Make the world a little better as you go;And be thoughtful of the kind of seed you sow;Try to make some pathway brightAs you strive to do the right,Making the world a little better as you go.Make the world a little better as you go;You may help to soothe some fellow-creature’s wo;You can make some burden light,As you try with all your mightTo make the world a little better as you go.Make the world a little better as you go;As you meet your brother going to and fro,You may lend a friendly hand,Lift the fallen! Help them stand!Make the world a little better as you go.
Make the world a little better as you go;And be thoughtful of the kind of seed you sow;Try to make some pathway brightAs you strive to do the right,Making the world a little better as you go.Make the world a little better as you go;You may help to soothe some fellow-creature’s wo;You can make some burden light,As you try with all your mightTo make the world a little better as you go.Make the world a little better as you go;As you meet your brother going to and fro,You may lend a friendly hand,Lift the fallen! Help them stand!Make the world a little better as you go.
Make the world a little better as you go;And be thoughtful of the kind of seed you sow;Try to make some pathway brightAs you strive to do the right,Making the world a little better as you go.
Make the world a little better as you go;
And be thoughtful of the kind of seed you sow;
Try to make some pathway bright
As you strive to do the right,
Making the world a little better as you go.
Make the world a little better as you go;You may help to soothe some fellow-creature’s wo;You can make some burden light,As you try with all your mightTo make the world a little better as you go.
Make the world a little better as you go;
You may help to soothe some fellow-creature’s wo;
You can make some burden light,
As you try with all your might
To make the world a little better as you go.
Make the world a little better as you go;As you meet your brother going to and fro,You may lend a friendly hand,Lift the fallen! Help them stand!Make the world a little better as you go.
Make the world a little better as you go;
As you meet your brother going to and fro,
You may lend a friendly hand,
Lift the fallen! Help them stand!
Make the world a little better as you go.
(1562)
If Christian methods of felling the tree of evil had advanced as far as the art of tree-cutting described below, we should soon be rid of bad institutions and tendencies:
“It is reported in the German press,” saysForestry and Irrigation, “that successful experiments have been made in various forests of France in cutting trees by means of electricity. A platinum wire is heated to a white heat by an electric current and used like a saw. In this manner the tree is felled much easier and quicker than in the old way, no sawdust is produced, and the slight carbonization caused by the hot wire acts as a preservative of the wood. The new method is said to require only one-eighth of the time consumed by the old sawing process.”
“It is reported in the German press,” saysForestry and Irrigation, “that successful experiments have been made in various forests of France in cutting trees by means of electricity. A platinum wire is heated to a white heat by an electric current and used like a saw. In this manner the tree is felled much easier and quicker than in the old way, no sawdust is produced, and the slight carbonization caused by the hot wire acts as a preservative of the wood. The new method is said to require only one-eighth of the time consumed by the old sawing process.”
(1563)
Some day we shall be wise enough to utilize the hint suggested in the extract, by caring as much at least for improving the human race as we now care for improving our domestic animals:
A. Ogerodnikoff, a wealthy Russian dealer in furs in Vladivostok, while visiting San Francisco, told an interesting story of experiments made by his cousin, Rachatnikoff, who has been devoting himself for years to the propagation of a beautiful race of people. Ogerodnikoff, according to the press reports, said:“Years ago Rachatnikoff attracted to his estate especially handsome men and girls of more than usual beauty by offering free land to forty or fifty men carefully picked from among a large number of applicants and selecting for them as wives fine-looking young women from different parts of Russia. This selected colony has flourished beyond all expectation, and over a hundred children have been raised from these unions.“These children are so pretty as to make the Rachatnikoff estate famous.” (Text.)
A. Ogerodnikoff, a wealthy Russian dealer in furs in Vladivostok, while visiting San Francisco, told an interesting story of experiments made by his cousin, Rachatnikoff, who has been devoting himself for years to the propagation of a beautiful race of people. Ogerodnikoff, according to the press reports, said:
“Years ago Rachatnikoff attracted to his estate especially handsome men and girls of more than usual beauty by offering free land to forty or fifty men carefully picked from among a large number of applicants and selecting for them as wives fine-looking young women from different parts of Russia. This selected colony has flourished beyond all expectation, and over a hundred children have been raised from these unions.
“These children are so pretty as to make the Rachatnikoff estate famous.” (Text.)
(1564)
Improvement, Material—SeeAdvancement, Rapid.
Improvement Meeting With Disfavor—SeeSafety Valves.
IMPROVING TIME
One of the most important books on British ornithology is Gilbert White’s “Natural History of Selborne.” This work is made up of the jottings and notes of the author concerning the animals he saw in his daily walks through the woods and fields in the immediate vicinity of his little country parish, which he seldom left. (Text.)
One of the most important books on British ornithology is Gilbert White’s “Natural History of Selborne.” This work is made up of the jottings and notes of the author concerning the animals he saw in his daily walks through the woods and fields in the immediate vicinity of his little country parish, which he seldom left. (Text.)
(1565)
IMPUDENCE, BRAZEN
Unblushing assurance in rascality is not a new thing in the world.
A firm of shady outside London brokers was prosecuted for swindling, saysEverybody’s. In acquitting them, the court, with great severity, said:“There is not sufficient evidence to convict you, but if any one wishes to know my opinion of you I hope that you will refer to me.”Next day the firm’s advertisement appeared in every available medium, with the following well displayed: “Reference as to probity, by special permission, the Lord Chief Justice of England.”
A firm of shady outside London brokers was prosecuted for swindling, saysEverybody’s. In acquitting them, the court, with great severity, said:
“There is not sufficient evidence to convict you, but if any one wishes to know my opinion of you I hope that you will refer to me.”
Next day the firm’s advertisement appeared in every available medium, with the following well displayed: “Reference as to probity, by special permission, the Lord Chief Justice of England.”
(1566)
Impulsiveness—SeeSuspicion.
IMPURE THOUGHTS
A man went to his friend and asked the loan of a barrel. “Certainly,” was the reply, “if you will bring it back uninjured.” The man used the barrel to hold brandy until he could get certain bottles from the factory, when he filled them and returned the barrel to his friend. But the barrel smelled of brandy, and the owner sent it back with the request that it be cleansed. Boiling water was poured into the barrel, but it still smelled of brandy. Acids and disinfectants were put in, but the smell of the brandy could not be removed. It was left out in the rain, but all to no purpose; the smell of the brandy still remained. So it is with impure thoughts; when they are once admitted they remain and taint the whole life.—James T. White, “Character Lessons.”
