ENLIGHTENMENT
The difference between the savage and the enlightened man is often due to Christian civilization.
John Williams tells how the Raratongans
were excited and overawed when, for the
first time, they saw him send a written message
to his wife. He requested a chief, who
was helping, to take the chip to Mrs. Williams;
but, thinking the missionary to be
playing a joke on him, he asked, "What must
I say?" "Nothing," said Mr. Williams; "the
chip will say all that I wish." "But can a
chip talk? Has it a mouth?" He got what
he went for, and, still more perplexed, could
only exclaim: "See the wisdom of these
English! They can even make chips talk!"—Pierson,
"The Miracles of Missions."
(918)
ENTHUSIASM
The most terrific heat known to science
is a torch operated by oxygen and acetylene,
radiating a heat of 6,300 degrees, by means
of which it is possible to weld aluminum,
heretofore regarded as an impossibility. The
torch makes a flame that will cut through
two inches of solid steel in less than a
minute and pierce a twelve-inch piece of the
hardest steel in less than ten minutes—a task
that would take a saw almost twenty hours
to accomplish.
When the soul burns with the heat of
great enthusiasm, it will burn through
obstacles that are entirely insuperable
to ordinary efforts.
(919)
Enthusiasm for One's Work—See Art, Devotion to.
ENTICEMENT
In the legend, the Duchess Isabella, wishing
earnestly to obtain some object, was instructed
by the crafty court astrologer to
kiss day by day for a hundred days a certain
beautiful picture, and she would receive
the fulfilment of her wish. It was a sinister
trick, for the picture contained a subtle
poison which stained the lips with every
salutation. Little by little the golden tresses
of the queenly woman turned white, her eyes
became dim, her color faded, her lips became
black; but, infatuated, the suicidal kiss
was continued until before the hundred days
were complete the royal dupe lay dead.
So we yield ourselves to the sorcery
of sin; despite many warnings, we persist
in our fellowship with what seems
truth, beauty, liberty, pleasure, until
our whole soul is poisoned and destroyed.
(Text.)—W. L. Watkinson,
"The Transfigured Sackcloth."
(920)
See Allurement, Fatal.
ENVIRONMENT
The Seminole Indians have a tradition regarding
the white man's origin and superiority.
The Great Spirit made three men of
fair complexion and then led them to a lake
and bade them leap in. One immediately
obeyed, and came out of the water whiter
than before; the second did not leap in until
the water became slightly muddy, and
when he bathed he came out copper-colored;
the third leaped in when the water was black
with mud and he came out black.
Every man has some choice as to
the kind of environment into which he
will plunge, and the color of his character
will ultimately show his choice.
(921)
The gardener bird of New Guinea builds its nest, and lays out a garden-plot in front, of grass and mosses; and when the female bird is sitting on her eggs the mate flies about in search of the brightest-colored leaves and flowers, which are placed upon this plateau of garden.
Many men have been reclaimed and
encouraged by surrounding them with
a beautiful environment.
(922)
Surely, it is not environment that makes temperament. Bittern and blackbird both frequent bogs, yet the bittern is a lonely misanthrope, whom I more than half suspect of being melancholy-mad, while the blackbird is as cheery and as fond of his fellows as a candidate.—Winthrop Packard, "Wild Pastures."
(923)
You may take a piece of wax, and a piece of meat, and some sand, and some clay, and some shavings, and put them in the fire, and see how they act. One goes to melting, and one to frying, and one to drying up, and one to hardening, and one to blazing; and every one acted on by the same agent.
So, under identical moral influences
