavens are mirrored there, and we look down into measureless azure. When darkness comes the moon and stars are reflected in the depths.

It is so when we come under higher spiritual influences. These soon supersede the view of the things that are merely of the earth earthy. There is a second and heavenly depth of meaning below the whole superficies of this mundane sphere of experience.

(740)

=Derelicts=--See CONSERVATION.

=Descent to Evil=--See EVIL, BEGINNINGS OF.

=Design=--See VOICE, THE HUMAN.

=Design, A, Removed=--See REMINDERS, UNPLEASANT.

DESIGN IN MAN’S ACTIVITY

The fin of the fish does not more evidently convey the power and betoken the function of moving in the sea or the wing of the bird that of sailing on the air, than do these quickening and propellent forces, inherent in man’s being, proclaim him ordained for wide-reaching operation.--RICHARD S. STORRS.

(741)

DESIGN IN NATURE

A student of the phenomena of vision, Professor Pritchard, speaks thus of the argument from the structure of the human eye:

From what I know, through my own specialty, both geometry and experiment, of the structure of lenses and the human eye, I do not believe that any amount of evolution, extending through any amount of time consistent with the requirements of our astronomical knowledge, could have issued in the production of that most beautiful and complicated instrument, the human eye. There are too many curved surfaces, too many distances, too many densities of the media, each essential to the other; too great a facility of ruin by slight disarrangement, to admit of anything short of the intervention of an intelligent Will at some stage of the evolutionary process. (Text.)

(742)

=Design in the Soul=--See WORK DIVINELY INTENDED.

DESIGN OF GOD

We are told that on one occasion Napoleon was shut up in an island of the Danube, hemmed in by the Archduke Charles. He was able to maintain himself there, but he sent word to Italy and Spain and France, and he ordered his marshal with such minuteness that every day’s march was perfect. All over the north of France, and from the extreme south of Spain and Portugal, the corps were, all of them, advancing, and day by day, coming nearer and nearer. Not one of them, on the march, had any idea what was the final purpose, and why they were being ordered to the central point. But on the day the master appointed the heads of the columns appeared in every direction. Then it was that he was able to break forth from his bondage and roll back the tide of war.

How like our life, as it moves on, to the command of the Master. Its forces seem confused to us, without cohesion, ofttimes antagonistic. Joy and sorrow, health and sickness, prosperity and adversity--all march in their appointed paths and to their appointed ends. But at last we shall see behind them all the one will and the one power, and we shall be able to say on the day of final emancipation and victory, as said Joseph of old, God meant it unto good, to bring it to pass.--JOHN COLEMAN ADAMS.

(743)

DESIRES INORDINATE

An adventurer waits upon you one of these days and offers you on terms absurdly easy some diamond-field in Africa, or silver-mine in Nevada, or ruby-mine in Burmah--a few shares at a trifling cost will make you a millionaire. You are smitten; your brain is filled with pleasant dreams; and without the least investigation, you invest your good money to find ere long that you have been cruelly deceived. Will the public greatly pity you? They will not. There was a personal moral fault at the bottom of your misfortune. You were willingly ignorant, you were easily blinded, because of your inordinate desires. So is it in all temptations of life to which we fall a prey. A certain morbid disposition of soul is the secret of our loss or ruin.--W. L. WATKINSON, “The Transfigured Sackcloth.”

(744)

=Despair Relieved=--See EXTREMITY NOT FINAL.

=Desperate Remedy=--See LAST RESORT OF A WOMAN.

DESTINY

The tissue of the life to be We weave with colors all our own, And in the fields of destiny We reap as we have sown; Still shall the soul around it call The shadows which it gathered here, And painted on the eternal wall The past shall reappear.

(745)

* * * * *

Rev. Frederick Lynch tells in Christian Work the following story of Henry Ward Beecher:

In a public assembly a minister arose and said: “Mr. Beecher, my congregation has delegated me to ask this question of you: We have in our congregation one of the purest and most lovable men you ever saw. He is upright, honest, generous, the heartiest supporter of the church we have--the friend of the poor, the beloved of little children, a veritable saint--but he does not believe the doctrine of the Trinity. Now, where do you think he will go after death?” Mr. Beecher was equal to the occasion. Hesitating a moment, he said: “I never dare say where any man will go after death, but wherever this man goes, he certainly has my best wishes.”

(746)

* * * * *

A polliwig swims about in a muddy pool and appears happy and contented. It is in its element. After a while it develops into a frog and climbs up on the bank. Altho it has attained to a higher state of existence, it has a tendency for the old life. It does not go very far away from the muddy pool. It stays near it, that it may take an occasional dip. A boy comes along and stones it, and it leaps back into the muddy pool. The boy looks about for some other moving object. He sees a lark not far away and hurls a stone at it. The skylark spreads its wings for flight. As it soars upward, it sings clearer and sweeter until it is far above the reach of its tormentor.

The contrasted tendencies of men resemble those of the polliwig and the lark. There is a world of meaning in the brief statement about Judas, “that he might go to his own place.” (Text.)

(747)

DESTINY OF NATIONS

The destiny of nations! They arise, Have their heyday of triumph, and in turn Sink upon silence, and the lidless eyes Of fate salute them from their final urn.

How splendid-sad the story! How the gust And pain and bliss of living transient seem! Cities and pomps and glories shrunk to dust, And all that ancient opulence a dream.

Must a majestic rhythm of rise and fall Conquer the peoples once so proud on earth? Does man but march in circles, after all, Playing his curious game of death and birth?

Or shall an ultimate nation, God’s own child, Arise and rule, nor ever conquered be; Untouched of time because, all undefiled, She makes His ways her ways eternally?

--RICHARD BURTON, The Century Magazine.

(748)

DESTRUCTION, GRADUAL

One morning visitors staying in Venice were told that an ominous report was in circulation concerning the Campanile, and that so certainly was a disaster expected that the old architect who had charge of the Palace of the Doges and of the tower of St. Mark’s Cathedral had stolen out of the city, unable to bear the thought of the approaching catastrophe. A guide took visitors to the tower and pointed out little piles of sand that had trickled down from between the bricks. It was dangerous to stand there and the party retreated. The next night news went all over the world that the Campanile had fallen. But the accident had not happened suddenly. The Campanile had been through centuries preparing for its fall. Slowly the moist air of the lagoon had slaked the lime, and the acid of the smoke had disintegrated the mortar. A thousand minute injuries were slowly inflicted, and gradually the foundations settled and cracked.

So it is with character in individuals and communities. Falsehood, insincerity, vanity, dishonesty, selfishness and infidelity pull down institutions and bring even empires crashing in ruins.

(749)

DESTRUCTION NECESSARY

It has been calculated that, as fish produce so many eggs, if vast numbers of the latter and of the fish themselves were not continually destroyed and taken they would soon fill up every available space in the seas. For instance, from 60,000,000 to 70,000,000 codfish are annually caught on the shores of Newfoundland. But even that quantity seems small when it is considered that each cod yields about 4,500,000 eggs every season, and that even 8,000,000 have been found in the roe of a single cod. Were the 60,000,000 cod taken on the coast of Newfoundland left to breed, the 30,000,000 females producing 5,000,000 eggs every year, it would give a yearly addition of 150,000,000,000,000 young codfish.--Public Opinion.

(750)

=Destructive Criticism=--See SATIRE.

DESTRUCTIVENESS

The size of a thing is not always the measure of its destructiveness. We look at a big battleship and exclaim what a huge instrument of destruction. Yet the tiny germ called the tubercle bacillus is so small that it is said that 900 can find room on the point of a small sewing-needle, and these germs destroy more lives each year than the mightiest warship could possibly do in action.

(751)

* * * * *

Sins and faults gradually ruin character, once they begin to ravage, as the bee-moths ruin the hive of bees:

Death and destruction of the community follow in the train of the bee-moth. From the eggs hatch little sixteen-footed grubs that keep well hidden in the cracks, only venturing out to feed on the wax of the comb nearest them. As they grow they need more and more wax, but they protect themselves while getting it by spinning a silken web which prevents the bees from getting at them. Wherever they go they spin silken lines and little webs until, if several bee-moths have managed to lay their eggs in the hive and several hundred of their voracious wax-eating grubs are spinning tough silken lines and webs through all the corridors and rooms of the bees’ house, the household duties get so difficult to carry on that the bee community begins to dwindle; the unfed young die in their cells, the indoor workers starve, and the breakdown of the whole hive occurs.--VERNON L. KELLOGG, “Insect Stories.”

(752)

* * * * *

Character, like corn, may be destroyed, not by the assault of a single great evil, but by many minute sins and faults. Vernon L. Kellogg writes thus of corn-root aphids:

I forget how many millions of bushels of corn were raised in the State of Illinois last year, but there were very many. And that means thousands and thousands of acres of corn-fields. Now in all these corn-fields there live certain tiny soft-bodied insects called corn-root aphids. Their food is the sap of the growing corn-plants, which they suck from the roots. Altho each corn-root aphid is only about one-twentieth of an inch long and one-twenty-fifth of an inch wide, and has a sucking-beak simply microscopic in size, yet there are so many millions of these little insects, all with their microscopic little beaks stuck into the corn-roots, and all the time drinking, drinking the sap, which is the life-blood of the corn-plants, that they do a great deal of injury to the corn-fields of Illinois and cause a great loss in money to the farmers.--“Insect Stories.”

(753)

See VANDALISM.

=Detachment=--See ABSENT-MINDEDNESS.

DETAILS, PERIL OF

It is said of General Grant, when he was approaching Vicksburg, that his officers, brave enough and willing enough, had so little military experience that his orders to them were not mere directions as to what they should do, but instruction in detail as to the manner in which it should be done. It is said that a collection of those orders would form a compendium or handbook of the military art. The man of liberal training with us has always much of that experience. The sculptor in America can confide nothing to his workman. The editor often needs to know how to set type. Many a time will you have to instruct your bookbinder. Wo to you if you expect to hire a competent translator! The educated man in America is only a helpless Dominie Sampson if he can not harness his own horse, and on occasion shoe him. He must in a thousand exigencies paddle his own canoe. And the first danger which comes to him is that in all these side duties he will forget the great central object to which his life is consecrated.--EDWARD EVERETT HALE.

(754)

=Detected, Loss=--See THEFT, A CHECK ON.

DETECTION

One M. Le Roux demonstrated the value of the X-ray in detecting smuggled goods recently at the New York custom-house:

With every country using the X-ray at the custom-house and post-office smuggling would soon cease, for there seems to be no way to fool this little agent. Every means of baffling it were tried at M. Le Roux’s test. Articles were wrapt in many thicknesses of paper and woolen fabrics, and they were hidden in all sorts of queer places, but once the X-ray got busy they might just as well have shouted out their whereabouts, for not a single hidden article escaped detection.--The Technical World Magazine.

(755)

* * * * *

The high prices of meat were indirectly responsible for the arrest of Elmer McClain, a workman in a local factory, in Kokomo, Ind. At the noon-hour McClain sat down with his lunch-pail among his fellow employees and brought forth a piece of fried chicken. The presence of such a high-priced article of food in the lunch-pail of a man of McClain’s circumstances created much comment among the other workmen.

The report spread to the street, and in a little while had been circulated throughout the city, finally reaching the ears of Schuyler Stevens, who had lost some chickens by theft the night before.

Stevens informed the police, who, after an investigation, arrested McClain, who admitted that he had stolen four pullets from Stevens.

(756)

See EVIDENCE, PROVIDENTIAL; THEFT, A CHECK ON.

DETERIORATION BY DISUSE

Among the many startling disclosures with which scientific investigation has made us familiar, one of the most extravagant is the discovery according to which the nose is said to be gradually losing its power to discharge its traditional function in the case of the civilized peoples. When the sense of smell vanishes altogether--as, it is affirmed, will infallibly be the case one day--the organ itself is bound to follow its example sooner or later. It is, no doubt, a fact that the olfactory sense is much keener in the savage than in the civilized man, and it is reasonable to conclude that the more we progress in civilization the duller the sense will grow, and as nature never preserves useless organs, when the nose loses its power of smelling the nose “must go.”--London Iron.

(757)

=Determination=--See ABILITY, GAGE OF.

=Determining Factor Unknown=--See MYSTERY OF NATURE.

DEVASTATION

What a pity it is to see a garden given over to a herd of swine that tear up the beds, trample on the seeds, wallow among the flowers, spoil the fruits! This is the spectacle that is offered our eyes every day by that beautiful and divine garden of Youth when it is occupied, devastated, pillaged, by the lower instincts, the coarser appetites.--CHARLES WAGNER, “The Gospel of Life.”

(758)

=Development, Arrested=--See DEFORMITY.

=Development of the Ear=--See PRACTISE.

=Development, Slow=--See RETARDATION.

=Device for Safeguarding Freight=--See THEFT, A CHECK ON.

DEVICE THAT DECOYS

Several years ago The National Geographic Magazine published a description of the angler fish, well known along the New England coast because of a device by means of which it lures and catches other fish. This device consists of filaments or tendrils resembling seaweed, which are attached to the head.

When the angler is hungry, it hunts out a convenient place in shallow waters, where its color and markings make the fish indistinguishable from the sea-bottom. Here it lies quietly, often as if dead, while its floating filaments, kept in motion by the tide, decoy other fish, which never discover their mistake until too late to escape from the angler’s merciless jaws.

A bulletin by Theodore Gill, “Angler Fishes, Their Kinds and Ways,” recently published by the Smithsonian Institution, and from which these notes are obtained, says that the most extraordinary of all the anglers are those that carry lanterns to see with.

“Some stout-bodied anglers resorted to deep and deeper waters, where the light from the sun was faint or even ceased, and a wonderful provision was at last developed by kindly nature, which replaced the sun’s rays by some reflected from the fish itself. In fact, the illicium (a prolongation of the spine) has developed into a rod with a bulb having a phosphorescent terminal portion, and the “bait” round it has been also modified and variously added to; the fish has also had superadded to its fishing apparatus a lantern and worm-like lures galore.

“How efficient such an apparatus must be in the dark depths where these angler fishes dwell may be judged from the fact that special laws have been enacted in some countries against the use of torches and other lights for night fishing because of their deadly attractiveness. Not only the curiosity of the little deep-sea fishes, but their appetite is appealed to by the worm-like objects close to or in relief against the phosphorescent bulb of the anglers.”

(759)

DEVICES, FATAL

It is easy to go into evil by the trapdoor of temptation; it is not so easy to retrace the steps.

The bladderwort is a water-plant and catches much of its food. Underneath the surface of the water in which the plant floats are a number of lax, leafy branches spread out in all directions, and attached to these are large numbers of little flattened sacks or bladders, sometimes one-sixth of an inch long. The small end of each little bladder is surrounded by a cluster of bristles, forming a sort of hollow funnel leading into the mouth below, and this is covered inside by a perfect little trapdoor, which fits closely, but opens with the least pressure from without. A little worm or insect, or even a very small fish, can pass within, but never back again. The sack acts like an eel-trap or a catch-’em-alive mouse-trap. These little sacks actually allure very small animals by displaying glandular hairs about the entrance. The small animals are imprisoned and soon perish and decay to nourish the wicked plant. (Text.)--Prof. W. J. BEAL, The Popular Science Monthly.

(760)

=Devil, A Prayer to the=--See CHILDREN’S RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

=Devil’s Slide=--See EVIL, BEGINNINGS OF.

DEVIL, THE, CHOSEN

The course of some men makes it seem as if they had chosen the devil with more purpose than did this lawyer:

St. Evona, or Ives, of Brittany, a famous lawyer in 1300, was lamenting that his profession had not a patron saint to look up to. The physicians had St. Luke; the champions had St. George; the artists each had one; but the lawyers had none. Thinking that the Pope ought to bestow a saint, he went to Rome, and requested his Holiness to give the lawyers of Brittany a patron. The Pope, rather puzzled, proposed to St. Evona that he should go round the church of St. John de Lateran blindfold, and after he had said so many Ave Marias, the first saint he laid hold of should be his patron; and this solution of the difficulty the good old lawyer willingly undertook. When he had finished his Ave Marias, he stopt short, and laid his hands on the first image he came to, and cried out with joy, “This is our saint--this be our patron.” But when the bandage was taken from his eyes, what was his astonishment to find that, tho he had stopt at St. Michael’s altar, he had all the while laid hold, not of St. Michael, but of the figure under St. Michael’s feet--the devil! (Text.)--CROAKE JAMES, “Curiosities of Law and Lawyers.”

(761)

=Devolution=--See DOWN GRADE, THE.

=Devotion to a Leader=--See KINDNESS STIMULATING DEVOTION.

=Devotion to Christ=--See CHRIST’S FACE.

=Devotion to Duty=--See FAITHFULNESS; LIFE, A DEVOTED.

=Devotion to Science=--See SCIENCE, DEVOTION TO.

DEVOTION TO THE HELPLESS

In a newspaper account of a shipwreck, a touching incident is thus described by a survivor:

There was one incident which came particularly to my notice--the devotion of a woman to her blind husband. With her arm linked in his, she sought the rail of the Florida to be transferred to the Baltic.

An officer grabbed the man and hurled him to the rear. “Women and children only in these boats,” he yelled, as the man tumbled backward. The wife ran to her husband’s side and, again taking his arm, she appealed to the officer.

“He is blind! Can’t you see he is helpless?” she said. “I have never left him. If he can not go in the boat with me, I will stay here until this ship sinks under me.”

The unwritten law of the sea was waived before this plea, and that lone man, sightless and helpless, was permitted to accompany his wife, who would not leave the Florida until her husband was permitted to go with her.

(762)

=Dew, The Existence of the=--See SEPARATION.

DIABOLICAL POSSESSION

An old man, nearly octogenarian, who has been in bed for twenty-seven years, being a harmless monomaniac, having the delusion that his Satanic majesty always stood at his door to prevent him from going out, suddenly one morning, early in June, took it into his head that the devil was gone, whereupon he got out of bed, and, with nothing on but his shirt walked down to the quay (nearly a quarter of a mile) and jumped over. Having been a good swimmer in his early days, he struck out, and altho a boat put off from a vessel, he swam ashore.--Public Opinion.

(763)

=Diet=--See MEALS, SIMPLICITY IN.

DIET AND ENDURANCE

The Roman soldiers who built such wonderful roads and carried a weight of armor and luggage that would crush the average farmhand, lived on coarse brown bread and sour wine. They were temperate in their diet, and regular and constant in exercise. The Spanish peasant works every day and dances half the night, yet eats only his black bread, onion, and watermelon. The Smyrna porter eats only a little fruit and some olives, yet he walks off with his load of a hundred pounds. The coolie, fed on rice, is more active and can endure more than the negro fed on fat meat. The heavy work of the world is not done by men who eat the greatest quantity. Moderation in diet seems to be the prerequisite of endurance.--Public Opinion.

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=Differences of Opinion=--See OPINIONS.

DIFFICULTIES, DISPERSING

An old man once said: “I have had a long life full of troubles; most of them never happened.” So most of the giants in the way, if we do not fear them, turn out as in this dream related by the Rev. S. Benson Phillips:

When I first heard the call to the ministry I was about twelve years old. From that time until I was twenty-four years old, it was a question in my mind as to whether I was equal to the responsibilities and requirements of this holy calling. It was one night, after I had been thinking of these things, that I had the following dream: I thought that I was camping by the roadside, and had retired for the night. A great giant stood by my bedside. He offered to do me no harm, but simply stood by my bed. I begged him to go away. This he would not do until I arose and prepared to battle with him. Seeing my intention, he began to walk slowly away. I followed him. To my delight, he became smaller and smaller until he was nothing but a little boy, and unable to do me any harm.

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DIFFICULTIES, OVERCOMING

The difficulties encountered by the Prussians on their march from Havre, by St. Lambert, to the field of Waterloo would have put the endurance of any troops to the test. The roads were ankle-deep from the heavy rains, and the defiles of St. Lambert turned into a regular swamp, almost impassable for men and horses; still worse for the guns and tumbrels of ammunition. These were very numerous and far from being well horsed, sinking at intervals up to the axle-trees. The horses’ floundering caused a stoppage, and the most robust soldiers in endeavoring to extricate the guns and ammunition wagons would drop down, overcome by the fatigue of their exertions, and declare “they could not get on.” “But we must get on,” replied their veteran commander, who seemed to multiply himself, and might be seen at different points along the line of march, exciting his men to exertion by words of encouragement. “I have promised Wellington to be up,” said Blücher, “and up we must get. Surely you will not make me forfeit my word. Exert yourselves a little more, and victory is certain.”--EDWARD COTTON, “A Voice from Waterloo.”

(766)

See ILLITERACY.

DIFFICULTIES, SOCIAL

The only way to get De Quincey to a dinner-party was to send an able-bodied man to find him and bring him by force. Occasionally he revenged himself by making a stay of several weeks, so that the difficulty of getting him into a friend’s house was forgotten in the more appalling difficulty of how to get him out again.--W. J. DAWSON, “The Makers of English Prose.”

(767)

=Difficulty Aiding Achievement=--See ADVERSITY HELPING GENIUS.

=Dilemma=--See SIMPLE-MINDEDNESS.

=Dimensions=--See UPWARD LOOK.

=Diminishing Numbers=--See SEASICKNESS.

DIMINUTIVES

Some years ago, when the bedding was not supposed to be as fat as it ought to be, and the pillows were accused of being constructed upon the homeopathic principle, a New Englander got on a railroad car one night. Now, it is a remarkable fact that a New Englander never goes to sleep in one of these cars. He lies awake all night, thinking how he can improve upon every device and patent in sight. He poked his head out of the upper berth at midnight, hailed a porter and said, “Say, have you got such a thing as a corkscrew about you?” “We don’t ’low no drinkin’ sperits aboa’d these yer cars, sah,” was the reply. “’Tain’t that,” said the Yankee, “but I want to get hold on to one of your pillows that has kind of worked its way into my ear.”--HORACE PORTER.

(768)

=Diploma Valueless=--See COLLEGE OR EXPERIENCE.

DIPLOMACY, COWARDLY

A distinguished divine was called upon to offer prayer in a mixed company, when in accordance with the custom of the times, he included in his petition to the Almighty a large measure of anathema, as “We beseech thee, O Lord! to overwhelm the tyrant! We beseech thee to overwhelm and to pull down the oppressor! We beseech thee to overwhelm and pull down the Papist!” And then opening his eyes, and seeing that a Roman Catholic archbishop and his secretary were present, he saw he must change the current of his petitions if he would be courteous to his audience, and said vehemently, “We beseech thee, O Lord! we beseech thee--we beseech thee--we beseech thee to pull down and overwhelm the Hottentot!” Said some one to him when the prayer was over, “My dear brother, why were you so hard upon the Hottentot?” “Well,” said he, “the fact is, when I opened my eyes and looked around, between the paragraphs in the prayer, at the assembled guests, I found that the Hottentots were the only people who had not some friends among the company.”--HENRY CODMAN POTTER.

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DIPLOMAT, A, AND MISSIONS

Sir Henry Mortimer Durand, at one time ambassador of Great Britain to the United States, gave the following advice to missionaries before the Fifth International Convention of the Student Volunteer Movement, held at Nashville, in 1906:

I beg you to consider earnestly before you go whether you are really fitted for the task before you. Do not be misled by love of excitement or adventure, or by the glamour of the East. It has a wonderful glamour, and any man of thought and feeling who has been out there will “hear the East a-calling” for many a year. But a great part of a missionary’s work, as indeed a great part of the work of every profession, is hard drudgery. To master an Oriental language, as you must master it if you are to be of any use, is itself a labor of years. Judson used often to sit and study his Burmese for twelve hours out of the twenty-four, and, as I have said, it took him twenty-seven years to complete his translation of the Bible. That is the kind of toil you must be ready to face. I once saw a missionary attempt to convert an Afghan. His manner of doing so was to walk up to the Afghan on the road and say in very bad Persian, which was not really the Afghan’s language, “Christ is the Son of God.” He repeated the remark twice, receiving each time a monosyllabic answer, and then he sheered off, having apparently no more Persian at his command. This is the sort of thing which causes the enemy to blaspheme. And remember Judson’s warning. Do not be tempted to spiritual pride. Do not stand aloof and condemn the diplomatist, or the administrator, or the soldier, because their lives and their views are not what yours are. They, too, know some things--some things which you can not know--and they, too, are trying to do their duty. Above all, never look down on the soldier. He may be rough and reckless at times, but he is always ready to lay down his life for his country, and all good missionaries should honor the soldier’s uniform.

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DIRECTION

All life is short in itself. But we do not complain that the night is short if we are looking for the dawn, nor that the winter is short if we are eager for the spring. A short life is long enough to take the right direction, and direction is the main fact about our life. For our children we ask: How are they coming out?--FRANKLIN NOBLE, “Sermon in Illustration.”

(771)

* * * * *

“I’d have you know, sir,” said the Congressman from one of the tall-grass districts, “that I am walking in the footsteps of George Washington.”

“I see you are,” rejoined the wise guy, “but for some reason unknown to me, you are headed the wrong way.” (Text.)--Chicago News.

(772)

* * * * *

The following verses from an unidentified source carry their own lesson:

One ship drives east and another drives west, While the selfsame breezes blow; It’s the set of the sails and not the gales That bids them where to go.

Like the winds of the seas are the ways of the fates, As we voyage along through life; It’s the set of the soul that decides the goal, And not the storm or strife.

(773)

See DESTINY; FACING RIGHT; TENDENCY.

DIRECTION, SENSE OF

No one would suppose that a calf possest any extraordinary amount of intelligence, but that one of these animals had a well-developed bump of location is proven by the facility with which this particular animal found its way home after it had been taken away. A college professor writes of this incident which came under his personal observation:

“I spent my vacation the past summer at my mother’s, three miles from Siler City, N. C. My brother, who lived at Siler City, had a three-months-old calf which he wanted to pasture at my mother’s farm. Accordingly the calf was brought along the road from the town. The next day the animal got out of the open gate and returned home. I followed its trail; it had recently rained. The calf first took almost a bee-line for its home; crossed a small ditch, then came to a large ditch, which it wandered down some distance, but returned and crossed near its direct line. This was at a distance of a quarter of a mile from the road by which it had been delivered, and all the space is covered by thick forest.

“When the calf struck the main road it proceeded along this to its home. This animal never had been out of its lot until it was brought to my mother’s, and yet its sense of direction was so accurate that it took a straight line for home until it reached the road by which it had been brought. Then it depended upon its memory of the road, altho it might have followed a path in a much more direct line.”--Harper’s Weekly.

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DIRECTIONS

Cora S. Day, in The Interior, illustrates in the following paragraphs the value of the Bible as a book of directions:

They were looking through the medicine-chest in search of a needed remedy when there came to light a half-filled vial, whose torn label held but a part of the directions for use.

“Might as well throw this away. I have forgotten what it is, what it is for and how to take it,” said the finder.

“Yes, take it out. It is no good without the directions,” agreed the other. So the medicine was set aside.

There are a good many things that are no good to us without the directions. Without the knowledge of how to use it, the most useful tool or machine is of no more value to a man than so much junk. With the directions, it becomes his assistant, his servant, and does good work for him.

If you buy a sewing-machine, or a typewriter, for instance, you are given a book of instructions which tells how to use it. In addition, the agent usually gives you personal instructions in its operation, making its ordinary workings plain to you. But some day, when you are trying to run it alone, there comes a hitch perhaps--something you do not understand, some new development or complication. Then you are glad to turn to the book of directions for help.

How about the book which gives directions for right living? Preachers and teachers and parents can tell you many good things when they are at hand; but the book can help you at all times. Full of directions for every difficulty and sure to point the way and lead you aright, it can be always near, ready to help in all perplexities. (Text.)

(775)

DIRECTIONS, CONTRASTED

Russell Sage, it is said, directed by his will that his body should be placed in a steel casket, weighing three tons, made burglar-proof, locked and sealed. He made this bequest to himself through fear that his physical remains might be stolen for the sake of getting a ransom. During his long life he accumulated a vast fortune and kept it. He probably spent no more, fared no better, did no more service to his fellow men than many a business man or employee of modest income.

The late Governor Hogg, of Texas, left no fortune to relatives or to charity. He directed that a pecan-tree should be planted at the head of his grave and a walnut-tree at its foot. His purpose was to teach thrift to the people of his State. These fruit-bearing trees suggest comfort and prosperity. There is no fear that any one will steal his body, but a message of wisdom and affection will continue to go out from it after the remains have returned to dust. (Text.)

(776)

=Directness=--See SINGLENESS OF PURPOSE.

=Dirtiness, Removing=--See DISCIPLINE FROM CHANGE.

DISAPPOINTMENT

There are thousands upon thousands of models at the Patent-office of inventions that are of absolutely no use whatever. They represent the blasted hopes and often the ruined fortunes of innumerable inventors who invested their time and money in worthless ideas. The models forwarded by these inventors to the Patent-office form a sort of museum by themselves, and those who wish to look a bit beneath the surface can find a story abounding in genuine pathos lurking in pretty nearly every one of these foolish inventions. (Text.)--New York Evening Sun.

(777)

See APPOINTMENT.

=Discernment=--See INTERPRETATION BY EXPERIENCE.

DISCERNMENT, LACK OF SPIRITUAL

You might as well talk to a child of the African jungle about the glitter of New York’s Vanity Fair and expect him to understand you as to talk to an unregenerate person about the Kingdom of God and hope to make him comprehend the mysteries of which you speak. He wouldn’t say or do anything to wound your feelings for the world--he is too much of a gentleman for that; but at the same time he gives you to distinctly understand that the things of the Spirit of God are foolishness to him. And tho, after all, he may appear a much bigger fool to you than you do to him, you must at least admit that his attitude is thoroughly Scriptural.--F. F. SHANNON.

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DISCIPLINE

A visitor to a pottery establishment was puzzled by an operation that seemed aimless. In one room there was a mass of clay beside a workman. Every now and then he took up a mallet and struck several smart blows on the surface of the lump. Curiosity led to the question, “Why do you do that?” “Wait a bit, sir, and watch it,” was the answer. The stranger obeyed, and soon the top of the mass began to heave and swell. Bubbles formed upon its face. “Now, sir, you see,” said the modeler, “I could never shape the clay into a vase if these air-bubbles were in it, therefore I gradually beat them out.”

Is not the discipline of life just a beating out of the bubbles of pride and self-will, so that God may form a vessel of earth to hold heavenly treasures? (Text.)

(779)

See SUCCESS IN FAILURE.

DISCIPLINE AMONG CHILDREN

It required just one minute and fifteen seconds for three thousand pupils and teachers of Public School 22, at Sheriff and Stanton Streets (New York), to file into the streets after the “four taps signal,” indicating that the building must be vacated with haste, a few minutes after a fire had been discovered. One incident indicated particularly the degree of discipline instilled into the children.

Harry Kagel, one of the smallest boys in the primary department, asked permission to go down-stairs just after the pupils had assembled for the afternoon session. As the boy was passing a room near the vestibule on the ground floor, he scented smoke. Opening the door, he found a fire blazing in waste paper and baskets. He did not cry out or run with fear from the building, but, remembering what his teachers had told him again and again, he ran quietly up-stairs to his class-room and whispered about the fire in the ear of the teacher, Miss Dixey.

She called an older boy and sent him to investigate. In a minute he was back with a verification. Then Miss Dixey hurried to Miss C. Knowl, principal of the primary department, and to John P. Townley, principal of the school, and the signal was sounded.

At once every child in the school went to his or her station, and all were in line or at the post assigned in a few seconds. Altho the thin smoke in the hallways, creeping into the sixty-six classrooms of the four-story building, indicated to pupils and teachers that this was not one of the regular drills, there was no confusion, and with the exception of the faces of pupils and teachers, which were a trifle more serious than at daily drill, the program was carried out perfectly.

One of the teachers, assigned to the piano, began the march, and the pupils began to file out of the rooms after the last bell. Monitors took their places on the stone steps to guard against confusion near the exits. Every door in the building was thrown open by those assigned to that duty.

As soon as they were in the streets, the classes hurried away from the exits, so that the march of those in the rear would not be hampered.

In the meantime the janitor, Duncan Robinson, had gathered a number of large boys of the grammar department and formed a bucket brigade. They made short work of the flames. There was no call sent in for the fire department.

(780)

=Discipline, Easy=--See SLACKNESS.

DISCIPLINE EVADED

Kassim Pasha, when Minister of War for Egypt, was very particular in regard to the personal appearance of his officers and issued stringent orders that they should never appear unshaven in public. One day he met upon the street a lieutenant who had bearded the pasha and disregarded his orders. “To what regiment do you belong?” demanded the indignant minister. “To the ---- regiment, at Abasseuh,” replied the frightened lieutenant. “Get into my carriage at once so that I can carry you to the encampment and have you publicly punished,” was the stern command which followed.

The young man obeyed, and the twain rode along gloomily enough for some time, when the pasha stopt his carriage and entered an office where he would be detained for some time on business. Seizing the opportunity, the culprit sprang from the vehicle, darted into a neighboring barber’s stall and regained his post before the return of his jailer minus his beard. For the remainder of the route the officer buried his face in his hands and seemed the picture of apprehension.

Abasseuh was reached at last, and all the officers were assembled to witness the degradation of their comrade, who all the while kept well in the rear of his chief. “Come forward, you son of a dog!” cried the irate pasha, when there stept before him an officer with a face as clean as a baby’s and a look of the most supreme innocence. His excellency gave one look of blank astonishment and then, with an appreciative smile breaking over his war-worn features, turned to the assembled officers and said, “Here, gentlemen, your old minister is a fool, and your young lieutenant is a captain.”--Pitston Gazette.

(781)

DISCIPLINE FROM CHANGE

God frequently improves men by shaking them up and running them through scouring-machines of misfortune, like the wheat mentioned in this extract:

The grain reaches Port Arthur in carloads, and is examined by a grain-inspector in the service of the Dominion Government. If found to be suffering from smut, it is separated into three grades, according to the amount of smut adhering to it. That which is least dirty is scoured and brushed until all vestige of smut is removed, while the dirtier grain is thoroughly washed and dried before being cleaned. The scouring-machine turns and tosses the wheat so vigorously that every grain becomes highly polished, and is said to be in a better condition for milling than ordinary wheat, since it has lost part of its outer integument, which would have to be removed. (Text.)--ARTHUR INKERSLEY, The American Inventor.

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=Discipline, Military=--See OBEDIENCE.

=Disclosure=--See UTTERANCE.

DISCONTENT, DIVINE

An unidentified author writes thus of discontent:

When the world was formed and the morning stars Upon their paths were sent, The loftiest-browed of the angels was named The Angel of Discontent.