A man went to his friend and asked the loan of a barrel. “Certainly,” was the reply, “if you will bring it back uninjured.” The man used the barrel to hold brandy until he could get certain bottles from the factory, when he filled them and returned the barrel to his friend. But the barrel smelled of brandy, and the owner sent it back with the request that it be cleansed. Boiling water was poured into the barrel, but it still smelled of brandy. Acids and disinfectants were put in, but the smell of the brandy could not be removed. It was left out in the rain, but all to no purpose; the smell of the brandy still remained. So it is with impure thoughts; when they are once admitted they remain and taint the whole life.—James T. White, “Character Lessons.”
(1567)
IMPURITIES
Should not men be as careful of the moral atmosphere of their lives as of the air in their rooms?
Mr. John Aitken, a well-known investigator of the atmosphere, made a series of experiments on the number of dust particles in ordinary air. His results show that outside air, after a wet night, contained 521,000 dust particles per cubic inch; outside air in fair weather contained 2,119,000 particles in the same space; that near the ceiling contained 88,346,000 particles per cubic inch. The air collected over a Bunsen flame contained no less than 489,000,000 particles per cubic inch. The numbers for a room were got with gas burning in the room, and at a height of four feet from the floor. These figures, tho not absolute, show how important is the influence of a gas-jet on the air we breathe, and the necessity for good ventilation in apartments. Mr. Aitken remarks that there seem to be as many dust particles in a cubic inch of air in a room at night when gas is burning as there are inhabitants in Great Britain, and that in three cubic inches of the gases from a Bunsen flame there are as many particles as there are people in the world.—Cassell’s Family Magazine.
Mr. John Aitken, a well-known investigator of the atmosphere, made a series of experiments on the number of dust particles in ordinary air. His results show that outside air, after a wet night, contained 521,000 dust particles per cubic inch; outside air in fair weather contained 2,119,000 particles in the same space; that near the ceiling contained 88,346,000 particles per cubic inch. The air collected over a Bunsen flame contained no less than 489,000,000 particles per cubic inch. The numbers for a room were got with gas burning in the room, and at a height of four feet from the floor. These figures, tho not absolute, show how important is the influence of a gas-jet on the air we breathe, and the necessity for good ventilation in apartments. Mr. Aitken remarks that there seem to be as many dust particles in a cubic inch of air in a room at night when gas is burning as there are inhabitants in Great Britain, and that in three cubic inches of the gases from a Bunsen flame there are as many particles as there are people in the world.—Cassell’s Family Magazine.
(1568)
Impurities, Atmospheric—SeeSoot.
Impurities Tested—SeeTests.
INADEQUACY OF NON-CHRISTIAN RELIGIONS
Dr. H. O. Dwight was telling us of a voyage that he took in the Levant with a Turkish official; and as they sat down in the cabin at the dinner table the Turkish official, inviting Dr. Dwight to drink with him, said: “You may think it strange that I, a Mohammedan, should ask you, a Christian, to drink with me, when wine-drinking is forbidden by our religion. I will tell you how I dare to do this thing.” He filled his glass, and held it up, looking at the beautiful color of it, and said: “Now, if I say that it is right to drink this wine, I deny God’s commandments to men, and He would punish me in hell for the blasphemy. But I take up this glass, admitting that God has commanded me not to drink it, and that I sin in drinking it. Then I drink it off, so casting myself on the mercy of God. For our religion lets me know that God is too merciful to punish me for doing anything which I wish to do, when I humbly admit that to do it breaks His commandments.” His religion furnished this pasha with no moral restraints or power for true character.—Robert E. Speer, “Student Volunteer Movement,” 1906.
Dr. H. O. Dwight was telling us of a voyage that he took in the Levant with a Turkish official; and as they sat down in the cabin at the dinner table the Turkish official, inviting Dr. Dwight to drink with him, said: “You may think it strange that I, a Mohammedan, should ask you, a Christian, to drink with me, when wine-drinking is forbidden by our religion. I will tell you how I dare to do this thing.” He filled his glass, and held it up, looking at the beautiful color of it, and said: “Now, if I say that it is right to drink this wine, I deny God’s commandments to men, and He would punish me in hell for the blasphemy. But I take up this glass, admitting that God has commanded me not to drink it, and that I sin in drinking it. Then I drink it off, so casting myself on the mercy of God. For our religion lets me know that God is too merciful to punish me for doing anything which I wish to do, when I humbly admit that to do it breaks His commandments.” His religion furnished this pasha with no moral restraints or power for true character.—Robert E. Speer, “Student Volunteer Movement,” 1906.
(1569)
Inattention Overcome—SeeRank, Obsequiousness to.
Inborn, The—SeeInnate, The.
Incantation—SeeBirth Ceremonies;Exorcism.
Incense—SeeOfferings, Extravagant.
Incentive—SeeHeaven.
INCENTIVES
The most interesting chapel in Italy is theSanta Maria Novella, in Florence. In this edifice is a famous picture. On the right-hand side is a female figure with three children at her knee; she is holding in onehand a little rod, and in the other a golden apple; and she is pointing to an exceedingly narrow door.
The most interesting chapel in Italy is theSanta Maria Novella, in Florence. In this edifice is a famous picture. On the right-hand side is a female figure with three children at her knee; she is holding in onehand a little rod, and in the other a golden apple; and she is pointing to an exceedingly narrow door.
Yes, the gate of life is narrow, and rod and apple—chastisement and reward—are necessary incentives urging entrance. (Text.)
(1570)
INCERTITUDE
The RochesterDemocrat and Chronicleis responsible for the following story from Washington:
“Jadam,” said Major McDowell, the clerk of the House of Representatives, to J. Adam Bede, of Minnesota, yesterday, “that was a fine speech you made to-day, a fine speech.” “Yes, I thought it was a pretty good speech,” Mr. Bede assented modestly. “It was an extremely fine speech. It was logical and had wit in it, and was delivered with great declamatory effect. I listened to it with much pleasure.” “I am glad you liked it,” chirruped Mr. Bede. “Indeed I did,” the Major continued, “and now, if it is betraying no confidence, I’d like to ask you a question.” “Why, my dear Major,” exclaimed Bede, “of course I shall be glad to do anything I can for you. Go ahead.” “Well, Jadam,” and the Major put a fatherly hand on Bede’s shoulder. “I wish you would tell me which side of the question you are really on.”
“Jadam,” said Major McDowell, the clerk of the House of Representatives, to J. Adam Bede, of Minnesota, yesterday, “that was a fine speech you made to-day, a fine speech.” “Yes, I thought it was a pretty good speech,” Mr. Bede assented modestly. “It was an extremely fine speech. It was logical and had wit in it, and was delivered with great declamatory effect. I listened to it with much pleasure.” “I am glad you liked it,” chirruped Mr. Bede. “Indeed I did,” the Major continued, “and now, if it is betraying no confidence, I’d like to ask you a question.” “Why, my dear Major,” exclaimed Bede, “of course I shall be glad to do anything I can for you. Go ahead.” “Well, Jadam,” and the Major put a fatherly hand on Bede’s shoulder. “I wish you would tell me which side of the question you are really on.”
