S

SABBATH-BREAKING REBUKED

I remember on one occasion, when an immense quantity of freight was to be brought from New York to Boston, they undertook to run on the Sabbath day. They came up with a large load of cotton, and on coming near to M—— a bale got afire, and there were not hands enough to roll it off. They then drove to M—— and rang the bells, and the people came down to the number of three hundred. “Help us,” said the railway people, “to put out the fire.” “No; you have no business to run that train on the Sabbath.” They then sent up to one of the directors and said: “If you speak a word, these men will bring us water; there is property being destroyed.” “I voted in the board of directors,” he replied, “against this running on the Sabbath, and if you burn the whole freight, I will not raise a finger.” And the two carloads of cotton were destroyed. The company had to pay for them—but they ran no more trains on the Sabbath. (Text.)—John B. Gough.

(2795)

Sabbath Desecration—See Punctiliousness.

SABBATH DESECRATION GRADUAL

The desecration of the temple in Jerusalem did not spring up full-statured in a day. The court of the Gentiles was a spacious place, having an area of fourteen acres. Round its four sides there ran a colonnade with four rows of marble pillars and a roof of costly cedar. Many things were needed in the sacrifices of the temple, and what place more convenient for the buying of them than this great, spacious court? One day, I imagine, a man stept inside with a cage of pigeons. A bird so small and sweet-voiced as a dove could not hurt the sacred place! By and by a man with a sheep to sell led it in. A sheep is the most innocent of all animals. No harm could come to God or man from the presence of a sheep. Still later the man with a steer to sell brought him in. “I have as much right here as you have,” he said to the man with the sheep and the man with the pigeons, and soon there were a dozen steers. That is the way it all happened. The abuse grew up so gradually that nobody observed it, and before men knew it the sacredness of the place was gone. Just so does the desecration of the day of rest take place in great cities. One man steps into the temple of rest, saying: “Let me sing you a little song.” His voice is sweet and the song is pretty, and what is so beautiful and innocent as a song? And a man outside hearing this song inside the temple says: “I think I’ll come in and sing, too.” His voice is harsh and his song is a different kind of a song, but in he comes, and who is wise enough to draw the line and say this song is proper, that song will never do? And while these two men are singing, another man who can not sing at all, and who can only use his feet, decides that he, too, has a right to exercise his gifts inside the temple, and in he comes, and after him a dozen others, and after them a hundred others, some bringing doves, some sheep, some steers, until the whole day is trampled into sordidness and one of the most precious of all the privileges of man has been wrested from him.—Charles E. Jefferson.

(2796)

SABBATH, OBSERVING THE

In northern Canada Mr. Evans, the apostle to the Indians there, induced a large number to become Christians, and said to them, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” At this time all the furs were carried by brigades of Indians, and the exchange cargo taken away by them. The Indians had been in the habit of traveling seven days a week, but when the mission was established, the observance of the Sabbath began. At once there was opposition from the Hudson Bay Company. They argued “Our summer is short, and to lose one day in seven is a terrible loss to us. We will run you missionaries out of the country if you interfere with our business.” There was downright persecution for years, but there is none now, for it was found that the Indians who traveled only six days and rested quietly on the Sabbath made a journey of a thousand or fifteen hundred miles without a single exception in less time, and came back in better health than those who did not observe the Sabbath rest. (Text.)

(2797)

The last sermon that was preached by Rev. J. Hudson Taylor, the founder of the China Inland Mission, was one which the North China Mail characterized as “a mile long.” He was under appointment to preach that same day at a station one mile distant from his home. He was too feeble to walk that distance without rest, and he was unwilling to be carried in a sedan-chair because he feared the evil influence of what would have been—to him—perfectly innocent. So he made the journey on foot, helped by his son, who carried a stool. Every few rods the stool was placed and Mr. Taylor sat on it and rested. The attention of the Chinese, Christians and Confucianists alike, was attracted. Every little while some one would ask: “Why does not the old man ride?” “Because he will not make any one else work on the Sabbath day.” “Why not?” “Because God said, ‘Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy,’” was the reply (Text.)

(2798)

See Principle; Sunday Recorded.

The true philosophy of religion invariably teaches that we act wisely when we conform to the requirements of Sabbatic rest from toil. Such conformity is simply the recognition of a beneficent natural law.

In 1909 Mr. Selfridge, of Chicago, established a great American store in London. It immediately became a great popular success. Speaking to an interviewer, Mr. Selfridge said: “I am a business man, and not a preacher, but still I feel strongly that fair dealing is not only right, but wise—to put it on the lowest ground. If you treat people fairly, you will be fairly treated by them in return, and somehow or another the religious method of carrying on business has not failed in the case of Marshall Field. I will give you one curious instance of this. Our house never advertises in the Sunday papers, with the extraordinary result that we prospered in direct consequence. Many warned us that we were holding to a suicidal policy, for in America Sunday papers are the chief means of publicity. Our method turned out most effective, because it forced itself upon the notice of every woman in the United States that Marshall Field & Co. did not advertise on Sunday, and that fact was a great advertisement in itself. But who—out of a religious tract—would ever have dreamed of such a topsyturvy result?” (Text.)

(2799)

SABBATH, PROFITABLE

Egerton Young gives this testimony about Sabbath-keeping by the Indians of British Columbia:

When our mission was established, all the missionaries went in for the observance of the Sabbath day. At once there was opposition from the Hudson Bay Company. They argued, “Our summer is short, the people have to work in a hurry, and to lose one day in seven will be a terrible loss to us, and you missionaries must get out of the country if you are going to interfere with our business.” There was downright persecution for years, but there is none now, for it was found that the brigades of Indians who traveled only six days, and quietly rested on the Sabbath, made the journey of perhaps fifteen hundred miles, without a single exception, in less time, and came back in better health, than those who traveled without observing the Sabbath.—Pierson, “The Miracles of Missions.”

(2800)

SABBATH, REGARD FOR

Rev. Egerton R. Young, a missionary among the Canadian Indians, tells the following:

The governor of our colony sent out one of his commissioners to meet the Indians and give them their supplies in accordance with the treaty. The commissioner sent word to one of our Christian Indians to bring his people as far as a certain place and he would be there to distribute their allowances. The Indians were on hand at the time appointed. They came empty handed, expecting to receive an abundance immediately, but the big white commissioner did not arrive. One day passed, then another, and the Indians were hungry. The food was there in tantalizing abundance, but the commissioner did not come to distribute it. The young Indians came to their chief and said, “Pakan, our wives and children are crying for food; will you not open the boxes and give us enough to satisfy them?” “No, my children,” said the chief, “I have never broken a word of treaty and I do not want to do it now.” Another day passed and the commissioner did not come. The young Indians’ eyes began to flash forth something that boded trouble, but the old chief answered, “Have patience a little longer, my people,” and he called on an Indian who had a splendid horse to accompany him to find and hurry up the dilatory commissioner. About noon they met the commissioner with a large retinue and a company of his friends coming leisurely along, stopping for sport where the country abounded in game.

They were just halting for such an afternoon’s sport when Pakan rode up. “You have broken your promise to my people,” he said solemnly. “You were to have met with them three days ago. Don’t stop here, my people are hungry. Come with me and give them food.”

The commissioner replied with an easy smile, “Oh, Pakan, I’m glad to see you. Come and dine with us. Meet my friends; have an afternoon of hunting and then to-morrow I will go with you.”

“No,” said Pakan, “to-morrow is the Sabbath. I and my people have been taught to keep the Sabbath, and hungry as we are, unless you come to-day, I and my people will wait until Monday for the supplies.”

The commissioner quailed before him, and sent a sub-officer back with him to open the supplies. The next day the commissioner rode into camp. He expected the Indians to meet him with firing of guns and waving of flags, but no one came to receive him, and no guns were fired. The only wigwam where a flag was flying was the place where the people were meeting to worship God. The commissioner called a council, but not an Indian responded. The commissioner wanted Pakan to dine with him with other guests that day. It is a great honor to dine with a royal commissioner; but Pakan said, “I dine with my family quietly on the Sabbath day, for God has said, ‘Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.’”

(2801)

SABBATH, THE, FOR MAN

Among those who opposed and criticized Father Mathew were the Sabbatarians, who opposed the holding of temperance meetings on Sunday. Father Mathew replied: “They must well know that if we did not assemble on the Lord’s day, we could not hold our meetings at all, for the great majority of those who compose our society are from that useful and virtuous body, the operatives, who on every other day labor from the rising to the setting sun. The temperance cause is the work of the Most High God, and it is admirable in our eyes.”

(2802)

Sackcloth—See Bible Customs To-day.

SACRED THINGS

A Scotch preacher tells this story. He said that he was going through the highlands of Scotland when a storm came on. He stept out of his carriage, and went up to a little Scotch hut. He was invited to enter by the woman whose home it was. In one corner of the room there stood an old rocking-chair, and he was just going to sit in this, when the Scotch woman made one spring, and stopt him. She said: “No, no. Do not sit there.” And the preacher said: “Why?” “Well,” she said, “look.” And round about it was wrapt a scarlet cord. She said: “It was a year ago this week, sir, when our good lady, her Majesty Queen Victoria was driving along this road and a storm came on. She came in, and we gave her this chair. And when the Queen went away, we said, ‘We will put a scarlet cord around it, and nobody else shall ever sit in it. It is the Queen’s chair.’”

