Chapter D: W. Whittle tells of a soldier who was posted in a forest to (4)

When the father of William the Conqueror was departing for
the Holy Land, he called together the peers of Normandy and
required them to swear allegiance to his young son, who was a
mere infant; when the barons smiled at the feeble babe, the king
promptly replied, “He is little, but he will grow.” He did grow,
and the babyhand ere long ruled the nations as with a rod of
iron.

The same may be said of evil in its slenderest beginning, in its most inocuous form: “It is little, but it will grow.” In its beginning it is a fancy, a flash of thought, a look, a word, a touch, a gesture, a tone, an accent, an embryo that no microscope could detect; but at last it is a Cain, a Judas, a Nero. The acorn-cup yields the upas-tree; out of a spark flashes hell.--W. L. WATKINSON, “The Transfigured Sackcloth.”

(962)

EVIL, IGNORING

How many things men permit to trouble them that they could just as easily pass by and forget!

Has it been a weary day?
Let it pass;
Lots of others on the way--
They will pass.
Soon the skies will start to lighten,
All around begin to brighten--
And misfortune cease to frighten--
Let it pass.

Does the world the wrong way rub you?
Let it pass.
Does your best friend seem to snub you?
Let it pass.
Chances are you were mistaken,
None are ever quite forsaken.
All for naught your faith was shaken--
Let it pass.

(963)

=Evil Multiplies=--See WEEDS, WARFARE AGAINST.

EVIL, PROTECTION FROM

Should not character be saturated with preservative principles that will repel evil influences as the piling mentioned below resists the teredo:

What will ultimately be the largest plant in the world for
treating timber with preservatives, is now operated at
Somerville, Tex., by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé Railroad,
says _The Railway World_. While every form of timber
treatment is used, the creosote system has proved the most
successful. Creosote is shipped to Galveston in shiploads and
transported thence to Somerville, where it is used to preserve
timber of every variety. This is very expensive, as may be
seen when it is known that piling in its natural state costs
about forty cents a foot, while a treated pile costs between
ninety cents and one dollar. But it pays to go to the extra
expense. Creosoted piling that has been in the Galveston bridge
for nearly fifteen years is still sound and in a good state
of preservation; while the average life of an untreated pile
is less than one year, many of them being unfit for service
after being in the water thirty days. This quick destruction is
caused by the attacks of the teredo, a salt-water mollusk that
honeycombs the wood to such an extent that in a short time it
will not bear its own weight.

(964)

EVIL, PURGING FROM

What would not the patient give to have the last fiber of the
dreadful cancer removed, for while that fiber is there every
possibility of the malady is there! Air, sunshine, fragrance,
are all said to be fatal to destroying germs; let us saturate
our soul day by day in the atmosphere and light and sweetness of
the upper worlds, so shall all evil things die in us, and all
good things live and grow in us.--W. L. WATKINSON, “The
Transfigured Sackcloth.”

(965)

EVIL, REPELLENCE OF

There was a white plant growing by the entrance to a coal-mine.
One of the miners took a handful of the coal-dust and threw it
on the leaves, but not a particle adhered. The plant was covered
with a wonderful enamel on which nothing could leave a stain.

It is not the Master’s plan for us that we should be taken out of the sinful world, to live our life where no evil can touch us. But God, who can make a little plant so that no dust can stain it, can by His grace also make our lives impervious to sin’s defiling.

(966)

EVIL SELF-DESTRUCTIVE

Dr. Walter Kempster, of Milwaukee, Wis., suggests that as all
the nations will probably soon agree to exclude anarchists from
their territory, an island should be purchased in some healthy
climate, to which they should all be exiled. Vessels should
patrol the coast to prevent any leaving, but no attempt should
be made to govern the colony. The anarchists would then have
precisely what they demand--a colony free from government. They
could then practise their heartless methods on one another and
throw bombs with impunity. A better scheme to disgust them with
anarchy could not be devised.

It is on the same principle that the Bible tells us God will act, to extirpate evil from His universe by giving the evildoer opportunity to act out his nature. (Text.)

(967)

=Evils, Small=--See SMALL EVILS HARDEST TO BEAR.

EVIL TURNED TO GOOD

The Mauruans told the missionaries that they formerly attributed
every evil that befell them to the anger of their “evil
spirits,” but now they worshiped the living and true God, and
they pointed to the demolished Maraes and mutilated idols as the
proof of the great change. The change in the name of the gods,
whom they now called “evil spirits,” was an indication of the
radical change in their religious beliefs. In some cases the
spears which had been used in warfare were found converted into
staves to support the balustrades of the pulpit stairs, and not
a vestige of idolatry was to be seen.--PIERSON, “The
Miracles of Missions.”

(968)

EVIL, VIRULENCY OF

In the history of the great calamity of Asiatic cholera in this country in 1832, mention is made of the emigrant steamer that brought the disease to these shores. The steamer touched at Quebec and at Montreal, and landed passengers infected with the disease at both points. Over this intervening distance of two hundred miles, the disease traveled in thirty hours. Pursuing the succeeding events of this history, the writer says:

Over this long distance, thickly inhabited on both shores of the
St. Lawrence, cholera made a single leap, without infecting a
single village or a single house between the two cities, with
the following exceptions. A man picked up a mattress thrown from
the _Voyageur_, and he and his wife died of cholera; another
man, fishing on the St. Lawrence, was requested to bury a body
from the _Voyageur_, and he and his wife and nephew died. But
more than 4,000 persons died of cholera in Montreal, and more
than an equal number in Quebec. An emigrant ship conveying the
disease had meanwhile touched at New York, and the mortality
soon reached 3,500. These figures will at least indicate the
virulence of the disease, when once originated, and the rapidity
with which it spreads.

