for I experience a new and higher satisfaction as I gaze through the naked branches at the glorious stars beyond." (Text.)—Croake James, "Curiosities of Law and Lawyers."
(495)
Mongolian wolves are not so dangerous as Siberian ones. The reason is that, unlike the Russians, the Mongols keep such poor sheepfolds that a wolf can help itself to a sheep whenever it likes, and so is seldom driven by hunger to attack a man.—John C. Lambert, "Missionary Heroes in Asia."
(496)
A pioneer farmer found after a storm that the lightning had cracked the wall of his cistern and his water-supply had leaked away, but a gurgling sound showed that the same stroke had split a rock and opened a hidden spring of living water.—Franklin Noble, "Sermons in Illustration."
(497)
The one man who escaped the terrible eruption of Mt. Pelée was a prisoner who was in the jail at the time of the volcanic disturbance. He never imagined anything had happened until he missed receiving his meals and the visit of his guard. Then, escaping from the prison, he found himself in a city where thousands lay dead. God shelters his children behind many a strange rock. A prisoner—and yet saved! (Text.)
(498)
COMPENSATION IN TRIALS
The difficulties which beset personal and
family life are rich in compensation. We
often speak of "keeping the wolf from the
door," and the majority find this a hard fight.
What trouble the threatening animal gives
us! If in the morning we are disposed for
a little extra slumber, the ominous howl
startles us from the pillow; if we are tempted
to linger at the table, its fierce breathings
at the threshold summon us straightway to
duty; if we doze in the armchair, the gleaming
eyes, the white teeth, the red throat at
the window-pane, bring us to our feet. And
yet how much the best of men, the most
truly aristocratic families, owe to the wolf!
Solicitude, fatigue, difficulty, danger, hunger,
these are the true king-makers; and the misfortune
with many rich families to-day is,
that they are being gradually let down because
they are losing sight of the wolf. The
wolf not merely suckled Romulus; it suckles
all kings of men. The wolf is not a wolf
at all; it is an angel in wolves' clothing,
saving us from rust, sloth, effeminacy,
cowardice, baseness, from a miserable superficiality
of thought, life, and character.—W.
L. Watkinson, "The Transfigured Sackcloth."
(499)
COMPENSATIONS OF PROVIDENCE
I met old, lean St. Francis in a dream
Wading knee-deep through the ashes of his town,
The souls that he was helping up to heaven
Were burnt or wrung out of the writhing flesh.
Said I, "When near a thousand are engulfed
In sudden indiscriminate destruction,
And half a million homeless are, I know,
This rotten world most blackly is accurst."
"When heroes are as countless as the flames;
When sympathy," said he, "has opened wide
A hundred million generous human hearts,
I know this world is infinitely blest."
—Rodman Gilder, The Outlook.
(500)
COMPETITION
Much of the joy of life would vanish if we had no races to run, no contests to engage in. The true spirit of competition is exprest in the following rime:
On Saturday, next Saturday, may I be there to greet
Those sixteen jolly Englishmen a-tugging for the lead.
And eight shall have the victory and eight must bear defeat;
But what's the odds since all have pluck—and that's the thing we need.
Oh, it's rowing in a stern chase that makes you feel you're dying.
But it's spurting, gaining, spurting that makes you think you're flying;
And it's smiting the beginning, and it's sweeping of it through
Just for honor, not for pelf,
And without a thought of self,
For the glory of your color and the credit of your crew.
And it's "Easy all, you've passed the post," and lo, you loose your grip,
But not until the falling flag proclaims you're at the "ship." (Text.)
—London Punch.
(501)
Competition, Self—See Anxiety, Cost of.
