the latter white as newly-fallen snow, "clean every whit," played together in happy companionship. (Text.)
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PURPOSE
The man without a purpose is like a ship
without a rudder; a waif, a nothing, no man.
Have a purpose in life, if it is only to kill
and divide and sell oxen well, but have a
purpose; and having it, throw such strength
of mind and muscle into your work as God
has given you.—Thomas Carlyle.
(2598)
See Resoluteness.
PURPOSE DISCERNED
A stone-mason may be a mere machine
for breaking rock or he may be an architect's
assistant. It all depends on his point
of view. If he is absolutely ignorant of the
purpose of the stone which he hammers he
will be the machine. But if he has even a
remote idea that his block of stone is going
to be set somewhere between the base line
and the finial of a cathedral of a thousand
years his work graduates into the artistic.
The knowledge that the earnest expectation
of the cathedral waits for his chunk of stone
makes that stone mean something more than
stone to him.—T. C. McClelland.
(2599)
Purpose of God—See Plans, Human, Transcended.
Purpose, Organic—See Design of God.
Puzzling, Things that are—See Mystery
in Religion.
Q
Qualities Admired—See Appreciation of Character.
QUARRELSOMENESS
The New York Times comments upon a disagreeable trait in a great artist:
The quarrelsomeness of Whistler began
with a combination of nervous fastidiousness
and temperamental gaiety of disposition.
That spring, that elasticity of mind which
kept his hand so full of craftsmanship, was
the source of his eternal youth, his quips
and cranks and love of teasing. In time the
habit became fixt and Whistler developed
a Mephistophelean dexterity in touching the
raw, ever losing thereby one friend after
another. Like the dog that has a reputation
for biting, the genial master made a desert
about his den, but consoled himself with
noting how efficacious this reputation was
in holding off bores.
(2600)
QUIBBLING
Many a man makes excuses for his errors that are no more reasonable than those of the lawyer whose client was sentenced by Judge Kent, the well-*known jurist:
A man was indicted for burglary, and the
evidence showed that his burglary consisted
in cutting a hole through a tent in which
several persons were sleeping and then projecting
his head and arm through the hole
and abstracting various articles of value.
It was claimed by his counsel that, inasmuch
as he did not actually enter the tent
with his whole body, he had not committed
the offense charged, and must, therefore, be
discharged. Judge Kent, in reply to this
plea, told the jury that if they were not
satisfied that the whole man was involved
in the crime, they might bring in a verdict
of guilty against so much of him as was
thus involved. The jury, after a brief consultation,
found the right arm, the right
shoulder and the head of the prisoner guilty
of the offense of burglary. The judge sentenced
the right arm, the right shoulder and
head to imprisonment with hard labor in the
State prison for two years, remarking that
as to the rest of his body he might do with
it what he pleased. (Text.)
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QUICKENING
An old legend tells that Adam lay buried
on the very spot on which the cross of
Christ was planted and that a drop of blood
trickling down touched him instantly starting
him into life. It is in allusion to this curious
legend that in very old paintings of the
crucifixion a skull is introduced. (Text.)
(2602)