In this account we see that every place touched by the plague-ship or any object from it became a new center from which the disease spread. So moral evil contaminates. Its virulency spans the centuries and affects every son of man. (Text.)

(969)

EVOLUTION

Is the chimpanzee the coming man? The thought of Superintendent
Conklin, of the Central Park Museum at New York, had a cast
of that hue. He was deeply interested in the possibilities of
the development of intelligence and culture in the chimpanzee
race, and doubtless his dreams went far beyond the daring of
his spoken hope. “Mr. Crowley,” a somewhat noted and remarkably
intelligent specimen of this exalted race of monkeys, long
adorned the museum, and at the time a helpmeet for him was
imported. Dr. Conklin believed that their offspring would
inherit their sagacity, and with two or three generations
of careful training the least he expected was “a chimpanzee
accustomed to wearing clothes, able to stand erect, capable of
being taught the meaning of simple commands, and docile enough
to obey them.” In the fifth or sixth generation, the doctor
thought he should have chimpanzees able to perform to a limited
extent the duties of servants. Following out the idea, the
doctor predicted a gradual improvement in their features and
eventually a possibility that they might grasp the meaning of
words and phrases. This is surely a very practical experiment
in Darwinian evolution, and tho it may seem funny, it is by no
means ridiculous. If horses and dogs may be trained and taught,
why not monkeys? And how much more useful would an intelligent
trained monkey be by reason of his capacity to grasp and handle
things? The story came a few years ago from South America that
chimpanzees are already employed there in picking cotton in
place of the emancipated slaves.--Springfield _Union_.

(970)

=Evolution, Objection to=--See BRAIN IN MAN.

=Exaction=--See IDEAL, THE.

=Exactness of Nature=--See INDIVIDUALITY OF GERMS.

=Exaggeration=--See DIMINUTIVES.

EXAMPLE

During one of the hill campaigns in India some years ago, a
British general was disgusted with the unsoldierlike attitude
of a young Indian rajah who accompanied the forces. He would
only condescend to ride, and never attempted to share the toils
and labors of the march. One day the general decided to give
him a much-needed lesson. Riding with him on a very hot day,
he pointed out some soldiers on ahead pushing a gun up a long
white road. “Do you see those men?” he asked the Indian rajah.
“Yes, I see them.” “Well, one of them is the grandson of your
Empress!” It was gallant Prince Christian Victor who delighted
to share the burden, and who laid down his life later on in the
South African War. The young rajah took the lesson to heart.
Queen Victoria’s grandson thought it not undignified to help his
brother soldiers in the weary labors of the march; henceforward,
he, too, would help to “bear one another’s burdens.” (Text.)

(971)

* * * * *

The ancient Romans were accustomed to place in the vestibules of
their houses the busts of their great men, that the young might
be reminded of their noble deeds and illustrious virtues.

The deeds and virtues of living men are still better examples. (Text.)

(972)

* * * * *

People are just as prone now as in the days when Paul wrote
his first letter to the Corinthians to insist on their “right”
to do whatever they think there is “no harm” in. “An idol does
not affect meat one way or the other,” said Paul. “Very well,”
replies the Corinthian Christian. “Mr. A. invites me to dine
with him to-night, and I am going. He will have on his table
parts of an animal which he has just been sacrificing in the
temple of Venus, but what of that? He might have sold it to
the butcher, and then if I had bought it, no harm would have
come of eating it.” “Not so fast,” says the apostle. “If that
supper is part of the worship even of an idol, you may dishonor
Christ, of whose body you have partaken, by even seeming to
worship other spirits. And even if you could afford it, others
would stumble.” “But shall my liberty be circumscribed by the
narrow-mindedness of another?” “Certainly,” says the apostle.
“That is what we live for--to help others, not to eat and drink.”

(973)

* * * * *

It counts for much when men in high station have the moral courage to condemn unworthy things.

President Taft walked out of a local theater in the first year
he was President because he disapproved of the character of the
play that was being produced. Friends of the President said
that he was disgusted with the performance. The first act was
too much for Mr. Taft and his sister-in-law. They saw nothing
amusing, interesting or instructive in the depiction of typical
scenes in a house of bad character. In order to avoid attracting
attention and exciting comment by going out while the players
were on the stage, they waited until the curtain fell on the
first act and then left the theater.

(974)

See COURAGE; LIVING THE GOSPEL; PRECEPT AND PRACTISE.

EXAMPLE, ATTENTION TO

It is related of William E. Gladstone that at one time, when
he was a mere boy, he was invited to dine at the home of a
distinguished nobleman in England, who was also an official of
high rank.

His father, fearing that the child might in some way make
himself appear ridiculous in the eyes of the prominent gentry
who were to assemble at the same dining-table, gave him the
parting injunction, “Watch your host and do just as he does.”

Many men would get on in life more smoothly and attain success
more rapidly and surely if they were attentive to the examples
of their superiors. (Text.)

(975)

EXAMPLE, FORCE OF

Oberlin tried to persuade the peasants of his parish to abandon
some of their old methods of agriculture; but the wiseacres
smiled and shook their heads. What should a mere pastor know
of such matters? Oberlin therefore resolved to appeal to their
eyes instead of their ears. There were two public paths through
his gardens, so he and his servant carefully brought the soil
into a high state of cultivation; and when the neighbors walked
along and marked how the pastor’s crops were twice as large as
their own, and saw the many strange vegetables growing, they
condescended to make inquiries as to how he did it. “No, it was
not done by angels in the night! God intended men to live by the
sweat of the brow, to use the reason which He had given them,
and so improve themselves and others.”--EDWARD GILLIAT,
“Heroes of Modern Crusades.”

(976)

=Example, Living=--See RELIGIOUS EDUCATION.

