Chapter M: B. Banks writes a missionary lesson after the style of “Mother (12)

Shortly before the death of Eugene Field a friend from one of the Southern States told him a pathetic story of a girl who had wandered away from her home in the country and taken refuge in a large city, with the usual results of that dangerous step:

Her old father mourned for the girl he had lost; but in his
simplicity it never occurred to him to try to find her, for the
world beyond the limits of his township was vast and forbidding.
But word came to him one day that somebody had seen his daughter
in the city, one hundred miles away, and with only that to guide
him he went in search of her.

Once in the city, he shrank from the noise and confusion of the
crowds. He waited until night, and then when the streets were
comparatively deserted, he roamed up and down from one street to
another, giving the peculiar cry he had always used when looking
for a lost lamb--a cry the girl herself had heard and given
many times in her better days. A policeman stopt the old man
and warned him that he was disturbing the peace, whereupon the
father told his story and said:

“She will come to me if she hears that cry.”

The officer was moved by the old man’s simplicity and
earnestness, and offered to accompany him in his search. So
on they went up and down the thoroughfares and into the most
abandoned sections of the city, the farmer giving the plaintive
cry and the officer leading the way that seemed the most
promising of success.

And success did come. The girl heard the cry, recognized it, and
intuitively felt that it was for her. She rushed into the street
and straight to her father’s arms. She confest the weariness and
misery of her lot, and begged that he would take her back to the
farm, where she might begin a new and better life. Together they
left the city the next day. (Text.)

(1891)

=Lost, Not, but Gone Before=--See EVIDENCE, PROVIDENTIAL.

LOST, SEEKING THE

Years ago when Charley Ross was kidnapped, his broken-hearted
father declared: “I will search for my lost boy while life
lasts. I will go up and down the earth, and look into the face
of this child and that to see if it is my lost boy.”

The great Father is engaged in a similar search; nor will He rest until the lost is found. (Text.)

(1892)

* * * * *

The Arab Waziers have a tradition as to their origin:

A certain ancestor had two sons, Issa and Missa, which may
mean Jesus and Moses. Missa was a shepherd, and one day a lamb
wandered away and was not to be found. For three days and nights
Missa sought it far and near through the jungle. On the fourth
morning he found it in a distant valley, and instead of being
angry with the lamb for straying and giving him all his pains
and anxiety, he took it in his arms, prest it to his bosom,
kissed it tenderly and carried it back to the flock. For this
humane act God greatly blest Missa and made him progenitor of
the Wazir tribe. (Text.)

(1893)

=Lot, Consulting the Bible by=--See BIBLIOMANCY.

LOVE

To cease from egotistic ambition and learn love with a humble mind is the lesson of this verse by John G. Neehardt:

For my faith was the faith of dusk and riot,
The faith of fevered blood and selfish lust;
Until I learned that love is cool and quiet
And not akin to dust.

For once as in Apocalyptic vision,
Above my smoking altars did I see
My god’s face, veilless, ugly with derision--
The shameless, magnified; projected--_Me_!

And I have left mine ancient fanes to crumble,
And I have hurled my false gods from the sky;
I wish to grasp the joy of being humble,
To build great love an altar ere I die.

(1894)

* * * * *

Love is not merely a sentiment. It will have its material expression if it is real. The following from Dr. W. T. Grenfell refers to the fishermen of the North Sea Coast:

The intense cold of winter, and the inadequacy of the warm
clothes with which the men, and especially the boys, were unable
to provide themselves, claimed attention, and warm hearts of
Christian ladies told all over England were moved by the tales
of this great need. Hundreds and thousands of warm mittens,
helmets, mufflers, and guernseys have been sent out during
these past years, and have been true messages of love.

“Look ’ere,” said a grizzled skipper, pulling out three mufflers
from his pocket, to three wild friends of his whom he was
visiting, “look ’ere, will yer admit there’s love in those
mufflers? Yer see them ladies never see’d yer, nor never knowed
yer, yet they jest sent me these mufflers for you. Well, then,
how much more must Christ Jesus ’ave loved yer, when He give His
life blood to save yer.”

I have it from his own lips as well as one of theirs, that this
was the beginning of leading those three men to God; and before
he left the ship that night, they were trusting in Christ for
pardon, and for strength to live as His children.

(1895)

* * * * *

Joseph Dana Miller shows how love socializes the solitary soul:

God pity those who know not the touch of hands--
Who dwell from all their fellows far apart,
Who, isolated in unpeopled lands,
Know not a friend’s communion, heart to heart!

But pity these--oh, pity these the more,
Who of the populous town a desert make,
Pent in a solitude upon whose shore
The tides of sweet compassion never break!

These are the dread Saharas we enclose
About our lives when love we put away;
Amid life’s roses, not a scent of rose;
Amid the blossoming, nothing but decay.

But if ’tis love we search for, knowledge comes,
And love that passeth knowledge--God is there!
Who seek the love of hearts find in their homes
Peace at the threshold, angels on the stair. (Text.)

--_Munsey’s Magazine._

(1896)

* * * * *

The old fable of the bar of iron as an illustration of the superior power of love will never be superseded.

The bar of iron lay across a log to be broken. “I can make it
yield,” boasted the hammer, but at the first blow the hammer
flew from its handle helpless to the ground. The ax followed
proudly, “I can succeed.” But after two or three strokes its
edge was dulled without leaving any impression on the iron bar.
“I, with my sharp teeth, will soon sever it,” said the saw, with
a confident air; only to have all its teeth broken in the task.
At length a quiet, warm flame said, “Let me try, it may yield
to me.” And the little flame twined itself about the iron in a
gentle, loving way, imparting an influence that finally made the
strong bar yield and fall apart.

