Chapter II: Preface (2)

The structural provisions of the living organism are not built
on the principle of economy. On the contrary, the superabundance
of tissues and mechanisms indicates clearly that safety is the
goal of the animal organism. We may safely state that the living
animal organism is provided in its structures with factors of
safety at least as abundantly as any human-made machine.

The moral drawn from these facts is that to govern the supply
of tissue and energy by means of food, nature indicates for
us the same principle of affluence which controls the entire
construction of the animal for the safety of its life and the
perpetuation of its species. In other words, we should eat
not just enough to preserve life, but a good deal more. In
such cases safety is more important than economy.--S. J.
MELTZER, _Science_.

(46)

AGE

“There are in the suburbs of Rome,” says _Cosmos_, “two
farms where antique medals are made in large quantities. This
would seem to be a singular agricultural product, yet nothing
is more exact. The people who devote themselves to this odd
industry cause to be swallowed by turkeys coins or medals
roughly struck with the effigy of Tiberius or Caligula. After
remaining for some time in the bodies of the fowls, the little
disks of metal become coated with a remarkable ‘patina.’ If this
coating were only the result of the gastro-intestinal voyage,
it would be easy to secure it by treating the coins to be aged
with dilute hydrochloric acid, for instance. But the mechanical
action of the tiny stones contained in the gizzard is added
to the purely chemical action of the gastric juice, partially
effacing the figures and toning down the hardness of the
features. It is to be feared that some of the specimens in our
public collections have been obtained by this curious process.”

(47)

AGE AND EXPERIENCE

We might find an argument against the “dead line” in such facts as the following:

We make a great mistake in America when we lay our older men on
the shelf, while they are still in their prime as counselors.
Benjamin Franklin was sent to France as a minister when he was
seventy years old, and the best work he did for his country,
he did between his seventy-first and seventy-eighth years.
The State of New York had an absurd statute which removed
Chancellor Kent from the bench because he was sixty-five. After
that time he wrote and published his “Commentaries,” a book
recognized as one of the most important books in the study of
our jurisprudence. So much good did the country gain from one of
the frequent absurdities of New York legislation. In England,
Lord Palmerston and Mr. Gladstone are recent instances, well
remembered, of the force which statesmen gain, almost by the law
of geometrical progression, from their memory of the experiments
which fail, from what I call organic connection with the
national life of the last two generations.--EDWARD EVERETT
HALE, _The Chautauquan_.

(48)

AGE AND ORATORY

This is the description of one who had the privilege of hearing Gladstone, in the autumn of 1896, make his last great oration in Liverpool:

See the old man with slow and dragging steps advancing from the
door behind the platform to his seat before that sea of eager
faces. The figure is shrunken. The eyelids droop. The cheeks are
as parchment. Now that he sits, his hands lean heavily upon his
staff. We think, “Ah, it is too late; the fire has flickered
out; the speech will be but the dead echo of bygone glories.”
But lo! he rises. The color mantles to his face. He stands
erect, alert. The great eyes open full upon his countrymen. Yes,
the first notes are somewhat feeble, somewhat painful; but a
few minutes pass, and the noble voice falls as the solemn music
of an organ on the throng. The eloquent arms seem to weave a
mystic garment for his oratory. The involved sentences unfold
themselves with a perfect lucidity. The whole man dilates.
The soul breaks out through the marvelous lips. Age? Not so!
this is eternal youth. He is pleading for mercy to an outraged
people, for fidelity to a national obligation, for courage and
for conscience in a tremendous crisis. And the words from the
Revised Version of the Psalms seem to print themselves on the
listener’s heart: “Thou hast made him but little lower than God,
and crownest him with glory and honor.” (Text.)

(49)

AGE, THE NEW

Frederick Lawrence Knowles writes this optimistic outlook for the future:

When memory of battles,
At last is strange and old,
When nations have one banner
And creeds have found one fold,

When the Hand that sprinkles midnight
With its powdered drift of suns
Has hushed this tiny tumult
Of sects and swords and guns;

Then Hate’s last note of discord
In all God’s worlds shall cease,
In the conquest which is service,
In the victory which is peace! (Text.)

(50)

AGENTS, INSIGNIFICANT

Nature shows how the weakness of God is immeasurably stronger
than men; so does history with equal clearness. The oft-quoted
saying, “Providence is always on the side of the big
battalions,” is one with an imposing sound, but it is disproved
by history over and over again. Some of the decisive battles
of the world were won by the small battalions. More than once
has the sling and the stone prevailed against the Philistine
army. Battles are won by the big brain; and wherever that may
be, slight weapons and resources are sufficient for splendid
victories. Now the all-wise God sits on the throne of the world,
and we are often filled with astonishment at the insignificant
agents with which heaven smites its foes, and causes victory
to settle on the banners of right and justice. The world’s
Ruler defeated Pharaoh with frogs and flies; He humbled Israel
with the grasshopper; He smeared the splendor of Herod with
worms; on the plains of Russia, He broke the power of Napoleon
with a snowflake. God has no need to dispatch an archangel;
when once He is angry, a microbe will do. (Text.)--W. L.
WATKINSON, “The Transfigured Sackcloth.”

(51)

AGGREGATION

A drop of rain is a very little thing, but here is a calculation of a rainfall:

The rain fell in buckets, the thunder racketed terribly, and the
lightning drew zigzag lines of bright gold upon the violet sky.

“So you, too, don’t know what an inch of rain is exactly,”
said the weather clerk, as he looked at his rain-measuring
instrument. “Very few people do, it seems. I’ll explain it to
you.