=Example Nullifying Precept=--See INCONSISTENCY.

EXAMPLE OF PARENTS

Carlyle, like Burns, came of peasant stock--strong, simple,
Godfearing folk, whose influence in Carlyle’s later life is
beyond calculation. Of his mother he says, “She was too mild
and peaceful for the planet she lived in”; and of his father,
a stone-mason, he writes, “Could I write my books as he built
his houses, walk my way so manfully through this shadow world,
and leave it with so little blame, it were more than all my
hopes.”--WILLIAM J. LONG, “English Literature.”

(977)

EXAMPLE, POWER OF

A footman stole a casket containing ten thousand francs’ worth
of jewels and concealed it in a hole in the ground in the Bois
de Boulogne, Paris. When finally forced to confess, he declared
that he had been so much imprest by the cunning of Sherlock
Holmes and the skill of Moriarty as a criminal that he wished to
imitate them.

(978)

* * * * *

Some laborers were working in a lime-kiln in the Pyrenees. One
of them, descending into the kiln to look after something which
had gone wrong, fell down suffocated. A second man, hurrying
to his assistance, also fell. A third, fourth and fifth man
followed, meeting the same fate. Only one remained. When he was
about to jump, a woman who stood watching the tragedy, clutched
him by the clothes and held him back. Later, to a magistrate who
was holding an inquest, when asked why he attempted to make the
self-sacrifice, the lone survivor replied: “My comrades were
dying; I felt driven to go.”

(979)

=Excellence=--See CHARACTER.

EXCELLENCE IS COMPARATIVE

“What a world this would be,” says Christopher North, “were
all its inhabitants to fiddle like Paganini, ride like Ducrow,
discourse like Coleridge, and do everything else in a style
of equal perfection!” Nay, good Christopher, the world would
remain the same old dull commonplace world. Our standard
would be raised, that is all. If every one rode like Ducrow,
no one would stop a moment to look at Ducrow; if every one
fiddled like Paganini, Paganini’s fiddle would be complained
of by the neighbors as a nuisance; if every one discoursed
like Coleridge, Coleridge would be voted an intolerable bore.
We give our admiration to intellectual performances that are
rare and difficult. The moment the rarity and the difficulty
disappear our admiration also disappears, we seek fresh idols to
worship,--_Lippincott’s Magazine._

(980)

=Excelling=--See BEST, MAKING THE; ENCOURAGEMENT.

=Exceptional Men=--See CROWD, AND THE EXCEPTION.

=Excess=--See STUDY OVERDONE.

=Excess of Duty=--See OVERPLUS OF DUTY.

EXCLUSION FROM HEAVEN

A new story of Col. Robert J. Ingersoll is told by the Chicago _Record-Herald_:

Bishop Potter once lay sick, so sick that his life was despaired
of, and even his most intimate friends were denied admittance to
his bedside. One day, however, Colonel Ingersoll called. Bishop
Potter, learning that Ingersoll was in the house, demanded,
despite the protest of his physicians and nurses, that the
distinguished agnostic be asked into the sick-room.

“How is it, Bishop,” said Ingersoll after he had offered his
condolences to the invalid, “that I am so highly favored when
your other friends are not allowed to see you?”

“Well, you see, Colonel,” answered the Bishop weakly, “I may
not recover from this illness, and if I do not I have every
assurance of seeing the others in the next world. I realized
that if I wished to see you again, I must do it here.” (Text.)

(981)

=Exclusion of Evils=--See FENCING OUT ENEMIES.

=Exclusion versus Expulsion=--See RESISTANCE.

EXCUSES

The biographer of “Father Morris,” an American preacher of some local celebrity, tells of him this incident:

He had noticed a falling off in his little village meeting for
prayer. The first time he collected a tolerable audience, he
took occasion to tell them something concerning the conference
meeting of the disciples, after the resurrection. “But Thomas
was not with them! Thomas not with them!” said the old man in a
sorrowful voice. “Why, what could keep Thomas away? Perhaps,”
said he, glancing at some of his auditors, “Thomas had got
cold-hearted, and was afraid they would ask him to make the
first prayer. Perhaps,” he continued, looking at some of the
farmers, “he was afraid the roads were bad; or perhaps,” he
added after a pause, “he thought a shower was coming on.” He
went on, significantly summing up common excuses, and then with
great simplicity and emotion he added: “But only think what
Thomas lost, for in the middle of the meeting the Lord Jesus
came and stood among them! Thomas was not with them when Jesus
came.” (Text.)

(982)

See LAZINESS, EXCUSES FOR; REASONS VERSUS EXCUSES.

=Exercise and Food=--See FOOD AND EXERCISE.

EXERCISE PROLONGING LIFE

William Cullen Bryant kept himself in a healthy bodily condition
up to an extreme old age by taking long daily walks, and by
swinging a chair, instead of Indian clubs, around his head each
morning and evening. Bancroft, the historian, kept mind and
body in tune by daily horseback exercise, while Mr. Gladstone
was able at an advanced age to perform enormous mental work by
the physical stamina which he maintained by cutting down trees
in his park. These are only a few out of a large number of
instances that might be cited, all going to show that health
and life may be maintained and the mental powers continued
unimpaired through old age if the obvious needs of the body are
not neglected.--Boston _Herald_.

EXERCISE, SPIRITUAL

A new pastor was met by one of his parishioners who was fat
and of many years, who said to the pastor: “You must feed the
sheep.” Whereupon the pastor replied: “My dear old man, you do
not need food, you need exercise.”

(984)

EXERCISE VERSUS MEDICINE

Boerhaave, the famous physician, declared that a man was
more likely to get well by climbing a tree than by drinking
a decoction made of its leaves! That is, he thought exercise
better than medicine.--London _Hospital_.

