"Hast prayed upon the altar steps?"
"Nay, but I loved the sun."
"Hast wept?" "The blossoms of the spring
I gathered every one."
"But what fair deed can'st thou present?
Like light, one radiant beam?"
"I robbed no child of his fairy-tale,
No dreamer of his dream."
—Anna McClure Sholl, Appleton's.
(2615)
REALITIES INVISIBLE
The schoolboy writes these figures on his
slate: 2+2=4, and says two and two make
four. But the two and the two which he
has written on the slate do not make the
four which he has written on the slate. For
both the twos are there unchanged, and the
four also. The two and two that make four
are in his head—invisible. The figures on
the slate are not the realities, they are only
symbols which interpret the realities, and
the realities are invisible—Lyman Abbott,
The Outlook.
(2616)
REALITY
It takes actual experience to bring realization of many things that we thought we knew before. This is the way one of the passengers of the ill-fated steamship Republic (January 23, 1909) speaks of her experience:
"I have read sea stories," she said, "and
have read time and again of the command,
'to the boats; women first,' but, let me tell
you, I knew what it meant last Saturday
morning for the first time. Out of the fog-hidden
night it came; I could not trace the
speaker at first, as we all huddled on the
deck. Out of the dark it came, straight and
true and strong, and with all the chivalry
of man at his highest behind it. 'Women
and children will enter the boat first.' I
think more of bravery now that I know what
it means; I think more of manhood. I am
glad I heard that command, as Captain
Sealby hurled it at us through his megaphone."
(2617)
Reality Exprest in a Dream—See Christ in the Congregation.
REALITY VERSUS ILLUSION
We should steer clear of a credulity that accepts ghosts and visions because some good people testify about them.
A whole ship's company was thrown into
the utmost consternation by the apparition
of the cook who had died a few days before.
He was distinctly seen walking ahead of the
ship, with a peculiar gait by which he was
distinguished when alive, through having
one of his legs shorter than the other. On
steering the ship toward the object, it was
found to be a piece of floating wreck.
It is not surprizing, therefore, that there are apparently well-authenticated stories of ghosts who have been seen under different circumstances by people, and, moreover, by people of unquestioned mental ability, people of strong mentality concerning whose integrity and reliability there can be no question.—Edwin J. Houston, "The Wonder Book of Light."
(2618)
Reason, The Real—See Confidence, Lack of.
REASON VERSUS INSTINCT
A boy was asked to explain the difference
between animal instinct and human intelligence.
"If we had instinct," he said,
"we should know everything we needed to
know without learning it; but we've got
reason, and so we have to study ourselves
'most blind or be a fool."
(2619)
REASONABLE RELIGION
Mr. Robert E. Speer tells of going to the
house of a friend in Japan to meet a number
of old Biblewomen who were being
trained for Christian service, some of whom
were fifty or sixty years of age before they
found Christ. Mr. Speer asked them what
they found dearest in Christianity. He supposed
they would say that what they valued
most was the moral peace and joy that it
brought them. Instead, these old women,
some of whom had not been able to read
before they became Christians, said instantly
that what they prized most in Christianity
was the intellectual solution of their difficulties
that it had brought. They had come
into contact with a Savior who had set their
minds free. Moral rest and peace were
sweet, but it was sweeter still to realize that
they were at last serving a reasonable
Master. (Text.)
(2620)
REASONING POWER IN ANIMALS
As throwing light upon the question of
the intelligence of the animal creation, in
the exhibition of memory and reasoning
power, beyond the mere pale of recognized
instinct, I wish to give a brief account of
an interesting incident of which I was the
witness. On a very warm day in early sum-