“An acre is 6,272,640 square inches. An inch of water on an acre
is therefore 6,272,640 cubic inches. That amount, at 227 cubic
inches to the gallon, equals 22,000 gallons, or 220,000 pounds,
or 100 tons.

“An inch of rain is, in other words, rain falling at the rate of
100 tons to the acre.”

(52)

AGGRESSION

Many fail through over-caution. A course duly weighed, venture all.

In a more recent number of Robert L. Taylor’s magazine, a
leading article speaks of Admiral Farragut, at Mobile. The
_Brooklyn_ hesitated to go forward. “What’s the matter?”
asked the Admiral. “Torpedoes,” replied the captain. “D----n
the torpedoes,--full speed against the enemy!” He meant no
profanity, but it was a time for action of the most pronounced
sort. The best protection against the enemy’s fire is a
well-directed fire from our own guns.

General Grant in the civil war of 1861–65 said, “The best
defense of Washington is an army before Richmond.” These
epigrammatic maxims are the best accepted fighting rules known
to warfare to this day.

(53)

* * * * *

Colonel Henderson, of the British Army, says in the _Science of War_:

The Federal strategy in the last year of the war, with Grant
in command and Sherman his lieutenant, stands out in marked
relief to the disjointed, partial, and complicated operations
of the previous years.... Grant seems to have been the first to
recognize that, as von Moltke puts it, the true objective of
a campaign is the defeat of the enemy’s main army.... General
Sheridan’s summing up of the handling of the Army of the
Potomac, before Grant took command, is to the point: “The army
was all right; the trouble was that the commanders never went
out to lick anybody, but always thought first of keeping from
getting licked.” Grant, like Moltke, was always ready to try
conclusions.

(54)

=Agitation=--See QUIET, STUDY TO BE.

AHEAD OF CIRCUMSTANCE

In life there are those who keep just ahead of the breaking wave, and others who halt and it engulfs them. Marshall P. Wilder describes in the extract below the skill of the Hawaiian natives with their canoes:

We donned bathing-suits and took a surf ride. This is the
national sport and, being at all times sufficiently thrilling,
must be taken in a high surf, a tremendous experience. The boats
are long, deep and very narrow canoes, with an outrigger at one
side to keep them from tipping.

Two natives, and they must be skilled, usually operate these
canoes. Three or four passengers at a time are taken out, the
natives rowing with broad paddles a quarter or half mile from
the shore, where they wait for a large wave. With the nicest
precision they keep ahead of it, just as it breaks, and are
carried smoothly in, poised on its crest. I sat facing the
stern, and the experience was something to remember, the swift
bird-like swoop of the canoe, with the white, seething wall of
water behind it, apparently just about to engulf us. After we
were safely on shore again they told us stories of how the wave,
if the rowers miscalculate, will break over the canoe, driving
it to the bottom.--“Smiling ’Round the World.”

(56)

=Aim=--See SPIRITUAL GUNNERY.

AGRICULTURE

The rate at which the people of the United States have been carrying out the divine command to replenish the earth and subdue it may be seen at a glance by the diagram below: (Text.)

The total value of farm products in the United States from
$2,000,000,000 in 1880 to nearly $8,000,000,000 in 1900.

(55)

=Ahead, Looking=--See PREVISION.

AIM HIGH

The following inspiring advice is by Willis Warren Kent:

Aim high!
Watch the target with an eye
Steady as the eaglet’s glance;
Fit your arrow, let it fly,
Fear no failure, no mischance!
Aim high!

Aim high!
Tho your arrows hurtle by,
Miss the target, sail below,
Pick them up, once more to try,
Arms a-tangle, eyes aglow!
Aim high!

Aim high!
Learn to laugh and cease to sigh,
Learn to hide your deep chagrin!
Life’s a test at archery
Where the true of heart will win!
Aim high!

(57)

AIMLESSNESS

Washington Irving tells a story of a man who tried to jump over
a hill. He went back so far to get his start for the great leap
and ran so hard that he was completely exhausted when he came
to the hill, and had to lie down and rest. Then he got up and
walked over the hill.

A great many people exhaust themselves getting ready to do their
work. They are always preparing. They spend their lives getting
ready to do something which they never do.

It is an excellent thing to keep improving oneself, to keep
growing; but there must be a time to begin the great work of
life. I know a man who is almost forty years old, who has not
yet decided what he is going to do. He has graduated from
college, and taken a number of post-graduate courses--but all
along general lines. He has not yet begun to specialize. This
man fully believes he is going to do great things yet. I hope he
may.--O. S. MARDEN.

(58)

* * * * *

“And he that walketh in the darkness knoweth not whither he
goeth.” What a picture comes into the mind as by the aid of the
imagination we read these words. I think of a vast forest, with
its winding trail, its deep shadows, its tangled underbrush,
its decayed trunks here and there. I think of myself at the end
of a long day’s tramp. No opening in sight. The sun has gone
down. The light coming through the openings above growing less
and less. The sky overcast. Soon it is dark. I miss the trail.
I get down on my hands and knees to feel for it. Presently no
sound but the cracking of the underbrush. Suddenly it dawns
upon me that I am lost in the woods. All sense of direction is
gone. Any way I turn may be the wrong way. I am utterly aimless.
Jesus says the end of the selfish man is utter aimlessness. That
as a man in the woods wanders without aim so the selfish man
wanders in the moral universe without aim, not knowing whither
he goeth.--ROBERT MCLAUGHLIN.