(1571)
The representative of an English newspaper, sent some time since to Ireland to move about and learn by personal observation the real political mind of the people there, reported on his return that he had been everywhere and talked with all sorts, and that as nearly as he could make out the attitude of the Irish might be stated about thus: “They don’t know what they want—and they are bound to have it.”—Joseph H. Twichell.
The representative of an English newspaper, sent some time since to Ireland to move about and learn by personal observation the real political mind of the people there, reported on his return that he had been everywhere and talked with all sorts, and that as nearly as he could make out the attitude of the Irish might be stated about thus: “They don’t know what they want—and they are bound to have it.”—Joseph H. Twichell.
(1572)
SeeDuality.
Incitement—SeeInspiration, Sources of.
INCITEMENT
Very much of human discontent arises from first hearing our wrongs described by others:
Rufus Choate, the American lawyer, defended a blacksmith whose creditor had seized some iron that a friend had lent him to assist in the business after a bankruptcy. The seizure of the iron was said to have been made harshly. Choate thus described it: “He arrested the arm of industry as it fell toward the anvil; he put out the breath of his bellows; he extinguished the fire upon his hearthstone. Like pirates in a gale at sea, his enemies swept everything by the board, leaving, gentlemen of the jury, not so much—not so much as a horseshoe to nail upon the door-post to keep the witches off.” The blacksmith, sitting behind, was seen to have tears in his eyes at this description, and a friend noticing it, said: “Why, Tom, what’s the matter with you? What are you blubbering about?” “I had no idea,” said Tom in a whisper, “that I had been so abominably ab-ab bused.” (Text.)—Croake James, “Curiosities of Law and Lawyers.”
Rufus Choate, the American lawyer, defended a blacksmith whose creditor had seized some iron that a friend had lent him to assist in the business after a bankruptcy. The seizure of the iron was said to have been made harshly. Choate thus described it: “He arrested the arm of industry as it fell toward the anvil; he put out the breath of his bellows; he extinguished the fire upon his hearthstone. Like pirates in a gale at sea, his enemies swept everything by the board, leaving, gentlemen of the jury, not so much—not so much as a horseshoe to nail upon the door-post to keep the witches off.” The blacksmith, sitting behind, was seen to have tears in his eyes at this description, and a friend noticing it, said: “Why, Tom, what’s the matter with you? What are you blubbering about?” “I had no idea,” said Tom in a whisper, “that I had been so abominably ab-ab bused.” (Text.)—Croake James, “Curiosities of Law and Lawyers.”
(1573)
SeeInspiration.
Incitement to Evil—SeeResponsibility Evaded.
INCONSISTENCY
An anonymous writer inThe Independenttells the following story as illustrating Mr. Hearst’s belief that “money will buy the fruit of any man’s work”:
Some time ago a young writer applied to him for employment on his New York newspaper, and was engaged to fill a position which would become vacant at the end of a week, but in the interval the fact came to the attention of a university professor who had always taken an interest in his advancement.“I am sorry,” said the good man, “that you should have chosen that particular school of journalism for your professional start.” And he proceeded to descant upon the responsibility a journalist owed to society, the influence of one educated youth’s example upon others of his class, the tone a writer inevitably took from the character of the journals he worked for, etc. “And your untarnished sense of self-respect, my young friend,” he concluded, “will be worth more to you, when you reach my time of life, than all the salaries an unprincipled employer can pour into your purse.”So imprest was the neophyte with this lecture in morals that he called upon Mr. Hearst the next morning and announced that he had changed his mind about acceptingthe proffered position. The editor scanned his face shrewdly, and then inquired the reason. After much hesitancy the young man told him the whole story, and started to leave.“Ah,” said Mr. Hearst. “Be seated a moment, please!” And, turning to his secretary, he added: “Write a letter at once to Professor X. Y., present my compliments, and say that I should be pleased to receive from him a signed article of five hundred words—subject and treatment to be of his own choosing—for the editorial page of next Sunday’s paper. Inclose check for $250.“Now,” he remarked, with a cynical smile, as he bade his caller good-by, “you can see for yourself what comes of that.”He did. The Sunday issue contained a signed article, which gave the paper the reflection of a good man’s fame, and spread the influence of his example among other university professors, and—did what to his self-respect?—all at the rate of fifty cents per word! (Text.)
Some time ago a young writer applied to him for employment on his New York newspaper, and was engaged to fill a position which would become vacant at the end of a week, but in the interval the fact came to the attention of a university professor who had always taken an interest in his advancement.
“I am sorry,” said the good man, “that you should have chosen that particular school of journalism for your professional start.” And he proceeded to descant upon the responsibility a journalist owed to society, the influence of one educated youth’s example upon others of his class, the tone a writer inevitably took from the character of the journals he worked for, etc. “And your untarnished sense of self-respect, my young friend,” he concluded, “will be worth more to you, when you reach my time of life, than all the salaries an unprincipled employer can pour into your purse.”
So imprest was the neophyte with this lecture in morals that he called upon Mr. Hearst the next morning and announced that he had changed his mind about acceptingthe proffered position. The editor scanned his face shrewdly, and then inquired the reason. After much hesitancy the young man told him the whole story, and started to leave.
“Ah,” said Mr. Hearst. “Be seated a moment, please!” And, turning to his secretary, he added: “Write a letter at once to Professor X. Y., present my compliments, and say that I should be pleased to receive from him a signed article of five hundred words—subject and treatment to be of his own choosing—for the editorial page of next Sunday’s paper. Inclose check for $250.
“Now,” he remarked, with a cynical smile, as he bade his caller good-by, “you can see for yourself what comes of that.”
He did. The Sunday issue contained a signed article, which gave the paper the reflection of a good man’s fame, and spread the influence of his example among other university professors, and—did what to his self-respect?—all at the rate of fifty cents per word! (Text.)
(1574)
SeeInjustice.
