Chapter 58

While the lamp holds out to burn,The vilest sinner may return.

While the lamp holds out to burn,

The vilest sinner may return.

An old Saxon king had some serious trouble with his subjects: they murmured against him and at last rose up in rebellion. The king set out to subdue them, and soon the well-disciplined troops won a decided victory over the tatterdemalion horde opposing them. Having conquered, the king determined to show mercy. He adopted the novel expedient of placing a candle in the window of his castle and proclaiming that all should be pardoned who returned “while the candle burns.” (Text.)

(2016)

Merit—SeePraise, Unnecessary.

MERIT COUNTS

An instance of a work published not because of its merit, but “from a cold and calculating publisher’s point of view of very doubtful sale,” is McMaster’s “History of the United States.”The manuscript of the first volume was sent to the house by the author without introduction or comment of any kind. The author was a young tutor in mathematics at Princeton, had published nothing on any historical subject, and as far as any one knew at Princeton, had made no special historical study. It appeared that one very prominent New York house had declined to risk the publication of the work, and the historical expert of the house could not bring himself to recommend it as a reasonable publishing venture. Finally, the senior member of the firm read the manuscript himself, and decided to undertake the venture, believing in its probable success. The author was written to, he presented himself for the first time, being personally unknown in the office, and arrangements for the publication of this most popular and successful work were concluded within ten minutes.—Appleton’s Magazine.

An instance of a work published not because of its merit, but “from a cold and calculating publisher’s point of view of very doubtful sale,” is McMaster’s “History of the United States.”

The manuscript of the first volume was sent to the house by the author without introduction or comment of any kind. The author was a young tutor in mathematics at Princeton, had published nothing on any historical subject, and as far as any one knew at Princeton, had made no special historical study. It appeared that one very prominent New York house had declined to risk the publication of the work, and the historical expert of the house could not bring himself to recommend it as a reasonable publishing venture. Finally, the senior member of the firm read the manuscript himself, and decided to undertake the venture, believing in its probable success. The author was written to, he presented himself for the first time, being personally unknown in the office, and arrangements for the publication of this most popular and successful work were concluded within ten minutes.—Appleton’s Magazine.

(2017)

Merit Recognized—SeeInconspicuous Workers.

MERIT WINS

Dr. S. Parkes Cadman tells this story of the late Dudley Buck, the well-known musical composer:

He was offered a thousand dollars by the managers of the Cincinnati Festival for a score which should embody solos, choruses and the accompanying orchestration. He promptly refused the offer, because it was not an open one to all competitors. Thereupon the managers threw it open, and the result was that Mr. Buck sent in “Marmion” and his setting of “The Golden Legend” under a nom de plume, and, of course, its merits won the prize.

(2018)

Merriment Misplaced—SeeDrunkenness, The Tragedy of.

MESSAGE, A TIMELY

In the “Life of Lord Tennyson,” by his son, a story is told of a New England clergyman who once wrote to Tennyson telling him how, one Sabbath, he was strangely imprest to drop his sermon, and recite “The Charge of the Light Brigade.” The congregation were shocked and later dismissed the pastor. Subsequently, a stranger called upon this clergyman, and told him how on that particular Sunday he had wandered into his church and heard him recite the famous poem; that he was in that charge; had fought at Gettysburg; and felt he had done something, and ought to be a man. Said the New England clergyman to the old England poet: “I lost my pulpit, but I saved a soul.”

(2019)

MESSAGE, A WELCOME

It is related that one day, when the arctic explorer Nansen was battling with the ice-floes in the Polar seas, a carrier-pigeon tapped at the window of Mrs. Nansen’s home at Christiania. Instantly the casement was opened, and the wife of the famous arctic explorer in another moment covered the little messenger with kisses and caresses. The carrier-pigeon had been away from the cottage thirty long months, but it had not forgotten the way home. It brought a note from Nansen stating that all was going well with him and his expedition in the Polar regions. He had fastened the message to the frail courier, and turned it loose into the frigid air. It flew like an arrow over a thousand miles of frozen waste, and then sped forward over another thousand miles of ocean and plain and forests, and one morning entered the window of the waiting mistress, and delivered the message for which she had been waiting so anxiously. (Text.)

(2020)

Messengers, Business—SeeTime-savers.

Meteorites—SeeHeavenly Visitors.

Meteorological Changes and Crime—SeeCrime, Epidemics of.

METHOD IN RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION

Mrs. Wesley carried her principle of method and a time-table into the realm of religion. She began surprizingly early. “The children were early made to distinguish the Sabbath from other days, and were soon taught to be still at family prayers, and to ask a blessing immediately afterward, which they used to do by signs, before they could kneel or speak!” The cells of each infantile brain were diligently stored with passages of Scripture, hymns, collects, etc. Prayer was woven into the fabric of every day’s life. The daily lesson of each child was set in a framework of hymns. Later, certain fixt hours were assigned to each member of the household, during which the mother talked with the particular child for whom that hour was set aside.—W. H. Fitchett, “Wesley and His Century.”

(2021)

Method in Service—SeeService, Method of.

Methods, Imperfect—SeeGravitation, Law of.

METHODS IN RELIGION

Francis Newman once tried to explain to Dr. Martineau the difference between his own religious attitude and that of his eminent brother, the cardinal. “It is a matter of faith,” he said. “I have faith, and the cardinal has none. The cardinal comes to a river, and believes that he can not possibly cross it unless he takes a particular boat with a particular name painted on it. But I believe that I can swim.” (Text.)—Francis Gribble,The Fortnightly Review.