(59)

* * * * *

It is told of Professor Huxley that once, when the British
Association met in Dublin, he arrived late in the city; fearing
to miss the president’s address, he rushed from the train to
the station platform, jumped on a jaunting-car, and said to the
Celt in charge, “Drive fast; I’m in a hurry.” Cabby whipt up his
horse and proved to be another Jehu. Suddenly it flashed upon
the passenger, bounding about the vehicle in a most undignified
way, to shout to the driver above the rattle of the car, “Do you
know where I want to go?” “No, yer honor,” was Pat’s laughing
rejoinder, “but I’m driving fast all the while.”

There are many who keep up a great activity, but who, for want of a definite aim or a great guiding ideal, accomplish little good in the world.

(60)

AIR, EFFECTS OF

Attention has been called to some curious effects of rarefied
and of condensed air on human respiration. On high mountains
some persons experience distressing shortness of breath, one
result of which is that they are unable to whistle. Precisely
the same effect is sometimes produced by the condensed air in
caissons and diving-bells. Laborers working in comprest air
frequently find, however, that their powers of exertion are
increased as long as the atmospheric pressure is not more than
double that of ordinary air; but beyond that point unpleasant
effects are experienced after the men have left the working
shafts and returned into the open air. On the other hand, high
atmospheric pressure in the case of persons not doing manual
labor has been found to act as a mental stimulus, increasing the
impulse to talk.--_Harper’s Weekly._

(61)

=Air of Sea as Purifier=--See PURIFICATION.

=Airship Flight=--See AMBITION.

ALCOHOLIC BAIT

In May, 1880, on Platt River, in Benzie County, Michigan, an old
man was showing an Indian named Pokagon how to catch pigeons in
their nesting-place. He led him to an open pole-pen which he
called his bait-bed, where he scattered a bucketful of wheat.
While the two watched in ambush the pigeons poured into the pen
and gorged themselves. “Come on, you redskin,” said the old man
to Pokagon, and they caught about a hundred fine birds. “How did
you do it?” asked the Indian in surprize. With one eye half shut
and a sly wink with the other, the old man replied: “That wheat
was soaked in whisky.”

How many other than birds have been snared by the same whisky-bait!

(62)

ALIBI

A distinguished jurist once sat down to a course dinner. He had
been waited on by one servant during two courses. He had had the
soup. Another servant came to him and said, “Sir, shall I take
your order? Will you have some of the chicken soup?” “No, sir;
I have been served with chicken soup, but the chicken proved an
alibi.”--GEORGE M. PALMER.

(63)

=Alleviation=--See DRUDGERY RELIEVED.

ALLUREMENT, FATAL

The Judas-tree, so-called, is a remarkable plant. Its blossoms
appear before its leaves, and are a most brilliant crimson. The
flowers flaming forth, attract innumerable insects. The bee,
for instance, in quest of honey, is drawn to it. But searching
the petals for nectar, it imbibes a fatal opiate. Beneath this
Judas-tree the ground is strewn with the victims of its deadly
fascination.

(64)

* * * * *

Flicker-flick,
Above the wick,
Burned the candle flame.
Through the open window-shutter
Young Moth Miller came.
Straight he fluttered toward the yellow,
Bright, alluring thing.
And, alas, poor foolish fellow
Scorched his downy wing!
Little ones, take lesson from him,
Be not overbold;
Stop and think that glittering things
Are not always gold. (Text.)

--ELIZABETH HILL.

(65)

* * * * *

The Venus fly trap is small and shaped as if you placed your two
open palms side by side. Its surface is plastered with honey and
the other palm has sharp needles pointing outward. The “silly
fly” yields to the attraction of the sweets and is immediately
shut in as the two palms close upon him. He is instantly stung
to death by the needles.

How alluring evil can appear at times. Satan himself can pose as an angel of light. Evil often presents its most subtle attraction to the young. But sin in any guise is the soul’s deathtrap. (Text.)

(66)

=Allurement to Evil=--See SIN, FASCINATION OF.

=Allurement to Good=--See FISHERS OF MEN.

ALMSGIVING

That is no true alms which the hand can hold;
He gives only worthless gold
Who gives from a sense of duty;
But he who gives but a slender mite
And gives to that which is out of sight,
The hand can not clasp the whole of his alms. (Text.)

--LOWELL.

(67)

ALTAR, THE

In the old days a father built a home for his family. It was
complete in every part, but the altar around which they gathered
in prayer was not yet set in place. The mother wished it in
the kitchen; there she was perplexed with her many cares.
The father wished it in his study: God seemed nearer to him
among his books. The son wished it in the room where guests
were received, that the stranger entering might see that they
worshiped God. At last they agreed to leave the matter to the
youngest, who was a little child. Now the altar was a shaft of
polished wood, very fragrant, and the child, who loved most of
all to sit before the great fire and see beautiful forms in the
flames, said, “See, the fire-log is gone; put the altar there.”
So, because one would not yield to the other, they obeyed, and
the altar was consumed, while its sweet odors filled the whole
house--the kitchen, the study, and the guest hall--and the child
saw beautiful forms in the flames.--DAVID STARR JORDAN,
“The Religion of a Sensible American.”

(68)

ALTRUISM

There is in Cambridge, Mass., an elm-tree of moderate size,
which has, according to the estimates of Professor Gray, a leaf
surface of 200,000 square feet. This tree exhales seven and
three-quarter tons of water every twelve hours. A forest of 500
such trees would return to the atmosphere nearly 4,000 tons in
the same time.

Our lives should be like this tree, shedding their refreshment continually. (Text.)

(69)

* * * * *

Good men are not meant to be simply like trees planted by
rivers of waters, flourishing in their own pride and for their
own sake. They ought to be like the eucalyptus trees which
have been set out in the marshes of the Campagna, from which a
healthful, tonic influence is said to be diffused to countervail
the malaria. They ought to be like the Tree of Paradise, “whose
leaves are for the healing of nations.”--HENRY VAN DYKE.