(1897)

* * * * *

The power of love to draw out what is best in men is poetically exprest by L. M. Montgomery:

Upon the marsh mud, dank and foul,
A golden sunbeam softly fell,
And from the noisome depths arose
A lily miracle.

Upon a dark, bemired life
A gleam of human love was flung.
And lo, from that ungenial soil
A noble deed upsprung.

(1898)

* * * * *

Upon the foundation of love a great work was done in Paris, France:

When Mr. McAll began his work he could utter but two sentences
in the tongue of those workingmen. One was “God loves you,” and
the other, “I love you”; and upon those two, as pillars, the
whole arch rests.--PIERSON, “The Miracles of Missions.”

(1899)

See PRODIGAL, THE.

LOVE A FINALITY

In his poem “Virgillia” Edwin Markham has these stanzas:

If this all is a dream, then perhaps our dreaming
Can touch life’s height to a finer fire;
Who knows but the heavens and all their seeming,
Were made by the heart’s desire?

One thing shines clear in the heart’s own reason,
One lightning over the chasm runs--
That to turn from love is the world’s one treason
That treads down all the suns.

So I go to the long adventure, lifting
My face to the far, mysterious goals,
To the last assize, to the final sifting
Of gods and stars and souls. (Text.)

--_The Cosmopolitan._

(1900)

LOVE A HARMONIZER

Life’s harmony must have its discords; but, as in music, pathos
is tempered into pleasure by the pervading spirit of beauty,
so are all life’s sounds tempered by love.--GEORGE HENRY
LEWES.

(1901)

=Love, A Mother’s=--See MOTHER-LOVE.

LOVE, A PROOF OF

We can not permanently benefit men until we are willing to get near to them. The Christian method of charity is illustrated in this incident in the career of a notable promoter of London city missions:

Love is not fastidious; her hands are as busy as her heart is
full. He (Frank Crossley) found five dirty youngsters (their
father a sot, their mother in the sick ward), and he burned
their old clothes and clad them in clean ones, and then sent
them to play with his own boy! Is it any wonder if both their
father and mother were won?--PIERSON, “The Miracles of
Missions.”

(1902)

LOVE AND LAW

As to which was the first and greatest command, the rabbis
were in grave doubt. Most agreed that the smallest and least
command was the one concerning the bird’s nest, recorded in
Deut. 22:6, 7; but when it came to the first and greatest, they
were in doubt, whether it was the one respecting the observance
of the Sabbath, or the law concerning circumcision, or the
one concerning fringes and phylacteries, while still others
contended that the omission of ceremonial ablutions was as bad
as homicide. With these distinctions and differences and absurd
hair-splittings in mind the young lawyer addrest the master
with the question, “Which is the first commandment of all?”
What a majestic answer was that which he received! Nothing in
it about fringes and phylacteries, nothing about ceremonial
washings, nothing about attitudes and genuflections; but the
grand answer which will abide for all time to come: “Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul,
and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength, this is the
first commandment.” This answer goes to the heart of the matter.
Eighteen hundred years have not suggested any improvement or
addition to the great answer, nor will eighteen hundred years to
come, because it embraces all other answers and is the sum total
of morality.--_The Golden Rule._

(1903)

LOVE AND TIME

Love that lasts is the power that binds heart to heart with the indissoluble bonds. Such love knows no limit of time. Dr. Van Dyke says:

Time is
Too slow for those who wait,
Too swift for those who fear,
Too long for those who grieve,
Too short for those who rejoice;
But for those who love
Time is not!

--_Church Advocate._

(1904)

=Love as a Converting Power=--See PERSECUTION AND PRAYER.

LOVE AS A SIDING

With our differing hereditary traits, educations, experience,
and ways of living and thinking, it is quite impossible that
there should not be collisions with those with whom we are
living or working. We are like a number of trains trying to
go in different directions on the same track. Congestions are
certain to come, but a congestion need not degenerate into a
collision and a wreck if we will remember that there are plenty
of sidings. Now a “siding” is a sort of abbreviated second
track whereby trains going in opposite directions may pass each
other in safety. In material railways they bear various names;
on the invisible pathway of life they are all called love.
Sometimes they are nicknamed forbearance, tolerance, patience,
or common sense; but these are all translations of the same
thing. So in case of danger, remember the sidings.--JAMES M.
STIFLER, “The Fighting Saint.”

(1905)

=Love Compared=--See CHRIST’S LOVE.

LOVE, CONQUESTS OF

There is a story told
In Eastern tents, when autumn nights grow cold
And round the fire the Mongol shepherds sit
With grave responses listening unto it:
Once, on the errands of his mercy bent,
Buddha, the holy and benevolent,
Met a fell monster, huge and fierce of look,
Whose awful voice the hills and forests shook.
“O son of peace!” the giant cried, “thy fate
Is sealed at last, and love shall yield to hate.”
The unarmed Buddha, looking, with no trace
Of fear or anger, in the monster’s face,
In pity said: “Poor friend, even thee I love.”
Lo! as he spake, the sky-tall terror sank
To hand-breadth size; the huge abhorrence shrank
Into the form and fashion of a dove;
And where the thunder of its rage was heard,
Circling above him, sweetly sang the bird:
“Hate hath no harm for love,” so ran the song.
“And peace unweaponed conquers every wrong!”

--GEORGE DANA BOARDMAN.

(1906)

=Love Dissolving Doubts=--See DOUBTS, DISSOLVING.