(2022)

Mettle that Wins—SeeLoads, Balking Under.

Microbes—SeeCleansing, Difficulty of.

MILITANT EVANGELISM

Robert Collyer told me the other day of a big-hearted, big-fisted old clergyman in Yorkshire who was so determined to convert the wild, wicked dwellers on the moors that when they refused to come into church on Sunday, he would rush out of his pulpit, spring into a crowd of cock-fighters outside the chapel, knock some of them down with his brawny fist, collar them, drag them in, and then administer gospel truths right and left to the rascals.—James T. Fields.

(2023)

MILITARISM

This is merely what eight years’ increase in army and navy has cost the American people:

Average annual cost of army and navy for the eight years preceding the Spanish War (1890–1898), $51,500,000.Average annual cost of army and navy for the eight years since the Spanish War (1902–1910), $185,400,000.Average yearly increase in the latter period as compared with the former, $134,000,000, making a total increase in eight years of $1,072,000,000, or 360 per cent.This eight-year increase exceeds the national debt by $158,000,000.It exceeds the entire budget of the United States for 1910.It is twice as much as the highest estimate of carrying out the deep water-ways projects.It is nearly three times the estimated cost of replanting the 56,000,000 acres of denuded forest land in the United States.It is three times the estimated cost of the Panama Canal, including purchase price from the French company.It is three times the cost of carrying out the whole irrigation program contemplated within a generation.It is probably enough to banish tuberculosis from the United States within a reasonable time, if efficiently used to arouse and assist the people in their fight against this dread disease. More than 160,000 are dying yearly from this cause.It is $60 for every family in the United States.It lays a yearly tax of 1¼ per cent on the total wages paid in the United States, on the supposition that wages average $600 to the family; and we pay it in the higher price of our goods.Interest on this sum at 4 per cent would give an income of $1,000 a year forever to 42,880 families—a city of 200,000.The increase for 190–09 is only $13,000,000 less than all the gifts to charities, libraries, educational institutions, and other public causes in 1909, which reached the vast total of $185,000,000.The cost of a battleship would build a macadam road of approved construction between the cities of Chicago and New York.The Congressional Library at Washington, the finest library building in the world,was built for little over half the cost of a battleship, and is maintained for three-fourths the cost of keeping her afloat.Fifty manual training-schools could be built and equipped with necessary tools and appliances for the cost of a battleship, teaching the rudiments of a trade to 75,000 young people each year.The cost of a few battleships wisely spent in the fight against tuberculosis in New York City, coupled with proper legislation and cooperation of the people, would probably render this disease as rare in a generation or two as is smallpox to-day.—By courtesy of the Peace Society.

Average annual cost of army and navy for the eight years preceding the Spanish War (1890–1898), $51,500,000.

Average annual cost of army and navy for the eight years since the Spanish War (1902–1910), $185,400,000.

Average yearly increase in the latter period as compared with the former, $134,000,000, making a total increase in eight years of $1,072,000,000, or 360 per cent.

This eight-year increase exceeds the national debt by $158,000,000.

It exceeds the entire budget of the United States for 1910.

It is twice as much as the highest estimate of carrying out the deep water-ways projects.

It is nearly three times the estimated cost of replanting the 56,000,000 acres of denuded forest land in the United States.

It is three times the estimated cost of the Panama Canal, including purchase price from the French company.

It is three times the cost of carrying out the whole irrigation program contemplated within a generation.

It is probably enough to banish tuberculosis from the United States within a reasonable time, if efficiently used to arouse and assist the people in their fight against this dread disease. More than 160,000 are dying yearly from this cause.

It is $60 for every family in the United States.

It lays a yearly tax of 1¼ per cent on the total wages paid in the United States, on the supposition that wages average $600 to the family; and we pay it in the higher price of our goods.

Interest on this sum at 4 per cent would give an income of $1,000 a year forever to 42,880 families—a city of 200,000.

The increase for 190–09 is only $13,000,000 less than all the gifts to charities, libraries, educational institutions, and other public causes in 1909, which reached the vast total of $185,000,000.

The cost of a battleship would build a macadam road of approved construction between the cities of Chicago and New York.

The Congressional Library at Washington, the finest library building in the world,was built for little over half the cost of a battleship, and is maintained for three-fourths the cost of keeping her afloat.

Fifty manual training-schools could be built and equipped with necessary tools and appliances for the cost of a battleship, teaching the rudiments of a trade to 75,000 young people each year.

The cost of a few battleships wisely spent in the fight against tuberculosis in New York City, coupled with proper legislation and cooperation of the people, would probably render this disease as rare in a generation or two as is smallpox to-day.—By courtesy of the Peace Society.

(2024)

SeeArmies of the World, Naval Powers and Armaments;Navies of the World;War and Racial Fertility.

United States S. S. North Dakota

Forty Y. M. C. A. buildings could be built and equipped throughout for the cost of a battleship, each building accommodating the young men in a city of 200,000 people.One 26,000-ton battleship ($12,000,000) + 20 years’ upkeep at $800,000 a year,—$28,000,000: Then the junk heap.$28,000,000: 1,400 churches at $20,000 each, 7,000 farms at $4,000 each, a college education for 14,000 men or women at $500 a year for four years.

Forty Y. M. C. A. buildings could be built and equipped throughout for the cost of a battleship, each building accommodating the young men in a city of 200,000 people.

One 26,000-ton battleship ($12,000,000) + 20 years’ upkeep at $800,000 a year,—$28,000,000: Then the junk heap.

