religious—the "Angelus," the "Sower," the "Man with the Hoe," the "Winnower," the "Gleaners." These masterpieces were not only spiritual, but were replete with beauty, pathos, power, and with all the works of the highest genius. Now, the theory had been popular that an artist must revel in fleshly and voluptuous presentations of life. But Millet hated the salaciousness of Greece, and Rome was abhorrent to him. He was a lifelong lover of his Bible, and his life was one of devotion and purity. (Text.)
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ASSURANCE
Among the Hebrews is preserved a legend of two sisters, who on the night of the Exodus, when the destroying angel passed through the land of Egypt, remained indoors with the family.
One was ready for the departure, and
filled with assurance and peace, so partaking
of the paschal lamb. The other was
restless and fearful lest the death angel
would not pass them by. "Is the blood
sprinkled?" she kept asking anxiously, reproaching
her confident sister for being
so unconcerned. "Oh, is it sprinkled?"
"Why, yes," said the sister, "the blood
has been sprinkled, and we have God's
word that when He sees the blood He
will pass over."
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Assurance from Doing God's Will—See Temperature.
Astrology—See Birth Ceremonies.
ASYMMETRY
Men are one-sided in their views and opinions as truly as in the use of their hands. There was never but one character that was perfectly symmetrical:
Why shouldn't we work with two hands
just as we walk with two feet? It seems
ridiculous that the human family should
have been using but one hand, either left or
right, when nature provided two good hands
with no apparent reason why they should not
both be used. This oversight, or neglect, is
being remedied at a school in Philadelphia,
where the pupils are learning to use either
hand with equal facility. The boys and girls
are taught to draw with the right and left
hand at once, and it is marvelous with what
ease, after a little practise, the pupils can
draw a design on the blackboard, using the
right hand for the right side of the picture
and the left hand for the left side, completing
the entire design in a few minutes,
the two hands working with perfect coordination.
Compared with the old method of
drawing laboriously and slowly with one
hand, the ambidextrous system is infinitely
superior.
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ATHEIST'S GIFT TO MISSIONS
In the year 1877, Col. Robert G. Ingersoll
made an extended tour of the Pacific coast.
He spoke in several of the larger cities, and
at length arrived at Portland. There was in
the city a certain missionary to the Chinooks.
He could not afford a ticket to the lecture,
and was greatly disturbed at what he read
concerning it. Yet he felt a strong desire to
meet Colonel Ingersoll, and a common friend
procured a meeting between them.
There was a moment of restraint, relieved by the greater ease of Colonel Ingersoll, who began the conversation by inquiring concerning the work of the missionary. A little mirthfully he questioned him about the advisability of exporting religion, of which there might not be any surplus at home, and inquired, somewhat doubtfully, about the wisdom of a man giving his life to a hopeless task in attempting to teach a small and vanishing tribe things of which we ourselves have perhaps less knowledge than we suppose.
The answers of the missionary, however, interested Colonel Ingersoll. He inquired about the "Chinook jargon," that mongrel speech, made of English, Canadian French, Chinook and other Indian words, picked up from several tribes, and all softened and modified to suit deficiencies of pronunciation; the r changed into l, after the Chinese manner, and the grammar "made by chopping up words with a tomahawk."
How could a man preach in a language where one word had to serve as noun, verb and adjective? How could a man of education make himself understood in a language with only four parts of speech and some fragments? How could he tell the story of Peter's denial in a language which, having only one word for all manner of feathered things, and no verb for the act of crowing, made it necessary for the speaker to imitate the act and sound? How could he tell that Peter swore, in a language that had no verb "to curse," but had plenty of oaths inherited from traders in various tongues? How