(2803)

SACRIFICE

John B. Kissinger submitted to the bite of a yellow fever mosquito in the interest of science while in the army in Cuba and was for years almost helpless.

Kissinger was bitten by mosquitoes carrying yellow fever germs and was then treated by the best medical experts in the army. It was supposed he had recovered his health and that as a result of the experiment yellow fever could be guarded against, but he later suffered a breakdown and became a physical wreck, unable to use his feet and legs.

Is not the willingness to suffer for man the very spirit of Christ? (Text.)

(2804)

Rev. E. J. Marsh, missionary at Hay River, Alaska, told his Indian boarding-school children about the needs of the leper children in China. They were moved to help, and asked Mr. Marsh how they could do so. Their clothing and food were all supplied them by the mission, and they had nothing to give. After a little they proposed that they should give up their pudding on Sunday. Their fare consisted of fish three times a day, sometimes potatoes, but on Sunday as a special treat they had rice pudding without sugar. They were so insistent, that they were allowed to go without it every second Sunday and at the end of the year a gift of two pounds was sent to the leper children in China.

(2805)

One of the New York dailies printed in one of its issues as a sort of sensational advertisement, coupons, which served, when filled out, as life insurance policies for the remainder of the day on which they were issued. One of the newsboys read it over and over, then called some of his companions and wanted to know if they supposed that “was on the level”; if the newspaper “would make good.” He decided at last that the proposition was one to be trusted and he cut out the coupon, tucked it away in the pocket of his ragged coat. A half-hour later he threw himself beneath the wheels of one of the surface electric cars and was instantly crusht to almost a shapeless mass. In his pocket was the coupon, together with a letter, stating that his mother was sick and in need of such assistance as he had not been able to obtain for her, and so had sacrificed his life for the insurance money that was to be paid to her.

As we read the story one does not think of the grimy hands and the unwashed face and the ragged coat. He does not hear the roar of the elevated trains above or the tumult and voices of the street below, but his eyes catch the glory of a second calvary and the soul is hushed before the divine and the eternal that beat in that little heart behind that stained and tattered coat. (Text.)

(2806)

See Offerings, Extravagant; Science, Devotion to.

SACRIFICE, FILIAL

The Japanese have a legend of an Emperor who commanded a bell-founder to cast a bell that would be more beautiful than any ever made and to be heard a hundred miles away. It must be made of gold, silver and brass. But the metals would not mingle, and the founder failed. The Emperor was angry, and bade him try again. His beautiful daughter was troubled for her father in his perplexity. So she consulted an oracle. “How can I save him?” she asked. “Metals will mingle if the blood of a virgin be mixt with them,” said the oracle suggestively. At the proper moment the devoted daughter threw herself into her father’s melting-pot. The bell was perfect, and was hung in the palace tower.

This kind of sacrifice is not to be commended as a literal process, but it remains true that no great music of the soul is born that does not have in it some sacrificial element. Heaven’s melodies would never sound if lives were not cast into the furnace. (Text.)

(2807)

SACRIFICE FOR CHRIST

Rev. Robert P. Wilder, of India, tells of a Brahman who decided to become a Christian.

The day he published the fact that he was a Christian an official seal was placed on his house, signifying that he had lost his position under the native government. A friend with whom he had placed his money, sent word that he knew nothing of the money, and his wife said that she could no longer live with him, and she left his home, taking with her their child. For four years he suffered the loss of position, money, wife, son and friends; altho at any moment he could have regained all by denying Christ and going back to Brahmanism. Mr. Wilder then received this glad letter from him: “You will be delighted to hear that we are still fast friends—Jesus and myself. He says to me, ‘I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide.’ I say to Him, ‘Then never leave me even for a minute. Let me abide in Thee and Thou in me.’ You will be glad to hear, too, that I have been permitted to spend a fortnight with my wife and child, and I believe that they will soon now come to Jesus and to me. God has been keeping them away from me for my good in this—that I should feel undivided love for my Savior.”

(2808)

Sacrifice for Missions—See Opposition to Missionary Work.

SACRIFICE FOR RELIGION

Mrs. W. F. Armstrong tells this incident of the native Karens, of Burmah:

An old Karen pastor came one day with a large contribution for the foreign mission work. I said to him, “How can your people give so much? I know they are very poor, the overflow of the river has swept away your crops, your cattle are dying of disease, it is the famine time with you.” “Oh,” he said, with such a contented smile, “it only means rice without curry.” They could live on rice and salt, but they could not live without giving the bread of life to their brethren.—Pierson, “The Miracles of Missions.”

(2809)

Sacrifice for the Gospel—See Slave for the Gospel’s Sake.

SACRIFICE, LAW OF

The great law of sacrifice, so dimly understood by Western people, is the commonest talk of Korea. For thousands of years sheep and oxen have died for the sins of the people. Birds and beasts have been offered in a vain effort to lift this burden from the human soul. I read in a history of Korea that in the year when our Savior was born in Bethlehem, the King of Kokuryu went out into the open plain to offer sacrifice to God. Two “swine beasts” were to be offered, but in the preparation of the sacrifice they took to their heels and ran away. The King sent two officers in pursuit, Messrs. Takni and Sappi. They chased the pigs to Long Jade Lake, caught them and ham-strung them, so that they could not run again; then they dragged them before the King. “How dare you,” said he, “offer to God a mutilated sacrifice?” He had these two gentlemen buried alive for their sin, but behold he himself shortly after fell seriously ill. A spirit medium called and told him his sickness was due to the sin of having killed Takni and Sappi. He confest, and prayed, and was cured of his complaint.—James S. Gale, “Korea in Transition.”

(2810)

SACRIFICE OF OUR BEST

Sir Charles Halle, the famous musician, dearly loved his flute. His son, a boy of eight years, lay ill, and his father tenderly watched beside the sufferer’s bed. One night the father fell asleep and the fire burned low. He awoke in alarm to find his son cold. The father threw his precious flute on to the coal to increase the heat.

Love gave its best and silenced the music of the flute for the sake of love for his son. So did divine love, for a sinsick world, give its best, and silence its music in the sorrow of the Man of Sorrows. (Text.)

(2811)

SACRIFICE, PAGAN

On the 4th of March, 1899, a Hindu laborer lodged a complaint at the police office at Hingoli. He said that as he was passing a cotton-ginning mill some of his countrymen came out and asked him to enter the compound. When he did so they seized him and bore him off to the furnace-room and attempted to put him into the fire. He showed the magistrate some terrible burns he had suffered, and his story, upon investigation, was found to be true. The Indian Antiquary, telling of the incident, remarked that the unanimous opinion among all the natives was that it was the workmen’s idea to offer the poor man as a sacrifice to the steam-engine, which had not been running satisfactorily.

(2812)

SACRIFICE TOO COSTLY

Mrs. Pickett, the widow of General George E. Pickett, of the Confederate Army, narrating the story of the charge at Gettysburg so gallantly led by her husband, says:

They were not strong enough to hold the position they had so dearly won; and broken-hearted, even at the very moment of his immortal triumph, my Soldier led his remaining men down the slope again. He dismounted and walked beside the stretcher upon which General Kemper, one of his officers, was being carried, fanning him and speaking cheerfully to comfort him in his suffering. When he reached Seminary Ridge again and reported to General Lee, his face was wet with tears as he pointed to the crimson valley and said:

“My noble division lies there!”

“General Pickett,” said the commander, “you and your men have covered yourselves with glory.”

My Soldier replied:

“Not all the glory in the world, General Lee, could atone for the widows and orphans this day has made.”

(2813)

SACRIFICE, VICARIOUS

Among the Tsimshean Indians of Alaska is the following curious superstition: Some boys had “shamed” a salmon; that is, offended its dignity. They caught it, cut a slit close to its fin and put gravel and stones in the wound so that it could not use its fin, and then let it go. The poor salmon wriggled and suffered trying to swim, but in vain. This made the god of the mountain angry, and he spewed out fire which ran down the mountain-side into the river, making it sputter all around. But a god of another mountain, near by, thought it was too bad, so he rolled down a big rock, and stopt the fire stream. The people, coming together, consulted as to the best way to propitiate the irate mountain-god, and the salmon as well who was “shamed,” and came to the conclusion that the naughty children had to be killed. The mothers, hearing of this, would not allow the sacrifice. The people compromised the matter by agreeing, instead, to kill the dogs of the village, which were thereupon all sacrificed and burned as a peace-offering to the “shamed” salmon.

Man has “shamed” his Maker but He has become our propitiation by a nobler sacrifice. (Text.)

