Page:Cyclopedia of illustrations for public speakers, containing facts, incidents, stories, experiences, anecdotes, selections, etc., for illustrative purposes, with cross-references; (IA cyclopediaofillu00scotrich).pdf/148

 CONTENT

Robert Trowbridge wrote for Scribner's Magazine the following verse: My neighbor hath a little field, Small store of wine its presses yield, And truly but a slender hoard Its harvest brings for barn or board. Yet tho a hundred fields are mine, Fertile with olive, corn, and vine; Tho autumn piles my garners high, Still for that little field I sigh, For, ah! methinks no other where Is any field so good and fair. Small tho it be, 'tis better far Than all my fruitful vineyards are, Amid whose plenty sad I pine— "Ah, would that little field were mine!" Large knowledge void of peace and rest, And wealth with pining care possest— These by my fertile lands are meant. That little field is called Content. (564)  CONTENTMENT   There is a story of an old woman who was very uncomfortable in her temper. She was always fretting and worrying and complaining. Nothing ever went right with her, and everybody was tired of her continual crossness and grumbling. At last, late in her life, there came a change over her, and this cross, crabbed old woman grew gentle, patient and amiable. She was so altered from her former self that one of her neighbors took courage to ask her how it was that she, who had always found life so full of prickles, now seemed to touch the smooth and pleasant side of everything. "Well," said she, "I'll tell you how it is. I've been all my life a-struggling and a-striving for a contented mind, and now I've made up my mind to sit down contented without it." (565)  See. Contentment More than Raiment—See. Contest, Made for—See. Contingency—See. Continuity of Life—See. Contraband Traffic—See. Contraction of Stomach—See. Contrariness—See. CONTRAST NECESSARY TO INTEREST  In nature as well as in poetry the sense of beauty is stimulated by contrast. If all women were pretty, how soon we should cease to admire lovely eyes and fair complexions and the thousand charms which make women in their weakness stronger than men are in their strength; if all men were handsome fine features would be disregarded. In climates which have months of perpetual drought and heat, the blue sky becomes hateful, and the sun, instead of being the best of friends, as in temperate lands, is regarded as an enemy. An Englishman finds cloudy days depressing because they are so frequent in his own land; his brothers in tropical lands welcome them because they are so few. In animal life, too, the same rule holds good, and I question if we should admire the exquisite shape of a gazelle or of a well-bred horse, and the superb plumage of the peacock and the secretary-bird, were it not for the contrast afforded by the rhinoceros, the hippopotamus, and the vulture.—Illustrated London News.

(566)

Contrasted Careers—See.

Contrasts, Shameful—See.

CONTROL, DIVINE

The late Prof. Henry Drummond was staying at the house of a friend whose coachman had imperiled his career more than once by drunkenness. "Do try and speak to him about it," said the lady to Professor Drummond. Driving to the station, Professor Drummond sat beside the coachman. The carriage narrowly escaped collision through the carlessness of another driver. "Didn't I manage that well?" said the coachman to Professor Drummond. "You did, indeed. How was it?" "Because," said the coachman, "I understand the horses' mouths exactly and they obey my slightest guidance." Drummond seized the opportunity immediately. "I have only a minute," he said, "but let me ask, Why don't you throw the reins of your life to God, who understands