years ago, stopt at one of the West India Islands on his way home. One of the natives offered him five small lumps of a dirty-looking substance which the native asserted was good for something. The native further informed the captain that he had got these pieces from a dead whale which was ashore on a certain beach and that there was plenty more in the carcass.
Did the captain hoist all sail and get to that dead whale as fast as the winds of Providence would permit? Not a bit of it. He had been made captain for the purpose of going after sperm oil, and he concluded that he'd better stick to his job. So he gave the native a pair of blue overalls and a jumper for the five dirty lumps and went on his way.
After he had made port he showed the five lumps to Mr. Stull, and when the latter gave him $700 for them he almost had a fit. Still that shock was nothing to what he got a little later, for he learned that another captain had heard of the dead whale, had got what ambergris still remained in the carcass and had sold it in New York for $30,000. It was estimated that this whale must have contained in all at least $50,000 worth of ambergris.
(2262)
Opportunity Seized—See Supply and Demand.
OPPOSITION
Ornithologists assure us that the eagle, the
condor of the Andes, the albatross of the
Pacific, and even the swiftly-flying little
dove, like many other birds that are strong
on the wing, can fly more swiftly against a
wind than in a gentle breeze. It may be that
this is because they are thus stimulated to
exert the muscular strength of their pinions.
But, however this may be, it is a fact that
the fires of a steamship burn much more
fiercely under the boilers when the vessel is
going against a head-wind.
Christian effort of the right kind is
at its best when opposition is faced, for
this very condition brings us into contact
with the divine resources which are
ever on our side.
(2263)
OPPOSITION TO MISSIONARY WORK
I heard a little while ago of a member of
one of our churches in Pennsylvania whose
son graduated from a theological seminary
and sent word home to his father that he
had decided to be a missionary, and asking
him for his approval; and the father sat
down in a towering rage and wrote back
to him something like this: "This is absolutely
the saddest message I have ever received
from you. I could have wished that
you had died in infancy, as your brother did,
rather than that things should come to such
a pass as this. You never will get my consent
to do such a rash and foolish thing.
I will cut you entirely off from any share in
my inheritance, unless you give up this idea
forever; and I do not care to see your face
again until you have given it up." Imagine
that kind of an answer from a professing
Christian! In spite of it, the man is in Japan
as a missionary to-day. Would it not be far
more Christlike to take the attitude that my
friends, Mr. and Mrs. Paton did over at
Pittsburg three years ago, when their only
child, a beautiful, clever, tender girl, came to
them one day and said she wanted to be a
missionary out in Africa? And they were
so much in sympathy with Christ that they
said, "We shall be very glad to have you go."
Then, as they thought and prayed over it
for a few days, they decided that they could
not let anybody else support their daughter,
and so they sent word to the mission board
that they wanted to have the privilege for the
rest of their lives of paying their daughter's
salary while she worked over yonder in Africa.
And when one and another of their
friends came to them, protesting against this
madness in sending their only child away
off to bury her life in the heart of Africa,
their simple answer to these critics was in
words like these, "Our Lord has given His
best to us, and our best is not too good for
Him."—J. Campbell White, "Student Volunteer
Movement," 1906.
(2264)
OPTIMISM
The following verses are by M. A. Kidder:
There is many a rest in the road of life,
If we only would stop to take it,
And many a tone from the better land,
If the querulous heart would wake it.
To the sunny soul that is full of hope,
And whose beautiful trust ne'er faileth,
The grass is green and the flowers are bright,
Tho the wintry storm prevaileth.