And he dwelt with man in the caves of the hills, Where the crested serpent stings, And the tiger tears and the she-wolf howls, And he told of better things.

And he led man forth to the towered town, And forth to the fields of corn; And he told of the ampler work ahead For which the race was born.

And he whispers to men of those hills he sees In the blush of the golden west; And they look to the light of his lifted eye And they hate the name of rest.

In the light of that eye doth the slave behold A hope that is high and brave, And the madness of war comes into his blood For he knows himself a slave.

The serfs of wrong in the light of that eye March on with victorious songs; For the strength of their right comes into their hearts When they behold their wrongs.

’Tis by the light of that lifted eye That error’s mists are rent-- A guide to the table-land of Truth Is the Angel of Discontent.

And still he looks with his lifted eye, And his glance is far away On a light that shines on the glimmering hills Of a diviner day. (Text.)

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=Discourtesy=--See BARGAIN-MAKING.

DISCOVERY, ACCIDENTAL

Blotting-paper was discovered purely by accident. Some ordinary paper was being made one day at a mill in Berkshire when a careless workman forgot to put in the sizing material. It may be imagined what angry scenes would take place in that mill, as the whole of the paper made was regarded as being quite useless. The proprietor of the mill desired to write a note shortly afterward, and he took a piece of waste paper, thinking it was good enough for the purpose. To his intense annoyance, the ink spread all over the paper. All of a sudden there flashed over his mind the thought that this paper would do instead of sand for drying ink, and he at once advertised his waste paper as “blotting.”

There was such a big demand that the mill ceased to make ordinary paper and was soon occupied making blotting only, the use of which spread to all countries. The result now is that the descendant of the discoverer owns the largest mills in the world for the manufacture of the special kind of paper. The reason the paper is of use in drying ink is that really it is a mass of hair-like tubes, which suck up liquid by capillary attraction. If a very fine glass tube is put into water the liquid will rise in it owing to capillary attraction. The art of manufacturing blotting-paper has been carried to such a degree that the product has wonderful absorbent qualities.--Boston Herald.

(784)

* * * * *

Whether this story be true or legendary, it is a fact that many great discoveries have been the result of happy accident; or, as the Christian will prefer to say, the result of Providence:

It is said that the two Jansen boys had placed the spectacle lenses, with which they were playing, at the proper distances apart and were looking through them at the weather-cock on the top of a distant church steeple. They were surprized at discovering two things; first, that the weather-cock appeared upside down; and, second, it could be seen much more distinctly through the glasses than with the naked eye. Of course, they called the attention of their father to this curious discovery. Jansen, who was an intelligent man, and well acquainted with the properties of lenses as they were known at that early time, constructed a telescope based on the discovery of his sons.--EDWIN J. HOUSTON, “The Wonder-book of Light.”

(785)

DISCOVERY, BENEFITS FROM

In the development of mineral resources and in manufactures, higher education is paying even larger proportionate returns than in agriculture. Practically the entire $2,000,000,000 yearly mineral production of the United States is directly due to a few chemical and electrical processes which were worked out by highly educated scientists. For example, the cyanide process of extracting gold, worked out in the laboratory in 1880 by McArthur and Forrest, is responsible for fully one-third of the world’s gold production, making possible the five million annual production of the Homestake mine in North Dakota and the one hundred and forty-five million of South Africa, and many other similar cases. The Elkinton electrolytic process of refining copper is in the same way used now in producing 700,000,000 pounds of copper annually in the United States. The Bessemer and the open-hearth processes of producing steel, by which nearly all of our 23,000,000 tons are produced annually, are due to the scientific researches of Sir Henry Bessemer, of Thomas and Gilchrist, and of Siemens. Birmingham, Pittsburg, and a host of wealthy cities could never have come into being but for these discoveries. James Gayley’s discovery taught the practical steelworkers how they could save one-third of their coke and at the same time increase the output of their furnaces by a new process of extracting the moisture from the blast. This alone means the saving from now on of 10,000,000 tons of coal annually in the United States.--New York Evening Post.

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DISCOVERY, FORTUNATE

“Here’s the last quarter I’ve got in the world. Give me some oysters, and go as far as you like,” was the combination of announcement and request with which John Olson, a sailor employed on the Scandinavian-American Line, greeted William Gau, proprietor of a market on Washington Street, Hoboken, as he entered that establishment.

Mr. Gau proceeded to open oysters. The sailor looked hungry, so he made haste.

As the third oyster was pried apart Mr. Gau uttered an exclamation. There was a big pearl. “Well, that’s the best luck I’ve had in a long time,” he observed. “Isn’t it a beauty?”

“Wait a minute,” piped up Olson. “Didn’t I buy the oysters, and didn’t you take the money? My oyster, my pearl. Hand ’er over.”

The oysterman protested, but the sailor argued so convincingly that Mr. Gau finally acquiesced. They journeyed at once to a jeweler, who appraised the jewel at $200, and threw in an exclamation of admiration upon its white color for good measure. It weighs about three carats.

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DISCRETION

When I was a boy, a grim old doctor in a neighboring town was struck down and crusht by a loaded sledge. He got up, staggered a few paces, fell and died. He had been in attendance upon an ancient lady, a connection of my own, who at that moment was lying in a most critical condition. The news of the accident reached her, but not its fatal character. Presently the minister of the parish came in, and a brief conversation like this followed: “Is the doctor badly hurt?” “Yes, badly.” “Does he suffer much?” “He does not; he is easy.” And so the old gentlewoman blest God and went off to sleep, to learn the whole story at a fitter and safer moment. I know the minister was a man of truth, and I think he showed himself in this instance a man of wisdom.--OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.

(788)

=Discretion in Attack=--See ATTACK, DISCRETION IN.

DISCRIMINATION IN PUNISHMENT

A farm servant named Auguste Bichet was condemned at Nancy to six days’ imprisonment for stealing a franc, but was complimented by the court for his honesty. Bichet stole a franc from a shop counter and confest to the theft. But about the same time he found a purse containing $125 and at once restored it to its owner, refusing to accept any reward. The court exprest its astonishment and admiration at the man’s honesty, but as he had been convicted before, the president said they were obliged to send him to prison. They did so with great regret and complimented him on his probity.--San Francisco Bulletin.

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DISCRIMINATION, UNFAIR

Taking $1,000,000 is called genius. „ 100,000 „ „ shortage. „ 50,000 „ „ litigation. „ 25,000 „ „ insolvency. „ 10,000 „ „ irregularity. „ 5,000 „ „ defalcation. „ 1,000 „ „ corruption. „ 500 „ „ embezzlement. „ 100 „ „ dishonesty. „ 50 „ „ stealing. „ 25 „ „ total depravity. „ one ham „ „ war on society.

--Washington Post.

(790)

See POISON DRINK.

DISEASE BENEFICIAL

People have considered every symptom of disease noxious, and that it ought to be stamped out with relentless determination; but, according to Sir Frederick Treves, the motive of disease is benevolent and protective. If it were not for disease, he said, the human race would soon be extinct.

Sir Frederick took examples, such as a wound and the supervening inflammation, which is a process of cure to be imitated rather than hindered. Peritonitis, he said, was an operating surgeon’s best friend; without it every example of appendicitis would be fatal. The phenomena of a cough and cold were in the main manifestations of a cure. Without them a common cold might become fatal. The catarrh and persistent sneezing were practical means of dislodging bacteria from the nasal passage, and the cough of removing the bacteria from the windpipe. Again, the whole of the manifestations of tuberculosis were expressions of unflagging efforts on the part of the body to oppose the progress of invading bacterium. (Text.)--New York Sun.

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DISEASE, CAUSES OF

At the present moment there are two theories in the field to explain the origin of contagious diseases--the parasitic theory and the theory of the innate character of diseases. The parasitic theory assumes that diseases are originated by microbes first diffused in the atmosphere, and then taken into the system by the air we breathe, the water we drink, the things we touch. The advocates of the innate character of diseases hold, on the contrary, that the disease is spontaneously developed in the patient; the first cause is in morbid changes which are purely chemical, changes produced in the actual substance of the tissues and secretions without any external intervention of microbes; the microbes, where they really exist, being only a secondary phenomenon, a complication, and not the scientific cause which actually terminates the disease. Now, whatever may be the exact truth in this biological controversy, it is evident that the first cause of such disease must be sought in a defect of life, a feebleness, a certain untoward disposition and receptivity in the organism itself. The phylloxera devastates the French vineyards because the vines have been exhausted by excessive cultivation; tuberculosis fastens upon man because of obscure conditions of bodily weakness and susceptibility; vigorous plants and robust constitutions defying the foreign destructive bodies which may fill the air--extrinsic influence and excitement counting for little where the intrinsic tendency does not exist.

Revelation assumes that the man morally occupies much the same position. Environment brings the opportunity for evil, the solicitation or provocation to evil, so far do evil communications corrupt good manners; but the first cause of all must be found in the heart itself, in its lack of right direction, sympathy, and force; in a word, the scientific cause of sin is the spiritual cause--W. L. WATKINSON, “The Transfigured Sackcloth.”

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DISEASE, EXEMPTION FROM

Breweries and tanneries and printing-ink factories confer exemption from tuberculosis, and employees in turpentine factories never have rheumatism. Copper-mining excludes the possibility of typhoid among the workers.

Shepherds enjoy remarkable health. The odd odor of sheep appears to exercise some influence tending to the prevention of disease. Sheep are especially good for whooping-cough, so that in a sheep country, when a child is taken down with that malady, it is the custom for the mother to put it among the sheep to play. The next day, it is said, the child will be well.

Men and women working in lavender, whether gathering or distilling it, are said never to suffer from neuralgia or nervous headache. Lavender, moreover, is as good as a sea voyage for giving tone to the system. Persons suffering from nervous breakdown frequently give their services gratis to lavender plants, in order that they may build up their vitality.

Salt-miners can wear summer clothes in blizzard weather without fear of catching cold, for colds are unknown among these workers.--Harper’s Weekly.

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=Disease Traveling=--See EVIL, VIRULENCY OF.

=Disguise of Temptation=--See IMAGINATION, LURE OF.

DISGUISED DANGER

The dangers to moral integrity most to be guarded against are those which come disguised, and are often hard to detect.

D. W. Whittle tells of a soldier who was posted in a forest to watch the approach of Indians. It was a position of peculiar danger, three different men having been surprized and killed at this post without having had time to fire a shot. The soldier was left with strict orders to observe the utmost vigilance. In a short time an object moving among the trees at some distance caught his eye. He watched it, with gun ready; as it came a little nearer, he saw it to be a wild hog. Another came in sight. He satisfied himself it was a wild hog, rooting under the leaves. Presently, in another direction, the leaves were rustled and a third wild hog appeared. Being now used to these creatures, he paid but little attention. The movements of the last animal, however, soon engaged the man’s thoughts. He observed a slight awkwardness in its movements, and thought possibly an Indian might be approaching, covered in a hog’s skin. If it was an Indian the safest thing was to shoot. If it was not an Indian, and he should shoot, he would run no risk. He raised his rifle and fired. With a bound and a yell, an Indian leapt to his feet and fell back dead. The man had saved his life, and prevented the surprize of the garrison by his watchfulness. (Text.)

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DISHONESTY

Once D. L. Moody was talking to a man who sold soap which he claimed would do all kinds of remarkable things, including the removing of spots caused by grease. The man was, nevertheless, very perturbed, and at last he told Mr. Moody what his trouble was. “The soap accomplishes all that I assert; but the truth is that it also rots all the clothes which it washes. If I become a Christian, I shall have to give up my business, and I can not bring myself to do that.” The evangelist used to say that it was only soap which stood between this man and a Christian life. (Text.)

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* * * * *

Henry Ward Beecher tells a story of a man in the Canadian backwoods, who, during the summer months, had procured a stock of fuel sufficient for the winter. This man had a neighbor who was very indolent, and not very honest, and who, having neglected to provide against the winter storms, was mean enough to avail himself of his neighbor’s supplies without the latter’s permission or knowledge. Mr. Beecher states that it was found, on computation, that the thief had actually spent more time in watching for opportunities to steal, and labored more arduously to remove the wood (to say nothing of the risk and penalty of detection), than the man who in open daylight, and by honest means, had gathered it.

(796)

=Dishonesty Discovered=--See EVIDENCE, PROVIDENTIAL.

=Dishonesty in Business=--See BUSINESS CHEATING.

=Disillusionment=--See LABELS, MISLEADING.

=Disobedience=--See CONSCIENCE A MONITOR.

=Disobedience Approved=--See HIGHER LAW, THE.

=Disparity=--See MASSES, AMONG THE.

=Disparity in Punishment=--See INJUSTICE; DECAY.

DISPLACEMENT

A right once surrendered may be lost forever.

A story is told by the Kermanjis of Persia of how the jackals came to inhabit the desert. In olden days the jackals were the domesticated pets of Kerman, while the dogs dwelt among the ruins outside the city walls. The wily dogs asked the noble jackals if they would not exchange places for just three days, in order that the invalids among the dogs might recover their strength and health, at the same time enlarging upon the beauties of the desert life. The generous jackals consented. But when the stipulated period expired the dogs declined to yield their place, saying, “No, thank you, we prefer to stay where we are, and do not wish ever to return to the desert.” So the outwitted jackals went howling away, and have been wailing nightly ever since.

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See PROGRESS BY DISPLACEMENT.

=Display, Vain=--See NOTORIETY.

DISPROPORTION

The number of small men in high places is far greater than of large men in low places. The latter do not remain long in cramped conditions.

The Hon. William E. Chandler, Secretary of the Navy under President Arthur, relates this incident of Assistant Surgeon Ver Mulen. The story, as printed in Harper’s Weekly, runs as follows:

That officer was 6 feet 4 inches in height, a fact that occasioned him much discomfort when he was serving on the old Penobscot, the height of the vessel between decks being only 5 feet and 8 inches. As Surgeon Ver Mulen considered the matter, he remembered that long letters to the Navy Department were not always given that prompt attention he thought should be afforded in the present instance, so he determined to approach the authorities in a manner novel enough to impress them with the gravity of the situation. So he addrest his superior officer in this wise:

“The Honorable the Secretary of the Navy.

“Sir: Length of surgeon, 6 feet 4 inches; height of wardroom, 5 feet 8 inches.

“Respectfully, “E. C. VER MULEN, “Assistant Surgeon, U.S.N.”

Shortly after, the Navy Department detached Ver Mulen “until such time as a more suitable ship could be found for his assignment.”

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* * * * *

Artists have a good many queer customers, and they have advantages for observing what vague ideas it is possible for a man to entertain respecting art and nature, too. An ex-soldier went to the studio of D. J. Gue, of Brooklyn, one day, to inspect a picture of Lookout Mountain that the artist had been painting. The picture pleased him, and he evidently had thoughts of purchase, but he was suddenly struck with a brilliant idea that he communicated thus: “I was in that fight, mister, and I’d like you to paint my picture on that. Let’s see. You could paint me right here in this field, facing front, with my left hand resting on top of the mountain.” The man was in thorough earnest. He did not see that if drawn to scale his finger would be about 5,000 feet high, and that he would have a reach of arm that would enable him to grasp at an object six or seven miles away. Mr. Gue precipitately declined the commission.--Brooklyn Eagle.

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DISPROPORTION OF PRAISE

The case of De Quincey in regard to opium-eating, is analogous to the case of a painter who has no hands, and had learned to paint with his toes. Many estimable artists might paint as well with their hands; but it is natural that the man who paints with his toes should be much more talked of, and attract a quite disproportionate share of fame. The wonder is, to quote Dr. Johnson’s phrase, not that the thing is done well, but that it is done at all.--W. J. DAWSON, “The Makers of English Prose.”

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=Dissipation of Force=--See FRICTION DISSIPATING FORCE.

DISTANCE

As I came into your city to-night I saw your great structure [Brooklyn Bridge] across the river here, binding the two great cities together and making them one, and I remember that as I came the last time into your beautiful bay down yonder, I saw what seemed to be a mere web of gossamer, a bare hand’s breadth along the horizon. It seemed as if I might have swept it away with my hand if I could have reached it, so airy and light it was in the distance, but when I came close to it to-night I found that it was one of the greatest structures that human intellect has ever devised. I saw it thrilling and vibrating with every energy of our pulsating, modern life. At a distance it looked as if the vessels nearest would strike it, full head, and carry it away. When I reached it I saw that it was so high, so vast, that the traffic of your great stream passed easily backward and forward under it. So it is with some problems. They may appear very small to you, ladies and gentlemen, or to us, when seen at a distance--as tho merely a handsweep would get rid of them; but nearer at hand they appear too vast to be moved easily.--THOMAS NELSON PAGE.

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See POINT OF VIEW; RETROSPECT.

=Distance and Nearness=--See RETROSPECT.

=Distinctions, Vain=--See SELFISHNESS.

=Distinctions, Unfair=--See DISCRIMINATION, UNFAIR.

=Disturbance=--See BAPTISM.

DISUSE

Moored off the famous White Tower of Salonica lay, year after year, a small, dirty, uncared-for, antiquated gunboat, the solitary representative of the Turkish Navy. It never moved. But when Turkey awoke the gunboat was ordered to Constantinople to join in the rejoicings. Steam was got up and preparations were made to raise the anchor, but in vain. It had become wedded to the solid rock. So the chain was cut and the anchor left in its chosen resting-place.

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See ATROPHY; DEGENERACY THROUGH DISEASE.

DIVERSE INFLUENCES

Man, after all, is not ripened by virtue alone. Were it so, this world were a paradise of angels. No; like the growth of the earth, he is the fruit of all seasons, the accident of a thousand accidents, a living mystery moving through the seen to the unseen; he is sown in dishonor; he is matured under all the varieties of heat and cold, in mists and wrath, in snow and vapors, in the melancholy of autumn, in the torpor of winter as well as in the rapture and fragrance of summer, or the balmy affluence of spring, its breath, its sunshine; at the end he is reaped, the product not of one climate but of all; not of good alone but of sorrow, perhaps mellowed and ripened, perhaps stricken and withered and sour. How, then, shall we judge any one?--how, at any rate, shall we judge a giant, great in gifts and great in temptation, great in strength, and great in weakness? Let us glory in his strength and be comforted in his weakness, and when we thank heaven for the inestimable gift of Burns, we do not need to remember wherein he was imperfect, we can not bring ourselves to regret that he was made of the same clay as ourselves.--LORD ROSEBERY.

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DIVERSION BY SMALL THINGS

The story of the way in which John Wesley partly failed in an attempt to gain back certain seceders from his following is told by the Rev. W. H. Fitchett, as follows:

According to the Moravians themselves, the dramatic effect of Wesley’s departure from the building was spoiled by a petty but ingenious trick. As the persons present came into the room they placed their hats all together on the ground in one corner; but Wesley’s hat had been--by design--carried off. When he had finished his paper and called upon all who agreed with him to follow him, he walked across the room, but could not discover his hat! The pause, the search which followed, quite effaced the impressiveness of his departure, and, as Southey puts it, “The wily Molther and his followers had time to arrest many who would have been carried away in his wake.”--“Wesley and His Century.”

(804)

=Diversity Desirable=--See TALENTS DIFFER.

=Diversity in Work=--See HEADWORK.

=Diverting the Mind=--See OFFENDED FEELINGS.

=Divine Wisdom Best=--See PLAYTHINGS, EARTH’S.

DIVINITY

All things are mine; to all things I belong; I mingle in them--heeding bounds nor bars-- Float in the cloud, melt in the river’s song; In the clear wave from rock to rock I leap, Widen away, and slowly onward creep; I stretch forth glimmering hands beneath the stars And lose my little murmur in the deep.

Yea, more than that: whatever I behold-- Dark forest, mountain, the o’erarching wheel Of heaven’s solemn turning, all the old Immeasurable air and boundless sea-- Yields of its life, builds life and strength in me For tasks to come, while I but see and feel, And merely am, and it is joy to be.

Lo, that small spark within us is not blind To its beginning; struck from one vast soul Which, in the framework of the world, doth bind All parts together; small, but still agreeing With That which molded us without our seeing; Since God is all, and all in all--the Whole In whom we live and move and have our being. (Text.)

--SAMUEL V. COLE, The Critic.

(805)

DIVINITY IN PHENOMENA

Not a planet that wheels its circle around its controlling flame, not a sun that pours its blaze upon the black ether, not one of all the constellated chandeliers that burn in the dome of heaven, not a firmament that spots the robe of space with a fringe of light, but is a visible statement of a conception, wish, or purpose in the mind of God, from which it was born, and to which alone it owes its continuance and form.--THOMAS STARR KING.

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DIVORCE

The growth of the divorce evil in recent years has been a subject of wide comment, and many remedies have been advocated. The diagrams and maps here shown indicate the increase and present status of divorces in the United States as compared with other lands.

This diagram affords a comparison between the divorce-rate in the United States and in certain foreign countries.

This chart is based on the average annual number of marriages per 10,000 adult unmarried population in the various States and Territories.

This diagram is based on the average annual number of divorces per 100,000 married population in the various States and Territories.

(807)

See BIRTH-RATE IN FRANCE.

DOCILITY, SPIRITUAL

An argument for man’s spiritual docility ought easily to be seen in his ignorance. He is blind but presumptuous. Nature herself ought to teach him better. As one says:

Just as when the yellow fog broods over London, all the illuminations devised by man can not penetrate it; just as in the dark country road on the misty night, the brightest lamp is of no more avail than a farthing rushlight; so no argument of men can remove the mists which becloud the soul. We only do what we have to do in the physical world--wait till the sun comes back.

If man be so encompassed by ignorance in the physical realm, how can he walk in the spiritual. Let him humble himself, if he would really understand. Let him obey, that he may know.

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=Dog as a Detective=--See ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE.

DOGMATISM, MISTAKEN

I had heard that nothing had been observed in ancient times which could be called by the name of glass--that there had been merely attempts to imitate it. I thought they had proved the proposition. They certainly had elaborated it. In Pompeii, a dozen miles south of Naples, which was covered with ashes by Vesuvius eighteen hundred years ago, they broke into a room full of glass; there was ground-glass, window-glass, cut-glass, and colored-glass of every variety. It was undoubtedly a glass-maker’s factory. So the lie and refutation came face to face. It was like a pamphlet printed in London, in 1836, by Dr. Lardner, which proved that a steamboat could not cross the ocean; and the book came to this country in the first steamboat that came across the Atlantic.--WENDELL PHILLIPS.

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=Doing=--See FEEDING, TOO MUCH; SERVICE.

DOING AS AN INCENTIVE

A woman once came to me and asked if it were not possible to give her husband something to do in the church. “He evinces but little interest; just give him something to do, and I think he will attend.” In support of her belief she recounted how her husband, lacking interest in a lodge to which he belonged, was made a very regular attendant. “He was elected,” she said, “the high and mighty potentate of the eastern door. Now he attends the lodge regularly every Thursday night.” Think of it--a sensible man walking up and down in a closet-like room, and challenging all who would enter. All this because he was given something to do. There is much philosophy in this. Young people need direction in the line of that in which they are interested, and in which they particularly are best capable of doing. There should be enough specific work to go around.--CHARLES LUTHER KLOSS, “Proceedings of the Religious Education Association,” 1904.

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=Doing Things for Themselves=--See ADAPTABILITY.

=Doing Without Learning=--See AUTOMATIC LEARNING.

DOLL, PLACE OF THE, IN THE CHILD’S LIFE

The delight which a little girl sometimes experiences in getting hold of a doll that belonged to her mother when she was a little girl--a quaint, china-headed and china-haired little creature, with low neck and short sleeves and very full ruffled skirt--is a tame thing when compared with the feelings that any girl must experience over a doll now in the British Museum. This doll is almost three thousand years old.

When some archeologists were exploring an ancient Egyptian royal tomb they came upon a sarcophagus containing the mummy of a little princess seven years old. She was drest and interred in a manner befitting her rank, and in her arms was found a little wooden doll.

The inscription gave the name, rank and age of the little girl and the date of her death, but it said nothing about the quaint little wooden Egyptian doll. This, however, told its own story. It was so tightly clasped in the arms of the mummy that it was evident that the child had died with her beloved doll in her arms.

The simple pathos of this story has touched many hearts after thousands of years. The doll occupies a place in a glass case in the British Museum, and there a great many children have gone to look at it.--Youth’s Companion.

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=Dollar, His First=--See Money, Earning.

DOMESTIC HEROISM

There are all sorts of heroes and the domestic life knows them as well as some other more conspicuous fields of action. The little things of life afford a field for the exercise of the heroic as well as the larger. A news item, with a touch of the humorous, tells the following:

Some women were discussing over their afternoon tea the statement that a man is no more a hero to his wife than to his valet. There seemed to be no opposition to the idea that a man’s servant did not appreciate him, but all stoutly maintained that their husbands were heroic--in one way or another.

“My husband is very heroic,” said Mrs. Black. “For instance, he will give up his visit to the club to play jackstraws with my old mother, and she is his mother-in-law, you know.”

“I think I can beat that,” remarked Mrs. Gray. “When my milliner’s quarterly bill comes in my husband smiles as he writes a check, and never thinks of looking at the items.”

“I can give you a better example than either of those!” exclaimed Mrs. White. “When the morning paper comes at breakfast-time my husband always offers me the first reading of it.”

An informal vote awarded the last speaker’s husband the medal of heroism.

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DOMINANT ELEMENTS

Every animate or inanimate structure responds to some chord or note of music, called, I believe, the dominant. We have all felt some building vibrate in unison with the pulsation of some note of a musical instrument; we have felt “creepy” shivers run through us as some musical chord is sounded. It is well known that animals are strangely affected by certain harmonies. Some day, when civilization has advanced, I believe that these evidences of psychological structure will be better understood. It will be recognized that vice and virtue are in accord with different harmonies, and yield to the power of different dominants; and, when once the classification is made, and the disclosures of the dominant understood, then the extent and influence of the dominant will be a psychological test to define the character and ruling passions of men’s nature, and to decide the fitness of men for the various pursuits of life, and even for life itself. (Text.)--ARTHUR DUDLEY VINTON, American Magazine.

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=Dominion of Man=--See MASTERY OF NATURE.

=Doors, Opening Human=--See RECEPTIVENESS.

DOUBLE MEANINGS, DANGER OF

The last great martyr to the double meaning in our Constitution, mentioned below, was Lincoln. It was a clause that protected the most gigantic evil of history:

An American historian says of the Constitution of the United States: “Our Constitution in its spirit and legitimate utterance is doubtless the noblest document which ever emanated from the mind of man. It contains not one word hostile to liberty.... But yet ingloriously, guiltily, under sore temptation, we consented to use one phrase susceptible of a double meaning, ‘held to service or labor.’ (Article IV Section 2.) These honest words at the North mean a hired man, an apprentice. At the South they mean a slave, feudal bondage. So small, apparently so insignificant, were those seeds sown in our Constitution which have resulted in such a harvest of misery.”

(814)

DOUBLE-MINDEDNESS

Charles Wagner, in “The Gospel of Life,” remarks thus on the double nature of men:

Duplicity, rending apart, partition of the will and of the heart, lamentable division--that is our life! It is not a continuous chain; it is only links broken and dispersed. We are peace-loving, just, truthful, sober, chaste, disinterested; but we are also malicious, unjust, cunning, intemperate, impure. We are like those ships that carry to the colonies, along with the Bibles and religious tracts, cannon, alcohol, and opium; or those poets full of contrary talents, who play turn by turn on the sacred lyre and on the strident conch-shell.

(815)

DOUBT ISSUING IN PEACE

The peace of God descends more softly shed Than light upon the deep, And sinks below the tumult of my years Deeper than dreams or sleep.

And somehow, as of dusk was born the star Whose fire is on the sea, Another star from doubt’s profounder dark Is risen and shines on me. (Text.)

--HENRY FLETCHER HARRIS, Harper’s Magazine.

(816)

DOUBTS, DISSOLVING

Crossing the Atlantic, a vessel is often encircled by small ice-floes, looking like a flock of white sheep on the blue ocean. When they started on their course southward, those ice-floes were great frozen masses. But the warm Gulf Stream played on them beneath, and the sun melted them from above, till they dwindled as they entered a warm atmosphere. A man’s doubts at first seem large enough to freeze his faith, but let him go steadily onward into the warm atmosphere of Christian love, and gradually his doubts will no more impede his progress than the ice-floes impede an ocean-liner.

(817)

DOURNESS

If I could present the picture of a Scotch Highland cow, with her calf by her side, watching the approach of a tourist whom she thinks is coming too near--could I depict the expression of her face; that, I would say, would fairly represent what is meant by “dour.” Not that the cow would take the aggressive, but, if interfered with, I’ll warrant she would not be the one permanently injured. Led by this trait a certain Scotchman always stood up during prayers when others were kneeling, and sat down when others stood to sing, because, as he exprest it, the ordinary method was the only one used by the English and he wasn’t going to do as they did.--JOHN WATSON.

(818)

DOWN GRADE, THE

The terrible crimes and miseries of the East End of London have recently been brought into great prominence, and one of the most distressing features of this subject is that considerable numbers of these appallingly miserable characters were once respectable and happy. They were the children of honorable parents, they were trained in schools and sanctuaries, they were members of rich and influential circles; then they chose the down grade; they were first guilty of unbecomingness, then of acts of graver misconduct; at length their friends lost sight of them, they lost sight of their friends; then ever lower lodging-houses, lower ginshops, lower pawnshops, until at last those who had been tenderly nursed, educated in universities, clothed in scarlet, were submerged in filth, crime, misery, simply unutterable. All this dire catastrophe once seemed impossible to them, as now it seems impossible to us; but forget not that the doubtful ever passes into the bad, the bad into the worse, the worse into the unspeakable.--W. L. WATKINSON, “The Transfigured Sackcloth.”

(819)

DREAM, VALUE OF THE

A pillow-dream is a night adventure of your subconscious self. You wander without volition in a weird world and come back with a tantalized and fleeting recollection of fantastic persons and impossible situations. The metaphysical mystery of this sort of dreams has never been cleared, but it is certain that the fruits gathered in these sunless excursions are of doubtful flavor and quickly perishable. Fortunately, we are capable of dreams which are not pillow-dreams--dreams which are best dreamed when the spine is vertical and every fiber of mind, soul, and heart vibrant and vital. On these occasions we are in the clasp of our best mood--the mood of concept and creation. The wine of this mood is red like blood and the resultant intoxication is the holiest experience of which we are capable. In its high hours the soul is never maudlin or fuddled; it grips life strongly and deals with it in divine fashion, whipping its fugitive elements into orderly submission, compelling them to assume a useful steadiness like that of the dependable planets which can be found nightly at a given point in the heavens.--Metropolitan Magazine.

(820)

DREAMS

(“Behold, this dreamer cometh”)

They stript me bare and left me by the way To pine forsaken in a lonely land; They gave me to night-frosts and burning day To griefs none understand.

They took my silver from me and my gold, The changing splendors of my rich array; Night’s silver rain of dew escaped their hold, And the fine gold of day.

On the world’s highway in vain pomp they tread; By paths unknown I stray and hidden streams; They took all else and left me there for dead; They could not take my dreams.

Still, morning comes with marvel as of old; Still in soft rose descends the eventide; Still in the castle of my heart, grown bold, The sweet, swift thoughts abide.

Pass by, pass by, O clamorous folk and wild! To this last fortress of the soul I cling; Men gave me winter weather from a child, But God has given me spring. (Text.)

--ROBIN FLOWER, The London Spectator.

(821)

See FULFILMENT DISAPPOINTING; IDEALS.

DRESS AFFECTING MOODS

Mrs. Bishop, in the Chautauqua Herald, says:

It may never have occurred to some of you that dress has any reactionary influence upon the inner states, but so potent is this influence that frequently we can change the mental states by a change of dress. When tired, gloomy or fretful, a change in apparel often means a change in mood. Many actors say that to be drest for the part is a great help toward feeling the part. An army general once declared that he could not fight without his uniform, that an ordinary hat and coat took all the courage out of him.

(822)

=Dress in the East=--See PROPRIETY, OBSERVING THE RULES OF.

=Drifting Avoided=--See DANGER, AVOIDING.

DRINK

“Many a good story is told of the old bonanza days,” said a San Franciscan. “I liked especially a whisky story.

“A tenderfoot, the story ran, entered a saloon and ordered whisky. Whisky in those days and in those parts was a very weird drink. Queer effects were sure to follow it. The tenderfoot knew he must expect something out of the common, but, for all that, he was taken aback when the bartender handed him a small whisk-broom along with the bottle and glass.

“Tenderfoot-like, he didn’t care to expose his ignorance by asking what the whisk-broom was for, so he just stood there and fidgeted. He didn’t drink. He waited in the hope that somebody would come in and show him what was what.

“Well, in a few minutes a big chap in a red shirt entered. He, too, ordered whisky, and he, too, got a broom.

“The tenderfoot watched him closely. He poured himself a generous drink, tossed it off, and, taking up his whisk-broom, went over into a corner and carefully cleaned, on the floor, a space about 7 feet by 3. There he laid down and had a fit.”--Detroit Free Press.

(823)

See ABSTAINERS LIVE LONG; BEER, EFFECT OF; ALCOHOLIC BAIT.

DRINK AND NATIVE RACES

Missionaries are constantly emphasizing the horrors consequent on the drink traffic among the natives of Africa. Bishop Johnson, one of its able native bishops, declared that “European commerce, weighted as this commerce has been for many years with the liquor traffic, has been as great a curse to Africa, a greater than the oceanic slave-trade.” Even still more effective was a statement made by a Christian negro speaking to an audience in England, when he brought out of a bag an ugly idol and said, “This repulsive object is what we worshiped in times past,” and then he added, “Now I will show you what England has sent to be our god to-day,” and produced an empty gin-bottle.--JESSE PAGE, “The Black Bishop.”

(824)

DRINK, EFFECTS OF

I was standing on the sidewalk in a Southern city where at the time I was engaged in evangelistic work. A physician who was an active helper came along in his buggy, and, stopping his horse, requested me to take a seat at his side.

“I want to take you,” he said as we drove off, “to see a most deplorable and helpless case--a widow and her son. She is totally blind; in fact, she has cried her eyes out. You have heard of people who cried their eyes out, but now you will see one of whom it is literally true. The son is only twenty-four years of age, and a splendid machinist; but he got to fooling with drink and wild young men, until now the habit is so fixt upon him he is almost an imbecile. I have a commitment for him in my pocket to send him to the asylum. It is the only hope for him now.”

