Page:Cyclopedia of illustrations for public speakers, containing facts, incidents, stories, experiences, anecdotes, selections, etc., for illustrative purposes, with cross-references; (IA cyclopediaofillu00scotrich).pdf/372



Imperfections in Character—See.

Imperviousness—See.

Impoliteness—See.

Importance, not Size—See.

IMPOSSIBLE, ACHIEVING WHAT SEEMED

Hon. Richmond P. Hobson gives his impressions of army achievements as he recalls his prison experiences in a Spanish fortress, and has this to say:

From my prison window in Santiago, which was but little in the rear of the Spanish line of entrenchments, I saw the Spaniards fortifying the city for twenty days. I watched them with critical interest. I saw them bring up guns from the ships and place them. Then I saw our men come up and drive the Spaniards into those entrenchments, and when they had driven them into the entrenchments I saw them go on and try to take the entrenchments themselves. It looked to be an impossible thing, but as yet the artillery was silent. The men came on up the hill and the artillery opened, and my heart sank when I saw that it was flanking artillery. For a moment the American fire ceased as tho the enemy's guns had been a signal. "Now, then," said I to myself, "this is the place where the individuality of the soldier will appear, for each man there knows that he is just as likely as any other man to be struck with that shrapnel." None of them had ever been under fire before; they could not be put to a harder test; but how did they respond to it? Instantly after the lull a more rapid fire set in, and a more rapid rush of men up to the trenches. In spite of flanking artillery we had taken those fortified trenches with unsupported infantry—a thing that army experts the world over said could not be done.

(1552)

IMPOSSIBLE, NOTHING

At the dedication of the Bunker Hill monument, when it appeared that an accident was imminent by the surging of the crowds against the speakers' platform, Webster requested the people to kindly move back. A man in the crowd answered back: "It is impossible!" Thereupon the great Massachusetts statesman cried out: "Impossible! Impossible! Nothing is impossible on Bunker Hill!"—

(1553)

IMPRECATION IN PSALMS

Said one Unitarian minister to another, about the time when the breaking out of our Civil War exposed the wickedness of its instigators: "I never before felt so much like swearing." "Well," was the reply, "I felt as you do; but I turned to the Old Testament, and picked out one of good old David's imprecatory Psalms. I read it twice aloud, and since then I have felt much better."

(1554)

IMPRESS

I took a piece of plastic clay And idly fashioned it one day, And as my fingers prest it still, It moved and yielded to my will.

I came again when days were past; The bit of clay was hard at last, The form I gave it still it bore, But I could change that form no more.

I took a piece of living clay, And gently formed it day by day, And molded it with power and art— A young child's soft and yielding heart.

I came again when years were gone; He was a man I looked upon; He still that early impress wore. And I could change him never more. (Text)

(1555)

IMPRESSION BY PRACTISE

A native Korean, who was told to memorize the entire Sermon on the Mount, did so with remarkable exactness. When asked how he accomplished it, he said: "My teacher told me to learn it with my heart as well as with my memory, so I hit on this plan. I would try to memorize a verse, and then find a heathen neighbor of mine and practise it on him. I found the verse would stick after I had done that, and I couldn't forget a word of it."

(1556)

IMPRESSIONS

On almost any sea beach you may see lying together smooth white pebbles, and ragged sponges, both drying in the sun and