T

King Victor Emmanuel returned to the ruins of Reggio to-day (January 1, 1909), and he has been indefatigable in succoring the afflicted. He traversed the ruins from one end to the other, comforting the sufferers and cheering the rescuers. At one point he came upon a man buried up to his waist in débris. He encouraged the unfortunate while the soldiers were digging him out. In the midst of the efforts at rescue the man cried:“Sire, I can wait for deliverance, but for God’s sake give me food and drink.”Meeting a group of photographers engaged in taking pictures, the King chided them for their occupation.“You had much better turn your efforts to succoring the afflicted,” said his Majesty.

“Sire, I can wait for deliverance, but for God’s sake give me food and drink.”

Meeting a group of photographers engaged in taking pictures, the King chided them for their occupation.

“You had much better turn your efforts to succoring the afflicted,” said his Majesty.

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Sympathy Wasted—SeeFancy, Deceptive.

SYMPATHY WITH ONE’S OWN CREATIONS

A writer inThe Criticsays:

I once saw it recorded of George Eliot, as a thing marvelous, incredible, and unique, that she actually wept over her own creations. This fact, so stated, made me wonder at the ignorance of the writer. Does anybody suppose that a moving situation was ever yet depicted, the writing of which did not cost the author anguish and tears? How could he move his readers if he were not first moved himself? It is an elementary maxim; you may find it in Horace. But it is a sign that one possesses imagination if one can laugh over the fortunes of one’s own puppets.

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SYNCHRONISM

There is a divine standard by which every man in the world can accurately regulate his life as these clocks are regulated.

The ease with which any number of electric clocks may be operated in synchronism is an advantage of no small moment. In factories, mills, and large manufacturing plants, where it is essential to have the exact time in all the rooms, the electric clock will prove of peculiar value. By removing the pendulums from all but one clock, with the others connected in circuit, the exact time can be kept with all the clocks in the plant. Furthermore, the regulation of timepieces by electric power from some central station is thus greatly simplified. With a wire running to the main clock of the plant, an exact regulation of all in the series could be instantly obtained. (Text.)—The Electrical Age.

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Synchrony—SeeChurch, Guidance for the.

Syntax, Absurd—SeeEnglish, Errors in.

SYSTEM IN LABOR

A full week’s work may be well divided according to a plan.

The father of Theodore Roosevelt was a wealthy business man and a Christian. A remarkable thing about him was that he worked five days a week attending strictly to business; one day he spent improving his own mind and heart, and one day doing good, visiting the poor and otherwise helping others. (Text.)

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System versus Men—SeeUnnatural Education.

TABOOED TOPICS IN THE EAST

The greatest danger of falling into verbal sin, perhaps, is that missionaries talk upon topics which are tabooed. For instance, you meet a friend whose shop is next to a house that has burned down, and you congratulate him upon it. It is an awful mistake, a most ill-omened remark. When Dr. Nassau, of Gabun, met some children and tried to cultivate the friendship of their mothers, he began to count them, which was unfortunate to the last degree. One can not talk about death in many countries without giving great offense. There are many other topics that are tabooed, but they can be learned about from native teachers.—H. P. Beach, “Student Volunteer Movement,” 1906.

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TACT

In 1747 Mr. John Brown was invited to become the pastor of a church at Hingham. There was but one opponent to his settlement, a man whom Mr. Brown won over by a stroke of good humor. He asked for the grounds of his opposition. “I like your person and your manner,” was the reply, “but your preaching, sir, I disapprove.” “Then,” said Mr. Brown, “we are agreed. I do not like my preaching very well myself, but how great a folly it is for you and me to set up our opinion against that of the whole parish.” The force of this reasoning appealed to the man, and he at once withdrew his objections.—The Argonaut.

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The impression that most people have regarding the life of kings and queens is that of everything in a costly and magnificent style. One of the admirable things about the life of King Edward VII at Sandringham Palace was its simplicity.