(2814)

SACRIFICIAL MEDIATION

H. M. Stanley, in Africa, had much trouble with his men on account of their inherent propensity to steal, the results of which brought upon the expedition much actual disaster. At last Stanley doomed to death the next man caught stealing. His grief and distress were unbounded when the next thief, detected in a case of peculiar flagrancy, was found to be Uledi, the bravest, truest, noblest of his dusky followers. Uledi had saved a hundred lives, his own among the number. He had performed acts of the most brilliant daring, always successful, always faithful, always kind. Must Uledi die? He called all his men around him in a council. He explained to them the gravity of Uledi’s crime. He reminded them of his stern decree, but said he was not hard enough to enforce it against Uledi. His arm was not strong enough to lift the gun that would kill Uledi, and he would not bid one of them to do what he could not do himself. But some punishment, and a hard one, must be meted out. What should it be? The council must decide. They took a vote. Uledi must be flogged. When the decision was reached, Stanley standing, Uledi crouching at his feet and the solemn circle drawn closely around them, one man whose life Uledi had saved under circumstances of frightful peril, stood forth and said, “Give me half the blows, master.” Then another said in the faintest accents, while tears fell from his eyes, “Will the master give his slave leave to speak?” “Yes,” said Stanley. The Arab came forward and knelt by Uledi’s side. His words came slowly, and now and then a sob broke them. “The master is wise,” he said; “he knows all that has been, for he writes them in a book. I am black, and know not. Nor can I remember what is past. What we saw yesterday is to-day forgotten. But the master forgets nothing. He puts it all in that book. Each day something is written. Let your slave fetch the book, master, and turn its leaves. Maybe you will find some words there about Uledi. Maybe there is something that tells how he saved Zaidi from the white waters of the cataract; how he saved many men—how many, I forget; Bin Ali, Mabruki, Kooi Kusi—others, too; how he is worthier than any three of us; how he always listens when the master speaks, and flies forth at his word. Look, master, at the book. Then, if the blows must be struck, Shumari will take half and I the other half. The master will do what is right. Saywa has spoken.” And Saywa’s speech deserves to live forever. Stanley threw away his whip. “Uledi is free,” he said. “Shumari and Saywa are pardoned.”—Christian At Work.

(2815)

SAFEGUARD FOR DRUNKARDS

Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, has an ordinance requiring the photographs of known habitual drunkards to be placed in all the saloons in the city, with a notice forbidding saloon-keepers to sell liquor to them, on penalty of losing their licenses.

This new sort of rogues’ gallery is growing rapidly, but one addition to it was made voluntarily. It is the photograph of a poor fellow who begged to have it placed with the others, as his only chance of freedom from the tyranny of strong drink.

Set off against this pathetic story, how inhuman seem all the arguments for the licensing of saloons! The pitiable victims of the saloon-keeper would gladly escape his snare, but usually they can not. The insidious liquid has robbed them of their willpower. It has planted in their blood a horrible desire which nothing but more alcohol can satisfy.

(2816)

SAFETY FROM WATER-BROOKS

T. DeWitt Talmage notes some interesting facts about deer and water-brooks.

But there are two facts to which I want to call your attention. The first is that water-brooks not only saved the hunted deer by throwing the dogs off the trail, but also by making it possible for the deer to run in a straight line away from the dogs. I was very much surprized to find out that these water-brooks are to the deer what the compass is to a hunter in the woods—it keeps the deer from traveling in a circle.

The pursued deer, unless drawn by the scent of water, always runs in a circle. No sooner has a deer been shot at and the dogs been turned loose, than at once the deer, unless he has the guiding scent of water, seems to lose his reasoning faculties. He will run like the wind. He will run on and on—five, ten, fifteen or even twenty miles; but unless he can scent the water-brooks from afar, he will always travel in a circle and come back to the very place where the hunter first shot at him—back to the place where he will be shot at again. This circling flight of the deer is universally recognized. Some of the different State Legislatures have enacted game laws, which make it a felony for any man to hunt the deer by the means of hounds. Why? If they did not make such a law, the deer of those States would soon be exterminated. The circling flight of the deer makes it a very simple matter for a few hunters to stand in one place and shoot at the running game again and again, until the deer have been entirely slaughtered. (Text.)

(2817)

SAFETY IN HIGH LEVEL

You are familiar with the sight of the water-towers on the hills over many of our towns. Some one might say, “What is the use of the water-tower? Why should I be taxed to keep the level of the water above my own house? I have my private well and my excellent cistern. These are good enough for me.” But no citizen to-day would dream of saying this word. Every one knows that as the level is high in the water-tower, the safety, comfort, and health of the whole city are secured. The height of the level in the tower means that all alike can have the pure water. The height of the level means, when a conflagration arises, that the engines can put out the fire. So with the true thought of the Church. The true church is the water-tower of the city. Its life is for all. As the level is high, so the public safety, the public morals, the political life of the city is raised. When the level is high no real danger can come to the city. All alike, rich and poor, are fed and sustained, when the level of genuine religion rises high in the tower.—Charles F. Dale.

(2818)

Safety More Than Economy—See Affluence, The Principles of.

Safety, So-called—See Death, Christian Attitude Toward.

SAFETY VALVES

It is difficult to realize that only the other day an effort was made in Paris to replace the old magneto signaling system, with its little crank at the right of the telephone which has not been seen in large cities in this country for many years, by the much more convenient automatic signaling system. But the Paris correspondent of the New York Times says that such was the case. And, more curious still, the effort to introduce this improvement met with disfavor! The correspondent explains: “Hitherto excitable Frenchmen whiled away the time while awaiting ‘Central’ to answer, by grinding furiously at the crank bell-call. The new system denied them this form of relief. The result was that their pent-up feelings found outlet in imprecations and wild gesticulations. In many cases the telephones were damaged by poundings and shakings and had to be removed. It is said that the French Minister of Telephones was forced to admit that the imported system was a complete failure. ‘The new system may be good enough for the highly-trained Americans,’ he is quoted as saying, ‘but I am convinced that my excitable countrymen need the safety-valve of the old-fashioned bell.’”—The Western Electrician.

(2819)

Sagacity—See Retreat Discouraged.

Sagacity in Evil—See Impudence, Brazen.

SAGACITY SUPPLEMENTING SCIENCE

An English writer tells this story:

Once a French chemist came to Yorkshire, his object being to make his fortune. He believed that he might do this by picking up something which Yorkshiremen threw away. That something was soap-suds. The cloth-workers of Yorkshire use tons and tons of soap for scouring their materials, and throw away millions of gallons of soap-suds. Besides this, there are manufactories of sulfuric acid near at hand, and a large demand for machinery grease just thereabouts. He accordingly bought iron tanks, and erected works in the midst of the busiest center of the woolen manufacture. But he failed to pay expenses, for in his calculations he had omitted to allow for the fact that the soap liquor is much diluted, and therefore he must carry much water in order to obtain a little fat. This cost of carriage ruined his enterprise, and his works were offered for sale.

When he was about to demolish the works, the Frenchman took the purchaser, a shrewd Yorkshireman, into confidence, and told the story of his failure. The Yorkshireman, having finally assured himself that the carriage was the only difficulty, made an offer of partnership on the basis that the Frenchman should do the chemistry of the work, and that he should do the rest.

Accordingly, he went to the works around, and offered to contract for the purchase of all their soap-suds, if they would allow him to put up a tank or two on their premises. This he did; the acid was added, the fat rose to the surface, was skimmed off, and carried, without the water, to the central works. The Frenchman’s science and skill, united with the Yorkshireman’s practical sagacity, built up a flourishing business, and the grease thus made is still in great demand and high repute for lubricating the rolling-mills of iron-works, and for many other kinds of machinery.

(2820)

SAINTS

James Bryce, the British ambassador, in a speech before the St. George’s Society, is thus reported:

With regard to the patron saint of England, St. George, Mr. Bryce asked the diners if they had ever noticed that the saints never belonged to the countries which had adopted them. St. Denis was not a Frenchman, St. Andrew was not a Scotsman, and St. Patrick was not an Irishman. All that was known of St. George was that he slew the dragon, but no historian was certain where he came from. He was, anyhow, not an Englishman. The nearest approach the United States has to having a patron saint was George Washington, said Mr. Bryce, and he was born a British subject.—The New York Times.

(2821)

Saloon as a Hindrance to Aspiration—See Chance for the Boy.

SALOON EFFECTS

Irving Grinell, of the Church Temperance Society, tells a story of a woman who entered a barroom and advanced quietly to her husband, who sat drinking with three other men. She placed a covered dish on the table and said, “Thinkin’ ye’d be too busy to come home to supper, Jack, I’ve fetched it to ye here.” She departed, and the man laughed awkwardly. He invited his friends to share the meal with him. Then he removed the cover from the dish. The dish was empty except for the slip of paper that read: “Here’s hopin’ ye’ll enjoy yer supper. It’s the same as yer wife and bairns have at home.”

(2822)

SALOON, FIGHTING THE

The people have suffered too much from the saloon to make concessions and adopt the gentle way of trying to smooth down the tiger’s back. They will insist on using Roosevelt’s way with fierce African lions. Wise was that man who, being remonstrated with for prodding the attacking bulldog with the tines of a pitchfork, and asked why he didn’t use the other end, indignantly inquired, “Why didn’t he come at me, then, with the other end?”

(2823)

SALOONS, BADNESS OF

It is a hopeful sign when the daily press begins to moralize on saloons after the manner of the Sioux Falls Press in the following extract:

A saloon is a saloon, in whatever light you view it, and if it all were scuttled and launched upon some limitless and bottomless lake, not a tear would trickle down our cheeks. A better saloon? You might as well talk of a better rotten egg, a better highway robber, a better thief, a better yeggman, a better bum, a better gambler, a better case of measles, typhoid-fever, smallpox, erysipelas, a better Five Points, a better place for the committing of murder, robbery, or any other shameless crime.

(2824)

See Drink; Drunkenness; Intemperance; Temperance.

