Page:Cyclopedia of illustrations for public speakers, containing facts, incidents, stories, experiences, anecdotes, selections, etc., for illustrative purposes, with cross-references; (IA cyclopediaofillu00scotrich).pdf/819



As the clear and sensitive organ of the eye, which holds upon its tiny lens the masses of far stars and the mazes of their movement, was evidently made for this marvelous function; as the nerve of the ear, which takes eloquence, poetry, wit, applause, the tone of affection, the crash of the thunder-burst, the lively laugh of childish glee, and communicates each with instant fidelity to the spirit behind, was manifestly formed for exactly this office; so, just as clearly, the personal soul, with its judgment and its will, with its deep-seated instincts and its eager desires, with its unrest in indolence, and its thought that outruns attainment every instant, was made to realize its good by working. The date-tree in the desert is not more precisely preadjusted to its office!—

(3503)

Work in Miniature—See.

WORK PROVING RELIGION

There is a story of a young minister who had just come to be pastor in a town, and he called on Hiram Golf, the shoemaker.

"Well, Hiram," said the minister, "I have come to talk with you about the things of God, and I am very glad a man can be in a humble occupation and yet be a godly man." The shoemaker said, "Don't call this occupation humble." The minister thought he had made a mistake, and he said, "Excuse me, I didn't mean to reflect on what you do for a living." The man replied, "You didn't hurt me, but I was afraid you might have hurt the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe the making of that shoe is just as holy a thing as your making a sermon. I believe that when I come to stand before the throne of God, He is going to say, 'What kind of shoes did you make down on earth?' And He might pick out this very pair, in order to let me look at them in the blazing light of the great white throne; and He is going to say to you, 'What kind of sermons did you make?' and you will have to show Him one of your sermons. Now, if I made better shoes than you made sermons, I will have a better place in the kingdom of God." (Text.)

(3504)

Work, Quiet, Successful—See.

WORK, THE TRUE WISDOM

When Frederick Temple, the late Archbishop of Canterbury, was a poor boy, wearing patched clothes and patched shoes, he had the good fortune to have a wise mother who stimulated and encouraged the right kind of ambition, and directed his zeal. One day the boy waxed critical over the inconsistency of English spelling, when his mother chided him gently: "Freddie, don't argue; do your work." The lesson was not lost on his open mind. He followed the sage advice. And long years after, when as primate of all England he had arisen to a position scarcely second to any in dignity and influence in the land, he acted on his mother's counsel: "Don't argue, do your work."

(3505)

WORK TRANSFORMED

As the water drops of the storm-clouds are transfigured by the sunlight into rainbows, so the lowliest work is transfigured by thoughts of God shining through it. So it was with the old negro washerwoman who sang, as she climbed the stairs wearily at night after her hardest day, "One more day's work for Jesus." So it was with the Christian child in the mission Sunday-school, who was asked, "What are you doing for Jesus?" and replied, "I scrubs."

(3506)

WORK VERSUS WORKER

James Buckham is the author of this poem:

"What hast thou wrought?" is the world's demand. Where is thy product of brain or hand? That presented, the wise world says, "Take this place!" and the man obeys.

Somewhat otherwise measures God, Searches the soul with love's testing-rod; Gets its innermost depth and plan; Ignores the product, exalts the man!

Whittier, in a similar vein, wrote:

Not by the page word-painted, My life is banned or sainted. Deeper than written scroll, The colors of the soul, Nobler than any fact, My wish that failed of act. (Text.)

(3507)

Work, Unrecompensed—See.