Chapter 68

What Cato did and Addison approvesMust needs be right.

What Cato did and Addison approves

Must needs be right.

While such susceptibility to pessimistic writing as was shown by Berth and Budgell is, of course, extremely rare, it is nevertheless, a fact that an author who depicts life in dreary colors is sure to exert a most undesirable influence over many of his readers. The force of this applies to all kinds of writing. Whether a man pens an epic poem or a newspaper editorial, the tone of his philosophy is sure to leave its ultimate effect on those who peruse his words.—New YorkWorld.

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Pessimists, The, and the Optimists—SeeLoads, Balking Under.

PEST, CONTAGIOUS

The Survey, in commenting on Dr. H. G. Beyer’s statement at a recent conference of the New York Academy of Medicine that the fly is “not merely a pest but an epidemic,” says:

One fly lays 120 eggs in the season, and as each of these eggs takes but ten days to reach maturity, it has been computed that twelve flies surviving the winter will produce 40,000 the following summer. When to thisestimate of numbers is added the experimentally proved fact that one fly carries upon his legs alone anywhere between one and six million bacteria, there seems little exaggeration in Dr. Beyer’s characterization.Observation has shown that the fly is omnivorous and ubiquitous, and that, certain unsanitary conditions being fulfilled, where-ever the fly is, there also are certain diseases. In regard to these diseases the most startling evidence is given for typhoid, but careful experiments have shown that no less than ten others, among them tuberculosis, carbuncle, cholera, tapeworm and summer diarrhea, have been spread by flies, and there is good reason to believe that smallpox, leprosy and diphtheria might be added to the list.It is the omnivorousness of the fly, together with his choice of breeding-places, that makes him a menace to health. A fruitful source of disease bacteria is damp, decaying organic matter, and it is just such matter, usually stable refuse, that is used for a breeding-place by flies. Experiments with young flies fresh from the breeding-ground showed them to have live bacteria either on the outside of their bodies or in the digestive tracts. This same decayed organic matter is also the food of the fly, but with true democracy of taste he is glad to share man’s food also, and it is this willingness to take his dessert out of the sugar-bowl after a dinner of decayed fish that constitutes his chief danger to man.

Observation has shown that the fly is omnivorous and ubiquitous, and that, certain unsanitary conditions being fulfilled, where-ever the fly is, there also are certain diseases. In regard to these diseases the most startling evidence is given for typhoid, but careful experiments have shown that no less than ten others, among them tuberculosis, carbuncle, cholera, tapeworm and summer diarrhea, have been spread by flies, and there is good reason to believe that smallpox, leprosy and diphtheria might be added to the list.

It is the omnivorousness of the fly, together with his choice of breeding-places, that makes him a menace to health. A fruitful source of disease bacteria is damp, decaying organic matter, and it is just such matter, usually stable refuse, that is used for a breeding-place by flies. Experiments with young flies fresh from the breeding-ground showed them to have live bacteria either on the outside of their bodies or in the digestive tracts. This same decayed organic matter is also the food of the fly, but with true democracy of taste he is glad to share man’s food also, and it is this willingness to take his dessert out of the sugar-bowl after a dinner of decayed fish that constitutes his chief danger to man.

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Pests—SeeBarriers;Piracy, Bird;Remedy for Pests.

Pests, Utilizing—SeeIngenuity.

PEW, IF I WERE IN THE

There are a great many things which can be done by those in the pew to assist the ministry, and to better the Church and her services. Here are a few of them. If I were in the pew:

I would acquire the habit of getting to church on time, for then I would get the full benefit of the service and would not disturb others by my late arrival.I would have my regular seat, and see that it is occupied every Sunday.I would have my entire family with me on the same bench.Upon reaching my seat, I would kneel, or bow the head in a few words of silent prayer, asking the Lord to prepare my heart for a season of spiritual worship and the acceptance of the truths and instructions presented by His messengers.I would join in the singing with my whole soul, not making it a mere word or note service, as it often is.While public prayer is being offered, I would have a personal, silent prayer of my own to offer. This prayer would be short, so that, when through with it, I could follow the trend of the one who is praying aloud.I would greet every stranger and make him feel that I appreciated his coming to worship with us.I would see that every visiting member or stranger is invited into some home for lodging and entertainment. I would not forget to be hospitable.I would frequently invite the minister into my home, feeling that his presence would increase the spirituality of my family.I would not criticize the minister, the sermon, or the church, before my children, or non-church-members. I would exercise the greatest charity toward them all.I would frequently remember the minister with little gifts and tangible assistance, and thus help to share the sacrifices he makes for the Church—which means me and my family.I would occasionally call on the minister in his home.I would not be slow to praise him for his successes, and encourage him in his efforts. If I had any suggestions for his improvement, I would make them in a tactful, kindly way.I would actively cooperate with the minister in every church work.I would attend all council-meetings, and endeavor to increase the spirituality, peace, and prosperity of the Church.—O. H. Yereman,Gospel Messenger.

I would acquire the habit of getting to church on time, for then I would get the full benefit of the service and would not disturb others by my late arrival.

I would have my regular seat, and see that it is occupied every Sunday.

I would have my entire family with me on the same bench.