Court formality was laid aside and the king’s guests enjoyed themselves without restraint. As host and hostess King Edward and Queen Alexandra were notably hospitable, and the person who failed to enjoy himself at the royal table was indeed an unfortunate being. Many were the tales told about the king’s tact, as displayed toward his guests, not the least of which was one concerning the famous English sculptor, Alfred Gilbert. Gilbert received an invitation to Sandringham, and his servant, in the excitement of packing, omitted to put a pair of black shoes into his bag. When the sculptor arrived at the king’s residence he discovered, much to his dismay, that he must appear in tan shoes if he wished to attend dinner. His embarrassment was all the more keen because he was aware that the king disliked tan footgear. However, there was nothing for him to do but make the best of matters, and on the shoes went. In some mysterious manner word of Gilbert’s predicament reached the king’s ears, and when Edward appeared to greet his guest the latter was surprized to note that his host also wore tan shoes.

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At Bannockburn Lord Randolph Murray was being sorely prest by a large body of cavalry. Sir James Douglas got leave from Bruce to go to his aid, but just as he came up he found the English in disorder, and many horses galloping away with empty saddles. “Halt!” he cried to his men; “These brave men have already repulsed the enemy; let us not diminish their glory by seeking to share it.”—William Moodie.

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Colonel Nicholas Smith, in “Grant the Man of Mystery,” says:

Grant is often called “The Silent Man.” While he wrote with fluency and with great rapidity, it was difficult for him to express himself extemporaneously until after his Presidential career, and many interesting stories are told of his attempts to talk. A large body of ministers once called upon him and made a long address, to which he was compelled to reply. After a sentence or two, Mr. Fish noticed that his voice faltered, and fearing that he might be at a loss what to say, the secretary, standing next to him, caused a diversion by beginning to cough violently. The President afterward said to Mr. Fish, “How fortunate it was for me that you had that cough, as I had felt my knees begin to shake. I do not think that I could have spoken another word.”

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We may please and help and comfort the very same persons whom we may by different treatment irritate, bringing out the worst where we might with tact bring out the best that is in them. You take a piece of ribbon-grass and rub it from end to end and admire its velvet smoothness; but as you then rub it the other way you find it is pricking you as if malignantly. And one of the mysteries of electricity is that the same magnet with which you can attract by presenting one pole will repel if you present the other. (Text.)

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TACT, LACK OF

The natural effect of a lack of tact is seen in the man described below, who used the means to offend the very person who was to decide his fate.

Under no circumstances can a missionary, worthy of the name, be ever induced to say anything that would wound the susceptibilities or grieve the heart of one of his heathen or Mohammedan auditors. That is not necessary. They tell the story of a judge in Aleppo. He had but one eye. A person was condemned to prison, as he thought, unjustly. He rose before the judge and said: “Oh, one-eyed judge, I am imprisoned here on a false accusation; and I tell you, oh, one-eyed judge, that this man who has testified against me has received a bribe; and oh, one-eyed judge, if I do not get justice, I will report this case to the pasha; and if the pasha do not do justice, oh, one-eyed judge, I will report it to the sultan himself.” The judge rose from his seat in a rage and said: “Take the man back to prison. I won’t hear him plead before me and call me forever a one-eyed judge.”—Pierson, “The Miracles of Missions.”

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It is a good story which Chauncey M. Depew tells of a dinner that the late King Edward as Prince of Wales once gave in honor of James G. Blaine, on one of his visits to England before he had even been a candidate for the Presidency. The one disagreeable man at the dinner was a duke of the royal house, who had a reputation for lack of tact. During a lull in conversation he blurted out: “The greatest outrage in history was the revolt of your people against King George III. There was no justification for it then, and there is no excuse for it now.” The prince, according to Dr. Depew, was plainly embarrassed. The one man who had the tactfulness to carry off the situation was Mr. Blaine who, in a carefully-modulated voice replied: “Perhaps if George III had possest as much diplomacy as his great-grandson, America might still be English.” The Prince of Wales, after the subject was passed, gript Blaine’s hands with a twinkle of admiration.—BostonTranscript.

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Taint—SeeImpure Thoughts.

Talent Neglected—SeeNeglect of Duty.

Talent, Using the Best—SeeAdvantage, Working to the Best.

