Page:Cyclopedia of illustrations for public speakers, containing facts, incidents, stories, experiences, anecdotes, selections, etc., for illustrative purposes, with cross-references; (IA cyclopediaofillu00scotrich).pdf/794



is full, envies the poor old forsaken horse, out in the lane, a mere bag of bones, deserted by its owner and left to die, and eating dirt in its hungry desire for a single mouthful of grass-roots.—

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VIRTUES, TRANSPLANTED

A rare plant from the King's Gardens at Kew, England, has floated down the stream to a little village in Surrey. Its flowers may now be seen, to the great surprize of botanists, growing on the banks of this village stream in fine profusion. So the flowers of humility, love, and faith, transplanted in us from higher lives may grow in the humblest lives, surprizing all around by their sweet fragrance.

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Vision—See ;.

Vision, Distorted—See.

VISION OF JESUS

It was the vision of the Savior which transformed the whole being of Paul. And the apprehension of the person of the risen and ascended Son of God must forever change the one who has beheld Him.

Sir David Brewster says, in his life of Sir Isaac Newton, that the great astronomer on a certain occasion gazed steadfastly with his naked eyes on the sun shining in his meridian splendor. As a consequence, the impression in the retina was so deep that for days he could not see anything with distinctness—turn which way he would, he constantly beheld the image of the sun. He shut himself up for days in a dark room, but even there he could clearly discern the golden halo of the light. (Text.)

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VISION RESTORED

A young French girl, daughter of a famous painter, had lost her eyesight in infancy. She was supposed to be incurably blind. But years later a noted Paris oculist was consulted and performed a delicate operation which completely restored her vision. Frequently afterward she would run into her father's arms and exclaim: "To think that I had such a father for so many years and never knew him!"

So many souls are blind and are ignorant of their Heavenly Father! (Text.)

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Vision, The Larger—See.

Visiting, Vain—See.

VITAL FAITHS

An institution has life in it. Cut any of the faiths of your fathers and they bleed. At the heart of a grain of wheat is a golden spot that holds the life, and a coming sheaf. You may strip off the outer hull, but touch that living heart at your peril. You may change the forms of your government, but, oh, guard the liberty of your fathers. You may change the wording of your fathers' creed, but at your peril touch the providence of God, His Fatherhood and love, the way of life through Christ, the hope of immortality. You may change the method of worship on Sunday, but at your peril do not destroy it, until in one wild orgy of drunken pleasure, your children become mere insect "skippers," dancing for a day on the surface of a poisoned pool, then to disappear forever.—

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VITALITY, LOW

Just as the body when at a low vitality is susceptible to colds, so it may as truly be said of the soul, when impoverished it falls a prey to temptation and sin.

The common theory that all colds are the result of exposure is a great mistake, inasmuch as exposure is not the direct cause of the trouble. Colds are caused by hostile microbes, or bacteria, which gain a foothold at a time when our vitality has been lowered by exposure. But there are many quarters of the globe where one finds it impossible to catch cold, simply by reason of the fact that there is no cold to catch.

Peary and his men during the months they spent in the arctic regions were immune from cold, tho they were constantly enduring exposure of every kind. They passed day after day in clothes so saturated with perspiration that by day they froze into a solid mass, so to speak, and the clothes cut into their flesh. And at night, in their sleeping-bags, the first hour was spent in thawing out. They returned to civilization none the worse in health, but soon contracted severe colds upon reaching there. People were much amused by the press accounts of how Commander Peary had taken cold while proceeding to dine with a friend in a suburb of