Chapter 34

TRACKS OF A FLY, SHOWING THE WAY IN WHICH THEY SPREAD DISEASE GERMS

TRACKS OF A FLY, SHOWING THE WAY IN WHICH THEY SPREAD DISEASE GERMS

If there is any dirt in your house, or about your premises, or those of your neighbors, he has just come from it. Watch him, as he stands on the sugar, industriously wiping his feet. He is getting rid of disease germs, rubbing them on the sugar that you are going to eat, leaving the poison for you to swallow.This does more to spread typhoid-fever, cholera infantum and other intestinal diseases than any other cause.Intestinal diseases are more frequent whenever and wherever flies are most abundant, and they, and not the summer heat, are the active agents of the spread of such diseases. There is special danger when flies drop into such fluid as milk. This forms an ideal culture material for the bacillus. A few germs washed from the body of one fly may develop into millions within a few hours.—B. M. Clinedinst,The Christian Herald.

If there is any dirt in your house, or about your premises, or those of your neighbors, he has just come from it. Watch him, as he stands on the sugar, industriously wiping his feet. He is getting rid of disease germs, rubbing them on the sugar that you are going to eat, leaving the poison for you to swallow.

This does more to spread typhoid-fever, cholera infantum and other intestinal diseases than any other cause.

Intestinal diseases are more frequent whenever and wherever flies are most abundant, and they, and not the summer heat, are the active agents of the spread of such diseases. There is special danger when flies drop into such fluid as milk. This forms an ideal culture material for the bacillus. A few germs washed from the body of one fly may develop into millions within a few hours.—B. M. Clinedinst,The Christian Herald.

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SeePest, Contagious.

Flying-machine—SeeTendencies, Inherited.

FOCUSING THE EYE

I can look one moment at a book six inches from my sight, at the next I can with ease look on a tree 200 yards away, and the next I can raise my eyes and view the sun millions of miles away in the upper heavens. As easily should Christians, compelled to look at the things close at hand, lift their thoughts and prayers to God. But it is hard to refocus the eye of the soul on the divine and eternal if the affections are too much set on things on the earth. “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Text.)

I can look one moment at a book six inches from my sight, at the next I can with ease look on a tree 200 yards away, and the next I can raise my eyes and view the sun millions of miles away in the upper heavens. As easily should Christians, compelled to look at the things close at hand, lift their thoughts and prayers to God. But it is hard to refocus the eye of the soul on the divine and eternal if the affections are too much set on things on the earth. “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Text.)

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Foes Fraternize—SeeKindness.

FOLD, THE, OF CHRIST

When the Savior proclaimed Himself as the Good Shepherd, He was not only describing His own character in one of its most beautiful aspects, but was by implication suggesting very much more. The fact of a fold implies not only protection and provision, but also restraint, oversight, authority, and order.

A traveler who recently arrived in a remote region of Uganda, relates how amazed he was to see immense numbers of all sorts of wild animals, some in great herds, others in smaller groups. That was not a fold. But if the same traveler had looked across the great pampas or llanos of South America he would have seen vast flocks and herds of horses, cattle, and sheep, roaming and grazing over the immense expanse of prairie. It might seem to him at first that those thousands of animals were wandering about at their own will. But the spectator would quickly discover that they were in reality under close attention on the part of ranchmen, cowboys, and shepherds. Further, he would find that the vast pasture-lands were enclosed by wire. So that here is a fold under shepherds.

A traveler who recently arrived in a remote region of Uganda, relates how amazed he was to see immense numbers of all sorts of wild animals, some in great herds, others in smaller groups. That was not a fold. But if the same traveler had looked across the great pampas or llanos of South America he would have seen vast flocks and herds of horses, cattle, and sheep, roaming and grazing over the immense expanse of prairie. It might seem to him at first that those thousands of animals were wandering about at their own will. But the spectator would quickly discover that they were in reality under close attention on the part of ranchmen, cowboys, and shepherds. Further, he would find that the vast pasture-lands were enclosed by wire. So that here is a fold under shepherds.

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FOLLOWING CHRIST

A missionary doctor at Shanghai was lying one night in his bed fast asleep, when he was awakened by a loud knocking at his front door. Even Chinese grown men are very much afraid of the dark, so he was very much surprized to see two little lads from a village five miles distant standing at his door. They said their school-teacher had been taken ill, and they had come for some medicineto help him. “Why didn’t some men come on this errand?” the missionary asked. “Because they were afraid,” said the boys. “Why were not you afraid?” “We were,” said the boys, “but we thought it was what Jesus Christ would like us to do, so we came.” (Text.)

A missionary doctor at Shanghai was lying one night in his bed fast asleep, when he was awakened by a loud knocking at his front door. Even Chinese grown men are very much afraid of the dark, so he was very much surprized to see two little lads from a village five miles distant standing at his door. They said their school-teacher had been taken ill, and they had come for some medicineto help him. “Why didn’t some men come on this errand?” the missionary asked. “Because they were afraid,” said the boys. “Why were not you afraid?” “We were,” said the boys, “but we thought it was what Jesus Christ would like us to do, so we came.” (Text.)

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FOLLOWING, INEXACT

Two persons were walking together one very dark night, when one said to the other, who knew the road well, “I shall follow you so as to be right.” He soon fell into a ditch and blamed the other for his fall. The other said, “Then you did not follow me exactly, for I walked safely.” (Text.)

Two persons were walking together one very dark night, when one said to the other, who knew the road well, “I shall follow you so as to be right.” He soon fell into a ditch and blamed the other for his fall. The other said, “Then you did not follow me exactly, for I walked safely.” (Text.)

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FOLLY

Are there not people comparable to those discribed below, who, instead of seeking the substance of religion, are content with the mere breath of theology; and others who, instead of seeing and facing the world’s evils, “take out their eyes” whenever anything disagreeable happens along?

Lucian says the people on the moon lived on frogs that they cooked over a fire, but that, instead of eating the flesh, they simply breathed in the smell that came from the cooking; and that they had a custom of taking their eyes out of their heads to save them from seeing anything that might displease them.

Lucian says the people on the moon lived on frogs that they cooked over a fire, but that, instead of eating the flesh, they simply breathed in the smell that came from the cooking; and that they had a custom of taking their eyes out of their heads to save them from seeing anything that might displease them.

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SeeCarelessness, Cost of;Miracles.

FOOD AND CULTURE

A careful study of historical statistics shows the great influence that food and the laws of menu have exerted on the world’s progress. Did not an uncooked apple drive the human race out of Paradise? Did not a mess of pottage differentiate a nation? Did not a fit of indigestion lose the battle of Leipsic and check the career which threatened to change the face of Europe? Did not tea found the American Republic? The history of the dinner table is the history of civilization. The culture of any people may be gaged by its cooking and the amount of sentiment thrown into and around its daily meals.—Ethel A. Lennon,The Epoch.

A careful study of historical statistics shows the great influence that food and the laws of menu have exerted on the world’s progress. Did not an uncooked apple drive the human race out of Paradise? Did not a mess of pottage differentiate a nation? Did not a fit of indigestion lose the battle of Leipsic and check the career which threatened to change the face of Europe? Did not tea found the American Republic? The history of the dinner table is the history of civilization. The culture of any people may be gaged by its cooking and the amount of sentiment thrown into and around its daily meals.—Ethel A. Lennon,The Epoch.