Upon reaching my seat, I would kneel, or bow the head in a few words of silent prayer, asking the Lord to prepare my heart for a season of spiritual worship and the acceptance of the truths and instructions presented by His messengers.

I would join in the singing with my whole soul, not making it a mere word or note service, as it often is.

While public prayer is being offered, I would have a personal, silent prayer of my own to offer. This prayer would be short, so that, when through with it, I could follow the trend of the one who is praying aloud.

I would greet every stranger and make him feel that I appreciated his coming to worship with us.

I would see that every visiting member or stranger is invited into some home for lodging and entertainment. I would not forget to be hospitable.

I would frequently invite the minister into my home, feeling that his presence would increase the spirituality of my family.

I would not criticize the minister, the sermon, or the church, before my children, or non-church-members. I would exercise the greatest charity toward them all.

I would frequently remember the minister with little gifts and tangible assistance, and thus help to share the sacrifices he makes for the Church—which means me and my family.

I would occasionally call on the minister in his home.

I would not be slow to praise him for his successes, and encourage him in his efforts. If I had any suggestions for his improvement, I would make them in a tactful, kindly way.

I would actively cooperate with the minister in every church work.

I would attend all council-meetings, and endeavor to increase the spirituality, peace, and prosperity of the Church.—O. H. Yereman,Gospel Messenger.

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PHILANTHROPY

Dr. John Barnardo, who devoted his life to the rescue and cure of poor children, tells the experiences here quoted:

A lady on one occasion came to Stepney in her carriage. A child was in it. I granted her an interview, and she laid down five 100-pound notes, saying they were mine if I would take the child and ask no questions. I did not take the child. Again, a well-known peer of the realm once sent his footman here with £100, asking me to take the footman’s son. No. The footmancould support his child. Gold and silver will never open my doors unless there is real destitution.“It is to the homeless,” said the doctor, “the actually destitute, that we open our doors day and night, without money and without price.” (Text.)—Westminster Gazette, London.

“It is to the homeless,” said the doctor, “the actually destitute, that we open our doors day and night, without money and without price.” (Text.)—Westminster Gazette, London.

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PHILANTHROPY, PRACTICAL

Samuel Saucerman is the originator of the “Trimmer Band,” which is an unique and effective method of promoting temperance and thrift in the young, from nine to sixteen years of age. To every boy in the State of Iowa who will take the pledge toabstain from tobacco in every form,intoxicating liquor,gamblingandprofane language, Mr. Saucerman will give $1.00 upon his joining one of these “Trimmer Bands,” and will pay himone cent a day for three years, andanother$1.00 at the end of that period. Members of these “Bands” are urged to save their nickels and dimes, which would otherwise be spent for tobacco and liquor, and also hold monthly meetings to discuss economy, finance, clean living, and everything in line with industry and morals. To show good faith, each boy must deposit 50 cents with his first dollar, and at the end of the three years, even if he has not himself saved a cent, he will have $12.00. The object is to establish habits of saving, which will enable every boy at twenty-one to have saved sufficient to start him in life, or to go to college.—James T. White, “Character Lessons.”

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Photography of Germs—SeeInvisible, The, Made Visible.

Physical Ailments—SeeRemedies, Strange.

Physical Training—SeePlay and Morals.

PHYSICAL WEAKNESS OVERCOME

Rev. W. F. Crafts, Ph.D., writes of the success of scores of men who were born physically defective:

The list includes club-footed Byron, halting Akenside, frail Spinoza, deformed Malebranche, disfigured Sam Johnson, Walter Scott, “a pining child”; Sir Isaac Newton, “who might have been put in a quart pot when born”; Voltaire, who was for some time too small and weak to christen; Charles Sumner, who weighed three and a half pounds at birth; Lyman Beecher, who weighed but three pounds at first, and was laid aside by his nurse to die; Goethe, Victor Hugo, and D’Alembert, who were so weak at birth that they also were not expected to live, and also Pope, Descartes, Gibbon, Kepler, Lord Nelson, Sir Christopher Wren, James Watt, John Howard, Washington Irving, William Wilberforce, and many others whom the world has delighted to honor as mental giants—a list that well-born children could hardly match—whose bodily weakness in infancy in any but a Christian land would have marked them as unworthy to be raised to manhood. The study of such a group ought to be an inspiration to boys handicapped by any physical weakness, and it also suggests that mind and will may conquer the most adverse circumstances.

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Pibroch, The—SeeMusic of Despair and of Hope.

PICTURE, RECORD PRICE FOR

Frans Hals was the hero of the evening at the Yerkes sale at Mendelssohn Hall, April 7, 1910. His “Portrait of a Woman” brought the highest price of the evening, $137,000, the highest price ever given for a picture at a sale in America and $8,000 more than the record-breaking price of the evening before, $129,000, which was paid for a wonderful Turner.The dear old Dutch woman whose portrait Frans Hals painted more than 400 years ago could never have dreamed, if her practical soul was given to anything in the nature of visions, of ever being worth, in any form, so very many thousand dollars. She was the calmest-looking person in the hall when the curtains were drawn aside and she was revealed sitting quietly in her big chair, a wide ruff around her plump throat, a close cap encircling her placid face, one hand at her waist as she sat primly for her portrait, the other at her side clasping her Bible.—New YorkTimes.

