stead the Goddess of Reason, and in her delirium the multitude placed a daughter of pleasure in a chariot, crowned her with flowers, and determined to worship the body, instead of the Angel of Duty. But smashing the telescope does not put out the stars. Voting not to have any sun does not annihilate the summer. The microscope may show the germs of death in the reservoir, but breaking the microscope will not cleanse the springs.—N. D. Hillis.
(261)
BLOOD, CRY FOR
The Arabs have a belief that over the
grave of a murdered man his spirit hovers
in the form of a bird that cries, "Give me
drink! Give me drink!" and only ceases to
cry when the murder is avenged by the
death of the murderer. (Text.)
(262)
BLOOD, THE AVENGER OF
A Bedouin horseman riding along a desert
track, seeing the sign of blood on the side
of the road, will instantly dismount and
cover it with earth "to lay the mâred" (the
avenger of blood). The idea is that the
spirit of him who died by an act of violence,
the victim of man's hate, the mâred, calls for
vengeance on him who has taken the life
of his fellow man.—"The Witness of the
Wilderness."
(263)
BLOOD, THE TIE OF
Henry M. Stanley, in his work "Through
the Dark Continent," describes the warrior
chief Mirambo, the Mars of Africa, whose
genius for war Stanley likens to that of
Frederick the Great and Napoleon Bonaparte.
He was a formidable adversary, and Stanley
was very anxious to convert him from a foe
into an ally. By skilful management he
did accomplish this, and to make the alliance
an unbreakable one, the covenant of brotherhood
was sealed by an interchange of blood
between the African hero and the American
hero, an incision being made in the right
leg of each for this purpose. The same
blood now flowed in the veins of both
Stanley and Mirambo, and they thereafter
vied with each other in proofs of their unselfish
fidelity. Abraham and Abimelech
made such a covenant and the literal translation
is "they cut a covenant." Jacob and
Laban also "cut a covenant." An Oriental
could as soon commit suicide as slay a
covenant brother, for it would be shedding
his own blood.
(264)
Blotting Out Errors—See Effacement of Sins.
Blows, Repeated—See Repetition, Force
of.
Bluffer, The Human—See Pretense.
BLUNDER, A
This incident is told by Dr. R. F. Horton in the Christian Endeavor World:
I had been addressing a large midday congregation
in Leeds, and a deep seriousness
pervaded the atmosphere. The closing hymn
appointed began, "Sin-sick and Sorrow-laden";
and by some inconceivable oddity
of my own mind I gave it out, quite deliberately
and distinctly, "Seasick and Sorrow-laden."
I perceived what I had done in a
second. I literally trembled, for it was impossible
to recall the slip without calling attention
to it. I feared that there would be an
awful titter, or even an explosion of laughter.
Wonderful to say, it was as if no one
but myself noticed the blunder, and I was
awed into gravity, not only by the occasion,
but by my fear of what might happen.
(265)
Body, Frailty of—See House, the Mortal.
BODY, MASTERING THE
I think of the delicacy and perfection of
much of R. L. Stevenson's work—just the
kind of writing which a man might plead
could not be done except in moments of
inspiration and in favorable conditions. Then
I remember how that delicate style was attained
by years of severe drill, and when the
instrument had been perfected, it was used
with conscientious diligence in face of every
conceivable hindrance. When, after hemorrhage,
his right hand is in a sling, he
writes some of his "Child's Garden of
Verses" with his left hand; when the
hemorrhage has been so bad that he may not
even speak, he dictates a novel in the deaf
and dumb alphabet. He writes to George
Meredith: "For fourteen years I have not
had a day's real health. I have written in
bed, written in hemorrhages, written in sickness,
written torn by coughing, written when
my head swam for weakness; and for so
long, it seems to me, I have won my wager
and recovered my glove. The battle goes on—ill
or well is a trifle, so as it goes. I was