(70)

* * * * *

The flower blooms not for itself at all,
Its joy is the joy that diffuses:
Of beauty and balm it is prodigal,
And it lives in the life it freely loses;
No choice for the rose but glory or doom,
To exhale or smother, to wither or bloom.
To deny
Is to die.

(71)

See VICARIOUSNESS.

ALTRUISM AMONG BIRDS

An old gentleman in New England told me of a case he once
observed. Noticing a little flock of chewinks or towhee buntings
who came about the house for food that was thrown out, he saw
that one was larger than the others and that they fed him. To
satisfy his curiosity, he threw a stone with such accuracy that
his victim fell, and on picking him up he was surprized to see
that the bird’s mandibles were crossed so that he could not
possibly feed himself. The inference was obvious; his comrades
had fed him, and so well that he had grown bigger than any of
them.--OLIVE THORNE MILLER, “The Bird Our Brother.”

(72)

ALTRUISM IN INSECTS

A gentleman, while reading the newspaper, feeling bothered by
the buzzing of a wasp about his head, beat it down. It fell
through the open window and lay on the sill as if dead. A few
seconds afterward, to his great surprize, a large wasp flew
on to the window-sill, and after buzzing around his wounded
brother for a few minutes, began to lick him all over. The sick
wasp seemed to revive under this treatment, and his friend then
gently dragged him to the edge, grasped him round the body and
flew away with him. It was plain that the stranger, finding a
wounded comrade, gave him “first aid,” as well as he could, and
then bore him away home. This is one of many cases in which the
law of altruism is traceable in the world of living things below
man. How much more should intelligent man exercise this spirit
of helpfulness in the rescue of his fallen brother.

(73)

ALTRUISM IN NATURE

The flower does not live for itself. Beautiful, fragrant-making,
the tree an incense-holder, hang the apple-blossoms for a day;
to-morrow they have let go their hold upon the tree and are
scattered over the ground in order that the fruit may grow. The
fruit guards the seed until it is mature, then the fruit goes
to decay that the seed may be released; the seed gives up its
life that a new tree may come. What a glorious parable is this:
life for life, the old dying for the new; every tree in the
orchard, every grain-stalk in the corn-field, every dusty weed
by the roadside living for others and ready to die for others.
The doctrine of unselfish love and of sacrifice comes to us
fragrant with the odor of ten thousand blossoms and rich with
the yellow fruitage of ten thousand harvests. Self-preservation
is no longer the first law of nature. The first law seems to
be preparation for that which is coming next.--JOHN K.
WILLEY.

(74)

ALUMNI OCCUPATIONS

Beloit College has been coeducational for about fifteen years.
The following list of what its women alumni are doing is given
in a current number of the college paper:

Eighty-eight are teaching.

Fifty-four are married.

Nineteen are at home.

Three are librarians.

Four are graduate students.

Two are college instructors.

One is supervisor of domestic economy.

One is vice-president of a bank.

One is a nurse.

One is an editor.

One is an assistant postmaster.

One is a visitor of Associated Charities.

One is superintendent of north-west district of United Charities
in Chicago.

Two are high-school principals.

One is a student in the Baptist Missionary Training School,
Chicago.

One is the industrial secretary of the Y. W. C. A., Detroit.

One is a bookkeeper in a bank.

One is a teacher in North China Union Woman’s College, American
Board.

One is nursery visitor of United Charities in Chicago.

One is a private tutor.

(75)

AMBASSADOR, THE MINISTER AS AN

The minister must be something as well as do something. He must
consistently make an impression upon everybody he approaches
that he is in something unlike the ordinary run of men. I do
not mean that he should be sanctimonious, for that repels; it
must be something in his own consciousness. My father was a
clergyman. One of the most impressive incidents of my youth
occurs to me. He was in a party of gentlemen, when one of them
used a profane word unthinkingly. With a start he turned to my
father, and said, “I beg your pardon, Dr. Wilson.” My father
said, very simply and gently, “Oh, sir, you have not offended
me.” The emphasis he laid upon that word “me” brought with it a
tremendous impression. All present felt that my father regarded
himself as an ambassador of someone higher; their realization
of it showed in their faces.--WOODROW WILSON, _The
Churchman_.

(76)

=Ambidexterity Favored=--See ASYMMETRY.

AMBITION

When William the Conqueror was born his first exploit was to
grasp a handful of straw, and to hold it so tenaciously in
his little fist that the nurse could scarcely take it away.
This infantile prowess was considered an omen, and the nurse
predicted that the babe would some day signalize himself by
seizing and holding great possessions. And he did.

But what, after all, were many of the possessions seized by the Norman Conqueror but a handful of straw. And so are not a few of the conquests of earthly ambition, no matter how tenaciously held as well as ardently won. Over many a pile of wealth and massed achievement might be written: “A handful of straw in a baby fist!”

(77)

* * * * *

Daisy Rinehart expresses a very common feeling in this poem:

I’m tired of sailing my little boat
Far inside of the harbor bar;
I want to be out where the big ships float--
Out on the deep, where the great ones are!

And should my frail craft prove too slight
For storms that sweep those wide seas o’er,
Better go down in the stirring fight
Than drowse to death by the sheltered shore!

--_Munsey’s Magazine._

(78)

* * * * *

Glenn H. Curtiss, by his successful and spectacular flight of
150 miles from Albany to this city (May 29, 1910), has jumped
into the first rank of aviators.

Curtiss began life as soon as he was of a workable age as a
newsboy. He is still remembered as a lad always ambitious in
sport, particularly if there were any mechanical contrivances to
be worked out that might add to his triumph. His ambition was
to “arrive” in anything he undertook, and to do this he was not
content to accept the suggestions of others, but sought to work
out his own original ideas.

