Page:Cyclopedia of illustrations for public speakers, containing facts, incidents, stories, experiences, anecdotes, selections, etc., for illustrative purposes, with cross-references; (IA cyclopediaofillu00scotrich).pdf/623



them upon the dying trunk. They all lived, and that tree draws its nourishment from the small ones. A bushel of handsome pears were taken from it.—Public Opinion.

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REFLECTION, DISTURBED

If the sea does not throw up in beautiful reflection the hills and foliage that are along its shore, it is not because they are not mirrored there, it is not because there are not there still reflective depths, but because the tremulousness of its furrowed surface has shattered the reflection and made it indiscernible and unintelligible, and those quiet depths are only waiting for the opportunity.

That is the only reason why the beauty that is in the world does not stir in us our sense of beauty and make us beautiful; why the grandeur of God's created universe does not move in us mightily and broaden our thoughts to something of the scope of the universe; why the mystery of things does not quicken us into impassioned inquiry and send our thoughts ranging fascinatedly along the aisles of the unknown.—

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REFLECTION, IMPERFECT

Rector W. B. Salmon gave an apt tho homely illustration of the harm done by the low level on which some Christians live, by saying: "I was traveling by night in a London train, trying to read some small books, and a man opposite leaned across to me. It is not good for the eyes,' he said, 'to read by such a bad light,' and to that I assented. But when I looked up the light was not a bad one at all. There was a good lamp, well trimmed, giving a good light, only the reflector was wrong—broken and dull. We were blaming the light when the fault lay with the reflector." (Text.)

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REFLECTION OF GOD

The beauty of character is to reflect God; and just so far as we color this reflection of God with anything of self, so far do we fail of that clarification of inward thought and outward life which makes us like Him. The diamond is the perfect type of character. Every other precious stone reflects the light colored by its own texture. Only the diamond reflects light in its essential purity. This is the secret of its superiority among gems. Other gems may be beautiful, but the diamond is transcendently beautiful.—Zion's Herald.

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Reflex Values—See. REFORMATION  John E. Gunckel, a very desirable citizen of Toledo, has accomplished a good work through the Newsboys' Association of Toledo, which he organized. At present (1909) he has 6,267 members on the roll. "Just as you are" is the appeal made to the boy of the street. Five years ago a prominent business man called Mr. Gunckel on the telephone and inquired what he could say for W K, a young man who had applied for a position. Mr. Gunckel consulted the book of errors and said, "He stole a package of papers thrown from a train, and sold them. Stole twenty-five cents that a man gave him in payment for a paper—" "That's enough; this is a position of trust. We must have an honest young man." "Hold on, hold on," said Gunckel, "that record is ten years old; let me give you something up-to-date. Last Christmas eve, just as I was retiring, I was called to the door and there was W K with a horse and pung. He had twenty-one baskets of turkeys, vegetables, fruit, and all conceivable goodies that he was taking to as many families in the slums of his district. He had raised the money himself, had investigated each case, and was distributing the baskets. He has been an officer for about nine years. Hasn't stolen, lied, or gambled, used liquor or tobacco for more than nine years. Has brought in scores of valuable articles found that he might have stolen—" "There, hold up, that'll do; he is just the fellow I want." He has made good. (Text.)—The World To-day.

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With Bunyan's marriage to a good woman the real reformation in his life began. While still in his teens he married a girl as poor as himself. "We came together," he says, "as poor as might be, having not so much household stuff as a dish or spoon between us both." The only dowry which the girl brought to her new home was two old, threadbare books, "The Plain Man's Pathway to Heaven," and "The Practise of Piety." Bunyan read these books, which instantly gave fire to his imagination. He saw new visions and dreamed terrible new dreams of lost souls; his attendance at church grew exemplary; he began slowly and painfully to read the Bible for himself, but because of his own ignorance and the contradictory interpretations of Scripture which