The dear old Dutch woman whose portrait Frans Hals painted more than 400 years ago could never have dreamed, if her practical soul was given to anything in the nature of visions, of ever being worth, in any form, so very many thousand dollars. She was the calmest-looking person in the hall when the curtains were drawn aside and she was revealed sitting quietly in her big chair, a wide ruff around her plump throat, a close cap encircling her placid face, one hand at her waist as she sat primly for her portrait, the other at her side clasping her Bible.—New YorkTimes.

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Pictures—SeePiety.

PICTURES, INFLUENCE OF

It pays to spend thought on the pictures we put on our walls. A charming woman once said:“My earliest impression is a picture that hung on the wall over my bed and which I had to look at the last thing every night before I went to sleep. It was that of a whitehorse upon the back of which was crouched the body of a fierce tiger, with his teeth and claws embedded in the flesh of the horse. The blood ran down from the wounds and the whole thing was frightful to me. I went to sleep every night afraid and very uncomfortable. This picture is as vivid to me to-day as tho I was looking at the real thing, and will never be erased.”If that had been the picture of “The Guardian Angel,” or “The Evening Prayer,” or some one of the many that are pleasing and that teach some beautiful lesson, that woman would have had a happier remembrance, and would be better both physically and morally.—Religious Telescope.

It pays to spend thought on the pictures we put on our walls. A charming woman once said:

“My earliest impression is a picture that hung on the wall over my bed and which I had to look at the last thing every night before I went to sleep. It was that of a whitehorse upon the back of which was crouched the body of a fierce tiger, with his teeth and claws embedded in the flesh of the horse. The blood ran down from the wounds and the whole thing was frightful to me. I went to sleep every night afraid and very uncomfortable. This picture is as vivid to me to-day as tho I was looking at the real thing, and will never be erased.”

If that had been the picture of “The Guardian Angel,” or “The Evening Prayer,” or some one of the many that are pleasing and that teach some beautiful lesson, that woman would have had a happier remembrance, and would be better both physically and morally.—Religious Telescope.

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While we empower the police to put down with a strong hand the exhibition in shop windows, and the censor of stage plays and spectacles to interdict the parade in theaters of pictures and scenes of an “immoral” character, because it is recognized that these have a tendency to corrupt the mind of youth—and age, too—nothing whatever is done to restrain the daily increasing evil of pictorial placards displayed on every boarding, and of highly-wrought scenes produced at nearly all the theaters, which not only direct the thoughts, but actively stir the passions of the people in such way as to familiarize the average mind with murder in all its forms, and to break down that protective sense of “horror” which nature has given us, with the express purpose, doubtless, of opposing an obstacle to the evil influence of the exemplification of homicide. It does seem strange—passing strange—that this murder culture by the educationary use of the pictorial art has not been checked by public authority. We have no wish to make wild affirmations, but knowing what we do, as observers of development, we can have no hesitation in saying that the increasing frequency of horribly brutal outrages is by no means unaccountable. The viciously inclined are, in a sense, always weak-minded—that is to say, they are especially susceptible to influences moving them in the direction their passions incline them to take; and when the mind (or brain) is imprest through the senses, and particularly the sense of sight, in such manner as to produce mental pictures, either in waking thoughts or dreams of homicide, the impulsive organism is, as it were, prepared for the performance of the deeds which form the subjects of the consciousness. We are, of course, writing technically; but the facts are indisputable, and we trust they will be sufficiently plain. It is high time that this ingenious and persistent murder-culture should cease.—LondonLancet.

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PICTURESQUE

Thomas Rowlandson, the artist, at one time in his career devoted himself to book illustration, in a series of plates on Goldsmith, Fielding, Smollett, Sterne and other humorists of his day. It was this that led William Combe, then in a debtors’ prison, and who had never met the artist, to write his humorous poem, “Dr. Syntax in Search of the Picturesque.”

Ought not every Dr. Syntax of the pulpit or platform go in search of the picturesque? (Text.)

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PIETY

In considering the pictures of sacred subjects produced in the early ages of faith and simplicity, we must not forget that the chief intention of the artist was to stimulate the piety of the spectator, and not to make a “pretty” picture. Thus it is recorded of the saintly Florentine monk, Fra Angelico (1387–1455), that before he began the painting of a religious subject he fasted and prayed, and that while he was at work on his picture he always remained kneeling.—Frederick Keppel, “Christmas in Art.”

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PILGRIM, THE

Charlotte Wilson, inScribner’s, writes a song of the pilgrim who minds not the hardships or fortunes of the road so he but reaches the goal of the journey:

Ah, little Inn of Sorrow,What of thy bitter bread?What of thy ghostly chambers,So I be shelterèd?’Tis but for a night, the firelightThat gasps on thy cold hearthstone;To-morrow my load and the open roadAnd the far light leading on!Ah, little Inn of Fortune,What of thy blazing cheer,Where glad through the pensive eveningThy bright doors beckon clear?Sweet sleep on thy balsam-pillows,Sweet wine that will thirst assuage—But send me forth o’er the morning earthStrong for my pilgrimage!Ah, distant End of the Journey,What if thou fly my feet?What if thou fade before meIn splendor wan and sweet?Still the mystical city lureth—The quest is the good knight’s part;And the pilgrim wends through the end of the endsToward a shrine and a Grail in his heart.(Text.)