When about ten or eleven years old he was very much perturbed
over the fact that one of his chums owned a hand-sled that
always coasts down-hill faster than his own. Curtiss set to work
to construct a sled that would outdistance his rival’s, and
after weeks of quiet work had the satisfaction of leaving his
rival far behind.

From sleds he turned his attention to bicycles.

“Why not attach a gasoline engine to it?” he asked one day, and
immediately he went to work, using the model of an old gasoline
engine to work on, and was soon able to amaze his neighbors by
chugging through the country on his hand-made machine. The fever
of the motorcycle was right on him, and that early success led
him to establish a bicycle shop which soon grew from a mere
repair shop to a plant for the manufacture of motor-cycles, and
the success of the improved Curtiss motor was what gave him his
first real fame.

In 1907 he took one of his machines to Ormond, Fla. It was
built solely for speed, for it was Curtiss’ aim to go faster
than any one else. The judges, greatly to the disappointment
of the inventor, pronounced it a freak and not eligible, with
the orthodox machines. It was a big disappointment, but Curtiss
announced that he would make an exhibition mile trial, and, to
the amazement of the experts, he covered the distance in the
remarkable time of 0:26 2/5, the fastest mile that had ever been
traveled by a man.

From making motors for bicycles it was an easy step to try the
construction of light gasoline motors for flying purposes.
Captain Thomas S. Baldwin was the first to see the possibilities
of the Curtiss motor for balloon purposes, and at his suggestion
Curtiss built one for Baldwin’s dirigible airship. This was
successful, and others were built.

Then followed the success of the Wright brothers with
heavier-than-air machines and the craze for the heavier-than-air
type abroad. Curtiss’ little shop at Hammondsport became the
headquarters for the aeronautical students of this country and
aerial flight received its first big impetus, next to that given
by the Wrights when Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, in November,
1907, organized his Aeronautic Experiment Association, and
Curtiss was one of its six members.

(79)

* * * * *

By the sheer force of his ambition Pope won his place, and
held it, in spite of religious prejudice, and in the face of
physical and temperamental obstacles that would have discouraged
a stronger man. For Pope was deformed and sickly, dwarfish in
soul and body. He knew little of the world of nature or of
the world of the human heart. He was lacking, apparently, in
noble feeling, and instinctively chose a lie when the truth
had manifestly more advantages. Yet this jealous, peevish,
waspish little man became the acknowledged leader of English
literature.--WILLIAM J. LONG, “English Literature.”

(80)

AMBITION, A WORTHY

Dr. William H. Thomson, speaking of the tubercle bacillus in his book, “What is Physical Life?” says:

For ages upon ages this mighty microorganism has waged a
cruel destructive war upon the human race. After fifty years
of observation and study of its ghastly doings, I can say
that I would rather have the power to cause the tears shed on
its account to cease than to be the greatest official or the
greatest owner on the earth.

(81)

AMERICA IN SYMBOL

In the hour when for the first time I stood before the cataracts
of Niagara, I seemed to see a vision of the fears and hopes of
America. It was midnight, the moon was full, and I saw from the
suspension bridge the ceaseless contortion, confusion, whirl,
and chaos which burst forth in clouds of foam from that immense
central chasm which divides the American from the British
dominion; and as I looked on that ever-changing movement, and
listened to that everlasting roar, I saw an emblem of the
devouring activity, and ceaseless, restless, beating whirlpool
of existence in the United States. But into the moonlight
sky there rose a cloud of spray twice as high as the falls
themselves, silent, majestic, immovable. In that silver column,
glittering in the moonlight, I saw an image of the future of
American destiny, of the pillar of light which should emerge
from the distractions of the present--a likeness of the buoyancy
and hopefulness which characterize you both as individuals and
as a nation.--ARTHUR PENRHYN STANLEY.

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AMERICA, THE NAME

The meaning of the name Amerigo has been often discust,
the only thing certain being that it is one of those names
of Teutonic origin, like Humberto, Alfonzo, Grimaldi, or
Garibaldi, so common in northern Italy, which testifies to the
Gothic or Lombard conquest. Americ, which occurs as early as
744 A.D., is probably a contracted form of the name
Amalaric, borne by a king of the Visigoths who died in 531. A
Bishop Emrich was present at the Council of Salisbury, in 807,
and an Americus Balistarius is mentioned in the Close Rolls
(thirteenth century). It has been conjectured that the stem is
im, from which we get the name of Emma. The meaning of this is
not known with certainty, tho Ferguson thinks it may denote
“strife” or “noise.” Since, however, the name is probably of
Gothic origin, and since the Amalungs were the royal race of the
Ostragoths, it is more likely that the stem is “amal,” which
was formerly thought to mean “without spot,” but is now more
plausibly connected with the old Norse “aml,” labor, work. The
suffix “ric,” cognate with rex, reich, and rick, means “rich” or
“powerful,” and, therefore, the most probable signification of
Amerigo is “strong for labor.”--ISAAC TAYLOR, _Notes
and Queries_.

(83)

=American Citizenship=--See IGNORANCE.

AMERICAN OPPORTUNITY

A young Irishman who settled in Chicago forty years ago, and
found his first employment as driver of a baker’s wagon, has
just retired from business a millionaire. An Italian, then aged
sixteen, who reached Trenton, N. J., thirteen years ago with
barely sufficient money to set up in business as a bootblack,
now owns twenty-three houses, and announces his intention
to take up real estate. Both these passages of contemporary
biography are recorded in the same newspaper. Probably they will
attract little attention or remark. That is to be explained
by the happy circumstance that such progress from poverty is
no exceptional thing in this country, and any community could
match the stories with many that are equally striking.--Boston
_Transcript_.