SALVABILITY

Every man, even the worst, has some vital point at which he can be touched and helped, as was the paralytic mentioned below:

Dr. Swithinbank describes a real case of bodily paralysis in a medical record in Paris: A man was attacked by a creeping paralysis; sight was first to fail; soon after, hearing went; then by degrees, taste, smell, touch, and the power of motion. He could breathe, he could swallow, he could think, and strange to say, he could speak; that was all. Not the very slightest message from without could reach his mind; nothing to tell him what was near, who was still alive; the world was utterly lost to him, and he all but lost to the world. At last, one day, an accident showed that one small place on one cheek had feeling left. It seemed a revelation from heaven. By tracing letters on that place, his wife and children could speak to him, his dark dungeon-wall was pierced, his tongue had never lost its power, and once more he was a man among men.

(2825)

Salvation a Gift—See Grace not Growth.

SALVATION BY EVANGELIZATION

During the forty years between 1778 and 1818, the population had decreased from 400,000 to 150,000—nearly two-thirds; so that the Christian enterprise which evangelized the Hawaiians saved a nation from extinction, for in twenty years more, at the same rate of decrease, the Hawaiian Islands would have been an uninhabited waste.—Pierson, “The Miracles of Missions.”

(2826)

SALVATION FROM SIN

In speaking once of his religious life, Captain Mahan, of the United States Navy, had this to say:

I happened one week-day in Lent into a church in Boston. The preacher—I have never known his name—interested me throughout; but one phrase only has remained: “Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for He shall save His people”—here he lifted up his hands—“not from hell, but from their sins.” Almost the first words of the gospel! I had seen them for years, but at last I perceived them. Scales seemed to fall from my eyes, and I began to see Jesus and life as I had never seen them before.

(2827)

Salvation, Half Way—See Sight, Imperfect.

SAMPLING

This story used to be told by Mr. Spurgeon:

An American gentleman said to a friend, “I wish you would come down to my garden, and taste my apples.” He asked him about a dozen times, but the friend did not come; and at last the fruit-grower said, “I suppose you think my apples are good for nothing, so you won’t come and try them.” “Well, to tell the truth,” said his friend, “I have tasted them. As I went along the road I picked one up that fell over the wall, and I never tasted anything so sour in all my life; I do not particularly wish to have any more of your fruit.” “Oh,” said the owner of the garden, “I thought it must be so. Those apples around the outside are for the special benefit of the boys. I went fifty miles to select the sourest sorts to plant all around the orchard, so the boys might give them up as not worth stealing; but if you will come inside, you will find that we grow a very different quality there, sweet as honey.”

(2828)

Sandals—See Bible Customs To-day.

Sanity is Social—See Concert, Lack of.

Satan, Defeating—See Mastery by Intelligence.

Satanic Possession—See Diabolical Possession.

SATIRE

Satire—that is, a literary work which searches out the faults of men or institutions in order to hold them up to ridicule—is at best a destructive kind of criticism. A satirist is like a laborer who clears away the ruins and rubbish of an old house before the architect and builders begin on a new and beautiful structure. The work may sometimes be necessary, but it rarely arouses our enthusiasm. While the satires of Pope, Swift, and Addison are doubtless the best in our language, we hardly place them with our great literature, which is always constructive in spirit; and we have the feeling that all these men were capable of better things than they ever wrote.—William J. Long, “English Literature.”

(2829)

SAVAGES AT OUR DOORS

Less than three thousand miles from the city of New York, and about a third of that distance from San Francisco, there is situated, in the upper reaches of the Gulf of California, a small island, worthless even for so mean a purpose as the raising of goats, but nevertheless a center of attraction for the ethnologists and archeologists of the Old and New Worlds for many generations. This rock peak, rising from the quiet waters of the gulf, is known as Tiburon Island. Tiburon is a Spanish word which, translated into English means “shark.” The waters around the islet are literally swarming with these tigers of the sea, and the inhabitants of the island are said to be no less ferocious than the sharks. Tiburon is peopled with a handful of Indians, the only aborigines of their kind in the world, known as Seris. They are reputed to be cannibals, to be so fierce that none of the mainland tribes of Mexican redskins ever dare invade their shores, and to possess the secret of manufacture of a peculiarly deadly poison, with which they prepare their arrows before battle.—Wide World Magazine.

(2830)

SAVED AS BY FIRE

Rev. C. H. Spurgeon used to tell this story:

A woman in Scotland, who was determined not to have anything to do with religion, threw her Bible and all the tracts she could find into the fire. One tract fell out of the flames, so she thrust it in again. A second time it slipt down, and once more she put it back. Again her evil intention was frustrated, but a third effort was more successful, tho even then only half of it was consumed. Taking up this half, she exclaimed, “Surely the devil is in that tract, for it won’t burn.”

Her curiosity being excited, she began to read it, and it was the means of her conversion. It was one of the sermons published in “The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit.” (Text.)

(2831)

SAVED IN SERVICE

The value of discipline to develop the soul is pointed out in this verse by Charles C. Earle:

(2832)

Saving—See Discovery, Benefits from.

Saving by Good Habits—See Resolutions, Good.

SAVING DISAPPROVED

Down with the little toy savings-bank! I believe it teaches children to be selfish. I hate to see a child, a sweet, innocent child, with dimpled hands and a laughing face, clutch the penny or the nickel you give it close in its little fingers, and run first to drop it into the greedy, miserly “savings-bank,” and then come back to thank you. We teach the child to be selfish when we give it a penny to drop in the missionary-box and fifty cents to buy a toy for itself; to dole out a penny a week for charity and keep the savings-bank rattling full. But haven’t I a savings-bank in my home? Indeed I have; and I’d like to see you or any other man, except one of my dear friends the Vanderbilts, pour money into the top of that savings bank as fast as the prince can draw it out of the bottom. That’s the way to run a bank. Make her useful; milk her. “Mr. Speaker,” said the California legislator, “may I ask how much money there is in the State treasury?” The speaker estimated about $40,000. “Then,” said the member, “I move to rake her. What good does the money do locked up? If you don’t spend it, some alderman will get hold of it.”—Robert Burdette.

(2833)

Saving Life—See Life-saving by Wireless.

Savings of Aliens—See Prosperity as an Advertisement.

Saviors—See Personality as a Redemptive Force.

SCARS OF WAR HEALED

To-day the shells and fragments used in the war between Russia and Japan are to be found only in the junk-shops of Port Arthur, and crops of vegetables and millet mantle with living green some of the fort-hills where desolation and death reigned during the five months of the siege.

The bloodstains and the gruesome dis-coloring of the soil around the edges of some of the shallow, overcrowded graves have disappeared. There was no trace left of the largest blood blotch, a dreadful black smut twenty feet by four or five feet on the side of 203-Meter Hill, which was in evidence for many months after the last fighting. God’s healing rains have washed the hill clean and are filling in and covering with the green of His love the trenches and other scars left by man’s lust and hate. (Text.)

(2834)

Scavengers—See Immunity from Disease.

School versus Saloon—See Chance for the Boy.

Science a Benefactor—See Extermination.

Science and Health—See Health and Science.

Science and Religion—See Self-sacrifice in Nature.

Science and Saving—See Discovery, Benefits from.

SCIENCE, DEVOTION TO

When Augustine Thierry, having withdrawn himself from the world and retired to his library, to investigate the origin, the causes and the effects, of the early and successive Germanic invasions, and, having passed six years “in poring with the pertinacity of a Benedictine monk over worm-eaten manuscripts, and deciphering and comparing black-letter texts,” had at last completed his magnificent “History of the Conquest,” the publication of which introduced a new era in French historical composition, he had lost his sight. The most precious of the senses had been sacrificed to his zeal in literary research. The beauties of nature, and the records of scholarship were thenceforth shut from him, and other eyes, to assist his future efforts. Prodigious sacrifice! And yet not such he thought it; for he said long afterward, in a letter to a friend: “Were I to begin my life over again, I would choose the road that has conducted me to where I now am. Blind and afflicted, without hope and without leisure, I can safely offer this testimony, the sincerity of which, coming from a man in my condition, can not be called in question. There is something in this world worth more than pleasure, more than fortune, more than health itself; I mean devotion to science!” (Text.)—Richard S. Storrs.

(2835)

Science Exposes Fraud—See Liar Exposed.

SCIENCE, IMPROVEMENTS BY

“The inferiority of the human sense organ to the instruments of science is pointed out by Dr. Carl Snyder,” says The American Inventor. “He says that whereas the human eye can see but little more than 3,000 stars in the heaven on the clearest of nights, the photographic plate and the telescope can discover countless millions. It is difficult for the eye to distinguish divisions of the inch if smaller than 1-200 of that unit of measure, yet a powerful microscope will make an object 1-1,000 of an inch in diameter look comparatively large. It would be a delicate ear which could hear the tramp of a fly, yet the microphone magnifies this sound until it sounds like the tramp of cavalry. The most sensitive skin can not detect a change in temperature less than 1-5 of a degree, but the bolometer will register on a scale an increase or decrease of temperature of 1-1,000,000 of a degree and can easily note the difference in temperature caused in a room when a match is lighted one mile away.”

(2836)

SCIENCE PREVENTING CRIME

Manufacturers of safes will be impelled to fight the scientific burglar with his own weapons. In somewhat the same fashion by which time-locks prevent the opening of the lock of a safe during certain hours, it will be comparatively easy to introduce into safe-construction chemico-mechanical devices which, during a limited time, would render it either fatal or physically impossible to remain in the vicinity of a safe or vault, were the walls or doors tampered with to such an extent as to allow access to the interior. By use of a very simple form of apparatus containing potassium cyanid and sulfuric acid, a robber would expose himself to the deadly fumes of prussic acid.

