Page:Cyclopedia of illustrations for public speakers, containing facts, incidents, stories, experiences, anecdotes, selections, etc., for illustrative purposes, with cross-references; (IA cyclopediaofillu00scotrich).pdf/534



Bartholomew's, at that time one of the smaller Episcopal parishes, while it was stubbornly holding its place, was gradually weakening. And so it was, comparatively inactive, half forsaken, when Dr. Greer came to it.

Dr. Greer left St. Bartholomew's recently perhaps the most powerful single Protestant organization in the world, a church that spends more than two hundred thousand dollars a year, the old edifice remodeled and crowded to the doors of a Sunday morning, a parish house in the midst of the maelstrom of East Side life; six Sunday-schools aggregating two thousand members, two in English, one in Armenian, one in Chinese, one in German, one in Swedish; industrial schools, clubs, an employment bureau that obtains positions for one hundred people a week, a clinic that cares for one hundred and fifty people a day, a boarding-house for girls, and many other important cogs in an immense and constantly active machine of religious and philanthropic endeavor. It was built up piece by piece, getting greater support as it proved itself, just as any factory or business grows. (Text.)—, Leslie's Monthly. (2258)  There is an Indian legend of a good spirit who, wishing to benefit a young princess, led her into a ripe and golden corn-field. "See these ears of corn, my daughter; if thou wilt pluck them diligently, they will turn to precious jewels; the richer the ear of corn, the brighter the gem. But thou mayest only once pass through this cornfield, and canst not return the same way." The maiden gladly accepted the offer. As she went on, many ripe and full ears of corn she found in her path, but she did not pluck them, always hoping to find better ones farther on. But presently the stems grew thinner, the ears poorer, with scarcely any grains of wheat on them; further on they were blighted, and she did not think them worth picking. Sorrowfully she stood at the end of the field, for she could not go back the same way, regretting the loss of the golden ears she had overlooked and lost. To each of us are golden opportunities offered; life speeds on to the goal from which there is no return; let us redeem the time, for fields are white to harvest.—Illustrated Missionary News.

(2259)

Opportunity, American—See.

Opportunity, Business—See.

OPPORTUNITY IN THE ORIENT

Let me remind you of that great painting called "Anno Domini," which perhaps some of you have seen, and which vividly illustrates the unprecedented opportunity to-day in the extreme Orient. It represents an Egyptian temple from whose spacious courts a brilliant procession of soldiers, statesmen, philosophers, artists, musicians, and priests is advancing in triumphal march, bearing a huge idol, the challenge and the boast of heathenism. Across the pathway of the procession is an ass, whose bridle is held by a reverent-looking man, and upon whose back is a fair young mother with her infant child. It is Jesus entering Egypt in flight from the wrath of Herod, and thus crossing the path of aggressive heathenism. The clock strikes and the Christian era begins.—, "Student Volunteer Movement," 1906.

(2260)

OPPORTUNITY LOST

Everybody knows now of the telephone and its large usefulness. It was not so, however, back in the seventies. Dr. Alexander Graham Bell had hard work to arouse interest, and harder yet to enlist capital, in his invention. In an account of the struggles of those early days, the following incident appears:

He resolved on a desperate move, and he went to Chauncey M. Depew and offered him a one-sixth interest in the company if he would loan $10,000 to put the company on its feet. Depew took a week to consider the proposition. At the end of the week he wrote back that the incident might be considered closed. The telephone was a clever idea, but it was utterly lacking in commercial possibilities, and $10,000 was far too big a sum to risk in marketing an instrument that at best could never be more than a source of amusement.

Thus Depew let slip an opportunity to acquire for $10,000 an interest that to-day could not be bought for less than $25,000,000.

(2261)

The New York Sun is authority for the following story:

A Provincetown man, out on his first trip as captain of a whaling-vessel, about thirty