(84)

=American Prosperity=--See PROSPERITY AS AN ADVERTISEMENT.

AMERICANISM, TRUE

Suppose you are a father, and you have five children. One is
named Philip, and Philip says to his brothers and sisters: “Now,
John, you go and live in the small room at the end of the hall.
George, you go and stay up in the garret. Mary, you go and live
in the cellar, and, Fannie, you go and live in the kitchen, and
don’t any of you come out. I am Philip, and will occupy the
parlor; I like it; I like the lambrequins at the window, and I
like the pictures on the wall. I am Philip, and, being Philip,
the parlor shall only be for the Philipians.” You, the father,
come home, and say: “Fannie, what are you doing in the kitchen?
Come out of there.” And you say to Mary, “Mary, come out of that
cellar.” And you say to John, “John, don’t stay shut up in that
small room. Come out of there.” And you say to George, “George,
come down out of that garret.” And you say to the children,
“This is my house. You can go anywhere in it that you want to.”
And you go and haul Philip out of the parlor, and you tell him
that his brothers and sisters have just as much right in there
as he has, and that they are all to enjoy it. Now, God is our
Father, and this world is a house of several rooms, and God
has at least five children--the North American continent, the
South American continent, the Asiatic continent, the European
continent, and the African continent. The North American
continent sneaks away, and says: “I prefer the parlor. You South
Americans, Asiatics, Europeans, and Africans, you stay in your
own rooms; this is the place for me; I prefer it, and I am going
to stay in the parlor; I like the front windows facing on the
Atlantic, and the side windows facing on the Pacific, and the
nice piazza on the south where the sun shines, and the glorious
view from the piazza to the north.” And God, the Father, comes
in and sends thunder and lightning through the house, and says
to his son, the American continent: “You are no more my child
than are all these others, and they have just as much right
to enjoy this part of my house as you have.”--T. DEWITT
TALMAGE.

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=Americans as Spenders=--See MISSIONS, INDIFFERENCE TO.

AMERICA’S ATTITUDE

“The attitude of the United States that she was not warring with
China in 1900 and that she recognized no spoils of war; the
attitude that made her give back to China the large quantity
of silver which fell into her possession at Tien-Tsin; that
made her give over to the Chinese Government, unmolested, the
treasury and its treasures in the Forbidden City; that caused
her, without compulsion, to cancel the Boxer indemnity fund, is
an attitude too deep, too broad, too high for word expression.
Does not this attitude reveal a strong current of sisterly
good will, when it is able to sweep away the heavy weights of
financial gain? This attitude is not one of spontaneity; the
seed was brought over in the _Mayflower_; it was planted
in the virgin soil of liberty, where it rooted, and was watered
with treasured dew-drops; was nourished into being in love’s
tenderness; was sustained in truth’s fortitude. This is the
story of our country’s attitude.”--“Letters from China.”

(86)

=Amity=--See KINDNESS.

AMITY AFTER WAR

News of an international event of no little pathos comes from
Port Arthur. Around the great fortress were buried thousands
of Russians who fell in the siege, and whose graves were
unmarked. The Russian Government asked permission to gather
these remains in one place and erect a tomb for them which
should be a suitable monument to their heroism. The Japanese
Government replied by asking for permission to engage in this
sad duty as a token of honor to the Russian dead. In this
Russia readily acquiesced, and the tomb, which is of noble
proportions and Etruscan in design, was recently dedicated. At
these solemn services the old foes met once more. General Nogi,
the hero of Port Arthur, was by special order of the Emperor
the representative of Japan. Russia sent two generals and an
admiral, who were supported by many Russian officers who had
fought over that very ground. Regiments of Japanese troops
stood on guard, as did also representatives of the Japanese
navy. These latter, at the moment of unveiling, bore a worn and
battle-torn flag to the tomb, and reverently lowered it as a
tribute of respect. The religious ceremonies were in charge of
the Bishop of Peking, of the Russian Church. (Text.)

(87)

AMUSEMENTS

A news item says:

Mrs. A. B. Sims, of Des Moines, winner of the woman’s whist
championship of the United States, stood before an audience of
4,000 at Winona Lake and told why she burned up the forty decks
of cards that she had at her home.

“It was not uncommon for me to play whist from 10 A.M.
to 11 P.M.,” said Mrs. Sims. “After that I saw what
I was really doing. I burned up all the pasteboards, and I
should like to speak in every church to the women and tell them
what card-playing led me to, and what it will lead them to.
It was undermining our church. The whist and euchre parties
were sweeping the women of the congregation and the church was
sinking because of their neglect. The card craze as it prevails
among women is the most serious competitor the Church has
to-day.”

Worldliness manifests itself in its games as in other phases of its life. As the fathers saw the horror of the gladiatorial shows and their pernicious effect on morals, so in these latter days is caution necessary and salutary.

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=Anarchy, Remedy for=--See EVIL, SELF-DESTRUCTIVE.

ANCESTOR WORSHIP

The destructive influence of ancestor worship far outweighs its
benefits. It is a ruthless and voracious land-grabber; the best
of the hills are for the dead. The living may go to Jericho,
or may huddle together down in the malarial flats, while the
ancestral shade rests in the high places on the hill. The
exhilarating surroundings of the trees and green sod are for the
dead, the living are left to the dust and heat and smells of the
market-place.

Ancestral piety forbids the digging of the hills for gold or
silver or any other treasure. What are the living and what
is yellow gold compared with the sweet repose of my father’s
ghost? Away with all sordid visions and leave the hills in
peace!--JAMES S. GALE, “Korea in Transition.”

