Page:Cyclopedia of illustrations for public speakers, containing facts, incidents, stories, experiences, anecdotes, selections, etc., for illustrative purposes, with cross-references; (IA cyclopediaofillu00scotrich).pdf/435

 The day is drawing the cloudy lids from his bloodshot eye, And the world impatient stirs—a tired old sleeper, waking.

O most unwearying prophet, ever-returning morn! Thou giv'st new life to a world grown old, and marred in making; With ever an old faith lost, and ever a pang new-born, But ever a new, new hope to hearts that were well-nigh breaking. (Text.)

—The Metropolitan.

(1834)

LIGHT AND ACTIVITY

Those who would glow with the brightness of a blest life can not so shine unless they are luminous with activity.

We are passing along a country road on a dark evening and are arrested by seeing luminous points in the herbage at the foot of a hedgerow or side of a lane. We find on investigation that the beautiful little lights are emitted by glowworms. At first sight these appear to be stationary, but we find by patient waiting and watching that the little creatures are slowly moving as they shine and that each glowworm ceases to emit its lovely gleam directly it stops moving. And in human life are not the bright lights of society, of the family, of the Church, those persons who are incessantly in action? The sluggard is too dull to shine; the energetic souls go sparkling on their way and charm as well as help. (Text.)

(1835)

Light and Darkness—See.

LIGHT AS A CURE

Dr. Hasselbach, of Copenhagen, has become convinced that the light treatment is effective in heart disease and affections of the nervous system. Dr. Hasselbach, after experimenting on his own perfectly normal organs, next experimented on two doctors. Both of these were complete invalids, one suffering from angina pectoris and the other from a nervous affection of the heart. This treatment, which lasted in one case for a month and in the others for six weeks, resulted in enabling both doctors to resume their practise. (Text.)

(1836)

Light, Attraction of—See.

LIGHT-BEARERS

Natural science has shown that the transmission of light to our globe is dependent on the luminous atmosphere surrounding the sun; and that light existed originally independent of the sun, and consisted of the undulations of a luminiferous ether. The latest theory maintains that the body of the sun is simply an irritant, having the property of setting the undulations of this ether into motion, but wholly devoid of light in itself.

Such a luminous atmosphere is the environment of one's life, and capable of being made the means of constituting each man a luminary to the world.

(1837)

Annie Winsor Allen is the author of this cheering verse:

Bringers of hope to men, Bearers of light. Eager and radiant, Glad in the right, 'Tis from these souls aglow Man learns his path to know. They as they onward go Bear on the light.

What tho they fight to lose, Facing the night! Morning will find them still Seeking the height. What tho this stress and strain Makes all their hopes seem vain! They through the bitter pain Bear on the light.

Brothers of all that live, They aid us all. May our hearts, touched with fire, Leap to their call! Their voices, clear and strong, Ring like a rallying song, "Upward against the wrong! Bear on the light!"

(1838)

LIGHT, BENEFITS OF

If we company with Him who said, "I am the light of the world," our moral natures will experience something corresponding to the physical benefits of light when it is applied in moderation.

Light acts as a stimulant to the bodies of men as well as of animals. The ability of the blood to carry through the system oxygen