Page:Cyclopedia of illustrations for public speakers, containing facts, incidents, stories, experiences, anecdotes, selections, etc., for illustrative purposes, with cross-references; (IA cyclopediaofillu00scotrich).pdf/783



the children are gazing upward as he points. This statue is a vivid contrast to the one which stands in a square in Northampton, the monument to that pronounced infidel, Charles Bradlaugh, the "English Ingersoll." The statue represents Bradlaugh addressing the people, but he is pointing directly downward. (Text.)

(3355)

Are not most of life's fears due to the fact that we do not consider enough what is above us? The remedy is to look up.

When a goose goes under an arch she ducks her head; that is not because there is not space for her, but because she thinks there is not, and that is because she is a goose. Perhaps she does not see very clearly what is above her.—, "A Little Land and a Living."

(3356)

Francois de Bonnivard, whom Byron has immortalized in his "Prisoner of Chillon," was for many years immured in the dungeon of the castle of Chillon, which lay below the level of Lake Geneva, but from which he could hear the sound of the water constantly. One day a bird came and sang at his window the sweetest carol he ever heard. The music awakened within him an inexpressible longing for a look at the outer and upper world, all so free and bright to that bird. Digging a foothold in the dungeon wall he climbed to the little window, from which he saw the mountains of his beloved Switzerland, unchanged, capped with eternal snow, and that upward look gave him new patience and hope. (Text.)

(3357)

Usage Rejected—See.

Usefulness—See.

USEFULNESS PLUS MORE USEFULNESS

A young man who had worked up to the position of confidential clerk, became jealous of a new clerk, to whom his employer had just given a raise in salary exceeding his own. He went to his employer and said: "Are you not satisfied with my work and my faithfulness?" "Oh, yes," was the reply. "Why, then, do you give this new man more salary than to me?" Instead of replying to the question, the merchant, who was a grain dealer, said: "Do you see that load of grain going by? Run out, and see to whom it is going." The confidential man returned, and said it was going to Wilson's place. "Run out and find out what they got for the grain." He returned and said eighty-five cents per bushel. "Run and find out if Wilson wants any more." He returned and said: "Yes, he wants another carload." At this moment the new clerk came in, and the grain merchant repeated to him his first instruction: "Run out and see where that load of grain is going." In a few minutes the new clerk returned and said: "The grain is going to Wilson's; they are paying eighty-five cents per bushel, and want another carload." The merchant, turning to the confidential man, said: "You have your answer. It took you three trips to find out what this man learned in one." The new clerk had wit enough to know that the merchant did not care about where the grain was going, but if there was a probability of supplying some of the demand, and upon what terms.—, "Character Lessons."

(3358)

USEFULNESS VERSUS DISPLAY

One of these little flitting society girls, compared to a substantial Christian girl, reminds me of a butterfly compared to a honey-bee. The butterfly flits here and there with its beautiful color, and nobody ever knows what it's for or where it goes. The honey-bee flies from flower to flower, lighting with a velvet tread upon each blossom, extracting its sweetness without marring its beauty, and lays up honey to bless the world.—"Famous Stories of Sam P. Jones."

(3359)

USELESS LABOR

If all the efforts wasted on such tasks as that described below were put into useful and constructive work, the world's wealth would be far more rapidly increased.

Mr. William L. Stuart, a young man engaged in business in New York City, has performed the seemingly impossible feat of engraving the entire Lord's Prayer on the head of an ordinary pin, to which he has added his name and the year, making altogether two hundred and seventy-six letters and figures.

Mr. Stuart did the work at odd times during his regular employment and with very ordinary tools, which seemingly are not adapted to such fine engraving. The pin was set in a block of wood, and a common engraver's tool was used. A simple micro