INCONSPICUOUS WORKERS
Most of this world’s work is done by the people who will never be known. To every worthy worker, however, a mede of credit is due, and sometimes it finds recognition, as in the instance here recorded:
An officer who was at West Point a generation ago tells of the influence Miss Susan Warner had on the boys of the Academy in the ’70’s and ’80’s. “The Wide, Wide World,” by Miss Warner, was a popular book then with the cadets’ mothers, who would urge their sons to visit Constitution Island and write home a description of the author. So many boys would visit the Island. Every Sunday afternoon the Warner sisters would send their man-of-all-work in a boat to the Point to bring over a load of cadets. The boys would gather around Miss Susan as she sat on the lawn and listen to her read the Scriptures and explain them in a bright, cheerful view of religion and life. After the talks would come a treat of tea and home-made gingerbread. She was very delicate and frail and often her talks would completely exhaust her. She kept up correspondence with many of the visiting cadets long after they had become distinguished officers. Her last letter to one just before her death had a pathos known only to her cadet friends. It read: “I no longer have the strength to cross the river to meet the boys, and the superintendent we now have will not allow them to come to me, so my usefulness with them seems to be at an end.”
An officer who was at West Point a generation ago tells of the influence Miss Susan Warner had on the boys of the Academy in the ’70’s and ’80’s. “The Wide, Wide World,” by Miss Warner, was a popular book then with the cadets’ mothers, who would urge their sons to visit Constitution Island and write home a description of the author. So many boys would visit the Island. Every Sunday afternoon the Warner sisters would send their man-of-all-work in a boat to the Point to bring over a load of cadets. The boys would gather around Miss Susan as she sat on the lawn and listen to her read the Scriptures and explain them in a bright, cheerful view of religion and life. After the talks would come a treat of tea and home-made gingerbread. She was very delicate and frail and often her talks would completely exhaust her. She kept up correspondence with many of the visiting cadets long after they had become distinguished officers. Her last letter to one just before her death had a pathos known only to her cadet friends. It read: “I no longer have the strength to cross the river to meet the boys, and the superintendent we now have will not allow them to come to me, so my usefulness with them seems to be at an end.”
(1575)
Incorruptible, The—SeePurity.
Increase by Civilization—SeeConservation.
Increasing and Decreasing—SeeSelf-estimate.
INCREDULITY
Dr. W. H. Thomson, in his book on “What is Physical Life,” says that “once, while talking to a roomful of the naturally bright people of a town in Mount Hermon about the achievements of Western civilization, I happened to tell a toothless old man present that in our country we had skilled persons who could make for him an entirely new set of teeth. Glancing round the room, I noticed some listeners stroking their beards in a fashion which I knew meant that I was telling a preposterous yarn. Fortunately I had with me an elderly Scotch friend who had a set of false teeth, and on explaining the situation to him, he forthwith opened his mouth and pulled the whole set out. The Arabs jumped to their feet in fright, not sure but he might start to unscrew his head next, for had any of their venerated ancestors ever seen such an uncanny performance with teeth? They afterward said that never would they have believed this if they had not seen it.”
Dr. W. H. Thomson, in his book on “What is Physical Life,” says that “once, while talking to a roomful of the naturally bright people of a town in Mount Hermon about the achievements of Western civilization, I happened to tell a toothless old man present that in our country we had skilled persons who could make for him an entirely new set of teeth. Glancing round the room, I noticed some listeners stroking their beards in a fashion which I knew meant that I was telling a preposterous yarn. Fortunately I had with me an elderly Scotch friend who had a set of false teeth, and on explaining the situation to him, he forthwith opened his mouth and pulled the whole set out. The Arabs jumped to their feet in fright, not sure but he might start to unscrew his head next, for had any of their venerated ancestors ever seen such an uncanny performance with teeth? They afterward said that never would they have believed this if they had not seen it.”
(1576)
SeeChristianity and Civilization.
INDECISION
When the King of Sparta had crossed the Hellespont and was about to march through Thrace, he sent to the people in the different regions, asking them whether he should march through their country as a friend or as an enemy. “By all means as a friend,” said most of the regions; but the King of Macedon replied, “I will take time to consider it.” “Then,” said the King of Sparta, “Let him consider it, but meantime we march, we march.” (Text.)
When the King of Sparta had crossed the Hellespont and was about to march through Thrace, he sent to the people in the different regions, asking them whether he should march through their country as a friend or as an enemy. “By all means as a friend,” said most of the regions; but the King of Macedon replied, “I will take time to consider it.” “Then,” said the King of Sparta, “Let him consider it, but meantime we march, we march.” (Text.)
(1577)
SeeSentiment, Mixed.
Indestructibility of Man—SeeMan Indestructible.
INDIA, MEDICAL OPPORTUNITIES IN
I wish it were possible for me to give you some idea of the amount of suffering and misery there is in India to-day; but I fear that I can not do it, for you have seldom been where you could not obtain the services of a good physician in time of need, or even be taken to a hospital, if it were desirable. But there are millions of people in India who have no such resources as that. Shall I tell you of a man who came to our hospital some time ago suffering from a cataract in one eye? He was an intelligent man, well educated, and he wanted to save his eyesight. He employed some of the native doctors to treat the eye, and when he came to us he said that he thought he had had at least twenty-five pounds of medicine put in his eye. That sounded like such a large story that we asked for the particulars, and I think he was about right. It was all to no purpose, however, so that he changed doctors and got a new remedy that was guaranteed. They opened his eye and sifted it full of pounded glass. If you have ever had a cinder in your eye, perhaps you can to some small extent imagine the agonies which that man endured before he came to us. That is not an uncommon case, and frequently when I go into the dispensary in the morning I find there mothers with their little children. They hold them out to me in their arms and say, “Won’t you look at this child’s eyes?” I say, “Well, mother, what is the matter with the eyes?” “Oh, about two or three weeks ago the child’s eyes were red and it cried a little bit, and we tried to open them to see what was the matter, but the child made so much fuss we couldn’t do anything. Now, they have been shut so long that we are afraid there is something the matter; we want you to look and see.” I open those eyelids with my fingers; I know what I am going to see. The front part of the eyeball is gone—sloughed away, rotted out just in those few days. A few simple remedies, a little cleanliness at the proper time, would have saved those eyes, but often I have to say to those mothers, “Your child is blind for life.” There are many thousands of such little children in India to-day sitting by the side of the road waiting for the coppers which the passer-by will fling to them, and which they must find by feeling around in the dust. It is a very common practise on the part of the native physicians to apply as a counter-irritant to the surface of the body a material which burns like a red-hot iron; and if you have burned your finger recently, you can imagine how it would be to be burned in stripes from the nape of your neck right down to your heels, or to have patterns worked on your body with that fiery material. If you have suffered recently from such a simple ailment as a toothache, imagine a land without any dentists or other means to relieve that ache. The tooth must ache in India, until nature brings its own remedy, and the tooth drops out.—A. S. Wilson, “Student Volunteer Movement,” 1906.