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FOOD AND EXERCISE

The instruction of the pulpit and Sunday-school may well be likened to the food provided at the family table. It is, very likely, abundant in quantity, and nutritious in quality, but food without exercise makes the sickly, dyspeptic child. Food without exercise in the church is apt to produce no better results.Even the horses in our stables can not long live without exercise. Fill their cribs ever so full of the best feed, they must yet do something to keep healthy. This is a natural law, which is imperative in the spiritual world. There are a great many dyspeptic Christians in all our churches. They are bilious and disappointed and hopeless and useless, except as they become by their continual growling and fault-finding a means of grace to the pastor and other workers. In fact, they have all the symptoms of spiritual dyspepsia. Now, the only remedy for this disease is spiritual activity. “Go to work,” said the famous English doctor to his rich, dyspeptic patient; “go to work. Live on sixpence a day, and earn it.”—Francis E. Clark, “Proceedings of the Religious Education Association,” 1903.

The instruction of the pulpit and Sunday-school may well be likened to the food provided at the family table. It is, very likely, abundant in quantity, and nutritious in quality, but food without exercise makes the sickly, dyspeptic child. Food without exercise in the church is apt to produce no better results.

Even the horses in our stables can not long live without exercise. Fill their cribs ever so full of the best feed, they must yet do something to keep healthy. This is a natural law, which is imperative in the spiritual world. There are a great many dyspeptic Christians in all our churches. They are bilious and disappointed and hopeless and useless, except as they become by their continual growling and fault-finding a means of grace to the pastor and other workers. In fact, they have all the symptoms of spiritual dyspepsia. Now, the only remedy for this disease is spiritual activity. “Go to work,” said the famous English doctor to his rich, dyspeptic patient; “go to work. Live on sixpence a day, and earn it.”—Francis E. Clark, “Proceedings of the Religious Education Association,” 1903.

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Food and Work—SeeDiet and Endurance.

Food and World’s Progress—SeeFood and Culture.

Food Economy—SeeHealth, Economies of.

Food in Prehistoric Times—SeePrehistoric Woman.

FOOLISH CONFIDENCE

The King of Persia once ordered his visier to make out a list of all the fools in his dominions. He did so, and put his majesty’s name at the head of them. The king asked him why, and he immediately answered: “Because you entrusted a lac of rupees to men you don’t know to buy horses for you a thousand miles off, and who’ll never come back.” “Ay, but suppose they come back?” “Then I shall erase your name and insert theirs.”—Public Opinion.

The King of Persia once ordered his visier to make out a list of all the fools in his dominions. He did so, and put his majesty’s name at the head of them. The king asked him why, and he immediately answered: “Because you entrusted a lac of rupees to men you don’t know to buy horses for you a thousand miles off, and who’ll never come back.” “Ay, but suppose they come back?” “Then I shall erase your name and insert theirs.”—Public Opinion.

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Foolishness Prevented—SeePrevention.

FOOLISHNESS SOMETIMES IS WISDOM

The wisdom or unwisdom of things is not always apparent on their face. Paul speaks of “the foolishness of preaching.” Most of the great inventors and discoverers were not considered wise in the initial stages oftheir great careers. Columbus was misunderstood and ridiculed, Watt was regarded as a dreamer, Morse found few supporters, Ericsson could not get Government support for building theMonitor, yet all these men were great and wise men. A curious instance of wise foolishness is that related of an important advertiser, who said:

We once hit upon a novel expedient for ascertaining over what area our advertisements were read. We published a couple of half-column “ads” in which we purposely misstated half a dozen historical facts. In less than a week we received between 300 and 400 letters from all parts of the country from people wishing to know why on earth we kept such a consummate fool who knew so little about American history. The letters kept pouring in for three or four weeks. It was one of the best-paying “ads” we ever printed. But we did not repeat our experiment because the one I refer to served its purpose. Our letters came from schoolboys, girls, professors, clergymen, school-teachers and in two instances from eminent men who have a world-wide reputation.

We once hit upon a novel expedient for ascertaining over what area our advertisements were read. We published a couple of half-column “ads” in which we purposely misstated half a dozen historical facts. In less than a week we received between 300 and 400 letters from all parts of the country from people wishing to know why on earth we kept such a consummate fool who knew so little about American history. The letters kept pouring in for three or four weeks. It was one of the best-paying “ads” we ever printed. But we did not repeat our experiment because the one I refer to served its purpose. Our letters came from schoolboys, girls, professors, clergymen, school-teachers and in two instances from eminent men who have a world-wide reputation.

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Foot-gear—SeeBible Customs To-day.

FORBEARANCE

These lines by Harry Larkin, in theScrap Book, seem to breathe a spirit of self-distrust and forbearance for faults in others eminently worthy of perpetuation:

Dare we condemn the ills that others do?Dare we condemn?Their strength is small, their trials are not few,The tide of wrong is difficult to stem,And if, to us more clearly than to themIs given knowledge of the good and trueMore do they need our help and pity, too!Dare we condemn?God help us all and lead us day by day!God help us all!We can not walk alone the perfect way,Evil allures us, tempts us and we fall!We are but human and our power is small:Not one of us may boast, and not a dayRolls o’er our heads, but each hath need to pray,God help us all! (Text.)

Dare we condemn the ills that others do?Dare we condemn?Their strength is small, their trials are not few,The tide of wrong is difficult to stem,And if, to us more clearly than to themIs given knowledge of the good and trueMore do they need our help and pity, too!Dare we condemn?God help us all and lead us day by day!God help us all!We can not walk alone the perfect way,Evil allures us, tempts us and we fall!We are but human and our power is small:Not one of us may boast, and not a dayRolls o’er our heads, but each hath need to pray,God help us all! (Text.)

Dare we condemn the ills that others do?Dare we condemn?Their strength is small, their trials are not few,The tide of wrong is difficult to stem,And if, to us more clearly than to themIs given knowledge of the good and trueMore do they need our help and pity, too!Dare we condemn?God help us all and lead us day by day!God help us all!We can not walk alone the perfect way,Evil allures us, tempts us and we fall!We are but human and our power is small:Not one of us may boast, and not a dayRolls o’er our heads, but each hath need to pray,God help us all! (Text.)

Dare we condemn the ills that others do?

Dare we condemn?

Their strength is small, their trials are not few,

The tide of wrong is difficult to stem,

And if, to us more clearly than to them

Is given knowledge of the good and true

More do they need our help and pity, too!

Dare we condemn?

God help us all and lead us day by day!

God help us all!

We can not walk alone the perfect way,

Evil allures us, tempts us and we fall!

We are but human and our power is small:

Not one of us may boast, and not a day

Rolls o’er our heads, but each hath need to pray,

God help us all! (Text.)