We arrived at the house, a poor little desolate-looking place, in painful accord with the pitiful lives within. The woman rose to greet us at the sound of the doctor’s voice. She was of medium size, neatly drest, but plainly. Her white face, without the slightest suggestion of color, was partly framed with grayish-brown hair. Her eyes did not seem sightless to me, but only a dull dark blue.

There sat the young man, his face buried in his hands, the picture of misery, a life surrendered to the evil of drink, and in ruins. “I have brought the minister,” said the doctor, “because I knew you’d like to have him pray with you and talk with your son.” She assented readily, and even with an effort to smile; but the smile died upon her lips. The young man was perfectly sane, and talked willingly of his condition. “I just can’t help it,” he said. “I love mother, and I can easily take care of her; but, when I get where whisky is, I can’t help getting drunk. Then it looks as if I’d never get sober any more. Yes, sir,” he said in reply to the doctor, “I’ll be glad to go. I hate to leave mother,” nodding his head toward the frail creature who sat silent while the tears literally rolled down her face; “but I’m willing to do anything to get right.”

Months passed. I was there again. Meeting the doctor one day in the street, I stopt him.

“Tell me about the poor woman, doctor, and her boy,” I asked. “Get into my buggy, and we will take a drive, and you shall see for yourself.” We drove along, talking as we went; but he did not explain. He continued his drive out of the city, and finally turned his horse’s head into what I saw was the cemetery. Passing monuments and vaults and richly carved marble, we went on to the very outer edge. “Now we will get out and walk a few steps,” he said. I followed him, knowing now, of course, what it meant; but I knew only in part. Stopping at two unmarked graves, not a stone or board or flower, desolate in death as in life, he pointed to one, and said: “That’s the son. He came back from the asylum, and we thought he was cured; but he fell in with his old companions, and a few days later his body was found in a pond near the city, and a bottle half filled with whisky in his pocket. And that’s the mother. She survived him only a few days. When they brought his body into her little home, she sank under her weight of grief, and never rallied. She had cried herself to sleep.”--H. M. WHARTON, Christian Endeavor World.

(825)

DRINK, HERITAGE OF

The jovial, genial drunkard of the Anglo-Saxon times is a rare personage nowadays, and tho there may be men as fond of sack as Falstaff himself, they seem to have lost the intense sociability which was the characteristic of the burly knight. Nearly all the great men of the Napoleonic era were drinkers--Pitt, Fox, Sheridan, Wellington himself. Napoleon’s marshals had the soldier’s pet failing, and it is said of stern old Blücher that he slept in his boots and went to bed in a more or less pronounced condition of intoxication for thirty years. Byron boasted of having drank a dozen bottles of wine in a day, and his “Don Juan” was composed under the influence of gin. Thackeray loved the bottle, so did Dickens. The children suffer for the failings of their sires, and many of the nervous symptoms and morbid cravings which perplex physicians in the young men and women of to-day are in reality legacies bequeathed by overbibulous ancestors. (Text.)--Baltimore Herald.

(826)

DRINK, PERIL OF

A number of years ago a certain firm of four men in Boston were rated as “A1.” They were rich, prosperous, young and prompt.

One of them had the curiosity to see how they were rated, and found these facts in Dun’s and was satisfied, but at the end these words were added: “But they all drink.”

He thought it a good joke at the time, but a few years later two of them were dead, another was a drunkard, and the fourth was poor and living partly on charity.

That one little note at the end of their rating was the most important and significant of all the facts collected and embodied in their description. (Text.)

(827)

DROUGHT, RESPONSIBILITY FOR

When the electric trolley-cars were first set running in Seoul, a peculiar result manifested itself in the nation. We quote from The Outlook:

Little by little the heavens grew dry and the earth rolled up clouds of dust; day followed day with no signs of rain, and the caking paddy-fields grinned and gasped. What could be the cause of it? The geomancers and ground-prophets were consulted, and their answer was, “The devil that runs the thunder and lightning wagon has caused the drought.” Eyes no longer looked with curiosity but glared at the trolley-cars, and men swore under their breath and curst the “vile beast” as it went humming by, till, worked up beyond endurance, there was a crash and an explosion, one car had been rolled over, and another was set on fire, while a mob of thousands took possession of the streets foaming and stamping like wild beasts.

(828)

DRUDGERY

It may be that even the work of “holystoning” the deck of a ship could become an act of devotion if done in the right spirit, notwithstanding this seaman’s aversion to it:

“This is what you call the sailor’s prayer-book,” a seaman said bitterly as he kicked a holystone out of the way. “Why is it called that? Well, in the first place, it is called that because in using it, in holystoning the deck, the sailor has to kneel down; and in the second place, because all holystoning is done on Sunday. Don’t you know the chantey?

“‘Six days shalt thou work and do all that thou art able, And on the seventh holystone the decks and scrape the cable.’

“The stone is called holystone because the first holystones were bits of tombs stolen from cemeteries. It’s got a pious, religious sound--holy, and prayer-book, and Sunday and all that--but it is when he is using this stone that the seaman is most profane.”

(829)

See BEST, MAKING THE.

=Drudgery as a Teacher=--See HUMDRUM DEVELOPMENT.

DRUDGERY RELIEVED

When Lucy Larcom was fourteen years old she worked in a cotton-mill in Lowell, Mass. After she had been there a few weeks, says The Youth’s Companion, she asked and received permission to tend some frames which were near a window, through which she might look out on the Merrimac River and its picturesque banks.

After she had worked there a little while longer, she began to make the window-seat and frame into a library. She pasted the grimy paint all over with clippings of verse which she gathered from such newspapers and magazines as fell into her hands.

So the little factory drudge secured for herself three essentials for human happiness: work, the sight of nature, and the beauty of the poet’s vision. No doubt the work was often wearisome. Perhaps some of the poetry was not very good. But the river and its meadows and hills must have been always refreshing, and the spirit which so intelligently desired the best in the world could not have faltered even on a toilsome path.

(830)

=Drunkard’s Fate=--See DRINK, EFFECTS OF.

=Drunkards Saving Drunkards=--See PERSONAL INFLUENCE.

=Drunkard’s Soul=--See DEFACEMENT OF SOUL.

DRUNKARD’S WILL, A

It was written just before he committed suicide. “I leave to the world a wasted character and ruinous example; I leave to my parents as great a sorrow as in their weakness they could possibly bear; I leave to my brothers and sisters as much shame and dishonor as I could have brought them; I leave to my wife a broken heart and a life full of shame; I leave to my children poverty, ignorance, a bad character and the memory of their father lying in a drunkard’s grave and having gone to a drunkard’s hell.” This is typical. Decent men are becoming sick at heart with this thing. We are now in the midst of a war that promises to become world-wide, relentless until our Christian obligation to the world is fully met. Since religion, business, science, education and the State have taken the field against drink there is certain promise of victory.--Methodist Recorder.

(831)

=Drunkenness, Disastrous=--See DEBAUCH, FATAL.

=Drunkenness, Safeguard Against=--See SAFEGUARD FOR DRUNKARDS.

DRUNKENNESS, THE TRAGEDY OF

A recent orator gives this incident:

I think the subject has been kept back very much by the merriment people make over those slain by strong drink. I used to be very merry over these things, having a keen sense of the ludicrous. There was something very grotesque in the gait of a drunkard. It is not so now; for I saw in one of the streets of Philadelphia a sight that changed the whole subject to me. There was a young man being led home. He was very much intoxicated--he was raving with intoxication. Two young men were leading him along. The boys hooted in the street, men laughed, women sneered; but I happened to be very near the door where he went in--it was the door of his father’s house. I saw him go up-stairs. I heard him shouting, hooting and blaspheming. He had lost his hat, and the merriment increased with the mob until he came up to the door, and as the door was opened his mother came out. When I heard her cry, that took all the comedy away from the scene. Since that time, when I see a man walking through the street, reeling, the comedy is all gone, and it is a tragedy of tears and groans and heartbreaks. Never make any fun around me about the grotesqueness of a drunkard. Alas for his home!

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DUAL CHARACTER

Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) who was certainly not the greatest writer of his age, perhaps not even a great writer at all, but who was nevertheless the dictator of English letters, still looms across the centuries of a magnificent literature as its most striking and original figure. Here, moreover, is a huge, fat, awkward man, of vulgar manners and appearance, who monopolizes conversation, abuses everybody, clubs down opposition--“Madam” (speaking to his cultivated hostess at table), “talk no more nonsense”; “Sir” (turning to a distinguished guest), “I perceive you are a vile Whig.” While talking he makes curious animal sounds, “sometimes giving a half whistle, sometimes clucking like a hen”; and when he has concluded a violent dispute and laid his opponents low by dogmatism or ridicule, he leans back to “blow out his breath like a whale” and gulp down numberless cups of hot tea. Yet this curious dictator of an elegant age was a veritable lion, much sought after by society; and around him in his own poor house gathered the foremost artists, scholars, actors, and literary men of London--all honoring the man, loving him, and listening to his dogmatism as the Greeks listened to the voice of their oracle.--WILLIAM J. LONG, “English Literature.”

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DUALITY

The peculiarity of the chameleon here described recalls Paul’s description of the conflict between the natural and spiritual man:

Notwithstanding the strictly symmetrical structure of the chameleon as to its two halves, the eyes move independently of one another and convey separate impressions to their respective centers of perception. The consequence is that when the animal is agitated its movements resemble those of two animals, or rather, perhaps, two halves of animals glued together. Each half wishes to go its own way and there is no concordance of action. The chameleon, therefore, is the only four-legged vertebrate that is unable to swim; it becomes so frightened when dropt into water that all faculty of concentration is lost, and the creature tumbles about as if in a state of intoxication. (Text.)--The Scientific American.

(834)

=Duality of Human Nature=--See NATURE DUAL IN MAN.

=Duel by Mail=--See MAKE-BELIEVE.

=Dutch Trait, A=--See HUNGER, ENDURING.

DUST AND VIOLETS

O sister mine--hold on a space In your dreadnaught campaign; A few weeks more--the selfsame place Will show more dust again; Just take a sniff of springtime air And let the cleaning wait; For, “Dust will keep, but violets won’t,” As some find out too late.

--ADA M. FITTS, Unity.

(835)

=Dust Particles=--See IMPURITIES.

DUTIES, CATCHING ONE’S

“Caleb Cobweb,” of the Christian Endeavor World, gives the following quaint advice:

Some workmen were repairing the Boston Elevated Railway. One of them took a red-hot bolt in his pincers and threw it up to another workman, who was to place it in the hole drilled for it. The second workman failed to catch it, and it fell to the street below. There it struck a truck-load of twenty bales of cotton, a thousand dollars’ worth, that was passing at the moment. The cotton instantly took fire, but the driver knew nothing of it. The flames had made considerable headway when the cries of the onlookers informed the driver of what was going on. He had only enough time to leap out of the way of the flames and save his horse. The Boston Fire Department was summoned and put out the fire.

This is a fair sample of what happens every time one of us workmen on the great edifice of human society misses a bolt that is thrown to him. They are many--these bolts--and they come thick and fast. They are red-hot, too, for they are duties that are in imperative need of getting done. If they are not at once stuck into the proper hole, and the top at once flattened out by sturdy blows, they grow cool and useless. They can not be put into the structure; or, if we go ahead and hammer them in, they are not tight and they may bring about disaster.

No, there is nothing for it but to catch the bolts on the fly. Let one fall, and some one gets hurt--or some thing, which in the end, means some one. No one knows what will be hit when a worker misses a red-hot duty that comes flying at him.

There is only one safety for the workman or for the rest of us: Catch them!

(836)

DUTIES DISTRIBUTED

Here is a short sermon by a woman, tho not preached from a pulpit. It is a good one, and is pretty sure to hit your own case somewhere, whatever may be your age and circumstances:

The best thing to give your enemy is forgiveness; to an opponent, tolerance; to a friend, your heart; to your child, a good example; to your father, deference; to your mother, conduct that will make her proud of you; to yourself, respect; to all men, charity.--The Interior.

(837)

DUTY

There was a boy in Glasgow apprenticed to a gentleman who made telegraphs. The gentleman told me this himself. One day this boy was up on top of a four-story house with a number of men fixing up a telegraph-wire. The work was all but done. It was getting late, and the men said they were going away home, and the boy was to nip off the ends of the wire himself. Before going down they told him to be sure to go back to the workshop, when he was finished, with his master’s tools. “Do not leave any of them lying about, whatever you do,” said the foreman. The boy climbed up the pole and began to nip off the ends of the wire. It was a very cold winter night, and the dusk was gathering. He lost his hold and fell, upon the slates, slid down, and then over and over to the ground below. A clothes-rope, stretched across the “green” on to which he was just about to fall, caught him on the chest and broke his fall; but the shock was terrible, and he lay unconscious among some clothes upon the green. An old woman came out; seeing her rope broken and the clothes all soiled, thought the boy was drunk, shook him, scolded him, and went for a policeman. And the boy with the shaking came back to consciousness, rubbed his eyes, and got upon his feet. What do you think he did? He staggered, half-blind, away up the stairs. He climbed the ladder. He got up onto the roof of the house. He gathered up his tools, put them into his basket, took them down, and when he got to the ground again, fainted dead away. Just then the policeman came, saw there was something seriously wrong, and carried him away to the hospital, where he lay for some time. I am glad to say he got better. What was his first thought at that terrible moment? His duty. He was not thinking of himself; he was thinking about his master.--HENRY DRUMMOND.

(838)

See GREATNESS; HIGHER LAW.

DUTY BEFORE PLEASURE

Dr. Johnson, himself a glutton in talk, complained to Patty Wesley of her brother: “I hate to meet John Wesley,” he said. “The dog enchants you with his conversation, and then breaks away to go and visit some old woman.”

But for Wesley, the “old woman” represented duty. She was an immortal spirit, as precious in the sight of God as Dr. Johnson himself.--W. H. FITCHETT, “Wesley and His Century.”

(839)

DUTY, DEVOTION TO

The late Sir Andrew Clarke was once attending a comparatively poor man who was so seriously ill as to need his constant and assiduous attention. He was fighting death step by step, and seeing his efforts meet with success. As he bent over and watched his patient, a telegram was handed him asking him to come over and consult some wealthy idler in the south of France, offering a special train to Dover, a packet chartered to Calais, another special train to Nice, and a fabulous fee. He looked at the patient, folded the telegram, and said to his assistant, “Reply that I am needed here and can not leave,” and turned to tend the poor man again.

Much has been said in praise of this heroic self-abnegation. But, after all, the doctor simply did his duty.

(840)

See FAITHFULNESS.

DUTY, FAITHFUL TO

Emperor William recommended the promotion of a private in his army for the strict observance of orders while acting as sentry at Swinemunde, Germany. The Emperor, accompanied by several officers, the entire party in civilian dress and wearing Panama hats, approached the entrance to the west battery, where the sentry prevented their further progress. His Majesty, much amused, again vainly tried to pass by. He said to the sentry: “You must let me pass. Don’t you know me? I am the Emperor.” The sentry then looked more closely at the Emperor, not quite reassured, but evidently recognized his Majesty’s features, as he presented arms and allowed him to pass.

The distinction of the sentry lay in the fact that, under every circumstance, he was faithful to his duty.

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DUTY IN DEATH

At Gettysburg a soldier in an ambulance heard the sound of battle. He arose to go. “Where are you going?” asked a comrade in a tone of remonstrance. “To the front,” said the wounded man. “What, in your condition!” “If I am to die,” he said, “I would rather die on the battle-field than in an ambulance.” (Text.)

(842)

DUTY MORE THAN GLORY

The citizen on great occasions knows and obeys the voice of his country as he knows and obeys an individual voice, whether it appeal to a base or ignoble, or to a generous or noble passion. “Sons of France, awake to glory,” told the French youth what was the dominant passion in the bosom of France, and it awoke a corresponding sentiment in his own. Under its spell he marched through Europe and overthrew her kingdoms and empires, and felt in Egypt that forty centuries were looking down on him from the pyramids. But, at last, one June morning in Trafalgar Bay there was another utterance, more quiet in its tone, but speaking also with a personal and individual voice: “England expects every man to do his duty.” At the sight of Nelson’s immortal signal, duty-loving England and glory-loving France met as they have met on many an historic battle-field before and since, and the lover of duty proved the stronger. The England that expected every man to do his duty was as real a being to the humblest sailor in Nelson’s fleet as the mother that bore him.--GEORGE FRISBIE HOAR.

(843)

=Duty Plus a Little More=--See OVERPLUS OF DUTY.

DUTY, SENSE OF

Calif Omar, with his venerable teacher, Abou-Zeid, walked forth in the darkness of the night, far from his palace gate, where he saw a feeble fire burning. He sought it and found a poor woman trying to bring a caldron to the boiling-point while two wretched children clung to her, piteously moaning. “Peace unto thee, O woman! What dost thou here alone in the night and the cold?” said the calif. “I am trying to make this water boil that my children may drink, who perish of hunger and cold; but for the misery we have to bear, Allah will surely one day ask reckoning of Omar, the calif.” “But,” said the disguised calif, “dost thou think, O woman, that Omar can know of thy wretchedness?” She answered: “Wherefore, then, is Omar, the calif, if he be unaware of the misery of his people and of each one of his subjects?” The calif was silent. “Let us go hence,” he said to Abou-Zeid. He hastened to the storehouses of his kitchen, and drew forth a sack of flour and a jar of sheep’s fat. “O Abou-Zeid, help thou me to charge these on my back,” said the calif. “Not so,” replied the attendant; “suffer that I carry them on my back, O Commander of the Faithful.” Omar said calmly: “Wilt thou also, O Abou-Zeid, bear the weight of my sins on the day of resurrection?” And Abou-Zeid was obliged to lay the jar of fat and the sack of flour on the back of the calif, who hastened to the woman by the fire, and with his own hands did put the flour and the fat into the caldron over the fire, which fire he quickened with his breath, and the smoke whereof filled his beard. When the food was prepared, with his own breath did he cool it that the children might eat. Then he left the sack and the jar and went his way saying: “O Abou-Zeid, the light from the fire that I have beheld to-day has enlightened me also.”--JAMES T. WHITE, “Character Lessons.”

(844)

See FAITHFULNESS.

=Dying Like Ladies=--See PRIDE.

DYNASTIC NAMES

Most royal families have a given name they employ as a sort of distinctive dynastic hallmark. George and Frederick are distinctively Hanoverian, as Edward is distinctively English. The late king selected Edward rather than Albert from motives at once filial and politic. He desired that his father should stand alone in his glory as Albert in English history, and Edward was associated with old and stately traditions of the Plantagenets and Tudors. Similarly the French Bourbons usually have a Louis or a Charles among their string of names, and the Bonapartes never forget Napoleon at the baptismal font. The most striking instance of reverence for a dynastic name is found in the princely family of Reuss, in Germany. There are two principalities of Reuss, respectively representing the elder and the younger lines. Every reigning prince must bear the name of Henry. Henry XXIV reigns over one principality, and Henry XIV over the other. All the heads of the houses for nine hundred years have been Henrys, and in a grand family council early in the eighteenth century it was decreed that the figures should not exceed one hundred, after which a new series should begin with Henry I. As both branches clung to Henry a working arrangement was patched up by which the younger line begins a new group-numbering with each century. The first Henry born in the twentieth century who shall mount the tiny throne must revert to Henry I, and similarly his descendant senior among the Henrys of the twenty-first century is foreordained to be I, too.--Boston Transcript.

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E

=Early Conditions in America=--See POVERTY, EARLY, OF UNITED STATES.

EARLY HABITS TELL

The tree will not only lie as it falls, but it will also fall as it leans; that is, we shall go after what we are inclined to--is not that so?--which makes it all in all to us what the bent of our mind is.

Twenty years ago there were two boys in my Sabbath-school class, bright, lively fellows, who interested me very much; only one of them made me sometimes feel anxious. I often found him out evenings in company with young rowdies. When I asked him how it happened, he used to say he was only out on an errand; the boys spoke to him, and he could not help speaking, he was sure. Perhaps that was so, still it made me uneasy. I once said to his mother: “Is not Willie out of nights too much?” “Willie out nights! Oh, no; Willie does not go out nights.”

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* * * * *

The other boy, whose name was Arthur, I never met among the rowdies. His evenings, I am sure, were spent at home. I always found him studying his lessons, or reading with his sisters, or amusing himself at home.

That was twenty years ago. Both boys had begun to show which way they were leaning, and how their tastes inclined them. Twenty years will show it plainer.

The other day I heard of Willie. Somebody met him in Chicago.

“What is he?” I asked.

“A good-for-nothing, certainly, if not worse,” was the answer; “a shabby, idle, drinking fellow, whom nobody wants to employ.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear it--sorry, but not surprized. I wonder where Arthur is!”

“Arthur! Why, didn’t you know, he has just been taken into partnership with that old firm with which he served his time? They could not spare him, so they had to take him in.”

“Good!” I said. “It is just what I should have expected. He learned right.”--Young Folks.

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EARLY PROMISE

Two of the most celebrated historic rivers are the Abana and Pharpar. These streams begin their course under the most promising auspices. Their source is in Lebanon. The Abana, now called the Barada, is the pride and joy of the plain below. It forces its way from the declivity where it has its cradle through a rocky barrier and spreads out fan-like in seven streams over the plain. “Everything lives whither the river cometh.” A meadow, in which the whole Oriental world exults, holds in its lap Damascus, the most beautiful garden city in the world. Its many minarets and domes tower up above the countless bowers in the courts of the old houses. Abana still as ever sustains this fruitfulness and splendor. But only a few miles from its source its waters are exhausted, for the desert swallows it, and the Pharpar also. Both die, forming great swamps and evaporating.

So it is with many human beings whose lives are for a few years efficient and full of promise and even performance, only very soon to flag and fade and to fall into utter desuetude. (Text.)

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See GREAT MEN’S BEGINNINGS.

EARLY RELIGION

The Bible was once compared to a great tree, with its books as branches, its chapters as twigs, and the verses as leaves. A minister, addressing a Sunday-school gathering, announced his text as “on the 39th branch, the 3d twig, and the 17th leaf.” He said to his great audience, “Try to find my text.” A little lad who was in the pulpit, owing to the crowded state of the church, answered “Malachi, third chapter, and seventeenth verse.” The minister said, “Right, my boy; take my place and read it out.” It so happened the boy’s brother had died recently, and the sight of the little curly-headed lad, only eleven years old, with his little black gloves reading in silvery tones, “And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels,” brought tears to many eyes. The minister laid his hand on the boy and said, “Well done; I hope one day you will be a minister.” The lad was Henry Drummond, afterward the loved teacher of thousands in America and Great Britain. (Text.)

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See RELIGION, EARLY.

EARNESTNESS

Professor Ticknor, speaking in one of his letters of the intense excitement with which he listened to Webster’s Plymouth address, says:

Three or four times I thought my temples would burst with the gush of blood; for, after all, you must know that I am aware it is no connected and compacted whole, but a collection of wonderful fragments of burning eloquence, to which his manner gave tenfold force. When I came out, I was almost afraid to come near him. It seemed to me that he was like the mount that might not be touched, and that burned with fire.

The lips of the prophet of old were touched by the live coal. No great thing is ever done without earnestness. (Text.)

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* * * * *

When Patrick Henry concluded his well-known speech in March, 1775, in behalf of American independence, “no murmur of applause followed,” says his biographer. “The effect was too deep.” After the trance of a moment, several members of the assembly started from their seats. The cry, “To arms!” seemed to quiver on every lip, and glance from every eye. What was the secret of his power? The spirit of freedom so completely filled him that it overflowed into all other lives with which he came in contact.

Every Christian is given a message that makes for eternal freedom. With what earnestness ought we to advocate this much greater cause. (Text.)

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EARTH, CRY OF

M. Guyau, in his “Sketch of Morality,” relates a dream that he had. He felt himself soaring in heaven, far above the earth, and heard a weary sound ascending as of torrents amid mountain silence and solitude. He could distinguish human voices--sobs mingled with thanksgiving, and groans interrupted by benedictions; all melting into one heartrending symphony. The sky seemed darkened. To one with him he asked, “Do you hear that?” The angel answered, “These are the prayers of men, ascending from the earth to God.” Beginning to cry like a child, the dreamer exclaimed, “What tears I should shed were I that God!” Guyau adds: “I loosened the hand of the angel, and let myself fall down again to the earth, thinking there remained in me too much humanity to make it possible for me to live in heaven.”

It is that earth-cry that brings God down to help the needy.

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EARTH INCREASING

Accumulations of surface-matter are astonishingly rapid. Professor Newton estimates that 400,000,000 meteors fall to the earth annually. These add enormous quantities of matter to the earth, but do not, of course, account for all surface growth and changes. Modern London is built on the site of Roman London, but the ancient city is seventeen feet lower than the modern. The Jerusalem streets that Jesus walked through are twenty feet lower down than the streets of Jerusalem of to-day. One of the most interesting resorts in that city, in the time of Christ, was the pool of Bethsaida. Recently work being done by the Algerian monks has laid bare a large tank cut in the solid rock thirty feet deep.--Public Opinion.

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EARTH SOIL FOR HEAVENLY FLOWERS

The poor women in the tenements of the Whitechapel road in London had a contest, and the flowers that took the prizes were grown in pots that hung out in the alleys of the worst section in London; all the roses and the jonquils being victorious over soot and grime. And heaven is an exhibition where souls will receive recognition and reward for their victories, the flowers of faith and prayer and hope that bloom resplendent midst unfriendly conditions. For time’s sweetest flowers are rooted in earth, even while they borrow their bloom from heaven.--N. D. HILLIS.

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EARTHEN VESSEL, THE

The author of this poem is unidentified:

The Master stood in His garden Among the lilies fair, Which His own right hand had planted And trained with tenderest care.

He looked at their snowy blossoms, And marked with observant eye That His flowers were sadly drooping, For their leaves were parched and dry.

“My lilies need to be watered,” The heavenly Master said. “Wherein shall I draw it for them, And raise each drooping head?”

Close to His feet on the pathway, Empty and frail and small, An earthen vessel was lying, Which seemed of no use at all.

But the Master saw and raised it From the dust in which it lay, And smiled as He gently whispered, “This shall do my work to-day.

“It is but an earthen vessel, But it lay so close to Me. It is small, but it is empty, Which is all it needs to be.”

So to the fountain He took it, And filled it to the brim, How glad was the earthen vessel To be of some use to Him!

He poured forth the living water Over the lilies fair, Until the vessel was empty, And again He filled it there.

He watered the drooping lilies Until they revived again, And the Master saw with pleasure That His labor had not been vain.

His own hand had drawn the water That refreshed the thirsty flowers, But He used the earthen vessel To carry the living showers.

And to itself it whispered As He laid it aside once more, “Still will I lie in His pathway Just where I did before.

“Close would I keep to the Master, Empty would I remain, And perhaps some day He may use me To water His flowers again.”

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=Earthly Treasures=--See TREASURES LAID UP.

EARTHQUAKES, SUPERSTITIONS ABOUT

Some Chinese attribute the latest earthquake shocks to the water-dragon of Canton, whose anger has been raised by the reclamation works. Coolies are dumping daily boatloads of sand and stone on the poor dragon’s back, and the beast naturally feels hurt.

It appears, however, that the real causes of the earthquakes were the Macao crabs! Here is the story:

Close by the hot springs in the neighborhood of Macao stands a small village wherein lives an old woman who has the misfortune to be the mother of an unworthy young man whose sole occupation is fishing. A few days previous to the first earthquake shock experienced in Macao the young man returned home with a couple of crabs and a few small fish.

Nothing extraordinary was noticed at first, but when the crabs had been boiled, one of them presented a peculiar appearance, as on the red background of its shell stood in bold relief a design in white which resembled a Chinese character.

Neighbors were called, and the wise man of the village soon explained that it was the king of the crabs that had found its way into the old woman’s kettle.

Thereupon the village prophet predicted that some great calamity would visit the unfortunate village.

Meanwhile the crabs of Macao and the neighborhood, having learned the fate of their king, assembled in great numbers, filling up every available hole, and started to shake the earth. Thus was their displeasure at the death of the king crab clearly shown.

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=East, The, Amazed at Western Achievements=--See INCREDULITY.

EASTER

The Lord is risen indeed, He is here for your love, for your need-- Not in the grave, nor the sky, But here where men live and die; And true the word that was said: “Why seek ye the living among the dead?”

Wherever are tears and sighs, Wherever are children’s eyes, Where man calls man his brother, And loves as himself another, Christ lives! The angels said: “Why seek ye the living among the dead?”

--RICHARD WATSON GILDER.

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* * * * *

That Jesus lived, that Jesus died, The ancient stories tell; With words of wisdom, love, and truth, That he could speak so well; And all so great his work for man, I hail him, brave and free, The highest of heroic souls Who lived and died for me.

That Jesus rose, that Jesus reigns, The hearts that love him know; They feel Him guide and strengthen them, As on through life they go. Rejoicing in His leadership, The heavenward way I see, And shall not stray if I can say, He rose and reigns in me.

--A. IRVINE INNES, The Christian Register.

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=Eastern Customs=--See EXPECTORATING; GESTURES AND USES OF THE HANDS IN THE EAST; TABOOED TOPICS IN THE EAST.

=Eating, a Guide in=--See AFFLUENCE, THE PRINCIPLE OF.

EATING AND CHARACTER

Gluttony tends to cynicism. Coarseness and extravagance of speech and manners go hand in hand with dietetic excesses, as, for cognate reasons, the repulsiveness of voracious animals is generally aggravated by a want of cleanliness. Among the natives of the arctic regions, where climatic causes make gluttony a pandemic vice, personal cleanliness is an almost unknown virtue, and Kane’s anecdotes of polar household habits depict a degree of squalor that would appal a gorilla.

Habitual abstemiousness, on the other hand, is the concomitant of modesty, thrift, self-control, and evenness of temper, and is compatible with heroic perseverance, tho hardly with great energy of vital vigor. The dietetic self-denials of Luigi Cornaro, a Venetian nobleman of the sixteenth century, enabled him to outlive the third generation of his epicurean relatives. During the latter decades of his long life he boasts of having enjoyed a peace of mind unattainable by other means. Within the bounds of reason, occasional fasts are by no means incompatible with intellectual vigor, tho they are chiefly apt to stimulate the activity of abstruse speculations. There are intellectual voluptuaries whose enjoyment of mental triumphs in controversy or cogitation seem, for the time being, actually to deaden their craving for material food. Isaac Newton, on the track of a cosmic secret, would send back plate after plate of untasted meals. Percy Shelley, in the words of his sprightly biographer, indignantly refused to alloy the nectar of poetic inspiration with a “boarding-house soup,” and in his creative moods rarely answered a dinner call without a sigh of regret. Benedict Spinoza, amid the parchment piles of his bachelor den, would fast for days in the ecstacy of his “Gott trunken”--“God-intoxicated”--meditations. Intermittent denutrition undoubtedly tends to clear off the cobwebs of the brain. (Text.)--FELIX OSWALD, Open Court.

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ECCENTRICITY

The Youth’s Companion tells this incident about the peculiar moods of Turner, the artist, in the matter of selling his pictures:

At times nothing could induce him to part with one of them, and at other times he would receive a customer with the greatest affability of voice and manner, and readily settle upon the sum to be paid for one of his treasures.

On one occasion, when he was offered one thousand pounds apiece for some old sketchbooks, he turned them over leaf by leaf before the eyes of the would-be purchaser, saying, “Well, would you really like to have them?”

Then, just as the man proceeded to take possession of the books, Turner, with a tantalizing “I dare say you would!” suddenly thrust them into a drawer and turned the key in the lock, leaving the customer dumb with indignation.

On another occasion a rich manufacturer of Birmingham managed to secure an entrance into the artist’s house, after considerable parley with the disagreeable janitress whom Turner employed. He hurried up-stairs to the gallery. In a moment Turner dashed out upon him with anything but a hospitable air. The visitor bowed politely and introduced himself, saying he had come to buy some pictures.

“Don’t want to sell,” said the artist gruffly.

“Have you ever seen our Birmingham pictures, Mr. Turner?” inquired the visitor blandly.

“Never heard of ’em,” returned the artist.

The manufacturer now took an attractive package of crisp Birmingham bank-notes from his wallet.

“Mere paper,” said Turner contemptuously.

“To be bartered for mere canvas,” retorted the visitor calmly, waving his hand in the direction of some paintings.

This ready wit and tone of cool depreciation had the effect of putting the erratic artist in a good humor at once. He changed his manner immediately, and not long after his visitor departed, having bought several fine paintings, and leaving the comfortable sum of five thousand pounds behind him.

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See ODD BEHAVIOR.

ECHOES

The explanations provided by the method of fairy tales are based upon the evidence of things that can not be perceived and upon assumptions that can not be tested. Take, for instance, the explanation of an echo; to the primitive mind, hearing the repetition of its shout, and conscious of only speaking once, is it not inevitable one should suppose that the shout came from another person? A futile search in the wood or under the cliff would lead to the thought that the person was hiding, and the more naturally, as on coming to the cliff whence the shout seemed to come one’s call would receive no answer. As at other times such mocking answers would always come from the same place, what more natural than to think that some person or spirit dwelt there? Hence such a story as Lander tells of his voyage down the Niger: “As they came to a creek the captain shouted, and where an echo was returned half a glass of rum and a piece of yam and fish were thrown into the water. On asking the reason why he was throwing away the provisions thus, he was answered: ‘Did you not hear the fetish?’ And so, in South Pacific myth, echo is the first and parent fairy to whom divine honors are paid as the giver of food, and as she ‘who speaks to the worshipers out of the rocks.’”--WILLIAM SCHOOLING, Westminster Review.

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=Economic Injustice=--See INJUSTICE.

ECONOMIC MOTIVES

We know that an extremely severe medical examination is imposed upon immigrants to the United States, and that entrance into this country is pitilessly denied to those who seem even merely puny and sickly. The result of this examination is that the ocean transportation companies must return to their countries, at their own cost, rejected immigrants. To avoid this expense, the companies of the various countries have decided to take all the precautions necessary for protecting the health of their passengers. Thus, at Hamburg a company has had great halls built to shelter emigrants during their stay in the port before their embarkation; and, the results having been favorably recognized, they are going to build booths, capable of containing each 120 beds, arranged in accordance with the rules of up-to-date hygiene, each group of four booths to be provided with a special booth fitted up as a laundry, with vapor-baths, etc. We know, on the other hand, that the establishment of sanatoriums for consumptives had its origin in Germany in similar anxieties on the part of the insurance companies. Thus it is that the care of the pocketbook is still the surest motive power of social progress. (Text.)