Ah, little Inn of Sorrow,

What of thy bitter bread?

What of thy ghostly chambers,

So I be shelterèd?

’Tis but for a night, the firelight

That gasps on thy cold hearthstone;

To-morrow my load and the open road

And the far light leading on!

Ah, little Inn of Fortune,What of thy blazing cheer,Where glad through the pensive eveningThy bright doors beckon clear?Sweet sleep on thy balsam-pillows,Sweet wine that will thirst assuage—But send me forth o’er the morning earthStrong for my pilgrimage!

Ah, little Inn of Fortune,

What of thy blazing cheer,

Where glad through the pensive evening

Thy bright doors beckon clear?

Sweet sleep on thy balsam-pillows,

Sweet wine that will thirst assuage—

But send me forth o’er the morning earth

Strong for my pilgrimage!

Ah, distant End of the Journey,What if thou fly my feet?What if thou fade before meIn splendor wan and sweet?Still the mystical city lureth—The quest is the good knight’s part;And the pilgrim wends through the end of the endsToward a shrine and a Grail in his heart.(Text.)

Ah, distant End of the Journey,

What if thou fly my feet?

What if thou fade before me

In splendor wan and sweet?

Still the mystical city lureth—

The quest is the good knight’s part;

And the pilgrim wends through the end of the ends

Toward a shrine and a Grail in his heart.(Text.)

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Pilgrimage—SeeJourney to Heaven.

Pilgrimage, The Mecca—SeeMecca, Influence of.

PILOT, NEED OF

A man who spurns the guidance of others or of God is like this self-confident sea captain:

A bright boy went to sea; he loved it and rose to quick promotion. While quite a young man he became master of a ship. One day a passenger spoke to him upon the voyage, and asked if he should anchor off a certain headland, supposing he would anchor there, and telegraph for a pilot to take the vessel into port.“Anchor! no, not I. I mean to be in dock with the morning tide.”“I thought perhaps you would signal for a pilot.”“I am my own pilot,” was the curt reply.Intent upon reaching port by morning he took a narrow channel to save distance. Experienced sailors on board shook their heads dubiously, while cautious passengers besought the young captain to take a wider course. He only laughed at their fears and declared he would be in dock by daybreak. A sudden squall swooped down upon them; wild alarm spread throughout the vessel. Enough to say that the captain was ashore earlier than he promised—tossed sportively upon the weedy beach, a dead thing that the waves were weary of, and his ship and freight were scattered over the angry sea. The glory of that young man was strength; but he was his own pilot.

“Anchor! no, not I. I mean to be in dock with the morning tide.”

“I thought perhaps you would signal for a pilot.”

“I am my own pilot,” was the curt reply.

Intent upon reaching port by morning he took a narrow channel to save distance. Experienced sailors on board shook their heads dubiously, while cautious passengers besought the young captain to take a wider course. He only laughed at their fears and declared he would be in dock by daybreak. A sudden squall swooped down upon them; wild alarm spread throughout the vessel. Enough to say that the captain was ashore earlier than he promised—tossed sportively upon the weedy beach, a dead thing that the waves were weary of, and his ship and freight were scattered over the angry sea. The glory of that young man was strength; but he was his own pilot.

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SeeChrist Our Pilot.

PIRACY, BIRD

The BuffaloEvening Newsgives us the following from the city forester of that city:

A war of extermination has been declared against the English sparrow by the Department of Agriculture, which has just issued a bulletin on the subject in which this busy, fighting bird is outlawed as a pirate of the air. It is declared that he studiously hunts and eats insects which are beneficial to plant life, while he more or less passes over those which are harmful. The only good thing he does is to eat the seed of weeds and prevent their spread. Aside from that there is nothing to be said in his favor.More than that, he is murderous. He hunts the nesting-places and destroys eggs and young bluebirds, house-wrens, tree-swallows and barn-swallows. The robin, the catbird, and the mocking-bird he attacks and drives out of parks and shade-trees. He has no song, but he drives out the song-birds and brings only noise in return.After having learned all this about the sparrow after an extensive investigation, the Department of Agriculture describes various ways to destroy him.City Forester Filer said yesterday he has not seen a copy of the bulletin, but that he agrees with its conclusions. “There is a good deal of justice in declaring the English sparrow a pirate,” said Mr. Filer. “These birds were originally imported to New York to get rid of an insect pest, the linden moth, which that city was then fighting. The sparrow didn’t like these moths, and he doesn’t like any caterpillar with fuzz on it, and he took to the streets for his living. They spread and multiplied very fast.“The robin is the only other bird we have in Buffalo in numbers and the sparrows eat their eggs. In the parks we have a few other varieties, but they are not numerous, and the sparrows are not as plentiful in the parks as they are in the streets, where they prefer to get their living.“Most of the destructive moths, particularly the gipsy, tussock and browntail, have hairy caterpillars, and the sparrows will not eat them, so they are no good for that purpose.”

More than that, he is murderous. He hunts the nesting-places and destroys eggs and young bluebirds, house-wrens, tree-swallows and barn-swallows. The robin, the catbird, and the mocking-bird he attacks and drives out of parks and shade-trees. He has no song, but he drives out the song-birds and brings only noise in return.