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The speaker in the following account was Shang, a converted Manchurian missionary:

Over at the “Heavenly Lord Hall” (French mission) I was looking at the new building which is being erected. The boys’ school-teacher was with me. A Roman Catholic objected to our presence and struck us both. One of their principal members, seeing us insulted, blushed very red, and spoke to the offender. But we just came away.“What would you like me to do?” I asked. “Shall I write to the French priest and complain?”“Do nothing at all,” he replied. “Not to requite an insult is a blessing.” (Text.)

Over at the “Heavenly Lord Hall” (French mission) I was looking at the new building which is being erected. The boys’ school-teacher was with me. A Roman Catholic objected to our presence and struck us both. One of their principal members, seeing us insulted, blushed very red, and spoke to the offender. But we just came away.

“What would you like me to do?” I asked. “Shall I write to the French priest and complain?”

“Do nothing at all,” he replied. “Not to requite an insult is a blessing.” (Text.)

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FORCE APPLAUDED

Robert Barr, the author, has a part in an anecdote which throws light upon England’s present craze for the sinews of war:

When Mr. Barr was teaching school in Canada, an old college friend of his came along with a stereopticon, giving talks on Europe. The lecturer always finished with the thrilling recital of an anecdote about Queen Victoria. The Alake of Abeokuta visited her and asked, “What is the cause of England’s greatness?” The good queen handed him a Bible, which was in readiness to present him, saying, “This is the reason of England’s greatness.” The dramatic device was always exceedingly effective.When the lecturer came around to Barr’s district, the lantern-operator was ill, and Barr was implored to take his place, which he consented to do. All went well until the grand finale arrived, when Barr maliciously substituted another picture for that of the Bible. “This,” cried the fervid orator, “is the secret of England’s greatness!” and was horrified on glancing up at the screen to see before him a picture of the gigantic battleshipConsternation. The audience, which did not know the story of the Bible, cheered vociferously, rose to its feet, and sang “Rule Britannia” in a most warlike voice.

When Mr. Barr was teaching school in Canada, an old college friend of his came along with a stereopticon, giving talks on Europe. The lecturer always finished with the thrilling recital of an anecdote about Queen Victoria. The Alake of Abeokuta visited her and asked, “What is the cause of England’s greatness?” The good queen handed him a Bible, which was in readiness to present him, saying, “This is the reason of England’s greatness.” The dramatic device was always exceedingly effective.

When the lecturer came around to Barr’s district, the lantern-operator was ill, and Barr was implored to take his place, which he consented to do. All went well until the grand finale arrived, when Barr maliciously substituted another picture for that of the Bible. “This,” cried the fervid orator, “is the secret of England’s greatness!” and was horrified on glancing up at the screen to see before him a picture of the gigantic battleshipConsternation. The audience, which did not know the story of the Bible, cheered vociferously, rose to its feet, and sang “Rule Britannia” in a most warlike voice.

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FORCE, LIVING

Look at a full-sized oak, the rooted Leviathan of the fields. Judging by your senses and by the scales, you would say that the substance of the noble tree was its bulk of bark and bough and branch and leaves and sap, the cords of woody and moist matterthat compose it and make it heavy. But really its substance is that which makes it an oak, that which weaves its bark and glues it to the stem, and wraps its rings of fresh wood around the trunk every year, and pushes out its boughs and clothes its twigs with digestive leaves and sucks up nutriment from the soil continually, and makes the roots clench the ground with their fibrous fingers as a purchase against the storm wind, and at last holds aloft its tons of matter against the constant tug and wrath of gravitation, and swings its Briarean arms in triumph over the globe and in defiance of the gale. Were it not for this energetic essence that crouches in the acorn and stretches its limbs every year, there would be no oak; the matter that clothes it would enjoy its stupid slumber; and when the forest monarch stands up in his sinewy lordliest pride, let the pervading life-power, and its vassal forces that weigh nothing at all, be annihilated, and the whole structure would wither in a second to inorganic dust. So every gigantic fact in nature is the index and vesture of a gigantic force.—Thomas Starr King.

Look at a full-sized oak, the rooted Leviathan of the fields. Judging by your senses and by the scales, you would say that the substance of the noble tree was its bulk of bark and bough and branch and leaves and sap, the cords of woody and moist matterthat compose it and make it heavy. But really its substance is that which makes it an oak, that which weaves its bark and glues it to the stem, and wraps its rings of fresh wood around the trunk every year, and pushes out its boughs and clothes its twigs with digestive leaves and sucks up nutriment from the soil continually, and makes the roots clench the ground with their fibrous fingers as a purchase against the storm wind, and at last holds aloft its tons of matter against the constant tug and wrath of gravitation, and swings its Briarean arms in triumph over the globe and in defiance of the gale. Were it not for this energetic essence that crouches in the acorn and stretches its limbs every year, there would be no oak; the matter that clothes it would enjoy its stupid slumber; and when the forest monarch stands up in his sinewy lordliest pride, let the pervading life-power, and its vassal forces that weigh nothing at all, be annihilated, and the whole structure would wither in a second to inorganic dust. So every gigantic fact in nature is the index and vesture of a gigantic force.—Thomas Starr King.

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Force Unavailable—SeeLoyalty.

FORCES, LATENT

Mighty forces often lie latent in nature until peculiar conditions elicit them. The trembling dew-drop is an electric accumulator, and within its silvery cells is stored a vast energy; the rain-drop and the snowflake are the sport of the wind, but, converted into steam, we are astonished at their potentiality; the tiny seed seems weakness itself, yet, beginning to germinate, it rends the rock like a thunderbolt.

Mighty forces often lie latent in nature until peculiar conditions elicit them. The trembling dew-drop is an electric accumulator, and within its silvery cells is stored a vast energy; the rain-drop and the snowflake are the sport of the wind, but, converted into steam, we are astonished at their potentiality; the tiny seed seems weakness itself, yet, beginning to germinate, it rends the rock like a thunderbolt.

Thus is it, only in a far more eminent degree, with human nature strengthened by the indwelling Spirit of God. In the first hours of trial we may be bewildered, stunned, staggered, but the latent forces of our nature, stimulated into action, render us equal to the most trying situation and the most trying moment.—W. L. Watkinson, “The Transfigured Sackcloth.”

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FORESIGHT

It would hasten the world’s progress if each generation would consider the welfare of those to follow as carefully as did the church mentioned here:

Anticipating that airships will be in common use in a few years, the officials of Wesley Memorial Methodist Church, of Atlanta, Georgia, when it was in process of building, instructed the building committee to so arrange the roof that there will be no difficulty in adapting it to airship landings.The officials declared that in future years the communicants of the church would sail to and from the services in airships, just as they now speed their automobiles. They say that as they are erecting a structure that will stand for 100 years it should be modern in every respect.

Anticipating that airships will be in common use in a few years, the officials of Wesley Memorial Methodist Church, of Atlanta, Georgia, when it was in process of building, instructed the building committee to so arrange the roof that there will be no difficulty in adapting it to airship landings.

The officials declared that in future years the communicants of the church would sail to and from the services in airships, just as they now speed their automobiles. They say that as they are erecting a structure that will stand for 100 years it should be modern in every respect.

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SeePrevision.