$28,000,000: 1,400 churches at $20,000 each, 7,000 farms at $4,000 each, a college education for 14,000 men or women at $500 a year for four years.

For past wars and preparation for war, $423,000,000, or 70 per cent.

Left for other purposes, $181,000,000, or 30 per cent.

The Way of MilitarismWhich benefits a few trusts and contractors and gives temporary and uneconomical employment, but which is rapidly impoverishing the nations.

The Way of Militarism

Which benefits a few trusts and contractors and gives temporary and uneconomical employment, but which is rapidly impoverishing the nations.

Ordinary income of the United States for 1908–09, $604,000,000.

Our generation has not accepted Christ’s ideal of non-resistance, gentleness and humility. We believe inDreadnaughtsand armed regiments. At our conferences in The Hague and Mohonk we plead for peace; at our capitals we vote uncounted millions for cannon and bombshells. Disclaiming hypocrisy, we excuse ourselves by saying that the best way to preserve peace is to prepare for war, when in our hearts we know that a man who carries a concealed revolver in his pocket is a thousand times more likely to slay any chance enemy than if he had left his weapon at home or hurled it into the sea. We admire and love the Quaker—but we want him to stay in Philadelphia; the man we send to Washington must argue for us that a nation needs a war about once in thirty years.—N. D. Hillis.

(2025)

Military Sagacity—SeeRetreat Discouraged.

Millennial Possibilities—SeeFuture Welfare.

Mind—SeeMastery.

MIND-ACTIVITY

Dr. R. S. Storrs points out the activity of the mind and its persistence under great limitations in these words:

A universal spasmodic disease masters the organs of locomotion, so that the arm or the limb will remain in any posture, however unnatural, in which it is placed. The senses are usually entirely sealed, of no more avail than if they were obliterated. And the continued pulsation, with the warmth which this maintains in the system, are the only indications that life remains. Yet there have been authentic instances in which the mind, thus shrouded from sight, instead of being destroyed, impaired, or even limited, in its central force, has been stimulated to a more amazing activity, by being thus crowded, as it were, into a corner of its realm; and has feared and agonized, or has triumphed and exulted, with a vividness of experience altogether unaccustomed.

(2026)

Mind and Will Conquering Circumstances—SeePhysical Weakness Overcome.

MIND-HEALING

The story is told of a woman who called on a physician for nervous trouble. She was a woman whose ailments had worried and excited her to such a degree that she was threatened with nervous prostration. Said the doctor: “Madam, what you need is to read your Bible more.” She promptly began to take offense at the strange prescription. He told her he meant it. “Go home and read your Bible an hour a day; then come back to me a month from to-day.” She thought over the matter, recalled the fact that tho she was a professing Christian she had been neglecting to read her Bible, and so she decided to take his advice. At the end of the month she came back to the office a well woman. She felt like a different person. She needed no medicine. (Text.)

(2027)

MIND, THE HUMAN

In the yard stands the locomotive. It is a masterpiece of the mechanic’s art. Burnished and lubricated journals fit in boxes and connecting-rods are welded to connection. Valves, pistons and wheels are all ready for the harmonious interplay which makes this mass of metal a thing of power. The twin rails beckon it to be on its way; the machine itself pants impatiently; impulsively sobs the pop-valve. But the locomotive waits, must wait for the driver’s will. Not stoutest boiler or greatest head of steam can draw the train until the man reveals his mind to the locomotive.—T. C. McClelland.

(2028)

MINIATURE WORK

I have to-day a paper at home, as long as half my hand, on which was photographed the whole contents of a London newspaper. It was put under a dove’s wing, and sent into Paris, where they enlarged it, and read the news.—Wendell Phillips.

(2029)

Minister, The Little—SeeChild Religion.

MINISTRY, DIFFICULTIES OF THE

It is sometimes in order for the members of one profession to plume themselves at the expense of another. Especially does it seem to be the thought at times that the ministry is peculiarly a profession of ease. That there is a truer and deeper view, however, is seen in the following:

A barrister, accustomed to practise in criminal courts, made sneering remarks concerningpreachers. “If,” said he, “I were to address a jury in the average way you clergymen do I should never get a conviction.” The elderly clergyman to whom he spoke, replied: “If you had to address the same jury 104 times a year, and your object was not to get them to give a verdict against some other person—which they might be willing to do—but to induce them to convict themselves, I doubt if you would do any better than we do.” Silence on the part of the barrister. (Text.)

(2030)

MINUTE, IMPORTANCE OF A

’Twas only a minute that would not stay,But how many noticed its flight?And yet for one it parted the way,Betwixt life’s bloom and its blight.It pointed the new-born baby’s breath,First felt on the mother’s breast;For another it sounded the summons of deathAnd a weary one gone to his rest.At that moment two souls were together wedTill death should call them apart;Another to virtue bowed his headAnd consecrated his heart.Ah! big was the moment that flitted away,And hardly one noticed its flight;And hundreds of minutes make up the day,And hundreds are lost in the night.—Benjamin Reynolds Bulkeley,New England Magazine.

’Twas only a minute that would not stay,But how many noticed its flight?And yet for one it parted the way,Betwixt life’s bloom and its blight.

’Twas only a minute that would not stay,

But how many noticed its flight?

And yet for one it parted the way,

Betwixt life’s bloom and its blight.

It pointed the new-born baby’s breath,First felt on the mother’s breast;For another it sounded the summons of deathAnd a weary one gone to his rest.