(985)

=Exertion=--See DIFFICULTIES, OVERCOMING.

=Exhaustion by Swallowing=--See EARLY PROMISE.

EXORCISM

Mr. Sconten, writing from Kambui, East Central Africa, was an eye-witness of the following treatment for malarial fever of a lad and a girl, by a native medicine doctor:

A hole in the ground was lined with banana-leaves and some water
brought. Part of the water was poured on the ground beside the
patients, and the rest was poured into the hole. The intestines
of a sheep were emptied of their filth and the foreheads and
palms of the sufferers and their relations smeared with it. The
lad and girl were tied together by the feet with a vine, while
the man mixed some colored powders in the water. The stomach of
the sheep was then brought, and through a hole in the side the
patients were made to suck in the fluid contents, and cast the
rest into the colored water. Then, taking a bunch of herbs, the
doctor lifted a good portion of the concoction and placed it in
the mouth of each patient with a singsong monotone, saying: “By
this I take away all the evil effects of whatever is troubling
you, the attacks of evil spirits, whatever poison you may have
eaten, whatever harm has been inflicted upon you by blacksmiths,
whatever evil has come to you in the path, whatever disease
has been brought upon you through your friends, whatever has
been inflicted upon you by your enemies, and all disease with
which God has afflicted you.” This was not all that he said,
and he repeated it three times, all the while dipping from the
nauseating mixture and putting it into the patients’ mouths. A
foot of the sheep was then dipt into the remaining fluid and the
ground sprinkled all around them, and their bodies sprinkled.
Lastly, noses, thumbs and great toes were painted with white
paint and they were untied, and told to go and get well. Both
patients were in a dying condition the next day, while the
medicine-man was feasting upon the good flesh of the slaughtered
sheep.

(986)

* * * * *

When the first missionaries visited Marsovan, Turkey, the old
Armenian church-members were Christians in little more than
name. Their beliefs were a mixture of superstitions with a
suggestion of a Christian origin. They feared the evil eye, and
wore charms to break its power. They put branches of a thorny
plant over their chimneys in the form of a cross to prevent
witches from coming down and strangling their little children.
They visited the graves of saints and offered prayers for relief
from sickness, tying a rag on a near-by bush with the hope of
returning home leaving their disease tied to the holy spot.

(987)

See BIRTH CEREMONIES; DEMONOLOGY.

EXPECTORATING

The father of President Hadley, of Yale, is reported to have said to certain members of one of his Greek classes who were guilty of a filthy habit:

Gentlemen, those of you who expect to rate high in my esteem
must not expectorate on the floor. This matter of expectoration
is a very serious problem. If you do it in China, you should
not do so toward the north. In certain sections of Africa, you
may, if you like, expectorate upon a person, because in that
particular language, the Benga, the word for bless and spit are
precisely the same. It is the way in which you bless a person.
But one must know the customs; for there are few places where
men deem themselves blest when spit upon, no matter how sincere
may be the missionary’s desire to bless everybody.--H. P.
BEACH, “Student Volunteer Movement,” 1906.

(988)

=Expense Account=--See BALANCE, A LOOSE.

EXPERIENCE

“I guess my father must have been a pretty bad boy,” said one
youngster.

“Why?” inquired the other.

“Because he knows exactly what questions to ask when he wants to
know what I have been doing.” (Text.)

(989)

* * * * *

I once met a veteran sailor, one of the old Hull and Decatur
breed, who had been to sea forty years, and he told me he
had never known a mutiny on board ship where the captain had
risen from before the mast, implying that such an officer had
acquired experience, and knew how to manage men as well as
vessels.--JAMES T. FIELDS.

(990)

* * * * *

It is better to be singed by the flame and suffer than not to know the experiences of living deeply. This seems to be the lesson in Helen A. Saxon’s verse below:

Hast singed thy pretty wings, poor moth?
Fret not; some moths there be
That wander all the weary night
Longing in vain to see
The light.

Hast touched the scorching flame, poor heart?
Grieve not; some hearts exist
That know not, grow not to be strong,
And weep not, having missed
The song.

--_The Reader._

(991)

See CONFIDENCE; FAMILIARITY; LIFE, THE WINGED.

EXPERIENCE A HARD TEACHER

Everything in the Eskimo dress has a reason for its existence.
The members of Captain Amundsen’s expeditions had become
accustomed to the Eskimo dress and had adopted it, but many of
them thought it ridiculous for grown-up men to go about wearing
fringe to their clothes, so they cut it off. The captain had
his scruples about this, as he had already learned that most
things in the Eskimo’s clothing and other arrangements had their
distinct meaning and purpose, so he allowed the fringe to remain
on his garments in the face of ridicule. One bright, sunny day
the anovaks, a variety of tunic reaching below the knee, made of
deerskin, from which the fringe had been cut off, began to curl
up, and if the fringe had not been put on again quickly, they
would soon have looked like mere shreds.

There is a purpose in every ordinance and ceremony of the
Church. Observance of established forms is for the upbuilding of
faith in the believer. (Text.)

(992)

EXPERIENCE AND BIBLE

As the finger feels the smart when it touches the flame that
stands airily quivering in its golden invitation, so the will
which first touches a lie or a lust is conscious of a pang. Not
outward in the Word, but inward in its life, is this warning
against vice. When afterward it reads and meditates the Word,
it finds symbols interpreted, precepts enforced, admonitions
illumined, by this its prior inward experience.--RICHARD S.
STORRS.

(993)

=Experience as Proof=--See TESTS, PERSONAL.

EXPERIENCE DECISIVE

A physician once remarked to S. H. Hadley, after having listened
to his earnest appeals to drunkards to come to Jesus, “You would
not talk to those men like that if you had ever seen inside a
drunkard’s stomach.” “But I had a drunkard’s stomach,” quickly
responded Mr. Hadley, “and Jesus saved me.”

