Baird lived to regain his freedom, and lived to take that city; but his noble, unselfish friend died in prison.
Up to his death, he wore two pairs of fetters. But what if he had worn the fetters of all the prisoners? What if, instead of being a captive himself, he had quitted a glorious palace, to live in their loathsome dungeon, to wear their chains, to bear their stripes, to suffer and die for them, that they might go free, and free forever? (Text.) Sophie Bronson Titterington.
(1351)
Harmony—See Rapport.
HARMONY IS GOD'S WORK
In "Famous Stories of Sam P. Jones" may be found this bit of wisdom:
A well-trained musician sits down to a
piano and sweeps his fingers over the keys.
A cloud gathers on his face as he recognizes
a discord in the instrument. What is the
matter? Three of the keys are out of harmony.
These three keys that are out of
harmony are out of harmony with everything
in the universe that is in harmony. I
say to that musician, "Close up that piano
and let it alone until it puts itself in harmony."
He replies, "It is impossible for the
piano to put itself in harmony." "Who can
put it in harmony?" I ask. He replies, "The
man who made the instrument." The instrument
is put into the hands of the man
who made it, and in a few hours every key
on the piano is in harmony, and the piano
being in harmony with itself is in harmony
with everything else in the universe."
God alone can put discordant souls
into harmony.
(1352)
HARMONY, ULTIMATE
The dome of the Baptistry at Pisa has this
wonderful quality, that it is so fashioned
that no matter how discordant the sounds
received may be they are returned softened
and harmonized.
So shall it yet be with the discords
of earth in the new heaven when all
shall have been baptized into the same
spirit.
(1353)
HARP, THE, AS A SACRED INSTRUMENT
The harp is by common consent supposed
to be the musical instrument of the angels,
and many a clerical metaphor has been made
regarding "the celestial harps," "the golden
harps," etc. The metaphor is probably taken
by very few as a fixt truth, but is nevertheless
to the musician an interesting and also
a reverential one. At the time that the
Scriptures were written the harp was the
finest instrument possest by man, and in
ascribing it to the angels an effort was made
to represent the music of heaven by the
noblest tones of earth. Were we to imagine
celestial music to day it would be the roll
of heavenly orchestras, and some of the old
Italian painters scarcely made a musical
error in depicting their angels as playing on
violins. The violin is the noblest earthly instrument,
and is far beyond the harp in its
representation of bliss. Meanwhile, Schumann
and Berlioz (in Faust) have used the
harp to picture celestial joys, while Wagner
has used the violins in a soft tremolo in
highest positions, combined in sweet tones of
wood wind. Nevertheless, association of
ideas is much in music, and the harp must
always call up the idea of heaven in the
minds of many. (Text.)—Boston Musical Herald.
(1354)
HARSHNESS, FAILURE OF
What harshness in fathers, who fear to
praise their children! What severity in
some teachers! What bitterness in our
muck-rakers and reformers! How seldom
do we find a man who can speak the truth,
and speak it in love. Yet there are some
things that harshness can not do. In February
the clods are hard, the seeds dead,
the roots inert, the boughs leafless. Now
let nature speak in terms of power. She
lets loose the north wind, to smite the
branches; she beats the bare clods with hail
and snow. In a tempest of fury she commands
the earth to awaken. But power is
impotent; not a root stirs, not a seed moves.
Then, when the storms and winds have published
their weakness, the south wind comes
softly wooing. Summer speaks in love. The
mother heart caresses each sleeping seed, and
wakens it with bosom pressure. And every
root and bough answers with beauty and
radiant loveliness. Amid this is the parable
of influence, that rebukes man's harshness,
and smites those who turn justice into
cruelty and cause their good to be evil spoken
of.—N. D. Hillis.
(1355)
Harvest—See Fertility.
Harvest Failures—See Choked.