It pointed the new-born baby’s breath,

First felt on the mother’s breast;

For another it sounded the summons of death

And a weary one gone to his rest.

At that moment two souls were together wedTill death should call them apart;Another to virtue bowed his headAnd consecrated his heart.

At that moment two souls were together wed

Till death should call them apart;

Another to virtue bowed his head

And consecrated his heart.

Ah! big was the moment that flitted away,And hardly one noticed its flight;And hundreds of minutes make up the day,And hundreds are lost in the night.—Benjamin Reynolds Bulkeley,New England Magazine.

Ah! big was the moment that flitted away,

And hardly one noticed its flight;

And hundreds of minutes make up the day,

And hundreds are lost in the night.

—Benjamin Reynolds Bulkeley,New England Magazine.

(2031)

MIRACLES

Whether the miracles of Jesus really happened or are merely legendary I do not know, and, if I may say it without irreverence, I do not care. They are not necessary to my Christianity, which, to say the truth, can better do without them. What is it to me, and to such as me, whether, in the little village of Bethany, Jesus did or did not raise to life one poor dead body, when I know that in the centuries since he has raised to life millions of dead souls? And what, after all, does it matter whether on the shores of the lake of Galilee on a late afternoon nearly two thousand years ago he gave one meal to five thousand persons by feeding them with a few loaves and fishes, when I know that all the world over, every day, every night, this very night, he is feeding countless millions of the poor, the opprest and the broken-hearted, making them forget their hunger and thirst and all the sufferings of their earthly existence in the bread of the Spirit that is the bread of life?—Hall Caine,Christian Commonwealth.

(2032)

Some wealthy Africans, with whom Kruger was traveling in the desert, found the food-hampers gone astray. “You are a great believer in miracles, Oom Paul,” said one of them. “Why can’t you arrange for heaven to send me victuals by the crows, as they were sent by the ravens to Elijah.” “Because,” said Oom, dryly, “Elijah was a prophet with a mission; you are a fool with an appetite.”

(2033)

MIRACLES, EVIDENTIAL VALUE OF

Whatever effect or lack of effect miracles have on modern minds, the following account shows that they are of first value to simple-minded natives. The writer is Sophie B. Titterington:

When the rumor flew around Aniwa that “Missi” (Dr. John G. Paton), was trying to dig water out of the ground, the old Christian chief tenderly labored with him. “Oh, Missi, your head is going wrong. Don’t let our people hear you talking about going down into the earth for rain, or they will never listen to your word, or believe you again.”But the island was greatly in need of good water, and Dr. Paton dug away at the well, single-handed. It was hard, weary work. He hired some of the natives with fish-hooks to get out three pailfuls each, still doing most of the heavy work himself. But when the well was twelve feet deep, one side of it caved in. This gave the loving, troubled old chief another plea. He represented that if Missi had been in the hole that night, he would have been killed, and an English warship would have come to find out what had happened to the white man. They would not believe that Missi had gone into that hole of his own accord, but would punish them for his supposed murder.When he was thirty feet down the earth became damp. That evening he said to the old chief with earnest solemnity, “I think that Jehovah God will give us water to-morrow from that hole.”“No, Missi,” the faithful old fellow sighed. “You will never get rain coming up from the earth in Aniwa. We expect daily, if you reach water, to see you drop into the sea where the sharks will eat you!”At daybreak. Dr. Paton went down and made a little hole in the center of the bottomof his well. He says: “I trembled in every limb when the water rushed up and began to fill the hole. Muddy tho it was, I eagerly tasted it, and the little cup almost dropt from my hand in sheer joy, and I fell upon my knees in that muddy bottom to praise the Lord. It was water! It was living water from Jehovah’s well!”With superstitious fear the people gazed upon the jugful their Missi carried up. The old chief shook it, touched it, tasted it. “Rain! rain. Yes, it is rain!”The back of heathenism was broken. A new order of things began in Aniwa. Family prayers and reverence for the Sabbath spontaneously grew up. The wonderful transformation which was wrought in the Aniwans became household talk all over the world. All this was hastened because the ambassador of Jehovah God had done what none of the gods of the islanders could have done—brought up rain from the ground! (Text.)

But the island was greatly in need of good water, and Dr. Paton dug away at the well, single-handed. It was hard, weary work. He hired some of the natives with fish-hooks to get out three pailfuls each, still doing most of the heavy work himself. But when the well was twelve feet deep, one side of it caved in. This gave the loving, troubled old chief another plea. He represented that if Missi had been in the hole that night, he would have been killed, and an English warship would have come to find out what had happened to the white man. They would not believe that Missi had gone into that hole of his own accord, but would punish them for his supposed murder.

When he was thirty feet down the earth became damp. That evening he said to the old chief with earnest solemnity, “I think that Jehovah God will give us water to-morrow from that hole.”

“No, Missi,” the faithful old fellow sighed. “You will never get rain coming up from the earth in Aniwa. We expect daily, if you reach water, to see you drop into the sea where the sharks will eat you!”

At daybreak. Dr. Paton went down and made a little hole in the center of the bottomof his well. He says: “I trembled in every limb when the water rushed up and began to fill the hole. Muddy tho it was, I eagerly tasted it, and the little cup almost dropt from my hand in sheer joy, and I fell upon my knees in that muddy bottom to praise the Lord. It was water! It was living water from Jehovah’s well!”

With superstitious fear the people gazed upon the jugful their Missi carried up. The old chief shook it, touched it, tasted it. “Rain! rain. Yes, it is rain!”

