Page:Cyclopedia of illustrations for public speakers, containing facts, incidents, stories, experiences, anecdotes, selections, etc., for illustrative purposes, with cross-references; (IA cyclopediaofillu00scotrich).pdf/608



protection, reeds, emitting an odd wailing sound, are fixt to the tail-feathers of the dispatch-bearing pigeons of the German army.

Hannibal's army withdrew from Rome, it is said, at the sound of a tumultuous laughter inside the walls. Luther said: "The devil hates music." (Text.)

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Paul speaks of a breastplate even more secure than that mentioned in the extract:

The authors who tell us of the conquests of Cortez say that to protect his soldiers from the arrows of the Mexicans, which could pierce the cuirasses of hammered iron that they wore, he replaced these with thick breast-plates of wool prest between two layers of linen. In fact, he practically covered his men with mattresses, and they were thus enabled to defy the arrows and lances of the Mexicans. (Text.)—Dr. , Cosmos.

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The birds were the red- and blue-headed parrakeets. When frightened they always flew to a curious tree which, tho bare of leaves, was sparsely covered with an odd-looking, long, and four-sided fruit of a green color. Under such circumstances they alighted all together, and unlike their usual custom of perching in pairs, they scattered all over the tree, stood very upright, and remained motionless. From a distance of fifty feet it was impossible to distinguish parrakeet from fruit, so close was the resemblance. A hawk dashed down once and carried away a bird, but the others remained as still as if they were inanimate fruit. This silent trust in the protective resemblance of the green fruit was most remarkable, when we remembered the frantic shrieks which these birds always set up at the approach of danger, when they happened to be caught away from one of these parrot-fruit trees.—, "The Bird Our Brother."

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See.

In the tropics of Mexico, where torrential rains fall a part of each year, raincoats are a very necessary part of man's apparel. Owing to the intense heat which prevails in the summer season, the ordinary rubber raincoat can not be worn. A rain-proof coat is made from native grasses. The grasses are woven close together, and it is impossible for the rain to beat through them, no matter how hard the storm may be. It would be the height of folly for a man in that part of Mexico to fail in providing himself with this most necessary part of his raiment. "The fiery darts of the wicked one" may be shed by a certain breast-plate mentioned by Paul.

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PROTECTION, UNSEEN

A butterfly was once seen behind a window-pane fluttering in fear of a sparrow outside that was pecking at it in an attempt to get at its victim, which, after all, was beyond the sparrow's reach.

That window-pane was an unseen protector. (Text.)

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Protective Coloration—See.

Protective Occupations—See.

PROVIDENTIAL INTERPOSITION

I had an experience a while ago on a Chautauqua platform that I never shall forget.

It was a very large assembly, and it was held in a place where I had never been before, and where I had no old friends on hand to serve as "claqueurs." I discovered very soon after beginning my lecture that for some unaccountable reason I was not en rapport with my audience, who listened to me, as it were, out of the corners of their eyes and with half-averted faces.

I felt instinctively that that lecture was foredoomed to failure unless in some way Providence interposed for my deliverance.

Well, Providence did; for presently a big dog entered the auditorium, and gazed wistfully about him. Then, facing the platform and seeing me hard at work, he compassionately concluded to come up and help me. And on he came, straight up the aisle, and climbed the platform steps, while everybody watched him.

He walked around me, sized me up, and then deliberately planted himself in front of me, sat down, and pricked up his ears like a pulpit committee listening to a candidate.

I ceased addressing the audience, and, turning to the dog, I said: "I am delighted to welcome you to this platform. I have