Less dangerous, through possibilities of accident to those regularly using a safe, would be the employment of substances crippling a safe-blower or forcing him to an instantaneous retreat. The volatilization of a few drops of ethyl-dichlor-acetate would cause such profuse and persistent weeping that one in the neighborhood would be temporarily blinded if he persisted in remaining. The breaking of a tube of liquid ammonia would render immediate withdrawal imperative under peril of suffocation.—Thomas H. Norton, Machinery.

(2837)

SCIENCE SHATTERING SUPERSTITIONS

There are large numbers of people perpetually bemoaning our degeneracy, and sighing over the departure of the “good old times” of our early American life. The reason of the present distressing state of affairs I heard explained not long ago. One man thought it was because all the “good old doctrines” were nowadays not preached at all, and the other was equally sure that it was because they were preached all the time. Never was a grander fallacy than this whole idea. Never was more ignorance of the past displayed than by those who talk of the falling away of modern times. Never was the Church so bright and fair as now, and never did the sky of the future redden with a more glorious promise of the coming day. In those “good old times” men lived under the horrid shadows of frightful superstitions. Now it is to modern science only that we owe our emancipation from the yoke of this awful tyranny. Scientific explorers have been over the earth; and finding no mouth of hell, that is gone. Science has explained earthquakes and volcanoes, and now devils fight no longer in the bowels of the earth. Etna and Vesuvius are no longer vent-holes of the pit. Astronomy has shattered the follies of astrology; and people have found out that the stars are minding their own business instead of meddling with theirs, and eclipses are no longer moon-swallowing monsters—are only very natural and well behaved shadows. Since psychology is studied we know that witchcraft is folly, and insanity only a disease to be treated and cured. Thus science—like a mother going up-stairs to bed with her frightened boy—has been with her candle into all the old dark corners that used to make us creep, and cringe, and shiver with terror.—Minot J. Savage, The Arena.

(2838)

SCIENCE TRAINS TO SEE

Where the untrained eye will see nothing but mire and dirt (says Sir John Lubbock), science will often reveal exquisite possibilities. The mud we tread under our feet in the street is a grimy mixture of clay and sand, soot and water. Separate the sand, however, as Ruskin observes—let the atoms arrange themselves in peace according to their nature—and you have the opal. Separate the clay and it becomes a white earth, for the finest porcelain; or if it still further purifies itself you have a sapphire. Take the soot, and if properly treated it will give you a diamond. While, lastly, the water purified and distilled, will become a dew-drop or crystallize into a lovely star. Or, again, you may see in a shallow pool either the mud lying at the bottom or the image of the sky above.—Public Opinion.

(2839)

Scripture—See Conscience.

Scripture and Experience—See Interpretation by Experience.

SCRIPTURE FOR ALL OCCASIONS

If you have the blues read the Twenty-seventh Psalm.

If your pocketbook is empty read the Thirty-seventh Psalm.

If people seem unkind, 1 John 4.

If you are discouraged about your work, 126th Psalm.

If you are all out of sorts, twelfth chapter Hebrews.

If you are losing confidence in men, thirteenth chapter, 1 Corinthians.

If you can not have your own way about everything, James 3.

If you are anxious, Matthew 6.—Honolulu Times.

(2840)

Scruples, Hindering—See Action, Instant.

SCRUPLES, MINUTE

Roger North gives an instance of the lawyer’s absurd attachment to mere forms. In his days the Court of Common Pleas used to sit in Westminster Hall, close to the great door, in order that suitors and their train might readily pass in and out. When the wind was in the north, this situation was found very cold, and it was proposed to move the court farther back, to a warmer place. “But the Lord Chief Justice Bridgman,” says North, “would not agree to it, as it was against Magna Charta, which says that the Common Pleas shall be held in certo loco (in a certain place), with which the distance of an inch from that place is inconsistent, and all the pleas would be coram non judice (before one who is not the proper judge).” (Text.)—Croake James, “Curiosities of Law and Lawyers.”

(2841)

Sea Helping the Land—See Evidence, Providential.

Sea, The—See Solace of the Sea.

Sea, The, As a Land Grabber—See Mutation.

Sea, Wealth of the—See Opportunity Lost.

Seaman, A Struggling—See Coolness in Danger.

SEASICKNESS

The ship upon clearing the harbor ran into a half-pitching, half-rolling sea that became particularly noticeable about the time the twenty-five passengers at the captain’s table sat down to dinner.

“I hope that all twenty-five of you will have a pleasant trip,” the captain told them as the soup appeared, “and that this little assembly of twenty-four will reach port much benefited by the voyage. I look upon these twenty-two smiling faces much as a father does upon his family, for I am responsible for the safety of this group of seventeen. I hope that all fourteen of you will join me later in drinking to a merry trip. I believe that we eight fellow passengers are most congenial, and I applaud the judgment which chose from the passenger-list these three persons for my table. You and I, my dear sir, er—here, steward! Bring on the fish and clear away these dishes.”—National Monthly.

(2842)

Searching Christ, The—See Christ, The Searching.

Seaweed, The Value of—See Utilizing Seaweed.

SEARCHING FOR VALUES

As we behold men going up and down the corn-fields of history, they are plucking the ears of corn as they journey. What are you reaching after with those long mental fingers, O Shakespeare? “I’ve seen how the corn of human nature grows upon the stalk of life, and I’m plucking at the heart of this mystery.” What are those great hands grasping after, O Beethoven? “I’m dreaming of unblended harmonies my deaf ears have never heard, and these hands are trying to pluck them from out the invisible realms of harmony.” Why run those hands up into the sleeve of darkness, O Milton? They seem to be straining after something. “Worlds of light lie behind these dead eyes of mine. I’ve seen an angel and heard him sing, and these hands are fumbling about in the darkness hunting for words to tell about his song.” What are those majestic hands reaching after, O Angelo? “I need a few bars of light, a few bursts of morning, a few scraps of sunset, to show men how God paints pictures. I’m plucking the golden ears of color from nature’s garden to hang up in a picture gallery.”—F. F. Shannon.

(2843)

SEARCH-LIGHTS

Moral and spiritual search-lights are needed to warn and illuminate the soul, just as the search-lights noted here are used to help the mariner as he approaches land.

“It has been announced,” says The Electrical Review, “that one of the features of the Lewis & Clark exposition will be a large search-light surmounting Mount Hood. This will be used to good effect for illuminating the snow-capped mountain-peaks within one hundred miles of the light. It is also said that the beam thrown from this search-light will be visible to vessels one hundred miles off the coast. This statement suggests that the search-light might be used as a valuable aid in lighthouse service, for warning vessels when they are approaching land. The ordinary range of visibility of a lighthouse is about twenty or twenty-five miles. For a lightship it is somewhat less, as the light is lower. Now, a powerful search-light can throw a beam upward which will be seen thirty or forty miles, under favorable conditions. It is probable that a powerful ray thrown vertically upward from a lighthouse would be visible long before the direct rays of the lighthouse could be seen. A somewhat similar scheme has been tried on railroads, where a beam from the electric headlight of a locomotive was thrown upward as a warning to the engineers of other locomotives.”

(2844)

Seasons Estimated—See Compensation.

SEASONS, VALUE OF

All our States have laws which prohibit the hunting of game at certain times specified and by given methods. The greater part of the year is close time for shooting most kinds of animals and birds. The wild beasts which are to be followed for sport need opportunity to increase and grow, and if left to the whim of individuals would be exterminated. As there are prohibitions to prevent the extinction of the young animals, so there needs to be a close time on character, when we do not allow ourselves to indulge in things which excite our nerves and draw our strength from our bodies and minds. We check our reading, and are careful of sleep and food and exercise.—“Monday Club, Sermons on the International Sunday-school Lessons for 1904.”

(2845)

Second Thought—See Repentance.

Secrecy in Sin—See Hypocrisy.

Secret Service Disclosures—See Criminals, Tracing.

SECRET THINGS

An ancient philosopher, it is said, was accustomed to go about carrying a parcel covered with a napkin. To all inquiries as to the contents of the parcel his answer was: “Wherefore the napkin?” meaning that there are some things God has not been pleased to reveal to men. (Text.)

(2846)

Secret Unpurchasable—See Kindness, The Power of.

SECRETS

Sir Joshua Reynolds, like Wilson, had his secrets of color and his mysteries of painting. He was fond of endeavoring to discover the secrets of the old painters.

It was his wont to dissect some of their works in order to find out their art of coloring and finishing. He pursued his experiments secretly and kept his discoveries to himself. In this search for the hidden secrets of his art he destroyed many old paintings of the Venetian school to the serious loss of the world of art. (Text.)

(2847)

Secrets Will Out—See Utterance.

Securities—See Precautions.

SECURITY

The soul is secure that stands on the Rock of Ages.

A man was sent out on a rocky promontory in Scotland where his signals might help a ship working its way in through the difficult channel in a great storm. Great waves beat upon that promontory and their spray wet the flagman to the skin, but he stood his dangerous ground and signaled the ship in. After she was in some one asked him if he did not tremble as he stood out there. He answered: “My legs trembled, but the rock didn’t tremble. I never knew before how solid that rock was.”—Franklin Noble, “Sermons in Illustration.”

