fountain, from which issued a fertilizing stream; a populous city stood near the port, and the whole island was adorned with temples and palaces of magnificence.
Such an island might our world be
were it not for sin and its ravages; were
war no more, and were the Fountain of
Life permitted to water it. (Text.)
(1479)
Idealism and the Practical Life—See Practical, The.
IDEALS
What should we do in this world of ours,
Were it not for the dreams ahead?
For thorns are mixed with the blooming flowers,
No matter which path we tread.
And each of us has his golden goal,
Stretching far into the years;
And ever he climbs with a hopeful soul,
With alternate smiles and tears.
To some it's a dream of high estate,
To some it's a dream of wealth,
To some it's a dream of a truce with fate
In a constant search for health.
To some it's a dream of home and wife,
To some it's a crown above;
The dreams ahead are what make each life—
The dreams—and faith—and love!
(1480)
See Aspiration.
IDEALS AND PROGRESS
The Israelites were urged by the voice of
God at the Red Sea to go forward. But
they were not left without inspiring motives.
There was a "promised land," and to the
hope of this Moses could appeal.
Man has not reached a very high life
until he can look on to future achievement
and blessing, and find in these his
highest incentive to go on.
(1481)
Ideas Arousing Genius—See Arousement by a Thought.
Ideas, Great, Honored—See Monuments,
Meaning of.
IDEAS GUIDING ACTIONS
Logical ideas are like keys which are
shaping with reference to opening a lock.
Pike, separated by a glass partition from
the fish upon which they ordinarily prey,
will—so it is said—butt their heads against
the glass until it is literally beaten into them
that they can not get at their food. Animals
learn (when they learn at all) by a "cut and
try" method; by doing at random first one
thing and another thing and then preserving
the things that happen to succeed. Action
directed consciously by ideas—by suggested
meanings accepted for the sake of experimenting
with them—is the sole alternative
both to bull-headed stupidity and to learning
bought from that dear teacher—chance experience.—John
Dewey, "How We Think."
(1482)
IDEAS, POWER OF
The soul, which vivifies, moves, and supports
the body, is a more potent substance
than the hard bones and heavy flesh which
it vitalizes. A ten-pound weight falling on
your head affects you unpleasantly as substance,
much more so than a leaf of the New
Testament, if dropt in the same direction;
but there is a way in which a page of the
New Testament may fall upon a nation and
split it, or infuse itself into its bulk and
give it strength and permanence. We should
be careful, therefore, what test we adopt in
order to decide the relative stability of
things.
Every house, workshop, church, school-*room, atheneum, theater, is the representative of an opinion. What the eye sees of them is built of bricks, iron, wood, and mortar by carpenters, smiths, and masons; but the seed from which they grew and the forces by which they are upheld are ideas, affections, conceptions of utility, sentiments of worship. Strike these out of a people's mind and heart, and its homes, temples, colleges, and art-rooms fall away, like the trunk of the oak when its life-power is smitten, and only the bald, sandy surface of savage life remains.—Thomas Starr King.
(1483)
Ideas, Worthless—See Disappointment.
IDENTIFICATION
Here is an imitation of Jesus that is worth while. Of Himself He said: "He calleth His own sheep by name":
Mr. Wanamaker always remembers the
men, women, and children of Bethany (Sunday-school
and church) in his absences. He
carries a little book in which are written the
names and addresses of the 1,100 members
of the brotherhood, nearly all the 5,400 Sunday-school
children, and nearly all of the
3,600 members of the church. These names
are arranged alphabetically, and each day
