enough to hold his weight, and then walked ashore. The scientist decided that he was entitled to his liberty.—Harper's Weekly.
(1615)
Haydn and Mozart were great friends. When either had composed a masterpiece, the other was invited to the house of the composer to enjoy the first sweetness. The following story is from The Boy's World:
It chanced to be Haydn's turn, and Mozart
came full of expectation. Contrary to
custom, Haydn invited his guest to give his
interpretation of the theme instead of playing
it over himself. Much pleased at the
compliment, Mozart played brilliantly, for
the work was beautiful and his musician's
soul was stirred. Suddenly he halted and
looked across the piano at his friend.
"There's a mistake here," he said, "a passage written for three hands would be impossible for a soloist. Of course, those notes must come out.
"Oh!" said Haydn, quietly, "I can play it."
Mozart laughed. "My friend, you have not three hands."
"Perhaps not," answered Haydn, with a quiet smile. "Nevertheless, I contend that I can play the passage, otherwise I would not have written it."
"A challenge!" cried Mozart. "Prove your word."
He yielded his place at the piano.
His excitement rose as Haydn reached the disputed passage, when, to his amazement, the composer brought his nose to the keyboard, and the notes rang out clear and true.
(1616)
INGRATITUDE
On the plains and along the broad bottoms
of the Missouri River are the colonies—often
a community of many members, with
villages of wide extent—of the American
marmots, or prairie-dogs. Merry, cheery,
chipper little fellows these gregarious villagers
sit on the mound above or beside the
open door that leads to their comfortable
subterranean dwellings, and hold converse
in short not unmusical barks, each greeting
his neighbor and rejoicing in the sunshine.
But into the sanctity of the home which he
and his have constructed with much labor,
the burrowing owl comes, uninvited, and becomes
a tenant with a life lease, without so
much as "by your leave"; and one of the
most atrocious results of this swindling arrangement
is that the dog (a strict vegetarian)
finds that the owl, whose young
shares the nest with the infant marmots,
feeds upon them and rears its young upon
the bodies of the children of its victimized
landlord.—Mrs. M. J. Gorton, Popular Science News.
(1617)
INHERITED PECULIARITIES
No study is more fascinating than the
study of the laws of heredity. When a baby
is born almost the first question is, "Whom
does he resemble?" For months and years
friends peer into the child's face to discover,
if possible, the family likeness. It
has its mother's eyes or its father's mouth.
If no marked resemblance can be found, the
comment is, "How singular that this child
is unlike every one in the family." Resemblance
is strange, but the absence of it, is
more strange. A physical feature appears
and reappears for generations. A delicate
ear, looking like a translucent shell, is exactly
reproduced. In some instances a generation
is skipt, and then the likeness comes
out again. A faded portrait or a medallion
two hundred years old is brought to light,
and in it you see the young man who stands
by your side looking at it. Appetite for
strong drink is found to exist in a whole
family. Many a son inherits from his father
tastes which almost inevitably produce the
habit of intemperance. One of the most
fearful woes of drunkenness is that it is entailed,
and may become more terrible in
the son than it was in the father. Strong
animal passions predominate in some families,
so that the sins of the fathers are repeated
in the sons and grandsons. The expressions
"good blood," and "bad blood,"
bear testimony to these well-known laws. In
view of these facts, the questions we ask are
in substance the questions of the disciples,
"Where does the responsibility rest? Is
there any blame? Is there any release?
What does the religion of Jesus Christ say
to these undeniable facts? Can it do anything
to change them?" Upon us, as we
are, with our natural and inherited characteristics,
Christ performs His saving work.
And it is matter of common observation, as
undeniable as the facts of which we have
been thinking, that those who truly become
the servants of Christ are changed in this
very respect, that they obtain genuine control
over their inherited faults.—George Harris, Andover Review.
(1618)
Inharmony—See Duality.
