trial. At last a Welshman heard of the vacancy, but he was less learned than the one who had left; still, he determined to try. The day was arranged, the appointed minute arrived, and the candidate mounted into the pulpit. He got well on in his sermon, when he suddenly recollected that he was expected to show his learning.
"My friends" he said, "I will now quote you a passage in Greek."
With a solemn look he repeated a verse in his native tongue. The effect was marvelous; approving nods and smiles were exchanged among the deacons. Thus encouraged, he followed up his advantage by saying:
"Perhaps you would also like to hear it in Latin?"
He then repeated another passage in Welsh; this was even more successful than before. The preacher cast his eye over his flock, and saw that he was regarded with looks of increasing respect. Unfortunately, there was also a Welshman in the congregation; he was sitting at the back, almost choked in his efforts to stifle his laughter. The minister's eye fell on him, and took in the whole situation at a glance. Preserving his countenance, he continued:
"I will also repeat it in Hebrew."
He then sang out in his broadest Welsh: "My dear fellow, stop laughing, or they will find it out."
The other understood, stifled his laughter, and afterward dined with his successful countryman.—Tit-Bits.
(141)
See Foolishness Sometimes is Wisdom;
Preferred Creditor.
Artifice in Insects—See Simulation.
Ascent of Man—See Blessing the Ropes.
ASCETICISM
The black shadow of asceticism spread
over the sky of the Puritan Fathers. Given
two coats, they chose the ugliest one. Given
two colors for the woman's garb, they chose
the saddest and somberest. Given two roads,
they chose the one that held the most thorns
and cutting rocks. Given two forms of fear
and self-denial, they took both. The favorite
text of asceticism is "deny yourself." The
favorite color of asceticism is black; its
favorite music, a dirge; its favorite hour is
midnight; its favorite theme is a tombstone.
The mistake of asceticism is in thinking that
pain by itself considered has a moral value.—N.
D. Hillis.
(142)
Macaulay said that "the Puritans hated
bear-baiting, not because it gave pain to the
bear, but because it gave pleasure to the
spectators." I once knew a man of this type
who rooted up his wife's flower-bed on the
ground that attention to flowers was a wicked
waste of time that ought to be given to the
study of the Bible.—W. C. S.
(143)
ASKING AMISS
We ask for so many foolish things. If we should get them we would not know what to do with the answers. "Sophie," the scrub-woman, of Brooklyn, in her quaint, half-broken English, once said this:
"I heard about a countryman who was
in the city for the first time. He went
into a restaurant and made up his mind
to have something fine, whatever the cost.
He saw a man at the next table put a
little mustard on his plate, and he said
'that must be fine and expensive, he has
so little, but no matter what it costs, I
will haf some.' So he told the waiter to
bring him a dollar's worth of that stuff.
A plate was brought. He took a big
spoonful: it bit him; he spit it out and
did not want any more. So, we ask for
things that if our Father should give them
to us we would only be bitten by them
and be glad to get rid of them." (Text.)
(144)
Asking and Receiving—See Faith and Prayer.
ASKING, BOLDNESS IN
The story is told in the Springfield Republican
that Andrew Carnegie asked a
young man who was about to become a
student at Jena to get for him an autograph
of Professor Haeckel. When it arrived it
read thus: "Ernst Haeckel gratefully acknowledges
the receipt from Andrew Carnegie
of a Zumpt microscope for the biological
laboratory of the Jena University."
Mr. Carnegie made good, admiring the
scientist more than ever. (Text.)
(145)
ASLEEP
Tsavo is 133 miles from Mombasa, and
during the construction of the line no less
than twenty-nine Indians were eaten there
by lions. The work was threatened, and
a party of three young men—Hubner, Parenti
and Ryal—took a car and lay in