After having learned all this about the sparrow after an extensive investigation, the Department of Agriculture describes various ways to destroy him.

City Forester Filer said yesterday he has not seen a copy of the bulletin, but that he agrees with its conclusions. “There is a good deal of justice in declaring the English sparrow a pirate,” said Mr. Filer. “These birds were originally imported to New York to get rid of an insect pest, the linden moth, which that city was then fighting. The sparrow didn’t like these moths, and he doesn’t like any caterpillar with fuzz on it, and he took to the streets for his living. They spread and multiplied very fast.

“The robin is the only other bird we have in Buffalo in numbers and the sparrows eat their eggs. In the parks we have a few other varieties, but they are not numerous, and the sparrows are not as plentiful in the parks as they are in the streets, where they prefer to get their living.

“Most of the destructive moths, particularly the gipsy, tussock and browntail, have hairy caterpillars, and the sparrows will not eat them, so they are no good for that purpose.”

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Placards—SeePictures, Influence of.

PLACE, FILLING ONE’S

Sir Michael Costa was once rehearsing with a vast array of performers and hundreds of voices, when, in the mighty chorus, amid the thunder of the organ, and the roll of drums, and the blare of brass instruments, and the clashing of cymbals, he suddenly stopt and exclaimed, “Where is the piccolo?” That little instrument had ceased to play,and the great master of music missed it.

So in life’s chorus, the least man can make or mar it by faithfulness or neglect. (Text.)

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PLACE, IN THE RIGHT

The rainbow is one of the most beautiful things in nature. It is made by a series and succession of falling drops, the series stretching across the sky, and the successive drops catching the reflection and refraction left by the drop below. Each drop has but a minute ray among the millions, and has this but for an instant as it comes into the right angle with the sun; but all together and in succession spread wide the beautiful arch of hope and promise. Each of us is among God’s creatures only as a single drop in the broad shower, and only for a little is our opportunity; but if we are in our place and in the right angle toward God, we may help spread His glory far and wide.—Franklin Noble, “Sermons in Illustration.”

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PLAGIARISM, DETECTION OF

A man might as well hoist a ladder in a village at noonday and try to steal the town clock without being observed as to expect to carry off literary ware in our time and not be found out. The newspaper editor, scissors in hand and mucilage on the table, sits up to his chin in exchanges from the four winds of heaven. Beside that, all the world is traveling now. Fares are so cheap and transportation so rapid that before every preacher, and before every lecturer, and before every religious exhorter, there may sit persons from the most unexpected quarter, and if they heard three years ago something delivered in New Orleans which you delivered in Brooklyn, the discovery will be reported. Quote from all books you can lay your hands on. Quote from all directions. It is a compliment to have breadth of reading to be able to quote. But be sure to announce it as a quotation. Ah! how many are making a mistake in this thing; it is a mistake that a man can not afford to make. Four commas upside down—two at the beginning of the paragraph, two at the close of the paragraph—will save many a man’s integrity and usefulness.—T. De Witt Talmage.

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PLAN IN NATURE

There are several hundred thousand different kinds of animals living on this globe of the different types. Every one of them has its line of development. Every sparrow begins with the egg, and goes through all the changes which are characteristic of sparrow life, until it is capable of producing new eggs, which will go through the same change. Every butterfly comes from the egg, which produces the caterpillar, which becomes a chrysalis, and then a butterfly, laying eggs to go through the same changes. So with all animals, whether of higher or lower type. In fact, the animal kingdom as it is now, is undergoing greater changes every year than the whole animal kingdom has ever passed through from the beginning until now; and yet we never see one of these animals swerve from the plan pointed out, or produce anything else than that which is like itself.—Prof. Louis Agassiz.

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PLAN, LACK OF

Emerson tells that when on a trip to New Hampshire he found a large building going up in a country town. Struck by its ungainly and rambling appearance, he asked a man who was working at it, who the architect was. And the reply was, “Oh, there isn’t any architect settled on as yet. I’m just building it, you see, and there’s a man coming from Boston next month to put the architecture into it.”

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PLANS, HUMAN, TRANSCENDED

The Rev. W. H. Fitchett says of John Wesley:

Had Wesley done nothing more than preach or write his memory might have failed. But at this stage Wesley links himself by one great achievement, not merely to English history, but to the history of religion. He creates a church! He did not do this consciously, or of deliberate purpose. He strove, indeed, not to do it; he protested he would never do it. But as history shows, he actually did it! And since history is not so much philosophy teaching by examples as God interpreting Himself by events, we are entitled to say that Wesley, in laying the foundations of a new church, did something that, no doubt, outran his own human vision, but which fulfilled a divine purpose.—“Wesley and His Century.”

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PLANT WORSHIP

The plant worship which holds so prominent a place in the history of the primitive races of mankind, would appear to havesprung from a perception of the beauty and utility of trees. Survivals of this still linger on in many parts of Europe. The peasants in Bohemia will sally forth into their gardens before sunrise on Good Friday, and falling upon their knees before a tree will exclaim: “I pray, O green tree, that God may make thee good.” At night-time they will run to and fro about their gardens crying: “Bud, O trees, bud, or I will flog you.” In England the Devonshire farmers and their men will to this day go out into their orchards after supper on the evening of Twelfth Day, carrying with them a large milk-pail of cider, with roasted apples prest into it. All present hold in their hands an earthenware cup filled with liquor, and taking up their stand beneath those apple-trees which have borne the most fruit, address them in these words:

Health to thee, good apple-tree,Well to bear pocketfuls, hatfuls,Peckfuls, bushel bagfuls!

