Page:Cyclopedia of illustrations for public speakers, containing facts, incidents, stories, experiences, anecdotes, selections, etc., for illustrative purposes, with cross-references; (IA cyclopediaofillu00scotrich).pdf/776



And 2,000 people in the Bowery bread-line on these freezing nights.

At the extraordinary meeting held in the Bowery Mission, where five hundred men from the bread-line met at the invitation of the Rev. J. G. Hallimond to talk over the facts of their situation, it was made perfectly clear that a large proportion of the company had nothing whatever the matter with them as individuals. They were skilled and sober mechanics and clerks, capable of rendering valuable services to society and eager to do it. (Text.)

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UNEXPECTED, THE

At the critical period of the American Civil War when General Hooker was succeeded by General Meade, neither Meade nor Lee desired or expected to fight a battle at Gettysburg, Lee wishing to have it at Cash-*town and Meade on Pipe Creek, but both were drawn into it against positive orders to the contrary, and yet that battle proved to be the turning-point in the fortunes of the war.

Many of the greatest results in history and in individual lives turn on circumstances wholly unforeseen by man, which some call accident or chance, but which the wise know to be an over-*ruling Providence. (Text.)

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Unexpected Value—See.

Unfaith—See ;.

Unfaithfulness, Penalty of—See.

UNFORGIVING SPIRIT, THE

La Tude, a young Frenchman, for a trifling offense, was seized and thrown into prison by order of Madame de Pompadour. There he remained until her death in 1764. Two years before she died he wrote this unfeeling woman: "I have suffered fourteen years; let all be buried forever in the blood of Jesus." But she remained fixt in her determination to show him no mercy. This young Frenchman remained in prison almost thirty-five years. (Text.)

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UNFITNESS

A man who weighs one hundred and fifty pounds on the earth would weigh only two pounds on the planet Mars, and so could hardly stand; while on the sun he would weigh two tons and so would sink, like a stone in the sea, into its hot marshes. Each man is too light for some places, too heavy for others, and just right for others. Failing in a work for which he is unfitted often brings him to his true place.

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See.

UNHAPPINESS OF THE GREAT

How well do the instances cited below illustrate the oft-quoted sentence of Augustine, "Restless are our hearts, O God, until they rest in Thee."

Sheridan, idol of his day, had for his last words: "I am absolutely undone." "Take me back to my room," sighed Sir Walter Scott; "there is no rest for me but the grave." Charles Lamb said: "I walk up and down thinking I am happy, but feeling I am not." Edmund Burke said he would not give a peck of refuse wheat for all the fame in the world.

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Uniform as a Preparation for Fighting—See .

UNION

Where such things can be done in nature as are described below there should be hope of a time when the varieties of human nature, varying sects, creeds and practises may be merged into a common Christian type.

An orange-cucumber, or cucumber-orange, as the name has not yet been decided, is a freak combination raised by Howard S. Hill, a cucumber grower of Gardner, Mass., which he is cultivating as a new dish to tickle the palate of exacting diners.

The new fruit or vegetable resulted from an experiment made by Mr. Hill. At that time an orange-tree was in full bloom in his cucumber hothouse at the same time that the blossom of the cucumber vines first appeared. Mr. Hill transferred the pollen from the orange-blossoms to several cucumber flowers.

The first appearance of the fruit was the same as that of an ordinary infant cucumber, but as the fruit grew, the result of the inoculation became apparent. The cucumber, instead of lengthening out, remained round like an orange, with the orange-bloom scar, but the skin was that of a cucumber, with the same corruptions. When ripened the new product assumed a bright orange color,