LOVE DRIVING OUT FEAR

Mr. Robert E. Speer stopt from a British India steamer at Muscat
to visit Rev. Peter Zwemer, who was working there alone. Mr.
Zwemer took his visitor up to his house, where, he said, his
family were staying. There, sitting on benches about the room,
were eighteen little black boys. They had been rescued from a
slave-ship that had been coming up the eastern coast of Arabia
with those little fellows, to be sold on the date plantations
along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The British consul had
seized them from the traders, and Mr. Zwemer had undertaken to
keep them until they were eighteen years old, when they would be
given their manumission papers.

“When I got them,” said Mr. Zwemer, “the whole eighteen huddled
together in the middle of the floor, like jack-rabbits, and
every time I came close, they huddled a little nearer. They
mistrusted every one. On each little cheek-bone was the brand
of the slave’s iron, and for months and months they had known
nothing but hatred and beatings, and had been shut down in the
hold of the slave-ship, in order that they might make no noise
and betray their presence.”

As Mr. Speer saw them they looked happy and confident, and they
sang for him, “Jesus loves me, this I know,” looking as if the
realization that all their blessings had come from that divine
Source had already sunk deep into their hearts. (Text.)

(1907)

LOVE, FILIAL

A boy of thirteen was often brought to Judge Lindsey’s Juvenile
Court in Denver, charged with truancy. Notwithstanding the judge
admonished him many times, it did not seem to do him any good.
The teacher kept writing, “Tim will stay out of school to work.”

Once, when reproving him, the judge told him that there would be
time enough to work when he was a man. “My father was a man,”
replied the boy, “and he did not work. He went off and left
mother and me. I guess that’s what killed her.”

Finally, Tim appeared in court one day with a happy face, and
pulling a soiled and crumpled paper from his pocket, handed it
to the judge. “I’m goin’ to remember all the things you told me
and I’m goin’ to school regular, now I got that done,” he said,
with some pride. Judge Lindsey examined the paper, which proved
to be a receipted bill, and found that, little by little, Tim
had paid fifty dollars for a headstone at his mother’s grave.

“My boy, is that what you’ve been doing all these months?”

“I wanted her to have a monument, judge.” Tim furtively wiped
away the moisture in his eyes. “She done a lot for me; that’s
all I could do for her now.”

(1908)

LOVE IN A NAME

James Hargreaves, sitting alone there in his little house
in Yorkshire, finding that he could not get enough from the
spinners of cotton to supply his wants as a weaver, cast about
for a way to spin faster. After many weary days, and weeks,
and months, he found out a method by which he could spin eight
threads in the same time that one had previously been spun; and
being asked for a name for the instrument, he looked lovingly
upon his wife, and said: “We’ll call it Jenny”; and the modest
Jenny has come down to posterity, and will go to remotest
generations with the name of the “Spinning Jenny.”--GEORGE
DAWSON.

(1909)

LOVE IN MAN

That trained horse that I saw in the World’s Fair, in seven
years had learned twenty tricks. But that horse loved only one
person, the master,/ and rushed with open her cheeks, and she
said, “You must love in the animal world is a little tiny stream
that trickles. Love in man is an ocean that rolls like the sea.
Let us bow the forehead and smite upon the breast, and confess
that man’s infinite capacity for love tells us he was made in
the image of God.” (Text.)--N. D. HILLIS.

(1910)

LOVE INDESTRUCTIBLE

Asbestos is the most extraordinary of all minerals. It is of the
nature of alabaster, but it may be drawn out into fine silken
threads. It is indissoluble in water and unconsumed in fire.
An asbestos handkerchief was presented to the Royal Society of
England. It was thrown into an intensely hot fire and lost but
two drams of its weight, and when thus heated was laid on white
paper and did not burn it. Love is like asbestos. The waves of
sorrow will not wash it away. The flames of tribulation will not
burn it up. It is eternal and immortal. (Text.)

(1911)

LOVE INESCAPABLE

James Freeman Clarke, on his seventy-eighth birthday, wrote this significant bit of verse:

Be happy now and ever
That from the love divine no power the soul shall sever:
For not our feeble nor our stormy past,
Nor shadows from the future backward cast;
Not all the gulfs of evil far below,
Nor mountain-peaks of good which soar on high
Into the unstained sky,
Nor any power the universe can know;
Not the vast laws to whose control are given
The blades of grass just springing from the sod,
And stars within the unsounded depths of heaven--
Can touch the spirit hid with Christ in God.
For nought that He has made, below, above,
Can part us from His love.

(1912)

LOVE, INTERPRETATION BY

A story is told of an artist who painted the picture of the
Crucifixion. When it was completed, he called in a lady friend
to see it, and pulling the curtain aside, withdrew into the
shade that he might see the effect on her face. He saw the
tears running down her cheeks, and she said, “You must love Him
to paint Him like that.” Her words touched his heart and he
replied, “I hope I do, but as I love Him more I will paint Him
better.”

(1913)

LOVE IS GOD’S NATURE

Why does this beautiful girl, that once was the center of
attraction, in every reception, now hang over the cradle, refuse
honors and give herself by day and by night to this little babe
that puts helpless arms around the neck, that once flashed with
jewels? We can only say that the mother is built that way. Why
do robins sing? Why does the sunbeam warm? Why does summer ripen
purple clusters? Why is a rose red? And a rainbow beautiful?
When we can answer, we may be able to say why God loves His weak
and sinful children. He loves them because it is His nature to
love them.--N. D. HILLIS.

