Page:Cyclopedia of illustrations for public speakers, containing facts, incidents, stories, experiences, anecdotes, selections, etc., for illustrative purposes, with cross-references; (IA cyclopediaofillu00scotrich).pdf/779



We can not tell why of two exactly similar bulbs put into precisely similar soil one should bloom out as a tulip and the other come up as an onion. We do not know how the flowers receive their color or perfume, nor why it is that while we can catch the shadow in the camera we can not imprison the color. There are many things, too, for which we have not been able to frame laws. We can not agree as to the cause of earthquakes, the origin of volcanic fires, or the birth-throes of the whirlwind. We do not even know our own origin, and the thinking world is divided between evolution and creation. We do not know even the normal color of man, whether we are bleached from the dark original, or whether the dark races are sunburnt editions of the early whites. Was the flood local or universal? Did Atlantis exist? Were there giants in those days? These are a few of the many questions that might be asked and remain unanswered.—San Francisco Chronicle. (3337)  See. UNKNOWN SAINTS With golden letters set in brave array   Throughout the Church's record of the year,   The great names of historic saints appear, Those ringing names, that, as a trumpet, play Uplifting music o'er a sordid way,   And sound high courage to our earth-dulled ear;   But, underneath those strains, I seem to hear The silence of the saints that have no day. Martyrs blood-red, and trodden souls, care-gray,  In hierarchal pride no place they boast; No candles born for them where pilgrims pray,   No haloes crown their dim and countless host; And yet—the leaven of their humble sway,   Unrecognized, unguessed, avails the most. (Text.) —, The Reader. (3338)  UNKNOWN, THE  It is unsafe to deny the existence of things merely because we can not see them. Here is what Prof. Simon Newcomb says of invisible stars:  The theories of modern science converge toward the view that, in the pure ether of space no single ray of light can ever be lost, no matter how far it may travel. During the last few years discoveries of dark, and therefore invisible, stars have been made by means of the spectroscope with a success which would have been quite incredible a very few years ago, and which even to-day must excite wonder and admiration. The general conclusion is that, besides the shining stars which exist in space, there may be any number of dark ones, forever invisible in our telescope.—Harper's Magazine.

(3339)

UNKNOWN WORKERS

Edward Everett Hale pays this tribute to the pioneer:

What was his name? I do not know his name; I only know he heard God's voice and came; Brought all he loved across the sea, To live and work for God—and me; Felled the ungracious oak, Dragged from the soil, With torrid toil, Thrice-gnarled roots and stubborn rock, With plenty piled the haggard mountain-*side, And at the end, without memorial died; No blaring trumpet sounded out his fame; He lived, he died; I do not know his name.

No form of bronze and no memorial stones Show me the place where lies his moldering bones, Only a cheerful city stands, Built by his hardened hands; Only ten thousand homes Where every day The cheerful play Of love and hope and courage comes. These are his monuments, and these alone; There is no form of bronze and no memorial stone.

(3340)

UNLOADING THE USELESS

The burglar hesitated. Back of him was a sheer drop of twenty-five feet to the ground. In front of him was a determined woman, grasping in her hand a huge revolver. She covered him steadily.

"I won't shoot," she said, "if you will remain still."

She advanced upon him and poking the muzzle of the gun in his face reached into his pocket and pulled out his revolver.

"Come in."

The burglar obediently stept inside the room. All his courage was gone.

"Sit down," said the woman.