(2848)

SEEING ALL AROUND

We would find it a great advantage in life if our mental apprehension was capable of including the entire horizon as the insect mentioned below is able to see in all directions.

A boy is often easily surprized by a playmate who approaches him stealthily from behind, but did you ever try the same game with a butterfly? I have, many a time. After getting cautiously so near to a butterfly at rest as to be able to distinguish between its head and its hinder extremity, I have quietly circled round it so as to approach it from behind, being at the time under the impression that it wouldn’t see me under those circumstances. But not the slightest advantage did I derive from this stratagem, for the position and construction of its eyes enabled it to see almost all ways at once.—W. Furneaux, “Butterflies and Moths.”

(2849)

Many insects have a great number of eyes, because the orb of the eye is fixt; there is, therefore, placed over the eye a multiple lens which conducts light to the eye from every direction; so that the insect can see with a fixt eye as readily as it could have done with a movable one. As many as 1,400 eyes, or inlets of light, have been counted in the head of a drone bee. The spider has eight eyes, mounted on different parts of the head; two in front, two in the top of the head, and two on each side.

One mark of the well-balanced man is the ability to see in all directions.

(2850)

SEEING, THE ART OF

I once spent a summer day at the mountain home of a well-known literary woman and editor. She lamented the absence of birds about her house. I named a half-dozen or more I had heard in her trees within an hour—the indigo-bird, the purple finch, the yellow-bird, the veery thrush, the red-eyed vireo, the song sparrow.

“Do you mean to say you have seen or heard all these birds while sitting here on my porch?” she inquired.

“I really have,” I said.

“I do not see them or hear them,” she said, “and yet I want to very much.”

“No,” said I; “you only want to want to see and hear them.”

You must have the bird in your heart before you can find it in the bush. (Text.)—John Burroughs, “Leaf and Tendril.”

(2851)

SEEKING AND FINDING

Tho the inventors have busied their brains for almost a century in an effort to find a substitute for wood pulp in the production of paper, their efforts hitherto met with failure. Recently an industrial concern has issued its prospectus, printed upon paper manufactured from cornstalks in its experimental plant. The paper is of good quality and proves the availability of cornstalks for this purpose.

An earnest search for that which will benefit humanity will sooner or later be rewarded with success. (Text.)

(2852)

SEEKING SERVICE

I have a wealthy friend in Paris who is spending his money not very wisely, but not very wickedly. Some of his acquaintances suggested to him that it would help him socially and give him more prestige, if he could go to America and induce President Roosevelt to appoint him as a member of our American embassy in Paris. So he came to Washington and went to see the President, who very kindly granted him an audience. He spoke the little speech that he had prepared to give, beginning by saying, “I think that I could serve my country, perhaps, if I should have this appointment in Paris.” President Roosevelt spoke right up, as he is apt to do and said: “My young friend, a man desiring to serve his country does not begin by saying where he is going to serve.”—Charles R. Erdman, “Student Volunteer Movement,” 1906.

(2853)

SELECTION

The world is much what we make it.

The “man with the muckrake” hated his work, and with good reason. “How sweet is the smell of those pine boards!” said a lady to her friend as they were walking near the river in Chicago. “Pine boards,” he exclaimed; “just smell that foul river!” “No, thank you,” she answered, “I prefer to smell pine boards.”—Franklin Noble, “Sermons in Illustration.”

(2854)

SELECTION BY PURPOSE

Some years ago a cotton-planter in Georgia observed that the leaves on one of his plants was unlike the usual leaf; it was divided as if into fingers. So far nature had gone. The planter added his intelligence. He concluded that such a divided leaf would let in more sunshine on the cotton; also such a leaf would not be comfortable for caterpillars. So he searched out one or two of these peculiar plants, transplanted them to a field by themselves. As they propagated, he plucked up those with the old leaf, cultivated those with the new, and now these new cotton plants, finer than the old, free from caterpillars, are spread through many regions. That is human selection, based on natural selection, securing the fruits of evolution. It is just as applicable to man as to vegetation. A better man may be bred as well as a better kind of cotton.—Moncure D. Conway, The Monist.

(2855)

Selection Justified—See Triumph by Selection.

Self-abnegation—See Modesty.

SELF-BLAME

A story of Henry Ward Beecher is told in Christian Work.

Mr. Beecher had been addressing an association of Congregational ministers somewhere in New York State, and when he had finished his address he said he would be glad to answer any questions if any of the younger brethren had anything that perplexed them. Immediately, a young clergyman arose and said, “Mr. Beecher, we have in our little church at —— a very estimable man, but the moment I begin preaching he falls asleep and snores, so he disturbs the whole congregation and absolutely spoils the effect of the sermon. But he is the only rich man we have, and he is the main support of the church, and we dare not say anything to him for fear we might offend him. Now, what would you do in such a case as that?” Mr. Beecher admitted it was a puzzling situation, and then he said: “We get around it in Plymouth Church in this way: I give my sexton orders to keep close watch of the congregation, and the moment he sees any man asleep to go right up and slap me on the back.”

(2856)

SELF-CENTERED

The Rev. C. A. S. Dwight, in an article on “Timing the Sun,” writes as follows:

There is a story of a punctilious Yankee who was fond of boasting that his watch had never been slow or fast for forty years. One morning he rose to see the sun rise. He kept looking at his wonderful watch and consulting at the same time a farmers’ almanac. There was a pause in the dawn. The Yankee grew impatient. Tapping his watch, he exclaimed: “If that sun ain’t over the hill in a minute and a half he’ll be late!”

Some men have “views” which they have carefully carried with them for years, as that Yankee did his watch. If events do not square with their views, so much the worse for the events. All such measurings of the eternal by the local tests of human opinion or of conventional standards is vain. The sun knows what he is about. It is the part of wisdom to correct one’s timepiece by the sun and not to try to run unassisted the astronomical machinery of the whole universe.

(2857)

SELF-CONFIDENCE

When the little Corsican, Napoleon Bonaparte, a feeble youth at the beginning of his wonderful career, was presented to the convention of France as the man who could rescue the country from its peril, the president fixt his eye upon him dubiously and said: “Are you willing to undertake our defense?” “Yes,” was the calm and confident reply. “But are you aware of the magnitude of the undertaking?” asked the president again. “Fully,” said Napoleon, fixing his piercing eye upon the questioner, adding, “and I am in the habit of accomplishing that which I undertake.”

A similar self-confidence has often proved the one great secret of a successful career.

(2858)

As Napoleon was contemplating one of his great campaigns, his uncle, Cardinal Fesch, was dissuading him. Napoleon opened the window, pointed and said:

“Do you see that star?”

Cardinal Fesch said: “No; I see no star.”

Napoleon turned his back upon him and said: “But I see it.”

To see your star whether other men see it or not, whether other men believe in it or not; to believe in yourself—that may be to discover that hidden self that is nobler than you have ever been.

(2859)

At one time, skilled artist tho he was, Constable was curiously ready to make alterations in his pictures to please persons of very little judgment in the case. At last, however, he rebelled. He was finishing his famous picture “The Dell,” when he was beset by an adviser: “Don’t you see,” retorted Constable, “that I might go on and make this picture so good that it would be good for nothing.” Being asked on another occasion if a certain picture on the easel was painted for any particular person, he replied: “Yes, sir; it is painted for a very particular person, the person for whom I have all my life painted.” (Text.)

(2860)

SELF-CONFIDENCE MISPLACED

In a current magazine we find the following:

Some years ago an attorney was called in by a large company and handed a lease.

“Give us your opinion,” said the president. “We have a great deal of this sort of legal business, and it is only fair to say that your opinion may mean much to us and to yourself.”

The lawyer went through the document with some care, but quickly, and on the spot.

“This is one of the best-drawn leases I have ever examined,” he said heartily. “You are wise to handle such matters inside your own organization. I commend your business judgment.”

“Can you suggest any improvements?”

“None whatever,” declared the lawyer.

“Can you discern any flaws?”

“No—emphatically! Mr. Johns,” continued the attorney, turning to the president’s assistant, “I want to congratulate you, as a lawyer, upon your thorough grasp of this most difficult branch. In my opinion this instrument is unassailable. It will hold in the highest court in this State.”

“That is what we want—your honest opinion,” said the president. “You have given it, and we are much obliged to you, and shall be pleased to have a bill for your service. My dear sir, the highest court in the State declared this lease null and void last week, and we have lost a ten-thousand-dollar suit upon it!”

Both the business man who drew the lease and the lawyer who approved it were mistaken. They believed in themselves, but a higher tribunal showed their fallibility.

(2861)

SELF-CONFLICT

A friend once asked an aged man what caused him to complain so often at eventide of pain and weariness. “Alas,” replied he, “I have every day so much to do. I have two falcons to tame, two hares to keep from running away, two hawks to manage, a serpent to confine, a lion to chain and a sick man to tend and wait upon.”

“Well, well,” commented his friend, “you are busy, indeed! But I didn’t know that you had anything to do with a menagerie. How, then, do you make that out?”

“Why,” continued the old man, “listen. Two falcons are my eyes, which I must guard diligently; the two hares are my feet, which I must keep from walking in the ways of sin; the two hawks are my hands, which I must train to work, that I may provide for myself and those dependent on me as well as for a needy friend occasionally; the serpent is my tongue, which I must keep ever bridled lest it speak unseemly; the lion is my heart, with which I have a continual fight lest evil things come out of it, and the sick man is my whole body, which is always needing my watchfulness and care. All this daily wears out my strength.”—Du Quoin Tribune.

