Page:Cyclopedia of illustrations for public speakers, containing facts, incidents, stories, experiences, anecdotes, selections, etc., for illustrative purposes, with cross-references; (IA cyclopediaofillu00scotrich).pdf/423



The other day I came down the East River on the steamer. I saw the Bartholdi statue, and my only comment on it, in voice or in thought, was upon its dingy appearance. I wondered that it had not been cleaned. When I sat in my house reading afterward, I came to an account of the ecstasy of an immigrant when first he saw the statue. It was to him the incarnation of all that he had hoped for. Its torch seemed to light his feet to the ways of peace and prosperity. It seemed to be calling a welcome from this land that is free. It seemed even to his devoted heart to be like the figure of the Christ beckoning him and promising him the liberty of a child of God. I wish it might be that we could never see it without similar emotion.—

(1784)

Liberty, Workers for—See. LIES IN BUSINESS  You, merchants, must not twine lies and sagacity with your threads in weaving, for every lie that is told in business is a rotten thread in the fabric, and tho it may look well when it first comes out of the loom, there will always be a hole there, first or last, when you come to wear it.—   (1785)   LIFE  A lady occupied a whole year in searching for and fitting the following lines from English and American poets. The whole reads almost as if written at one time and by one author: Why all this toil for triumphs of an hour? —Young

Life's a short summer—man is but a flower;

—Dr. Johnson

By turns we catch the fatal breath and die

—Pope

The cradle and the tomb, alas! so nigh!

—Prior

To be is better far than not to be,

—Sewell

Tho all man's life may seem a tragedy;

—Spencer

But light cares speak when mighty griefs are dumb—

—Daniel

The bottom is but shallow whence they come.

—Raleigh

Your fate is but the common fate of all,

—Longfellow

Unmingled joys here to no man befall;

—Southwell

Nature to each allots his proper sphere.

—Congreve

Fortune makes folly her peculiar care.

—Churchill

Custom does often reason overrule

—Rochester

And throw a cruel sunshine on a fool;

—Armstrong

Live well—how long or short permit to heaven,

—Milton

They who forgive most shall be most forgiven.

—Bailey

Sin may be clasped so close we can not see its face;

—French

Vile intercourse where virtue has no place.

—Somerville

Then keep each passion down, however dear,

—Thompson

Thou pendulum betwixt a smile and tear:

—Byron

Her sensual snares let faithless pleasures lay,

—Smollett

With craft and skill to ruin and betray.

—Crabbe

Soar not too high to fall, but stoop to rise;

—Massinger

We masters grow of all that we despise.

—Crowley

Oh, then, renounce that impious self-esteem.

—Beattie

Riches have wings, and grandeur is a dream.

—Cowper

Think not ambition wise because 'tis brave—

—Davenant

The paths of glory lead but to the grave.

—Gray

What is ambition? 'Tis a glorious cheat.

—Willis

Only destructive to the brave and great.

—Addison

What's all the gaudy glitter of a crown?

—Dryden

The way to bliss lies not on beds of down.

—Quarles

How long we live, not years but actions tell.

—Watkins

That man lives twice, who lives the first life well.

—Herrick

Make, then, while yet ye may, your God your friend.

—Mason

Whom Christians worship, yet not comprehend.

—Hill