The stone archway spanning a culvert under a railway at a certain point gave way and tumbled in, permitting the tracks to settle and sending trains away around by another line. Workmen came to study the cause of the trouble. One thought that the cement with which the stones had been laid was not properly mixed. Another was of the opinion that the mortar had been chilled, as the wall was laid up in cold weather. Still another examined the keystone and found fault with its shape. "The form of that stone was enough to bring the archway down!" he declared. "Just look at it! The man who made it never knew what a keystone is for!"
So the criticism went on. At last a quiet man who had been digging away at the foundation of things made the statement: "It was not the keystone; that is all right. The foundation gave way, and the wall could not help falling! It was the foundation!" And that was the verdict which stood. The very first stones had been laid on soft earth.
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FOUNDATIONS, SECURE
One stands before some of the palaces of
the old world that have endured for more
than one thousand years without a crack or
seam, in perfect admiration. The Pantheon
at Rome stands just as it did more
than two thousand years ago. This would be
impossible had not its foundations been
right. The Rialto Bridge that spans the
Grand Canal in Venice was erected in 1588.
It has stood as it now stands for 320 years,
but that bridge rests on 12,000 piles driven
deeply into the soil. What is true of buildings
is true also of life.—George B. Vosburgh.
(1144)
FOUNTAINS, EVER FLOWING
"To-day's wealth may be to-morrow's poverty;
to-day's health, to-morrow's sickness;
to-day's happy companionship of love, tomorrow's
aching solitude of heart; but today's
God will be to-morrow's God, to-day's
Christ will be to-morrow's Christ. Other
fountains may dry up in heat or freeze in
winter, but this knows no change; 'in summer
and winter it shall be.' Other fountains
may sink low in their basins after much
drawing, but this is ever full, and after a
thousand generations have drawn from its
stream is broad and deep as ever. Other
fountains may be left behind on the march,
and the wells and palm-trees of each Elim
on our road be succeeded by a dry and
thirsty land where no water is, but this
spring follows us all through the wilderness,
and makes music and spreads freshness ever
by our path."—Alexander McLaren.
(1145)
Fragility—See Ossification; Preservation. Fragments Reconstituted—See Beauty from Fragments. Fragrance—See Character Imparted. Fragrance from Storm—See Affliction Producing Virtue. Frankness—See Retort, A. FRATERNITY When you describe to a blind man what strikes you on the very instant, you really give him the illusion of light. He sees through your eyes. There is in his soul both light and color. The green swell of the forest, the yellow waves of the harvests, that stream that unrolls yonder, across the fields, like a ribbon of silver; that river whose waters are transmuted into liquid gold in the brazier of the setting sun, all this shines before his inward eye. And yet it is not this that most delights the blind man. What moves him, transports him, not only if he is your father, your son, your friend, but even a simple traveling companion, is that he sees through you; that, for an hour, you realize the holy law that man owes himself to man, and that he lives, above all, by your bounty and fraternal exchange.—Charles Wagner, "The Gospel of Life."
(1146)
FRAUD BY ELECTRICITY It was noticed some years ago that a large number of light gold coins were in circulation, and the discovery was made that the "sweating" was accomplished by electrolysis. The scientific swindler constructed an electro-deposition plant, using a ten-dollar gold piece as an anode and a small metal plate as a cathode. The battery was "set in motion" and presto! in a few minutes fifty cents' worth of gold was deposited on the metal plate, and the gold coin was worth so much less than before. As the gold was removed equally from all parts of the surface of the coin, its appearance was scarcely altered by the process, only an expert being able to detect the slight blurring of the design and lettering.—Electrical Review.
(1147)
