will be hit when a worker misses a red-hot duty that comes flying at him.
There is only one safety for the workman or for the rest of us: Catch them!
(836)
DUTIES DISTRIBUTED
Here is a short sermon by a woman, tho not preached from a pulpit. It is a good one, and is pretty sure to hit your own case somewhere, whatever may be your age and circumstances:
The best thing to give your enemy is forgiveness;
to an opponent, tolerance; to a
friend, your heart; to your child, a good example;
to your father, deference; to your
mother, conduct that will make her proud
of you; to yourself, respect; to all men,
charity.—The Interior.
(837)
DUTY
There was a boy in Glasgow apprenticed
to a gentleman who made telegraphs. The
gentleman told me this himself. One day
this boy was up on top of a four-story house
with a number of men fixing up a telegraph-wire.
The work was all but done. It was
getting late, and the men said they were
going away home, and the boy was to nip
off the ends of the wire himself. Before
going down they told him to be sure to go
back to the workshop, when he was finished,
with his master's tools. "Do not leave any
of them lying about, whatever you do," said
the foreman. The boy climbed up the pole
and began to nip off the ends of the wire.
It was a very cold winter night, and the dusk
was gathering. He lost his hold and fell,
upon the slates, slid down, and then over and
over to the ground below. A clothes-rope,
stretched across the "green" on to which he
was just about to fall, caught him on the
chest and broke his fall; but the shock was
terrible, and he lay unconscious among some
clothes upon the green. An old woman came
out; seeing her rope broken and the clothes
all soiled, thought the boy was drunk, shook
him, scolded him, and went for a policeman.
And the boy with the shaking came back to
consciousness, rubbed his eyes, and got upon
his feet. What do you think he did? He
staggered, half-blind, away up the stairs.
He climbed the ladder. He got up onto the
roof of the house. He gathered up his
tools, put them into his basket, took them
down, and when he got to the ground again,
fainted dead away. Just then the policeman
came, saw there was something seriously
wrong, and carried him away to the hospital,
where he lay for some time. I am
glad to say he got better. What was his
first thought at that terrible moment? His
duty. He was not thinking of himself; he
was thinking about his master.—Henry
Drummond.
(838)
See Greatness; Higher Law.
DUTY BEFORE PLEASURE
Dr. Johnson, himself a glutton in talk, complained
to Patty Wesley of her brother: "I
hate to meet John Wesley," he said. "The
dog enchants you with his conversation, and
then breaks away to go and visit some old
woman."
But for Wesley, the "old woman" represented duty. She was an immortal spirit, as precious in the sight of God as Dr. Johnson himself.—W. H. Fitchett, "Wesley and His Century."
(839)
DUTY, DEVOTION TO
The late Sir Andrew Clarke was once attending
a comparatively poor man who was
so seriously ill as to need his constant and
assiduous attention. He was fighting death
step by step, and seeing his efforts meet
with success. As he bent over and watched
his patient, a telegram was handed him asking
him to come over and consult some wealthy
idler in the south of France, offering a special
train to Dover, a packet chartered to
Calais, another special train to Nice, and a
fabulous fee. He looked at the patient,
folded the telegram, and said to his assistant,
"Reply that I am needed here and
can not leave," and turned to tend the poor
man again.
Much has been said in praise of this heroic self-abnegation. But, after all, the doctor simply did his duty.
(840)
See Faithfulness.
DUTY, FAITHFUL TO
Emperor William recommended the promotion
of a private in his army for the
strict observance of orders while acting as
sentry at Swinemunde, Germany. The Emperor,
accompanied by several officers, the
entire party in civilian dress and wearing
Panama hats, approached the entrance to
the west battery, where the sentry prevented
their further progress. His Majesty, much
amused, again vainly tried to pass by. He
said to the sentry: "You must let me pass.
Don't you know me? I am the Emperor."