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ECONOMY

We are enjoined to “lay aside every weight” in our Christian career. One way to do this is to study the art of reducing our necessities to the lowest terms, like this umbrella:

A twenty-six-inch umbrella that will fold up and go in an inside pocket without crowding has been invented and constructed by a Minneapolis man, we are told in The American Inventor. Says this paper: “This seems almost incredible until the secret is told. The handle and all the ribs consist of fine and very strong steel tubes, in sections, which telescope one inside the other. The covering is of very fine silk, which takes up but little room. The wooden handle of the umbrella is hollow and receives all the rest of the telescoping umbrella-rod when shut up. A small and light case is provided to contain the whole, which, as stated, goes easily into the pocket. If such a device can be made and sold for a reasonable price there is little to prevent the owner from making a fortune; there are few men who would not welcome an umbrella which could be always carried without inconvenience, and which could be put out of the way of the borrower-who-never-returns, when entering a public place, such as a restaurant.” (Text.)

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* * * * *

In the packing business nothing is lost but “the squeal of the pig.” Every part of an animal is now valuable. Much of the profit of a packing-house now comes from byproducts, like hair, entrails and the like, that once were thrown away.

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* * * * *

You do not see to-day as many of the old peach or pea or salmon or tomato cans emptied of their contents and thrown about in the vacant lot or in the rubbish heap of the private family or the general garbagepile of the community. It was a real nuisance to have so many of these useless “cast-offs” accumulating under eye and foot. And with the increased use of canned goods this was becoming more and more so. Loads of these refuse cans are now gathered every year and are made into shining sheets which are used as a covering and decoration of traveling trunks. Enough tin refuse is taken from the ash-heaps to keep several mills employed in turning this waste into products for the markets. Even the solder which is saved from these cast-away cans brings twelve cents per pound, and yields an income that pays well for the pains of gathering this rubbish. Window-sash weights are made out of the tops and bottoms of these old cans, while the body of the can is cleaned and rolled anew, and made serviceable for trunk covering.--G. P. PERRY, “Wealth from Waste.”

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* * * * *

Have you ever, in hours of illness or of great preoccupation, performed some piece of work; undertaken, for example, some long-drawn piece of needlework, and woven your thoughts into the leaves and flowers? Through force of association, your inner experience and your work were henceforth completely identified, and after many years you could still say to yourself: This flower recalls the day when I was expecting news of my sick and absent son. I wavered between fear and hope and my hand trembled. Something of his fever has remained in this frail stem.... Here is a swallow that I embroidered after I had received happy tidings that reassured me and announced his near return. Never shall I be able to look at it without thinking of all the joy of which a mother’s heart is capable!

The labor involved in economy is like these patient toils. The little pennies also have their story. This story is made up of watchfulness, of cares, of tenderness, of sublime sacrifice. Never will the large sums of nameless money attain to the power of signification possest by these little pennies amassed one by one, put carefully away, to which one has said: Little penny, I keep you to-day in order that you may keep me to-morrow; I give you a post of honor; the day when misery approaches my sill and threatens to cross it, you will cry out: you may not pass!--CHARLES WAGNER, “The Gospel of Life.”

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See WASTE, THE PROBLEM OF.

=Economy by Inventions=--See LABOR-SAVING INVENTIONS.

ECONOMY, DIVINE

The autographs of musicians who in life could not write a check for a crust of bread have in death been sold for fabulous sums. Not long ago at a sale in Berlin two of Beethoven’s letters sold for $187 and $200 each. A letter of Chopin brought $250, a visiting-card of Haydn $20 and a letter $427, two letters of Schubert $777, four letters of Wagner $322, a scrap of writing of Mozart sold for $276, while a Gluck manuscript changed hands at $1,000. Some of these men in life hardly received enough for their services to keep their musical souls connected with their emaciated bodies; but they wasted themselves in pouring out their immortal melodies, and this generation is putting down its gold for mere scraps of paper that had felt the touch of their dead hands! Of course, their service and music are not lost; but look! God does not even allow the screeds of paper, which were once crumpled by their perished fingers, to be lost, either! While their music is filling the world with its sweetness God is even picking up the tattered, torn, broken fragments blown by cruel winds up and down the desert of their lives, that nothing be lost!--F. F. SHANNON.

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ECONOMY, ENGLISH VERSUS AMERICAN

When Thomas Hughes, author of “Tom Brown at Oxford,” who had experience in American concerns in his endeavor to plant an English colony in Tennessee, was in Boston a few years ago, he was asked, according to the Boston Post, why it was that cooperative distribution which had proved so successful in England, had never succeeded in America. “Simply,” he said, “because you Americans do not know what economy is in the sense in which people practise it in England. Many a workingman at home will walk two miles to the cooperative store with his basket on his arm, and do it in his bare feet at that, to save a shilling on his weekly purchase. No American mechanic would do that.”

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=Economy in Metal=--See MAGNETISM.

ECONOMY IN WORK

The editor of the Louisville Christian Observer is the author of the following:

Coming down to the office one frosty morning we saw a workman kneeling on the pavement trying to hammer straight a bent rusty nail. The pavement was slippery, the nail was obdurate, the man’s gloved hands were clumsy, the only tool he had was a stone. Consequently, he had lost much time and quite all of his temper and was using language that is never heard in polite society. Economy is a good thing, but now and again is it not better to leave the bent nail to itself, at least until a moment of leisure comes, and take a straight, new nail from the box? In our church work are there not old, bent, rusty methods that should be abandoned? Always is it not wisdom to seek formation of character rather than reformation--to endeavor to keep the nail straight instead of pounding it so later? And in conducting the financial affairs of our churches is there not often an economy that really is wastefulness? A spiritual new nail is a good thing to be put into the hand of the master of assemblies that he may drive it into a sure place. (Text.)

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ECONOMY OF ENERGY

In a shoe factory I was once shown an attachment to the sewing and other machines which caused the machine to stop whenever its work was done. When one button-hole was made the mechanism paused until it was given another task to do, so that no power was wasted, and no useless wear permitted. And the superintendent said: “That little iron ‘trick’ cost us two hundred dollars, but it saves us thousands of dollars every year in wear and tear of machinery and in attendance. It enables one operator to take care of two, three, and sometimes more machines.” Here, at least, is a hint that is intelligible and available to us all. How much longer would our youth stay by us if we had this life-saving attachment affixt; if we could only stop when a given task is done; if we did but apply ourselves but once to the one thing. (Text.)--VYRNWY MORGAN, “The Cambro-American Pulpit.”

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* * * * *

We--at least persons who have passed middle age--have only a certain amount of reserve force, and all that we draw upon in hurries is abstracted from that which should be distributed through the remainder of life. The secret of longevity is probably skill in so economizing the reserve of vital energy as to make it last out an unusual period. Persons who begin unusual exercises in youth may adapt their constitutions to the habit, and may thereby hold on to their full term of life; but this can not be done safely if one waits till mature age before beginning.--Public Opinion.

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=Economy of Healthful Foods=--See HEALTH, ECONOMICS OF.

ECONOMY OF NATURAL RESOURCES

It is hardly conceivable that the economic waste represented by the neglect of the marine forests and gardens will be much longer continued. The only vegetation that exists upon two-thirds of the superficial area of the earth is seaweed. This vegetation ought to contribute to the support of the population of the land surface of the globe to such an extent that the question of food supply--the nightmare of scientific inquirers into the probable future of civilization and of the human race--need worry no one. (Text.)--The Technical World Magazine.

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EDUCATION

A scientific man recently said, “You can not manufacture diamonds.” To a certain extent this has been disputed, for another famous scientist claims that he has produced genuine diamonds, tho too minute to be of commercial value. In the pastoral epistles of Paul minute descriptions are given by the apostles concerning the true furnishing of the minister of Christ.

The members of a congregation said of their new minister that they had got hold of “a gem of a pastor.” No college had made him a gem, but it was equally true that the excellent curriculum through which he had passed in a theological institution had polished him. He was not mere ministerial paste, but being a rough diamond when he went in, those who trained him sent him out cut and polished.

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* * * * *

I discovered on a leafless sapling near my window two birds, an adult phœbe and a young one apparently lately out of the nest. The elder kept up a running talk, occasionally darting out after a passing insect, which--I was surprized and amused to see--she carried to the little tree, and, after the youngster had seen it and opened its mouth to receive it, she swallowed herself! upon which the youth uttered a wailing cry. Then would come another long talk, and at every pause a complaining note from the infant. Several times these performances were repeated. Then the elder flew away, when at once the little one began to look out for himself, actually flying out, and once or twice while I looked succeeding in securing his prey.--OLIVE THORNE MILLER, “The Bird Our Brother.”

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* * * * *

To what shall I liken education? I would liken education to a voyage: A great ship rides in dock near a flat shore covered with small, low houses, and troops of little people go on board. The ship swings away from the wharf and makes out for the open sea. Captain, mates, and most of the crew know the course and the haven; but the passengers never crossed before. It is a long, long, voyage through storm and calm, through cold and heat; a voyage of years; a voyage that tests faith. The years pass and the little people grow and grow. During the voyage most of the passengers go overboard into the open sea; but some make the voyage to arrive at a coast with mountains and valleys, cities and castles, a world of powers and of activities unseen by the dwellers upon the low coast on the other side of the sea of life.

Such is education. And the question is how to keep the passengers on board until the ship makes harbor.--WILLIAM ESTABROOK CHANCELLOR, “Proceedings of the National Education Association,” 1909.

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* * * * *

John Stuart Mill, in his autobiography, says concerning his education:

The children of educated parents frequently grow up unenergetic because they lean on their parents, and the parents are energetic for them. The education which my father gave me was in itself much more fitted for training me to know than to do.

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See PRODIGY, A; THINGS, NOT BOOKS.

EDUCATION ADAPTED TO CAPACITY

Everybody has been trying to cut his garments by a measure which was good for somebody else at some other place and time. The strenuous pressure of life’s struggle for preservation has differentiated men into soldiers, merchants, advocates, poets, priests, laborers, and farmers, but it is not yet admitted generally that it would be well to study the child’s qualities and train him for his best future. Owners of cattle and horses can not and do not afford to do anything else; man alone is wasted in efforts to make every boy an attorney-at-law and every girl a piano-player. One boy in a thousand can become a good lawyer, and not much more than one in a thousand is needed. One girl in five hundred may learn to play a piano fairly well, and one in a thousand may have the genius which will give her piano-playing the touch of life. Health and joy in labor are the best education. Work is best done when it is the natural exercise of faculty. The boy learns if he does nothing but play until he is mature. It is not a good education, but sometimes it is better than a wrong education.--Kansas City Times.

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=Education, All-round=--See COMPREHENSIVENESS IN EDUCATION.

=Education, Complexity in=--See MASTERHAND, LACKING THE.

=Education Due to Missionaries=--See MISSIONARY ACCOMPLISHMENTS.

EDUCATION BY TRAVEL

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch noted the educational results of the cruise of the American fleet around the world in 1908:

“The most gigantic correspondence school in the history of education, with free courses in foreign travel, geography and natural history, is,” says the St. Louis Post-Despatch, “now in operation throughout the entire United States, and particularly in the West and Southwest. The instructors are the 15,000 sailors on Uncle Sam’s peace cruise around the world and the students are their relatives and friends, totaling 200,000 to a quarter of a million souls. The text-books are the shoals of entertaining and instructive letters from the fleet which are flooding the whole country with every mail, with throngs of picture post-cards as graphic illustrations. From Honolulu, Auckland, New Zealand and Sydney, Australia, tons of letters are now on their way to the loved ones at home, bearing vivid lessons in the civilization of the Pacific islands and the antipodes. All over the country forgotten text-books on geography are being resurrected from dusty chests, so that mothers, sisters and sweethearts may chart each day the course pursued by the fleet. Book-stores report a largely increased sale of maps, globes and charts, due to an awakened interest in the remote sections of the earth. To the hundred or so families in St. Louis which have relatives with the fleet have come voluminous and thrilling letters, making them more familiar with Trinidad than they are with Porto Rico, and better acquainted with Magdalena Bay than they are with Charleston harbor. Such letters as these, spreading information broadcast in the land, are proving a vast engine against provincialism, ignorance and narrowness, and affording a cosmopolitan education to multitudes.”

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EDUCATION, HIGHER

A good illustration of the monetary value of higher education in chemistry and mining is seen when one compares Germany and England. Both countries have the same kind of iron ore and the same coal supply. England has the advantage of having her coal nearer the iron fields. In 1880 England mined and produced 8,000,000 tons of pig-iron per year, while Germany’s product was only 3,000,000. Since that time Germany has supported handsomely her great technical universities and sent out each year into her industries a stream of highly-trained experts, with the result that in 1907, while England’s production had risen from 8,000,000 to only 9,000,000 tons per year, Germany’s had risen from 3,000,000 to 13,000,000. It is more significant still that from 1900 to 1908 German iron brought on the average nearly $19 per ton, while English iron brought only $13 per ton, a difference of nearly 50 per cent in favor of the iron made by the better-educated German producer. This one result of these great German technical institutions would alone add $190,000,000 per year to German wealth if the iron were sold as raw pig-iron. As a matter of fact, a large part of this iron is made up into all sorts of manufactured products, made possible by their high technical education, and these products are exported and sold at many times the price of the raw pig-iron--New York Evening Post.

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EDUCATION NOT VICARIOUS

William has been to school for over a year, and his teacher says to him one day: “Now, William, I am afraid your father will think that I am not doing well by you; you must write a composition--you must send your father a good composition to show what you are doing.” Well, William never did write a composition, and he does not know how. “Oh, write about something that you do know about--write about your father’s farm,” and so, being goaded to his task, William says: “A cow is a useful animal. A cow has four legs and two horns. A cow gives good milk. I love good milk.--William Bradshaw.” The master looks over his shoulder and says: “Pooh! your father will think you are a cow. Here, give me that composition, I’ll fix it.” So he takes it home and fixes it. Here it reads: “When the sun casts off the dusky garments of the night, and appearing o’er the orient hills, sips the dew-drops pendant from every leaf, the milkmaid goes a-field, chanting her matin song,” and so on, and so on. Now, I say that, rhetorically, the master’s composition was unspeakably better than William’s; but as a part of William’s education, his poor, scrawly lines are unspeakably better than the one that has been “fixt” for him.--HENRY WARD BEECHER.

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=Education of Indians=--See INDIANS, AMERICAN.

=Education, Self=--See READING BY SCHEDULE.

EDUCATION TO BE PRIZED

Wesley himself, however, had a scholar’s hate of ignorance, and he toiled with almost amusing diligence to educate his helpers. He insisted that they should be readers, and scourged them with a very sharp whip if he found them neglecting their books. Thus he writes to one:

“Your talent in preaching does not increase. It is just the same as it was seven years ago. It is lively, but not deep. There is little variety; there is no compass of thought. Reading only can supply this, with daily meditation and daily prayer. You wrong yourself greatly by omitting this. You can never be a deep preacher without it, any more than a thorough Christian.”--W. H. FITCHETT, “Wesley and His Century.”

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=Educational Growth=--See NEED, MEETING CHILDREN’S.

EFFACEMENT OF SINS

We are reminded of the promise that God will “blot out” our transgressions by the following incident:

John Maynard was in an old-time country schoolhouse. Most of the year he had drifted carelessly along, but in midwinter some kind words from his teacher roused him to take a new start, and he became distinctly a different boy, and made up for the earlier faults. At the closing examination he passed well, to the great joy of his father and mother, who were present. But the copy-books used through the year were all laid on a table for the visitors to look at; and John remembered that his copy-book, fair enough in its latter pages, had been a dreary mass of blots and bad work before. He watched his mother looking over those books, and his heart was sick. But she seemed, to his surprize, quite pleased with what she saw, and called his father to look with her; and afterward John found that his kind teacher had thoughtfully torn out all those bad, blotted leaves, and made his copy-book begin where he started to do better. (Text.)--FRANKLIN NOBLE, “Sermons in Illustration.”

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=Effects from Other’s Deeds=--See VICARIOUSNESS.

=Effort, Progress by=--See WANT BRINGS PROGRESS.

=Effort Renewed=--See EXTREMITY NOT FINAL.

EGOISM

It is Nietzsche’s philosophy that each man should care only for himself. This philosophy is applied in the following incident. Many still apply it in their social conduct:

It was no very unusual sight in China, to see a thief running for all he was worth, pursued by two or three vociferating men or lads. But the crowd always made way for the thief, and never a foot nor a hand was put out to stop him, “He did not rob me; why should I stop him?” (Text.)

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EGOTISM

Miss Gordon Cumming tells how she heard in Japan a bird which seemed to have for its sole note, “Me! Me! Me!” She and her party called it “the me-bird.”

There are numerous “me birds” that belong to the human family. They might also be called “ay, ay birds.”

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* * * * *

In Delhi once stood a temple whose ceiling was set with diamonds, and beneath which stood the throne of the divine peacock. The jewels in this temple were worth $30,000,000. On the marble pedestal of the throne, in Arabic, were these words, “If ever there were paradise on earth, it is here, it is here, it is here.” But the facts are that this temple was built by poor slaves, many of whom died of starvation and cruelty while in the act of building it. This temple represents intensity without breadth. Treasures and education have been concentrated to produce an awful kind of egotism. Men and women have been known to be sublimely beautiful within themselves, but in relation to others ugly, hollow, and deformed, their narrowness grating rudely on the finer sensibilities. (Text.)--VYRNWY MORGAN, “The Cambro-American Pulpit.”

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See SELF-MEASUREMENT.

=Egyptian Builders=--See BUILDERS, ANCIENT.

ELECT, THE

Two modern statements of the doctrine of “election,” neither of which would quite satisfy John Calvin or Jonathan Edwards, are given in The Congregationalist.

One was Henry Ward Beecher’s epigrammatic and convincing phrase: “The elect are whosoever will; the non-elect are whosoever won’t.”

Good as this is, there is another explanation that is a star of equal magnitude. It was made by a colored divine, who said:

“Brethren, it is this way. The Lord, He is always voting for a man; and the devil, he is always voting against him. Then the man himself votes, and that breaks the tie.” (Text.)

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=Electricity and Tree-cutting=--See IMPROVEMENT.

ELECTRICITY, WONDERS OF

In 1856 Dr. R. S. Storrs said:

Not a century has passed since Franklin first drew the lightning from the skies; and yet already man prints with it, paints with it, writes with it, engraves with it, talks with it, cures with it, and is ever finding out new uses for its strength. The cunning Hermes has himself come to earth, to run on errands for men, and no more for the gods. His traveling-rod, enwreathed with serpents, is now a wire, transmitting thoughts. His golden sandals are sparks of lightning; and he forwards our commerce, as he never could the ancient.

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ELECTRIFICATION, SPIRITUAL

From the following illustration of electrical contact, Rev. William Arthur draws the moral that if we would be spiritually electrified we must draw nigh to God.

When a lecturer on electricity wants to show an example of a human body surcharged with his fire, he places a person on a stool with glass legs. The glass serves to isolate him from the earth, because it will not conduct the fire--the electric fluid. Were it not for this, however much might be poured into his frame, it would be carried away by the earth; but, when thus isolated from it, he retains all that enters him. You see no fire, you hear no fire; but you are told that it is pouring into him. Presently, you are challenged to the proof, asked to come near, and hold your hand close to his person; when you do so, a spark of fire shoots out toward you.

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=Elements and Structures=--See DESTRUCTION, GRADUAL.

ELEVATION

Many of life’s hidden mysteries would be clear to us, if we could see them as God does--from above.

Many times aeronauts, carried out to sea, have made this curious observation: the higher they are, the more pellucid the water seems, enabling them to see, more and more clearly, the bottom, with its rocks and seaweed. In crossing the English Channel, which is not very deep, especially near Calais, the bottom may be easily seen, and a submarine could be followed there in all its evolutions. (Text.)--ERNEST CONSTET, Revue Scientifique.

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* * * * *

I remember an old woodsman in the Adirondack forest who used to say that he wanted to go to the top of a certain mountain as often as his legs would carry him because it gave him such a feeling of “heaven-up-histedness.” That is an uncouth, humble, eloquent phrase to describe the function of a great literature.

Unless above himself he can Erect himself, how mean a thing is man!

I want the books that help me out of the vacancy and despair of a frivolous mind, out of the tangle and confusion of a society that is busied in bric-a-brac, out of the meanness of unfeeling mockery and the heaviness of incessant mirth, into a higher and serener region, where through the clear air of serious thoughts I can learn to look soberly and bravely upon the mingled misery and splendor of human existence, and then go down with a cheerful courage to play a man’s part in the life which Christ has forever ennobled by His divine presence. (Text.)--HENRY VAN DYKE, The British Weekly.

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ELEVATION AND VISION

A man once brought a young eagle home for his boys to play with. They were delighted and took it out to the barnyard to see it fly. But the eaglet would rather walk about among the hens and pick up wheat. The boys tossed it up in the air, but all their efforts were only in vain, for it flapped its great wings awkwardly, as if not knowing what to do with them and dropt back to the earth. The boys told their father of their inability to make the bird fly. Taking the eaglet under his arm, he called the boys with him to the mountain. As they were ascending the summit the bird began to open its eyes wider and wider. When they reached the peak, the eaglet began to expand its wings, and as it caught a vision of the unfettered blue bathed in the light of the rising sun, it soared away out of sight.

So it is in human life. It requires a vision of the heights to inspire a soul to its best flight. (Text.)

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Climbing the stairs into the helmet of the Statue of Liberty gives one a splendid view of the harbor and lower section of New York. It is a toilsome, knee-straining business. But the vision is worth the effort.

One must reach the high places if he would get a vision of the King in His beauty and an outlook over the kingdom that is to be.--C. J. GREENWOOD.

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ELOQUENCE

The storm that whirls among the mountains, the stoop of the whirlwind that wrenches the tree from its bed in the soil, the utmost rage of oceanic commotions--they have not that dominant power upon them to start our spirits, and carry our sympathies to an equal agitation, which eloquence has when it utters the force of one aroused soul.--RICHARD S. STORRS.

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See AGE AND ORATORY; EARNESTNESS; LORD’S PRAYER INTERPRETED.

=Eloquence of Deeds=--See DEEDS THAT TALK.

EMANCIPATION

Every artist who works upon his canvas or upon the stone, or rears up stately fabrics, expressing something nobler to men, giving some form to their ideals and aspirations--every such man also is working for the largeness and so for the liberty of men. And every mother who sits by the cradle, singing to her babe the song which the angels sing all the way up to the very throne, she, too, is God’s priestess, and is working for the largeness of men, and so for their liberty. Whoever teaches men to be truthful, to be virtuous, to be enterprising; in short, whoever teaches manhood, emancipates men.--HENRY WARD BEECHER.

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=Embarrassment=--See FEAR OF MAN.

EMBELLISHMENT OF PREACHING

The Telugus often embellish their sermons to an extent inconceivably funny. A smart young preacher, a graduate of Ramapatam Seminary, in telling of the resurrection of Lazarus, said that he arose from the dead when called, tied his clothing about him (the Hindu’s idea of dressing), put on a beautiful head-cloth, raised an umbrella, and came walking out of the tomb. The force of the climax would appeal to any one who lived in India. An umbrella is such a sign of distinction that people who own one often carry it open in the night even tho there has been no rain for six months.

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EMBLEMS

An apple is the emblem of the fall; held in the hand of Jesus Christ it signifies redemption. A cluster of grapes is the emblem of “Christ’s blood shed for us.” It is also the emblem of abundance and prosperity. The vine is a symbol of Christ. It is also an emblem of abundance. Wheat is an emblem of Christ as the “Bread of Life”; also of abundance and rejoicing. The olive is the emblem of peace and concord. The palm is the symbol of martyrdom. The pomegranate is the emblem of the future life and of immortality.--The Decorator and Furnisher.

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See COLORS AS EMBLEMS.

EMERGENCY

Men who had been with Mr. Hearst in San Francisco were reminded of the night he came into The Examiner office and heard of a man that had been seen on a half-submerged rock in the bay, with the tide rising and certain to overwhelm him. In the office they were wondering how he got there.

“What difference does it make how he got there?” Mr. Hearst cut in. “Get him off first and find out afterward. Charter tugs, call for volunteers, and save his life--that’s the main thing.” They went out with the tugs (it was a wild night), and rescued the man just before the seas rose over the rock. (Text.)--CHARLES R. RUSSELL, Harper’s Weekly.

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=Emergency Devices=--See DECEPTION JUSTIFIED.

EMIGRATION, CONQUEST BY

The martial resources of China are not yet developed, but that astute people have hit upon another plan to conquer and hold that which they regard as their own. A current news item from that country says:

China’s chief method of recovering Manchuria is to overrun it with emigrants from the congested mother country, and this plan has worked so well that already Japanese newspapers complain that the Japanese are losing both trade and ground there. Soon after the peace of Portsmouth the Chinese government contributed two million taels for emigration; free transportation began, at the beginning of the year, and in the spring months following as many as three thousand to four thousand coolies got off the train at Harbin daily. The Russians, who, before the war, considered themselves masters of the northern regions, are realizing that they are being crowded out altogether.

This is a suggestion of the peaceful but powerful forces that are at work in changing the map of the world.

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EMOTION

What made Paganini so exceptionally great was the portentous development, the strength and independence, of the emotional fountain within. The whole of life was to him nothing but so many successions of psychological heat and cold. Incidents immediately became clothed with a psychic atmosphere--perhaps the life of emotion was never so completely realized in itself, and for itself, as in the soul-isolation of Paganini. What the tempest had told him his violin would proclaim; what the summer night had whispered was stereotyped in his soul, and the midnight song of birds came forth from the Cremona depths at his bidding.--H. R. HAWEIS, “My Musical Memories.”

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See FEELINGS A FOUNTAIN.

=Employe, Devoted=--See SERVICE, INTERESTED.

EMPLOYER, A GOOD

By his employees Mr. Geo. W. Childs was fairly idolized; yet he demanded of every man the full measure of his duty, but he paid the best of wages. His rule was that every man should receive more than enough for a living--receive a compensation enabling him to lay something by for a rainy day. He encouraged thrift and providence among all in his employ. He surrounded them with every comfort, introduced for their benefit every appliance conducive to health, and annually, at Christmas-time, every person in his employ was substantially remembered.--Washington Craftsman.

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ENCOURAGEMENT

Thirty years ago, in a poor schoolhouse in a back district, a boy at the foot of the class unexpectedly spelled a word that had passed down the entire class.

“Go up ahead,” said the master, “and see that you stay there. You can if you work hard.”

The boy hung his head. But the next day he did not miss a word in spelling. The brighter scholars knew every word in the lesson, hoping there might be a chance to get ahead. But there was not a single one. Dave stayed at the head. He had been an indifferent speller before, but now he knew every word.

“Dave, how do you get your lessons so well now?” said the master.

“I learn every word in the lesson, and get my mother to hear me at night; then I go over them in the morning before I come to school. And I go over them at my seat before the class is called up.”

“Good boy, Dave!” said the master. “That’s the way to have success. Always work that way and you’ll do.”

Dave is to-day the manager of a big lumber company, and he attributes his start to the words:

“Go up head, and see that you stay there. You can, if you work hard.” (Text.)--Genesee Courier.

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* * * * *

The old should not dampen the high aspirations of the young. This is Cale Young Rice’s thought in the following verse:

You who are old, And have fought the fight, And have won or lost or left the field, Weigh us not down With fears of the world, as we run! With the wisdom that is too right, The warning to which we can not yield-- The shadow that follows the sun Follows forever-- And with all that desire must leave undone, Tho as a god it endeavor, Weigh, weigh us not down! But gird our hope to believe That all that is done Is done by dream and daring-- Bid us dream on! That earth was not born Or heaven built of bewaring-- Yield us the dawn, You dreamt your hour--and dared, but we Would dream till all you despaired of be. Would dare, till the world, Won to a new wayfaring, Be thence forever easier upward drawn! (Text.)--The American Magazine.

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* * * * *

When the Duke of Wellington was arranging his forces at the fateful battle of Waterloo his raw recruits outnumbered his veteran troops, and so to encourage them by the example of those skilled in war and tried in bravery, he put a veteran between every two of the recent recruits. Thus strengthened, they all withstood the fierce charges of the French cavalry and helped win the day for the allies. So when the Christian hosts go forth to battle it is well to have the tried and experienced Christians intermingled with those yet young in the spiritual life. It gives them courage and helps them to withstand temptations and trials by which they would otherwise be swept away.--S. PARKES CADMAN.

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* * * * *

An old minister, the Rev. Richard Knill, once placed his hands on the head of a little boy and lovingly predicted that he, too, would become a preacher. That boy was C. H. Spurgeon. A boy was standing on the steps leading to a platform on which a minister wished to ascend. He patted the lad’s head and hoped he would become a preacher of the gospel. That youth afterward went to the university and there became the means of the conversion of a young student. That student was J. Wilbur Chapman, the evangelist.

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See IMPROVEMENT; MONEY, EARNING.

END OF THE WORLD

At some future time the sun will pass from the gaseous, or semigaseous, into the liquid stage, and from that moment it will begin to lose temperature rapidly. There is, therefore, a definite end in sight, a time beyond which the sun will cease to shine and the world, as it now exists, will come to an end.--CHARLES LANE POOR, “The Solar System.”

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=End, Unknown=--See HAPPINESS AS A GOD.

ENDEAVOR

When the dust of the workshop is still, The dust of the workman at rest, May some generous heart find a will To seek and to treasure his best!

From the splendor of hopes that deceived; From the wonders he meant to do; From the glories nearly achieved; From the dreams that nearly came true.

From his struggle to rise above earth On the pinions that would not fly; From his sorrows; oh, seek for some worth To remember the workman by.

If in vain; if time sweeps all away, And no laurel from that dust springs; ’Tis enough that a loyal heart say, “He tried to make beautiful things.” (Text.)--EDEN PHILLPOTTS, _The Pall Mall Magazine_ (London).

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ENDEAVOR, CONSTANT

Parsifal emphasizes the fact that “heaven is not gained with a single bound.” After Parsifal had won the great victory and gained the Sacred Spear, still he had not grown enough to be worthy to rule in the council-chambers of Monsalvat. He had to grow to new heights. Thus, many years yet of struggle, temptation, and trial awaited him. Self-mastery and spiritual supremacy are attained, not by one victory, but by many. They come only as the rich fruition of a life of strenuous endeavor, a life of loyalty to duty and to love. (Text.)--B. O. FLOWER, The Arena.

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ENDURANCE

Look at things as they are, and you will see that the clever unjust are in the place of runners, who run well from the starting-place to the goal, but not back again from the goal; they go off at a great pace, but in the end only look foolish, slinking away with their ears down on their shoulders, and without a crown; but the true runner comes to the finish and receives the prize and is crowned. And this is the way with the just; he who endures to the end of every action and occasion of his entire life has a good report and carries off the prize which men bestow. (Text.)--PLATO.

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ENDURANCE OF PAIN

The incident below, printed in the New York Times, illustrates how pride and resolution will fortify a man to endure pain:

“Whom do you s’pose I’ve got inside here? Old one-eyed Ben Tillman! And if I don’t make him squeal nobody can. I won’t do a thing to him--oh, my!” And the dentist-surgeon brandished his forceps gleefully and returned to the pleasure of torturing the senator.

Next day the same young man came again. “Well, did you succeed in making Tillman yell?” he asked. The dentist shook his head sadly. “No,” he replied in a disappointed tone. “I couldn’t make him flinch. He didn’t make a sound, and, d’ye know, when he got out of the chair he turned to me with a smile and said: ‘Say, doctor, I didn’t know before that you ran a painless dental shop.’” (Text.)

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ENDURING ART

You can go down into the narrow vault which Nero built as a retreat from the great heat, and you will find the walls painted all over with fanciful designs in arabesque, which have been buried beneath the earth fifteen hundred years; but when the peasants light it up with their torches, the colors flash out before you as fresh as they were in the days of St. Paul.--WENDELL PHILLIPS.

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ENEMIES

Mr. Vernon L. Kellogg, with a child friend, were watching an ant-dragon as he caught an ant in a sandpit-trap.

“But, see,” cried Mary, “the ant has stopt sliding. It is going to get out!”

Ah, Mary, you are not making allowance for all the resources of this dreadful dragon of the pit. Not only is the pit a nearly perfect trap, and the eager jaws at the bottom more deadly than any array of spikes or spears at the bottom of an elephant pit, but there is another most effective thing about this fatal dragon’s trap, and that is this: it is not merely a passive trap, but an active one. Already it is in action. And Mary sees now how hopeless it is with the ant. For a shower of sand is being thrown up from the bottom of the pit against the ant and it is again sliding down. The dragon has a flat, broad head and powerful neck muscles, and has wit enough to shovel up and hurl masses of dry sand-grains against the victim on the loose slopes. And this starts the avalanche again, and so down slides the frantic ant.--VERNON L. KELLOGG, “Insect Stories.”

(911)

=Enemies Among Animals=--See SUBTLETY AMONG ANIMALS.

ENEMIES, AVOIDING

It would often be well for men to avoid enemies as did these sagacious rooks:

A curious incident in the recent history of the Gray’s Inn settlement of rooks is mentioned by a London correspondent in the Manchester Guardian. It appears that a couple of carrion crows settled in the gardens, and one day it was discovered that the rookery was deserted. The benchers, who are particularly proud of their rooks, gave orders for the carrion crows to be destroyed, and the gardener prepared pigeon’s eggs with good doses of arsenic. The crows swallowed them and seemed to grow fatter and healthier. At last strychnine was used, and the pair were poisoned. Then a curious thing happened. Not a rook had been seen for weeks at Gray’s Inn, but the next day they were all back as tho advised by telegram.

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ENEMIES CONVERTED

Count Witte, Russian Prime Minister, summoned his secretary one day and gave him this order:

“Make out a full list of the authors of the articles that are directly against me in the daily press.”

The secretary went to work, and with the aid of his office force in a week prepared a list of about a thousand articles, with the writer’s names appended. The clippings were properly classified, put in an album, and dutifully handed to the Premier.

“In how many instances,” he asked, “have I been commended?”

“In three, your excellency.”

“Very well; now select the most abusive and personal of the unfavorable articles, and let me know the names of the writers.”

This list, too, was duly prepared and presented.

“Shall I bring this to the attention of the public prosecutor?” queried the secretary.

“For what purpose?”

“Why, to institute proceedings under the statutes regulating the press.”

