Page:Cyclopedia of illustrations for public speakers, containing facts, incidents, stories, experiences, anecdotes, selections, etc., for illustrative purposes, with cross-references; (IA cyclopediaofillu00scotrich).pdf/186



when he arrived, was so grateful that he hunted up the conductor and presented to him a handsome ring.—Buffalo Evening News.

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DEPRAVITY

That sin so easily besets and so dangerously deceives its subjects is accounted for by the declaration that "the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked."

The anemone, or "windflower," as its Greek name means, is fascinating to botanists and to all lovers of flowers because of two highly contrasted characteristics. One of these is what gardeners call its "sporting" tendency in color. The other is a constant quantity, which never varies. As for the former, all who know the anemone are well aware that this flower is so variable that the cultivator never knows what will be the tint of the blossoms on any plant. But the constant quantity is the great black spot in the heart of the flower. No matter what may happen to be the color of the petals, the dense dark center is always there. So it is with this our human nature. Education, culture, refinement, high accomplishments, hereditary advantages, natural amiability, may and do contribute toward the charm of many a personality; but the black spot of the depravity which is innate is not expunged by any of these expedients. (Text.)

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See.

Depravity a Disease—See.

DEPRIVATION

We can best estimate the value of common blessings by imagining ourselves deprived of them.

What would it mean for you and me If dawn should come no more; Think of its gold along the sea, Its rose above the shore! That rose of awful mystery, Our souls bow down before.

Think what it means to see the dawn! The dawn, that comes each day! What if the East should ne'er grow wan, Should never more grow gray! That line of rose no more be drawn Above the ocean's spray! (Text.)

—, Ainslee's Magazine.

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DEPTH OF RESOURCES

Some splendid pines were found, after a heavy gale, lying prostrate, tho they were strong trees in their full prime. To a questioner an old woodman said: "They got their water far too near the surface. If they had had to strike their roots deeper for moisture no winds could ever have uprooted them."

Many folks are easily upset because all life has been too easy with them. Their roots have never struck deep because there was no great compulsion to make them go deeper for the sources of life. Our very wants, if we do not succumb to them, but go deeper until we find the heart's need, may become the means of our strength. (Text.)

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DEPTH, THE SECOND

As we drift along in a boat on the smooth surface of a river, we note many familiar appearances. Delicate winged creatures dart about, swallows flash to and fro, here and there fishes leap up, and zephyrs waft petals of flowers and seeds of plants over the placid mirror. In the shallow pool we note aquatic creatures and weeds growing among the pebbles, and thus we see the material depth. But suddenly there is a change. The bottom of the river vanishes, and there comes into view a second depth. The arched heavens are mirrored there, and we look down into measureless azure. When darkness comes the moon and stars are reflected in the depths.

It is so when we come under higher spiritual influences. These soon supersede the view of the things that are merely of the earth earthy. There is a second and heavenly depth of meaning below the whole superficies of this mundane sphere of experience.

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Derelicts—See.

Descent to Evil—See.

Design—See.

Design, a, Removed—See.