Page:Cyclopedia of illustrations for public speakers, containing facts, incidents, stories, experiences, anecdotes, selections, etc., for illustrative purposes, with cross-references; (IA cyclopediaofillu00scotrich).pdf/75

 stead the Goddess of Reason, and in her delirium the multitude placed a daughter of pleasure in a chariot, crowned her with flowers, and determined to worship the body, instead of the Angel of Duty. But smashing the telescope does not put out the stars. Voting not to have any sun does not annihilate the summer. The microscope may show the germs of death in the reservoir, but breaking the microscope will not cleanse the springs.—

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BLOOD, CRY FOR

The Arabs have a belief that over the grave of a murdered man his spirit hovers in the form of a bird that cries, "Give me drink! Give me drink!" and only ceases to cry when the murder is avenged by the death of the murderer. (Text.)

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BLOOD, THE AVENGER OF

A Bedouin horseman riding along a desert track, seeing the sign of blood on the side of the road, will instantly dismount and cover it with earth "to lay the mâred" (the avenger of blood). The idea is that the spirit of him who died by an act of violence, the victim of man's hate, the mâred, calls for vengeance on him who has taken the life of his fellow man.—"The Witness of the Wilderness."

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BLOOD, THE TIE OF

Henry M. Stanley, in his work "Through the Dark Continent," describes the warrior chief Mirambo, the Mars of Africa, whose genius for war Stanley likens to that of Frederick the Great and Napoleon Bonaparte. He was a formidable adversary, and Stanley was very anxious to convert him from a foe into an ally. By skilful management he did accomplish this, and to make the alliance an unbreakable one, the covenant of brotherhood was sealed by an interchange of blood between the African hero and the American hero, an incision being made in the right leg of each for this purpose. The same blood now flowed in the veins of both Stanley and Mirambo, and they thereafter vied with each other in proofs of their unselfish fidelity. Abraham and Abimelech made such a covenant and the literal translation is "they cut a covenant." Jacob and Laban also "cut a covenant." An Oriental could as soon commit suicide as slay a covenant brother, for it would be shedding his own blood.

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Blotting Out Errors—See.

Blows, Repeated—See.

Bluffer, The Human—See.

BLUNDER, A

This incident is told by Dr. R. F. Horton in the Christian Endeavor World:

I had been addressing a large midday congregation in Leeds, and a deep seriousness pervaded the atmosphere. The closing hymn appointed began, "Sin-sick and Sorrow-laden"; and by some inconceivable oddity of my own mind I gave it out, quite deliberately and distinctly, "Seasick and Sorrow-laden." I perceived what I had done in a second. I literally trembled, for it was impossible to recall the slip without calling attention to it. I feared that there would be an awful titter, or even an explosion of laughter. Wonderful to say, it was as if no one but myself noticed the blunder, and I was awed into gravity, not only by the occasion, but by my fear of what might happen.

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Body, Frailty of—See.

BODY, MASTERING THE

I think of the delicacy and perfection of much of R. L. Stevenson's work—just the kind of writing which a man might plead could not be done except in moments of inspiration and in favorable conditions. Then I remember how that delicate style was attained by years of severe drill, and when the instrument had been perfected, it was used with conscientious diligence in face of every conceivable hindrance. When, after hemorrhage, his right hand is in a sling, he writes some of his "Child's Garden of Verses" with his left hand; when the hemorrhage has been so bad that he may not even speak, he dictates a novel in the deaf and dumb alphabet. He writes to George Meredith: "For fourteen years I have not had a day's real health. I have written in bed, written in hemorrhages, written in sickness, written torn by coughing, written when my head swam for weakness; and for so long, it seems to me, I have won my wager and recovered my glove. The battle goes on—ill or well is a trifle, so as it goes. I was