The back of heathenism was broken. A new order of things began in Aniwa. Family prayers and reverence for the Sabbath spontaneously grew up. The wonderful transformation which was wrought in the Aniwans became household talk all over the world. All this was hastened because the ambassador of Jehovah God had done what none of the gods of the islanders could have done—brought up rain from the ground! (Text.)

(2034)

Mirror, The, as a Revealer—SeeSelf-inspection.

MISCALCULATION

What is said to be the largest plow in the world was made some years ago at Bakersfield, Cal. This plow was the result of the ingenuity of a ranch superintendent, who had authority to make improvements, but not to introduce steam-plows. The superintendent had grown very tired of preparing three thousand acres of land for wheat with ordinary nine- or twelve-inch plows drawn by two horses.He argued that if two horses could pull a twelve-inch plow, six horses could pull a plow thirty-six inches wide, and that eight horses could pull a plow forty-eight inches wide. He made the calculations carefully, and, being clever with his pencil, made drawings also, and sent for blacksmiths and machinists to construct a plow on his principle.Some simple folk told him that his great plow would not work, but they contented themselves with saying this dogmatically, without giving any mathematical reason therefore. So the superintendent went on with his plans.The blacksmiths and machinists finished the plow in due time. The share was made to cut a fifty-inch furrow; the top of it reached five feet above the ground, to give room to throw the earth. The beam was more than a foot thick; but the machine was constructed to run between two great wheels, so that it could be turned around easily; and on the axle between these wheels was the seat for the man who was to drive the ten horses which were hitched to it.The plow was brought to the great field, the ten horses were attached to it, the handles were raised, the driver mounted his seat, and the team was started. But as soon as the share struck well into the ground the horses stopt short. They were stuck fast. And yet the plow had not gone too deeply into the earth. But it was evident that they could not pull the plow. More horses were brought out, but not until fifty were attached did the plow move along.Even then it required four men to hold the handles, in order to keep the plow in the furrow. It was an economic failure.Then the superintendent, through the intervention of some one who was a better mathematician than he, learned that he should have cubed the capacity of his twelve-inch plow every time he doubled the width of it.—Harper’s Weekly.

He argued that if two horses could pull a twelve-inch plow, six horses could pull a plow thirty-six inches wide, and that eight horses could pull a plow forty-eight inches wide. He made the calculations carefully, and, being clever with his pencil, made drawings also, and sent for blacksmiths and machinists to construct a plow on his principle.

Some simple folk told him that his great plow would not work, but they contented themselves with saying this dogmatically, without giving any mathematical reason therefore. So the superintendent went on with his plans.

The blacksmiths and machinists finished the plow in due time. The share was made to cut a fifty-inch furrow; the top of it reached five feet above the ground, to give room to throw the earth. The beam was more than a foot thick; but the machine was constructed to run between two great wheels, so that it could be turned around easily; and on the axle between these wheels was the seat for the man who was to drive the ten horses which were hitched to it.

The plow was brought to the great field, the ten horses were attached to it, the handles were raised, the driver mounted his seat, and the team was started. But as soon as the share struck well into the ground the horses stopt short. They were stuck fast. And yet the plow had not gone too deeply into the earth. But it was evident that they could not pull the plow. More horses were brought out, but not until fifty were attached did the plow move along.

Even then it required four men to hold the handles, in order to keep the plow in the furrow. It was an economic failure.

Then the superintendent, through the intervention of some one who was a better mathematician than he, learned that he should have cubed the capacity of his twelve-inch plow every time he doubled the width of it.—Harper’s Weekly.

(2035)

MISER, A WORTHLESS

A certain John Hopkins, familiarly known in his day for his rapacity as “Vulture Hopkins,” lived a worthless life but died possest of a million and a half dollars, left so as not to be inherited until after the second generation, so that, as he said, “his heirs would be as long spending it as he had been in getting it.” Pope preserved his memory in this couplet:

“When Hopkins dies a thousand lights attendThe wretch who, living, saved a candle’s end.”

“When Hopkins dies a thousand lights attend

The wretch who, living, saved a candle’s end.”

Such a life is properly to be condemned, altho its results may be useful to a subsequent generation.

(2036)

Miserliness—SeeMammon-worship;Saving Disapproved.

MISERY AN EDUCATOR

How often I had traced the boy who had robbed the box-car with unerring precision to the big, lawless business man who controlled or directed a trust, debauched a legislature, bought a senatorship or united with the gamblers and dive-keepers to steal a public franchise. Why was there so much kindness and so little justice? Why were men good to children, to churches and universities, and still so unjust? And when the other fights were won, the fights for the playgrounds,the detention home school, the juvenile court and all it implies, the biggest fight of all was yet ahead. But that little fight helped us to see the necessity for the big fight. We were being educated through the misery and misfortune of the children.—Ben B. Lindsey,The Survey.

(2037)

MISERY EXCITING SYMPATHY

The subjects which especially awakened the pencil of Thomas Rowlandson were the denizens of the squalid quarters of London. Muther says of him: “The cry of misery rising from the pavement of great cities had been first heard by Rowlandson, and the pages on which he drew the poor of London are a living dance of death of the most ghastly veracity.” (Text.)

(2038)

Misfortune—SeeDesires Inordinate.

Misfortune, Meeting—SeeNature, Enjoyment of.