“No, I do not wish it,” said the Premier. “I wish to select from these journalists my most aggressive critic and make him my advocate and spokesman. I shall offer him the editorship of my organ. Experience has taught me that the best champion and most faithful defender is the man who has been your bitterest assailant.” (Text.)

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=Enemies of Character=--See SELF-CONFLICT.

=Enemy of the World, An=--See MYSTERY, VALUE OF.

ENERGY

What unused energy still awaits utilization by man is indicated in the following calculation:

The tremendous amount of energy received from the sun may be illustrated in another way. Ordinary steam-engines, whether for railroad or factory use, are rated by their horse-power; a hundred-horse-power engine will drive a small steamer or operate a mill of some two hundred and fifty looms. Now, thirty calories of heat per minute, if completely utilized, would produce 2.8 horse-power. Neglecting atmospheric absorption, therefore, each square meter of the earth’s surface receives from the sun, when directly overhead, sufficient energy to run a 2.8 horse-power engine; or one horse-power is received for every four square feet of surface. The absorption of the air cuts this down about forty per cent, so that on a clear day at sea-level, with the sun directly overhead, sufficient energy to produce one horse-power is received on each six and a half square feet of surface.--CHARLES LANE POOR, “The Solar System.”

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See MOMENTUM.

=Energy, Economy of=--See ECONOMY OF ENERGY.

ENERGY, INDOMITABLE

Seldom has there been seen a more inspiring example of indomitable energy triumphing over fate than that which the Engraver Florian is now giving to the world, says the New York World.

Six years ago, while at work upon the designs for the new French bank-notes, he was suddenly stricken by paralysis. His right side became as if dead; he was bereft of speech; the hand whose skill had made him famous was useless forever. Did he complain? Did he resign himself to the inevitable? Did he sit down in despair and allow his young wife and daughters to support him? Not for a moment. He let the women work, it is true, but only while he learned to engrave with the left hand.

Hour after hour, day after day, month after month he passed, struggling with that awkward, untrained left hand, drawing at first crudely like a little child, then with ever-increasing precision. Gradually he educated the refractory member to obey his will. Drawing, water-color painting, designing for typographers succeeded one another, until to-day he has again attained absolute mastery over the engraver’s tools. Arsene Alexandre, the famous art critic, saw him at work recently, his wooden block screwed to a table, his left hand plying the tools with all the deftness his now dead right hand formerly possest, his speechless lips smiling and his face radiant with happiness.

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ENGLISH, ERRORS IN

The following specimens of false syntax are given by the Printers’ Register:

A man who was suddenly taken sick “hastened home while every means for his recovery was resorted to. In spite of all his efforts he died in the triumphs of the Christian religion.” “A man was killed by a railroad car running into Boston supposed to be deaf.” A man writes, “We have decided to erect a schoolhouse large enough to accommodate five hundred scholars five stories high.” On a certain railway the following luminous direction was printed: “Hereafter when trains in an opposite direction are approaching each other on separate lines, conductors and engineers will be requested to bring their respective trains to a dead halt before the point of meeting, and be careful not to proceed till each train has passed the other.” A steamboat captain, advertising an excursion, says: “Tickets, twenty-five cents; children half-price to be had at the office.” An Iowa editor says: “We have received a basket of fine grapes from our friend W., for which he will please accept our compliments, some of which are nearly two inches in diameter.”--Printers’ Register.

(916)

=English Passage, Superb=--See SOLACE OF THE SEA.

ENGROSSMENT IN BUSINESS

The character is shaped by that which engrosses the attention most. Rev. W. F. Crafts, Ph.D., says:

A profane sea-captain came to a mission station on the Pacific, and the missionary talked with him upon religious subjects. The captain said, “I came away from Nantucket after whales; I have sailed round Cape Horn for whales; I am now up in the Northern Pacific Ocean after whales. I think of nothing but whales. I fear your labor would be entirely lost upon me, and I ought to be very frank with you. I care for nothing by day but whales, and I dream of them at night. If you should open my heart I think you would find the shape of a sperm-whale there.”

(917)

=Enlarging Objects=--See SCIENCE, IMPROVEMENTS BY.

ENLIGHTENMENT

The difference between the savage and the enlightened man is often due to Christian civilization.

John Williams tells how the Raratongans were excited and overawed when, for the first time, they saw him send a written message to his wife. He requested a chief, who was helping, to take the chip to Mrs. Williams; but, thinking the missionary to be playing a joke on him, he asked, “What must I say?” “Nothing,” said Mr. Williams; “the chip will say all that I wish.” “But can a chip talk? Has it a mouth?” He got what he went for, and, still more perplexed, could only exclaim: “See the wisdom of these English! They can even make chips talk!”--PIERSON, “The Miracles of Missions.”

(918)

ENTHUSIASM

The most terrific heat known to science is a torch operated by oxygen and acetylene, radiating a heat of 6,300 degrees, by means of which it is possible to weld aluminum, heretofore regarded as an impossibility. The torch makes a flame that will cut through two inches of solid steel in less than a minute and pierce a twelve-inch piece of the hardest steel in less than ten minutes--a task that would take a saw almost twenty hours to accomplish.

When the soul burns with the heat of great enthusiasm, it will burn through obstacles that are entirely insuperable to ordinary efforts.

(919)

=Enthusiasm for One’s Work=--See ART, DEVOTION TO.

ENTICEMENT

In the legend, the Duchess Isabella, wishing earnestly to obtain some object, was instructed by the crafty court astrologer to kiss day by day for a hundred days a certain beautiful picture, and she would receive the fulfilment of her wish. It was a sinister trick, for the picture contained a subtle poison which stained the lips with every salutation. Little by little the golden tresses of the queenly woman turned white, her eyes became dim, her color faded, her lips became black; but, infatuated, the suicidal kiss was continued until before the hundred days were complete the royal dupe lay dead.

So we yield ourselves to the sorcery of sin; despite many warnings, we persist in our fellowship with what seems truth, beauty, liberty, pleasure, until our whole soul is poisoned and destroyed. (Text.)--W. L. WATKINSON, “The Transfigured Sackcloth.”

(920)

See ALLUREMENT, FATAL.

ENVIRONMENT

The Seminole Indians have a tradition regarding the white man’s origin and superiority. The Great Spirit made three men of fair complexion and then led them to a lake and bade them leap in. One immediately obeyed, and came out of the water whiter than before; the second did not leap in until the water became slightly muddy, and when he bathed he came out copper-colored; the third leaped in when the water was black with mud and he came out black.

Every man has some choice as to the kind of environment into which he will plunge, and the color of his character will ultimately show his choice.

(921)

* * * * *

The gardener bird of New Guinea builds its nest, and lays out a garden-plot in front, of grass and mosses; and when the female bird is sitting on her eggs the mate flies about in search of the brightest-colored leaves and flowers, which are placed upon this plateau of garden.

Many men have been reclaimed and encouraged by surrounding them with a beautiful environment.

(922)

* * * * *

Surely, it is not environment that makes temperament. Bittern and blackbird both frequent bogs, yet the bittern is a lonely misanthrope, whom I more than half suspect of being melancholy-mad, while the blackbird is as cheery and as fond of his fellows as a candidate.--WINTHROP PACKARD, “Wild Pastures.”

(923)

* * * * *

You may take a piece of wax, and a piece of meat, and some sand, and some clay, and some shavings, and put them in the fire, and see how they act. One goes to melting, and one to frying, and one to drying up, and one to hardening, and one to blazing; and every one acted on by the same agent.

So, under identical moral influences and in the same environment, one man goes wrong, another repents, and another remains indifferent. Not what is done to us but what we do is the thing that determines character and destiny.

(924)

ENVIRONMENT, ADAPTATION TO

Joseph Cook taught that character tends to assume a fixt type, as marked as in the case of mice, cited below:

Mice were originally natives of southern Asia. From there they have accompanied man in his wanderings to all parts of the world, traveling, as he has traveled, in ox-teams and on the backs of donkeys, by steamship and railway; taking up their quarters wherever he does, first in log-cabins with thatched roofs; and finally, in some instances, on the nineteenth floor of a steel building where generation after generation may live and die in turn without having so much as touched foot to the earth.

Strangely enough, the race seems to be proof against the changes wrought upon most animals by difference in environment. Specimens from the opposite sides of the globe, or from widely separated latitudes, are said to be practically indistinguishable, as if at last the species had hit upon a style of form and coloring perfectly suited to all conditions of life.--WITMER STONE and WILLIAM EVERETT CRAM, “American Animals.”

(925)

=Environment and Man=--See MEAN, THE GOLDEN.

=Environment Controlled=--See CONTROL OF CIRCUMSTANCES.

ENVIRONMENT, CREATING OUR OWN

Often the individual bemoans the depression of environment. A converse fact may be referred to, namely, that man produces his own environment. It is in his power largely to make his own world, by paying attention to the things of himself. An illustration of this is found by an English writer who insists that we can make our own climates, as he says:

Effective sanitary ventilation should supply gentle and uniformly diffused currents of air of moderate and equal temperature throughout the house. We talk a great deal about the climate here and the climate there; and when we grow old, and can afford it, we move to Bournemouth, Torquay, Menton, Nice, Algiers, etc., for better climates, forgetting all the while that the climate in which we practically live is not that out-of-doors, but the indoor climate of our dwellings, the which, in a properly constructed house, may be regulated to correspond to that of any latitude we may choose.

(926)

ENVIRONMENT, DESTRUCTIVE

An English writer, with some novel ideas of how the smoke-laden atmosphere of London might be purified, writes:

At one time I thought of proposing the establishment of horticultural home-missions for promoting the dissemination of flowerpot shrubs in the metropolis, and of showing how much the atmosphere of London would be improved if every London family had one little sweetbrier-bush, a lavender-plant, or a hardy heliotrope to each of its members; so that a couple of millions of such ozone generators should breathe their sweetness into the dank and dead atmosphere of the denser central regions of London.

A little practical experience of the difficulty of growing a clean cabbage, or maintaining alive any sort of shrub in the midst of our soot-drizzle, satisfied me that the mission would fail, even tho the sweetbriers were given away by the district visitors; for these simple hardy plants perish in a mid-London atmosphere unless their leaves are periodically sponged and syringed, to wash away the soot particles that otherwise close their stomata and suffocate the plant.

The ingenious scheme would fail because the plants themselves would become foul and need to be cleansed. Failing this, they would die. So in life character is easily incrusted with the spirit of worldliness. (Text.)

(927)

ENVIRONMENT INADEQUATE

Shortly after Chief Justice Chase had gone for the first time to Washington, he was returning to the West. The train stopt at a little station in Virginia, and he was informed that it was the birthplace of Patrick Henry. He immediately left the car and stood upon the platform, admiring the magnificence of the scenery that opens before the traveler. He said, “What an atmosphere! What a view! What glorious mountains! No wonder that Patrick Henry grew here.” One of the natives, who was standing by his side, quietly replied, “Yes, sir; but as far as I have heard, that landscape and those mountains have always been here; but we haven’t seen any more Patrick Henrys.”

(928)

ENVIRONMENT, SPIRITUAL

A Dutch scientist has just completed five years’ study in South America. He took some insects from Holland into the rich tropic atmosphere, changed their environment, put them in a friendly environment, and gave them the best food. He expected to modify their coloring, having exchanged the damp, foggy sky of Holland for the brilliant hues of the tropics. And lo! these insects doubled their size; the dim subdued tints became gay and brilliant. At last he discovered that insects that in Holland crawled, in the South spread their wings to fly and meet God’s sun. He began with potato-bugs in Holland; he ended with brilliant creatures that lived on the nectar of flowers, and only five summers and winters stood between the marvel. Oh, marvelous transformation, through environment and food! More marvelous still the way the soul can grow. Last year you lived in the damp, foggy miasmatic levels of selfishness; sordidness, like a cloud, wrapt you about. Suppose you take down your tent, and move into the tropic realm of love and faith and hope. Open the soul’s wings to the light, the sun and dew of God’s spirit. Live in the atmosphere of purity and prayer. Expel hate and fear, like poisonous winds. Imitate Christ’s life. Love the master spirits. Read the great poets. Insist upon leisure to grow ripe. Guard your hours of solitude; practice the presence of God.--N. D. HILLIS.

(929)

ENVIRONMENT THAT TRANSFORMS

The Japanese have an ingenious way of changing the color and appearance of birds and animals. For example, white sparrows are produced by selecting a pair of grayish birds and keeping them in a white cage, in a white room, where they are attended by a person drest in white. The mental effect on a series of generations of birds results in completely white birds. (Text.)

(930)

ENVY

The Duchess of Argyll is reported to have written to various European monarchs asking them whom they envied. Among the answers was one from the Czar of Russia, as follows: “I sincerely envy every man who is not loaded down with the cares of a great empire, and who has not to weep for the woes of a people.”

Not infrequently the envied are the envying, because each one is apt to think his own lot the hardest.

(931)

* * * * *

Good men are often hated for their goodness by bad men, who can not endure the contrast with themselves. An unidentified writer points out this kind of envy in the following verse:

A glowworm sat in the grass; As I passed through the wood I found it; Bright as a diamond it shone, With a halo of light around it.

A toad came up from the fen; It was ugly in every feature; Like a thief it crept to the worm, And spat on the shining creature.

“What have I done,” said the worm, “As I sat here in silence nightly?” “Nothing,” replied the toad; “But why did you shine so brightly?” (Text.)

(932)

ENVY GRATIFIED

Persons accustomed to gaze in awe upon suit-cases and steamer-trunks covered with labels of every size and color, thinking the while enviously of the fortunate owners of such baggage, who have such an advantage over the poor stay-at-homes, may perhaps be surprized to learn that there are shops where such labels may be had.

It is quite feasible, therefore, for any one to have his case or trunk covered with nicely worn labels, indicating that the owner thereof has roamed from Sydney to San Francisco; from Copenhagen to Colombo, to say nothing of all the capitals of Europe and Asia, with divers famous water-places thrown in for good measure.--Harper’s Weekly.

(933)

=Ephemera=--See BREVITY OF LIFE; HAPPINESS A GOOD.

=Epidemic from Neglect=--See NEGLECT, CONSEQUENCES OF.

=Epitaph, Curious=--See MAN A TIMEKEEPER.

EPITAPHS

The following epitaphs, with the comment on them, are taken from the London Daily News:

There is an interesting epitaph on a gravestone in Poling churchyard, Sussex. It runs:

Here Lieth ye Body of Alice, ye wife, of Bobt Woolbridge, who Died the 27th of May, 1740. Aged 44 years.

The World is a round thing, And full of crooked streets. Death is a market place, Where all men meets. If Life was a thing That money could buy, The Rich would live, And the poor would die.

Here is another:

Poor Martha Snell has gone away, Her would if she could, but her couldn’t stay, She had two sore legs and a badish cough, But it were her legs as carried her off.

Less comic, but more witty, is the epitaph found at Kingsbridge, S. Devon.

Here lieth the body of Robert (commonly called “Bone”) Phillips, who died July 27th, 1793, aged 65 years, and at whose request the following lines are here inscribed:

Here lie I at the Chancel door; Here lie I because I am poor; The further in the more you’ll pay, Yet here lie I as warm as they.

Here is an epitaph on a last-maker, who is said to be buried at Llanflantwythyl:

Stop, stranger, stop, and wipe a tear For the Last man at last lies here, Tho ever-last-ing he has been, He has at last passed life’s last scene. Famed for good works, much time he passed, In doing good--He has done his last.

The following, more philosophic and general in its application, is on an eighteenth-century tombstone in Saint Mary’s Parish Churchyard, Mold, North Wales.

Life’s like an Inn where Travelers stay. Some only Breakfast, and away. Others to dinner stay, and are well fed. The oldest only sup and go to Bed. Long is the Bill who lingers out the day. He that goes the soonest Has the Least to Pay.

The correspondent also sends us an epitaph which has pithiness and force. It runs:

Here lies W. W. Who will nevermore trouble you.

It was an epitaph which called forth the following topical epigram from Dr. Samuel Clarke, who had just seen the inscription, “Domus Ultima,” on the vault belonging to the Dukes of Richmond in the Cathedral of Chichester. In a mood of satire he wrote:

Did he who thus inscribed the wall Not read, or not believe, St. Paul, Who says there is, where’er it stands, Another house, not made with hands. Or may we gather from these words That house is not a House of Lords.

(934)

=Equality, The Spirit of=--See RESPECT, NO, OF PERSONS.

EQUALIZATION

The practise of some physicians is practically the philosophy of Christian socialism: “From every man according to his ability, to every man according to his need.”

“A Philadelphia judge,” says American Medicine, “has given expression to the opinion that ‘the life of a rich man is worth more than the life of a poor man, and the physician has a right to charge the millionaire more for his services than he does the laborer.’ He went on further to say that ‘the physician is unlike the merchant, who has goods of different quality to sell at various prices. He must give his best service in every case. Human life has a pecuniary value of variable quality, greater in the millionaire than in the laborer. Thus, the practitioner of common sense has a maximum and a minimum charge, and makes out his bills to suit the pecuniary circumstances of his patients.’” The writer thinks that “there will be no dissent on the part of right-thinking people” from this view. Carried to its logical conclusion, it would appear to justify a sliding-scale of prices for all the necessities of life, carefully adjusted to the varying incomes of the users. (Text.)

(935)

* * * * *

The conclusion reached in this extract leaves out of account the presence in the cosmos of a living God:

The quantity of energy existing in the universe remains constant, but transforms itself little by little into heat uniformly distributed at a temperature everywhere identical. In the end, therefore, there will be neither chemical phenomena nor manifestation of life; the world will still exist, but without motion; and, so to speak, dead.--LUCIEN POINCARÉ, “The New Physics and its Evolution.”

(936)

=Equilibrium in Nature=--See COMPLEXITY IN ORGANS.

=Equipment and Results=--See MEDICAL MISSIONS.

=Error as a Benefactor=--See DISCOVERY, ACCIDENTAL.

ERROR CORRECTED

Human nature must be perfected by long processes of improvement analogous to that employed in getting a perfect chronometer.

From the practical point of view, chronometry has made in these last few years very sensible progress. The errors in the movements of chronometers are corrected in a much more systematic way than formerly, and certain inventions have enabled important improvements to be effected in the construction of these instruments. Thus, the curious properties which steel combined with nickel--so admirably studied by M. Guillaume--exhibits in the matter of dilatation are now utilized so as to almost completely annihilate the influence of variations of temperature.--LUCIEN POINCARÉ, “The New Physics and its Evolution.”

(937)

=Error Exposed=--See DOGMATISM, MISTAKEN.

ERROR IN REASONING

It frequently happens that men are perfectly correct in their premises and in observing the facts, while their conclusions may be wholly wrong.

Ptolemy clearly saw that, if the alternation from day to night is caused by a rotation of the earth, then points on the equator must move with a speed of nearly one thousand miles an hour, a velocity exceeding more than tenfold that of the wind in the severest storm. A terrible gale would thus always blow from the east; birds in flight and objects thrown into the air would be left behind and carried with frightful rapidity toward the west. As these things do not happen, the earth, Ptolemy concludes, must be at rest.--CHARLES LANE POOR, “The Solar System.”

(938)

=Error Leading to Success=--See EXPERIMENT.

=Eruption of Evil=--See EVIL ERUPTIVE.

=Escape=--See INGENUITY; RESCUE.

ESSENTIALS

Immediately after one of the fiercest battles of the Civil War a chaplain of one of the Federal regiments passed over the field of conflict in the performance of his duty. He noticed among the prostrate bodies one which moved, and quickly was at the side of a dying soldier. Recognizing that the man had not long to live, he at once proceeded to administer, but in rather a formal manner, the consolations of religion. Kneeling at the man’s side, he asked him to what church he belonged, and the surprizing answer came, “The Church which God hath purchased with His own blood.” “Oh, but that is not what I mean,” said the minister, “what is your belief?” The mortally wounded disciple replied, “I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.” “Oh,” said the chaplain, “but you do not understand me--what is your persuasion?” The answer came from lips which were quivering in the agonies of death, “I am persuaded that neither death nor life shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord,” and with these words the soldier passed into the presence of Him who is the Savior of all them that believe in Him.

(939)

=Estimating One’s Self=--See SELF-DEPRECIATION.

ETERNAL LIFE, MAKING ROOM FOR

Have you ever noticed what happens when from one cause or another the water-mains in any street have become choked or polluted by the intrusion of some foreign body? You will see some one come along with an iron instrument and turn on the stopcock at some point in the roadway. Immediately there comes an up-rush, a mighty volume of water--swirling, heaving, rolling, hurtling out of the pipes beneath. And you will observe, too, that for a time it seems to be charged with filth; whatever it is that has been blocking the flow of the life-giving element is being stirred up and flung out with immense force. But after a time the jet clears, the evil is gone, the water becomes sweet and pure, and the flow full and steady. Then the covering is replaced; the cleansing process is at an end. And so it is with you and me. God has to get rid of our selfishness somehow that the life eternal may possess us through and through. The cleansing may seem to be a stern matter, but it is best to let Him have his way to the uttermost. We must be crucified with Christ in order to live with Him, but no man would ever repine at what it costs if he could foresee what is to be gained.--R. J. CAMPBELL, The Christian Commonwealth.

(940)

ETERNAL, THE, AT HAND

A lady recently related in one of the journals how she went through a veritable blizzard to view a flower-show. With one step she passed out of the wild night, the deep snow, the bitter wind, into a brilliant hall filled with hyacinths, tulips, jonquils, cyclamens, azaleas, roses and orchids.

It is the privilege of godly men, at any time, to pass at a step from the savage conflicts of life right into the sweet fellowship of God, finding grace to help in the time of need.--W. L. WATKINSON, “The Transfigured Sackcloth.”

(941)

ETERNITY

Walter Samuel Swisher is the author of these lines:

Unquiet sea, that endlessly doth stretch Beyond the straining, finite sight of man: Why dost thou toss in infinite unrest, Oh, why no far, faint shore-line can we scan? Full many a bark thy serried billows crossed, Full many a sail hath spread before the wind, But none hath e’er returned; the tempest-tost And anxious mariner doth haven find In fairer clime, in sunny land afar, Where no storms rudely break or winds contend. There nothing enters in their joy to mar, Who have the peace of God, which knows no end. Oh, may we, too, that stand with straining eye-- Looking far out, where wind and wave contend-- Set sail with hope to those fair lands that lie Beneath the peace of God, that knows no end.

(942)

ETERNITY AS A SPUR

Once, when tempted to linger in a lovely landscape, Wesley cried, “I believe there is an eternity; I must arise and go hence”; and those words express the temper of his life. He lived in the spirit of Andrew Marvel’s strong lines:

Ever at my back I hear Time’s winged chariots hurrying near.

“And this,” Johnson complained, “is very disagreeable to a man who loves to fold his legs and have his talk out as I do.”--W. H. FITCHETT, “Wesley and His Century.”

(943)

=Ether, Doctrine of=--See MYSTERY IN RELIGION.

=Ethical Judgments=--See JUDGING FROM FACTS.

ETHICAL PRINCIPLE

Horace Bushnell, the great preacher, when he was a young man, was troubled with religious doubts. He was an instructor in Yale College when a gracious revival prevailed in that institution. Fearing lest he should stand in the way of younger men who might follow his example, he became troubled in mind exceedingly. He walked the floor of his room in deep study. At last he reached this conclusion: “There is one thing of which I have no doubt: there is a difference between right and wrong. Am I willing to throw myself on the side of right as far as I can see the right?” That ethical principle dissolved his doubts. (Text.)

(944)

=Etiquette=--See ABSURD NOTIONS.

=Etiquette, Breaches of=--See MISSIONARIES’ MISTAKES.

=Etiquette in the East=--See CALLS AND CONVEYANCES IN THE EAST; PROPRIETY.

=Etiquette Superseded=--See COURAGE VERSUS ETIQUETTE.

EVANESCENT LITERATURE

We may be sure that any piece of literature which attracts only by some trick of style, however it may blaze up for a day and startle the world with its flash, lacks the element of endurance. We do not need much experience to tell us the difference between a lamp and a Roman candle. Even in our day we have seen many reputations flare up, illuminate the sky, and then go out in utter darkness. When we take a proper historical perspective, we see that it is the universal, the simple, that lasts.--CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER, Atlantic Monthly.

(945)

EVANGELISM, APOSTOLIC

As the fairy god Ceres in the old Greek mythologies went forth from Mount Olympus moving over the desert land, touching the miry bog and widening it into a river; touching the thorn-tree and causing it to be laden with olives, and the brier and it bears its luscious figs; touching the desert plain and it becomes a garden, so these disciples, filled with the light and love of Jesus Christ, go forth into the mortal darkness and spiritual destitution of the heathen world until under their influence pagan Rome casts all her idol gods into the sea and crowns Jesus King of kings and Lord of lords.--J. H. JOWETT.

(946)

EVANGELISM, UNHERALDED

In my mail the other evening I received this unsigned letter:

“I won’t let this incident pass without writing to you of it. My little daughter is a member of your Sunday-school. I do not have any religious faith. All my life I have been an unbeliever. The children of our neighborhood went to Sunday-school, and my little girl wanted to go with them. I consented. She came home one Sunday with certain verses to commit to memory, and said that when she learned them perfectly and recited them to her teacher, she would get a Bible as a reward. Last Sunday she did not return at the usual time. I waited for her for a while, and then went to the Sunday-school to see if she was there. I went into a room, and at once saw my little one standing and reciting the verses which she had studied. The young lady who was hearing her had her arm around her. Oh, sir! I can not describe the feeling that went through my whole being. I thought, If some one had done that to me when I was a child, what a different life I might have had! As I stood looking upon the scene, I made up my mind that I would start next Sunday and go to church, and try and get into touch with the spirit which the Sunday-school teacher showed.”--J. F. CARSON, Sunday-school Times.

(947)

EVANGELISM, UNUSUAL

Rev. W. E. Bentley, who is rector of an Episcopal Church in Brooklyn, has induced nearly twenty young actors to quit the stage and become Episcopal ministers. He maintains what is almost a theological seminary.

(948)

EVANGELIZATION

In regard to the divine method for the evangelization of the world, the following bit of imagery is not without its deeper meaning. Mr. S. D. Gordon imagines that after Jesus went back to heaven, He and Gabriel had a conversation something like this:

Gabriel is saying: “Master, you died for the whole world down there, did you not?” “Yes.” “You must have suffered much.” “Yes.” “And do they all know about it?” “Oh, no; only a few in Palestine know about it so far.” “Well, Master, what have you done about telling the world that you have died for them? What is your plan?”

“Well,” the Master is supposed to answer, “I asked Peter and James and John and Andrew, and some more of them down there, just to make it the business of their lives to tell others, and others, and yet others, and still others, until the last man in the farthest circle has heard the story.”

And Gabriel is supposed to answer: “Yes--but--suppose Peter fails. Suppose after a while John simply does not tell others. Suppose their descendants, their successors away off in the first edge of the twentieth century, get so busy that they do not tell others, what then?”

And back comes the voice of Jesus, “Gabriel, I haven’t made any other plans--I’m counting on them.” (Text.)

(949)

EVAPORATION

Said Moody: “We are leaky vessels and need constant replenishing. If we cut a leafy branch from a growing plant and put it in a warm oven, the leaves and stem will soon become smaller and lighter and more brittle, because the water in the branch has been evaporated by the heat. Often more than four-fifths of the weight of a growing plant is water. Hay is dried grass. The farmer cuts his grass and lets it lie exposed to the heat of the sun until most of the water it contained has evaporated.” (Text.)

(950)

=Ever-living, The=--See FUTURE REUNION.

=Evidence=--See PROOF.

EVIDENCE, CHRISTIAN

Mr. A. J. Cassatt, the late president of the Pennsylvania Railway, was once making a quiet tour over one of the branches of the system, and wandered into an out-of-the-way switch-yard, where something one of the yardmen was doing did not meet with his approbation. He made some suggestion to the man, who asked: “Who are you that’s trying to teach me my business.” “I am an officer of the road,” replied Mr. Cassatt. “Let’s see your switch-key, then,” said the man suspiciously. Mr. Cassatt pulled from his hip pocket his key-ring, to which was attached the switch-key, which no railroad man in service is ever without. It was sufficient proof for the switchman, who then did as he was told.

If we are going to have any real leadership in dealing with the souls of men they must see in our conversation, in the tone of our character, in the spirit of our life, that we possess the “switch-key,” the evident presence of Christ. (Text.)

(951)

=Evidence, Conclusive=--See TESTIMONY, A SHEEP’S.

EVIDENCE, LIVING

The advocates of moderate drinking of intoxicants are among the most persistent and audacious of advisers of their own various deleterious decoctions, but they constantly supply, involuntarily enough, the most appalling contradiction of their own commendations.

A gentleman riding on a car noticed on the advertising spaces, placarded in immense type, the words: “Pure Rye Whisky--Tones up the Body, Brightens the Intellect, Invigorates the Soul.” This kind of “puffing” advertisement is common enough and the gentleman might have paid very little attention to it but his eyes happened to drop to a seat underneath the advertisement on which was lounging a drunken man. The eyes of this wretched being were bleared, his face bloated, with the lines of dissipation deeply engraven in it, and his body slouched down in the collapsing style characteristic of the habitual inebriate. That drunken man was a lurid illustration of the absolute falsehood of the advertisement. He as a ruined victim constituted the true advertisement of the effects of alcoholic indulgence.

(952)

EVIDENCE, PROVIDENTIAL

In the year 1799, Lieutenant Michael Fitton, of H. M. S. Ferret, was cruising off Port Royal, when his crew caught a big shark. Inside it was found a bundle of ship’s papers belonging to an American brig, the Nancy. On his return to Port Royal, Lieutenant Fitton found that the Nancy had been brought in for carrying contraband of war. Her skipper produced other papers to the authorities, which apparently cleared the ship--false papers which had been prepared in the event of the vessel being stopt. Her true papers, which proved that the Nancy was deeply implicated in the contraband traffic, had been thrown overboard just before she was overhauled, and the shark had swallowed them. The case was tried in the court-house at Kingston, where, at the critical moment, Lieutenant Fitton appeared on the scene and produced his find, to the consternation of the other side. The Nancy was forthwith condemned as a lawful prize, and her skipper was fined and sent to jail.

The head of the shark is in London, at the United Service Institution. It was for some time set up on show at Port Royal, Jamaica, with this label attached: “Lieutenant Fitton recommends these jaws for a collar for neutrals to swear through.”

(953)

EVIL, BEGINNINGS OF

A while ago the omnibus on its way from Gray’s Inn Road to Islington (England) had to traverse a narrow and dangerous piece of roadway--a sharp, slippery declivity called “The Devil’s Slide.” How terrible, indeed, is the devil’s slide! How tempting it is!--a short cut, a very short cut, to fame, wealth, power, pleasure. How graduated and smooth it is! What a specious name it often has! Strangely enough, that declivity in London was called “Mount Pleasant”; and the downward roads of life often are known by charming names. But enter on that slide, and you soon attain a startling velocity; sooner or later you arrive at an ignominious doom. Let no man think himself safe. The circles of crime dipping to very murky depths of hell are not far from any one of us. (Text.)--W. L. WATKINSON, “The Transfigured Sackcloth.”

(954)

EVIL BY DEGREES

Many a man grows so accustomed to his evil environment that he fails to realize how he is being spiritually ruined.

In a certain laboratory experiment a live frog was placed in water heated at the rate of .0036 of a degree Fahrenheit per second. The frog never moved or showed any sign of distress, but was found at the end of two hours and a half to be dead. The explanation was that at any point of time the temperature of the water showed such little contrast with that of a moment before that the attention of the frog was never attracted by it. It was boiled to death without noticing it.

(955)

EVIL DEFLECTED

Surmounting the tower of the City Hall, Philadelphia, is a colossal statue of William Penn. During a thunder-storm sometimes the lightning plays about its surface of bronze, like oil on water. Electricians say that it can not be damaged because a two-inch copper cable runs down into a well beneath the foundation-walls, conducting the dangerous current harmlessly away.

Still more immune from evil is the man whom God protects. (Text.)

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EVIL DEVELOPMENT RAPID

Evil grows of itself, grows vigorously. With infinite care we rear the rare roses, but how spontaneously and luxuriantly spring the weeds! By costly culture we ripen the golden sheaf, but how the noxious poppies bloom! Very tenderly must we nourish things of beauty, but how the vermin breed and swarm! And so, while the germs of good in our heart come to fruition only after long years of vigilance and devotion, the tares are ever springing up in a night, dashing the beauty with their blackness, and bearing the hundredfold of bitterness and blasting.--W. L. WATKINSON, “The Transfigured Sackcloth.”

(957)

EVIL, DISGUISED

If destructive moral evils were shown in their real hideousness, no one would be drawn toward them! Vernon L. Kellogg describes the disguise of a certain insect:

The whole front of his [a water insect’s] face was smooth and covered over by a sort of mask, so that his terrible jaws and catching nippers were invisible. However, we soon understood this. The mask was the folded-up “catcher,” so disposed that it served, when not in use, actually to hide its own iniquity as well as that of the yawning mouth behind. Only when some small insect, all unsuspecting this smooth masked face, comes close, do the long tongs unfold, shoot out, and reveal the waiting jaws and thirsty throat. A veritable dragon, indeed; sly and cruel and ever hungry for living prey. (Text.)--“Insect Stories.”

(958)

EVIL, ERUPTIVE

Solfatara, a semi-extinct volcano near Pozzuoli, has opened a new crater two hundred and fifty feet from the ancient one. It is emitting a voluminous column of sulfurous gases. The activity of Solfatara always is supposed to coincide with the inactivity of Vesuvius.

To stop one bad habit is not to transform the nature. The wicked are like a troubled sea that can not rest. If there are evil fires in the heart when you choke off one evil course the evil breaks out in some other way.

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EVIL, ESCAPE FROM

The saying which Rev. W. H. Fitchett attributes to John Wesley’s sister reminds one of Christ’s petition, “I pray not that thou wouldst take them out of the world, but that thou wouldst keep them from its evil.”

Patty Wesley kept her intellect bright, wore a serene face amid all troubles, and by the sheer charm of her mental qualities became one of Dr. Johnson’s most intimate and valued companions. “Evil,” she once said, “was not kept from me, but evil has been kept from harming me.”--“Wesley and His Century.”