(1914)

LOVE-LETTER, ANCIENT

We possess many love-songs of the old Egyptians, but a genuine
love-letter had not heretofore been found. Some years ago in
Chaldea there was a love-letter found, written on clay. Tho the
letter has much formality for such a missive, the reader can
feel the tenderness that lies between its lines. The document
was produced, we should say, in the year 2200 B.C., and
was found in Sippara, the Biblical Sepharvani. Apparently the
lady lived there, while her beloved was a resident of Babylon.
The letter reads:

“To the lady, Kasbuya (little ewe) says Gimil Marduk (the
favorite of Merodach) this: May the sun god of Marduk afford you
eternal life. I write wishing that I may know how your health
is. Oh, send me a message about it. I live in Babylon and have
not seen you, and for this reason I am very anxious. Send me a
message that will tell me when you will come to me, so that I
may be happy. Come in Marchesvan. May you live long for my sake.”

(1915)

LOVE MAKES PATIENT

Ellen sat at the piano practising. The big clock in the corner
was slowly ticking away the seconds, and the hands pointed to
half-past ten.

“Oh, dear!” sighed Ellen. “A whole half hour more; and the
clock seems to move more slowly than usual. How I hate this
everlasting practising! I wish there were no such things as
pianos in the world!”

“Why, Ellen!” said mama, who had entered the room in time to
hear the last sentence. “A year ago you were coaxing father to
buy you a piano. Are you growing tired of it so soon?”

The little girl’s face flushed. “I did not know it was such hard
work, mama; and I can’t bear to stay in the house a whole hour
this bright morning, just drumming at exercises. I would like to
play pretty pieces.”

“You must be patient, dear,” answered her mother. “The pretty
pieces will come in time. Think how delightful it will be, by
and by, to entertain father when he comes home tired from the
office! You know how he loves music. So keep up your courage,
little daughter, for father’s sake.”

The words lingered in the child’s memory. “For father’s sake,”
she would say to herself when the hours seemed long. And love
gave her patience.

Love always brings patience. Life’s exercises are often hard and unmusical. But, little by little, they are preparing us for the heavenly harmonies above.

(1916)

LOVE OF CHRIST

After Lafayette’s devoted service to our country, he was
equally devoted to the cause of liberty in France, helping
with wise and unselfish service. But he was opposed bitterly
by the extremists, and driven by them out of the country, and
was imprisoned by the Emperor of Austria for five years in a
loathsome dungeon at Olmutz. All Europe was moved to get him
released, and his wife pleaded with ruler after ruler, and
at length was permitted to share his dungeon, which she did
for about two years. His life was despaired of, but Napoleon
Bonaparte compelled his release. Our Lord shares the sinner’s
dungeon, and spares no pain for his release. (Text.)

(1917)

LOVE OWNS ALL

We can not go so far
That home is out of sight;
The morn, the evening star,
Will say, “Good-day!” “Good-night!”
The heart that loves will never be alone;
All earth, all heaven it reckons as its own.

(1918)

LOVE, PRACTICAL

A dutiful son of his widowed mother once said, “I love my
mother with all my strength.” “How is that?” he was asked. Said
he, “I’ll tell you. We live in a tenement, on the top floor
four flights up, with no elevator; and my mother being busy, I
carry up the coal in a scuttle, and I tell you, it takes all my
strength to do it.” (Text.)

(1919)

LOVE, PRESERVATIVE

Botanists tell us that strongly scented plants are of longer
duration than those destitute of smell.

This is as true in the gardens of soul as in the gardens of
nature. Lives fragrant with helpfulness endure. Those wanting in
the aroma of love, die. (Text.)--VYRNWY MORGAN, “The
Cambro-American Pulpit.”

(1920)

LOVE RATHER THAN KNOWLEDGE

“Papa,” said the son of Bishop Berkeley, “what is the meaning of
the words ‘cherubim’ and ‘seraphim’ in the Bible?” “Cherubim,”
replied his father, “is a Hebrew word signifying knowledge;
seraphim is another word of the same language, and signifies
flame; whence it is supposed that the cherubim are angels who
excel in knowledge, and that the seraphim are angels who excel
in loving God.” “I hope, then,” said the little boy, “when I die
I shall be a seraph; for I would rather love God than know all
things.”

The child had the right sentiment, if not the right theology.

(1921)

LOVE RECLAIMING

Dr. Felix Adler has brought to light an old legend of two
brothers who lived and played together. At last one of them
left home and got into evil ways, and finally was, by an evil
magician, changed into a wolf. For long the bereaved brother
sought the wanderer, and one day returning home through the
woods, he was set on by a wolf, and by the might of his love
under the spell of that continued gaze the features of the wolf
began to disappear, until at length the brother was restored to
his senses and to his home.

(1922)

=Love, Rewards of=--See RESIGNATION.

LOVE, THE LANGUAGE OF

When William Duncan went among the Alaskan Indians to convert
them to Christianity, he won them first by his kindness. He
visited them, helped them with simple advice, and administered
to their ailments from his medicine-chest. Long before he could
make himself understood in words he spoke intelligibly in his
works. They understood the language of his love and sympathy and
kindness. By relieving their suffering he found a way at length
to relieve their sins, in the gospel that he learned to utter in
his message to them from the Word of God.

There is a gospel without words, as there is music without words; and he is the real linguist that can talk from the heart to the heart by a vibrant love.

(1923)

LOVE THE WORLD’S NEED

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, in the _Century Magazine_, writes thus of the world’s need:

Oh, love is the need of the world! Down under its pride of power,
Down under its lust of greed, for the joys that last but an hour,
There lies forever its need.
For love is the law and the creed;
And love is the aim and the goal
Of life, from the man to the mole.
The need of the world is love.

(1924)

LOVE UPLIFTING

Jacob Riis, in “The Making of an American,” brings from his
Danish homeland a most beautiful and significant phrase. There
is scant sunlight over there in the long, cold winters, and
it is not easy to make plants grow. Yet the poor have their
window-boxes and winter blossoms, nevertheless, and their tender
winter lesson. For when they speak of their flowers they do not
say that they have been grown; instead, with finest insight,
they say that they have been “loved up.”