Health to thee, good apple-tree,

Well to bear pocketfuls, hatfuls,

Peckfuls, bushel bagfuls!

simultaneously dashing the contents of their cups over the trees.—The Gentleman’s Magazine.

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Planting That Multiplied—SeeMissionary, A Little.

PLAY AND MORALS

Play is related to morals. As we learn from Judge Lindsey: “The whole question of juvenile law-breaking—or at least nine-tenths of it—is a question of children’s play. A boy who breaks the law is in nine cases out of ten not a criminal. He is obeying an instinct that is not only legitimate, but vital, and which, if it finds every lawful channel choked up, will seek an outlet at the next available point. The boy has no especial desire to come in conflict with the laws and usages of civilized society.” Give a boy an opportunity to play at his favorite game, and the policeman will need, as Mr. Lee puts it, “a gymnasium himself to keep his weight down.” Give children playgrounds, and the same spirit and imagination which form rowdy gangs will form baseball clubs and companies for games and drills. Precinct captains attribute the existence of rowdyism and turbulence to lack of better playgrounds than the streets. They break lamps and windows because they have no other provision made for them. London, after forty years’ experience, says tersely, “Crime in our large cities is to a great extent simply a question of athletics.” “This is not theory, but is the testimony you will get from any policeman or schoolmaster who has been in a neighborhood before and after a playground was started there. The public playground is a moral agent, and should be in every community.” The play of youth needs careful and scientific direction, so as to develop active and manly qualities of mind and character.—George J. Fisher, “Proceedings of the Religious Education Association,” 1907.

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PLAY, COMMENDABLE

Lovely human play is like the play of the sun. There’s a worker for you. He, steady to his time, is set as a strong man to run his course, but also, he rejoiceth as a strong man to run his course. See how he plays in the morning, with the mists below, and the clouds above, with a ray here and a flash there, and a shower of jewels everywhere—that’s the sun’s play; and great human play is like his—all various—all full of light and life, and tender, as the dew of the morning.—John Ruskin.

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PLAY NECESSARY

The child has an artificial occupation named play through games. Having the food as raw material for the body, that food can be built into the physique only through the free play of the legs and arms, through exercise and fresh air. In Prospect Park we behold the maple bough pushing out a soft growth of one or two feet, and then the sap coursing through the young growth furnishes food; then comes the spring and summer winds to give the sap and the bough its exercise; playing with the leaves in the air, bending it, twisting it, hardening the young growth, until it can stand up against the storms of winter. And not otherwise does the growing child need its exercise. The little boy flings out his arm with the ball, and so stretches the arm. Then, when the arm is stretched, along comes the angel of the blood and drops in a little wedge, so that the stretched arm can not draw back. Thus the growth is permanent. This is the function of all the games for little children, to stretch the blood into the body and then by forcing the arterial blood into the extremities to make the stretching permanent. One thing, therefore, is vital, the playground. (Text.)—N. D. Hillis.

(2386)

PLAY, SIGNIFICANCE OF

When things become signs, when they gain a representative capacity as standing for other things, play is transformed from mere physical exuberance into an activity involving a mental factor. A little girl who had broken her doll was seen to perform with the leg of the doll all the operations of washing, putting to bed, and fondling, that she had been accustomed to perform with the entire doll. The part stood for the whole; she reacted not to the stimulus sensibly present, but to the meaning suggested by the sense object. So children use a stone for a table, leaves for plates, acorns for cups. So they use their dolls, their trains, their blocks, their other toys. In manipulating them, they are living not with the physical things, but in the large world of meanings, natural and social, evoked by these things. So when children play horse, play store, play house or making calls, they are subordinating the physically present to the ideally signified. In this way, a world of meanings, a store of concepts (so fundamental to all intellectual achievement), is defined and built up.—John Dewey, “How We Think.”

(2387)

PLAYFUL ATTITUDE, THE

Playfulness is a more important consideration than play. The former is an attitude of mind; the latter is a passing outward manifestation of this attitude. When things are treated simply as vehicles of suggestion, what is suggested overrides the thing. Hence the playful attitude is one of freedom. The person is not bound to the physical traits of things, nor does he care whether a thing really means (as we say) what he takes it to represent. When the child plays horse with a broom and cars with chairs, the fact that the broom does not really represent a horse, or a chair a locomotive, is of no account. In order, then, that playfulness may not terminate in arbitrary fancifulness and in building up an imaginary world alongside the world of actual things, it is necessary that the play attitude should gradually pass into a work attitude.—John Dewey, “How we Think.”