TALENTS

Rev. G. Campbell Morgan tells this story:

Some years ago a woman came to me at the close of the Sunday morning service and said, “Oh, I would give anything to be in this work actively and actually. I would give anything to have some living part in the work that is going on here next week in winning men and women to Christ, but I do not know what to do.”I said, “My sister, are you prepared to give the Master the five loaves and two fishes you possess?” She said, “I do not know that I have five loaves and two fishes.” I said, “Have you anything that you have used in any way specially?” “No,” she did not think she had. “Well,” I said, “can you sing?” Her reply was, “Yes, I sing at home, and I have sung before now in an entertainment.”“Well, now,” I said, “let us put our hand on that. Will you give the Lord your voice for the next ten days?” Said she, “I will.”I shall never forget that Sunday evening. I asked her to sing, and she sang. She sang the gospel message with the voice she had, feeling that it was a poor, worthless thing, and that night there came out of the meeting into the inquiry room one man. That man said to me afterward that it was the gospel that was sung which reached his heart; and from that day to this—that is now eleven or twelve years ago—that man has been one of the mightiest workers for God in that city and country I have ever known. How was it done? A woman gave the Master what she had.—The Church Advocate.

I said, “My sister, are you prepared to give the Master the five loaves and two fishes you possess?” She said, “I do not know that I have five loaves and two fishes.” I said, “Have you anything that you have used in any way specially?” “No,” she did not think she had. “Well,” I said, “can you sing?” Her reply was, “Yes, I sing at home, and I have sung before now in an entertainment.”“Well, now,” I said, “let us put our hand on that. Will you give the Lord your voice for the next ten days?” Said she, “I will.”

I shall never forget that Sunday evening. I asked her to sing, and she sang. She sang the gospel message with the voice she had, feeling that it was a poor, worthless thing, and that night there came out of the meeting into the inquiry room one man. That man said to me afterward that it was the gospel that was sung which reached his heart; and from that day to this—that is now eleven or twelve years ago—that man has been one of the mightiest workers for God in that city and country I have ever known. How was it done? A woman gave the Master what she had.—The Church Advocate.

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TALENTS, BURIED

Half a billion dollars is the value of the buried talent (hoarded money) of the United States, according to investigations made by the Federal Government, the conclusions of which recently were made public by Postmaster-General Meyer inThe Woman’s World.Even at the rate proposed for postal depository savings, 2 per cent, the idleness of the $500,000,000 costs its possessors $10,000,000, a sum equal to the entire public debt of the United States in 1839, and almost as much as the Government spends annually in maintenance of Indians.However, money is accounted worth in business not less than 4 per cent, and very few securities, particularly in the West, earn less than 4 per cent. The basis of computation of the $20,000,000 annual loss caused by the safety-deposit sort of security was that rate. In the industrial world money—and the very money that is now “hoarded”—is worth more than 4 per cent. The money panic of 1907 never would have happened if the buried talent of $500,000,000 had been in circulation, according to financial authorities.

Even at the rate proposed for postal depository savings, 2 per cent, the idleness of the $500,000,000 costs its possessors $10,000,000, a sum equal to the entire public debt of the United States in 1839, and almost as much as the Government spends annually in maintenance of Indians.

However, money is accounted worth in business not less than 4 per cent, and very few securities, particularly in the West, earn less than 4 per cent. The basis of computation of the $20,000,000 annual loss caused by the safety-deposit sort of security was that rate. In the industrial world money—and the very money that is now “hoarded”—is worth more than 4 per cent. The money panic of 1907 never would have happened if the buried talent of $500,000,000 had been in circulation, according to financial authorities.

As the buried talent is loss financially, so it is in every domain of possibility. In the moral and spiritual life it is even worse; the disinclination to use becomes in time inability to use. (Text.)

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TALENTS DIFFER

Ralph Waldo Emerson teaches the lesson that everything is needed in its own place, in this quaint bit of verse:

The mountain and the squirrelHad a quarrel;And the former called the latter, “Little prig.”Bun replied,“You are doubtless very big,But all sorts of things and weatherMust be taken in together,To make up a yearAnd a sphere;And I think it no disgraceTo occupy my place.If I’m not so large as you,You are not so small as I.Talents differ; all is well and wisely put;If I can not carry forests on my back,Neither can you crack a nut.” (Text.)

The mountain and the squirrel

Had a quarrel;

And the former called the latter, “Little prig.”

Bun replied,

“You are doubtless very big,

But all sorts of things and weather

Must be taken in together,

To make up a year

And a sphere;

And I think it no disgrace

To occupy my place.