Almost any man can be “loved up.” So it is with the child, the waif of society.

(1925)

LOVE’S ACCEPTABLE OFFERING

One of the family was a little lad who was weak-minded, and him
the father and mother specially loved. Yet there was little
response to their affection. But one day, when the other
children were gathering flowers and bringing them to their
parents, the poor little lad gathered a bundle of dry sticks and
brought them to his father. “I valued those sticks,” said the
father afterward, “far more than the fairest flowers.” We are
not all equally gifted--some can bring lovely flowers to God’s
service and honor; others can only gather dry sticks. But even
the “cup of cold water” is accepted by Him. (Text.)

(1926)

LOVE’S CAREFULNESS

If I knew that a word of mine,
A word not kind and true,
Might leave its trace
On a loved one’s face,
I’d never speak harshly, would you?

If I knew the light of a smile
Might linger the whole day through
And brighten some heart
With a heavier part,
I wouldn’t withhold it, would you?

--UNIDENTIFIED.

(1927)

LOVE’S COMPLETENESS

That God’s love is without measure or limit is illustrated in the following incident:

In the home of a friend one day, as he reclined on the lounge
opposite, and I in an easy chair, we were having a pleasant chat
until dinner was called, when his little boy, named Neil, about
three or four years old, came in. He went to his father’s side,
and I heard him whisper, “Papa, get up and show Mr. Shields how
much you love me.” I knew at once there was a secret between
them, as it is fitting there should be between father and child,
and that it was a secret in which the child rejoiced.

His father smiled, and said, “Oh, run away, Neil, and play; we
are busy talking, and Mr. Shields knows I love you.” “Yes,” said
the little fellow, “but I want you to show him how much.”

Again and again the father tried to put him off, but the child
persisted in his plea that the visitor be shown “how much” the
father loved.

At length the father yielded, and as he stood, the child stood
between us, and, holding up his index-finger, with a glance
first at his father, and then at me, he said, “Now you watch,
till you see how much my papa loves me.”

His father was a tall and splendidly proportioned man. First
he partially extended one arm, but the child exclaimed, “No,
more than that.” Then the other arm was extended similarly,
but the little fellow was not content, and demanded, “More than
that.” Then one after the other both arms were outstretched
to the full, only the fingers remaining closed. But still the
child insisted, “More than that.” Then, in response to his
repeated demands, as he playfully stamped his little foot and
clapped his hands and cried, “No! No! It’s more than that!” One
finger after another on either hand was extended, until his
father’s arms were opened to their utmost reach, and to each was
added the full hand-breadth. Then the child turned to me, and,
gleefully clapping his hands, exclaimed, “See? That’s how much
papa loves me.” Than he ran off to his play content.--C. C.
SHIELDS.

(1928)

LOVING ENEMIES

Here is one more illustration of a moral power that occasionally
came out of Confucianism. Ieyasu, the founder of the Shogunate,
is regarded as perhaps the greatest hero Japan has produced.
In his wars, his enemy, Mitsunari, was defeated, and fearing
the revenge of Ieyasu’s seven generals, he sent to Ieyasu for
pardon. The desired forgiveness was immediately granted, but
the seven generals were indignant that such an enemy should
escape death, and remonstrated with Ieyasu. The proverb he
quoted to them shows how near the best hearts in all ages are
to Christ’s “Love your enemies.” His reply was: “Even a hunter
will have pity on a distrest bird when it seeks refuge in his
bosom.”--JOHN H. DE FOREST, “Sunrise in the Sunrise
Kingdom.”

(1929)

LOYALTY

On the deck of the _Republic_ (January, 1909), when the
passengers had all departed, when Captain Sealby was left alone
with his men, with his ship, he stood before them. His voice
shook a little.

“Men of the _Republic_,” he said, “I am proud of you. You
have acquitted yourselves like men. I look upon no coward. The
darkness is drawing on”--it was then four o’clock Saturday
afternoon--“and the passengers are gone. You have now the right
to leave this vessel. She may sink; she may not--I can not say.
But you have done your duty; the boats are at your disposal--”

“How about you, captain?” interrupted a voice.

“I shall stand by the ship,” was the reply.

And then, in chorus, came a great shout:

“And we’ll stand by with you, captain.”

So they did, until, later in the evening, the captain compelled
all but fifty men to leave the vessel.

(1930)

* * * * *

The story of a little Boer boy who refused to betray his friends even on the threat of death, is told by Major Seely, M.P., as an illustration of deeply-rooted love of freedom and of country. It happened during the Boer war:

“I was asked,” said Major Seely, “to get some volunteers and try
to capture a commandant at a place some twenty miles away. I
got the men readily, and we set out. It was a rather desperate
enterprise, but we got there all right. The Boer general had
got away, but where had he gone? It was even a question of the
general catching us, and not we catching the general. We rode
down to the farmhouse, and there we saw a good-looking Boer
boy and some yeomen. I asked the boy if the commandant had
been there, and he said in Dutch, taken by surprize, ‘Yes.’
‘Where has he gone?’ I said, and the boy became suspicious. He
answered, ‘I will not say.’

“I decided to do a thing for which I hope I may be forgiven,
because my men’s lives were in danger. I threatened the boy with
death if he would not disclose the whereabouts of the general.
He still refused, and I put him against a wall, and said I
would have him shot. At the same time I whispered to my men,
‘For heaven’s sake, don’t shoot.’ The boy still refused, altho
I could see he believed I was going to have him shot. I ordered
the men to ‘Aim.’ Every rifle was leveled at the boy.