(2388)

PLAYTHINGS, EARTH’S

He begged me for the little toys at night,That I had taken, lest he play too long,The little broken toys—his sole delight.I held him close in wiser arms and strong,And sang with trembling voice the even-song.Reluctantly the drowsy lids drooped low,The while he pleaded for the boon denied.Then, when he slept, sweet dream, content to know,I mended them and laid them by his sideThat he might find them in the early light,And wake the gladder for this joyous sight.So, Lord, like children, at the even fallWe weep for broken playthings, loath to part,While Thou, unmoved, because Thou knowest all,Dost fold us from the treasures of our heart;And we shall find them at the morning-tideAwaiting us, unbroke and beautified.—Ainslee’s Magazine.

He begged me for the little toys at night,

That I had taken, lest he play too long,

The little broken toys—his sole delight.

I held him close in wiser arms and strong,

And sang with trembling voice the even-song.

Reluctantly the drowsy lids drooped low,The while he pleaded for the boon denied.Then, when he slept, sweet dream, content to know,I mended them and laid them by his sideThat he might find them in the early light,And wake the gladder for this joyous sight.

Reluctantly the drowsy lids drooped low,

The while he pleaded for the boon denied.

Then, when he slept, sweet dream, content to know,

I mended them and laid them by his side

That he might find them in the early light,

And wake the gladder for this joyous sight.

So, Lord, like children, at the even fallWe weep for broken playthings, loath to part,While Thou, unmoved, because Thou knowest all,Dost fold us from the treasures of our heart;And we shall find them at the morning-tideAwaiting us, unbroke and beautified.—Ainslee’s Magazine.

So, Lord, like children, at the even fall

We weep for broken playthings, loath to part,

While Thou, unmoved, because Thou knowest all,

Dost fold us from the treasures of our heart;

And we shall find them at the morning-tide

Awaiting us, unbroke and beautified.

—Ainslee’s Magazine.

(2389)

PLEASANT LOOKS

If one does not believe that his countenance adds to or detracts anything from the lives or expressions of others, let him pause for a moment before that now celebrated “Billiken.” It is almost impossible to look at the little imp and not smile. The Japanese teach their maids in the hotels, and those also in higher walks of life, the art of smiling. They are compelled to practise before a mirror. One can not stay long in Japan without being inoculated with the disposition to “look pleasant.” The “look pleasant, please,” of the photographer goes deeper than the photograph plate.No one wants to associate long with an animated vinegar cruet. A disposition is easily guessed from the angle of the corners of the mouth; a disposition is molded by compelling those angles to turn up or down. If a merry heart maketh a glad countenance, it is also true that a glad countenance maketh a merry heart—in the one who has it and in the one who beholds it. “Iron sharpeneth iron. So a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.”—Baptist Commonwealth.

No one wants to associate long with an animated vinegar cruet. A disposition is easily guessed from the angle of the corners of the mouth; a disposition is molded by compelling those angles to turn up or down. If a merry heart maketh a glad countenance, it is also true that a glad countenance maketh a merry heart—in the one who has it and in the one who beholds it. “Iron sharpeneth iron. So a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.”—Baptist Commonwealth.

(2390)

Pleasure a Deceiver—SeeSlaves of Pleasure.

PLEASURE, ETHICS OF

Mrs. Wesley discusses with exquisite good sense the whole ethics of pleasure:“Would you judge of the lawfulness or unlawfulness of pleasure take this rule:Whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, or takes off the relish of spiritual things—in short, whatever increases the strength and authority of your body over your mind, that thing is sin to you, however innocent it may be in itself.”The wisest of casuists might find it difficult to better that interpretation of human duty!—W. H. Fitchett, “Wesley and His Century.”

Mrs. Wesley discusses with exquisite good sense the whole ethics of pleasure:

“Would you judge of the lawfulness or unlawfulness of pleasure take this rule:Whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, or takes off the relish of spiritual things—in short, whatever increases the strength and authority of your body over your mind, that thing is sin to you, however innocent it may be in itself.”

The wisest of casuists might find it difficult to better that interpretation of human duty!—W. H. Fitchett, “Wesley and His Century.”

(2391)

PLEASURE, MOCKERY OF

In the days of the Inquisition cruel men deceived the prisoner, as pleasure and sensualism deceive the young now. With soft words the jailer promised the prisoner release on the morrow. When the appointed hour came he opened the door and pointed down the corridor, and oh, joy of joys! yonder was the green sward, cool with grass, and gay with tulips and crimson flowers. With a shout of joy the prisoner ran forward to cast himself upon the cool ground, but lo! it was a mockery, a delusion, a lying deceit. What afar off seemed grass was really sheet-iron painted in the similitude of verdure. What looked like red tulips and crimson flowers was iron beaten into the similitude of blossoms and heated red hot by flames underneath. Where coolness was promised scorching was given. The vista promised pleasure; it gave pain. And when a man or a woman looks upon the worldly life, with all its pleasures of appetite and physical sense, from afar off, it wears a brilliant aspect and a crimson hue. But near at hand the scene changes, and lo, the honey is bitter, all the fountains of peace are poisoned.—N. D. Hillis.

(2392)

PLEASURES, POISONOUS

A gentleman in Paris desired to buy a ring, and, as he tried on several rings in the jeweler’s store, he noticed one that was set with tiny eagle’s claws. The next day his hand began to swell. The doctor told him that he was poisoned, and on inquiry he found that the old ring came from Italy, and was once used for poisoning an enemy. For four centuries that particle of poison had remained between the eagle’s claws.