I wish it were possible for me to give you some idea of the amount of suffering and misery there is in India to-day; but I fear that I can not do it, for you have seldom been where you could not obtain the services of a good physician in time of need, or even be taken to a hospital, if it were desirable. But there are millions of people in India who have no such resources as that. Shall I tell you of a man who came to our hospital some time ago suffering from a cataract in one eye? He was an intelligent man, well educated, and he wanted to save his eyesight. He employed some of the native doctors to treat the eye, and when he came to us he said that he thought he had had at least twenty-five pounds of medicine put in his eye. That sounded like such a large story that we asked for the particulars, and I think he was about right. It was all to no purpose, however, so that he changed doctors and got a new remedy that was guaranteed. They opened his eye and sifted it full of pounded glass. If you have ever had a cinder in your eye, perhaps you can to some small extent imagine the agonies which that man endured before he came to us. That is not an uncommon case, and frequently when I go into the dispensary in the morning I find there mothers with their little children. They hold them out to me in their arms and say, “Won’t you look at this child’s eyes?” I say, “Well, mother, what is the matter with the eyes?” “Oh, about two or three weeks ago the child’s eyes were red and it cried a little bit, and we tried to open them to see what was the matter, but the child made so much fuss we couldn’t do anything. Now, they have been shut so long that we are afraid there is something the matter; we want you to look and see.” I open those eyelids with my fingers; I know what I am going to see. The front part of the eyeball is gone—sloughed away, rotted out just in those few days. A few simple remedies, a little cleanliness at the proper time, would have saved those eyes, but often I have to say to those mothers, “Your child is blind for life.” There are many thousands of such little children in India to-day sitting by the side of the road waiting for the coppers which the passer-by will fling to them, and which they must find by feeling around in the dust. It is a very common practise on the part of the native physicians to apply as a counter-irritant to the surface of the body a material which burns like a red-hot iron; and if you have burned your finger recently, you can imagine how it would be to be burned in stripes from the nape of your neck right down to your heels, or to have patterns worked on your body with that fiery material. If you have suffered recently from such a simple ailment as a toothache, imagine a land without any dentists or other means to relieve that ache. The tooth must ache in India, until nature brings its own remedy, and the tooth drops out.—A. S. Wilson, “Student Volunteer Movement,” 1906.
(1578)
Indian, The—SeeConservation.
Indian, The Word of an—SeePromise, an Indian’s.
INDIANS, AMERICAN
“The ‘noble’ red man of traditional lore was usually a very low-bred, dirty savage, uninteresting except for his blood-thirstiness and capacity for rum and mischief.” What education, mostly under government supervision, has been able to do with the Indian is shown in the extract:
Supt. Friedman of the Carlisle Indian School remarks that thirty years have elapsed since the first group of eighty-two Sioux Indians from the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Reservations of South Dakota arrived at Carlisle, Penn., to receive the benefit of a civilized education. Out of this beginning an elaborate system of Indian schools has grown, including 167 day-schools, 88 reservation boarding schools and 26 non-reservation schools, so that to-day 25,777 Indian students are being educated under the Government’s immediate patronage, at a cost for the fiscal year 1909 of $4,008,825. The students in the contract schools and missions swell this total to 30,630. The Carlisle school, the largest of all, has an enrolment of 1,132, which is not much below the enrolment of Princeton College.—New YorkTimes.
Supt. Friedman of the Carlisle Indian School remarks that thirty years have elapsed since the first group of eighty-two Sioux Indians from the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Reservations of South Dakota arrived at Carlisle, Penn., to receive the benefit of a civilized education. Out of this beginning an elaborate system of Indian schools has grown, including 167 day-schools, 88 reservation boarding schools and 26 non-reservation schools, so that to-day 25,777 Indian students are being educated under the Government’s immediate patronage, at a cost for the fiscal year 1909 of $4,008,825. The students in the contract schools and missions swell this total to 30,630. The Carlisle school, the largest of all, has an enrolment of 1,132, which is not much below the enrolment of Princeton College.—New YorkTimes.
(1579)
Indians’ Receptiveness to the Gospel—SeeFather, Our.
INDICATOR, AN INSECT
One of the simplest of barometers is a spider’s web. When there is a prospect of rain or wind the spider shortens the filaments from which its web is suspended and leaves things in this state as long as theweather is variable. If the insect elongates its thread it is a sign of fine calm weather, the duration of which may be judged of by the length to which the threads are let out. If the spider remains inactive it is a sign of rain; but if, on the contrary, it keeps at work during the rain the latter will not last long, and will be followed by fine weather. Other observations have taught that the spider makes changes in its web every twenty-four hours, and that if such changes are made in the evening, just before sunset, the night will be clear and beautiful.—La Nature.
One of the simplest of barometers is a spider’s web. When there is a prospect of rain or wind the spider shortens the filaments from which its web is suspended and leaves things in this state as long as theweather is variable. If the insect elongates its thread it is a sign of fine calm weather, the duration of which may be judged of by the length to which the threads are let out. If the spider remains inactive it is a sign of rain; but if, on the contrary, it keeps at work during the rain the latter will not last long, and will be followed by fine weather. Other observations have taught that the spider makes changes in its web every twenty-four hours, and that if such changes are made in the evening, just before sunset, the night will be clear and beautiful.—La Nature.
(1580)
Indifference—SeeBallot, A Duty.
Indifference to Strangers—SeeConfidence.
INDIFFERENCE TO THE GOOD
Zion’s Heraldprints this significant poem:
People tell the story yet,With the pathos of regret,How along the streets one day,Unawares from far away,Angels passed with gifts for need,And no mortal gave them heed.They had cheer for those who weep,They had light for shadows deep,Balm for broken hearts they bore,Rest, deep rest, a boundless store;But the people, so they say,Went the old blind human way,—Fed the quack and hailed the clownWhen the angels came to town.It has been and will be so:Angels come and angels go,Opportunity and Light,’Twixt the morning and the night,With their messages divineTo your little world and mine.And we wonder why we heardNot a whisper of their word,Caught no glimpse of finer graceIn the passing form and face;That our ears were dull as stonesTo the thrill of spirit tones,And we looked not up, but down,When the angels came to town.
People tell the story yet,With the pathos of regret,How along the streets one day,Unawares from far away,Angels passed with gifts for need,And no mortal gave them heed.They had cheer for those who weep,They had light for shadows deep,Balm for broken hearts they bore,Rest, deep rest, a boundless store;But the people, so they say,Went the old blind human way,—Fed the quack and hailed the clownWhen the angels came to town.It has been and will be so:Angels come and angels go,Opportunity and Light,’Twixt the morning and the night,With their messages divineTo your little world and mine.And we wonder why we heardNot a whisper of their word,Caught no glimpse of finer graceIn the passing form and face;That our ears were dull as stonesTo the thrill of spirit tones,And we looked not up, but down,When the angels came to town.