(994)

=Experience, Spiritual=--See SPIRITUAL PERTURBATION.

EXPERIENCE TESTING THEOLOGY

As for Wesley, an unrelenting thoroughness marked at every stage
his temper in religion. He would have no uncertainties, no
easy and soft illusions. Religion as a divine gift, as a human
experience, was something definite. No intermediate stage was
thinkable. And with a wise--but almost unconscious--instinct
he put his theology to the one final test. He cast it into
the alembic of experience. He tried it by the challenge of
life; of its power to color and shape life. He spent the next
thirteen years in that process, trying his creed with infinite
courage, with transparent sincerity, and often with toil and
suffering, by the rough acid of life, till at last he reached
that conception of Christ and His gospel which lifted his
spirit up to dazzling heights of gladness and power.--W. H.
FITCHETT, “Wesley and His Century.”

(995)

See THEOLOGY SHAPED BY EXPERIENCE.

EXPERIENCE THE BEST ARGUMENT

William Duncan, who later became “The Apostle of Alaska,” when a young man newly converted, encountered an aged commercial traveler, a well-known agnostic, but a stranger to young Duncan, and a battle royal of argument on religion ensued.

The disciple of Taine and Voltaire was getting the better of
the discussion with the young novice, when, leaping to his feet
and looking his adversary squarely in the eye, Duncan said:
“Sir, you are twice my age. I will ask you on your honor as a
gentleman to answer me honestly this question: Here I am a young
man. I have grown up in the Christian faith, and am happy in it.
Would you advise me to give it all up and come over to where
you stand, without God, without faith, and without hope?” “No,
young man,” said the old agnostic; “when you put it that way, I
can not advise you to drop your religion and faith. Keep them
and be happy.” Duncan retorted: “Don’t you see you are standing
on a rotten bridge that will break down, while I am standing on
a solid bridge? Your heart belies your head, and you admit that
your arguments are empty words.” (Text.)

(996)

=Experience, The Test of=--See PROOF BY EXPERIENCE.

EXPERIENCE, VALUE OF

The president of the London Alpine Club said no man was ever
lost on the Alps who had properly prepared himself and knew how
to ascend them, and when I quoted to him the list of guides who
had fallen into crevices and been killed, he quoted back to me
a certain passage of Scripture wherein the fate of blind guides
and those they lead is set forth in unmistakable terms. “Choose
for your guides,” said he, “the hardy men who have learned their
business thoroughly; who have been chamois-hunters from their
youth; who have lived on these mountains from their birth,
and to whom these snows and these rocks and the clouds speak
a language which they can understand, and then accidents are
impossible.” (Text.)--JAMES T. FIELDS.

(997)

=Experience versus Theory=--See CRITICISM.

EXPERIMENT

Our most valuable successes usually are achieved on the principle followed by this dog:

In his “Introduction to Comparative Psychology” (1894), Dr.
Lloyd Morgan told the story of his dog’s attempts to bring a
hooked walking-stick through a narrow gap in a fence. The dog
“tried” all possible methods of pulling the stick through the
fence. Most of the attempts showed themselves to be “errors.”
But the dog tried again and again, until he finally succeeded.
He worked by the method of trial and error. (Text.)

(998)

* * * * *

We doubt many theories that are recorded by others, but when we see them proved for ourselves we doubt no longer. A writer, after describing Franklin’s first disappointment in investigating the action of oil on water, records his later experiments:

Franklin investigated the subject, and the results of his
experiments, made upon a pond on Clapham Common, were
communicated to the Royal Society. He states that, after
dropping a little oil on the water, “I saw it spread itself
with surprizing swiftness upon the surface, but the effect of
smoothing the waves was not produced; for I had applied it first
upon the leeward side of the pond, where the waves were largest,
and the wind drove my oil back upon the shore. I then went to
the windward side, where they began to form; and there the
oil, tho not more than a teaspoonful, produced an instant calm
over a space several yards square, which spread amazingly, and
extended itself gradually till it reached the lee side, making
all that quarter of the pond (perhaps half an acre) as smooth as
a looking-glass.”

(999)

* * * * *

About all of the great enterprises of mankind are built on earlier experiments that seemed to fail. Hiram Maxim and S. P. Langley each spent laborious years constructing flying-machines that would not fly. Yet those who later succeeded made use of all the important devices that these earlier experimenters had invented.

Some years since it was seen that by damming, controlling,
and releasing the waters of the Colorado River in southern
California and Mexico a vast tract of land, which was hot, arid,
and uninhabitable, might become a fertile valley, giving homes
and sustenance to millions. The opportunity was great, the power
to be controlled and regulated was as great as the opportunity,
but a failure came in the mind and executive ability of the men
who were drawn to this great task. The waters escaped their
control, and, where they intended to irrigate flowering gardens
and fruitful plantations, they let loose a devastating flood,
which burst all barriers, and threatened to establish in place
of the desert an inland sea. In time the intellect of man solved
the problem, met the opportunity with due achievement, and now
the original promise is in the way of fulfilment. (Text.)

(1000)

* * * * *

The insect (a butterfly) flutters its wings as if to test their
power before committing itself to the air; and frequently,
after only a few seconds spent in this preparatory exercise,
off it darts with astonishing rapidity. But others seem far
more cautious. They vibrate their wings, sometimes with such
rapidity that they are lost in a kind of mist, and with such
power that their bodies would be carried suddenly into the
air were they not firmly anchored by three pairs of hooked
claws. Then, continuing the rapid vibration, they move slowly
along, always holding on firmly by one or more legs, as if to
still further satisfy themselves concerning the efficiency
of their wings. Then they venture on a few short trial trips
from one neighboring object to another, and at last gain
sufficient confidence for a long voyage.--W. FURNEAUX,
“Butterflies and Moths.”