FORESIGHT IN BIRDS

Some red-headed woodpeckers in South Dakota, preferring their meat fresh, evolved a way to keep it so which compares favorably with the “cold storage” of man. One bird stored nearly one hundred grasshoppers in a long crack in a post. All were living when discovered, but so tightly wedged that they could not escape, and during the long winter of that region it is to be presumed the prudent bird had his provision. The observer found other places of storage full of grasshoppers, and discovered that the red-heads lived upon them nearly all winter.—Olive Thorne Miller, “The Bird Our Brother.”

Some red-headed woodpeckers in South Dakota, preferring their meat fresh, evolved a way to keep it so which compares favorably with the “cold storage” of man. One bird stored nearly one hundred grasshoppers in a long crack in a post. All were living when discovered, but so tightly wedged that they could not escape, and during the long winter of that region it is to be presumed the prudent bird had his provision. The observer found other places of storage full of grasshoppers, and discovered that the red-heads lived upon them nearly all winter.—Olive Thorne Miller, “The Bird Our Brother.”

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Foresight, Lack of—SeePrediction, False.

FORGERY, LITERARY

At the end of the eighteenth century the literary forgers were especially active. The Ossianic poems, the work of a Highland schoolmaster, James McPherson, who pretended to have translated them from the Gaelic, raised a controversy that stirred up much ill-feeling among the rulers of the literary world of England. Then Chatterton, “the sleepless soul that perished in its pride,” as Wordsworth sings, with his remarkable forgeries, deceived many of the antiquarians, among them Horace Walpole, and even Dr. Johnson “wondered how the young whelp could have done it.” Another young forger was Ireland, a most remarkable impostor, who, at the age of 18, not only forged papers and legal documents purporting to be under Shakespeare’s own hand and seal, and so deceived some of the most learned Shakespearian scholars, but also produced a play “Vortigern,” which he claimed was by thatgreat bard, and which was actually performed at Sheridan’s theater. Whether or not Payne Collier tried his hand at correcting Shakespeare is still a matter of question; if guilty, his so-called “corrections” of the poet’s text appear but slight deceptions compared to the forgery of a whole play, altho these notes proved far more deceptive than the spurious drama. Mention must be made of George Paslmanazar, who called himself a native of Formosa, invented a Formosan language, and wrote a history of the island; of the forgeries of ballads by Surtees, who deceived Sir Walter Scott himself, and of the forged letters of Shelley, to which Browning, who supposed them genuine, wrote an introduction. Instances of this kind of forgery have been so frequent of late years that editors and publishers are at last beginning to realize that there is often less in a name than they suppose.—BostonGlobe.

At the end of the eighteenth century the literary forgers were especially active. The Ossianic poems, the work of a Highland schoolmaster, James McPherson, who pretended to have translated them from the Gaelic, raised a controversy that stirred up much ill-feeling among the rulers of the literary world of England. Then Chatterton, “the sleepless soul that perished in its pride,” as Wordsworth sings, with his remarkable forgeries, deceived many of the antiquarians, among them Horace Walpole, and even Dr. Johnson “wondered how the young whelp could have done it.” Another young forger was Ireland, a most remarkable impostor, who, at the age of 18, not only forged papers and legal documents purporting to be under Shakespeare’s own hand and seal, and so deceived some of the most learned Shakespearian scholars, but also produced a play “Vortigern,” which he claimed was by thatgreat bard, and which was actually performed at Sheridan’s theater. Whether or not Payne Collier tried his hand at correcting Shakespeare is still a matter of question; if guilty, his so-called “corrections” of the poet’s text appear but slight deceptions compared to the forgery of a whole play, altho these notes proved far more deceptive than the spurious drama. Mention must be made of George Paslmanazar, who called himself a native of Formosa, invented a Formosan language, and wrote a history of the island; of the forgeries of ballads by Surtees, who deceived Sir Walter Scott himself, and of the forged letters of Shelley, to which Browning, who supposed them genuine, wrote an introduction. Instances of this kind of forgery have been so frequent of late years that editors and publishers are at last beginning to realize that there is often less in a name than they suppose.—BostonGlobe.

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FORGETFULNESS IN PREACHERS

Sudden forgetfulness is not an unusual thing in the pulpit. Aubrey, the antiquary, says that when he was a freshman at college he heard Dr. Sanderson, bishop of Lincoln, well known for his work, “Nine Cases of Conscience,” break down in the middle of the Lord’s Prayer. Even the great French preacher Massillon once stopt in the middle of a sermon from a defect of memory, and Massillon himself recorded that the same thing happened through an excess of apprehension to two other preachers whom he went to hear in different parts of the same day. Another French preacher stopt in the middle of his sermon and was unable to proceed. The pause was, however, got over ingeniously. “Friends,” said he, “I had forgot that a person much afflicted is recommended to your immediate prayers.” He meant himself. He fell on his knees, and before he rose he had recovered the thread of his discourse, which he concluded without his want of memory being perceived.Chambers’s Journal.

Sudden forgetfulness is not an unusual thing in the pulpit. Aubrey, the antiquary, says that when he was a freshman at college he heard Dr. Sanderson, bishop of Lincoln, well known for his work, “Nine Cases of Conscience,” break down in the middle of the Lord’s Prayer. Even the great French preacher Massillon once stopt in the middle of a sermon from a defect of memory, and Massillon himself recorded that the same thing happened through an excess of apprehension to two other preachers whom he went to hear in different parts of the same day. Another French preacher stopt in the middle of his sermon and was unable to proceed. The pause was, however, got over ingeniously. “Friends,” said he, “I had forgot that a person much afflicted is recommended to your immediate prayers.” He meant himself. He fell on his knees, and before he rose he had recovered the thread of his discourse, which he concluded without his want of memory being perceived.Chambers’s Journal.

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FORGETTING AND REMEMBERING

Forget each kindness that you doAs soon as you have done it;Forget the praise that falls to youThe moment you have won it;Forget the slander that you hearBefore you can repeat it;Forget each slight, each spite, each sneer,Wherever you may meet it.Remember every kindness doneTo you, whate’er its measure;Remember praise by others wonAnd pass it on with pleasure;Remember every promise made,And keep it to the letter;Remember those who lend you aidAnd be a grateful debtor.Remember all the happinessThat comes your way in living;Forget each worry and distress,Be hopeful and forgiving;Remember good, remember truth,Remember heaven’s above you,And you will find, through age and youth,True joys, and hearts to love you.—Youth’s Companion.

Forget each kindness that you doAs soon as you have done it;Forget the praise that falls to youThe moment you have won it;Forget the slander that you hearBefore you can repeat it;Forget each slight, each spite, each sneer,Wherever you may meet it.Remember every kindness doneTo you, whate’er its measure;Remember praise by others wonAnd pass it on with pleasure;Remember every promise made,And keep it to the letter;Remember those who lend you aidAnd be a grateful debtor.Remember all the happinessThat comes your way in living;Forget each worry and distress,Be hopeful and forgiving;Remember good, remember truth,Remember heaven’s above you,And you will find, through age and youth,True joys, and hearts to love you.—Youth’s Companion.