People tell the story yet,With the pathos of regret,How along the streets one day,Unawares from far away,Angels passed with gifts for need,And no mortal gave them heed.They had cheer for those who weep,They had light for shadows deep,Balm for broken hearts they bore,Rest, deep rest, a boundless store;But the people, so they say,Went the old blind human way,—Fed the quack and hailed the clownWhen the angels came to town.
People tell the story yet,
With the pathos of regret,
How along the streets one day,
Unawares from far away,
Angels passed with gifts for need,
And no mortal gave them heed.
They had cheer for those who weep,
They had light for shadows deep,
Balm for broken hearts they bore,
Rest, deep rest, a boundless store;
But the people, so they say,
Went the old blind human way,—
Fed the quack and hailed the clown
When the angels came to town.
It has been and will be so:Angels come and angels go,Opportunity and Light,’Twixt the morning and the night,With their messages divineTo your little world and mine.And we wonder why we heardNot a whisper of their word,Caught no glimpse of finer graceIn the passing form and face;That our ears were dull as stonesTo the thrill of spirit tones,And we looked not up, but down,When the angels came to town.
It has been and will be so:
Angels come and angels go,
Opportunity and Light,
’Twixt the morning and the night,
With their messages divine
To your little world and mine.
And we wonder why we heard
Not a whisper of their word,
Caught no glimpse of finer grace
In the passing form and face;
That our ears were dull as stones
To the thrill of spirit tones,
And we looked not up, but down,
When the angels came to town.
(1581)
INDIFFERENTISM
A German professor of theology is reported to have said in lecturing to his students on the existence of God, that while the doctrine, no doubt, was an important one, it was so difficult and perplexed that it was not advisable to take too certain a position upon it, as many were disposed to do. There were those, he remarked, who were wont in the most unqualified way to affirm that there was a God. There were others who, with equal immoderation, committed themselves to the opposite proposition—that there was no God. The philosophical mind, he added, will look for the truth somewhere between these extremes.—Joseph H. Twichell.
A German professor of theology is reported to have said in lecturing to his students on the existence of God, that while the doctrine, no doubt, was an important one, it was so difficult and perplexed that it was not advisable to take too certain a position upon it, as many were disposed to do. There were those, he remarked, who were wont in the most unqualified way to affirm that there was a God. There were others who, with equal immoderation, committed themselves to the opposite proposition—that there was no God. The philosophical mind, he added, will look for the truth somewhere between these extremes.—Joseph H. Twichell.
(1582)
INDIVIDUAL INFLUENCE
I met, the other day, a learned judge who told me that for more than twenty years he had met every winter, in his own library, once a week, a club of his neighbors, men and women, who came, and came gladly, that he might guide them in the study of history. “And all those people,” said he, laughing—there are three or four hundred of them now, scattered over the world—“they all know what to read, and how to read it.” You see that village is another place because that one man lived there.—Edward Everett Hale.
I met, the other day, a learned judge who told me that for more than twenty years he had met every winter, in his own library, once a week, a club of his neighbors, men and women, who came, and came gladly, that he might guide them in the study of history. “And all those people,” said he, laughing—there are three or four hundred of them now, scattered over the world—“they all know what to read, and how to read it.” You see that village is another place because that one man lived there.—Edward Everett Hale.
(1583)
Individual Initiative—SeeNeed, Meeting Children’s.
Individual, Seeking the—SeePersonal Evangelism.
Individual Value—SeeCollective Labor.
INDIVIDUAL, VALUE OF THE
This fine verse is from Canon Farrar:
“I am only one,But I am one.I can not do everything,But I can do something,What I can doI ought to doAnd what I ought to doBy the grace of God I will do.” (Text.)
“I am only one,But I am one.I can not do everything,But I can do something,What I can doI ought to doAnd what I ought to doBy the grace of God I will do.” (Text.)
“I am only one,But I am one.I can not do everything,But I can do something,What I can doI ought to doAnd what I ought to doBy the grace of God I will do.” (Text.)
“I am only one,
But I am one.
I can not do everything,
But I can do something,
What I can do
I ought to do
And what I ought to do
By the grace of God I will do.” (Text.)
(1584)
Individualism—SeeInitiative.
INDIVIDUALISM, EXCESSIVE
Haydon, the painter, was an ill-used man; but it was purely his own fault. He would paint high art when people did not want it—would paint acres of hooked-nosed Romans, and bore the public with Dentatus, Scipio and Co., when they wanted something else. He was like a man taking beautiful pebbles to market when people wanted eggs, and telling that they ought not to want eggs, because they led to carnality and hada nasty and disgusting connection with bacon. But people would not have it—eggs they wanted, and eggs they would have, how beautiful soever the pebbles might be. So with Haydon. He persisted that the people ought to have what they did not want, and he went from a prison to a lunatic asylum, and died a suicide.—George Dawson.
Haydon, the painter, was an ill-used man; but it was purely his own fault. He would paint high art when people did not want it—would paint acres of hooked-nosed Romans, and bore the public with Dentatus, Scipio and Co., when they wanted something else. He was like a man taking beautiful pebbles to market when people wanted eggs, and telling that they ought not to want eggs, because they led to carnality and hada nasty and disgusting connection with bacon. But people would not have it—eggs they wanted, and eggs they would have, how beautiful soever the pebbles might be. So with Haydon. He persisted that the people ought to have what they did not want, and he went from a prison to a lunatic asylum, and died a suicide.—George Dawson.
(1585)
INDIVIDUALITY
Rembrandt paints all in a shadow, and Claude Lorraine in sunny light. Petrarch frames with cunning skill his chiming sonnets, and Dante portrays with majestic hand, that makes the page almost tingle with fire, his vision of the future. Shakespeare, with a well-nigh prescient intelligence, interprets the secrets of history and of life, and reads the courses of the future in the past, and Milton rolls, from beneath the great arches of his religious and cathedral-like soul, its sublime oratorios. And the copiousness of experience, the variety, affluence, multiformity of life, as it exists upon earth and arrests our attention, is derived altogether, in the ultimate analysis, from this personal constitution of each individual.—Richard S. Storrs.
Rembrandt paints all in a shadow, and Claude Lorraine in sunny light. Petrarch frames with cunning skill his chiming sonnets, and Dante portrays with majestic hand, that makes the page almost tingle with fire, his vision of the future. Shakespeare, with a well-nigh prescient intelligence, interprets the secrets of history and of life, and reads the courses of the future in the past, and Milton rolls, from beneath the great arches of his religious and cathedral-like soul, its sublime oratorios. And the copiousness of experience, the variety, affluence, multiformity of life, as it exists upon earth and arrests our attention, is derived altogether, in the ultimate analysis, from this personal constitution of each individual.—Richard S. Storrs.