If I’m not so large as you,

You are not so small as I.

Talents differ; all is well and wisely put;

If I can not carry forests on my back,

Neither can you crack a nut.” (Text.)

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Tales That Won Fame—SeeGenius Can Not be Hidden.

Talk—SeeClub Wisdom.

TALKING AND SICKNESS

The Emmanuel movement in San Francisco, so far at least as it has to do with St. Luke’s Hospital, is a confest failure. The local experiment has lasted a year, and every effort, it is claimed, has been made to give the prescribed treatment a thorough test. The hospital’s psychopathic ward has been discontinued, and the clerical superintendent of the mental healing part of the institution, the Rev. A. P. Shields, D.D., has sent in his resignation. “It was found,” says Bishop Nichols, “impossible to secure beneficial results by placing patients in a psychopathic ward associated with a hospital. All the depressing influences of the hospital bore down upon them. The constant atmosphere of suffering made a cure impossible, and, finally, we were forced to the conclusion that we had failed.” This same reasoning condemns the cause of those people outside of hospitals who are always talking of disease and fatalities (unless it be distinctly for curative purposes in the case of disease), so helping to make the more depressive the depression of mental and nervous sufferers. There are well people who always, by their lugubrious manner or talk, carry about with them the atmosphere of the sick-room—who are simply walking hospitals.—The Observer.

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Taming Animals—SeeKindness to Animals.

Tampering with Peril—SeeTemptation.

TASKS, THE REAL

When I was a boy I was set by my father to the task of dipping all the water out of a spring-hole in the hay-field. I performed the task faithfully, thinking that the object was to empty the hole. But the next day I was obliged to tell my father that the task had gone for nothing, as the hole was as full as ever. I had merely removed certain accumulated impurities, which was the real object of the work.

So we often toil with definite objects in view when all the while Providence is at work through us at a very different and always a more important task. We may be disappointed that we have not emptied the hole, or we may more wisely rejoice that we have freshened the spring.

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Taste and Propriety Violated—SeeMissionaries’ Mistakes.

Teacher, A Young—SeeChild Religion.

TEACHER, THE COMPETENT

I am reminded of a remark made to me recently by a gentleman in middle life, a very excellent carpenter, whom I saw watching my boys, twenty-four of them, at work making their first weld in the forging shop. He seemed intensely interested as he watched one of the young men at his work. I said: “You seem to like to see the boys work. Do you understand what they are doing?” “Yes,” said he, “I worked a year once in a blacksmith shop.” “Well,” said I, “then I suppose this operation of welding is a very simple matter to you.” “Not at all,” said he; “I never made a weld in my life. I never got a chance. I kindled the fire and blew the bellows, and I did some striking for other men; but they never let me try to make a weld.” Then he added, with a good deal of feeling, “These boys learn more in one week about the really essential art of forging than I learned in half a year.” And the secret of it is they have a thoroughly skilled workman who is competent both to teach and to demonstrate every principle involved.—Calvin M. Woodward, “Journal of the National Education Association,” 1905.

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TEACHER, THE IDEAL

Dr. Ernest Fox Nichols, the new president of Dartmouth College, gives this bit of classic advice to teachers:

In twenty years of teaching and observation, I have become convinced of some things connected with teaching as a profession. No teacher can hope to inspire and lead young men to a level of aspiration above that on which he himself lives and does his work. Young men may reach higher levels, but not by his aid. The man in whose mind truth has become formal and passive ought not to teach. What youth needs to see is knowledge in action, moving forward toward some worthy end. In nobody’s mind should it be possible to confuse intellectual with ineffectual. Let it not be said:

We teach and teachUntil like drumming pedagogs we loseThe thought that what we teach has higher endsThan being taught and learned.

We teach and teach

Until like drumming pedagogs we lose

The thought that what we teach has higher ends

Than being taught and learned.

It ought to be impossible, even in satire, to say, “Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.”

