CIRCUMSTANCES
Circumstances mold character, but character masters circumstances. No true life anywhere needs despair because its surroundings are uncongenial or depressing. A writer finds this lesson in the first flowers of spring, of which he says:
But among what uncongenial surroundings
these new flowers have come! Gray, sunless
skies, chilling winds, the frosts, the lingering
traces of the snow—these are the things
which the new flowers see with their opening
eyes; courageous flowers indeed to creep
forth into a wintry world like this!
If these flowers can brave the trials
of the winds and cold and sullen sky,
and still smile upon the sun, so can
human lives, however bare and difficult
their lot.
(454)
CIRCUMSTANCES BEYOND CONTROL
One of the strangest stories of false imprisonment
comes from France. A woman
was sentenced to imprisonment for life for
having caused the death of her husband and
brother. The three had lived together at
Malaunay, near Rouen, in a cottage. The
lower part of it was used as a shop. When
the woman was sent to prison, other people
occupied the shop, but the new tenants suffered,
the man from fainting fits, his wife
from nausea, from which she died. Another
couple tried their fortune, but they, too,
were overcome by the "spell of the accurst
place," as they supposed. They were subject
to fainting and loss of memory. At
last a scientific examination of the premises
was made. Then it was found that adjoining
the shop was a lime-kiln. In a wall dividing
it from the cottage were many fissures, so
that whenever lime was burned monoxide of
carbon escaped into the inn. This was the
secret of the deaths for which the woman
was suffering. She was brought out of
prison after six years of servitude.
While we should not put the blame
for our sins on circumstances, we should
remember that much which we condemn
as sin would, if we understood it, be
excused as due to circumstances that involve
no blame.
(455)
Circumstances, Making the Best of—See Conservation of Remainders.
CIRCUMSTANCES, MASTERY BY
Genius levels mountains, spans rivers,
causes wildernesses to blossom, links together
with electric chains the ends of the earth.
The gifted man cares not for difficulties;
like a mountain torrent, he gains momentum
from every obstacle; a master athlete, he
throws the world. Masters of circumstance
in many directions, but how soon we succumb
to circumstance when it relates to
character! He who is triumphantly strong
in other directions is helpless here; he who
heroically and magnificently succeeds in fortune
ignobly fails in morals. He who successfully
battles with circumstances to become
a scholar is vanquished by fleshly desires;
he who becomes rich in the teeth of
circumstances is then mastered and degraded
by his riches; he who surmounts circumstances
to become great, immediately
falls a victim to luxury and pride. Men
make a grand fight with a circumstance in the
kingdoms of nature and society, but a sorry
light with circumstances as these menace the
kingdom of the spirit; they fail most where
it is exactly most desirable that they should
succeed.—W. L. Watkinson, "The Transfigured
Sackcloth."
(456)
CIRCUMSTANCES NOT DECISIVE
The danger of circumstantial evidence is
illustrated by the French trial of a maid-*servant
for robbery of some forks from a
citizen of Paris. At the trial the circumstances
were so strong against her that she
was found guilty, and was executed. Six
months afterward the forks were found
under an old roof, behind a heap of tiles,
where a magpie used to go. When it was
discovered that the innocent girl had been
unjustly condemned, an annual mass was
founded at St. John-en-Grese for the repose
of her soul.—Croake James, "Curiosities of
Law and Lawyers."
(457)
CIRCUMSTANCES, SUPERIORITY TO
R. H. Haweis tells the following of a celebrated violinist:
Leghorn received him with open arms,
altho his appearance was marked by an
amusing contretemps. He came on to the
stage limping, having run a nail into his
heel. At all times odd-looking, he, no doubt,