MISFORTUNE, SUPERIORITY TO

The Caucasian mountaineers have this proverb: “Heroism is endurance for one moment more.” The fact is recognized that the human spirit, with its dominating force, the will, may be and ought to be superior to all bodily sensations and accidents of environment. In a recent psychological story called “My Friend Will,” Charles F. Lummis pays a striking tribute to the power of the human mind over accident and chance, when he makes his “friend Will” say: “I am bigger than anything that can happen to me; all those things—sorrow, misfortune and suffering—are outside my door. I’m in the house and I’ve got the key!” (Text.)

(2039)

Misrepresentation Rebuked—SeeHonesty in Business.

MISSION FRUIT

A young married woman, wife of a Mohammedan, was lying ill in one of the mission hospitals in North India. While there she was daily taught of the love and compassion of the Savior, and she soon desired to know and serve Him. Her husband was told of her wish and was exceedingly angry and had her removed immediately from the hospital. He prohibited the mission ladies from visiting her. But just before the conveyance came to take her away she called the doctor and missionary to her and said: “I can be taken away from you, but not from Christ, for I can pray to Him even behind the purdah, but I want you to remember my desire. You know Jesus well, I only know Him a little; when you meet me at the judgment seat of heaven, just go to Him and tell Him who I am and how anxious I was to publicly confess Him on earth. Make it plain to Him, please.”

(2040)

There is an old Indian legend that a poor man threw a bud of charity into Buddha’s bowl and it blossomed into a thousand flowers. So we throw the bud of Christian truth into isolated and scattered communities, into the far-off lands, and lo, it bursts forth into a thousand fragrant blossoms and bears fruit in every activity of human life.—J. A. Huntley.

(2041)

The first fruits of the gospel on mission fields are growing and ripening by the river of the water of life, day by day. No more weighty proof of the success of missions can be found than the transformation of individual character and the every-day life.

One of the Chinese brethren is a ferryman, poor in money, but rich in faith. One evening he ferried a passenger over the river, who had a lot of things tied up in a cloth. After throwing the cash for his fare into the bottom of the boat, the man departed hurriedly. The Christian went to pick up the money, and found a pair of gold bracelets, worth $400, which the man had dropt. He tied up his boat and tried to find the man, but he was lost in the crowd. The boatman went home much troubled. According to Chinese law, he could keep them if unclaimed. After prayer, he decided to go to the chapel. The preacher heard the story. Said he: “Your passenger doubtless was a robber, and these things have been stolen. I will go with you to the mandarin, and we will give the bracelets up to him. A search will be made, and the owner found.”This was done, and the mandarin said: “Well, I have never seen or heard anything like this. Your religion must be a true religion, and your God a living God, thus to influence a poor man to give up wealth for conscience’s sake.” (Text.)

This was done, and the mandarin said: “Well, I have never seen or heard anything like this. Your religion must be a true religion, and your God a living God, thus to influence a poor man to give up wealth for conscience’s sake.” (Text.)

(2042)

SeeTransformation.

MISSION SURGERY

On many fields missionaries have found that ministry to the ills of the body has assisted in the conversion of souls. Thus in Formosa:

Dr. Mackay, a well-known medical missionary, has found it a help to his work to minister to bodily ills. He extracted twenty-one thousand teeth in twenty-one years, and thirty-nine thousand in all, and has dispensed considerable medicine. Extracting teeth is cheaper than dealing out medicine, for beyond the instrument there is no outlay. The natives have lost all faith in their old doctors.—Pierson, “The Miracles of Missions.”

(2043)

Mission Work—SeeService with Hardship.

MISSIONARIES, MEDICAL

Africa has 135,000,000 inhabitants and 75 medical missionaries.India has 300,000,000 inhabitants and 200 medical missionaries.China has 350,000,000 inhabitants and 241 medical missionaries.Japan has 42,000,000 inhabitants and 15 medical missionaries.Turkey has 22,000,000 inhabitants and 38 medical missionaries.Persia has 9,000,000 inhabitants and 11 medical missionaries.Burmah has 7,500,000 inhabitants and 9 medical missionaries.India alone contains 66,300 lunatics, 153,000 deaf and dumb, 354,000 blind and 400,000 lepers.All missionary hospitals (Protestant) in the world can accommodate 100,000 in-patients and 2,500,000 outpatients annually.

Africa has 135,000,000 inhabitants and 75 medical missionaries.

India has 300,000,000 inhabitants and 200 medical missionaries.

China has 350,000,000 inhabitants and 241 medical missionaries.

Japan has 42,000,000 inhabitants and 15 medical missionaries.

Turkey has 22,000,000 inhabitants and 38 medical missionaries.

Persia has 9,000,000 inhabitants and 11 medical missionaries.

Burmah has 7,500,000 inhabitants and 9 medical missionaries.

India alone contains 66,300 lunatics, 153,000 deaf and dumb, 354,000 blind and 400,000 lepers.

All missionary hospitals (Protestant) in the world can accommodate 100,000 in-patients and 2,500,000 outpatients annually.

These facts point to the need of men and means in order that the world may be Christianized.

(2044)

SeeMedical Missions.