“‘Now,’ I said, ‘before I give the word, which way has the
general gone?’ I remember the look in the boy’s face--a look
such as I have never seen but once. He was transfigured before
me. Something greater almost than anything human shone from his
eyes. He threw back his head, and said in Dutch, ‘I will not
say.’ There was nothing for it but to shake hands with the boy
and go away.”--_Singapore Straits Budget._

(1931)

* * * * *

I remember once taking a walk by the river near where the falls
of Niagara are, and I noticed a remarkable figure walking along
the river bank. When he came a little closer, I saw he was
wearing a kilt; when he came a little nearer still, I saw that
he was drest exactly like a Highland soldier. When he came quite
near, I said to him, “What are you doing here?” “Why should I
not be here?” he said. “Don’t you know this is British soil?
When you cross the river you come into Canada.” This soldier was
thousands of miles from England, and yet he was in the kingdom
of England.

Wherever there is an English heart beating loyal to the ruler of Britain, there is England. Wherever there is a man whose heart is loyal to the King of the kingdom of God, the kingdom of God is within him.--HENRY DRUMMOND.

(1932)

* * * * *

A young girl came to headquarters faint and exhausted, her
body covered with marks of cruel beatings administered by her
father and brother. It was their way of convincing her that
she must accept the offer of her former employer to give her
more than twice the wages that she had received before the
shirt-waist strike in New York, 1909, and to send an automobile
to take her to and from work if she would return to her former
position. That she could decline an offer of such magnificence
was conclusive proof to them that a girl is too stupid to make
her own decisions; so they proceeded to decide for her and to
communicate their decision in their own vigorous fashion.

“Will you go?” asked the little group surrounding her.

“Never till I die,” was the unfaltering response, “unless
the other girls be taken back, and unless we may stay by the
union. To that did not we all pledge our word?” “But,” she
added wearily, “I think they will kill me. See! Here it is that
yesterday they pulled out so much of my hair. To-day, again,
they beat me. To-morrow, surely, they will kill me. I can not
bear more.”

When offered a place of safety and protection, she hesitated for
a little time, then said, “My mother, she is away at work. Not
to find me when she comes home at evening--that would trouble
her. I must go home to her.”

The will which could not be conquered by force was coupled with
loyalty, with love, no less unconquerable. The friend who had
offered her protection understood, for she, too, was a woman.

Shall the stone and mortar and machinery of factories or the
bank accounts of their owners be ranked as assets of greater
value to the nation than the life, the health, the welfare, of
such womanhood?--_The World To-day._

(1933)

LOYALTY, SPIRIT OF

The spirit that leads to lying for the sake of a member of the
clique or gang has been contemptuously called “honor among
thieves.” Honor it is rightly styled. Many tests have shown
that it is indeed the spirit of loyalty that occasions it. Such
a lie is the lie heroic. Many a boy will persist in it and
take a punishment cheerfully rather than betray his chum. The
lie, of course, is wrong; but the spirit which prompts it is
right--indeed, is at the very core of moral character. Instead
of asking boy or girl to tell of the misdeeds of another, the
one who has glimpsed God’s plan for the shaping of a character
will ask the culprit to confess and save his comrades from
suspicion. The boy who will lie and take a thrashing to save his
friend will confess and take the penalty just as quickly, if the
spirit of honor is fostered.

The spirit of hero worship is strong in both sexes at this time.
Each one has his concrete ideal. Among the boys it may be the
pugilist, the border outlaw, the soldier, or the statesman, but
he is surely of the virile and aggressive type. Unconsciously
the youth is selecting during these crucial years the models
after whom his life is to be shaped.--E. P. ST. JOHN,
_Sunday-school Times_.

(1934)

LOYALTY TO CHRIST

In “Gloria Christi” we read this statement concerning some early martyrs of Madagascar:

In 1849 nineteen Christians, four of them from the highest
nobility and all of good birth, were condemned to die.
Fifteen were ordered to be hurled to death over the cliffs of
Ampamarinana, a wall of rock one hundred and fifty feet high,
with a rocky ravine below. The queen looked at the sight from
her palace windows. Idols were placed before the Christians as
they hung suspended by a rope in mid-air over the cliff, and
each was asked in turn, “Will you worship this god?” As they
refused, the rope was cut, and the victim fell into the abyss.

(1935)

=Loyalty to Race=--See RACE LOYALTY.

LOYALTY TO THE CHURCH

President William McKinley was a member of the Sunday-school from the time that he became old enough to attend. He was converted and joined the Church before he was sixteen, and from that day maintained his Christian character through all the vicissitudes of his vigorous and busy life.

After the war he was admitted to the bar, and removed to Canton,
Ohio. One of the first things he attended to was to call on the
minister of his chosen church, present his church credentials,
and, like the soldier he was, ask for assignment to duty. He was
given a class in the Sunday-school, and was later elected its
superintendent. It was not beneath his dignity to devote his
life to the training of the young.

(1936)

See EVANGELISM, UNHERALDED.

LUBRICATION EFFECTIVE

An old Quaker was once visited by a garrulous neighbor, who
complained that he had the worst servants in the world, and
everybody seemed to conspire to make him miserable.

“My dear friend,” said the Quaker, “let me advise you to oil
yourself a little.”

“What do you mean?” said the irritated old gentleman.

“Well,” said the Quaker, “I had a door in my house some time
ago that was always creaking on its hinges, and I found that
everybody avoided it, and altho it was the nearest way to most
of the rooms, yet they went round some other way. So I just
got some oil, and after a few applications it opened and shut
without a creak or a jar, and now everybody just goes to that
door and uses the old passage.”

Just oil yourself a little with the oil of kindness. Occasionally praise your servants for something they do well. Encourage your children more than you scold them, and you will be surprized to find that a little sunshine will wear out a lot of fog, and a little molasses is better than a great deal of vinegar.