(1586)
Jesus said of the Good Shepherd, “He calleth his own sheep by name.” We have each his own personal marks, and are never lost in the mass of humanity.
An inspector of police and, in general, every person unfamiliar with the application of the “verbal portrait,” tho possessing the photograph of an individual, will pass by that individual without recognition, if the photograph is a few years old or if the general appearance has been altered by a gain or loss of flesh, or by a change in the beard or the hair or even the clothes. On the other hand, descriptive identification, which means an accurate description of the immovable parts of the face (forehead, nose, ears, etc.), enables those who are sufficiently familiar with the method to identify a person with certainty, not only with the aid of a photograph, but also simply by means of a printed description of those characteristics of the person in question which are out of the ordinary. (Text.)—L. Ramakers,The Scientific American.
An inspector of police and, in general, every person unfamiliar with the application of the “verbal portrait,” tho possessing the photograph of an individual, will pass by that individual without recognition, if the photograph is a few years old or if the general appearance has been altered by a gain or loss of flesh, or by a change in the beard or the hair or even the clothes. On the other hand, descriptive identification, which means an accurate description of the immovable parts of the face (forehead, nose, ears, etc.), enables those who are sufficiently familiar with the method to identify a person with certainty, not only with the aid of a photograph, but also simply by means of a printed description of those characteristics of the person in question which are out of the ordinary. (Text.)—L. Ramakers,The Scientific American.
(1587)
No rainbow that paints its arch upon the cloud, no river that courses like liquid silver through emerald banks, no sunset that opens its deeps of splendor, with domes of sapphire and pinnacles of chrysolite, hath any such beauty to him who surveys it as the poem or discourse which speaks the peace, or the triumphing hope, of another human soul. For forever is it true that the life in each stands apart from the life in every other. It hath its center, tho not its cause, within itself; is full-orbed in each; commingled with that of no other being; as separate in each, and as purely individual, as if there were no other besides it in existence!—Richard S. Storrs.
No rainbow that paints its arch upon the cloud, no river that courses like liquid silver through emerald banks, no sunset that opens its deeps of splendor, with domes of sapphire and pinnacles of chrysolite, hath any such beauty to him who surveys it as the poem or discourse which speaks the peace, or the triumphing hope, of another human soul. For forever is it true that the life in each stands apart from the life in every other. It hath its center, tho not its cause, within itself; is full-orbed in each; commingled with that of no other being; as separate in each, and as purely individual, as if there were no other besides it in existence!—Richard S. Storrs.
(1588)
Students of social phenomena must allow for the personal equation. Men are certainly as individual as birds:
Every bird sings his own song; no two sing exactly alike, ... the song of every singer is unique. There are, of course, similarities in the songs of birds of the same species.... For lack of intimate acquaintance with the music of a particular bird, we think he sings just like the next one. Why! do all roosters have the same crow? No; any farmer knows better than this.... Every individual sings his own song.
Every bird sings his own song; no two sing exactly alike, ... the song of every singer is unique. There are, of course, similarities in the songs of birds of the same species.... For lack of intimate acquaintance with the music of a particular bird, we think he sings just like the next one. Why! do all roosters have the same crow? No; any farmer knows better than this.... Every individual sings his own song.
(1589)
SeeOriginality;Personal Element.
INDIVIDUALITY IN INTERPRETATION
On the question as to how far it is permissible for the actor’s own personality to enter into his interpretation of Shakespearian characters, Mr. Herbert Beerbohm Tree said:
“Certain it is that while the actor’s self-suppression is among the most essential factors of success in his art, so also his own individuality, his own personality—in a word, his humanity—are all-important. I mean, you can not imagine a characterless person playing the great characters of Shakespeare. You say: ‘Oh, it doesn’t matter! Shakespeare has taken care of all that!’ ‘Yes,’ I reply, ‘but it requires individuality to interpret individuality—power, force, character, to realize the creations of the master brain.’ Nothing else than individuality will make the humanity of these characters stand out sharp and clear from the mass of humanities grouped behind it.” (Text.)—The Fortnightly Review.
“Certain it is that while the actor’s self-suppression is among the most essential factors of success in his art, so also his own individuality, his own personality—in a word, his humanity—are all-important. I mean, you can not imagine a characterless person playing the great characters of Shakespeare. You say: ‘Oh, it doesn’t matter! Shakespeare has taken care of all that!’ ‘Yes,’ I reply, ‘but it requires individuality to interpret individuality—power, force, character, to realize the creations of the master brain.’ Nothing else than individuality will make the humanity of these characters stand out sharp and clear from the mass of humanities grouped behind it.” (Text.)—The Fortnightly Review.
(1590)
Individuality in Nature—SeeAnimism.
INDIVIDUALITY OF GERMS
Change is stamped upon life, but according to science, the opposite also is true. Life, in its minutest subdivisions, is true to itself. It knows no variation nor shadow of turning. Dr. Stirling remarks concerning protoplasm:
Here are several thousand pieces of protoplasm; analysis can detect no difference in them. They are to us, let us say, as they are to Mr. Huxley, identical in power, in form, and in substance; and yet on all these several thousand little bits of apparently indistinguishable matter an element of difference so pervading and so persistent has been imprest, that of them all, not one is interchangeable with another! Each seed feeds its own kind. The protoplasm of the gnat will no more grow into the fly than it will grow into an elephant. Protoplasm is protoplasm; yes, but man’s protoplasm is man’s protoplasm, and the mushroom’s the mushroom’s.
Here are several thousand pieces of protoplasm; analysis can detect no difference in them. They are to us, let us say, as they are to Mr. Huxley, identical in power, in form, and in substance; and yet on all these several thousand little bits of apparently indistinguishable matter an element of difference so pervading and so persistent has been imprest, that of them all, not one is interchangeable with another! Each seed feeds its own kind. The protoplasm of the gnat will no more grow into the fly than it will grow into an elephant. Protoplasm is protoplasm; yes, but man’s protoplasm is man’s protoplasm, and the mushroom’s the mushroom’s.
(1591)
INDIVIDUALS, GOD’S CARE OVER
Mrs. Julia Ward Howe was in Washington and brought a case of need before a distinguished Senator, who excused himself, writing that he was so taken up with matters of wide public interest that he could not look after individual cases. Mrs. Howe wrote in her note-book that “at last accounts the Lord God Almighty had not attained to that eminence.” (Text.)—Franklin Noble, “Sermons in Illustration.”
Mrs. Julia Ward Howe was in Washington and brought a case of need before a distinguished Senator, who excused himself, writing that he was so taken up with matters of wide public interest that he could not look after individual cases. Mrs. Howe wrote in her note-book that “at last accounts the Lord God Almighty had not attained to that eminence.” (Text.)—Franklin Noble, “Sermons in Illustration.”