(960)

EVIL GERMINAL

One evil contains within itself the possibilities of all evil. Medical writers have now much to tell touching the convertibility of disease. They have come to the conclusion that the constitutional defect appearing in a family in one generation is not necessarily transmitted in that exact form to succeeding generations. What appears at one time as insanity will reveal itself at another as epilepsy or paralysis; convulsions will reassert themselves as hysteria or insanity; insanity is converted into a tendency to suicide; the suicidal tendency will become a mania for drinking; what is neuralgia in the father may be melancholia in the son; what is deformity in one generation may be apoplexy in the next. In an afflicted family the constitutional defect has curious ramifications, and undergoes strange metamorphoses.

It is much the same with evil. Men will indulge in one vice, while they express the utmost abhorrence of other vices of which they could never think themselves susceptible. But this is a mistake. All evils are one in root and essence; and surrendering ourselves to one form of iniquity, we surrender ourselves to all; changing circumstances and temptations will involve the lawbreaker in other sins, and in aggravated guilt.--W. L. WATKINSON, “The Transfigured Sackcloth.”

(961)

* * * * *

When the father of William the Conqueror was departing for the Holy Land, he called together the peers of Normandy and required them to swear allegiance to his young son, who was a mere infant; when the barons smiled at the feeble babe, the king promptly replied, “He is little, but he will grow.” He did grow, and the babyhand ere long ruled the nations as with a rod of iron.

The same may be said of evil in its slenderest beginning, in its most inocuous form: “It is little, but it will grow.” In its beginning it is a fancy, a flash of thought, a look, a word, a touch, a gesture, a tone, an accent, an embryo that no microscope could detect; but at last it is a Cain, a Judas, a Nero. The acorn-cup yields the upas-tree; out of a spark flashes hell.--W. L. WATKINSON, “The Transfigured Sackcloth.”

(962)

EVIL, IGNORING

How many things men permit to trouble them that they could just as easily pass by and forget!

Has it been a weary day? Let it pass; Lots of others on the way-- They will pass. Soon the skies will start to lighten, All around begin to brighten-- And misfortune cease to frighten-- Let it pass.

Does the world the wrong way rub you? Let it pass. Does your best friend seem to snub you? Let it pass. Chances are you were mistaken, None are ever quite forsaken. All for naught your faith was shaken-- Let it pass.

(963)

=Evil Multiplies=--See WEEDS, WARFARE AGAINST.

EVIL, PROTECTION FROM

Should not character be saturated with preservative principles that will repel evil influences as the piling mentioned below resists the teredo:

What will ultimately be the largest plant in the world for treating timber with preservatives, is now operated at Somerville, Tex., by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé Railroad, says The Railway World. While every form of timber treatment is used, the creosote system has proved the most successful. Creosote is shipped to Galveston in shiploads and transported thence to Somerville, where it is used to preserve timber of every variety. This is very expensive, as may be seen when it is known that piling in its natural state costs about forty cents a foot, while a treated pile costs between ninety cents and one dollar. But it pays to go to the extra expense. Creosoted piling that has been in the Galveston bridge for nearly fifteen years is still sound and in a good state of preservation; while the average life of an untreated pile is less than one year, many of them being unfit for service after being in the water thirty days. This quick destruction is caused by the attacks of the teredo, a salt-water mollusk that honeycombs the wood to such an extent that in a short time it will not bear its own weight.

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EVIL, PURGING FROM

What would not the patient give to have the last fiber of the dreadful cancer removed, for while that fiber is there every possibility of the malady is there! Air, sunshine, fragrance, are all said to be fatal to destroying germs; let us saturate our soul day by day in the atmosphere and light and sweetness of the upper worlds, so shall all evil things die in us, and all good things live and grow in us.--W. L. WATKINSON, “The Transfigured Sackcloth.”

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EVIL, REPELLENCE OF

There was a white plant growing by the entrance to a coal-mine. One of the miners took a handful of the coal-dust and threw it on the leaves, but not a particle adhered. The plant was covered with a wonderful enamel on which nothing could leave a stain.

It is not the Master’s plan for us that we should be taken out of the sinful world, to live our life where no evil can touch us. But God, who can make a little plant so that no dust can stain it, can by His grace also make our lives impervious to sin’s defiling.

(966)

EVIL SELF-DESTRUCTIVE

Dr. Walter Kempster, of Milwaukee, Wis., suggests that as all the nations will probably soon agree to exclude anarchists from their territory, an island should be purchased in some healthy climate, to which they should all be exiled. Vessels should patrol the coast to prevent any leaving, but no attempt should be made to govern the colony. The anarchists would then have precisely what they demand--a colony free from government. They could then practise their heartless methods on one another and throw bombs with impunity. A better scheme to disgust them with anarchy could not be devised.

It is on the same principle that the Bible tells us God will act, to extirpate evil from His universe by giving the evildoer opportunity to act out his nature. (Text.)

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=Evils, Small=--See SMALL EVILS HARDEST TO BEAR.

EVIL TURNED TO GOOD

The Mauruans told the missionaries that they formerly attributed every evil that befell them to the anger of their “evil spirits,” but now they worshiped the living and true God, and they pointed to the demolished Maraes and mutilated idols as the proof of the great change. The change in the name of the gods, whom they now called “evil spirits,” was an indication of the radical change in their religious beliefs. In some cases the spears which had been used in warfare were found converted into staves to support the balustrades of the pulpit stairs, and not a vestige of idolatry was to be seen.--PIERSON, “The Miracles of Missions.”

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EVIL, VIRULENCY OF

In the history of the great calamity of Asiatic cholera in this country in 1832, mention is made of the emigrant steamer that brought the disease to these shores. The steamer touched at Quebec and at Montreal, and landed passengers infected with the disease at both points. Over this intervening distance of two hundred miles, the disease traveled in thirty hours. Pursuing the succeeding events of this history, the writer says:

Over this long distance, thickly inhabited on both shores of the St. Lawrence, cholera made a single leap, without infecting a single village or a single house between the two cities, with the following exceptions. A man picked up a mattress thrown from the Voyageur, and he and his wife died of cholera; another man, fishing on the St. Lawrence, was requested to bury a body from the Voyageur, and he and his wife and nephew died. But more than 4,000 persons died of cholera in Montreal, and more than an equal number in Quebec. An emigrant ship conveying the disease had meanwhile touched at New York, and the mortality soon reached 3,500. These figures will at least indicate the virulence of the disease, when once originated, and the rapidity with which it spreads.

In this account we see that every place touched by the plague-ship or any object from it became a new center from which the disease spread. So moral evil contaminates. Its virulency spans the centuries and affects every son of man. (Text.)

(969)

EVOLUTION

Is the chimpanzee the coming man? The thought of Superintendent Conklin, of the Central Park Museum at New York, had a cast of that hue. He was deeply interested in the possibilities of the development of intelligence and culture in the chimpanzee race, and doubtless his dreams went far beyond the daring of his spoken hope. “Mr. Crowley,” a somewhat noted and remarkably intelligent specimen of this exalted race of monkeys, long adorned the museum, and at the time a helpmeet for him was imported. Dr. Conklin believed that their offspring would inherit their sagacity, and with two or three generations of careful training the least he expected was “a chimpanzee accustomed to wearing clothes, able to stand erect, capable of being taught the meaning of simple commands, and docile enough to obey them.” In the fifth or sixth generation, the doctor thought he should have chimpanzees able to perform to a limited extent the duties of servants. Following out the idea, the doctor predicted a gradual improvement in their features and eventually a possibility that they might grasp the meaning of words and phrases. This is surely a very practical experiment in Darwinian evolution, and tho it may seem funny, it is by no means ridiculous. If horses and dogs may be trained and taught, why not monkeys? And how much more useful would an intelligent trained monkey be by reason of his capacity to grasp and handle things? The story came a few years ago from South America that chimpanzees are already employed there in picking cotton in place of the emancipated slaves.--Springfield Union.

(970)

=Evolution, Objection to=--See BRAIN IN MAN.

=Exaction=--See IDEAL, THE.

=Exactness of Nature=--See INDIVIDUALITY OF GERMS.

=Exaggeration=--See DIMINUTIVES.

EXAMPLE

During one of the hill campaigns in India some years ago, a British general was disgusted with the unsoldierlike attitude of a young Indian rajah who accompanied the forces. He would only condescend to ride, and never attempted to share the toils and labors of the march. One day the general decided to give him a much-needed lesson. Riding with him on a very hot day, he pointed out some soldiers on ahead pushing a gun up a long white road. “Do you see those men?” he asked the Indian rajah. “Yes, I see them.” “Well, one of them is the grandson of your Empress!” It was gallant Prince Christian Victor who delighted to share the burden, and who laid down his life later on in the South African War. The young rajah took the lesson to heart. Queen Victoria’s grandson thought it not undignified to help his brother soldiers in the weary labors of the march; henceforward, he, too, would help to “bear one another’s burdens.” (Text.)

(971)

* * * * *

The ancient Romans were accustomed to place in the vestibules of their houses the busts of their great men, that the young might be reminded of their noble deeds and illustrious virtues.

The deeds and virtues of living men are still better examples. (Text.)

(972)

* * * * *

People are just as prone now as in the days when Paul wrote his first letter to the Corinthians to insist on their “right” to do whatever they think there is “no harm” in. “An idol does not affect meat one way or the other,” said Paul. “Very well,” replies the Corinthian Christian. “Mr. A. invites me to dine with him to-night, and I am going. He will have on his table parts of an animal which he has just been sacrificing in the temple of Venus, but what of that? He might have sold it to the butcher, and then if I had bought it, no harm would have come of eating it.” “Not so fast,” says the apostle. “If that supper is part of the worship even of an idol, you may dishonor Christ, of whose body you have partaken, by even seeming to worship other spirits. And even if you could afford it, others would stumble.” “But shall my liberty be circumscribed by the narrow-mindedness of another?” “Certainly,” says the apostle. “That is what we live for--to help others, not to eat and drink.”

(973)

* * * * *

It counts for much when men in high station have the moral courage to condemn unworthy things.

President Taft walked out of a local theater in the first year he was President because he disapproved of the character of the play that was being produced. Friends of the President said that he was disgusted with the performance. The first act was too much for Mr. Taft and his sister-in-law. They saw nothing amusing, interesting or instructive in the depiction of typical scenes in a house of bad character. In order to avoid attracting attention and exciting comment by going out while the players were on the stage, they waited until the curtain fell on the first act and then left the theater.

(974)

See COURAGE; LIVING THE GOSPEL; PRECEPT AND PRACTISE.

EXAMPLE, ATTENTION TO

It is related of William E. Gladstone that at one time, when he was a mere boy, he was invited to dine at the home of a distinguished nobleman in England, who was also an official of high rank.

His father, fearing that the child might in some way make himself appear ridiculous in the eyes of the prominent gentry who were to assemble at the same dining-table, gave him the parting injunction, “Watch your host and do just as he does.”

Many men would get on in life more smoothly and attain success more rapidly and surely if they were attentive to the examples of their superiors. (Text.)

(975)

EXAMPLE, FORCE OF

Oberlin tried to persuade the peasants of his parish to abandon some of their old methods of agriculture; but the wiseacres smiled and shook their heads. What should a mere pastor know of such matters? Oberlin therefore resolved to appeal to their eyes instead of their ears. There were two public paths through his gardens, so he and his servant carefully brought the soil into a high state of cultivation; and when the neighbors walked along and marked how the pastor’s crops were twice as large as their own, and saw the many strange vegetables growing, they condescended to make inquiries as to how he did it. “No, it was not done by angels in the night! God intended men to live by the sweat of the brow, to use the reason which He had given them, and so improve themselves and others.”--EDWARD GILLIAT, “Heroes of Modern Crusades.”

(976)

=Example, Living=--See RELIGIOUS EDUCATION.

=Example Nullifying Precept=--See INCONSISTENCY.

EXAMPLE OF PARENTS

Carlyle, like Burns, came of peasant stock--strong, simple, Godfearing folk, whose influence in Carlyle’s later life is beyond calculation. Of his mother he says, “She was too mild and peaceful for the planet she lived in”; and of his father, a stone-mason, he writes, “Could I write my books as he built his houses, walk my way so manfully through this shadow world, and leave it with so little blame, it were more than all my hopes.”--WILLIAM J. LONG, “English Literature.”

(977)

EXAMPLE, POWER OF

A footman stole a casket containing ten thousand francs’ worth of jewels and concealed it in a hole in the ground in the Bois de Boulogne, Paris. When finally forced to confess, he declared that he had been so much imprest by the cunning of Sherlock Holmes and the skill of Moriarty as a criminal that he wished to imitate them.

(978)

* * * * *

Some laborers were working in a lime-kiln in the Pyrenees. One of them, descending into the kiln to look after something which had gone wrong, fell down suffocated. A second man, hurrying to his assistance, also fell. A third, fourth and fifth man followed, meeting the same fate. Only one remained. When he was about to jump, a woman who stood watching the tragedy, clutched him by the clothes and held him back. Later, to a magistrate who was holding an inquest, when asked why he attempted to make the self-sacrifice, the lone survivor replied: “My comrades were dying; I felt driven to go.”

(979)

=Excellence=--See CHARACTER.

EXCELLENCE IS COMPARATIVE

“What a world this would be,” says Christopher North, “were all its inhabitants to fiddle like Paganini, ride like Ducrow, discourse like Coleridge, and do everything else in a style of equal perfection!” Nay, good Christopher, the world would remain the same old dull commonplace world. Our standard would be raised, that is all. If every one rode like Ducrow, no one would stop a moment to look at Ducrow; if every one fiddled like Paganini, Paganini’s fiddle would be complained of by the neighbors as a nuisance; if every one discoursed like Coleridge, Coleridge would be voted an intolerable bore. We give our admiration to intellectual performances that are rare and difficult. The moment the rarity and the difficulty disappear our admiration also disappears, we seek fresh idols to worship,--Lippincott’s Magazine.

(980)

=Excelling=--See BEST, MAKING THE; ENCOURAGEMENT.

=Exceptional Men=--See CROWD, AND THE EXCEPTION.

=Excess=--See STUDY OVERDONE.

=Excess of Duty=--See OVERPLUS OF DUTY.

EXCLUSION FROM HEAVEN

A new story of Col. Robert J. Ingersoll is told by the Chicago Record-Herald:

Bishop Potter once lay sick, so sick that his life was despaired of, and even his most intimate friends were denied admittance to his bedside. One day, however, Colonel Ingersoll called. Bishop Potter, learning that Ingersoll was in the house, demanded, despite the protest of his physicians and nurses, that the distinguished agnostic be asked into the sick-room.

“How is it, Bishop,” said Ingersoll after he had offered his condolences to the invalid, “that I am so highly favored when your other friends are not allowed to see you?”

“Well, you see, Colonel,” answered the Bishop weakly, “I may not recover from this illness, and if I do not I have every assurance of seeing the others in the next world. I realized that if I wished to see you again, I must do it here.” (Text.)

(981)

=Exclusion of Evils=--See FENCING OUT ENEMIES.

=Exclusion versus Expulsion=--See RESISTANCE.

EXCUSES

The biographer of “Father Morris,” an American preacher of some local celebrity, tells of him this incident:

He had noticed a falling off in his little village meeting for prayer. The first time he collected a tolerable audience, he took occasion to tell them something concerning the conference meeting of the disciples, after the resurrection. “But Thomas was not with them! Thomas not with them!” said the old man in a sorrowful voice. “Why, what could keep Thomas away? Perhaps,” said he, glancing at some of his auditors, “Thomas had got cold-hearted, and was afraid they would ask him to make the first prayer. Perhaps,” he continued, looking at some of the farmers, “he was afraid the roads were bad; or perhaps,” he added after a pause, “he thought a shower was coming on.” He went on, significantly summing up common excuses, and then with great simplicity and emotion he added: “But only think what Thomas lost, for in the middle of the meeting the Lord Jesus came and stood among them! Thomas was not with them when Jesus came.” (Text.)

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See LAZINESS, EXCUSES FOR; REASONS VERSUS EXCUSES.

=Exercise and Food=--See FOOD AND EXERCISE.

EXERCISE PROLONGING LIFE

William Cullen Bryant kept himself in a healthy bodily condition up to an extreme old age by taking long daily walks, and by swinging a chair, instead of Indian clubs, around his head each morning and evening. Bancroft, the historian, kept mind and body in tune by daily horseback exercise, while Mr. Gladstone was able at an advanced age to perform enormous mental work by the physical stamina which he maintained by cutting down trees in his park. These are only a few out of a large number of instances that might be cited, all going to show that health and life may be maintained and the mental powers continued unimpaired through old age if the obvious needs of the body are not neglected.--Boston Herald.

EXERCISE, SPIRITUAL

A new pastor was met by one of his parishioners who was fat and of many years, who said to the pastor: “You must feed the sheep.” Whereupon the pastor replied: “My dear old man, you do not need food, you need exercise.”

(984)

EXERCISE VERSUS MEDICINE

Boerhaave, the famous physician, declared that a man was more likely to get well by climbing a tree than by drinking a decoction made of its leaves! That is, he thought exercise better than medicine.--London Hospital.

(985)

=Exertion=--See DIFFICULTIES, OVERCOMING.

=Exhaustion by Swallowing=--See EARLY PROMISE.

EXORCISM

Mr. Sconten, writing from Kambui, East Central Africa, was an eye-witness of the following treatment for malarial fever of a lad and a girl, by a native medicine doctor:

A hole in the ground was lined with banana-leaves and some water brought. Part of the water was poured on the ground beside the patients, and the rest was poured into the hole. The intestines of a sheep were emptied of their filth and the foreheads and palms of the sufferers and their relations smeared with it. The lad and girl were tied together by the feet with a vine, while the man mixed some colored powders in the water. The stomach of the sheep was then brought, and through a hole in the side the patients were made to suck in the fluid contents, and cast the rest into the colored water. Then, taking a bunch of herbs, the doctor lifted a good portion of the concoction and placed it in the mouth of each patient with a singsong monotone, saying: “By this I take away all the evil effects of whatever is troubling you, the attacks of evil spirits, whatever poison you may have eaten, whatever harm has been inflicted upon you by blacksmiths, whatever evil has come to you in the path, whatever disease has been brought upon you through your friends, whatever has been inflicted upon you by your enemies, and all disease with which God has afflicted you.” This was not all that he said, and he repeated it three times, all the while dipping from the nauseating mixture and putting it into the patients’ mouths. A foot of the sheep was then dipt into the remaining fluid and the ground sprinkled all around them, and their bodies sprinkled. Lastly, noses, thumbs and great toes were painted with white paint and they were untied, and told to go and get well. Both patients were in a dying condition the next day, while the medicine-man was feasting upon the good flesh of the slaughtered sheep.

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* * * * *

When the first missionaries visited Marsovan, Turkey, the old Armenian church-members were Christians in little more than name. Their beliefs were a mixture of superstitions with a suggestion of a Christian origin. They feared the evil eye, and wore charms to break its power. They put branches of a thorny plant over their chimneys in the form of a cross to prevent witches from coming down and strangling their little children. They visited the graves of saints and offered prayers for relief from sickness, tying a rag on a near-by bush with the hope of returning home leaving their disease tied to the holy spot.

(987)

See BIRTH CEREMONIES; DEMONOLOGY.

EXPECTORATING

The father of President Hadley, of Yale, is reported to have said to certain members of one of his Greek classes who were guilty of a filthy habit:

Gentlemen, those of you who expect to rate high in my esteem must not expectorate on the floor. This matter of expectoration is a very serious problem. If you do it in China, you should not do so toward the north. In certain sections of Africa, you may, if you like, expectorate upon a person, because in that particular language, the Benga, the word for bless and spit are precisely the same. It is the way in which you bless a person. But one must know the customs; for there are few places where men deem themselves blest when spit upon, no matter how sincere may be the missionary’s desire to bless everybody.--H. P. BEACH, “Student Volunteer Movement,” 1906.

(988)

=Expense Account=--See BALANCE, A LOOSE.

EXPERIENCE

“I guess my father must have been a pretty bad boy,” said one youngster.

“Why?” inquired the other.

“Because he knows exactly what questions to ask when he wants to know what I have been doing.” (Text.)

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* * * * *

I once met a veteran sailor, one of the old Hull and Decatur breed, who had been to sea forty years, and he told me he had never known a mutiny on board ship where the captain had risen from before the mast, implying that such an officer had acquired experience, and knew how to manage men as well as vessels.--JAMES T. FIELDS.

(990)

* * * * *

It is better to be singed by the flame and suffer than not to know the experiences of living deeply. This seems to be the lesson in Helen A. Saxon’s verse below:

Hast singed thy pretty wings, poor moth? Fret not; some moths there be That wander all the weary night Longing in vain to see The light.

Hast touched the scorching flame, poor heart? Grieve not; some hearts exist That know not, grow not to be strong, And weep not, having missed The song.

--The Reader.

(991)

See CONFIDENCE; FAMILIARITY; LIFE, THE WINGED.

EXPERIENCE A HARD TEACHER

Everything in the Eskimo dress has a reason for its existence. The members of Captain Amundsen’s expeditions had become accustomed to the Eskimo dress and had adopted it, but many of them thought it ridiculous for grown-up men to go about wearing fringe to their clothes, so they cut it off. The captain had his scruples about this, as he had already learned that most things in the Eskimo’s clothing and other arrangements had their distinct meaning and purpose, so he allowed the fringe to remain on his garments in the face of ridicule. One bright, sunny day the anovaks, a variety of tunic reaching below the knee, made of deerskin, from which the fringe had been cut off, began to curl up, and if the fringe had not been put on again quickly, they would soon have looked like mere shreds.

There is a purpose in every ordinance and ceremony of the Church. Observance of established forms is for the upbuilding of faith in the believer. (Text.)

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EXPERIENCE AND BIBLE

As the finger feels the smart when it touches the flame that stands airily quivering in its golden invitation, so the will which first touches a lie or a lust is conscious of a pang. Not outward in the Word, but inward in its life, is this warning against vice. When afterward it reads and meditates the Word, it finds symbols interpreted, precepts enforced, admonitions illumined, by this its prior inward experience.--RICHARD S. STORRS.

(993)

=Experience as Proof=--See TESTS, PERSONAL.

EXPERIENCE DECISIVE

A physician once remarked to S. H. Hadley, after having listened to his earnest appeals to drunkards to come to Jesus, “You would not talk to those men like that if you had ever seen inside a drunkard’s stomach.” “But I had a drunkard’s stomach,” quickly responded Mr. Hadley, “and Jesus saved me.”

(994)

=Experience, Spiritual=--See SPIRITUAL PERTURBATION.

EXPERIENCE TESTING THEOLOGY

As for Wesley, an unrelenting thoroughness marked at every stage his temper in religion. He would have no uncertainties, no easy and soft illusions. Religion as a divine gift, as a human experience, was something definite. No intermediate stage was thinkable. And with a wise--but almost unconscious--instinct he put his theology to the one final test. He cast it into the alembic of experience. He tried it by the challenge of life; of its power to color and shape life. He spent the next thirteen years in that process, trying his creed with infinite courage, with transparent sincerity, and often with toil and suffering, by the rough acid of life, till at last he reached that conception of Christ and His gospel which lifted his spirit up to dazzling heights of gladness and power.--W. H. FITCHETT, “Wesley and His Century.”

(995)

See THEOLOGY SHAPED BY EXPERIENCE.

EXPERIENCE THE BEST ARGUMENT

William Duncan, who later became “The Apostle of Alaska,” when a young man newly converted, encountered an aged commercial traveler, a well-known agnostic, but a stranger to young Duncan, and a battle royal of argument on religion ensued.

The disciple of Taine and Voltaire was getting the better of the discussion with the young novice, when, leaping to his feet and looking his adversary squarely in the eye, Duncan said: “Sir, you are twice my age. I will ask you on your honor as a gentleman to answer me honestly this question: Here I am a young man. I have grown up in the Christian faith, and am happy in it. Would you advise me to give it all up and come over to where you stand, without God, without faith, and without hope?” “No, young man,” said the old agnostic; “when you put it that way, I can not advise you to drop your religion and faith. Keep them and be happy.” Duncan retorted: “Don’t you see you are standing on a rotten bridge that will break down, while I am standing on a solid bridge? Your heart belies your head, and you admit that your arguments are empty words.” (Text.)

(996)

=Experience, The Test of=--See PROOF BY EXPERIENCE.

EXPERIENCE, VALUE OF

The president of the London Alpine Club said no man was ever lost on the Alps who had properly prepared himself and knew how to ascend them, and when I quoted to him the list of guides who had fallen into crevices and been killed, he quoted back to me a certain passage of Scripture wherein the fate of blind guides and those they lead is set forth in unmistakable terms. “Choose for your guides,” said he, “the hardy men who have learned their business thoroughly; who have been chamois-hunters from their youth; who have lived on these mountains from their birth, and to whom these snows and these rocks and the clouds speak a language which they can understand, and then accidents are impossible.” (Text.)--JAMES T. FIELDS.

(997)

=Experience versus Theory=--See CRITICISM.

EXPERIMENT

Our most valuable successes usually are achieved on the principle followed by this dog:

In his “Introduction to Comparative Psychology” (1894), Dr. Lloyd Morgan told the story of his dog’s attempts to bring a hooked walking-stick through a narrow gap in a fence. The dog “tried” all possible methods of pulling the stick through the fence. Most of the attempts showed themselves to be “errors.” But the dog tried again and again, until he finally succeeded. He worked by the method of trial and error. (Text.)

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* * * * *

We doubt many theories that are recorded by others, but when we see them proved for ourselves we doubt no longer. A writer, after describing Franklin’s first disappointment in investigating the action of oil on water, records his later experiments:

Franklin investigated the subject, and the results of his experiments, made upon a pond on Clapham Common, were communicated to the Royal Society. He states that, after dropping a little oil on the water, “I saw it spread itself with surprizing swiftness upon the surface, but the effect of smoothing the waves was not produced; for I had applied it first upon the leeward side of the pond, where the waves were largest, and the wind drove my oil back upon the shore. I then went to the windward side, where they began to form; and there the oil, tho not more than a teaspoonful, produced an instant calm over a space several yards square, which spread amazingly, and extended itself gradually till it reached the lee side, making all that quarter of the pond (perhaps half an acre) as smooth as a looking-glass.”

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* * * * *

About all of the great enterprises of mankind are built on earlier experiments that seemed to fail. Hiram Maxim and S. P. Langley each spent laborious years constructing flying-machines that would not fly. Yet those who later succeeded made use of all the important devices that these earlier experimenters had invented.

Some years since it was seen that by damming, controlling, and releasing the waters of the Colorado River in southern California and Mexico a vast tract of land, which was hot, arid, and uninhabitable, might become a fertile valley, giving homes and sustenance to millions. The opportunity was great, the power to be controlled and regulated was as great as the opportunity, but a failure came in the mind and executive ability of the men who were drawn to this great task. The waters escaped their control, and, where they intended to irrigate flowering gardens and fruitful plantations, they let loose a devastating flood, which burst all barriers, and threatened to establish in place of the desert an inland sea. In time the intellect of man solved the problem, met the opportunity with due achievement, and now the original promise is in the way of fulfilment. (Text.)

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* * * * *

The insect (a butterfly) flutters its wings as if to test their power before committing itself to the air; and frequently, after only a few seconds spent in this preparatory exercise, off it darts with astonishing rapidity. But others seem far more cautious. They vibrate their wings, sometimes with such rapidity that they are lost in a kind of mist, and with such power that their bodies would be carried suddenly into the air were they not firmly anchored by three pairs of hooked claws. Then, continuing the rapid vibration, they move slowly along, always holding on firmly by one or more legs, as if to still further satisfy themselves concerning the efficiency of their wings. Then they venture on a few short trial trips from one neighboring object to another, and at last gain sufficient confidence for a long voyage.--W. FURNEAUX, “Butterflies and Moths.”

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=Experiment as Proof=--See COMPROMISES IN GRAVITIES.

=Experimentation=--See SUCCESS BY EXPERIMENTATION.

EXPERT ASSISTANCE

It is usually better to take advantage of the assistance of some one who knows than to waste effort on that which is out of our province of activity.

A lady missionary was about to leave London for India. She had been provided with trunks considered ample for the accommodation of all her belongings, but even with the kind help of all the members of her family, she could not get them into the space. Many were left over. Repeated trials were made in vain. The thought occurred to send for a professional packer. The expert, in a short time, had everything neatly deposited in the trunks.

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=Experts, Value of=--See EDUCATION, HIGHER.

=Explanation, The Easy=--See SIMPLICITY AND TRUTH.

EXPOSURE

The ways in which evil deeds are brought to light often startle the culprit who thought he could cunningly hide his guilt.

At a dinner-party a young lady, noticing a beautiful silver spoon lying near her, yielded to the temptation to secrete it at an opportune moment when no one observed her. Once securely hidden in the folds of one of her garments, she felt herself very clever, and had no fear of the possibility of detection. After dinner an exhibition of the remarkable properties of X-rays was given, and the lady was asked to subject herself to their influence. In an unguarded moment she consented, forgetting that those searching rays could reveal her shame. They were focused upon her, and there, in sight of all the party, was revealed the stolen spoon. (Text.)

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=Expression of Grief Approved=--See GRIEF, EXPRESSING.

=Expulsion of Sin=--See REDEMPTION FROM EVIL.

EXTERMINATION

Texas and other Southern States suffered for years losses of millions in the cattle industry from a type of splenic fever, commonly called Texas fever. Finally, this fever began to be carried into the North by Southern cattle shipped there, with the result that rigid quarantines were established against the South, which practically put the Southern cattle men out of business for a large part of each year, and caused still further enormous losses. Furthermore, this fever prevented the importation into the far Southern States of fine breeds of cattle with which to breed up the poor-grade herds. In Texas practically every fine bull or cow imported from the North contracted this fever, and seventy-five per cent of them died.

The experts of the Department of Agriculture, working with the professors of the University of Missouri and of the Agricultural College of Texas, discovered that this fever was transmitted solely through the cattle-tick, which carried the germs from sick cattle and implanted them in well cattle when sucking their blood. An economical method of ridding cattle of ticks before shipping, by a process of dipping, removed all danger to Northern cattle from Southern shipments, and the costly quarantine handicap was removed or greatly mitigated.

In the past three years a practical and economical method of entirely exterminating these ticks has been worked out and tested by our scientists, and the ticks have already been exterminated over nearly 64,000 square miles, an area larger than the State of Georgia, and it is only a matter of a few years and wider diffusion of education when the cattle-tick will be entirely exterminated. When we consider that the losses of all kinds from cattle-ticks in the South and Southwest were estimated at $40,000,000 per year, we can see what these scientific discoveries mean for us.--New York Evening Post.

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EXTRAVAGANCE, CENSURABLE

A newspaper writer gives this picture of an occurrence in New York:

On what proved to be the coldest night of the year, a man, said to represent a brand of wine he is anxious to export, engaged the largest stage in the world from midnight until the next noon and gave an entertainment in honor of an elephant, to which were bidden the men and women whose lights shine mostly on the Great White Way.

These people were requested to come drest as “rubes,” in the hope of making themselves as ridiculous as possible. But that was unnecessary, as the report of their antics while the wine, represented by their host, flowed with increasing freedom, did for them what no amount of caricature in dress could accomplish.

Out in the cold of this same freezing night there is a bread-line. Stationed at various places in this city are municipal free lodging-houses. To these flocked the army of the hungry and homeless, seeking for food and shelter from the bitter cold.

On the one hand, wanton extravagance; on the other, biting poverty. It ought to be the province of Christianity to abolish both of these for their mutual good. (Text.)

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EXTRAVAGANCE, MODERN

Two hundred and sixty dollars were paid this season for a hat! I know this to be true, because I saw the hat and the woman who bought it, and I was told the price. What was it? A handful of straw, a wisp of tulle, and a spray of feather. Two hundred and sixty dollars!

Of course, this is not to be taken as an average price, even among the very rich. But the averages, as well as the single, instances of modern extravagance are startling. Fifteen years ago twenty-five dollars--thirty at the outside--would have bought the most elaborate bonnet in the most expensive shopping center of the world, New York. To-day the Fifth Avenue shops are asking thirty dollars for the plainest domestic toque or shade hat, and have shelves full of French importations at prices ranging from $100 to $175. The ten-dollar “trimmed” sailor hat used to be worn with serge dresses; the mull hats costing five dollars; the big rough garden hats at about the same price; the leghorns that used to run as high as fifteen, even twenty dollars, to-day have been replaced by thirty-dollar round hats, fifty-dollar picture hats, fifty-dollar lingerie hats, and hand-made straws running into the three numerals.--EMILY POST, Everybody’s Magazine.

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EXTREMITY, GOD IN

In the far, forgotten lands, By the world’s last gulf of night, Gasps a naked human soul, Writhing up and falling back, Screaming for a God who cares.

In the far, forgotten lands, By the world’s last gulf of night, Batlike creatures vex the gloom And whimper as they shudder by: “Is there any God who cares?”

In the far, forgotten lands, By the world’s last gulf of night, Walks the cross-stained Nazarene, Searching ever for his own On the crumbling edge of hell.

In the far, forgotten lands, By the world’s last gulf of night, There He wanders, all alone, Dragging bleeding hearts from hell With the whisper: “God does care!”

--The Independent.

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EXTREMITY NOT FINAL

Sidney Lanier once, at least, in dire extremity, while stricken with a mortal malady, and almost lacking subsistence for his family in this wealthy city (Baltimore), sent forth a cry of agony that came perilously near to surrender of faith. He rose from his abysmal despair to make another valiant effort at the last, and never afterward questioned the goodness of God even in hours of awful discouragement. And so he died, feeling that all would be well with him and those he loved stronger than death. Ye who are about to abandon the tumultuous and uneven contest, think of this example, look to heaven and make another honest, prayerful effort for relief!--Baltimore American.

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=Eye Measuring=--See TRAINING.

EYE, THE EVIL

The power exerted by the human eye over man and animals is well known, and the evil use of such influence is widely recognized. This maleficent power is called the “evil eye,” and the belief in its operation seems never to have been absent in any land. This does not mean the undoubted influence exerted by the eye, as in mesmerism, but a sort of noxious influence proceeding from the eye, with or without the connivance of the owner of the organ. Intelligence of a belief in this strange power comes to us from the cradle lands of the East, at an unknown period of history. Chaldean cylinders of clay dug up on the banks of the Euphrates contain magical formula against it. In Assyria, eight centuries before Christ, men appealed to their gods in long formulated prayers against possessors of the evil eye, who are declared the worst of men. Egyptian incantations against the sorcerer, of an early date, have come down to us. In one of these the sun is addrest thus: “O, thou whose soul is in the pupil of the eye.” An ancient Vedaic hymn to Agni invokes Indra against the evil eye. The eye of the Brahman was thought so powerful that he was forbidden, when satisfying the wants of nature, to look at the sun, the moon, the stars, water, or trees, lest he should bewitch them. The Persian Vendidad contains prayers and rites to ward off the effects of the evil eye. Ahriman subdued evil spirits by the power of his glance.--St. Louis Globe-Democrat.