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TEACHER, THE IDEAL, AT WORK

In the photographic studio it is not enough to have a favorable light, expensive lenses, and the latest arrangement of shutters and slides. It is not enough to have fair women and brave men before the camera. It is not enough to have a perfect plate, ready to respond to the faintest ray of light; there must also be a skilled operator, who shall moderate the glare, arrange the shadows, measure the distance, adjust the instrument, calculate the exposure, pose the sitters, engage the attention, and at the psychologico-photographic moment spring the shutter.In like fashion the artist-teacher deals with his carefully sensitized pupil as he prepares to take a picture worth developing. Deftly he arranges each detail and improves every condition; then he unveils before him some image of truth and beauty wrought by skilful hands and eagerly awaits the results. If he succeeds, he knows it without troublesome delay. He glances swiftly about his class, detecting here and there a pupil who responds, “his rapt soul sitting in his eyes”; and the instructor glows with the consciousness that his labors have not been in vain.—D. O. S. Lowell, “Proceedings of the Religious Education Association,” 1905.

In like fashion the artist-teacher deals with his carefully sensitized pupil as he prepares to take a picture worth developing. Deftly he arranges each detail and improves every condition; then he unveils before him some image of truth and beauty wrought by skilful hands and eagerly awaits the results. If he succeeds, he knows it without troublesome delay. He glances swiftly about his class, detecting here and there a pupil who responds, “his rapt soul sitting in his eyes”; and the instructor glows with the consciousness that his labors have not been in vain.—D. O. S. Lowell, “Proceedings of the Religious Education Association,” 1905.

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TEACHERS, ALERTNESS OF

It is an interesting commentary on the earnestness and professional zeal of the teachers as a class, that they are in suchlarge numbers willing to spend no inconsiderable portion of their summer vacation, and no small part of their scant earnings, in paying board, tuition, and incidentals at some summer watering-place to pursue their studies, brushing up neglected places in their education, and fitting themselves for higher and better work in their profession. Especially is this noticeable when we find them spending several weeks in close attendance upon the teaching and lectures of the most famous experts the country has produced, getting hints, and more than hints—principles—of the best methods of teaching the common-school studies.—Journal of Education.

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TEACHER’S FUNCTION, THE

You look into the face of a mirror, and an image is before you—more truthful, if less flattering, than that which the photographer produces. You pass on, and another comes and looks into the same mirror; but it tells no tales of you, revives no recollection. A thousand persons pass before the glass, and when the day is done, it is just as brilliant and just as vacant as when it made its first reflection. Do we desire a likeness that shall endure? Science must come to our aid with its camera and its chemicals; the image must be caught upon a sensitized plate or film and then fixt so it shall not fade.In like manner the teacher may hold up a truth before an untrained pupil. It may be beautiful and inspiring, as reflected in the mirror of the pupil’s mind. He may understand it, assent to it, even enjoy it; but he may also forget it as he looks upon the next picture. To prevent such loss, it becomes the teacher’s function to see that his pupil’s mind is not a mere mirror from whose polished surface glide these bright images in swift succession, but a sensitized plate on which truths may be photographed and fixt. (Text.)—D. O. S. Lowell, “Proceedings of the Religious Education Association,” 1905.

In like manner the teacher may hold up a truth before an untrained pupil. It may be beautiful and inspiring, as reflected in the mirror of the pupil’s mind. He may understand it, assent to it, even enjoy it; but he may also forget it as he looks upon the next picture. To prevent such loss, it becomes the teacher’s function to see that his pupil’s mind is not a mere mirror from whose polished surface glide these bright images in swift succession, but a sensitized plate on which truths may be photographed and fixt. (Text.)—D. O. S. Lowell, “Proceedings of the Religious Education Association,” 1905.

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Teacher’s Kindness—SeeEffacement of Sins.

Teaching—SeeNegative Teaching.

Teaching Sympathetically—SeeSympathy in Teaching.

TEACHING VERSUS PRACTISE

A Chinese legend tells of an old sage who sat at a fountain. The three founders of the principal religions of the land met him there looking for an apostle to carry his message to men. Said he in explanation of the reason why he did not go himself and carry his own message: “I can not go because only the upper part of me is flesh and blood—the lower part is stone. I can talk but can not walk. I can teach virtue, but I can not follow its teaching.”

The legend seems to be a parabolic way of pointing out the well-known fact that it is far easier to preach than to practise.