(2862)

Self-conquest—See Victory in Defeat.

SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS

Some young Christians are timid and self-conscious, and can not help it; what is to be done then? We once knew a child who was so painfully bashful that anything that called attention to herself was a positive torture to her. So simple an act as to step across the aisle and hand a hymn-book made her heart beat wildly. Then one day she saw a report of an organization which was called “A Bridge from the Island of Supply to the Island of Want.” Her mother, who saw that her little girl’s usefulness in life would be greatly curtailed if she yielded to her foolish fear, talked to her seriously and said: “Don’t think of yourself as yourself, but think of yourself as God’s bridge. Whenever He gives you an opportunity to do anything that would help any one, or a thought that would make any one happy for you to tell it, just say, ‘Now, I’m not anybody in myself; I’m just God’s bridge, and I must let Him pass over me to this service.’ If you see the need and have the supply, no matter what it is, then you are God’s bridge, and you must be a strong bridge so that His path may not be broken.” She soon learned to forget all about herself in her own personality, and forgetting herself, forgot her fear. (Text.)—May F. McKean, Zion’s Advocate.

(2863)

SELF-CONTROL

The name of Charles E. Hughes, Governor of New York, is deservedly held in esteem for the many admirable qualities of character possest. That the child is father to the man is shown in this incident which exhibits an unusual power of self-control in one so young.

For five years, until his tenth year, he studied at home. His mother taught him the primary studies, as well as French, German, and mathematics; his father, Greek and Latin. That mastery of self which Mr. Hughes afterward manifested he also taught himself as a child. He always recited his lessons standing, and, like most children, had at first considerable difficulty in keeping still. He evidently thought the thing all out for himself; and one day, with no suggestion from his mother, who was then hearing his lessons, he announced that he had found a method of controlling his rebellious members. He selected a seam in the carpet, placed his toes firmly against it, shut his heels tightly together, and assumed a determined, soldierlike pose. From that day Mr. Hughes has had entire command of himself. (Text.)

(2864)

Self-deception—See Facts, Ignoring.

SELF-DEPENDENCE

(2865)

SELF-DEPRECIATION

When Deacon Hotchkiss bought Brother Bemis’ yearling heifer he demanded a guarantee of the animal’s condition, and he asked Brother Bemis to swear to that guarantee before the justice of peace. Brother Bemis was hurt by this unusual precaution on the part of a lifelong friend and neighbor. “Why, Brother Hotchkiss,” he remonstrated, “you ain’t no need to be so pesky s’picious with me. I ain’t never cheated you, hev I? You wa’nt like this never before.” “I wa’nt—I wa’nt,” assented Brother Hotchkiss cordially, “but I hearn you t’other night when you wuz on the anxious seat at revival meetin’ and I sez to myself, sez I, ‘if Brother Bemis is half the sinner he makes himself out to be, it behooves me to be everlastin’ keerful with him next caow trade.’” Which goes to show that a man is more likely to be taken at his own estimate of himself when he puts that estimate low than when he puts it high; and that it is not overwise in a man to make estimate of himself in time of excitement and a place of publicity. (Text.)—Puck.

(2866)

SELF-DISPLAY

Many men embrace the most trivial opportunities to attract attention to themselves, with far less reason than the great actor in this incident recorded in Scribner’s Magazine:

Nothing else he ever did equaled Mansfield’s recital of his experience the night he condescended to the plebeian rôle of a waiter and wore an apron. His whole “business” was to draw a cork, but he took pains to drive that cork home before coming on the stage. When his cue came to draw the cork he tugged and tugged in vain. His face grew scarlet and perspiration dropt from his forehead. Then he handed the bottle to another waiter, who struggled with all his strength without budging the cork. Mansfield turned a deaf ear to the voices in the wings shouting for him to leave the stage. He took the bottle back again and with renewed effort finally dislodged the cork. The insignificant pop it gave after those Titanic efforts again brought down the house.

(2867)

SELF-EFFACEMENT

Was Rafael, think you, when he painted his pictures of the Virgin and Child in all their inconceivable truth and beauty of expression, thinking most of his subject or of himself? Do you suppose that Titian, when he painted a landscape, was pluming himself on being thought the finest colorist in the world, or making himself so by looking at nature? Do you imagine that Shakespeare, when he wrote “Lear” or “Othello,” was thinking of anything but “Lear” and “Othello”? Or that Mr. Kean, when he plays these characters, is thinking of the audience? No; he who would be great in the eyes of others, must first learn to be nothing in his own. (Text.)—William Hazlitt.

(2868)

SELF-ESTEEM

We may be properly independent of the patronage of royalty, but this independence need not take the form of rudeness as with the musician in these incidents:

Liszt refused to play at court of Queen Isabella in Spain because the court etiquette forbade the introduction of musicians to royalty. In his opinion even crowned heads owed a certain deference and homage to the sovereignities of art, and he determined it should be paid.

He met Czar Nicholas I, who had very little notion of the respect due to any one but himself, with an angry look and a defiant word; he tossed Frederick William IV’s diamonds into the side scenes, and broke a lance with Louis Philippe, which cost him a decoration. He never forgave that thrifty King for abolishing certain musical pensions and otherwise snubbing art. He refused on every occasion to play at the Tuilleries. One day the king and his suite paid a “private view” visit to a pianoforte exhibition of Erard’s. Liszt happened to be in the room, and was trying a piano just as his Majesty entered. The King advanced genially toward him and began a conversation, but Liszt merely bowed with a polished but icy reserve.

“Do you still remember,” said the King, “that you played at my house when you were but a boy and I Duke of Orleans? Much has changed since then.”

“Yes, sire,” replied Liszt dryly, “but not for the better.”

The King showed his royal appreciation of the repartee by striking the great musician’s name off the list of those who were about to receive the Cross of the Legion of Honor.—H. R. Haweis, “My Musical Memories.”

(2869)

SELF-ESTIMATE

John the Baptist said of Christ, “He must increase but I must decrease.” Scott’s attitude toward Byron was similar.

It is characteristic of Scott that he knew perfectly well when Byron began to write his day was over. He quietly said Byron had “bet him,” and he never sang again. Without a touch of jealousy, with simple manliness, Scott admitted that a greater poet than himself had come, and instead of waging a losing battle for his lost supremacy, he praised his rival, and then left the arena with all the honors of war. There are few men who could have done this. That Scott did it, and did it easily, is at once a proof of the sturdy manliness of his nature, and of the robust common sense and generosity which marked his character.—W. J. Dawson, “The Makers of English Poetry.”

(2870)

That we should try to see ourselves as others see us is a rule well illustrated by R. H. Haweis in what he says on learning to play the violin:

I had found means to make the flimsiest strings yield up sounds which I need not here characterize, and to such purpose that it became a question of some interest how long such sounds could be endured by the human ear. I do not mean my own. All violinists, including infants on the eighteen-penny ones, admit that to their own ear the sounds produced are nothing but delightful; it is only those who do not make them who complain.

(2871)

Self-examination—See Self-inspection.

SELF-FLATTERY

We are all of us susceptible to the good opinions of others, and sometimes we are apt to fall into the bad habit of lauding ourselves. An illustration of this is seen in the following:

Once when Moltke heard himself compared to Cæsar, Turenne, Marlborough, Wellington, and others, he remarked: “No; I have no right to rank with such great captains, for I have never commanded a retreat”—which at the same time conveyed a subtle compliment to himself. Bismarck was equally subtle when he was asked whom he thought to have been the ablest plenipotentiary at the Congress of Berlin. “I don’t know about the ablest,” he replied with a grim smile, “but the next ablest was certainly Lord Beaconsfield.” (Text.)

(2872)

SELF-FORGETTING

The first principle of Christianity is to forget one’s self. When Wilberforce was straining every energy to get his bill for the emancipation of slaves passed, a lady once said to him, “Mr. Wilberforce, I’m afraid you are so busy about those slaves that you are neglecting your own soul.” “True, madam,” he said; “I had quite forgotten that I have one.” That remark contains one of the deepest truths of Christianity. (Text.)

(2873)

SELF-HELP

At one time in a battle between the English and French, the Prince of Wales became the center of the enemies’ attacks. As the Germans, men of Savoy, and other fierce foreigners broke through the royal division, a messenger was despatched in haste to the King, entreating his aid. The British ruler had taken his stand on a hill to watch the battle at a safe distance.

The King replied, “Return to him and to them that sent you hither and tell them from me that they do not send to me again or look for my coming so long as my son shall live. Suffer him this day ‘to win his spurs.’”

At the time of evening vespers, the prince had wrought a victory. The King, followed by his entire battalion, left the hill and advanced to meet the Prince of Wales. He embraced him and kissed him, saying, “Sweet son, God give you grace. You have acquitted yourself well.”

Does not God often appear to withhold aid only that we may have the joy of winning victories by our own powers? (Text.)

(2874)

That self-help is the best help is illustrated by the statements of a writer in Health, who says of the muscles:

It is dangerous to assist any muscle of the body. The more a muscle is assisted, the weaker it gets and the less it responds to the motor nerves. If any part of the body is deformed or has become weakened as the result of certain muscles failing to perform their duty, the muscles should be strengthened, not helped. If the abdomen protrudes as the result of the abdominal muscles having become weak, do not support the abdomen with a bandage, thus making the abdominal muscles still weaker. Strengthen the abdominal muscles, thus making a natural bandage. The same is true in reference to other braces and bandages. Never help a muscle, for you only weaken it. Exercise the muscle; it will then help itself.

