Page:Cyclopedia of illustrations for public speakers, containing facts, incidents, stories, experiences, anecdotes, selections, etc., for illustrative purposes, with cross-references; (IA cyclopediaofillu00scotrich).pdf/237



And back comes the voice of Jesus, "Gabriel, I haven't made any other plans—I'm counting on them." (Text.)

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EVAPORATION

Said Moody: "We are leaky vessels and need constant replenishing. If we cut a leafy branch from a growing plant and put it in a warm oven, the leaves and stem will soon become smaller and lighter and more brittle, because the water in the branch has been evaporated by the heat. Often more than four-fifths of the weight of a growing plant is water. Hay is dried grass. The farmer cuts his grass and lets it lie exposed to the heat of the sun until most of the water it contained has evaporated." (Text.)

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Ever-living, The—See.

Evidence—See.

EVIDENCE, CHRISTIAN

Mr. A. J. Cassatt, the late president of the Pennsylvania Railway, was once making a quiet tour over one of the branches of the system, and wandered into an out-of-the-way switch-yard, where something one of the yardmen was doing did not meet with his approbation. He made some suggestion to the man, who asked: "Who are you that's trying to teach me my business." "I am an officer of the road," replied Mr. Cassatt. "Let's see your switch-key, then," said the man suspiciously. Mr. Cassatt pulled from his hip pocket his key-ring, to which was attached the switch-key, which no railroad man in service is ever without. It was sufficient proof for the switchman, who then did as he was told.

If we are going to have any real leadership in dealing with the souls of men they must see in our conversation, in the tone of our character, in the spirit of our life, that we possess the "switch-key," the evident presence of Christ. (Text.)

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Evidence, Conclusive—See.

EVIDENCE, LIVING

The advocates of moderate drinking of intoxicants are among the most persistent and audacious of advisers of their own various deleterious decoctions, but they constantly supply, involuntarily enough, the most appalling contradiction of their own commendations.

A gentleman riding on a car noticed on the advertising spaces, placarded in immense type, the words: "Pure Rye Whisky—Tones up the Body, Brightens the Intellect, Invigorates the Soul." This kind of "puffing" advertisement is common enough and the gentleman might have paid very little attention to it but his eyes happened to drop to a seat underneath the advertisement on which was lounging a drunken man. The eyes of this wretched being were bleared, his face bloated, with the lines of dissipation deeply engraven in it, and his body slouched down in the collapsing style characteristic of the habitual inebriate. That drunken man was a lurid illustration of the absolute falsehood of the advertisement. He as a ruined victim constituted the true advertisement of the effects of alcoholic indulgence.

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EVIDENCE, PROVIDENTIAL

In the year 1799, Lieutenant Michael Fitton, of H. M. S. Ferret, was cruising off Port Royal, when his crew caught a big shark. Inside it was found a bundle of ship's papers belonging to an American brig, the Nancy. On his return to Port Royal, Lieutenant Fitton found that the Nancy had been brought in for carrying contraband of war. Her skipper produced other papers to the authorities, which apparently cleared the ship—false papers which had been prepared in the event of the vessel being stopt. Her true papers, which proved that the Nancy was deeply implicated in the contraband traffic, had been thrown overboard just before she was overhauled, and the shark had swallowed them. The case was tried in the court-house at Kingston, where, at the critical moment, Lieutenant Fitton appeared on the scene and produced his find, to the consternation of the other side. The Nancy was forthwith condemned as a lawful prize, and her skipper was fined and sent to jail.

The head of the shark is in London, at the United Service Institution. It was for some time set up on show at Port Royal, Jamaica, with this label attached: "Lieutenant Fitton recommends these jaws for a collar for neutrals to swear through."

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EVIL, BEGINNINGS OF

A while ago the omnibus on its way from Gray's Inn Road to Islington (England) had to traverse a narrow and dangerous piece of