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=Eye, The Human=--See DESIGN IN NATURE.

EYE, THE SEARCHING

In a poem by Victor Hugo, Cain is represented as walking thirty days and nights after the murder of his brother Abel until he reaches the shores of the sea. “Let us stop here,” he says; but as he sits down his face turns pale. He has seen in the mournful sky the searching eye. His sons, filled with awe, try to erect barriers between him and the Eye--a tent, then a wall of iron, then a tower and a city--but all is in vain. “I see the Eye,” still cries the unhappy man. At last they dig a tomb and the father is put into it. But

“Tho overhead they closed the awful vault, The Eye was in the tomb and looked on Cain.” (Text.)

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=Eye, The Trained=--See TRAINING.

EYES, THE

There are men who are like the eye pupils--larger in the shadow. Bring them out into the bright light and they shrink to their real proportions.

Hang a small looking-glass on the wall immediately below a gas-bracket. Carefully examine the colored portion of either of your eyes by looking at the image formed in the glass, and note particularly the extent of the pupil’s opening. Now, turning the light down to the smallest amount that will still permit you to see the pupil, note the wonderful manner in which the pupil dilates or increases in diameter. Then turn the light up and observe how the pupil contracts; and then remember the wonderful optical instruments you possess and be careful you do not abuse them, for they are the only eyes you will ever get.--EDWIN J. HOUSTON, “The Wonder Book of Light.”

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=Eyesores, Relieved of=--See UNLOADING THE USELESS.

F

FACE, AN INVITING

This is from The Boys’ World:

A poor fellow in trouble, a stranger in a big city, and sick and destitute, passed aimlessly along the street, wondering what to do and where to go. Passing an office window, he looked up and caught sight of a man’s face. “I’ll go in there and speak to him--he looks so kind,” was the instant resolve. He went and found a friend indeed, whose kindness brought the chance to help himself, which the young man never forgot, and afterward sought to repay.

“He looks so kind.” Could there be a higher compliment? The man’s face was an open invitation to come in and confide and get help.

Without speaking a word he gave this invitation, which led to so much for the friendless stranger.

But do you suppose that this kind look grew in a night or a day or a week? Can a fine steel-engraving be finished in a few hours? It takes line by line, day after day. Things worth while are not of instantaneous accomplishment. Now think of it. When is the best time to begin, if the art of looking pleasant and the possession of a kind face be achieved?

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=Face Shows the Man=--See COUNTENANCE, GRACE IN THE.

=Face, The Benignant=--See COUNTENANCE, GRACE IN THE.

FACE, THE, REVEALING THE GOSPEL

When Margaret Andrews was twenty-five, she received what she thought was a call to the foreign mission field. Her parents, altho they at first tried to dissuade her, put no obstacle in the way of her hopes, and, full of eagerness, she began training at a school in another city. One day, says the California Advocate, she received a telegram. Her mother had met with an accident, just how serious could not at once be known. Margaret packed her books and took the first train home, expecting to return in a few weeks. Long before the weeks had passed she knew that her dream must be given up. Her mother would never be able to do anything again, and Margaret, instead of making her journey to strange lands, saw herself shut in to the duties of housekeeper and nurse.

For a year or two she bore her disappointment in silence; then she went to her pastor with it. The pastor was an old man, who had known Margaret all her life. He looked at her steadily for a moment. Then he said slowly, “You are living in a city of two hundred thousand people. Isn’t there need enough about you to fill your life?”

“Oh, yes,” the girl answered, “and I could give up the foreign field. It isn’t that. But I haven’t time to do anything, not even to take a mission-class, and to see so much work waiting, and be able to do nothing--”

“Margaret,” the old minister said, “come here.”

The girl followed him to the next room, where a mirror hung between the windows. Her reflection, pale and unhappy, faced her wearily.

“All up and down the streets,” the old minister said, “in the cars, the markets, the stores, there are people starving for the bread of life. The church can not reach them--they will not enter a church. Books can not help them--many of them never open a book. There is but one way that they can ever read the gospel of hope, of joy, of courage, and that is in the faces of men and women.

“Two years ago a woman who has known deep trouble came to me one day, and asked your name. ‘I wanted to tell her,’ she said, ‘how much good her happy face did me, but I was afraid that she would think it was presuming on the part of an utter stranger. Some day, perhaps, you will tell her for me.’ Margaret, my child, look in the glass and tell me if the face you see there has anything to give to the souls that are hungry for joy--and they are more than any of us realize--who, unknown to themselves, are hungering for righteousness. Do you think that woman, if she were to meet you now, would say what she said two years ago?”

The girl gave one glance and then turned away, her cheeks crimson with shame. It was hard to answer, but she was no coward. She looked up into her old friend’s grave eyes.

“Thank you,” she said; “I will try to learn my lesson and accept my mission--to the streets.” (Text.)

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FACING RIGHT

When the Jews, exiled from the Holy Land, died afar off among the pagans and the persecutors, they had themselves laid in their tombs, with their faces turned toward Jerusalem! If your strength betrays you, if it is not for you, during life, to enter into perfect peace, to be delivered from certain enemies of the soul, from certain humiliating miseries that set your best will at defiance, if you must fall in the mêlée, fall at least with your face turned toward Jerusalem.--CHARLES WAGNER, “The Gospel of Life.”

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FACTS, IGNORING

Thomas Reed Bridges, D.D., says:

Macaulay tells the story of a young scientist in India who became possest of a microscope. Beneath it he placed a drop of water from the Ganges. This is, as you know, the sacred river of India. He looked and beheld an infinite pollution. Then in his rage he broke the microscope in pieces and threw it from him. The Ganges ran on carrying its infection to the sea, but he would not see it. Foolish, you say. But not more foolish than the way in which many people close their eyes to the facts of their own life. They have not the courage to look at the truth. They prefer to live all their days in a fool’s paradise. In their sincerest moments there is some insincerity. Their self-examination is nothing more than self-defense. It is possible to put a favorable construction upon almost any action and this men do when dealing with themselves.

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FACTS, RELIGIOUS

Dr. Chas. F. Aked said in a recent sermon, concerning the multiplicity of modern faiths and fads:

I have not been in this country twenty months yet, but I am quite certain that there have been twenty new gospels launched upon an astonished public during that time. I remember one that was to take possession of the church to win the world to Christ inside of the next twelve months. The publisher sent me a copy of the book for my opinion, and I wrote him that I did not care two straws about that sort of thing, but before the ink in my signature was dry a friend called on me and I asked him how Dr. So and So’s scheme was getting on. “Oh,” he said, “he is about through with it.”

I said, “Why I have only just got his book from the publisher.” “That does not make any difference,” said my friend. “But,” I said, “how can he have got through with it already?” He said, “Have not you been here long enough to know how easily we take a thing up and how much more easily we drop it again?” (Text.)

New gospels come and go, but there is one gospel that abides.

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=Failings of Christians=--See CYNIC REBUKED.

FAILURE

Caligula once fitted out a fleet at great expense, as if to conquer Greece or to accomplish some other great undertaking, but the ships returned laden with pebbles and cockleshells, only to receive the scorn of all.

So many a life that is well equipped and has glorious opportunities flattens out into insipid nothingness.

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See DEFEAT; NEGLECT; SUCCESS IN FAILURE; SORROW FOR A LOST CAUSE.

FAILURE LEADING TO SUCCESS

It is part of the compensation of life that nearly every dark cloud of disaster or disappointment has a fringe of light under it. An instance of this is seen in the career of Senator Beveridge:

It was a joke that sent United States Senator Beveridge, of Indiana, into public life instead of into the army. He took the competitive examination, but at a critical moment he laughed at another boy’s sportive remark and failed to pass by the smallest fraction. We are told by one chronicler that young Beveridge was so badly upset when the news reached him on the street that he had failed to pass that his distress was mirrored on his face so plainly that a passing acquaintance stopt to ask him the cause, and was himself so touched that he forthwith offered to advance him the money necessary to start him in college.

(1018)

=Failure Made a Success=--See SAGACITY SUPPLEMENTING SCIENCE.

FAILURE ONLY SEEMING

These cheering lines are from Success:

There is no failure. If we could but see Beyond the battle-line; if we could be Where battle-smoke does ne’er becloud the eye, Then we should know that where these prostrate lie Accoutered in habiliments of death, Sweet Freedom’s radiant form has drawn new breath-- The breath of life which they so nobly gave Shall swell anew above the lowly grave, And give new life and hope to hearts that beat Like battle-drums that never sound retreat.

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FAILURE TRANSFORMED TO SUCCESS

A captain’s little son had tried all day to make a boat, but at night he had only succeeded in misshaping the wood. His father saw the tears on the sleeping lad’s face, and took up the wood and with the deft skill of experience soon changed the shapeless block into a beautiful little boat. Then, leaving it on the table by his son’s bed, he lay down to sleep. When morning dawned and the boy saw the boat, so perfect in its shape and style, he marveled how his own failure had been turned into success. Will not God take our endeavors, poor and faulty tho they be, and change them into triumphs? Let us do our best and leave our work at nightfall, awaiting His hand to complete it. (Text.)

(1020)

=Fairness=--See JUSTICE.

FAITH

The child lying at night in its little crib by its mother’s side cries out because of the darkness its eyes can not penetrate, and wants to get up. The mother says, “Lie still and wait till daylight, child.” And the little one asks, “When will that be?” The mother says, “It will be daylight after a while,” and taking the tiny hand in hers the restless child calmly drops into peaceful slumber, confident that at morning’s dawn light will come. So with God’s grown-up children. Amid the impenetrable gloom of limited knowledge we grow restless and uneasy because we can not see Him face to face, but by faith, putting our hands in His, we may confidently expect the dawning. (Text.)

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* * * * *

The Norwegian missionary Braadvedt once asked his native Zulu teacher, “What is faith and what is unbelief?”

The Christian Zulu replied, “In Zululand strong men carry people over the rivers when the water is high. Before these men go through the river they tell those whom they carry to take a firm hold. Those who have confidence in the carrier and obey him safely reach the other side, but those who lose confidence and let go their hold, perish in the water. That is faith and unbelief. To have faith means to take hold of Christ and His Word, to lack faith means to let go Christ and His Word.”

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* * * * *

A man stood upon a height, overlooking an estuary of the sea. On the opposite shore was a bold headland. Wishing to cross thither, he cast about to find a way, but the abyss of water lay between. Then One who stood between him said: “The bridge is safe; advance and fear not.” “But I see no bridge,” said the traveler. “Take this glass and look,” said the One who stood at his side. And the man took it and looked, and lo! a bridge was spanning the great gulf of waters. Yet he saw but a small part of that end that was nearest. He went forward courageously, and, as he advanced, the bridge stretched out before him, tho the farther end was still obscured. He marveled much at this wonder, and inquired the reason. “This glass,” exclaimed the One who had led him to look, “is Faith; it gives spiritual vision and reveals that which is hid from the eye of flesh.” Advancing more confidently, he saw the bridge now more clearly, as its proportions were gradually disclosed. And he went on his way across, singing and rejoicing, for he was glad at heart. (Text.)

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* * * * *

An English writer tells this incident and draws from it the lessons that follow:

The other day I was passing through a London square, and noticed a little girl feeding some pigeons. Quite a number were fluttering around her, some getting more, some less, of what she had to give them. But one, bolder than the rest, had settled on her wrist, and was getting his supply direct from the basin she was holding in her hand. Needless to say, that pigeon got the most of all.

Instinctively I thought of the verse: “Let us come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:16). But there was something else besides boldness that the bird possest; altho only a pigeon, it certainly showed faith in the good will of the little girl. Whether she had been there on the same errand before I can not say, as I very seldom pass that way; but it was evident that it regarded her as a child to be trusted, and one who would not do a feathered friend any harm. Thus, while its companions got comparatively little, this one, by reason of its faith combined with boldness, received all it could appropriate in the time. It had no need to plead with the pathetic look of its eye; it simply realized its need, and recognizing the means of supplying it, gladly availed itself of it.

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* * * * *

Faith is the standing-ground of the hopeful, the conviction of facts unseen. Sam Jones used to illustrate it in this way. Out West they have a place for watering cattle where the animals have to mount a platform to reach the troughs. As they step upon the platform their weight presses a lever, and this throws the water into the troughs. They have to get on the platform through faith, and this act provides the water. The steer that slips round to the barnyard and looks into the trough will find it dry, for it needs his weight on the platform to force the water up. If you slide back you will find life barren and dry, but if you step upon the platform of full assurance in God’s Word, blessings will flow abundantly.

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* * * * *

Herman S. Reichard is the author of this:

I dreamed a dream Of white-robed Faith; with words of cheer and love She took me by the hand and led me on; And by some magic art smoothed out the way Until my lagging zeal was fired anew By future visions of unmeasured bliss. I saw beyond the wintry cold and snow The days of springtime, full of flowers and song To greet and satisfy the longing heart.

(1026)

* * * * *

The following incident is related of Rev. John Wilkinson and his Mildmay (London) Mission to the Jews:

On one occasion two American gentlemen sat at Mr. Wilkinson’s breakfast-table and noted his opening of letters which brought God’s supply for the day. “This is all very well, so far,” said one of the gentlemen, “but what would you do, Mr. Wilkinson, if one morning the expected supply did not come?” The answer is clear in my memory, “That can only happen, sir, when God dies.” (Text.)

(1027)

* * * * *

William J. Long, in “English Literature,” writes thus of Samuel Johnson:

Since the man’s work fails to account for his leadership and influence, we examine his personality; and here everything is interesting. Because of a few oft-quoted passages from Boswell’s biography, Johnson appears to us as an eccentric bear, who amuses us by his growlings and clumsy antics. But there is another Johnson, a brave, patient, kindly, religious soul, who, as Goldsmith said, had “nothing of the bear but his skin”; a man who battled like a hero against poverty and pain and melancholy and the awful fear of death, and who overcame them manfully. “That trouble passed away; so will this,” sang the sorrowing Deor in the first old Anglo-Saxon lyric; and that expresses the great and suffering spirit of Johnson, who in the face of enormous obstacles never lost faith in God or in himself.

(1028)

* * * * *

In the self-appointed task of educating the public to an appreciation of the best in music, Mr. Theodore Thomas had a long and up-hill struggle which would have broken a weaker man. During those days he once said to an intimate friend, says the New York Herald:

“I have gone without food longer than I should, I have walked when I could not afford to ride, I have even played when my hands were cold, but I shall succeed, for I shall never give up my belief that at last the people will come to me, and my concerts will be crowded. I have undying faith in the latent musical appreciation of the American public.” (Text.)

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* * * * *

One day, at a little prayer-meeting, our deacon, Yi Chun Ho, startled the Koreans, as well as the missionary, by the suggestion that the natives should put up the new church without foreign aid. I at once said: “You have raised twenty yen, and believed that you had done all you could; it will take almost one thousand yen to put up the church. Can you do it?” I felt strongly rebuked by his quiet reply: “We ask such questions as ‘Can you do it?’ about men’s work, but not about God’s work.”--PIERSON, “The Miracles of Missions.”

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See ACHIEVEMENT; GUIDANCE, GOD’S; TRIUMPH IN DEATH.

FAITH, A CHILD’S

A child’s faith and good will are manifested in connection with his idea of a personal, intelligent power in the world. In the latter part of his fourth year, a little boy was awakened one night by a violent thunder-storm. He was much frightened, and called to his mother with trembling voice, “Mama, God won’t let the thunder hurt us, will He?” When assured that the lightning was governed by God’s laws, and that there was little or no danger, he quieted down and slept soundly during the rest of the storm. So far as was known, this child had never been told that God protected him under such conditions. It was evidently an inference drawn from his own thoughts about the personal influence he felt to pervade the world. (Text.)--GEORGE E. DAWSON, “The Child and His Religion.”

(1031)

FAITH AND POWER

When the soul of man is full of faith it is in a changed condition. The man is the same, but his state is not the same, and he in the new state develops new powers and new capacities. To be full of faith is to be full also of power of a new kind. For faith is spiritual dynamite.

Cold iron is precisely identical with iron heated in the fire; but tho the metal is the same, the fire that has entered it entirely transforms its condition and endows it with a new potency. And the fire also by entering the iron takes upon itself new action, making of the metal a vehicle of its dynamic potency. So does the Spirit of God transfuse and transform and vivify and fortify human nature. (Text.)

(1032)

FAITH AND PRAYER

As the Lucania was in mid-Atlantic a young man came to the purser and asked him to lend him £10, as he was without money, and every hour was bringing him nearer to London. The purser said he had made a rule not to lend money and suggested that the young man should borrow from some friend on board. “But I have no friend. The only person who would give me £10 is my mother, and she left London for New York the same day as we sailed from New York.” The purser thought for a moment, and then he said, “We may get into speaking touch with the vessel on which your mother is, and then you could ask her to lend you the money by wireless telegraphy.” The next night the young man was roused from sleep with the news that the Lucania was in communication with the boat on which his mother was a passenger. She readily handed £10 to the purser on her ship, and he authorized the purser on the Lucania to give the young man this sum. The vessels were many miles apart in the darkness of the night, and yet the need on the one ship was met by the love on the other. What a light that throws on the force of prayer! “Ask and ye shall receive.” (Text.)

(1033)

FAITH AND SUPPORT

Mr. Tornvall, of the Ping Liang station, Central China, made a test of a converted Taoist priest who wished to be a colporteur for the Central China Tract Society. When starting out for a distant city he asked the missionary for a few cents, as he had no money. Mr. Tornvall pointed out to him from the gospels the way in which Jesus sent out His disciples with no money in their scrips. “All right,” said the colporteur, “I will also make trial of that plan,” and off he started. A month later two missionaries found him in a distant city preaching and selling his books, and looking remarkably happy. He said that altho he had not been feasting every day, yet he could give the same testimony as the disciples: he had lacked for nothing. (Text.)

(1034)

FAITH BETTER THAN SIGHT

There is a true story of a man who crossed the river Usk, England, under circumstances where faith was far better than sight:

He had been absent on business for some time, and in the meantime the bridge had been washed away, and a new one was being constructed. While the buttresses were in place, he drove up in his gig one very dark night, and gave the reins to his horse, who, he knew, was well accustomed to the road. They crossed safely over what he took to be the bridge, and came to an inn near the river. The landlady asked him, being an old acquaintance, what part of the country he had come in from. “From Newport,” he answered. “Then you must have crossed the river?” said the woman in astonishment. “Yes, of course. How else could I have come?” “But how did you manage it, and in the dark, too?” “The same as usual; there is no difficulty in driving over the bridge, even tho it be dark.” “Bless the man!” said the landlady, “there is no bridge to drive over. You must have come along the planks left by the men.” “Impossible,” was the answer; and nothing could persuade the traveler that night that there was no bridge. But early next morning he went to the river-side, and found, as he had been told, that the bridge was gone. His horse had taken him safely over three planks, left by the workmen, where one false step, to the right or to the left, would instantly have plunged him into the swollen river beneath. The man stood aghast at the dreadful danger he had gone through, and so marvelously escaped. (Text.)

(1035)

FAITH CURE

Among the numerous applicants at the dispensary of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, a few days ago, was a negro who confided in awestricken tones that he was suffering from snakes. He declared he felt them wriggling inside of him ever since he had endeavored to quench his thirst by drinking from a garden hose when, he believed, at least one or two had slipt down his throat.

Argument being in vain, the patient was turned over to one of the physicians who, after hearing the story, pretended an examination. Deeming it a case for faith cure, he told the negro he would be all right as long as he would keep his mind off the subject of the creeping things of the earth. With smiles of gratitude he left the hospital.--Baltimore Sun.

(1036)

FAITH ESSENTIAL TO ACTION

All great leaders have been inspired with a general belief. In nine cases out of ten, failure is born of unbelief. Tennyson sings, “Faith and unfaith can ne’er be equal powers.” To be a great leader and so always master of the situation, one must of necessity have been a great thinker in action. An eagle was never yet hatched from a goose’s egg. Dante speaks in bitter sarcasm of Branca d’Oria, whom he placed among the dead, when he says, “He still eats and sleeps and puts on clothes.” In a case of great emergency, it took a certain general in our army several days to get his personal baggage ready. Sheridan rode into Winchester without even a change of stockings in his saddle-bags.--JAMES T. FIELDS.

(1037)

FAITH FULFILLED BY WORKS

A youthful owner of swine had a wealthy uncle. His uncle cribbed corn for the market. One day he told his nephew that he could have all the corn that he could carry in a basket from the cribs, where the men were shelling, across the alley to the barn where the swine were kept. To his uncle’s surprize and delight, the boy took him at his word, and carried corn all day. The boy did this because he had faith in his uncle’s word. The nephew’s faith pleased him when he saw how much corn he had. If the boy had profest belief in his uncle’s promise without acting upon it, there would have been intellectual assent but no real faith.

This is a type of our relation to God. Faith takes God at his word. “His divine power hath given us all things that pertain to life and Godliness through the knowledge of Him who hath called us to glory and virtue, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises.” Every gift of God that we accept and use for Him is a new proof of our faith.

(1038)

FAITH IN A MORAL UNIVERSE

Dr. George A. Gordon, in a sermon on “The Land of Pure Delight,” says:

The world of our ultimate and supreme concern, the world to which we give the name heaven, paradise, eternity, is the world of pure spirituality. I ask, what grounds have we for believing in the reality of that world? The answer, the sole answer which assumes many forms, is that we believe in the moral conception of the universe in which we live.

Let me illustrate. Longfellow, in one of his beautiful sonnets, speaks of being at Newport News after the war, and while there he sees a nameless grave, over which there was this inscription:

“A Union Soldier, Mustered Out!”

That is all--“A Union Soldier, Mustered Out!” And Longfellow said: “Here was a man who gave his all, his life, his name, that I might live. He gave his all, his life, his name, and went into oblivion that the Union might live.” On what basis did he make his sacrifice? The sense of duty. He died because he felt that it was his duty to die, because he felt that if he was true to himself he could not withhold that sacrifice. If the universe is worthy of that servant, will it let that soldier die forever?

Jesus gave himself on the cross for the world. Why did he do it? Because his moral nature told him to do it. He believed in the moral ideal of human life and died that men might be pure and come to their best. He died for an ideal--that alone explains His sacrifice.

(1039)

FAITH, INADEQUATE

A great many people’s faith is like the old woman’s trust. The horse ran away with a wagon in which she was seated and she was in imminent peril. But she was rescued, and some one said to her: “Madam, how did you feel when the horse ran away?” “Well,” said she, “I hardly know how I felt; you see, I trusted in Providence at first, and when the harness broke, then I gave up.”--JOHN B. GOUGH.

(1040)

=Faith in Christ=--See CHRIST, FAITH IN.

FAITH IN GOD

I pluck an acorn from the green sward and hold it to my ear; and this is what it says to me: “By and by the birds will come and nest in me. By and by I will furnish shade for the cattle. By and by I will provide warmth for the home in the pleasant fire. By and by I will be shelter from the storm to those who have gone under the roof. By and by I will be the strong ribs of the great vessel, and the tempest will beat against me in vain, while I carry men across the Atlantic.”

“Oh foolish little acorn, wilt thou be all this?”

And the acorn answered, “Yes, God and I.”--LYMAN ABBOTT.

(1041)

FAITH IN MEN

A graphic account of how Adjutant S. H. M. Byers, of the Fifth Iowa Infantry, carried to Grant before Richmond the news of General Sherman’s advance through North Carolina on his march to the sea in 1865 is told in Harper’s Weekly. After a perilous trip, he finally reached Grant’s headquarters at City Point.

“I ripped open my clothing, handed him my dispatches, and excitedly watched the pleased changes on his flushed face while he hurriedly read the great news I had brought from Sherman,” says Mr. Byers. “General Ord happened in at the moment, and the good news was repeated to him. Ord clanked his spurs together, rubbed his hands, and manifested joy. ‘I had my fears, I had my fears,’ he muttered. ‘And I, not a bit,’ said Grant, springing from his seat by the window, ‘I knew Sherman--I knew my man.’”

(1042)

FAITH NECESSARY

If all the world did not trust all the world, we could not do business for a single day. The amount of coin and bank-notes in circulation is ridiculously inadequate to the needs of business. By far the larger part of every day’s transactions of every kind is conducted by means of promises to pay.

The National Monetary Commission has just reported an investigation of this matter. About seventy per cent of the daily bank deposits consists of checks. More than ninety per cent of the payments in wholesale dealings is made by checks, and even more than half of the retail business is conducted in the same way, while the banks report weekly pay-rolls aggregating $134,800,000, seventy per cent of which is settled by checks.

This is a gigantic illustration of the principle of faith. We have faith in the integrity of the average man. We have faith in the business institutions of the country. We have faith that the future will be as good as the past. And in this faith we continue to accept bits of paper in return for most of our labor and the goods we sell.

In exalting the principle of faith in our relations toward God and the concerns of the next world, religion is merely applying to the Owner of all things the same rules that we apply without question to the petty properties of earth.--Christian Endeavor World.

(1043)

=Faith of Friends=--See DEPENDENCE.

FAITH, ROAD TO

Take the little “radioscope” in your hand--a tiny tube less than an inch in length, closed at one end, with a small magnifying lens at the other. In the closed end of the tube you observe a small disk of paper covered with microscopic particles of yellow crystals--sulfid of zinc. In front of the yellow crystals is a small metallic pointer, like the second-hand of a very small watch, and on the end of the pointer is--nothing, absolutely nothing, so far as your eye can see. Look at it very carefully. No! Nothing! Now, take the little tube, go into a darkened room, and look into it through the lens end, and you will see a sight incredible. The metal pointer does have a minute speck of something on its tip, and between that tip and the yellow crystals are leaping showers of sparks of light. Will the shower stop after a few minutes? No. After an hour? No; nor after a thousand hours, or a thousand years, or ten thousand years! The calculation is that that all but invisible speck on the tip of the pointer will keep that shower of sparks going day and night, for thirty thousand years! For that speck is radium, which actually seems as tho it were a hot fragment struck off from God’s great white throne, so amazing is its radiant energy.

It operates, not merely by setting “waves” in motion, but it throws off a stream of actual particles which move with an inconceivable velocity (at the rate, some physicists allege, of 200,000 miles a second), and without--and here is the miracle--without any apparent diminution in the morsel of radium itself. It can hurl these particles literally through six inches of armor plate. It can and does send them right through your own head while you are looking at them, just as if your brain were a loose sieve, as perhaps it is, or a grove of trees quite wide apart, and a bright, flashing bird, all crimson and gold, were flying right through the trees, without even hitting his wings.

Now, what I want to say is that the modern discovery of such marvels as these, as being real, actual, objective, demonstrated facts, stretches the mind out into a thrilling series of undreamed-of possibilities, and this is a preparation for faith. This is the first step. This is the first lamp on the modern road to faith.--ALBERT J. LYMAN.

(1044)

FAITH, STEDFAST

Unanswered prayers are no reason for abandoning our faith in God. This is the lesson Ella Wheeler Wilcox teaches in this verse:

I will not doubt, tho all my prayers return Unanswered from the still, white realm above; I shall believe it is an all-wise love Which has refused those things for which I yearn; And tho at times I can not keep from grieving, Yet the pure ardor of my fixt believing Undimmed shall burn.

(1045)

FAITH TAUGHT BY NATURE

Faith bids us be of good cheer. Long ago, that old Greek studied the mental operations of a bee, with brain not as large as a pinhead. Here is a little bee, that organizes a city, that builds ten thousand cells for honey, twelve thousand cells for larvæ, a holy of holies for the mother queen; a little bee that observes the increasing heat and when the wax may melt and the honey be lost, organizes the swarm into squads, puts sentinels at the entrances, glues the feet down, and then with flying wings, creates a system of ventilation to cool the honey, that makes an electric fan seem tawdry--a little honey-bee that will include twenty square miles in the field over whose flowers it has oversight. But if a tiny brain in a bee performs such wonders providential, who are you, that you should question the guidance of God? Lift up your eyes, and behold the hand that supports these stars, without pillars, the God who guides the planets without collision. Away with fear! (Text.)--N. D. HILLIS.

(1046)

FAITH WITHOUT WORKS

A story is told of three prisoners who were captured by pirates. One of them was put in a boat without oars and pushed out into deep water. The boat sped along safely at first, but when a storm broke overhead, the frail craft was tossed upon a rock and the man was drowned. The second man was placed in a boat with one oar, but he made no progress. Finally, he drifted into a whirlpool and was never seen again. The third man was given a boat with two oars and he safely crossed to the other side, where he was received by friends.

We are all sailors on the ocean of life bound for a harbor of safety whether we arrive in port or not. The unbeliever is the man in the boat without oars. The person who thinks that his faith without works will save him is the man in the boat with only one oar. But the man who believes in God, and works out his salvation with fear and trembling, is the man in the boat with two oars. (Text.)

(1047)

FAITHFULNESS

To the coolness and devotion to duty of John Binns, operator of the “wireless,” and one of the actors in the shipwreck of the Republic, was due the prompt assistance accorded the stricken passenger-steamer by sister liners. As he himself exprest it by wireless, Binns was “on the job” from the time the Florida crashed into the Republic amidships until the last passenger had been transferred to the colliding vessel.

It was a stretch of thirty hours, and every minute of that time the telephone receivers, which are part of the wireless apparatus, were strapped to his eager and listening ears. Seldom has there been a more shining example of that calm courage that goes hand in hand with a sound sense of business duty.

Almost until the Republic went down Binns kept his ship in touch with Siasconset and passing ships by the use of accumulators, for the shutting down of the engines ended the power of his electric dynamos that ordinarily give the power of transmission to the wireless.

(1048)

* * * * *

According to dispatches from Hartford, Col. Jacob L. Greene, who was the head of the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company from 1877 until his death a year ago, left a fortune of only a little more than $50,000. The smallness of his estate created comment from the newspapers and much surprize in insurance circles. It was supposed that he had taken at least some little advantage of the many opportunities for money-making which his position gave him.

The settlement of his estate seems to show that, during all the time he was in the insurance business, he conducted himself in strict accordance with the axioms which he had laid down for the guidance of insurance men and insurance companies in general. One of these axioms was, “A mutual company ought not to be mulcted for the benefit of the agents.” Another was, “True mutuality in life insurance does not seek to favor a few at the expense of the many, nor to give to a few what many have lost.” (Text.)

(1049)

=Faithfulness Before Rulers=--See MAGNIFYING A SACRED OFFICE.

FAITHFULNESS UNTO DEATH

A little girl one day, whose mother had entrusted her with a penny for some small purchase, was crusht in the streets. She did not drop the penny. Recovering from a fainting fit, dying, she opened her firmly-closed fist, and handed her mother the humble penny, whose small value she did not realize, saying to her: “I have not lost it.” (Text.)

(1050)

=False Estimate=--See WORK DESPISED.

FALSE INFERENCE

Rev. A. R. Macduff, in his book of anecdotes about missionaries on the frontier force in northwestern India, says that India is a land where, when a tale is once set going, it is no easy matter “to nail the lie to the counter.” Rowland Bateman, the celebrated cricketer, who went as a missionary to India, was a stanch teetotaler, yet a rumor was started that he and his fellow missionaries were worshipers of the whisky bottle. It came about this way: Once, on a preaching tour, they spent a night in a “rest-house” which had previously been occupied by some carousing European travelers. Empty whisky bottles were in evidence, and Bateman utilized a couple for candlesticks to hold the lights for the evening Scripture reading. With good conscience, Bateman gathered his little company around the table on which stood the candles, and they knelt in prayer all unconscious of the interpretation a spying native was putting upon the service. In the morning he and his band were hailed as whisky-bottle worshipers.

(1051)

FALSE LIGHTS

Young people, sincere people, impulsive people, and imaginative people have all a common danger--that of being led astray by false lights. Of these false lights there are many kinds--some bewildering the intellect, others entangling the affections in hopeless morasses, others again misleading the sympathies, the imagination, the belief. But they all end in the same thing--mischief, mistake, and a loss of way. To the young and sincere--and the young are generally sincere, up to a certain point--organized craft and falsehood are arts of which they do not know the formula, foreign languages whereof they do not understand the very alphabet. Appearances stand for realities, and words are not so much symbols in themselves. They are able to tell their own little white lies and act their own little falsities, of a small and insignificant and, for the most part, transparent kind; but they do not apply their own rules to the grammar of their elders; and when those elders say so and so the younger believe them, and when they show such and such lights they follow them--in many instances to the same result as those doomed ships which were deceived on the Cornish coast, at such time as that, let us hope legendary, parson sent out his hobbled horse on the cliffs in a fog, with a lantern fastened to his fore-feet, to simulate the plunging of a ship in the sea. Then said the sailing masters of those doomed and predestined ships: “Where one vessel can go another may,” and so plowed their way straight onto the rocks and into the hands of death and the wreckers. So it is with certain false lights held out to the unwary and ignorant.--London Queen.

(1052)

FALSEHOOD

A form of words that is strictly true may be used to state what is wholly false:

Daniel O’Connell was engaged in a will case, the allegation being that the will was a forgery. The subscribing witnesses swore that the will had been signed by the deceased “while life was in him”--a mode of expression derived from the Irish language, and which peasants who have ceased to speak Irish still retain. The evidence was strong in favor of the will, when O’Connell was struck by the persistency of the man, who always repeated the same words, “The life was in him.” O’Connell asked: “On the virtue of your oath, was he alive?” “By the virtue of my oath, the life was in him.” “Now I call upon you in the presence of your Maker, who will one day pass sentence on you for this evidence, I solemnly ask--and answer me at your peril--was there not a live fly in the dead man’s mouth when his hand was placed on the will?” The witness was taken aback at this question; he trembled, turned pale, and faltered out an abject confession that the counselor was right; a fly had been introduced into the mouth of the dead man, to allow the witnesses to swear that “life was in him.” (Text.)--CROAKE JAMES, “Curiosities of Law and Lawyers.”

(1053)

=Falsehood from Kindness=--See KINDNESS VIOLATING TRUTH.

=False Safety=--See DEATH, CHRISTIAN ATTITUDE TOWARD.