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TEARS AND FEELING

The higher the pitch of refinement, the less the fall of tears. This is true of both sexes, but especially of men, and in men in proportion to the fulness of their manhood. Children, of whichever sex, cry at their own cross will, but the schoolboy will hardly shed tears when he is flogged; the young man is ashamed to weep when he is hurt by a fall, except into love; while the full-bearded adult has completely triumphed over feeling. All these statements are true with a difference among nations, due to climatic, historic, or other influences. One of the mysteries of tears is that tho, as the ministers of emotion, they start to assuage sorrow, yet when a mighty grief strikes us they withhold their relief. Petty troubles not only express themselves, but are garrulous; the great are silent from sore amazement. Friends, brothers, sisters and children can weep over the pallid face, but the wife or mother looks on her dead with wild, unmoistened eyes. Niobe is turned into stone; and, most dreadful of all, she is conscious that she has been petrified to her inmost soul.—J. T. L. Preston,Atlantic Monthly.

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TEARS, POWER OF

Boast not of the roaring river,Of the rocks its surges shiver,Nor of torrents over precipices hurled,For a simple little tear-drop,That you can not even hear drop,Is the greatest water-power in all the world.—ChicagoTribune.

Boast not of the roaring river,

Of the rocks its surges shiver,

Nor of torrents over precipices hurled,

For a simple little tear-drop,

That you can not even hear drop,

Is the greatest water-power in all the world.

—ChicagoTribune.

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Technical Education, The Effect of—SeeEducation, Higher.

TECHNICALITIES

Lord Clarendon, in describing the fire in the Temple, London, in 1666, says: “The Lord Mayor, tho a very honest man, wasmuch blamed for want of sagacity in the first night of the fire, before the wind gave it much advancement. When men who were less terrified with the object prest him very earnestly that he would give orders for the present pulling down those houses which were nearest, and by which the fire climbed to go further, the doing whereof at that time might probably have prevented much of the mischief that succeeded, he thought it not safe, and made no other answer than that he durst not do it without the consent of the owners. His want of skill was the less wondered at when it was known afterward that some gentlemen of the Inner Temple would not endeavor to preserve the goods which were in the lodgings of absent persons, because they said it was against the law to break up any man’s chamber.”—Croake James, “Curiosities of Law and Lawyers.”

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Teeth, The Value of Good—SeeAssimilation.

Teleology—SeeWork Divinely Intended.

Telephone Possibilities Discredited—SeeOpportunity Lost.

Temperament—SeeEnvironment.

TEMPERANCE

That chronic alcoholism among the Russians may explain, in part, at least, some of the results of the war in Manchuria, is the editorial opinion ofAmerican Medicine. Says this paper:

On the Japanese side the reports are all of one tenor, and depict an almost universal abstinence. What drinking is done is in extreme moderation. Upon the Russian side we hear of immense stores of vodka, champagne by carload lots, and orgies innumerable. The Russian officer is notorious, by general report, of course, for the large quantities of alcohol he daily consumes, and it is impossible for any brain to submit to such insults without undergoing the changes long known to take place in heavy drinkers. It is not remarkable then that the older officers, who are managing the campaign, are constantly outwitted by the healthy-minded Japanese. (Text.)

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In April, 1838, William Martin knocked at Father Mathew’s door in obedience to a summons. The friar met him at the threshold, his handsome face radiant with kindness and good-nature.“Welcome, Mr. Martin, welcome! I have sent for you to assist me in forming a temperance society in this neighborhood.”“I knew it,” said the Quaker; “something seemed to tell me that thou would’st do it at last.”“For long I could not see my way clearly to take up the question. I have been asked by several good men to take up the cause, and I feel I can no longer refuse. How are we to begin?”They began with a little meeting in the friar’s school-room, when Father Mathew, after his address on temperance, said, “I will be the first to sign my name in the book which is on the table, and I hope we shall soon have it full.” He then approached the table; and, taking the pen, said in a loud voice, “Here goes, in the name of God!”In three months from the day that Father Mathew signed the book “in the name of God,” the number on the roll was 25,000; in five months it rose to 131,000; in less than nine months it was 156,000.—Edward Gilliat, “Heroes of Modern Crusades.”

In April, 1838, William Martin knocked at Father Mathew’s door in obedience to a summons. The friar met him at the threshold, his handsome face radiant with kindness and good-nature.

