Page:Cyclopedia of illustrations for public speakers, containing facts, incidents, stories, experiences, anecdotes, selections, etc., for illustrative purposes, with cross-references; (IA cyclopediaofillu00scotrich).pdf/29

 Little ones, take lesson from him, Be not overbold; Stop and think that glittering things Are not always gold. (Text.)

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The Venus fly trap is small and shaped as if you placed your two open palms side by side. Its surface is plastered with honey and the other palm has sharp needles pointing outward. The "silly fly" yields to the attraction of the sweets and is immediately shut in as the two palms close upon him. He is instantly stung to death by the needles.

How alluring evil can appear at times. Satan himself can pose as an angel of light. Evil often presents its most subtle attraction to the young. But sin in any guise is the soul's death-*trap. (Text.)

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Allurement to Evil—See.

Allurement to Good—See.

ALMSGIVING

That is no true alms which the hand can hold; He gives only worthless gold Who gives from a sense of duty; But he who gives but a slender mite And gives to that which is out of sight, The hand can not clasp the whole of his alms. (Text.)

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ALTAR, THE

In the old days a father built a home for his family. It was complete in every part, but the altar around which they gathered in prayer was not yet set in place. The mother wished it in the kitchen; there she was perplexed with her many cares. The father wished it in his study: God seemed nearer to him among his books. The son wished it in the room where guests were received, that the stranger entering might see that they worshiped God. At last they agreed to leave the matter to the youngest, who was a little child. Now the altar was a shaft of polished wood, very fragrant, and the child, who loved most of all to sit before the great fire and see beautiful forms in the flames, said, "See, the fire-log is gone; put the altar there." So, because one would not yield to the other, they obeyed, and the altar was consumed, while its sweet odors filled the whole house—the kitchen, the study, and the guest hall—and the child saw beautiful forms in the flames.—, "The Religion of a Sensible American."

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ALTRUISM

There is in Cambridge, Mass., an elm-tree of moderate size, which has, according to the estimates of Professor Gray, a leaf surface of 200,000 square feet. This tree exhales seven and three-quarter tons of water every twelve hours. A forest of 500 such trees would return to the atmosphere nearly 4,000 tons in the same time.

Our lives should be like this tree, shedding their refreshment continually. (Text.)

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Good men are not meant to be simply like trees planted by rivers of waters, flourishing in their own pride and for their own sake. They ought to be like the eucalyptus trees which have been set out in the marshes of the Campagna, from which a healthful, tonic influence is said to be diffused to countervail the malaria. They ought to be like the Tree of Paradise, "whose leaves are for the healing of nations."—

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The flower blooms not for itself at all, Its joy is the joy that diffuses: Of beauty and balm it is prodigal, And it lives in the life it freely loses; No choice for the rose but glory or doom, To exhale or smother, to wither or bloom. To deny Is to die.

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See.

ALTRUISM AMONG BIRDS

An old gentleman in New England told me of a case he once observed. Noticing a little flock of chewinks or towhee buntings who came about the house for food that was thrown out, he saw that one was larger than the others and that they fed him. To satisfy his curiosity, he threw a stone with such accuracy that his victim fell, and on picking him up he was surprized to see that the bird's mandibles were crossed so that he could not possibly feed himself. The inference was obvious; his comrades had fed him, and so well that