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ANCESTRAL EXAMPLE

It was the custom of the primitive Romans to preserve in the
halls of their houses the images of all the illustrious men
whom their families had produced. These images are supposed to
have consisted of a mask exactly representing the countenance
of each deceased individual, accompanied with habiliments of
like fashion with those worn in his time, and with the armor,
badges, and insignia of his offices and exploits; all so
disposed around the sides of the hall as to present, in the
attitude of living men, the long succession of the departed;
and thus to set before the Roman citizen, whenever he entered
or left the house, the venerable array of his ancestors revived
in this imposing similitude. Whenever, by a death in the
family, another distinguished member of it was gathered to
his fathers, a strange and awful procession was formed. The
ancestral masks, including that of the newly deceased, were
fitted upon the servants of the family, selected of the size
and appearance of those whom they were intended to represent,
and drawn up in solemn array to follow the funeral train of the
living mourners, first to the market-place, where the public
eulogium was pronounced, and then to the tomb. As he thus moved
along, with all the great fathers of his name quickening,
as it were, from their urns, to enkindle his emulation, the
virtuous Roman renewed his vows of respect to their memory,
and his resolution to imitate their fortitude, frugality, and
patriotism.--EDWARD EVERETT.

(90)

=Ancestry=--See PEDIGREE.

ANCHOR, AN

Every ship has an anchor, and there are times when the safety
of the ship depends on its right use of its anchors. When I was
a boy in Constantinople, an American captain visited our house.
He told us that his ship was anchored in an exposed harbor in
one of the islands of the Ægean, when a violent storm broke upon
them. Both of the anchors which they had down began to drag, and
it was only a question of time when they would be cast ashore.
They had one little anchor still unused, and tho they did not
hope much good could come from dropping it they took the chance.
To their great surprize and equal delight, tho the two larger
anchors would not hold, the smaller one held, and they rode out
the storm in safety. When they came to weigh the anchors, the
two large ones came up easily, but the smaller one came with
great difficulty. When at last it appeared above the surface of
the water, lo and behold, the fluke of the anchor had caught in
the ring of a large man-of-war’s anchor that had been lost there
long before! The man-of-war’s anchor had been embedded in the
soil, and this accounted for the fact that the little anchor
held.

Every man voyaging on the ocean of life ought to have an anchor. The apostle speaks about a good hope, which he says we have as an anchor sure and stedfast entering into the unseen, which is within the veil.--A. F. SCHAUFFLER, _The Christian Herald_.

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ANCIENT ART

To the student of architecture it may be surprizing to learn
that the arch, until recently supposed to have been unknown to
the ancients, was frequently employed by the pre-Babylonians
of more than 6,000 years ago. Such an arch, in a poor state of
preservation, was, a few years ago, discovered in the lowest
stratum, beneath the Babylonian city of Nippur. More recently
an arched drain was found beneath the old city of Fara, which
the Germans have excavated in central Babylonia. The city, altho
one of the earliest known, was built upon an earlier ruin, and
provided with an arched drain constructed of small, plano-convex
bricks. It measures about one meter in height, and has an equal
width.

While delving among the ruins of the oldest cities of the world,
we are thus finding that at the time when we supposed that
man was primitive and savage, he provided his home and city
with “improvements” which we are inclined to call modern, but
which we are only reinventing. (Text.)--Prof. EDGAR JAMES
BANKS, _The Scientific American_.

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=Ancient Human Remains=--See PREHISTORIC WOMEN.

=Ancient Masters=--See COMPLIMENT.

=Anesthetics=--See BENEFACTION OF ANESTHETICS.

=Angel Ministers=--See COOPERATION, LACK OF.

=Angel Visitants=--See INDIFFERENCE TO THE GOOD.

=Angels=--See FRIEND, THE SYMPATHETIC.

=Angels Astray=--See RESCUE.

ANGER

A cobbler at Leyden, who used to attend the public disputations
held at the Academy, was once asked if he understood Latin.
“No,” replied the mechanic, “but I know who is wrong in the
argument.” “How?” replied his friend. “Why, by seeing who is
angry first.”

Let not your angry passions rise, if you would be a full overcomer. (Text.)

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ANGER, FUTILE

The camel has one very bad fault. He likes to “pay back,” and if
his driver has injured him in any way he will not rest till he
has got even.

The Arabs, people who wander about the desert, and so use the
camel a great deal, know about this fault of his, and have a
queer way of keeping themselves from getting hurt.

When a driver has made his camel angry, he first runs away out
of sight. Then, choosing a place where the camel will soon pass,
he throws down some of his clothes, and fixes them so that the
heap will look like a sleeping man.

Pretty soon, along comes the camel, and sees the heap. Thinking
to himself, “Now I’ve got him,” he pounces on the clothes,
shakes them around, and tramples all over them. After he tires
of this and has turned away, the driver can appear and ride him
away without harm.

Poor, silly camel! He has been in what we call a “blind rage,”
so angry that he can’t tell the difference between a man and a
heap of clothes.

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=Angle, At the Right=--See PLACE, IN THE RIGHT.

=Anguish=--See SUFFERING TRANSFORMED.

ANIMAL ANCESTRY

A simple-minded Irish priest I have been told of, having heard
that we were descended from monkeys, yet not quite grasping
the chronology of the business, recently visited a menagerie,
and gave particular and patient attention to a large cage of
our alleged poor relations on exhibition there. He stood for
a long time intently scrutinizing their human-like motions,
gestures, and expressions. By and by he fancied that the largest
of them, an individual of a singularly grave demeanor, seated
at the front of the cage, gave him a glance of intelligence.
The glance was returned. A palpable wink followed, which also
was returned, as were other like signals; and so it went on
until his reverence, having cast an eye around to see that
nobody was observing him, leaned forward and said, in a low,
confidential tone: “Av ye’ll spake one w-u-r-r-d, I’ll baptize
ye, begorra!”--JOSEPH H. TWICHELL, D.D.