(1937)

=Luck=--See DISCOVERY, FORTUNATE.

=Lunacy Undiscovered=--See HEADS, LOSING.

LUMINOSITY

Our characters ought to be like the luminous paint mentioned below and continue to shine in the night of misfortune and disaster just the same.

You have probably seen luminous paints applied to the surfaces
of the match-boxes that are permanently fixt on the walls of a
room. During their exposure to the light in the daytime, these
paints are so affected that they will continue to shine during
the greater part of the night, altho there is no other light in
the room. One coming into the room can, therefore, readily see
where the match-box is.--EDWIN J. HOUSTON, Ph.D., “The
Wonder Book of Light.”

(1938)

LYING

Admiral Dewey was a great stickler for truth. He has stated of
himself, “There is nothing that I detest so much in a man as
lying. I don’t think a man ever gained anything by telling a
lie.” A blue-jacket says of him, “We had not been at sea long
with him before we got next to how he despised a liar.” One of
the men was brought before Dewey, and told of being “sunstruck.”
“You are lying, my man,” said Dewey. “You were very drunk last
night. I don’t expect to find total abstinence, but I do expect
to be told the truth. Had you told me candidly that you had
taken a drop too much on your liberty, you would have gone free.
For lying, you get ten days in irons.”--JAMES T. WHITE,
“Character Lessons.”

(1939)

See LOYALTY, SPIRIT OF.

LYING AROUND

“Yes, he lied about it. I’m sure of that, and can prove it.”

That’s a pretty serious matter, to call a man a liar. Doubly
serious if you can prove it on him. It is very, very bad to be
lying about anything whatsoever.

But I’m convinced that lying around is almost as bad as lying
about. I said, “You were not out at church yesterday. What were
you doing?”

“I was just lying around.” An excuse--offered as a reason--that
I’ve heard scores of times.

Late to get out of bed Sunday morning. A very late breakfast.
Everything starts behind, and never catches up. The men are
lying around unshaved, unbathed, undrest. They look bad, and
probably feel worse. An unclean skin and dirty clothes are not
good to rest in.

Maybe the women are lying around with hair unbrushed, and
dresses and aprons showing the stains of week-day work. Rather
frowsy. If they don’t feel any better than they look, they are
some points below normal.

Just lying around, not at church, not fit to be seen, not
feeling much respect for oneself. Pretty low down, not much
above the dirt level. Doing no good, getting no good out of the
blest day.

Does plain lying about things hurt one more than this lying
around on Sunday? It makes one almost trifling.

Don’t do it. On Sunday morning, get up, wash up, dress up,
shave up, shine up, go up to church, think up toward God and
the highest and best. The day will be worth much more to you.
You’ll feel better Monday morning, better rested, better fitted
for the work of the new week. Quit lying around, and try
it.--_Presbyterian Advance._

(1940)

LYING PUNISHED

Some time ago in a case in New York a man gave false evidence
under oath and upon that evidence the point at issue was sent to
a referee and costs amounting to $1,759 were incurred. A certain
judge to whom these facts became known fined the perjured man
the full amount of the costs and directed that when the fine
was paid it should be turned over to the aggrieved party. This
action has recently been affirmed by the United States Court of
Appeals.

“This is hailed as a rebuke to a growing evil, that of lying under oath and nothing being thought of it if one can avoid detection or any civil consequences. The home, the school, the Church and the State should unite and compel greater attention to the dishonor of lying, and business concerns should be held strictly to account wherever misrepresentation or lying form a part of the business methods. Decent men should refuse to trade with the man who scolds his clerks for not making a sale and declares the failure was due to not lying hard enough.”

(1941)

M

MACHINE, AN ACCURATE

A fine clock, reminding a community of the lapse of time and of
the value of the fleeting minutes and hours, is an object of
much public interest. Some clocks have a particular historic
interest due to their long and accurate service in behalf of a
hurrying and often heedless humanity. A number of invited guests
were recently privileged to be present one night in Strasburg
Cathedral to observe the mechanism of the famous clock. For the
first time since its construction in 1842, the machinery was
called upon to indicate the first leap-year of a century, after
an eight-year interval. At astronomical midnight the levers
and trains of wheels began to move, the movable feasts of the
year took their respective places and the admirable mechanism,
calculated to indicate in perpetuity all the changes of the
calendar, continued its regular movement. The man who can
construct a great clock like that is indeed a mechanical genius.

(1942)

=Machine-shop Equipment=--See MODERNITY.

MACHINE TESTIMONY

In an article in the _Evening Post_ on “Manners Over the Wire,” the writer says:

Some little thing may reform an age, the adage runs, and so
perhaps the phonograph recording device, which was installed
recently in the Copenhagen telephone exchange to check the
ill-natured remarks of subscribers to central, by convicting
offenders out of their own mouths, may bring about a revolution
in the Danish city’s manners.

Probably one of the first thoughts of the man who invented the
telephone, and knew that he could project sound over distance,
was that now he could tell his stronger neighbor his candid
opinion without risking the dog and a possible thrashing; one
of his second thoughts was to put his new-found power into
practise. And who, after all, should be the object of most of
the exasperated remarks, shading from complaint to embroidered
profanity, but central herself?

This Copenhagen found out, and set herself to remedy. University
professors there who discover another flaw in Dr. Cook’s records
and ring up the rector right away, only to find that the wire
is busy because half a dozen colleagues have similar messages,
must not abuse central; the connection will be switched at once
to the phonograph, which has no feelings and is an unprejudiced
witness in court. Testimony of as a will recorded thus was
recently held valid in Russia; and the notaries will invent
another form: “Appeared before me this day Phonograph No. 123,
said phonograph being turned on, deposed, etc. ... Polonius,
notary; Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, witnesses.” Polonius’
advice, “Give thy thoughts no tongue,” holds good, and better
for the Danes than in the times when, in language of to-day, the
party at Elsinore had no ’phone.