MISSIONARIES’ MISTAKES

Prof. Harlan P. Beach, in an address before the Fifth International convention of the Student Volunteer Movement for foreign missions on the subject “Efficiency is limited and the kingdom is retarded by violating reasonable standards of taste or propriety,” said:

In speaking on this subject, I can show its importance, perhaps, by an incident which happened about twenty years ago near Peking. One night I heard a loud knocking at the outer gate of our compound. The gatekeeper went out and was astonished to see a dust-laden, wobegone new missionary. He had arrived at Tientsin, his station, about four days before. He found himself in a new community, where he could not get his bearings, and had come to our station to learn what to do from two of our prominent missionaries. I was glad to meet the newcomer, but I said, “Why did you arrive so late?” “Well,” he replied, “I couldn’t help it.” I looked at his cart; he had three mules attached to it tandem by a great tangle of ropes. He added: “The trouble is, I had hardly gotten started from Tientsin when this front mule, who is young, took a notion that he would desert the beaten track. He left the roadway suddenly before the carter could prevent it and made a dash straight for a china-shop. There was a terrific crash. The ropes got caught between the legs of the second mule and dragged him over into a great lot of jars which went to pieces, and even the wheel-mule, hemmed in by the vast timbers that do duty as shafts in China, yielding to the shock, crashed into the china-shop.” It took a long time to get that difficulty righted, and hence he was late.This incident illustrates my subject in six respects: (1) Missionaries, like those mules, make many breaks; (2) they usually make them at the start; (3) the breaks are generally due to ignorance, or to wilfulness; (4) the work of missions is retarded greatly by these mistakes, just as my friend was delayed until late that night; (5) mistakes of missionaries involve their associates, as the action of this frisky front mule brought the whole outfit into disrepute; (6) what is most important of all, they bring loss to superiors. Those mules were mere animals, but there was a carter there and also my friend, who was anxious to hasten the coming of the kingdom that he took the trip at great inconvenience for that very purpose. Tho we missionaries are only rarely mules, we are all and always servants of a great Master, and are retarding His cause and bringing reproach upon His name and upon the Church of God, if we are guilty of such breaches of etiquette as are suggested by this parable.

This incident illustrates my subject in six respects: (1) Missionaries, like those mules, make many breaks; (2) they usually make them at the start; (3) the breaks are generally due to ignorance, or to wilfulness; (4) the work of missions is retarded greatly by these mistakes, just as my friend was delayed until late that night; (5) mistakes of missionaries involve their associates, as the action of this frisky front mule brought the whole outfit into disrepute; (6) what is most important of all, they bring loss to superiors. Those mules were mere animals, but there was a carter there and also my friend, who was anxious to hasten the coming of the kingdom that he took the trip at great inconvenience for that very purpose. Tho we missionaries are only rarely mules, we are all and always servants of a great Master, and are retarding His cause and bringing reproach upon His name and upon the Church of God, if we are guilty of such breaches of etiquette as are suggested by this parable.

(2045)

MISSIONARY, A, IN THE MAKING

At the age of ten, David Livingstone went to work in the cotton factory as a piecer, and after some years was promoted to be a spinner. The first half-crown he earned he gave to his mother. With part of his first week’s wages he bought a Latin text-book and studied that language with ardor in an evening class between eight and ten. He had to be in the factory at six in the morning and his work ended at eight at night. But by working at Latin until midnight he mastered Vergil and Horace by the time he was sixteen. He used to read in the factory by putting the book on the spinning-jenny so that he could catch a sentence at a time as he passed at his work. He was fond of botany and geology and zoology, and when he could get out would scour the country for specimens.—Robert E. Speer, “Servants of the King.”

(2046)

MISSIONARY, A LITTLE

“I can not afford it,” said John Hale, the rich farmer, when asked to give to the cause of missions.Harry, his wide-awake grandson, was grieved and indignant.“But the poor heathen,” he replied; “is it not too bad they can not have churches and schoolhouses and books?”“What do you know about the heathen?” exclaimed the old man testily. “Do you wish me to give away my hard earnings? I tell you, I can not afford it.”But Harry was well posted in missionary intelligence, and day after day puzzled his curly head with plans for extracting money for the noble cause from his unwilling relative. At last, seizing an opportunity when his grandfather was in a good humor over the election news, he said: “Grandfather, if you do not feel able to give money to the missionary board, will you give a potato?”“A potato?” ejaculated Mr. Hale, looking up from his paper.“Yes, sir; and land enough to plant it in, and what it produces for four years?”“Oh, yes!” replied the unsuspecting grandparent, settling his glasses on his calculating nose in such a way that showed he was glad to escape on such cheap terms from the lad’s persecution.Harry planted the potato, and it rewarded him the first year by producing nine; these, the following season, became a peck; the next, seven and a half bushels, and when the fourth harvest came, lo, the potato had increased to seventy bushels. And, when sold, the amount realized was put with a glad heart into the treasury of the Lord. Even the aged farmer exclaimed: “Why, I did not feel that donation in the least! And, Harry, I’ve been thinking that if there were a little missionary like you in every house, and each one got a potato, or something else as productive, for the cause, there would be quite a large sum gathered.”—Friend for Boys and Girls.

“I can not afford it,” said John Hale, the rich farmer, when asked to give to the cause of missions.

Harry, his wide-awake grandson, was grieved and indignant.

“But the poor heathen,” he replied; “is it not too bad they can not have churches and schoolhouses and books?”

“What do you know about the heathen?” exclaimed the old man testily. “Do you wish me to give away my hard earnings? I tell you, I can not afford it.”

But Harry was well posted in missionary intelligence, and day after day puzzled his curly head with plans for extracting money for the noble cause from his unwilling relative. At last, seizing an opportunity when his grandfather was in a good humor over the election news, he said: “Grandfather, if you do not feel able to give money to the missionary board, will you give a potato?”

“A potato?” ejaculated Mr. Hale, looking up from his paper.

“Yes, sir; and land enough to plant it in, and what it produces for four years?”

“Oh, yes!” replied the unsuspecting grandparent, settling his glasses on his calculating nose in such a way that showed he was glad to escape on such cheap terms from the lad’s persecution.