(1592)
Indolence Forerunner of Dishonesty—SeeDishonesty.
INDORSEMENT
Old Gorgon, apropos of letters of introduction, hands out a whole string of neat conclusions. “Giving a note of introduction is simply lending your name with a man as collateral, and if he’s no good you can’t have the satisfaction of redeeming your indorsement even; and you’re discredited.... I reckon that the devil invented the habit of indorsing notes and giving letters to catch the fellows he couldn’t reach with whisky and gambling.”—George Horace Lorimer, “Old Gorgon Graham.”
Old Gorgon, apropos of letters of introduction, hands out a whole string of neat conclusions. “Giving a note of introduction is simply lending your name with a man as collateral, and if he’s no good you can’t have the satisfaction of redeeming your indorsement even; and you’re discredited.... I reckon that the devil invented the habit of indorsing notes and giving letters to catch the fellows he couldn’t reach with whisky and gambling.”—George Horace Lorimer, “Old Gorgon Graham.”
(1593)
Industrial Church Training—SeePractise and Industrial Training.
INDUSTRIAL TRAINING
The boy utterly unable, even if he were studious, to keep up in book knowledge and percentage with the brighter boys, becomes discouraged, dull, and moody. Let him go to the work-room for an hour and find that he can make a box or plane a rough piece of board as well as the brighter scholar, nay, very likely better than his brighter neighbor, and you have given him an impulse of self-respect that is of untold benefit to him when he goes back to his studies. He will be a brighter and better boy for finding out something that he can do well.—American Magazine.
The boy utterly unable, even if he were studious, to keep up in book knowledge and percentage with the brighter boys, becomes discouraged, dull, and moody. Let him go to the work-room for an hour and find that he can make a box or plane a rough piece of board as well as the brighter scholar, nay, very likely better than his brighter neighbor, and you have given him an impulse of self-respect that is of untold benefit to him when he goes back to his studies. He will be a brighter and better boy for finding out something that he can do well.—American Magazine.
(1594)
INDUSTRY AND LONGEVITY
Capt. Robert McCulloch, who was elected president of the United Railways Company at the age of sixty-seven, was asked recently why he does not retire and live comfortably on his income. As general manager of the $90,000,000 corporation, Captain McCulloch is frequently at his office at 5A.M.and remains until late in the evening.“I had a friend once,” said Captain McCulloch, answering the inquiry, “who started in life in a very modest way. He sold railway supplies, and to help him along I bought some of his goods. Eventually he branched out, became the general manager of a railway-supply house, and in time got rich.“I met him two weeks before his fiftieth birthday. He told me he had acquired a competency, having several hundred thousand dollars invested in gilt-edged securities, besides his magnificent home in Chicago, and that on his fiftieth birthday he was going to retire and enjoy life.“Just a year later I received his funeral notice. If he had kept on working like I have, he would be living yet. Work is necessary to enjoyment, good health, and length of days. That’s why I don’t quit. I prefer to live a while longer, and know I would die if I quit.”—St. LouisPost-Dispatch.
Capt. Robert McCulloch, who was elected president of the United Railways Company at the age of sixty-seven, was asked recently why he does not retire and live comfortably on his income. As general manager of the $90,000,000 corporation, Captain McCulloch is frequently at his office at 5A.M.and remains until late in the evening.
“I had a friend once,” said Captain McCulloch, answering the inquiry, “who started in life in a very modest way. He sold railway supplies, and to help him along I bought some of his goods. Eventually he branched out, became the general manager of a railway-supply house, and in time got rich.
“I met him two weeks before his fiftieth birthday. He told me he had acquired a competency, having several hundred thousand dollars invested in gilt-edged securities, besides his magnificent home in Chicago, and that on his fiftieth birthday he was going to retire and enjoy life.
“Just a year later I received his funeral notice. If he had kept on working like I have, he would be living yet. Work is necessary to enjoyment, good health, and length of days. That’s why I don’t quit. I prefer to live a while longer, and know I would die if I quit.”—St. LouisPost-Dispatch.
(1595)
INDUSTRY OF BEES
It is estimated that, to collect one pound of honey, 62,000 heads of clover must be deprived of their nectar, necessitating 3,750,000 visits from bees. It would seem from this that the reputation of the wonderful little insect for industry has not been overrated. Wax is a substance secreted by thebees, and is analogous to the fat of higher animals. To produce a single pound of wax, the bees must consume from fifteen to twenty pounds of honey. This expensive substance is used by the thrifty little insects with the greatest economy. (Text.)—Public Opinion.
It is estimated that, to collect one pound of honey, 62,000 heads of clover must be deprived of their nectar, necessitating 3,750,000 visits from bees. It would seem from this that the reputation of the wonderful little insect for industry has not been overrated. Wax is a substance secreted by thebees, and is analogous to the fat of higher animals. To produce a single pound of wax, the bees must consume from fifteen to twenty pounds of honey. This expensive substance is used by the thrifty little insects with the greatest economy. (Text.)—Public Opinion.
(1596)
INDUSTRY OF BIRDS
“Our hours,” said a nature student, “are nothing to the birds. Why, some birds work in the summer nineteen hours a day. Indefatigably they clear the crops of insects.“The thrush gets up at 2:30 every summer morning. He rolls up his sleeves, and falls to work at once, and he never stops until 9:30 at night. A clean nineteen hours. During that time he feeds his voracious young two hundred and six times.“The blackbird starts work at the same time as the thrush, but he ‘lays off’ earlier. His whistle blows at 7:30, and during his seventeen-hour day he sets about one hundred meals before his kiddies.“The titmouse is up and about at three in the morning and his stopping time is nine at night. A fast worker, the titmouse is said to feed his young four hundred and seventeen meals—meals of caterpillar mainly—in the long, hard, hot day.”—Green’s Fruit Grower.
“Our hours,” said a nature student, “are nothing to the birds. Why, some birds work in the summer nineteen hours a day. Indefatigably they clear the crops of insects.
“The thrush gets up at 2:30 every summer morning. He rolls up his sleeves, and falls to work at once, and he never stops until 9:30 at night. A clean nineteen hours. During that time he feeds his voracious young two hundred and six times.
“The blackbird starts work at the same time as the thrush, but he ‘lays off’ earlier. His whistle blows at 7:30, and during his seventeen-hour day he sets about one hundred meals before his kiddies.
“The titmouse is up and about at three in the morning and his stopping time is nine at night. A fast worker, the titmouse is said to feed his young four hundred and seventeen meals—meals of caterpillar mainly—in the long, hard, hot day.”—Green’s Fruit Grower.
(1597)
INDUSTRY VERSUS IDLENESS