Forget each kindness that you doAs soon as you have done it;Forget the praise that falls to youThe moment you have won it;Forget the slander that you hearBefore you can repeat it;Forget each slight, each spite, each sneer,Wherever you may meet it.

Forget each kindness that you do

As soon as you have done it;

Forget the praise that falls to you

The moment you have won it;

Forget the slander that you hear

Before you can repeat it;

Forget each slight, each spite, each sneer,

Wherever you may meet it.

Remember every kindness doneTo you, whate’er its measure;Remember praise by others wonAnd pass it on with pleasure;Remember every promise made,And keep it to the letter;Remember those who lend you aidAnd be a grateful debtor.

Remember every kindness done

To you, whate’er its measure;

Remember praise by others won

And pass it on with pleasure;

Remember every promise made,

And keep it to the letter;

Remember those who lend you aid

And be a grateful debtor.

Remember all the happinessThat comes your way in living;Forget each worry and distress,Be hopeful and forgiving;Remember good, remember truth,Remember heaven’s above you,And you will find, through age and youth,True joys, and hearts to love you.—Youth’s Companion.

Remember all the happiness

That comes your way in living;

Forget each worry and distress,

Be hopeful and forgiving;

Remember good, remember truth,

Remember heaven’s above you,

And you will find, through age and youth,

True joys, and hearts to love you.

—Youth’s Companion.

(1131)

Forgetting the Past—SeeOld-year Memories.

FORGIVENESS

Alfred Austin, Poet Laureate of England, writes this verse on forgiveness:

Now bury with the dead years conflicts dead,And with fresh days let all begin anew.Why longer amid shriveled leaf-drifts tread,When buds are swelling, flower-sheaths peeping through?Seen through the vista of the vanished years,How trivial seem the struggle and the crown,How vain past feuds, when reconciling tearsCourse down the channel worn by vanished frown.How few mean half the bitterness they speak!Words more than feelings keep us still apart,And, in the heat of passion and of pique,The tongue is far more cruel than the heart,Since love alone makes it worth while to live,Let all be now forgiven and forgive. (Text.)—The Independent.

Now bury with the dead years conflicts dead,And with fresh days let all begin anew.Why longer amid shriveled leaf-drifts tread,When buds are swelling, flower-sheaths peeping through?Seen through the vista of the vanished years,How trivial seem the struggle and the crown,How vain past feuds, when reconciling tearsCourse down the channel worn by vanished frown.How few mean half the bitterness they speak!Words more than feelings keep us still apart,And, in the heat of passion and of pique,The tongue is far more cruel than the heart,Since love alone makes it worth while to live,Let all be now forgiven and forgive. (Text.)—The Independent.

Now bury with the dead years conflicts dead,And with fresh days let all begin anew.Why longer amid shriveled leaf-drifts tread,When buds are swelling, flower-sheaths peeping through?Seen through the vista of the vanished years,How trivial seem the struggle and the crown,How vain past feuds, when reconciling tearsCourse down the channel worn by vanished frown.How few mean half the bitterness they speak!Words more than feelings keep us still apart,And, in the heat of passion and of pique,The tongue is far more cruel than the heart,Since love alone makes it worth while to live,Let all be now forgiven and forgive. (Text.)—The Independent.

Now bury with the dead years conflicts dead,

And with fresh days let all begin anew.

Why longer amid shriveled leaf-drifts tread,

When buds are swelling, flower-sheaths peeping through?

Seen through the vista of the vanished years,

How trivial seem the struggle and the crown,

How vain past feuds, when reconciling tears

Course down the channel worn by vanished frown.

How few mean half the bitterness they speak!

Words more than feelings keep us still apart,

And, in the heat of passion and of pique,

The tongue is far more cruel than the heart,

Since love alone makes it worth while to live,

Let all be now forgiven and forgive. (Text.)

—The Independent.

(1132)

In childhood you were guilty of your first deceit. At nightfall, with grieved face, your mother asked if you had disobeyed, and your lips uttered their first lie. Your father was a just man and stern, and he would have lifted the hand in indignation, and as a child you would have hardened your heart. But your mother, with all-comprehending and healing love, was wiser. She met the denial with silence. That night she was, if possible, more tender than ever. She lingered a little longer in the room of her little child. She smoothed the cool sheets with more delicate care, and stooping for the last kiss, sheasked, “Is there anything more you want to tell me?” Then she went out and left you, with that lie, your first lie, to be your companion. Do you remember how that lie stood like a ghostly fear at the foot of your little trundle-bed? How terror arched black and sable wings above your pillow? How you tossed to and fro, until at last, broken by your mother’s love, you sprang up, felt your way through the dark hall, opened the door, flung yourself into your mother’s arms, sobbed out your confession, and was forgiven, utterly and squarely and forever forgiven? Don’t analyze your mother’s forgiveness—accept it and be healed thereby. Redemption is a passion flower, crimsoned with the blood of God’s heart. Don’t pick this passion flower to pieces, lest you lose it. The roots of God’s tree of life are fed with red rain, but the leaves of that tree, and the blossoms, heal the wounds of sinners.—N. D. Hillis.

In childhood you were guilty of your first deceit. At nightfall, with grieved face, your mother asked if you had disobeyed, and your lips uttered their first lie. Your father was a just man and stern, and he would have lifted the hand in indignation, and as a child you would have hardened your heart. But your mother, with all-comprehending and healing love, was wiser. She met the denial with silence. That night she was, if possible, more tender than ever. She lingered a little longer in the room of her little child. She smoothed the cool sheets with more delicate care, and stooping for the last kiss, sheasked, “Is there anything more you want to tell me?” Then she went out and left you, with that lie, your first lie, to be your companion. Do you remember how that lie stood like a ghostly fear at the foot of your little trundle-bed? How terror arched black and sable wings above your pillow? How you tossed to and fro, until at last, broken by your mother’s love, you sprang up, felt your way through the dark hall, opened the door, flung yourself into your mother’s arms, sobbed out your confession, and was forgiven, utterly and squarely and forever forgiven? Don’t analyze your mother’s forgiveness—accept it and be healed thereby. Redemption is a passion flower, crimsoned with the blood of God’s heart. Don’t pick this passion flower to pieces, lest you lose it. The roots of God’s tree of life are fed with red rain, but the leaves of that tree, and the blossoms, heal the wounds of sinners.—N. D. Hillis.

(1133)

Mr. H. J. Whigam, a war correspondent during the Boxer troubles, tells the following incident:

A Christian Chinaman was shot by a Cossack, and, as he lay on his dying bed, a squad of Cossacks was marched up before him that he might identify the murderer. “I am dying,” he said. “What does it matter?” “But,” said the officer, “we are not going to kill your assailant. We are only going to punish him, so that he shall not kill any more of your people.” The dying Chinaman opened his weary eyes and made answer: “When he knows that I have forgiven him, he will not kill again.”

A Christian Chinaman was shot by a Cossack, and, as he lay on his dying bed, a squad of Cossacks was marched up before him that he might identify the murderer. “I am dying,” he said. “What does it matter?” “But,” said the officer, “we are not going to kill your assailant. We are only going to punish him, so that he shall not kill any more of your people.” The dying Chinaman opened his weary eyes and made answer: “When he knows that I have forgiven him, he will not kill again.”

