Part 20 (2/2)

”'Patience is more oft the exercise Of saints, the trial of their fort.i.tude.'

”So, let us try always to understand, in the midst of seeming great trouble, that sorrow and trial have their place in our lives. Whether they are for good or for bad depends largely upon ourselves.

”I want to tell you the tragedy of a book--a great book. We all know of Thomas Carlyle's great work, 'The French Revolution.' Of this wonderful production it has been said that 'It is a history of the French Revolution and the poetry of it, both in one; and, on the whole, no work of greater genius, either historical or poetical, has been produced in England.' I wonder if we have all heard of the tragedy of this great book and the sorrow which came to its author?

”One day, after Mr. Carlyle had finished the ma.n.u.script of the first volume of the work, completing the labors of months and years, and when he felt at last the relief which had tied his hands and his mind through this long period, he loaned the work to his close friend, John Stuart Mill. Before Mr. Mill had finished reading the ma.n.u.script, and as it lay scattered about his study, his servant girl, thinking the pages were nothing but waste paper, gathered them up and stuffed them into her kitchen fire! Thus was the labor of weary, toilsome years destroyed in a few moments. On his discovering the awful state of affairs, it was Mr. Mill's duty to go to Mr. Carlyle's home and break the news to him. Mr. Carlyle tells of the interview in these words: 'How well do I remember that night when he came to tell Mrs. Carlyle and me, pale as Hector's ghost, that my unfortunate first volume was burned. It was like a half sentence of death to both of us. We had to pretend to take it lightly, so dismal and ghastly was its horror!'

”If the description of the scene were to end here, I am sure that some of us would see only the darkest, gloomiest side. Let us make a sketch to ill.u.s.trate this condition. [Draw Fig. 106 complete.] But the description does not stop here. Carlyle goes on to tell how, with the sympathy of his wife, he began anew the great task, and, although it was, as he says, a 'job' that nearly broke his heart, the result was a work superior in every way to his original effort, and he lived to rejoice in what he once considered to be a disastrous misfortune. He received ample reward for his overmastering patience!

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 106]

”'If thou faint in the day of adversity,' says the Psalmist, 'thy strength is small.' Remember this: _Every shadow has a light behind it!_ It is toward that light that the discouraged one must turn his face. Look up, not down! [Add lines to complete Fig. 107; the hair covers the face of Fig. 106.] No man ever saw the highest success who 'looked down his nose' when trial came. Look up--like the man in the picture!”

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 107]

THE MAN WHO FINALLY HEARD --Kind Words --The Tongue

The Restoration of His Hearing Brought to Him Pain as Well as Pleasure.

THE LESSON--That we should guard well our tongues against speaking careless, useless or vulgar words.

This ill.u.s.tration is based on the actual experience of an Indiana man. It contains a lesson of such great importance that a chapter of one of the strongest moral epistles of the New Testament is devoted to it. The speaker would do well to study carefully the third chapter of the Epistle of James as a foundation for the preparation of the talk.

~~The Talk.~~

[Before beginning the talk, draw the picture of the man, completing Fig. 108.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 108]

”The face I have here drawn represents the portrait of a certain business man living in an Indiana town. Ever since the time of an illness in childhood this man had been almost totally deaf. For years he tried in vain to secure the aid which would restore to him his hearing, and during all the period of his boyhood and young manhood he could hear only those words which were spoken very distinctly, close to his ear. Sometimes he could hear the thunder and other loud, sharp sounds.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 109]

”Then, one day, came a great change! All at once he could hear almost perfectly. What a great time it was! Once more he heard the songs of the birds as he remembered them when he was a child; the voices of the members of his family and the voices of his friends, new and strange, came to him! What had brought the change? It was merely a new invention, by which a disc containing a diaphragm was placed over his ear. This diaphragm gathered the sound waves, just as the natural ear-drum was intended to do. The disc fitted over his ear, like this: [Add the disc and attachment, as in Fig. 109.] Was he happy? Of course he was--but soon it was noticed by those about him that his gladness seemed to fade away from his face and a kind of sadness took its place. [Add the lines about eye and mouth, completing Fig. 109.]

What was the matter? Some one asked him the question. And this was his answer--listen to it: 'I never knew, during those years when I could not hear the sound of people's voices, that those about me were so unkind to each other!'

”'Unkind?'

”'Yes,' said he; 'ever since my hearing was restored I have been surprised and pained and shocked to hear the careless words--the harmful words--which people speak concerning even those they love. I have thought about it a good deal and have made up my mind that the people do not speak these words because they always mean what they say, but because they have grown into the habit of saying unkind things. And the profanity! And the vulgarity! It is dreadful to listen to the language used by many men, and even boys, in their ordinary conversation!'

”The man had spoken a sad, sad truth. How careless we are! Even the best of us speak too many thoughtless, unkind words--words which may affect the entire after life of the one who is the subject of their utterance. And how many there are all about us who blaspheme the name of their Maker!

”All of us are familiar with the words of Shakespeare, who, in 'Oth.e.l.lo,' causes Iago to say that 'he that filches from me my good name robs me of that which not enriches him and makes me poor, indeed.' Our slighting word may rob some one of his good name and leave him poor, indeed; while the kind word which rises to our lips, but remains unspoken, may r.e.t.a.r.d the progress of the person of whom we might have spoken it.

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