(1001)

=Experiment as Proof=--See COMPROMISES IN GRAVITIES.

=Experimentation=--See SUCCESS BY EXPERIMENTATION.

EXPERT ASSISTANCE

It is usually better to take advantage of the assistance of some one who knows than to waste effort on that which is out of our province of activity.

A lady missionary was about to leave London for India. She had
been provided with trunks considered ample for the accommodation
of all her belongings, but even with the kind help of all the
members of her family, she could not get them into the space.
Many were left over. Repeated trials were made in vain. The
thought occurred to send for a professional packer. The expert,
in a short time, had everything neatly deposited in the trunks.

(1002)

=Experts, Value of=--See EDUCATION, HIGHER.

=Explanation, The Easy=--See SIMPLICITY AND TRUTH.

EXPOSURE

The ways in which evil deeds are brought to light often startle the culprit who thought he could cunningly hide his guilt.

At a dinner-party a young lady, noticing a beautiful silver
spoon lying near her, yielded to the temptation to secrete it
at an opportune moment when no one observed her. Once securely
hidden in the folds of one of her garments, she felt herself
very clever, and had no fear of the possibility of detection.
After dinner an exhibition of the remarkable properties of
X-rays was given, and the lady was asked to subject herself
to their influence. In an unguarded moment she consented,
forgetting that those searching rays could reveal her shame.
They were focused upon her, and there, in sight of all the
party, was revealed the stolen spoon. (Text.)

(1003)

=Expression of Grief Approved=--See GRIEF, EXPRESSING.

=Expulsion of Sin=--See REDEMPTION FROM EVIL.

EXTERMINATION

Texas and other Southern States suffered for years losses of
millions in the cattle industry from a type of splenic fever,
commonly called Texas fever. Finally, this fever began to be
carried into the North by Southern cattle shipped there, with
the result that rigid quarantines were established against
the South, which practically put the Southern cattle men out
of business for a large part of each year, and caused still
further enormous losses. Furthermore, this fever prevented the
importation into the far Southern States of fine breeds of
cattle with which to breed up the poor-grade herds. In Texas
practically every fine bull or cow imported from the North
contracted this fever, and seventy-five per cent of them died.

The experts of the Department of Agriculture, working with the
professors of the University of Missouri and of the Agricultural
College of Texas, discovered that this fever was transmitted
solely through the cattle-tick, which carried the germs from
sick cattle and implanted them in well cattle when sucking
their blood. An economical method of ridding cattle of ticks
before shipping, by a process of dipping, removed all danger
to Northern cattle from Southern shipments, and the costly
quarantine handicap was removed or greatly mitigated.

In the past three years a practical and economical method of
entirely exterminating these ticks has been worked out and
tested by our scientists, and the ticks have already been
exterminated over nearly 64,000 square miles, an area larger
than the State of Georgia, and it is only a matter of a few
years and wider diffusion of education when the cattle-tick
will be entirely exterminated. When we consider that the losses
of all kinds from cattle-ticks in the South and Southwest
were estimated at $40,000,000 per year, we can see what these
scientific discoveries mean for us.--New York _Evening
Post_.

(1004)

EXTRAVAGANCE, CENSURABLE

A newspaper writer gives this picture of an occurrence in New York:

On what proved to be the coldest night of the year, a man, said
to represent a brand of wine he is anxious to export, engaged
the largest stage in the world from midnight until the next noon
and gave an entertainment in honor of an elephant, to which were
bidden the men and women whose lights shine mostly on the Great
White Way.

These people were requested to come drest as “rubes,” in the
hope of making themselves as ridiculous as possible. But that
was unnecessary, as the report of their antics while the wine,
represented by their host, flowed with increasing freedom, did
for them what no amount of caricature in dress could accomplish.

Out in the cold of this same freezing night there is a
bread-line. Stationed at various places in this city are
municipal free lodging-houses. To these flocked the army of
the hungry and homeless, seeking for food and shelter from the
bitter cold.

On the one hand, wanton extravagance; on the other, biting poverty. It ought to be the province of Christianity to abolish both of these for their mutual good. (Text.)

(1005)

EXTRAVAGANCE, MODERN

Two hundred and sixty dollars were paid this season for a hat!
I know this to be true, because I saw the hat and the woman who
bought it, and I was told the price. What was it? A handful of
straw, a wisp of tulle, and a spray of feather. Two hundred and
sixty dollars!

Of course, this is not to be taken as an average price, even
among the very rich. But the averages, as well as the single,
instances of modern extravagance are startling. Fifteen years
ago twenty-five dollars--thirty at the outside--would have
bought the most elaborate bonnet in the most expensive shopping
center of the world, New York. To-day the Fifth Avenue shops are
asking thirty dollars for the plainest domestic toque or shade
hat, and have shelves full of French importations at prices
ranging from $100 to $175. The ten-dollar “trimmed” sailor hat
used to be worn with serge dresses; the mull hats costing five
dollars; the big rough garden hats at about the same price;
the leghorns that used to run as high as fifteen, even twenty
dollars, to-day have been replaced by thirty-dollar round hats,
fifty-dollar picture hats, fifty-dollar lingerie hats, and
hand-made straws running into the three numerals.--EMILY
POST, _Everybody’s Magazine_.

(1006)

EXTREMITY, GOD IN

In the far, forgotten lands,
By the world’s last gulf of night,
Gasps a naked human soul,
Writhing up and falling back,
Screaming for a God who cares.

In the far, forgotten lands,
By the world’s last gulf of night,
Batlike creatures vex the gloom
And whimper as they shudder by:
“Is there any God who cares?”

