In the far, forgotten lands,
By the world's last gulf of night,
There He wanders, all alone,
Dragging bleeding hearts from hell
With the whisper: "God does care!"
—The Independent.
(1007)
EXTREMITY NOT FINAL
Sidney Lanier once, at least, in dire extremity,
while stricken with a mortal malady,
and almost lacking subsistence for his family
in this wealthy city (Baltimore), sent forth
a cry of agony that came perilously near to
surrender of faith. He rose from his
abysmal despair to make another valiant effort
at the last, and never afterward questioned
the goodness of God even in hours
of awful discouragement. And so he died,
feeling that all would be well with him and
those he loved stronger than death. Ye who
are about to abandon the tumultuous and
uneven contest, think of this example, look
to heaven and make another honest, prayerful
effort for relief!—Baltimore American.
(1008)
Eye Measuring—See Training.
EYE, THE EVIL
The power exerted by the human eye over
man and animals is well known, and the evil
use of such influence is widely recognized.
This maleficent power is called the "evil
eye," and the belief in its operation seems
never to have been absent in any land. This
does not mean the undoubted influence exerted
by the eye, as in mesmerism, but a sort
of noxious influence proceeding from the
eye, with or without the connivance of the
owner of the organ. Intelligence of a belief
in this strange power comes to us from
the cradle lands of the East, at an unknown
period of history. Chaldean cylinders of
clay dug up on the banks of the Euphrates
contain magical formula against it. In
Assyria, eight centuries before Christ, men
appealed to their gods in long formulated
prayers against possessors of the evil eye,
who are declared the worst of men. Egyptian
incantations against the sorcerer, of an
early date, have come down to us. In one
of these the sun is addrest thus: "O, thou
whose soul is in the pupil of the eye." An
ancient Vedaic hymn to Agni invokes Indra
against the evil eye. The eye of the Brahman
was thought so powerful that he was forbidden,
when satisfying the wants of nature,
to look at the sun, the moon, the stars, water,
or trees, lest he should bewitch them. The
Persian Vendidad contains prayers and rites
to ward off the effects of the evil eye. Ahriman
subdued evil spirits by the power of his
glance—St. Louis Globe-Democrat.
(1009)
Eye, The Human—See Design in Nature.
EYE, THE SEARCHING
In a poem by Victor Hugo, Cain is represented
as walking thirty days and nights
after the murder of his brother Abel until
he reaches the shores of the sea. "Let us
stop here," he says; but as he sits down his
face turns pale. He has seen in the mournful
sky the searching eye. His sons, filled
with awe, try to erect barriers between him
and the Eye—a tent, then a wall of iron,
then a tower and a city—but all is in vain.
"I see the Eye," still cries the unhappy man.
At last they dig a tomb and the father is
put into it. But
"Tho overhead they closed the awful vault,
The Eye was in the tomb and looked on Cain." (Text.)
(1010)
Eye, The Trained—See Training.
EYES, THE
There are men who are like the eye pupils—larger in the shadow. Bring them out into the bright light and they shrink to their real proportions.
Hang a small looking-glass on the wall immediately
below a gas-bracket. Carefully
examine the colored portion of either of
your eyes by looking at the image formed
in the glass, and note particularly the extent
of the pupil's opening. Now, turning the
light down to the smallest amount that will
still permit you to see the pupil, note the
wonderful manner in which the pupil dilates
or increases in diameter. Then turn the
light up and observe how the pupil contracts;
and then remember the wonderful
optical instruments you possess and be careful
you do not abuse them, for they are the
only eyes you will ever get.—Edwin J. Houston,
"The Wonder Book of Light."
(1011)
Eyesores, Relieved of—See Unloading the Useless.