“Welcome, Mr. Martin, welcome! I have sent for you to assist me in forming a temperance society in this neighborhood.”

“I knew it,” said the Quaker; “something seemed to tell me that thou would’st do it at last.”

“For long I could not see my way clearly to take up the question. I have been asked by several good men to take up the cause, and I feel I can no longer refuse. How are we to begin?”

They began with a little meeting in the friar’s school-room, when Father Mathew, after his address on temperance, said, “I will be the first to sign my name in the book which is on the table, and I hope we shall soon have it full.” He then approached the table; and, taking the pen, said in a loud voice, “Here goes, in the name of God!”

In three months from the day that Father Mathew signed the book “in the name of God,” the number on the roll was 25,000; in five months it rose to 131,000; in less than nine months it was 156,000.—Edward Gilliat, “Heroes of Modern Crusades.”

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John B. Gough, the temperance orator and reformer, asked that on his monument the following sentiment should be cut:

I can desire nothing better for this great country than that a barrier, high as heaven, should be raised between the unpolluted lips of the children and the intoxicating cup; that everywhere men and women should raise strong and determined hands against whatever will defile the body, pollute the mind, or harden the heart against God and His truth.

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SeeAbstainers Live Long;Drink, Peril of;Longevity Accounted for;Personal Influence.

Temperance and Prosperity—SeeProhibition.

TEMPERANCE IN THE PRESS

So far as their advertising sections are concerned, our great magazines are rapidly “going dry,” asserts theSunday-school Times(Philadelphia), after an investigation of some sixty of our popular monthly and weekly publications. In this investigation “strictly agricultural and other class papers, whether trade or religious publications, werenot considered, it being the purpose to limit this inquiry to the secular magazine of general interest.” Of the sixty editors who were asked whether their periodicals accepted or refused the advertisements of intoxicating liquors, forty put themselves on record as absolutely excluding such advertisements. While the list does not approach completeness, theSunday-school Timesclaims for it that it is typical.

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TEMPERANCE, RESULTS OF

The social results of Father Mathew’s temperance reform in Ireland were as follows:

In four years from 1837 to 1841 homicides decreased from 247 to 105; assaults on the police, from 91 to 58; incendiary fires, from 459 to 390; robberies, from 725 to 257. The sentences of death were decreased from 66 in 1839, to only 14 in 1846, and transportation to penal settlements from 916 to 504. Father Mathew said: “Every teetotaler has gained morally and intellectually by the movement, but my immediate family have been absolutely and totally ruined by this temperance mission.”

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TEMPERATURE

Many things depend upon temperature—the psychological climate of the soul. Sometimes in mountain regions you will see clouds gathering around the mountain peak, and staying there in spite of a strong wind blowing. You wonder how that is. It is cold up there, and the warm air, vapor-laden, climbing up the side of the mountain, reaching that cool region, makes clouds as fast as the winds can blow them away. Which thing is an allegory. There are psychological climates which make clouds, and there are other psychological climates which make clearness; and cloud and clearness do not depend upon purely intellectual and syllogistic operations, but upon something deeper by far—the attitude of the will toward God and righteousness. That is the significant thing. And there we come upon a doctrine which we have only recently begun to emphasize speculatively, a doctrine of pragmatism, a doctrine which Christianity has always held, that “if any man wills to do the will of God, he shall know.” And I fancy he will never know in any other way. It is the will. One must “will to do the will” of God; then he shall know. Of course, it does not mean that he shall know all about the metaphysics of the Athanasian Creed, or the “Thirty-nine Articles.” But it means that he who thus wills to do the will of God shall come out into practical assurance, on the right track. It means that he is not alone, but the Father is with him.—Prof.Borden P. Bowne,Zion’s Herald.

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Temple Extravagance—SeeEgotism.

Temples, Christian versus Heathen—SeeReligions Contrasted.

Temporary Helps—SeeShoring Up.

