He immediately left the car and stood upon the platform, admiring the magnificence of the scenery that opens before the traveler. He said, "What an atmosphere! What a view! What glorious mountains! No wonder that Patrick Henry grew here." One of the natives, who was standing by his side, quietly replied, "Yes, sir; but as far as I have heard, that landscape and those mountains have always been here; but we haven't seen any more Patrick Henrys."
(928)
ENVIRONMENT, SPIRITUAL
A Dutch scientist has just completed five
years' study in South America. He took
some insects from Holland into the rich
tropic atmosphere, changed their environment,
put them in a friendly environment,
and gave them the best food. He expected
to modify their coloring, having exchanged
the damp, foggy sky of Holland for the brilliant
hues of the tropics. And lo! these insects
doubled their size; the dim subdued
tints became gay and brilliant. At last he
discovered that insects that in Holland
crawled, in the South spread their wings to
fly and meet God's sun. He began with potato-bugs
in Holland; he ended with brilliant
creatures that lived on the nectar of
flowers, and only five summers and winters
stood between the marvel. Oh, marvelous
transformation, through environment and
food! More marvelous still the way the
soul can grow. Last year you lived in the
damp, foggy miasmatic levels of selfishness;
sordidness, like a cloud, wrapt you about.
Suppose you take down your tent, and move
into the tropic realm of love and faith and
hope. Open the soul's wings to the light, the
sun and dew of God's spirit. Live in the atmosphere
of purity and prayer. Expel hate
and fear, like poisonous winds. Imitate
Christ's life. Love the master spirits. Read
the great poets. Insist upon leisure to grow
ripe. Guard your hours of solitude; practice
the presence of God.—N. D. Hillis.
(929)
ENVIRONMENT THAT TRANSFORMS
The Japanese have an ingenious way of
changing the color and appearance of birds
and animals. For example, white sparrows
are produced by selecting a pair of grayish
birds and keeping them in a white cage, in
a white room, where they are attended by
a person drest in white. The mental effect
on a series of generations of birds results
in completely white birds. (Text.)
(930)
ENVY
The Duchess of Argyll is reported to have
written to various European monarchs asking
them whom they envied. Among the
answers was one from the Czar of Russia,
as follows: "I sincerely envy every man
who is not loaded down with the cares of a
great empire, and who has not to weep for
the woes of a people."
Not infrequently the envied are the
envying, because each one is apt to think
his own lot the hardest.
(931)
Good men are often hated for their goodness by bad men, who can not endure the contrast with themselves. An unidentified writer points out this kind of envy in the following verse:
A glowworm sat in the grass;
As I passed through the wood I found it;
Bright as a diamond it shone,
With a halo of light around it.
A toad came up from the fen;
It was ugly in every feature;
Like a thief it crept to the worm,
And spat on the shining creature.
"What have I done," said the worm,
"As I sat here in silence nightly?"
"Nothing," replied the toad;
"But why did you shine so brightly?" (Text.)
<poem>
(932)
ENVY GRATIFIED
Persons accustomed to gaze in awe upon
suit-cases and steamer-trunks covered with
labels of every size and color, thinking the
while enviously of the fortunate owners of
such baggage, who have such an advantage
over the poor stay-at-homes, may perhaps be
surprized to learn that there are shops
where such labels may be had.
It is quite feasible, therefore, for any one to have his case or trunk covered with nicely worn labels, indicating that the owner thereof has roamed from Sydney to San Francisco; from Copenhagen to Colombo, to say nothing of all the capitals of Europe and Asia, with divers famous water-places thrown in for good measure.—Harper's Weekly.
(933)
Ephemera—See Brevity of Life; Happiness a Good.
