- perienced painters appear rather the effect
of accident than design, this chaos, this uncouth and shapeless appearance by a kind of magic at a certain distance assume form, and all the parts seem to drop into their proper places.
No doubt the apparent chaos and disorder
of human events and careers, and
of the natural world, would fall into
order and express to us God's wise designs
if we could place ourselves at the
right point of view!
(2399)
Two old darkies, lounging on a street corner in Richmond, Va., one day, were suddenly aroused by a runaway team that came dashing toward them at breakneck speed. The driver, scared nearly to death, had abandoned his reins, and was awkwardly climbing out of the wagon at the rear end. One of the old negroes said: "Brer' Johnson, sure as you born, man, de runaway horse am powerful gran' and a monstrous fine sight to see." Johnson shook his head doubtfully, and then replied, philosophically, "Dat 'pends berry much, nigger, on whedder you be standin' on de corner obsarvin' of him, or be gittin' ober de tail-board ob de waggin."—Marion J. Verdery.
(2400)
See Distance.
A skilful artist was traveling in Egypt, painting pictures as he went. One day he showed to a gentleman who had lived in that country for many years one of his pictures of the Nile. The friend criticized the picture somewhat severely, maintaining that it was not true to nature. Here on the canvas the Nile appeared blue and clear; whereas, through all the years of his residence by the very banks of the river, he had never seen its waters otherwise than brown and muddy. The artist replied that he had painted it as it had appeared to him. He invited his friend to a place situated at some distance from the stream and then turned round to look back. To the astonishment of the critic, there lay the river, clear, blue, and sparkling; however muddy it might be at close quarters, when surveyed from afar its surface reflected the brilliance of the sky overhead. The gentleman admitted that he had always been content to gaze down into the muddy waters by the bank and so had missed the charm of the best view of the Nile.
Would it not be better for many of
us, supposing some things seem to be
unpleasant, or ugly, or unnecessary, to
view them from a more favorable position?
(2401)
Poison, Disguised—See Death Masked in Beauty.
POISON DRINK
An officer from Japan, visiting America,
one day, while looking about a big city, saw
a man stop a milk-wagon.
"Is he going to arrest the man?" he asked.
"No," was the answer; "he must see that the milk sold by this man is pure, with no water or chalk mixed with it."
"Would chalk or water poison the milk?"
"No; but people want pure milk if they pay for it."
Passing a whisky saloon, a man staggered out, struck his head against a lamp-post, and fell to the sidewalk.
"What is the matter with that man?"
"He is full of bad whisky."
"Is it poison?"
"Yes; a deadly poison," was the answer.
"Do you watch the selling of whisky as you do the milk?" asked the Japanese.
"No."
At the markets they found a man looking at the meat to see if it was healthy.
"I can't understand your country," said the Japanese. "You watch the meat and the milk, and let men sell whisky as much as they please."
(2402)
Poison Pleasures—See Pleasures, Poisonous.
POISONS AND MEDICINES
Almost all medicines are poisons. That
which saves life in one dose causes death
in another. There is no more useful medicine
in the modern pharmacopoeia than
arsenic; yet three out of five women who
poison themselves do so with arsenic.
Strychnine is a terrible poison, but nux
vomica is a most valuable drug. In Greece
criminals were sometimes forced to take
their own lives by drinking a cup of hellebore;
we in our day cure many diseases of
the stomach with veratrum. If a drug which
destroys life under given conditions saves it
in others, why may not a disease germ which