(2875)

SELF-HIDDEN

One way to win success in work and war is to subordinate self to the service, as the following lines suggest:

(2876)

Self-improvement—See Mutualism.

Self-injury—See Suicide Prevented.

SELF-INSPECTION

John Wesley drew up at Oxford for himself and his companions a scheme of self-examination which Southey declares, with some truth, might well be appended to the spiritual exercises of Ignatius Loyola. Here are samples: “Have I been simple and recollected everything I did?” And under this head is a swarm of microscopic tests of “sincerity” which the soul was to apply to itself. “Have I prayed with fervor?” Then follows a list of the times in each day at which prayer must be offered, and a series of tests for ascertaining the exact degree of fervor in each prayer—tests which irresistibly suggest a spiritual thermometer, with a graduated scale to register the rise of the mercury. Wesley adopted the practise his mother urged of asking, “Have I, in private prayer, frequently stopt short and observed what fervor in devotion?” That is, the anxious soul was to keep one eye directed to the object of prayer, and the other vigilantly fixt upon itself, so as to observe its own behavior.—W. H. Fitchett, “Wesley and His Century.”

(2877)

A traveler, reaching a mining camp unexpectedly, found the miners very rough in manners and appearance owing to their long absence from conventional life. On leaving the camp for a farther journey, the traveler handed one of the leaders a looking-glass. A glance at it amazed the man, and soon all the other miners were crowding round him for a sight of themselves. Then the traveler departed, promising to return in a month. On his return he found an extraordinary change had taken place. The men, having realized by the mirror what uncouth, unshaven fellows they had become, had reformed as regards their appearance and were now as smart and clean as ordinary civilized beings. It was a sight of themselves which had worked the change.

(2878)

SELF-LIMITATIONS

“Lakeview; why, I should have thought they would call it Seaview!” exclaimed the island tourist, standing on the brow of the hill.

“But they don’t see the sea from the house. The top of the hills shuts it out. You only see the lake.”

“I think I would have climbed a little higher and built where I could have seen the sea.”

How many people are content to take up their abode on the lakeview side of the hill, instead of climbing to the summit and getting the vision of the great sea! (Text.)

(2879)

SELF-MASTERY

It is related that an eminent scientist, with his wife and brother, were sailing one moonlight evening on Lake Geneva. It became necessary to climb the mast to adjust a rope, when the boat capsized, and in a moment all three were struggling in the water. The lady, who was an extremely cultivated woman, coolly called to her companions, “I will not take hold of you, but come to me and let me put my hands upon your shoulders.” Which they did, and she was buoyed up for half an hour until all were saved. It was her mastery of herself that made it possible for them to rescue her.—James T. White, “Character Lessons.”

(2880)

Self-mastery Gradual—See Endeavor, Constant.

SELF-MEASUREMENT

The story of the young man in fiction has traveled all this strange distance. It begins with the primitive bard, straining his voice and almost breaking his lyre in order to utter the greatness of youth and the greatness of masculinity; it ends with the novelist looking at both of them with a magnifying-glass; it begins with a delight in things above, and ends with a delight in things below us. I for one have little doubt about their relative value. For if a man can say, “I like to find something greater than myself,” he may be a fool or a madman, but he has the essential. But if a man says, “I like to find something smaller than myself,” there is only one adequate answer, “You couldn’t.” (Text.)—G. K. Chesterton, The Critic.

(2881)

Self-possession—See Common Sense; Nerve.

Self-realization—See Myself.

SELF-RELIANCE

Beecher said that once, at school, when he was demonstrating a problem in geometry, the master said, “No,” in a tone of absolute conviction, and he sat down in great confusion and dismay. The next boy was stopt with the same emphatic “No”; but the boy went right on, and completed the demonstration. Beecher said to the master, “I recited just as he did, and you said ‘No.’” The master replied, “Why didn’t you say ‘Yes,’ and stick to it? It is not enough to know your lesson, you must know that you know it.” You have learned nothing until you are sure. If all the world says “No,” your business is to say “Yes,” and persist in it.—James T. White, “Character Lessons.”

(2882)

Imitate the Flathead Indians, and fling the child into the stream and make him swim. If Flathead Indians do this, straight-browed white men should know enough to imitate them. Bring your children up to believe that God cares for them, but that they must be self-reliant, and care for themselves. The fishes’ fin fits the water, the birds’ wing the air, the eye fits the sunbeam, the ear matches music, the intellect fits the truth and man’s equipment for self-support fits the harvests, the fields and the forests.—N. D. Hillis.

(2883)

See Education; Initiative.

SELF-REPRESSION

When Havelock was prosecuting his great march for the relief of Lucknow, Sir James Outram was sent out to supersede him. Poor Havelock, tho filled with bitter disappointment, was ready to obey; but when Outram discovered what marvelous feats the unyielding courage and determination of Havelock and his brave men had accomplished, he refused to take the glory which belonged to another, and insisted upon his brother officer finishing the work and earning his glory, while he himself served under him. So by requiring self-repression, courtesy may become a positive virtue.—James T. White, “Character Lessons.”

(2884)

See Power in Self-repression.

SELF-RESTRAINT

In the face of a fire peril which would have stricken an ordinary crowd with panic, 600 convicts recently, at the Western Penitentiary, sat quietly through their Sunday afternoon service, with hardly more than a ripple of fear. There was good cause for alarm in a fire in the hosiery factory, not fifty feet away from the chapel, and its smoke enveloped the windows so thickly that electric lights were turned on while Chaplain C. Miller continued the exercises.

Warden Francies himself was in the chapel when the fire broke out. He selected half a dozen “trusties” to help the prison and city fire departments fight the blaze, and then returned to quiet his charges. Fully half of the 600 had looked like stampede, but at a word from Chaplain Miller they recovered composure, reseated themselves, and listened attentively to the sermon. As the flames grew more threatening a second ripple of excitement started, but the choir stayed it by singing many hymns, in which the convicts joined.

The fire was fought for more than an hour, many of the “trusties” doing the most valiant work. Several were overcome by smoke.

After the fire Warden Francies paid many compliments to his charges for the self-restraint they had shown.

“No body of United States troops,” he said, “could have acquitted themselves better under such trying circumstances.”—New Orleans Picayune.

(2885)

About three weeks after the capture of Fort Donelson slanders and misrepresentations sent to Washington resulted in removing General Grant from his command. Colonel Nicholas Smith, in “Grant the Man of Mystery,” tells how Grant behaved under this unjust treatment. Grant said:

When I was ordered to remain behind it was the cause of much astonishment among the troops of my command, and also disappointment. I never allowed a word of contradiction to go out from my headquarters. You need not fear but what I shall come out triumphantly. I am pulling no wires, as political generals do, to advance myself. I have no future ambition. My object is to carry on my part of this war successfully, and I am perfectly willing that others may make all the glory they can out of it.

(2886)

When you read this to your uncle he may say, “If General Grant had been provoked as I often am, I think he would have sworn.” Just tell uncle this story and ask him if General Grant did not have some reason now and then to have a provoke:

“After he had served the nation as its President, General Grant was in New York when the Masonic Temple was burned. The fireline was drawn half way down the block, but the great, surging crowds hampered the work. A policeman stationed below failed to recognize the ex-President as he approached the line, and quickly grabbing him by the collar, he swung him around in the other direction, yelling at him as he gave him a whack with his club: ‘Here, what’s the matter with you? Don’t you see the fireline? Chase yourself out of here, and be quick about it.’”

The general did not swear, but just got out of the crowd and began to attend to his own business. Swearing would have been a great waste of time.—J. M. Farrar.

(2887)

See Provocation, Silence Under.

SELF-REVELATION

Some time ago one of the magistrates at Clerkenwell hit on a new idea in dealing with a prisoner, who came before him on a charge of being drunk and incapable. The man’s face was terribly bruised, either from tumbling about while drunk, or fighting. The case having been proved, the magistrate inquired of the chief jailer for a looking-glass. One having been produced, the jailer was ordered to take the prisoner and show him his face in the glass, and then to liberate him; the magistrate remarking that if that exhibition was not a warning to him, he did not know what would be. The prisoner was accordingly shown the reflection of his disfigured face, and discharged.

There was sound philosophy in the novel method of the magistrate, it was good and true as far as it went; but it may well be doubted if the generous device effected any very considerable reformation in the prisoner.—W. L. Watkinson, “The Transfigured Sackcloth.”

(2888)

SELF-SACRIFICE

Dr. Finsen, who discovered the “light cure” for the disease of lupus, was greatly tempted to keep his secret to himself and thus become a very rich man. He lay awake all one night, perturbed as to whether he would make public his discovery. When morning came, Dr. Finsen had “chosen the better part,” and had decided to enrich the world with his cure. Only $1,500 a year was paid him by the Government of Denmark, and gradually the awful disease from which he himself was a sufferer made it impossible for him to work more than an hour a day and to eat hardly anything. Literally, Dr. Finsen laid down his life for the army of fellow sufferers. Queen Alexandra, proud of her fellow countryman, introduced the cure which bears his name to the greatest hospital in the world, and Finsen’s discovery has alleviated the torture of countless invalids. (Text.)