In the far, forgotten lands,
By the world’s last gulf of night,
Walks the cross-stained Nazarene,
Searching ever for his own
On the crumbling edge of hell.

In the far, forgotten lands,
By the world’s last gulf of night,
There He wanders, all alone,
Dragging bleeding hearts from hell
With the whisper: “God does care!”

--_The Independent._

(1007)

EXTREMITY NOT FINAL

Sidney Lanier once, at least, in dire extremity, while stricken
with a mortal malady, and almost lacking subsistence for his
family in this wealthy city (Baltimore), sent forth a cry of
agony that came perilously near to surrender of faith. He rose
from his abysmal despair to make another valiant effort at the
last, and never afterward questioned the goodness of God even in
hours of awful discouragement. And so he died, feeling that all
would be well with him and those he loved stronger than death.
Ye who are about to abandon the tumultuous and uneven contest,
think of this example, look to heaven and make another honest,
prayerful effort for relief!--Baltimore _American_.

(1008)

=Eye Measuring=--See TRAINING.

EYE, THE EVIL

The power exerted by the human eye over man and animals is well
known, and the evil use of such influence is widely recognized.
This maleficent power is called the “evil eye,” and the belief
in its operation seems never to have been absent in any land.
This does not mean the undoubted influence exerted by the eye,
as in mesmerism, but a sort of noxious influence proceeding
from the eye, with or without the connivance of the owner of
the organ. Intelligence of a belief in this strange power comes
to us from the cradle lands of the East, at an unknown period
of history. Chaldean cylinders of clay dug up on the banks of
the Euphrates contain magical formula against it. In Assyria,
eight centuries before Christ, men appealed to their gods in
long formulated prayers against possessors of the evil eye, who
are declared the worst of men. Egyptian incantations against
the sorcerer, of an early date, have come down to us. In one
of these the sun is addrest thus: “O, thou whose soul is in
the pupil of the eye.” An ancient Vedaic hymn to Agni invokes
Indra against the evil eye. The eye of the Brahman was thought
so powerful that he was forbidden, when satisfying the wants
of nature, to look at the sun, the moon, the stars, water,
or trees, lest he should bewitch them. The Persian Vendidad
contains prayers and rites to ward off the effects of the
evil eye. Ahriman subdued evil spirits by the power of his
glance.--St. Louis _Globe-Democrat_.

(1009)

=Eye, The Human=--See DESIGN IN NATURE.

EYE, THE SEARCHING

In a poem by Victor Hugo, Cain is represented as walking thirty
days and nights after the murder of his brother Abel until he
reaches the shores of the sea. “Let us stop here,” he says; but
as he sits down his face turns pale. He has seen in the mournful
sky the searching eye. His sons, filled with awe, try to erect
barriers between him and the Eye--a tent, then a wall of iron,
then a tower and a city--but all is in vain. “I see the Eye,”
still cries the unhappy man. At last they dig a tomb and the
father is put into it. But

“Tho overhead they closed the awful vault,
The Eye was in the tomb and looked on Cain.” (Text.)

(1010)

=Eye, The Trained=--See TRAINING.

EYES, THE

There are men who are like the eye pupils--larger in the shadow. Bring them out into the bright light and they shrink to their real proportions.

Hang a small looking-glass on the wall immediately below a
gas-bracket. Carefully examine the colored portion of either of
your eyes by looking at the image formed in the glass, and note
particularly the extent of the pupil’s opening. Now, turning the
light down to the smallest amount that will still permit you
to see the pupil, note the wonderful manner in which the pupil
dilates or increases in diameter. Then turn the light up and
observe how the pupil contracts; and then remember the wonderful
optical instruments you possess and be careful you do not abuse
them, for they are the only eyes you will ever get.--EDWIN
J. HOUSTON, “The Wonder Book of Light.”

(1011)

=Eyesores, Relieved of=--See UNLOADING THE USELESS.

F

FACE, AN INVITING

This is from _The Boys’ World_:

A poor fellow in trouble, a stranger in a big city, and sick and
destitute, passed aimlessly along the street, wondering what
to do and where to go. Passing an office window, he looked up
and caught sight of a man’s face. “I’ll go in there and speak
to him--he looks so kind,” was the instant resolve. He went and
found a friend indeed, whose kindness brought the chance to help
himself, which the young man never forgot, and afterward sought
to repay.

“He looks so kind.” Could there be a higher compliment? The
man’s face was an open invitation to come in and confide and get
help.

Without speaking a word he gave this invitation, which led to so
much for the friendless stranger.

But do you suppose that this kind look grew in a night or a
day or a week? Can a fine steel-engraving be finished in a few
hours? It takes line by line, day after day. Things worth while
are not of instantaneous accomplishment. Now think of it. When
is the best time to begin, if the art of looking pleasant and
the possession of a kind face be achieved?

(1012)

=Face Shows the Man=--See COUNTENANCE, GRACE IN THE.

=Face, The Benignant=--See COUNTENANCE, GRACE IN THE.

FACE, THE, REVEALING THE GOSPEL

When Margaret Andrews was twenty-five, she received what she
thought was a call to the foreign mission field. Her parents,
altho they at first tried to dissuade her, put no obstacle in
the way of her hopes, and, full of eagerness, she began training
at a school in another city. One day, says the _California
Advocate_, she received a telegram. Her mother had met with
an accident, just how serious could not at once be known.
Margaret packed her books and took the first train home,
expecting to return in a few weeks. Long before the weeks had
passed she knew that her dream must be given up. Her mother
would never be able to do anything again, and Margaret, instead
of making her journey to strange lands, saw herself shut in to
the duties of housekeeper and nurse.