Harry planted the potato, and it rewarded him the first year by producing nine; these, the following season, became a peck; the next, seven and a half bushels, and when the fourth harvest came, lo, the potato had increased to seventy bushels. And, when sold, the amount realized was put with a glad heart into the treasury of the Lord. Even the aged farmer exclaimed: “Why, I did not feel that donation in the least! And, Harry, I’ve been thinking that if there were a little missionary like you in every house, and each one got a potato, or something else as productive, for the cause, there would be quite a large sum gathered.”—Friend for Boys and Girls.

(2047)

MISSIONARY ACCOMPLISHMENTS

When the American missionaries came to the Sandwich Islands, they struck off the shackles from the whole race, breaking the power of the kings and chiefs. They set the common man free, elevated his wife to a position of equality with him, and gave a piece of land to each to hold forever. They set up schools and churches, and imbued the people with the spirit of the Christian religion. If they had had the power to augment the capacities of the people, they could have made them perfect; and they would have done it, no doubt.The missionaries taught the whole nation to read and write, with facility, in the native tongue. I don’t suppose there is to-day a single uneducated person above eight years of age in the Sandwich Islands! It is the best educated country in the world, I believe. That has been all done by the American missionaries. And in a large degree it was paid for by the American Sunday-school children with their pennies. I know that I contributed.—Samuel L. Clemens.

The missionaries taught the whole nation to read and write, with facility, in the native tongue. I don’t suppose there is to-day a single uneducated person above eight years of age in the Sandwich Islands! It is the best educated country in the world, I believe. That has been all done by the American missionaries. And in a large degree it was paid for by the American Sunday-school children with their pennies. I know that I contributed.—Samuel L. Clemens.

(2048)

MISSIONARY ADAPTATION

In 1881 James Robertson left the pastorate to accept the newly created post of superintendent of home missions for Manitoba and the Northwest. He set off at once on his first missionary tour, driving two thousand miles, at first through heat and dust and rain and then through frosts and blizzards. He preached where he could, and was not to be discouraged by any situation. Once, coming to a settlement late on a Saturday evening, where the largest building was the hotel and the largest room the bar, he inquired of the hotel man:“Is there any place where I can hold a service to-morrow?” “Service?” “Yes, a preaching service.” “Preaching? Oh, yes, I’ll get you one,” he replied with genial heartiness. Next day Mr. Robertson came into the bar, which was crowded with men. “Well, have you found a room for myservice?” he inquired of his genial host. “Here you are, boss, right here. Get in behind that bar and here’s your crowd. Give it to ’em. God knows they need it.”Mr. Robertson caught the wink intended for the boys only. Behind the bar were bottles and kegs and other implements of the trade; before it men standing up for their drinks, chaffing, laughing, swearing. The atmosphere could hardly be called congenial, but the missionary was “on to his job,” as the boys afterward admiringly said. He gave out a hymn. Some of the men took off their hats and joined in the singing, one or two whistling the accompaniment. As he was getting into his sermon one of the men, evidently the smart one of the company, broke in:“Say, boss,” he drawled, “I like yer nerve, but I don’t believe yer talk.” “All right,” replied Mr. Robertson, “give me a chance. When I get through you can ask any questions you like. If I can I will answer them; if I can’t I’ll do my best.”The reply appealed to the sense of fair play in the crowd. They speedily shut up their companion and told the missionary to “fire ahead,” which he did, and to such good purpose that when he had finished there was no one ready to gibe or question. After the service was closed, however, one of them observed earnestly: “I believe every word you said, sir. I haven’t heard anything like that since I was a kid, from my Sunday-school teacher. I guess I gave her a pretty hard time. But look here, can’t you send us a missionary for ourselves? We’ll chip in, won’t we, boys?”—Robert E. Speer, “Servants of the King.”

“Is there any place where I can hold a service to-morrow?” “Service?” “Yes, a preaching service.” “Preaching? Oh, yes, I’ll get you one,” he replied with genial heartiness. Next day Mr. Robertson came into the bar, which was crowded with men. “Well, have you found a room for myservice?” he inquired of his genial host. “Here you are, boss, right here. Get in behind that bar and here’s your crowd. Give it to ’em. God knows they need it.”

Mr. Robertson caught the wink intended for the boys only. Behind the bar were bottles and kegs and other implements of the trade; before it men standing up for their drinks, chaffing, laughing, swearing. The atmosphere could hardly be called congenial, but the missionary was “on to his job,” as the boys afterward admiringly said. He gave out a hymn. Some of the men took off their hats and joined in the singing, one or two whistling the accompaniment. As he was getting into his sermon one of the men, evidently the smart one of the company, broke in:

“Say, boss,” he drawled, “I like yer nerve, but I don’t believe yer talk.” “All right,” replied Mr. Robertson, “give me a chance. When I get through you can ask any questions you like. If I can I will answer them; if I can’t I’ll do my best.”

The reply appealed to the sense of fair play in the crowd. They speedily shut up their companion and told the missionary to “fire ahead,” which he did, and to such good purpose that when he had finished there was no one ready to gibe or question. After the service was closed, however, one of them observed earnestly: “I believe every word you said, sir. I haven’t heard anything like that since I was a kid, from my Sunday-school teacher. I guess I gave her a pretty hard time. But look here, can’t you send us a missionary for ourselves? We’ll chip in, won’t we, boys?”—Robert E. Speer, “Servants of the King.”

(2049)

Missionary Beginnings—SeeOne, Winning.

MISSIONARY CALL

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