(1134)

John H. De Forest, in his book, “Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom,” says that the relation of lord and retainer is the main controlling principle that has shaped the destiny of Japan. It is natural that ideal lords should have ideal retainers whose lives were devoted to their masters. He says occasionally this devotion took the form of rebuking the lord for some unworthy act, even when the advice would bring death to the faithful servant.

For example, an aged retainer of a young Shogun saw with deep anxiety his youthful lord’s frivolous life, his love of games and dances and flowers, and determined to arouse him to his duties as a ruler. So going to the palace, he noticed a most exquisite dwarfed cherry-tree in full blossom in a splendid flowerpot. He rather bluntly asked his lord to give him the cherry-tree. On being refused he seized the pot and dashed it, flowers and all, on the stone steps, saying: “You care more for things than for men.” He expected death, but his lord saw the earnest purpose of his servant and repenting of his own frivolous life, forgave him.

For example, an aged retainer of a young Shogun saw with deep anxiety his youthful lord’s frivolous life, his love of games and dances and flowers, and determined to arouse him to his duties as a ruler. So going to the palace, he noticed a most exquisite dwarfed cherry-tree in full blossom in a splendid flowerpot. He rather bluntly asked his lord to give him the cherry-tree. On being refused he seized the pot and dashed it, flowers and all, on the stone steps, saying: “You care more for things than for men.” He expected death, but his lord saw the earnest purpose of his servant and repenting of his own frivolous life, forgave him.

(1135)

FORGIVENESS, CONDITIONS OF

Lorenzo de Medici made confession to Savonarola, on his death-bed, of three special sins, involving plunder done by him to Florence and its citizens. While he confest, Savonarola consoled him by repeating, “God is merciful.” When Lorenzo had finished, he demanded three things of him before absolution could be given. First, that he should have a living faith in God’s mercy. Lorenzo replied that he had such a faith. Second, that he should restore what he had unjustly acquired. Lorenzo, after hesitating, consented. Then Savonarola drew himself up and said, “Give Florence back her liberties.” Lorenzo turned his face to the wall and uttered not a word, and Savonarola left the room without granting the absolution desired. (Text.)

Lorenzo de Medici made confession to Savonarola, on his death-bed, of three special sins, involving plunder done by him to Florence and its citizens. While he confest, Savonarola consoled him by repeating, “God is merciful.” When Lorenzo had finished, he demanded three things of him before absolution could be given. First, that he should have a living faith in God’s mercy. Lorenzo replied that he had such a faith. Second, that he should restore what he had unjustly acquired. Lorenzo, after hesitating, consented. Then Savonarola drew himself up and said, “Give Florence back her liberties.” Lorenzo turned his face to the wall and uttered not a word, and Savonarola left the room without granting the absolution desired. (Text.)

(1136)

Forgiveness of Sin—SeeSin Consciousness.

FORGIVENESS, TIMELY

That we should forgive the faults of friends while they are in the flesh and can appreciate it is the lesson taught by Mrs. Marion Hutson in this verse:

Somewhere in the future, my lone graveWill lie where flowers bloom and mosses wave,And friends will stand beside it, speaking lowOf things I said and did so long ago.My faults and follies all forgotten—dead—And buried with me in my lowly bed.Oh, loved ones! why not bury them to-day,And let me feel forgiven while I may.

Somewhere in the future, my lone graveWill lie where flowers bloom and mosses wave,And friends will stand beside it, speaking lowOf things I said and did so long ago.My faults and follies all forgotten—dead—And buried with me in my lowly bed.Oh, loved ones! why not bury them to-day,And let me feel forgiven while I may.

Somewhere in the future, my lone graveWill lie where flowers bloom and mosses wave,And friends will stand beside it, speaking lowOf things I said and did so long ago.My faults and follies all forgotten—dead—And buried with me in my lowly bed.Oh, loved ones! why not bury them to-day,And let me feel forgiven while I may.

Somewhere in the future, my lone grave

Will lie where flowers bloom and mosses wave,

And friends will stand beside it, speaking low

Of things I said and did so long ago.

My faults and follies all forgotten—dead—

And buried with me in my lowly bed.

Oh, loved ones! why not bury them to-day,

And let me feel forgiven while I may.

(1137)

FORM VERSUS REALITY

During the Civil War the late Colonel Bouck organized a regiment, saysEverybody’s Magazine, which he controlled as a dictator. It was while the army was resting after the colonel’s first campaign that an itinerant evangelist wandered into camp and,approaching the colonel, asked if he was the commanding officer.“Ugh!” snorted “Old Gabe,” as he was affectionately called, “what do you want?”“I am a humble servant of the Lord endeavoring to save the souls of the unfortunate. I have just left the camp of the —th Massachusetts, where I was instrumental in leading eight men into paths of righteousness.”“Adjutant,” thundered Colonel Bouck, after a moment’s pause, “detail ten men for baptism. No Massachusetts regiment shall beat mine for piety.” (Text.)

During the Civil War the late Colonel Bouck organized a regiment, saysEverybody’s Magazine, which he controlled as a dictator. It was while the army was resting after the colonel’s first campaign that an itinerant evangelist wandered into camp and,approaching the colonel, asked if he was the commanding officer.

“Ugh!” snorted “Old Gabe,” as he was affectionately called, “what do you want?”

“I am a humble servant of the Lord endeavoring to save the souls of the unfortunate. I have just left the camp of the —th Massachusetts, where I was instrumental in leading eight men into paths of righteousness.”

“Adjutant,” thundered Colonel Bouck, after a moment’s pause, “detail ten men for baptism. No Massachusetts regiment shall beat mine for piety.” (Text.)

(1138)

Formation Versus Reformation—SeeEconomy in Work.

Former Days—SeeCrime in Former Days.

FORMER LIFE, CONSCIOUSNESS OF

Our brains are inherited from our ancestors. Why, then, may it not be that the human brain is a palimpsest, containing more or less faded, yet recoverable records, not only of our entire past life, but of the lives of our ancestors to the remotest periods? Pythagoras profest a distinct recollection of his former lives; the writer of this knows two educated men who have lived before in the persons of rather more famous individuals than their present representatives; Lumen, in Flammarion’s “Stories,” finds that his soul had passed through many previous conditions. Indeed, the idea of transmigration, which is a poetic forecast of the more scientific doctrine here enunciated, is a very familiar one. Coleridge, in his boyhood one day was proceeding through the Strand, stretching out his arms as if swimming, when a passer-by, feeling a hand at his coat-tail, turned rudely round and seized him as a pickpocket. Coleridge denied the charge, and confest that he had forgotten his whereabouts in the impression that he was Leander swimming across the Hellespont—a wretched streetlamp being transformed by his imagination into the signal-light of the beautiful priestess of Sestos.—American Notes and Queries.