Watch the rings of pleasure which the world offers, there are within them the eagle’s claws with the poison. Those pleasures may sparkle with fascination and seem greatly desirable, but they mean death in the end. The poison is subtle; the claws are concealed; but at last poison and claws do their fatal work.

(2393)

Pledge—SeeLoyalty.

PLEDGE-KEEPING

The Archbishop of York, at a recent meeting, told how, when he was at Portsmouth, he had induced a working man to sign the pledge. The man said: “Ah, sir, I won’t be able to keep this pledge. Every night I have to pass ten public-houses, and my mates are with me, and we treat each other.”The archbishop said, “Do you think it would help you if I were to see you home?”At this the meeting broke out into a cheer.“Don’t cheer that,” said the archbishop; “that is the kind of work which the clergy are doing every day.” The man replied, “If you could only see me past these houses, I should get home all right.”

The archbishop said, “Do you think it would help you if I were to see you home?”

At this the meeting broke out into a cheer.

“Don’t cheer that,” said the archbishop; “that is the kind of work which the clergy are doing every day.” The man replied, “If you could only see me past these houses, I should get home all right.”

(2394)

PLUCK

What a characteristic story of poverty and pluck is that of Andrew Carnegie! His father, a Scotch weaver who worked with hand-looms, thrown out of employment by improved machinery, came to Pittsburg when “Andy” was but ten years of age. The boy went to work as a bobbin-boy at $1.20 a week. At thirteen he was promoted to the post of engineer of the factory engine. At fourteen he became telegraph boy, and was promoted at sixteen, for quick intelligence, to the post of telegraph operator at a salary of $300 a year. About this time his father died, and the support of the family devolved on him. He soon got a dollar a week extra for copying telegrams for the papers, which he called his “first bit of capital.” His salary went for household expenses, but the dollar surplus he invested wisely, first in the express business, then in sleeping-cars, and, finally, as an outcome of his management of transportation in the Civil War, in a plant to manufacture iron railway bridges. And so by alertness and economy and untiring energy he came to be the world’s most distinguished manufacturer and philanthropist, putting as much talent into giving as he had before put into getting.

(2395)

SeeCourage in Life;Stedfastness.

POET APPRECIATED

“If ‘W,’ at Haverhill, will continue to favor us with pieces as beautiful as the one inserted in our poetical department to-day, we shall esteem it a favor.” This note appeared in theFree Press, of Newburyport, Mass., June 8, 1826. The “W” referred to was John G. Whittier, then in his nineteenth year, and the editor of theFree Presswas William Lloyd Garrison, then in his twenty-first. “W” did continue to “favor us” with pieces quite as beautiful as the one inserted in theFree Pressin 1826; indeed, with pieces more and more beautiful, of a wider and deeper application to American life, until he was recognized—tho not till after many years—as the chief of the purely American poets, indebted to America and its life in the highest degree for his equipment in song.The first piece of “original poetry”—we are told by the sons of Mr. Garrison, in their admirable life of their father—was found lying near the door in the office of theFree Press. The editor, having a strong tendency to tear “original” sin—verse or otherwise—to pieces, says he had a momentary impulse to dispose of this in that way, without reading it; but summoning the resolution so needful in an editor, he read the poem and published it. He had the courage, moreover, to inquire about the writer, and found him to be a “Quaker lad who was daily at work on the shoemaker’s bench, with hammer and lapstone, at East Haverhill. Jumping into a vehicle, I lost no time,” says the editor, “in driving to see the youthful rustic bard, who came into the room with shrinking diffidence, almost unable to speak, and blushing like a maiden.” The parents of the lad were poor, “unable to give him a suitable education,” and unwilling, as being unable to, let him indulge in the unprofitable but delightful pursuit of verse-making. “Poetry will not give him bread,” they said, as many a father has had to say. But the poet, proverbially “born, not made,” is not easily unmade, since nature presides at the birth and fosters her own.—Journal of Education.

The first piece of “original poetry”—we are told by the sons of Mr. Garrison, in their admirable life of their father—was found lying near the door in the office of theFree Press. The editor, having a strong tendency to tear “original” sin—verse or otherwise—to pieces, says he had a momentary impulse to dispose of this in that way, without reading it; but summoning the resolution so needful in an editor, he read the poem and published it. He had the courage, moreover, to inquire about the writer, and found him to be a “Quaker lad who was daily at work on the shoemaker’s bench, with hammer and lapstone, at East Haverhill. Jumping into a vehicle, I lost no time,” says the editor, “in driving to see the youthful rustic bard, who came into the room with shrinking diffidence, almost unable to speak, and blushing like a maiden.” The parents of the lad were poor, “unable to give him a suitable education,” and unwilling, as being unable to, let him indulge in the unprofitable but delightful pursuit of verse-making. “Poetry will not give him bread,” they said, as many a father has had to say. But the poet, proverbially “born, not made,” is not easily unmade, since nature presides at the birth and fosters her own.—Journal of Education.

(2396)

Poetry and Religion—SeeReligion and Poetry.

POETRY, POPULAR POWER OF

Poetry is not always the possession of the mart and street, but in the case of a favored few who write, there is this high compliment of approval, as the following suggests:

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