Page:Cyclopedia of illustrations for public speakers, containing facts, incidents, stories, experiences, anecdotes, selections, etc., for illustrative purposes, with cross-references; (IA cyclopediaofillu00scotrich).pdf/787



Vacation Philosophy—See. Vacuity—See ;. Valuation, Extravagant—See. VALUE IN RUBBISH  The rubbish of New York City is worth about $200,000 a year. The city gathers and carries its rubbish to the scows at the river-*front. Then a contractor trims the scows and disposes of the litter. This operation costs him about $3,000 a week, or $500 each working day. For the privilege of handling the stuff, and winnowing it for goodly finds, the contractor, Celesto Di Maico, pays $1,750 a week, or $90,000 a year, to the city. This is $25,000 more than the previous contracts.—Collier's Weekly.

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VALUE OF ONE MAN

Of Thomas A. Edison, the inventor, The Episcopal Recorder says:

In these days, when every millionaire comes in for his share of just or unjust criticism, it is refreshing to read the kindly comments made on Thomas A. Edison and his work. Mr. Edison is an enormously wealthy man, but strange to say, we seldom think of Edison and millions in the same moment. The enormous force generated by this brilliant man is seen in the fact that his inventions and those which he has materially assisted have given existence to industries capitalized at more than $7,000,000,000, and earning annually more than $1,000,000,000, while they find employment for half a million people. Even these stupendous figures do not cover the facts, for no figures can begin to indicate the value of the service Mr. Edison's inventions have rendered to mankind. If we could take out of every-day life those things that owe their existence to his genius, there would be quite a conspicuous gap, and Mr. Edison has not finished yet. The impress of this quiet man of sixty-three is possibly one of the greatest ever made by any one. Certainly his conquests of peace far surpass all the conquests of war.

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Value Recognized—See.

VALUE THROUGH CHRIST

A class of medical students were being taken through the wards of a hospital. Their professor was showing them some strange case—a man who was a mere wreck, lying upon his bed hopeless and helpless, a broken fragment of humanity, a man who had spoiled his chances, sold his soul and body. The professor said in Latin, Fiat experimentum in corpore vili, "Let the experiment be made upon a worthless body." But the man was an old university man, and before the days of his crash, he, too, knew Latin. He arose in his bed and answered back, Pro hoc corpore vili Jesus Christus mortuus est, "For this worthless body Jesus Christ has died." And from every broken bit of the wreckage of humanity, and from every bit of your own soul's life that is wrecked and broken, comes the same response to-day. God knows that for this worthless body Jesus Christ is on His cross still waiting to see of the travail of His soul.—

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VALUES

Charles Wagner, in "The Gospel of Life," points a conclusion worth considering:

In finance, a figure is a figure. Two equal numbers have the same value, and a hundred dollars are twice fifty and twenty times as much as five dollars. But when intentions are involved, it is another matter; then the value of the figures depends no longer upon their size. This is what Jesus causes us to observe. Beware of neglecting the little pennies; there are pennies that are poems, there are pennies that have a soul.

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VALUES IN QUESTION

Money talks just as loudly in the realm of music as anywhere else. The despised violin, which merely is an incumbrance when it is thought to be worth not more than $10, becomes the chief ornament of the household when an expert says it is worth not less than $1,000. In Chicago there is a business man