Our brains are inherited from our ancestors. Why, then, may it not be that the human brain is a palimpsest, containing more or less faded, yet recoverable records, not only of our entire past life, but of the lives of our ancestors to the remotest periods? Pythagoras profest a distinct recollection of his former lives; the writer of this knows two educated men who have lived before in the persons of rather more famous individuals than their present representatives; Lumen, in Flammarion’s “Stories,” finds that his soul had passed through many previous conditions. Indeed, the idea of transmigration, which is a poetic forecast of the more scientific doctrine here enunciated, is a very familiar one. Coleridge, in his boyhood one day was proceeding through the Strand, stretching out his arms as if swimming, when a passer-by, feeling a hand at his coat-tail, turned rudely round and seized him as a pickpocket. Coleridge denied the charge, and confest that he had forgotten his whereabouts in the impression that he was Leander swimming across the Hellespont—a wretched streetlamp being transformed by his imagination into the signal-light of the beautiful priestess of Sestos.—American Notes and Queries.

(1139)

Forms—SeeSpirit and Form.

Forms, Value of—SeeExperience a Hard Teacher.

Fortitude—SeeEndurance of Pain.

FORWARD

At dawn it called, “Go forward without fear!All paths are open; choose ye, glad and free.”Through morning’s toilsome climb it urged the plea,“Nay, halt not, tho the path ye chose grow dear.”At noon it spake aloud, “Make smooth the wayFor other feet. Bend to thy task, tho weightOf sorrow press thee. Others dower, tho fateDeny thy secret wish.” Through later dayIt warns, “Climb on! Heights woo! The waning lightBids haste! Yet scorn not those who lag behind,Confused by lengthening rays that clear thy sight,These, too, have striv’n all day their way to find.”At eve, when flaming sunset fades, O hearDawn’s echoing call, “Go forward without fear.”—Anna Garlin Spencer.

At dawn it called, “Go forward without fear!All paths are open; choose ye, glad and free.”Through morning’s toilsome climb it urged the plea,“Nay, halt not, tho the path ye chose grow dear.”At noon it spake aloud, “Make smooth the wayFor other feet. Bend to thy task, tho weightOf sorrow press thee. Others dower, tho fateDeny thy secret wish.” Through later dayIt warns, “Climb on! Heights woo! The waning lightBids haste! Yet scorn not those who lag behind,Confused by lengthening rays that clear thy sight,These, too, have striv’n all day their way to find.”At eve, when flaming sunset fades, O hearDawn’s echoing call, “Go forward without fear.”—Anna Garlin Spencer.

At dawn it called, “Go forward without fear!All paths are open; choose ye, glad and free.”Through morning’s toilsome climb it urged the plea,“Nay, halt not, tho the path ye chose grow dear.”At noon it spake aloud, “Make smooth the wayFor other feet. Bend to thy task, tho weightOf sorrow press thee. Others dower, tho fateDeny thy secret wish.” Through later dayIt warns, “Climb on! Heights woo! The waning lightBids haste! Yet scorn not those who lag behind,Confused by lengthening rays that clear thy sight,These, too, have striv’n all day their way to find.”At eve, when flaming sunset fades, O hearDawn’s echoing call, “Go forward without fear.”—Anna Garlin Spencer.

At dawn it called, “Go forward without fear!

All paths are open; choose ye, glad and free.”

Through morning’s toilsome climb it urged the plea,

“Nay, halt not, tho the path ye chose grow dear.”

At noon it spake aloud, “Make smooth the way

For other feet. Bend to thy task, tho weight

Of sorrow press thee. Others dower, tho fate

Deny thy secret wish.” Through later day

It warns, “Climb on! Heights woo! The waning light

Bids haste! Yet scorn not those who lag behind,

Confused by lengthening rays that clear thy sight,

These, too, have striv’n all day their way to find.”

At eve, when flaming sunset fades, O hear

Dawn’s echoing call, “Go forward without fear.”

—Anna Garlin Spencer.

(1140)

Forward Look, A—SeePrevision.

FORWARD, PRESSING

In a poem, “The Second Mile,” by Dr. Oakley E. Van Slyke, occurs the following verse:

Be mine, dear Lord, to think not what I must,But of the power bequeathed to me in trust.Be mine, I pray, to go the second mile,Do better than I need to all the while.

Be mine, dear Lord, to think not what I must,But of the power bequeathed to me in trust.Be mine, I pray, to go the second mile,Do better than I need to all the while.

Be mine, dear Lord, to think not what I must,But of the power bequeathed to me in trust.Be mine, I pray, to go the second mile,Do better than I need to all the while.

Be mine, dear Lord, to think not what I must,

But of the power bequeathed to me in trust.

Be mine, I pray, to go the second mile,

Do better than I need to all the while.

(1141)

FOUNDATIONS

All northern Italy from Genoa to Venice was shaken not long ago by a great earthquake shock. The seismic disturbances continued at intervals during several days. The people were terror-stricken, fearing the worst. It was significant that while the shock was severely felt on both sides of the Adriatic, it was scarcely perceptible in Venice, due probably to the fact that much care, forethought and skill had been exercised in laying the city’s foundations. Every building of importance is supported by piles driven from sixty to one hundred feet into the mud of the lagoons.In character building our only safety lies in sure foundation. (Text.)

All northern Italy from Genoa to Venice was shaken not long ago by a great earthquake shock. The seismic disturbances continued at intervals during several days. The people were terror-stricken, fearing the worst. It was significant that while the shock was severely felt on both sides of the Adriatic, it was scarcely perceptible in Venice, due probably to the fact that much care, forethought and skill had been exercised in laying the city’s foundations. Every building of importance is supported by piles driven from sixty to one hundred feet into the mud of the lagoons.

In character building our only safety lies in sure foundation. (Text.)

(1142)

FOUNDATIONS, FAULTY

The stone archway spanning a culvert under a railway at a certain point gave way and tumbled in, permitting the tracks to settle and sending trains away around by another line. Workmen came to study the cause of the trouble. One thought that the cement with which the stones had been laid was not properly mixed. Another was of the opinion that the mortar had been chilled, as the wall was laid up in cold weather. Still another examined the keystone and found fault with its shape. “The form of that stone was enough to bring the archway down!” he declared. “Just look at it! The man who made it never knew what a keystone is for!”So the criticism went on. At last a quiet man who had been digging away at the foundation of things made the statement: “It was not the keystone; that is all right. The foundation gave way, and the wall could not help falling! It was the foundation!” And that was the verdict which stood. The very first stones had been laid on soft earth.

The stone archway spanning a culvert under a railway at a certain point gave way and tumbled in, permitting the tracks to settle and sending trains away around by another line. Workmen came to study the cause of the trouble. One thought that the cement with which the stones had been laid was not properly mixed. Another was of the opinion that the mortar had been chilled, as the wall was laid up in cold weather. Still another examined the keystone and found fault with its shape. “The form of that stone was enough to bring the archway down!” he declared. “Just look at it! The man who made it never knew what a keystone is for!”

So the criticism went on. At last a quiet man who had been digging away at the foundation of things made the statement: “It was not the keystone; that is all right. The foundation gave way, and the wall could not help falling! It was the foundation!” And that was the verdict which stood. The very first stones had been laid on soft earth.