(1943)

=Machine versus Purpose=--See PURPOSE DISCERNED.

=Machine Work=--See MONOTONY.

=Machinery, Excess of=--See MASTER HAND LACKING.

MAGNANIMITY

The exercise of magnanimity and charity was as natural to
General Grant as breathing; and he demonstrated on this occasion
that the hand that wielded the sword was moved by kindness as
well as by patriotism. The prisoners of war, who so long lived
in hunger, now received abundant rations. So much kindness was
shown them that when the Union troops entered the city, both
sides “fraternized as if they had been fighting for the same
cause.” And when the Confederates passed out of town between two
lines of Federal soldiers, the scene was solemn and pathetic.
Under instructions from General Grant, not a cheer or a word
came from the conquerors that would humiliate the fallen foe or
give them pain.--NICHOLAS SMITH, “Grant, the Man of
Mystery.”

(1944)

* * * * *

Gen. Fitzhugh Lee witnessed the memorable meeting between
his uncle, Gen. Robert E. Lee, and Grant, and he frequently
exprest his appreciation of the magnanimity displayed by the
victorious commander on that occasion. The fact that General
Grant refrained from asking for Gen. Robert E. Lee’s sword made
a lasting impression on Fitzhugh Lee, who subsequently said:
“General Grant not only refrained from demanding my uncle’s
sword, as is customary, but he actually apologized to General
Lee for not having his own sword on at the time.” (Text.)

(1945)

See GOOD FOR EVIL.

=Magnanimity, A Boy’s=--See VICARIOUS SACRIFICE.

=Magnanimity, A Nation’s=--See AMERICA’S ATTITUDE.

MAGNANIMITY, UNDISCIPLINED

Precipitancy of judgment and heat of temper are responsible for
all the errors of Walter Savage Landor’s life. To recount these
errors is neither wise, necessary, nor generous. One thing,
however, is noticeable, that in every case the difficulties
which he created for himself arose from a sort of undisciplined
magnanimity of nature, a belief in impracticable ideals, a
radical inability to adapt himself to the common convictions
of life. He sinned against himself in a hundred instances, but
against others never. His generosity was extreme and incessant.
In his enormous agricultural experiments at Llanthony he
squandered seventy thousand pounds in five years--J. W.
DAWSON, “Makers of English Prose.”

(1946)

MAGNETISM

The use of powerful electromagnets for lifting pieces of iron
in foundries is increasing. In _The American Machinist_,
E. F. Lake gives some particulars of recent applications of
electromagnetism to lifting, and discusses the economies
effected thereby. He says:

“At the West Allis works of the Allis-Chalmers Company, lifting
magnets are prest into service for saving the small pieces and
even minute particles of iron and steel which have heretofore
been allowed to go to waste without thought of the possibility
of recovery.

“This is done periodically by hitching the magnets to
traveling-cranes and allowing them to sweep over every inch of
ground area, both in and around the works. It is a never-failing
source of wonder to the shops’ management how much lost metal
the magnets can find.” (Text.)

(1947)

=Magnificence=--See ICE BEAUTY.

MAGNIFYING A SACRED OFFICE

Increase Mather, in a sermon entitled “Be Very Courageous,”
tells the story: “It has been reported that a minister,
preaching to the Earl of Stratford, then lord deputy of Ireland,
faithfully reproved some corruptions which that governor was
known to be guilty of, but at which he was displeased; and the
next day, in a great passion, he sent for the minister, and
began his discourse thus: ‘Yesterday, when you were before
me, you said such and such things.’ The minister replied to
him: ‘You are mistaken, sir; I was not before you yesterday. I
confess I am before your excellency to-day, but you were before
me yesterday. You represent the kingdom; but yesterday I was
made representative of the Almighty God, who is infinitely
above the greatest kings on earth.’ Upon that, the earl was so
affected as to dismiss the minister without saying anything more
to him.” Here was a man who magnified his office, who spoke with
authority, and not as the scribes.--_Christian Register._

(1948)

=Magnifying Objects=--See SCIENCE, IMPROVEMENTS BY.

=Mail, Handling=--See CARE IN PERFORMING DUTIES.

=Main Objects versus Incidentals=--See TASKS, THE REAL.

=Majority Not Always Right=--See CONVICTION, UNYIELDING.

=Majority-rule=--See JUSTICE BY MAJORITY; TACT.

MAKE-BELIEVE

If all difference could be atoned as easily as that described in this extract from the _Popular Magazine_, much bloodshed would be saved:

Not long ago a Paris journalist, who had by some criticism
offended a politician, received from him the following letter:

“Sir--One does not send a challenge to a bandit of your species:
one simply administers a cuff on the ears. Therefore, I hereby
cuff both your ears. Be grateful to me for not having recourse
to weapons.

“Yours truly, ----”

The journalist answered:

“My Dear Sir and Adversary--I thank you, according to your
wish, for having sent me cuffs by post, instead of slaughtering
me with weapons. Cuffed by post, I respond by dispatching you
by post six bullets in the head. I kill you by letter. Please
consider yourself dead from the first line of this epistle.

“With a respectful salutation to your corpse, I am,

“Very truly yours, ----.”

The intent to kill is present. Is not that reckoned in morals as bad as the overt act? (Text.)

(1949)

=Malaria, Stamping Out=--See IMMUNITY FROM DISEASE.

=Malice=--See MODESTY.

=Malingery=--See SHAM.

MAMMON WORSHIP