TEMPTATION

C. G. D. Roberts tells of the capture of a great eagle at the head waters of the St. John River in the Northwest. The eagle occasionally found its food at the edge of a lake where the fish came into the shallow water. One morning he found on the spot a great stone which aroused its suspicions, and perched on the stump of an old tree to watch matters. Nothing further happening, it went down and hopped on the stone and breakfasted as before. It did this for several days, when one morning he found a stick laid across the stone in a slanting position with something hanging loosely from the upper end. Further suspicion led to a closer examination, but, satisfied again, he ate as before. This he did for several days, becoming more careless and confident, until one day while enjoying his morning meal on that stone and hopping about, an Indian hidden in the reeds pulled two strings, dropping the stick and unloosing the meshes of a net around the eagle and caught it.

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A little Jewish newsboy was selling evening papers among the clerks in a large office in one of our great cities. Unawares, as he approached the cashier, he found himself right next to an open cash-drawer overflowing with coin. The little fellow’s eyes shone at the sight. But, quicker than a wink, he stept back beyond reach, and nothing would induce him to approach any nearer, even to sell a paper, until the drawer had been shut.I happen to know that this little fellow comes from a home of poverty, where there are many children and little time or strength is left for parental training of the children, and that the poor boy often goes hungry, finding it too far to go home for a bite, and not daring to spend a copper of his hard-earned treasures for any self-indulgence.But how many native boys of ten years ofage, think you, would have had the moral perception, the strength of character, and the quickness to act that was exhibited by this little son of a poor immigrant family? (Text.)—George W. Coleman, “Search-lights.”

I happen to know that this little fellow comes from a home of poverty, where there are many children and little time or strength is left for parental training of the children, and that the poor boy often goes hungry, finding it too far to go home for a bite, and not daring to spend a copper of his hard-earned treasures for any self-indulgence.

But how many native boys of ten years ofage, think you, would have had the moral perception, the strength of character, and the quickness to act that was exhibited by this little son of a poor immigrant family? (Text.)—George W. Coleman, “Search-lights.”

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There were two ways in which the ancients kept from yielding to the music and final destruction of the Sirens. Ulysses fortified himself with bonds that held him fast to the mast while his boat carried him, listening, by the seductive strains. The Argonauts carried Orpheus with them in their boat, and were so engrossed in listening to his music that they never even heard the tempting sounds from the shore. (Text.)

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Temptation, a Boy’s—SeeSlowness.

Temptation and Desire—SeeDesires, Inordinate.

TEMPTATION, PLAUSIBILITY OF

During the Boxer troubles in China, the greatest stress was brought upon the native Christians to have them recant their faith. Dr. Li, a Christian physician of Peking, was not only in imminent peril of his life, but, to add to his anxiety, kind but mistaken friends were urging him to pursue a questionable course of action in order that his life might be saved. One of his friends of the nobility came to him and said:

Things are getting worse and worse. Allow me to put a few idols in your room, and if the Boxers come they will think you are not Christians. Now, I knew that this was Satan’s plan. I was in a difficulty. Could I refuse my protector’s request, and so endanger him? But God gave me wisdom and words so that I was able to keep clean, and yet not to offend my friend, who was so genuinely anxious for my safety.

On another occasion, as he was trying to escape from the city, he says:

Just as I was about to start, some one urged me to carry some strings of paper money in my hand, “for,” said he, “then people will imagine you are going to burn it at a grave.” This seemed a very simple and safe expedient; but I would not agree to it, because I felt it would, after all, be nothing short of a denial of Christ. (Text.)

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TEMPTATION RESISTED

Ever since that bait was offered to the Redeemer and rejected, the tempter has been constantly setting the perilous alternative before the souls of men. The glittering bait is specially dangled before the greatest and noblest souls, and these prove their greatness and nobility by exchanging it for a cross.

Both John Knox and Richard Baxter were offered by carnal state powers a bishopric in the Erastian Church. How unspeakably poorer would have been the religious history of both Scotland and England had these men found their popular success in ecclesiastical preferment! To-day Spinoza is honored for declining the fortune that was offered to him, and it is refreshing to read how Diderot instantly said “No” to the bribe of a hundred thousand francs a year from Catharine the Great to become a member of her court. It is the glory of the memory of Faraday that he declared “He could not afford to be rich.” Cobden stood for the poor, and therefore he stood out against Palmerston’s offer of a baronetcy and a seat in his Cabinet. Gold weighed heavy then, as now, but it did not outweigh the souls of these heroes. (Text.)

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TEMPTATION TWO-SIDED

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