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ANIMAL DOMINION

An English hunter tells the story of a tigress that was known
all over India as the man-eater, who once had given her whelps
a live man to play with. She carried off the man from an open
hut in the forest where some wood-cutters were sleeping. His
companions took refuge in trees, and from their place of safety
saw her take the man alive to where the whelps were waiting
close by, and lay him down before them. As the man attempted
to crawl away the whelps would cling to his legs with teeth
and claws, the tigress looking on and purring with pleasure.
(Text.)--LOUIS ALBERT BANKS.

(96)

=Animal Friendliness=--See PROTECTION.

ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE

A recent dispatch from an Indiana town says:

Jeff Clarke, a farmer of Wabash township, owns a mule that plays
the part of an alarm-clock every morning with such regularity
that Clarke has about discarded the little alarm-clock that
hangs on the bed-post and firmly refuses to part with the animal.

Promptly at 4 o’clock this mule kicks the side of the barn four
times in succession. At first Clarke thought the animal was ill,
and for several mornings he got up and investigated. He took
note, however, that the gong of the alarm-clock started buzzing
when the mule started kicking.

He put two and two together, and reached the conclusion that the
mule knows the hour when the Clarke household should arise and
begin the day’s work.

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* * * * *

The criminal classes of Moscow, Russia, are beginning to believe
that the police dog “Tref” is possest of an evil spirit.

It was rumored recently, in the night shelters and criminal
dens of Moscow, that “Tref” and his keeper were on the track of
certain robbers, and were about to scour the town.

It transpired that a number of bank-notes and other valuables
had been stolen from a Moscow gentleman named Pokrofsky.
“Tref’s” services were immediately requisitioned. He was put on
the scent of the thief, and, after taking a circuitous course,
entered a night shelter and made straight for an old coat
belonging to a house-painter who was known under the name of
Alexander. The sum of five hundred rubles, which had been stolen
from M. Pokrofsky, was found in one of the pockets of the coat.

“Tref” then left the night shelter, and, still hot on the scent,
went to the shop of a second-hand dealer named Gussef, and
here a number of silver articles stolen from M. Pokrofsky were
discovered. A cabman drove up at this time, and complained that
he had just been robbed of a fur coat and an ordinary overcoat.
“Tref” was at once taken to the scene of the theft, and within a
few minutes found the clothing concealed in the courtyard of a
neighboring house.--Philadelphia _Record_.

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See CONVICTION THROUGH A MONKEY; DIRECTION; INSTINCT, THE HOMING.

=Animal Instinct=--See FAITH BETTER THAN SIGHT.

=Animal Retaliation=--See ANGER, FUTILE.

ANIMAL SAVES LIFE

St. Clair McClary, a miner, buried deep in a snow-slide, at
Seward, Alaska, owed his life to the keen scent of his dog. The
snow-slide swept down the mountain. Four men at work on the
property were caught without warning and buried under several
feet of snow and débris. Two escaped without serious injury. So
deep was the slide, however, that difficulty was experienced in
reaching the others. The dog led the rescuers to a place several
yards distant, where, after hard digging, they came on the men,
who had been buried eight hours. Thomas Coales was dead under
the icy weight. McClary was barely alive when taken out.--_The
Associated Press._

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ANIMAL SOLVING PROBLEM

A tiny mouse recently solved the problem of getting an electric
wire through a pipe 197 feet long at the Vinery Building
(Norfolk, Va.). There were several bends in the pipe, and modern
methods, such as blow-pipes, failed to produce results.

A mouse was caught and a thread tied to its leg. A tape was tied
to the thread, and the wire to the tape. The mouse was given a
start, and went through the pipe in a hurry. Liberty was its
reward.--Philadelphia _Record_.

(100)

=Animal Traits=--See PEACEFUL INSTINCT OF SIMIANS.

ANIMALS, ABSURD FONDNESS FOR

A seamstress whom I know was sewing in the home of a wealthy
woman in one of the aristocratic suburbs of Boston. She was
there every day for nearly a week, when finally her patience
became exhausted and she left the house never to return.

She said she could stand being fed on crackers and milk every
day at the noon meal, but when she heard the mistress of the
house at the telephone ordering half a chicken for her pet dogs
she could withhold her wrath no longer.

Of course, the good woman of the house was sweetly unconscious
of the absurd comparison between the dogs’ food and the food for
the seamstress. Had she had any sense of the meanness of her
conduct, she never would have telephoned that message within
the hearing of the seamstress.

The truth of the matter was that her heart--as much as she had
left of it--was all wrapt up in her pet dogs, and her interest
in human beings had become as a matter of habit, simply a
question of the amount of service they could render her. She is
probably whining to-day about the seamstress who didn’t know her
place and who was jealous of people who had means.--GEORGE
W. COLEMAN, “Searchlights.”

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=Animals as Pest Destroyers=--See BARRIERS.

=Animals Before Men=--See HEARTLESS PAGANS.

=Animals, Inferior to Man=--See MAN’S CONQUEST OF ANIMALS.

=Animals not Original=--See ORIGINALITY OF MAN.

=Animals, Reason in=--See REASONING POWER IN ANIMALS.

ANIMISM

The child’s religious nature, like that of primitive man, is animistic. Professor Dawson, in “The Child and His Religion,” says: