"And I feel so light!" the bubble cried;
"I'm going now; good-by!
I shall float and float away from here,
Out under the shining sky.
"I shall float—" But puff! the bubble broke.
The pipe near the nursery floor
Never looked nor spoke, but went on with its work,
And blew a great many more.
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See Marks, Covering.
VANITY, BLASPHEMOUS
Ethan Allen, the hero of Ticonderoga, was
once listening in church to the Rev. Jedediah
Dewey, the ancester of Admiral Dewey of
Manila fame, who was offering prayer in
which he was giving God thanks for the victory
of the American arms at the battle of
Bennington, when Ethan Allen chafed under
the devout preacher's neglect of his part in
the conflict and success. Rising in his pew
in the midst of the prayer, he said, "Parson
Dewey, Parson Dewey!" The parson stopt
and opened his eyes to see the source of
the interruption, when Ethan Allen added,
"Please mention to the Lord about my being
there." "Sit down, thou blasphemer,"
thundered Mr. Dewey, "and listen to the
praises of the God of battles."
(3381)
VANITY IN DEATH
According to a recent magazine writer, Ann Oldfield, who once took "London by storm," "being much caressed in the houses of great people and received in friendly terms at court," is now chiefly recalled as an actress who, when dying, was concerned most with the "becomingness of the burial robe" in which she lay in state indeed in the Jerusalem chamber of Westminster Abbey, in the vaults of which she was entombed.
"Odious in woollen 'twould a saint provoke,
(Were the last words that poor Narcissa spoke.)
No, let a charming chintz and Brussels lace
Wrap my cold limbs and shade my lifeless face.
One would not, sure, be frightful when one's dead,
And, Betty, give this cheek a little red!"
(Text.)
(3382)
Variation—See Freedom Through Drill. VERBIAGE Certainly lawyers can not rail at theologians for adhesion to traditional forms. An author who inveighed against the practise of lawyers drawing long deeds and settlements, thus satirized it: "If a man were to give to another an orange he would merely say, 'I give you this orange'; but when the transaction is entrusted to the hands of a lawyer to put it in writing, he adopts this form, 'I hereby give, grant and convey to you all and singular my estate and interest, right, title, claim and advantage of and in the said orange, together with all its rind, skin, juice, pulp, and pips, and all right and advantage therein, with full power to bite, cut, suck, and otherwise eat the same, or give the same away as fully and effectually as I, the said A B, am now entitled to bite, cut, suck, or otherwise eat the same orange, or give the same away, with or without its rind, skin, juice, pulp, and pips, anything hereinbefore or hereinafter, or in any other deed or deeds, instrument or instruments, of what nature or kind soever to the contrary in anywise notwithstanding.'" (Text.)—Croake James, "Curiosities of Law and Lawyers."
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VERSATILITY The following anecdote is told of Cyrus Hamlin, a lifelong missionary in Turkey and the chief founder of Robert College in Constantinople: One day at Bowdoin, Professor Smith delivered a lecture on the steam-engine to Hamlin's class, not one of whom, perhaps, had ever seen a steam-engine. Those were the days of the stage-coach and the ox-team. After the lecture he said to Professor Smith, "I believe I could make an engine." The professor replied, "I think you can make anything you undertake, Hamlin, and I wish you would try." He did try, and succeeded. By working twelve and sometimes fifteen hours each day, he built a steam-engine sufficiently large to be of real service as a part of the philosophical apparatus of the college.—Youth's Companion.
(3384)
Versatility Required—See Details, Peril of.