FALSITY, INNER

It takes the greatest cunning and a life of practical study to know how long, how thick, and exactly where the soundbar should be in each instrument. The health and morale of many an old violin has been impaired by its nervous system being ignorantly tampered with. Every old violin, with the exception of the “Pucelle,” has had its soundbar replaced, or it would never have endured the increased tightness of strings brought in with our modern pitch. Many good forgeries have thus been exposed, for in taking the reputed Stradivarius to pieces, the rough, clumsy work inside, contrasting with the exquisite finish of the old masters, betrays at once the coarseness of a body that never really held the soul of a Cremona. (Text.)--H. R. HAWEIS, “My Musical Memories.”

(1054)

FAME

Fame is the sound which the stream of high thoughts, carried down to future ages, makes as it flows; deep, distant, murmuring evermore like the waters of the mighty ocean. He who has ears truly touched to this music is, in a manner, deaf to the voice of popularity.--WILLIAM HAZLITT.

(1055)

* * * * *

The following anecdote of Björnson, the Norwegian poet, illustrates the peculiar turn that seized a mischievous delegation:

Björnson was once asked on what occasion he got the greatest pleasure from his fame as a poet. His answer was:

“It was when a delegation from the Right came to my house in Christiania and smashed all the windows. Because, when they had thus attacked me and were starting for home again, they felt that they ought to sing something, and so they began to sing, ‘Yes, we love this land of ours.’ They could do nothing else! They had to sing the song of the man they had attacked.”

(1056)

FAME AND TIME

The crowning glory of the popular Japanese school was Hokusai, “The old man mad about painting,” who wrote of himself, in a preface to his “Hundred Views of Fuji”:

At seventy-five I have learned a little about the real structure of nature--of animals, plants and trees, birds, fishes and insects. In consequence, when I am eighty, I shall have made still more progress. At ninety I shall penetrate the mystery of things; at a hundred I shall certainly have reached a marvelous stage, and when I am a hundred and ten, everything I do--be it but a line or dot--will be alive. I beg those who live as long as I do to see if I do not keep my word.

Hokusai died in 1849, at the age of eighty-nine, his work revealing a continual increase in power to the last. Of his work, Mrs. Amsden writes:

His fecundity was marvelous. He illustrated books of all kinds, poetry, comic albums, accounts of travels--in fact, his works are an encyclopedia of Japanese life. His paintings are scattered, and countless numbers lost, many being merely ephemeral drawings, thrown off for the passing pleasure of the populace.

On his death-bed Hokusai murmured, “If heaven had but granted me five more years I could have been a repainter.”--DORA AMSDEN, “Impressions of Ukiyo-ye.”

(1057)

FAME, ILLUSIVE

A rather amusing illustration of the slender foundation on which literary fame rests is found in the following:

“Literary fame is not always highly regarded by the people,” says William Dean Howells. “I remember when I was in San Remo, some years ago, seeing in a French newspaper this notice by a rat-trap maker of Lyons:

“‘To whom it may concern: M. Pierre Loti, of Lyons, inventor of the automatic rat-trap, begs to state that he is not the same person and that he has nothing in common with one Pierre Loti, a writer.’”

(1058)

FAME, QUALIFYING FOR

Benjamin West’s picture of the death of Nelson is closely connected with an anecdote of the great sailor. Just before he went to sea for the last time, he was present at a dinner, during which he sat between the artist and Sir William Hamilton.

Nelson was expressing to Hamilton his regret that he had not, in his youth, acquired some taste for art and some discrimination in judging it.

“But,” said he, turning to West, “there is one picture whose power I do feel. I never pass a shop where your ‘Death of Wolfe’ is in the window without being stopt by it.”

West made some gracious answer to the compliment, and Nelson went on. “Why have you painted no more like it?”

“Because, my lord,” West replied, “there are no more subjects.”

“Ah!” said the sailor, “I didn’t think of that.”

“But, my lord,” continued West, “I am afraid your intrepidity will yet furnish me with another such scene; and if it should, I shall certainly avail myself of it.”

“Will you?” said Nelson. “Will you, Mr. West? Then I hope I shall die in the next battle!”

A few days later he sailed, his strangely exprest aspiration was realized, and the scene lives upon canvas.

(1059)

FAME, SUDDEN

The name of “U. S. Grant, Nashville,” on the Lindell Hotel (St. Louis) register was sufficient to spread the news of his presence with almost the rapidity of wildfire throughout the city. The Lindell lobby was soon thronged with people eager to catch a glimpse of the little man who had won the battle of Chattanooga. The streets which he paced in vain, time and again, only five years before in search of employment, now resounded with cheers in his honor.--NICHOLAS SMITH, “Grant, the Man of Mystery.”

(1060)

=Fame Unsatisfying=--See UNHAPPINESS OF THE GREAT.

FAMILIARITY

Acuteness of the perceptive faculties characterized the celebrated Maine steamship captain who, for more than twenty years, is said to have regularly navigated his vessel in the thickest fogs and darkest nights through the tortuous reaches, thoroughfares, and channels of the “inside passage” along the coast of Maine, without accident. When asked for an explanation of his remarkable record, he replied, “I knew the bark of every dog and the crow of every rooster on the line, and often steered by them.”--SUMNER I. KIMBALL, “Joshua James.”

(1061)

FAMILY CIRCLE

In Korea the family exists, but not the circle. There is no table around which they gather for meals, no reading nor music, no evening parties which draw them together, no “At Homes,” no family pew in which to sit on Sunday, no picnic excursions in which all members join. The master eats by himself, the wife by herself, the sons and daughters each separately and alone. Because of this, our custom of conversing at table, and allowing the talk and attention to wander all over the universe, while semiconsciously engaged in the serious act of “eating rice,” seems very absurd. “When you eat, eat, and when you talk, talk, but why try both at one and the same time?”--JAMES S. GALE, “Korea in Transition.”

(1062)

FAMILY OFFENSE IN STORKS

The following stories concerning storks seem to indicate that they have views concerning the purity of their race and act upon them: Bishop Stanley relates that a French surgeon at Smyrna, being unable to procure a stork, on account of the great veneration entertained for them by the Turks, purloined all the eggs from a stork’s nest and replaced them with hen’s eggs. Ultimately, chickens were hatched, greatly to the surprize of the storks. The male stork speedily disappeared and was not seen for two or three days, when he returned with a large number of other storks, who assembled in a circle in the town, without paying any attention to the numerous spectators their proceedings attracted. The female stork was brought into the midst of the circle, and, after some discussion, was attacked by the whole flock and torn to pieces. The assemblage then dispersed and the nest was left tenantless. A somewhat similar case has been cited by the same author as having occurred in the vicinity of Berlin. Two storks made their nest on one of the chimneys of a mansion, and the owner of the house, inspecting it, found in it an egg, which he replaced by one belonging to a goose. The stork did not appear to notice the change until the egg was hatched, when the male bird rose from the nest, and, after flying around it several times with loud screams, disappeared. For some days the female bird continued to tend the changeling without interruption; but on the morning of the fourth day the inmates of the house were disturbed by loud cries in a field fronting it. The noise proceeded from nearly five hundred storks standing in a compact body listening, apparently, to the harangue of a solitary bird about twenty yards off. When this bird had concluded its address it retired and another took its place and addrest the meeting in a similar manner. These proceedings were continued by a succession of birds until eleven in the forenoon, when the whole court rose simultaneously into the air, uttering dismal cries. All this time the female had remained in her nest, but in evident fear. When the meeting broke up all the storks flew toward her, headed by one--supposed to be the offended husband--who struck her violently three or four times, knocking her out of the nest. The unfortunate stork made no effort to defend herself, and was speedily destroyed by the troop, who also annihilated the hapless gosling and left not a fragment of the contaminated nest.--Popular Science Monthly.

(1063)

FAMILY RELIGION

During a series of revival meetings in a town in Ohio a very earnest and intelligent little boy was converted. Several nights after he brought his mother to the meeting, and was solicitous for her conversion. He spoke to one of the workers and asked that his mother might be invited to seek the Lord. The woman was approached, but said emphatically that she had been converted. The little fellow was informed of his mother’s answer, that she was converted, when with an astonished expression, he said: “First I’d knowed about it.” Certainly if that mother had given any evidence that she was a Christian her little boy would have found it out. What a low conception of Christianity some people have, and how poorly they exemplify it before their children and neighbors. They are so far beneath the Bible standard, as well as beneath the privilege, that no one even suspects that they make a profession of Christianity.

(1064)

* * * * *

A great many people say there is nothing in the Christian discipline of a household. Let us see. In New Hampshire, there were two neighborhoods--the one of six families, the other of five families. The six families disregarded the Sabbath. In time, five of these families were broken up by the separation of husbands and wives; the other, by the father becoming a thief. Eight or nine of the parents became drunkards, one committed suicide, and all came to penury. Of some forty or fifty descendants, about twenty are known to be drunkards and gamblers and dissolute. Four or five have been in state-prison. One fell in a duel. Some are in the almshouse. Only one became a Christian, and he after having been outrageously dissipated. The other five families, that regarded the Sabbath, were all prospered. Eight or ten of the children are consistent members of the church. Some of them became officers in the church; one is a minister of the gospel; one is a missionary in China. No poverty among them. The homestead is now in the hands of the third generation. Those who have died have died in the peace of the gospel. (Text.)--T. DE WITT TALMAGE.

(1065)

FANCY, DECEPTIVE

It requires experience and love of reality to avoid the deceptions of life.

“During the conflagration at the Crystal Palace in the winter of 1866–67, when the animals were destroyed by the fire, it was supposed that the chimpanzee had succeeded in escaping from his cage. Attracted to the roof, with this expectation in full force, men saw the unhappy animal holding on to it, and writhing in agony to get astride of one of the iron ribs. It need not be said that its struggles were watched by those below with breathless suspense, and, as the newspapers informed us, with sickening dread.” But there was no animal whatever there; and all this feeling was thrown away upon a tattered piece of blind, so torn as to resemble, to the eye of fancy, the body, arms, and legs of an ape!--EDWIN J. HOUSTON, “The Wonder Book of Light.”

(1066)

=Fashion, Absurd=--See ABSURD NOTIONS.

FAST LIVING

The railroad has compelled us all to live fast. The pace of the locomotive kills. Everywhere we see among our people an alarming increase of serious diseases. People become anxious, irritable, nervous and hurried. Something snaps, and the end comes quickly. As an evidence that this intensity of experience is harmful, we may notice the rapidly shortening hours of labor, the increase of holidays, the lengthening of vacations, and the disposition among the city people to spend more and more time in the country during the summer. All these are defenses against the wear and tear of city life--why? Because people and things can be moved so fast that all business moves faster and faster, and for such a killing pace we must have the relief of more rest and longer vacations. The railroad has in all these directions changed our social and business life so that we lead wholly different lives from all the men who have gone before. On the other hand, it has been of very great mental benefit. It is said that insanity was at one time very common among farmers. The dulness and stupidity of their lives drove them into mental collapse. The railroad now brings the town to the farm, the city paper comes to the rural fireside, and trips to town are cheap and easy. The appalling monotony of country life is quickened by the rush of the train through the quiet valleys and life seems more worth living, because more interesting. Balancing one thing against another we must conclude that there is a gain in all this.--CHARLES BARNARD, The Chautauquan.

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=Fastidiousness=--See COOLNESS IN DANGER.

FASTING

The month of fasting was probably borrowed by Mohammed from the Christian Lent. There are many traditions that tell how important fasting is. Let one suffice:

Every good act that a man does shall receive from ten to seven hundred rewards, but the rewards of fasting are beyond bounds, for fasting is for God alone and He will give its rewards. The chief Moslem fast is that of the month of Ramazan. The fast is extremely hard upon the laboring classes when, by the changes of the lunar calendar, it falls in the heat of summer, when the days are long. Even then it is forbidden to drink a drop of water or take a morsel of food. Yet it is a fact that Mohammedans, rich and poor, spend more on food in that month than in any other month of the year; and it is also true that physicians have a run of patients with troubles from indigestion at the close of this religious fast! The explanation is simple. Altho the fast extends over one lunar month, it only begins at dawn and ends at sunset each day. During the whole night it is usual to indulge in pleasure, feasting and dinner parties. This makes clear what Mohammed meant when he said that “God would make the fast an ease and not a difficulty.”

The hours during which fasting is prescribed are to be sacredly observed. Not only is there total abstinence from food and drink, but bathing, smoking, taking snuff, smelling a flower, and the use of medicine are prohibited. I have even heard Moslem jurists discuss whether hypodermic medication was allowed during the fast period. In eastern Arabia the use of an eye-lotion even is considered as equivalent to breaking the fast. The law provides, however, that infants, idiots, the sick, and the aged are exempted from observing this fast.--SAMUEL M. ZWEMER, “The Moslem World.”

(1068)

* * * * *

In a remarkable case, recorded by Dr. Wilan, of a young gentleman who starved himself under the influence of a religious delusion, life was prolonged for sixty days, during the whole of which time nothing but a little orange-juice was taken. Somewhat analogous are those in which all food is abstained from while the person is in a state of trance or partially suspended animation. This state may be prolonged for many days or even for weeks, provided that the body be kept sufficiently warm. The most remarkable instances of this character have been furnished by certain Indian fakirs, who are able to reduce themselves to a state resembling profound collapse, in which all vital operations are brought almost to a standstill. In one case, the man was buried in an underground cell for six weeks, and carefully watched; in another, the man was buried for ten days in a grave lined with masonry, and covered with large slabs of stone. When the bodies were disinterred they resembled corpses and no pulsation could be detected at the heart or in the arteries. Vitality was restored by warmth and friction. It is probable that the fakirs, before submitting to the ordeal, stupefied themselves with bhang (Indian hemp), the effects of which would last for some time, and the warmth of the atmosphere and soil would prevent any serious loss of heat, such as would soon occur in a colder climate, when the processes by which it is generated are made to cease. (Text.)--ROBSON ROOSE, New York Review.

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FATHER ANIMALS UNPARENTAL

In very few animals do the males ever attempt to protect the females, even where the latter have their young to take care of. When the hen with her brood of chickens is attacked, it is not the cock that ruffs his feathers and defends them with his spurs; it is the mother herself that defends them. The cock is always found with hens that have no chickens, and only uses his spurs in fighting with other cocks that have no notion of injuring the females. In the entire animal kingdom the cases where the male uses his great powers to protect the female or the young, or to bring them food, are so rare that where they are observed they are recorded as curious approximations to the social state of man. (Text.)--LESTER F. WARD, The Forum.

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FATHERHOOD

Dr. Cortland Myers, of Boston, relates the following story, as told by a ship’s surgeon:

On our last trip a boy fell overboard from the deck. I didn’t know who he was, and the crew hastened out to save him. They brought him on board the ship, took off his outer garments, turned him over a few times, and worked his hands and his feet. When they had done all they knew how to do, I came up to be of assistance, and they said he was dead and beyond help. I turned away as I said to them, “I think you’ve done all you could”; but just then a sudden impulse told me I ought to go over and see what I could do. I went over and looked down into the boy’s face and discovered that it was my own boy. Well, you may believe I didn’t think the last thing had been done. I pulled off my coat and bent over that boy; I blew in his nostrils and breathed into his mouth; I turned him over and over, and simply begged God to bring him back to life, and for four long hours I worked, until just at sunset I began to see the least flutter of breath that told me he lived. Oh, I will never see another boy drown without taking off my coat in the first instance and going to him and trying to save him as if I knew he were my own boy.

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* * * * *

There was once a Quaker, John Hartman, whose son enlisted in the army. Not long after he had marched away as a soldier, a battle was fought. In the list of the missing appeared the Quaker’s son’s name. The father went to the field of carnage, and scanned the many upturned faces. He listened to the faintest cry of the wounded to discover if it were the voice of his son. More than one lying in the agony of death thought, “I wish that were my father.”

After the darkness of night fell he lighted his lantern and continued his search. Then the wind began to blow and his light went out. A new thought came to him. Forming a trumpet of his hands he called, “John Hartman, thy father calleth for thee.” There was no answer. Going on farther he called again, “John Hartman, thy father calleth for thee.” There was a faint moan and a “Here I am father.” How gladly that father hastened forward and brought his son home!

Many are being beaten down in the fierce battle of sin and evil. They have fallen in the darkness and are perishing. The loving heavenly Father is calling to them. If they make the faintest cry of response, “Lord, here I am,” how gladly will He hasten to their relief. (Text.)

(1072)

See CONFIDENCE.

FATHERHOOD THE KEY

The other day I had a cipher telegram. Glancing it over, I could read every separate word. But once I rearranged the words with the key, a hidden meaning and beauty flamed forth. Moses, Job, Isaiah, Plato, Confucius, astronomers, poets, philosophers, all read the separate words, but when Christ came the key-word, “Our Heavenly Father,” is given, and the whole heavens flamed with the love of God.--N. D. HILLIS.

(1073)

=Father-love=--See LOST, FINDING THE; LOVE’S COMPLETENESS.

FATHER, OUR

Miss Lilly Ryder Gracey, in The Missionary Review of the World, in a sketch of the life and work of the Rev. Egerton R. Young, in the land of the Cree and Salteaus Indians, of Canada, gives this incident:

“Missionary,” said a savage, stalwart-looking Indian to him, “gray hairs here, and grandchildren in the wigwam, tell me that I am getting to be an old man; and yet I never before heard such things as you have told us to-day. I am so glad I did not die before I heard this wonderful story. Yet I am getting old. Gray hairs here, and grandchildren yonder, tell the story. Stay as long as you can, missionary; tell us much of these things; and when you have to go away, come back soon.”

“He turned as tho he would go back to his place and sit down,” said Dr. Young in narrating the story, “but he only went a step or two ere he turned round and said:

“‘Missionary, may I say more?’

“‘Talk on,’ I replied; ‘I am here now to listen.’

“‘You said just now, “Notawenan” (Our Father).’

“‘Yes, I did say, “Our Father.”’

“‘That is very new and sweet to us,’ he replied. ‘We never thought of the Great Spirit as Father. We heard Him in the thunder, and saw Him in the lightning and tempest and blizzard, and we were afraid. So, when you tell us of the Great Spirit as Father--that is very beautiful to us.’

“Hesitating a moment, he stood there, a wild, picturesque Indian; yet my heart had strangely gone out in loving interest and sympathy to him. Lifting up his eyes to mine again, he said:

“‘May I say more?’

“‘Yes,’ I answered; ‘say on.’

“‘You say, “Notawenan” (Our Father); He is your Father?’

“‘Yes, He is my Father.’

“Then he said, while his eyes and voice yearned for the answer:

“‘Does it mean He is my Father--poor Indian’s Father?’

“‘Yes, oh yes!’ I exclaimed, ‘He is your Father, too.’

“‘Your Father--missionary’s Father--and Indian’s Father, too?’ he repeated.

“‘Yes, that is true.’

“‘Then we are brothers!’ he almost shouted out.

“‘Yes, we are brothers,’ I replied.

“The excitement in the audience had become something wonderful, and when the conversation with the old man had reached this point, and in such an unexpected and yet dramatic manner had so clearly brought out, not only the fatherhood of God, but the oneness of the human family, the people could hardly restrain their expressions of delight.

“The old man, however, had not yet finished, and so, quietly restraining the most demonstrative ones, he again turned and said:

“‘May I say more?’

“‘Yes, say on; say all that is in your heart.’

“Then came his last question, which millions of weary souls dissatisfied with their false régimes are asking:

“‘Missionary, I do not want to be rude, but why has my white brother been so long time in coming with that great Book and its wonderful story?’”

(1074)

=Father’s Sake, For=--See LOVE MAKES PATIENT.

FATHER’S VOICE

I was watching the sheep, and two little lambs got lost from their mother. They were black lambs, and didn’t know they were lost; but I did, and so did the mother. I stood and watched while the old mother sheep called and called and called. But the little black lambs didn’t answer--they didn’t know they were lost. So I continued to watch, and directly the lambs heard the mother calling. And there must have been something in the mother-voice that told the lambs they were lost, for they began bleating and crying and running about as if mad, so frightened were they. Finally, the mother and the lambs saw each other, and truly it was a poem of nature to see the mother leaping toward the lambs and the lambs running toward her! It reminded me of the meeting of that old father and the prodigal son when the boy came back home from the far country. And do you know that meadow scene made me turn my eyes everywhither--earthward, skyward, spaceward! And I said, “Oh, my soul, if lambs hear and answer the voice of their mother, wilt not thou hear and answer the voice of thy Father? Oh, soul, lambs are not afraid when mother is near. Why shouldst thou be afraid when thy Father is near, and God is everywhere?” (Text.)--F. F. SHANNON.

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FATIGUE

Dr. Luther H. Gulick describes some effects of fatigue:

Fatigue promptly attacks and destroys our sense of proportion. I know no better illustration of this than the way we will leave our professional work. When I am really fatigued it is very difficult for me to go home when the time comes. It is, of course, true that there are always little things remaining to be done; but when I am especially tired I can not distinguish between those which are important enough to keep me and those which are not. I only see how many things are still undone; and I tend to go on and on.

If I see a scrap of paper on the floor, I can not help going out of my chair and taking time to pick up that wretched thing and put it in my waste-basket. It assumes, somehow, the same importance in my mind with that of thinking out my to-morrow’s schedule. I will stay and putter about little things that do not need attention. My sense of balance, of proportion, and perspective is gone. I’ve lost my eye for the cash value of things.--“Mind and Work.”

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=Faults Blotted Out=--See EFFACEMENT OF SINS.

=Faults, How to See=--See LOOKING DOWN.

FAULTS OF THE GREAT

When the great Duke of Marlborough died and one began to speak of his avarice, “He was so great a man,” said Bolingbroke, “I had forgotten that he had that fault.”

(1077)

=Faults, Unconscious=--See SELF-ESTIMATES.

FAVORITISM

The advantage of position is well illustrated in the following incident:

When Louis XIV was at play with some courtiers, a dispute arose in regard to one of the turns of the game. The king was eager, and his opponent seemed resolute to resist; and the rest of the court stood round maintaining a dignified neutrality, and none venturing a remark. At that moment Count de Grammont was seen entering the apartment, whereon the king called out, “Come hither, Grammont, and decide this dispute between us.” “Your majesty is in the wrong,” said the count, the moment he approached. “How can you say I am in the wrong!” cried the king, “when you have not heard what is the point in dispute?” “Why, sire,” said Grammont, “if the point had been doubtful, all these gentlemen who are standing round silent would have decided in your favor long ago.”--CROAKE JAMES, “Curiosities of Law and Lawyers.”

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FEAR

Several thousand mine workers of the anthracite region, chiefly foreigners, refused to enter the mines to-day because they had a superstitious fear that the earth would be destroyed when enveloped in the tail of Halley’s comet to-night, May 18, 1910.

Efforts of the English-speaking miners, [at Wilkesbarre, Penn.] to get them to go to work were futile, and they said that if the world came to an end they wanted to be on the surface where they could see, instead of in the depths of the mines. A number of them spent most of the day in prayer, and many of them were in a condition of great fear and nervousness. A number of collieries were so short handed that they had to shut down for the day.

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FEAR AS A MOTIVE

The late George T. Angell, in “Our Dumb Animals,” gives this incident, showing that fear of unseen authority, is a forcible motive, even with would-be transgressors:

The incident occurred on the rise of land near Park Street Church (Boston). A horse, evidently laboring under the impression that he was overloaded, stopt and refused to go any farther, and a crowd gathered. Just then one voice called out from the crowd:

“Why don’t you whip him?”

“Whip him,” said the driver--“whip him! How do I know that there ain’t an agent of that darned old Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals standin’ right here in this crowd?”

We have never considered it good policy to send out any of our agents in uniform, and so any respectable citizen who seems to be interested in the protection of horses is liable to be suspected of being one of our agents. (Text.)

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FEAR OF GOD

Of all the memorials found in Westminster Abbey, there is not one that gives a nobler thought than the life lesson from the monument to Lord Lawrence. Simply his name and date of his death, and these words: “He feared man so little because he feared God so much.” Here is one great secret of victory. The prayer of the Rugby boy, John Laing Bickersteth, found locked up in his desk after his death, was: “Oh God, give me courage that I may fear none but thee.” (Text.)

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FEAR OF MAN

Ex-President Roosevelt is usually pictured as proof against fear, but the New York Times tells of an occasion when he admits that he was badly frightened.

It was on the evening of his first diplomatic reception as President, and the long and brilliant line headed by ambassadors, foreign ministers and attaches, and distinguished army and naval officers in gorgeous uniforms, was passing slowly before him. In this procession was a lady who knew the President quite well, and who confidently expected a hearty greeting. To her surprize, Mr. Roosevelt merely inclined his head over her hand, and bowed her on with the throng.

An hour later she met the President in the reception-room, and he spoke to her in the friendliest way.

“Why didn’t you come in time for the reception?” he asked.

“I did,” she replied, “and you did not even recognize me!”

“Impossible!” exclaimed the President, “but,” and he set his teeth together hard and whispered, “to tell you the truth, Mrs. ----, I was so fearful I wouldn’t do the right thing I could not think of anybody except myself!”

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* * * * *

Kindness, justice and a little heavenly wisdom would guard a ruler far more effectually than the precautions mentioned below:

The Sultan is chiefly afraid of the darkness, and it costs him $900 per night to have his bedroom guarded. This sum is split up between the eight generals entrusted with the work and their supernumeraries. Two generals take the long watch every night outside his door, and receive $200 apiece for it; beneath them is a colonel who is paid $150 a night, and guards receiving smaller amounts. All they have to do to earn their princely salaries is to tramp up and down the corridor with their eyes on the beautiful satin-wood door inlaid with mother-of-pearl which took an expert two years to inlay. (Text.)--Tid-Bits.

(1083)

=Fear, Paralyzing=--See HOPELESS FEAR.

FEAR, RELIGIOUS

The missing qualities in Wesley’s religious state at this time [at Oxford] are obvious, It utterly lacked the element of joy. Religion is meant to have for the spiritual landscape the office of sunshine, but in Wesley’s spiritual sky burned no divine light, whether of certainty or of hope. He imagined he could distil the rich wine of spiritual gladness out of mechanical religious exercises; but he found himself, to his own distress, and in his own words, “dull, flat, and unaffected in the use of the most solemn ordinances.” Fear, too, like a shadow, haunted his mind: fear that he was not accepted before God; fear that he might lose what grace he had; fear both of life and of death. He dare not grant himself, he declared, the liberty that others enjoyed. His brother Samuel, whose letters are always rich in the salt of common sense, had remonstrated with his younger brother for the austerities he practised and the rigors of alarmed self-interrogation under which he lived. John Wesley defends himself by the plea--in which there is an unconscious pathos--that he lacks his brother’s strength and dare take no risks.

“Mirth, I grant,” he says, “is very fit for you. But does it follow that it is fit for me? If you are to rejoice evermore because you have put your enemies to flight, am I to do the same while they continually assault me? You are very glad because you have passed from death to life. Well! but let him be afraid who knows not whether he is to live or die. Whether this be my condition or no, who can tell better than myself?”--W. H. FITCHETT, “Wesley and His Century.”

(1084)

=Fearlessness of Death=--See MARTYR SPIRIT.

=Feast of the Soul=--See CHAINS.

=Fecundity=--See DESTRUCTION NECESSARY.

FECUNDITY OF LIFE

An English naturalist has figured out that a single-stem mother of the common aphids, or “green-fly” of the rose, would give origin, at its regular rate of multiplication and provided each individual born lived out its natural life, which is only a few days at best, to over thirty-three quintrillions of rose aphids in a single season, equal in weight to more than a billion and a half of men. Of course such a thing never happens, because so many of the young aphids get eaten by lady-bird beetles and flower-fly larvæ and other enemies before they come to be old enough to produce young.--VERNON L. KELLOGG, “Insect Stories.”

(1085)

FEEDING TOO MUCH

The apostle James puts the emphasis of religion on doing, not hearing alone. The one definition of religion we have in Scripture, and that given by him, is suggestive of the divine order--the best way to keep oneself unspotted from the world is to be occupied in ministry to others. A good deacon once complained to Thomas Dixon that his sermons placed too much emphasis on doing and reminded him of Jesus’ command to Peter, “Feed my sheep.” Mr. Dixon replied: “That is what is the matter with you; I have fed you until you are so fat you can not walk.”--CHARLES LUTHER KLOSS, “Proceedings of The Religious Education Association,” 1904.

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FEELING A FOUNTAIN

Feeling is a fountain that gushes life. Emotions in the soul are like songs, pouring forth from the birds in the thicket. Orange groves and peach orchards exhale perfume, and feeling is the soul’s fragrance, rising toward God and its fellows. The seas send up their whitest mists, and the soul ought to send up its emotions in whitest clouds of incense toward the throne of God and toward man’s soul.--N. D. HILLIS.

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FEELING AND PRINCIPLE

You know the difference between feeling and principle. Yonder is an old sailboat out in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, and when the wind blows, she travels ten miles an hour, but let the wind lull, and she will lie there two weeks, within a hundred yards of where the wind left her. She doesn’t go anywhere. That is feeling. When the wind blows, off she goes.

What is principle? Yonder is a grand old ocean steamer, and when the wind blows she spreads her sails and works her steam, and on she goes; and when the wind lulls, the engineer pulls his throttle wider open, and she goes at the rate of fifteen miles an hour, whether the wind blows or not. And that is the difference between principle and feeling.--“Famous Stories of Sam P. Jones.”

(1088)

=Feeling the Christian Spirit=--See CONSISTENCY.

FEELINGS RESERVED

Among Scotch qualities, the deepest rooted, apart from the fear of God, is sentiment. And yet we do not receive credit for it because we have not sentimentalism, which is the caricature and ghost of sentiment. The sentiment of the Scotch is of the heart and not of the lips. If I saw a couple of Scotchmen kissing each other good-by, I wouldn’t lend five shillings to either of them. It is not an uncommon thing to see such an exhibition among Italians. I do not blame them. They are as God made them and so they must be. People doubt whether we have any sentiment at all. Some think we are hard-hearted and cold-blooded. Our manner is less than genial and not effusive. Our misfortune is not to be able to express our feelings. This inability is allied to our strength; strong people conceal their feelings.--JOHN WATSON.

(1089)

=Fees=--See RIDICULE, APT.

=Feet Showing Character=--See CHARACTER SHOWN IN THE FEET.

=Female Animals Unprotected=--See FATHER ANIMALS UNPARENTAL.

FENCING OUT ENEMIES

Moral evils are kept out not by a thorn fence, but by holy ideals and loving activities. These are quite as effective for character as this Arizona device for excluding rattlesnakes:

Did you ever hear of a rattlesnake fence--not one made of rattlesnakes, of course not, but one made of prickly thorns to protect one from the rattlers and keep them away? That is what the Arizona campers build, and the only way to keep these deadly poisoners away is by building one of these fences of oktea, a shrub covered with thorns which grows on the desert.

As the tents have no doors and are not set much above the ground, it would appear easy for Mr. Rattler to effect an entrance. Imagine the sensation of crawling into bed some cold night to strike against the clammy skin of a snake, and this is just where Mr. Snake likes to snuggle, in among the warm blankets.

To avoid this men who work in the mines have found that a snake will not go near this oktea, and they have built closely knit fences around their tents, with little gates to go in and out, and beyond this the rattler will not penetrate. It was first the Indians of the desert who discovered this deadly shrub, and they got the secret from birds and animals, which, to protect their young, travel sometimes many miles back and forth, bringing the thorns with which to cover their little nests. Gophers and other small animals there cover their nests in this manner.--Los Angeles Times.

(1090)

FERTILITY

These lines are by Edward Rowland Sill:

Clear water on smooth rock Could give no foothold for a single flower, Or slenderest shaft of grain: The stone must crumble under storm and rain, The forests crash beneath the whirlwind’s power, And broken boughs from any a tempest-shock, And fallen leaves from many a wintry hour, Must mingle in the mold, Before the harvest whitens on the plain, Bearing a hundredfold. Patience, O weary heart! Let all thy sparkling hours depart, And all thy hopes be withered with the frost, And every effort tempest-tossed-- So when all life’s green leaves Are fallen, and moldered underneath the sod, Thou shalt not go too lightly to thy God, But heavy with full sheaves. (Text.)

(1091)

FETISHISM

Miss F. M. Dennis writes from Ebu Owerri, a place about seventy miles southeast of Onitsha, North Africa:

It is a custom in this Ibo country when a child is born for the parents to go into the bush, cut a stick from a tree and plant it. When the child is old enough to walk and know anything it worships this young tree. All the Ibo people have them. But until the child comes to man’s estate and has a household, this is the only idol he has.

(1092)

The negroes of the Gold and Slave Coasts, like every other people low in the stage of civilization, believe that inanimate, as well as animate, objects have souls or ghosts, a belief which is proved by the practise of burying arms, implements, utensils, etc., for the use of the dead in Dead-land, and there continues the former pursuit of the man, using the souls or ghosts of the weapons buried with him; but the negroes have gone beyond this, and just as they believe man to possess a third element, or indwelling spirit, so do they believe that every natural object, everything not made by human hands, has, in addition to its soul or ghost, a third element of spiritual individuality. They hold that just as, when the man dies, the kra of the man enters a new-born child, and the soul, or ghost-man, goes to Dead-land; so, when the tree dies, the kra, so to speak, of the tree enters a seedling, and the ghost-tree goes to join the ranks of the shadowy forest in Dead-land. And it is these animating or spiritual tenants of natural objects and natural features that the negro fears and consequently worships.--A. B. ELLIS, The Popular Science Monthly.

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=Fetters Worn for Others=--See HARDSHIP VICARIOUSLY BORNE.

=Fickleness in Work=--See ATTAINMENT SUPERFICIAL.

FIDELITY AMONG ANIMALS

Instances of almost human fidelity are common among deer. We have several times been witness of them. On one occasion we had wounded a good stag late in the evening; the herd broke away, leaving him alone. In a few minutes another fine stag, evidently his friend, detached himself from the herd and galloped back to where the first lay wounded in a burn (brook). It got so dark that we could only tell the whereabouts of the wounded beast by seeing the other standing by his side. We crawled up to about a hundred yards of him, but still could not see the one we had shot. We stood up, expecting he would jump up and make a run for it, but he was too badly hit. Walking on, we at last saw his gray head in the heather, and a bullet finished him. Still the devoted friend kept close by and would not leave the spot. We had not the heart to shoot the poor beast after he had given proof of such wonderful fidelity, and at last had almost to drive him away.--Lord Walsingham and Sir RALPH PAYNE-GALLWEY, “Shooting.”

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FIDELITY, CHRISTIAN

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