could he impart any idea of sacred things in a polyglot of slang?
The missionary told him the story of his work—how he preached as best he could in the poor, meager speech of the people, meantime teaching the children English, encouraging them in useful arts, fighting the vices of civilization as they made inroads among the people, and doing what he could for them as adviser and friend. It was hard work, and not very encouraging, but it was worth doing, and he was happy in it.
In telling his story thus, encouraged and led on by a man trained and skilful in cross-examination, the missionary unconsciously disclosed many of the hardships and privations which his work entailed upon him. Possibly, and indeed probably, he had not thought of them seriously as hardships, and therefore he related with telling simplicity the stories of long journeys by canoe and on horseback, of nights in the open, of poor and sometimes revolting food eaten in savage company. There was no word of complaint, nor even the least expression of regret, except for books and papers and magazines missed.
When the missionary rose to go, Colonel Ingersoll took his hand warmly, and said, "I thank you for coming to see me. This interests me very much. It's good work you are doing, it's good work. And here, take this. I am not a frequent contributor to missionary work, but I like this."
Into the missionary's hand he dropt a bright twenty-dollar gold piece.—Youth's Companion.
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Atmosphere—See Impurities.
Atmosphere, City—See Tests.
Atmosphere, The, and Light—See Light-*bearers.
Atmosphere, The Christian—See Hospitality
in Church.
ATOM, THE, A WITNESS TO GOD
Not only "day unto day, uttereth speech," but, according to science, there are innumerable voices in the world that also speak of God. A writer finds such in the atom of matter:
How then came they to be what they
are? These "myriad types of the same
letter"; these unhewn blocks from an unknown
quarry; more indestructible than
adamant; the substratum of all the phenomena
of the universe; and yet, amid the
wreck of all things else, this infinitude of
discrete atoms alone is found incapable of
change or of decay. Who preserves to
them their absolute identity, notwithstanding
their infinite variety? Who endowed
them with their inalienable properties?
Who imprest upon them the ineffaceable
characters which they are found
to bear? At what mint were they struck,
on what anvil were they forged, in what
loom were they woven, so as to possess,
as Huxley declares, "all the characteristics
of manufactured articles"?
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ATONEMENT
All the theological interpretations of atonement look back to the Old Testament Hebrew terms kaphar and kasah "to cover." We are saved by an atoning sacrifice; that is, by a sacrifice which covers us.
A fire on a gentleman's estate in England
destroyed his mansion. It spread to
a plantation near by, and trees and bushes
were burned and charred. The gentleman
next day heard the chirping of little
birds in a blackened thicket close by him.
He searched among the charred branches
and discovered a nest, on which was lying,
with outstretched wings, a dead robin.
Under her were three fledglings, safe and
sound. The mother bird had covered her
young, saving them at the cost of her
own life. (Text.)
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ATONEMENT COMPELLED
There is a Spanish story of a village
where the devil, having made the people
excessively wicked, was punished by being
compelled to assume the appearance and
habit of a friar, and to preach so eloquently,
in spite of his internal repugnance and
rage, that the inhabitants were completely
reformed. (Text.)
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See Sin Without Atonement.
ATROPHY
Professor Dawson, in his book "The Child and His Religion," says:
I once saw a little girl of three years who
was unable to walk, or even stand alone.
She would make no attempt to do either,
and seemed to have absolutely no interest in
