MERCY, LIMITATION OF
Says the old hymn:
While the lamp holds out to burn,
The vilest sinner may return.
An old Saxon king had some serious
trouble with his subjects: they murmured
against him and at last rose up in rebellion.
The king set out to subdue them, and soon
the well-disciplined troops won a decided
victory over the tatterdemalion horde opposing
them. Having conquered, the king
determined to show mercy. He adopted the
novel expedient of placing a candle in the
window of his castle and proclaiming that
all should be pardoned who returned "while
the candle burns." (Text.)
(2016)
Merit—See Praise, Unnecessary. MERIT COUNTS An instance of a work published because of its merit, but "from a cold and calculating publisher's point of view of very doubtful sale," is McMaster's "History of the United States." The manuscript of the first volume was sent to the house by the author without introduction or comment of any kind. The author was a young tutor in mathematics at Princeton, had published nothing on any historical subject, and as far as any one knew at Princeton, had made no special historical study. It appeared that one very prominent New York house had declined to risk the publication of the work, and the historical expert of the house could not bring himself to recommend it as a reasonable publishing venture. Finally, the senior member of the firm read the manuscript himself, and decided to undertake the venture, believing in its probable success. The author was written to, he presented himself for the first time, being personally unknown in the office, and arrangements for the publication of this most popular and successful work were concluded within ten minutes.—Appleton's Magazine.
(2017)
Merit Recognized—See Inconspicuous Workers.
MERIT WINS
Dr. S. Parkes Cadman tells this story of the late Dudley Buck, the well-known musical composer:
He was offered a thousand dollars by the
managers of the Cincinnati Festival for a
score which should embody solos, choruses
and the accompanying orchestration. He
promptly refused the offer, because it was
not an open one to all competitors. Thereupon
the managers threw it open, and the
result was that Mr. Buck sent in "Marmion"
and his setting of "The Golden Legend" under
a nom de plume, and, of course, its
merits won the prize.
(2018)
Merriment Misplaced—See Drunkenness, The Tragedy of.
MESSAGE, A TIMELY
In the "Life of Lord Tennyson," by his
son, a story is told of a New England
clergyman who once wrote to Tennyson
telling him how, one Sabbath, he was strangely
imprest to drop his sermon, and recite
"The Charge of the Light Brigade." The
congregation were shocked and later dismissed
the pastor. Subsequently, a stranger
called upon this clergyman, and told him
how on that particular Sunday he had wandered
into his church and heard him recite
the famous poem; that he was in that
charge; had fought at Gettysburg; and felt
he had done something, and ought to be a
man. Said the New England clergyman to
the old England poet: "I lost my pulpit,
but I saved a soul."
(2019)
MESSAGE, A WELCOME
It is related that one day, when the arctic
explorer Nansen was battling with the ice-*floes
in the Polar seas, a carrier-pigeon
tapped at the window of Mrs. Nansen's home
at Christiania. Instantly the casement was
opened, and the wife of the famous arctic
explorer in another moment covered the
little messenger with kisses and caresses.
The carrier-pigeon had been away from the
cottage thirty long months, but it had not
forgotten the way home. It brought a note
from Nansen stating that all was going well
with him and his expedition in the Polar
regions. He had fastened the message to the
frail courier, and turned it loose into the
frigid air. It flew like an arrow over a
thousand miles of frozen waste, and then
sped forward over another thousand miles
of ocean and plain and forests, and one
morning entered the window of the waiting
mistress, and delivered the message for which
she had been waiting so anxiously. (Text.)
(2020)
Messengers, Business—See Time-savers.
Meteorites—See Heavenly Visitors.
Meteorological Changes and Crime—See
Crime, Epidemics of.