For a year or two she bore her disappointment in silence; then
she went to her pastor with it. The pastor was an old man, who
had known Margaret all her life. He looked at her steadily for
a moment. Then he said slowly, “You are living in a city of two
hundred thousand people. Isn’t there need enough about you to
fill your life?”

“Oh, yes,” the girl answered, “and I could give up the foreign
field. It isn’t that. But I haven’t time to do anything, not
even to take a mission-class, and to see so much work waiting,
and be able to do nothing--”

“Margaret,” the old minister said, “come here.”

The girl followed him to the next room, where a mirror hung
between the windows. Her reflection, pale and unhappy, faced her
wearily.

“All up and down the streets,” the old minister said, “in the
cars, the markets, the stores, there are people starving for
the bread of life. The church can not reach them--they will not
enter a church. Books can not help them--many of them never open
a book. There is but one way that they can ever read the gospel
of hope, of joy, of courage, and that is in the faces of men and
women.

“Two years ago a woman who has known deep trouble came to me one
day, and asked your name. ‘I wanted to tell her,’ she said, ‘how
much good her happy face did me, but I was afraid that she would
think it was presuming on the part of an utter stranger. Some
day, perhaps, you will tell her for me.’ Margaret, my child,
look in the glass and tell me if the face you see there has
anything to give to the souls that are hungry for joy--and they
are more than any of us realize--who, unknown to themselves, are
hungering for righteousness. Do you think that woman, if she
were to meet you now, would say what she said two years ago?”

The girl gave one glance and then turned away, her cheeks
crimson with shame. It was hard to answer, but she was no
coward. She looked up into her old friend’s grave eyes.

“Thank you,” she said; “I will try to learn my lesson and accept
my mission--to the streets.” (Text.)

(1013)

FACING RIGHT

When the Jews, exiled from the Holy Land, died afar off among
the pagans and the persecutors, they had themselves laid in
their tombs, with their faces turned toward Jerusalem! If your
strength betrays you, if it is not for you, during life, to
enter into perfect peace, to be delivered from certain enemies
of the soul, from certain humiliating miseries that set your
best will at defiance, if you must fall in the mêlée, fall at
least with your face turned toward Jerusalem.--CHARLES
WAGNER, “The Gospel of Life.”

(1014)

FACTS, IGNORING

Thomas Reed Bridges, D.D., says:

Macaulay tells the story of a young scientist in India who
became possest of a microscope. Beneath it he placed a drop
of water from the Ganges. This is, as you know, the sacred
river of India. He looked and beheld an infinite pollution.
Then in his rage he broke the microscope in pieces and threw
it from him. The Ganges ran on carrying its infection to the
sea, but he would not see it. Foolish, you say. But not more
foolish than the way in which many people close their eyes to
the facts of their own life. They have not the courage to look
at the truth. They prefer to live all their days in a fool’s
paradise. In their sincerest moments there is some insincerity.
Their self-examination is nothing more than self-defense. It is
possible to put a favorable construction upon almost any action
and this men do when dealing with themselves.

(1015)

FACTS, RELIGIOUS

Dr. Chas. F. Aked said in a recent sermon, concerning the multiplicity of modern faiths and fads:

I have not been in this country twenty months yet, but I am
quite certain that there have been twenty new gospels launched
upon an astonished public during that time. I remember one that
was to take possession of the church to win the world to Christ
inside of the next twelve months. The publisher sent me a copy
of the book for my opinion, and I wrote him that I did not care
two straws about that sort of thing, but before the ink in my
signature was dry a friend called on me and I asked him how Dr.
So and So’s scheme was getting on. “Oh,” he said, “he is about
through with it.”

I said, “Why I have only just got his book from the publisher.”
“That does not make any difference,” said my friend. “But,” I
said, “how can he have got through with it already?” He said,
“Have not you been here long enough to know how easily we take a
thing up and how much more easily we drop it again?” (Text.)

New gospels come and go, but there is one gospel that abides.

(1016)

=Failings of Christians=--See CYNIC REBUKED.

FAILURE

Caligula once fitted out a fleet at great expense, as if to
conquer Greece or to accomplish some other great undertaking,
but the ships returned laden with pebbles and cockleshells, only
to receive the scorn of all.

So many a life that is well equipped and has glorious opportunities flattens out into insipid nothingness.

(1017)

See DEFEAT; NEGLECT; SUCCESS IN
FAILURE; SORROW FOR A LOST CAUSE.

FAILURE LEADING TO SUCCESS

It is part of the compensation of life that nearly every dark cloud of disaster or disappointment has a fringe of light under it. An instance of this is seen in the career of Senator Beveridge:

It was a joke that sent United States Senator Beveridge, of
Indiana, into public life instead of into the army. He took the
competitive examination, but at a critical moment he laughed at
another boy’s sportive remark and failed to pass by the smallest
fraction. We are told by one chronicler that young Beveridge was
so badly upset when the news reached him on the street that he
had failed to pass that his distress was mirrored on his face so
plainly that a passing acquaintance stopt to ask him the cause,
and was himself so touched that he forthwith offered to advance
him the money necessary to start him in college.

(1018)

=Failure Made a Success=--See SAGACITY SUPPLEMENTING SCIENCE.

FAILURE ONLY SEEMING

These cheering lines are from _Success_:

There is no failure. If we could but see
Beyond the battle-line; if we could be
Where battle-smoke does ne’er becloud the eye,
Then we should know that where these prostrate lie
Accoutered in habiliments of death,
Sweet Freedom’s radiant form has drawn new breath--
The breath of life which they so nobly gave
Shall swell anew above the lowly grave,
And give new life and hope to hearts that beat
Like battle-drums that never sound retreat.

(1019)

FAILURE TRANSFORMED TO SUCCESS