(1143)

FOUNDATIONS, SECURE

One stands before some of the palaces of the old world that have endured for more than one thousand years without a crack or seam, in perfect admiration. The Pantheon at Rome stands just as it did more than two thousand years ago. This would be impossible had not its foundations been right. The Rialto Bridge that spans the Grand Canal in Venice was erected in 1588. It has stood as it now stands for 320 years, but that bridge rests on 12,000 piles driven deeply into the soil. What is true of buildings is true also of life.—George B. Vosburgh.

One stands before some of the palaces of the old world that have endured for more than one thousand years without a crack or seam, in perfect admiration. The Pantheon at Rome stands just as it did more than two thousand years ago. This would be impossible had not its foundations been right. The Rialto Bridge that spans the Grand Canal in Venice was erected in 1588. It has stood as it now stands for 320 years, but that bridge rests on 12,000 piles driven deeply into the soil. What is true of buildings is true also of life.—George B. Vosburgh.

(1144)

FOUNTAINS, EVER FLOWING

“To-day’s wealth may be to-morrow’s poverty; to-day’s health, to-morrow’s sickness; to-day’s happy companionship of love, to-morrow’s aching solitude of heart; but to-day’s God will be to-morrow’s God, to-day’s Christ will be to-morrow’s Christ. Other fountains may dry up in heat or freeze in winter, but this knows no change; ‘in summer and winter it shall be.’ Other fountains may sink low in their basins after much drawing, but this is ever full, and after a thousand generations have drawn from its stream is broad and deep as ever. Other fountains may be left behind on the march, and the wells and palm-trees of each Elim on our road be succeeded by a dry and thirsty land where no water is, but this spring follows us all through the wilderness, and makes music and spreads freshness ever by our path.”—Alexander McLaren.

“To-day’s wealth may be to-morrow’s poverty; to-day’s health, to-morrow’s sickness; to-day’s happy companionship of love, to-morrow’s aching solitude of heart; but to-day’s God will be to-morrow’s God, to-day’s Christ will be to-morrow’s Christ. Other fountains may dry up in heat or freeze in winter, but this knows no change; ‘in summer and winter it shall be.’ Other fountains may sink low in their basins after much drawing, but this is ever full, and after a thousand generations have drawn from its stream is broad and deep as ever. Other fountains may be left behind on the march, and the wells and palm-trees of each Elim on our road be succeeded by a dry and thirsty land where no water is, but this spring follows us all through the wilderness, and makes music and spreads freshness ever by our path.”—Alexander McLaren.

(1145)

Fragility—SeeOssification;Preservation.

Fragments Reconstituted—SeeBeauty from Fragments.

Fragrance—SeeCharacter Imparted.

Fragrance from Storm—SeeAffliction Producing Virtue.

Frankness—SeeRetort, A.

FRATERNITY

When you describe to a blind man what strikes you on the very instant, you really give him the illusion of light. He sees through your eyes. There is in his soul both light and color. The green swell of the forest, the yellow waves of the harvests, that stream that unrolls yonder, across the fields, like a ribbon of silver; that river whose waters are transmuted into liquid gold in the brazier of the setting sun, all this shines before his inward eye. And yet it is not this that most delights the blind man. What moves him, transports him, not only if he is your father, your son, your friend, but even a simple traveling companion, is that he sees through you; that, for an hour, you realize the holy law that man owes himself to man, and that he lives, above all, by your bounty and fraternal exchange.—Charles Wagner, “The Gospel of Life.”

When you describe to a blind man what strikes you on the very instant, you really give him the illusion of light. He sees through your eyes. There is in his soul both light and color. The green swell of the forest, the yellow waves of the harvests, that stream that unrolls yonder, across the fields, like a ribbon of silver; that river whose waters are transmuted into liquid gold in the brazier of the setting sun, all this shines before his inward eye. And yet it is not this that most delights the blind man. What moves him, transports him, not only if he is your father, your son, your friend, but even a simple traveling companion, is that he sees through you; that, for an hour, you realize the holy law that man owes himself to man, and that he lives, above all, by your bounty and fraternal exchange.—Charles Wagner, “The Gospel of Life.”

(1146)

FRAUD BY ELECTRICITY

It was noticed some years ago that a large number of light gold coins were in circulation, and the discovery was made that the “sweating” was accomplished by electrolysis. The scientific swindler constructed an electro-deposition plant, using a ten-dollar gold piece as an anode and a small metal plate as a cathode. The battery was “set in motion” and presto! in a few minutes fifty cents’ worth of gold was deposited on the metal plate, and the gold coin was worth so much less than before. As the gold was removed equally from all parts of the surface of the coin, its appearance was scarcely altered by the process, only an expert being able to detect the slight blurring of the design and lettering.—Electrical Review.

It was noticed some years ago that a large number of light gold coins were in circulation, and the discovery was made that the “sweating” was accomplished by electrolysis. The scientific swindler constructed an electro-deposition plant, using a ten-dollar gold piece as an anode and a small metal plate as a cathode. The battery was “set in motion” and presto! in a few minutes fifty cents’ worth of gold was deposited on the metal plate, and the gold coin was worth so much less than before. As the gold was removed equally from all parts of the surface of the coin, its appearance was scarcely altered by the process, only an expert being able to detect the slight blurring of the design and lettering.—Electrical Review.

(1147)

FREEDOM CHOSEN

After our Civil War a white man suggested to a negro that he had been better off as a slave. He had had more to eat and been more certain of it, a better cabin and less concern about it, better clothes and more of them. The negro agreed, and added, “The place is still open if you want it, sir. As for me, I had rather starve and go cold and naked, and be free.” It is quite impossible for some men to understand that. For that is the heart of liberty. Eating and clothing and dwelling have become all important to some men, and compared with them liberty is not worth having. But there are hearts which have tasted slavery and so know the zest of freedom. (Text.)—C. B. McAfee.

After our Civil War a white man suggested to a negro that he had been better off as a slave. He had had more to eat and been more certain of it, a better cabin and less concern about it, better clothes and more of them. The negro agreed, and added, “The place is still open if you want it, sir. As for me, I had rather starve and go cold and naked, and be free.” It is quite impossible for some men to understand that. For that is the heart of liberty. Eating and clothing and dwelling have become all important to some men, and compared with them liberty is not worth having. But there are hearts which have tasted slavery and so know the zest of freedom. (Text.)—C. B. McAfee.

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FREEDOM, GOD RESPECTS OUR

God, having made man a free moral agent, is a wooer, not a coercionist. If the knowledge of the sacrifice made for man’s redemption will not win man’s love, God will not apply physical force to compel acceptance, love, and obedience. A military chieftain, tho holding the lives of his soldiers in his hands, exhibits his greatest power by refusing to exercise compulsion, and realizes that the best service rendered is that which is prompted by love of the commander. Thus God shows His almighty power.

God, having made man a free moral agent, is a wooer, not a coercionist. If the knowledge of the sacrifice made for man’s redemption will not win man’s love, God will not apply physical force to compel acceptance, love, and obedience. A military chieftain, tho holding the lives of his soldiers in his hands, exhibits his greatest power by refusing to exercise compulsion, and realizes that the best service rendered is that which is prompted by love of the commander. Thus God shows His almighty power.

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FREEDOM, GRATITUDE FOR

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