LOYALTY TO THE CHURCH
President William McKinley was a member of the Sunday-school from the time that he became old enough to attend. He was converted and joined the Church before he was sixteen, and from that day maintained his Christian character through all the vicissitudes of his vigorous and busy life.
After the war he was admitted to the bar,
and removed to Canton, Ohio. One of the
first things he attended to was to call on
the minister of his chosen church, present his
church credentials, and, like the soldier he
was, ask for assignment to duty. He was
given a class in the Sunday-school, and was
later elected its superintendent. It was not
beneath his dignity to devote his life to the
training of the young.
(1936)
See Evangelism, Unheralded.
LUBRICATION EFFECTIVE
An old Quaker was once visited by a
garrulous neighbor, who complained that he
had the worst servants in the world, and
everybody seemed to conspire to make him
miserable.
"My dear friend," said the Quaker, "let me advise you to oil yourself a little."
"What do you mean?" said the irritated old gentleman.
"Well," said the Quaker, "I had a door in my house some time ago that was always creaking on its hinges, and I found that everybody avoided it, and altho it was the nearest way to most of the rooms, yet they went round some other way. So I just got some oil, and after a few applications it opened and shut without a creak or a jar, and now everybody just goes to that door and uses the old passage."
Just oil yourself a little with the oil
of kindness. Occasionally praise your
servants for something they do well.
Encourage your children more than you
scold them, and you will be surprized
to find that a little sunshine will wear
out a lot of fog, and a little molasses is
better than a great deal of vinegar.
(1937)
Luck—See Discovery, Fortunate.
Lunacy Undiscovered—See Heads, Losing.
LUMINOSITY
Our characters ought to be like the luminous paint mentioned below and continue to shine in the night of misfortune and disaster just the same.
You have probably seen luminous paints
applied to the surfaces of the match-boxes
that are permanently fixt on the walls of a
room. During their exposure to the light
in the daytime, these paints are so affected
that they will continue to shine during the
greater part of the night, altho there is no
other light in the room. One coming into
the room can, therefore, readily see where
the match-box is.—Edwin J. Houston, Ph.D.,
"The Wonder Book of Light."
(1938)
LYING
Admiral Dewey was a great stickler for
truth. He has stated of himself, "There is
nothing that I detest so much in a man as
lying. I don't think a man ever gained anything
by telling a lie." A blue-jacket says
of him, "We had not been at sea long with
him before we got next to how he despised
a liar." One of the men was brought before
Dewey, and told of being "sunstruck."
"You are lying, my man," said Dewey. "You
were very drunk last night. I don't expect
to find total abstinence, but I do expect to
be told the truth. Had you told me candidly
that you had taken a drop too much on your
liberty, you would have gone free. For
lying, you get ten days in irons."—James T.
White, "Character Lessons."
(1939)
See Loyalty, Spirit of.
LYING AROUND
"Yes, he lied about it. I'm sure of that,
and can prove it."
That's a pretty serious matter, to call a man a liar. Doubly serious if you can prove it on him. It is very, very bad to be lying about anything whatsoever.
But I'm convinced that lying around is almost as bad as lying about. I said, "You were not out at church yesterday. What were you doing?"
"I was just lying around." An excuse—offered as a reason—that I've heard scores of times.
Late to get out of bed Sunday morning. A very late breakfast. Everything starts behind, and never catches up. The men are lying around unshaved, unbathed, undrest. They look bad, and probably feel worse. An unclean skin and dirty clothes are not good to rest in.
