days. He must never tire of throwing his fly, and never be put out by failure.—H. Cholmondeley-Pennell, "Fishing."
(2343)
Mutsuhito, Emperor of Japan, is the author of the following quatrain:
Amatari ni
Kubomishi noki no
Ishi mite mo
Kataki waza tote
Omoi sute me ya?
See, how the tiny raindrops from the eaves
Hollow the stones beneath, with constant drip,
Then why should we abandon well-formed plans
Simply, forsooth, because we find them hard?
(2344)
It is the men who stick to it that secure the sweets of fortune.
"I never was in New Hampshire but once,"
said Mr. Lincoln, "and that was in the fall
of the year—a cold, rough day, and a high
wind was blowing. Just outside the city I
noticed a big bull-thistle, and on this thistle
was a bumblebee trying to extract honey
from the blossom. The wind blew the thistle
every which way, but the bumblebee stuck.
I have come to the conclusion that persistency
is characteristic of everything in
New Hampshire, whether men or bumblebees."
(Text.)—The Youth's Companion.
(2345)
See Resoluteness.
PERSISTENCE IN DOING GOOD
Some of the Christians in Uganda are
very faithful in pleading with others to
give up their sins. One man, named Matayo,
was giving way to drink. His Christian
friends reminded him of his wound in the
war. "You have a big wound in your soul,
caused by drunkenness. Give up drink, or
assuredly the wound will get worse and kill
you eternally." Matayo replied: "Why can't
you leave me alone?" Mika Sematimba
answered, "When you were shot, did we not
pick you up and carry you home? Did you
then think we hated you? You are shot
now, and we want to carry you home. Do
you remember, when we were carrying you,
how you said, 'Let me walk; your carrying
makes the wound hurt me?' We didn't let
you walk. We knew you could not walk,
but that you would faint on the road; and
now we know you can not keep sober, and
we want to help you. You say, 'Leave me
alone,' but we won't leave you alone. We
know you will get worse if we do."
(2346)
PERSISTENCE IN MISSIONARIES
Several attempts were made to open missionary
work in Lua Niua, which was inhabited
by a Polynesian race, speaking a
language similar to that spoken by the Tongans
and Samoans; but the heathen priests
prevented it. Finally the Rev. J. F. Goldy,
chairman of the Solomon Islands District,
took with him a Christian Tongan teacher
named Semisi Nau and a Christian Samoan
named Pologa.
The people, incited by the heathen priests, refused them permission to land and Mr. Goldy was about to return, when these two brave men positively refused to leave, saying, "If the people will not allow us to come ashore we will live in the boat and preach from the water; but these people must hear of God's love for them."
For three months they lived there, anchoring close to the beach. They were abused and harried by the people on the land and were unable to go ashore. There is no fresh water on this island, and their only drink is coconut milk. Day after day these two faithful men suffered from thirst, but God touched the heart of a native who swam out to their boat under cover of night, and brought them coconuts.
Finally, a friendly chief at the other end of the lagoon invited them to come ashore and he and his people listened willingly and eagerly to the story of the gospel. A church has been built and the gospel has captured that end of the land. (Text.)
(2347)
PERSISTENCE PAYS
"I [John Wesley] remember to have heard
my father ask my mother, 'How could
you have the patience to tell that blockhead
the same thing twenty times over?' She
answered, 'Why, if I had told him but nineteen
times, I should have lost all my labor.'"—W.
H. Fitchett, "Wesley and His Century."
(2348)
PERSISTENCY REWARDED
Eighty-eight letters to Andrew Carnegie,
asking him to buy an organ for the Cote
Brilliante Presbyterian Church of St. Louis,
written in the last eight months, brought a
check at last for $1,125 from the philanthropist.
The check was accompanied only by a printed receipt form, and the church-members,
